The Daily Flashback: Gore vs. Bush Edition

Who really won Bush-Gore election? - CNNPolitics.com:

...The studies also show that Gore likely would have won a statewide recount of all undervotes and overvotes, which are ballots that included multiple votes for president and were thus not counted at all. However, his legal team never pursued this action.

The studies also support the belief that more voters went to the polls in Florida on Election Day intending to vote for Gore than for Bush.

Even 15 years after the election, partisans on each side cherry-pick various scenarios that would have favored their candidate.

Here's a detailed look at what the studies found:..

The New Old GOP

The GOP establishment is cooked: Why it’s powerless against the ultra-right’s onslaught - Salon.com:

The Republican Party has changed a lot in the last two decades. The birth of Fox News in 1996 and the explosion of right-wing talk radio has dramatically altered the way conservatives acquire and disseminate information.

On the one hand, this has been good for grassroots conservativism. There’s now a vibrant echo chamber within which propaganda and talking points spread like wildfire. The conservative base, as a result, is continually charged with a sense of urgency and persecution mania. Every month, it seems, there’s a new crisis narrative, a new scandal, a new liberal scheme to bring down the Republic.

While the emergent conservative ecosystem has worked wonders for demagogues and political entrepreneurs, it’s been disastrous for the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the establishment wing of the party. They simply can’t control the party any longer, and they’re increasingly hated by their own constituencies...

The Coultergeist Walks In The Sun

Ann Coulter Defends CNBC Debate Moderators From 'Ridiculous' Attacks:

Conservative pundit Ann Coulter weighed in Wednesday night to all the CNBC debate haters — lay off the "ridiculous" attempts to "imitate" Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Some of the questions by the CNBC moderators on Wednesday got significant boos from the debate audience and criticism from Republicans...

On Last Night's GOPerFest

GOP Debate: Rubio Won, Jeb Is Done:

...All you have to do is hock the loogie in the right direction–whether that's in the direction of the media, as did Rubio and Tailgunner Ted Cruz, or whether that's in the direction of Hillary Rodham Clinton, who Christie vowed to keep at least 10 feet from the White House by the sheer force of his bluster, which he's going to need, if he's going to keep one step ahead of the law. Do that, and you're halfway home to having had a successful debate. As a matter of fact, the oddly muted Donald Trump seemed like the person on stage most firmly moored in the real world, which truly is saying something...

The Scandals Of Diapers Vitter

The Vitter Scandal Blotter: The Return Of Deep Blog | First Draft:

...I’ll circle back to the results and what might come next in a follow-up post but I want to focus on Vitter’s scandals right now. I cannot resist the drama of presenting this with a TOdds & Sodsy segment header as well as a DRUM ROLL...

Informative and clever writing at the link. Give it a read.

Carson's Greatest Hits

Ok they apparently have a "ctrl-c" blocker there at reverbpress so if you want to see the list, hit the link. The Path To Ben Carson's Presidency Is To Defame Liberals

A Moral CEO

Remember Dan Price of Gravity Payments, who gave his employees a $70,000 minimum wage? Here's what happened next.:

...Price says establishing a $70,000 minimum wage is a moral imperative, not a business strategy. And yet he must prove the business wisdom behind it, not only to keep Gravity from sinking—and going down with the ship himself—but also to achieve his long-term goal of transforming the business world. "I want the scorecard we have as business leaders to be not about money, but about purpose, impact, and service," he says. "I want those to be the things that we judge ourselves on."

The New Face Of Old Obstruction

Paul Ryan Promises: No Immigration Reform under Obama Administration | National Review Online:

Paul Ryan has signed off on a letter promising restless members of the House Freedom Caucus (HFC) that he won’t bring immigration-reform legislation to the House floor while President Obama remains in office.

The letter, obtained exclusively by National Review, formalizes pledges that Ryan made last week in a closed-door meeting with select members of the HFC who were skeptical of his promise to maintain an “open” and “inclusive” relationship with the caucus. Specifically, it extracts Ryan’s word that he will not bring up comprehensive immigration reform “so long as Barack Obama is president” and, as speaker, Ryan will not allow any immigration bill to reach the floor for a vote unless a “majority” of GOP members support it...

Clinton Gets Sen. Brown's Endorsement

Sen. Sherrod Brown endorses Hillary Clinton for president | cleveland.com:

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, is endorsing Hillary Clinton for president.

Brown's endorsement could matter among Ohio primary voters next March as Clinton vies with Bernie Sanders for the party's nomination. Brown has long embraced the progressive label, taking positions more often affiliated with colleagues such as Sanders, of Vermont, and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts than with moderates such as Clinton...

Dem Delusional Hope?

Democrats see strange new hope in two red state races - The Washington Post:

...If Edwards can climb to 50 percent in the Nov. 21 runoff, and if Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway can win that state's gubernatorial race -- both outcomes that would reflect current polling -- Democrats will have waged strange comebacks in states that loudly rejected Barack Obama for president. "Strange," because the conditions are not the sort that Democrats can or would repeat elsewhere. Democrats are in the hunt for Louisiana thanks to the re-emergence of the prostitution scandal that Vitter has never truly recovered from. Conway, widely seen to lack the retail skills of incumbent Gov. Steve Beshear (D-Ky.), is in a position to take over that job because a messy Republican primary nominated tea party activist Matt Bevin, whose political debut was a cursed primary bid against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell...

Bush Sez Cruz Is A Hypocrite

Jeb Bush paints Ted Cruz as two-faced - CBS News:

...Without ever mentioning Cruz's name -- possibly a sign of tact, dislike, or both -- Bush explained with some sarcasm, "He literally supported John Roberts and then after the fact, with the power of hindsight, this amazing power that only people in Washington have, the rest of us apparently don't have this skill.
"He can opine the way he wants," Bush went on. "Anyway," he paused, "that's what I think about that..." 

Carson Makes Dreadful Analogy

Ben Carson likens abortion to slavery, wants to see Roe v. Wade overturned - The Washington Post:

Ben Carson argued Sunday that abortion should be outlawed in almost all cases, and he likened women who terminate their pregnancies to "slave owners."

Asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” whether a woman should have the right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, Carson, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, acknowledged upfront that the choice of words would be controversial...

So if pregnant women are slave owners, then the men who own them must be... slave owners?

Ben Boredom Bust

Hillary Clinton to Benghazi Committee: You Are Boring Me | The New Republic:

Hillary Clinton's signature during the Benghazi hearing is of her head in her hand, her eyes blinking slowly. She looks bored, and she also looks like she wants her interrogators to know she is bored.

The Benghazi hearing, like so many congressional hearings, is theater, meant to give members of Congress something to show their constituents in ads. All these guys can cut a video showing they really stuck it to Hillary Clinton, and Clinton can show her own supporters that in the face of Republican attacks, she was not bothered at all...

On GOPer Insanity

Uppity Woman | I'm just one of those Uppity Women. Live with it.:

...What is the agenda of the radical Republicans? No restrictions whatsoever on any form of weaponry. No unions. No Social Security or Medicare. No abortion. on penalty of death or imprisonment. No voting rights for people who might tend to vote Democratic. No minimum wage. No workplace protections. No restrictions whatsoever on any corporate activity, including pollution. No Food and Drug Administration. No Environmental Protection Agency. 1870’s social darwinism multiplied by all the decades since then.

And who is going to stop them in this holy crusade? People who keep thinking that we can negotiate or compromise with them; that they ultimately have the same goals that we do? People who talk about there being “no red and no blue states?” Political figures who give their House Majority Leader 98% of what they want, and then praise the Republicans for “compromising”? Those who for whatever reason, want to insist that “the Republicans are not our enemy”? If you are being attacked by an army whose members declaim that they will never surrender, they will not negotiate a truce, they will fight to the death even if the battle destroys everything around them, what can one reasonably do but fight them with the same fierceness?...

Clinton Debate Chronicles: 6

I don’t cry for yesterday; there’s an ordinary world � Unqualified Offerings:

...Pack it in, Republicans. You’re reminding high-propensity (i.e. old) voters in swing states of their ex-husbands. This is over. The Boomers are now old, old people vote, women vote more than men, and Boomers have divorce rates that rival hung-over Vegas tourists on Monday morning. So alienating divorced Boomer women is about the dumbest thing you could possibly do. You might as well remind everyone that the unemployment rate was below 5% for pretty much the entirety of Bill Clinton’s second term and you’re worried that some of the same economic advisors might join a Clinton Restoration Administration...

tRump & The Good Idea

U.S. Should Charge to Protect Defense Welfare Clients: Donald Trump Got One Idea Right�|�Doug Bandow:

...As Trump observed: "I keep asking, how long will we go on defending South Korea from North Korea without payment?" More recently, he cited Pyongyang's provocations, adding that when the North acts up "we immediately get our ships going. We get our aircraft. We get nothing for this." In noting the cost of protecting Europe, he asked why America is "leading this charge."

But how much should Washington charge? The U.S. is offering a very valuable service. After all, governments have no greater responsibility than defending their citizens. If other states want to subcontract to America, they should pay handsomely for the privilege. The charge should reflect services provided and ability to pay. Conventional defense of borders? Intervention in overseas difficulties? Nuclear umbrella against powerful neighbors? Minimal effort on one's own behalf? The "protection fee" should increase for each...

Fox Shields Delicate GOPers

Why Fox News ditched the Benghazi hearing, and MSNBC didn’t - The Washington Post:

...Fair enough — the Erik Wemple Blog wasn’t disappointed to find the lively co-hosts of “The Five” doing their thing, as opposed to another round of Benghazi committee questioning. Yet the move to cut away from Capitol Hill raises the question of whether Fox News was hesitant to expose its viewers to the live-on-the-spot unraveling of many Benghazi themes that it has pushed on air...

Fiorina Won Benghazi Debate

The Benghazi hearing’s biggest winner according to Carly Fiorina is Carly Fiorina - The Washington Post:

Carly Fiorina may be the only Republican feeling pretty good about Hillary Rodham Clinton’s performance during the marathon, 11-hour Benghazi hearing on Thursday...

Clinton Against Private Prisons

Hillary Clinton Says She'll End Private Prisons, Stop Accepting Their Money:

WASHINGTON -- Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton pledged Thursday to ban the use of private prison companies if elected president, and in the meantime will stop accepting campaign contributions from those corporations and the lobbyists who work for them...

Today In Political Crooks

New Mexico's Secretary Of State Finally Resigns | Crooks and Liars:

(KOB, Alburquerque) New Mexico Secretary of State Dianna Duran resigned Thursday night, according to her attorney and Gov. Susana Martinez's Office. Her resignation comes amid a criminal case waged against her by the New Mexico Attorney General's Office. She is accused of 65 counts including embezzlement, money laundering and identity theft...

The Best Summary Of The Benghazi Hearing

driftglass: Final Update: At The Pillory Clinton Hearing

The Best Of The GOPer Pundit Benghazing

The GOP blew it with the Benghazi committee, and conservatives know it:

Ooh, it's wonderful seeing conservatives deflate as the committee hearing goes on...

Indentured Servitude Is Legal Again

SunTrust Banks: You're Laid Off -- And You'll Keep Working For Us | Crooks and Liars:

SunTrust Banks in Atlanta is laying off about 100 IT workers as it moves work offshore. But this layoff is unusual for what it is asking of the soon-to-be displaced workers: The bank's severance agreement requires terminated employees to remain available for two years to provide help if needed, including in-person assistance, and to do so without compensation...

A Comprehensive Guide To 9/11

While America Slept: The True Story of 9/11 - ABC News:

...While the nation drifted through the dog days, however, a group of terrorists was in the final stages of planning a series of attacks that would kill 3,000 people on September 11. Much of the federal government seemed to have been in a summer daze as well, missing the warning signs of what would become the deadliest act of terrorism on U.S. soil. While some in the intelligence community raised red flags, the White House had brushed off warnings of an impending attack and the CIA was failing to share information with the FBI about the terrorists' travels...

