A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES

BIRTH OF A DEATHER

"PANTS ON FIRE", Betsy McCaughey - Creator Of The Deather Conspiracy

After repeatedly falsely asserting that House Democrats' health care reform bill makes end-of-life counseling for seniors "mandatory," Betsy McCaughey was forced to backtrack from her claim -- a claim PolitiFact.com called "a ridiculous falsehood." Confronted with accusations that she lied about the bill, she claimed, as she had done with a prior falsehood about another bill, that she was right about the effect (if not the literal wording) of the legislation.

For at least the second time, former Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey has been caught making a false claim about pending legislation and then backtracking by claiming that she was describing the effect, if not the literal language of the bill. In February, McCaughey claimed that the economic recovery act would permit the government to dictate treatment but after being confronted about the falsehood, reportedly said the legislation was vague enough to allow it to happen in the future. More recently, after saying that the House health care reform bill would "absolutely require" end-of-life counseling, according to a July 28 Politico article, when asked about criticism of that claim, McCaughey stated that "[i]n so many words" the bill would make end-of-life counseling mandatory because "although it is presented in the bill as a Medicare service, when a doctor or a nurse approaches an elderly person who is in poor health, facing a decline in health, and raises these issues, it is not offering a service. It is pressuring them."

In recent weeks, McCaughey has repeatedly asserted that the House Democrats' health care reform bill makes end-of-life counseling for seniors "mandatory." PolitiFact reported: "On the radio show of former Sen. Fred Thompson on July 16, 2009, McCaughey said 'Congress would make it mandatory -- absolutely require -- that every five years people in Medicare have a required counseling session that will tell them how to end their life sooner.' "PolitiFact.com stated:

For our ruling on this one, there's really no gray area here. McCaughey incorrectly states that the bill would require Medicare patients to have these counseling sessions and she is suggesting that the government is somehow trying to interfere with a very personal decision. And her claim that the sessions would "tell [seniors] how to end their life sooner" is an outright distortion. Rather, the sessions are an option for elderly patients who want to learn more about living wills, health care proxies and other forms of end-of-life planning. McCaughey isn't just wrong, she's spreading a ridiculous falsehood. That's a Pants on Fire. [emphasis added]

After Politico asked McCaughey in July 28 article to respond to criticisms of her claim, she backpedaled, telling Politico that the bill would make end-of-life counseling mandatory "[i]n so many words":

Asked to respond to the criticism of her statements, McCaughey told POLITICO she stands by her interpretation that the consultations are mandatory.

"In so many words, it is -- because although it is presented in the bill as a Medicare service, when a doctor or a nurse approaches an elderly person who is in poor health, facing a decline in health, and raises these issues, it is not offering a service. It is pressuring them," McCaughey said Monday. "I would not want that to occur when I am not at my parents' bedside."

The provision states that as part of an advanced care consultation, an individual and practitioner shall have a consultation that includes "an explanation by the practitioner of the continuum of end-of-life services and supports available, including palliative care and hospice, and benefits for such services and supports that are available under this title."

This is not the first time McCaughey has been caught in a falsehood about health care reform and reacted by claiming she was right about the effect, if not the literal wording, of the legislation. After McCaughey repeatedly claimed that provisions in the economic recovery act would permit the government to dictate treatment, she was confronted by CNN health care reporter Elizabeth Cohen, who reported: "I had a PDF of the bill up on my computer. I said, 'Show me where in the bill it says that this bill is going to have the government telling your doctor what to do.' And [McCaughey] directed me to language -- it didn't actually say that. But she said that it was vague enough that it would allow for that to happen in the future."

— B.R.F., D.C.P., & S.P.

HONK HONK !!

WhO's In tHe cLoWn CaR ?!

WHO: GLENN BECK aka ‘Douchie Dickcheese’

WHAT: Talk Show Host, Political Ass Clown

WHEN : This Week

WHERE HE RIDES: On The Gear Shift

SPECIAL SKILLS : The uncanny ability to spew
any kind of garbage, no matter how vile.

Boy, when Brian Kilmeade of Fox News' morning show Fox & Friends has to run to President Obama's defense you know someone on the other side of that couch is saying some pretty crazy um...stuff.

The Republican Extremist Party's newest boy-toy Glen Beck has something to say about the Obama administration and, so far, none of it is even remotely intelligent.

But now he's decided crank it up a notch. Now he's decided that President Obama is a racist.
I'm actually going to step back and let the video clip below do most of the talking. There's really not much to say here except Glen “Muppet-baby” Beck has taken the road less traveled on this one. He has, in fact, taken the road traveled mainly by degenerates and skinheads.

