Conceding South Carolina

South Carolina Republicans are gleeful because they're going to save "Joe" Wilson's seat in Congress. Whoop-de-doo.

Democrats don't need another Blue Dog , and that district is not going to elect even a moderate.

Censuring "Joe" casts in high relief the difference between Democrats and Republicans, and that helps Democrats. Helping South Carolina Republicans, who were going to win everything that matters in the Palmetto bug state, is a small price to pay.

Job qualification

The other Joe Wilson (R-You Lie!) may have won the race to the bottom for Republicans - though only when sitting in joint session of Congress; outside they wouldn't see the bottom in the Marianas Trench. Even in the allegedly hallowed halls of the Capitol, that's quite an achievement in the GOP, which finds civility to be a virtue if only Democrats would practice it by laying [sic] back and thinking of England (again!).

Still, Wilson will not lose his seat in Congress in 2010. His voters think that being an asshole in defense of know-nothing wingnut conservatism is exactly what qualifies him for the job. He stood up to Barack Hussein Obama, gol'darnit! Wilson's constituents think Barry Goldwater went soft, although they'd have "Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice" chiseled on their tombstones if it didn't take up so much space.

Update: See!

Better

Better to keep silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.

"Since when can you get out of huge national debt by creating trillions of dollars of new debt?" [Sarah] Palin asked. "It all really is so backwards and skewed as to sound like absolute nonsense when some of this economic policy is explained."

"We need to be aware of the creation of a fearful population, and fearful lawmakers, being led to believe that big government is the answer, to bail out the private sector, because then government gets to get in there and control it," she said. "And mark my words, this is going to be next, I fear, bail out next debt-ridden states. Then government gets to get in there and control the people."

"Some in Washington would approach our economic woes in ways that absolutely defy Economics 101, and they fly in the face of principles, providing opportunity for industrious Americans to succeed or to fail on their own accord," she said. "Those principles it makes you wonder what the heck some in Washington are trying to accomplish here."

I don't think Palin could pass Economics 101. She's never heard of Keynesian stimulus. She doesn't know the difference between private debt and public debt. She has no idea of the vicious cycle of contraction that's still a very real danger.

And she "explains" it all as a nefarious plot to take over the country. She has all the analytical skills of Pinky combined with the good will toward his fellow mice of the Brain.

P.T. Barnum wrong!?

Could it be that some of the so-called leadership of the Republican Party has finally achieved something P.T. Barnum said had never happened? Have they gone broke (electorally) by underestimating the intelligence of the American public? Middle school level politics didn't work, so they're devolving to second grade! Michael Steele's against the GOP resolution, so you know it'll probably pass.

Really, will they try "Democrat Retard Party" next? "Democrat Pansy Party"? "Democrat Mother Wears Army Boots Party"? "Democrat Mother Swims Out to Meet Troop Ships Party"?

Their behavior says that they believe their base is composed of lunatic, unreasoned, infantile, simplistic morons. Or maybe they're just lunatic, unreasoned, infantile, simplistic morons.

Art of the non sequitur

Newt's shooting off his mouth. That's what he does. Republicans just aren't used to being the target. One of the insulted RNC members offers this typical logic-challenged snipe in return:

“Forming circular firing squads only gives aid to the Democrats who are doing quite nicely in undercutting the public trust in our government,” [Tennessee GOP chairwoman Robin Smith] said.

She just tacks on that jibe against the Dems at the end as if it actually made any sense or conveyed any further logical thought. It doesn't.

Not to say that Smith's an idiot. She strongly grasps various rules of flackery:

• Let's you and him fight.
• Jam your message into the one line you'll get quoted, no matter how unrelated to the question.
• Always say something bad about your adversary.
• But do it in a passive-aggressive way that absolves you of responsibility.

Yep, she's been to Newt's message schooling. It's a wonder she didn't use the word 'pathetic', but maybe that hits too close to home these days.

Nailing down the constituencies

Newt Gingrich is a Fox contributor, natch! Any hoary old wingnut conservative can get a soapbox on that propaganda bullshit bin. CNN has been trying to get in on the compost action, too, for no obvious reason other than that they know him.

Newtie looks to be nailing (down) the core Republican constituencies. Why not? Like March's face of the Republican Party, he's an outdated, corpulent, pasty-faced gasbag - and those are his good points. Today he decried Obama's appointment of Harry Knox to "the White House advisory council on faith-based initiatives." For Newt, the appointment of this gay non-denominational preacher is proof that the Obama administration is "anti-religious."

