Blood On Their Hands

By Sniffles

Years ago, Newt Gingrich — who, amazingly, is still around, and nuttier than ever — blamed the Susan Smith infanticide case on the Democratic Party.

"I think the mother killing the two children in South Carolina vividly reminds every American how sick the society is getting and how much we need to change things," he averred. "The only way you get change is to vote Republican."

(It came out during her trial, of course, that Smith had been sexually molested by her stepfather, a state committeeman for the local Republican Party and an advisory board member of the Christian Coalition, but never mind.)

Now, an awful story has emerged out of Rutgers University, of a young man who killed himself after his roommate surreptitiously recorded him having sex with another man and posted it online.

We cats don't doubt that the roommate and his female accomplice are terrible people, and we sincerely hope that they not only are booted out of college but end up in jail. However, we also would like to take a page out of Gingrich's book and blame the Republican Party.

The GOP not only is virulently anti-gay, but has created a national environment in which civil discourse and respect for others are reviled. They bring guns to rallies and openly call for "Second Amendment remedies." They daily imply that violence and mayhem are accepted behaviors in their quest to "take their country back." In a political atmosphere in which it's okay to punch an opponent's supporter, to say you'd like to tell the President of the United States to "go to hell," or to brawl with a reporter, the actions of Dharum Ravi and Molly Wei seem like the next logical step.

Enough. We cats always suspected that the GOP's antics would end up in somebody getting hurt or killed. We can only say that if this story appalls you as much as it does us, vote Democratic.

UPDATE: We cats now have seen the full video of Paladino v. Dicker, and we realize that we've sold it short. This was no mere brawl. Paladino actually threatened to kill the reporter. Unacceptable behavior from anyone, let alone a person running for elective office. Even if the reporter does work for Rupert Murdoch.

This "Librarian" Could Use a Dictionary

By Baxter

Well, Ken Mehlman hasn't exactly surfaced, but an inane comment about him has.

Made by Laura Bush. Gee, in this case, did we use the word "inane" redundantly?

We always suspected that, like her husband, this woman was an idiot. We could never understand or explain her alleged popularity with the American public, unless it was because she strove to be as much of a cipher as possible. (Note to Laura: You succeeded.) Now, the GOP has apparently trotted her out to speak well of her fellow Republican hypocrite.

"I'm proud that many, many Republicans.... have always accepted Ken as a great friend and accepted his choices," she burbled.

"Choices"? Laura? Hel-LO! Homosexuality is not a choice. The former First Lady's language effectively outs the GOP on its bigotry.

Which, unlike Ken Mehlman's sexual orientation, is not innate. It's the Republican Party's hatred of gays, not gayness itself, that's the choice.

Note to GOP: Butt Out

By Zamboni

We cats continue to be alternately fascinated and horrified by the hypocrisies of the Republican right.

They claim they believe in small government and personal liberties. But they want to put people in jail for being gay. They want to force women to have children. Heck, they even want to stop people from having sex. Good luck with that, folks.

In short, in their book, the government should keep its hands off guns and rampaging corporations, but it's perfectly okay for it to interfere in Americans' most intimate behaviors and decisions. We cats fail to see the logic. And now that so many nutcases have snagged Republican nominations for elected office, we wish the media would highlight this hypocrisy more.

America could benefit from the wise words of a Canadian we lost 10 years ago today:

"There is no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation."

Tidbits and Cat Treats — First Sunday in Autumn Edition

By Miss Kubelik

We cats had the following thoughts on the political scene in between bites of our pumpkin chowder this evening.

Are we the only ones to notice how so many images the Republicans are using this year seem violent? The famous quitter from Alaska has her "Mama Grizzlies." A group of GOP House members is called "the Young Guns." Sharron Angle refers to "Second Amendment remedies." Somebody better tell George Bush Senior that he's no longer a member of a kinder, gentler party.

Speaking of Republican nuts, we have a prediction to make: One of the GOP Presidential candidates in 2012 will use the Gadsden Flag as a campaign logo. In fact, we wouldn't be surprised if one of the candidates changed his or her name to Nathan Hale. (Just kidding on that last one.)

