Hmm, Interesting. . . .

This item was posted by Politico: Sen. Clinton's campaign hasn't paid some $292,000 in health insurance premiums for her campaign staff. Waiting for universal healthcare to pass? Oh, snap!

McSame Aides Lobbied for Predatory Mortgage Co.

Think Progress picks up on a story in the New York Daily News about two of Sen. McSame's closest advisors, John Green and Wayne Berman, who were recently lobbyists for now-defunct Ameriquest, the predatory home mortgage lender that had to pay some $325 million to states after being successfully sued over their lending practices. Over 13,000 homeowners in New York state alone were victims of the company.

Straight Talk McSame has said he's not going to "play politics" with the unfolding home foreclosure disaster; now we know why. Collar getting a little tight?

(photo: AP)

The "A-List" Comes To Town

Peter Baker, sometime wanker/White House reporter for the WaPo, has a new job: flacking for the White House Correspondents' Association dinner. Baker writes breathlessly in today's WaPo ("The A-List Makes the Guest List") about all the "[m]ovie stars, professional athletes, celebrity chefs and, oh yes, even a White House official or two" scheduled to show up for next month's association dinner. "Celebrity chefs?"

Here's who Baker, who either must be on the publicity committee for the event or needs to cut back drastically on his meds, thinks is "A-List" material: Tim Daly, Eric Dane, Harvey Keitel, Ed Westwick, Hayden Panettiere, Joel McHale, Lauren Conrad, Marcia Cross, Chelsea Handler, Padma Lakshmi, and Ben Affleck. (OK, we like Affleck and McHale, but seriously...) Once more we will have the spectacle of celebrity-struck "journalists" mixing with pols mixing with... "A-List" celebrities. Frankly, it looks more like C-List celebrities mixing with C-List pols mixing with C-List "journalists," all for the purpose of making each other feel important and powerful. Meanwhile, John Peter Zenger is rotating furiously in his grave.

UPDATE: Remember how at the 2004 WHCA dinner Preznit Chimpy pretended to look for WMD at the White House? Big chuckles all around from the "journalists", even a full year after the war started and as the evidence mounted that they were punked by Chimpy. Your independent press at work.

Letters We Wish We'd Written

From today's WaPo, a letter responding to a recent column by Rethug water carrier and Dark Prince, Robert Novak:

"In his March 20 op-ed column, 'The Fed on a Limb,' Robert D. Novak stated: 'The prospect of a populist new Democratic administration and Democratic Congress that will impose higher taxes and trade protections contributes to what is seen as an international buyers' strike by investors that is feeding the financial crisis.'

Maybe I'm wrong, but I suspect that years of record federal budget deficits, lax fiscal oversight of capital markets (under the guise of 'pro-business' policies) and the tragic diminution of our country's standing in the global diplomatic arena have had slightly more impact on the financial crisis than the impending change in administrations. Nice try, though. Bill Sawicki, Washington"

Quote of the Day

"As President Bush told an Ohio audience that Iraq was returning to 'normalcy', administration officials in Washington held meetings to assess what appeared to be a rapidly deteriorating security situation in many parts of the country." - today's Washington Post, page A1.

Well, a deteriorating situation in Iraq would be a return to normalcy after all.

Yeah, Things Are Going Great Over There. . .

The last week in Iraq should persuade most people that their civil and sectarian war is restarting. And once again, U.S. forces will be in the crossfire. The NY Times reports that U.S. planes are being used against Shiite militia in the southern port city of Basra (Iraq's second largest city). There, and in the Sadr City region of Baghdad where U.S. armored vehicles have joined the fight, Shiite militia factions are fighting it out for control. At stake in the south is control of vast oil reserves and pipelines, and of the provincial governments. Dumbya, as expected, is getting pissy, portraying the turmoil as a really good thing, and not "appreciatin'" the fact that Congress expects him to push the Iraqis to enact political and economic reforms.

Meanwhile, over the past several weeks, the Sunni tribes in al Anbar province that turned on al Qaeda in Iraq have pulled back from their temporary alliance with the U.S. Literally tens of millions of dollars were being provided to the tribal leaders to secure their support, but those dollars have been drying up and the Sunnis are anticipating the next moves of the Shiite militias -- once their internecine battle is over -- will be against them. And we'll be in the middle again.

Sen. Hillary Walter Mitty Clinton

"I was the first first lady taken into a war zone since Eleanor Roosevelt." Sen. Hillary Walter Mitty Clinton, March 25, 2008, news conference.

This is several days after Mitty Clinton's tale of taking hostile fire after executing a corkscrew landing at the Tuzla, Bosnia airport in 1996 was debunked by video showing her walking calmly off her plane, followed by her only child, and then taking time to leisurely greet a Bosnian schoolgirl and American troops on the tarmac. (Not this video, though.)

The truth about her latest claim? As reported in today's "The Fact Checker" in the WaPo, Pat Nixon flew into Saigon in July 1969 at the height of the war. And that "corkscrew" landing? Mitty Clinton's pilot, Col. William Changose (USAF-Ret.) said he undertook no evasive maneuver on landing in Tuzla, and that "Not only were there no bullets flying around, there wasn't a bumblebee flying around." Now there's a future commander-in-chief we can rely on!

