Speaker John Boehner, self immolation, and the G.O.P.'s rapid slide into irrelevancy

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Ed.

The Bone makes his sequestration face. I am not a fan, but admit I feel for him. He has tried, but is pretty much helpless while his party is hell-bent on self-immolation, not to mention relishing his humiliation  every step of the way. 

The Speaker thought getting Bachmann, Palin, Paul, Herman Cain, Rick Perry, et al, out of the way would help. But the instant they shuffle one whack job out the door, another wingnut steps in to fill their shoes. And that's the way I like it.

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Mitt Romney takes one more courageous stand

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor

(Reuters) -"Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney chose Veterans Day to proclaim to the American people his conviction that the world is a dangerous place, and the United States must remain its most formidable military power."  OK.  And how is this different from every other Presidential candidate of any party in the last fifty years?  Except for a few random dingbats and  Ron Paul, Dick Gregory, and The Greens, this is what every single politician says, and, except for a few extreme cynics, actually believes.

I have to say it again--I think Mitt Romney is probably the most charmless Republican candidate I remember in my lifetime, and in recent memory, only Steve Forbes comes close.  And that list includes Dick Nixon, 41 and 43, David Duke, and a whole raft of other cretins, pinheads, charlatans, and mountebanks.

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Barry Goldwater pilots a 737 between Seattle and Everett, Wash.

Thank the Lord he wasn't piloting a bomber!  The original caption to this photo:

"1964 GOP Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater pilots a Boeing 737 twinjet during a visit to Boeing facilities. Goldwater flew the plane from Seattle to Everett, Washington, and back, including take-off and landings, while touring Boeing plants assembling the 737 and 747 superjet."

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Opening 2012 dustup: Romney v. Palin

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor
on assignment in New Orleans

Yesterday, a Romney insider told Time Magazine that they "do not believe Sarah Palin is a ’serious human being,'."  Politico called someone in the Ex-Alaska Governor's camp, where they were told that comment was “frankly immature."  Romney more or less Tweeted an apology.

I suspect there will be lots of great back and forth between the Palin camp and all the (so far) many other candidates.  Ex-Governor Palin is definitely on steadier ground when she can have the ghost-writers cook up her press releases.  But, I for one, mainly look forward to her debate performances.  Read more at one of my favorite political snark sites:  Wonkette. 

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It looks like Boob-gate is over? Pablo Fanque ponders the never-ending Sarah Palin "news cycles"

By Pablo Fanque
National Affairs Editor

Like the stories about Trig's paternity, and even better, maternity; her very public spat with her daughter's Ex-BF; tales of skulduggery in the Governor's Office; and reports and photos of junior high-style crib notes written on her palm with a Sharpie, we enjoyed the recent Boob-gate stories--and photographic evidence--circulating on both mainstream and wack sites. 

As you probably know from visiting All This Is That, we've never believed in letting the truth get in the way of a good story.

At All This Is That, we've never really been Palin-haters. Now granted, we were stunned to see her nominated for VP inthe first place, were alternately amused and horrified to see her in action those first couple of awkward weeks, and generally, been mostly depressed about her political ascendancy and amazing ability to sell books.  But she's lobbed plenty of cheap shots of her own, too, and more than earned whatever piling-on comes her way. 

All that said, Boob-gate is just another chapter in the bizarre and continuing story of the Ex-Governor.  Only last week, she was making headlines over her new neighbor, author Joe McGinnis, and just what his intentions were in becoming her neighbor.  Whenever Sarah Palin is out of the news for more than two weeks, some new contretemps or imbroglio erupts, and shortly thereafter, the Ex-Governor emerges to feed the teabagging rabble red meat by castigating the press, The President, Congress, and the Democrats. 

OK.  The silicon bag story is over (but really, unresolved).  Now, hang on two weeks for the next installment in the Sarah Palin psychodrama. . .

Naturally, this followed the usual trajectory.  After the story bounced around the internet and mainstream media a few days, Ex-Governor Palin appeared on Fox's Greta Van Sustern show to set the record straight.

"I know that “boobgate” is all over the Internet right now because there are a lot of, I guess, bored, idle bloggers and reporters with nothing else to talk about. And I think some of those folks, too, they need to grab a shovel, go down to the gulf, volunteer to help, clean up and save a whale or something instead of reporting on such stupid things like that.
"No, I have not had implants. I can’t believe, yes, that we’re even talking about this."

Save a whale?  Really?
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A huge G.O.P.victory & bad news for BHO on his first anniversary as President

"BOSTON – A year to the day after his inauguration, Barack Obamaand his Democratic allies are suddenly scrambling to save his signature health care overhaul and somehow rediscover their political magic after an epic loss in the Massachusetts Senate race.

"Republican Scott Brown rode a wave of voter anger to beat Democrat Martha Coakley. The loss was a stunning embarrassment for the White House. It also signaled big political problems for the president's party this fall when House, Senate and gubernatorial candidates are on the ballot nationwide." Read the grim Associated Press story here

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Retraction: Pablo Fanque makes the rare mistake: Palin pregnancy story goes nowhere--Limbaugh, Hannity, and possibly Lieberman off the hook

On rare occasions, even Pablo Fanque is wrong . On July 4th, 2009, he reported that Sarah Palin resigned the governorship because she was pregant. Best line in his article: "Complicating things even further, another reporter saw Democrat convert Senator Arlen Specter leaving her hotel suite, with shoes in hand, at three in the morning."

Palin resignation bombshell: "Not really sure" if the father is Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh

July 4, 2009

By Pablo Fanque,
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

Shortly after Governor Sarah Palin's hastily called, and sparsely attended, press conference at her home in Wasilla, Alaska yesterday, I was contacted by a friend in her administration. Take that with however many grains of salt you wish. . .I actually do have friends in her administration. None of those friends has ever leaked a word, or fed me anything of substance since the day her name began circulating on short lists of Sen. John McCain's VP choices. Until this afternoon.

Following Governor Sarah Palin's resignation announcement earlier today, a CNN anchor wondered: "Is Sarah Palin pregnant?" The talking head inadvertently stumbled onto the story, but failed to dig deep enough to uncover the underlying bombshell.

If you believe my source (I do), Governor Palin joins the ranks of Republicans involved in sex scandals in recent weeks. If troubles, like celebrity deaths, come in threes, Sarah Palin is about to join Governor Mark Sanford, and Senator John Ensign in the doghouse.

At the April Republican Leadership Conference in Oklahoma City, the Governor was at loose ends. She had just been savaged by the press, and McCain campaign staffers were leaking nasty tidbits about her to friends in the press. She was there to network, to forget, and to party.

On at least two nights, she was drinking heavily with supporters and other prominent Republican officials. As it turns out, she became pregnant at the conference. The problem is, she's not sure whether the father is Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity. Complicating things even further, another reporter saw Democrat convert Senator Arlen Specter leaving her hotel suite, with shoes in hand, at three in the morning."

To quote the Governor from her press conference yesterday, there is little doubt that she is "advancing in another direction."
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Governor Schwarzenegger sends a hidden message (F*** You!) to Tom Ammiano

Governor Schwarzenegger sent a hidden, but very public message (F*** you) to Tom Ammiano, the San Francisco Democrat, in a letter vetoing a bill Ammiano sponsored. You may remember Tom Ammiano from the movie Milk, in which he played himself. You can find the details of their feud elsewhere, but the imbroglio started when Ammiano heckled the Governor during a speech...

Here is the letter (emphasis added by us).


click to enlarge
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Ex-VP Dick Cheney: does it take a myocardial infarction to shut this douchebag up?

click to enlarge

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Clown Wars: Pablo Fanque reports on the factionalism, disarray, depression, hopelessness, and continuing losing prospects of The Republican Party

Click the Governor to enlarge

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

[Pablo Fanque's work appears in numerous journals, blogs, books, and at times, on the sides of buses and even scrawled in bathroom stalls and phone booths. After working as a community organizer for two years in southeast King County, near Seattle, he began his college education. After his expulsion from Harvard University in 1977, Fanque continued (and even completed) college while working in the publishing business, in San Francisco, New York City, and in the Pacific Northwest. Pablo's artistic output includes hundreds of paintings and drawings, including his monumental "Heads," consisting of 150 canvases, each with 16 or 96 portraits. He has completed, and is now revising his next book, "The King Begins To Falter." Fanque met Jack Brummet in 2004 at a rock show in Austin, Texas, and they have been friends, and collaborators, ever since.]

