Culture of Corruption: Frist, DeLay

5:09 am EST September 24th, 2005 | Republicans | 32 Comments

What happens when you let Cons run our government? It rots.

The news that federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission are looking into Frist s sale of stock in HCA Inc., the hospital operating company founded by his family, comes as a criminal investigation continues of Jack Abramoff, a high-powered Republican lobbyist, and his ties to DeLay of Texas.

Less than a week ago, a former White House official was arrested in the Abramoff investigation.

Con ideology doesn’t actually work for anyone besides the cons themselves who will say and do anything to line their pockets at the expense of America and common decency.

No Time for Back Patting

4:09 am EST September 24th, 2005 | Democrats | 9 Comments

It is clear that George W. Bush is the walking wounded

A president who roamed across the national and world stages with an unshakable self-assurance that comforted Republicans and confounded critics since 2001 suddenly finds himself struggling to reclaim his swagger. Bush’s standing with the public — and within the Republican Party — has been battered by a failed Social Security campaign, violence in Iraq, and most recently Hurricane Katrina. His approval ratings, 42 percent in the most recent Washington Post-ABC poll, have never been lower.

A president who normally thrives on tough talk and self-assurance finds himself at what aides privately describe as a low point in office, one that is changing the psychic and political aura of the White House, as well as its distinctive political approach.

To the progressive movement, specifically the Democratic Party: you didn’t do any of this. You didn’t make this happen. These wounds of Team Bush’s are completely self-inflicted, from the Iraq nightmare, to high gas prices to the woefully inept and almost homicidal response to Hurricane Katrina. Unlike the obstacles that beleagured President Clinton, none of this happened to the Bushies because of their political opponents but rather – in spite of them. The George Bush of today is not much different from the George Bush who beat John Kerry in Novemeber.

What next?

The left needs to realize that they are no longer fighting George Bush. He won reelection and the only thing he has left to win is how he is remembered – his legacy. You create that narrative not by making up ads against Bush or participating in ineffectual protests that have no clue why they exist. It’s up to the politicians and the pundit class to make it clear that the malaise rolling across America is the result of con ideology gone mainstream.

The idea that the federal government can’t properly respond to a natural disaster because an unqualified crony pal of the president is in charge is what happens when you put these cons into office. When we have high gas prices and the White House makes no effort to stave them off, that’s what happens when you have a con-run government. When terrorists kill us and we remain unable to find and visit vengeance upon them, that’s a side effect of having a con in charge – it’s what they do, how they do it. That good service men and women are stuck in a foreign land dying for a cause nobody can really articulate for God knows how long, is what you get when you elect these cons into office.

From top to bottom, from local to national office, the con movement is bad for America and is making life harder, less profitable and less safe for its citizens. George Bush is just the figurehead here, you aren’t running and advocating against him anymore – but against the perverted movement he stands for.

Know Your Cons

7:09 pm EST September 23rd, 2005 | Republicans | 14 Comments

Rush Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh’s nationally syndicated radio show has an estimated audience of nearly 15 million weekly listeners. It is syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks, a subsidiary of radio conglomerate Clear Channel Communications. Limbaugh also authored two books in collaborations with conservative writers: The Way Things Ought to Be (1992) with Wall Street Journal columnist John Fund and See, I Told You So (1993) with WorldNetDaily.com editor Joseph Farah.

Limbaugh regularly feeds his audience a diet of falsehoods, misstatements, distortions, invective, and childish put-downs in service of the conservative movement. During his long reign over the airwaves, Limbaugh has called abortion rights activists “feminazis”, told an African-American caller to “take that bone out of your nose,” referred to prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib as “blow[ing] some steam off, ” and declared that “what’s good for Al Qaeda is good for the Democratic Party.” He touts his close connections to Republicans, claiming that he “[g]ot a big hug” from President George W. Bush during a 2004 White House visit.

People With Too Much Time On Their Hands

6:09 pm EST September 23rd, 2005 | Politics | 61 Comments

Martha Burk:

Martha Burk, the chairwoman of the National Council of Women’s Organizations, said she intends to write letters of protest to the league and to U.S. TV network NBC over the NHL’s new advertising campaign, which is set to debut next week.

