"O Little Town Of Wasillahem" - Wonderful satire by our reader JCos, but: Nothing beats Sarah Palin hilarious "audio sample" from her new "Christmas book", which will make you spit out your morning coffee! Sarah Palin tries to "protect the heart of Christmas" with gambling, gifts and guns! - UPDATE: HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

+++ Read the follow-up: "New York Magazine" publishes review of Sarah Palin's Christmas book with hilarious interactive Christmas-tree, featuring the best quotes from the book, narrated by Sarah Palin - but see and hear for yourself! +++

By Patrick

I love these posts that write themselves! Especially if I am really tired and desperately need to go to bed! So let's dive straight into it. Sarah Palin is about to publish her new book about Christmas which is deceptively called "Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas."

So, will it be awful, just like anything else which Sarah Palin has ever produced! You betcha! Listening to the audio sample which is available on Amazon confirmed our worst fears. It is so unbelievably bad, that it really needs to be heard, although it will knock your socks off! So be prepared! Maybe take a strong drink or whatever will numb you!

Huge h/t to our reader "yellow rose"...!

I brought the audio sample over here for easier access (click here for link, in case you cannot see the player):

EDIT - I now also created a youtube clip with the audio:

Our reader "yellow rose" commented:

I listened to the audio of Sarah narrating part of her Christmas book (on the Amazon.com book site). She has her most cheery and jolly voice on (kind of like her interview after giving birth to Trig on April 21, 2008, and it was so easy and relaxing.) (In addition: Download the audio from April 21, 2008)

She describes the tradition of "Eskimo Bingo"; the only time she encourages her kids to "be greedy" - with a throw of the dice you can "steal" a present from the circle. (Is there something racist about this?) Todd gifts are always "amazing" - he has always given her "good gifts", which she lists for us. He only wants gas gift cards for all his vehicles.(Or is Sarah just lazy?) Last year, to "combat gun chatter coming from D.C.", "I gave Todd a needed and POWERFUL gun". (What? Is she letting politics steal Christmas?) And then the classic, "He got the gun, I got the rack" (How could it be a Christmas book without that?)

The greatest joy is always giving the children their gifts (but what about Jesus?). And when Sarah was a young mother with energy she began the tradition of scavenger hunts to find their gifts. And she leaves clues in the cookie jar, in the mail box, on the fence, on the dog's collar, and on and on..... ("How am I going to fill 200 pages!!???)

This is only the beginning of "protecting the heart of Christmas"? Gambling, gifts, guns? Stay tuned...

But another reader made a wonderful contribution as well! Our creative genius JCos really outdid herself this time and rewrote the lyrics to "O Little Town of Bethlehem" in honor of Sarah Palin's attempt to save Christmas.

Here are the new lyrics by JCos, the song now being called "O little town of Wasillahem":

O little town of Wasillahem

How still we tell the lie

About thy weak and braindead sheep

As Tea Party stars go by

Yet in thy dark streets shineth

The neverending blight

The dread and fears of all the years

Are met in her tonight

For Trig is born of Bristol

And gathered at Mat Su

While mortals sleep, the angels weep

Their watch of deceit true

O morning stars together

Proclaim the Gov's fake birth

And praises sing to false doctoring

And to hell with men on earth

How silently, how silently

His special needs exploited!

So Palin imparts to human hearts

Her endorsement straight from heaven.

No ear may hear Her coming,

But in this world of sin,

Where meek souls will heed her still,

The deer killer enters in.

O holy Child of Wasillahem

Enrich us now, we pray

Cover up our sin and enter in

Make money for us today

We hear the Christmas angels

The great glad tidings tell

O come to us, abide with us

Forget Barack and Michelle

With this very nice instrumental version of the song you can "check" how these new lyrics fit, and they are just perfect:

Voilà, this is our post for today. Many, many thanks again for the contributions of our readers!

Sarah, Sarah, what have you done? Gambling, gifts and guns? This is your version of Christmas? We really have no words.

Apart from:

"O holy Child of Wasillahem

Enrich us now, we pray

Cover up our sin and enter in

Make money for us today"

+++

UPDATE - some reactions from our readers:

Linda1961:

Yellow Rose is right that Quitter sounds cheery, but the timber of her voice still grates. And it's creepy, but not surprising, that she thinks that gift giving is what is Christmas all about. What about just spending time with family and friends? What about helping those in need? ETA: In that audio clip, I don't remember her mentioning the birth of Christ. Seems she would have been sure to have included a reference to the reason for the holiday in the audio clip. All I heard what what she did and what she gets. It was all about Quitter.

KatieAnnieOakley:

Most hilarious in the audio file? Its CLEAR she maims certain words: STILL for steal; (stealing presents) WILLER for (four)-wheeler; GIFF for gifts and WILLS for (hot) wheels.

Pallottine:

That audio, what a bunch of crap. I found it particularly amusing that she's running out of hiding places for her clues. I wonder which kid found the clue in the freezer, ya know, the one she hid between the ground up moose meat, and the freezer burnt elk stew. Yup, gotta check out the freezer. Newsmax and SarahPAC, the book sales are all yours!

ynott:

I don't get the point of her book. Wasn't it supposed to be about the war on Christmas and how it was being secularized and too commercial and politically correct? Is she saying Christmas is all about her family's crazy traditions and not even talking about the true meaning of Christmas to Christians?

Sounds like she is totally trying to make some political statement about it all. I don't get it.

Idiot!

Psalm023:

Oh phffffffftttttt!!!!

I listened and all I heard was, "mememememememememememememem - Todd-I-powerful gun-me big rack-mememememememememe-kids-cold-gifts-Todd-sleepy eyes-open wide-bigwills(huh? does she mean Big Wheels?) - memememememeourourourourourourourour/dad's old bones/gunrack/mememememememememme

That about summed it up. Where is the mention of Jesus?

Psalm023:

I wouldn't care one bit what she writes or does, but it's her incessant attacking others who she feels don't measure up to her standards. She insulted the President's first post card of a White House fireplace with Bo. So what does she think this little enterprise of hers exposes? It shows she's not only shallow and lacks depth and feeling, but it shows her superiority complex and offenses towards others, which is appaling; and she dares to pretend she represents God in all this? As though He's OK with it? He gives His only Son and she takes and takes and takes from others and uses His sacred Name to get rich???????? She has no sensibilities or courtesy or shame or embarassment. Some might even say she has no fear of God himself.

Maelewis:

Treasure hunt for the Palin Family presents, I wonder what the clues were for finding Trig under the Christmas tree. The scarf around Sarah's neck hiding her "pregnancy?" Bristol's living with her aunt and cousins for five months, maybe infecting them with her mono? A child being delivered in a small town hospital which was not equipped for the delivery of a premature, special needs child? Flying for 12 hours while in labor and leaking amniotic fluid? We have missed the real message that Sarah was trying to send with those treasure hunt clues. Trig's birth was more miraculous than the Birth of Jesus. No wonder she claims that the Birth of Jesus in the cornerstone of her religious faith and belief-- while most people would point to Easter.

Maelewis added Sarah Palin's christmas card from 2008:

comeonpeople:

Sarah Palin's book is another manifestation of her mental illness. Everything in this book is a distorted version 0f what 100s of millions of other people do for Christmas every year. But she' s so narcisssitic and also so sheltered up in Wasilly that she thinks it is oh so different and special. Everyone has holiday traditions Sarah. We all ,all ,all have holiday traditions. I believe most of us on this blog also do special things for our neighbors and community and family and coworkers year round, but especially during the holidays. Nothing in this book so far demonstrates any religious convictions. She really missed the mark. This is another "pay the mortgage" books. "Pay the mortgage" is a term my husband and I use when we see a beloved actor in a crappy movie. We say they did it solely for the money. That's all Sarah does - various and sundry crap for money...

