Repuglicans: What the F&^% Edition.

This is not about repuglicans, per se, but it is astonishingly repuglican in it's stupidity. Atrios on Saving The Media: One does wonder how these geniuses could possibly be having any troubles with their business model.

Kurtz: GOP Approach to Voter ID Republican state rep in Texas: Can't you Asians just adopt new names "that's easier for Americans to deal with?"

Kurtz: Money Doesn't Grow on Trees -- But ACORNS Do Michael Steele, in a new RNC fundraising letter: ACORN is gonna team up with Obama and rig the census to keep the GOP on the outs for an entire decade!

• Kurtz: More on Steele and the Census
  

  Some reader reaction to the RNC fundraising letter claiming Obama and ACORN want to rig the 2010 census.

  TPM Reader HL:

  Michael Steele is playing a dangerous game with that fund-raising letter, and people are going to die because of it.

  Nine years ago, my wife worked for the Census, knocking on people's doors and gathering information. There's no way she'll do it again next year. Steele is making it too dangerous.

  Census takers put themselves in vulnerable positions. They don't know who or what is on the other side of the door. The door might be opened by a sexual predator, or someone who's not in control of a vicious dog. Or the door could be opened by someone with a gun in one hand and Steele's letter in the other, seething with hatred for liberals and ACORN.

  Remember that gunman who attacked a Unitarian church last year, and left behind a letter urging people to kill liberals? I'm convinced that there are plenty of unbalanced people who won't leave their houses to seek liberals to kill, but will kill a "radical leftist" (Steele's words) who knocks on their door in a mission to "falsify the U.S. Census and manipulate elections in their favor" (again, Steele's words).

  ...

  Let's describe Steele's actions for what they are: The chairman of the Republican Party is raising money by politicizing the decennial Census and inciting violence against Census takers. I'm sure Steele would deny that he's trying to incite people, but this letter is being mailed during a time of rampant violence, some of it targeting liberals. It must be viewed in this context.

  TPM Reader JG:

  I was a census taker in the year 2000 in Atlanta, which meant I followed up on forms that hadn't been turned in.

  I remember having a hard time getting any information at all from hard core right wing radio listeners --- in this case, fans of Neal Boortz, Mr. Fair Tax, who is based in Atlanta. I had to beg and plead with them, citing the constitution's call for a census, before they would even tell me how many people lived in the house. Never would give me their names.

  Don't be surprised if tax protesters turn into census protesters, which will screw things up. Who knows? Maybe the right wing will disappear completely after the 2010 census.

Arjun Jaikumar (Daily Kos): VA-Gov: Republicans Reject Unemployment Stimulus

Disgraceful:

RICHMOND, April 8 -- A divided General Assembly narrowly rejected $125 million in federal stimulus money Wednesday that would have provided additional unemployment benefits to thousands of jobless Virginians.

The defeat was a blow to Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, who had pushed the matter as the state legislature reconvened for a one-day session.

A visibly angry Kaine berated legislators after the vote and hinted that he might try to find another way to accept the federal money. "There's an awful lot of people who are hurting in Virginia, and the message to them seemed to be: 'We don't care. Fend for yourself,' " he said.

That's right. The federal government literally sought to bail out the American taxpayer - to provide relief for thousands of unemployed Virginians struggling to pay their bills - and the House of Delegates rejected the funds.

Virginia Republican Bob McDonnell, the GOP gubernatorial candidate, is all for such craven political posturing, of course. After all, accepting the stimulus money would be tantamount to admitting that Democrats did something right.

Through his spokesman, McDonnell said he opposes ...
...

Sully: The Palins, The Johnstons, And Republican Class Politics

Now it gets more interesting, doesn't it? In the Judge Judy world Sarah Palin lives in, there is always the risk of turning into Jerry Springer. And so an already very messy family situation - the two pregnancies, Trig's and Tripp's, that Palin and McCain placed center-stage last fall - is turning into a nasty domestic dispute. And the dispute, at its core, is about class.

Palin's entire candidacy degenerated in the end into an accusation that the pointy-headed liberal elites regarded the Palins as "white trash"; and now Levi, Mercede and Sherry Johnston's accusation is that the Palins regard them as "white trash". In the midst of this flammable dumpster, Erick Erickson, following the party line that Sarah Palin is a misunderstood genius victimized by the "left", throws a match:

The left, when it decided Bristol Palin was fair game, went after Levi Johnson for being a thug and redneck. He was not interested in college — only in scoring with the Governor’s daughter. The classic tale of the high school jock who is, in essence, a low life loser in it for a good time. The left and media regaled the rest of us with tales of what a loser the Palin kid slept with. The left was right. Now, though, they can’t be bothered by it. Below is the actual Levi — no preppy clothes. No polish. Just good old boy who knocked up the Governor’s daughter. ...

What’s even more creepy is that the other person in the picture is his sister. And, as if lifted from the pages of Deliverance, she has his name tattooed on her back finger. Think about that one for a minute... Soon Levi will sell his tell all book, delightfully ignoring awkward questions about his relationship with his sister while relishing in the awkward details of his relationship with Sarah Palin.

Is Erickson now accusing Levi and Mercede of ... ? Yes he is:

I started out the week reporting on a prominent liberal blogger who crossed the line of decency, and now, an influential conservative blogger has , effectively, evened the score... While the shock of the implication is stark, it is also telling that the picture used is from a collection that made the email rounds during the election, sent by liberals. I guess treason isn't the only thing that's a matter of dates.

