Late Night Tunes, Irish-Style

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Big Apple Pizza

I’m sure you’ve read about Scott Van Duzer’s pizza place being boycotted and trashed on review sites today by GOPers because of his ‘meeting’ and support for the President yesterday.

The fight-back has been fantastic. For example, on Yelp, where they were rating him down and saying disgusting things about his business, people like this have been responding:

Sorry to hear the GOP propaganda machine learned how to use Yelp to operate possibly the most primitive form of internet trolling – artificial ratings. I have much more pressing chores (grading papers and cooking dinner) now, but I’m sure the GOP have stained the ratings with Faux News horse sh*t as “you didn’t build that”, “communist President” etc.

Just play by the rules, provide healthcare to employees, and give women parity and I don’t care what side of the aisle you’re on! I can’t wait to visit my best friend in FL and give Mr Duzer some business.

He’s now received so much support – and so many pizza orders – he’s asking people to donate to his foundation instead.

  The Van Duzer Foundation

I love Dems!

Coming Up: President Obama in West Palm Beach (4:50 ET)

Melbourne, Florida, Sept 9

4:50: President Obama delivers remarks at a campaign event at West Palm Beach County Convention Center

C-Span * CNN * CBS 1 * CBS 2

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He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother!

President Barack Obama holds on as he is hugged and picked up by Scott Van Duzer at Big Apple Pizza and Pasta Italian Restaurant in Fort Pierce, Florida, September 9

afternoon all

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Charles P. Pierce (Esquire): Why Does Everybody Hate Mitt? …. I’ve cast my memory back as far as I can, and I cannot recall a major politician of either party who causes so many members of his party to spit (metaphorically, one hopes) at the simple mention of his name. And this is not a recent phenomenon. One of the few insights worthy of anyone’s time in that horrible Game Change book was the fact that, by the end of the 2008 presidential cycle, all of the other Republican candidates had come to despise Willard. (John McCain was apoplectic on the subject, even by McCain’s standards, which are considerable.) This now has seemed to transfer itself to the Republican electorate in general. Nobody likes this guy…..

On the surface, this elemental loathing seems disproportionate, even if you take into account how much of the GOP’s Jesus-jammin’ base distrusts the extended coven into which Romney was born …. Willard is something of a foof who spends all his time falling a few yards short of sincerity. He speaks a form of trust-fund English that can be off-putting. He is as utterly unprincipled as a politician can be, and he’s about as trustworthy as a puff adder… all Romney’s done is change his position on a whole host of issues, and talk like the guy who’s come to repossess the family farm…..

More here

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President Obama, flanked by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, in the Roosevelt Room, Nov 28

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WH: Over the weekend, a report by the Associated Press detailed how the Affordable Care Act is dramatically reducing drug costs for seniors who hit the prescription drug coverage gap known as the donut hole. This year, seniors are benefiting from a 50 percent discount on brand-name drugs in the donut hole. And the discount and other provisions in the law are saving money for seniors. As the AP reported:

The average beneficiary who falls into the coverage gap would have spent $1,504 this year on prescriptions. But thanks to discounts and other provisions in President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul law, that cost fell to $901…

…. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, seniors will receive bigger discounts in the years ahead. By 2020, the donut hole will be closed completely.

And even if you don’t hit the donut hole, there’s still good news for beneficiaries with Medicare Part D. Prescription drug premiums will not rise next year, and thanks to health reform, seniors can get preventive services like mammograms and other cancer screenings for free.

More here

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Caught ya M4O!

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they’re eating each other alive, part 976

*** For those with weak stomachs, warning: the Rove creature appears in this clip ***

Politicususa: Greta Van Sustern lost control of the narrative tonight on her Fox show, as Karl Rove got in shot after shot to Greta’s BFF Sarah Palin (Greta’s husband is the unofficial man behind SarahPAC). Rove served an ace with his numerous references to Sarah Palin’s thin skin. Thin skin does not a Presidential candidate make.

More here (and more at Mediaite)

Media Matters (July 2010): On the July 9 edition of Fox News’ On the Record, Newt Gingrich pointed out to host Greta Van Susteren that she should know what a wonderful person Sarah Palin because “you’ve probably covered her more than anybody in the country”.

There’s a likely reason for that, which neither Gingrich nor Van Susteren mentioned: Van Susteren’s husband, John Coale, served as an adviser to Palin after the 2008 presidential campaign.

…. Coale said he started Palin’s political action committee, SarahPAC, as well as a legal defense fund for her. SarahPAC, by the way, issued the Palin-centric video that Van Susteren was promoting on her show for the second night in a row during Gingrich’s appearance …. Van Susteren has repeatedly failed to disclose her husband’s ties with Palin…..

