Bumper sticker of the Day: 2012-10-02

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(h/t: LO, via TC, via email)(previously)

Oh no he di'n't!

A note from the Underground:

Mitt's birther comment has officially gone viral. 8+ pages on Google now.

Capping off another week of talking about everything EXCEPT the economy. His advisers and apologists will be spending the whole weekend explaining it, walking it back, etc. Woo hoo! This, along with the Aiken mess translates into a very bad week for the Mittster.

Looks like!

Dude doesn't even know how to dog-whistle.

(h/t: The Artist Formerly Known As GingrichIdeas | pic. source)

Shocking news

In case you hadn't heard, this happened, again:

See Jay Bookman for details.

(pic. source: Paul Boylan)

Why is Barack Obama ...

... so disrespectful of what ®ealAmericans believe???1?

(embiggen)

See also, see also.

(x-posted)

[Added] Let there be Blingee! (Especially when you can steal from Mrs. Polly at Rumproast.)

I guess someone still has work to do on his "Great Relationship With The Blacks"

As in, the leading candidate for the Republican 2012 nomination.

Here are a few thoughts from Baratunde Thurston, aka Jack Turner, from Jack & Jill Politics.

(alt. video link)

Quite moving, I thought.

(h/t: Angry Black Lady | title: cf. | x-posted)

Birfer Madness Continues

NYT:

Obama’s ‘Long-Form’ Birth Certificate Is Released

President Obama on Wednesday posted online a copy of his “long-form” birth certificate from the state of Hawaii, hoping to finally end a long-simmering conspiracy theory among some conservatives who asserted that he was not born in the United States and was not a legitimate president.

The birth certificate, which is posted on the White House Web site, shows that Mr. Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and is signed by state officials and his mother.

“The President believed the distraction over his birth certificate wasn’t good for the country,” Dan Pfeiffer, the White House communications director, wrote on the Web site Wednesday morning. Mr. Pfeiffer said on the site that Mr. Obama had authorized officials in Hawaii to release the document broadly.

In a statement to the news media Wednesday morning, Mr. Obama said he decided to release the document in an effort to end the “silliness” about his birth that threatened to distract from the serious issues facing the country.

“Over the last two and a half years, I have watched with bemusement,” he said in brief remarks. “I’ve been puzzled by the degree to which this thing just kept on going.”

Mr. Obama said there would be a “segment of people for which, no matter what we put out, this issue will not be put to rest.” [...]

Kerners are go!

So, which do you think there will be more of, wingnuts claiming this is faked, or Very Serious People wingnuts saying all the Birfer nonsense could have been avoided if only Obama had …

(cf. | x-posted)

And speaking of sad bids for attention ... Why, hello, Sa®ah Palin!

He®self endorses The Donald's birtherism, and gets coverage everywhere!* Best to start with Wonkette on an important story like this.

* When will our Lamest®eam Media acknowledge that Michele Bachmann is now Queen of the Crazies?

(previously)

NYT Fail

The article about the latest teabagger rally in Washington, by Jennifer Steinhauer, currently near the top of the NYT's homepage, is a perfect example of how successfully the RWNM has intimidated the MSM. Not only is lots of space given to wingnut members of Congress like Pence and Bachmann without any context to illuminate how ridiculous their supposed goals are, there is no mention of the size of the "crowd."

According to FoxNews of all places, it measured in the dozens.

Also omitted from the article: any mention of the resurgent Birtherism among the Republican Party's base.

Endorsement of the Month

Lewis Black comes out swinging, for The Donald Trump.

(alt. video link)

(h/t: RM/FB)

Huckabee Jumps Into the Birther Ring

Former Republican governor and current FoxNews employee Mike Huckabee is burping up the company Kool-Aid:

During a radio appearance yesterday, Mike Huckabee repeatedly falsely claimed that President Obama grew up in Kenya. After questioning Obama's purported secrecy about the birth certificate, Malzberg asked Huckabee if "we deserve to know more about this man." Huckabee responded, "I would love to know more. What I know is troubling enough."

