"I'm the worst possible choice for this country! No, I am! I hate this country! I hate it more!" Last night's GOP debate in a nutshell.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I was only able to watch a little of this three ring circus, because I have a doctor's note that excuses me from watching too much Fox news since it dramatically impairs my ability to engage in rational thought.

However what I did see was MORE than enough to convince me that we need to work our little progressive asses off to make sure that President Obama gets reelected, and that not ONE of this simple minded douchebags should be allowed anywhere near the White House!

Seriously I don't care HOW disappointed you are in this President, or how frustrated you are that he did not wave his magic negro wand and solve all of the nation's problems like you convinced yourself he would, from what I saw last night he is this country's only hope of not ending up looking like a real life version of a "Mad Max" movie.

These are the scariest bunch of lunatics I have seen gathered on one stage since I watched patients at the Alaska Psychiatric Institute put on their version of a "Midsummer Night's Dream." (Not bad really.  I especially enjoyed the part where the actor playing Puck forgot his lines and kept asking if anybody in the audience had a copy of Shakespeare with them.)

Hearing these slack jawed candy asses claim that they would NOT raise taxes even if they were promised ten spending cuts for each tax hike made my frontal lobe scream for mercy.

I know these people are smarter than that (except for Michele Bachmann who is only about six brain cells away from having to have a cork stuck to the end of her fork) and yet they refuse to stand up to Grover Norquist and the Teabaggers, and tell the voters the truth about what it will take to fix this nation's economy.  That was a shameful display.

There were a FEW glimmers of intelligence, such as Jon Huntsman saying that he would repeal NCLB, but for the most part this appeared to a contest to see who could act like the most ignorant man on the stage.

In fact these wannabe leaders of the free world had dumbed themselves down to such a degree that having Sarah "all you need is common sense" Palin and Rick "I can't figure it out so let's pray for a solution"Perry join them onstage might actually have RAISED the combined Intelligence Quotient.

Yeah, it was THAT bad! 

Now if you will excuse me I have to write a check to the Barack Obama reelection campaign.

The Teabaggers and what their scorched earth approach to politics portends for this country.

Courtesy of Aljazeera:

After its humble beginnings as an astroturf, Koch-Brothers-funded revival aimed at mobilising ill-informed, reactionary, mostly older white Americans against health care reform and other psychologically-constructed monsters under the bed, the Tea Party has become an malignant force that now holds the Republican Congressional Caucus - and with it the country - hostage. 

While the Stockholm Syndrome may not have quite set in yet among all Republicans, the tri-corner-hat crowd seems to behave much like the giant Brain Bug in the movie Starship Troopers, jamming a claw into the heads of their fellow GOPers and slowly sucking out cerebral tissue until only the brainless body remains. 

Most problematic, most of the Tea Partiers, private citizens and elected officials alike, seem to possess just slightly less understanding of the Federal budget or tax code of than say, Mater from Cars. Yet, these are the people in the driver's seat as the country heads for what might be Act II of the Great Recession, unless progressives, centrists, and others edified with high school civics adopt a new strategy to counter them.

And counter them we must, for they and their ilk are nothing new, but representative of a recurring and quite dangerous political strain that has always been with us since the dawn of civilization. Their undermining of the traditions, culture, and give-and-take necessary for any democracy to function has had destructive results on free societies in the past, and taken down a Republic or two.

From its inception, the Tea Party is the very definition of the type of revolutionary movement. Until Democrats, and their leader in the White House, realise they need to stop calling people like Paul Ryan "courageous" and "serious", and start fighting fire with fire, Michelle Bachmann and her creepy pinwheel eyes are going to continue to get their way at the expense of American values and the middle-class that once made this country great.

 The late, great historian Richard Hofstadter added further insight into just the type of "movement" we're dealing with, in his 1964 award-winning tome, "The Paranoid Style of American Politics". In it, he outlines the psychological origins of the type of crazed, Tea-bagger style of all-or-nothing dedication to an absolute end, when he wrote of their forebears: 

 "He does not see social conflict as something to be mediated and compromised, in the manner of the working politician. Since what is at stake is always a conflict between absolute good and absolute evil, what is necessary is not compromise but the will to fight things out to a finish. Since the enemy is thought of as being totally evil and totally unappeasable, he must be totally eliminated - if not from the world, at least from the theatre of operations to which the paranoid directs his attention." 

