Top Ten Conservative Idiots of the Week

[Nanjing to Seoul]

Last edited Sat Oct 5, 2013, 03:05 AM - Edit history (3)

[font style="font-size:1.539em; text-transform:uppercase;"]Broken Government Edition[/font]

The first five stops are all about the shutdown (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) from the leadup to the reactions. New GOP Frontman Ted Cruz (6) is to blame for all of this, Kansas (9) really hates science and Rand Paul (10) is just an idiot. And as always, don't forget the key.

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[font style="font-size:1.539em; text-transform:uppercase;"]The Leadup[/font]


The time bomb was ticking. Everyone and their brother knew it was coming. Everyone and their sister knew the GOP would become political and economic terrorists to prove a point. All just hoped it wouldn't happen. It did. But let's look back at the few days before the Great GOP Cliff-Dive.

First they wanted to defund the ACA, but that failed miserably. Attempt #1,456,843,343 to destroy the ACA (Obamacare) failed again. Not deterred, the GOP went into overdrive:

[div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#F4E0E0; border:1px solid #E8C0C0; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #C66666 inset; border-radius:0.6em; margin:0.5385em 0em 0em 0.5385em;"]1: Defund contraceptive use in the ACA. DIED!

2: Pass a bill to delay Obamacare for another year. FAILED!

3: Defunding Obamacare's women's health came next and withered on the vine.

Finally, realizing they were stuck, they tried to bully President Obama in agreeing to “piecemeal” spending resolutions. Obama's reactions is best summed by saying Bed! Sleep! Yours! Put it together, pal! DOA.

After that, the GOP reacted with self-righteous indignation, as best summed up by GOP troll Rep. John Culberson (R-TX) in his tweet about ACA.

[div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#F4E0E0; border:1px solid #E8C0C0; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #C66666 inset; border-radius:0.6em; margin:0.5385em 0em 0em 0.5385em;"]Rep. Culberson (R-TX) on the big applause moment after GOP resolved to vote for CR: "I said, like 9/11, 'lets roll!'"

— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) September 28, 2013

How did the Senate deal with this ACA pandering. By voting 79-19 to restore funding. . .and the heads of Marco Rubio, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, John Boehner and Tex Cruz all exploded immediately.

FULL STEAM AHEAD!!!!


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[font style="font-size:1.539em; text-transform:uppercase;"]Shutdown[/font]


So, October 1st came and went with no CR to fund the government. Obama released this memo and the government went into shutdown for the first time since 1995. According to Bloomberg:

[div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#F4E0E0; border:1px solid #E8C0C0; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #C66666 inset; border-radius:0.6em; margin:0.5385em 0em 0em 0.5385em;"]Federal government officials told agencies to begin executing plans for a partial government shutdown Monday as Congress failed to reach an agreement on a funding measure.

In a memo to executive branch officers sent less than half an hour before a midnight deadline, Office of Management and Budget director Sylvia Burwell said there was no "clear indication" that Congress would reach an agreement to keep the government's lights on by 12:01 a.m. ET

"Agencies should now execute plans for an orderly shutdown due to the absence of appropriations," she wrote. "We urge Congress to act quickly to pass a Continuing Resolution to provide a short-term bridge that ensures sufficient time to pass a budget for the remainder of the fiscal year, and to restore the operation of critical public services and programs that will be impacted by a lapse in appropriations."

The shutdown is expected to place tens of thousands of federal workers on furlough, close national parks and monuments, and disrupt services like food assistance and IRS audits. Services like benefit payments and national security operations would go on as usual, and – because of a bipartisan measure passed by both houses of Congress and signed into law by the president late Monday – members of the military will continue to be paid.

Wow! Same result, different reason than 1995. In 1995, the GOP threw a temper tantrum (well, Newt did) because he didn't like his seat on Air Force One. In 2013, the GOP threw a temper tantrum because it can't stand the fact people won't die in poverty and debt because they got sick.

How did the GOP react to this: By living it up and boozing it up.

Want more on the GOP partying while the country sinks? From Huff Post:

[div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#F4E0E0; border:1px solid #E8C0C0; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #C66666 inset; border-radius:0.6em; margin:0.5385em 0em 0em 0.5385em;"]House Republicans spent hours on Capitol Hill Saturday as a government shutdown loomed, but that didn't stop some of them from having a little weekend fun.

Reporters tweeted that they could see -- and smell -- several Congressmen enjoying a drink while working.

