Funny Randy

By Miss Kubelik

If Keith Olbermann and his "Countdown" show on MSNBC got us through the Bush II years, it's a slam-dunk that Randy Rainbow helped us survive the nightmare that was Trump. And he's still going strong, mostly because the Republican Party has never ceased to be ridiculous.

With the current state of the GOP, John McCain must be spinning in his grave all these (believe or not) six years. But he helped jump-start it by choosing Sarah Palin as his 2008 running mate, so Randy still has a lot of material to work with. Thanks at least for that, John! We cats PURR.

Cat Fight! Steve Schmidt vs. Meghan McCain (vs. Sarah Palin vs. Et. Al.)

By Zamboni

In a week that gets more alarming by the minute, the recent, barn-burning Twitter fight between Steve Schmidt and Meghan McCain has been a welcome diversion.

Unfortunately, it's only part of a saga in which Schmidt has decided to simply vomit up everything he's been holding back for the last 14 years — about John McCain's duplicity about his personal life, and an apparent Russian infiltration of the 2008 nominee's campaign via its manager, Rick Davis. You read that right: If you thought it all started in 2016 with Trump, it didn't.

The media, however, with a big helping hand from The New York Times, have chosen to focus on the duplicity over the Russia stuff. But according to Schmidt, McCain did have the affair that he, Schmidt, lied on his behalf to the press about. McCain did look the other way as Davis advanced Russian interests with campaign deciders. And brave POW McCain was, yes, scared to death of Sarah Palin.

It's hard to wrap your head around the whole, messy story if you first stumbled across it this past weekend, as Schmidt and Meghan began to tweet each other to shreds. It kicked off after Schmidt, who clearly had already decided to offload his McCain-related psychic burdens, reacted to the news that Meghan's stupid "memoir," Bad Republican, had only sold 244 copies. After that, they were off to the races. But since Schmidt's gift of turning a phrase is only bested on social media by the elfin wickedness of Rick Wilson, Meghan never had a chance.

People are asking Schmidt if he's worried about seeming unhinged. He said no, and he's more than capable of defending himself. But check out this photo of Meghan with her failed memoir propped up against her father's gravestone. Who's the unhinged one here? We cats HISS.

John McCain: An Advance Obituary

By Baxter

We cats absolutely understand the urge among Democratic office holders to speak well of Senator John McCain. Often, they came into office at the same time or shortly after he did, or he served as a mentor when they arrived on Capitol Hill. We know that this is all in spite of the Keating scandal (which we leave to your Googling talents).

We also totally understand the drawing together as the lamplights fade — the confabs of people who shared moments of glory and defeat with momentous figures whose lives are drawing to a close. We saw it happen with the last great lion of the Senate, Edward M. Kennedy, with whom we had differences of opinion but could admit that, yes, whose career made an imprint on the lives of Americans who needed health care, education or civil rights.

Sorry, but we kinda have to say that John McCain didn't contribute to any of the causes that we hold dear. Instead, this is his legacy: He nominated for Vice President someone who was eminently unqualified — someone who he thought would gain him votes, but who was completely unprepared to assume the responsibilities of the Presidency, should it become necessary. In short, he advanced the candidacy of a person who helped make Donald J. Trump possible.

We cats will never forgive John McCain for this. And since the fact of Sarah Palin helped enable the fact of Trump, we refuse to admire his current criticism of the latest Republican regime.

So: Planning to vote in November? Don't look to John McCain for guidance. Look to your heart, and your disgust at everything that is Trump. McCain, for all his protestations, helped usher Trumpism in. Vote for every Democrat you can. We cats PURR.

(UPDATE, May 10: Yes, we were tough on John McCain in this post, but we were positively Casper Milquetoast compared to the hideous Trumpsters and FOX "News" nutjobs. We cats HISS.)

Saturday Night Questions

By Baxter

It's been a rough week, hasn't it? Not that there haven't been some glimmers of optimism that in the end, the country will be salvaged and not sink into a corrupt oligarchy for the rest of its days. (We're looking at you, Robert Mueller.) But gosh — the US Senate just behaved like a banana republic, and John McCain, who is dying of brain cancer, decided that his legacy would be to rip healthcare coverage from 13 million Americans. That is depressing.

