Please join us tonight for an evening of politics under the influence at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally. We meet at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Starting time is 8:00 pm, but feel free to join some of us for an earlier dinner.
Every time Sarah Palin makes a statement to the media, God kills an historian:
Not in Seattle? There is a good chance you live near one of the 228 other chapters of Drinking Liberally.
Okay…Rep. Weiner’s press conference wasn’t the world’s weirdest—that title still has to go to former Gov. Sanford’s “post-Appalachian hiking” trip presser.
The weirdness was at the front end. When I tuned in the live stream just before 1:00 pm local time, there was Andrew Breitbart, the person who broke the Weiner story, at the podium. And he hung out at the podium answering questions for a long time, leading one reporter to ask via Twitter whether the press had been duped into some sort of Breitbart publicity stunt. The press has developed a partial skepticism of Breitbart, something he earned by breaking previous stories that ended up being dead wrong and based on doctored or misleading videos. You know…the phony ACORN “scandal” and the “Shirley Sherrod is a racist” bullshit.
In this case however…Breitbart got the story pretty much correct.
When Breitbart finished there was a long break before Weiner took the podium.
Weiner fought back the tears as he confessed to and profusely apologized for having inappropriate tweets, emails, and a couple of phone calls with about six women over three years. He made clear that he never met any of them in person and never had sex with them. He met them on Facebook.
Weiner also admitted to lying to everyone about that initial tweet—with the photo of his inflated briefs—which he meant to PM and tweeted instead. The suggestion that his Twitter account had been hacked was a lie, he confessed. He apologized to everyone—his wife, their families, his constituents, the Seattle woman whose life was disrupted by this, his staff (meaning, I believe, his congressional staff), and The Press. Christ…he even apologized to Breitbart.
It took a follow-up question to ask if he would resign. No, he won’t. And then he answered reporter’s questions frankly and earnestly. No…his wife and he were not going to split. Yes, they love each other. Yes, she was disappointed. He admitted to lying about the tweets because he was embarrassed and didn’t want to get caught. And, over and over again, he kept “taking full responsibility” and apologizing.
He also kept pointed out that what he did was stupid. But not illegal. So that was the presser.
I have to say…I am not surprised. Even without surprise, I am a little disappointed in Weiner. That’s why I haven’t had much to say about the scandal, except for having a little fun at Dick Cheney’s expense. Seriously, I cannot get too worked up about flirting via social media. What he did doesn’t arise to much (so to speak…in another sense it raises surprisingly….).
Where I do fault Weiner is…STUPIDITY! Public figures should not flirt via social media. Not because of any legal or even ethical questions. No…because it invites scandal, precisely of the type we have here. So Weiner acted stupidly.
This is the same point I made for former Rep. Christopher Lee, who wasn’t simply engaging in flirting, exactly. Rather, he was trolling for sex via Craigslist using his real name, but claiming to be a lobbyist:
Lying, willingness to break his marriage vows…and sheer stupidity! Seriously…the dude didn’t even change his name and then sends the woman a topless photo of himself. Was he trying to create a public scandal?
Lee’s “activities” should be several orders of magnitude over Weiner’s on the sheer stupidity scale. But given that Weiner kept sending flirtatious tweets after Lee’s insta-resignation raises his stupidity level one order of magnitude below that of Lee.
Somewhere in between them is former Sen. Larry Craig, whose wide stance and toe-tapping turned into disorderly conduct. Stupid.
And then there is the stupidity of Sen. Vitter, whose sexual fantasies involved trans-infantile activities with a hooker, and former Gov. Elliot Spitzer who just liked very high price hookers. These guys were sort of stupid, and they both broke the law. They both left enough clues to get caught. And one of them is a flaming “family values” hypocrite. Oddly, he’s the one still in office.
And then there is the uber-stupidity of former Sen. Ensign and former Sen. Edwards. They had affairs whilst in the public spotlight. They were both busted as “family values” hypocrites. And they both took actions to cover up their scandals that involved large sums of money. Now they are both at risk of doing time for their alleged crimes. And that’s just super-stupid!