No Joe (Praise The Lord)

Biden decides against 2016 presidential bid - The Washington Post:

Vice President Biden announced Wednesday afternoon that he had decided not to seek the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, ending months of speculation that he might roil the party’s race...

Sanders In Fantasy Land

Bernie Sanders’ theory of change isn’t serious: The Vermont senator’s “political revolution” isn’t going to happen.:

...Sometimes, they hit the same notes and play the same song. But more often, they’re discordant. There’s no guarantee that a group of senators from states as different as New York, Massachusetts, Florida, North Carolina, and West Virginia will agree to vote with Sanders on breaking banks and creating free college education. Not because they’re in league with oligarchs but because people—even people on the same side—disagree, and those people get a major say in how we run government...

A Debate Bridge Too Far

Paul Ryan's demands include 'non-starter' - Washington Times:

Mr. Ryan had said he would only take the speaker’s job if Congress eliminated the power to oust the speaker mid-session — something Rep. Raul Labrador, Idaho Republican, said would undermine the checks and balances that have been in the system since Thomas Jefferson first wrote the parliamentary rule book...

Chinese Military Assessment

Not So Scary: This Is Why China's Military Is a Paper Tiger | The National Interest Blog:

It’s becoming commonplace to drum up the military threat from China and belittle America’s military capabilities. Much of this commentary reminds me of statements in the mid-1980s that the former Soviet Union was poised to outstrip the U.S. in military power. This isn’t to argue that China is in the final stages of disintegration like the USSR, but it is to assert that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) demonstrates all the brittleness and paper-thin professionalism of a military that has never fought a modern war and whose much-vaunted military equipment has never been tested in combat...

tRump v. Skippy JEB!

Why Jeb Bush and Donald Trump are so eager to fight about 9/11 - The Washington Post:

The highly-charged fight between Donald Trump and Republican presidential rival Jeb Bush over the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks raged on Wednesday morning, with Trump hitting back against Bush's criticism of him in a National Review op-ed. Sure, Bush and Trump have had their share of dust-ups, but this one has gotten especially heated, with both sides eager to hit the other. Why? Because each candidate appears to see a chance here to talk about issues at the core of their campaign on favorable turf...

Pierce And The Great Mulligan

Bill O'Reilly, Ronald Reagan, and the History We'd Rather Not Know:

...Of course, The Great Mulligan always was a creature formed in the gap between the history we believe and the history we'd rather not know. It is how we allowed the last administration to stonewall an independent investigation into their failures. It is how we allowed Condoleezza Rice, the worst national-security advisor in the country's history, to get promoted and not fired. It is how we allowed the predominant image of those awful days to be C-Plus Augustus on a pile of rubble with a bullhorn, instead of its being him on his hellhole of a Potemkin Ranch, pretending to work and blowing off CIA briefings while the plot went on in the summer of 2001. If all those issues are re-litigated now, the people who did their damnedest to keep them from being litigated at all have only themselves to blame...

CDS Rampaging Through 9/11 At Fox

Fox News Rewrites History To Blame Bill Clinton For The 9/11 Terrorist Attacks | Research | Media Matters for America:

Fox News personalities are attempting to rewrite history in order to shift blame for the 9/11 terrorist attacks onto former President Bill Clinton, and away from former President George W. Bush, who GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump recently blamed for the attacks. The historical record shows that the Clinton administration was the first to label terrorism "'a national security issue,'" created a special CIA unit focusing specifically on Osama Bin Laden, and ordered missile attacks against the terrorist leader, while the Bush administration was warned 36 times -- including allegedly by Clinton himself -- about the terrorist threat prior to the attacks...

Stay Out, Biden

Biden 2016: A Bad Idea Gets Worse - The Daily Beast:

...No, the smart play is for Biden to give a big speech saying how painful all this has been for him, how he respects all the candidates but Hillary Clinton in particular has been a great friend and is an amazing lady, and he’s going to sit it out. And if he does that right, he locks down his status as the spare even more. He goes out a hero. He has everyone’s gratitude and esteem.

But everybody swears he’s running.

Besides, I trust no man who puts his hands on women the way Biden does.

Liberals Win In Canada

Trudeau Win Signals Gains for Building and Marijuana Stocks - Bloomberg Business:

Construction and clean energy companies are poised to benefit from the Liberal Party’s decisive win in Canada’s election, with leader Justin Trudeau vowing to fund infrastructure spending with deficits and set a price on carbon. Energy companies may face a tougher ride...

Skippy & Tony Caught In A Lie

The Law Of Unintended Consequences appears to be haunting the Clinton hunters.

Tony Blair to George Bush: “I Will Help You Sell the Iraq War to the World” | I Take LIBERTY With My Coffee:

A bombshell White House memo has revealed for the first time details of the ‘deal in blood’ forged by Tony Blair and George Bush over the Iraq War...

I Think Not, Mr. Bush

My bold.

Jeb Bush is completely toast: Donald Trump and Jake Tapper just ended all White House dreams - Salon.com:

...Worse, Bush’s way of handling the issue suggests he hasn’t given it much thought, clearly expecting everyone to politely pretend that we’ll all forgotten about that 9/11 and Iraq War thing.

Bush’s weakness on this front was embarrassingly evident in a weekend interview on CNN with Jake Tapper, where he tried to blame Hillary Clinton for the four deaths in Benghazi because “had a responsibility at the Department of State to have proper security” but then denied that his brother had any responsibility for the 3,000 deaths on 9/11, because, “It’s what he did afterwards that matters...”

Dem Speaks On Benghazi

Witnesses Disprove Benghazi Allegations Against Clinton As Republican Conspiracy Collapses:

...And it goes on to — and then the big allegation that they have made is that she ordered the stand-down of folks to help our four diplomats. That’s absolutely not true. And I’m asking for Mr. Gowdy to release all the transcripts, so the American people can see what they paid for.

DICKERSON: Do you think Mr. Gowdy has acted in bad faith?