Nero fiddled while Rome burned. And they are drinking also. Nice to see them care about the American people.


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[font style="font-size:1.539em; text-transform:uppercase;"]Results[/font]


So, the shutdown happened. What were the immediate results? First, pandering and spinning but not really doing anything.

[div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#F4E0E0; border:1px solid #E8C0C0; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #C66666 inset; border-radius:0.6em; margin:0.5385em 0em 0em 0.5385em;"]Eight House Republicans were appointed to negotiate a budget deal with Senate Democrats today and actually sat at a table to await some senators.

When no one showed up, the Republicans said it was an example of the Senate Dems’ refusal to negotiate to reach a deal.

Love the spin. Tell us more, Demon Spawn Eric. Give us your tidbit of shit!

[div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#F4E0E0; border:1px solid #E8C0C0; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #C66666 inset; border-radius:0.6em; margin:0.5385em 0em 0em 0.5385em;"]House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, joining seven other conferees appointed earlier this morning by House Speaker John Boehner, said “there is a way” for Republicans and Democrats “to work through our differences” but complained that Democrats have refused to negotiate.

“As you can see, there’s no one here on the other side of the table,” Cantor, R-Va., said. “It’s fair to say none of us want to be in a shutdown, and we’re here to say to the Senate Democrats, come and talk to us. This is how we resolve our differences and can work our way out of this kind of situation.”

I know there are people don't like swearing, but can I tell this hypocritical piece of filth to STFU and GTFU! You people enabled this, and the only thing you truly know how to do is play “Pin the Blame on the Donkey.”

Next on the list is California Arsonist (suspected) and Bill Maher favorite Darrell Issa who equated not funding the government with [http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/darrell-issa-not-funding-the-government-is-part-of-funding-it|spousal abuse]?


[div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#F4E0E0; border:1px solid #E8C0C0; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #C66666 inset; border-radius:0.6em; margin:0.5385em 0em 0em 0.5385em;"]"You can't accuse me of beating my wife and then turn around and tell me, isn't that true? We did not shut down the government," Issa said. "We offered to the Senate, again and again, things to keep the government fully funded. We have said we want to go to conference. We want to have a discussion about the delay of portions of Obamacare for a short period of time in order to get it right."

So, Darrell. . .do you still beat your wife? If not, when did you stop? How does anyone take this guy seriously?

Finally, we got more turds of wisdom from. . .wait for it. . .Ted Cruz's father. Now here is someone intelligent we all need to pay attention to.

[div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#F4E0E0; border:1px solid #E8C0C0; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #C66666 inset; border-radius:0.6em; margin:0.5385em 0em 0em 0.5385em;"]Ted Cruz’s father, Rafael, ripped into the 25 “Republican in name only” senators who broke with his son’s budget brinksmanship, endorsing primary challenges against them, during a speech Friday night in Colorado.

The Republican senator’s dad, who fled Cuba as a teenager and now lives in a Dallas suburb, was caught on tape claiming that the Affordable Care Act “rationed” care for the elderly and includes “suicide counseling.”

“As a matter of fact, one of the things in Obamacare is that for the elderly, every five years you must have end-of-life counseling,” he told a crowd at a Lincoln-Day dinner just north of Denver. “Translation: suicide counseling.”

Interesting. His son is destroying the country with every breathe he takes and Daddy Booze Cruz comes out and says the the Republicans that don't support Teddy's little gallivant into insanity need to be primaried by more reactionary idiots. To which I say. . .Have at it, hoss!

BTW, who give's a tinker's damn what Pappa Booze Cruz says anyway? Why was is insanity even newsworthy?


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[font style="font-size:1.539em; text-transform:uppercase;"]Reaction[/font]


Now that we are waist deep in the craphole of Lake Government Shutdown, let's look at the reaction of those who made it happen!

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2: Arizona Rep. David Schweiekert things this is all just plain fun.

3: Fox News resident halfwit Steve Douchey and Tennessee Witch-on-Wheels Marsha Blackburn think this is all funny.

4: Fox News reinvents what the shutdown is and makes it sound like the government went to the gym and bought slim fast. Seriously. I never knew the government had a fat ass and big hips.

5: The GOP thinks this will last for weeks. Because shooting yourself in the foot and killing your prospects for the next two or three election cycles is FUN!

6: Minnesota Moonbat and future ward of the state Michelle Bachmann takes the cake by equating President Obama with a crack cocaine pusher. No racism in that comment.