Speaking on WOR's The Steve Malzberg Show, Huckabee -- a Fox News host and potential presidential candidate -- said that "one thing that I do know is his having grown up in Kenya, his view of the Brits, for example, very different than the average American ... his perspective as growing up in Kenya with a Kenyan father and grandfather, their view of the Mau Mau Revolution in Kenya is very different than ours because he probably grew up hearing that the British are a bunch of imperialists who persecuted his grandfather."

Of course ...

Contrary to Huckabee's claims, Obama did not grow up in Kenya. Obama spends significant portions of his book Dreams From My Father describing his first visit to Kenya in the late 1980s.

And ...

The BBC noted in a 2008 article that "Barack Obama has never lived in Kenya and he has visited the country just three times."

Additionally, Obama did not grow up "with a Kenyan father and grandfather." Indeed, Dreams From My Father is largely about Obama's struggles with the absence of his father. The AP noted in 2006 that Obama "was mostly raised in Hawaii and did not know his Kenyan father well."

(pic. source | x-posted)

Kickin' off Oldies Weekend?

Just read Substance McGravitas on Orly Taitz, right after reading Roger Ailes on Kenneth Gladney.

You know the rule: one more and it's a trend!

Meet the base of the Republican Party

If you're wondering how the party of Palin, Beck, and Limbaugh managed to reacquire control of the House, here's a hint:

Hurrah for American Exceptionalism, huh?

(h/t: KK)

[Update] Also.

Canary in the Catecholamine

Yeah, so I just learnt me a new word, and I made a punny. Sue me.

But before you do that, go read my teacher and the associated comments. Boy am I glad I made the conscious decision to read no newspapers or blogs yesterday.

And if promoting a piece of debris to the level of Holy Relic isn't enough for you, you might also have a look at Roy's previous post, in which he notes the (person who we ought always refer to as the disgraced) former Speaker of the House huffing about how we can't trust the President of the United States. Because he's a Kenyan. And Newt knows this to be true because Dinesh Fucking D'Souza told him so. I am not making this up.

Let me just add that I hope Roy's closing thought in the first post was nothing more than a burst of frustration. We have precious few pillars of sanity left in this country.

__________

[Added] Roy's also right about Gingrich's reach for ALINSKY!!!1! as the new all-purpose pejorative. Y'know, I'm not the best-read libtard on the planet, but I never even heard of this guy until mid-2008, when butthurt wingnuts started howling his name every five seconds, and I'd lay long odds I'm not unique in this unfamiliarity. You'd think they thought it would never have occurred to any of us to ridicule their ridiculousness absent some figure of authority telling us it was good to do so.

Come to think of it, that probably says something of significance about what we might politely call their thought processes.

Giffy Pop -- as much fun to steal as ...

... oh, forget that.

But this is an oddly compelling image, from one of the masters of the animated GIF, Substance McGravitas. (Arachnophobes and others of the easily creeped-out persuasion should maybe not click that or any of the following links.)

Earlier version here. Earlier earlier version here. Apparently started from an image posted by Jennifer/Saying yes.

[Added] Also, an Orly Taitz GIF!

Beat this, for incentive to get out and vote

Special to Carlyfornians:

Remember that one fringe benefit to the "hard work" of dragging your butts down to the polls tomorrow will be a chance to pile on in the landslide that will be Mickey Kaus's defeat. Yes, of course you already knew that, and that's the only reason you're going.

But!

There is someone else running, to give you even more of a reward for fulfilling your civic duty, and here's the pitch:

"It'd be a disaster for the Republican party," says James Lacy, a conservative GOP operative in the state.

Orly Taitz for Secretary of State!

---

DISCLAIMER: I don't think you'll actually get to vote for both, unless the primaries are more open than I think. But! You'll get to vote against him or for her!

(pic. source)

Sounds Like Butthurt Roberts Could Learn a Thing or Two From Judge Carter

Here is your moment of Birther news, stolen from The House of Substance:

The courtroom proceedings at the Ronald Reagan Federal Building in Santa Ana for Orly Taitz's Barnett v. Obama lawsuit were memorable, partly, because they featured so much bickering between Taitz and her co-counsel Gary Kreep. Kreep and Taitz, who originally joined forces to file the lawsuit on behalf of Alan Keyes and Wiley Drake, accused one another of lying, and begged judge David O. Carter to allow them to proceed in separate lawsuits.

