Tag: Tea Party

Rude Pundit: Hey Right Wing, How’s That Ginning Up the Masses Thing Working for Ya Now?

Trish

For those of us following the coverage of the mass shooting aimed at Rep. Gabrielle Giffords who are sick of the false equivalency arguments (“But what about Daily Kos?”), the bending over backward denials (“They were surveyors marks, not gun scope sights”), and pleas by the right not to rush to judgment (like they do with every ginned up news cycle concerning the NPRs and Van Joneses of the world), The Rude Pundit offers some relief. He is calling out the same folks as the sheriff of Pima County did — those who earn a living inflaming the American people.

Rude Pundit: ‘Gosh, it’s just wrong to lump you all together, to stereotype you all as criminals in waiting. Like, you know, you have done with Muslims since September 11, 2001’

He goes one further, though, by including the viewers and listeners and readers who indulge those leaders, who drive up their ratings, and who ultimately pay their salaries. And if you are among them, The Rude Pundit leaves you nowhere to hide.

Following are excerpts from what could have been called, “Dear Right-Wingers: We Reject Your Every Attempt to Evade Blame” but which is, instead, the much better titled, “Dear Right-Wingers: You Are All Muslims Now.”

How you must have heaved in relief when you saw that it would be quite easy to portray Jared Lee Loughner as a raving psychopath, an effort that’s helped a great deal by the apparent truth, which is that Jared Lee Loughner is a raving psychopath…

Now, ah, yes, now, lovely right-wingers, you could defend yourself. You could work yourselves into a huff about how unjustly you were accused of driving this obviously disturbed individual into an act of calculated, cold-blooded violence. But that’s because you’re sitting there in your shit-filled underpants, thinking, “I don’t believe in violence. I don’t approve this. I hope the government doesn’t try to crack down on us.”

So, welcome, assholes, because you are Muslim now.

[…]

Verbatim

Trish

When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous. And unfortunately, Arizona I think has become the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry…People tend to “pooh-pooh” this business about all this vitriol we hear enflaming the American public by people who make a living off of doing that. That may be free speech, but it’s not without consequences.

Pima County, Arizona Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, answering the question he was asked repeatedly in the wake of the terrorist attack on U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Az.) that claimed six lives. The question was, “Why did it happen?”

Swing Voters, You’ve Been Had: Boehner, GOP-T Party Up to Old Tricks; Health-Care Repeal Written in Secret, No Hearings, $143 Bil Cost Unfunded

Jon Ponder

photos-boehner-armeyIn October 2009, John Boehner, now the House speaker-elect, complained to a reporter for the Washington Times, “[Democrats are] writing a health care bill in secret, even though the president called for all of this to be out on an open table and have C-SPAN cameras in the room.” Not surprisingly, the Washington Times, a right-wing propaganda daily owned by Sun Yung Moon, leader of the South Korean “Moonie” cult, published Bloehner’s comment without fact checking.

Boehner’s complaint was classic truthiness. The C-SPAN cameras weren’t allowed in to the hearing room, but otherwise he was lying:

[…]

Think It’s Bad in Your State? Visit Florida.

Trish
Wenches
Pretending you're a pirate (or a wench) is a trend that's really not working for Florida baby boomers

When you live in Florida, sometimes there’s just too much wacky to take in at one sitting. You have to just skim the surface because trying to go deeper would probably sink you.

Such is the case today, when a reading of the morning news brings so many little harbingers of doom. Read on for three examples.

  • Look out innocent sea life! You’re what we call, “collateral damage.”

    Boaters straying into restricted areas at Port Canaveral can soon expect to get a warning blast from the U.S. Coast Guard. The port is a test site for a new warning system to keep vessels out of security zones.

    Officials would first try to radio an encroaching boat and give other signals to stop. If that doesn’t work, 12-gauge shotgun ammunition can be fired into the path of a boat. The plastic and aluminum projectile ignites after about 100 yards to create a burst of light and a loud sound.

But wait, there’s more.

[…]

Murkowski Poised for Palin Payback

Trish

M001153Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) found out what it was like to be shunned by her party during the 2010 election. While high-profile types like Sarah and Todd Palin backed tea bagger Joe Miller, Murkowski refused to cede her office after her initial primary loss, despite calls to quit from such GOP notables as Sens. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), and of course, the quitter queen herself, Sarah Palin. Instead, Murkowski made history by winning as a write-in candidate.

