Randi Rhodes: Weiner Gone

Well, Weiner pulled out. Hey, don’t judge me. I’ve got to unload these Weiner jokes while they’re hot. Hey, there goes another one! In the end, Weiner just couldn’t stand up to the pressure. OK, now I’m not even doing it intentionally. Let’s start again. Anthony Weiner announced his resignation today at the same Brooklyn senior center where he announced his first run for NYC city council back in the early 90’s. He may be resigning to spare himself and his family any more embarrassment, though I’m not sure more embarrassment than this is even possible.

I can guarantee that nobody is happier that Anthony Weiner is going away than David Vitter. He’s still in the Senate, though I imagine this whole affair caused him to soil more than one pair of diapers. It’s an impressive example of survival. David Vitter took a licking and kept on ticking. Anthony Weiner didn’t even get a licking, and he’s out of here. Vitter never really paid the price for what he did. Well, he paid the prostitutes, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I don’t know what a hooker who specializes in unusual requests charges for a diapering, but I can’t imagine that what Vitter paid was anywhere near the price that Anthony Weiner ultimately paid. Weiner’s unfortunate last name really gave this scandal traction. David Vitter might have been forced to resign if his name had been David Diapers.

Turning to wieners who are sticking around, Texas Governor Rick Perry might be running for President of the United States, now that he seems to have given up on his threat to have Texas secede from the United States. Rick Perry is what would happen if you put Mitt Romney’s hair on Michele Bachmann’s empty head. Perry first became Governor of Texas back in 2000 when George Bush quit to become president. It’s not easy to go downhill from George Bush, but Rick Perry pulled it off. Perry is the longest serving governor in the history of Texas, at over 10 years now. It’s a testament to how big Texas is that Rick Perry has still been unable to completely destroy it. During a recent period of drought and wildfire, Rick Perry proclaimed a “Days of Prayer for Rain.” I’m surprised he didn’t sacrifice a goat. He did sacrifice a good-sized chunk of the budget for the state agency that was fighting the wildfires. If you have as much faith as Rick Perry does in the power of prayer, pray for God to deliver Texas from Rick Perry.

Today’s Homework | Discuss

Thom Hartmann: The US Conference of Mayors is jumping into the anti-war effort

The US Conference of Mayors is jumping into the anti-war effort. Tomorrow - the conference will introduce a resolution to call for a quicker end to US foreign wars around the world. If it passes - it will be the first anti-war resolution passed by the Conference of Mayors since Vietnam.

Even though the mayors have no power over the funding of these wars like lawmakers in Congress do - mayors around the country see first-hand the effects of this war - in particular the costs - as more and more cities in America are going broke while hundreds of billions are spent dropping bombs in the Middle East.

(Do you think the resolution will have any affect? Tell us here.)

Thom Hartmann: Wisconsin state Supreme Court rules for stripping collective bargaining rights, against democracy

The Wisconsin state Supreme Court came through for Governor Scott Walker yesterday - ruling that his union law that strips collective bargaining rights and forces public workers to pay more for their healthcare and pensions can now go into effect. Reacting to the court's decision - Walker said, "the Supreme Court's ruling provides our state the opportunity to move forward together and focus on getting Wisconsin working again."

On the flip side - President of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO called the ruling an "affront to our democracy." With a 4-3 ruling - the judges overturned a previous decision by a county circuit judge who ruled that the procedure in which the law was passed out of the state legislature violated the state's open meeting laws - requiring proper notification of the public before any new laws are passed - this voiding the law. The deciding judge on the high court was Justice David Prosser who recently won a controversial re-election to the court earlier this year after 12,000 votes mysteriously showed up in Waukesha County to put him over the top. Many on the left have questioned the results of that election since.

Governor Walker's union law has triggered a polarizing debate in the state - and a number of protests by labor organization outside the capitol building in Madison. And now that the law will finally take effect - expect even more lawsuits to come down the pike.

