GOP Family Values: FAIL

Charles Blow writes in the NYT op-ed about the moral failures of the holier-than-thou "family values" agenda and the current conservative movement:

"There are Democratic sex scandals to be sure, but Democrats didn’t build a franchise on holier-than-thou moral rectitude. The Republicans did. They used sexual morality as a weapon and now it’s shooting them in the foot."

It's also a reflection on the sanctimonious electorate, the Red States who destroy everything they hold so dearly while thumping their Bibles:

"And this kind of hypocrisy isn’t confined to the politicians. It permeates the electorate. While conservatives fight to “defend” marriage from gays, they can’t keep theirs together. According to the Census Bureau’s Statistical Abstract, states that went Republican in November accounted for eight of the 10 states with the highest divorce rates in 2006.

Conservatives touted abstinence-only education, which was a flop, when real sex education was needed, most desperately in red states. According to 2006 data from the Guttmacher Institute, those red states accounted for eight of the 10 states with the highest teenage birthrates."

It's always the biggest blowhard who is guilty of doing the evil he chastises. Instead of talking trash and condemning things you don't know all the time, why not lead a good life and shut up about it.

Source: NYT

What Liberal Means To Conservatives

"Just another politician with a conservative mind and a liberal penis."
-- Jon Stewart on Mark Sanford.

Michael Jackson RIP

Who would have thunk lip-synching a new single at a Motown Awards Ceremony would change the world.

Father's Day At The Sanfords

Gov. Mark Sanford, how did you spend Father's Day this year? With your four sons?

Oh, you were in Argentina with your mistress of eight years.

Must be nice having zero morals.

"You Should Help Us"

A live witness, a 20 year-old student in Tehran, on CNN:

The Guardian has an interview with one of the riot "police" beating up all the civilians, here is an assessment:

The man, who has come from a small town in the eastern province of Khorasan and has never been in Tehran before, says he is being paid 2m rial (£122) to assault protesters with a heavy wooden stave. He says the money is the main incentive as it will enable him to get married and may even enable him to afford more than one wife. Leadership of the volunteers has been provided by a man known only as "Hajji", who has instructed his men to "beat the counter-revolutionaries so hard that they won't be able to stand up".

Real pain and suffering is too much for people, it causes inaction. But throw out a few flawed hypotheticals and sprinkle some falsehoods and watch the fringe freak out.

Source: The Daily Dish

Sanford's GOP Woes

If there is a right way and a wrong way, how do they keep on picking the wrong one, yet think of themselves so highly?

"Wow. Just wow. Yesterday, the Sanford saga was an over-hyped tale of a 'quirky' gov who just wanted to clear his head on a hiking trip. Today, it's a full-blown P.R. disaster for the would-be WH'12 hopeful, and another headache for the GOP."

The Chief Executive of the State going AWOL out of country for six days, I wonder what her name is?

Source: Political Wire

"I Wanted To Do Something Exotic"

"I wanted to do something exotic", says S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford. [It's winter in Argentina. Current temperature in Buenos Aires is 45 degrees.]

As if hiking the Appalachian Trail was not exotic enough, as reported by his staff when it as found out the Governor had been missing for days, turns out he was on a secret seven-day visit to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Seeing that his wife claims she did not know where he was, why would he go to South America, in total secret?

"Lies. Lies. Lies. That's all we get from his staff. That's all we get from his people. That's all we get from him," said state Sen. Jake Knotts, R-West Columbia. "Why all the big cover-up?"

All the posturing in the previous weeks, trying not to accept stimulus money, positioning himself as a Presidential candidate, all gone. But conservatives have a weakness for the lying secretive type.

Source: The State

McCain Needs A Little STFU And A History Lesson

A little context to John McCain, serving as de-facto hawkish Republican critic, and his call to Obama to do more in Iran via Time's Joe Klein:

"You don't need to do this. You know? You know what you're doing is a self-indulgent at this point. Sen. McCain, if he's going to talk about this, should also talk about the fact that the United States supported Saddam Hussein in the Iran/Iraq war for eight years. Every one of those protesters out in the streets, every last one of them believes the United States supplied Saddam Hussein with the poison gas that has debilitated tens of thousands of Iranian men."

These facts and histories are of no use to the McCain's of the world. The same people who did not like dissent against the completely inept George Bush, now are the biggest supporters of it against Obama.

Elections do have consequences. You lost.

Source: HuffPo

President 1, Pundit 0

This is pretty good pushback from this afternoon's White House press conference between President Obama when called on by NBC News' Chuck Todd:

TODD: You have avoided, twice, spelling out consequences. You've hinted that there would be from the international community, if they continue to violate -- and you said "violate these norms." You seemed to hint that there -- there are human rights violations taking place.

OBAMA: I'm not hinting. I think that when a young woman gets shot on the street when she gets out of her car, that's a problem.

TODD: Then why won't you spell out the consequences that the Iranian people...

OBAMA: Because I think that we don't know yet how this thing is going to play out. I know everybody here is on a 24-hour news cycle. I'm not.

Ouch. That may leave a mark. It must be all that liberal media love that gets hyped.

The Washington Monthly adds:

"What Todd wants to hear is Obama as a Pundit in Chief, pontificating about possible consequences for possible outcomes, addressing an international situation that's still unfolding at this very minute. The president knows better, and it was a genuine treat to hear him smack down the entire approach."

Pundits and bloggers get to spout out whatever they want, all the time. Obama's leadership, and his strength, is his confidence and his ability to correctly judge developing trends. Every time he has exceeded the challenges with reassuring calm. No knee jerk reactionary responses a la someone like "I'll Suspend My Campaign" McCain.

Source: Washington Monthly

Obama's 21 Point Lead

Obama holds a 21 point lead over Republicans on handling terrorism. And to think complete failures like Bush and Cheney were perceived as good. They were great at promoting, hyping and spreading it.

Who do you trust to do a better job handling the threat of terrorism — (Obama) or the (Republicans in Congress)?

Obama 55%

Republicans in Congress 34%

Source: WaPo

No Blogging Today - At The US Open

Be back tonight.
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