+++

UPDATE 2:

Politicalgates says HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Our reader HopeforAmerica had a lot of fun and created the following clip for Halloween - please share it on facebook, twitter etc.! 

The new confusion surrounding Sarah Palin: Is she "back", or is she an "irrelevant hockey mom?" In any case, she does not like to be investigated, and her communications skills are in the toilet!

Photo credit: Marc Nozell, Flickr, Creative Commons License

By Patrick

What a mystery this woman is! Even after so many years, she is full of surprises. One day she appears together with America's latest "Dr. Evil", Senator Ted Cruz, giving her support to those Tea Party Republicans like Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee who tried very hard to severely damage the reputation of the USA by trying to force the USA to default. Then, just a few days later, Sarah Palin claims in a new facebook post that she apparently is an "irrelevant hockey mom", in a thinly veiled attempt to deter the media from investigating her.

Sarah Palin wrote on October 22:

Here’s the deal: all politics is local. And personal. Let me personalize this. It is UNBELIEVABLE that the press would investigate every nook and cranny of my life; send gullible reporters to my little town to kick over every rock any family member ever tread underfoot; scour every email I’ve written; research every Palin campaign disclosure like junkyard dogs; sic 12 AP reporters to fact check my book; breathlessly report about my wardrobe and an old used tanning bed I bought to get some sun during Alaskan winters as if these were vital national news stories; hound friends, personal doctors, strangers, and just downright strange people, etc., etc., etc., to know everything we do (and they still get the story wrong!). They blew and still blow all those resources “investigating” the irrelevant hockey mom from Wasilla. Meanwhile our government goes to hell in a hand basket right before the “elite media’s” closed eyes, and it took my friend Peter Schweizer to slap you upside the head to see any of this corruption? Good God. Be ashamed, media, be very ashamed.

Well, everyone knows by now that Sarah Palin hates to be investigated, because she has more skeletons in her closet than most people (and journalists) would be able to imagine in their wildest dreams. But this little rant still comes as a surprise, because: What is Sarah Palin afraid of right now? This really is an interesting question. After all, Sarah Palin over time turned from a more or less serious political contender into the "wet dream" of the Democrats: If the Democrats want to win an election, all they need is Sarah Palin.

These days, she is the "kiss of death" to the political ambitions of any candidate who is stupid enough to ask Sarah Palin for support. Nothing energizes Democratic voters more than having Sarah Palin as the "adversary." She is the Democrats' secret weapon, highly effective and free of charge. Republican candidate Steve Lonnegan recently had to learn this the hard way as well.

October 13, 2013: The irrelevant hockey mom goes to Washington

At the same time, she turned into pure political poison for the GOP, and she continues to slam the "GOP establishment", the "permanent political class" at any given opportunity. So maybe there are attacks in the works which actually come from the direction of the GOP? This would hardly be surprising, as she surely is a real thorn in the side of Karl Rove and colleagues.

This of course is speculation, but in my opinion, one thing is certain: Sarah Palin is starting to "crack." That something is really wrong with her, even above the usual standard of craziness she used to display during the previous years, recently also became obvious during Sarah Palin's confused and unhinged rant on Megyn Kelly's show at Fox News:

At this point in time, we can witness these unhinged outbursts by Sarah Palin virtually every day. The facebook post quoted above is another example, because apart from Sarah Palin's brain, who would think that an "irrelevant hockey mom" would have a political PAC, would appear prominently with somebody like Ted Cruz and Mike Lee, would give political speeches quite frequently and would appear on TV as a political hard right-wing pundit for Fox News on a regular basis?

Well, not many people. But Sarah Palin is not the only person who is confused, as it appears. The unwillingness of Sarah Palin to "go away" now gave CNN's political reporter Peter Hamby the weird idea that she is actually "back." In the best tradition of unbelievably naive mainstream reporting about Sarah Palin, Peter Hamby breathlessly reports at CNN that Sarah Palin has "returned" and that she apparently still will be a big player in the upcoming primaries and elections. He somehow forgets to mention, however, that Sarah Palin is not only America's biggest political joke, but also a huge liability for the GOP. Peter Hamby became a victim to Sarah Palin's own propaganda. She just loves to present herself as a big mover and shaker, and also loves to play fast and loose with the facts about her "endorsement record", a record which is actually not impressive at all.

CNN spotted a mirage: A "returning" Sarah Palin

CNN also broadcast this report about the story:

Peter Hamby really needs to wake up. He apparently still believes we are living in 2010.

The "cracking" Sarah Palin also gave an "impressive" appearance when she yesterday starting a totally insane feud with Piers Morgan, who, refreshingly, made it clear that he is not afraid of the notoriously combative Sarah Palin. You don't have to love Piers Morgan, but I really wished that more journalists would take on Sarah Palin like that. Piers Morgan, who dared to anger Sarah Palin on Twitter, received the biggest possible retaliation in return - an insulting facebook rant by Sarah Palin, including a tasteless photo with which she somehow tries to insinuate that she really, really likes dead things:

She wrote:

Oh dear Piers, thank you so much for all your invitations to appear on your shambolic show, including the adoring message you sent. But is it still any wonder why I've politely responded that I'm too busy doing, um, er... pretty much anything to accept the invite? (At least I didn't tell you to "get stuffed".) And to all our British friends: we ask, what did your friends across the pond ever do to you to deserve your Piers? :-)

By the way, Sarah Palin is wrong: She has no "British friends." Whoever told her that was lying. :-)

Very sorry, Sarah, but the British think that you are a dangerous, uninformed idiot

So, what comes next? The next "shocker" cannot be far away, as Sarah Palin's communication skills really are in the toilet these days.

Refreshingly, Piers Morgan was not scared off by mean girl Sarah Palin and tweeted:

What surprised me most about the new story at CNN is that some journalists apparently still have no idea who Sarah Palin really is. Some years ago, most journalists thought that she is just a "politician", and reported accordingly. But a politician (usually) employs reason, logical thinking, intelligence, ideally empathy as well. These were never Sarah Palin's strong points. But most importantly, Sarah Palin is in the first place a narcissistic and deeply disturbed woman who first and foremost wants three things: She wants to be famous, she wants to be rich, and she wants to fight against her perceived "enemies."

Also, she is a huge fraud, whether the media acknowledges it or not.

Sarah Palin's real character has long been exposed. Andrew Sullivan for example wrote at the Daily Dish in March 2012:

Anyone with even the faintest grasp of Palin's reality – including former close aides like Frank Bailey – understands that she is emotionally unstable, paranoid, vindictive, self-destructive, religiously fanatical and clinically deluded. Her "wonderful mothering" led her to take a tiny child with Down Syndrome and parade him in front of the cameras as a political prop, and later hauling him out half-naked at night to show off to fans on her book tour. None of her children has made it to college; one was a teenage vandal, another a teen mom. A man who lived in her house, says her children had to raise themselves. She quit office in mid-term because her vanity and rapacity were more important to her than public service. The victims of her vicious career lie strewn all over Alaska. Anyone faintly aware of reality also knows that John McCain was as cynical, brutal and expedient a figure as anyone to run for president – and that Palin's selection was an act of such grotesque vanity and cynicism that it instantly disqualified him from the presidency.

I suspect the real truth about how this deranged, comic, vicious ignoramus nearly became a heartbeat away from the presidency will only be absorbed in the future, when we are not so close to the embarrassment.

Liberals are restrained from really laying out the truth for fear of further attacks from the Palinite right. Establishment conservatives cannot bring themselves to understand what they did – although Steve Schmidt has admirably copped to intense and abiding remorse for his part in the process. The far right, which Palin helped bring to further heights of lunacy, has continued to debase any prospect of a sane two-party system in the US. Palin's legacy lives on to damage the country.

Of course, Game Change was not The Rogue. And Hollywood is neither. The truth was far more interesting and infinitely darker.

These days it seems certain that the "irrelevant hockey mom" Sarah Palin, who begs not to be investigated, will show more and more cracks. Where is this all going to end? God knows!

To complete this "roundup" of the latest Palin-related events: It comes as no surprise of course that Sarah Palin, who once thought that it was a good idea to investigate Barack Obama's birth certificate, again shows her willingness to promote a conspiracy theory and suggested on facebook that the Democrats could have staged the "fainting pregnant lady":

Whether accurate or not, for some reason I found this hilarious! Am I out of bounds for cracking up when I saw this take on a nauseated Obama fan, her absentminded pal, and our President's heroics this week? If so, penance paying I'll accept. With the Obama White House’s total lack of transparency, it’s no wonder that some will ask whether they staged even a fainting lady in the Rose Garden. What was once a major leap in logic has become a single step because President Obama has lied so often and so blatantly ("If you like your health care plan, you can keep your plan" comes to mind!).

This from a woman who faked a pregnancy and then used the baby for political gain - a fact which the media (at least officially) refuses to believe, but which is actually just the "tip of the iceberg", as far as Sarah Palin is concerned.

+++

Bonus - Part 1:

At the last post, I left the following comment - it's probably worth to repeat it here, and I have nothing else to add to it:

Hi guys, there is one "secret" to share - I didn't mention it so far, well, due to the "old standard" of Palingates/Politicalgates that we only make claims which we can "back up" with additional evidence...

Ok, to make a long story short, a story for which we have no "hard proof": We know from a very good Alaskan source already for quite a while that Sarah did not shoot the caribou on her reality show. It turned out that she was not hitting anything while shooting, so a guide from Alaska (who accompanied the film team), whose name we unfortunately do not know, finally shot the caribou, and then the footage was edited accordingly (with the caribou in the "crosshairs"...).

Well, I thought long about writing a post about it, however, it's difficult. I myself of course know that the source is excellent, but I cannot "prove" it to the outside. So I now throw this little piece of information out there. Just for you. For your entertainment. The world doesn't "believe" us anyway. :-)

+++

Bonus - Part 2:

In case you haven't seen it yet - Miley Cyrus took part at SNL in a totally awesome must-see GOP-shutdown parody clip, in which her own totally awful "We Can't Stop" video clip was appropriately ridiculed as well - there is hope for Miley Cyrus! :-)

(h/t Kathleen)

(Original link to the video here)

Here are the lyrics to this SNL-parody song called "We Did Stop":

It’s our party

We can do what we want

It’s our party

We can say what we want

It’s our party

We can stop what we want

We can vote how we want

Defund what we want

Red states and sweaty bodies everywhere

Bill’s in the house like we don’t care

‘cause we came to shut it all down now

No government around now

If you’re not ready for health care

Can I get a “HELL, NO!”

‘Cause we’re gonna keep it out shut down

D.C.is a closed town all-round

So la da di da di

Republican Party

Repping G.O.P.

Doing whatever we want

This is our house

This is our rules

And we did stop (the government)

Yeah, we did stop (shut it down)

Can’t you see it’s we

Who are right?

Can’t you see it’s we

Who ‘bout that life?

To my government workers on the furlough

Even though you’re already paid low

Remember only God can judge us

Forget the haters ‘cause somebody elected us

And everyone in line for early childcare

Anyone who planned to see a grizzly bear

We are all shut down here

Getting so shut down, yeah, yeah

So la da di da di

Republican Party

Repping G.O.P.

Doing whatever we want

This is our house

This is our rules

And we did stop

Yeah, we did stop

Can’t you see it’s we

Who are the right?

Can’t you see it’s we

Who ‘bout that life?

It’s our party

We can do what we want

It’s our party

We can say what we want

It’s our party

We can stop what we want

We can vote how we want

Defund what we want

Shut it down.

+++

Have  a nice weekend, everyone!

+++

UPDATE:

I very much like the following headline and the photo beneath it at the "Guardian":

The radical religious friends of Senator Ted Cruz: Anointed by Dominionists who want to "wage war to restore America to our Judeo-Christian heritage" - The overlooked religious extremism of the new rising star of the GOP

"We understand that our rights come not from a king or queen, 

not from government, but from the Lord God almighty. 

But if America is going to continue to stand strong, we must first be on our knees." 

-- Senator Ted Cruz, National Day of Prayer statement, May 1, 2013

By Patrick

Ted Cruz is in the spotlight like no other politician these days. Just today, the first excerpts of a new major interview with him, conducted by CNN's Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash, were published. In the interview, Ted Cruz cockily declared that he doesn't "work for the party bosses in Washington", and then claimed that he only works "for the people in Texas."

But who does Ted Cruz really work for? In classic fashion, the mainstream media does not even mention that Ted Cruz aligned himself with religious radicals who have no interest in "politics as usual." Maybe the media believes that this has to be regarded as a private matter, as far as Ted Cruz is concerned. But is this true?

There is enough evidence out there already that suggests that Ted Cruz is very closely connected to Dominionist pastors for who there is no separation between religion and politics, and who want to transform the USA into a radical religious society. If you listen closely, it is also not difficult to spot the influence of these people in the words and actions of Ted Cruz himself.

In a previous post, we reported about the extremist religious views of Rafael Cruz, the father of Ted Cruz, who constantly seems to travel around the country right now, giving speeches. In these speeches, he claimed for example that President Obama is a Muslim, that millions of babies have been mass-murdered through abortion and demanded that pastors should become politically active. In addition, he claimed that he politically educated his son Ted, who in his opinion is "destined for greatness."

But what about Ted Cruz himself? The blogger Bruce Wilson, who did excellent work back in 2008 when he exposed the extremist religious connections of Sarah Palin, including the famous revelation that Sarah Palin was connected to African witchhunter Thomas Muthee (informative video about Thomas Muthee and his activities as a witchhunter also here), now published several pieces about Ted Cruz - and a very ugly picture begins to develop.

For example, in May 2013, Ted Cruz was blessed and anointed by Dominionist pastors at the Iowa Renewal Project Pastors' Conference, together with Rand Paul.

Watch the video:

Bruce Wilson writes in Huffington Post:

In the video, Tea Party potentate Ted Cruz is blessed by pastors who claim the Constitution is based on the Old Testament, appear to endorse biblical slavery, depict gay marriage as a socialist plot against the traditional family, and call for a Christian war on secular society.

The first two attributes in that list belong to an evangelical leader David Barton -- who Ted Cruz has warmly endorsed, in a September 2013 statement to Politico in which the Texas senator called Barton "a good man, a courageous leader and a friend" whose "historical research has helped millions rediscover the founding principles of our nation."