CUMMINGS: I think that Mr. Gowdy is a good man. I think he’s been pressured a lot from the right.

Rep. Cummings was correct. The Republican behavior is sad. It is also disgusting, appalling and a criminal abuse of power. The wheels have completely fallen off for Republicans, but the House Select Committee never passed the smell test.

Rep. Gowdy and other House Republicans regularly claim that they have evidence that Hillary Clinton did something wrong. Yet, they never produce this evidence and show it to the public...

GOPer 3 Tells GOP To Shut Pie Hole

Trey Gowdy to GOP colleagues: ‘Shut up’ if you’re not on Benghazi panel - The Washington Post: Rep.

Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said Sunday on CBS's "Face the Nation" that he has told Republican colleagues to "shut up talking about things that you don't know anything about. And unless you're on the committee, you have no idea what we have done, why we have done it and what new facts we have found..."

Some GOPers Seeing Light

David Brooks: The Republican Party is producing "leaders of jaw-dropping incompetence" - Vox:

David Brooks is fed up with today's Republican Party.

In a blistering New York Times column, Brooks accuses today's Republican Party of betraying the actual tenets of conservatism. "By traditional definitions," he writes, "conservatism stands for intellectual humility, a belief in steady, incremental change, a preference for reform rather than revolution, a respect for hierarchy, precedence, balance and order, and a tone of voice that is prudent, measured and responsible."

Today's Republicans, he continues, have abandoned all that. The GOP is increasingly driven by a faction that "regards the messy business of politics as soiled and impure. Compromise is corruption. Inconvenient facts are ignored. Countrymen with different views are regarded as aliens. Political identity became a sort of ethnic identity, and any compromise was regarded as a blood betrayal..."

Tracking Domestic Crazies

New DOJ Department For Domestic Terrorists Explodes Right-Wing Heads Everywhere | Crooks and Liars:

It's about time the feds started paying special attention to the domestic terrorists in this country. After all, domestic terrorists have killed more people since 9-11-2001 than Islamic terrorists have...

Benghazi Silliness Continues To Waste Tax Dollars

Benghazi Panel Grills Huma Abedin For Six Hours:

...Democratic Representative and panel member Elijah Cummings told reporters that summoning Abedin raised more questions about whether the panel is "a taxpayer funded effort to derail the candidacy of Hillary Clinton."

Cummings said Abedin, now campaign vice chairwoman of Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, had no responsibilities related to the tragedy the committee was set up to investigate...

Crazy In NC: Racist Election Boardman Edition

State elections board removes Rowan County official who made racist posts - Winston-Salem Journal: News:

North Carolina's elections board dumped a local official who made racially tinged Facebook posts praising the Confederacy and suggesting that blacks who protested against Republican policies weren't "productive good citizens" with jobs.

The State Board of Elections voted 3-2 to dismiss Rowan County Elections Chairman Malcolm "Mac" Butner, whose social media accounts also expressed support for individual candidates in violation of state law. Butner's case marks the first time the state board has removed an elections official over social media postings...

Comment Of The Day: Shopping For Healthcare Edition

Central Part of Obamacare 'Alternatives' Proven Totally Bunk in Practice  Rick Lohmann

HA!
Yeah, I really felt like "shopping around" when I had an aneurysm last year. I've got only one Level 3 emergency room within a 20 mile radius, and then they had to ship me to the nearest big city's level 4. Right: I could have shopped around while I was friggin' UNCONSCIOUS. And everyone in the comments is right about the coding and price list issues.

One Of Fox's Phony Experts Busted

Fox Bobblehead Arrested For Claiming He Was A CIA Operative | Crooks and Liars:

We always knew any old nut job/liar could get a gig in wingnut media, but this is special. A Fox talking head who claimed for years that he used to work for the CIA was arrested today and charged with claiming he worked as an “Outside Paramilitary Special Operations Officer” for the CIA. I had an ex-boyfriend who also claimed he worked for the CIA -- is it too late to get him indicted?...

Clinton Debate Chronicles: 5

Clinton, riding momentum from debate, wins union backing and accuses Republicans of targeting immigrants - The Washington Post:

A resurgent Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton rode the momentum Wednesday from her strong performance in the first Democratic debate with her first large rally in months, telling a crowd here that she will preserve and expand President Obama's efforts to reform immigration rules.

"I really don't like what the Republicans are saying about immigrants," Clinton said. "We are a nation of immigrants," including her grandfather, she told a mixed crowd that included many Hispanics...

Clinton Debate Chronicles: 4

Hillary and the Lost Boys�|�Alan Schroeder:

If the first Democratic primary debate of the 2016 cycle showed us anything, it is the value of experience -- experience in politics, certainly, but also experience in the art of political communication. Hillary Clinton won the debate hands down, with a performance so disciplined and effective that it should serve as a model for future candidates who are about to enter this rarefied arena. By understanding her mission, internalizing her message, and striking an appropriately commanding tone, Clinton ran circles around her opponents...

Another Benghazi Domino Falls

Second GOP Congressman Admits Benghazi Committee Is All About Hillary Clinton:

A second congressman admitted on Wednesday that the Republican House committee created to investigate the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, is solely "designed to go after" Hillary Clinton.

“This may not be politically correct, but I think that there was a big part of this investigation that was designed to go after people and an individual, Hillary Clinton,” Rep. Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.) said on a morning radio show in upstate New York...

Clinton Debate Chronicles: 3

In Debate, Hillary Clinton Sent a Message to Doubters - The New York Times:

...But Mrs. Clinton allowed herself a little indulgence Wednesday when she was asked about whether her running mate had been on the debate stage the previous night.

“Well, I like the assumption underlying your question a lot” she said with a relish that has not always been evident since she entered the race.

“But I think I’ll wait to answer that.”

A Burning Question For Sanders, Et. Al.

Democratic Debate 1: Let’s Do This Thing | The Confluence:

...So, Hillary wanted to know what question I would like the moderators to ask. And you know, I actually have one. It’s been on my mind for some time now. It has nothing to do with Benghazi or abortion or gun control or illegal immigrants. No, my only question for these two candidates who are so damn determined to save America is:

Where the hell were you in 2012?

