Pinch me, because I must be dreamin'...

(And I'll probably type the above an infinite number of times between now and the middle of 2009, at the earliest)

Sorry for all of the recent inactivity on here - I've had one of the busiest and exhausting weeks in recent memory. Anyway, back to politics...

It seems that there's at least one journalist over at Fersatz News who has a shred of credibility, and his name is Sheppard Smith. Check out the exchange in the video above between Smith and Nick DiPaolo:

DiPaolo:...the MSM being so in the tank for Obama...

Smith: Oh, please. That's preposterous. The MSM reflected what was happening in this nation. It did not drive it. The blogs didn't drive this movement, the media didn't drive this movement. Barack Obama did not lose this election. It was his to lose. It was not John McCain's to win. The Republicans had no shot unless the Democrats gave it to them and they didn't and to blame the media is a cop out and ridiculous....

DiPaolo The MSM has been liberal since its inception. It's years and years of pounding...

Smith: How did George Bush win twice?

DiPaolo: I don't know. Karl Rove is a genius.

DiPaolo misses two key points: 1. Both elections were stolen, and 2. If Karl Rove is such a genius, then why didn't McCain's Swiftboating of Obama prove feckless? The answer is simple - America wasn't falling for it this time.

Maybe, just maybe, the GOP meme of blaming the media for all bad news and events that are unfavorable to Repubes will die with Obama's victory. Okay, now I am dreaming, but this strategy has been in play since the days of President Nixon, who so hated and despised the media.

And I guess that DiPaolo must have been asleep while the media raked Obama over the coals about these topics:

1. The bogus madrassa story (endlessly pimped by Fersatz News until debunked by CNN and some other networks)
2. William Ayers
3. ACORN (porn for Republicans)
4. His alleged ties to anti-Israel radicals
5. Insinuations that he isn't a US-born citizen
6. "Lipstick on a Pig" and the associated accoutrements shouted about by McCain and his enablers
7. Jeremiah Wright (for eight straight days on Fox, MSNBC, CNN and just about every other major news network when the story first went "national" after weeks and weeks of pimping by Fox, Limbaugh and Hannity)
8. The smear about Obama's aunt the weekend before the election
9. Then there's Rashid Khalidi - another phony guilt by association story that failed to stick just days before the election
10. One of my favorites (these are in no particular order) - McCain huffed that Obama hadn't been to Iraq and that he hadn't been to Afghanistan in years; once Obama went, then McCain and conservatives whined about Obama's press coverage, saying lamely that Obama was taking a "victory lap"
11. And who in the hell can forget Joe the Plumber, the Kato Kaelin of the 2008 campaign. I'll have much more on Joe a bit later.

###

What's more, up until a few years ago, McCain used to joke that the media was "his base." I guess I'd feel that way, too if the press ran up the flagpole whatever I decided to call myself without questioning it, i.e. - Maverick, Straight Talker, etc.

I have to agree with Sheppard here - the media wasn't necessarily rooting for Obama - it was merely reporting just how inept the McCain campaign was. When Sarah Palin wasn't even able to answer basic foreign policy questions, while asserting that being able "to see Russia from Alaska" gave her foreign policy expertise, then McCain and Palin merely got the coverage they deserved.

What's more, there was plenty that the media failed to explore - Sarah Palin's known links to the independent Alaska movement, McCain's many flip flops on a variety of issues, etc.

But, hey, whatever - who's whining? Not me - McCain got whupped. But, that's not going to stop the right from whimpering like babies for weeks (months? years?) on end. I'm getting a particular kick out of listening to Hannity, O'Lielly, Rush, Drudge and the rest all scrambling to discredit Obama, because for the next four years (and hopefully eight), they will have nothing better to do. They don't have ideas of their own - they merely want to tear Obama down. I hope the president-elect and his team will be prepared for it.

I know I am and will be.

As I've told countless friends and acquaintances since election night - our work is not over - it's just beginning.

A lil' Real Time for your Sunday morning

Bill Maher's final New Rule on his show Friday night is one of the best I've ever heard him deliver:

And finally New Rule, now that you've lost Republicans have to agree not to waste everyone's time spending the next four years screaming for investigations of Barack Obama over made up bulls#*t. Let's not kid ourselves. The hard core Republican base is like a stalker. Rejection just makes them crazier. You think Matt Drudge was a vindictive p#%ck before. His headline Wednesday morning was Senior Citizen and Woman Beaten By Black Man. [...] And wait till you see Ann Coulter's new book, How to Field Dress a Liberal.

You know there's loyal opposition and then there's just opposition. Let's not do the 90's again except for the part where we have peace and prosperity. You know there was an entire industry back then dedicated to making Bill Clinton's life miserable over expensive hair cuts and old land deals and the Lincoln Bedroom and getting blown. But this ain't the 90's.

We've got two wars, a melting planet and the only thing keeping the economy from total collapse is Sarah Palin's shopping sprees. But you know what phrase I don't want to hear used frivolously for the next four years whenever Barack Obama forgets to put the kids in the car seat? Disrespect for the rule of law. Dick Cheney ordered prisoners tortured by name. That ship has sailed.

I don't want to hear Sean Hannity say that "Barack Obama announced that his daughters will be getting a puppy. A puppy from where? Probably a chihuahua that came in from Mexico illegally. And how do we know this isn't a dog that pals around with terriers?

