Archive for June, 2005
There’s an interview with me in today’s National Journal Blogometer
It happens, on occasion. But he’s right here that CNN, MSNBC, and FOX are really missing the boat on getting their video assets out there on the web. They all pump out a lot of video, but they all use popups and make their video blog unfriendly (not to mention MSNBC’s boneheaded decision to exclude all browsers but IE from using their stuff). The first web news provider who makes it a no-brainer to link to their video will win the video war.
The right has had a lot of fun claiming that while President Clinton led based on polls, George Bush has led based on “his gut”. Anyone who’s paid attention for five seconds knows this, but the myth persists.
End it, now.
The White House recently brought onto its staff one of the nation’s top academic experts on public opinion during wartime, whose studies are now helping Bush craft his message two years into a war with no easy end in sight. Behind the president’s speech is a conviction among White House officials that the battle for public opinion on Iraq hinges on their success in convincing Americans that, whatever their views of going to war in the first place, the conflict there must and can be won.
It’s time somebody started saying these things, that it’s coming from “America’s Dad” is that much more powerful.
Bill Cosby: African-Americans ‘Not Holding Up Their End of the Deal’
Cosby calls his town meetings “call outs” and has traveled to 12 cities so far, spreading his message of personal responsibility.
He has lambasted “lower-economic people,” parents who spend more on athletic shoes than education, and children who use poor English and curse constantly. He has said blacks need to stop blaming whites and take control of their children and their communities.
“Nine hundred kids enter many of these high schools, and 35 walk out with diplomas,” Cosby told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “The rest are in prison, pregnant or wandering around doing nothing.”
Critics have dubbed it the “Blame the Poor Tour,” and blasted Cosby’s remarks as hurtful and stereotypical.
Martin asked Cosby about those criticisms.
“I would say they are trying to move away from the problem,” Cosby said. “They’re trying to deal me some cards other than the hand that I’m talking about. I don’t talk about the television set that works. I call the mechanic about that one that’s broken.”
Black America needs to hear this if there is any hope for its future survival.
I noted in the past with regard to the Schiavo controversy, that the right’s habit of believing the nonsense in its own echo chamber severely hampers them when it comes to issues with a definite “yes” or “no” to them. The Schiavo supporters sounded practically deranged when they kept insisting that the young woman needed “just a glass of water” and swore up and down that she was perfectly fine because of what they had read on right-wing blogs and media sites.
I see it happening again now with the administration and Iraq. For so long now they’ve been able to say “9/11, 9/11″ and the lapdog mainstream media ceases the little bit of yelping they do in order to the toe the company line, that Bush felt that’s all he needed to do to stem the drop in his approval rating. That is, instead of presenting a cohesive strategy for why we’re in Iraq, what we’re doing there, and how we plan to leave he went to the strategy that works with the FOX, Newsmax, and Instapundit crowd: 9/11.
But I think that card is overplayed in the sense that when most Americans think 9/11, they think of the terrorist we have not caught yet - 4 years later, and our soldiers in Afghanistan who have been killed by the supposedly defeated Taliban, and we wonder what the hell we’re doing in Iraq when we’ve got a global war on terrorism to undertake.
I may not like him, but it is in the interests of my nation for George W. Bush to lead the fight against terrorists who want to kill us, but his response is empty rhetoric that will lead to insecurity for us all.
Ezra crunches the numbers from Dear Leaders propaganda speech. Surprise, surprise, WMDs are still missing.
Senator Reid:
Tonight s address offered the President an excellent opportunity to level with the American people about the current situation in Iraq, put forth a path for success, and provide the means to assess our progress. Unfortunately he fell short on all counts.
There is a growing feeling among the American people that the President s Iraq policy is adrift, disconnected from the reality on the ground and in need of major mid-course corrections. Staying the course, as the President advocates, is neither sustainable nor likely to lead to the success we all seek.