So, how are the GOP faring in the war of public opinion with their ideas?

[div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#F4E0E0; border:1px solid #E8C0C0; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #C66666 inset; border-radius:0.6em; margin:0.5385em 0em 0em 0.5385em;"]Republicans are out of touch with much of the country on social issues such as gay marriage and abortion, according to new poll findings from Bloomberg released late Thursday.

While 55 percent of Americans — including 7 in 10 young people — support the right of gay and lesbian couples to get married, 52 percent of Republicans are opposed.

The poll also showed that 40 percent of Republicans want state legislatures to continue to push for laws that limit abortion, nearly double the 22 percent of Americans who feel that way.

A survey released in April showed that 66 percent of Republicans were opposed to marriage equality, while 53 percent of all Americans said they supported gay nuptials.

Oh snap!


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[font style="font-size:1.539em; text-transform:uppercase;"]Aftermath[/font]


How are everyday people being affected by this bullshit the GOP tea party is forcing on us?

[div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#F4E0E0; border:1px solid #E8C0C0; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #C66666 inset; border-radius:0.6em; margin:0.5385em 0em 0em 0.5385em;"]1: Well, to start with, children at hospitals that use federal dollars are being turned away, even if they need life saving cancer treatments. So, up yours children dying of disease, you worthless takers!

2: Over 800,000 federal employees will be furloughed without pay (more on that in a moment).

3: Originally, US servicemen would be denied pay. But, thanks to hiding behind the flag when politically necessary, the soldiers will get paid. Federal workers and children with diseases can still go screw themselves!

4: GOP staffers for the Congresscritters feel they have been thrown under the bus because of the shutdown, because they lose their federal health insurance subsidies. Don't worry, you selfish little pricks. . .you can always follow Phil Gingrey's whine of last week and go work as a lobbyist on K Street. No sympathy for you, GOP staffers. . .at least you're not five years old dying of cancer being told there is nothing a doctor can do because the money needed to treat you is being locked up by GOP political terrorists.

All of this happened because one faction of one party in one House of Congress, along with about five of their like-minded Senate co-conspirators decided that since they didn't get their way, they would pull an Eric Cartman and say “screw you guys, I'm going home.”

But there are even more obnoxious reactions to the “slimdown,” to use Fixed Noise's bullshit phrase. Michelle Bachmann took the opportunity to photo-op with WW2 veterans (while supporting their veteran benefits lockdown) by complaining that the WW2 Memorial was closed, how awful it was and that she didn't know why it was closed, but would do everything in her power to get it open as fast as possible.

[div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#F4E0E0; border:1px solid #E8C0C0; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #C66666 inset; border-radius:0.6em; margin:0.5385em 0em 0em 0.5385em;"]Reps. Michelle Bachmann, Bill Huizenga, Steve King were all on hand when Mississippi World War II veterans stormed the World War II Memorial in Washington D.C. amid a government shutdown. King apparently “distracted” a guard while the veterans knocked down fences to get inside, said a witness.

“We’re very excited… It’s exactly what we wanted, and we got it,” Bachmann (R.-Minn.) said at the memorial on Tuesday, according to the Political Line website.

Bachmann and other lawmakers will be at the site “today, tomorrow, the next day, however long it takes” to keep the memorial open, she told CNN. ”The last thing we should see in America is a barricade for World War II veterans to be prevented from coming to their memorial,” Bachmann added.

So, now the GOP supports B&E, so long as it's something they can photo op with veterans. Way to hide behind the flag again. And it's the usual suspects: Bachmann and Iowa Fruit-loop Steve King.

Other than the complete hubris of her remarks, one has to wonder how Michelle Bachmann can breathe with her head stuffed so far up her ass. You caused it, Tea Bag Queen. You made this, enabled it and supported it. You want to know why it happened. . .look in a damn mirror, if the thing doesn't break while you look in it. “Mirror, mirror on the wall. . .who's the most idiotic Congresswoman from Minnesota of them all?”

However, all is not lost. . .the GOP has an end game plan for this “slimdown.” Here it is, according to Indiana Representative Marlin Stutzman:

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Yes folks, there's the end game plan in a nut shell. Let's quote the boob personally.

[div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#F4E0E0; border:1px solid #E8C0C0; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #C66666 inset; border-radius:0.6em; margin:0.5385em 0em 0em 0.5385em;"]"We're not going to be disrespected, We have to get something out of this. And I don't know what that even is."

-- Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-IN), quoted by the Washington Examiner, on the government shutdown.

I'll tell you what you're going to get out of this, pal. . .a massive asswhipping come November of next year, when all you teabagger jihadists are thrown out of office and Congress turns bright blue (but keep gerrymandering those districts).

All is not lost though. The other King Pompous Fool, Peter King of NY (not Steve King of Iowa) has decided to go the “moderate Republican route?” The same Peter King that never met a brown person or Muslim he didn't want seen through in prison for the crime of not being white, Republican or Peter King?

Apparently, in his quest to become the GOP nominee for president in 2016, King has discovered something. . .his party is run by lunatics. He first slams Ted “Booze” Cruz by saying his staffers are rude and make vile phone calls.

[div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#F4E0E0; border:1px solid #E8C0C0; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #C66666 inset; border-radius:0.6em; margin:0.5385em 0em 0em 0.5385em;"]Rep. Peter King, who called fellow Republican Ted Cruz a 'fraud,' said his office is now receiving threatening phone calls from people who say they're supporters of the Texas senator.

"You can't always blame a person if his followers act in a terrible way," King said on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer." However, he expressed concern about the "vile, obscene" phone calls.

"I have young women, women interns, full-timers, in their late teens, early 20s, and they get these phone calls," he continued. He did not elaborate on how many calls were received.

Why don't you tell us, Petey? Seriously. . .we'd like to know how Ted Cruz's people have insulted women in their early 20s and how many times it's happened. But, he also claimed that a minority of Congresscritters still refuse to accept Barack Obama as the legitimate President. You know, Bush used the SCOTUS to steal the election in 2000 and then used his water carrier Ken Blackwell and Diebold to steal Ohio in 2004. . .but Obama wins two landslide elections and he's illegitimate. There's no racism there at all.

[div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#F4E0E0; border:1px solid #E8C0C0; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #C66666 inset; border-radius:0.6em; margin:0.5385em 0em 0em 0.5385em;"]Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) said Tuesday that there are about 30 to 40 Republicans in Congress who refuse to recognize the legitimacy of Obama’s presidency and are seeking to erase everything that’s happened during his administration.

King made the remarks in a discussion with Chris Matthews on MSNBC’s Hardball, after the host asked how many Republicans would like to “erase record as if he was never here.”

“I’ve had members, they know who they are, they say – ‘I really can’t say with these lips that this man, Barack Obama, was elected president’,” Matthews said. “They choke on that. How many are there in Congress on your side that represent that rejectionist front?”

“I would say there are probably 30 or 40 who are like that,” King responded. “As there were a number of Democrats who felt that way about George W. Bush, and going back to when you and I first met, Republicans who felt that way about Bill Clinton.”

Hey Tweety. . .name names please. Cowardly asshat! Yellow bellied cowardly water carrier! Who are they? And Petey, if there are 30 to 40. . .NAME THEM! Otherwise you are giving aid and comfort to those who are hurting this country. But since they are mostly Republicans, I know Peter King wouldn't put country before political party.

Finally, we see how much Republicans really care about people affected by the shutdown (screw Fixed Noise. . .slimdown my ass). Many members of Congress are either rejecting their salary or donating it to charity during this shutdown, but NC Rep. Renee Ellmers has decided to go another route: Whine about her life and tell people to show her HER money!

[div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#F4E0E0; border:1px solid #E8C0C0; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #C66666 inset; border-radius:0.6em; margin:0.5385em 0em 0em 0.5385em;"]Though dozens of her colleagues have decided to either forego receiving a paycheck or else donate their salary to charity while the government is shut down and hundreds of thousands of federal employees have been furloughed, Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) is adamant about making sure her $174k/year plus benefits remain undisturbed.

"I need my paycheck. That's the bottom line," Rep. Ellmers told ABC affiliate WTVD. "I understand that there may be some other members who are deferring their paychecks, and I think that's admirable. I'm not in that position.

Cry me a river, Ellmers. You're an RN by trade. Tell the kids that need hospitals that you need your money while the money needed to treat them is tied up by your political party. Hypocritical skazwag! I hope there's a good place in Hell for people like you, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Mike Lee and every other Republican that thinks destroying the USA is all fun and games. I mean, that's what Arizona Representative Schweiekert stated earlier. Maybe watching kids die is fun too. BTW, tell the staffers you shafted about your need for your salary. Hypocrite.


