Hang a Shining Star Upon the Highest Bo

As cats, we naturally wish that the White House had been decorated with a feline rather than canine theme this holiday season — but this button-encrusted topiary of Bo Obama is pretty cute.

(PHOTO: Politico)

Freepers Do the Kubler-Ross Thing

By Sniffles

We cats, being curious, decided to check in on our old friends — the right-wing, Romney-hating nutbags over at Free Republic — to see how they were coping with the latest "Herb" Cain, um, female problem.

We found them going through all five of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross's stages of grief. Fascinating. So without further ado, here they are:

Denial — "We all have the opportunity to send Cain a personal message of support through his website. I did that yesterday after the latest slime attack. I encourage others that [sic] believe Cain can make a difference for America as President to do the same."

Anger — "I believe the Communist Party, which openly stated that it will personally destroy anyone who may run against Obama. Oh yeah, and women lie all the time, just in case you never noticed."

Bargaining — "Is it too late to go for Santorum? Just give me a conservative who can speak, who doesn’t cheat on his wife, and doesn’t think I’m heartless or inhumane to want illegals to not get benefits."

Depression — "I feel sorry for the guy. Only Democraps [sic] can get away with being accused of stuff like this (true or not)."

More Depression — "Looks like we have nobody worthwhile in this race."

And Finally, Acceptance — "I think that’s it for America. Obama will get his second term."

(We cats say, amen to that last thought! We PURR.)

...Except, Of Course, For That Time We Impeached a President Over It

"No individual, whether a private citizen, a candidate for public office or a public official, should be questioned about his or her private sexual life."

—Lin Wood, attorney for "Herb" Cain

But... Sam Brownback DOES Blow A Lot!

By Zamboni

We cats think that Emma Sullivan had it right the first time, even though she's now saying it was a joke: Sam Brownback, the right-wing religious nut who went from Kansas Senator to Kansas Governor — and who is the perfect symbol of that backward, woman-hating, science-despising, Fred Phelps-spawning, sorry-ass state — definitely sucks.

No matter. We can still savor the spectacle of the pathetic Brownbackers getting their knickers in a twist over nothing. They whined to Shawnee Mission East High School about an unflattering-to-Brownback tweet the spunky 18-year-old sent while on a Youth In Government trip to Topeka.

Now that the world has decided he and his staff are complete buffoons, Brownback has backed down and apologized to Sullivan, who is off the hook about writing him a mea culpa of her own. (Although apparently the Shawnee Mission East principal has been hung out to dry.)

We cats think that Brownback owes Sullivan and all the women of Kansas another apology — for wanting to control their reproductive systems. Other than that, it's a good day for 1) free speech and 2) embarrassing Republicans. We cats PURR.

(PHOTO: Emma Sullivan / Twitter)

Le Fin

By Baxter

As with so many other Occupy encampments, the OWS movement in Montreal was evicted from its city park yesterday.

We cats are in Montreal (yep, one of us actually made the trip with our humans this time). And we have to admit that, having seen the Occupy camp in Square Victoria before it was shut down yesterday morning, we're relieved. Gosh, it was a mess.

Montreal has many beautiful urban green spaces — and while we're pleased that the Occupiers have managed to shine a light on economic inequality and the right wing's absurd defense of the wealthy, we didn't appreciate the sorry state of our neighborhood park.

We won't tell the Occupiers to take a bath or get a job, but as their movement evolves we urge them to find a way to communicate their worthy message with less detritus.

(PHOTO: The Montreal Gazette)

A-w-w-w-w-w!

By Miss Kubelik

We cats don't usually go for showy marriage proposals, but since this nice couple is from Montreal — and posed on Mount Royal, overlooking the city — we'll give them a pass.

And if you'd like to see their cute-to-die for video, it's here.

We too are headed for la belle ville, although we don't expect nearly as much fuss and bother while we're there. We'll just settle for some succulent confit de canard and a good hockey game or two.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

It's That Day Again

We cats weren't planning to post today about President Kennedy's assassination, but we just had to get that dual picture of Roger Ailes and the famous quitter off the top of the blog.

