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The Results of Right-Wing Class War

Just a little something to help you see the result of REPUBLICAN CLASS WAR AGAINST THE MIDDLE AND LOWER CLASSES. (You'll need to click to enlarge.)



Oh, and something else, too. The stock market started sliding WAY BEFORE Barack Obama was nominated, much less elected. The Right-wing attempt to blame the stock market's losses on Obama is a PATHETIC LIE, being pushed by CNBC and Republican Party Dictator Rush Limbaugh. It's as if the Right-wingers expect us to ignore the banking crisis that lies at the heart of the economic meltdown--a banking crisis caused overwhelmingly by CONSERVATIVE economic policies.

But the American people aren't stupid, and they know exactly what's going on. From the Wall Street Journal NBC Poll:

The poll had bad news for the Republican opposition. By a margin of more than 2-1, Americans trust the Democratic Party over the Republicans to get the country out of the recession. Views of the GOP are near an all-time low. And more than half of all adults say that Republicans in Congress have opposed Mr. Obama's proposals more to gain political advantage, compared with 30% who say Republicans have done so because they are standing up for their principles.

By a huge margin, people say there is no more bipartisanship in Washington now than in the past. For that, they are most likely to blame President George W. Bush's administration and congressional Republicans. They put almost none of the blame on congressional Democrats or Mr. Obama. (Emphasis added)

People are willing to give Obama time to reverse the vicious conservative class war that has been waged relentlessly by the Republicans for decades. And they know exactly what to call the mess we're in now:

THE BUSH-CHENEY RECESSION

Shooting Down Republican Earmark Nonsense

Take it away, Keith!

Republicans! Create Your Own Apology to Limbaugh!

The DCCC has made it easy for you right here.

HAW HAW HAW!

GOP Chairman Michael Steele Goes CRAWLING to Limbaugh, Asking Forgiveness

Poor Steele. He criticized the Leader of the Republican Party, Rush "Anal Cyst" Limbaugh this past weekend and now he's apologizing and groveling for it.  It's almost sad.

Why, it's just breaking my heart.

Heh heh heh.

Why in the HELL is Karl Rove on ABC Talking About the Economy?!?

The cancer that is Karl Rove was invited to be on ABC's This Week to talk about the current economic disaster, one which Karl Rove played a major role in bringing about. Rove was even allowed to use his utterly undeserved platform to attack Barack Obama's efforts to undo the damage that BUSH, CHENEY, and ROVE inflicted over the last eight years. Arianna Huffington has it 100% right here: Rove is trying to create a false history of the last eight years, one which is a complete and utter lie. As I said, why in the hell is he even there on television presenting this atrocious rewriting of the truth?

And again: WHY IS THIS SON OF A BITCH NOT IN JAIL FOR CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS? He's ignoring a subpoena. A subpoena is not a request, it's an order. Rove is simply spitting on the law, as he has done so very often in the past. 

But I guess when you're a wealthy conservative, you get to ignore the law with impunity in this country.

This is What Happens When Right Wing Fanatics Get Control of Sex Education

You get horrible examples like Texas, where 96% of students learn NOTHING about preventing unwanted pregnancies or STDs. They are, instead, filled with "Abstinence Only" idiocy that is saturated with utter lies and misinformation (such as the astonishing falsehood that condoms have a 30% failure rate). 

Results? Depressingly predictable:

Texas continues to have one of the nation’s highest teen pregnancy rates despite receiving more federal abstinence funding than any other state.

"I thought I was no longer capable of being surprised by the ignorance among our students," [Professor David] Wiley wrote in the report. "Then last year a sincere male student asked aloud, 'What is my risk for cervical cancer?’ Clearly, ignorance surrounding sexuality and health is a problem among young people today."

Remember: any time conservative fundamentalists are allowed to dictate ANY part of a school system's curriculum, ignorance and bigotry will prevail. These right wing clowns pervert history by spreading lies about the greatness of the Confederacy. They destroy science education by injecting creationist lies and mythology. They attack literature by censoring books. And the consequences of their control of health education are nothing less than the tragedy of damaged or ruined young lives.

REMEMBER: State school systems run by conservatives are overwhelmingly the worst in America. Keep the right wingers away from your children!!

The Flood of Republican Lies Continues Unabated

Bobby Jindal LYING about the rescue effort during Hurricane Katrina. (He also lied about the stimulus bill containing money for a high speed rail line from LA to Vegas, but almost EVERY national-level Republican has done that.)

John Boehner LYING about Obama's tax proposals here.

Karl Rove (again) LYING about damned near everything.

How can anyone trust these people??

President Obama's Speech (In Case You Missed It)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

The American People React

A. To President Obama's Speech to the Nation (CNN)

Very Positive  68%

Somewhat Positive 24%

Negative  8%

B. To Bobby Jindal's Response to President Obama:

Rove Spits in the Face of the Law AGAIN

He ignores another lawful subpoena. Details here.

DAMN IT, CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS, SWEAR OUT A WARRANT FOR HIS ARREST AND DRAG HIS FAT, UGLY ASS INTO THE HEARING ROOM! SHOW SOME GUTS FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIVES!

John McCain Continues to Lie

Following the pattern he set in his atrociously dishonest campaign, McCain now lies about a mythical LA to Vegas rail line that ISN'T in the stimulus bill.  (A lot of Republicans are telling the same lie, including Bobby Jindal. Does it really surprise you?)

Do these lying idiots think that no one is going to notice? That no one is going to call them on this kind of BS?

Thank God McCain was defeated. And thank you, America!

Contrary to Right-Wing Lies, Social Security is NOT Going Broke

Bob Somerby has the incomparable facts here, and skewers MSM Clown Ceci Connolly in the process. 'Tis wonderful!

Who's REALLY to Blame for the Financial Meltdown

David Fiderer from HuffPo tears apart a recent article by Time magazine that tries to spread the blame for the recent economic catastrophe on everyone and his brother. Fiderer, through careful analysis and argument, lays it out bluntly:

The economic crisis was caused by right-wing economic theory, the Bush Administration, and the Bush Administration's Republican cronies.

He is especially contemptuous of efforts to lay some of the blame at Bill Clinton's feet. Go read it and see for yourself what actually happened, not what Time magazine is trying to get you to believe.

Right-Wing Psychotic Alan Keyes Goes Completely Off the Rails

Vis Andrew Sullivan, here, Keyes shows the depth of the sickness and hatred that characterizes the Republican "base", the 20% (yes, that's the actual figure) who imagine themselves, in their demented fantasies, to be the "Real Americans". Keyes talks about doing whatever it takes to stop Obama. Does that include violently trying to overthrow him, Alan, you vicious little sewer rat? That seems to be the implication.

Read the post and tell me what you think.

Yes, Beltway Media, the People Stand With Obama and CONDEMN the Republicans

From the new AP-GfK poll here:

OBAMA OVER-ALL APPROVAL:

Approve  67

Disapprove 24

DOES OBAMA UNDERSTAND PROBLEMS OF ORDINARY PEOPLE?

Yes  78

No   21

DOES OBAMA CARE ABOUT PEOPLE LIKE YOU?

Yes  76

No  22

WILL OBAMA KEEP AMERICA SAFE?

Yes  66

No   29

IS OBAMA A STRONG LEADER?

Yes  75

No   21

OBAMA'S HANDLING OF ECONOMY?

Approve  68

Disapprove 27

(and this is my favorite part...)

RATING OF THE CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS:

Approve  33

DISAPPROVE  59

(Strongly Disapprove 33)

Ignore the Bush/Cheney/McCain loving Beltway Media idiots--AMERICA STANDS WITH OBAMA!

Oh, and btw, the Republicans did not "win" the Stimulus Bill debate--THEY GOT THEIR ASSES HANDED TO THEM.

Yet Another Conservative Liar: Amity Shlaes

Amity Shlaes, a right-wing propagandist pretending to be an actual historian, tells one lie after another about the New Deal, the Bush Administration, and President Obama. She tells these lies to try to undermine the President's efforts at stimulating the economy. She has been given a prominent platform in the "liberal" (Ha!) Washington Post in which to spread these lies, and she needs to be called on them. 

In all honesty, is there ANYTHING AT ALL conservatives won't lie about? Anything? Anything at all? Why should ANYBODY trust these right-wing trolls?

Lying, Idiotic Clown Bachmann Embarrasses Minnesota Again

HuffPo has the story here about the latest lies and delusions coming out of the mouth of demented right-winger Michele Bachmann, Republican fruitcake. My God, does this woman make me cringe. And the people in her district re-elected her?? Why??

More From the Scumbag Ratzinger Reinstated

Richard Williamson, the Holocaust-denying bastard recently rescued from excommunication by Ratzinger, AKA the Pope, states his opinion on higher education for women:

Alas, women going to university is part of the whole massive onslaught on God's Nature which characterizes our times. That girls should not be in universities flows from the nature of universities and from the nature of girls: true universities are for ideas, ideas are not for true girls, so true universities are not for true girls.