The conservative blogosphere was quick to condemn Markos Moulitsas for his insensitivity this past weekend. Let's see if they can be as circumspect about one of their own leaders.

What interests me more is the potential for this kind of thing to escalate, leading to all sorts of possibilities and future revelations. If you've ever been a Judge Judy fan, you'll know what I mean.

Ah, Teabagging (via Aravosis, not safe for work.)


Benen on Faux News DROPPING THE PRETENSE....

Obviously, far-right activists are entitled to host "Tea Parties" next week to complain about ... whatever it is that makes them so angry. But Fox News' decision to do promotional work for the events, as if the network were directly sponsoring the rallies, seems strange, even for the partisan network.

Continuing Fox News' pattern of encouraging people to participate in "tea party" protests, described primarily as a response to President Obama's fiscal policies, The Fox Nation linked to an April 8 Fox Forum entry by Fox News contributor James Pinkerton, titled, "Tea Parties: A Great Part of American History -- And America's Future." The Fox Nation, which Fox News claims does not traffic in "biased media," also featured an accompanying graphic: a used tea bag superimposed over images of the Constitution and the American flag.

As Media Matters for America documented, Fox News hosts have frequently encouraged viewers to participate in the "tea parties"; during the April 6 edition of Glenn Beck, on-screen text characterized these events as "FNC Tax Day Tea Parties." Tea-party organizers have used the planned attendance of Fox News hosts to promote their protests. Fox News has also aired numerous interviews with protest organizers. Moreover, Fox News contributors are listed as "Tea Party Sponsor[s]" on TaxDayTeaParty.com.

The network seems really excited about the events -- endorsing the rallies, promoting the rallies, encouraging viewers to attend the rallies, and sending on-air personalities out to help boost attendance.

Now, only a fool believes Fox News is an independent, objective news source, committed to quality, unbiased journalism. That said, Fox News generally maintains the pretense of fairness. When accused of being an appendage of the Republican Party, Fox News tends to deny it, sometimes with a straight face. The network's on-air talent (I use the word loosely) operates from the assumption that Fox News is a legitimate news source, and the political world follows along with the game -- the network gets to ask questions at White House press conferences, travel with presidential campaigns, hosts debates, etc. Everyone knows full well it's pretend journalism, but the establishment just winks and nods about it.

It's odd, then, that Fox News would be quite this brazen about its support for right-wing rallies in opposition to Obama. I'd expect the network to offer more coverage of the Tea Baggers' efforts than the real cable news networks, but Fox News is acting as if the events are literally sponsored by the network itself.

Howard Kurtz said the other day that the network isn't crossing any lines of propriety, arguing that Fox News' personalities are "free to stage whatever kind of protest they want."

I'm not sure if that's right. Imagine this were 2005, and MSNBC decided it would support a series of national rallies in opposition to the Bush economic agenda. MNSBC would send out on-air figures to speak at the events, and the network would spend weeks not only endorsing the protests, but referring to the events as "MSNBC Rallies" on the air.

I suspect, given those circumstances, Republicans would not only denounce the network as biased, but the GOP would probably stop allowing Republican officials to appear on MSNBC. And they'd have a point.

So why is this any different?

• Waldman: Media Guide to Covering Teabagging Disaster

  Dear Traditional Media,

  Pretty soon, some of you will be assigned to cover the teabagging that goes on at one of the FOX Nutwork's froofy-sounding-but-actually-deadly-serious Tea Parties.

  As you may be aware, the teabaggers are quite certain that someone -- maybe even someone who doesn't even like tea -- is going to show up and disrupt the tea-ing and/or bagging, thereby singlehandedly causing them all to look ridiculous. It will fall to you to report on whether this happened, and how it turned out.

  In case you are chased off from the event, as was the case here, I'd like to take a moment to prepare you to file your story even if none of the teabaggers will talk to you. Here are the possibilities:

  1. If nobody disrupts anything (the most likely scenario, since nobody has yet figured out why they would need to disrupt people who've decided to get together to wave teabags), the teabaggers would have you know that it wasn't disinterest that kept the event peaceful, but rather that their patriotic might scared the evildoers away.

  2. If someone does show up and disrupt something, the teabaggers would have you know that evildoers want to "silence" them. Depending on how things develop from there, two possibilities present themselves:

  • If someone shows up and disrupts things and the teabaggers manage to subdue them, the teabaggers would have you know that the story is about how tough they are.
  • If someone shows up and disrupts things and the teabaggers find themselves overwhelmed, they'd have you know that the story is about what victims they are.

  3. If someone shows up and reflects poorly on the event (i.e., neo-Nazis show up in uniform) and the teabaggers are afraid to do anything about it, they'd have you know that the neo-Nazis were really liberal plants.

  So please do be aware that it's a perfect win-win for them, insofar as douching your day away as a teabagger can be considered a win. Write it down now so you can knock off early on teabagging day.

Think Progress: HRC releases audition tapes of ‘Gathering Storm’ actors.

Yesterday, the National Organization for Marriage released a controversial scare ad warning about the “gathering storm” of same-sex marriage. People in the ad — who are posing California doctors, Massachusetts parents, and members of a New Jersey church group — have lines like, “the clouds are dark and the winds are strong, and I’m afraid.” Watch it:

The Human Rights Campaign has released a rebuttal chronicling the ad’s distortions. The organization has also tracked down audition tapes of the actors trying to feign the “harm” that is being done to them by marriage equality. Watch them here:

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