Tucker Carlson Emerges From His Defensive Crouch ...

And lands on his back.

Using the wingnut smear and fear propaganda broad brush against the so-called “professional Left,” DC Caller’s Tucker Carlson penned a rambling diatribe in response to withering criticism of the despicable and irresponsible role of the (insert: fascist, propagandizing, racist, xenophobic, bigoted, lying) Right. Tucker struggled to justify the Right’s conduct — he gave it the old college try — and failed.

The Right does BULLY and ATTACK DOG well. SOUL SEARCHING and FACTS — not so well.

In the wake of this tragedy, the most ridiculous wingnut talking point is that the Left “began to leverage (Gifford’s) shooting for political purposes.” That is the first reaction of those caught in the blinding glare of public reproach following a tragedy or crisis that occurred within a political context. It’s a nonstarter. There is no need to remind Carlson that the gunman was charged with the attempted assassination of a member of Congress, in addition to the six murders he committed:

As.sas.si.na.tion n
1.    the killing of a political leader or other public figure by a sudden violent attack.

For Tucker Carlson — who purchased Keith Olbermann’s internet domain so that he could behave like a petulant child and send fraudulent emails posing as Olbermann — to criticize Keith for denouncing “a long list of high-profile conservatives, ranging from newly-elected Florida Congressman Allen West to Glenn Beck” is, frankly, laughable. Keith “manned up” (to coin a wingnut term) to include himself in criticizing the rhetoric. Carlson has yet to get off the block.

Since Keith has taken names, let’s take a look at them for a moment. There is no need to once again recite the causal connection between Glenn Beck’s incitement and gun violence by deranged individuals. In at least two instances, it is well established.

The “newly-elected Florida Congressman Allen West,” as Carlson puts it, as if to imply a new car patina to this Tea Party wingnut, has been particularly venal right out of the gate. West’s partisan and inflammatory statements question the very loyalty of his Democratic colleagues. This extremist has a long list of hateful, incendiary, violent speech, most disturbingly directed against the President of the United States. These video clips speak for themselves.

Here West encourages physical violence against his opponent during the campaign:

And in this clip West questions the President’s patriotism and birthright. Such incendiary language from an elected member of Congress directed at the President is shocking and unprecedented:

To bolster his leaky argument Carlson plays the parent card: He mentions Giffords’s father who “suggested ‘the whole Tea Party’ might be suspects in the shooting” to get at Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, “an elected Democrat.”

“It’s easy to understand a father’s overwrought reaction. It’s harder to forgive demagogues like Clarence Dupnik, the sheriff of Pima County, Ariz., and an elected Democrat, who at a weekend press conference declared anyone with libertarian tendencies complicit in the shootings: “When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government — the anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous.”

Have you complained about the stimulus package? You might as well have pulled the trigger yourself.”

It’s fascinating to watch wingnuts stumble and fall on their face outside the echo chamber of their protective cocoons at Fox or Right Wing Hate radio. I could have given Carlson a bit of friendly advice: “Tucker, you really REALLY do not want to go there …” Is Sheriff Dupnik a demagogue? Here he is, in his own words:

Watch Sheriff  Dupnik school the Fox barbie doll (Happy birthday, Sheriff: "Free speech is free speech, but it's not without consequences.") The Sheriff stands his ground through Megyn Kelly's cloying and disgusting prop-manipulation. This guy's been around for 50 years as a law enforcement officer. He's seen the worst of society. He was properly outraged at the violence done to his friends:

As for those on the Right with "libertarian tendencies" in Carlson's romantic whimsy — oh, are they to be vilified for complaining about the deficit too, he whined: "Have you complained about the stimulus package? You might as well have pulled the trigger yourself.” Not to mention the deficit, which these rational, thoughtful citizens are "within their rights to be upset about." (As if anyone would have tried to stop them from demonstrating on the capital mall and at presidential events packing serious heat.) Here's a challenge for you, Tucker. Do these representative images of Tea Party demonstrations show hate speech or people with "libertarian tendencies" concerned with the stimulus and the debt?

These "Concerned Citizens" With "Libertarian Tendencies" Are Protesting The Stimulus And Deficit Armed To The Ts, Just In case.

Loughner Fan Club (Oh right; Protesting Deficit And Stimulus.)

High-Minded Healthcare Debate Right In Front of GOP House Leadership; Can Libertarians Recognize Hate Speech?

Heartwarming How Respectful The Teabaggers Are Toward the President of The United States.

There is no question Jared Lee Loughner is mentally ill. One irony of the push for repeal of healthcare on the Right is that the law provides for community mental health centers which, if they had been in place in Tucson, may well have identified Loughner's pathology and treated it.

But the "shards" of Loughner's political motivation show every indication of his having been exposed, and very likely influenced, by the Right Wing negative zeitgeist, of gun violence and extreme anti-government rhetoric blanketing our nation like a contagion. Mark Potok's profile of Loughner for the Southern Poverty Law Center notes that amid his weird syllogisms, the philosophy to the extent it can be identified, resembles that of the extremist Right anti-government "Patriot" movement.

The idea that only gold and silver are constitutional currencies is a core Patriot belief. Loughner's obsession with language and grammar suggests he "is taking ideas from Patriot conspiracy theorist David Wynn Miller of Milwaukee. Miller claims that the government uses grammar to “enslave” Americans and offers up his truly weird “Truth-language” as an antidote." A recurring theme is of the individual v. the totalitarian state. The reference to a "second American constitution" is "commonly understood to refer to the Reconstruction amendments that freed the slaves and gave them citizenship, among other things... that “raises the question of a possible racist and anti-immigrant tie” in the Arizona shooting." Potok concludes:

"At this early stage, I think Loughner is probably best described as a mentally ill or unstable person who was influenced by the rhetoric and demonizing propaganda around him. Ideology may not explain why he allegedly killed, but it could help explain how he selected his target."

Carlson and his co-author seek to deflect any responsibility on the Right for the current climate of anti-government gun violence, threats, and extremism in our political discourse, which may have contributed to this tragedy. Words have consequences. It isn't the first time a mentally deranged "lone wolf" was influenced by hate speech to take action. Byron Williams is one example. Richard Poplawski another.

And while we would not question the sincerity of Carlson and his colleagues, of their horror at the "scale of human suffering"— for them to impute any less to progressives, or a cynical motivation to those who hold different views on the basis of what "an unnamed Democratic operative" said, is to fall back on the reprehensible but familiar practices of the Right's yellow "journ(o)lism" and smear tactics.

In the wake of this tragedy, the Right is lashing out because it has no argument.

Whenever a libertarian promotes their selfish, narcissistic political philosophy, I ask a simple question: "What has a libertarian ever done in government to promote the general welfare of the people?" Liberals can provide dozens of concrete examples of progressive policies, from Social Security to Medicare, clean air and water to the planting of millions of trees and the conservation of our natural resources, which have had a profound and generational impact on the general welfare and quality of life of the American people.