Now all those Republicans who kicked Murkowski to the curb are finding out they might be in for a very long six years.

…Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski seems to be declaring political independence.

She cast a yes vote for all four of President Obama’s big legislative items in the lame duck congressional session: don’t ask, don’t tell; the tax cut compromise; the START treaty; and the DREAM act.

With the Senate almost evenly split in the coming session, a move to a more moderate position could make Murkowski a swing vote on any important issue.

So instead of being sidelined for not, as Palin put it, heeding “the will of the people,” Murkowski could be the highest profile senator since Joe Lieberman. Good going, Republican party!

N.Y. Jets Coach Apologizes After Tripping Florida Lt. Gov. Elect’s Miami Dolphins Son

Trish

tripping
NFL/CBS photo

Playing by the rules isn’t what Jennifer Carroll is known for. Florida’s Lieutenant Governor Elect is still trying to answer questions about her income, which shifted dramatically between the time she filled out her tax returns and the time she applied for minority and small business set-asides.

Carroll and Scott could take a lesson from Coach Alosi about owning up to your mistakes so you don’t keep repeating them

She’s also explaining her way out of charges of fraudulently presenting falsified documents. Carroll claims she rented an office already occupied by a private detective agency before the landlord the papers show she rented from had bought the building (but within the time frame she would have needed to prove her business was located in the county in which she was applying for…yes, minority and small business set-asides).

And she’s never addressed how her speeding tickets disappeared without her paying the fines once she became a state legislator.

So it’s a little ironic that the Miami Dolphins player who was tripped by New York Jets Coach Sal Alosi on Sunday was Jennifer Carroll’s son, Nolan.

[…]

Verbatim

Trish

I eat meat, there are leather chairs in my office, Sarah Palin is deranged and The Learning Channel should be ashamed of itself.

Aaron Sorkin, playwright and screenwriter, answering Palin’s Facebook update in which she challenged the legitimacy of critics of her killing and dismembering a caribou on her reality show. Sorkin added, “I’m able to make a distinction between you and me without feeling the least bit hypocritical. I don’t watch snuff films and you make them. You weren’t killing that animal for food or shelter or even fashion, you were killing it for fun…That was the first moose ever murdered for political gain. You knew there’d be a protest from PETA and you knew that would be an opportunity to hate on some people, you witless bully.”

‘Oh You Thought I Was Including My Tea Party Self in That Whole No Earmarks Thing? Nah’

Trish

What’s more hypocritical than a born-again homophobe with a same-sex “escort?” How about tea party politicians criticizing government spending while requesting all they can get for the folks back home? The National Journal:

Advocate: ‘It’s disturbing to see the Tea Party Caucus requested that much in earmarks. This is their time to put up or shut up.’

According to a Hotline review of records compiled by Citizens Against Government Waste, the 52 members of the caucus, which pledges to cut spending and reduce the size of government, requested a total of 764 earmarks valued at $1,049,783,150 during Fiscal Year 2010, the last year for which records are available.

“It’s disturbing to see the Tea Party Caucus requested that much in earmarks. This is their time to put up or shut up, to be blunt,” said David Williams, vice president for policy at Citizens Against Government Waste. “There’s going to be a huge backlash if they continue to request earmarks.”

In founding the caucus in July, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) said she was giving voice to Americans who were sick of government over-spending.

“The American people are speaking out loud and clear. They have had enough of the spending, the bureaucracy, and the government knows best mentality running rampant today throughout the halls of Congress,” Bachmann said in a July 15 statement.

And who had the most requests? Not Bachmann, but probably someone from a large population state with plenty of constituents, right? Wrong. How about a guy from Mon-frickin’-tana which, with just under a million people, is ranked 44th in residents in the country?

Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.) takes the prize as the Tea Partier with his name on the most earmarks. Rehberg’s office requested funding for 88 projects, either solely or by co-signing earmarks requests with Sens. Max Baucus (D) and Jon Tester (D), at a cost of $100,514,200. On his own, Rehberg requested 20 earmarks valued at more than $9.6 million.

The full list of tea bagger earmark for the past year is here.

Happy Birthday, Jon Stewart!

Trish
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
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In honor of one of the only people who lets us answer the question, “Is it just me or…?” with, “No, there are others who get it. We are not alone!” we offer this clip. One viewer called this performance the greatest rendition since Tina Fey did Sarah Palin. We agree, and wish Jon Stewart a very happy birthday today!