Happy Hour Discurso

Today's opining on the public discourse.

Just when we thought John McCain couldn't get any more pathetic.... he does:

Ideally, a presidential campaign would inspire supporters to defend the candidate’s ideas, promote his/her agenda, and advance his/her policies.

But the McCain campaign has already been suffering from an "enthusiasm gap,” so it appears his supporters need a little incentive to say nice things about the presumptive Republican nominee.

On McCain’s Web site, visitors are invited to “Spread the Word” about the presumptive Republican nominee by sending campaign-supplied comments to blogs and Web sites under the visitor’s screen name. The site offers sample comments (”John McCain has a comprehensive economic plan . . .”) and a list of dozens of suggested destinations, conveniently broken down into “conservative,” “liberal,” “moderate” and “other” categories. Just cut and paste.

[snip]

People who sign up for McCain’s program receive reward points each time they place a favorable comment on one of the listed Web sites (subject to verification by McCain’s webmasters). The points can be traded for prizes, such as books autographed by McCain, preferred seating at campaign events, even a ride with the candidate on his bus, known as the Straight Talk Express, according to campaign spokesman Brian Rogers.

McCain hasn’t actually earned actual grassroots support, but he’s certainly willing to buy it, and catapult the propaganda online.

The WaPo noted why these tactics might sound familiar: “[D]issidents alleged earlier this year that the Chinese government has paid Chinese citizens token sums for each favorable comment about government policies they post in chat rooms and on blogs.”

Yes, let’s pause to appreciate the ways in which the McCain campaign has borrowed the tactics of an authoritarian communist regime.

What does it say about a man when he has to bribe erstwhile supporters to support him? Who has to use the totalitarian tricks of a repressive regime to get noticed? Nothing good, I'm afraid. Which is why, if the American public elects this sad, sorry sack of shit, I shall have to write off my fellow countrymen completely as a lost bloody cause.

And just when we think Republicons in general couldn't get any more pathetic... they do:

We’re well past the point at which congressional Republicans have jumped the shark, but let’s pause to appreciate the fact that at least one leading GOP lawmaker is now looking to a fake ad by a 27-year-old heiress/reality-show star as a serious source of public policy.

The lines between celebrity and politician blurred into a haze Thursday at a Republican news conference, as one congressman began pushing Paris Hilton’s “plan” on energy.

“Let’s bring up the Paris Hilton plan,” goaded Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas. […]

“Even Paris Hilton had an energy plan that she’s talking about,” said Burgess, seizing a chance to make Democrats look lackluster on the issue.

The Texas congressman tried to put Hilton in the Republican camp, claiming her words mirrored current GOP legislation known as the “No More Excuses Energy Act”. But, while that proposal does allow offshore drilling, a congressional summary shows it does not contain tax credits to encourage new automobile technology.

For crying out loud, Paris Hilton is not a policy expert. She wasn’t seriously offering an energy proposal for members of Congress to embrace as an actual solution.

No, she was making fun of them. And now she's making them look like the biggest bunch of buffoons ever elected. When even Paris Hilton makes you look stupid, you know you've got image problems.

And just when we thought Karl Rove couldn't be a bigger lying sack of shit, he is:

Last night on Fox News, former top Bush adviser Karl Rove showed up on Hannity & Colmes to discuss the political topic du jour: gas prices and energy policy.

Co-host Alan Colmes noted that conservatives like Rove just want to drill for more oil with the “hope that seven years from now we bring down the price which Bush’s Energy Department says it wouldn’t do.” Rove then became agitated, saying to Colmes: “You’re wrong on your facts”:

ROVE: First of all the EIA does say that drilling would bring down prices. You’re wrong on your facts.

COLMES: That’s what they said.

ROVE: No, no no. That’s simply wrong. The Energy Information Agency [sic] which is a respected nonpartisan branch of our government does say if we expanded supply, it would reduce the price.

Note that Rove can't even get the name of the agency right. Then note that the rest of his facts fall short as well:

But its actually Rove who is wrong — or misleading at best. The group Rove cites to back up his “facts” — the Energy Information Administration — says that new drilling won’t start until 2018, and won’t ever have much impact on oil prices. The EIA’s assessment of offshore drilling:

For the lower 48 OCS [Outer Continental Shelf], annual crude oil production in 2030 is projected to be 7 percent higher—2.4 million barrels per day in the OCS access case compared with 2.2 million barrels per day in the reference case (Figure 20). Because oil prices are determined on the international market, however, any impact on average wellhead prices is expected to be insignificant.

Ladies and gentlemen, our conservative "leadership." Keeping the stupid alive while lying indiscriminately.