In the end, Minnesota Vikings coach Brad Childress wasn’t willing to bench quarterback Brett Favre for performance reasons. That’s the bottom line here from Gillette Stadium, where the Vikings finally have confirmed that Favre will start against the New England Patriots.
Favre has two fractures in his left foot. But after a week-long tug-of-war with Childress, Favre told ESPN’s Ed Werder on Saturday that he was healthy enough to play. That statement boxed Childress into a corner, in essence daring Childress to sit him because of his 14 interceptions.
With unproven Tarvaris Jackson as the primary backup, Childress wasn’t willing to make that choice.
Childress needs a spine. Favre needs ego-reduction surgery.
The Washington Post does its best to help KTVA out of this awkward situation.
Breitbart's Big Journalism site is making an incendiary accusation: That reporters at the Anchorage CBS affiliate KTVA were caught conspiring to damage Tea Party Senate candidate Joe Miller. Big Journalism posted a snippet of audio allegedly showing this: It features KTVA reporters talking among themselves while -- unbeknownst to them -- they were accidentally being recorded on the voicemail of Miller's campaign manager.
But it's unclear from the recording precisely what, if anything, was being plotted. And now the station is adamantly denying the charges, claiming the audio was clipped and taken out of the fuller context. KTVA general manager Jerry Bever sends over a statement claiming the "complete recording was about what others might be able to do to cause disruption within the Miller campaign."
If this is true, it wouldn't be the first time this has happened, as you may recall.
Big Journalism's audio was picked up on by Sarah Palin on Fox News this morning, and by the NRSC, which issued a statement claiming: "It should trouble all Americans that any member of the media would attempt to purposefully smear a nominee for the U.S. Senate."
But here's the response from Bever, the general manager of KTVA:
"It's unfortunate that this recording has happened. It's unfortunate because it does not accurately reflect the journalistic standards of our newsroom and the garbled context will no doubt leave more questions than answers. The Miller campaign's analysis of the recording is incorrect in many material ways ranging from personnel involved in the conversation, the interpretation of conversation snippets and the reported transcript of the perceived garbled conversation.
"While the recording is real, the allegations are untrue. The recording was the result of a cell phone not being hung up after a call was placed to Randy DeSoto, Joe Miller campaign spokesperson, Thursday afternoon to discuss Joe Miller's appearance on that evening's newscast. That phone call was placed near the end of a coverage planning meeting in our newsroom regarding that evening's Miller rally in downtown Anchorage. The group of KTVA news personnel was reviewing potential "what-if" scenarios, discussing the likelihood of events at the rally and how KTVA might logistically disseminate any breaking news.
"The perception that this garbled, out of context recording may leave is unfortunate, but to allege that our staff was discussing or planning to create or fabricate stories regarding candidate Miller is absurd. The complete conversation was about what others might be able to do to cause disruption within the Miller campaign, not what KTVA could do."
We're to believe that's how legitimate "planning meetings" go in the KTVA newsroom, reviewing the sort of "what-if" scenarios discussed on the recording?
I don't think so. _________________
Here's an e-mail message about the race in Alaska from Democrat J.B. Poersch, the DSCC's Executive Director:
How would you like to plant the Democratic flag in Sarah Palin’s backyard?
We have a real shot at winning Alaska with polls showing we’re now ahead of the Tea Party candidate. This would be a major blow to Sarah Palin (I’m told you can see Russia from her house) and the Tea Party, who expected to waltz to victory.
But because it’s such a late-breaking opportunity, it wasn’t in our budget. Although we can pull this off if we get $175,000 in the door today. We’ve got the ads on the air and the turnout operation on the ground. This win would be huge.
If you’re looking for a way to make a difference in the final hours, here you go. Kick in $5 and let’s win this.
Let’s take the fight to Sarah Palin’s doorstep!
J.B.
No anger or rage from the Left?
Yeah, right. ______________________
Ann Coulter: WHAT IF obama were a muslim and biden a child molester?: (AK radio station claims only discussing "what if" scenarios)
Video, from Saturday Night Live, "Weekend Update":
Transcript
SETH MEYERS: So the big story this election is, of course, the Tea Party. Now do you think they're ready to be taken seriously as a political force?
JAMES CARVILLE (BILL HADER): Seth, I love the Tea Party. I mean, those guys make me look attractive, and that ain't easy. Look at me, Seth. I look like a mean peanut.
MEYERS: Back to the election, it seems like a lot of fringe candidates have more support than ever.
CARVILLE: Well, Seth, crazy can be appealing. I mean, I made a career out of it, but that doesn't mean I should be elected to office. I mean, when I worked for Clinton I used to have dreams that I was president, and they were nuts. In one dream, my vice president was a smart aleck possum and every night he and I would get high. It was a funny dream, but it wouldn't be good for the country. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
MEYERS: So, James, now even if the Democrats do hold on to the Senate, everyone seems to agree they will probably lose their majority in the House.
CARVILLE: Well, let 'em have the House. Good riddance. I mean, have you ever seen the House of Representatives? It's like the waiting room for jury duty. When you see the House on C-SPAN, it looks like a family reunion that's only weird uncles.
MEYERS: So you're not threatened to see Tea Party members take office.
CARVILLE: No, let 'em. The Tea Party are like fun, kooky parents that your friend had when you were kids. You know, they let 'em stay up all night and watch Cinemax. And then one night, you sleep over there and they don't have any food. It's just expired peanut butter. They fight and listen to weird records and their dog's like 50 years old and he's just staring at you. And you're like, 'Man, this is creepy. I kinda wanna go home.' All I'm sayin' is if you elect these Tea Party kookalooks you're gonna be calling Harry Reid in two months saying, 'Dad, can you come pick me up?'
No, there's no chance that I'd call Reid to come pick me up.
Saturday Night Live opened with Joe Biden, played by Jason Sudeikis, telling the American people to quit whining and think about the Chilean miners when they go to vote on Tuesday.
Transcript
ANNOUNCER: And now a message from the vice president of the United States, Joe Biden.
JOE BIDEN (JASON SUDEIKIS): Good evening, my fellow Americans. This coming Tuesday's election is essential to the future of this country. I'm gonna be honest with you. I think we're gonna get our asses handed to us. It's gonna be a good old-fashioned bloodbath. But Joe Biden doesn't give up. So while the president is out trying to rally voters, I want to address you directly, because when things can't get any worse, it's Biden time!
Now, Americans, I know you're upset, and I know you're dissatisfied. But I want to ask you a question: Is it really that bad? Because when I hear you complaining about the state of this nation, do you know who I think of? Those brave Chilean miners.
Now those sorry bastards were trapped underground for 69 days. And did they complain? No, no. Do you know what they did every day? They sang their national anthem. They sang their national anthem.
So before you start bellyaching about the direction our country is going in, I'd like you to answer the Joe Biden checklist.
One: Are you above ground?
And that's it. That's all I got. Hey, look, if the answer is yes, maybe cool it with the whining, OK? You're mad about the economy? Well, for 69 days those 33 miners had to do their business in the corner of a mine, no door, with all their buddies watching.
Now you may be saying, 'Well, it was pretty dark,' but hey, they knew. Ho, ho, ho, they knew. Yeah, and still when they came out of that hole, they were all smiles and they gave their president a big old hug. They didn't come up to him, jab a finger in his chest and ask him why there wasn't tougher mining regulation, you know? They just high-fived him and went on their way.
But our guy tries to give you health care, and he's a socialist. Now, I'm not gonna lie. It gets me riled up. Now the president, he's not gonna get mad about this, OK? That's not his style. The guy's a robot.
True story, true story - I've never seen him sleep. No. I always try to stay up late enough to watch him doze off, but, you know, I'm out by 9:30. That's just me. It was the same thing with me on Christmas Eve when I was a kid. I was sure that my dad was Santa, but to this day, can't prove it.
What I can prove is that 33 Chileans were in a hole and instead of starting a Tea Party, they wrapped themselves up in their flags like their country just won the World Cup, jumping around, having a good time, enjoying life. Now sure, part of that you can write off because of the whole Latin thing. Right. But why should they be that much happier than us? They were underground. I can't even imagine.
True story - I was once stuck in an elevator with two other guys for only 15 minutes, and both of those guys said it was the worst experience of their lives. Yeah, yeah.
So when you go to the polls on Tuesday - or not, you know, it won't matter, like I said, bloodbath - I want you to remember the Joe Biden motto: Don't be whiners. Think about the miners.
HARIPRASAD TRIVEDI: Hello, Wisconsinites. I'm Hariprasad Trivedi and I'm running as a write-in candidate for the governor of Wisconsin. And I approve this message.
I'm disillusioned by the current [prominent authorities?]. Please visit my website where you will see ideas I hope you find refreshing.
Please think outside the box. And if you like what you see, I will be honored if you write in Hariprasad Trivedi for governor. I am sure you will do the right thing at the ballot box.
Brookfield Physician Pledges to Work for $1 Annual Salary until Deficit Eliminated
Brookfield, Wis. (October 29, 2010) – Brookfield Physician Dr. Hariprasad 'Hari' Trivedi is running a focused and exciting write-in campaign for Wisconsin Governor in the November 2 general election.
Seeing the current field and situation, Trividi felt compelled to run on the principle of cutting the state deficit and lack of confidence in the major party candidates. “First, I pledge to work for a $1 annual salary until the state’s deficit is eliminated,” Trivedi said. “One candidate has taken the state’s largest city from being the 11th poorest to the 4th and the other is running the state’s largest county which is nearly bankrupt. It is impossible to do worse.”
Hari Trivedi’s agenda for state government is based on five basic strategies:
1. In order to rejuvenate the state’s economy, it is essential to get an influx of capital into the state, or in other words, attract external dollars to Wisconsin.
2. Institute a culture of dynamic and proactive fiscal management as state and local governments are suffering because they have been asleep at the wheel as the financial crisis has evolved around them resulting in layoffs, furloughs and cut backs of services.
3. Greatly enhance Wisconsin’s agricultural productivity. Though located in the prime growing region of the Midwest, Wisconsin has failed to take advantage of this growing opportunity due to lack of vision and leadership.
4. Flaunt the beauty of Northern Wisconsin and promote tourism in all areas of the state with vigor as the government has failed to aggressively develop and advance tourism.
5. Engage people on an ongoing basis and not just before elections. For every important issue, I would talk to the people and seek their opinion. Current technology allows cheap and easy communication, such as garnering public opinion on a particular important or controversial issue via Internet-based surveys.
