Do McCain and Graham know that lots of people are publicly making fun of them?
The continued hypocrisy/stupidity/absurdity of the pile on of Susan Rice is just plain off the charts.
I agree with Digby, that a lot of this is coming from the Right’s obsession/compulsion for payback.
Just as they convinced themselves that Whitewater was their Watergate, they think Benghazi is their 9/11 commission. I assume they persist in this endless round of idiotic payback politics because it’s just in their nature. It serves a political purpose too, of course. It’s a great distraction and destroys comity and purpose on the other side as even liberals with common sense start abandoning the field either because they buy into the “smell test” theory or figure they should cut their losses.
But in the end, I think it’s just because the right wing personality is one that holds grudges forever and always always hits back, no matter how long it takes.
I also agree with Ed Kilgore that a lot of this is about distracting the base from their recent election humiliation. And I say this sounds like a plan —
If congressional Republicans keep trying to take new hostages for their participation in fiscal talks—you know, the debt limit, Obamacare—at some point the administration might want to retaliate and say the GOP must call off its Benghazi witch hunt if it expects the president to sit down and negotiate with them. The frantic effort to find a “scandal,†not any actual scandal, is really becoming a major embarrassment to the credibility of the United States.
It ought to be an embarrassment to the Republican Party, which is managing to make itself look like a bigger collection of brainless stooges than usual. But they’re too oblivious to reality to be embarrassed.
I can see why Senator John McGnome is doing this – he HATES that KenyanSocialistFascistCommunistMuslimAtheist Usurper who trounced him, and his ill-chosen and wildly unqualified VP candidate, and wants to take his Uppity Nigrahness down as many notches as humanly possible.
And I understand Scarlette O’Graham’s motivation – to be reelected to the Senate from the state which is too large to be declared an asylum, whose state bird is a flying booger, and whose state food and dietary staple is paste. The state where belligerant stupidity, and mindless ignorance, are requirements for consideration to public office.
And besides, by being staying close at all times to the Senior Citizen Senator from Alzeihemer-zona, means that no one else can get ahead of Scarlette in the nighty rush to gently polish Ol’ Man McGnome’s knob.
But what is Kelly Ayotte game in this?
What’s she out to prove? That she’s as tough on black women who aren’t Republicans as the other members of the Graying Old Penis Party?
That she’s the anti-Jeanne Shaheen?
Ah, I think I know – she’s trying to build her street cred with the base, by opposing anything that Darkie in the Whities House is for.
She’s also testing her belligerance chops, with plans for higher office in the future. And you can’t be allowed in the Republican Presidential primaries, unless you’re an ignorant belligerant @$$hole!
On the molehill they’re trying make into a mountain, with a NH woman to take the place of Joe Lieberman, “The New Three Amigo’s – With A Woman, Too, Boogaloo,” are building a pyre of fire – and, if they can’t burn the Black Warlock, they’ll settle for one of his Black Witch’s.
What they’re really burning, is their already sad, sordid reputations.
Hey, McGnome and Scarlette, have some concern for your Kelly-girl. Don’t you realize that while you’re throwing your poo, you’re soiling her too? In this Republican three-way, their bride is wearing shite.
I doubt the Republiclowns will go to filibuster over this, and if they do, a recess appointment would be highly appropriate. As Stewart points out, if they let the OTHER Rice through, they don’t exactly have a leg to stand on.
I am looking at this a little differently. I would agree that it is entertaining to watch the Republicans making silly semantic arguments and being blatantly hypocritical in their arguments but I would not sell them short. If there is anything Senator McCain knows after his years in Washington it is how to do the “Washington Two Stepâ€.
IMO the Republicans are desperate to remain relevant in our political discourse and McCain has the added pressure of losing his committee seniority due to placement rotations. His whole career is in danger of riding out on a fizzle of irrelevance which is killing him. Why do you think he runs to the Sunday talk shows each and every week? This leads to a “nothing to lose†mentality which we all know encourages a bitter attitude of – “if I have nothing then I will make sure no one else has anythingâ€. The Republican Party as a whole craves nothing but power and authority and as they lose more and more they will become more and more desperate.
IMO they are signaling that they are not afraid to lock government down and if we think it was bad before – just wait. I have a feeling that we have not seen anything yet.
Oh, gulag, you nearly got coffee all over my laptop. “State food….is paste” had me laughing out loud.
My take on Ayotte’s game is that she sees herself as understudy, who will be ready to take on the role in the follow-up team to the three amigos, once Lieberman, McCranky and Scarlet are out of the Senate. There is obviously a lucrative position in the DC/MSM eco-system for a GOP Senator with “credibility” (for no apparent reason) to go on Sunday shows, and do stand-ups issuing broad pronouncements, etc., while otherwise not working too hard, and Ayotte wants that job.
Lieberman and McCain are “respected voices” on foreign policy, despite having been wrong on every issue for decades, and McCain is on the Sunday shows nearly nevery week. Lieberman’s going home, McCain is aging rapidly, it’s time for the GOP to be grooming their replacements.
Kelly Ayotte, the new cranky old man.
Hilarious, Gulag!
But why are they bothering? Is Limpbaugh not carrying enough water for them lately?
The Benghazi witch hunt certainly worked if one considers its purpose to distract by leading all media to focus on and sustain it with most conceding some blame on Obama though well below anything warranted by the hysteria on the right. Your points only lead to more questions. Is McCain employing polling data in his calculations? Or is he simply winging it? I suspect the latter.
If they do cut a deal on negotiation for dropping the Benghazi nonsense doesn’t that teach them that their BS works and invite more of the same? If the offer is a charade then it could still provide an opportunity to demonstrate what the GOP is actually negotiating towards. But the Dems would have to sieze control of the narrative.
From the Dems we hear what they will not cut rather than “Here’s what the GOP wants to do.” Theres a subtle difference. One is a demostration of principle and the other is more akin to “Oh my God, we must stop them.” Granted, both are needed but look how well the latter has worked for the GOP. Not everything in politics is rational. It is what it is. The Dems have to stop being pansies and take that into account.
ROFLMAO !
They are a disgrace.
John Stewart showed what hypocrites they really are.
But keep going GOP.
If the best you can produces the same results as this election, it will take you a generation to recover.
I saw the movie Lincoln yesterday (great film!) – it’s centered around all the wheeling and dealing and manuevering it took get the 13th Amendment – which abolished slavery – added to the Constitution, toward the end of the Civil War. The Benghazi flap and the hacks behind it are redolent of the same kinds of historical characters and various dust-ups portrayed in the film – the same bombast, bluster, and small-mindedness that had to be overcome to achieve something great.
Loved the “Elephants Never Forget” Stewart piece. I think it’s both McCain being bitter over his humiliations, and just Republicans being Republicans, with no acknowledgement or understanding of their own hypocrisy, as Stewart points out about the bogus WMDs and Condi Rice. It’s also create as much noise and distraction as possible to undermine Obama’s grand bargain negotiations.
Do see Why Susan Rice Will Be Confirmed.
moonbat, wasn’t that movie interesting? (I never used to like Daniel Day-Lewis much, but his Lincoln was maybe the best film performance I’ve ever seen.)
Screenwriter Tony Kushner’s plot, if it can be called that, made me realize that something bold but transitory, like the Emancipation Proclamation (which movie-Lincoln points out will have no force once the Civil War is over), can become a historical landmark in the popular imagination, while the real watershed, the 13th Amendment, isn’t much talked about in history class or mentioned as the great accomplishment it is. I think this may have something to do with squeamishness over the making of sausage. (See: the original sleazy lobbyist, Mr. Bilbo, hilariously portrayed by James Spader.)
The Benghazi flap and the hacks behind it are redolent of the same kinds of historical characters and various dust-ups portrayed in the film – the same bombast, bluster, and small-mindedness that had to be overcome to achieve something great.
I suppose it’s a good thing members of Congress no longer carry walking sticks or are prone to “demand satisfaction of yuh, sir,” although I would pay money to see somebody slap Boehner across the pumpkin with a Size L kid glove.
Hey guys, anyone have the key to maha’s
liquor cabinetI mean moderation locker? My comment is stuck!jo16an,
Wha? Likker cabinet? Y wood I? Soundz dizgustin’… HIC!
An’ no, I ain’t got no keyz to ehr loderation mocker…
ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZzzzzzzzzZzzzz…
.. but his Lincoln was maybe the best film performance I’ve ever seen..
I kept wondering throughout the film, “Was Lincoln really like this??”
I had no idea Bilbo was played by Jim Spader, someone I really admired for his work in sex, lies, and videotape. I guess he’s aged a little in twenty years.
I loved the eloquent way the various congresspeople tore into each other with verbal insults.
moonbat, I went with my brother and his family, and my brother was especially amused by Spader. Truly, he has changed a lot recent years.
gulag, pour me a double, I’m off work in 7 minutes!
I understand Obama had lunch with Romney today. Obama had a cheeseburger – Romney ate crow.
For you youngsters – “Eating crow is a U.S. colloquial idiom, meaning humiliation by admitting wrongness or having been proved wrong after taking a strong position..”
Wikipedia
You people who went straight for the bottles in Maha’s cabinet should have checked the little drawers. Bagies labeled ‘Colombian’ and ‘Thai’ and the cutest little silver pipe…. I gotta get soemthing to eat.. munchies… maybe twinkies.. there must be twinkies.
Well, I was working in South East Florida this week. The weather was beautiful;partly cloudy, lows in the mid 60’s, high of 80, and low humidity.This is why smart people spend winters in Florida and summers anywhere else.
The hotel I stayed in had CNN, local stations, and FOX. Desperate for my daily political fix, I tuned in FOX. There was a “show” called “The Five”, I believe. The “five” consisted of two pretty women who were mean as cornered snakes (one was Dana Perino, former Bush 23 press secretary), the dark haired guy from FOX’Friends, some snarky white dude with an American flag lapel pin, and a token “liberal” that they used as a punching bag (Bob Beckles).
Now I REALLY understand how the FOX Paradigm works. B.F. Skinner could , perhaps, be called the father of FOX. His research outlined exactly the FOX mind control blue print.
I needed 5 showers and 20 minutes on my Teeter hang-up when I got home yesterday to get all the FOX off me. Then I watched some MSNBC-even Reverend Al’s gravely voice sounded good.
Lucky for me, Comedy Central was available in the tee vee programming at the hotel. At least I could get a laugh or two from Colbert and Stewart before falling out each night.
Romney came to the White House yesterday for lunch.
I wonder how that went?
If I was President Obama, here’s how I would have introduced my family:
“Governor Romney, this is my beautiful wife, Michelle, and these are my lovely and bright daughters, Malia and Sasha. And here’s my dog, Bo. He’s a boy dog. You’re my bitch.”
Thank you!
I’ll be here all week folks!
Try the veal.
Oh, and tip the bar and wait staff generously. You never know when they might be recording you on their phones.
http://ericmargolis.com/2012/12/make-diplomacy-not-war/
Something from Eric Margolis that REALLY got my attention; Margolis is the foreign policy guru I respect. I’ve followed his stuff for years, and he’s been on the mark.