Irony Lost on Dan Savage as He Bullies Christians (Now with Nearly Non-Apology Apology and More Comments)

The Bible. We’ll just talk about the Bible for a second. People often point out that they can’t help it — they can’t help with the anti-gay bullying, because it says right there in Leviticus, it says right there in Timothy, it says right there in Romans, that being gay is wrong.

We can learn to ignore the bull**** in the Bible about gay people. The same way, the same way we have learned to ignore the bull**** in the Bible about shellfish, about slavery, about dinner, about farming, about menstruation, about virginity, about masturbation. We ignore bull**** in the Bible about all sorts of things. The Bible is a radically pro-slavery document. Slave owners waved Bibles over their heads during the Civil War and justified it. The shortest book in the New Testament is a letter from Paul to a Christian slave owner about owning his Christian slave. And Paul doesn’t say “Christians don’t own people.” Paul talks about how Christians own people.

We ignore what the Bible says about slavery, because the Bible got slavery wrong. Tim — uh, Sam Harris, in A Letter To A Christian Nation, points out that the Bible got the easiest moral question that humanity has ever faced wrong. Slavery. What’re the odds that the Bible got something as complicated as human sexuality wrong? One hundred percent.

The Bible says that if your daughter’s not a virgin on her wedding night — if a woman isn’t a virgin on her wedding night, she shall be dragged to her father’s doorstep and stoned to death. Callista Gingrich lives. And there is no effort to amend state constitutions to make it legal to stone women to death on their wedding night if they’re not virgins. At least not yet. We don’t know where the GOP is going these days.

People are dying because people can’t clear this one last hurdle. They can’t get past this one last thing in the Bible about homosexuality.

Um, one other thing I wanna talk about is — [chuckles] — so, you can tell the Bible guys in the hall that they can come back now, because I’m done beating up the Bible. It’s funny, as someone who’s on the receiving end of beatings that are justified by the Bible, how pansy-a**ed some people react when you push back.

I apologize if I hurt anyone’s feelings. But. I have a right to defend myself. And to point out the hypocrisy of people who justify anti-gay bigotry by pointing to the Bible, and insisting we must live by the code of Leviticus on this one issue and no other.
~ Gay Activist Dan Savage, founder of "It Gets Better," speaking to a group of journalism students in Seattle. After the Bible slam, a group of Christian teenagers walked out, so he insulted them further. Quote from Care2.com.

He had the bully pulpit, if you would say so, so to speak. And, basically, this is their way to say, you know what? I’m going to take a stand. And, frankly, it took a lot of guts and these students that you see there that are walking out, I mean, it occurs to me as I see this video, is this is what we teach kids to do when they’re being bullied to walk away. That’s what they did.
~ Rick Tuttle, teacher who gave his journalism students permission to walk out on Dan Savage, quoted Here

The man is just trying for a job with MSNBC.
~ comment by Russell on The Christian Post

...We want to make our point very clear: While as a journalist it’s important to be able to listen to speech that offends you, these students and advisers had simply reached their tolerance level for what they were willing to hear.
~ National Scholastic Press Association which sponsored the conference where Savage was speaking, quoted Here

It's the South Park bullying episode come to life. Dan Savage mocks Christian students as "pansy a**es" at speech: bit.ly/Js1Kdz

— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) April 28, 2012

Parent of Kids Who Walked Out on Dan Savage: 'What a Pig' bit.ly/JIJ9aN #tcot #TeaParty #sgp #Christian #Family

— American Grassroots (@Revive_America) April 30, 2012

looks like Dan Savage's 15 minutes are up. one bully telling other bullies to stop bullying.

— eric lee (@ericmatthewlee) April 30, 2012

It Gets Better' Creator Offends Christian Students, Accused of Bullying huff.to/IAuehj via @HuffingtonPost

— Safe School Tech (@SafeSchoolTech) April 30, 2012

Obama White House Fundraises For Anti-Christian Bully Savage shar.es/2W6Q4 via @sharethis

— HHK (@hkhkus) April 30, 2012

Dan Savage is the Rick Santorum of the left. Neither want to find common ground both just want you to agree with them. Both hurt people.

