So let me get this straight – as far as Huckleberry Graham and the U.S. Senate Repugs are concerned, this Rice isn’t any good, but this Rice is (noted in the vid…and God, is it gut-churning to watch this again)?
Besides, all the now-withdrawn candidate for Secretary of State is guilty of is propagating the talking points of St.-Petraeus-Who-Couldn’t-Keep-His-Pants-On…
Update 12/14/12: The first two paragraphs from Charles Pierce here are the true "takeaways" on Susan Rice (h/t Daily Kos).
…and Rachel Maddow tells us how the Repugs use gerrymandering to further their nefarious ends (“crossing a Rubicon” indeed)…
Kudos to Tom Harkin for speaking truth to stoo-pidhere...
…and based on this, it looks like PA’s governor Tom “Space Cadet” Corbett isn’t going to help set up the health care exchanges mandated by health care reform and will rely on the Feds to do it instead, just like every other Repug governor (don’t know of any exceptions), even though he said he would do so in November last year, as noted here.
(By the way, let this whole episode over the health care law be a lesson, now and forever and always, to NEVER EVER EVER work with a Repug on an issue of governance that affects a large percent of this country. I say that because the Affordable Care Act was patterned after Willard Mitt Romney’s health care law in Massachusetts, which came ultimately from the uber-conservative Heritage Foundation – and yes, I know I’ve already said this stuff many, many times. Conversely, Obama could have ended up with “Medicare For All” instead which probably would have had a much easier chance of passing Congress, and it would have relied on a model that already worked. But no, Number 44 tried to work with the opposition – a laudable instinct, but the other side will never play fair, particularly on “big ticket” issues like this, unless it means $$ for their benefactors, of course.)
Getting back to Corbett, as noted here, he has some pretty bizarre notions of what constitutes good health care anyway (a lot of what he says here actually makes sense, shockingly enough, though the real garbage starts at about 3:00 - if Corbett didn't know that the ultrasound bill mandated that a woman be forced to watch, then he's a bigger idiot than I thought...wish I could find that clip of Keith Olbermann talking to Patrick Murphy about this awhile back - I'll keep looking)…
…turning to the seasonal stuff, this is just a reminder to hold your liquor well and try not to hurt yourself as you stumble home…
…and on Mr. S.’s birthday, I give you this.
Update 12/13/12: Sorry for the weird spacing on the Harkin thing - had to make an accommodation for Google Chrome...looks different in IE, I now realize.
Rachel Maddow takes another look at some of the recent high-profile conservative corporate media spats, and the subsequent scamming of the wingnuts who let themselves get suckered – too funny (here)…
…and congratulations to Rush for being an inductee into the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame, as noted here (here they are making the world safe for Gap-ad-looking kids everywhere)…
…and here’s another seasonal favorite…
…and it’s not Christmas without this tune as far as I’m concerned (part of a select group, I’ll admit).
So Huckleberry Graham says Obama needs to “man up” and cut Medicare (here)? Really? Gee, that sounds like some of the crying that the U.S. House Repugs did in this clip over a year and a half ago.
Sounds like Graham needs a history lesson (and by the way, if you want to know why Karl Rove and his pals spent $9 million to try and defeat Sherrod Brown this year, I think this tells you why)…
…and speaking of Republican U.S. Senate idiocy – well, you have to go a long way to top this from Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao (here...and to help put an end to McConnell and his nonsense, click here)…
I’ll keep putting up videos like this making the same point over and over (I know) as long as I have to, and I expect that that will be the case for a good while yet (Dem Rep Raul Grijalva speaks truth to stoo-pidhere...and one again, people have paid into Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security for years already)...
…and here’s another seasonal number – please disregard the typo at end.
And oh yes, Mikey the Beloved is on the list that you can view from here...
...and let’s have no illusions about why Jim DeMint is actually leaving the U.S. Senate, OK?...
...and I apologize for being a bit behind on my commemorations – I didn’t note the anniversary of JFK’s assassination a couple of weeks ago, and I didn’t say anything about the 71st anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack yesterday...
...and speaking of commemorations, I always put up this video on this day, so here it is again.
