Budget Munsters DIE, ALREADY! Tour Off To A Killer Start!

Tea Party Vampire/Wolfman Paul Ryan touted by the Wingnut Hive and Teabagger Zombies as a “future POTUS” ran into unscheduled wind shear turbulence from irate constituents who told him in no uncertain terms what they thought of his scheme to let millionaires and billionaires skin the hides of seniors, the middle class, and the poor. Said one constituent who described himself as a lifelong Republican:

“The middle class is disappearing right now. During this time of prosperity, the top 1 percent was taking about 10 percent of the total annual income, but yet today we are fighting to not let the tax breaks for the wealthy expire? And we’re fighting to not raise the Social Security cap from $87,000? I think we’re wrong.

RYAN: A couple things. I don’t disagree with the premise of what you’re saying. The question is what’s the best way to do this. Is it to redistribute… (Crosstalk)

CONSTITUENT: You have to lower spending. But it’s a matter of there’s nothing wrong with taxing the top because it does not trickle down.

RYAN: We do tax the top. (Audience boos).”

The constituent caught Ryan in the GOP's BIG IDEOLOGICAL LIE — That tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires create jobs. This has been empirically disproven not only in the last LOST decade, which saw the greatest transfer of wealth from the middle class to the ÜBER-RICH in our history, resulting in NEGATIVE job growth, but dates back to the disconnect between rhetoric and reality from the Reagan era, when the extreme right wing took over the GOP. Compare the "job creators" lie used to justify massive tax cuts for the rich to the 22 million jobs created during the Clinton administration, when he raised taxes on the ÜBER-RICH to pay down our debt and balance the budget. It was the longest period of sustained economic growth and prosperity in American history. Those are the indisputable facts. Yet, Ryan repeats the same old lie, like a mantra turned broken record.

Suggest Ryan try and convince constituents of the rightness of his "cause" by sharing with them his conversion to the cult of Objectivism, turning them on to his goddess, Ayn Rand. Despite the passion of Ryan and feverish attempts by wingnuts to promote it, not unlike the campaign to push Mel Gibson's violent Christ blood-and-gore fest (remember how religious fanatics took underage children to see it?) the film version of Atlas Shrugged bombed big-time at the box-office. Here's a glimpse of the weird passion of Paul Ryan and the selfish sociopathy of the Right:

Scary. This Slate article delves into the warped controlling grasp Ayn Rand has on the Right in this country. Here’s the lead-in:

"Ayn Rand is one of America's great mysteries. She was an amphetamine-addicted author of sub-Dan Brown potboilers, who in her spare time wrote lavish torrents of praise for serial killers and the Bernie Madoff-style embezzlers of her day. She opposed democracy on the grounds that "the masses"—her readers—were "lice" and "parasites" who scarcely deserved to live. Yet she remains one of the most popular writers in the United States, still selling 800,000 books a year from beyond the grave. She regularly tops any list of books that Americans say have most influenced them. Since the great crash of 2008, her writing has had another Benzedrine rush, as Rush Limbaugh hails her as a prophetess. With her assertions that government is "evil" and selfishness is "the only virtue," she is the patron saint of the tea-partiers and the death panel doomsters. So how did this little Russian bomb of pure immorality in a black wig become an American icon?.”

Curiously, CRAZY Russian women have a history of obscene dalliances with America’s wingnut politics. From obsessive-compulsive ‘Birther’ Orly Taitz — a Russian émigré — was born the presidential candidacy of bombastic wheeler-dealer and Tea Party darling, Donald Trump. Ayn Rand — a Russian émigré — “birthed” the deranged mind of Paul Ryan and the extremist, nihilistic policies of today’s GOP/Tea Party.

Memo to the Tea Party: The Russians aren’t “COMING!”… they’re HERE! Don’t screech “SED-DOWN!”… shout, instead: “NYET! NYET! NYET!” Are your widdle pea brains popping yet, ignorant Teabaggers?

In the following audio clip, Republican Rep. Lou Barletta runs into a vocal and hostile reception from constituents who would not be bullied or silenced by the ignorant Teabaggers hollering incoherently and yelling for 64-year old Linda Christman to "SED-DOWN!" One constituent comes to her defense, expressing what many of us feel about the toxic Tea Party: "She’s an American citizen. Why don’t you show some manners and shut your mouth and let her talk. Why don’t you grow up and stop acting like a bunch of little boys?... I agree with her. And you know what? Why don’t you tell me to sit down?!"