What have libertarians ever done for the common good?

“It’s no coincidence that most libertarians discover the philosophy as teenagers. At best, libertarianism means pursuing your own self-interest, as long as you don’t hurt anyone else. At worst, as in Ayn Rand’s teachings, it’s an explicit celebration of narcissism. “Man’s first duty is to himself,” says the young architect Howard Roark in his climactic speech in The Fountainhead. “His moral obligation is to do what he wishes.” Roark utters these words after dynamiting his own project, since his vision for the structure had been altered without his permission. The message: Never compromise. If you don’t get your way, blow things up. And there’s the problem. If everyone refused to compromise his vision, there would be no cooperation. There would be no collective responsibility. The result wouldn’t be a city on a hill. It would be a port town in Somalia. In a world of scarce resources, everyone pursuing their own self-interest would yield not Atlas Shrugged but Lord of the Flies. And even if you did somehow achieve Libertopia, you’d be surrounded by assholes.”

–Christopher Beam, in New York Magazine

To put it more succinctly: A = A(sshole).

Fox Jell-O Jowls Opens His Trap To Attack The Left

That's Fox "News" Caudillo Roger Ailes, quivering jowls working overtime, making specious false equivalence partisan arguments: "He (Loughner) just was not attached to the Tea Party. It’s just a bullshit way to use the death of a little girl to get Fox News in an argument."

First of all, Jowlsy, no one on the Left (that I know of, and I read a lot of the top blogs and commentators) has claimed a direct connection between this deranged shooter and the Tea Party, let alone "use[d] the death of a little girl" in any inappropriate way. First of one long Ailes cheap shot. The Left's criticism is over the tone of political discourse, the incessant drumbeat on the Right of ballistic rhetoric which has created a climate of violence in this nation. Ailes' sickening sophistry is delivered in typical Fox propaganda skill.

Question for Roger 'Jell-O Jowls' Ailes: Do the names Tides Foundation, ACLU, and would-be assassin and mass murderer Byron Williams ring a bell?

No? REALLY? Not even when you draw a chalkboard line through all of them straight to Glenn Beck?

Here's a refresher, Roger. Byron Williams, a deranged assassin was only prevented from committing mass murder by the heroic action of the California Highway Patrol. Williams specifically credited Glenn Beck for pointing him to his "targets"— the Tides Foundation CEO and the ACLU. Williams, on parole for bank robbery, told investigators that he wanted "to start a revolution" by "killing people of importance at the Tides Foundation and the ACLU," according to a police affidavit. It's interesting to note how the word "revolution" is a common thread running through the deranged rhetoric of both Byron Williams and Jared Lee Loughner.

According to the Christian Science Monitor in an October 16, 2010 article entitled "Did Glenn Beck's rhetoric inspire violence?":

Fox News commentator Glenn Beck, who’s honed being provocative — even outrageous at times — to a fine and lucrative art, is the focus of criticism for inciting violence.

Specifically, his dozens of comments attacking the Tides Foundation are being linked to the attempt by a heavily-armed man to assassinate employees at the San Francisco-based foundation, which funds environmental, human rights, and other progressive projects. The attack in July was thwarted in a shoot-out with police in which two officers were wounded.

Since then, alleged attacker Byron Williams has said in jailhouse interviews that he wanted to “start a revolution.” He says Beck was not the direct cause of his turning violent. But he does say: “I would have never started watching Fox News if it wasn't for the fact that Beck was on there. And it was the things that he did, it was the things he exposed that blew my mind.”

Does Roger 'Quivering Jowls' need more convincing? REALLY? Naah ...

Considering how wingnuts advertise themselves as UBER pro-law enforcement, it was all the more hypocritical that Fox Boss Ailes was seemingly unconcerned that neo-Nazi Richard Poplawski gunned down three Pittsburgh police officers after viewing and posting one of Beck's paranoid rants about FEMA concentration camps. Once again, the MO of these killers is, not surprisingly, very consistent. Poplawski was a disturbed gunman "fueled by a toxic mix of white-supremacist, conspiracy-theorist paranoia and mainstream-media fearmongering, including from the likes of Glenn Beck and Fox News."

"Not only did Richard Poplawski avidly participate in white-supremacist online forums and right-wing conspiracy-theory sites, he also avidly consumed mainstream conservative media, particularly Fox. The classic instance of this: A few weeks ago, Poplawski posted a clip of Beck talking about FEMA concentration camps on the neo-Nazi Stormfront forum site."

So when Roger Ailes deigns to pontifically lecture liberals, the Emperor of Wingnuts isn't wearing any clothes — I know; it's a deliberately repulsive image of a repulsive man, leading architect of the right wing's reckless incitement to violence:

"It’s just a bullshit way to use the death of a little girl to get Fox News in an argument," Ailes said. "You know, they’re using this thing...apparently there was a map from one of Palin’s things that had her (Congresswoman Giffords) targeted district. So, we looked at the internet and the first thing we found in 2007, the Democrat Party had a targeted map with targets on it for the Palin district. These maps have been used for for years that I know of. I have two pictures of myself with a bull's-eye on my head. This is just bullshit. This goes on... both sides are wrong, but they both do it."

Love how Ailes uses the pejorative Democrat Party. Clearly he's throwing a stink bomb, and enjoying it. Ailes said, imperiously, that Fox's staff stay away from "bombast ... I told all of our guys, shut up, tone it down, make your argument intellectually. You don’t have to do it with bombast" ... Then he added piously (for Ailes): "I hope the other side does that."

I mean, REALLY Roger. You've outdone yourself. I love the deliberate "projection" — the transference of your biggest vulnerability to the "other side." It won't work, pal. We've got your Fox network guttersnipe world completely decoded. C'mon Roger, quit YOUR bullshit. Making "your argument intellectually" is an oxymoron.

Bullshit is as bullshit walks. Or wallows. In PIG MANURE, right up to his neck, in Jowlsy's case. And now, he's got blood on his hands. Roger Ailes is a ruthless, driven CEO with little concern for the public good; his only sense of responsibility is to Fox shareholders. Everything else is "bullshit" to be neutralized with relentless propaganda and messaging, or should I say, making "your argument intellectually."

Edit: I removed some gratuitous references to Ailes' girth here. Many of us (myself included) have weight issues, and such adjectives are over the top. This guy just rubs me the wrong way big-time because while he may be a master craftsman, he is also the epitome of everything, in my view, that is wrong with media today. The Jell-O jowls, though — that's legit.