How can we analyze or understand the dissension, disarray, division, and decimation visited upon the Republican Party in the last year or two? When Pat Buchanan and Newt Gingrich emerge as the charming and likable voices of moderation and reason, you know the party has come off the rails. A simple enumeration of the [unelected] voices of the party tells the sad story:

Sean Hannity
Michael Steele (who surely will be shuffled out the door sooner rather than later)
Jon Voight
Rush "Oxy" Limbaugh
Liz Cheney

There are even a few elected Republican voices:

Sarah Palin
Haley Barbour (he's been visiting New Hampshire and Iowa already)
John Boehner
Tim Pawlenty
Mitch McConnell
Bobby Jindal (but let's face it, his pathetic performance in his state of the union rebuttal pushed him back into the wings)
John McCain

And then there are one-time elected Republicans, some of who hope to leap back into the fray, or even make the leap into The Oval Office:

Mitt Romney
Newt Gingrich
Dick Cheney
Mike Huckabee (who feels like the front runner, along with Gingrich, and Governor Palin).
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Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin appeared at a Republican congressional fundraiser Monday night, ending a long and drawn out will-she-or-won't-she mystery that, in the end, probably overshadowed the event and left the GOP even more frustrated and in greater disarray than before.

Palin -- the party's disastrous 2008 VP nominee--was originally scheduled to headline the annual Senate-House dinner. She was shunted aside in favor of former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. After that, Governor Palin left the organizers hanging in the wind...even as late as Monday afternoon. [This is not the first time Palin has thrown a public tantrum over not being allowed to speak. Remember Election Night? Palin expected to give a speech, but soon learned that no losing VP candidate gives a speech on election night, particularly when they violated the VP Hippocratic oath--Do No Harm.] Let's face it. . .the GOP slapped a muzzle on the pitbull with lipstick. Last week, when it started to look like a real event, Palin's advisers told the RNCC she would be near Washington and would like to come. Uh-oh.

Republican officials involved in the discussions (who spoke on condition of anonymity--natch, because of the sensitivity of the matter), said Palin was invited to sit at a head table but would not be given the chance to speak. The GOP was worried that she might swamp, or out-maverick, Newt Gingrich. Granted, Newt isn't exactly a dynamo on the rostrum, but if you're sweating Governor Palin overshadowing you at a Republican dinner, well, friendo, your Presidential dreams are ashes.

Palin didn't like this turn of affairs one bit, and did not make clear whether she would refuse to attend, officials say. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, made a personal appeal over the weekend for her to attend and invited her and her husband, Todd Palin, to sit at the big boys' table.

Late Monday afternoon, Palin's aides informed the organizers that she and her husband would attend, although a spokeswoman for the governor's political committee would not confirm that.

Palin has her eyes on the White House in 2012. In March, the National Republican Congressional Committee, put out a news release saying that Palin would be the keynote speaker at the dinner--one of the party's largest fundraisers. Palin's representatives then weaseled, saying the governor wanted to make sure the event did not interfere with state business. Right.

It can't have helped Palin's cause that she is being accused of plagiarizing Dick Cheney's speeches (or that she is embroiled in a very public pissing match with David Letterman.) I don't know about that one. I've just always kind of assumed, when there is any content in her speeches and edicts, it was lifted from elsewhere. She is accused of snagging a substantial portion of a speech from Newt Gingrich--the man she will eventually run against in the primaries.
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Rebuttal: Pablo Fanque, are you out of your f***ing mind? Arlen Specter: Hero?

