More Saturday Stuff

Here’s more on Paul Ryan, Willard Mitt Romney’s VP nominee, and his “funny number” creation (Or maybe the top of the ticket instead, as noted here? Unbelievable…for more, click here)…



…but even though the supposed GOP financial “architect” will come a bit later on the list, for now, we’re going to journey to “the land of the yellow rose”…

#8, Allen West
#9, Joe Pitts
#10, Jack Kingston
#11, Patrick McHenry
#12, Spencer Bachus
#13, Jim Gerlach
#14, Cliff Stearns
#15, Jean Schmidt
#16, Phil Gingrey
#17, David Schweikert
#18, Virginia Foxx
#19, Pete Sessions
#20, Charlie Dent
#21, Cathy McMorris Rodgers
#22, Chris Smith
#23, Todd Akin
#24, Buck McKeon
#25, Kristi Noem
#26, Hal Rogers
#27, Lou Barletta (Two bonus selections: Boren and Ross)
#28, Paul Broun
#29, Mary Bono Mack
#30, David Dreier
#31, Marsha Blackburn (including backgrounder)

...and that means it’s time for #7 on our list of U.S. House Repugs opposed to health care reform, and that would be Louie Gohmert of Texas (by the way, I should warn that there may be bad words on some of the pages I link to here – I don’t usually say anything about that since I believe that other people’s content isn’t my problem, but others, to their credit, have also pointed out this stuff about Gohmert, and his particular type of confrontational wingnuttery has, not surprisingly, generated some rather strong feeling).

Saying this is probably going to make me sound like an elitist liberal or something, but it’s hard to truly “wrap my head around” Gohmert’s particular type of ignorance. He may be the one of the stupidest people in the country. He may be one of the stupidest people on the planet. It’s possible that he could be one of the stupidest people in the entire solar system (with the possible exception of anyone who actually voted for him).

I’m not sure where to begin, so I might as well just pick a spot and get going:

Here, he cheapened the recent massacre in Aurora, Colorado by saying it supposedly wouldn’t have happened if everyone had been armed (as you can see, there’s no line that Gohmert won’t cross when spouting this garbage).

Here, he said that Number 44 somehow timed the who mess over the debt ceiling last year so it would coincide with his 50th birthday (actually, I take back what I said earlier – Gohmert may not be just the stupidest person in the solar system, but possibly the entire galaxy).

Here, he said the hate crimes bill passed by Congress would lead to Nazism, or worse (cue scary background theme - and speaking of that former Austrian postcard painter, Gohmert said here that a column by Thomas Sowell comparing Obama to Hitler was “brilliant”).

Here, he said Obama would somehow use the Affordable Care Act to call up troops to fight in Libya (WHAAA?????!!! And by the way, as noted from the link, Gohmert claimed that the health care bill was 2,800 pages in length – I’ll come back to this talking point in a future post).

And oh yeah, TERROR BABIES!!! (here).

Here, Gohmert referred to Sen. John McCain as “numb nuts” (of course, Gohmert would have ended up crying like a little bitch after enduring a day or two of what McCain endured as a POW for 5 ½ years – I don’t like McCain’s politics, but that doesn’t mean that the man doesn’t deserve respect).

Here, Gohmert made disparaging remarks about former Obama Commerce Secretary John Bryson, who suffered a seizure and crashed his car; Bryson took a medical leave of absence (another "class" moment from Gohmert).

Here, Gohmert claimed that Huma Abedin, the wife of former Dem U.S. Congressman Anthony Weiner and aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was in league with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, or something.

I’ll tell you what – since a picture is worth a thousand words (last I checked), I’ll just “go to the tape”; here, Rachel Maddow and Kent Jones introduce us to “Gohmert” Pyle (someone else came up with that, not me)…



…and in case anyone has any doubt as to whether or not Gohmert should be on this list concerning health care reform, I give you this (I’m sure I’ll put this video up again before this list is complete - more here)…



…and here’s a tongue-in-cheek song for Gohmert, who probably will think it’s a documentary (sorry, no video).



Update 8/28/12: I just found this - truly, words fail.

Update 1/5/13: As I said, he's the stupidest life form in the galaxy (here).

Update 4/30/13: What a dipshit (here).

Update 10/23/14: Lather, rinse, repeat (sigh).

