An Epidemic of Foot-Shooting

By Zamboni

We all know from high school lit classes that the definition of a Greek tragedy is when the hero of a drama brings ruin upon himself by his own actions, a character flaw or a moral weakness.

Gosh, have we seen a lot of that this week.

Wall Street invites outrage by giving its executives ridiculous bonuses. Go, Claire McCaskill!

Blackwater is banned from Iraq because, oops, its vigilante security forces needlessly killed 17 Iraqi citizens in 2007.

Israel sets itself up for a withering bitch-slapping by the Turkish prime minister at the economic summit in Davos.

Rush Limbaugh (pictured, looking fat) says he wants the President to fail.

We cats sense a pattern. Except, we quibble with the definition of a Greek tragedy in that it refers to a "hero." We see no "heroes" here.

Freeps: Judd Gregg = Benedict Arnold (and nothing's even happened yet!)

By Baxter

We love it when the folks over at Free Republic do our work for us. Almost as much as we love the tizzy that President Obama has thrown Senate Republicans into — by considering Judd Gregg of New Hampshire for Commerce Secretary.

You see, with Al Franken close to being seated from Minnesota, a new Senator from New Hampshire — appointed by a Democratic Governor to fill a Gregg vacancy — would bring Harry Reid's majority to 60. But even if the deal is never done, the fact that the President has sent Mitch McConnell and his GOP minions scrambling in utter panic is amusement enough for us.

Of course, the Freepers are mighty displeased about the Gregg possibility. That's fun, too. Here are some of the more classic comments.

"Now I now [sic] why Dudd [sic] Gregg voted for Secretary Tax Cheat. I used to like Judd Gregg."

"Taking the offer is political treason, given a Democrat will replace him."

"The only thing Gregg has going for him is he is less anti-gun than Obama. He is a memeber [sic] of the pro-abort [sic] 'Republicans for Choice.' RINO."

And then here's this fairly reasonable post by someone named "trumandogz." You can rest assured that the Freepers will ban him in a heartbeat.

"It is not all that unusual for a Senator to be appointed to a cabinet post and be replaced as Senator by a person of the other party. However, this case would have a strange dynamic in that the Senator being appointed is not of the same party as the President. Pure genius for Democrats. Not good for the Republicans."

Juste Pour Rire

Obsessed by Race, Out of the Race

By Sniffles

This is the only way tomorrow's RNC Chair election will generate any news: "Chipmunk Cheeks" Saltsman, the favored candidate of Mike Huckabee, has dropped out of the running.

It appears that distributing a holiday CD with a song called "Barack the Magic Negro" may not have done the trick. But "The Star-Spanglish Banner," also included on the CD, has.

We cats tried to listen to it and had to quit in the middle. Take it from us, it's revolting.

And so is Mr. Saltsman. Good riddance, you racist pig.

More Fallout from the Rush Limbaugh Kerfuffle

By Zamboni

Dick Armey has made an ass of himself. Of course, Dick Armey is perfectly capable of doing that without help from Rush Limbaugh. But here he is "discussing" the recent Phil Gingrey-Limbaugh dust-up on "Hardball" and, throwing an insult at Joan Walsh, sounding a lot like that Taliban guy in Fahrenheit 9/11.

The scariest thing about all this? As a GOP guest pundit, Armey — at least in comparison to nuts like Tom DeLay, Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly — has, in the past, been a voice of semi-reason. We realize that isn't saying much. But it's one more reminder of how far off the radar the "giants" of the Republican right wing really are.

Dick Armey, we cats dump our dirty litter box in your pants.

Why Do the Media Hate James Brady?

By Baxter

Brian Williams just killed James Brady.

"NBC Nightly News" just reported that James Brady of PARADE magazine has died. But the photo they flashed behind Brian Williams' shoulder was of James Brady, the former Reagan press secretary who was shot in the attempt on the President's life in 1981.

Brian has just corrected the mistake — but didn't mention the obvious: It's the second time the media have killed off James Brady. The gun control advocate, that is.

Gee, Jim, we cats wouldn't blame you if you're feeling a little paranoid. As for media irresponsibility and inaccuracy, we cats HISS.

