It's time to deep six the mind numbing GOP excuse, the "angry electorate."

I am so tired of hearing about the “angry electorate.” 

Excuses, excuses. Who the hell is making the electorate angry?

Republicans of course! 

For example, Wisconsinites are "angry" about the road conditions and delayed projects statewide due the Republicans ridiculous pledge to never raise taxes, ever. The "anger" will only increase, as things get even worse, while Republicans defer maintenance by denying reality:

A two-year-old report showing Wisconsin roads to be in the third-worst shape in the U.S. was refuted by the Department of Transportation on Tuesday, with officials saying the "roughness" indicator used in the report was not widely accepted as a true gauge of road worthiness.

So let's argue about that for the next 10 years, while doing nothing. That should really piss everybody off. As one readers comment makes perfectly clear...

"State DOT officials say the International Roughness metric is outmoded, the fact remains that the same metric was used to measure every other state."

Paul Ryan blames an "angry electorate" for the embarrassing failure of his budget, now blocked by member of his own party. Remember when Republicans made it seem like a Democratic problem? 

For years, the GOP attacked Senate Democrats for the same failure.

Hey, it's the "angry electorate," the sole creation of the Republican Party.  

Rural conservative voter are angry over large corporate farms, a GOP favorite that pollutes their wells and squeezes out family farms.

Rural conservatives are angry over closing community schools that end up destroying towns. They're angry over cuts to school funding (for vouchers) that force teacher and school busing cuts. They're angry over fewer local health care clinics. 

Republicans are angry over the existence of that other political party. The so called "left," "liberals," and "Democrat" Party have been vilified to the point that they no longer have relevance. Right wing media has replaced everything else, which is a bizarre turn of events no one could have predicted. Blame the kid glove treatment by the press over obvious BS, fiction, lies and irresponsible behavior by Republicans that lead us to this point. My conservative friend in Milwaukee wrote...

One radio talk host claims the truth can be found somewhere in the middle of the battling "right" and "left." Since when is the truth in the middle?

But then conservatives who hate government the most can't wait to get on the public dole themselves. In fact, in the Ohio race to replace John Boehner, 15 candidates ran in the primary there. So many that voters either didn't bother to vote, or couldn't remember who they voted for:

Tea Party Republicans take aim at Paul Ryan.

As much as I hated big parts of the omnibus budget plan, the fact that it got a lot of things out of the way during an election year is a good thing; it's pissing off conservatives nationwide. Yup, Tea Party Republicans might end up doing what Democratic challengers in Wisconsin haven't been able to do; defeat Ryan. 

Like this...

All patriot’s should contact your groups leaders and begin organizing nationwide to put down this RINO in order that he is not re-elected to his seat in Wisconsin. The Badger State patriots need to begin soliciting your State Senators, high-profile business leaders or the State Legislators who reside within the 1st District of Wisconsin.

Apparently nobody in the 1st District has announced any intention of forcing Ryan into a primary, but it is time to locate someone willing to do this who might actually have a chance (with enough grassroots support) at defeating our newest RINO-Speaker. America doesn’t need another John Boehner but that is apparently what we now have as Speaker of the House.

Here's hoping this catches fire:

A facebook page was set up to primary Paul Ryan from Congress.

The page already has 4,335 likes.

There is also a Fire Paul Ryan webpage set up online.

And now this…On Friday the Wisconsin Tea Party declared war on Ryan.

43% of Republicans support a military coup in America!

With the memory of one candidate pushing 2^nd Amendment remedies, it should come as no surprise that a huge percentage of gullible Americans now actually believe in an armed coup against the U.S. government. And these are the real patriots. What if these self-righteous conservatives were in charge? They would use the military to defeat the enemy within, Democrats, and whip these lost Americans into God fearing patriots. The Guardian:

The YouGov survey showed 29% of Americans could imagine supporting a coup. Yet, 41% said they could not imagine supporting such an event. They found that 43% of Republicans would support a military coup in certain instances, while only 20% of Democrats and 29% of independents would.

Here’s where Republicans like Scott Walker would go big and bold:

The overall numbers increased when participants were “asked whether they would hypothetically support the military stepping in to take control from a civilian government which is beginning to violate the constitution.” 43% said yes to this, and 29% said no.

