Apparently Ted Cruz is inadvertently helping the Democrats right now. Update!

Courtesy of TPM: 

While Republican senators were fuming at Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) for holding up a $1.1 trillion spending bill aimed at preventing a government shutdown, Democrats saw a silver lining: the move by Cruz and Lee gave Democrats an opening to move a number of President Barack Obama's nominees for federal judgeships and the executive branch. 

What happened was that when Cruz and Lee scuttled a deal between Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) that would have allowed lawmakers to leave Washington D.C. for the weekend and come back Monday they gave Democrats a chance to advance Obama's presidential appointees by having to stay in D.C. to deal with the spending bill. 

The extra time over the weekend gave Reid the opportunity to, through the Senate's executive session, file cloture on the nominations and move them sooner than they would have under the deal Reid and McConnell had planned on and that Cruz and Lee blocked. Under the original deal Reid would have had to schedule votes on the nominees later in the upcoming week, when Democrats may not have wanted to stick around to vote.

Was worried Dr. Vivek Murthy might not get confirmed but thanks to @TedCruz, looks like he will. #TopDocNow #SurgeonGeneral
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) December 13, 2014

Courtesy of Politico:

The nominations may take days of procedural votes and a lot energy but are likely to be a boon to the president’s hopes of winning approval of as many nominees as possible before his party loses the Senate. 

“A lot of these people have been sitting in the calendar for a long time. So if this prompts my leadership to stay a little longer to get a lot of nominations done, then I’m happy about that,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) of the unusual Saturday session. 

That's Ted Cruz for you. He always knows exactly where to find his foot. Right next to his molars.

Update: Well the bill passed.

Realizing that she is falling behind in her "attack the President over nothing" quota, Sarah Palin goes for the jugular over a Styrofoam cup and a fumbled salute. Oh the humanity!

What you are seeing is the President of these United States buttoning his coat with one hand and then trying to return the salute of the Marines posted by his helicopter, without stopping to put his cup of tea down first.

Which in this country is clearly an impeachable offense.

Well as least according to several REAL Americans tweeted as reported by the Daily Mail:

President Barack Obama saluted a pair of United States Marines on Tuesday while holding what appeared to be a styrofoam cup in his saluting hand, a breach of military regulations that won't win him fans among veterans and servicemen. 

Obama is known for drinking tea, not coffee, when he travels, especially before delivering speeches. 

His quasi-saluting gesture was an instant embarrassment for the White House, and not because his environmentally taboo drinkware clashed with the green-policy speech he was on his way to deliver at a UN Climate Summit. 

Yes how can the man who is right now coordinating an attack overseas against ISIL while battling the many domestic problems at home, NOT understand that the most important thing to remember is to  NEVER use an environmentally unfriendly coffee cup, but if he must to toss it to the ground in order to return a salute from any military personnel.?

And he dares to call himself the Commander-in-Chief.

Well this did not escape the notice of "she who perches in anticipation" and Palin immediately sprang into action to post that Daily Mail new links while adding this biting criticism:  

U.S. Armed Forces, our apologies.

Wait. That's...that's it?

No attacks on the President's manhood? No calls for impeachment? Not even a mention of Track's warrior body?

WTF?

Could it be that the Wasilla Wendigo is distracted?

Why yes she is.

As it turns out Palin is right now preparing to give her speech at the Values Voter Summit.

In fact if you click the link up above you can watch her behind the scenes (For free!) as she prepares for her speech, discusses her red, white, and blue toenails ("I love'em!"), her spangly wrist bracelet ("This is the symbol for death to tyranny,  the crossbones and skull. Jesus, my fav! I love this!"), and hugs T.W. Shannon (He's a black guy!), Mike Lee, and Ted Cruz, before taking the stage at Tulsa.

Fortunately the video cuts out right after she screeches how happy she is to be there. But if you listen carefully you can already hear dogs all over Oklahoma screaming in agony.

Personally I am a little disappointed that Palin is so off her game that she can not launch a barely coherent attack against the President, while also babbling like an idiot in front of a bunch of Evangelical disphits.

It's like she is not even trying anymore.

I think I'm going to blame the drunken brawl.

Update: As others have pointed out it appears that this video featuring behind the scenes at the Values Voter speech is actually from an entirely different rally. So I really have no idea why she posted it.

Update 2: Okay, okay. Since so many of you are sending this to me let me just post it.

 Yes clearly Obama is not the only one to fumble a salute of two.

Of course I would like to point out that Barnie IS biodegradable, unlike that planet destroying Styrofoam cub our current President was clutching.

Another Sarah Palin endorsee is on the ballot today in Arizona. Let's see if that curse takes out another one. Update!

Interestingly enough the former chief executive of Cold Stone and Tea Party candidate Doug Ducey is currently running ahead on the polls which means that Palin might have a much needed win under her belt by late tonight or tomorrow morning.