Sarah Palin's Responsibility: "We Are On Sarah Palin's Targeted List"

There are unconfirmed reports that Sarah Palin is busily scrubbing her websites of incriminating posts, tweets, graphics. Hardly the actions of one who does not feel guilt and responsibility; or is it just shameless CYA? In an interview to MSNBC following passage of the healthcare law, Rep. Giffords noted the CROSSHAIRS graphic (below) on Sarah Palin's PAC page, with this haunting comment:

“We are on Sarah Palin's targeted list. The way that she has it depicted has the crosshairs of the gunsight over our district. When people do that, they have got to realize there are consequences to that action.”

 This graphic has been removed as of yesterday from Sarah Palin's PAC site:

Palin aide Rebecca Mansour has been frantically backpedalling in defense of her story with the absurd claim that the crosshairs were "never ever, ever intended to be gun sights. It was simply crosshairs like you'd see on maps." The radio interviewer added helpfully they could, in fact, be seen as "surveyor's symbols." Mansour has to be incredibly disingenous if "it never occurred to us that anybody would consider it violent."

Oh really? Then how to explain these tweets from your boss, Ms. Mansour? It does not matter how many tweets you end up deleting; the internet "trail" once posted cannot be "shredded" like all copies of a paper trail.

Here Palin urges her followers, using GUN terminology to "RELOAD"— that is exactly what Jared Lee Loughner was trying to do but for a brave woman who prevented him from reloading. Otherwise the death count would have been higher.

And in this tweet Sarah Palin refers to her "BULLSEYE" icon "used 2 target ... incumbent seats." Palin's defenders are actually saying on her Facebook page that the "TARGET" was the "incumbent seats." Do you really think a demented gun-toting assassin will make such subtle distinctions, Ms. Mansour?:

The Tragic Consequences of The Right Wing's Incendiary Rhetoric

Christina Taylor Green, the nine year-old child who was gunned down and killed at the event for Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, was featured in the book, “Faces Of Hope: Babies Born On 9/11.” President Obama ran on the promise of hope and renewal in our politics. While many of his supporters may have been disappointed with the compromises of Obama two years into his presidency, he has secured his place in history as the Democratic president who finally delivered on the promise of universal healthcare coverage for the American people.

Democratic Congresswoman Gabby Giffords cast a YES vote for healthcare reform. She represents Arizona’s 8th Congressional District and those who know her best describe her as a “moderate” and “centrist” politician. Arizona’s conservative governor Brewer calls her a “friend.” Yesterday Giffords was shot in the head by a disturbed individual during a meet-and-greet event for her constituents. Six people were killed, among them the nine year-old child Christina Taylor Green, a federal judge, and an aide to Rep. Giffords. Many others were wounded, some critically, including Rep. Giffords who is fighting for her life after surgery. 

Who, or what, is responsible for this horrific killing spree? Are we once again to dismiss it as the act of one demented individual, a “loner,” yet another lone gunman?

It does not appear the shooter was a member of the Tea Party or any other extremist group, but it’s still too early to say. From what little we can gather of his murky online profile, he has dropped enough reading influences to place him in any number of political camps. The Tea Party has already distanced itself from the gunman. Judson Phillips, founder of the Tea Party Nation issued a typically vitriolic statement, a classless diatribe purposefully mischaracterizing Rep. Giffords and injecting political invective as she lies in a hospital fighting for her life:

“Congressman Giffords was a liberal, but that does not matter now. No one should be the victim of violence because of their political beliefs and certainly a member of Congress should not be shot and killed on a street corner. Take a moment to say a prayer for her and her family, as well as the others who were so tragically murdered this afternoon.”

For some reason, Phillips uses the masculine pronoun “Congressman” to describe Giffords, then deliberately and gratuitously labels her “a liberal.” That is a lie. Giffords is a moderate, centrist Democrat. (Rep. Raul Grijalva, Chairman of the Progressive Caucus and a fellow Arizonan Democratic member of Congress said: “Her whole future's ahead of her. She's a moderate; I'm not. She's my friend. Our difference of opinion did not interfere with our friendship.”) As if to deflect the pejorative lie, Phillips says, “but that does not matter now.” It was the tasteless opening phrase to set up this political harangue:

“At a time like this, it is terrible that we do have to think about politics, but no matter what the shooter's motivations where, the left is going to blame this on the Tea Party Movement. Already on liberal websites, the far left is trying to accuse the Tea Party of being involved. While we need to take a moment to extend our sympathies to the families of those who died, we cannot allow the hard left to do what it tried to do in 1995 after the Oklahoma City bombing. Within the entire political spectrum, there are extremists, both on the left and the right. Violence of this nature should be decried by everyone and not used for political gain.”

[Italicized emphasis mine.]

While Phillips uses terms such as “left” and “far left” and “hard left” interchangeably without defining them, with the broad smear brush of right wing propaganda, I challenge him or anyone else on the right to point to a single group or organization on the left that promotes the right's violence, guns, racism and bigotry (birthers, racists, anti-Islamic bigotry, anti-immigrant nativists), to include politicians like Rick Perry of Texas talking up secession and the “tyranny” of government, and Sharron Angle, Nevada’s Tea Party candidate, citing “2nd Amendment remedies” if  “government” does not act in accordance with the people’s will, however that may be defined.

Whatever denunciations the right wing may hurl at the left, one thing they cannot say is that progressives are anti-government. The left does not favor the overthrow of government, cutting or ending taxes, repealing healthcare and financial reform, abolishing the Department of Education and the EPA, cutting and privatizing Social Security and Medicare, increasing the Defense budget, or radically changing the Constitution.

Although ideological underpinnings are relevant, the governing distinction is not between left and right — it is between those who believe government is the enemy and those who believe is is a power for good. It is between those who, at best, view government as “a necessary evil” and those of us who believe a strong central government is essential to the prosperity and survival of this great nation.

This argument is as old as the republic itself and it is central to understanding the violence.

The demented individual who pulled the trigger and shot Rep. Giffords, gunning down innocent bystanders gathered in a peaceful democratic assemblage of civic duty, may not have been a member of the Tea Party but he was driven to murderous violence by anti-government rhetoric and vitriol on the right, including that from the thuggish bullies at Giffords campaign events who yelled “LIAR!” at her and trashed her campaign offices, as they did the offices of fellow Arizona Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva. Pointing an accusing finger at Sarah Palin, Mr. Grijalva said:

“The climate has gotten so toxic in our political discourse, setting up for this kind of reaction for too long. It's unfortunate to say that. I hate to say that. If you're an opponent, you're a deadly enemy,” Grijalva said in an interview with the Huffington Post of the mindset among Arizona extremists. “Anybody who contributed to feeding this monster had better step back and realize they're threatening our form of government.”

Grijalva said that Tea Party leader Sarah Palin should reflect on the rhetoric that she has employed. “She — as I mentioned, people contributing to this toxic climate — Ms. Palin needs to look at her own behavior, and if she wants to help the public discourse, the best thing she could do is to keep quiet.”

