Obama Bitch-Slaps House GOP

By Baxter

We cats were just wondering once again why we should care about football — seeing as how on Super Bowl Sunday we're supposed to watch anti-choice T.V. spots but not ads for gay dating services — when suddenly we were captivated by a much more compelling television event: President Obama's Q&A this afternoon with the House Republican caucus.

Honestly, we can't remember a more remarkable smackdown in our entire nine lives. Hard on the heels of scolding the Supreme Court during his State of the Union address, the President today took the House GOP to task for about an hour and a half — exposing their hypocrisies and pushing back on their lies — on live national TV, no less. We know he must have done a fabulous job, because now the Republicans are saying they regret letting the cameras in.

We happily envision about a half-dozen Democratic 2010 campaign ads with choice bits from today's event. Our only question at the moment: When is it the Senate Republicans' turn?

Just a Quickie Before the Speech

By Zamboni

The Washington Post is reporting that President Obama will call for an end to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in his State of the Union address tonight. Gee — we cats wonder how many Republicans will yell at him this time?

UPDATE: Well, nobody heckled the President of the United States. Good. Maybe next time we can work on the whole sitting-on-their-butts-and-not-applauding-the-bank-tax thing.

UPDATE II: Goodness gracious. We cats didn't notice the Sammy Alito version of "you lie" on C-SPAN last night — but we never dreamed we'd encounter a member of the SCOTUS who could make Clarence Thomas seem like a grownup.

The disrespect shown to this President is unbelievable.

Paging George Santayana

By Sniffles

Republicans never learn, do they? Either that, or we cats are having a tremendous attack of deja vu, because we could have sworn we've seen screaming headlines about some pimply GOP activist trying to bug Mary Landrieu's phones.

(We cats have been buried in work these last couple of days, so we could be mistaken. But we don't think we are.)

Okay, so James O'Keefe — the pustule-ridden youth who's been charged in this crime — is only 25, so he wasn't born yet when Richard Nixon resigned. But, still. O'Keefe is the guy who orchestrated last year's conservative sting on ACORN, so one would assume he might be smarter than this. And Watergate was kind of a big deal. They even made an Oscar-winning movie about it.

Even worse, Senator Landrieu's office isn't in some hotel complex, vulnerable to capering Cubans in the middle of the night. It's in a federal building. Isn't that a little disrespectful? (Not that Republicans care — they seem to have scant regard for government. And the Oval Office was certainly bugged in Nixon's time.)

Well, we cats say, let's all throw the book at the acne-addled Mr. O'Keefe. And while he's in jail, he may want to read up on how those who can't remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

Abuse of Power

By Baxter

Considering the mess that Congress currently is in, clear-thinking Americans might be forgiven if they feel a little jealous of Canadians, whose legislature is currently shut down.

But Canadians aren't happy at all. Yesterday, thousands of them turned out for rallies across the country to protest Prime Minister Stephen Harper's decision to prorogue Parliament until early March. Like the prorogation Harper requested (and was granted) to avoid a no-confidence vote in 2008, this current suspension of Parliament was accomplished with, shall we say, suspicious political motives.

Harper must have thought that since it was the dead of winter and Canada was gearing up for next month's Olympic games, no one would notice the prorogation or really care. He guessed wrong. When The Globe & Mail editorialized that "The Prime Minister is misusing the power to shut down Parliament, and in the process destabilizing Canada's democracy," it expressed the sentiments of many of yesterday's demonstrators.

But although Harper has precipitated a tug-of-war that will long fascinate constitutional scholars, we cats believe that most Canadians who hit the streets yesterday just want their government back at work because, well, stuff needs to get done.

To us here in the United States, this all feels pretty Bushian. We cats always assumed that the ever-unappealing Stephen Harper always had a direct phone line to Karl Rove in the White House. It appears now that Harper has not disconnected that line since last January but, rather, merely re-routed it to Texas. Which, on behalf of the Canadian troops who are fighting and dying in Afghanistan, makes us want to HISS.

