Political Ruminations

Morning Quote: Brian Williams

NBC News anchor Brian Williams on Donald Trump’s election night tweets(see image below):

“Donald Trump, who has driven well past the last exit to relevance and peered into something closer to irresponsible here, is tweeting tonight.”

“driven well past the last exit to relevance” is a perfect description of Trump.

The image depicts Trump’s tweets on election night. Since then, Trump has deleted several of them, but note the crazy-ass Trump’s calls for a revolution.

Adding……Trump went on to harass and insult Brian Williams on Twitter after Trump learned of William’s comment. Williams never responded to him.

Arizona’s Birtherpalooza CANCELLED

For lack of interest, evidently:

Not even the promise of crooner Pat Boone singing oldies from a spinning stage could save what was intended to be the premier birther event of the year later this month in Arizona.

Organizers of the gala, which would have featured Boone alongside Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio and some of the nation’s other prominent conspiracy theorists, broke the news online Friday that it was canceled “due to inadequate ticket sales.”

The Sept. 22 event was meant to bring together people from throughout the nation who believe Barack Obama’s birth certificate is fake and therefore he is ineligible to be president. Organizers planned to use it to call on Congress to take up Arpaio’s yearlong investigation into the documents.

Take that, Donald Trump.

Idiot Quote of the Day: Mitt Romney Panders to Racist Birthers

At a campaign rally in Commerce, Michigan, Mitt Romney aligned himself with the racist, delusional birthers (along with his bud, Donald Trump) with this comment:

“ I love being home in this place where Ann and I were raised, where both of us were born. Ann was born in Henry Ford Hospital, I was born in Harper Hospital. No one has ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised. ”

I liked Tommy Christopher’s response:

At a campaign event in Commerce, Michigan, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney made a naked appeal to racist birthers, telling the crowd “No one has ever asked to see my birth certificate.”

Days after MSNBC’s Touré pointedly refused to include Romney in his apology for using the n-word to describe the campaign’s tactics, it appears the commentator’s critics owe him an apology.

The Obama Campaign's response via Ben LaBolt, Obama’s National Press Secretary:

“Throughout this campaign, Governor Romney has embraced the most strident voices in his party instead of standing up to them. It’s one thing to give the stage in Tampa to Donald Trump, Sheriff Arpaio, and Kris Kobach. But Governor Romney’s decision to directly enlist himself in the birther movement should give pause to any rational voter across America.”

The Obama Campaign is also responding on Twitter.

UPDATE: The timing of this makes me think it may be to distract attention from this: Inside Mitt Romney's Tax-Dodging Cayman Schemes
(document dump at Gawker--Romney-Bain financial docs)

Another Birther in the House

The 112th majority Republican Congress now has at least two birthers to call its very  own. The latest lawmaker to claim birther status is Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO). Think Progress:

Another Republican member of Congress has stepped forward as a birther, calling into question President Obama’s birth certificate at a town hall meeting. Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) told a crowd of her constituents that she is no more convinced of President Obama’s birth place as anyone asking the question:

I don’t know, I haven’t seen it. I’m just at the same place you are on that. You read this, you read that. But I don’t understand why he didn’t show that right away. I mean, if someone asked for my birth certificate, I’d get my baby book and hand it out and say ‘Here it is,’ so I don’t know.

The questioner asked Hartzler if she believed the certificate of live birth that President Obama released last year was a forgery, citing Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s comical news conference from last month as evidence of a conspiracy. To her credit, Rep. Hartzler appeared to dismiss Arpaio’s investigation, saying “I have a lot if doubts about all that.”

But in case there was any question of her birther bona fides, Hartzler doubled down on her skepticism at a press availability after the event:

I have doubts that it is really his real birth certificate, and I think a lot of Americans do, but they claim it is, so we are just going to go with that.

Vicky Hartzler was not the first member of Congress to out herself as a birther. Yes, indeed, we have at least two known crazies in Congress, people! The first was Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL) back in March, who outed himself at at town hall:

New video of a February town hall shows Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL) pandering to birthers and raising questions about the legitimacy of President Obama’s birth certificate.

When Stearns met with constituents on February 25 in Belleview, one of the first questions came from an elderly gentleman who insisted that Obama was not born in the United States and ought to be impeached. Rather than correcting the man and informing him that the president is indeed a natural-born American citizen, Stearns coddled the conspiracy theory by implying that Obama’s birth certificate may be a forgery — “is it legitimate?” Stearns wondered aloud.

Adding.......Apparently, Vicky Hartzler is also the most virulently anti-gay member of Congress.

Lawrence O'Donnell Outs Trump on His Plans to Appear on NBCs Line-up Next Season

Lawrence O’Donnell has been on Donald Trump for a while now, and no one deserves it more than Trump.

In this clip, among other things, Mr. O’Donnell suggested that Trump has signed with NBC to do another season of the mind-numbingly stupid “Celebrity Apprentice”. That said, of course, Trump will not be running for president. O'Donnell (approx 6:10 in the video):

This fake campaign will be over by May 16 when NBC announces Trump's position in next seasons primetime schedule.

And while NBC won’t be making the announcements about next season until May 16, now we know, and now that we do, can the media please leave this racist buffoon to himself and stop with the interviews and the constant damn coverage?! I dearly hope so.

Watch:

Morning Quote: Baratunde Thurston

Baratunde Thurston (Jack Turner), the co-founder of Jack & Jill Politics, responds to Donald Trump's disgusting display of disrespect for President Obama:

It was during my viewing of this video [Trump’s remarks in New Hampshire] that I began to cry. I thought of my ancestors, both direct and collective, who had fought and died so that I might be treated as an American. I then thought of this fetid, smug, hate-filled, wealthy white man taking credit for the release and yet still not being satisfied. It does not matter how long we’ve been in these United States. We will never be American.

So, tears in my eyes, pain in my heart and rage in my soul, I composed this video message. More than written text, it comes close to expressing my full pain at witnessing a white man who was handed everything call the President of the United States (and me) a nigger.

I don’t have words to say how deeply offended by the carnival barker, Donald Trump, and his Birther friends I truly am.

America's Humiliation - Our Honor and Credibility in the Toilet

I’ve always understood that the root of Birtherism was the racism inherent in a not inconsequential portion of the American electorate.

And, despite Tea Party cries of “foul” when called on their racist leanings, many of us also understood that racism was always the heart of the Tea Party movement¹, and that many Teabagger Republicans were also Birthers.

That said, the Birther movement did not really surprise me, but Donald Trump…..the current, rabid, carnival barker for the Birthers, managed to do just that.

Donald Trump's disrespect of our president, of the very institution of the presidency, is unforgiveable.

Trump's intentional humiliation of a man who has always exhibited stunning dignity, decency, intellect, and honor, and who is our president, dishonors us all as Americans. Add to that the fact that we have become the laughingstock of the world, and images of Donald Trump tarred, feathered, and run out of the country begin to seem too kind a punishment.

Quote of the Day

On CNN today, acclaimed historian and author, Douglas Brinkley called on NBC to drop Trump’s show from it’s lineup or face a loss of corporate sponsors and massive boycotts. Via Think Progress:

We don’t have to blame “the media” for dealing with this issue. We have to blame NBC Entertainment. They need to dump Trump from his primetime news show. He’s a poison toad on the airwaves. What corporate sponsor is going to be buying ad time for Donald Trump’s show. Any company that goes into Trump and is willing to pay is going to find consumer boycott like they’ve never seen before. If you are going to do what Trump did and go after the President of the United States in such a grotesque and disingenuous way you better cough up the goods. Today the Obama administration has shown what a charlatan Donald Trump really is.

Watch:

I could not agree more! The new battle cry should be “Dump Trump”!

Current corporate sponsors of Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice” include the following, from Think Progress:

Corporate sponsors of “Celebrity Apprentice” currently include: Enterprise Rental Car, Clorox, Sprint, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Walt Disney, and Groupon.

Full Text Transcript of President Obama's Remarks on the Release of His Birth Certificate

Just released by the White House.

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

April 27, 2011

Remarks by the President

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

9:48 A.M. PDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, everybody.  Now, let me just comment, first of all, on the fact that I can't get the networks to break in on all kinds of other discussions -- (laughter.)  I was just back there listening to Chuck -- he was saying, it’s amazing that he’s not going to be talking about national security.  I would not have the networks breaking in if I was talking about that, Chuck, and you know it.

Q Wrong channel.  (Laughter.)

President Obama Releases Long Form Birth Certificate as the World Laughs at American Idiocy

Can you hear the sound of balloons popping all over the country as Birthers deflate?

Watch:

 

Fox News Confirms That President Obama is a Citizen of the United States

It’s good to see that there are still some people of good conscience, even at Fox News. Shepard Smith:

Fox News can confirm that the President of the United States is a citizen of the United States, period.

Watch:

Now, Birthers, STFU. Forever.

Adding....I wonder if Shep had to threaten to quit or something. My guess is yes.

Adding again....pardon my naiveté. I have been told (by more than a few friends) that this doesn't matter. That Shepard Smith is slightly sane, and therefore the teabagger birthers will just ignore this. sigh....

Morning Quote: Andrew Sullivan

Sullivan on the Republicans Birther/racism problem:

Many thought America could not elect a non-white president. They were wrong. It turns out America could elect a non-white president, but only with a hefty segment of the country denying his legitimacy.

Morning Quote: Trump “I Never Went Bankrupt”

Donald Trump is insane. Really. From ABC’s interview with Trump which aired this morning, comes a barking, loud, outrageous statement from Trump, one of many. According to Trump, his multiple bankruptcies were ‘negotiations’, not bankruptcies. Emphasis mine.

Stephanopoulos: There was one more question on that from Michael Swaile of Toledo,Ohio.  He asked, "How would you defend any fiscal policy, considering you’ve had to declare bankruptcy numerous times?”

Trump: I never went bankrupt.

Morning Quote: Barack Obama

In an ABC interview with George Stephanopoulos last night, President Obama was asked about Donald Trump and the birther nonsense Trump has been spewing recently. President Obama responded by pointing out that he doesn’t have horns, and he was born in Hawaii, along with a smackdown to the Republicans Southern Strategy.

President Obama:

I think that over the last two and a half years there’s been an effort to go at me in a way that is politically expedient in the short-term for Republicans. But [it] creates, I think a problem for them when they want to actually run in a general election where most people feel pretty confident the President was born where he says he was, in Hawaii. He– he doesn’t have horns…we’re not really worrying about conspiracy theories or– or birth certificates.

Watch [Stephanopoulos asks President Obama the question about Trump and birtherism at about 1:50]:

Every damn Republican in the primaries had better be prepared to cough up an official, long-form birth certificate or get called on it.

Birther Clown, Donald Trump, Produces FAKE Birth Certificate

Yet another of your so serious, utterly ridiculous and malevolent potential GOP/Republican presidential candidates.

Ben Smith:

Donald Trump made headlines earlier today when he provided what he said was a copy of his birth certificate—but a quick check reveals it’s actually not an official document. [...]

Trump's mother, it should be noted, was born in Scotland, which is not part of the United States. His plane is registered in the Bahamas, also a foreign country. This fact pattern -- along with the wave of new questions surrounding what he claims is a birth certificate -- raises serious doubts about his eligibility to serve as President of the United States.

Bob Cesca’s response, emphasis mine:

Dick of the Day

WTH? I can not understand these people BIrther morons, who are either completely nuts or are just evil, take your pick.  Donald Trump is the latest idiot to jump on the crazy train, and   he used an appearance at CPAC to go full Birther:

Our current president came out of nowhere. Came out of nowhere. In fact, I’ll go a step further: the people that went to school with him, they don’t even know him. They never saw him. They don’t know who he is. It’s crazy. [Wild applause.] With no track record — and, I will tell you, he’s got nothing to criticize. He’s a wonderful guy, he’s a nice man, but there was no record. Nothing to criticize. He didn’t go in wars. He didn’t go in battles. He didn’t beat this one, that one, have enemies all over the place. Nobody knew who the hell he was. He’s now our president! He’s our president!

Utterly freaking STUPID.

Via Bob Cesca