Oh, that whacky Mike Steele's got himself into another predicament
-Headline of the day-
"RNC failed to report over $7 million in debt."
Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele continues to find inventive new ways to screw everything up as reports come in that the party has failed to report $7.1 million in debt to the Federal Elections Commission. This is kind of bad. Kind of really bad. According to the report, "Campaign-finance analysts said that simply misreporting fundraising numbers to the FEC can lead to millions of dollars in fines and that criminal charges can be levied if the actions are suspected to be intentional."
Intentional. Whew! There's a load off everyone's mind. Mike would never do anything like that intentionally, would he? I mean, he's just hopelessly incompetent, not criminal.
Wait, though: "RNC Treasurer Randy Pullen on Tuesday accused Chairman Michael S. Steele and his chief of staff, Michael Leavitt, of trying to conceal the information from him by ordering staff not to communicate with the treasurer," the report also states.
OK, so that sounds kind of intentional. Of course, Mike and Mike deny everything, but the RNC has hired an outside lawyer -- Michael Toner (why are all these guys named "Michael?") -- to deal with any legal unpleasantness, which isn't the best sign.
"The RNC normally uses its own inside counsel to deal with the FEC," says one observer, "but if I had a really serious problem with the FEC, Michael Toner is one of the first guys I would turn to help me out."
Sounds like Mike, Mike, and Mike have their hands full. (Think Progress)
-Democracy is destroying democracy!-
Remember Byron Williams? The anti-government nutjob who got into a shootout with police in Oakland because he'd overdosed on talk radio bullshit?
Yeah, that guy.
Anyway, it turns out he told police "his intention was to start a revolution by traveling to San Francisco and killing people of importance at the Tides Foundation and the ACLU." I'm guessing that info probably came after he was waterboarded, since we all know that terr'ists only talk when you waterboard them. It's some kind of rule, like crosses and vampires.
So what are these threats to democracy that Williams had to bring down? Well, the ACLU works to safeguard constitutionally protected liberties and the Tides Foundation partners with nonprofits "dedicated to lasting progressive social change." Sounds awful!
"I'm struck anew by how right-wing extremists view democratic institutions as the biggest threat to democracy," writes David Kurtz.
Yeah, that is weird. You wonder where people get these screwy ideas? (Talking Points Memo)
-Bonus HotD-
"Boehner: I'm ready to lead House."
This statement was made right before he got his foot stuck in a spitoon, lost his balance, wheeled backward onto a buffet table, which acted like a catapult and showered the audience with banana cream pies. Then Mitch McConnell shook his fist at him and said, "Boeh-ner!" All in all, it was zany.
It was something like that anyway. I'm going with Breitbart-level fact-checking on this one. (Politico)
Logging you in...
mdanz · 767 weeks ago
"First Steele, then the President!" "Those bastions of fiscal sanity won't tolerate unfiscal insanity, whether it's one of their own, or Barack Hussein Obama!" --
This would be the complicit media meme-- "An equal opportunity GOP."
--"Democracy is destroying democracy!"--
Wingnuts hate Democracy. They hate the mere mention of the word. Next time you're arguing with a right wing conservative, or Independent, or Republican, Libertarian...try this line:
"It takes Democracy to run our government, and you can't register "Swing Voter."
I sprung this line recently to make a point that 1) Democracy isn't a dirty word.
2) "Independent" voters, or hipsters who call themselves Independent because they're anti-political parties, do not = a trustworthy constituency.
I argued that today's political parties are direct descendants of the Federalist/anti-Federalist arguments(I don't think this is a stretch) and was immediately bombarded with anti-"democracy" screeds over-emphasizing, "This is a Constitutional R-R-R-Republic!"
And: "'Independent voters' are much cooler and smarter than 'Swing Voters' because...?" well, I never got a good answer for that.
Use the word democracy, or call an Independent a swing voter and let the good times roll.
I feel a little guilty that I've been having fun at the expense of closeted wingnuts who can be easily smoked out just by saying "Democracy" in a crowded theater.
America has a history of crushing democracy around the globe in the name of making the world safe for democracy.
We've backed and propped some pretty dictatorial authoritarian dudes in the name of Democracy preservation. We've murdered, raped, pillaged, and conspired, in the name of "democracy."
Think about all the dictators we've supported over the past 50 years, or more. All the democracy we've helped suppress. My head is spinning.
No. Democracy is the enemy of corporate Monarchies and therefore democracy must be eradicated.
And John Boehner...There's a line in the movie Tombstone where a drunken red-sashed Johnny Ringo is being dragged away from a gunfight with a sober Doc Holliday, and Powers Booths' character says, "boys, even I'm afraid of what might happen once Johnny Ringo runs this out-fit...God have mercy."
The Republican party-- The Red Sash gang of the modern era.
God have mercy.