On Tuesday morning's edition of Fox & Friends guest Beck makes the declaration that Barack Obama, legally elected President of the United States, is a racist who “hates white people ”, THEN, blatantly contradicts himself less than two minutes later !!

Okay, let's forget the fact that Barack Obama is half-white. Let's forget the fact that Barack Obama has probably grown up surrounded by more white people than some white people. And let's assume that Beck has some solid evidence to back these statements up.

Oops, but he doesn't. He says Obama has shown, “over and over and over again, who has a deep-seeded hatred for white people or the white culture.” Then proceeds to expound on these myriad examples of racism with...Reverend Jeremiah Wright? Yep, Jeremiah Wright is basically his only evidence that Obama hates white people. Oh right, and obviously Obama's bile-filled statement that the police in the Skip Gates incident “acted stupidly.”

But, before we watch Beck, let's take a quick one-question quiz.

Circle the more reckless statement:

A. “The Cambridge Police acted stupidly.”

B. “Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.

But anywho, here's the clip from a right wing website:

A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES

Rep. Thaddeus McCotter:
Say You're Sorry Or I'm Gonna Hold My Breath Until My Face Turns Blue!
By Johnny Russia

Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R) Michigan

Obstructionist Douche Bag

Share this on Twitter - Rep. Thaddeus McCotter: Say You're Sorry Or I'm Gonna Hold My Breath Until My Face Turns Bl

Michigan leads the nation in unemployment. So what should be expected of one of their representatives in Congress?
An apology resolution for a police department in Massachusetts!

Michigan Republican Thaddeus McCotter has a lot of time on his hands.
Rep. McCotter seems blissfully unaware that his state's economic problems and chronic unemployment lead a nation with more than enough of both to go around. Is Rep. McCotter really representing the people of his state by working diligently to find solutions to their plight? Hell,no!
Thaddeus McCotter seems to be working on behalf of the Cambridge Police Department's bruised feelings, as he is wasting time preparing to introduce a resolution demanding that President Obama formally apologize for saying they acted "stupidly" in last week's arrest of Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.
McCotter said on Friday that he would introduce the measure unless Obama apologized to Sgt. James Crowley. Today , his office says he's moving ahead with that ridiculous plan.
I'm sure the millions of unemployed in Michigan appreciate a representative from their troubled state acting on behalf of a police department from another state, over 600 miles away.
McCotter is the same idiot who also said on Friday that the health care debate was "reaching the point of absurdity."
Rep. McCotter, that point has been reached, all right--by you.

CHENEY'S DANGEROUS DESIGNS

---

The first thing to remember about the Lackawanna Six, a group of Yemeni-American men living just outside Buffalo suspected of having al-Qaida ties, is that they were arrested without incident, pleaded guilty to terrorism-related charges and received prison sentences of between seven and 10 years. They are proof that the American legal system is perfectly equipped to handle terrorism cases.

But before the FBI arrests in September 2002, Vice President Dick Cheney sought to have the U.S. military detain and hold the men as enemy combatants, denying them the legal process afforded accused Americans.

If that had happened, it would have been the first time since the Civil War that active-duty troops were used without statutory authority in a law enforcement capacity on American soil. Cheney was trying to establish a dangerous precedent: That the president has the authority to unleash the military on American towns whenever he determines national security warrants it.

Cheney's position was typical of his efforts to expand the power of the presidency in ways that disregard established law. He had done so on numerous other occasions by promoting the disregard of the Geneva Conventions, the mistreatment of prisoners and warrantless domestic spying. Thankfully, in this case, President George W. Bush was swayed by others who spoke against deploying the military, including national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and FBI director Robert Mueller. The president's restraint kept Cheney from turning a U.S. city into a war zone and declaring the rights of American citizens null and void.

Federal law known as the Posse Comitatus Act prohibits the use of the military for domestic law enforcement, and with good reason. The military is trained for battle, not the process of arresting Americans under a constitutional system. Cheney wanted to send in soldiers even though there was no imminent attack. The Lackawanna Six had been surveilled by the FBI for a year, and there was no actionable intelligence that they were planning any violence.

It was an anonymous letter that informed the FBI that a group of men from the Yemeni-American community had gone to Afghanistan to train. After their arrest, the men provided information on terrorist recruitment and training — cooperation that came without the use of brutal treatment.