Saturday Stuff

I think this selection sends the following message to the “values voter” zealots of the Republican Party who, to be fair, comprise a lot of their “foot soldiers” too…

...and here is Willard Mitt's VP selection doing something he does well, unfortunately...



…and I think this contains what should be the Romney/Ryan campaign theme song.

Friday Stuff

(I also posted here.)

I just can’t face doing the congressional list tonight (partly a commentary on the next person coming up, to be honest). I promise I’ll get back to it soon.

In the meantime, isn’t it interesting how the political party that screams the most about “voter fraud” is so good at actually practicing it (here, which made me recall this clip about McCotter, the guy who tried to teach everyone “how to speak Democrat” )…



…and happy 65th birthday to Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull (another tune appropriate for this week, unfortunately).

Thursday Later PM Stuff

I meant to get to this a few days ago, but I know I'm a little late - sorry (have to relish the good news when we can...hat tip for the pic to bluegalfran at Crooks and Liars)...

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

...and this video should be completely unnecessary, but unfortunately it isn't (here - never occurred to me the toll that job has taken on him until I watched this clip)...



...and for the next installment of the countdown, it's time to journey to the primordial swamps of Florida, where misbegotten creatures emerge from the unholy ooze...

#9, Joe Pitts
#10, Jack Kingston
#11, Patrick McHenry
#12, Spencer Bachus
#13, Jim Gerlach
#14, Cliff Stearns
#15, Jean Schmidt
#16, Phil Gingrey
#17, David Schweikert
#18, Virginia Foxx
#19, Pete Sessions
#20, Charlie Dent
#21, Cathy McMorris Rodgers
#22, Chris Smith
#23, Todd Akin
#24, Buck McKeon
#25, Kristi Noem
#26, Hal Rogers
#27, Lou Barletta (Two bonus selections: Boren and Ross)
#28, Paul Broun
#29, Mary Bono Mack
#30, David Dreier
#31, Marsha Blackburn (including backgrounder)

…and that brings us to #8 on the list of U.S. House Repugs opposed to health care reform, and that would be Allen West of The Sunshine State.

Now before I say anything else, I should note that Alan Colmes, among others, has said something to the effect of “well, West has actually said that there are some parts of health care reform that he likes,” or whatever. If so, then please explain this.

(Also, I should probably say something about my thoroughly unscientific method of compiling this list as long as I’m thinking of it. There are people who you probably aren’t going to see on this list, though I can’t totally guarantee it, such as Peter King, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Dana Rohrabacher, and others. I definitely have disagreements with these individuals, but on the issue of health care reform, I’ve done a bit of research and haven’t found anything worth trying to nail them. Ros-Lehtinen and Rohrabacher are really bad on foreign policy as far as I’m concerned, but they’re actually a lot better on HCR than some of their same-party counterparts. And as awful as Peter King is on the “OMIGOD, SCARY MUSLIMS!!!” stuff, he actually said to Eric Cantor that we should, in essence, just move on after the recent Supreme Court ruling on the mandate, which I think showed some notable common sense...of course, that sleazy weasel Cantor – who definitely is coming later – has no intention of doing that.)

Now, back to West...

With the possible exception of Joe Walsh of Illinois, I don’t know anyone else remaining on the list who has said and done so many provocative – and just about always mind-numbingly stupid – things in less than two years in Congress (though it’s not as if we weren’t warned by folks such as Keith Olbermann, who we’ll hear from a little later). Race baiting, class baiting, questioning or trying to outright destroy the patriotism of those with whom he disagrees…none of that matters to West. I cannot recall a single episode where he has decided to refrain from demagoguery and adhere to the simplest possible standard of common decency (here, in response to a vote trying to hold President Obama to a timetable of troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, West said some of those in Congress advocating for troop withdrawal should “get shot at a few times”…and this came just a few months after the carnage in Tucson in January 2011).

Here, West said the Congressional Black Caucus was “racist” for supporting Attorney General Eric Holder in the wake of all of that “Operation Fast and Furious” business, in which Holder honestly tried to get to the bottom of that utter fiasco, with no help from House Oversight Committee Chair Darrell Issa (with “F&F” predated by the similar “gun-walking” idiocy of Operation Wide Receiver, though I don’t hear a word of complaint about Bushco AG Michael Mukasey). Also, West said that President Obama wants “you” (??) to be his “slave” here (nice – I’ll let you, dear reader, try and unpackage the crazy of that one). Oh, and among other things, West also said that drivers with Obama bumper stickers are “a threat to the gene pool” here (takes one to know one, I guess).