Mitty Clinton has blamed her mistaken recollections on "sleep deprivation." Must be from being awakened by all those phone calls at 3 a.m.

Meanwhile, here's what all that lying and negative campaigning is doing.

Family Trees

The New England Genealogical Society has some interesting information about Sen. Obama's distant relatives. Not only is he related (on his mother's side) to Dead Eye Dick (pause to purge), but also to 6 U.S. Presidents: James Madison, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, Gerald Ford and the two (or is it one-and-a-half?) Bushes (more pausing to purge). Take a moment to get your mind around those names, and the irony of this competent, transformational progressive somehow being related to the bumbling, patrician Bushes. Also in the Obama family tree: Winston Churchill, Robert E. Lee, and ...Brad Pitt. Not too shabby (except for the Rethug genes).

By contrast, McBush can only claim Laura Bush (hmmm... sounds vaguely incestuous).

And Hillary? Jack Kerouac, Madonna, Celine Dion (rolf), Angelina Jolie (!), and Prince Charles' mistress, now wife, Camilla Parker-Bowles. Lots of divas there.

McSame and the Moonies

David Neiwert, writing for Firedoglake, explores the connection between McSame senior advisor Charles "I'm not" Black and the Unification Church, let by nutjob Sun Myung Moon. Black was instrumental in arranging a "coronation" of Moon as "King of America" in the Dirksen Senate Office Building (much to the consternation of many Senators). Some of Moon's quotations are worthy of an insane asylum inmate.

So why isn't the mainstream media going after this strange connection, after their endless regurgitation of Rev. Wright's soundbites? Must be the delicious barbeque that McSame served them at his "cabin" in Arizona a while back. Yum.

(Photo: "Look, we can fly!")

Known By the Wingnuts You Use

Well, it seems the Clintons just can't get enough of their wingnut media in their headlong push to destroy Sen. Obama and snatch the nomination he's rightfully earning. The latest ploy comes as an attack on Gen. Merrill McPeak (USAF-Ret.), advisor to Obama, whose statements regarding Israel's returning to pre-1967 borders have been seized upon as a sign of McPeak's and Obama's anti-semitism. And the vehicle they are using to spread this manure? Why the American Spectator, the same publication that was working 24/7 during the Clinton administration to smear the Clintons with Troopergate, Whitewater, Vincent Foster-- you name it, the Spectator defecated it. This following only by days HRC's meeting with the editorial board of Richard Mellon "My Girlfriend's a Pro" Scaife's Pittsburgh wingnut paper, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, previously best used for lining the bottom of birdcages.

We're waiting for Sen. Clinton to have a regular guest spot on Hannity's and O'Really's shows.

McSame Old McSame Old

Rethug Presidential nominee-to-be Sen. McSame is indicating that he's "not going to play election year politics with the housing crisis." In other words, he's going to ignore one of the most worrisome middle class issues, along with the Bushit Assministration's mismanagement of the economy and the ballooning Federal budget deficit. His essential philosophy is "let the markets sort it out, and to hell with the public. Oh, and please vote for me."

From the economy to the war, McSame truly is the candidate for a third term of Preznit Chimpy.

Obama Girl: "Hillary! Stop the Attacks!"

O.K., we've held off as long as we can... By popular demand, for all the "Obama girl" videos, prurient and otherwise, click here. The latest, "Stop the Attacks," is quite amusing (even in its brief send-up of Obama as a mystical uniter).

The "Official" McBush Logo Is Here !

Here's the McBush logo, courtesy of fubar at Needlenose.com (via Crooks and Liars).

Known By the Wingnuts You Cite

As reported in today's WaPo, the Clinton campaign sent out an e-mail to the media containing "a blog posting by National Review columnist Kathleen Parker, who called 'nonsense' the idea that the former president attacked Obama at a campaign event in Charlotte." What Bubba Clinton said in Charlotte:

"I think it would be a great thing if we had two people who loved this country and were devoted to the interest of this country. And people could actually ask themselves who is right on these issues, instead of all this other stuff that always seems to intrude itself on our politics." (He then dropped Hillary's name in case anyone was confused about the point he was making. If Bubba's talking about political baggage, he is one super-sized steamer trunk himself. Ahh, those Clintons sure love them some Walnuts McBush!!)

This increasingly execrable campaign has now stooped to quoting a wingnut column to support their transparently false claims of innocence in the matter. Well done!

Four Pinocchios

The WaPo has a "Fact Checker" column that regularly checks statements by the Presidential candidates for their truthfulness. Today's column focused on the claims made by Sen. Clinton about her trip to Bosnia in 1996, in which she claimed that she had to run off the plane at the airport, and was ducking "sniper fire". Several media sources (CBS, The Atlantic) have addressed that claim. Comedian Sinbad, who accompanied Clinton along with singer Sheryl Crow, joked that the scariest part of the trip was deciding where to eat. Clinton was awarded 4 Pinnochios ("Real whoppers").

