Palin Beat Obama? The Typically Loquacious Uncle Joe Biden

... Didn't Have to Say a Word:

World's Worst Returns In Style, As Ailes Regurgitates Like a Nazi And Keith Schools Jon

In which Keith conflates Fox CEO Roger Ailes and schools that "Nazi" Jon Stewart on the meaning of false equivalence between Fox and MSNBC. O Jon, how many times does "Nazi" have to be mentioned as an ad hominem before it's a "conversation stopper" in your effete Tea Parlor, hmm? Stewart cited Bill Maher as an influence. Perhaps he should listen to what Maher is actually saying about him.

GURGLUB That boy Stewart He IS A  GROWLAIEE NAZI, HRUMPHPFFT hates conservative roughiage, good for digestion ARHWORL.

Here's Keith: "Jon, I told you so! I mean, I might disagree with you but I'd never think you were crazy or hateful...One side sticks to the facts, and the other side is close to playing with its poop."

Washington Idiot Punditocracy's Strange Perspective On The American Political Spectrum

In a bizarre twist of innocent self-deluded posturing, the hyper-connected corporatist member of the Washington media elites, Politico, conducted a poll basically of itself, a.k.a the "Washington elites," concluding that they and the "general population" (us), a.k.a the great unwashed rabble, have "dramatically different views about the message of the midterm elections."

Well, I'll be ... Apparently reinforcing their magical mystical collective narratives, the elites imperiously asserted that the badlands outside the fortified beltway in so-called "flyover country" think voters sent a message of  “disapproval of Washington D.C. as a whole,” by a strong 61 percent. Maybe it reflects a bit of smug self-reinforcing arrogance, as though the Washington elites are best defined by those that hate them (the rest of the country) and delight in being despised by their presumed inferiors. Recovering IP member Lawrence O'Donnell seemed to take great pleasure in announcing a show segment featuring the "thousands of people who hate me." A decidedly different tone from his enlightened colleague, Rachel Maddow, who gets "sooo excited" about being loved. (I'm still not sure whether Lawrence's immigration segment was a personal breakthrough of some sort, or he just wanted to hang out with attractive Latinas for the better part of two hours.)

Anyway, the elite-hating rabble decided that only 36 percent of their number had real contempt for Washington D.C., sufficient to take up arms and march on the capital holstering their symbols of overcompensating inadequacy. A more credible 22 percent viewed President Obama and the Democrats with disapproval, in contrast to the elites' ridiculously low 14 percent. Being off by 8 points is one reason these paragons of self-important political punditry are considered, well ... idiots.

At least the "general population" is more honest. If they genuinely do not know something, they keep their mouths shut. A full fifth of the people said they didn't know what message voters were sending. This sampling makes little sense unless the persons polled who answered in this way did not vote. But when it comes to process and creature comforts (economic uncertainty), the Washington elites were substantially less hopeful, by 56 percent, than the general population. This may be due to their understanding that, given current conditions and divided government, gridlock is the most likely outcome until 2012.  At the same time, the degree to which the general population is buffeted by the economy's ill winds is much greater.

We can draw some conclusions from these differing poll results: First, the media elites, the Idiot Punditocracy,  rely heavily on a fabricated reality constructed mostly out of whole cloth to practice their deceptive punditry. They need a "narrative" and a clear road map to ply their trade, without which they will be as lost as everyone else in deciding what to think about these elections. The only problem is, their interpretation of what the public thinks isn't even close.

Secondly, with respect to the President, the elites have drawn completely wrong conclusions. While 74 percent say he must make a major or minor course correction, the country at large is more evenly divided, with 52 percent sharing this view. Add to that the general dissatisfaction from the Left with the President, and this result, as a rejection of his agenda, is a wash. It could be argued that a significant portion of voters were angry at the President for not being bold, or liberal, enough — a real no-no among the elites.

 

Reinforcing this manufactured conclusion of the Idiot Punditocracy, with 37 percent of the D.C. elites (Chris Matthews prominent among them) believing the President should "move to the middle," a.k.a, become a Clintonian triangulator, only 21 percent of the general population would agree. Again, the message seems to be clear in this respect: If anything, the President has been too timid in pursuing his agenda, and too accomodating to the Republicans.