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[font style="font-size:1.539em; text-transform:uppercase;"]Ted Cruz[/font]


Guess what. . .due to all of this. . .Rush Limbaugh is no longer the leader of the Republican Party. And neither is Reince Preibus (however you pronounce that guy's name). It's Ted “Booze” Cruz.

[div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#F4E0E0; border:1px solid #E8C0C0; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #C66666 inset; border-radius:0.6em; margin:0.5385em 0em 0em 0.5385em;"]PPP's newest national poll finds Ted Cruz is now the top choice of Republican primary voters to be their candidate for President in 2016. He leads the way with 20% to 17% for Rand Paul, 14% for Chris Christie, 11% for Jeb Bush, 10% each for Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan, 4% for Bobby Jindal, and 3% each for Rick Santorum and Scott Walker.

Cruz has gained 8 points since our last national 2016 poll in July while everyone else has more or less stayed in place. He's made himself the face of a government shutdown over Obamacare, and the Republican base supports that by a 64/20 margin. It's not surprising that Republicans identifying as 'very conservative' support a shutdown 75/10, but even the moderate wing of the party supports it by a 46/36 margin.

Cruz is leading the GOP field based especially on his appeal to 'very conservative' primary voters, who he gets 34% with t0 17% for Rand Paul and 12% for Paul Ryan. Voters who fall into that ideological group make up the largest portion of the Republican electorate at 39%. With moderates Cruz gets only 4% with Christie leading at 34% to 12% for Jeb Bush and 10% for Marco Rubio, but they only account for 18% of GOP voters and thus aren't all that relevant to Cruz's prospects for winning a Republican nomination.

Our numbers also suggest that Cruz is now viewed more broadly as the leader of the Republican Party. When asked whether they trust Cruz or GOP leader Mitch McConnell more, Cruz wins out 49/13. When it comes to who's more trusted between Cruz and Speaker John Boehner, Cruz has a 51/20 advantage. And when it comes to Cruz and 2008 GOP nominee and Senate colleague John McCain, Cruz wins out 52/31. He now has more credibility with the GOP base than the folks who have been leading the party for years.

All aboard the GOP Carnival Cruz. Destination. . .Election Loserland! This guy, outside the GOP, rates four percentage points higher than cancer and six higher than HIV, but his party loves him. . .well, the party faithful.

So, what does Ted do with this new found power. First thing he does is throw the Ohio Tearduct under the bus.

[div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#F4E0E0; border:1px solid #E8C0C0; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #C66666 inset; border-radius:0.6em; margin:0.5385em 0em 0em 0.5385em;"]On a Thursday conference call, a group of House conservatives consulted with Senator Ted Cruz of Texas about how to respond to the leadership’s fiscal strategy. Sources who were on the call say Cruz strongly advised them to oppose it, and hours later, Speaker John Boehner’s plan fizzled.

On the call, Cruz told them that Boehner was making a mistake, and urged his friends to fight until the end on the CR. The group agreed, and they complained that Boehner’s shift to the debt limit was a diversion. Senator Mike Lee of Utah joined Cruz on the call, and both senators said they’d stand with House conservatives as they opposed the leadership.

By the call’s end, there was a consensus: until the CR talks are complete, Republicans should whip “no” on Boehner’s debt-limit plan, as a way of preventing the leadership from directing the strategy. And that’s exactly what happened late Thursday afternoon: GOP whip Kevin McCarthy worked the floor, but couldn’t find the votes for Boehner’s debt-limit plan. After McCarthy reported back about the Cruz-inspired uprising, the leadership shelved it.

Now Cruz controls both Houses of Congress. Freshman Senators normally do not have this kind of sway, but he's a teabagger and loud, ugly and stupid. Not a way to go through life, son!

However, the GOP came out swinging and attempted to throw Cruz under the same bus he threw Orange Glo under during a closed door meeting (everything the GOP does is secretive. . .God, I'd love someone to expose their sex lives and give them the same treatment they gave Clinton).

[div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#F4E0E0; border:1px solid #E8C0C0; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #C66666 inset; border-radius:0.6em; margin:0.5385em 0em 0em 0.5385em;"]At the meeting that was hosted by the Senate’s conservative Steering Committee, according to the report, one GOP senator after another pressed Cruz to offer a proposal to end the shutdown. The junior senator from Texas reportedly had no solution nor could he explain how he would defund the Affordable Care Act – an effort led by Cruz and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) that served as the impetus for the current shutdown.

