They really are just awful…
“MSNBC just aired an audio clip of Rush Limbaugh mawkishly sobbing in a toddler’s tone, “I don’t want to die,” in what Limbaugh, uh, humorously charged was a White House child-prop tactic to sell sensible gun control on Capitol Hill. This was, without a doubt, the most contemptible thing this jackass of a fascist fathead has ever slobbered on-air.” — Rush Limbaugh, and the last straw (via)
Louisiana Republican Governor Suggests Eliminating Corporate Tax, Paid For By Taxing The Poor: Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (Republican) wants to eliminate both his state’s income tax and its corporate income tax, giving a big gift to the richest Louisianians and the state’s businesses. And he may pay for it by hiking the state’s sales tax, which will disproportionately hurt Louisiana’s poorest residents.
Gun Appreciation Day is Sponsored by a White Nationalist Party: Following the publication of this story, Gun Appreciation Day removed American Third Position from its sponsors. A3P describes itself as representing “the unique political interests of white Americans.”
Fox 5 Anchor Announces The “N*gger Inaugural”: There’s a list of words that TV reporters should never say, and it must be racing through their heads whenever the camera’s on. Don’t say it. Don’t say it. Well, Fox 5’s Holly Morris said it. In a morning broadcast yesterday on extravagant inauguration deals, Morris fell over herself and declared the Willard Hotel the spot for the “n*gger inaugural.”
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“Quite frankly it’s going to be difficult going back and working with people you sit next to and whenever they were in need, we responded immediately. Not one member of Congress ever voted against or said one word in opposition to aid going to other states when the money was needed. We were going around like third world beggars. At least they put us in that position.” — Rep. Peter King (R-NY), on his fellow House Republicans’ behavior on disaster relief to victims of Hurricane Sandy in NY and NJ.
GOP pollster Kellyanne Conway told House Republicans at their retreat that they need to stop talking about rape, Politico reports.
How [Republicans in] Congress Wrecked a Smart Debt-Ceiling Fix: in 1979, Dick Gephardt, “who would later become House Democratic leader and twice run for president, devised a simple fix that met the absurd requirement of a two-step process. With help from the House parliamentarian, he established the Gephardt Rule, which decreed that when Congress adopted a budget resolution (the first step) it was automatically ‘deemed to have passed’ a commensurate increase in the debt limit (the second step). Presto. Problem solved. The Gephardt Rule held for a decade and a half, during which there were no fights over raising the debt ceiling. But when Republicans took control of the House in 1995, they killed it… Gingrich thought the second vote was a good pressure tactic to limit spending. Yet the threat of debt default didn’t work because nobody took it seriously. What’s different now is that many Republicans seem willing to follow through. Even Gingrich is worried.”
DailyKos: For unintended hilarity, you can’t beat the planned panel discussion [during the Republicans three-day retreat] on how to talk to women and minorities without pissing them off.
The panel, entitled Discussion on Successful Communication with Minorities and Women, suffered an image problem from the get-go: Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., who heads Republicans’ campaign efforts, deflected a question regarding the irony of a panel trying to help the GOP woo minorities happening in a room named after a slave-owning family’s plantation. ”I don’t pick the rooms we meet in,” Walden said. “I know the Democrats have held their retreats here too and I assume you’ll go and figure out if they ever held meetings in that same room.”
Fair enough, but having a panel on minorities and women that seemed to be well-stocked with white guys proved perhaps even more awkward: But then why, a final reporter prodded, did this panel on communicating with women and minorities include three white men: Representatives Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and Scott Rigell and Frank R. Wolf, both of Virginia? Mr. Walden, who was not responsible for putting together the event, pointed out that the panel also included several women: “a woman from CNN” (Ana Navarro) and “Sean Duffy’s wife” (Rachel Campos-Duffy). Mr. Duffy is a congressman from Wisconsin; his wife is a television personality. Also on the list was Ms. Herrera Beutler. But, unfortunately, her name was misspelled.