Trivedi has received extremely positive responses to his write-in campaign for Wisconsin Governor and is not accepting campaign contributions. More information on Hari Trivedi for Governor is available at www.trivgov.com.
Rudy Giuliani will be in Wisconsin on Sunday campaigning with Sean Duffy.
Details:
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani will be campaigning with Sean Duffy, congressional candidate for Wisconsin's 7th Congressional District, on Sunday in Chippewa Falls, Medford and Wausau. Events are free and open to the public. Tickets are not required. These events are part of Sean's "Bringing the Axe to Washington" tour that is taking him all throughout the 7th Congressional District.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2010
WHO: Sean Duffy, Rudy Giuliani WHAT: RALLY WHEN: Sunday, 11:30 a.m. WHERE: Avalon Hotel and Conference Center, 1009 Park Avenue, Chippewa Falls
WHO: Sean Duffy, Rudy Giuliani WHAT: Shaking hands at Medford Halloween Parade WHEN: Sunday, 1:30 p.m. WHERE: Medford Parade Route
WHO: Sean Duffy, Rudy Giuliani WHAT: RALLY WHEN: Sunday, After the Packer game (about 3 p.m.) WHERE: Dale's Weston Lanes, 5902 Schofield Avenue, Schofield
The world needs President Barack Obama to be a global leader on HIV/AIDS.
It was not that long ago faith leaders and millions of activists organized across the globe to press President George W. Bush to respond to the AIDS pandemic and fund solutions to end extreme global poverty.
The result of bold American leadership led to nothing short of a historic wave of success. Today, nearly four million Africans are on life saving HIV/AIDS medicines, up from 50,000 in 2002. President Bush’s legacy in the fight against global AIDS is strong, but much more needs to be done.
Barack Obama campaigned on a promise to continue that leadership. But today, his promise has yet to be kept.
...But when it comes to turning back the AIDS pandemic and ending extreme poverty, we have a very clear path forward. There are 192 nations that committed to the Millennium Development Goals in 2001. They are a series of eight targeted goals that would produce dramatic results in turning back the tide of global pandemics and reducing extreme poverty, and they gave us a roadmap as to how this all could happen by 2015.
U.S. leadership on these goals and the work to back them up have received broad bipartisan support within Congress. Countries across the world are now in tough economic straits, so if the United States falters in its leadership the huge successes these goals have already accomplished could stall.
Unfortunately, one major source of funding to fight AIDS, The Presidents Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) has been neglected.
During his campaign, President Obama made a promise to increase PEPFAR funding by $1 billion a year if elected. Last year, the White House recommended a small increase of funding from $6.6 billion to $6.7 billion. It looks like PEPFAR will receive only a small increase this year. That's a broken promise.
...For those of us in this country, it's a matter of Obama fulfilling a campaign promise. For the world’s poorest, it's a matter of life and death.
On the video, Obama wants credit for increasing AIDS relief funding. Clearly, he's misrepresenting what his administration has done in terms of keeping his campaign promise.
Moreover, it's disturbing that Obama, rather than taking responsibility for his broken promises, misleads and tries to turn the criticism he deserves on the Republicans, warning, "promising," that they will cut AIDS funding.
I think Obama needs to be educated on recent history and what President Bush accomplished regarding AIDS relief.
I gave the President my book. He raised an eyebrow. "Who wrote this for ya, Geldof?" he said without looking up from the cover. Very dry. "Who will you get to read it for you, Mr. President?" I replied. No response.
The Most Powerful Man in the World studied the front cover. Geldof in Africa — " 'The international best seller.' You write that bit yourself?"
"That's right. It's called marketing. Something you obviously have no clue about or else I wouldn't have to be here telling people your Africa story."
It is some story. And I have always wondered why it was never told properly to the American people, who were paying for it. It was, for example, Bush who initiated the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) with cross-party support led by Senators John Kerry and Bill Frist. In 2003, only 50,000 Africans were on HIV antiretroviral drugs — and they had to pay for their own medicine. Today, 1.3 million are receiving medicines free of charge. The U.S. also contributes one-third of the money for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria — which treats another 1.5 million. It contributes 50% of all food aid (though some critics find the mechanism of contribution controversial). On a seven-day trip through Africa, Bush announced a fantastic new $350 million fund for other neglected tropical diseases that can be easily eradicated; a program to distribute 5.2 million mosquito nets to Tanzanian kids; and contracts worth around $1.2 billion in Tanzania and Ghana from the Millennium Challenge Account, another initiative of the Bush Administration.
When President Bush came to power in 2001, the US spent $1.4bn a year on humanitarian and development aid in Africa. By 2006, the figure had quadrupled to $5.6bn a year. And it is likely to get bigger. The centrepiece of Mr Bush's aid to Africa is the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (Pepfar), a five-year, $15bn Aids prevention and treatment programme launched in 2003. His most recent budget proposes doubling the funding to $30bn over the next five years.
Despite rows over the programme's emphasis on abstinence and faithfulness to one partner rather than condoms to control Aids, it has helped to fund anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs for 1.3 million people across the continent. Before, the US funded ARV treatment for just 50,000 people.
Taken alongside US funding for malaria prevention, plus the Millennium Challenge Accounts, which provide funding for countries with strong governance records, Mr Bush has done more for Africa than any other US president, according to Joel Barkan, a senior associate at the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies. "I am a very severe critic of the Bush administration," he said, "but you cannot take away from the president the fact that the commitment of the US, in terms of aid and debt relief, is certainly greater under Bush than Clinton."
For all the tumult that has marked the presidency of George W. Bush, one pursuit of this administration has yeided continuing results: The fight against AIDS in Africa.
Bush has challenged the U.S. to redouble its funding for the fight against AIDS and malaria in Africa and other reaches of the world over the next five years, and Congress this week met the call for funding that keeps that American commitment on track.
With legislation that the president will sign next week, the U.S. will commit to $40 billion in aid over the next five years -- including an unprecedented new turn in foreign health aid: The long-term provision of life-sustaining drugs for AIDS sufferers.
Clearly, Republicans under George W. Bush were committed to addressing AIDS.
OBAMA is knowingly attempting to deceive the public.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) today issued a call for action after AIDS activists heckled President Barack Obama during a New York City fundraiser last night. The protestors descried the Obama administration’s dismal record on AIDS, holding up signs that read “Obama, broken promises KILL.”
The Obama administration continues to give short shrift to AIDS in the U.S. and abroad. More than 3,400 Americans are on waiting lists to receive lifesaving HIV/AIDS medications through the nation’s AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs) and hundreds more are being cut off from receiving medications through the state due to other cost-containment measures.
The President has offered a mere $30 million in additional funding to close a gaping $126 million hole in funding for ADAPs—not nearly enough. Additionally, the Obama administration has retreated from its global commitments on AIDS, flat-funding and underfunding its worldwide programs.
“We heard your point…The people who will take over if we don’t focus on the election, I promise you, will cut AIDS funding.”
“The administration is spending more in two hours on the war in Afghanistan than it is spending to solve the AIDS drug crisis which is killing Americans here at home,” said AHF President Michael Weinstein. “It is time for administration officials to step up to the plate and identify funds to send to cash-strapped ADAPs. President Obama should act like this country’s citizens lives depend on it—because they do!”
In response to one activist’s criticism of the administration’s retreat on global AIDS, President Obama insisted that if the Republicans gain control of Congress the situation would worsen. He said, “We heard your point…The people who will take over if we don’t focus on the election, I promise you, will cut AIDS funding.”
“The assertion that the Republicans would do worse on AIDS than the current Democratic leadership is simply incorrect,” said Weinstein. “After all, it is Republican Senators Coburn and Burr who have introduced bills to solve the nation’s ADAP crisis and increase treatment slots for global AIDS patients— bills which have stalled largely due to lack of Democratic support.”
Did you get that?
"The assertion that the Republicans would do worse on AIDS than the current Democratic leadership is simply incorrect."
OBAMA is a liar.
Not only is he lying but he's doing so in a manner that he hopes will boost the Democrats in the midterm elections.
What a shameless liar!
Why won't anyone in the media hold Obama accountable for his failures regarding AIDS and question him about his lies?
Did I mention that Obama is lying about AIDS and Republicans?
Here's Obama's e-mail message about his Chicago rally:
Friend --
I'm excited to gather with supporters in Chicago tomorrow.
We've got a lot of work to do to keep moving America forward. But this movement has never backed down from a tough fight.
I hope you can join me. If you haven't already, please let us know you'll join by clicking here.
Hope to see you there,
President Barack Obama
P.S. -- The OFA organizer who is helping set up the rally passed along some nuts-and-bolts details of the event that you should know:
What: Moving America Forward Rally with President Barack Obama and Musical guest Common
Where: Midway Plaisance 1130 Midway Plaisance North Entrance: North and South sides of Woodlawn Avenue at 59th and 60th Streets Chicago, IL 60637
When: Saturday, October 30th Doors open: 4:00 p.m.
The event is free and open to the public. Tickets are not required, but an RSVP is encouraged. Space is available on a first-come, first-served basis.
For security reasons, please avoid bringing bags to the rally if at all possible -- you should expect airport-like security. No signs, banners, or laptops are permitted.
RSVP to join me here:
http://il.barackobama.com/ChicagoRally
More information:
Parking is limited -- use of public transportation and carpooling is strongly encouraged. Sight will be accessible via the 57th and 59th Street Metra Stations as well as the Cottage Grove Green Line CTA Station. Service will be increased on both the Green Line and the Cottage Grove CTA Buses.
Before and after the rally, join thousands of volunteers across Illinois as we get out the vote from now unitl Election Day. Be a part of this movement and sign up for a GOTV shift:
Obama stood at the podium in the Press Briefing Room at the White House late yesterday afternoon. He made a statement about explosives found on planes bound for the United States.
Suspicious packages found in at least two locations abroad that were bound for the United States "apparently contain explosive material," President Barack Obama said Friday, calling the discovery "a credible threat against our country."
The packages led to increased searches of cargo planes and trucks in several U.S. cities, said law enforcement sources with detailed knowledge of the investigation.
U.S. officials believe that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, commonly referred to as AQAP, is behind the incident.
Obama confirmed that the packages originated in Yemen, the stronghold of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
"We also know that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ... continues to plan attacks against our homeland, our citizens, and our friends and allies," he said during a press briefing on the incident.
One suspicious package, found in the United Kingdom, contained a "manipulated" toner cartridge and had white powder on it as well as wires and a circuit board, a law enforcement source said. A similar package was discovered in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, the source said. The UAE General Authority of Civil Aviation issued a statement saying the package was to be shipped on a FedEx cargo plane.
