Tag Archives: Sarah Palin

May 23, 2013 · 10:28 AM

Debunking Right-Wing Bullsh*t: Marines, Umbrellas And Obama (IMAGES)

Once again, I have to agree that the petty nit-picking and frankly,  outright lies coming from the RWNJs is becoming absolutely distasteful.  Have they no sense of facts or reality?

Addicting Info

Okay, this has just gone too far. When the wing nuts first began with this, possibly the stupidest, most petty criticism of President Obama yet to emerge (and that’s saying a lot: remember mustard-gate?!), I just shook my head and rolled my eyes. But it didn’t go away. I kept seeing references to it – pictures, comments, memes – and skating over them. Though I did share the one with Sarah Palin’s Tweet and the picture of her having an umbrella held over her head by someone else. But, the other day, one of my Facebook friends posted the following:

@SickHorses

That did it for me – straw that broke the camel’s back and all that – and I replied probably a bit too vehemently. But, dammit, I’d had enough of it! As if every other sitting president had NOT had an umbrella held over their heads by someone in their detail. Of course, a meme picturing that very thing appeared soon after that one up there, but the wing nuts cried, “But those weren’t MARINES!!!” As if that really made a difference as to the point. The Facebook friend who posted the meme above said that she was a former Marine and that holding an umbrella was against code. Now, that sounded just plain dumb to me so I did some searching. But before I could get the exact thing I was looking for, another page I follow (Mrs Facts) posted the perfect response to that.

If you can’t read the comments, here’s the main point:

“‘Marine Corps Uniform Regulations (MCO P1020.34f): UMBRELLAS. Female Marines may carry an all-black, plain standard or collapsible umbrella at their option during inclement weather with the service and dress uniforms. It will be carried in the left hand so that the hand salute can be properly rendered. Umbrellas may not be used/carried in formation nor will they be carried with he utility uniform.’

Also, you might be interested in what I found in chapter 1, section 1000, paragraph 2:

‘Commanders may interpret the provisions of this Manual to address specific concerns whenever necessary. However, authority for local interpretations does not extend to the institution of policies or practices, which are in contradiction to the provisions of this Manual. Exceptions to this Manual are only granted in writing my the Commandant of the Marine Corps (MCUB).’”

So the whole “Marines can’t carry an umbrella” thing was nonsense. The simple fact is that, while speaking with the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Erdogan, in the Rose Garden, President Obama (and his guest) were quietly and quickly shielded from the rain by very professional Marines. As they are part of the presidential security/service unit, this is their job. Let me reiterate: This. Is.Their. Job. “Commanders may interpret the provisions of this Manual to address specific concerns whenever necessary.” Apparently the Commander of this group felt that deploying rain-shielding units was necessary. And, no, Pres. Obama didn’t ask for the umbrella for himself:

“I am going to go ahead and ask folks–why don’t we get a couple of Marines. Just because I’ve got a change of suits, but I don’t know about our [visiting Turkish] prime minister.” (Source)

So he was just being a thoughtful host. But that’s not in following with the wingnut narrative. Nope, they must paint him as lazy and an elitist.

So, end of the whole thing, right? Well, no. Not until I saw that someone was trying to profit off the whole mess. Seriously. There is no name, no group indicated. But someone wants you to buy a T-shirt for $15.  It’s bad enough that the right has been so damned petty and small about this umbrella thing, but to try to make a buck off of it? Ah well, when you think of the sort of mind we’re dealing with I guess this was really to be expected. Next thing you know, Ted Cruz or Michele Bachmann will be trying to fund raise on it. In the meantime, can we PLEASE stop hearing about this idiotic, petty and desperate attempt to disparage President Obama?

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May 7, 2013 · 12:16 PM

The 5 Wackiest Things I Heard at the NRA Convention

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin waves before speaking during the 2013 NRA Annual Meeting and Exhibits at the George R. Brown Convention Center on May 3 in Houston

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin waves before speaking during the 2013 NRA Annual Meeting and Exhibits at the George R. Brown Convention Center on May 3 in Houston

I’m certain there were many more, but according to the source below, for instance they left out Glenn Beck.  Nonetheless, here are the wackiest from BW…

Business Week

What to do in the wake of a major victory in Washington over gun control proponents? That was the challenge facing the National Rifle Association at its May 4-5 annual meeting in Houston.

