Cheap shots, 2/15/2013

Our bad—from Washington Post's Suzy Parker:

CORRECTION:  An earlier version of this post and the post’s URL incorrectly reported that Sarah Palin had signed on as a contributor to the Al Jazeera America news network. The blogger cited a report on the Daily Currant Web site as the basis for that information without realizing that the piece was satirical. 

 To be fair, it's not always obvious that the Daily Currant is meant to be funny. With headlines like

Lehman Brothers CEO Arrested For Accounting Fraud

and

Glenn Beck Calls 911 After Accidentally Eating Halal Pizza

it could easily be some kind of fantasy wish fulfillment site.

Photo by Reuters/Mike Segar.

Twit:

Obama's SOTU was more recycled rhetoric. He wants to make the fed govt more intrusive, bankrupt, and controlling. #sotUGottaBKiddingMe
— Sarah Palin (@SarahPalinUSA) February 13, 2013

Self-Awareness Gap

Rand Paul, in his re-rebuttal or post-rebuttal of the SOTU, on the subject of why America is exceptional:

For the first time in history, men and women were guaranteed a chance to succeed based NOT on who your parents were but on your own initiative and desire to work.

Photo from Politico.

Senator Ted Cruz (R-Paranoia) on former Senator Chuck Hagel:

Saying that he had serious doubts about the source of payments that Mr. Hagel had accepted for speaking engagements, Mr. Cruz declared, “It is at a minimum relevant to know if that $200,000 that he deposited in his bank account came directly from Saudi Arabia, came directly from North Korea.”

Right, and I'd like to know why Senator Cruz was late with his financial statement last summer: it is at a minimum relevant to know if the "legal fees" from the Chinese "tire company" Shandong Linglong were really profits from his part ownership of a brothel in Qingdao for gentlemen with especially fancy tastes involving nuns' habits.

Why does he always look as if he's about to burst into tears? Texas Tribune.

Who says Republicans don't have a plan for dealing with global warning?

From Wayne LaPierre's Daily Caller rant (via ThinkProgress):

Hurricanes. Tornadoes. Riots. Terrorists. Gangs. Lone criminals. These are perils we are sure to face—not just maybe. It’s not paranoia to buy a gun. It’s survival. It’s responsible behavior, and it’s time we encourage law-abiding Americans to do just that.

 Because it's OK to shoot a tornado in self-defense.

LaPierre foams at the mouth. From Business Insider.

Shorter David Brooks, New York Times, "When Families Fail":

Let's compromise: You can have your universal pre-K as long as I can say rude things about Head Start* and about poor people, who are clearly unqualified to be parents.

*Dishonest or ill-informed: cites research from 2010 suggesting that the impact of Head Start disappears by the time its students get to 3rd grade, without noting later critiques of the research and evidence of effects in high school and adulthood.