Both packages were bound for the United States, "specifically two places of Jewish worship in Chicago," Obama said.
"Initial examination of those packages has determined they do apparently contain explosive material," he said.
White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan, who was the first to brief Obama on the potential threat Thursday night, said that "the materials that were found and the device that was discovered were intended to do harm."
Authorities on three continents thwarted multiple terrorist attacks aimed at the United States Friday, seizing two explosive packages addressed to Chicago-area synagogues and packed aboard cargo jets from Yemen. Parts of the plot might remain undetected, President Barack Obama's counterterror chief warned.
Obama called the coordinated attacks a "credible terrorist threat" amid worldwide fears that al-Qaida was launching a major new campaign of assaults.
"The United States is not assuming that the attacks were disrupted and is remaining vigilant," Obama adviser John Brennan said at the White House.
One of the packages was found aboard a cargo plane in Dubai, the other in England. In the U.S., cargo planes were searched up and down the Eastern Seaboard, and an Emirates Airlines passenger jet was escorted down the coast to New York by American fighter jets.
No explosives were found aboard those planes, though the investigation was continuing on at least two.
Obama's sobering assessment, delivered from the White House podium, unfolded four days before national elections in which discussion of terrorism has played almost no role. The president went ahead with weekend campaign appearances.
The terrorist efforts "underscore the necessity of remaining vigilant against terrorism," the president said. While he said both packages that contained explosives originated in Yemen, he did not explicitly assign blame to al-Qaida, which is active in the Arab nation and long has made clear its goal of launching new attacks on the United States.
Interesting that Obama spoke of terrorists and terrorism.
His administration was supposed to use a different lexicon and get away from the politics of fear.
It seems strange for Obama to acknowledge foreign enemies of the United States. This stuff doesn't fit with the New World Order of the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Obama.
When it comes to Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano doesn't even like to use the term "terrorism." She prefers "man-caused disasters."
From Napolitano's interview with Der Spiegel:
SPIEGEL: Madame Secretary, in your first testimony to the US Congress as Homeland Security Secretary you never mentioned the word "terrorism." Does Islamist terrorism suddenly no longer pose a threat to your country?
Napolitano: Of course it does. I presume there is always a threat from terrorism. In my speech, although I did not use the word "terrorism," I referred to "man-caused" disasters. That is perhaps only a nuance, but it demonstrates that we want to move away from the politics of fear toward a policy of being prepared for all risks that can occur.
She is a scary woman.
So why is the Obama administration using the term "terrorism" in this case?
What's with all the politics of fear being bandied about? Days before the midterm elections, Team Obama decides to talk "terrorism"?
That's quite a departure.
Yes, Obama has spent quite a bit of his time recently talking enemies and punishing them, but he wasn't referring to Islamic extremists.
Appearing on a popular morning Univision radio broadcast called “Piolin por la Mañana,” hosted by Eddie “Piolin” Sotelo, President Obama urged Hispanic listeners to vote for his political party in the upcoming elections and punish the enemies. “If Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, ‘We’re going to punish our enemies and we’re gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us,’ if they don’t see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it’s going to be harder and that’s why I think it’s so important that people focus on voting on November 2.”
You don’t need to speak Spanish to discern that the President was clearly referring to conservatives as the enemy. President Obama went on to remind the listeners not to forget who was on their side come election day.
Speaking of conservatives, Obama says, "We're going to punish our enemies."
Doesn't Obama's language sound positively absurb, especially when put in the context of yesterday's events?
Obama is a disgrace in terms of his divisive rhetoric, an absolute disgrace.
Thankfully, this terrorist plot was foiled.
Clearly, we have enemies that want us dead. Obama should focus his energy on "punishing" them.
It's time for Obama to tone down his radical Leftist, community organizer persona and start working on acting like the president of the United States.
If Obama is going to appear on The Daily Show for a relatively lengthy "interview" conducted by a comedian, he has to be prepared for the fall-out.
Obama's stature as president of the United States is diminished. When he goes on Jon Stewart's show like he's just another schmuck, Obama has to expect to be treated like one.
Forget "Mr. President." Obama has to get used to being called "dude" and treated like someone worthy of that moniker.
Of all the possible ways to refer to our uptight president, "dude" is not the first one that springs to mind. Comedian Jon Stewart changed all that Wednesday night, and President Obama was not amused.
Mr. Obama showed up on "The Daily Show" to make an appeal to the program's young, well-educated audience, which he considers part of his base. When the president defended his former economic adviser by saying, "Larry Summers did a heckuva job," Mr. Stewart interjected, "You don't want to use that phrase, dude." In this, he both drew an inference between Mr. Obama and his predecessor, President George W. Bush, who famously expressed similar praise for Katrina-era FEMA Director Michael "Brownie" Brown, and also let a burst of air out of what has been a dangerously overinflated presidency. It was a rare moment when people were laughing at Mr. Obama rather than with him.
The days are long past when it was particularly daring or groundbreaking for a politician to go on a comedy show. In 1968, then-candidate Richard Nixon made a brief appearance on NBC's "Laugh-In" saying "sock it to me," which was humorous because no one expected Nixon to do it.... Some politicians have used comedy shows to engage in some self-deprecating humor, such as George W. Bush and Al Gore on "Saturday Night Live" in 2000. Other attempts to reach out to the youth audience have become inadvertent classics, like Bill Clinton's slightly creepy reaction to being asked about his underwear on MTV.
"The Daily Show," however, blurs the line between news and comedy in a postmodern merger of satire, celebrity and wonkishness. Some view it as a legitimate news source, and a 2007 poll of most admired journalists had Mr. Stewart - who by the way is not a journalist - at No. 4.
Another laugh at Mr. Obama's expense came when he was responding to a line of questioning from Mr. Stewart that encapsulated the liberal critique of his presidency; namely, that he hasn't done enough to bring about the promised "fundamental transformation" of America. For the left, there is a widening audacity gap. Would Mr. Obama have to change his slogan, "Yes, we can?" the president began. "I think what I would say is 'yes, we can, but ... .' " At that point, Mr. Stewart and the crowd began laughing. The president dude looked a little foolish. Hope and change died with that "but."
"The Daily Show" was in town this week as part of the publicity campaign culminating in this weekend's combined "rallies" - more like a live variety show - featuring Mr. Stewart and fellow huckster Stephen Colbert. The latter returns to Washington after his farcical testimony last month before the House Judiciary immigration subcommittee, an exercise in political theater that was heavily panned even by Democrats. The ridiculous testimony did serve a purpose, though, because it confirmed that the Democratic congressional majority doesn't take important issues of public policy seriously, nor even its responsibilities for governing.
It's hard to convince the American people that your party is not a joke when comedians become your most visible supporters. Mocking conservative activists who have been motivated to get involved in politics out of legitimate fears for the future of the country will only motivate them to greater efforts to stuff it right back in the smirking faces of the liberal wisecrackers. Our nation is in trouble, and America isn't laughing, dude.
Obama lacks gravitas. He's a lightweight. He's a joke.
It's pretty bad when a sitting president is referred to as "dude," and the audience laughs at him.
Obama has fallen so far so fast.
Jon Stewart has a long history of calling political figures "dude."
Some people are allergic to milk. Some people are allergic to dust. Jon Stewart is allergic to liars, spinners and boasters, even pint-size ones from Ohio. "I heard Dennis Kucinich in the last Democratic debate say, 'When I'm president... ,' and I just wanted to stop him and say, 'Dude'." So it's a little surprising that Stewart is boasting a bit himself tonight. It's a windy, frigid evening in Manhattan, and about 100 brave souls--mostly guys in baseball caps and the women who love them--have assembled to watch Stewart host "The Daily Show." Stewart--gray suit, graying hair--is onstage pumping up the crowd just before taping. "We've got us a Democratic general!" he says, clearly elated about having Gen. Wesley Clark as his guest. "That's like a gay black Republican. It's a rare beast." The audience laughs. Then, suddenly, Stewart's anti-hype radar locks on another target--himself. "I can't believe the luck you all have," he says, "because some days you come here and you get the third lead from 'Angel'."
Dude, that is so not true. Sure, "Saturday Night Live" had Al Sharpton, and Jay Leno entertained John Kerry on a Harley, but "The Daily Show" has got everyone by the throat. The program won two Emmys this year--beating "Leno" and "Letterman"--and is becoming the coolest pit stop on television. And it does it the hard way. Unlike late-night talk shows that traffic in Hollywood interviews and stupid pet tricks, "The Daily Show" is a fearless social satire.
So liberal darling Jon Stewart has put Obama and Kucinich in the same category. They exist for our entertainment. They're punchlines.
Obama's the incredible shrinking president, with the stature of Kucinich.
Local blogger Dave Schlabowske prompted me to wonder this week where the gubernatorial candidates stand on the great Hoan Bridge bike lane question.
Schlabowske, the bicycle and pedestrian coordinator for Milwaukee, made a case for a plan rejected previously by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation: eliminate one of the three northbound traffic lanes and replace it with a bike lane, separated from traffic by a concrete barrier.
That idea has been somewhat dormant since 2002, despite the persistent advocacy by cyclists and some of the local elected officials who organized the Coalition to Save the Hoan Bridge in 2008.
The group’s main objective is to block any proposal to replace the Hoan with a smaller lift bridge. But the coalition’s leader, County Supervisor Patricia Jursik, also argues the bridge, in any variation, should be open to bicycle and pedestrian traffic.
Gov. Jim Doyle punted the major decisions about the future of the Hoan, including the addition of a bike lane, to his successor.
Scott Walker would keep cyclists grounded.
As county executive, the Republican candidate opposed construction of a bike lane on the bridge and maintains that position today.
“It’s not a safe place for a bike path,” he said.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, the Democratic candidate, has been open to various alternatives for the Hoan, including a bike lane.
His campaign sent this response to the question: “Tom would be open to a discussion of the pros and cons of a Hoan Bridge bike lane. Safety and traffic flow issues, as well as if there would be demand for a lane, would have to be addressed.”
This issue illustrates the difference between Scott Walker's style of leadership and Tom Barrett's approach.
Tom Barrett's answer is typical liberal gobbledygook.
Scott Walker's response is clear.
A bike lane on the Hoan is a ridiculous idea. Period.
Not so in Barrett's world.
Let's redo the newly redone (and falling apart) Marquette Interchange to include a bike lane. Let's eliminate a traffic lane and make room for bikes. Yeah, that would help commuters deal with the congestion.
