Earlier today, I posted on Faux News’ “coverage” of Rep. Barney Frank’s Town Hall, which was the prelude to Bachmann MotorMouth Overdrive’s intervew by Sean insHannity. Here’s some footage of Rep. Frank’s Town Hall you won’t see on Faux News – let’s look!

Rep. Barney Frank: When you ask me that question I’m going to revert to my ethnic heritage and answer your question with a question. On what planet do you spend most of your time?

[....]

You want me to answer the question? Yes. As you stand there with a picture of the President defaced to look like Hitler and compare the effort to increase health care to the Nazis, my answer to you is as I said before, it is a tribute to the First Amendment that this kind of vile, contemptible nonsense is so freely propagated. Ma’am, trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table. I have no interest in doing it.

Political Muse of Liberal in the Land of Conservative has the following on his blog’s masthead:

“I have been thinking that I would make a proposition to my Republican friends….that if they will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them.” -Adlai Stevenson (1952)

It’s even worse today; “conservatives” simply lie about everything.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Rep. Barney Frank is spot on: those people have no interest – NONE – in dealing with reality. Birthers and Deathers – sponsored by AstroTurfers – calling people socialists and communists and nazis, all orchestrated and approved of by GOP Party “leadership” – well, reasonable people simply cannot reasonably believe anything – ANYTHING – today’s GOP “leaders” say. As for the lemmings the GOP’s “leaders” lead astray?

Rep. Barney Frank sets a great example – call them out for the whack-jobs that they are.

(crossposted from MnProgressiveProject)

(hat tip to DustyTrice.com)

(crossposted from MnProgressiveProject)

The question should also be asked of GOP State Chair Tony Sutton, and GOP State Deputy Chair Michael Brodkorb.

There’s a powder keg out there, with a short fuse. And today’s GOP leadership is sending out sparks. If one of those sparks catches, well……you can be sure, the GOP will blame it on anybody and everybody but themselves.

Here’s Rachel Maddow:

And speaking of the “MOB” – I noted this:

Moving The MOB
August 13th, 2009 by Mitch Berg
Well, the verdict (throwing out all the votest for “crashing Drinking Liberally”) was pretty decisive. People want the MOB Summer Party moved to September 12.

So moved it shall be!

Location to be officially announced later.

Who knows? Might be a real barnburner….

(h/t to CrooksAndLiars.com)

(crossposted from MnProgressiveProject)

I’m a big fan of mockery, ridicule, and scorn, and no one does it better than Jon Stewart on The Daily Show – let’s look!

Unfortunately, there are things happening these days, that aren’t funny. At all. Blue man in a Red district just put up a post “featuring” the picture of a swastika spray painted on Congressman David Scott’s (D-GA) District Office sign.

Those that are paying attention realize this isn’t the first instance of rightwingers using the swastika, Hitler, SS, etc. I noted the following YouTube on CrooksAndLiars.com – and it isn’t funny, either.

There’s a powder keg, with a short fuse. And today’s GOP leadership is sending out sparks. If one of those sparks catches, well……you can be sure, the GOP will blame it on us.

(crossposted from MnProgressiveProject)

Political Muse at Liberal in the Land of Conservative has an interesting post – go read it. Now.

(crossposted from MnProgressiveProject)

Here’s what CrooksAndLiars.com says, just under that video:

Oh, the irony! Frank Freakin’ Luntz, the man so amoral, he actually got censured by his trade association, lecturing Democrats about right and wrong for using “misleading” poll-driven language? I think my heart’s about to seize from me laughing so hard. Republicans are such flaming hypocrites, aren’t they?

Republicans are such flaming hypocrites, aren’t they?

Yes, they are.

“Hypocrisy, Thy Party Is GOP”

(crossposted from MnProgressiveProject)

The hypocrisy was so blatant that the St. Cloud Times wrote about in an editorial.

And all week people talked about MudSlingerMike being the chief spokestool of the hypocritical GreedOverPrincipels party. Well, they talked MORE about the thuggishness of the GOP, but the GOP’s hypocrisy was a hot topic, too.

