Our Ignorant Dolt of the Week ... RNC Hack Chip Saltsman!

Jesus, you really had to be, overtly, strenuously, going-out-of-your-way, knocking people over, to garner the IDOTW title - during Christmas Week!

I fully expected to come up with a goose egg for our "Ignorant Dolt of the Week" honoree this past week.

I mean, everyone is on the down low, chilling out for the holiday.

Even MSNBC had given most of their Big Dogs time off, and running their venerable Doc Block pap.

It was time to kick back, chow down on the leftovers, and wait to zombie-out in front of TNT's marathon showing of 'The Christmas Story'.

So, if you thought you could sneak a big Christmas-wrapped dollop of racism under the ol' tree, you screwed the pooch.

And that is exactly what RNC Hack Chip Saltsman did.

Who is Chip Saltsman, other than a full-grown adult that continues to call himself "Chip"?

Chip Saltsman, via Wikipedia, "has served as chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party, senior political advisor to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, and manager of Mike Huckabee's presidential campaign".

You remember the former Majority Leader, don't you?

Frist, also being a doctor, had the uncanny ability to make medical diagnosis via videotape, and was a deft player in the stock market, miraculously, selling his stock in a company, coincidentally, just before the stock crashed.

Mike Huckabee campaign?

Please ...

No, our IDOTW Chip, is one of those Republican hacks, and he's mounting a campaign to become Chairman of the Sarah Palin Party, err, we mean the other dying one, the Republican's.

He even has a cheesy website up, touting himself as the next hero, the guy with the juice to pull the party out of the ashes.

Leadership has impacted every milestone in American history. Looking forward at the opportunities ahead and examining the lessons learned from the past, it is apparent to all that now is the time for new leadership within the Republican National Committee.

Now there's someone with some serious vision, such prescience.

You just got your asses kicked in the Presidential Election, and your party is hemorrhaging seats in Congress, but you cut through all that and make the call for "new leadership".

Duh!

So, as a warming gift, a little trinket to get his name in front of the potential other hacks who would want this particular hack to be running the show, "Chip" handed out a little gift bag.

From 'The Hill';

RNC candidate Chip Saltsman’s Christmas greeting to committee members includes a music CD with lyrics from a song called “Barack the Magic Negro,” first played on Rush Limbaugh’s popular radio show. Saltsman, a personal friend of conservative satirist Paul Shanklin, sent a 41-track CD along with a note to national committee members.

“I look forward to working together in the New Year,” Saltsman wrote. “Please enjoy the enclosed CD by my friend Paul Shanklin of the Rush Limbaugh Show.”

A closet Dittohead?

Maybe a Gold Level Dittohead, the friend-of-a-friend, who has actually worked with ...

Or is Chip just one of the Flying Monkeys that lives in that alternate universe and believes, as Barry Crimmins used to call him, "the cheeseburger that sweats", actually is a great mind, and spews out pearls of wisdom?

You know, because the former drug addict Limbaugh passes it off as harmless parody, than that is what it must be, not that a majority of the rest of the country would think it to be vile racist slander.

Because that's what Chip is claiming, as he actual defends the "gift".

Please, RNC members, elect this guy to lead your party!

Having Chip with a direct hand in the national campaign of Sarah Palin in 2012.... Priceless!

And, look, he already has another endorsement.

He can proudly post to his website - during Christmas Week, mind you - Chip Saltsman, The Garlic's Ignorant Dolt of the Week!

Go get'em Chip!


Bonus "Chip-in-Mouth" Riffs

Michael Shear: RNC Rivals Discuss Racial Song; Would-Be Chairman Who Sent CD With Parody Blames Media

Steve Benen: RNC CHAIRMAN 'APPALLED' BY 'MAGIC NEGRO' CD...

Robert Stein: GOP Goes South But Obama Doesn't

Bob Cesca: Rush the Magic A-hole

Our Ignorant Dolt-of-the-Week ... Brad Blakeman!

Boy, it would have been so easy to vote Michele Bachmann the honors, again, this week, sort of defending her crown as she continues to campaign, do a "My Sister-My Daughter" in her attempts to run away from her McCarthyism.

Considering the polls are showing she's sinking faster then the Dead Campaign Express, she may only end up being our seminal winner of the IDOTW award, which we think we'll give it a go, for awhile anyway.

For, we have another, that when you see it, as I did, live, as it was broadcast, you just shake you head on the absolutely soulless, gutter-based, lack-of-decency, humanity-challenged person that is Republican hack Brad Blakeman.

Check that.

What's lower, seedier, more despicable that a "hack", for I don't want to insult and demean the good names of the bevy of the hacks out there, that, in similar circumstance, would not have sunk so low, would-not-have-gone-there.

Bradly Blakeman, to refresh your memories, was one of the founders, or early officers, of what was going to be the BIG RED MACHINE, the neonitwits answer to MoveOn.Org, Freedom Watch, which was announced back at the beginning of last year (The Garlic riffed on this back in August 2007).

They had some big bucks initially, however, it seems they got stumped by the blizzard of lies they sought to promote, had big pillow fights, and Bradley got sent packing back in March, just to exist again as your standard party hack.

This brings us to yesterday, Thursday, with David Shuster, on MSNBC, when Bradley deflected the question on justifying the $150K spent on The Wasilla Whiz Kid duds.

Here's the video of it.

Brad Blakeman OUTRAGED Over Obama's Trip To Visit ILL Grand Mother



You have to be pretty much a maggot to attempt to equate, let alone defend, the expense of Palin's wardrobe (possibly illegally, certainly ethically questionable, and a disaster PR-wise), to the personal family matter of Barack Obama, going to visit his dying grandmother, the woman who was instrumental in his upbringing.

