Political Irony will be quiet for a few weeks while I’m on vacation.
While I’m gone, please visit the many fine and funny websites listed under “LINKS”.
I’m curious, how many people get the pun in my name? If you don’t, try saying it out loud. I actually had someone ask me if my name was some kind of Kung-Fu thing.
-Iron Knee
It is interesting that the 2005 Bankruptcy Bill, the one that made it more difficult for normal people to declare bankruptcy because of, say, crushing medical bills or home mortgages that suddenly ballooned, had another provision buried in the fine print. This provision, which was pushed for by by the investment banking industry, made many derivatives except from bankruptcy protection. In simple English, that means that if your bank goes bankrupt, you might lose everything, but companies (counterparties) who hold derivatives can go ahead and seize bank assets. As TPM puts it, they not only get to go to the head of the line to get their money, they get to skip the line entirely.
Ironically, this provision actually hastened the collapse of Lehman and Bear Stearns last year.
I guess this is what happens when the deregulated investment banking industry gets to write their own rules.
“But do you know anything about the Dow Jones, ladies and gentlemen? The Dow Jones average went down to 6,000. Do you know what that means? Neither do
I, but it’s the first time in 12 years that the Dow has been the same as Rush Limbaugh’s cholesterol.” -David Letterman
“According to a new study, people are sleeping less because they’re worried about the economy. I think also it might have something to do with the fact they’re sleeping under bridges.” – Craig Ferguson
“Was it nice outside today or not? Yeah! Sunny. I thought it was a very sunny day. I’m driving to work today and I saw a foreclosure sign with an awning.” -David Letterman
“Beautiful day. It was so sunny, as a matter of fact, down on Wall Street, the stockbrokers were applying sunscreen before they jumped.” -David Letterman
“And according to a top Russian scholar, the US economy will collapse next year, which comes as a huge shock to most people. I think we thought it was going to collapse this year, so we’ve got another year to party. Yeah!” -Jay Leno
“One in 10 Californians are now unemployed. Unfortunately, Arnold Schwarzenegger isn’t one of them.” -Craig Ferguson
“I’ll tell you, the economy is in bad shape in this country, but the local economy here in Los Angeles is improving, especially if your name is Manny Ramirez. Yeah. Hear about this? Ramirez signed a two-year, $45 million deal with pro baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers. And Ramirez played hardball for that money. He told the Dodgers that if they did not give him the money he was asking for, he was going to leave and go over to AIG, who has plenty of dough.” -Jay Leno
“You guys know anything about this weasel, this rodent, Bernie Madoff? He decided what he would do would be to swindle his friends. And so he did a pretty good job. He got them for $50 billion, and now his lovely wife Ruth was able to get 69 million. And she wants to keep that. She and her husband say it’s not fraud money, it’s money they saved on gas by fully inflating their tires.” -David Letterman
“And Bernard Madoff, the man who operated the Ponzi scream that screwed $50 billion out of people is now saying he should be allowed to keep $62 million and his $7 million penthouse. Yeah. His lawyers are arguing he needs that money to live out the rest of his life. You know, I’ve got a solution for that, okay? It’s called the death penalty.” -Jay Leno
“Hey, quite, quite a scare in Washington, DC, today. You may have heard about this. Police were called to the White House. Apparently, President Obama was in a meeting with some potential cabinet nominees. Someone noticed a suspicious looking document on the table no one had ever seen before. Turns out it was just a tax form, but it gave them quite a fright.” -Jay Leno
“I love this story. The President’s latest nominee, this one for US trade representative, a man named Ron Kirk, who owes the government $10,000 in back taxes, has agreed to pay his taxes. That’s what the paper said today. He’s agreed to pay them. When was there a choice?” -Jay Leno
