Dan Bidondi is a preening mook who works officially as a lackey for Alex Jones. Two weeks ago he made a little internet splash for himself and for Jones’ InfoWars by hijacking Deval Patrick’s post-bombing press conference with this debut question:

Is this another false flag staged attack to take our civil liberties for more homeland security by sticking their hands down our pants on the streets?

You can understand why the Governor replied “nonextquestion.” The blood’s still pooled on the pavement and some idiot is asking you if the government did it. Poor form, to say the least. Disgusting would be closer to the mark.

Well internet fame is a double-edged sword. Sure there are plenty pin-eyed global truth-tellers that now think you’ve just exposed the efforts of the illuminati and deserve a brand new tinfoil crown, this time with bluetooth.

But then there will be others. Like the people who live in Boston. The people who survived the bombing. Those folks might not appreciate a self-aggrandizing meathead treating the aftermath of a wrenching tragedy as if it were the opportunity of a lifetime:

It’s not every day you see someone big enough to play lineman for the Patriots – if he could dodge the incoming from the cheap seats, literally – wishing he could crawl through a sewer grate and disappear. But there it is.

The debates are over. CBS tracked 512 uncommitted voters who watched this last one. If the numbers are accurate, Obama racked up a big win tonight. He got the nod more than twice as often as Governor Romney in the network poll:

And lastly. A little poll done among the Republicans at Fox News Insider bodes ill . .

. . for Romney. As I see other wingnuts are calling it a tie, you have to believe they’ve been badly stung tonight. Ouch.

ADD: Local polling. Minnesota Star Tribune’s poll:

KTVR out of Richmond, Virginia:

I was typing away at the computer when I heard the live coverage of that monster jumbo jet flying Endeavour over Santa Monica. I jumped in my car and drove toward LAX where it would eventually land. The radio coverage continued with interviews of people who were practically out of their minds. They were so excited.

I know and work near the airport. The strategic problem was which vantage point to choose. I saw plenty of traffic near the runways on the East side. And then there were more and more people on the streets. And then I saw all the people on top of the buildings nearby. This was crazy and fun. I decided to try Airport Boulevard.

I parked my car near 93rd and Airport. Seeing the news helicopters, I started walking southbound toward Century Boulevard. I was trying to remember how the runways lined up with the boulevards when cars started honking. I looked up and HOLY SHIT THAT THING IS HUGE. Flying westbound toward LAX, peeking between buildings and maybe 300 feet over Airport Boulevard, trailed by two fighter jets, it was Endeavour. WOW. I see passenger jets all the time, but that was insane. The images you see on TV are nothing like the actual thing. The 747 is massive, but aeronautic and slender. The shuttle is a beast. It’s a meaty cargo rocket, for sure. The two look like an albatross giving a piggyback ride to a condor. Or like Japanese monsters wrestling it out over Tokyo, California. They together looked more massive than any of the surrounding buildings.

I remembered hearing the radio saying they might fly over LAX a second time (they’d done it earlier) before the final approach. I ran down to Century and waited there. Have any of you guys heard? Is it still going? Not sure. I looked up at the building watchers, they were still staring at the airport. Or the ocean? Couldn’t tell. But about 5 minutes later, they’d begun to swing back and look eastbound again. It was still going — the luck. About another 5 minutes later the roof birds started pointing. I looked down Century Boulevard and here it came, on final approach. I was just North of the ocean-bound flight path. GOD DAMN THAT THING IS HUGE. It swung a little more South and dipped below the roof of a large parking garage. I turned to the South, and I saw the tail pop up above power lines on Airport Boulevard. It’s mere feet off the ground! Anybody directly underneath it now must have felt like reaching up and grabbing it, all 700,000 pounds of beast and plane. It disappeared again. Seconds later it went on and landed, on some runway I couldn’t see. We heard a thunderous roar as the 747′s four jet engines flew into reverse and braked the shuttle on the tarmac. It was done. The final flight of the great space rocket, Endeavour. What a sight.

Then I got choked up. Awesome.

GIGANTIC.

The world could use more warrior poets. Or at least more poet-veterans:

Thanks for everything, Ralph.

