The 47 Percent Solution

"Start rearranging the deck chairs, damnit!:

Republican rats are deserting the sinking ship called the Romney campaign or as Peggy Noonan labeled it, the Rolling Calamity. Following the infamous "47 percent" tape, the premature press release on the Libyan tragedy, and now the call for limited political contributions made by teachers (see cause they're not people like corporations are), Mittens couldn't get elected dog catcher in a one-dog town. Well, that's an exaggeration. But what is happening is a cold, calculated move on the part of Republicans to blame the individual candidate for their failure to retake the White House. They're ignoring the possibility that it's the current sharp right turn the brand has taken that is turning independent voters off.

When the Tea Party surged to power in 2010, the GOP thought "Hey this is the way to go. This is what the people want." So states with Republican legislatures overreached on abortion, gay, and immigration stuff. Forced ultrasounds, personhood amendments, slashing voting rights and cutting public assistance were the order of the day. What they forgot is Ronald Reagan and the two Bushes were at least somewhat moderate, talked a good game of inclusiveness, and downplayed the social issues.If you go too far to the right, you lose the middle which is what is happening right now.

Up until the time of the tape being released by Mother Jones, the middle was still unsure about Mittens. They were actually listening to his argument, "I'm not Barack Obama, I got people jobs at Staples, that's all you need to know. Don't worry about these pesky social issues." It didn't bother them too much that he was stiff and about as sincere as a bad community theater actor. (Those blank eyes, that phony used-car salesman smile.) But then the video showed us the real Mittens. In the tape he sounds like he really believes what he's saying. Listen to the way he says "entitlement" with dripping, intense contempt.

Of course the most damning sentence was the one about the 47 percent who don't pay federal income taxes and I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on part of it. When he said  "I can't worry about those people," he could have meant "I can't worry about getting those people to vote for me." But then when he said "I can't get them to take responsibility for their lives," he was very clearly making a value judgment on almost half of the population. That's what killed him and probably cost him the election. And he has not expressed regret or explained what he meant in an adequate fashion.

In his hastily called late night press conference, you could see the rubber mask back in place and his only explanation was that his statements were "inelegant." He never said "Of course I don't think every single one of those people--retirees, military people, working class people--are moochers. That was a misstatement." In the days since, he's tried to gloss over it by saying he's for the 100 percent, but that 47 number will haunt him.

To be fair, Obama did have his "guns and religion" moment in a similar, unguarded setting in 2008. But Obama went on to say in spite of these people's clinging to their fears, you have to reach out to them. After insulting the 47 percenters and lumping them all together, Mittens was prepared to write off half the country. Given his record and statements, you know that is how he would govern.

Not everyone is a business owner or an entrepreneur and people who work at unskilled jobs and have no ambition to become millionaires deserve a president who will treat them with the same importance as they would the Koch Brothers and that Las Vegas casino owner who went over to Mitt when Newt lost.

Emails on Limbaugh-Fluke Flap

One of my work colleagues, a right-winger but a nice guy nevertheless, emailed me a link to a story about Bill Maher's response to the controversy over equating his calling Sarah Palin a nasty word for female genitalia and Rush Limbaugh's calling Sandra Fluke a slut.

Here is my email response, complete with misspellings:

OK, Maher’s really crude. Fine. He insulted Sarah Palin, OK I’ll give you that. But that still deson;t change that Rush totally distorted Fluke’s position and testimony. Maher was making a joke about how stupid he thinks Palin is. Limbaugh was taking Fluke’s testimony—which Repubs refused to hear--and turning it inside out. Fluke NEVER said she favored the federal government and taxpayers financing insurance coverage of birth control for herself and her friends. So how does that make her a prostitute? She’s only saying insurance should cover it. I realize Rush was attempting to use crude humor—he ain’t no Jonathan Swift by the way—but his premise was based on a lie. Also his characterization of her as a slut didn’t come across as a joke. He was really calling her slut because she had so much sex she needed all this birth control. To me a slut is a woman who has lots of promiscuous sex with as many different partners as possible. Taking birth control doesn’t meant that you sleep around, you could be sleeping with one person maybe once a week and still take the pills because you don’t want an unwanted pregnancy and have to have an abortion. It wasn’t so much Limbuagh’s name-calling that outrages the “liberal elite” but his characterization of women who use birth control—99 percent of the population has at one time or other—as promiscuous, immoral loose women.  