At various rallies and speeches, here’s what some NRA headliners had to say:

1. Wayne LaPierre: I told you so. Looking more relaxed than in his pugnacious post-Newtown massacre appearances, the NRA’s chief executive officer congratulated himself on being right that President Obama would open his second term by pushing for firearm restrictions. Obama did make LaPierre seem prescient. In Houston the NRA honcho upped the ante, claiming that the president “launched an historic, all-out attack, a siege on our gun rights.” (Really? The centerpiece of the Obama agenda, comprehensive background checks, is an idea that LaPierre endorsed in 1999.) The NRA has added hundreds of thousands of new members since Newtown, bringing its rolls to 5 million, according to LaPierre, and he wants to double that. “They’re coming at us with a vengeance to destroy us,” he warned. “It’s up to us to get to work right now with an NRA large enough and strong enough to defeat” any foe. Translation: open your checkbooks, gun owners.

2. Bushmaster: Never say you’re sorry. The Newtown shooter slaughtered 20 first-graders and six educators with a semiautomatic military-style rifle equipped with 30-round magazines. The manufacturer of that weapon, Bushmaster, part of the Freedom Group conglomerate, came in for tough scrutiny. Facing investor protests, Freedom Group’s owner, the New York private equity firm Cerberus Capital, announced it would sell the country’s largest gun-and-ammo manufacturer, although a buyer hasn’t been announced. Meanwhile, Bushmaster wasn’t lowering its profile at the NRA confab. At its booth on the bustling exposition floor, Bushmaster invited children to pose for photos with a .50-caliber sniper rifle with a 30-inch barrel. The BA50 offers “monstrous long-range power.” In a promotional booklet, George Kollitides, Freedom Group’s CEO and a former member of the NRA nominating committee, said Bushmaster builds “each rifle with purpose and passion—yours.”

3. Sarah Palin: Malign the media. Wearing a form-fitting T-shirt that said “Women Hunt,” the 2008 vice presidential candidate reminded listeners that “the elite media” are still out to get them. “That same media is now the reliable poodle-skirted cheerleader for the president that writes the book on exploiting tragedy,” she added. (I wasn’t around in the 1950s, but did cheerleaders wear poodle skirts on the sidelines?) This followed Palin’s inventive insult a few days earlier, when she scorned attendees at the April 27 White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington as “D.C. ass-clowns” enjoying “a nerd prom.”

4. Representative Steve Stockman: Impeach Obama! Aides to the congressman, who invited pro-gun guitarist Ted Nugent as his plus-one to the State of the Union Address in February, handed out copies of a newspaper entitled NRA Convention News. There Stockman suggested: “Obama Abuses of Power Could Lead to Articles of Impeachment.” The East Texas Republican lawmaker described the president’s “full-scale executive branch assault on our Second Amendment rights” as “questionable—and possibly criminal.” Stockman reminded constituents: “We all saw how Bill Clinton abused his power as president back then, but Barack Obama blows him out of the water!”

5. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee: Let’s meet halfway. While some 70,000 NRA celebrants walked the 400,000 square feet of Houston’s convention center, a couple dozen protesters kept vigil across the street in Discovery Park.

“We’re not against the NRA,” said Representative Jackson Lee, a Democrat from gun-friendly Houston who supported the failed bipartisan compromise on expanded background checks. “The only question we’re asking this group is, ‘Can you put down your arms of politics and lift up your arms of reconciliation?’”

This may have been the strangest line uttered all weekend, in that the answer was so obviously, NO! The NRA has adopted “Stand and Fight” as its battle slogan. Inside the convention hall there was not even a whiff of olive branches.

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May 4, 2013 · 8:21 AM

Week in one-liners: FLOTUS, Flake, Palin

Michelle Obama, Jeff Flake and Sarah Palin are shown. | AP Photos

Michelle Obama, Jeff Flake and Sarah Palin are shown. | AP Photos

Politico

The top quotes in politics…

“… I have to admit, I’m not the strapping young Muslim socialist that I used to be.” — PresidentBarack Obama joking around at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

“Fox is the jocks, MSNBC is the nerds…NPR is the table for kids with peanut allergies.” —Conan O’Brien jabbing the media during his routine.

“That #WHCD was pathetic.” — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin bashing the dinner.

“We’ve got your back!” — First lady Michelle Obama tweeting her support to NBA center Jason Collins.

“I’m looking forward to personally congratulating America’s great sex pioneer.” — Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt endorsing Mark Sanford.

“She went there.” — A debate moderator noting Elizabeth Colbert Busch’s reference to Sanford’s affair.

“That probably puts me somewhere just below pond scum.” — Sen. Jeff Flake commenting ona poll of his political popularity.

