Finding Integrity is Like Pulling Teeth

From TALKING POINTS MEMO:

A congressman-elect from Arizona has hired a retired Wasilla dentist closely tied to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his chief of staff.

Rep.-elect Paul Gosar (R-AZ), himself a dentist, hired Rob Robinson as his top aide, Roll Call reports today. Palin endorsed Gosar after Robinson, a political friend of hers, introduced them.

Original postcard

It’s Comical, Part 5: Miscellaneous Comics Edition

There are some comic books are are not as well known as most of the ones we’ve already covered, but while the comic books might not be as familiar, the people pictured in them will be.  For example, I’ll bet that you never heard of Cookie comic books, but you know who Cokie Roberts (and her guest star, Glenn Beck) are…
Original comic book cover

The Macaca Awards!

Welcome to the 1st Semi-Regular Macaca Awards!  I’ll borrow the introduction from my collaborator, the handsome and talented Tengrain of Mock, Paper, Scissors:

It seems so long ago that George Allen uttered the words that moved a generation (and sank his political career), and forever seared the word Macaca into our collective brain.
And so we honor all that is appalling in American Politics with the First Semi-Regular Macaca Awards.

Nightly, starting tomorrow night and concluding on Election Eve, you will be able to vote for the biggest Macaca in different categories. Nonnie and Tengrain will announce the winners on Election Eve, so this is democracy in action! Everyone is eligible to vote, no Arizonastan Juan Crow laws here, fellow citizens!

(Image courtesy of Tengrain)
And now, for the first category and the nominees…

Priva-tea-zation

From coloradoan.com:

During a television interview months ago, Republican Ken Buck discussed the need for public-private partnerships while talking about how the federal government is inefficient.

Now, less than a month before the election, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet’s campaign is criticizing what it calls Buck’s suggestion to privatize the Centers for Disease Control.

Original DVD cover

Take Them Out! To the ballgame, I mean.

From Mitchell Bard at THE HUFFINGTON POST:

Noted football coach Bill Parcells once said, “You are what your record says you are.”

Parcells’ quote jumped into my mind when I was thinking about the slate of Tea Party-influenced Republicans running in November. I feel like we’ve become immune to the stories about the extreme and, sometimes, downright delusional things they’ve said, since they’ve come in a steady stream over the past several months. But if you step back and look at the group as a whole (or at least some of the leading Tea Party favorites), you can get a real sense of what the Republican Party is offering voters in November.

Original image
(In the window, not allowed to participate: Michael Phathead Steele. Back row, l to r: Coach Rush Limbaugh, cheerleader Rich Iott (running for OH-Nein), Coach Glenn Beck, Marco Rubio. Middle-but not moderate-row, l to r: Linda McMahon, Joe Miller, Rand Paul, Ron Johnson, Carl Paladino. Front row, l to r: Christine O’Donnell, Ken Buck, Dan Maes, Sharron Angle, and Batboy David Vitter)

Yuck, Nyuk, Yuck

From POLITICO:

The subject line of a DNC email to supporters today: “Leader DeMint.”

Communications director Brad Woodhouse emails the list with tales of the South Carolina senator and a request for money:

There might be some Republicans who are concerned about the radical ideologues pushing their party toward extremism, but Sen. Jim DeMint isn’t one of them.

Original comic book cover

Juicy Fruit

From POLITICO:

Jon Ralston today posted a remarkable audio recording of Nevada Republican Sharron Angle meeting privately with a conservative rival, Scott Ashjian, and his allies.

The recording is worth listening to in full despite its poor quality. It suggests that — at least for the purposes of this conversation with a Tea Party figure — behind the facade of a real grassroots outsider who hates the organized Republican Party is … a real grassroots outsider who hates the organized Republican Party.

Original DVD cover

Rowdy With a Chance of Screwballs

From Betsy Reed at THE Nation:

In the media spectacle that is the 2010 midterm elections, women of the GOP are playing starring roles. They have figured prominently in nearly every plot and subplot that holds any real interest or potential for debased amusement: from Indian-American Nikki Haley’s triumph over her mudslinging male rivals for the GOP gubernatorial nod in South Carolina, to Carly Fiorina’s catty open-mic swipe at her opponent Barbara Boxer’s hair in the first-ever contest between two women for a California Senate seat, to WWF founder and Connecticut Senate hopeful Linda McMahon’s gifts to oh-so-lucky Democratic ad firms (including video of the candidate physically attacking a buxom, scantily clad woman purporting to be her husband’s lover), to the daily dose of clips revealing Christine O’Donnell’s youthful preoccupations with witchcraft and masturbation. Remember when politics was boring?

Original image
(Click on image for larger version)