Election 2014: Do Not Fold, Spindle, or Mutilate

by Sunnyjane

Come January 20, 2015, President Barack Obama will have two years left to carry out those visions for the United States for which he was elected in 2008 and again in 2012.  He cannot do those things that would really benefit the country unless the American electorate is determined enough to get a majority in the House and enough of a majority (60) in the Senate to overcome the Republican Tea Party's ability to filibuster.

So many issues desperately need to be addressed:  jobs, gun control, equal pay for women, climate control...the list is endless.  The GOP has nothing to offer the electorate except Benghazi, repealing (still) the Affordable Care Act, protecting the Second Amendment, trying to stop the war on religion (huh?), repealing a woman's right to choose, and suppressing votes.  That is hardly a list on which to campaign, it seems to me.  Well, they can't exactly win votes by reminding people that they've taken away much-needed programs in order to protect the super-rich, now can they?

Of course, now they're going to campaign on the Veterans Administration scandal, which would actually make a lot of sense if they hadn't added to that misery by denying U.S. veterans much needed programs.  But then, no one has ever accused the Republican Tea Party of possessing an overabundance of integrity.

Voter Suppression Laws

After the black-robed Supremes gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in 2013, the very states that had been kept in check by its enactment began shoving voter suppression laws through their legislatures as fast as possible.  Rick Perry glowed like a nuclear reactor on steroids, while Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott nearly ruined his rotator cuff with all his fist-pumping.  The Department of Justice filed suit and in April of this year asked for copies of the Lone Star legislators' emails that dealt with the state's voter suppression ID Laws.  They don't exactly wanna do that, of course, and 189 have claimed legislative privilege.  That's pending.

How Low Will They Go?

--  When Rick Scott's urge-to-purge ploy didn't work out too well, something else had to be done in Florida to keep Democrats from winning in 2014.  Hey, Scott's gotta do something, right?  He's not too popular in the Sunshine State, and at the moment, former governor Charlie Chris is way ahead of him in the latest polls.  So making restrooms unavailable at polling places in Dade County -- which traditionally votes Democratic and has a large population of Latino and African American voters -- seemed like a good idea.  There's something that stinks about this, and it can't be blamed on someone going  #1 or #2.  Snopes.com tried to get an official response on the issue and came up with only vague conclusions.  Briefly, if the polling place is in a public, restrooms will be available.  If it's in a church or other private building, they do not have to offer restroom availability.  (I remember my parents voting in our small-town gas station in the fifties, and I can guarantee neither of them would have dared relieve themselves there.) 

--  While judges in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have struck down voter ID laws this year, North Carolina continues to have the most restrictive voter suppression laws in the nation.  They are being challenged, but the trial will not be held until July of this year, and there is some question as to whether it will be in time to overturn them in time for the November elections should the plaintiffs prevail.

The GOP in Ye Olde Tar Heel State was not helped in their endeavors to support their repressive voting laws.  Seems one of their County precinct chairmen might have just slipped up and screwed the pooch.  Late last year, Don Yelton went on television and made rather telling statements, such as:  The [new ID] law is going to kick the Democrats in the butt and added if it hurts a bunch of lazy blacks that want the government to give them everything, so be it.  The GOP went ballistic and Yelton was forced to resign.

I do believe we can expect that to come up at trial.

So What Makes the GOP So Desperate?

Hmmmm...could be.
 
End Note

    +++

BONUS (by Patrick):

There were some important comments made on the last post, and I would like to repeat some of them here. 

 NebraskaNativetoo wrote:

It finally occurred to me tonight that I am profoundly depressed. My real daily life is better than it has ever been with home, hearth and family-- whatever that phrase is, I love my job, I have so much to be thankful for... and then I read about politics and it breaks my heart. Rachel M had a segment on about the ark park thing postulating about a dinosaur being found in/by Noah's ark, another mass shooting, idiot congresspeople from Nebraska, the race to be as far right as humanly possible, fucking Biblical references in the Constitution?, global warming. My list grows. WTF has happened?

I blame the election of 2008. It awakened my inner progressive political person and I have not been able to break away from politics since. The only other elections I remember being emotionally invested in before then were McGovern and Gore.