Via YouTube member amaxwellparish, and Balloon Juice. Cropped and re-loaded by yours truly.

It makes me happy.

A second source, said to be “close to Senator [Harry] Reid,” has told CNN’s Dana Bash that Reid’s original source for the claim that Mitt Romney “didn’t pay any taxes for 10 years” exists, is a “Bain investor” and a “credible person.” Dana Bash reported on this source, and the person’s willingness to corroborate the allegation to which the Senate majority leader repeated on Thursday’s airing of CNN’s AC360.

As Bash told the show’s host, Anderson Cooper:

“I did speak to one source who is very close to Senator Reid who claims to also know who the Bain investor is that Reid spoke with, and insists that it is a credible person and this person if we knew the name we would understand they would have the authority and the ability to know about Romney’s tax returns.”

This is terrific. You People can’t get any closer to Mitt Romney than you can the Reverend Moon at a human sacrifice. He’s secretive, armor-plated and remote. You’re more likely to see a photo of the braided hair on Osama Bin Laden’s balls than any one of Romney’s tax returns. That’s why I enjoy this. Harry Reid is making the mysterious presidential candidate squirm over his own squirming paranoia. It’s nitro-irony.

“By the way Harry, I understand what you are trying to do here,” Mr. Romney said. “You are trying to deflect the fact that jobs numbers are bad, that Americans are out of work, and you’re trying to throw anything up on the screen that will grab attention away from the fact that the policies of the White House haven’t worked to put Americans to work, and the policies of the Senate haven’t even got a budget in place.”

“Now let me also say categorically: I have paid taxes every year, and a lot of taxes, a lot of taxes,” Mr. Romney added. “So Harry is simply wrong, and that’s why I’m so anxious for him to give us the names of the people who have put this forward.”

So you can release your bug-eyed jerks on someone and ruin his life? I’m sure Harry will oblige you real soon. You’ll also be releasing those normal average tax documents momentarily, and Harry’s partisan lying will blow up for everyone to see. Any minute now. Because you’re one brave sonuvabitch.

Don’t liberals know what makes America great?

Newark Mayor Cory Booker was taken to a hospital tonight for treatment of smoke inhalation he suffered trying to rescue his next-door neighbors from their burning house.

“I just grabbed her and whipped her out of the bed,” Booker said in recounting the fire. Booker told The Star-Ledger he also suffered second-degree burns on his hand.

Leftist meddling with free combustion. The bleeding hearts will never learn. If your neighbor goes up in smoke, that’s just a natural consequence of risk taking, or ‘sailing the seas of flame,’ as they say. The competition between spark and flesh produces a vigorous, prosperous country, occasionally with its hair ablaze. This makes us strong and fire-retardant.

Booker said when he reached the second floor, he was engulfed in flames and smoke.

“I suddenly had the realization that I can’t find this woman.” Booker said. “I look behind me and see the flames and I think ‘I’m not going to get out of here.’ Suddenly I was at peace with the fact that I was going to jump out the window.”

Broken glass, the calling card of National Socialists. Keys on the table, and popsicles in the fridge, Mein Fuhrer. Anybody have connections inside the Bureaucrazinsche Reichsfierno? Give them your teeth, beg them to stop. Anyway, fascism forever ends the same way: the state in a heap on the grass, rolling around and holding its ankle. Very dignified, Dr. Mengele.

Then he heard her cries in a back bedroom.

“I just grabbed her and whipped her out of the bed,” Booker said. The two made their way downstairs, where they both collapsed, Booker said.

Speaking on Meet the Press, Paul Ryan:

“It’s secular statism on steroids. Conservatives prefer the social magisterium of the Church, which is: How do you apply Christian principles to your everyday life as a lay person?”

“By the tenets of Catholic teaching, when you try to rescue people, they remain ablaze. They become dependent upon water, and firemen, and it never ends. Instead, when you let them burn, they lift themselves out of fire. The U.S. ended the welfare state in Japan back in, what, 1945?”

Before going to the hospital, Booker confirmed on his Twitter account that he suffered from smoke inhalation, and said he was being taken by EMS to University Hospital for treatment.