Then the response:

I see your point but that’s not what Rush meant, the fact is she was testifying about not being able to afford birth control and wanted someone else paying for it which in it’s self is wrong.

What ever happened to personnel responsibility in this country, do we need daddy government taking care of all of us 24/7?How about Viagra?

You could buy birth control pills from Walgreens for $10 per month.

Then I fired back

But he specifically said that HE the taxpayer had to pay for Fluke’s activities in the bedroom and that he deserved to see her sex tapes online to “get something for what he was paying for” Fluke was also making the point that some women NEED to take birth control for their health—such as her friend who lost an ovary. But given your position, I’m sure you agree Viagra shouldn’t be covered either—in spite of bob Dole’s sweet deal with the company who made it.

Then, my colleague said:

I agree, we shouldn’t pay for it, the truth is that if it’s a medical reason your insurance company will pay, but the doctor has to say you need birth control because of x.

As far as what Rush said I read the transcripts and he never said we should see a video, while in bad taste, I think this is all just to cover up the fact and to distract from the bad economy, and to fire up the lefts base .Nothing more, in fact they should give back the million dollars from Maher if they feel what Rush said was wrong.

I replied:

And on the second day of Rush’s rant, he did say sex tapes should be posted online. I agree it’s a distraction from the economy, but Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, and the republicans started it.

Response:

No they didn’t in fact it was started then picked up by the media but it was a question asked by George Stephanopoulos during the debate, he asked the question which came from left field about contraception, which in no way has or is an issue nor are any Republicans looking to outlaw this, it was a gotcha question that the media and the White House decided to use as pure distraction.

Of course I couldn't let that one go and said:

Stephanopoulos did not bring it out of left field. A week earlier Santorum stated his views on contraception—that it was wrong and he as president would speak out against it—no he didn’t say he would outlaw it, but he did say he thought it was destructive and he would speak against it. He’s a major candidate, he raised a controversial issue , and Stephanopoulos was asking him about it. How is that a gotcha?

And BTW the whole Catholic, religious freedom thing was raised by Gingrich, even though several states have the same law about religious-affiliated institutions having to cover contraception, even Arkansas which was approved by your pal Huckabee when he was governor.  

I'll let him have the last word:

The sad truth is that this is a nothing issue, the country has never been in this bad of shape, and for anyone to even consider discussing this issue is foolish.

I’m not sure you agree with me but this country is in a death spiral because of several bad choices made by this president his desire to be more like Europe.

You can not mistake his constant attacks on class warfare as just a random comment; it’s what he has used to charge up his base.

We are now so burdened with debt as a nation and yet he wants more spending, you have to admit that we as a country will never be able to get out of this huge financial mess he helped create.

There were a few more exchanges, but you get the general idea. 

Santorum Surges and Dems Rejoice

I haven't written a blog in weeks and the politcal situation has totally changed. Newt is out and Rick Santorum is in. Can you believe this? Well, actually I can. I didn't think Republicans would be dumb enough to vote for Rick "Man-on-Dog-Sex" Santorum, but they just can't stand Mittens. Newt ran out of money and starting running off at the mouth about sugar subsidies and moon colonies, so his Las Vegas sugar daddy cut off the purse strings. That left Ricky as the only alternative to Mittens--I saw a post on the CNN website calling him Flipper the Elitist Robot, I like it. So Ricky won three states last week--Colorado, Missouri, Minnesota--while Mittens fumbled.

What's amazing is that anyone with a brain in their head would acutally think Santo Claus could beat Obama. The Prez would crush him like an ant. Evidently there is a school of thought among right-wingers that if they nominated a moderate they will lose, as they did with Dole and McCain. But Santorum is so far to the right it's absurd. He raises incredibly retro issues like women in combat, gay marriage, the dignity of being a housewife, and contraception--not just that Catholic-affiliated employers shouldn't be forced to cover it in their health plans, but that anybody should be able to deny it to women. My God! What is this, the 1950s? I can see objecting to abortion, but birth control??? And another thing, you know the tide is turning in our favor when Bill O'Reilly defends Ellen Degeneris against a group who wanted her fired from JC Penny for being gay. It's no longer mainstream to be homophobic, but Rick still thinks it is.