-Thom

(What do you think democrats should do now? Tell us here.)

Randi Rhodes: The Seven Dwarves

Last night there was a debate of the Republican presidential contenders. It was a big debate. The problem is that there are no big Republican candidates. And sorry, all you fans of midget wrestling, but the Seven Dwarves were pretty nice to each other. The candidates wanted to appeal to the GOP base and still look electable, which is kind of like trying to get a triple “X” rating and still appeal to families.

Michele Bachmann used the occasion to announce that she was in fact running for president. The fact that she was participating in a presidential debate was a pretty big tip off, though. It’s still not Bachmann’s “official” announcement, which will take place later in Waterloo, Iowa. One way or the other, that will be her Waterloo. It’s a little ominous to launch a campaign in a place named Waterloo, but then Michele Bachmann is probably unaware that there is a Waterloo other than Waterloo, Iowa.

The irony is that the Fox News viewers that these candidates really want to reach probably didn’t even know this was going on. Since the debate was on CNN, Fox News put up an embargo on any information concerning it. The only people watching were people who think the Republican candidate field is a bizarre spectacle and who were tuning in to watch the freak show. They should have had a bearded lady and a fat man. But then Chris Christie says he isn’t running.

Pawlenty and Romney didn’t go at each other, which was kind of a relief. Two guys that stiff and awkward fighting would look like a couple of Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em robots. The day before, Tim Pawlenty had coined the term “Obomneycare” to cudgel Mitt Romney with. But when asked about his attack while Romney was on the stage with him, Pawlenty acted like… well, like a Pawlenty, as in “Don’t act like such a Pawlenty.”

Bottom line: I don’t want to say this was a group of crazies, but it kind of reminded me of the group in the “watching the World Series” scene in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. I was waiting for Jack Nicholson to start doing the play by play.

Today’s Homework | Discuss

Thom Hartmann: So is this just a case of Republicans believing that privatization is always better?

New Jersey is becoming ground zero in the Republican campaign to turn public schools into corporate profit centers. Governor Christie's education plans include a new $825 million private school voucher program paid for by cutting $820 million out of the public education budget. The program was designed by Christie and his Education Commissioner - Christopher Cerf - who just happened to previously be the President of the world's largest for-profit school corporation - Edison Schools, Inc.

So is this just a case of Republicans believing that privatization is always better? Not exactly...it turns out Governor Christie used to be a lobbyist on behalf of Edison Schools Incorporated - and routinely lobbied the state on behalf private schools.

And now as Governor - Christie is giving the ultimate kickback to his former employers - the state's entire public education system and over $800 million bucks. Chris Christie - the best governor money can buy.

-Thom

(What should be done? Tell us here.)

Thom Hartmann: So is that our new strategy in Afghanistan - capture innocent people just to boost numbers?

Let the white-washing of Afghanistan continue. Last year - General David Petraeus touted a successful military operation by Special Forces in Afghanistan that led to the capture or killing of over two and a half thousand rank and file Taliban fighters in a 90-day period between May and July. But - as investigative journalist Gareth Porter uncovered - that number is a crock. Turns out that nearly 90% of those "captured Taliban fighters" were ACTUALLY just innocent civilians and were released just days after capture.

That's kind of like how a handful of prisoners at Gitmo were detained just because they were wearing the wrong Casio watch. So is that our new strategy in Afghanistan - capture innocent people just to boost numbers? Anybody remember the infamous Vietnam "enemy body counts" that included civilians in bombed villages?

This is the worst kind of history to have repeat itself.

-Thom

(What do you think? Tell us here.)

Randi Rhodes: Freaks & Geeks (Mostly Freaks)

Tonight there will be a debate in New Hampshire featuring seven of the GOP’s White House hopefuls. And hope is about all most of these candidates have. It’s not clear if this debate will cause any major momentum shifts. For one thing, that’s hard to do when nobody has any momentum. Mitt Romney is the front runner. And for the most part, he’s running from his own record. You might see the other six attacking Mitt Romney, while Mitt Romney pretends not to know who this “Mitt Romney” is. It’s possible that the other candidates may pile on Mitt Romney. And a pile of these candidates is a real pile of… well, let’s just say it’s a real pile.