Why Clinton would exaggerate the danger involved, when it could be so easily fact checked, is curious.

UPDATE: Sunday's New York Times has an article that delves into the question of Sen. Clinton's experience in the White House.

Kraphammer's Fraud

Reading Charles "Kraphammer's" syndicated column in today's WaPo was ultimately an exercise in repressing the gag reflex. Entitled "The Speech: A Brilliant Fraud", Kraphammer attempts to take down Sen. Obama's speech on race relations, but entirely distorts the meaning, as expected. As an example, Kraphammer says the Obama compared his grandmother to Rev. Jeremiah Wright, which of course, he didn't. He simply indicated in his speech that there are misconceptions about race among whites and blacks, his grandmother and Rev. Wright being the examples. Talking Points Memo's M. J. Rosenberg documents Kraphammer's own strident neocon racism toward Arabs. He's becoming our contemporary Dr. Stangelove.

Richardson Endorsing Obama

The decision by New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson to endorse Sen. Obama is expected to help sway some undecided superdelegates toward Obama, along with providing political help with the Hispanic vote (although that would have been much more timely a month ago). Richardson's been Governor, U.N. Ambassador, Congressman, and Cabinet Secretary, so he gives additional credibility to the Obama campaign. Of course, you'd have to assume he was also on Obama's short list of VP candidates.

Another Rethug Going

Thomas Reynolds, a Rethuglican congressman from upstate New York, announced that he is retiring, bringing to 29 the number of House Rethugs not seeking reelection. They are demoralized by continuing scandals, very poor fundraising, and public desire for change, and it couldn't come at a better time.

Reynolds figured prominently in the 2006 Mark Foley scandal, when he and House Speaker Dennis "Super Size Me" Hastert fumbled around in their desire to protect a fellow Rethug at the expense of the House pages.

Obama, Clinton, and McBush

One of the threads of the last few days has been "What impact will the Rev. Wright controversy, and the subsequent Obama speech, have on the voting public?" The controversy continues to be flogged by those wishing to distract people from issues that are damaging to their cause (i.e., the Rethugs and their network, Fux News, are desperate to distract attention away from 7 years of unrelenting Rethug incompetence), or by those thinking it could help their cause (i.e., the Clintonistas using the controversy to dissuade superdelegates from backing Obama). We saw this cartoon, by Chris Britt of the Springfield (IL) Journal-Register (via C&L), that says it all (note especially the final frame, with the TV turned to Fox News). It would appear from recent news cycles that, aside from the above-named provocateurs, attention will slowly be turning away to focus on the next colorful item that can be dangled in front of the deep thinkers in the MSM.

Meanwhile, Gallup is showing McBush with 47 or 48 % of the vote in match ups with Obama and Clinton. Yes, it's mid-March, 8 months to the election (sigh), but it boggles the mind to think that nearly half of the electorate wants another 4 years of Bush Rethuggery. McBush has been variously referred to as "St. John McCain," "Teflon John," etc., and his fawners in the media are legion (see below). If the Democrats ever get behind their candidate and start directing fire toward McBush, his numbers will go down. But the longer we wait for that to happen, the more time McBush and his wingnut media can define (i.e., personally attack) Obama and/or Clinton, and make McBush look like the elder statesman. And the longer it takes for the public to connect the dots.

This Just In: MSM Loves Them Some McBush

As compliant as the "mainstream" media has been in following the lead of the RNC and wingnut media on the Obama/Rev. Wright kerfuffle, it continues to doggedly turn a blind eye to McBush's gaffes, senior moments, and eruptions (not to mention his embrace of one Rev. Hagee - man, that had a short shelf life!). Most recently, it has been up to a few news outlets and the blogosphere to bring this episode to light (this is FDL's sharp analysis of how the MSM Village is keeping St. Walnuts McBush's less-than-shining moments out of the spotlight).

Don't Confuse Them With the Facts!

Media Matters wonders what speech Pat Buchanan heard yesterday, since it couldn't have been the one the rest of America heard Sen. Obama give on race in America. Not only paleo Rethug Pat, but a whole slew of wingnut slimeballs made a curiously similar "mishearing" of one portion of Obama's remarks, those dealing with African Americans accepting responsibility for their lives. Both Brit (the new Fox "Mr. Whitey?") Hume and Juan "BINO" Williams stated after the speech that Obama blamed white America, and didn't say African Americans had to take responsibility for themselves. What part of "...And it means taking full responsibility for our own lives" don't they understand??

It seems the wingnut wurlitzer was spinning out talking points before it actually heard the speech. Either that or it thinks its audience is so numbingly dumb that it can tell them they didn't hear what they just heard, and get away with it.

Go Fish

And where was Vice President Dick "Go F*ck Yourself" Cheney on the anniversary of the Iraq invasion? Why, he was fishing off the Sultan of Oman's 60-foot yacht. How nice for the Great Healer. Nearly 4,000 American men and women, and many tens of thousands of non-combatant Iraqis killed in the last 5 years of war, and what does Go F*ck Yourself do in commemoration? Go fishing. A worthy symbol of the Bushit Assministration's care for the troops, and by extension, America.

