Quick 8: Stuff My Brain Farted

1. Every pundit seems to have their panties in a bunch about Wanda Sykes ... even Keith Olbermann ... but I think these people need to sit back and take a deep breath. She is, after all, one damn funny lady. Her comments about Rush Limbaugh were spot on and I heartily endorse them. It's about damn time that more liberals realize that you have to fight fire with fire ... you can't take a squirt gun to a gun fight. Besides, people need to understand that she is not sitting there and hoping that Rush Limbaugh's kidneys really do fail. It was a JOKE. An exaggeration. Live a little. Laugh a little.


2. What does it say about me that I couldn't possibly care less about Miss California's bigoted answer to a beauty pageant question? She's a freaking beauty pageant contestant! What can we possibly do to her that's more humiliating than that?


3. Florida Governor Charlie Crist is, at the moment and by a rather large margin, the closest thing this country has to a Republican politician that I respect. That said, I hope he gets his ass handed to him in the 2010 Republican primary for Florida's open Senate seat. The ultimate problem with guys like Crist is that they think their party is salvageable. It isn't. If elected, Crist would be as irrelevant as every other so-called moderate Republican in Washington.


4. There's been so much that the Obama administration has accomplished that has been great for this nation already. They will go on to do many other great things. Still, if they don't take get off their asses and take bold action on the banking crisis, we risk an economic recovery that isn't a recovery at all, but is more like the "Lost Decade" that the Japanese experienced. One more thing, don't believe anyone who tells you the economy is already recovering. 


5. Murder is murder. Crimes don't get any more heinous than killing a prisoner who is cuffed and helpless. I don't care what the prisoner did. Yes, this was manslaughter and not first degree murder, but five years? That's all? (This should be taken as yet another argument against the use of private security forces in war zones.)


6. I've been attempting to think of a single reason why I should care if my newspaper folds and I can't think of one. I'd miss the Friday ad section from Fry's electronics and the coupons and sales circulars in the Sunday paper, but I think I'd get over them. Still, I'm convinced that the form itself is dying. I just think the people in the newspaper business right now aren't particularly good at what they do.


7. Liz Cheney is just a chip off the old block, isn't she? Aside from the sheer stupid evilness in the video at the previous link, she has also definitively stated that our country "does not torture", and yet she still went on television to defend our enhanced interrogation techniques. A hypocrite in the Cheney family? Shocking, I know.


8. The more I think about it, would we, as a country, really be any worse off if Rush Limbaugh's kidneys did fail?

Jon Stewart says ...

8 Words of Wisdom for Week Ending 4/10/2009 #3

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Rush Limbaugh Leaves New York
comedycentral.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

I'm trying to understand Rush Limbaugh's point, but it escapes me. Does he honestly believe that he's so important that this will matter to anyone? I'm sure the millions of dittoheads out there will go through the usual conservative bitch and moan routine, but what will it change? Are the rich going to flee the greatest city in all the world? Of course not. This is just more conservative hot air. More phony outrage.

I hear that Trump might follow Rush out of town. This could be the best thing that has ever happened to NYC!

The Homeless and Cell Phones

8 Commentaries for Week Ending 3/13/2009 #2

Rush Limbaugh isn't really an idiot. I would instead consider him dishonest and borderline evil.

Rep. Phil Gingrey says ...

8 Words of Stupidity for 2/5/2009 #4

Rush, congressional Republicans and our leadership need you and other conservative giants to galvanize the millions of Americans who don’t live in Washington ... we’ve gotta have your support, and of course I know you reach millions of people across the country.  I’m telling you, I heard from quite a few of them (laughs) since my foot-and-mouth disease yesterday, and I just thank you so much for what you’re doing, and we’re with you 100 percent.

- Rep. Phil Gingrey (R - GA) kissing up to the head of the Republican party.

I commented on this on Monday but the comment was too awesome not to include in today's list. Yes, Rep. Gingrey just givens us Georgians yet another reason to be proud of our elected representatives.

James Carville says ...

8 Words of Wisdom for 2/3/2009 #5

Limbaugh proposes that because the Democrats got roughly 54 percent of the votes to the Republicans' 46 percent, the stimulus package should be allocated along his definition of ideological lines, i.e. 54 percent towards infrastructure improvement and 46 percent toward tax breaks for Limbaugh and his friends.
...
 Why surely it seems like just yesterday that Al Gore won the national popular vote in 2000 (and arguably won the popular vote in Florida too).

Limbaugh must have called for the incoming Bush administration to allocate ideas based on the proportion of election returns. I'm sure President Bush and the Republicans in Congress graciously accepted their 49.5 percent share of everything. (Note: We would be much better off right now had this actually happened.)

With 50 percent of the federal government during President Bush's term, Democrats might have reduced the deficit (a truly Clintonista idea). Wall Street might have been more heavily regulated and K Street's lobbyists might not have been running the Capitol. Democrats might have invested money into infrastructure improvements so that bridges didn't collapse or entire cities flood.

