Right-wing bullies have been blowing up the Internet the past day or so with their blowhard-ish accusations that Obama campaign spokesperson Stephanie Cutter has somehow minimized the Libya attacks and deaths of four Americans by pointing to the obvious (and annoying) politicization that has taken place over the weeks since the attacks.

Here, for the record is exactly what Cutter said in her interview:

"Had we had any different information, we would have put it out. We would have told the American people what we knew.

And so, in terms of the politicization of this, you know, we are here at a debate and I hope we get to talk about the debate, but the entire reason this has become the political topic it is, is because of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. It's a big part of their stump speech, and it's reckless and irresponsible."

Why yes, it is reckless and irresponsible. Incredibly so, since the three-ring Darrell Issa circus has fallout we're likely only beginning to understand, thanks to their reckless display of classified information yesterday.

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MSNBC hosts Chuck Todd and Lawrence O'Donnell say that Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney miscalculated badly when he decided to attack President Barack Obama for "sympathizing" with the enemy after the deaths of U.S. ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and at least three members of his staff.

In the hours before the protest in Benghazi that left Stevens dead, the U.S. State Department had released a statement over a film that mocked the Prophet Muhammad. That film, "Innocence of Muslims," had been recently given Arabic subtitles and promoted by Terry Jones, a U.S. pastor who had previously sparked deadly riots threatening to burn Qurans.

"The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions," the U.S. Embassy in Cairo said prior to the protests. "Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others."

After the attacks, the State Department tweeted that it stood by its earlier statement and condemned the "unjustified breach of the Embassy." The White House later disavowed the statement by the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, saying it had not been cleared in advanced.

But the Romney campaign wasted no time in using the deaths to attack Obama.

"It's disgraceful that the Obama administration's first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks," the candidate said.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus echoed Romney's remarks in a tweet: "Obama sympathizes with attackers in Egypt. Sad and pathetic."

"Apparently President Obama can’t see Egypt and Libya from his house," former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin wrote on Facebook. "It’s about time our president stood up for America and condemned these Islamic extremists. ... We already know that President Obama likes to 'speak softly' to our enemies. If he doesn’t have a 'big stick' to carry, maybe it’s time for him to grow one."

On Tuesday morning, MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell observed that the Romney campaign would have been better off "to say nothing because the fact is if you say something responsible and careful, it's just going to be ignored. The only thing that will get attention is if you say something stupid, which is what they've managed to do."

"The only way to get attention is to say something a little outrageous," MSNBC host Chuck Todd agreed. "And I have to say, I am stunned they put out this release when they did, before we knew all the facts, before daybreak, before we know for sure whether there are going to be protests that spread around the world."

"It seemed to be an irresponsible thing to do," he added. "And it's one that I'm fascinated to see this morning that the Romney campaign, no mention. Suddenly they put out a debt statement. I have a feeling they wish they had that moment back, they wish they had that statement back. I understand where they feel like they are, they are chasing news cycles right now and they feel as if they have to be involved in every news cycle and every event if the president is involved in order to look on equal footing. But that was a bad mistake they made last night."

Moments later, Redstate's Erick Erickson was blasting Todd on Twitter.

"While I think Romney must be delicate, I think NBC's analysis from Chuck Todd that R's response was a mistake is partisan crazy talk," he wrote.

"I would have liked to see a statement [from Romney] that looked more like leading, presenting a vision, less like 'again, Obama sucks,'" former Republican National Committee online communication director Liz Mair said in response Erickson.

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CNN has for the last year or so brought more and more of these Tea Party and right-wing ideologues onboard as contributors (Erick Erickson, Dana Loesch, Will Cain, are a few of the others). And for the most part they've behaved themselves on-air enough not to cause major controversies or headaches, even while their outside activities are among the most bitterly partisan around, or in the case of Loesch, just plain noxious. And we remember the blatant pandering with the so-called CNN/Tea Party Express Debate last September. So when CNN began to have Amy Kremer of the Tea Party Express on regularly it was probably only a matter of time before her true colors would show themselves.

This morning Soledad O'Brien called Kremer out for a series of tweets she made recently. Kremer was unapologetic, but she didn't look too happy about it.

Huge difference between @mittromney & @barackobama is tht Mitt luvs America! We need a president that luvs this country! #RNC2012 #GOP2012

— Amy Kremer (@AmyKremer) August 31, 2012

This deliberate strategy of trying to paint President Obama as "the other" should have ended with its failure in 2008, yet it persists in the constant refrain of dog-whistles we hear from these people: 'Marxist', 'Foreign', 'Muslim', with the sickness of Birtherism and the like. Republicans don't seem to care if they're seen as bigots anymore either, and in fact many have publicly embraced it.

Perhaps CNN has, inadvertently, done a public service by giving these bigots a more mainstream platform than they'd enjoy on Fox News but by continuing to pollute the public discourse we are all the poorer for it.

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After a week or so of watching the right wing and pundits on television either make excuses for the Romney campaign taking President Obama's "you didn't build that" comment out of context, or as Jon Stewart showed in this segment, going out of their way to repeat the distortion, it was nice to see them get taken to the woodshed again on The Daily Show.

