Political Quotes of the Day

[Savonarola]

I can't even think of what other word he would have been trying for. Hopefully he will be mocked for this.

Considering how the word "cancer" has come to be used to describe many negative things (e.g. "cancer to society," etc.), I suppose there's a way to argue that the cause of something that can be described as a "cancer" could then be called a "carcinogen." Of course, this is the kind of dumbass reasoning that produces dumbass opinions and detrimental policies... Next thing you know, CA Prop 65 will prohibit exhalation.

[Dardedar]

DAR
I saw the video in context. I think it was a brain fart. He was saying GW proponents claim CO2 is a carcinogen (causes cancer). That's absurd. I've never heard such a thing.

[Betsy]

I saw it on Sunday, too, and wondered what the heck that guy was talking about! Did you see George's expression when he said, Ooookay, thanks for coming on the show -- then the guy never even said "thanks" or "goodbye" or anything. Maybe he knew how badly he'd screwed up and had already run off crying.

I'm looking forward to a good Jon Stewart roast of this guy's performance.

[Dardedar]

BEGALA: "We -- our country executed Japanese soldiers who water- boarded American POWs. We executed them for the same crime that we are now committing ourselves. How do you defend that?"

The most awkward silence imaginable follows. Finally, Fleischer responds:

FLEISCHER: "Well, again, Paul, I guess you already are the jury, the prosecutor, the judge, and a citizen all rolled into one. You have already pronounced judgment that it is a crime."

LINK

DAR
Was it a crime when we executed Japanese soldiers for doing it? Yes. What changed? We did.

[Doug]

Was it a crime when we executed Japanese soldiers for doing it? Yes. What changed? We did.

DOUG
I didn't. BUSH and his criminal cronies did it. Shame on them. I say they should be put in jail. Bush too.

[Doug]

Was it a crime when we executed Japanese soldiers for doing it? Yes. What changed? We did.

DOUG
I didn't. BUSH and his criminal cronies did it. Shame on them. I say they should be put in jail. Bush too.

BEGALA: "We -- our country executed Japanese soldiers who water- boarded American POWs.

Actually, one got 15 years hard labor. Just so we are accurate and don't go around saying they were executed: see here.

[Dardedar]

Actually, one got 15 years hard labor. Just so we are accurate and don't go around saying they were executed: see here.

DAR
Rachael Madow says we executed people for waterboarding in this December clip. Watch the first few minutes. It's a good clip.

It might be the way this is worded. It might be people were executed for waterboarding but it wasn't their only crime. So that would be misleading to put it this way.

[Dardedar]

"I know President Chavez well. Whether or not one agrees with all his policies, what is certainly true of Chavez is that
he is a warm and friendly man with a robust sense of humor. To treat such a man coldly is akin to spitting on him.
As a country we've done enough of that. Say what you will, but it has only resulted in the self-celebration of our smirking spitters,
while costing us international respect, American lives, and left wounds in the hands of our children's future. The Cheneys, down to
the O'Reillys and Hannitys and Limbaughs, effectively hate the principles upon which we were founded. They are among the
greatest cowards in all of American history. I applaud an American President who's tough enough...to smile." --Sean Penn

[Dardedar]

Update on the question of the US executing Japanese for Waterboarding. Begala defends his claim:

***
Yes, National Review, We Did Execute Japanese for Waterboarding

"In a CNN debate with Ari Fleischer, I said the United States executed Japanese war criminals for waterboarding. My point was that it is disingenuous for Bush Republicans to argue that waterboarding is not torture and thus illegal. It's kind of awkward to argue that waterboarding is not a crime when you hanged someone for doing it to our troops. My precise words were: "Our country executed Japanese soldiers who waterboarded American POWs. We executed them for the same crime we are now committing ourselves."

Mr. Fleischer, ordinarily the most voluble of men, was tongue-tied. The silence, rare in cable debates, spoke volumes for the vacuity of his position.

Now Mark Hemingway of the National Review Online has asserted that I was wrong. I bookmark NRO and read it frequently. It's smart and breezy -- but on this one it got its facts wrong."

The rest...

[Betsy]

Shane Murphy, second-in-command aboard the ship seized by Somali pirates this month, is happy to be home. But he's not happy to be sharing turf with land-lubber Rush Limbaugh, who politicized the pirate affair by referring to the pirates as "black teenagers."