Here are the numbers as of four days ago: 

Doug Ducey: 32% 
Scott Smith: 21% 
Christine Jones: 18% 
Ken Bennett: 12% 
Andrew Thomas: 8% 
Frank Riggs: 2% 
Undecided: 7%

This one is also interesting because it pits Palin directly against Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, but right in line with fellow Teabaggers Ted Cruz and Mike Lee. And of course Ducey is also supported by Koch brothers money.

I predict that if Ducey pulls this off that Palin will be dancing in the streets in celebration, and trying to take all of the credit for his win.

But if he loses, well we all know what sound will be coming out of the compound then.

Don't we?

Update: It looks like Ducey won.

Let's see if she can take a victory lap without the wig flying off. 

Sarah Palin curses yet another Tea Party hopeful. This one running for Governor of Arizona. You know the state where she lives now.

Courtesy of the Seditious Saguaro Sally's Facebook page:  

Doug Ducey is the private sector job creator and proven conservative leader that Arizona needs as its next governor. A self-made man, Doug came to Arizona for college, working at the local beer distributor to pay his way through. After graduation, Doug applied his skills and work ethic to the business world. Through his efforts as CEO, Doug grew Cold Stone Creamery from a small local Tempe ice cream parlor with four stores into a major international chain with 1,400 franchises in 31 countries. (Admirable. However as we have learned the ability to run a successful business does not translate into success at working in politics. ) Still headquartered in Arizona, this international business provides jobs and revenue for the state. Since being elected State Treasurer, Doug has fought to close financial loopholes, fix the state’s books, and stop a $1 billion annual tax increase. 

Doug recently shared his vision with me, which he will carry with him each day as Arizona’s governor: “I’m a believer in private enterprise, the dignity of work, limited government and the possibilities of freedom. I am a forthright defender of the right to bear arms – which is guaranteed not only by the US Constitution, but by the Constitution of Arizona. I am a believer in the rights of the unborn and the goodness of every life, and I have promised that as governor I will champion those values.” Right on!  (In other words Ducey is a cookie cutter Tea Party conservative. How could Palin NOT endorse him?)

Cold Stone Creamery was always a favorite stop for my family when traveling during the ’08 campaign. Their creative combinations always hit the spot, and I believe Doug has the right combination to serve Arizona with his proven private sector skills and his record of conservative leadership. That’s why I’m proud to join Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, and many other conservatives in endorsing Doug Ducey for Arizona governor.

 – Sarah Palin

This is a big week for Ducey as he also just received the endorse of racist Maricopa Country Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

And as the post mentions he has also picked up the endorsements of Ted Cruz and Mike Lee, not to mention Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.

So he clearly has the Teabagger vote all wrapped up.

(By the way Jan Brewer has endorsed Scott Smith, one of Ducey's opponents. Awkward!)

Unlike many of Palin's picks Ducey is not running dead last, though he is running neck in neck with Go-Daddy exec Christine Jones, who had this to say about her Tea Party opponent, after he referred to her as a "line employee at Go-Daddy, with no leadership experience." :

“Being a condescending, misogynistic jerk is not the way to win an election,” Jones told the Arizona Capitol Times. “I have heard from a lot of professional women that, if they had any doubt in their mind about voting for me before they head that line, they’re absolutely voting for me now, because they’ve worked with ‘that guy’ in their career.”

Seriously is it even possible for Palin to endorse a candidate who is NOT a misogynistic jerk? (You know unless they have lady parts of course.)

So here we go again. Let's see if the Palin curse still retains its sting, shall we?

The three stooges, Squeeky, Lumpy, and Dumpy stump for T.W. Shannon in Tulsa.

(You're  going to want to cover the ears of your household pets starting at the 1:38 mark)

Courtesy of Fox23:  

“We do it in our personal budgets, and we do it at the state level and we need to make sure we do it in Washington, D.C.,” Shannon said. 

Palin said that she is fired up about helping put Shannon in the Senate. 

“Look at this guy, T.W. Shannon. He is the man from Oklahoma. He is the thunder that needs to storm through Washington, D.C. to clean some things out, and clean it up and turn some things around,” Palin said.

I am really grateful that Fox News in Tulsa transcribed that for us, as every time I tried to listen to her high pitched caterwauling I saw white lights and lost my equilibrium. It was like being stunned by the sonar of a bat.

It is clear that this campaign is very important to the conservatives, however receiving the Palin endorsement, and having her show up at a rally, may not be the best idea for a man who really needs the African American vote to win in Oklahoma.

This from MSNBC:

While the conservative endorsement may play well in Republican circles, the likes of Cruz and Palin could alienate black and Democratic voters that had long supported Shannon despite his party affiliation. 

Palin’s and Cruz’s conservative messages often comes with problematic baggage, a cache that Shannon has largely avoided as a respected member of the black community and member of Oklahoma’s six-member Legislative Black Caucus. 

“We differ in policy, but as a man he is a commendable, respectable married man with high morals and high standards,” Oklahoma state Democratic Rep. Anastasia Pittman, chair of the black caucus and co-chair of the Native American caucus, told msnbc. Pittman said she thought that the Palin and Cruz endorsements in particular could be “polarizing.” 

“Maybe they sat down and did the math, maybe they crunched the statistical values and said if you do this, you don’t really need the African American vote,” she said. “I think Palin is just looking for a kite to hang her wagon on. She’s got a load and a bunch of baggage and she wants to get on the first thing smoking.”

So in order to repair their image with black Americans Sarah Palin and Ted Cruz, decide to pimp the first black guy who doesn't make them want to clutch their handbags in fear.

Let's see if the Palin curse still has its sting. And if the black community of Oklahoma is willing to support a candidate that icons of the racist Tea Party would deign stand with on a stage.

Sarah Palin and the politically terrorizing, horrid, up to no good, very bad for America week. Update!

So next week is going to be a balls to the wall, bring out your inflatable bawangas, make sure to wear your most photogenic road kill wig, week for Sarah Palin.

First she is headed out to Tulsa, Oklahoma with fellows Teabagging lunatics Mike Lee and Ted Cruz, to pimp for Senate candidate T.W. Shannon on the 24th.

As you know Oklahoma has been fighting to replace Florida and Texas as the official national redneck laughingstock, what with their Hobby Lobby Bible Study, and their proposed get shit faced and shoot'em up family activity center.

So for Oklahoma having this clown car show up will not even seem like an embarrassment.

Update: Here's one I missed. Palin will also be in Alabama on the 25th, giving a speech at the Baldwin Country Republican party annual dinner.

So now she is showing up at tiny political venues where there is NO national press coverage.

Interesting.

On Saturday, the 26th, Palin will appear at an NRA rally in Indiana, where she will undoubtedly dress like a two bit hooker and lick the barrel of a gun in order to inspire people politically to stand up for their rights to shoot people who look at them cross ways.

And on the 27th, Palin will make an appearance at something called the "Heels on, Gloves off" ShePAC rally in Iowa, where Palin will once again set back the woman's movement by at least 50 years. 

All of this is a clear indication that Palin is going for broke this election cycle and working her bony Red Bull fueled butt off to prove she is still politically relevant and hopefully trick a few more people into giving money to her PAC so she can stop having to actually do work-like things in order to make money and support her layabout family, buy more botox, and keep paying the hush money.

Of course a lot of that monetary support depends on Palin endorsing winning candidates, and her appearances seeming to actually help them emerge victorious in November.

A possibility that seems less likely than ever.

The President's SOTU speech. The good, the bad, and the ugly GOP responses.

CNN instant poll on Obama’s State of the Union pic.twitter.com/1WyEcllaX8
— Jon Passantino (@passantino) January 29, 2014

I am just going to use this post as a one stop shop for SOTU attacks, ratings, and trivia.

Above you can see the CNN instant polls.

Here ABC News gives you the breakdown by the numbers:

 As all the talk about the words in President Obama’s State of the Union address begins, here’s the speech by the numbers: 

80 applause interruptions 

15 minutes, 36 seconds – total length of those interruptions 

3 laughter interruptions 

40 standing ovations (19 of them bipartisan, 21 Democrats-only) 

36 rounds of bipartisan applause 

42 rounds of Democrats-only applause 

2 rounds where it was too hard to tell

Here is Rachel Maddow confronting  Rep. Huelskamp over this tweet, and many others:

Obama politicizes the military to end his speech. Totally expected, Mr. President. #SOTU
— Cong. Tim Huelskamp (@CongHuelskamp) January 29, 2014

Maddow challenged Rep. Huelskamp on-air over his strange and arrogant comments. 

“I have to ask you if that was tongue in cheek — do you really believe that was ‘politicizing’ the military,” she asked. 

Hueskamp responded that the GOP “actually invited our own veteran,” and claimed that the President “ran against the military” and “highlights them when it helps politically.” 

Never mind that President Obama spent hours with the troops during his vacation in Hawaii over Christmas, and made most of that visit off-limits to the press — so it wasn’t “political.” 

Maddow would not let the Tea Party member from Kansas get away with that. 

“How did he run against the military?” 

“It’s pretty clear — he wanted to bring the troops home, he wants to close Gitmo, he wants to do all kinds of things…” 

“Is bringing the troops home your definition of being against the military?” 

That’s when Huelskamp lost it. 

“You know they’re hiding the truth on Benghazi,” Rep. Huelskamp said. “We’re looking for them to come forward, let those folks testify who were on the ground.” 

“It’s also the responsibility of Hillary Clinton,” he added. “Just a few months ago she said what difference does it make? Two days ago she says it was the biggest regret in her life.” 