While we're at it, let's have a bike lane parallel to the high-speed train track. However, once a cyclist was on the bike path, he or she could only stop at designated points along the way. No getting on and off at will.
Scott Walker and his radical allies have already flooded the airwaves with millions in false, misleading attack ads, but now there is evidence that the GOP's voter suppression operation is starting to kick into gear.
We need to fight back now against these disgusting dirty tricks. Click here to donate $25, $50, or even $100 to our voter protection fund and help ensure every vote is counted.
Scott Walker's political allies know that when working families, minorities, women, and young people turn out to vote, that they vote heavily for Democrats.
That's why shadowy outside groups from Washington D.C. are sending mailings with incorrect ballot information, and why Tea Party groups and the Republican Party of Wisconsin are spending tens of thousands of dollars on a massive "voter caging" operation to stop thousands of legitimate voters from casting ballots on Tuesday.
We've already assembled the largest GOTV operation in Wisconsin's electoral history and thousands of grassroots volunteers are gearing up to fill over 28,500 GOTV shifts.
But to make sure every vote is counted, we need to raise another $30,000 by the end of the day to fund our voter protection effort.
Will you help us make sure that every vote is counted?
The GOP always saves their dirtiest tricks for the last few days before the election -- because they think we won't be able to do anything to stop it.
With your help we will stop these dirty tricks and make sure that every citizen in Wisconsin who has a legal right to vote is able to cast their ballot on Election Day.
Take a stand for protecting the rights of voters across Wisconsin. Donate to our emergency voter protection fund now.
Thank you for your support,
Bill Hyers Campaign Manager
P.S. In Nevada, a GOP shadow group went as far to put TV ads on the air urging Latino voters not to vote. The GOP has made it clear that they are willing to say or do anything to advance their radical agenda and to get Scott Walker elected. We can't let that happen in Wisconsin. Fight back now by making a donation to our voter protection fund.
This is sickening.
It's a joke for Barrett to talk about "[taking] a stand for protecting the rights of voters across Wisconsin."
Barrett turned a blind eye to voter fraud in Milwaukee.
Jim Doyle and Wisconsin Dems have blocked all legislative efforts to ensure the integrity of Wisconsin's elections.
Listen to Russ Feingold's buddy, Markos Moulitsas, founder of the fringe Left blog, Daily Kos, compare Sharron Angle, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, and Republicans to the Taliban.
Moulitsas claims Republicans share the same values as the murderous Taliban. He says that Limbaugh is pursuing the same agenda, the same goals, as Islamic fundamentalists in the Middle East.
Former President Bill Clinton tried last week to get Democratic Rep. Kendrick Meek to quit the U.S. Senate race in Florida and endorse Gov. Charlie Crist's independent bid, Politico reported Thursday, adding that the effort nearly succeeded.
Politico reported that during Clinton's trip to Florida, Meek agreed twice to drop out of the race to help Democrats defeat the Republican nominee, Tea Party loyalist Marco Rubio, but Meek eventually changed his mind.
The premise was that if Meek's followers threw their support behind Crist, the former Republican likely would defeat Rubio.
A Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday shows Rubio's lead is shrinking in the final days of the race. Rubio has 42 percent of the vote to Crist's 35 percent and Meek's 15 percent in their three-way contest. Rubio led Crist by a margin of 44 percent to 30 percent two weeks ago.
Meek's campaign denied he ever considered throwing in the towel.
"The article is not true. Kendrick Meek was never dropping out of this race, is never dropping out of this race and will never drop out of this race," Meek campaign manager Abe Dyk said in a written statement. "Kendrick is the Democratic nominee, so if anyone should drop out, it's Charlie Crist," he added.
But Crist confirmed the report in an interview Thursday night with Fox News' Greta Van Susteren, saying he had discussed the matter with Meek.
"Those conversations did take place," Crist said, asserting that Meek initially had agreed to quit, to "do what was right ... stop a right-wing radical, if you will, from getting elected to the U.S. Senate."
This really looks bad.
Pressuring Meek, winner of the Democrat primary, to get out of the race with less than a week to go to prevent a Marco Rubio victory is disregarding the will of the people. Democrats in Florida chose Meek to be their nominee.
Bill Clinton and Obama shouldn't be undermining the will of the people.
Also, we have a lot of lying going on here.
Meek's campaign is adamant about him never considering quitting the race. Clinton's people tell a different story.
Former president Bill Clinton tried to persuade Democratic Rep. Kendrick Meek to drop out of the Florida Senate race, telling Meek that he could make a greater impact if he quit the three-way race and endorsed Gov. Charlie Crist (I), a Clinton official confirmed Thursday.
Clinton, a longtime friend of Meek's, first worked through his senior adviser Doug Band to make the deal before getting personally involved, spokesman Matt McKenna confirmed. The discussions were first reported Thursday evening by Politico.
Meek seemed amenable, and on two occasions nearly went through with it, McKenna said, but he ultimately changed his mind.
This plot blew up in the Dems' faces.
If I were a Floridian, I'd be ticked off about Clinton and Obama meddling in my state's U.S. Senate race.
The liberal media outlets are putting less focus on Obama's role, but he has also been involved. They're clearly trying to leave Obama out of this mess and protect him. They've failed.
Michael Steele makes a valid point:
Last week, Clinton spent two days in Florida to campaign on Meek's behalf. He also used that time to try to persuade Meek to quit the race, Politico reported.
Meek, who won a four-man Democratic primary in August and is aiming to become the first African American elected statewide in Florida, cites Clinton frequently on the campaign trail and considers him a political mentor.
Republican Party chairman Michael S. Steele decried Clinton's dealings, saying they send "a chilling signal to all voters, but especially African Americans. One can only imagine the response if Republican leadership tried to force out of the race - in the 11th hour - a qualified black candidate."
The Democrats and their mouthpieces in the liberal media would have a field day if Republicans tried to pull what Clinton and Obama attempted.
I called a source very close to the Meek campaign who confirmed that Clinton and Obama have been pressuring Meek to drop out. “Kendrick has been under tremendous pressure,” I was told, “but he is not dropping out and will continue to fight for the middle class.”
The African-American community–both in Florida and nationwide–is very invested in Meek’s campaign. He doesn’t want to let them down. Also, Meek dropping out would hurt Alex Sink’s bid for governor because she must have a strong vote from the black community.
Meanwhile African-American leaders are upset with Barack Obama. “If Obama forces Kendrick to drop out, he can kiss the White House goodbye in 2012,” one leader told me.
Rebecca Kleefisch, Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, is opposed to gay marriage, like Scott Walker and Tom Barrett and Obama.
Kleefisch has a gay uncle, Chris Pfauser, and he doesn't agree with her stance on gay marriage and her opposition to extending benefits to the partners of state employees. He's speaking out. He's very disappointed with his niece.
It's quite remarkable timing that this story has just emerged a few days before the election given that she made the comments currently the subject of controversy about NINE MONTHS AGO.
Back in January, Kleefisch made her statements about extending benefits to the domestic partners of state employees during a radio interview on WVCY Christian radio.
Only now are her remarks being used as fodder by Tom Barrett and his "willing partners" in the liberal media to attack her. Obviously, the intent is to damage Scott Walker and give Barrett a boost, to create a controversy.
"We can't at this point afford to just be handing out money to anyone. This is a slippery slope in addition to that -- at what point are we going to OK marrying inanimate objects? Can I marry this table, or this, you know, clock? Can we marry dogs? This is ridiculous."
Kleefisch has apologized for her comments, regretting her insensitivity.
"My comments were meant to relay my concern with redefining marriage," Kleefisch said in the statement reported by the Associated Press. "I never intended to sound insensitive, and have the utmost respect for all people. I apologize for my poor choice of words."
That's not a squishy non-apology apology. She takes responsibility for what she said. She explains herself. She says she's sorry.
End of story?
No way.
Barrett is desperately trying to paint Scott Walker, and now Rebecca Kleefisch, as extreme even though they are all in agreement on the issue of gay marriage and their views reflect those of the majority of Wisconsin voters.
It's a losing strategy. Barrett's utilization of a wedge issue is not going to cause voters to reject Walker.
This election is about the economy and Barrett can't win on that issue. So, he's flailing around trying anything that might erode support for Walker.
That's not going to happen. Voters aren't going to turn their backs on Walker. Nonetheless, the liberal media, Barrett's "willing partners," are doing all they can to help.
Pfauser, 46, said he was so upset by his niece's remarks that earlier this month he gave $500 to Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, the Democratic nominee for governor. Barrett is running against Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, the Republican nominee. Kleefisch is part of the GOP ticket.
"She must finally be feeling the pressure," Pfauser said. "Unfortunately, I don't think she really means it."
He said he was close to Kleefisch when they were younger, pointing out that he is closer in age to the former television reporter than he is to her mother. He said he was something like an older brother to Kleefisch.
Never during that time did she express any objection to his relationship with his partner, Rob Gow, who runs a real estate business for properties along Chicago's North Shore. The couple recently moved to New Buffalo, Mich.
"For years, I was told and led to believe that she was in full support of my relationship," Pfauser said.
In fact, he said, he has talked with Kleefisch and his relatives about Gow on many occasions, particularly at holiday gatherings.
"Obviously, Rob has been a part of their life growing up," Pfauser said. "We've always been, for years, welcome and felt love and support from my sister and her kids."
I think an apology from Kleefisch was in order. Being in a relationship with another person is not like having some sort of relationship with a table or clock. It was a poor choice of words to use inanimate objects to illustrate the impact of opening the floodgates in terms of relationships that would qualify for benefits.
It's legitimate to question what the limits of qualifying relationships would be. Is it wrong to prevent individuals in polygamous relationships from receiving benefits? What about the rights of those adults? The process of redefining social unions isn't that simple.
Pfauser acts as if feeling love and receiving support from Kleefisch for his relationship and her opinion on extending benefits to domestic partners of state employees are mutually exclusive.
They aren't. Kleefisch is talking about spending taxpayers' money, not about her respect for others, particularly her love for her uncle.
This is really a weird and sad story. The involvement of the media, Barrett's media, is sleazy.
I think it's very small of Pfauser to not accept Kleefisch's apology. He was hurt by her comments, but she must feel hurt as well by what he's said and what he's doing.
As far as this election goes, Pfauser isn't even a Wisconsin resident. To attack his niece this way at this time is very unseemly.
You know that Barrett had this blitz all planned. It's no accident that Pfauser is talking to the media now.
