This is absolutely hilarious. Lou Dobbs works himself into a lather over Condoleeza Rice's recent statement that slavery is America's "birth defect." He begins to rant about how it's ridiculous that any politician would say that we have a problem talking about race. And it is at precisely this moment that Dobbs catches himself in the middle of saying, "cotton-picking."
Forget global warming. The most palpable climate change that’s occurred in the past two years has been a shift in the political climate. As the 2006 midterms demonstrated in no uncertain terms, the ability of GOP strategists to rally the masses behind fear of homos, Mexican day laborers, and science has been severely compromised. Things are so dismal for the right that more Americans now believe 9/11 was an inside job than approve of Bush’s job performance— an unfolding utterly unthinkable on September 12, 2001.
Like cornered komodo dragons reeking of carrion and desperation, conservative stalwarts have resorted to unleashing some of the most brazenly idiotic and transparently insincere utterances in the history of asinine horseshit. Consequently, political discourse has devolved into a parody of itself. It’s reached the point where there’s no need to debunk these ramblings; their mere existence discredits their sources more thoroughly than any rebuttal ever could.
All you protester-types gearing up for the RNC in St. Paul would do well to study up on all that has been written about the surveillance, mass arrests and lawsuits of the last convention, held in New York City in 2004. Four years later, there is still court activity. Most recently, it was a subpoena issued by the New York City Law Department and served to Tad Hirsch, a doctoral student at M.I.T. who invented the service called TXTmob that allowed activists at the 2004 RNC to communicate in real time, via text messages, about actions going on throughout the city.
My favorite part about the controversy over Hillary Clinton lying about being under sniper fire is that it was first broken by Sinbad.
Yes, that Sinbad (nee David Adkins), the star of A Different World and numerous other family friendly sitcoms from the 1980s and 90s.
The controversy began March 11 when Sinbad told the Washington Post's website that he was along on the trip and didn't remember any threat of danger:
In an interview with the Sleuth Monday, he said the "scariest" part of the trip was wondering where he'd eat next. "I think the only 'red-phone' moment was: 'Do we eat here or at the next place.'"
Hillary tried to claim she mispoke because she was tired, but it turns out she's trotted out the anecdote on numerous occasions.
Now a Florida blog is asking how Sinbad got the scoop that the mainstream media missed:
Both CBS's Sharyl Attkison and NBC's Andrea Mitchell have pointed out during their reports that they were actually with Clinton on that Bosnia trip and recalled no sniper fire, rushing crowds or exagerrated danger. Since headlines have been filled with the news, other journalists who took that trip 12 years ago -- including former MTV News reporter Tabitha Soren -- have weighed in.
So why did it take comic Sinbad to blow the lid on the whole deal?
So, Fox News' Chris Wallace goes on Fox and Friends, the network's version of a vapid morning show, and calls them to task for "two hours of Obama bashing" over the candidate's comment that his mother thinks like "a typical white person."
John McCain, the self-proclaimed foreign policy guru and best candidate for president of the United States, apparently has very little understanding of the situation on the ground in the Middle East.
Although Hillary Clinton once said she wouldn't sling mud over Rev. Wright's incendiary remarks from the pulpit, today she dumped a heaping handful of it. And in the most unlikely of outlets: the paper owned by the man who helped get her husband impeached.
In an interview today with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Hillary said she would have left her church if her pastor made remarks like Rev. Wright's.
"He would not have been my pastor," Clinton said. "You don't choose your family, but you choose what church you want to attend." ...
"You know, I spoke out against Don Imus (who was fired from his radio and television shows after making racially insensitive remarks), saying that hate speech was unacceptable in any setting, and I believe that," Clinton said. "I just think you have to speak out against that. You certainly have to do that, if not explicitly, then implicitly by getting up and moving."
The chairman of the Michigan Republican party, Saul Anuzis, in an article over at Politico, has this to say of the state of the GOP in 2008: “After twelve years of being in power, you tend to get fat and lazy, and in some cases arrogant with respect to your positions ... If you go back to 2006 most people would agree that not only did we lose our brand, that we damaged our brand significantly. We are clearly rebuilding.”