(PHOTO: Julie Oliver, The Ottawa Citizen)

At Sarah's "Beck" and Call?

By Zamboni

Ooh, George Clooney is on! Yum, yum! We cats won't tear our fellow Democrats away from the Hope for Haiti telethon, except to expound a tiny bit more on our theory that Sarah Palin is none too happy about the naked guy winning in Massachusetts.

Why wouldn't the famous quitter from Alaska be afraid she's yesterday news? After all, the naked guy is so handsome! And he has a great-looking family, and a truck! And they're already talking about him for President or Vice President!

But it's not just all that. We cats are intrigued that Glenn Beck took it upon himself to gratuitously trash the naked guy just one day after the Bay State's special disaster — oops, we mean, election. Beck did this after his fawning interview with Palin last week, in which he read the following to her from his alleged journal: "She's one of the ony people that [sic] I can see that [sic] can possibly lead us out of where we are."

Yes, that "journal" nonsense was creepy, but it doesn't stop us cats from thinking that the famous quitter and the fat FOXter are in 2012 cahoots. We'll be looking for more clues in the weeks and months to come.

In the meantime — and on a more uplifting note — let's heed the calls of the talented people who are lending their time to tonight's telethon. Call 1-877-99-HAITI or visit www.hopeforhaitinow.org.

Stop the Week, We Want to Get Off!

By Sniffles

Holy smoke! We cats can't remember such a bad week for Democrats since we first started this blog. Thank God it's almost Friday, because:

Ted Kennedy's Senate seat went to a naked guy who will vote against everything Teddy ever stood for. (One bright spot: We think Sarah Palin is real unhappy to have such unexpected competition in the New GOP Star Department.)

Nancy Pelosi says the Senate version of the health care bill is unacceptable to the House. (Why are we Democrats always shooting ourselves in the paws?)

The Supreme Court made a totally boneheaded decision today. (Consolation: Our guy gets to appoint the next Justice, and we won't need 60 Senators to confirm.)

Air America is shutting down. (But on the other hand, Al Franken's in the Senate, and Rachel Maddow and Ed Schultz are on MSNBC.)

All in all, though, the week's been pretty awful. At least we know things can only go up from here, right? State of the Union, anyone?

Train Wreck

By Baxter

Now that the unthinkable has happened and Massachusetts has filled Ted Kennedy's Senate seat with a naked guy who thinks a curling iron should be shoved up Martha Coakley's butt, we cats have a few things on our minds.

First, as the paw-pointing has begun (in fact, it began yesterday), we don't really care to add to it, because that's never productive. However, we'd be remiss if we didn't say to our fellow Democrats that when it comes to Massachusetts, everyone's at fault: the White House, the DNC, the DSCC, and Martha Coakley, who ran an inexcusably bad campaign.

(Oh, and let's not forget Organizing for America, the Obama campaign machine that, to our utter bafflement, folded into silence once the 2008 election was won. Last night we received the first proactive e-mail from OFA in a year: an invitation for a "conference call" to debrief on the Bay State disaster. Too late, guys. Way, way too late.)

But while we're on the subject, can anyone convince Howard Dean to come back and run the DNC? We miss him.

Okay, enough of the self-flagellation. We'd also not be doing our jobs if we didn't exhort Democrats to get over ourselves and resolve to take back this frickin' Kennedy seat in a couple of years. In the meantime, expect this naked guy, Brown, to end up with Marco Rubio on the Republicans' vice-presidential short list in 2012.

And a couple of other notes...

One: We feel sorry for Harry Reid. This is amazing, because Harry's never been our favorite person. But here he went through all this hard work to hammer out a health care bill, and now look.

Two: That homemade GOP rally sign that said "It OUR turn for a 'change'" was so depressing — not just because of yesterday's results but because it perfectly captured how polarized our country continues to be. We cats don't know how to fix that. We also don't know how to make people understand that the only reason the 60th Senate vote matters is because the Republicans have decided to march in mindless lockstep against the change that Americans voted for so decisively in 2008.