That’s it. Because I don’t remember hearing much from either of them. Well, I take that back. There was the Filibernie. But neither of these two challenged Obama or the people who swept him into office and then concretized long term unemployment, poor educational reforms, an ongoing student debt crisis, the attacks on women’s agency, and the disintegration of labor standards...

What Webb Said And Did

That time Jim Webb fought a man in Vietnam, explained - The Washington Post:

"I'd have to say the enemy soldier that threw the grenade that wounded me, but he's not around right now to talk to."

That was one of the closing lines from Jim Webb, a former senator from Virginia and secretary of the Navy, in Tuesday's first Democratic presidential primary debate. It was certainly his most memorable, anyway...

Clinton Debate Chronicles: 2

Hillary Clinton’s ‘Smart Girl’ Triumph:

...Bernie Sanders glowered on her right. Martin O’Malley ground his teeth to her left like a man chained to the podium. Lincoln Chafee, looking like a scarecrow in a suit and Jim Webb waking annoyed hovered on the sidelines. Absent a charmer like Obama, Hillary Clinton glowed like a winner. Her laugh, high-wattage smile and confidence left little question that it will take a lot more than emails to knock her down...

Attack Of The Faculty

Take a lesson, police.

Geoffrey Marcy’s Berkeley Astronomy Colleagues Call for His Dismissal - The New York Times:

A majority of the astronomy faculty members at the University of California, Berkeley, have called for their colleague Geoffrey Marcy, a famed hunter of planets circling other stars, to step down from being a professor after he was found in a university investigation to have sexually harassed students...

Clinton Debate Chronicles: 1

Hillary Clinton reassures Democrats, but did she scare off Joe Biden? - LA Times:

Hillary Rodham Clinton had three big tasks to accomplish in Tuesday night's debate: Reassure the Democratic establishment, draw contrasts with Sen. Bernie Sanders and deter Vice President Joe Biden.

As the post-debate reviews rolled in Wednesday morning, it was clear that she had succeeded with the first two. Whether she achieved the third goal should be known within days...

Comment Of The Day: Good Guys With Guns Edition

Larry Pratt Doubles Down On Ben Carson's Holocaust Gun Fantasy | Crooks and Liars
Elenchus 4 hours ago

So according to him, the Jews were responsible for the Holocaust because the pussied out... Wonder how that will go down with AIPAC.. And
the fact is that, while Umpqua did have a no-weapons policy, the Oregon state supreme court made a decision in, I believer 2011-12 that allowed licensed concealed carry on campuses regardless of college policy, so Umpqua was NOT a gun-free zone. And an FBI study of 62 mass shootings revealed that not in one case did the shooter choose his target based on it being a gun-free zone. And of course, its axiomatic that the Big Gun Grab is a huge government secret - the same government that leaks confidential information like a sieve... and when it doesn't happen,he'll claim it was because Obama didn't have the guts to carry out his nefarious plan.
Conspiracy asshats always have an excuse why their idiotic 'theories' never materialize.

Carson At War

As long as he keeps talking, he will be losing the "war." Carson declares war on the press | TheHill

Your GOP Vandals At Work

Our Government Is Run by Children Throwing a Semi-Organized Tantrum:

...I have been calling this kind of thing vandalism ever since I opened the shebeen four years ago this month, but now I'm wondering if that's far too dignified a description of how it's come to evolve over that time. This is more like an organized tantrum, conducted under Robert's Rules of Kindergarten. Congressman Brat—Goddamn, Dickens died too soon for this mook.—is presenting an argument there that is one very small step above "I know you are but what am I?" and the vision of grown men drinking wine out of glasses engraved with a cheap-shot meme while discussing what kind of personalized designer penis-substitute they should be packing sounds like something out of the worst football frat house in the SEC. The grown-ups certainly are back in charge...

Turkey Neck Talks Kochs

Audio at the link.

In Leaked Tape Mitch McConnell Admits The Koch Brothers Are Running The Republican Party:

In a leaked audio tape of the Koch brothers top secret June 2014 retreat, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) not only admitted that the Republicans would be lost without the Kochs, and revealed who

the real power is in the GOP...

tRumping Email Nonsense

Donald Trump Thinks Hillary Clinton 'Shouldn't Be Allowed To Run':

Proving that Republicans have yet to tire of Hillary Clinton's private email drama, Donald Trump again seized on the issue during a Saturday campaign stop and argued that it should disqualify Clinton from running for president...

Jindal Will Ground ISIS

ABC's Martha Raddatz Shoots Down Bobby Jindal's 'No-Fly Zone' Plan: 'ISIS Doesn't Have Aircraft' | Crooks and Liars:

Republican presidential candidate Bobby Jindal said over the weekend that he had a plan to defeat ISIS using "no-fly zones" even though ABC's Martha Raddatz reminded him that the radical Islamic group did not have any airplanes...

The Boner Ploy

Boehner's Secret Plan Ripens (Okay, Sorta):

...Since there appears to be no significant House figure willing to run for Speaker, there's a massive push to cajole and pressure Paul Ryan into running. It seems crystal clear that he really, really doesn't want the job. But that doesn't mean he won't end up agreeing to take it. But here's the thing. People are starting to seriously moot the idea of Boehner remaining on in a caretaker role through the 2016 election. He doesn't need 218 votes. He's already Speaker. He doesn't need anything.

Now, it's already clear that Boehner will remain in place until a new Speaker is elected - and that could be a while regardless. This caretaker idea through January 2017 plan seems far-fetched. But then, so did McCarthy being deposed before he even became Speaker...

Benghazi AT PP Hearing

The quote is courtesy of a raving lunatic. Remember the topic was Planned Parenthood.