In the lead-up to the Iowa pastors' event, in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network's David Brody, Ted Cruz suggested that gay marriage would lead to Christian pastors being charged with hate speech. During his address to the hundreds of pastors assembled at the two-day Iowa Renewal Project event, Senator Cruz cited militant Biblical scripture such as Ezekiel 33, depicted opponents of a Texas ban on late-term abortions as Satan worshipers, and claimed Christians in the military can be court-martialed for sharing their faith.

One of the pastors blessing and laying his hands on Cruz's shoulders was head of the sponsoring organization the Iowa Renewal Project -- David Lane, who only a few weeks earlier had written an op-ed that called upon the faithful to "wage war to restore America to our Judeo-Christian heritage."

Only a few days after blessing Senator Cruz, Lane stated that "car bombs in Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Des Moines, Iowa" would be merciful punishment from God for legalized abortion and "homosexuals praying at the Inauguration." Without such divine "mercy," suggested Lane, America might "get judgment like Nazi Germany."

The Iowa Renewal Project is part of Lane's American Renewal Project, an effort targeting 12 US states that seeks to register voters, and politically mobilize Christian pastors, in advance of the 2014 election.

Lane's national project is in turn sponsored by the American Family Association, an organization designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an anti-gay hate group. AFA spokesperson Bryan Fischer has stated that "Homosexuality gave us Adolph Hitler, and homosexuals in the military gave us the Brown Shirts, the Nazi war machine and six million dead Jews."

Another pastor laying hands on Senator Cruz was David Barton, former vice chairman of the Texas GOP who has played leading role in creating an entire genre of Christian nationalist revisionist history used to promote the myth that the United States was created as an expressly Christian nation. The genre is used to stoke anger among the faithful - because America's Christian heritage has allegedly been subverted and stolen - and thus fuel Christian right political activism.

Barton maintains that Jesus opposes the minimum wage, and claims the United States Constitution was based in concepts drawn directly from the Old Testament including the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy. He also claims there's no such thing as the constitutional principle of the separation of church and state.

Ted Cruz himself is not shy when it comes to "preaching" - see for example the published excerpts of his speech to the pastors from the same event, the "Religious Right Summit" in Iowa in July 2013, which was organized by David Lane.

RightWingWatch reports:

Cruz, who told CBN in an interview that gay rights advocates intend to dispose of the First Amendment and pass hate speech laws, won plaudits from the audience of conservative activists for his attacks on gay rights advocates and “judicial activism.”

“On marriage there is no issue in which we need to be more on our knees because the momentum is with the opponents of traditional marriage,” Cruz said. “We’re facing an assault on marriage.”

He scolded “unelected judges” who think “we know better” on marriage, and urged pastors to “to speak to your congregations and to mobilize the people, and mobilize them more than anything to pray.”

Watch the video:

More details about David Lane, the self-described "political operative", can be found in another article on RightWingWatch.

Ted Cruz makes no secret about his view that God stands above all - even above the Government. Such a remark might not seem "dangerous" per se, however, in context with the extremist religious beliefs of his friends, who want to turn the US society into a religious state. Ted Cruz said in his statement for the "National Day of Prayer" on May 1, 2013:

"We understand that our rights come not from a king or queen, not from government, but from the Lord God almighty. But if America is going to continue to stand strong, we must first be on our knees."

Watch the video:

Bruce Wilson posted more clips regarding Rafael and Ted Cruz, for example this appearance by Rafael Cruz (including additional footage) from August 2012 - watch:

Bruce Wilson comments about this speech:

In a sermon last year at an Irving, Texas, megachurch that helped elect Ted Cruz to the United States Senate, Cruz' father Rafael Cruz indicated that his son was among the evangelical Christians who are anointed as "kings" to take control of all sectors of society, an agenda commonly referred to as the "Seven Mountains" mandate, and "bring the spoils of war to the priests", thus helping to bring about a prophesied "great transfer of wealth", from the "wicked" to righteous gentile believers.

Rafael Cruz' dominionist sermon given August 26, 2012, at the New Beginnings Church of pastor Larry Huch, in Irving, Texas has already received considerable scrutiny due to an excellent Huffington Post commentary by Methodist Associate Pastor Morgan Guyton, who noted the explicitly dominionist nature of pastor Cruz' sermon, which concerned the divine mandate for believers, with anointing of "kings" in their respective spheres, to take control over all sectors of society.

Cruz spoke of "Kings who are anointed to go to war, win the war, and bring the spoils of war to the priests."

Discussion of the now-notorious speech by Rafael Cruz has missed the fact that Ted Cruz was subsequently blessed and anointed by prominent dominionist pastors, in effect as a "king" in the political/governmental sphere, at a special blessing ceremony at the Marriott Hotel in Des Moines, Iowa, at a July 19th-20th 2013 rally designed to draw pastors into politics.

But in a very real, mundane sense Ted Cruz has already helped deliver hundreds of millions of dollars, or more, to the evangelical right. Cruz' past service - as a "king" who brought "spoils to the priests" - is a matter of established record; as I revealed in a prior story, no less than a top adviser to President George W. Bush has stated that in 1999 Ted Cruz played a major role in helping the Bush for President campaign lock down the conservative evangelical vote in the 2000 election.

One can interpret the "great transfer of wealth" -- predicted by Ted Cruz' father Rafael Cruz, and by Pastor Larry Huch, who threw his Texas megachurch's considerable heft behind the 2012 Cruz for Senate campaign -- in magical terms, sure.

But Ted Cruz' apparently notable role in getting George W. Bush into the presidency led in turn to Bush's "Faith Based Initiative" - that continues to this day under two successive Obama administrations and which, during the Bush years, funneled billions of dollars to churches and institutions associated with the religious right.

In other words, the "great transfer of wealth" is about more than wishful thinking. It's about an ongoing effort, by leaders and institutions of the evangelical right, to gradually gobble up the secular sphere of government.

Let's remind voters that Ted Cruz's religious beliefs are very different from the beliefs of "ordinary" people. Also, his religious beliefs should not be "off-limits", as he is very closely connected to groups who believe that there should be no separation between church and state - and there are indications that Ted Cruz actually believes this as well. His outspoken, radical father certainly does believe it, who politically educated Ted Cruz. Voters should know what they are getting, once Ted Cruz will run for President - and there can be little doubt that he will run at some point, possibly already in 2016.

Finally: It was definitely no "coincidence" when Ted Cruz publicly prayed in front of the White House in September 2013 - it was symbolic, and his followers certainly understood this:

+++

FURTHER READING:


Daily Kos: Inside the Christian Right Dominionist Movement That's Undermining Democracy

Daily Kos: Deep Background on Dominionism

Alternet: Ted Cruz's Father Suggested His Son Is 'Anointed' to Bring About 'End Time Transfer of Wealth'

+++

BONUS:

Investigating Ted Cruz should also be fun, so I believe we earned ourselves a little reward: The great classic video by "Genesis" - "Jesus He Knows Me" (h/t Enigma).

Sarah Palin's five craziest word-salads - Which one is the most insane? Vote, and get a good laugh! UPDATES with more clips! - Bonus: The magic background behind Sarah Palin that never moves!

By Patrick

Sarah Palin has become America's biggest clown. She once was a "politician", but those days are over. She is a clown, and everything she touches turns into a disaster of epic proportions. She has managed to almost single-handedly wreck the GOP, which might be judged as her biggest "achievement."

