More-On

James Poulos cranked a particularly stinky nugget into Tucker Carlson’s cat box Thursday, a column entitled “What Are Women For?” that was at once so offensive, pretentious, incoherent, clueless and just plain dumb that it attracted hoots of derision from every corner of the internet. Balloon Juice commenter Clark Stooksbury summed it up pithily as follows:

I think that English is his second language, and perhaps Earth is his second planet.

Yup. Stung by the “wave of anger and condemnation” occasioned by his column, Poulos apparently decided to spend Friday afternoon masticating and swallowing an unabridged thesaurus along with a freshman introduction to philosophy textbook and wash it down with a liter of Everclear. The resulting geyser of vomit was pixelated into a dripping rebuttal to his critics that contains half-digested chunks such as this:

It’s not very controversial to point out that sex and gender are foundational to the culture wars. But it is apparently extremely controversial to claim that we can’t make sense of how and why they’re foundational without acknowledging that the root of the battle is over reaching — and enforcing — a consensus about the relationship between what women do and who women are.

And…

The same [Meh, never mind; it doesn’t really matter what is allegedly “the same”—ed.] is true for the meaning of the relationship between women as sovereign individuals and as beings with female bodies.

But its conclusion may contain a kernel of truth that the incredulous and exasperated reader espies with wonder similar to that of a janitor engaged in mopping up a binge drinker’s pool of sick upon finding a single kernel of undigested corn, whole and recognizable, in the barf on the frat lounge floor:

Difference doesn’t presume or ordain inequality. I’m not alone in thinking that women are uniquely able to help humanity avoid becoming enthralled to the more sterile cultural creations of men. But this sort of insight is far more circumspect and modest than the central principles of virtually all social conservatives. If my claim is doomed to be met with an avalanche of contempt, it seems likely that in our lifetimes social conservatism as we know it will be mocked, despised, and shamed right out of existence. You might be deeply uncomfortable with that even if you do hope to see an America without a social conservative movement.

I think he means “Après moi, le déluge” or something. But I’m not sure why I’m supposed to be “deeply uncomfortable” with the extinction of social conservativism that Poulos’ blogular rogering is supposed to portend. Say bye-bye to all-male panels of sanctimonious, god-bothering pricks deciding women’s healthcare issues? Bring it on, I say.

[X-POSTED at Rumproast]

I Would Do Anything For Love, But I Won’t Douthat

As many of you know, I am a very agnostic person.  I don’t know if a god exists, ever existed, or ever will exist, and neither do any of the Churches.  Those of you who disagree with me  are free to do so, and good on you for it.

What I’m all about is the fact that the Church, in the name of religious freedom, is trying to use the Republican party to cram their religious beliefs down the throats of millions of Americans who are not members of that church.  We all know this to be the case.  Well, I’ve found an essay about this very thing, and I’d like you all to read it when you get a chance.

Garry Willis Wills, in the New York Review of Books, posted this well researched and well thought out answer to a lot of your questions about the church and it’s positions on the use of contraception.

Contraception’s Con Men is a quickly read takedown of the ideas that the ban on contraception has a scriptural basis, or a Natural Law basis under which the Church, by its own rules of logic and faith, may regulate or deny the use of contraception.  Basically it’s a holdover from Pius XI deciding that Genesis 38:9, condemning Onan for spilling his seed meant that passage forbade the act of sex for anything but procreation.  This was in the 1930s.

Now, you really should read the whole thing, even if you’re not a current or former student of Catholic theology and church politics—the two concepts being essentially the same thing, but if you can’t, here’s the takeaway:

There was broad disagreement with Pius XI’s 1930 encyclical on the matter. Pope Paul VI set up a study group of loyal and devout Catholics, lay and clerical, to make recommendations. The group overwhelmingly voted to change the teaching of Pius XI. But cardinals in the Roman Curia convinced Paul that any change would suggest that the church’s teachings are not eternal (though Casti Connubii had not been declared infallible, by the papacy’s own standards).

When Paul reaffirmed the ban on birth control in Humanae Vitae (1968) there was massive rejection of it. Some left the church. Some just ignored it. Paradoxically, the document formed to convey the idea that papal teaching is inerrant just convinced most people that it can be loony. The priest-sociologist Andrew Greeley said that Humanae Vitae did more damage to the papacy than any of the so-called “liberal” movements in Catholicism. When Pius IX condemned democracy and modern science in his Syllabus of Errors (1864), the Catholic historian Lord Acton said that Catholics were too sensible to go crazy every time a pope does. The reaction to Humanae Vitae proves that.

