As the angry right continues their attacks on Supreme court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, there comes a single voice of reason.

One of the top Republicans in the Senate, John Cornyn, is repudiating recent comments by Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich which claimed that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is a racist.

“I think it’s terrible… This is not the kind of tone any of us want to set when it comes to performing our constitutional responsibilities of advise and consent.”

Cornyn dismissed Limbaugh and Gingrich, adding: “Neither one of these men are elected Republican officials. I just don’t think it’s appropriate. I certainly don’t endorse it. I think it’s wrong.”

I’m having a hard time figuring out what the conservative game plan is in regards to Sotomayor.  Asking questions about her past rulings is fair game and part of the vetting process.  Making outrageous claims that she’s a racist is counterproductive to republican hopes of regaining power in 2012.  Hispanics and independents are not impressed.

Here’s some of what Cornyn thinks is “wrong”.

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Someone should propose legislation on stupidity.  Here’s Pat Robertson asking the question everyone has been dying to ask in regards to the hate crimes bill recently passed by the House.

Will the hate crimes bill protect someone who “likes to have sex with ducks” or “little boys?”

Here’s a worthy reply to Robertson’s idiocy.

And here’s Robertson’s entire pile of nonsense.

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We knew it to be true but getting it confirmed by one of their own is always nice…

Whoops. Rob Portman, a Republican Senate candidate in Ohio, has now admitted in an interview that the GOP doesn’t have a position on health care. Worse, he says he came to that conclusion after multiple discussions with GOP Congressional leaders about the issue.

Check out this nugget buried in a National Journal article (subscription only) about Portman:

Republicans have also taken some heat nationally for not focusing on health care in their campaigns in recent years, but Portman already has been speaking on the issue frequently.

“We have to have an alternative. … I will tell you, I don’t think there is a Republican alternative at this point,” he said. He said he reached that conclusion after talking to Senate leaders and lawmakers about the GOP’s position. “There isn’t one,” he said. “There’s a task force, and I applaud them for that.

A task force?  No one in the GOP realized health care was a problem until now?  The party of no ideas marches on.

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I don’t have heroes in my life.  It’s not a conscience decision or anything I’m particularly proud or shameful for – it’s just the way it is.  Besides, the term ‘hero’ seems too encompassing.  The individual would need to be someone who I would have to be able to look up to on every level or aspect of their lives and…beyond the realm of fiction, I don’t think that specific individual exists and never will.  Imperfection is a built-in human trait and  I am fine with that.

What I do have though, are people I admire.  Individuals who over a prolonged length of time have shown either remarkable courage or identifying personal traits I would want to emulate if I could.  The person need not be a world leader or war hero.  Gender or orientation have no bearing nor does age or status.

All of this to say that within the political world, Winston Churchill is one of those few individuals I do admire.  It’s hard to imagine how WWII could have turned out as it did without the leadership and foresight of Churchill.  Writer, artist, historian and politician, Churchill is regarded as one of the most influential leaders in history.

So, if you’re by your television Sunday evening, then you might want to tune in to HBO’s Into The Storm – a film which “is set against the backdrop of World War II, and offers an intimate look at the making of a nation’s hero, whose prowess as a great wartime leader ultimately undermined his political career and threatened his marriage to his lifelong supporter, Clemmie.”

Should be good stuff.

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It’s raining, it’s pouring, the old man is snoring…

I rarely leave the sun roof open overnight and of course, I woke up to rain this morning.  Sigh.

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Alright, it’s now official. I took the Moral Foundations Questionnaire which rated me alongside liberals and conservatives who had also taken the test. The questionnaire is a measure of one’s “reliance on and endorsement of five psychological foundations of morality that seem to be found across cultures.”

It confirmed what I’ve long suspected but could never be sure. I’m a (whew!) liberal.

Here’s the graph which lays out my results. That’s me in green, liberals in blue and conservatives in red.

I’m more liberal than the norm in the harm and fairness areas, just about even with liberals on loyalty and purity and I lean towards the conservative side in the area of authority.  Seems pretty balanced to me.

You can take the Moral Foundations Questionnaire here.  The whole process takes about 5 minutes.  You’ll be presented with a choice of tests.  I did the first one.  If you do take the test, post your results.  I’d be curious to see how I rate alongside you guys.

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New poll out today…

President Barack Obama remains by far the most popular world leader among people in major Western nations and is the one political figure on whom people consistently pin their hopes in the economic crisis, according to new polls conducted for the International Herald Tribune.

About 80 percent of people in France, Germany, Italy and Spain have a positive view of Mr. Obama, a ratio that declines only slightly, to about 70 percent, in the other two countries surveyed, Britain and the United States.

Cool.  I am imagining how the right will spin the poll.

42 Million Europeans and Americans FAVOR Iran’s Ahmadinejad to Barry Hussein Obama!!!!!!!

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Kurtzman highlights Leno’s best political jokes over the last 17 years.

“The $10 million Clinton is getting for his book beats the old record of $8.5 million paid to the Pope. How do you think this makes the Pope feel? The man dedicates his life to the 10 Commandments, he gets 8.5. Clinton breaks every one of them, he gets 10.” –Jay Leno

“Just like Clinton, the book will come with a jacket and no pants.” –Jay Leno

“Barack Obama’s daughters are very smart. They told him they will take the same responsibility for the dog that he is taking for the economy. That way, if the dog leaves a mess in the White House, it’ll be cleaned up by future generations.” –Jay Leno

“Today, President Barack Obama promised to ‘detect and pursue’ American tax evaders, as opposed to his first 100 days, in which he detected and nominated American tax evaders.” –Jay Leno

Ok, enough of that…let’s get to the good stuff.

“An aide to the prime minister of Canada called President Bush a moron. Well that’s not fair. Here’s a guy who never worked a day in his life, got rich off his Dad’s money, lost the popular vote and ended up president. That’s not a moron, that’s genius!” –Jay Leno

“Plans were announced to raise $300 million for the George W. Bush Presidential Library. $300 million. That’s almost $150 million per book.” –Jay Leno

“President Bush threw out the first ball the other night at the Washington Nationals home opener. Boy, wasn’t is nice to see Bush throwing out something other than the Constitution?” –Jay Leno

“George W. Bush has been invoking a lot of Bible imagery. He said Jesus also had 20 missing years and never held a job he couldn’t get through his dad.” –Jay Leno

“Bush is smart. I don’t think that Bush will ever be impeached, ’cause unlike Clinton, Reagan, or even his father, George W. is immune from scandal. Because, if George W. testifies that he had no idea what was going on, wouldn’t you believe him?” –Jay Leno

“Did you know, when President Bush is in Australia, his approval rating goes down the drain counter-clockwise.” –Jay Leno

There’s a lot more…here’s my favorite…

“President Bush said catching a 7.5 pound fish was his best moment since becoming president. You know the sad thing, a lot of historians would agree with that.” –Jay Leno

More truth than joke in that last one.

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It appears that no one on the right is taking their meds these days.

Tom Tancredo, the former Colorado congressman and radical anti-immigration activist, stepped up his attacks on judge Sonia Sotomayor Thursday. Appearing on CNN, Tancredo suggested that Sotomayor’s affiliation with the National Council of La Raza, a Latino civil rights group, was equivalent to being a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

TANCREDO: If you belong to an organization called La Raza, in this case, which is, from my point of view anyway, nothing more than a Latino — it’s a counterpart — a Latino KKK without the hoods or the nooses. If you belong to something like that in a way that’s going to convince me and a lot of other people that it’s got nothing to do with race. Even though the logo of La Raza is “All for the race. Nothing for the rest.” What does that tell you?

SANCHEZ: Alright. We’re not talking about — we’re not talking about La Raza –

TANCREDO: She’s a member! She’s a member of La Raza!

A. La Raza is the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States. It is a respected organization which focuses on reducing poverty and discrimination.

B. La Raza’s motto is not “All for the race. Nothing for the rest.” It’s “Strengthening America by promoting the advancement of Latino families.”

C. Tom Tancredo is an idiot and a worthy member of the xenophobic Republican party.  He gets ripped to shreds in a piece from the Colorado Independent.

Tancredo has made statements over the years threatening to bomb Mecca, calling Miami a Third World city and suggesting the U.S.-Mexico border wall separate Brownsville, Texas, from the rest of America.

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From the bozos at Fixed News and its website Fixed Nation.

Conservative comedy…

Hilarious – but for all the wrong reasons.

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Headline from Fixed Nation on Sotomayor:  She Wants To Ban Guns

The headline is a blatant lie. The story is that Sotomayor took part in a court decision which rendered the judgment that “the Second Amendment does not protect individuals from having their right to keep and bear arms restricted by state governments. The opinion said that the Second Amendment only restricted the federal government from infringing on an individual’s right to keep and bear arms.”

That’s it…but in true Fox style, getting their mindless sheep to bleat in unison is the only goal.  Here’s a typical comment from their site:

Anyone who says or does ANYTHING against the Constitution should not even be considered to be nominated for the Supreme Court! Period! End of discussion! This has nothing to do with race! Oh, and one more thing about my guns, Come and Take It!

I guess Fox does serve a purpose in giving the delusional and weak-minded a place to congregate.

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