I believe, if the interview continued longer, Bradley would have intimated that Obama had William Ayers in the plane, or was really flying off to some Islamo-Terrorist camp for further instructions.

This had no place in a interview or discussion over the Republican putting clothes on the back of Mommy Moose.

Not even close ... Not even in the same sphere ... Not in the same room ... No way ... No how ...

It was remarkably human, extraordinary, even, coming in the home stretch of a presidential campaign, that a candidate would take time out to do the right thing.

In fact, you can read a fantastic post on this, by Ta-Nehisi Coates.

So, Bradley Blakeman, you become The Garlic's second Ignorant Dolt-of-the-Week, with the added bonus of a challenge to you, to go back on MSNBC, admit you were a weasel, our Ignorant Dolt-of-the-Week and apologize to Barack Obama.

Otherwise, remain the maggot that you are.


Bonus Bradley Blakeman Maggot Links

Keith Olbermann: GOP attacking point of the day

J.W. Cisneros: Brad Blakeman...attacks Obama's "Grandma"

Brave New Films: Brad Blakeman videos

CNN: Brad Blakeman Discusses Role Of Freedom's Watch

The Jed Report: Brad This Is How You Stick It To Lying Republican Hacks

Our Ignorant Dolt of the Week ... Rick Warren!

As usual, we had a few different candidates this past week, doing their darnedest, vying, yearning, longing, to be named The Garlic's Ignorant Dolt of the Week.

Take the Turd Blossom, for instance.

Along with attempting to pass of the rotted, fetid eight-years of the Bush Grindhouse as freshly-caught fish, he's planning on writing a book and "naming all the Bush haters".

Here's a tip, Son-of-the-Golden Cock Ring, it might be easier just to ask people to raise their hands, of those who can, at minimum, stomach The Commander Guy.

And his old, Rovian ways are working on at least one person.

Chris Wallace, of Faux News.

Wallace bought passage on the S.S. Bush Legacy Restoration Barge, dropping to his knees for the Grindhouse.

From Think Progress;

Last Monday, at a screening of Ron Howard’s new film “Frost/Nixon,” Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace vociferously defended President Bush against criticism by Howard that Bush has abused the office of the presidency in a way similar to President Richard Nixon. “Richard Nixon’s crimes were committed purely in the interest of his own political gain,” said Wallace. Wallace claimed that it was a “gross misreading of history” to say that Bush abused his power “for pure political self preservation” like Nixon did.

You whore yourself like that Chris, just for a "special exit interview" with Darth Vader?

Like that's going to be some earth-shattering, breaking news?

Did you miss the Little Scooter's trial?

Cheney must be sizing you up to take Little Timmy Russert's place, to feed his propaganda to, without the worry of any kind of push back.

All fine efforts, but the IDOTW has to go to the Purpose-Driven-Carny, Rick Warren.

I guess, since hustling the networks into doing an infomercial, for his "Blazing Saddleback" event during the campaign, complete with the mysterious, magical, "Cone of Silence", has him, boldly grabbing the baton from that other television preacher/God's Ninja, Pat Robertson, and issuing off death warrants for our enemies.

WARREN ENDORSES HANNITY'S WARMONGERING...

Pastor Rick Warren has a reputation for being far more stable and grounded than religious right leaders and TV preachers like Pat Robertson, but it's worth remembering that he's not exactly a moderate.

Last night, on Fox News, Sean Hannity insisted that United States needs to "take out" Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Warren said he agreed. Hannity asked, "Am I advocating something dark, evil or something righteous?" Warren responded, "Well, actually, the Bible says that evil cannot be negotiated with. It has to just be stopped.... In fact, that is the legitimate role of government. The Bible says that God puts government on earth to punish evildoers. Not good-doers. Evildoers."

Well, I guess, if it's a Purpose-Driven political assassination, than it's cool with the Big Guy, Upstairs.

Here's the transcript of the exchange, from The Wonk Room;

HANNITY: Can you talk to rogue dictators? Ahmadinejad denies the Holocaust, wants to wipe Israel off the map, is seeking nuclear weapons.

WARREN: Yes.

HANNITY: I think we need to take him out.

WARREN: Yes.

HANNITY: Am I advocating something dark, evil or something righteous?

WARREN: Well, actually, the Bible says that evil cannot be negotiated with. It has to just be stopped. And I believe…

HANNITY: By force?

WARREN: Well, if necessary. In fact, that is the legitimate role of government. The Bible says that God puts government on earth to punish evildoers. Not good-doers. Evildoers.

HANNITY: I’m just gotten, thanks to my wife, who you know, you know, been reading the Old Testament. Because as a good Catholic growing up, I studied more the New Testament.

WARREN: Just ignored that part.

HANNITY: I ignored the Old Testament. But what about King David? What about the — all the battles, all the conflict, you know, going back - - you know, Abraham — Adam and Eve and their children, going forward?

WARREN: The point is, there are some things worth dying for. There’s no doubt about that. And I would die for my family. I would die for my freedom. I would die for this country.

HANNITY: If somebody broke into your house, you would be justified to kill them?

WARREN: I would be justified to protect my family. Absolutely.

HANNITY: And if it took killing them?

WARREN: Absolutely.

HANNITY: But it’s not murder at that point?

WARREN: No. Murder is not self-defense.

Perhaps, Warren can plead insanity, since he was in discussion with The Royal Nitwit, Hannity, but I think its something more than that.