You know when Obama starts a preemptive war and then f%#ks it up and makes torture our official policy and outs a CIA agent and purges US Attorneys and tries to put his cleaning lady on the Supreme Court and doesn't act on global warming and appoints at the head of FEMA an ex-d*#do salesman who was his college roommate, you know, that kind of stuff, believe me I'll be with you.

But until then I don't want to see Republicans freaking out if Obama isn't singing the National Anthem loud enough or they find out he gets his suits made in France. If he puts a moon roof in the Presidential limo, he's not making himself Fuehrer. He's just trying to get the smell of stupidity out of the seats. And mostly I don't want to hear about ACORN. Your guy lost by eight million votes. Just because you don't know any black people doesn't mean they don't exist.

So that's it. No Special Prosecutors. No trumped up investigations. If Republicans who really want to look into something for the next four years, my suggestion, try a mirror.

Don't hold your breath on Hannity, Bill - the neocons have already kicked the hate machine into overdrive, which is saying something, considering the number of blatant lies put forth by McCain and his enablers during the campaign.

My not-so-bold prediction is that Obama's victory will do plenty for hate radio - narrow minded people who don't want to give Obama a chance and who so despise him will jump into the metaphorical arms of Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Bill O'Lielly, Matt Drudge, etc. We'll see.

Bonus:

How can you not laugh at the above footage of Fox News announcing that Barack Obama has won the presidency? It doesn't get much better than this, & it's pretty telling that the network called the presidential race in this way. Heaven forbid that a Fox personality be associated with declaring Obama president. And the network (and the right) wonder why Obama has shunned the network.

Nader asks if Obama will be an Uncle Tom

There are many things I like about Ralph Nader during his long career in consumer activism - he's done a great deal of good and raised a number of important issues by exposing numerous cases of malfeasance in corporate America.

However, politically? Forget it. I'll always consider him a traitor for what he did in 2000 - it's not an understatement to say that President Bush is where he is today as a direct result of Nader. But, political fortunes have ways of reversing, and Nader hasn't gotten any traction since then, thankfully. He ran for president again this year, and I think I received more votes for president than he did.

Anyway, he was on Fox News the day before yesterday to talk about his comments on Fox Radio that were as follows:

To put it very simply, he is our first African-American president in this country, or he will be. And we wish him very well. But his choice, basically, is whether he's going to be Uncle Sam for the people of this country, or Uncle Tom for the giant corporations.

I understand Nader's point, but did he really need to use racially charged language like that. Really classy, Nader, really classy.

As Nicole Belle said so succinctly on Wednesday, it's pretty bad when Shepard Smith of Fox News looks classier than you do, Nader.

And by the way, I don't disagree with all of Nader's points, specifically when he mentions how manufacturing in this country has been parceled out to dictators in third-world countries, but there's a right way and a wrong way to go about making a point. When you use racist phrases, your message, however sage it might be, gets lost in lots and lots of noise (as it should be).

Shame on you, Ralph Nader.

Fred Barnes: early voters "poor, old"

Fred Barnes on FNC was a riot yesterday - he actually despises "early voting." Like that's such a bad thing - giving people more than 12 hours to vote - what a concept. It's little wonder that Republicans have openly and in most cases vehemently protested early voting in the 30+ states that have it. Why?

According to Barnes, "because voters might miss something." Oh really? Reading between the lines there, what they might miss are the last-minute, desperate attempts by the GOP and McCain to slime Obama with just about anything they can dig up, no matter how untimely or irrelevant it might be.

In the past week, we've seen or heard just about everything the right and McCain have been storing up for last-minute use - Bill Ayers, the "socialist" label, Jeremiah Wright (more on that in a minute), scaring people about his tax proposals, labeling him an anti-Semite, and on and on.

That, my friends (I hope we never, EVER have to hear that annoying phrase after McCain hopefully gets his butt whipped tomorrow) is why the GOP opposes early voting.

We absolutely, positively need to change how we elect our politicians after this election. It's tragic and appalling that immediately after a presidential election, we seem to forget just how broken the system is, until 3½ years later, when we all whine (myself included): "How can our election system be so screwed up?!?"

Oh, and Barnes' categorizing early voters as "poor, old people" is nothing more than breathtakingly ignorant, period.

Joe the no show Plumber embarrasses Mac

This is some pretty funny footage - evidently, McCain's advance team didn't do a very good job of making sure Joe the Plumber was actually in attendance before McDrilly called on him to be recognized at a campaign rally yesterday.

What's more, it's an indication of just how far McCain's political fortunes have fallen and how clueless his campaign is that McCain is even still referring to him in the first place; after all, it's been widely reported that Joe isn't actually a licensed plumber, he doesn't even earn enough money to buy the business (he was looking for a loan), and that he was all over the right-wing blogosphere spewing right-wing talking points before McCain mentioned him during the third debate.

But, you keep pimping Joe, Senator - I'm sure it's resonating with undecided voters. I love it that McCain tried to recover by saying, "You're all Joe the Plumber!" I don't think you want to be telling your political audiences that they are dumb demagogues, Senator.

It gets even better - reportedly, the McCain campaign had to bus in thousands of school children just to fill the audience:

A local school district official confirmed after the event that of the 6,000 people estimated by the fire marshal to be in attendance this morning, more than 4,000 were bused in from schools in the area. The entire 2,500-student Defiance School District was in attendance, the official said, in addition to at least three other schools from neighboring districts, one of which sent 14 buses.

Wow, the wheels continue to fall off the McCain campaign. It just keeps getting better and better. But, I still think this will be a close election, but for reasons that should scare all of us. More on that in a bit - I'm just finishing up a very long piece about election fraud, and what you can do about it, that I will post a bit later in the day today.

