A Bit of British Inbreeding

The British edition of the New York Post has published this bit of psycho babble, which limp dick wingnuts are already crowing about:

Like all good guests, Sarah Brown arrived bearing gifts for the children, Malia and Sasha. And they were really nice presents. A bit of thought had clearly gone into choosing them: Top Shop dresses (with matching necklaces) and a selection of books by British authors. Lovely.

...

In return Mrs Obama gave the Brown children, Fraser and John, two toy models of Marine One, the Presidential helicopter. Fair enough on the helicopter part, always a popular choice with small boys; but Marine One? It's not as though anyone needs reminding that Barack Obama is President or that he has his own helicopter. Short of giving the boys Action Man models of her own husband smiting the evil forces of neoconservatism, Mrs Obama's gesture could not have been more solipsistic or more inherently dismissive of Mrs Brown.

Not only did she demonstrate that she spent approximately three seconds contemplating the needs of the Brown boys (having an aide pop to the White House gift shop for a piece of merchandising does not imply a great deal of thought), she appeared to show a most uncharacteristic lapse of judgment.

Well, that's one way to look at it. Here's another.

As revealed by yesterday's Standard, the Browns showered gifts on the Obama children too, using the occasion to promote British exports.

Sarah Brown gave Sasha and Malia Obama an outfit each from Topshop, which has just opened its first American store in New York. She also picked six children's books by British authors which are shortly to be published in America.

In return, the Obamas gave the Browns two models of the presidential helicopter, Marine One, to take home to sons Fraser and John.

In the Ailes household, we have a name for people who compare the value of gifts exchanged. But I won't use that word here. And we have another word for assholes who manufacture outrage to promote their political agenda.

(Link added to first quote)

Stolberg to Obama: I'd Tap That

As someone who enjoys subtle puns and hidden innuendo in pithy headlines, I refuse to believe that Sherry Stolberg isn't making a lewd reference to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:

Obama Taps Clinton Ideas but Not Clinton Herself

As others have pointed out, the Secretary of State has plenty of matters to occupy her time. But Sherry can't write the name Clinton uncoupled from a reference to fucking.

Listen to this psycho babble:

Mrs. Clinton's distance from the health care initiative, figuratively and literally — she will be in Brussels on Thursday when Mr. Obama begins his effort to overhaul the system with a high-profile gathering of experts — underscores how the Obama White House is grappling with the cloud that still lingers over the Clinton plan 15 years after it imploded.

Mr. Obama is at once trying to distance himself from the baggage Mrs. Clinton carries as the architect of that plan, while demonstrating that he has learned from it. He is drawing on the experiences of a host of aides who are Clinton veterans, notably Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff. But he is not relying on Mrs. Clinton herself.

How clever of the President to sneak in a health care summit at the very moment Secretary Clinton wasn't looking. Or just maybe President Obama is at once trying to address the health care crisis, while demonstrating that he is trying to address the health care crisis.

The Times used to label made up shit as "News Analysis." No more. And it used to report on the substance of events, instead of putting on puppet shows of fairy tales.

Limp Teabags

WASHINGTON — More than 2,000 clean-energy activists converged at a coal-fired power plant on Capitol Hill on Monday for a protest they billed as the largest display of civil disobedience on the climate crisis in U.S. history. Willing to be arrested for their cause, they encircled and blocked entrances to the plant, which powers the U.S. Capitol and House and Senate office buildings.

No doubt the wingnuts have some ready excuses, such as that the Bag-In was held on a weekday; there aren't ever any conservatives in D.C.; there was no promotion or celebrities involved; the evil media didn't count the fetuses and the pre-fertilized eggs in attendance; etc. But those excuses would be lies (except maybe the last one, as a lot of the men in attendance looked to be in their ninth month). The truth is, their constituency was out looking for jobs.

When Fools Step In

Michael Steele -- You be da eunuch!

This is outrageous.

Next thing you know, TPM Muckraker is going to start publishing stroke photos.