Resurgent Republic will promote market-oriented policies, lower taxes and economic growth, and strong national security policies.

Wow! What a drastic change. How can they be stopped with such fresh, new ideas?

no silk purse to be made from that sow’s ear.

And in its infinite wisdom, the rethug party will have as its leader in the judiciary committee Jeff Sessions (Racist AL). The same guy, who in his diligent confirmation of Alberto Gonzalez, read him his resume in the confirmation hearing.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo…..hp?ref=fp1

Yeah, they should really mix things up. Add a pro-torture leg to the platform, and an anti-Mexican leg.

Oh let this be a loooooooooooong illness.

We only have to worry when they hypocritically adopt a popular Democratic platform.

The bovine sideshow is a nice distraction, but while everyone is being entertained by the costumed swine, the banksters are taking over the Democratic Party (see Jane downstairs).

1. Still trying to create their own reality, I see.

2. The clips I’ve seen on TV are reeeeaaallly lame.

3. Is Whit Ayres related to Bill Ayres? Or is he Half-Whit Ayers?

So Mark Penn’s staff [Perino] is now working against the Democrats?

There’s a surprise.

So since the Full Rushbo obviously didn’t work, Republicans are panicking, and they’re polishing the turd retooling their message.

not only didn’t a rushbo work, it’s the reason they lost most of their power, rush will cost them all their votes

This just in… lipstick is a potent vector of pig flu…and JEB! is still a fascist who is going unpunished for looting the Florida retirement system for his investment banking buddies.

yeah Jeb is mired in the muck too. Bushes begone!

What a charming picture BT

the republizards can blame two people for the majority of their losses

those are rushbo and rovebo

twins they seem too

As John Cole recently mentioned, the only two answers to ANYTHING in the world that is an issue according to Republicans are:

A) Lower taxes!

B) Commence bombing!

The KKK wing of the rethug party is also rebranding. Tehehehe
http://www.scholarsandrogues.c…..g-pitches/

It’s only the first that distinguishes the Rs from the Ds. The Ds want to bomb for all the same reasons as the Rs, but the Ds also want to bomb for humanitarian reasons.

I can see the resemblance, and it’s more than just the shade of their shared lipstick.

and they’re off to a roaring start …

In response to announced WH campaign to go after tax havens -

Before the announcement, a Republican leadership staffer circulated an email citing a Bloomberg report saying the proposal “would be the biggest tax increase on U.S. corporations since 1986.”

1. good luck trying to gain sympathy for tax evasion from struggling american families

oh, and

2. did they forget who was President in 1986 ???

It’s really a sickness, isn’t it?

yes it is. Egosyntonic patients are quite comfortable with themselves and never complain about their symptoms.

The problem as the GOP perceives it is not that they are unlikeable and wrong, but that others do not know how to like them. This is so puzzling for them. Many committees are needed to figure out how to manipulate folks into liking them again. In contrast to how to become more likable.

that dog pig don’t hunt grunt.

Add a pro-torture leg to the platform, and an anti-Mexican leg.

They could just consolidate those into a pro-torturing-Mexicans platform plank, and be done with it. /s

woo-hoo !

“Egosyntonic”

two new words in one morning, both applicable to Republics. what was that ? the other new word cbl ?

kleptoparasitic

Got Lipstick??
A Pig is a Pig no matter!
A Pig by any other name is still a PIG!!

Gotta go to one of those casual, my-entire-professional-future-depends-on-how-this-goes meetings. See all later.

and speaking of parasitic -

Ed Gillespie, the former GOP chairman and counselor to President George W. Bush, and top pollster Whit Ayres on Tuesday are launching Resurgent Republic,

the little hairs on the back of my neck stand on end whenever I read of such, um, endeavors –

are these boys hoping to harvest some right wing cash a la Newt & Armey ?

when it comes to branding, i agree, no one beats team obama.

chris hedges yesterday: Buying Brand Obama

Barack Obama is a brand. And the Obama brand is designed to make us feel good about our government while corporate overlords loot the Treasury, our elected officials continue to have their palms greased by armies of corporate lobbyists, our corporate media diverts us with gossip and trivia and our imperial wars expand in the Middle East. Brand Obama is about being happy consumers. We are entertained. We feel hopeful. We like our president. We believe he is like us. But like all branded products spun out from the manipulative world of corporate advertising, we are being duped into doing and supporting a lot of things that are not in our interest.

