Really? Did Anyone Not Know Republicans are Assholes? Really? Because I Thought That Was Irrefutable – Really.

All the feigned umbrage in the world doesn’t change the fact that Van Jones, the White House Council on Environmental Quality’s Special Advisor for Green Jobs, is correct. The reason Republicans had more success under Tom DeLay and Mitch McConnell then we’ve had under Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi is…well, like he said. Although I’m not a huge fan of our top two people either…

Fla. GOP Chair Accuses Obama of Indoctrinating School Kids with Socialism

In yet another one of his quote-marked, not-proof-read, bombastic “press releases,” Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer lashed out at President Obama for a speech he is planning to give Sept. 8. The nationwide address, the first ever aimed directly at American schoolchildren by a U.S. president, sounds pretty dang bad, according to Greer:

Democrats have no problem going against the majority of American people and usurping the rights of parents by sending Pied Piper Obama into the American classroom.

“As the father of four children, I am absolutely appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama’s socialist ideology. The idea that school children across our nation will be forced to watch the President justify his plans for government-run health care, banks, and automobile companies, increasing taxes on those who create jobs, and racking up more debt than any other President, is not only infuriating, but goes against beliefs of the majority of Americans, while bypassing American parents through an invasive abuse of power.

“While I support educating our children to respect both the office of the American President and the value of community service, I do not support using our children as tools to spread liberal propaganda. The address scheduled for September 8, 2009, does not allow for healthy debate on the President’s agenda, but rather obligates the youngest children in our public school system to agree with our President’s initiatives or be ostracized by their teachers and classmates.

“Public schools can’t teach children to speak out in support of the sanctity of human life or traditional marriage. President Obama and the Democrats wouldn’t dream of allowing prayer in school. Christmas Parties are now Holiday Parties. But, the Democrats have no problem going against the majority of American people and usurping the rights of parents by sending Pied Piper Obama into the American classroom.

The Democrats have clearly lost the battle to maintain control of the message this summer, so now that school is back in session, President Obama has turned to American’s children to spread his liberal lies, indoctrinating American’s youngest children before they have a chance to decide for themselves.”

I’ll say this for Greer — that Pied Piper line is a classic!

[…]

Happy (American) Birthday, Mr. President

As Pres. Obama blows out the 48 candles (hey, that’s one year for each of the lower 48 states!) on his birthday cake today, we wonder what he’ll wish for. Health care reform? A muzzle for Joe Biden? Retirement for Sen. Ben Nelson and two more Supreme Court members? It’s hard to say, but it’s a pretty safe bet that they won’t be celebrating Obama’s birthday in Virginia, where a new poll shows hardly any Republicans believe Obama was born in America.

An astonishing 41% of the state’s Republicans think President Obama was not born in the United States while just 32% think he was and 27% are still not sure.

The moral of the poll? If you have a half a brain, don’t be a Republican but if you must, at least don’t be a Virginia Republican.

Happy birthday, Obama!

Poll: Key Birther and Neo-Confederate Demographics Align

There was speculation earlier this year that the true dynamic behind the tea-bagging movement was not opposition to taxes but rather racist anger over the election of an African-American president. After all, taxes had been lowered, not raised at that point, and the only tax hikes on the table targeted people making over $250,000 per year, which was probably about five or six times the income of an average tea-bagger family of four.

Facts don’t matter to bigots. And this this stubborn refusal to accept documentary evidence is the most convincing argument yet for the proposition that the Birther movement is a racist phenomenon at its core

The tea-bagging movement appears to have ended on July 4, when attendance at rallies was down across the country, in part because Fox News failed to promote the events 24/7 as they had for events in April.

Birthers were out in force at tea-bagger rallies from the beginning, carrying signs demanding that Pres. Obama release his birth certificate — which, of course, his campaign had done in June 2008. (To see how the connection lives on in the Intertubes, just plug keywords like “tea party,” “obama” and “birth certificate” into the Google and stand back.)

As tea bagging sputters to an end, Birtherism appears to be moving up. For example, there are a dozen or so proud Birthers in the U.S. House, including one marquee brand name, Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, and one in the Senate, Richard Shelby of Alabama.

Now a new poll has found that Birthers are predominantly Republicans — no surprise there — and that the South leads all other regions by far as a hotbed of Birtherism.

[…]

Obama: Can’t We All Just Get a Bud?

They’re saying that Pres. Obama could do for beer what he did for Portuguese water dogs. Breathless reporters are already lining up to reveal what beer is served when Obama sits down with Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Cambridge police Sgt. James Crowley and asks, “Can’t we all just get along?”

What beer would you serve?

Does the president choose a lager for Thursday’s gathering? A porter? Maybe a wheat beer? Does he pick something light to help the men with the Washington, D.C., summer heat?

Whatever the president picks, it is likely to be closely watched and could even help propel a lesser-known beer into the mainstream.

The four-page story goes on to quote Donna Brazile predicting Sam Adams, Robert Gibbs noting Obama drank Bud at the All-Star game, and Crowley favoring Blue Moon Pale Ale — although honestly, I can’t see Obama drinking anything with an orange slice floating in it.

What beer do Pensito Review readers think should be served at this historic occasion? Leave your order in the comments, along with a generous tip for your server.