Five Years Later: The Lies

With the fifth anniversary of the launch of the war in Iraq, University of Michigan professor Juan Cole effectively summarizes the major lies put forth by the Bushit Assministration as themes in each of the past 5 years. Cole, a professor of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies, has studied and traveled extensively in the Middle East.

The lies can be summarized as:

Year 1: rising violence in Iraq is nothing out of the ordinary
Year 2: Iraq is becoming a model of democracy
Year 3: the war is connected to 9/11 and al Qaeda
Year 4: Iraq is not in a civil war
Year 5: the surge is working, and "victory" is within reach

The last theme is being actively promoted by Dumbya's Rethuglican successor, Sen. McSame, despite evidence (cited by General Petraeus, no less) that the political reconciliaiton process and economic rebuilding hasn't developed.

Heckuva job, Dumbya! Oh, and McSame? You screwed up the script: Shiite Iran is not alleged to be supporting al Qaeda in Iraq (a Sunni group); they're supporting the Shiite militias, and indirectly, the al Maliki government.

Fair and Infested

News item: Fux News' midtown Manhattan newsroom has been infested by bedbugs. The exterminator said that the home of the employee who brought them to the studio had the worst infestation he's seen in 25 years. Could the employee have been Herr Gauleiter Hannity or Bill O'Really?

Nighty night, Fuxers!

Politics of Personal Destruction

Today, Sen. Barack Obama will address the controversy surrounding widely viewed statements by his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. As we've noted, the issue is being fanned by both the Clinton campaign (surreptitiously for now) and the wingnut/MSM media. Brave New Films has documented how the Rethug outlet, Fox News, is gleefully pouring gasoline and lighting matches while dimbulb MSM types like Timmeh and Wolfman Blitzer mimic Fox's attacks.

Those who have followed politics, especially since the Nixon/Agnew years, are familiar with the notion of the "politics of personal destruction." This is the tactic employed when you know your argument won't win, but smearing your opponent will do just fine. The Rethugs have been the prime users of this tactic over the past 25 years (Watergate/McGovern, Willie Horton, Clinton impeachment, Gore-the-resume- enhancer-and-environmental-elitist, Swift Boaters). Now they and their surrogates at Fox and the MSM are at it again with Sen. Obama, much to the delight of the Clinton camp, of course.

This will continue beyond Obama's speech today. He may calm the waters of the current fluff up, but doubtless will face more unscrupulous attacks, guilt by association, innuendo, and outright smears as the political season continues. We hope he will aggressively fight back and keep reminding voters what this election is really about: undoing the catastrophic incompetence of the Bush Rethug years and setting America on a firmer, fairer path to our future.

By The Way, HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

For those who are all Irish, part Irish, and everyone else who might wish they were Irish, Erin go bragh!!

Green beer: OK
Yellow snow: not

"Smear Machine"

The Huffington Post has an illuminating piece from Frank Schaeffer, who with his father, far-right "Christian" leader Francis Schaeffer, helped broker the marriage between the talibangelist community and the Rethug Party in the 1970s. Schaeffer has a unique perspective on the controversy surrounding some of the notorious pronouncements of Barack Obama's pastor, and how the far right and Clinton campaign are working the same "smear machine" to discredit Obama by any means necessary. (Exhibit A, for Ass: Here's an analysis of this morning's Wee Willie Kristol NYT poop pile (h/t to Marc Ambinder, via LG&M)).

McSame's Magical Mystery Tour

Senator McSame and his coat carriers, Sens. Lieberliar and Grahamcracker, slipped into Baghdad for an unannounced "tour." Needless to say, they will be reporting on the marvelous conditions they are encountering, and how wise they were to support a surge in U.S. forces last year. One inconvenient problem has cropped up, though: the Shorja market which they visited last year accompanied by 100 troops and helicopter gunships is now off-limits to them. It's controlled by the radical Mahdi Army.

There are also reports that President, er, Vice President "Dead Eye Dick" Cheney also snuck into Baghdad at night, unannounced, to work on the main point of the surge - - Iraqi political reconciliation. Yes, Cheney, the master of political reconciliation and compromise. Maybe he can fire off a "go f*ck yourself" or two to the Iraqis, as he did at Senator Leahy on the floor of the Senate. That'll work.

Maybe next time, these guys can get Ahmadinejad to escort them around. They might even get a parade out of it.

(photo: McSame going on a casual stroll for an ice cream cone in his Sunday best)

Quotes of the Week

"I am a conservative Republican who served under four Republican presidents, and I say to Mr. Bozell, get real. No candidate who wholly advocated our views could possibly get elected." (emphasis added) William Lloyd Stearman, letter to the editor, WaPo, 3/16/08, referring to an op/ed by crackpot L. Brent "Bozo" Bozell in the 3/9/08 WaPo wherein Bozo said Walnuts! McBush was "too blue" for conservatives (!). Mr. Stearman, welcome to the reality-based world!

