The country is "divided" over the Schiavo case?

What part of 82% of the population sides with Michael Schiavo doesn't the media understand? I can't even believe ABC News just said this. The media has ignored the fact that while this case did provoke a nationwide debate, it provoked a debate in which the country was unified almost more than ever. That's hardly divided. And in fact, it's downright shocking how unified we are on this issue. That lone deserves extensive coverage, but there's more. How about coverage on how Congress and the President could have turned their backs on the will of 82% of the country? Read More......

Another open thread

Beautiful Thursday evening in DC. If I didn't have a cold, I'd be out having a cosmo. Read More......

Oh, you have to read this

Possibly the worst suck up interview of GannonGuckert yet:

I spoke again with Jeff Gannon this week about the Doonesbury story line and other issues pertaining to controversy surrounding him. At best, he is surviving, at worst he's more than a little fed up with being the blog world's piñata boy....

Gannon's mood turned pretty dark when I asked him about all the postings in the blog universe. "Gabe, I'm not going to respond directly to the most hurtful and blatantly wrong things said about me because I won't give credence to any of it. These people have an agenda to destroy me any way they can and I am amazed at the theories and stories people are posting."

Gannon may have a chance to set the blog world straight on a larger stage because, in a strange twist of fate, he is scheduled to be a panelist discussing bloggers and their impact at the National Press Club next week.

Gannon says there is a growing chorus of people who feel his invitation to participate should be canceled, but Gannon finds that the epitome of hypocrisy. "It's OK for Wonkette to be there but not me," says Gannon incredulously. "I was never a White House plant, I've been ripped to shreds by bloggers, and now they want to deny me a chance to say anything about it in the very heart of free speech and freedom of the press, the National Press Club. Mind-boggling."

While Gannongate has cooled a bit, it still isn't off the national radar gossip screen altogether and may heat up again very soon. "One thing I'd like to make clear Gabe is that I haven't disappeared, as so many have surmised. I'm still right here in Washington if anyone wants to find me. Also, I've had invitations to appear on Real Time with Bill Maher,

Keith Olberman's show on MSNBC and Chris Mathews' show. I'm still deciding which ones I want to do."

Gannon added his interview with Tucker Carlson a couple of weeks ago went OK, but that he sensed a haughty hostility from Carlson throughout their Q and A. As for any new job offers, Gannon says "not at the moment." Is there any "smoking gun" type information Gannon is holding back? He wouldn't answer the question.

Does Jeff Gannon/James Dale Guckert think he has a career and could Get back into the White House daily briefings? "Absolutely, Gabe." Gannon Said defiantly. "Why not?"

1. Blatantly wrong? Like what? You mean you're not a high-priced man-whore named Bulldog? You could have killed that story when I contaced you for a comment before going to press and you refused to respond.
2. Good point about Wonkette. Ass-fucking, and all.
3. As for Bill Maher, Chris Matthews and Keith Olberman. Make our day. Go before a real journalist and see how well you fare.
4. You sensed a haughty hostility from Tucker Carlson? Everyone I know who saw that interview said he kissed your ass. Good God, do you really think that all journalism, good journalism, appropriate journalism, is when people simply parrot YOUR talking points?
5. As for thinking he can walk back into the White House, I just feel sorry the guy.

Oh, and check out this conclusion from the reporter who interviewed him:

And as far as some people wondering why I have shown Jeff Gannon, in their words, " an unusual degree of sympathy", that is the wrong perspective to take on the pieces I've written about Gannon. Too bad not taking the low road indicates to some I'm showing unwarranted objectivity towards Jeff Gannon. Being fair and balanced is what distinguishes bloggers from the reporters.

Yeah, it's amazing with those savvy interview tactics you don't work for a bigger paper. Read More......

Dems Approach on Soc. Security Driving Bush Crazy

The Bush team seems to have misjudged the way the Democrats would respond to the Social Security issue. Based on past history, Bush throws out an idea, like tax cuts or education or gay marriage, and the Democrats respond with a series of policy proposals. Then, they are in the debate with him and he gets most of what he wants.

Not this time. On Social Security, the Democrats are actually being strategic by not proposing anything. That response has the White House in a tizzy. They don't know how to respond.

Yesterday, in Iowa, Bush practically begged the Democrats to act like they used to:

President Bush suggested Wednesday that lawmakers who oppose his proposal for a Social Security overhaul could face political problems as a result.

