Another target rich environment:
Gov. Sarah Palin just told reporters that she’s accepting only 55 percent of the federal economic stimulus money being offered to Alaska. The governor said that she will accept only about $514 million of the $930 million headed to the state.
***The biggest single chunk of stimulus money that Palin is turning down is $160 million for education.
Of course, the good governor says she will work with the legislature if they say they want the whole amount. Wink, wink, YOU BETCHA!
I seriously don’t understand how I was ever stupid enough to fall for the Republican BS.
Just Some (Whistles)
You still seem pretty stupid if it’s any consolation.
tom c
Were you a heavy drinker?
guest
does that make her only 55% socialist?
Yukoner
We don’t need no education…
Ed Marshall
I bet Alaskans will lurve that. She’s going rogue again, it’s all about 2012.
El Cid
It’s easier on the dark & simplistic side. You don’t have to think about stuff all the time, and you don’t have to be able to prove every point you believe in with all the evidence ever in existence since writing began.
TenguPhule
I blame your cat.
TenguPhule
I think Alaska should return the favor and only pay her 55% of her salary and accompanying benefits.
Danton
What parts of the package did she accept? Might be interesting to look into that.
Brian Griffin
‘our local communities would be required to adopt uniform building codes’
they don’t have bldg codes up there?
Keith
Cocaine’s a helluva drug!
Warren Terra
This is off topic, but the Obamas just started something that manages to combine reasonably good policy and propaganda with massive swathes of wingnut head explosions across the country:
First, the reasonably good policy and propaganda:
Obamas Prepare to Plant White House Vegetable Garden
And now cue the wingnut head explosions:
and
and
and
.
P.S.
Bubblegum Tate
@guest:
Well, 55 percent socialist on top of her already socialistic duty of taking money from those Galt-esque producers, the oil companies, and distributing that money to the greedy parasites (also known as "Alaskans" in this scenario) equally–just like Marx himself said! Mavericky! Also.
Comrade Stuck
After watching house dems today pass a bill of attainder prohibited by the Constitution, there is plenty of stupid to go around at present. This after they changed the language in the stim to permit the bonuses.
And did anyone see the Senate wingnut news conference lie fest pallozza about how they were cut out of the markup and conference report, preventing them from rescuing the bonus money?
The first question by a reporter was, but you boycotted those meetings. Kyle– duh uh yea, because they didn’t let us write the bill.
Then, swear they never shut out dems (that didn’t really happen this time to them) and the second reporter question included a litany of times they did. Kyle, duh, uh. but those weren’t critical legislation like this. And it went on downhill from there, till the fools just cut out the door.
link not up yet at cspan
guest
I seriously don’t understand how I was ever stupid enough to fall for the Republican BS.
okay, that makes sense now. i could have sworn ballonjuice used to be a conservative blog.
Svensker
I just can’t take it anymore, and we’re only 2-1/2 months into a Dem administration. On one board I frequent, the wingers are screaming about how Dems just spend money and tear up the constitution and the End of the U.S.of A. is nigh. My head cannot take the disconnect any more. I. Just. Can’t. Stand. It. (As tho anyone gives a shit.)
Your puppies are incredibly cute. Maybe I’ll just stick to puppies from now on. I give up.
Bubblegum Tate
@guest:
Well, 55 percent soci@list on top of her already soci@listic duty of taking money from those Galt-esque producers, the oil companies, and distributing that money to the greedy parasites (also known as "Alaskans" in this scenario) equally—just like Marx himself said! Mavericky! Also.
guest
@Danton:
do a fake out and tell her the rest of the package will force women to pay for their own rape kit – to get her to accept it.
Dennis-SGMM
Alaska now receives a little over two bucks back from the gov for every dollar they pay in taxes. A lot of that federal money comes with strings attached. Palin isn’t making any moves to turn that down because without it the rugged individualists up there would soon be turning tricks on the streets of Seattle for Top Ramen.
TenguPhule
Stay strong. The Liberal Reeducation camps will soon be in operation to thin the rising tides of stupid. One way or another.
Just Some (Whistles)
@Comrade Stuck: Ya know Stunk, you could help me try to console John here..
LV-426
It’s required for military service. If you ain’t one going in you will be coming out.
It still is. There are conservative democrats you know.
TenguPhule
There is no need to bring Seattle into this.
Just Some (Whistles)
@Danton: Prolly just the guns and whores. Everything else’ll just freeze or get carried off by grizzlies.
Ella in NM
No, it just makes her the most narcissistic, vain, empty headed opportunist to come on the political scene in America in the last 50 years. Ambitious little political ho, isn’t she? Especially on the backs of the most vulnerable people of her state (Gee–her own children were birthed to be exploited for political means so why does this surprise me?). This piece of work is so vapid and clueless that she could reasonably be considered to be a danger to the citizens of AK.