— altSarah (@hipsterdoofus86) April 30, 2012

Apology from Dan Savage in The Stranger:
I would like to apologize for describing that walk out as a pansy-a**ed move. I wasn't calling the handful of students who left pansies (2800+ students, most of them Christian, stayed and listened), just the walk-out itself. But that's a distinction without a difference—kinda like when religious conservatives tells their gay friends that they "love the sinner, hate the sin." They're often shocked when their gay friends get upset because, hey, they were making a distinction between the person (lovable!) and the person's actions (not so much!). But gay people feel insulted by "love the sinner, hate the sin" because it is insulting. Likewise, my use of "pansy-a**ed" was insulting, it was name-calling, and it was wrong. And I apologize for saying it.

As for what I said about the Bible...

A smart Christian friend involved politics writes: "In America today you just can't refer, even tangentially, to someone's religion as 'bull****.' You should apologize for using that word."

I didn't call anyone's religion bull****. I did say that there is bull****—"untrue words or ideas"—in the Bible. That is being spun as an attack on Christianity. Which is bull****… which is untrue. I was not attacking the faith in which I was raised. I was attacking the argument that gay people must be discriminated against—and anti-bullying programs that address anti-gay bullying should be blocked (or exceptions should be made for bullying "motivated by faith")—because it says right there in the Bible that being gay is wrong. Yet the same people who make that claim choose to ignore what the Bible has to say about a great deal else. I did not attack Christianity. I attacked hypocrisy. My remarks can only be read as an attack on all Christians if you believe that all Christians are hypocrites. Which I don't believe.
~ Read More HERE

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If the students had been disruptive & heckling him, I can see that. But no, they were there for a student conference, the key note topic was how to cover bullying in their school papers, not debating over whether the Bible is "bull ****" or not. He wasn't being persecuted at all. In fact, since he had the stage, I'd say he was the one in control (not to mention, the adult in the room). The kids simply did the only thing they could do, vote with their feet.
~ comment by WolverineDG on Democratic Underground.

Not news: Dan Savage talks vulgar and bullies student audience.
News: Dan Savage was paid to teach against bullying.
Addressing a national conference of high-school journalists, Savage was calling the Bible bull**** repeatedly. Students started to leave. So he called them pansyasses. When the adult presenter calls 17-year-old students names isn't that bullying?
~ Ron Hebron on Sound Politics

Mr. Savage: 1) Pick on someone your own age. To rant like you did to HS kids is not acceptable. 2) It's unfortanate that people of many beliefs, Christian, Muslim, Druids, whatever, don't act in accordance to the teachings of the belief. It's the individuals issue not the belief systems. 3) You don't have sufficeint knowledge to cooment on the bible. Get some education, learn from someone who understands that teachings, not what they want to believe or have the bible say Hope things work out for you.
~ comment from Wayne Gebhardt, Eastern Washington University, from Seattle Post Intelligencer

Monica Crowley Becomes a Bigoted Internet Meme (Now With Updates)

To a man?"Sandra Fluke Announces Engagement"
— Monica Crowley (@MonicaCrowley) April 26, 2012

I love exposing the Left's total lack of a sense of humor.
— Monica Crowley (@MonicaCrowley) April 26, 2012

Regret my tweeted question caused a stir. I certainly & unequivocally apologize to Sandra & anyone else I offended. Not my intention.
— Monica Crowley (@MonicaCrowley) April 27, 2012

~ Original remarks and apology from Fox News Anchor Monica Crowley on Twitter


“What really bothers me about is the blatant homophobia in the statement.”
~ Sandra Fluke on MSNBC's The Ed Show


Comedian Monica Crowley is almost as funny as Comedian Ted Nugent.
~ Secular Humanist on Twitter

What do you get when you cross Monica Crowley with anything? A homophobic bigot
~ Ziggy Daddy on Twitter #CrowleyJokes

What do you call a situation when a FoxNews anchor actually apologizes for being a homophobic hack? A Fluke. ~ John Saveland on Twitter #CrowleyJokes

Knock, knock. Who's there? Interrupting hack pundit. Interrup- LESBIANS!!!!!!! hahhahahahaa
~ Sonja Blair on Twitter #CrowleyJokes

Monica Crowley heard the fish in the Ohio River are trying to spawn. She asked, "Why, are they gay?
~ Joel A. L. Thomas on Twitter #CrowleyJokes

All I gather from the original #crowleyjokes joke is that, like Rush, she has some fundamental confusion about how babies are made.
~ Greg J. Krieg, ABC News Reporter on Twitter #Crowley Jokes