Cheney's push to use the military for a policing operation is indicative of his extreme views of presidential unilateralism. He wanted the president to take every opportunity to expand the power of the office. In this case, even the president('W') said Cheney was out of bounds.

HONK HONK ! CLOWN CAR !!

WhO's iN ThE cLoWn CaR ?!
Who : John YOO aka ' YOOHOO'
What : Bush/Cheney Lawyer & Torture Memo Douche Nozzle
Where : In The Glove Compartment
Why : Created Legal Groundwork for Subverting the Republic

This video link shows a man dressed as an Abu Ghraib prisoner disrupting one of John Yoo's classes (he currently lectures at Berkeley and Chapman University). Yoo, formerly of the Department of Justice, played a key role in the Bush administration's justification of torture.

The actor climbed on a desk while Yoo was discussing constitutionality and said, "I've got one question, how long can I be required to stand here 'til it counts as torture?" When Yoo ended the class and a student yelled at the actor to leave he said, "I'd love to move but every time I do my balls get buzzed."

He was later physically escorted out of the classroom by another school official as Yoo hid behind her. John Yoo can't seem to take the heat for his own actions from a couple of pranksters, has to end class, and go get another matronly faculty member to handle the situation. Wow...pranks... and we thought water boarding was cruel.

HONK ! HONK ! CLOWN CAR ! !

WhO's iN ThE cLoWn CaR ?!

Who : RNC CHAIR Michael Steele aka ' URKEL '

What: Straw Dog, Clueless Shill, Spineless DittoHead

Where: Backseat
Why : Has Rendered Himself Useless

Michael Steele, a black person the Republicans found somewhere, was elected leader of the Republican National Committee , after hours and hours of grim-faced balloting by the RNC. This painful banquet-room contest between pinched-face cretins (middle-aged white guys who dream of somehow owning slaves)was, without a doubt, the worst C-SPAN broadcast of all time, and that's saying a lot.
Steele's victory is especially poignant because his main rival was an actual South Carolina plantation owner from one of those "Whites Only" golf clubs for the white racists.
But, it was also hilarious, because it was grim evidence of the Republican Party's total collapse. These angry losers are going to finish tearing each other apart long before they have a coherent thought about competing in national politics again.

HONK ! HONK ! CLOWN CAR ! !

WhO's iN ThE cLoWn CaR ?!
Who : Soon To Be Ex- Gov. Sarah Palin aka 'WINKY'
What : Dingbat Alaskan, Human Train Wreck
Where : In The Trunk
Why : Self Implosion

Republican right wing nut darling Sarah Palin the party's last celebrity , failed to shore up her already weak political resume by resigning as Governor of Alaska midway through her first term for whatever incoherent reasons as she rambled through them at another ridiculous press conference while publicly and politically shooting herself in the foot.
Maybe she just wants to get high and watch ESPN while eating Taco Bell and bidding for some Shrek Beanie Babies on eBay.

THE DITTOHEAD REICH

Backstage at Rush Limbaugh's CPAC Speech - Copyright- The Lance Macho Report

Bob Cesco wrote - 'The "leader of the Republican Party" question has been thoroughly analyzed and debated. And after many days and many cable news roundelays, I think we can all agree that, yes, the GOP has been inextricably grasped within the meaty, sweaty mitts of that familiar planetoid of addiction, racism and self-indulgence known as Rush Limbaugh'

And that's just fine and dandy.

But contrary to what Drudge and Politico are reporting, this isn't some sort of wicked conspiracy cooked up by Rahm Emanuel and Robert Gibbs from within the same underground war room where they keep the president's madrassa diploma and his secret Kenyan birth certificate.

This Limbaugh situation is entirely the fault of the Republican Party. The White House is merely exploiting it -- and rightly so.

Throughout the last several decades, the Republican Party has been careening willingly towards this destiny. Year after year, the Republicans have been magnetically drawn ever closer to the simplistic worldview espoused by far-right talk radio: a segment of American society that's perhaps a little too comfy with laughing at a racial or sexist joke, or repeating nearsighted bumper sticker slogans like, "Your mortgage is not my problem."

The Republican Party has become the purview of The Dittohead: the thoughtless undead automaton who lazily yet proudly announces on the radio that he or she doesn't simply "ditto" but, in fact, "mega-dittos" everything spoken by Rush Limbaugh. "Mega" as in millions of times over.

