Christian conservatives, obviously lacking the courage of their convictions, are playing cute word games, making thinly veiled threats on the life of a United States President instead of coming right out and saying what they clearly mean. Wingnuts, self-styled patriots, Becktarded 9/12-ers and poor spellers of all stripes have been calling for Obama’s blood since long before November 2008.

The latest in passive-aggressive bible-thumping comes in the form of the stickers and t-shirts which read “Pray for Obama, Psalm 109:8.”

Now, Psalm 109:8 is innocuous enough, I suppose. It simply reads:

May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership.

However, the problem with citing scripture in ANY situation is that one often ignores the passages before and after the one being cited, which usually add much needed context to the citation. In this case, Psalm 109:9-15 read:

9 May his children be fatherless
and his wife a widow.

10 May his children be wandering beggars;
may they be driven [d] from their ruined homes.

11 May a creditor seize all he has;
may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.

12 May no one extend kindness to him
or take pity on his fatherless children.

13 May his descendants be cut off,
their names blotted out from the next generation.

14 May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD;
may the sin of his mother never be blotted out.

15 May their sins always remain before the LORD,
that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.

Such lovely Christian sentiment.

As Frank Schaeffer so eloquently put it:

…this is trolling for assassins. This is serious business.

It’s un-American. It’s unpatriotic. And it goes to show that the religious right, the Republican far right, have coalesced into a group who truly want American revolution. If it turns out to be blood in the streets and death, so be it. It’s not funny stuff anymore. They cannot be dismissed as just crazies on the fringe. It only takes one.

Now, imagine for just a moment, someone wearing a shirt or sporting a bumper sticker that said “Pray for Bush, Psalm 109:8″ around, oh, say…March 2003. Imagine further that this person is dark skinned and/or of Middle-Eastern descent. I wonder what would have happened to such a person…

If you want a Bible verse that in my opinion is truly more applicable to President Obama, try Psalm 72:12-14.

If the Fort Hood attack was an Islamic terrorist attack on American soil — to be somehow blamed on President Obama — then wouldn’t the DC Snipers also qualify as an Islamic terrorist attack on American soil? And if so, wouldn’t that completely contradict the Republican boast that Bush “kept us safe” since 9/11? The DC Sniper shootings happened in 2002, about a year after 9/11.

link

Douchebag.

link

(I bring you this blog post from Las Vegas, where I am vacationing. I’ve taken a short break from losing money in the casinos to catch up on the news.)

Liz Cheney has lied or at least been grossly incorrect about a lot of things. Like her father, it seems like she can’t go on TV without misinforming in some fashion. All of the incidents are equally egregious, but this one just cracks me up.

You may have heard that Obama made an unannounced trip to Dover to honor the service of soldiers killed in Afghanistan. The President and Attorney General Eric Holder stood and saluted as flag-draped caskets were moved off the transport into the chapel in a precise and practiced military ceremony.

This simple gesture would ordinarily be seen as a good thing by anyone who honors the service of those in our armed forces. But the wingnut-o-sphere is shitting bricks. Not only that, but the conservo-luminaries are all over my TV talking about how terrible it was that Obama did this and, *gasp*, had pictures taken. (I guess if he had landed on an aircraft-carrier, and hopped out of the plane in a flight suit it would have been okay…)

Anyway, I digress. Liz “My Daddy Is Famous” Cheney had the fucking cojones to say this on Fox News Radio’s John Gibson Show recently:

I think that what President Bush used to do is do it without the cameras.

“Do what?” you might ask. Bush never, not once, even visited Dover to honor the soldiers he put in harm’s way. Much less “without cameras.” Liz Cheney, being the daughter of Bush’s Vice President, knows this, or she should know it. Which makes her either a liar or fucking ignorant. And given her track record of public statements, I’m going with liar.

