Discarding the Soggy Teabag

From political ticker at CNN:

Michele Bachmann accused Rick Perry’s presidential campaign Friday of a “stealth” political attack – a charge the Texas governor’s campaign flat out denied. “If Gov. Perry has something to say to me, he can come out to the debates and say it,” Bachmann said in an interview with CNN. “But this is egg on the face unfortunately for the Perry campaign.”

At issue: tea party sponsor American Majority’s urging for Bachmann to drop out of the presidential race.

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The Sheriff of Nuttyham

From THINK PROGRESS SECURITY:

The birther movement, thought dead by multiple debunkings and the release of President Obama’s actual birth certificate, was thrust back into the national spotlight this week when Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), a former frontrunner in the race for the GOP’s presidential nomination, called birtherism “a good issue to keep alive” and claimed he wasn’t sure where Obama was born.

…snip…

This week, birther queen Orly Taitz joined radical Arizona immigration sheriff Joe Arpaio — who is conducting his own investigation into Obama’s birthplace — at a Tea Party town hall in Arizona, where she sought to provide Arpaio with further evidence to bolster his case. Arpaio, however, surprised the crowd by telling Taitz that he has evidence even she doesn’t have. And though he can’t tell her, or anyone else, what it is, he promises it will surprise even the harshest critics of the birtherism movement […]

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Birthers of a Nation

From DORIAN DE WIND at The Moderate Voice:

A few months ago, I commented on a piece by Pulitzer Prize winner Leonard Pitts at the Miami Herald calling birthers “morons,” ”jackasses,” “imbeciles,” “idiots,” “doofuses” and “pinheads.”

He also called the birther movement “not just claptrap, but profoundly racist claptrap.”

I said, “While I agree with Pitts on the claptrap, I would not call the birthers morons, imbeciles, idiots, etc. I believe that these people, especially the founders and leaders of this ‘movement,’ are extremely intelligent, capable and resourceful,” and gave some examples to back my claim up:

How else would a movement that started in mid-2008, following Obama’s win in the Democratic primaries be able to convince, a mere two years later, 20 percent of all Americans and 30 percent of Tea Partiers into believing that the president was not born in the United States?

How else would people such as Andy Martin (known as “King of the Birthers”), Jerome Corsi (of John Kerry swift-boating fame), Alan Keyes, Orly Taitz, etc., be able to convince a majority (51 percent) of likely Republican presidential primary voters that the president was born in another country? (2011 survey from Public Policy Polling)

How else could this movement attract reputable and intelligent Republican Party leaders, notables and pundits such as Senator Richard Shelby, Tracey Mann, Liz Cheney, Rush Limbaugh, Lou Dobbs, Sean Hannity, Camille Paglia and others to grant the movement legitimacy, to defend the birthers or at a minimum to humor these conspiracy-minded people?

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Herman Cain’s Blockhead

From POWERWALL at MSNBC:

Although he’s suddenly the most talked-about man in politics — at least for a day — Mark Block was quick to return a reporter’s request for comment.

“I’m standing outside smoking a cigarette. What else was I supposed to do?” he quips between puffs.

…snip…

Block is Herman Cain’s chief operating officer and chief of staff — equivalent to campaign manager on other campaigns — and in a web video released Monday night, addressed Cain’s supporters. “Tomorrow is one day closer to the White House … We’ve run a campaign like nobody’s ever seen, but then America’s never seen a candidate like Herman Cain,” Block said, looking straight into the camera. “We need you to get involved.” And then, without breaking his gaze, he takes a drag off a cigarette, transforming an ordinary video into a viral sensation.

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It’s Munstrous!!

From THINK PROGRESS HEALTH:

Why Mitt Romney’s Medicaid Cuts Are Even More Draconian Than Paul Ryan’s

Medicaid, which is funded jointly by the states and the federal government, provides health coverage to approximately 53 million lower income Americans. The federal government matches state spending on a per-claim basis and pays a percentage of each state’s Medicaid costs (anywhere between 50 and 75 percent). Conservatives like House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan and the GOP presidential contenders have proposed reducing the federal government’s commitment to the program by block granting Medicaid and paying states pre-established grants that may not reflect actual costs. The reduction in federal spending would require states to either appropriate additional funding towards Medicaid or lower program expenditures by cutting provider payment rates, limiting eligibility, and reducing benefits, the CBO has concluded.

Former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) has endorsed Ryan’s block grant proposal, and yesterday, during a radio interview with Sean Hannity, he revealed that his cuts to Medicaid could be even more draconian than Ryan’s.

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Not-So-Sweet Charity

From THINK PROGRESS HEALTH:

Republicans have a hard time explaining how they would make up for the loss in coverage to 32 million Americans if they succeed in repealing the Affordable Care Act. Deregulating the health insurance market and instituting malpractice reform will only do so much — in fact, a Congressional Budget Office analysis of the GOP’s standard health care plan found that such an approach would only extend coverage to three million people and actually increase the overall uninsured rate — and so the party is often forced to look at other less dependable sources for health care: charity.

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From Secession to Oppression

From my SA:

Anita Perry, wife of Republican presidential hopeful and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, has taken a bold leap into the national spotlight in recent weeks, assuming a more prominent role in her husband’s campaign and speaking about her Christian faith in a way that resonates with evangelicals, but surprises old friends.

…snip…

Her public statements this month that she pushed her husband into the presidential ring because she felt he was being called by God caught Bill Miller off guard.“I always viewed Anita as someone who took politics with a gigantic grain of salt. She would rather go to a baseball game for her kid than an inaugural,” said Miller, an Austin lobbyist who hired Anita Perry in the 1990s.

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Widdle Ewic Wets His Pants, Creates a Job for Diaper Changer

From philly.com:

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor abruptly canceled a speech Friday at the University of Pennsylvania that had become the target of Occupy Philly and other groups. Hundreds of protesters gathered at Penn nonetheless, carrying signs and shouting slogans.

Cantor (R., Va.) was scheduled to speak at Penn’s Wharton School at 4:30 p.m. but backed out earlier in the afternoon, indicating that it had been his understanding the speech would be open only to people affiliated with the university.

In a statement, his office said it “was informed last night by Capitol Police that the University of Pennsylvania was unable to ensure that the attendance policy previously agreed to could be met.”

…snip…

The university in turn issued a statement saying it “deeply regrets” that Cantor canceled and suggesting that there had been no change in the attendance policy.

“The Wharton speaker series is typically open to the general public, and that is how the event with Majority Leader Cantor was billed. We very much regret if there was any misunderstanding with the majority leader’s office on the staging of his presentation,” the university said.

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