As the interview progressed, Huelskamp accused Maddow of “being a cheerleader” instead of a journalist. 

“Did you just call me a cheerleader?” she asked, shocked. 

“I don’t know, maybe you have that history,” Huelskamp quipped. “If it was Bush, you would be jumping and screaming.” 

“You’re amazing,” Maddow responded, clearly shocked and irritated.

Yep, that went well. What a douchenozzle!

Here are a few of the GOP responses:

First the official Republican response featuring  Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the gist of which apparently was that she really wanted to thank God for allowing her to give birth to a child with Down syndrome. (The Rubio thirst starts to hit her at about the 2:00 mark.)

Then there is the Tea Party response courtesy of Sen. Mike Lee.

Yes this Mike Lee, seen standing between the Lunatic from Lake Lucille, and Rafael Cruz wearing his Brokeback Mountain jacket.

Then Rand Paul gave HIS response to the President's speech, because....well everybody else got to. (You'll be happy to know that Paul got through the entire speech without bringing up Monica Lewinsky. However he did call government stupid, which of course would be less true if he and Mike Lee were to resign. Oh, and House Republicans called it blatant self promotion.)

There was apparently yet ANOTHER response delivered by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtine of Florida, but I don't know who the hell that is.

There was also a response from the aforementioned Lake Lucille Lunatic, but it is so full of moosepoop that it is really beneath our notice. (Besides she didn't write it.)

By the way here is the actual transcript of the speech so you can see for yourselves that it was pretty damn good.

And finally here is the best expression of the entire night.

Go ahead, try not to smile.

What made it even better is that it happened right next to Speaker Boehner, who had this expression on his face.

In many ways I think THAT summed up the different responses to the President's speech last night.

Mitch McConnell braces his jowls for a fight with the tea Party.

Courtesy of Washington Examiner:

 For Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, enough was enough. 

The Senate's top Republican had watched a Tea Party-driven government shutdown sink the GOP's already-weak brand and jeopardize McConnell's own chances of ever becoming majority leader. The solution, he concluded, was that the party's so-called Establishment had to start fighting back against its most conservative wing. 

McConnell, an ardent Obamacare opponent, and other Republican pragmatists in Congress, supported the conservatives' mission to defund Obamacare during budget negotiations, which led to the 16-day shutdown. But the pragmatists also accepted that their odds of success were virtually nil. Democrats ruled the Senate and White House, those lawmakers argued, and Obama was never going to allow his signature legislative achievement to be scrapped just because the political opposition demanded it. 

Yet, Republicans who wanted to avoid a shutdown watched it happen anyway. Tea Party-aligned Republicans, backed by outside groups that threatened any GOP lawmakers who didn't go along, had prevailed despite the widespread concern that such a shutdown would be politically disastrous for the party. 

Dismayed Establishment Republicans, frustrated again by an increasingly influential community of conservative insurgents, reasserted themselves in the wake of the shutdown and demonstrated a new resolve to fight back -- something they were once reluctant to do. 

“There were people who were basically afraid of [conservatives], frankly,” McConnell told the Washington Examiner. “It’s time for people to stand up to this sort of thing.” 

McConnell worries that the Senate Conservatives Fund and other insurgent groups are pursuing a confrontational, uncompromising strategy that makes it impossible for conservatives to govern. 

“The Senate Conservatives Fund is giving conservatism a bad name. They’re participating in ruining the [Republican] brand,” McConnell said. “What they do is mislead their donors into believing the reason that we can’t get as good an outcome as we’d like to get is not because of a Democratic Senate and a Democratic president, but because Republicans are insufficiently committed to the cause — which is utter nonsense.”

"Utter nonsense." That is essentially a slap in the face of Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, and Sarah Palin, who believe that REAL conservatives, ie conservatives who refuse to work with the Democrats, could kill Obamacare and repair the reputation of the Republican party if only the establishment Republicans would get out of the damn way.

The truth of course is that while Mitch McConell is one of the sleaziest opportunists in the Senate, he is a sleazy opportunist who understands how politics works, and that the politician who compromises today lives to fight again, while the ideologues may burn much brighter but eventually flame out in the end. (Joe McCarthy anyone?)

The only question remaining is will the fall of the Teabagger movement happen before, or after, they oust Mitch McConnell from his position as the perennial GOP candidate from Kentucky, and allow his seat to be taken by the Democrats?

Well regardless of what happens all I know is that it will be a hell of a lot of fun to watch the establishment Republicans fighting it out with the Tea Party Libertarians/Republicans.

After having run out of "Lamestream media" outlets to pimp her book, Sarah Palin starts crawling through the sewers of the Right Wing propaganda merchants.

So this interview is with Newsmax, which many of you may remember used to offer free issues of her "Going Rogue" book with a subscription back in the day.

So of course you know they are completely non-biased.

