Pay To Play

Paul Krugman in Monday's New York Times:

A note to Tea Party activists: This is not the movie you think it is. You probably imagine that you’re starring in “The Birth of a Nation,” but you’re actually just extras in a remake of “Citizen Kane.”

True, there have been some changes in the plot. In the original, Kane tried to buy high political office for himself. In the new version, he just puts politicians on his payroll.

I mean that literally. As Politico recently pointed out, every major contender for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination who isn’t currently holding office and isn’t named Mitt Romney is now a paid contributor to Fox News. Now, media moguls have often promoted the careers and campaigns of politicians they believe will serve their interests. But directly cutting checks to political favorites takes it to a whole new level of blatancy.

Krugman continues:

As the Republican political analyst David Frum put it, “Republicans originally thought that Fox worked for us, and now we are discovering we work for Fox” — literally, in the case of all those non-Mitt-Romney presidential hopefuls. It was days later, by the way, that Mr. Frum was fired by the American Enterprise Institute. Conservatives criticize Fox at their peril.

So the Ministry of Propaganda has, in effect, seized control of the Politburo. What are the implications?

Read the column here.

How To Program Cable News 101

What's The Rush? We're Listening To NPR.

From Mother Jones, a f#ck you to Rush Limbaugh and his roving band of shrieking, opportunistic mimics:

A common question on the left is, "Why is there no liberal talk radio?" That is, no wildly popular liberal version of Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity or Laura Schlesinger. And the answer is: there is. It's called NPR. When lefties listen to the radio, that's what they listen to.

In one of the great under-told media success stories of the past decade, NPR has emerged not as the bespectacled schoolmarm of our imagination but as a massive news machine poised for what Dick Meyer, editorial director for digital media, half-jokingly calls "world domination." NPR's listenership has nearly doubled since 1999, even as newspaper circulation dropped off a cliff. Its programming now reaches 26.4 million listeners weekly — far more than USA Today's 2.3 million daily circ or Fox News' 2.8 million prime-time audience. When newspapers were closing bureaus, NPR was opening them, and now runs 38 around the world, better than CNN. It has 860 member stations — "boots on the ground in every town" that no newspaper or TV network can claim.

Read more here.

Charles Alan Wilson Was Enraged By Health Care Reform, So He Threatened To Kill His Senator.

Hmmm...I wonder what Wilson watched and listened to...

From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

A central Washington man was so enraged by the passage of federal health care reform that he threatened to kill U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, prosecutors charged Tuesday.

"I want to .... kill you," court documents say Charles Alan Wilson of Selah said in one of his foul-mouthed calls to Murray's office.
"Kill the .... senator! Hang the .... senator! I hope somebody puts a .... bullet between your .... eyes," court documents say he said in another call.
Wilson, 64, was charged Tuesday morning with threatening a federal official. He was undone, in part, by an FBI agent who posed as being with a group that wanted to repeal health-care reform.
FBI agents and local law enforcement arrested him at his home in Selah near Yakima.
Passage of health-care reform inflamed passions throughout the country. Officials from both parties reported threats and vandalism. Wilson may be the first person in country arrested for making such threats, The Associated Press reported.
Murray is a Democrat seeking her fourth term. Her office released a statement saying that after receiving numerous phone calls that included threats of violence from an unidentified individual, the office notified authorities.

The article is here. The felony complaint is here.

Maddow To Beck: "Back Off."

Everybody In The Whole Cell Block Was Dancin' To The Jailhouse Rock.

That's conservative hero and recent dirty tricks perp James O'Keefe with the epically stupid Glenn Beck a few months back, claiming with an idiot's bravado that a little time in the Crowbar Hotel didn't scare him.

I wonder if Jimmy will like his new bunkmate?

Andrew Breitbart: "So I Don't Even Understand Why I'm Here."

Well, Andrew, some of us have been asking ourselves that since you first darkened our doors...