With the transition of power, from The Bush Grindhouse, to Obama, there must be some rumblings amongst the Bible Thumpers.

Who's going to lead the eyes-closed rabble of the Republican Far Right through these next four-years of darkness.

You can't just talk about doing good deeds, doing the Lords work.

No, you have to define, interpret the Lords work, mix in a little blood and guts, do a little Jimmy Cagney and talk about mowing down all those dirty rats.

Sorry, but attempting to consecrate the Bush Doctrine into a modern day Holy Grail, that takes a lot more moxie than just huckstering the networks, and trying to sell yourself as one of the good Bible Thumpers.

Nosireebob! ... That only gets the purpose-and-killing-driven Rick Warren the crown of our Ignorant Dolt of the Week


Bonus Purpose-Driven IDOTW Riffs

Melissa McEwan: Quote of the Day

Spencer Ackerman: Religious Wars, There’s No Reason Why They Sent You To Die

Think Progress - Warren: Bush’s ‘Peace Award Was Not About Peace’

Thomas Schaller: The attention-driven Warren, Book III

The Raw Story - Ron Howard: Jon Stewart should do Bush exit interview

The Gawker: Chris Wallace Defends Bush Against Mean Ron Howard

Robertson May Have, Inadvertently, Caused Hajj Stampede Deaths ...Was Working On New Material For Bush Video Blitz, Testing New Curses and Condemnations

Breaking News! Robertson Held For Questioning In Falwell Death; Threats Against Chavez, Sharon Make 700 Club Founder 'Person of Interest'

Our Ignorant Dolt of the Week ... Dick Armey!

Boy, this guy just climbed over everybody to grab the IDOTW title.

He had to bowl over one of the Grand Ayatollah of Ignorant Dolts, the Cheeseburger That Sweats (aka Rush Limbaugh), for his cheerleading for President Obama's failure, which generated a nervous Congressman, Phil Gingrey of Georgia, who at first criticized the radio drug addict, only to come running, waving his IDOTW marker, by begging Limbaugh to take him back into Dittohead Land.

We previously noted Mark Halperin, making a fairly regular stab at being an Ignorant Dolt, and, there was also Glenn Beck, putting his IDOTW credentials on display.

But one guy, just one, lonely, pathetic guy cleared the competitive field this week to say "I want to own, I want to have it coursing through my body, to be one gigantic Ignorant Dolt of the Week."



And, it was none other than the dirty bag former Congressman, Dick Armey.

Appearing on Tweety's 'Hardball' program, facing off against Salon's Joan Walsh, Armey showed, gloriously, how empty and inept the Republican party has become, when he responded back to Walsh's argument about Obama's Stimulus Package.

Transcript courtesy of Crooks and Liars;

Walsh: Who are the income redistributionists?

Armey: Who, what..

Walsh: Who are the income redistributionists?

Armey: Well the biggest income redistributions was a Republican congresswoman, urr. Senator, but Charlie Rangel cracked me up, Charlie said you guys are giving her things that I wouldn't even ask for.

Armey: I don't want to get into that because then the controversy is that Dick Armey is assaulting somebody. There are income redistribitionsts that think they are going to curry favor with a voting blocks in both parties and it's wrong policy whether it comes Republicans or Democrats, it makes no sense. Armey's axiom. Don't let politics define your economics. Don't let politics define anything. Politics is silly, it's inane. Take what amusements you can from them but don't take them seriously.

Walsh: But this is serious business. The economy is a wreck, (Armey laughs) it's been wrecked by the Bush White House and by Republicans in Congress with a lot of help Democratic help, with ( Armey makes more noises and sighs)

Armey: Oh, give it a rest.

Walsh: President Obama, please stop saying 'give it a rest.' Do you have any anything else to say? President Obama has a mandate for change. (Armey laughs again) Your people have stood in his way. They are standing in his way in Capitol hill right now and Rush Limbaugh is making ridiculous statements and Republicans are crawling to him and groveling. That's the state of our economy and our world right now Rep. Armey and it's sad.

Armey: I'm so glad that you could never be my wife because I surely wouldn't have to listen to that prattle from you every day.

Walsh: Well, wow that makes two of us sir, that was really an outstanding comment...

Armey: Look ma'am, you're talking like a paid political hack making your political points.

Walsh: Am I sir?

Armey: Are we going to talk seriously...

Walsh" No, I actually care about social justice, I care about jobs, I care about the economy.

Take a look.



"I'm so glad that you could never be my wife because I surely wouldn't have to listen to that prattle from you every day."

Was he drunk?

What the hell kind of counterpoint is that?

Now, we have long known the kind of scumbag that Armey is.

He rode in on during the Gingrich Revolution, and was one of Newt's top boys, and Source Watch credits Armey "as the main author of the Contract with America"

In the past, he lobbed the gem of calling Congressman Barney Frank, "Barney Fag", and Armey further burnished his Flying Monkey, NeoNitWit stature;

"In September 2008, while commenting about Barack Obama's name, Armey stated that it could "give people concerns that he could be or have been too much influenced by Muslims, which is a great threat now."

Oh yeah, he also supported the Ethnic Cleansing of Palestinians.

"I'm so glad that you could never be my wife because I surely wouldn't have to listen to that prattle from you every day."

Yeah, that really rings in as constructive discourse, one of those alternative ideas the Republicans claim to have, to get our economy back on track.

A barroom taunt.

Joan Walsh, on her own blog, recounted and responded to this ignorant outburst rather sympathetically.