As post-script, take a listen and read to a Joe the Plumber interview on Fox News from a few days ago with Sheppard Smith, when "the Plumber" gets so thoroughly embarrassed, you would think he was on Keith Olbermann's show. Note to the McCain camp: this happened on Fox News!

The audience doesn't get much friendlier than this. Joe sounds so bad in this interview, it's entirely appropriate to call him Sarah Palin... With a Stem.

A rough transcript:

Sheppard: Why specifically is a vote for Obama a vote for the death of Israel?

Joe: Well specifically, look at his record. Obama's agreed to meet with Israel's enemies with no uncertain terms.. In fact he's letting them dictate terms to him and then look at his past associations, people he talks to...

Sheppard: Like who?

Joe: Quite honestly, you know, the gentleman that approached me with that question I agreed to with what I know...

Sheppard: What I can't figure our is why, let's listen to this clip from earlier.

Q: A vote for Obama is a vote for the death to Israel. I'll guarantee you that.

Joe: Well, you know what? I'll actually agree with you on that one. I agree with you. I really think that would be a problem.

Sheppard: Joe, do you know Barack Obama's positions on Israel?

Joe: Ahhh, listen, I know you want to really get some answers on this one, I'm just not going to help you out here Sheppard. Let people go out and find out why I would say something like that. Let people go out and find out the issues....

Sheppard: Do you think John McCain agrees with you?

Joe: No, it's just my personal opinion that I've come up with looking at different facts. Listen, you don't want my opinion on foreign policy. I know just enough to probably be dangerous.

Sheppard: Well that's what I was kind of wondering. I wonder if you think it's dangerous at all for people to say a vote for Barack Obama is the same as a vote for Israel. If you think that's something dangerous for people to start believing because what happens if the polls are right and he becomes the President of the US and people start thinking this means the death of Israel. Are you worried what people might do if they actually believed something like that?

Joe: Well again, that goes back again to what I've been saying.

Sheppard: I just want to make this 100% perfectly clear. Barack Obama has said repeatedly and demonstrated repeatedly that Israel will always be a friend to the United States no matter what happens once he becomes President, his words.

It can now be safely said - Joe the Plumber has become Joe the Dumber for the McCain campaign, and he'll go down as one of the biggest missteps in an otherwise badly run campaign by McCain's people. That's saying something.

Major hat tip to Crooks & Liars for the video and transcript

McCain smears now coming fast & furious

The Obama campaign has articulated pretty clearly lately how it feels about Fersatz News, our State TV Network. On Monday, Matt Drudge, who functions as the assignment editor for our right-wing corporate media, ran with another phony news story - this time it's about what Barack Obama allegedly said about the Supreme Court during a 2001 interview. First, what he actually said:

You know if you look at the victories and the failures of the Civil Rights movement and its litigation strategy in the Court, I think where it succeeded was to invest formal rights in previously dispossessed peoples so that I would now have the right to vote, I would now be able to sit at the lunch counter and order as long as I could pay for it I would be okay.

But the Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth and sort of more basic issues of political and economic justice in this society. And to that extent as radical as I think people try to characterize the Warren Court, it wasn't that radical, it didn't break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution, at least as its been interpreted and the Warren Court interpreted it in the same way that generally the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties says what the states can't do to you, says what the federal government can't do to you, but it doesn't say what the federal government or the state government must do on your behalf and that hasn't shifted.

And one of the I think the tragedies of the Civil Rights movement was because the Civil Rights movement became so court focused I think that there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalitions of power through which you bring about redistributive change and in some ways we still suffer from that.

This is a far cry from how the right, led by Drudge and the McCain campaign, has been spinning what Obama said. Fortunately, the Obama campaign isn't letting the lies and smears go unanswered; they are responding swiftly and firmly, just as they should. Bill Burton, an Obama spokesman, appeared on Fox on Monday to talk about the allegations:

This is a fake news controversy drummed up by the all-too-common alliance of Fox News, the Drudge Report and John McCain, who apparently decided to close out his campaign with the same false, desperate attacks that have failed for months. In this seven-year old interview, Senator Obama did not say that the courts should get into the business of redistributing wealth at all. Americans know that the real choice in this election is between four more years of Bush-McCain policies that redistribute billions to billionaires and big corporations and Barack Obama's plan to help the middle class by giving tax relief to 95 percent of workers and companies that create new jobs here in America. That's the change we need, and no amount of eleventh-hour distractions from the McCain campaign will change that.

Very well said - this is one of the many last- gasp, pathetic attempts to distract voters from the real issues by McDrilly's dying campaign, but it certainly won't be the last; McCain's handlers no doubt have plenty more tricks, misinformation and lies up their sleeves.

Honestly, every time I hear McCain or Palin talk about "spreading the wealth around" or "wealth redistribution" or "class warfare," I can't help but hope that Obama throws this right back in his face. What he really needs to do is force McCain to defend wealth concentration, which has risen to new heights under the Bush administration. Obama should go on the attack and force both of these economical morons to defend how the top one percent of wealthy Americans control 90 percent of the wealth in this country. Good God, would I love to hear their answers.

Actually, I'm guessing we'd just hear crickets.

Fox Attacks: Michelle Obama

Brave New Films has put out another video, this one about Faux News' attacks on Michelle Obama, which have been frequent, hateful and slanderous. Typical of the network, it will say something way out of bounds, and then issue a tepid apology, after which it will go right back on the attack.

