The result ...

After 30 years, the Republicans are about to get what they set their minds to back then. D-cap:

It took 30 years and 204 days, but on Tuesday August 2, 2011 the fruits of the Reagan Tree of Life will finally have reached its peak when the over-ripened, low-hanging, worm-filled Reagapples will begin to pound the ground, not with sweetened blossoms, but with a dead thud. 30 years and 204 days of belittling and ignoring the American education system, calling ketchup a vegetable, telling us trees cause pollution, cutting taxes to create trickled-down imaginary jobs (OK there are a few more maids and gardeners) and teaching Americans that they could have everything they want and it will cost nothing - the Teadras educated Republican party is willing to take the ultimate bet and tell the piper (or croupier) this time to shove it.

...

Somehow, I don't think the Republicans of Reagan's time would have envisioned this eventuality.

So much for "Morning in America".

Move his cot ...

From the Green Room to the alley. Professor Myers:

...

But that doesn't matter. The fact that Pat Buchanan would find common cause with a psychopathic coward [the Oslo killer], a vile creature who dressed in a police uniform and promised young people assistance as he gathered them together before gunning them down, is fact enough to discredit him. When will the media wake up and stop paying the fascist bigot to play pundit on TV?

The sad part is, many Americans agree with him.

With such a great record ...

Of job creation, you can understand why these people shouldn't have to pay taxes. [/sarcasm]

Guilty pleasures ...

One of them is Tommy T's Obsession with the Freeperati (archive link). Each week (Mondays) he sees what's brewing over at Free Republic (no link) and wades into the toxic waste they call "comments" so we can see the depth of stupidity of American conservatives who've somehow figured out how to use a computer. This week, it's extra special:

Ok campers - a little change in protocol today - we're going to have to inspect the Freepertude from perspex windows outside the iso chamber - it's too crazy and dangerous to go in there just now.

You see - Norway happened.

...

And then there's a discussion about why our favorite musicians are meanies and won't let Republicans use their songs on the campaign trail:

...

I personally think that "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang" would make an excellent Michelle Bachmann entrance song.

...

Heh ... Me too.

The best explanation ...

I've heard yet about why Obama is the way he is. Thereisnospoon @ Digby's:

...

The entire intent of the Administration would be, under this theory, to make both sides go ballistic so that the Administration can look like the only adult in the room to independent voters. Cutting Social Security is precisely designed to make the Left visibly cry out in anguish. And they're counting on the idea that the Republican market fundamentalist cult will so terrify the vast majority of Democrats come election season that they'll dutifully pull the lever for the Administration no matter what. They may be right. The President's fundraising total from small donors does seem to reflect a broad range of committed support. [em in orig]


...

The only thing we can hope for is he might be a bit more progressive once (if) he's reelected.

Addendum: Just wondering (as I'm painting the new medicine cabinet to surprise the Mrs. when she gets home), what would the Republican Party do with a Republican President who dissed his base as much as Obama does his? I betcha they'd primary him after his first term.

A Brilliant Strategy

Following up on Fixer's post and my comment thereto:

Thanks to Kos.

Update:

I just noticed that Boner and Yertle are standing on the fantail which is about the only place I remember on ships where you could smoke. Heh. Also the last place to go under if you nose 'er in at flank speed* like the GOP is doing.

*"Flank speed is very fuel-inefficient and often unsustainable because of engine overheating issues."

I do not think 'engine overheating' is going to be much of a problem in a few minutes when she's fully submerged.

Quote of the Day

From an LATimes op-ed on Goodhair's call to prayer* to "seek God's guidance and wisdom in addressing the challenges that face our communities, states and nation."

*Xtians only. No others need apply.

There is a reason theocracies are found at the bottom of the world's economic and opportunity ladder. Successful public policy cannot be based purely on doctrines established before we knew the Earth orbited the sun.

Well said.

Glenn Beck Compares The Youth Camp Attacked In Norway To The Hitler Youth

RawReplay, with audio. I didn't listen because I don't like puking outta my ears.

Conservative radio host Glenn Beck said Monday that a Labour Party youth camp that was attack in Norway Friday “sounds a little like the Hitler Youth.”

“Saturday I was following the news of the shooting in Norway and the explosion in Norway, which happened what on Friday,” Beck recalled. “When we heard the explosion everybody was willing to say, it’s Muslim extremists, it’s Muslim extremists. I don’t think we made a comment on it because we didn’t know other than a bombing had happened, and as the thing started to unfold and there was a shooting a political camp, which sounds a little like the Hitler Youth or you know whatever. Who does a camp for kids that’s all about politics? Disturbing. But, anyway, so there’s this political camp and so crazy man goes and starts shooting kids.”

Politicususa noted that Beck’s 9/12 Project held its own political camp for kids this summer.

I betcha Becky's right-wing camp was a helluva lot more like the Hitler Youth than a Labour Party summer camp in Norway.

I'm noticing that washed-up wingnuts get crazier and more outrageous the closer their 15 minutes are to being over. I hope Beck's head goes off like a volcano.

Just as an aside, here's a 1940 photo of a platoon of Hitler Motor Youth in training:



Note the others waiting their turn on the motorbike and hoping the rider doesn't crash and break it. In today's Repug Youth camps, they each get their own or they snivel. They must teach snivelling there too, since Repugs are so good at it..

It's a headline kinda day...

Trump to GOP: Force U.S. default to make sure Obama isn’t re-elected

Note to The Donald: you must hurry and catch up with the GOPbaggers for you think you are their leader and they're way ahead of you on this one. And keep that message out there until everybody hears it.

Go on home, Moosebreath, your 15 minutes is up

Palin’s ‘Undefeated’ is defeated at box office, already on pay-per-view

Obama Should Raise the Debt Ceiling on His Own

NYTimes op-ed:

PRESIDENT OBAMA should announce that he will raise the debt ceiling unilaterally if he cannot reach a deal with Congress. Constitutionally, he would be on solid ground. Politically, he can’t lose. The public wants a deal. The threat to act unilaterally will only strengthen his bargaining power if Republicans don’t want to be frozen out; if they defy him, the public will throw their support to the president. Either way, Republicans look like the obstructionists and will pay a price.

And then he should tell Congress that he took this power away from them in exactly the same manner as withholding dessert from a spoiled child who was acting up and, if he could, would have sent them to sit in the corner for a time-out.

Headline of the Day

Koch-Funded Tea Party Heavyweight Tim Phillips Spoke at Norwegian Killer's Political Party Event

Figures.

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

HEAT WAVE BLANKETS COUNTRY
NEW YORK HAS RECORD 104°
Adjusted for subway with no air conditioning, feels like 212°.

Texas Ed Board Compromises on Evolution Materials
Children will be taught Christian Republicans descended from Adam and Eve, everyone else descended from apes.

Report: Army of Lobbyists Working Feverishly to Reverse Financial Reforms
They're countered by a vague collective memory of what just happened.

Vocabulary Builders
Showcase vote n., A vote held on a bill that has no chance of passing, but still gives lawmakers a taste of what a career in the circus, their first choice, or acting, a close second, would have been like.

The corollary:

Politician intransigent n., Career for circus performer or D-list actor with no skill or talent whatsoever.

The Undecideds ...

Chris Hayes has an interesting post up about "undecided voters" on his blog:

For those who follow politics, there are few things more mysterious, more inscrutable, more maddening than the mind of the undecided voter. In this year's election, when the choice was so stark and the differences between the candidates were so obvious, how could any halfway intelligent human remain undecided for long? "These people," Jonah Goldberg once wrote of undecided voters, on a rare occasion when he probably spoke for the entire political class, "can't make up their minds, in all likelihood, because either they don't care or they don't know anything."

...

I feel, in this day and age, if you are undecided about what party supports (mostly) the needs of the average American, you're either extremely gullible or you just don't get it.

Thanks to Gaius Publius for the link.

Tea Party v. Oslo Nutjob ...

Montag:

...

The main difference is the Teabaggers want to pull the plug on people and let them die slowly rather rather than shoot them directly.