West also said here that student loans were “communist” here, and harking back to that once career-fatal but now laughable slander, he said here that there were “80 communists” in the House. He also said that early voting was an “unconstitutional entitlement” here (speaking of voting, he wanted to withhold foreign aid to Egypt to protest that's country's democratic election here). He added that Obama’s refusal to deport the children of “undocumented” workers who would have been covered under the DREAM Act, had it been passed, constitutes “voter fraud,” or something here (with West thinking they would be inclined to vote for Obama which, the last I checked, wasn’t a crime). And just to make sure that West is keeping his utter wingnuttery current, this tells us that he sent “chicken and biscuits” from Chick-Fil-A to a recent Congressional Black Caucus meeting and offended just about everybody.

As long as this post is, I should note that there’s a lot more that I could point out to show that West is an utterly craven life form that (you could argue) doesn’t deserve the company of respectable human beings, let alone a career in public life. Instead, I’ll just include this link and let you read the evidence for yourself (oh, and as noted here, count West as yet another elected official who has played the teabaggers for fools).

I wonder if he had that same insipid, half-smiling smirk on his face when he tortured his Iraqi prisoner in 2003, avoiding a court-martial even though he had to pay a $5,000 fine and accept non-combat duty (K.O. gets into that and other stuff shortly). Also, if you’ve had enough of West (haven’t you?), click here to support Florida’s Patrick Murphy, thus restoring a bit of sanity and plain decency to the House…



Update 8/26/12: Just a bit of projection here, you think?

Update 9/10/12: Point, meet counterpoint.

...and I have a feeling that this tune will be appropriate for a little while.

Thursday Early PM Stuff

Hopefully back to the blogging thing for better or worse tonight – in the meantime, I give you the following dose of reality on Willard Mitt Romney (here)…



Update: And maybe I’m just an impertinent, pointy-headed liberal, but why the hell should Robert Gibbs or anyone else on the Obama side be forced to "condemn" an ad which, as far as we know (and I have no information otherwise), is COMPLETELY TRUE??!! (here).

…and after enduring a recent family loss of the four-legged variety, I feel like putting up this video.

Tuesday Stuff

I now give you today's regularly scheduled lies from Willard Mitt Romney (here)...

…and “demand a plan” indeed (here)…

...and we're into the single digits now, people...

#10, Jack Kingston
#11, Patrick McHenry
#12, Spencer Bachus
#13, Jim Gerlach
#14, Cliff Stearns
#15, Jean Schmidt
#16, Phil Gingrey
#17, David Schweikert
#18, Virginia Foxx
#19, Pete Sessions
#20, Charlie Dent
#21, Cathy McMorris Rodgers
#22, Chris Smith
#23, Todd Akin
#24, Buck McKeon
#25, Kristi Noem
#26, Hal Rogers
#27, Lou Barletta (Two bonus selections: Boren and Ross)
#28, Paul Broun
#29, Mary Bono Mack
#30, David Dreier
#31, Marsha Blackburn (including backgrounder)

…and that brings us to #9 on our list of U.S. House Repugs opposed to health care reform, and that would be none other than Joe Pitts (the mistake of PA-16) in our beloved commonwealth.

There are so many levels of awfulness to Joe Pitts that it’s hard to categorize them, though I know I’ve tried (oh, and on the health care law, I give you this). There’s the Joe Pitts that’s the utterly craven shill of big bidness (insurance, pharma, what have you), the Joe Pitts that claims to be a model of supposed fiscal rectitude for everyone else, the Joe Pitts who missed the proverbial boat on the issues that matter long ago, not that he’s had anything worthwhile to say or do on that score anyway (Please note here his “memorandum on creating jobs and fixing the economy” from last November! And by the way, I skimmed over it and had to wade out of it before the dookey got too deep), and on and on.

However, I believe there is no more level of awfulness associated with Pitts than that of the supposed paragon of “family values,” the “culture warrior” who would see women relegated to a permanently subservient status to men and utterly incapable of managing their reproductive health. There was no more proof needed as to what Pitts stood for than during the entire circus concerning the so-called “Stupak-Pitts Amendment” to the Affordable Care Act (named also for Democratic congressman Bart Stupak who, mercifully, is no longer in Washington). As Media Matters points out here, the amendment was dutifully “reported” by our corporate media stenographers as a ban on federal funds for abortion. The problem is that such a ban is already in place from that amendment named after a serial Republican philanderer in the U.S. House. What Stupak-Pitts was really all about was an attempt to roll back reproductive rights also for women in private insurance plans that received no federal funds (more information is here).