3. Is Whit Ayres related to Bill Ayres? Or is he Half-Whit Ayers?

No, just part of the Ayersian Nation I think…

scary people. glad they have no political power. may it always be so.

Resurgent Republic will promote market-oriented policies, lower taxes and economic growth, and strong national security policies.

Hahahaha!

They’ll enforce “market-oriented policies” to lower taxes for the rich and cause negative economic growth, and reimplement criminal national security torture procedures.

Asshats.

The Ds want to bomb for all the same reasons as the Rs, but the Ds also want to bomb for humanitarian reasons.

I fully support the use of the military for humanitarian purposes. The new classes of precision guided EO, such as IFYP bombs, have gone a long way toward reducing civilian casualties and making those who are better appreciate the experience.

(Note: EO empathy ordnance; IFYP I feel your pain)

Ya know, this is all well and good, but they still have such built-in advantages, namely BigMoney backing and BigMedia cheerleading, that I would not count them out. Not even close.

They know if they just regroup, they can be patient for a major slip-up (The Big Lewinsky, for instance), or a major disaster they can spin in their favor, and they’ll pounce.

Their ideology must be buried for good, and that’s why I think Obama’s emphasis on organizing is so key. As long as more of the public begins paying attention and getting active, they won’t be so easily fooled this time around. Hence, Obama’s rise in approval rating SINCE the Fox Newz Circle Bag a couple of weeks ago.

But, it’s all still quite precarious so each of us must remain engaged.

Oh, Crikey…that’s funny but deeply disturbing.

Good thing you included your note. While reading your comment, I thought you had morphed into some evil-twin Hugh.

yes, and the NBC WH dog just quoted folks in DC as increasingly thinking OB is “anti-bidness” cause he wants to tax offshore shelters.
that will surely have legs with most folks and makes you wonder if NBC WH correspondents get their orders from Drudge.

Any transition serious enough to alter your definition of self will require not just small adjustments in your way of living and thinking but a full-on metamorphosis.
Martha Beck, O Magazine, Growing Wings, January 2004

Obama is well on his way to establishing a monopoly with big bidness money by being in the corp profit. He already has the monopoly in the financial industry, I’d guess. And it won’t be long before media starts salivating at his feet, given his popularity. Read selise’s Hedges link at 25.

They’re insane.

I don’t mean that as snark at all, for it was Albert Einstein who, many years ago and unbeknownst to him, would describe the current Republican Party’s behaviour oh-so-succinctly:

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.

lol. And I quote “if I’m so smart, how come I’m not rich?”

So, is that just two new Republican “think-tanks” that will be doing the rebranding, yet more are expected to join the fray? We may need a spreadsheet to organize all the data that should come from these geniuses?!

Or maybe not…a scratch pad will probably suffice.

How about the Palin-esque imagery of the populist Know-nothings crowding into a strip mall pizza joint!! Too perfect!! Maybe next they’ll have mud-wrestling between the Jeb/Mitt/John and the Dana/Ed/Tony teams…

Yes but no. Perhaps we/they are being subjected to random reinforcement. That is, if the rat gets the cheese when he hits the bar three times, or two times, or five times, he’ll keep hitting that bar, hoping to score the cheese.

The Republican Party is the political equivalent of Moose Murders.

Now is the time for Election Reform, as that will permanently knock the Rethugs out of the race. HAVA (Hinder American Vote Act) should be dismantled, and Diebold, et.al. should all be prohibited from producing any voting products more sophisticated than paper and pencils…bet they’ll bail on that business but quick.

LOL!

Resurgent Republic’s Advisory Board includes Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, George Allen, Bill Paxon, Vin Weber and Mary Matalin.

I had Resurge once…throwing up once in my mouth was bad enough, the second time I gave up shots of Whisky. Might I suggest that Republicans give up following these drunks if they don’t want resurge.

OK. I just finished reading The CIA and the Culture of Failure. It’s good, appropriately putting the failures in context so they are understandable.

Anybody want to suggest a must-read for my next book?

Ed Gillespie, the former GOP chairman and counselor to President George W. Bush, and top pollster Whit Ayres on Tuesday are launching Resurgent

“Launching Resurgent” – I kind of like it as a slogan!

this reminds me of a great line from a very bad movie: Crazy People:

We’re unfamiliar with the whole honesty thing, we’d like to get you on it right away !

any particular topic(s)?

Anybody want to suggest a must-read for my next book?

Do you do fiction?

Plainclothes Naked (2002) by Jerry Stahl. Immensely likable, deeply twisted characters, and a plot that just keeps getting funnier and funnier.

Don’t hold back, Cbl.

Mary Mataharilin…the one person nobody mentions about the Iraq phony group. Is Mrs. Carville immune from accountability for her role in pushing us into that war and into advancing the case for torture?

Obama didn’t create this cesspool. In a few months, he’s done more to correct things than anyone in my lifetime. As his ratings continue to rise, even in the face of the BigMedia doing every they can to stop it (tea, anyone?), he’s now signaling he’s ready to start in on the deep shit. Today, despite loud opposition from BigMoney and Repubs, which according to many here and Hedges Obama is serving, he’s going after tax haven loopholes. Last week it was credit card abuses. He just told Repubs to get on board for health care reform or he’s just going to bypass them.

This only happens because of the strategy he’s taken from the get-go. It’s pure fantasy to think this outsider Obama could come in and wave his magic wand and make systemic changes to the corrupt system in a couple of months.

I think his intentions are good (I’ve spent/wasted countless hours here providing evidence for this claim), and you and others here don’t. Time will tell for certain.

He’s playing with the hand he was dealt.

I have a pile of 20 books on my “next” list that I have either started (e.g., Puzzle Palace) but never finished or want to read again (e.g., Galbriath’s The Great Crash). So my choices are overwhelming, and I’m looking for some deus ex machina to decide for me. Topics range all over the place.

Could be…or in Pavlov-speak, the Republidogs salivate every time they hear the “lower taxes and small government” bell. They just can’t help themselves.

I’m kind of a fiction moron. I know there’s a lot more going on than I can see, and that is intensely frustrating. Should have mentioned that in asking for recommendations, but thanks.

Is Mrs. Carville immune from accountability for her role in pushing us into that war and into advancing the case for torture?

Might as well be. You’d never get a jury capable of trying her. One look at that face, and every potential juror would have settled on a “Guilty” verdict.

He wasn’t dealt Summers and Geithner, he chose them. We’ll see how the eliminating loopholes turns out. It’s much too soon to put that in the plus column. Credit card reform is out, and health care reform a la Obama will exclude the only possibility that had worked elsewhere. Color me unconvinced.

‘zup hot stuff ?

i found an interesting site just now: http://www.downingstreetmemo.com. They cite Ms MM here:

White House Iraq Group formed to “market” the war

‘Educating the Public’

Systematic coordination began in August, when Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. formed the White House Iraq Group, or WHIG, to set strategy for each stage of the confrontation with Baghdad. A senior official who participated in its work called it “an internal working group, like many formed for priority issues, to make sure each part of the White House was fulfilling its responsibilities.”

In an interview with the New York Times published Sept. 6, Card did not mention the WHIG but hinted at its mission. “From a marketing point of view, you don’t introduce new products in August,” he said.

The group met weekly in the Situation Room. Among the regular participants were Karl Rove, the president’s senior political adviser; communications strategists Karen Hughes, Mary Matalin and James R. Wilkinson; legislative liaison Nicholas E. Calio; and policy advisers led by Rice and her deputy, Stephen J. Hadley, along with I. Lewis Libby, Cheney’s chief of staff.
Washington Post, published 08-10-2003

It’s got timelines and stuff. I’ve got to tell my wingnut about it.

David Neiwert has a new one out-

The Eliminationists

he’ll be here for Book Salon sometime soon – 5/16 or 5/17 ?

It’s fun to ridicule these people, but as an old guy, I remember when these kinds of stupid events were staged by a broken and dispirited Dem Party (see 1973, 1981, 1985, 1989, 2001). Let’s not underestimate their ability to bounce back.

thinking…. but probably won’t come up with anything better than what’s already on your pile

Hey eCahn. I chalk you, Selise & Hugh as probably the toughest customers Obama has here at FDL. Thanks for keeping it real cuz I’m a sucker for the Hope Thing.

It’s really a sickness, isn’t it?

let’s let Big Ed answer that, shall we ?

“The most important thing we have going for us is that our center-right philosophy is in sync with where most Americans tend to be also.”

Thanks. That looks interesting.

I could toss then into a pile in the middle of the floor, put on a blindfold & pick one.

i just had a couple of nice people ring my door bell to talk to me about faith and hope. (seriously)

hahahahaha! Classic illustration of egosyntonicity! rofl!

Which particular faith, and was it Obama’s brand of hope?

Oh!

Were you nice or did you quote Jack N;

sell crazy someplace else, we’re all stocked up here…

Froomkin’s on the job on accountability for torture.

Recommend you read.

ecahn – they read a couple of bits from the bible to me – probably lds?
dosido – i was nice. if i’m going to mean, i invite them in and read the bible back at them.

That’s a great ploy. I’ll bet you have some good passages earmarked.

Summers makes my skin crawl, yet I understand the pick. IMO, many of these odious appointments were part of the transition from the completed f-ed up direction things were moving, to a more fair and just system, which I believe Obama wants.

Yes, I still have some reservations about how far Obama will go with this stuff, but in a few months he’s done bigger and braver reform than Clinton did in 8 years, so I’m hopeful. Also, his emphasis on organizing and engaging the public, even after being in office, is so far off the charts from Clinton that I think Obama really does care more about people like his mother-in-law and those he worked with for so many years in Chicago, than for BigMoney Robber Barons.

Well, maybe she has a point…being married to either Carville or Matalin would make facing a “muzzled dog” or standing naked in a cold cell seem easy.
Let’s talk about REAL TORCHA!

has anybody told them that they’re all white ???

a group that is supposed to develop new ideas, and it reinforces the source of the problem

a bunch a white guys and some steppford wives are gonna come up with new ideas to appeal to American voters ???

I can’t wait to see what they come up with

maybe they’ll decide the repuglitards need to move to a different planet

it’s not just possible

with this bunch of kooks, it’s an even-money bet

I don’t get it. Considering the last 30 years there are some things missing.

Where’s dealing with terrorist countries, selling gov’t hardware and pocketing the profit, giving guns to insurgents where it’s illegal, blowing up S&Ls and the stock market, lying us into wars, overthrowing dictators we installed and supported, no-bid contracts to friends who then kick back money into Repub campaigns, revealing CIA agents and all the rest of the garbage?

Apparently they’re paring back their positions to the ones they can talk about on the stump.

I hope Pres. Obama is making some speeches to town halls about the credit card reform and health care reform and banking reform. If the Republicans give him much grief and prevent important reform then at least he can beat them over the head with it.

The worst possibility is that stupid Dems write reform legislation, but do it wrong.

I’d advise writing the legislation, taking a bit of a break to step back and get some reviews on their art from outsiders and then go back and toss the really stupid parts.

For health care reform we need a clean simple plan with an understandable set of reforms that will obviously bring costs down and improve care for EVERYBODY.