Michael Steele has proved himself to be a Dittohead. Mark Sanford, Mike Pence, Rick Santorum and Tom DeLay? All dittoheads. You'd be hard pressed to find a Republican politician who hasn't in some way expressed his or her Dittohead status while also genuflecting at the bloated cankles of their radio warlord.

So it should come as no surprise that the leader of the dittoheads has become the leader of the Republicans.

The Republicans have positioned themselves in such a way that publicly renouncing their Dittohead status will provoke the furious anger of their leader who has so often retaliated against disloyal subjects with a Mr. Creosote caliber geyser of acidic hell, effectively emasculating any attempt at escape. Limbaugh has indeed broken the Republicans and I'm pretty sure they know it. Yet they're powerless to do anything about it.

We can only assume that they understand the hazards involved with being absorbed into Limbaugh's universe -- and they especially have to know that the Democrats know. And that leads to the big question:

Why is it supremely awesome that the Republicans have become the Dittohead Party?

So far, the establishment press and cable news hasn't fully examined this all-important "why" factor. Sure, there's been plenty of talk about Limbaugh's famous "wanting President Obama to fail" remarks and how wishing for failure makes the Republicans seem like they're okay with the American economy failing, just as long as they can start winning elections again.

That's pretty bad. But the problems inherent in becoming trapped inside the Limbaugh tractor beam go much deeper and, as Chairman Steele's gut instinct spilled out, uglier.

It's easy to temporarily forget Limbaugh's record of awfulness because the latest controversy tends to obliterate memories of past controversies -- controversies to which the Republicans have, by proxy, tethered themselves. If Limbaugh is the leader of the Republicans and the Republicans are, indeed, willing to embrace Limbaugh as such a leader, then the Republicans are embracing the whole nasty package. For instance :

To fall under the rule of Limbaugh means that the Republicans have sealed their status as the party of race-baiting.

• In Limbaugh's world," Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama simply because Obama is black "-- excuse me, "Halfrican American."

• In Limbaugh's world,"all blacks say "axe" instead of "ask." "

• In Limbaugh's world, it's hilarious to pronounce Mayor Ray Nagin's name as "Mayor Nay-ger".

• In Limbaugh's world, black contestants on Survivor are at a disadvantage because "blacks can't swim."

To fall under the rule of Limbaugh means that the Republicans have become the party of sexism.

• In Limbaugh's world, women who seek equal rights are making up for the fact that they're "ugly."
  

• In Limbaugh's world, it's hilarious to compare pubescent teenage girls to "the family dog."
• In Limbaugh's world, women live longer because their lives are somehow "easier." ( I can't imagine that would apply to Limbaugh's three ex-wives, but okay.)

To fall under the rule of Limbaugh means that the Republicans have become the party of comparing torture to "fraternity pranks."

• They've become the party of multiple divorces.
  
• The party of Oxycontin addiction.
  
• The party of "phony soldiers."
  
• The party of mysterious all-male excursions to foreign nations while in possession of erectile dysfunction medication prescribed under a false name.
  
• They've become the party of wild conspiracy theories like the one Limbaugh was repeating in October -- maybe you've heard this one.....

" Did you know that Barack Obama traveled to Hawaii, not to visit his then-gravely ill grandmother, but instead to participate in the cover-up of his secret birth certificate?"

To fall under the rule of Limbaugh means that the Republicans are bowing to the leadership of a man who physically mocked the involuntary tremors of a Parkinson's disease victim. I can't underscore this enough. Rush Limbaugh, the leader of the Republican Party, actually imitated and exaggerated Michael J. Fox's Parkison's tremors.

Governor Jindal: "I think Rush is a great leader for conservatives."

Chairman Michael Steele: "I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh."

Congressman Mike Pence: "I think Rush Limbaugh -- who I admire, and like millions of Americans, I cherish his voice in the public debate."

And so the Republicans expect to be taken seriously now?

No wonder the White House is gleefully winking and nudging everyone in the direction of this Republican clown car of awfulness -- if not for the political advantage, for the sheer spectacle of watching the once mighty Republican Party effectively screwing itself. The Democrats, on one hand, appear to be busily going about the business of cleaning up the mess left behind by three decades of Reaganomics while, on the other the hand, the Republicans are duct-taping themselves to the ample bosom of the most self-satirical political sideshow geek in American media history, while also expecting this will help their electoral chances.

Lance Macho Report warns, that, while we chuckle up our own sleeves about the possibility of something as ridiculous as President Limbaugh, remember the fact that 80 years ago in Germany, a loud mouthed, mediocre army corporal with only a few followers from a local beer hall, quickly rose to become the most destructive, murderous,and powerful embodiment of evil in recent centuries, using only jingoistic hatred and lies.