Linda Christman brilliantly laid out the profound objections non-ideologues have with the Ryan budget "cause": "Excuse me, I’d like to get something off my chest. And that is, you seem to think that because I’m not affected, I won’t care if my niece, my grandson, my child is affected. I do care. And what you’re doing with this Ryan budget is you’re taking Medicare and you’re changing it from a guaranteed health care system to one that is a voucher system where you throw seniors on the mercy of for-profit insurance companies. [...]"

Budget Munster Paul Ryan Video Presentation To Seniors

Three Reasons The Republican Tea Party Base Is RACIST

1. Donald Trump's "presidential campaign" took off when he embraced the 'Birther' issue.

2. Donald Trump's "presidential campaign" took off when he embraced the 'Birther' issue.

3. Donald Trump's "presidential campaign" took off when he embraced the 'Birther' issue.

Chris Matthews thinks the Teabagger Republican base is so "bored out of their minds" they went with Trump. Wrong AGAIN, Sparky. (Not you, the clueless one!)

Donald Trump on racial harmony:

"I've always had a good relationship with THE BLACKS."

“President” Trump Picks His Cabinet

After outlining his nuanced foreign policy to a shocked-to-silence Candy Crowley: “In the 'old days' when we invaded a country, it was ours.”—

Donald Trump set about selecting his A-Team. General David Petraeus was unavailable, so the Donald picked an early ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ supporter for War Chief, er … “my Defense guy”—

Trump's lawsuit against NBC for breach of contract continues: “What, they don’t think I can talk and chew gum at the same time? What conflict of interest? I’m doing this for the little people; Gary really needs the paycheck.” Trump lays the charm on Candy Crowley: “I have a REALLY REALLY LONG Tie, Candy ... Is that your real name?”... and is endorsed by future Secretary of Defense Gary Busey, who thinks requiring motorcyclists to wear helmets is “government tyranny;” that is, he thought so, if only he could remember?

Creeping, Nay, GALLOPING FASCISM In Amerika

Rachel calls it "REALLY REALLY REALLY BIG GOVERNMENT"... but that's okay. She's trying to get through to the "imbeciles" and "rubes" as Chris Matthews aptly put it, who unfortunately decide elections in the know-nothing low-information roadkill "center," which is waaaaay off to the RIGHT of the political spectrum, thanks to the Idiot Punditocracy defining, and limiting, the parameters of the debate for the rest of us.

Why Is Jan Brewer Getting Credit For Vetoing a Whacko Birther Bill?

Chris Matthews: "I'm so impressed with Gov. Brewer" for vetoing the 'Birther' bill. Why?

The 'Birther' bill vetoed by Brewer, requiring presidential candidates to present a long-form certificate of birth before eligibility to stand for election in Arizona was so ridiculous and extreme it also required as documentation a certificate of circumcision to prove U.S. citizenship.

Jan Brewer was a Republican low- to mid-level political operative her entire career. She chanced upon the Arizona governorship through its succession laws after Janet Napolitano resigned the office to become President Obama's Secretary of Homeland Security. Brewer then rode the despicable 'show me your papers' law, now tangled up in the courts, to electoral victory. In the interim, she ran away from the media, riding a wave of anti-immigrant xenophobia, a low point for her gun-violent state, made a fool of herself with a couple of mind-melts in front of the cameras, and claimed at least two victims on a Medicaid transplant list when she callously slashed its funding without considering budget alternatives to restore the funding or even that matching federal funds would offset any minimal budget shortfall. It was playing politics with people's lives — critically ill people — who DIED for a lousy $5 million.

The fact is, the Republican establishment has gone after Donald Trump with all guns blazing, from the Club for Growth to Karl Rove, Tim Pawlenti, Mitt Romney, and Eric Cantor, not to speak of establishment right wing media. It's a coordinated assault on Trump to discredit him on the Birther issue — a HUGE general election GOP killer — and stop his GOP trainwreck momentum in the polls. You think Jan Brewer didn't get the memo, Mr. Matthews? If this bill were in any substantive way politically advantageous to Republican Party political prospects in the 2012 election, Jan Brewer would have signed it, sight unseen, no matter how absurd and ridiculous it was.

