Happy Hour Discurso

Today's opining on the public discourse.

I almost didn't post this today.  Work sucked, I'm suffering the after-effects of insomnia, and all I really want to do is curl up with Amazon and spend my certificate.  But the stupid, it was too burning and rich to pass up.  How can I not blog stupid of the caliber I saw today?

I'll tell you, one terrorist sets himself on fire, and the entire right wing utterly shits itself. They're obviously too excited to think clearly.  Otherwise, they might've reconsidered the wisdom of politicizing this, in light of a few inconvenient facts:

A variety of congressional Republicans seem awfully anxious to play partisan games with the terrorist threat, and exploit the Abdulmutallab plot for electoral gain. The risk, of course, is that by starting the fight, the GOP attack dogs may be confronted with issues they're unprepared to deal with.

There is, for example, the fact that the nominated head of the TSA can't get confirmed because of Republican obstructionism. Then there's the fact that congressional Republicans also opposed funding for the TSA, including money for screening operations and explosives detection systems.

And then there's this unpleasant tidbit.

Two of the four leaders allegedly behind the al Qaeda plot to blow up a Northwest Airlines passenger jet over Detroit were released by the U.S. from the Guantanamo prison in November 2007, according to American officials and Department of Defense documents. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the Northwest bombing in a Monday statement that vowed more attacks on Americans.

American officials agreed to send the two terrorists from Guantanamo to Saudi Arabia, where they entered into an "art therapy rehabilitation program" and were set free, according to U.S. and Saudi officials.

As Ron Chusid put it, "Just imagine the Republican response if Barack Obama or Bill Clinton had released prisoners to enter an 'art therapy rehabilitation program.' This sounds almost as silly as an American president sitting and reading a children's book while the country is under attack."

Deary, deary me.  Art therapy for terrorists.  Why, that sounds like some dirty librul idea!  Do you think the Teabaggers will understand that art therapy for terrorists IOKIYAR?  I somehow think not.

Not to mention, guess who didn't want funding for TSA for things like "screening operations and explosives detection systems"?  Yup, that would be the Cons.  Worser and worser.

Meanwhile, some Cons have finally decided it's better to look like raving buffoons than indulge in continued blatant hypocrisy:

Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) doesn't want Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to face criminal charge in a federal court. Former DHS Secretary Tom Ridge doesn't want Abdulmutallab to have legal rights.

I had the same thought Josh Marshall had about the search for elusive consistency.

Remember, the AbdulMutallab case is virtually identical to the Richard Reid "Shoe Bomber" case from December 2001 -- to an uncanny degree. Same explosive, (PETN), same MO (blowing up an airliner bound for the US), same failed attempt.

It's really about as close to identical cases and you get. And, of course, Reid was tried in civilian courts and is now serving a life sentence. Seemed to work fine in his case. And unless I'm misremembering, I don't remember anybody criticizing this approach at the time.

Most of the criticisms we're hearing are pretty silly. But that's where the buck stops. It happened. Obama's president. It's natural that the political opposition will try to pin it on him. But can we at least get some demagoguing that isn't so transparently ridiculous and easily refuted by pointing out the policy the accuser followed when they were in charge?

Right. The Reid and Abdulmutallab cases offer nearly identical circumstances -- same chemical, same target, same intended consequence, same month of the year, same twisted ideology. Reid was charged, convicted, sentenced, and locked up for life. Neither conservatives nor liberals whined about it. But if the Obama administration subjects Abdulmutallab to an identical process, Republicans are outraged? Either they're idiots or they think we are.

You know, the hypocrisy was better.  I mean, at least it didn't make them look so bloody fucking stupid.

And it really doesn't help when Karl Rove thinks six days is shorter than seventy-two hours.  Seems someone failed the greater-than/less-than portion of math, and can't tell time to boot.  Pretty fucking sad, innit?


Meanwhile, the unheroic trio's terrified of the idea that icky people from Yemen might come back and kill them in their beds:

Sen. Joe Lieberman, Sen. John McCain and Sen. Lindsey Graham wrote a letter to President Obama today asking he halt any transfer of the six Yemeni detainees being held in Guantanamo Bay.

