But everyone seems so happy at CPAC!

Ouch.

Americans identifying themselves as Democrats outnumber those who say they are Republicans by 10 percentage points, the largest gap in party identification in 24 years.

The gap has widened significantly since President George W. Bush’s re-election in 2004, when it was a mere 3 percentage points. But by the time Mr. Bush left office in January, less than a quarter of Americans approved of his performance.

These days, 38 percent of Americans say they are Democrats, 28 percent call themselves Republicans, and another 29 percent identify as independents, according to an average of national polls conducted last year by The New York Times and CBS News.

Enjoy irrelevance, wingnuts.

GOP! GOP! GOP!

Glad to hear everyone's so happy over there.

I am, too.

Glug, Glug.

Ms. Noonan:

The White House no longer uses the phrase "stimulus package." They always say "recovery plan."

Well, maybe. But this is Robert Gibbs, yesterday.

MR. GIBBS: No. And I think it's important to understand that what the President has enumerated in his budget today is precisely the blueprint and series of promises that he made over the course of two years in the campaign, and that the American people voted for.

I also think it's important for people that are listening to commentary on the budget or reading about it to understand that there is a -- not only as part of the stimulus package but contained in the budget -- tax cuts for 95 percent of working families in the United States of America, tax cuts for college tuition, tax cuts for savings and retirement security. What the budget does do -- sort of -- some of the things that the budget does, in terms of changing tax rates, it's important for people to understand, affect people that are -- if they're single, if they make $200,000 a year or more, or a family that makes $250,000 a year or more, it doesn't even affect them. There's not a member of Congress that makes $200,000 a year or more.

Today's Headlines.

Sorry.

They ain't bad. Will Chris Bowers unclench his ass for a minute or two? Heaven only knows.

"With Pledges to Troops and Iraqis, Obama Details Pullout"

"A Bold Plan Sweeps Away Reagan Ideas"

"Obama Moves to Undo ‘Conscience’ Rule for Health Workers"

Obambi might just know what he's doing.

Indeed, I see the usual suspects are wetting themselves. It's beginning to dawn on them that the very things they despise about Obama are the very things that will get him reelected.

There's nothing in it for Obama to placate Republicans -- and they know it. Let's hope he does too.

Day 2 of the Annual Wingnut Convention.

Just keeps getting better.

Teabaggers, Unite!

Look at these un-American rubes, defacing the flag in such a disgraceful manner. I hope Michelle Malkin prints their respective home phone numbers on her website!


Maybe she'll even question their patriotism!

Meanwhile, I'm so not impressed with the quality of photography. Clearly, it's an acquired skill.

...Dave Weigel has a great report. Putz's new friends are a weird bunch.

A More Innocent Time.

A year ago:

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Darin S. Morley writes: “I think Michael Steele fits all of Michael Graham’s requirements for VP.” Yeah, the Insta-Wife likes him as a running mate too.

Avoiding The Cliff, Or Why Tom Ricks Left The Post.

The following exchange comes from Ricks's interview with Hugh Hewitt:

HH: Have you scaled back at the Post, though? Or are you just doubling down?

TR: I have. I feel like I’ve stepped off the train about to go over a cliff, which is the U.S. newspaper industry. I’m hanging my hat full-time now at a little boutique think tank called The Center For A New American Security, which is a really neat little place, kind of the Google of think tanks.

My First Demand: Feel Better.

Okay, it's not a demand so much as a plea.

Assuage my guilt, SB; when I read this, fleetingly, I thought, Shit. This means she won't write as much! Which probably makes me a low-level monster -- more Monica Goodling than John Ashcroft.

I make no apologies for my VB addiction -- "So... a funny thing happened during Operation: Clean Laundry and before Task Force Dinner was put into action yesterday afternoon" fucking rules -- and for the love of god don't hide the PayPal button!

Click the ads!

This is the perfect message to remind our readers to support the site by clicking our sponsors, blah blah blah...

But seriously, every click helps!

K-Lo's Kiss of Death.

Jindal never had a chance...

Burn.

Putz:

So the Tea Party Movement is well underway.

Weigel:

That’s sort of an overstatement.

There is, indeed, a viral movement afoot to stage protests against President Obama’s spending plans. They are really very small protests. The largest “tea party” Facebook group has a bit less than 3000, and it’ll probably pass that, but many members belong to other smaller “tea party” groups.

Look, I covered the Ron Paul campaign for more than a year, from his launch in early 2007 to his “vote for some third party candidate” press conference. I waded through crowds at Paul rallies that drew 4000 people, ten times the size of any “tea party” we’ve seen so far.

This isn’t to say that the “tea parties” will never, ever take off. Just that it’s quite easy to get attention for an anti-government cause, especially in the blog era, and easy to forget that it doesn’t really matter politically.

Meanwhile, there's a ridiculous conflict of interest here.

...Pajamas Media has started running online ads (spotted on conservative blog Hot Air today), simultaneously encouraging readers to organize their own tea parties and promoting Pajamas Media's coverage of them. "The Pajamas TV team including Michelle Malkin, Glenn Reynolds, and Joe Wurzelbacher (aka Joe the Plumber) - are mobilized to help cover this new and evolving revolution," Pajamas' online promotion page reads. The model appears to be that the promise of coverage (partly) motivates the protest, which motivates the coverage.

