Thank You, Dick Cheney, For Giving Me the Proper Words

From a good rant at the Dems by David Sirota:

The facts are painfully apparent. Though hundreds -- if not thousands -- of people in D.C. are professionally paid to pretend these facts require debate and analysis and parsing and speculation and press releases and pithy Tweets and Sunday Show roundtables and C-SPAN symposia and to-camera cable-TV rants and lengthy thousand-page books, they don't require any of that. The facts are simple. The facts are obvious. The facts are undeniable to anyone not paid fistfulls of sweaty money to lie or sensationalize:

1. The Democratic Party shit on its base with its policies, as noted above.

2. This demoralized the Democratic base, which responded by not turning out to vote. As CBS News notes, "Hispanics, African Americans, union members and young people were among the many core Democratic groups that turned out in large numbers in the 2008 elections (but) turnout among these groups dropped off substantially, even below their previous midterm levels."

3. In cause-and-effect style, the result of all this was, as the Washington Post reports, a freshman congressional class that is primarily made up of angry, white, lunatic-conservative assholes.

So yes, all of you who are wasting all of our time pretending this isn't the basic point-A-to-point-B story of the election -- and there are a lot of you out there -- please, if not for me, then for everyone else: Go fuck yourself.

False Equivalence

Good post by BruinKid at Kos:

Bill Maher blasts false equivalencies in amazing New Rule

And finally, New Rule, if you're going to have a rally where hundreds of thousands of people show up, you might as well go ahead and make it about something. With all due respect to my friends Jon and Stephen, it seems to me that if you truly wanted to come down on the side of restoring sanity and reason, you'd side with the sane and the reasonable, and not try to pretend that the insanity is equally distributed in both parties.

Keith Olbermann is right, when he says he's not the equivalent of Glenn Beck. One reports facts, the other one is very close to playing with his poop.

Now, getting over 200,000 people to come to a liberal rally is a great achievement, and gave me hope. And what I really loved about it was that it was twice the size of the Glenn Beck crowd on the Mall in August! Although it weighed the same.

BruinKid makes some good points too;

We all get things wrong sometimes. I don't agree with Jon or Stephen or Bill or anyone else 100% of the time. And we shouldn't. If we did, we're nothing more than sycophants or robots, dutifully repeating what we're told.

Then we'd be them. Shudder...

Saturday Emmylou Blogging

Emmylou Harris ~ Barbara Allen

Thanks to rmp1994.

Griftopia

Tristero on Matt Taibbi's book:

Taibbi’s attitude towards the political landscape of America in the Third Millenium is, in some ways, similar to Thomas Frank’s, that there’s a bait and switch being pulled, that the real action is not the social issues - it never is - but rather the money. The looting of America by the Biggest, Ballsiest Crooks Ever is the only genuinely important story. For Taibbi, the teabaggers’ racism, sexism, xenophobia, libertarianism, and other extremisms seem to serve much the same function as geologists see for trees and grass: sure, it's striking sometimes, but ultimately, it's merely hair that covers the bald truth about the world. I’m not sure I entirely agree - but damn, when you read Matt describe what’s really been going on, without any sugar coating or euphemisms, and with that throat-slittingly sharp style... damn if Taibbi doesn't have a point:

It's always been about the money. And power. Progressive ideals will always lose to those willing to do anything to achieve money and power until we realize that kumbaya is sometimes best delivered as a tattoo on our knuckles.

Don't try to get along with bullies. Convince 'em to get along with you. People sometimes act better after you deck 'em. If they don't, deck 'em again until they do. Ganging up on big bullies is plenty OK.

Keith Olbermann Suspended From MSNBC Indefinitely

Mediaite

Blowback to the political donation is immediate, and shocking.

Statement from Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC:

I became aware of Keith’s political contributions late last night. Mindful of NBC News policy and standards, I have suspended him indefinitely without pay.

More coming, obviously.

Oops...

Headline of the Day il due

Grayson: Democratic ‘appeasement’ cost us the election

The Macaca Awards

Mock, Paper, Scissors

We honor all that is appalling in American Politics with the First Semi-Regular MACACA AWARDS.

The first Macaca of the evening is for OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN GRIFTING, and the nominees are:

* Sarah Palin (Mooselini)
* Joe Miller (The Moose-Savant)
* Christine O’Donnell (The Human with the Fully-Functioning Mouse Brain)

Presenting the Award for Outstanding Achievement in Grifting is…
...

…and the Macaca goes to:

Didn't wanta spoil it for ya. Go see. More. Don't step in the macaca...

A Reminder

Excerpts from a speech by my first President, who passed away shortly after I arrived in the womb and hopefully not because of it.

From The Four Freedoms via American Rhetoric:

The basic things expected by our people of their political and economic systems are simple. They are:

Equality of opportunity for youth and for others.