Fear not, online polls are very unreliable?

Abraham Wyner, director of the undergraduate program in statistics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, said that online polls were “worse than just about any other way you can put together a poll” because they were prone to selection bias, meaning proper randomization was not achieved and the sample was not representative of the population – since people can choose to participate.

Nope, that didn’t make the poll results any less unsettling. A few of the pictures here support the poll.

The Republicans offer up alarming Dystopian vision of the "American Dream!"

I don't know why I was stunned by the dystopian-like agenda pursued by House Republicans, led by Paul Ryan. Just search this blog with the term "role call," or the name "ryan" and "ribble," you'll see breathe taking bills Republicans have been passing for years.

We're now "the land opportunism." Mad Max, Hunger Games and Fountainhead were works of fiction, not an actual blueprint for government policy.

If I use my conservative friend in Milwaukee's absolute hatred of government as a template, assuming he's your typical Republican voter, then it's clear nothing else matters; not laws; not human safety; not education; not health care; not internet freedom; not clean water; not pollution; not job training; not Pell grants; not saving billions on health care; not protecting retirement savings...etc.

House Republicans are trying to unravel two centuries worth of progress, the stuff that built the American dream.

It would be easier to call this a political suicide note, but oddly it isn't. In the name of small government, Republicans want to...

1. Prohibit any federal money from being spent on the Affordable Care Act.

2. Drastically reduce funds for the enforcement of new labor rules.
3. Reverse efforts to impose strict rules on for-profit universities .

4. Reverse new rules requiring retirement investment advisers to prove they have no financial conflicts of interest.

5. Another bill would stop regulation of hydraulic fracturing; prohibit implementation of carbon emission standards for electric power plants; block new clean-water rules; and stop the government’s marine and coastal planning efforts to respond to climate change.

6. A bill would block the Food and Drug Administration from reviewing e-cigarette marketing.

7. Keep the FCC from carrying out “net neutrality” regulation of the Internet.

8. Push a “conscience” rider that would let employers in the District of Columbia refuse health insurance coverage for any service on moral grounds, and hire and fire based on women’s use of health services.

9. Either reduce full-day, full-year service for 570,000 young children in Head Start or cut 140,000 children from the program altogether.

10. Funding for job training would be almost $500 million less than the White House requested.

11. Cuts to the National Park Service would delay about 70 percent of its construction projects and more than a third of its repair and rehabilitation efforts

12. A bill would also cut $370 million from the Pell Grant higher education program.

13. The main federal family planning program, Title X, would be eliminated … a major strike against women’s health care Title X, the only federal grant program dedicated solely to providing individuals with comprehensive family planning and related reproductive health services, including contraception. 90% of the people Title X serves have incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level, and 63 percent are uninsured. 6 in 10 women who access health care services from a Title X-funded health center consider this their main source of health care … saves taxpayers money: For every public dollar invested in family planning, the American taxpayer saves approximately $7 in Medicaid-related costs. Nearly half of all births in the U.S. are paid for by Medicaid; the average national cost for one Medicaid-covered birth is $12,770. This is a stark contrast to the $239 per-client cost of publicly funded contraceptive care through Title X family planning. It is estimated that Title X saves taxpayers nearly $7 billion a year.

Jindal to nation: "People are ready for a Hostile Takeover of Washington D.C.!!!

Besides the title quote, Jindal played up this false premise:

Jindal: "The left is trying to silence us." 

An absurd, impossible idea that oddly makes sense to conservatives. And yet conservatives in Wisconsin are overjoyed by Scott Walker's attempts to silence protesters at the Capitol. Is Walker "trying to silence us?"

Overthrow Alert: It looks like the U.S. is headed for a “hostile takeover.” We're seeing it take shape in the militia movement, the open carry protests, a tea party candidate talking about “Second Amendment remedies,” and the Cliven Bundy lunacy that culminated in the deaths of two policemen in Las Vegas.

Of course Republicans will deny they had anything to do with the consequences of their irresponsible advocacy of lone gunmen revolutionaries. But some like Jindal see these individual uprisings as a beginning to a patriotic movement:

AP: Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal spoke at the annual conference hosted by the Faith and Freedom Coalition, accused President Barack Obama and other Democrats of waging wars against religious liberty and education and said that a rebellion is brewing in the U.S. with people ready for "a hostile takeover" of the nation's capital.

