Bland Ambition

Christ, this broad has some balls on her. Are we sick of this vile person yet?

Mrs Palin described Mr Obama as someone who saw the US "as being so imperfect... he is palling around with terrorists who would target their own country".

Mr Obama served on a charity board several years ago with Mr Ayers, who is now a professor at the University of Illinois.

The White House hopeful, who was a child when Weather Underground was active, has denounced Mr Ayers' radical activities.

Oh hey, doncha know, stupid li'l ol' facts have never stopped this pathological liar from just making shit up. That's all she's done since the day McCain crapped her into the punch bowl. Enough of this kid-glove treatment -- Obama and especially Biden need to start picking up their game, and stop taking shit from this blithering idiot and her senile grampa.

Of course, as Matt Taibbi points out in his scathing profile of Mooseolini, among other issues, she has her own Jeremiah Wright:

Palin belongs to a church whose pastor, Ed Kalnins, believes that all criticisms of George Bush "come from hell," and wondered aloud if people who voted for John Kerry could be saved. Kalnins, looming as the answer to Obama's Jeremiah Wright, claims that Alaska is going to be a "refuge state" for Christians in the last days, last days which he sometimes speaks of in the present tense. Palin herself has been captured on video mouthing the inevitable born-again idiocies, such as the idea that a recent oil-pipeline deal was "God's will." She also described the Iraq War as a "task that is from God" and part of a heavenly "plan." She supports teaching creationism and "abstinence only" in public schools, opposes abortion even for victims of rape, has denied the science behind global warming and attends a church that seeks to convert Jews and cure homosexuals.

All that and the crazy witch doctor thing. If this is the sort of person that Americans think reminds them of themselves or their neighbors, they really need to re-evaluate their lives. Hopefully at one intrepid media person gets the chance to ask her if she really thinks humans and dinosaurs coexisted.

Whatever core ideologies serious conservatives once at least pretended to espouse, are no longer bothered with much. As brazenly cynical as it was for them to dump Fredo on an unsuspecting public eight magical years ago, it's nothing compared to the serious dumbing down necessary for them to keep a straight face with putting Palin on the ticket.

Why should we give her a pass on the most important issues of the day? Supposedly sharing the fears and concerns of the average families who face the burdens of mortgages, healthcare and economic insecurity, Palin simply refused to discuss changes in bankruptcy law and proved that she didn't know the provisions of McCain's healthcare plan.

All the glaring defects so blatantly on display in her debate with Joe Biden -- and that make her candidacy so darkly comical -- would be the same if she were a hockey dad instead of a "hockey mom." In fact, the cynical attempt to foist Palin on the nation as a symbol of feminist progress is an insult to all women regardless of their political orientation.

There was a time when conservatives lamented the dumbing down of American culture. Preservation of basic standards in schools and workplaces compelled them -- or so they said -- to resist affirmative action for women and minorities. Qualifications mattered; merit mattered; and demagogic appeals for leveling were to be left to the Democrats.

Not anymore.

Cheap demagoguery aside, what's becoming clearer and clearer by the day is just how low Palin is willing to stoop. She tells flat-out lies as easily as she throws a wink at the braying morons panting for her. She is quickly overshadowing her partner on the ticket, rather eagerly in fact.

In the last of her Couric interview installments on Thursday, Palin was asked which vice president had most impressed her, and after paying tribute to Geraldine Ferraro, she chose “George Bush Sr.” Her criterion: she most admires vice presidents “who have gone on to the presidency.” Hours later, at the debate, she offered a discordant contrast to Biden when asked by Gwen Ifill how they would each govern “if the worst happened” and the president died in office. After Biden spoke of somber continuity, Palin was weirdly flip and chipper, eager to say that as a “maverick” she’d go her own way.

But the debate’s most telling passage arrived when Biden welled up in recounting his days as a single father after his first wife and one of his children were killed in a car crash. Palin’s perky response — she immediately started selling McCain as a “consummate maverick” again — was as emotionally disconnected as Michael Dukakis’s notoriously cerebral answer to the hypothetical 1988 debate question about his wife being “raped and murdered.” If, as some feel, Obama is cool, Palin is ice cold. She didn’t even acknowledge Biden’s devastating personal history.

