TALKING POINTS MEMO: The new issue of the Michele Bachmann comic, False Witness! The Michele Bachmann Story, is now out on sale. The producers of the comic appear to be taking a thematic approach in the series, dedicating an issue to a particular area of Bachmann’s right-wing obsessions — and they’ve done a great job of it in this issue. This episode: The gays. As for the treatment of the subject matter, the creators set out to make a serious point: That Bachmann has advanced her career on a platform of singling out a group within society for hatred and […]
SCRAPPLE TV NEWS: Webcamgate!
AP Ticker takes on Lower Merion school district’s Webcamgate, disgraced bronze medal snowboarder Scotty Lagos, and answers once and for all the age old question: Is curling gay? Also, he dispels the rumor that he is in fact Epic Beard Man.
WORTH REPEATING: Why The Mad Hatter Is So Mad
NEW YORKER: One factor that the Times [Tea Party] article tiptoed around, but which undoubtedly plays some role, is racism. For some white Americans of a certain age and background, the sight of a black man in the Oval Office, even one who went to Harvard Law School and conducts himself in the manner of an aloof WASP aristocrat, is an affront. While President Obama’s approval rating has fallen in almost all groups, the biggest slippage has taken place among whites, especially middle- and working-class whites. A Gallup poll identified this trend last November, and it surely played a role […]
EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES: Michael Smerconish Quits The GOP, Says It’s Become A ‘Party Of Exclusion’
[Photo by CHRIS CHRISMAN] MICHAEL SMERCONISH: The national GOP is a party of exclusion and litmus tests, dominated on social issues by the religious right, with zero discernible outreach by the national party to anyone who doesn’t fit neatly within its parameters.Which is not to say I feel comfortable in the Democratic Party, either. Where political parties once existed to create coalitions and win elections, now they seek to advance strict ideological agendas. Collegiality is nonexistent today, and any outreach across an aisle is castigated as weakness by the talking heads who constantly stir a pot of discontent. So vicious […]
SCRAPPLE TV NEWS: Murtha, Murtha, Murtha!
AP Ticker delivers a stinging eulogy for recently departed PA congressman John Murtha, plus he reveals his Olympic man-crush on Bob Costas.
GUILT BY ASSOCIATION: Armed And Dangerous Teabagger Says Sarah Palin ‘On A Mission From God’
TALKING POINTS MEMO: The Massachusetts man charged this week with stockpiling weapons after saying he feared an imminent “Armageddon” appears to have been active in the Tea Party movement, and saw Sarah Palin, who he said is on a “righteous ‘Mission from God,’” as the only figure capable of averting the destruction of society. As we reported yesterday, Gregory Girard, a Manchester technology consultant, was found with a stash of military grade weapons, explosive devices including tear gas and pepper ball canisters, camouflage clothing, knives, handcuffs, bulletproof vests and helmets, and night vision goggles, say police. They believe Girard, who […]
SCRAPPLE TV NEWS: Snowpocalypse, Now!
With your host AP Ticker.
REALITY CHECK: The Paranoid Style Of American Politics Minus Adult Supervision Equals Right Now
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] THINK PROGRESS: Des Moines register reports: “A third of Iowans from across the political spectrum say they support the ‘tea party’ movement, sounding a loud chorus of dissatisfaction with government, according to The Des Moines Register’s new Iowa Poll.” But how loud a chorus is this, really? 55 percent of Americans say they’re personally protected by a guardian angel. 38 percent of Americans have a favorable view of Cuba and 36 percent are favorably disposed toward socialism, but I don’t see anyone writing newspaper articles about how a populist wave of socialism is sweeping the country. […]
MAD HATTER: Sarah In Wonderland
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] ANDREW SULLIVAN: There is no question in my mind that Palin is the leader of the opposition in this country. And there is no question in my mind that she is the leader of the Tea Party movement. Listening to her completely content-free rehash of every Fox News truism, underlined with the classic claim that Obama is on the side of the terrorists and is incapable of being commander-in-chief. Cheneyism is behind her. MORE WASHINGTON INDEPENDENT: Nodding at the much-discussed question of whether this speech would make Palin the “leader” of the Tea Party movement, she […]
PAPERBOY: Slow-Jamming The Alt-Weeklies
BY DAVE ALLEN Like time, news waits for no man. Keeping up with the funny papers has always been an all-day job, even in the pre-Internets era. These days, however, it’s a two-man job. That’s right, these days you need someone to do your reading for you, or risk falling hopelessly behind and, as a result, increasing your chances of dying lonely and somewhat bitter. That’s why every week PAPERBOY does your alt-weekly reading for you. We pore over those time-consuming cover stories and give you the takeaway, suss out the cover art, warn you off the ink-wasters and steer […]
VALANIA: Last Night I Sneaked Into The Tea Party
BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY A word of warning: The story you are about to read is neither fair nor balanced; just true. The other night I snuck into the Tea Party, like a spy in the House of Glenn Beck Love, and nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen. You know about the Tea Party movement, right? The populist jihad—sponsored by Fox News, FreedomWorks, the Taliban wing of the Republican Party and the rest of the Dick Armey—that’s putting the RIOT back in PATRIOT. They’re white as hell and they’re not gonna take the 2008 presidential election anymore. […]
SCRAPPLE TV NEWS: The Week That Was
With your host, A.P. Ticker.