"It feels great to be home," said Murphy in an interview with WCBV in Boston. "It feels like everyone around here has my back, with the exception of Rush Limbaugh, who is trying to make this into a race issue...that's disgusting."

Limbaugh made the remark to suggest why President obama might have appeared preoccupied at church on the day of the operation to rescue the ship's captain, who was taken hostage by the pirates until Navy SEAL snipers shot them in a daring rescue effort.

"He was worried about the order he had given to wipe out three teenagers on the high seas," Limbaugh said. "Black Muslim teenagers."

"You gotta get with us or against us here, Rush," Murphy said. "The president did the right thing...It's a war.... It's about good versus evil. And what you said is evil. It's hate speech. I won't tolerate it."

huff post

[Dardedar]

"The United States is committed to the world-wide elimination of torture and we are leading this fight by example.
I call on all governments to join with the United States and the community of law-abiding nations in prohibiting,
investigating, and prosecuting all acts of torture and in undertaking to prevent other cruel and unusual punishment.
I call on all nations to speak out against torture in all its forms and to make ending torture an essential part of their diplomacy."
--GW Bush, working the comedy circuit, Link

[Dardedar]

[Savonarola]

Fake.

[Dardedar]

SAV: FAKE

DAR
Good catch. I trusted bartcop on this one and got bitten.

[Dardedar]

"I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out then under another Democrat president Jimmy Carter. And I'm not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it's an interesting coincidence." --Rep. Michele Bachmann

Wrong. The first cases that spurred the swine flu vaccinations actually happened in 1976 under Republican President Gerald Ford when some Fort Dix soldiers became ill. Carter continued the vaccinations when he took office. See article video LINK

Quote: "Some people say you shouldn't kick rightwing nuts when they are down. I don't agree with that. For one thing, they're closer to your feet." --Dar

[Dardedar]

"Gore won the youth vote (19-29) by 1%.

Obama won it by... 35%.

Obama didn't just win an election, he won a generation."

--Talking head on CNN.

[Dardedar]

"The conservative movement is in shambles and this doozy comes from online conservative blogger Erik Erickson of Red State. The following quote was posted to Twitter (basically the internet and viewable to everyone) by the leader of the right's most prominent online community, not some carefree flame-throwing commenter or diarist. RedState is not an official GOP site, but it's a center of the conservative movement with a stated desire to take over leadership of the party":

"The nation loses the only goat fucking child molester to ever serve on the Supreme Court in David Souter's retirement."

Link

[Dardedar]

"Sarah Palin was arguably the most influential person in 2008, but no one notices because she wasn't influential enough to overcome the deficits of her running mate and win the election.
Palin is a threat to liberals because she believes in God and country and family--all values liberals pretend to believe in but secretly detest."
--Ann Coulter, TIME mag. May 11, 2009, pg. 120.

[Doug]

Still wonder why the Republican party is shrinking?

We are suppposed to believe that Obama wakes up in the morning with the intent of punishing people?

============================================

See the video clip here.
Gingrich: Right. Which should tell all of you about the abuse of power inherent in this administration. They now control General Motors, they basically control Chrysler, they control Citibank, they control AIG, and they are prepared to punish people.

I think that's very dangerous, to have a president who thinks he should get up in the morning and punish Americans. You know, appease foreigners, bow to the Saudi king, embrace the Venezuelan dictator, and punish Americans? I think that's a very dangerous attitude.

[Dardedar]

Joe The Plumber Quitting The GOP: Time Magazine


Time Magazine is reporting... that Joe the Plumber, also known as Samuel Wurzelbacher, is quitting the GOP. That's big news considering Joe became the new GOP mascot during the McCain campaign and has since advised the party during conferences and in Capitol Hill briefings.

Below is the excerpt from the Time article.

Well, more elections. Big Government is never popular in theory, but the disaster aid, school lunches and prescription drugs that make up Big Government have become wildly popular in practice, especially now that so many people are hurting. Samuel Wurzelbacher, better known as Joe the Plumber, tells TIME he's so outraged by GOP overspending, he's quitting the party -- and he's the bull's-eye of its target audience.

Huff Po