I Want You Guys To See Something | Crooks and Liars:

...You had people meeting here in America, in Washington, while people were dying! While Ty Woods was gathering David Ubben and Glen Doherty and going to the rooftop to man guns to try to protect the people in those facilities. Yes, Benghazi was about politics! And I would love to know what the president was doing that night. … Apparently there was plenty of rest before he went to the fundraiser in Las Vegas the next day. Yes, my colleague is right: Benghazi was about politics! And we need to get to the bottom of why those four people were killed, while nobody in Washington that knew what was going on lifted a finger!..

They Never Stop

GOP Governor Finally Admits His Hand-Picked Emergency Manager Poisoned Children (VIDEO) �:

 ...As it turns out, that brown water is contaminated with lead. Although Michigan officials repeatedly assured local residents that the brown fluid oozing from their taps was “probably safe” to drink, a year later the rate of Flint children who have elevated levels of lead in their blood stream has climbed from about 2 percent to more than 6 percent in some areas of the city. The increase in incidents of lead-poisoning, the effects of which are lifelong, directly correlate with the change in the city’s water source.

To save money, Governor Snyder’s appointed emergency manager made the decision to begin getting the city’s water from the Flint River in 2014. For ten months the residents were kept in the dark about high levels of pollutants in the water. In the months following the switch, many citizens reported experiencing rashes, hair loss and other health issues...

The Other Benghazi Shoe

Ex-Benghazi investigator says U.S. panel targeted Clinton: media | Reuters:

..."These are explosive allegations," Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said in a statement. "This Republican whistleblower's account from inside the Benghazi Committee may provide the most definitive proof to date that this taxpayer-funded investigation has been a partisan sham from the start..."

Dems Responsible For GOPer Madness

Why Democrats Bear Some Responsibility for the Republican Party's Madness:

...Republican extremism should have been the most fundamental campaign issue for every Democratic candidate for every elected office since about 1991. Every silly thing said by Michele Bachmann, say, or Louie Gohmert should have been hung around the neck of Republican politicians until they choked themselves denying it. (I once spoke to a Democratic candidate who was running against Bachmann who said to me, "Well, I'm not going to call her crazy." She lost badly.) The mockery and ridicule should have been loud and relentless. It was the only way to break both the grip of the prion disease, and break through the solid bubble of disinformation, anti-facts, and utter bullshit that has sustained the Republican base over the past 25 years. Instead, and it's hard to fault them entirely for their sense of responsibility, the Democrats chose largely to ignore the dance of the madmen at center stage and fulfill some sense of obligation to the country. (In no way does this excuse the far too many Democrats who chose to join in the dance, however briefly. Hi, Joe Lieberman!) Now, as we saw on Thursday, it well may be too late. The national legislature has been broken by crazy people...

PP Nonsense Exposed

Chaffetz Forced To Admit No Wrongdoing By Planned Parenthood | Crooks and Liars: MWAHAHAHAHAHA.

After that ginormous kangaroo court proceeding last week, Rep. Jason Chaffetz was forced to admit that the entire case he was trying to build against Planned Parenthood has no foundation...

A Plea To The Rambos

An excellent article that examines the "good guy with a gun" mythos.



Tactical Experts Destroy the NRA’s Heroic Gunslinger Fantasy | The Nation: 

...A case in Texas two weeks ago highlights the risks of civilians intervening in chaotic situations. Police say that as two carjackers struggled with the owner of a car at a gas station in northeast Houston, a witness decided to take action into his own hands. He fired several shots, but missed the perpetrators and shot the owner of the car in the head. He then picked up his shell casings and fled the scene. Police are still looking for the shooter...

Me Culture

America’s ‘culture of me’ has got to change:

...So what is this “culture of me”? It is a culture in which citizens exalt their own rights and privileges above all other concerns, even the public good, even the lives of school children. It is a culture of complete hypocrisy, one in which a person can, on the one hand, admit that teachers are underpaid, while on the other hand fail to support even one pro-education referendum if it raises their taxes by one thin dime. We say we want quality education, but when it comes right down to it, we are not willing to pay for it. In fact, we are more likely to blame the teachers if schools in our area are not performing up to standards, rather than looking at the lack of funding as a probable cause...

Slurring

The big “black racism” lie: The toxic right-wing trope that shrouds the truth about white supremacy - Salon.com:

...The right-wing media pounced on Dr. Butler because they are obsessed with seeking out mythic “black racism” or some example of “hypocrisy” by the Left on matters of race and justice. “Liberal racism” is also a perennial fixation for the right-wing hate media; they chase this chimera because one such discovered instance would, in their minds, erase the sin that is decades of white supremacy and racism as political strategy for the Republican Party...

On Carson's Holocaust Gun Nonsense

Ben Carson Owes the World an Apology�|�Lev Raphael:

...This is so profoundly ahistorical and moronic it's beyond shameful. Jews in the Warsaw ghetto could barely get enough guns to fight the Nazis -- does he think that there were actually extra hundreds of thousands of guns sitting around in warehouses Jews in the Holocaust could have used if only regulations had been less strict? And even if there were, that European civilians could have stood up to the might of the Nazi war machine in the crucial first few years of WW II when no army in Europe was able to?..

Draft Dodging Coward Excrets On Oregon Violence

NRA's Ted Nugent Calls Unarmed Victims Of Gun Violence "Losers" | Blog | Media Matters for America:

National Rifle Association board member Ted Nugent said "losers" who don't carry a gun "get cut down by murderous maniacs like blind sheep to slaughter" in a column for WND, becoming the latest public conservative figure to blame victims of gun violence who are unarmed...

Snarking Black Rupert

Rupert Murdoch: Self-styled authority on ‘real’ blackness - The Washington Post:

...But judging by Murdoch's public comments — including about Carson and President Obama — blackness is apparently authenticated or made real by single-race parentage and a mono-racial family circle, remarkable personal determination and, despite an impoverished childhood, early demonstrations of academic promise. Real black people seek constantly to prove themselves. They put responsibility when it comes to overcoming the toll of inequality on their own shoulders and, when speaking publicly about other black people — particularly those who are poor — cite insufficient self-discipline. Real black people should be grateful if they manage to escape economic deprivation, terrible schools or — many would say — unequal treatment by courts, cops or other public authorities. And most of all, they should constantly genuflect at the feet of America's greatness...

