Repugnant

There is just too much crazy going on this week. Between health care and the whole Gates fracas, the Repugs seem even more repugnant than usual. A summary:

The Birthers: It's not just Lou Dobbs. Elected Repug senators and congresspeople continue to support the view that the President was born outside of the U.S. despite proof that he was and most of the GOP establishment, even Ann Coulter, calling this stuff a distraction.

The Victims: Most people realize that Pat Buchanan, Lou Dobbs, Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck are unhinged when it comes to race relations. But, they have an audience. It's infuriating that they keep spewing this crap.

The Lies: This seems to be the main Repug tactic against health care reform. They continue to raise the specter that government bureaucrats will be making medical decisions for people. Now, they are pointing to language on support for "end-of-life services," you know, hospice care, and saying that this puts us on the "path toward government-encouraged euthanasia."

Now, obviously, this is a vocal minority in the GOP. But, they have the podium right now. And, they've gotten so extreme that they worry Senator Voinovich.

Shatner Reads Palin

Maybe it's not as good as his version of "Rocket Man," but it is great:

Another Mission Accomplished

The CDC just released a report claiming that the rate of teen pregnancies and STDs, which had been falling prior to 2000, went up during the Bush years. But at least these kids' minds haven't been sullied by having to hear about condoms in school.

Please Don't Throw Me in That Briar Patch

Pat Buchanan has a lovely little column on a conservative site, Human Events. In it, he not only exhorts the GOP to attack Sotomayor as a racist, but also claims that the key to GOP victory is further shoring up their portion of the white vote. Example:

If John McCain, instead of getting 55 percent of the white vote, got the 58 percent George W. Bush got in 2004, that would have had the same impact as lifting his share of the Hispanic vote from 32 percent to 62 percent.

And:

Why did McCain fail to win the white conservative Democrats Hillary Clinton swept in the primaries? He never addressed or cared about their issues.

These are the folks whose jobs have been outsourced to China and Asia, who pay the price of affirmative action when their sons and daughters are pushed aside to make room for the Sonia Sotomayors. These are the folks who want the borders secured and the illegals sent back.

Had McCain been willing to drape Jeremiah Wright around the neck of Barack Obama, as Lee Atwater draped Willie Horton around the neck of Michael Dukakis, the mainstream media might have howled.

And McCain might be president.

So, yeah, this is repugnant stuff. But, it's also delightfully wrong-headed. For one, Buchanan assumes that all white people are as narrow-minded as he is. Second, the kind of people who are charged up about this stuff make up a shrinking portion of our overall population. If anything, the GOP needs to moderate itself or it risks becoming a powerless fringe group.

Ultimately, I think the crazy right will find themselves marginalized. Moderate Republicans will realize that they need to cast the wingnuts out of the party and our whole political spectrum will correct its course. I can dream, right?

Friday Fun

Just a couple quick items:

• Burris won't seek reelection next year. Thank goodness.
• The latest revelation in the Senator Ensign (R-NV) scandal: his parents paid his mistress $96,000. Silence doesn't come cheap.
• Peggy Noonan just tore into Palin today in the WSJ. Money quote: "Really, she is the most careless sower of discord since George W. Bush, who fractured the party and the movement that made him." Either that, or: "But, she is a ponder-free zone. She can memorize the names of the presidents of Pakistan, but she is not going to be able to know how to think about Pakistan. " It's really that harsh.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Batshit-Insane American Quitter Sarah Palin

Out of all the coverage over her remarkable resignation Friday, Wonkette gets it best.

Here's a sample:

So, after crazily quitting her elected position as governor of Alaska, via an alarming backyard last-minute press conference void of any explanation , at the classic 4 p.m. hour of the Friday-Holiday news dump, Sarah Palin is now twatting on the twitter about how her Anchorage attorneys are going to SUE THE AMERICAN MEDIA, for saying “WTF?”

Honestly, this is what Sarah Palin twatted on Saturday Night, July 4th, Independence Day, in America.

Her link goes to (of course) Scientologist nut and sub-literate weirdo Greta Van Susteren’s blog on FoxNews.com, where Greta has helpfully (?) posted seven pages of legal threats from Palin’s lawyers, although you can’t actually read beyond the first vague page of whining bullshit, because Greta/Fox can’t figure out how to operate the Internet.

Robert McNamara Dies

Former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara died today at the age of 93. He was both the best and worst of America. A brilliant, thoughtful man who decided to use his brilliance to develop new and more effective ways to blow people up, from World War II through the Vietnam War.

Peter's on McSweeney's

Friend of the Sassy Team, Peter Krinke has an essay on the front page of McSweeney's today, a hilarious piece called "From the Diary of John Adams." Check it. Congratulations, Peter!