You think if The New York Times were pulling this, Putz wouldn't be the first to grab a pitchfork?

QOTD.

Chuck Colson:

Well, politics is nothing but a reflection of culture. And the culture’s in trouble, so our politics are in trouble. I’ve never seen so much mismanagement, mishandling of money, I’ve never seen so much corruption.

"The Party of Twitter."

I can't think of a better name for the GOP. Don't know who coined the phrase, but renowned commenter, Warren Terra, used it a week and half ago.

Make it stick.

The American Taliban.

Still vigilantly looking for blasphemy.

Jindal.

Epic fail.

"Unserious."

Jennifer Rubin, who, according to this Google image search, is either very, very hot or a paper bag special, doesn't understand that elections have consequences:

...[Obama] was so perfunctory in his remarks on national security as to be unserious.

Granted, when you are busy dismantling private enterprise there isn’t much time left in the day for other things, but this is no joke. We have troops on two battlefields, we face two despotic regimes with ambitions for nuclear weapons, and we have unratified and outstanding trade agreements. And all we get is a few campaign throwaway lines about ending the war in Iraq and closing Guantanamo.

The question remains why Obama would just rather not discuss it. Well, he might be uninterested.

Rubin is confused, obviously, or maybe she isn't embarrassed to have a public temper tantrum. What Obama is discussing is drawing a war to a close, not escalating it across other borders, which is what Rubin and her merry band of losers would like.

To them, ending the war in Iraq and closing Quantanamo are mere afterthoughts -- "throwaway lines" -- which should surprise no one who recalls how casually they rushed into the war.

Ouch.

Mr. Emmett Till Had It Comin' says:

A big wiffle-ball swing and a miss for the consensus favorite 2012 candidate of Republicans who look down their nose at Sarah Palin. I like Jindal. Great conservative with good ideas. But Palin's so much better on TV, there's no comparison.

In what respect, Stacy?

Seriously: it's an indication of how lost conservatives are that they can say such things with a straight face. I mean, Palin torpedoed McCain's campaign and you're nostalgic?

Suck it, Malkinites.

Good news.

I preferred Hillary's health care proposal to Obama's, specifically because of the mandate. Looks like he's come around.

Condit.

Andrew Sullivan, noting that Mickey Kaus spent an unhealthy amount of time nipping at Gary Condit's heels, observes

But since Condit was cleared, Kausfiles' thoughts are unaccountably private.

It's true. The last time Kaus mentioned Condit at all was July 2003, in passing, and hasn't addressed him in any substantive way since Condit sued Dominick Dunne, five months earlier:

...it's still hard to believe Condit wants to answer under oath all the entirely relevant questions Dunne's attorney might ask. Note to D.D.: I'd start with the one about the [Save it for radio, blogboy! Microsoft's on the hook here.--ed.]

Heh heh. So clever!

I expect Kaus will apologize to Condit just as soon as he says he's sorry to Alex Polier.

[Which will be never? --ed Yes.]

GOP Governor: Republican leadership doesn't matter.

Ouch.

Of course, to people like Putz, Boehner's doing a heckuva job.

Kurtz Sandbags Post.

Nevermind that Howard Kurtz is twittering (or whatever) with a proponent of internment camps. Frankly, after the George Will nonsense, not much surprises me. But it's kind of funny to see Kurtz parrot Malkin's langage ("preemptive apology") as he sandbags his own paper.

Perhaps he's angling for more face time with a former subject?

Everyone hates the stimulus! Tea Party! Tea Party! Tea Party!

Not so much.

Large majorities of Americans in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll support his $787 billion economic stimulus package and the recently unveiled $75 billion plan to stem mortgage foreclosures. Nearly seven in 10 poll respondents said Obama is delivering on his pledge to bring needed change to Washington, and about eight in 10 said he is meeting or exceeding their expectations.
...
Americans put far more faith in Obama than in congressional Republicans: Sixty-one percent said they trust Obama more than the GOP on economic matters; twenty-six percent side with the Republicans in Congress. On that question, Obama's advantage is bigger than George W. Bush, Bill Clinton or George H.W. Bush ever had over the opposition party in the legislature.

(h/t TR for the retarded PJs graphic)

Don't read the snark?!?!

Without snark, Professor Krugman, I am powerless.

I'm Shocked.

Worst Prediction Ever.

Kudlow last July fantasized about a scenario in which

oil prices will keep on plunging — perhaps all the way to $75 a barrel, which is the profitable break-even point for lifting the extra barrel of oil.

His prediction?

That would drive the Dow to somewhere between 15,000 and 16,000, and it would have a huge tax-cut effect on the economy. And, of course, it could completely change the November election outlook in a highly favorable way for the GOP.

The price of oil today: approximately $39 a barrel. The Dow: 7,114.78. Massive, throbbing fail.

What is it with this family?

The Bushes continue to amaze.