Drug Testing The Poor

Tennessee’s First Year Of Drug Testing Welfare Applicants Didn't Go Very Well | ThinkProgress:

Seven states that drug test welfare recipients have now spent about $1 million on the tests, according to previous ThinkProgress research. Each state has found drug usage rates among welfare applicants to be far below the national average of 9.4 percent for all Americans...

Good News On TPP

Column: Hillary Clinton's real Trans-Pacific Partnership views shrouded by self-interest:

On Wednesday, Democratic presidential candidate and former secretary of State Hillary Clinton broke sharply with President Obama over the issue of the multilateral Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement (TPP). In an interview with PBS' News Hour, Clinton said she was “not in favor of what (she has) learned about it," listing specific objections to weak protections against currency manipulation and too many benefits for pharmaceutical companies. She said that any such deal should create American jobs, raise wages and advance national security. Clinton said she felt the TPP failed to meet “the high bar” that she set, though she admitted she was still “trying to learn as much as (she could) about the agreement...”

Gun Control From The Right

Video at the link. Mark Carman's Epic Message To All Responsible Gun Owners

Clinton Trolling

Hillary Clinton trolls GOP candidates by sending them her book 'Hard Choices' - LA Times:

The Republican candidates for president now have something to read during their road trips through Iowa and New Hampshire, courtesy of Hillary Clinton.

The former secretary of state and Democratic presidential candidate has sent copies of her memoir "Hard Choices" to her Republican counterparts, reports Time...

NYT Has A Sane Moment

One of the worse offenders and greatest purveyors of Clinton Derangement Syndrome has a sane moment:

New York Times Editorial Board Calls On Republicans To "Shut Down The Benghazi Committee" | Blog | Media Matters for America:

...On October 7, in the aftermath of McCarthy's acknowledgement, The New York Times editorial board called for an end to the Benghazi committee. Deeming it a "charade" that "has accomplished nothing," the board wrote that the "laughable crusade" should be shut down or at the very least renamed "the Inquisition of Hillary Rodham Clinton." The board went on to claim that the committee and its efforts have lost "any semblance of credibility" and has "become an insult to the memory of four slain Americans":...

Comment Of The Day: Embassy Deaths Under Bush Edition

Trey Gowdy's Hissy Fit Over McCarthy's Benghazi Comments | Crooks and Liars
grumpy greg NotReveen an hour ago

U.S. Embassy and Consulate attacks under George W. Bush

January 22, 2002: US Consulate at Kolkata, 5 killed.
June 14, 2002: US Consulate at Karachi, 12 killed.
February 28, 2003: US Embassy at Islamabad, 2 killed.
June 30, 2004: US Embassy at Tashkent, 2 killed.
December 6. 2004: US Compound at Saudi Arabia, 9 killed.
March 2, 2006: US Consulate in Karachi, 2 killed.
September 12, 2006: US Embassy at Syria, 4 killed.
March 18, 2008: US Embassy at Yemen, 2 killed.
July 9, 2008: US Consulate at Istanbul, 6 killed.
September 17, 2008: US Embassy at Yemen, 16 killed.

Total deathes: 60

Outraged Republicans: 0

What else is there that needs to be said?

Crazy In NC: Local Critter Sex Edition

Congressman Behind Planned Parenthood Assault Kept Paying Aide After Sexual Harassment Complaints:

A Republican congressman leading the fight to defund Planned Parenthood paid his chief of staff for nearly six months after at least three female staffers complained that the top aide was sexually harassing subordinates, according to four sources close to the situation.

The women told North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows about chief of staff Kenny West's behavior in March, sources said. At first, Meadows barred West from his D.C. office, but reassigned him to the district office and continued paying him. Meadows eventually sent West off with a sizable severance...

Stop The Presses! AP Does Good!

Associated Press Properly Identifies The Hate Group Representing Kim Davis | Blog | Media Matters for America:

The Associated Press properly identified Liberty Counsel -- the legal group defending Kentucky's Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis -- as an anti-LGBT hate group, in an all-too-rare example of a major news outlet accurately informing its audience about Liberty's extreme views...

More On The Abortion Battle

Pro-Life Group: Fetal Life Is More Precious Than The Mother's | Crooks and Liars:

...The ACLU has lost the battle to prevent religious doctrine from dictating a woman's health in the past, but this time, the right-wing, pro-fetus advocates fear that they may be on the losing side of this fight. Anyone with the sense the good lord gave a frog could see why the ACLU has a pretty solid case. The life of a non-viable fetus should never take precedence over the life of the mother, because that flies in the face of logic. A woman suffering a miscarriage should never be given a death sentence. Period.

Clinton On Attack

Kevin McCarthy’s big Benghazi mistake was exactly what Hillary Clinton needed - The Washington Post:

...Put simply: She's at her best when she is taking the fight to someone. Think of how much better a candidate Clinton was from March 2008 until June 2008 as the underdog than she ever was in the "frontrunner" role in that race. She is an offensive player, not a defensive one.

It's possible this past five days or so is simply a blip in the broader context of the campaign and the Clinton-plays-defense storyline will re-assert itself. But, the Clinton team thinks that McCarthy has handed them a massive political gift and I tend to agree.

Stiffing The Dead

Fiorina Withheld Final Paycheck From Widow Of Worker Who Died | Crooks and Liars

...But records show there was something that Fiorina did not offer his widow: Shumate's last paycheck, for at least $30,000. It was one of more than 30 invoices, totaling about $500,000, that the multimil­lionaire didn't settle - even as Fiorina reimbursed herself nearly $1.3 million she lent the campaign. She finally cleared most of the balance in January, a few months before announcing her run for president...

The Lying Liars Of Judicial Watch

Meet Judicial Watch, A Driving Force Behind The Clinton Email Story That Keeps Duping The Press | Blog | Media Matters for America:

Judicial Watch is a conservative activist group that has been one of the organizations driving the media narrative on Hillary Clinton's emails. They have a history of dishonest activism, promoting conspiracy theories, and pushing false or misleading narratives.