 

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May 3, 2013 · 3:23 PM

‘No Pizza For You!’: Drudge Report Falls For Daily Currant’s Satirical Story About Mayor Bloomberg

Ha! Conservatives always get caught “out there” by satirical wit…

Mediaite

The Daily Currant has fooled several members of the media into falling for satirical stories — from Glenn Beck and terrorist-contaminated pizza to Sarah Palin and Al Jazeera. On Friday, it fooled yet another: The Drudge Report. This time with a story about New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The Currant’s story said Bloomberg “was denied a second slice of pizza today at an Italian eatery in Brooklyn” after reaching his “personal slice limit.” It was meant to be a jab at the mayor’s effort to limit the portions of sugary drinks sold in the city.

The Drudge Report played it up thusly:

As the Atlantic Wire reported, the splash only stuck around for a few minutes, around 8 a.m. Eastern time, before someone realized the mistake and took it down. The tweet still exists.

Recently, you may recall, The Daily Currant fooled The Washington Post into thinking Sarah Palinwas headed to Al Jazeera. It also successfully fooled the media with a story about Ann Coulter“refusing to board a plane with a black pilot” and Paul Krugman filing for bankruptcy after living a bitlavishly. And then there was that time Bill O’Reilly assaulted a department store Santa.

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April 30, 2013 · 5:52 PM

Republican Refusal to Fix the Sequester Has Created a Death Panel For the Poor

Undoubtedly, we can count on the GOP to continue to not give a crap…

PoliticusUSA

Throughout history, human beings have debated, and decided that the power of life and death is not within the purview of human beings except in times of war and in countries that cling to the barbaric practice of capital punishment. It is certainly true that no population would willingly give a government arbitrary power of life and death over its own citizens, and yet it became a popular claim shortly after Barack Obama became President. In 2009, the immutable American idiot, Sarah Palin, propagated what was deemed the “Lie of the Year” when she went around the country declaring the Affordable Care Act would impose a panel of bureaucrats who would hold the power of life and death over Americans.

Republicans however, have assumed the power of life and death over Americans in need of basic sustenance, shelter, and healthcare over the past two years in their pursuit of trickle down fiscal purity, austerity for austerity sake, and Draconian spending cuts targeting safety nets.  Despite warnings the sequester would arbitrarily cut access to food, housing assistance, and healthcare for the elderly, children, and Veterans, Republicans proudly imposed the sequester on the nation as a necessary step to abridge the phony debt crisis they manufactured with valuable assistance from ignorant Democrats anxious to join the austerity frenzy.

For four years, Republicans prevented the government from operating through obstructionism that effectively shut down normal government processes, and yet when their sequester inconvenienced affluent Americans with the horrid prospect of an hour-long flight delay, they jumped into action and passed legislation within a week to unburden their favorite Americans from sharing in the sacrifice the rest of the nation will suffer for over nine more years. However, their quick action did not go unnoticed by other Americans who face hunger, homelessness, and slow painful death as a result of sequestration cuts that are, for all intents and purposes, their version of death panels.

Continue reading here…

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· 2:49 PM

Are Tim Tebow’s Fans Destroying His NFL Career by Turning Him Into Sarah Palin?

sarah-palin-tim-tebow

Just sayin’…

PoliticusUSA

After the Jets waved Tim Tebow, it’s time to ask if his rabid fanbase is actually destroying his NFL career by turning him into an overhyped football version of Sarah Palin.

The Jets released Tebow today in most matter of fact way possible. In astatement the team said, The New York Jets have waived quarterback Tim Tebow.” After giving a short paragraph overview of his career stats, they included a quote from coach Rex Ryan, “”We have a great deal of respect for Tim Tebow. Unfortunately, things did not work out the way we all had hoped. Tim is an extremely hard worker, evident by the shape he came back in this offseason. We wish him the best moving forward.”

It sounds like Ryan was trying really hard to say something nice about a player who was brought in with great hype, but couldn’t get on the field. I have always suspected that the Jets acquired Tebow, because they thought he was a more developed player than he actually was. Once they got Tebow into camp that realized that he can’t read defenses, and his arm isn’t very accurate. Tebow was successful in Denver because the coaching staff changed their offense to hide his weaknesses and play to his strengths. The Jets expected Tebow to fit their offense, which made him a square peg in a round hole.

One has to wonder if Denver would have drafted Tebow in the first round, or if the Jets would have pulled the trigger on that trade if Tim Tebow’s faith based rabid fanbase wasn’t such a 24/7 hype machine for their guy. (ESPN, CBS, and college football in general created the Tebow media hype, but lots of college football players become media stars and then flame out in the NFL.)

