My Schadenfreude Meter Is Stuck on Red Line: Thanks David Vitter

Thanks a lot Senator Vitter, you moral blowhard by day, freakazoid by night, I'm going to need a new schadenfreude meter. This one is busted; pushed way beyond the red line.

From the Quote Machine:

Marriage is a core institution of societies throughout the world and throughout history. It's something that has provided permanence and stability for our very social structure.

We need a U.S. Senator who will stand up for Louisiana values, not Massachusetts’s values. I am the only Senate Candidate to coauthor the Federal Marriage Amendment; the only one fighting for its passage. I am the only candidate proposing changes to the senate rules to stop liberal obstructionists from preventing an up or down vote on issues like this, judges, energy, and on and on.

[Bob Livingston's resignation is] obviously a tremendous loss for the state.... I think Livingston's stepping down makes a very powerful argument that Clinton should resign as well and move beyond this mess. [Vitter on the Clinton-Lewinsky affair and former House Speaker Bob Livingston]

I don't think David will be sleeping too well at night these days:

Vitter's wife, Wendy, said in 2000 that if her husband cheated on her, she would react like a woman who cut off her sleeping husband's penis. "I'm a lot more like Lorena Bobbitt than Hillary [Clinton]," she said. "If he does something like that, I'm walking away with one thing, and it's not alimony, trust me. I think fear is a very good motivating factor in a marriage

The Bees are Back Plus Other Odds and Ends

The bees are back in my yard - big time. They seem a happy lot, too, buzzing all about and doing that pollinating voodoo they do. Its nice, except for the sting my boy got. Here's hoping the bees are back everywhere else, too.

Am I the only person really irritated by Drudge's continued use of the term 'global warming?' Can't he just say 'climate change?' No, that wouldn't be pejorative.

What's it with BushCo and their spokeshead Dubya? I mean, does everything they do automatically have to turn to a wet mushy turd wedged into the sole of your work boots? The latest huge loss for BushCo was on the immigration compromise. Instead of trying elevate the debate, BushCo went and swift-boated their own. The conservatives acted in a way I wish the Dems would do more often - they dug in and returned fusillade for fusillade. (Note to Dems: This is how you fight back. Take a note of it, and try it sometime after recovering from the spinal replacement surgery.)

If its Iraq, then its more mayhem and destruction. Aside from the grisly murders and horrific jihaddi bombers (I am so sick of these fucking nihilists), the insurgents continue their tactics of death to USA by a thousand cuts. Another bridge was taken out. Sadly, three US troops died in the attack. RIP. Anyone else ready to put down the kool-aid and admit the Surge ain't working?

Behind the charismatic veneer, I knew that Mike Huckabee was just another right wing wacko. His comment that most prisoners would prefer to be in Gitmo capped it. Yeah Mikey, I'll just bet these guys just can't wait for some more enhanced interrogation techniques. Plus, the great medical care. Makes their day.

Peggy Noonan - Where's All the Love Gone?

Peggy Noonan ripped into BushCo and Dubya big time on the Wall Street Journal's Opinion Journal recently. I was really shocked as the WSJOJ has consistently fellated BushCo for the last six years (oops, that's a bud pun - the kind that might get a guy impeached). She wrote June 1, 2007:

What political conservatives and on-the-ground Republicans must understand at this point is that they are not breaking with the White House on immigration. They are not resisting, fighting and thereby setting down a historical marker--"At this point the break became final." That's not what's happening. What conservatives and Republicans must recognize is that the White House has broken with them. ...

For almost three years, arguably longer, conservative Bush supporters have felt like sufferers of battered wife syndrome. You don't like endless gushing spending, the kind that assumes a high and unstoppable affluence will always exist, and the tax receipts will always flow in? Too bad! You don't like expanding governmental authority and power? Too bad. You think the war was wrong or is wrong? Too bad.

But on immigration it has changed from "Too bad" to "You're bad."

Wow, them's some harsh words. Let's play the way back machine to see what Peggy's been saying over the years. January 31, 2002:

In the old days elite opinion held that Mr. Bush was a scripted trust-fund dullard whose rise was greased by luck and birth. Those were the days. Those of us who stood with Mr. Bush then were a small and hardy band of criticized contrarians. It was fun. We had secret handshakes and everything. Now everyone's in on the act. ...

[T]hose who once dismissed Mr. Bush and now praise him are demonstrating an honesty and high mindedness that is wonderful to behold after the sapping, sour 1990s. It really is refreshing--literally refreshing--to have a president people admire and can follow cleanly again.

