“Hey, hey, hey. Calm down you two. Reince Priebus is a putz and he’s stupid.”
“I’m glad to see that as he enters his fifth year in office, President Obama is finally trying to reach across the aisle in the form of dinners with Senate Republicans. However, I would like to offer some advice. Since the president has been complaining loudly about the cutbacks they’ve had to make at the White House—including tours for schoolchildren—due to the sequester, it only seems appropriate that they avoid the considerable security expenses of dining at an upscale restaurant,” Priebus said in a statement.
“Instead of eating out as the president and senators did last month, I suggest they eat in.
Uh, Reince?
Obama will be hosting the senators at the White House, as White House spokesman Jay Carney confirmed during a press briefing on Tuesday.
Cue, also, the obligatory pathetic attempt at gotcha humor, with the man Charles Pierce calls “the obvious anagram” offering to buy the President pizza, so as to provide an object lesson in mozzarella economics. (Grow the pie…get it?)
I will say this. Barack Hussein Obama has been blessed by the quality of his enemies.
Oh — and yeah. Someone has to bigfoot John from time to time. (Anne Laurie’s check will be here any day now.)
Image: Jacob Jordaens, The Bean King c. 1638
Trollhattan
Speaking of idiot Republicans (spot: the redundancy) Rand Paul heads to Howard University, tomorrow.
Popcorn, please.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/rand-paul-s-play-to-win-over-black-voters-at-howard-university-20130408
Funkula
You just know Obama would insist on Chicago style pizza and then the repubs would have no choice but to filibuster etc etc.
Mnemosyne
I’m guessing Preibus’s problem is the “security expenses” at the White House. If they would just get rid of all of those guards, I’m sure that would save a big chunk of money, amirite?
MikeJ
Since Republicans are always going on about Chicago style politics, I think Obama should speak about baseball after dinner.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
How stupid is he if nobody in the MSM calls out his obvious falsehood?
If a lumberjack in the forest misses the tree and hits his own foot with his axe instead, and there’s nobody there to hear it, does it make a sound?
ranchandsyrup
Pizza is too soc1alist. Everyone ordering from a restaurant that contributed to their campaign is more democratic. Where’s the exceptionalism, Mr. Obvious Anagram?
Omnes Omnibus
Priebus will take credit for this.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Last election night, Obama called Boehner and McConnell. They both refused the call (I suspect Mrs Boehner had to refuse the call for Mr Boehner, who was… resting, as my enabling aunts used to say about their drunken husbands). Even given who they are and all we’ve been through, and my low opinion of them, I find that incredible, and I’ve never heard this mentioned when Tom Brokaw, John Meacham and Chuck Todd get together to say that Obama’s lack of outreach is the cause of all this gridlock.
I think this is a falsehood the MSM actually started, and Republicans just grabbed it and ran with it.
Suffern ACE
I would very much leave the deviled eggs out all afternoon the day before these guys came over.
We should have a Friday recipie exchange sometime of stuff we’d make if Reince Prebus was our dinner guest.
Violet
With all apologies to Paul Giamatti, Reince Priebus reminds me of Pig Vomit from “Private Parts.”
ET
Typical. Glide over the fact that the president and his family likely eat at home quite a lot, that many presidents even in times of economic difficulty eat out as part of the job. Hell he made it sound like the president eats out every night and its always for fun. He also chooses to ignore that the president has reached out before.
So RP is is stupid, hackish, and lazy. Typical for a modern Republican.
Hill Dweller
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: The hacks in the Village, who have consistently said gun control legislation would never pass, are now saying a lack of gun control legislation will hurt Obama’s legacy.
The Village will say and/or do anything to absolve wingnuts of any blame.
hells littlest angel
I’m going to reserve judgement until I hear Jon Stewart read Priebus’ remarks in a drunk voice.
ricky
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ:
How could the lumberjack hit his foot if he wasn’t there?
gene108
Even if Preibus is dumb, guys like Ed Gillespie aren’t.
They came up with operation Red State in 2010 to take control of Congress and state legislatures to redistrict themselves into safe seats. They took the House. They took the states.
It’s not the guys, who are talking on the T.V. that we need to worry about; it’s the guys, who are pulling the strings in the background that keep the Republican party going and they are still firmly committed to Republican hegemony.
ricky
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ:
Wait, it was a trick joke, right? There was nobody there to hear it because the lumberjack was hearing impaired!
Good one! Guess it was a Way Homer.
? Martin
@Suffern ACE: Homemade Fugu!
Wag
It seems to me that if the chairman of the GOP is suggesting a pizza party to workout differences between POTUS and the GOP, then Obama should oblige and have them over for Dominos and a couple of 2 L diet cokes so they can work out their differences.
And make damn sure the media knows he is just following GOP suggested austerity suggestions.
