A Few of My Favorite Zings

To the tune of My Favorite Things (music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein):

Health care and midterms and all kinds of fighting,
Rallies and scandals, it was so exciting,
Tea party darlings were at it again,
All this shit happened in 2010.

Nothing but heartache for millions of Haitians,
While dumb old Pat Robertson hurled accusations,
John Roberts’ activist band of Supremes,
Were simply the court of a lobbyist’s dreams.

The Hammer Comes Down on the Hammer

From Technorati:

“It’ll never stand up on appeal,” a defiant but obviously shaken Tom DeLay told reporters moments after his recent conviction for money laundering and conspiracy. […] DeLay’s crime ripped a hole in Texas democracy. It’s serious. His conviction carries a penalty of up to life in prison, though no one really expects him to do hard time. As a politician, however, he’s deader than a truck-squashed armadillo.

DeLay spent his early life as an exterminator. He entered local politics in 1978, eventually rising to become Republican House Majority Leader and earning the nickname, “The Hammer.” In 2005 he resigned in disgrace after close ties to another politics felon, Jack Abramoff, and after this set of charges was filed. He has pompously proclaimed his innocence ever since, while quietly using trick after trick in a cowardly attempt to put off the trial.

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The Wrong Women for Women’s Rights

From Stephanie Schriock (President, EMILY‘s List) at THE HUFFINGTON POST:

To say I was unmoved by Sarah Palin’s much-heralded new “Mama Grizzlies” video is an understatement. I think it’s time to get the story of the 2010 elections straight — and to call out Palin’s efforts for what they are: an attempt, in the name of “feminism,” to turn back the clock on women’s rights and to set American families back.

But I will say something you probably never thought you’d hear: I agree with Sarah Palin on one thing. I agree with her that women — moms, yes, but grandmothers, too, and daughters — will decide this election.

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I Thought He’s From South Carolina

Kids, did any of you watch the Miss America Pageant? Me neither. However, I saw this in The Boston Globe, and frankly I was shocked, shocked I tell ya!

LAS VEGAS—Organizers say Miss Oklahoma Taylor Treat has won a $6,000 scholarship at the Miss America Pageant for her volunteering and community service.

…snip…

Miss New Hampshire Lindsey Graham was first runner-up for the award and won $4,000.

(emphasis mine)

Of course, I had to do some digging. Is it kosher for a senator who says he represents South Carolina to represent a New England state in the pageant? And how did Lindseypoo do in the pageant? I had no luck researching the first question, but I did find some screencaps of Lindseypoo in all his finery. Here he is in the evening gown portion of the competition.

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As you can see, John Boohoo Boehner lent Lindseypoo some self-tanner, and Carrie Prejean let him wear her lucky hubcaps earrings.

How About Hypocrisy Limits?

In another installment of Rethuglicans not having a new idea in decades, the Raisin brings you the latest warmed-up same-old, same-old.

Washington (CNN) — A handful of Republican senators have proposed a constitutional amendment to limit how long a person may serve in Congress.

Currently, there are no term limits for federal lawmakers, but Sen. Jim DeMint, R-South Carolina, and several of his colleagues are advocating that service in the Senate be limited to 12 years, while lawmakers would only be allowed to serve six years in the House.

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Oh, the Horror!

From THE GAGGLE at Newsweek:

The last time we saw Tom DeLay, he was a scandal-ridden leper slinking back to Texas with nothing left but that giant, threatening smile that made even people who liked him kind of hate him. He had lost it all─his post as house majority leader, his congressional seat, his standing reservation at Signatures, Jack Abramoff’s expense-account lunchery for Republicans headed for ignominy, or prison, or both. Perhaps worst of all, DeLay had lost his mojo as “The Hammer,” the one guy you didn’t dare cross on Capitol Hill and expect to survive. Until the end, he cast himself as a victim of power-hungry Democrats, even though it was Republicans who ultimately threw him overboard. He knew how it worked—after all, he’d done the same thing to Newt Gingrich. And so DeLay went, but he didn’t like it, and like a character straight out of a Sergio Leone spaghetti Western, he promised to get justice and clear his name. “I’ll be back,” DeLay vowed.

Turns out he was right. Last night Tom DeLay made his comeback, and truly, it was a low moment in our nation’s long and stormy history, by which we mean it was totally and completely awesome in every imaginable way.

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Twinkletoes…make that Stinkletoes

From the Los Angeles Times:

Can the onetime “Hammer” of the U.S. House of Representatives do a mean Texas two-step?

In a move startling even by the outlandish standards of reality television, “Dancing With the Stars” announced Monday that former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay — a pugnacious politician under indictment for alleged money-laundering — will be a contestant in the upcoming season.

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Turds of a Feather Stick Together

From The Washington Post:

GOP May Be Stuck on Cohesion

On the House floor Thursday, Republicans registered their unanimous opposition to President Obama’s budget proposal. Led by Minority Leader John A. Boehner (Ohio) and Minority Whip Eric Cantor (Va.), the GOP adopted a simple and oft-repeated mantra: The Democrats’ fiscal blueprint “spends too much, borrows too much and taxes too much.”

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