There's always got to be the kids who are naughty and naughtier at Christmas. This year it's John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Tom Coburn. They're playing games with the lame duck in an attempt to stall as much as possible, but some of them are downright mean.

First, we have Lindsey Graham whining for his jammies and tea because he's tired. Poor guy. It must be rough sitting on everything all year long, blocking it as much as possible only to have to stay late and maybe miss hanging his balls on his Christmas tree. Or maybe he's a little nervous over the possibility of being outed. Whatever the case, he threw the first hissy fit today over all the work he's still got to do. After he was done with that hissy, he went on to apologize to Senator John Kyl for the Senate ratifying the new START treaty with the full co-operation of Republicans.

"I stand here very disappointed in the fact that our lead negotiator on the Republican side... basically is going to have his work product ignored and the treaty jammed through in the lame duck. How as Republicans we justify that I do not know," Graham said. "To Senator Kyl, I want to apologize to you for the way you've been treated by your colleagues."

Oops, Lindsey. No goodies for you this year. You've got to do better than that.

Meanwhile, we have John McCain playing the role of Scrooge McGrumpy in a petulant, whiny sort of way. In a last-ditch effort to scuttle the DADT repeal, McCain came to the floor tonight ready to bring the Defense Appropriations bill up for a vote. Of course, he was ready to do that because he and his bitch Mitch McConnell had inserted a poison pill amendment that would have undone the actual repeal.

Joe Lieberman, on the other hand, probably just earned an extra package under the tree for blocking their pathetic bigoted attempt to shoot holes in something the President is set to sign at 9:15 am today.

The amendment was on John McCain's wish list this year. But he's been naughty, so no amendments for him!

Finally, we have Tom Coburn, who may qualify for the Ebenezer-Unredeemed-Scrooge-Forever award for his random block on Harry Reid's effort to resurrect the 9-11 responders bill. In what could be one of the most cynical moves ever, Coburn claims the bill was never debated in committee. Chris Hayes, sitting in for Keith Olbermann, reminds us all that yes, it was debated. It's just that Coburn ditched the committee that day. I'm guessing he ditched to bloviate on the Senate floor about how horrible the Affordable Care Act was. Or he was out fundraising with his tea party buddies.

Either way, Coburn wins the prize for being the meanest, most selfish, cynical, ugly SOB in the Senate. If I were Santa, I wouldn't even bother with coal. I'd pick up after the dog and put it in his stocking.

On Washington Journal Wednesday, Tom Coburn appeared to spend a few minutes smacking down the unemployed again.

COBURN: now that we're running $1.4 trillion deficits every year. it's high time we start paying for them. I understand. That's the problem with Washington. We're going to do it the way we've always done it. That's what's gotten us in severe financial difficulty and really mortgaged our future.

[Aside: No, Senator Coburn. Our future was mortgaged when we let the rich get big, big tax cuts with no pay-for. But continue on...]

HOST: If the Democrats continue to put forward legislation that doesn't cut programs to pay for unemployment benefits, and the unemployed do not get this -- these money in their pockets, some have said, Ezra Klein of the "Washington Post" said the unemployment numbers will continue to swell and that the problem really right now is not that these people refuse to look for work or settle for lesser-paying jobs, but just that for every one job, there's five people unemployed and that will continue to be the problem. And we're just going to leave them without incomes and job opportunities and money to end? That's making it harder for those economies to generate jobs? That's the -- --

COBURN: Well, all that is, is a strong-man argument. We're not saying don't do that. We're just saying it's important now, if you look at the scheme of things, that if we're going to do that now, we pay for it.

COBURN: I live with Congressman Heath Shuler. He told me yesterday he had a job fair in North Carolina. High unemployment. I was talking to Congressman Shuler, He worked hard to get every major company there. Filled the whole room. Had over 500 jobs available. Three people showed up. Three people showed up for 500 jobs in an area that had unemployment above 10%. His explanation is they are not going to do it until the benefits lessen.

So and that may not be an exact interpretation of what his words were.
But the fact is there was a negative aspect to continuing unemployment.

Gosh, only three people showed up? Only three people? Coburn goes on to claim that the jobless just aren't going to hunt for jobs when they're on the dole. Maybe the best part is how he segues from this sly bashing right into an argument for tax cuts for corporations and the rich to stimulate the economy, but I digress. Back to the job fair...

Continue reading »

Five New Freaks

The Nation provides the details about five new GOP Senators. Here's a condensed version:

Tom Coburn has proposed the death penalty for abortion doctors.

Jim DeMint has said gays shouldn't be able to teach or adopt.

Mel Martinez fears "homosexual extremists."

John Thune illegally intimidated American Indian voters.

David Vitter is a "polite David Duke."

The Brad Blog: Kentucky election officials found guilty of election fraud

Petrelis Files: There's a fantastic online archive of a multitude of federal records of all sorts, from many agencies, that were pried loose through Freedom of Information Act requests.

Tina Dupuy: The tea parties mark a milestone in civil rights

Open Left: Coburn pouting filibustering unemployment extension

Facing South: Who opposed Student Loan Reform? Follow the money

darrel plant: Rand takes the train to Portland and a Caribbean cruise

Y'all better watch out. Now that the 72-hour clock is ticking and Democratic representatives are falling in line behind health care reform, Tom Coburn has a message to deliver: If you're a House Democrat who voted against health reform the first time and change your vote to yes, he'll block any appointment you may receive after you lose your seat for changing your vote. (I think I have that right, but you'd better watch the video to be sure. It was, um...bizarre.)

Ummm, ok. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) could barely contain his excitement as he points to Coburn and dubs him "Holder-in-Chief" with a smirk and a sense of real excitement about watching that little side show.

Seems like the threat isn't working all that well, since Bart Gordon (D-TN) announced that he would switch from no to aye this afternoon, along with Colorado freshman Betsy Markey.

Since when is Coburn putting holds on nominees a threat, anyway? Isn't that what he's been doing for the past 15 months?

(via ThinkProgress)

Michael Steele goes to a black college and insults a woman whose mother died of cancer because she said that everyone should have good health care.

So people go out to town halls, they go to the community, and they’re like this. (SHAKES ARMS) It makes for great TV. You’ll probably make it tonight. Enjoy it.

First, there's the insanity of the head of the RNC criticizing anyone for disrupting a town hall meeting. Second, you have a woman whose mother died, ostensibly because of a lack of insurance, basically being insulted for daring to try to call attention to herself.

And this is not the only example. I can think of a dozen instances of Republican officials dismissing people trying to explain how the current system is broken. There was Tom Coburn telling the crying woman whose insurance refused to cover her husband that she should go to her neighbors for help. There was "Great White Hope" Republican Lynn Jenkins telling an uninsured constituent to be a grown-up and get insurance. The callousness on display at these things is palpable. And it could easily be turned into a powerful force for change.

That is, if there was one Democratic strategist interested in making a moral case anymore instead of a bunch of functionaries squandering a progressive agenda in favor of pleasing elites and talking about "bending the cost curve."

DOWNLOADS: (2235)

PLAYS: (10977)

Embed

On this morning's Meet the Press, Rachel Maddow backs former congressman Dick Armey (head of the Freedomworks lobbying group) against the wall and lets everyone know exactly what his radical opinion is on Medicare:

MS. MADDOW: Do you really think that there’s a major uprising of seniors wanting to get out of Medicare? I know you’re suing the government for your right personally to get out of Medicare.

REP. ARMEY: Right.

MS. MADDOW: But do you really think that’s the problem...

SEN. COBURN: Is it...

MS. MADDOW: ...that Medicare—that seniors hate Medicare and they want out?

REP. ARMEY: No, I didn’t say that. Most seniors—I was talking to my minister the other day. My minister says, “Dick, I’m so fortunate I’m in Medicare.” I said, “Bless you, my, my friend that you get to be in it if you choose to be so.” But if you give a government program and you let me choose to be in or choose to be out, that’s generosity. If you force me in, irrespective of my desires, that’s tyranny. Now, if Medicare’s $46 trillion in the red, with no idea how we’re going to pay for it, why, why do they not let people who don’t want to be in out?

MS. MADDOW: This is...

MR. GREGORY: Let me—I want to get it...

REP. ARMEY: I mean, that’s...

MS. MADDOW: Just—I—very briefly.

REP. ARMEY: This, this, this defies logic.

MS. MADDOW: This is a really important point. The anti-healthcare reform lobby thinks that Medicare is tyranny, OK?

REP. ARMEY: I did—I said...

MS. MADDOW: This is an—I mean, you said in 1995 that “Medicare is a program I would have no part of in a free world.”

REP. ARMEY: Right. Absolutely right.

MS. MADDOW: You said in 2002, “We’re going to have to bite the bullet on Social Security and phase it out over a period of time.”

REP. ARMEY: And I’m going to enumerate exactly what I’m talking about. Medicare...

MS. MADDOW: Americans need to know this is your position and this is the position of the anti-healthcare reform lobby.

Scoobie Davis: Sun Myung Moon's alliance with another cult-run media group

PERRspectives: USA Today misleads on politics of stimulous spending

Shakesville: Federal Appeals Court: No conscience clause for Plan B

Daily Howler: Washington Post in decline/Sotomayor edition

TPMMuckraker: Coburn not denying that he urged Ensign to pay "restitution" to girlfriend's family 

NotionsCapital: Marion Barry observes Cell Phone Courtesy Month

Sen. Tom Coburn: Body Language Soothsayer

On MTP today, Sen. Tom Coburn said that because of his medical training he can tell if somebody is lying just by using their body language.

Download | play -WMP Download | play -QT

SEN. COBURN on Roberts: I've tried to use my medical skills of observation of body language to ascertain your uncomfortableness and ill at ease with questions and responses. I will tell you that I am very pleased both in my observational capabilities as a physician to know that your answers have been honest and forthright as I watch the rest of your body respond to the stress that you're under.

MR. RUSSERT: Do you believe as a physician you can tell whether a candidate for the Supreme Court is telling the truth?

SEN. COBURN: Mm-hm, I certainly have.

MR. RUSSERT: Has any--have you ever detected someone lying?

SEN. COBURN: Uh-huh, lots of times.

We have Bill Frist making a diagnosis on Terry Schiavo using old video tapes and now we have Coburn saying he can tell if you're lying just by using his keen training in body language. What's up with some of these republican doctors?

I didn't know that studying body language was a course given to doctors anyway. Can somebody find that class given in medical school. Why hasn't he been called before to testify in other very important cases? It seems to be more reliable than lie-detector tests. At least in Coburn's case, as reader Brian implies. Is this some new kind of faith-based pseudoscience?

John Stewart had some fun with Democrats and Republicans over the first day of questioning.

Download | play -WMP small version-

Download | play -QT

Bittorent-High res WMP

You always can predict which politician he will roast and maybe the name Tom Coburn will ring a bell. The "crying wonder" is so worried about he state of the union, but as Think Progress notes: "Coburn on doctors: "I favor the death penalty for abortionists and other people who take life." TP lists a few more....Another thing; old Tom sure likes his puzzles.