Of course, if he did accept Kleefisch's apology, there would be nothing more for the liberal media to report. Pfauser is cooperating, doing the Dems' bidding. Barrett and his "willing partners" have a stake in keeping this story alive.
JOY BEHAR: I called Sharron Angle a 'bitch' and I got a lot of flak for it, people basically objecting to my use of the word. I really shouldn't have called her a bitch 'cause to me, that's a term of endearment. I mean, I reserve that word for people that I know and love. So that was a mistake and I take it back. I mean, the fact that she approved a racist ad, that is the point that I wanted to get through to the people, not the word 'bitch.'
You girls are my bitches... Just to clarify a few things and get off my back on the word, you know.
That was no apology.
This "term of endearment" excuse has been used before.
Remember the controversy involving statements by Elizabeth Hoffman, president of the University of Colorado?
When the Boulder County prosecutor charged that Colorado football coach Gary Barnett was using "sex and drugs" to recruit 17-year-old high school football stars, the regents held endless meetings and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a detailed investigation -- and then decided that nobody needed to be disciplined.
A lawsuit by two undergraduates who say they were gang-raped by Barnett's football players and recruits is pending. After a student athlete was accused of referring to a female student by a four-letter slang term referring to part of the female anatomy, President Hoffman declared that this "c-word" can sometimes be a "term of endearment." Students and faculty denounced the president for "hate speech." The regents again took no action.
That's sick.
Why is it Leftists like Behar and Hoffman get passes when they use these "terms of endearment" or defend their use by others?
Jay Leno won't stop talking about Christine O'Donnell as the "anti-masturbation" candidate.
He's been doing it for weeks. It's stale. It's stupid. It's annoying. And he won't stop.
On Thursday's show, Leno did a bit displaying scary Halloween products.
One was a Christine O'Donnell anti-masturbation trap.
There was a mannequin with a metal mesh box around the crotch. Leno had a fake hand attached to a stick and began to simulate masturbation when a bear trap clamped down on the stick and a chainsaw sliced through it.
Disgusting!
What sophisticated humor!
Remember when networks like NBC had standards and practices people overseeing this sort of stuff?
The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development reported Wednesday that unemployment rates improved in 71 of 72 counties, was unchanged in one, and improved in 30 of the state's largest cities.
Beloit still has the highest unemployment of any city at 14.4 percent. That is down from 15.5 percent in August. Racine was second at 12.8 percent followed by Wausau at 10.5 percent.
In any event, I think it's wrong for Feingold's team to tweet that Johnson considers it bad news that some people in the state have found jobs, that he's wishing suffering on Wisconsinites.
"Sadly, Ron Johnson considers this bad news"
Did Johnson say he considers it bad news?
Unemployment rates higher than the national average being cited by the Obama administration certainly aren't good news.
If Johnson did comment on the story, the tweet provides no context.
The tweet is either extremely deceptive or a cruel lie. It's very sleazy.
Bottom line: It's irresponsible and shows a lack of civility for Feingold to have that statement on his campaign Twitter account.
Obama has spent the past month struggling to get out of the vote for the midterm elections, focusing on young people and trying to reach them via pop culture venues.
In addition to staging rallies on college campuses, Obama appeared on MTV.
Yesterday, Obama did a stint with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show, again in an effort to appeal to younger people and charm them into voting for Dems.
I think these appearances are mistakes. I doubt there will be a political benefit, translating into votes for Democrats. Beyond that waste of time, these guest spots diminish Obama's status as president.
Maybe he'll show up on Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday to appeal to the fringe Leftists.
Maybe on Monday he'll drop in on Dancing with the Stars. It would be the largest audience he has reached in ages.
At Monday's World Series game, he could throw out the first pitch. It probably wouldn't do much to get out the vote but I'm sure it would be very amusing.
Although polls will be closed in some areas of the country and about to close in others, and as a result it wouldn't really influence the vote, I think it would be fitting for Obama to make an appearance on this Tuesday's The Biggest Loser.
Keith Olbermann delivered a "Special Comment" about the Tea Party that can only be described as obscene.
For 20 minutes, in a stunningly monotonous and deranged diatribe, the blowhard Olbermann ranted that the "laws of the country will revert backwards" if Tea Party candidates win the midterm elections.
Olbermann lectured that the country will plunge into the abyss if the likes of candidates such as Wisconsinites Ron Johnson and Reid Ribble are voted into office. He includes Paul Ryan in his litany of candidates bent on taking away the freedoms of Americans.
He warns that they will "destroy America from within" if voters allow "this cataclysm" to unfold.
Olbermann didn't come up for air until he had disparaged more than half the country.
KEITH OLBERMANN: Now as promised a Special Comment on the madness of the Tea Party and the elections of next Tuesday.
It is as if a group of moderately talented performers has walked on stage at a comedy club on Improv night. Each hears a shout from the audience, consisting of a bizarre but just barely plausible fear or hatred or neurosis or prejudice.
And the entertainment of the evening is for each to take their thin, absurd premise, and build upon it a campaign for governor or congressman or senator. The problem is, of course, when it turns out there is no audience shouting out gags, just a cabal of corporations and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and political insider bloodsuckers like Karl Rove and Dick Armey and the Chicken Little Chorus of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.
And the instructions are not to improvise a comedy sketch, but to elect a group of unqualified, unstable individuals who will do what they are told, in exchange for money and power, and march this nation as far backward as they can get, backward to Jim Crow, or backward to the breadlines of the '30s, or backward** to hanging union organizers, or backward to the Trusts and the Robber Barons.
Result: the Tea Party. Vote backward, vote Tea Party. And if you are somehow indifferent to what is planned for next Tuesday, it is nothing short of an attempt to use Democracy to end this Democracy, to buy America wholesale and pave over the freedoms and the care we take of one another, which have combined to keep us the envy of the world.
You do not think your freedom is at stake next Tuesday?
The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate for senator from Nevada, Sharron Angle, compared rape to, quoting, "a lemon situation in lemonade." She would deny an abortion even to a teenaged girl who had been raped by her own father.
The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate to be the only Congressman in Delaware, Glen Urquhart, said "there is no problem that abortion can't make worse. I know good friends who are the product of rape."
Mr. Urquhart also does not believe the phrase "separation of church and state" was said by Thomas Jefferson.
He thinks it was Hitler: "The next time your liberal friends ask you about the separation of church and state, ask them why they are Nazis."
The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate in the Ohio 9th, Rich Iott, not only ran around in a Nazi uniform celebrating their military tactics, but implies he is a Veteran and as late as this March listed his occupation as "soldier" even though the volunteer militia to which he belongs has never been called, will never be called, to any active service, in the 29 years in which he has belonged to it.
It's more than just dress-up. They mean business - literally. The Tea-Party-and-Republican-candidate for New Jersey's 3rd House seat, Jon Runyan, defended corporate tax loopholes: "Loopholes are there for a reason. They are to avoid people from really having to pay too many taxes."
The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate for the Senate in West Virginia, John Raese, explained, "I made **my** money the old-fashioned way, I inherited it. I think that's a great thing to do. I hope more people in this country have that opportunity as soon as we abolish inheritance tax in this country."
The inheritance tax applies only to estates larger than $3.5 million. For the 99.8 percent of Americans not affected by the estate tax, there is the minimum wage, which Mr. Raese also wants abolished. Or there is Social Security.
The Tea-Party-and-Republican-candidate in the Indiana 9th, Todd Young, says "Social Security, as so many of you know is a Ponzi scheme."
The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate in the Wisconsin 8th, Reid Ribble, disagrees. Social Security "is, in fact, a Ponzi scheme."
The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate in the Arizona 8th, Jesse Kelly, wants to resurrect President Bush's scam to transform Social Security into private investment accounts so the government can force you to spend part of your paycheck on Wall Street commissions, and so that market manipulators can wipe out your retirement money.
The Republican candidate in the Wisconsin 1st, Congressman Paul Ryan, has a more sophisticated plan: Personal investment Social Security, guaranteed dollar for dollar by the government. A fiscal fountain of youth, until you find out its cost: Ryan would pay for it by taxing the health insurance you get from your employer.
If you are not employed, Mrs. Angle of Nevada says unemployment benefits can neither be increased nor extended because that "has caused us to have a spoilage with our ability to go out and get a job… There are jobs that do exist. That's what we're saying, is that there are jobs."
The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate for Senator in Alaska, Joe Miller, says this is academic, because unemployment insurance is unconstitutional. His own wife received unemployment insurance after losing a temp job he got for her. Mr. Miller also called Medicaid unconstitutional. It proved his entire family had received Medicaid funds.
Mr. Miller also claims Social Security is unconstitutional, yet hypocritically he says it should still be paid out, and then the issue dumped into the laps of the states.
The Republican-and-Tea Party candidate for Senator in Colorado, Ken Buck, would not stop at butchering just Social Security. [He said] "would a Veterans Administration hospital that is run by the private sector be better run then by the public sector? In my view, yes."
The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate in the Pennsylvania 4th, Keith Rothfus, has promised to overturn anything the Supreme Court decides, with which he disagrees: "Congress's ultimate weapon is funding. If the Supreme Court rules you have to do something, we'll just take away funding for it."
Back in Nevada Mrs. Angle decries health care - not reform, but health care itself. "Everything that they want to throw at us now is covered under 'autism'," she said. As to educating those children Mrs. Angle won't pay for, Mr. Buck of Colorado, waxes nostalgic: "In the 1950's, we had the best schools in the world, and the United States government decided to get more involved in federal education…well, since, we've made education worse, we're gonna even get more involved."
In Ken Buck's America of 1957, fewer than one in five Black children graduated high school. Fewer than half of white children did. To the Tea-Party-and-Republican-candidate in the California 11th, David Harmer, Mr. Buck is a wild-eyed liberal. Mr. Harmer once advocated eliminating public schools altogether, and return education in this country to where it was before 1876: "People acting in a free market found a variety of ways to pay for a variety of schools serving a variety of students, all without central command or control." And without girls, blacks, or even the slightest chance you could go to college.
The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate in the Virginia 11th, Keith Fimian, is "not so sure we need a federal burocracy for education."
The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate in the Florida 2nd, Steve Southerland, wants to "de-fund" the Department of Education because "we can't afford it."
The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate in the Texas 17th, Bill Flores, offers a tri-fecta plus a delusion. Get rid of "the pornographic endowment of the arts, department of energy, department of education" and with them, he says, ACORN. ACORN — which went out of business last April 1st.