I get it! Sandra Fluke has short hair and wore a suit in court — a pants suit, no less — and we all know what that means. It means Crowley watched an episode of Ellen once fifteen years ago and well, you know what they say about first impressions.
~ Stephanie Georgopulos on Thought Catalog: When Lesbian Jokes Go Wrong

Monica Crowley dusted off an antique third grade bully joke and Tweeted "To a man?" because get it? Since she doesn't have long blonde Fox News hair and blindingly white beauty queen teeth, Sandra Fluke must be a lesbian! After people began remarking that Crowley's shi++y joke was shi++y, she added fuel to the fire, tweeting, "I love to expose the Left's total lack of a sense of humor." And that's how today's justified internet pile-on was born.
~ Erin Gloria Ryan on Jezebel

UPDATES!

Why would Crowley make that comment? Because Beelzebub needs cheerleaders too.
~ comment by Smartpeople on MSN Now  

Regret my tweeted question caused a stir.” Translated: “Golly! What’s happening in ‘Merikkka? A hateful b*tch like me can’t be vicious to a lesbo any longer.”
~ comment by Visitor55 on Newshounds

Did You Hear the One About the Pundit Who Thought Lesbians Are Funny?
~ Headline on Atlantic Wire

 

What do you call a feminist who marries a man? A fluke. #CrowleyJokes
— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) April 26, 2012

Knock knock. Who's there? Orange. Orange who? Orange you glad I didn't say lesbians? #crowleyjokes
— Mischa Kavin (@misch_mash) April 27, 2012

How many Fox News analysts does it take to change a light bulb? None: they'd rather stay in the dark! Also, GAY #CrowleyJokes
— Lisa (@Litzz11) April 26, 2012

The Catholic Church Sends Paul Ryan a Message

For you have the poor always with you...
~ Jesus Christ, Matthew 26:11

Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, "Who then can be saved?"
~ The Holy Bible, Matthew 19:24-25

I suppose there are some Catholics who for a long time have thought they had a monopoly of sorts . . . not exactly on heaven, but on the social teaching of our Church. Of course there can be differences among faithful Catholics on this.
. . . The overarching threat to our whole society today is the exploding federal debt. The Holy Father, Pope Benedict, has charged that governments, communities, and individuals running up high debt levels are “living at the expense of future generations” and “living in untruth.”
. . . My mentor, Jack Kemp, used to say, “You can’t help America’s poor by making America poor."
~ Representative Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin), speaking at Georgetown University, transcript Here



Dear Rep. Paul Ryan, Welcome to Georgetown University...We would be remiss in our duty to you and our students if we did not challenge your continuing misuse of Catholic teaching to defend a budget plan that decimates food programs for struggling families, radically weakens protections for the elderly and sick, and gives more tax breaks to the wealthiest few.
~ Excerpt from a letter signed by 90 Georgetown University faculty and administrators, including a dozen Jesuit priests, numerous members of the Theology and other departments. Read the complete letter on Huffington Post
 
Blessed are the rich, the reign of this world is ours. The rich rule the world, and the rest suffer and die, often in misery. Do not let this be you my brothers! Easier to use your riches to genetically engineer very small camels that can fit through the needle's eye…
~ GOP Jesus, protesting Ryan's speech at Georgetown University, April 27, 2012, from Mother Jones

GOP Jesus at Georgetown

Via Mother Jones

"If Paul Ryan knew what poverty was, he wouldn't be giving this speech."
~ James Salt, the executive director of Catholics United quoted Here

Paul Ryan's Catholicism probably calls communion a "hand out."
~ Lizz Winstead, Satirist and co-creator of the Daily Show on Twitter

Paul Ryan Says He Takes His Inspiration from St Thomas Aquinas, Who 1st Proposed Hedge Fund Managers Should Pay Lower Taxes than You in 1268.
~ The Daily Edge on Twitter

The truth is that the filler modern food manufacturers add to their products may be disgusting — think pink slime — but it nonetheless has nutritional value. Mr. Ryan’s empty promises don’t. You should think of those promises, instead, as a kind of throwback to the 19th century, when unregulated corporations bulked out their bread with plaster of paris and flavored their beer with sulfuric acid.
Come to think of it, that’s precisely the policy era Mr. Ryan and his colleagues are trying to bring back.
~ Economist Paul Krugman in the New York Times

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Ann Romney Loves "Those People"

I love the fact that there are women out there who don’t have a choice and they must go to work and they still have to raise the kids. Thank goodness that we value those people too. And sometimes life isn’t easy for any of us. 
~ Ann Romney, speaking to a group of 800 Republican women in Stamford, Connecticutt, via The Frisky

