Barbour dreams of branding Obama with a hot poker

Remember when this clown thought he was made of presidential timber?

Stories to Watch: 4/25/11

Got new banners at two of my blogs. Pretty nifty, huh? That guy's Fighting Bob La Follette, a Wisconsin political hero. I'm not sure those versions are final, though -- the worn paint effect looks too digital to me. I think I'll blow up the text layer, add the lettering and the "grunge" mask, then shrink it down again to let the anti-aliasing soften it out a bit. No rush though, these'll do fine for the time being.

Next project: getting some sort of design over at my Tumblr blog. Seriously, it's like an unpainted wall. Even Drudge Report and craigslist are prettier to look at. That's going to be a bit more work. Now here's the news...


Haley Barbour announces that he won't run for the GOP presidential nomination. Steve Benen points out that this isn't so much a case of deciding against running, as it is the first instance of an actual candidate dropping out of the race.


Leaked documents show us what's inside Gitmo. It's not pretty.


The Supreme Court is in no hurry to look at "Obamacare." They've decided to let it wind its way up through the appeals process normally, despite "a call Monday from Virginia's attorney general to depart from its usual practice and put review of the health care law on a fast track."


"Less than half of GOP voters in Georgia, North Carolina, and Mississippi" think the good guys won the Civil War.


Republican presidential campaign procrastination has Karl Rove nervous.


The latest "Donald Trump's a commie" news: he gave big to Rahm Emanuel's mayoral campaign.


Finally, high oil prices are really, really, really good for Exxon -- and so are all the oil subsidies this "struggling industry" is getting.

Stories to Watch: 3/26/11

I've been complaining about the cold, but it's not really the cold that's bothering me. What's bothering me is that it's cold and there's no snow. Without snow, cold is kind of pointless. You can't do anything with it, other than use your sunporch as a walk-in freezer. Which, I suppose, is still something. Now here's the news...


RIP Geraldine Ferraro.


Media Matters narrows its focus and declares "war on Fox."


Despite being put off again and again, is the looming government shutdown still looming? Probably. Long story short, House GOP seem intent on taking the failures of Republican governors national.


Speaking of sure political losers, the Republican Party has also decided that they're so super-popular they can go to war with the AARP over their support of healthcare reform.



Political genius Rush Limbaugh warns his audience that the GOP may nominate a "loser candidate." Then he gives this advice: "Whoever in this field takes it to Obama the straightest and the hardest and the most direct, is who’s gonna win. They're gonna have to take it to Obama. This isn't a 'pussy-foot around' type of election."

I guess that was the problem with McCain-Palin, right? Spending too much time running against... who, Chester Arthur? This is why Limbaugh yells at people on the radio for a living, instead of working as a campaign adviser. His take on politics is consistently simpleminded -- which, I suppose, matches his audience.


Bonus fun: people take Rush Limbaugh seriously.


Haley Barbour stakes out an odd stance on global warming by suggesting that it isn't real, but that we should do something about it anyway. Not anything especially useful or effective, just "something."


Have you ever gone to Disney on Ice and wished you had a gun? Well, if the Arizona GOP has their way, you may wish no longer. That Little Mermaid better skate her little ass off or there's a'gonna be some lead flyin'. When did the Republican model for responsible gun ownership become Yosemite Sam?


Finally, in a debate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, incumbent David Prosser complains about an ad that accuses him of being soft on child molesters. "It is the worst ad that has ever been run in a judicial campaign," he said.

Which is weird, because I think these are the worst -- by virtue of being horrible, horrible lies told by the candidate's campaign itself, not some outside group the candidate had no control over. Prosser voted against hearing an ethics case against the judge whose successful campaign hinged on those ads, Michael Gableman. The case was about those ads specifically and, by turning down the case, Prosser basically ruled that dirty campaign ads weren't worth the court's time.

Given that, I can only say to David Prosser, "You made you bed, so quit whining and lie in it."

And stop being such a hypocrite.