At some point in the future, baffled historians will look back at the rise of the teabaggers, events which will virtually be impossible to understand. However I think that they are actually not so difficult to understand: People simply lost their minds, and their leader was in fact Sarah Palin, a mentally-ill woman who steered the GOP into chaos - even if many Republicans today probably want to forget that Sarah Palin actually exists.

She was the one who created the "suicidal wing" of the GOP, by ranting over and over again against the "GOP machine", the "RINO's", the "permanent political class" and anyone else who refused to hail the whackos. She was the "face" of the movement. She paved the way for a monster like Ted Cruz, a man without a conscience, a fundamentalist rabble-rouser who is thoroughly evil - and I am not even sure if he would really regard this description as an insult.

We have known for a long time that Sarah Palin's severe mental disorder does not allow her to acknowledge that she has lost a fight. However, after losing the latest "shutdown" battle, and with nobody else to blame, it becomes obvious that Sarah Palin now rapidly loses her mind as well.

Yesterday, Sarah Palin appeared at Fox News on "The Kelly File" with Megyn Kelly (who herself isn't exactly the sharpest tool in the drawer, either). There, Sarah Palin delivered one of her most insane word-salads ever. She presented a display of nuttiness which simply cannot be surpassed. Or can it?

Sarah Palin's hilarious performance gave me an idea: Let's present the five most insane word-salads of Sarah Palin which I am able to find, and then ask you, dear readers, which one you "like" most. Basically, which one is the worst? Let's have some fun, shall we!

Number 1 in this list is the latest word-salad from yesterday, including the stunned Megyn Kelly - I almost feel sorry for Megyn:

Number 2 is an "old favorite" of mine. How Sarah Palin endorsed Carly Fiorina in 2011:

Number 3, with the pseudo-intellectual "S.E. Cupp glasses" - "Barack Obama wants to return to the days before the civil war":

Number 4 - the one which quickly became a "classic", with all bells ringing:

Number 5 - of course, the Couric-interview, but not all of it, any of it. I picked this famous excerpt as the most "word-salady":

So, take your pick!

Remember, Sarah Palin's work is not done yet. So far, the GOP has not been totally smashed to pieces, but it can only be a matter of time. She will never shut up. She will keep talking as long as there are microphones around. As long as there is anyone left who will listen to her.

The version that Sarah Palin almost single-handedly destroyed the GOP will of course not enter the history books. It's too embarrassing, and too simple. It lacks sophistication. But you and I know that it's true. She started it, and she won't stop until she is finished. She is the whore of babble-on, and she plays her part well. If Karl Rove cannot stop her, nobody can. Looking forward to the primaries, GOP...?

You wanted this woman to be the US Vice-President, didn't you, GOP...?

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UPDATE:

I particularly liked the following comment at Mediaite, which was left on the story about Sarah Palin's rambling interview with Megyn Kelly:

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UPDATE 2:

A little bonus - but there is just too much! BBT reminded us of Sarah Palin's epic word salad from 2010, in which she tried to describe her solution to the oil spill - the "Norwegians" and "Dutch" with their "dykes!" Watching the clip now, a few years later, this insane rant actually looks like something out of a comedy show - but it was real:

The complete "dyke" interview can be found HERE.

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UPDATE 3:

Mellybel and BBT reminded us about a wonderful clip from 2008 that I had missed back then - Sarah Palin and the "fungibles":

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UPDATE 4:

I had to add the wonderful discovery of our reader KAO - while appearing on Fox News, Sarah Palin sits in front of a fake "studio image" - an image that never moves! So she is in fact sitting in front of a green screen, possibly with the studio being located in her house in Arizona.

Many thanks, KAO!

Picture comparison, created by KAO:

New Jersey Special Election Results. Also: Debt Ceiling Raised - Disaster Averted

By Kathleen

By the time this post is published polls will have closed in the New Jersey Special Election. I'm obviously hoping that Cory Booker will defeat Sarah Palin backed Steve Lonegan because that could hopefully mean that Palin will crawl back into her hole and give us all a little respite from her shrill hatred. 

Already a disappointed Palin is drunk tweeting because an agreement has been reached by both parties in the Senate that the ceiling on the debt limit has been lifted and the shutdown will not continue. John Boehner, Speaker for the House of Representatives, has also confirmed that Republicans will not block the Senate agreement which will be voted on in the House later on this evening. The USA has been pulled back from the brink and Palin, Cruz and co. will be denied further thrills for a few months.

Comment by reader Pallotine:

"Here are the 18 senators, all Republicans, who voted against the final deal to end the shutdown and avert a debt default.

Republican Sens. Tom Coburn (Okla.), John Cornyn (Texas), Mike Crapo (Idaho), Ted Cruz (Texas), Mike Enzi (Wyo.), Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Dean Heller (Nev.), Ron Johnson (Wis.), Mike Lee (Utah), Rand Paul (Ky.), Pat Roberts (Kansas), Jim Risch (Idaho), Marco Rubio (Fla.), Tim Scott (S.C.), Jeff Sessions (Ala.), Richard Shelby (Ala.), Pat Toomey (Pa.), David Vitter (La.)"

Politico are publishing the results of the New Jersey election live: 

New Jersey Special Election results 

Good luck Mr Booker!

Sarah Palin campaigns for teabagger Steve Lonegan in New Jersey - "Boots on the Ground" report from New Egypt, NJ - UPDATE: Just 1000-1500 people attended the event - UPDATE 2: Sarah Palin, Senator Ted Cruz and Senator Mike Lee "protest" in Washington DC together against their own Government shutdown!

Sarah Palin, October 12, 2013 

(photos in this post by "Comeonpeople")

Guest post by Comeonpeople

Since the Lonegan Rally was only 45 miles away, I had to go.

The rally was at the New Egypt Speedway – such a famous NJ venue that it doesn’t even register on the GPS. I could not find it on the Garmin, so had to run back in the house and get directions off the computer. So, trip was delayed 15 minutes. The rally was not REALLY held at the New Egypt speedway….it was in the gravel entryway.

The Tea Party Express bus was stopped outside of the venue entrance and the crowd was gathered around. There were about 2000 people in attendance at most. The speedway stands hold 2k and the parking lots were full, so this is how I am calculating. (Plus my 13 year old said 2000 when asked to guestimate.)  I did not see any buses other than the TP bus. The speedway owners donated the space and it seems they did not want the liability of actually having the rally INSIDE their facility. We had to climb over the jazzies and wheelchairs and pop up seats to find a good spot – seriously. People were very disappointed in the space and everyone was yelling that they couldn’t see the speakers and yelling  “this is poorly run, this is a joke, get some milk crates to stand on.” The audio cut out early in the program and the eagle fell off the flagpole, but those were the only technical glitches.

It is hard to put into words the crazy that was there. The crowd was mostly older couples but there were also some families with young kids, many people with disabilities, several DS people with their parents and a lot of single scary looking men. Most were older folks though. The thought that the world will be a better place when these people are gone kept going through my head. They just eat up the propaganda and hate.  Most of the crowd seemed unhealthy and dirty and unkempt.  The People of Walmart on Parade. No wonder Palin seems glamorous to them.

I sent a picture of a man who was SMOKING in the crowd. Unbelievable. The older men were yelling at people to take their hats off during the national anthem, but were fine with second hand smoke in a crowd. This is a huge pet peeve on mine. Smoking in a crowd!!