(And by the way, when it comes to the Affordable Care Act and women’s health, I would ask that you read this, something you’ll never hear about from Joe Pitts of course.)

Returning to the health care law overall, though, Pitts told us the following from here two years ago…

It’s just been four months since President Obama signed the new health care law, and already Democratic leadership is conceding that portions of the bill will harm the economy. We cannot create a massive new government entitlement program without someone footing the bill.

Small businesses all over America have just been told that they will have to pay billions more in taxes to foot the bill for Obamacare. That’s money that might otherwise go to job creation. That’s just one reason why America isn’t creating more jobs.

And as I noted at the time from here, the PPACA (the proper acronym) will reduce the deficit, something the Republicans pretend to care about. Also, as far as health care reform supposedly hurting the economy, how can something “hurt” that isn’t scheduled to be fully implemented until 2014 (when, God willing, the exchanges are set up in each state and we have competition among health care providers for real, at long last, as noted here…more health care-related propaganda from Pitts is here...last bullet).

And on top of all of this, did you know that Pitts voted against funding COBRA benefits for the long-term jobless and to help states meet Medicaid obligations, among other social safety-net outlays (here)? Or that he voted against expanding SCHIP four times among many other odious votes listed here, as well as cutting the federal gov’t share of Medicaid by $13 billion? Or that he also voted against a bill empowering the FDA to regulate cigarette content, requiring disclosure of product ingredients, banning cigarette marketing to children, and requiring more prominent health warnings (this is pretty sick, and I mean “sick” as in “truly awful” – see the previous link)?

If, somehow, someone from PA-16 happens to be reading this, I implore you as strongly as I can without using profanity to click here and support Aryanna Strader, who is running for Pitts’ PA-16 seat. It is long past time to send Pitts packing (someone else who reneged on a term-limit pledge, it should be pointed out). And though it pales in comparison to his other antics, I give you the following video clip to remind you of what an utter embarrassment Pitts truly is (and my admittedly juvenile response is here)…



…and in light of this story about more Russian human rights misery, I thought it would be a good idea to revisit the protest of three other brave young women in a singing group (putting up the video again perhaps as an expression of solidarity, but also because I like it as a piece of music by itself).

Monday Stuff

I’m taking a break from the Repug congressional countdown opposing health care reform for tonight – I’ll probably get back to it tomorrow (entering the home stretch and a whole new level of crazy, I might add).

And speaking of nuts, I give you this, and this, and kudos to President Obama for this (speaking again of nuts).

I have to tell you that I’m personally disgusted more than I ever thought I would be with the routinely demonic vilification of President Obama by various right-wing mental defectives, one example of which is on display on that disgusting billboard shown above. And I ABSOLTUELY DEFY anyone to try and manufacture some faux equivalency between this and any violence threatened against George W. Bush (yes, it did happen, and it was also wrong, but nothing as orchestrated with this type of frequency).

And finally on this subject, I give you this, with a good response by K.O, including the "a" word, and I'm fine with that when talking about Nugent because it's true.…

…and I’ve put this up a few time already I know, but it always seems to fit, doesn’t it, particularly given what I just pointed out (warning: bad word alert).

Sunday Stuff

I know I’ve picked on the “Peach State” a bit in this list with Broun and Gingrey, and I’m about to do it again; I’m sure there are a lot of good Democrats there, but unfortunately, there are also a lot of Republicans whose actions speak for themselves…

#11, Patrick McHenry
#12, Spencer Bachus
#13, Jim Gerlach
#14, Cliff Stearns
#15, Jean Schmidt
#16, Phil Gingrey
#17, David Schweikert
#18, Virginia Foxx
#19, Pete Sessions
#20, Charlie Dent
#21, Cathy McMorris Rodgers
#22, Chris Smith
#23, Todd Akin
#24, Buck McKeon
#25, Kristi Noem
#26, Hal Rogers
#27, Lou Barletta (Two bonus selections: Boren and Ross)
#28, Paul Broun
#29, Mary Bono Mack
#30, David Dreier
#31, Marsha Blackburn (including backgrounder)

…and that takes us to #10 on the list of U.S. House Republicans opposed to health care reform, and that would be Jack Kingston of Georgia.