My entire family is Republican, except for my mom, who voted for Kennedy and took that fact to her death bed (except when she secretly told me) I grew up thinking box elder bugs were actually called democrats. I was in the Young Republicans in high school. (hanging head) Watergate changed everything for me, it was probably the watershed moment for many people my age.

So here I am, in my "golden years" looking at working for at least the next 7 years until I am 70. I don't get this. I really don't. We worked so hard for equality and respect and it seems to have been for naught. I have faith in my adult children... they didn't have to "unlearn" many of the things I did-- best example is gay marriage... they think it is stupid that it is even an issue. So I take hope from them, but what happens in the meantime? Ah, the meantime... the devil is in those details.

Haven't ranted in awhile, forgot how good it felt. Thank you for your indulgence for an old hippie's random thoughts.

Our reader yknott replied:

NebraskaNative.....I couldn't have put it better. I must be the same age as you are and come from a similar family background.

I look at my grandkids and wonder what will they be dealing with when they come of age. I don't know what has happened/is happening in this country, but I do know that money in politics is ruining our country. Our Democracy is in dire straits.

Our 24/7 nonstop media along with Social Media has given every crazed loon a platform to promote their craziness and hope it goes viral. I'm with you. It seems all the gains we made in the last 100 years are falling by the wayside.

Thank you for your wonderful random thoughts. I couldn't agree more.

Another reply by Freebird4:

I understand your frustration and concerns. Things today seem to be moving so fast and erratic. 2008 brought the very best in our country (AA POTUS) - but at the same time the very worst (bigots). The times are a changing and sure as hell not for the better... not yet anyway. Got to keep faith!

Our reader comeonpeople added:

We are seriously seriously looking at living abroad when we retire. If this is an option for you, think about it. If we then miss the states enough to come back to what is fast becoming nonsense, then we would....but we doubt it.

Our reader laprofesora952 replied:

We're right behind you. It gets more ridiculous every day and I become less and less tolerant. Just when you think you've heard it all, "Joe the Plumber" comes out with the most hateful, insensitive, horrible statement I've heard in a long time. It made me ashamed to live in a country that would tolerate such self-absorbed behavior. I agree, we're outta here.

Today's GOP: The Inmates are Still Running the Asylum - UPDATE: Daniel Schulman's book on the Koch Brothers

by Sunnyjane

The Republican Tea Party is in disarray, and oddly enough, that's a good thing.  It's a little late in coming, but hey, at least the moderate Republicans have become frustrated with the Baggers and the Democrats are becoming bolder in calling them out on it.  More citizens who have always proudly aligned themselves with conservatives are stepping out of that dark hole and seeing the light of liberal policies.

We constantly fight that battle here at Politicalgates.  Let's see what others are saying on the issues in succinct and sometimes humorous ways -- ways that make you nod and think, That's right!

Gun Control

As governor, Ronald Reagan was all for gun control when the Black Panthers were making uncomfortable noises about armed revolution for social change in the 1970s.  Then Reagan decided to run for president in 1980 and reversed course and said citizens should be well-armed.  The NRA endorsed him.  He was shot by John Hinkley two months after his inauguration.  A lesson learned?  Unfortunately, NO.

See Ronald Reagan, above.

Energy Independence

One of the biggest Drill, Baby, Drill fallacies in this country is that by sucking oil out of every available piece of land in North America that we will decrease our dependence on foreign oil by standing next to the rigs and pumping it directly into American gas tanks.

Canada is particularly keen to run the XL Pipeline right smack-dab through America's heartland.  You get that, right?  Americans assume all the risk, Canada and the Kochs get all the money   From the Ogallala Aquifer in Nebraska through Native American sacred tribal lands, somewhere that sucker is going to spring a devastating leak; it's too late then.  And Americans benefiting from the pipeline?   Really?  Here's the truth...

Let's sail, boys, before these idiots figure out they've been lied to!

Immigration Reform -- or the Lack Thereof

One Montana county Tea Party group wants absolutely nothing to do with candidate Drew Turiano.  It seems Mr. T has gotten into a lot of trouble with this bunch for slinging around a heap of racial slurs, aimed primarily at Hispanics.  It is his contention that the U.S. should not just adopt a pathway to citizenship, but should also just send undocumented immigrants -- and their American-born children -- back to where they came from, via Operation Wetback.  [Note to Mr. Turiano: It's illegal to do that, you ignorant creep.] 