But almost nothing tops the stupidity of former Gov. Sanford, whose flirtations (Weiner-magnitude stupidity) via email turned into a full-blown affair (about Craig-level stupidity). So he concocted a story about hiking the Appalachian trail, ditched his security detail, left his car at the Atlanta airport, flew to Argentina, and thought nobody would notice for ten days. That’s Vitter—Spitzer stupid, at least. Oh…and he my have used state money to hook-up with his paramour, money he later reimbursed to the state (near-Ensign—Edwards stupid). It doesn’t look like Sanford is going to jail. But what puts Sanford at the top of the stupid politician stupidity scale was the interviews he gave shortly after his “hiking” trip:
In emotional interviews with the AP over two days, he said he would die “knowing that I had met my soul mate.” […]
Sanford insisted his relationship with Maria Belen Chapur, whom he met at an open air dance spot in Uruguay eight years ago, was more than just sex.
“This was a whole lot more than a simple affair, this was a love story,” Sanford said. “A forbidden one, a tragic one, but a love story at the end of the day.”
Too! Much! Information!!!!
In sum…It’s the stupidity, stupid!
So, Weiner…install some Constituent Control and Monitoring Software on your computers, and get back to work.
Late night comedians feast on Palin and take a bite out of Weiner.
Sam Seder: Taxpayer-funded helicopter takes Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) to son’s little league game.
SCTV: The Maria Shriver make-up makeover.
Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA-07): Republicans want to destroy Medicare to save it?!?:
Young Turks: KKK protests Westboro Baptist Church (Darryl: Anyone wanna pitch in to contribute a case of hand grenades to each side?).
Stephen on G.P.P. pandering debt ceiling game (via TalkingPointsMemo).
Ann Telnaes: Unofficial photos from Obama’s trip.
Seattle attorney arrested for keying cars.
Sam Seder: Republicans would fund a reality show before food safety.
Sen. Paul Goes All Nazi On Us:
Mitt 2.0 (via TalkingPointsMemo).
Congressional candidate Roger Goodman wants to legalize medical marijuana dispensaries.
Obama: A resurgent auto industry.
Mark Fiore: Snuggly new friend Autopen signs the Patriot Act.
Pap: Teabaggers try to rewrite history.
Thom: Republican budget cuts lead to a man drowning as first responders stand by helplessly.
Stephen on Cell phone radiation (via TalkingPointsMemo).
White House: West Wing Week.
Wisconsin G.O.P. caught on tape planning to run ‘Spoiler Candidates’ in June recall elections.
Weiner’s Wiener’s Woes:
Thom: Fighting back in the Republican War on Workers™.
Ed and Pap: Dimwit Republicans follow dimwit leaders.
Newsy: Rudy!
Obama speaks at Memorial Day Service.
Young Turks: Republican’s skewed ideas about taxes.
Florida’s Teabaggy Gov. Rick Scott Stimulus Flippity Floppy:
Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA-01) offers wounded warrior amendment.
Thom: Who is killing net neutrality?
Young Turks: Donald Trump might be back in!!!
Romney: Same candidate, different positions?!?
Thom: Break up California!
ONN: Nation’s problems caused by being built on ancient Indian burial ground.
Maddow: Thaddeus McCotter resurrects REO Speedwagen.
Young Turks: Hollywood’s liberal bias.
The Caucus: The week in politics.
Cenk: Republicans double down on Ryan’s disastrous Medicare “transformation” program (via TalkingPointsMemo).
Gov. Chris Christie’s very busy week.
DNC Chair: Romney’s failed jobs record.
Palin Around with Crazy:
Cenk: Of Course Senator bought by Goldman Sachs.
Thom: “Buy our Republican plan or we’ll shoot Grandma!”.
Maddow: Wingnuts out extreming each other on abortion.
SCTV: Can you WHO me now?
Young Turks: Teabaggers try to kill Medicare.
Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.
It was June 3rd, 2008 when Barack and Michelle took part in something destined to be call “the fist bump heard ’round the world.”