Like Newt's religious! He's only pandering to fundamentalist Christians to try to immunize himself against his own repeated adultery and divorce. Oh, sure, Newt has converted to Catholicism, which is weird. Isn't he automatically denied communion because of his multiple marriages?

Newt still thinks he can be President, though, and he has also been appealing lately to the paranoid bullies and the anti-tax know-nothings who'll do the bidding of the wealthies.

Another losing issue

Long run, gay rights are yet another losing issue for the Republicans. That's what it is to be conservative: You drag your feet against progress, but it inevitably overwhelms you.

I know this because I was sitting in a car late last night talking with my Republican doubles partner, and she told me that she had been maid of honor at the marriage of two of her softball teammates. It's the one thing she'll admit we Democrats have right.

Granted the younger people I know live in Massachusetts and they're a self-selected set with some selection bias, but they all favor gay rights. As the old normal ages out into cemeteries, the new normal will be gay civil marriage. Though not for some time in Utah, Idaho, and the Deep South...

Not an oxymoron

Smart conservatives do exist, for instance Jeffrey in Georgia (March 25th, 2009 11:22 pm ET):

See, this is interesting. Not because Palin said it. Palin's a nonentity, and if she runs in 2012 it will only mean another four years of Democrat leadership. No, it's interesting because Palin articulated the problem with the Republican party. Republicans, take note. We want a good, conservative party, we really do. Many of us who voted for Obama have not abandoned conservative principles. But we will no longer support a party that abandons those principles and hides behind fundamentalism and fear. We will no longer support a party that blames everyone but themselves. Palin thinks the Republicans simply need to better communicate their ideas. I say the Republican ideas have been communicated in the best way possible, and now that we've finally cut through the spin and learned what they are we will no longer support them.

The Republicans can come back when they're conservative again, and I'll vote for them. Until then, no dice.

Now that's wha' I'm talkin' 'bout. I will not vote for the party that fills the big niche in the center right where the Republicans used to be. At least, I won't do it often. But America needs a competitive political environment in which the competition is between plausible ideas, in which the right side is not trying to do better marketing of complete, utter, total bullshit.

Or maybe Jeffrey in Georgia is really a liberal who's trolling. He writes well enough.

Looking for 'unglued'

Sarah Palin has no doubt always blamed others for her shortcomings, but this could be a new low:

"So I'm looking around for somebody to pray with, I just need maybe a little help, maybe a little extra," she said. "And the McCain campaign, love 'em, you know, they're a lot of people around me, but nobody I could find that I wanted to hold hands with and pray."

She couldn't find one of the McCainiacs that she was willing to pray with, and it's their fault! No doubt when Todd knocked her up and they eloped she was the virgin Sarah, too.

This is a woman who will use anything to manipulate the stupid wishful people who couldn't possibly believe in her except that they so ardently want to. And the media is just awful because it doesn't spend its every waking moment kissing - frenching! - her ass.

Trailing indicator

Support for Republican leaders in Congress is tumbling — especially among Republicans.

Tough to go lower than the rest of us already are.

When asked who is leading the Republican Party, barely a quarter of Americans could come up with a name.

Rush comes in second to John McCain. Can we expect McCain to apologize?

That's not Limbaugh's ring

The price of being a Republican Party official is to kiss Rush Limbaugh's ass. Too high. Waaay too high.

Rahm to Rush

Rahm Emanuel smears a pile of Rush Limbaugh all over the Republican Party. It's guilt by (long and slobbering) association, and Rush is the guilt!

How's it feel, Rushbo, to know that Rahm thinks you're so despised by most Americans that he's going negative on your corpulent ass by making the simple, incontrovertible observation that you're the voice of the Republican Party? Care to run for office? We Democrats would love that.

Update: Here's good stuff on mocking the Republican rump of wingnuts. The 'nuts lack enough perspective to grasp that we're enjoying this. They rationalize that we must be afraid. Tain't so.

Update: This is lots of fun! Michael Steele says that he runs the Republican Party, not Rush. Rush, never one to keep his ego in check (nor his appetites), disagrees. Thanks, guys! Keep this story going for a few more news cycles. Let's see, how can Rahm pour more gasoline on this Republican funeral pyre?

My dream: Rush applies the charter of his day job to this hissing match and starts to sidle up to the line that it's his job to stretch - the line that separates racists from the rest of us. If Rush would just let slip that Steele is an affirmative action hiring, the ensuing shit-fight would be sweet to watch.

