A nice summary from Think Progress of scandals-that-aren't: 1. F-16s could have been sent to Benghazi Part of the prevailing theory surrounding the events the night of the Benghazi attacks is that the Obama administration did not do enough militarily to respond to the crisis. Gregory Hicks — a Foreign Service Officer and the former Deputy Chief of Mission at … Read More
NC Legislature Can’t Keep Its Hands Of Womens’ (and Young Girls’) Bodies
Think Progress: A measure advancing in the North Carolina legislature would require teens to obtain notarized, written parental consent in order to access a range of health services, including testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, birth control prescriptions, pregnancy care, mental health counseling, and substance abuse treatment. HB 693 seeks to amend the state’s existing parental consent law — which already prevents … Read More
Strange GOP Ad
Obama has been in office 100 days of his second term, so the GOP came out with a negative ad that is, well, kinda weird. The ad basically attacks Obama for not getting anything done. Uh… what? It's very strange, for example, for Republicans to go against popular will and common sense by blocking gun control legislation…. and then complain … Read More
Republicans Are Revolting
Buried deep in a just-released depressing poll from Fairly Ridiculous University, lies this question/result: That's right. 44% – a plurality — of Republicans think we need an armed revolution in the next few years. You know, to protect our liberties. I would like to know what liberties they think are being taken away. Of course, that result explains the reasoning … Read More
The GOP Split Is Starting To Get Real
Over the past few months, the GOP has talked a lot about re-branding, and softening its views on gay marriage and immigration, in order to appeal to normal people. The base is not happy: Tony Perkins says religious conservatives should stop donating to the Republican Party until it clarifies its position on social issues. The president of the Family Research … Read More
GOP Minority Outreach Hits “”Wetback” Wall
Congressman Don Young (R-AK) used the term “wetbacks” during an interview with a local Alaska radio station yesterday. Young also believes that Americans need to bring industry back to this country rather than relying on imports. Doing so would increase jobs, although he understands that automation has reduced the number of labor positions available. “My father had a ranch; we used to have … Read More
Oh Noes! Michelle Is In Trouble!!
From The Daily Beast: The Hindenburg. The Titanic. Michele Bachmann. Eighteen months ago, the Minnesota House member was considered an unlikely but undeniable Republican rising star, winning the Iowa straw poll that unofficially begins the primary season. Today, she is embroiled in a litany of legal proceedings related to her rolling disaster of a presidential campaign—including a Office of Congressional Ethics investigation into campaign … Read More
That’s Our Michele!
So Michele Bachmann (R–Crazytown) gave a speech at CPAC this weekend in which she (a) slammed President Obama over his scandalous mishandling of Benghazi, and (b) slammed him again for his lavish White House lifestyle, including his use of a full-time dog walker. Her entire speech was some serious bullshit, putting the fact checkers at WaPo on serious overtime. In … Read More
Not Following Reibus’s Advice
Just a week ago, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus was talking to Politico about how his party "has divorced itself from the American culture," and he hopes to change that. Priebus specifically talked about the pointless rhetorical shots at President Obama who does care about the culture: "[We] would make fun of the president for going on 'The View' — and you've heard me … Read More
The Re-Branded Republican Party Might Leave The Christian Right Behind
… and they aren't happy about it: Some leaders of the religious right are openly worried this week after a sprawling 98-page report released by the Republican National Committee on how the party can rebuild after its 2012 implosion made no mention of the GOP's historic alliance with grassroots Christian "value voters." Specifically, the word "Christian" does not appear once … Read More
Quote Of The Day
“The GOP today is a tale of two parties. One of them, the gubernatorial wing, is growing and successful. The other, the federal wing, is increasingly marginalizing itself, and unless changes are made, it will be increasingly difficult for Republicans to win another presidential election in the near future.” – opening sentences of the report commissioned by RNC Chairman Reince Priebus … Read More
Hitting Home
The headline reads… "Sen. Rob Portman comes out in favor of gay marriage after son comes out as gay": Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman on Thursday announced he has reversed his longtime opposition to same-sex marriage after reconsidering the issue because his 21-year-old son, Will, is gay. Portman said his son, a junior at Yale University, told him and his wife, … Read More
Less Than One-in-Four Americans Is A Republican
The GOP is broken: President Obama starts his second term with a clear upper hand over GOP leaders on issues from guns to immigration that are likely to dominate the year, a USA TODAY/Pew Research Center Poll finds. On the legislation rated most urgent — cutting the budget deficit — even a majority of Republican voters endorse Obama's approach of … Read More
“ObamaQuester”?
There's the sequester coming up, and here's what should be of concern to everyone: the severe nature of the cuts, and what can be done to avoid it. But it looks like the Republicans have opted to play politics instead, and their concern is assigning blame. They've decided to call it the "Obamaquester". Finger-pointing is easier than governing, I guess, … Read More
GOP Needs To Send Out Memo To Republicans: “Stop Talking About Rape”
From the "They Just Can't Help Themselves" file, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's intrepid Jim Galloway informs us that U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA), an OB-GYN, went out of his way in a local newspaper interview to express sympathy for the "legitimate rape" comments of his former colleague Todd Akin: And in Missouri, Todd Akin was asked by a local news source about rape … Read More