Over at a website named SCSU Scholars, Professor Banaian made a post were he scored high on etiquette. The Good Professor made some talking points for rightwingers to ask Congresspeople AND highly suggested they do so on their best behavior. Like I said, The Good Professor got high marks for that.

However, bein’ a GOPer, The Good Professor just couldn’t help doin’ the ol’ GOP Double-Standard in the comments section of the post. I sometimes wonder if it’s not only in their nature, it’s a party plank, too, but: we’ll go down that road, later. For now, let’s confine the discussion to Professor Banaian’s GOPer SNAFU.

Now, The Good Professor said, and I quote:

These are to be a substitute for yelling, not a complement. I agree with those who are saying to stop the shouting matches at the town halls. It’s unhelpful, it plays into the hands of the Democrats and their love-slaves in the media. (Tapper not included.). Ask the questions, record the answers, then find a reporter and tell them what you thought of the answer. Get your opposition, if you are, in the newspaper and on the radio and TV in a way you’d be proud to show your grandchildren.

OK, ignore the stuff in the middle, that’s just The Good Professor acting like The Absent A Mind Professor. Do give credit where credit due, like I did, and score The Good Professor high for calling for civilized behavior at Town Halls.

Now, on to the comments, the first made by yours trulty, the ol’ TwoPutter:

Say, Professor? What if my congressman happens to be a Republican, and doesn’t/won’t hold town hall meetings?

TwoPuttTommy | Homepage | 08.05.09 – 2:34 pm | #

The second comment isn’t worth reposting; rather inane blather, so who cares. It’s The Good Professor’s response to yours truly’s comment numero uno, that demonstrates the title of this post:

TPT, she doesn’t have a bill to sell. Your comedian-cum-senator does.

kb | 08.05.09 – 3:43 pm | #

Which elicited my response in the very next, and so far last, comment:

***TPT, she doesn’t have a bill to sell. Your comedian-cum-senator does.
kb | 08.05.09 – 3:43 pm | # ***

O
M
G.

Is that REALLY your position, Professor?

TwoPuttTommy | Homepage | 08.05.09 – 4:24 pm | #

And as of the time of this post, that comment of mine – last Wednesday – has gone unanswered.

Now, virtually all regular readers here will know EXACTLY why the ol’ TwoPutter wrote what I did; I’d even surmise that The Good Professor figured it out, too – even though he hasn’t commented….

….but, I’ll explain it anyway, for teh GOPers that stumble upon this post:

The Professor is taking the position that Senator Franken has a duty and responsibility to appear in public to defend and explain his support “for” health care reform, BUT (and it’s a big “BUT”) Bachmann has NO duty NOR responsiblity to appear in public to defend and explain HER OPPOSITION “against” health care reform.

Clearly, it’s that ol’ GOP Double-Standard, once again.

Spotty over at The Cucking Stool takes a long look at Professor Banaian’s post and how it fits into the scheme of things. It’s a good read.

Oh – and here’s that YouTube of MudSlingerMike, once again:

(crossposted from MnProgressiveProject)

I was told while the location and place were not confirmed, the date is, and to keep checking Bachmann’s website for details, or call the office – which is 651-731-5400.

Hat-tip to both Mark Brunswick at the Strib and Dusty Trice.

Stay tuned!

(crossposted from MnProgressiveProject)

Unreal. The disinformation put out by rightwing astroturf groups are even hitting the GOPers that do hold Town Halls – which, of course, don’t include GOPers Bachmann, Kline, or Paulsen.

Not only did GOPer Rep. Robert Inglis, R-SC, have the guts to face his constituents, he also had the common sense to tell them the truth:

“I had to politely explain that, ‘Actually, sir, your health care is being provided by the government,’ ” Inglis recalled. “But he wasn’t having any of it.” (WashingtonPost.com).