Carter's response was to ask the two to move their chairs closer together.

Priceless.

Whole story from Spencer Kornhaber at the OC Weekly.

(x-posted)

I think this is the first time we can say this without irony

This is excellent news for John McCain.

14:57 ... 14:58 ... 14:59 ...

I think the Queen of the Birthers has about run out of clock. If this is the best she can do …

In case you haven't been keeping up on all things Orly, her latest attempt to hang onto fame was to organize this protest against Bill O'Reilly (!) for being part of the cover-up.

(h/t: Jim Newell | title: cf.)

__________

[Added] Uh-oh. In other news, it looks like she might be in real trouble -- for suborning perjury.

[Added2] Looks like her crowd, such as it was, got a boost by attracting another sad conspiracy theorist and his five friends flock: Rev. James David Manning.

From the annals of "They All Look Alike"

You had to figure that if I was looking at Sarah Palin's Twitter page, it wasn't going to be too much longer before it occurred to me to wonder, "Say, what's the latest on Orly Taitz?"

Start us off, won't you, Jay Bookman?

According to the Columbus Ledger Enquirer, Taitz’ most recent filing accuses Land of having met secretly in Columbus with Attorney General Eric Holder to conspire about ways to hide evidence of Obama’s true birthplace. For that and other reasons, she demands that Land recuse himself from the case.

Her evidence for that rather stunning charge?

An affidavit from a fellow birther claiming to have seen someone resembling Holder in a Columbus cafe across the street from the federal courthouse.

Indeed! Oh, and Justin Elliot at TPM has the affidavit and full coverage. Try to wriggle out of this, Mr. Attorney General!

I looked up and immediately recognized an individual entering and approaching the serving counter, due to his well know [sic] TV displayed distinguishing features: his trim upper lip mustache, not large of stature and general olive complexion.

You can't dispute witnessin' like that! Book 'im, Danno.

TPM also has a copy of the Taitz's whole motion to recuse. I only made it to page 2 (of 20) before I found out that, according to our Orly, truly, It's All Connected (emph. orig.):

… it also appears to the undersigned that Judge Land may be disqualified because he has equity ownership of certain securities (e.g. Microsoft and Comcast) which are aligned both politically and economically with a key Defendant in this case, namely the de facto President of the United States …

PDFOTUS??? Now she'll have to sue Adobe, too.

(previously)

Orly Taitz Spanked

You absolutely must read the judge's decision (14 page PDF -- a quick read, you can skip the obvious boilerplate) in the lawsuit filed by the Queen B of the Birthers. The word "birther" is used repeatedly, and even the footnotes are sarcastic. Money quote from the intro:

After conducting a hearing on Plaintiff’s motion, the Court finds that Plaintiff’s claims are frivolous. Accordingly, her application for a temporary restraining order (Doc. 3) is denied, and her Complaint is dismissed in its entirety. Furthermore, Plaintiff’s counsel is hereby notified that the filing of any future actions in this Court, which are similarly frivolous, shall subject counsel to sanctions.

This is the second time (here's the first) Taitz has found some sap in the US military to go along with an idea of "I won't go to a combat zone, because it's illegal for our illegal Commander in Chief to illegally order me to." The judge is none too kind to the soldier, either, one Captain Connie Rhodes, saying among other things:

The American taxpayers paid for her third and fourth years of medical school and financially supported her during her subsequent medical internship and residency program. In exchange for this valuable free medical education, Captain Rhodes agreed to serve two years in active service in the Army. She began that term of active service in July of 2008 and had no concerns about fulfilling her military obligation until she received orders notifying her that she would be deployed to Iraq in September of 2009.

[...]

Her “conscientious objections” to serving under the current Commander in Chief apparently can be accommodated as long as she is permitted to remain on American soil.

Expect the usual suspects to howl about the LIBERAL JUDGE DISRESPECTING THE TROOPS. You'll know, though they won't, because wingnuts rarely use the Google when the facts might interfere with the fauxtrage, that he was appointed by George W. Bush.

(h/t: Jim Newell | pic. source)