Three: In the end, though, we know we have a smart guy sitting in the Oval Office — a guy who may be going through a trial by fire like the one Bill Clinton found himself in back in 1994. The good news is that Clinton rebounded from that debacle when the Republicans overreached. The even better news is that unless we've completely misjudged Barack and Michelle, there is no Monica Lewinsky in Obama's future.

Finally, the President is also a guy who, one year ago today, said this:

"[I]n this winter of our hardship... With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said... that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back, nor did we falter."

In short, Democrats, let's suck it up, and move forward.

"I See Lots of Elephants, Fighting With Each Other..."

By Zamboni

We cats refuse to predict the outcome of today's special election for Senate in Massachusetts. Not because we think Scott Brown will win (although it would be terrible if he did), but because there's no basis for predicting who's going to actually vote. The only thing we know right now is that turnout is high.

However, we have found one possible silver lining should the Republicans take the seat. Since the race has been rightly or wrongly (we suspect wrongly) cast as a referendum on President Obama's efforts to reform health care — and, indeed, on his entire first year in office — a loss for the Democrats tonight may embolden a whole slew of nutbags in the Republican Party to consider running for President in 2012. Nothing as stimulating as blood in the water!

Oh, just think of them all: Sarah Palin, Jeb Bush, Haley Barbour, Bobby Jindal, Newt Gingrich, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Mark Sanford (well, okay, not Sanford), John Thune, Jim DeMint, Bob McDonnell, Mitch Daniels, John McCain (no kidding), Rick Perry, Lindsay Graham, James Inhofe, Sam Brownback, George "Macaca" Allen, Rick "Man on Dog" Santorum, Meg Whitman if she wins the Governor's race in California... heck, even Michael Steele. (Why not? He certainly wouldn't be shy about throwing his name into the mix.)

Why is this good? Because it could mean that by the time Iowa and South Carolina roll around, what would have merely been a street brawl could turn into a Republican riot of epic proportions.

Naturally, we cats hope that Martha Coakley pulls it out in Massachusetts today. But if not, the thought of Republicans out-slugging one another to go farther and farther and farther to the right in 2012 kind of makes us PURR.

UPDATE: Senator Al Franken (D-MN) says that no matter what happens today, health care legislation will pass one way or the other. As he is a veteran of a crazy election campaign himself, we take the good Senator at his word.

UPDATE II: We forgot to add Mike Huckabee to the list of Republican nutbags. Sorry, Fat Mike!

Somehow, This Quote Seems Especially Apppropriate Today

“The slaves and the freedmen who rode an underground railroad, seeking the light of justice under the cover of night — they weathered a hard winter. The seamstress whose feet were tired, the pastor whose voice echoes through the ages — they weathered some hard winters. Yet, each season, the frost melts, the cold recedes, the sun reappears. So it was for earlier generations, and so it will be for us.”

—President Obama, in remarks at the Vermont Avenue Baptist Church, Sunday, January 17

Lack of Enthusiasm

By Sniffles

Was it just us, or did the Worst Person Who's Ever Lived seem particularly unmotivated in his White House appearance yesterday?

His weary delivery, his lackluster tone of voice, and his all-too-evident reading of a prepared statement made it nearly possible to see the invisible gun held to his head. We cats expected him at any moment to say that at least the Haiti earthquake has decreased the surplus population.

If there was another instance yesterday in which George W. Bush appeared interested and engaged, we cats missed it. In the meantime — and to paraphrase Dickens — we'd just caution Bush that in the sight of Heaven, he may be more worthless and less fit to live than millions like those poor suffering Haitians.

Going Prorogue

By Baxter

Remember the "Scud Stud"? Cutie-pie journalist Arthur Kent, who earned that somewhat two-edged nickname while reporting on the first Gulf War — and who left NBC in a fight over entertainment versus news — is a Canadian. And boy, is he mad.