Of course, he's not the only GOP asshole to use the term wetback.  So have Don Young in Alaska and Chris Mapp in Texas because in both cases, it's perfectly normal.  Does this sound like your teenager saying, But Mom, everybody says it! 

Priorities, priorities, priorities.

Equal Pay for Women

   

     














  

Now, About the IRS Targeting the Republican Groups

Oh, and that Imperial President and His Executive Orders?

The Far-Right and Voting Rights

It's always dangerous when Tea Partiers start using big words.  You  know, like constitution and sovereignty, for example.  Rep. Ted Yahoo Yoho of Florida is no exception.  He loves his pocket-sized copy of the U.S. Constitution, but has obviously never read it.  He cares about the sovereignty of this country, but has no idea that it necessitates a moral imperative to do right by its citizens.  Yoho was recently heard opining that only property owners should be allowed to vote.  Um, I recommend checking out the 15th Amendment, Congressman.  Oh, and he's awfully fond of voter ID laws.

Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi

And we'll take it all the way to 2016, if necessary!

Climate Change?  No Such Thing!

They don't know where babies come from, either.

Raising the Minimum Wage?  No, No, NO!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

End Note

+++

UPDATE (by Patrick):

I received an email-message by Daniel Schulman, a senior editor in the Washington bureau of "Mother Jones", in which he promotes his new book about the Koch brothers which was published yesterday, called "Sons of Wichita: How the Koch Brothers Became America's Most Powerful and Private Dynasty", and it is my great pleasure to bring this email-message to your attention:

Hi everyone,

Excuse the email blast, but I wanted to alert you that my biography of the Koch brothers, Sons of Wichita, hit book stores this week. I poured the past (almost) three years of my life into this project, so needless to say I'm pretty excited to see this book leave my computer's hard drive for the real world. The early reviews have been great. Vanity Fair calls Sons of Wichita "never less than engrossing" and "a stylishly written saga." The American Prospect says "despite Schulman’s often-superb eye for the revealing and/or juicy detail…he never stoops to caricaturing his subjects as the Koch Ness Monsters of popular lore." If you'd like a preview, Vanity Fair published a short excerpt on Monday that chronicles my surreal visit with the elegant, elusive, eldest Koch brother, Frederick. Mother Jones published a longer excerpt Tuesday that covers the brutal legal battles among the four Koch brothers. (You can also catch me on NPR's Fresh Air today chatting about the book with Terry Gross. See here for air times in your neck of the woods.)

It takes a village to launch a book, so I'd certainly appreciate your help in spreading the word. Tell your friends. Tell your neighbors. Talk loudly about it at crowded places where strangers will overhear you. Tweet it. Tumble it. Facebook it. Forward this email to anyone you can think of. Anything helps. And, if you're so inclined, buy a copy of the book. You can purchase it online from Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or via iBooks. It should also be available at your local book store (and if it isn't, ask them why not!). If you do buy the book, please make sure to let me know what you think.

Best regards—and thanks,

Dan Schulman

I also want to use this opportunity to promote my video-clip about the Koch Brothers from 2011, which features the secret recording of one of their super-secret meetings:

The GOP's Only Viable 2016 Presidential Candidate: Ben Ghazi

by Sunnyjane

Americans are able to detect the most subtle forms of Democrat-electaphobia.

Because George W. Bush's two terms were so successful -- and Barack Obama has been a disaster for the country -- the Republican Tea Party is anxious to put a shiny new further-right creep in the White House.  There are plenty of contenders for this assignment, of course; so many that, like 2012, they're stumbling over themselves already.  Thirty months before the general election, there are, by the most conservative count, four governors, four senators, and at least one representative -- their esteemed failed 2012 vice-presidential candidate -- who wish to wear the mantle of President of the United States. 

They're pretty sure they know who the Democratic candidate will be: Hillary Clinton.  If they can get rid of her with Benghazi, and impeach President Obama at the same time, there will be new Batmobiles for all, and the Koch brothers will have a standing invitation to all White House events.

Let's face it, they've got nothing else to let loose on the Democrats.  The economy is improving, the jobless rate is looking much better, the deficit is going down, the stock market has made a dramatic recovery, and Obamacare is kicking ass.  And not one of their supposed Obama Scandals has gained an iota of traction.  So, let's hound BENGHAZI to death!