Nevertheless, hope springs eternal, and in that spirit, we have a few questions tonight.

Isn't it amazing that the one Senator with honor on the Republican side last night was Bob "Harold, Call Me" Corker? More proof that the GOP's souls are filled with unwashed socks.

Are we all going to find out who K.T. McFarland is now?

A new poll has put Doug Jones a whisker ahead of Roy Moore in the Alabama Senate race — three points. So, okay, the polls are going to be all over the place for the next week and a half. But this one got our attention in a very special way. "Who do you trust more to handle the issue of abortion?" Forty-seven percent said Moore, but 46 percent said Jones. Abortion is supposed to be Jones's Achilles heel in Alabama. Could it be that it isn't?

Finally, OMG, can we not impeach Trump and Pence before January 2019? Because if Trump is toast and Pence goes down with him, the next one in line is Paul Ryan. We must get Ryan out of the Speaker's chair, tout de suite, before any of that can happen. We cats PURR.

America's Kobayashi Maru?

By Sniffles

This week feels like the darkest one yet since November 8, 2016. The chaos and mayhem that Trump seems to thrive upon is destroying our government's ability to function. Which is probably what the Republicans want in the first place, yes? Or at least, what Grover Norquist wants.

The rest of us 330 million, however, probably feel differently. We'd like our infrastructure to exist, our national parks to be open, our banks to be regulated, our Social Security to be paid, our Medicare to be available, the ACA to be intact, and — oh, by the way — we'd like our safety to be guarded, and not threatened to be blown apart by thermonuclear war with North Korea. Just sayin'.

That aside, it looks like the "tax bill" may pass, so even though three million more Americans voted against stuff like this than voted for it, we may get Obamacare gutted, the middle class and the poor slammed with new taxes, and, in sum, America radically altered — all without Congressional hearings or due diligence — and we haven't even gotten to the subjects of Trump retweeting racist videos and the hollowing out of the State Department.

God, this is just a nightmare.

Is there a ray of hope, anywhere? Will Glinda the Good Witch descend in a bubble and tell us we've always had the power to go back to Kansas?

Well, maybe. There are more of us than of them — and in Virginia, tons of us turned out two and a half weeks ago to say, screw you, Republicans. And so many of those voters were young people — 69 percent — that we think, hey! Trump and the GOP and the haters have awakened a sleeping giant, and they'll get their asses kicked, starting in November 2018.

Hang on to that, folks — and let's keep working our butts off. It isn't easy. The odds are against us and the situation is grim. But it sounds like fun. We cats PURR.

Nobody Held A Gun To Their Head

By Baxter

There's one thought we cats can't get out of our minds as we watch the Republicans grapple with their epic Pussy Galore Weekend.

It wasn't enough that Donald Trump insulted and maligned everybody he insulted and maligned before his vile, adolescent and borderline-criminal "Access Hollywood" banter hit the airwaves on Friday — was it? Until then, the Republican Party may have been less than thrilled that the Freepers and the teabags and the haters had prevailed in the primaries, but still, they went along with the Trump coronation, hoping they could somehow paper over his hideousness and make it back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

We're cats, so we have to remind the GOP of the old adage about riding the tiger and ending up inside.

Particularly repugnant are Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan and Rancid Pieface, who still refuse to disown their execrable nominee. But make no mistake: Everybody's a jackass here, from John McCain to Kelly Ayotte to Ted Cruz (ah, especially Ted Cruz... bad timing on that endorsement, Ted). Maybe the only Republican with any integrity these days is Lindsey Graham.

So, sorry, GOP — you need to own this. You have to admit that you cravenly tried to appeal to racism, bigotry, misogyny and xenophobia by going along with Trump — or even, in Mike Pence's case, calling him a "good man." But here's the thing: You don't get to toss him off the ticket. The American people deserve the opportunity to vote against this horrifying buffoon. We cats HISS.