“Thanks 2 all who are concerned. Just suffering smoke inhalation,” he tweeted. “We got the woman out of the house. We are both off to hospital. I will b ok.”

n d u s? :–(

Look! Miss Tiara Borealis with the Klondike Parkaboobs wants to pay tribute to her bestest new friend, Andrew Breitbart. It is very great and sincere. It is touching.

Yes, Sarah? What is it? You’d like to pee his name in the snow?

PALIN: BREITBART IS HERE
by Sarah Palin | Breitbart.com

There is a new street art poster that’s being emailed around and will no doubt eventually be spotted on a street corner near you. It’s a gritty black and white image of Andrew Breitbart looking both battle-worn and ever vigilant with the caption: “BREITBART IS HERE.”

Those three words express the instant connection many of us feel for our fallen friend. They express our identification with him, and our need to continue his fight for the good of our republic.

Terrific. Breitbart’s own graphics lackeys from Breitbart’s own free-market beehive ripped a street poster right from their iMacs. You can see it beneath the high tension wires in your e-mails. In between flaying the homeless for black market kidneys, feel free to pass it along to everybody in your heroin den. WAR, Megyn.

Breitbart’s most immediate mission was the belated vetting of Barack Obama. This obviously is an issue very near and dear to my heart.

That is funny. You’re a nobody from nowhere who ricocheted between 5 colleges before getting a degree in “Who The Fuck Cares?” As Mayor of Wasilla, you bankrupted your town. As Alaska Governor, a state with fewer people than San Jose, California, you were cited for ethics violations and then quit. America believes your choice as the GOP’s 2008 nominee for Vice President was an epic and terrifying blunder.

And what’s this that’s so important to you? Vetting our president? Everybody knows you’re an imbecile. You have neither the talent nor the credibility, Governor.

Oh, and here:

Hep, hooray. Or something equally appropriate for milestones. Ye Gods and little fishes, this is surprising.

Some time before noon today, the blog received ‘view’ number 500,000. Heh, half a million clicks. Mon dieu. I never imagined anything like that. I was only trying to do something productive while I couldn’t sleep. Three years later, the blog has gotten better than the insomnia. Someday, I’ll go back to sleeping and forget I ever spent time on the likes of Limbaugh, Bachmann and Santorum.

Until then, the blogging goes on. Please accept this bit of ratcheting paranoia as a token of my gratitude and friendship. For my merely typing ’500,000′ into YouTube’s search field, it’s surprisingly fine wingnuttery. Here’s mud in your ears, pals.

Just look at Politico this morning. When have you seen such a pretty sight?

Story #1 is about poor, occasionally reasonable Republican Dick Lugar. He’s unlikely to win another senate term because he’s not Tea Party enough for the whackos who have taken over his party.

Story #2 relates how godbotherer Rick Santorum was nauseated by John F. Kennedy, an American of some regard.

“To say that people of faith have no role in the public square? You bet that makes me want to throw up. What kind of country do we live in where only people of non-faith can come in the public square and make their case? That makes me throw up. And that should make every American [throw up]” . .

In 1960 Kennedy needed to make clear his intention, as a scary Catholic, perhaps likely to obey the Vatican rather than Americans’ wishes, that he wouldn’t defer to religious leaders in his decisions. The speech helped convince voters that the candidate could be trusted. Rick rejects Kennedy, the separation of church and state and the Founding Fathers. We can assume The Pope will loom large over the Santorum presidency. Excellent campaign strategy, sure to win him those skittish independents.

Story #3. Former New York Mayor Ed Koch, mostly a moderate Republican nowadays, thinks Rick is crazy. With kisses.

“Santorum is nuts,” Koch told Klein. “And I say that in a loving way. He is someone who is of the belief that religious obligations that he has can be imposed on other people. Now I don’t mind his imposing on himself the business of no pre-natal care, no abortion. That’s okay from his point of view. . . You know, it used to be we did eliminate the right to sell condoms in Connecticut. The Supreme Court said that was wrong. Now what Santorum has said in affect is he would like to see states go back to criminalizing the sale of contraception. I think that’s crazy.”