Tim Tebow is a great athlete. He was able to use his superior athleticism to dominate at Florida, but being a quarterback in the NFL requires skills that Tebow doesn’t possess. The fact that he isn’t a very good QB hasn’t stopped his fans from pointing to the one playoff game that he has won as proof that he should be a starting QB in the NFL. (Just like how Sarah Palin’s fans point to her one half term as governor, and say that she should be president.)

Tebow’s fans create a complete circus around whatever team he joins. The minute after Tim Tebow signs his next contract his fans will call for him to be named the starter. If Tebow were to sign in New England, some of his fans would expect him to replace Tom Brady. His fans worship Tebow with a religious zeal that tends to block out all logic and common sense. (Again, logic and common sense are things that Sarah Palin has never been on a first name basis with.)

Tebow’s career path, his fans’ worship of him, and mainstream media’s love of covering him is starting to remind me of a certain former Alaska governor.

The cult of Tebow vastly exaggerates their hero’s skills, and they become an immediate pain in the neck for any GM or coach that has the quarterback on their roster.

If Tebow really wants to be an NFL starting quarterback again, he needs to tell his fans to shut up. They aren’t helping Tebow by turning him into a walking quarterback controversy. Tebow also needs to take himself out of the media spotlight. He needs to learn how to play his position. He can’t do this if his fans are constantly screaming for him to start. The best situation for Tebow is one where he could be a second string QB on a successful team. He could be taught all of the things that he never learned under any of his coaches at any level.

Tim Tebow is the NFL version of Sarah Palin. He was put into a role he was not ready for, and now he is on the cusp of falling completely out of his profession. Like Palin, Tebow has a devoted cult like fan base. Tim Tebow is most like Palin in that he is in over his head, but so far has been resistant to the idea of taking a step back before he moves forward.

For Tim Tebow, former Broncos coach Josh McDaniels is his John McCain. Tebow like Palin was elevated to things he wasn’t ready for by a man who was desperate to win. There is also the similarity that both Palin and Tebow have trademarked their names or versions of them.

The Christian right tends to over inflate their heroes, and then blame the media when they crash and burn. Sarah Palin is a flaming pile of rubble, and Tim Tebow is starting to smolder.

If Tim Tebow pulls a Sarah Palin and insists on being the star(ting quarterback), he may find himself out of the NFL. Sarah Palin burned all of her bridges in media and politics in part because she believed her own hype. If Tebow buys into his own hype, he too could see his NFL dreams burn out and fade away.

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April 27, 2013 · 7:41 AM

Saturday Blog Roundup – 4-27-2013

The continuing deep thoughts of Sarah Palin

GOP faces Senate recruitment woes in key states

Military Grooms New Officers For War In Cyberspace

Jon Stewart un-thrilled with GW Bush presidential library

Six months after Sandy, Atlantic City is betting on a comeback

Almost 12 years later, a new discovery of a plane part from 9/11

Obama: Syria’s Use Of Chemical Weapons ‘Will Change My Calculus’

Obama chides lawmakers over flight delay fix, budget conflict – Reuters

Brokaw On Correspondents’ Dinner: ‘The Breaking Point For Me Was Lindsay Lohan’

Gohmert: Muslim Brotherhood Members In Obama Administration Are Influencing U.S. Decisions

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April 14, 2013 · 9:44 AM

Week in one-liners: Weiner, Palin, Reid

AP Photos

Politico

The top quotes in politics …

“Unflippingbelievable.” — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin slamming an ad from MSNBC.

“They’re starting to grow out, getting a little irritating.” — First lady Michelle Obama talkingabout her bangs.

“We’re saying that no one is above the law, even if you are the diva Beyoncé.”— Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen demanding info about the star’s Cuba trip.

“He reminds me of the clowns at the circus.” —  Connecticut Gov. Daniel Malloy describingWayne LaPierre.

“I know I didn’t do it.”— Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on leaked tapes of conversations about Ashley Judd.

“We’re in deep doo doo.” — Former Vice President Dick Cheney speaking frankly about North Korea.

“I wasn’t really thinking.” — Former Rep. Anthony Weiner opening up about his Internet scandal.

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April 9, 2013 · 9:21 PM

There Is Nothing Controversial About Melissa Harris-Perry’s MSNBC Promo

You may have heard that the right-wing hysteria machine is at screaming level over an MSNBC thirty second promo.  I cannot believe the reaction she’s receiving from the paranoid right.

If you get a chance check out the comments on Mediaite.  Here’s just one example:

Esteban Rey  Ima Winnah • 31 minutes ago

I thought white conservative southerners used to like it when black women raised their kids for them.

Ima Winnah  Esteban Rey • 15 minutes ago

Mammy obviously doesn’t know her role.

