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At a campaign stop in South Carolina yesterday, Senator John McCain refers to Mitt Romney as President Obama. Friday morning he said Santorum and Romney (instead of Gingrich) don't share his views on eliminating earmarks.

And we're reminded again with these frequent 'senior moments' why it's fortunate he lost in 2008.

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If, like me, you read or saw the breathless news reports about the excessively bad taste of hiring an Obama impersonator for the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, you'd have heard the comedian was yanked from the stage after making some off-color jokes about the President, and that someone had quickly realized there wasn't an upside for the GOP in featuring a comedian telling overtly racial, muslim-baiting, and homophobic jokes in a public forum. Or, if the GOP hadn't suddenly acquired some newfound sensitivity, then at least they were clueing-in to the fact how things would look to others not given to their own worldview. If you had read many of the reports that might been what you had gleaned. But if this is what you had thought you'd have been wrong.

The largest portion of his bit was devoted to Obama and his policies, so reviled by this crowd. They were in uproarious laughter then. It wasn't until the comic, a guy named Reggie Brown, began hitting the Republican hopefuls like Romney, Gingrich, Pawlenty and Bachmann that the mood noticeably soured and the boo's and catcalls began. The full bit went on for nearly twenty minutes, the Obama jokes nothing worse or more risqué than you'd hear on some lame network show like Saturday Night Live. Only when Brown aimed the spotlight back at them, for his last 3 minutes, did the hook come out, his microphone abruptly turned-off, which probably tells you all you need to know about the Republican Party.

Associated Press:

The audience grew more uncomfortable when Brown turned to the candidates who are looking to make Obama a one-term president.

The impersonator took a shot at former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, saying Pawlenty missed the conference because "he's having his foot surgically removed from his mouth."

"Don't worry: it's covered under Obamneycare ... along with spinal transplants," Brown said.
...

The impersonator joked about Romney's Mormon faith and about polygamy, and Rep. Michele Bachmann's tea party support.

Organizers then cut off Brown's microphone and turned on music. He was shown off the stage.

Here is the full video:

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More hate from that bastion of hate, Orange County California. Via CBS Los Angeles.

ORANGE COUNTY (CBS) — KCAL9 received a tip about a racist email circulated to some Republican Party members depicting President Obama’s parents as chimpanzees.

This week Marilyn Davenport, a Southern California Tea Party activist and member of the central committee of the Orange County Republican Party circulated what some are calling hate e-mail to an unknown number of her fellow conservatives.

Written under the words, “Now you know why — No birth certificate!”, is an Obama family portrait depicting his parents as chimpanzees.

When asked if she thought the email was appropriate, Davenport is quoted as saying, “Oh, come on! Everybody who knows me knows that I am not a racist. It was a joke. I have friends who are black. Besides, I only sent it to a few people–mostly people I didn’t think would be upset by it.”

Here is her full non-apology apology after the fact, playing the old "I'm sorry if anyone was offended by..." card.

I'm sorry if my email offended anyone. I simply found it amusing regarding the character of Obama and all the questions surrounding his origin of birth. In no way did I even consider the fact he's half black when I sent out the email. In fact, the thought never entered my mind until one or two other people tried to make this about race. We all know a double standard applies regarding this president. I received plenty of emails about George Bush that I didn't particularly like yet there was no 'cry' in the media about them. One only has to go to Youtube or Google Images to see a plethora or lampooning videos and pictures of Obama, Bush and other politicians. That being said, I will NOT resign my central committee position over this matter that the average person knows and agrees is much to do about nothing. Again, for those select few who might be truly offended by viewing a copy of an email I sent to a select list of friends and acquaintances, unlike the liberal left when they do the same, I offer my sincere apologies to you--the email was not meant for you. For any of my friends or acquaintances who were the recipients of my email and were truly offended, please call me so I may offer a sincere verbal apology to you.

And a sincere boot to head for you, Marilyn Davenport.

President Obama gave his weekly address from Grand Isle, Louisiana and pledged to make sure that the business owners and residents are "made whole". Nice speech Mr. President but sadly these people will never be "made whole" because there's no way to undo the damage to the region that's already done. I also don't think that there's any question about whether laws have been broken. The question is whether they're going to be prosecuted or not and whether it's going to be underlings who go to jail or if we're ever going to see someone at the top held accountable for the damage they've done.