And why wasn’t the “keep your government hands off my Medicare” guy having any of it? Disinformation, pure and simple. Recently, the astroturf group “Conservatives For Patients Rights (yeah, “right”) had their ad fisked by FactCheck.org. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that their analysis of rightwing claims are, well, to quote the analysis:

CPR Administers Bad Facts, Again

* It’s not true that any of the health care overhaul measures that have been approved by committees in Congress would add “a trillion to the federal deficit,” as the ad says. The Senate bill would add roughly $597 billion over 10 years, and the House bill that was approved by the Ways and Means Committee in mid-July would add a much smaller $239 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office. (FactCheck.org)

Now, I’m looking at a very fancy brochure recently mailed out – at taxpayer expense – by Rep. Erik Paulsen, R=republiCon. And what does Rep. Erik Paulsen claim, in his published and mailed at taxpayer expense brochure? It’s “right” there, on page 2: “Their plan would cost over $1 trillion”

Way to go, Erik! Mailing out debunked disinformation, published and mailed at taxpayer expense.

Paul Krugman opined a little over a week ago on the subject: Why Americans hate single-payer insurance. Paul Krugman’s explanation? “Because they don’t know they have it.” And Paul Krugman uses the “particiapant” at the Town Hall, referenced above, as an example. Here’s what else Paul Krugman said:

One of the truly amazing and depressing things about the health reform debate is the persistence of fear-mongering over “socialized medicine” even though we already have a system in which the government pays substantially more medical bills (47% of the total) than the private insurance industry (35%).

In a way, this is the flip side of the persistent belief that the free market can cure healthcare, even though there are no places where it actually has; people also believe that government-provided insurance can’t work, even though there are many places where it does — and one of those places is the United States of America. (NYTimes.com)

And rather than correct the disinformation, Rep. Erik Paulsen, R=republiCon fuels the fire.

Gotta love today’s “conservatives”, doncha?

Well, in a word, “no.” And you certainly can’t trust them to tell the truth, either.

(crossposted from MnProgressiveProject)

Really, though, the worst out of all this is the state Republican Party’s attempt to turn his (Rep. Peterson’s) comment into a campaign issue. It plans to run advertisements about it across the district this week.

“Really, Collin, 25 percent of your constituents are so out of touch they believe the U.S. government caused 9/11?” the commercial says. “So you won’t hold town meetings? They’re not out of touch. You are.”

Then what about Peterson’s neighbor, the GOP’s own 6th District Rep. Michele Bachmann?

Except for one tightly controlled forum at which she barely spoke, we don’t recall any town meetings she’s held in this area since elected.(St. Cloud Times)

This causes the question – why would one of this state’s shrewdest (cynical?) political opportunists, the ol’ MudSlingerMike himself, take such a chance at being called out for hypocrisy? Well, not by the RightWingLeaning PiPress, and certainly not by the RightWingOwned Avista Capital Partner’s Strib – no, ol’ MudSlingerMike and the GOP knows how to shove them around – remember the film of Seifert dissing the Strib at the GOP Convention? But still, why would he do that?

Perhaps what’s happening at Town Hall Meetings elsewhere might be an indication of why MudSlingerMike is disappointed. Rachel Maddow has the report; let’s look!

(Link here if video doesn’t play)

Disinformation, and organized anarchy – which Rachel called “hooliganism” at Democratic Party Representatives’ Town Halls, and MudSlingerMike of the State GOP going after DFL Rep. Colin Peterson…..hmmmm….hmmm….

Hey! Is it possible that MudSlingerMike weighed the odds of bein’ called out by the Strib and/or PiPress (somewhere between “slim” and “none”) and figured it was worth the chance to try and shame Peterson into holding meetings, in order to practice the same disinformation and organized anarchy GOPers are getting to ply elsewhere?

We don’t know, but we do know that you cannot spell “dirty politicking” without “GOP”.

Link here, for the memo Rachel referenced.

Link here, for a picture of the known GOPers in a “grassroots uprising”.

Link here to watch Brodkorb’s blatant hypocrisy.

(hat tip to CrooksAndLiars.com)

(crossposted from MnProgressiveProject)