"Three weeks ago, my girl Tina Fey went on the show, she declared that 'bitch is the new black.' You know I love you, Tina. You know you're my girl. But I have something to say. Bitch may be the new black, but black is the new president, bitch!" Saturday Night Live's Tracy Morgan commenting on Tina Fey's endorsement of Hillary Clinton on SNL.

Wisconsin Wins Big 10 Tournament

Ahhh, yessss! Wisconsin has defeated Illinois in the Big-10 Tournament, 61-49, to win the tournament crown. Earlier, they won the conference regular season title. Wisconsin is 29-4 for the season so far. Condolences (heh heh) to our U. of Michigan-attending family members.

ON WISCONSIN!

Let's Hope So

The Washington Post (hat tip: Huffington Post) carried an article today about the difficulties the Rethuglicans are facing in November. With oil at $108 a barrel, homes being foreclosed, Rethug scandals proliferating, layoffs rampant, a falling stock market, out of control deficits, and no end in sight in Iraq, Preznit Chimpy has presided over the decline of his party. Says retiring Rethug Rep. Tom Davis (VA) about Chimpy, "He's just killed the Republican brand."

It's incredible that 20 percent still think he's doing a bang-up job as Preznit. You can fool some of the people all of the time. The operative word being "fool."

Buh-bye, Mr. Whitey

We noticed that Fux News Channel has announced the cancellation of "The Big Story", John "Mr. Whitey" Gibson's platform for flinging right-wing poo. Apparently, his ratings were down the toilet, which is where you'll also find Gibson, the whitest guy in television. The Carpetbagger Report notes some of Mr. Whitey's more famous slanders, including his mocking of Heath Ledger's death, his statement that Elizabeth Edwards was using her cancer to further her husband's political future, and referring to the Jena, La. marchers as "black devils" stalking the streets. Media Matters has a more complete list of his multiple outrages.

So, buh-bye. Should have gone long ago.

"When Will It End?"

Joe Galloway's editorial for the McClatchy Newspapers is well worth reading. The McClatchy group is the third largest newspaper group in the U.S., and has won awards for its groundbreaking coverage of the Bushit Assministration's attempted use of U.S. attorneys as a political weapon.

The gist of the editorial is that Dumbya the Decider squandered the opportunity to knock out al Qaeda in the Afghanistan/Pakistan frontier; now nuclear-armed Pakistan is teetering on the brink of chaos, with al Qaeda recruiting more soldiers daily. Petraeus is admitting that the political part of the surge in Iraq - - national reconcilliation - - is not succeeding. What Dumbya has left for his successor is an impossible situation, where we've chosen the wrong battlefield against our most dangerous enemy.

(h/t to Rising Hegemon)

HRC's Strategery

Kos has this great post about the Clinton slice-and-dice, slash-and-burn, choose-your-metaphor campaign.

Not Connecting the Dots

The most recent NBC/WSJ poll illustrates how so many Americans fail to connect the dots:

43% say they're worse off than in 2004;

50% to 37% is the generic Democrat to Rethug party preference margin;

Obama 47%, McSame 44% (Clinton 47%, McSame 45%);

Clinton 47%, Obama 43%, the choice of Democrats only;

45% to 38% is the margin by which Democrats think Obama would be the strongest candidate against McSame.

You see what's curious about these numbers. Aside from the oddity of some Clinton Democrats supporting her while at the same time thinking Obama would do better against McSame, you have the larger conundrum of a certain slice of the electorate willing to give the Rethugs another 4 years. Four more years of pounding trillions of dollars down the wrong rat hole (Iraq); four more years of torture; four more years of the growing income disparity between the wealthiest and the rest of us; four more years of stagflation; four more years where we have to hold our breath that a vacancy doesn't pop up on the Supreme Court; four more years of neglect on global warming; four more.. oh, you can fill in the rest.

This has to be a "change" election, where the question is simply put, "Do you want four more years of reckless incompetence and diversions?" First, the Democrats have to pay attention (no thanks to HRC, who is framing the election on McSame's terms), then they need to get the message across to others in the electorate who are still having trouble connecting the dots.

Class Vs. Ass

To put a cap (for today anyway) on the Geraldine Ferraro mess, read how someone with humor and grace responds to an ass (see picture, left).

We're counting down the hours until tonight's Countdown with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC to see Keith's Special Comment on the Clinton campaign. Last night, he exhibited the anger we and other progressives are feeling at the increasingly shabby, win-at-any-cost, break-any-rule, smear-by-surrogate campaign being run by the Clintonistas. What will it take for the grownups in the Democratic Party to take these putzes out of their sandbox and confiscate their mud pies? At what point do they recognize that not one, but many lines have already been crossed by these hacks?

UPDATE:Watch or read Keith's comment tonight, courtesy of Crooks and Liars.

A Parting Shot

John Cole sums up our feelings in seeing Eliot Spitzer drag his wife on stage to announce his resignation following the prostitution scandal. She is a class act and deserved so much more than what this putz is putting her through. Why do these clowns (Spitzer, Vitter, Craig, etc.) put their spouses through their dirty business? Because they're deceitful cowards.