Ironically, there's a quote attributed to Armey;

Politics will sooner or later make fools of everybody.

In Armey's case, he's had the handicap of, not sooner or later, but constantly, 24/7, all-the-time, being a incredible fool

Added to that, for this past week, Dick Armey can also boast of being The Garlic's "Ignorant Dolt of the Week".


Bonus Armey's An Asshole Riffs

The Raw Story: Former GOP leader accused of sexism against liberal editor in chief

Steve Benen: YOU DON'T KNOW DICK...

Glenn Greenwald: Dick Armey and post-partisan harmony

Digby: Dick

John Cole: Armey’s Axiom: Don’t Take Me Seriously

Taylor Marsh: Self-Important Gasbag Alert

Blue Gal: Dick Armey, Love Muffin

Mustang Bobby: Sphincter of the Day

Jane Hamsher: Hey, Have You Heard the One about Joan Walsh and Dick Armey?

Ignorant Dolt-of-the-Week Follow-up ... Censure Michele Bachmann!

Just a little follow-up, on our Ignorant-Dolt-of-the-week, that we posted last Friday (The Revolution Will Not Be Televised).

I half expect, for McKKKain and Palin, aided mightily by the Right Wing Freak Show, to turn around Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann's both-feet-in-mouth call for a McCarthyism-inspired expose to weed out those in Congress who are Anti-American and blame it as a left-liberal witch hunt, with tentacles tying in ACORN going out and registering Pet Rocks to vote, and the type of thing that will be a daily occurance if Barack Obama is elected.

Just so everyone is clear on this, here is the full interview of our Ignorant-Dolt-of-the-Week (IDOTW), with Tweety on 'Hardball'

McCarthy's back: Bachmann on Hardball



The first volley of it being the above-referenced witch hunt comes from the IDOTW, herself;

The McCarthyist Liar: Bachmann Denies Saying What She Said

But Wait!

As it turns out, the IDOTW has turned herself into a fund-raising machine - FOR HER OPPONENT!

Minn.'s Bachmann Dials Down Obama Criticism

The comment by the first-term Republican fueled a surge of campaign donations to her opponent, Democrat Elwyn Tinklenberg. His campaign says Sunday evening that he has raised $640,000 since she made it.

Bachmann appeared on a WCCO-TV show earlier Sunday to say she isn't saying that Obama's views are anti-American. She says, "That was a misreading of what I said."

Here's a heart-felt post of thanks from Elwyn Tinklenberg, last Friday evening, last Friday evening, as the "anti-Bachmann money started to roll in.

Something tells me, she is going to run the risk of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, from the considerable amount of dialing back she's going to need to do.

And it's a good thing IDOTW has one of the "gold-plated-Cadillac" health plans, for there's always the chance, in attempting to walk this back, she trips and falls.

Maybe, she'll need to go into full battle-mode, and carve out a bunker to work from, say, something like adopting the McKKKain hack Nancy Puss'n'Boots policy, and announcing that she's in the "Real Minnesota".

For the flak has been flying, aimed squarely at IDOTW.

Like Colin Powell, yesterday, in his endorsement of Obama.

And this juicy morsel, "The Republicans have lifted the lid off their rightwing id", from Michael Tomasky, at The Guardian;

Before we go any further - who is this Bachmann? She's a first-term backbencher from exurban Minneapolis who says the Lord told her to run for Congress. She declared herself "a fool for Christ" in 2006 when she announced her candidacy. By all accounts she's down with the whole rightwing Christian package: immigrants bring disease and pestilence, homosexuals want to indoctrinate straight children, and so on. Republican leadership undoubtedly pushed her out on to television because she is, as you Brits say, a looker - at least by the standards of Congress.

The call for an investigation into the beliefs of every federal lawmaker, and an exposé of those found wanting in their patriotism, certainly takes us into deeply creepy territory. I would not call Bachmann herself a fascist. Odd as it sounds, to do so would be to grant her far too much credit. For one to embrace an -ism, even a repugnant one, one needs to have read a certain amount of history and political philosophy. Bachmann is just an idiot. She wouldn't know Edmund Burke from Billie Burke (she played the good witch in the Wizard of Oz), and she obviously has no idea that, in her rejection of the two bedrock American principles of separation of church and state and freedom of thought, she is the one who is as anti-American as they come.

Oh man, you could spend the day teeing off on IDOTW like this ...

But there are better things to do, and better ways to slap down IDOTW.

Like joining the nearly 50,000 folks who have signed the petition for having Congress censure IDOTW;

Tell Congress to Censure Michele Bachmann

You can also visit, and get more info on the IDOTW, over on Dump Michele Bachmann, which boasts "Michele Bachmann is Minnesota's Answer to Florida's Katherine Harris. This blog is here to chronicle Michele Bachmann's antics."


Bonus IDOTW Riffs

David Neiwert: Michelle Bachmann gives voice to the right's darkest impulses

TChris: You're Either a Republican Or You're Anti-American

The Jed Report: McCain and Palin Resurrect McCarthy's Attacks

Eric Kleefeld: GOP Rep. To Environmentalists: Jesus Already Saved The Planet

Nicole Belle: Michelle Bachmann is one crazy person

Our Ignorant Dolt of the Week ... Karl Rove!

Yes, we're a day, or two late with it ...

Partly due to the need to be lazy yesterday, and, as usual, there were a few choice candidates in the running of our weekly IDOTW.

Like, how can you ignore the still-on-going saga of the Illinois governor?

This is absolutely hysterical, unless you happen to live in Illinois, in which case, I suspect, doctors, and chiropractors, are doing a booming business, treating the citizens in the Land of Lincoln for severe cringing.

