News Roundup for 5/6/09

Noted terrorist

-Headline of the day-
"Michael Savage, Fred Phelps banned from entering Britain."

The British government has released a "name and shame" list of 16 people who won't be allowed to enter the United Kingdom. "I think it's important that people understand the sorts of values and sorts of standards that we have here, the fact that it's a privilege to come and the sort of things that mean you won't be welcome in this country," said Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.

"If you can't live by the rules that we live by... we should exclude you from this country and, what's more, now we will make public those people that we have excluded," she said. In other words, play nice or get out of the pool.

Kids who are known not to play nice include Islamic extremists Abdullah Qadri Al Ahdal, Yunis Al Astal, and Amir Siddique, a guy from Hamas, a Ku Klux Klan leader, a neo-nazi, anti-gay nutjob Fred Phelps, and all-around right wing crazy, radio host Michael Alan Weiner -- who goes by the on-air alias of "Michael Savage." He apparently chose that name because "Max Power" was taken by an episode of The Simpsons.

If you want to know why Savage was barred from the UK, check here. He may very well be literally insane. He's racist, he's homophobic, he's misogynist, he hates autistic kids, he... Actually, rather than list off everyone Michael Savage hates, it's shorter just to say that the only person on Earth he seems to approve of is himself. We don't want to be here all day. Just rest assured that, no matter who you are, he hates you with every fiber of his batshit crazy being.

So good move by the UK. Unfortunately, we're stuck with him. No word on Savage's response to the news, but you assume the words "sick faggots," "round-heeled sluts," and "third world vermin" would be used. There would also be plenty of frothing spittle. Then a string of completely unrelated obscenities, repeated until Weiner finally passes out from apoplexy and pisses himself.

But you don't have to be The Amazing Kreskin to make that prediction. (Agence France-Presse)


-The leader has spoken-
Remember the big PR "listening tour" Republicans put together to pull the party out of the dumpster?

Yeah, that's off now.

Turns out that it got the veto from the most powerful Republican on the face of the Earth. According to the report, "Listening to all this talk about listening, Rush Limbaugh became incensed. He said that instead of taking cues from the American public, Republicans should fan out and spread their dogma through a 'teaching tour.' This morning on MSNBC, Cantor backtracked and said that he agreed with Limbaugh..."

See, this will work because there's nothing wrong with the Republican party, there's something wrong with American voters. Instead of GOPers doing some pansy-assed "listening" to what's wrong with the party, Republicans need to go on the offensive -- against voters -- and tell them what's wrong with them.

As a liberal, I wholeheartedly endorse this approach. Republicans should totally do that. Now. They should do it right now.

And so they shall. As Rush has spoken, so will it be done. "You know, Joe, really, this -- this is not a listening tour," Cantor told MSNBC's Joe Scarborough. "You know, think about what we saw a couple weeks ago on the tea parties." Cantor added that the plan was "to go out across this country to talk about our conservative principles and to appeal to as many elements in our society as we can." Meanwhile, we assume, those elements can just shut up and stop complaining.

Seriously though, these guys should listen to Rush all the time and do everything he tells them to. He's freakin' brilliant! (Think Progress)


-Bonus HotD-
"Does the local media overcover Michele Bachmann?"

The Minnesota Post's David Brauer both asks and answers that question and the answer is "not really." Brauer checks the local media and finds that most stories about America's favorite right wing lunatic are national. The Franken/Coleman recount dominates local coverage. Still, Shelly gets more coverage than other serving congress critters. He turned to City Pages' Kevin Hoffman to explain the attention.

"For us, it's like the old saying, 'You write about the planes that crash, not the ones that land safely.' Michele just happens to be a plane that crashes a lot -- often more than once a week," he said.

So coverage of Michele Bachmann isn't so much political coverage, as it is disaster coverage. She gets all the press for the same reason that "Area House Not on Fire" will never be a headline; she's a flaming wreck and the area house isn't. (Minnesota Post, via Right Wing Watch)