Palin out wingnuts the wingnuts.

When I wrote this in October, I had no idea that I'd be proven right --- by Sarah Palin.

Idiots.

Wingnuts' perverse fondness for Twitter is well-mocked in these parts, so it will not surprise you that we find the idea of a GOP "tech summit" pretty damn funny. The summit occurred on February 13, so of course Pajamas has its take a mere 10 days later.

The degree to which the goobers are out of touch is inadvertently demonstrated in the third graf:

Last Friday, the RNC held the GOP Tech Summit at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington, D.C., which brought together bloggers, politicos, and activists to discuss ideas ranging from social networking to online fundraising. The forum was also broadcast online so that those who were interested from all over the country could view and submit their comments. Attendees even got a surprise visit from Chairman Steele and Newt Gingrich.

Um, fellas. A little-read website, Politico -- you've heard of them maybe? -- gave you plenty of notice. Like four days?

For more laffs, drink in Michael Steele's blog. I'm gonna bookmark this, big time:

Don't allow the opposition to gloss over the key issues at hand that sets our ideologies apart. Become bullies with bullhorns and call out the hypocrisy loud and clear! If I hear another person talk about disrespecting President Obama by disagreeing with him I am going to lose it. The left crucified George Bush, and humiliated him at every turn! They will use racism , and the ignorance of the followers beholden to the DNC for handouts to continue the re framing of our message! STOP! Put your ivy league manners in a drawer and fight for the right to have a different view! Next time you sit across from some pundit who is lying, manipulating facts to degrade your ideology call them out! BE ADAMANT ! State the truth and hav ethe facts to back them up!

AND MORE ALL CAPS PLZ!!!!!!

Whereabouts.

I went to China. The day I left, Beijing was aflutter with Hillary Clinton's visit. I expect the Madame Secretary made no friends with this exchange:

QUESTION: (Via interpreter.) With CCTV - I have two questions to Madame Secretary.

In your speech at the Asia Society last week, you said how essential it is for China and the United States to have a positive and cooperative relationship. I wonder if you can further elaborate on the China policy of the Obama administration. And do you think you can tell us who will be the next U.S. ambassador to China?

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, we are committed to a positive, cooperative relationship. We had a very good beginning today in our discussions. I will be seeing the president and the premier and the state councilor later, as well, to discuss in greater detail some of the issues we raised, and some additional ones.

But the Obama administration wants very much to work with China on the range of issues that Minister Yang and I discussed. And Minister Yang and I will have further discussions when he comes to Washington in March. And our presidents will be meeting when they are together in London for the G-20 summit.

And when we have an announcement about our next ambassador, we will certainly make it.

The previous ambassador, Clark Randt, was well-liked by the Chinese and people I spoke with said that, in the best of all possible worlds, he'd stay on. But he won't, so the smart money's on John Thornton. Under normal circumstances, his immense wealth might present a p.r. problem, but the lack of speculation about the ambassador position suggests that no one inside or outside the U.S. government is paying too much attention.

Which is fucking nuts.

...I needed to get that out of my system. Back to your regularly scheduled snark shortly...

George Will, schooled again.

Like I wrote a few weeks ago, it's like Alvy Singer bringing in Marshall McLuhan every Sunday morning now.

It's Good to Be Back.

Was I missed, even a little?

Not even conservatives think Glenn Reynolds and Michelle Malkin know what they're talking about.

Hehindeedy!

The theme of this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) should be “Cocooning our way to Irrelevancy” or perhaps “How to lose the next 5 elections in 10 easy steps.”

...
The side conference being sponsored by PJTV - “Conservatism 2.0” – looks interesting but here again, we have familiar faces who haven’t expressed much interest in real conservative reform. (Some panelists on the communications side are the exception.) Glenn Reynolds and Michelle Malkin are internet friends of mine and I agree with them on many issues. But are they really the people to be running a “Conservatism 2.0” conference? Perhaps I misunderstand what they are trying to accomplish. And I may be pleasantly surprised. But before we can even get to “Conservatism 2.0” perhaps we should be thinking of taking a remedial course in what conservatism should mean in our modern society. I’m afraid this sort of introspection will reveal how far afield conservatism has strayed but may also generate thoughts and ideas about how conservatism can be relevant in a 21st century industrialized democracy.

That's easy, silly.

Small gubmint, low taxes, bombing Muslims, torture, keeping out the Mex'cans, hating teh gay, banning abortion and pissing off libruls.

Pretty much it.

Opposing the stimulus -- it's just like the Boston Tea Party!

Do any of these idiots realize that the the Boston Tea Party was a protest against a tax cut?

Everyone hates the simulus bill!

It's a "movement" that's sweeping the country!!!

Yeah, not so much:

Glenn Reynolds bashes Dodd, gives Republicans a pass on Stanford.

Dog bites man, I know, but...

Former U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay's committees paid for flights on Stanford's jets at least 16 times from 2003 through 2006, according to DeLay's financial disclosures. Stanford also gave $4,200 to DeLay, a Texas Republican.

