Heh... Gotta Laugh To Keep From Crying. OR SCREAMING...

Here's Donna Cassata of AP at TPM News:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday turned down an invitation to meet privately with Senate Democrats next week during his visit to Washington, saying the session "could compound the misperception of partisanship" surrounding his trip.

...

Everybody got that? Good. Don't bother trying to explain it to me.

Let's see. A foreign head of state accepting an invitation outside diplomatic channels from America's House Speaker John Boehner (R) (an elected official whose office is undeniably partisan in character) to speak to Congress... that's not partisanship; go right ahead. That same leader accepting a subsequent invitation from Senate Democrats to speak to them... oh, no, can't have that; that would be partisanship.

When, exactly, did international diplomacy become the Speaker's purview? And how is it that Netanyahu, a foreign national, became the one to decide that?

From our viewpoint, both these men
lean to the right

Before Nothin'‑yahoo became the effective dictator of Israel, I used to be a supporter, hell, even an admirer, of Israel. Bibi has just about cured me of that. And I'm not the only American to have experienced the revelation that Israel is no longer "the Middle East's only democracy," even if it once was. Actually, sometimes it seems Israel is America's 51^st state... but you know that isn't so, because no other state has nearly that much unrestrained influence on our federal government.

On How Boehner And His GOP House Should Be Judged

Boehner says he knows how he and his GOP caucus should be judged, and he told us on CBS's "Face the Nation" yesterday:

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker John Boehner says Congress “ought to be judged on how many laws we repeal.”

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Well, OK; Boehner got it almost right...

His caucus should be judged on how many seats they resign. That would be a fair measure of how much good they do for the nation.

Why I Do Not Admire Obama

Pema Levy of TPM:

Buddies?

House Speaker John Boehner on Thursday applauded President Obama's outreach to Republicans, which included dinner with a group of Republican Senators Wednesday night and an upcoming visit with Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), calling it a "hopeful sign" during a press conference Thursday.

"[A] hopeful sign" for whom? Need I say more?