The Senate Republicans certainly showed IDOTW mettle, carrying the GOP flag for busting unions, submarining the bailout of The Big Two.

Even The Commander Guy made a late run at it, sneaking off for his Mission Accomplished Victory Tour in Baghdad, only to be shown his sub-20's ratings aren't limited to this country.

That message delivered to him in the form of two thrown shoes.

But in the end, it was hard to ignore the Turd Blossom.

Now, you can make an argument, that Bush's Brain (yeah, I know, an oxymoron), should be grandfathered to the status of Grand Ayatollah of Ignorant Dolts, much as we have done with the Ultimate Pinhead, Bill O'Reilly (Happy Holiday, there, Bill'o!).

But since he's sticking his grubby nose in a lot of places, we'll keep him in the field-of-play, for now.

Let's see, what heights did the Son-of-the-Golden-Cock-Ring reach to, to snatch that IDOTW title ...

Well, for one, he is threatening to muck up the waters, looking to continue to pull strings, and go to battle against the incoming President Obama, on his choice of Attorney General.

Looking back at what he has left in his wake, I find it abstruse that the Congressional Republicans would want him to take the helm of anything, to have him give them anything, even the time-of-day, which, you would have to double-check, to see if it was legit, or if it was smear.

I mean, Jesus, Cheney, of all people, warned the Congressional Republicans to get off their asses, get a glove, get in the game, otherwise they will cement the GOP as "the party of Herbert Hoover".

Oh yeah, related to that, he also got together with the other idiot, O'Reilly, to blow kisses, back-and-forth, how the media is in the tank for Obama, that all the troubles we have now - the devastated economy, global warming, escalating unemployment, a melted-down Wall Street, are all being overplayed by the media, to make Obama look good.

There's also the above-mentioned Commander Guy, and how Rove is spearheading reviving/rebuilding/creating/purchasing/pulling-out-of-thin-air, The Bush Grindhouse legacy.

Extremely arduous task, no doubt, but you just gotta roll up your sleeves, and get to it, one thrown shoe at a time.

All good IDOTW things, but where we dump the bucket of Gatorade over him, is his call for a new Republican day.

In the Murdoch rag last week, Rove penned 'How the GOP Should Prepare for a Comeback', and, if it is an actual report, or certified policy paper, I suspect the subtitle to it would be "The Wide, White World of Karl Rove".

He, essentially, repackages the last eight-years, looks to steal a few things from the Democrats, calls on Newt Gingrich to open up some new Republican Brownshirt Camps, capture the youth vote, and this gem;

Finally, ideas are always the most important currency of politics and never more so than after a party loses. The relationship between GOP policymakers and conservative policy thinkers should be strengthened.

Déjà vu, anyone?

Like the the PNAC, and AEI, didn't have enough of a say, helping the Bush Grindhouse lie us into a war.

No where, in his grand plans, does the Rove call for the Republicans to become diverse.

Pitch a big tent, for sure, but make sure we have the same gatekeepers, and lets keep the party for us, not for "them".

No Karl Rove.

The only thing you need to prepare for, is to walk up to the podium, and collect The Garlic's "Ignorant Dolt of the Week" award.

Something tells me, this will be the first, of many to come.


Bonus Rove IDOTW Riffs

Digby: New Strategery Same As The Old Strategery

Wonkette: Karl Rove: Everything Is Awesome For Republicans!

Amanda Terkel and Matt Corley: Karl Rove's sly deal with Fox ...The GOP mastermind is billed as a top campaign analyst for the cable news network. But he has his fingerprints all over John McCain's White House bid

Ed Secretary Spellings On Turning Down Date With Rove: "He Was So Inept And Inartful"

"Can we have our $40,000 back?"

Karl Rove, Living In An Etch-A-Sketch Kind of World

Our Ignorant Dolt of The Week .... Daniel Henninger!

Or: Oh No, Another Pinhead War on Christmas

Boy, if Santa Claus has made up his list, of who's been naughty, and who's been nice, and knowing the penalty attached to the former, if he follows Daniel Henninger's logic, Santa is going to have to strip mine the entire globe to come up with enough coal to stuff in those stockings.

It was a slow week on the Ignorant Dolt front.

We gave some thought to pinning it on our President-Elect, for calling out to Hillary to "C'mon Down", however it isn't official yet, so we may save that for another week.

Henninger is the Deputy Editorial Page Director of the Wall Street Journal, and he penned a column the other day that is a doozy;

Mad Max and the Meltdown: How we went from Christmas to crisis

Notwithstanding the cardboard Santas who seem to have arrived in stores this year near Halloween, the holiday season starts in seven days with Thanksgiving. And so it will come to pass once again that many people will spend four weeks biting on tongues lest they say "Merry Christmas" and perchance, give offense. Christmas, the holiday that dare not speak its name.

Okay, perhaps he's just looking to increase his bookings on the Faux News Network, sitting in the chair next to the Grand Ayatollah of Ignorant Dolts, Bill O'Reilly, so they can swap propaganda on the blazing firefight of their propped-up War on Christmas.

If only it was such pandering ...

Henninger wants to tie in the meltdown of our economy, blaming the non-believers, who by the way, are responsible for the meltdown, as adding a Petraeuseque surge in their War on Christmas.

"This year we celebrate the desacralized "holidays" amid what is for many unprecedented economic ruin -- fortunes halved, jobs lost, homes foreclosed. People wonder, What happened? One man's theory: A nation whose people can't say "Merry Christmas" is a nation capable of ruining its own economy.

