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Your quote of the day from Coalition to Stop Gun Violence's Ladd Everitt when asked by Melissa-Harris Perry about the NRA's incoming president, Jim Porter:

EVERITT: If you love Ted Nugent, you're going to love the new incoming president of the NRA, Jim Porter. This guy basically could have walked right out of a militia camp.

Oh joy! Just what we need. Someone at the NRA more extreme than crazy Wayne LaPierre. Here's more on this wingnut from Hunter at Kos: NRA elevates crackpot conspiracy theorist to be their new president:

It looks like the NRA has no intention of toning down the batshit crazy, and calls for "responsible NRA leadership" just got shot in the thigh and left to bleed out behind the ol' shed. The new NRA president (the job rotates every two years, presumably because maintaining such a high level of indignant batshit crazy is a high-effort job) is current NRA vice president Jim Porter, who ascends to the job because apparently every last member of the NRA leadership is entirely off their rockers. Let's meet Jim, shall we?

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Sen. Kelly Ayotte was once again asked by her constituents at a town hall meeting about her vote against the Manchin-Toomey background check legislation and her response this time around was to make stuff up:

Before saying anything about New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte, let's establish one thing: Although the Manchin-Toomey background check proposal would have expanded background checks for gun purchases, it wouldn't have created a national firearms registry. In fact, it would have strengthened existing law barring the creation of any such registry and stiffened penalties against any official who violated or tried to violate the prohibition.

With that said, check out Ayotte's explanation on Thursday afternoon for why she voted against expanded background checks:

I will tell you in terms of a universal background check, as it's been framed, I have a lot of concerns about that leading to a registry that will lead to a privacy situation for lawful firearms owners.

That's total bull. The text of the legislation would have explicitly prohibited the creation of a national gun registry in not one, not two, but three separate places. Read on...

Here's more from Steve Benen: The facts Ayotte doesn't want her constituents to know:

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Jon Stewart did his best to make a mockery of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz for being brazen enough to consider a presidential run in 2016, given the fact that he's not exactly popular with most of the country, or even within his own party, with his penchant to stick his finger in the eye of his fellow Republicans if it means he's elevating his own profile.

After going through a series of video clips and a long list of why most Americans should never take this man seriously, Stewart brought up the one other item that might prove problematic for Cruz should he decide to run for president -- and that's the fact that he was born in Canada. He was however, ready to put "the Donald" on the case since he's already been so helpful with investing President Obama's birth certificate.

I had to wonder after watching the clip above from the Daily Show if one of Stewart's staffers read this post on Cruz: 5 Reasons Ted Cruz Would Be A Democrat’s Dream 2016 GOP Nominee:

In a move that only surprised people who assume there’s some limit to the ego of Ted Cruz (R-TX), the freshman senator from Texas has let it be known that he is considering running for president in 2016.

“If you don’t think this is real, then you’re not paying attention,” says a Republican insider. “Cruz already has grassroots on his side, and in this climate, that’s all he may need.”

“There’s not a lot of hesitation there,” adds a Cruz donor who has known the Texan for decades. “He’s fearless.”

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This ain't ever going away as long as the Republicans think there's a snowball's chance in hell that Hillary Clinton is going to run for president. Sen. John McCain appeared on Neil Cavuto's show this Wednesday, after calling for a select committee on Benghazi, because lord knows they haven't quite beaten this horse to death yet: GOP senators want Obama to release Benghazi names:

A trio of Republican senators are calling on President Obama to release the names of Benghazi survivors to Congress after the White House said it was unaware anyone was blocked from testifying.

Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) wrote to Obama on Wednesday asking that names be released of the survivors of last year’s attack at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, for interviews with Congress.

“In light of your comments yesterday about the Benghazi attacks, we again request your administration immediately provide the names of the Benghazi survivors to Congress so we can conduct interviews to gain a clearer understanding of what happened before, during, and after the attack,” the senators wrote. [...]

The Obama administration has pushed back this week against allegations that a State Department employee has been prevented from testifying about the terrorist attack, in which four Americans were killed.

Victoria Toensing, a former Justice Department official and one-time Republican counsel to the Senate Intelligence Committee, told Fox News earlier this week that a State Department employee she represented was threatened by superiors if he cooperated with the House Oversight Committee’s investigation into Benghazi.

If anyone thinks those names sound familiar, here's a reminder of who they are from Media Matters: Who Are The Right-Wing Media's Benghazi Lawyers Victoria Toensing And Joseph diGenova?.

And I highly recommend reading both Digby and Charlie Pierce's take on this debacle, which you can read here:

What's really going on with this Benghazi obsession?

and here:

Getting The Band Back Together and I'll share a bit from Pierce's article:

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Following months on end of watching the likes of Sen. Lindsey Graham and his BFF Sen. John McCain do their best to beat the war drums for the United States to be injecting ourselves into Syria's two year long civil war, the Daily Show's Jon Stewart took the lot of them to task for their push to intervene in that country with very little thought involved as to what happens next if we would decide to go in there.

Jon Stewart: Republicans think ‘freedom magic’ is key to U.S. adventure in Syria:

Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) has insisted the United States needs to intervene because the country had never sat back and allowed innocent civilians to be killed by dictatorial regimes.