Jobs for those who can work.

Security for those who need it.

The ending of special privilege for the few.

The preservation of civil liberties for all.

To that high concept there can be no end save victory.

Headline of the Day

In 2012, could Dean beat Obama?

The Focus Hocus Pocus

Paul Krugman on Obama's approach to the economy:

Of course, there’s a subtext to the whole line that health reform was a mistake: namely, that Democrats should stop acting like Democrats and go back to being Republicans-lite. Parse what people like Mr. Bayh are saying, and it amounts to demanding that Mr. Obama spend the next two years cringing and admitting that conservatives were right.

There is an alternative: Mr. Obama can take a stand.

Focus Hocus Pocus? More like Moke-y Hokey Pokey. Time ta turn yerself around, brah. We'll see if he's got it in him.

Friday Monster Blogging ...

The Dingo Sisters behaving because they're half (or completely) asleep.

Da Chooch (l) and Ziva

Dust Howie off ...

And give that idiot Tim Kaine a kick in the ass on his way to the door. Oly Mike:

...

Now that Rahm and his cohort have run the dem party back in to the ditch, maybe it's time for the dems to apologize and ask Howard if he can do it again. I would understand if Howard told the Obama/Clintonistas to shove it, but it's not his style. He is a true liberal, a progressive committed to public policy that would help the vast majority of [A]mericans and would shrink the gap between the have-mores and the have-nots.

...

We had a Dem majority for two years thanks, in large part, to Howard Dean. It's time to bring him back into the fold and let him loose on the Republicans.

Reference material ...

Since we're gonna have to put up with Boner Boehner and the Rethug House for the next 2 years, our pal Montag has found a study guide for us to use.

It's not 1994 again

Doyle McManus

Democrats are apt to prettify recollections of the aftermath of the Republican takeover of the House in 1994. But Obama isn't showing signs of being Clinton, and Boehner's no self-destructing Gingrich.

Obama will also have to find a way to work with Boehner, who is no Gingrich. He's not as brilliant, but he's not nearly as accident-prone either. Gingrich was a messianic insurgent who believed his ideas would conquer the nation; Boehner is a Chamber of Commerce conservative who believes in raising money, counting votes and staying doggedly on message.

That makes him more dangerous to Obama than Gingrich was to Clinton, because he's less likely to self-destruct. Boehner has already said that he's studied the lessons of the Gingrich era; he says he won't even threaten to shut down the federal government in next year's budget battle, let alone actually do it. His message on Wednesday was bland and, except for a promise to try to repeal the healthcare law, almost content-free. "The new majority here in Congress will be the voice of the American people," he said. "This is a time for us to roll up our sleeves and go to work on the people's priorities: creating jobs, cutting spending and reforming the way Congress does its business."

The biggest problem facing Boehner and his Senate colleague, Mitch McConnell, is a potential civil war in their caucuses once newly empowered tea party candidates arrive to begin purifying Gomorrah-on-the-Potomac. The insurgents' floor leader, Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, issued their first orders Wednesday in a fiery column in the Wall Street Journal. "Tea party Republicans were elected to go to Washington and save the country, not be co-opted by the club," DeMint wrote. "So put on your boxing gloves."

The only real fun Democrats can look forward to in the next few months is the battle between DeMint and his followers and the old-line GOP leadership. But don't bet against Boehner. He may not have charisma, but he knows how to manage a caucus.

Might as well have some fun while we're goin' down the shitter. Spark up a fattie and pass the popcorn.

CA AG still too close to call

LATimes

Three hours after the election polls closed, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley strode onto a stage at the Beverly Hilton Hotel and gave supporters of his campaign for state attorney general some news to cheer.

"Although my … close advisors think it's a little too early, I'm declaring victory," he said to a roaring crowd.

Early voting tallies showed Cooley with a comfortable lead. But within hours, his advantage had evaporated.

Cooley was widely seen as an early favorite in the race thanks to a history of electoral success in Los Angeles County, where he became the first district attorney in more than 70 years to win three terms.

But in Los Angeles County, Harris led Cooley by more than 14 percentage points. The county has nearly 400,000 uncounted ballots.

Something to consider is that L.A. is heavily Latino and Afro-American and so is the population of our prison system. People are unlikely to vote for the prosecutor that locked up a family member.

"Cooley had everything going for him except for one thing: He had Republican under his name," said Allan Hoffenblum, a former GOP consultant who publishes the nonpartisan California Target Book, which analyzes political races.

Democrats swept to comfortable victories in every other statewide office. And Cooley fared better than the rest of the GOP ticket, notching up more votes than gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman, U.S. Senate hopeful Carly Fiorina or any other Republican candidate.