"I can sense right now a rebellion brewing amongst these United States," Jindal said, "where people are ready for a hostile takeover of Washington, D.C., to preserve the American Dream for our children and grandchildren. I am tired of the left. They say they're for tolerance, they say they respect diversity. The reality is this: They respect everybody unless you happen to disagree with them. The left is trying to silence us and I'm tired of it, I won't take it anymore."

A false premise that not just sounds stupid, but doesn't seem possible, unless I missed the FEMA detention camps dotting our nations landscape. It's the conservative world of opposites and contradictions. Take for instance Bobby Jindal’s response to Common Core. Despite his own parties attacks on Obama for usurping congress with executive orders:

Earlier this week, Jindal signed an executive order to block the use of tests tied to Common Core education standards in his state.

So Jindal's call for a revolution or a takeover of our nations Capitol, sounds like the constitutions own definition of treason to me, or sure comes close. 

TeaBilly Nation Coming Mid-May!!! Stock up on Ammo.

The article below posted at Politicus USA is in reference to what is now secretive plan to overthrow Obama and Senate Democrats. Talk of a governmental takeover is an integral part of the tea party dialogue that assumes they have the patriotic high ground and purpose. Ever wonder why they've never complained about voter suppression tactics that directly effects them? They don't believe in elections, despite reminding us constantly that we live in a republic. It's all detailed below. 

The geniuses at Patriots4America apparently stirred up a few too many crazies, and decided to pull the actual story from their site (see pic). How that helps them organize is anyone's guess.

Check out the details of their plan and find out what the founding fathers really meant when they pieced together our constitution:

The latest expression of the right’s delusion is a planned march on Washington by 30-million Americans to oust the Obama Administration and Democrats in Congress, convene a right wing tribunal, and appoint a new government consisting of a permanent Republican majority.

The march, occupation, and seizure of the nation’s capital is set for May 16 according to right wing extremists, Tea Party Nation, and various militia groups who named it “Operation American Spring;” a take-off of Egypt’s Arab Spring.

According to Operation American Spring’s organizers, “Our only hope is … to stop the White House from total destruction of the United States and bring to a conclusion the out of control government, one way or the other. It’s now or never. God help us.” The whole plot reeks of the Koch brothers’ John Birch agenda to reshape America into a fascist plutocracy and evangelical theocracy.

The American Spring organizers … delusion is only matched by their publicly announced unconstitutionally seditious tactics to overthrow the government and install a permanent Republican-teabagger authority over the people. Organizers have broken down the government overthrow into three phases:

Phase One: “ten million patriots assembled in a display of unswerving loyalty to the US Constitution and against the incumbent leadership with the mission to oust the existing leadership.”  

Phase two: requires one million or more patriots to stay in D.C. to see Obama, Biden, Reid, Pelosi, McConnell, Boehner, and Attorney General Holder removed from office, and replace Boehner by the senior Republican in the House as Speaker.

Phase three: these unswerving Constitutional loyalists will end Constitutional elections and task the House with electing a Republican president and vice president, and to deal with Democrats forcibly removed from office, “a tribunal comprised of Allen West, Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Jim DeMint, Rand Paul, Scott Walker, Paul Sessions, and Darrell Issa will assume authority to recommend charges against ousted Democrats and government employees.” In a suspension of the judiciary, they will all be tried and convicted by “the new attorney general appointed by the new president” elected by the Republican House. 

These whiny crybabies produced their own video tantrum as well. What's stunning to me is their belief in the "power of the individual," all the while seeking "leaders." Confused?

Pope too radical for tea party? Yep.

Pope Francis is getting a  conservative thrashing by the golden idols of the right wing. How they're getting away with it, along with cutting food stamps and unemployment insurance benefits, is beyond me. Heck, one polls says Americans want Republicans in charge of the Senate now. 

Check out the bizarre headline pictured below. It's not conservative American politics that's radical, it the Pope. For a religion based on an infallible leader, it's amazing to see the rank and file suddenly claiming to know more than the Pope. From the Mt. Pleasant Patch:

His focus on the poor and criticism of liberal capitalism. In November, Francis denounced “the idolatry of money.” …he described trickle-down economics as “a crude and naive trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system.”

