Lawrence O'Donnell Jr.

The 40 or so far right-extremists and libertarians who topped Boehner and denied McCarthy the speakership and are now deciding Paul Ryan's fate, are easy targets because they are generally misogynistic, homophobic racists. Some are neo-Nazis and even more are Confederates. But does that mean they're always wrong about everything? And, more to the point, what does that say about the bottom-up congressional rebellion they're leading against the House leadership rules now?

I wish I could say that Leon Panetta’s book, Worthy Fights, will be the capstone of his wretched political career. But with Hillary likely to be the next president, I suspect Panetta’s repulsive attacks on Obama will only guarantee him position and influence to come. Everyone knows the 76 year old Panetta was Bill Clinton’s OMB Director and then Chief of Staff and then Obama’s Director of the CIA and then Secretary of Defense.

You know, I barely even care about the hypocrisy of Republicans running on Family Values platitudes and then bonking each other. It's their personal problem and a problem for their stupid base voters who are motivated by that drivel. The Vance McAllister (R-LA) kissing episode, though, has captured the imagination of the public.

Sunday we looked at North Carolina Republican congressional candidate Jason Thigpen's switch from the GOP to the Democratic Party. Monday evening Jason went on air with Lawrence O'Donnell to talk about his oddessey (above).When I spoke with him over the weekend, Jason seemed to me to be a very independent-minded, thoughtful, progressive-oriented citizen with a keen understanding of a Constitution he takes very seriously.

-by NoahSometimes satirists have a very hard time satirizing Congress. Case in point: the current Congressional hearings about glitches in the allegedly satanic, marxist, communist, Muslim jihad-influenced Affordable Care Act; aka, dare we say it out loud, Obamacare.How does one satirize a bunch of morons in suits who have but one discernable talent-- satirizing themselves, whether intentionally or not, better than anyone else could ever hope to?

Republicans are so scared of women voters right now, they can't see straight." Especially Texas Republicans. So they're doing all they can to prevent as many women from voting. Lawrence O'Donnell and his guest explain what's going on and why. So did Natalie Smith:

The Koch brothers just cost American taxpayers $24 billion with their two and a half week Republican temper tantrum. They should foot the bill. Ha ha ha… right? That's funny, huh? No, I'm serious. Society must protect itself from dangerous predators and there are no predators in the world-- not in al Qaeda, not in North Korea, not in Iran-- more damaging to America than David and Charles Koch, scions of a European fascist family.

I'm not as offended as others are that Darrell Issa called the White House Press Secretary a "paid liar." Let's be honest. I'm more offended that someone of Issa's character could have a role in my country's government. The DCCC ignored him last year, even though Obama had won his district in 2008. It wasn't about Issa; it was Steve Israel's policy to not challenge senior Republican policy-makers-- solidarity among thieves or something.

Like most Americans, President Obama's reaction to the tornado devastation is Oklahoma was to ask how we could help. He pledged "all of the resources" necessary to rebuild to the state that gave him his poorest results in November, 33% and a loss of every single county. (Cleveland County, where the devastation was the most brutal, went for Romney 59,019 to 34,701 in November.) Oklahoma has 5 congressmen, all Republicans. Jim Bridenstine, Markwayne Mullin, Frank Lucas, Tom Cole and James Lankford.