Last night it was Lewis Black ripping up the Romney campaign, and tonight it was Stewart's turn.

After showing a compilation of some of the various talking heads out there, with Erick Erickson calling President Obama's remarks "grade school Marxism," Stewart responded:

STEWART: Yes! Grade school Marxism... or, as your second grade teacher might have referred to it... sharing.

Stewart went on to show the hacks over at Fox & Friends doing their best to make things worse as Media Matters clipped here: Fox Claims To Offer "Context" For Obama Comments -- Then Airs Another Deceptively Edited Clip and we brought you here: Kilmeade Asks Little Girls if Government Built Their Lemonade Stand .

He followed that up with these remarks:

STEWART: Look, the campaigns all like to have fun with gaffes, making it a big deal out of a misstatement is a great way to win a news cycle. [...] but this ain't a gaffe. And Mitt Romney's not having a little fun with it. This deliberate misstating and misrepresentation of his position is now the centerpiece or Romney's entire campaign. He's got signage, T-shirts, and this unrelenting ad. [...]

Mr. Romney, hanging your attack on a person's slight grammatical misstep is what people do in an argument when they're completely f**ked and they know they have no argument.

I know you, Mitt Romney would like this election to be a stark choice to the American people and to Obama's vision of a Marxist state-run oligarchy and your simple and your simple ode to the freedom our Founders envisioned, because given that choice, you would... come really close. But, you're not running against this guy, Straw-Man Johnson.

Stewart wrapped things up with a mashup of Romney repeating all of the same lines as President Obama on the need for infrastructure and the fact that no one makes it on their own.

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After Joe Walsh came on the air again and doubled down on his attacks on wounded veteran and political opponent Tammy Duckworth, for supposedly talking about her service too often on the campaign trail and nothing else (which she hasn't), leave it to Red State and unfortunately for anyone who watches the network, CNN contributor, Erick Erickson to come to his flame throwing buddy's defense.

Here's more on that from our friends at Media Matters: UPDATE: CNN's Erickson Defends GOP Rep's Attack On Wounded Veteran :

After Walsh received widespread criticism for his comments, Erickson wrote a post on RedState.com: "I support Congressman Joe Walsh a thousand percent and you should too. Pony up your checkbooks while you are at it. He's in the midst of a manufactured scandal because he dared utter an inconvenient truth." Erickson claimed that "the left went into overdrive" when Walsh "pointed out that Duckworth's service in the military is about the extent of her public campaign platform" and concluded that "[a]ll he did was tell it like it is. That's what is so refreshing about Joe Walsh."

But Erickson's defense of Walsh misses the point of the controversy . Walsh didn't limit his attack to Duckworth's record on policy issues, his comments explicitly created a distinction between Duckworth and "our true heroes" in the military. In fact, after given the chance to walk back his statement, Walsh called Duckworth a hero but qualified it by stating, "unlike most veterans I have had the honor to meet since my election to Congress, who rarely if ever talk about their service or the combat they've seen, that is darn near all of what Tammy Duckworth talks about."

Appearing on CNN's The Situation Room on Friday afternoon, Erickson continued his defense of Walsh and claimed that Duckworth "doesn't spend a lot of time talking about the issues," again avoiding and deflecting from Walsh's attack on her military service.

He said that Walsh "calls it like he sees it," adding "I actually stand by what Joe Walsh said."

Why... oh why, Erickson is part of the "best political team on television" as CNN likes to call themselves, is beyond me, but so are most of the rest of the people that they have on the air at that network, so I guess he fits right in. That said, I do think hiring someone who called a Supreme Court Justice a goat f**king child molester along with the hire of his fellow flame throwing hack Dana Loesch does represent a new low for the network I did not think they'd sink to, before they actually hired both of them, in a race to the bottom to become Fox-lite.

Erickson's exchange with Blitzer below the fold.

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Every time I hear one of these pundits on cable television use the word "spin" I try to remind myself that it's just a polite term for the word they ought to be using, which is "lie." Which is exactly what Will Cain was doing here on CNN's "The Situation Room." Republicans like Cain are desperate to try to downplay the huge gender gap they have right now, where as Dave already noted here, they're looking at a 2-1 deficit among female voters in swing states.

We can add Cain to the list of Republicans such as Rep. Cathy McMorris Rogers who recently tried to claim that it's really the Democrats who are behind all of this "war on women" stuff. His arguments here were just as unconvincing.

And before I go any further, just a little reminder that Will Cain is a contributor to Glenn Beck's site, The Blaze, a site run by someone who was thrown off of Fox News for their over-the-top rhetoric and being too extreme for that network. Why he, or his fellow Blaze contributor, Amy Holmes, who is also a CNN regular on Howard Kurtz's show, or Dana Loesch and Erick Erickson for that matter, should be regularly polluting the airways at CNN is beyond me, but having any of them on is just another example of how that network has decided the best way to get ratings is to become Fox-lite.