"To answer the question of the skeptics, we do have a serious problem," Bush said in an interview aired on WMT AM radio here and on WHO NewsRadio in Des Moines. Bush conducted the interview at a local diner, the Spring House Family Restaurant. "Now is the time to fix it, and I think there is a political price for not getting involved in the process."

Bush added: "I think there is a political price for saying, `It's not a problem, I'm going to stay away from the table.'"

In his Social Security travels, Bush has aimed to emphasize the positive and appear the model of bipartisanship - promising Democrats there will be no political retribution for bringing forward any idea to fix the system and arguing that the matter is too important to be the subject of partisan bickering.

The problem he has is that he is hanging out there all by himself on this one. And, the only one paying a political price is Bush. This issue, along with Schiavo, is causing his approval numbers to tank. Even the Reverend Moon's paper had to acknowledge as much.

There really is no reason for the Democrats to play with Bush on this. Besides, when they do, he only screws them anyway. Read More......

Open thread

La la la Read More......

Sieg Heil, Washington Post

Apparently it is now unhealthy in our democracy to criticize our leaders, so says the Washington Post, our new Minister of Propaganda.

A horrifying editorial from the Washington Post about those who criticize the appointment of Paul Wolfowitz to head up the World Bank. "People who care about this institution and its mission -- as many of Mr. Wolfowitz's detractors do -- should think carefully before they damage it by attacking its new boss," the Post opines.

Think carefully? What is that, a threat? You gonna send George Will after us with a poison-tipped umbrella in the middle of the night and smash all our storefront windows? What kind of absurdly unAmerican, McCarthyite kind of comment is that coming from a newspaper, let alone a major paper? That kind of language is dangerous from a government - and we've gotten plenty of it from the Bush administration trying to silence critics, lest they be giving aid and comfort to our enemies - but coming from a newspaper, that is downright pathetic. Has the mainstream media gotten this bad?

This only goes to prove, yet again, how far to the right - fascist right, literally - the Washington Post editorial board has gone. Someone at that paper needs to be fired, or sent to Gitmo where he can fulfill his dreams abusing some dark people. Read More......

CNN: Pope Takes a turn for the worse

CNN has interrupted their non-stop Terri Schiavo coverage to report that the Pope has taken a turn for the worse. Apparently, he has some kind of infection which is causing a high fever. The latest news is the he has received the "last rites." Looks like it is all Pope all the time now.

Boy, this is a big day for cable news. Read More......

The National Press Club, right about now...

Read More......

Conservative federal judge blasts Congress over "Terri's Law"

Gee, sounds like someone isn't in the mood for Tom DeLay to become King of America. Read More......

OMG: Reporter, editor, accuse GannonGuckert of plagiarism, outraged that National Press Club would invite him to speak

That sound you hear is the clock ticking off the seconds before the National Press Club is forced to admit they made a massive mistake. Raw Story has the goods:

A Massachusetts newspaper reporter and her then-editor have accused former White House correspondent 'Jeff Gannon' of plagiarizing an article at which the reporter was the only media witness, RAW STORY has learned.

The alleged plagiarism was discovered by blogger Ron Brynaert, who has tracked other plagiarism by Gannon and various Talon News correspondents at his blog, WhyAreWeBackInIraq.

An Jun. 17, 2003 article published by Jim Guckert, who wrote under the pen name Jeff Gannon, contains numerous identical quotes and turns of phrase to an written by Melissa Beecher for the Waltham Daily News Tribune five days earlier. A comparison of the two articles compiled by Brynaert follows....

Guckert did not respond to two email requests for comment....

"...[W]hen direct quotes are used without attribution it’s not acceptable. Good reporters don’t do that. It’s upsetting to see that a nationally-recognized personality would." [said Melissa Beecher of the Waltham Daily News Tribune, the reporter alleging that GannonGuckert plagiarized her work.]

....[Beecher's then-editor, Richard] Lodge was startled to hear that Guckert would be a panelist at the National Press Club next week.

“He’s not a journalist," Lodge remarked. "And he misrepresented to anyone reading that website that this was his work, and it was not his work, plain and simple.”

....Beecher was similarly aghast that Gannon would be considered for a panel at the Press Club.

“When I attend those conferences and I’ve been to many, you always think the person behind the desk that you’re learning from has qualifications that put them there," Beecher added. "It’s just disturbing that a person who is accused of doing what he did is now teaching the next generation of young reporters. Or fostering a dialogue between professionals in this business.”