So why exactly does Kingston belong on this list? Well, aside the reason noted here, he said here that the way to get out of poverty is to get married and work longer hours (Wonder if that’s the route he took? I doubt it). He also denied the theory of evolution here, and openly supported right-wing bigot Bryan Fischer (along with Chris Smith, Number 22 on the list) here.

Want more reasons? He justified a bill that would cut $87 million in food safety here (which is particularly repellent given the fact that one of this country’s worst salmonella scares happened in Georgia in 2009, as noted here), he voted for all seven debt limit increases under Dubya, as noted here (something to consider when reading this), and of course, he had no problem with handing out stimulus funds in his district while he cries about it in Washington (here...also, get a load of Kingston trying to explain drug testing for anyone collecting unemployment or government assistance in general here).

I don’t care how many times Kingston appears on TV with Bill Maher – he’s still nothing but a right-wing nutjob (and of course, who can forget this utterly weaselly moment with Dan Savage, with Kingston acting like, well, you libs are the ones making it an issue by responding to our nutty BS…anyone voting for Kingston outside of the one percent should have to take an IQ test to see if they make it beyond single digits)...



…and every once in awhile, MoDo writes a really good column, and she did so today on a tragic milestone, which brings to mind this video (and speaking of people leaving us too early, our deepest sympathies to Philadelphia Eagles head coach Andy Reid and his family for this).

Saturday Stuff

Sorry, wingnuts  - I know this is really icky, but it’s also really important (here)…

…and speaking of health care, the next time I do this, we’ll be in the Top 10…

#12, Spencer Bachus
#13, Jim Gerlach
#14, Cliff Stearns
#15, Jean Schmidt
#16, Phil Gingrey
#17, David Schweikert
#18, Virginia Foxx
#19, Pete Sessions
#20, Charlie Dent
#21, Cathy McMorris Rodgers
#22, Chris Smith
#23, Todd Akin
#24, Buck McKeon
#25, Kristi Noem
#26, Hal Rogers
#27, Lou Barletta (Two bonus selections: Boren and Ross)
#28, Paul Broun
#29, Mary Bono Mack
#30, David Dreier
#31, Marsha Blackburn (including backgrounder)

…and that brings us to #11 on our list of U.S. House Repugs opposed to health care reform, and that would be Patrick McHenry of North Carolina.

I’m not sure what is worse about McHenry – the fact that he called Elizabeth Warren, now running against Scott Brown in Massachusetts for the latter’s Senate seat (and on that subject, what Atrios sez here), a liar when she appeared at an oversight hearing (here), or the fact that McHenry pulled the same crap with Phil Angelides of the FCIC (here). And given that, is this really a surprise?

It was also McHenry’s idea to try and get a movement going on behalf of The Sainted Ronnie R to get his face on the $50 bill (here).

Also, McHenry is apparently closeted. I honestly don’t care about that – I would only say that, if that is true, then he shouldn’t align himself with a political party that has made it its mission to Hate Teh Gay (and the following clip speaks volumes to me about the type of person McHenry is, though he apologized, as well he should...if you're fed up with McHenry and his antics, click here.)…

…and I cannot put up this video enough times – needs to be restated over and over and over…

…and Russia “is our number one adversary,” Willard Mitt? Of a “geopolitical nature,” whatever the hell that means? Really?...

…and maybe it’s progress of a sort that Romney apparently takes better care of his horse than he does of his dog (here)…

…and this might be my favorite tune of the year so far.

Friday Stuff

Tomorrow, there will be a gathering of Bucks County, PA Democrats at the Doylestown office for canvassing, phone banking and voter registration (10 E. Court Street) at 10 AM. You can also sign a birthday card for President Obama. With that in mind, I give you the following video from Kathy Boockvar, running against Mikey the Beloved for his PA-08 U.S. House seat (lots of ammo to use against Mikey…this is good, though - to help, click here)...



