Buck Naked Politics

Grayson on the Ed Show: Republicans Wish There Was a Nobel Prize for Fear

Florida Sunshine in the Healthcare Debate

by Bill Kavanagh:  Two of my colleagues here at Buck Naked Politics are based in Florida, the home of the dimpled chad.  For a decade, we’ve all been cringing when we hear they have an election down there.  Will they elect another member of the Bush family, or someone like Kathleen Harris, unable to discern the difference between serving the Bushes and performing her responsibility to voters?  Perhaps they’d send us another a moral-majority type like Mark Foley, leading one (creepy) life for himself and espousing another very conservative set of rules for the rest of us?  Who would Floridians send to Washington next?

The Daily Show: 'Values Voters,' teh Gays, and the Unbelievably Flamboyant Dancing of Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay

In which "values voters" are asked to model their social mores on those of 11 year old boys while Tom DeLay dances with the stars.  

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Moral Kombat
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Healthcare Protests

Nobody Does It Better: in Which Bloggers Consider the Dismaying of MoDo, the Throwing of Progressives Under the Bus, & the Usual Wingnut Loonies

by bartleby the scrivener |  On the dismaying of MoDo by internet bloggers who hide behind pseudonyms ("On the Internet, it’s often less about being constructive and more about being cowardly," writes Dowd),  Bats Left, Throws Right rejoins:

Y'know, thirty-five years ago news media strode the earth like a Colossus. And from that vantage point they saw bigger profits on the horizon from cable, and space phones, and billboards on the Moon, and, especially, unfettered mergering and acquistioning and other rapining. And they decided that the Supermarket Tabloid model of making shit up was an unfair advantage, costing them literally hundreds of dollars a week in fact-checking. Pretty soon you can't say Time without the guy sitting next to you on the bus replying, "Warner." And what happens? When there are no standards left, aside from that byline thing, people discover they can make shit up for themselves and cut out the middle-man.... 

.And we learn in short order that there're 40,000 people who can write better than you, would do it for less, and can produce coherent thought without a Blackberryfull of "sources".  (The New Maureen Dowd Signature Line Of Donkey Appendage Strap-ons)

Media Morons Heart the Tea-bagging Fools of the Party of No: A Compendium of Progressive Snarkery

by Teh Nutroots | curv3ball over at The Toot, commenting on the relationship between astroturfers and attendant loonies and our useless media:

The stupid has reached supernova and all the media can do is applaud the ability of those firing up the stupid to capture the media’s attention with a particularly shiny stupid.  Rather than, you know, point out that stupid mendacity is actually stupid and mendacious, and its purveyors likewise (or, in the alternative, cynical and mendacious). ("Nobody Dumbs It Better")

TBogg:

A coalition of 'concerned citizens'...have banded together to make sure that abortion funding is not included in whatever half-assed  health care plan the gutless Democrats finally cobble together. The idea being that....women will wake up in the morning and be all, "Hmm.... should I go to the mall or have an abortion today?" because woman just love abortin',  particularly if it's free, just like a makeover at M•A•C.

Abortion is only for those who can afford it. The uninsured Poors will just have to have their babies.

The cycle of poverty demands it. (Keeping Abortion Out of the Reach of the Riff-Raff)

Side of Snark with Dijon Mustard: Sean Hannity Eats Burgers Like a MAN; the GTL Begs to Differ with David Feherty; Progressives Contemplate the GOP Crazy

by Teh Nutroots | Hannity attacked Obama for ordering a hamburger with Dijon mustard.  Mmmm, dijon mustard.  So TBogg said, he said:

When Sean Hannity wants a burger he makes his own. He pulls up to a pasture, selects a cow, head-butts it, strangles the stunned animal WITH HIS BARE HANDS, rips a chunk of meat from the still warm body WITH HIS BARE HANDS, throws into a fire he has made by rubbing two sticks together WITH HIS BARE HANDS, pulls the smoldering burnt flesh from the fire WITH HIS BARE HANDS, and then rips at it with his sharpened incisors. He doesn't need a bun. Buns are for pussies.....

Later there is pudding. But no spoon. Spoons are for pussies.

(Added) Jesus, These people are idiots.

Ship of Snark: The Print Media Grinds Its Teeth and Shakes Its Fists at Google; Republicans Discuss Their Navels & Their Shrinkage Problems Some More

photograph, Newspaper Cat, by Doviende/Pete , used pursuant to CC license

by Teh Nutroots |   MoDo (and other members of the print media) rage, rage against the dying of the light.  Man, I missed this when it came out:  Alex Goodall's response to MoDo's pissing and moaning over how the Google and the internets will eventually cost her her job -- prime stuff, this.

For context, here's a bit of MoDo's standard brand of self-serving whinging, following a conversation with Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt -- all good, risible material when you consider the source. [And let me say at the outset that I don't want to see the disappearance of the print media.  As the photograph shows, it still has uses which the internet can never serve, such as a comfy bed for your cat.] 