You hear that "girls"? Ideas aren't for you. You're too stupid and fluffy to talk about oh-so-serious men-only things like ideas. Now you go worry your pretty little heads about girl stuff.

My God, what freaking century is this cretin from? Screw him and every other asshole on this planet who thinks women are inferior to men.

Yes, The Republican Leadership REALLY DOES Want People to Suffer

I offer this story for your consideration. Excerpt:

Limbaugh is, without ambiguity, rooting for failure. In the midst of an economic crisis, Limbaugh quite openly admitted that if Obama's economic policies are successful, it would undermine the talk-show host's worldview. As such, Limbaugh wants desperately to see more Americans suffer, more workers unemployed, more businesses close up shop. The key here is philosophy -- if government spending can stimulate the economy, as it always does, then the right is wrong. Limbaugh would much prefer a suffering nation than a reevaluation of conservative ideas.

Or as one commenter put it, 

Here's what millionaire Rush Limbaugh is really saying to his adoring audience:

"I want you to lose your job and lose your home and have to live on the street and sleep on a steam grate and line up at a soup kitchen for food ... so my rich, fat-cat, corporate masters can continue to carry off trillions from the Treasury - which your grandchildren will be paying for many decades to come - while you're all too miserable to pay attention."

And the response from his weak-minded, ignorant, gullible, mean-spirited mental slaves is "Ditto That, Rush!

And yes--Limbaugh is the PERFECT reflection of the Republican leadership. The GOP grovels before this ludicrous, loud mouthed, lying sack of crap.

I'm trying to be reasonable Zach, but what else can I do?

The REAL Republican Party Slogan

The Republicans opposed the stimulus bill because THEY'RE AFRAID IT MIGHT HELP.

They oppose national health care because THEY'RE AFRAID IT MIGHT WORK.

They're afraid that if the government actually helps people, the Democratic Party will benefit, just as it did in the 1930s and 1940s.

Their ONLY chance of getting back in power is if the economy utterly crashes and people suffer needlessly.

The Republican leadership WANTS people to suffer. The right-wing politicians and hate radio pundits DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT ORDINARY PEOPLE.

The Republican goal is a nation where the vast majority of people are beaten down and completely submissive to the orders of a wealthy oligarchy--a conservative oligarchy that uses the rest of the country as its own personal garbage dump.

So they'll fight everything that benefits the average American, and I mean everything.

It's what the conservatives are best at.  Hell, it's the ONLY thing they're good at.

[Graphic from devilstower on DKos]

The Republicans Lie About Absolutely Everything

Now it's a ridiculous lie about a provision of the stimulus bill that supposedly benefits a species of field mouse at a cost of $30 million, done at the request of Speaker Pelosi. NO SUCH PROVISION EXISTS. IT WAS FABRICATED OUT OF THIN AIR. IT IS SIMPLY ANOTHER REPUBLICAN LIE.

Conservatives like to strut and preen and talk about their moral superiority and honesty. What a joke. A lot of these right wingers wouldn't know decency and truth if they walked up and French-kissed them.

Remember the rule: if a Republican official or right-wing pundit says something, it is automatically a LIE until proven otherwise.

Republicans Going (Even More) Insane!!

Bob Cesca has the hilarious details here.

Bwaa ha ha ha ha ha!

Gallup: The Radical Right-Wingers Are LOSING the Stimulus Battle!

Tell the fat-assed drug addicted draft dodger to suck on this:

FAVOR: 59%

OPPOSE: 33%

The facts speak for themselves--

AMERICA STANDS WITH OBAMA!

The Red State Welfare Clients

Buzzflash has an excellent post about the disparity between right-wing "self reliance" BS and the tendency of Republican states to rake in more federal $ than they pay in taxes. In fact, of the ten states that get the most Federal money in relation to taxes paid, eight voted for McCain last November. Of the ten states that pay the greatest amount of taxes in relation to federal dollars received, all of them voted for Obama. In other words, the Blue States are subsidizing the Red ones!

Isn't it time for the conservatives to get off of welfare?

GALLUP: THE PEOPLE STAND WITH OBAMA, NOT THE REPUBLICANS!