…and I’m not going to be able to add Anne Marie Buerkle to the list of Mikey’s pals trying to overturn health care reform (and not to worry – Mikey is on the list), but I thought she deserved a mention anyway (one of the “flat-earth five” opposing the environment, and don’t get started on her and abortion – the Log Cabin Republicans actually gave Buerkle an award; that group defines Stockholm Syndrome as far as I’m concerned…I’m mentioning Buerkle because she was in that video yesterday from Rachel Maddow about that nitwit Mike Kelly…links are here, here and here)…



…and speaking of the list of House Repugs trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act…

#13, Jim Gerlach
#14, Cliff Stearns
#15, Jean Schmidt
#16, Phil Gingrey
#17, David Schweikert
#18, Virginia Foxx
#19, Pete Sessions
#20, Charlie Dent
#21, Cathy McMorris Rodgers
#22, Chris Smith
#23, Todd Akin
#24, Buck McKeon
#25, Kristi Noem
#26, Hal Rogers
#27, Lou Barletta (Two bonus selections: Boren and Ross)
#28, Paul Broun
#29, Mary Bono Mack
#30, David Dreier
#31, Marsha Blackburn (including backgrounder)

…and that brings us to #12, Spencer Bachus, who spent over $250 grand of campaign funds on lawyers (here – and how exactly is that legal?), probably because of this.

Oh, but it’s really all the fault of that baaad “Democrat” Party, isn’t it, you weasel (here)?

Want more evidence? As noted here, Bachus also came to the aid of Edward DeMarco of the Federal Housing and Finance Agency, who decided that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shouldn’t offer debt forgiveness to borrowers, despite pleas from the Obama Administration and congressional Democrats (more “ROI” for the “pay no price, bear no burden” bunch from Bachus…Professor Krugman had a good column on the odious Mr. DeMarco here).

And in case you had any doubt about Bachus and health care reform, I give you this (and I’m not sure if truer words were ever spoken by Cenk Uygur here particularly at the end)…

…and I apologize for neglecting to mention until now the recent passing of Philadelphia radio legend Joe “Butterball” Tamburro (here) – I offer the following as a tribute.

Thursday Stuff

(I also posted here.)

This might be the best commentary on the so-called “war on drugs” that I’ve ever heard; kudos to Lawrence O’Donnell (here)…

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

…and I’m telling you, ya’ just gotta hand it to the Repugs – with Willard Mitt Romney knee deep in doo doo over his joke of a European tour and his continued failure to release his tax returns, they come up with this as a distraction, with meat head PA Rep Mike Kelly working our media and many of us into a lather.

Let’s see now, Mike Kelly…oh yeah, he’s “frugal,” I guess you could say, on taxes unless it affects his dividends, as noted here. He also voted to keep taxpayer subsidies for Big Oil, along with the rest of his playmates (here), and played the teabaggers for the fools that they truly are here.

Gee, if I didn’t know better, I’d say Kelly was trying to find a way to be included in my countdown of U.S. House Repugs opposed to the Affordable Care Act (and here is a great column on health care from our former state rep, who used to be a Republican, believe it or not)…

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

…and speaking of the devil…

#14, Cliff Stearns
#15, Jean Schmidt
#16, Phil Gingrey
#17, David Schweikert
#18, Virginia Foxx
#19, Pete Sessions
#20, Charlie Dent
#21, Cathy McMorris Rodgers
#22, Chris Smith
#23, Todd Akin
#24, Buck McKeon
#25, Kristi Noem
#26, Hal Rogers
#27, Lou Barletta (Two bonus selections: Boren and Ross)
#28, Paul Broun
#29, Mary Bono Mack
#30, David Dreier
#31, Marsha Blackburn (including backgrounder)

…and that brings us to #13 on the list, and (staying in our beloved commonwealth) that would be none other than Jim Gerlach (not in red in the pic).

This one is a bit of a tough case, because Gerlach usually does a good job of “flying under the radar” like David Schweikert and a few others. However, things do go “splat” with Gerlach from time to time; here, a resident tried to pin him down over his opposition to the Affordable Care Act (good luck), he was also busted here for omitting a disclaimer in a political ad that was required for him to receive a cheaper rate, and as noted here, he voted for the so-called “Pence Amendment” (from Indiana Repug Mike Pence, not the departed former Phil) which barred Planned Parenthood from receiving Title X funds (and what the #@$! does that have to do with a spending bill anyway?).

Gerlach has also picked a fight with the Clean Air Council (here), as noted in this video…



…and to support his opponent Dr. Manan Trivedi, click here (Gerlach has bragged that the Dems can’t beat him – we’ll see, won’t we? And it would be nice if Gerlach, Kelly and their pals would pay attention to this instead.)…



…and returning to the now-presumptive head of the Republican Party, I give you this (and how lame is this anyway, by the Mittster I mean?)…



Update 8/3/12: Drip, drip, drip...

