65% of Republicans think, wrongly, that there was a connection between Saddam Hussein and the 9/11 attacks

And the people who elected the idiots running our country wonder why those idiots are doing such a bad job. Because they pretty much reflect their own voters. They just make stuff up and believe it's true. Okay. Well, then don't be surprised when your politicians go to war based on the lies you still believe. If Republicans really believe that Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11, then let them send their kids to Iraq. It's time Republican voters learned the price of their ignorance. And part of that price will be the Republicans becoming a permanent minority party since Dems and Independents outnumber them, and tend to agree on these issues. Read More......

9/11 Commission member says key scene in Disney/ABC fictional account of September 11 is "a total fabrication"

Disney/ABC's spokesman now admits that at least one key scene from its 9/11 "documentary" was simply made up.

Berger, portrayed as a pasty-faced time-server by Kevin Dunn (Col. Hicks in “Godzilla”) freezes in dithering apprehension when a manly and virtuous CIA agent played by Donnie Wahlberg radios in from the wilds of Afghanistan to say that he and his noble band of local tribesmen have Osama bin Laden within sight and begs for the green light to terminate him with extreme prejudice. In the film, the line goes dead before Berger offers any reply.....

So when the post-screening question-and-answer session began, Ben-Veniste stood to say that the Berger-bashing scene didn’t square with the research he and the other commissioners conducted. “There was no incident like that in the film that we came across. I am disturbed by that aspect of it,” Ben-Veniste, a loyal Democrat, told the panel, which included both the producer and the commission’s GOP chairman, former Gov. Thomas H. Kean of New Jersey.

Berger, reached by phone after the screening, seconded Ben-Veniste’s criticism. “It’s a total fabrication,” he said tersely. “It did not happen.”

That is not likely to prevent the film from being embraced far and wide among Bush supporters. Even before its airdate, the show is being hailed as a breakthrough in the conservative blogosphere. One blogger marveled in an interview with scriptwriter Cyrus Nowrasteh that “one unbelievable sequence shows how . . . Sandy Berger . . . actually hung up the phone on the CIA agent on the ground.”

Ah yes, Disney/ABC's misinformation is already spreading. And now, it seems, the standard Disney/ABC is applying to their tv show is to strive for "reasonable accuracy" when educating American schoolkids about what happened on September 11 and how it happened.

Reasonably accurate?

Is that like saying Saddam Hussein had something to do with September 11, and Iraq had WMD? Hasn't America had enough hedging about accuracy regarding September 11 and the war on terror?

But hey, so what if Disney/ABC makes the after-school-special version of the largest mass murder of Americans in decades, if not ever? What counts to Disney/ABC isn't the truth, it's that the murder of 3,000 Americans be good entertainment. Read More......

GOP allegedly channeled millions of campaign dollars to Lieberman

So says the Washington Times' magazine. Read More......

Open Thread

Have at it... Read More......

Bush ally Pakistan says bin Laden is free to go on his way

Oh yes. Apparently bin Laden and his top lieutenants are now free to live a happy life in Pakistan so long as they lead a peaceful life. Nice. I suppose Disney/ABC will blame Bill Clinton. Read More......

What happens when Mickey Mouse tries to explain 9/11

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Republicans in US House will devote this week to banning the eating of horses, or something

I'm not kidding. This is their legislative priority for the week. Forget about finding Osama or figuring out what the hell to do with Iraq. Forget about astronomical gas prices and the shaky economy. The Republicans who control congress think the most important issue facing Americans this week is horse meat.

NYT

The major legislation on the floor in the House this week is a bill that would ban trading in horses to be slaughtered for human consumption.

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Disney/ABC sending its 9/11 revisionist tale to every American schoolkid

Good God, and they're sending a copy of the film and a letter to 100,000 American high school teachers written by - who? - the REPUBLICAN chair of the 9/11 Commission. Not the Democrat and the Republican, just the Republican. And a Republican whose son is running for the US Senate seat in New Jersey - oh yeah, no conflict there.

This is entering serious legal territory here.

Disney/ABC isn't just putting an incorrect, and politically partisan, version of the events leading up to September 11 on television a scant 8 weeks before national elections. They're now planning on using this partisan mockumentary to propagandize to American schoolchildren.

That goes too far.

It's one thing for Disney/ABC to take advantage of the deaths of nearly 3,000 Americans in order to curry political favor with the Republicans - sickening as that is - but it's quite another when Disney/ABC try to jam this Disneyfied version of 9/11 political propaganda down the throats of our children. And they don't even try to hide the fact that they're using Republicans exclusively to push the propaganda.