Their support for him is overwhelming. And just at the contrast between the immensely popular president and the widely despised Congressional Republicans:

APPROVE OF THE WAY PRESIDENT OBAMA HAS HANDLED THE STIMULUS PACKAGE:

67%

APPROVE OF THE WAY THE CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS HAVE HANDLED THE STIMULUS PACKAGE:

31% (!!)

Despite the lies and nonsense dribbling out of the Beltway media, President Obama, as Gallup puts it, "has the upper hand".

I guess the Limbaugh Party isn't so popular, after all.

The BUSH-CHENEY RECESSION/DEPRESSION: In Charts

Graphic evidence of the catastrophic damage done to America's economy by the economically idiotic and corrupt policies of BUSH, CHENEY, AND THE CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS :













Don't let the right-wing propagandists lie to you:

THE CURRENT ECONOMIC CRISIS IS THE RESULT OF CONSERVATIVE ECONOMIC POLICIES.  THIS IS OVERWHELMINGLY A REPUBLICAN DISASTER. PERIOD.

They Don't Want Workers, They Want Slaves

dday on Hullabaloo has a devastating analysis of the right-wing's dream world nation: Dubai, where more than 1.2 million people labor in horrendous conditions to support an aristocratic upper class. Right-wingers see Dubai as an ideal society, a model of how human life should be organized (although it's too bad, they'd say, that the people in Dubai are all Muslims that are gonna go to hell, dontcha know?)

Kind of makes you wonder what they'd ultimately like to see in this country, doesn't it?

So-Called "Liberal Media" Allowing Republican Liars to Dominate Debate on Stimulus

Democratic Strategist has the story here. Right-wing opponents of the President's desperately needed stimulus package are being given as much as two-thirds of the airtime on cable news shows.  Even when Democrats are heard, they are often Blue-dog types trying to weaken the bill.

Guess the corporations that run these shows think the Republicans haven't done enough damage to our country yet, and need to push it over the edge completely. 

Democrats, DON'T BACK DOWN! Wrap Pigboy Limbaugh Around the Republicans' THROATS!

TPM has the story here. The Fat Assed Drug Addicted Draft Dodger has fans among the right wingers, but as the new Gallup Poll shows, he's MASSIVELY unpopular among everyone else. In fact, Limbaugh HELPS the Democrats. (Oh, and the new Research 2000 poll shows that the Republican Party's favorable/unfavorable ratio has GROWN in the last week to 32/60.) BTW, Gallup shows that support for the stimulus is strong. The conservative spin on this is, of course, a blatant lie, as everything out of the conservative "movement" always is.

Democrats, Independents, progressives everywhere, we need to remind the big media chatterers that the American people are FOR OBAMA AND AGAINST LIMBAUGH. The Republican Party is now led by a far-right wing radical disc jockey from southern Missouri who has NEVER held elective office, NEVER graduated from college, NEVER served in the military, has VIOLATED the drug laws, DODGED THE DRAFT, spews RACIST venom that would make a Klansman proud, and has publicly said he hopes the President fails, regardless of the damage it would do to America. Tie Limbaugh to the Republican program as tightly as possible--and watch both of them crash and burn.

UPDATE: Here's a nice little bio of Pigboy here.

The Myth of Reagan the Tax Cutter

Admirably destroyed by Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake.

Yes, President Obama's Stimulus Package WILL Help America

And USA Today has the White House's neat little interactive map to show you why.

Oh, and by the way--Karl Rove is dead set against the bill.

You see, he's afraid it might work, and that would be bad for the Republican Party.

Draw your own conclusion.

Remember: Even Though It's $1.2 Trillion of YOUR Money, You're Not Entitled to Know Who's Getting It

Unbelievable. Just unbelievable.

Glenn Greenwald Destroys the Phony "Obama Cuts Defense" LIE

It seems that neocon fanatic Robert Kagan is trying to spread the lie that Obama has proposed a cut in defense, when in fact he has approved a $14 billion INCREASE in defense spending. Glenn Greenwald has sliced, diced, and napalmed Kagan's lying crap, and he's masterful in his thoroughness.

Defense spending is the sacred cow of government. And the U.S. share of world defense spending is astonishing (click to enlarge):

The conservatives are already flooding us with their lies about President Obama. This is is simply another of them. Greenwald shows us how to smack these lies down definitively.