Despicable. She is really turning out to be a creepy, borderline-personality type, where the words they say have no intrinsic meaning, and other people are merely obstacles to them getting what they want. Borderline personalities quite literally will do or say anything that furthers their goals, regardless of the moral implications. This has consistently been the case with her.

So far, she seems to still be spinning her wheels with her choir-preaching and clown-punching, rendering her own running mate less and less relevant. But Americans have proven they'll fall for pretty much anything at times, there's a month to go, and they clearly plan on pulling out all the stops to get their shot at finishing Fredo's agenda of ruining the country.

Should McPalin achieve the unthinkable and pull this one out, McCain may want to look over his shoulder, keep an eye on this one. Maybe hire a food-taster, or a bodyguard to make sure she doesn't smother him with a pillow. She may stop at something, but we haven't seen that thing yet.

Lies, and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them

Media Matters catches yet another conservahack smugly inventing shit:

In an August 30 post on the National Review Online's Media Blog, Greg Pollowitz falsely claimed that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin visited troops in Kuwait "a year before Senator [Barack] Obama felt the need to go." Noting a July 24, 2007, Alaska Public Radio Network report that "Palin today visited with a National Guard unit from Alaska serving in Kuwait," Pollowitz wrote: "Unlike Senator Obama's staged trip to the Middle East, Governor Palin went to visit the troops in Kuwait before she was ever under consideration for Veep. ... And a year before Senator Obama felt the need to go," a reference to Obama's July 2008 visit. In fact, Obama also visited troops in Kuwait in January 2006. Indeed, the Coalition Forces Land Component Command's website posted a photo of Obama "listen[ing] to a soldier voice his concerns Jan. 7 during a dinner at Camp Arifjan's Zone 6 dining facility" and a photo of Obama "driv[ing] toward the basket during a game with soldiers Jan. 7 at Camp Airifjan's Zone 1 gym."

To his small credit, Pollowitz actually posted a correction to his idiotic assertion, even attributing his newfound wisdom to Media Matters. But the thing is that he clearly never bothered to check. How hard can it be to use Teh Google and punch in "obama visit iraq" or whatever? He didn't even try; he just assumed he had a cheap rhetorical opening. Or maybe he did know better and just figured he'd get away with it, as they so frequently do.

And if it hadn't been for Media Matters catching it and publicizing Pollowitz' grievous error, not only would it have sat there, the 'tards at The Corner (more on them later) would have repeated it incessantly as "fact". Because in their world, "facts" are simply things that you can gull people into believing. Like the old law aphorism: if the law is on your side, pound the law; if the facts are on your side, pound the facts; if neither the law nor the facts are on your side, pound the table.

Or in the case of these knuckleheads, the high chair.

Frag Hags

Just when you figured it couldn't get any worse, the Pat Tillman saga does exactly that, as years of lies wrapped in deceptions and smothered in secret sauce eventually get found out, somehow. It's despicable, through and through, at every level of the game, from the men in the platoon who destroyed the evidence and tried to get their stories straight, all the way up to the thoroughly dishonorable men who chose to use an honorable man as their recruitment prop.

And to what end? Some asshole general who was the last one standing when the music stopped gets reprimanded. Ooooh. A reprimand. That sounds about right.

And I don't want to hear any of this "fog of war" bullshit. Yes, I'm still willing to buy into the essential story that Tillman was a victim of accidental (if meticulously placed, apparently) friendly fire. After that, there was no fog, only cynical decisions made by pathetic, ass-covering freaks who deserve whatever misfortunes life has to offer them.

But this story does not have a retributive or punitive moral, obviously. We can "know" as sure as shit that the true knowledge of Tillman's demise went right up to the top, preceding his funeral, and nothing substantial will ever occur. That is the nature of political crimes -- either people are made an example of and wind up at the end of a rope, or nothing at all happens. Nothing in between, unfortunately, so nothing meaningful will happen to any of the participants in this ugly, manipulative charade.

