The Axis of Stupid

We live in a time when three of the most powerful people in Washington are CFIs - Complete Idiots. Topping the list, easily I might add, is Vice President Joe Biden, the guy sitting a heartbeat away from the presidency. Coincidentally, the second person in the group is also second in the line of succession to the presidency, House Speaker Nancy "Air Force 3" Pelosi. The third person? The Senate Majority Leader, who demonstrates his own his reverse-Mensa qualifications.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid became the latest Democrat to stray into rhetorical trouble Tuesday, botching statements on three subjects in one news conference — including the fragile health of the chamber's most senior members.

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Reid also mangled his party's position on the congressional news of the day, that Senate Democrats would join their House counterparts in withholding the money President Barack Obama needs to close the Guantanamo Bay prison until Obama comes up with a plan for relocating its prisoners.

But Reid went further than saying he wanted to see a plan for the money before Congress approves it. "We will never allow terrorists to be released into the United States," he said.

No one, of course, was talking about releasing terrorism suspects among the American populace. Imprisoning them, perhaps, but not releasing them.

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Did the administration put Democrats in an awkward position, asking for the money before setting out how it would be spent?

"Not at all," said Reid.

"Yes," his deputy, Sen. Dick Durbin replied to the same question.

Even the post-gaffe handling of Reid's remarks was awkward. Spokesman Jim Manley, who previously worked for Kennedy for years, swept through the press gallery to clean up after his boss. He retracted Reid's assessment of Kennedy's condition. He clarified Reid's comments about the Guantanamo Bay prison.

Manley's job was no fun at that moment, a reporter observed.

"Not so much," he said.

Open mouth, insert foot.

The popular propaganda from the Left that we are force-fed ad nauseum is the canard regarding the relative intelligence of Leftist politicians vs. Conservative politicians. The Leftist politicians are "so smart, so nuanced, so deep", and the Conservative politicians are stupid Neanderthals.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid. They are Vulture's exhibits A, B, and C as rebuttals to those claims. They are: The Axis of Stupid.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss

The peacenik moonbat wing of the Far Left was absolutely beside itself following the 2008 elections. Why, with a Team Donkey majority in Congress - maybe even a SUPER-majority in the Senate! - and His Royal Holiness Barack 'Il Duce' Obama seated upon the Abraham Lincoln throne, there seemed to be no doubt that there would be Peace in Our Time.

You know what I'm talking about, right? The DoublePlusGoodHopeChange!

Maybe not so much...

The Obama administration is weighing plans to detain some terror suspects on U.S. soil -- indefinitely and without trial -- as part of a plan to retool military commission trials that were conducted for prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The proposal being floated with members of Congress is another indication of President Barack Obama's struggles to establish his counter-terrorism policies, balancing security concerns against attempts to alter Bush-administration practices he has harshly criticized.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

I was among those who hammered King George the Dim for his cavalier attitude towards due process, habeas corpus, and various suspensions of person liberty (think: TSSA). But at least he was consistent! Il Duce careens from one position to another based on which way the wind is blowing. A megalomaniac is bad enough. But a megalomaniacal economic Fascist equipped with the arbitrary powers established by King George and his Neo-Conmen?

It just keeps getting better, doesn't it.

Pathogens in the News

I live a leisurely 10 minute drive from Fort Detrick. I could probably get there, in light traffic, in 5...but that might involve exceeding speed limits, and, as you know, I would NEVER exceed a speed limit. Okay, I would NEVER exceed a speed limit if I knew there were cops in the area.

Anyway, I bring up Fort Detrick because pathogens have been in the news a little bit lately. And if there's one thing Fort Detrick is known for, it would be its comprehensive collection of every chemical and biological pathogen known to mankind. It's tremendously comforting knowing it's only a 10 minute drive away. If the {stuff} is ever set free, I won't be one of the survivors lingering in agony.

First stop, good old Detrick.

Vials of a potentially harmful pathogen have gone missing at Fort Detrick, the Army’s main biodefense lab. But don’t freak out. The samples of Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis (VEE) virus are relatively small. The Army has found “no evidence yet of criminal misconduct,” the Washington Post reports. And the virus usually causes only “a mild flulike illness” — although “brain inflammation and death” are possible, too.

Brain inflammation and death - woo hoo! I gotta get me some of that there.