Finally, we PURR in the direction of former President Bill Clinton, for his canny advice to voters this midterm election. "All [Democrats are] asking you for is two more years," he said. "You get a chance to fire us all in two more years, but don't throw us out [now] and embrace the policies that got us into trouble." We cats think this is brilliant — not just because it's wise, but also because it politically shrewd. See, unlike 2010, when President Obama is not on the ballot, in 2012 America won't just be asked to vote out the Democrats — they'll be asked to vote for Mike Pence, or Sarah Palin, or John Thune, or Mike Huckabee, or Carl Paladino, or whoever the idiot is who gets the Republican nomination.

(P.S. Just kidding on that Paladino thing.)

UPDATE: Want proof on the violent Republican images? A male Sharron Angle supporter has punched a female Harry Reid supporter.  This all needs to stop before somebody gets killed.

Mehlman: Still Among the Missing

By Sniffles

So, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls: Do we all know who Saxby Chambliss is?

Yes, aside from the improbably named Republican Senator from Georgia, Saxby Chambliss is that cowardly piece of GOP crap (forgive our language) who won his seat in 2002 by smearing Democratic Senator Max Cleland — a Viet Nam vet and triple amputee — as sympathetic to terrorists.

Now, it appears that Chambliss has admitted that a disgusting slur against gay people, posted on an Internet site, originated in his district office. Oh, and, um — they're "investigating."

Gosh! Are we surprised? Hardly. Chambliss is a Republican. And today the Republican Party is home to a Gubernatorial candidate who forwards racist e-mails, a Senatorial candidate who questions the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and a whole passel of people who are anti-gay rights.

But back to Chambliss, and a question that keeps nagging at us. Where is Ken Mehlman? After all, Chambliss was one of those GOP "stars" whom the Bush White House political team, of which Mehlman was a prominent member, helped elect in 2002. What does the recently self-outed Kenny Boy have to say about the hate spewed by someone in Chambliss' office in Georgia?

We cats think it's simple: Kenny Boy should be called to account for Saxby Chambliss — and all the other disgusting Republican bigots he helped put in office.

Cat Fight! Castle/Murkowski vs. The GOP

By Baxter

You know, just a few days ago, we cats were idly speculating whether U.S. Representative Mike Castle would follow Lisa Murkowski's example and run for Joe Biden's Delaware Senate seat as a write-in candidate.

Well, now it turns out he's thinking about it.

To which we cats say, "write" on. Why not? Delware is a small state. Castle surely has some campaign money left over, and he's well-known to the voters. Unlike Senator Murkowski, he probably won't have to worry so much about whether people can spell his last name. And he's been mightily insulted by his whack job primary opponent. Perhaps it's time for a little revenge?

Whichever way he jumps, here's our theory on Murkowski and Castle: The Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee probably pushed them over the edge by telling them, sotto voce, that they needed to give their surplus campaign funds to their party's respective nominees.

That would be enough to make us cats HISS.

Memo to President Obama: Help the Arc of History Bend Toward Justice

By Zamboni

We hate to break it to the right wing, but as far as gay rights are concerned, the train has left the station.

The wingnuts may have been able to stop the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" today. But it's only temporary. Because that's what happens when you base an argument on a tissue of lies.

The bill that was blocked this afternoon will eventually have to pass somehow. It funds the Defense Department. And even if DADT is stripped from it, you right wingers have not buried the issue. It will come back to haunt you, again and again and again. Because progress cannot be stopped.

In the meantime, we cats formally join our friends on the left and ask President Obama to suspend, with an Executive Order, the discharge of gay members of the U.S. military.

The time has come, Mr. President. After GOP Senators — with the help of Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln — block something that 80 percent of Americans support, the time has come.

(And oh, by the way, can we strip John McCain of his military benefits?)

UPDATE: We know we've asked this question before, but now that DADT has crashed and burned until after the midterms, where is Kenny Boy Mehlman?

Good Deed Doers

By Miss Kubelik

Goodness gracious, the controversy rages on. How the world trembles when an 85-year-old former President speaks.

