Republican blogs getting pissed over rumors of Ken Mehl(wo)man's amiguous sexual orientation

Powerlineblog.com, one of the top right-wing political blogs, is winging out over what they call "a Democratic whisper campaign" that incoming RNC chair-designate Ken Mehlman is gay.

Wrong, guys. There is no whisper involved. A lot of us are publicly asking, in an increasingly loud chorus, which way Mehlman swings since there have been rumors for years and he keeps refusing to go on the record and simply say he's straight. Even more odd, he apparently has been willing to say off-the-record that he's straight, in quiet whispers to the media, but when asked to confirm that on-the-record, not a word. Interesting, particularly since there would be no whisper campaign at all if Mehlman would just come clean. His own actions are causing the uproar.

The conservatives of course, in only the way they can, call Mehlman's potentiall gayness "a smear" at the same time they accuse us of being the ones who are now being anti-gay by asking if Mehlman is gay. Which is kind of funny, because it's only anti-gay and a "smear" if you think being gay is bad. Not that the Taliban wing of the GOP gets that.

What Powerlineblog and the rest of them don't realize is that the smear wouldn't be Mehlamn being gay. The smear is Mehlman leading an anti-gay organization and party and re-election campaign for the president. Organizations devoted to using gay people and their rights and their families and their lives as cannon fodder for their own personal political gain.

I could care less if Ken Mehlman fucks guys. What I care about is whether Mehlman fucks guys by night and the rest of us by day. Read the rest of this post...

"Blown them all away in the name of the Lord"

"But you've got to kill the terrorists before the killing stops. And I'm for the president to chase them all over the world. If it takes 10 years, blow them all away in the name of the Lord." - Jerry Falwell, Oct. 24, 2004, CNN.

Anti-Christ, party of one. Read the rest of this post...

David Brock rips CBS a new one over censorship of church ad

This is getting good. CBS responded to David Brock at Media Matters over its censorship of a United Church of Christ ad, claiming it was controversial because it had a message that they welcome everyone into their churches (CBS argued that Bush is proposing to ban gay civil marriage and somehow this means they can't run ads about gays and other minorities being welcome to pray in UCC churches).

Well, CBS' latest response to David Brock is so full of holes, and is starting to make very clear that CBS is happy to run "issue advocacy" ads (even though the UCC ad WASN'T one) so long as the person buying the ad is a Republican.

David rips them, read it. Read the rest of this post...

Saturday morning open thread

Knoodle. Read the rest of this post...

McCain finds spare time to focus on baseball since all is well in DC

Thank goodness we have people in Washington such as John McCain. How else would citizens ever make it through their lives without the brave support of politicians like him? Clearly resolving the issue of doped up professional athletes is much more important than resolving silly little problems such as the faltering economy, the failing war in Iraq, or whatever other stupid idea Blue State punks worry about. I, for one, wish we could see more action out of Washington to resolve issues related to welfare mama sports team owners, whining doped up athletes and idiotic fans who pay fund this problem. Hooray and please jump on the other critical issue of flag burning because that is so much more important than focusing on the economy, civil and human rights or the war in Iraq. Thank you Senator McCain, you are my hero.
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Putin lectures about danger of dictatorships, rips on US

This is almost as funny as the Bush team talking about democracy and freedom. I do not really disagree with his assertion, but coming from him it's odd. And to think "Vlad" and George were such good friends just a few weeks ago.

Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a blistering attack on the United States, accusing it of running a "dictatorship" over global affairs and able only to worsen humanity's problems.

"Dictatorship, the more so dictatorship in international affairs, has never solved and could not have solved such problems in the history of mankind," Putin said.

"Only a balanced democratic system of international law," could help ease those problems, he said.

"Even when dictatorship is beautifully gift-wrapped in pseudo-democratic phraseology it has never been capable of resolving such systemic problems. On the contrary, it can only make them worse," Putin said.

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Start looking out for holiday shopping deals

Somehow merchants across the US failed to see that the economy is still soft, jobs are not yet rebouding and buyers are still a bit nervous out there. You just have to wonder about the Kool-Aid drinkers out there that chose to take the word of the people like the Bush team cheerleaders instead of market realities. US merchants must be hiring consultants and analysts from backwater Red States or Harvard MBA's like Bush with miscalculations like these. It's either collective stupidity from these merchants or blind greed.

After the numbers from Thanksgiving weekend were counted, retailers realized that shoppers bought only what was drastically discounted.

Department stores like Lord & Taylor and Bloomingdale's are already running supersales, their racks dotted with signs proclaiming 20 to 40 percent discounts.

In a report issued yesterday, Margaret Mager, an analyst with Goldman, Sachs, advised her customers to "expect higher promos ahead."

"We know that November was disappointing," she said in an interview. "Thirteen out of 16 of the specialty retailers we track came in below expectations."

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