Online Left

Tea Baggers Unite!

Al Franken Was Right

To The Victor...

Carol D. Leonnig's article on the Washington Post website, "Obama's Team Rankles the Right", is one of those stories that makes me want to blow chunks.

To some staunch conservatives watching President Bush relinquish the reins of power to President-elect Barack Obama, a few too many ardent liberals are now crashing the gates.

I'm paraphrasing no one in particular, when I ask, "Who Gives A Shit?"

I'd like President-elect Obama to reach across the aisle as much as possible to try and devise a bipartisan government that works for the American people. My only demand would be that the other side genuinely be interested in developing solutions, rather than finding just another wedge issue with which they can beat Democrats about the head.

At the same time, Obama and the Democrats won the 2008 elections decisively. I don't want to hear any more about America being a center-right country. The right didn't win squat -- in fact, they got the [electoral] asses handed to them.

My advice to Republicans is to reach out to Obama and find if there's any interest in working together. If that's not possible, I think you just need to shut up and sit down for a few months while the Obama-Biden team install their Administration.

They won, and you lost.

No one cares whether you're happy with their choices. If McCain had won, he'd be doing the same thing -- picking people who share his world vision.

Elections are contests, and in all contests, there are winners and losers.

Quoting New York Senator William Learned Marcy in 1831, "to the victor, go the spoils."

Supreme Court Rejects [More] Right-Wing Bullshit

WASHINGTON (AP) - Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has rejected two more efforts to get the court to consider whether President-elect Barack Obama is eligible to take office.

Kennedy on Wednesday denied without comment an appeal by Philip J. Berg, a Pennsylvania attorney, that claims Obama is either a citizen of Kenya or Indonesia and is ineligible to be president because he is not a "natural-born citizen" of the U.S. as required by the Constitution. Another appeal from California, based on Berg's claims, also was denied.

Individual justices and the entire court have turned down emergency appeals over Obama's eligibility at least seven times in the past six weeks.

Obama was born in Hawaii in 1961 to an American mother and a Kenyan father.

Reacting to Internet-fueled conspiracy theories that Obama's birth certificate is a fake, Hawaiian officials have said they examined the document and have no doubt it is authentic.

Pompous Ass of the Year

When asked to nominate someone for the Time Magazine's Person of the Year, Ann Coulter submitted the name of Sarah Palin.

I name Sarah Palin for her genius at annoying all the right people. I haven't seen liberals so enraged by a woman since me.

Time, December 22, 2008

Do We Live In A Civilized Society?

Look -- I've got a pretty radical announcement to make right now. All right, are you sitting down? Are you driving in the slow lane?

I want conservatives and Christians to not give to charities this Christmas. Yeah, I said, not give to charities this Christmas. That's right. I want conservatives and Christians to stop donating your money, with one exception: anything to help the military is fine, because God knows the government isn't doing their fair share.

You know, I've given this a lot of thought, and I believe the right thing to do this Christmas is not to give. Don't give to the homeless shelters or the soup kitchens, or this or that.

Rick Roberts, right-wing asshole

Quote of the Day

The continuing efforts of a fringe group of conservatives to deny Obama his victory and to lay the basis for the claim that he is not a legitimate president is embarrassing and destructive. ... What difference does it make to the future of this country whether Obama was born on U.S. soil?

Advocates of this destructive campaign will argue that the constitutional principle regarding the qualifications for President trumps all others. But how viable will our Constitution be if five Supreme Court justices should decide to void 64 million ballots?

It is not conservatism; it is sore loserism and quite radical in its intent.

Respect for election results is one of the most durable bulwarks of our unity as a nation.

Conservatives need to accept the fact that we lost the election and get over it; and get on with the important business of reviving our country's economy and defending its citizens, and -- by the way -- its Constitution.

David Horowitz, conservative writer and activist on National Review Online

The State of Talk Radio

On the December 3 broadcast of The War Room, co-host Rose Tennent read from an article about Deborah Lawrence, an artist who submitted an ornament for the White House Christmas tree celebrating, among other things, Rep. Jim McDermott's (D-WA) support for a resolution to impeach President Bush.

Tennent read a quote from the article in which Lawrence said of the attention surrounding her ornament: "It took on a life of its own, obviously. In a way, I'm speechless." Tennent responded: "Good, stay that way. Don't talk," to which co-host Jim Quinn added, "That's right, don't talk. Shut up, bitch."

Republicans Give Middle Finger to American Workers

Partial transcript of segment featuring Bill Daley, President Clinton's former Commerce Secretary, and Jim Baker, former Chief of Staff to President Reagan:

Tom Brokaw to former Treasury Secretary, Jim Baker:

MR. BROKAW: Secretary Baker, is there anything short of bankruptcy that the Republicans would sign off on to help Detroit?

MR. BAKER: Well, I can't speak for the Republicans generally, Tom, but what I think the president-elect could do in, in this case is take a page from, from President Ronald Reagan's book back in 1987 when every major automobile company chief executive came in pounding on my desk as secretary of the Treasury and then over at the Oval Office demanding protection against Japanese and Korean imports. And it wasn't easy for President Reagan to do this, but he said, "Wait a minute, I'm not going to do that. We believe in free trade. What you're going to have to do is get competitive, you're going to have to downsize and streamline," and they did that. When, when, when a bailout-type approach was denied them and when they were not given protection, they did downsize, they streamlined, they became one of the most effective and efficient automobile industries in the, in the world. And that's the kind of approach, I think, that most Republicans would like to see to the problems of Detroit.

Duhh!

If I understand Baker's suggestion, the Republican response to a devastating economy and unemployment levels that threaten to destroy American families, is to layoff and fire more workers?

The key part of the statement attributed to Reagan is:

We believe in free trade. What you're going to have to do is get competitive, you're going to have to downsize and streamline.

I would normally include some definitions, but I think we can all agree on the definitions of "downsize" and "streamline." (If I'm wrong, let me know.) Millions unemployed, more underemployed, the potential loss of millions of American jobs, the loss of a significant chunk of American manufacturing, and Baker thinks the answer is putting more workers out of jobs.

Of course, when given the choice of giving up their corporate jets or laying off workers, most American businesses would line up behind Baker.

On the other side of the political aisle, President-elect Barack Obama announced during this weekly address that he is taking steps to introduce a stimulus package that includes the protection and creation of 2.5 million jobs.

Is it any surprise Americans, faced with the most devastating economic environment since the Great Depression, voted overwhelmingly for Democrats in November?

Hank Williams, Jr. for Senate

Republicans have finally reached the bottom of the barrel they've been scraping for the past few election cycles.

Duhh!

CMT News is reporting that Williams has indicated interest in running for the U.S. Senate from Tennessee, which would pit Williams against the incumbent, Lamar Alexander, who is 68 years old.

Williams, who released a most inaccurate, misleading, and hateful video during the 2008 presidential election in support of the McCain-Palin ticket, could vie against former Representative Harold Ford, who some say wants to make another run for the Senate.

Williams would likely seek to take advantage of racial differences, much as Senator Corker did in his campaign against Ford in 2006.

If the Republicans think Sarah Palin is qualified to be Vice-President of the United States, and Hank Williams, Jr. is qualified to be a United States Senator, they have clearly given up in their quest to remain a viable political party.

On the other hand, the people of Tennesee have already elected Fred Thompson to the United States Senate. From Thompson to another idiot really isn't that far of a trip.