Where were they when we needed them?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/28/dan-rather-cbs-lawsuit-bush

This is an interesting piece about Dan Rather and his lawsuit against CBS and their firing of him post 2004 election. Good for him. Although he was the king of hyperbole, he is a decent guy who got severely shafted. As he points out, no one has disputed the facts of the Dauphin and his weaseling out of service in Viet Nam, and what is to me, the most significant point, is how supine the press has been during the Bush administration. The list of people that they proposed to "investigate" the 60 Minutes story was riddled with right wing ideologues. Ann Coulter? please. This is a woman who thought it was a terrific idea to send white powder to the NYT as a joke. The press has never really talked about their abject failure to examine the so called evidence leading up to the war in Iraq. As David Gregory said, it wouldn't have been polite. No doubt, now that a Democrat is in the White House, they will find their so called spines.

So what?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/22/AR2008122201852.html

This is a good column by Eugene Robinson. It contains an astounding quote from Bush. Just when you thought you were suffering from outrage fatigue, the Doltish Dauphin ups the ante. Apparently, in an interview with Martha Raddatz on ABC, Bush took credit for defeating al-Qaeda in Iraq. When Raddatz pointed out that al-Qaeda had not been in Iraq before we invaded, he answered, "So what?" So what? So what? Ask the parents of the 4,000+ dead Americans, ask the parents of the horribly injured Americans, ask the Iraqis whose country we have decimated, ask the Americans who have seen billions of reconstruction dollars poured down a rat hole in Iraq with no positive outcome (unless you count obscene Haliburton profits), ask the Americans who care about our image in the world, the list could go on and on. Honestly, the man apparently could care less. As he once famously said, "Who care what you think?"

House of Shame

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/business/21admin.html?hp

This is a long and depressing article in the NYT detailing some of the intense crony capitalism that went on in the Bush administration, and his blind faith in unregulated markets. The extent to the damage that the Bush administration has done is unthinkable. I lay the entire Wall Street debacle at his lumbering feet. So much for the CEO presidency. The rampant stupidity and disregard for warnings about the house of cards that was sure to collapse is astounding. Was it willful ignorance or did they ignore every warning because they were getting rich. This bone ignorance brought the world Bernie Madoff who used his connections at his Fifth Avenue synagogue to find victims for his ponzi scheme.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/opinion/21rich.html?ref=opinion
Frank Rich's column details the absolute rampant crookishness and the different worthy charities, universities, pension funds, and people of Madoff. What on earth could he have been thinking? He reminded me of that horrible pharmacist in the mid-west who watered down chemotherapy drugs, so he could be a big cheese at his church. How can these people live with themselves.

Trying to make my peace

I am still not over Pastor Rick, who looks strangely like a bizzaro world Chuck Todd. A friend of mine thinks that Obama is basically a-religious and paid no attention to Rev. Wright as he was blathering on. Another possibility is that he has spent a great deal of time in many churches and realized that priests/ministers/rabbis/etc. say wacky things all the time, and assumes no one really listens because he tunes out. A friend who is married to a non wacky rabbi, told me that she has drunk so much Kool Aid that she has accepted the Pastor R choice. I have sure drunk a lot of Kool Aid, but am not there yet.

Snake oil

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/17/rick-warren-obama-invocat_n_151877.html

I know I vowed never to criticize Barack Obama, but I have to say two words - Pastor Rick? Not only is he an anti choice, anti stem cell, raging homophobe who equates being gay with being a pedophile or being incestuous, the guy is a rather creepy self promoting marketing marvel. Apparently, you can get Pastor R's deep thoughts if you have deep pockets and are willing to pony up. He was down right rude at the so called Saddleback Forum, constantly interrupting Barack, but letting McCain skate. He also didn't call McCain out on his initial lying about being in a cone of silence. Despite all outreach, most evangelicals will never be stalwarts of the Democratic party. There are many decent religious leaders, why pick such a turkey who puts his thumb in the eye of his staunchest supporters? It is one thing to be inclusive, but Pastor R is a hideously divisive figure