Conservative reporters, commentators, pundits, and comment thread trolls attributed all sorts of nefarious meanings to the simple act. Clearly, it was some kind of sign of the future first couple’s radical Black Panther-esque militancy. Or was it a Terrorist Fist Jab™ asked a FAUX News infotainer? She then brings on a “body language expert” to get to the bottom of it:
But my favorite comes from a FAUX affiliate in Detroit whose expert found much to be admired in the Obamas doing “a lot of touching, kissing, even fisting with one another…” (skip to 1:50):
So…happy Fist Bump Day to all friends of HA.
Oh…and try to take a little time today for fisting your friends.
Not to be outdone by Rep. Weiner, or Canadian politician George Lepp or this pervert from Redmond, or this unbalanced character near Skyway, or this resourceful Bangladeshi woman, Dick Cheney gave his own seven gun salute to the troops for Memorial day when he tweeted an old newspaper photo. It was from a Memorial day wiener roast of the past.
You might say, from Cheney’s glory days….
“Fuck Weiner…. He’s a goddamn whining amateur, isn’t he?” growled Cheney from his undisclosed Twittering location.
“The art is in doing the show without everyone noticing….”, came the next tweet, followed by, “…and making a big goddamn deal out of it. He loses.”
The former VP launched another salvo with, “I win on subtly…seriously, if you get a ‘-gate’ suffix, YOU LOSE!”
With that, Cheney tweeted a link to the Weiner photo:
.
“I win on dimensions, no? And you’d better agree with me @Breitbart or I’ll shoot you in the face. LOL!”
Shortly thereafter Cheney either realized or was informed that he was twittering instead of PMing.
The tweets vanished…seemingly flushing right down that hole sitting between the first and the second branches of government.
A few minutes later, Cheney’s final message of Memorial Day was tweeted.
“Goddamn Scooter hacked my account!”
The Seattle Chapter of Drinking liberally meets tonight, and we will be celebrating the 8th anniversary of Drinking Liberally. It all began in a bar in New York…now there are 228 chapters of Drinking Liberally and Living Liberally worldwide.
Please join us for a pint and a toast. We meet at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Starting time is 8:00 pm, but a few folks show up around 7:00 pm for dinner.
Speaking of toast, I can just imagine this clip as the intro to a Palin-on-wheels video with the Lynyrd Skynyrd song That Smell as the sound track:
Can’t make it tonight? The Tacoma Chapter of Drinking Liberally meets on Thursday (June 2nd) at 7:00 pm at the Hub Restaurant, 203 Tacoma Ave S.
(Note…this IS an open thread.)
Crosscut’s Ted Van Dyk writes:
As it happened, I was in Prescott, Arizona over Memorial Day weekend and thus got a first-hand view of the current version of the Sarah Palin Show.
Yes…Van Dyk “happened” to be in Arizona. When he eventually gets around to writing about Sarah Palin, he makes a remarkable observation (my emphasis):
A friend of ours, the insurgent/reform candidate for mayor, running against the good-ole-boy GOP incumbent, approached Palin and asked that she sign her mayoral petititon.
Palin did so (even though, as a non-resident, her signature would of course be disqualified).
Sure…as a non-resident, her signature would have to be disqualified, but wasn’t this an act of election fraud?!?
Here it is…under title 16 of the Arizona Revised Statutes:
16-1020. Signing of petitions; violation; classification
A person knowingly signing any name other than his own to a nomination petition or a petition for formation, alteration or dissolution of a special district […] or who is not at the time of signing a qualified elector entitled to vote at the election initiated by the petition, is guilty of a class 1 misdemeanor.
For years Republicans have engaged in fetishistic hand-wringing over voter fraud, even as numerous investigations find little evidence of actual voter fraud. Its a good issue for Republicans, because under the guise of “election integrity” they can systematically disenfranchise, en masse, voters who tend to vote Democratic. And, man, have they been disenfranchising voters. (Apparently, blocking people entitled to vote from exercising their right isn’t an equally important integrity issue.)