Let us not forget that the anthrax used in the 2001 postal attacks came from...(wait for it)...Fort Effing Detrich! Honestly, kids! Put your toys away when you're done playing! Please!

This story is a little more disconcerting than a wee bit of VEE. Significantly more disconcerting.

A Canadian scientist has been arrested for smuggling 22 vials stolen from Canada's National Microbiology Lab, used in Ebola and HIV research, into the United States, Canadian and US officials said Wednesday.

Konan Michel Yao, 42, "was taken into custody" while crossing the border from Manitoba province into the western US state of North Dakota on May 5, said a spokeswoman for the Public Health Agency of Canada, which operates the lab.

Never mind that we're reassured later in the article that 'tests later showed "they are not hazardous"', that doesn't exactly give me a warm fuzzy, ya know?

We live in a dangerous world. Thank God for science! They're taking every conceivable step to make us more....uh....never mind.

Wiener of the Week

Back in March, when I awarded the WotW to Nancy Pelosi for what seemed like the 3rd of 4th week in a row, I jokingly threatened to rename the award in her honor. But I can see now that there is one mightier than she in the craft of asshattery. Ladies and gentlemen, our Vice President, the Honorable Joe Biden.

Vice President Joe Biden, well-known for his verbal gaffes, may have finally outdone himself, divulging potentially classified information meant to save the life of a sitting vice president.

According to a report, while recently attending the Gridiron Club dinner in Washington, an annual event where powerful politicians and media elite get a chance to cozy up to one another, Biden told his dinnermates about the existence of a secret bunker under the old U.S. Naval Observatory, which is now the home of the vice president.

The bunker is believed to be the secure, undisclosed location former Vice President Dick Cheney remained under protection in secret after the 9/11 attacks.

What. A. Douche.

This clown divulges a CLASSIFIED location that is meant to...wait for it...SAVE HIS LIFE in the event of some kind of attack. Then, to show how completely dim-witted he is, he turns it into a gratuitous Chaney joke.

"The officer explained that when Cheney was in lock down, this was where his most trusted aides were stationed, an image that Biden conveyed in a way that suggested we shouldn't be surprised that the policies that emerged were off the wall."

Hoo hoo, ha ha, that's a real knee-slapper. That Chaney sure is a dummy!

Asshat.

This has got to be the stupidest human being ever to hold public office. EVER! Kinda makes you nostalgic for Dan Quayle.

I pray for the President's continuing health, and I mean that most sincerely. I mean, look at the line of succession to the president: Vice President Biden, followed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. If THAT doesn't give you nightmares, nothing will.

Joe Biden, you're the Wiener of the Week.

Little Nancy's troubles

For those of you who, like the Vulture, just LOVE schadenfreude, this is your kind of story. Little Nancy "Air Force 3" Pelosi is in a bit of a bind. And this wound is self-inflicted.

We'll start with a little time line. It was reported on April 23rd that Little Nancy was pushing for a 'truth' panel on torture.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has stepped up Democrats' calls to form a torture "truth commission," urging President Obama not to give immunity to anyone who illegally abused terror thugs.

Pelosi on Wednesday seized on Obama's openness to prosecuting top Bush administration lawyers who formulated policies to strip, slap, shove and waterboard detainees said to be among Al Qaeda's worst in U.S. custody after 9/11.

"It gives further impetus among members to have some kind of truth commission as to what happened," Pelosi said. "I do not think immunity should be granted to everyone in a blanket way," she added.

Please pay particular attention to that last line. Oh the irony!

Because, you see, Little Nancy had a little secret: she was in on it!

Intelligence officials released documents this evening saying that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was briefed in September 2002 about the use of harsh interrogation tactics against al-Qaeda prisoners, seemingly contradicting her repeated statements over the past 18 months that she was never told that these techniques were actually being used.

In a 10-page memo outlining an almost seven-year history of classified briefings, intelligence officials said that Pelosi and then-Rep. Porter Goss (R-Fla.) were the first two members of Congress ever briefed on the interrogation tactics. Then the ranking member and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, respectively, Pelosi and Goss were briefed Sept. 4, 2002, one week before the first anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Uh oh! Little Nancy told a lie! Again and again and again.