Note To GOP Cowards: You're Being Ridiculous

By Sniffles

Republicans who are trying to walk a tortured path between condemning Donald Drumpf's sociopathic outrages and not alienating their Drumpf-loving base really need a smackdown from the likes of Sarah Silverman. (Except we don't think a Sarah Silverman exists in the GOP — their loss.)

John McCain is the latest flabby example. Our choice of adjective might surprise you, since the statement McCain issued yesterday against Drumpf's Khan-bashing was blistering in the extreme. Two problems: He didn't take back his endorsement. And he said this: "I hope Americans understand that [Trump's] remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or candidates."

Um — yes, they do. You guys freaking nominated him, John! He got nearly 14 million votes in the GOP primaries — more than any other Republican on record. We call that a candidate who truly represents his party.

It's too, too delicious that the GOP's 40-year gulling and mollycoddling of racists and ignoramuses have been unmasked in what will probably be the most devastating election in their party's history. But although we're basking in schadenfreude, their continued prevaricating on Drumpf still makes us crazy.

Who will be the first major Republican to have the courage to step off the tightrope and say that America cannot elect a walking, talking personality disorder? Mark Kirk is surely going down in flames come November, so who does that leave? Susan Collins? Kelly Ayotte? Somebody big needs to have the pluck to repudiate and rescind.

So come on, establishment Republicans: The winking and the nodding have to end. The teabaggers and the Freepers can't get any madder at you. And Ted Cruz is looking awfully smart right now. We cats HISS.

Words Matter

By Baxter

We cats are of two minds about this post, because it's a scary subject. And while we don't want to give any more screen space to whackjobs than is necessary, we feel an obligation to point out dangerous rhetoric.

Today in Britain, a Labour MP was shot to death in broad daylight. She was a vocal supporter of allowing more Middle Eastern refugees into the UK. Coincidentally, the anti-European Union campaign in Britain had just unveiled this poster, which implies that a UK that elects to remain in the EU will soon be overwhelmed by hordes of the great unwashed. Even before the MP's murder, the poster was generating a ton of pushback.

Now, everyone's in shock to hear not just that the MP was slaughtered but that the killer shouted "Put Britain first" as he did it.

Perhaps the most eloquent statement on these events has come from Alex Massie of The Spectator, who wrote:

"When you encourage rage you cannot then feign surprise when people become enraged. You cannot turn around and say, ‘Mate, you weren’t supposed to take it so seriously. It’s just a game, just a ploy, a strategy for winning votes.’

"When you shout BREAKING POINT over and over again, you don’t get to be surprised when someone breaks. When you present politics as a matter of life and death, as a question of national survival, don’t be surprised if someone takes you at your word."

This is resonating with us in an unsettling way. Why? Because Donald Drumpf has spent the last few days saying that President Obama sympathizes with terrorists, and John McCain has had to walk back a statement that Obama is "directly responsible" for the mass shooting in Orlando.

Goodness gracious. We hope the Secret Service is on alert. In the meantime, we cats HISS and SNARL.

No Coat

By Sniffles

Renee Elmers was the first member of Congress to receive an endorsement from Donald Drumpf. Yesterday, Renee Ellmers lost her Republican primary. Whoops!

Five weeks after he clinched his nomination, June 7 was not a good day for Drumpf — especially when you add Hillary's second rock-'em-sock-'em stemwinder in less than a week and Donald's own deflated performance in front of... how many people? About 12?

"I understand the responsibility of carrying the mantle, and I will never, ever let you down," he said, sounding like he had been paddled. What major-party presumptive nominee has ever had to give a speech like that?

The nonexistent Drumpf coattails also showed up in California, which he had earlier boasted he would carry in the fall: The Golden State's GOP failed to land a candidate in the top-two contest to succeed retiring Senator Barbara Boxer. (Congrats, Kamala Harris and Loretta Sanchez!)

Memo to Kelly Ayotte, Ron Johnson, Mark Kirk, Rob Portman, Pat Toomey and whatever hapless Republican vies for Baby Marco's Senate seat: You may want to take note.

Memo to Roy Blunt, Richard Burr, Charles Grassley and John McCain: Don't be so sure of yourselves. We cats PURR.