Why? Because although it's not getting noticed much outside the True North, what with all the other awful stories dominating the headlines these days, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has shut down Parliament.

Now, prorogation, as it's called, is definitely within the power of the PMO. All he has to do is make a formal request of the Governor General, and it's usually a done deal. It's just that the reason for the latest one is a little suspicious. We cats thought it was because Harper wanted to use the recess to appoint a bunch of fellow Tories to the Senate, which may still be true — but apparently he also wished to bury a legislative inquiry into prisoner abuse in Afghanistan. How undemocratic. How Rovian.

Which is where the Scud Stud comes in. He's blasted Harper on his website, writing: "There has been an unwritten fatwa maintained by the Prime Minister's Office against discussion of any and all controversial aspects of [Canada's role in Afghanistan]." He is particularly offended since Canadian soldiers have been dying in the Afghan war since 2001. If democratic institutions can be so easily shuttered, what are those soldiers fighting for?

Well, around 200,000 "regular" Canadians would like an answer to that, too. Through an anti-prorogation group on Facebook, they're planning nationwide protests next Saturday. A la prochaine.

Tidbits and Cat Treats — Friday Grab-Bag Edition

By Zamboni

We cats had been wondering why Canadians weren't rioting in the streets after Prime Minister Stephen Harper suspended Parliament for two months so he could pack the Senate with his fellow Tories. Now, we find out they're not quite rioting, but they're mighty annoyed. Election, anyone?

Can we deport Pat Robertson? Just a thought.

Speaking of Haiti, and especially in light of the tremendous human suffering that's going on there, we cats just want to reiterate that we really, really, really, really don't care what happens with "The Tonight Show." Really.

Everyone's getting all excited about the Massachusetts Senate race. We are, too — but we find it hard to believe that a state that returned Ted Kennedy to office for nearly 50 years would turn around and hand his former seat to Scott Brown. We also find it hard to believe that the teabaggers haven't figured out yet that Brown supports Roe v. Wade. Stay tuned.

Finally, we cats PURR in the direction of Andrew Sullivan, who perfectly captured our feelings when he posted the following: "McCain shouldn't have been President. In fact, he should in my view resign from the Senate because his conduct of the last campaign revealed that he put narrow partisan interests ahead of core patriotic ones. He was prepared to allow someone to replace him as President who, his own staff believed, could be 'mentally unstable.'"

A Note to Rush Limbaugh and Pat Robertson

Gentlemen (and we cats use that term advisedly), if there were any justice in the world, this would be you.

A Special Challenge to George W. Bush

By Sniffles

It's occurred to us cats that yesterday's horrific earthquake in Haiti just might offer an opportunity for redemption to the Worst Person Who's Ever Lived.

Here's a guy who's probably one of the most unpopular people on the planet, right? Who's responsible for death and misery and mayhem — whose departure from office was celebrated by hundreds of millions — and who seems, perhaps, to sense how badly he's strayed, if only through his nearly complete silence since January 20, 2009.

So we cats have a proposition for George W. Bush. If he has a smidgen of regret for his abortion of a Presidency, or even the slightest desire to rehabilitate himself, he could easily do it: Raise a ton of money for the suffering Haitian people.

It would take him no time at all to sit his sorry ass down and dial for dollars from that huge list of "library" donors he has. Heck, since his daddy teamed up with former President Clinton for tsunami relief five years ago, he could call 42 after he was done and say, "Hey, buddy, I've got a gazillion Republican dollars for Haiti. Where should I send it?"

Sigh. On a day that saw both Rush Limbaugh and Pat Robertson egregiously misbehave, somehow we cats don't see this Bush thing happening. But we think it's worth mentioning, and we're willing to be pleasantly surprised.