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh described Francis’ writings as “just pure Marxism.”

Take(en) together — an aversion to culture war fights, adoration by the mainstream media, and skepticism of concentrated wealth — and you have a recipe for increasing friction between Francis and parts of the American conservative movement.

As for the rest of us? I grew up in a devout Catholic household where statements made by any reigning pope were regarded as coming straight from God. So I understand why many American Catholics, especially conservative ones, feel the shift in Francis’ focus like a shock to the system. Bridget Kurt, an ardent Catholic in Georgia, feels like Francis is letting here down. “Even when it was discouraging working in pro-life, you always felt like Mother Teresa was on your side and the popes were encouraging you," Kurt told The New York Times. "Now I feel kind of thrown under the bus.”

The right wing is just insane. Here's more proof that if Jesus did come back, Republicans would hate him:

After being elected pope in March of this year, he has shaken up the now-ascendant "Catholic = Conservative" mindset in American politics by doing three things:

De-emphasizing traditional culture war touchstones. In a September interview in the Catholic magazine America, Francis said, “We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage, and the use of contraceptive methods.”

That’s a stark contrast to the guidance from conservative Catholic leaders like Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, who in 2004 said that voting for John Kerry would be a sin requiring confession.

His flair for symbolism: Shortly after his election, Francis made headlines when he washed the feet of a dozen inmates — including the feet of Muslim and women prisoners. As then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, he reportedly washed and kissed the feet of AIDS patients and drug addicts.

In December, The Huffington Post cited “a knowledgeable source” confirming rumors that Francis heads out at night beyond Vatican walls to give alms to the poor. These acts have stayed on cable news headlines for days.

Obama Overthrow? That's the tea party Republican plan of action. Welcome to today's GOP!

Rightwing Watch sent up this red flag for Americans to take note of, with this tongue in cheek headline:

Larry Klayman Rally To Overthrow Obama Draws Slightly Fewer Than The Millions

Expected: Larry Klayman predicted that his rally calling for the overthrow of President Obama would draw “millions to occupy Washington D.C.” and that those millions would “occupy parks, sidewalks, public areas” until the president leaves office. 

In the end, no more than a hundred people showed up for today’s big event. Nevertheless, Klayman told Tea Party activists that he is still confident that the Reclaim American Now rally will force the president to resign and that grateful Americans will beseech Klayman and his allies to organize a new Continental Congress in Philadelphia.

The Embarrassing Tea Party Republican Party Shutdown!!

I've pieced together a whole bunch of clips showing these teabilly losers for who they really are, dufus'.

They shutdown the government so they could protest the shutdown?

Tea Party Republicans don't realize we're not as dumb as they are.

I’m fascinated with the press coverage of the government shutdown.

I’m always looking for examples of media dysfunction, and this is a big one.

I came across the following two stories that make it obvious who’s to blame for the shutdown. Yet the media can’t quite come out and say it.  Based on polls, the public is getting it, loud and clear.

CNN: Forty-three percent of those questioned say they have a favorable view of the Democratic Party … the GOP rating (is now) 32%. 31% percent say they see the tea party in a favorable light. 

Yes, it looks like the Republicans are now as popular as the least among them, the idiot tea party.

Republicans are to blame, no question about it. In this almost comical statement, Rep. John Boehner whines Obama won’t negotiate, won’t give an inch, all the while saying his party won’t back down or give an inch. It’s only unfair when Obama does it.

TPM: "It's my way or the highway. That's what he's saying. Complete surrender and then we'll talk to you," he said Sunday, referring to President Barack Obama's refusal to make concessions simply to keep the government open. He repeatedly insisted the shutdown won't end unless Obama and Senate Democrats back down, and repeatedly hammered Obamacare.

But then I read this article:

WonkBlog: Members of the Republican establishment are agog. Cruz “pushed House Republicans into traffic and wandered away,” said conservative stalwart Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform. The reason the establishment has such trouble with the tea party is that the tea party really, truly means it. They don’t want to cut a deal. They don’t want to get the most that they reasonably can.