But it gets better as she shovels harder and faster in her attempts to extricate herself from the hole she dug.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi learned in early 2003 that the Bush administration was waterboarding terror detainees but didn’t protest directly out of respect for “appropriate” legislative channels, a person familiar with the situation said Monday.

The Pelosi camp’s version of events is intended to answer two key questions posed by her critics: When, precisely, did she first learn about waterboarding? And why didn’t she do more to stop it?

Pelosi has disputed a CIA document, released last week, that shows she was briefed in September 2002 on the “particular” interrogation techniques the United States had used on Al Qaeda leader Abu Zubaydah. Pelosi has said she was told then only that the Bush administration was considering using certain techniques in the future — and that it had the legal authority to do so.

But there’s no dispute that on Feb. 4, 2003 — five months after Pelosi’s September meeting — CIA officials briefed Pelosi aide Michael Sheehy and Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), then the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, on the specific techniques that had been used on Zubaydah — including waterboarding.

Okay, let's get our duck in a row here, shall we?

• Little Nancy was briefed about the "enhanced" interrogation techniques in 2002.
• Little Nancy was briefed specifically about waterboarding in 2003.
• Little Nancy wants to call hearings to punish everyone who engaged in and/or knew about the "enhanced" interrogation techniques.
• That list would include...........Little Nancy!

Schadenfreude, sweet schadenfreude.

I'll be she'd look swell in an orange prison jump suit.

Bolt shoots, bolt scores

From time to time I like to highlight the work of my favorite bloggers and columnists, particularly when they've hit upon something important or administered a particularly good beatdown on some asshat who desperately needs one.

Andrew Bolt is Australia's preeminent libertarian columnist. In this column, Andrew takes on the shrill crowd of politically correct yentas doing their damnedest to take down Miss California for the "sin" (read: thought crime) of making an anti-gay marriage statement.

While he does his usual admirable job of applying the beatdown to the appropriate parties - particularly drama QUEEN Perez Hilton - he also hit upon something that I had missed in my prior assessment of this sort of Leftist elite feeding frenzy.

You see, defending the tribe counts more than defending a principle. That is why the people tearing into Prejean refuse to say that Obama, who shares her opinion on gay marriage, is also a bitch, boob and moron who has buttock fat for brains and needs a heart transplant, the dumb bastard.

(Actually, I suspect these people excuse Obama as a liar, just saying what he must. And a liar is good, but an opponent of gay marriage evil.)

So what is this tribe that's being defended so viciously, and with such hypocrisy? It's the tribe of the Left. Of privilege, too. And patriarchy.

It's also a class - the kind of people who'd look down on a Miss USA audience, and would use the weapons of power, sex and caste to crush them in precisely the ways the Left once claimed to oppose.

We've seen this phenomenon played out before, of course, and recently.

Last year it was the turn of Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, to be monstered for being a conservative woman from small-town, Christian USA.

Palin, although a successful and popular corruption-buster and Governor of Alaska, was pilloried by the largely Left media as some thick hick, with white-trash morals and ideas above her station.

Class! Of course. The snobbery of the Left knows no bounds. But Vulture! Bill Clinton was a small-town rube, and the Left LOVED him. Ah, grasshopper, but Bill Clinton also attended Georgetown, Yale, and even Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar! That's cachet, people. And Sarah Palin? A degree from the University of Idaho? And JUST a BA at that? What a rube!

Never mind that the UI educational experience is probably every bit as good as Georgetown's (I'm talking the actual classroom instruction; you don't think Georgetown's prestigious professors actually teach, do you?). It just goes to show you how shallow and petty the Left actually is. If you're (a) from money or (b) have attended one or more "prestige" universities, and you embrace the Leftist catechism, you're a member of the club; nothing you do is worthy of criticism, except, perhaps, the occasional rebuke to placate the rubes from time to time. If you do not embrace the Leftist catechism, but satisfy requirement (a) or (b), you will be criticized, perhaps even rudely, but you will not bear the full heat that those who satisfy neither (a) nor (b) will.

Oh, and don't think for one second that top-level Republicans and their spokesmonkeys in the neocon commentariate are any different. They are every bit as shallow and petty. After all, some of the most scathing criticisms of Sarah Palin came from the likes of Peggy Noonan! The Left-Center neocon wing of the GOP (you know, the group that is killing the party) is every bit as snobby as the Left.

Great catch, Andrew. And create article, as always.