The first speaker actually said “Welcome racists and anarchists.” My son asked me if the speaker really just said “welcome racists and anarchists??” Yessirree. The mayor of Newark said something about everyone being surprised NJ elected a Conservative Republican Governor and some of the crowd said  ”Cause we didn’t. ” When Levin was talking and saying disparaging remarks about Booker, from behind me came the voice of a little girl who sounded about 7 or 8 who said “I hate Cory Booker”. Tragic. Children learn what they live.

Lonegan spoke with his wife and a daughter on stage but it seems he knows this is a hopeless cause. He tried to get the crowd going, but it lacked belief. He also said he was going to make President Obama fall or something. It was so silly I  was tuning him out.  It was odd he spoke before Palin. maybe she was late.  Usually the candidate speaks last, right?

Palin was introduced as a governor, business woman and mother of 5 kids (lol). She got a nice welcome. I was next to a DS young man and his older dad and they were totally in awe of her. WHY are they so enamored, since Palin has done zero advocacy for special needs kids. Palin said, as she often does “I’m so happy I get to be here” which I always interpret as “I get to be here because I’m not locked in the looney bin right now”.

Palin had a ton of makeup on – it was visible from where we were, several yards back. She had on a shirt and vest and made a remark about coming down to NJ to thaw out. I thought she lives in Arizona and it can’t be that cold yet in Wasilla if she is there. It seems Toad was with her, as she kept referring to him, but from where we were standing he was not visible.  She was absolutely a nervous screecher at the beginning, but then she seemed to calm down. She had notes and the content, as usual, kept bouncing from one topic to the next. She was getting tripped up on New Egypt and New Jersey.

One of the Palin kids apparently googled a story for Sarah about a NJ woman from the revolutionary war who was the original mama grizzly. Or something. Palin made an ugly remark about Michele Obama’s video on healthy eating and exercising still being available during the shutdown because “god forbid we get chubby”. Umm, people in the audience were not only chubby, many were downright obese and very unhealthy. In fact, two older ladies near me were almost overcome from standing for two hours and had to keep sitting on their pullout chairs. Palin also made a comment about needing “Leaders, not Tweeters” and I think she said she wrote it on her palm so she wouldn’t forget it. She’s still recycling the same old jokes.

The weather became increasing cloudy as the event went on and it started drizzling when Sarah was screeching. I was hoping for a downpour. She did not speak for very long. She said she and Toad were going to Washington tomorrow for a rally. She mentioned that her PAC was paying for her trip.

I arrived 30 minutes before the scheduled start time, but there was already a crowd and some girl musician was playing god awful racist, treasonous songs that the crowd seemed to be familiar with. The best part about attending this event with my 13 year old son was catching his eye and just laughing internally at the crazy, together. I wish we had arrived 15 minutes earlier to get a better view. I had some signs I was going to flash in her face (tight abs, where is Tri-G’s birth certificate and I know you are not Tri-G’s birth mom)  – but we were not close enough. Maybe another time.

Thanks to my son for accompanying me. He learned a lot today! And thanks to my husband for letting me use his “good camera”.

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Many thanks to our reader Comeonpeople for this insightful "Boots on the Ground" report!

Here are more pictures which she shot at this event (click on all pictures to enlarge):

More screenshots from Sarah Palin's screech are included in this comment by annes_123.

Our reader "Caribou "PAYCUT" Barbie™" found the "pic of the day." See the slideshow with more pictures HERE (h/t honestingov).

Sarah's full screech in New Egypt can be watched here.

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UPDATE:

The website "NJ.com" posted an excellent photo of the crowd at this event - and as you can see, it really is nothing to write home about:

Erik Larsen, reporter for the Asbury Park Press in Ocean County, who live tweeted the event, estimated that there were 1000 people in the crowd (h/t BellPeppery):

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UPDATE 2:

Sarah Palin is very busy these days. Just having cashed in her usual outrageous speaking fee from the "Tea Party Express", the corporate-funded fake grassroots organisation, she is now in Washington DC together with Ted Cruz, protesting against the shutdown, for which the teabaggers are actually solely responsible. This very much reminds me of the old Nazi-tactic: We promise to get rid of the chaos we ourselves created. But will this strategy also work in the USA in the year 2013? Very doubtful.

America Blog reports:

As if the Republican party didn’t have enough troubles, Sarah Palin has now emerged as the new face of the GOP government shutdown.

Yes, there really is a God.

Palin joined GOP Tea Party Senator, and shutdown leader, Ted Cruz and other Tea Party supporters of the GOP’s shutdown of the federal government in a “million vet march” to protest the fact that the government has actually been shut down.

Point of fact: Neither Palin nor Cruz have actually served in the military, and both support the GOP government shutdown which closed the WWII memorial. But don’t let that get in the way of a good visual.

Palin on the shutdown earlier:

“Let government chill for a little bit.”

Palin said Republicans should not “fear some kind of government shutdown.” She then emphasized that Republicans must “stand firm,” “not blink,” and not “allow the media to drive this whole narrative” that a shutdown would be bad for Republicans.

Palin said that a shutdown would allow the American people to realize “how irrelevant the federal government could and should be in our lives.”

And now she’s leading a protest of the shutdown she supported. Adorable.

Here is a picture of Sarah Palin appearing together with Ted Cruz today in Washington DC:

From left to right: Senator Mike Lee (red tie), Sarah Palin (wig), 
Ted Cruz (brokeback mountain jacket, in honour of Peter Thiel, his favourite openly-gay billionaire backer)

"Million Vet March"...? Really?

As Kathleen pointed out in the comments:

Not to make too fine a point about it but surely a "million vet march" should have millions of vets marching and not a few thousand vets standing around. Just sayin'!

Well, more like thousands of "teabaggers", not "vets." In any case: Sarah Palin is not a vet, her husband is also not a vet, and Ted "Harvard/Princeton preferred" Cruz is definitely not a vet either. Let the "non-vets" lead the "vets." Yes, truly adorable!

No surprise: As Linda1961 explained in the comments, the march of the "real vets" will only be on Tuesday. Today was just the photo opportunity for the teabaggers.

One last comment: I actually did not believe that it would be possible that the teabaggers, who were already "politically dead", could bring the world to the brink of a global economic crisis. Unfortunately, "the world" never cared too much about the teabaggers, despite the fact that there always was a lot to discover.

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Another photo from today of "The Three Stooges" Sarah Palin, Mike Lee and Ted Cruz (h/t annettek):

Messy Messaging and the Blame Game: How the GOP is tripping all over itself in the blame game about the #GOPshutdown (aka #Boehnershutdown and #TeaPartyshutdown); and then there’s the debt ceiling issue…

by Blueberry T

The Republicans’ refusal to pass a measure to fund government operations unless it includes a measure to defund the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA, also known as Obamacare) was a tactic planned long in advance. 

As reported by the New York Times this week, this February 2013 Freedom Works memo lays out a strategy for a CR that retains sequester cuts and defunds the ACA.  Former Reagan Attorney General Ed Meese (he of the Wedtech scandal) is the head signatory, along with many other well-known conservatives.  At the risk of understatement, it is a bit disingenuous to blame the President and the Democrats for a shutdown that the Republicans had been planning for months, at least.  