In an interview with MSNBC after her district office was vandalized the night the healthcare bill was passed, Rep. Giffords said, “We are on Sarah Palin's targeted list. The way that she has it depicted has the crosshairs of the gunsight over our district. When people do that, they have got to realize there are consequences to that action.” (Note: Disregard Chuck Todd's foot-in-mouth disease; he's part of the mealy-mouthed-media-seeking-equivalence-where-there-is-none problem.)

These are the images of the list of targeted Democratic Congresspersons in Sarah Palin’s crosshairs, taken from her PAC website and her Facebook page:

 And this is how Rep. Giffords’s opponent, Jesse Kelly, endorsed by the Tea Party advertised a campaign event:

Pima County Sheriff Clarence W. Dupnik was angry and emotional. Two of his close friends — Ms. Giffords and Judge John Roll (who was killed) — were among the victims. He said it was a “very sad day for Tucson” and a “horrendous, horrendous, senseless, unbelievable crime.” Sherrif Dupnik minced no words laying blame for this:

“When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government, the anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on this country is getting to be outrageous and unfortunately Arizona has become sort of the capital. We have become the Mecca for prejudice and bigotry.” He said it is time for the country to “do a little soul searching” and added: “The vitriolic rhetoric that we hear day in and day out from people in the radio business and some people in the TV business ... This has not become the nice United States that most of us grew up in.

It's not unusual for all public officials to get threats constantly, myself included. That's the sad thing about what's going on in America: pretty soon we're not going to be able to find reasonable decent people willing to subject themselves to serve in public office.”

Indeed. It isn’t only the incendiary rhetoric of Sarah Palin and Sharron Angle (to name but an iceberg chip on the right) but that of Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh and the Fox network, incessantly day after day, stoking the flames of hatred and bigotry, and yes, violence. We reported on this blog how one of Beck’s constant targets, and the ACLU, narrowly escaped a similar fate to the horrible shootings at Rep. Giffords’s event, because the gunman was apprehended in a wild shootout with California Highway Patrol; en route to commit his killing spree. Later he confessed to having been influenced by Beck’s words, and targeted Beck’s targets. In a weird case of circular logic, the mainstream media underreported this, presumably on the rationale that to do so would be to encourage copycats.

Now it’s finally happened. After three years of  anti-Obama, anti-Democratic rhetoric from the right, after the threats against President Obama quadrupled compared to threats against any previous president and those against members of Congress, mostly Democratic, doubled in 2009 after passage of the healthcare law compared to the previous year — it finally happened.

And so I ask again: Who, or what, is to blame for this act of mass murder, for this act of violence directed at a member of Congress, our government?

In his disturbing YouTube site, the shooter Jared Lee Loughner, amid his lunatic ravings wrote these words, which are particularly telling of the rhetoric of the right — and therefore particularly disturbing:

“What’s government if words don’t have meaning?” This meaning, in his sick mind, must derive from the U.S. Constitution:

“[R]eading the second United States Constitution, I can’t trust the current government because of the ratifications: the government is implying mind control and brainwash on the people by controlling grammar.” This obsession with “grammar” feeds into the anti-immigrant nativism directed at Spanish-speaking residents of Rep. Giffords’ 8th District:

“If you’re literate in English grammar, then you comprehend English grammar. The majority of people, who reside in District-8, are illiterate – hilarious. I don’t control your English grammar structure, but you control your English grammar structure.”

And to “rationalize” or justify the violence he is about to commit, Loughner deligitimizes our government using much the same rhetoric of rabid anti-government “patriots” on the extreme right, e.g. Timothy McVeigh, who then commit horrific acts of violence:

“No! I won’t pay my debt with a currency that’s not backed by gold and silver!”

Loughner’s anti-government rant proposes a new “currency” and “revolution” against our currency which has enshrined the phrase, In God we trust:

“No I won’t trust in God!”

Then Loughner offers his “revolutionary’s” rationale for committing a terrorist act:

“If the property owners and government officials are no longer in ownership of their land and laws from a revolution then the revolutionary’s (sic) from the revolution are in control of the land and laws.

The property owners and government officials are no longer in ownership of their land and laws from a revolution.

Thus, the revolutionary’s (sic) from the revolution are in control of the land and laws.”

One astute observer noted the connection between Loughner and Ayn Rand — whose book “We The Living” is mentioned in his YouTube profile — in which Loughner “appears to be attempting to use the basic rules of logic to frame his bizarre, paranoid philosophy.” Loughner pushed back against being labeled a terrorist: “I define terrorist. Thus, a terrorist is a person who employs terror or terrorism, especially as a political weapon. If you call me a terrorist then the argument to call me a terrorist is Ad hominem. You call me a terrorist. Thus, the argument to call me a terrorist is Ad hominem.”

Yesterday on the Huffington Post, former Colorado senator and presidential candidate Gary Hart wrote:

“The degree to which violent words and phrases are considered commonplace is striking. Candidates are “targeted.” An opponent is “in the crosshairs.” Liberals have to be “eliminated.” Opponents are “enemies.” This kind of language emanates largely from those who claim to defend American democracy against those who would destroy it, who are evil, and who want to “take away our freedoms.”

Today we have seen the results of this rhetoric. Those with a megaphone, whether provided by public office or a media outlet, have responsibilities. They cannot avoid the consequences of their blatant efforts to inflame, anger, and outrage. We all know that there are unstable and potentially dangerous people among us. To repeatedly appeal to their basest instincts is to invite and welcome their predictable violence.

So long as we all tolerate this kind of irresponsible and dangerous rhetoric or, in the case of some commentators, treat it with delight, reward it, and consider it cute, so long will we place all those in public life, whom the provocateurs dislike, in the crosshairs of danger.

That this is carried out, and often rewarded, in the name of the Constitution, democratic rights and liberties, and patriotism is a mockery of all this nation claims to believe and almost all of us continue to struggle to preserve. America is better than this.”

When the healthcare law was enacted, I wrote on this blog:

Finally, four days after repeated instances of violence and vandalism erupted against the home of one lawmaker’s brother and regional offices of House Democratic members who voted for healthcare reform, after phoned, mailed, shouted, faxed, signage death threats were made against individual House Democrats, after angry protesters hurled vitriol and racist invective against legends of the civil rights struggles John Lewis and James Clyburn, after homophobic epithets were screamed at Barney Frank and xenophobic language shouted at a Latino House Democrat, after an African American House member was spat on by a rabid Teabagger egged on by sign-waving Republicans outside, after Texas Republican Rep. Randy Neugebauer yelled “baby killer!” from the House floor at Democratic Rep. Bart Stupak, who then received multiple death threats — and after House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and House Democratic Whip James Clyburn emerged from their Caucus meeting with Congressional security to denounce the incidents of violence, the climate of incivility, and report on the widespread threats —

Only then did House Republican Leader John Boehner, with Eric Cantor, see fit to condemn the violence.

