So?

Doris Kearns Goodwin is a hack of the status quo of course she is rewarded very well for her lack of effort.

Keith Olberman is calling for a full court press to destroy Glenn Beck. Anyone who has anything on him is asked to weight in ASAP.

When Van Jones called Republicans “assholes” he was being complimentary? Yeah, I guess so, no matter how you look at it, but the real point here is what Jones *should* have called them if he was interested in accuracy. These people are monsters, fucking monsters, whose policies kill people every day whether for lack of health care or never-ending wars of choice or by “legal” action. Monsters is what Jones should have called them, fucking monsters!

This is also true at the local level – every day in the local rag there’s at least 2 letters to the editor blasting Democratic congressmen or spouting the latest crazy conspiracy theory about Obama.

But if someone writes in demanding that the Republican governor or the previous administration be held accountable for their documented and known actions, they are blasted as hysterics who want to engage in a “witch hunt” against upstanding and moral citizens.

IOKIYAR writ large, and not only have the press bought into it but so have the masses.

There’s so much wrong with our media, I don’t know where to begin. Where are the stories about what one-payer would do for this country? Where are the interviews with Canadians that like their healthcare? Where are the stories about people paying $12,000/yr for crappy insurance.
There’s so much out there that could be reported. Like, I said, I don’t know where to begin.

slightly OT, but this is a strangely prescient cartoon:

http://www.harpers.org/archive…..r-20070216

We are the nice guys. We have good manners. We only pretend to win.

But they are arsholes…

Winning has the taint of, well, success. And success is so very tacky and filled with responsibility.

OT Baucus introduces finance committee wealth care bill
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo…..hp?ref=fpa

I just put up a diary to make a bold prediction: Obama will defend Cass Sunstein against Beck’s upcoming attack because Sunstein is “Serious” and a good little villager, not a true progressive like Jones.

The problem is that the same corporations own both the Republican party, and the media. Therefore they can work in a coordinated fashion to manufacture and promote attack stories. The media is a the corporate communications arm of the conservative Right, and it is rewarded handsomely for producing right-wing propaganda.

The only solution that we the little people can possibly employ against this juggernaut is to personally persuade enough of Congress to vote for effective campaign finance reform. While even LESS likely than health care reform to pass, it’s the only route out of the trap we’re in, so we have to take it.

If we do not make bribing Congress illegal again, everything we’re going through will just continue to get worse until the nation collapses.

Anyone remember the way we Dems cheered when the Big Dog went on Fox and basically tore Chris Wallace a new one ? There was much debate at the time as to if Clinton should even go on Fox at all. Americans across the Nation cheered as Bill took it to him, including me.

oh man, that hurts.

There is a double standard when it comes to the press and their reporting ,just another example of how pervasive big money interests have become . You don’t bite the hand that feeds you and you don’t make negative reports about those that pay your salary .Reporting the truth isn’t always in the best interests of the corporate masters

Thanks. I’d forgotten to read Mr. Fish for a while.
…a fresh charisma to doomsday. Oh, brother. That says it all.

I want nothing to do with the Democratic party anymore. as of today, i quit. Democrats are pussies. Say what you will about me but I ain’t a pussy and I’ll be damned if I’ll cast my lot with the Pussy Party.

although I have no problem with going after Beck, my initial response is to wonder how many of us are misdirecting our anger

clumsily, I liken the situation to being back in the corporate/cube world where some schmuck gets a 7% increase and we all got 4% and everyone goes after the schmuck and not the manager that gave it to him

the WH masters of the electoral universe will be pleased and relieved to see Mr Beck take their heat

Did we have to get to this point? Why the hell do we even need a “Green Czar”??

Chris Wallace is a pussy too.

I’m kinda cranky this morning

As VP, Dick Cheney tells Sen. Patrick Leahy to “Go f*ck yourself” and is applauded by conservatives. Theresa Heinz Kerry tells a reporter to “stuff it” and the conservatives hyperventilate and moan that she is some kind of harlot.

The conservatives have no standards or values. They have reduced public discourse to moral and intellectual anarchy. They exercise the most hypocritical self serving moral relativism.

I once used that P word and got modded and lambasted. I’m glad to see you using it here. It’s a word that I like to use to describe Those types of peoples.

what’s the K stand for in IOKIYAR ?

