Ted Cruz Showboating Gives Lame Duck Dems a Christmas Gift

That unctuous, creepy, smarmy toad Ted Cruz shot himself and his party in their collective feet. Captain Ego kept the Senate in session for an ultimately pointless "point," and allowed the lame duck Democrats time enough to pass a bunch of appointments that would have gone unfilled! Good job, senator dumbass!

Rachel Maddow uses an excellent football story to take us to the glory that is Cruz's epic fumble. You still digging this guy, tea baggers?
 

Chicken Lady Running for Nevada Lt. Governor

Image from source, RGJ.com

As we witnessed with the attempts by Anthony Weiner and Elliot Spitzer to resuscitate their political careers, there seems to be no scandal or embarrassment that will definitively spell the end. Well, John Edwards is cooked apparently, but everybody else is allowed to try again. Newt Gingrich ran for president and for a hot second was the front runner despite being a gigantic, flaccid dick. At some point, I'm sure Sharron Angle will try again, and right now, so is Sue Lowden.

Lowden was running for Harry Reid's Senate seat, and was leading until she went on television and suggested that people barter chickens for health care. She was immediately dubbed the Chicken Lady, or at least had "chicken-for-checkups" appended to her name. No matter, she's back. And not only that, she's running against Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval's preferred choice. Way to go, girl!

[Excerpt]
 
Sue Lowden announces bid for lieutenant governor

Former state Sen. Sue Lowden, R-Reno, who lost a bid to challenge U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in 2010, has thrown her hat into the high-stakes race for lieutenant governor. . .

Read more at: Reno Gazette Journal

Senate Dems Still Scared of NRA

Yes, I voted for him. The alternative was Sharron Angle.
Image from source, TPM.

Even though the NRA's pull these days is anemic, and their backed candidates mostly lost. . . Even though the American electorate is heavily for background checks, and at least rudimentary gun control legislation. . . Even though Wayne LaPierre and the bulk of vocal pro-gun voices are coming off batshit crazy and hyper reactionary. . . Even though the Sandy Hook mass shooting of children struck more of a lasting chord with Americans. . . Democrats are apparently still terrified of the NRA. I think it's kind of Pavlovian. Sort of a Stockholm Syndrome thing. I mean, when the polls are in the 90+ percentile for background checks, and politicians are still skittish? I just don't get it.

[Excerpt]

Assault Weapons Ban Dead In Senate, Gun Background Checks In Critical Condition

The assault weapons ban is all but dead, and mandatory background checks are touch and go. Three months after the Newtown shooting, prospects of Congress passing a broad gun control package have dimmed considerably. . .

Read more at: Talking Points Memo

Fiscal Cliff Averted (For Now). . .Can We Talk About Something Else Now?

Image from source, Politico

Well, my 12-day (unpaid, but well worth it) holiday break is at its end. And so is my blogging break. I'll be back on my more usual schedule now. It's funny that when I have more time to blog, I do it less. But let's face it, Since Christmas, the only stories were the FISCAL CLIFF!!! and Hillary Clinton's blood clot. MSNBC was showing Lockup Raw and a few repeated year-in-reviews, CNN was on the afore mentioned stories, and I refuse to watch anything beyond FOX "News" Sunday on GOP-TV, and that is just for opposition research.

Anyway, the whole fiscal cliff dealie has been solved, more or less. At least until March, when they're all going to go stupid on us again. And while you may be able to say that both parties are partially responsible for the ridiculousness of it all, I just don't see how anyone could call it equal. John Boner Boehner and Mitch McChinless McConnell are just such ridiculous, unserious tool bags. I honestly have no idea how they manage to hold onto leadership, or why they are the best the GOP can put up there. Embarrassing man. I'm just hoping we can talk about this today and maybe tomorrow--and of course on the Sunday shows, and then be done with this shit for a while!

Oh, and Happy New Year!

[Excerpt]

The fiscal cliff deal that almost wasn't

House Speaker John Boehner couldn’t hold back when he spotted Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in the White House lobby last Friday.

