They breed a very special kind of asshole in Wasilla.
Via HuffPo:
Mega-Gaffes From Another Wasilla Republican
Posted: 08/16/2012 4:54 pm
But soon [Mark] Ewing distinguished himself. . . After talking about
cutting the operating budget, he cited education as one of the problems.
"We are spending millions and millions of dollars educating children
that have a hard time making their wheelchair move and, I'm sorry, but
you've got to say, 'no' somewhere. We need to educate our children, but
there are certain individuals that are just not going to benefit from an
education."
After his comment in the debate was published in The Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, he received a lot of email. He doubled down on a local right wing radio show stating:
"Actually, you know, that was a response that isn't
politically correct. But I'm going to use a quote from Jack Nicholson
and that is, 'most people can't handle the truth.'"
That's not what I said!
Then he went on to insinuate in Facebook posts (now deleted) that he'd been misquoted by The Frontiersman
Aah, the Wasilla two-step! "I said that, I'm proud I said that, but I didn't say that and how dare you say that I said that!"
A comment on the op-ed, appearing to be from Ewing, stated that he'd
"checked the Wasilla Chamber website and realized the words in the paper
were mine and I should have made that point clear and apologized to the
Frontiersman... and also to the public. It was a poor decision on my
part to not remember what I said used to describe children with special
needs. I know now that what I meant to say and what I said were
completely different and after reading comments from a broad parental
base that all children can learn regardless of their handicap I am not
against teaching special needs children and clearly not trying to hurt
any students or parents that have a child in that situation. This
election is not worth my creditably or using a bone headed remarks that
may hurt others..." (sic)
And a new twist, the "I said that but what I meant was the opposite of what I said."
Sarah Palin would be proud.
'Joe the Plumber': 'Put a fence on the damn border and start shooting'
PRESCOTT, Ariz. -- The man nicknamed "Joe the Plumber," during the
2008 presidential campaign told crowds in Prescott the solution to
securing the border is putting up a fence and shooting at illegal
crossers.
He first made the remarks Friday night at a campaign event for
Republican state lawmaker Lori Klein, who is now running for a state
House seat in District 1.
"For years I've said, you know, put a damn fence on the border, going
to Mexico and start shooting," Samuel "Joe" Wurzelbacher told a crowd
at a fundraising dinner.
He reiterated the comments the following day at a "Patriot Rally" with
Klein, saying: "I'm running for Congress. How many congressmen or people
running for Congress have you heard, put a fence up and start shooting?
None? Well you heard it here first. Put troops on the border and start
shooting, I bet that solves our immigration problem real quick."
Because sneaking in to the country is obviously a capital offense.
he chairman of presumptive Republican presidential
nominee Mitt Romney’s national steering committee on Tuesday angrily
shouted for a CNN anchor to “put an Obama bumper sticker on your
forehead” after she tried to fact check Republican claims about Rep.
Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) plan to overhaul Medicare.
CNN’s Soledad O’Brien pointed out to Romney surrogate John Sununu
that the candidate’s plan would turn Medicare into a voucher system much
like the budget proposal offered by his vice presidential pick, Paul
Ryan.
[…]
“I understand that this is a Republican talking point because I’ve
heard it repeated over and over again,” O’Brien observed. “These numbers
have been debunked, as you know, by the Congressional Budget Office. … I
can tell you what it says. [Obama’s plan] cuts a reduction in the
expect rate of growth, which you know, not cutting budgets to the
elderly. Benefits will be improved.” “Soledad, stop this!” Sununu shouted. “All you’re
doing is mimicking the stuff that comes out of the White House and gets
repeated on the Democratic blog boards out there.”
“I’m telling you what Factcheck.com tells you, I’m telling you what
the CBO tells you, I’m telling you what CNN’s independent analysis
says,” the CNN host explained. “Put an Obama bumper sticker on your forehead when you do this!” the frustrated surrogate shot back.
“You know, let me tell you something,” O’Brien said. “There is
independent analysis that details what this is about. … And name calling
to me and somehow by you repeating a number of $716 billion, that you
can make that stick when [you say] that figure is being ‘stolen’ from
Medicare, that’s not true. You can’t just repeat it and make it true,
sir.”
(via Romney surrogate to CNN host: ‘Put an Obama bumper sticker on your forehead’ | The Raw Story)
You know, CNN has been looking for a new identity, maybe this could be it. Maybe they could be the network that calls a lie a lie. Maybe CNN could be the network that doesn't call baldfaced lying "the other side of the story." Maybe they could be the network who is biased in favor of the truth. Ms O'Brien has even provided them with a good new slogan:
I may be the only one, but I thought the opening ceremonies for the London games were a total train wreck. But they got the Ms Saigon effect by closing with Paul McCartney, so no one seems to remember the stupid choreography
Or the top-hatted men patting the grass like it was a puppy's head, then nodding contentedly as if lawn-petting were some sort of accomplishment.
No one remembers Kenneth Brannagh strutting amongst the working men as if to represent, what, the Industrial Revolution's giving rise to the wealthy industrialist douchebag?
And everyone forgets how incredibly irritating the two young people sending texts and IM's to each other while living in a house constructed of VH1 pop-up video was.
Sure, there were a couple of cool moments, like forging an Olympic ring out of molten iron, and the salute to the National Health, and Rowan Atkinson. But then there was an inflatable Voldemort and a gaggle of Mary Poppinses who completely neglected to fight him, and the whole thing was just awful.
So the closing ceremonies seemed like a good effort to right the many wrongs by concentrating on a salute to British pop music.