What it is, however, is very illustrative of the system in general, and the beasts in particular who are currently running it. Because let's face it -- if the evidence had never been made public, they would have been happy to know the truth for themselves, and wrap the lies in a flag and serve it up on a weekly basis. The line between knowing and not knowing is fragile, and realizing how just the knowledge of seemingly simple, isolated events affects our perceptions of the whole process is essential.

Abu Ghraib is another example -- it was something that Iraqis already knew about, obviously, but without the actions of one man, we would never have known about this systematized, deliberate barbarity. We still don't know much; recall that our esteemed legislators, who regard us as children, sat on the second set of photos, deeming them far more problematic than the first. What do you think that means?

You don't even know what you don't know, and most of the people who do know and can affect that, have absolutely zero incentive to change that dynamic for you. It took a corporal who was willing to literally risk his own life to get the Abu Ghraib photo CDs (which were, you recall, trophies of a perverted, sickening sort; they were bragging about this shit) stateside, into responsible, human hands. It's taken three years to find out that Pat Tillman was shot square in the forehead from ten yards away with an M-16, practically point-blank. How many service personnel have been indicted or tried or convicted and sentenced just this year for the most heinous, despicable war crimes?

And that's just the stuff we think we know. Maybe we should keep all these things in mind as well -- as disparate as they may initially seem -- before letting the usual crew of Magic 8-Ball-using Barcalounger Spartans tell us anything about anything, much less about anything important, such as war.

The Carpet Crawl

Froomkin mentions the latest round of choir-preachin' Himself has engaged to show the kids how optimistic delusional he is. There's nothing new here; it's like hearing a crappy song on the radio again (do people still listen to radio stations, and if so, why?), well after it was time to move it off heavy rotation.

"[Bush] spoke very eloquently about Good vs. Evil and even brought the story back to the rug, which was designed with only this Presidential input -- to let it reflect light so as to influence his decision making. Light as in good vs. darkness as in evil."

Good grief, does this guy ever stop yammering about the stupid fuckin' rug? Okay, we get it, it's yellow 'cause no matter what happens, yer a sunny optimist. Jesus, I think the slow kids in the back caught that one by this time. I lawn-darted my country and screwed up the world, but this rug makes me feel better about it. Says it all right there.

Hennen continues: "If every American could have the opportunity I did today -- to sit with the President of the United States and hear him firsthand describe his resolve to win in Iraq and around the world, we would have a very different situation with public opinion. . . ."

That so? Then why, pray tell, do only reliable conservatard stenographers get invited to these little chats? Huh? Hm? If it's that cut and dried, if all it would take to convince "every American" of the rightness of Bush's thoughts and policies, then why get the message out in this fashion?

Well, duh. It's because every time Bush does take his arguments public -- and he does, with regularity -- it convinces nobody. His poll ratings continue to stagnate or drop. The mission here is clearly not to persuade or convince, it's to evangelize, to affirm, and it's impossible not to figure these toadies realize that. But they're like the proverbial pimple on Marilyn Monroe's ass -- just happy to be in showbiz.

"His descriptions of the enemy and their brutal, cold-blooded-killer tactics were enough to make a graying group of radio talk how hosts want to enlist and serve this country in uniform."

Well, almost enough, heh. Perhaps enough to yank their kids out of college and send them? Yeah, right. Besides, this humanoid banana hammock bravely claims to be fulfilling his mission just fine from his stateside laptop, as a rhetorical turret-gunner/surfer for warporn.

These idiots can barely continue to fool themselves at this point; it's either sheer delusion or the professional ethics of a back-alley crack-whore that enables them to even act like they think anyone else is itching to buy their rancid kool-aid. It's just a sordid continuation of the same feedback loop.

Opposition Positions

Today's position: the wheelbarrow, to make the carrying of Republican dirty water all the less challenging.

WASHINGTON, July 31 — Under pressure from President Bush, Democratic leaders in Congress are scrambling to pass legislation this week to expand the government’s electronic wiretapping powers.

Democratic leaders have expressed a new willingness to work with the White House to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to make it easier for the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on some purely foreign telephone calls and e-mail. Such a step now requires court approval.

It would be the first change in the law since the Bush administration’s program of wiretapping without warrants became public in December 2005.

