Clash of the Bigots

The "Catholic" League's Wild Bill Donohue is blasting Walnuts for accepting the endorsement of talibangelist John "Armageddon Rich" Hagee on Wednesday. Calling Hagee a "bigot" (well, Donohue is an expert in that area) who has "waged an unrelenting war against the Catholic Church," Wild Bill called on McCain to repudiate the endorsement. A spokesman for another Catholic group, Catholics United, said, "By receiving the endorsement of an outspoken critic of the Catholic Church, McCain once again demonstrates that he is willing to sell out his principles for a chance to win the Presidency."

Hagee has been quoted as calling the Catholic Church "The Great Whore," an "apostate church," the "anti-Christ," and a "false cult system." Hagee apparently believes McCain represents the best chance to lead the U.S. into war with Iran, triggering the "end of days" he so fervently prays for. In fact, Hagee's support for Israel is all based on his Biblical interpretation that we are in the final days before Armageddon (and of course, when that day comes, the Jews will all go straight to Hell without benefit of a handbasket -- psst, someone clue the Anti-Defamation League into Hagee's endorsement, will ya?!).

(Photo: Bill Donohue -- using Hagee's formulation, does that make Donohue a great whoremonger?)

Minn. DOT Chief Ousted

The Minnesota State Senate voted yesterday to throw the state's transportation commissioner out of office. Carol Molnau is notorious for refusing funding for her department for roads and bridges. Hmmm... Minnesota... bridges... ring a bell? Molnau was the implementer of "bridge-collapse conservative" Gov. Tim Pawlenty's policy of ignoring the state's aging and underfunded infrastructure. She is remembered for standing smiling behind Bridge Collapse Tim as he vetoed a road spending bill two years ago that would have put funds into, among other things, refurbishing the I-35W bridge that collapsed on August 1, 2007, in Minneapolis. Pawlenty has recently been mentioned as a possible running mate for Walnuts! McCain. What short memories those Rebunglecans have!

The Sludge Factor

By now, everyone and his brother knows that Britain's Prince Harry has been removed from his duty post in Afghanistan for safety reasons following the exposure of his location on the right-wing "Drudge Report" smear blog. Nicely played, Sludge, he of the pseudo- 1940's private eye hat. Sadly, unlike much of the junk on the "Drudge Report," this proved to be correct. Looks like he's the one that "hates the troops."

The typical feeding cycle for the media seems to be: wingers leak "information" or just plain crap to Sludge, it's breathlessly posted on his blog, and the mainstream media runs with it as if it's sourced and reliable. After all, as Time's Mark Halperin famously said, "Drudge rules our world."

Too bad we can't stuff this inauthentic creep into a uniform, ship him off to Iraq or Afghanistan, and let him see what his recklessness produces.

Dumbya: Still in the Land of Oz

Demonstrating that he still thinks he's the great and munificent Oz, Dumbya wants us to believe we're not heading into a recession. We're guessing a man with 19% approval rating (14% for his handling of the economy) has nothing to lose (certainly not credibility) by clanking his brass ones in front of the world. He's trying to get away with it on the FISA bill extension, of course, putting the safety and profits of the telecom giants above the American people. Will January 2009 never arrive?

Quote of the Day

Referring to William F. Buckley, Jr.'s death yesterday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch "Missy" McConnell had this to say in a press release:

"And when we learned that he had died in his study, he inspired us by his death."

Inspiration through expiration: the new Rethuglican mantra.

(hat tip to Spencer Ackerman, The Washington Independent)

Bloomberg Won't Run

Billionaire New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced today that he won't be running for President in 2008. This follows months of speculation, much of it self-generated by Bloomberg and his associates, that he might mount a run especially if the "center" looked like it was being abandoned by the Democrats and Rebunglecans. Speculation now is that, with the rise of Sen. Obama into the clear front-runner position among Democrats and many independents, the base Bloomberg would have appealed to has evaporated. Even further out on the speculative margin, some are wondering if Bloomberg could now be on Obama's short list for VP. We're not ready to go off that deep end yet.

But, kudos to Bloomberg for having his ego under control, unlike a certain 70-something professional spoiler we've seen emerge from under his rock recently.

Thuggery

While we're on thuggish "conservatives," we fear this pinhead is closer to the Rethuglican mainstream than some would like to admit. Why do we say that? After these remarks, Walnuts supporter and former Ohio Congressman Rob Portman said, "Bill Cunningham lending his voice to this campaign is extremely important."

Well, he got the "extremely" part right. Giving him minimal credit, Walnuts condemned the remarks after everyone went home.

(Photo: Cunningham proudly showing off his IQ score.)

