REALLY?!?!

POSTED BY JHW22

I must admit I am pretty sickened and angry right now. I have no plan for what to write because I can't even wrap my head around an email I received and the subsequent shit I found while Googling about the photo in the email. I don't want to link to any sites that support my post because I don't want to give any of these fucking idiots the hits. If you want to see what people are saying about this photo, you can Google and find dozens of sites that prove one thing: Republicans would rather insult the First Lady of the United States over her clothing choices than even TRY to give her or the President an ounce of respect all while minimizing the solemn event that was photographed.

I have taken my share of heat for saying that I actually like Laura Bush. And when people challenge me on that they have valid points related to policies and principles. But I have never heard that I should not like her because of her clothing. I have never heard she was disrespectful to the country or our military because of an outfit.

Michelle Obama attended a posthumous awards ceremony for Army Sgt. 1st Class Jared Monti. His mom and dad were there to receive a Medal of Honor from the Commander in Chief. But the right-wing blogosphere blew up with catty, vile, insulting comments about Michelle's dress. Her dress!

The award ceremony was in September 2009 and YET I received an email TODAY where someone has Photoshopped her dress to look like a pinata. Yep, you can Google Michelle Obama and pinata dress and see what I mean.

I don't care if people like her dress or not. A member of our military died. The President of the United States awarded him the highest honor. And people suggest that Michelle Obama was tacky because of her dress. I'd say that the lack of class falls on anyone who would take a solemn moment and turn it into one more excuse to dehumanize a woman who is serving her country with dignity and compassion. But for some reason (her party, her race, her intelligence, her beauty) people want to make her into a monster because of a dress.

Some of the comments I read made me wish I'd never received that damn email with the pinata Photoshop version of the dress. My friend actually thought the dress was real but with enough hesitation to write "No way???". Someone sent that to her today. Fortunately, she only sent it to me. But it's FUBAR'd that the criticism of one dress on one day is riling the right one year later via the magic of the intertubes and classless emails from classless people.

I hope no one else's medal ceremony is belittled in the manner again.

Palinectomy

POSTED BY JHW22

First of all, if you haven't checked out the blog, The Mudflats, written by AKMuckraker -- aka Jeanne Devon -- you should. Well, you should if you are interested in an Alaskan's perspective on politics or how Alaska politics has become more relevant since a certain woman strutted her stuff across a stage and changed the world as we know it.

Jeanne Devon broke the story about the Palin's fancy cabin that was never properly assessed for taxes, thus they shorted their taxes for a few years. That was a fun week in Palin-watching. And now Devon exposes a secret email written by Todd "Who's Running This Show" Palin to Joe "I Already Measured for curtains in My New Senate Office" Miller and it wasn't a pretty showdown.

The post by Devon was one of the last things I read last night and the first thing I saw on the TV this morning. Everyone is talking about Todd's email, asking what it says about a potential presidential run and what it says about the Hatfields and the McCoys, I mean, the Palins and Miller. But it's Todd's response to all the hoopla that I find most fascinating.

Here's the portion of the initial email that I want to draw attention to:

he can’t answer a simple question “is Sarah Palin Qualified to be President”. I DON’T KNOW IF SHE IS.

Now, to be fair to Todd, Joe Miller wasn't asked if the half-term opportunist was qualified and Joe Miller didn't answer no or I don't know. He was asked if he would support the quitter-in-chief if she runs. How did he answer? Well, he took the long way around by saying (around the 7:35 mark) that's not his race and that she's a star within the party while emphasizing that Joe Miller, who refers to himself as Joe Miller so I will also, didn't make any deals for dual endorsements. Joe Miller doesn't deal. And that is what seems to have everyone all a flutter. Because Todd implied that there is a quid pro quo in the now infamous email:

Joe, please explain how this endorsement stuff works, is it to be completely one sided.

That seems to go against the Joe Miller standard of no deal making (which, sorry to burst the "new" Senator's bubble, but deal making is part of politics and life) which he made quite clear, repeatedly, when asked if he had given assurance of his endorsement of her in exchange for her endorsement of him.

But again, I draw your attention to Todd's statement:

he can’t answer a simple question “is Sarah Palin Qualified to be President”. I DON’T KNOW IF SHE IS.

Because after the whirlwind the email caused, Todd said this:

when I heard he'd said something less than supportive of my wife's efforts, I responded. But it turns out we'd gotten our wires crossed and Joe hadn't said anything like what I'd been told

Frankly, after watching Joe "Fred Astaire" Miller dance around saying he'd support her, I'd say he was "less supportive". He may not have said "I don't know if she's qualified" but he certainly didn't give the support the Palin's expected. So what I think we're seeing is a rewriting of history. Todd was mad about lackluster support from Miller but after being embarrassed by it, he thought he could pretend, and America would accept, that Joe "I Approve This Coded Message" Miller gave a glowing endorsement simply by implying as much.

Now I wonder how Todd will react to this statement made by Miller:

We know that we have a constitutional requirement for somebody that's gonna run for President. Of course she's qualified.

Funny, I recall that same throwaway line being used about Obama by people who had no intention of endorsing him ever. Which by the way reminds me that perhaps we should find some footage or quotes of people saying that about Obama and shoving it up the birthers' asses. But I digress...

See, I think Todd had it right the first time. Joe "I Don't Make Deals" Miller isn't about to answer the question in any way suitable to the Palin camp. Todd can rewrite history all he wants but Joe Miller is plowing ahead without her. He got the endorsement and now he's throwing her to the wolves (do I hear helicopters coming to save her?). And I am pretty confident I know who leaked that email. Seems to me Joe "I Look Like Chuck Norris" Miller ain't takin' shit from the Palin clan.

P.S. I am the last person to criticize Todd Palin's grammar but Holy Crap Strunk and White! His grammar is ten times worse than mine on a bad day.

Rally to Restore Sanity Satellites

POSTED BY JHW22

Friend of the blog, Vera Lynn, has been busy today finding resources for satellite rallies for people who can't get to the epic Rally to Restore Sanity in Washington, D.C. but desperately want to show their spirit and sanity. She found a link with thorough listings of events around the country (and even in the UK).

So check it out and see if there's one near you.

If Sarah Disapproves, It's Probably True

Via Political Wire:

...Meghan McCain says she was exasperated that the media "only focused on Sarah Palin [during her book tour]. In every interview and review it was all Sarah all the time."

She also notes that Palin "made it known to me, via an email to a third party, that she was not pleased with me or what I wrote in my book."

A Sense of Humor

During a speech at Fortune Magazine's Most Powerful Women Summit, the Presidential Seal falls off the front of the podium. Wittiness ensues.

The Human Race Is Screwed

Due to complaints from customers, Frito-Lay, the makers of SunChips, are going back to using regular plastic bags for its tasty treat instead of the biodegradable bags they currently use. The reason? The bags are noisy. Let me repeat that. They are discontinuing the use of biodegradable bags in five of its six flavors of SunChips because fucking idiots are goddamned inconvenienced by the noise the bags make.

The bags were launched in April 2009 with a big marketing effort to play up their compostability because they're made from plants and not plastic.

...Spokeswoman Aurora Gonzalez said the company received complaints about the noise from the bags, although it also received thanks from customers who liked being able to recycle them.

So the decision was made to remove the bulk of the biodegradable line.

"We need to listen to our consumers," she said. "We clearly heard their feedback."

We are so fucked.

Limbaugh on Family Guy

For those of you who missed the Rush Limbaugh episode of Family Guy, enjoy.

Fair and Balanced (The Carl Paladino Threat Edition)

While there was a pretty wide range of coverage of NY Gubernatorial Tea Party/default Republican candidate Carl Paladino's threat to New York Post reporter Fred Dicker, YouTube's LiberalViewer does a great job analyzing Fox News' convenient omission of Paladino's impression of a 1940's mafioso. I suggest subscribing to his videos.

Beck Reveals Himself To Be Most Despicable Human Being On Earth

Glenn Beck thinks health care reform is bad. Because of government involvement. Because it's "enslaving the American public." Oh, and by the way, slavery was not really evil until the government got involved.



Besides being completely wrong and just pulling things out of his ass about the history of slavery, he's equating slavery to participating in health care reform. This guy will say anything, ANYTHING, to put his audience into a frenzy. And the rubes who listen to his daily insane rants take it at face value, without fact checking or reasonable analysis.

Now call me crazy, but there's got to be some kind of blowback from these abhorrent statements. If not from the sane people of the world, there must be at least one of his listeners who'd think to question Beck's deranged train of thought. At least one, no?

If you're a Beck fan, I'd ask you to take a step back and seriously question what it is that makes you follow someone who is obviously a narcissistic, sociopathic, financial opportunist. Glenn Beck is clearly a confidence man.

Donald Duck Meets Glenn Beck

Via Roger Ebert: "Wise to watch it NOW while it's still online."

Quote of the Day

"All he has to do is apologize to us, and we'll hire him back."

~ Jon Stewart on the firing of CNN's Rick Sanchez after Sanchez called Stewart a bigot and claimed that Jews control the media.

A New Wave of Crazy

I understand the calculations in the current political climate that cause some to tack to the right simply in an attempt to save their jobs. But in cases like this, the pushback after President Obama took office has given the excuse for current office holders to display their full wingnuttia and expose what most likely have been their true feelings all along with the added arrogance of thinking they have nothing to fear in showing their true colors.

