The Nightowl Newswrap

post from They gave us a republic... - Front Page on 16 August 2012 01:00:00 AM. © They gave us a republic... - Front Page

That was quite a maneuver @PaulRyanVP executed in Ohio when he slammed his own Medicare cuts as he repeated the zombie lie and attacked President Obama's changes to Medicare Advantage and provider reimbursements from the ACA.

How bad has the Ryan rollout been? Mika Brzezinski mosked him. Do you know how lame someone has to be for Mika-freakin'-Brzezinski to mock them? That's gotta sting.

Meantime, Obama is having a blast romping through Iowa and mocking the republican ticket at every stop."I think they know their plan is not very popular," Obama said. "You can tell that because they are being dishonest about my plan -- especially when it comes to Medicare. My plan reduces the cost of Medicare by cracking down on fraud and waste and subsidies to insurance companies. Their plan makes seniors pay more so they can give another tax cut to millionaires and billionaires."

When is the last time a candidate for vice president had the members of that party's congressional caucus in a tizzy because they are afraid that his really, really unpopular budget that they all voted for will come back to haunt them and maybe even cost them control of the House.

You're not helping, Dumbass, you just make the people who already have a persecution complex into martyrs. A gunman walked into the headquarters of the Family Research Council hate-group and shot a security guard. The shooter is in custody, and claimed he was motivated by the group's anti-gay activities.

The moralizing wing of the GOP will no ndoubt have a lot of problems with this. Mittens isn't too particular about the company he keeps. He skipped an Orlando fundraiser at the home of a prominent republican attorney and her fiance (They're living in sin! O noes!) but that same day he attended a fundraiser in Miami that was hosted by a convicted cocaine smuggler.

Spitefulness and dogmatic ideology aren't the operating principles of successful governments but that is what we could expect from a Romney-Ryan administration. They hate government and the public sector so near the top of their list of things to kill is Amtrak, in spite of record-high ridership.

If it's campaign season, you know that the republican candidate will piss off a musician or band by using their music without permission. In 2008 it happened multiple times, most notably when Heart got pissed about Sister Sarah using baracuda. This time it'sSilversun Pickups telling Mittens to stop using their song Panic Switch. "We don't like people going behind our backs, using our music without asking, and we don't like the Romney campaign," frontman Brian Aubert wrote. "We're nice, approachable people. We won't bite. Unless you're Mitt Romney!"

Chuck Todd slips up and practices journalism. When Iowa Governor Terry Branstad repeated the zombie lie that the Rmoney campaign is pimping about welfare, Chuck Todd actually did something I didn't think he was capable of...he called him on it. "Well, wait a minute," Todd interrupted. "Gov. Branstad, I can't let that go. They haven't done that. They haven't undone the work requirements... Where did you get your information? ... Every charge that has been leveled about this welfare reform order that this President signed -- every accusation that has been leveled by some Republicans have been proven to be not true."

Tim Pawlenty is either really sore about having to stump for the Romney-Ryan ticket or he is a simmering cauldron of vile racism beneath that Wonder-bread-and-Philly-cream-cheese exterior. When Soledad O'Brien challenged the zombie lie the Romney campaign is peddling about cuts to Medicare he asked her if she understood English. She schooled him.

Monsanto doesn't think you need to know what you're eating and they're putting a lot of money behind into defeating a labeling law in California that would require labels letting consumers know if foods are genetically modified.

If Britain storms an embassy to bring in Assange, the state of diplomacy is in critical condition.

What an awesome universe we're a tiny dot in. Researchers who scan the sky, just waiting for a blip are excited about the discovery of a galaxy cluster that is spewing out stars and holds thousands and thousands of galaxies.

...and finally, a little midnight-music. Tonight it's one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite bands...