Jon Stewart Inspects Ken Cuccinelli's Failed Attempt to Retain Virginia's Sodomy Law

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Virginia Attorney General and would be governor Ken Cuccinelli is just a tad too hysterical when it comes to the issue of sodomy - even when it doesn't involve gay sex.  The man is a nutcase and, in my view, needs to be in a mental institution or at a minimum, needs some other form of serious mental health intervention.   Thankfully, Kookinelli's obsession with sodomy, abortion and contraception is getting national publicity but not of a positive nature as The Daily Show goes after Cooch big time in the video clip above.    It is also interesting that even the one judge on the 4th Circuit who would have upheld the state prosecution under the Virginia sodomy law seems to have had second thoughts as noted in the Washington Blade:

In an action that surprised some court observers, the order says none of the court’s judges requested a poll among themselves to determine which, if any of them, favored Cuccinelli’s request for an en banc rehearing of the sodomy case by the court’s 15 active judges and one senior judge.

Under court rules, if no judge calls for a poll or vote on the issue, the petition for a rehearing is automatically denied in what, in effect, becomes a unanimous decision.

Among the judges that chose not to approve a rehearing was Judge Albert Diaz, who wrote the dissent in the three-judge panel’s 2-1 ruling declaring Virginia’s “Crimes Against Nature” statute unconstitutional. The statute classifies sodomy between consenting adults, gay or straight, as a crime.

“It’s a pretty resounding rejection,” said Claire Gastanaga, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia, which filed a friend of the court brief urging the three-judge panel to overturn the state sodomy law. “There really wasn’t any interest in doing this at all by anybody.”

Caroline Gibson, Cuccinelli’s deputy communications director, didn’t respond to a question from the Blade about whether Cuccinelli plans to petition the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case, which would be the last remaining step to challenge the appeals court ruling overturning the sodomy law.

As previously noted, I suspect that Cuccinelli will appeal.  The man and his backers at The Family Foundation are just that crazy and will never cease in their attempts to impose their beliefs on all Virginians.  Meanwhile, Terry McAuliffe must be smiling like the Cheshire Cat.

 

Obama Loses Jon Stewart and Blames Progressive Blogs for His Negative Approval Ratings

As noted before, I have little or no sympathy for Barack Obama who seems to be acting like a cry baby over the fact that many Americans are unhappy with his leadership and realize that he sold most of us - and possibly the economy - out to the GOP in the so-called debt ceiling deal signed yesterday. As Politico is reporting, the White House unloaded on progressive groups at the weekly Common Purpose meeting, where progressive leaders and National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling had a tense exchange about the debt deal. Possibly spurring the White House displeasure was the ridicule that Obama received from the Daily Show's Jon Stewart. First this from the Washington Post on the Jon Stewart trashing of Obama:

It is a truism, annoying as it may be for White House officials, that when the TV comics make the president an object of derision, the president is in trouble. Such ribbing is confirmation that whatever spin the White House is using to conceal a misstep hasn’t worked, and the entire country knows it, making it fodder for jokes.

The debt-ceiling deal is a case in point. Jon Stewart, the most intellectually astute of the left’s comic darlings, went after President Obama in hilarious fashion. . . . Very funny — unless you work in the Obama White House and are scrambling to defuse the contempt, anger and disappointment oozing from every pore of his liberal supporters.

All of this has very immediate implications for the 2012 race. First, at a time when Obama should be courting independent voters he instead is working feverishly to reassure his base. That in turn (especially his pleading for tax increases and a bevy of new “investments”) will make his job of recapturing independent voters even tougher. Second, his weakness invites Republicans to revive questions about his leadership and competence.Those queries will have more resonance with the public and the media now that Democrats are in essence complaining about the same thing. And finally, Obama’s assurance that tax hikes, regulation and “investment” remain part of his agenda can only further worry and paralyze employers. You can understand why they might not be rushing to hire more workers.

Back at what happened at the weekly Common Purpose meeting, Politico has a story. Here are highlights:

The meeting is an off-the-record, regular gathering that some on the left credit both with keeping the White House aware of liberal concern and keeping liberal messaging coordinated with the White House. Critics deride it as a "veal pen" aimed at neutering the left.