Uh, Geraldine? Go Away, And Don't Come Back

Geraldine Ferraro's recent statement that "if Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. . .he happens to be very lucky to be who he is" was breathtakingly stupid, and the Clinton team issued a weak statement of regret. Yeah Geraldine, being an young African American with the name "Barack Hussein Obama" is a sure lock in this country for political stardom. Geraldine, a Fux News political "analyst", has been all over the Rethug channel, explaining herself.

Regretably, doubling down on stupid, Ferraro stuffed her other foot in her mouth with a defiant rejoinder:

"Racism works in two different directions. I really think they're attacking me because I'm white. How's that?"

How's that, Geraldine? Well, that's S-T-U-P-I-D. Now, go away and don't come back.

Dumbya's Triumph Continues

The Washington Post's Eugene Robinson had a good column yesterday about the still grim situation in Iraq. The surge was supposed to provide political cover to enable the Iraqis to forge new laws and agreements, most of which have failed to materialize. Remember "as they stand up, we'll stand down?" We're the ones that are standing.

In an ironic note, Robinson points out that Ahmadinejad's recent visit to Baghdad involved a ceremonial motorcade and an tour of the city. When Dumbya the Decider visits Iraq, he literally has to sneak into the country, often at night; no motorcades, no showy welcomes. So who had been the big winner in the region in the aftermath of the invasion? Iran.

Hmmmm

The actions of New York Governor Spitzer were inexcusable, and the horrible damage to his wife and three teenage daughters is by far the saddest part of this scandal. He's a bum. Period.

One wonders, and it's being raised, how this relatively mundane prostitution business occupied the attention and resources of the FBI. With the Bushit Assministration's politicization of the U.S. Justice Department (Gonzales' U.S. Attorneys scandal, Dem. Gov. Siegelman phony prosecution, etc.), it's not hard to imagine the Bushies targeting Spitzer for political reasons, is it?

Magical Moments in History

"We've got them injuns right where we want 'em", quote we're magically attributing to Gen. George Armstrong Custer, Little Big Horn, Montana, just prior to his "great victory."

"Wouldn't a Clinton-Obama ticket be just peachy?", thought magically attributed to the game-playing, losing Clinton campaign and being swallowed by too many magical-thinking Democrats. Of course, this is an insult to Obama and his supporters who are ahead in primaries won, delegates won, and popular vote won. The sense of Clinton entitlement is becoming so thick you can cut it.

*ucker Carlson Getting the Ax

Another wanker bites the dust! News that *ucker Carlson's teevee show is being canceled can only bring smiles to our faces. The "show" hosted by the preppy beneficiary of wingnut welfare (daddy's connections) has been tanking in the ratings for some time. It's believed that MSNBC is looking for a more "newsy" program, but we're hoping it gives (gasp!) a progressive a chance to fill the time slot before Tweety comes on to foul the airwaves. John Ridley? Mika Brzezinski? Rachel Maddow? Just not another former country club towel boy.

UPDATE: It looks like David Gregory, famous for his dancing with Karl Rove at a recent White House Press Correspondents' dinner, is replacing *ucker. Dancin' Dave, the tap dancing "journalist."

Dining With Dumbya

In the hallowed annual brown-nose tradition that is the Gridiron Club's dinner, the Kool Kids of Beltway High (aka, the Washington media "elite") get to nestle their proboscises into the nether regions of the politicians they're supposed to be covering. Ah, yes, the free press! The wonderful Fourth Estate, unfettered by incestuous relationships that would distort their objectivity! What harm in a night of frivolity with the jackass who just vetoed the anti-torture bill? Who cares how many trillions of dollars and thousands of American lives are lost in Dumbya's Iraq misadventure? Have fun! Drink up! Maybe you can get a pithy "inside" scoop tonight, and your conscience will allow you to sleep a little less fitfully.

BTW, DC Mayor Adrian Fenty was Timmeh "Pumpkin Head" Russert's "date" for the evening?! Heh heh. We hadn't heard you two were "out." (What would "Big Russ" say about that, Timmeh?!)

(Image: The "Heckuva Job, Brownie Nose(s)!" award for the most egregious wanker(s) in the Washington media, generally a group award to the Kool Kids.)

BONUS: Guess who far right winger Robert "Prince of Darkness" Novak escorted to the event? (M)Ann Coulter! Ah, the smell of sulphur and the infernal heat!

Wonderful. What Next?

Sad to see that New York Governor Elliot Spitzer (D) has been implicated in a prostitution ring scandal. He's apologized to his family and the public in a press conference today. He also served as New York's attorney general. Sad.

Incontinence on the Right

Today's WaPo provides some evidence that all is not well in Wingnuttia with regard to presumptive Rethug nominee Walnuts! McSame.

Exhibit A: Crackpot L. Brent "Bozo" Bozell, preznit of the Media Research Center, has an op/ed "From the Right, He [McSame] Looks Too Blue." Sample "thought": "McCain may have the Beltway crowd in his corner, but grass-roots conservatives aren't sold." Primo howler: "He [McSame] needs to rebuild its military infrastructure, so devastated by the Clinton administration." Ahem, Bozo, who's been in office the past 7 agonizing years, stretching the military past the breaking point in Iraq? But we must never miss an opportunity to blame something on the Clinton administration, no matter how ludicrous, eh, Bozo?