The interviewer is some guy named Joe Concha, who I have never heard of, and he starts off asking her about Chris Christie.

Palin: "I think what the suggested question here is 'How would he do in a presidential race,' 'How would he do nation wide?' That remains to be seen. Because so many Americans, me included, me being a proud participant in that grassroots movement that is referred to as the Tea Party. We are tired of politicians kind of vacillating on some very fundamental issues. Say..um..amnesty for one, let's talk one specific issue. When we are a pro-immigration nation we want people to come in recognizing how exceptional America is, we want them to work hard for the awesome benefits and blessings of America. But we want, right out of the shoot, them not to break our law. Because we are governed by laws."

(Apparently as opposed to wherever these dirty non-Americans come from which is probably governed by nothing more than games of rock, paper, scissors.)

Concha tries to get some kind of rational response from Palin instead of this chaotic word sausage, so he suggests that perhaps it is on cultural issues, like gay marriage or immigraion that she disagrees with Christie.

Palin: "I just absolutely want to make sure that the next GOP candidate can so excite, and encourage, and empower the American people, that we want to get out there and vote FOR that person, and FOR their message, and FOR their agenda, instead of just voting against the statist, big government, socialized policies that now doubt the far left Democrat will be representing. I want, we want something to vote FOR not just AGAINST." 

(It seems to escape Palin's notice that she is only speaking for a tiny part of the Republican party, and that a candidate who she would eagerly vote FOR would NEVER get the nomination, and if they did would suffer a crushing defeat in the 2016 election.)

Concha then reminds Palin that she accused Christie of "going along just to get along."

Palin: " Too often that is what we see, and not just necessarily Chris Christie, but so many politicians think that this is the time to compromise with the Left. Take Obamacare, politicians ran on the idea of replacing Obamacare with something that is market centered, patient centered, something that allows competition in the marketplace of health care coverage. (Does she not realize that she just described The Affordable Care Act?) And yet when it came time to stand up and defund it, which is the legislative tool that Congress holds to get rid of a policy that is absolutely a train wreck for this country, too many politicians waved the white flag instead and did not stand with Senators like Tex Cruz and Mike Lee who were fulfilling their campaign promise to do all that they could to defund, to replace Obamacare. So that's a disappointment."

Concha then reminds her that the government was partially shutdown, and that she referred to it as a "slimdown."

Palin: "Oh yeah a slimdown, oh yeah what? Sixteen days of 17% of the government kinda turning down the volume of its expenditures and its activities, that was not a shutdown."

Palin then went on to blame the "Lamestram media for not reporting that the shutdown was the fault of President Obama and Harry Reid, and instead blamed it on the Republicans. (You know, the ones who actually shut down the government.) Palin also said that if it were up to her she would do the same thing, with "better" messaging" this time.

Concha then returns to Chris Christie and asks if she would support him if he got the nomination.

Palin: "It depends on who else is out there at the time. I’m not so anti-Chris Christie that, certainly, it’s not like I wouldn’t give him a chance to make sure that what it is that he stands for, and his record would have tor reflect, this recognition that America's going bankrupt and we can;t rely on the federal government to continue to bail out businesses and communities (Super storm Sandy anyone?), and...um..that..then making our freedoms fade and making our free market be stifled. I would want to make sure that any candidate, not just Chris Christie, understands the import of empowering the people, individuals, our own businesses, our own families to make decisions for ourselves, not big government."

Okay that is enough for me. That last statement may have broken my brain.

I will add however that Palin is asked if she would support one of her kids running for public office, and surprise, surprise, she would. 

Do you hear that Trig? You're going to be the Mayor!

(H/T to Mediaite.)

Hey remember how the Koch brothers denied they had lobbied to defund Obamacare and were behind the government shutdown? Yeah, well they lied.

Do you remember this letter?  

“Koch has not taken a position on the legislative tact of tying the continuing resolution to defunding Obamacare nor have we lobbied on legislative provisions defunding Obamacare,” Philip Ellender, president of government and public affairs at Koch wrote in a letter sent Wednesday to senators. “Instead, Koch has focused on educating the public about reducing our nation’s debt and controlling runaway government spending.” 

Well it was all bullshit.

This from Open Secrets:

But new reports show that the company did lobby Congress to tie an increase in the debt ceiling to a 10-year debt reduction plan -- a concept developed and championed earlier this year by libertarian and tea party groups like the Heritage Action, Family Research Council and Club for Growth; those are some of the same groups that pushed the Obamacare-shutdown linkage. 

According to its third quarter report, Koch Industries, which spent $2.1 million lobbying from July 1 through Sept. 30, disclosed that it lobbied Congress "to increase the debt ceiling in conjunction with reducing government spending consistent with a 10 year path to a balanced budget." 

