“The President’s speech today will be viewed by terrorists as a victory,” said Chambliss, who recently golfed with the president, in a statement. > more ... (1 comments)
Remember when John McCain was an American Hero? It almost makes me feel grandfatherly to look back that far, and the whole thing was overblown. Still, there was a time when John McCain did cultivate a reputation for having principles. Not all the right ones, to be sure, but he once had them, and now he’s just as twisty as any politician out there. Yesterday he made news by denouncing Richard Mourdock’s already plenty-denounced comments, and today this walkback happened:
An aide for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said Thursday he hadn’t seen Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock’s press conference when McCain told CNN Wednesday that Mourdock had to apologize for his statement about rape, conception and God’s will in order to keep McCain’s endorsement.
“Senator McCain was traveling yesterday in Florida and did not have an opportunity to see Mr. Mourdock’s full press conference before he taped his CNN interview,” McCain spokesperson Brian Rogers said. “Senator McCain is glad that Mr. Mourdock apologized to the people of Indiana and clarified his previous statement. Senator McCain hopes the people of Indiana will elect Mr. Mourdock to the U.S. Senate.”
Even McCain can’t be dense enough to think “If I offended anyone I apologize” as an actual apology. In essence, McCain must have forgotten for a moment that he only managed to avoid getting primaried by sucking up to people like Mourdock, and since the base of support he once assiduously crumbled (ironically thanks in no small part to the Tea Party wave that McCain himself began with his selection of Sarah Palin), he now can’t afford to stick his neck out even to denounce total creeps. The present situation would seem to call for the old McCain, but he daid, so we have to settle with the guy who walked away from all his decent policy stances after 2008 and has spent most of his time since then indulging in homophobia over Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal and wanting troops on the ground in whatever country is offering us a pretext for the use of “benevolent, liberating” force this week.
What a disgrace.
Democrats need to find someone really, really good to take him on in 2016. Arizona is still tough territory, though it might be easier in four years. But if Gabby Giffords is rehabilitated by then, I can’t imagine a better opponent. It will be necessary because guys like McCain never retire, they either die or overstay their welcome. Since the revitalizing power of hate seems to be working the same wonders for McCain as it did for Cheney, option B seems to be in order.
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Hors D’oeuvres
Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), makin’ with the insightful diagnosis of current events y’all, via TPM:Sorry, folks, work has gotten crazy, and I realize I’ve been missing my (self-imposed) quota. But I’ll be back at you soon. Try to post something substantial tomorrow. (1 comments)Watching a Jerk Seize Main Chance
I so called this (pinkey swear) but I didn’t want to be the jerk who forecast somebody else f*ckin’ this particular chicken so soon:Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn will seek to offset federal aid to victims of a massive tornado that blasted through Oklahoma City suburbs on Monday with cuts elsewhere in the budget.
> more ... (0 comments)Judge Posner for the Win: Drastic Action Necessary To Un-F*ck U.S. Patent Regime
Sometimes you really have to hand it to Judge Posner.The sheer number of patents in the U.S. is fueling frivolous litigation and drastic action is needed to make patents more difficult to obtain and easier to invalidate, U.S. Circuit Judge Richard Posner of the Seventh Circuit said Tuesday. > more ... (0 comments)
I continue to think that there’s no deeper scandal on Benghazi and that the IRS issue is not really something I’m inclined to worry about as it wasn’t national policy, the AP scandal is something that is very worrisome as it clearly was national policy and exposes one of the more disgraceful areas of the > more ... (1 comments)Rep. Michele Bachmann Threatens To Leave Minnesota Over Gay Marriage
So much awesome:Congresswoman Michele Bachmann threatened to leave Minnesota today if the state goes ahead with its plans to legalize gay marriage. In an interview with a local television station, the conservative firebrand said she believes God will destroy Minneapolis once the legislation is enacted, and wants to be far away when the reckoning happens. > more ... (4 comments)
Polled GOP Respondents Say Obama Hangnail Worse Than Holocaust
Announcement: Ignorant fucktards who think all this Benghazi bullshit is the worst thing to to happen since Jesus died are required to report to their local suicide booth immediately.… there’s no doubt about how mad Republicans are about Benghazi. 41% say they consider this to be the biggest political scandal in American history > more ... (2 comments)
Bioshock Infinite Causes Christian Gamer To Cry And Make Piddles
Some excitable christian fundamentalist nerd got all worked up into a lather because the game Bioshock Infinite required the main character to undergo a baptism.
“As baptism of the Holy spirit is at the center of Christianity – of which I am a devout believer – I am basically being forced to make a choice between committing extreme blasphemy by my actions > more ... (1 comments)
Just read this: This afternoon Senator Reid asked unanimous consent to go to conference on the concurrent resolution on the Budget. Senator Cruz was unavailable to be on the floor at this time to object. Out of respect for the long tradition of comity in the Senate, Senator Reid withdrew his request. Your eyes might drift to > more ... (1 comments)
As some of you have noticed, the site has been experiencing intermittent availability issues over the past many months. I’ve been working with our hosting company to try to find and fix the problem(s) – but they’ve proven themselves to be feckless, yet earnest. > more ... (0 comments)Why It's Important For Atheists To Stop Worrying About Religionists' Fee-Fees
Sean Carroll rightly calling on atheists to speak out and stop being polite about it:We have a responsibility to get the word out—to not be wishy-washy on the question of religion as a way of knowing, but to be clear and direct and loud about how reality really works. > more ... (1 comments)
We Paid For the Shadow Demon, We're Gonna Use the Shadow Demon
I realize that of all things featured in life’s rich tapestry this hardly rates a mention, but apparently another Dungeons and Dragons movie is making noise in the ‘Wood: The studio is actually quite far along in the development of the project, as it will use a script by Wrath Of The Titans and Red Riding > more ... (1 comments)The Loudly Ignorant Become Less So Once Shown They're Ignorant
I’m surprised that any of the fervently ignorant people surveyed in this study ever ended up moderating their positions. I wonder if the researchers included teabaggers in the sample population…
Four researchers at three different institutions joined forces to ask a simple question: why is it that people have such extreme positions on subjects that are rather complicated and nuanced? > more ... (0 comments)
I’m a sucker for arty books and paper inventions. (Not necessarily books about art, although those can be interesting too, if unaccountably heavy and given to making my floors creak.) The Museum of Lost Wonder, various items in the Wondermark Goodsery (no relation), the Edward Gorey Dracula Playset (of course), and pop-up books of > more ... (0 comments)Today's Trivia: Presidential IQs
Just found this Wikipedia list that has IQ scores for all U.S. Presidents (excluding Obama). The biggest surprise is how low Wilson comes considering his background and education, though it kinda makes sense considering how much stock he put in his own intellect, only to make the same mistakes again and again and never learn > more ... (1 comments)Says Library Right There in the Title, That's Why
Apparently, folks ain’t yet tired of shifting water from Bucket A to Bucket B and back, or of moving piles of sand about with tweezers, and took the opportunity last year to piss in over 450 collective libraries’ ears regarding such nefarious libri malvagi as Captain Underpants and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time > more ... (0 comments)
THE GRAPEVINE
McCain has always been a bitter spiteful old man. He was only mavericky when it served to piss of that darn president bush that he hated. Then when he had that dArn president mcblackerson to piss off, he became a reactionary asshole. The myth of McCain is one of those zombie misconceptions that will never die
At least that bitterness used to be directed at real pieces of garbage, though.
the enemy of my enemy is my friend and all that
He was a hero in the war and then sold out to the special interest groups that offer him so much money. I lost all respect for him when her entered politics in the GOP. And at that time I was an independent voter.