Other prominent lawmakers and organizations that have received money since 2000 from Stanford or the company include: Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas; former Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas; Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn.; the Republican National Committee; and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Why wasn't DeLay, Cornyn, or Gramm mentioned?

Greenwald vs. Goldberg.

As usual, Glenn wins. And you know he wins, because of this:

The Buchananites have even recruited Jews to do their Israel-bashing for them.

So criticizing Israel = Israel bashing. Only to a neocon. Goldberg then goes on to call Greenwald "hysterical" and a "putz."

Jeff, step away from the computer. You're embarrassing yourself.

Jim DeMint's brave crusade against a policy Obama opposes.

Keep spanking, Jim.

Not as annoying as Glenn Reynolds, but pretty close.

David Broder never disappoints.

Republican party update.

In two parts:

Part 1.

Part 2.

Why is he a Democrat?

The mystery of Heath Shuler.

Linking approvingly to Michelle Malkin...

...Putz excitedly notes how everyone HATES THE STIMULUS.

Meanwhile on Planet Earth,

Public support for an $800 billion economic stimulus package has increased to 59% in a USA Today/Gallup poll conducted Tuesday night, up from 52% in Gallup polling a week ago, as well as in late January.

Rachel kicking Tim Pawlenty's ass.

Exposing the "I'm against the stimulus bill, but taking the money?" BS.

It's beautiful to watch.

But...but...everyone hates the Democrats and the stimulus bill!

Wrong.

Though most people still think the Republicans suck.

Chuck Norris on the stimulus bill.

Charming.

Chicken Littles everywhere!

That liberal pro-Obama rag The Wall Street Journal -- headline (9/18/08):

Worst Crisis Since '30s, With No End Yet in Sight

From the article:

"This has been the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. There is no question about it," said Mark Gertler, a New York University economist who worked with fellow academic Ben Bernanke, now the Federal Reserve chairman, to explain how financial turmoil can infect the overall economy.

International Monetary Fund:

America's mortgage crisis has spiralled into "the largest financial shock since the Great Depression" and there is now a one-in-four chance of a full-blown global recession over the next 12 months, the International Monetary Fund warned today.

WaPost:

The worst financial crisis since the Great Depression is claiming another casualty: American-style capitalism.

But Obama's fear-mongering!

Someone tell Dr. Mrs. Putz.

Dear Dr. Helen...

You might actually want to use teh Google and look up what Obama said before quoting the non-partisan WSJ.

Anyway, this whole wingnut pushback on the economy is rather amusing.

"We're just fine! It's really not that bad!"

What are these "in the era of hope and change" posts supposed to mean?

Obama's been President all of what, a month?

After pimping George W. Bush's handling of the economy for 8 years ("They love him on Wall St.!", "Dude, where's my recession"), do you think Putz realizes that these photos of financial failings around Knoxville are sort of self-incriminating?

Tennessee Republicans, still leading the league in stupid.

Idiots.

Four Tennessee state representatives, all Republicans, have signed up to be plaintiffs in a lawsuit against President Barack Obama, aimed at forcing him to prove he is a United States citizen by coughing up his birth certificate.

Let me just say what all the world is now thinking, including their fellow Republicans on the Hill: This is dumber than a box of rocks.

Bottoming out.

Funny.

In any line of work there are certain signs that one has hit rock bottom in a professional sense. For a lawyer, it’s getting disbarred or working as an ambulence chaser. For a classically-trained ballet dancer it might be stripping in a club located behind a dog track (which is in turn located behind a rendering plant). For an actor, appearing in straight-to-DVD horror films or anything starring Pauly Shore.

I often wonder what the equivalent is for an academic. Being an adjunct (i.e., a temp professor)? Some people swear they enjoy it. Teaching at an online-only “college” like University of Phoenix? Maybe. Being a grad student for 15 years? All of these things are pretty bad. But I think the true moment at which the average Professor sits back and says, “Oh my God, what the hell happened to my life?” involves having a serious panel discussion with Joe the Plumber and Michelle Malkin.

While I would argue that to a frighteningly large chunk of the country, there's nothing at all embarrassing about Malkin, I imagine there's a sizable subset of wingnutland that sees Joe the Plumber for what he is -- a joke.

Cowards.

They're all scared of El Rushbo, the Club for Growther nuts, and the crazy Malkin/Putz base.

"When I came back to the cloak room after coming to the agreement a week ago today," said Specter, "one of my colleagues said, 'Arlen, I'm proud of you.' My Republican colleague said, 'Arlen, I'm proud of you.' I said, 'Are you going to vote with me?' And he said, 'No, I might have a primary.' And I said, 'Well, you know very well I'm going to have a primary.'"

No Joe the Plumber pimping.

Interesting that JTP had a big live shindig yesterday and Putzy didn't link.

Maybe it's getting too embarrassing for even him?

UPDATE

Yeah, what was I thinking? He just avoided using JTP's name.

Dan Boren, asshat.

With Democrats like this, who needs Republicans?

Toldya, Andrew.

Sullivan, last week.

The GOP surely won't filibuster the bill in the Senate.

Sullivan, today.

I have to say even I am a little taken aback by the force of the Republican assault.