So I hope Republican voters will stay true to their fetish strategy convictions and express shock and outrage over Sarah Palin’s demonstrably blatant act of election fraud. If so, one might expect enraged calls for her prosecution, if not angry mobs chanting something about a hanging.
As for me…I am truly shocked beyond belief over this matter.
Breaking news from Ted Van Dyk?!?
A lot of language is being thrown around on the topic of political prostitution lately. It is, of course, metaphorical and largely hyperbolic.
The real thing is much more disturbing than anything that happens in the political arena….
The Rapture experiences technical difficulties.
Sam Seder: G.O.P.er suggests rape is like getting a flat tire.
Mark Fiore: Doin’ time.
Life’s Been Good To Him, So Far:
Jon and John: Fixing the U.S. Pakistan relationship.
President Obama addresses the British Parliament.
Ed Shultz Calls Some Right-wing Whore a “Right-wing Slut” and “Talk Slut”:
Ann Telnaes: G.O.P. race is shaping up.
Pres. O’Bama addresses the Irish people.
Cenk: Right-wing grassroots CON JOB.
Auto Bail-outs Pay Off for America:
Thom: Judge declares foul on Republicans
Young Turks: G.O.P. refuses to give relief aid to tornado victims.
Pap: Teabagger racism reaches the boiling point.
G.O.P. Presidential hopefull Herman Cain lecture on reading the Constitution cites passages from the Declaration of Independence (via ThinkProgress).
Thom: Can Texas secede from the TSA?
Maddow does George Takei.
Liberal Viewer: FAUX News forgot first amendment forbids Christian graduation from public school.
Catholic Sex Abuse Scandal:
Young Turks: Dick Cheney worships Paul Ryan.
Ann Telnaes: The U.S–British special relationship.
Very Special Election:
Young Turks: Daughter of Arnold’s mistress speaks out.
Thom: Is there a “shadow Patriot Act” behind the Patriot Act?
White House: West Wing Week.
Sam Seder: For GOP & Scarborough healthcare for Americans is nothing short of hedonism.
The G.O.P. Primary Carnival Freak Show:
Newsy: TN Governor signs anti-gay bill into law.
Young Turks: FAUX News claims that Obama already cut Medicare.
Maddow: Minnesota’s anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment.
Cenk: George Takei on Tennessee’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill:
Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.
The Stranger’s Paul Constant highlights a statement from Joe Walsh, the freshman douchebag of a congressman from Illinois, not the former Eagle (my emphasis):
“Why was he elected? Again, it comes back to who he was. He was black, he was historic. And there’s nothing racist about this. It is what it is. If he had been a dynamic, white, state senator elected to Congress he wouldn’t have gotten in the game this fast. This is what made him different. That, combined with the fact that your profession”—another friendly tap of the bumper sticker—”not you, but your profession, was just absolutely compliant. They made up their minds early that they were in love with him. They were in love with him because they thought he was a good liberal guy and they were in love with him because he pushed that magical button: a black man who was articulate, liberal, the whole white guilt, all of that.”
A shorter Joe Walsh: Obama was elected because he’s a Magic Negro.
Paul has a salient, if too generous, take on Walsh’s statement…check it out.
Right wing slut Tim Eyman has gotten his John back.
Michael Dunmire, who apparently took a hit during the Bush Recession forcing him into a one-year hiatus from political bestiality, has come back this year and bought himself some more gen-u-wine Horses’ ass! $100,000 worth, paid right into Eyman’s personal services fund. (Apparently, Dunmire is okay with Kemper Freeman’s sloppy seconds.)
You have to give Eyman some credit for turning his life around and breaking into the big-leagues of political prostitution. It seems like just yesterday he was literally stealing money from his Johns….
Obama’s approval has hit a 16 month high at 53% approval to 41% disapproval.
Another poll finds Gov. John Kasich (R-OH) ” the least popular Governor in the country”, tied with Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL):
The furor over Senate Bill 5 [an anti-collective bargaining bill] was one of the main events precipitating Kasich’s decline and voters in the state continue to strongly favor repealing it.