Ann Romney Sticks Her Silver Foot In Her Mouth Again
~ Title of a Diary on Daily Kos by Vita Brevis

 It's called OCD ... "Our Class Dear"
~ comment by MA Liberal on Daily Kos

 The (Romneys) are more clueless than Sarah Palin at a turkey slaughter.
~ comment by hulibow on Daily Kos

She has a tin ear and a lead tongue.
~ adigal on Daily Kos


Some people belong together. Need I say more.
~ shothot on Huff Post

Queen Malaprop! ~ comment by tploomis on Huffington Post

Here's a list of Ann Romney's closest friends:
1) George Washington
2) Abraham Lincoln
3) Thomas Jefferson
4) Andrew Jackson
5) Ulysses S Grant
6) Benjamin Franklin
She never goes anywhere without them and they are responsible for her success in being a stay at home mom , raising 5 boys and can be summoned at any time needed. I wish all women had those friends and could share in that success too.
~ comment by badwolf62 on Huff Post

 Ann #Romney to Give Major Economic Speech Entitled: "The Struggles of a Stay-at-Home Mom Living on $23 Million/a Year"
~ The Daily Edge on Twitter

The great stay-at-home mother, Ann
And Mittens, her trusty cave man
With a team of nannies
They think it uncanny
That plebs don’t want to eat from trash cans!
~ From the blog Poetic Satire

Spooning Up More Controversy

I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth. Michelle wasn't, either. But somebody gave us a chance. Just like these folks up here are looking for a chance.
~ President Barach Obama in a speech to a group of students in Elyria, Ohio, from MSNBC, Official White House transcript HERE

Speaking of rhetoric, he (President Obama) had some fiery rhetoric pointed at you yesterday. He said 'Unlike some people, I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth.'
~ Fox and Friends Steve Doocy, misquoting President Obama during an interview with Mitt Romney in order to watch the reaction, Video Here

Well, you know, the president is really taking aim at anybody he can find these days. In fact, in my case, I'm certainly not going to apologize for my dad and his success in life. He was born poor. He worked his way to become very successful despite the fact that he didn't have a college degree....But I know the President likes to attack fellow Americans. He's always looking for a scapegoat, particularly those who have been successful like my Dad. And I'm not going to rise to that.
~ Mitt Romney's shocked reaction to Doocy's misquote of Obama

We all know when you’re talking about somebody born into privilege it can only mean Mitt Romney. So petty, and it is bound to backfire on the president, because being born rich is Mitt Romney’s greatest accomplishment.
~ Stephen Colbert, quoted in the LA Times

Excellent reporting, Steve Doocy, and I know good reporting. I am an independent news man, not some smug, self-satisfied brown-noser toadying for the Republican establishment… unlike some people.
~ Stephen Colbert also from the LA Times

As Doocy prepares his remarks, he might consider not only clarifying the real quote but also retracting the smirk that accompanies his false question. The smirk tilts from right to left along Doocy’s smug mug (left to right if you’re Doocy himself). It spans the 10-to-13 second mark of the video at the top of this post. It’s the sort of signal, so often seen on Fox, that lets Republicans interviewees know they’re welcome here.
~  Eric Wemple on Washington Post

“Last week President Obama talked about not being born with a silver spoon in his mouth. That was interpreted as a big dig at Mitt Romney....When I was interviewing Governor Romney on this show I asked him about it. However, I did some paraphrasing that seemed to misquote the president. So to be clear, the president’s exact quote was, ‘I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth.’ And I hope that clears up any confusion.”
~ Steve Doocy of Fox News, quoted on Talking Points Memo






I was born with a plastic spoon in my mouth.
~ Rocker Pete Townshend of The Who, from the 1966 song "Substitute" - lyrics on Songfacts

'Unlike some people, I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth,' Obama said. That’s not just snotty — it’s woefully ignorant of the American spirit.
~ The New York Post, requoting Steve Doocy's misquote instead of the President


The GOP....My father was dirt poor and worked hard. OR my grandfather was dirt poor and became a self made man. LOL GOP the party of their parents and grandparents.
~ A comment from Biltmore on Huffington Post

So to be fair, he wants to take your silverware and spread it around.
~ Tweet from apparently bitter Would-Be Republican Presidential Candidate and ex-Senator from Tennessee, Fred Thompson