“That’s just upsetting to real journalists that someone who does a copy and paste job has that title, or can be in the same circle that a lot of us pay our dues to be in,” she added. “I know reporters who paid their dues for years and years to even be considered as a White House correspondent, never mind making up your own news company and walking in.”

Read More......

Tom DeLay threatens judges, lawyers, and Michael Schiavo following Terri Schiavo's death

From ThinkProgress, our favorite think tank:

DeLay Goes Off The Deep End

DeLay just released this statement:

Mrs. Schiavo’s death is a moral poverty and a legal tragedy. This loss happened because our legal system did not protect the people who need protection most, and that will change. The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior, but not today. Today we grieve, we pray, and we hope to God this fate never befalls another. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Schindlers and with Terri Schiavo’s friends in this time of deep sorrow.

Make no mistake about it: Tom DeLay, our Majority Leader, is now threatening judges, doctors and Terri Schiavo’s husband.

Gee, Mr. DeLay, why don't we just give all the crazy people guns and maps to the judges', lawyers', and Michael Schiavo's homes? With the people who have already tried to put hits on the judges and Michael Schiavo, and the recent attacks on judges and their families, are you this much of a moron, or do you really want violence? Read More......

National Press Club bans public from GannonGuckert panel discussion

Gee, embarrassed about something? I know it's been years since we've had hookers on 15th street, but come on guys, we're all grown ups, and we've already seen him naked (just look further on down this page). And does anyone else find it ironic that a panel about whether non-credentialed media (such as bloggers) are journalists is now banning non-credentialed media? And perhaps the biggest irony, under these rules Guckert wouldn't be allowed to attend his own panel! The "old boys" are circling the wagons.

The new description of the panel:

Who is a Journalist?
NPC Professional Event
April 8, 2005 9:30 AM
Open to NPC members and credentialed media only.

Read More......

Cheney son-in-law takes position at Homeland Security

Son-in-law Philip Perry has been nominated for the position of general counsel at Homeland Security. He will join his wife Elizabeth, who works under Condi. Read More......

Bush makes statement on Schiavo's Death

At 11:30 a.m., CNN had Bush on live making a statement on the death of Terri Schiavo. Okay, took him five days to mention the 10 people killed in the Minnesota shooting last week. But, he uses the first opportunity to jump in front of cameras to talk about Schiavo. Never mentions any individual member of the military killed in action, but, boy, he has to mourn Terri by name publicly. Read More......

Terri Schiavo Died This Morning

ABC News reports that Terri Schiavo died this morning. Read More......

Well that was fun

Sorry about that - the blog just fitzed out for several hours. Somehow all the html code got messed up - the < and > parts of the tags changed magically into their computer code counterparts, messing everything up. Very weird. Republishing the blog now - we're back.

Hey, someone out there sent me some code for converting my email address into code so as to help avoid spam. Can you send it again? It too disappeared when the site went weird. Read More......

Love Without Borders meets Bigotry Without Borders

Peace in the Middle East? Hardly, but religious leaders from three faiths all joined together to deliver a united front of hatred in Jerusalem. American wingnut Rev. Leo Giovinetti has been the behind-the-scenes organizer of the group of so-called religious leaders who want to stop the planned WorldPride festival from being held in Jerusalem in August. Read More......

Laura the women's right activist

Uh huh, she's a real lightning bolt. Thank heavens she knows the script and tosses out the classic "democracy" and "freedom" at the right moments. Oh that crazy feminist, she is without a doubt the leading force in the women's rights movement, well known for her, uh, hmmm, well...did you know she is a teacher? Well, OK, at least she taught for two years about twenty years ago.

I don't know if I would be bragging about a five hour stopever that has been in the works for a couple of years but at least she visited Afghanistan, unlike Bushie. Either way, the MSM is lapping up this crap regardless of how irrelevant or staged it all was but that's pretty much what they do best. Read More......

GOP positioning next election issue - voter fraud

Apparently the debate over photo IDs at the voting booth has spread well beyond Georgia and now is going on in Indiana, Wisconsin and probably elsewhere. While I find the debate offensive, I also cannot believe that the Democrats have somehow allowed the GOP to take the upper hand on the election fraud issue. After the last two presidential elections I viewed election fraud as a strong issue to push. There are a lot of Democratic voters who feel like their votes did not count and yet it is the GOP who talks about voter fraud.

Maybe I just need to give it time because Dean only arrived recently but c'mon, this issue should not be controlled by the GOP. Read More......