And since I forgot the actual part of the post that referenced Chunky Reese Whitherspoon, here is the link to Chunky’s column wherein he lets us all know that just because nobody actually pays attention to the Bishops, that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t set national policy by their will.  Apparently because Douthat is unable to enjoy non-procreative sex.

Title stolen shamelessly from Tbogg.

Where Are The Republican Women On This?

And expanding on what Betty said below, I’m asking out of genuine curiosity the about the opinions when it comes to Republican women and the birth control brouhaha.  Short of The Distinguished Ladies From Maine wanting to see “final details” of President Obama’s rule changes to provide contraception coverage through insurance companies, I’ve heard basically nothing from prominent conservative women this week on the GOP’s trip back in time.  It’s mind-blowingly obvious as to what I think about the sheer horror of it all, but I’m seriously trying to figure out if it’s deafening silence that implies support (or silent rage), if it’s none of my damned business, or if I’m just completely missing something.

And as Charles Pierce notes, at least one GOP woman candidate is running on the whole thing being nothing more than a First Amendment issue, like the campaign of Sarah Steelman in Missouri.

People living in these states are going to hear, over and over again, on free and paid media, through an entire primary season, that the real issue here is religious liberty and Obamacare. (What Republican candidate is going to come out and argue that it’s an issue of women’s health care? Anyone? Bueller?) This will continue into the general election cycle. By then, this ludicrous position will be set in concrete as a legitimate part of the electoral dialogue. I’m not optimistic at all that enough people will see through it.

Chart Of Darkness: Belaboring The Point

Following up on Saturday’s post on the latest wingnut meme that Kenyan Soshulist Maths are hiding the truth that the reeeeeeeal unemployment rate among scared, crazy self-piddling conservatives is 157 gazillion percent, we see FOX and Friends is happily joining in the silliness.

“Are they playing around with the numbers?” fill-in host Eric Bolling asked. “Look, it’s the Bureau of Labor of Statistics. It’s suppose to be non-partisan, but that’s the Department of Labor, Hilda Solis. Hilda Solis works directly for Obama.”

“Are you saying they’re cooking the books,” regular co-host Steve Doocy inquired.

“I’m saying, there’s room for error,” Bolling replied. “But when you’re talking about four million people, how do you know?”

Later in the segment, Doocy declared war on numbers, science, engineering, calculus, statistical analysis and pi.  Because only “they” use numbers.  Real Americans don’t need facts to know the truth about THE REDISTRIBUTION OF OUR NUBILE YOUNG DAUGHTER-VIRGINS.  The only possible explanation for this is YOU LIE.

Really, they should just send the White House the bill for Bolling peeing on the studio carpet in abject fear.  Abject fear…of numbers.

Snark aside, with the more unstable among us about three steps away from burning the President in effigy over birth control and Republicans trying to criminalize having cabinet departments, it really won’t be long before we’re having another “free speech right to do horrible, horrible things flashpoint” in this country.  We’re just waiting to try to contain the damage when it happens if it’s this insane 9 months out before the election.

Seriously, we’re to the point that actually having the Labor Department is now the equivalent of The Ministry Of Truth And Silly Walks.  How long before we get to the point where Tea Party shenanigans become so exponentially insane that Our Serious And Knowledgeable Betters tell us that the President should just resign now “for the good of the country” rather than risk his “divisive and polarizing” re-election to a second term?

Five gets you seven that column is already on Bobo’s hard drive.

[UPDATE]  This line of attack is now official, as Rush Limbaugh accused the President of “monkeying with the numbers” today.   Monkey.  Mmm-hmm.

Chart Of Darkness

The problem with this Zero Hedge “implied unemployment rate” chart that the wingers are screaming about as proof of a massive “Democrat Party scam” is the fact that Tyler Durden ran the numbers back for 30 years and it exists all the way back to the Reagan era, and it shows that the “real” unemployment rate under President Bill Clinton was actually under two percent by the time he left office. Slick Willie was such a monster that he lowballed his numbers every month for both of his two terms and spotted himself a higher 4.0% plus unemployment rate instead, and then George W. Bush came along and quadrupled it from 2 percent to 8 percent.  (Why Bush the Elder didn’t learn from his boss, I dunno.)