Democrats are not satisfied with the late Republican condemnation of violence, including a severed gas line in the home of Virginia Congressman Tom Perriello’s brother, who has four children. His address was posted online by the Teabaggers. The FBI is investigating. This is the result of a widespread campaign of lies, smears, and misinformation by a recklessly irresponsible (yes, it is an oxymoron) wingnut right.

There is a name for this — the “Obama Derangement Syndrome,” defined as the “pathological hatred of the President posing as patriotism has infected the Republican Party” from the violent fringes of its Teabagger storm troops. This hatred has now expanded to encompass all of the Democratic Party … as Rep. Bart Stupak affirmed, into acts of “domestic terrorism.”

As one Ohio Democratic Congressman who was targeted by the Republicans’ storm troopers said of a careless remark by John Boehner after confronting him: “Words and actions have consequences.” Indeed they do. You cannot yell “fire” in a crowded theater. Ever.

There are those on the Right who have incessantly, day after day, yelled FIRE! In a crowded theater. They are responsible for the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Griffiths. It only takes one crazed lunatic to internalize this incendiary rhetoric and act on those words — with deadly force.

It happened yesterday.

Timmy Pawlenty: From 110 Pound Weakling To MACHO MACHO MAN!

Judging by this guy's "makeover" the Republican presidential field is gonna be SOME KINDA FUN FUN FUN FREAK SHOW!

CHORUS: Sarah Palin, Sharron Angle, Christine O'Donnell

MACHO MACHO, MAN UP!

TIMMY PAWLENTY, YA GOTTA MAN UP!

MAN UP, TIMMY, MAN UP!

TIMMY'S GOTTA BE A MACHO MAN!

THE TIMMY PAWLENTY DANCERS:

TEA PARTY Remedial Education: Why Repealing Healthcare Is A Terrible Idea

This thing is actually beginning to work ... WELL! The REAL "job killer" is REPEAL. These Republicans are truly ORWELLIAN. As the Catholic priest who married Michael Moore said in "Capitalism, A Love Story": "I'm in AWE of propaganda"— and its capacity to convince people to vote against their own best interests. (The Catholic Church does have its redeeming qualities; one is its truly Christ-like advocacy for the poor and social justice.)

Chris Matthews Goes To Las Vegas And LITERALLY Sits Atop America’s Most Destitute

 You can’t make this stuff up. Today, Chris Matthews hosted Hardball from the Las Vegas Convention Center, spouting the usual Mathewsian nonsense about the “old Left” and bellowing to the climate controlled winds for “solutions” to the “digital divide.” Meanwhile, literally beneath his comfortable ass, America’s Les Misérables, hundreds of forgotten and forsaken men, women, and children eke out a terminal life-support existence in the dark, dank, humid and disease-ridden underground flood channels of Las Vegas.

ABOVE GROUND

 

Matthews carries on with his show in the Las Vegas Convention Center blissfullly unaware of what is occurring beneath his feet …

UNDERGROUND

… As desperately poor, destitute people struggle for survival on a day-by-day, hour-by-hour, minute-by-minute basis, below the glittering neon of the Vegas strip, relying on the kindness of strangers and individuals who try to help as best they can, where government is absent and MIA.

These are individual stories repeated thousands upon thousands of times throughout this land. Every time there is a foreclosure and a family is evicted from their home with little to no notice, where do they go? The lucky ones go back home to live with their parents. Others find rental apartments with what little funds are left them. Still others, “the New Homeless” (to coin a phrase Matthews should be using — if he’s going to pigeonhole people he should do it for the important stuff, too) end up living in their cars, vans, the streets, or crawl into the gutters of a great city like Las Vegas.

The rich irony of Chris Matthews taking another shot at the Left (he is, in essence, a Reagan Democrat whose smidgeon of conscience produces the schizoid political persona), the shallow Maria Batiromo of the collagen lips saying that “we need manufacturing” in this country, only because it’s the flavor du jour, since in earlier incarnations she was promoting the policies which created this economic devastation. David Corn, the voice of reason and reality from the Left, saying it (the death of manufacturing in America caused by Reagan and accelerated under Bush, who presided over the shutdown of a staggering 140,000 manufacturing companies in the U.S.), “it is all gone now.” And Chris, the so-called history buff, shrugging IT off, asking in his manic style: “so what do we do now?”

That is the question, isn’t it?

My suggestion would have been to shoot at least one segment on the tunnel people of Las Vegas, contrast that to the digital upscale conference in the Las Vegas Convention Center, and show Chris’s audience a stark metaphoric visual of the TWO AMERICAS, one literally sitting on top of the other. At least, that’s what I think Michael Moore would have done.

Because this is the reality of America today.

A Different Perspective On Bill Daley's Appointment

Analyzing the appointment of Bill Daley as President Obama's Chief of Staff on Chris Matthews's Hardball, Chuck Todd said Daley would be the "outside guy" and some forgettable name the "inside guy" in these next couple of years leading up to the reelection campaign of 2012. Yes and no. Mostly no.

Yes, Bill Daley may well be the contact guy to the mayors and governors outside D.C. (Chuck's premise), because those local contacts are key to mounting a successful campaign for reelection. No doubt, Daley will serve as a CEO executive type (Chris's premise by way of those corporate worshippers at POLITICO) with clear lines of communication and chain of command in the White House, and he will bring Chicago's can-do reputation into the White House (Howard Fineman's thesis) to ensure the President's reelection. That this is an eminently political appointment (small 'p') looking toward 2012, obviously goes without saying.

They're all right, but there is one overlooked caveat that links all of this together. It seems the pundits forget that this Republican Congress is out for the President's hide. Very little of substance in the legislative arena will be accomplished as Democrats (HOPEFULLY) play vigorous defense against Republican moves to repeal (SYMBOLIC, a waste of taxpayer's time and money) healthcare, financial reform, student loan reform, EPA and food safety regulations; but most significantly, to DEFUND all of these, effectively GUTTING THEM, unless and until the Democrats win back the House in 2012.

The next two years promise to be a HELLISH partisan fight. There are clear and present dangers in this new Congress to the President's reelection, namely Darrell Issa and Mitch McConnell. Darrell Issa is on a witch hunt. That much is already clear. And he may well draw blood with some of his probes into the executive branch. Mitch McConnell has openly pledged to make Obama a one-term president. He means it. There are a bunch of others, held in reserve, who are ready to jump into the breach in a typically coordinated and vicious Republican assault on the White House.

The President may have been naive with his early expectations of Republican cooperation, but he's not stupid and he's learned some tough lessons. All his talk of "compromise" and "cooperation" are for public (primarily, "independent") consumption. When Obama asked Rham Emanuel to be his Chief of Staff, his main sales pitch to a wavering Rhambo was a personal appeal that he needed Rham to have his "back." That's telling. The President is like the quarterback reading his opponents' blitz. He needs a really strong offensive line to avoid being sacked, and possibly give him enough time in the pocket to make some plays. Bill Daley is President Obama's offensive line. And he's as good as they come. That's why he was enthusiastically endorsed by two good progressives, Howard Dean and Robert Reich.