Gosh, what a shame that Teahadist hero Jim DeMint is leaving public life (here), depriving us of moments like this, in which he ultimately disagrees with – himself?…
…and yes, my fellow prisoners, Medicare is an earned entitlement, and that needs to be repeated over and over (and gee, I wonder what Mikey the Beloved and his pals will do with their time off while this country lurches towards the OMIGOD FISCAL CLIFF FISCAL CLIFF FISCAL CLIFF FISCAL CLIFF!!! – tongue-in-cheek here, I assure you)…
To me, this is the very definition of the word “fail” – Lawrence O’Donnell explains why (hard to find the words to truly communicate my disgust; the Teahadists must be so proud, including those supporting “No Corporate Tax” Pat Toomey who, quite unsurprisingly, was one of the infamous 38 O’Donnell discusses)…
…and RIP Dave Brubeck, a true legend of jazz who understood the sacrifices made by African Americans to help develop an original and uniquely American art form (including commentary by jazz critic and occasional wingnut Nat Hentoff)…
So instead of devoting their time and attention to an actual issue of actual consequence (such as what Rachel Maddow describes), what are the Repugs exercised about instead? This and this…
Just a reminder that the whole “fiscal cliff” kabuki is nothing but a scheme to try and use the debt as an excuse to continue taking from those who can afford it the least, so that the “pay no price, bear no burden” crowd can continue to skate (and Erin Burnett is definitely a spokesperson on their behalf)…
…fortunately, Robert Reich provides the reality point of view here (God, I hope Obama and the Dems are actually listening to this)…
…and in a related story, former Reaganite Bruce Bartlett is my first new hero for this (and FDR’s great words ring truer now than ever…big surprise that Veronique de Rugy collects a paycheck from George Mason University, the same bunch of “gilbertarian” fools and frauds that brought us Tyler Cowen…just a mere dotted line to the tentacles of the Koch Brothers)…
…which brings to mind this tune for yours truly considering this in response (h/t Atrios) – I always fall back to this question; why the hell don’t we enact gun laws that make it less life-threatening for the cops?...
…and speaking of law enforcement, I give you this (trying to bring up the seasonal mood).
Yeah, I’m trying to put off the whole “chestnuts roasting on an open fire” bit for a little while longer, but Martin Bashir puts the whole Fix Noise “War on Christmas” thing in perspective here…
…and yeah I know – FISCAL CLIFF FISCAL CLIFF FISCAL CLIFF FISCAL CLIFF FISCAL CLIFF!!! But I still liked this from Jon Stewart anyway (for what it’s worth, just go over the damn “cliff” already and pass tax cuts for all but the rich next year)…
…and yeah, can you say “Mississippi health care disaster” (here)…
…and I haven’t put up an indie video for a little while (hung up on the “Boomer” stuff a bit I know), so let me put that right here.
After watching this from Stephen Colbert, I guess I should have included last night’s Elvis Costello video tonight instead (I give you the Fix Noise mentality, or what passes for one, on display…men are supposed to “trust our leaders,” and thus surrender, and women are supposed to surrender to men who do – ah, life inside the bubble)…
…and I’m sure he rocked it at the “big joint” tonight, as Pierre Robert likes to call it (heh).
At this moment, I can’t think of another seven-minutes-and-a-few-seconds out there that does a better job of of laying utter waste to any pretense of Beltway media objectivity than this clip (here)...
...and I find myself utterly numb as I watch this (here) – maybe adding this link can help in some small measure...
...changing the mood in a big way, this week marks the 70th anniversary of the debut of “Casablanca”...I’ll leave it up to you if you want to find the clip of the climactic airport scene...
...and on this day in 1967 (well, yesterday actually), TV viewers turned on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and saw this.
Time to stand some of that dreaded “conventional wisdom” right on its pointed little head (here...soooo, instead of all of this Beltway jabbering about austerity, how about some seed funding to help fund the “pipeline” noted in this story?)...
...and I have to admit that I got a kick out of this (oh, and speaking of the High Court of Hangin’ Judge JR...well, as noted here, you really didn’t think they were going to consider the Affordable Care Act to be “settled law,” did you?).
And speaking of the Stones, this is a great production.