That's exactly the language used by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) in his budget proposal. And the idea that the debt ceiling should be raised only with the acceptance of a 10-year budget plan, was first floated last winter by several conservative groups, including the libertarian-oriented Heritage Action, which has its own ties to the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, who control Koch Industries. The Kochs, through a 501(c)(6) group they spearheaded, Freedom Partners, have given $500,000 to Heritage Action. 

The plan is likely what Koch meant when, in its Oct. 9 letter, it said that "We believe that Congress should, at a minimum, keep to sequester-level spending guidelines, and develop a plan for more significant and widespread spending reductions in the future."

So much for the idea that the anti-Obamacare movement was driven by grass roots support. 

This thing was thought up by the Heritage Action, paid for by Koch brother money, and implemented by their paid operatives in Washington.

NOTHING about the government shutdown had anything to do with helping the American people or getting spending under control. It was ALL about sabotaging the government and proving that it, and our President, were ineffective.

Sarah Palin goes "full retard" in using her paranoia over Obamacare as a bludgeon against the Republican party that once chose her as their VP candidate. Ingrate thy name is Palin.

Photo courtesy of Facebook

The rather colorful diatribe (Warning! Links to Breitbart.) begins by relating the fantasy that Palin took on the Alaska "Corrupt Bastard Club" virtually single-handedly. And that it was the grass roots that took them down, when in fact it was the Feds.

Then she mentions her aborted attempt to take over the Republican party up here in 2008 (Which I have mentioned here before):  

I’ll never forget standing at the podium during our state GOP convention and asking delegates to stand up with me and oust the status quo because the political environment had to change for Alaska to progress toward her manifest destiny as a more productive—and ethical—state to help secure our union. (She neglects to mention that what she was really trying to do was to overthrow the party completely and put Joe Miller in place as the head of the Alaska Republican party, a plan that was put on hold once she knew that McCain was about to tap her for his VP choice.) Only about half stood up. The rest looked around gauging the political winds and sat on their thumbs. Our federal delegation was incensed at me. Their influence resulted in much of the party machine staying put, but I’ll never be sorry I fought it. 

Today, doesn't it seem like we have a Corrupt Bastards Club in D.C.? On steroids? It might not be as oily and obvious as its Alaska counterpart, but it’s just as compromised because its members, too, are indifferent to what their actions mean for We the People. 

I’m prepared to be attacked for suggesting this comparison of the D.C. political establishment with the CBC. (Oh, and you will.) But I call it like I see it. And lived it. The fight over defunding socialized healthcare, aka Obamacare, should have opened everyone’s eyes to call it the same.

Palin's ghostwriter (Hiya RAM.) then goes on and on about the secret plan behind Obamacare being the destruction of our current health care system, so that they can introduce single payer and have a health care system that is similar to Canada's, which she deems sub-par:

Now let’s look at what Canadians have. I dare say our good neighbor to your north, and my east, has even worse health care coverage, but at least it’s “free” for the individual.

Then there are kisses blown to Tex Cruz, Mike Lee, and the rest of the Tea-ban.

The only credible plan of action was to do everything in our power to delay the implementation of Obamacare – defund it, postpone it, whatever – while at the same time work to elect a majority to repeal it. That is what Cruz and Lee and those Tea Party aligned House Members were doing. There was no other credible alternative plan to seize the constitutionally appropriate opportunity to legislatively close the purse strings to stop the juggernaut of full socialized medicine.

And then it's right back for the GOP jugular.

GOP politicians claim they’re against Obamacare and promise to repeal it. But when it came time to stand up and use the Constitutional tools they have – the power of the purse strings – to finally halt the implementation, they balked, waved the white flag, and joined the lapdog media in trashing the good guys who fought for us. (The bastards!)


Meanwhile, behind the scenes, these same politicians are covertly pushing through amnesty despite evidence that the 33 million newly legalized voters will overwhelmingly lean Democrat! Obviously this makes the likelihood of a GOP hat trick electoral victory, and hence the repeal of socialized healthcare, even more improbable. (What hell? Did she just accidentally admit to why the Republicans are so freaked out?)

The media wants you to believe that the partial government shutdown “fractured” the Republican machine from grassroots commonsense conservatives who go by the acronym TEA Party (that stands for “Taxed Enough Already”). No, Tea Party patriots rose up because the Republican machine “fractured” itself years ago by marginalizing its conservative base. The recent “slimdown” didn’t cause the fracture. It happened because of the fracture – because wayward Republicans have refused for years to stand up and fight for economic freedom and limited government, despite campaigning on those principles every election cycle. That’s how we got into this debt-ridden mess in the first place. They campaigned one way, but governed another. 

It’s the establishment’s choice whether this fracture remains unfixed because the conservative grassroots will never give up the fight for freedom. Never. Never. (Never, never, never, goddammit ever!) Generations of our sons and daughters sent off to war to protect our freedom have paid too high a price for us to ever give up the fight.

Well alrighty then. 

