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Worse than Weiner

An article in ABC News points out the hypocrisy of how our political system deals with scandals. Representative Anthony Weiner has resigned, but what was strange about this whole episode was that both Democratic and Republican leaders immediately called for Weiner to resign. Nancy Pelosi has never called for a fellow Democrat to resign, until Weiner. Even President Obama said he should resign, which is pretty much unprecedented.

According to political historian Julian Zelizer “I can’t remember a comparable scandal when a president did that. … The irony of the Weiner situation is that there have been scandals when the leadership has been much more quiet in both parties.”

And Weiner didn’t even do anything illegal. In 2007, Representative William Jefferson of Louisiana was indicted on 16 federal counts, not to mention numerous ethics violations, but served out his term (he was later found guilty and sent to prison). But the Democratic leadership, including Pelosi, never told him to step down. And Representative Charles Rangel of New York was found guilty of violating eleven House ethics rules; the House censured him, but didn’t force him to resign.

And Republicans like House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor called on Weiner to resign, even though they hypocritically didn’t do the same thing for Senator David Vitter (who solicited a prostitute, which is a crime) or for Senator John Ensign (who lied to the Federal Election Commission in order to cover up an affair with a former top aide).

So why did everyone jump on Weiner to resign? Maybe it had nothing to do with his sex scandal (even though there was no actual sex). Maybe it has more to do with his crusades against wrongdoing corporations.

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GOPoetry


© Dan Wasserman

All we need now is some poetic justice.

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Doing the Right Thing

A huge fight is happening in New York State over a bill legalizing gay marriage, introduced by Governor Cuomo on Tuesday.

Leading the opposition is Catholic Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who equated the bill (without irony) to life in China or North Korea, where “government presumes daily to ‘redefine’ rights, relationships, values and natural law. Please, not here! We cherish true freedom, not as the license to do whatever we want, but the liberty to do what we ought.” (You know, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength)

That was just too much for Republican State Senator Roy McDonald, who snapped and decided to change his vote to yes — despite intense pressure from fellow Republicans to vote against the bill. McDonald, 64, told reporters:

You get to the point where you evolve in your life where everything isn’t black and white, good and bad, and you try to do the right thing. You might not like that. You might be very cynical about that. Well, fuck it, I don’t care what you think. I’m trying to do the right thing. I’m tired of Republican-Democrat politics. They can take the job and shove it. I come from a blue-collar background. I’m trying to do the right thing, and that’s where I’m going with this.

You sir, are awesome.

UPDATE: The New York State Senate passed the bill, 33-29. Cuomo has promised to sign the bill, making NY the sixth state (and by far the most populous) to legalize gay marriage. Several Republicans in the Republican-controlled Senate voted for the bill, including one Senator who is a Catholic, but put his personal beliefs aside because he could not think of a legal reason why gays should not have equal rights.

UPDATE 2: Andrew Sullivan on why this matters. In case you don’t know, Sullivan is both a conservative and gay.

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The Democratic Budget


© Jim Morin

The Republicans keep repeating the lie that the Democrats don’t have a plan to balance the budget, but they do, and it is a surprisingly good and balanced plan. Not only does it do all of the things listed in the above comic, it eliminates the deficit in 10 years. This is way faster than the Republican plan, and it does it without destroying Medicare (in fact, it strengthens Medicare and Social Security).

But don’t take my word for it. The Economist calls it “courageous” as does Nobel laureate economist Paul Krugman. The Guardian says “the most fiscally responsible in town … would balance the books by 2021”. And Forbes Magazine says “instead of gutting programs for the poor like Medicaid and Medicare, food stamps, and the new healthcare law, the People’s Budget focuses on cuts in defense. It also doesn’t scrap new financial regulations designed to at least partly stave off another massive financial collapse like the one that put us in this mess in the first place.” You can read an independent analysis of the Democratic plan here.

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The Republican Presidential Candidates


© Henry Payne

If it weren’t so pitiful and cowardly, it would be funny. Especially watching Mitt Romney trying to explain how Obama’s health care reform is completely different from his own health care reform, which mainly boils down to “mine isn’t called Obamacare“.

Does it scare anyone else that Michelle Bachmann came off during the debate as the only person who actually believes in anything? Unfortunately, what she believes in is borderline delusional — Bachmann has earned the dubious honor of being wrong more often than any other politician ever fact checked by PolitiFact, with a large percentage of her statements being rated “Pants-on-Fire False”.