"My way or the highway?" So instead of calling it a draw, and ending the shutdown, anti-government tea party Republicans win by ending government as we know it, piece by piece, six weeks by six weeks, funding bill by funding bill, debt ceiling to debt ceiling.

Talk about uncertainty. 

Offended Tea Party feels disrespected, and how Republicans are Marketing their Shutdown Stunt!!!

Loved this look at the Republican shut down scheme, by Chris Hayes. When you look at the big picture, and the silly reliance on pointless talking points, you can't help but feel offended.



Rachel Maddow examines the tea parties hurt feelings, and why they think that's a good reason to maintain the government shutdown:

  

Big Support for Common Core by School Districts.

Well, it'll be interesting to see what the Walker Authority does now that Common Core is getting overwhelming support from districts around the state. I'm thinking Walker didn't expect it to go this way. Clicking the links, you'll not only see their reasons for supporting Common Core, but their frustration over the many ridiculous myths spread about the program by tea party low information voters:

Testimony/statements: Hudson School District. Kettle Moraine School District. Waunakee Community School District.

Testimony/statements:  UW System President Reilly. School District of North Fond du Lac. Madison Metropolitan School District.

Testimony:  School District of Menomonee Falls. Brillion Public Schools. Two Rivers Public Schools. CESA Statewide Network Commissioner Harness.Pulaski Community School District. Oconto Falls School District. Northern Ozaukee School District.

According to the Green Bay Press-Gazette:

Criticism from conservatives has been mounting, however. They fear the standards are creating a loss of local control and the federal government is using the standards to gather students’ personal information. Tea party members sent lawmakers a letter earlier this year calling for an investigation into the standards.

Haven't we had enough of the tea party conspiracies yet?

Here's are a few more statements from other school districts, including an opening comment from Rep. Dean Knutson. Knutson apparently knows so little about Common Core that if I were a betting man, I would say Common Core doesn't stand a chance in the legislature. Other Republican states are doing it.

"We can set the bar higher. I know that is what the department believes Common Core standards will do. And maybe it would. But there is a bi-partisan concern in the legislature, a concern shared by the public—that we may have been going too fast, too soon, and committing down a road without a full understanding of where we are headed. And so this legislature and the Governor opted to press 'pause.'" 

Sounds like a little tea party phony concern about anything Obama, despite the fact that Common Core grew out of efforts made by educators and governors. Here are the links:

Testimony/statements: School District of Belleville. Hustisford School District. Chequamegon School District.2:24pm

Rep. Knudson. Opening statement from Common Core Standards hearing.12:47pm

DPI Supt. Evers. Testimony for the Common Core State Standards hearing.

Mike Lofgren on Republicans: "...we have an insurrectionist, neo-confederate party that seems to be dedicated to all kinds of apocalyptic outcomes."

This is a must see. Two Republicans dissect and tell the whole truth about their party's politics now.

Mike Lofgren, author of "The Party's Over" and former Senior Policy Adviser under Reagan, along with former George H.W. Bush economic advisor, Bruce Bartlett, are brutally honest about their crazy party. For instance:

Lofgren: "Now what we have is an insurrectionist, neo-confederate party that seems to be dedicated to all kinds of apocalyptic outcomes...but they are no longer a normal political party, they are an insurrectionist party  that is bringing down the government." 

Bartlett: "But what I think we're really seeing here is a crisis of democracy, where one party believes its principles are so correct so strong and the other party's principles are so evil, that we're essentially talking about God compromising with Satin. And you can't do that, and therefore they're justified in using means necessary, perhaps revolutionary or military means, to get their way. Despite the fact that the majority disagrees with them. They don't think that matters in the slightest. The truth of their principles is the only thing that matters to them."

That's just a sample, check it out and you'll feel better knowing you're not just only ones who think like this. All In with Chris Hayes :



Randi Rhodes wrote this today on her front page:

Christian TV host Rick Joyner says that for America “the only hope is a military takeover, martial law.” That’s how far Obama derangement has gone. They prefer a military dictatorship to man America elected. Twice.