Tim Pawlenty has a chance to make himself better known. That shouldn’t be difficult, his name is perhaps the least known name in America. If you pick ten names at random out of a phone book, eight of them would be better known than Tim Pawlenty. The bad news for Tim Pawlenty is that people don’t know who he is. The worse news is that once they find out, they don’t care. Tonight, will Pawlenty come out swinging? Wow. I just realized how unnatural it is to see “Pawlenty” and “swinging” in the same sentence.

Newt Gingrich will be there… if he still has enough staffers left for someone to arrange to get him on a flight. Did I say “get Newt Gingrich on a flight”? Sorry. I meant to say “get Newt Gingrich on a private jet.” With no staff, Newt and his wife are going to be on their own getting to this debate, planning out a route on Mapquest and booking rental cars and hotels through Travelocity. Newt, we all know the condition your campaign finances are in. Try Priceline.

Ron Paul will be there to bookend the debate. While everybody else stays in the mid-range of Republican crazy, I guarantee that Ron Paul will say the one thing that makes the most real sense, AND the one thing that is the farthest out there. Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, and Herman Cain will bring up the caboose of the Crazy Train. Michele’s first challenge is to face the right direction. Herman Cain has to prove that he’s not just a silly novelty act. And that task is complicated by the fact that he IS a silly novelty act. But remember, there are no winners and losers here. Just losers.

Today’s Homework | Discuss

Rick Santorum got a head start on the rest of freak show pack yesterday on the Meet the Press…

Randi Rhodes: Newt's Big Fat Greek Implosion

It’s Friday, ya bastids!

Yesterday, all of Newt Gingrich’s top advisors got together and resigned. It was the first coordinated thing the Gingrich campaign has done. Now Newt’s future is almost as questionable as his past. It seems that Gingrich’s campaign aides didn’t want to be associated with a disastrous failure, which begs the question of why they signed up with Newt Gingrich in the first place. Newt’s senior advisors confronted him after he returned from a luxury cruise of the Greek Isles.

Gingrich defended his cruise holiday as a chance to “get away and think.” Of course. If I need to think, the first place I go is Mykonos. Then maybe a couple stops in Santorini and Rhodes before winding up in Corfu. But Newt says he wrote two policy speeches while on his luxury cruise! Right. Policy number one—make sure you get all the bacon you want from the breakfast buffet before they change it over to the lunch buffet. It was evidently Mrs. Gingrich who insisted on the luxury cruise, because a half million dollars of Tiffany’s jewelry only goes so far. Hey, between the bling and the cruises, the third Mrs. Gingrich is getting to be very expensive. If Newt Gingrich’s two divorces don’t cost him the nomination, his third marriage surely will.

There’s a lot of new news, but we can always fit Anthony Weiner’s penis in! Andrew Breitbart is livid at shock jocks Opie and Anthony for stealing his picture of Anthony Weiner’s penis. Somebody should tell Breitbart that things may have gone too far when you start to claim a proprietary interest in another man’s penis. I mean really, what does this boil down to? Andrew Breitbart is shouting at Opie and Anthony “Hey, that’s MY penis!” It’s not “your” penis, Andrew. We know you want it. We know you wish you had it. But it’s simply not yours, OK? Breitbart is whining “I want an investigation from Sirius into what the hell happened there.” It’s not too complex, Andrew. You showed your penis to a couple of jocks and they grabbed it. As though Anthony Weiner isn’t feeling bad enough already, now he has to deal with the knowledge that Andrew Breitbart is carrying around a picture of his erect penis. It’s enough to make you lose your erection.