I'm confused as to why he's taken aback.

Joe the Plumber.

Normally, his 15 minutes would've been over months ago. But thanks to wingnut welfare, he's still goin'!

Would you pay $150K for a Bush speech?

Someone apparently is.

I love this:

"He's probably accomplishing the first thimbleful of money back into the old coffers, as he said he was looking forward to doing, but he's careful not to go too far before an audience where shoes might be thrown," said SMU political science professor Cal Jillson. "It does sound like he's not going to play without a net for some time."

Still a big puss.

The GOP Bible Belt is as religious as the Middle East.

Unsurprising, really.

But I love that Tennessee is as religious as Iraq.

(via)

Patting himself on the back.

Really?

I'm sure we're all impressed how prescient Putz -- the Great Defender of Civil Liberties -- was in 2001.

Now, if [the President] wants to nuke Baghdad, there is nobody to say him nay -- and damned few who would want to.

Asshat.

Stimulus going in the wrong direction.

This sucks.

TS Is...

Off to an undisclosed location. But just for a while.

Please behave in his absence...

No 'Cuda at CPAC.

Hmmm.

Looks like Joe the Plumber will have to step up in '12.

Jennifer Loven, auditioning for Fox News.

You really do wonder how these people get their jobs.

Big tent update.

Eating their own:

A GOP group is putting Republican lawmakers "on notice," threatening to campaign against anyone who breaks ranks to vote for the more than $800 billion economic recovery package.

There are apparently only 3 Republican moderates in the entire Congress smart enough to understand the ramifications of the past two elections and support the Economic Recovery Bill -- but that's one too many for today's GOP base.

It Burns.

Remember that awesome circle jerk conference we told you about in December? Well, the schedule just landed in our inbox and boy does it look exciting!

Program for the Conservatism 2.0 Conference - Thursday, February 26, 2009
Palladian Ballroom, complimentary lunch at 11:45 a.m. EST, program from 12:15 p.m.-2:30 p.m. EST

Visionary thinkers discuss New Media Empowering Conservative Messages:
Mary Katherine Ham, writer, Weekly Standard (invited)
Alfonzo Rachel, advocate of right-minded ideas on new media
Patrick Ruffini, online and new media strategist (invited)
with moderator Bill Whittle, PJTV

Students, scholars, filmmakers and activists confront Bias in Media and Education:
Ben Judge, student and contributing editor, Claremont Independent
Evan Coyne Maloney, filmmaker, Indoctrinate U
Jason Mattera, spokesperson, Young America's Foundation (invited)
Joe Wurzelbacher, aka Joe the Plumber, activist and correspondent
with moderator Joe Hicks, PJTV

And don't miss special presentations by:
Roger Simon, CEO of Pajamas Media
Stephen Green, Vodkapundit


Program for the Conservatism 2.0 Conference - Saturday, February 28, 2009
Diplomat Ballroom, complimentary late lunch at 2:00 p.m. EST, program from 2:30 p.m.-4:45 p.m. EST

The conservative answer to the View. Your hosts:
Kellyanne Conway, CEO and president of The Polling Company
Michelle Malkin, commentator, blogger and columnist
Jeri Thompson, media consultant and political campaigner
and their special guests

Shaping conservative messages around Common Ground:
John P. Avlon, author, Independent Nation
Scott Ott, editor, ScrappleFace.com, author and public speaker
Alfonzo Rachel, advocate of right-minded ideas on new media
Glenn Reynolds, blogger, Instapundit, and law professor
with moderator Bill Whittle, PJTV

And don't miss special presentations by:
Roger Simon, CEO of Pajamas Media
Stephen Green, Vodkapundit

Honestly, the Simon lecture should be interesting. I'd very much like to know how to lose $7 million, drive a company into the ground, and still find the cash to buy up real estate on swanky Bainbridge Island -- all with somebody else's money! Impressive!

Dodd.

Does Chris Dodd have a Cabinet position and no one told us? From approximately the last 48 hours:

-- HARTFORD COURANT: Chris Dodd’s approval sinks. ...

-- CHRIS DODD’S mortgage nirvana.

-- MORE ON CHRIS DODD, FROM ED MORRISSEY

-- NEW YORK TIMES: ANGELO WHO?

-- CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: Including an appearance by Chris Dodd...

-- IN THE HARTFORD COURANT: Why We Just Can’t Trust Dodd: ...

I'm sure between Dodd stalking and pimping stuff for Amazon, it's just a matter of time before Putz mentions this, right?

Knoxville shooter pleads guilty.

Just a liberal trying to make conservatives look bad:

"This was a hate crime," Adkisson wrote in the four-page suicide letter obtained by The Knoxville News Sentinel. "This was a symbolic killing. Who I wanted to kill was every Democrat in the House and Senate ... (and) everyone in the mainstream media. But these people were inaccessible to me.

"I couldn't get to the generals and high-ranking officers of the Marxist movement so I went after the foot soldiers, the chicken (expletive) liberals that vote in these traitorous people."

The Tennessee Valley United Unitarian Church, he wrote, was "a den of un-American vipers."

