a round up, just for laughs

There has been a slew of posts on the internet machine the past week that made me giggle. I think you'll agree.

1. IMAO made an observation about the new Democrat logo:

"The Democrats unveiled their fancy new logo today:"
"Didn’t take long for me to figure out what it looked like:"





It didn't take long for the creative juices to start flowing.




Check out the rest of the stickers here.

2. That's gotta hurt:

Is Sarah Palin the next Barack Obama?

For someone who tries to follow and make sense of American political trends, the now-probable run by Palin provokes some questions: Have we seen this movie before? Will the upcoming presidential campaign look strangely like the last one? Not to be impertinent or impolitic, could Sarah Palin be the next Barack Obama?

Both figures emerged quickly on the national scene and used their considerable charisma to become media-magnified political celebrities.

Both were tapped to deliver major speeches at national party conventions — Obama's keynote address to Democrats in 2004 and Palin's acceptance of the GOP's vice-presidential nomination in 2008 — and in each case Americans at large took notice of their rhetorical abilities and other qualities.

Both followed up their initial national exposure with well-publicized books to tell the public more about their lives and views. Obama's "The Audacity of Hope" came out in 2006, and Palin's "Going Rogue" was published last year.

Both became nationally recognized as Washington outsiders with limited governmental experience. Obama was an Illinois state senator when he gave his 2004 convention speech, and he was elected to the U.S. Senate later that year. Palin had served less than two years as Alaska's governor before running with John McCain in 2008. Prior to that she'd been mayor of Wasilla for six years.

Finally, in creating their identities within their respective parties, both have positioned themselves in opposition to the existing establishments. Obama had to take on Clinton loyalists among the Democrats to prevail against Hillary Clinton in 2008, while today, Palin is, in part, propelled by the Tea Party movement rather than rank-and-file Republicans.

This is enough to send those suffering from PDS completely over the edge....

3. You know how everyone in the media likes to point fingers at those *nasty teabaggers with their Hilter posters*? Makes you wonder where the media is on this story:



Oh, that's right. They are Democrats, so it's ok.

Rep. Debbie Halvorson‘s office organizes a protest on September 15, outside an American for Prosperity Event, featuring images of her opponent Adam Kinzinger and other prominent conservative figures including Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin as Nazis

4. Bill Maher goes off on a racist rant:

BILL MAHER, HOST: Isn't Obama's big problem is that he does everything half-assed? Maybe it's because he's only half white. You know? It's that, if he was a, if this, if he was fully white, I'm telling you, he would be a better president. There's a black man in him holding him back because everything is half-assed. The stimulus was half-assed, healthcare is half-assed, let's talk about Afghanistan.

Oh, wait. I might have gotten that wrong.



Since we're talking about Maher, take a look at his impressions of the new Dems logo.

5. Make room under the bus. Apparently Obama thinks his die hard supporters are just a bunch of unreasonable, petulant whiners. Here they are, whining about it:

From Glenn Greenwald at Salon.com:

Obama's view of liberal criticisms

So, just as Robert Gibbs before him explained (albeit more harshly), if you're one of those people dissatisfied with large parts of the Obama presidency, that's only because you have something wrong with the way you think (you need drug testing/you "congenitally see the glass as half empty"), and because you are saddled with extremely unrealistic, child-like expectations (you're angry that the Pentagon hasn't closed yet/bitter that Obama "hasn't yet brought about world peace: 'I thought that was going to happen quicker' (Laughter.)"). In other words, you're just a petulant, unreasonable, unrealistic, fringe child who doesn't appreciate the greatness and generosity he's given you (h/t Jane Hamsher). Contrary to what many of you thought, it's these flaws within yourself that cause you to be dissatisfied with the administration, not because of any of this...

What's most striking about Obama's comments is that there is no acceptance whatsoever of responsibility (I've failed in some critical areas; we could have/should have done better). There's not even any base-motivating vow to fight to fix these particular failures (we'll keep fighting for a public option/to curb executive power abuses/to reduce lobbyist and corporate control of our political process). Instead, he wants you to know that if you criticize him -- or even question what he's done ("well, I don't know about this particular derivatives rule, I'm not sure that I'm satisfied with that") -- it's your fault: for being some sort of naive, fringe-leftist idiot who thought he would eliminate the Pentagon and bring about world peace in 18 months, and/or because you simply don't sufficiently appreciate everything he's done for you because you're congenitally dissatisfied.

From Jane Hamsher at Fire Dog Lake:

Obama Mocks Public Option Supporters

Obama took the opportunity to mock supporters of the public option last night at a DNC event in Greenwich, Connecticut (per Mike Allen):

OBAMA: Democrats, just congenitally, tend to get — to see the glass as half empty. (Laughter.) If we get an historic health care bill passed — oh, well, the public option wasn’t there. If you get the financial reform bill passed — then, well, I don’t know about this particularly derivatives rule, I’m not sure that I’m satisfied with that. And gosh, we haven’t yet brought about world peace and — (laughter.) I thought that was going to happen quicker. (Laughter.) You know who you are. (Laughter.) We have had the most productive, progressive legislative session in at least a generation.

Obama himself used to be one of us, when he said that “the choice of a public insurance option” was one of his “three bedrock requirements for real health care reform” — when he wanted people to sign up for OFA...

So Obama promises people a public plan, they go out and campaign for him in record numbers, and then when the Senate decides to drop the public option from the health care bill, he says “I didn’t campaign on the public option.”

So it’s awfully glib for Obama to now belittle the people who worked hard to get him elected for always seeing the glass “half empty” if they’re disappointed about the public option. Then again, he apparently doesn’t even remember the promises he made to them.

Maybe they’re not being negative, maybe they’re just smart enough to know when they’ve been conned.

One thing is for sure. Obama never would have expressed this kind of contempt for the base prior to his own election. He — and the DNC — are playing Russian roulette with the rest of the party, belittling the very people who show up and vote and do all the campaign grunt work in every race in the country. And for what? It all appears to be little more than an egotistical, thin-skinned taunt aimed at those they feel aren’t giving them the accolades the Democrats think they deserve.

Nobody in the history of electoral politics, and I mean nobody, believes that telling people to “get over it” will get them to the polls. (Well, nobody but Spiro Agnew.) And you can bet your bottom dollar that come 2012, when Obama’s own electoral future is on the line, that won’t be his message.

From Jason Linkins at Huffington Post:

Obama Demeans His Own Supporters

Usually, the left gets little credit for how tremendously accommodating they were during that debate, so it's nice to see the President acknowledge that the point of contention eventually became the public option and the way he screwed over everyone who had originally accommodated him. Snide humor, about what a dick you are, works best when it's a little bit accurate!

Obama, and his most idiotic defenders, seem to think that all of the people who built a career criticizing Bush for abuse of executive powers should just give Obama a pass -- never mind that he ran on a platform of dismantling those powers.

Another good example: he's also slowly ceding ground to the Republicans on matters of LGBT rights. Actually, all Democrats are slowly ceding this ground! But it was the Obama White House that raced to get some anonymous sources to reporters to remind them on the same day same-sex marriage proponents won a great civil rights victory that the White House was opposed to the civil right, itself.

Dick move. I mean, he could have waited! Let the LGBT community have a day to celebrate!

But look, the joke here is on Obama. While Robert Gibbs was yelling at the "professional left," the "amateur left" -- that is to say, the Democratic base, was sticking by Obama, steadfastly.

6. Palin 700,000, Rick Sanchez 802