At one point in the meeting, Republicans pressed Cruz to tell them what he would have done had the party united behind his call to filibuster a House-passed continuing resolution to keep the defunding hopes alives. Only 19 Republicans backed Cruz's attempt to block the bill.

“He kept trying to change the subject because he never could answer the question,” an unnamed senator told Politico. “It’s pretty evident it’s never been about a strategy – it’s been about him. That’s unfortunate. I think he’s done our country a major disservice. I think he’s done Republicans a major disservice."

Unnamed Senator. . .afraid of Cruz that much you refuse to go on the record? Coward!

But then Booze Cruz decided to shoot himself in the foot. First up, he is caught making Nazi comparisons about political opponents. Whoops!

[div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#F4E0E0; border:1px solid #E8C0C0; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #C66666 inset; border-radius:0.6em; margin:0.5385em 0em 0em 0.5385em;"]"The premise of your question isn't true. I didn't make that comparison," Cruz said when asked by Meet The Press host David Gregory if he regretted the comments. "I went through the centuries where, over and over again, when facing big challenges, Americans have risen to the occasion... At every stage, there were the voices of conventional wisdom that said this can't be done, and every time, Americans have risen to the challenge."

Here's what Cruz said Tuesday during his floor speech, as TPM reported.

"If you go to the 1940s, Nazi Germany," Cruz said. "Look, we saw in Britain, Neville Chamberlain, who told the British people, 'Accept the Nazis. Yes, they'll dominate the continent of Europe but that's not our problem. Let's appease them. Why? Because it can't be done. We can't possibly stand against them.'"

"And in America there were voices that listened to that," he continued. "I suspect those same pundits who say it can't be done, if it had been in the 1940s we would have been listening to them. Then they would have made television. They would have gotten beyond carrier pigeons and beyond letters and they would have been on TV and they would have been saying, 'You cannot defeat the Germans.'"

You decide. Did he just cover his ass, or did he get misquoted? I'm leaning towards the former. History lessons, butthead. The “Peace For Our Time” speech in London by Chamberlain was in 1938, not the 1940s. And he never said “Accept the Nazis.” He tried to prevent war because Europe already went through WW1 and didn't want another. He didn't tell his fellow Brits to accept the Nazis and that they couldn't defeat the Germans. But, what do I know. . .I'm just a historian getting a PhD in History. You went to Harvard. . .like Bush went to Yale. You're right, Booze Cruz. Neville Chamberlain made his speech in the 1940s. Except it was in 1938.

Next. . .and this one is rich, he decided to step up and use a case study of a student to show how bad Obamacare is during his 21-hour Ted Talk. Problem is, the student supports and likes Obamacare. Double Whoops!

[div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#F4E0E0; border:1px solid #E8C0C0; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #C66666 inset; border-radius:0.6em; margin:0.5385em 0em 0em 0.5385em;"]During his 21-hour talkfest on the Senate floor earlier this week, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) went through a litany of examples that he said highlighted the abject failures of President Barack Obama's policies.

One of them involved the case of John Connelly, a Rutgers student who found himself in debt, without a permanent job, and forced to sleep on his friend's couch. His story was one that was all too common in the age of Obama, Cruz concluded.

Well, it turns out that Connelly isn't the biggest fan of Cruz. What's more, he is actually a beneficiary of the very health care law that Cruz was protesting during his speech. And in an appearance on MSNBC Friday morning, Connelly explained just how ironic it was that the senator would use his story to bludgeon the president and the Affordable Care Act.

"A friend of mine called me the next morning as I was on the way to an optometrist appointment .... , 'While Ted Cruz was talking about why the ACA's bad, he mentioned your name.' And I said, 'Well, that's funny. I'm heading to an appointment I can only go to because of Obamacare.'"

I am now trying to picture a Ted Cruz pretzel. One where his foot is in his mouth at the same time his head is up his ass. If someone can make that picture and post it on DU, it would be classic.


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[font style="font-size:1.539em; text-transform:uppercase;"]Darrell Issa[/font]


Scandal monger, political opportunist, Bill Maher favorite and suspected arsonist and car thief Darrell Issa has an interesting take on the Shutdown. He wants another investigation. Oh, Jeez, not this shit again.

Yeah, Issa has decided that something bad has happened during the shutdown. No, not people losing their jobs. . .no, not kids being denied treatment. Issa has decided that he needs to investigate who is responsible for the D.C. Monument closings. I am not making this up.

[div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#F4E0E0; border:1px solid #E8C0C0; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #C66666 inset; border-radius:0.6em; margin:0.5385em 0em 0em 0.5385em;"]House Republicans have already started probing the decision by the Obama administration to close off Washington’s World War II monument in an effort to turn the videos of veterans in wheelchairs pushing past barriers to visit the site into a defining image of the government shutdown.

House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa is “in the early stages of examining it,” spokesman Frederick Hill told POLITICO. “I don’t think we’ve sent any letters or requests at this point, but they’re possible.”

Can I save the taxpayers a crap load of money by just mailing Darrell Issa a hand mirror and telling him to look into it? Hand mirrors cost about $15 and a stamp is $.43 I believe. Just remember, if Issa didn't do important things like this, he might have to do something meaningless. . .like his job.


[div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#F4E0E0; border:1px solid #E8C0C0; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #C66666 inset; border-radius:0.6em; margin:0.5385em 0em 0em 0.5385em;"]
[font style="font-size:1.539em; text-transform:uppercase;"]ACA Hating Republican Governors[/font]


Leave it to the GOP to find other ways to sabotage people getting health insurance. The GOP governors of a few states have decided that the only way they can stop Obamacare is to put their heads in the sand and give next to no help or information about exchanges or how to use the new system.

[div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#F4E0E0; border:1px solid #E8C0C0; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #C66666 inset; border-radius:0.6em; margin:0.5385em 0em 0em 0.5385em;"]On the day consumers start perusing newly launched federal online health exchanges, Republican governors who oppose President Barack Obama's insurance overhaul are mostly sitting on their hands. But the law is going into effect without them.

Thirty-six states, most of them Republican-controlled, have opted to let the federal government run the exchanges where consumers can shop for individual policies from private insurance firms.

Consumers are getting their first opportunity on Tuesday to buy policies on the exchanges, even as the law remains at the core of congressional budget gridlock that has caused a partial federal government shutdown. The exchanges' funding isn't affected by the shutdown.

A spokesman for Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal dismissed the sweeping law as "a federal issue" and said his boss had no plans to discuss the launch of the exchanges.

Please tell me they are not claiming States Rights on this one. But I see how it works. . .federal contracts for pork and these people have their mouths wide open to suck on the government teat. Give people access to health insurance and don't lift a finger because it's a federal issue. Rank hypocrisy and avarice!


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[font style="font-size:1.539em; text-transform:uppercase;"]COPE, Inc[/font]


Kansas is a weird state. It's dirt poor, right wing, ultra bible thumping and anti-intellectual. It elected Sam Brownback its governor and can't understand why they get shafted as much as they do.

Now, the latest embarrassment for the state of Kansas comes in the form of the Citizens for Objective Public Education, INC, or COPE Inc. They are suing the Kansas Department of Education for teaching evolution in science classrooms.

[div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#F4E0E0; border:1px solid #E8C0C0; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #C66666 inset; border-radius:0.6em; margin:0.5385em 0em 0em 0.5385em;"]The group Citizens for Objective Public Education, Inc. (COPE) has filed the lawsuit because they believe the new science standards adopted by the Board of Education, which include the teaching of evolution, are endorsing an atheistic worldview.

Ummm. . .is this Dayton Tennessee in 1925 all over again? Look, I have no problems teaching fairy tales in literature or even in Sunday School. But science is objective and provable in a lab, not based on “faith.” If these Bible thumpers can prove in a lab that Intelligent Design or Creationism happens without relying on the higher power nonsense, teach it in the science classroom. Evolution can be proven on a small scale and extrapolated into a macro-sense.

I guess COPE Inc will sue the Kansas DOE over history standards that claim the world is round and astronomy standards that the Earth spins and revolves around the sun. The case is pending.


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[font style="font-size:1.539em; text-transform:uppercase;"]Rand Paul[/font]


And finally, we have the Kentucky Rug Doctor bringing up the rear. He is part of the cabal that is killing the country with the shutdown, but he has his sights set on something bigger. . .the world's economy. He sees no reason to raise the debt ceiling and therefore wants the country to default.