When I moved to Washington state in almost 10 years ago, my cousin's husband asked me about what my friend up there did for work. He worked for Boeing, I replied. "Oh, of course," said my cousin's spouse. "Everyone up here works for Boeing."
If the Rev. Wright videos are going to be bouncing around the ether and onto our television screens for the foreseeable future, might as well get this one in the mix: Rev. Jerry Falwell in conversation on the 700 Club with Pat Robertson--just two days after the 911 attacks and one day before Wright's now famous "chickens coming home to roost" remarks.
Much has been made of Barack Obama's oratory and rhetorical brilliance, his ability to paint even the driest of dry policy proposals with a coat of rhythmic, baritone elegance.
Implicit in all of this passive-aggressive fawning—at least that on behalf of his detractors, particularly that smug sock-puppet Paul Begala—was the idea that beneath all his flash and dazzle was a scared-shitless darkie lacking the necessary "experience" and "substance" to carry the torch effectively for Whitey. Senator John McCain, the crusty sun-baked cracker from Arizona, even had the balls to label Obama's parlance "platitudes" in between his own shameless bromides about Lady Liberty’s altruistic mission to spread “democracy” and “freedom” around the globe— a task presumably carried out while perched on a magical, pixie-dust sprinkled Unicorn flanked by a benevolent bald eagle on one side, and a visibly aroused, blood-thirsty Uncle Sam on the other.
Like many other closet-idealists, I avoided writing about Barack Obama or discussing the man in polite company for simple fear that my expression would devolve into the kind of starry-eyed, bullshit-reeking pottage better lampooned than spouted. Praising Obama with unfettered fervor, I knew, would succeed only in outing me as yet another cultish Obama fanatic and, what's more, would likely convince whomever I was conversing with that “this Obama guy” was not to be trusted, what with this “frothing-at-the-mouth asshole” supporting him.
But after Tuesday’s speech—which Obama penned himself—there’s no need for me or any other talking primate to sing his praises. There’s no need to point out that this speech will likely go down as the most poised, intellectually honest, and honorable campaign monologue ever to be uttered in the history of human folly.
Reporter John Goodall, who was assigned to the story, spoke by telephone with Hillary Wicai Viers, who is a communications director in U.S. Rep. Charlie Wilson’s staff. According to the reporter, when Viers answered the phone with ‘‘This is Hillary,’’ he believed he was speaking with the Democratic presidential candidate, who had made several previous visits to the Mahoning Valley.
It appears as though the newspaper has pulled the content off its website, but you can find a cache version here.
It must be spring. The politician sex stories are rolling in.
We all know about former New York governor Eliot Spitzer, who allegedly spent more on prostitutes than the median American household makes in a year. But like all tumultuous narrative events, these sex stories come in threes.
While Pawlenty is spending an awful lot of time angling for the VP slot, The New Yorker's Hendrik Hertzberg, as discussed last week, is pushing the McCain/Rice ticket.
What Hertzberg also did is raise a legacy issue for which critics of President Bush--and perhaps even what Hertzberg calls the Republican Party's "hardened racists and incorrigible misogynists"--may be hesitant to hand him:
It's a good time to be a Republican, MinnPost's Steve Berg asserted on Friday. Sure, he allows, the economy's in the toilet and George W. Bush's approval ratings are below 20 in some polls. Indeed, conventional wisdom holds that the Democratic candidate will win in November.
"So why all the smiles," Berg asks rhetorically, "on the Republican side?"
This is a wonderful place to start a piece if the writer is prepared to produce any evidence that there are, in fact, smiles on the Republican side. Of course, Berg is not so prepared. And as a new piece from the center-right Washington Post makes clear, that's because most Republicans think they're on a stomach-churning doom ride.
Politicians love to release bad news on Friday, because nobody's paying attention. And boy, did Obama use the opportunity to unload a lot of baggage.
This week, Obama finally opened up about Tony Rezko, his fundraiser and real-estate fixer, and one of the few ethical lapses that seems to be gaining traction as Hillary looks for a chink in Obama's armor.