A New Truth-Virgin for Eighth Benghazi Hearing

Hey man, just a bit of advice: the Daffy Duck look isn't working for you.

Since Darrell Issa failed miserably in his umpteen Benghazi hearings on this issue, John Boehner brought in new, um, talent.  Trey Gowdy, who once called Nancy Pelosi mind-numbingly stupid for suggesting that the GOP was going after Eric Holder in order to advance their voter suppression tactics, is now taking the lead on getting the truth, by God, about who did what in an under-secured U.S. consulate in Libya.  Gowdy has already shown his hand on this by referring to the hearings as a trial where, obviously, he's the prosecutor and the Obama administration is the defendant: If an administration is slow-walking document production, I can’t end a trial simply because the defense won’t cooperate.  I guess Boehner didn't explain to him what a hearing actually is. 

The GOPers' rationale for this new Select Committee on Benghazi is that all the questions have not been answered.  Well, actually they have; not getting the responses you so badly desire doesn't mean the questions haven't been answered. All told, there have been five different congressional reports; seven different congressional investigations; eight different subpoenas  issued; thirteen hearings; twenty-five transcribed interviews conducted; fifty different briefings for staff and members; twenty-five thousand pages of documents produced by the administration; and one partridge in a pear tree.  Believe it or not, even Chuck Todd is saying that it's pretty ridiculous of the House to indulge themselves in this show:  It’s like investigating who cut down one tree in a forest that’s been burned down. 

Gowdy has stacked the committee with seven Republicans and only five Democrats, so it's hardly what one could call bipartisan.  In fact, Nancy Pelosi hasn't yet decided whether her party will even participate; it ends up being a situation where House Democrats are now caught between a rock and a hard place. 

Of course, this is nothing but a Republican Tea Party fundraising exercise, about which the White House is royally pissed.  Why?  Well, you might remember the 2012 squawking from the right on the anniversary of Osama bin Laden's demise, during which the GOP accused the Obama campaign of politicizing the anniversary.  Oh, the hypocrisy.

You Want a Scandal?  Take...Your...Pick

 Could you tell us again where those WMDs in Iraq got to?

And speaking of Crazy Uncles...

Let's do a semi-oranges-to-oranges comparison here.  In 2006, four Americans, including diplomat David Foy, were killed at the U.S. Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan.  This consulate had been attacked three times, and it is believed that Foy was the main target: his car was blown to smithereens by a bomb so devastating that the explosion left a huge crater and ten cars parked nearby were also destroyed.  The outcome?  No hearings, no outrage.  And who was the Secretary of State at the time?  Condoleezza Rice.

During her Senate confirmation hearings to become Secretary of State in 2005, Ms. Condi was grilled hard by Democrats who questioned her role in spreading the false intelligence that Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction.  John McCain was livid and said, in part, We can disagree on policy and we disagree on a lot of things, but I think it is very clear that Condoleezza Rice is a person of integrity. 
 
So, the Benghazi Consulate was attacked on September 11, 2012, and what happened?  All hell broke loose on the GOP side of the aisle.  Using the only information she had at the time, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice explained on all the following Sunday morning shows what had occurred.  After it was learned this her information was not correct, John McCain raged that Rice was guilty of, at a minimum, not being very bright, and was certainly unfit to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State.

How many Transfer of Remains ceremonies did President George Bush participate in when the caskets carrying sixty Americans arrived on U.S. soil during his two terms?  ZILCH.  ZERO.  How many did his Secretary(s) of State attend?  DITTO.

President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton at Transfer of Remains Ceremony, September 2012

And so it continues, because they've got nothing else.  Well, if they intend to take on Hillary Clinton again, they'd better be very careful; they'll have to face her during debates leading up to the 2016 election.   We can be sure that Ms. Clinton will, um, remind them that she warned against budget cuts and the effect they would have on safety and security at American embassies and consulates around the world.  Adding insult to injury, the GOP budget gurus have cut another $400 million from the 2014 budget.  Why?  Because Paul Ryan, Darrell Issa, Jason Chaffetz, and other house republicans consider Embassy Security as a non-defense discretionary spending item that isn’t really necessary.