Michael Lind Speaks the Truth: The Republicans Are Today's Confederates

He says what needs to be said, and explains why any attempt to negotiate with the modern Confederacy is doomed to fail:

The rest of the country needs to understand. This is not the nation-minded Republican Party of Lincoln and McKinley, Eisenhower and Dole. Nor is it the party of Herbert Hoover who, if he were alive, would be denounced by the Southern Right as the flawed but public-spirited Progressive he was. No, this is the party that was hijacked after the civil-rights revolution by former Democrats on the Southern far right. Its spiritual ancestors are the old states’ rights Southern conservative Democrats, like John C. Calhoun and Jefferson Davis and Strom Thurmond and Orval Faubus. The slogan of the segregationist Democrats—“massive resistance”—characterizes today’s Southern conservative resistance to necessary federal economic action, just as it inspired yesterday’s Southern conservative resistance to equal rights for black Americans.

The new Republican Party is a strange version of the old Democratic Party. It's the Dixiecrat wing without any other wings. The morphing of the Grand Old Party into a Southern-dominated faction goes back half a century to the so-called Southern Strategy to win a slice of the Southern vote in the Electoral College. Under George W. Bush, it would have seemed that this strategy reached its climax. But after the utter repudiation of Bush's presidency and the experiment with conservative Republican Party rule, the congressional Republicans left in the rubble are turning even more to the right—and the South.

How can you negotiate with Confederates who, as Lind points out in his post, have essentially told the rest of the nation to drop dead?

Conservatives Continue to Lie Relentlessly About the New Deal

Steve Benen has the story here.

One of the reasons I had to leave the Republican Party is that I could no longer be associated with pathological right-wing liars any more.

I guess I just have too much self-respect.

New Republican Chairman is a Fraud Who Exploited the Homeless

Read all about it right here.

BTW, Steele also thinks the Republican Party (U.S.-Minority) is just peachy the way it is. It doesn't need to change a thing except its PR strategy.

Pathetic.

Speaking of Corrupt, Slimy Criminals: Norm Coleman

The New Republic reminds us here that if Rod Blagojevich is (rightly) thought of as a crook for using his position to enrich himself, why isn't the same standard applied to Norm Coleman, who is UNDER INVESTIGATION BY THE FBI for taking $75,000 under the table? The Republicans, in fact, have made Coleman a hero (!). 

Typical right wing lies and double standards. But when has that ever stopped a loyal conservative?

Ratzinger Strikes Again

Ratzinger, AKA as "the Pope", has promoted a far-right wing lunatic from the Mel Gibson branch of the Catholic Church just days after reinstating a vile, disgusting Holocaust-denying piece of human garbage and insulting every Jew in the world. This new appointment is a real prize:

Fr Wagner is also notorious for his extreme views - he has accused the popular Harry Potter novels of spreading Satanism, and described Hurricane Katrina as God's punishment for the sinners of New Orleans.

He wrote in a parish newsletter that the death and destruction caused by the hurricane in New Orleans was divine retribution for the city's tolerance of homosexuals and permissive sexual attitudes.

You see, in Ratzinger's church, spreading anti-Semitic filth about the Holocaust is merely a matter of personal opinion. But the real wrath, the real hatred, is always reserved for the faggots and sluts. You see, they're the REAL sinners.

Not the people who deny anyone was butchered in Auschwitz or the people who celebrate the drowning of other humans. They get promoted.

Limbaugh,The Leader of the Republican Party, Widely Hated and Despised

Since the Republicans have decided to make a loud-mouthed draft-dodging oxycontin-popping disc jockey from southern Missouri their official leader, I thought it would be interesting to note that polling indicates Limbaugh is held in utter contempt by the heavy majority of sane Americans. The numbers are brutal:

...Limbaugh's unfavorable rating among all voters (59%) is higher than any other Republican except George W. Bush, although Sarah Palin (47%) and New Gingrich (48%) earn negative marks that fall within the margin of sampling error of Limbaugh. Nonetheless, it should be clear that Limbaugh has a different image than "conservatives" (34% unfavorable), Fox News (35%) or John McCain (37%).

One reason is the way Republicans perceive Limbaugh. In An earlier Democracy Corps survey, fielded in mid-October, showed that nearly a third of Republicans (32%) give Limbaugh a unfavorable (cold) rating, while just 44% rate him favorably.

In fact, among likely voters, Limbaugh's favorable rating is a wretched 23%, about the same as the percentage of dead-enders who thought Bush did well(!). 

Limbaugh is a despicable coward who vomits out his lies on the radio and never comes out to debate anyone head on. He violated the drug laws with impunity because rich conservatives in America can do anything they want without fear of reprisal. He says anyone who opposes the right-wing lunacy that is KILLING AMERICA is a traitor. 

