The GOP is The Birther Party

As much as I heartily employ some local conservative republicans' outright rejection of the birther conspiracy theory, I have to point out that the theory, such as it is, is going mainstream GOP.

From Chris Matthews:



He said:

A plurality of Republican voters, 47 percent, said they believed Mr. Obama, who was born in Hawaii, was born in another country; 22 percent said they did not know where he was born, and 32 percent said they believed he was born in the United States.

The numbers come from this CBS/NYTimes poll (though it's actually 45% and not 47% who "know" Obama wasn't born in the US).

That's still very close to 7 out of 10 republicans who don't know that the President of the United States was born in Hawaii.

Here's a thought: any Republican you meet on the street you should ask them if they're a birther, because chances are, they are.

Any of my Republican friends want to chime in here?

What a sad state of affairs for a once great political party.

Chris Matthews Nails Bishop Tobin On Hypocrisy On Abortion

Note: Matthews mentions Tobin's Pittsburgh connection which Chris Potter elaborates on here.
.

Pat Toomey on Abortion

Don't know if you caught this one. Here's Pat Toomey, GOP candidate against Senator Arlen Specter, on Hardball (via Crooksandliars):

Toomey: I think that Roe v Wade was wrongly defined, wrongly decided and I think states should be free to restrict abortion and I would support legislation in Pennsylvania that would ban abortion and I would suggest that we have penalties for doctors who perform them if we were able to pass that law.

Matthews: Would you put people in jail for performing abortions?

Toomey: At some point doctors performing abortions, I think would be subject to that sort of penalty.

Toomey, in the same interview a few seconds earlier, says he's on the "center right." I wonder who he thinks is on the "far" right.

Caption Contest: Snoop Dog and Mayor Luke Luke Ravenstahl

Via Bob Mayo:


These are already taken:

Stop hangin' with thugs, Snoop!

I vomited a little in my mouth when I saw this.

Pictured: A silly nick-named, irresponsible, juvenile, joy-riding, handcuffed by police, ethically challenged, stranger from the truth man-child poster boy and Snoop Dog.

Tony Norman weighs in on the photo here.

And, while Early Returns is "almost speechless" at all things Steelerstahl, am I the only one who caught Lil Mayor Luke on Hardball the Friday before the Super Bowl?

Lukey got a full three minutes with Chris Mathews and managed not to get in one good word about anything about Pittsburgh other than the Steelers. But he did note that snow falls from the air.

You can watch it here (for some damn reason I have problems embedding NBC videos).
.

Just plain stupid, willfully ignorant or lying their butts off?

Three recent Media Matters stories

First up: Lou Dobbs spin on global warming:

Despite overwhelming evidence of human-caused global warming and warnings by experts that short-term weather conditions are not evidence for or against its existence, Lou Dobbs said during the introduction of his December 18 CNN show: "And tonight, unusual winter storms are dumping snow in unusual places across Western states, and a huge snowstorm is headed toward the Northeast. This is global warming?" During his segment on the issue, moreover, Dobbs hosted Heartland Institute senior fellow and science director Jay Lehr without disclosing that Heartland receives funding from the energy industry and without challenging Lehr's assertions that "[t]he last 10 years have been quite cool" and that "the sun" -- rather than humans -- is responsible for recent climate change.

Next: Rick Warren's lies about Prop. 8 (and Ann Curry's lousy reporting):

During her December 19 Dateline NBC report on Rev. Rick Warren, after noting Warren's support for California's Proposition 8 -- which amended the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage -- co-host Ann Curry reported that "Warren says he joined the fray out of a concern that if Proposition 8 wasn't passed, pastors would lose their right to preach about the biblical definition of marriage." Curry then added, "But many constitutional experts say that fear was totally unfounded, and gay rights leaders saw Warren's stance as an infringement on their civil rights." As Media Matters for America documented, while previewing her interview with Warren the day before, Curry uncritically reported that Warren "was worried that this Proposition 8 would prevent him from getting up on the pulpit and speaking out against same-sex marriage," echoing the falsehood that had Proposition 8 not passed, members of the clergy could have been restricted in what they could say in the pulpit and could have been forced to perform same-sex marriages.

Lastly: They take on Chris Mathews' long record of biased and offensive "reporting" and general mendacity:

Chris Matthews' interest in the Pennsylvania Senate seat currently held by Republican Arlen Specter raises the possibility of something that is all too rare among the nation's media elite: accountability.

It has long been clear that if we applied to journalists who cover politics the standards they purport to apply to politicians -- truthfulness, judgment, being in touch with regular Americans, and so on -- many of them would fare quite poorly.

[snip]

None of this has ever seemed to get Matthews into much trouble with his bosses at MSNBC, who are reportedly interested in keeping him around after his contract expires next year. But if he runs for the Senate, with no record to run on other than years of television transcripts, he may soon find that Pennsylvania voters are less indulgent of his cheerleading for Bush, his near-constant ridicule of Democrats, and his frequently offensive treatment of women.

.

Very Scary Quinnipiac Poll!

If you're like me, when you hear anything about a new poll you naturally assume presidential, right?

Well, so did I when the folks from Quinnipiac called yesterday evening to ask me some questions. As it turns out, however, this poll was all about good old PA. There were lots of questions about the Legislature, Rendell, Casey and Specter (I had to assist the caller with the pronunciation of "DeWeese").

The scary part came right upfront. After screening me in, the first real question asked how familiar I was with this guy:

UGH! (Tweety captured mid-harass)

Then they asked how likely I would be to vote for Chris Matthews as the Democrat vs. Senator Arlen Specter the Republican in 2010, when they said Matthews would be the likely candidate.

Talk about frightening!

Yes, by all mean let's have another Center Right On Social Issues Dem in PA. And, this one a huge pig to boot!

On the other hand, I find Specter horribly frustrating. He often talks a good game when it comes to our rights under the Constitution and the Rule of Law. He acts like he'll stand tall and be fair and independent, but inevitably he backs down and votes the good ol' Republican line. He's full of hot air.

So I guess Specter vs. Tweety would make it the Chickenshit Hot Air Balloon vs. the Sexist Gasbag race.

Lord help us all!
.