“And Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announced he plans to go after tax evaders after failing to pay his own taxes. It is all part of the government’s “Operation Do As I Say, Not As I Do.'” -Jay Leno
“As you know now, Rush Limbaugh is the new face of the Republican Party, but they’ll probably go with a different body. I don’t want to say Rush is fat but he is a red state.” -David Letterman
“Rush Limbaugh has challenged President Obama to a debate. A White House spokesman said the President has bigger things to worry about. I’m thinking, ‘Really? Bigger than Rush Limbaugh?’ Have you seen Rush lately?” -Jay Leno
“Rush Limbaugh is the new face of the Republican Party, however. And he says that he can defeat President Obama in a debate. I’m thinking maybe a competitive eating contest, but I don’t know about a debate.” -David Letterman
“Here’s a cute story. You know the Obama kids? They got a swing set there on the White House lawn. And here’s the nice thing. This is what you like about Obama. He is a very conscientious guy. Thinks of everything, because the swing set didn’t cost the taxpayers anything. They built the swing set out of old pieces of Dick Cheney’s guard tower.” -David Letterman
“Barack Obama bought a brand new swing set for his daughters, Malia and Sasha. It has a slide and a rope ladder. It’s great. It’s much nicer than the one George Bush used.” -Jimmy Fallon
“So they got a swing set there on the White House lawn and I got to thinking, ‘Wow! There really hasn’t been any swinging at the White House since that heavyset intern.'” -David Letterman
“You know what famous pet passed way? Socks the cat, who was 9 years old so I guess it was time. But right up until the end, Bill Clinton was still blaming the cat for the fresh scratch marks on his back.” -Jay Leno
“Oh, big day in Washington, DC, today. Pretty boy Brad Pitt was down there talking to Congress. Brad Pitt, of course, married to the original octomom.” -David Letterman
Jon Stewart points out the stupidity of pundits who criticize Obama when the Dow Jones Industrial Average drops:
Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) has been getting himself into the news a bit lately. His latest oops was a statement he made a few days ago about public schools in Washington D.C. “If you send a kid to school in D.C., chances are that they will end up in a gang rather than graduating.” The context of his statement was that DC schools are so bad that they should be forced by Congress (over local objections) to continue an experimental school voucher program that DeMint supports.
What DeMint failed to mention is that the graduation rate in DC is actually close to the national average at 70%, while DeMint’s state of South Carolina has the fourth lowest graduation rate in the nation, at less than 54%.
Thanks to Think Progress.
“I don’t need to tell you folks, but the economy is so bad right now that over 1,000 Americans have volunteered to become the Obama dog.” -David Letterman
“The Dow Jones numbers are so low today they were made an honorary NBC affiliate. That’s how bad the economy is.” -Jay Leno
“I’ll tell you how bad the economy is. Listen, I was in Beverly Hills, and I saw a guy driving an American car.” -Jay Leno
“The Republican Party said it would donate Sarah Palin’s $150,000 wardrobe to a needy cause. That’s nice, that’s nice. They looked around. It turns out the neediest cause is the Republican Party.” -Jimmy Fallon
“President Obama — talk about a tough gig, and talk about optimism. The guy is saying it’s a good time to buy stocks. So here’s what you do. Instead of that latte you buy in the morning, pick yourself up a thousand shares of GM.” -David Letterman
“Well, folks, it’s happened again. President Obama’s latest nominee for U.S. trade representative, a man named Ron Kirk, owes $10,000 in unpaid back taxes. Apparently, when it comes to taxes, ‘yes, we can’ is now, ‘no, we didn’t.'” -Jay Leno
“Well, listen to this. One of Kirk’s tax deductions was $17,000 for tickets to Dallas Mavericks games; $17,000 for pro basketball tickets. But to be fair, since it was the Mavericks, he should be able to write that off as a failed investment.” -Jay Leno
