Pundit Country

In all honesty, I’m a little impressed we don’t see this more often. With the increasing temptation that staffers want to show reporters or their friends that they are “in the know” coupled with the instant gratification that is social networking this could lead to people saying divulging aspects of the job that they shouldn’t.

FT.com / UK – Twitter furore in Berlin as MPs leak poll result.

Related articles

• Twittergate in German parliament as MPs leak poll result (inquisitr.com)

This video release recently and caught by Talking Points Memo is of a couple of young guys performing their newest bit about what’s wrong with the country. Now I’m all for creative distribution of ideas and rap is arguably one the best modes to convey them, but this is just painful to watch.

It rhymes in the way a second-grade kid would and amounts to just a bitch fest that crosses conservative ideology with Christianist dogma (which contradict each other on many levels, but that doesn’t seem to mind too much to them).

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkeZ2P4SiY8

By the way, maybe calling yourselves the “Cons” isn’t the best way to get people to forget that many of your party members have either committed or advocated for the commission of crimes against the populace. Just a thought. Peace out.

I’ve been a sucker for the BBC’s Dr. Who since I saw my first Tom Baker episode.  It was a total escape for me as a kid watching old episodes of Star Trek on cable and this strange little British show that played on my local PBS station. I can’t say I really understood everything, but I was always glued to my screen to see what strange adventures were going to come up next.

Ever since the BBC decided to bring back the show in 2005, I’ve been riveted to every single episode. Now that the current actor to play the role, David Tennet (my favorite thus far) is leaving, along with most of the creative staff, it was time to start naming the rest of the actors.

Matt Smith (strangely also the name of my very non-English brother) is taking over for Tennet while new actress Gillan (seen below) takes over as the new companion. I can’t wait for the new epsidoes to start.

The full story is here.

Related articles

• Who’s she? Little-known actress to be Doctor’s assistant (news.bbc.co.uk)
• The 11th Doctor Has Been Named… (dizzy-girl.net)
• BBC Hints At a Possible Doctor Who Movie (screenrant.com)

“If ever a civil rights movement was needed in America, it is for the Republican Party. If ever we needed to start marching for freedom and constitutional rights, it’s for the Republican Party. The Republican Party is today’s oppressed minority, and it knows how to behave as one. The GOP know to go to the “back of the bus” and drink from the right water fountain.”

-Rush Limbaugh, titular head of the Republican Party (h/t to Media Matters)

I don’t usually offer comment on these things, but this one is just to special to resist. Let’s see the amount of things the poor soul seems to have stated incorrectly:

• political parties don’t get civil rights movements for them, they often form because of them.
• he wants to march for civil and Constitution rights? Where was he when his party
  • authorized the use of torture
  • ignored the Geneva Convention
  • illegally “unsigned” international treaties
  • illegally invaded a country that did not attack us
  • lied to get the U.S. into that war
  • made exceptional (and illegal use) of signing statements
  • drowned an American city
  • destroyed the military
  • destroyed the economy
  • established “free speech zones” for protesters
• The GOP is not oppressed. They just lost a couple of elections. By a lot. That does not mean you get to run in the corner and cry loudly like a 2-year old having a temper tantrum

By the way, that bit about going to the back of the bus and drinking from the water fountain was cute. Keep that kind of talk up and it’ll be a good couple of decades before your beloved party is back in power.

Related articles

• Rush Limbaugh: The Republican Party Is “Today’s Oppressed Minority” (dailykos.com)
• Rush Limbaugh “Resigns” As Head of Republican Party (mediabistro.com)

In this piece by David Corn appearing in Mother Jones, Richard Viguerie, one of the key philosophical and financial backers of the conservative movement, believes that the nomination could unite the true factions of the former 80’s coalition that gave rise to the modern GOP once again:

The nomination of Sonia Sotomayor unites all wings of the conservative movement–economic, foreign policy, social, traditional, neocon, and libertarian–in a way we haven’t seen since the early Clinton years.

Judge Sotomayor frightens all conservatives. As the debate over her nomination heats up, conservatives will provide the primary opposition to Sotomayor and will quickly launch a massive educational campaign using direct mail, the Internet, talk radio, cable TV, You Tube, and other forms of new and alternative media.

Viguerie isn’t either being honest with himself or isn’t paying attention. So far, only the most rabid base of the GOP are really going after Sotomayor, For the most part the Senate Republicans haven’t been calling for anything other than some questions on her opinions. Likely because they know they lack the political muscle to do anything but look foolish if they attempt to block her.

Conventional wisdom is beginning to collate around the idea that Sotomayor may get some of the rabid right after her, but that she will sail through both the judiciary committee and the full Senate. I don’t see anything on the horizon to disagree with that assessment.

[update] Since I started writing this piece, Congressman Tom Tancredo was on CNN calling Sotomayor a racist and a member of a KKK-like organization. It seems the Limbaugh wing if the party (which sadly seems to comprise most of it these days) has been heard from. I particular like how he tries to shout down his questioners as they try and relate to him how wrong he is. Classy.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqzSe1JaPLI