"Obama's War on Spoons" ~ Headline from Fox News Nation

The silver spoon since I’ve been alive has been an affirmative action silver spoon.
~ Pundit Ann Coulter quoted on Daily Caller

Those of you who have covered President Obama know that he has used that phrase to describe his background many times in the past. And I suppose anybody who thinks it was a reference to them might be a little oversensitive -- unless they think that when President Obama said it three years ago it was in reference to them.
~ Press Secretary Jay Carney, quoted by ABC News

Ted Nugent's Motor Mouth Madness

I'll tell you this right now: If Barack Obama becomes the president in November, again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year. We need to ride into that battlefield and chop their heads off in November. Any questions? ...(if you don't) get everybody in your lives to clean house in this vile, evil, America-hating administration, I don't even know what you're made out of....If the coyote's in your living room, pissing on your couch, it's not the coyote's fault. It's your fault for not shooting him.
~ Ted Nugent in April 2012, speaking to the NRA, quoted on Yahoo News

Obama, he’s a piece of sh-t, and I told him to suck on my machine gun … Hey Hillary, you might want to ride one of these into the sunset, you worthless b—t … Any questions? Freeeeeeeeeeeedom!!!!!”
~ Ted Nugent on stage in 2007, quoted in EW's List of Ted Nugent's Most Outlandish Quotes

~~~~~~~
We are aware of the incident and we are conducting appropriate follow-up.
~ Secret Service Head, Brian Leary, also quoted by Yahoo News

From Candidate Mitt Romney's Son on Twitter

The Romney campaign told NBC News that, contrary to Nugent’s claims, they ‘never solicited his endorsement,’ although clearly, they were pleased about it at the time.
~ MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell, quoting the Romney campaign Here

'Sic Semper Tyrannis' (Thus be to tyrants)
~ John Wilkes Booth, while leaping into Abraham Lincoln's balcony to shoot him

Assassination is the extreme form of censorship.
~ George Bernard Shaw

Even the President so far, he can't walk in my house without being invited, like he's my daddy, just to say whoa. Not yet! . . . But people are dead now. And it's so hot. Without it even being August yet. Anyways, I seen him fall. I was evermore the one.
~ Nameless Assassin in the Eudora Welty story Where is the Voice Coming From based on the 1963 killing of Medgar Evers, civil-rights activist and NAACP secretary, in Mississippi. In 1994, KKK member Byron De La Beckwith was charged for a third time and found guilty of the assassination, which was later the subject of the movie Ghosts of Mississippi.

To do SOMETHING BOLD AND DRAMATIC , FORCEFUL & DYNAMIC, A STATEMENT of my manhood for the world to see.
~ Arthur Bremer, would-be "Assasinator" of Richard Nixon and George Wallace, whom he shot and paralyzed in 1972, quoted on PBS: The American Experience

Guns are neat little things, aren't they? They can kill extraordinary people with very little effort.
~ John W. Hinckley, Jr, who made a failed 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan

As the GOP Turns . . . On Itself

Originally Posted April 13, 2012, on Livejournal 


Rick Santorum drops out. Social conservatives fly their sweater vests at half-mast.
~ J. D. Crowe on Twitter

The Tea Party is not going to coalesce around Romney. Most of us will vote for Romney, but we will not be out there with signs for him or in his campaign. 
~ Judson Phillips, Leader of Tea Party Nation, in a statement to The Daily Caller

GOP deserves some stupid voters, too!
~ Tweet from Ann Coulter, right-wing pundit and Romney supporter, on the Tea Party members refusing to campaign for Mitt Romney

No more crap from the GOP-e(lite)!! They've screwed us for the last time!! Karl Rove and Mitt Romney, et al, loathe conservatism and loathe the tea party and took it upon themselves to use their money and connections to destroy nearly every one of our conservative tea party candidates while pushing their big government RINOS. That makes them the enemy. I will not reward that betrayal by giving them my support or my vote. ...I'd rather fight and die like a man than bend over and be screwed by a RINO!! I refuse to kiss Karl Rove or Mitt Romney's rings!! They can kiss my rosy red ass instead!! FUMR!! FUGOP!! Long live the rebellion!! Hope my message is clear.
~ Jim Robinson, founder of the conservative forum Free Republic whose followers are known as "Freepers."

 I have yet to meet a single person in the Republican establishment that thinks Mitt Romney is going to win the general election this year.
~ Joe Scarborough, conservative pundit, on MSNBC's Morning Joe, via BusinessWeek