Remember Putz's first theory? That the crazy wingnut was targeting Christians.

Unsettling.

Obama's been talking for, like, 30 minutes and I haven't cringed once.

It's going to take a long while to shake off the diminished expectations I've been saddled with by the last eight years.

...Christ, HuffPo got a question. Strange times...

Starbursts.

Friedman is okay, I guess, but his dulcet tones don't make me wanna bust a nut.

Lexington Steele.

Michael Steele is going to make his minders a tad uncomfortable:

Just ran into new RNC Chairman Michael Steele who watched President Obama's town hall in Indiana and wasn't impressed.

The Obama-backed stimulus, he said, "is just a wish list from a lot of people who have been on the sidelines for years.. to get a little bling, bling."

Ahem, Mr. Glenn Thrush, it's bling-bling. It's in the goddamn dictionary.

This, I daresay, will be a learning experience for the right. For example, Pantload has a sterling chance to explain to his eugenicist colleague what the word means.

Entire Republican Party: We're doing a heckuva job!

Unreal.

Seems like Putzy and the other Bush dead-enders like Malkin are with them too.

Gitmo.

I remember the good old days when, said Putz, merely criticizing Guantanamo Bay "helps the Bush Administration" and that Amnesty International, in doing so, "joined the rather lengthy list of those suffering from Bush Derangement Syndrome." Putz even suggested that there were "some similarities" between Gitmo and spring break at Daytona Beach.

So I'm curious to see what he thinks of the latest news:

The 25 lines edited out of the court papers contained details of how Mr Mohamed’s genitals were sliced with a scalpel and other torture methods so extreme that waterboarding, the controversial technique of simulated drowning, “is very far down the list of things they did,” the official said.

Another source familiar with the case said: “British intelligence officers knew about the torture and didn’t do anything about it.”

Heh indeed?

Michael Steele: Economic Collapse All The Democrats' Fault

No, really.

Hey, John...

My dog died a few years ago; feel free to mock him as you see fit.

Yrs,
TS

Wow.

Child molester Mark Hemingway quotes another wingnut's work...

U.S. Energy Secretary Stephen Chu announced his resignation this morning amid new reports that Alameda County workers had unearthed more than a dozen additional dead hobo bodies at his former home in Berkeley, California...

...and, in perhaps the biggest fuck you ever to Corner readers, says

I shouldn't have to say this, but in order to head off the breathless emails — yes, it's satire.

When conservatives eventually go the way of the carrier pigeon, historians will look at this Corner post and wonder a) why it didn't happen sooner and b) why they didn't see it coming.

Republican Party update.

Big tent!

I love this:

I have been asked to send this apology for my earlier email. I am sorry that it was received in a negative manner.

Can't imagine why it would've been, can you?

TS Out.

Yeah, it's still early, but I'm kinda fried. As you watch this, keep telling yourself that the song was never never ever used for evil by the hellbound makers of The Green Mile.

THE MOST EXPENSIVE BILL EVAR!!1!!!

So annoying.

Charming.

The Party of Lincoln:

Readers will recall that our new Affirmative Action president adamantly defended the practice of killing children who survive botched abortions by just leaving them to die.

When the revolution comes, I hope Blackazoid puts these douchebags up against the wall first.

Making Harvard Law Proud.

The Virgin (?) Ben Shapiro, on a particularly egregious plot twist in 24:

This is about as convincing a set-up as Rosie O’Donnell playing a woman in A League of Their Own.

Ha ha ha! Fag jokes!

I wouldn't weep if Ben were accidentally boinked in an extremely uncomfortable place.

John Cole is so funny.

You'll never get this 21 minutes of your life back.

Instapundit, Malkin, and Joe the Plumber discuss politics for PJTV.

There is so much to love about this, I don’t know where to start, but certainly Joe the Plumber bemoaning the lack of spending cuts and general program cuts in the stimulus bill was a highlight. It is almost as if he doesn’t have the first damned clue what he is talking about. A close runner-up would be Instapundit heralding Bush’s MBA as evidence of his awesome managerial skills. There was just so much to love, it is hard to narrow down the “best” parts.

Even though he's always indulged braindead talentless partisans like Gateway Pundit and Don Surber, Putz also used to link to people like Djerjian. That was back when the conservative movement still had people like John Cole amongst their ranks.

Now, Putz is reduced to interviewing a clown like Joe the Plumber about national economic policy.

The cocoon's getting tighter.

Because the Times Obit Didn't Mention It.

The Times was seriously derelict in its obit for Ingemar Johansson by not mentioning that his famous 1959 fight, in which Johansson knocked out Floyd Patterson, was woven into the end of My Life As A Dog, a beautiful little Swedish movie from the mid-Eighties.

Sorry to waste space on this, but it was really pissing me off.

Glenn Reynolds and rendition.

How's this taste, Putz?

The Obama administration will not conduct the kind of "extraordinary rendition" that the Bush administration allowed, CIA Director nominee Leon Panetta assured senators on Thursday.

Oh well.

Jammie Wearing Fail.