“And the Federal Reserve chairman said today that the $700 billion bailout of the banks is not going to be enough money. When did the Federal Reserve become like a car mechanic, you know? ‘Yeah, we can get the economy running for maybe $700 billion, but there’s no guarantee it’s not gonna stall out on you.’ Well, now, the government has given AIG $30 billion more. We gave them $165 billion. Now we’re giving them $30 billion. You know what AIG stands for? ‘And It’s Gone!'” -Jay Leno
“And when is it — I mean we’re not even talking millions, we’re talking billions — and when is it enough? Even kids have to do something for their allowance, don’t they? Can’t we get these AIG guys to mow the lawn or take out the garbage? Do something. Pick up trash in orange jump suits, maybe?” -Jay Leno
“Here’s a great story. In New Jersey, somebody bought a lottery ticket and won $212 million. Now, under the new Obama plan, after taxes, that person will have enough money left over to buy another lottery ticket.” -David Letterman
“Our new Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, is working very hard traveling all over the world. She’s been to Korea, Japan, China, Egypt, Israel, or as Bill calls it, ‘spring break! Yeah!'” -Jay Leno
“Hey, here’s big news. Do you remember Vice President Dick Cheney? Do you remember that guy? And I don’t know, in the middle of the second term or something, the P.R. people got together and they said, ‘Dick, nobody really knows anything about you.’ So he went out and shot his buddy in the face. Do you remember that? Boom! And that was good for about two years for us here. Well, listen to this. Cheney has now been invited to speak at the American Museum of Fly Fishing. After his speech, he’s going to demonstrate how to waterboard a trout.” -David Letterman
“But you say to yourself, ‘What are these guys doing in retirement?’ Well, Dick Cheney is keeping busy. Today, as a matter of fact, he hooked up a digital converter box to his pacemaker, so he’s ready to go.” -David Letterman
“Here’s some uplifting news from Iraq. For the first time, millions of Iraqis have access to the Internet. They can even go on Facebook, as long as the face is wearing a veil.” -Jimmy Fallon
“I love this because in one little story, we have what’s great about this country and what’s weird about this country. A person in Florida calls 911, you know, the emergency number, 911? And here’s the emergency — McDonald’s has run out of Chicken McNuggets. This person placed a call three times. I said: ‘Rush Limbaugh, please! Get some help.'” -David Letterman
“By the way, ladies and gentlemen, Rush Limbaugh is the new face of the Republican Party. And I’m thinking, if I see any more of Rush Limbaugh, I’m going to have to send my housekeeper out to buy me painkillers.” -David Letterman
“French President Nicolas Sarkozy received another death threat yesterday, when he opened a letter that was filled with bullets. It’s almost as scary as last year, when he barely escaped after being faxed a picture of a knife.” -Jimmy Fallon
“Our guest tonight was supposed to be … Rick Santelli, he’s an analyst for CNBC and a former derivatives trader. He’d done some critical reporting on the hundreds of billions of dollars in bailout money going to failed banks, and failed automakers, and insurers of failed banks and automakers. … Now Mr. Santelli was invited to come on this program, and he accepted the invitation. Then on Friday, he cancelled. Or I guess the phrase would be, he bailed out.” -Jon Stewart
“Wow! If I’d just listened to CNBC I’d have a million dollars today, provided I started with a hundred million dollars.” -Jon Stewart
Minority Leader John Boehner claims that “in a carefully calculated campaign, operatives and allies of the Obama administration are seeking to divert attention toward radio host Rush Limbaugh.” And Republican Senator and NRSC chairman John Cornyn called the statements against Limbaugh an “outrage” that “reeks of hypocrisy coming from a president who campaigned against these very cynical political tactics last fall.”
Of course, what they fail to mention is that it is Limbaugh who started the fight, saying repeatedly that he wants the president to fail. How hypocritical is it to attack Obama for standing up to bullies like Limbaugh? Obama never said that he would not answer attacks against him, but in the Republican fantasy world it is Obama who is being cynical.
Second, I haven’t seen very many Republicans disagreeing with Limbaugh’s attacks. At least, not without apologizing to Rush immediately afterward.
