We could have waited all day. We could have had a media circus. But we took decisive action and it’s a good example of how to respond in this atmosphere.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina, reputedly speaking favorably about the White House’s reaction to the Sherrod situation.
You know, he’s right. Instead of a one day tempest in a teapot, with whose outcome you could hound and cow like-minded media Rethuglicans indefinitely, you created a weeks- or months-long, possibly even permanent eruption of fear, uncertainty, and doubt amongst your staunchest supporters, all of whom now think the absolute worst of you: that you have no spine, never did, and never will. This makes you useless to them, by the by.
Well done.

The Republicans are thinking, why don’t they just sell some of their stock? If they’re in really dire straits maybe they can take some of their art collection and send it to the auctioneer. And if they’re in deep deep trouble maybe the unemployed can sell one of their yachts. That’s what the Republicans are thinking right now. But that’s not the life of ordinary people…I will say to the Republicans who have blocked this bill for months, to those who have kept food out of the mouths of children, I will say to them now, may God have mercy on your souls

Alan Grayson on the unemployment insurance extension

So Glenn Beck is apparently going blind.

jasencomstock:

jhnbrssndn:

(via number-six)

[REDACTED]

masturbation?

Keep in mind that Glenn Beck is, above all, a TV evangelist and huckster. Part of the routine is to periodically go blind, lose the use of limbs, simply refuse to continue “the teachings”, receive the dreaded “call home” from an angry God, and etc…; these seemingly unrelated conditions are united by being fantastically responsive to treatment with generous infusions of money from the poor saps out there in teeveeland.
That the “fuck yeah!” response makes the smelly hippies look bad is a salutary side effect. Just sayin’.

[Victory] obscures defeat. Republicans managed to take a jobs bill, weaken it to an unemployment benefits and state and local relief bill, weaken that to an unemployment benefits bill, and then weaken that bill.

Ezra Klein, witnessing the evolution of the now likely to break GOP filibuster unemployment benefits extension. This, more than anything, characterizes why left-leaning independents and Democrats are forever exasperated by what is broadly (mis)characterized as the “Obama administration.” Triangulation TODAY! Triangulation TOMORROW! Triangulation FOREVER!!!! does not an electoral strategy make. Find something important. Refuse to compromise on it. If necessary, let it fail. Crucify the GOP with it for a week or two. Lather, rinse, repeat. This, apparently, is very hard to understand if you’re a DC Democrat.

A|B Testing

Which of these tacks do you suppose the MSM will take up?

A:

-or-

B:

Answer: Serious people know it’s always bad for the Democrat. Get ready for the Demcrat Tax Bomb of 2010! Just you try and refudiate it. True deficit hawks know that, if you’re serious about the deficit you make the tough choices: like lowering taxes.

We know this is coming. Are we busily inoculating?
Are you fucking kidding me?

Invincible Ignorance

McConnell Blasts Deficit Spending, Urges Extension of Tax Cuts.
This because, as well know, tax cuts pay for themselves:

Didn’t happen under Bush, didn’t happen under Reagan, didn’t happen under Kennedy. Those were all the result of various coincidences, though.

Next up, we have Mitch McConnell, uh, still:

The last year of the Bush administration, the deficit as a percentage of gross domestic product was 3.2 percent, well within the range of what most economists think is manageable. A year and a half later, it’s almost 10 percent.

Uh, no. In fact, most of our current deficit driver is Bush/Cheney policy:

But, by all means, let’s not get to work explaining any of this or (gasp) using it to call the GOP out as liars and/or fools. Repeatedly. No, we’ve got the facts on our side! It’s all we need.