Beck’s an asshole ,no doubt , but I have a problem with attacking or trying to silence someone because we don’t like what they say.
Beck’s schtick is nothing new ,best thing we can do is ignore him. KO and others that focus on Beck are only giving him more attention ,which is just what he wants
Fuck him he ain’t worth the effort

“kay”?

can’t use it? I mean, it depends on contest, yes? I didn’t use it that way, right? So I shouldn’t get modded, right?

Oh right. Thanks.

well, he needs to be resonded to, but I agree that you can go overboard. He should be treated just as one more asshole.

LOL. Context. Not contest.

Duh.

I used it the same way you did and was told that since this is a feminist site, that that particular reference to a female part was inappropriate. Seeing that we call a lot of assholes “dicks”, I felt slighted. But, it doesn’t really matter. I still think it’s a particulary descriptive word for weaklings. I don’t think women are weak, however. We roar!

And don’t forget MoveOn’s “Betrayus Petraeus” ad. The MSM was cheering from the sidelines when the Senate (Dims included) issued its censure.

1. Death panels
2. Healthcare teabaggers
3. The white policeman
4. Obama’s “citizenship”
5. Van Jones

What we are seeking is essentially the stupid Republican attack of the week. The Republicans have no program. They are crazy as loons. The primary goal of these nutcase assaults is to distract and to leave the public with a general impression of dissatisfaction with the Obama Administration. (I agree that there is something wrong about the Obama Presidency although my reasons are very different from theirs.) Each and every time the media plays along. It’s not like they always agree with the Republicans but they play up everyone of these manufactured controversies.

LOL. One of my first times here I used the C word to refer to a woman. REALLY got slammed on that. I didn’t know. You’re absolutely right. IOf we can use “dick” or “prick”, why not. I can say putz, no?

And yes, you do roar.

The problem with Beck and others like him ,is that even if you call them out on their lies and distortions ,their listeners never hear it and keep on beleiving the BS, so nothing is gained

I saw that Dick Pence on TV saying te Americans don’t want Obama’s program they want another program. I said, “Fine. Where’s yours asshole?”

Why the hell do we even need a “Green Czar”??

To counterbalance, the Red Czar, of course. -shakes head at such naïveté. *g*

yeah, you’re cranky alright, but I agree with you. I’m really disgusted and having trouble getting motivated. Ready to go read a book on the back porch and tune it all out. Anyhow, I thought I’d pass on a funny from a visit to my parents in Texas. They are dittoheads from way back.

When I arrived my mom said “yep, looks like Obama is getting all the socialism he wants. He’s got a regular Politburo with all those czars.” Gave me a good laugh to start the visit.

I think they are playing a giant game of Mad Libs (you know the one with the words on dice that you roll and have to make a sentence out of what comes up) with words from all the enemies they can think of from the past. Pretty soon they’ll be calling Obama a Redcoat.

Oh, ha! Quite a while ago, my husband was blogging on No Quarter and he quoted me as calling Victoria Toesing (sp?) a “c”. Now mind you, I was speaking in the privacy of our livingroom, but he was told that he was married to a potty-mouth. Oh. Just. Ouch. giggling here.
And, thanks. Even when you’re cranky, you’re cute.

Right. And they play the victim card. “All the liberal media people are ganging up on me.” Or the bravery card: “They’re attacking me because I had the guts to stand up to Obama.”

If you watch old horror movies you would know that you can’t kill a monster that’s backed with billions of evil dollars.

You are a potty mouth. As am I. Nothing wrong with that. Where you from? Probably some parts of the country (I put the O in that word didn’t I? Whew) grow more potty mouths than others. I think, anyway.

And Victoria Toesing is just that.

Yup ,those wingnuts are great at the spin machine ain’t they ?

Yep. And why not? It’s working for them. The more attention their Mad Libs game gets, the less time spent solving real problems and less attention on the fact they got nuthin’.

But now we don’t have a green tsar (I like that spelling. I like being different). Just a red tsar. What are we gonna do at Christmas if we don’t have red and green?

Close to the longshoremen’s union headquarters. Kidding. Los Angeles.
More and better Potty Mouths!

I once got modded out for saying a certain right wing blogger MM was a steaming pile of shit , though I’ve seen a similar reference used by another commenter and not get deleted.
So I guess it depends on who the moderator is

LOL. But they’re more laid back potty mouths., In NJ it was “Yeah, I’m a potty mouth. Gotta fuckin’ problem with that?”

I’m pretty sure you are correct. Oh, ha. My husband just said that if Marcy Wheeler were modding, we could probably say Anything. He’s a funny man, my mister. Almost as funny as BFL.