I hope she falls down in the woods snowshoe hunting moose, wacks her head on an oil pipeline trestle, slips into hypothermis and gets eaten by a wolf.
Comrade Jake
You guys are missing the point: you don’t need no educayshun to shoot wolves from planes!
gex
I used to think maybe it was me who was crazy. I just couldn’t see how people I know and liked could fall for this, even though their machinations have been plain as day all along.
Not only is their professed ideology problematic, but their practice of it always boils down into IOKIYAR. To them, rules simply apply to other people.
jnfr
I do love the new vegetable garden.
re: the stimulus money
I know that the Administration and/or Congress made some noise about "take all or nothing, and use it only for what we specified". Does anyone know for sure if that will be true?
Regardless, you know the legislature will take the cash no matter what Palin says.
Leelee for Obama
Don’t be too hard on yourself, John. My brother was 53 this past January, and voted for a Democrat for the first time in November. George Bush went a long way in convincing sane Republicans of the error of their ways. I never understood his thinking, he never understood mine. Apparently, Bush was a uniter after all.
I knew there was disturbance in the force when my brother was defending the poor schmoes in the rotten mortgages last summer. He said something like,"watch those bastards say it was poor people who caused all this."
I almost fell on the floor. And, lo, that’s just what they did!
TenguPhule
It’s you. And me. And a lot of people.
We are mad because it’s the only way to handle the Knurd of the world.
Dennis-SGMM
Palin was later quoted as objecting to the fact that none of the stimulus money was targeted at providing designer clothing for Alaska governors.
tomjones
I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that at this same time Gov. Palin has begun robocalling Iowa.
Comrade Stuck
@Just Some (Whistles):
I must apologize and blame my crazy ass clipboard for making a mistake. My intention for a quote to highlight my highly insightful comment should have been
I guess I read your crass remark jester fuckhead and became bumfuzzled and erred/ Sorry Mr. Cole, for stupid is as stupid does and no one these days has exactly cornered that market.
Robert Johnston
Not even close. The bill of attainder clause applies only to criminal law and only to much more narrowly targeted laws than what the House passed today. And considering that the government is running AIG in lieu of bankruptcy and those bonuses would completely disappear in bankruptcy anyway, not to mention that those bonuses were almost certainly obtained fraudulently and though a massive violation of fiduciary duty to shareholders, there’s really no argument that today’s act is in any way violative of anyone’s rights. You can legitimately argue that the House bill is bad policy that focuses on trivia, but not that it’s unconstitutional.
Dennis-SGMM
Just to cheer us up:
Obama Administration to Stop Raids on Medical Marijuana Dispensers
Robert Johnston
Considering the way Palin makes routine illegal use of per diems and travel expense vouchers on the Alaska taxpayer dime, I’ve no doubt that she’s already figured out a way to charge the state for her wardrobe.
tomjones
@Svensker: Hell, I know. Can you imagine how insane they’ll be in 2 and 1/5 years?
El Cid
WE DON’T NEED YER DAMN BOOK LARNIN’, THIS HERE’S REAL AMERICA, you betcha, also, too.
Janet Strange
@tomjones: FWIW, I also got those calls (I’m in Texas), so it’s not just Iowa. I deleted the message/refused to pick up so all I ever heard was the first question, but it was clear where it was going. They called 5-6 times before giving up on me ever playing along.
I’m perfectly OK with the morans spending their money on stupid robopolls. Keep it up!
nylund
When you’re dumb as a rock, the only way to get re-elected is to make sure your constituents stay even dumber.
Cut education, demonize universities, teachers, and professors…its their only hope.
Tsulagi
So she’s turning down money for education, and the linked article says also for things like Public Safety (I presume cops and firemen). Hmmm, I see what Winky’s doing, she’s striking a patriotic blow (or at least a pose) against the demofascists within….Unions. The new evildoers.
JL
@tomjones: 3.
Sounds as though Sarah just wants to campaign 24/7. She does enjoy designer clothes. Hopefully, this time, she leaves her children at home so they can attend school. Education does not seem to be a top priority for her, considering that she did not want the stimulus money.
Comrade Stuck
@Robert Johnston:
Your calling it likely fraud and at same time saying BOA only applies to crimes. I’m not a lawyer, but seems to me the Founders put that in the Constitution to prevent the general situation of passing laws that apply only to a person or group of persons for the reason of punishment. I think that is what is happening, and you could even argue it is what happened in the Schiavo case to punish her husband for doing something wingnut fundies thought was illegal.