UPDATE, January 14: We've just heard that President Obama has asked the Worst Person Who's Ever Lived to join former President Clinton's efforts for disaster relief in Haiti. While we haven't seen an official, sourced reaction from 43 yet, our Cheshire cat grins are somewhat tempered by the fact that in lieu of the Worst Person stepping up of his own accord, Mr. Obama had to ask.

The Schmidt Hits the Fan

By Baxter

We cats have been intrigued by the Steve Schmidt interview on "60 Minutes" this past Sunday, and by coverage of it since then. Schmidt and the famous quitter from Alaska certainly seem hell-bent on continuing their protracted (and delicious) cat fight.

We'd like to add fuel to the fire with an observation or two.

First, we'd sure like to know the identities of the clueless "Washington operatives" who are so mystified that Schmidt and Palin would "belabor internal disputes that in an earlier era of politics would have stayed behind closed doors." For one thing, there was no Facebook or Twitter in those "earlier eras."

But more important: What does Schmidt have to lose by picking this scab? There's obviously animosity between him and the quitter, whether it's out in the open or papered over. And if, over the next year or so, Palin emerges as the leader of the Republican Party, Schmidt wouldn't gain anything even if he kept his mouth shut. Her devoted storm troopers would make sure that no GOP candidates did business with him, ever.

However, if the party tears itself apart and Palin is NOT the savior — but is seen instead as the problem and not the solution — then Schmidt would get huge points for pointing out early that the empress, indeed, had no clothes.

Ya know, we kinda think that Steve Schmidt is smart enough to explain why there are two Koreas. So in this particular cat fight, we're betting on Baldy.

Mark McGwire: The Only Guy Who Can Make John Edwards Look Good

By Zamboni

In the wake of Michael Vick's restoration to the Philadelphia Eagles, we cats recall asking why in the world we should ever care about football. In other words, by accepting animal-murderer Vick back into its fold, the NFL had forever forfeited any credibility it might have had with us.

Now, for different reasons, we fear we must ask the same question of professional baseball. Not that it hadn't occurred to us earlier, mind you — it's just that with the tearful confession of phony home-run hitter Mark McGwire that he used steroids, it's been crystallized for us anew.

Actually, for us this is sad. We used to care passionately about baseball. Not only was it one of the few sports that didn't thrust misogyny in our faces in the form of jiggling cheerleaders — it was a gorgeous, elegant game, one that could go on forever, like an endless summer afternoon, or turn on a dime like a sudden bolt of lightning. The fact that we had a crush on Bobby Ojeda helped.

But we already were on the verge of throwing up our paws and saying, forget it: Baseball coddles these dopers, Bud Selig obviously cooked up some deal in which he could declare that "the steroid era is basically over," and McGwire will remain in the record books, and maybe even enter Cooperstown, without lasting shame or penalty.

It's all fake. And it just makes us want to hack up a hairball. Especially when someone like McGwire tries to drag God into it. So for all the cheaters in the world, from McGwire to Bonds to Lance Armstrong to George W. Bush, we cats flout our usual no-profanity rule and just say two words: Fuck you.

A New "Master of the Senate"

By Sniffles

How proud Lyndon Baines Johnson, who committed political hara-kiri on the altar of civil rights, would be — that Barack Obama, the first African-American President, has broken his record of Congressional success.

We cats can only guess that a fundamental belief in the value of government, all those Wednesday evening cocktail hours, and the President's tempered language — not to mention his confident urging of Congress to lead in an era of executive power — have paid off.

This is what matters in the end, folks. Competent governing — not the frothings of the teabaggers and the Limbaughs and the Becks and the FOX "News" Barbie dolls who can't explain why there are two Koreas.

We cats PURR in President Obama's direction. We would simply caution him not to follow in LBJ's other footsteps and refuse to end a pointless war. To that, we stay tuned.

John Edwards, Total Jerk (Part II)

By Baxter

Fair warning: We cats are going to indulge in something a little tasteless right now. We're going to speculate on what-could-have-been if John Edwards had not totally screwed up his life.