Burk called offensive a 30-second ad the NHL produced to trumpet its return to the ice.

[...]

Burk said the ad “is offensive on several levels.”

“The woman is dressed provocatively and when she asks the player if he’s ready, it’s a double-entendre in my view,” Burk said in an interview. “She’s in the ad as a groomer, a sex object.

“The commercial is clearly selling sex and violence and the last image in that commercial is a young boy watching this, so he’s clearly the customer they’re after, or it’s a misguided attempt to draw in families,” Burk said. “The ad is just gratuitous.”

You can see the ad here. It is neither offensive or sexist. Yes, the woman is attractive, but hell — so is the guy suiting up to play hockey. In case Ms. Burk hasn’t been paying attention, television is a pretty people’s medium. Methinks somebody needs a freaking hobby.

Two Americas

5:09 pm EST September 23rd, 2005 | News | 9 Comments

In the ownership society, the Republican utopia, you are on your own.

Completely.

Wilma Skinner would like to scream at the officials of this city. If only they would pick up their phones.

“I done called for a shelter, I done called for help. There ain’t none. No one answers,” she said, standing in blistering heat outside a check-cashing store that had just run out of its main commodity. “Everyone just says, ‘Get out, get out.’ I’ve got no way of getting out. And now I’ve got no money.”

Topic: Racism

And CNN Wonders Why The Hell They’re Getting Their Butts Kicked

4:09 pm EST September 23rd, 2005 | Politics | 15 Comments

This Game Again

3:09 pm EST September 23rd, 2005 | Politics | 16 Comments

Via John.

You are a Social Liberal (76% permissive) and an… Economic Moderate (41% permissive) You are best described as a: Democrat

Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid

Culture of Corruption

1:09 pm EST September 23rd, 2005 | Republicans | 11 Comments

Bill Frist under SEC investigation

Hospital operator HCA Inc. said Friday that federal prosecutors have issued a subpoena for documents the company believes may be related to the sale of its stock by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.

If this were Tom Daschle in ’01 it would be front page news, but under the current media regime it’s just “eh”.

Captain Ed’s Cavalcade of Stupidity

1:09 pm EST September 23rd, 2005 | Uncategorized | 82 Comments

Ed of “Captain Ed” gets his barnacles in a bunch after I called him out for describing Michael Steele as “articulate”, a phrase known throughout American history as a way to damn succesful blacks (and even though I don’t like Steele, being Lt. Governor is an achievement) with faint praise – such as “we expected him to sound like Buckwheat but he really surprised us” . What’s intriguing is that the good Captain and his defenders (whose level of critique gets no more complex than calling me “fat”) like to make this out as me being one of those mythical angry liberals making a mountain out of a molehill. But let’s go back to ~~Ahab’s~~ Ed’s original post, and the second comment there:

Captain Ed, may I recommend not using the modifier “articulate” when refering to african americans?

So, even Ed’s right wing pals understand that the modifier carries a lot of baggage.

You know, I’m not one to make wild speculation about people, but this once again seems to tell me that bloggers – especially cons – are in some sort of homogenous world where black people are just some folks you see on television or cleaning up your table. The idea that a black person would point out that you’re using a loaded word simply doesn’t occur to them. And why should it? Rush/Instapundit/Newsmax/Wall Street Journal all agree… so of course everyone does.

Right?

Topic: Conservative

Photo Op Presidency

1:09 pm EST September 23rd, 2005 | News | 12 Comments

Proving once again that Bush is more concerned about looking like a leader than actually being a leader

Bush visited the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Washington before flying later in the day to his home state of Texas, where highways were jammed with people trying to escape Rita’s expected landfall early Saturday. The president was to review preparations and thank first responders who were among the hundreds of emergency personnel dispatched to expected disaster areas.

The truth is they don’t know how and they never will. It’s all for the cameras, all for show. Once it gets down to the nitty gritty its just so much excrement.

Topic: George W. Bush