Maybe you are right, but there were other ways of dealing with this and what was done today was pure stupid, constitutional or not.
TenguPhule
Fixed.
At this point, I’m taking bets on when the Palin Playboy spread comes out.
Rick Taylor
Others will disagree, but I don’t remember the GOP being quite this stupid eight years ago, or even four. Their vice presidential candidate cites her states proximity to Russia in support of her foreign policy bona fides, and instead of being embarrassed a bunch of Republicans nod in support? I thought I’d been disillusioned by then, but that broke new ground. I can see where your ill-fated peak wingnut theory came from; it felt like they’d reached some theoretical limit. It doesn’t seem to have slowed them down though. The only explanation I’ve come up with is they keep doubling down on a bad bet. They keep facing the choice of admitting the views they’ve had about the world are too simplistic and don’t account for them fully, or adhering to them even more strongly and mindlessly. And with a few exceptions that are immediately excommunicated, they keep choosing the latter.
MikeJ
She does have, uhm, issues with public safety officers.
Dennis-SGMM
Six years ago today America invaded Iraq. I can only surmise that our media forgot to set a reminder because I just haven’t seen the endless gun camera footage of people and things being blown up nor have their been any breathless reports from embedded
newshounds that ran nonstop back then.Just Some (Whistles)
@Comrade Stuck:
Sure, blame it on someone else.
eric
It is my not-so-humble opinion that the worm really turned when Michel was forced from his leadership role by Newt for working with the majority. That was the moment the GOP paradigm shift first materially manifested itself.
eric
John Cole
@eric: Bob Michel seems like a liberal compared to the current party.
Comrade Stuck
@Just Some (Whistles):
It’s not my fault this is false.
robertdsc
Beautiful and stupid at the same time.
Svensker
@Comrade Stuck:
Ian Anderson, is that you?
Dennis-SGMM
@John Cole:
Richard Fucking Nixon seems like a liberal compared to the current party.
Comrade Stuck
@John Cole:
So does Richard Nixon
**the former Reverend Dennis is right.
NonyNony
To be fair to you John, they get crazier every fucking year. Or they get stupider about hiding the crazy every year. I’m still not sure which.
I swear to Grod this isn’t the Republican Party I was raised on. But then I look back at the Reagan/Bush the Elder years and I see the seeds of what’s going on right now. And I look at my parents (who I love very much, mind you) who spout stupid unsourced Limbaughisms and think anyone to the left of Sean Hannity is a Communist (and let me tell you – family gatherings are a HOOT AND A HOLLER these days).
So I’m really going with "crazier every fucking year". Eventually they get so crazy, you just have to leave. Different folks have different breaking points (Newtie was mine, W was many of my friends – I wish I knew what it would take to get my parents to give up on em…)
Dennis-SGMM
@robertdsc:
Remember when Republicans were vehemently denying that Palin was stupid, unprepared, unready?
That she still thinks she has a shot in 2012 pretty much settles the stupid part for me.
Comrade Stuck
@robertdsc:
:
Yes, a flea flicker to stay a step ahead of the pitchfork mob.
NonyNony
@Dennis-SGMM:
Hell the FIRST George Bush seems like a liberal compared to the current party.
And in some ways, so does Reagan. At least both Reagan and Bush the Elder were willing to be adults and pass a couple of tax increases when they were needed. This current crop of juveniles would be chanting "RINO! RINO!" and waving teabags at Ronald Reagan.
Dennis-SGMM
I was temporarily defrocked after a little misunderstanding at my annual Blessing of the Cheerleaders.
Comrade Stuck
@Svensker:
Sitting on a park bench
Comrade Scrutinizer
It’s because of the beets, John. Evil, evil beets.
Comrade Stuck
@Dennis-SGMM:
too much cheerleader blessing’ll do that.
bootlegger
@TenguPhule: Brazilian wax or au natural?
AhabTRuler
Don’t give up! We might still have a chance to find out yet!
Big smile! Big smile!
eric
John: I think one could argue (and be wrong, but that is another story) that America should be about (1) a strong military, (2) lower taxes, (3) less, rather than more, regulation on small (and large) businesses, (4) no gun control, and (5) specific stands on moral issues (anti-gay, anti-abortion).
Those things do not "do" anything when times are tough. There is nothing in that set of "policies" that will help us now. They are legislatively available during prosperity. yet, rather than admit that, the GOP is trying to argue that those same things can help us now….just crazy
eric
Llelldorin
Judging by arguing with people being Wrong on the Internet over the last sixteen years or so, conservatives have gotten much, much stupider over time.
