TPM: New evidence Mitt didn't leave Bain in 1999, courtesy Mitt's SEC filings.

Oy, this is what passes for business sense these days? Publicly contradicting your sworn declarations to the SEC?

Thank you, Ted Kennedy.

Poll: Will Scalia's political hackery crack the Court's authority with the American people?

Any suggestions for other choices that such a poll might include will be more than welcome.

A reminder from Oakland's Grand Lake Theater:

"Mitt Romney to announce TWO vice-presidential nominees: Crabbe and Goyle."

Via Twitter, from Tom the Dancing Bug cartoonist Ruben Bolling.

A Personal Thank You to Rush Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh has managed to do something good, perhaps for the first time in his life.

He didn't intend it; quite the opposite, I imagine.

But thanks to the aftermath of his vicious personal attacks on a young woman, compounded over several days and capped off with an apology that underlines his fundamental misogyny, he has helped to clearly and finally demonstrate one thing:

The GOP candidates for president are cowards.

Some of us remember the ill-fated campaign of Michael Dukakis. One of the death blows to his candidacy, according to "conventional wisdom", was his response in a presidential debate to a question posed by CNN anchor Bernard Shaw about whether he'd support the death penalty for someone who had raped and murdered his wife Kitty. His professorial, cerebral response was widely considered proof that he lacked passion and real humanity.

Rush Limbaugh has inadvertently taken on the role of Bernard Shaw. He has exposed the fatal character flaws in each of the Republican candidates.

Witness the responses to questions about Limbaugh calling a young woman a "slut" and "prostitute" for speaking publicly about the politics of women's health issues:

Romney: "I'll just say this, which is, it's not the language I would have used," adding that he's more interested in economic issues.

Santorum: Said that Rush, as an entertainer, was just engaging in absurdist humor. No harm, no foul.

Paul: "It sounded a little crude the way it came across to me," Paul said. "I don't know why it has to be such a political football like this, so you have to ask him about his crudeness." In other words, maybe a little offensive in his choice of words. But no real objection to the substance of Limbaugh's attack on a young woman.

Boehner: "The speaker obviously believes the use of those words was inappropriate, as is trying to raise money off the situation," Michael Steel, Boehner's spokesman, told CNN. In other words, there is fault on both sides; move along.

And perhaps the winner in the category of slimy cowards, Gingrich, when asked about Rush's comments, replied: "I'm not paying attention.... "I'm not paying attention," he repeated. "I'm paying attention to the president apologizing to people who killed Americans."

Every one of them, to a "man", was afraid to come to the defense of not just one young woman, but all women who use contraception, for fear of offending Jabba the Rush. Afraid of Limbaugh to the point that they let an insult to their own mothers, daughters, and sisters to pass without reprimand.

They are all unwilling to defend defenseless women against a drug-addled bully. Portraits in cowardice more stark than this are hard to come by.

So thank you, Rush, for making it apparent to all the women and men of America:

The GOP is the party of cowards.

"Just Sit Right Back and You'll Hear a Tale..." with complete lyrics.

A short time ago, these lyrics appeared on the internet, likely in response to the circulation of this photo:




It's not known if the lyrics were the work of an Obama staffer who thought it was a good joke, or Ari Fleischer who thought it was a good idea. In either case, here is the version making its way around the internet:

Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale,
A tale of a great campaign
To save us from a Kenyan
Who was named Barack Hussein.

The mate was a mighty huntin’ man,
The skipper went by Newt.
The GOP set sail that day
For another photo shoot.

Employment start rising,
The economy improved;
It looked like the Muslim socialist
Might never be removed…might never be removed.

They ran aground on the shoals of narrow ideology,
With saintly Newt
(Who’s wed three times),
With Perry who
Can’t count that high;
The millionaire --
Forget the rest,
They're deep-sixed along with 9-9-9.

So this is the tale of our candidates,
And it’s an ugly fight;
They crank the wing-nut rhetoric
To prove who’s most far right.

Now Willard and the Newtster both
Deploy their mighty wits
On tax cuts for the moon and long-form
Birth certificates.

Cut this! Cut that! Cut everything!
Raise taxes on the poor;
Such brilliant new ideas
And you betcha they got more.

So join us here each week my friends,
It’s going to be a while
Before the final loser’s voted
Off of G-O-P Isle.

I finally get it: Romney is Vanilla Ice.

Tonight he claimed to be from the "real streets".

Maybe he meant Rodeo Drive, or Wall Street.

He jumped around and demonstrated fierce commitment to appearing authentic.

Please review, and comment as you see fit:

http://www.pp2g.tv/vYnl-Z3Q_.aspx


Am I right, or am I right?

Kim Jong No Longer Just Il.

Pyongyang: Dear Supreme Leader Kim Jong Il has now been anointed by the Gods of Heaven as Kim Jong Dead, according to North Korean official state media.

"While he was Il for a long time, he has now ascended to an even more exalted position by virtue of his...uh...many virtues," reported the national government.

"As the infallible father to the people of North Korea, Kim Jong Il was beyond compare. Now, as Kim Jong Dead, his wisdom and miraculous powers to benefit his faithful nation will only increase, as he sends psychic messages to our glorious Olympic competitors, follows American starlets from the great beyond, and imbibes cognac from snifters made of the stars themselves."

Reaction from the over one million people who died of starvation under his cartoonishly self-centered stranglehold on the nation was somewhat more reserved.

Gingrich: As a historian, I understand the courts better than lawyers. But he's a lousy historian.

In this past Thursday's GOP debate, Newt Gingrich, the great intellect and historian, chose to show that he skates circles around everyone else with this little flourish:

"Lincoln repudiates the Dred Scott decision in his first inaugural address in 1861 and says, no nine people can make law in this country. That would be the end of our freedom. So I would suggest to you, actually as a historian, I may understand this better than lawyers."

Indeed, Newt. You really would suggest that. However, it would be better if you actually knew what you were talking about while wagging that big head at us.

He was defending comments he had previously made advocating "impeaching judges or abolishing courts altogether", saying that "I would be prepared to take on the judiciary if, in fact, it did not restrict itself in what it was doing."

However, in making two points comparing himself to Lincoln, he gets two points wrong:

1. Lincoln didn't repudiate the Dred Scott decision in his First Inaugural Address. In fact, he explicitly states: