Tried and True

Shorter Novakula: "Swift boating is all we've got, so Swift boating it will be."

Obama Damn America

Apparently a Pelosi/Reid US Congress hasn’t sufficiently punished America for her sins.

Now well-placed sources in American evangelism ("...longtime Virginia conservative leader Michael Farris -- the nation's leading home-school advocate, who is now chancellor of Patrick Henry College...for home-schooled students. Best known politically as the losing Republican candidate for lieutenant governor of Virginia in 1993") privately affirm that there is "biblical justification for an Obama plague-like presidency."

Tip o’ the Good Book to Novakula.

Class Act

Shorter Novakula: "Obama's comments on PA provincials may not have hurt him with PA provincials but will cost him mightily this fall with Republicans, who abhor such class distinctions."

When Sucking Fails, They Blow

Novakula breaks out a new GOP meme this morning in his Washington Post column. Recognizing the failure of the great Republican attack of 2005 on Social Security -- in which Bush and his party, ostensibly concerned about the ability of the system to meet its future obligations, tried to divert payroll taxes toward their Wall Street benefactors in the form of "'personal' accounts" that would miraculously produce fishes and loaves -- Novak calls for St. McCain to cut -- CUT! -- the 6.2% payroll levy.

Where would the revenues necessary to fund Social Security -- revenues that the Republicans have been warning us since long before 2005 were falling dangerously short of obligations -- come from? Here's Novak's back-of-the-envelope accounting:

Even Republican advocates of cutting the payroll tax talk about offsetting it with reduced future benefits. That's a bargain young workers would buy in a minute, and current Social Security recipients would be assured that their pensions would not be reduced one penny. Nevertheless, Democrats would feast on any Republican hint of slashing payments.

The perceived need to offset losses in payroll tax revenue stems from a belief that the Social Security trust fund must be replenished. The truth is that there is no such fund, and the heavy payroll tax revenue resulting from the Greenspan Commission's 1983 "reform" not only provides enough money for Social Security but funds other programs, as well.

Yeah, yeah, that's it. The problem isn't a shortfall, it's a surplus. So cut away, St. McCain. And tell the kids and the grandkids to call Ditech, like we did. There's your fiscal responsibility for you. Suckers...

Downfall

"Who Will Tell Hillary?" is the headline of concern-troll (and actual troll) Robert Novak's column in this morning's Washington Post. And here is the photo currently accompanying that headline on the Post's online Opinion page (with my caption):

Hitlery Clinton

Apparently it's time to eat the cyanide and shoot yourself, Hill, so we can drag you out back of the bunker and incinerate your remains. Oh, and Bill too, of course.

Treason's Greetings

Novakula, playing hardball hand grenade in this morning's Washington Post:

Intelligence agencies, from Nazi Germany to present-day Pakistan, for better or for ill, have tended to break away from their governments. The Office of Strategic Services, the CIA's World War II predecessor, was infiltrated by communists. While CIA tactics were under liberal assault in Congress during the Watergate era, current accusations of a rogue agency come from Republicans who see a conscious undermining of Bush at Langley.

You see, only Nazis and jihadis and communists disagree with Bush and hard-line Republicans. Which ought to make the next Dem administration a real blast.

Send in the Clowns

Novakula is seriously worried about a Giuliani candidacy:

But what if the support holds? Veteran conservative leader Gary Bauer of the Campaign for Working Families does not want to follow James Dobson's rejectionist course, which could pave Hillary Clinton's path to the Oval Office. "If [Giuliani] is nominated," Bauer told me, "the leaders of the values voters movement need to sit down and do everything possible to avoid a split that would guarantee a disaster for social, economic and foreign policy conservatism. It would require some serious discussions."

Line up some meth and a whore of your favored gender, elders, you may be pulling an all-nighter. Because heaven help our Working Families from anything that would threaten the smashing successes of Bush-Bauerism.