Mittens is in a fix now because he can't squash Ricky as he did Newtie. Both anti-Romneys are far-right extremists, but Ricky is an honest extremist. Newt is a lying, lobbying, adulterous, ethically challenged blowhard and Mittens could launch millions of negative ads against him and be perfectly justified and have them resonate. There is not as much ammunition to use against Santorum who actually believes everything he says. You may not like what he says--and I don't--but he's never changed positions as Mittens and Newtie have. I don't see Santorum getting the nomination, but it's telling that after all this the inevitable Romney is trailing in the polls behind him, even in Michigan, Romney's home state. Even after all this time, Mittens still can't get the base to like him.

The Politics of Envy and Resentment

It's not necessarily relevant, I just love this picture

So now the Republicans are really screwed. Newt won South Carolina, and Mittens is tripping all over his own tongue and his taxes. If Newt is the nominee, Obama wins without breaking a sweat. Newtie cannot sustain the politics of resentment against cultural elites in Washington and New York. His basic message is "These fancy people wanna take America and make it into a European socialist haven where your hard-earned money goes to lazy minorities and snooty Hollywood types look down their noses at your churchgoing fineness. BTW, I know you forgive me for having an affair...or two. I'm 68 and a grandpa now, so you know I don't fool around no more. And even though I'm a professor, I ain't no intellectual."

Meanwhile Mitt accuses anyone who criticizes his 15 percent tax rate as practising the politics of envy. I think he will prevail and get the nomination and he could win against Obama.

We just finished watching DVRed segments of the roundtables of Meet the Press, Chris Matthews, and This Week. The consensus seems to be Romney has a great message (according to the right-leaning pundits) but still cannot connect with the average voter. They forgave Bain Capital, but it was the brushing off of $350K as if it were nothing that turned people off.

Yesterday we were flipping the channels looking for news about any early returns on the SC primary. My partner Jerry stopped on Fox News and we thought we'd give the other side a chance. It was the Wall Street Journal Editorial Bloviating Session or whatever that thing is called. I had not seen the host Paul Gigot in a long time since he only appears on Fox. Anyway, I disagreed with just about everything the WSJ crowd but one guy had an interesting point. He said Romney feels guilty for making so much money and paying such a relatively low tax rate, so whenever he talks about it, he comes across as embarassed, stilted and uncomfortable in his own skin. That's why he laughed when he said he didn't make very much in speaking fees. He's not at peace with all that money. That may be. While Mitt is uncomfortable, Newt is shameless and has absolutely no tinge of guilt about anything he's ever done including cheating on two wives while they were sick. That's what attractive to those SC voters, they sense Newt's unapologetic brashness. That type of ease got W. into the White House, but it won't work for Newtie.

South Carolina Showdown

In the Cayman Islands We Trust

The Republican primary is getting good. Rick Perry drops out and endorses Newt two days before the SC voting. Meanwhile, that very night (tonight) the second Mrs. Gingrich will go on ABC News to spill the beans about her former husband's lack of morals and desire for polygamy. I'll bet it will crush the debate on CNN in the ratings. I also wonder if Marianne Gingrich has cashed that check from Mitt Romney's Cayman Islands off-shore account.

This leads me to Romney's tin ear when it comes to bragging about his wealth and tax breaks. (Yesterday, I started singing "50 Percent" from "Ballroom" in the office and substituting "15 Percent.") It's not that American begrudge his success or envy it--as Mittens puts it--but the cavalier way he dismisses $357,000 in speaking fees as if it were nothing is what grates on people earning $40,000 a year for a family of four. (he probably didn't even think about how it would sound.) You may recall that Bush Senior lost his election to Clinton when during the final debate, he looked at his watch while Bill was expressing his concern for a member of the audience who had several friends who had lost jobs. It made Poppy Bush look out of touch with the common man and that is how Mittens looks. He was able to survive the attacks on Bain Capital--that's just business and somebody is gonna get hurt, but we made more jobs than we destroyed, is the rationale---but now he is being killed by his own apparent indifference to John and Jane Q. Public.

Newt has surged in the last few days--in part due to the redneck standing ovation he got when he "put Juan Williams in his place"--and might even win South Carolina. Oh, please, oh, please. That would be so good. I still think Romney is the nominee but the longer this plays out the better. Sarah Palin had to open her big mouth and endorse Newt and then she had the gaul to say the last election had an unvetted candidate and look what happened. This dimwit was actually referring to Obama and NOT herself. What a maroon! Newt responded by saying he'd ask Joan of Anchorage to have a major post in his White House. OMG! A gift from God to the Democrats if Newt is nominated. Just the mention of Palin in a major position of power is enough to lose them million of votes.