End Note

 

Politicalgates presents: Sarah Palin Endorsement Tracker 2014 - UPDATE: Sarah Palin still cannot deliver

By Patrick

Sarah Palin has done a lot of endorsin' recently for the 2014 primaries, but the celebrated "kingmaker" from 2010 has one big problem: Unfortunately, it is not 2010 any more. However, even in 2010, her role as a kingmaker was very much disputed, because after the election, some GOP congressmen openly claimed that "Sarah Palin cost us control of the Senate." 

In any case, the "Tea Party" is under pressure, as the GOP civil war continues, because, believe it or not, the GOP finally wants to win again:

Well, if we were Democratic campaign strategists, we certainly would love the teabaggers to win the primaries, but from an overall point of view I believe that virtually everyone would have to admit that empowering extremists can only have very bad consequences. Therefore, I am happy that "less extreme" candidates are winning the primaries - even though they still might be very right-wing, and far from "moderate."

Oh, memories...

Sarah Palin is off to a very bad start, as the teabaggers are just not very popular any more. From her first five picks, four lost, and only Greg Abbott in Texas won the primary in Texas for Governor, but with no significant opposition, and as he was endorsed by virtually everyone, Sarah Palin is the last person he would have to thank.

Thin-skinned Sarah Barracuda already realized that her (alleged) "winning streak" is history and demanded from the GOP-establishment to "stop gloating", and therefore admitted defeat. Mama Grizzly is visibly upset.

The endorsed candidate Joni Ernst in Iowa even believes that it is a good idea to copy Sarah Palin's "style" - good luck with that!

To keep track, we created our own "Sarah Palin endorsement tracker" for 2014, now also included in the sidebar, and we will update it regularly:

Primaries 2014 - Total result so far: 8 WON, 11 LOST

Katrina Pierson, Texas (House) - LOST

Lizabeth Benacquisto, Florida (House) - LOST

Taylor Griffin, North Carolina (House) - LOST

Greg Abbott, Texas (Governor) - WON (with no significant opposition)

Pete Ricketts, Nebraska (Governor) - WON

Ben Sasse, Nebraska (Senate) - WON

Karen Handel, Georgia (Senate) - LOST

Joni Ernst, Iowa (Senate) - WON

Chris McDaniel, Mississippi (Senate) - LOST

Steve Lonegan, New Jersey (House) - LOST

Tim Scott, South Carolina (Senate) - WON

Dan Bongino, Maryland (House) - WON

T.W. Shannon, Oklahoma (Senate) - LOST

Julianne Ortman, Minnesota (Senate) - DROPPED OUT (after GOP convention endorsed Mike McFadden)

Rob Maness, Lousiana (Senate) - November 4 ("Jungle Primary")

Barry Loudermilk, Georgia (House) - WON

Bob Johnson, Georgia (House) -LOST

Joe Carr, Tennesse (Senate) - LOST

Doug Ducey, Arizona (Governor) - WON

Joe Miller, Alaska (Senate) - LOST

+++ Many thanks to our wonderful Sunnyjane for helping to compile the dates!+++

We are very much looking forward to more angry post from Sarah's facebook bunker.

Finally: The comments at this article reporting Sarah Palin's endorsement for Karen Handel are really gold.

Everyone is just sick of her, apart from the handful of deluded fans, and her endorsement won't help candidates. Sarah Palin is pure political poison, and it is not very hard to predict that Sarah Palin's endorsement activities will eventually cease to exist soon, just like the Tea Party.

+++

UPDATE May 21, 2014:

Three more results are now in, and the trend is clear: Sarah Palin just cannot win the races where she herself is the most important supporter of a candidate. The candidacy of Karen Handel was another "litmus test" for Sarah Palin that badly failed. All the vocal support by the Queen of ignorance from Alaska, including TV-ads with Sarah Palin, didn't help Karen Handel at all.

Sarah Palin herself was extremely excited just days before the election and really thought that Handel's opponents, who she called "the good old boys" were scared of Karen Handel - the conservative website "Newsmax" reported:

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said that Georgia Republican primary Senate candidate Karen Handel is being ganged up on by "the good old boys" because they are scared of the "conservative change" she could bring.

"There is a reason the good old boys are ganging up on Karen — she threatens their status quo," Palin, the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee, wrote on her Facebook page Monday morning.

