Political Theatre category archive

If your Republican friends don’t know which movies to see this summer, Contradict Me has a list for their viewing pleasure.

Via PoliticalProf.

From George Smith, reacting to this post:

Someone should suggest a fun game to the press, drink a shot every time Mitt Romney lies. First reporter to be arrested for DUI while following the Romney tour bus, wins.

Do your homework.

Antisocial media.

Right-wing Super Pacs, the partisan groups seeking to evict Barack Obama from the White House through a massive injection of private cash, have begun to invest in social media and internet-based advertising in the hope of further amplifying their impact.

With the presidential election four months away, the Super Pacs are begin to turn their attention towards newer digital technologies that allow political campaigns to tightly target their messages to key voters in the swing states.

Facebook, Twitter and Google are all now employing dedicated teams to work directly with the Super Pacs in an attempt to help them build internet presence.

Two Too good to pass up from Bob Cesca’s Awesome BLog.

Dick Polman considers Mitt the Flip’s reaction to the Supreme Court ruling on Arizona’s Driving while Brown law.

The list of things that Romney won’t talk about is ever lengthening – he won’t say what tax loopholes he would close, what federal agencies he would eliminate, whether he would repeal Obama’s directive that halts the deportation of illegal immigrants’ children, whether he’d support fair pay for women, and much more – and now we have a new one. He refuses to say whether he supports the Arizona ruling.

Much more at the link.

Mitt the Flip: There’s no there, there.

Afterthought:

One who can believe in anything, believes in nothing.

One who can believe in nothing has no soul.

Dick Destiny questions today’s meme that the Supreme Court’s upholding of the Affordable Care Act will somehow energize the right wing.

He seems to be in sort of a “for Pete’s sake get real” mood:

As extremists, they’re already as aggressive as possible.

Follow the link to find out what fire ants have to do with anything.

More here.

At the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Duquesne University law professor Ken Gormley considers contemptible Congress. He focuses on the Republican Party’s willingness to sacrifice everything–history, the law, ethics, the Constitution–to political thuggery.

A nugget:

Finally, there is a civil contempt process — created in the post-Watergate era — that allows Congress to seek enforcement through the courts. Ironically, this law creates a specific exemption for federal government employees (like Eric Holder) acting in their official capacities. The exemption, designed to safeguard the separation of powers, was championed by then-Assistant Attorney General and now-Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who told the Senate that trying to weigh Congress’ need for information against the executive branch’s need to protect the confidentiality of information “is the very type of ‘political question’ from which … the courts [should] abstain.”

If Rep. Issa believes he has the power to hold the nation’s chief law enforcement officer in contempt, what would stop Attorney General Holder from returning the favor by arresting Rep. Issa on the streets of Washington for “seditious behavior?” The only thing stopping him would be the Constitution’s command that powers be separated to preclude such monkey business.

H/T Chris.

Ashes to ashes.

When he arrived at the TSA checkpoint, “They opened up my bag, and I told them, ‘Please, be careful. These are my grandpa’s ashes.’ She picked up the jar. She opened it up.”

The agent not only opened the sealed jar, but stirred the contents with her finger, allowing an estimated quarter to a third of the ashes to spill out on to the floor.

Gross frantically tried to scoop up as much of his grandfather’s remains as he could, “She didn’t apologize. She started laughing,” he said . . . .

The TSA says that the agent violated policy.

Via Raw Story.

RT speculates on the drones in your life.

Hilary Rosen thinks it’s all about gut out the vote.

Via Bob Cesca’s Awesome Blog.

Turnabout ist verboten.

Excerpt:

The President’s not supposed to do anything in an election year, yet alone the right thing.

Hearsay, the local NPR affiliate’s own news and analysis show, takes a look at the history of racial categories. If you don’t know this stuff, you should; it illuminates today’s events. From the website:

A key subset of both individual and collective identity is one of racial and ethnic identification. These constructs, for Americans in particular, are continuously growing more complex and difficult to frame. On today’s HearSay, Cathy Lewis will speak with a local scholar who’s examining the complex interplay of cultural and racial identities in our modern society.

Follow the link to listen.