      

Mittens Triumphant

Mitt Romney trying to cosy up to New Hampshire voters. 

Politics and real life collide too much. In the past weeks I've been meaning to blog more about the Republican primary, but it's just too exhausting. Rick Santorum alone got me so upset I couldn't even see straight enough to write anything. He came within eight votes of winning in Iowa and now he's on his way down. Mittens just won the New Hampshire primary and is boasting about his brand of venture capitalism. He's attacking Obama for being against capitalism--the President hasn't even said a word about Bain Capital. But it's more an attack on Newt for daring to sound like a Democrat and speaking against rich people screwing over poor people. (The Romney defense is that overall Bain helped more people than it hurt and there are winners and losers in a free market. But what this does not answer is the fact that Romney and his Bain cronies made tremendous profits by stripping down the failing companies, crushing unions, eliminating safety regulations, and destroying jobs. It wasn't just you win some, you lose some. It was we're gonna turn a profit no matter who it hurts in the process. If they shared in the failure by taking a loss that's one thing, but here they were profiting on the workers' misery. Maybe I'm naive.)

I think it's significant that Mittens used a teleprompter in his victory speech tonight and sounded very professional and polished. When he's off the cuff and ad-libbing, he comes across as stiff and uncomfortable, a plastic insecure phony. This is doubly ironic because Obama's critics always jump on him for using a teleprompter.

I look forward to the bloodbath in South Carolina where the going is traditionally very dirty. I want to see this Super PAC film Newt's Las Vegas sugar daddy financed--"When Mitt Romney Came to Town." I saw the preview on YouTube. During the past few days Romney has continually put his foot in his mouth, first having the nerve to say he can identify with working-class people worrying about getting a pink slip, as if he ever for one moment had to be concerned about his financial security. Then saying he enjoys firing people. OK, on that one, his remarks were taken out of context. He was talking about enjoying firing people who don't provide good service, specifically insurance companies. But he could have phrased it better. Both of these gaffes show Guy Smiley for what he really is, a rich elitist posing as just a regular guy. In tonight's speech, he sounded convincing. But on the debate stage, I think he'll trip up and Obama hopefully can show him up as a someone who only cares about keeping the rich richer and the poor poorer. But that is no guarantee Obama will win. You'll recall Kerry won all three debates against Bush and W was elected anyway.

Republicans in Disarray After Iowa

Hooray! Rick Santorum's surge in Iowa has totally fucked up the Republican primary. It's after midnight on the night of the Iowa caucuses, with 96 percent of the vote in, Romney and "Man on Dog Sex" Santorum are within 100 votes of each other. Mittens must be boiling mad. "Goddamnit!," he's probably screaming at his staff, "I thought we had this thing sewn up. Now I gotta go after a guy who lost a Pennsylvania senate race by 18 freakin' points? A nutcase who thinks contraception should be outlawed?"

Rick Perry has effectively dropped out. Bachmann is stubbornly sticking in and Newtie has become like a wounded bear, ready to slash at Mittens. Ron Paul had a strong finish but I don't think he will go for a third party candidacy because it will hand the election to Obama. The Republicans would be furious and then the party establishment would take it out on Paul's son, the senator from Kentucky.

But in the long run, Iowa is all meaningless. Look at who the Iowa Republicans have chosen before: Huckabee, Buchanan, even Pat Robertson (I think). Mittens is going to be the nominee and Santorum's victory (even if he is second it's still a victory) just delays the inevitable. What this says to me is the Repubs STILL don't like Mittens. Gingrich is out for blood and he's going to attack Grandpa Paul and Mittens. He wants revenge for the negative ads (ironically these are the result of super PACs and the right-wing judges on the Supreme Court deciding money is speech and corporations are people.) Santorum might take South Carolina, but Florida should decide everything. It makes Obama look much better by comparison.

