Bill Clinton: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy (Video)

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Steele 'choice' gaffe sparks GOP revolt - Ben Smith

I love watching repubs crawl in their own mire...

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele’s series of gaffes turned into something more serious Thursday, as leaders of a pillar of the GOP—the anti-abortion movement—shifted into open revolt over comments in an interview with the men’s magazine GQ.

Steele called abortion an “individual choice” and opposed a constitutional ban on abortion in the Feb. 24 interview, which appeared online Wednesday night. He echoed the language of the abortion rights movement and appeared to contradict his own heated assertions during his campaign for chairman that he is a committed soldier in the anti-abortion movement.

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Legalizing Marijuana Is More Popular Than Republicans

Here is a political realignment for you: polling shows that legalizing marijuana is now more popular than Republicans.
From OpenLeft
It should also be noted that, at 40-41% support, legalizing marijuana is more popular than all of the following:
Opposing stricter gun control laws (40%)
Congress (26-40%)
The war in Iraq (39%)
Decreasing immigration levels (39%)
Privatizing Social Security (36%)
Opposing investigating the Bush administration (34%)
Opposing national, government run health insurance (32%)
Vetoing stem cell research (31%)
The Republican Party (31%)
Dick Cheney (30%)
George W. Bush (24-34%)
Decreasing business regulations (28%)
Rush Limbaugh (28%)
Mitch McConnell (22%)
Preventing the openly gay from serving in the military (17%)
John Boehner (17%)
In short, legalizing marijuana is more popular than the Republican Party, most leading Republicans, and virtually the entire Republican platform.
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Why Are Both Parties Out Of Touch On Marijuana Law Reform?

It is hard to imagine liberal House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and conservative Minority Leader John Boehner as soul mates on any discernible level, however, on the issue of marijuana law reform, for entirely different reasons, they’re two peas in a pod.
Shortly after the conclusion of this summer’s Democratic National Convention in Denver, NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano posted a blog highlighting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) comments exhorting the public to take the lead on communicating with their elected policymakers regarding any desired major marijuana law reforms in the upcoming 111th Congress.
With that call to action in the minds of many, American voters elected Democrats into workable majorities in both chambers and elected Barack ‘Change’ Obama—while voters in both Massachusetts and Michigan voted in strong favor for ‘change’ regarding their states’ antiquated marijuana laws—when given the chance and medium to express their viewpoint regarding what other ‘changes’ are on the American peoples’ minds, since the mid 1990s and despite strong, bias media opposition, marijuana law reform has emerged as a major policy change sought by the American public.
House Speaker Pelosi supports medical access to marijuana. That is not in question. However, it is not known whether she publicly endorses decriminalizing marijuana, but, as a longtime representative in the House from San Francisco, she likely supports California laws regarding marijuana, notably the state’s long time decriminalization laws for personal, adult use.
Does she have the power to move medical marijuana through the Congress? Yes, likely she does. Is she going to expend the kind of political capital needed so early in the 111th Congress and this ‘New Dealish’ presidency to accomplish this? I don’t believe so.
Well now, to make matters worse, we have the Republican Minority Leader, John Boehner (R-OH), appearing last Friday afternoon on CNN’s Newsticker, in a Digg-sponsored ‘Question and Answer’, not surprisingly, the #1 question put forward by CNN/Diggers was of course about…marijuana!
Mr. Boehner’s reply on the marijuana prohibition question (which appears at the 3:15 mark of the 22 minute video) is tortured on two levels:
-Boehner’s deference to law enforcement and medical trade associations rather than to his constituents’ views, the Constitution, science, free market values and personal responsibility is, in a word, unfortunate:
-While rattling off DEA-like talking points against marijuana, Rep. Boehner seems to remember mid-rant against marijuana that he 1) often claims to be a libertarian who favors limited taxation, controlling government spending, and maximizing entrepreneurialism and personal freedoms, 2) supports the 9th and 10th Amendments, which largely articulate states’ rights to make their own constitutional laws.
Too bad Boehner has consistently voted against the Hinchey-Rohrabacher Amendment, a spending amendment in Congress that sought to check federal law enforcement’s ability to spend tax dollars harassing state compliant medical marijuana cooperative and dispensaries, and, in effect, recognizing states’ ability to craft greater legal protections for medical cannabis patients and their providers.
After watching Boehner’s verbal gymnastics and political CYA, I could have used a naturally occurring anti-emetic, if you know what I mean!

