That will be the day

The latest defense of gay hookers from really conservative Republican activists. My favorite line:

Gannon may have the last laugh in an affair that has turned nasty. He could even return to White House briefings.

Yeah, maybe when Jeff Stryker becomes president. Until then, I wouldn't hold your breath. Read the rest of this post...

Chris Rock slammed Bush at the Oscars

Excellent.

According to the DU crowd, it went something like this:

Bush is a genius. I mean think about it. He was basically reapplying for his job last year at the same time a movie was being played all across the country showing what a crappy job he did. He got into office and we had a surplus. Now, we're like 70 trillion dollars in debt. Now let's say you worked at the GAP. You're closing out at the end of the day, and your register comes up 70 trillion dollars short. You're gonna get in trouble over that. Not Bush. No, he figured out a way to keep his job.

He then went into a similar bit about you working at the GAP and starting a war with Banana Republic because they're selling toxic tank tops, but then after a thousand employees are killed, you figure out Banana Republic doesn't even sell tank tops.

Read the rest of this post...

It's Oscar night?

Uh oh. I just called Michael in NYC. He's threatened to take away my gay card. Apparently the Oscars are on. Oops. I mean, I'm used to not knowing when the Superbowl is coming, but the Oscars? What are they doing on in February? Oh, have them on now. Did I miss much? Who's hosting? Read the rest of this post...

Sunday night open thread

Even more snow being predicted now. Read the rest of this post...

Excellent dissection of GannonGuckert's latest revisionism

A very good analysis that also does a good job of reprising the facts in this case for anyone who may be new to all of this. Read the rest of this post...

Prince Charles whining on again, wants everyone to feel sorry for him

Now what exactly did this inbred clown ever do in his life besides be born into royalty? The British royals don't mind sponging off of the British people who allow them to keep their silly little titles and not have to work (heavens no, that is not what aristocracy does) and now the guy wants us to feel sorry for him ? Sorry but he lives a very public life, never once stepping down or out of his position and he wants to talk about compassion. Just allowing him and his family to maintain their position is compassion enough. Diana may have been a media whore herself but at least she attempted (at times) to get out of the media spotlight and do something for the good of the world. Good grief. Read the rest of this post...

Afternoon open thread

They're saying 4 to 8 inches of snow for DC on Monday. Be fun if we actually get it. Read the rest of this post...

What is happening with Syria?

With few exceptions, mainly the Syrian government, everyone is pretty sure that Syria was behind the murder of former Lebanese PM Rafiq Hariri and now fingers are being pointed in the direction of Damascus for yesterdays suicide bombing in Tel Aviv. Something tells me that if both of these attacks are related to Syria then they are feeling pretty confident in their newly formed alliance with Iran.

The neocons are looking for a fight with Syria but with our hands full in Iraq, the thought of taking on an Iran supported Syria is not an attractive thought. Who knows how strong those bonds are and iff Iran would actually intervene militarily but Syria is acting as though the relationship is pretty solid. Feeling safer yet? Read the rest of this post...

FYI - There are a ton of Gannon stories in the lesser-known papers today across the country

It's really quite fascinating. Lots of opinion pieces in small papers I've never even heard of. This one made me laugh out loud:

As for the Republican poseur Jeff/James/Whatshisname - in general, one must choose whether to associate in life with political whores or the more traditional variety. But please, do not try to act all self-righteous and victimized if you get caught trying to cross over.

Yes, I've heard of the St. Petersburg Times, but lots of the others today are in very obscure papers. Read the rest of this post...

The cartoons keep coming

From J Darcy of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Read the rest of this post...

Right-wing Web site says Ken Mehlman isn't gay

Now this is gonna get interesting. If they can say it so definitively (false allegations, they say), then why can't Ken just come clean publicly and embrace his alleged heterosexuality?

Also, as Atrios points out, they're incensed about NYY reporter Adam Nagourney's secret personal diary, and that no lefties are upset about it.

Well, no one said you had to be particularly bright to be a conservative journalist. Read the rest of this post...

More Maureen Dowd on Gannon/Guckert

Ok, admittedly, I am a huge fan of Maureen Dowd. And, she has been on a roll with the Gannon/Guckert story.

In her column today about Bush and the media, she wrote:

The only balance W. likes is the slavering, Pravda-like "Fair and Balanced" coverage Fox News provides. Mr. Bush pledges to spread democracy while his officials strive to create a Potemkin press village at home. This White House seems to prefer softball questions from a self-advertised male escort with a fake name to hardball questions from journalists with real names; it prefers tossing journalists who protect their sources into the gulag to giving up the officials who broke the law by leaking the name of their own C.I.A. agent.

