Praise be to Judge Antonin Scalia, for he sees what the rest of us do not. The man for whom nasty, brutish and short is not simply a political formulation, but a mirror image, can look at hundreds of years of slavery, 100 more of legalised segregation and another 50 of daily discrimination and see "racial entitlement" in the basic right to vote in America. I guess it's kind of like the right-wing-clown entitlement enjoyed by our current Supreme Court.

Scalia, of course, was a modern Republican (in a robe) before it was even cool. I mean that in the sense that it's clear to anyone taking so much as a gander at what animates the GOP of 2013 - as well as Scalia's immunity to legal reasoning - that it's not any set of policy ideas, but simple emotion: all-consuming, blood-curdling, vein-bulging-out-of-the-forehead, Mel Gibson-watching-Fiddler-On-The-Roof ANGER.

Policy-wise, the GOP is an entity that literally lacks any new ideas, has no interest in governing and has rejected all of its own policy positions from as recently as early 2008 as "oh-my-God-we're-all-doomed!" creeping Socialism (see: cap and trade, earned-income tax credit, individual healthcare mandate). Rejecting anything right wingers sneeringly see as created by them-there libruls is the secret handshake of modern conservatism.

You believe in global warming? Then they don't, dang it! You accept that human beings didn't ride saddleback on a brachiosaurus into the Battle of Little Bighorn? They have an App for that, the Creation Museum, where you can ride Noah's Ark with your friendly Triassic-period imperial walker. You offer them way-too-friendly a deal on the budget? Then as Cartman from South Park says, "screw you guys... I'm going home".

The most potent example is the rise and fall of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie as conservative heartthrob. He was a Republican Superhero just a year ago, when he headlined what Republican consultant Steve Schmidt called "The Star Wars Bar" of conservative gatherings, the CPAC Conference. Yet, he was quite publicly not invited to this year's CPAC.

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Republican Representative Paul Ryan made a campaign stop at East Carolina University on Labor Day, and spoke along the theme set in Mitt Romney's nomination speech attacking President Obama on what the GOP considers his biggest vulnerability, by asking the question: “Are you better off?”

The “are you better off” question may have been an indictment of Jimmy Carter, but Republican hopes notwithstanding, 2012 isn’t 1980. The economy isn’t as bad, and most importantly, the public still remembers that day four years ago when Obama took office during the worst economic environment since the Great Depression.

On Inauguration Day 2009, the economy had lost nearly 4 million jobs and was still hemorraging at an unprecedented rate.

Now with approximately 150,000 new jobs per month and GDP growth of 1.7 percent, there’s no question that "yes," we’re better off today than when Barack Obama took office. It’s also true that current conditions are on the bad side of "meh." So, Romney-Ryan are going to have to not just ask "Are you better off?" they're going to have to convince voters that they would do better. And remember, Moody's has reported that regardless of who has the keys to the White House in November, economists expect 12 million new jobs in the next four years.

Lies and damned lies are not going to win the White House for Romney-Ryan. Not that they won't continue to go that route.

As Ryan spoke to supporters in North Carolina Monday, he cited bankruptcy numbers to make the point that failing businesses mean fewer jobs. “In 1980 under Jimmy Carter, 330,000 businesses filed for bankruptcy,” he said. “Last year, under President Obama’s failed leadership, 1.4 million businesses filed for bankruptcy.”

But Ryan's math gets fuzzy here. It seems he lumped business bankruptcies and much more numerous personal bankruptcies together. Of the 331,264 bankruptcies in 1980, only 43,694 were for businesses, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute.

Of the 1,410,653 total bankruptcy filings last year, 47,806 were business bankruptcies, according to the institute. And, again, the numbers are falling. In 2009, there were 60,837 business bankruptcies. In July, the latest month with complete statistics, business bankruptcies were 22 percent lower than a year earlier, and personal bankruptcies were down 11 percent.

Far more appropriate than "Are you better off?" should be "Why should anyone trust Romney-Ryan to do what's best for the majority of Americans?"

Just when you think the crazy doesn't get any worse, they prove you wrong. Like this guy, whose pension and medical benefits are paid for by the taxpayers of this great nation, but who is just about as unpatriotic and disgusting as they get.

Via Foreign Policy:

"I have to admit that I'm a Birther," said SOS founder Larry Bailey, a retired 27-year veteran of the Navy SEALs, in an interview. "If there were a jury of 12 good men and women and the evidence were placed before them, there would be absolutely no question Barack Obama was not born where he said he was and is not who he says he is."

Bailey, who is part of the leadership of SOS's effort to mobilize thousands to take to the streets to denounce Obama's treatment of the military through an SOS project called Operation Street Corner, doesn't only believe that the president is a foreigner. He also believes that he is not actually the son of Barack Obama, Sr. Bailey trumpeted the conspiracy theory that the president is actually the love child of Ann Dunham and writer Frank Marshall Davis."

In his books, Obama said his mentor was a fellow named Frank Marshall Davis. Frank Marshall Davis was a member of Communist Party USA, he wrote for the communist party's Hawaii newsletter, he was a close friend of Obama's mother, and there's a strong case that Frank Marshall Davis rather than Barack Obama, Sr. was Barack Obama, Jr.'s father and that Barack Obama, Sr. was just an administrative father of convenience," Bailey said.

The crazy runs strong in this one, my friends. Evidently that taxpayer-funded healthcare isn't covering his meds. But he would also like you to know that he was one of the allied SwiftBoaters that aimed at Kerry in 2004, too. He's an equal opportunity kind of hater that way.

Bailey said he came up with the idea for SOS earlier this year and organized some fellow former special operations guys, mostly in their 60s and 70s, with the mission of helping Obama's opponent win.

"I had an idea that we could lend a hand to the effort of getting the White House expunged of what's there now and elect someone more to my liking," Bailey said.

Well there ya go. We should all bow to our military overlords, it seems.

The love child of Frank Marshall Davis. Wow. Who knew communism was genetic?

I suppose it would be impertinent of me to inquire as to how it can possibly be that Barack Obama was born in Kenya to an African-American writer who lived in Hawaii? Seems to me the whole "love child of Frank Marshall Davis and Stanley Ann Dunham" theory puts the birther theory in a dark deep hole and throws dirt over the top of it forever, doesn't it? Forget that there's no evidence that Obama's mother and Davis ever crossed paths, or that Davis was old enough to be her father.

This is how these theories go. First you find every black guy in Hawaii in the 60s. Then you narrow that list to the black guys that were vocal or activist in some way, particularly in the area of social justice. Then you assume, with no evidence whatsoever, that they had an affair with a 18-year old white college student. Ignore all actual evidence. That's not necessary. Papers are only important in Arizona. If you hate Barack Obama, papers are a hindrance.

It's far better to theorize about who his father might be rather than pay attention to factual information about who his father actually was.

It's far better to imagine he can simultaneously not be a US citizen and still born to two US citizens having an illicit affair than it is to actually understand that he is a US citizen.

These people are seriously deranged and in my opinion, dangerous.

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Mitt Romney introduced Ryan as "the next president of the United States." Whoops. He did come back and correct himself, after someone whispered in his ear.

What can I say about Ryan's speech? There's some fear-mongering from the get-go. We're all dooooomed unless we give him and Mittens the keys to the White House, he says.

Then Ryan goes on to tell us that President Obama is too government centered. "If you have a small business, You. Did. Build. That."

That's a reference to a speech Obama gave in July. Here's the full quote from Obama:

"If you are successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you've got a business, you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn't get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet."

President Barack Obama's campaign manager Jim Messina released the following statement as Romney was speaking Saturday, reacting to Romney's choice of Ryan as his running mate.

“In naming Congressman Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney has chosen a leader of the House Republicans who shares his commitment to the flawed theory that new budget-busting tax cuts for the wealthy, while placing greater burdens on the middle class and seniors, will somehow deliver a stronger economy. The architect of the radical Republican House budget, Ryan, like Romney, proposed an additional $250,000 tax cut for millionaires, and deep cuts in education from Head Start to college aid. His plan also would end Medicare as we know it by turning it into a voucher system, shifting thousands of dollars in health care costs to seniors. As a member of Congress, Ryan rubber-stamped the reckless Bush economic policies that exploded our deficit and crashed our economy. Now the Romney-Ryan ticket would take us back by repeating the same, catastrophic mistakes.”

Ryan finished his speech, saying "I'm excited for what lies ahead and I'm thrilled to be a part of America's Comeback Team. And together, we will unite America and get this done."

Romney's usual campaign song, Kid Rock's "Born Free," began blasting as the crowd cheered.

The two candidates' families joined them on stage.

Full transcript of Paul Ryan's speech here.

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Ohio Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH) -- or 'Mean Jean' as she is referred to by many Democrats, due to her infamous angry tirades on the House floor -- found herself caught in the preliminary confusion over the Supreme Court's ruling on health care reform.

CrooksandLiars came across this cell phone video footage, posted to Youtube, of Schmidt standing outside the court as news of the ruling was apparently being passed to her via cell phone. Her reaction reminded me of a famous restaurant scene with Meg Ryan in comedy "When Harry Met Sally."

"Yes! Yes!!! And what else?! Thank God!" Schmidt shouts into her cell phone, under the belief that the Supreme Court had struck down the law. Schmidt's phone source was apparently tuned in to either Fox News or CNN, as the two networks led initial confusion over the ruling by reporting that the high court had struck down Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act.

[Thanks to Scarce for the video!]

This is not from The Onion...

Via CNN:

"You guys have it way too soft – nice ride," he wrote, while the press corps were preparing to cover his Weatherly, Pennsylvania stop.
...
"P.S.," he added after his signature, "erased your hard drives."

Hahaha that's so funny...not. I believe it's also a crime. Vandalism? Destruction of property?

Republican nominee for president. Oh. Kaaay.

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I'm not sure how the Republican party came to be known as the party of "compassionate conservatism," unless it was simply because they used to at least pretend to care about the problems of the middle and low-income class people. In this 2007 video of Republican Mitt Romney's exchange with a wheelchair bound man suffering from a rare and deadly form of muscular dystrophy, Romney's compassionate conservatism takes an icy cold form, as he turns his back on the ill young man, Clayton Holton, and walks away without answering his question.

This exchange, and others like it, will no doubt keep cropping up to haunt Romney throughout his campaign. His complete inability to relate to, or show anything resembling empathy towards mainstream Americans is stunningly on display here. If his position on medical marijuana was due to something he believes is a greater good, as a contender for president of the United States, he should certainly be able to articulate that.However this is likely due to the fact that Romney has no real solutions for real people's problems.

Transcript:

Sick Man: "I suffer from an extremely rare type of muscular dystrophy and I have to take medication or I'll die. Right now I weigh less than 80 pounds, I have all my life. Um, I have support of 5 of my doctors that I am living proof that Medical Marijuana works. I am completely against legalizing it for everyone but there is medical . . ."

Romney: "And you have synthetic marijuana that's available and other . . . "

Sick Man: "It makes me sick. I've tried it and it makes me throw up. I have tried all the medications they are and all the forms they come in after my stimulators, the steroids. I have muscular dystrophy, that's completely against my DNA."

Romney: "I'm sorry to hear that."

Sick Man: "My question to you is, will you arrest me and my doctors if I get medical marijuana?"

Romney: "I'm not in favor of medical marijuana."

(Romney looks away, moves on to next person mid-conversation)

Sick Man: "So, will you have me arrested? . . . "

Romney: "Hi, how are you?" (moving on to next person in line)

Sick Man: "Excuse me, will you please answer my question?"

3rd Person: "You're not going to answer his question, Governor?"

Romney: "I think I have."

3rd Person: "No, he asked you if you were going to arrest him. He asked if you were going to arrest patients like him, Governor? You're just going to ignore a person in a wheelchair?"

Romney: "I spoke with him."

3rd Person: "Yeah, but you didn't answer his question!"

Granted, the Obama administration's stance on medical marijuana isn't any more appealing to medical marijuana advocates than Romney's, and came under fire from Democrat Nancy Pelosi earlier this month for the continued raids on marijuana dispensaries. The difference is that I doubt Obama would turn his back and walk away from someone with a legitimate concern about any issue, let alone a sick man in a wheel chair.

At least Romney didn't throw this man down on the ground and cut his hair off.

Clayton Holton, while still wheel-chair bound, and suffering the effects of the muscular dystrophy as it ravages his body, he is able to maintain some semblance of normalcy in his quality of life. He continues to credit marijuana for keeping him alive, and remains a staunch advocate of medical marijuana.

[Video Credit: Heather, H/T Ministry of Truth]

Wow. Here I thought Mitt Romney's cruel streak was in that he likes to fire people. Five of Romney's former classmates from a prestigious all-boys college prep school recall a "vicious" attack on a new student who Romney and others believed to be gay.

The Washington Post reports:

Mitt Romney returned from a three-week spring break in 1965 to resume his studies as a high school senior at the prestigious Cranbrook School. Back on the handsome campus, studded with Tudor brick buildings and manicured fields, he spotted something he thought did not belong at a school where the boys wore ties and carried briefcases. John Lauber, a soft-spoken new student one year behind Romney, was perpetually teased for his nonconformity and presumed homosexuality. Now he was walking around the all-boys school with bleached-blond hair that draped over one eye, and Romney wasn’t having it.

“He can’t look like that. That’s wrong. Just look at him!” an incensed Romney told Matthew Friedemann, his close friend in the Stevens Hall dorm, according to Friedemann’s recollection. Mitt, the teenaged son of Michigan Gov. George Romney, kept complaining about Lauber’s look, Friedemann recalled.

A few days later, Friedemann entered Stevens Hall off the school’s collegiate quad to find Romney marching out of his own room ahead of a prep school posse shouting about their plan to cut Lauber’s hair. Friedemann followed them to a nearby room where they came upon Lauber, tackled him and pinned him to the ground. As Lauber, his eyes filling with tears, screamed for help, Romney repeatedly clipped his hair with a pair of scissors.

Romney never received any punishment for his actions.

Lauber was expelled from the school after being caught smoking on school grounds. He "came out" to family and close friends. Among other jobs, he later worked as a civilian contractor in Bosnia and Iraq. He died of liver cancer in 2004, according to his sisters.

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Herman Cain released yet another "Sick of Stimulus" commercial Friday, and it's as bizarre as the first two.

In the commercial, a farmer is feeding his chickens and is attacked by the birds in a scene that could be straight out of a Hitchcock movie. The farmer is then pecked to death.

"This is the average American taxpayer feeding big government," says the same little girl who appeared in the previous two commercials.

It seems the metaphor is to liken "Big Government" to the chickens, with the government's need for taxes as ravenous as the chickens' appetites.

I'm sure sick of Republicans complaining about "Big Government" when it comes to raises taxes on the rich and then "crickets" when asked if legislation requiring trans-vaginal ultrasounds isn't also big government.

As in previous Cain commercials, the young girl closes out the commercial by asking, "Any questions?" A macabrel depiction of the farmer's corpse raises his bony hand.

The first Sick of Stimulus spot was released in February and showed the same little girl throwing a goldfish on the ground.

"This is the economy," the young girl says. As the fish flops around on the ground, the girl then throws water on the fish and says, "This is the economy on stimulus." The commercial also ends with the girl asking, "Any questions?" Cain stated the goldfish was not harmed.

In the second commercial, the girl places a bunny into a straw bed and says, "This is small business under the current tax code." The rabbit bed then hurls the bunny (now replaced by a fake bunny) into the air. Similar to skeet shooting, the fake bunny is then shot by an actor dressed in a suit.

This spot also ends with the girl asking, "Any questions?"

All three commercials close with a shot of Cain standing on a bluff, staring out over an animated barren rocky landscape, head turned away from the camera.

These are not the first unusual commercials Cain has released. Campaign manager Mark Block ended a spot by puffing on a cigarette and blowing smoke toward the camera in a now much-parodied commercial.

The former CEO of Godfather's Pizza, who withdrew from the presidential campaign after allegations of infidelity, is also organizing an event called "Cain's Revolution on the Hill" in Washington on April 16 to protest the tax code.

Cain has endorsed fellow Georgian Newt Gingrich for president.

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Rick Santorum was well into his speech during a campaign rally in Arlington Heights, Ill., on Friday when two men in the crowd embraced in a rather passionate kiss, prompting a "mic check" and two guards to escort them from the rally.

The crowd reacted with audible screams, gasps and wagging fingers. Another man jumped up and followed the pair out as the audience began chanting "U-S-A" until they left the gym at Christian Liberty Academy where Santorum was speaking.

Santorum, who often expresses his opposition to homosexuality, continued his speech without addressing the incident, prompting cheers from the audience. It wasn't clear whether the two men are gay or simply making a political statement.

"I don't think the message should be about what my sexuality is," one of them told a reporter. "It's the message that [Santorum's] saying about sexuality that matters."

[Hat tip Patch.com]