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GOP Senators 'not acting as Americans' - Michigan governor

I thought dissent is the highest form of patriotism...
Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm expresses her feelings about the Republican Senators who opposed the Detroit bailout. Granholm explains, "They are not acting as Americans. They are acting with their parochial interests, and I think it is astonishing."



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Joe the Plumber: McCain "Appalled Me," Made Me Feel "Dirty"

The monster turns against Frankenstein : you created my character, I'll retaliate with character assassination.

Politico reports that Joe Wurzelbacher isn't a huge fan of the man who made him famous. He told conservative radio host Glenn Beck that he felt "dirty" after "being on the campaign trail and seeing some of the things that take place."
"I honestly felt even more dirty after I had been on the campaign trail and seen some things that take place. It was scary, man," Wurzelbacher said. He told Beck he asked McCain "some pretty direct questions" about the bailout, and wasn't pleased with the response. "They appalled me, absolutely. You know, I was angry. In fact, I wanted to get off the bus after I talked to him.

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GOP US Attorney who prosecuted Tommy Chong dares Obama to fire her

If someone were to make a list of all the things a federal prosecutor could spend his or her time on to distract from fighting the war on terror, organized crime and other top Justice Department priorities, that list would mirror Mary Beth Buchanan's most touted accomplishments during her previous seven years as a US Attorney.

Now the Bush-appointee -- who spent $12 million to put that oh-so-notorious kingpin Tommy Chong behind bars for nine months -- has been struck with another bout of headline-grabbing obstinance. Buchanan says she won't step down once President-elect Obama takes office next month.

"It doesn't serve justice for all the U.S. attorneys to submit their resignations all at one time," she told a local paper last week, adding, "I am open to considering further service to the United States.

"The defiant posture and break with tradition could complicate Obama's attempt to put his own mark on a Justice Department that has seen its reputation sullied over the last eight years. Some speculate Buchanan is essentially daring the president-elect to fire her.

Buchanan's prosecution of Chong, which was profiled in a 2006 documentary, was by no means her only unorthodox crusade against relatively harmless transgressors. She also pursued the first federal obscenity case in two decades, against a pornography producer, and she's pursued public corruption charges against outspoken Democrats.

After Operation Pipe Dreams -- the sting aimed at Chong and other pot paraphernalia providers -- Buchanan went after the manufacturer of devises like the Whizzinator and other products aimed at helping people beat drug tests. This operation (coincidentally, we're sure) led to federal agents raiding the distributor of documentary a/k/a Tommy Chong and confiscating several thousand DVD copies of the film.

Libertarians and drug war critics note that law enforcement agencies -- whether they be federal, state or local -- can always find a better use of their time and money than cracking down on harmless pot smokers or porn peddlers.

What makes Buchanan's actions particularly egregious, they say, is that she pursued these mixed up priorities in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, which intimately affected her own jurisdiction. Flight 93 crashed in her western Pennsylvania district.

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Poll: Public's Loathing of the GOP Hits All Time High

In the latest Gallup poll, Americans' antipathy for the GOP has increased yet again, with only 34% saying they view the GOP favorably and 61% saying they view the GOP unfavorably, "the highest Gallup has recorded for that party since the measure was established in 1992."

Couldn't happen to a nicer party

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'The religious right is killing the Republican party'...

Conservative writer Kathleen Parker says the religious right is killing the Republican party.

A real tour de force here. You may recall that Parker was one of the first, and only, conservatives to come out an admit that Sarah Palin was an embarrassment. Here she takes on quite possible the GOP's biggest sacred cow, the religious right.

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