…and happy 55th birthday to Mojo Nixon – don’t quite agree with everything here, but at least some of it (and tying back to Lawrence O’Donnell’s commentary a bit too).

Wednesday Stuff

RIP Gore Vidal – he said things that, at times, made people uncomfortable because he forced us to think, as he did in this clip from 1968; would that we had more like him (I would say that he at least hinted at bits and pieces of what was then the future, but which has come to pass in terms of in-vitro fertilization, using food for fuel such as ethanol, etc.)…

…and yes, it’s baaack…

#15, Jean Schmidt
#16, Phil Gingrey
#17, David Schweikert
#18, Virginia Foxx
#19, Pete Sessions
#20, Charlie Dent
#21, Cathy McMorris Rodgers
#22, Chris Smith
#23, Todd Akin
#24, Buck McKeon
#25, Kristi Noem
#26, Hal Rogers
#27, Lou Barletta (Two bonus selections: Boren and Ross)
#28, Paul Broun
#29, Mary Bono Mack
#30, David Dreier
#31, Marsha Blackburn (including backgrounder)

…and that brings us to #14 on our list of U.S. House Repugs opposed to health care reform, and that would be Cliff Stearns of Florida.

As noted here, Stearns defended oil industry subsidies (along with every other U.S. House Repug, to my knowledge), said that we supposedly can’t compete with China on green energy, and he also said that women who undergo abortions should face criminal charges (peachy). And did I mention that he’s a “birther” too?

Stearns is particularly bad, though, because, at one time, he sponsored the “Consumer Choice Health Security Act” in the 1990’s (here), which was the first time in recent history that Congress had proposed the individual mandate (though he did get some "push-back" from a constituent here). So, you would think that he would be a voice of sanity on health care reform, wouldn’t you?.

Well, you would be wrong, as noted here. And K.O. got the goods on Stearns here (how sad, though funny also)…

Update 8/16/12: It's a shame you can't see my sad face (here :-).

…and it looks like “The Colonel” isn’t above trying to “get on the down-low” for some new bidness (in response to this…I guess it was inevitable – removing my tongue from my cheek)…

KFC Loves Gays with John Goodman from John Goodman      

…and Jerry Garcia would have been 70 today (among other things, he was one of the finest pedal steel guitar players who ever lived).

Tuesday Stuff

(I also posted here.)

I’m messing around a bit with the congressional list, so I’ll take a break again tonight (the breaks may become more frequent as I work further down the list, since the offenders are more and more blameworthy and documenting their misdeeds will take more time).

As a bit of a respite, though, I give you this from Willard Mitt Romney (so presidential, I know…related links are here, and particularly, here – and yes, the “kiss my ass” guy apologized, as well he should)…

Update 8/1/12: So pathetic that I almost feel sorry for him - almost...



...and Seether "gets the gold" IMHO for this one (sorry, no video).

Monday Stuff

You know it, you love it – here it is again…

#16, Phil Gingrey
#17, David Schweikert
#18, Virginia Foxx
#19, Pete Sessions
#20, Charlie Dent
#21, Cathy McMorris Rodgers
#22, Chris Smith
#23, Todd Akin
#24, Buck McKeon
#25, Kristi Noem
#26, Hal Rogers
#27, Lou Barletta (Two bonus selections: Boren and Ross)
#28, Paul Broun
#29, Mary Bono Mack
#30, David Dreier
#31, Marsha Blackburn (including backgrounder)

…and that brings us to #15 on our list of U.S. House Republicans opposed to the Affordable Care Act, and that would be “Mean Jean” Schmidt of Ohio.

Why “Mean Jean”? Well, for starters, she called the late Dem U.S. House Rep (and former Marine) John Murtha a coward when he courageously came out in opposition to Dubya’s Not-So-Excellent Adventure in Iraq (that and a bunch of other stuff is here). She also told a big lie about Planned Parenthood here (lots of company in that department), faked being targeted for assassination again (!) here, and carried out a two-year vendetta against David Krikorian, a one-time challenger for her seat (here).

Oh, and it should also be noted that Schmidt was one of numerous Congressional representatives tainted in a Turkish influence-peddling scheme (a “Turkish Delight,” if you will) brought to light by Sibel Edmonds, renowned former FBI Turkish and Farsi interpreter and whistleblower (here).