Thank you Ladyhawke

line-up complete

NYT: Representative Nancy Pelosi today announced her three appointees to the special congressional committee tasked with finding ways to reduce federal budget deficits, even as a Republican member of the newly formed panel expressed an openness to consider possible tax increases.

Ms. Pelosi’s choices complete the 12-member panel, which is evenly divided between both the parties and the two houses of Congress.

All three members named by Ms. Pelosi hold leading roles in the party: Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina, the No. 3 House Democrat; Representative Xavier Becerra of California, vice chair of the Democratic Caucus; and Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, the senior Democrat on the House Budget Committee.

… One Republican member of the committee, Representative Dave Camp of Michigan, said today that he would not rule out possible tax increases – a central point of contention in the recent debt talks and something many economists contend will be a necessary element to any successful bipartisan proposal.

“I don’t want to rule anything in or out,” Mr. Camp told Reuters. “I am willing to discuss all issues that might help us reduce our short and long-term debt and grow our economy. Everything is on the table, until we as a group rule it out,” he said.

Ms. Pelosi, in her statement, described Mr. Clyburn as a consensus builder with experience on the Appropriations Committee; Mr. Becerra as a senior member of the Ways and Means Committee who “placed the interests of America’s working families first”; and Mr. Van Hollen as a Democratic leader in the deficit-reduction talks led by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

The three Democratic members will join three House Republicans, Jeb Hensarling of Texas and Mr. Camp and Fred Upton, both from Michigan, on the committee. The Senate will be represented by three Republicans, Jon Kyl of Arizona, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Rob Portman of Ohio, along with the Democrats Patty Murray of Washington, John Kerry of Massachusetts and Max Baucus of Montana.

‘dual loyalty’

Thank you JER – and thanks for the C-Span links to the Center for American Progress/’Rebuild the Dream’ discussions here and here

what can you say?

A comment left on the blog today, in response to that Texas interview with the President, by a Linda Van de Riet from Missouri.

There’s also, coincidentally, a Linda Van de Riet on the Missouri Jefferson County Republican Central Committee. A relation, maybe?

You know, these people will be consumed by their own hate one day. Hopefully.

PS Another coincidence! There’s a Linda Van de Riet from Missouri on Facebook:

I see she’s ‘interested’ in God. But not in His teachings, it seems.

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Blackman reminded me of this rally in the comments – wow, that day must really have pained Ms Van de Riet:

Sen. Barack Obama waves as he arrives at a rally of 100,000 supporters in St. Louis, Mo., Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008

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Theo67: I’m grateful to see this nonsense from these types, because it reminds me how desperate this fight is for those who seek goodness and light. There are many who are wallowing in darkness, consumed by hate, and deceiving themselves that they are somehow fighting a “godly” fight – yet, as evidenced by this woman, the hate just spews forth from them – telling us the real story. We can never let these creatures win. This is not just a political fight. It’s much more than that, and I think it’s a battle that’s been raging for a long time.

I’m encouraged when I think of those who had to put their very lives in harm’s way, and those who still do in places far away, simply to gain the rights of being treated like human beings. Watching clips from the Civil Rights struggle, the clips from those fighting for their freedom now in the Middle East… if all we have to do is read nasty words from these lost individuals, then we have it so much easier. It does take a little away from your spirit each time you’re confronted with this stuff, but we can replenish our spirits quite easily because of … the many billions of people around the world who are not consumed by hate.

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Thank you Theo

so, hp only learnt today that breitbart is a bigot. seriously.

Greg Sargent (Washington Post): After standing by Andrew Breitbart yesterday, the Huffington Post has made the decision to yank him from their highly-trafficked front page, in the wake of some vicious comments Breitbart has since made about former White House adviser Van Jones, a HuffPo spokesman confirms to me.

HuffPo had come under increasing criticism for giving Breitbart a major platform from groups like Color of Change, which argued that he has a history of racially-charged and factually-challenged political activism that has no place on a reputable news and opinion site. While Breitbart will still be allowed to post at HuffPo, the decision to yank him from the front page and downgrade his visibility effectively gives the critics what they’d asked for.

Last night, HuffPo was still sticking by Breitbart, arguing that the site was committed to airing a range of voices and maintaining that Breitbart’s posts on HuffPo had remained civil. But this morning, the Daily Caller published an interview with Breitbart in which he railed at Van Jones as a “commie punk” and a “cop killer-supporting, racist, demagogic freak.” This put HuffPo in a particularly awkward spot, and now HuffPo has had enough.

More here

clever dick

President Barack Obama adjusts Dick Van Dyke’s tie during the Ford’s Theatre reception in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House, Sunday, June 6, 2010. (Official White House photo by Pete Souza)