It's tasteless because for once in our nine lives, we find ourselves agreeing with Glenn Greenwald over at Salon: Game Change, with its anonymous sourcing and gossipy tone, is barely worth the paper it's printed on. For that reason we don't really care to contribute to the media frenzy over it, but having read the lengthy excerpt at New York magazine's website, we can't help marveling at how incredibly stupid John Edwards is.

The book avers that after the 2004 election, Edwards' ambition morphed into megalomania (gee, that reminds us of another pretty face we know, on the Republican side). This made him pathetically susceptible to a clutch like Rielle Hunter, which led to — well, we're not going to repeat the story here. Suffice to say that whether or not you believe all the sad, salacious details in Game Change, John Edwards has utterly destroyed his political career.

And with apologies to Elizabeth Edwards, to whose suffering we don't need to add, we'd just like everyone to imagine for a moment how noble a figure John would be today, had he remained faithful to his wife while seeing her cancer through to its end. (For, as much as we don't like to think about it, Elizabeth's illness surely will conclude itself, and not favorably.)

Can you see how it could have been? Faithful widower John Edwards fiercely protecting his bereaved children from the hungry media, lending his name and energies to charities like the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, and — ultimately, tentatively, decorously — trying to find happiness with another partner again. He not only would have continued to look like a god (since, curse him, he never seems to age), he would have actually been one.

Instead — well, instead, we're left with an excruciating chapter in a scummy book. And his family's in agony. What a shame. What a waste.

A Tale of Two Headlines

By Zamboni

We cats were struck by two banner headlines that we encountered today.

Headline number one is "Steve Schmidt: Sarah Palin Has Trouble With Truth."

Headline number two is "Palin Signs On With FOX News."

Tsk, tsk, the state of journalism today. As Mrs. Malaprop would say, if Walter Cronkite were alive, he'd be spinning in his grave.

Glass Houses

By Sniffles

So RNC chair Michael Steele, a gaffe-prone public figure if there ever was one, has called upon Senator Harry Reid to resign as Majority Leader.

After everything the Republicans have said and done — from Jeb Bush predicting he would do "probably nothing" for black people in Florida (and boy, was he right about that) to Chip Saltsman's racist CD to the South-Lawn-as-watermelon-patch e-mail to the Obama-as-witch-doctor posters — we're supposed to take them seriously about this?

We cats ROAR — with laughter.

(IMAGE: Universal Press Syndicate)

Cat Fight! Michael Steele vs. Congressional Republicans

By Baxter

Gee, will Michael Steele survive the weekend?

First, we cats were delighted to hear that the ever-clumsy RNC chair predicted defeat for the Republican Party in 2010. Now, there's a huge kerfuffle over his "book" and, um, the fact that party leaders had no input on it. Ya know... it's Friday night. If they're going to dump him, now is the time.

Because the entertainment just doesn't stop. Steele apparently canceled a media appearance today, claiming an "emergency meeting" at the RNC — but a committee spokeswoman later said it wasn't an emergency. Gosh, guys, can't you even get that straight?

We cats have borne a flurry of Doom-for-Democrats stories lately without comment, because we believe they happen to be overblown. When we look at what's going on in the Republican Party these days — both nationally and, say, in our country's fourth-largest state — we not only know we're right, we're awfully glad we're Not Them.

Bottom line? We PURR.

Smackdowns Du Jour

By Zamboni

In the spirit of our favorite refrigerator magnet (above), we cats offer the following snappy comebacks.

Rudy Giuliani: "We had no domestic [terror] attacks under Bush. We've had one under Obama."
Rick Klein, ABC News: "Um, really?"

Senator David Vitter (R-LA): "If I was you, and I had made the wise-Latina comment that you made... would I have deserved to be a Supreme Court justice?"
Sonia Sotomayor: "If you had my record, yes."

The Worst Person Who's Ever Lived (If Indeed He Were a Person): "When President Obama pretends we aren't [at war], it makes us less safe."
President Obama: "Now is not the time for partisanship, but for citizenship."

