Happy Hour Discurso

Today's opining on the public discourse.

I do believe this is conduct unbecoming to a lawmaker:

One of these days, it sure would be nice if Republicans felt the need to denounce this kind of radical, vile rhetoric.

At a town hall Wednesday night, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) told constituents, "We're almost reaching a revolution in this country."

Inhofe also said he doesn't need to know what's in a health care reform bill to vote against it.

"I don't have to read it, or know what's in it. I'm going to oppose it anyways," he said at the event in Chickasha, Okla.

The senator was in good company, with most of the audience agreeing with him and expressing their disdain for big government and Democrats. One man said, "No more compromise. We're losing our country."

I can't begin to understand why Inhofe and his like-minded extremists are so angry. But for an elected member of the United States Senate to speak publicly about the possibility of a "revolution" is deeply frightening.

What's more, let's not forget that Inhofe isn't the only one throwing around insane rhetoric like this. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has encouraged her supporters to "rise up" and be "armed and dangerous." Several GOP lawmakers are talking up the idea of "nullification," which is effectively secession-lite. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's former press secretary recently wrote about "the coming revolution," which he suggested might be similar to "Project Mayhem" from the movie "Fight Club." (In the film, "Project Mayhem" involved militarizing terrorist cells that blew up banks.)

Inhofe is a U.S. senator, and he's decided to fan the flames.

Of course he did, because he's a fucktard who can't even be bothered to do his job. I don't know how the fuck he found enough deeply stupid people to elect him, but all he's in government for is to fuck things up. He's a useless piece of garbage who's a disgrace to the Senate.

I hope the fuckwits stupid enough to play with fire are the first to get burned. We should be so lucky.

And here we have yet another fucktard making the kind of "jokes" that get people killed:

Much of my family still lives in Idaho, and my dad is fond of hanging at the gun range. He says he hears guys talking casually about how easy it would be to shoot President Obama with a long-range rifle. And how they'd really like to do it. Jokes like that are becoming common there, too.

So it really didn't surprise me when one of the wingnuttiest wingnuts in Idaho (this is really saying something) joked about how he'd happily buy a hunting tag for shooting President Obama:

Rex Rammell, a long-shot gubernatorial candidate seeking the Republican nomination, criticized Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter on Wednesday for not making good on a promise to buy the first wolf tag. Tags for hunting the gray wolf went on sale Monday.

Rammell's remarks on Otter came in an interview Wednesday after the Times-News asked about comments Rammell made Tuesday night at a local Republican party event.

After an audience member shouted a question about "Obama tags" during a discussion on wolves, Rammell responded, "The Obama tags? We'd buy some of those."

While free speech is wonderful and allows all kinds of people to say all kinds of outrageous things, I think the line has to be drawn with elected officials joking about buying tags to hunt the President. That kind of talk is so far out of bounds it can't see the stadium with the Hubble.

These assclowns demand we show them respect and trust them to govern when they encourage talk of revolution, joke about assassinating the President, and reflexively oppose legislation that would not only provide health care to all Americans, but help bring down the deficits they were largely responsible for. And there's an enormous parade of them who are happy to rake in stimulus money with both hands while decrying that same stimulus in Washington. The latest:

The AP reports that Republicans who opposed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, commonly referred to as the stimulus, are nonetheless vigorously pursuing money from the program. Many GOP members, like Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY), are still slamming the stimulus as waste and a failure, yet at the same time are making internal appeals for more funds. Guthrie, attacked the Recovery Act for its “staggering” costs just days before he urged Defense Secretary Robert Gates to consider using stimulus money to renovate a military hospital in his congressional district.

Other opponents of the stimulus now pleading for stimulus money include:

– Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) and Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA) opposed the stimulus and attacked it as a bloated government giveaway. However, both senators recently asked Gates to steer $50 million in stimulus money for a bio-energy project. Visiting a food bank aided by money from the stimulus, Chambliss exclaimed last week, “I’m very pleased that the government continues to play a key role, here, from the standpoint of providing food.”

– Rep. Mary Fallin (R-OK) — who called the stimulus a “Big Brother spending program” — asked Army Secretary Pete Geren to use $8.4 million in stimulus money for repairs to buildings at two Oklahoma National Guard sites.

– Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) told CNS News last month, “I don’t think it [failed] - I know it. I said at the time, there’s no stimulus in the stimulus bill.” He also called the Recovery Act simply “welfare.” However, a recent press release from Inhofe hails $1.9 million in funding for a Claremore regional railroad-based trans-modal facility, noting the investment will “help spur additional economic growth” and that the senator is “happy” about the way the money is being used. Inhofe, of course, makes no mention that the money is authorized by the Recovery Act.

– Rep. John Carter (R-TX) opposed the Recovery Act, and recently called the entire program a failure that should be “repealed.” Regardless, Carter’s public pronouncements did not stop him from requesting $621 million in hospital projects from the stimulus — then calling the funds a victory for the economy in central Texas.