Roger & She

By Sniffles

Not that there's any doubt about it, but this story about Roger Ailes's fury at the famous quitter from Alaska — who revealed her alleged 2012 intentions on right-wing radio — destroys any possibility that FOX could remotely, or even charitably, be called a cable news channel.

(And as long as we're on the subject on false equivalency — actually, we weren't, but it's the wingnuts' favorite "backatcha," so here we go — we cats cannot imagine anyone at MSNBC saying something like, "I paid her for two years to make this announcement on this network.")

We do wonder, though, what Ailes would say he's been paying Juan Williams and Mara Liasson for. Or any of the other so-called "experts" who allegedly bring a non-FOX credential to his airwaves.

(PHOTO: Business Insider)

Good News!

(PHOTO: Jane Behlen Masters, November 18, 2011)

Lest We Furr-get: Four Dead in Ohio

By Zamboni

We cats are appalled at the pepper-spray incident at UC Davis on Friday. Not just because the officers who hit the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators at point-black range were malevolently nonchalant, but also because it reminded us of something far more serious that happened many years ago.

On May 4, 1970, the Ohio National Guard opened fire on students protesting the U.S. invasion of Cambodia at Kent State University, killing four.

Handy tip to OWS demonstrators across the country: Those of us old enough to remember the shame of Kent State would just like point out that really icky stuff can happen to you when you go up against the powers that be in America. You can get a face full of pepper spray, and you can even get killed.

Let's fervently hope not. But since the authorities at UC Davis seem slow to make the pepper-spray perps pay for their outrageous behavior — and indeed, this weekend the university's chancellor had to walk an eerie gantlet of silent protesters who drove home that point — sadly, we cats are seeing historical parallels here.

(PHOTO: Yep, those are National Guardsmen aiming real guns at an American college student. Amazing, isn't it?)

Who Needs NASCAR?

By Baxter

Once, a few years ago, we cats were driving down from Miami to the Florida Keys when we got caught in a traffic jam near Homestead.

Need we say that the gridlock was due to a NASCAR event? And, hoo boy. We'd never seen such a glut of obnoxious Republican bumper stickers. But then, we never attend megachurch or park at Marcus Bachmann's "pray away the gay" clinic.

So we were a little puzzled why Michelle Obama and Jill Biden would show up at Homestead over the weekend, only to get booed by some of those same NASCAR idiots. (We say idiots because, goodness gracious, is there any stupider sport than auto racing? Okay, maybe golf.)

We have only two theories, both political: One, that since teabaggers and conservative Republicans skew heavily to older, white males — and since there is some sympathy for the President (and even more for the First Lady) among working-class white females — having the drunken boys boo Michelle and Jill at a teabag sporting event could build more support among those women.

Two, their appearance could 1) inspire some seriously insincere, highbrow-ish candidate — say, Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich — to show up at another NASCAR event and make a complete fool of himself, and 2) force the Republicans to further embrace this repellent demographic, strengthening their hold on the (dying and shrinking) rural South and making the GOP even less palatable to swing-state suburban voters.

Even if neither of our theories is correct, it's foolish for the NASCAR fans to have booed. Since Mrs. Obama and Dr. Biden were there to promote Joining Forces, you could say the NASCARians were jeering the troops. Why do teabaggers hate America?

Count Your Blessings (Comptez Vos Benedictions)

By Miss Kubelik

Oh, goodness. Montreal is wringing its hands over the status of BIXI, the city's shared bike service. It seems that after three years, BIXIs are more popular than ever — but even so, the system has trouble meeting its budget, and vandalism is up.

We cats would like to urge Montrealers to put these problems into perspective. Do they know how many American cities aren't even there yet? Most of America hasn't yet installed shared bike systems, let alone tried to figure out whether they're successful or not.

Nope — we in the U.S. are, sadly, BIXI-less. Which means that our citizens aren't availing themselves of a clean, healthy, pollution-free method of transport. So their problems aren't nearly as advanced as the problems of a city that's BIXI'd.

Therefore, we cats say to Montreal: Felicitations. You may be dealing with stuff that's a pain in the derriere. But at least you have BIXIs.