The trio of senators, who often see eye-to-eye on national security issues, said the transfer of the detainees would be "highly unwise and ill-considered."

Lieberman (I-CT) McCain (R-AZ) and Graham (R-SC) asked that until the United States is sure the detainees "will not return to the battlefield," all transfers to Yemen should cease.

A senior administration official tells TPMDC that Obama's Guantanamo review specifically identifies each detainee.

The task force evaluates detainees and the threat they pose, to determine whether they should be prosecuted, detained, or transferred, the official said.

The administration has worked with the government of Yemen to make sure all appropriate security measures are taken when the detainees are transferred, and Obama "will not release any detainee who would endanger the American people," the official said.

The official said Gitmo has been used by Al Qaeda as a rallying cry and recruiting tool, and the administration maintains that closing it is a national security imperative.

That, of course, has not stopped these three schmucks from shitting themselves in fear.  One gets the sense that maybe they don't know what the fuck they're talking about.


And Pat Buchanan's calling for torture without wanting to call it torture:

Pat Buchanan couldn't miss out on a chance to join in the chorus of psychopathic right-wingers who have been responding with their usual grotesque visions of xenophobic hatred after the Christmas Day failed attack on Flight 253.

Buchanan: ...frankly if that means you have to deny him pain medication because he's badly burned, I think you go ahead and do that. I'm not arguing for torture, but I am...

Spencer: You just did.

Tell you what, Pat.  How about you burn your dick off, we'll withhold the morphine, and then you can tell us that's not torture.  Maybe we'd even take you seriously.  Really.

And speaking of being taken seriously, who the fuck thought it was a good idea to have Ben fucking Stein opining on this subject?   ZOMG.

But not all of the stupidity's been about self-castrated terrorists.  No, there's plenty of other dumbfuckery going on.  Do you want to know how fucked up the Cons in the Senate are?  Sen. Jim Bunning had a hold on one of Obama's appointees because he wanted to address the critical issue of Canada's refusal to import candy-flavored cigarettes.  And that's not all!

That would be mind-numbing enough if it were an isolated incident, but inane Senate holds on qualified nominees have become painfully routine. The General Services Administration has been without an administrator because Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) blocked the president's nominee -- he wanted more funding for a federal office building in downtown Kansas City. The president's nominee for the U.S. ambassador to Spain faced a hold because Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) wanted more information about the dismissal of AmeriCorps' inspector general.

Something tells me governing these United States is going to be next to impossible as long as the Senate rules allow complete fucktards to throw nonsensical tantrums.

And speaking of nonsensical, Bobby Jindal, who apparently believes New Orleans and other coastal Louisianan cities look better underwater, wants the EPA to lay off the regulations.  The man apparently can't choose between paying a little now and paying a fuck of a lot a few months from now.  Yeesh.

Finally, what does a Con do when he wants to beat another Con?  Why, cry "homo!" of course:

Illinois Republican Andy Martin is about as slimy as they come. He gleefully accepts credit for starting a nasty smear campaign against President Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign, and continues to ramp up the hate as he runs for a seat in the U.S. Senate:

Andy Martin, a noted conservative dirty trickster, put out a spot on local radio in which he pushes a "solid rumor" that fellow Senatorial aspirant, Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), "is a homosexual."

"I helped expose many of Barack Obama's lies in 2008," the ad goes. "Today, I am fighting for the facts about Mark Kirk. Illinois Republican leader Jack Roeser says there is a 'solid rumor that Kirk is a homosexual.' Roeser suggests that Kirk is part of a Republican Party homosexual club. Lake County Illinois Republican leader Ray True says Kirk has surrounded himself with homosexuals."

[snip]

In a stunning move, the Illinois Republican Party has denounced Martin and his tactics. Maybe Republicans is learning?

I wouldn't bet on it.  Especially not after the Teabaggers pile on the Illinois Con Party for siding with a dirty rotten rumored homo.  But at least the IL Cons tried a little decency for once.  Much more than can be said for most of the rest.

You all stay classy, there, Cons.