Yesterday, Politico reported that, "A reporter was escorted out of a White House event by Secret Service agents on Wednesday afternoon after he approached President Obama to seek an autograph."

Jammie Wearing Fool, last seen not being able to find Georgia in a map, cracked, "For some strange reason the "reporter" isn't identified. This is what we call slavish devotion to The One. ... I'm wondering whether this was Olbermann or Matthews."

Well, hey, what have we here?

An official familiar with the incident identified the journalist involved as Robert Feuereisen of Jewish World Review, a New York-based Web site which features primarily conservative Jewish writers. A message left at a phone listed in that name in Pikesville, Md. was not immediately returned.

"Conservative" is probably an understatement. Among JWR's contributors:

Michael Barone
Michael Medved
Ch. Krauthammer
Lawrence Kudlow
Kathleen Parker
Dr. Laura
Mort Kondracke
Michelle Malkin
David Limbaugh
George Will
Mort Zuckerman
Cal Thomas
Linda Chavez
Mona Charen
Thomas Sowell

A veritable who's who of Insane People Who Fucked The Country Six Ways From Sunday.

I eagerly await Mr. Jammie's update!

Paging Mr. Biden.

The irrepressible Mr. Sargent is, as always, reporting the shit out of Ben Nelson and Susan Collins's wingnutty stimulus cuts. They all suck, but this one...

$150,000,000 from the Violence Against Women Act

...is the biggest headscratcher of them all. I, for one, would like to know what Joe Biden thinks of a fellow Dem trying to gut his baby.

...WTF?

He [Nelson] is by no means backing off the cuts. The Senators are still in negotiations to better target the recovery package toward truly stimulative items and looking at those programs that they don’t believe would create jobs, preserve jobs or quickly turn the economy around as potential cuts.

A reminder of the VAWA's intent:

It provided $1.6 billion to enhance investigation and prosecution of the violent crime perpetrated against women, increased pre-trial detention of the accused, imposed automatic and mandatory restitution on those convicted, and allowed civil redress in cases prosecutors chose to leave unprosecuted.

Yeah, by all means let's skimp on this.

Stimulus getting ready to pass in Senate?

Harry Reid says yes.

Hanson.

From The Economist:

THIS week is bringing a flurry of articles along the general theme of "is the presidency of Barack Obama doomed?" There are a few reasons to ignore them. For example, here is Victor Davis Hanson (pictured) in National Review, today, in a post that's making the blogospheric rounds:

We are quite literally after two weeks teetering on an Obama implosion—and with no Dick Morris to bail him out—brought on by messianic delusions of grandeur, hubris, and a strange naivete that soaring rhetoric and a multiracial profile can add requisite cover to good old-fashioned Chicago politicking.

Here's Victor Davis Hanson in National Review, September 2008:

No Northern Democratic liberal like Obama has won the presidency in a half-century...The new Obama probably will recover from his temporary setback in the polls. But right now his problem is that disappointed independent voters are catching on that this saintly savior is all too human.

Here's Victor David Hanson in National Review, March 2008:

Barack Obama is on his way to a McGovern candidacy.

Here's Victor Davis Hanson in National Review, March 2008 (again):

Obama is crashing in all the polls, especially against McCain, against whom he doesn’t stack up well, given McCain’s heroic narrative, the upswing in Iraq, and the past distance between McCain and the Bush administration.

Predicting a president's doom is a high-risk game. Or it would be, if pundits were held as accountable as, say, cabinet nominees.

Owmyballs!

[via The Only Blog That Matters]

I think Sullivan is wrong.

Wuh?

Obama still has majorities in both Houses. The GOP surely won't filibuster the bill in the Senate. What matters is the end-result, for which the president will ultimately be accountable. He should retain his focus on the substance, and keep bringing in as many Republicans as he can. He shouldn't support a bill he doesn't believe will work. But neither should he reprise the partisanship of the last twenty years.

Not sure what Republican party Andrew's talking about. Isn't it clear they will filibuster the bill? Why is everyone talking about 60?

He's From Tennessee. Whaddya Expect?

White people are dropping like flies from the Obama Administration. Old Man Rangel still has a job, though, and Putz senses a conspiracy afoot:

Because he’s black? It’s hard to imagine any other reason.

Hey, remember that time Putz -- who is, of course, in no way a product of his state's racist party -- speculated that incompetent Donald Rumsfeld kept his job, despite all the blood on his hands, just because he was white? (And remember how Putz, in a classy moment, declined to run puffy items about how Rumsfeld spent his holidays?)

Me neither.

An adult in the White House.

George W. Bush, over 3 1/2 years into his Presidency:

Q. In the last campaign, you were asked a question about the biggest mistake you'd made in your life and you used to like to joke that it was trading Sammy Sosa. You've looked back before 9/11 for what mistakes might have been made. After 9/11, what would your biggest mistake be, would you say? And what lessons have you learned from it?

A. Hmmm. I wish you'd have given me this written question ahead of time so I could plan for it. I'm sure historians will look back and say, Gosh, he could have done it better this way or that way. You know, I just ? I'm sure something will pop into my head here in the midst of this press conference with all the pressure of trying to come up with an answer, but it hadn't yet.