So yeah, Schmidt has a lot of baggage. Unfortunately for we filthy, unkempt liberal blogger types, we won’t have “Mean Jean” to kick around for much longer since she lost her Republican primary in March to Brad Wenstrup (who has the imprimatur of those zany teabaggers, though it is a point in Wenstrup’s favor that he served our country too).

At least Schmidt managed to give us this utterly hilarious moment before she ran out the clock, as Cenk Uygur and company note below (and yep, Michael Savage is that big of a whack job too)...

…and this is a song about a guy with issues, I would say (nice tune anyway).

Sunday Stuff

(I also posted here.)

I’m taking a break from the congressional countdown tonight, or whatever you may want to call it…

Meanwhile, it’s pretty sad when Willard Mitt gets taken to the proverbial woodshed by his party’s own media apparatus, that stupid comment about voting in Chicago (or whatever) notwithstanding (here)…

…and I thought this was a nice little summer video featuring one of rock’s most interesting and underrated bands (doing the Gershwin standard, of course).

Saturday Stuff

I think this is basically a good report about Willard Mitt’s bumbling on the world stage and the fact that he would be “George W. Romney” on foreign policy and other matters, but I think it’s dangerous for anyone to assume that Romney would be a pacifist – I can definitely see him doing something stupid overseas, if for no other reason than to try and prove that he’s tougher than he ever will be…

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

And it’s that time again…

#17, David Schweikert
#18, Virginia Foxx
#19, Pete Sessions
#20, Charlie Dent
#21, Cathy McMorris Rodgers
#22, Chris Smith
#23, Todd Akin
#24, Buck McKeon
#25, Kristi Noem
#26, Hal Rogers
#27, Lou Barletta (Two bonus selections: Boren and Ross)
#28, Paul Broun
#29, Mary Bono Mack
#30, David Dreier
#31, Marsha Blackburn (including backgrounder)

…so that brings us to #16 on the list of U.S. House knuckleheads opposing the Affordable Care Act, and that would be Phil Gingrey of Georgia, who said here that the GOP’s resistance to extending the payroll tax cut last December was their “Braveheart moment.” He also lambasted President Obama for “African Americans for Obama” (though the GOP, of course, are no strangers to such outreach groups…umm, is there an actual issue here? And I guess this was OK anyway).

Rachel Maddow and Kent Jones got the goods on Gingrey a little while ago here (what a total asshat)…

…and I thought this was another clever Mark Fiore clip…

…and this tune is becoming a personal favorite (sorry, no video).

Friday Stuff

I think I’m close to half way on this thing (why do I create so much work for myself, I wonder?)…

#18, Virginia Foxx
#19, Pete Sessions
#20, Charlie Dent
#21, Cathy McMorris Rodgers
#22, Chris Smith
#23, Todd Akin
#24, Buck McKeon
#25, Kristi Noem
#26, Hal Rogers
#27, Lou Barletta (Two bonus selections: Boren and Ross)
#28, Paul Broun
#29, Mary Bono Mack
#30, David Dreier
#31, Marsha Blackburn (including backgrounder)

…so that brings us to #17 on our list of U.S. House Repugs opposing health care reform, and that would be David Schweikert of Arizona.

This guy doesn’t pop up on the political radar, as it were, too often, but when he does, he usually makes a doozy of an impression. Here, he called for “offsetting” hurricane aid (but not by “offsetting” tax cuts for the “pay no price, bear no burden” bunch of course), and here, he emerged as a “closet birther” (and of course, here is the obligatory anti-HCR link).

And OK, so Schweikert doesn’t like the fact that Obama is trying to get a “stay” on Arizona’s “illegal to be brown” deportation policy (here), but he’s trying to do it by getting Congress (the legislative branch) to tell the Department of Homeland Security (the executive branch) what they can and can’t enforce…I would really like someone to present evidence to me of a Congress that ever impinged upon the rights of the executive branch like this under a Republican president. Go ahead and look – I’ll wait.

As noted in the video, though, Schweikert really made a name for himself by preying on homeowners with “underwater” mortgages (here); what an absolute gem of a human being, my fellow prisoners…

Update 8/2/12: Gee, I wonder if the hot, dry air in that state is affecting one of Schweikert’s fellow reps, as noted here (Flake was endorsed by Jon Kyl for the latter’s seat, which should tell you absolutely nothing good).

…and it’s yet another summer weekend, people – so let’s KICK IT!