We're fair and balanced don't ya' know. We've got your right wing flame throwers up against Democratic establishment types like Carville who could be considered center-left in their views at best. Actual liberals, or progressives are shut out of these "debates" too often because god knows we wouldn't want to allow any of them to embarrass the likes of Will Cain. That might be considered "uncivil" and we can't have that.

If Will Cain actually believes, and isn't just trying to "spin" the audience at CNN, that there is no "war on women" then I've got some reading for him to do.

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James Carville seems to think that it will be "the best thing to ever happen to the Democratic Party" if the Supreme Court overturns the Affordable Care Act. I'm not so sure I agree with him on the politics and who takes the blame, but it is true that if something doesn't happen to get health care costs under control, we're going to see increasing anger from the electorate in response.

He's also correct on the public perception that this Supreme Court has become way too politicized and the fact that we can't afford to have any more conservatives appointed to the court after the enormous damage they've already done to America over the last decade or so with some of their rulings and as Carville noted, overturning an election in the case of Bush v. Gore.

Transcript of Carville and Erick Erickson's exchange below the fold.

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After Mitt Romney barely pulled out a win in the GOP primary in Michigan, as Stephen Colbert noted, Republicans are still desperately looking for the anyone-but-Romney candidate at this late date, with Red State's Erick Erickson humorously writing that maybe it's not too late for Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal to come along and save them:

If Republicans in Washington are not panicked and trying desperately to pull Bobby Jindal in the race tomorrow... the party leaders must have a death wish.

Cut to Bobby Jindal's "electrifying" response to President Obama's State of the Union Address back in 2009.

As Stephen pointed out, if Romney does well on Super Tuesday, conservatives all know what "their duty" is, which is to come together and "support the guy we're hoping is not the guy."

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On Tuesday's morning call-in show on C-SPAN, Washington Journal, a caller from Texas demonstrates what happens to your brain after watching too much Fox News and paying attention to Red State's Erick Erickson and his ridiculous "We are the 53%" campaign he launched in response to the Occupy Wall Street protests.

SAMUAL FROM TEXAS: I think a lot of people are getting onto the whole 9-9-9 plan because it's something easy to remember and you know, we're just overburdened with the tax system we have. People lately are really talking the ninety nine percent verses the one percent. I think something more here is another number – it's forty six, fifty four. I may be a little off there but I believe those are the numbers.

Forty six percent of Americans or right around there pay no personal income tax. And the other fifty four percent pay all of it and I think that's the real number and you know, we're basically having to carry the rest of the country on our back. And I'm not saying, you know, all these ninety nine percenters out there are poor people or anything. I think a lot of them are just people who've been handed everything in their life. But I like the ninety nine plan. If nothing else, everybody starts to pay their fair share, instead of one part of the country carrying the rest who's not doing anything.

Listen to the caller try to respond after host Greta Brawner points out that under Herman Cain's 9-9-9 tax plan, billionaire investor Warren Buffett would likely pay no income tax at all as the Huffington Post reported here -- Warren Buffett Would Most Likely Pay No Income Tax Under Herman Cain's '999' Tax Plan: Analysis.

You can almost smell the hairs burning off their head through the television screen. Sadly, Brawner did not point out the the caller that even though many do not pay any federal income taxes, they pay plenty of other taxes and many of them are also Social Security recipients.

Solidarity Pizza Fund:

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During this week's Meet the Press, Herman Cain was asked about a statement he made during a campaign stop in Tennessee this week where he said this:

ROANE COUNTY, Tenn. (WVLT) - A Republican candidate in the heated race for the GOP presidential nomination was in Roane County on Saturday afternoon.

For Herman Cain, a trip to Tennessee was a trip back home.

The businessman, born in the state, is trying to get its support while he applies for the world's most powerful job.

His road to the White House rolls through Rocky Top, and he got plenty of support.

"I expected to be greeted warmly, but this has just been over the top at every stop that we've made," Cain said.

Talking in Roane County to Tea Party supporters at Roane State Community College in Harriman, the man who never shies away from a controversial statement, got his biggest reaction when talking about securing the country's border.

"When I'm in charge of the fence, we're going to have a fence, 20 feet high, with barbed wire. It's going to be electrified and there's going to be a sign on the other side that says it will kill you." Cain told supporters.

Here was Cain's defense on Meet the Press this week:

GREGORY: On immigration, you said at an event in Tennessee that you would build an electrified fence on the border that could kill people if they try to cross illegally.

CAIN: That's a joke, David.

GREGORY: It's a joke, so that was...

CAIN: It's a joke. That's a joke.

GREGORY: That's not a serious plan?

CAIN: That's not a serious plan.

GREGORY: OK.

CAIN: No, it's not.

GREGORY: You got a big laugh out of that, but that's not what you'd do.

CAIN: That, that's a joke. that's a joke. I've also said America needs to get a sense of humor. That was a joke, OK?

GREGORY: OK. So that's not serious.

I'd love for anyone to watch the video below of the event and tell me if Cain did not look like he was serious. Or for that matter if the crowd that was cheering him on thought he was.

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