But then, no Stones. If you have a Beatle headlining the opening, you ought to have at least one Rolling Stone do the closing. Are you telling me that SNL can book Mick Jagger but the Olympics can't? And where was David Bowie? They played "Fashion," but would it be too much to ask that he show up to sing it himself? They did have some good musical guests, like Madness and the Pet Shop Boys, but you're touching on England's synth-pop masters and no Depeche Mode? And Annie Lenox is great, but how do you not take this opportunity to re-unite her with Dave Stewart?
You can't get Led Zeppelin back together, or Pink Floyd, or the Smiths, but the Spice Girls? Was anyone excited about a reunion of unemployed disposable pop tarts?
And speaking of disposable pop acts, why, when you are saluting bands from the Who to ELO, why in the world would you include lightweight flavor-of-the-month acts like One Direction or Jessie J? And it's not bad enough that this Jesse J person, who is I guess some sort of singer, appeared singing her own trash, but to have her join Brian May on stage to sing QUEEN? Where the fuck does she get the balls? Of course, that atrocity is nothing compared to the crime against humanity of trotting out talentless, obnoxious alleged comedian Russell Brand to do "I am the Walrus." If you felt earthquakes in London yesterday, that was rock and roll legends spinning in their graves.
Seriously, this nothing is going to do "I am the Walrus?" It was sacrilege enough to hear him covering Gene Wilder. Russell Brand taking on the Beatles? That would be like if we had the Olympics here in America and had Dane Cook come out to sing Hank Williams. Or Carrot Top do Gershwin. Or have Micheal Winslow make trumpet noises to the tune of "So What."
There's no fucking excuse for that. Seriously, if anyone reading this is from England, can I ask you? Is having produced Russell Brand something of which England is proud? Why would they trot him out onto this international stage?
Also, if you feel the need to pat tribute to Oasis, why not get a good band to cover them? I get why you wouldn't book Oasis themselves, they might not show up, or they might show up drunk and punching each other, but the singer from that "beady eye" band was just horrible. You got the Kaiser Chiefs to cover the Who. Why not someone good to cover Oasis? And as long as you're having younger bands stand in for older bands that couldn't make it, could no one do T. Rex? Inexcusable.
And how do you not include the Kinks?
Or Elvis Costello?
Or Robert Smith?
Or Mick Jones? Between the Clash and B.A.D. Mick Jones has made a hell of a contribution to the pop music of the latter half of the 20th Century.
Why not Morrisey?
Or Richard Thompson?
Or The Buzzcocks?
Or who was more influential than Wire?
Bryan Ferry was. Where was Bryan Ferry?
Hell, for that matter, why not A Flock of Seagulls? And sure, laugh all you want, but they made a hell of a lot more impact than Jesse J or whoever that rapper was that I never heard of and no one will remember next year.
And where the hell was U2? How could you not get Bono to show up for this kind of international good will event?
Where was Rod Stewart? Why not have a Faces reunion?
And what about Elton John? If Roger Daltrey wasn't going to sing "Pinball Wizard," why not have Sir Elton? Isn't he the one who sang it in the movie?
Damn right, I was!
Where was Van Morrison?
What about Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck?
I mean, if you had to maybe bump the salute to women who look pretty on runways, or people who beat on trash cans for a living to fit in Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page jamming on one stage, orthe Davies brothers performing together again, or Ozzy Ozbourne rejoining Black Sabbath, I think we could have forgiven you.
Stormy skies over Chicago wound up
creating quite a mess. This video was taken after a clogged storm drain
in the Windy City caused a lot of rain water to back up onto streets and
yards.
Waterfront property? Really? I'm sure the folks who were flooded out are having quite the little chuckle!
![sarahlee310:
The chairman of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s national steering committee on Tuesday angrily shouted for a CNN anchor to “put an Obama bumper sticker on your forehead” after she tried to fact check Republican claims about Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) plan to overhaul Medicare.
CNN’s Soledad O’Brien pointed out to Romney surrogate John Sununu that the candidate’s plan would turn Medicare into a voucher system much like the budget proposal offered by his vice presidential pick, Paul Ryan.
[…]
“I understand that this is a Republican talking point because I’ve heard it repeated over and over again,” O’Brien observed. “These numbers have been debunked, as you know, by the Congressional Budget Office. … I can tell you what it says. [Obama’s plan] cuts a reduction in the expect rate of growth, which you know, not cutting budgets to the elderly. Benefits will be improved.”
“Soledad, stop this!” Sununu shouted. “All you’re doing is mimicking the stuff that comes out of the White House and gets repeated on the Democratic blog boards out there.”
“I’m telling you what Factcheck.com tells you, I’m telling you what the CBO tells you, I’m telling you what CNN’s independent analysis says,” the CNN host explained.
“Put an Obama bumper sticker on your forehead when you do this!” the frustrated surrogate shot back.
“You know, let me tell you something,” O’Brien said. “There is independent analysis that details what this is about. … And name calling to me and somehow by you repeating a number of $716 billion, that you can make that stick when [you say] that figure is being ‘stolen’ from Medicare, that’s not true. You can’t just repeat it and make it true, sir.”
(via Romney surrogate to CNN host: ‘Put an Obama bumper sticker on your forehead’ | The Raw Story)
I blogged about this earlier, but good journalism deserves all the light we can shine on it.](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uUYCSLU5hPbh-eC1KV2h_482GY3zS86bDsoRcHfIvtICy8ktpS7YwpvY1nHjTCcLAsmoMQ5phcbZoJ85LT2TyQMjLK_ehd9f4REhNijvbQEWVs09P0RU3EOeNCsVzSV48=s0-d)