"They know that she will shake it up in Washington," she said of the former Georgia secretary of state. "Change scares them, and that is why they've tossed everything including the kitchen sink her way. In Washington she will bring positive conservative change just like she did in Georgia, and she won't be afraid to call them like she sees them."

Palin said that the midterm elections this November "are about who we send to Washington to help restore our country after six years of a disastrous administration . . . . It's about who we trust to keep their word to fight for conservative principles and grow the conservative movement at the same time."

But the "good old boys" were just laughing. Karen Handel's result was a huge disappointment, as she only reached the third place and is not even part of the run-off, which will be between David Perdue and Jack Kingston.

With friends like Sarah Palin, you really need no enemies!

Her two endorsements that won in Nebraska, Pete Ricketts and Ben Sasse, are nothing to write home about as far as Sarah Palin is concerned, as both candidates were endorsed by a large number of other politicians and political groups.

Where Sarah Palin's support really counted, she could not deliver so far in the 2014 Republican primaries.

April 2014: A Big Month for Right-Wing 'Common Sense'

by Sunnyjane

The pervasive stench of right-wing lies, hypocrisy, deceit, fraud, hatred...

It's as if the earth stopped spinning on its axis for seven-hundred-twenty-hours and the entire month of April became one big, bad Tea Party Fools Day -- even with the House of Idiots in recess almost half of that time.  What, did John Boehner send out a memo reading: Just continue acting stupid until we get back.

From bigotry to indictments to more plagiarism to cruelly bungled prison executions, to an outbreak of foot-in-mouth disease, the GOPers seemed to find it necessary to further demonstrate what total fools they are.

So, in no particular order, let's review why April 2014 was a terrible, no-good, very bad month for the far-right idiots in this country.

Racism, The Musical

♫♪ Brothers, brothers, we go together like no others... ♫♪

-- Cliven Bundy, who made his Politicalgates debut just recently, has made it necessary to once again receive our attention.  In the ongoing saga out at the Bigot Ranch, where the cattle roam free on public land, there's now a clash between rival militias as to which of these anti-government groups will make the bigger asses of themselves because there's a civil war a'comin', y'all.  Well ain't that just dandy.

Similar to the Jets and the Sharks in West Side Story, the Three Percenters and the Oath Keepers are staring into the opposite gangs' gun barrels.  It seems that Oath Keepers are persona non grata because they walked away from the ranch after the BLM showdown, and the Three Percenters are calling them out for deserting the cause.  In fact, the leader of the Three Percenters has threatened the deserters with shooting them in the back.  This, um, leader, one Mike Vanderboegh, has also threatened to castrate Harry Reid.  It's all pretty icky, don't you think?  One peculiar thing, however, is how Mr. Vanderboegh is able to lead a gang of anti-government hooligans into onward-Christian-soldiers battle when he's been receiving a $1,300 a month disability check from, uh, the same government he says he doesn't want or need.  I admit it: I'm confused.

Residents around the area are being harassed and endangered by roaming gangs of well-armed out-of-state militiamen, and local law enforcement refuses to get involved.  In fact, à la Gov. Pontius Pilate, Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval has pretty much washed his hands of the whole thing.   

-- So then along came Donald Sterling -- who should know better -- telling his African-American/Mexican mistress, oh excuse me, personal assistant, that he doesn't want her to put photos of herself with The Blacks on any of her social media pages.  And gracious goodness, do not bring them to one of the Clippers games!

The NBA fined Sterling $2.5 million and took away all his basketballs for life.  Now both parties in this affair are speaking out.  Sterling wishes he'd just paid her off, and Stiviano says that while he should apologize for his remarks, he's actually not a racist and she is merely his silly rabbit.  I mean, does it get any tackier than this?

Actually, I have it on somewhat dubious authority that Sterling wants to sell the Clippers to  Bundy, who plans to rename the team the ShuckNJivers.  No, seriously...sort of.

Never Let that Christian Stuff Get in the Way of Your Stupidity

The Gospel According to Sarah Palin.  Amen.  Also. Too.

Possibly more blasphemous and cringe-inducing than her blood libel spoutrage after the January 2011 shootings in Tuscon, Sarah Palin earned herself a huge, well-deserved media wedgie recently by screeching that water-boarding (also known as torture) is the way America would baptize terrorists if she were in charge.  (Translation: If you numbskulls had just elected John McCain and me!)   The world over, those of every religion or no religion are breathing great sighs of relief and muttering, Well, thank God she's NOT in charge.