We'll see what action follows up the speech. Unlike the Chuck Todds and James Carvilles of the world, I could care less about how many times he goes down to the region or whether he looks like he's angry or not. I want to see some action being taken and this oil contained. So far they're not doing nearly enough. I hope that changes soon before it's too late for the areas that have not been affected yet.

It would also make me feel a lot better if I don't hear any more stories about Admiral Thad Allen and BP CEO Tony Hayward having nice cozy dinners together.

Weekly Address: President Obama Outlines Administration Response Efforts to the BP Oil Spill from Grand Isle, LA

WASHINGTON- In his weekly address, President Barack Obama underscored his commitment to helping the people of the Gulf Coast recover and rebuild from the BP oil spill that has threatened their livelihoods. On Friday, the President heard from local residents and small business owners about the hardships that they are facing as a result of this catastrophe. The Administration has mobilized the largest response to an environmental disaster of this kind in the history of our country to clean up the BP oil spill. Additionally, the federal government is working to ensure that BP and other companies are held accountable for damages and that aggressive new standards are put into place to avoid a disaster in the future.

Transcript below the fold.

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Kathleen Parker with the understatement of the day on The Chris Matthews Show:

Matthews: Republicans think Obama is a loser in 2010. Are they right?

Parker: It’s proven already that even though he’s popular, he’s unable to translate that into electoral votes. We’ve seen that with New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and so inviting him to come into Kentucky they may well expect him to once again waste more of his capital but you know, Paul has confused things a bit.

This issue that we’re going to talk about later makes things a little bit messy for Paul and all the Republicans who want to make Obama look bad because there’s going to be a sympathy factor kicking in I think when you start challenging whether the Civil Rights Act was a good thing, and suddenly we have the first African American President on the ground. Who wants to get involved in that conversation?

Yeah Kathleen, looking like you'd like to repeal the Civil Rights Act is just a "little bit messy" for Repubicans and the only reason anyone might have a problem with that is because we have a black President now, so who wants to address racial issues if we're not being PC. I've got news for you dear. There were a whole lot of people who would take issue with that Paul said before the first African American President got elected. And the party you and your Villager friends have been making excuses for forever have been playing the race card since the days of Lee Atwater.

You can pretend your party suddenly doesn't want to play the race card since we have a black President, but you and your ilk have been happy to play off of prejudices that are "a little bit messy" for way too long. Sadly for the Republicans and you and your Villager friends, Rand Paul just took your dog whistles and played them over a blow horn when it comes to race baiting.

I look forward to the Republican leadership trying to respond to Paul and the Villagers like Parker's continued twists in the wind.

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Greta Van Susteren apparently wasn't too happy with some of President Obama's remarks during his commencement speech at Hampton University. Here's the part she and a whole lot of other right wing blogs decided to cherry-pick and harp about.

With so many voices clamoring for attention on blogs, and on cable, on talk radio, it can be difficult, at times, to sift through it all; to know what to believe; to figure out who's telling the truth and who's not.

...And with Ipods and Ipads; and Xboxes and Playstations—-none of which I know how to work—information becomes a distraction, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than a means of emancipation.

President Obama warns you about the iPod? What's up?:

He's got an undying love of his Blackberry, constant presence on Facebook and song-packed iPod--so why did Obama rip into gadgets over the weekend?

And Tucker Carlson joins Greta to prove that no matter how trivial the subject, he's always glad to help rip into President Obama. Tucker just gave me another excuse to share this again. Tucker... you're hurting America.

Time for your weekly edition of the Driftglass and Blue Gal podcast. It's been a busy weekend for me with my mom's birthday, a family wedding the next day and Mothers' Day after that, but I'll happily make some time to enjoy the banter here and share it with all of you. Happy Mother's Day ahead of time to all of our C&L moms who visit and contribute.

Mentioned in this admittedly name-dropping podcast are Tengrain from Mock, Paper Scissors, comedian Matt Filipowicz, author Rick Perlstein (FaceBook link), and Keith Olbermann's Twitter account.