SatanicPanic
@Wag: Brilliant, though it would be even better if he ordered Godfather’s
Yutsano
@Suffern ACE:I would consider that a waste of perfectly good chicken embryos. But ya know, eggs and omelettes and such.
muddy
Hundreds, literally hundreds of dollars taken from the federal budget, it’s just shocking! Well, and of course there was likely the socialist 18% gratuity for tables over 6. Disgraceful, I just paid my taxes and demand a refund!!
JPL
@SatanicPanic: Hermann Cain would be so proud.
Wag
@SatanicPanic:
Excellent suggestion.
El Caganer
Uh-uh. I don’t want to know anything more about Prince Rhebus’ sweaty Big Sausage Pizza fantasy.
lectric lady
I love that somebody (on Charlie Pierce’s blog?) calls him Rinse Pubis.
Villago Delenda Est
The sad thing is, there’s no one in the GOP with the brains, intestinal fortitude, and any sense of self-preservation to slap Rinse silly with a clue-by-four.
Omnes Omnibus
@El Caganer: I was about to order a pizza. Uh, I think I will something else now. Ew.
SpotWeld
I know the media has been running with the White House tours ending, becuase media has prioirities (not). But has the President really been “complaining loudly”?
The GOP seems to continuiously respond to being told thier actions (or inactions) will have specific results with the attitude that they’re being bullied.
Cris (without an H)
Wait a sec.
WHO has been complaining loudly about the White House tours? Mitch McConnell sure has. Breitbart has. Your conservative cousin on facebook has.
If there’s one direction from which I haven’t heard bitching about White House tours, it’s from the White House itself.
Is it ever not all about projection with these people?
Villago Delenda Est
@Cris (without an H):
No.
SASQ.
Richard
Reince Priebus is an anagram for Crisp Bee Urine.
Sasha
@Villago Delenda Est:
In fairness, it could also be displacement.
muddy
He’s amazing, I didn’t think they could top the hiphop muppet they had before.
Mandalay
@gene108:
This.
In particular, the odious Frank Luntz is a huge asset to the Republicans.
quannlace
“Hey, you got Reince on my Priebus.”
‘No, you got Priebus on my Reince!”
Ick, why does that sound so dirty?
jl
Nice post, and very good effort, TL. Thanks.
But to be honest, nobody bashes ol’ Reince better than Michael Steele.
it must grate the GOP brass that ol’ Reince makes Steele, as goofy and out-of-it as he is and has always been, look like a genius, and a political death shark with fricken death laser beams on his head.
I kind of the like the absurdity of that situation. And besides, Steele mouths off better than TL. No offense intended, TL is a genteel egghead and is not allowed to mouth off free style.
muddy
@jl: I miss his muppet ‘stache.
Redshift
Which is, of course, asinine in another way, since a pizza doesn’t “grow.”
“Here, let me serve you a food whose name is used in a metaphor for a win-win solution (one which we’re completely unwilling to support, btw) but which has no connection to it physically, er, never mind…”
Michele C
@MikeJ: Don’t make me wish so hard! I’ll be so disappointed that he can’t.
Redshift
@jl: The problem with Steele’s tenure is that the job is supposed to be about raising money and running the organization, not about being a public figure. Supposedly Rince is better at the first part, but the lesson he took from Steele making it all about him in public was “hey, that’s great; let’s keep doing that!”
Trollhattan
@muddy:
Despite myself, I can’t help liking Steele. He’s that rare Republican (is he?) who can dish it out and take it. Little doubt that he Had To Go.
Ash Can
Comrade Jake should get a h/t for this (see Open Thread).
@Trollhattan: And this is priceless. I’m sure the Howard students will all be 100% in support of Paul as he stands before them and tells them they all suck.
jl
@Redshift: Ol’ Reince is better at losing ground in elections too! You should give him that too. Or, are you prejudiced against traditional reactionary sour white men?
Ash Can
@jl:
Steele, even at his most gaffe-tastic, was amusing, buffoonish at worst. Priebus is flat-out embarrassing. It says a lot about the GOP brass that they leave this nebbish out in public to be the face of the GOP organization. Not only is their party a clown car, it has four flat tires, its muffler is semi-detached and dragging on the ground, and its rear fender fell off in the middle of the road several miles back.
David Koch
Priebus is a DNC mole working behind enemy lines to disrupt and sabotage their operations.
Maude
@Ash Can:
They have a Fred Flintstone car.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
.
I figure he must be a crackerjack administrator if they kept him around, but it is amazing they can’t see they he ought to be ordered to stay away from any and all recording devices. Steele has been, outside of a few interviews and his TDS appearance, Steele has remained a loyal partisan soldier on pretty much every topic except Priebus, and he’d be a far better public face for them than RP’s thumb-like head.
muddy
It says a lot about them that the anagram generator name did not give them pause. Was he the only one to apply?
