A Quick Take On Newt

The Gingrich has figured out how to make his troubled (and troubling) past go away.

First, the rubes are kinda predisposed to forget and/or ignore things that happened 10 or 15 or 20 years ago - or 20 minutes ago for that matter.  It's history, y'know, and ol' Newt's a highly regarded "historian"; and they'll take his word for what happened over the word of some librul doofus with a google machine any day of the week.

Second, he sounds like he's adopting a style of narrating his past as a story of sin and redemption.  And the timing couldn't be better.  After a parade of false prophets, Jesus Newt is finally born in the dark days of December blah blah blah.  Starting in January, he's visited by the wise men, and gifted with wins in Iowa and New Hampshire and South Carolina (ok, maybe a close 2nd in NH).  And by Easter, in a flood of heavy donations covered by the din of heavenly choruses, he's fully resurrected and takes his place at the right hand of The Lord our Reagan blah blah blah.

Or he could revert to his usual form and just self-destruct in the middle of it all.  Every time he's held real power, he's over-reached in the most imperious way possible, and come crashing down under the weight of his grotesquely over-sized ego.

(BTW: I managed to screw the pooch by predicting success for Herman Cain, so there's no way to take this but with a handful of salt - as always)

But - ya heard it here first.

Sounds Encouraging

A judge in Colorado apparently has some real balls for a change.  How long before we get the Repub Chorus singing the standard Judicial Activism tune?

"There is not enough money in the system to permit school districts across the state to properly implement standards-based education and to meet the requirements of state law and regulation," she wrote in her ruling. "This is true for districts of every description. . . . There is not one school district that is sufficiently funded. This is an obvious hallmark of an irrational system."

You don't get good solutions just by throwing money at a problem (duh), but you don't get any solutions at all unless you start working the problem.  It always takes more time, effort and money than anybody wants to spend, and we've gotten really good at whining about it. Grow up, shut up and pony up.  We got shit to do.

Read the story in The Denver Post.

This Won't End Well

From truthout.com:

A logical explanation of why true oversight hearings have continued to decline is that there is less and less stomach to hold hearings that would expose and embarrass powerful corporations and individuals who would or could become a steady source of campaign money. So, it is easier to have fewer hearings and hearings on safe subjects such as social issues and to attack bureaucracies that aren't within the political beliefs of the party in power. Meanwhile, as more and more of the federal government is contracted out to major corporations, there is less interest in exposing fraud, waste and abuse in contracting, favoritism in contract selection, and other forms of cronyism such as the revolving door.

It would be simply astounding to find no fire when there's so much smoke in the air.

Stunned? - Really?

The old guard GOP establishment must be really nervous about where the nutters are taking the party.



Remember, there are no accidents and no surprises on DumFux News. This was on the air because Roger Ailes wanted it on the air. And it was "shocking" because Ailes intended it to be shocking.

It could represent a direct swipe at The Limbaugh Wing - Rush's been flacking for Gingrich pretty hard lately so the message could be, "OK, you've had your fun, but it's time to end this flirtation and get down to business". 

Unfortunately, that genie's outa the bottle now. There's a TeaBagger Caucus in The House. The big money aggregators helped 'em get organized. They were dispatched to disrupt meetings and throw rocks thru windows. Etc.

Now the GOP Graybeards are nervous about how stupidly fascist the whole thing looks and they're making desperate attempts to get the rubes back in line.

(Driftglass made some great points on The Professional Left podcast this week)

So I'm wondering about the fault lines, and how serious the fracturing will get.

Our Mr Brooks

Everybody just loves taking Bobo down.  And I just love watching it.

From Balloon Juice:

... These traits—narcissism, self-righteousness, self-indulgence and intemperance—are core to the modern conservative movement, but they are embarrassed by them. They like to pretend they belong to somebody else and so they invented fantasy memories of the 1960s complete with phantom hippies as the home for their shadow material.

Mr Smith Stays In Oregon

Where's this guy been? Why haven't we seen him before?

Closed Loop Sustainability

hat tip = nonny mouse at Crooks and Liars

If You're Stupid And You Know It

I always have a hard time thinking there are people who actually believe this shit. I really do try to think more highly of my neighbors and countrymen, but I have to admit (to myself anyway) that DumFux News wouldn't put it on the air if it wasn't working.

hat tip = Media Matters for America



And the kicker is that the Boca Raton city government was being threatened with lawsuits - not by the evil forces of atheism (which is always the inference invited by the middle school melodrama that is DumFux News), but by "Religious Groups" who were always loudly demanding ever more sectarian displays.  And Jesus wept.

Read all about it.

Dear Governor Perry

hat tip = Balloon Juice

A Money Shot

Given the Clown College visage of the Repub stable of primary candidates, Obama should be a prohibitive favorite for re-election in 2012.  But it's likely to be a close one, and the good folks at Mother Jones can confirm our suspicions as to why that is.

(click the pic and be amazed)