For the First Time, We're Sorry Charlton Heston is Dead

By Sniffles

Here is the now-notorious Washington Wizard Gilbert Arenas in a new ad campaign for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

(Even as members of the animal kingdom, we cats often find PETA to be off the wall — and, um, Mr. Arenas, too. But despite his other failings, we applaud him for believing that we four-footed creatures should keep our fur.)

However, when Arenas was indefinitely suspended for carrying guns into the Wizards' locker room, PETA wasn't the first advocacy organization that popped into our heads. Instead, we were wondering how quickly the National Rifle Association would jump to his defense. After all, aren't Gilbert's God-given Second Amendment rights being infringed?

Curious as — well, as cats, we visited the NRA website. Hm. Nothing — at least, not on the home page. So we did a search on the site for "Gilbert Arenas," and we got the following message: "No results found. Please try another search term."

Gee, the NRA appears to be remaining silent on this. Could it be that they're a tad uncomfortable about defending the gun rights of a tall, rich, handsome African-American dude who's covered with tattoos and who plays for a majority-black city? Or is it because he doesn't believe in wearing fur? We thought the NRA believed the sanctity of the Second Amendment trumped everything.

Wayne LaPierre, we await your answer!

Obama's Gladys Glover Moment

We cats understand that the White House must express official umbrage at the billboard that's currently gracing Times Square. But what a shame. This photo makes us PURR!

P.S. And yes, we cats know that Gladys Glover's billboard was not in Times Square, but Columbus Circle.

Tidbits and Cat Treats — Walter Mondale Birthday Edition

By Baxter

Fritz Mondale is only one of a whole bunch of important people who were born today. But we're not going to list them all, so never mind. Meanwhile, let's celebrate Mr. Mondale's 82nd with some Cogent Cat Observations.

An ankle rub and 20 minutes of deep PURRING to our heroes du jour — the former Capitol Hill staffers of turncoat Alabama Congressman Parker Griffith, who have resigned in the wake of Griffith's jump to the GOP. Wow, guys — in this economy, we cats salute your utter commitment to principle. And may you all find excellent new jobs real soon.

Attention, Sarah Palin (and the Freepers who love you): Mitt Romney's got a book tour, too, and it's taking him to Iowa. We cats cannot wait for the 2012 Republican infighting to begin.

Speaking of Republican infighting — gasp, choke! Embattled Florida party chair Jim Greer has resigned, right on the heels of a Miami Herald story speculating that strong fourth-quarter fundraising would save his job. We cats can only guess that Mr. Greer had gone back to Governor Crist's maxed-out donors, asking them to contribute to the party — and that, being a case of "no there there," this fooled no one. Gee, as if 2009 wasn't bad enough for Gay Charlie — 2010 isn't starting out very well, either. Fun!

Finally, a swipe of the paw and a HISS to Sally Quinn, alleged veteran journalist at The Washington Post, who doesn't know the difference between "lies" and "lays." Ben Bradlee, please do something about this.

Well, we're off to have a little dinner and some micro-brewed beer. Happy birthday, Mr. Vice President.

UPDATE: We cats apologize. The original Jim Greer fundraising story was by Adam Smith of The St. Pete Times, not The Miami Herald. Who are we to argue with someone named Adam Smith?

It's That Pesky "Not Without Honor, Save in His Own Country" Thing Again

By Zamboni

News item #1 — Former President Jimmy Carter is excoriated by Republicans and others in September 2009 for making the following comment in a T.V. interview: "[R]acism [in America] still exists, and I think it's bubbled up to the surface, because of a belief among many white people... that African Americans are not qualified to lead this great country. It's an abominable circumstance, and it grieves me and concerns me very deeply."

News item #2 — An effigy of President Obama is found hanging in Plains, Georgia on January 2, 2010.

We cats just wonder if Jimmy Carter ever tires of getting slammed for telling the truth.