We wouldn't have spent $350 million per day in Iraq. Heck, had Democrats been able to control 50 percent of the government from 2000 to 2004, we wouldn't have even gone into Iraq in the first place. There might have been more spending on education and a fully funded No Child Left Behind Act.

It is a remarkable time in American politics when a respected ideologue like Limbaugh can take to a hyperpartisan place like the pages of The Wall Street Journal, and deliver such a consistent message. We Democrats should congratulate Rush on the purity, intellectual integrity, and consistency of his positions.

- James Carville, eviscerating the man he refers to as "the moral and intellectual leader and most influential person in the Republican Party".

I think Carville has an annoying habit of endorsing the "conventional wisdom" of the Washington elite, but when someone on the right pisses him off, he takes the gloves off and delivers a knock out punch. This is the Carville I like.

Is Rush Limbuagh ...

8 Things to Learn for 2/2/2009 #1

Is Rush Limbaugh the titular head of the Republican Party? You be the judge.

Here's a comment made by super conservative Rep. Phil Gingrey (R - GA) ...

I think that our leadership, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner, are taking the right approach. I mean, it’s easy if you’re Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh or even sometimes Newt Gingrich to stand back and throw bricks. You don’t have to try to do what’s best for your people and your party. You know you’re just on these talk shows and you’re living well and plus you stir up a bit of controversy and gin the base and that sort of that thing. But when it comes to true leadership, not that these people couldn’t be or wouldn’t be good leaders, they’re not in that position of John Boehner or Mitch McConnell.

Seems like a fairly reasonable position for a Republican to stake out on the issues of the day. You might be wondering, was there any fall out to Gingrey's comments? What do you think? The very next day, Rep. Gingrey placed a nauseating call to Rush Limbaugh's show and I think I'll let the transcript stand on its own.

I want to express to you and all your listeners my very sincere regret for those comments I made yesterday to Politico. Basically the intent of my words to them was to discuss the unique position of congressional Republicans and our leadership, particularly John Boehner and Mitch McConnell. I clearly ended up putting my foot in my mouth on some of those comments (laughs) and I just wanted to tell you, Rush, and -- and all our conservative giants who help us so much to maintain our base and grow it and get back this majority that I regret those stupid comments.

So, here we have one of the most conservative members of the house begging for Rush Limbaugh's forgiveness. What have we learned? Rush Limbaugh is the titular head of the Republican party.

Rush Limbaugh says ...

Words of Stupidity for 1/30/2009 #7

His stimulus plan, likewise, is political. It is aimed at re-establishing eternal power for the Democrat Party, just as FDR did, rather than stimulating the economy. Folks, anybody with a brain knows that his stimulus plan is not how you stimulate the economy. And if he can make me a distraction, then there'd be all that much less time to debate this.

- Rush Limbaugh as reported by Media Matters

When he says "anybody with a brain", Rush Limbaugh appears to be excluding the vast majority of prominent economists.

Rush Limbaugh says ...

Words of Stupidity for 1/30/2009 #4

I mean, if there is a party that's soulless, it's the Democratic Party. If there are people by definition who are soulless, it is liberals -- by definition. You know, souls come from God. You know? No. No. You can't go there.

- An Oldie from Rush Limbaugh.

Al Franken Would Make a Great Senator

8 Pithy Opinions #2

I like to laugh and Al Franken is funny, but that's not why I want Al Franken in the Senate.

I've always wondered where Rush Limbaugh gets his facts, and Al Franken figured it out, but that's not why I want Al Franken in the Senate.

I loved the late liberal Senator from Minnesota, Paul Wellstone, and Al Franken was a good friend of Senator Wellstone and would like to live up to his example if he were elected, but that's not why I want Al Fanken in the Senate.

I'm impressed, basically, anytime I can see anyone draw anything, and Al Franken can draw the entire United States of America while taking questions at a rally, but that's not why I want Al Franken in the Senate.

I've always thought Rush Limbugh was a big fat idiot and Al Franken wrote a book called Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations, but that's not why I want Al Franken in the Senate.

I've always wanted to be sued by Bill O'Reilly, and Al Franken was sued by Fox News at the behest of Bill O'Reilly shortly before the publication of his great book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, but that's not why I want Al Franken in the Senate.

I've always wanted to joke about Karl Rove and Scooter Libby being executed for Treason, and Al Franken did it, while sitting next to David Letterman no less, but that's not why I want Al Franken in the Senate.

I've always wanted to deliver a verbal smackdown to Ann Coulter about her inaccurate, slander filled books, and Al Franken did just that at The Connecticutt Forum, but that's not why I want Al Franken in the Senate.

I've always wanted someone to make a documentary on my life, and Al Franken's life was featured in the major motion picture Al Franken: God Spoke, but that's not why I want Al Franken in the Senate.

I want Al Franken in the Senate because he's good enough, he's smart enough, and doggone it, I like him.