So essentially Sarah Palin seems to not so much be declaring war on the Democrats and President Obama, as she is declaring war on the Republican party.

It seems that Palin has decided that attacking and destroying the Affordable Care Act is too much for the Tea-ban, but that the GOP presents a softer target for their anger and aggression.

What is that saying again? "The enemy of my enemy is my friend?"

Yeah well forget that, Sarah Palin will always be the enemy, even though by attacking the Republican party from within she may appear to be doing the Democratic party's job for them.

P.S. By the way that picture up above looks posed. I think that this is how the unhappy couple appeared during most of their time in Washington. 

"Keep up Todd, or I will drive off and leave you like last time."

Now for something very disturbing, and kind of great. Ted Cruz: Wrecking Ball. Update!

 Did you see Palin? Not often that she is among the least disturbing parts of a video.

Apparently the singer is King the Kid. (Who I have never heard of before.)

Update: The House just passed the Senate budget 285 to 143. The government is now open for business.

This is win the President and a loss for Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin, and the forces of darkness.

Update 2:  President Obama has signed the bill.

And that takes care of that. Until the beginning of next year that is.

More on yesterday's Tea Party grandstanding, political opportunism, and the anger the original organizers feel at having their rally hijacked.

So the above has become the iconic image that came out of yesterday's protests, which started with a more somber Million Vet March, and much like a high school party, when the parents are out of town, quickly devolved into just short of a riot at the White House gates.

It, of course, also attracted certain political rabble rousers and political has beens who did nothing calm the situation.

Courtesy of The New Civil Rights Movement: 

Neither Sarah Palin nor Republican Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee ever served one day in our nation’s armed forces, yet they all decided to lead a group of “hundreds” of self-proclaimed veterans — mostly Tea Party members, military service not verified — in a “Million Vet March” today that was anything but a million. Armed by and motivated with the Confederate flag, Tea Partyiers vandalized our nation’s monuments and national landmarks, because they had been closed as a result of the federal government shutdown — an act which all three not only supported, but which the two Senators actually created. 

Their hypocrisy is stunning. 

A few protestors took the metal barricades — dubbed “barrycades,” because in their minds the President is responsible for the GOP-led shutdown and for personally closing the national monuments and parks — and piled them, in what could be called an act of vandalism, five feet high in front of the White House gates. 

The crowd of Tea Party members was so raucous and potentially violent that the National Park’s SWAT and riot police had to be called in. 

Announcing the “liberation” of the national parks — opening them up to further vandalism by removing the protective barricades — former Alaska governor Sarah Palin labeled it “a matter of shutdown priorities.” 

“We are here to honor our vets,” Palin cried. “You look around though and you see these barricades and you have to ask yourself is this any way that a commander in chief would show his respect, his gratitude to our military?” 

Of course, actually protecting the nation’s landmarks, parks, and monuments from vandalism is the job of the Park Police — who could not do their job, resulting in the closure of the parks due to the shutdown, forced upon the nation by Senators Cruz and Lee, and their Tea Party compatriots.

Here we see Palin, Lee, and Cruz soaking up the media attention after hijacking the protest.

There is more from WPTV:

High-profile speakers with close ties to the tea party appeared at the event, including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. 

The rally, billed as the "Million Vet March on the Memorials," drew far fewer than a million people and evolved into a protest that resembled familiar tea party events from 2009, with yellow "Don't Tread On Me" flags throughout the crowd and strong anti-Obama language from the podium and the audience. 

One speaker went as far as saying the president was a Muslim and separately urged the crowd of hundreds to initiate a peaceful uprising. 

"I call upon all of you to wage a second American nonviolent revolution, to use civil disobedience, and to demand that this president leave town, to get up, to put the Quran down, to get up off his knees, and to figuratively come out with his hands up," said Larry Klayman of Freedom Watch, a conservative political advocacy group.
 
Here Mediaite has video of the incredibly disrespectful manner in which the protesters interacted with  the police who came to protect the White House:  

As we reported earlier, a protest that started at the World War II Memorial ended up in front of the White House, where protesters piled up barricades that had been used to keep people out of the memorial during the government shutdown. Police, some in riot gear, were called in, and while news reports showed some of the confrontation, raw Youtube video of the protest reveals members of the crowd heckling the officers, calling them “brown shirts,” the “Gestapo,” the “Stasi,” and opining that the unit “looks like something out of Kenya.” 

One of the things the Uniformed Secret Service and other DC law enforcement organizations do for Americans is protect the White House, which includes not letting people pile up a bunch of ladders in front of the White House fence. The north side of the White House is a frequent site for protests, and the Secret Service don’t usually engage them at all unless there is a threat to the perimeter, whereas even tourists who climb onto the base of the fence to get a better view are quickly dealt with. You can protest all you want, as far as the cops are concerned, just don’t mess with the fence.