Zero

By Sniffles

John Bolton is such a nitwit. Here's a guy who was so completely unsuitable for U.N. ambassador that his nomination couldn't get through the Senate — he only got the job through a recess appointment. Now, these dubious credentials behind him, he's weighing in on President Obama's cojones in the Middle East.

Incredible. You know, if Bolton and his ilk (Cheney 2016!) had their way, we'd be dropping bombs — and bringing soldiers back in body bags — from Iran and Syria and Libya right now. You could probably add Yemen for good measure. And, as long as we're doing Iran and Syria and Yemen, we might as well toss a shooting war in Lebanon into the mix.

Insanity.

Please remind us cats again: How many U.S. military personnel died to rid Libya of Ghadafi? And what about that disastrous, ineffective, no-cojones Navy Seals mission that killed Osama bin Laden? Um-hmmm. John Bolton has decided not to run for President next year, but he's still a starring member of the Republican clown college.

P.S. It's dawned on us cats that if we were in the military, we'd be a lot safer under a Democratic President than a Republican one.

"Ortega-Hernandez" Is Too Long a Name for a Sondheim Lyric (Thank Goodness)

By Zamboni

Wow, that hyphenated guy from Idaho who allegedly fired shots at the White House is suddenly in a whole LOT more trouble today. He's gone from armed nutcase with a bunch of weird tattoos to attempted Presidential assassin.

What were we cats just saying about people who hate the 44th President (as opposed to those of us who hate the 43rd)? We think we said that the folks who hate Barack Obama are the ones with the guns.

Tidbits and Cat Treats — Rainy Wednesday Afternoon Edition

By Baxter

It's raining in Northern Virginia and — well, suffice to say we're seeing a lot of little cat feet outside. Good napping weather. But here are a few political stories that have gotten our barely-awake attention.

So the GOP's new 2012 clown college darling, Newt Gingrich, got a $1.5 million paycheck from Freddie Mac for some alleged "historian" services. We cats find it disgusting that 1) Freddie Mac would hire someone who is against everything they stand for, and that 2) Gingrich would sell out his beliefs about government intervention in the economy for — gasp! — money. He's so principled, isn't he? (Then again, he had some big Tiffany bills.)

P.S. Gingrich's $1.5 million Freddie Mac tab also makes Rick Perry look like a bargain-basement leftover.

Meanwhile, we've seen a flurry of columns and commentary about how the Republican Party will just have to resign itself to Mitt Romney as the 2012 nominee. We suspect that members of the GOP establishment have been working the Beltway media hard on this story line. But we don't see the teabaggers taking it lying down. Just for fun, we did a quick visit to our favorite right-wing nuts at Free Republic. "Romney is in no way a shoe in [sic] in Iowa," protested one. "I’m as mad as Hell and I’m not going to take this insider guidance anymore," responded another. We cats think that come January, we'll have to tell Karl Rove and the gang: You heard it here first.  

As for the breakup of the Occupy Wall Street encampments, we'll have more to say about that next week, after we see how Occupy Montreal is going. But we wish we could rid ourselves of the nagging feeling that OWS in the U.S. is made up of people who didn't vote in 2010.

Here's Joanie Caucus's Candidate

The Cain Claim

By Miss Kubelik

Okay, so we cats have refrained from writing about "Herb" Cain for a few days. Are we good? Can we talk about him again?

Because we have something we need to, if you'll pardon the expression, call bullshit on.

Nope, it's not the hapless Mrs. Cain's interview with FOX "News." Please. We think we know from the Clintons' saga that the last person to know about stuff like this is the wife.

It's Cain's assertion that he's raised a ton of money from his sexual harassment allegations. Really?

This is reported fund raising. "Reported," because as far as we know, FEC documents on actual monies raised aren't due until December 31. In short, the only source for the magic nine-million-dollar figure is the Cain campaign itself.

Why should we believe it?

Cain has changed his story on the harassment allegations numerous times, and blamed a variety of people. None of it makes any sense, because — you know what? — neither does he. Considering his track record — with this issue as well as with abortion and the electrified border fence — why should "Herb" Cain have credibility on anything?