One had better explain that."

"What really went missing through the subprime mortgage years were the three Rs: responsibility, restraint and remorse. They are the ballast that stabilizes two better-known Rs from the world of free markets: risk and reward.

Responsibility and restraint are moral sentiments. Remorse is a product of conscience. None of these grow on trees. Each must be learned, taught, passed down. And so we come back to the disappearance of "Merry Christmas."

It has been my view that the steady secularizing and insistent effort at dereligioning America has been dangerous. That danger flashed red in the fall into subprime personal behavior by borrowers and bankers, who after all are just people. Northerners and atheists who vilify Southern evangelicals are throwing out nurturers of useful virtue with the bathwater of obnoxious political opinions.

The point for a healthy society of commerce and politics is not that religion saves, but that it keeps most of the players inside the chalk lines. We are erasing the chalk lines.

Feel free: Banish Merry Christmas. Get ready for Mad Max."

WTF!

Jesus, if he stretched it anymore, his arm would have to pop out of its socket.

Did he stumble on this, a clip showing the GAID O'Reilly, talking with fellow pinhead John Gibson, babbling on-and-on, over-the-top idiocracy (way too many electrolytes!) and say, "I can beat that!"

Matt Corley, over on Think Progress sums it up nicely, saying "After cataloging a series of complex economic factors that do relate to the financial crisis, Henninger concludes that what really went wrong is that “the steady secularizing and insistent effort at dereligioning America” led to “subprime personal behavior by borrowers and bankers.”.

From dday;

Got that, secular progressives? Deregulation, predatory lending and corporate greed had nothing to do with this. It's you and your atheist friends who are promoting anarchy and the destruction of morals. If there were only crosses on top of Wall Street skyscrapers, the investment bankers and hedge fund managers inside wouldn't have given in to the temptation of greed. Your 401 (k) might have been saved if you practiced Lent this year.

Thanks a lot, heathens. Good luck heating your home with those Bibles you like to burn.

Hilzoy, on Obsidian Wings predicted that Henninger's tirade "has to be in the running for Dumbest Column Ever." and that "it launches itself off into the great empyrean of stupid."

And, this, from Steve Benen;

And yet, the editors at the WSJ continue to push the envelope in new and mind-numbing directions. The Journal published this piece from Daniel Henninger today, which aims to explain "how we went from Christmas to crisis." I've read the whole piece a few times, trying to understand it. I'm at a loss.

Henninger begins by repeating nonsense about Americans, en masse, being afraid to wish others a "Merry Christmas." This, on its face, is absurd. But he goes much further, connecting this non-existent trend in holiday-related rhetoric to the financial crisis, apparently blaming the prior for the latter: "A nation whose people can't say 'Merry Christmas' is a nation capable of ruining its own economy."

Why anyone would attach their name to such transparent foolishness is a mystery to me. Why anyone would publish such inanity is even harder to understand.

Foolishness and Insanity?

Oh yeah, royally, and that pushes Daniel Henninger into the winner's circle, for The Garlic's "Ignorant Dolt of The Week!"


Bonus Great War On Xmas Riffs

Wikipedia: Christmas controversy

Media Matters for America: War on Christmas

Wonkette: A Festivus Miracle: No Fannie/Freddie Foreclosures! (Until January 9)

Liza Featherstone: Merry Christmas, Bill O'Reilly!

Nicole Belle: The O'Reilly Fatuity: The War on Christmas has morphed into the War on Christians

David Kiley: O'Reilly's War on Christmas: Truth Takes a Holiday Again

Eric Boehlert: Battling the homosexuals, liberals and Jews, Bill O'Reilly and friends are making America safe for Christmas

O'Reilly Gears Up Next War; Says Will Battle To Save "Little Christmas"; Calls For New Laws and Mandatory Fines; Doesn't Hesitate To Make Up False Charges To Broadcast His Point

Our Ignorant Dolt of the Week .... Robert Novak

Yes, 50% of the old "Errors and No Facts" team ...

The man who stops for no one, which included homeless people crossing the street in Washington DC, when zipping around in his Corvette (Yes, hard to focus on the image of this lump of fecal matter tooling around in a suped-up sports machine).

The man who was a party in the leaking of the identity of a covert CIA agent.

The man who stormed off a television set, rather than answer to the truth.

Robert Novak, our Ignorant Dolt of the Week!

Robert Novak, the conservative hack-whore, whose stench from carrying the GOP's water all these years actually waifs up from the newspapers that carry his column, or, the television screen he happens to appear on.

Now, it's not really clear he was watching the same election that was held last Tuesday night.

Maybe he got some scrambled version of GOPTV, or an early draft of the RNC/Rove talking points.

Or he got a whiff of his own stench, blurring his eyes.

For how else to explain this;

NO REALIGNMENT: No mandate for Obama, no lopsided Congress

The national election Tuesday was not only historic for the election of the first African-American president in the nation's history but also for how little the avalanche of Democratic votes changed the political alignment in Congress.

But Obama's win was nothing like that. He may have opened the door to enactment of the long-deferred liberal agenda, but he neither received a broad mandate from the public nor the needed large congressional majorities.

Hmmm ... Let's see here ...

Obama beat Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain by 7.5-millions votes, roughly a 6% margin, turned 10 states from Red, to Blue, while the House picked up 20 new seats, bringing their majority to 255, and the Senate has picked up 5 seats, with a few races still to-be-determined.

Looks like a pretty good, lopsided, ass-kicking, landslide, majority mandate to me.