The organization was formed in the 1990s by conspiracy theorist Larry Klayman, who used the technique of filing spurious lawsuits in an attempt to bring down the Clinton administration. It is now headed by Tom Fitton, who has continued Klayman's methods in an ongoing campaign to antagonize the Obama administration, Hillary Clinton, and other Democrats...

Lest We Forget: Kissinger ME Legacy Edition

Kissinger poisoned the Middle East: America is living in a quagmire of his making - Salon.com:

...Of all people, Kissinger knows well how easily the best laid plans can go astray and careen toward disaster. The former diplomat is by no means solely responsible for the mess that is today’s Middle East. There is, of course, George W. Bush’s 2003 invasion of Iraq (which Kissinger supported). But he does bear far more responsibility for our proliferated world’s disequilibrium of power than anyone usually recognizes...

It's The Same Everywhere

Children of the Yuan Percent: Everyone Hates China’s Rich Kids - Bloomberg Business:

...As portrayed in the local press, fuerdai are to China what Paris Hilton was to the U.S. a decade ago, only less tasteful. Every few months there’s a fuerdai scandal, whether it’s a photo of a woman about to set fire to a pile of 100-yuan ($16) notes; members of the much derided Sports Car Club posing beside their Lamborghinis; or someone pulling a gun during a street race. In 2013 reports of a fuerdai sex party at the beach resort of Sanya provoked a nationwide finger-wag. Two prominent rich kids got into a public arms race over who had the bigger stash: The widely despised socialite Guo Meimei posted photos online of herself with 5 million yuan worth of casino chips; her rival responded with a screen shot of his bank statement, which appeared to contain 3.7 billion yuan. (Guo was sentenced to five years in prison for running a gambling den.) Recently, the son of Wang Jianlin, a real estate mogul and the richest man in China, trolled the nation by posting a photo of his dog wearing two gold Apple Watches, one on each forepaw. Fuerdai outrages occasionally feature government intrigue, such as a 2012 Ferrari crash in Beijing involving two young women and the son of a high-level official, all of whom were at least partially naked when they were thrown from the car. The man’s father, a top aide to then-president Hu Jintao, was later arrested and charged with corruption...

Clinton Gets NEA Endorsement

Hillary Clinton Earns Backing Of Nation's Largest Union:

The National Education Association, the nation’s largest union, endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Saturday.

The union’s campaign arm had indicated that it was recommending the endorsement earlier this week, as Politico first reported. Members of the 3-million-strong union who support Clinton’s main rival for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), have already protested the move, just as Sanders supporters from the American Federation of Teachers did when Clinton secured that union's endorsement in July...

Truth And The Lack Thereof

Hullabaloo "Truth Is No Longer An American Value":

...It reveals "a structure of thought," as Perlstein once put it that Steven Colbert's faux-conservative parodied with "truthiness," that "quality of seeming or being felt to be true, even if not necessarily true." For the Fiorinas, the Trumps and their followers reality is now as bendable as Dali's clocks. It bends according to the tribal affiliations of the person making the truth claims. "True facts" support their underlying ideology. These they open wide for. Garden-variety facts are suspect, and they clamp their mouths shut like toddlers to strained spinach.

Truthiness is not funny anymore.

Help The Targets!

An Oregon teacher’s letter to lawmakers: We don’t need your prayers, we need your courage - Salon.com:

...I could tell them that your thoughts and prayers are with us. I could tell them we have your deepest sympathies. But I am teaching a class on argument, instructing my students on the importance of facts. So instead I will tell them the truth: They have to be prepared to hide out of the line of fire, and I to fight for our survival, because you, our lawmakers, haven’t done your jobs. I will tell them that their rights, my rights, the rights of my 5-year-old, to attend school without fear of facing senseless slaughter by machine-gun fire, are not important to you, that we must be prepared to fight tooth and nail, stapler and whiteboard marker, because you refuse to fight the gun lobby in this country...

More Pope & Clerk

How the Outrage Over the Pope's Kim Davis Meeting May Have Paid Off in a Big Way�|�Michelangelo Signorile:

...In that case, Liberty Counsel, the anti-gay legal firm associated with the late Jerry Falwell's Liberty University and which represents Kim Davis, would have gotten away with using the pope and the Catholic Church for its hateful, hideous, law-breaking agenda. So, actually, we did the pope a favor in forcing the Vatican to speak out. And more importantly, we exposed Liberty Counsel and pressured the Catholic Church, in a rare instance, to slam an anti-gay entity by exposing its lie. In its now-thwarted master plan, Liberty Counsel expected the Vatican to simply do what it has done in the past: Put out a vague comment and let it stand, thus allowing Liberty Counsel to continue to control the narrative. But the outrage -- and only the outrage, from millions of people globally -- changed that: Now the church controls the narrative while Liberty Counsel is rebuked even as it is now trying to continue a war of words with the Vatican...

Vatican Intrigue Exposed?

Looks like Pierce was right.

Pope Francis’ Meeting Wasn’t an Endorsement of Kim Davis’s Views, Vatican Says - The New York Times:

Pope Francis’ encounter with Kim Davis last week in Washington, which was interpreted by many as a subtle intervention in the United States’ same-sex marriage debate, was part of a series of meetings with dozens of guests and did not amount to an endorsement of her views, the Vatican said on Friday...

Benghazi Factoid

Cathy McMorris Rodgers Booed Over GOP's Benghazi Probe:

...Prior to creating the Benghazi committee, the GOP investigation already encompassed 13 hearings, 25,000 pages of documents and 50 briefings. But they still haven't found anything incriminating about Clinton.

Gasp! Russian Hackers! Gasp!

Cannonfire:

...Another fraudulent story: The headline seems quite striking, at first glance -- "Emails: Russia-linked hackers tried to access Clinton server." Those who do not read past the headlines will have more fuel for their mindless Clinton-hate. Those who read the actual text will learn the truth: That email account received several deceptive "click on this attachment" messages from hackers...