Jan Brewer is a follower, not a leader; a right wing politico, not a visionary who is bucking a trend or going against the grain of her Party handlers. Jan Brewer — "impressive" and "interesting"? Please.

Greenspan Kicks Off $206,710.60 Pick-Six At Close Of Santa Anita Meet

Greenspan hadn't competed since September 3, 2010, when he last testified before the public, weakening down the lane, and revealing a "flaw" in his strategy. But with a long layoff for more conditioning, schooling, and a series of stamina-building workouts, Greenspan returned to the game with a splash, crushing his competition in convincing manner to key a $206,710.60 Pick-Six by winning the 5th race yesterday, the last day of the Santa Anita Park Meet in California.

Meanwhile back East, Alan the other Greenspan, after whom the thoroughbred is named, made his triumphant return to the pundit's corner in the friendly confines of NBC's Meet The Press. Despite a qualifying nod to discredited economists of the Chicago School type who wreaked havoc with Russia's economy and society among others, Alan Greenspan aka Andrea's husband, actually intoned for the record that ALL of the Bush tax cuts should be ended, endorsing a return to the tax rates of the Clinton years, which created 22 million jobs.

Still, Alan Greenspan's got a ways to go before exiting the doghouse he was sent to after the 2007 economic collapse. In terms of wealth creation since then, Greenspan the Santa Anita thoroughbred is at least $200,000 ahead of Alan the pundit. It seems appropriate, though, that Alan the pundit has shown himself to be a lucky talisman of sorts for those fortunate Pick-Six winners who might now be able to apply their winnings to saving their homes — considering he contributed to the house of cards casino economy whose collapse precipitously slashed most Americans' wealth.

Bet the horse for a better return on your investment.

Portrait Of An IP Provocateur: Dana Milbank And His Contempt For Liberals

Dana Milbank is a quicksilver pundit, one who wears multiple faces, none of them completely honest. His insights aren't particularly insightful and his quips aren't particularly funny or clever. As a shapeshifting Beltway pundit, Milbank represents the worst of the Idiot Punditocracy. More importantly, he's a ratings killer because the viewers, as the President famously reiterated, aren't "stupid." That is, unless he's invited on a "liberal" show as a hostile witness to explain his latest attack on liberals in the House Progressive Caucus.

Back in the day, Milbank was dropped as a Countdown pundit for pulling a Fox "News" on President Obama. Once an occasional Countdown guest, Milbank and Olbermann parted ways over Milbank's refusal to correct an Obama-bashing quote in one of his columns which he cited out of context, twisting the meaning of the President's words to suit his own non-journalistic hit job purposes. As the Raw Story reported it:

"Milbank accused Barack Obama of "hubris" for having allegedly told a private gathering of members of the House of Representatives, "This is the moment ... that the world is waiting for. ... I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions."

Several Congressional aides quickly challenged Milbank's version of the quote, insisting that he had omitted a crucial transition and that Obama had really said, far more modestly, that the enthusiasm which has met him "is not about me at all. It's about America. I have just become a symbol."

Rather than focus on the ensuing Milbank-Olbermann soap opera, take it from Media Matters:

In his July 30 Washington Post column, Dana Milbank misrepresented quotes, neglected to do basic reporting, and advanced the baseless suggestion that actions Sen. Barack Obama has reportedly taken are unprecedented for a presidential candidate — all in support of his thesis that Obama "has long been his party's presumptive nominee. Now he's becoming its presumptuous nominee." Specifically, Milbank accused Obama of "hubris" based on a quote attributed to an unnamed source by a different Washington Post reporter — which Milbank gave no indication he had attempted to verify or obtain a reaction to from the Obama campaign. He falsely suggested that Obama's conduct in reportedly beginning to set up a transition team and in meeting with foreign leaders is unusual or unprecedented for a presidential candidate. Milbank also cropped two statements by Obama that resulted in a misrepresentation of what Obama said, baselessly suggested that Obama "excluded" The New Yorker from accompanying him on his recent foreign trip because the magazine "published a satirical cover about Obama that offended the campaign," and falsely reported that Obama "was even feeling confident enough to give British Prime Minister Gordon Brown some management advice over the weekend."