Yesterday, Sperling faced a series of questions about the White House's concessions on the debt ceiling fight and its inability to move in the direction of new taxes or revenues. Progressive consultant Mike Lux, the sources said, summed up the liberal concern, producing what a participant described as an "extremely defensive" response from Sperling.

Sperling, a person involved said, pointed his finger at liberal groups, which he said hadn't done enough to highlight what he saw as the positive side of the debt package -- a message that didn't go over well with participants.

Mike Huckabee Grilled on His Support of A Christianist Dictatorship

As noted before, I find Mike Huckabee to be a frightening prospect as a viable GOP candidate for president. In my view, Huckabee is clearly what can be described as a member of the Christian Taliban who would, if given the opportunity - rescind the United States Constitution and in the place of the nation's constitutional government install a theocratic leadership not too unlike that which currently rules in Iran. If you think that assessment extreme, then you need to educate yourself further on the views of Christian Dominionist David Barton who Huckabee lauds. Indeed, as I previously noted, Huckabee is on record as stating that he wished every American would be forced - at gunpoint - to listen to Barton's teachings. Here's a sampling of Barton's agenda to overthrow the U.S. government as designed by the U.S. Constitution via Right Wing Watch:

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As we have been noting for nearly a year now, a theology known as "Seven Mountains" has been slowly creeping its way into "mainstream" Religious Right activism. Beginning with Janet Porter's "May Day for America" prayer rally on the National Mall last year, this Dominionist theology has become increasingly common place in Religious Right events, ranging from the National Day of Prayer events to Jim Garlow's "Pray and Act" 2010 election effort. * As we have explained before, Seven Mountains dominionism seeks to place Christians in control over the seven forces that shape and control our culture: (1) Business; (2) Government; (3) Media; (4) Arts and Entertainment; (5) Education; (6) Family; and (7) Religion. The reason for this, as Lance Wallnau, the leading advocate for Seven Mountains theology, explained is that Jesus "doesn't come back until He's accomplished the dominion of nations." And the way "dominion of nations" is accomplished is by having Christians gain control of these "seven mountains" in order to install a "virtual theocracy" overseen by "true apostles" who will fight Satan and his Antichrist agenda.
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Right Wing Watch correctly asked: Is Barton's call to have right-wing Christians take complete control over every aspect of society the message that Huckabee had in mind? Well, the other night Huckabee went on The Daily Show and was grilled by Jon Stewart on this very issue. Would that the mainstream media would have the balls to confront Huckabee on his extremism. The following are clips of the confrontation:
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Jon Stewart and The Daily Show Destroy Delusional Scott Lively

I have written about Scott Lively many times before and we've had a few e-mail debates where lively has shown himself to be truly irrational. He's not only vociferous in his homophobia, but in my view literally insane. Unlike opportunistic parasites like Maggie Gallagher, Tony Perkins and others of the professional Christian set who enjoy living well off of monies suckered from the ignorant and gullible, Lively is freaking insane. His totally discredited book, The Pink Swastika underscores the man's delusional world where there's a gay plot under every bush and rock. Well, this past week, The Daily Show exposed Lively's utter lunacy to a whole new generation in the way only they way that show can do it. Mediate has some details and here are highlights followed by a video clip:
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More than half a century later, the journalists of The Daily Show have uncovered the real reason for the inhuman cruelty of the Third Reich: every last one of those Nazis was gay. Or at least that’s what Scott Lively, the president of the organization Defend the Family, contends. In search of the truth, Jason Jones went deep into the heart of New York’s gay community to find evidence for Lively’s argument.
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Lively argues, with full certainty, that all the soldiers in the Nazi army, and especially Adolf Hitler and the people in his inner circle, were gay. The reason for the high concentration of homosexuality in the Naxi party, according to Lively? “Adolf Hitler,” he explained, “used homosexual soldiers because they were more savage than natural men… They didn’t have the restraint that a normal man has, and so it was easier for them to do some of the terrible things the Nazis did.” And not only were the Nazis gay, “they met in a gay bar.” As for that whole “persecution of the Nazis” thing, Lively contends that the Nazis persecuted gays to”distract public attention away from their own homosexuality.”
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Lively is the true face of the Kool-Aid drinkers that most follow the anti-gay mantra. One can only hope that the more exposure people have to exposes and spoofs like this one, the less credence the homophobes will receive.

