BETTER YOUR BRAIN

It's a good thing we have Politico, or we wouldn't have this entertaining exchange between John Boehner and Harry Reid on the record.

shortformblog:

It was only a few days before the nation would go over the fiscal cliff, no bipartisan agreement was in sight, and Reid had just publicly accused Boehner of running a “dictatorship” in the House and caring more about holding onto his gavel than striking a deal.

“Go f— yourself,” Boehner sniped as he pointed his finger at Reid, according to multiple sources present.

Reid, a bit startled, replied: “What are you talking about?”

Boehner repeated: “Go f— yourself.”

The harsh exchange just a few steps from the Oval Office — which Boehner later bragged about to fellow Republicans — was only one episode in nearly two months of high-stakes negotiations laced with distrust, miscommunication, false starts and yelling matches as Washington struggled to ward off $500 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts.

When elected officials talk to one another like drunks in a bar fight, everyone wins. (ht @stefanjbecket)

Source: ihopericksantorum

Conservative talk radio contributes to more hate of minorities, study says

justinspoliticalcorner:

The participants and content of five prominent conservative talk-radio programs contribute to increasing hatred against certain minorities, according to the report entitled “Social Networks for Hate Speech” released on Wednesday.

The study, carried out by the National Hispanic Media Coalition and UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, analyzed the themes and content of “The Rush Limbaugh Show,” “The Sean Hannity Show,” “The Glenn Beck Program,” “The Savage Nation” and “The John and Ken Show.”

“Our study found that the ideological content of conservative talk radio has helped cultivate a social network built around talk radio hosts and their guests,” NHMC President and CEO Alex Nogales said.

“This social network targets vulnerable groups in content that is spread across affiliated social media web sites. The result is an echo-chamber of voices, both online and off, that promotes hatred against ethnic, racial, religious groups and the LGBT community on social media web sites,” Nogales said.

The investigation emphasized that 89 percent of the 102 guests on the five selected programs over a six-week period were white and 81 percent were men - like the hosts.

Among the 88 issues of interest identified during the broadcasts studied between April 2 and May 14, 2010, immigration was by far the most frequently discussed, occupying 23.9 percent of the time analyzed.

Regarding the language used, the programs referred to undocumented immigrants as “illegals,” and the comments about Muslims frequently associated them with terrorism.

Cabrera, as a result of his activism, was the victim of incitements to harassment by the hosts of The John and Ken Show.

Hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou, in criticizing a bill in the state legislature to offer economic aid to undocumented students in California, announced on the air Cabrera’s cell phone number and invited their listeners to call him and express their opinion.

h/t: Fox News Latino

(via stfuconservatives)

It's official guys. Mitt Romney's the nominee. Here's the massive story AP has probably had in the can for months.

shortformblog:

The Associated Press delegate count shows that Romney surpassed the 1,144 delegates needed to win the nomination during Tuesday’s primary. Early returns show Romney posting a big win in Texas.

It’s a triumph of endurance for a candidate who came up short four years ago and had to fight hard this year as voters flirted with a carousel of GOP rivals.

In other news, water is still wet. We spent like a year freaking out over this, and it’s the result everyone expected. Remember that.

Dead Presidents: swag-gr asked: Can you explain Santorum's success thus far? It's just so unfathomable...

deadpresidents:

(Rebloggable format by request)

No, I can’t.

That’s the thing: I literally cannot explain why someone who believes the things that Rick Santorum believes and says the things that Rick Santorum says can be a leading contender for a major party’s Presidential nomination this late in a campaign…

I was about to write something about why I have such a massive distaste for santorum (all of the puns) but then I realized Dead Presidents was a few steps ahead of me.