Florida Business Leaders Vow To Block Paid Sick Day Laws During Worst Flu Season In A Decade: The U.S. is currently experiencing its worst flu season in a decade, but many workers can’t heed the advice of public health experts to stay home when they’re sick due to a lack of paid sick days. And Florida business leaders are looking to keep it that way: The Florida Chamber of Commerce said Wednesday that one of its top legislative priorities this year would be blocking local governments from adopting paid sick-time measures such as the one pending in Orange County. At a news conference in Tallahassee, Chamber President Mark Wilson said his powerful business group wants a law that would ban cities and counties from creating varying paid-sick-leave rules across the state. The passage of local sick-time laws would, Wilson said, “make pockets of Florida very uncompetitive.”
West Point study on ‘violent far right’ shows ‘dramatic rise’ in attacks: Some conservatives object to the report. The Washington Times, The National Review, and World Net Daily all report on critical reactions from the right, according to the Atlantic Wire, with blogger Pamela Geller calling it an “appalling attempt to demonize loyal Americans and whitewash the Islamic threat.”
Josh Marshall: GOP memo brags: We gerrymandered so well we won the House even though we got fewer votes!!!
On “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace asked a series of pointed questions to House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Austan Goolsbee, the former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers for President Obama, but there was one question in particular that stood out for me. “You know, it’s not just a question of vision, it’s also a question record because of these men have served in office and have records in office. So, let’s take a look at that. Mitt Romney was governor of Massachusetts for four years, Congressman Ryan. And during that time, Massachusetts ranked 47th of the 50 states in job creation. The only reason the unemployment rate went down [was] because so many people left the work force — more than any other state in the country except Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. Is that a record to be proud of?” […] The larger point, of course, is that we’re looking at a campaign dynamic without a modern precedent, especially for a governor running for the White House. In 2000, George W. Bush said, “Look at what I did in Texas.” In 1992, Bill Clinton said, “Look at what I did in Arkansas.” In 1980, Ronald Reagan said, “Look at what I did in California.” And in 2012, Mitt Romney is saying, “Look at what I did at Bain Capital.” – 
The President’s ‘to do’ list for Congress / Twitter live chat today – Do you have questions about the President’s plan? On Tuesday, May 22nd at 12:00 p.m. ET, we’re holding a special session of White House Office Hours on Twitter to answer your questions. Here’s how you can join:
Reasons why Congress is a complete failure – At a fundraiser, Mike Coffman (R-CO) said “I don’t know whether Barack Obama was born in the United States of America. I don’t know that,” Coffman said. “But I do know this, that in his heart, he’s not an American. He’s just not an American.” After a short pause, which Elbert County Republican Chairman Scott Wills recalled as “deafening silence,” Coffman was met with applause, tentative at first. Later, Coffman told KUSA “I misspoke and I apologize” in a written statement. — 
Mitt Romney has turned into Bill Clinton’s biggest booster. Seeking to attract Democrats and independents who supported the last Democratic president, Romney has taken to lavishing praise at every turn on Clinton’s boom-era ’90s policies while contrasting them unfavorably with President Barack Obama’s old-school, Big Government ways. […] Romney’s hope that Democrats and independents who supported Clinton will gravitate to his candidacy ignores the fact that Clinton is appearing at fundraisers for Obama and making a star turn in his TV advertisements, said Phil Singer… “It’s a particularly ineffective tactic when the Bill Clinton-Barack Obama fundraising roadshow is taking place in real time.” — 
The man who oversaw the economic collapse of our country is going to write a book about economic growth! In the three years since he left office, former President George W. Bush has largely stayed out of the political arena. But gingerly, the 43rd president is beginning to add his voice back into the national dialogue. A month ago, he spoke publicly in favor of one of his defining domestic legacies, the tax cuts that still divide the country. Two months from now, he plans to publish a book outlining strategies for economic growth. And on Tuesday, he made a rare return to Washington to promote freedom overseas. — 
Bush and Cheney convicted of war crimes by foreign tribunal… More to come? — To some, the conviction is a long overdue statement on the civil rights abuses that took place during the Bush administration in locations across the globe, including Iraq and Guantanamo Bay. …To others, this largely ceremonial statement by the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission is only a formality and an empty gesture. …Transcripts of witness accounts and the charges are being sent to the United Nations and the Security Council with the hopes that other countries will follow their lead. — 