While flipping channels from MSNBC's coverage of Iowa, I turned to two reality shows which provided ironic contrast. One was Bravo's It's a Brad, Brad World with the very gay former asst. of Rachel Zoe leading a very gay fashion-forward lifestyle with his boyfriend. The other was ABC's supertrashy Celebrity Wife Swap with fame whore Gary Busey and repressed gay minister Ted Haggard trading spouses. Here was an election with candidates looking for votes by calling for outlawing sodomy and advocating the degration of gay relationships, while on other networks gays are being celebrated (Brad) and participating in their own exploitation (Ted).

Third Place Is Really First in Iowa

My first executive order: Chastity belts for all women and gays.

Now it's Rick Santorum's turn in the spotlight and he's not even first in the Iowa polls. He's freaking third, but the news media has exhuasted its Ron Paul newsletter stuff, so they need a new story. It's really funny. Just a few weeks ago the big news was Gingrich emerging on top, then these Iowa Republican jerks starting remembering--"Oh yeah, didn't he get kicked out of the speakership and fined something like $300K for ethics violations? Oh, yeah, he's kinda crazy, isn't he? He believes in electromagnetism and arresting judges? What, he's not even on the ballot in Virginia? Can this goofball really be President? Sure he'll give Obama hell in a debate, but most moderate people will run screaming from him. OOOPS, guess I'll switch to somebody I have't even looked at yet."

At which point they took a gander at Ron Paul. Here's a nice grandfatherly type, they must have thought to themselves after shucking some corn, he wants less government and no foriegn wars, that's fine by me. What they don't realize is he wants to do away with Social Security and Medicare as well as half the federal government. Real Ayn Rand stuff. Then the newsletters with the bigoted vitriol resurfaced and he walked away from CNN's Gloria Borger. Now I don't see him running on a third ticket, but you never know.

Those that withdrew from Gingrich probably went to Rick "Man-on-Dog Sex" Santorum. He's now giving the interviews to the Today Show and Morning Joe as if he were a serious candidate. On Chris Matthews' Hard Ball, a reporter indicated he's not really serious about wanting to be President, he just wants to move whoever gets the nomination to the right--and he's partially succeeded. In order to get evangelicals off their asses, every Repub candidate has basically said no woman should ever have an abortion under any circumstances. They're all pretty gung-ho against gay marriage, too. But that has produced some interesting confrontations with gay Iowans challenging these homophobes. A guy even dressed up as a gay robot to crash a Michele Bachmann event and a lesbian's little boy rendered her speechless when he told her his mom didn't need to be fixed.

What's especially interesting is that all these crazies had had their turn as the front runner--even whack job Herman Cain--except Huntsman who is the one sane professional in the bunch. With less than a week to go before the Iowa Caucases, it doesn't look like he'll ever get in double digits. Mittens will probably win, but I hope Paul beats him. Santorum will be third and this will convince him to hang on for the next few states. Perry is pretty much finished even though he is suing to get on the Virginia ballot, having made the same dumb mistake Newt did. Perry still has lots of money to spend, but his poor performance in the debates destroyed his chances. Bachmann and Huntsman are toast, the Wicked Witch of Minnesota is too stubborn to quit yet, but Huntsman will probably drop out.

Newt, Activist Judges, and a Bewitching Endorsement

Well, that didn't take long. Newt Gingrich has just opened his big fat mouth, inserted his big fat foot, and slipped from front-runner status for the GOP nomination. This morming on CBS's Face the Nation, Newtie stated he would arrest "activist judges" who "legislate from the bench." This is after he proposed abolishing the dangerous Ninth Circuit Court because they made judgements which were "out of step with the American people" during th last GOP debate. Gingrich is still ahead in many polls, but this little peek-a-boo at his dictatorial delusions should sober enough Republican primary voters to take a second look at Romney or even the grandfatherly Ron Paul, who's been reading "Atlas Shrugged" too much.

It should be fascinating to see what happens next. For a while, it really looked as if Newtie had peaked at exactly the right time, and solidified his position as the non-Romney of choice. He could still maintain that hold among archconservatives, but establishment figures are rushing in to endorse Mittens. They don't want Newt because they can't control him, not that he would turn into a brown-shirted Mussolini. The powers that be are fine with dictators as long as they conceal their outrages and convince the Great Unwashed that everything is fine and dandy and they can go back to playing Wii and watching Nascar races.