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Tweet This!


© Mike Stanfill

Who knew economics could be this sexy? Well, at least more sexy than photos of politicians in their underwear.

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The Best Opinions Money Can Buy

According to an article in Politico, if you don’t like the political opinions expressed by conservative talk radio hosts like Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, or even Rush Limbaugh, you can pay them to have different opinions.

Limbaugh regularly promotes the Heritage Foundation, and even encourages people to contribute money to it. Same thing for Hannity. Beck promotes FreedomWorks, but Mark Levin promotes Americans for Prosperity. Why? Because they are paid to do so. These prominent conservative groups pay large sponsorship fees in order to get favorable opinions. For example, the Heritage Foundation pays about $2 million to sponsor Limbaugh and $1.3 million to sponsor Hannity.

But what makes this creepy is that they don’t think there is anything wrong with this. According to the Heritage Foundation’s VP for marketing:

We approach it the way anyone approaches advertising: where is our audience that wants to buy what you sell? And their audiences obviously fit that model for us.

In many cases, the sponsors provide a script or a set of talking points for the radio personalities to read on air, touting the group and encouraging contributions. Often these paid advertisements are woven seamlessly into the other content of the show. Or they interview spokespeople from the sponsors on the show as if they were regular guests.

And the investment in conservative talk radio hosts apparently pays off. After sponsoring Beck, FreedomWorks doubled its fundraising take to almost $14 million.

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Late Night Political Humor

“Congressman Weiner has entered a treatment program. Amazingly, it’s the only thing he’s entered during the entire Weinergate scandal.” – Conan O’Brien

“Congressman Anthony Weiner has just checked himself into a treatment centre for people battling chronic sexual dysfunction. Checked in? He’s already there, it’s called Congress.” – Jay Leno

“It’s so sunny today that Anthony Weiner saw his shadow. That means six more weeks of Weiner jokes.” – David Letterman

“Congressman Anthony Weiner has announced that he’s not resigning in the wake of the scandal. One thing we know about Weiner is that he knows how to stand firm.” – Jay Leno

“I think Congressman Weiner should resign. Not for any political reasons, but just because I would like to see him become the next ‘Bachelor.'” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Apparently, Anthony Weiner won’t decide if he’s resigning until his wife comes back from her trip to Africa with Hillary Clinton. I don’t know what’s more ridiculous — that he thinks he can stay in office, or that he thinks his wife is coming back.” – Jimmy Fallon

“I say don’t judge Anthony Weiner until you’ve walked a mile with his pants down around your ankles.” – David Letterman

“The latest batch of Weiner photos were taken at the congressional gym. Wait a minute, those guys have a gym?” – David Letterman

“TMZ published a photo of Anthony Weiner in the congressional gym. When he heard about it, Newt Gingrich said, ‘There’s a congressional gym?'” – Conan O’Brien

“Most of Newt Gingrich’s campaign staff quit on the same day and some people are blaming Newt’s third wife. When asked about it, Newt said, ‘I’ll win them back with my fourth wife.'” – Conan O’Brien

“Experts are predicting that in the first Republican debate, Mitt Romney will face his fiercest ideological opponent: himself from four years ago.” – Conan O’Brien

“Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson lashed out at CNN as being elitist for not allowing him to participate in the Republican debate. He said CNN was robbing him of the opportunity to reach literally dozens of viewers.” – Jay Leno

“According to a new study, male politicians run for office to be somebody, while female politicians run to do something. The study has a margin of error of plus or minus Sarah Palin.” – Conan O’Brien

“According to recently released emails, Sarah Palin relied on her husband, Todd, quite frequently for policy advice. You know what they say: Behind every great woman, there’s a snowmobile racer.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“The state of Alaska released more than 24,000 emails written by Sarah Palin when she was governor. How does someone that doesn’t read write that much?” – Jimmy Kimmel

“According to the Wall Street Journal, economic experts now fear there may be a second recession. A second recession? When did the first one end?” – Jay Leno

“The economy is so bad that bedbugs are now infesting sleeping bags and tents, because they can’t afford to stay in hotels anymore.” – Jay Leno

“According to reports, Osama bin Laden’s bedroom had the only air conditioner in his compound. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m starting to think that he was kind of a jerk.” – Jimmy Fallon

“For the sixth time in a year, an air traffic controller was found asleep in the Reno Nevada airport. I have a good way to keep them awake. Make them sit in the same cramped plane chairs that we have to sit in.” – Craig Ferguson

“NASA is planning to send the first iPhones into space next month. Yeah, scientists say that if they can figure out a way to make iPhones work in outer space, they could eventually get them to work here in midtown Manhattan.” – Jimmy Fallon

“Sasha Obama turned 10 years old yesterday. It was so cute when her mom Michelle had her blow out the candles on her birthday lettuce.” – Jimmy Kimmel

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Revenge of the Bottom Feeders


© Tom Tomorrow

Does this make me a bottom feeder too?