It was only a few days before the nation would go over the fiscal cliff, no bipartisan agreement was in sight, and Reid had just publicly accused Boehner of running a “dictatorship” in the House and caring more about holding onto his gavel than striking a deal. . .

Read more at: Politico

Senate Strikes Tentative Deal On Payroll Tax

Harry Reid and Yertle. Image from TPM.

My first thought when I saw this story? What's the catch? There has to be a catch. The GOP in both houses of Congress don't tend to compromise, or make nice. Maybe I'm cynical, but I'm expecting the other shoe to drop, and then we'll have a couple of weeks of squawking about that damned shoe.

[Excerpt]


Lawmakers Strike Tentative Deal On Payroll Tax Package

Top Democratic and Republican negotiators have struck a broad tentative agreement to extend the payroll tax cut, unemployment insurance and Medicare physician payment rates through the end of the year, aides from both sides who are familiar with the deal tell TPM. Some of the details have yet to be ironed out, but Congress appears to have had a critical breakthrough in negotiations to prevent the three provisions from lapsing. . .

Read more at: Talking Points Memo

Harry Reid Shows Backbone, Rebukes Ryan Budget Plan

He's my Senator. I don't often get to brag about that.

[Excerpt]

GOP abandons political middle. Democrats happy to move in



. . ."The Republican plan to end Medicare and immediately raise prescription drug costs for seniors in order to pay for millionaire tax breaks will never pass the Senate. The fact that it passed the House shows just how far to the right the Tea Party has dragged the Republican Party.



"In addition to ending Medicare and doubling seniors' health care costs down the road, the Republican plan would also destroy nearly two million American jobs and undermine our economic growth. Republicans' plan would only benefit the wealthiest Americans, who would get another round of tax breaks they don't need and that our economy can't afford. . .

Read more at: MaddowBlog

Sharron Angle Bans Press, Won't Take Questions

As much as I dread the possibility of a Republican takeover of our politics (still hoping not), one of the many things I'm dreading, is the charge of "sore loser."  What do I mean? Only that if that scenario comes to pass on Tuesday, any negative reporting of that fact will be met with those cat calls.  We've heard it before. . .in fact, we heard it for eight fricking years.

A short two years later, America has inexplicably (apparently) flipped back to the same force of negativity that swamped the economy, and ruled with a hammer. They will name us sore losers, but have shown themselves to be the worst winners  possible. And they will again. One more time, we will have to endure a stunning blindness to their own behavior. The tea party is a collection of sore losers. They'll tell you that they were a response to President Obama's policies, but that isn't true. Considering that the tea party formed mere weeks after Obama's inauguration, there simply wasn't time. But what's truth? It apparently has very little place in our politics these days.

In fact, all the rules seem to be out the window. Sharron Angle, the brightest star on the hybrid tea bagger/GOP elephant, wants us to pretend she's never had extreme positions. She expects the media to ask her only the questions she wants asked, as though they are there for her promotion only. She thinks she can simply set the rules for the press, and get away with it. The sad thing is, she IS getting away with it.  I'm frankly baffled by her viability. In no other election cycle would she have had any hope of getting elected to national office.


[Excerpt]


Angle spokeswoman bans 2 Las Vegas TV stations from election night party for asking questions

Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle's campaign is banning two Las Vegas television stations from covering the candidate's election night party as punishment for asking questions without permission. . .

Read more at: Washington Examiner

What Happens in Vegas: Harry Reid Debates Sharron Angle

I just saw a bit of The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell--having decided I didn't want to watch the big debate--and the consensus there was, Harry Reid didn't land a punch, and Sharron Angle didn't fall on her face.  Much like Sarah Palin when she went up against Joe Biden, Angle basically just needed to get through it without crying to score a "win" or at least a draw. As for myself, I'd still vote for Reid over Angle if he came out and just stood mute for the debate.  Part of the reason I didn't want to watch is that I find Angle's views, her speaking style, her voice too grating to tolerate for more than a few seconds.

