Happy Hour Discurso

Today's opining on the public discourse.

Okay, this is rich. Apparently, Gov. Mark Sanford's in such a snit over being forced to take stimulus money that he's run away in a huff:

This is probably nothing, but it certainly seems odd.

The whereabouts of Gov. Mark Sanford have been unknown to state officials since Thursday, and some state leaders are questioning who is in charge of the executive office.

Neither the governor's office nor the State Law Enforcement Division, which provides security for governors, has been able to reach Sanford after he left the mansion in a black SLED Suburban SUV, said Sen. Jake Knotts and three others familiar with the situation but who declined to be identified.

Sanford's last known whereabouts were near Atlanta, where a mobile telephone tower picked up a signal from his phone, authorities said.

First lady Jenny Sanford told The Associated Press today her husband has been gone for several days and she doesn't know where he is.

Mark Sanford's wife doesn't know where he is? Neither do the state officials responsible for his security? What's more, both the governor's personal and professional phones have been turned off, and messages have gone unreturned since Thursday.

The governor's wife said the governor needed some time away "to write something." Sanford's office issued a statement today saying that Sanford decided to "recharge" after the legislative session, and has decided to "work on a couple of projects that have fallen by the wayside."

All from an undisclosed location, a la Dick Cheney. And remember, this putz who's dodged out on his executive responsibilities for several days, with no one left in charge, leaving most people in the dark as to where he is or when he'll be back, not to mention leaving no way to contact him, is rumored as a GOP hopeful for Prez.

Unfuckingbelievable.

Speaking of stimulus, the RNC might want to check what's loaded in their guns before firing away:

Hmmm, this one’s a bit odd. Earlier today, the Republican National Committee blasted out to reporters a research document with a link to an article in USA Today reporting that much of the stimulus package’s construction money will be spent in the districts of well-connected lawmakers.

The RNC document cited the piece to argue that the stimulus cash is nothing but pork and isn’t going where it’s needed. “Where Are The Jobs?” the document demanded. “Where Is The Money? Why All The Pork?”

But there’s only one problem: If you click through the link provided by the RNC to the article itself, you find that it actually targets a Republican Senator, Thad Cochran of Mississippi, as a primary recipient of this pork.

[snip]

In a sense, this is a variation of what we saw earlier this year: Republicans in Congress condemning the stimulus package but then turning right around and taking stimulus cash for their states and districts. Only now it’s coming out of the RNC. Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy…

Foot, meet bullet. Awesome job, RNC!

From the Dept. of Con Compassion comes this gem:

On CSPAN’s Washington Journal yesterday, former Republican congressman Tom Davis received a call from an elderly woman named Dorothy, who said that because she has diabetes, health insurance companies “reject” her. “They don’t even want to accept me,” said Dorothy. “Is that, is that possible they could get away with that? That seems like discriminating.”

Davis responded by saying that he understood her “dilemma” and that she probably wouldn’t be able to retire by 62 as she desires. Advising her that she’d be alright if she found “a job with a major employer,” Davis said it would be “difficult” on her own:

DAVIS: I don’t think you’ll find, probably be able to find some health insurance but if its with a small business or you’re going out on your own, it’s difficult at this point. There may be a government plan or private plans that are mandated coming out of this that are maybe able to help you. … I don’t know any reason why you shouldn’t be able to find something out there, but you want to look for an employer that has a health care plan. Good luck.

Um, Mr. Davis? It's your party that's screaming against government plans. It's also your party that fucked up the economy to the extent that finding a job with a major employer could be nigh impossible for sick elderly jobless folks. Oh, and then later on you say that “I don’t know that she can count on Washington to solve it for her.” Who, then? That absolutley fabulous private market whose profits depend on leaving sick folk out to dry?

Way to go, bro. What a fucking assmunch.

So, remember when some saner Cons started fretting about attacking a Latina? Looks like the GOP may indeed lose its last vestige of Latino support:

New poll numbers really seem to bear out the fears of some Republicans: The GOP’s quasi-opposition to Sotomayor seems to be hurting the party among Latinos in a big way.

The latest numbers from the nonpartisan Research 2000 for Daily Kos find that only eight percent of Latinos view the party favorably, while an astonishing 86 percent view it unfavorably.

That’s a real shift from what were already pretty bad numbers from before the Sotomayor nominatino, when 11% of Latinos viewed the GOP favorably, and 79% viewed it unfavorably.

Their poor feet are starting to resemble Swiss cheese about now. Perhaps this is why Sen. Corker decided he'd better reschedule toot sweet after cancelling a meeting with Sotomayor. He'd originally blown her off for being ten minutes late due to an ankle injury serious enough to require a cast. Classy, innit he?

Speaking of classy, the events in Iran have unhinged quite a few Cons (and you know Cons are going about this all wrong when Joe Fucking Scarborough takes them to the woodshed for stupidity). Case in point:

Last week, we heard quite a few ridiculous Iran-related comparisons from high-profile Republicans, but former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, now a U.S. Senate candidate, adds a rather unique twist today.

Twitter hasn't always been a politician's best friend, most recently for House Republicans making comparisons of their own political plight to the demonstrators in Iran.

Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio is the latest to make his own questionable comparison drawn from the Iranian demonstrations — that the protesters would have more success if they had a constitutional right to bear arms.

"I have a feeling the situation in Iran would be a little different if they had a 2nd amendment like ours," Rubio tweeted.

[snip]

It's fascinating to watch developments unfold in Iran, and it's not unusual to think how much better off Iranians would be right now if they enjoyed some of the freedoms Americans already have. But instead of free speech, the right to peaceably assemble, a free press, and the separation between religion and government, Rubio is apparently thinking, "Boy, if those folks only had lots of guns...."

As far as I can tell, Iran seems to already have quite a few well-armed "militias." Indeed, it's part of the problem.

Note how Rubio skipped right past all the civil liberties amendments, such as the First Amendment, and skipped right to the one involving guns. I think that says all that needs to be said about the typical Con mentality right there. Might makes right, is that it?

And to think, these fuckwits still think they're good at governing. Methinks it's time to start them on the good psychotropics, before they decide they can fly.