January 30, 2003 (Commenting on the SOTU):

Mr. Bush seems uniquely resolved to be as courageous as the times require and as helpful as they allow. There is a profound authenticity to him, and a fearlessness too.

A steady hand on the helm in high seas, a knowledge of where we must go and why, a resolve to achieve safe harbor. More and more this presidency is feeling like a gift.

November 4, 2004 (Commenting on Dubya's re-election; I would have substituted
'millionaires' for 'than a million', but what the heck):

The leaders of the Bush effort see it this way: A ragtag band of more than a million Republican volunteers who fought like Washington's troops at Valley Forge beat the paid Hessians of King George III's army. Savor.

By 2006, the strains had become more obvious February 2, 2006:

The president's State of the Union Address will be little noted and not long remembered. There was a sense that he was talking at, not to, the country. ... [The speech wasn't] precisely a pudding without a theme, but a thin porridge.

You can see the wheels start to come off in the Spring of last year May 18, 2006:

I continue to believe the administration's problem is not that the base lately doesn't like it, but that the White House has decided it actually doesn't like the base. That's a worse problem. It's hard to fire a base. Hard to get a new one.

Thus, we see the full evolution of Peggy Noonan's views. By the way, don't cry for her; she's gone back to fellating the corpse of the Gipper. But I would ask her, Peggy, how could you be so fucking wrong?

A New Job for Wolfowitz?

Freedom Fries Congressman suggests Wolfie become the new mayor of Baghdad. I think its a boffo idea.

Note that Walter Jones has recanted his past support for the War on Iraq, and was one of only two Reep congressmen to vote in favor of the Dem proposal to bring home our troops by September 2008.

Mitt Romney Can't Keep Track of Right Wing Zealots

Its tough to run for Prez, you have to remember all sorts of folks, but this was pretty embarrassing. From AJC:

At the fund-raiser for Mitt Romney at the posh 1818 Club on Friday, the candidate was making the introductions to the room.

Romney gestured to Ralph Reed and said, “Why it’s good to see Gary Bauer here.” (For the detached, Bauer is a former presidential candidate with ties, like Reed, to the Religious Right.)

Romney then caught himself. “Oh, I’m a little mixed up here,” he said. But Romney still couldn’t place Reed’s face — and had to move on.

D'oh! So, let's give the Mittster a helping hand.

Reed, the former head of the Christian Coalition (Pat Roberston's group), vote rigger, high-school plagiarizer, and chairman of the Georgia Republican Party. He had a meteoric rise in the Republican Party as a champion of the religious right, and even ran for Lt. Governor of Georgia. His future looked bright, until his dealings with Jack Abramoff came to light.

Reed was named in the scandal arising from lobbying work performed by Jack Abramoff on behalf of Indian gambling tribes. Emails released by federal investigators in June 2005 suggest that Reed secretly accepted payments from Abramoff to lobby against Indian casino gambling and oppose an Alabama education lottery while Abramoff was being paid to promote Indian casino gambling. Additional emails released in November 2005 show that Reed also worked for another Abramoff client seeking to block a congressional ban on Internet gambling. These cases are being investigated by multiple federal and state grand juries and by the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. Abramoff pled guilty to three felony counts in federal court.

He lost the election and is just another disgraced ex-pol. At least he didn't stick his dick where it didn't belong, so who knows? Could a resurrection be in the cards for Ralph Reed?

Gary Bauer is another right wing religious zealot, probably best known for falling of the stage trying to catch pancakes while running for the presidency. (Does chutzpah know no bounds?) Gary, as expected, is anti-woman's choice, but is pro-death penalty. He had some bizarre run-ins with Dan (Santorum, ITMFA) Savage. Bauer has joined the ranks of right wing ranters by hosting a radio talk show program.

Can Someone Make Jerry Falwell Seem Sympathetic?

Amazingly, the answer is yes - in the form of Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church. These are the idiots who go around protesting at soldiers' funerals, saying our tolerance of gays is the reason they got ripped apart by IEDs.

Well, this doesn't really make Falwell sympathetic; However, one soldier's family was spared the WPC treatment because of Falwell's death.

Information on the funeral of [Anthony] Bradshaw, a 21-year-old Army specialist killed by a roadside bomb in Baqouba, Iraq, was recently posted on the [Westboro Baptist Church's] Web site.

