I saw Mommy kissing the continuing resolution

Drawing by Thomas Nast, 1881, via Wikipedia.

Blogfriend Steve M, on holiday, surfaced on the Twitter to react to a piece of sublime idiocy from the tax crusader Grover Norquist:

Norquist: Liberals see government the way kids see Santa https://t.co/gwls1JUs56 pic.twitter.com/86fskyXM7k

— The Hill (@thehill) December 25, 2016

So your point is what, Grover? There is no government? Government is really your parents? https://t.co/eVc99er8AW

— Steve M. (@nomoremister) December 25, 2016

It struck me that there's actually something to that; not, I mean, that government is a bishop from Anatolia who's been dead for 16 centuries so we're foolish to believe it exists. Or that we should leave a plate of cookies and a glass of milk for the OSHA inspector because he's our dad. What Grover said, as opposed to what The Hill reported, is a little more sophisticated.

Things to be grateful for

If not for the Second Amendment, we could have ended up with a Grover Norquist who spoke English.

Grover forgive me, for I have sinned...

“No pledge-taker has voted for a tax increase,” Norquist explained to CNN’s Soledad O’Brien on Monday. “They’ve had some people discussing impure thoughts on national television.”

Raw Story (http://s.tt/1uQkH)

"When did you first start thinking about tax increases?"

"Oh, I must have been thirteen, fourteen... Physically capable of  legislating, you know, but not at all ready emotionally. Your body's been going through all these changes, and it's hard to concentrate, and these images kind of wander into your head unbidden."

"What kind of images?"

"You know how it it is... you'll be out in the garage with your buddies, and there's a stack of old Congressional Records, harmless stuff mostly, National Accordion Week and the like, and then every once in a while something a little titillating. Like, look at this one, Eddie, voting rights! From the sixties!  And sooner or later you see a revenue bill, and you don't say anything to anybody and shut the volume as quick as you can, but you can't squeeze that stuff back into the tube. You can't unsee it, if you will. You can't stop wondering what it feels like to vote for something like that."

"And how do you cope with it?"

"Well, you pray, naturally. And there's the Bible. 'Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's.' Doesn't say anything about giving Caesar your own stuff, does it?"

Reading Playboy South Africa for the articles. From adland.tv.

Cheap shots 11/16

Erick the Drastick looking for true conservative candidates on the Jersey shore.  Pompier art by Evariste-Vital Luminais (1897).

Erick Erickson at RedState brings out the big guns:

I think it is incumbent on each and every conservative and conservative organization, with this deadline upon us, to make a very simple pledge:
We will not support the re-election of any Republican Governor who creates a healthcare exchange in his or her state. Further, we will oppose for the nomination to the Presidency, any Republican who creates a healthcare exchange in his or her state.

In fact, I will go first.
Should any Republican Governor set up a health care exchange in his or her state, I’ll support their primary challenger and I sure will not support him or her for President in 2016.

Tremble, governors! Save us from the cholerick Norsemen!

Jan Huling, Poopyhead (or possibly Poppyhead). From  Society for Contemporary Craft.

Grover Norquist:

"The president was committed; elected on the basis that he was not Romney and Romney was a poopy head and you should vote against Romney and he won by two points," Norquist said on CBS' "This Morning" Monday. "But he didn't make the case that we should have higher taxes and higher spending, he kind of sounded like the opposite."

Why has the White House not come out to deny calling Romney a poopy head? What are they trying to hide?

Succubus (uncredited), from ViciousMim.

For some reason, the Washington Post wants us to know that Petraeus was fully conscious:

“Obviously, he knew about the relationship for months, he knew about the affair, he was in it, so yes, he was not going to resign,” said Peter Mansoor, a retired Army colonel and Petraeus’s executive officer during the Iraq “surge,” who spoke Monday with the former general for about half an hour. “But once he knew it was going to go public, he thought that resigning was the right thing to do. There is no way it would have remained private.”

But how many months did he know about it? When did he first become suspicious that he might be having an affair? What was the confirming evidence?

Douche.

Most utterly douche proposed explanation:

The Man Called Petraeus had an extramarital affair because his wife was hanging out with Elizabeth Warren (should have been home polishing his medals with the hem of her négligée).

Maybe if Holly Petraeus spent a little less time at the CPFB.......
— Michael Goldfarb (@thegoldfarb) November 9, 2012

Elizabeth Warren and her homewrecking staffers not even in Washington yet and already threatening national security.
— Michael Goldfarb (@thegoldfarb) November 9, 2012

Paul Ryan, numbers guy:

"The numbers we were looking at looked like we stood a pretty good chance of winning. So, when the numbers came in, going the other direction. When we saw the turnout that was occurring in urban areas that were unprecedented, it did come as a bit of a shock. So, those are the toughest losses to have -- the ones that catch you by surprise." 
-- Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), in an interview with WISN-TV.

Not a word guy, at any rate. Or not when he attempts to come up with phrases that are unprecedented.

"Hello my name is the count, and they call me this because i love to count, Ah Ah Ah Ah Ah Ah" . By xxMysticalxx, at DeviantArt.