In Los Angeles County, each of the other Democratic candidates for statewide office swept aside their Republican rivals by 28 percentage points or more — double Harris' lead over Cooley.

I don't like prosecutors very much and wouldn't vote for one for dogcatcher, but that's what we had for candidates and I just want a symbolic clean sweep for Dems, so GO Kamala!

Canada Reports Huge Jump in Immigration

OTTAWA (The Borowitz Report) - Canadian immigration officials have reported a huge increase in the number of requests for Canadian citizenship in the past twenty-four hours, with over fifty-five million such inquiries pouring in since late Tuesday night.

“My only theory is that after the 2010 winter Olympics, the sport of curling is finally starting to catch on,” he said.

In other news, responding to last night’s election returns, Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) told reporters, “I’m so stoked I just turned the tanning bed up to eleven.”

But former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin struck a more somber note, saying that despite several key victories, “it was a tough night for Tea Party voters because it involved so much math.

Headline of the Day Zwei

Jon Stewart congratulates Chris Wallace and Fox News on retaking the House

Headline of the Day

Obama-Claus steals Christmas in Tea Party children’s book

They liked to get 'em early in the Hitler Youth too. Maybe the Russians'll have to come in and deal with 'em like they did last time in Berlin.

The Hangover

Digby (actual picture of Digby. Be still, my heart!) Damn good read:

The right understood they'd lost the youth vote, the ethnic and racial minority vote and usually the female vote. The only demographic vote they had going for them was the elderly. And they've done a masterful job of making seniors feel like they're doing something for their grand kids by denying them health care and ensuring that there will be no safety net for them when they get old. You have to give them credit for that.

Harrumph! Speaking as an 'elderly', I resemble that remark! Ya ain't no spring chicken yerself, kiddo...

Still, she's right: the Repugs bamboozled the shit outta people with lies and made-up shit. Give the devil his due.

Keep the faith. And anyway, what choice do we have?

Update: Oh, and when they try to blame the bloggers or the liberals, just throw this in their face:

Only 47% of the members of the Democratic “Blue Dog Coalition” won re-election. 95% of the members of the “Progressive Caucus” won re-election. We're divided, but not that way.

And just in case the media hasn't noticed, the Democrats still control one house of congress and the presidency.

We've got two years for the Repugs to tear themselves to shreds while they try to fuck us over. That's something.

"Now, here's my plan..."

I wish I could string words together like El Rude-o in this 'must read':

The overwhelming feeling that the Rude Pundit has this morning is utter disgust with a vast number of the people of his nation, this America, for they have demonstrated, once again, that they are selfish, vain, cruel buffoons who are scared by the wrong things and have decided that the best way to handle it is to say, "Fuck it," build isolated bunkers all over the nation, and tell everyone else to leave them the fuck alone. For what is the end result of the vaguely-conceived ideology that was affirmed last night? It is that each of us should have the right to squat in our shitpiles of ignorance, isolated from one another, coveting our precious money, fellating our guns and fucking ourselves against our 50-inch LED screens in our multi-mortgaged, soon-to-be foreclosed on hovels, and if the world outside our caves goes to hell, well, that's because people don't understand how wonderful it is to engorge your faces with poisoned food and asthmatically heave your chest through polluted air and travel on shattered roads and bridges while picking your unmedicated scabs in order to get to work at Wal-Mart for shit wages but at least there's a wall that keeps the Mexicans and the gays out because that's what pissy God and the screaming ghost of Samuel Adams would fucking want for us. Their ultimate goal is to dismantle society itself in favor of Darwinian anarchy. Thomas Hobbes in action, motherfuckers, the animalistic Yahoos gutting the evolved Houyhnhnms.

We are heading for a dark, dark period. The Congress isn't going to get shit done as now everything will have to be approved by DeMint and Paul, even if the Senate is still in Democratic hands, or Harry Reid won't let the crazy shit passed in the House even come to a vote. There's going to be investigations of every bit of grime that Andrew Breitbart and Fox "news" can scrape from under the fingernails of even the lowliest members of the Obama administration. Impeachment will be on the table. Mike Pence, Darrell Issa, and Michele Bachmann will not be humble and cooperative with victory. They will be mad and drunk and ready for vengeance on the man who did nothing more than try to enact the will of the people who elected him by doing some of the very things he said he would do.

We the people abandoned Barack Obama yesterday. Hate what you will about him and about how he approached governing. The awful frustration of watching him compromise with a majority will seem like a happy vacation compared to what's coming. No, too many people who supported him in 2008 voted against him through their congressional races this year. And it was for the promise of a couple of extra bucks in their shrinking pay checks each week. Hope dies cheaply in this dirty, dead century.

Tomorrow: Enough despair. Let's make a plan, motherfuckers.

Thanks to Shel Silverstein who was way ahead of his time.