Which is how it should be, we cats think. Jimmy Carter isn't a member of The Elders for nothing.

But now, everyone's knickers are in a twist because Carter dared to say that his accomplishments as an ex-President are superior to others'.

Gee, what could that mean? That eradicating disease and forging peace are slightly more important than playing golf in Japan, as Gerald Ford did, or.... whatever it was that Ronald Reagan did (i.e., nothing)?

As far as we're concerned, with the exception of the tsunami and earthquake relief efforts — both of which were undertaken at the behest of sitting Presidents — the only other former Chief Executive who's cared enough to do any good in his post-White-House life would be Bill Clinton. But nobody comes close to Carter.

People can carp and moan as much as they want, but there's a reason Ronald Reagan didn't win the Nobel Peace Prize.

(IMAGE: "Back where I come from, there are people who do nothing all day but good deeds." —The Wizard of Oz, MGM, 1939)

They Scheduled It WHEN???

By Sniffles

Christine O'Donnell says that she wouldn't lie to Hitler if he knocked on her door and asked if she were hiding Jews.

Well, she certainly wouldn't have to worry if Hitler came knocking on the door of this weekend's so-called "Values Voter Summit." Because no Jews were there.

How do we know? Easy. Yesterday was the holiest day of the year on the Jewish calendar — Yom Kippur. And since more orthodox and conservative Jews tend to vote Republican than liberal and reform ones do, teabagger M.O.T.s surely needed to spend the day atoning instead of politicking.

Who in the "Values Voter" crowd picked these dates? Are they idiots? Or just insensitive? Or — gosh! — a bunch of flat-out bigots?

To our Jewish Republican friends, we cats can only say this: The GOP either doesn't think you have any values, or they really don't value you very much.

Or both.

Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut (Part Two)

By Baxter

Lost amid all the breathless national coverage of anti-masturbation Republican Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell is the fact that Delaware Republicans also have been forced to nominate a teabagger mental case to succeed rejected Senate candidate Mike Castle in the U.S. House of Representatives.

His name is Glen Urquhart, and he trails the Democratic nominee, former Lt. Governor John Carney, by double digits.

That's because Urquhart may even be fringier than O'Donnell. (Although we have no idea how he stands on the issue of masturbation.) So that's another House seat you can take off the Republican table, thanks to the teabaggers.

We cats aren't saying that Democrats will escape a spanking in November. If the anti-incumbent tsunami that everyone's been predicting occurs, then a couple of seats like DE-1 won't matter.

But if the wave fails to materialize — which we cats think has a chance of actually happening — then House seats like this will loom very large.

Cat Fight! Jimmy Carter vs. Ted Kennedy (Sigh)

By Zamboni

We cats saw President Carter at an event in Atlanta on Tuesday night, and in the course of answering questions from the audience, he said that Senator Ted Kennedy had refused to cooperate on health care reform during the Carter Administration because he was gearing up to run for the Democratic nomination in 1980.

Well, we have to tell you that none of us in the room batted an eye at this. First, the late Senator Kennedy's political motives seemed plausible. Why hand Carter a domestic policy victory if you're trying to unseat him? Second, Kennedy was very critical of President Carter in his memoir, and we all felt it was appropriate that the President should be able to answer that criticism. Third, Jimmy Carter said he'd never lie to us — and he never has.

But now, we learn that the President has repeated this on an upcoming "60 Minutes," and goodness gracious, people are so upset.

We cats are unimpressed with the brouhaha.

Why? Is it only because we know that Ted Kennedy couldn't come to agreement with Richard Nixon on health care reform, either?

Nope. We just think that anyone who's nearly eradicated the dreaded African guinea worm disease — as President Carter has done — knows a thing or two about health care.

(Oh, and that Nobel Peace Prize thing helps a lot.)

Memo to Mehlman: Our Nation Turns Its Lonely Eyes to You

By Miss Kubelik

In the wake of Tuesday's primary elections, we cats just have one question.

Where has Kenny Boy Mehlman gone?

Since he jumped out of the closet a few weeks ago, two rabidly anti-gay whack jobs have snared Republican nominations: Christine O'Donnell for Senate in Delaware, and Carl Paladino for Governor in New York. And Kenny has said nary a word. In fact, he's basically disappeared since he outed himself.

It makes us wonder if he was being threatened with outing or blackmail to begin with — and came out for, shall we say, less honorable reasons than he'd have us believe.

Kenny? Are you there?

Grand Old Poverty

By Sniffles

Somebody in the mainstream media needs to start asking how much money the 2010 elections are costing the GOP.

Operating on shoestrings, teabagger candidates in Republican primaries spent mere pennies on Senate races in Delaware, Colorado, Kentucky, Nevada and Alaska, and a similar pittance on Governors' races in Colorado and South Carolina. But in all of those states, they knocked off better-funded candidates who had the most expensive Republican political consultants money could buy.

Republican candidates who are wealthy themselves — like Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina in California — have spent gazillions of dollars but have so far failed to run away with the lead in their respective races. (Somehow, when you fritter away more than $100 million, you kinda expect something better than a tie.) And in Connecticut, wrestling queen Linda McMahon is willing to be $50 million poorer but she still trails Dick Blumenthal.

And the Republicans are always so worried about the national debt! Check your own coffers, guys. We cats HISS at you.

Mike Castle, Are You Next?

By Baxter

About a year ago, we cats used a famous line from "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" to illustrate the assault under which the GOP finds itself from the teabaggers.

Then this morning, we heard the news that "Invasion" star Kevin McCarthy had died at the age of 96.

And the teabaggers keep marching on.

In fact, now they're breathing down the neck of Mike Castle in Delaware. While the baggers' extreme, total whack-job positions unnerve us — since surely some of them will get elected to office this November — in The First State we're actually rooting for their anti-masturbation candidate, total mental case Christine O'Donnell. Should she take the Republican nomination for Senate tomorrow, surely Joe Biden's former seat will stay Democratic.

We cats say, ha. Still, Kevin McCarthy's timely passing has reminded us of another bit of dialog, from what is probably his best film. In Gore Vidal's "The Best Man," Presidential candidate Henry Fonda throws his support to a little-known Governor, Merwin, in order to foil the ambitions of the evil, Nixon-like character played by Cliff Robertson. McCarthy, Fonda's aide, laments his boss's choice.

"But Merwin is nobody," McCarthy exclaims.

"Well," Fonda says. "Now, he's somebody."


P.S. We cats will be on the road tomorrow, but we'll try to post again on Wednesday with a primary-day post mortem. Happy Tuesday, everyone.

Wanted: Better Angels

By Zamboni

We cats have just caught up on news of yesterday's September 11 commemorations.

The New York Times reports that a demonstration against the non-Ground-Zero non-mosque took place yesterday on West Broadway. It was peopled by conservatives and by opaquely named organizations such as the "Freedom Defense Initiative" and "Stop Islamization of America" — whoever the heck they are. When a speaker mentioned Muslims, some attendees shouted, "Kill them all!"

We cats are disgusted. The jerks who destroyed the World Trade Center were mindless haters. If we aren't better than that, what's the point?

Idiots' Delight

By Miss Kubelik

We cats have been entertaining out-of-town guests for the last couple of days, but it didn't escape our notice that a new poll has Levi Johnston bumping John Edwards off the top spot as Most Unpopular Guy.

Wow. That's quite an accomplishment, Leev. A 72 percent unfavorability rating is nothing to sneeze at.

It does make us wonder, though, what Levi's standing says about Bristol Palin's judgment. And how it qualifies her to 1) serve as a spokesperson for responsibility in premarital relationships and 2) "earn" $15,000 to $30,000 per speech. What group would pay that much money to someone whose low standards led her to conceive with one of the most despised men in America?

(But relax, Rielle Hunter — you're off the hook.)

When Words Become Explosive AND Expensive

By Sniffles

In the looming shadow of the idiotic Koran-burning thing, a jury in Virginia has quietly returned a huge verdict against a Nazi jerk named (wouldn't you know it) Bill White.

Herr White now owes $545,000 to a group of five black women — tenants of his in Virginia Beach — who filed a discrimination lawsuit against him. The suit made him so mad that he fired off a bunch of, um, not very nice — in fact, racist, threatening and intimidating — letters.

Which is true to form because uberfuhrer White is in prison right now for — you guessed it — making threats.

We cats are pleased with the verdict, but have a nagging feeling that we just can't shake. That's because while the world pays tons of attention to a Palinesque limelight-lover in Gainesville, Florida, schweinhunds like Bill White continue to lurk, for the most part, under the radar.

President Obama could propose a national conversation about this issue. It could be illuminating and, potentially, healing. But we're sure the Republicans would just say "no."

Booked

By Baxter

Books are in the news this evening.

First, we're indulging in wide Cheshire cat grins over Tony Blair's latest predicament. The poor man has canceled a book signing in London after having been pelted with shoes and eggs on the first stop of his "promote-the-memoir" tour. Serves him right. We find it appalling that this war criminal would make money off his little tome in the first place. Let him have to spend some of it at the dry cleaner's.

Surely one other "memoir writer" is keeping an eye on the botched Blair tour: The Worst Person Who's Ever Lived. We cats fervently hope that he's subjected to the same treatment when the time comes to peddle his "book." Our only regret is that he apparently won't do so until after the midterm elections.

Meanwhile, some nut in — where else? — Florida is threatening to burn a bunch of Korans on Saturday. This crazy lamebrain says he's doing it to demonstrate that — well, we're not sure what point he's trying to make, actually. It's a silly gesture that's beneath the dignity of all thinking Americans. On top of that, the right wing's hero, General David Petraeus, says it could even get some of our troops killed.

But it's a bad idea to burn any book. Even Going Rogue. Yep, that's how strongly we cats feel about this. We wouldn't even burn Going Rogue.

Cat Fight! Delaware GOP vs. Christine O'Donnell

By Zamboni

Folks have begun fixating on Christine O'Donnell, potentially the next teabagger whackjob to endanger an establishment Republican.

This time, the threat is not in the vast expanse of Alaska but the tiny state of Delaware. This nutty O'Donnell woman is running against long-serving U.S. Representative Mike Castle in the GOP primary for Vice President Biden's former Senate seat.

We cats find it interesting that Delaware Republicans are hurling every insult against O'Donnell that they can think of — especially that one about how she "couldn't get elected dog catcher." (Not only is it a shopworn cliche, but as we have very little use for dogs, the slur seems doubly offensive.) Anyway, their frantic behavior begs a few questions in our minds.

What do the GOP's "celebrity endorsers" (Huckabee, DeMint, the famous quitter from Alaska) do about this one?

If Republicans are attacking O'Donnell — but not any of the other teabagger mental cases who are roiling the Grand Old Party — does this mean that they support the positions of people like Joe Miller, who wants to end unemployment insurance, Social Security and Medicare?

Will the media ask that question? (Ha.)

Finally, we've seen it averred that First State Republicans are relying on the fact that the deadline for their primary's voter registration has passed. They hope that'll keep the teabaggers home on September 14.

Um, we cats hate to burst your bubble, folks, but you may recall that Castle's town hall meetings last summer were some of the most nasty. Sore loser teabag maniacs ranted and raved about President Obama's birth certificate, screamed about "wanting their country back," and basically derailed the events. We suspect that plenty of those folks — furious at Castle's lack of responsiveness — registered to vote against him then.

Ahhh, GOP infighting. We cats PURR.

Heedless About The Headless

By Miss Kubelik

Very, very quietly — on little cat feet, in fact — Jan Brewer has admitted she was wrong about all those headless bodies in the Arizona desert.

We cats can't think of a more opportune time to concede error than the Friday before the Labor Day weekend — unless it's the week between Christmas and New Year's. So like a Republican: Throw an outrageous assertion out there to appease your nutty base, and then hope it doesn't get noticed when you're forced to take it back.

However, in this case, Brewer mucked up the time-honored GOP strategy a bit. Clearly she didn't expect to run into such a well-deserved buzzsaw with reporters after the debate.

And since she's nixed any further debates, Brewer must wish she "hadn't did it."

"OMG, She's a Moron!"

By Sniffles

When the famous quitter from Alaska self-destructed in her 2008 interview with Katie Couric, one of our favorite bloggers put it best. (See headline, above.)

We cats never dreamed that deathless phrase could be applied to anyone other than the quitter. Because Sarah Palin is such a fabulous exemplar of moronity. How could anyone touch her?

Well, not to take anything away from Palin — but world, meet Jan Brewer.

The blogosphere is agog at the accidental Arizona Governor's prolonged silence during the gubernatorial debate the other night. While yes, we were pretty slacked-jawed at Brewer's, um, excruciating brain cramp, we found what followed later even more disgusting and amazing.

To dodge direct questions from the press by parroting non-sequitur talking points — and then turning around and walking out — is inexcusable and unforgivable. And yes, moronic.

We cats are heartily sick and tired of Republicans trying to fake their way into power. Candidates for public office — and yes, we're talking to you, Rand Paul, Sharron Angle, and now, Jan Brewer — should answer questions from the media. It's called being held to account for what you say.

And we sincerely hope that journalists take a cue from the frustrated reporters in this video clip and never, never let those Republicans off the hook.

UPDATE: Brewer — her behavior is too egregious to merit the honorific of "Governor" — has said she won't debate again and that, according to POLITICO, "said she only participated in the first one to qualify for $1.7 million in state campaign funds."

We cats think that Barbara Bush's favorite noun would describe Jan Brewer very well.

And Now, About The Speech

By Baxter

We cats decided to allow the fomenting over President Obama's Iraq speech to die down a bit before we attempted to inject an opinion.

So now's the time.

Never mind all the bloviating on the right about how The Worst Person Who's Ever Lived didn't get enough respect. The people who planned and trumpeted the 2003 invasion of Iraq will never come to grips with the fact that they're war criminals. Or that their guy allowed September 11 to happen in the first place.

No, tonight we're mindful of our friends on the left, who are mad that the President didn't rip The Worst Person up one side and down the other. We cats sympathize — we would have loved to have seen Obama do that. It sure would have felt good.

But there's a very important reason that the President didn't. A reason that goes beyond Chief Executive chumminess or camaraderie. And it's this.

In the beginning, most Americans supported the Iraq war.

We cats well remember that even sane people succumbed to the Bushies' manufactured thirst for revenge. People we worked with and liked. And a few others whispered about us non-war-supporters as traitors or worse. It was an unpleasant, awkward time. So it makes no sense to us that the President would use an Oval Office address to remind 300 million constituents that they were, to put it politely, seriously had.

Like most (but not all) very smart people, President Obama knows that telling folks that they're stupid gets you nowhere.

This Hockey Mom is Just.... Horse Hockey.

By Zamboni

A group of women's rights advocates are compiling a list of sexist comments made to or about prominent women in politics and government.

That must be some list. As in very, very long.

We cats fervently hope that it includes George H.W. Bush's graceless remark that he "kicked a little ass" in his 1984 debate with Geraldine Ferraro. Not to mention his wife's insistence that she didn't call Congresswoman Ferraro a bitch. (Classy people, those Bushes.)

And the insults against political women have only gotten worse in the last 25 years. But there's one supposedly sexist remark that we cats think is fair. It's about the famous quitter from Alaska.

Two years ago, a voter quoted in The Wall Street Journal wondered how a national political candidate could possibly provide quality parenting to a special-needs infant. "This is where I see the hypocrisy," the voter said. "When you're campaigning for vice president, you're on 24/7. Who's watching the baby?"

Who, indeed. We thought from the get-go that Palin — the self-styled, devoted "hockey mom" — was way too eager to shove her minor children into the unforgiving limelight. In short, as we are apt to do, we cats smelled a rat.

It is not sexist to call out a fraud who is raking in millions of dollars in part by marketing a persona based on "family values." We cats HISS.