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Fiscal Responsibility Starts At Home, But Not In the House

House Speaker John Boehner is a fierce critic of government spending, but that didn’t stop him from improperly spending half a million dollars of money on an outside law firm to defend DOMA — the defense of marriage act. According to the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Boehner violated the law by redirecting money from the Office of General Counsel’s budget, leaving the office without enough money to pay their salaries. Boehner could face a fine of $5,000 and up to two years in prison if found guilty.

Boehner’s spokesman claimed that the Department of Justice should be paying to prosecute DOMA cases. But in February, the Obama administration decided that DOMA was unconstitutional, and ordered the Justice Department to stop defending the law in court. At that point, Boehner hired an outside law firm to continue defending at least ten DOMA cases.

Regardless of whether it is legal or not, it seems seriously hypocritical that Republicans like Boehner argue vigorously for smaller government and deficit reduction, and then spend money they don’t have defending a law that is all about intrusive big government.

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Late Night Political Humor

“Democrats and Republicans are calling for Congressman Anthony Weiner to resign. Late night comedians are asking him to hang in there.” – Conan O’Brien

“The Chairman of the Republican Party Ed Cox said that he would use the incriminating pictures from Anthony Weiner to defeat him. So now we have Cox versus Weiner. This just doesn’t stop!” – Jay Leno

“There’s a heat wave over half of the country. It got so hot in New York, a congressman took off his pants and tweeted a picture of himself.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“There’s now a picture going around the internet of Weiner’s naked penis. You can tell it’s him, because it looks just like him.” – Jay Leno

“There’s a word for people that take pictures of their privates and send them out: ‘stupid.'” – David Letterman

“The women who Anthony Weiner communicated with were a college student, a single mom, a blackjack dealer, and a porn star. Or, as we call that here in Los Angeles, the circle of life.” – Conan O’Brien

“Every time a new woman comes forward, I imagine Tiger Woods sitting in the back room of a Hooters somewhere laughing his ass off.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“It’s not a great day for the King of Sweden. He’s facing pressure to step down over rumors that he frequents strip clubs. Now, I think I speak for every American when I say, ‘Oh Sweden, your political sex scandals are so adorable.'” – Craig Ferguson

“Anthony Weiner wants to be mayor of New York City. So we may go from a guy that looks like a jockey to a guy that likes how he looks in Jockeys.” – David Letterman

“Thanks to you, Congressman Weiner, there is now a new low in what passes for a sex scandal. JFK got Marilyn Monroe. John Edwards got a love child. You got mail.” – Bill Maher

“Many of Anthony Weiner’s Democratic colleagues are calling for him to resign to preserve his dignity, but that ship sailed a long time ago.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“If Weiner resigns, they’re already talking about replacing him with Ashton Kutcher.” – David Letterman

“After searching online for eight minutes for pictures of a congressman’s penis you have to start questioning yourself. And now we find out Weiner’s wife is pregnant. The only thing that could make this right is if it turns out she got pregnant by Arnold Schwarzenegger.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Arnold Schwarzenegger has not taken off his wedding ring. When asked why, he said it’s a total housekeeper magnet.” – Conan O’Brien

“President Obama wrote an essay for People magazine about being the father he never had. Meanwhile, Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote an essay about being the father no one knew he was.” – Jimmy Fallon

“President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner have agreed to play a round of golf together. Imagine the two of them at the end of that golf game? Boehner will be crying over his score and Obama will be giving three explanations as to why his score is actually better than it appears.” – Jay Leno

“President Obama has offered bailout money to keep Greece from defaulting on its loans. Yeah, when Greece thanked him, Obama was like, ‘Don’t mention it … to China, because it’s their money.'” – Jimmy Fallon