From a Brave New Films press release:

Not only are they [Fox News] smearing Michelle Obama with racist stereotypes, but then they offer a feeble apology that they believe gives them the right to slander her again. FOX's long history of racism is nothing new, but it has been particularly egregious when it comes to their coverage of the Obamas. Racism and fear mongering have no place in our country or its politics, despite what FOX would have you believe.

You can sign Brave New Films' petition to demand Fox "stop injecting racism, prejudice, and fear into our political dialogue" by clicking Here, although I think that probably encourages the hate monger decision makers who run the network.

Clark defends his McCain comments; Why?

Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you the latest installment of Al Gore "claiming" that he "invented the Internet." (Which he never said) - and it's General Wesley Clark's comments on Face the Nation on Sunday. The media firestorm that has been generated by Wesley Clark's comments (see video clip above) on Face the Nation this past weekend are amazing (but not at all surprising). It's yet another pseudo scandal - taking media time and coverage away from the issues that matter to voters most in their everyday lives. The media is now doing exactly the opposite of what it did to John Kerry in 2004. When Kerry was criticized for his military service in '04, it was said by many (and everyone on State TV Faux News) that it was "fair game" because he was running on his war record.

Now that McCain is doing everything but shooting campaign commercials inside the Hanoi Hilton, it's all supposed to be off limits. Wrong. I'm tired of writing it over and over (and I'm not going to any longer, even though society makes people feel like they have to), but I'll repeat it one more time - no one questions John McCain's patriotism, or his service to his country. But, that doesn't make his foreign policy positions bullet proof, especially when he advocates continued war in the Middle East, and he advocates torture of terrorism suspects.

What's more, the phrase that has the media in full-blown fury was given to him by Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer, but that part is conveniently cut off during the endless replays on cable news. Give me a friggin' break.

What's more, Clark is ABSOLUTELY RIGHT - getting shot down in a plane doesn't make you qualified to be president. What's even more astonishing is Schieffer's response: "REALLY?!?!?"

This is hardly even worth spending more time on, but Clark sure is - he appeared on Dan Abrams' show last night to explain himself, and to try to douse the media firestorm that's erupted because someone dared to criticize the media's darling candidate, John McCain...

Clark's comments above are totally, absolutely unnecessary. I was happy to at least hear Clark mention that the words were given to him by Schieffer, although Clark doesn't mention him by name. Clark should have been much more forceful on that point, however.

CNN points out McCain's oil flip-flop

This one is sweeter than light-sweet crude oil - CNN's Dana Bash pointing out John McCain's 180-degree reversal about drilling for oil off our coasts.

When I first saw this footage, I uttered out loud, "Wow." Finally, the press is starting to dig into McCain's many contradictions. His reversal on Big Oil exploration on our coasts is one example; his reversal on the Bush tax cuts is another. It's no surprise that running for president can go pretty far in modifying one's views, and McCain embodies that, to a T.

This all but signals an end (as Blitzer notes) of McSame's chances in The Golden State, and it will no doubt hurt his chances in Florida, too. Just how much remains to be seen, but there's no doubt that it will have an effect.

Hey, there's 138 days until the election, and that's plenty of time for McCain to reverse his opinion yet again, so stay tuned.

The bottom line is that oil is so 20th century - if that's McCain's solution to our energy problems, that Obama should take full advantage of McCain's myopia and use it as a political cudgel to do lots of damage.

But, Obama needs more than simply rhetoric on this issue - he needs a bold alternative energy plan. I think I'll write his campaign later today to urge him on.

One final note about this piece - McCain seems to have a Jimmy Carter fetish lately, which is beyond lame. Last week, in response to Obama calling a McCain victory a "third Bush term," McCain said it sounded as if Obama is "running for Jimmy Carter's second term." And Republicans wonder why McCain doesn't connect with younger voters, many of whom weren't even alive when Jimmy Carter left office in January 1981. Sure McSame, keep putting Carter down - it sounds so... so... contemporary.

Also, history shows that Carter was a leading proponent of energy conservation, even going so far as to install solar panels on the roof of the White House. He also gave a very famous speech in 1979 about the energy crisis in this country, which could be given again today almost verbatim, and it would still be applicable. (Please stick with the video below - I know the audio is bad, but it's only about a minute long - turn up your volume) ...

A pretty sage prophesy, at it turned out. Would Carter have really turned America around and got us off of our foreign oil addiction? We'll never know, but he at least addressed the issue. He never had a chance to carry out his plans, as he was defeated in the fall of 1980, but at least he discussed the issue, which is more than his successor Ronald Reagan did during his eight years in the White House. In fact, almost immediately after moving into the White House, Reagan had the solar panels removed from the building's rooftop.

I'm not naïve enough to believe that Congressional Democrats, along with President Clinton, deserve some of the blame about the energy crisis we are mired in. They certainly do share in the blame. But, the fact is that for 20 our of the last 28 years, a Republican has sat in the White House, and all three of those presidents have offered zero leadership on the issue of alternative energy technologies, including President George W. Bush.

Where am I going with this? McCain wants to drill more, threaten our coasts, and line the pockets of Big Oil. This is NOT the answer to our energy crisis.

I hope Obama comes up with a far and wide-reaching plan for combating this energy crisis, a crisis that will not go away, no matter how much we want it to. This crisis threatens our economy, our way of life, and our country's prosperity (or should I say prosperity in memory, because God only knows we haven't had much recently).

