Senator Chuck Grassley:

GRASSLEY: In countries that have government-run health care, just to give you an example, I’ve been told that the brain tumor that Sen. Kennedy has — because he’s 77 years old — would not be treated the way it’s treated in the United States. In other words, he would not get the care he gets here because of his age. In other words, they’d say ‘well he doesn’t have long to live even if he lived another four to five years.’ They’d say ‘well, we gotta spend money on people who can contribute more to economy.’ It’s a little like people saying when somebody gets to be 85 their life is worth less than when they were 35 and you pull the tubes on them.

Teddy needs to cockpunch this GOP shitbag.

Chuck Grassley Uses Kennedy’s Brain Tumor to Spread Fear of Rationing [ThinkProgress]

Whenever we see an ad like this, we can’t help but imagine the pitch meeting behind it. Thoughts that, in this case, are shoved aside by the knowledge that this is our mother’s favorite mayo. Which in turn brings back ugly repressed memories of white-on-white-on-white lunches.

No sale, dudes. If you want to update a dowdy brand, call Bruce Campbell and get back to us.

Ann Althouse:

There is something about the way the 2 seated men are posing as such good little boys with their hands in the I’m-behaving-myself position that demands that what I really want to see is Bill Clinton reach over and feel the thigh Kim Jong-Il, who exclaims: “No broh job!”

That is weapons-grade stupid.

And don’t forget – she’s a tenured law professor.

[via]

CNN won’t run this ad because it’s “unfair”:

Douchetastic!

Editor & Publisher:

Like many other news orgs, the AP today is reprinting excerpts from the online diary kept by George Sodini, who killed 4 women and then himself at a Pittsburgh area fitness center last night.  The diary focuses on his problems with women and other worries, but also has some comments about the “liberal media,” the “Obama economy” — and it opens with remarks about last fall’s election, the election of “The Black Man” and jokes about black men and white women.  All left out of the AP excerpts and nearly everywhere else.  Here is the full diary.  UDPATE:  The diary has now been taken off the Web.

Google cache is here.

AP Omits Killer’s Obama References [E&P]

Oh, Dick Morris.

It was wrong to do it. This trip gives North Korea the ability to act like the good guy in world public opinion by releasing people they shouldn’t have seized in the first place. Considering their record, bomb explosions, and missile tests, we should not be in the business of letting North Korea score propaganda victories.

One: the two people released were journalists.  Don’t you think that they would have some decent reporting to do about the justice system of North Korea, and areas of improvement with regard to, um, justice?

Two: Bubba got a free-roll on intel regarding the health (physical, mental, otherwise) of Kim Jong-il.  That might be somewhat useful to Barry et al.

Three: See that picture up there?  That’s the photo going to 99.9% of the world right now.  Pictures speak louder than words.  In particular, yours.

So: a propaganda victory?  Dude.

We wish we could get excited about the Gallup map making the rounds this week — the product of 160,236 phoners over the first half of 2009.

The bright colors represent states where one party enjoys at least a 10 percent advantage in voter self-identification. Contrary to conventional wisdom, only the Mountain West remains solidly wingnut — even the South is in play.

So why aren’t we celebrating? The Democrats have the most promising opportunity in our adult life, and they still can’t get shit done. Why not? No, it’s not the GOP pushback, or the lobbying money, or even Fox News.

The answer instead is very simple, and very depressing: They’re fucking cowards.

Political Party Affiliation: 30 States Blue, 4 Red in ’09 So Far [Gallup]