“Delta Airlines charged our soldiers coming back from Afghanistan $2,800 excess baggage fees. Delta’s new slogan: ‘Screwing over the people who defend our right to screw you over.'” – Jay Leno

“There a giant fire burning in Arizona, the biggest fire ever in the history of the state … I’m not saying these two things are connected, but a few weeks ago Sarah Palin moved to Arizona, and then the state burst into flames.” – Bill Maher

“I feel bad for Sarah. She heard all the alarms and sirens and she figured the British were coming.” – Bill Maher

“Sarah Palin is going to London to try to meet with Margaret Thatcher, who’s made it clear she won’t meet with her. Palin went, ‘Who told her I was coming? Was it Paul Revere again?'” – Jay Leno

“People keep asking me if Sarah Palin is running for President. How the fuck do I know? What am I, the idiot whisperer?” – Bill Maher

“We don’t even need Sarah Palin for comedy in this presidential election because yesterday Newt Gingrich got fired by his own campaign. Did you see this? His entire staff quit en masse because they had a little disagreement about strategy. You see, Newt entered the race three weeks ago, and then his staff got mad at him because he spent the last two weeks campaigning in the wrong country. The last two weeks he’s been on a yacht touring the Greek Island, stopping only at Tiffany’s on his mission to warn America that Obama is an elitist.” – Bill Maher

“New Rule: Newt Gingrich, just stop. Seriously, your campaign isn’t just off to a rocky start; it’s like you hired me to run it and I purposely ran it into the ground. Let me put your popularity into context for you. You are a Republican and you’re polling behind a black man (Herman Cain).” – Bill Maher

“It’s Donald Duck Day, the day the mighty Disney corporation says we celebrate our favorite Donald. Sorry, Donald Trump.” – Craig Ferguson

“Donald Duck & Donald Trump are very different of course. One’s a noisy cartoon character with a feathery ass … and the other one’s Donald Duck.” – Craig Ferguson

“Donald Duck has one of those voices that everyone can identify, like Darth Vader — or Larry King.” – Craig Ferguson

“According to a worldwide survey, the funniest country in the world is America. We are considered the funniest country in the world and Germany is considered the least funny country in the world. How bad is that when you come in behind that laugh riot, Iran?” – Jay Leno

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The Beast


© Tom Toles

Republicans, who voted against every single bill that Obama came up with to help jumpstart the economy, spent their debate last night attacking Obama for not doing enough about the economy. But their only answer is lower taxes, which ignores the fact that one third of the cost of Obama’s stimulus bill (which they opposed and now attack) was to lower taxes, and the fact that taxes right now are the lowest they have been in 60 years, yet the economy continues to go into the toilet. Oh, they also want decreased regulation, even though it was decreased regulation of banks that triggered the economic collapse in the first place. They also complained about the deficit, even though Republicans have done far more to run up the deficit than Democrats.

Why does anyone listen to them when they trot out their old, tired answers that clearly have not worked? I would love it for some Republican to suggest something new, but they all seem to be part of the Borg collective. As First Read puts it:

The other big loser of the night was a serious, substantive discussion on the economy. After spending the last few weeks criticizing the Obama administration on this subject, not a single GOP presidential candidate offered a convincing plan on how to create jobs. We heard plenty about lower taxes and less regulation. The problem: Taxes are already at their lowest level since the 1950, and that hasn’t really jump-started the economy. Moreover, there was little regulation during the Bush administration, and that didn’t produce a wave of jobs between 2001 and 2009.

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Disgrace


© Clay Bennett

Tell me again why everyone is calling for Weiner to resign? Did he do something illegal? He never even had physical sex with any of these women, and the sexting was consensual.

How can Democrats or Republicans call for Weiner to resign, when Bill Clinton didn’t resign (or get removed from office) after having (actual) sex with one of his interns, Clarence Thomas was even confirmed to the Supreme Court after it was disclosed that he repeatedly made inappropriate sexual remarks to Anita Hill, and Mark Stanford served out his term as governor of South Carolina after using taxpayer money to have sex with his girlfriend in Argentina. Heck, Gingrich has cheated on more than one wife, and he’s running for president!

I’m not defending what Weiner did, but it seems like this is between him and his wife unless he did something illegal or professionally unethical. Lots of other politicians have done far worse. Or was Weiner’s real transgression attacking Clarence Thomas?