Exhibit B: In "The Sunday Fix," Cillizzard and Shanunu say, "Freedom Watch, widely seen as conservatives' answer to MoveOn.org, has experienced a staff exodus of late that has raised questions about its effectiveness heading into the fall general election." The latest hack to depart was the group's preznit, Bradley Blakeman ("Bradley Blakeman, L. Brent Bozell": do these guys all belong to the same country club?).

Hopefully, A Trend Starts

In the special election held to fill former Speaker Dennis "Super Size Me" Hastert's seat (and that's a big "seat" to fill, bwahahaha), Democrat Bill Foster won by a good margin. This congressional district has been reliably conservative Rethuglican for decades, and the Rethugs poured $1.2 million into the race to hold on to the seat. Ominous for the Rethugs, and hopeful for the Dems.

Wisconsin: Big Ten Champs

Congrats to the University of Wisconsin's Men's Basketball team, which defeated Northwestern yesterday 65-52 to win the Big Ten regular season title. Depending on which poll you read, Wisconsin is ranked either #10 or #8 in the nation.

Now on to the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament.

Quote of the Day

Lord David Trimble, the Northern Irish leader and Nobel Peace Prize Winner, who said that Hillary Clinton's exaggerated claim that she played a significant role in bringing peace to Northern Ireland, was "a wee bit silly."

"I don't want to rain on the thing for her, but being a cheerleader for something is slightly different from being a principal player."

Seeing McSame As Commander In Chief

Salon has a good article that raises questions about Sen. Walnuts! McSame's temperament to be commander in chief. Some military officials who have dealt with the hot-headed McSame in the past are worried about his tendency to go off half-cocked and to block out dissenting viewpoints. Sound like the current White House occupant?

So, Senator Clinton, before you continue to boost McSame's credentials, you might want to read the article.

UPDATE: No sooner had the above post been written, but we noticed that McSame lost his cool today talking to a NY Times reporter about his discussions with John Kerry in 2004 about joining the Dem. ticket. Watch from a safe distance.

Wasn't Dumbya's Endorsement of McSame Enough?

Yesterday's cable news shows were periodically running the Clinton news conference in which she complimented Senator Walnuts! McSame's commander in chief credentials, along with her own. She then said Senator Obama would have to explain his own qualifications. Lest you think this was a one-time deal, earlier in the week she favorably highlighted McSame's "lifetime of experience" along, again, with hers, remarking that Senator Obama's experience consisted of a speech he gave some years ago. Some ask why is she campaigning for McSame? Is she channeling Senator Joe Loserman?

How this possibly helps the Democratic Party escapes us. Sure, there needs to be a good clean debate between Obama and Clinton. But this win-at-all-costs, say-whatever-it-takes politics is associated with the Murray Chotiner/Lee Atwater/Karl Rove school of politics through the Nixon/Reagan/Bush presidencies. It's more than strange to see a Democrat use it against a fellow Democrat; it's destructive of the party's chances in November.

Some Early Spring Rays

It's still early March and eight (!) months to the election, but we needed something like this little ray of sunshine after what has so far been a somewhat gloomy week.

And The Beating Goes On. . .

The Democrats are nothing if not gluttons for punishment. After the votes in Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island, Senators Clinton and Obama are heading for additional primaries, with delegate counts close but not decisive. Pennsylvania is the next major contest in several weeks, and it's hard to see how this war of attrition really helps having a unified Democratic party for the fall election. Reptiles like Rush "Pills" Limpballs and Gauleiter Sean Hannity are delighted at the Democrats' continuing battle, while Walnuts! rests, accumulates contributions, fires salvos at Clinton and Obama, and prepares for the battles ahead.

Feel The Love

Sen. Walnuts! McCain, the presumptive Rethuglican Presidential nominee, received Dumbya's endorsement at the White House this morning. Doctors have not yet developed a vaccine for the endorsement, and Walnuts! is not showing symptoms of the communicable disease yet.

As we've noted before, McCain's election would represent a virtual third term for Preznit Twenty Percent. Try running on that platform.

(photo: Walnuts! and Dumbya at an earlier love-in)

Hate Radio Hack Bites the Dust

KSFO radio's hate-spewer Melanie Eva Imelda Evita Morgan is off the air. Citadel Braodcasting, KSFO's parent company, made the move as part of an across-the-board cost cutting effort. One fervently wishes Citidel's cost-cutting will also lead to axing some of its other "talent" like "Rev." James Dobson, pill poppin' Rush Limpballs, and (through its ownership and operation of ABC Radio) Obergruppenfuhrer Sean Hannity, Paul (Is He Still Alive? How Can You Tell?) Harvey, and Don "Nappy Ho" Imus. There's a lot of fat there, Citadel!