It used to be challenging to debate conservatives–they had an entire well-thought-out universe that they lived in. You’d try to point out that their constructed universe didn’t really match the real world, but it was hard; they’d really put a lot of thought into its construction, and were generally spectacularly competent debaters.
These days, that alternate universe looks like a diorama built for a second-grader’s class project. The current crop of conservatives grew up in a world in which conservatism was largely assumed true, and it shows–they simply have no idea how to handle even mild, polite questions about their worldview, and can’t see that many of their views are mutually contradictory. (The ones that could–say, the ones who couldn’t quite figure out how exactly "getting big government off our backs" was supposed to mesh with "protecting the sanctity of life by thrusting big government into the most painful and personal decisions imaginable"–ended up switching parties.)
bootlegger
@eric: You left out more cowbell.
eric
John: i would also say that teh Intertubes has done a lot to counter the GOP lie machine
eric
Unabogie
Come on guys, Republicans have been this crazy for a seriously long time. They impeached Bill Clinton over nothing, and spent eight years shooting watermelons and screaming over White Water.
Then Bush ran in 2000 and said his favorite political philosopher was Jesus.
I mean, come on!
JL
UH, OH
Although I did not vote for Obama because of his comedic talents, something tells me this will come back and haunt him. Sarah will probably take it personally.
……He bowled a 129, the president said.
…….;That’s very good, Mr. President," Leno said sarcastically.
……..It’s like the Special Olympics or something," the president said.
NonyNony
@AhabTRuler:
Naw. I meant that rhetorically. Nothing is going to get my parents to give up on the GOP. Some of my siblings may come around eventually, but not my parents.
I can say this for a fact because I watched my grandparents – on both sides. Lifelong Democrats – on both sides. Despite the fact that in the 80s – when my parents shifted to the GOP – my grandparents the same reason to do the same thing that they did. But they didn’t. Because they were lifelong Democrats and they were stubborn as mules and set in their ways. (My lovely grandmother has nothing nice to say about George W Bush – she’s about the only member of my family I can talk politics with. She’s conservative, but she was alive during the Depression and she has been convinced all her life that "Republican" and "Crook" are the same words.)
My parents are pretty much exactly the same way. They stopped being Democrats because of Carter and they became Republicans because of Reagan and they’ll be Republicans until they die. It’s just who they are. I love ’em both, but damn, I’m going to be trying my damndest not to be like them when I’m their age.
geg6
John, I used to have a lot of smart GOP friends with whom I’d take great delight in debate and exchange of ideas. Sadly, like you, almost all of them have been alienated. If you haven’t read Nixonland, you should. That’s where it all began (though I don’t think we’re seeing an intended result). Add Newt and his gang and stir in the insanity of the religious right plus a dash of John Birch/KKK and voila! You get today’s GOP and their Dear Leader, Rush.
NonyNony
@Unabogie:
I think you’re underestimating how crazy the GOP is now. In the 90s they were crazy, but they weren’t THIS crazy. In the 90s a lot of the crazy seemed to be "political theater" – now they seem to actually believe the theater.
I mean, I’m not going to deny that they were crazy in the 90s – as I said, Newtie was the straw that broke my back (seriously – shutting down the government because Bill Clinton was MEAN TO YOU? WTF? Complete whack-job). But even Newtie and his antics don’t hold a candle to, say, Eric Cantor. Or the nuttiness that is Michael Steele. Or Sarah Palin. And these are the best and the brightest of the GOP leadership right now. Best. And. Brightest.
Cuckoo-town! Cuckoo-town!
That ain’t crazy, that’s pandering. If there’s one thing that George W Bush was damn good at, it was pandering to the lowest common denominator. The man was a KING at that. There will probably never be a politician again who will be better at delivering lines with a straight face that come directly from a Mad Magazine over-the-top parody of a politician than George W. Bush was.
TenguPhule
@bootlegger
Does it matter? It’ll get edited by the fuzz either way.
Just Some (Whistles)
@Unabogie: I’m with ya. Every time John tries to atone for voting for these crazy fuckers, the thread turns into "wow, republicans sure ain’t like they were back when I was voting for ’em" revisionism. They’ve been seven kinds of crazy and corrupt going back a long ways. Richard Nixon isn’t the exception, he’s damn near the rule. Know who was a sensible Republican? Any of ’em that we’re going along with impeachment of Nixon.
And we keep getting zombie Republicanism because we never hold their idealogy accountable for their failures. I blame Stockholm Syndrome.
eric
@Just Some (Whistles): you are missing the general point: John and other like him could believe in policies and principles which seemed to mesh with GOP rhetoric and not with Dem rhetoric. As a result, they were republican. But now the rhetoric is only crazy.