It's also deafening, how the Right Wing Freak Show is screaming this meme, and how the country is a "Center-Right" country.

Running, right up to the election, was something close to 85% of the country saying we needed change, while continuing to pin down The Commander Guy with ratings you could almost count on your two hands, yet people like Novak, and a whole stable of others, want to tell us to "pay no attention" to those election results, nothing is going to change.

They are clutching to the curtain that is closing on them.

But Wait, There's More!

No Facts turns around today, and starts touting Newt Gingrich as the man-with-a-GOP-plan

Newt in 2012?

In serious conversations among Republicans since their election debacle Tuesday, what name is mentioned most often as the Moses, or Reagan, who could lead them out of the wilderness before 40 years?

To the consternation of many Republicans, it is none other than Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House.

Oh Jesus!

Just what we need, Newt coming onto the playing field, armed, no doubt, with a new Contract On America.

It was just barely two years ago, Newt wanted to cut back on our Freedom of Speech, so, with the promising cleansing by an Obama Administration, not sure there'll be an appetite for a Bush Grindhouse-style blowtourching of our liberties in 2012.

It's a real, slobbering wet one of a column, so, apparently, No Facts, even in his twilight years, isn't afraid to drop to his knees to take one for the team that he thinks he's still on.

He's an old hack, believing that being fed smearing lies, or gossip, is the equivalent of gumshoe journalism

So, for such obvious, over-the-top dogma, for even trying to play the RWFS old game, Robert "No Facts" Novak joins our growing roster of IDOTW, Michele Bachmann, Brad Blakeman and Elizabeth Dole.

That's going to be some field they're warming up, to send out onto the field in 2012.

Newt, Joe The Dumber, and The Wasilla Whiz Kid.

Hmmm ... Perhaps a bigger mandate, a larger landslide be a'comin'?


Bonus "No Facts" Riffs

The Rude Pundit: Time to Rub Their Fucking Faces in It

Skippy the bush kangaroo: sorry, we can't hear you when we're ignoring you

Matthew Yglesias: New Leadership for the Past

Sadly No: Glorious news

Our Ignorant Dolt of The Week ... Dennis Miller!

Well, not a banner week, as far as the idiots out there, someone to really step up, clutching, body askew, to claim our IDOTW award.

Sarah Palin?

Sure, Mommy Moose was like the Emergency Broadcast Signal, popping up everywhere, on every television, at every moment, earning her the praise of becoming The Wild Wordsmith of Wasilla, as labeled by Dick Cavett, rarely rises above just being your average, run-of-the-mill dolt.

Evan Bayh, who, every time he speaks, appears to be auditioning for the mascot job with Ambien, gets an honorable mention, for, apparently believing, that all Revoltin' Joe Lieberman (R-I, CT) needs to do is stand in front of the class, and write on the blackboard 500 times, that "I am sorry for ...", the choices being;

• Obama is a Marxist
• Obama palling around with terrorists
• Obama voted to let the troops die
• Dissing Obama, as an "Independent Democrat", at the Republican National Convention
• Campaigning for the Republicans, against Democrats, on Congressional and Senate races

By weeks' end, there was one person that appeared to be reaching ...

Ellie the Chimps' former CNBC Co-Host, Dennis Miller.

Yes, the former SNL smart-ass, later moving on to HBO (while both offered a stable of writers, the latter, I know, gave him a whipping, cracker-jack staff), and even a stint at Monday Night Football.

But, then, September 11th came, and The Commander Guys' clarion call to go shopping must have been like a dog whistle to Miller, who sprinted to the nearest Right Wing Freak Show haberdashery, to adorn himself with the the Bush Grindhouse team colors.

While, now, having his own radio show on Westwood One, Ellie's former partner also moonlights with the Grand Ayatollah of Ignorant Dolts, Bill O'Reilly, on the Faux News Channel.

It is here, not once, but twice this past week, that Miller went for the IDOTW Gold.

Bill O’Reilly and Dennis Miller make homophobic jokes about Barney Frank

Last night on the O’Reilly Factor, Dennis Miller said President-elect Obama should “flatten these punks at AIG.” When O’Reilly suggested Obama should arrest Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), Miller laughed and said, “Barney might want to be arrested.” O’Reilly laughed and then acted disgusted by the idea of homosexuality. Watch it ...

Oh, Jesus ... Fag jokes?

Barney Frank has been out-of-the-closet since around the time an, undoubtedly, precocious toddler Miller may have paraded around the house in his mother's high heels.

If Ellie was around, no doubt, she would have been hittin' the buzzers on that one.

For another, with Miller riding herd with the dying Pachyderm Party, it's a mighty tall glass house he spews his locker room barb from if he wants to color his jokes pink.

And, of course, that was a warm-up.

Back again with Mr. Pinhead, the perfume of the loofahs must have been in the air;

Dennis Miller: Women hate Palin b/c she has great sex life

She’s a great dame. People are fascinated by her because the Left hate her. I think the Left hate her — mostly women on the Left hate her — because to me from outside in it appears that she has a great sex life, all right? I think she has non-neurotic sex with that Todd Palin guy. … I think that snow mobile looks like mechanized foreplay to me and that’s why people are fascinated.

Say What?

Has he been hanging out with Rich Lowery?

Does Dennis Miller, sitting straight up, see starbursts every time the GOP Clothes Horse pops up on the screen?

Has he gone out and purchased an official Todd Palin snowsuit and snow mobile of his own, placing it in a special room of his house, rocketing across the carnal ice of Alaska, all frenzied with fascination?

Oh, wait a minute ... Wait a minute ...