Santorum’s withdrawal exactly serves the purposes of the GOP elites he has dutifully served in the past. The GOP’s RINO, crypto-socialist elites can now proceed with the coronation of their pre-selected champion.
~ Conservative Alan Keyes in an article called Santorum Supporters Played for Fools 

It is ... likely that Santorum’s supporters will be hard at work pressing party power poobahs to keep in mind they are hardly passionate about a Romney nomination, as much as they detest the President.
~ From a Huntington, Kentucky, op-ed entitled Santorum Gone?

On the Monday before the Wisconsin and Maryland primaries, Mitt Romney already had been anointed as the GOP nominee. In contrast, Rick Santorum was often as invisible as a purged Soviet general airbrushed out of history by Stalin. 
~ The Columbia Journalism Review 

There's no question that Fox had a lot to do with stopping my campaign because such a high percentage of our base watches Fox. 
~ Newt Gingrich, blaming Fox News for his Primary Losses, quoted on Media Matters 

In Iowa, Tea Party activist Ryan Rhodes said he has a ‘‘really good clothespin.’’ That would be for his nose, he said, when he votes for Mitt Romney in November. 
~ From Boston.com 

I will support our nominee. We are moving to having that presumptive nominee, and it’s going to be Gov. Romney from what it appears, and I look forward to supporting the nominee.
~ Tepid support for "that nominee" from Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) via MSNBC's First Read: Thoughts on the Silly Season 

"Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal announced that he is supporting Mitt Romney for president. Jindal said he couldn’t think of a better way to show his support than waiting until Romney was the only guy left. 
~ Jimmy Fallon quoted Here

Is This the End of Ricco Santorum?

Rick Santorum Leaves the Presidential Race:

From New York Times

GETTYSBURG, Pa. — Rick Santorum, with an abrupt decision to end his campaign Tuesday, cleared the way for Mitt Romney to claim the Republican nomination while dashing the hopes of social conservatives who had propelled Mr. Santorum’s surprisingly successful challenge to the Republican establishment.
. . . In a hastily called 12-minute speech in a small hotel meeting room here, with his wife, Karen, and four of their seven children at their side, Mr. Santorum said his campaign was over but made it clear that any retreat from the political stage would be only temporary.
“We made a decision over the weekend that while this presidential race for us is over, for me, and we will suspend our campaign today, we are not done fighting,” Mr. Santorum said as tears welled in the reddened eyes of his wife and the aides and friends who ringed the room. He did not mention Mr. Romney.
. . . as the Romney campaign began running ads against him in Pennsylvania on Monday, polls showed the race tightening, with Mr. Santorum in danger of losing the primary in his home state.
Such a loss could have been too humiliating to overcome if he wanted to resurrect his political career in the future.

Congratulations to Mitt Romney...He won in Wisconsin. Rick Santorum finished second. Newt Gingrich came in fourth behind Ron Paul. But Wisconsin was not a total loss for Newt. He did make off with a 45-pound wheel of cheese. ~ Jay Leno, Here

Mitt Romney is catching heat for a possible violation of election rules. He was at a sub shop handing out free sandwiches. Special Romney sandwiches — they come on really, really white bread.
~ Jimmy Kimmel, Here

Slumlord Donald Trump is telling Santorum to get out of race with dignity. If anybody knows dignity, it's Trump.
~ David Letterman, quoted by Roger Simon of Politico on Twitter

Santorum pulling out before Pennsylvania would be like Custer skipping Little Bighorn.
~ Ben Smith from Buzzfeed on Twitter

[W]hat General Washington understood, some of the best ideas, some of the best plans, in fact what has made this country great is that we have listened to real significant voices of everyday Americans. And he did. And that’s why he crossed the Delaware, surprised the Hessians and turned the tide of the revolution.’
~ Presidential Candidate, Rick Santorum, in a Liberty-Bell-ringing speech in Mars, Pennsylvania after losing three primary races to Mitt Romney. Strangely, one of the races was in Washington, DC, where Santorum failed to get his name on the ballot. Via Washington Post In-the-Loop Blog

We may disagree on a lot of things, but I'm with Santorum 100 percent when it comes to the Hessians.
~ Tim Murphy of Mother Jones on Twitter

Rick Santorum edges toward the embarrassment zone ...
~ Chris Cillizza on The Fix