Not only that, but the implied rate under St. Ronaldus (nearly 14%) was far worse than anything currently under the Obama administration (falling from 12%), meaning that if we’re measuring who the worst President in history is by the implied unemployment rate and by how far the numbers are “lying” then that particular crown goes to Jellybean. His guys basically shaved 3.5 points off the unemployment rate for the entirety of his first term and still got him re-elected overwhelmingly in 1984 as a result.  Of course, since that’s the benchmark, it doesn’t count.   President Obama took a far worse collapse and is handling far better than Reagan did with his recession, so of course everyone has to ignore 95% of the chart.

You know, because President Obama is judged by a different standard for reasons that nobody on the right can seem to articulate…

A Poll Arising Situation

The latest NBC/Marist poll in Florida this weekend finds Mitt Romney up big over Newt Gingrich now, 42%-27%.  That’s not the big news.  This is, buried at the ass end of the article:

Romney and rest of the candidates, however, continue to trail President Obama in Florida among all voters. Romney does best, but loses 49-41 percent, a point worse than a month ago.

As in the latest NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll, Gingrich fares the worst of the entire GOP field against Obama, worse even than Santorum or Paul. Obama beats Gingrich, 52-35 percent, a five-point wider advantage for Obama from December.

Obama, whose approval rating in Florida is 46 percent, has a lead over Romney, in large part, because of independents. Independents sided overwhelmingly with the president—50-36 percent over Romney, and by 20 points or more over Gingrich, Santorum and Paul.

Another reason that POTUS is leading in Florida is Gov. Rick Scott.  Independents are utterly furious with him and that’s reflected in that general independent disgust with all four GOP candidates.  The same scenario is playing out in the other two big traditional swing states, Ohio with John Kasich, and to a lesser extent, Tom Corbett in Pennsylvania.

And yes, ten months is a universe in political time, but the seeds for the GOP defeat in November are being planted now by Romney trying to out-wingnut the wingnuts.

They Grow Up So Fast

Stay classy, Arizona:

A picture that shows several teens, a few of them carrying guns, displaying a bullet-riddled Obama T-shirt has led the U.S. Secret Service to investigate.

The Peoria Police Department is also doing its own investigation since the person who took the photograph is a Sergeant for the department.

There are just so many things to love about this- that a bunch of kids are running around posing with guns, that they thought it was appropriate to shoot up an Obama t-shirt, and that a cop was the person snapping the picture, and that then, in their infinite wisdom, they decided to post it on the internet.

And y’all wonder how Jan Brewer got elected.

Touching the Elephant known as Newt

Remember that old story of blind men touching and describing an elephant? Well, that is the phase of the Republican primary we are in when it comes to Newt Gingrich. Folks are touching this or that aspect of his record and statements and using the narrowness of the exploration to describe Newt. Each of these explorations have some truth, but unconnected to each other they lead to a false impression of The Professor—and that is why he is rising in the polls. Folks see in him what they want to see and in South Carolina they saw a Conservative hero, a neo-Confederate and a fighter for the white race. In the coming weeks and months more and more parts of Newt will be touched and explore—and perhaps a complete image of the man will emerge.

Newt Gingrich has been a character of Wingnutopia since the early 1980s and he is a legend. If you pretend that George W. Bush, his administration and the DeLay Congress never existed, then Newt becomes the only Republican after Saint Ronnie to lead his Party to a historic victory: the 1994 takeover of Congress. Sure, he squandered that victory and was run out of office a few years later, but if you can forget the Bush JR. years it will be easy to push Newt’s shadow material down the memory hole as well. If you only selectively remember history—Newt is a Wingnut hero. If all you do is touch that one part of Newt, then you can easily buy into the Scarborough meme of Newt as Conservative hero.

Of course if you were to touch another part of Newt, your impression might be very different. He is a big ass elephant and there are lots of parts to touch—if you dare. Here is one from a Vanity Fair interview with Jack Abramoff shortly after his scandal broke, but before he plead guilty:

There are other people from Abramoff’s more distant past who also never knew him, such as former Republican House Speaker (and rumored 2008 presidential candidate [and current 2012 candidate with the big ‘mo’]) Newt Gingrich, who first never met Abramoff during the latter’s firebrand days atop the College Republicans. “Before his picture appeared on TV and in the newspapers, Newt wouldn’t have known him if he fell across him. He hadn’t seen him in 10 years,” Gingrich’s spokesman, Rick Tyler, tells me.