It turns out that shutting down the government was a Republican goal much earlier. Rachel Maddow did an excellent job documenting the many threats of shutdowns and debt defaults that have taken place since the GOP took the House – and even during the 2010 campaign -  including:

• September 2010 Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA) campaigned on the promise to shut down government.
• Ron Paul and other GOP congressman echoed that sentiment later in 2010.
• In late 2010, Erick Erickson tweeted “I’m almost giddy thinking about a government shutdown next year. I cannot wait!”
• The House’s Republican caucus discussed shutting down the government in one of their first meetings as the majority, early in 2011.
• In April 2011, the House Republicans threatened a government shutdown.
• In July 2011 they forced the debt ceiling crisis that led to a downgrade of the U.S. credit rating for the first time in history.
• In September 2011, they again threatened a government shutdown.
• In April 2012, they again threatened a shutdown.
• In December 2012, we faced the “fiscal cliff,” which was avoided through last-minute negotiations between Joe Biden and Mitch McConnell; Boehner passed the buck.
• In January 2013 there were new threats of a debt ceiling crisis.
• At the late September Republicans’ meeting at which they decided to press ahead with the shutdown, members were “ecstatic,” “psyched,” “downright giddy.” As Michele Bachmann said, “This is exactly what we hoped for…we’re excited; we’re united.” Congressman John Culberson of Texas sent out a message: “I said, like 9/11, let’s roll.” 

Maddow’s take: What he means is, “Let’s bring the U.S. government to its knees.” She points out that the GOP’s core idea of their role is to not to pass laws; it is to shut down the government. The tactic – the shutdown – is the point.  They are willing to go to extremes not seen in more than 150 years to dismantle the U.S.government. 

Against this backdrop, it is especially ironic, hypocritical and thus quintessentially Republican (in this day and age) that now, those same Republicans are trying to convince America that it is really President Obama and the Democrats who are to blame for shutting down the government.  They expected the Democrats to cave, but the Dems finally figured out that there can be no good outcome from negotiating under threats from these extremists.  So, they are hanging tough, which is very, very important and somewhat remarkable. 

Adding to the drama is the looming need to raise the nation’s debt limit, or the Treasury will not have sufficient funds to pay the bills that Congress already authorized, complicating the discussion, confusing many, and alarming those who know enough to realize what a threat this is. 

The Republicans were caught by surprise when the Democrats did not roll over, and since then they have been trying different messages to see what sticks. This is also complicated by the fact that they don’t agree, and some are really angry at others in their own party. In a way that is somewhat unusual (since they are accustomed to using polished, coordinated talking points), the Republicans have made a huge mess of their messaging about all this, with contradictory statements, open disagreements and denials about who said what and who’s to blame. Heh.

Before I get to that, though, an important reminder from our reader alwaysthink: Congress holds the purse-strings in this country, not the President. Spending bills must originate in the House and must be passed by both houses of Congress.  The President can propose a budget, weigh in, try to twist arms and use his bully pulpit – and in the end he gets a choice to veto or not to veto the budgets that Congress passes (but no line item veto). But the immutable fact is that the nation’s debt – now at almost $17 trillion – originated in the House of Representatives and was enacted with the concurrence of the Senate. And as we know, a lot of it was run up by Republican presidents and congresses, most notably during the GWBush Administration.  See also this from Truth-Out, one of many articles and blog posts on this subject.

The GOP on shutting down the government:

Michele Bachmann (R-MN) told Fox News host Sean Hannity that "...this is about the happiest I've seen [Republican House] members in a long time..." because they shut down the government.  

In July, Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) called blocking government funding over ObamaCare "the dumbest idea I've ever heard." 

Senator John McCain and others warned their GOP colleagues in the House not to shut down the government, reminding them of what happened whenthey tried this in the 1990s.  Again this week, McCain said that some Republicans had pushed a “false premise” about being able to repeal the ACA, and chided them for the continuing government shutdown.  “Shouldn’t we be embarrassed about this? Shouldn’t we be ashamed?” He also specifically called out the "tea partiers" and said the effort to defund Obamacare a "fool's errand." 

But his Senate “colleagues” (though they don’t seem to like each other too much) Marco Rubio and Mike Lee were pushing the idea of linking a continuing resolution to defunding Obamacare. Then in September, Senator Ted Cruz upstaged them and called on Senators to defund Obamacare, even while knowing the votes were not there; he grandstanded but then conceded and even voted NOT to defund it, and then shifted the onus back onto the House.  As a result, both the House GOP members and Republicans in the Senate are furious at the Senator from Texas. 

George Stephanopoulos interviewed John Boehner on October 6th, highlighting inconsistencies in the Speaker’s position on the government shutdown; here is the transcript.  Note that in September, Boehner said, “If we were to put Obamacare into the CR and send it over to the Senate, we were risking shutting down the government. That is not our goal.” But on October 6^th he changed his tune: "The threat of Obamacare was so important, it was time for us to take a stand. And we took a stand…I thought the fight would be over the debt ceiling. But you know, working with my members, they decided, well, let's do it now. And the fact is, this fight was going to come, one way or the other. We're in the fight.” 

Here is a sample of some of the comments made by other conservatives about the government shutdown:

This past Tuesday, Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) admitted that the Republican shutdown is not the best strategy.  "It probably wasn't the best strategy to employ," Johnson, a tea party supporter, said in a CNN interview.  (OTOH, he thinks breaching the debt limit would not be a big deal.)

Conservative John Podhoretz wrote "Suicide of the Right" for the NYPost):  “If ObamaCare had been as unpopular as conservatives believed, their plan for the shutdown — that there would be a public uprising to force Democratic senators in close races in 2014 to defund it — would’ve worked. It didn’t. Not a single senator budged. Their tactic failed, and now what they are left with is House Speaker John Boehner basically begging the president of the United States to negotiate with him.”  

Others disagree. Michael Needham of Heritage Action said the GOP should focus on the tactic of keeping government shut unless Obamacare is defunded. From the Huffington Post:  Rather than try to hold the debt ceiling vote hostage to the defunding of Obamacare, he said, the better "tactical" course for Heritage and other key foes of the administration is to continue to focus on annual spending -- and on allowing the full opening of government only if Obamacare is dismantled… “My tactic is to focus on the CR.”

Matt Kibbe, the president and CEO of the influential conservative group FreedomWorks, also said in a Wednesday interview with The Huffington Post that the debt ceiling should be raised in order to keep the Obamacare fight focused on the continuing resolution.

But Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn’s message was the opposite – he urged the GOP not to link  defunding of Obamacare to the CR to fund government, saying the GOP would “fold like hotcakes” when the impacts started being felt.  “The only time you shut down the government is when you shut it down and refuse to open it until you accomplish what you want. But we’ll fold like hotcakes,” Coburn told reporters. “You do not take a hostage you are not going to for sure shoot. And we will not for sure shoot this hostage.”  “Shutting down the government doesn’t work.”

Then there was the gem from Rep. Marlin Stutzman:  "We’re not going to be disrespected," the Indiana Republican said of his party's negotiating strategy. "We have to get something out of this. And I don't know what that even is."  That is true; they don’t agree on what they want, other than (as Maddow observed) shutting down government.

Like McCain, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell opposed the shutdown, reminding Republicans that they didn’t like the result of the shutdown in the 1990s. He advocated for the Government Shutdown Prevention Act, saying:  "It makes it clear that those on my side who thought the government shutdown might be good leverage in the past decided that it isn't and that it should not be pursued." As we know, he was not able to prevent Senator Cruz and his followers from pushing the shutdown in the House, however.

