Friday Cat Blogging

Jackson.


Diego.

Diego looks surprisingly smug, considering the hat and all.

Christianist Third Party Possibilities

I agree with Mr. Matthew Yglesias here. It is my half-cocked opinion that pressure groups and special interest groups value their role as kingmakers more than they do as policy influencers (not an actual word, I know). The power (and money) they get from their supporters comes from their ability to get their chosen politicians to heel. Pro-choice cross-dressing serial cheaters/divorcees who win Republican presidential nominations obviously aren't counting on the fundamentalist vote, and if one Republican can win without them, it opens up the floodgates for all Republicans to win without them. Though this would hardly render them powerless in the future, it would prove once and for all that it is not necessary to kowtow to them to win, making them simply one more chattering voice in a crowd of them, instead of the all-important Leviathan they built themselves into over the years. Judging from the grassroots popularity of McCain in 2000, there might be a lot of Republicans who would like to boot the fundy vote if they could. Not that this will help the Republican party for the time being-losing that voting bloc will derail their party for a long time to come.

From another angle, it would seem that Rudy's Clash-of-Civilizations-Crusades nuttery isn't appeasing the Christianists, which would be his best hope of making them happy.

They are the wind beneath our wings

I am only a part time blogger. I'm not in an academic or politically connected field, so most of my day I can only barely keep up with current events. It makes my blog less satisfactory than I would like it to be. I would like to cover, for example, why libertarians and assorted Randroids give me a pain in my ass, or why I think the Straussian imperial project will suck America dry, or how I think the connection between private money, Christian fundamentalist theocracy, and the Republican party form a cancer on our political system. Doing that, however, takes a lot of time and research. I try, sometimes, but I have a hard time justifying to my employers why I am running down loopy documents from the AEI, for example, when I should be, you know, doing my work, which they pay me for. I have a lot of other commitments in my personal life, as well.

This leaves me only able to write, sporadically, about Republican windbaggery, hypocrisy, and assholery. Luckily for me, "movement" conservatives are the gift that keeps on giving, if by "gift" you mean chlamydia. Thus, within the last week or so we have had The Rush Phony Soldier Debacle, Tranny Annie Coulter's desperate wish to repeal the 19th Amendment, and my personal favorite, the smearing of a twelve-year-old boy. Smoove.

So, to recap: a man so cowardly he sent his maid to score his drugs for him in case the deal went bad chooses to disparage actual Iraq vets because they don't mindlessly follow the Dear Leader; right wing bloggers and politicians decide to attack the character of that highest symbol of political power in our world, a middle-school student; and, well, Chix-with-Dix Ann...what can you say? She is her usual asshat. These are amongst the leading voices of the right, lighting the way rhetorically for our great nation.

Movement conservatism is a cesspit.

Democracy at work, part II

Since the last couple of weeks have been the "Democrats as Spineless Curs" show, it will be interesting to see if they grow some testicles and do something about this:

Today, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) gave a speech on the Senate floor condemning Rush Limbaugh for calling troops who support American withdrawal from Iraq “phony soldiers.” He urged his colleagues — both Democratic and Republican — to sign a letter of disapproval to the CEO of Clear Channel.

Instead, Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) — who voted to criticize MoveOn.org — has decided to commend Limbaugh. Today at 3:16 PM, Kingston introduced a resolution “[c]ommending Rush Hudson Limbaugh III for his ongoing public support of American troops serving both here and abroad.”

What Rush has done to "Support the Troops!" exactly, beyond being a loudmouth windbag Republican with a thing for Dominican sex parties, is beyond me. Anyway, given the bold, strong leadership style of the Democratic majority, I'm sure there is no way they will cower before a known Republican drug-abusing liar.

I am so glad our leaders are spending time on important tasks like this.

Confidence!!!

"I don't think Hillary will have me."

— Former Republican presidential candidate Tommy Thompson, in response to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's question about whether he would want to serve in the next president's cabinet.

Dick Cheney as Saruman

Whenever lib'ruls like me claim the Iraq war is about oil/rich guys or whatever, we're always told that we're moonbatty conspiracy theorists no one should take seriously. It would be a lot easier to accept that attitude if Republicans weren't always acting like a secretive conservative Legion of Doom.

Via a commenter at Lawyers, Guns and Money.

UPDATE: Via Digby, I see the plot thickens. A split like this would be disaster for the Republicans in 08. Obviously this is merely a guess, but I would see this trip as an effort to convince the fundies that whoever wins will toe the Christianist line just fine. Eventually, the limitations of associating with rigid, fundamentalist religionists was bound to show itself, and now it might just finally be happening. In any case, it's fun watching the conservatives eating themselves.

An Opportunity Denied

I see that Newt Gingrich is declining to run for President. That's too bad indeed.

As a committed lefty blogger of no consequence, I am truly disappointed. A Newt Gingrich Presidential run is a Christmas gift for those on the left. For me, it combines all the personal animosity I feel for his hand in foisting the Monica Lewinski "scandal" on me with the opportunity to rip apart his colossal ideas that the media is so infatuated with. He has it all, in abundance-hypocrisy, lunacy, cliche right-wing ideas masquerading as innovation, jowls-a lefty blogger's wet dream. If he had won the nomination, and been thumped as solidly in the general election as I'm certain he would have been, it would have left a whole pile of "conservative ideas" mouldering as a dung pile for years and years to come. As soon as I heard he was publicly making a play for the nomination, I started gathering ammunition. I know I was not alone.

And now it's over. Curse you, Newt!

As for this:

Rick Tyler said Gingrich realized he couldn't run a political action committee -- his American Solutions group -- and form an exploratory committee to run for president as well.

This sounds an awful lot like horseshit to me. Newt's self-regard is boundless. If he felt that he could manage to win, he wouldn't give it up to keep a comparatively small-time position leading a political action committee.

I think it probably has more to do with this. Scroll down and check out Newt's numbers. Newt may want to kiss himself, but the rest of the country will politely decline. I think his handlers got wind of the political realities and, realizing he might outdo even Fred Thompson for a sluggish campaign, put an end to things, lest this embarrassment give Newt's ego a terminal hematoma.