“Thank you,” Stewart said sarcastically. “Well, obviously except for, you know, Rwanda, and Darfur, and Bosnia, and Cambodia — point taken. We as America have never let something like that happen before — in Syria with this particular Assad.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-KY) has called on the United States to provide arms to the Syrian rebels. But he warned the United States should only arm the “right” rebels and not extremists.

“Maybe we can do background checks,” Stewart joked, poking fun at the senator’s stubborn opposition to the gun law.

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Here's your quote of the day from Chris Matthews after Bob Shrum told him that the only reason Republicans got control of the House is because of gerrymandering:

MATTHEWS: I think the problem is the way the votes get counted. Democrats are just doing too damn well in the big cities. They're wasting votes. [...] They need a lot more than 51 percent of the population for them to carry it because they wasted the votes in the big cities.

Here's the problem with that. Even Republicans were bragging that gerrymandering is why they won the House. It was a strategy and they're proud of it.

And what's that word for when you lump as many of the other party's voters into the same district so that their votes won't count? I know it will come to me sooner or later.

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I'd say these members of Congress ought to be ashamed of their behavior and taking care of themselves first when it comes to fixing any of this budget sequester debacle that's causing real pain and economic harm to many of the most vulnerable among us, but as Jon Stewart noted in his opening segment this Monday, they really do have no shame.

Jon Stewart: Congress doesn’t care about meals-on-wheels unless it is rolling down an aisle:

The Daily Show host Jon Stewart took Congress to task on Monday night for funding air traffic controllers because they were personally affected by flight delays.

“We all know that if you look up Congress in the dictionary it says, ‘Do-nothing fucktards who couldn’t solve a problem if it was eating them alive anus first,’ he said. ”

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I'm not sure just how "humble" former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has been when he's done things like ask his ex to manage his campaign, introduced his mistress to his children for the first time onstage after he found out he won his primary race, trespassed on his ex-wife's property and then took out a full page ad explaining it, or having a mock debate with a photo of Nancy Pelosi -- but that's what he claimed during his debate this Monday evening with his Democratic opponent for the U.S. House seat vacated by now Sen. Tim Scott, Elizabeth Colbert Busch

SANFORD: Yeah, I was just going to say, the second part of what I think I would bring to bear is, you don't go through the experience I has back in 2009 without a greater level of humility. And what I would say, what I would say is that willingness to sit down with a Republican or a Democrat alike and say, you know, I know what I believe, I believe what I believe. I believe the facts support what I'm suggesting, but let me just sit down with you and let me just a little bit better understand where you're coming from.

Wow. So it made him more willing to reach across the aisle as well. Who'd have thought getting caught with your mistress "hiking the Appalachian Trail" would do all that for you? Sanford may be a lot of things, but "humble" or "bipartisan" sure as hell aren't the first two things I think of when I hear his name.

Colbert Busch was tough. She did a really good job during the debate, but it's a blood red district, so we'll see how things turn out on election day. Here's more with a recap on the debate for anyone that missed it: Sanford, Colbert Busch square off in SC debate:

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South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham can't seem to make up his mind on whether the United States ought to be sending ground troops into Syria, since he just contradicted himself from the statements he made to Foreign Policy last month during an interview with Bob Schieffer on CBS this Sunday. He has, however, been consistent with beating the war drums and giving dire warnings about the consequences of the United States failing to insert ourselves into the middle of their civil war.

Graham continued the fearmongering on this Sunday's Face the Nation, telling the audience they should be concerned about everything from more terrorist attacks in the United States, to extremists taking over the country and getting a hold of weapons of mass destruction.

Graham also claimed he's really worried about "all hell breaking loose" in the region if the United States fails to intervene. I hate to break it to you Lindsey, but you're a whole lot of years and a dollar short on that one. That ship sailed a long time ago.

I've got a proposal for Graham and his fellow warmongering buddy John McCain -- you first. If the two of you want to lead the charge inserting yourselves into another country's civil war without the support of the international community, you go lead the troops over there and take a spot on the front lines of the battlefield. Let us know how that works out for you.

Full transcript below the fold via CBS.

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Here we go again. Another Sunday, another week with Bloody Bill Kristol pushing for more military intervention: Fox News Sunday Beats Syria War Drums:

Subhed: Fox Analysts Urge "Irresponsible" Obama To Do "Something," But Won't Say What

William Kristol wants to go to war in Syria, but he won't say what that war should look like. Appearing on Fox News Sunday to discuss reports of chemical weapons attacks in Syria, the Weekly Standard editor (and noted Iraq war hawk) attacked President Obama as "totally irresponsible" for indicating that he doesn't want "to start another war," saying: "You've got to do what you've got to do."

When host Chris Wallace pointed out to him that there are "no good choices" for intervening in the Syrian conflict and asked, "so what do you do?," Kristol brushed it off without indicating how he thought the president should respond: "You do what you think is best. You're commander in chief, you've got an awful lot of options."

They were all happy to use this as en excuse to amp up the rhetoric on Iran as well. Kristol didn't want to give specifics himself, but the one thing you can be sure of is, it won't matter how President Obama responds, they'll attack him later if things don't go well. Never mind that Wallace admitted there are no good options.

Full transcript below the fold.

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