Planet of Snark: Condi Explains It All to Some 4th Graders; No Fat Chicks on the Bench; Advice for Shrinkage Sufferers; Blind Spots; & the Brits Leave Iraq

Out of the Mouths of Rugrats.  Princess Sparkle Pony, long-time Condi watcher, comments on Condi's recent run-in with a fourth grader on the subject of torture (Condi Lies to Children About Torture):

[I]t seems that all anybody wants to ask Condi about these days is torture, which is icky and totally rude because it makes her uncomfortable. This time it was a fourth grader who wanted to ask the question  newspapers refuse to ask, and...it made Condi's meet-children-cute thing a little tense....

So the kid was all, like, "OMG, which Jonas Brother is your favorite and why did we, like, torture 'n' stuff?" Condi then scrunched up her forehead and gave her standard response....Sheesh! Look, it's a simple logic problem:

Joe the Plumber: Gay People Totally Are Queer, Meaning "Strange & Unusual & Possibly Harmful to Kids"

photo, scary clown garbage can, by Mack Male/mastermaq, used pursuant to CC license]

Self-appointed mouthpiece of white working men Joe the Plumber (Samuel Wurzelbacher) thinks "queer" is a fact, not an insult. (Think Progress)  Gay people, he opines, are "strange and unusual," which he thinks you'll find is what "queer" means.  And he sure wouldn't let one near his children! (Think Progress)   I feel pretty sure the gay friends would feel exactly the same way about Joe the Plumber's children.  I can't wait till some reporter tracks one of them down to ask! 

Charles Lemos at My DD:  "Joe look up the word moron in that dictionary. Your picture should be right there."

Bloggerama: Advice for Obama on Picking the New Supreme; How to Deal with Torture's Enablers; Fatherhood & Genius Among the GOP's Elite; & the Comedy Stylings of the GOP

by Teh Nutroots |  Replacing Souter.   The Field Negro has some advice for Obama on picking the next Supreme. 

O man, here is a little advise from the field: Please pick a woman, any woman. I don't care if it's Judge Judy. One out of nine just isn't going to cut it. There are more female lawyers in this country than men, so it shouldn't be too hard.

Whoever you pick, just get ready for a fight, because the wingnuts are already foaming at the mouth.

Snark on This: GOP Prepares to be Intransigent Some More; Mythical Infestations by Imaginary Beings (and One Man's Solution); Jimmy Carter's Two Guns; When Is It Totally Okay to Torture?; & the Strategerizing of Michael Steele

painting, "The Fight Between Carnival and Lent" by Pieter Breugel the Elder, via Olga's Gallery

by Teh Nutroots |  Leave 'em Twisting in Their Idiot Wind.   Jill at Brilliant at Breakfast on picking a new Supreme in this brave new post-partisan America:

It's going to be interesting to watch the Republicans blather about "legislating from the bench" as they demand a justice in the mold of Sammy the Stem Cell Alito, which the President made clear the other night they're not going to get:

Banking Lobby Defeats Plan Intended to Help Homeowners

by Damozel | Despite the support of Obama and one bank (Citigroup), the Senate voted 45-51 against the bill that would have let bankruptcy judges rewrite -- "cram down" in the vernacular -- mortgage payments for homeowners.  (abc news; think progress) 

This bill was part and parcel of "a central element" in the Dems' plan to stabilize the economy. (Wash. Independent) Tragically, "[s]everal Democrats, including the newest Democrat, Sen. Arlen Specter of PA, opposed [the bill]."(abc news)  "Nays included all Republicans and Baucus, Bennet, Byrd, Carper, Dorgan (?), Johnson, Landrieu, Lincoln, Nelson (NE), Pryor, Specter (awesome!), Tester," dday says. Ryan Grimm at HuffPost discusses the millions in contributions raked in to their campaign coffers by some of those Dems. 

And -- wow -- Sen. Dick Durbin is seriously annoyed.  Siding with those who don't have "paid lobbyists" and against bankers who "own the place," he slammed the argument being mounted by the banks:

Big Tent O' Snark: Obama's Obamamania?; The GOP Digs for the Pony; Scenes from Lindsay Lohan's Coloring Book; Bill Clinton Steps Up; Asshattery; Optional Education; and The Bad Palin Lolling on a Bearskin

photograph "zirkus-circus" by Thomas Totz, used pursuant to Creative Commons license

by Teh Nutroots | Obama Celebrates Himself. Fausta comments on Obama's method of celebrating his first 100 days:   

Obamamania or overkill? President marks his first 100 days in office with THREE HUNDRED photos… all of him

But are they autographed?

The Specter Defection:  Good for the GOP!  Or so they keep trying to convince themselves.  Thers, quoting Sen. John Cornyn, says:

Good Bloggin': Obama's First 100 Days; Specter's Change of Allegiance; Bachmann Doesn't Exactly Say Obama Caused Swine Flu; Hate Crimes; the GOP Legacy; & One Stupendous Act of Sheer Self-Servingness

  "Golden laurel wreath" by Andreas Praefcke, published pursuant to this license 

by Teh Nutroots |  Dolphins of Hope & Change. The polls show that Obama gets "high marks" (with qualifications) for his first 100 days.  Agitprop sums it up thus:  "Just ridin' the waves. Upon dolphins."  Photographic evidence here.

Changing Lanes.  At Fables of the Reconstruction, Mithras in South Philly muses on the sudden acquisition of Sen. Specter as a Pennsylvania Dem: