Just to demonstrate I haven’t watched television since 1957

Tom Coburn tries out a number of ethnic references and cracks himself up.

Fortunately, Tom Coburn limited himself to only one joke about Sotomayor's ethnicity--and got it wrong

It’s a pretty boring week–health care and Supreme Court confirmation hearings. Now don’t get me wrong, they’re very important…but they’re about as exciting as watching watching a brick pile. Will the public option be watered down so the health insurance companies can continue to make obscene profits? Will there be any meaningful attempts at lowering costs? Will that happen before 2013? Then there’s the Sotomayor hearing. First of all, there’s no way she will not be confirmed. Even the Republican senators seem resigned to that–they don’t have the votes to deny confirmation. There’s nothing in Sotomayor’s record that paints her as a flaming liberal–or even all that liberal at all. The more I hear, the more like a centrist she seems to have behaved. Now that might change. Lower court judges have to follow the rules, while Supreme Court justices make them. But sometime ago when Obama said he wanted a centrist court, I took that as a clue that he would appoint centrist judges. Not that that would center the Alito court very much, if at all. But it would make Obama more likable to the right-wing–except that it won’t make up for his being (sarcasm alert) an America-hating Muslim who isn’t even a natural born citizen. (Already one soldier is refusing deployment on the grounds that Obama isn’t really President--I think his request should be granted–on the grounds that he qualifies for a Section 8 for denial of reality.) So where does that leave the Republican grilling? Why back at the Rush Limbaugh barbeque. Rush says that Sotomayor is a racist, so let’s pull out our racial bonafides and prove we’re just as big a bunch of yahoos as the Rushster is. Or Pat Buchanan.
So Tom Coburn makes a cute Ricky Ricardo reference, pronouncing “explaining” as “‘splainin” like the Cuban bandleader did. Except that Desi Arnaz was “zaggeratin” his accent. And he wasn’t a Puerto Rican, but a Cuban (but what the hell, all Hispanics sound alike, don’t they?) And it was HIS OWN accent he was mocking. There was another “Hispanic” popular a bit later, José Jimenez. Only he wasn’t a Hispanic, he was an American of Hungarian-Jewish descent named Bill Dana. Very popular in the 60s with Anglo audiences. When Spanish-speaking groups began protesting his performances, he found out just how funny they thought he was. Dana publicly dropped the José Jimenez routine (in 1970) and about 12 years ago was honored by National Hispanic Media Coalition with an award celebrating what his act of disavowal did for the Hispanic community. But that must have been after Tom Coburn stopped watching TV. He still thinks “I Love Lucy” is the bee’s knees.
I suppose we should be glad he didn’t decide to channel Cheech Marin…

Ooooo too late to use, NEW PHOTOS OF SANFORD’S MISTRESS

BTW–I’ll be at Otakon in Baltimore this weekend. If you’re attending and you see someone with glasses in a purple “I NEED INTRAVENOUS CAFFEINE” T-shirt–say hi–it’s me…

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Two Little Maids From School Are We…

Awwwww, aren't chibis soooooooo cute and idiotic?

For those of you not into Japanese comics, a chibi is a diminutive character that usually performs the role of the “cute, annoying sidekick”. It actually means “small child” and adult characters can morph into their “chibi” forms when they are behaving stupid and childishly, bouncing up and down like a two-year old on tear in a temper tantrum. 🙂
Well, it seems that old Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck (whom I didn’t draw) have looked at the glass and called Sonia Sotomayer, Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court, a racist–not noticing that this particular piece of glass was a mirror not a window. Her offense? Suggesting that someone of her background might have a broader range of knowledge and experience than a white guy. From Susan Crile in the Huffington Post comes the actual quote: As evidence, media figures like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, have pointed to a speech Sotomayor gave at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law in 1992. During the speech, she said, “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.” Oh gee, maybe a little self-congratulatory, but racist? Well we all know the strategy from the Karl Rove playbook, “Thou shalt accuse thy opponents of thine own fault before they accuse thee!” By doing this, you make your opponent seem childish and unoriginal if they turn the accusation back on you…i.e., “You’re a racist.” “No, YOU’RE a racist.” “No, YOU’RE the racist…” etc. etc. You get the picture. Pundits like Gingrich, Limbaugh and Beck are trying to appeal to the basest of their base–not the intelligent, informed conservative, but the xenophobic nuts who have hijacked de facto control of the Republican Party. Whatever happened to the party that could boast liberals like Nelson Rockefeller–yes, at one time, it was possible to use liberal and Republican in the same sentence and within living memory too! Better start kissing the Hispanic vote goodbye, guys, you can have your wish of being the “whitest of whites” party. Pass the Clorox, please.

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Mike Pence: I’m not against science, but everywhere I look, the earth is flat…

Chris Matthews ponders supplying a chuckbucket the next time Mike Pence is on...

Rep. Mike Pence (R-Indiana) was certainly a busy little beaver the other day. Pence, who made news back in January by trying to say “that’s wrong” to Rush Limbaugh about hoping Pres. Obama would fail at the same time he was kissing the dittohead leader’s ass GOP Leader Pushes Back Against Limbaugh Line. First he appeared on the Morning Joe to flog the GOP claim that the Green Jobs bill will cost every taxpayer $3100 in added energy costs, an erroneous oversimplification at best (remember how they flogged their tax cuts by claiming the average savings per taxpayer would be a handsome amount which the “average taxpayer” didn’t even come close to realizing?–those huge tax cuts to the wealthy sure raised the “average savings” quite a bit 🙂 ) or, more probably, yet another weasely prevarication to get people to vote against their own interests. After Brad Johnson had pointedly questioned the source of his figures, Mr. Pence went on yet another show, hosted by Andrea Mitchell, to flog the same figures. Rep. Pence Caught Lying About Green Jobs Bill and Mike Pence Uses Bogus Numbers To Raise “Tax Hike” Alarm (VIDEO). Finally, he showed up on Chris Matthews’ HARDBALL, where he claimed to believe in the “scientific method,” but distrusted it when it came to global warming, and would only say that God created the heavens and the earth when Matthews asked if he believed in evolution. “Asked about teaching evolution, Pence suggested schools should cover ‘all these controversial areas’ and let the children decide. Matthews concluded, ‘I think you believe in evolution, but you’re afraid to say so because your conservative constituency might find that offensive.'” Oh great, let’s have 10-year-olds decide whether or not to believe in the scientifically demonstrable so Mike Pence can straddle the fence. What an asshole.

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A Great New Idea from the Republican Party (Note for the irony-deficient: this is irony)

Captain Taxcut to the Rescue: parody comicbook cartoon cover showing Captain Taxcut promising an unemployed and evicted family that he will go to Washington and bring more corporate tax cuts so their old employers can hire them back at reduced wages, saving their jobs from being outsourced to Mumbai...

SuperSame Me!

The Republican wing of the House voted en masse against the Obama stimulus plan. Their criticism? Not enough tax cuts. As Paul Krugman and others have often noted and indeed the Congressional Research Service has noted, tax cuts don’t stimulate the economy. In other words, they don’t work. The only people who actually spend a tax cut are people who are broke. They usually spend it on necessities. The rich invest them. The middle class banks them. Total stimulus? 0. Zero. Goose egg. Nada. So why keep pushing tax cuts. Could it be a fundamentalist belief in Reagonomics? The trickle-down that never reaches bottom? No, I think these guys are lamely following their de facto party leader, Rush Limbaugh. Doesn’t it make you feel great to know that your Congressman might be a ditto-head? And what does commissar Rush want? To push Failure into Obama’s face. Who cares if the nation suffers from their obstructionism, the party is more important than mere people. The senate was nearly as bad, but three senators had the guts to break ranks, realizing that the sooner something was done, the better it was for the American people. Thank you Arlen Specter, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. You showed true patriotism and courage. Quite unlike the American Taliban, Pete Sessions of Texas. Democrats aren’t the enemy, Pete. The screwed-up economy is. Oh, that’s right, I forgot. You’re one of the ones who wants it screwed up.

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Rush Limbaugh–Hater of America

Did this idiot ever consider that if Obama fails, the country fails?

So Rush wants Obama to fail? GREAT–that means that super-patriot Rush Limbaugh wants the country to go through at least 4 more years of total economic breakdown. Now that’s what I call, “Loving this country.” And what’s amazing is that this idiot is the de facto head of the Republican Party. He called on the Republican members of Congress to all vote NO on the economic stimulus package, and they did. Doesn’t anyone in that party have any independence? Do they take an oath to put the interests of the party above the interests of the country? Granted there are things wrong with the stimulus package. We need to focus on a “bottom up” approach, because the people at the bottom WILL spend the money. That’s what’s always been wrong with the trickle-down approach. It never trickles down. I mean, look what happened with the bank bailout–they paid themselves bonuses–the very people who caused the bank failures to begin with! Talk about gall! They should be put to work as street cleaners. Except, I don’t think they’d be any better street cleaners than they were bankers!
However, lest you think I’m only going to knock Republicans, I am pleased to see that a Democratic asshole has bit the dust. Illinois impeached and convicted their Chief Tcherkoff, Governor Blagojevich, the guy who tried to auction off Obama’s empty Senate seat and considered appointing Oprah to it. Blago, I’m told you favored quoting Tennyson and Kipling. Well, you’re NOT a better man than I am, Blagojevich. Have a good weekend folks.

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