Here's a compilation of GOP inaction at its most ridiculous:



Finally, our own Joan Walsh wrote this about the neo-confederate party of racists. The Atlantic:

Joan Walsh at Salon says the fight against Obamacare boils down to racism. In a post that's been slammed by some conservatives, Walsh argues that the government shutdown is the "culmination of 50 years of evolving yet consistent Republican strategy to depict government as the enemy, an oppressor that works primarily as the protector of and provider for African-Americans, to the detriment of everyone else." She points to Reagan's success at equating the government with welfare, and welfare with lazy people (mostly African-Americans). Walsh says that "Defund Obamacare" is a campaign to hurt black people, though she concedes that "not [every Republican] is or was comfortable with this strategy."

Today "the entire government has been taken hostage by leaders elected by this crazed minority [the Tea Party], who see in the face of Barack Obama everything they’ve been taught to fear for 50 years." Christina Wilkie, a D.C. reporter at The Huffington Post, calls it a "fiery, important essay," and Dan Froomkin, former liberal Washington Post columnist, tweets, "brutal." Conservatives have been sarcastic in their response: Brit Hume, a senior political analyst for Fox News, tweets, "This is truly remarkable. A columnist for Salon says the shutdown is ultimately about.... Race!" Walsh responds, "Wow. Guess I touched a nerve."

Tea Party Opposition to Common Core "Socialist...imported by the Obama's."

Common Core is getting bashed from both the left and right, but for completely different reasons. The left maintains the program had too little research and took too much money from corporate sponsors like Bill Gates, a real red flag for most educators. Testing was again emphasized over creativity and exploration of subjects.

The tea party objection said it was another way of dumbing down Americans, an interesting comment from a group out to kill public schools while promoting unaccountable private schools. It’s also a socialist plot cooked up by President Obama.

But according to WPR News:

The standards were developed by a coalition of governors and school administrators – not the federal government. However, the Obama administration did provide some financial incentive for states to adopt the standards through its Race to Top grants.

The tea party perspective should scare the daylights out of anyone serious about educating their kids, and who don't want their children to become future teabilly voters. Behold the right wings point of view. I mean really, there is something wrong with these people. Waukesha Patch:

Posted by Rufus Jackson , Education is incredibly important to me, that is why I educate myself constantly with books and television and many online sources. I never finished high school, but I know a thing or two about education. Our country is facing a grave danger lurking on the horizon. Common core is a terrifying program started by socialists in Europe and imported by the Obama's.

For anyone looking for an honest assessment read anything Michelle Malkin wrote about it, or Glenn Beck. Common on core is a way for the government to implement a total brainwashing of our children. By making grades obsolete, all classes will be using a feel good method of grading This is to keep parents from knowing what their children are doing in ObamaSchool. Once parents are out of their kids lives and education, the only step is for the government to step in and raise your kids on welfare and dependency. It is so clear, if you choose to see it. 

Where were you David Brooks?

You'll notice on the left sidebar my list of the "Latest Blog Updates...," sites I thought deserved a revisit from time to time. On Driftglass, the graphics are amazing, but so are the angry articles of the

blogs creator. First, I'm a sucker for good titles, and this pretty much described my feelings about the Democratic Party, only it's true ever day.


I also found this rant about columnist David Brooks hilarious, and an amazing take down of a party that most sane people could see descending into madness:

A certain member of the GOP's chickenshit Brain Caste has the fucking nerve to feign surprise. Here is the key paragraph from David Brooks' latest 800-word embarrassment … the David Brooks’ of the world  continue to play the role of the reasonable, detached witness, merely Observing-With-Alarm the final stages of the complete and completely unforeseeable (No one could have predicted...!) psychotic implosion of his Republican Party. 

Driftglass then improved on Brooks’ assessment of the bat crazy GOP by substituting this: "Over the past few years," with a more honest “Over the past 40 years,” describing the radical right turn of the party. Driftglass lets loose:

The second version -- the honest version -- puts Our Mr. Brooks (and the rest of his ilk) at the scene of the crime, squarely behind the wheel and driving the getaway car for the Party of God for virtually his entire adult life. The question remains, where were you, Mr. Brooks, when Reagan was instructing them that the government is always wrong, always evil? Where were you when the leaders of your Movement were teaching them that everyone not in the Movement was a Commie? That compromise was treason? Where were you, Mr. Brooks, when the yahoo, bigot, militia-nuts and Fundy votes were being aggressively courted by your Party? When Young Republican gatherings became occasions for the endless burning of East Coast elites in verbal effigy? When anyone in the press not mindlessly spewing paranoid wingnut bile was denounced by your Party and Movement leaders as part of the Liberal Media Conspiracy? 