Third, just look at what the Republicans are calling outrageous attacks. Republicans are accusing Rahm Emanuel of attacking Limbaugh, but what he actually said is “I do think he’s an intellectual force, which is why the Republicans pay such attention to him.” and “I compliment him for his honesty.” Now that’s a vicious attack!
And last, but not least, how crazy is it that the Republicans are complaining about the Democrats directing attention to Rush Limbaugh? I mean, how dare they give free publicity to the voice of the Republican party! That would be like the Democrats complaining about Republicans directing attention to Michael Moore (and we know they would never do that!).
One of my pet peeves is that when your typical corporation has an epic failure, they often just treat it as a image problem, and hire a PR firm rather than actually try to fix the problem itself. The latest example is AIG, whose record epic failure (they just posted the biggest loss in all of corporate history) is burning through hundreds of billions of taxpayer money, but they decided that the solution is to hire the PR firm Burson-Marsteller to improve their image. And yes, you’re paying for it.
Rachel Maddow gives us the inside skinny:
“I want to thank you for coming out. It’s nice to be inside. It’s brutal out there. The Dow is 30 below zero. The economy is not looking good. Everybody’s cutting back. I don’t know if you heard this, but today, the Jonas Brothers fired Nick.” -Jimmy Fallon
“Nice to see you all here. You’re so lucky you live in California, because there was a huge snowstorm in Washington, D.C. In fact, they are calling it the city’s biggest snow job since that stimulus package.” -Jay Leno
“Cold in New York City today, where it was 24 degrees outside. Wait a minute. I’m sorry. That was the Dow Jones Average. So cold, former New York governor Eliot Spitzer was happy to have a burning sensation.” -David Letterman
“Talk about the age we live in. I saw this today. They unveiled a totally new method of snow removal. Did you hear about this? What they do, is they put A.I.G. in charge of it and the snow just disappears.” -Jay Leno
“I tell you, the economy is not good. Not good at all. Oh, it’s bad. In fact, on ’24,’ Jack Bauer tortured himself for not selling his stock last August. The economy is so bad, I saw Bill Maher in church praying, and later, I saw Warren Buffett buying lottery tickets.” -Jay Leno
“A.I.G. announced it lost $61.7 billion in the last quarter. What did we give them, $165 billion in that bailout thing? And they still lost $61.7 billion, which is the biggest loss by any company in U.S. history. To put it into perspective, A.I.G. lost more in December and January than pro basketball’s L.A. Clippers.” -Jay Leno
“Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is offering a pledge of $900 million to the Palestinians in Gaza. Let’s hope they don’t spend it all on rocks this time. See, apparently, we ran out of banks in this country to bail out. So now we’re bailing out the West Bank as well.” -Jay Leno
“No. This is what they said. The U.S. government guaranteed the $900 million will go directly to the people. All the money will go directly to the people. Why can’t we get that deal in this country? Why does it go to the banks?” -Jay Leno
“Actually, there were some optimistic words today from the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who told Congress the recession might end this year. Unfortunately, Bernanke also said pro football’s Detroit Lions could win the super Bowl and Paris Hilton could get an Oscar. So I don’t know. He’s a little out of there.” -Jay Leno
“The stock market is fluctuating wildly. I haven’t seen this much bouncing up and down since Clinton was in the White House.” -Craig Ferguson
“Here’s some good news. Barack Obama announced he’s bringing home troops from Iraq. That’s right. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get them direct flights home. They have a two-year layover in Afghanistan.” -Jimmy Fallon
