Last Call

Joe Sestak says the White House offered him a job.  This would have precluded him from running against Arlen Specter in the primary if he had accepted the position.  If Sestak had accepted the job...umm...wouldn't have everyone known that Joe Sestak was working for the White House instead of running against Arlen Specter?  Kind of hard to hide the fact you're working for the White House.

Point is if Joe Sestak had accepted said job, it would have been public knowledge.  So if it really was a big secret of some sort, it would have been the worst secret in Washington.  The wingers are going completely apeshit on this one, calling for everything from a special prosecutor to articles of impeachment against Obama over this.

If this really somehow is an impeachable offense (because while it's absolutely scuzztastic and terrible, I'm not sure what laws were broken here) then Obama would be the dumbest President ever for doing this, because if Sestak had accepted the job, everyone would have known he got a job at the White House to not run against Arlen Specter.  The Politico story acknowledges an "unnamed White House official" offered the job, and that doing so is a potential felony.

If this really is illegal, well...you know I guess Obama really does deserve to get impeached.  Which is why I don't think it's illegal.  I wouldn't think Obama's political guys were this stupid if this was illegal, because it would have been instant lose-lose for even offering Sestak a position if it was impeachable, ya dig?

I dunno about this one.  90% sure this is Obama Derangement Syndrome at its finest.  On the other hand, Sestak needs to point out who offered him the job, and the White House should immediately dismiss the person.  If Sestak is telling the truth, somebody's head needs to roll (it's a Bushian paradox here, like so many of the last White House's staff, either the person(s) in question are committing a felony or an incompetent moron, either way they need to be fired.)

If Sestak's lying (no point in this either unless he lost, so since he won the primary why "confirm" it now?) then he's in real trouble.

None of this makes sense.  It's a stupid, amateur thing to do.

Moose Lady Versus The PaulCat

Looks like somebody's jealous of all the attention PaulCat is getting.  Sam Stein at HuffPo:

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin accused MSNBC's Rachel Maddow on Sunday of conducting a "prejudiced" interview with Rand Paul, in which the Tea Party candidate infamously aired skepticism about the reach of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Speaking to "Fox News Sunday," the 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee said that Paul was being subjected to the same biased media coverage that marked her run for office, before offering her Tea Party-backed candidate a bit of advice.

"One thing we can learn in this lesson that I have learned and Rand Paul is learning now is don't assume that you can engage in a hypothetical discussion about constitutional impacts with a reporter or a media personality who has an agenda, who may be prejudiced before they even get into the interview in regards to what your answer may be," Palin said. "You know, they are looking for the gotcha moment. And that evidently appears to be what they did with Rand Paul, and I'm thankful he clarified his answer about his support for the Civil Rights Act."

I called this back on Friday night:

Who do they fear more?  My guess is the Teabaggers, so look for the usual wingers to throw NBC under the bus for picking on mean ol' Rand, just like they did with Katie Couric and Sarah Palin.

Winner and still champeen, folks.  The wingers are as predictable as the (oil-soaked) tides, these days.  I guess Sarah Palin couldn't stand being out of the news cycles for more than a week or so, and nobody plays the political victim card like Moose Lady.

The Steves (Messieurs The M and Benen) have more.

Sunday Funnies: Inflatable Emergency Guest Edition

Culture of Truth's Bobblespeak Translations always rock, but today he completely wins the internet with David Gregory's emergency Rand Paul replacement guest:  PaulCat.

Gregory: Hi and welcome to another episode of
Meet the Press - our special guest today was going to be Rand Paul but is very sleepy from pretending he is not a racist and needs a nap so he graciously sent his pet PaulCat - thanks so much for coming

PaulCat: oh hai - u iz welcome

Gregory: People think that Rand Paul is a racist

PaulCat: noes fluffi he no cares if deh kittehs iz striped or calico or if dey iz all whites or blacks
- but he no lak deh maine coon

Gregory: PaulCat does Rand Paul really want to repeal the Civil Rights Act?

PaulCat: he no wants govmint takin yur bukkits
and yur toys and yur homez and yur odder
privat properti

Gregory: so laws prohibiting racial discrimination
are the same as declaring a hotel or restaurant
to be public property?

PaulCat: if teh governmints be doin dat dey also
kan mak u brings guns to teh movie theter

Gregory: so what’s the solution?

PaulCat: teh frei markets will mak all teh
kittehs plai nice

I salute you, sir.  Well played indeed.

Nobody Noticed, Nobody Cared

It's only a terror attack if the perpetrators are minorities, and the victims aren't.

Should the people shooting cops in Arkansas be white, and the targeted building in a pipe bomb attack be a mosque in Jacksonville, Florida, well nobody gives a damn on the Right, and barely gives a damn in the Village.

If that pipe bomb had been at a church or synagogue, or the man who is suspected of shooting the cops not a right-wing nutjob white guy, you would still be hearing about the manhunt.

Zandar's Thought Of The Day

I often wonder why Ezra Klein and Dave Weigel don't just say "screw it" to the Washington Post and go postal on the editors' meetings whenever the paper decides that Important Journalism In Action includes WaPo fashion maven Robin Givhan penning 1500 words on "Elena Kagan's a man, baby!  She's a man!"

Another Milepost On The Road To Oblivion

The Louisiana wetlands may already be ruined for generations.

The gooey oil washing into the maze of marshes along the Gulf Coast could prove impossible to remove, leaving a toxic stew lethal to fish and wildlife, government officials and independent scientists said.

Officials are considering some drastic and risky solutions: They could set the wetlands on fire or flood areas in hopes of floating out the oil.

They warn an aggressive cleanup could ruin the marshes and do more harm than good. The only viable option for many impacted areas is to do nothing and let nature break down the spill.

More than 50 miles of Louisiana's delicate shoreline already have been soiled by the massive slick unleashed after the Deepwater Horizon rig burned and sank last month. Officials fear oil eventually could invade wetlands and beaches from Texas to Florida. Louisiana is expected to be hit hardest.

On Saturday, a major pelican rookery was awash in oil off Louisiana's coast. Hundreds of birds nest on the island, and an Associated Press photographer saw some birds and their eggs stained with the ooze. Nests were perched in mangroves directly above patches of crude.

Plaquemines Parish workers put booms around the island, but puddles of oil were inside the barrier.

"Oil in the marshes is the worst-case scenario," said Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the head of the federal effort to contain and clean up the spill.

And there's still no stopping the geyser underwater that continues to spew this crap into the marshes.  There really may not be any other solution other than drill another well, which may not be done until August.  Another three months of millions of gallons of oil per day in the Gulf.

This is beyond disaster now.  This is a generational catastrophe.  Our grandchildren will ask us why we allowed this to happen, and we still won't have an answer.

At this point nationalization of offshore operations should be a national security priority.  This catastrophe will cost America hundreds of billions or more.

The Weekend In Le' Freakin'

Your Weekend Wingnut Freakout this week is "How DARE Barack Hussein Obama have a state dinner for the President of Mexico when there's illegal immigration and unemployment in this country!"  Oh the horror!  Take it away, Byron York!

At a time when the unemployment rate stands at 9.9 percent, when jobs are still being lost, when worries about the global economy are causing breathtaking volatility on Wall Street, when millions of Americans who still have jobs are worrying more than ever about the safety of their retirement savings — at a time when all that is going on, the Obama White House has turned itself into a showcase of glitzy extravagance.

Wednesday night’s White House state dinner for Mexican President Felipe Calderon was, as far as the dinner itself was concerned, a fairly routine, if sumptuous, affair.  The East Room was a grand setting, and First Lady Michelle Obama brought in a favored Chicago chef to put together a complex and expensive menu.  “The main course of Oregon wagyu beef came with a Oaxacan black mole sauce with more than 20 ingredients that takes days to come together,” reported the Associated Press.

Yes, the White House should show America's class and taste by serving the Mexican President and his delegation some Taco Bell and a six pack of Jumex, then tell our partner from across the border to get the hell out until he can control his own country, right?  Let's pass a Constitutional amendment banning state dinners when the unemployment rate is above 8 percent!

Idiotic criticism like this was just as stupid when it was leveled at Bush.  The problem is a lot of that criticism came from the Wingers.  They don't want diplomacy with any country.  They want everyone else to shut the hell up or face Predator drones blowing up their families and they want to turn the Mexican border into the Korean DMZ.

At this point, the Teapublicans see a darkie Islamosociofascist entertaining his El Raza Mexican Invasion Partner to come for their nubile white women in the night.

Warning Signs

Rand Paul may be a laughing stock across the country right now, but here in Kentucky he's the top thoroughbred.

Republican U.S. Senate nominee Rand Paul pitched his campaign message of smaller government and tighter spending to more than 200 of the state's top GOP leaders Saturday during a unity rally intended to knit together the party.

Speaking before U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Trey Grayson, whom he beat for the Senate nomination, Paul stayed on message in an address that lasted less than four minutes and steered clear of his recent controversial media comments about civil rights, the Gulf oil spill and a fatal Kentucky coal mine accident.

"Let's limit government," said Paul, who defeated Grayson, the candidate McConnell backed, by a blistering 23 points in Tuesday's primary. "Let's keep government out of our lives and let's allow America's greatness to thrive and be the great beacon in the world once again."

He declined to speak to reporters after the event.

Smart idea.  The person I'm most interested in talking about Rand Paul right now is the man running against him, Jack Conway, and Conway's MIA.  If Conway doesn't get his stuff together and damn soon to take on Paul, it's the GOP who are going to define the narrative with the "Mean Ol' Lie-brul Media" attacking pure snow Rand and that will rally Kentucky voters around "One of our boys".

Having this nutjob AND Mitch McConnell represent me as Senators is something I really would rather not inflict on the rest of the country, but here's the deal...the rest of the country doesn't matter one goddamn bit in this election.  It's a Kentucky affair, so if the Dems want this open seat pickup, it's time for the DSCC to go into action.

Luckily, they are starting to get it into gear with commercials like this:



More of this please.  Rand's got big money to play with down here.  Give Conway a fighting chance, guys.