(D-Ed. note:) Ms. Perry is a Professor of Political Science at Tulane University.

Mediaite

Everything that Melissa Harris-Perry says in her latest “Lean Forward” promo for MSNBC is completely reasonable. And no, that last sentence was not sarcastic.

Since the “controversial” promo first appeared this past weekend, conservatives have been apoplectic over its content. Glenn Beck called the ad “almost a parody.” Fox News’ Eric Bolling said she “declared war on the American fabric.” And, Sarah Palin was so angry she had to invent a completely new word: “unflippingbelievable.”

Those three and others across the internet and on TV are utterly outraged that Harris-Perry would suggest that America should take a more “collective” approach to child-rearing. They can’t believe she dared to tell them that their children, don’t just “belong” to them, but also are part of a larger community. It’s those two words–”collective” and “belong”–that are at the root of conservatives’ outrage, and also their major misunderstanding.

Starting with “collective,” Harris-Perry says “We haven’t had a very collective notion of these are our children.” As Bob Beckel pointed out on The Five today, that word is often associated with socialism. As in, everyone works together for the collective good and shares the wealth. That’s fundamentally not what Harris-Perry is talking about here. As Beckel said, it may not have been the best choice of words for her to use, but she is simply using the word “collective” to describe the way members of a community help each other, while clearly maintaining their own, capitalistic identities.

The issue with the second word, “belong,” I believe hinges on two distinct definitions that often get conflated and confused. Someone or something can “belong” to another person in terms of being their property. Or they can “belong” to an organization in terms of being a member. This issue arose during the Democratic National Convention last September when another promotional video featured the phrase “the government is the only thing we all belong to.”

Mitt Romney‘s campaign attempted to turn that innocuous line into the second coming of “you didn’t build that” by proudly declaring in response “We don’t belong to government, the government belongs to us.” Just as Romney seemed to miss the fact that the word “belong” can have two meanings, critics of Harris-Perry do not realize that while a child can be the “property” of their parents, they are a “member” of the community. These are two very different notions that Harris-Perry to tying together using the word “belong” for rhetorical effect.

Obviously, there is something about Harris-Perry and the words that came out of her mouth that have conservatives enraged. But when you break it down, all she was saying is that by attending school every day, and living in the world, children are members of a larger community than just their nuclear families. In no way is she suggesting that the government owns your children and should have the right to take them away or make any other major decisions about how they are raised.

On her MSNBC blog today, Harris-Perry “doubled-down” on her comments, writing, “One thing is for sure: I have no intention of apologizing for saying that our children, all of our children, are part of more than our households, they are part of our communities and deserve to have the care, attention, resources, respect and opportunities of those communities.” When she puts it like that, it doesn’t sound so crazy, does it?

Current TV shows the commercial (partially) and analyzes the right-wing “shock and anger” response:

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April 3, 2013 · 9:36 AM

Head Of Gun Organization: ‘Time To Hunt Democrats’

The gun lobby will eventually “hang” itself  by making statements like this…

Think Progress

As the Senate prepares to take up a comprehensive gun violence prevention plan later this month, gun advocates have amped up their already inflammatory rhetoric against any additional gun regulations. Ahead of President Obama’s visit to Colorado on Wednesday to promote the measure, one local gun organization promised to give him and other Democrats a hostile welcome.

In an interview with NPR, former NRA lobbyist and founder of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners Dudley Brown compared deer hunting season with election season, when gun owners would be free to “hunt Democrats”:

Brown complains universal background checks are just a step towards identifying gun owners so the government can seize their weapons, and he calls the 15-bullet limit on ammunition clips arbitrary. He’s promising political payback in next year’s election that could cost Colorado Democrats their majorities.

“I liken it to the proverbial hunting season,” Brown says. “We tell gun owners, there’s a time to hunt deer. And the next election is the time to hunt Democrats.”

The analogy between elections and hunting is a favorite among conservatives; former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin was widely condemned for her website’s map placing crosshairs over vulnerable Democratic districts in 2010.

Brown left the NRA in the 1990s because he felt the NRA was “kissing up to politicians.” The NRA, at the time, blasted Rocky Mountain Gun Owners as an “extreme right gun group” and called Brown the “Al Sharpton of the gun movement” for his inflammatory approach. Since then, the NRA has been pulled much farther to the right and is much more aligned with the “extreme” beliefs of RMGO. Both the NRA and RMGO believe there is a UN conspiracy to take away guns. The NRA and Republican lawmakers have warned of “tyranny” and compared Obama to Hitler and Stalin.

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