Granted, I'm no Biblical scholar, but I'm sure we'd have all heard about it if there were a passage where Jesus said, Let he who is without sin be the first to water-board people in my name.

Makes you wonder what Maverick Mac -- who was himself tortured in a Vietnam prison --  thinks of his North Star Nutjob now.  Looks like the Tea Party Republicans may need a new brand of diva.  Dontcha think?

Still Behaving Badly -- Very Badly

So how are those 2016 presidential aspirations going for you, Governor?

-- The fecal matter just keeps falling on Chris Christie's head these days.  There is now a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into a little fund-finagling going on in New Jersey.  Seems that in 2011, Christie had $1.8 Billion transferred from the Port Authority to New Jersey so that he could use it to fix some crumbling structures issues, thereby keeping a 2010 campaign promise not to raise taxes.

-- Congressman Michael Grimm from New York has been indicted on charges of mail and wire fraud, filing false tax returns and health care payments, hiring undocumented workers and obstruction of justice.  Of course, he's innocent because he's a moral man and this is all just a political witch hunt.  But you knew that, didn't you?  I guess he was also being a moral man when he threatened a reporter that he'd throw him off the balcony in the Capitol Building.

-- Crazy old Steve Stockman is being investigated by the House Ethics Committee for some sort of, um, reporting error he made with the Federal Election Commission.  Of course, it probably doesn't make much difference, since he's not running again.

-- Congressman Vance McAllister, the guy who was caught on video in an extended lip-lock with a campaign staffer, has decided not to run for office this year.  Good idea.

--  It seems that North Carolina con artist pastor and senate candidate Mark Harris, who doesn't believe in the separation of church and state -- he openly begs his congregation for love offerings for his campaign -- has been lifting text from Georgia Rep. Phil Gingrey's website for his own use.  You know, sort of like Rand Paul's little game of plagiarism?  Well, Paul got a little of his own back when Greg Brannon lifted text from his website.  Does it ever end?  Perhaps it doesn't matter; both Harris and Brannon (who was endorsed by Sarah Palin, of course) lost in their respective primaries.

When Voter Suppression Becomes a GOP Voter Obsession

Voters in two states got some relief in April from the repressive far-right ID laws.

--  In Wisconsin, the judge ruled that the requirement that voters show state-issued IDs imposed an undue burden on poor and minority voters.  He also pointed out that Gov. Scott Walker's team could not point to even one instance of voter fraud in Wisconsin in the recent past, saying, ...virtually no voter impersonation occurs in Wisconsin and it is exceedingly unlikely that voter impersonation will become a problem in Wisconsin in the foreseeable future.

--  Democratic Governor Mike Beebe vetoed the original bill, stating that, I cannot approve such an unnecessary measure that would negatively impact one of our most precious rights as citizens.  However, both chambers of the Arkansas legislature voted to overturn the veto, and opponents of the bill took it to court.  However, the court agreed with the plaintiffs that not only was it aimed unfairly at young, low-income, and minority voters, it was simply against the state constitution, which reads ...no power, civil or military, shall ever interfere to prevent the free exercise of the right of suffrage; nor shall any law be enacted whereby such right shall be impaired or forfeited, except for the commission of a felony, upon lawful conviction thereof.

Cruel and Unusual Punishment is Unlawful -- Except in Oklahoma

Rabid pro-death penalty Governor Mary Fallin is so anxious to catch up with Rick Perry's execution numbers that she screwed the pooch on one recently.  After a panel of judges ruled that the execution should not take place because the potpourri of three drugs needed to do the job had not been tested, Fallin overruled them with an Executive Order.  (Why is it that when President Obama uses EOs he's an Imperialist, but when a Republican governor does it...well, never mind all that.)

With that sharply worded The Show Must Go On directive, the prisoner was strapped to the execution table in a timely manner and the death drugs were administered.  Well, everyone knows what happened, so I shall not repeat it.  Suffice it to say, it ended badly.  Fallin has called for a review of the procedure, but has stated that the next execution will take place as scheduled. Perhaps she is asking Perry for his recipe; I dunno.

Sick of the whole bunch yet?  Yeah, me too.

End Note