The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate in the Arizona 5th, David Schweikert, is "passionately" trying to eliminate the Department of Education because it's "unconstitutional."
And while one of the few threads uniting the ragamuffins who constitute the slate of Tea Party candidates is so-called 'strict interpretation' of that Constitution, Mr. Miller of Alaska wants, in fact, to change the Constitution. He wants to repeal the 17th amendment.
The TeTea Party-and-Republican candidate for senator from Utah, Mike Lee called the 17th amendment "a mistake."
Last year, Mr. Buck of Colorado said the 17th amendment "took us down the wrong path."
The 17th amendment, of course, permits the direct election by the voters of U.S. Senators.
Buck and Lee and Miller not only demand you elect them to the Senate; they hope to then deny you the right to elect somebody else, next time.
The ubiquitous Mrs. Angle, meanwhile, wants to repeal the 16th amendment. It provided for a federal income tax. Mrs. Angle does not explain how, without it, the federal government would pay for keeping out the Mexicans she specifically attacks in her newest commercial.
The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate for Senator from Kentucky Rand Paul wishes to repeal the 14th amendment because it interferes with a private business's right to ban black people from its premises, and also because it allows anyone born here in America to be American. He is worried about anchor babies.
The Republican candidate for the 1st District of Texas, Louie Gohmert, fears not anchor babies but terror babies — unborn infants brought to this country in the womb, ready for American citizenship and pre-programmed to blow things up fifteen or twenty years from now. Curiously, he has not been asked if he is in favor of aborting them.
The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate for Governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer, sees not terror fetuses but headless bodies in endless deserts murdered by immigrants who are nearly all drug mules.
The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate for Governor of Colorado, Dan Maes, believes a bike-sharing program is part of a plot to turn Denver into a metropolis run by the United Nations.
The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate for Senate from Delaware, Christine O'Donnell, believes she was cleared to read secret classified documents about China because she's been working for Non-Profit Organizations for the past fifteen years. She also believes China is plotting to take over the United States and the first evidence of this is that "China is drilling (for oil) off the coast of Florida."
This fear of the Chinese clearly does not extend to the Tea Party-and-Republican candidate for Senate from Illinois, Mark Kirk. One day he held a fundraiser with American businessmen in China. The next day, he voted against closing tax incentives for outsourcing American jobs to places like China.
The Tea Party-and-Republican-candidate for Senate from Wisconsin, Ron Johnson is also in favor of relocating employees. He testified against toughening laws on pedophiles and employers who shield them. He argued this could damage a business. A business like the Catholic Church.
In Utah, the anti-bailout Senate candidate Mr. Lee, insists on not raising the liability limits for the next BP from $75 million to $10 billion: "You have a set of settled expectations that you give to a business when it decides to make an investment in this. Our country benefits from this type of activity…"
Asked by the Salt Lake City Tribune if that's a kind of bailout, if it leaves taxpayers on the hook for part of the damage, Lee admitted, "Well, yea, probably does."
Mr. Paul of Kentucky called the nationwide pressure on BP to increase its damage payments "un-American." He is also opposed to Federal Mine Safety regulations: "The bottom line is: I'm not an expert, so don't give me the power in Washington to be making rules. You are here, and you have to work in the mines. You'd try to make good rules to protect your people here. If you don't, I'm thinking that no one will apply for those jobs."
Mr. Paul's admission that "I'm not an expert" does provide one of the few dovetails of the campaign. It matches nicely with Mr. Johnson of Wisconsin, who refuses to offer any specifics about his plan to deal with homeless veterans. He says, "This election is not about details."
Details have proved devilish for the Tea Party-and-Republican candidate for the second district of Virginia, Scott Ridgell He campaigned against the stimulus bill, including the Cash-for-Clunkers program. Mr. Ridgell is an automobile dealer, and happily made hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Cash-for-Clunkers program.
The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate in the Missouri 4th, Vicky Hartzler, says she and her husband are just small business owners. "We just want the government to leave us alone," she said. Hartzler and her husband have a farm. In the last fourteen years, that government they want to leave them alone, has given them subsidies totaling $774,000.
Mr. Raese of West Virginia told the Associated Press that "America is in an industrial coma" and blamed the "restrictor plate" that is "a bloated federal government." "I can't think," he added, "of very many times when a government agency has helped me."
The companies Mr. Raese owns have received $2.4 million in contracts from the federal government since 2000, and $32 million in contracts from the state government since 2000.
Back in Colorado, Mr. Buck apparently thought he was speaking to a campaign worker when he self-exposed his hypocrisy. In fact he was talking to a Democratic operative with a recorder in his pocket. Out of the blue, Tea Party nominee Buck blurted, "Will you tell those dumbasses at the Tea Party to stop asking me about birth certificates while I'm on the camera? God, what am I supposed to do?"
The contempt of Mr. Buck towards his own Tea Party, extends in many cases to reporters - and thus by proxy, to actual citizens.
For instance, the Tea Party-and-Republican candidate for Governor of Maine, Paul LePage (Luh-Page), threatened to punch a radio reporter.
The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate for Governor of New York, Carl Paladino, threatened to "take out" a reporter from the most conservative newspaper in any major American city.
A spokesman told the reporter that he was now off the Palladino mailing list, which has, in the past, consisted of e-mails featuring racism, pornography, and bestiality. Mr. Miller's private security guards in Alaska detained and handcuffed a reporter, and threatened to handcuff two more, without any legal right to do so, at an event at a public school.
The security company was operating with an expired license; its chief, has links to extremist organizations; and the defense was that the guards didn't know the individual was a reporter, which implies it would be just dandy to handcuff an ordinary citizen.
Ms. O'Donnell threatened to sue a Delaware radio station if it did not destroy the videotape of her interview there.When she did not like a question, she snapped her fingers at her own press aide then shoved him. The campaign manager threatened to "crush" the station if it did not comply.
The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate for the Senate from Florida, Marco Rubio dreams more of de-portation than de-capitation. He said, in March, "There are millions of people in America that hate our country, so why can't we just do a trade? We'll send you Sean Penn, Janeane Garofalo, and Keith Olbermann, and you can send us people that actually love this country."
This, incidentally, carries with it a tinge of irony. I don't know that any of his opponents has ever accused Mr. Rubio of not loving this country. He just doesn't love a lot of its people. The person they all love the least is of course the President.
The Tea Party-and-Republican candidate for Congress from the Florida 22nd, Allen West, had to leave our military after threatening to kill an Iraqi he was interrogating. Now he claims to have a higher security clearance than does the President. Mr. West also told his supporters that they could defeat his Democratic opponent by making the man afraid to leave his own home.
And Tea Party-and-Republican candidate for the House from the Michigan 7th, the ex-Congressman Tim Walberg, wants to blackmail the President into showing his birth certificate… to Rush Limbaugh. He figures he can extort this from President Obama by threatening to impeach him.
You are willing to let these people run this country? This is the America you want? This is the America you are willing to permit? These are the kinds of cranks, menaces, mercenaries and authoritarians you will turn this country over to?
If you sit there next Tuesday and let this happen, whose fault will that be? Not really theirs. They are taught that freedom is to be seized and rationed. They can sleep at night having advanced themselves and their puppeteers and to hell with everybody else.
They see the greatness of America not in its people but in its corporations. They see the success of America not in hard work but in business swindles. They see the worthiness of America not in its quality of life but in its quality of investing. They see the future of America not in progress, but in revolution to establish a theocracy for white males, with dissent caged and individuality suppressed.
They see America not for what is, nor what it can be. They see delusions, specters, fantasies; they see communists under every bed and a gun in every hand. They see tax breaks for the rich and delayed retirement for everyone else. They fight the redistribution of wealth not because they oppose redistribution, but because their sole purpose is to protect wealth and keep it where they think it belongs - in the bank accounts of the wealthy.
They want to make the world safe for Bernie Madoff. But you know better. If you sit there next Tuesday - if you sit there tomorrow, and the rest of this week - and you let this cataclysm unfold, you have enabled this.
It is one thing to be attacked by those who would destroy America from without. It is a worse thing to be attacked by those who would destroy America from within.
But it is the worst thing to sit back and let it happen, to not find the time and the means to convince just one other sane voter to put aside the disappointment of the last two years and look to the future and vote. Because the disappointment of the last two years will be the "good old days" in a Tea Party America.
This is the week in which the Three Card Monte dealers hope to take over the government —the candidates who want their own way, who will say anything to make palatable their real identities as agents of regression, repression, and corporate sovereignty. They are here, they have energized the self-serving and the greedy and the proudly ill-informed.
And if no other fact convinces you of your obligation to vote and canvass and phone and drag even to the polls the most disheartened moderate or Democrat or Liberal or abandoned Republican or political neutral, to vote for the most tepid of the non-Insane candidates, if no other detail hands you that spark of argument with which to invigorate the apathetic, you need only commit to memory the words of Steffan Broden and Sharron Angle.
She can run from reporters but she cannot run from this quote from January, and all the horror and insurrection it implies: "Thomas Jefferson said it's good for a country to have a revolution every 20 years. I hope that's not where we're going. But, you know, if this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those second amendment remedies."
Sharron Angle — too subtle for you? "Second amendment" remedies — guns instead of elections - too implicit? Fortunately, to our rescue, to the speeding of the falling of the scales from our eyes, comes the Tea Party and Republican nominee for the 30th Congressional District of Texas, "Pastor" Steffan Broden. "Our nation was founded on violence," he said, on tape.
Was armed insurrection, revolution, an option in 2010? "The option is on the table. I don't think that we should ever remove anything from the table… However, it is not the first option."
Thank you! The attempt to overthrow the Government of the United States by violence is not The Tea Party's first option. Next Tuesday is the first option!
The words are those of Nedrick Young and Harold Jacob Smith from the screenplay for the movie "Inherit The Wind." As the attorney for the man on trial for teaching evolution, Spencer Tracy gets to the gist: "Fanaticism and ignorance is forever busy, and needs feeding. And soon, your Honor, with banners flying and with drums beating we'll be marching backward, backward through the glorious ages of that 16th century when bigots burned the man who dared bring enlightenment and intelligence to the human mind!"
The angered judge replies, "I hope counsel does not mean to imply that this court is bigoted." The attorney mutters, "Well, your honor has the right to hope." The Judge warns, "I have the right to do more than that." The attorney explodes: "You have the power to do more than that."
And you have the power to do more than that.
In sum, Olbermann says the election of conservatives, "a group of unqualified, unstable individuals," will mean the end of America.