Taliban Bob McDonnell Makes the Daily Show Again

Between them, Taliban Bob McDonnell and Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli are getting Virginia a lot of media coverage. Too bad that it's all negative and makes Virginians look like a collective group of asses. First we had Jon Stewart's take on the McDonnell/Kookinelli anti-gay jihad. Now Stewart - who went to college at nearby William & Mary - skewers McDonnell again on his ill-conceived declaration of April as Confederate History Month. Jon dose a wonderful job of making McDonnell appear like a bigoted ass. Bob, have you got the message yet? Think before you act and stop listening only to wingnuts, tea baggers and birthers.

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Gay-rights Issue Could Linger for McDonnell and GOP

Some of Virginia's leading political pundits quoted by the Richmond Times Dispatch seem to believe that this past weeks media circus over the Virginia GOP's anti-gay jihad led by Christian Talibanista Ken Cuccinelli will have lasting damage on both Bob McDonnell and the Republican Party of Virginia. Obviously, some of us will do are best to help that prediction come true. As I have stated several times now, McDonnell's failure to put aside his CBN University thesis beliefs needs to be resurrected against ever Republican attempting to claim they are a moderate and have "evolved" from their former extremist positions. A leopard doesn't change its spots and a far right Christofascist doesn't either. As for the fall out from the treatment of gays, Virginia's hope to look like an accepting a tolerant place to relocate business took a major hit. In summarizing the just ended legislative session, one column in the Washington Post describes the biggest loser of the session as being Virginia's image:

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Loser: Virginia's image. The price of Cuccinelli's success was a blow to the state's reputation for tolerance, with his letter to the colleges drawing negative attention from outside the state.
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It became an issue in Virginia's battle with Maryland and the District to attract the headquarters of aerospace giant Northrop Grumman. You know the climate of opinion has shifted when even huge military contractors are worried about being tagged as anti-gay.
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Comedy Central's Jon Stewart ran a mock news segment about the controversy. "Whatever happened to 'Virginia Is for Lovers'?" he asked, and then showed the famous slogan with an asterisk clarifying, "Certain Kinds Of."
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Going forward politically, the gay rights issue needs to be used to remind voters that today's Virginia GOP is little more than an arm of The Family Foundation which will not rest until its "Biblical world view" has been forced upon ever Virginian regardless of their faith, race or sexual orientation. These highlights from the Times Dispatch:

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Political analysts say the gay-rights controversy, ignited by the Cuccinelli letter, knocked the governor off his game and will present challenges for McDonnell in the future.
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"Virginia has made national news numerous times over the last three weeks, each time for reasons that have nothing to do with the major themes of the campaign," political analyst Bob Holsworth, a former Virginia Commonwealth University professor, wrote in his blog "Virginia Tomorrow."
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"If one was simply reading these reports, you might have thought that the Virginia election was about limiting gay rights, repealing one gun a month, and suing the federal government over climate control," he continued. "In essence, Cuccinelli's agenda seemed to be more prominent than McDonnell's."
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[T]he flap likely will have repercussions beyond the week that was, not just for McDonnell but for Republican lawmakers and the man who hopes to succeed him, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, who sided with the governor on the issue. A bill to codify state workplace protection for gays, sponsored by McEachin, passed the Senate but was dumped by a committee in the GOP-controlled House of Delegates.
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McDonnell on Friday said he had no intention of introducing such legislation, and House Republicans earlier had intimated that if he had, they would have rejected it as well.
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"Democrats have established their argument for 2011," said Sabato, referring to next year's General Assembly elections, as well as the run-up to the next election for governor in 2013. "The Dems are going to say, 'Do you want the Cuccinelli Republicans to control everything, or do you want a check and balance?'" They've got their theme." Holsworth said he doesn't expect Cuccinelli to be shy about taking on future controversial issues, even if they prove a distraction to McDonnell.
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Personally, I do not expect any moderation from Cuccinelli. He has his marching orders from the Family Foundation which, combined with his ultra-extreme Catholicism virtually guarantee that he will say and do things that outrage everyone except the most Neanderthal elements in the state.