Finally, Pat Robertson is pushing “Teavangelicals,” a combination of the Tea Party and the Religious Right. What do you get when you combine Tea Party and Religious Right? People who believe in the Word of God, but can’t spell it!

Today’s Homework | Discuss

Stephen Colbert does a better job explaining Mitt Romney’s business history in 5 minutes than the corporate media has done in 5 months...

The Colbert Report
Tags: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Thom Hartmann: As long as Senator David Vitter, a client of the DC Madame - keeps his job - then Republicans should shut up on Anthony Weiner

In an interview with the New York Post - thoroughly embarrassed New York Congressman Anthony Weiner again confirmed that he is NOT resigning over the Twitter lewd photo scandal - and a new poll out in his Congressional district shows his constituents support him.

The new Marist poll released yesterday revealed 56% of voters think Weiner should stay in office - while only 33% think he should go. So if it's up to the constituents - as Republicans argue when one of their guys steps in a sex scandal - then the constituents have decided they want to keep Weiner as their Congressman.

And as long as Senator David Vitter - who was a client of the DC Madame - keeps his job - then Republicans should probably keep their mouths shut about Anthony Weiner.

-Thom

(What do you think will happen to the Republican Party now? Tell us here.)

Randi Rhodes: Don't Ask Ann Coulter About Ann Coulter

Have you heard? There’s been a leak of Anthony Weiner’s penis. And yes, we all look forward to being able to discuss current events without snickering. But for now, let’s make the most of it. The notorious “full salute” photo of Anthony Weiner has evidently, uh, gotten out. Andrew Breitbart wasn’t any better at keeping Anthony Weiner’s penis under wraps than Anthony Weiner was. I don’t know if you’re familiar with standard pricing practices on blackmail photos, but having the photo out there in the public tends to severely depress the asking price. You’d think a guy would be more careful with a picture of a Congressman’s penis, but then you’d think that about Anthony Weiner in the first place.

Anthony Weiner’s wife is pregnant. She’s currently traveling overseas with Hillary Clinton, for whom she works. Well, if Anthony Weiner is hoping for someone to counsel his wife on patience and forbearance, he could hardly do better than to have her spending time with Hillary Clinton.

If you ever wondered if there’s a single person out there that Ann Coulter will not slander, it turns out there is… and it’s Ann Coulter. Ann was on Piers Morgan’s show and absolutely refused to talk about herself. Piers asked about Ann’s age. He should know that women are sensitive about discussing their age. But then whether or not Ann is a woman is a question that’s open to debate. Come on, Ann! Viewers just want to know the basics about you. Single or attached? Sunrises or sunsets? Boxers or briefs?

Herman Cain’s idea for securing our border involves building something like the Great Wall of China. The Great Wall of China was continuously built over the course of some 2,000 years. I think we need a shorter-term solution. And the situation today is different. The Chinese built the Great Wall to prevent intruders from pillaging, raping, and slaughtering. We just need a wall to prevent people from coming here and picking lettuce. Herman Cain said “We have put a man on the moon, we can build a fence!” Hey, if we can beat the Russians to the moon, we surely should be able to beat the Mexicans to America. It should be easy. We’re already here!

Today’s Homework | Discuss

Jon Stewart on Anthony Weiner’s apology to Bill Clinton and the cameo roll that The Daily Show has played in the scandal…

The Daily Show
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Thom Harmann: If you want workers' rights - move to South Africa...

American workers are screwed. If you want workers' rights - move to South Africa. Wal Mart just inked a new deal to open up stores across South Africa - but in order to get the deal done - Wal Mart had to make some concessions -honoring union contracts among workers. And it's not only in South Africa - Wal Mart lets workers unionize all over the world in Brazil - Argentina - China - and the United Kingdom - everywhere except...here in the United States.

In America - Wal Mart is considered one of the fiercest opponents of unionization - spending millions of dollars to defeat pro-union legislation in Congress - and resorting to underhanded tactics to kill off any organizing attempts among its American workforce.