Olbermann claims these citizen candidates "will do what they are told, in exchange for money and power, and march this nation as far backward as they can get, backward to Jim Crow, or backward to the breadlines of the '30s, or backward** to hanging union organizers, or backward to the Trusts and the Robber Barons."
Olbermann says the rallying cry of the Americans poised to oust Democrats is "Vote backward, vote Tea Party." He calls next Tuesday's elections "nothing short of an attempt to use Democracy to end this Democracy, to buy America wholesale and pave over the freedoms and the care we take of one another, which have combined to keep us the envy of the world."
With the media sneering about the Tea Party candidates being a bunch of nuts, how about we take a look at some of the Democrats running this year?
We've got Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank, who personally presided over the housing crash after getting that gay prostitution business behind him. Of course, Frank's actions are nothing compared to Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul's alleged participation in a college prank. Now, THERE'S a scandal!
California Sen. Barbara Boxer refuses to say whether a newborn baby is a human life. When Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Penn., asked her on the Senate floor a few years ago whether she believed a baby born alive has a constitutionally protected a right to live, Boxer was stuck for an answer. Her nonresponsive replies included these:
"I support the Roe v. Wade decision. ...
"I think when you bring your baby home, when your baby is born -- and the baby belongs to your family and has all the rights. ...
"Define 'separation' ...
"You mean the baby has been birthed and is now in its mother's arms? ...
"The baby is born when the baby is born. That is the answer to the question. ...
"I am not answering these questions! I am not answering these questions!"
(Also, I think she said: "Please call me 'senator.'")
That's not Patty Murray-stupid, but it's still pretty stupid. How many late-term abortions are you planning to get, Californians, that it's worth being represented by such a cretinous woman?
Even if you are under the misimpression that Boxer's Republican opponent, Carly Fiorina, is somehow going to outlaw abortion in California, Carly will cut your taxes so much that you'd be able to fly to Sweden for all your abortions and still come out ahead!
Liberals are indignant that Sarah Palin writes speech notes to herself on her hand. This week, Alex Sink, the Democratic candidate for governor in Florida, was slipped a debating point by her makeup artist, texted by a campaign aide in violation of the rules during a debate with her Republican opponent, Rick Scott.
Oh, those thick Tea Party candidates!
Last weekend, Illinois governor Pat Quinn -- Rod Blagojevich's running mate -- stood silently as his supporter, state Sen. Rickey Hendon, blasted Quinn's Republican opponent, Bill Brady, as "idiotic, racist, sexist, homophobic."
Hendon has repeatedly made headlines over the past few years for his inappropriate behavior toward female colleagues. Once -- during a Senate debate -- he asked Sen. Cheryl Axley if her hair was naturally blond and then publicly propositioned her.
Another time, Hendon tackled Rep. Robin L. Kelly, knocking her to the ground after a House-Senate softball game she had come to watch in office attire.
"And my job is to shut other white people down when they want to interrupt."
"We have to, at the DNC, provide training. We have to teach them how to communicate, how to be sensitive, and how to shut their mouths if they're white."
"Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners, and if we kick 'em all out, you'll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts."
"When I would deny that there was a significant racist component in some of the politics on our side, it was because the people I hung out with were certainly not. When suddenly, this rock is turned over, there is this—'Oh shit, did I not see that?'"
----------------------------
"In any other scenario, Hillary Clinton's lying about her emails, and her pay-for-play relationship with the Clinton Foundation would be disqualifying issues. The only reason they're not disqualifying is because Donald Trump is a fundamentally more repellent, dishonest figure."
"I made a mistake in recalling the events of twelve years ago... I said I was traveling in an aircraft that was hit by RPG fire. I was instead in a following aircraft."
"I would not look to the U.S. Constitution, if I were drafting a constitution in the year 2012. I might look at the constitution of South Africa. That was a deliberate attempt to have a fundamental instrument of government that embraced basic human rights, had an independent judiciary. It really is, I think, a great piece of work that was done."
"The death of Andrew Breitbart disproves the adage that only the good die young."
--JULIAN BOND
"The National Institute of Health has said that it is a danger to women's health and safety of their families that for 30 years to be exposed to the prospects of pregnancy."
"Why did- Couldn't the President have said at that moment, way back in December of last year, 'no game playing. No hostage-taking. No terrorizing this country with the debt ceiling. I'm not going to negotiate with you guys. You can't play it that way.' Could he have done that?"
"I remember distinctly an image of--we were sitting on his couches, and I was looking at [Obama's] pant leg and his perfectly creased pant, and I'm thinking, a) he's going to be president and b) he'll be a very good president."
--DAVID BROOKS
"I feel like calling her back and smackin' her around."
"[I]f you go back to the year 2000, when we had an obvious disaster and - and saw that our voting process needed refinement, and we did that in the America Votes Act and made sure that we could iron out those kinks, now you have the Republicans, who want to literally drag us all the way back to Jim Crow laws and literally - and very transparently - block access to the polls to voters who are more likely to vote Democratic candidates than Republican candidates. And it's nothing short of that blatant."
--DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ
"This is probably one of the worst times we've seen because the numbers of people elected to Congress. I went through this as co-chair of the arts caucus. In '94 people were elected simply to come here to kill the National Endowment for the Arts. Now they’re here to kill women."
"The protesters have proven today that they‘re not going away. It was a pretty rough night last night. You can imagine if people said, well, we just can‘t fight the power. Instead, this morning, they came by tens, by hundreds, by thousands. By midday today, it was easily more than 10,000, perhaps as many as 15,000 people on the square here in Madison. Not organized by anyone, just grassroots citizens who came out just like the Minutemen in 1776."
--JOHN NICHOLS
"They're sitting on the money, they're using it for their own -- they're putting it someplace else with no interest in helping you with your life, with that money. We've allowed them to take that. That's not theirs, that's a national resource, that's ours. We all have this -- we all benefit from this or we all suffer as a result of not having it. I think we need to go back to taxing these people at the proper rates."
"Why don't we just raise the taxes and let these folks have their collective bargaining, have their union representation and go back to their jobs? Raise the taxes on the wealthy."
"So I would urge my Republican colleagues, no matter how strongly they feel -- you know, we have three branches of government. We have a House. We have a Senate. We have a president. And all three of us are going to have to come together and give some, but it is playing with fire to risk the shutting down of the government."
"I'm Rebecca Kleefisch. I performed fellatio on all the talk show hosts in Milwaukee. And they endorsed me and that's how I became lieutenant governor."
"[Military leaders] tell us that childhood obesity isn’t just a public health issue; they tell us that it is not just an economic threat -- it is a national security threat as well."
"[Obama] has to realize that Mitch McConnell has virtually said so that politically he wants to cut out his heart and throw his liver to the dogs."
--DAN RATHER
"And the instructions are not to improvise a comedy sketch, but to elect a group of unqualified, unstable individuals who will do what they are told, in exchange for money and power, and march this nation as far backward as they can get, backward to Jim Crow, or backward to the breadlines of the '30s, or backward to hanging union organizers, or backward to the trusts and the robber barons.
"Result: the Tea Party. Vote backward, vote Tea Party. And if you are somehow indifferent to what is planned for next Tuesday, it is nothing short of an attempted use of democracy to end this democracy."
"I gotta wonder when people are gonna start wearing uniforms. I mean they've got an army out there in Alaska of militia people. You've got these guys going around acting like street thugs. I mean it isn't far from what we saw in the thirties, where all of a sudden, political parties started showing up in uniform."
"[Sharron Angle] is a moron on top of being evil...
I'd like to see her do this ad in the South Bronx. Come here, bitch. Come to New York and do it. I'm not praying for her. She's going to hell. She's going to hell, this bitch."
"So people have been hurting and I understand that. And it doesn't give them comfort or solace for me to tell them, you know, but for me, we'd be in a worldwide depression."
"And to play Dick Cheney, all I had to do was find my Dick Cheney. And you can find all the villainy in the world in your own heart, and that's what an actor's job is. I always say to kids, inside you is Hitler and Jesus. And you got to find the appropriate person and bring them out."
"Because I live in the District of Columbia which is so predominantly Democratic, I am a registered Democrat. But I am an avowed neutral. And to put that into practice, I take my young daughter into the voting booth and she votes for me. She's now 14. We've been doing this since she was about age 4. She's now quite informed."
"Sarah Palin's an idiot. Come on. This is a remarkably, stunningly, jaw-droppingly incompetent and mean woman."
"The Democrats may have moved into the center, but the Republicans have moved into a mental institution."
--AARON SORKIN
"Perhaps the greatest threat of all is the undermining of our Constitution and the systematic attack against the inalienable rights of the citizens of this nation, rights that are guaranteed by our Constitution. At the vanguard of this insidious attack is the Tea Party. This band of misguided citizens is moving perilously close to achieving villainous ends."
"Ah, the Tea Party, the nativist bed-wetters who somehow control our national dialogue. Yes, I call them the Pee Party, Jay, because they're always peeing in their pants about something. They're just, they're afraid of a mosque being built in New York. They're afraid of guns. You know, they think Obama, who like every other pussy Democrat has never said a single word about gun control, but they are very sure that he and his Negro army are coming after their guns.
You know what? If you think that he's coming after your guns, you need to get out of your chat room and have your house tested for lead. He's not coming after your guns or your Bible or your fishing pole or your chewing tobacco."
"That's a trade-off society is making because of very, very high medical costs, and a lack of willingness to say, you know, is spending a million dollars on that last three months of life for that patient, would it be better not to lay off those ten teachers and to make that trade-off in medical costs. But that;s called the 'Death Panel' and you're not supposed to have that discussion."
"[If Rush Limbaugh suffered a heart attack in my presence, I would] laugh loudly like a maniac and watch his eyes bug out. I never knew I had this much hate in me. But he deserves it."
--SARAH SPITZ
"You want freedom, you going to have to kill some crackers. You going to have to kill some of their babies."
"If this was Texas, which is the state that, that is directly on the border with Mexico, and they were calling for a measure like this, saying that they had a major issue with, you know, with undocumented people flooding their borders, I would say I would have to look twice at this.
"But this is a state that is a ways removed from the border. And, um, it just, it doesn't make sense to me that when you google this subject, if you put in 'Arizona S.B. 1070,' that you see a picture of the governor of Arizona meeting with President Obama in May of 2010. If you have direct linkage to the president, there are already National Guard troops on the border in Arizona."