Days Of Destruction

By Miss Kubelik

As long as we cats were taking a stroll through the wacky world of Free Republic, we decided to check their reactions to this recent analysis by The New York Times about the pickle the Republican Party finds itself in.

From our side of the political spectrum — opposite of the Freeps', of course — we thought the article was fascinating. Not because it told us any particularly new news, but because it 1) tied the GOP's current dilemma into a neat little package, and 2) succinctly portrayed the so-called "Establishment Republicans" as what they are: clueless. We could picture the expressions on their older, white male faces: classic George W. Bush, learning for the first time that the World Trade Center was under attack.

This kind of amazed us, until we remembered the famed Republican sense of entitlement (currently personified by Jeb! Bush). The GOP elite thought they could pander to the worst instincts of the hard right — and then stiff them on the issues they hold near and dear — and pay no political price, forever. Now, that's arrogant. 

Thanks to the miracle of the Interwebs, however, we've seen the Freeper rage building for years now — so we're not exactly reaching for the smelling salts. As one Freeper said of the New York Times piece: "We’ve been split for the last two Presidential elections. Took them a while to figure this out." We cats couldn't agree more. After all, we've seen countless comments that were anti-John McCain, anti-Mitt Romney, anti-Mitch McConnell, anti-John Boehner, anti-Paul Ryan, and anti-anti-anti-nearly everybody inside the Beltway with an "R" after his name since we started this blog back in 2008.

The teabags feel wronged over everything they think the Republican Party has failed to do. Some of it is imaginary ("They never stood up to Obama!"), some of it is real (the Bush Administration did expand Medicare and wasted trillions in Iraq), and some of it was just kinda out of the GOP's control (marriage equality). And they never take comfort in the fact that an abortion is a lot damned harder to get than it used to be, that the Voting Rights Act has been gutted, that guns are everywhere, or that the Republicans currently control the House, the Senate and most of the states — everything but the White House. All of this scares us to death — but the Freepers are just wet-cat mad, because in their view, nothing is ever enough.

We can tell those deer-in-the-headlights Republican elites when it all started going off the rails for them. It was when John McCain, then a 71-year-old cancer survivor, plucked a crazy former Alaskan mayor out of obscurity and lifted her to national prominence by nominating her for a job she was completely unqualified for. To us cats, it was a grave disservice to the country that nearly bordered on treason. But for the GOP, the rise of Sarah Palin — even though she later became a cartoon — is the point at which the frustrated and restive haters who make up the party base became the awakened giant, filled with a terrible resolve.

Does John McCain feel any responsibility for all this? We doubt it. Which would usually make us HISS at his idiocy — but since we love watching the travails of the GOP, it makes us PURR.

There Will Be Blood

By Zamboni

For the second time, a prominent Republican has gotten into hot water over a comment about blood.

Remember? Back in 2011, the famous quitter from Alaska landed herself into a peck of trouble after the Gabby Giffords shooting. Never mind that her stupid Face Thing page had used a cross-hairs icon to indicate Giffords's CD as a swing district — anybody who called attention to that was guilty of "blood libel."

What the famous quitter didn't realize, of course, was the underlying meaning of the blood libel term — which we cats are sure gets bandied about in her synapse-drained evangelical circles without a hint of understanding of its nuances. Anyway, suffice to say that trouble ensued.

That's all kinda hard to remember now because the famous quitter from Alaska is yesterday's news. Today, we have GOP clowns like Rafael Cruz, Jr., Rand Paul, Baby Marco Rubio, Fat Mike Huckabee, crazy Ben Carson and the cross-eyed college dropout from Wisconsin to kick around. An embarrassment of clown riches! The famous quitter seems so dated by comparison.

Nevertheless, we thought about her when Donald Trump, the Supreme GOP Clown of All, stepped in it with his recent comments about Megyn Kelly. "You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever," he said — following up by blaming anyone who thought he was talking about — well, you know. Such dirty minds you people have!

We cats don't care what blood was coming out of what orifice of Megyn Kelly's. We refused to turn on Thursday night's debate because we don't ever want FOX "News" broadcasting in our house. But we agree with Hillary Rodham Clinton that the Trump remark was far from the only offensive statement on the debate stage that night.

Meanwhile, here's our favorite quote of all. And it goes to Carly Fiorina. Donald Trump's remarks about Megyn Kelly "were completely inappropriate and offensive comments, period." (Emphasis ours.) We cats PURR.

(IMAGE: This is either a still from a Daniel Day-Lewis movie, the Republican primary process going up in flames. Take your pick!)

John McCain Is A DumbDumb, Too

By Baxter

John McCain has lashed out at the execrable Rafael Cruz, Jr. for calling Mitch McConnell a liar the other day. “Let’s even assume that [Cruz was] right, which he wasn’t, you still don’t do that,” McCain sniffed.

But does John McCain realize that he's responsible for Ted Cruz?

Cruz was going nowhere in his 2012 Texas Senate race until the Famous Quitter from Alaska — before a canceled TV show and a failed web channel and a second bastard grandchild all hit — endorsed him.

And of course the Famous Quitter would have been Nowheresville in the first place had John McCain not plucked her from deserved obscurity to be his running mate in 2008. (We cats still think that nomination was tantamount to treason.)

So now Rafael Jr. is rubbing McCain and all those Republican Senators the wrong way? As with Donald Trump, they have only themselves to blame. We cats HISS.

A Shot In The Dark (Not)

By Baxter

Have you ever noticed how careful the right wing is about using the same kind of language, no matter what issue they're talking about?

Last year, for example, everybody from Rafael Cruz Jr. to Ron Johnson to John McCain to John Boehner — we could go on — got their marching orders to call the Obama Administration "lawless." We're not sure whose byline that memo went out under, although we suspect Roger Ailes's.

So it struck us when Benjamin Netanyahu, the world's biggest pain in the ass after Vladimir Putin, said today would "go down as one of the darkest days in world history." Why? The Iran nuclear deal, of course.

Our first thought was, goodness gracious, such histrionics — and from a guy who probably already has The Bomb. Our second thought was, hey! Where have we just heard that word "darkest" before?

Ohhhhh, we know. It was Raffie Cruz Jr., talking to silly Sean Hannity about the Supreme Court. The Court's rulings on Obamacare and marriage equality, Cruz frothed, made up "some of the darkest 24 hours in our nation’s history."

Pardon us while we grab our fans and our smelling salts. But as we roll our eyes at these right-wing drama queens, we can't help but note the use of language. No doubt in our furry minds: These guys are all on FOX "News's" email list, and the memos don't stop at the border. We cats HISS.

Vice

By Miss Kubelik

It's amusing how Republicans are shocked, shocked to "discover" that the Famous Quitter from Alaska is an idiot. She gives an incoherent speech at Steve King's KKK rally in Iowa this past weekend, and suddenly they're forced to admit publicly that their 2008 Presidential nominee, his campaign and their national party were all willing to put an utter fool next in line to the Oval Office.

We cats call that endangering the country. Maybe even treason. But then we remembered that the Republicans had done it before. (On the other hand, Sarah Palin makes Dan Quayle look like Stephen Hawking.)

Which got us to thinking: Aside from the Famous Quitter and Quayle, in just the last 20 years the GOP has managed to nominate an Ayn Rand acolyte, a sadist and a football player to the number-two spot on their ticket. They all had their problems — particularly the sadist — but basic brain power probably wasn't one of them. (Interestingly, politically, the football player would probably not be welcome in the Republican Party of today. Just sayin'.)

In contrast, allow us Democratic cats to review some of our recent Vice Presidential nominees. Joe Biden served a thousand years in the Senate and chaired the Foreign Relations Committee for hundreds of them. Joe Lieberman was a 1964 Freedom Rider whom the Republicans came to love. President Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize. Lloyd Bentsen was a distinguished Senator and Cabinet member (and we all know what Lloyd is most famous for.) Before groundbreaker Geraldine Ferraro came to Congress, she worked her way through night law school and later prosecuted rapists, wife beaters and child abusers.

We admit that John Edwards is a scoundrel and a pretty boy — but as everyone who's ever faced him in a courtroom knows, there's perspicacity under that perfect hair. You'd have to go all the way back to 1972 to find somebody who was a real problem — and George McGovern removed him from the ticket, dooming the Democrats' slim chances against Richard Nixon forever.

In short, it seems clear that our Presidential nominees have given serious thought to whether their veeps were up to taking the reins of power, and willing to admit for the good of the country if they picked wrong. The Republicans? They nominated Sarah Palin. We cats HISS.

P.S.: We couldn't resist — we checked on our friends over at Free Republic, to see how they're reacting to the GOP's Palin abandonment. Would they, too, finally throw in the towel on their sainted Famous Quitter? We were thrilled to see that the answer was no. We cats PURR.

Please, No Copycats

By Sniffles

We cats don't go in much for canine metaphors, but once the Famous Quitter from Alaska was revealed to be an idiot back in 2008, we knew that forever after it would be clear that her bark was worse than her bite. Now, however, we may have to change our minds.

That's because she apparently has taken to the Face Non-Book to post a photo of her Down's syndrome son — what's his name, Trash? — stepping on a dog to reach the sink.

Yes, the dog appears unconcerned. What worries us is that across the country, stupid Republicans (and yes, we realize that's redundant) will be stepping on their dogs in imitation.

We hate the Famous Quitter from Alaska and her ignorant hillbilly family. Since law enforcement hasn't yet seen fit to clap them in irons, they have none of the redeeming (and amusing) qualities of the McDonnell clan. But believe us, we are waiting for the day. In the meantime, in solidarity with our fellow American pets, we cats HISS.

Fasten Your Seat Belts, Senate Republicans, You're Going To Have A Bumpy Ride

By Sniffles

Election Day isn't until tomorrow, but "Ted" Cruz is already pledging to wreak havoc in a Republican-controlled Senate.

And we cats mean wreak. As lefties and Democrats, we are appalled by the prospect of the Senate defunding Obamacare, rolling back environmental protections and restricting reproductive rights. But the guys and gals in the storied upper chamber who have "Rs" next to their names should be worried, too. Because "Ted" is not going to play nice.

In fact, in true teabag fashion, he won't even say he'll support Mitch McConnell for Harry Reid's job. What, promote his Minority Leader? Tish-tosh, says "Ted."

So we cats are left wondering what sort of fratricidal bloodbath the GOP will have on its hands should it take the Senate tomorrow (or in December, or January). On one side will be McConnell and his "establishment" cronies like McCain, Cornyn, Corker and Alexander. On the other will be the right-wing nutjobs — Cruz, Lee, Johnson and the rest of the clown car. Who are they going to run against Mitch instead? Deb Fisher? (She'd be the radical choice: She's a baby teabag, a woman, and nobody knows her.)

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Let us simply say that, should things not go our way in the next 24 hours, we cats will console ourselves by saying, "Let the games begin."

After all, don't forget: This "Ted" Cruz stuff wouldn't even be happening if not for — you guessed it — John McCain. It was Sarah Palin who parachuted into Texas to boost Cruz in the 2012 Republican primary. By giving Palin a national profile — and canonization by the whackos — McCain has ironically ensured that the Senate in which he has served for 27 years will soon descend into chaos. We cats HISS, but we also PURR.

Note To GOP: Next Time, Try Living Up To Your Campaign Slogan

By Sniffles

National elections almost never turn on foreign policy, but the Republicans sure are embarrassing themselves on the topic these days.

That's right, we said the Republicans. We know it's fashionable to criticize President Obama's responses to the current mess that the world is in, but in our view, the Grand Old Party is the one that we should all be glad is not in power at the moment.

As on so many other fronts, questions of foreign policy find today's GOP completely, almost unprecedentedly split. They're either the party of war ("bomb 'em, strafe 'em, boots-on-the-ground 'em"), or the party of Rand Paul ("don't get involved anywhere, and while we're at it, cut aid to Israel to zero"). When we cats watch this intraparty kerfuffle — and consider the roster of Republican fools who imagine themselves Presidential timber in 2016 — we'll take a "deliberative" Commander in Chief any day.

The saber rattlers have been getting the most headlines lately — and it's not hard to see why, since they're raising the specter of "another 9/11" to justify their noise. But if God forbid there were another 9/11, one thing is for sure: The GOP would never rally around the President the way Democrats did around the Worst Person Who's Ever Lived in 2001. In their book, even if America were under attack, hating Obama would still trump all. We cats HISS.

Tidbits and Cat Treats: Mississippi Mad Edition

By Baxter

Wow, are those teabaggers steamed. You may already know that Thad Cochran managed to eke out a win over Chris "Mamacita" McDaniel in yesterday's Mississippi Republican Senate primary. That alone would be enough to set off the right-right wing — but the fact that Cochran apparently won by appealing to African-Americans for votes has the "bags" shaking with fury.

We cats, on the other hand, are considerably calmer, not to mention amused. Here are a few things about the Cochran-McDaniel race that have intrigued us:

Sean Hannity asked the Famous Quitter from Alaska last night if, in the wake of her candidate's razor-thin defeat, she would leave the GOP and start a third party. Palin was noncommittal, but ooooohhh! We cats love this. Please, please, please, Famous Quitter, kiss the Republican Party goodbye and take the Freepers with you.

The only reason we have Palin in our lives at all, of course, is because John McCain thought she was qualified to be a 71-year-old cancer survivor's heartbeat away from the Presidency. Since then, we've always noticed how silent Palin and McCain are about one another. Will McCain be asked about her third-party response to Hannity last night? Goodness knows the media scamper to him to comment on everything else.

Senate Conservatives Fund pooh-bah Ken "I'm a Fetus-Loving Loser" Cuccinelli hung up on POLITICO when asked about a legal challenge. Ahhh, Cootch — classy to the end.

Speaking of which, in true Cootchy fashion, McDaniel refuses to concede. Terry McAuliffe would probably advise Cochran not to sit by the phone, waiting for a gracious call.

Finally, it appears that the media haven't learned anything from this GOP kerfuffle. So far, all the coverage we've read has predicted a Cochran waltz to victory this fall. We cats are surely Democrats — we admit that; but we don't think anybody should rush to count Travis Childers out. From the anger we're seeing, the teabaggers will either stay home, start a third party or leave the Senate race blank. Which would make us PURR.

Good Swaps, Bad Swaps

Right smack in the middle of the right wing shooting itself in the foot over a prisoner exchange, an interesting 10th anniversary rolls around. Yes, folks, it was a mere decade ago today that we all had to wallow in grief for this cardboard cutout of a President. But at least it's an opportunity to remind everyone, mid-Bergdahl, that Ronald Reagan traded arms to Iran for hostages.

To Live And Die (Early) In Dixie

By Sniffles

We cats thought we'd take some time out from fundraising for the National Abortion Museum to check on the GOP's anti-Obamacare campaign.

Item 1: It looks like the President's nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services zoomed through her confirmation hearings today, having only to listen to a few anti-ACA sputterings. (John McCain compared Obamacare to the Titanic, but only if you think that enrolling 8 million Americans in health coverage is on par with 1,500 people dying in the icy North Atlantic a hundred years ago. Perhaps McCain was around then and remembers something we don't.)

Item 2: Yesterday, Republicans were disappointed when six health insurance executives, testifying before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, declined to support their Obamacare horror stories. Democratic Representative Jan Schakowsky rubbed it in, observing that although the execs "were not the biggest supporters of the law...they do not live in the Republican echo chamber." Way to go, Jan!

Item 3: Meanwhile, check out the stunning map above from the Commonwealth Fund's Scorecard on State Health Systems. See that wide, dark-blue swath in the South? Those are the states whose health systems rank in the bottom quartile of performance. Know how many of those bottom-quartile states' Governors have refused Medicaid expansion? All of them — except for Kentucky and Arkansas, which happen to have Democratic Governors.

That's right, folks: Nine of the states you see above in dark blue — Indiana, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas — have Republican Governors, all of whom have refused free Medicaid money from Washington.

We cats think this is a scandal — one far worse than the Republicans' manufactured outrages over Benghazi and the IRS. After all, people's lives are at stake. We urge these GOP Governors' constituents to march on their state capitals like the people of Missouri just did. That would make us PURR.