Daley's role in the 2000 Florida recount, when he was Al Gore's campaign manager and directed the Gore challenge and recount effort, has only been mentioned in passing by the pundits, primarily because the final outcome went against Gore; therefore it was seen as a Daley defeat. But what the pundits fail to realize is that in the local Florida recount game, Daley's team was actually winning, with some significant favorable rulings from the Florida Supreme Court. The Bush appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was their last resort, and that was one thing Bill Daley could not control.

At a minimum, it must be stated that Bill Daley kept Al Gore in contention during the 2000 recount and held his own against the Bush forces. This is precisely the role he will undertake in the next couple of years. Bill Daley is a tough Chicago pol. With the threat of Issa and this Republican Congress looming, he will hardly be concentrating his energies on the "outside" while a klatch of no-names gets rolled by an avalanche of Republican subpoenas.

Bill Daley is President Obama's consiglieri. His mission is to ensure the President's reelection, yes. But to do this, he must stop Issa and the Republican Congress and Senate dead in their tracks. Their cards are on the table: They have vowed to destroy or bloody this President politically.

In this fight, however, I wouldn't bet against Bill Daley.

Room 112: The Insanity Congress, Day Two (Constitution, Reader's Digest Version)

On the second day of this Republican train wreck Congress, a redacted version of the Constitution was read aloud, once interrupted by a crazed birther in the gallery when Congressman Pallone (D-NJ) read the section about the president's citizenship requirement. (Evidently, these morons are not aware that Hawaii  is  the 50th state.) The Teabagger was removed. They never read the part about Indians and slaves considered three-fifths of a person. Or prohibition.

The fact that the 13th Amendment was superseded by the 14th, or prohibition was repealed indicates  this is a living document that changes with changing times, and is not set in stone tablets as some Tea Party activists would like, or imagine it to be. Some have even called for a return to indirect election of senators or voting restricted to white male property owners simply because it was some sort of original intent. That's absurd, for to accept original intent is to necessarily accept three-fifths of a person.

The existence of certain despicable provisions "rectified" by future amendments is a cogent reminder that the Constitution is not a sacred document produced by originalist deified Founders, but one created by fallible humans who were very much of their time. This is the beauty of the document: Its capacity to right wrongs with the passage of time and the flow of history.

But even as the Republicans wrapped themselves around the sacred, albeit redacted, document, it didn't take long for this Congress to violate it. Two Republicans skipped the swearing-in ceremony to attend inauguration parties (fundraisers?), then came back, voted, one chaired a committee hearing, ALL IN VIOLATION OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. They claimed lamely that they had watched the ceremony on TV and raised their right arms. Um ... it doesn't work that way.

By the way, did the Tebaggers learn anything, e.g., that Congress has the power to raise and impose taxes? Horrors! Then, showing immense respect for the document, Boehner gave a press conference while the reading was underway. He said, incredibly, that the NONPARTISAN Congressional Budget Office assessment that repealing the healthcare reform act will add $230 BILLION to the deficit (it will save  $100 billion over 10 years, and more than a TRILLION in the out years) was their "OPINION."

The CBO's function is to SCORE legislation introduced by both sides on cost as to whether and how much it will increase or decrease the deficit. Both Republicans and Democrats accept its findings as totally honest and objective. Until now. In order to waste our time with this symbolic repeal vote to appease the ignorant Teabaggers, the House Republicans must exempt it from their OWN rule of making corresponding cuts to any legislation that increases the deficit. Oops.

Then there's the small matter of citing the constitutional basis, or section, on which any proposed legislation is based. Of the three bills introduced by Republicans this was not done. Oops. Of course, the promise of "openness" was the first to be violated by the bagman for the corporations. No debate or amendments allowed on the healthcare repeal bill (a totally political document titled a "Job Killer"). Where are the Teabaggers in all of this?

As Howard Dean said, "the Tea Party is a fraud."  And this Congress will fast become a playground for corporate influence-peddling on a scale NEVER before seen. One can already see it developing two days and some hours into this Congress of Horrors. Beginning with the new Speaker.

"I WILL FIGHT THESE BASTARDS EVERY NIGHT!" WAY TO GO, BIG EDDIE!!

Now That Cenk's Hazing Ritual Is Done ...

... Will you give him his MSNBC show, suits?

Androidgynous wingnut Demon Coultergeist fired a broadside at Blade Runner Cenk Uygur, MSNBC's replicant wingnut hunter tasked with "retiring" wingnut replicants wherever they may rear their bizarro zombified corpses. Serving under the tutelage of Big Eddie, the wingnut psycho stalker, Cenk has notched quite a few wins already, unleashing the wrath of the Demon Coultergeist.

All the more reason he should have his own base of operations at MSNBC to get after wingnuts, on the Cenk show!

Blade Runner Cenk, Wingnut Replicant Hunter

Karen Finney To Replace Gibby As White House Press Secretary — Oh, Yeah

Say it’s so, White House … SAY IT’S SO. Mark those PRESSERS on your calendar!

If Karen gets the job I won’t be the only one expressing renewed interest in the erstwhile presser yawners conducted by Gibby, now under new HOT management! Karen Finney is a DEMOCRATIC BABE; she’s smart, articulate, attractive and Hmmm … VERY SEXY.

Okay, I admit it, sometimes I’m shallow. But help me out here; I’m trying to find ways to warm back up to the Obama White House, and Karen Finney’s an EXCELLENT START! Plus, she’s a total sweetheart … she really is.

Robert Gibbs is leaving his job as White House Press Secretary to join David Axelrod as the President’s 2012 reelection team gets organized in Chi-Town. I always liked Gibby. He did his job with quiet competence, if not élan. His flock grumbled about him at times, but generally appreciated how he ran intereference for them on foreign trips. The messaging could have been better, but frankly, a lot of it was above Gibby’s pay grade. Gibby’s onetime “gaffe” was the kerfuffle raised over his “professional left” remark. It was much ado about nothing, and in a sense it cleared the air in the strained relations between progressives — the Democratic vanguard — and the White House.

There will always be creative tension in the relationship. That’s fine. Better to have our cards out on the table than pretend everything’s hunky-dory. Gibby took some unfair hits over Rhambo’s contemptuous attitude toward progressives; it’s understandable that he should vent every so often. I’ll always remember him as a fair, competent, good guy who served the President well given the natural constraints of his job.

