News Roundup for 4/1/10

Call now, RNC operators are standing by

-Headline of the day-"
"RNC 'census' mailer offers phone sex number."

Man, talk about your bad timing. With the RNC scrambling to put a "lesbian sex show at a strip club" scandal behind them, the party bigs sent out a mailer with the wrong phone number on it. Party faithful call in, expecting to talk to John Wayne or Charlton Heston or an eagle or something and instead hear that they have the chance to have a "live, one-on-one talk with a nasty girl who will do anything you want for just $2.99 per minute."

Oh, it gets better.

These fundraising appeals incorporate Mike Steele's brilliant idea of making the mailer look like a census mailing, so you won't throw it away as junk mail. And it looks like a census mailing once you open it, so people getting it are all like, "WTF? Is this a census mailing? Is it a GOP mailing? Is it possible that it's both? Oh, lookie here -- a phone number! Why, I'll just call and see what the deal is... beep-beep-boop... Oh my God!!"

Wait, wait... I've got the audio of what they hear:



Just exceptionally awesome...

You know what I'm wondering; how many of those GOpers calling that number have decided to drop the $2.99 a minute and talk to a Queen of the Lonely? If Republican voters are anything like Republican officials, I'll bet the company is just raking in the bucks. (Politico)


-Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt-
When the healthcare reform bill was signed, it was a solemn, historic occasion. The future hung in the balance, lives would be changed forever, the ghosts of FDR and Lyndon Johnson smiled down from on high, and Joe Biden told President Obama, "This is a big fucking deal!" Unfortunately, Biden's comment was caught by a hot mic and it destroyed the Obama presidency forever.

Clearly, the White House was mortified. How would they ever live this down? They can only hope that everyone forgets about it or, barring that, buys this t-shirt the Democrats are selling for 25 bucks:



On second thought, maybe the White House thinks that what Biden said was no big fucking deal. (BarackObama.com)


-Bonus HotD-
"Rep. Johnson worries that the island of Guam will 'tip over and capsize' if U.S. troops relocate there."

I guess Republicans haven't cornered the market on stupid yet. But don't worry, they're working on it. (Think Progress, with video)

Griper Blade: A Conservative Fundraising Plan I Can Get Behind

Guess what? The Republican National Committee's recent bondage-themed strip club scandal has the religious right up in arms. Who would've guessed? For the bluenoses, it seems the whole thing is a double-whammy; you've got an expenditure that borders on embezzlement and you've got boobs, lesbianism, whips, and chains.

Yeah, I guess it's not so surprising after all.

For their part, the party's fighting back. Unfortunately, they're doing it poorly. Andy Barr reports on an email that the RNC sent to Politico (and, you've got to assume, other news organizations) that points the finger at Democrats.

In hopes of redirecting incoming fire about its spending habits, the Republican National Committee on Wednesday tried to turn scrutiny to the spending habits of the Democratic National Committee but came up with nothing nearly as risque as almost $2,000 in expenses for a night out at a bondage club and on private planes.

It tallied up, instead, two years worth of catering, luxury hotels and limousine bills.

[...]

"The DNC spent at least $2,204,000 for luxury hotels and caterers," [RNC Communications Director Doug] Heye writes at the top of the e-mail... [CLICK TO READ FULL POST]