Tweet of the Day

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Entre la cruz y la espada

Which is Spanish for What's a teabagger to do?

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Más.

(h/t: Amy Sullivan and Wikipedia)

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[Added] See also this post by Amy Sullivan, in which she busts The rePubOLITICO for falling for Dreamy McSerious's spin.

Tim Pawlenty makes war on capitalism to show how much he hates the Muslins

It's hard out there for a Republican preznidential candidate!

Sharia-compliant financing is a growing industry, particularly when it comes to mortgages. "Traditional secular, money lending banks are setting up Sharia-compliant products because they make money," says Abed Awad, an attorney who specializes in Islamic law. Companies like Citigroup and Visa have tried their hand at Sharia-compliant products. Usually companies structure the payments in a sort of house-buying layaway plan. "It's a major moneymaker for banks." Shariah compliant mortgages allow observant Muslims like Lakhani to buy homes, where previously they were stuck renting to avoid interest payments.

There's nothing sinister about the growth of Sharia-compliant finance. It is just capitalism at work, an emerging market in which firms are meeting demand for a particular kind of product. But a decision by one 2012 Republican hopeful, Tim Pawlenty, may come back to haunt him in the GOP presidential primary, where any association with Sharia-compliant finance could be toxic.

[...]

Pawlenty's effort to increase minority homeownership by encouraging companies to offer Sharia-compliant mortgages was entirely in keeping with his reputation as a "Sam's Club Republican" concerned with helping "regular people." But in the 2012 race, he'll be up against competitors who may try to use it against him.

"Who may." That Adam Serwer is a funny guy.

Of course, Ben Smith won the morning obediently rushed to type up the new Pawlenty position.

But a Pawlenty spokesman told me that the governor has no intention of defending the program -- and that in fact, he shut it down himself as soon as he learned of it.

(h/t: Jack Stuef | x-posted)

Top conservatives against Palin?

One of the anti-Palin Alaska blogs, The Immoral Minority, has a dishy/it-would-be-irresponsible-NOT-to-speculate piece about about some rumblings of late among the movers and shakers on the right.

His (I'm guessing at the blogger's gender) starting point is Palin's apparent no-show on the launch of the new Lou Dobbs show. (Yeah, I missed the big news of that launch, too.) He then mentions, among other bits of gossip, NY Mag's report that Roger Ailes was/is mad about Palin's refusal to follow his advice to keep quiet after the Tucson shootings, a leak by someone that said Palin was added to McCain's VP short list only because she was a woman, and a prediction on Morning Joe by Mika Brzezinski that Ailes is going to dump Palin. He's got several links to support these.

Looking around elsewhere, I came across a longish piece, dated 14 March 2011, on the GOP's press release reposting service headlined:

'She's becoming Al Sharpton, Alaska edition'

This line was attributed to Matt Labash of the biased liberal Weekly Standard. George Will, Heather MacDonald, and Peter Wehner, "a top strategist in George W. Bush’s White House," also go on record with disparaging remarks. Also name-checked for recent comments made elsewhere are Barbara Bush and Charles Krauthammer. Basically, they don't like her non-stop playing of "the victim card" and her "culture of aggrievement."

Oh, go on and click those links. You know you want to. Everyone needs a silliness break when the real news is so bad.

(h/t: @LJSearles | x-posted | pic. source)

[Added] I see Blue Texan was ahead of me on noticing this collective top-down finger-wagging. (No surprise there, as Instaputz readers will recall -- he's been tracking this for a while now.) He also adds something I didn't notice: Judd Gregg's diss. Yes, Gregg is so 2009, but remember that he's from New Hampshire, and probably still has some back-room clout there.

Sa®ah Palin is hypotheticalin', for attention

It seems that He®self has gotten all pissy, again, that people aren't talking about her, due to the excitement over the Newt "leaked" some speculation, which Ben Smith has obediently typed up, about how He® P®residential campaign would be conducted. Hypothetically. If she deigns to run.

I am reminded of nothing so much as this:

"POLITICO announced that it has decided to skip the 2012 election cycle entirely"

A shocking exposé from deep inside the bowels: Michael Kinsley reports on the secret agenda of the horserace 'n' gossip biz.

And thereby Wins The Morning™, of course.

(h/t: @jeffjarvis)

How idiotic is Politico?

One measure is this headline:

Barack Obama braces for Jon Huntsman 2012 bid

Link available here.

"the Ministry of Propaganda has, in effect, seized control of the Politburo"

Fun fact, from Paul Krugman's latest column on the billionaire-financed wingnut welfare program we still, for reasons of tradition, call the GOP:

As Politico recently pointed out, every major contender for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination who isn’t currently holding office and isn’t named Mitt Romney is now a paid contributor to Fox News.

Ah, well. This democracy and free press thing was fun while it lasted, wasn't it?

From that rePubOLITICO link, there's also this bit of inadvertent comedy toward the end, where they've got Pat Buchanan as their go-to guy to ask about whether the above might be a problem.

No, wait, that's not the really funny part. This is:

Buchanan said the Fox reporters had no choice but treating those on the payroll as if they weren’t. “If you’re an objective journalist, you bring [the candidates] on and ask them tough questions.”

Hmmm! Tough Questions™! Yes, please tell us more.