So I LOVE the fact that Limbaugh is now head of the Republican Party. In fact, I suggest that he do something he's never done: run for national office.

Go ahead, Rush, you walking pus-ball. Let's see how you do when you have to deal with more than the misled, lied to sheep that make up the vast majority of your audience.

But I won't hold my breath waiting for it to happen.

Once a right-wing coward, always a right-wing coward.

Blago Out--Good Riddance

So, Which Is It, America?

Are you for President Obama--or America's least favorite right-wing drug addict draft dodger, Rush "Anal Cyst" Limbaugh? Various progressive groups are airing ads to pressure Republican Senators (here is an example of one.) asking a version of that very question.

Sen. John Kerry said it well. Since the Republicans in the House refused to be honorable and meet President Obama half way, every one of the Republican-sponsored tax cuts in the House bill should be stripped out by the Senate. 

In the last two elections, the Republicans have lost 54 House seats, 14 Senate seats, and the Presidency. They're not in any position to demand a DAMNED THING. We won, they lost. Period. America supports US, not them.

It's really pathetic when an oxycontin-ravaged loud mouthed racist disc jockey is the leader of and spokesman for a major political party.

Mr. President, When You Reach Out to the Republicans...

they'll simply slap you right in the face.

The Republican Slogan: Slavish Right-Wing Ideology First, America Dead Last.

Corporate Media Still Pushing Right-Wing Point of View

Think Progress has the story here. And check out this interesting graph:



The excuse used to be, "They're the ones in power." Now it's, "They're the ones out of power." Either way, the so-called "Liberal Media" continues to reek of right-wing stench.

Bank of America Uses OUR Bail-Out Money to Support Anti-Union Fanatics

The whole disgusting story is here. Excerpt:

Three days after receiving $25 billion in federal bailout funds, Bank of America Corp. hosted a conference call with conservative activists and business officials to organize opposition to the U.S. labor community's top legislative priority.

Participants on the October 17 call -- including at least one representative from another bailout recipient, AIG -- were urged to persuade their clients to send "large contributions" to groups working against the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), as well as to vulnerable Senate Republicans, who could help block passage of the bill.

Yes, folks, these reactionary pinheads were using OUR money to organize other reactionary pinheads to screw American working people out of their right to organize a union. You see, right now, in many industries, if someone tries to organize a union by means of an election, the conservative management simply FIRES THE ORGANIZERS. EFCA would block this, which is why the militantly anti-worker conservatives are so dead-set against it, including Home Depot's co-founder, Bernie Marcus, a raving right-wing lunatic and pathological hater of unions.

Surveys show that millions of Americans want the right to join unions but are being blocked from doing so. Bank of America and AIG should be squeezed to pay back every single dime they used to help organize this anti-worker campaign. Because you know what? When it comes to plotting against American workers' rights...

NOT WITH MY MONEY, BABY!

Another Neo-Con Criminal Continues to Drift Upward

In the fine tradition of Bill the Butcher Kristol, who is partially responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths in the Iraq War, Elliott Abrams, noteworthy right-wing criminal whose policies helped facilitate the deaths of countless thousands of people in Central America, continues to be promoted. Ezra Klein has the outrageous story (with superb links) here.

Conyers Subpoenas Rove

House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers has subpoened contemptible criminal Karl Rove to appear before Conyers' committee on 2 February. Conyers has subpoenaed Rove before but the greasy little right-wing Republican pig thumbed his nose at it, fully supported by his friend the now EX-president, George the Wretched. This time, I hope it's different. Rove, an outright cancer on the American political system, will be questioned concerning the politicization of the Justice Department under Bush and the illegal prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman.

Mr. President, don't let this criminal and traitor spit on the law again. If he doesn't show up, have him arrested, brought to the House in handcuffs, and FORCED to testify UNDER OATH. I've had enough of these right-wing Republican crooks making their own laws.

The Disgusting BASTARD That Ratzinger is Rescuing

Andrew Sullivan has the appalling details here. And Ratzinger--the man who goes by the title "Pope"--thinks this SOB should be a prominent figure in the Catholic Church.  Unbelievable.

Anything They Say is a Lie Until Proven Otherwise

John Cole echoes my own sentiments exactly in this post. The Republicans are arguing against President Obama's stimulus program on the basis of a CBO report that doesn't exist, and which apparently was fabricated out of thin air. Cole lays it out just right:

I promised to myself that never again would I be as gullible as I was during the Bush years, but I really don’t know what the appropriate level of skeptical is for Republicans right now. Even after losing their asses in the last two elections, facing numerous crises, here they are just flat-out making shit up on arguably the most important topic of the day.

