So, was it? One thing is certain; Jared Lee Laughner has a few screws loose. Perhaps the sort of thing like the assassination attempt (and murder of a number of other people) on Arizona Congesswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D) is an...
According to a new 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll released Monday, 61 percent of Americans want to increase taxes on the wealthy to balance the budget. The next highest percentage - 20 percent - want to cut defense spending to get...
Jon Stewart and the Daily Show have always been great at exposing Republican hypocrisy (and Democratic - there's just a lot more Republican hypocrisy). With his show on the Republican opposition to funding healthcare for first responders, he apparently had...
In this Rolling Stone interview with Merle Haggard, he talks about receiving Kennedy Center Honors and meeting President Obama: It was also nice to meet Obama and find him very different from the media makeout. It's really almost criminal what...
As polling has continued to suggest over the years, most Americans still don't accept the scientific theory of evolution. Despite the fact that there is more evidence supporting the theory of evolution than, say, the theory of gravity. According to...
A New York Times article paints a picture of an expanding Drug Enforcement Agency that's increasingly in ethically questionable situations abroad: Like many of the cables made public in recent weeks, those describing the drug war do not offer large...
I don't really have anything to add. As in, "There are no words..." From the Arizona Republic: A group of artists has been asked to lighten the faces of children depicted in a giant public mural at a Prescott school....
If you haven't heard, conservatives are mad at a Beatle again. Decades after John Lennon caused a stir over his quip that The Beatles were "bigger than Jesus," culture warriors are mad at a Fab again. This time though...
President Obama stops a speech at a fundraiser for Barbara Boxer to address a heckler. It's funny and he's right, people need to get their expectations in check and FOCUS on those who oppose repeal, not those who support it....
I would watch this every day if it were on American TV. This is a perfect way to get the news. Clarke and Dawe: Lending merry-go-round...
We're an impatient nation. We want what we want when we want it. When someone promises us something we not only expect delivery, we expect immediate delivery and immediate, positive results. It's often childish and unrealistic, but it is...
Somebody from the Bush camp should put a cork in Rick Perry's mouth. The current Texas Governor (and rumored GOP presidential contender) tries to go to bat for his pal and Gubernatorial soul brother George W. Bush and instead asks...
Wow, it's a wild time in American politics. What with health care reform on the brink of disaster only to be saved at the last minute by some negotiations and cajoling (this is when having "Chicago machine pols" in the...
FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 165 Remember these names come primary season, and vote them out: • John Adler (NJ) • Jason Altmire (PA) • Michael Arcuri (NY) • John Barrow (GA) • Marion Berry (AR) • Dan Boren...
It's been a tough week, that's for sure, but not the disaster to Democrats and liberals some (including many Democrats and liberals) would have you believe. So now it's a test of your mettle. Are you up to the fight?...
So, I was just finishing my lunch while watching CNN and they played a clip of Former New York Mayor and Republican Presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani. Apparently, while being interviewed on Good Morning America, he criticized President Obama's approach to...
Democratic Rep. Parker Griffith announced Tuesday that he's switching parties from D to R and cited his belief that Democratic policies were sending us down the road to debt-laden ruin. He's a freshman congressman so it's not the earth-shattering shift...
In case you missed it, here's a clip of a bunch of teabaggers at a townhall meeting here in Illinois the other day. They stopped screaming, "USA, USA, USA," long enough to allow a woman to begin to tell a...
"It's hard to be more conservative than I am on issues -- though there are different ways stylistically to communicate that -- I'm pro-life, I'm pro-gun, I'm pro-family, and I''m anti tax." ... "I don't know what else you're supposed...
Two things of particular interest in this interactive presidential approval tracker: 1) The two Bush's have eerily similar approval trends that both peak at tragic times (in the days following the launch of Desert Storm for 41 and the days...
I think it's obvious that I am not a conservative, but I do certainly value a reasoned and rational conservative argument if for no other reason than to keep challenging my own thought process. I also absolutely believe in...