And Here Comes the Gay Rumor — Whenever a character from a right-wing group with “Family” in the title opens his mouth, crazy tends to spray all over the place. Here’s Paul Cameron of the Family Research Institute: “Actually, while I’m not sure about the claims by the various people who have reported that Obama has at least participated at times with them in homosexual acts, this [the president's pro-marriage equality announcement] certainly lends some credence.” DING! We might just have our Birther variant for 2012. The “Obama is Gay” conspiracy theory. – 
Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday joked that he would “take a lot of credit for a man having landed on the moon” to point out the absurdity of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney taking responsibility for saving the U.S. auto industry. “So I’ll take a lot of credit for the fact that this industry’s come back,” he told Cleveland’s WEWS-TV earlier this month even though he had penned a 2008 op-ed titled “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt,” warning that if a bailout was provided to the auto industry then “its demise will be virtually guaranteed.” “Whoa!” Biden exclaimed to crowd at car dealership in Martins Ferry, Ohio on Thursday. “And by the way, I’ll take a lot credit of for a man having landed on the moon. Because although I was in school, I rooted for it.” — 
The decade the GOP hopes you’ve forgotten — If there’s one aspect of the deficit reduction plan that President Obama outlined last week that congressional Republicans most object to, it’s probably his call for higher income tax rates on the wealthiest Americans. Specifically, Obama wants to let the Bush-era rates for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans expire at the end of 2012. With a few notable (and, within their party, increasingly marginalized) exceptions, Republicans have vehemently attacked this suggestion. According to the GOP’s line, to raise taxes on anyone now, even (or especially) the wealthy, would kill the recovery and cost jobs, depriving the Treasury of revenue and only making the deficit problem worse. “We don’t have deficits because Americans are taxed too little, we have deficits because Washington spends too much,” is House Speaker John Boehner’s standard line on the issue — a refrain that is echoed by virtually every other Republican on the national stage. If this anti-tax adamance — and the dire warnings of what life in a post-tax hike America would look like — sounds familiar, it’s for good reason. Republicans issued the exact same warnings the last time a president proposed addressing exploding deficits (in part) through tax increases on the wealthy. […] Ultimately, Clinton and Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill united behind a plan that would raise taxes on the top 1.2 percent of income earners and create a new 39 percent bracket for the wealthiest Americans. — 
Rahm Emanuel ‘livid,’ not returning calls from Ricketts family – “The Mayor was livid when he read that the Ricketts were going to launch a $10 million campaign against President Obama – with the type of racially motivated ads that are insulting to the president and the presidential campaign,” said the aide, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the situation. “He is also livid with their blatant hypocrisy.” The aide also said Emanuel, who is Obama’s former chief of staff, has cut off communication with the family. “The Ricketts have tried to contact the mayor, but he’s said that he does not want to talk with them today, tomorrow or anytime soon,” the aide said. The Ricketts family is seeking taxpayer funding for the renovations. – 
A Fox News poll released yesterday finds that voters would rather have President Obama pick the next Supreme Court justice than Republican candidate Mitt Romney by a 
MITT ROMNEY’S pro-America “Made in China” flag pins — Mitt told a story about the “We Stand United” American flag pins he commissioned for the [2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games], which took place just months after the terror attacks on 9/11. Romney touted his creation of the pins as a means to explain how he hopes to bring Americans together. [...] Complicating Romney’s patriotic message is the fact that the pins were made in China, according to a website run by the Utah state government’s culture department… [...] Meanwhile, Lynn Sweet at the Chicago Sun-Times notes that a conference call hosted by the Republican National Committee (RNC) yesterday attacking President Obama for “high unemployment” was hosted by a firm in The Philippines (apparently a subcontractor of Verizon, whom the RNC used). – 
PAYING TAXES is, in fact, patriotic – It’s un-fucking-American is what it is. I don’t want you to apologize for being rich; I want you to acknowledge that in America, we all should have to pay our fair share. That our civics classes never taught us that being American means that—sorry, kiddies—you’re on your own. That those who have received much must be obligated to pay—not to give, not to “cut a check and shut up,” in Governor Christie’s words, but to pay—in the same proportion. That’s called stepping up and not whining about it. That’s called patriotism, a word the Tea Partiers love to throw around as long as it doesn’t cost their beloved rich folks any money. — 