Get going, Barack - merely criticizing McCain's absurd proposals is not nearly enough - we need to hear what your aggressive, bold and sustainable solutions are to our addiction to foreign oil.

Oh, and way to go, CNN. Recently, I haven't had much reason to type that, but pointing out McCain's inconsistencies (to be kind) regarding energy policy is a start to what the network ought to be doing from now until the election.

Hell, I wish CNN would go more liberal. They've been called it for years, so they might as well live up to it now and act as a counter-balance to the detestable Fox "News."

Update: McCain doesn't even know his own energy policy. From his press conference yesterday:

QUESTION: The European Union has set mandatory targets on renewable energy. Is that something you would consider in a McCain administration? [...]

McCAIN: Sure. I believe in the cap-and-trade system, as you know. I would not at this time make those — impose a mandatory cap at this time. But I do believe that we have to establish targets for reductions of greenhouse gas emissions over time, and I think those can be met.

Oops. Crooks & Liars has the rest:

As Kate Sheppard explained, McCain new position is "completely out of line with his own proposal for a cap-and-trade scheme, both the plan he proposed with Joe Lieberman last year and his own presidential plan, released last month. They both would, by nature, be mandatory — hence the 'cap' in the name."

In other words, McCain doesn't understand his own policy. Or, as hilzoy noted, "The best you can say for McCain, on this point, is that he is completely unfamiliar with what is supposed to be one of his signature issues. Not knowing what 'mandatory cap' means, in this context, is like not knowing what a 'strike' is in baseball."

I love it.

McCain needs to take a long look in the mirror & be honest with himself, which would go something like this: "Well, my friends, it looks like I need to go back and study my proposals, which have been released on the Internet, before I go make an ass out of myself again."

:o)

Faux News Channel's in-depth analysis on the Obamas' fist bump

It's comments like the video above that makes me insane with outrage at our nation's most ridiculous and biased news "outlet" - Fox News. You only have to watch the first few seconds to get the mindlessly stupid line - "A fist bump, a pound, a terrorist fist jab?..." Seriously, what in the world is wrong with these people?

I'm sick and tired of Fox News defenders laughing and saying, "It was just a joke." This is a media outlet that bills itself as a serious news organization. At this point, it's blatantly apparent that its on-air personalities, at the behest of the stooges that run the network, will do or say just about anything to keep the Republicans in power.

The only thing missing from the above footage is, "Barack HUSSEIN Obama!"

Footage from Media Matters

Stewart's Matthews-McAuliffe Douche Off

Jon Stewart made good sport of the exchanges between MSNBC's Chris Matthews and Terry McAuliffe, Hillary's campaign manager, during the evening of the West Virginia primary last week. If you haven't seen it, take a look - it really is pretty funny. Stewart dubs the exchange a douche off, and that about sums it up.

Chris Matthews was, well, being Chris Matthews, and I have little use for Terry McAuliffe, considering his track record against Republicans. This is the DNC Chairman who couldn't even beat George Bush in 2004, for Christ sakes. Why Hillary picked him to chair her campaign, I will never know - it certainly wasn't for his recent track record of success against Republicans.

Anyway, thank God for people like Stewart. What makes his show even better is that you just know there are execs over at Faux News who would kill to have a show half this funny. Maybe it's why the network's ill-fated answer to The Daily Show was dubbed The Half Hour News Hour. Too bad it lasted about as long as President Bush's oil company.

Body of War trailer

A few days ago I wrote about Body of War, a documentary about Tomas Young, an Iraqi War vet who is now paralyzed from the chest down after being struck by a bullet while serving in combat. Anyway, I found the trailer and wanted to bring it to you. I love it when lies and distortions are preserved for all eternity on video tape, and when said footage comes back to bite a politician in the arse. Looks like this movie contains plenty of that; the more the merrier.

The big question I have is where does the right wing come down on Young, Phil Donahue and this movie? Are these guys unpatriotic? Where is Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coulter, Michael Savage, Michelle Malkin and Rush Limbaugh? I would love to hear them criticize this man the same way they bludgeoned Cindy Sheehan on an almost-daily basis during the summer and fall of 2004. What's more, Young still has a brother over in the Middle East. Tomas Young deserves nothing short of our complete and unconditional respect. Something tells me he's not going to get it from Faux News and all its puppets. And he shouldn't care one bit, either.

The death knell of Rendell's credibility

When I hear Ed Rendell say things like this, I can't help but wonder just what in the world happened to the guy I so enthusiastically voted for twice to run Pennsylvania. I backed him because he did such a magnificent job as a two-term mayor of Philadelphia, mostly, but that success has not translated into his stewardship of our state.

Quite frankly, I'm not all that impressed with what he has done as governor. He's brought legalized gambling to our state. Ho Boy! Quite frankly, if state Republicans had come up with any sort of formidable candidate in '06 to run against him, I would have considered voting that way, but Lynn Swann was a total joke of a candidate who has accomplished zero in elected office. (I'm still amazed that Republicans thought that just because Swann won Super Bowls as a Pittsburgh Steeler that he would be somehow miraculously be embraced by Pennsylvanians and swept into office. Morons.)

Anyway, Rendell has unabashedly backed HRC to be president, which is certainly his right, but, judging by the footage above, he's been drinking the Hillary Kool-Aid. Fox News, doing a good job of covering Democrats? What a transparent, idiotic attempt to make Obama look bad. Fox has not only done a horrific job "reporting" on Obama (Anyone remember the bogus Madrassa story?), but it's been none-too-kind to the Clintons, either.