Well, she is. But how ciould you possibly have gotten modded for that? Jane had a post once about one of her dogs doing a steaming pile of shit in the snow in CT. Well, it wasn’t about that. But that was mentioned. Think there was even a picture. It was hilarious.

Has Marcy been back on msnbc since the “Blowjob” remark?

Is there another post up? Is everyone fleeing?

OT Hundreds converge on Boston Common in support of health reform !!

Yay for our side !!

Van Jones wasn’t let go because he called republicans assholes he was let go because he is a racist and became a liability to the WH

Yes, dear. I came back to get you.

Put an ad on Craigslist for the Seattle area. He grew up in Mt Vernon, just north of Seattle (they are giving him the key to the city for heaven’s sake!). People are real savy with Craigs list around here and I bet there’s an old high school buddy that would be willing to trash him.

Sirota did the exact same thing that Obama did. He pissed to the left. Everyone pisses to the left. Obama pissed on Van Jones and Sirota pissed all over the “truthers” — which is a proxy for all of us and you better believe that.

What an asshole. What irony. He starts off his debate by giving away everything. Frum jumps all over him, perhaps surprised at how easy he’s making it. A total rout. Both play the race card but From’s “Holocaust” line beats the snot out of Sirota’s attempt to say Van Jones is black — hell even I don’t buy that one. Van Jones may be black but he was attacked as a lefty.

Sirota losses terribly because he pisses to the left. Once he’s thrown the “truthers” to the lions he’s toast. Frum eats him for lunch. It was so easy he didn’t even break a sweat. And the irony is so deep because Sirota is exactly copying what he is so angry at Obama for doing — giving in to political terrorism — pissing to the left.

Sirota could have made a defence of the truthers and kicked Frum’s ass. Instead he came across — and made everyone on the left look — like a cheap weasely liar vs Frum’s moral stance. How the fuck do you make an asshole like Frum look good?!?

God damn.

There’s no circular firing squad on the left. It’s a linear firing squad. Everyone pisses to their left. All this talk about the Overton Window but all we ever get is pissing to the left. That’s the anti-window if you like. In Obama’s case I think it’s a deliberate attempt to move things to the right. I hope Sirota is just a moron with good wishes.

So to follow your logic through, Glenn Beck is obviously a racists, so should resign. I applaud you, sir (or maam).

exxxcellent

i know, i could only manage a bitter chuckle

True on all points.

I’d simply add that I don’t believe Bush knew ahead of 9/11. I think that he got punk’d. Along with Cheney and the entire security apparatus.

But the problem is that Bush pardoned Scooter Libby’s multiple felony convictions for lying to the FBI might help feed some of the generalized anxiety and ‘paranoia’ in US political life.
When people watch that kind of behavior, they get weird.
Some of them get paranoid.
That’s what we’re seeing.

Why wasn’t Frum expected to admit that the behavior of the Republicans/GOPers on topics ranging from Katrina to Wall Street to Plame to spying fed much of the paranoia in the US today.

Being incredibly suspicious and cynical about people who have lied to you and spied on you is a rational reaction.
It’s not surprising that Americans would become cynical, suspicious, and a bit weird after what we’ve been through since the strange, illegitimate election of 2000.

I don’t happen to buy into the notion that Bush knew about 9/11. But I do think that the way it was handled helped feed the wide-ranging paranoia that we see in too much of public life -- including the teabaggers.
Yet Frum is never called upon to explain this cause-effect nexis.

That’s what needs to change.
Next time, Frum should be expected to explain whether people who’ve been lied to, spied on, and then told they’ll be bailing out Wall Street are supposed to think this is all somehow normal and fine.

And if Frum really wants to make a case that this is all perfectly ‘fine’ and somehow ‘acceptable,’ well then we’ll know who the true ‘loon’ is — and it won’t be the progressives.

Have you actually read the petition he signed? You’d probably agree with it; I do. here it is:

http://www.911truth.org/articl…..6093059633

Van Jones is signatory 46.

This is the point I am making. By discarding these so called “truthers” people are just doing what Obama did with Van Jones — pissing to the left. The Overton Window view says that like the right does, we should be boosting our so-called extremists (and again this is NOT a n extreme petition at all). By kicking “truthers” to the curb you kick yourself.

yeah, I probably signed it as well.
thanks.

billybugs,
I used to believe that the best response to the liars on FauxNews like Beck was to ignore them. After all of the panic that has ensued amongst the dimmer bulbs in our society, I don’t think that we can afford to ignore the fear mongering hatespeak that FauxNews peddles. They have been scaring the hell out of seniors, race baiting the bigots, and inciting the gun toting wingnuts to violence. We should demand that they be held responsible for their actions.