Plenty of people, especially conservative Jews, still listen to Ed. Good luck with those folks, Rick. Story #4:

“It looks like we can throw Jeb Bush’s hat into the ring, along with Sarah Palin, as hoping to be chosen as the nominee after a contested convention,” [Ann] Coulter said on “Fox News Sunday.” . .

The conservative author, who is supporting former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, said that a Jeb Bush candidacy would be a disaster.

“I think on closer examination, Jeb Bush would be the worst of all candidates to run, for one thing,” said Coulter. “We don’t need another Bush. That would be embarrassing to the Republican Party.”

So even the stalwarts are beginning to seriously discuss the deus ex machina options. Dynamite. Golly, it was Coulter’s job to pimp Romney. Instead, she’d rather remind everybody that Jeb Bush isn’t the best choice for a busted convention pick. Somewhere out there, though, the right man or woman waits, right? What should Mitt do now, Ann? Open up back-channel communications with Mitch Daniels? How about a Mormon for vice president, buddy?

Story #5. Speaks for itself:

“I think we’re returning to the dark ages. What? We’re discussing the legitimacy of birth control in this country? That discussion, I thought, had ended 30 years ago,” said term-limited Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, who dubbed the four Republican presidential candidates “Christmas packages under the tree.”

Hilarious. Story #6, Brian is right:

A new POLITICO/George Washington University Battleground Poll reveals the prolonged nominating battle is taking a toll on the GOP candidates and finds the president’s standing significantly improved from late last year.

President Barack Obama’s approval rating is 53 percent, up 9 percentage points in four months. Matched up against his Republican opponents, he leads Mitt Romney by 10 points (53-43) and Rick Santorum by 11 (53-42). Even against a generic, unnamed Republican untarnished by attacks, Obama is up 5 percentage points. In November, he was tied.

Obama looks better and better. Meanwhile, the Republicans descend deeper into chaos. Michigan and Arizona hold no hope of making anything clearer. You gotta like this.

That must have been a sight.

Newt Gingrich’s campaign bus, shadowing the candidate here as he went from insulting Asians to lying to Jews, broke down on Sunset Boulevard near Crescent Heights. That would be in West Hollywood, the San Francisco of Los Angeles. The gentlemen of Boystown took to Twitter to remark on the karmic event:

More here and here.

I love it. I’m going to get sooo drunk tonight. Newt Fucking Gingrich, borderline psycho, Zeus among poodles, has just won the primary that predestines Republicans for the presidential nomination.

Gingrich storms to SC victory, scrambling GOP race
DAVID ESPO and THOMAS BEAUMONT

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich stormed to an upset win in the South Carolina primary Saturday night, dealing a sharp setback to former front-runner Mitt Romney and suddenly scrambling the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

“Thank you, South Carolina!” a jubilant Gingrich swiftly tweeted to his supporters . .

Caviar in root beer smothered in meatloaf. Champagne from a glass simper. God damn.

Doubts creep in as an awkward Mitt Romney tries not to lose the GOP nod
By Niall Stanage | The Hill

What’s wrong with Mitt Romney?

In the early stages of this cycle’s Republican nominating process, the former Massachusetts governor seemed confident and sure-footed. Now he seems awkward and defensive . .

Romney seems to have gone into a defensive crouch, leaving many Republicans feeling like football fans who watch their team move to a ‘prevent defense’ to protect a fourth-quarter lead and dread losing all of it. Their nerves are being jangled even as they acknowledge that outright disaster has so far been averted.

The public’s relationship with Mitt Romney is in dire peril. He looks a sniveling little pussy, and Newt’s assholery courage by comparison. People will only tolerate a nerd-wimp for as long as he’s useful. Mitt Romney seemed useful as long as his riches and systemic insider status represented mystical potential to beat the president.

But Newt Gingrich now makes the case for a dick fight. Stupid sexual politics wins the day. He appeals to Republicans’ guts, which is where their brains reside, neighbor to their obsessed-over and underemployed groins.

Mitt’s a silk and brocade wallpaper version of themselves, and they won’t stand for that. They’ve got nothin’ to beat the black baller with, and Mitt the weak-kneed banker can’t do it either. Newt the Cockgob, OTOH, hater so thoroughly of black fellas he’d make their children clean America’s toilets, will punch Barack’s face. Game on.