There Has To Be An Award For Things Like This

I < 3 Kathy Griffin:

Kathy Griffin had the extreme pleasure of bumping into Michele Bachmann at a political event; the two ladies recognized one another and when they started to speak an assistant filmed the exchange, supposedly for Bachmann's website. Kathy, always on top of her game, decided to ask the tea party princess if she'd attend a rally to repeal DADT — and when Bachmann said no, Griffin followed up with, "Were you born a bigot or did you grow into one?" Boom.

On the Bright Side

Nancy Pelosi is the only Democrat with balls:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi struck a combative tone tonight, rejecting the Medicare "doc fix" passed hastily through the Senate Friday until Senate Republicans allow a vote on jobs measures that have passed through the House.

"I see no reason to pass this inadequate bill until we see jobs legislation coming out of the Senate," said Pelosi in a statement.

I wish we could see this kind of cojones from the White House.

She's also gone after the Republicans in general on their corporate coziness:



Q: Do you think Mr. Barton should step aside as Ranking Member on the Energy and Commerce Committee? And do you think his sudden firestorm that's blown up around his comments represents kind of a turning point for the Republicans, and this attitude you describe of favoring big business?

Speaker Pelosi. A turning point for them supporting Big Business? They've always been on that track.

Q: Is this comment too far?

Speaker Pelosi. Well, let me just say that — that was one comment. I think it's important to note that it was not inconsistent with comments made the chairman of the Republican Study Committee — a part of the Republican leadership, Representative Tom Price. He said: "BP's reported willingness to go along with the White House new fund suggests that the Obama Administration is hard at work exerting its brand of Chicago-style 'shakedown' politics."

So I think that Mr. Barton's comments fit comfortably among the leadership of the Republicans in the House of Representatives. It's up to them to decide who's in the leadership of their committees. But he is not alone in his association with sympathy for the oil companies.

As I said before, people in the Gulf are suffering from BP's negligence and recklessness. Republicans in Congress are apologizing to BP.

Obama's Gay Rights Score Hits Negative Numbers

This is sort of devastating:



I don't think I need to add anything, except to note that when a progressive introduces a bill to help move toward what 70% of the American people want and is told by the White House to stop, just what is it that we're dealing with here?

There's nothing controversial about repeal of DADT -- even majorities of church-going Republicans endorse that one.

Update:

Here's a summary post of the results from our Democratic allies.

Impeach

From Crooks and Liars:

On Thursday, Chairman John Conyers’ House Judiciary Committee held a hearing at which Attorney General Michael Mukasey said that he would not investigate torture (video) or warrantless spying (video), he would not enforce contempt citations (video), and he would treat Justice Department opinions as providing immunity for crimes (report).

None of this was new, but perhaps it touched something in Conyers that had not been touched before. Following the hearing, he and two staffers met for an hour and 15 minutes with two members of Code Pink to discuss impeachment.

From this story, it sounds like Conyers is afraid of actually taking any action in the face of the administration's brazen dismissal of our form of government. Push him a little.

Here's contact information:

Call 202-225-5126
Fax 202-225-0072
Email john.conyers@mail.house.gov

And here's the e-mail I sent to him and to my own representative:

Dear Rep. Conyers:

I understand that you are considering instituting impeachment hearings against Attorney General Mukasey. Given his recent testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, in which he dismissed both the Congress and the Courts as partners in our government and essentially declared that the Department of Justice (and hasn't that become a misnomer of vast scale?) will be the sole arbiter of law, I feel that you have no other responsible course.

I would like to feel that the Democrats, at least, have some regard for our institutions and ideals and are willing to take the actions necessary to preserve the rule of law in this country. I urge you to begin such hearings as soon as possible. I am sending a copy of this e-mail to my own Congresswoman, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, to advise her of my support.

Thank you, and best wishes.

Translation of the second paragraph: Show some spine. Impeachment is way overdue and you don't help any of us by sitting there worrying about who's going to say mean things. We already know the answer to that.