“Hey, some good news. The Obamas are getting a dog. Yes. The Obamas say they’re going to go with a Portuguese water dog. Doesn’t that sound like some kind of lame drink a guy would order to impress a woman? ‘Bartender, for the lady, white wine, and for me, a Portuguese water dog.'” -Jay Leno
“Meghan McCain, John McCain’s daughter, said she’s tired of constantly dating guys who are obsessed with how great her father is. Fortunately for her, she already dated all three of them.” -Jimmy Fallon
“And Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal gave the Republican response to President Obama’s recent speech to Congress. But Jindal did not get good reviews. I don’t know if you saw it. I don’t want to say Jindal seemed awkward and off message, but his Secret Service code name is now Joe Biden.” -Jay Leno
“And Mayor Richard Daley said that by the year 2016, there will be a surveillance camera on every street corner in Chicago. Yeah. You know, how about putting a camera on every politician in Chicago?” -Jay Leno
“Hey, speaking of that, it is now being reported that former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has signed a six-figure deal to write a book. See, it took him a while to sign the book deal, because, like everything else in his life, he was waiting for the highest bidder.” -Jay Leno
“No, Blagojevich said plans to write a book exposing the dark and corrupt side of politics. So, apparently, it’s an autobiography.” -Jay Leno
“Well, how much is Rush Limbaugh loving all his recent publicity? He is everywhere now, since he said he wanted Obama’s policies to fail. This is the greatest thing to happen to Limbaugh since they started making that center-cut bacon.” -Jay Leno
“California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced he’s going to appear in the new Sylvester Stallone movie. Schwarzenegger wants the world to know he can still act, but I think he proved that when he said, ‘I won’t raise taxes.'” -Jay Leno
“According to a new study by a Harvard Business School professor, when it comes to online pornography, 8 of the top 10 porn-consuming states voted Republican in 2008. Republicans watch more pornography than Democrats. So, apparently, while they were voting for McCain, they were fantasizing about Sarah Palin.” -Jay Leno
“Over in Iraq, Saddam Hussein’s buddy, Chemical Ali, has been sentenced to death for a third time. He is so upset that he’s fired his lawyers. He got rid of Chemical Jacoby and Chemical Myers. They’re gone.” -David Letterman
CNBC turns hypocrisy into a fine art, and Jon Stewart is on a roll:
Wasn’t it only a few weeks ago that comedians were worried that with Bush gone, they would not have enough material?
UPDATE: Jon Stewart appeared on Letterman Thursday night, and continued his criticisms of the cable financial news channels:
The thing that upsets me the most, honesty, there are three 24-hour financial networks. All their slogans are like, ‘We know what’s going on on Wall Street.’ But then you turn it on during the crisis, and they’re like, ‘We don’t know what’s going on!’ It’d be like turning on The Weather Channel in a hurricane, and they’re just doing this: ‘Why am I wet? What’s happening to me? And it’s so windy! What’s going on, I’m scared!’ How do you not know?
It is hard to believe that the Minnesota Senate election between Al Franken and Norm Coleman was held in November and it is now four long months later in March, but Coleman refuses to give up. In fact, on Tuesday Coleman declared that the judges will never be able to figure out who won so they should toss out the election and hold a new one.
Never mind that the judges have had no problems figuring out the winner, nor that that they don’t have the power to declare a new election. It is clear that what he is really doing is trying to set things up so he can fight in the Senate to keep Franken from being seated.
But what makes Coleman’s statement especially hypocritical is that the day after the election, when Coleman appeared to be ahead in the count — and by a smaller number than the lead Franken now holds — he said that Franken should concede the race to save the taxpayers the cost of a recount. Now that he is behind, he wants a whole new election.