By Jack Brummet
All This Is That Arts and Lifestyles Editor

In Pablo Fanque's misguided recent posting on Arlen Specter (Celebrate! Sen. Arlen Specter extricates himself from The Hive--> The GOP begins to succumb to The Sickness) on All This Is That, Pablo makes the error of postulating Arlen Specter's party-switch as an heroic act. In fact, Pablo, Arlen Specter has explicitly stated that he switched parties to save his own skin. He was basically run out of his own party on a rail, and faced a primary battle which pollsters said he was sure to lose. So he jumped ship, and came on over to our party. And within one day, admitted he may not follow his new party's line, on Senate procedural issues a/k/a The Filibuster), or on whomever BHO nominates for the Supreme Court Associate Justice slot. That's possibly OK. It's not just the G.O.P. who like their mavericks. We like people to get "mavericky" too. But, to paraphrase Gertrude Stein, "a rat is a rat is a rat."




Arlen Specter has always been one of my favorite Republicans, mostly because he would cross the aisle, and has co-sponsored bills with Democrats like Joe Biden. He is an intelligent man. I've never quite forgiven him for what he did to Anita Hill in the Thomas confirmation hearings.

He's no Hero, Pablo, and certainly not deserving of the halo you awarded him. Sure, I'm glad he's on our side; but let's face it, he's on our side as long as it suits his purposes (e.g., being re-elected at all costs). He jumped to our party because he has nowhere else to go.

I recommend we welcome him into the party, and "trust, but verify." In short, sure, bring him in, but don't trust him any further than you can throw him. What's to say he won't jump ship on us once the prevailing winds change direction? For now, let's bring him along. . .even if he ends up as a double agent. But let's not call him a hero. He's a politician, with all the treachery, ambition, and madness that entails.

Pablo, I wonder, from your anointing of Senator Specter, if you don't have a Republican streak yourself? And, as for you Arlen Specter, if you're going to abandon ship, why not jump the shark and become a full-blooded Yellow Dog Democrat? You'll be leaving behind the festering cadaver of the G.O.P., but you'll be gaining a brother and sisterhood of The Right Stuff.
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Celebrate! Sen. Arlen Specter extricates himself from The Hive--> The GOP begins to succumb to The Sickness

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

Wow. This is, to quote John Sebastian at The Woodstock Festival, a "mindf***er of all mindf***ers." We DID know Specter's break with the Party in voting for BHO's budget was not just a break, but a massive, and perhaps irreparable breach. Arlen Specter! He's been a Republican longer than most Republicans have been alive!

It's no secret to political junkies that Specter is a close friend of the Vice President. Biden has cajoled Sen. Arlen Specter to jump to the Democratic Party for six years. In the last week, he talked to the heroic party-switcher no fewer than 15 times, officials close to Joe Biden told Fox News. Ever since Specter voted against his party, and for the massive Obama stimulus package, Biden seems to have been pressing his case.

A decade ago, Republicans had nine senators in the 11 states stretching up the Interstate 95 corridor north of the Capitol. Today, they have three senators from those states, and one, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, will retire in 2010.

"This has been a long time coming," said the senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity [cluck cluck cluck]. "He's been having this conversation with Specter for half a dozen years. They're close. You'd be hard-pressed to find a senator he's co-sponsored more bills with." The two are also Amtrak buddies, riding from D.C. to Biden's home in Wilmington, Del., and Specter's in Philadelphia. And they've served together forever on the Senate Judiciary Committee, often in concert, sometimes in opposition.

Yeah, they did split over the sexual harassment allegations by Anita Hill against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas with Specter taking the low road and endlessly hectoring Hill during her testimony and attempting (in the end, successfully, and shamefully) to derail her charges.

The White House official told Fox that "Biden views the stimulus vote as 'a clarifying event' for Specter, one where he decided to back Obama's economic approach and risk retribution from his party." When Specter was faced with a dogfight with a very well-funded conservative challenger, Republican Patrick Toomey, it was the last straw, and he joined The Good Fight.