Do you hear us? HISS!

Republicans Hate Planet Earth

By Sniffles

So.... The GOP prefers not to run to the aid of the ailing American people. The economic stimulus package was passed today with NO Republican support.

Reminds us of the economic package that Bill Clinton got passed with nary a GOP vote. It fixed the economy, as we recall. So today, if the Republicans would rather be on the wrong side of history, we cats say, let 'em.

Meanwhile, President Gore testified on the Hill today. (We cats love President Gore. Nobel Prize... *sigh.*) He said the quickest way to start arresting global warming would be to pass President Obama's stimulus package. So... the Republicans not only voted against the American people tonight — they voted against the planet.

Think about it.

Giving the GOP a Wedgie

By Zamboni

Are we reading too much into this, or did President Obama's comment about Rush Limbaugh do exactly what it was supposed to do?

Representative Phil Gingrey, Republican of Georgia, had to call the Fat One's radio show today and apologize. Why? Because he'd defended the Republican Congressional leadership against comments by the Fat One on Monday that they weren't standing up to Obama more. Well, the crazy nutbag Republican base swung into action — deluging Gingrey's office with outraged e-mails and phone calls. Heck, the lovable nuts over at Free Republic were even talking yesterday about fielding a primary opponent against Gingrey — who, ironically, is about as right-wing as they come.

This all started when the President told Congressional Republicans, "You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done."

Now, we cats aren't saying that President Obama precisely knew that all this would happen. But he had to know that his remark was going to stir a hornet's nest in the Republican base — which would help marginalize the party even further, even while he held olive branches out to GOP members of the House.

Long story short: Obama clearly has prospered over the years because people have underestimated him. Can't you just see hundreds of whiny jerks (like Representative Eric Cantor) at Harvard, thinking they'd roll right over this guy on their way to the presidency of the Law Review? Most of them probably still don't know what hit them. Well, Representative Cantor, Eyeliner Man, Rush, Freepers.... join the club!

P.S. While we're at it, we don't understand why the Republicans don't seem to recognize that we're in a recession. Want proof? Say goodbye to Saturday mail. Guess "neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail" can compete with the George W. Bush Economic Meltdown.

(Image: Senator Al Franken's [D-MN] super 1996 book)

What Were We Just Saying?

By Baxter

So the folks posting over at Free Republic are pretty upset about President Obama's interview with the Saudi-financed network Al-Arabiya.

Never mind that both George W. Bush and Condoleezza Rice have appeared on the network before. Now that Obama's done it, it's anathema. And they don't like the President's appeal to the vast majority of Muslims who think flying airplanes into buildings is wrong.

"Islam only respects brute force against them," states one. Says another, "This is disturbing to put it simply. I mean Jesus he is 10x worse than carter [sic] with his naivety [sic]. I dont [sic] want to put the muslims [sic] at ease i [sic] want them to fear what will happen if one more major American [sic] gets attacked." He beamed back in a few minutes later, not to correct his spelling and punctuation, but to add the word "city" after "American."

Freeps, we cats are beginning to think that President Obama is way more than three steps ahead of you. We think he's driving bin Laden and al-Zawahiri crazy. And, um, why wouldn't you want that?

Three Steps Ahead of Everybody

By Sniffles

The lesson so far: Never underestimate Barack Obama. One of the most satisfying aspects of the transition and our new President's first week in office is how he's continued to flummox his foes.

It's not just the folks over at Free Republic, where frustrated posters are reduced to sputtering about fairy tales like "the missing birth certificate." It's not just the GOP Congressional leaders who were smacked down at the White House the other day with "I won." It's not just the press, who unleashed their previously curbed aggressions on Robert Gibbs after the strain of covering four full days of national joy.

Now, it's al-Qaeda. The Washington Post reports that the lead guys in the world's most famous terrorist network kind of, um, don't know what to do about this man named Barack Hussein Obama.

In the words of a former CIA official: "They're highly uncertain about what they're getting in this new adversary. For al-Qaeda, as a matter of image and tone, George W. Bush had been a near-perfect foil."

We cats think this is delicious. Isn't it refreshing to be confusing the enemy instead of playing right into his hands?