Recently in Miserable Failure Category

My ass!

In what was a hallmark of his style as governor, TPaw shows the same lack of empathy and understanding by going through with his announcement that he is running for President on the same day tornadoes rip through North Minneapolis and Fridley, MN.

In another slickly produced video that has become a hallmark of his campaign, Mr. Pawlenty, the former Republican governor of Minnesota, confirmed Sunday night that he would officially begin his bid for his party's nomination in Iowa on Monday.

"That's where I am going to begin a campaign that tells the American people the truth," Mr. Pawlenty says in the two-minute video, mincing no words about his intentions. "I'm Tim Pawlenty, and I'm running for president of the United States."

Timothy Pawlenty was a disaster for our state. He will be a disaster for our country should he become the President. And seriously, he's stealing a line from a movie? Worse yet, using a line from a character who was in every way, shape, and form, a caricature of a vile, amoral, opportunistic, conservative Republican?

What a pathetic, sorry start to a presidential bid. His only saving grace; Newt set the bar really low.

Well, you have got to admit, releasing a video prior to making the official announcement sure is a sign of competence. As is doing so on the day when tornadoes killed one and injured scores more in his home state. And let us not forget this is the man who unconstitutionally cut funding to the poor, the sick, and the old with political grandstanding while refusing to negotiate in good faith with the Minnesota Legislature, creating a situation where he could claim an economic emergency and use un-allotment.

Right now in Minnesota, at this moment, he could not win the office of dog catcher. With the Republican controlled legislature claiming an economic mandate while introducing social control laws, the chance of any Republican winning an office in Minnesota in 2012 is slim to none.

That the damn thing was vandalized is not a shock. That it took this long for it to happen is the real surprise.

Via Minnesota Independent:



Oh, cue the screaming righties.

Yeah, of course it didn't work. Since when is the thinking that caused the problem ever going to solve the problem.

And I am the dumbest politician in the whole wide world.



If he is going to talk like Forest Gump, he could at least make an effort to improve his impersonation. Because, really, he makes Forest look like an intellectual.

And yes, I am aware Forest Gump is a fictional character. I happen to believe it is appropriate to compare the two, because for all intensive purposes, Rudy Giuliani is a fictional leader.

Be very afraid.

God, I am so glad this man is no longer in charge. For eight years all George W. Bush did was cry "Be Afraid." Give him a national microphone, and he resorts right back to crying "Be Afraid."

I agree with the Heritage Foundation: President Obama should call Miserable Failure and ask his advice. Then do exactly the opposite of what MF suggests. No doubt there will be complete and utter success.

Eww! They eat their own.

Right-wing bloggers have recently attacked Newt Gingrich for endorsing Republican Dede Scozzafava over Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman in the special election to fill Army Secretary John McHugh's (R-NY) vacated congressional seat. On her blog, Michelle Malkin said "no thanks" to the possibility of a Gingrich 2012 presidential run, noting that he is the "most prominent GOP endorser of [the] radical leftist NY-23 congressional candidate," while at RedState.com, Erick Erickson reportedly wrote -- before removing the post -- that Gingrich "stands athwart history and pees on the legacy of 1994."

I have to say, I take some small satisfaction in seeing Gingrich suffer the slings and arrows he inflicted on the Democrats and Clinton back in the 1990s.

The problem with monsters is that they turn on their masters.

I've been hearing, and reading, a lot lately on how investigating law breaking by the Bush administration would end up distracting Obama from his job of stewarding the country. How, exactly would Obama be distracted. It's not like the White House will be running any investigation. Let's remember, the Justice Department is an independent agency, not beholden to, or controlled by, the White House.

If memory serves me well (large amount of drugs and alcohol years ago make it not so much a possibility), when Nixon tried to control an investigation, he actually sealed his fate and ended up resigning.

Honestly, I think the village idiots are confused. It's they who would be distracted. We are talking about people who willingly, and easily, walked hand in hand with the Bush administration into the Greatest War Against Terror. And by hand in hand, I mean lead by the Bush administration because the villagers seem unable to walk and chew gum at the same time.

Okay, that was unfair. But it felt soooooo good to type.

Anyway, Obama's concern, which does hold merit, is that the American people would be distracted by the investigations, and the Republicans in the congress would step up their obstructionist behavior (and possibly a few complicit Democrats). However, is an increase in obstruction by Republicans any more of a problem then what they are doing now? And with the Blue Dogs already complicit in obstructing Health Reform....., well, I don't think it would be much worse then what he already faces. As for the American people? For the most part they are always distracted by something. Usually with the Legacy Media's help.

This is what Sarah Palin meant when she said it:

I've been struck by this since the beginning. If it is the case that the president can designate an Office of Legal Counsel functionary to immunize government officials and employees against criminal behavior, then it is true, to all intents and purposes that "if the president does it it's not illegal."

And, from this article, we also learn that Cheney, who developed his executive beliefs and values from the Nixon White House, ordered the CIA to not inform Congress about the secret wiretapping programs.

(NYT)The Central Intelligence Agency withheld information about a secret counterterrorism program from Congress for eight years on direct orders from former Vice President Dick Cheney, the agency's director, Leon E. Panetta, has told the Senate and House intelligence committees, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said Saturday.

Next week sure is going to be an interesting news week.

I know, I know. Most of you already think of  the Republicans as dumb. But seriously, this statement by Palin;

(ABC) As to whether another pursuit for national office, as when she joined Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in the race for the White House less than a year ago, would result in the same political blood sport, Palin said there was a difference between the White House and what she had experienced in Alaska. If she were in the White House, she said, the "department of law" would protect her from baseless ethical allegations. [highlight by editorial, i.e., me!]

is nothing more than Nixon's statement "When the president does it, it's not illegal" dumbed down. Palin's statement boils down to the same unitary executive belief as voiced by Nixon and further advocated by Bush/Cheney. Honestly, the point is not that she's stupid, though she sure works hard at projecting stupidity, it's that she is following the same unitary executive ideology.

The ideal question to ask her would be her belief about the separation of powers inherent in the constitution. Her whole "Department of Law" gives evidence that she either doesn't believe in the separation of powers, or is just plain stupid.

Well, yes. Of course it could be both.

I think this grandstanding by Pawlenty has sealed the fate of the MN GOP. At a time when the GOP nationally is losing ground, to stand tight with a failed ideology, after having already lost ground in the state congress, is only going to hasten the decline of the MN GOP.

At this point, if he should run, I doubt TPaw could win another term.

Update: Dave Mindeman is right, of course, in pointing out that Pawlenty now owns the MN Budget and all its fallout. 

(TPM) Because if it turns out the President didn't get the full story from Cheney and the torture memos were after-the fact justifications, not explorations of policy options, we are looking at something far, far greater than we realized a week ago.

Now Josh, being Josh, is a bit hesitant to paint Bush as out of the loop by claiming it's really not salient, but at least agrees there are new dimensions to the story. Personally, I see Dick Cheney protesting too much and throwing paranoia into the mix because he knows it all leads back to him. What we are witnessing is the behavior of a guilty man.

What is really interesting is the suggestion the DOJ memos on torture came out after waterboarding and other "harsh interrogation" methods were used. Now, I remember reading somewhere that apparently then Vice-president Cheney requested waterboarding be used. Of course, now I can't find the blog. However, I do know it's become common knowledge that torture was used extensively to force an acknowledgment of connection between Iraq and al-Qaida.

Now, if that's the case, with the memos an effort to give Cheney cover after the fact, we are back to the age old political controversy of cover-up. It's never the crime that does in politicians, it's the cover-up.