Perhaps Rendell has been spending too much time on Philadelphia sports talk shows, and not enough time watching the actual news to really know what's been going on. Whatever the cause of it is irrelevant, though; at any rate, his credibility is all but shot with me.

Lou Dobbs gets cotton mouth

Here at CMB, I try to not focus so much on the trivial, nonsensical stuff, but every once in a while, something funny comes along in our political world that's simply too good to not at least comment on.

Take a look at this footage as Lou Dobbs banters with Wolf Blitzer about race in this country when Sigmund Freud pays his mouth a visit. Too funny ~ "Cotton Piiiiii... Arrrgggh!" What was that, Lou?

Something else I've noticed about CNN lately (when I rarely watch it these days) - the American flag is seemingly everywhere. In this clip, it's all over the background, with of course the requisite lapel pins, etc. CNN tries to become more and more like Fox News every day, no doubt so it can recapture the lost glory it held long ago of being the number one cable news network.

Petitioners to NBC: stop parroting Fox News

This is the kind of stuff I love to see - it certainly doesn't happen enough these days. The organizers of this petition drive have more than a beef; they have a legitimate point. The path from Republican talking point to the mainstream media is becoming more apparent and transparent over time.

It's pretty well known that Matt Drudge, the right-wing hack behind The Drudge Report, is in regular contact with the powers that be on the Republican National Committee. Hence, a talking point becomes a story on Fox. Since Fox is the number one rated cable news network, and every other network wants to catch them, they often parrot what Fox is reporting.

I've got a $20 that says those 200,000 signatures ended up in the trash, but I don't mean to sound cynical. I admire the effort, and I wish I would have known about it ahead of time, because I certainly would have signed it. It's only movements like these that will bring about much needed changes in the mainstream media, because it won't happen without making our voices heard.

Fox protests: a dog-and-pony show?

This past week, there were some high-profile mini-protests, and dare I say it on-air backlash against Fox's incessant Barack barrage. The first one was Chris Wallace, who took issue with how the network was "covering" the Obama-Jeremiah Wright connection.

However, maybe I'm just too far gone and cynical when it comes to the mainstream media, but there's a part of me who wonders if these Fox on-air protests are indeed faux-Fox protests. It's pretty hard to not be cynical about the network (and really, any sort of TV news, but Fox is the biggest offender). Is really isn't hard to imagine Roger Ailes hatching a plan to increase Fox's credibility, since it has so little these days, save the far right sheeple who will agree with anything they see on Fox anyway.

I'm really trying to give Wallace the benefit of the doubt, I guess because I like his father, Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes so much. But, Fox is just so transparent in its network coverage, and so partisan, I have a very hard time believing that we will ever hear a genuine argument about the network's portrayal of Obama on the air.

Above is another sort of on-air protest, this time anchor Brian Kilmeade walks off the set after he tries to explain how the network was mischaracterizing Obama's quotations, only to be repeatedly talked over.

Again I wonder, is this genuine? I just have a hard time believing it. Network execs were probably in the back high fiving, and shouting, "We just bought ourselves credibility that advertising could never buy!"

Back to the top video - I got a kick out of one of the anchors telling Chris Matthews that he applauds him for bringing "the disagreement on air instead of sending an e-mail" because "viewers deserve to hear the disagreement." Ummm Hmmm.

Who does State TV Fox think it's kidding?

Picking the Fox scab, & finding lots of pus

What's been going on for over a year is now beginning to pick up steam - the Swiftboating of Barack Obama. There is so much crap and misinformation floating about on the Internet now, and I just hope Obama's campaign (or Hillary's, if she is the nominee) acts swiftly (pardon the pun) to refute the lies and misinformation. Anyway, the people over at Fox Attacks have put together a number of insightful videos that are great montages of the attacks against Obama over the last year and a half or so by Fox and its talking heads.

Evidence of Fox's smear campaign against Obama is not hard to unearth - the difficult part is documenting it all, since there's so much of it: the bogus madrassa story, lies about his not putting his hand over his heart during the Pledge of Allegiance, and his egregious offense of not wearing an American flag lapel pin every minute of every day, and so on. In many ways, Fox and its disciples are like the ocean tides - it just keeps on coming. But that doesn't mean the truth should remain hidden behind the network's blatantly obvious partisan and biased reporting.

This one's a blast from the past - Part I from February '07...

(I know I just posted Part I last week, but in case you missed it (or even if you didn't), it's worth another look.)

My personal favorites from Part I:

"Barack Obama in a bathing suit!"

"...The network America trusts for fair and balanced reporting." *Snicker*

All of the "he's a black candidate" crap, as well as the fact that Obama is "surrounding himself with white people."

"Barack... HUSSEIN... Obama"

"He is, get this... a cigarette smoker" [Emphasis in Original]

"Apparently when he was a little boy, he attended a Muslim school, a madrassa... THIS... IS... HU-YOOGE!" [Emphasis in Original]

"We're gonna be the headquarters for the 2008 election..."

Um, yea, maybe the '08 headquarters for intellectual midgets and right wing neo-cons who want to practice cognitive dissonance by listening to O'Lielly blathering about the Nazis, or Sean Insanity blubbering endlessly about Obama's middle name. I don't know many people outside of those categories who take Fox seriously. But, there are enough people who do for it to be necessary to refute these distortions and outright lies.

And here's Part II, just released by Fox Attacks...