This fiasco so embarrassed the original organizers that they issued this statement: 

It is our official position that the purpose of this march and the accompanying rallies is focused on the re-opening of the Veterans memorials and keeping them open. While we understand that a Constitutional republic requires the equilibrium of checks and balances to maintain the democratic process, the memorials, monuments and parks built in honor of Veterans should NEVER be closed, blocked or restricted from use. We take the official position that no government office holder shall have ability to abridge the freedom of access to these hallowed grounds. 

We have, as a group, been prevented from certain groups that have piggy-backed off our grassroots efforts, to effectively create a comprehensive media message campaign. We made the mistake of trying to partner with some Washington insiders that thwarted many of our genuine concerns for keeping this apolitical and grassroots. While we support many of those groups common causes for Veterans, we do not support the manner in which they go about it. We chose instead to not incite or create panic. 

We chose to listen to all Americans and all Veterans that have asked us to keep going on despite the disingenuous politicians, political action committees, talking heads on the televisions and press reports attempting to hijack the message. This included many threats of personal and political attacks on our group’s character, businesses, colleagues and our true intentions. While our hearts were heavy by the disheartening acts of a few powerful Washington elite and political extremists jumping on the opportunity to make money, we decided to stay true to our message of a non-partisan effort to assist Veterans.

You know I actually think the Million Vet March was a poorly thought out idea, but at least they were sincere in their frustration. They did not deserve to have their event hijacked by Tea Party assholes and opportunistic politicians.

Of course NOBODY deserves to have themselves associated with Sarah Palin.

Except perhaps these two.

Sarah Palin joins Ted Cruz in an attempt to distract the American people from the fact that the government shutdown was the brainchild of THEIR financial backers. Update!

Granny Grifter, Sancho the sidekick, the ghost of Joe McCarthy, and Greta Van "Sucking the integrity out of journalism."

Courtesy of USA Today:  

A crowd converged on the World War II Memorial on the National Mall, pushing through barriers Sunday morning to protest the memorial's closing under the government shutdown. 

Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas were among those who gathered Sunday morning, along with former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, according to WTOP radio. Cruz said President Obama is using veterans as pawns in the shutdown. 

"Tear down these walls," the crowd chanted. Protesters also sang God Bless America and other patriotic songs as they entered the memorial plaza. 

The memorial has become a political symbol in the bitter fight between Democrats and Republicans over who is at fault since the shutdown began. Earlier rallies have focused on allowing access for World War II veterans visiting from across the country with the Honor Flight Network. 

Sunday's rally was more political. A protest by truckers converged with a rally by a group called the Million Vet March at the World War II Memorial. Participants cut the links between metal barriers at the National Park Service site and pushed them aside.

I'm sorry the 30 truckers that were supposed to close down Washington merged with the handful of vet and Tea Party politicians who showed up for this, and it is news worthy?

Let me just remind everybody, though  I am sure the majority of you know this, that this entire debacle is the result of year long work by organizations funded by the Koch brothers, and that it is only after seeing how poorly it was received by the public that they tried to call their dogs off.

However Sarah Palin,  Ted Cruz, Michele Bachmann and the rest of the Teabagger contingent, are rabid, poorly trained mongrels, who do not readily respond to a jerk on their chains once they think they smell blood in the air.

So they find these examples of the hardships caused by THEIR actions, and in a truly disgusting and vulgar manner use them in an attempt to turn the blame back onto the President. However the American people are simply not buying it and none of this grandstanding is going to convince them otherwise.

Here is their shameful attempt to deflect blame as it appeared on Fox News.

(Oh I think Cruz is going to regret allowing himself to be filmed standing next to the Wasilla Wendigo.)

And let's face it, once this whole thing blows over, and everybody starts going back to doing the jobs they were elected to do, Ted Cruz and Mike Lee will be severely marginalized. They will have lost any semblance of leadership and be forced to sit in the back while the grownups run the country.

(Hey isn't that Rick Perry's jacket? Why yes, yes I think it is.)

And as for Palin, well after this disintegrates into nothing, Steve Lonegan gets his ass handed to him, and Obamacare is accepted by all as the law of the land, she will have to go back to pretending that she lives in Alaska while hiding out in Arizona and waiting for the next minor political molehill to come along just begging to be made into a mountain of misrepresentations.

But don't worry as long as there are ignorant people in the world,  there will always be a need for a Sarah Palin around to remind them that they are not alone in their ignorance.

(Photos courtesy of Twitchy.)

Update: Poor Todd:

On Sunday, Palin and her husband, Mark, appeared at the World War II and Lincoln memorials with Sen. Ted Cruz in Washington, D.C., where she continued her rant against the White House.

Damn how did I miss this one? Not only did she apparently divorce old two tone, but according to  Yahoo News she has already married some guy named Mark.

Update 2: Uh oh, somebody's wig is slipping.

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