Calouste
@Suffern ACE:
Reince’s favorite dish of course, tire rims and anthrax.
jl
@Ash Can: If signs indicating that the GOP has decided to settle for being the sociopathic and retrograde plutocrat party financially, and the white male loser bigot party electorally turn out to be accurate, ol’ Reince is a good choice.
That would be a tragic choice, and would mean gradual extinction of the GOP (a la CA GOP), and it would do a lot of damage until it lost a large enough minority to block things. But people like Reince saying dumb stuff and pointing out that they can kick the country in the groin whenever they like unless they get their perks will be the public face.
It will be come a party of old turds, just animated enough to slide under the feet of the US political system as it tries to get things done.
Trollhattan
Can somebody please get this guy a Bushmaster?
Awaiting press release from the National Stabbything Association, noting that the only way to stop a bad guy with a stabbything is a good guy with a stabbything.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/1-arrested-in-stabbing-at-houston-area-college-number-of-injured-unknown/2013/04/09/c50542b8-a137-11e2-bd52-614156372695_story.html?hpid=z3
Redshirt
No kidding:
Crib Pees Urine
Redshirt
@Trollhattan: Finally, Paul Hogan’s chance at a renewed career has arrived!
“That’s not a knife!”
Ash Can
@Trollhattan: It’s a sad commentary on America when we’re actually grateful that the guy only had a knife.
scav
@Trollhattan: Weren’t enough toddlers on campus to rush at the blade and shish-kebab themselves. Must be those elitist admissions boards keeping the valiant toddlers out.
shortstop
@Ash Can: @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I honestly don’t think they can spot “embarrassing” unless the person being it is black. They appear to be under the impression that Reince is kicking ass.
Tone in DC
@Trollhattan:
This idiot got 14 people, with a knife?
Where’s Tcheky Karyo when we need him?
Violet
@Trollhattan: This happened at a Lone Star College campus, which is a different campus of the same college where a few months ago a student shot another student. This can’t be good for Lone Star’s reputation. “Come to Lone Star…get stabbed or shot.”
YellowJournalism
@SatanicPanic: All Chicago-style with Hawaiin toppings, of course.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Trollhattan: Did the article say if any died?
Trollhattan
@scav:
IIUC, our armed four-year-olds should have taken the guy out.
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/09/17671333-two-4-year-olds-two-guns-two-tragic-shootings?lite
Comrade Jake
It’s friggin Texas, enough said.
scav
@Belafon (formerly anonevent): all I’ve read is four serious enough to be airlifted to hosptal but no deaths reported yet. also, they seem to have used a stun gun to bring him down so there may have been a general dearth of gun-play.
Trollhattan
@Belafon (formerly anonevent):
Two, at least, are in critical condition. None has died, as far as I know. Hopefully it will stay that way.
Comrade Jake
Cue right-wingers pointing out that if we banned guns, this is what would result – the nuts would go around stabbing people.
jl
@Comrade Jake: I wonder how many people would reflect on lower death count with knife, and whether they would rather be caught on the campus with a nut running around with assault rifles and mass quantities of ammo, or a nut running around with a knife.
Comrade Jake
I swear I went over to Redstate after I posted that, not before:
http://www.redstate.com/conservativewanderer/2013/04/09/we-need-knife-control-now/
Trollhattan
Hey, remember this guy? Tennessee judge says taking his gun permit away was being MEAN.
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/09/17673095-gun-instructor-could-get-permit-back-after-threatening-to-start-killing-people?lite
The Other Chuck
@Comrade Jake:
I can live with that. So would a lot of other people.
Forum Transmitted Disease
@Trollhattan: If the guy had a gun you’d have 14 guaranteed dead (if you can get close enough to stab someone, you’re close enough to kill them easily with a gun) and probably a hell of a lot more than that.
raven
@Forum Transmitted Disease: One of the kids that ran him down and caught him said the knifer is deaf.
Amir Khalid
@Trollhattan:
This guy, as I clearly recall, claimed certifications he didn’t have. His false claims are surely fraudulent enough that he deserves to lose his business licence.
Trollhattan
@Amir Khalid:
Why am I not surprised? A**hat probably tells folks he’s Chuck Yeager’s son, too. “Ah got me that raaht stuff, all of it!”
Fred Fnord
He can’t be an anagram, because he’s missing one more ‘i’ and the ‘d’ to get ‘insipid’.
Mnemosyne
@The Other Chuck:
You know when gun nuts whine about how much higher the assault rate is in England and other countries? Remind them that it’s because when England’s stupid-ass drunken 20-year-olds get into fights, they use their fists or knives rather than guns, which means that people are injured by the fight, not killed.