Christine O'Donnell on her way to a Romney rally

They've even dragged Christine O'Donnell out of mothballs to endorse Romney. She is a hoot, during her disastrous CNN interview where she said she loved that Mittens was consistant "since he changed his mind," I envisioned her as Samantha on Bewitched. (Get the witchcraft reference?) I also thought of Mittens as her husband Darren Stevens running for office and them fighting about her using her powers to help the campaign. "Now, Sam, don't you go casting a spell on the voters. That wouldn't be fair." "Oh, sweetheart, I would never do that....But mother might cast one in favor of the opponent. She just needs some eye of Newt." Ok, I stole that last bit from Stephen Colbert.

It's kinda ironic that Newt is using school prayer as the issue on the activist judges thing when the right-wing crowd is also employing the boogey man of Sharia Law to scare voters. According to them, the government should force kids to pray to a Christian God, even if they are atheists, but not to pray to a Muslim God. BTW, boo to Loew's for pulling their advertising from All-American Muslim. I just ordered a garage door from them and it's too late for me to boycott. Next time I need a smoke detector I'll definitely go to Home Depot.

Cain Stays Mainly Off the Iowa Plane

Just like I predicted Herman Cain has dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination, or "suspended his campaign" which means he can still raise money to pay off his debts. Now the big question is who will he endorse--and I'll bet it's whoever agrees to give him money to balance his books. It would be a riot if that endorsement went to Michelle Bachmann, just one of the many jokes in this stupid-ass primary. Regardless of who Cain favors, his votes will probably mostly go to Gingrich, the new un-Romney.

It's become increasingly clear a significant portion of Repub primary voters just will not support Mittens, like little children refusing to eat their spinach. They want a pure conservative no matter how much of a gasbag he is. They want some one with pure credentials to smear Obama and take him apart in the debates. They don't think Plastic Man Mitt can do that or that he shares their conservative principles--even though he is a one percenter. A Gingrich candidicacy might make these Tea Party types feel good for about two seconds, but the rest of America will react with revulsion when faced with the possibility of a Gingrich presidency.

One of my office colleagues, a conservative, believes Obama is solely responsible for the state of the wrecked economy and he will lose the election big time. According to my coworker everyone outside of New York and California hates the President's guts and he has zero chance of being re-elected. A foot stool could beat him. While I agree Obama is not the perfect prez and usually a second-term election is a referendum on the incumbent, I think most independent voters will still think he is the lesser of two evils and vote for him. When elections are close, it sometimes comes down to personalities. George W. Bush won despite his shortcomings because a lot of Americans could imagine themselves having a beer with the Texas governor rather than the stiff Al Gore or the snooty John Kerry. I'm just talking perceptions, but when faced with a choice between good-natured Obama and the nasty, Scrooge-like Gingrich (make poor, lazy school kids work as janitors and by the way, take a bath, you lousy hippies), they will go with Obama.

Newt's Moment in the Sun and OWS

Doesn't that headline make you think of a lizard sunbathing on top of a rock?

Newtie with wife no. 3. I think he was sleeping with her while impeaching Clinton.

Newt Gingrich is now in the anti-Mitt Romney slot among GOP candidates. Did I call that Cain would drop down sooner or later or what? (What a jerk this Cain is, I know more about Libya than him!) This is the ultimate irony--evangelical rightists who claim their most important issues are family values and anti-government Ayn Randism now seem to supporting Gingrich, a thrice-married, ultimate Washington insider. Newt, a lobbyist for anyone who will foot his jewelry bill and pay for his European cruises, is the very definition of the one-percenters. He is small and petty--he lost control of congress during his speakership because Clinton gave him a bad seat on Air Force One, that and shutting down the government. I just saw a clip of him speaking to the faithful about Occupy Wall Street wanting to tear down this country. Let's all get in the TARDIS and go back to the late 1960s (get the Doctor Who reference?) This is the right's characterization of OCW as a radical anarchistic movement bent on destroying financial institutions and inconveniencing subway riders, just as Nixon and Agnew called student protestors bums.

As Chris Matthews pointed out both the Tea Party and OWS have legitimate concerns, but the former is fueled by anger and letting social issue cloud their message, while the latter is too diffuse and lacking in a specific list of actions they want taken.
BTW, Elizabeth Hasselback needs to get a life. You could tell she has been waiting to attack Bill Maher for a joke he made a year ago! As Bill said, you're a public figure Elizabeth, if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen and go on Fox News.