Buckley Dead at 82

William F. Buckley, Jr., one of the major figures in the resurgence of conservatism in the U.S. has died at 82. Buckley, "born to the manor" to a wealthy New York family, was a Yale-educated, often condescending, and aristocratic spokesman and publisher for right wing causes for some 50 years, but he was at the same time entertaining and interesting on his long-running "Firing Line" program (ironically, on commercial-free public television). He counted some progressive luminaries, such as John Kenneth Galbraith and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. among his friends. To his credit, he lacked the crude, thuggish instincts of today's Limbaugh/Coulter/Hannity/Savage crew of reactionary bloviators.

Bush's Third Term

A recent poll released by the American Research Group, Inc. has Dumbya's job approval rating at an all-time low of 19%. His approval rating for the handling of the economy is - - not surprisingly - - even lower: 14%.

Walnuts! McCain's positions on the major issues would virtually ensure that his election would be a "third" Bushit term. The Democrats would be insane not to point out this out over and over again.

Turkey and Giblets

The recent Turkish invasion of the Kurdish area of Iraq points up the disaster Bushit policies have wrought in the Middle East. Above all, the Middle East - - and Iraq in particular - - is a witches' brew of hostile ethnic and religious disparity: Shiite and Sunni, Arab and Kurd, Baathist and Islamist, and multiple variations of the above and more. Dumbya literally threw gasoline on these hot coals that have existed for centuries when he manufactured a cause for war and ordered the invasion of Iraq. The Bushits thought that they could conquer Iraq on the cheap, while Afghanistan - - and now nuclear Pakistan - - continues to disintegrate under al Qaeda and Taliban resurgence (remember them? The ones who actually attacked us?) The Kurds, Iraqis, and we are reaping the whirlwind of Dumbya's arrogance and incompetence, and will do so for years to come regardless of the 2008 election outcome.

2008 Election Results In!

Breaking News! Through a Diebold software glitch, the Onion is revealing the results of the 2008 Presidential election. Curse those shadowy puppetmasters and overlords! Now we won't have to stay up late on November to see how Ohio goes!

Obama Pulls Ahead in Texas, Gets Endorsements

For the first time, polls are showing Sen. Obama ahead in Texas, 50% to 46%. Ohio is also trending in Obama's favor, although Clinton still is ahead by nearly double digits in some polls. National polls show Obama leading Clinton by double digits among Democrats. Significantly, Obama was endorsed today by the 5 leading newspapers in Texas: the Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Houston Chronicle, Austin American-Statesman, and San Antonio Express-News. The endorsements are glowing (and growing).

Pundits and the campaigns agree that Clinton would have to win big in both Texas and Ohio on March 4 to even have a chance of catching Obama. To quote Dana Carvey quoting George H.W. "Poppy" Bush, "Not gonna happen!"

UPDATE: The latest to endorse Obama: Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT). Bravo!

Brain-Dead Media

We're back to our chimp theme, since this is about the "main stream media." C&L has not one but two examples of what passes as thought for the fools and charlatans that overwhelmingly populate the media. Look and weep.

Sunday News Roundup

Crazywing spoiler Ralph "I'm Still Relevant" Nader announced he's running for president as a third-party (Loons?) candidate. Poor Ralph (pictured at left with our prediction of the number of votes he'll get this time around). The dotty, 73-year-old egomaniac thinks he's leading a parade. Let's see how many state ballots he gets on.

Also today, the WaPo joins with the RNC and its willing handmaidens in the MSM to begin its effort to de-construct Barack Obama. You know the familiar pattern: first the media is enthralled with a candidate; then it becomes sensitive to (Rethuglican) criticism that it has swooned; then to reestablish its creds (with the Right), it begins the skeptical, de-mythification process. Today was the WaPo's "Barack, we hardly knew ye" day, with two articles (the one above and one nearly identical by Chris Cillizzard and Shanunu Murray) and a Broderesque editorial ("The Obama Enigma") wondering where, oh where, would Obama lead us, asking "So is Mr. Obama a standard liberal clad in the soothing language of inclusiveness?" The WaPo (Hiatt, Broder, or Gerson?) may not have noticed, but "standard" liberalism is a political philosophy of tolerance and inclusiveness; it's the right wingers that want to cast everything into an us-or-them format, that seek to divide and polarize. What is it about the last 7 --hell, 15-- years that these numbnuts don't get?

Hillary Goes for an Oscar

The day before the event, Hillary Clinton is making a strong case for a Best Actress Oscar. If this isn't the most transparent, contrived, embarrassing tripe ever spoken in a campaign, we'd like to know what is. Note the faux anger, the attempt to put Obama in the "Rove playbook" camp, attacking Obama while decrying attacks on fellow Democrats. This is so shameful and so dishonest that one can only conclude that the teary show of unity at the last "debate" was yet another piece of acting by this increasingly shrill, erratic candidate and her campaign. No, shame on YOU, Hillary!