But where were you, Mr. Brooks, when Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush openly and vigorously played the race card to win the White House? When the Right was rising to power on the backs of the poor, the weak and the powerless? When Newt Gingrich and GOPAC taught Republicans to call Democrats "traitors" and "liars" and "unAmerican" in every speech? Where were you when your Dear Leader lied us into a catastrophic war and then lied to us to keep us there? Where were you when Terri Schiavo's mortal remains were being tossed around like a puppy's chew toy for pure, partisan political advantage? Where were you when New Orleans drowned? When Reagan killed the Fairness Doctrine and gave birth to Rush Limbaugh? But where were you, Mr. Brooks, when voodoo economics was hollowing out the middle class and destroying our industrial base? Where were you when radical banking regulation was setting us up for the kill? When Republicans were running up crippling deficits and then demanding that Democrats pick up the tab? 

You see Mr. Brooks, as hard as you try to pretend otherwise, you are not an alarm bell in the night warning a sleeping nation of impending disaster. You are just another symptom of that disaster. 

Because, Mr. Brooks, the answer to the question "where were you?" is a simple one : you have been busy being fatally, loudly and very, very profitably wrong about your Party and your Movement your entire fucking life. 

And worse -- oh so much worse -- it turns out that, once again, the decadent, America-hating Left has been right all along. 

Isn't that true? Still, Democrats never get any credit when they're proven right time after time. But we're always rewarding Republicans when they finally come around.

Hiding from their own Voters, Republican Town Halls Secret, Last Minute, Small rooms for supporters only.

After reading about a town hall list showing bogus Paul Ryan locations in Janesville, at Rock Netroots, I came across this story that suddenly connected the dots for me. It looks like Republicans are now trying to hide from their base, those far right wing loons that would basically guarantee them reelection in the upcoming midterms. The GOP is about to implode on itself after playing their dangerous games of division. Who knew it would work against their own party unity? 

NY Times: A Former Engine of the G.O.P., the Town Hall Meeting, Cools Down: Representative Pete Sessions, a Texas Republican … four summers ago helped his party use them to stoke opposition to President Obama’s health care bill. Across the country, forums like his fed a budding Tea Party movement and set the stage for returning the House to Republican control in 2010. But when Mr. Sessions returned to his district for the August recess this year, there was something conspicuously missing from his schedule: a town hall.

They also say they are seeing Congressional offices go to greater lengths to conceal when and where the meetings take place. “The whole thing is very anti-democratic, and it’s classic behavior of entrenched insiders,” said Matt Kibbe, the president of FreedomWorks, a Tea Party group that in 2009 helped send legions of demonstrators to town halls. 

With memories of those angry protests still vivid, it seems that one of the unintended consequences of a movement that thrived on such open, often confrontational interactions with lawmakers is that there are fewer members of Congress now willing to face their constituents.

Members of Congress and their aides were reluctant to talk: “Ninety percent of the audience will be there interested in what you have to say,” one Senate Republican aide said. “It’s the other 5 or 10 percent who aren’t. They’re there to make a point and, frankly, to hijack the meeting.”

“The reason 2009 was so successful for the grass roots was because the politicians never saw it coming,” said Jennifer Stefano, the state director for the Pennsylvania chapter of Americans for Prosperity. “Now they know. And they are terrified.”

Tea Party advocates from around Dallas spent one night last week making fake milk cartons with pictures of Mr. Sessions and Senator John Cornyn who has yet to announce a town hall.

Most of the efforts to shame members of Congress who are not holding town halls are aimed at Republicans. Tea Party groups are focused mainly on pressuring fellow Republicans — not Democrats, to back a proposal to shut down the government if financing is not pulled from the president’s health care law.

Immigration groups are almost exclusively targeting House Republicans, who now hold the key to passing any immigration overhaul legislation. 

Congressional offices have gotten increasingly clever about keeping their schedules under wraps. Sometimes, they wait until the last minute to announce the meeting, advocates said. Other times, they book a room that cannot accommodate large crowds and then alert their supporters to arrive an hour early so that the audience fills up with friendly faces.