From now on, anything the Republicans say I am just going to have to assume is a lie, until proven otherwise. I don’t know how else to handle this, as they simply can not be trusted to tell the truth or do the right thing, regardless what the stakes are.

This Might Be My All-Time Favorite Graph

One-hundred nine historians rate the Bush Administration:



The whole delightful story may be found here.

Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!

Obama Starts Out Strongly in Gallup

A whopping 68%-12% Approve/Disapprove rating.

Shhh! Don't tell Limbaugh or Hannity. They might have a stroke.

On second thought...

Right Wing Hypocrites, Liars, and Fanatics Already Pouring Hatred on Obama

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Fox News Fear Imbalance

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

To paraphrase Jonathan Swift: 

I never wonder to see conservatives wicked, but I often wonder to see them not ashamed.

Halliburton Negligence Kills G.I.

The depressing story is right here.

Of course the accuser is that famous left-wing radical terrorist institution known as the U.S. Army, so conservatives will no doubt denounce them for it.

Poor Little Bushies Angry at Mean Old Obama

For telling the truth, evidently.

And really, why hasn't a pathological liar like Karl Rove simply disappeared into a swirling vortex of pure evil yet?

On the Job...

and working for America.

Here.

CONGRATULATIONS, PRESIDENT OBAMA!

The full text of President Obama's Inaugural Address:

My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition. Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans. That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet. These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights. Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord. On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics. We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness. In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom. For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life. For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth. For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn. Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction. This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions - that time has surely passed.

Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America. For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do. Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions - who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage. What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply.

The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works - whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government. Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control - and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good. As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.

Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more. Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint. We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort - even greater cooperation and understanding between nations.

We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you. For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist. To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment - a moment that will define a generation - it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all. For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate. Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true.

They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task. This is the price and the promise of citizenship. This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny. This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath. So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people: "Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]." America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

[Note: And by the way, Mr. President, it's too bad that Chief Justice Roberts bungled the oath of office. But he's a Republican, so what can you expect?]

Our Long, Self-Inflicted National Nightmare Comes to an End

George W. Bush has never achieved anything worthwhile on his own.

Everything he has gotten in this world has been handed to him.

He smoked, snorted, and drank himself into insensibility for years.

He was a failure in any business venture where his family didn't intercede on his behalf. He moved up the ladder despite one screw-up after another. 

He was a worthless governor of a big state where the Lt. Governor has much of the real authority and the state legislature only meets every other year. He claimed credit for other people's good ideas. He sucked up to his cronies and steered favors toward them. He was indifferent to the poor, despite his rhetoric.

He was nominated for president in 2000 only because of his name, not for any "qualifications" he had. 

He "won" because the national media hated his opponent and lied about him at every opportunity. Bush was no slouch in spreading lies himself. He got "elected" by stealing Florida, with the help of right wing thugs and conservative ideologues on the Supreme Court. It was a right-wing coup d'etat.

He ignored every warning about terrorism. When it struck, he cynically exploited it for his own political benefit.

His Administration's corruption spread its tentacles into every area of public life. No-bid contracts proliferated. His friends and allies got fat and rich off of taxpayer money.

There is no area of American life that he did not injure, either through deliberate action or neglect. The environment has been harmed, the economy has crashed, and contempt for our legal traditions has become epidemic. 

He started a war in Afghanistan that needed to be fought and one in Iraq that didn't. The Iraq War was based on lies, manipulated intelligence, propaganda, and horrifyingly bad judgment. There should have been a national uprising in America when all of this became apparent. There wasn't.

Through it all, millions of complacent Americans looked the other way or were misled by a groveling, lapdog press corps that went out of its way to denigrate his opponents and elevate this shocking mediocrity to "heroic" status. And a weak willed Democratic Party didn't show enough courage to stop his outrages when they should have.

Now, finally, eight years overdue, the worst president and the worst vice president in our nation's history are leaving. They leave a country that is on the ropes, one which has finally come to see them for what they are. They're crawling out of office, hated, despised, jeered at, held in contempt, ridiculed, and damned.

Let the curtain finally come down on this sick, perverse melodrama that appealed to every ugly and bigoted instinct in its supporters.