We cats are waiting for a respectable journalist to call Cain out on this. If someone does, we'll PURR and let you know.

UPDATE, November 14: So, "Herb" Cain doesn't know jack about Libya? And we should be surprised?

Willard's Worst Nightmare

By Sniffles

We cats just figured out how the famous quitter from Alaska unquits the Presidential race.

Picture it: It's just after Thanksgiving, and Iowa is a month away. There's a cattle-call event there, or maybe in South Carolina. (But Iowa would be better.) Most of the GOP's 2012 clown college are attending. The famous quitter tips the media that she'll appear as well — maybe to endorse someone. The press shows up in droves. The stage is set.

When it's time for the famous quitter to speak, she starts by saying something nice about every right-winger in the race, from Bachmann to Perry to Santorum to Cain. Each of them, she says, is a great conservative. Each of them, she avers, would make a better commander-in-chief than the current occupant of the Oval Office.

However.

None of them, she suddenly says, has been able to stand up to attacks from the lamestream media. Each of them has been elevated, and then viciously taken down, by the so-called journalists who are, in reality, brainwashed puppets of the current Administration. Only I, she says — I, the famous quitter — have been able to withstand the onslaught of the liberal, Obama-loving press. Therefore, although I know I said I wouldn't run, witnessing the decimation of my fellow conservatives has made me change my mind. I'm in!

After that, the crowd goes wild, the other clowns blink in shock and surprise, and the famous quitter is carried on the triumphant throng's shoulders into the starry Iowa night. One hour later, FOX "News" runs a "post-announcement" interview that the famous quitter pre-recorded with Greta van Susteren earlier that day.

(We cats, of course, are convinced that the famous quitter could win Iowa, even in so short of time. We know because we read those right-wing, Romney-reviling, Palin-praising nutbags over at Free Republic.)

You heard it here first! Time for a nap.

A Quickie: Should Sandusky, Ohio Change Its Name?

By Zamboni

We cats have read the 23-page grand jury report on the Penn State child rape scandal. (To its credit, the university's student paper made a PDF of the report available online. It reminds us of a line from the film "Topsy-Turvy": "The more I see of men, the more I admire dogs.")

And oh, boy, here we go. The homophobic hatemongers on the right have wasted no time blaming all gay people for Jerry Sandusky's crimes.

So, let's get this straight: Jerry Sandusky could get a 460-year prison sentence, but it's Elton John's fault?

We cats HISS.

La Guerre Against Les Girls

By Baxter

We cats really don't want to keep writing about "Herb" Cain, but he keeps giving us reasons to.

To wit: The fact that his campaign is now threatening to destroy the women accusing him of sexual harassment just makes us cats believe the charges more.

Yep, "Herb" is clearly a guy who believes he's entitled to everything — the Presidency, the sexual services of women who work for him — and if you don't comply with that, watch out.

(We can hear the Freepers screaming "hypocrisy" now, and we'll just pre-empt all that by responding right away. Yes, dear Freeps, we know that the Clinton campaign went after Gennifer Flowers in 1992. We'd also like to remind you that the President later admitted her story was true. So in the words of "Herb's" lawyer, before you make the Clinton-Cain comparison, "think twice.")

Meanwhile, we see the Cain aggression as part of a larger picture: the GOP's overall attitude toward women. The party is becoming positively Saudi in its regression on women's rights.

See, the Democratic Party, for all the flaws of some of its male, um, members, does not try to legislate away women's freedoms and prosperity. It's not Democrats who are trying to pass "personhood" amendments in the states. It's not Democrats who are trying to hurt working women and their families through union-busting. It's not Democrats who want wives to be submissive to their husbands. And on and on and on.

We wish we knew what Republican women are thinking about today's GOP. And as always, we'd like to ask, "Why are you in that party?"

(P.S. Speaking of Republican women, how did Jan Brewer get Rick Perry to channel her last night? Amazing! You know, whoever told Perry last month not to do any more debates is looking like a genius today.)