Another poll finds Florida’s Scott in dire straights:
Florida voters disapprove 57 – 29 percent of the job Gov. Rick Scott is doing, the worst score of any governor in the states surveyed by Quinnipiac University and down from a 48 – 35 percent disapproval in an April 6 survey, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.
Man…voters going sour on Republicans in Florida, Ohio, and Wisconsin?!? The next thing you know, pundits and media alike will take up the debate of whether 2012 is going to witness Obama win or an Obama landslide.
The Senate has voted down the house budget blueprint (a.k.a. the Ryan budget, a.k.a. the bill to kill Medicare as we know it) today:
A handful of Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Olympia Snowe (Maine), Scott Brown (Mass.), Rand Paul (Ky.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) — joined Democrats to reject the House budget, 40-57. Paul voted against it because Ryan’s plan still adds $8 trillion to the debt over the next decade.
I wonder why the others voted against it? Perhaps because they want to be reelected….
(H/T Slog.)
Well…at least one bold Republican is doubling down on Ryan’s plan…after a major display of flip-floppery. That would be Newt Gingrich:
Less than two weeks after he condemned Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan as “right wing social engineering” Newt Gingrich is rallying support for the budget chair’s proposal in Congress.
Does anyone else get the feeling that Newt is perpetually lagging by about three news cycles?
How can it be that nearly two and half years into President Barack Obama’s (D) administration, people like me still blame former President George W. Bush (R) for the outrageous debt this country has accumulated since the good ol’ days when former President Bill Clinton (D) began paying off the debt?
Because it’s true:
A couple of months ago some prescient political analyst filthy liberal blogger suggested a way to provoke a constitutional test of the I-1053 two-thirds majority:
Here’s how it works. Declare that the projected revenue shortfall, following a biennium where spending has already been cut to the bone, makes it impossible for the legislature to pass a budget that lives up to the spirit of Article IX, Section 1 of the State Constitution:
It is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders, without distinction or preference on account of race, color, caste, or sex.
The constitutional requirement of “ample provision for education…” simply isn’t happening.
Article IX, Section 3 gives lawmakers broad authority to do what is needed to fund education. If we cannot provide “ample” funding for education via existing taxes, lawmakers should provide short-term revenue for education through the repeal of tax preferences, using a simple majority to pass the legislation.
The mandate and the authority to accomplish it as spelled out in the Constitution trumps a law enacted through the initiative process. If Republicans believe the law trumps…they can sue.
And look at what just happened (via Publicola):
Late last night, the state house Democrats forced a floor vote on Rep. Laurie Jinkins (D-27, Tacoma) bill to repeal an $83 million bank loophole and shift the money to K-3 class size reductions. While the Democrats needed a two-thirds majority and only got 52 votes (it was 52-42 in a straight party line vote), the losing vote wasn’t just a symbolic effort to embarrass Republicans for voting against kids and for banks.
PubliCola has confirmed that the Democrats took the vote to set up a formal court challenge to I-1053, the rule that requires a two-thirds vote to raise taxes.
As Publicola explains, the Democrats followed some procedures required by the state Supreme court in their dismissal of I-960. In other words, the Dems removed one important way for the Supreme court to weasel out of making a decision on the constitutionality of such initiatives.
I-1053 may well get its day in court. Who knew the House Dems had it in ’em?
With 462 of 627 precincts reporting, the AP has called it: Kathy Hochul (D) beats Jane Corwin (R).
Current tally is 48% Hochul (D) and 42% Corwin (R).
Update: President congratulates Hochul:
“I want to extend my congratulations to Congresswoman-elect Kathy Hochul for her victory in New York’s 26th Congressional District. Kathy and I both believe that we need to create jobs, grow our economy, and reduce the deficit in order to outcompete other nations and win the future. Kathy has shown, through her victory and throughout her career, that she will fight for the families and businesses in western New York, and I look forward to working with her when she gets to Washington.”
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