Now, at long last, led his wretched pathetic administration end, and let him fade into the obscurity from which he should never have been rescued.

A Valuable Civics Lesson!

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Our Long National Embarrassment is At An End

Courtesy of David Letterman:

Eight Years in Eight Minutes

REJECTED

Bush finishes his atrocious presidency with a pathetic 22% approval rating. And War Criminal Cheney finishes with 13%.

The Worst. Ever.

Another Crushing Indictment of Bush

This damning assessment of George W. Bush's incredibly destructive presidency comes from The Economist (in the UK). It is noteworthy because The Economist called for Bush's election in 2000 and is generally conservative in its economic views. Its condemnation of Bush is comprehensive. Highlights:

Mr Bush relied heavily on a small inner core of advisers. The most important of these was Dick Cheney, who quickly became the most powerful vice-president in American history. Mr Cheney used his mastery of bureaucracy to fill the administration with his protégés and to control the flow of information to the president. He pushed Mr Bush forcefully to the right on everything from global warming to the invasion of Iraq; he also fought ruthlessly to expand the power of the executive branch, which he thought had been dangerously restricted since Watergate.

The two other decisive figures were Karl Rove, Mr Bush’s longtime political guru, and Donald Rumsfeld, his defence secretary. Mr Rove was obsessed by pursuing his dream of a rolling Republican realignment, subordinating everything to party politics. Mr Rumsfeld regarded the Iraq war not, like his boss, as an exercise in democracy-building, but as an opportunity to test the model of an “agile military” that he was pioneering at the Pentagon.

The fruit of all this can be seen in the three most notable characteristics of the Bush presidency: partisanship, politicisation and incompetence. Mr Bush was the most partisan president in living memory. He was content to be president of half the country—a leader who fused his roles of head of state and leader of his party. He devoted his presidency to feeding the Republican coalition that elected him.

**********

Relentless partisanship led to the politicisation of almost everything Mr Bush did. He used his first televised address to justify putting strict limits on federal funding for stem-cell research, and used the first veto of his presidency to prevent the expansion of that funding. He appointed two “strict constructionist” judges to the Supreme Court, John Roberts and Samuel Alito, turned his back on the Kyoto protocol, dismissed several international treaties, particularly the anti-ballistic-missile treaty, loosened regulations on firearms and campaigned against gay marriage. His energy policy was written by Mr Cheney with the help of a handful of cronies from the energy industry. His lacklustre attorney-general Alberto Gonzales, who was forced to resign in disgrace, was only the most visible of an army of over-promoted, ideologically vetted homunculi.

The Iraq war was a case study of what happens when politicisation is mixed with incompetence. A long-standing convention holds that politics stops at the ocean’s edge. But Mr Bush and his inner circle labelled the Democrats “Defeaticrats” whenever they were reluctant to support extending the war from Afghanistan to Iraq. They manipulated intelligence to demonstrate that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction and had close relations with al-Qaeda. This not only divided a country that had been brought together by September 11th; it also undermined popular support for what Mr Bush regarded as the central theme of his presidency, the war on terror.

Sean Wilentz, a historian at Princeton, remarks how unusual it is for a president to have politicised such a national catastrophe: “No other president—Lincoln in the civil war, FDR in world war two, John F. Kennedy at critical moments of the cold war—faced with such a monumental set of military and political circumstances, failed to embrace the opposing political party to help wage a truly national struggle. But Bush shut out and even demonised the Democrats.”

Read the whole thing--and regret once again that Bush, Cheney, and their thug cronies were allowed to steal the 2000 election.

His Legacy

Democratic Writer DESTROYS British Bush-Loving Imbecile

Ed Kilgore does it, and it's a thing of beauty.

All kinds of right wing hacks, cretins, liars, and fools are crawling out of the woodwork about now, trying to tell us that we didn't see what we saw and we didn't go through what we experienced. But we know better than these pathetic, malicious propagandists: Bush gravely damaged America and was a disgrace to our country. We're not going to let them tell us this arrogant, smirking, dry-drunk frat boy was anything but what he really was: the most atrocious "leader" in our nation's history.

Jon Stewart: Brilliant Yet Again

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

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Barack Obama Interview
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Bush, Despised and Reviled, Crawling Out of the White House

Bush finishes his wretched term in office as the least popular outgoing president since Nixon. He leaves with a Gallup approve/disapprove number of 34/61.

Oh, and right-wingers--Bill Clinton's final numbers were 66/29--better than Reagan's.

Heh heh heh.