Romney does have defenders

After watching Mitt Romney claim to be pro-choice in 2002 and then very pro-life in 2008, I enjoy kicking Mitt Romney when he's two-faced, which is pretty much all the time. Doubles make-up artists, but he can afford it.

Even the Republican base could tell he was insincere - and they've been voting for obvious bullshit for the past forty years. So he's not succeeding very well at fooling all of the people any of the time.

Still, he has one or two people fooled, I can only assume because they really, really want to be fooled. Here are a couple of the fools. Nate (February 27th, 2009 8:01 pm ET) says:

Hey lovable liberal. . . Nice try. the old. " Mitt is a flip flopper" garbage is tired and proof to me that liberals are scared of Mitt. No matter how lovable they are.

No refutation whatsoever, not even an attempt, just another unsubstantiated jibe. No Incumbents 2010 (February 27th, 2009 8:45 pm ET) gives just as much gasbaggery:

@lovable liberal- What will he be for in 2012? Whatever he thinks is popular enough to gain power.

How can you even keep a straight face when you type. Have you heard of Clinton or Obama?

With brilliant conservatives like this working for Mitt, he's a shoo-in to win the vacuous vote. All the smart people will be trying to figure out what the hell their arguments are in order to refute them.

When do I get my ticker item?

If six Republicans writing a letter that nags Barack Obama to hurry up already to reverse Bushist Republican policy is news, hey, I shaved and showered today!

On the upside, finally some bipartisanship that promises change I can believe in, instead of more right-wing obstruction...

Final vote still to come

Harry Reid's canvassing for more Republican votes for the stimulus. Great, though it's not great that it's in the news. It's clearly not a deal that the Republicans have stopped fighting, and it's good the Democrats are still engaged in defending it against betrayal.

The real story is what the Republicans are doing. Just because Tom Delay is gone doesn't mean they're not twisting arms and hammering their three turncoats (believe me, that's how they see them).

The GOP got to Judd Gregg, after all. What he said two days ago about continuing to serve in the Senate makes no sense set next to what he said yesterday - his probable retirement in 2010. What he's saying now makes no sense in light of his pursuit of the job of Commerce Secretary.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell welcomed Gregg's withdrawal.

"Sen. Gregg made a principled decision to return and we're glad to have him," McConnell, R-Kentucky, announced. "He is among the smartest, most effective legislators to serve in the Senate -- Democrat or Republican -- and a key adviser to me and to the Republican conference. It's great to have him back."

What did the Republican enforcers tell him to make him end his political career?

Laid the groundwork

Howard Dean did yeoman's work to put the Democratic Party in a position to run the table in 2008, and it's well worth remembering that the lily-livered Washington Democrats didn't want him to be DNC chair.

The insurgent activists in the grassroots carried the day. No one should ever think that all procedural votes are piddling little things that don't matter. This one was big.

Press corps undresses Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin has changed clothes again in pursuit of a new job:

Those clothes, they are not my property. Just like the lighting and the staging and everything else that the RNC purchased, I'm not taking them with me. I am back to wearing my own clothes...

Thoreau is laughing.

Stockholm Syndrome

The North Vietnamese tortured John McCain. Now he acquiesces to the continuation of Duhbya's CIA torture policy.

In 2000, Duhbya and the Bushists engaged in some of the vilest political character assassination against McCain. Now McCain makes common cause with one of the men who viciously abused him.

It appears that there is no depth to which John McCain will not stoop in pursuit of his overweening ambition. It's sad, really.

Even Rush Limbaugh knows it's over

In fact, even John McCain and Sarah Palin know that they have two chances, slim and none. Meanwhile, Palin is scaring voters away. Of course, Rush would never ask her about that.

Stuffed with mildewed straw

Sarah Palin stars in a new one-woman show, The Wizard of Id. She plays Dorothy even though she can't sing. She can't even dance around reporters' questions. She plays the Tin Man, a natural for every Republican. She plays the Scarecrow, stuffed with straw, although not with knowledge. She plays the Cowardly Lyin'.

Even so, her favorite part is playing the Wicked Witch of the Northwest Passage. Who needs that Arctic ice anyways, besides a few sponging unchristian polar bears! She's so talented that monkeys fly out of her butt. Speaking of which, she couldn't find her ass with both hands even if she was already sitting on them.

Will somebody puh-leeze throw a hogshead of dirty dishwater on this fraud!