Santorum really has no choice but to pull out early, same as you'd have for birth control if he'd been elected.
~ pourmecoffee on Twitter

CBS: Santorum Ending Bid for GOP Nomination

Santorum will make the announcement at a press conference in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania shortly, a senior member of his campaign staff told CBS News.

Reince Priebus: When Caterpillars Eat Your Brain

“If the Democrats said we had a war on caterpillars and every mainstream media outlet talked about the fact that Republicans have a war on caterpillars, then we’d have problems with caterpillars. It's a fiction."
~ Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt” airing this weekend, via Daily Kos



Women + insects = adding 10 pts more to gender gap
~ Stephanie Cutter, Obama's Deputy Campaign Manager, on Twitter

 It has a classic, pat-on-the-head, "don't be hysterical nor worry your pretty little head about it" vibe, doesn't it?
~ 80sGirl on The Maddow Blog

 I'm sorry to report that Reince Priebus did not appear to be intoxicated at the time of the making of this analogy, as it sort of sounds like something a drunken asshole of a boyfriend would say in the middle of a 2 am argument outside of a bar.
~ Erin Gloria Ryan on Jezebel

 If you remove the vowels from Reince Priebus, which is Latin for 'rectal probe,' BTW, his name is actually RNC PR BS... ironic, huh?
~ Comment by prthatrocks on Huff Post

Considering Republican environmental policies, they're actually at war with caterpillars too.
~ Twitter from The Democrat Machine

Mitt Romney is trying to get female voters and Rick Santorum said, "What? Women can vote? Are you kidding me? ~
David Letterman via Newsmax

Eatin' Broccoli with the Supremes

Originally Posted April 2, 2012 on Livejournal



Last week the Supreme Court spent three days debating Obama's Health Care Bill. Unfortunately at times it was more like theater of the absurd, as several Justices compared complex health insurance problems to whether or not we could be forced to eat our broccoli. *sigh* And it turns out, sadly, the whole broccoli example came from . . . Rush Limbaugh. You can't make this stuff up. Justice Scalia is just another Ditto-head.

Mr. Kneedler, what happened to the Eighth Amendment (about cruel and unusual punishment)? You really want us to go through these 2,700 pages? (Laughter.) And do you really expect the Court to do that?
~ Justice Antonin Scalia, quoted on Think Progress

We have a Supreme Court that thinks corporations are people, money is speech and broccoli is health care.
~ LOLGOP on Twitter

Talk of mandated broccoli and cell phones illustrates a general rule: ALL SLIPPERY SLOPE ARGUMENTS ARE STUPID.
~ Richard H. Thaler, Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics, Booth School of Business, University of Chicago on Twitter

I was appalled to see that at least a couple of them were repeating the most tendentious of the Tea Party type arguments. I even heard about broccoli. The whole broccoli argument is beneath contempt. To hear it come from the bench was depressing.
~ Charles Fried, Former Solicitor General under Ronald Reagan, quoted in The Washington Post

Maybe, the GOP Five should just drive down to the National Archives, pry open the case holding the Constitution and pencil in some new words. After the relevant section about Congress having the power to regulate interstate commerce, the GOP Five can scribble in “except for things like purchases of broccoli, gym memberships, cell phones and health insurance.”
~ Robert Parry on Consortium News

I wonder how the Supreme Court would vote if they didn't have the world's best health plan?
~ Albert Brooks on Twitter

The Supreme Court needs less Homophobes and more HMO-aphobes.
~ John Fugelsang on Twitter

Free question for Justice Scalia to use against Obamacare: Why doesn't everyone just get a lifetime appointment with free healthcare?
~ Stephen Colbert on Twitter

Etchin' to be President

Originally Posted March 23, 2012, on Livejournal


Etch A Sketch stock closed up 140% today. ~ Tweeted by Nate Silver, Statistician and Political Blogger

Chris Matthews: This guy has given us the template! This guy has given us the toy to use! This guy is going to have people waving this thing in his face. (Holds up an etch-a-sketch).
Howard Fineman: Well the good thing for Romney is that this is still only March. Chris: Now there's a consolation.(Laughter all around)
~ Discussion on MSNBC's Hardball

Some top Republicans are urging Newt Gingrich to leave the race, but he says he's sticking around. If they could get him to marry the race, he would probably leave it eventually.
~ Jimmy Kimmel

Rick Santorum said he's not worried about unemployment. Well, he will be in November.
