Hypocrisy, thy name is Mitch McConnell

As you know, the Democrats voted to change the Senate procedure to “majority rule” for executive branch and judicial nominees. Why’d they do this? Because of Senator Mitch McConnell (Republican, Kentucky) and his G.O.P. colleagues, who routinely reject any Obama nominee because, well, they are Obama nominees.

And now that the Senate rules have changed, McConnell is spitting mad! Which is kind of odd, given that he said this back in 2005.

“I think the president is entitled to an up-or-down--that is simple majority--vote on nominations, both to his Cabinet and to the executive branch and also to the judiciary. The filibuster was not used for 200 years. The country did just fine. Sometimes the court would jag off to the left, and sometimes it would slide over to the right. Presidents trying to mold the Supreme Court is nothing new. It's not inappropriate. And we need to get back to tradition, and the tradition is a majority is enough to confirm a judge.”

But once a Democrat was elected president, all bets were off! During Obama’s presidency, there’ve been 81 cloture motions – attempts at defeating a filibuster.

In just Obama’s first five years he got clotured more than all the other presidents combined since filibusters of judicial and executive branch nominees began in 1968. Prior to Obama, cloture was invoked 68 times total. Obama? 81!

In 2005, McConnell explained why these clotures were rare:

“What typically happens is we exercise self-restraint, and we do not engage in that kind of behavior because invoking certain obstructionist tactics would upset the Senate's unwritten rules.”

This is a fictionalized version of how Republicans typify Obamacare.

And THIS is the actual version.

I was reminded of this propaganda/idiocy while reading the New York Times investigation "G.O.P. Maps Out Waves of Attacks Over Health Law."

The gist? Republicans will mount anecdotal evidence and fictional numbers attacking Obamacare. Then when the opposition refutes the G.O.P., they simply pivot to a different wave of attacks. Here's a sample:

Republicans have gone to the floor of the House and the Senate to tell constituent stories of soaring premiums or yawning new deductibles. But on Wednesday, the White House Council of Economic Advisers released a report showing that health care spending had grown by 1.3 percent since 2010, the year the health care law passed. That is the lowest rate on record for any three-year period and less than a third of the average since 1965, according to the White House.

In short, those are some lying motherfuckers.

Notice anything unusual about how CostCo categorized The Bible?

Yep, it's fiction!

The University of Alabama possesses a number of the Small Minds of the Day

Dudes, if you're going to Photoshop a black guy's head into your photo, you might want to switch the hands too. (Via.)

Henry Wallace's Words of Wisdom

Henry Wallace was a farmer-intellectual who was also FDR's vice president from 1941-45. He'd previously served as Secretary of Agriculture, in which role Wallace implemented a variety of New Deal programs. He was an interesting character, and I think Wallace was spot-on with this:

"Probably the most damaging indictment that can be made of the capitalistic system is the way in which its emphasis on unfettered individualism results in exploitation of natural resources in a manner to destroy the physical foundations of national longevity."

Heavenly Audit

In order to ensure that sinners in Hell were being properly punished, an angelic auditor was sent to investigate.

There, the angel found Sean Hannity up to his neck in feces and grinning manically.

"The punishment seems appropriate," said the angel. "But why are you smiling?"

Hannity answered, "I'm standing on Karl Rove's shoulders."

Hall of Fame: George H.W. Bush

"That's why I'll be a great conservative and environmental president. I plan to fish and hunt as much as I can."

—George H.W. Bush, 1992

Here's another favorite of mine. In New Hampshire, Bush spoke on the importance of prayer:

"You cannot be president of the U.S. if you don't have faith. Remember Lincoln, going to his knees in times of trial and the Civil War and all that stuff. You can't be. And we are blessed. So don't feel sorry for—don't cry for me, Argentina."

Tom Dickinson points out how a fringe party cheats like a motherfucker

"National Republicans have waged an unrelenting campaign to exploit every weakness and anachronism in our electoral system. Through a combination of hyperpartisan redistricting of the House, unprecedented obstructionism in the Senate and racist voter suppression in the states, today's GOP has locked in political power that it could never have secured on a level playing field."

—From Dickinson's Rolling Stone article, "How Republicans Rig the Game"

God, Sarah Palin is dumb.

“Our free stuff today is being paid for by taking money from our children and borrowing from China. When that money comes due - and this isn't racist, but it'll be like slavery when that note is due. We are going to beholden to the foreign master.” 

—Sarah Palin

Reason #47: Why poor people are superior to rich people

As the poor are not going to leave large amounts of money behind, nobody is anxious to see them die.