Yep, the latest installment has some pretty good highlights, too. Here are my favorites, in no particular order:

"He's a 'half-rican' anyway..." Really? This Rush Limbaugh-ism is so overtly childish and racist it defies description, but I'll try. Of course, some would say, "but Obama is!" but that doesn't necessitate bringing it up. For instance, I don't hear anyone calling Limbaugh "Limbephant" because of his pachyderm-like appearance. Bringing up Obama's ethnicity, that he's half black, is the same reason that all Fox announcers never miss an opportunity to say "Barack HUSSEIN Obama"; it's to exploit people's fears and prejudices about race and religion, PERIOD.

"People are literally passing out at Obama rallies." First of all, I haven't heard that, but if it's true, it's almost as if the talking heads at Fox are jealous of Obama's surging popularity. Even if it is true, it still contrasts pretty nicely to McCain rallies, where people pass out because they haven't had their afternoon nap. Okay, that was low, but hopefully you get my point.

"...the kind of popularity that Chairman Mao only dreamed of." Which is it? Is he a Muslim or a communist? Maybe both? I haven't heard of many Muslim Communists, but I guess the do exist. Far-right Repubes really need to come up with better material than calling someone a communist; that's so, um, 1950.

"Will President Obama blame America first?" This was in the aftermath of Michelle Obama having the temerity to say that she wasn't proud of her country. In the aftermath of this, it also became an "issue" that Obama doesn't consistently wear a "flag lapel pin." (the faux "necessity" of wearing something representing an American flag reminds me of something else [at right], at the risk of inciting Goodwin's Law.) Obama has sagely pointed out on numerous occasions that you "don't have to wear a lapel pin to be patriotic," and he's absolutely right. Brit Hume's assertion that outright displays of patriotism for the Obamas is "a little icky" is, sadly, exactly the type of churlish comment I've come to expect from a once-respected journalist. I really wonder how these people at Fox look at themselves in the mirror every morning - making no doubt hundreds of thousands if not millions to intentionally distort, deceive and lie. I couldn't do it.

However, my personal favorite from the above vid - the "Jeremiah Wright" mention by college drop-out Sean Hannity. I guess it's not enough that Obama has repeatedly distanced himself from and denounced Wright's controversial comments. Since when does a church member follow or believe everything that his/her member of the clergy practices or preaches? It's ridiculous. For example, the pastor of the church I went to when I was young had a sexual affair with a young staffer, and as a result, his wife divorced him and he was kicked out of my church. Does that mean I support or believe in adultery? No. Put differently, should certain Catholic congregation members be accused of supporting or condoning pedophilia because their priest has a penchant for altar boys? Please. This is simply a sad, pathetic, transparent attempt to find dirt on Obama - sadly, this "controversy" seems to "have legs" as the saying goes, in the non-Fox mainstream media - it's been all over the news lately, including NBC News, Time Magazine, CNN, etc. Here's hoping that Americans who think for themselves (non-Fox viewers) will see it for what it is - a network with an agenda that will stop at nothing to smear Obama. It's Bill Clinton all over again. Sadly, many will believe what they see and hear on Fox.

Our soldiers are dying in Iraq, there are a record number of mortgage foreclosures, oil is trading above $110 a barrel & our economy is collapsing, yet Fox wants to insult its viewers with tales of what Obama's pastor said years ago? I just don't believe these "Karl Rove" tactics are going to wash in 2008. I pray I'm right. But, Democrats cannot and must not take anything for granted - there are millions who believe all of this stuff. Speaking of Rove, is it ANY SURPRISE that Fox has hired this guy? The "network" really is a disgrace.

I find it astounding, but not surprising, that Repubes consistently whine and complain about the "librul media" (Bush pronunciation) when the highest rated cable news network is Fox, and one of the most visited Websites on the 'Net, and definitely the most visited political site, is the Drudge Report. Both of these propaganda media drive the rest of the media - Tim Russert taking his cues from Fox News in Part II above is a stark example of this.

And the Russert example above is not an exaggeration - it happens all the time. There are numerous examples of stories that first appear on Drudge, and it quickly makes its way into the rest of the media, reported as news.

By the way, guess which current federal office holder holds the record for Meet the Press appearances - it's John McCain, with 52 appearances. The media must be librul, right?

Yet, despite these truths, even some smart people drink the Fox Kool-Aid. I received this e-mail from one of my best friends yesterday about Obama:

Coming Home to Roost

Jeremiah Wright = Swift Boating 2008

As I said in my last e-mail - Obama needs to somehow sidestep his 20-year relationship with this time bomb, and even if he does, this one is not going away. What was a whisper is not being shouted from major networks.