Keith PROBES The Conservative Mind: CAUTION! May Cause Tucker’s Brain To Explode

Following groundbreaking research commissioned by British actor Colin Firth, Keith Olbermann called upon the expertise of wingnut FEAR AND LOATHING scholar John Dean for his insight and perspective into the FRIGHTFULLY PRIMITIVE WINGNUT BRAIN. As a Nixon-Buchanan Watergate PARANOIA SURVIVOR, Dean provides a fascinating glimpse into the strange ALIEN world of the conservative mind:

(NOTE: Scientists have not yet succeeded in isolating Sarah Palin’s brain.)

Keith’s CONSERVATIVE MIND MELD was said to have resulted in violent convulsions over at the Daily Screamer as Ruthie broke out in hives and unconfirmed reports that Tucker Swanson’s brain reached critical mass could not be independently verified.

Thousands of Dead Birds And Fish In Arkansas, Sweden, Brazil, Japan

I’d love to strike fear in the hearts of the Teabaggers by positing that this is God’s punishment on them for voting the corporate Republicans in. I mean, every time there’s a natural disaster (Katrina, Haiti, the latest blizzard) whacko evangelicals have said it’s God’s punishment on Democrats or gays or liberals, or people of color, or the poor, etc.

So it’s only logical that when a Biblical Sign of the End Times happens in Arkansas, a red state that just voted in a slew of Teabagging Republicans, we must conclude God was not pleased with Arkansans. Or that he’s REALLY pissed at the Teabaggers for voting in the Republican Congress. It makes more sense than Pat Robertson’s homophobic rants about God’s punishment against gays.

But I don't really believe it. On the other hand, YOU NEVER KNOW. Even Chris Hayes is hedging his bets ... and Chris Hedges is making hay somewhere:

PS .—. Look for the Teabaggers (with their racist signs, and their guns, and their three-corner hats, and their diabetes, and their Medicare and Social Security) to be taking the DOWN ESCALATOR when the RAPTURE comes. I guess that's why they call it the RAPTURE: You get to see deserving villains take that Heat Wave journey down into the fires of Hades ... rapturous schadenfreude!

Room 112: The Insanity Congress, Day One (WE, THE CORPORATIONS)

Ayn Rand Disciple Gets to Set Budget Priorities Without Hearings

Budget Chairman Paul Ryan to set budgetary spending limits without debate. There's a nice bit of transparent 'gimme back my country' gubmint — Of, for, and by THE CORPORATIONS. Can you say 'CZAR' Teabaggers? I guess it's OK if it's on your side ... filthy hypocrites. Well, the average Teabagger is clueless; that's the sad part. It's the Tea Party corporate leadership and elected (bought and paid for) nutcases that are shills for the corporations.

It's scary how utterly clueless and misinformed the Fox viewers Tebaggers/wingnuts are.

'TEA PARTY' Candidates Hire Lobbyists as Chiefs of Staff

New Teabagger Representatives are now Hiring LOBBYISTS as Chiefs of Staff — Now there's the BEST Congress money (and the U.S. Chamber of Congre...uh, Commerce) can buy! Did you know this, Teabaggers? (You won't learn it from Beck or Fox News.) Watcha gonna do, call LOBBYIST BUSTERS?

The Issa Man Cometh

Witch doctor Darrell Issa, new Chairman of the House Government Oversight Committee to start witch hunt against Obama Administration. (That's why Bill Daley is being tapped as Obama's COS; a tough Chicago pol who can go toe-to-toe with the lunatics and Issas on the Right who would destroy this President. No more Mr. Nice Guy, we hope. As long as he stays out of policy discussions and concentrates on shellacking Darrell Issa.)

For The History Challenged Tebaggers Lurking Around, That's Senator Joe McCarthy.

Issa wrote 140 businesses specifically asking them which rules and regulations they would like to abolish. Oh, you know, regulations on food safety standards, higher benzene concentrations in water, toxic waste pollution, lifting of restrictions on greenhouse gases expelled into the atmosphere, relaxing oil drilling regs back to pre-BP days, that sort of thing. This guy's going on a wide net fishing expedition at taxpayer's expense.

Voodoo Economics 2.0 Codified as New House Rule

According to our disingenuous wingnut rag, The Daily Caller:

“Republicans do not believe that tax cuts are a form of spending, arguing that it is simply allowing taxpayers keep more of their own money. They further believe that over the mid- to long-term, tax cuts create more economic growth, leading to higher tax revenues.

Nonetheless, in the short term at the very least, tax cuts do decrease government revenues, widening the gap between what is coming into the Treasury’s coffers and that which is planned to go out in spending.”

In short, they’re back to the same trickle-down Reaganomics racket, which has been proven to be a complete FRAUD, a JOBS KILLER, and a DEFICIT EXPLODER.

Incoming Freshman Republican Tea Party Class

Let’s REPEAL Healthcare, YAY!

You go, Teabaggers, WHAT DO YOU WANT TO REPEAL, HUH?

C’mon, TELL US:

Insurance companies cannot deny healthcare coverage to children with preexisting conditions.

REPEAL?

When YOU (policyholder) get sick YOUR insurance cannot be cancelled; it’s called RESCISSION, and because of your stupid pejorative for the health reform law, “Obamacare,” rescission is NOW ILLEGAL!

REPEAL?

Your kids are now covered in your policy until age 26.

REPEAL?

Insurance companies must now spend 80 CENTS OF EVERY PREMIUM DOLLAR ON ACTUAL HEALTH DELIVERY SERVICES, INSTEAD OF MILLIONAIRE CEO SALARIES AND BONUSES.

REPEAL?

FOR LARGE GROUP POLICIES, IN CASE YOU SOLD YOUR HEART AND SOUL TO THE CORPORATION, IT’S EVEN HIGHER: 85 CENTS. THEY WANT YOU TO RABBLE ROUSE FOR REPEAL.

REPEAL? (Ignorant Corporate Tools …)

Prescription drugs are now CHEAPER FOR SENIORS with Medicare discounts as well as FREE SCREENING for cancer and other diseases.

REPEAL?

When these House imbeciles, these 19th Century Luddites who don’t care that more than 40,000 Americans die annually for lack of healthcare, want to do is throw the 50 million uninsured Americans under the bus. Because the fact is, unless they’re DYING they won’t be able to get lifesaving healthcare, and by the time they do in an emergency room, it’ll be too late and we will ALL be stuck with the bill.

REPEAL? Is that what you want, with your lies about a mild, centrist, necessary reform first proposed by Republicans, that doesn’t go nearly far enough but IS MUCH BETTER THAN THE NOTHING ALTERNATIVE.

REPEAL? Bring it on, you selfish ignorant bastards.

Jesus (THE SOCIALIST LIBERAL) Christ: do I HATE these people.

As That Rock Philosopher From Down Under, Raul Seixas, Used To Say:

"I'm the fly who landed in your soup,

I'm the fly who dropped in to abuse you ..."

TEABAGGERS, You're Soooo Fucking EXTREME, Your Extremities Are Having An Identity Crisis!

