The Shirley Sherrod fiasco means that no one outside the Foxosphere will pay attention to this bullshit:
By now you’ve heard that Senate Republicans have announced that they’re seeking hearings into whether Obama’s Justice Department engaged in racial bias in connection with the decision to pursue the voter intimidation case against the New Black Panthers as a civil action.
Republicans do overplay their hand sometimes.
Corner Stone
Schiavo…and??
Bnut
Motherfuckers have so much chutzpah it amazes me. So not even a SINGLE Bush era lawyer is going to see time concerning Iraq, torture, etc., but we’ll have to sit through endless serious Kaplan pieces giving us a blow by blow of the race baiting hearings we are about to endure. And someone may actually lose their job or go to prison for this. This world is fucking crazy….
Corner Stone
They don’t expect Mabel in New Hampshire to actually give a shit about this. It’s not about the unworthy.
Corner Stone
@Bnut:
Someone will definitely resign over this.
I’m willing to start some kind of gamble on this.
Someone will get slapped in the face before they are tossed under the bus.
There is zero doubt that someone will choose to not be the banana peel.
beltane
Are you sure this won’t make it beyond the Foxosphere? I see them all as villains now; Fox News just happens to be a more bombastic set of villains.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
Once breitburnt, twice shy, for our media overlords?
I’ll believe it when it see it.
TooManyJens
That’s remarkably optimistic of you.
Kryptik
I think your snark has been too subtle, Doug.
Midnight Marauder
Um, sometimes? I am pretty sure this is an exercise they engage in on a daily basis.
Their entire belief in their continued existence is the ultimate act of their perpetual overzealousness.
Keith G
Its will be a first segment interview on NPR with Newt Gingrich asking him if it is reasonable for Republicans do do this.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@beltane: NBC et al will report this as “a troubling issue for Democrats”, weasel words like that. Once a week someone will mewl something about “we should mention, Gwen, that these stories haven’t been substantiated”
gbear
@Keith G:
I can already hear the concern in Mara Liasson’s voice.
Thomas
I had my dipshit right wing supervisor telling me about this and trying to say the supposed directive that “there was no such thing as a civil rights violation black on white,” came directly from Obama himself. As if the President of the United States has time to give two shits about a couple of second rate wannabes who are trying to live out some leftover 60s fantasy. The fact that the criminal complaint was dismissed by the Bush DOJ has absolutely no effect on his argument by the way.
DougJ
@gbear:
She counts as the Foxosphere, she’s on Fox regularly.
wasabi gasp
The key evidence for this racial bias is the arrest and conviction of that white teabagger who gunned down voters with an assault rifle this coming November.
kay
@Thomas:
There was never a criminal complaint. The Bush Justice Department made the decision to sue them on a civil complaint, under a rarely invoked provision. There have been only three successful civil suits under that provision since the law was written. The remedy there is an injunction, or, “don’t go there again”. Which is what happened. They got an injunction, against one. The other two didn’t bother to show up, because had they shown up, the only thing that was going to happen was “don’t go there again”.
TooManyJens
@DougJ: We are all the Foxosphere now.
Lev
@Corner Stone: Keep in mind that the GOP’s approval ratings are shit. Pretty much everyone hates them aside from their base. That there are a fair amount of idiots out there who will vote for the GOP while hating them is mystifying, but that is indeed the case.
mclaren
No, if Republicans take back the House this fall, the mainstream press will fall all over themselves covering this “important story” about “crucial hearings vital to the issues that affect every American today.”
That’s a big “if,” of course. But who knows? The Republicans are following the well-worn Senator Joe McCarthy strategy of “throw enough shit at our opponents and maybe some of it will stick.”
El Cid
I’ll put down as 7 in 10 odds of someone having to resign over this fraudulent, race-baiting, utterly mythical charge.
El Cid
@mclaren: Yes. If GOP retakes house it will be portrayed as TruAmerica reigning in the irresponsible, hated ultra-librul Dems. Not the takeover by the drunken hornet-stung baboon brigade.
Bella Q
@Corner Stone:
But only if they are an at will employee. I’ll pony up that everyone at DOJ keeps a job. However, I want real $$ in the highly unlikely event I’m correct.
Lev
I think all journalists should be required to read Bruce Bartlett’s story about how he wrote an NYT article bashing the Bush Administration’s fiscal policy and then went to a GOP party worried that he was going to be yelled at, only to discover that absolutely nobody at the party had read the article. That says a lot, I think.
gbear
@DougJ:
Well she counts as NPR to me because I don’t watch Fox (or anything else for that matter. I don’t have a TV in the house). Can’t stand any of the anchors on Morning Transcription or All Things Conservative.
ricky
You can bet the 3 members of the New Black Panther Party have booked their travel and will attend with their batons on.
Lev
I should add that that story actually took place during the Bush Administration. Now I guess all right-wingers are saying that stuff…
Citizen_X
The good news is that no one outside the Foxosphere will pay attention to this.
The bad news is that none of us will ever escape the Foxosphere.
Dan
I think it’s time for another op-ed from a Serious Person asking why black voters continue to vote Democrat against their own interests.
Paul
White noise in a white room.
Gang of Four tangent…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7sNfbprnKU
danimal
Good lord, that one wins the day for understatement. Overreach is our secret (and sometimes only) weapon against Republicans. Just when you think that all is lost, they nominate a Sharron Angle or wax sentimental over the Confederacy or something equally stupid/repulsive.
They can’t help themselves. All their meters go to 11.
AnotherBruce
Yes, they do overplay their hand and their strategy backfires. However, I’ve not yet noticed that any of them have been strangled with their own bleeding entrails.
kommrade reproductive vigor
The GOP overplays its hand, the press gives the GOP a hand job …
THE CIRCLE OF LIIIIIIFE!1
Amaliada
Sorry to be late – the Republicans and FOX News are now going after the DOJ for disenfranchising military voters. There’s a new law that makes it easier for overseas and military voters to get their ballots in a timely manner.
But all of the states have to change their laws to comply with the federal law – that means 55 legislatures have to be willing to change their laws. As part of the new law (called MOVE), the DOJ can issue waivers for those states who need a little more time to make these changes.
So FOX is saying (I really don’t want to link it) that the DOJ is “encouraging” the states to seek waivers.
So, these folks never stop…I just got a notice that they voted against a bill helping small business. The only way to get over these jerks is to have a 60-seat majority in the Senate – but didn’t we already do that?!