As if that wasn't enough, Obama also dumped Rev. Jeremiah Wright, his long time confidant (who even gave him the title of his book), after footage circulated of Wright denouncing America.
So what is going on here? Is Obama wilting in the spotlight? Is Clinton scoring points with the judges?
The RNC Welcoming Committee, a self-described anarchist/anti-authoritarian organization, has ordered Tasers for each of its members. That is, if a press release circulated by the group earlier today is to be believed.
"Due to a unique corporate-anarchist confidentiality agreement, the exact number of tasers or documentable evidence of this new order will not be disclosed," reads the statement, going on to claim that the tasers' order "has absolutely nothing to do with the upcoming Republican convention... the timing is purely a coincidence."
The faux move lampoons the St. Paul Police department's purchase of 370 tasers--one for every patrolman--last month. Asked if it had to do with the fast-approaching convention, police spokesman Tom Walsh told the AP that the purchase was "in no way related. It simply isn't."
The Welcoming Committee assures the public they will not seek out any "machine guns, rubber bullets, pepper spray, tear gas, concussion grenades, batons, water cannons or helicopters."
A reader asks that I pass along this YouTube clip:
The takeout: Hillary served for six year on the board of Wal-Mart, which doesn't exactly have the best track record for workers' rights and healthcare.
I thought Keith Olbermann's interview of Newseek's Howard Fineman on this subject last night was quite extraordinary. It begins just before the five minute mark of this clip:
Fineman's normally a pretty level-headed political reporter. But he doesn't bother hiding his disdain for the Clinton campaign's tactics. It has become a loathsome operation.
Who knew the trailblazing female VP nominee was a closet racist?
But what other conclusion can you draw from the most recent series of events, which now stands as the most absurd thing to happen in the presidential campaign since Dennis Kucinich confessed to believing in aliens.
In an interview with The Daily Breeze of Torrance, Calif., Ferraro said:
“If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept."
Watching coverage of the presidential race since "Terminal Tuesday," I've been getting agitated at how the mainstream media blurs the facts in an attempt to turn this into a compelling horserace. The fact is, this contest, like so much of life, comes down to math, and it doesn't favor Hillary. To catch up, she'd need to win the 12 remaining contests by an average of 23 percentage points each--roughly double the margin she achieved on her most favorable terrain in Ohio, according to this Newsweek analysis.
While journalists are dealing from the bottom of the deck to keep viewers tuned in, the oddsmakers of the Iowa Electronic Market are heavily favoring Obama. According to this article:
Intrade traders gave Obama a 75 percent chance of winning the Democratic nomination for U.S. president, versus 23.5 percent for Clinton. Traders on the Iowa Electronic Markets, a nonprofit exchange run by the University of Iowa for research purposes, gave Obama a 74 percent chance of winning, versus 24 percent for Clinton.
Eliot Spitzer used a prostitution ring to cheat on his wife. Bad, bad Spitzer! You, the prince of accountability! It's high time the party of morals rebuked you, using an unimpeachably objective media outlet!
But because that party and that media outlet don't exist, we'll have to settle for Republican group sex aficionado Roger Stone and Fox News.
No matter who wins the Democratic nomination, John McCain will also be competing against a Historical Moment. Either it will be the first woman nominated or the first African American, versus a guy who looks like he'd fit right in with the framers of the Constitution.
Which is why some Republican pundits are urging McCain to select a VP of color, or ideally, the twofer known as Condi Rice.
In our feature on the Iowa caucuses, I described Rep. Steve King (R-IA) as a "xenophobic Golem look-alike who once unironically called Joe McCarthy 'a hero for America.' " It occurred to me later that perhaps these words were a tad harsh for the controversial congressman.
No longer. Not after that pitiful war-lusting pervert one-upped himself Friday in asserting, "If [Obama] is elected president, the radical Islamists--al Qaeda and their supporters--will be dancing in the streets in greater numbers than they did on September 11, because they will declare victory in this War on Terror."