Yes, because the executive branch has certainly not only proven the urgent need to circumvent to the notoriously lax and librul FISA courts, but that they, the Bush White House, are capable of wielding this power in a, um, responsible and non-partisan manner, like pretty much everything else they've touched.

“We hope our Republican counterparts will work together with us to fix the problem, rather than try again to gain partisan political advantage at the expense of our national security,” Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, said in a statement Monday night.

Maybe this is some rope-a-dope strategery Harry Reid has cooked up. Given the lack of focus on this particular issue though, perhaps some of us can be forgiven by the Serious Thinkers for having our doubts.

I think this bit is the real kicker:

The White House has told Democratic lawmakers that it will accept a narrow bill now but will come back later for broader changes, including legal immunity for telecommunications companies involved in the wiretapping program.

Basically how this will eventually shake out is that Fredo and his minions get to do infinite amounts of data mining and sifting on everyone, period, and a blanket retroactive no-backsies immunity for all the gubmint and telecom weasels who cooperate with this, right up to the very day someone somewhere grows a spine and says no to these people. Or, you know, not.

I'm sure this is all Ralph Nader's fault somehow.

Scooter Commuter

Well, looks like Diceman Cohen got his wish.

Washington - President Bush commuted the sentence of former aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby today, sparing him from a 2 1/2-year prison term in the CIA leak case.

Bush left intact a $250,000 fine and two years probation for Libby, according to a senior White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision had not been announced.

Bush's move came hours after a federal appeals panel ruled Libby could not delay his prison term in the CIA leak case. That decision put the pressure on the president, who had been sidestepping calls by Libby's allies to pardon the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.

Guess he showed them activist judges, didn't he? If there was any question left at all about what a lawless, despotic group of people these are, hopefully it's been dispelled for all but the most obtuse. I'm sure Scooter's fine has already been paid by his little friends.

Some animals really are more equal than others.

Slam Dunk This

When Tenet has the scruples to return his Medal O' Freedom, then maybe we'll listen to what he has to say. Till then, I have hands; I don't need self-serving public officials to jerk me off.

And in that context, it is at least somewhat entertaining to watch Condi Rice scramble from green room to green room, desperately trying to flood the proverbial zone all by her lonesome. I mean, who the fuck else can they put out there at this point? Big Time? Doug Feith? Steve Hadley? Shit, you might as well just put Fredo himself up there and let him do his Rorschach-free-association babble. So that leaves Rice, madly spinning like a top.

"Look, not everything went right," Rice said. "This is a very difficult circumstance. There were some things that went right and some things that went wrong. And you know what? We will have a chance to look at that in history. And I will have a chance to reflect on that when I have a chance to write my book."

"Look, not everything went right." Understatement of the century thus far, I'd say. And what "some things" precisely "went right"? Specific examples, please. No doubt "removing Saddam" would be at the top of their list, despite the horrible price paid.

And gee, it's great to know she's working on her memoirs as well. Exactly how many trees should be utterly wasted, so that these fools can try to cover their asses? Just put it out in two-ply.

What They Stand For

Just doing a little random surfing, and came across a friendly reminder from the past of who the leading conservatard lights were and are:

"These are the same chicken hawks who vote against defense all the time," House majority whip (and de facto speaker) Tom "the Hammer" DeLay said last week about the Democrats who support air strikes in Yugoslavia. "Not only is their president getting us in a mess, but he's undermining our military." DeLay's fervid rhetoric carried the day; even though his protégé, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, voted to support the air strikes, the House vote ended in a 213-213 tie, which of course meant that it had withheld support for the air strikes.

This was, of course, the same mighty bug-hunter who shirked his own duty because of reverse discrimination. Like the cockroaches he used to exterminate, DeLay seems tough to get rid of once and for all. Thankfully he's got Cousin Eddie Russert and friends to give him occasional teevee appearances, even still. Can't imagine what would happen if they suddenly got decency standards.

Breaking News

This just in: Matt Drudge is a pathological liar, a shameless toady to scumbags who hate "his kind", a prevaricator and shameless hack of the absolute lowest order. But hey, sharp hat, asshole. You get a free bowl of soup with that?



Oh, but it looks good on you![/Rodney Dangerfield]

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