Happy Hour Discurso

Today's opining on the public discourse.

Terrified Bushies try to dodge accountability for their actions:

Way back in February, Hilzoy had an item on an important internal Justice Department report, which has gone largely overlooked. The department's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) has been investigating whether Bush administration attorneys who wrote torture memos gave legal advice "consistent with the professional standards that apply to Department of Justice attorneys." A draft reportedly had less than kind things to say about Jay Bybee, John Yoo, and Steven Bradbury.

Not surprisingly, this sent a ripple of panic out among loyal Bushies. With the OPR report poised to be published, old Bush hands are scrambling.

Former Bush administration officials are launching a behind-the-scenes lobbying campaign to urge Justice Department leaders to soften an ethics report criticizing lawyers who blessed harsh detainee interrogation tactics, according to two sources familiar with the efforts.

In recent days, attorneys for the subjects of the ethics probe have encouraged senior Bush administration appointees to write and phone Justice Department officials, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the process is not complete.

A draft report of more than 200 pages, prepared in January before Bush's departure, recommends disciplinary action by state bar associations against two former department attorneys in the Office of Legal Counsel who might have committed misconduct in preparing and signing the so-called torture memos. State bar associations have the power to suspend a lawyer's license to practice or impose other penalties.

You know, I truly do love watching them scramble around frantically trying to avoid any penalty for being corrupt, criminal fools. Here's hoping Yoo and Bybee get disbarred. It's the least they deserve.

In our daily dose of Bachmann batshit insanity, Michele's frothing about a tax rate that'll never exist:

This past weekend, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) appeared on the Northern Alliance Radio Network show, hosted by conservative bloggers John Hinderaker and Brian Ward. During the interview, Bachmann said she was “concerned” that debt resulting from President Obama’s policies are fitting “the current 19 and 20-year-olds” with “shackles and chains.”

To support this, Bachmann then claimed that today’s youth will face a tax rate of “65 percent or higher” because of Obama:

BACHMANN: Well, I tell you what I am concerned about are the current 19 and 20-year-olds that are going to hold this debt. And it’s the mother of all ironies, John and Brian, that the kids who voted en masse for Barack Obama are the ones being fitted with shackles and chains. And they’re going to wake up one morning and find out that their tax rate is 65% or higher. Who is going to get out of bed in the morning if you realize that two-thirds or more of your day is spent earning money? You are working for Uncle Sam and you keep very little.

Continuing her paranoid fearmongering, Bachmann then claimed that Obama’s plans to institute a cap-and-trade program to reel in greenhouse gas emissions will turn Americans into “servants to government”...

She's really fixed on this whole servant idea, isn't she? That seems to be the sign of an unhealthy obsession. She should really see a psychiatrist.

So should the rest of the Cons. And I hope the shrink finds a way to explain to them what the words "bipartisan" and "compromise" mean:

Karen Tumulty shares an important anecdote about negotiations over health care reform.

When Barack Obama informed congressional Republicans last month that he would support a controversial parliamentary move to protect health-care reform from a filibuster in the Senate, they were furious. That meant the bill could pass with a simple majority of 51 votes, eliminating the need for any GOP support for the bill. Where, they demanded, was the bipartisanship the President had promised? So, right there in the Cabinet Room, the President put a proposal on the table, according to two people who were present. Obama said he was willing to curb malpractice awards, a move long sought by the Republicans and certain to bring strong opposition from the trial lawyers who fund the Democratic Party.

What, he wanted to know, did the Republicans have to offer in return?

Nothing, it turned out. Republicans were unprepared to make any concessions, if they had any to make.

So far, we've seen quite a bit of this when the president and the shrinking congressional minority disagree. President Obama sought a stimulus package, for example, and hoped to win over Republicans with a healthy dose of tax cuts. What did Republicans respond with? Nothing, except a counter-proposal with nothing but huge tax cuts.

The president also wants health care reform. He doesn't want to curb malpractice awards, but he's willing to compromise and make concessions to win over Republicans. What is the GOP willing to compromise on? Not a thing. They want the folks who won the elections and are pushing a popular idea to move closer to them -- in exchange for nothing.

What is it with Cons? Didn't their mommies ever teach them how to share? They all act like spoiled only children with severe personality disorders. It's just sad.

No one ever taught them how to look beyond their own self-interest. What else explains their inability to realize that their success doesn't negate the fact of a devastating recession?

Last night, Rush Limbaugh came to Washington, D.C. to address the President’s Club Dinner, a meeting of wealthy donors and supporters of the Heritage Foundation. The audience included Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), as well as various millionaire trustees of the Heritage Foundation, like Thomas Saunders.

After more or less reprising his radio show routine, Limbaugh went on to brag about his $400 million contract with Clear Channel Communications. As he continued to gloat about his show’s success, Limbaugh mocked the idea that Americans are suffering, noting, “I’ve never had financially a down year” despite the “supposed” recession:

LIMBAUGH: But during all this growth I haven’t lost any audience. I’ve never had financially a down year. There’s supposedly a recession, but we’ve got - what is this May? Back in February we already had 102% of 2008 overbooked for 2009. [applause] So I always believed that if we’re going to have a recession, just don’t participate. [laughter]

Typical selfish dumbshits. You know, this is what got Marie Antoinette the guillotine. No one thinks "let them eat cake" jokes are funny when they're starving. I wonder if Limbaugh's lobotimzied fan base will ever realize how much contempt he has for them and rise up to depose his fat ass? It would be awesome to watch his ratings drop like a rock.

Not that I'm holding out much hope. After all, the delusional fucktards have done a good job shoring up their support among the "clueless schmuck" demographic. And there are no signs of returning sanity just yet.

At least we'll never have to worry about running out of stupidity in this country.