That’s really only the first part of this post. The second part has to do with general criticism of this event from the dingbat contingent of the right wing. Boss Limbaugh himself called Obama “narcissistic” and criticized the event as a mere “photo-op.” Other wingnut bloggers and TV punditainers have followed suit. Or you could just read some of the comments on the above link to the Washington Post:

All the world is a stage to Obama … every action a measured bit of stage-craft. Cold. The man is very, very cold.

He does absolutely nothing unless there are cameras there to capture his “holiness”.

a staged sympathy event

Some are even getting all in a tizzy about the salute. Apparently they are unaware that a salute is the appropriate way for the Commander in Chief to acknowledge a servicemember.

It’s all just a bunch of wingnut poo-flinging.

And, ho! What’s this!

(photo via Hullabaloo; click for larger)

It’s wingnut godfather Ronald Reagan visiting flag-draped coffins of those who died in the US Embassy attack in Beirut. And he even brought Nancy with him!

This further confirms my “First or Worse” Theory of Unified Wingnuttery, which states that any action by Democrats/liberals which gets the wingnuts into a tizzy was done either first or to a greater degree by a Republican/conservative (more on this later.)

So, in summation, fuck you Liz Cheney, and fuck you wingnuts.

link

YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDR47EKTrCQ

“I consider President Obama to be in the situation of having inherited a burning apartment building. He proceeded to gather all the available fire trucks and douse the fires in half the floors. Yet his critics complain that the other floors are still on fire. Even worse, those critics are the ones who started the fire. And they want to withdraw the fire trucks.” — economist Larry Mishell

1. Fact. Bush had more czars than Obama.

2. Fact. The number of czars a given administration has means absolutely nothing.

3. Fact. The term “czar” is a media fabrication. There is no official title of “[Something] Czar” in any administration.

4. Fact. Most of the “czars” Glenn Beck is fixated upon actually WERE vetted and approved by Congress, contrary to his claims.

It never ends.

The New York Times publishes over 600 words on Joe Wilson’s “you lie” outburst, without ONCE pointing out that Obama was telling the truth.

MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell spent an entire segment on the incident and never got around to telling her viewers who was right.

This is how conservatives dominate the media. They can make any claim they want, and it’s basis in fact will never be questioned or countered. The press will simply go to the Democrats, ask for a comment, and report it without actually informing their readers/audience who is telling the truth.

link

…and the corporate media is only too happy to help you.

In reporting Rep. Joe Wilson’s (R-SC) “you lie!” outburst during Obama’s speech, scandalously few media outlets are taking the extra step (you know, journalism?) to report the non-partisan FACT that what Obama said, and what Wilson objected to, was verifiably true.

Rep. Wilson objected to Obama’s assertion that the health care reform bill will not provide free health insurance to illegal immigrants. Thing is, Obama’s assertion is true. In fact, there is language in the bill which specifically prohibits illegal immigrants from receiving free coverage. So, in reality it was Rep. Joe Wilson who was lying.

It’s just more he-said/she-said laziness, done in the interest of ersatz “balance,” that passes for actual fact-based reporting these days. Instead of just reporting “well, Democrats say such n’ such but Republicans say such n’ such,” real journalist know it’s OK to report which side’s claims are factually correct.

My favorite part of the whole incident (besides the look on Pelosi’s face) was Rep. Wilson’s apology to Obama after the fact, part of which reads:

“While I disagree with the President’s statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable.”

Um…Joe? Facts are not subject to opinion. Your “disagreement” is irrelevant.

Bonus: Go here to check out Obama’s reaction and acceptance of Wilson’s apology: “I’m a big believer that we all make mistakes. He apologized quickly and without equivocation, and I’m appreciative of that.” Awesome. Obama easily outclasses his opponents at every turn.

Imagine right-wingers had launched an hysterical crusade about how Obama was going to scare school children with a speech about invading aliens. But then the White House released the text of the speech and–voilà!–no mention of invading aliens, would the [Washington Post] then print up a headline, “President Seeks to Avoid Aliens in Speech to Schools”?

The sad part is, considering how the press willingly allows itself to be led around by the GOP Noise Machine, I’m afraid the answer would be yes…

link