Republican Congressman Charles Dent (PA) said Monday that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is largely responsible for the first government shutdown since 1996.  "But if I had to cast blame anywhere, I would say it was Sen. Cruz and those who insisted upon this tactic that we all knew was not going to succeed," Dent said. "What he did essentially, Sen. Cruz, basically, he took a lot of folks into the ditch. Now that we're in the ditch, you can't get out of the ditch, the senator has no plan to get out of the ditch, those of us who do have a plan to get out of the ditch and will vote to get out of the ditch will then be criticized by those who put us in the ditch in the first place."

Dent said that he will continue to urge House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) to bring a "clean" continuing resolution — one that includes no language to undermine the health care law — to a vote.  "And I believe there are the votes to pass a clean CR," Dent said, echoing an assertion by Democrats. 

Rep.Devin Nunes (R-CA) also admitted that the GOP is responsible for the shutdown. “I thought it was a big mistake to say that we were going to get rid of ObamaCare,” Nunes told the show’s host. “I think we’re giving our base — and I’m a conservative Republican, just like Louie — the false interpretation that somehow by not funding the government, we’re going to get rid of ObamaCare, and we simply don’t have the votes to do that.” 

Congressman Peter King (R-NY) has also been outspoken in blaming the GOP for the shutdown. 

This week, after the KochBrothers were named by the NY Times, Senators Reid and Sanders and others for their role pushing and bankrolling the shutdown strategy, they tried to distance themselves from the defund Obamacare strategy.  

Here is a good read on the op-eds by Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan, and the cracks that have emerged in the Republican position.  

And in case you need a good laugh in the midst of such insanity, this is brilliant from the Daily Show – Samantha Bee interviewing Republican Congressman Scott Rigell, the only Republican to vote against the CR that tied funding government to defunding Obamacare (even though he doesn’t like th ACA, he thinks they should get back to governing).

The GOP on refusing to raise the debt ceiling:

Despite being urged to invoke the 14^th Amendment by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and many others, President Obama has ruled it out in the event Congress does not act to raise the debt ceiling. He argues that such an action would not address the uncertainty which would destabilize global economic markets, to which the full faith and credit of the United States is vital. I see his point, but the legal issue needs to be settled to stop the GOP’s repeated threats to use this to extract concessions. Unless and until the Administration (or someone else) challenges their tactic and it is resolved through adjudication, the GOP will continue to use the threat of destablilizing the world economy to try to extract concessions from the Democrats.

This article points out that the 14^th Amendment was passed after the Civil War to give confidence to creditors that Congress could not repudiate the debt.  Good quote:  "Every man who has property in the public funds will feel safer when he sees that the national debt is withdrawn from the power of a Congress to repudiate it and placed under the guardianship of the Constitution than he would feel if it were left at loose ends and subject to the varying majorities which may arise in Congress," argued Sen. Benjamin Wade, a Republican supporter of the amendment.

Boehner, as usual, has been all over the place on this. A few days ago, he said he would allow a bipartisan vote to raise the debt ceiling.  Now, he says, “We're not going to pass a clean debt limit increase.”

The GOP’s positions (which seem to change daily) are very contentious, even among its members and supporters. 

In July, Senator Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) expressed opposition to the idea of threatening not to raise the debt limit:  "I think holding the debt limit hostage to any specific thing is probably not the best negotiating place," Blunt said.  (Note this article seems to conflate not funding the government and not raising the debt limit.) 

There are those who say that the debt limit issue is a tempest in a teapot – no big deal.  Others have pointed out that if this is true, then why would President Obama and the Democrats need to make any concessions about it?  The logical inconsistencies in the GOP arguments burn.  

Senator Coburn claims the debt ceiling is a non-issue – it doesn’t exist.  However, Heritage Action and Freedom Works (both Koch Brothers organizations) do not support failing to raise the debt ceiling.   

The GOP seems more confused than anyone else about what their strategy is.  From Politico: A reality is beginning to dawn on — and eat away at — many House Republicans: They aren’t at all sure of their party's strategy to re-open government and lift the debt ceiling.  “If anybody tells you it’s clear to anybody let me know,” said Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas. 

Perhaps Politico betrays some bias in the same article, though:  "And, in a worrisome sign [me-huh – why is this worrisome?], GOP unity is beginning to fray, little by little. Conservative Republicans are beginning a push to force leadership to handle the debt ceiling and the government shutdown separately — a logistical challenge since the debt limit must be lifted by Oct. 17 and the government has been shut down for a week." 

***

End Note:

I actually don’t remember the GOP congratulating the President  when this news came out, but perhaps I just overlooked it.

***

Update 1: 

KatieAnnieOakley posted this (from the National Journal) in the comments on the last thread; it seems to fit well with this post.

1) 4/23 Senator Reid requested unanimous consent to go to conference, Senator Toomey blocked.

2) 5/6 Senator Reid requested unanimous consent to go to conference, Senator Cruz blocked.

3) 5/7 Senator Murray requested unanimous consent to go to conference, Senator McConnell blocked.

4) 5/8 Senator Warner asked unanimous consent to go to conference, Senator McConnell blocked.

5) 5/9 Senator Murray asked unanimous consent to go to conference, Senator McConnell blocked.

6) 5/14 Senator Warner asked unanimous consent to go to conference, and Senator McConnell blocked.

7) 5/15 Senator Wyden asked unanimous consent to go to conference, and Senator McConnell blocked.

8) 5/16 Senator Murray asked unanimous consent to go to conference, and Senator Lee blocked.

9) 5/21 Senator Murray asked unanimous consent to go to conference, and Senator Paul blocked.

10) 5/22 Senator Kaine asked unanimous consent to go to conference, and Senator Rubio blocked.

11) 5/23 Senator McCaskill asked unanimous consent to go to conference, and Senator Lee blocked.

12) 6/4 Senator Murray asked unanimous consent to go to conference, and Senator Rubio blocked.

13) 6/12 Senator Kaine asked unanimous consent to go to conference, and Senator Lee blocked.

14) 6/19 Senator Murray asked unanimous consent to go to conference, and Senator Toomey blocked.

15) 6/26 Senator Murray requested unanimous consent to go to conference, Senator Cruz blocked.

16) 7/11 Senator Murray requested unanimous consent to go to conference, Senator Marco Rubio blocked.

17) 7/17 Senator Murray requested unanimous consent to go to conference, Senator Mike Lee blocked.

18) 8/1 Senator Durbin requested unanimous consent to go to conference, Senator Marco Rubio blocked.

19) 10/2 Senator Murray requested unanimous consent to go to conference, Senator Toomey blocked.

#EnoughAlready! #JustVote to end the #GOPshutdown! 

Update 2: 

This is what the Washington Post has to say about the GOP's internal battles and shifting messages.

Update 3:  

Here are some illustrations that HopeforAmerica suggested for this post. 

And this one from NJfan:

Turtle Tears found this one: 

Here's another: 

One more!

Update 4: 

Breaking: House GOP changed the parliamentary rules on September 30th, specifically to prevent anyone except the House Majority Leader (Cantor) or his designee from bringing the Senate spending bill to the floor.  Is there any sane person in America who still thinks the #governmentshutdown is not the GOP's doing? 

Update 5:  Republican Congressman Peter King "goes ballistic on Ted Cruz."   
And this graph should really be part of the post...

Update 6:  MUST WATCH: Congressman Peter King does not mince words about how Ted Cruz is a fraud who has led the Republican Party astray.  This is a classic!  http://video.msnbc.msn.com/andrea-mitchell/53256495#53256495