~ David Letterman

(Wednesday was) Ann and Mitt Romney's 43rd wedding anniversary. This means that 43 years ago Mitt proposed to his wife and due to a weak field of candidates, she said yes.
~ Conan O'Brien

Mitt Romney vehemently denies he is like an Etch-A-Sketch. Unless you like Etch-A-Sketches. Then he's totally like an Etch-A-Sketch.
~ Journalist William K. Wolfrum On Twitter

Anyone check to see if Mitt strapped his Etch A Sketch spokesman to the roof of his car yet?
~ Author Steve Weinstein on Twitter

Happy to see Etch A Sketch, an American classic toy, is DRAWING attention with political candidates as a cultural icon and important piece of our society. A profound toy, highly recognized and loved by all, is now SHAKING up the national debate. Nothing is as quintessentially American as Etch A Sketch and a good old fashion political debate.
~ Statement from Ohio Arts, maker of the Etch-A-Sketch from ThinkProgress

You’ve got Mittens The Clown dressed in a top hat and doing magic tricks with an Etch-A-Sketch. You’ve the Rick The Clown with the painted-on sad face, crying because the Devil is in the D.C. details. You’ve got Newt The Clown wearing a moon rocket and leaping unsuccessfully into the air as he runs around the stage. And finally, you’ve got Ron The Clown with his head barely peeking out from his giant clown suit, always falling down onto the floor and refusing any help to get back up. After the performance, President Obama comes out onstage like Ed Sullivan saying, “Thank you Republican clowns for that wonderful bit of comedy.”
~ Mr.TrueLiberal in an essay called Mayday! Mayday! The GOP Is Being Shot Down In Flames on Daily Kos.

Mitt Romney and the Etch-A-Sketch

Originally Posted on March 21, 2012, on Livejournal



I was sort of depressed last night after Romney's cheerful and bizarre speech in Illinois in which he said all kinds of outrageous things about Obama (he would have stopped the Wright Brothers? really?) and made fun of the President for going to Law School. Yeah, that Law School . . . Harvard . . . the same one Mitt attended when he got a Law Degree.

But today has sooooo made up for it! :)   This happened today on CNN via ThinkProgress (video at link). Fehrnstrom is a campaign aide to Mitt Romney.

HOST: Is there a concern that Santorum and Gingrich might force the governor to tack so far to the right it would hurt him with moderate voters in the general election?
FEHRNSTROM: Well, I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes. It’s almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and restart all of over again.

Someone on Twitter suggested that this forevermore shall be called the "Fehrnstrom Gaffe" because hilarity has ensued, stores are selling etch-a-sketches like hot cakes, and the other candidates are shake-shake-shaking during campaign speeches today. Incredible!

From Twitter:

The biggest difference between Mitt Romney and an Etch A Sketch? Etch A Sketches are actually popular. ~ Comedy Central Indecision

Santorum adviser tells me they stopped at a Toys R Us for the Etch a Sketch on the way here and were doing drawings of Romney in the car. ~ Lindsey Boerma of CBS News on the campaign trail.

The only response to Etch-a-Sketch gate? A staff shake-up. ~ Dave Weigel for MSNBC

Ouch - Newt gave the etch-a-sketch to a kid in the front row and said, "You can now be a presidential candidate." ~ Ginger Gibson, Politico reporter

Santorum holding Etch a Sketch in hand in Mandeville, LA. "This is the first of what I'll call my Etch a Sketch tour of America," he says. ~ James Novogrod for NBC news

And also this viral video which is . . . priceless...

Hello

This blog is a collection of snarky quotes, jokes, tweets, and rants about politics mainly. I started making lists due to frustration with the political process, which grinds on and on without respect for the sanity of most citizens. I'm a Democrat living in a red conservative state, a supporter of Barach Obama all the way, and lately I've discovered my inner feminist. So if any of that offends you, and making fun of the Right-Wing is not your cup of tea, so to speak, you might not enjoy my spin on all things Republican.

Before now I have been collecting these on my Livejournal blog The Illuminated Dungeon, so if you followed a link from there, some of this will seem familiar. It just seemed like the right time to branch out while we are waiting for the election, and I think it's great to have the quotes listed in two places for people to find them.

I want to thank my husband for the great blog title. He is a genius at coming up with snappy quips, and I guess I'm lucky he doesn't want to blog himself or he would take the good stuff. As it is, I thank you, honeybun.