Walker and the Teabilly Republicans want to Rule through Blackmail and Blacklists.

Absolute power has a way of changing the weak willed into monsters. The Walker Authority is one fine example.

When Scott Walker decided to withdraw his own student nomination for regent using his recall petition as a blacklist, that turned a page for me. If you make a list, any list, Republicans everywhere will use it against you for political or employment reasons.

   

And that’s a direct threat to you and your family. It's unimaginable as a way of life in America.

Check out this story from March, that I completely forgot to shine a bright light on, that is even more relevant today:

Uncle Fester...?

Huffington Post: Al Gerhart, 54, of Oklahoma City, said the Sooner Tea Party will do what he promised in his email … threatened to turn State Sen. Cliff Branan (R-Oklahoma City) into a "laughing stock" and "dig into" his family members and associates unless he backs a bill blocking the United Nations' sustainability agenda.

“We want to know what is going on down there. We want to know if his wife has got a criminal history. We want to know everything about him. We want to find out if this man is a responsible citizen, if he's even got his family under control much less control of his office,” Gerhart said.

Devoid of any moral or ethical issues, Gerhart uses the old Republican excuse that gives them a mental pass:

Gerhart denied doing anything illegal.

Gerhart doesn't stop there either. The following is still another reason why the Walker recall petitions, now a GOP blacklist, is so dangerous and threatening:

“These politicians need to know that it doesn't end when their term is over,” Gerhart said. “They need to know that their decision's going to follow them for the rest of their days. They need to know the Tea Party is not going away — that if we don't win it the first time, we're going to come back the next year and the next year and the next year after. And we don't forget these people that are traitors to the Oklahoma people.”

He said the Sooner Tea Party will report what is found on the Internet, in Branan's district and at Branan's church. “I want the people in his church to know what he is doing. That it's wrong,” Gerhart said.

This is the teabilly Republican style of governing. Any questions?

Republicans Waste $40 Billion more on Border Security, Fence, Agents...and votes from Frightened Tea Party Racists.

An amazing thing is taking place right before our eyes, again; Republicans are spending money like drunken paranoid sailors, protecting us from a massive influx of immigration over our southern border.

NY Times: The Senate endorsed a proposal to substantially bolster security along the nation’s southern borders as part of a measure that would provide a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants already in the country. The 67-to-27 vote prevented any filibuster of the plan to devote roughly $40 billion over the next decade to border enforcement measures, including nearly doubling the number of border agents to 40,000 and completing 700 miles of fencing. 

But wait, we don’t have a massive influx of immigrants anymore, especially since the Great Recession. As MSNBC’s Chris Hayes and Ezra Klein explained last week in detail:

Shocking Freudian Slip exposes the Republican Party of Wisconsin's true agenda!!

Already cleansed from WisPolitics and their own website, the Republican Party of Wisconsin made an inadvertent admission that pretty much describes their current get out the vote effort to turn Wisconsin “Red.” Like it isn't already? According to On the Capitol:

Wisconsin Republicans put this line in their 2013 platform on wisgop.org:

“We believe the United States should grant citizenship only to those who want to embrace and defund American values and culture.”

We think they meant “defend.”

“I’m sure that’s a typo,” Republican Party of Wisconsin press secretary Jesse Dougherty said.

I'm sure that's just what they really meant. Take a look at how they govern. Any questions?

Tea Party Poetic Justice, Republicans fall Victim to themselves….

Well that uninformed, highly irresponsible tea party attitude that compromise is out of the question, has just hit the Republican majority, and like a deer in headlines they are road kill.

And I’m loving every bit of this. The fact that tea party members don’t want to do anything, and would rather freeload off the past generations hard work, should come as no big surprise.

Who’s laughing now? Me.

jsonline: In a sign of the conservative discontent, 11 Assembly Republicans sent a letter Thursday to their leaders saying they wouldn't vote for the budget as written. They want the bill to cut income taxes by a greater amount, reduce bonding by $500 million and remove a provision that would require people to provide their DNA when they are arrested for felonies (this one I agree with), rather than when they are convicted. There are 60 Republicans in the 99-member Assembly. If all 11 withheld their votes, that would leave Republicans with at most 49 votes for the budget — short of a majority.