I'm not much of a David Shuster fan, but former Drudge Report editor (and, ironically, Huffington Post developer) Andrew Breitbart is a whiny, angry, faux "newsman" who actually pays ACORN-obsessed dipshit James O'Keefe to make a fool out of them both.
Here, Breitbart and Shuster reenact--oh, I don't know--a bad Pee Wee Herman routine.
"I know you are, but what am I?"

Fox News Has A New Sitcom Star.

News item: Sarah Palin signs with FOX News:

“I am thrilled to be joining the great talent and management team at Fox News,” Palin said in a statement posted on the network’s Web site. “It’s wonderful to be part of a place that so values fair and balanced news.”

Sarah Palin as a "news" contributor? "Fair and balanced?" Now that's funny!

Michelle Malkin And Glenn Beck Share A Brain Stem.

Gee, Michelle; it looks like your fellow fuckwad already used that line--in March '09:

Time to hire a new ghostwriter, honey...

Oops! Limbaugh Loves Him Some Socialized, Unionized Health Care!

Now that Rush Limbaugh is out of the hospital and not dead, we are no longer under a societal obligation to act as if we are extending our best wishes.

From Firedoglake:

I don’t think Rush Limbaugh realized at the time what a colossal blunder his “I don’t think there’s one thing wrong with the American health care system” comment would turn out to be. And it all comes down to the fact that he was vacationing in Hawaii, which really doesn’t have a health care system with the same features as the American health care system. For one, they have a strong employer mandate that has led to the lowest premium prices in the country:

Hawaii’s health care system is distinct from the rest of the country, in that they passed a version of health reform decades ago, in 1974. The Hawaii Pre-Paid Health Care Act includes a requirement for employers to provide health coverage to their workers. As you may know, a similar requirement on large employers is a key part of the reform now pending in Congress.

And the employer requirement seems, by and large, to have succeeded. It has increased coverage–just under 8 percent of the state’s population is uninsured, second only to Massachusetts–and access to care. At the same time, Hawaii still has some of the lowest health care costs in the nation, despite its high cost of living and without an apparent decrease in quality–as Limbaugh himself discovered.

In fact, Hawaii’s system goes FURTHER than the efforts in the House and Senate to mandate employer responsibility, without complicated Rube Goldberg contraptions that lead to things like the “free rider” problem in the Senate bill. This has not killed jobs on the island and has led to far lower costs.

Hawaii also forces its employers to choose one of a few standardized insurance packages, which feature low co-pays and out-of-pocket expenses.

Hawaii is effectively tied with North Dakota for having the lowest average employer provided insurance premiums and has the lowest employee contribution toward premiums in the country. This is a very impressive accomplishment for a variety of reasons. First, Hawaii basically has the highest cost of living in America. Almost everything except health care costs dramatically more in Hawaii, compared with the mainland. Second, because of the “Prepaid Health Care Act,” the average quality of the employer-provided insurance in Hawaii is substantially greater than the rest of the country. Finally, Hawaii is the state with the second lowest level of uninsured people. None of the other ten states with the lowest level of uninsured are also in the top ten for lowest average single coverage employer health insurance premiums. Based on all metrics (cost, cost growth rate, quality, coverage, life expectancy, etc.), Hawaii has probably the best health care system in the country.

The real world evidence from this country and others points to some clear solutions. Mandating only a few (or one) precisely defined, high-quality, low-cost-sharing benefits packages would help keep costs down. It reduces administrative overhead, helps prevent insurance companies from gaming the system, allows true apple-to-apple comparison shopping, and encourages people to seek early treatment (the more cost-effective kind). Providing everyone with actual high-quality, affordable health insurance is not just morally the right thing to do, but also makes strong financial sense.

Limbaugh stayed at Queen’s Medical Center, where nursing staff are represented by the Hawaii Nurses’ Association (read: a labor union). The nurses at Queen’s are protected by their contract, which adheres to the ANA’s safe-staffing principlesguaranteeing appropriate staffing levels for any patient care unit.