In an update to a previous story, the owner of GlennBeckRapedAndMurderedAYoungGirlIn1990.com has won a lawsuit filed by Beck in--get this--international court. The site's owner, Isaac Eiland-Hall, a 34-year-old computer-science student in Panama City, Florida, was surprised that he was being...
For decades, since Richard Nixon declared war on reporters, we've been hearing from the right that liberal bias in the media was not only a dishonest ruse pulled over on the American public but an irresponsible dereliction of duty. "How...
The tone of national politics of late has even me a bit weary and looking for breaks, but I am antsy to get a hold of Obama campaign manager David Plouffe's new book, The Audacity to Win. The strategizing and...
Russell 317, the office from which Senator Ted Kennedy worked as the Gentleman from Massachusetts worked for so many years, will close up this weekend to prepare for its new tenant. Democrat Paul Kirk will take over the office...
Conservative icon Pat Buchanan, writing in the World Nut Daily, has seen fit to introduce his readers to a new group of conservative activists called the Oath Keepers. Think of them as Teabaggers on crack. According to Buchanan's article, the...
Andrew Sullivan provides some much needed context around President Obama's Nobel Peace prize award this morning: Reading through all the reactions, compiled by Chris and Patrick, there are two obvious points: this is premature and this is thoroughly deserved. Both...
A new law in Oklahoma will post detailed information about women's abortion procedures online. How does something like this make it through the legislature and get signed by the governor? This is private patient information, isn't it? From Think Progress:...
From the AP, via Huffington Post: Marijuana advocates are gathering signatures to get as many as three pot-legalization measures on the ballot in 2010 in California, setting up what could be a groundbreaking clash with the federal government over U.S....
Helllooo, Police State! This is one of the most disturbing videos I've seen in a while. Some amateur cameramen capture a roll out of riot police in Pittsburgh when the G20 was meeting. It's got copters in the background, fun...
The Republican mantra on almost any issue - except war, the erosion of our civil liberties, and gay people getting married - is that Americans want less government in their lives. Polling data, however, typically show the opposite. Take health...
Illuminating piece by Juan Cole in Salon, in which he debunks the "top 10" myths about Iran. This one is my favorite, debunking the right's notion that Iran is "a growing threat to world peace": Iran's military budget is a...
I don't know if any of you are following the bizarre story of the town in Montana who built a prison, couldn't find any prisoners for it, tried to get the GITMO detainees, and sold off the management rights...
Tom Harkin (D-IA) is the new chairman of the Senate Health Committee, and he's preparing a bill that will have to be reconciled with the Baucus Finance bill, which does not have the public option. Harkin: We will have a...
Retired Brig. Gen. James Cullen, a former chief judge of the Army's Court of Criminal Appeals: It's up to all of us to say these arguments advanced by Cheney and his acolytes are nonsense and that really what they're doing...
Right now, there's apparently a poll floating around Facebook that asks "Should Obama be killed?" Potential responses include Yes, Maybe, No, and my favorite, "If he cuts my healthcare." I can only imagine the high quality American citizen who posted...
The feel good story of the week: In August, UBS AG agreed to disclose the names of 4,450 American holders of secret accounts at the bank, ending a related lawsuit that has begun to show cracks in Switzerland's prized banking...
I am confused by a recent post by John Batchelor on The Daily Beast. Batchelor derides White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel for describing the President's very vocal detractors as descendants of Father Coughlin, John Birch Society members, and...
We wouldn't normally re-post something verbatim from another site but I simply have to share this sane, reasonable conservative argument posted on Andrew Sullivan's blog: "We are not moving from pure capitalism to pure socialism, we are moving from an...
Politics and money are both dirty business and when you look to high finance and high office, it gets mighty messy mighty quick. Enter: Hassan Nemazee, one of the biggest Democratic fundraisers in modern times. You may not know his...
That, and other sentiments were on proud display at last Saturday's teabagger protest in Washington, DC. Watch as 1.7 million (???) of the modern conservative movement's most fervent explain what, exactly, it is that they are so upset about. (Or,...
One of Andrew Sullivan's readers ponders an interesting point I've been struggling with: There's another point that ought to be made about this craziness. There have always been a lot of people with crazy political opinions in our country. It's...
In a horrific display of civility in the healthcare debate, Senatorial newbie Al Franken holds court with some constituents (including an obvious tea-bagger). The clip is a bit long, but hey, it's like a big issue or something... (via Wonkette)...
There was an interesting exchange at a townhall meeting featuring Texas Republican Congressman Pete Olson the other day. As the discussion turned toward healthcare, Olson told the story of the mother of an infant who needed a heart transplant, but...
We live in a digital age. Our lives are maintained and managed via digital tools like our laptops, music devices and cell phones. The details of our lives are stored there in explicit and implicit ways; whether we're talking about...
Arizona Senator and 2008 Republican Presidential hopeful John McCain, while speaking to a crowd of apparently "conservative" constituents at a town hall meeting in Sun City, elicited a chorus of boos for suggesting that President Obama actually respects the Constitution...
CNN's Rick Sanchez is reporting right now that multiple people outside a "townhall" event in Phoenix, where President Obama is speaking about healthcare, are openly carrying loaded weapons. At least one weapon is reported to be an AR-15 assault rifle....
While Rachel Maddow is not my favorite politainment show host, her exchange with Chris Hayes of The Nation is illuminating in how Republicans now use Brownshirt tactics in shutting down the democratic process: Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News,...
August 4, 1961. That was the date that Barack Obama came into this world. In the American state of Hawai'i. "I ... have seen the original vital records maintained on file by the Hawaii State Department of Health verifying Barack...
As my Democratic friends and I have basked in the glow of Obama's presidency these last six months I have tried to temper the euphoria with some cold water reality to ensure we don't suffer the same fate as our...
Have the nutcase roosters finally come to roost for the GOP? Lee Atwater, the elder Bush's Karl Rove, baited these loonies but never got in bed with them. He knew that it was playing with fire and that ultimately, you...
Those of us who have been paying attention have noticed an uptick this year in violent actions by lunatic-fringe Right-Wing radicals. So, I suppose it was only a matter of time until the endorsement of violence as a means to...
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin shared some thoughts on her resignation with her friends on Facebook. As we've come to expect from her, her comments border on the nonsensical. "The response in the main stream media has been most predictable, ironic,...
I have one very minor point to make: Obama said that America was founded by a small band of patriots. I would argue that everybody who signed the Declaration of Independence effectively committed treason against their king and their country....
Caribou Barbie (a.k.a. Sarah Palin) announced today that she will be stepping down from the governorship of Alaska also. CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked her if she still had any aspirations for 2010 or 2012. "No decision that I'd want to...
Fox News's Glenn Beck had former CIA analyst Michael Scheuer (who at one time worked on the hunt for Osama Bin Laden) on his show on Tuesday to share his thoughts on just what it would take to prompt the...
Matt Taibbi, GLONO's Upright Standing Man of 2008, nails it in a piece for Alternet: Imagine a meat company that bred ten billion rats, fattened them on trash and sewage, ground their bodies into chuck, and then sold it all...
The always entertaining Republican Representative from Minnesota, Michelle Bachmann, has apparently refused to fill out the questionnaire that she received from the Census Bureau because she doesn't feel that the government should know anything about its citizens. Never mind that...
Proving once again that Fox News is not a legitimate news source, or that the family-values Republicans wouldn't know hypocrisy if it kicked them in the balls, or that what now passes for a conservative movement in America doesn't have...
We at POLJUNK have our hands full what with all the right-wing violence erupting around the nation and the release of Neil Young's Archives Vol.1. It aint' easy keeping up with international affairs too. But we try and here's how...
Perfect timing. Right on the heels of my gentle reminder that threats from the anti-American Right-Wing lunatic fringe must be heeded, despite the recent conservative leadership's denial that such threats even exist, we have an attack by gun-toting white supremacist...
(h/t Huffington Post) The Secret Service has arrested one Daniel James Murray near Laughlin, Nevada. Authorities have been on the lookout for Murray after he cleaned out his bank account (small bills only) and, while prattling on to the bank...
NBC's Tom Brokaw conducted a brief interview with President Obama today as Obama and Elie Wiesel toured the grounds of the NAZI concentration camp at Buchenwald. Brokaw asked Obama if Iranian President Ahmadinejad might learn anything from the fact that...
Headline on Yahoo News this evening: GOP senators tone down racially charged criticism of Sotomayor That the AP is even reporting on the racial overtones of the GOP's criticisms and attacks means the story is THEM, not HER. #GOPfail...
I love today's Obama/Cheney head-to-head on torture for a variety of reasons, but mostly for these two: As a patriot I love that we actually have these kinds of public, open debates about matters that speak to the very...
Texas's Republican Governor Rick Perry has repeatedly raised the idea of Texas seceding from the United States because, apparently, he and his Texas Republican brethren don't like it when Washington, D.C. tells them what to do. (No word, of course,...
The Republicans have created a new ad attacking President Obama for his spending practices. They attack the stimulus bill and the recent infamous and expensive (over $300,000!) debacle that was the photo shoot of one of the presidential 747's (I...
In keeping with a popular theme among Republicans these days that suggests that the path out of the wilderness and into the hearts of American voters is to take the Republican Party even further to the right, because it simply...
On Saturday, the Sam Stein filed a report at The Huffington Post describing Meghan McCain's (that would be Arizona Senator and 2008 Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain's daughter) thoughts on the current state of the Republican Party. Speaking to an...
Texas Governor Rick Perry, a Republican (of course), caused a stir recently when he suggested that the federal government of the United States has gotten too big and too intrusive in the daily lives of Average Americans. In fact, if...
Desperate to prove that President Obama might be some combination of liberal, weak, politically correct, a terrorist appeaser, or perhaps even French (or at the very least an internationalist), a host of Right-wing political pundits (a.k.a. clowns) gleefully weighed in...
Glenn Beck (Asshole – Faux News) accused President Obama of deliberately disenfranchising "us" (no word on who the "us" is), and by disenfranchisement apparently Beck assumes that the American citizenry is vehemently opposed to everything from Social Security to recent...
As someone from a family with it's fair share of political discourse, I took this Salon essay by Julie Limbaugh (cousin to Rush) to heart. She struggles her whole life with the fact that she is related to someone at...
Andrew Breitbart made his name as an "editor" for the Drudge Report, arguably one of the most influential and widely read blogs out there. It's penchant for overblown headlines and rumor mongering is part of what makes it so fun...
I have friends who simply don't see that much "change" coming from the Obama administration. They point to the President's recent decisions regarding Afghanistan or those relating to transparency in government as just "more of the same." While I'm...
Perhaps this was inevitable, but you can sleep easier tonight knowing that America's 44th President has been enshrined in the form of a limited-edition Chia-Pet. In fact, the manufacturer is offering two ChiObamas - Determined Obama and Happy Obama. Freedom...
The President marred an otherwise pretty interesting appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno when he fumbled an attempt at self-deprecating humor by comparing his miserable bowling skills to being on par with what you'd find in the Special...
Ramesh Ponnuru tries valiantly to make the case in an op-ed "Why Rush Limbaugh is Good for the Republicans" and basically comes to the conclusion that it's better to feed the monster than to destroy it. (Emphasis added--ed.) Talk radio...
That's right, fellas. She's single....
Want to know why Democrats picked a fight with Rush Limbaugh? Just look at the polling: A new Democratic poll suggests that conservative talk radio show host Rush Limbaugh is an anchor around the ankles of the national Republican Party,...
Earmarks, as a practice, are not evil. They allow members of congress to direct federal funds to where they think those funds can have the best outcome. On its face, that's what they SHOULD be doing. But that's not how...
It's become a bit of an online parlor game to predict when RNC chairman Michael Steele will step down to "pursue other interests" or "spend time with family" or "return to the private sector" or whatever excuse he'll give for...
Brilliant analysis, as usual, on the Limbaugh dust-up from FiveThirtyEight. Money quotes: Don't kid yourself. While L'Affaire Limbaugh is incredibly entertaining political theater – among others, it dominated Matthews, Cooper, Olbermann, Maddow and Jon Stewart last night – the tactic...
More of my current obsession...The White House takes the right tack on this whole GOP-Limbaugh dustup, which is to keep it in the news. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs is now calling Rush Limbaugh out by name from the...
(via ThinkProgress) Former Resident George W. Bush's Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, addressed a crowd of Republican radicals at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). While criticizing President Obama's foreign policy positions, particularly Obama's positions regarding Iran (Iran,...
Nice shout out to Senator Claire McCaskill's Twitter habits from Rolling Stone. Her Twitter feed is actually really interesting and insightful...and surprisingly candid. Pres just hailed the Recov Act. Sen Spector was a lonely Republican when he stood to applaud.6:25...
On Thursday Cliff Kincaid, who heads a "conservative" watchdog group called Accuracy in Media, addressed a crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Moments before introducing the next speaker, Representative Mike Pence (R-IN), Kincaid told the crowd, "Back during the...
Follow our live Twitter feed of the President's address tonight. Catch all our witty comments and earth shattering insights as they happen. Follow POLJUNK on Twitter now....
What do YOU see in this cartoon? Via Yahoo News...
According to a survey conducted by C-SPAN of historians and presidential experts, George W. Bush overall ranks 36th out of the 42 presidents: Bush scored lowest in international relations, where he was ranked 41st, and in economic management, where he...
Just a week after after he was freed from a 99-day jail sentence for perjury, former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick seems to have landed a sweet job. Details are sketchy still but the Detroit Free Press is reporting that Kilpatrick...
I once had a partner agency tell my Account Director, "This what happens when agencies try to integrate....someone gets screwed." Judd Gregg just screwed President Obama. There was a lot of clapping and cheering when Barack Obama announced he'd nominate...
Here's exactly why I didn't give a shit about Rick Warren speaking at the inauguration: Obama appoints gay man to faith-based initiatives office Yes, symbols are important and I understand why so many Obama supporters were upset to see a...
(via Salon.com) President Barack Obama announced Wednesday that in the future firms that take federal aid to stay in business will need to cap executive salaries at $500,000. Of course, this has CEO's across the country and especially on Wall...
Chicago Tribune: Senate removes Blagojevich from office 4:53 p.m. Senate vote now official The Illinois Senate has voted 59-0 to remove Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich from office....
President Barack Obama gets a lot of props from new media types for his campaign's use of social networking and other online tools for message desimination and organizing. What Howard Dean launched in his White House bid a few years...
Michael Wolff, writing at Off The Grid has a theory that Rush Limbaugh's recent attacks on President Obama might be the product of a little jealousy. "Right now Rush is being played. The Obama dinner with conservative columnists, shortly before...
The St. Petersburg Times has an interesting page up called PolitiFact.com which tracks such things as promises made/kept, flips/flops, truths/half-truths/lies, etc. It features an Obameter that tallies Obama's progress on his campaign promises. According to the Obameter, Obama made 510...
This is rich. Reality-challenged drug addict Rush Limbaugh told FOX News tool Sean Hannity that he doesn't trust President Obama and he believes that many Americans have adopted a cultish mentality. "I'm suspicious... when I see the entire media and...
