Reality Vs. Bush, 9/27/06

2:56 am EST September 27th, 2006 | News | 8 Comments

I think it’s a mistake for people to believe that going on the offense against people that want to do harm to the American people makes us less safe.

Reality, 9/27/06

The Iraq war has become the “cause célèbre” for Islamic militants, breeding resentment in Muslim nations and cultivating supporters worldwide, according to portions of a secret intelligence study the Bush administration released Tuesday.

(It’s also a straw man, because we “went on the offense” in Iraq for no reason while leaving our backsides wide open in Afghanistan and Pakistan)

Topic: George W. Bush

Bob Ehrlich’s Pay For Play Sweetheart Deal

1:53 am EST September 27th, 2006 | Republicans | Comments Off

Big bucks developer to MD governor Bob Ehrlich: I’ll scratch your back, then you can scratch mine.

The $4,000 checks started arriving in Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.’s reelection campaign treasury Jan. 2 from such obscure corporations as Freestate Owner LLC, Muirkirk, Chase Limited and President Street Associates.

By Jan. 3, there were seven of the checks, each from a company directly linked to developer Kingdon Gould III, a descendant of railroad barons who is one of Maryland’s most prolific political donors and a vigorous booster for the intercounty connector.

That same day, Ehrlich’s transportation secretary signed off on a final study of the controversial highway, an 18-mile ribbon of asphalt that would extend east from Rockville to the gravel pits where Gould plans a massive commercial and residential development called Konterra.

It’s sad that the rest of us in Maryland don’t have $4,000 checks to wave under the nose of the governor to get his attention.

Topic: 2006 Election, Bob Ehrlich, Maryland

GOP 2006: Making Fun Of A Disabled Vet

12:23 am EST September 27th, 2006 | Republicans | Comments Off

The Republican attack and smear machine is legendarily good at what it does – it attacks, relentlessly, and breaks any who oppose it down to nothing. They regularly cross the line, but rarely in as blatant a way as they have attacked Iraq War veteran and Democratic Congressional candidate Tammy Duckworth. Duckworth lost both legs in Iraq and chose to run for public office. The Republicans callously and maliciously have accused her of “cutting and running”.

During an election debate at the weekend in the outskirts of Chicago, Peter Roskam, the Republican candidate for Illinois’s sixth district, trotted out the familiar line that his Democratic opponent wanted America to “cut and run” from Iraq.

His opponent, Tammy Duckworth, a former National Guard pilot who lost both her legs in Iraq last year when her helicopter was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade, was visibly angry at the exchange. “I just could not believe he would say that to me,” said Ms Duckworth, who now walks on artificial legs with the help of a cane. “I have risked my life to serve my country and you cannot question my patriotism.”

The Duckworth campaign isn’t backing down, either.

Tammy Duckworth has never “cut and run” from anything. Tammy lost her legs fighting in Iraq and to accuse her of wanting to “cut and run” is simply crude. Peter Roskam has no idea what position to take in on Iraq besides the infamous Bush slogans “finish well” and “stay the course” (whatever that means).

Instead of coming up with a real solution to the situation in Iraq, Peter Roskam makes slick comments about an Iraq war veteran. Do we want him to represent us in Congress? Tammy lost both of her legs in Iraq and Peter Roskam’s way of saying thank you is to callously accuse her of wanting to “cut and run.”

Well, Peter, let me tell you this, Tammy can’t “cut and run” and she won’t “cut and run.” But I guess we should expect something like this from someone who worked for Tom Delay and gets his talking points from Karl Rove.

This is your modern Republican party, and how it operates.

Topic: 2006 Election

Paul Waldman Brings The Pain

12:06 am EST September 27th, 2006 | Media | 33 Comments

Paul Waldman, who I work with at Media Matters, lays the smack down on right-winger John Stossel who claims Media Matters is a “smear” site, yet can’t cite diddly to back it up.

(via)

Compare Paul’s performance to “Democratic Strategist” Sascha Burns who went on O’Reilly this Tuesday night completely unprepared and was eaten alive by Billo and his conservative guest. Progressives – if you’re going to go on tv, know what the hell you are doing or don’t bother going on because you just make the rest of us look bad. (by comparison Kirsten Powers and Laura Schwartz both do excellent jobs punditizing from the left on Fox without resorting to Colmes-style submission)

How The World Sees George Allen (And By Extension, Virginia)

12:04 am EST September 27th, 2006 | Uncategorized | Comments Off

From the UK Times: Race slur senator loses ground to Democrats. Proud, Virginia? I don’t think so.

Topic: 2006 Election

GOP Prostitute Attacks Me

10:19 pm EST September 26th, 2006 | News | 8 Comments

Regarding my previous blog entry where I showed that Michael Steele was using the far right GOPUSA to disseminate his attack on Sen. Clinton, right-wing shill and sex-for-cash provocateur Jeff Gannon emailed an attack to the owner of this here blog:

Jeff Gannon <jeff.gannon@jeffgannon.com>
Tue, Sep 26, 2006 at 9:52 PM
To: owillis@gmail.com
you’re trashing Steele through me? that tells me you got nothin. bad news
for you fat ass.

Remember kids, you too can be a male prostitute, a shill for the Republican party and still assert that you’re somehow morally better than a random blogger!

Your Republican party, in action! These are the sort of friends Michael Steele is keeping.

Topic: 2006 Election, Michael Steele

Cultist Malkin: US Intel Agencies Are On The Far Left

9:35 pm EST September 26th, 2006 | News | 7 Comments

When someone is in a cult and is exposed only to the news the cult wishes you to be exposed to, a cult member becomes hostile to anything that challenges that world view. The cultist is so wrapped up in their identity that anything from outside must clearly be explained away lest their whole world be shattered. That leads me to right-wing columnist and tv personality Michelle Malkin’s “analysis” of the NIE’s contents, specifically those segments that don’t follow along blindly witht the wingnut cult’s “them brown people is all eeeevil” thesis:

the big thing that strikes me about the key judgements is that they reflect a dhimmi, historically ignorant view of jihad more suited for the moonbat Left than our premier intelligence agencies

So according to Malkin, because the intelligence community isn’t calling for a Falwell-style holy war on Islam and the entire middle east — it’s clearly liberal propaganda.

I am neither stupid enough or crazed enough to make sense of that.

George Allen: Questions-A-Swirlin’

9:04 pm EST September 26th, 2006 | Uncategorized | 2 Comments

I’m hearing some odd things – like Virginia cops are looking into the Allen deer head story, and that he could resign at some point? I’ll believe it when I see it, but I’ll apply the Fox News standard and just add a question mark…

Topic: 2006 Election

WH Blocking Hurricane Report For Global Warming Reference

8:06 pm EST September 26th, 2006 | News | 7 Comments

The political twisting of science continues.

The Bush administration has blocked release of a report that suggests global warming is contributing to the frequency and strength of hurricanes, the journal Nature reported Tuesday.

The possibility that warming conditions may cause storms to become stronger has generated debate among climate and weather experts, particularly in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

Topic: Global Warming