You can listen to past editions here and at http://dgbgpodcast.blogspot.com/, and the podcast is also available on i-Tunes. If you enjoy these as much as I do, donations are greatly appreciated. Please consider throwing five bucks in the hat.

Open Thread below....

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President Obama gave the commencement speech at The University of Michigan and talked about the tone of our political discourse and the need for civility. He noted that too much overheated rhetoric can push people away from politics and stressed the need for a "thriving news business that is separate from opinion makers and talking heads".

Couldn't agree with him more on that. I could have done without the plug for the celebrity gossip ridden HuffPo and comparing the Wall Street Journal to the New York Times as though the New York Times is a liberal institution. They helped George Bush sell the invasion of Iraq for Pete's sake. Other than those gripes it was a pretty good speech. I'm sure Beck and Limbaugh and company won't like it.

Here's the final portion.

These arguments we’re having over government and health care and war and taxes are serious arguments. They should arouse people’s passions, and it’s important for everyone to join in the debate, with all the rigor that a free people require.

But we cannot expect to solve our problems if all we do is tear each other down. You can disagree with a certain policy without demonizing the person who espouses it. You can question someone’s views and their judgment without questioning their motives or their patriotism. Throwing around phrases like “socialist” and “Soviet-style takeover;” “fascist” and “right-wing nut” may grab headlines, but it also has the effect of comparing our government, or our political opponents, to authoritarian, and even murderous regimes.

Again, we have seen this kind of politics in the past. It’s been practiced by both fringes of the ideological spectrum, by the left and the right, since our nation’s birth.

The problem with it is not the hurt feelings or the bruised egos of the public officials who are criticized.

The problem is that this kind of vilification and over-the-top rhetoric closes the door to the possibility of compromise. It undermines democratic deliberation. It prevents learning – since after all, why should we listen to a “fascist” or “socialist” or “right wing nut?” It makes it nearly impossible for people who have legitimate but bridgeable differences to sit down at the same table and hash things out. It robs us of a rational and serious debate that we need to have about the very real and very big challenges facing this nation. It coarsens our culture, and at its worst, it can send signals to the most extreme elements of our society that perhaps violence is a justifiable response.

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President Obama... definitely funnier than Jay Leno at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Good grief. Leno bombed but not quite as badly as Rich Little. The President on the other hand had a lot of very funny one liners for the night.

As one of my non-Twitter impaired C&L contributors informed me, apparently there are a lot of people having some fun at Leno's expense on Twitter with the hashtag #funnierthanLeno.

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Pat Buchanan with some help from Andrea Mitchell repeats the Republican talking point of the day on the British Petroleum oil spill, "Will this be Obama's Katrina?" Andrea Mitchell, the AP and ABC's The Note are apparently reading from the same script this morning.

AP: BP misled government about oil spill, now it's Obama's "crisis":

The latest, as the news media continues its clumsy, GOP-friendly attempt to politicize the Louisiana oil spill. And worse, to politicize it in only one direction.

...According to the AP, "people" are wondering if the oil spill will be Obama's Katrina. But after reading the article, in which nobody mentions Katrina, it's clear that by "people," the AP means the AP.

For ABC's The Note, oil spill = political problem for WH, but not for "Drill, baby drill" GOP:

If you ever want to see a clear example of how GOP talking points miraculously transform into mainstream media 'news,' check out today's inside Beltway crib sheet, The Note, which goes on and on and about how the week-old oil spill off the coast of Louisiana is (or, might) be morphing into a political problem for the White House. (It's just like Katrina!)

But guess who the spill is not a problem for, according to The Note's coverage? Answer: Republicans. (Or the oil industry.) At ABC News, the political party that's synonymous with a pro-drilling agenda has nothing to fear from the massive oil spill. And guess what? The GOP's pro-oil VP candidate who made "Drill, baby drill" a household phrase, also has nothing to fear from the massive oil spill. (Her name never comes up.)

Add the panel on Morning Joe and Mitchell and Buchanan here to the list. Buchanan can't even manage to keep a straight face when Bob Shrum calls him out for his hackery.

Here's the talking point that should be sticking. Via Bob Cesca:

Bill Maher via Twitter:

"Every asshole who ever chanted 'Drill Baby Drill' should have to report to the Gulf Coast today for cleanup duty."