Hillarious. It turns out that the girl from the stock footage used in Hillary's "red phone" scare video is actually a huge Obama supporter and recently served as his local precinct captain.
The first girl in the ad is young Casey Knowles. It's stock footage from 8 years ago when she worked as a TV extra - footage owned now by Getty Images and used by the Clinton campaign.
"It's really sort of ironic that my image would be used to advocate for Hillary when I myself do not," said Casey.
She may only be 17, but Casey has some very strong political opinions. She turns 18 - legal voting age - in April, in plenty of time before the general election.
"It's perfect timing because I have a candidate that I really identify with," she said.
"I've been campaigning for Barack Obama for a few months now," she said. "I was actually a precinct captain at the caucuses a few months ago. I attended his rally a few months ago and I'm a very, very avid supporter."
It's almost pointless to mock Fox News at this point, since most have written off the network as a simple propaganda arm. But their latest gaffe is simultaneously the greatest and most ludicrous example of the "Hillary Clinton is calculating" meme.
Reporters caught video footage of Hillary chatting with the press corps while holding a beer. Innocuous enough, this plastic cup in her left hand. Until you consider ...
... Hillary Clinton is right-handed. [Cue ominous music]
If this ABC analysis is correct, and the numbers certainly seem convincing, we're heading for a brokered convention:
ABC News' current delegate estimate has Obama at 1,555.
That means he would need to win 77% of all the remaining pledged delegates to hit the magic number of 2,024 to secure the nomination. That is highly unlikely due to the proportional delegate allocation rules in the Democratic Party.
Clinton would need to win 94% of all the remaining pledged delegates to hit the magic number of 2,024. (ABC News currently has her at 1449.)
So, clearly they both are going to be relying on superdelegates to secure the nomination.
Like the clingy ex-girlfriend who just won't stop showing up at your office, Bush is going to officially endorse John McCain tomorrow. The least popular president in modern history has already been told once by the McCain campaign to keep his support more or less on the down-low. But I suppose it would kind of look silly if the outgoing Republican president didn't give the party's nominee the expected kiss of death imprimatur.
NBC News superreporter cites a source "very close to the Obama campaign" who says the additional superdelegates are "ready to go public before too long."
By the end of the evening, we may (or may not) know the Democratic candidate for president. Weather could be a factor in Cleveland:
THIS AFTERNOON
FREEZING RAIN MIXED WITH SLEET. ADDITIONAL ICE ACCUMULATION OF LESS THAN ONE TENTH OF AN INCH. BRISK WINDS. HIGHS IN THE LOWER 30S. NORTHEAST WINDS 15 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 35 MPH. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION NEAR 100 PERCENT.
TONIGHT
FREEZING RAIN BEFORE MIDNIGHT...CHANGING TO SNOW. SNOW ACCUMULATION AROUND AN INCH ALONG WITH A GLAZE OF ICE. LOWS IN THE UPPER 20S. BRISK NORTHEAST WINDS 15 TO 25 MPH BECOMING NORTHWEST 10 TO 15 MPH AFTER MIDNIGHT. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION NEAR 100 PERCENT.
While Democrats have earned all the headlines this primary campaign for breaking down race and gender barriers, the Republicans might soon be making history as well. Unfortunately for the GOP, it's not the kind of trailblazing that will sit particularly well with the party's base. And no I'm not prophesying an unlikely career revival for Larry Craig or Mark Foley.
The pol in question is Charlie Crist, the popular Florida governor who is often cited as a short list-er to be John McCain's running mate. Redoubtable New Times Broward/Palm Beach scribe Bob Norman has been banging on Crist's closet door since persistent rumors of gay affairs surfaced during his successful 2006 run for governor.
Norman's latest reportage on the topic, "The Talk of the Green Iguana," focuses on Crist's frequent socializing at a popular watering hole in Tampa Bay. Here's a choice snippet:
It's 3 a.m. My imaginary kids are safe and asleep. But there is about to be a thermonuclear war, or a plague of locusts, or the Twins are trying to trade Joe Mauer for Miguel Batista or something. Who do I want answering that phone? Do I want the truth? I can't handle the truth!
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