Convention Connection, Day 1

Michelle Obama's keynote speech last night at the Democratic National Convention was impressive, and sorely reminds of of what we missed about her and her husband, in a night of great speeches making the case as to why Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are the way forward.

But the best part of the speech was the end.

Joe Biden wants all of our kids to go to a good school, see a doctor when they’re sick, live on a healthy planet. And he’s got plans to make all of that happen. Joe Biden wants all of our kids, no matter what they look like, to be able to walk out the door without worrying about being harassed or arrested or killed. He wants all of our kids to be able to go to a movie or a math class without being afraid of getting shot. He wants all our kids to grow up with leaders who won’t just serve themselves and their wealthy peers but will provide a safety net for people facing hard times.

And if we want a chance to pursue any of these goals, any of these most basic requirements for a functioning society, we have to vote for Joe Biden in numbers that cannot be ignored. Because right now, folks who know they cannot win fair and square at the ballot box are doing everything they can to stop us from voting. They’re closing down polling places in minority neighborhoods. They’re purging voter rolls. They’re sending people out to intimidate voters, and they’re lying about the security of our ballots. These tactics are not new.

But this is not the time to withhold our votes in protest or play games with candidates who have no chance of winning. We have got to vote like we did in 2008 and 2012. We’ve got to show up with the same level of passion and hope for Joe Biden. We’ve got to vote early, in person if we can. We’ve got to request our mail-in ballots right now, tonight, and send them back immediately and follow-up to make sure they’re received. And then, make sure our friends and families do the same.

We have got to grab our comfortable shoes, put on our masks, pack a brown bag dinner and maybe breakfast too, because we’ve got to be willing to stand in line all night if we have to.

Look, we have already sacrificed so much this year. So many of you are already going that extra mile. Even when you’re exhausted, you’re mustering up unimaginable courage to put on those scrubs and give our loved ones a fighting chance. Even when you’re anxious, you’re delivering those packages, stocking those shelves, and doing all that essential work so that all of us can keep moving forward.

Even when it all feels so overwhelming, working parents are somehow piecing it all together without child care. Teachers are getting creative so that our kids can still learn and grow. Our young people are desperately fighting to pursue their dreams.

And when the horrors of systemic racism shook our country and our consciences, millions of Americans of every age, every background rose up to march for each other, crying out for justice and progress.

This is who we still are: compassionate, resilient, decent people whose fortunes are bound up with one another. And it is well past time for our leaders to once again reflect our truth.

So, it is up to us to add our voices and our votes to the course of history, echoing heroes like John Lewis who said, “When you see something that is not right, you must say something. You must do something.” That is the truest form of empathy: not just feeling, but doing; not just for ourselves or our kids, but for everyone, for all our kids.

And if we want to keep the possibility of progress alive in our time, if we want to be able to look our children in the eye after this election, we have got to reassert our place in American history. And we have got to do everything we can to elect my friend, Joe Biden, as the next president of the United States.
Thank you all. God bless.

This was good stuff, folks.  I'm glad to see it.

Last Call For Goodbye Poppy

Former Presidents, Vice Presidents, First Ladies, lawmakers, and dignitaries both foreign and domestic assembled at the National Cathedral for the funeral of George H.W. Bush on Wednesday.  It was a somber affair, certainly worthy of the funerals of America's great leaders, and then an orange elephant showed up and managed to basically ruin everything.

Fox News anchor Chris Wallace said he was "struck" by the reception of President Trump and first lady Melania Trump upon their arrival at the funeral for George H.W. Bush on Wednesday, saying "a chill had descended" on the front row that included the Clintons, Obamas and Carters.

“I have to say I was struck when President Trump and Melania Trump came to the front row, that it was as if a chill had descended on that front row," Wallace said on Fox's "America's Newsroom" during live coverage of the Bush state funeral at Washington National Cathedral.

"You had seen a lot of chatty talk between the Clintons and the Obamas, the Carters. But when Donald Trump sat down, the greeting that he was given by Barack Obama and Michelle Obama was about as cool as it could have been.”

Trump and the first lady greeted the Obamas and shook hands when sitting down next to them in the front row of the service for Bush, who passed away last Friday at the age of 94. There was no greeting between the Trumps and Clintons, who sat farther down the row.

Hillary Clinton, Trump's rival during the 2016 presidential election, turned when Melania Trump entered the area but did not appear to turn to acknowledge President Trump's arrival. Her husband, former President Clinton, and former President Carter turned their direction when Trump greeted the Obamas.

Trump managed to not soil himself in front of the planet, although it was close.

Watch Trump's face. pic.twitter.com/irLhFxqS0C

— Caroline Orr (@RVAwonk) December 5, 2018

Dubya said some nice stuff about his dad and then everyone avoided Donald Trump like a family reunion with the drunk racist uncle that just got out of Scientology. 

But in the end, a bunch of men whose decisions helped millions of lives, ruined millions of lives, and took millions of lives over the last 40 years all got together to bury one of their own.