Since America embraced so-called Free Trade - American workers have seen their wages and rights collapse.

-Thom

(What do you think makes them so scared of American workers? Tell us here.)

Randi Rhodes: Weiner Leaked & Foreclosure Push Back

Hour Two Guest: John Nichols of The Nation magazine and author of ‘The "S" Word: A Short History of an American Tradition... Socialism’ with an update on all things Wisconsin.

NEW: Weiner photo leaked - Breitbart just couldn't wait to pass around his prized possession.

A homeowner in Florida has foreclosed on the Bank of America. I love it when the real news gets weirder than a headline from The Onion. It all started when Bank of America tried to foreclose on the home of a couple who had paid cash for their home and never even had a mortgage with B of A or anyone else. But according to B of A, that doesn’t mean they should be able to skip out on their payments! The couple successfully sued Bank of America, and a court ordered B of A to pay their legal fees. B of A ignored the ruling. We all know that banks like Bank of America are “too big to fail.” It seems like these banks also believe that they’re too big to f*** up.

Ann Coulter is saying that the shootings at Kent State were justified. Do you get the feeling that Ann Coulter is going to have to start setting herself on fire to get people to pay attention to her? I’m kidding of course, Ann Coulter would never set herself on fire to get attention. She would set somebody else on fire and then stand in front of them. Ann said “There was the shooting at Kent State… that’s what you do with the mob.” Well yes, that’s what you do with the mob, if “you” are Josef Stalin.

Tea Party sideshow Herman Cain has vowed that if elected president, he will refuse to sign any bill over three pages long. No word on if he would insist on a large typeface and some nice pictures too. Under Cain’s three-page rule, he could not have signed most of the landmark bills in the history of the United States like the Civil Rights Act or the Social Security Act. But then Herman Cain wouldn’t want to have signed those bills anyway. Cain couldn’t have even signed the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, which were each over 100 pages long. That’s a little surprising. How many pages does it take to say “give all the money to rich people”?

Anthony Weiner is struggling to maintain his career. I’ll give him this—he’s showing a stiff upper lip, which is a big improvement. Weiner apologized to Bill Clinton, who officiated at Weiner’s wedding. Clinton is reportedly very upset with Weiner, but something tells me he probably skipped the lecture. Really, what is Bill Clinton going to say? “What were you thinking? You were acting like… OK, never mind that.”

Adding Idiot to Injury Department: Donald Trump has weighed in on the Anthony Weiner saga. Let’s be fair—what Anthony Weiner did was incredibly stupid. So Donald Trump may actually have some expertise here. Trump says that Anthony Weiner “should never ever be allowed to run for office again.” Allowed to run? Donald, ANYBODY is allowed to run for office. You yourself are proof of that.

Today’s Homework | Discuss

Thom Hartmann: In our "Ways to fix the economy that our politicians are ignoring" news....

In our "Ways to fix the economy that our politicians are ignoring" news - two new reports suggest that raising the minimum wage could do wonders for the American economy. The reports - one from the University of Massachusetts - the other from the University of Cal Berkeley - shoot down the myth that a hike in the minimum wage results in fewer jobs - calling this "disemployment" theory baseless.

The reports do say though that a higher minimum wage translates into more money into the pocket of workers, and thus more spending, which drives our economy. This is basic economics - economies are demand driven and if you give workers more money - they spend it and everyone gets richer. Yet - Republicans don't seem to get it. They think if you just give billions away to already rich people - that money will trickle down - which is why they hate the minimum wage, because it takes money away from corporate CEOs and gives it to workers. But the truth is that money at the top never trickles down - it never has - and it never will.

So the question - is it that Republicans just don't understand basic economics - or are they REALLY are trying to crash our economy with bad policies, so they can blame it on Obama and win in 2012? Unfortunately - I'm guessing the latter.

-Thom

(What's your guess? Tell us here.)