I am informing all sponsors on FauxNews that I regard their advertising revenues as active support for the unAmerican activities at that comedy network. The best way to put a stop to this is to make their enterprise one that is not financial viable. If Murdoch loses enough money, he will stop. The News Corps. stocks have been in the tank for quite some time. He wants to keep the money he has and make more. He would sell his children if he thought he could get a big enough return.

In the not too distant past, such tactics would not have been possible on the public airwaves. The public outrage would have silenced these tactics almost immediately. With the decade plus long incessant spouting of imbecilic garbage, we have become inured to Republican idiocy. We’ve come to accept that they are incapable of doing anything except spouting hyperbolic fiction. However, now it has crossed the line into race baiting and bigotry and it needs to be called out as such.

The next step is to sue Murdoch into oblivion once the inevitable FauxNews incited violence erupts. There has been ample warning from the MSM and across that blog that such tactics are likely to end in violence. Murdoch will not be able to claim that he had no way of predicting such action.

Obermann is right, but the boycott and pressure needs to be exerted on FauxNews as a whole. Beck is but a symptom.

Fox broadcast isn’t even going to show Obama’s address to the Joint Session of Congress.

It is time to block that channel.

Bush and Cheney were warned about the likelihood of an attack and in their typical ignorant arrogance blew it off with tragic results. I agree they were too incompetent to engage in a covert conspiracy. The conspiracy they did hatch was after the fact and out there in plain sight. They resisted any real investigation into their negligence in the run up to 9/11 until the 9/11 Commission was forced on them. They then made sure it could be manipulated through Zelikow and its Republican members, and most importantly they won the concession that the Commission would not assign blame on anyone, and of course the only place that blame could fall was on them.

My guess is that the reason why people think that Bush and Cheney must have known about 9/11 beforehand is that it dovetailed so neatly with their plans to construct what was in effect an extra-Constitutional Presidential dictatorship.

Isn’t the Van Jones story just a way for Glenn Beck to turn the story away from his own racism, and loss of sponsorship?

Just look at plagiarist Doris Kearns Goodwin’s telling PBS viewers that Bill Clinton’s pardoning Marc Rich was far, far worse..

You missed a modifier.

And, curiously, it was the Weakly Standard that brought her down. Does she have some kind of Stockholm Syndrome?

I’ve heeded the call!

Yes, indeed. But hey, if Ben Domenech and Ann Coulter can do it, why not her?

Unfortunately, the TradMed take on this is that Jones deserved to resign. This is the take that all your non-blog-reading rellies and friends will be seeing:

http://www.salon.com/politics/…..index.html

I realise you just want to insult Bush by pretending he was stupid but the fact is we KNOW he had secret criminal stuff going on that has yet to be leaked to the public. For example we KNOW that the worst aspects of his illegal spying programs have still not yet been leaked by anyone — I’m talking about the stuff that so freaked out Ashcroft that he threatened to resign over it. We know it must have been incredibly bad but we don’t know what it was. And you know what? Obama hasn’t told anyone what it was either has he?

You simply cannot dismiss the concerns of truthers on their face. If you do then you’re the true believer not them. The fact is the US government has secret criminal shit going down all the time and most of it you don’t find out about for a while, especially if it is to do with foreign policy. Look how long it took them to come clean about the USS Liberty stuff (and they still haven’t come very clean about that). That was over forty years ago and that incident was minor compared to 9-11. Maybe by 2045 if nothing comes up you’ll be able to say, “Well you know what it just looks like nothing was going down”.

“My guess is that the reason why people think that Bush and Cheney must have known about 9/11 beforehand is that….”

Your GUESS?
You are just GUESSING? If you haven’t looked into the issue at least enough to know that there’s a lot more reasons to suspect an inside job than ANY evidence concerning what happened on 9-11 itself then maybe you shouldn’t just guess. Again you seem to be the one expressing certainty not the “truthers” and you’re the one with fewer facts. So why does that make your position more reasonable? The petition in question didn’t make any accusations or state anything with the certainty you seem to possess. Instead it demanded honest investigations. If that’s “extremist” then sign me up, but even if the “truthers” were extremists the Overton Window theory says we should back them up to the hilt anyway — just like the right back up their extremists — instead the “truthers” get pissed on.