outrage

Remember all the rage from the right a couple of months ago when Nancy Pelosi aid the CIA mislead Congress? Well according to the head of the CIA, Pelosi may have just been telling the truth:

The director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Leon E. Panetta, has told the House Intelligence Committee in closed-door testimony that the C.I.A. concealed “significant actions” from Congress from 2001 until late last month, seven Democratic committee members said.

Now this adds a new layer to the outrage manufactured y the right over Pelosi’s comments. They twisted what she said and made it out that she was accusing the CIA of lying to Congress, a violation of law. Of course this was something that Republican members of Congress had also done in the past, including the top Republican on the intelligence committee and the minority leader.

So why did the Republicans get into such an uproar over Pelosi’s comments? Sure it could be in part that they saw blood and a way to go after the Speaker of the House, but could there be another reason given this admission by Panetta? Perhaps the Republicans knew that this was happening under the Bush administration and figured they better pull the old “slight of hand” move so that no one would look at the legal issues raised by the Bush CIA. This is even more plausible when you look at the two Republicans who lead the charge against Pelosi – the very two who made the same claims as Pelosi in the past.

Limbaugh just loves showing his racist beliefs:

In Venezuela, we had a soul shake, or whatever -- that black handshake he has that he had with Chavez. We had a soul shake.

And the GOP wonders why they are losing the black and Hispanic vote? What do you expect when you got a racist being you mouth piece?

But I don’t blame Limbaugh alone in this. He has done this kind of crap for years. Last year he was referring to then candidate Obama as a “spade” and Hillary Clinton as a “ho”, and there was no outrage over it. Where was NOW, the NAACP, Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton? They constantly give this fat wind-bag a pass. That’s why I didn’t care that much about Don Imus. They went after him, but totally ignore Limbaugh. I guess these groups are just scared of the fat man.

(h/t Cesca)

CBS has published a New Republic article entitled “Meet Iran’s George W. Bush”, in which they talk about the similarities between the election in Iran and the 2004 election for George Bush. Now the right is up in arms over this.

Gateway Pundit:

THIS IS WAY-WAY OVER THE TOP----
CBS compares Iran's Holocaust denier, womens right's abuser, America-hating radical to George W. Bush.

NewsBusters:

In today's "Will Bush Derangement Syndrome Ever End" segment, CBSNews.com published an article from The New Republic comparing Iran's crazed leader who believes the holocaust never happened and Israel should be wiped off the face of the planet to -- wait for it! -- America's 43rd president.

Isn't that special?

Wizbang Backup:

This is an outrage! CBS has a piece on their website that is so out of line it's one of the most agregious and disgusting examples of media malpractice I think I have ever seen.

So did these people express the same outrage every time FOX news called President Obama a terrorist or change his name to Osama? Nope. So either they think its ok to say things like this about a democratic president, or they think Osama isn’t as bad as Ahmadinejad. Either reason is totally inexcusable.

Republicans loved Chelsea Clinton. She instantly became their constant punch line. For example here is John McCain:

Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno."

-- Sen. John McCain, speaking to a Republican dinner, June 1998.

And let’s not forget Rush Limbaugh:

it was Limbaugh who ridiculed Chelsea Clinton, then 13, as the "White House dog."

Now those aren’t jokes as sick as making one about raping a child, but that kind of joke wasn’t even made, but Letterman never made a joke about anyone being raped. Instead he simply said that the Palin’s daughter got knocked up by A-Rod. He didn’t even specify which daughter. It was the Palins who decided to make it about their 14 year old daughter.

But Republicans seem to forget that they loved the jokes when they were going against Chelsea Clinton. Even Palin’s own running mate was out there trying to get the chuckles. But today we have Republicans trying to say that never happened. Here’s Republican talking head John Feehery trying to say it never happened. Luckily Contessa Brewer brought her A-game and quickly shot him down:

So since there is all this outrage from the right over “leave the kids out of it”, will they start boycotting Rush Limbaugh, who never could do that? Hell no.

Like many others I was shocked the other day to see gas jump up 25 cents in one day. Of course we start writing it off as “increased demand”, something we hear every year at this time. Well it looks like the Republicans also noticed the increase and now are going to use it for their political points:

Republicans believe that rising gas prices are their trump card against a Democratic-sponsored climate change bill.

The GOP is struggling to regain footing after two successive electoral blowouts, but party leaders are relishing an opportunity to debate what they call a “national energy tax.”

The Democrats’ plan of moving a cap-and-trade bill this summer plays into GOP hands because as the cost of gasoline spikes, so does the public’s awareness of energy prices, Republican leadership aides say.

Yes – use outrage at the pump to further a political agenda. This is so Republican of them. But it also makes you wonder if the gas companies won’t play along. Will they keep inflating prices to try and kill environmental legislation? Perhaps a good pre-emptive attack on this will be for Congress to send out a warning shot. Let the gas companies know that they are being closely monitored and any sign of trying to inflate prices will be answered.

Something else this makes me think about is food prices. Last year when we had $4.00+ a gallon prices we saw our food prices skyrocket. Rightfully so they claimed it was from the high price of gas. But since then we seen the price of gas fall more then 1/2, yet the prices at the grocer are still at 2008 levels. So will they use this gas prices increase to jack their prices up again, even though they should still be good from last years increase? I wouldn’t doubt it, and Congress should send the same warning shot to these people also.

Their is still furor on the right over that DHS report. I particularly like this line:

Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, the House Republican leader, said Wednesday he was offended that veterans were characterized as potential domestic terrorists

Yeah – how could we assume military veterans would become domestic terrorist!

Timothy James McVeigh (April 23, 1968 – June 11, 2001) was a United States Army veteran

Eric Robert Rudolph (born September 19, 1966) - enlisted in the U.S. Army, undergoing basic training at Fort Benning in Georgia.

If people aren’t doing anything wrong, then what do they have to worry about? We have heard that from the right ever since it become obvious Bush was destroying our rights to snoop on us. Now people like John Boehner want to use the troops, yet again, as a political tool.

Sure John – fill them with a fake sense of outrage and really push them into the extremist wing. So what if they die in the process – I mean their lives are such a small price anyways. Isn’t that what you said John?

I posted about it last night. It’s where Republican Eric Cantor tried to say that the Democrats voted to let AIG keep their bonuses. Well now that the actual bill is coming up today, the one that gets back the bonuses and prevents this from happening again, Cantor isn’t sure if he will support it or not.

Again – the Republicans think that these bonuses are fully justified. They are just acting outraged because the people are outraged. During this entire TARP fiasco, right from its onset last year, Republicans have continually blocked legislation to prevent these kind of bonuses. Perhaps people need to start asking the GOP about their opposition to such safeguards up until now.