UPDATE: Actually, Jon Stewart has a more humorous image than Limbaugh as Ganesha — Rush as Jabba the Hutt:
“Welcome to the first episode of ‘Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.’ I have been getting so much encouragement. In fact, just before I went on, Rush Limbaugh called me up and said he wants me to fail.” -Jimmy Fallon
“Well, let’s see what’s going on in the world. It was this week in 1854 that the Republican Party was founded with only a handful of true believers. Just like today.” -Jay Leno
“So, to summarize, the Conservative Political Action Conference consisted of the deriding of veterans, open calls for presidential failure, and the annihilation of an American city, all to save the United States from unpatriotic Democrats. Apparently, the only time you have to love this country is when it’s controlled by Republicans.” -Jon Stewart
“Actually, this past weekend, the Conservative Political Action Conference picked Mitt Romney over Sarah Palin in their straw poll to be the next presidential candidate. Yeah. Well, it’s kind of interesting. I mean, one is just a pretty face, obsessed with makeup and hair. And the other, of course, is the governor of Alaska.” -Jay Leno
“Hey, the Obamas are expecting the arrival of the first dog in April. Actually, it’s Obama’s second choice of a dog. The first dog, he had some tax problems.” -Jay Leno
“Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was on ‘Meet the Press’ yesterday. And he said that Barack Obama is more analytical than President Bush. Well, there’s a shock, huh? I think Tickle Me Elmo is more analytical than President Bush.” -Jay Leno
“Obama announced today we are finally, it’s official, getting out of Iraq. Because the way the economy is going, we’re going to need the troops here, for, you know, riot control.” -Bill Maher
“President Obama announced that he plans to bring the troops home from Iraq in 18 months. But the troops actually responded and said, ‘Thank you, but the economy’s better over here, so we’re going to stay.'” -Jimmy Fallon
“Obama said he hopes the terrorists don’t follow us home, but if they do, and they want to bring down a building, the CitiCorp Center is at Lexington and 53rd.” -Bill Maher
“Well, according to the financial columnist Liz Peek, who writes for the ‘Wall Street Weekly,’ Wall Street is giving President Obama an ‘F’ for his first month in office. George W. Bush was furious when he heard about this. He said, ‘Hey, that’s easy to do for one month. You try to maintain that ‘F’ for eight straight years, okay? Then call me. That’s when we’ll talk.'” -Jay Leno
“Yeah, CitiCorp got their third bailout from the taxpayers. We now own 36 percent of CitiCorp, huh? And the CEO of CitiBank said, ‘This does not change our strategy, our operations, or our governance.’ Well, that’s a relief. Just keep that s**tty bank magic going, would you?” -Bill Maher
“Did you hear about President Obama’s new budget? Actually, Obama will explain it all in his next major address, brought to you by China.” -Jimmy Fallon
“China has announced plans to create their own 24-hour news channel. They said it’s going to be like a Chinese CNN, basically. In fact, they’ve already hired Lou Dobbs to complain about illegal Mongolians sneaking over the border.” -Jay Leno
“During his trip to Ottawa, Canada, President Obama said he was too embarrassed to admit to the Canadians that he’d never actually seen a hockey game, to which the Canadians said, ‘Oh, don’t worry, we’ve never seen a black guy.'” -Jay Leno
“And after giving AIG $85 billion in September and then another $65 billion, what, in November, they’re now asking for another $30 billion. The government says they need to restructure the bailout. Restructure? How about rethink or revoke?” -Jay Leno
“Well, we got a big snowstorm here in New York City. Whew! I want to tell you, that Mayor Bloomberg is up to his ears in trouble. But the good news is that the foot of snow broke the fall of jumping stockbrokers.” -David Letterman
“A huge blizzard covered the East Coast with 10 inches of snow. Police said there would’ve been traffic jams if people still had jobs to go to.” -Craig Ferguson
“I had so much snow in the suburbs, you can’t see the foreclosure signs.” -David Letterman
“They had a lot of snow in Washington, so President Obama’s kids stayed home from school and played with Joe Biden.” -David Letterman
“Well, the Catholic observance of Lent started last week. How many have already given up their 401(k)s?” -Jay Leno
“How about that President Obama? You know what I’m saying? Let’s get some stuff done. And I guess over the weekend he went to a basketball game, went to see the Bulls and the Wizards. And I thought, well, hell, if he’d gone to a Knicks game, he could have played.” -David Letterman