That was really about it.  The rest of us press on, one day at a time.

Going After Her Lunch

The Trump Regime continues its erasure of the Obamas in every way, this time completely dismantling former First Lady Michelle Obama's championed programs for kids, including global education for girls.

The Trump administration is discontinuing a signature girls education initiative championed by former first lady Michelle Obama, according to officials. 

The "Let Girls Learn" program, which she and President Barack Obama started in 2015 to facilitate educational opportunities for adolescent girls in developing countries, will cease operation immediately, according to an internal document obtained by CNN. 

While aspects of the initiative's programming will continue, employees have been told to stop using the "Let Girls Learn" name and were told that, as a program unto itself, "Let Girls Learn" was ending. 

"Moving forward, we will not continue to use the 'Let Girls Learn' brand or maintain a stand-alone program," read an email sent to Peace Corps employees this week by the agency's acting director Sheila Crowley. 

" 'Let Girls Learn' provided a platform to showcase Peace Corps' strength in community development, shining a bright light on the work of our Volunteers all over the world," Crowley wrote. "We are so proud of what 'Let Girls Learn' accomplished and we have all of you to thank for this success." 

Gotta get "Moochelle's" name off the letterhead I guess.  But the real hatred against her has always been over her efforts to make school lunches healthier, a national initiative that fostered unending, volcanic, inchoate and incandescent rage among conservatives.  Those standards are now in the dumpster as newly confirmed Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue's first move.

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue took steps Monday to roll back healthy school lunch standards promoted by former first lady Michelle Obama in one of his first regulatory acts.

In an interim final rule, aimed at giving schools more flexibility, Perdue and his department are postponing further sodium reductions for at least three years and allowing schools to serve non-whole grain rich products occasionally as well as 1 percent flavored milk.

The rule allows states to exempt schools in the 2017-2018 school year from having to replace all their grains with whole-grain rich products if they are having a hard time meeting the standard.

USDA said it will take “all necessary regulatory actions to implement a long-term solution.”

“This announcement is the result of years of feedback from students, schools, and food service experts about the challenges they are facing in meeting the final regulations for school meals,” Perdue said in a statement.

“If kids aren't eating the food, and it’s ending up in the trash, they aren't getting any nutrition – thus undermining the intent of the program.”

The real issue was of course healthier meals are something that A) poor black and brown kids who can't pay for school lunches don't deserve apparently, and B) something that Big Ag was furious about having to help provide when they could be selling snacks and soda to kids in vending machines in every school in the country instead.

For this, Michelle Obama was treated as an object of pure racist hatred, for the unforgivable crime of wanting kids to eat healthier and for girls to learn more.  Thank goodness we're making school lunches great again, or some garbage like that, cause that Obama bitch needs to be put in her place, right boys?

God some days I hate this country.  I really do.

The First Lady Steps Up

Michelle Obama gave an amazing speech yesterday as she addressed a Hillary Clinton rally in New Hampshire, and made the best case yet as to why all voters, not just women, should be disgusted with Donald Trump's behavior.

The fact is that in this election, we have a candidate for President of the United States who, over the course of his lifetime and the course of this campaign, has said things about women that are so shocking, so demeaning that I simply will not repeat anything here today. And last week, we saw this candidate actually bragging about sexually assaulting women. And I can't believe that I'm saying that a candidate for President of the United States has bragged about sexually assaulting women. 

And I have to tell you that I can't stop thinking about this. It has shaken me to my core in a way that I couldn't have predicted. So while I'd love nothing more than to pretend like this isn't happening, and to come out here and do my normal campaign speech, it would be dishonest and disingenuous to me to just move on to the next thing like this was all just a bad dream. 

This is not something that we can ignore. It's not something we can just sweep under the rug as just another disturbing footnote in a sad election season. Because this was not just a "lewd conversation." This wasn't just locker-room banter. This was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behavior, and actually bragging about kissing and groping women, using language so obscene that many of us were worried about our children hearing it when we turn on the TV. 

And to make matters worse, it now seems very clear that this isn't an isolated incident. It's one of countless examples of how he has treated women his whole life. And I have to tell you that I listen to all of this and I feel it so personally, and I'm sure that many of you do too, particularly the women. The shameful comments about our bodies. The disrespect of our ambitions and intellect. The belief that you can do anything you want to a woman. 

It is cruel. It's frightening. And the truth is, it hurts. It hurts. It's like that sick, sinking feeling you get when you're walking down the street minding your own business and some guy yells out vulgar words about your body. Or when you see that guy at work that stands just a little too close, stares a little too long, and makes you feel uncomfortable in your own skin. 

It's that feeling of terror and violation that too many women have felt when someone has grabbed them, or forced himself on them and they've said no but he didn't listen — something that we know happens on college campuses and countless other places every single day. It reminds us of stories we heard from our mothers and grandmothers about how, back in their day, the boss could say and do whatever he pleased to the women in the office, and even though they worked so hard, jumped over every hurdle to prove themselves, it was never enough. 

We thought all of that was ancient history, didn't we? And so many have worked for so many years to end this kind of violence and abuse and disrespect, but here we are in 2016 and we're hearing these exact same things every day on the campaign trail. We are drowning in it. And all of us are doing what women have always done: We're trying to keep our heads above water, just trying to get through it, trying to pretend like this doesn't really bother us maybe because we think that admitting how much it hurts makes us as women look weak. 

Maybe we're afraid to be that vulnerable. Maybe we've grown accustomed to swallowing these emotions and staying quiet, because we've seen that people often won't take our word over his. Or maybe we don't want to believe that there are still people out there who think so little of us as women. Too many are treating this as just another day's headline, as if our outrage is overblown or unwarranted, as if this is normal, just politics as usual.

But, New Hampshire, be clear: This is not normal. This is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful. It is intolerable. And it doesn't matter what party you belong to — Democrat, Republican, independent — no woman deserves to be treated this way. None of us deserves this kind of abuse. 

And I know it's a campaign, but this isn't about politics. It's about basic human decency. It's about right and wrong. And we simply cannot endure this, or expose our children to this any longer — not for another minute, and let alone for four years. Now is the time for all of us to stand up and say enough is enough. This has got to stop right now.

Michelle Obama has always been such an under-appreciated First Lady that it's been criminal.  She's one of the most intelligent, thoughtful, passionate, and gifted women that America has ever been lucky to have as the president's spouse.  There's no doubt in my mind that her influence has affected the policies of Barack Obama over the last eight years, and for the better.

Yesterday's speech will go down as one of the highlights of the Obamas in history, certainly.

And of course she's right, this has got to stop right now.  November 8th, put an end to Trump's campaign and send a message,

More Naked (GOP) Lunch

Big Agra and Big Sugar are huge contributors to the GOP, so it's no surprise that they want to roll back 2010 school lunch standards and federal nutrition programs in general.  Turns out the First Lady has something to say about that.

Michelle Obama lashed out in a newspaper opinion piece Thursday against Republican plans to roll back recently improved nutrition standards in American schools, one of her cherished causes as US first lady.

Obama wrote in the New York Times that revamped school nutrition standards requiring less salt, sugar and fat in meals served at school have helped reverse the obesity trend among US school children.

But she said those inroads have been put at risk by members of the Republican-dominated House of Representatives, who, for budgetary reasons, have proposed exempting some school districts from the tougher food standards.

“Unfortunately, we’re now seeing attempts in Congress to undo so much of what we’ve accomplished on behalf of our children,” Obama wrote in the Times.

In 2010, President Barack Obama signed a law boosting school lunch standards on the regulations, following recommendations from the National Academy of Sciences.

The effect of rolling back the standards, the first lady wrote, would be to “lower the quality of food our kids get in school.”

“They want to make it optional, not mandatory, for schools to serve fruits and vegetables to our kids. They also want to allow more sodium and fewer whole grains than recommended into school lunches,” said Obama, who also slammed proposed relaxed standards for a federal nutrition program for low-income women and their young children.

I know I know, wanting kids to eat healthy and exercise more and having schools serving healthy food is intolerable statist tyranny or something, just like wanting kids to read more like Laura Bush did, or wanting kids to stay off drugs like Nancy Reagan campaigned for.

Only the insults are hurled at just Michelle Obama.  Funny how that works.

Bring Back Our Daughters

National Review columnist Mark Steyn really distinguishes himself on Mother's Day with this column slagging the First Lady and the missing Nigerian girls:

It is hard not to have total contempt for a political culture that thinks the picture at right is a useful contribution to rescuing 276 schoolgirls kidnapped by jihadist savages in Nigeria. Yet some pajama boy at the White House evidently felt getting the First Lady to pose with this week's Hashtag of Western Impotence would reflect well upon the Administration. The horrible thing is they may be right: Michelle showed she cared - on social media! - and that's all that matters, isn't it? 

Just as the last floppo hashtag, #WeStandWithUkraine, didn't actually involve standing with Ukraine, so #BringBackOurGirls doesn't require bringing back our girls. There are only a half-dozen special forces around the planet capable of doing that without getting most or all of the hostages killed: the British, the French, the Americans, Israelis, Germans, Aussies, maybe a couple of others. So, unless something of that nature is being lined up, those schoolgirls are headed into slavery, and the wretched pleading passivity of Mrs Obama's hashtag is just a form of moral preening.

To recap, the First Lady showing that she does care, that she too is a mother and is worried, that Nigeria's government has turned down US assistance and President Goodluck Jonathan continues to shuffle his feet on the issue, all that is only worthy of "total contempt" because she is Michelle Obama.

Because she used a hashtag, hashtags are now contemptible and not only is hashtag activism now utterly worthless dirty hippie twaddle, the entirely of Twitter is dead and gone and was always useless in the first place.

It's odd then that when African girls are missing, and an African-American first lady gets involved, and a large number of black folk worldwide get involved, that suddenly, Twitter becomes useless, impotent, "wretched pleading passivity", even contemptible "moral preening".

So very, very odd.

Uncommon Grace

Yes, high school students of Topeka, you win in your battle to show the First Lady of the United States her "place" and have successfully convinced her to not come to your graduation ceremony to give a speech celebrating the anniversary of Brown v Board of Education because her presence isn't an honor for 1,750 of you, but a disruption that you greatly resent because graduation is all about you.

First lady Michelle Obama is scrapping her plans to deliver a graduation speech for high school seniors in Topeka, Kan., after hundreds signed a petition in protest.

Instead of delivering a graduation speech, Obama will speak before the school district the day before graduation, and will deliver remarks at a "Senior Recognition Day."

More than 1,750 people had signed a petition protesting the first lady's appearance at the graduation ceremony, angered that security concerns would limit the number of friends and family who could attend.

According to the Topeka Capital-Journal, students would have only been allotted six tickets apiece had the first lady maintained her original plans.

Again, I'd like to thank the people of Topeka for their grace and dignity in remembering that Michelle Obama is merely the wife of some employee of the government and is in no way representative of the people of the United States.

In an interview with The Associated Press, the first lady's communications director said Obama wanted to accommodate all who hoped to attend the graduation ceremony.

"Once we learned about the concerns of some students, we were eager to find a solution that enabled all of the students and their families to celebrate the special day," she told the wire service.

So Topekans, you got exactly what you wanted from your responsive federal government, and no less than you deserve.  Good for you!  That at least puts you ahead of the people of Oklahoma City, who were apparently going to all but lynch Attorney General Eric Holder if he followed through with his plan to speak at the graduation of OKC's police academy.

Attorney General Eric Holder canceled a planned speech Thursday in Oklahoma City that was expected to draw protests, but a Justice Department official said the schedule change was due to an unexpected meeting Holder had to attend in Washington.

Holder was scheduled to speak to a graduation ceremony for new officers entering the Oklahoma City police department Thursday afternoon. However, according to local news accounts, state lawmakers and others said hundreds of people planned to protest the event to draw attention to the fact that Holder was held in contempt of Congress in 2012 for failing to turn over records a House committee sought about the Justice Department's response to Operation Fast and Furious.

“The Attorney General had been looking to addressing the cadets, and regrets he cannot attend in person," Justice spokesman Brian Fallon said. "He extends his heartfelt congratulations to the cadets and their families."

But please, continue to show total disrespect to black folks like Michelle Obama and Eric Holder, and then keep wondering why we don't vote Republican.

Woot Woot! It's The Sound Of The GOP Food Police!

The GOP loves to trash Michelle Obama over her advocacy of healthy food choices and exercise to get kids active and practicing good habits.  Republicans call it "food fascism" of course, that government has no business telling people what to eat. 

Unless you're on SNAP benefits, in which case your forfeit your rights as an American citizen and Republicans are happy to pass laws telling you what you should eat.

Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) on Tuesday proposed legislation that would require people using federal food stamps to buy only healthy food.

The Healthy Food Choices Act, H.R. 3073, reflects a long-standing criticism that the government's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) allows people to buy billions of dollars worth of junk food.

A 2012 study found that food stamps enable about $2 billion worth of junk food purchases each year, and that more than half of all SNAP benefits are used to buy sugary drinks.

Efforts to curb these purchases have been opposed by anti-hunger groups. But Roe said some states are already exploring ways to curb junk food purchases through the SNAP program, and argued that the federal government needs to take steps as well.

"Already, states like Wisconsin and South Carolina have shown interest in improving the healthfulness of choices in their SNAP programs," he said. "By giving SNAP recipients more nutritious choices, we can take a meaningful step towards ending hunger in America."

So no, Republicans have zero problem with actual government control of what you can buy to eat if they can use that power on those people.

Can't wait to see what big agra and the fast food giants do to this bill, too.  You know they're not going to sit buy and let Congress take $2 billion in yearly sales away from them.

Turns Out It's Good For You, Moose Lady

The latest data from the CDC suggests the First Lady's "Let's Move" initiative to reduce childhood obesity is having a significant impact on making kids healthier.  Zerlina Maxwell notes the programs success over at The Grio:

According to the report, the obesity rates for low income preschoolers has gone down in 19 states between 2008 and 2011. That news will be music to the ears of Let’s Move supporters who were tasked with the specific goal of fighting childhood obesity.

And of course the biggest critic of Michelle Obama over this?  Moose Lady.

The first lady was attacked incessantly by conservatives, including Sarah Palin, who were up in arms at Michelle Obama’s suggestion that American children exercise and eat vegetables.

Palin suggested in 2010, that it was the First Lady’s worldview that would give her the nerve to suggest that “parents [cannot] make decisions for their own children, for their own families in what we should eat.”

Palin also implied that it was a “God-given right” for children to be overweight, saying “[i]nstead of a government thinking that they need to take over and make decisions for us according to some politician or politician’s wife’s priorities, just leave us alone, get off our back, and allow us as individuals to exercise our own God-given rights to make our own decisions and then our country gets back on the right track,” to conservative radio host Laura Ingraham.

Palin might want to read up on adult obesity rates before commenting on the latest news. Before this decline, obesity rates for all age groups had been going up consistently for everyone for nearly 30 years straight. It’s quite possible that the high-profile focus on the issue has lead to this recent decline, since raising awareness is a key component to any campaign with the goal of serving the public’s welfare.

Ouch.

Hey folks, childhood obesity in the US has rocketed upwards since the Reagan years.  This is the first time anything has remotely gone down in decades.  You would think Sarah Palin, herself an avid runner and sportswoman, would appreciate what the First Lady is doing.

You won't get an apology out of this sour-ass moose though.

You People Have Done It Again

Well now You People have done it.  Queen Anne Romney doesn't want to talk to You People anymore because You People hurt her feelings.  Don't you know how hard it is to have $250,000,000 and multiple homes across the country?  You People are heartless.

In Omaha for a closed to the press fundraiser for her husband Friday, Mrs. Romney was supposed to give interviews to several reporters but canceled due to the controversy over her blow up at Republicans on a radio interview, in which she ordered Mitt’s Republican critics to “stop it.”

Omaha.com reported:

She had scheduled interviews with The World-Herald and other reporters but canceled after controversy erupted this week over her comments to a public radio station in Iowa about her husband’s Republican critics.

She appeared at the luncheon, $250-per-plate fundraiser at the Embassy Suites and La Vista Conference Center. The event was closed to reporters.

Looks like Ann is being taken off the shelf.  America's no longer in love with Her Imperial Highness, it seems.  Can you imagine how Michelle Obama would be treated if she made those statements and later canceled a presser with reporters?

Sorry Ann.  You chose to play this game.  Hire a body double or something.  You have the money.

Nationally Lampooned Vacations

Conservatives continue to attack Michelle Obama as proxy to her husband, this time over the idea that in a bad economy, the Obama family shouldn't dare go anywhere lest they draw the ire of swing state voters in Republican focus groups.

“They view everything through their own personal situation and if they can’t afford to do it, they can’t enjoy it, they don’t like Obama using their tax dollars to benefit himself,” said pollster John McLaughlin. “In this case, they see him as out of touch. While they are struggling he’s not sharing in that struggle and he’s basically doing what they can’t do on their tax dollars,” added the GOP pollster.

He and several other top-tier Republican pollsters, organized by Resurgent Republic, traveled to 11 battleground states to host focus groups of independent and swing voters, mostly Democrats, who voted for President Obama in 2008 but who are now on the fence.

McLaughlin handled blue collar and Catholic voters in Pittsburgh on April 3 and Cleveland on March 20. He found that they are very depressed about the economy and feel that their tax dollars are being sucked up by both the rich and those living on government assistance.

During the focus group discussions about debt and spending cuts, many in his group volunteered criticism of the presidential vacations as something that should be cut. Among the lines McLaughlin wrote down was one from a Democratic woman who said, “Michelle Obama spends $1 million to take the kids to Hawaii,” and another who said, “President Obama was the only president to take so many trips.”

The theme, said McLaughlin, is that the first family “is out of touch” with working class voters.

What the focus groups are really proving is that the FOX News style propaganda attacks on our "uppity" First Family who should "know their place" and not be so "lazy" and "go on vacation so much" are working with the intended target, at least to some extent.  The First Lady in particular has been savaged for spending "millions" on pricey vacations and top-shelf fashions, all supposedly on the taxpayer dime.

There are two things wrong with it.  One, the costs include security for the First Family, and given the unalloyed hatred these assholes have for the Obamas, I'd say that security is pretty necessary, possibly more necessary that with any other residents of the White House before them.  Second of all, President Obama and Michelle Obama have still taken far less vacations than the Bush family preceding them.  Laura Bush took yearly trips to Yosemite National Park with family friends and Secret Service protection.  The total cost of just the White House trips to the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas?  Some $20 million for just the plane costs.

President Bush took 149 trips to Camp David, 77 visits to his Crawford ranch, and 11 trips to his father's Kennebunkport mansion. Since Air Force One reportedly cost $56,800 per hour to operate in 2004 (which Bush used to get to Crawford), and the plane can travel up to 630 miles per hour, it cost at least $259,657 to get the 2,880 miles to Crawford and back, each time Bush went, or roughly $20 million dollars just for taking the plane on the Crawford trips alone. Add in the cost of putting up Secret Service and other staff for the ranch trips, as well as the Kennebunkport and Camp David trips, and you get, well, a lot. 

That's okay, because it's not like Bush crashed our economy or anything while he was busy clearing brush.  There's one big difference in Presidential history when it comes to the Obama family, and that's what these Republican pollsters are pushing among working-class Democrats, trying to get them to abandon the President for being too "elitist" and instead vote for the guy worth a quarter-billion dollars with the multiple vacation homes and cars...or not vote at all.

But don't you dare bring the issue of race into it.

Ten Paces At Dawn, Madam, And Inform Your Second!

CNN and WaPo contributor Hilary Rosen opened up on Ann Romney Tuesday night with this exchange on Anderson Cooper:

“What you have is, Mitt Romney running around the country saying, ‘Well, you know, my wife tells me that what women really care about are economic issues. And when I listen to my wife, that’s what I’m hearing.’ Guess what: his wife has never really worked a day in her life. She’s never really dealt with the kind of economic issues that a majority of the women in this country are facing in terms of how do we feed our kids, how do we send them to school, and why do we worry about their future.”

The wingers have found someone they hate now more than Barack Obama for the next day or two.  Rosen's response is not only classic, but true:

Spare me the faux anger from the right who view the issue of women's rights and advancement as a way to score political points. When it comes to supporting policies that would actually help women, their silence has been deafening. I don't need lectures from the RNC on supporting women and fighting to increase opportunities for women; I've been doing it my whole career. If they want to attack me and distract the public's attention away from their nominee's woeful record, it just demonstrates how much they just don't get it.

In which case a number of other Democratic advisors threw Rosen fully under the bus. David Axelrod said this:

Also Disappointed in Hilary Rosen's comments about Ann Romney. They were inappropriate and offensive.

Really?

You what to know what's inappropriate and offensive?   Going after Michelle Obama for the policy positions of her husband, which her critics on the right have no problem with, or going after her personally whenever she eats a damn cheeseburger.  I don't want to hear a word from the right over this, after Laura Bush was untouched for 8 years.

Rosen is correct when she says Mitt Romney made Ann Romney his top adviser on women to soften the 20 point gap with President Obama.  The same people going SHAME ON ROSEN laugh about the latest "Moochelle Obummer, Food Fascist" jokes in their email.

And you know what?  Rosen's right.  Ann Romney has never worked at a job a day in her life.  Must be nice.  Doesn't stop Mitt from lying about women, by the way.  Rosen may have been inartful, but it certainly is less awful than calling the first lady a chimp, isn't it?

So, as Rosen says, spare me.

Ann Romney Is Mitt's ACME Secret Weapon

Yeah, I call shenanigans on this Politico article this morning:

Ann Romney is the Romney Democrats fear most

No, seriously.  When the hell did Ann Romney even become a factor in this race, let alone become a source of "fear" for the Obama campaign and Democrats in general?

Ann Romney’s unexpected rock star status has the political arena buzzing about how her husband’s campaign will leverage her popularity in an election in which Michelle Obama — one of the most admired first ladies in history — will have an outsized and substantive portfolio.

Indeed, this 62-year-old grandmother’s contribution to Mitt Romney’s campaign could amount to the most relevant role a wife has ever played in a presidential effort — softening the edges of a flawed and awkward candidate who struggles to connect with voters.

Alright, look.  Ann Romney would burst into flames like an exposed block of lithium in a bathtub of water if she ever made physical contact with any human being who made less than six figures last year.  She has been completely irrelevant in this campaign, period...other than maybe the fact she has multiple Cadillacs and that she doesn't consider herself wealthy.  I mean it's not like the bar of "more likeable than Mitt Romney" is some Everest-class feat of unfathomable difficulty.  It means you can keep yourself from saying obnoxious things about how rich you are less than 50% of the time you open your damn mouth.  This does not make you a "rock star", it makes you roughly 99 out of 100 Americans.  The only reason she's the Romney with all the charisma is that she's kept her mouth shut so far, so she's at roughly zero instead of Mitt's negative billion.

And now she's a "rock star" who is even more important and more "relevant" to the Romney campaign than Hillary was to candidate Bill or Michelle was to candidate Barack Obama?  Man, you guys are just absolutely pulling things out of your ass now over there.  And no, the date on the article is April 2, not April 1, which is what I originally thought when I read this.

Naah, this is just egregious ass-kissing on the part of Roger Simon's folks.  This is wholesale fan fiction to try to cover up the fact that Romney is augering into the ground like Don Draper's liver.  Ann Romney certainly hasn't been an asset the other times Mitt has run for President, now has she?

Jesus, Politico, at least pretend like you guys aren't trying to create a horse-race out of bullshit.

Last Call

First Lady Michelle Obama was in town yesterday for some fundraising and to visit the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

First Lady Michelle Obama made a quick trip to Cincinnati on Thursday, preaching her husband’s record to the choir and stopping briefly at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

She collected some big money - about 300 people paid anywhere from $250 to $10,000 to hear her speak and to meet her.

She delivered a vigorous defense of her husband’s administration to the crowd at the downtown Westin hotel, saying President Obama’s work “is not done.”

“If any family in this country is struggling,” the First Lady said, “we can not be satisfied with our own families’ good fortune.”

It's good to know Mrs. Obama is a resource that her husband can count on.  Our side needs all the help it can get.

“Who do we want to be?’’ she asked. “Will we be a country where success is limited to a few at the top? This country is strongest when we are all better off.”

Her husband came to office three years ago, she said, to bring about change; and said change “does not come easy.”

It was her first visit to Cincinnati since Sept. 2008, when her husband was running for president. Then, she spoke at a National Baptist Convention at the Duke Energy Center.

The GOP of course showed their respect.

Her comments drew criticism from Christopher Maloney, spokesman for the Ohio Republican Party.

“The time has come and gone for empty rhetoric and broken promises. Ohioans simply cannot afford another four years of job loss, higher taxes and increased debt under Barack Obama,” he said.

The First Lady praised the passage of health care reform legislation that she said has already “saved millions of seniors in this country an average of $600 a year for prescription drugs.”

“Now, there are some folks talking about repealing that reform,’’ she said. “Are we going to let that happen? Are we going to allow children to be denied health care coverage who have cancer or other serious diseases? We can’t do that.”

Shot back Maloney: “The ‘folks’ Mrs. Obama dismisses represent 2.3 million Ohioans and a majority of voters in all 88 Ohio counties who demanded the repeal of Obamacare’s job-killing mandate in November.”

He's referring to the very badly worded Issue 3 on last year's Ohio ballot, which was all about nullifying mandates, which of course is completely meaningless given the Supreme Court's century-plus precedents on the Commerce Clause since the Civil War.

Doesn't matter when the President is a ni-(CLANG)!

Underpants Gnomes

Remember when Democratic party operatives made up crazy British news stories about Laura Bush, Barbara Bush, and Nancy Reagan buying 50 grand in lingerie?  No?  I guess for some reason that sort of thing only happens when Republicans warm up the Pretty Hate Machine for Michelle Obama.

Several funny “news” outlets published claims that our fancypants Michelle Obama spent what we guess is about $50,000 on actual fancy pants.

Michelle Obama is reportedly sexing up the White House after blowing £32,000 on saucy underwear.

America’s First Lady splashed the cash in ONE DAY during a shopping spree in New York’s Agent Provocateur store.

She bought posh pants and a £900 corset while out with the Queen of Qatar, Sheikha Mozah.

We can just imagine all the fun they must have had in the dressing room, giggling about cosmopolitans and Sharia law! The White House is rejecting the story, but it would make for an excellent plot line in an eventual FLOTUS comic series, in which she would most likely be dressed in lingerie (and a cape) and fighting off Rush Limbaugh with her magic garden shears. [The Mirror]

It really does get terribly old.  But she's fair game, of course.  Why, First Ladies have always been fair game, right?

Everything Old Is New Again: The Clintonization Of The Obamas

Republican First Ladies are all saints, and Democratic ones are all cast iron bitches, apparently.  Two stories indicate that 2012 as an election year means Michelle Obama is fair game.  First, we get one step closer to the n-word...

Kansas House Speaker Mike O'Neal on Thursday apologized for an email that made fun of first lady Michelle Obama's hair style and mockingly called her "Mrs. YoMama."

The emails featured pictures comparing Mrs. Obama to the Grinch, a Dr. Seuss character, because of their similarly wind-blown hair.

"Sorry, just had to forward this latest holiday message," O'Neal reportedly wrote in the email he shared with fellow Republican lawmakers. "I've had worse hair days, but this is pretty funny."

According to The Lawrence Journal World, O'Neal forwarded from his personal computer the email that said, "I'm sure you'll join me in wishing Mrs. YoMama a wonderful, long Hawaii Christmas vacation - at our expense, of course."

Boy, I remember all the horribly racist emails about Laura Bush.  Oh wait, never happened.  And they'll keep doing it and apologizing only when they get busted as long as they can keep getting away with it.

But the story that shows that the GOP absolutely knows that President Obama and his wife are likeable people?  Michelle and Barack getting the Clinton Second Term treatment a year early with a new "White House insider" book by Jodi Kantor.

The dramatics that surrounded the passage of health care reform -- culminating in Emanuel's near-resignation -- reflect the type of struggles that routinely pitted Emanuel against the first lady during the first two years of the Obama administration. The two jockeyed for influence over the president even before he formally took office.

Kantor, who interviewed for the book 33 White House staffers (many on several occasions) but not the president or the first lady, reports that Michelle Obama had "doubts" about the choice of Emanuel as chief of staff. Emanuel, in turn, had been opposed to bringing Valerie Jarrett, the Obamas' longtime mentor, into the White House as a senior adviser.

Once the administration began, the frictions only escalated. Emanuel rejected an effort on the part of Michelle Obama's chief of staff, Jackie Norris, to be part of his 7:30 a.m. staff meeting. The administration did not outfit her with a speechwriter for some time. And the first lady's office grew so isolated from the rest of the presidential orbit that aides there began, as Kantor writes, "referring to the East Wing as 'Guam' -- pleasant but powerless."

Sam Stein, who really ought to know better, gleefully buys the portrayal of the First Lady as pretty much every awful stereotype ever associated with successful black women:  mean-spirited, arrogant, overly controlling, petty and disdainful of her "betters".  Michelle Obama is an asset to the President and to the country, and just a few days into 2012 it seems the plan is to completely trash her in an effort to sink her husband.

Where have we heard this story before?

It just gobsmacks me to see that as much as folks like Stein complain that Democrats aren't given a fair shake in the Village media (and they aren't most of the time) we have Stein guilty of breathlessly pushing this gossipy "Michelle Obama's really an awful person" nonsense.  I thought the Manic Progressive crew wanted Rahm out of the White House anyway.  Instead, we see that Michelle's a insecure screamer and the return of The Democrat In Charge Is An Emasculated Wuss from that "bastion of liberalism", FDL.

And I shake my head as I realize there's now a concerted effort at the top to lower Michelle Obama's likeability ratings as low as possible because she is such an amazing asset to the President.  Yes, official Washington hated Hillary Clinton when she was in the White House.  But they absolutely despise even the thought of an accomplished PoC in the position.

2012 is going to be an unremittingly slimy year for the Obamas.  And the worst part is I truly believe part of the reason this is being done is to get Hillary 2012 folks off the hook.  It's not racism if it happened to the Clintons too, you know.

Except as the top of the post recounts, what Michelle Obama is going through is much worse.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/01/05/134986/legislator-apologizes-for-yomama.html#storylink=cpy

Boy

That's A Mighty Fine Blind Spot You Have There

They got thisclose to solving the problem and then they blew it.

Slate ran an article talking about the failure of school lunch programs.  It's not what you think.  Sure, money comes to mind but nope... they managed to find a way to make it work after encouragement and aid from the First Lady and a growing movement to teach kids healthy eating habits.  No, the problem is that the kids won't participate.  No surprise, they are bringing chips from lunch or refusing to eat the healthier food.

Here's the stupid part: they are getting away with it.

The complaints?  Stomach pains.  Headaches.  What-the-hell-ever-itis.  It's all bunk, and any mother worth a darn would call out those lies.  Or maybe they are true.  Stomach pain can occur when someone introduces fiber into their diet.  Headaches happen when blood sugar has been extraordinarily high and comes down (trust me, I know).

To give them credit, Slate calls out the "snotty-nosed brat" behavior.  They are ruthless when they explain that our little Snowflakes might just have to suck it up.  Research was done, the food was too watery or without enough flavor.  Study groups have isolated what kids hate, and much expense has been put into making the choices more attractive to kids.  Then, right when they were building towards the final solution, the grand finale as it were, they screwed up.  They called it a loss.  They proceeded with the false assumption that the kids hold the power.  Who could possibly back up these efforts and make them work?

Nobody mentioned the parents.  Why?  Why do we assume it's all up to the school and the kids to fight this battle?  Why aren't we enlisting the parents in the drive to have healthier kids?  You know, those guys who are actually legally responsible for the welfare of their kids.  Our kids have all the food they want but are not getting adequate nutrition, and the people with the most influence are not mentioned even once.  I find that strange and yet completely in line with everyday expectations.  Maybe we should teach our kids that when someone goes through a lot of effort and expense to do something nice, the least you can do is show reasonable appreciation.

Michelle Obama has her work cut out. I wish her the best of luck.

A Holiday Message From The Obamas

The President's weekly address includes Michele Obama this holiday week.



Have a good Christmas, a good Sunday, a good Solstice, and whatever else you'd like. Light day for us here at ZVTS otherwise.

Well There's At Least One Giant Ass Involved Here

Somebody is off Michelle Obama's Christmas card list.  For good.

Wisconsin’s GOP Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R) has a beef (and a side of mash potatoes) (with extra butter) (tip your waitress) with First Lady Michelle Obama, particularly with her attempts to promote healthier eating and exercise habits.


According to a “Democratic operative” who shared his or her story with Fishbowl DC, Sensenbrenner, speaking loudly on his phone at Reagan National Airport’s Delta Crown lounge, relayed a story that happened following a church auction: After he’d bought a bunch of “crap,” a woman came up to Sensenbrenner and praised the First Lady, prompting him to muse that “she lectures us on eating right while she has a large posterior herself.”

Yeah, see, I'm thinking that commenting publicly on the size of the First Lady's ass is something that polite human beings would not do if they were in Congress, but apparently Republicans just really, really hate Michelle Obama.   Now, we've known the fact for a while now that the only thing that Republicans can't stand more than a black President is the black President's successful, intelligent and attractive wife who wants people to eat a bit healthier, but at this point I'm thinking that the endless Michelle Obama hate is starting to drive a real wedge in the party.

You know, considering how Republicans really feel about the President and his family, you just have to eventually reassert your humanity just to get away from the GOP.

Drive Fast, Turn...On The First Lady

So Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden went to Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup finale race in Miami to honor our men and women in uniform.  The reception the First Lady got?  Exactly what you'd expect from NASCAR fans, apparently.



I'll tell you what, nothing shows class and distinction like booing the First Lady of the United States because you disagree politically with her husband. Way to go, guys.

As I've said again and again:  Not all Obama Derangement Syndrome is directed at one Barack Obama.