Why LGF Parted Ways With The Right

I never knew Little Green Footballs back during the shrub years, but I've been enjoying watching him discover the crazy in the Right.

And in Why I Parted Ways With The Right he provides an powerful, concise enumeration of just why.

1. Support for fascists, both in America (see: Pat Buchanan, Robert Stacy McCain, etc.) and in Europe (see: Vlaams Belang, BNP, SIOE, Pat Buchanan, etc.)

2. Support for bigotry, hatred, and white supremacism (see: Pat Buchanan, Ann Coulter, Robert Stacy McCain, etc.)

3. Support for throwing women back into the Dark Ages, and general religious fanaticism (see: Operation Rescue, anti-abortion groups, James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Tony Perkins, the entire religious right, etc.)

4. Support for anti-science bad craziness (see: creationism, climate change denialism, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, James Inhofe, etc.)

5. Support for homophobic bigotry (see: Sarah Palin, Dobson, the entire religious right, etc.)

6. Support for anti-government lunacy (see: tea parties, militias, Fox News, Glenn Beck, etc.)

7. Support for conspiracy theories and hate speech (see: Alex Jones, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Birthers, creationists, climate deniers, etc.)

8. A right-wing blogosphere that is almost universally dominated by raging hate speech (see: Hot Air, Free Republic, Ace of Spades, etc.)

9. Anti-Islamic bigotry that goes far beyond simply criticizing radical Islam, into support for violence and genocide (see: Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, etc.)

10. Hatred for President Obama that goes far beyond simply criticizing his policies, into racism, hate speech, and bizarre conspiracy theories (see: witch doctor pictures, tea parties, Birthers, Michelle Malkin, Fox News, World Net Daily, Newsmax, and every other right wing source)

And much, much more. The American right wing has gone off the rails, into the bushes, and off the cliff.

I won’t be going over the cliff with them.

Yeah, but besides that, how is the modern Right? ^_^

Despicable

John J Miller makes a run towards Most Despicable Comment of the Year in a little post titled In Praise of Stigmas. After referencing a NYT article that notes that about 20,000 more Americans per day are having to go on food stamps (including 1 in 4 children in the country), he states:

Seems like there ought to be a stigma attached to the use of welfare. A little bit of shame can go a long way toward encouraging people to find jobs. The federal governmentmay think it's doing people a favor by providing them with access to food, but it's doing them a disservice if it also robs them of the motivation necessary to break free from dependency.

Your modern compassionate conservatism.

Horseshoe Crabs

Horseshoe Crab, originally uploaded by Bill Keim.

Beautiful thing to witness.

But...

John Hinderaker's a tool:

I don't think that President Obama fully approves of Hugo Chavez, let alone Carlos the Jackal and Idi Amin. But...

Knowing Less

Quite simply...what John said:

It is starting to become clear to me what the GOP strategy is- they are trying to turn the entire country into California- an ungovernable mess where the majority is incapable of governing because of an obstinate and insane minority party and ridiculous procedural hoops.

And when you realize that, it makes complete sense why no one in the Republican party stands up to the lies spewed by Sarah Palin, like, for example, this nonsense about mammograms and death panels. She is flat out lying, as she does most every time she opens her mouth, but no one in the GOP will call her on it because it is to their advantage to make the country ungovernable. They like it when there is so much bullshit and disinformation out there that the public is incapable of being informed. Sarah Palin is cheaper and far more effective than all the bullshit factories the Koch Foundation and others have been funding for decades.

And our media elites, desperate for access and a way to fill a 24 hour news cycle, comfortable with their village status, and cowed by decades of being called liberal, rather than calling obvious lies for what they are, will instead sit by and act like play by play announcers and color commentators at a football game, with a he-said she-said approach: “Sarah Palin claims mammogram guidelines are legally binding, Kathleen Sebelius says this is not true. What do you think? Our roundtable next with Stephen Hayes, Karl Rove, and James Carville, where we will discuss what this means for Obama and the 2010 midterm elections.”

Just depressing. On any given day, if you just quickly read a newspaper or watch cable news for fifteen minutes, there is a very solid chance you will leave the experience knowing less than when you started.

They are attempting to turn the country into a crazy mob that can only be pointed in directions like War Support.

Too Many

Poor Cartman.



We don't fear you, Glenn, we're laughing at you.

Ack

Palin's in Michigan:

"Alaska and Michigan have so much in common with the huntin' and the fishin' and the hockey moms," said Palin Wednesday, adding that Michigan is "the heart of industry in America."

The World Is Still Growing Up

A story from Boing Boing reminds us that other countries have serious race problems, too:

The presenters adoringly called her "chocolate girl" on stage — meanwhile, on web forums, people called her gross and ugly and criticized her mother for having sex with a black person out of wedlock.

Always

My God, they really play the victim at every turn, huh?

Hatred With A Joke

Digby on Palin:

Her ignorance of everything else is what will likely keep her from becoming more than a political celebrity, but I can see why she's so popular among the wingnuts. Just like Reagan, she knows how to give voice to their hatred with a joke and a smile on her face. It's a unique gift.

Who Else

Cole:

Seriously, when is this Palin bullshit going to stop? You know who else isn’t prepared to be President? Pauly Shore. How come there are no polls about him?

Yours Should Have Gone To Eleven Before

Kos:

On Twitter, the AP was bragging about the 11 reporters it assigned to fact check Sarah Palin's new book.

That's fine and dandy.

But would it have killed them to assign 11 reporters to fact check Bush and Cheney's Iraq WMD claims?

Exactly.

The Way That Only A Book Can Do

She's gotta hope she'll have better supporters than John Ziegler:

Second of all, Palin’s analysis of what really happened with the now infamous (and totally misunderstood) Couric and Gibson interviews could not be LESS whiny — it is instead full of fact-filled writing that finally provides the full story of what really happened in the way that only a book can do...

The book is totally full of words and facts and stuff - the special power of a book!

My emphasis.

Investigative Journamalism!

Please be sure you know that there people out there that actively seek out and collect photos that show Obama not saluting the flag while others in the photos *are* saluting the flag in order to prove...?

Enough Reason

Josh Marshall:

Rep. Peter King (R-NY) says it makes New York City more of a target for attacks. And there's at least some logic to the argument. But fundamentally, I don't think terrorists aren't attacking New York because they don't think there's enough reason to do so.

Exactly.

(My emphasis)

Too Cool

This picture of the Talking Heads over at Last.fm is so awesome.

Reaching

What hell kind of lede is this from Fox News?:

Spitzer to Give Lecture at Harvard Ethics Center
Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's lecture does not appear to be directly addressing the issue of ethics, though there's no guarantee he won't be asked a question on that topic. 

Reaching, Fox. You're reaching.

Hasta La Vista

My God Dobbs is a delusional prick:

Some leaders in media, politics and business have been urging me to go beyond the role here at CNN and to engage in constructive problem solving as well as to contribute positively to the great understanding of the issues of our day.

Maybe, but you know what others think?



We don't need your "contributions," you fucking xenophobe.

Shorter John Hinderaker

The Times Explains

It's because he's Muslim!

First Introduction

Writer bs at RedState complains that they're tea partiers, not teabaggers!

It needs to stop. Sexual innuendo is inappropriate in political discourse…as wrong today as it was when the children of the United States received their first introduction to the term “oral sex” courtesy of the behavior of President Bill Clinton.  That level of conversation was wrong then, and it is wrong now.

Ahh, yes. I remember when Bill just couldn't stop going around to elementary schools and talking about "oral sex."

Also, the term "oral sex?"

The Horror... The Horror

Some children in the terrible Westboro Baptist Church, the group that pickets funerals, in a photo posted by one of the members, Megan Phelps. Today they were picketing outside of Sasha and Malia Obama's school.



What a terrible bastardization of what a smile is.

The parents should be arrested.

Science 101

There is some beautifully rich irony in this post from the recently-insane Victorial Jackson. She's running down misc liberals-suck things on her mind, such as this point:

Okay, then I find out Gingrich is pal-ing up with Pelosi about Global Warming!  Eww!  Defector!  Oh man!  Strike him off my list.  Now!  He’s off!

All right, fine. She believes she understands the science better than the scientific community. What else is up, Victoria?

Fourthly, I start college tomorrow.  It’s my last class.  Science 101.  I need to focus.  I started my college degree, a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre, in 1976.  I had to stop and work, you know, to pay for it. College tuition is expensive.  Then, there was the six-year “Saturday Night Live” distraction in NY, and the 15 years of raising a family in Miami distraction.  But now, I’m back and ready to finish my degree.  I took all the fun classes first and left the “vegetables” for last.  So, I just finished Math, and now Science.  How timely though, because now I can become an expert on Climate Change and explain to Gore, Pelosi and Obama how ridiculous their hoax is, if I can catch them between their fuel-guzzling, earth killing, private jet trips. I mean, really. (Nancy’s private jet costs taxpayers $60,000 one way for the trip she takes weekly to D.C. where she is working hard to take our freedoms away!)

Incredible.

SEK on V

SEK:

The only people for whom universal health care signals a creeping fascism are 1) people who were convinced by the "arguments" proffered in Liberal Fascism, and 2) people who believe Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin are the future of the Republican Party.

Shooting Each Other

Wise Atrios is wise:

This has long been one of the weirdest thing about Villagers to me, that they long for the day when all political disagreement ends, along with the idea that it should be the overarching goal of any president. People disagree about stuff, and representative democracy is how we try to hash that out instead of shooting each other.

My emphasis.

Dream Ticket

P103109PS-0527, originally uploaded by The White House.

So awesome.

Save Themselves

Ta-Nehisi Coates susses out one reason why I'm also skeptical of Avatar:

I don't think I can take another "good white man save the natives" story. When do the natives save themselves? When the natives start investing in cameras.

Nope, That's the Tops

INSTAPUTZ:

Is anything more amusing than wingnuts projecting their worldview and trying to think symbolically?

Some Clown

Quoting the whole thing from John Cole:

You know the thing that I find most amusing about the NY race is that what they are basically telling every moderate Republican across the country is that it doesn’t matter if you’ve been a loyal Republican for decades, it doesn’t matter if you know the district and the people, it doesn’t matter if you fit the district, and it doesn’t matter that you have given decades to the party. It just doesn’t matter. If the teabagging wingnuts and the shrieking lunatics like Malkin don’t like you, high profile crackpots like Palin and Dick Armey and others are going to swoop in and back some clown who doesn’t even live in the district and then shit all over the area’s voters, telling them their interests are “parochial.”

Cut Rate

Karl Schroeder:

Spaceflight is not bad for our health.  Cut-rate spaceflight that avoids the obvious solutions is.