Of course Reid didn't land a punch. Not only is he the walking definition of "mild mannered" (or milquetoast if you want to get catty), he just couldn't. Again like Biden, and more recently Chris Coons against Christine O'Donnell in Delaware, landing a punch would be viewed as mean spirited. Beating up on a girl.  Even if he'd tried, getting into the thicket of misstatements, and wild googly-eyed policy positions coming from Angle, trying to take them all apart would be nigh impossible in the debate format.

Whatever happens in the election, this debate is unlikely to tip the scales much.  People voting for Angle--by and large--aren't voting for her, they're voting against Harry Reid.  The same is true in reverse.

Image from source, MSNBC

[Excerpt]

Reid, Angle trade barbs in Nevada debate

In a crackling campaign debate, Republican challenger Sharron Angle attacked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Thursday night as a career politician who lives in a Washington condominium and has voted to raise taxes 300 times. The four-term veteran called his party-backed rival extreme and accused her of distorting his record. . .

Read more at: MSNBC

The Two Faces of Sharron Angle

No comment necessary. . .

Sharron Angle's Crazy Juice!

This is the kind of ad that could have been run against Sharron Angle since the beginning. I love it.  In case you're wondering, it's narrated by Rita Rudner, produced by Friends for Harry Reid. It's amazingly irreverent for a political ad, but I'm totally digging it.  They say humor is one of the more effective methods of communication, but it is rare for a political ad to actually be funny.  Stay with it (and turn it up) for the disclaimer at the end.



Found at: Joe.My.God.

Low Information Voters vs. No Information Voters

Image from source, Las Vegas Gleaner

With all the rumbles created in politicsland over Sharron Angle's "back room deal" attempt with rival Scott Ashjian, there's a little something that's been largely overlooked. Both candidates to take Harry Reid's Senate seat are tea baggers. Well, depending upon who you ask. If you asked Ashjian, he'd claim to be the Tea Party candidate. And he is, says so right next to his name.  But the tea party's big claim to fame is that they have no leadership, and as such, they have splintered into several factions.  There's Tea Party Express, Tea Party Nation, Little Girls Who Love Tea Parties, Pinkies Up!, and on and on.

Hardcore tea baggers are on board with Angle. She's as steeped in tea as can be, and I gotta wonder what kind of leaves she's using. Ashjian on the other hand is despised by a lot of the tea bagging faithful.  I'm really not sure why. Maybe he's not crazy enough? But if Angle is worried that he's going to bungle her shot at the Senate seat, the fact remains that she's only worried about the laziest, most information-challenged tea partiers out there.  They've got to know just enough to get a Pavlovian response to the words "Tea Party" beside Ashjian's name, but not enough to know that the tea party is against him.

[Excerpt]

Third-party teabagger's campaign connects with crucial demographic

If somebody gets a tape of one of Sharron Angle's conversations with Goddy McGod, your Gleaner might listen to that. For the cosmology. Meantime, 38 minutes of Angle nattering on with the lesser deity of one Scott Ashjian, well, life's too short. . .

Read more at: Las Vegas Gleaner

Sharron Angle Caught on Tape in Backroom Deal

Conservatives often allude to shady, backroom deals made by Democrats like Harry Reid. But Reid's opponent in the Senate race, Sharron Angle (R-Teabaggistan) just kinda got busted doing just that.  See, Angle has some competition from--of all groups--the tea party.  Or at least he's taken their name, and Sharron wants him out!  If nothing else, this election is entertaining.

[Excerpt]


Sharron Angle promises Tea Party candidate "juice" if he drops out of race
By now you've surely heard that Nevada journalist Jon Ralston has obtained audio of an extraordinary private meeting between Sharron Angle and the Nevada Tea Party candidate for Senate, in which Angle trashes the GOP leadership at length. . .
 
Read more at: Washington Post

Is Sharron Angle a Hypocrite for Taking Government Health Care?

Image from source,
Think Progress

Um, yes, yes she is.  And she's batshit crazy. Had to be said.

[Excerpt]

Sharron Angle And Her Husband Receive Government Health Care

Throughout her campaign for U.S. Senate in Nevada, GOP candidate and tea party favorite Sharron Angle has railed against government intervention in just about everything. Angle said she wants to “personalize” Social Security, and she even went so far as to suggest the possibility of an armed insurrection against the U.S. government to protect “against a tyrannical government. . .”

Read more at: Think Progress

Harry Reid Ad Strikes the Right Note on Sharron Angle

This ad may have been around for a little while, but Wednesday is the first time I can recall seeing it.  It hits the right note about just what is so extreme about Sharron Angle.  Today on the radio, I heard someone from Angle's campaign talking about the "vicious lies" in Harry Reid's ads about her. Bull pucky. This stuff is all sourced. She really said this stuff.

New Ad Attacks Harry Reid. . .for Being Gay?

Okay, not exactly. But it surely tries to paint him as in league with them dirty hom-a-seckshuls, doesn't it?  Isn't it great that in America 2010, they can still use me and all other gay people as a scare tactic?  Sub in "Muslim" or "illegal alien" or "militant black," and you get roughly the same effect.  It's dirty, it's nasty, and it--in a just society--would not work.  And maybe it won't. After all, the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) has broad support. But that was before the "summer of hate 2010™".

New Sharron Angle Ad: A Pelosi-Reid-Obama Bisexual Three-Way?

That seems to be what Sharron Angle is implying in this ad, but she couldn't really, right? Well, of course not, but that is the gag they're going for here. I'm not sure who the ad is aimed at, though. Anyone loony enough to vote for Angle already thinks that President Barack Obama, Senator Harry Reid, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are degenerate demons, so no need to convince them.  Most of us outside of the right-wing machine's bubble may like or dislike any of them, but this ad's power to sway us is pretty slight.  It's pretty silly, and likely a waste of campaign dollars. Judge for yourself.

New Harry Reid Ad: Sharron Angle Too Extreme

For all the material that Harry Reid has to work with, he's being kind of gentle with Sharron Angle. He's been using the "extreme" angle (!) on her for a while. I think he needs to step it up, with the full-on-crazy we Nevadans have grown to know over the summer.  Shots of her running away from the press might be a good coda on the ad too.

Sharron Angle: All of Las Vegas' Woes are Harry Reid's Fault

Sure, Sharron. The falling house values in Las Vegas are all Harry Reid's fault.  I rolled my eyes so hard at this ad, I had to struggle to pull them back to center. The housing market started to crash here in 2007. Yes, Harry Reid took the Senate Majority Leader position that year, but saying that the two things are connected is like saying that boys wearing droopy pants coincided with the economic downturn. Prove the correlation, or STFU.

Sharron Angle: Doesn't Want Gay Money, But She'll Take Their Kids Away!

Image from source, Politico

This woman--to borrow a phrase from Keith Olbermann--is an idiot. And a nasty one as well.  Let's take stock of a few of the groups of people that have been royally pissed off at Sharron Angle and her current crop of compatriots in the Republican Party:

- Gay people
- Latinos and others sensitive to immigration issues
- Black people
- American Muslims
- The unemployed
- Believers (or nonbelievers) of religions/sects other than Fundamentalist Evangelical Christianity
- Sane persons

[Excerpt]

Sharron Angle opposes gay adoption

Nevada GOP Senate candidate Sharron Angle believes that gays should not be allowed to adopt children and that religious leaders should be allowed to endorse political candidates, contrary to a federal ban on churches participating in political campaigns on behalf of candidates, according to a questionairre [sic]obtained by the Associated Press. . .


Read more on this story at: Politico

Meanwhile, there's this:

[Excerpt]

Sharron Angle: I would refuse money from company that supports gay rights



Sharron Angle has taken some extreme positions, but this one is remarkable even by her standards: She said on a candidate questionnaire that she would refuse political contributions from a private company that backs equal rights for gays and extends benefits to partners of gay employees. . .

Read more at: Washington Post

Keith Olbermann's Mock Interview with Sharron Angle

Sure, it's silly. But it's fun!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy