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Rachel Maddow and Sen. Bernie Sanders discuss the GOP's hypocrisy when now claiming to be the great champions of Medicare after years of railing against it.

MADDOW: Belated salvo in the scare the bejesus out of elderly voters so they‘ll put you back in power regardless of whether you‘re telling the truth war is an editorial in the conservative newspaper, “The Washington Times,” and it screams “Death Panels by Proxy”—ostensibly argues that the so-called Baucus bill on health reform encourages doctors to withhold health care from Medicare patients. Health care reform is a secret plot to kill people on Medicare.

This is now become an ongoing strategic conundrum. How do you plan to win an argument with opponents who are undeterred by being disproven? Undeterred by the facts, when you don‘t even believe that they believe what they‘re arguing anymore?

It‘s not even just the “death panels” nonsense now. Take Medicare itself, a program Republicans have railed against since before President Johnson signed it into law in 1965. They railed against it since then until—well, until now.

Now, in the Senate Finance Committee, Republicans are trying to portray themselves as the champions of Medicare. They‘re fighting hard to kill any bill that contains any cuts in Medicare, even though people who support Medicare like, say, the AARP, say those cuts won‘t affect care.

Republicans defending Medicare. What would Ronald Reagan say? These guys do remember Ronald Reagan, don‘t they?

Here‘s what he did say about Medicare when it was just a twinkle in some socialist, fascist, freedom-hating, community-organizing Democrat‘s eye.

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From The Colbert Report:

Tom DeLay looked so happy on the floor of "Dancing With the Stars" you'd think he'd just been arrested on charges of corruption.

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I agree with Jack Cafferty on DeLay's appearance on Dancing With the Stars.

Cafferty: Did you show that Tom DeLay video yet. That's just disturbing...

Blitzer: If you haven't seen it...

Cafferty: It's just disturbing. It's very disturbing.

Blitzer: It takes guts to do that.

Cafferty: It takes something. I'm not sure guts is it.

Blitzer: Wild thing, you make my heart sing.

Cafferty: When he goes to prison they can show that, like the dances and stuff to the general inmate population.

h/t TPM Muckraker

From The Daily Show:

Mike Schwartz looks to adolescent boys for guidance on homophobia, while the unbelievably flamboyant Tom DeLay performs on "Dancing With the Stars."

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Had Roman-style vomitoriums actually ever existed, this video -- snippets of Tom DeLay dancing with Cheryl Burke for Dancing With the Stars -- might have been an ideal addition: certain to send you fleeing to talk to your Uncle Ralph on the big white telephone.

As it is, even Bill O'Reilly wonders if this isn't "the worst thing ever". And says it puts him in a mood for classical music. Then, of course, he calls him a "patriot" for having the courage to do this.

Actually, it reminds me of the old joke about the last words of the moronic redneck: "Hey everbody, watch thee-yis!"

The reaction of CNN anchor Kiran Chetry was actually about right: "It reminds you of your uncle who's had a little too much to drink at a wedding or something, doesn't it?"

We apologize in advance to our readers for their nausea.

As he awaits trial on money laundering charges, disgraced former House Majority Leader Tom Delay on Monday launched the latest phase of his extremist makeover on ABC's "Dancing with the Stars." Two years after publishing his book and 18 months after starting the Coalition for a Conservative Majority, Delay turned to the Cha Cha to complete his resurrection. Which is altogether fitting for the man who repeatedly compared himself to Jesus Christ.

Delay's Christ complex first manifested itself in 2001 as he explained to the Washington Post the opposition to his none-too-subtle campaign to bring his fundamentalism to the United States Congress. "People hate the messenger," Delay announced, adding, "That's why they killed Christ." On the day of his booking five years later, Delay told Time he prayed:

"Let people see Christ through me."

As it turns out, the similarities between Jesus and Tom Delay are striking:

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D-Cap has done a series of ten (!) photoshops in honor of Tom Delay's "Dancing with the Stars" gig.

Some of them may require brain bleach afterwards.

I wrote to D-Cap to give me a rundown of the personalities here in "Seven Brides for Seven Birthers" and he replied (L to R)

Tom and Babs
Newt and Malkin
Eric and Ann
Dicky Armey and Bachmann
Glenn and the Moose
Dick and his lovely daughter Mary.

Thanks to Tengrain for hipping me to this post.

Open thread below....

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(h/t CSAPNjunkie)
Tweety's love for Tom Delay is mythic as we all know so it's funny that he has to try and argue with him against the looney-birther movement. The fact that he loves them explains a lot. By the way, watching the Bugman talk about how he dealt with town halls is hysterical. He obviously treated town hallers better than members of his own party, but even Delay would probably have brought some pesticide with him at one today because many of the birthers are Ron Paul fans and they hate Republicans almost as much as they hate Obama.

Matthews: You're a man of the right and proudly so, I wonder whether you're even comfortable with the way it's headed. We've got people that we have people that question whether the president is legitimate or not. Whether he was born in the US or not and they mean it viscerally. It isn't something they just want to check his papers. They don't think he is. Where are you on that one?

We have people on the far right but they say they are birthers. How far do you go these days, Mr. Leader? Are you over with the birthers are you over with them?

Delay was trying not to answer the question and Chris kept coming back to it.

Delay: Well, I’d like the President to produce his birth certificate.

Tweety laughs...

Delay: Yeah, I can. Most illegal aliens here in America can. Why can’t the President of the United States produce their birth certificate?

Matthews: Are you actively seeking that paper?

Delay: Yeah.

Chris, will you do me a favor? Will you ask the President to show me his gift certificate — I mean, his — gift certificate — his birth certificate?

Matthews: No, I’m not going to ask him.

So he's looking for Obama's papers. The president better watch out. He also wants to get rid of Medicare and SCHIP and maybe the state of Texas too. Who knows....

Just because it's such a good opportunity to remember the n00bness that was Tucker Carlson on DWTS....

Think Progress has the whole nightmarish scenario:

Former Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay will participate in the upcoming season of “Dancing with the Stars,” facing off against pop singer Aaron Carter, actress Melissa Joan Hart, and former Dallas Cowboy Michael Irvin. According to DeLay spokesperson Shannon Flaherty, “Anyone who’s seen him on the dance floor at convention parties or weddings knows he’s going to surprise a lot of people — and in a good way. This is going to be a fun campaign, and at least we know he’ll make it as far as Tucker Carlson.” (Carlson was the first contestant eliminated in the 2006 season.)

ZOMG! Apparently this is step one of the Delay Reputation Recovery tour so that he can someday have as much gravitas in the national arena as his similarly scandal-ridden cohort in the House, Newt Gingrich. I'm sure that next will be a Very Special Episode of 24, in which Delay saves the world with Jack Bauer.

I have actually never watched this show and this *guaran-damn-tees* I never will.

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Chris Matthews asks Rep. John Culberson to respond to Tom DeLay's whining about Texas being a donor state and points out that the states which are the biggest donor states are mainly blue states and the ones which receive the most are primarily red states. Of course Culberson has to try to change the subject and talk about not wanting our children taxed instead of answering the question. You sure didn't see any Republicans coming on the television worried about our children's future while Bush was breaking the bank. Matthews gives it another shot and then... what else could he possibly retreat to? Culberson pulls out the France/socialism boogeyman card.

Matthews: Do you think Texas has a special complaint against the union because you believe that you're a donor state. That's what Tom DeLay said last night. A special complaint. It turns out that a lot of the liberal states which you guys would call Democrat states up in the Northeast, states like New Jersey, are the ones that spend the most money in taxes. Now maybe they should be complainers like Texas but, they're not complaining. Why are you guys complaining? Why are the pitchforks so out in the rural states?

Culberson: Because Texas is, because we see Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama and this Congress trying to turn America into France. And Texas is not going to become France. We don't want to be a socialist, European nation. We treasure our freedom. We treasure local government. We treasure the right to let Texans run Texas.

Yeah, heaven forbid the US could become anything like that scary, scary France. The horror of possibly having nationalized health care, shorter work weeks and stronger unions. I don't know how we'd survive it. Matthews makes Culberson look as foolish as he is with his Texas loves America more than anyone nonsense that follows. They love it so much they want to leave it.

Culberson: ..the core point here is Texans have a special feeling in our hearts about what it means to be an American. And to be an American means the government should leave me alone and get off my back and get out of my way and get out of my wallet...(crosstalk)

Matthews: Who has that special feeling?

Culberson: More than anyone else I think Texans have a special feeling in their heart about what it means to be an American and the core values that made Americans...(crosstalk)

Matthews: You know how absurd that is Congressman. You say that you guys are more emotional about your Americanism and yet you've got a Governor talking about splitting from America. You know how absurd that sounds.

Culberson: He's not serious about it. Governor Perry...

Matthews: Why'd he..he did it all week this week. (crosstalk) You say you love the country but you're threatening to leave it.

Yes completely absurd and hypocritical but I'm sure they won't let that stop them from continuing with the absurdity. Never does. I want to hear that same tough talk out of these idiots the next time they have a hurricane and need some help from the Federal government.

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From Hardball April 16, 2009. Why oh why does Chris Matthews feel the need to keep bringing this man on his show. Tom DeLay defends Gov. Rick Perry's talk of secession for Texas and explains how it would work. Did Matthews actually expect anything else from this thug?

Matthews: You know Mr. DeLay all through the Bush administration the government money, the debt went rising and rising and rising. It went from something like four to seven trillion dollars to almost triple, double that rather and there wasn't this talk of secession or leaving the union or this incredible radical talk. Why is it coming now because we have a Democratic President?

DeLay: It comes all the time in the state of Texas. Texans are Texans and they fight for their sovereignty and fight for the Constitution of the United States. And every time the federal government mandates things from the state of Texas, the state of Texas is a huge donor state. We only get about seventy cents back for every dollar we send to the federal government. Now we're paying for a lot of this and the Americans, Texans are fed up with the government growing like it's growing. Uh, I tell you what the biggest skunk at the party is for someone to come into Austin. And we are absolutely fed up with what is going on as I think hundreds if not millions of people yesterday were expressing the exact same sentiment in these tea parties.

Matthews: You know that sounds like, you sound like some rebel leader in the sixties in the Congo in Katanga Province that produced all the mineral wealth for the country and wanted to secede from the Congo. I mean this idea that suppose maybe Texas does produce a lot of the wealth. A lot of states are wealthier than other states. They just are. Does that mean they should secede?

DeLay: Chris Texas is wealthy because it works hard. It's a pro-business state. It doesn't overtax its businesses and its citizens. It's no where near what California or New York or New Jersey that's losing businesses left and right. Losing jobs left and right. It ain't even close to what the rust belt is. We are a pro-business state. We love jobs. We love businesses to come to Texas. We will not overtax you. We don't have an income tax. We're, we're, that what people are coming to Texas is because of our ability and our penchant to fight for what we believe in and we're going to use every means possible, uh, legally to fight for our position and fight the Obama administration and the Democrat liberals Pelosi and Harry Reid in what they're attempting to do to this country and to the state of Texas.

Matthews: When you talk about the sovereignty of the state of Texas are you talking about nullification. What are you talking about? The right of the state to deny the role of the federal government. What right are you insisting on when you say sovereignty? Like it's an independent country again.

DeLay: It is an, it's an independent state.

Matthews: It is?

DeLay: And given many powers by the tenth amendment of the United States Constitution. The tenth amendment is violated every day in Washington DC and we're standing up and reminding the American people that the tenth amendment is strong and we're going to defend it and we're going to fight for it.

Matthews: So all powers not delegated to the federal government reside in the states. Right?

DeLay: That's exactly right and we ought to return to that Constitution.

Since the president announced on Friday that he'd be sending an additional 4,000 troops to Afghanistan, I've heard quite a bit of far-right undermining of the commander-in-chief while our soldiers are in harm's way. Just some reminders of what I thought was the rule regarding this behavior:

"The only ideas that they espouse are ways to undermine the troops in harm's way and undermine their commander in chief while they're at war. Your candidates have no idea how to keep this economy strong."

—Sean Hannity, 10/18/06

"He’s the Commander-in-Chief. And what I find frankly repugnant about you and some of your fellow Democrats – you have undermined our president..."

—Sean Hannity, 03/19/06

"You know, Norman, those comments while we are at war, while troops are in harm's way, while he is the commander in chief, do you not see the outrage in that?"

—Sean Hannity, 11/12/07

"I have had it with members of your party undermining our troops, undermining a commander in chief while we are at war..."

—Sean Hannity, 11/05

"You don't criticize the Commander-in-Chief in the middle of a firefight. That could be construed as putting U.S. forces in jeopardy and undermining morale."

—Bill O'Reilly, 04/04

"Can we do it without distorting their legacies and pandering to anti-American elites worldwide and using their deaths to embarrass and undermine our commander in chief?"

—Michelle Malkin, 11/23/05

"On the other hand, if Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democrat Congress are successful in undermining the commander-in-chief..."

—Tom DeLay, 04/11/07

"And furthermore, one of the fundamental principles we have in America is that the president is the commander in chief of the armed forces and attempts to undermine the commander in chief during time of war amounts to treason."

—Pat Robertson, 12/07/05

I hasten to note that criticizing the president during wartime is fine. Hypocrisy, on the other hand, isn't. You either unequivocally support the president in wartime or you don't. You can't have it both ways, wingnuts.

(Cross-posted at BobCesca.com)

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Amanda Turkel:

Conservatives are now brushing off the Schiavo case to use it against Thomas Perrelli, President-elect Obama’s pick for the no. 3 spot at the Justice Department. Right-wing websites are outraged at Obama’s association with Perrelli, since he was one of the lawyers who represented Michael Schiavo, who wanted his wife’s feeding tube removed. The Washington Times today reports that these conservatives are now gearing up to fight Perrelli’s nomination:

Andrea Lafferty, executive director of the Traditional Values Coalition, derided Mr. Perrelli’s selection as “just another death-peddler Obama has added to his list of nominees.” She said he’s earned the nickname among pro-lifers of “Piranha Perrelli” for his work on the case.

Tom McClusky, vice president for government affairs at the Family Research Council, said several end-of-life issues could make their way to the federal level in the next four years and having Mr. Perrelli at the department means pro-life causes would have a tougher time winning those debates.

“If the Justice Department isn’t going to do anything about it, the states, what’s to stop them from cases like Schiavo and even worse cases,” Mr. McClusky said...read on

If I remember correctly, the Terri Schiavo story was one of the first times the conservative movement was really exposed for the extremely insane positions they hold dear to the American people and they were as horrified as I was. Tom Delay and his crew were so drunk with power that they even threatened the Republican judges involved in making the right decision. (Above video from the C&L vault in 2005)

Delay: Mrs. Schiavo’s death is a moral poverty and a legal tragedy. This loss happened because our legal system did not protect the people who need protection most, and that will change. The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior, but not today. Today we grieve, we pray, and we hope to God this fate never befalls another. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Schindlers and with Terri Schiavo’s friends in this time of deep sorrow.

John McCain even got into the act. And they even played the Terry Randle card. America was horrified. And so the conservative movement began to crumble because the media couldn't waffle their way through it. Bill Frist's political career never survived his video tape diagnosis.

"I question it based on a review of the video footage which I spent an hour or so looking at last night in my office," he said in a lengthy speech in which he quoted medical texts and standards. "She certainly seems to respond to visual stimuli."

His comments raised eyebrows in medical and political circles alike. It is not every day that a high-profile physician relies on family videotapes to challenge the diagnosis of doctors who examined a severely brain-damaged patient in person.

When you have Sean Hannity camped out in front of Terry's hospice, well, it was truly a disturbing time indeed. I had to stop searching my data base because it was nauseating. Let them bring this case up if they want. I have all the video we'll ever need to expose this once more. I wish they would let Terry rest in peace?

I got chills reading this brief, but very truthful op-ed from Paul Krugman at the New York Times. Barack Obama's win last night was just one step into the future, lets hope Krugman's words ring loud and clear for future generations - Beware the Monsters...

Last night wasn’t just a victory for tolerance; it wasn’t just a mandate for progressive change; it was also, I hope, the end of the monster years.

What I mean by that is that for the past 14 years America’s political life has been largely dominated by, well, monsters. Monsters like Tom DeLay, who suggested that the shootings at Columbine happened because schools teach students the theory of evolution. Monsters like Karl Rove, who declared that liberals wanted to offer “therapy and understanding” to terrorists. Monsters like Dick Cheney, who saw 9/11 as an opportunity to start torturing people.

And in our national discourse, we pretended that these monsters were reasonable, respectable people. To point out that the monsters were, in fact, monsters, was “shrill.”! Read on...

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Just in case you forgot, Tom DeLay appeared on Hardball this afternoon to remind us just how much of a scumbag he is. Chris Matthews asks about the tone of the campaign and whether it's been appropriate. Of course not, Delay responds, McCain hasn't been assertive enough. Get that? McCain's campaign hasn't been sleazy enough according to this a$$hole. In order to make his case, DeLay goes down the laundry list of Obama smears, including but not limited to, he's a Marxist, a radical, a black liberation theologist, terrorist sympathizer, and Constitution-hater. Please don't watch this clip if you have high blood pressure. It should really go down in the Hall of Shame, something we can look back on in five or ten years from now and marvel at.

"He must agree with the Marxist theology of black liberation theology."

"I tagged Barack Obama as a Marxist months ago. [...] He's a Marxist, or a socialist at best."

The AP, to their credit, does a great job of debunking DeLay's despicable smear of Obama re: his views on the Constitution.

Whatever you may think of Tweety, he usually does a good job of smacking around wingnut Congressmen. For some reason, though, he always grovels at DeLay's feet. I just don't get it. I really don't get why any network (other than FOX, of course) would give this putz a platform to spew his crap.