[div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#F4E0E0; border:1px solid #E8C0C0; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #C66666 inset; border-radius:0.6em; margin:0.5385em 0em 0em 0.5385em;"]Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) argued Wednesday that there’s no need to raise the debt ceiling because the U.S. can pay the interest on its debt with existing revenue.

“What’s going on is, interestingly, the Democrats are scaring people saying we might not pay because Republicans don’t want to raise the debt ceiling,” Paul said on CNN. “If you don’t raise the debt ceiling that means you won’t have a balanced budget, it doesn’t mean you wouldn’t pay your bills.”

Paul argued that the House has passed a bill, the Full Faith and Credit law, that mandates payments on debt interest, Social Security, Medicare and soldier’s salaries go out first. He said that if the debt ceiling is breached, other government function wouldn’t get financed, but that no default would occur.

“I’m for taking default completely off the table and for promising to the American people and the markets, to Wall Street, that we will always pay the interest on the debt as a priority,” he said. “You know how we do that? We bring in $250 billion in tax revenue every month. The debt payment is about $30 billion. We just promise that we’ll always pay it. “

Legally, if the US can't pay its bills, everything becomes secondary until the debts are covered. All expenditures freeze until the US pays it bills. The US defaults and the world goes into an almost irrecoverable depression that would make the 1930s look like a blip in the radar. Ayn Rand would love this, so Rand Paul loves it even more.

However, his corporate masters on Wall Street are begging him and the GOP to now play political chicken with the debt ceiling like they are doing with Obamacare.

[div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#F4E0E0; border:1px solid #E8C0C0; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #C66666 inset; border-radius:0.6em; margin:0.5385em 0em 0em 0.5385em;"]In a Washington Post op-ed, President & CEO of the American Bankers Association Frank Keating expressed how grave a decision it would be for Congress to default on its nearly $17 trillion in debt.
"Using the debt ceiling as leverage in the deficit debate is unwise and dangerous," Keating wrote. "Citizens nationwide are frustrated with the political stalemate in Washington. But our nation’s financial integrity should not be used as a bargaining chip."

Don't expect them to listen unless you provide them with a six figure campaign contribution.

Finally, Paul has determined who is to blame for all this chaos of the shutdown. Give you a hint: It's not the Republicans.

[div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#F4E0E0; border:1px solid #E8C0C0; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #C66666 inset; border-radius:0.6em; margin:0.5385em 0em 0em 0.5385em;"]If the government were to shut down because of a failure to find an agreement on the future of Obamacare, it will entirely the president's fault, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Sunday.

Paul trotted out the newest line of attack from conservatives in Congress, arguing that because Republicans have moved off their initial demand of full Obamacare repeal and are now asking for a one-year delay of the law's implementation, Democrats should compromise as well.

“But see, he is saying 100 percent of Obamacare or the highway,” Paul said on CBS' "Face The Nation." “The president is the one saying I will shut down government if you don't give me everything I want on Obamacare. That to me is the president being intransigent and being unwilling to compromise.”

If only that damn Obamacare law could be debated again, there would be no problems. Bob Schieffer had a good response to that.

[div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#F4E0E0; border:1px solid #E8C0C0; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #C66666 inset; border-radius:0.6em; margin:0.5385em 0em 0em 0.5385em;"]At that point, host Bob Schieffer reminded Paul that Obamacare had “already been passed” -- implying that the time for arguing over whether it should be law had passed as well.

Game. Set. Match!

See you next week.

[yourout]

1. Cutting the list to 10 must have taken some doing.

[Nanjing to Seoul]

2. This week was not easy. . .that's why it is about 10 hours late.

[Ohio Joe]

3. Soooo much stupid....

So little time

[Warpy]

4. Jeez, and we thought they were idiots when STUPID was in office!

They keep trying to outdo each other on the Teabag Crazy Bus. It's not playing well anywhere.

I love the smell of burning GOP elephant in the morning. Afternoon. All the time.

[Cha]

5. Wow, that's a lot of work in the

gutter, NtS.. to all your hard work!

[marble falls]

6. I really look forward to this feature, thanks for what seems like a lot of work!

[Mnemosyne]

7. K&R, because they are...nt

[vlakitti]

8. A really terrific compilation.

Thanks for all your work. I really enjoyed it.

[grantcart]

9. You have to clear space for sj12 aka "The Reviewer"

[ismnotwasm]

10. Excellent job

So many idiots, so little time...

[Scuba]

11. Excellent, thank you N2S.

[madokie]

12. thank you thank you thank you

Spot on