UPDATE, November 11: Re Cain's "Princess Nancy" epithet and his "joke" about Anita Hill? More proof to us cats that he's guilty as charged. Also, he hates women. In our next post, we will endeavor to write about a subject other than this supremely empty suit.

(IMAGE: POLITICO)

So Much For That!

It seems like only yesterday that "Herb" Cain was refusing to talk about sexual harassment. "We are getting back on message," he insisted. "End of story. Back on message."

Except in just a few minutes, he's holding a press conference to talk about it.

UPDATE: We cats are sensing a pattern here. Cain apparently isn't holding his presser at 3 PM after all. It's at 5.

UPDATE #2: We cats think that "Herb" really needs to get his story straight. Is it one of his fellow Republican Presidential campaigns who's spreading these nasty rumors, or the Democrats? (Frankly, we can't imagine why a Democratic operation would choose to intervene when "Herb" is effectively self-destructing, but never mind.) We would simply remind "Herb" that the word "Democrat" is a noun, and not an adjective. Therefore, the term "Democrat machine" is incorrect.

UPDATE #3: For all you Freepers and other right wingers who have jumped on Gloria Allred, we cats just say, "Lin Wood — Gary Condit." 'Nuff said.

UPDATE #4: Cain's press conference was bizarre. He is a ridiculous figure.

Postscript: The One Thing They Haven't Tried to Pin On Obama (Yet)

By Miss Kubelik

At the end of her press conference today, "Herb" Cain accuser Sharon Bialek asked the 2012 Republican clown college frontrunner to come clean on sexually assaulting her in 1997. She also said this:

"We need a leader who can set an example which exemplifies the standards of a good person and moral character."

We cats don't know about that "examples exemplifying" stuff (hello, Grammar Police!). But for a good person with moral character, we suggest that Ms. Bialek need look no further than the current occupant of the Oval Office.

"Herb" Cain: The Only Guy Having a Worse Day Than Dr. Conrad Murray

By Sniffles

What was The New York Times's Nate Silver just saying — that it's not crazy or impossible for another candidate to join the 2012 Republican clown college, even at this late date?

We cats fully expect that chatter to begin anew, as a fourth woman has not only alleged eewy behavior on the part of "Herb" Cain but — unbound by any legal settlements or payouts — has just held a press conference and provided all the disgusting details. Ugh.

Should that 2012 chatter gear up again (and in some respects it already has), it will represent many Republican dilemmas:

• Fear of Ron Paul and his whackjobs;
• Fear that Newt Gingrich has somehow managed to survive his disastrous launch;
• Grief that Jon Huntsman is going nowhere;
• Relief that the same is true of Rick "Don't Google His Name" Santorum;
• Disgust at the disaster that is pain-pill-addicted Rick Perry;
• Equal disgust at the folly that is Herb Cain;
• The knowledge that the famous quitter from Alaska and her doppelganger from Minnesota are both unelectable;
• But, most important, the ongoing distrust and contempt for the prospect of Mitt Romney taking the Republican nomination, sticking it in a dog crate and driving away to Canada with it.

(IMAGE: Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press)

The Lesson Andy Rooney Didn't Learn

By Zamboni

Andy Rooney's obituary in The New York Times has made us think of how we felt when Charlton Heston died.

Honest, there's a connection, so please bear with us.

You may recall that National Rifle Association president Heston gave a despicable but revealing interview to Michael Moore in "Bowling for Columbine" — basically saying that America had to arm itself because of all the blacks.

We cats wondered then — as we wonder now — how Heston ended up saying that when, back in the day, he marched for civil rights with Martin Luther King.

We hadn't expected a similar mood to strike us when we approached Rooney's obit. We remembered on our own that he'd made unseemly remarks about gay people ("Many of the ills which kill us are self-induced...[like] homosexual unions"), women, and Hispanics (“I know all about Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, but today’s baseball stars are all guys named Rodriguez to me"). So when we heard he'd died, we weren't exactly broken up.

But then we read that as an Army sergeant and reporter for The Stars & Stripes, he covered the U.S. liberation of Buchenwald.

So. How do you go from being one of the first guys to march into a Nazi death camp — and then later hurl slurs at people solely on the basis of who they are?

Perhaps we should add a sidebar to this blog: "Human Beings We Don't Miss."

(PHOTO: U.S. Army soldiers liberate the Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar, Germany, April 1945. From the Mayor Robert F. Wagner Collection of the LaGuardia & Wagner Libraries.)

"Herb" Cain: You Lie (You Lay)

By Baxter

We cats are tired of being curmudgeons, but the state of today's journalism is forcing us into it.

Just days ago we had to write the ombudsman at The Washington Post, complaining that the Republican pejorative "Democrat party" appeared in a news story. Mr. Ombudsman wrote us back, apologizing that the term had been "creeping into WaPo copy of late."

Alarming. We cats say: Don't talk about it "creeping." Just fix it.

Today, we once again had to contact the Post about a grammatical error. Although not as sinister as using "Democrat" as an adjective, this one just drives us wild. Reporters on a "Herb" Cain story used "laid" as a past tense for the verb "to lie."

(Yes, we know that several jokes about Herb Cain lying are spinning around in your head right now. But the sentence in question referred to Mr. Cain reclining to sunbathe — not to telling an untruth, which he evidently often does.)

You know why the Post should care about proper grammar? Well, aside from the obvious — that one should speak and write English well — there's an economic argument. It's the older consumer who cares about good grammar; coincidentally, it's people in that older demographic who are still buying newspapers and magazines. Which means a greater proportion of the Post's readers likely still value good writing — even if the reporters are now all 25 years old (and most of their editors are 30).

As for Herb Cain lying, there's some new news on that.

UPDATE: November 5: We're happy to report that POLITICO, which has sinned with "lie/lay" in the past, got it right today. Congratulations!

The Blackboard Jingle

 

One of the great things about marriage equality is that it inspires awfully clever signs, posters and — in this instance — blackboards. Quick! Where is this store, so we can buy something there?

Jobs Decline, A Mari Usque ad Mare*

By Miss Kubelik

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper talks a lot about creating jobs, but he doesn't do anything about it — living proof that he's a Republican at heart.

Example: In Washington, as "The Daily Show" has so brilliantly observed, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives excoriates President Obama's alleged failures on the economy. But instead of taking action themselves, they spend time on goofy bills — like the one declaring "In God We Trust" our national motto. (Meanwhile, their colleagues in the Senate block another part of the Obama jobs bill.) In short, the GOP's money is not where its mouth is.

And Harper? He's been greeted at the G20 summit with some bad news from the home front: a Statistics Canada report that Canadian unemployment jumped to 7.3 percent in October, wiping out all job gains made in the previous month.

Harper says he is "disappointed." But is he going to leap into action, perhaps send some new stimulus legislation to Parliament? Gosh, no.

Well, at least they're not wasting time on Canada's motto. Are they?

*"From sea to sea"

(PHOTO: Reuters)

The Best Freeper Post, Ever

By Sniffles

We confess: When we cats get lazy — when it's chilly out, and the space heater is going, and we've just scarfed an entire plate of Friskies Sea Captain's Choice — we visit the comment threads at Free Republic for some easy entertainment.

So, okay, we plead totally guilty to that. But we really, truly had to see how the Freepers were reacting to the news that a third woman at the National Restaurant Association has alleged inappropriate behavior by teabagger Presidential favorite "Herb" Cain.

This interested us for several reasons. First, because the right wing is just totally, utterly aghast at President Bill Clinton's behavior, forever and ever, amen. No way, they aver, would any of the guys on their side of the aisle so debase themselves! Yet now that "Herb" has been proven to have sexual feet of clay, we're highly amused by their bending and scraping to absolve him.

But the other reason we're intrigued is that "Herb's" candidacy is only a story because the famous quitter from Alaska, um, quit. Quit, that is, the 2012 race. We instantly saw the Freepers turn on a dime — okay, a regretful dime, but nevertheless a dime — from Palin to Cain. Therefore, we were completely unsurprised (and pleased) when this Godfather's Pizza parvenu rocketed to the top of the nutty Republican primary polls.

Therefore, dear readers, without further ado, let us share with you this FANTASTIC post from a Freeper named "Pravious" on the latest Cain conundrum. Cue drum roll, please!

"This makes me sick. Just another reason I hate that Palin decided not to run... they’d already thrown everything in the book at her, and nothing stuck (in spite of their childish insistence to the contrary). This crap might stick.

"So... what’s going to happen? Do we need to see each of our candidates destroyed one-by-one... if not by our other candidates, than by a bunch of scum-sucking leftist slime, aided and abetted by the mainstream media? So we’re gonna wake up one day and find no one left standing except the candidate the powers-that-be demand be on our ticket (and you all know who THAT is). Can’t we just wipe the friggin’ slate clean and find ANOTHER half dozen people? Kind of like kicking nitwits off of a jury, and choosing another? NONE of these people are really acceptable. NONE OF THEM. >:-("

Oh, Pravious, we Democratic cats heart you. Our only regret is that you haven't bothered to create an "About" page.

Mr. Multiple Exclamation Points

By Zamboni

Sigh. We cats guess we have to say something about Free Republic banning Romney supporters from its site.

Not that we're surprised by any of it, or even care — but goodness gracious, the Freepers have given us so much entertainment that it would be rude to ignore their moment in the sun.

So, we checked. The FR comment thread on POLITICO's original news story was 450 and growing. That's pretty respectable, although when the famous quitter from Alaska, um, quit the 2012 race, the thread was much bigger — in fact, the biggest we've ever seen. More than 1,500 rendings of teabagger garments and gnashings of conservative teeth. (Hint: This is where all that subsequent support for "Herb" Cain came from.)

But, we digress. The thread on the Romney ban is, by and large, predictable. Lots of remarks along the lines of, "And this is a problem because....?" A few, but not many, protestations about being labeled anti-Mormon. (Because of course they are.) But the most amusing post was by the site's creator, Jim Robinson.

We've always suspected that Mr. Robinson is a bit unhinged. He tends toward excitability. If you needed more confirmation of that, here's his contribution to today's anti-Romney comment thread:

"'In an e-mail to POLITICO this afternoon, Robinson admitted that the site routinely blocks Romney supporters from posting — and offered no apologies for the practice.' Admitted it? Hell, I've been blasting it for years!! It's been on our home page in one form or another forever. And on our main page for the last couple years...I'm sorry, but those who cannot live with our pro-life, pro-family, pro-gun, pro-limited government positions are more than welcome to vote with their happy feet. NO RINOS!! NO ROMNEY!! NOT ON MY WATCH!! Long live the TEA party rebellion!! Long live our FREE Republic!"

Ah, Republican nuttiness and infighting. Since Mitt Romney still appears to be on track for the Republican nomination, we cats PURR.

But... It Was Just a "Light-Hearted Attempt to Inject Satire Humor Into the Halloween Holiday"!

By Baxter

If we cats could drive, we'd head over to the Loudon County, Virginia, Republican headquarters and dump our dirty litter boxes on their desks.

They deserve it — but we have the feeling that they're already getting smacked around by their Republican Governor, who's been forced to denounce a fundraising e-mail that the county party sent yesterday with this image. Yep, that's a bullet hole in President Obama's zombie head.

After his big, embarrassing 2010 goof-up over slavery, Bob McDonnell — who no doubt is dreaming of joining his party's national ticket next year — wants no further accusations of insensitivity hurled his way. He was quick to call the Loudon e-mail "shameful and offensive."

It certainly is. However, so is the Loudon GOP's response. It issued another one of those lame "gee, we're sorry if we did anything wrong" non-apology apologies: "We deeply and sincerely apologize to the President and anyone who viewed the image if that was the impression that was left" (emphasis ours).

They just can't help themselves, can they?

Yes, we know the Freepers and their compatriots will squawk and protest that the Worst Person Who's Ever Lived got caricatured and worse by people who didn't like him. The difference is, when we cats say that somebody ought to be shot, we're truly speaking metaphorically because we don't own any guns. The nutcases on the right wing do.