Daily Show Teaches What Journalists Should Being Doing But Don't

There has been a great deal of chatter about the ongoing confrontations between Jon Stewart of the "Daily Show" and “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer in which Stewart has basically shredded Cramer and revealed the lack of serious reporting that goes on all too much of the time by those in the mainstream media. Had the media done its job and asked hard questions instead of fawning over members of the Chimperator's regime the whole Iraq War debacle could have been avoided. It is nothing less than an indictment of the main media outlets that Stewart - who is on a comedy channel for God's sakes - does a better job in looking at serious issues. In fact, many young voters I know watch the Daily Show precisely because it does take on the established news media's ass kissing approach to those they should be holding accountable.

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Locally, our news media is beyond pitiful and it is little wonder that both the Virginian Pilot and the Daily Press are in financial trouble and slashing jobs right and left. For years both papers have been operated more as advertising platforms instead of news outlets and now they are baffled as to why subscriptions are falling. The answer is easy: they report little serious news and most coverage of national or world stories are a day or more old. Meanwhile, serious readers have already found that news via other sources, principally online. One of the wonderful thing about the blogosphere is that news junkies can get much faster information than waiting for the print media. In addition, the blogosphere it is beginning to put serious pressure on lazy reporters and journalists to start doing their job. Only with an aggressive and competent news media can bad policies be nipped in the bud. Hiring news anchors because of their pretty faces instead of their minds and competence needs to change. The New York Times took note of the meeting of the adversaries here and ought to take a lesson out of Stewart's play book itself. Andrew Sullivan has a good analysis of why Jon Stewart and those like him are important:

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Stewart - that little comic with the Droopy voice for Lieberman - is actually becoming an accidental activist. Why he matters, is why South Park matters. He, like Matt and Trey, do not leave aside their own profession from scrutiny: they have the actual balls to take it on. There is a cloying familiarity among many cable show hosts and television personalities. We all have to get along, even though some of us may believe that others of us are very much part of the problem, rather than the solution. And what Stewart has done is rip off that little band-aid of faux solidarity for a modicum of ethical and moral accountability.

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It's not enough any more, guys, to make fantastic errors and then to carry on authoritatively as if nothing just happened. You will be called on it. In some ways, the blogosphere is to MSM punditry what Stewart is to Cramer: an insistent and vulgar demand for some responsibility, some moral and ethical accountabilty for previous decisions and pronouncements.

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Whether or not the MSM will wake up remains to be seen. It would be wonderful if anchors and talking heads would start asking hard questions and challenging those who pretend to be "experts" but in fact are nothing more than opinionated windbags or religious nutcases.

Jon Stewart Slams Mike Huckabee On Gay Marriage

As Pam Spaulding - who is a sweetheart in person by the way - and other sites are reporting, extreme Christianist and nutcase, Mike Huckabee went on the Daily Show and got slammed by Jon Stewart. I view Huckabee as nothing short of a menace and hope more and more of his extremism will be exposed. Sadly, far too many in the media are afraid to take him on and ask biting questions that will force Huckabee to reveal that he is NOT the easy going as shucks figure he pretends to be. He wants to subvert the U.S. Constitution and borders on being a Christian Dominionist who believes that society should be governed exclusively by the law of God as codified in the Bible, to the exclusion of secular law. Here are some highlights from Stewart's interview of Huckabee:

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"You write that marriage is the bedrock of society...Why would you not want more couples to buy into the stability of marriage. Why would you want to precluded for an entire [group] of people."

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Huckabee responded with a series of standard points, including "Marriage still means one man, one woman, life relationship. I think people have a right to live any way they want to, but even anatomically -- let's face it -- the only way that we can create the next generation is through a male/female relationship."

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In a point that Stewart would press him on later by suggesting that his history is a bit skewed, Huckabee asserted, "For 5000 years of recorded human history that's what marriage has meant."

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..."30 states have had it on the ballot, and in all 30 states, it's passed -- even in states like California, that nobody would suggest are social conservatives..." Stewart: "30 states had Mike Huckabee on the ballot and they voted for John McCain. You can't trust those voters. The voters don't know."

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"I think it's a travesty that people have forced someone who is gay to have to 'make their case' that they deserve the same basic rights." ..."I'll tell you this: Religion is far more of a choice than homosexuality. And the protections that we have for religion? We protect religion -- and talk about a lifestyle choice -- that is absolutely a choice. Gay people don't choose to be gay. At what age did you choose not to be gay?"

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