Dick "Landslide" Morris is out at Fox News and no one is sorry to see him go. He's a flim-flammer who's more interested in generating buzz (and fear) than being right, so I guess I'm not too broken up about it either. The problem is that this makes him no different than 90% of the other conservative pundits who still get TV face-time, so things aren't going to change very much. Still, a baby step in the right direction is a step in the right direction.
Proof Republicans are dumber than cold gravel: on the same day the GOP announces it's going to start recruiting more women and minority candidates to attract more women and minority voters, Michigan Republicans introduce their big plan to jam transvaginal probes inside women seeking abortion -- I guess because women liked that so much the last time a state legislature tried that. Recruiting women to help fight the War on Women isn't going to win the rest of the ladies over, guys. I don't think you've got the most solid understanding of your problem here.
Related: Arizona GOP considers English-only government mailings, because Latinos took their "Mexicans go home!" law so well. It's like Republicans can't help themselves -- like a nervous tic or something. They're wandering statehouse halls around the country, eyes glazed over in a trance and repeating, "Must be assholes to people who aren't straight white Evangelical males..."
NYT has a good piece on the drone program and CIA nominee John Brennan. Unfortunately, it's also a piece that should've been published two years ago. America's not going to work right, so long as the Fifth Estate keeps slacking off like this. Only one industry is mentioned in the Bill of Rights. Just one. The press. That means it's really, really essential that you do your damned jobs, people.
Let me give you an idea how bad Brennan is here: neocon loon Lindsey Graham is his biggest defender, while liberal Ron Wyden suggests he may filibuster the nomination. Sounds like a Bush nominee, for chrisake.
Greg Sargent has the questions Brennan really needs to be asked. I'd add, "What countries, if any, should be allowed to blow stuff up in the US with flying robots, killing innocent Americans as collateral damage?" If the answer is "none," then any drone strikes outside of countries we're not formally at war with are clearly illegal and any legal justification for them is ridiculous horseshit.
Don't check your mailbox on Saturdays -- because Republicans suck.
Look, Tony Perkins of the hate group Family Research Council isn't saying that gays are pedophiles, he's just saying that gays are pedophiles. Where would you ever get the idea he was saying gays were pedophiles? He's just saying it's very important to understand that gays are pedophiles. The man is legitimately insane. Good on CNN's Soledad O'Brien for cutting him down to size, but let's stop giving the presidents of hate groups national air time in the first place, OK?
Speaking of hate groups: inside the Westboro Baptist Church. Here's more. Fascinating, if sad, stuff.
In the Hagel confirmation hearing, Republicans pointlessly delay the inevitable.
Finally, Marco Rubio agrees to offer the Republican response to the upcoming State of the Union. The question people are asking is "why?" Remember Bobby Jindal's response? GOP rising stars tend not to do well in these things. "If I were a rising political star, I would run, not walk, if party leaders asked me to give the SOTU response," writes Kevin Drum. "My kid has a piano recital that night. It's my anniversary. Anything. I think you'd have to be nuts to agree to do this."
[screengrab via Media Matters]