Note to other journalists: this is an accurate description...."self-advertised male escort." You aren't really invading the privacy or outing someone who advertises on-line.

Also, today, she was on a panel on Meet the Press with Tom Friedman and William Safire. Answering a question about Bush and foreign policy, she worked in a comment about how the Gannongate...didn't mention him by name...just the idea that the Bush people liked having him in the press corps. Russert, Friedman and Safire all got a big yuck out of that one.

Maureen Dowd just gets it. Love her. Read the rest of this post...

Santorum and his pals kicked around on Soc. Security

Republicans were met with serious opposition to the plan to destroy Social Security in their home states and districts last week. The leader of the plan in the Senate, Rick Santorum, really got kicked around in PA week during his town meetings on Social Security according to today's New York Times:

Mr. Santorum complained that he was dogged all week by opponents of the White House plan who dominated news coverage. Mr. Santorum, who is the third-ranking Republican in the Senate leadership and chairman of the subcommittee on Social Security, was heckled by college students - the very audience the Bush administration was counting on - and peppered with questions from retirees.

"Clearly the other side is better organized," Mr. Santorum said. "They got people to all these events. They had seniors lined up to ask questions, they had staff people running up passing them notes."

Imagine that, Rick Santorum. Your constituents are opposed to the plan to gut Social Security and they let you know. And you seem to be irritated about it. Tough shit.

And, shock of all shock to the Republicans: The other side IS organized. The Rs really hate that. They want to do things their way without hearing from those pesky voters.

I'm sure Santorum is scratching that pea brain of his, trying to figure out why he gets hard questions. He was at an event with Bush in Pennsylvania a couple weeks ago and everyone loved the President's plan. Kinda different when the real people, who don't have to sign loyalty oaths, get to express their opinions.

According tho the Times, " Mr. Santorum described himself as encouraged at the level of interest..." Let's all make sure that level of interest is sustained and used to defeat him in November 2006. Read the rest of this post...

Bush strikes out with Putin, Iran signs nuclear fuel deal

What a display of international political skill George. Looks like you've been tossed around like a rag doll by good old Vlad. You sure are making the world a safer place. Read the rest of this post...

The GOP steamroller moves ahead with medical malpractice

This is yet another issue where the Dem's have allowed the GOP to dominate the discussion. I am not in favor of attorneys filing unnecessary lawsuits but let's look a bit more closely at this issue before everyone starts complaining about out-of-control trial attorneys. I personally have had two doctors screw up on me and I know of a number of friends and family who have had problems which could potentially be called medical malpractice, including one person who went in for a routine operation and died (in his late 40's), but I do not know of any attorney who would take on those cases. Are there bad examples out there? Sure, no doubt. Do those make up a large majority of the overall cases? Doubtful.

The famous tried and true Republican method of locating an obscure abuse or even creating one and then making blanket statements about the entire industry is getting old. I did not buy into it when the GOP loved to talk about the poor, black, welfare mama who picked up her Social Security check in her Cadillac and I'm not buying into it now. A few tidbits from the article:

• Medical errors are estimated to be responsible for 45,000 to 98,000 deaths a year - more than those caused by breast cancer, AIDS or motor vehicle accidents, according to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.
• Last year, the Institute for Legal Reform, an affiliate of the Chamber of Commerce, and the American Medical Association, the physicians' advocacy group, spent a total of $33.8 million on lobbying, according to PoliticalMoneyLine, which tracks federal lobbying. The trial lawyers' association spent $2.9 million on federal lobbying, PoliticalMoneyLine reported.
• He [ Todd A. Smith, Partner, Power, Rogers & Smith] says he decides to take fewer than 3 in 100 cases that are brought to his firm. "We say to people right off that a bad outcome does not mean you have a medical negligence case," he said.

Read the rest of this post...

Racists for Gannon

CrooksAndLiars.com informs us that Ann Coulter has just published a racist defense of Jeff Gannon.

This is what she wrote - which was then edited out by her syndicator who probably realized that racist attacks against Arabs probably aren't the most appropriate thing to publish if your name isn't David Duke. How does this woman even work in this country?



"Old Arab?" What the hell does that mean? Why does the GOP increasingly tie its party to vile, hateful, angry, bigoted people? Yet at the same time they think they're going to convince Latinos and blacks that they love people of color, really they do. Yeah, right. I can't wait to see the day that the mainstream of the GOP has to deal with an influx of Latinos and blacks in the party. That will be a day to remember.

You can see the entire article here. Read the rest of this post...

Late night open thread

Gnite Read the rest of this post...