But the protesters were a no-show in New Braunfels on Wednesday because they chose to travel to Virginia in preparation for demonstrating at Falwell's funeral, said member Shirley Phelps-Roper, who is also an attorney for the church.

"There are dead soldiers everywhere," Phelps-Roper said. "You don't have a very high-profile, cowardly, lying false prophet like Falwell dying every day."

One useful thing from this is Falwell supporters are getting back some of what they've dished out over the years. The Fred Phelps gang's protest is a bit of karmic revenge for the support of segregation and South Africa's Apartheid Regime, and all the other sad spectacles perpetrated by Falwell under the name of baby Jesus.

So, I'll bet you're wondering why WBC hates Falwell. The easy thing to say is they hate on everyone. But for Falwell they have a special emnity:

WBC will preach at the memorial service of the corpulent false prophet Jerry Falwell, who spent his entire life prophesying lies and false doctrines like "God loves everyone".

There is little doubt that Falwell split Hell wide open the instant he died. The evidence is compelling, overwhelming, and irrefragable. To wit:

1. Falwell was a true Calvinistic Baptist when he was a young preacher in Springfield, Missouri, and sold his soul to Free-Willism (Arminianism) for lucre.

2. Falwell bitterly and viciously attacked WBC because of WBC's faithful Bible preaching -- thereby committing the unpardonable sin -- otherwise known as the sin against the Holy Ghost.

3. Falwell warmly praised Christ-rejecting Jews, pedophile-condoning Catholics, money-grubbing compromisers, practicing fags like Mel White, and backsliders like Billy Graham and Robert Schuler, etc. All for lucre -- making him guilty of their sins.

So there you have it.

Republican Debate Part Deux

Here's what others are saying:

Political Realm declares McCain the big winner of last night's debate. PR also gives a thumbs up to Giuliani, but questions Romney's performance. Of the lesser candidates, Tancredo and Huckabee had strong performances.

Blog For Brains gives the nod to Ron Paul. Paul had the temerity to say that US meddling the Middle East created blow-back that helped cause 9-11. B4B went on to lament the lockstep "consistent conservatism" espoused by the other candidates.

All Spin Zone hits on one hypothetical question asked of the candidates - namely, what they would do under a hypothetical where three terrorists bombings had already occurred, and how far they would go to avoid a fourth. On that question, ASZ gives it to McCain for taking a principled stand, while ripping Rudy's response.

TomCat tallies how many of the questions were answered and how many were ducked. The results:

Candidate Answered/Ducked

Brownback 3/2
Gilmore 3/3
Giuliani 4/3
Huckabee 6/0
McCain 4/4
Paul 4/1
Romney 3/4
Tancredo 2/3
Thompson 2/2

TomCat's take is similar to Blog4Brains - Paul stood out and the other candidates all stood together.

Taegan Goddard declares the debate feisty, noting in particular exchanges between Paul and Giuliani and between McCain and Romney. He offers some quotes from the State and NYT.

RCP gives the right wing view of the world.

Rich Lowry blogging on NRO's The Corner gives it to Rudy. Of course, Rich just loved, loved, loved the red-meat Hillary-bashing.

Funky Town Fighter calls the candidates a bunch of candy-assed hypocrites. Okay, she didn't actually write that, but I really hope she does one of the rants that only FTF can do on the debate.

Drudge and HuffPost have nothing - at least not that I could easily find.

Edit: I found an additional post on the debate, and taking nothing from the above the blogs, Monkey Muck has THE best take. I won't spoil it, just give the link a click and enjoy!

Edit Part Deux: Chuq gives to Paul and Romney. Of the top runners, he had Giuliani and McCain even.

Jerry Falwell is Dead, Dead, Dead

I don't normally go out my way to criticize dead people, but Jerry Fallwell is an exception.

Christians, like slaves and soldiers, ask no questions.

AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals.

The idea that religion and politics don't mix was invented by the Devil to keep Christians from running their own country.

One People's Project has a bio on JF:

Growing up in the South, Falwell says there were certain negative traits that he carried with him. "Well, as a Southerner, I grew up as a segregationalist[.]" ...

[Falwell's] autobiography states that in 1964 he was still a staunch segregationalist, and some sources even say he spoke at segregationalist rallies. In the fifties, Falwell used the Bible to claim the 1954 Supreme Court integration decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was a satanic plot and this went on until 1967 when he started a racially segregated "Christian" school to avoid public school desegregation...

Falwell ... was also one of the supporters of the apartheid government of South Africa. When the late, unlamented Prime Minister P.W. Botha was inaugurated in 1984, he said that the white-minority rule of that country was "part of God's great design." That got Falwell's attention. In the Summer of 1985, Falwell visited the country, and in an effort to get Americans to support that regime urged Christians to purchase Krugerrands, South African gold coins. The visit backfired on him. He even went so far as to attack Nobel Peace Prize winner Bishop Desmond Tutu. The Los Angeles Times reported that Falwell capped off his visit to South Africa by saying, "If Bishop Tutu maintains that he speaks for the black people of South Africa, he is a phony."

Finally, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson on 9-11:

JERRY FALWELL: And I agree totally with you that the Lord has protected us so wonderfully these 225 years. And since 1812, this is the first time that we've been attacked on our soil and by far the worst results. And I fear, as Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense, said yesterday, that this is only the beginning. And with biological warfare available to these monsters -- the Husseins, the Bin Ladens, the Arafats -- what we saw on Tuesday, as terrible as it is, could be miniscule if, in fact -- if, in fact -- God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve.

PAT ROBERTSON: Jerry, that's my feeling. I think we've just seen the antechamber to terror. We haven't even begun to see what they can do to the major population.

JERRY FALWELL: The ACLU's got to take a lot of blame for this.

PAT ROBERTSON: Well yes.

If Hell does exist, I expect he is being eternally buggered by the Devil himself. Pat, you're on deck!

Did John Doolittle Really Get Sold Down the River by Abu Gonzales?

Doolittle thinks so, but then he's got the FBI hanging out inside his colon. Under these circumstances, I might go a little batty myself.

Doolittle has served as US congressman, representing California's Gold Country (East of Sacramento) since 1990. Doolittle is a staunchly conservative Republican in one of California's most conservative districts. No, check that; Doolittle is an outright loon.

Here are some Doolittle quotes:

A liberal front is underway to find God and all things pertaining to him unconstitutional.

He's honest, ... And he is a member's member

--Talking about Tom DeLay.

I do not subscribe to the theory of global warming. Liberals like to use pseudo-science.

You get the idea. But its not Doolittle's lunacy that got him in trouble. No, Doolittle has a bigger problem. He's a crook. Although the FBI didn't find bundles of cash in his freezer, Doolittle was elected under a taint in much the same way that William Jefferson was reelected. Both ran on similar platforms - playing the victim card.

Doolittle's house was raided by the FBI three weeks ago. So, what did Doolittle do? He blamed Abu Gonzalez for his problems, accusing Gonzales of having Doolittle get raided by the FBI to deflect attention from Gonzales' own considerable problems.

If true, then Gonzales is even more pathetic than I can even imagine. After all, Doolittle has been one of the most fiercely loyal BushCo sycophants in all of congress. Even though I think BushCo would flush one of their own down the toilet in a heartbeat just to save their own skin, I don't think Gonzo is behind this.

No, plain and simple Doolittle is a crook. Consider this article from the Washington Post:

The Justice Department's wide-ranging investigation of former lobbyist Jack Abramoff has entered a highly active phase as prosecutors are beginning to move on evidence pointing to possible corruption in Congress and executive branch agencies, lawyers involved in the case said.

Doolittle's wife, Julie, owned a consulting firm that was hired by Abramoff and his firm, Greenberg Traurig, to do fundraising for a charity he founded.

Julie Doolittle's attorney, William L. Stauffer Jr., said Sierra Dominion Financial was hired by Greenberg Traurig to provide "event planning, marketing and related services, as requested by Mr. Abramoff" for Abramoff's Capital Athletic Foundation and his Signatures restaurant.

Abramoff frequently used the athletic foundation as a pass-through organization to run lobbying efforts and to pay for expenses, records show. Julie Doolittle was hired to put on a fundraiser for the foundation at the International Spy Museum, but the event was canceled because it had been scheduled to take place just at the Iraq war was commencing, Stauffer said.

"Sierra Dominion primarily performed public relations and other event planning services for the Spy Museum event," Stauffer said in an e-mail reply to questions. "This included responding to all individuals calling the Capital Athletic Foundation concerning the Spy Museum event, identifying (and contacting) possible attendees for the event, and assisting in fund raising strategy and letters."