Readers of All This Is That--when they do not immediately recoil and click away upon seeing an article on The Greys--are well aware of the Alien Lore regarding "cerebral eviction" practices, or, the "Alien Rejection Technique", first used by John Loengard as a method of ganglion removal for human hosts implanted by the Hive. During the final moments of an A. R.T., the human host usually coughs up the ganglion,which must locate a new host. . .or succumb. In this case, however, Senator Specter ejected himself from the diseased host and immediately jumped to a new, healthy, positive host, leaving the former host to the pathetic ministrations of Rush "Oxy" Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Rudy Giuliani, and Bobby Jindal.

And, hey, Republicans. . .the tent is big! Come on Senator Olympia Snowe, Senator Susan Collins, Senators McCain and Lamar Alexander. We will welcome all of you actual and alleged centrists. Even you, Joe Lieberman, you sub-human, sawed-off P.O.S. . .come into the big tent! There's lots of room, and we have lots of work for everyone.
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Rudy Giuliani & Republican Family Values

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

It almost snaps my brain-pan from its moorings to hear Rudy Giuliani come out against gay marriage. . .or try to speak with any authority at all on marriage period--straight or gay.

Rudy Giuliani was curb-stomped in his quest for the Republican presidential nomination. . .and yet, he seems to be pondering a comeback. NY Governor David Paterson is extremely vulnerable right now, and Giuliani may well swoop in and attempt to grab the job like a shark circling a wounded dolphin. In Monday's New York Post, Giuliani hinted that, if he did run, same-sex marriage would be a flagship issue.

Paterson introduced a bill that would, if passed, legalize same-sex marriage. In an interview, Giuliani came out very strongly against that idea, and said that it could galvanize New York Republicans in 2010. "This will create a grass-roots movement. This is the kind of issue that, in many ways, is somewhat beyond politics," the former New York City mayor told Post reporter Fred Dicker. "I think gay marriage will obviously be an issue for any Republican next year. . ."

He later said that that same-sex marriage "will be something that Republicans don’t have to use -- this is something that will bring a lot of people to the Republican Party because it’s such a basic challenge to what people believe is the way society should be organized."

Of course, an open attack like this will open up the subject of Giuliani's execrable conduct of his own family life. He's working on Marriage No. 3, and is estranged from his children. At least one of them, I remember, didn't even vote for him in the primaries. . .they voted for Obama. As his flame-out for the Republican nomination demonstrated, Giuliani just doesn't get a lot of traction on anything (except possibly "9/11"). He has gay friends. He has been known to dress in drag. One of his gay friends (in fact Rudy lived with two gay men when he was between wives in the 90s), Howard Koeppel, told the New York Post that Giuliani said that if same-sex marriage were to become legal in New York, "he would marry us himself."

It's hard to understand why we are even still talking about this. Rudy Giuliani, who moved his girlfriend into Gracie Mansion while his wife and children were still living there, who married and divorced his own cousin, and turned his back on his children, is just about the last person we should look toward for any wisdom about marriage. Or politics. Or national defense. However, that being said, I welcome Rudy to run for governor or for President again.
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Ted Stevens escapes the hangman's noose and the hunters become the hunted

illustration by jack brummet

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

The Justice Department moved today to drop all charges against former Senator and current douchebag Ted Stevens of Alaska, who just barely lost his seat last year after being convicted on seven felony counts of ethics violations.

Stevens faced serious prison time over the charges. But the judge, Emmet Sullivan, has been reluctant to stick him in the hoosegow, because of the earlier accusations of prosecutorial misconduct.

In an utterly depressing and incredible new development (about which rumors have bounced around for months), Justice Department lawyers told a federal court that they had discovered yet another instance of prosecutorial misconduct (it must have been egregious!) in the case and asked that the convictions be voided. Attorney General Eric F. Holder Jr. said that "in the interests of justice," there would be no new trial.