This is a fair summary of the dude's due diligence as a "reporter." The late, respected David Broder, also of the Washington Post had occasion in his column to chastise Milbank for his sloppy reporting. Broder was old-school, named the Dean of Washington political reporters. Whether or not one agreed with him, the veracity of his sources and the due diligence of his reporting were never questioned by any side of the political divide.

 Now Milbank is at it again. For a moment there, I thought this was one of his "humor blog" offerings. Milbank is probably in the nutty "third way" third party libertarian milieu populated by the likes of Dylan Ratigan, in whose fanciful ghetto Milbank should find his niche. First, Milbank ripped into the Ryan plan, eliciting praise from progressive circles (and in the process enhancing his bona fides to appear on their shows) then proceeded to slam Democrats and progressives on the Progressive Caucus's alternative to the Ryan budget, with the same kind of sloppy neglect for basic reporting: "[T]he proposal is as much of a non-starter as Paul Ryan’s House Republican plan, which requires only spending cuts and actually reduces taxes." Really, Dana?  Jason Linkins of the Huffington Post — is he getting paid, Arianna; if not, why not? — systematically shreds Milbank's specious arguments.

Interestingly, Milbank's hit piece follows close on the heels of fellow libertarian Moron Joe's silly hit piece on the alleged "hypocrisy of the left," which could only be countered with mocking satire. Was it coordinated, perhaps? Ironically, like bees in a hive, the Wingnut Hive has a way of buzzing its message in a most collectivist and coordinated way. Isn't it hilarious how these libertarian types end up tripping on their own arrogance and hubris (projection, look for it, they practice it mucho; it's also known as hypocrisy, when they do it knowingly which is most of the time), because they really do think liberals and Democrats are "stupid"?

They may have cause to think so. Some of my naïve liberal friends think libertarians are fellow travelers since we both mock wingnuts, religious freaks — the so-called social conservatives. In my experience, having locked horns with these types quite a few times and befriended some (they're not all the same, we shouldn't generalize) they will be pretend-progressives so they can break bread with liberals — this gives them great merriment; think of them as court jesters, like Stewart & Colbert — when, in reality they hold liberals in even more contempt than they do the know-nothing wingnuts.

The President had the same reaction liberals do after a time dealing with these shapeshifters. Even as I'm constantly astonished by the naïveté of my fellow liberals at not reading these types — be it in negotiations or the pretend-progressive game they play — at some point even the President's back-bending patience is exhausted. It's not that hard to smoke them out, though. They're fuzzy on the facts, except when it comes to mocking wingnuts; it's when they attack liberals that the resentful edginess and distortions emerge. You see, liberals have a record. We have a pedigree. Liberals and the American Progressive Movement have an unparalleled record of achievement in advancing the public good and creating a more perfect union — enshrined in our Constitution — than any other political movement in America dating back to the founding of this republic.

Libertarians have — nothing. So naturally, they don't know (snicker) much about history; they've got nothing to show for it. (At some point I will post the achievements of liberals throughout our history in my Tea Party remedial Ed series; it's mind-blowing and illuminating (I would hope, for those who don't know) to consider the great sweep of liberal accomplishments and how our lives have been positively impacted and transformed by those achievements across generations.)

As a shapeshifting punditocrat, Milbank would never allow the facts or context get in the way of a good hit piece. His MO is predictable: curry favor with progressives, whom he obviously loathes, getting on their shows and passing out misinformation, such as the baseless speculation on Cenk's show that "all indications are" President Obama will follow the letter of the Bowles-Simpson recommendations for so-called "entitlement reform." It was, as I said in a previous post, throwing cold water on the President's speech, prompting Cenk to muse that where once he felt optimistic, what Milbank was "reporting" made him "depressed."

Well, consider the source, Cenk. Milbank is playing you for a fool, since his "reporting" is colored by his animus for President Obama. His stance is very typical of the Idiot Punditocracy whose tolerance of Republican gangsterism in D.C. and skepticism of Obama — except when he extends their tax cuts, in which case he's lauded as a statesman — have to do with pocketbook issues: Theirs.