Imagine how far along Rush already is....especially in his own mind.

WHITE MAN'S LAST STAND

July 15, 2009
Op-Ed Columnist
White Man’s Last Stand
By MAUREEN DOWD



Washington

You can’t judge a judge by her cover.

Despite the best efforts of Republicans to root out any sign that Sonia Sotomayor has emotions that color her views on the law, the Bronx Bomber kept a robotic mask in place.

A wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not know that a gaggle of white Republican men afraid of extinction are out to trip her up.

After all, these guys have never needed to speak inspirational words to others like them, as Sotomayor has done. They’ve had codes, handshakes and clubs to do that.

So when Republican Senator Jon Kyl, without so much as a howdy-do, went at Sotomayor, and soon was asking her if she agreed with Barack Obama’s contention, when he voted against John Roberts, that a judge’s heart is important, the would-be justice was as adroit as her idol Nancy Drew.

“No, sir,” she said, indicating that the only bleeding-heart thing about her was the color of her jacket. She added that “it’s not the heart that compels conclusions in cases. It’s the law.”

President Obama wants Sotomayor, naturally, to bring a fresh perspective to the court. It was a disgrace that W. appointed two white men to a court stocked with white men. And Sotomayor made it clear that she provides some spicy seasoning to a bench when she said in a speech: “I simply do not know exactly what the difference will be in my judging, but I accept there will be some based on gender and my Latina heritage.”

The judge’s full retreat from the notion that a different life experience is valuable was more than necessary and somewhat disappointing. But, as any clever job applicant knows, you must obscure as well as reveal, so she sidestepped the dreaded empathy questions — even though that’s why the president wants her.

“We apply law to facts,” she told Kyl. “We don’t apply feelings to facts.”

She even used a flat tone when talking about the “horrific tragedy” of 9/11, when she was living near the World Trade Center. And she was mechanical in explaining to a grumpy Senator Orrin Hatch that banning nunchaku sticks did not dent the Second Amendment because the martial-arts weapons’ swing “can bust someone’s skull.”

Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer gamely tried to make the judge seem even more coldhearted. Recalling the sad plight of poor families from the Bronx who sued T.W.A. after a jet crashed off Long Island in 1996, he quoted the Bronx jurist’s dispassionate dissent: “The appropriate remedial scheme for deaths occurring off the United States coast is clearly a legislative policy choice, which should not be made by the courts.”

Schumer also cited the case of an African-American woman who filed suit after being denied a home-equity loan, even after the loan application was conditionally approved based on her credit report.

Sonia Legree ruled that the woman’s claim was filed too late, the same argument that the Supremes used on Lilly Ledbetter when she belatedly learned that her male coworkers were much better paid. President Obama has cited the Ledbetter decision as a reason the court needs a more “common touch.”

“The law requires some finality,” Sotomayor explained about her case, with an iciness that must have sent a chill up the conservative leg of Alabama’s Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, even as it left Obama hanging out on an empathy limb.

Republican Lindsey Graham read Sotomayor some anonymous comments made by lawyers about her, complaining that she was “temperamental,” “nasty,” “a bit of a bully.” Then he patronizingly lectured her about how this was the moment for “self-reflection.” Maybe Graham thinks Nino Scalia has those traits covered.

But the barbed adjectives didn’t match the muted performance on display before the Judiciary Committee. Like the president who picked her, Sotomayor has been a model of professorial rationality. Besides, it’s delicious watching Republicans go after Democrats for being too emotional and irrational given the G.O.P. shame spiral.

W. and Dick Cheney made all their bad decisions about Iraq, W.M.D.’s, domestic surveillance, torture, rendition and secret hit squads from the gut, based on false intuitions, fear, paranoia and revenge.

Sarah Palin is the definition of irrational, a volatile and scattered country-music queen without the music. Her Republican fans defend her lack of application and intellect, happy to settle for her emotional electricity.

Senator Graham said Sotomayor would be confirmed unless she had “a meltdown” — a word applied mostly to women and toddlers until Mark Sanford proudly took ownership of it when he was judged about the wisdom of his Latina woman.

And then there’s the Supreme Court, of course, which gave up its claim to rational neutrality when the justices appointed by Republican presidents — including Bush Sr. — ignored what was fair to make a sentimental choice and throw the 2000 election to W.

Faced with that warped case of supreme empathy, no wonder Sotomayor is so eager to follow the law.