I get it now.

It was so obvious ...

Dennis Miller is Bill O'Reilly's Ellie!

They just took away the Howard Dean Scream buttons.

Dennis Miller ... The Garlic's Ignorant Dolt of the Week!


Bonus Miller IDOTW Riffs

The Angry Liberal: Can someone tell me what happened to Dennis Miller?

LA Weekly: Miller's Crossing - Can a pro-Bush comedian get laughs?

Media Matters: CNBC's Dennis Miller on Iraqi prisoner abuse photos: "I like to trade them with friends"

Of Talking Head Paloozas ... Ahh, Dennis, I'll Take Has-Been Hosts for $500, Please ... And Wait A Minute, Didn't You Read This Before? ...

Our Ignorant Dolt of the Week .... President-Elect Barack Obama

Yeah, you read that right.

Fully, we didn't expect for The Big O to pop up on our IDOTW radar until after he took office, perhaps due to some gaffe, or other, in the First 100-days, or some major policy mess down the road.

And we held out over the weekend, waiting, hoping, some other twit would come along, proving themselves IDOTW-worthy.

Dick Cheney, going on his victory tour, blabbing away about torture and stomping on The Constitution like he had dipped into the Christmas punch a little to much is in a league all by itself.

And that's part of the whole, on-going Bush Legacy Project, which we anticipate tackling between now, and when The Bush Grindhouse folds its' tent next month.

No, the choice of super-evangelist Rick Warren, for the Inaugural Invocation, rings the IDOTW bell for Obama.

And, it was just two-weeks ago, Rick Warren was our IDOTW!

First-and-foremost, and going with the whole "change" thing, we thought this bright, Ivy Leaguer would have looked at this aspect of the Swearing-In Show, remembering our thing about "the separation of church and state" and announced that he was going to run another one of those "I'm From Kansas" videos, to warm up the crowd, or maybe a new one, a montage of the history of the country, building up to a cacophonous crescendo, right to the exact moment, cutting in live, of Obama and Chief Muckity-Muck Roberts hitting their marks, Obama lying his hand down on the bible, with the backdrop of red, white and blue fireworks.

But, no, we get the Saddleback carny entering, stage right ... Make that entering, stage extremely far right, continuing his hustle of the networks, that he's the Big Cheese Bible Thumper these days.

And the networks are buying it, as we've heard, more than a few times, of Warren being referred to as "America's Pastor" which, I guess, is kind of like when the Dallas Cowboys were "America's Team", expect we drop the busty, scantily-clad cheerleaders for the Purpose Driven hustler.

If the Right Wing Jesus Freaks are in the middle of some kind of Hatfield-McCoy war, on who God is whispering to, let'em fight it out, but maybe, they can do in that infamous Saddleback Cone of Silence.

With Obama giving Warren center-stage, on his own, mega-big day, that seems like a pretty big chip to be tossing into the pot.

As, with the inclusion of Warren on Jan. 20th, he's kicking the LGBT supporters away from the table.

After all, comparing homosexuality to incest and child molestation, like, that wouldn't be offensive to anyone.

Yeah, Yeah ... This is the "reaching across the aisle" thing ... "Bipartisanship" ... Of sitting down with our enemies and talking, working through to find common ground ... Blah, Blah, Blah

It's really great that our next president likes to mix it up, that he's not afraid to step in shit, and then, clean his own shoes ...

But, Rick Warren?

America's Pastor? ...

Please, Shoot Me!

Last week, on Countdown', Keith Olbermann talked with Rob Boston, of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and Boston summed it up with a killer line;

Well, Warren, to me, is—he has a great P.R. machine. And he has people thinking he‘s a moderate, but he‘s really just Jerry Falwell in a Hawaiian shirt. And we don‘t need that again. You know, with the sort of passing of the guard of some of the old religious right leader, some of them have died, others of whom are sort of in semi-retirement, a lot of us are hoping for a more moderate religious voice to come to bear. And we‘re not getting that.

Jerry Falwell in a Hawaiian shirt ...

Well, whether or not President-Elect Barack Obama wears Hawaiian shirts, he's wearing The Garlic's "Ignorant Dolt of the Week" crown.

And both these guys are big-time, PR-savvy ...

Can't we see a "schedule conflict" or, some other excuse pop up, knocking Warren out-of-the box?

C'mon Guys! ... Get a glove! ... Get in the game, here!


Bonus Obama-Warren IDOTW Riffs

YouTube - Warren: The Bible says that God puts government on earth to punish evildoers

YouTube - Rick Warren Endorses Prop 8

YouTube - RIck Warren on gays, their immaturity and desire for multiple partners

Brilliant at Breakfast: Sorry, President-Elect Obama, you blew it big time with this one

Attytood: R-E-S-P-E-C-T...find out what it means, Barack

Joe Sudbay (DC): Rick Warren is a major fail and a total affront

Blue Texan: In a Surprising Development, Barney Frank Objects to Incest Accusations

Joan Walsh: Disappointed by Rick Warren

Mike Madden: How the hell did Rick Warren get inauguration tickets? Barack Obama knows liberals are upset he picked the conservative evangelical preacher to pray at the inauguration. And he doesn't care


Late Breaking

Think Progress: Warren’s church removes anti-gay statements from website

John Aravosis (DC): Rick Warren pulls anti-gay language from his Web site

TowleRoad: As Obama Bakes, Rick Warren Controversy Simmers

Pam Spaulding: Lowery, Rhue speak out on Warren debacle; Saddleback homophobe to keynote at King Memorial Service