Mass Exodus

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-interior16-2008dec16,0,1401718.story

People seem to be fleeing the Senate - Ken Salazar is the latest refugee. I thought the Senate was an august body that was aspired too, and that once entered, one never left. It seems that some doddering Senators have been there forever, and no matter how horrible they linger on, witness Strom Thurmond, Jesse Helms, etc. But I guess since the only thing that seems to go on in the Senate these days is a big nothing, it must be a discouraging place to be. Harry Reid seems incapable of holding the repugs feet to the fire. I don't think that most of the public know that all the Republicans do is obstruct, obstruct, obstruct. I think the Repugs would cool their jets if they actually had to filibuster everything bill they want to stop. I think the emphasis on the sixty seat super majority in some way has given the Republicans in the Senate liscence to do whatever they want. Why should it take sixty senators to get anything done?

The holiday spirit - pink slips for all, and for all a good night

http://thenewshole.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/12/12/1713569.aspx

The Republicans are up to their usual ways of destroying the country in order to score cheap political points. The read polls and decide it is really good idea to sink the struggling auto industry and eliminate millions of jobs just so they can union bust. GM has already announced that they have to temporarily close many plants. I saw Gettlefinger on one of the talking heads shows, and he said accurately I think, that no matter what the UAW agreed to, the Repugs were going to sink any bailout. Best line so far, hat tip to TPM, was one union official in Louisiana who said, Vitter can pay for prostitutes, but not the American worker.

The edumacation president strikes again

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laland/2008/12/photo-of-the-we.html

So the Obama's can't stay in Blair House, in order for their children to be able to start school right after the break. How creepy is that. I thought Bush cared so much about education. Oh, but I forgot - the Doltish Dauphin is orchestrating a WONDERFUL transition, except for his final f--- you to the environment and the American people. And as he and his acolytes attempt to rewrite history, with the DD saying, outrageously and plaintively, I sure wish I had gotten better intelligence about Iraq. As he prepares for riding off into the sunset to spend time at his beloved ranch - I'm sorry, as he swans off to a swank neighborhood in Dallas. But what will happen to all that brush?

They're back

http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2008/12/12/obama/

This is a very good piece by Joe Conason, who wrote that wonderful but scary book, The Hunting of the President, which was about the vast right wing conspiracy to undermine Clinton's presidency. The loonies are back. First the whole birth certificate issue. Now the fact that Obama is from Illinois, he has met Blago, so therefore he must be guilty of something. They seek to de-legitimize the duly elected president, by inuendo and by repeating falsehoods, so that if repeated enough, people will think they are true. I remember in the 2004 election, after the Swift Boaters had been pushing their poison for a few months, the Viagra pushing, Brittany Spears lusting Bob Dole, said something to the effect of, Well there must be something to it, because all these people are saying it. Now the suddenly sanctimonious Arlen Specter is trying to delay hearings on Holder. Given that the Dems let just about every Republican turkey sail through confirmation hearings, I think it is an outrage. I sure he would say, Just because the Dems are spineless doesn't mean we won't try to be as big obstructionists as possible. I think the pardon of Rich was stupid, but it doesn't hold a candle to subverting the constitution and lying about intelligence, which has led to a disastrous war.

The Stupidest Politician Contest

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/10/us/politics/10Illinois.html?pagewanted=2

There is little good news in the Blago story, except that he clearly hated Barack, and that it lets Spitzer and Bill Clinton off the hook as the stupidest politicians in the world. If you know they are investigating you, why on earth would you give them the amno? And what amno it is - the whole story makes me ill, and I found I could not watch the chirpy Rachel Maddow last night. It is not an amusing little story, it is in fact, a story which might make it hard for Barack to govern. If that is the case, we are all screwed. I soured on Rachel on election night, because she was such a doom sayer for most of the evening, saying He hasn't carried a Red State. Josh Michah Marshall said the only thing that made me laugh - Blago should go for the insanity defense because he thought of running for President in 2012.