“Here in California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s approval ratings have been down lately. People seem to be having second thoughts about having elected a robot to run the state.” -Jimmy Kimmel
“Hey, there’s two big pieces of news from Iran. The first is that the C.I.A. believes that the Iranians will turn on their secret nuclear reactor any day now. And second, the Iranians — and this is the interesting part — are demanding an apology from Hollywood. Are these things related? I hope not, actually.” -Craig Ferguson
“What happened is that yesterday, the arts and cinema adviser to the Iranian president, whose name is Mockmood Ahma-Dinner-Jacket, demanded an apology from Hollywood. He says that Hollywood makes movies that are offensive to Iranians. The story is in The New York Times so you know there may be some truth to it. Maybe.” -Craig Ferguson
“Remember last year, the Iranian President, Ahma-Dinner-Jacket, said there were no gays in Iran? Uh-huh. Let me see. There are no gays in Iran but the president has an ‘arts and cinema adviser.’ Kind of undercuts your case, you know what I mean?” -Craig Ferguson
“Anyway, the adviser pointed out that the movies he didn’t like were ‘300″ and ‘The Wrestler,’ which he said were offensive because they portray Iranians in a negative light. But what’s offensive about ‘300″? In that movie, the Persians — the Iranians — are sexually ambiguous, oiled-up party boys with abs of steel. I’d pay money to be portrayed like that!” -Craig Ferguson
“Oh, there are no gays in Iran but you watch ‘The Wrestler’ and ‘300″ back-to-back?’ The film ‘300″ could be the gayest movie ever made. There’s gay porn that’s less gay than ‘300.’” -Craig Ferguson
“But Hollywood never apologizes for anything, ever. Like, I’ve seen dozens of bad movies in my life. Nobody’s apologizing to me, Iran. But then again, I don’t have nuclear weapons. Oh, wait, neither do you, right?” -Craig Ferguson
“How many watched the Obama speech on Tuesday night? He delivered his first speech to a joint session of Congress. I watched at home with friends, also a joint session.” -Bill Maher
“Hey, speaking of that, our new attorney general, Eric Holder, said individual states are now going to determine their own marijuana laws, and that the DEA is going to end raids on the California cannabis club. So, ask your doctor if pot is right for you.” -Bill Maher
“But the speech. If you didn’t see it, I’ll give you the short version. We’re completely broke, and deeply in debt, but we’re going to do a bank rescue, universal healthcare, give everybody a college education, have a bigger war in Afghanistan, cut the deficit in half, and cure cancer. We were this close to universal blow jobs.” -Bill Maher
“It was a powerful speech. Joe Biden said it made the hair that was transplanted from the back of his neck stand up.” -Bill Maher
Following the recent rash of apologies to Rush, the DCCC has conveniently created a website that helps you create your own apology to Limbaugh. Join the ranks of prominent Republicans who offended the almighty rush and lived to regret it.
It is very interesting how this whole Rush thing is working out. As a commentor on on Political Wire put it:
For the first time since, God knows when, the Democrats are playing to win, and I’m loving it! Finally, they’re playing politics the way the Rethuglikans have lo these many years: attacking their strengths and making them weaknesses. The Rethuglikans’ strength has been their unity, their amazing one-pointed focus on staying on message, and repeating the same talking points like robots. That has served them well for a long time, while the Democrats have wallowed in disunity. But now, the Democrats (who are naturally not good at staying on message, being unified, or repeating the same talking points) have actually succeeded in turning the Rethuglikan’s strength — their rock solid unity on message — into a weakness. In this case, the strength is the brown-shirt-like unity of the base behind their ideological leader, who happens not to be really very popular outside that base. And he’s actually quite, quite unattractive. So what better strategy than to turn him — El Rushbo — into the poster boy for Rethuglikan unity, and then throw darts at him? Brilliant.
And it seems to be working. Even Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid seems to have grown a pair:
I’m not going to name individual Republicans, but I think it’s very clear, as a result of the actions, since Obama was elected, that people want him to fail. Some have said so; others have just acted accordingly.
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