Now is the time for Congress to step in. Disney/ABC has gone too far. They owe every American schoolkid the responsibility to present them with the facts about September 11, not some Mickey Mouse fantasy written by, directed by, and pushed by Republican party hacks. Read More......

Disney/ABC ticks off incoming US House committee chair by airing anti-Democrat propaganda on 9/11 anniversary

So whose bright idea was it at Disney/ABC to tick off Louise Slaughter, who will likely be the chair of the influential House Rules Committee when the Dems win back Congress in 9 weeks?

Real smart move, Disney/ABC. Read More......

So when is my copy of Disney/ABC's 9/11 mockumentary arriving?

Disney/ABC is reportedly telling callers that it is not censoring its own distribution of advance copies of its fictional account of September 11, due to air next week. They're telling callers that they are not exclusively giving advance copies of the show to Republican bloggers while putting a total censorship curtain on any efforts to give copies to Democratic bloggers.

Okay, great. So when does my copy arrive?

John Aravosis
PO Box 21336
Washington, DC 20009

I'll be checking my PO Box tomorrow, Wednesday, at noon. Then we'll see if Disney/ABC is censoring the distribution of its own TV show. Read More......

Creator of ABC's fictional mockumentary about 9/11 blames everything on Clinton, not a word about Bush

Kevin Brockman
ABC Vice President for Publicity
(818) 460 6655

An absolutely amazing interview with the guy who created ABC's fictional account of what happened on September 11 in an alternate reality.

In a nutshell, the entire interview is about Bill Clinton and how he just didn't have the "will" to take out bin Laden. What does ABC's guy have to say about George Bush, the guy who stayed on vacation after being warned bin Laden was determined to hit the US only weeks before September 11? Bush "should be applauded."

So that's it in a nutshell. According to ABC, Bill Clinton caused September 11 and George Bush is an American hero.

ABC: America's most trusted name for right-wing propaganda.

PS We learn another incredible factoid about this made-for-tv piece of fiction. ABC hired the Republican head of the 9/11 commission to consult on the show, but apparently not the Demoratic head. Nice. Because we all know that only Republicans care about September 11. After all, I hear Bill Clinton did kill 3,000 people that day... Read More......

ABC thinks only Republicans care about September 11, only reaches out to GOP bloggers

Kevin Brockman
ABC Vice President for Publicity
(818) 460 6655

It's more than a little disturbing that ABC seems to think that Republicans are the only people who care about September 11. But that is exactly what the network is saying by sending advance copies of its upcoming September 11 mockumentary to Republican bloggers but NOT to Democratic bloggers.

Does ABC think that only Republicans care about September 11? Apparently. For the rest of us, watching our friends and family and countrymen die was no big deal, at least according to ABC.

Or does ABC want their fictionalized account of September 11 to be a political contribution to Republicans? Sure looks that way. ABC is only sending advance copies of the show to Republican bloggers, apparently in order to build an even greater Republican following for the show.

Which begs a very large question. If ABC is so sure that their soap opera version of the murder of 3,000 Americans and others on September 11 is unbiased and doesn't make a mockery of one of the most tragic days in American history, then why are they only sharing the film with Republicans? Wouldn't it put the scandal to rest by sending us all copies of this "great" show so we can see how fair and balanced it really is?

Of course it would. And the fact that ABC is only targeting Republicans with this anti-Clinton TV show is prima facie evidence that this is nothing more than one big fat campaign contribution from ABC/Disney to the Republican party. A contribution grotesquely wrapped in the ashes of nearly 3,000 Americans.

It's time for someone to sue ABC. Read More......

ABC lies about Clinton role in "letting bin Laden go"

Incredible. On the day marking the anniversary of the murder of 3,000 Americans, ABC is going to tell the entire country that Bill Clinton let bin Laden go. Sure, it's not true. But millions of Americans won't know that because ABC is going to tell them it IS true. This is beyond sick. "America's most trusted" news network is going to be broadcasting September 11 revisionism as fact in a little under a week. Absolutely sickening. Read More......

Gallup Poll: Casey over Santorum, 56% to 38%

A summary of the polls for other Senate races as well. In a nutshell, The Rs are in serious trouble.