You could debate the repeal of Glass-Steagal back in the day (you would be wrong), but right now you would have to be insane to argue for the things you hear from Sanford and Cantor. Thus, there is no where these former Gopers to go other than the dems. Plus, the DLC has forced the dems to alter their rhetoric if not their policies to make them more palatable to former GOPers
eric
Unabogie
@NonyNony: ”
I’m not buying it. When Bush said "Jesus", it was such a weird moment that even Alan Keyes looked shocked. How crazy do you have to be before Alan Keyes will raise an eyebrow?
"Damn, I’m Alan Keyes, but that fucker is batshit!"
See my point? And then Bush won a debate with Al Gore by calling everything "fuzzy math".
The guy was just as dumb as Sarah Palin and he got elected twice. He picked John Ashcroft to be his AG, and the guy promptly covered the tits of Lady Justice.
That’s less crazy than Eric Cantor? I fail to see it.
Et Tu Brutus?
Caribou Barbie iz mys herow,
Unabogie
http://archives.cnn.com/1999/ALLPOLITICS/stories/12/15/religion.register/
And on it went. Substitute Bush for Palin and Huckabee for Gary Bauer and absolutely nothing has changed.
Mike in NC
Not into porn, really, but seriously tempted to rent the "Nailin’ Palin" DVD that scumbag Larry Flynt was hustling back during the 08 campaign…
Adrienne
He wasn’t pandering to the lowest common denominator. Pandering implies that the person in question knows better. Bush actually was that impish. It wasn’t an act.
jrg
What’s the point of spending millions of dollars to teach Alaskan kids that they came from monkeys, when you can teach them to act like monkeys for free?
NonyNony
@Adrienne:
I don’t know that I could ever describe Bush as "impish". Maybe the word doesn’t mean what I think it means, but I’d describe him more as "demonic" than "impish".
But really – Bush doesn’t believe in Jesus, and if he’s really Bush’s favorite philosopher it’s because he couldn’t name a philosopher if you had a gun to his head. His whole "evangelical Christian" schtick was as phony as his "brush clearing cowboy" schtick. He had people who told him what he needed to say/do to get elected and so he did it. The man was an election-winning robot – built for pandering and repeating empty catch phrases (which he even pointed out to everyone, when he said it was his job to "catapult the propaganda." Moron. Crazy-assed moron). But he was damn good at it.
@Unabogie:
Foul. Bush has never won a debate in his entire life. He could debate a rock and still lose. He could debate himself and he’d lose both sides.
Al Gore won those debates. He won them factually, and he won them in the polling. Bush knew how to play to the media, and the media hated Gore (who didn’t know how to play to them – or wouldn’t demean himself by doing it, or something). But back in 2000 we didn’t have CNN’s magical instant response dials, nor did we have instant-return polling so that the world could know – instantly – that the punditry analyzing the debates and declaring Bush the victor were FULL. OF. SHIT. In ’08 the punditry looked like fools because they were lining up to declare McCain the winner every time, and then the insta-polling would come in and destroy their narrative. If we’d had that back in ’00, we just might not have had a President W at all.
Bush is and was a hollow, empty suit who doesn’t believe in a goddamn thing. He never has. On the other hand, Eric Cantor seems to believe every bit of nonsense that he spouts. So does Palin. So does Michael Steele.
I think that’s what I’m trying to get at – yes the GOP has always been somewhat crazy. Even when I was voting GOP back in the early 90s I can see now that, in retrospect, they were loopy. But it seems like there was a time when the GOP spouted nonsense because it won them elections, but you didn’t get the feeling that the leadership actually believed in all of the nonsense they were spouting (though certainly they believed some of it – see Reaganomics). Nowadays it seems like every goddamn GOPer is a "true believer" and they have to believe EVERYTHING to be a member. And everything is crazy. So they’re all nuttier than a can of Planters.
Bubblegum Tate
That, I think, is the key. It’s one thing to do political theater to play to your base; it’s quite another to fully believe that your theater is, in fact, reality.
LD50
You can argue about whether GOP politicians were this stoopid 4-6 years ago, but I assure you wingnuts were every bit as stoopid back then. The only difference is now that Karl’s Permanent Republican Majority has gone blown apart it’s broke their little brains.
2th&nayle
@NonyNony: Without putting words in anybody’s mouth….I think the word Adrienne may have been looking for was, ‘CHimpish’, as opposed to, ‘impish’. s/
(Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.)
Karen
Failin’ Palin wants everyone in Alaska to be as ignorant as she is. Hopefully, they won’t be as sneaky.
guest
@Ella in NM:
lol, ah, the circle of life.