While the commentators who have their own Fox programs have largely offered friendly forums for the four contributors, some of the reporters who have covered the group have not. When Palin appeared in Iowa recently, for example, political correspondent Carl Cameron reported that she had failed to meet with local officials and didn’t solicit any advice from Republicans in the state — basic steps traditionally taken by presidential candidates.

As you'll note, that's not asking a question. And no, there are no other "examples."

Wingnuts' Abstinence-from-Evidence Pledge Still Holding

Roy Edroso reports in his latest roundup that rightbloggers simply did not care for that Stephen Colbert testifying before Congress, and let them tell you, neither did anyone else.

And what about your (So Called) Liberal Media? Equally furious. Especially the usual suspects from The rePubOLITICO and, as Zandar brilliantly labeled him, Chuck Toddler.

So, this week, Roy finds the funny in unfunny people saying a funny person is not funny. Time for a MacArthur Grant, I say.

Intro here. Full column here.

Ben Smith Has a Narrative in Mind, And He's Sticking To It

When I first saw this Newell post, "Will Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert Rallies Hurt Democrats' Election Chances?," I was all set to piss and moan about the Democratic circular firing squad, why Newell should never have left Wonkette, etc.

But a closer read, not to mention clicking the rePubOLITICO link within, indicates it's more like Ben Smith woke up this morning and asked himself, as he does every morning, "What can I write about that is Bad News For Democrats™?" And thus, he went through his iPhone RolodexApp and kept asking people, "How is this day of fun that might actually get few hundred thousand libs interested in doing something useful, like voting, actually the worst thing in the world, for Democrats?" And a couple of saps -- yeah, looking at you, Chris Hayes -- answered him, and clickety-clickety, Ben Smith Won The Morning™! (= got a Drudge link.)

Stop taking Ben Smith's phone calls, everybody. He is part of the problem.

I Dunno, TBogg

Much as I share your contempt for the rePubOLITICO, I am tempted to give Andy Barr credit for being intentional with this one:

“For Washington consultants to sit around and personally disparage the governor anonymously to reporters is unfortunate and counterproductive and frankly immature,” said the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

@the rest of you: Yep, the campaign for the 2012 GOP nomination is already in full swing. As Parfigliano observes: It's Mormon vs. Moron!

What a suprise: The rePubOLITICO is misrepresenting the leftosphere has its two heads up its many asses again.

Greg Sargent and Dave Weigel throw good punches in return.

Busted. Again.

Instaputz catches the rePubOLITICO bowing to their true masters once again -- the right-wing howler monkeys -- and changing a post to please them, and as before, without noting the change.

(x-posted)

Busted

Wonderment pointed to the latest Frank Rich op-ed, which is about the McChrystal affair, etc. It's worth a read, but the nugget that really jumped out at me was this:

Politico theorized that Hastings had pulled off his impertinent coup because he was a freelance journalist rather than a beat reporter, and so could risk “burning bridges by publishing many of McChrystal’s remarks.”

That sentence was edited out of the article — in a routine updating, said Politico — after the blogger Andrew Sullivan highlighted it as a devastating indictment of a Washington media elite too cozy with and protective of its sources to report the unvarnished news.

Hmmm ... a major news blog substantively modifying posts without noting that fact? A blog that has been a big part of the shrillness about the recent Weigel/Journolist unpleasantness and its supposed lack of openness and honesty? I am shocked, shocked at the rePubOLITICO's hypocrisy!

All together now ... time for a blogger ethics panel!!!1!

BTW, that first link is to a post by Jay Rosen and is well worth a look. (Secret bonus at the end, too!)

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[Added] More on the Politico's irresponsible behavior and their subsequent stonewalling from The Columbia Journalism Review (via Jay).

On a personal note, I am sad to see Tim Grieve carrying water for his new paymasters on this one. I remember when I used to like that guy, a lot. Ah, well. Golden handcuffs catch another, I guess.

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(x-posted)

Pimping the Fake Pimp

Convicted criminal and Breitbart rentboy James O'Keefe will be on Good Morning America tomorrow. Accordingly, Politico is already helping out with the fluffing.

Mike Allen Provokes Moment of Honest Reporting

The disambiguation page for Michael Allen on Wikipedia currently looks like this (note last line) …

… and the latest revision for that page currently looks like this:

Click images to enlarge, and enjoy this brief moment of truth before the terrible "impartiality" demons swoop down again.

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Cartoon of the Day (Updated)

Two-minute animated short: "Politico's editorial meeting."

[Update 2021-12-14 13:17] Sorry. There was once a Flash video embedded here. But Flash is no more.

(h/t: @DaveWeigel)

[Update2] Interview with the creator. Also, backup YouTube version here.

rePubOLITICO Watch

Just retyping GOP press releases is apparently no longer enough.

Why am I not surprised?

We don't call it The rePubOLITICO for nothing, ya know.

Line of the Day: 2009-07-31

The consensus is clear. Democrats are headed toward modest pickups in both chambers in 2010. But the geniuses at the Politico stand above common sense and reality …
      --Markos Moulitsas

As Kos notes, the rePubOLITICO story smells of a desperate bid to attract a Drudge link, in light of the reality that their traffic is down by over a million readers per month since February.

Win the morning! Win the afternoon!

(h/t: Twin, via PM)