Minnesota: D 50%, R 40% (currently a Dem seat)

Incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Dayton is not seeking re-election and the Republican candidate, Congressman Mark Kennedy, will likely face Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar in the general election contest. The USA Today/Gallup poll shows Klobuchar with 50% support among likely voters compared with 40% for Kennedy, a statistically significant lead for the Democrat.

Missouri: R 50%, D 44% (currently an R seat)

Republican Sen. Jim Talent won election in 2002 to serve the final four years of the late Mel Carnahan's term. He will face State Auditor Claire McCaskill, who lost a close election for governor in 2004. Talent has a slim 50% to 44% advantage according to the USA Today/Gallup poll; however, that lead is still within the poll's margin of error. Most other polling in Missouri also shows a close race between the two candidates, with voters tilting toward Talent in some polls and McCaskill in others.

Montana: D 48%, R 45% (currently an R seat)

Republican incumbent Sen. Conrad Burns may be especially vulnerable in his bid for re-election this year because of controversy surrounding his receipt of campaign contributions from lobbyist Jack Abramoff.... The USA Today/Gallup poll shows Tester and Burns closely matched, with 48% of likely voters supporting Tester and 45% Burns.

Ohio: D 46%, R 40% (currently an R seat)

A corruption scandal surrounding Republican Gov. Bob Taft is making things especially difficult for Ohio Republicans this year, which could hurt incumbent Sen. Mike DeWine's attempt to win a third Senate term. DeWine is facing longtime Democratic Congressman Sherrod Brown. Brown has a slight edge in the USA Today/Gallup poll, 46% to 40%, but again that lead is within the poll's margin of error.

Pennsylvania D 56%, R 38% (currently an R seat)

Perhaps the Republican with the toughest challenge is Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who won close elections to the Senate in 1994 and 2000. Santorum is often viewed as being too conservative for a state that leans Democratic; Pennsylvanians have voted for Democratic presidential candidates in each of the last four presidential elections. Santorum is being challenged by Bob Casey Jr., the state treasurer and son of the popular late former governor of Pennsylvania. The USA Today/Gallup poll shows Casey with a sizable advantage over Santorum among likely voters, 56% to 38%. Most other polls in the state this year have shown Casey with the lead, albeit of varying sizes. The USA Today/Gallup numbers are similar to the results of several polls conducted in the spring, and may indicate the momentum is swinging back toward Casey after recent polls suggested that Santorum was cutting into the large lead Casey had enjoyed.

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AP: "Disaster may not be too strong a word for Rep. Katherine Harris Senate campaign"

I don't care what the sinful non-Christians say. She'll always be my Kitty-Kat. Read More......

Maryland's GOP governor and Lt. governor/GOP senate candidate dodge Bush at event in state

President Pariah. Read More......

Tuesday Morning Open Thread

Congress comes back today...it's going to get ugly.

Also note to NBC: someone needs to explain to Kelly O'Donnell that as White House correspondent, she's supposed to report -- not merely provide the White House spin. She just regurgitates their crap. It's beyond annoying. Read More......

Another GOP myth down the drain - Iraq violence increases, again

There is a cycle of stories/myths that the GOP circulates, such as the re-visited WWII comparisons that are now waning again. Don't worry, that one will surely come back just as it has before. One of the other great myths about Iraq is that it's not all that dangerous, that the violence is actually below the rates in many US cities. All too often, the spin-meisters try to take one number from Iraq and then compare it to a US city or especially bad neighborhood, i.e. compare apples to oranges.

I just might be wrong on this, but I am not sure that any US city has experienced 334 murders in one week. More than 300 murders per year would be considered a very dangerous city in the US.

At least 334 people, including 23 women, were killed in Baghdad from Aug. 27 through Saturday, according to morgue figures provided by Health Ministry officials. Most of the victims had been kidnapped, tortured, hog-tied and shot.

At least 394 other people were killed around Iraq last week in other violence, including bombings, mortar attacks and gunfights, Iraqi authorities said.

The rise in violence followed an announcement by U.S. and Iraqi officials at the beginning of the week that the number of killings in the capital had fallen drastically during August, from more than 1,800 in July. Although August as a whole was less violent than the month before, last week's killings suggested that death squads are still able to roam around Baghdad despite checkpoints and curfews.

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And the bad news keeps coming for Blair

More calls for his resignation and another poll that has Labour at a 19 year low. Stay the course?

The majority of the 38 Labour MPs elected at the 2001 general election over the weekend drafted a letter calling for Blair to step aside, The Guardian reported.

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Late night open thread

Chat away Read More......