That this especially rankles Abramoff becomes clear as he rummages through a box of old memorabilia with me. “Here’s [former Republican Texas congressman and House majority leader] Dick Armey,” he tells me. “Here’s Newt. Newt. Newt. [Former president Ronald] Reagan. More Newt. Newt with Grover [Norquist, the Washington conservative Republican Über-strategist and longtime Abramoff friend] this time, and with [Seattle arch-conservative Republican] Rabbi [Daniel] Lapin. But Newt never met me. [Indicted Iran-contra figure and longtime Abramoff friend] Ollie North. Newt. Can’t be Newt … he never met me. Oh, Newt! What’s he doing there? Must be a Newt look-alike. I have more pictures of him than I have of my wife. Newt again! It’s sick! I thought he never met me!”

When you dig into the record, Newt and Jack stared working together over thirty years ago. Some stories have Jack raising money to help Newt and the GOP win in 1994 and Jack was hired as a lobbyist on the basis of his relationship with Newt and other Republicans who came to power almost 20 years ago. They were wingnut caballeros running scam after scam, but when Jack was caught Newt pretended like they never knew each other. Newt’s low profile in 2004-2005 helped him dodged the scandle and now he gets to run for office with this (and many other stories of his life) swept under the rug.

The Professor is a professional grifter and right now he is working overtime to sell the Scarborough meme that he is a conservative hero. He is a brazen con artist at the top of his game and the gracefulness with which he bamboozles the gullible and the greedy is a thing of perverse beauty. It is amazing the grandeur they find climbing up his ass and how they convince themselves that Newt’s shit does not stink.

Perhaps he will get away with it all and become the Republican Nominee for President.

And perhaps the Myans were right and 2012 is the year of the Wingularity.

Cheers

Still More Nuked Gingrich

With just 5 days until the Iowa Caucuses, Team Newt is “managing expectations” for Gingrich’s crash and burn.

On Wednesday evening around 6:30 ET, Newt Gingrich strategist Joe DeSantis declared the Gingrich surge in Iowa officially over.

“Oh I think anywhere in the top five would be surviving Iowa,” DiSantis told CNN.

Just a couple weeks ago, Gingrich was riding high in Iowa, leading by huge margins. DeSantis acknowledged that his candidate is no longer in “the top tier” however, chalking up the decline to the blanket of negative ads that have been run against Gingrich since he surged.

“I don’t care what candidate’s in the race, if they get $9 million in negative advertisements against them they’re going to drop in the polls,” he said. “Considering we’ve been outspent 30-1 on the air, that still being very competitive for fourth place right now and, frankly, really not that far off from being in the top tier in Iowa still is pretty impressive.”

But Mitt can’t seem to break that 25% mark.  That means a vast majority of Republicans still want him to jump off the nearest pier.  That probably explains why Newt is talking about sticking around after finishing fifth or so:  whoever does drop out after Iowa would end up giving their votes to, well, anybody but Mitt.  And it’s not going to take much to beat Mitt’s weak showing down the road.

And for now, that may be enough to keep everyone alive for a while.  If Mitt does win Iowa, but manages to win with a showing involving 30-35% at best, it’s still anyone’s ball game, no matter how much Romney wants to declare the primary season over on January 4.

WTF, Glenn Beck?

I know—we shouldn’t even bother with Glenn Beck because everything he says and does is a WTF moment.
Well, here’s one you didn’t see coming:
Glenn Beck Suggests Tea Party is Racist
Yeah. I’ll let that sink in a bit.

From the article:

In a startling admission from a major Tea Party champion, former Fox News host Glenn Beck said Friday that race may be a motivating factor in the Tea Party’s opposition to President Obama. In an interview with Fox Business host Andrew Napolitano, Beck said Obama and GOP front-runner Newt Gingrich are both “big government progressive[s],” so he doesn’t understand why Tea Party members are supporting Gingrich. “If you’re against [Obama] but you’re for [Gingrich], it must be about race,”

Next up, Glenn Beck discovers that sun rises in the east, and that water is wet.  Have we reached peak wingnut?

Open thread, also too.

37 Trees

I see that another wingnut voltron has formed over the fact that there are 37 trees in the White House, started by the loathesome former secretary for Barbara Bush, Andrew Malcolm. James Joyner handles this rather nicely:

For one thing, these Christmas trees aren’t for the Obamas. Rather, they’re for the tens of thousands of tourists who line up in the cold to tour the White House during the holidays. Indeed, precisely because of all the tourists running around, this is the part of the White House that the Obamas are least likely to use.

For another, the notion that the best thing one can do during a bad economy is to cut back on spending is remarkably counterproductive. If anything, the Obamas should be laying on more Christmas trees–and so should the rest of those fortunate to have jobs. That’s, after all, how people who sell and transport trees and ornaments put food on their tables. The last thing they need is for people to start cutting back in some bizarre show of solidarity.

