shutting down the government

Okay, fair's fair. This came as an e-mail from "My Democrats," and I've chopped off a button labeled "CHIP IN," out of sheer cussedness at all these e-mails whose purpose turns out to be to shake money out of us.

Mica & Lankford: 2 ugly right-wing faces of GOP nihilism & cowardiceWhile unreconstructed Confederate nihilists like Louisiana's John Fleming were boasting this morning that they're ready to force another government shutdown in January and another default crisis in February, many Republicans from normal parts of America were breathing a sigh of relief

The Wall Street Journal editorial page, the GOP version of the NY Times, warned the congressional Republicans Wednesday morning, "It's time to wrap up this comedy of political errors… 30 or so Members were tired of getting kicked around by Heritage Action and Senator Ted Cruz and want the whole thing settled… Republicans can best help their cause now by getting this over with."Geor

Do you ever wonder why Republicans hate public education? A lot depends on which Republicans you're talking about. The Old Skool Conservatives just don't think wealthy men's taxes should go towards educating poor men's daughters. That kind of defines core conservatism. But the GOP New Skool isn't conservative; it's some kind of sick conglomeration of reactionaries, neo-fascists, racists and nihilists. They fear and oppose modern society in general; it almost makes no sense even discussing issues with them from the perspective of reason.

Why isn't this man crying?"Republicans say, 'Remember one thing. We are standing up for an important principle. And as soon as we figure out what it is, you will be the first to know.' "-- Bill Maher"John Boehner holds the nation hostage because the Tea Party holds him hostage.

When Elizabeth Warren rails against what she called "backward-looking ideologues" she meant the 15-20 reactionaries who met to plot strategy with Ted Cruz at the notorious Tortilla Coast meeting Monday night, a meeting that included outright racists and secessionists like Steve King (R-IA), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Steve Southerland (R-FL), Mark Meadows (R-NC), Jim Jordan (R-OH) and, of course, Louie Gohmert (R-TX).

And no one likes a loserYesterday I heard Peter King (R-NY) and Charlie Dent (R-PA) each go on CNN to rail against Ted Cruz's extremism. They were speaking for dozens of non-Confederate Republicans in seats where successful candidates need independent voters-- and for more than a few Republican senators who wish his nut job father had never moved to America.

Although Pelosi said on Tuesday that Boehner apparently needs to humor his troops, she claimed that the chances of a deal to prevent a default tomorrow are good-- even if poor McConnell is being pilloried by DeMint, Cruz and the crackpot suicide caucus for "leading the surrender." In case yours got stuck in the spam folder, his is from the letter DeMint's Senate Conservatives Fund sent out to their supporters claiming McConnell "has made winning virtually impossible" for the far right, while McConnell and Reid were trying to hammer out a compromise that both sides could live with and that w

by KenIt must have been in response to my pass-along of Andy Borowitz's bulletin "Hostage-Takers Call Comparisons to Tea Party 'Hurtful'" the oher day that our colleague Noah wrote,

Please watch the Bill Moyers video above. We're going to talk a little about it in a moment. But before we do, I want to remind you who Paul Ryan is. If you had just landed from Uranus or Neptune and perused the Beltway media, you would come away thinking Ryan is a "serious" and "thoughtful" mainstream political leader. He isn't.