Blog Profile / The Mahablog
| URL : | http://www.mahablog.com/ | |
|---|---|---|
| Filed Under: | US Politics / Liberal | |
| Posts on Regator: | 1606 | |
| Posts / Week: | 10.1 | |
| Archived Since: | May 12, 2010 | |
Blog Post Archive
Ends and Odds
First off, Jon Stewart takes down Peggy Noonan. The Daily Show with Jon StewartGet More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Indecision Political Humor,The Daily Show on Facebook John Schwartz of the New York Times writes about the lack of tornado shelters in Tornado Alley. Oklahoma officials are reluctant to add tornado shelter requirements to the building code, [...]
Inhofe: Tornadoes and Hurricanes Are Different
Like, hurricanes are wet and stuff. And they don’t strike Oklahoma. Joan Walsh: Inhofe, of course, believes his state deserves those resources, even though he voted down aid to Hurricane Sandy victims. On MSNBC, Chris Jansing confronted Inhofe about his calling the Sandy aid bill a “slush fund,” and the brazen right-winger insisted the two [...]
Congress: Selling Us Out, Piece by Piece
It’s safe to say not a day goes by without some part of Congress selling out to moneyed interests, and today was no exception. Today the House Committee on the Judiciary began fast-tracking a bill that obstructs promised compensation to asbestos victims. The Committee broke a promise to hold a public asbestos victims’ hearing and [...]
Eat-Your-Spinach Austerity and Machismo Economics
Here’s the back story: Paul Krugman has an article called “How the Case for Austerity Has Crumbled” in the current New York Review of Books. It’s a long article, but in it the Professor makes the point that austerity economics is more about morality than economics. It grows out of an emotional need to make [...]
Did Jonathan Karl Get Played? Or Did He Know the Lie Was a Lie?
Jay Rosen reviews the saga of ABC News’s Jonathan Karl and the fabricated email about Benghazi talking points, and says Karl got played by his source. But at FAIR, Peter Hart makes a strong case that Karl was a right-wing mole all along. Karl has been disingenuous about his bogus reporting, and I believe ABC [...]
Program Notes
After several days of scandal flame-fanning by Republicans, President Obama’s approval ratings are actually up just a tick. The latest wrinkle in Benghazi gate is that President Obama may not have been in the White House situation room during the attacks. Obama aide Dan Pfeiffer, on Fox News, said that the precise location of the [...]
The AP Phone Records
Via Kevin Drum, here’s an LA Times article on why the Administration was not happy about the leak of information to AP reporters. Disclosure of a highly classified intelligence operation in Yemen last year compromised an exceedingly rare and valuable espionage achievement: an informant who had earned the trust of hardened terrorists, according to U.S. [...]
Et tu, Cabbage?
So the Amazing Keyboarding Vegetable has one of his standard, weaselly, more-in-pity-than-anger columns up about When Good Governments Go Bad. A sample: It’s hard to tell now if the I.R.S. scandal is political thuggery or obliviousness. It would be one thing if the scandal is just a group of tax people targeting the most antitax [...]
Flogging the Dead Horse Watch
The scandals are falling apart, writes Ezra Klein. He takes apart all three — Benghazi, the IRS, and the AP/DOJ mess. Regarding Benghazi, Steve Benen is Watching a ‘scandal’ evaporate before our very eyes. He adds, There’s just nothing left. Trying to characterize this as a genuine political story worthy of attention has been a [...]
Scandal Status Report
Not that it’s going to settle anything, but two of the scandals roiling Washington this week are deflating faster than a cheap party balloon. A report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration says IRS scandal came out of the Determinations Unit of the Rulings and Agreements office. The Determinations Unit offices are in [...]
Benghazi (etc.) Unravels
See Steve Benen. Tweet
Thin Gruel for a Scandal
The so-called IRS scandal is getting dumber by the minute. Jeffrey Toobin: It’s important to review why the Tea Party groups were petitioning the I.R.S. anyway. They were seeking approval to operate under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code. This would require them to be “social welfare,” not political, operations. There are significant advantages [...]
Adventures in Cluelessness
First off, Newt demonstrates why he really needs to shut up and go quietly to the Old Hornytoads Home. Today Darrell Issa returned to the claim that President Obama did not call the Benghazi attacks a “terrorist act,” but an “act of terror,” which means something entirely different. What can one say but … please [...]
The Pity Party
It’s a happy day in Rightie World. It has been determined that the part of the IRS that oversees and approves tax-exempt status was putting right-wing groups under heavier scrutiny than normal. This has given the Right plenty of cause to whine and wallow in self-pity, which of course is what they live for. This [...]
Benghazi Benghazi Benghazi Benghazi Benghazi Benghazi
The New York Times editorial board writes of this week’s Benghazi hearing, The hearing did not prove anything like an administration cover-up or other hysterical allegations of crimes equal to Watergate that some Republicans, such as Representative Steve King and Senator Lindsey Graham, have alleged. Republicans have held numerous hearings and briefings on Benghazi and [...]
GOP Obstruction News
This just in at Talking Points Memo: In a letter to President Obama, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) noted their original opposition to Obamacare, reiterated their intent to repeal it entirely, and declared that they would not make any appointments to the Independent Payment Advisory Board. The IPAB [...]
Stewart on Benghazi
When he’s good, he’s really good. The Daily Show with Jon StewartGet More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Indecision Political Humor,The Daily Show on Facebook The Daily Show with Jon StewartGet More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Indecision Political Humor,The Daily Show on Facebook Tweet
David Brooks: Liberals Hate Their Mothers
The Cabbage writes, thus: … immigration opponents are effectively trying to restrict the flow of conservatives into this country. In survey after survey, immigrants are found to have more traditional ideas about family structure and community than comparable Americans. They have lower incarceration rates. They place higher emphasis on career success. They have stronger work [...]
All Is Not Awful
This may cheer you up — Rush Limbaugh is costing Cumulus Media millions of dollars. Cumulus Media today reported a $2.4 million first-quarter decline in revenue related to talk programming, a loss that CEO Lew Dickey attributed, indirectly, to Limbaugh’s controversial remarks about Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke. The earnings call came one day after [...]
Benghazi Benghazi Benghazi
I see that the Right is still trying to make an issue out of Benghazi. They’re still struggling to make out just what was done that was so awful, however. Jonathan Bernstein writes, No, there’s no particular reason that it makes any sense…there’s still no core story that this cover-up was (supposedly) covering up for. [...]