Where the breakdown in the general population for reducing the deficit and repealing healthcare is 36 percent and 29 percent respectively, while a majority of Americans do not favor repeal, the message to Republicans is unambiguous: Overinterpret the results of this election as a conservative mandate at your own peril. Of course, with so many whack-job wingnuts from the Tea/Republican Party descending on Washington, the Idiot Punditocracy is bound to change with the winds. One thing they are not is a true compass. We can already see the Hill reporters injecting more of the pejorative "Democrat" instead of the proper "Democratic." It may be a small point, but it's an irritant, and a symbol of incipient, disrespectful partisanship.

This cartoon graphic is an accurate representation of how much the center of political gravity has shifted these days. What Chris Matthews disingenuously calls the "center-left" is actually populated by "moderate right-wing" Republicans, like Olympia Snowe. Here Chris will place the Clinton Democrats. The "right-wing right-wing" Republicans is where Boehner and McConnell, and the establishment types go. Finally, the extremist right is reserved for proto-fascists of all sorts. That big black hole from the center-right to the center, center-left, and left is where Chris will dump Keith and Rachel and Ed and "those netroots people," all falsely pigeonholed as the "FAR LEFT." 

Shock And Awe, Meet ... GROPED AND GLOW!

So much for making the flying experience a living hell — and the passengers haven't even set foot on the plane — with reduced amenities, seats fit for 98 pound weaklings, delays upon delays. By the time you stumble aboard everyone will be so frazzled that, forget terrorism, passenger rage might break out. Have the Einsteins at TSA and Homeland Security considered this before investing millions in cancer-causing day-glo full body x-ray scanning machines?

The REAL experts, from El Al's chief of security to hero Captain 'Sully' Sullenberger agree that the flying public is NOT served by these draconian, intrusive, and untested high tech devices that constitute a dangerous health hazard. Machines are no substitute for highly trained security officers who interview all passengers in a thorough but open and corteous manner while they're waiting in line. With its perfect (knock on wood) anti-terror safety record, you'd think Israeli El Al Airlines would be consulted regarding best practices when it comes to ensuring the security of the flying public in a way that does not compromise efficiency or anger the passengers.

But noooooooo. There's a new battle cry in the air: "Don't Mess With My JUNK!"

Keith Olbermann, World's Worse Person. NOT REALLY.

So Keith brings back "Worst Persons in the World" segment and ignores the expressed wishes of a whopping 73 percent of the viewers, who wanted it back WITH NO MODIFICATIONS. Instead, Keith picks the wimpy (modified) option preferred by a wishy-washy 15 percent or so.

WHAT'S UP WITH THAT!

Is Keith doing his best impression of Congressional Democrats or the President, CAVING? What happens when he calls someone out for a really bad, not-so-funny offense. Is it NOT REALLY? Hey Keith, we get it, we're don't really own torches and pitchforks, although I have it on good authority the TEABAGGERS (take that, Jon Stewart!) do. Stored in their End of Days (ditto, Stewart) bunkers.

Keith Olbermann, (not really!) worst person in the world. REALLY.

Dim Bulb Joe Barton Must Read This Blog: Declares Healthcare Is "My Alamo"

That's strange, because I recall having evoked the nightmarish Alamo metaphor to describe Glenn Beck's losing battle against our mind probes, before we gained control of his brain:

We were at the gates! Then inside! GlennDavy Beck Crockett retreated screaming to the inner sanctum of  his Alamo. But it was a rearguard action. The vast leftwing progressive assault of Generalíssimo SantSorosAnna Aliena overran the final redoubt of Glenn Beck’s diseased brain. ZAP. Ahhh … relief. Was it real or was it Zanax?

Hmm ... It must be a low-frequency outlier; let's face it, Joe Barton is not the brightest bulb in the insane asylum:

"One of Crockett's sayings is 'be sure you're right, then go ahead," Barton said at the Heritage Halfway House. "The right thing to do is repeal this bill...and we're gonna do it."

Yup. Like this, for example. A textbook example of Crockett's saying! Here's our modern-day Davy Crockett's stupendous expression of valor:

And here's Davy singing one of his signature songs, Ballad of The Illegal Immigrant: "In the land of the stranger, I rise or I fall." Crockett, played by the late, great Fess Parker, sounds more respectful than the Jan Brewers and "Minutemen" bullies of today, not to speak of ambiguous and fatalistic.