In fact, Hawaii has one of the greatest percentages of organized workers of any state and also had the highest percentage of organized RNs. All private-sector acute care hospital RNs are organized, with just two known exceptions. We’re guessing this might have something to do with why Limbaugh found the Hawaii hospital staff’s work so “confidence-inspiring.”

When Limbaugh was released from Queen’s Medical Center, he cheerily noted, “The treatment I received here was the best that the world has to offer.”

Whether he realized it or not, Limbaugh was praising the care he received from union nurses in one of the country’s most progressive health care systems. On behalf of the labor movement and health reform advocates everywhere, THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT, Rush!

Let me add my thanks, asshole. Your role as a loud-mouthed, ignorant media whore actually helped expose some truth this time.

Rich Demagogue Lauds Health Care System; Rich Demagogue Doesn't Golf With The Uninsured.

Ya Don't Say! Glenn Beck Is Media Matters' "Misinformer Of The Year 2009."

We call him something a little saltier here at JackRabbit Cafe´...

What Would Bill O'Reiily Know About Goodness' Sake? (UPDATE: Xmas At Bill's.)

If it's Christmas, it must be time for Fox News and Papa Pud Bill O'Reilly to imagine a war against it.

Here, the Long Island Lunatic posits that those of us who don't believe in gods must somehow be jealous of those who happen to believe in such fairy tales. He's joined by a pair of equally dippy disciples in a yearly tradition entirely designed in his own feeble mind:

No, Bill--we're not "jealous" of Xmas. We're also not jealous of people who read their horoscopes, or people who don't step on sidewalk cracks because they fear they'll break their mother's backs.

(UPDATE: And now a word from our culture warrior...)

There's Gold In Them Thar Shills.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Beck - Not So Mellow Gold
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Is Talk Radio's Hot Air Contributing To Global Warming?

Somehow Everything's Gonna Work Out Fine...

Thanks, HuffPo--the suspense had been keeping me up at night:

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee says he's leaning slightly against running for president in 2012 but says it's far too early to say what he will do.

Huckabee says how the 2010 congressional elections turn out will affect his decision. He also will be looking at whether the Republican Party is willing to unite behind him as a candidate.

Another consideration, Huckabee says, is the status of his weekly TV show on Fox News.

Given those factors, Huckabee says mounting another presidential bid is "less likely rather than more likely" at the moment.

Huckabee finished second in the 2008 race for the GOP nomination. He remains a favorite of evangelical conservatives.

Huckabee appeared on "Fox News Sunday.

(Editor's note: "Fox News Sunday" rather than "Meet the Press" or "Face the Nation." McDonald's versus actual food; Astro-Turf versus grass; plastic surgery versus Mother Nature; Rupert Murdoch versus fact-based journalism; Gomer Pyle versus Mike Huckabee---oops, that last one's pretty much the same.)

Dana Perino & Teabag TV: Welcome To The Theater Of The Absurd.

26% Of Americans Are Out Of Their Freakin' Minds.

Teabag Serenade.

In an earlier post, I pointed out that right-wing tastemaker Matt Drudge had featured a picture with a mocking headline of President Obama's culturally correct bow in Japan. I also knew that Drudge's stupidity would immediately spread to his equally dim brethren in the teabag media.

Hmmm. I wonder how I knew that?

So it's completely predictable that the audio clip below features fetid fuckwad Glenn Beck repeating that lame bow schtick in a segment with failed Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, who conceded defeat in New York's 23rd district on November 3rd to Democrat Bill Owens. Beck gets a gullible Hoffman to admit that he will "unconcede" as some 10,000 absentee ballots are yet to be counted.

The teabag troglodytes are no doubt falsely buoyed by the suspension of reality inherent in Hoffman's folly, as he remains about 3,000 votes behind. Beck, of course, merely remains a horse's behind.

If "It's Time For The Truth," Why Would You Listen To These Mutants?

"Bold & Fresh." Careful; you don't wanna step in it...