Profiles in Citizenship

According to CNN, right-wing bloviator Rush "Pills" Limpballs is urging his listeners in Texas to cast ballots in the Democratic primary for Senator Clinton. Why would the fat jackass want his listeners to do that? Oxycontin overdose? No, he thinks a lengthened Democratic race will weaken the Democrats in the fall elections, by bloodying up Senator Obama.

Wishful thinking, Pills. Record turnouts in Democratic primaries and caucuses point to a potential landslide in November for either Democratic candidate against Walnuts! McCain (the guy that you said a few weeks ago would destroy the Rethuglican Party).

(photo: Limpballs and his Freudian cigar)

WaPo: Like Pavlov's Dog, Too

In addition to publishing dreck on a regular basis (see below), today's WaPo has two articles on the front page of its "Style" section that demonstrate how cravenly the media responds to the bells rung by the right wing (and, unfortunately, the Clintonistas).

One is a piece of "reportage" by Libby Copeland, "At McCain's Ariz. Retreat, Ribs With a Side of Chi?", (sorry, no link) a fawning, steaming pile of poo about a cookout for the press hosted by Walnuts (aka St. John) McCain at his "homey ranch" in Arizona. As if McCain needs to schmooze the press!! From Tweety to Timmeh, to Libby, to Broderella and all points in between, the MSM is in love with the crusty ol' maverick. Responding to a firestorm from the wingnut world over McCain's "dealings" with lobbyists during his career, the MSM is now in full mea culpa mode. The Clinton campaign (see Wolfson, Hugh Jass), MSM, and wingnut world have combined in their efforts to "bring down" Obama, for all their craven reasons. Which brings us to the second pile of "reportage" on the "Style" page by resident WaPo/ CNN media wanker Howie Kurtz.

Kurtz wants to be in the forefront of the "bring down Obama" press. He tries in "'Soft' Press Sharpens Its Focus on Obama" to cite as many examples as he can, in the interests of "reportage" mind you, of the media responding to the tinkling bell of wingnut world. While he cites critical "reporting" on ABC, NBC and CBS on Obama, he spends much of his time rehashing ad hominem attacks on Obama from the likes of neocon wanker Wee Willie Kristol, Bill "Not So" Cunningham, and RedState's crackpot editor Erick Erickson. Gee, who'd-a-thunk it!? Repeating their innuendo and racist attacks in the guise of "here's what the media's saying about Obama" is transparently dishonest of Kurtz (also in the tank for McCain). But who expects otherwise?

UPDATE: As usual, Glenn Greenwald wraps Kurtz up neatly.

To Texas and Ohio: This Needs to End

We fervently hope that tomorrow's primaries in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont will deal a knockout punch to the increasingly desperate, scorched-earth campaign of Hillary Clinton. The damage already done to the Democratic Party's prospects in November by Clinton and her reptilian aides (Howard Wolfson is particularly egregious) will only be amplified if she continues to run following Tuesday's voting. The latest polls, by the way, show Obama slightly ahead in both Texas and Ohio for the first time. She would have to win both states by over 60% to catch up with Obama's lead in pledged delegates. It's time for the magical thinking that has characterized the Clinton campaign to end. It's time to come to grips with reality.

If reality doesn't immediately dawn on the Clintonistas, we can picture a group of senior Democratic Party leaders doing an "intervention" (h/t to Tokyo Bureau Chief Brian) with Clinton if Tuesday's results turn out roughly as expected. Don't be surprised if Gov. Bill Richardson, John Edwards and others take part in the "intervention," or at least endorse Obama.

Meanwhile, the latest newspaper to endorse Sen. Obama, the Dallas Morning News, said yesterday, "In sharp contrast to Mrs. Clinton's antics mocking his optimism, Mr. Obama has shown that it is possible to have both hope and intellectual heft." That sums it up for us, too.

WaPo: Not Very Bright Either

We've had problems with the Washington Post in the past, mainly over their neocon editorial positions favoring more and more war in Iraq, cheerleading for Scooter Libby, and a notable drift to the right in the past decade. But in yesterday's Outlook section, the WaPo published one of the most cringe-worthy articles ever, a goofy piece by Charlotte Allen entitled in part "How Dumb Can We Get." Allen, who is with the right-wing and misleadingly named outfit "Independent Women's Forum", drags out every tired cliche about "dumb women" in her piece, especially those who faint at Obama rallies. It represents a perfect example of why right-wing conservatives shouldn't get the vote of any woman who respects herself. I'm sure she sang a different tune when the object of wingnut affection was Ronnie Raygun.

Please check out some of the reactions to Allen's article, and to the WaPo's decision to publish it: Matt Yglesias, Obsidian Wings, and the excellent demolition job by Feministing.

BONUS: Jezebel has the last word.

"It's 3 a.m.! What Fool's Calling at This Hour?!"

Sadly No! has this take on the recent Clinton "Obama-has-no-experience" gambit. File this under "Why Mark Penn is a sorry loser (and a Hugh Jass)."

Well, that's a funny slip up. Hold on a minute. . .where's Cheney? Anybody seen Cheney?

(credit due to Wonkette)