News Roundup for 5/11/10

The asshole in question

-Headline of the day-
"Barrasso Pledges To Make The Constitutionality Of Health Care A Major Issue In Kagan's Confirmation Hearings."

In my head, I've taken to calling Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming "Barrasso The Asshole." Now I finally get to do it on the blog. Yay for me!

Turns out The Asshole doesn't want to confirm anyone for the Supreme Court who thinks healthcare reform is constitutional. The problem here? Healthcare reform is totally constitutional, so The Asshole would only vote to confirm a nominee who shares his own misunderstanding of the commerce clause. In other words, someone who's obviously not qualified to serve on the Supreme Court.

Now you know why I think of John Barrasso, Republican Senator of Wyoming, as "Barrasso The Asshole." It kind of rhymes and it's undeniably true, so it's double-fun. (Think Progress, with video)


-Moderate no more-
The great state of Maine is known for maple syrup, lobsters, scary-assed stories from H.P. Lovecraft, Stephen King, and Chandler McGrew (hey, I get to plug a buddy), and a couple of somewhat less than insane Republicans in the form of Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. But the state Republican Party has a plan to change that -- no more somewhat less than insane Republicans. And they're not too hot on the lobsters, either.

According to the report, "An overwhelming majority of delegates to the Maine Republican convention... voted to scrap the the proposed party platform and replace it" with a new bunch of Republican principles. You just know there's a whole bunch of crazy in there... And you're right.

Among the things the Maine GOP stands for, you can now add an investigation into the "collusion between government and industry in the global warming myth," the adoption of "Austrian economics" (i.e., the unregulated "free market" crap that got us into this mess in the first place), the declaration that "Freedom of Religion' does not mean 'freedom from religion'" (which I guess means you can have religion forced on you), rejection of the UN Treaty on Rights of the Child (they think it makes spanking illegal), scrapping the Law Of The Sea Treaty (because pumping oil into the Gulf of Mexico is our God-given right and who cares about fisheries), and a vow to resist "efforts to create a one world government." Whew!

If that list is too long for you, a former attorney for the state GOP calls it "wack job pablum" and "nutcase stuff." The report say that "[although] party platforms often include planks that are outside the mainstream... the extremism this document represents is unique and unsettling."

So who's behind all this wingnuttery? We're told the document "contains favorable mentions of both the Tea Party and Ron Paul."

There's a surprise, huh? (Maine Politics)


-Bonus HotD-
"Far-Right Group AFA Demands To Know Kagan's Sexuality, Since 'No Lesbian Is Qualified' To Sit On SCOTUS."

See? I told you so. (Think Progress)