 In other words, any compromise, no matter how small, is seen as an act tantamount to treason, which is precisely why we need to stop engaging these tottering tea lovers, because they simply do not believe in the workings of democracy. 

Not really too much to add here except to say that between the Teabaggers and the Domininists trying to fuck up our country this may be one of the most divisive and important Presidential elections in America's history.  Yes I realize I said that same thing in 2008, and I said it because it was true, but I am convinced that what was true then remains true in 2012.

 Personally I long for an election that is simply an election, and NOT the potential harbinger to the end of the United States of America as we know it.

By the way in case you have convinced yourself that this is mere hyperbole on my part, let me remind you of a certain Presidential election in 2000, and how the repercussions from that are still resulting in death, financial collapses, and disharmony all over the world.

Travesty of justice.

Courtesy of ADN:

Ben Stevens has been told he's off the hook in the rapidly fading Alaska political corruption investigation, according to people with knowledge of the case. 

Family friends of Stevens, the former Alaska Senate president and son of the late U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, say he's recently received a letter from federal prosecutors that he won't face charges. A government source who spoke only on background confirmed that the letter was sent and that the long-running investigation has concluded without an indictment. 

At the door of their family home in South Anchorage on Wednesday, Stevens' wife, Elizabeth, reviewed a draft of this story and said Stevens would have no comment. 

Stevens, 52, was one of six state legislators whose offices were raided by the FBI on Aug. 31, 2006. Four were eventually charged and convicted. 

In 2007, Stevens was identified as the recipient of bribes in the charges to which two officials of Veco Corp., Bill Allen and Rick Smith, pleaded guilty. 

While Stevens served in the Legislature, he disclosed that Veco, an oil field services company long active in Alaska politics, paid him $243,250 between 2002 and 2006 for "consulting." But he never would say what work he did for the money, even after a citizen complained to the Alaska Public Offices Commission that the fees were thinly disguised bribes. 

On the witness stand in the 2007 trial of former House Speaker Pete Kott, Smith, a Veco vice president, was asked which state senators he had bribed. 

"That would be Ben Stevens and John Cowdery," Smith testified. (Cowdery pleaded guilty to conspiracy in 2008.) 

Federal authorities also investigated Stevens over the hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting fees paid to him by fishing interests that benefited from legislation promoted by his father in Congress. 

This is devastating news for Alaskans, like myself, who have been working to see the corruption in this state cleaned up.

Ben Stevens was considered by most of us to be a slam dunk for the FBI. He had his fingers in everything, and was considered one of the most egregious of the "Corrupt Bastards Club."

With the dropping of Stevens investigation, and Pete Kott and Vic Kohring starting to wriggle out of the grasping fingers of justice, it appears that there will be NO real deterrent to prevent the Republican party from continuing in the future to take kickbacks from oil companies, ensure sweetheart deals for their donors, and keep right on screwing over the people of Alaska.

As some of you may remember the investigation against Rep. Don Young was dropped last year, but as surprising as that was, having Ben Stevens walk away from this whole thing smelling like a rose is almost unthinkable.

Of all of the corrupt bastards the FBI was after, Stevens seemed like the easiest case to make. Hell, essentially EVERYBODY had sold him out!

Personally I find this very unsettling.  And for those of you who were still holding out hope that the long rumored federal investigation against Sarah Palin might bubble to the surface in the near future, I would suggest that you not hold your breath on that one either.

This state is filled with awe inspiring beauty, but there is a great ugliness running through our politic system, and apparently for the time being it is here to stay.

Al Gore calls "bullshit," quite literally, on climate change deniers.

(Adult language. Might not be safe for work, or to played around young children.)


Here is the link to Aspen Journalism who first reported on Gore's remarks:

"Former Vice President Al Gore spoke Thursday at a communications and society seminar at the Aspen Institute (FOCAS). 

He primarily addressed the subject of how citizens can exercise their democratic duties in the networked world, although he also gave a long overview of media and communications history. 

Gore spoke off-the-cuff for about an hour and then took questions from the seminar attendees.During the discussion, Gore addressed the issue of what happens when citizens are fed information that is meant to derail rational debate on complex issues."

Personally I do not blame Gore for expressing frustration at how the corporations have spent millions of dollars working to discredit him, and convincing the low hanging fruit that the evidence that they read about, or see out of their windows, every day is not reality.

It  is at times like this that I have to fight the urge to fantasize about how much different our country, and the world, would be if George Bush, the Supreme Court, and Fox News had not colluded to steal the 2000 election. Nothing to be gained by that kind of thinking, except to reignite that barely forgotten ember of anger that burned in the pit of my stomach and caused me so many sleepless nights lo those many years ago.

(H/T to Progressive Alaska.)

Rachel Maddow points out that the downgrading of the US credit score by S&P means little, but that the blame for any harm it might cause rests solely with the Republicans.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I believe this is the same point that I have been attempting to drive home over and over this weekend.I appreciate Rachel Maddow's gift for breaking a complicated issue down and making it much more digestible for the public at large.

Just a reminder as to how we got here.

Courtesy of the Political Animal:

1980: Ronald Reagan runs for president, promising a balanced budget

1981 - 1989: With support from congressional Republicans, Reagan runs enormous deficits, adds $2 trillion to the debt.

1993: Bill Clinton passes economic plan that lowers deficit, gets zero votes from congressional Republicans.

1998: U.S. deficit disappears for the first time in three decades. Debt clock is unplugged.

2000: George W. Bush runs for president, promising to maintain a balanced budget.

2001: CBO shows the United States is on track to pay off the entirety of its national debt within a decade.

2001 - 2009: With support from congressional Republicans, Bush runs enormous deficits, adds nearly $5 trillion to the debt.

2002: Dick Cheney declares, “Deficits don’t matter.” Congressional Republicans agree, approving tax cuts, two wars, and Medicare expansion without even trying to pay for them.

2009: Barack Obama inherits $1.3 trillion deficit from Bush; Republicans immediately condemn Obama’s fiscal irresponsibility.

2009: Congressional Democrats unveil several domestic policy initiatives — including health care reform, cap and trade, DREAM Act — which would lower the deficit. GOP opposes all of them, while continuing to push for deficit reduction.

September 2010: In Obama’s first fiscal year, the deficit shrinks by $122 billion. Republicans again condemn Obama’s fiscal irresponsibility.

October 2010: S&P endorses the nation’s AAA rating with a stable outlook, saying the United States looks to be in solid fiscal shape for the foreseeable future.

November 2010: Republicans win a U.S. House majority, citing the need for fiscal responsibility.
December 2010: Congressional Republicans demand extension of Bush tax cuts, relying entirely on deficit financing. GOP continues to accuse Obama of fiscal irresponsibility.

March 2011: Congressional Republicans declare intention to hold full faith and credit of the United States hostage — a move without precedent in American history — until massive debt-reduction plan is approved.

July 2011: Obama offers Republicans a $4 trillion debt-reduction deal. GOP refuses, pushes debt-ceiling standoff until the last possible day, rattling international markets.

August 2011: S&P downgrades U.S. debt, citing GOP refusal to consider new revenues. Republicans rejoice and blame Obama for fiscal irresponsibility.

Any questions?

The New Republican logo is out.

 Wait for it, it will come to you.

Somebody suggested calling it "The GOP rewarding Boehner."

Tsk, tsk, tsk, naughty, naughty, naughty.

The True Villian of the Economic Meltdown.

Courtesy of The Daily Beast:

But Obama is not the villain in this story. Every time I step back and ponder this sordid history, I am amazed that the Republican Party has any credibility and even 100 members of Congress, let alone a sizable House majority and enough juice to be driving the nation’s agenda as it is.

The Boston Globe ran a chart last Sunday that I’d buy billboard space to reproduce in every decent-size city in America, if I were running the Democratic National Committee. 

 (Here's the chart  to save your the trouble of searching for it.)

The premise of it was very simple: It showed how many trillions each president since Ronald Reagan has added to the nation’s debt. The debt was about $1 trillion when Reagan took office, and then: Reagan, $1.9 trillion; George H.W. Bush, $1.5 trillion (in just four years); Bill Clinton, $1.4 trillion; Obama, $2.4 trillion.

Oh, wait. I skipped someone. George W. Bush ran up $6.4 trillion. That’s nearly half—44.7 percent—of the $14.3 trillion total. We all know what did it—two massive tax cuts geared toward the rich (along with other similar measures, like slashing the capital gains and inheritance taxes), the off-the-books wars, the unfunded Medicare expansion, and so on. But the number is staggering and worth dwelling on. In a history covering 30 years, nearly half the debt was run up in eight. Even the allegedly socialist Obama at his most allegedly wanton doesn’t compare to Dubya; and Obama’s debt numbers, if he’s reelected, will surely not double or even come close as we gambol down Austerity Lane.

The GOP and the Teabaggers are going to use every one of their pet media outlets, from Fox News to Right Wing radio, to try and hang this debt crisis, and the lowering of our debt rating, on President Obama.

It is up to all of us, and what remains of the so called "liberal media," to continue pointing out who is REALLY responsible for this disaster.

And those responsible are the Republicans who increased the debt by 6.4 trillion dollars between 2000 and 2008, the Right Wing media that provided cover for them while they were doing it, and the Teabaggers who are now determined to fight this President every step of the way so that he cannot repair the damage, in the hopes that they can blame him for the whole mess in 2012 and put another GOP asshole in the White House to finish the job of bankrupting this nation once and for all.

(H/T to the Obama Diary.)

D.C. Douglas thanks the Tea Party.

This guy gets better and better all the time.

Did Sarah Palin base her whole political persona on Lois Griffin from an episode of the Family Guy?

Apparently this episode first ran in May, of 2007.

Kind of spooky isn't it?

Rachel Maddow and Ezra Klein discuss the downgrading of the US debt by Standard and Poor's for the first time in history.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

In my opinion this black eye on America's reputation is solely the fault of the Teabaggers, and it is important that the media drive that point home over and over again, so that the voters know exactly WHO is unfit to serve in Congress.

I would also hope that recall petitions are being written, and that activists are preparing to head out to the streets to gather signatures first thing in the morning. In my opinion this is a situation which simply cannot be allowed to continue.

How come I didn't know that Clark Griswold was running for President?

Oh I'm sorry it is not Clark Griswold, it's Rick Santorum!  But you do see how easy it is to get them confused, right?

I know what you are thinking. "Oh Gryphen, you are messing with us. That MUST be a parody."

Nope, it's not.

It is the desperate attempt by Rick Santorum to mimic Sarah Palin's "highly successful" political bus tour/family vacation in order to get some national attention.  Because dammit, Rick Santorum recognizes a good idea when he sees one!

Gee I wonder if Santorum will "ride a hog" like Sister Sarah did?

By the way I also stumbled across some footage of the Santorum road trip that was not used in the political ad. (If you are at work you might want to skip this video until later, as it contains some quite a lot of adult language.)



But don't worry kids, it will not JUST be about Rick "The frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex" Santorum taking his children around and lying to them about American History, he will also be sharing that ignorance with the American people he meets along the way.

Santorum said he’s been criticized for saying earlier this week, “Schools indoctrinate our children.” He added, “I said ‘indoctrination’ and I meant it.”

Rick Santorum speaks earlier Thursday at a restaurant in Rock Rapids.


As an example, he said: “Sixty-two percent of incoming freshmen come into college with a faith conviction and leave without it. … I suspect if you took a control group of kids who don’t go to college, that doesn’t happen.”

“We see this humanism and secularism being pushed on our children,” said Santorum, who, with his wife, Karen, has been home-schooling their seven children through about eighth grade.

That's right folks!  Rick Santorum's message to America is "Don't allow your children to become educated. It just makes them too intelligent to buy into your Theocratic bullshit! And THAT is just bad for America!"


(H/T to the Huffington Post.)

Job growth numbers better than expected. But are they good enough?

Courtesy of ABC News:

Payrolls expanded by 117,000 jobs in July as unemployment fell to 9.1 percent, a bit of good news in what has been a dismal series of economic reports this summer.

US stocks had been in a tailspin leading up this morning's Labor Department report. They closed down 9 of the last 10 trading days, capped by a 500-point loss on the Dow Jones Industrial Average yesterday. The Dow has fallen 1,300 points since July 21, erasing all its gains for the year.

The report "should lessen fears that the recovery is truly faltering," Jim O'Sullivan, chief economist at MF Global, told the Associated Press.

At the 9:30 a.m. ET opening of the markets, the Dow headed straight up, surging 170 points in the first two minutes of trading. Markets in Europe, which have been rattled by rising government debt in Italy and Spain, also rose after the jobs report.

Economists were expecting 85,000 jobs to be added in July and unemployment to stay steady at 9.2 percent. In June, private employers added just 18,000 jobs.

But in July, businesses added 154,000 jobs across many industries, the Labor Department said. Governments cut 37,000 jobs last month, though 23,000 of those losses were almost entirely because of the shutdown of Minnesota's state government.

We keep hearing over and over that NO President has ever successfully run for reelection with job numbers this low, which seems to be encouraging the Republicans to do everything in their power to keep Americans out of work simply for the sake of political expediency.

If they are successful they will have demonstrated how ignorant and uninformed the America voters are, and will once again have sacrificed the good of the country in service to their corporate masters.

I think that it behooves all of us to keep presenting charts like this one...

to our friends, and families. And reminding people that THIS is the result of giving corporations indefensible tax breaks, and allowing businesses to do what they want without Government oversights in place.

Yes the job growth is slow, but under this Democratic President at least it IS growing.  What do the Republicans really offer us except more of the same policies that got us into the ditch that Obama is trying to drive us out of, with virtually NO help from the other party?

There are real people suffering here, and the idea that some politicians would play fast and loose with their lives solely in the interest of gaining or retaining power, really pisses me off!

Lawrence O'Donnell helps to identify Mike Huckabee as a 9-11 profiteer, and a crappy history teacher.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Personally I believe that ANY parent that subjects their child to these insultingly inaccurate "history" lessons should be charged with child abuse.

I love how O'Donnell ponders whether or not Huckabee will identify the religion of EVERY historical figure that's discussed in the tapes. I think I already know the answer to that one.

Jon Stewart points out that the Teabaggers are unhappy with the debt deal because "government still exists."

The Daily Show - Daily Show: Dealageddon! - A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Compromise - Tea Party No-Win
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Yeah I guess these so-called "patriots" simply will not be happy until there is nothing left of the country but a smoldering crater.

You know like the one that sits between their ears where their brains are supposed to be located.

Did President Obama get taken in this debt ceiling compromise, or did he quietly, and calmly win again?

Interesting analysis from The People's View:

Here's the quick and dirty (The White House has a summary here and more details here):

• $900 billion in initial cuts (below CBO's baseline) through capping discretionary spending (meaning that nothing is being cut right now). Both parties had largely agreed to these cuts during the debt talks. This is really only about $750 billion of actual cuts; the other $150 billion comes from saving on interest payments on the national debt. This also raises the debt ceiling by $900 billion.
• Initial cuts do not include Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, or programs for the poor. It actually increases Pell grants - even in Boehner's bill.
• $350 billion (almost half of these cuts) in cuts in the base defense budget - these are not simply the savings coming from winding down the wars. This actually cuts the base defense budget.
• Specifically protects the President's historic investment in Pell Grants.
• Sets up a bipartisan "supercommittee" of Congress (half and half Democrats and Republicans) to achieve $1.5 trillion in additional deficit reductions with both tax reform and entitlement reform on the table.
• They must achieve at least $1.2 trillion in reduction or automatic cuts set in of that amount, spread equally between security (Defense and Homeland Security, mainly) and domestic spending set in. Social Security, Medicaid, low-income assistance programs and Medicare benefits are exempt (yes, I know you can swear you read or heard on the ether that it is not so, but it is. Follow along below). These are the so-called "triggers."
• Either way, the debt limit goes increases additionally by a commensurate amount to the cuts (at least $1.2 trillion, at most $1.5 trillion).
• A balanced budget amendment is guaranteed a vote, but not passage. But Congress can avoid both the supercommittee requirement and the alternate automatic cuts if it sends a balanced budget amendment to the states (which. will. never. happen. - because Republicans won't agree to anything balanced in terms of the balanced budget amendment.).    

Remember that the President can still veto anything coming out of this committee and Congress (in which case the triggers go into effect).

 
Now let's get to the fun part: the triggers. The more than half-a-trillion in defense and security spending cut "trigger" for the Republicans will hardly earn a mention on the Firebagger Lefty blogosphere. Hell, it's a trigger supposedly for the Republicans, and of course, there's always It'sNotEnough-ism to cover it. No, the loudest screeching noise you hear coming from Krugman and the ideologue Left is, of course, Medicare. Oh, no, the President is agreeing to a Medicare trigger!!! Oh noes!!! Everybody freak out right now! But let's look at the deal again, shall we?  

From the White House fact sheet, here is what the President actually agreed to.   

"Consistent With Past Practice, Sequester Would Be Divided Equally Between Defense and Non-Defense Programs and Exempt Social Security, Medicaid, and Low-Income Programs: Consistent with the bipartisan precedents established in the 1980s and 1990s, the sequester would be divided equally between defense and non-defense program, and it would exempt Social Security, Medicaid, unemployment insurance, programs for low-income families, and civilian and military retirement. Likewise, any cuts to Medicare would be capped and limited to the provider side. Read that again." 

That's what the media and the whiners are not telling you. The President agreed to no Medicare benefit cuts in the "trigger." None. The cuts, if they automatically happen, would go to whom? The providers. Who are these providers? Doctors, hospitals, clinics, Medical device makers, service providers, drug manufacturers. Who do you think they mostly donate to in the political season? 

The entire pressure on these Medicare cuts are on the private medical (and pharmaceutical) industry! So let's ask that question again. The Medicare "trigger" is a trigger really from whom again? As a matter of fact, both big triggers (Defense and Medicare provider cuts) are triggers for the Republicans.

The author of the post (Who by the way is a MUCH better policy wonk than I am) also makes the point that these "triggers" cannot go into effect until 2013, which is AFTER we have the next election.  In other words the make up of the Congress might have substantially changed by that point and the President may have MORE instead of less support. 

Go ahead and read the whole post, and visit the numerous links provided and determine for yourself who knocked who down and took their lunch money.

Personally I feel much better.

 

A weary President Obama announces deficit agreement.

Like most liberals I am not even remotely happy that we seem to have bent over backwards for the good of the country while the Republicans have done nothing but act like anarchists determined to see America's reputation, and standing in the world, destroyed.

Especially since it appears that even this agreement (IF it actually gets passed) would still not ensure that our AAA credit rating would remain intact:

Stock markets around the world rallied on Monday, in relief that the world's largest economy would probably avoid running out of cash this week. But the agreement, which includes around $2.5 trillion of spending cuts over the next decade, has been criticised by some on both sides of the political divide, and will probably not save America's triple-A credit rating.

You know I once described to a friend that the problem with many relationships is that the person who cares the least about its survival, or the feelings of the other person, is the one in charge.  Since they have less invested in the relationship's survival they are free to act with impunity, while the person who is determined to "make it work" is frantically attempting to smooth things over and keep the relationship together.

Essentially that is what we are seeing in this situation between the President and the Democratic party, and the Republicans and their Teabagging Rottweilers.  A scorched earth approach does not seem to bother the Teabaggers because they either don't understand the repercussions, or simply don't give a shit.

But watch the video up above again.

Do you see how tired and saddened that man appears?

That is a man who felt the needs of the American people in his BONES.  In this relationship HE is the one who cares too much, and who will always do what he needs to do to save the relationship/country, and the people who will be devastated by its demise.

And that, despite whatever we may feel about this apparent capitulation, is WHY he deserves our support and our faith.  He did not give up on us, and by God we should not give up on him.

You can wear a thousand flag pins, and own NOTHING but red, white, and blue underwear, but if you cannot put the needs of the American people above your own ideology, than you are NOT a patriot! And you are not part of the solution, you ARE the problem!

I think this cartoon pretty much says it all about how the Teabaggers are screwing up our country right now.

Are you as tired of this infinitesimally tiny group of undereducated, historically retarded, and politically inept bunch of morons endangering the ability of Americans to receive the money they need to survive from their government while actively destroying our reputation around the world?

If so feel free to sound off in the comments section.

Adult language will not only be allowed, it will be encouraged.

Starting tomorrow

I will be profiling each of the candidates (declared and undeclared) for the 2012 Republican nomination for president. I will explain why each of them will make a crappy president

Lawrence O'Donnells' epic takedown of Teabagger, and deadbeat dad, Joe Walsh.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

As a divorced father myself, who gladly paid my child support payments on time and in full, I share O'Donnell's disgust with Rep. Joe Walsh.

I cannot tell you how angry it makes me to hear politicians use children to make a political point while refusing to support policies, or social programs, that they so desperately need.

How could we possibly trust a politician who does not even care about his OWN kids enough to make sure they are well cared for, to help protect ours?