In addition to reiterating anti-choice talking points on abortion and backing "traditional marriage," according to the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, [Senator Jim DeMint, R-S.C.] went further and "said if someone is openly homosexual, they shouldn't be teaching in the classroom and he holds the same position on an unmarried woman who's sleeping with her boyfriend -- she shouldn't be in the classroom."

So now DeMint's expanding his discrimination to single pregnant women as well as gays. ...Nice.

Must Reads

Jann S. Wenner: Obama in Command: The Rolling Stone Interview

Dave Weigel: So Long, Jerk: Why liberals will be glad to see Rahm Emanuel go.

Carol H., Blue Jersey: Open Letter to Chris Christie on Hydraulic Fracturing

Angry Black Lady: Firedoglake Craziness: There is Something Wrong When I Agree with Fellow Oberlin Grad Michelle Malkin

Gail Collins: The Terrible Election Race Race

The Rude Pundit: James O'Keefe: Lowering the Bar to Subterranean

Chez Pazienza: Comment of the Week

JHW22 recommends...

Frank Schaeffer: Obama Critics, Admit You Were Wrong

President Obama's Weekly Address - October 2, 2010

Solar Power & a Clean Energy Economy

Rick Sanchez Calls Jon Stewart a "Bigot" - UPDATED

What the fuck? CNN's Rick Sanchez is apparently a very thin-skinned person, or at least suffering from a severe inferiority complex.

In an extended radio interview with SiriusXM's Stand Up! with Pete Dominick, Rick Sanchez basically suggested that Jews run the media, Jon Stewart constantly makes fun of him not for the stupidity that occasionally comes out of his mouth, but because he is Hispanic, and called him a "bigot" although later walked back the word but still called him prejudicial.

...Sanchez started out expressing an anecdote from his own experience, when someone who was “top brass” at CNN told Sanchez to his face that he saw Sanchez as “more as John Quiñones,” referring to the Hispanic ABC News reporter. Sanchez’s example was an illustration that the problem of racism in the media business goes further than many expect, enveloping “not just the Right,” but also “elite, Northeast establishment liberals” that “deep down, when they look at a guy like me, they see a guy automatically who belongs in the second tier, and not the top tier.”

That’s when Sanchez really let his feelings loose: “I think to some extent Jon Stewart and [Stephen] Colbert are the same way. I think Jon Stewart’s a bigot.“

... I think he looks at the world through, his mom, who was a school teacher, and his dad, who was a physicist or something like that. Great, I’m so happy that he grew up in a suburban middle class New Jersey home with everything you could ever imagine.

Pete pressed, “What group is he bigoted towards?”

Sanchez replied: “Everybody else who’s not like him. Look at his show, I mean, what does he surround himself with?”

Well, let's see. I would say he surrounds himself with talented writers and comedians first and foremost, but if you want to look at the demographics of his on air personalities, there's Wyatt Cenac and Larry Wilmore, both African American, Samantha Bee and Olivia Munn, females, and Aasif Mandvi, an Indian born Muslim. But continue, Rick. Please tell us why you think Jon Stewart is a bigot.

Here’s what they do. This is the game they play. “I just picked on Fox News, because they just had a bold-faced [sic] lie about something — damnit, that means I gotta find something on CNN. Oh, I know… wait, hold on, let me find, oh that Rick Sanchez, that little Puerto Rican guy. I’ll make fun of him. Do you have anything.” “Uh, yeah, last week, he mispronounced the word indutably or whatever.” “Yeah, that’s it, find me that and we’ll do a whole 4-minute segment on how he mispronounced the word arithmetic.”

Rick Sanchez is Cuban, by the way. And as far as throwing Stephen Colbert into the mix, I suppose he missed Colbert's testimony during a hearing on immigration and US harvests on Capitol Hill. Or did he not understand the sarcasm?

Sanchez snickered sarcastically at the idea that Jews are as much minorities as Latinos in the US.

Very powerless people… [snickers] He’s such a minority, I mean, you know [sarcastically]… Please, what are you kidding? … I’m telling you that everybody who runs CNN is a lot like Stewart, and a lot of people who run all the other networks are a lot like Stewart, and to imply that somehow they — the people in this country who are Jewish — are an oppressed minority? Yeah. [sarcastically]

I'm guessing this is going to come back and bite him in the ass big time with his evil, Jewish overlords at CNN.

Ricky, you got some 'splainin' to do.

UPDATE (8:50pm): Rick Sanchez was promptly fired from CNN today.

“Rick Sanchez is no longer with the company. We thank Rick for his years of service and we wish him well.“

Well, that was quick. Now I'm expecting A) Sanchez to accuse CNN of discrimination against him because of his Hispanic heritage and not because he's actually the bigot and/or B) Sarah Palin to defend Sanchez through a tweet explaining how his First Amendment rights are being violated.