Poll: 54% of Republicans say that, "deep down," they are idiots.

Kidding! Actually, the poll found that 54% of Republicans say that, "deep down," President Barack Obama is a Muslim.

So it works out about the same either way.

Tell me more, Brian Kurcaba! (Just kidding.)

“Obviously rape is awful… What is beautiful is the child that could come from this.”

—West Virginia Delegate Brian Kurcaba (R)

William Haefeli has a good point

Via.

For someone who believes in personal responsibility you spend a lot of time blaming government

House Republicans yell "Cut!" for Obama's SOTU

From ThinkProgress:

The official website for House Republicans has posted on YouTube a doctored version of President Obama’s State of the Union address which cuts out comments where the President was critical of Republican rhetoric on climate change... 

In the website’s “enhanced webcast” of the State of the Union speech, President Obama’s comments criticizing Republicans for saying they are “not scientists” when it comes to climate change are erased. 

At the 43:25 minute mark, President Obama is supposed to say “I’ve heard some folks try to dodge the evidence by saying they’re not scientists; that we don’t have enough information to act. Well, I’m not a scientist, either. But you know what — I know a lot of really good scientists at NASA, and NOAA, and at our major universities. The best scientists in the world are all telling us that our activities are changing the climate, and if we do not act forcefully, we’ll continue to see rising oceans, longer, hotter heat waves, dangerous droughts and floods, and massive disruptions that can trigger greater migration, conflict, and hunger around the globe.” 

Instead, the entire section is skipped. Obama’s comments resume with “The Pentagon says that climate change poses immediate risks to our national security. We should act like it.”

Hall of Fame: Lloyd Bentsen

"Why do Republicans fear debate? For the same reason baloney fears the slicer."

—Lloyd Bentsen was an extraordinary man. He was a longtime representative and senator from ... TEXAS. (And he looked

 like an elderly Carl Sagan.)

I'm such a trendsetter

According to this ABC poll, three out of four Americans disapprove of Republicans in Congress . . . and one in two people STRONGLY DISAPPROVE.

Hey, no pushing. I was at the front of this line a long time ago!

(Funny story: Arkansas isn't in the United States.)

Joe the Plumber is the Racist of the Day

Oh, crap. Joe Wurzelbacher, the plumber John McCain paraded around during the 2008 presidential campaign, has a website?

I'm not linking to it, but here's a sample blog post titled "America Needs a White Republican President." (This raises the question: How does anyone with even one firing brain cell remain Republican?)

Steve Lonegan is the Small Mind of the Day

Steve Lonegan is the Republican's senatorial candidate in New Jersey. What’s his stance on Obamacare? This is a real quote of his on the subject:

“I’d hate to see you get cancer, but that’s your problem, not mine.”

Gah! But if he gets to Congress, will Lonegan at least work with the other party for the country’s good? Let’s see:

“I don’t care about working together and all that nonsense. What the hell does that mean?”

Double gah!

(Photo via.)

The odds are 46% that the Small Mind of the Day is You

Via.

From Gallup: “Forty-six percent of Americans believe in the creationist view that God created humans in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years. The prevalence of this creationist view of the origin of humans is essentially unchanged from 30 years ago, when Gallup first asked the question.” Now here's the kicker:

Majority of Republicans Are Creationists
Highly religious Americans are more likely to be Republican than those who are less religious, which helps explain the relationship between partisanship and beliefs about human origins. The major distinction is between Republicans and everyone else. While 58% of Republicans believe that God created humans in their present form within the last 10,000 years, 39% of independents and 41% of Democrats agree.

I love that one sentence:  "The major distinction is between Republicans and everyone else." What have I been saying, people?

From the GOP's educational film series

Troy McClure takes Republican politicians to school in his educational documentary Man Vs. Nature: The Road to Victory. (Via.)

Our Contemptible Congress

Senator Mike Lee (Republican, Utah) has spent the year promising a government shutdown unless President Obama defunds Obamacare entirely. But then, Lee's a batshit motherfucker. But now the Senate Republicans’ No. 2 and No. 3 leaders, John Cornyn and John Thune (right) are also joining this blackmail plan?

Writing in the National Journal, Norm Ornstein lays it out:

"When a law is enacted, representatives who opposed it have some choices... They can try to repeal it, which is perfectly acceptable--unless it becomes an effort at grandstanding so overdone that it detracts from other basic responsibilities of governing. They can try to amend it to make it work better--not just perfectly acceptable but desirable, if the goal is to improve a cumbersome law to work better for the betterment of the society and its people. They can strive to make sure that the law does the most for Americans it is intended to serve, including their own constituents, while doing the least damage to the society and the economy. Or they can step aside and leave the burden of implementation to those who supported the law and got it enacted in the first place. 

"But to do everything possible to undercut and destroy its implementation--which in this case means finding ways to deny coverage to many who lack any health insurance; to keep millions who might be able to get better and cheaper coverage in the dark about their new options; to create disruption for the health providers who are trying to implement the law, including insurers, hospitals, and physicians; to threaten the even greater disruption via a government shutdown or breach of the debt limit in order to blackmail the president into abandoning the law; and to hope to benefit politically from all the resulting turmoil--is simply unacceptable, even contemptible."