UPDATE: Bonus comic:


© Robert Ariail

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Maher takes Great Glee in Weiner Text

Warning, this video is not safe for work, partly because you’ll laugh out loud — a dramatic reading with Jane Lynch of Congressman Anthony Weiner’s sexting:

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Late Night Political Humor

“Comedy people sit around for years hoping for a scandal called ‘Weinergate.’ And then it happens.” – Conan O’Brien

Congressman Weiner reportedly called Bill Clinton to apologize for his behavior. After Bill suggested that Weiner also call Hillary, Weiner said, ‘Don’t worry, I sent her a text.'” – Conan O’Brien

“What?! The congressman had a sex scandal and had to apologize to Bill Clinton? For what?! Copyright infringement? A patent violation?” – Jon Stewart

“When there’s trouble, you can always tell who your friends are. And this poor guy, Anthony Weiner, is getting no support from nobody. Except, you know who’s supporting Anthony Weiner? Newt Gingrich. Today, Newt Gingrich sent him a $10,000 cell phone case from Tiffany’s.” – David Letterman

“Donald Trump said Anthony Weiner is a psycho. So look for him on the next season of ‘Celebrity Apprentice.'” – Conan O’Brien

“More trouble for Anthony Weiner: He was fired as the voice of the Aflac duck.” – David Letterman

“You want me to cut my wrist again? Is that what you people do when watching this show? Are you people fucking right now?” ” – Jon Stewart (responding to news that “The Daily Show” figured into Anthony Weiner’s sexual exchanges with a Las Vegas blackjack dealer)

“Congressman Weiner has admitted that he did carry on explicit online relationships with six different women. Well, he thought they were women. Turns out three were woman, one was a guy pretending to be a woman, and the other two were congressmen.” – Jay Leno

“Democrats in Congress have been distancing themselves from the Anthony Weiner scandal. Just to be safe, everyone is staying a good 6 to 8 inches away at all times.” – Jimmy Fallon

“There has been growing pressure for Anthony Weiner to resign. When asked for a comment, Weiner said, “Look, I’m not leaving … but I am packing.” – Jimmy Fallon

“51 percent of New York voters think Congressman Weiner should keep his seat in office. The other 49 percent think that he should disinfect it.” – Conan O’Brien

“Sociologists have documented this. Here are the stages of a scandal: First you have the denial, then you have the tearful confession, then it’s resignation, and then you appear on ‘Dancing With the Stars.'” – David Letterman

“Yesterday President Obama welcomed German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the White House. One embarrassing moment when Merkel got a phone call from a certain New York congressman asking if she’d like to see his wienerschnitzel.” – Jay Leno

“Of course, Weiner is now desperately trying to make things better with his wife. You can tell he’s sorry. Like today he sent her a picture of his penis with a little sad face on it.” – Jay Leno

“People wonder why Weiner engaged in such reckless behavior. If you wanted people to check out your crotch, go to the airport and go through security like everybody else.” – Jay Leno

“Delta Airlines has a new slogan, ‘Come fly the greedy skies.’ This is unbelievable; Delta Airlines is in trouble now after they charged our U.S. soldiers coming back from Afghanistan $2,800 because they had extra baggage. If the TSA isn’t grabbing your ass, Delta’s grabbing your wallet. It’s unbelievable.” – Jay Leno

“To make matters worse for our returning soldiers, the in-flight movie was ‘burlesque’, and since many of these guys were paratroopers, they just bailed.” – Jay Leno

“The beautiful star of the TV show ‘Mad Men,’ January Jones, is pregnant but she will not reveal who the father is. To which John Edwards said, ‘Why can’t I meet women like this?'” – Jay Leno

“A woman in Florida called 911 after she found a bear swimming in her backyard pool. That’s right, there was a bear in the water. Or as Sarah Palin calls that, ‘soup.'” – Jimmy Fallon

“A new study found that being bored can be good for your brain. Which explains that new campaign slogan, ‘Mitt Romney: I’m Good For Your Brain.'” – Jimmy Fallon

“President Obama’s top economic adviser, a man named Austan Goolsbee, is stepping down: He will be replaced by something a little more effective…the magic 8-ball.” – Jay Leno

“Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is predicting that the economy will pick up in the second half of the year. So you know what that means: nothing.” – Jimmy Fallon

“President Obama said today he’s not concerned about a double dip recession. He’s more concerned the recovery we’re in is not creating enough jobs. In fact, do you know what you call a recovery that isn’t creating enough jobs? A recession.” – Jay Leno

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