"Tell [the Jews] to get the hell out of Palestine. Remember, these people are occupied and it's their land. It's not German. It's not Poland. [The Jews] can go home. Poland. Germany."
--HELEN THOMAS
"After the last eight years, it's good to have a president that knows what a library is."
--PAUL McCARTNEY
"By the way, I just want to point out I'm wearing my splash shield because I was told I was going to be in the splash zone (during Harry Smith's colonoscopy on live TV)."
--KATIE COURIC
"And that Word is, we have to give voice to what that means in terms of public policy that would be in keeping with the values of the Word."
----------------------------
"Think of an economy where people could be an artist or a photographer or a writer without worrying about keeping their day job in order to have health insurance or that people could start a business and be entrepreneurial and take risk, but not job loss because of a child with asthma or someone in the family is bipolar—you name it, any condition — is job-locking."
--NANCY PELOSI
"Back in World War II, we viewed the Japanese as 'yellow, slant-eyed dogs' that believed in different gods. They were out to kill us because our way of living was different. We, in turn, wanted to annihilate them because they were different. Does that sound familiar, by any chance, to what's going on today?"
--TOM HANKS
"The 'White Right' is trying to set Barack up to be assassinated.... Here are Christians praying for God to kill Barack Obama."
--LOUIS FARRAKHAN
"I refuse to accept the notion that the United States of America is not going to lead the world economically throughout the 20th Century."
--JOE BIDEN
"Obama's critics keep blasting him for Chicago-style politics. So, fine. Channel your inner Al Capone and go gangsta against your foes. Let 'em know that if they aren't with you, they are against you, and will pay the price."
--ROLAND MARTIN
"Martha Coakley is running to fill the rest of Ted Kennedy's term, and her opponent is a far-right tea-bagger Republican."
--CHUCK SCHUMER
"I tell you what, if I lived in Massachusetts, I'd try to vote ten times. I don't know if they'd let me or not, but I'd try to. Yeah, that's right, I'd cheat to keep these bastards out. I would. 'Cause that's exactly what they are."
--ED SCHULTZ
"We also see how revved up the tea baggers are at the thought of hijacking health care reform and every chance we have at making progress in Washington."
--JOHN KERRY
"A few years ago, this guy (Obama) would have been getting us coffee."
--BILL CLINTON
"I didn't realize I had written a column defending Roman Polanski and minimized his crime - are you sure it was me? I mean, I? There is, apparently, more to this crime than it would seem, and it may sound like a hollow defense, but in Hollywood I am not sure a 13-year-old is really a 13-year-old."
--TOM SHALES
"Joe Wilson yelled 'You lie!' at a president who didn't. But, fair or not, what I heard was an unspoken word in the air: You lie, boy!"
--MAUREEN DOWD
"One awkward moment for Sarah Palin at the Yankee game... During the 7th inning, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez."
--DAVID LETTERMAN
"I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life."
--SONIA SOTOMAYOR
"We all considered sexual abuse of minors as a moral evil, but had no understanding of its criminal nature."
--REMBERT WEAKLAND, Archbishop of Milwaukee 1977- 2002
"You know, you might want to look into this, [President Obama], because I think maybe Rush Limbaugh was the 20th hijacker, but he was so strung out on Oxycontin he missed his flight."
"Rush Limbaugh -- 'I hope the country fails.' I hope his kidneys fail."
----------------------------
"[Obama] told me I did a great job. The first lady said the same thing. I got a 'well done' from the president, I'm on cloud nine."
--WANDA SYKES
"Americans are looking for more government in their life, not less."
--COLIN POWELL
"[Tea Party goers are] just a bunch of wimpy, whiny, weasels who don't love their country."
--PAUL BEGALA
"I wouldn't want [gay marriage] to go to the United States Supreme Court now because that homophobe Antonin Scalia has too many votes on this current court."
--BARNEY FRANK
"Going forward, my mind will be open to every solution -- except one. We should not -- we must not -- and I will not -- raise taxes."
--JIM DOYLE, Liar
"He's a terrorist. Rush Limbaugh is a terrorist."
--JOY BEHAR
"You know, I just want to say to her (Sarah Palin), just very quickly...F--- you."
--JON STEWART
"Should I be worried about being a slave and being returned to slavery?"
--WHOOPI GOLDBERG
"I also believe that America is the greatest sin against God."
--FR. MICHAEL PFLEGER
"Those who think they can revive the stinking corpse of the usurping and fake Israeli regime by throwing a birthday party are seriously mistaken. Today the reason for the Zionist regime's existence is questioned, and this regime is on its way to annihilation."
--MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD
"We'll be eight degrees hotter in ten, not ten but 30 or 40 years and basically none of the crops will grow. Most of the people will have died and the rest of us will be cannibals."
--TED TURNER
"Look, [Mitt] Romney comes from a religion founded by a criminal who was anti-American, pro-slavery, and a rapist. And he comes from that lineage and says, 'I respect this religion fully.'"
--LAWRENCE O'DONNELL
"Mexico does not end at its borders... Where there is a Mexican, there is Mexico."
--FELIPE CALDERON
"The planet has a fever. If your baby has a fever, you go to the doctor. If the doctor says you need to intervene here, you don't say, 'Well, I read a science fiction novel that told me it's not a problem.' If the crib's on fire, you don't speculate that the baby is flame retardant."
--AL GORE
"Don't fear the terrorists. They're mothers and fathers."
--ROSIE O'DONNELL
"Is America ready for a black president? Well, I say we just had a retarded one. When did being black become a bigger deterrent than being retarded?"
--CHRIS ROCK
"Shut the f--- up! Shut up if you can't take a joke [about President Bush]!"
--BARBRA STREISAND
"Right, oh, yeah, Happy 9/11! Celebrate the day, right?"
--JAMES BROLIN, Mr. Barbra Streisand
"I think President Bush very well may have signed an authorization for the 9/11 attacks."
--KEVIN BARRETT, UW-MADISON Lecturer
"I said what I said. I am not guilty."
--SADDAM HUSSEIN
"Terri will not be starved to death. Her nutrition and hydration will be taken away."
--MICHAEL SCHIAVO
"On the eve of the election last month my wife Judith and I were driving home late in the afternoon and turned on the radio for the traffic and weather. What we instantly got was a freak show of political pornography: lies, distortions, and half-truths -- half-truths being perhaps the blackest of all lies. "
--BILL MOYERS
"I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for."
--HOWARD DEAN
"The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not 'insurgents' or 'terrorists' or 'The Enemy.' They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow -- and they will win."
--MICHAEL MOORE
"And there is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the--of--the historical customs, religious customs."
"I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers. We are the president."
--HILLARY CLINTON
"It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is."
--BILL CLINTON
"And let me tell you something -- for the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country. And not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. And I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction and just not feeling so alone in my frustration and disappointment."
--MICHELLE OBAMA
"If asking a billionaire to pay the same tax rate as a Jew, uh, as a janitor, makes me a warrior for the working class, I wear that with a badge of honor."
"[F]or most of my lifetime, the United States was such a dominant economic power, we were such a large market, our industry, our technology, our manufacturing was so significant that we always met the rest of the world economically on our terms. And now, because of the incredible rise of India and China and Brazil and other countries, the United States remains the largest economic and the largest market but there’s real competition out there. And that's potentially healthy. It makes -- Michelle was saying earlier I like tough questions because it keeps me on my toes. Well, this will keep America on its toes."
----------------------------
"If Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, 'We're gonna PUNISH OUR ENEMIES and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us,' if they don't see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it's gonna be harder and that's why I think it's so important that people focus on voting on November 2."
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"We don't mind the Republicans joining us. They can come for the ride, but THEY GOTTA SIT IN BACK."
----------------------------
"We can absorb a terrorist attack. We'll do everything we can to prevent it, but even a 9/11, even the biggest attack ever... we absorbed it and we are stronger."
"We talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers so I know whose ass to kick."
----------------------------
"We're not trying to push financial reform because we begrudge success that's fairly earned. I mean, I do think at a certain point you've made enough money. But, you know, part of the American way is, you know, you can just keep on making it if you’re providing a good product or you're providing good service. We don't want people to stop fulfilling the core responsibilities of the financial system to help grow the economy."
"It is a vital national security interest of the United States to reduce these conflicts because whether we like it or not, we remain a dominant military superpower, and when conflicts break out, one way or another we get pulled into them. And that ends up costing us significantly in terms of both blood and treasure."
----------------------------
"But I -- I think that the most important thing for the public to understand is, we're not handling any of these cases any different than the Bush administration handled them all through 9/11."
----------------------------
"One such translator was an American of Haitian descent, representative of the extraordinary work that our men and women in uniform do all around the world -- Navy CORPSE-MAN Christian [sic] Brossard. And lying on a gurney aboard the USNS Comfort, a woman asked Christopher: 'Where do you come from? What country? After my operation,' she said, 'I will pray for that country.' And in Creole, CORPSE-MAN Brossard responded, 'Etazini.' The United States of America."
----------------------------
"I hear that Dr. Joe Medicine Crow was around, and so I want to give a shout-out to that Congressional Medal of Honor winner. It's good to see you."
"I am going to teach [my daughters] first about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby."
----------------------------
"The reforms we seek would bring greater competition, choice, savings, and INEFFICIENCIES to our health care system."
----------------------------
"Over the last 15 months, we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in 57 states? I think one left to go. Alaska and Hawaii, I was not allowed to go to even though I really wanted to visit, but my staff would not justify it."
--BARACK OBAMA
NOTEWORTHY QUOTATIONS
"In a word, freedom is ever new. It is a challenge held out to each generation, and it must constantly be won over for the cause of good.... [A] democracy without values can lose its very soul."
--POPE BENEDICT XVI
"When freedom does not have a purpose, when it does not wish to know anything about the rule of law engraved in the hearts of men and women, when it does not listen to the voice of conscience, it turns against humanity and society."
--POPE JOHN PAUL II
"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop."
--MOTHER TERESA
"To promote choice for its own sake is more akin to self-indulgence than self-determination. It is the philosophy of a pre-schooler in a candy shop."
--BRIAN POLLARD, M.D.
"The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people."
--MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
"The house we hope to build is not for my generation but for yours. It is your future that matters. And I hope that when you are my age, you will be able to say as I have been able to say: We lived in freedom. We lived lives that were a statement, not an apology."
--RONALD REAGAN
"Liberalism is the philosophy of the stupid."
--MARK LEVIN
"We are Warriors forever."
--BO ELLIS
"I know how much you're supposed to enjoy every sandwich, you know."