First, he mentions "Swift Boating 2008" as if it's a good thing. My ill-informed friend no doubt has not seen the video comparison above, nor has probably seen any of the Democratic debates. Even if he has, his mind has no doubt been polluted by the intellectually dishonest snake oil salesmen at Fox, and its disciples.
~~~
However, the best interpretation of just what Fox, Roger Ailes & Rupert Murdoch are up to comes from the aforementioned Fox Attacks in a recent blog entry:

I had a very disturbing talk with my dad about Barack Obama.

I was on the phone with my parents telling them about the video I was working on, FOX ATTACKS! Obama Part 2: Spreading the Virus, and brought up how FOX (Sean Hannity, in particular) has been desperately trying to create a connection between Louis Farrakhan and Barack Obama because a magazine founded by Obama's pastor, Jeremiah Wright, and run by Wright's daughters recently gave Louis Farrakhan an award. I told my parents how Hannity went from saying the magazine gave Farrakhan the award to claiming Wright gave him the award (which he didn't) to saying that Obama "associated" with Farrakhan (which he hasn't). Hannity would mostly use these "stories" so he could rattle off some of Farrakhan's most offensive comments and mention Obama in the same breath, effectively linking the two in the minds of FOX viewers. He just wants to say, "Obama — Farrakhan — racist — anti-Semite" over and over again until they are linked, just as FOX did with "Iraq — Al Qaeda — 9/11 — terrorism" in the run-up to the Iraq war.

Of course, Hannity almost never mentions that Obama has repeatedly denounced Farrakhan's racist, anti-semitic, and inflammatory remarks, has called for more cooperation between the black and Jewish communities, has spoken before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), and has been defended by the American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League, the Simon Wiesenthal Center and other prominent Jewish organizations. But Hannity doesn't want his viewers to know this. He just wants them to have a vague impression that Obama is an anti-semite and a black separatist.

When I mentioned this example to my parents, my dad said, "Wait, didn't Louis Farrakhan give Obama an award and Obama accepted it?" When I told him that this was completely off, he said, "Oh, I guess I must have heard it wrong."

Somewhere, Sean Hannity, Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch are poking holes in an Obama voodoo doll, laughing.

The lunacy & stupidity of Glenn Beck

I try my hardest to never hate anyone - it's the way I was brought up. But, with the poisoned political atmosphere these days, especially among the moronic political talking heads on TV, I find it harder and harder to not despise the intolerant rubes on the right.

There is no better, shining example of this than CNN's Glenn Beck, the hate monger who once called Hurricane Katrina survivors "scumbags," and who also once said he "hates" 9-11 families, is the embodiment of why I'm politically active, and why we can never give up the fight against xenophobic, anti-government zealots.

I'm constantly reading blogs on both sides of the political aisle to shape and even modify my opinions, and one of my favorite blogs is Tom Tomorrow's This Modern World. A few days ago, he had a short but sweet post about Beck. I can think of little to add, so here it is...

The World According to Glenn Beck

Obama will move us to One World Government in the blink of an eye, and environmentalists are Nazis.

Glenn Beck also spends a lot of time mocking people who — in his phrasing — say "help me, government, help me, I'm scared!" — (i.e., people who believe that government programs to help the needy are actually a good thing.)

That's when he’s not saying, in all seriousness, "Please build a fence along the Mexican border, government, I'm scared!"

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a one reason why I read the This Modern World blog every day, and why Tomorrow's comic strip is my favorite, ever.

Oh yea - and Beck is the #1 reason (but there are many others) why I've refused to watch CNN for years now. Talk about being a Fox News wanna-be. Glenn Beck? The network couldn't do any better than that? I guess CNN said to itself, "We can't catch up to Fox, so we'll try to beat Rupert Murdoch at his own game." Cool - now there are two major cable news networks that I won't watch. It makes choosing where I get my news on TV pretty easy.

What cut-ups: O'Lielly & Newt blast NYT

I almost laughed myself silly when I saw this footage - Newt Gingrich and Bill O'Lielly castigating the New York Times for its report on John McCain's alleged improper relationship with a lobbyist.

My favorite part: BOR intoning that "these people [The New York Times] aren't being honest, they're not reporting the news, and we have to stop this. Make them the villain, and that will galvanize people around John McCain."

Someone, anyone who works for Fox News bitching about another media outlet "not reporting the news" is akin to Dick Cheney complaining about the federal government's awarding of no-bid contracts.

I can't neglect to mention Gingrich's claptrap, either, including "a massive tax increase" and neither Obama nor Clinton being amenable "to making English the official language" of the United States.

I seriously doubt that the average Fox viewer, much less the drones who watch BOR, will even take the time to look into exactly what the candidates said, but both have proposed rolling back the tax cuts for people who earn over $250,000. Good. If Newt wants to call that a "massive tax increase," that's fine by me. But people need to know where that increase is going, and to whom.

When I first heard Gingrich say that, I almost jumped out of my chair with an "A-ha!" moment. You see, this is the exact strategy that Bush employed when he gave the rich the ill-advised tax cut back in '01. All but the most far-right thought that those tax cuts were a bad idea - even the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) stated at the time that the cuts would blow a massive hole in the budget.

Fast forward seven years, and of course, people like Gingrich and O'Lielly count on the fact that most people haven't paid attention. Quite naturally, it's the Democrats who are pointing out that these idiotic tax cuts can't continue (oh yea, along with two wars that are going to cost us an estimated $2 trillion), and here's Gingrich and other Repubes on TV harumphing about Democrats' "proposing a massive tax increase," when they never should have been cut in the first place.

The whole issue of English being the official language of the United States is about 787th on the list of things that should be debated in this campaign. To me, it's just a rather sad, transparent attempt by far-right, xenophobic Repubes to discriminate against immigrants.

Think I'm going too far? This is the same Republican Party that wants to have discrimination put into the Constitution by banning gay marriage.

h/t to C&L for the video

Note to Fox News: don't do jokes

Check out what Frank Luntz, the right-wing hack and Fox contributor, had to say after the Hillary Clinton / Barack Obama debate last week. I know it's a joke, but really? Funny how I don't hear jokes like that on other networks. It's typical of the misogynistic jokes and coverage that Hillary Clinton has had to endure since her time as first lady. That issue is bigger than Hillary, too; no woman should have to endure this kind of garbage when aspiring to our nation's highest office.

Once again, why Bill Maher insists on having this guy on his show is beyond me. He even goes so far as to call him "Our good friend Frank Luntz." Get real, Bill.