– Rep. Bill Young (R-FL), another stimulus opponent, now lists various links on his website to help his constituents “take advantage of the federal stimulus money.”

The DCCC has a Hypocrisy Hall of Fame with a list as long as your leg highlighting the two-faced sons of bitches, and their list only includes the Reps, not the Senators, who are engaging in this bullshit. As Steve Benen said, "The campaign committee probably ought to save room for a lot of inductees."

They'll have to buy extra servers at this rate.

I wonder how much hypocrisy we'd be hearing if a vote against the stimulus and continued claims that the stimulus is a worthless waste that should be abolished meant those reps and senators didn't get a single shiny dime from that package?

Speaking of people who should be required to experience a life without government largesse, the Tenthers come to mind. They're the assclowns who think the Tenth Amendment means things like Medicare are unconstitutional. Their latest outcry is against roads:

In a recent radio interview, Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH) made the seemingly-innocuous statement that the federal highway system, as well as federal laws ensuring safe drugs and safe airplanes, are constitutional. Nevertheless, Shea-Porter is now under attack by “tenther” activists who believe that virtually everything the federal government does is unconstitutional:

Author and historian David Barton, the president of WallBbuilders, [sic] says Shea-Porter’s comments reflect her view that Washington government should run everything. He notes that both the Ninth and Tenth Amendments say anything that is not explicitly covered in the Constitution belongs to the states and to the people.

“All of those issues belong to the states and the people. Healthcare is not a federal issue. It is a state and people issue — the same with transportation. The Constitution does say that the federal government can take care of what are called the post roads — those on which the mail travels — but outside of that, states are responsible for their own highways, their own roads, their own county, local, state roads,” he notes.

You know, I hate to break this to you, fucktard, but the mail travels on nearly every single fucking road in this country. So even by your own inane argument, roads are very much a federal issue.

I'd ask for smarter Cons, but I know I wouldn't get them. Not when they're too clueless to realize that inviting Sarah Palin to a gathering without a backup speaker in place is just asking for a disaster:

If these circumstances sound familiar, it's because we've heard this story before.

Organizers of an Anchorage event that has been billing Sarah Palin for weeks as a star speaker were left scrambling Wednesday after learning that the former governor won't be there for tonight's event and claims to have never been asked.

It would be at least the fourth time in recent months that an anticipated Palin speech has fallen through after Palin and her camp disputed they had ever confirmed it. That includes the brouhaha over whether she'd speak at the annual congressional Republican fundraising dinner in Washington, D.C., this summer.

This time it's an event promoting an Alaska ballot measure aimed at making it illegal for teens to get an abortion without telling their parents. The Alaska Family Council has been advertising that Palin would give a speech and become the first official signer of the ballot petition tonight at ChangePoint, the Anchorage megachurch.

Alaska Family Council President Jim Minnery and his group have been promoting the event, and Palin's appearance, after having been in contact with the former governor's aides. Palin's spokesperson said yesterday, however, that "this is the first we have ever heard of a speech."

[snip]

She's not showing up. Palin's spokesperson said Palin will not even be in Alaska when the event is held.

Now, in general, a mix-up between a far-right group and a far-right politician over scheduling issues wouldn't be especially noteworthy. But what's interesting about this is that it keeps happening. This is, as the Anchorage Daily News noted, the fourth time some members of Palin's team committed to an event that other members of Palin's team never agreed to.

Guess the idiots who invited her to their little anti-choice fest forgot the old saying: "Once is chance, twice is coincidence, but third time's a pattern."

That was probably enough of a laugh for one day, but there's one more gem I just can't pass up. Cons see an opening for them in Ted Kennedy's death, and they're viewing this as the perfect opportunity for Mitt Romney. They need to get their eyes checked:

In Roff's fantasy scenario, Romney could serve a couple of years, dazzle Republicans with his ideas, and then parlay his Senate service into the GOP presidential nomination in 2012. It's not just Roff -- National Review's Lisa Schiffren likes the idea, too.

This is certainly an ... what's the word ... imaginative proposal. But I don't think it's especially realistic.

First, Romney ran for governor in Massachusetts as a center-left, pro-choice, tolerant New England Republican. He left office after just one term as a conservative with an approval rating in the 30s. Which version of Romney would run for Kennedy's seat? He couldn't run to the right; he'd lose. He couldn't run to the left; it would ruin his presidential ambitions.

Second, Roff may have missed it, but while President Obama's approval ratings aren't as strong as they were, he maintains a 73% approval rating in Massachusetts. It doesn't look as if the Bay State would be anxious to replace Ted Kennedy with a harsh, reflexive opponent of the White House.

And third, by all appearances, Mitt Romney isn't actually a resident of Massachusetts.

Other than these minor details, though, it's a great idea. Run, Mittster, run.

Please do. The way must be cleared for the Palin/Bachmann 2012 ticket. You fuckers owe us a good laugh after all of the disasters you've visited upon the country.