Speaking of Bad Ideas

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/08/AR2008120803297.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

This is a good piece by Eugene Robinson about the so called Blackwater trial. He basically calls it a whitewash and a show trial, comparing it to the Abu Graib trial, in that policy was never questioned, and the corporate higher ups are not investigated. I remember when the story of the shootings by Blackwater first broke, I thought who knew that visitors and State Department people were protected by the sinister Blackwater? I didn't. On what planet is it a good idea for our diplomats to be protected by mercenaries?

Into the light

I saw Obama on the Meet the Press, and he was swell. Tom Brokaw wasn't as annoying as he usually is, but I can't believe that they turned over the venerable MTP to that bore David Gregory. Obama was very relaxed, and talked about many things, including that the White House is the peoples house, foriegn affairs, the economy, and that science and culture will make a comeback. It seemed so strange to think that he is actually going to be President, I still can't believe it. In my lifetime there has been such a history of electing idiots and psychos that it almost seems unimaginable that there is going to be someone in the White House with a brain. Yes, I know Clinton was extraordinarily smart, but in many ways his flaws crippled his Presidency. And I guess, too that Poppy Bush was not as horrible as Junior, and in fact, even though he had sold his soul, seemed a step up from Reagan. So there wasn't that feeling of coming out of the darkness. There also seems to be some feeling among the gas bags that politics is not sport, that it has real consequences, the times are too horrible to focus on the usual innanities, and that they want Obama to succeed. I heard Kathleen Parker on the Chris Matthews show and she almost gushed over Obama.

Do they really think they can steal this one too? Or Stop in the Name of Love

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/12/obama-birth-cer.html

O.K. I think of myself as a pretty cynical and gloomy person. But I have to admit to being stunned when I got home and my husband told me that the Supreme Court actually agreed to hear a case brought from some wacko in NJ about Barack not being born in the USA. The silent Clarence Thomas agreed to hear the case. Strangely, there was no noise about this on the msm, not even on Hardball. I know the case is ludicrous, but that has never stoped them in the past. But after 2000, nothing would surprise me about the Supremes.

Strange bedfellows...

http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/35382149.html?elr=KArks8c7PaP3E77K_3c::D3aDhUec7PaP3E77K_0c::D3aDhUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU

Now "The Pendulum Swings to Franken" is a nice headline. To me it is an outrage that the curiously repellent Norm Coleman holds the Senate seat formerly held by Paul Wellstone, who was truly a liberal/progressive voice in the Senate. There is definitely something weird about Coleman, and it is not just because his ancient dad was arrested having sex with a woman outside a pizzeria, or because his wife has shady dealings, or that he has strange sleeping arrangements in D.C., or his teeth are strangely large and fake looking. I am surprised that the voters of Minnesota don't assert their good, clean mid-western values and send him packing, back to Minnesota.

A Great Victory?

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hHW-ZJ03DLcUGUM9z9p2nkbRAG-QD94R4DTO0

The horrible Saxy Chambliss won reelection. Not a surprise, after all this is Georgia, but disappointing none the less. Weren't the voters appalled at his using an ad where he sexually assaults his granddaughter by grabbing her boob? I guess not. I just heard a clip of him on NPR saying how he was the defender of the second amendment, he would make sure there would be no universal health care, etc. The repugs are of course, claiming this as a great victory, creating a fire wall between America and socialism.

Just what was he prepared for?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/01/bush-i-was-unprepared-for_n_147405.html

I couldn't bring myself to watch the Bush interview with Gibson, since Gibson destroyed all credibility during his questioning of HRC and Obama during their debate in the primary. He tried for redemption during his interview with Palin, but I may be aged, but my memory is not that short. And Bush, well, he is unwatchable. In the interview he talks about being unprepared for war, sorry that he destroyed the economy, and sorry that he accepts responsibility for the steep decline the Republican party. That is the only positive part of his ruinous presidency; however, at what a cost. And being sorry about the economy doesn't quite cut it. At no point during his disastrous presidency did he ever give any indication of having a clue as how the other 99.9% (can't really say half any more) of the country lived.