Word.

There are times ...

When politics ain't local. What "The Dead End Quarter" and their idiot representatives in Congress don't get is that when you dick with the world's largest economy, it's gonna affect more than just this country. It's also gonna piss off the few friends we have left. Ladies and Gentlemen, if we lose the Brits, you know we're about to circle the bowl:

Business Secretary Vince Cable has launched an extraordinary attack on "right wing nutters" in the US who are threatening to cripple the world economy.

...

But he added: "The irony of the situation at the moment, with markets opening tomorrow morning, is that the biggest threat to the world financial system comes from a few right-wing nutters in the American congress rather than the eurozone."

...

People around the world, along with the sane ones in this country, are seriously worried. For many nations, an American default could be an existential threat. These fuckups in this country are not only shitting where we eat, they're doing it in places that bear no responsibility for our problems. Personally, I think arrests are in order ...

Great thanks to Dr. Attaturk for the link.

Cut and dry ...

Exactly:

Even after allowing this hostage taking to go right up to the brink of default, Boehner wants us to believe he's really just worried about doing what's right for the country and might still be willing to make a deal with President Obama. If he was worried about doing what's right, he'd help get a clean vote passed on the debt ceiling and we wouldn't be wondering if the markets might start reacting to this stuff at any moment. [my em]

...

I used to think, many, many years ago, the Republicans wanted what was best, and would do the right thing for, the country; they just came at problems from a different angle. Now, especially after this debt ceiling mess, it's quite obvious they don't care what happens to the country as long as they, and their cronies, win. They don't care if our ship of state is the Titanic, they just care about being at the helm.

Headline of the Day

Right Wing DEFENDS Anders Behring Breivik

That's OUR right wing. The shooting is about to begin...

Hey, boob...

Salon

Arizonans enraged at Muslim word for dust storm

How dare meteorologists describe a weather event with the correct, Arabic-derived term?

A few years back, Arizona got sick of the fact that Texas and Mississippi and Alabama were always the butts of the rest of the nation's jokes about halfwit xenophobic gun-toting pissed-off old white folk, and so The Grand Canyon State decided to really kick it up a notch, in terms of bad craziness and hatred. The tireless work of Governor Jan Brewer, State Senator Russell Pearce and Sheriff Joe Arpaio paid off! Thanks to those three, Arizona is no longer defined by its amazing geography, rich history, and rugged, independent residents. No, when you think of Arizona in 2011, you think of a bunch of armed racist morons.

Mrs. G just said AZ should start teaching math in Roman numerals instead of the Arabic numerals we've been using.

I wish I was in Fixer's neck of the woods today

This is going to be a MOST colorful weekend! A very nice piece in the NYTimes:

Hundreds of gay and lesbian couples across New York State plan to marry on Sunday, the culmination of a long battle in the Legislature and a new milestone for gay rights advocates seeking to legalize same-sex marriage around the nation.

The first marriages were scheduled to take place just after midnight in Niagara Falls, where officials planned to illuminate the famous cascade in the colors of a rainbow, and in Albany, where an eager mayor planned to marry eight gay couples.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg plans to officiate at the wedding of two senior City Hall officials at a ceremony at Gracie Mansion, while Mr. Cuomo is hosting a party for gay rights advocates and lawmakers at a hotel near the meatpacking district.

In Brooklyn, the borough president, Marty Markowitz, plans to open Borough Hall for a marathon series of weddings, complete with free cake and Champagne.

Outside the city clerk’s office in Lower Manhattan, rabbis from a synagogue in the West Village plan to solemnize weddings under a rainbow-colored huppah, or Jewish wedding canopy. And two gay puppets, Rod and Ricky, from the Tony Award-winning musical “Avenue Q,” plan to show up outside the clerk’s office to stage a mock wedding as well.

The last sentence takes the cake!

And the Fire Island Pines resort is promoting three same-sex wedding packages, one featuring a private ferry ride “complete with your own crew of drag queens.”

Other than the wedding party? My goodness!

Note to all the new married couples: I wish you all the best!