Barack Obama, not a month into his:

"I'm frustrated with myself, with our team. ... I'm here on television saying I screwed up," Obama said on NBC.

Joe the Plumber's economic recovery plan.

Cut bills and kick ass.

The Secret Lives of Conservatives.

Retch.

One of my favorite D.C. moments ever was a little over a year ago when I witnessed former two-time-Cabinet-secretary Bill Bennett happily fetch Judge Bork a martini.

From now on, before I silently pray that K-Lo gets eaten by a family of rats, I'll remind myself that, for her, watching one fat guy make another fat guy a drink is a cherished memory.

Hehindeedy!

I'm not always happy with Politico, but this layout is righteously funny:


Look for the wingnut squawking to be extra loud today.

Byron York Leaves National Review to Ponder His Reflections

In wingnut hack news, it seems that The Hair has parted with Rich Lowry and K-Lo.

National Review's White House correspondent Byron York is moving to The Washington Examiner as chief political correspondent. According to our sources, he'll pen a column twice a week for The Examiner's new politics page, starting Monday.

Evidently, The Examiner was looking for someone adept at making shit up, covering for Rushbo and getting pwned by Matt Taibbi.

The best part?

York already has a monthly "Reflections" column in The Examiner.

Words escape me.

(h/t ew, chs et al)

[crossposted at FDL]

Republican Party death wish: in two parts.

Part One.

Part Two.

The Case for Chastity.

Or, at the very least, fail-safe prophylactics:

YOUR LOVE PROBLEMS SOLVED, by the unbeatable team of Dr. Helen and Amy Alkon.

I pity that wingnut who looks to Dr. Mrs. Putz and the Shitmoat Queen for a solution to anything more complex than a sudoku puzzle.

Outsourcing my Glenn Reynolds-bashing to Sullivan.

Why not -- he's good at it!

Glenn Reynolds has no idea what the difference is between torture and rendition (not that he cares); and because Michael Ledeen seems to be just learning the difference between the rendition policy of Bill Clinton and the extraordinary-rendition-to-torturing regimes policy of Bush and Cheney.

I mean: there are legitimate areas of disagreement; and then there's just, well, proud, Palin-style ignorance.

Ouch.

Kill Me Now.

Please make it stop:

A comment at the end of Matt Lauer’s interview has left people wondering whether Obama called pop singer Jessica Simpson fat[.]

It's come to this, has it? People magazine's sloppy seconds is "the future of journalism"?

Pantload FAIL.

Jonah's readers are as stoopid as he is. One writes:

["867-5309/Jenny"] may also be the only song which inspired federal legislation. After endless complaints from folks with that number, the government reserved the prefix “555” for entertainment use only. That is why, all phone numbers in TV, movies, etc. start with “555.”

Replyeth the Load:

Me: I didn't know that was the reason we have 555 numbers.

I shan't be surprised. Duh.

The phone companies started encouraging the producers of television shows and movies to use the 555 prefix for fictional telephone numbers, roughly during the 1970s. One of the earliest uses of a 555 number can be seen in Panic in Year Zero! (1962), with 555-2106.

Hutchison: we've always been at war with Eurasia.

Seriously, these people are pathological.

The regional party wants to get even more regional.

The Republican death wish is something to watch.

The Army of Davids surrenders to the liberal media!

In case you missed it over the weekend...heh - indeed.

Obama Doesn't Give You Licence to Be a Honky.

When, in six months, Breitbart's Big Hollywood Abortion goes the way of Pajamas Media, us blogofascists will point to "Republican is the New Punk" as one of the reasons why.

The whole piece is magnificently retarded, but let's look only at the first graf:

Johnny Cash was punk rock. The birth of rock came when Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and Cash toured small towns and set the youth on fire. Parents were outraged. The long dippity-doo hair atop gyrating men “dancing like the negroes” before frothing young girls set mainstream culture against this rebellious little movement. It was our first smell of anarchy and it scared the establishment.

About that bolded phrase: What, or who, is Mssr. TenNapel quoting? Nothing and no one, I'm pretty sure.

Methinks a poor man's Chris Noth should go easy on the mammy talk.

Never Blog Drunk...

Is this morning's lesson. I don't recall writing the post I've deleted, but am pleasantly surprised at the lack of spelling errors.

Anyway, your TS did quite well for himself in K.'s Super Bowl pool and obviously drank not enough too much whiskey.

...Oh, and Daschle should pull out. Give me a break.

Jim DeMint on "This Week."

The Republicans should just get an attractive, colorful parrot who squawks "tax cuts!" to go on these talking heads shows.

Be about as effective.

Roger L. Simon Is a Jackass.

But he's a prescient jackass! Page 141 of Simon's memoir (galley copy), Blacklisting Myself:

It should be obvious by now that I cannot predict the future of Pajamas Media or my role in it. It could be gone by the time you read this book...

Simon is fond of saying he's "no Nostradamus," but that's impressive.

Anyhoo, the book drops on February 5. It'll hit the discount bin by Valentine's Day.