That article dates back to 2005. Doolittle is a crook and he's going down. I'm only angry with the FBI for not throwing him in jail well before the November 2006 elections. Its taken a lot longer than expected to put this guy away. But no matter; it will be all the sweeter when he does go.

Along the way, he's throwing an anchor to Abu Gonzales. How sweet is that?

Thomas Sowell: You Old Coot!

Someone forgot his Geritol:

When I see the worsening degeneracy in our politicians, our media, our educators, and our intelligentsia, I can’t help wondering if the day may yet come when the only thing that can save this country is a military coup.

I post this as a reminder of just how deranged American conservatism has become. Notice its the media, educators, etc., not the president who led us in a quagmire of a war based on lies. The saving grace is the curmudgeons are dying off at a rapid rate.

Blue Monday

A government commission's war probe accused of "severe failure," saying the nation was led hastily into conflict without a comprehensive plan. The Bush Administration? Nope - Ehud Olmert of Israel and their foolish war on Lebanon was the target of the scathing report. Though it should be noted that BushCo and the neocons cheered Olmert on.

If anyone hasn't heard about it yet, the destroyed Oakland freeway ramp is pretty damned scary. The closure will also be really inconvenient for a lot of folks until its fixed (probably a couple of months). On a personal note, I rarely use that facility, but there's a good chance the mess will reverberate to other adjacent ramps and highways. Its a miracle no one was hurt, not even the driver.

Tony Snow is back to work today as chief lie spinner for BushCo. While I certainly wish him improved health and a long life, this man should hang his head in shame.

Tragically, over 100 US soldiers have died in vain in Iraq this month.

I've noted the lack of political reconciliation in Iraq dooms the surge to failure. The lack of economic progress has the same effect in mooting the surge. This is why Iraq is the Stupid Pointless War.

Fox News: Dumbing Down the Bias

We all know the allegations - Fox News is biased towards the right, and dumbs down the news. Are these allegations correct? Certainly the democratic candidates for president thought so when they snubbed Fox News for their first debate. And we all know that Dick Cheney appears almost exclusively on Fox (except when he's rolling Tim Russert, but I digress).

Let's take a look a what researchers and others have found. First, World Public Opinion completed a year-long analysis of news sources. Their key finding:

[T]he frequency of [Iraq War] misperceptions varies significantly according to individuals’ primary source of news. Those who primarily watch Fox News are significantly more likely to have misperceptions [about the Iraq War], while those who primarily listen to NPR or watch PBS are significantly less likely.

This comes on the heels of a recent Pew Center poll showing that Fox News viewers are among the least informed on current events.

In addition, researchers Ethan Kaplan and Stefano DellaVigna analyzed the question of Fox News bias by looking at the impact of Fox News on voting patterns. From the National Bureau of Economic Research:

[Kaplan and Della Vigna] found that the introduction of Fox News had a small but statistically significant effect on the vote share in Presidential elections between 1996 and 2000. Republicans gained an estimate of between 0.4 and 0.7 percentage points in the towns that broadcast Fox News. They also find that Fox News had a significant effect on Senate vote share and on voter turnout. Their estimates imply that Fox News convinced 3 to 8 percent of its viewers to vote Republican according to a first audience measure, and 11 to 28 percent according to a second, more restrictive audience measure.

Here's some other info on the Fox New Bias:

• Media Matters reviews a series of internal Fox memos.
• A documentary on Fox News - Outfoxed.
• Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting covers Brit Hume (from the way back machine - pre 9/11).
• Journalists have found Fox News to be, far and away, the most conservative news source.
• The public outing of terrorist who, unfortunately, wasn't really a terrorist.
• Osama, oops I meant Obama, attended a Madrassa, as reported by Fox. Nice.

Preview of Tenet Interview on 60 Minutes

I found this at First Draft:

CBS has a preview of Tenet's interview on 60 Minutes this coming Sunday....

Tenet says what bothers him most is that senior administration officials like Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice continue using "slam dunk" as a talking point.

"And the hardest part of all this has been just listening to this for almost three years, listening to the vice president go on 'Meet the Press' on the fifth year [anniversary] of 9/11 and say, 'Well, George Tenet said slam dunk' as if he needed me to say 'slam dunk' to go to war with Iraq," he tells Pelley. "And you listen to that and they never let it go. I mean, I became campaign talk. I was a talking point. 'Look at the idiot [who] told us and we decided to go to war.' Well, let's not be so disingenuous … Let's everybody just get up and tell the truth. Tell the American people what really happened."

CBS link - here