And, now, the hunters become the hunted (there may be a little justice after all). It appears that at least some of the prosecutors who tried Stevens on ethics charges would now face ethics charges themselves and be sent to a "don't drop your soap" federal prison.
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Rachel Maddow responds to Bobby Jindal's response to President Obama's speech

Rachel Maddow, MSNBC's rising star, who is never at a loss for words was just that the other night. Here is Rachel attempting to respond to Keith Olberman:



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Ed Anger on Bobby Jindal

In an opinion piece this week in the Weekly World News, Ed Anger writes:

"Bobby Jindal says he’s from Crapistan or one of those hellholes, but do we know that for sure? Maybe he’s really a Terminator from the future, except instead of laser beams, he can kill you just by talking. At least that Cheney robot we had for eight years didn’t go on TV and bore you to death, and that Romney one’s programmed to smile once in a while."

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Governor Bobby Jindal's Dr. Faustus Bargain?

An update from the weekly world news tells that Senator Bobby Jindal’s talks with Satan appear to be working, since not long after, he was picked to deliver the official GOP response to President Obama’s State of the Union. Unfortunately, it was an unmitigated train wreck. . .


It looks like the wheels may be coming off his deal with The Devil.
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Sarah Palin explains How Obama Won with collusion from "the bloggers" and liberal media as she is interviewed for the documentary "Media Malpractice"

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Correspondent

Sarah Palin was recently interviewed for what seems to be a right wing documentary on how Obama won, titled "Media Malpractice." It's basically stock Palin. . .interestingly, she doesn't take on the McCain campaign who were probably more responsible than anyone for how she was perceived by the media, and the public, particularly in the last month of the campaign, when they unabashedly threw her under the bus (ed note: do not infer by this that we don't believe she fully deserved to be placed under the bus).


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And the race is on: The 2012 Presidential campaign has begun. . .The first hat in the ring? Sarah Palin's.

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

All This Is That's coverage of the 2012 Presidential race begins now. The election campaign kicked off quietly today, when Governor Palin of Alaska launched her website and PAC. What does The Governor's political action committee intend to do? They are. . .



"Dedicated to building America's future, supporting fresh ideas and candidates who share our vision for reform and innovation. SarahPAC believes America's best days are ahead. Our country, founded on conservative principles and the fight for freedom, must confront the challenges of the 21st century with integrity, innovation, and determination.

"SarahPAC believes energy independence is a cornerstone of the economic security and progress that every American family wants and deserves.

"SarahPAC believes the Republican Party is at the threshold of an historic renaissance that will build a better future for all. Health care, education, and reform of government are among our key goals. Join us today!"

It is clear as an unmuddied stream...Sarah Palin is running for President. She will do it by swinging to the far right, or, really, shucking the patina of moderation the McCain Presidential campaign required of its would-be Veep.

Sarah Palin will remind us that she warned us about just what Obama would unleash once the fetters were off. She will use BHO's middle name frequently. She will call him a Marxist, pinko, commie dupe, and naive. If she studies hard over the next couple of years, and if Obama seriously fumbles the ball, she may just have a shot in the primaries.

It will be most interesting to see what her PAC cooks up, and who in the G.O.P. will be on her side. One old pro I don't think we'll see sign up is Senator John McCain. I would have to guess they spoke the last words they spoke to each other were through gritted teeth the night of the election, when McCain put the kibosh on the concession speech she thought she could strongarm him into letting her deliver.

We are on her mailing list and will bring you updates as her PAC swings into action and begins accumulating cash for her Oval Office bid.
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The Palin Phone Call Prank

An Associated Press article came out yesterday, with a transcript of much of the prank phone call to Sarah Palin from a Quebec radio station's "President Nicolas Sarkozy of France." Jump here to read the article. It's pretty good.

click to enlarge the Governor

"Palin praises Sarkozy throughout the call and also mentions his wife, Carla, a model-turned-songwriter.

"You know, I look forward to working with you and getting to meet you personally and your beautiful wife," Palin says. "Oh my goodness, you've added a lot of energy to your country with that beautiful family of
yours."

The Sarkozy impersonator tells Palin his wife is "so hot in bed" and then informs her that Bruni has written a song for her about Joe the Plumber entitled "Du rouge à lèvres sur une cochonne" - which translates as "lipstick on a pig."

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