I’m not sure if James meant to make the argument for expanded government spending and a second stimulus, but he just did.

By the way, I love how wingnuts can claim Obama is simultaneously waging a war on Christmas while also having too many Christmas decorations up.

Things That Upset Wingnuts, Pearl Harbor Edition

You can’t make this shit up:

Apparently Asia = Japan. There are so many things to love about this, starting with the fact that someone is actually spending their time rummaging through school website to find out what Obama’s kids are having for lunch, the conflation of Asia with Japan, the notion that what a school serves is somehow a reflection on Obama, and so on.

BTW- The menu sounds delicious, btw.

Auto-Neurotic In Alabama

One has to wonder what Alabama cops have against foreign car executives anyway.  Oh wait: they have no choice but to ask for papers, please.

The Guardian reports that Honda manager Ichiro Yada was arrested earlier this week at a checkpoint in Leeds, Alabama, despite being able to show police his passport, US work permit, and international driver’s license. He was not taken into custody, however, but was ticketed and released on a signature bond.

Yada’s international license was apparently not sufficient to satisfy the letter of the law, which required him to carry either an Alabama license or one issued by Japan. The charges were dismissed only when his attorney faxed a copy of his Japanese driver’s license to the judge.

The mayor of the city of Leeds defended his officers, saying, “The police are instructed to follow the law as written. People are trying to use this to make the law look bad. That’s not our problem. We’re going to enforce the laws of state of Alabama.”

And yes.  It is your problem as an elected official in the state.  It’s a law forcing you to be a racist, reactionary douche bag.  Saying “that’s the law, it’s not our problem” immediately makes it your problem.

I’m guessing at some point, these automakers and other foreign companies are just going to stop doing business with the state.  Alabama’s already lost major agriculture business due to the law.  It really is an example of “job-killing regulations”.

But it doesn’t matter.  Gotta rid the state of the unclean and the impure.

‘Don’t Shoot Obama’ even if ‘Tempting’ says UT College Republicans President

These clowns are out of their minds.

Well, apparently, it did—Pennsylvania State Police arrested the shooter, 21 year-old Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez.

Upon hearing the news, Laurene Pierce (President of the College Republicans at University of Texas) thought it would be hilarious to tweet that people shouldn’t shoot Obama, “as tempting as it may be.”

Tee hee!  It’s so funny!

From ABC News:

A 21-year-old Idaho man suspected of firing a semi-automatic rifle at the White House was arrested today, authorities said.

“On Wednesday afternoon at approximately 12:35 p.m. EST, based on information generated by Secret Service agents from the Pittsburgh Field Office, Pennsylvania State Police Troop A located and arrested Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez at a hotel near Indiana, Pa.,” according to a statement from Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Edwin Donovan.

Donovan said that Ortega-Hernandez was in the custody of Pennsylvania State Police after being found at a Hampton Inn. More »

The Katie Couric “Grilling”

Wingnuts are all upset about the CBS debate last night, and my initial reaction was “Why’d you schedule a Saturday night debate during football season?” But then I read the Politio write-up:

But CBS already navigates conservative distrust over Dan Rather’s botched report raising questions about George W. Bush’s National Guard service in 2004 and Katie Couric’s grilling of Sarah Palin in 2008 — and Bachmann’s campaign manager said the candidate’s debate treatment flew in the face of assurances from CBS Vice President Chris Isham that the Bachmann would get a fair shot at the debate.

Let’s remember what constitutes an unfair grilling by Katie Couric:

COURIC: And when it comes to establishing your world view, I was curious, what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this — to stay informed and to understand the world?

PALIN: I’ve read most of them again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media —

COURIC: But which ones specifically? I’m curious.

PALIN: Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me over all these years.

COURIC: Can you name any of them?

PALIN: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news. Alaska isn’t a foreign country, where, it’s kind of suggested and it seems like, ‘Wow, how could you keep in touch with what the rest of Washington, D.C. may be thinking and doing when you live up there in Alaska?’ Believe me, Alaska is like a microcosm of America.

Reporter: Name a newspaper you read, Gov. Palin.

Entire wingnut hive mind: LIBERAL MEDIA BIAS HOW DARE YOU TREAT HER LIKE THIS.

If you want to know what Republicans think are fair questions, think of the old SNL Jeopardy skits. The only thing you are allowed to ask them are things like “S words” and “Name a color that ends in -urple.”