According to a 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll [DRUM ROLL, PLEASE]:

Sixty-one percent of Americans polled would rather see taxes for the wealthy increased as a first step to tackling the deficit!

REPEAT: SIX-ONE, 61 PERCENT OF THE REAL AMERICAN PEOPLE — NOT THE FAKE, PHONY, FRAUDULENT TEABAGGER "AMERICAN PEOPLE" THAT REPUBLICANS KEEP REFERRING TO IN THEIR TALKING POINTS — WANT THE RICH TAXED TO BRING DOWN THE DEFICIT!

The next most popular way — chosen by 20 percent — was to cut defense spending.  

REPEAT: ANOTHER 20 PERCENT ARE A BUNCH OF DEFENSE CUTTING PEACENICK HIPPIES WHO WANT TO TAKE THE CUTTING KNIFE TO THE DEFENSE BUDGET!

TRANSLATION: FULLY 81 PERCENT OF THE REAL AMERICAN PEOPLE TOTALLY EMBRACE THE "PROGRESSIVE AGENDA" DERISIVELY MOCKED BY THE DEAN OF THE IDIOT PUNDITOCRACY, CHRIS W. MATTHEWS.

The Yellow Teabagger Flag of Selfishness, Cowardice, and Hypocrisy.

WHAT'S LEFT: 19 PERCENT OF REACTIONARY, IGNORANT, SELFISH, INSANE, BIGOTED OLD TEABAGGING FARTS AND WINGNUTS, THE DICKENSIAN DREGS OF OUR SOCIETY, WHO MANAGED TO WREST CONTROL OF ONE BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT WITH TONS OF CORPORATE AND FOREIGN CASH,  LAUNDERED THROUGH THE U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

Four percent would cut the Medicare government health insurance program for the elderly, and 3 percent would cut the Social Security retirement program.

REPEAT: NINETY-SIX PERCENT OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, A VIRTUALLY UNANIMOUS VERDICT CONSIDERING THE 3 TO 4 PERCENT MARGIN OF ERROR, WANT ABSOLUTAMENTE NO CUTS IN MEDICARE!!!

AND NINETY-SEVEN PERCENT WANT NO CUTS IN SOCIAL SECURITY!!!!

MEMO to Dean Matthews: Live by the polls, DIE by the polls.

"You like polls, Chris, then take a look at them. On healthcare, financial reform, protecting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, getting out of Afghanistan. That's the progressive agenda — America's agenda. Not what the corporate political shills at POLITICO have to say."

QUESTION FOR THE IDIOT PUNDITOCRACY: What kind of "DEMOCRACY" do you celebrate, sir, where elections are determined by lies and unlimited corporate "investments" and the people's voice, THE TRUE PROGRESSIVE AGENDA, is muted despite POLL AFTER POLL AFTER POLL indicating overwhelming public support for the liberal position — when, o when will we get leaders with  enough courage to be openly and proudly liberal?

A false "democracy" in which the people's voice is muted in favor of the corporate "citizen" is, I would submit, not one to be celebrated.

What The Young Turk DUDE Said ...

Cenk (pronounced Jake) struts his progressive chops (give him his show, suits!):

Mickey Mouse Climate Zombies Defy Science Because … They’re “Paid To”

This has to be the most honest accidental slogan to emerge from Rightwingville: Wingnuts, at least the half-assed educated types, must take certain positions because they’re “paid to.” When it comes to science FACTS, no educated non-scientist can seriously deny the reality that climate change is caused by the massive release into the atmosphere of greenhouse gases produced by human activity. It would be tantamount to claiming humans walked with dinosaurs, because evangelicals say the Bible contradicts carbon dating.

So we get this from our favorite wingnut rag:

The answer is NO, not according to an overwhelming consensus of scientists. Not being one, but capable of critical thinking, I tend to place my faith in what scientists say about scientific phenomena, after absorbing the best available evidence and arguments. Honestly, I don’t understand these Luddite science deniers with their heads up their ass who yell and scream ‘hoax!’ every time there’s an extreme weather event like this east coast blizzard. First of all, extreme weather (heat waves, droughts, floods, blizzards), as opposed to “rainshowers” or a “dusting” of snow, are almost certainly a consequence of the systemic changes caused by the greenhouse effect in the atmosphere. To the extent these extreme weather events are unique by historical records, they provide supporting evidence for climate change. Second, weather and climate are two separate and distinct things. A single extreme weather event does not prove or disprove anything, one way or the other.

“Global warming” specifically refers to the progressive heating of the world’s average temperature each year. AND THAT HAS ALREADY BEEN ESTABLISHED: 2010 WAS THE WARMEST YEAR ON RECORD. Here’s NOAA, which the Teabaggers and wingnuts will no doubt say is in on the New World Order global conspiracy. Let Rachel's super-sub producer explain it all in the context of wingnut politics and ideology:

Curiously, most Republicans who now deny the science, once upon a time  held public views consistent with it. It was only with the emergence of the Teabaggers and their ignorant anti-science superstitions, that the politicians suddenly did an about-face. Not surprisingly, for the ignorant Astroturf Luddite Teabaggers who receive most of their money and marching orders from the oil and gas industry, climate change denial is an absolute article of faith.

Ironically, given the Teabaggers' political phobias, right wing anti-science is an ideological perversion that resembles communist attitudes to science. Like the wingnut fanatics who claim homosexuality is a disease and a choice, Soviet Russia abused psychiatry to persecute political prisoners with bogus insanity diagnoses, which also held homosexuality to be a mental illness. As much as the wingnuts try to make  mountains out of molehills based on a few leaked emails, the fact of the matter is, climate change is real, as an observable manifestation of more than a century of accumulated human activity pumping greenhouse gases into our planet's atmosphere. 

Wingnuts must compromise their college educations to submit and commit to Rightwingville anti-science. It helps if they don’t possess much of a conscience. As long as they’re “paid to” they will even make a case that the world is flat or that there were dinosaurs on Noah's Ark. Some wingnuts are ideological true believers; still, there must be others who are sufficiently educated to know in their heart of right wing hearts that the Teabagger position is ideological anti-science bullshit.

 Speaking of bullshit, New Jersey’s Blubbernor Christie returned from his excellent adventure in Disney World blowing enough hot air to melt his snowed-under driveway. Christie's response was typical of a Republican's attitude to government. Republicans are installed in office by rich special interests to undermine government, slash services to the poor and middle class, privatize everything (especially where kickbacks are the reward), and pass legislation that is not in the public, but the corporate interest. Still, for both the governor and Lt. Governor to go on vacation at the same time, leaving the state leaderless during an extreme blizzard state of emergency, hits a new low in laissez-faire government.

The wingnut rag did its best to defend the Blubbernor. They said he "put family first." Well, you know, Disney World isn't going anywhere; it's still there today, after the damage to the state was done. My favorite passage from the rag, this Freudian slip ... too much 'Christine' on their minds: