So John Boehner couldn't manage to whip 216 votes for his compromise bill, and Nancy Pelosi held the Democratic caucus in line, and the morning dawns with Capitol Hill in a tizzy, which is exactly what the Tea Party has hoped for:

Speaking on conservative radio host Laura Ingraham’s show this morning, Boehner agreed that failing to raise the limit before the deadline would be devastating, and said the “chaos” plan won’t work when asked by Ingraham what’s motivating the recalcitrant Republicans:

BOEHNER: Well, first they want more. And my goodness, I want more too. And secondly, a lot of them believe that if we get past August the second and we have enough chaos, we could force the Senate and the White House to accept a balanced budget amendment. I’m not sure that that — I don’t think that that strategy works. Because I think the closer we get to August the second, frankly, the less leverage we have vis a vis our colleagues in the Senate and the White House.

It would really be nice if someone would quit thinking about strategy and agendas and start thinking about what's good for the country. Chaos? Really?

Yes, really. This is the lunacy that is the Tea Party. Courtesy of Judson Phillips of Tea Party Nation, a few select quotes:

The real problem with Boehner and all of these soft, squishy big government Republicans is they see compromise as the goal.

No. Earth to John Boehner. Victory is the goal. Compromise is a tool that gets you to the goal. If you do not have victory as your goal, you will never win. If compromise is the goal, it really does not matter what agreement you reach. As long as the compromise is reached, no matter how bad it is, you have done your job.

In the last day, since I wrote Boehner must go, I have received a number of emails from people who say, “You are splitting the Republican party.” “You are fracturing the conservative movement.” “You are damaging our cause.”

No, I am not. John Boehner is.

John Boehner will not stand up for conservative beliefs or anything else, except possibly his afternoon cigarette. I am tired of Republicans who make up the surrender lobby. I am tired of Republicans who claim they believe in our cause yet will not stand and fight.

Judson Phillips frames it perfectly. There is no room for any thinking but their thinking, there is no room for anyone to co-exist or compromise alongside them. Because they think their way is the only way. Phillips closed with this:

When I got involved in the Tea Party two and a half years ago, I didn’t do it because I was bored. I didn’t do it because I had nothing better to do. I didn’t do it because I said it would be cool to be involved in a grassroots movement. I did it because I believe we should win. I did it because I believe conservatism is the best course to guarantee freedom in this Country.

Welcome our new American Taliban overlords. No room for anything but their One True Truth.

Southern Beale: Your country is addicted to cheap labor

Climate Progress: NYT front page story: In Weather Chaos, a Case for Global Warming

Unqualified Offerings: The whole GOP is going insane

Billablog: Sarah Palin asked some questions of Obama. Bill has a few for her

ginandtacos: A very special time warp FJM

The Bobblespeak Translations: ABC's This Week -August 16, 2010

Earlier this week former employees of Sproul & Associates (operating under the name Voters Outreach of America), a firm hired by the Republican National Committee to register voters, told a Nevada TV station that their supervisors systematically tore up Democratic registrations.

The accusations are backed by physical evidence and appear credible. Officials have begun a criminal investigation into reports of similar actions by Sproul in Oregon.

Republicans claim, of course, that they did nothing wrong - and that besides, Democrats do it, too. But there haven't been any comparably credible accusations against Democratic voter-registration organizations. And there is a pattern of Republican efforts to disenfranchise Democrats, by any means possible.

Some of these, like the actions reported in Nevada, involve dirty tricks. For example, in 2002 the Republican Party in New Hampshire hired an Idaho company to paralyze Democratic get-out-the-vote efforts by jamming the party's phone banks.

But many efforts involve the abuse of power. For example, Ohio's secretary of state, a Republican, tried to use an archaic rule about paper quality to invalidate thousands of new, heavily Democratic registrations.

That attempt failed. But in Wisconsin, a Republican county executive insists that this year, when everyone expects a record turnout, Milwaukee will receive fewer ballots than it got in 2000 or 2002 - a recipe for chaos at polling places serving urban, mainly Democratic voters.

And Florida is the site of naked efforts to suppress Democratic votes, and the votes of blacks in particular. Read on...

Oh noes! Fournier gets Malkinized!

So let me get this straight, an unapologetic racist who openly tittered about creating fake credentials to cause chaos at the Democratic Convention in Denver thinks that mean little progressive bloggers aren't playing fair with Fournier? What a WATB.

Doesn't that then mean that he thinks that Malkin's tactics are wrong? Let's remind him of that next time she pulls it, shall we?

Hello again, I'm Mark Hoback from The Aristocrats, and I'll be filling in all week here at Mike's Blog Roundup.

Let me start with a piece that might just blow your mind, or maybe just your lunch. It's philosopher king Phil Atkinson from Family Security Matters on Conquering the Drawbacks of Democracy. Sample capture:

"President Bush can fail in his duty to himself, his country, and his God, by becoming 'ex-president' Bush or he can become 'President-for-Life' Bush: the conqueror of Iraq, who brings sense to the Congress and sanity to the Supreme Court."

Eatbee's Blog uses the piece as the center for Neoconservative Death Throes, but I'm afraid that corpse may still have a lot of life left in it.

Sure, bringing sense to the Congress and sanity to the Supreme Court is nice, but what about the true breeding ground of chaos and rebellion, the family dinner table? Of course, as the good Reverend Wiley Drake will tell you, when all else fails, you can always count on the power of

Imprecatory Prayer.

Whew. I feel dirty after all of that. What I really need right now is something inspirational, like this lighthearted piece about Karl Rove's dad.

Maybe that last piece proves something, but for the life of me I can't figure out what it is. So if anybody was offended by the inclusion of such a piercing article, please accept my Unpology.

Mervgate! What else is there to say? (Except, perhaps, for "We'll be right back".)

And I'll be right back tomorrow. If you have any tips, send them to mhoback AT verizon Dot net.

What are they thinking letting him near heavy machinery?

"I would suggest moving back," Bush said as he climbed into the cab of a massive D-10 tractor. "I'm about to crank this sucker up." As the engine roared to life, White House staffers tried to steer the press corps to safety, but when the tractor lurched forward, they too were forced to scramble for safety."Get out of the way!" a news photographer yelled. "I think he might run us over!" said another. White House aides tried to herd the reporters the right way without getting run over themselves. Even the Secret Service got involved, as one agent began yelling at reporters to get clear of the tractor. Watching the chaos below, Bush looked out the tractor's window and laughed, steering the massive machine into the spot where most of the press corps had been positioned.

Note the much more innocuous way it was characterized here in the LA Times:

With that, the machine came to life, moving forward on its yellow metal treads, until the president brought it to a halt about 20 feet down the line and started it on a backward turn. When Bush climbed down from the cab, the inner boy was shining through, and a broad, sheepish grin crossed his face.

Inner boy shining? He steered the tractor to right where the press corps were standing. This guy really would have to eat a baby before the media would say something bad.

Pat Robertson is at it again. In his " Conversations with God," series, he tells us that Armageddon is on the way for '07, Kreskin has nothing over this guy...Keep the fear level high, Pat. Be a good little propagandist.

Download | play Download | play

Pat: There will be some very serious terrorist attacks. The evil people will come after this country and there’s a possibility – not a possibility, a definite certainty - that chaos is going to rule. And the Lord said the politicians will not have any solutions for it. There’s just going to be chaos. ’m not saying necessarily nuclear, the Lord didn't say nuclear, but I do believe it'll be something like that, that'll be a mass killing - possibly millions of people, major cities injured

Rightwing Watch has the full transcript:

Continue reading »

Not to rain on anyone's parade, but given how poorly other official government actions have gone, and no doubt the strong American thumbprint over this, I'm not sure that this is the panacea the ISG claims it will be.

NY Times (reg. req.):

Iraqi officials are near agreement on a national oil law that would give the central government the power to distribute current and future oil revenues to the provinces or regions, based on their population, Iraqi and American officials say.

If enacted, the measure, drafted by a committee of politicians and ministers, could help resolve a highly divisive issue that has consistently blocked efforts to reconcile the country's feuding ethnic and sectarian factions. Sunni Arabs, who lead the insurgency, have opposed the idea of regional autonomy for fear that they would be deprived of a fair share of the country's oil wealth, which is concentrated in the Shiite south and Kurdish north.

The Iraq Study Group report stressed that an oil law guaranteeing an equitable distribution of revenues was crucial to the process of national reconciliation, and thus to ending the war.

Continue reading »

The media is once again derelict in their duty....

Eric Boehlert

There is, however, ample evidence that the American media, on the eve of the crucial midterm elections, have lost interest in the chaotic saga, with network news coverage in recent weeks plummeting and Page One newspaper dispatches from Iraq growing sparse. The media fade has come at a perfect time for the White House as it attempts to shift voters' attention away from Iraq and move it over to the war on terror.

What's so startling is that we've seen this exact media retreat before -- during the fall of the 2004 campaign. Back then, when sustained, aggressive coverage of the unfolding chaos inside Iraq could have done real damage to the Bush/Cheney ticket, the press shifted its attention away from Baghdad. Instead of a summer of tenacious war coverage, Bush was blessed with a cable news agenda that focused on endless hurricane updates, Martha Stewart's legal woes, and the tawdry Laci Peterson trial...read on

"Is the U.K. terror plot just a day after Lieberman's defeat coincidence? Surprisingly, the plot was foiled without the invasion of a sovereign nation! Still, Americans need to ask some questions. Chertoff suggests it's an anniversary thing, but we're back to the color-coded panic, chaos and, paranoia routine. Let’s fly naked and end the reign of terror for political gain or watch the show with zefrank for some sane analysis...BTW, Commader Codpiece...it was Scotland Yard, not you.

Hoffmania! Why did G-Dub "cut and run" from Afghanistan?

Needlenose: The face we show the world

Balloon Juice: In a momentous expansion of the government’s authority to regulate public disclosure of national security information, a federal court ruled that even private citizens who do not hold security clearances can be prosecuted for unauthorized receipt and disclosure of classified information.

Making Light: That hopelessness you feel? It's what your rulers want.

Common Cause: Groups masquerading as public interest orgs but actually controlled by phone and cable companies