Of course, Joe Barton isn't anything like Davy Crockett; he's a pathetic old fool who couldn't find his way around the general store without the assistance of a 12-year-old.  If he did, he'd find out like I did the other day that you can get a package of three of those "squiggly, pig-tail things" for $6.99. And now he's vying to be the next chairman of the House Energy Committee. If they weren't so backward, so destructive, so ignorant, so anti-science, these Republicans would be comical. But they have the power to pass destructive laws. So, those of you who stayed home and didn't vote, I hope you're satisfied; you'll surely get the government you deserve.

Dear Representative John Boehner And Senator Mitch McConnell, HYPOCRITES

If your conference wants to deny millions of Americans affordable health care, your members should walk that walk.
 

You cannot enroll in the very kind of coverage that you want for yourselves, and then turn around and deny it to Americans who don't happen to be Members of Congress. We also want to note that in 2011, the Federal government will pay $10,503.48 of the premiums for each member of Congress with a family policy under the commonly selected Blue Cross standard plan.

It is important for the American people to know whether the members of Congress and members-elect who have called for the repeal of health insurance reform are going to stand by their opposition by opting out of the care available to them at the expense of hard-working taxpayers. We look forward to your response in the coming days about exactly how many of the members in the Republican conference will be declining their taxpayer-supported health benefits.

Sincerely, 

Reps. John Crowley (D-NY), Donna Edwards (D-MD), Tim Ryan (D-OH), Loretta Sanchez (D-CA)

This letter circulated by New York Representative Joe Crowley and his co-signers taunts the GOP leadership to disclose exactly the number of members in their conference willing to drop their health coverage, just as they would for 65 million uninsured Americans. Good deal. The number, of course, is ZERO. But these bastards must be exposed at every opportunity.

Harris the Quack thinks Doctors Without Borders is an immigration conspiracy.

Then we can always count on a DESPICABLE TEABAGGER (take that, Jon Stewart!) to bitch about the fact he has to wait 28 days before his privileged government healthcare kicks in. Not only is this pig, Andy Harris (R-MD), a doctor who ran against healthcare reform, but then he demanded to know whether he could purchase a public option plan to cover the 28-day gap in insurance. The fact is, this repugnant troglodyte has the option of purchasing COBRA through his old plan for exactly this purpose.

Repeat after me, Jon Stewart: TEABAGGERS. are. despicable.

More Marisa: Cry Me A River ...

This is too good, just had to share. The amazing virtuoso guitarist accompanying her is Raphael Rabello, whose life ended tragically, too soon, two years after this performance. He left some awesome music.

Justice Dept. Report Says CIA Helped Nazis Get Safe Haven in The U.S.

I’M SHOCKED! SHOCKED, I SAY!!

This “revelation” is likely to generate a whole lot of guffaws South of the border from millions of people who have had a cozy and unpleasantly intimate relationship with the CIA. One typical anecdote has CIA officials in 1954 debating whether to deny any Nazi affiliation of the Nazi they were sponsoring, Otto Von Bolschwing, or “explain it away on the basis of extenuating circumstances.” Von Bolschwing was an  associate of Adolf Eichmann, known as the “architect of the Holocaust.”

The news is not that there’s anything new here, but that the Justice Department was dragged kicking and screaming into disclosing this report, after it had been squelched by the Bush regime, and then only under threat of a lawsuit.

The American Dream with a twist: White picket fence, upward mobility, guaranteed job, swastikas, and fond remembrances of Mein Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler.

Musical Interlude: Marisa Monte, Brazilian Diva

DIVA: The word entered the English language in the late 19th century. It is derived from the Italian noun diva, a female deity. The basic sense of the term is "goddess" = MARISA MONTE.

Marisa Monte interprets a couple of songs by singer-songwriter Paulinho da Viola. Together, they’re Brazilian musical royalty and, honestly, it doesn’t get much better than this. Marisa is mesmerizing … (Dig that cuíca solo, too!)

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Marisa Monte: Desilusão (duet with Paulinho da Viola)