The President s numerous references to September 11th did not provide a way forward in Iraq, they only served to remind the American people that our most dangerous enemy, namely Osama bin Laden, is still on the loose and Al Qaeda remains capable of doing this nation great harm nearly four years after it attacked America.
Stuart has a rapid response tool for you to use to educate the media about the administration’s failure.
Oh look, look who found the wonders of polls yet again. Wonder how long before he doubts their integrity once more?
My colleague at Media Matters, Simon Maloy, has an excellent piece about how silly the right sounds when they try to claim South Park as their own: Oh My God! They Tried to Steal South Park!
South Park lambasted the Bush administration and the GOP during the Terri Schiavo controversy. After Kenny suffers yet another unfortunate accident and ends up in a persistent vegetative state, he becomes the focal point in a war between heaven and hell. For Satan, victory requires that Kenny’s feeding tube remain inserted (if he dies, Kenny will lead God’s armies against Satan). When Satan inquires of his evil servant, Kevin, how he plans to keep Kenny alive, Kevin responds: “I will do what we always do: use the Republicans.”
Examples of South Park’s conservative mockery abound; targets have included Bill O’Reilly, country music, Mormons, gun nuts, Wal-Mart, and other conservative shibboleths.
Bush was for an exit strategy before he was against it.
Just saw on C-SPAN that Patrick Hynes, who is behind the right-wing site Ankle Biting Pundits (aka CrushKerry.com), is a Republican political consultant.
Honestly, among so many of the major right-wing blogs are the same old people who have been in the political world for so long, while on the left I see people who are honest to goodness outsiders who are becoming a part of the political class (a year and a half ago, I - for instance - was working at a mortgage company).
Why has the right had to astroturf the blogosphere?
Hello FIRSTNAME LASTNAME,
It’s been some time since we last communicated. Since the November election I’ve used this email list to let you know how much I appreciated your support in 2004 and to get you to sign petitions for innocous legislation like the Saving Babies for America Act. But I come to you today with a modest proposal, a proposal I feel is best for America.
Senate Bill 203320.23, the “Do Over Act of 2005″ is a simple yet powerful piece of legislation I urge you to support. What the Do Over Act would do is overturn the results of the 2004 election and give America the chance, once again, to decide between George W. Bush and me, John Kerry. I’ve been watching how lame Bush’s second term is, and I’ve said out loud “how the f*ck did I lose to this guy?”. Seriously, have you seen his disapproval numbers, the neverending ineptitude of this administration? There’s no way I could have lost to him.
So I’m taking America back to its playground roots, a time of real American values, where one only had to close one’s eyes and declare “do over”. Click here to sign our petition and let’s do this thing over again.
(I promise not to wuss out or go windsurfing.)
Sincerely,
John Kerry
John Hawkins of Right Wing News gives Ed Klein a fluff job interview about the smear book on Sen. Clinton, please note the laughable section in which Hawkins tries to buck up Klein by comparing him to other right-wing smear artists like Gary Aldrich (the bitter ex-Secret Service guy who trafficked in untrue and unsourced gossip like Klein does).
Ah, your misogyny is showing guys. Again.
Because George Soros may be a part of the team buying the Nationals, the GOP has decided to intervene in the free market.
In the American Idol of Greatness, Ronald Reagan won. So, there’s obviously no need to wonder about the sanity of the voting public. America is nuts.
(then again, it took a mass email from groups like the right-wing Citizen’s United to push Ronny over the top)
Lord Vader: Good evening. I’m having this press conference today in order to counter some of the headlines you’re reading in the media. You know, it’s interesting how the mainstream media is always looking on the downside of things. Yes, it’s true that the rebel alliance isn’t completely crushed as of yet, but they ignore the progress the Empire has made thus far. What of the labor camps on Rebulon? The death purges on Phlanges 3? And I have yet to read a headline about The Great Ewok Cleansing. A more cynical sith lord would say that the liberal media isn’t reporting the whole story. Ok, Helen?
Q: Lord Vader, some reports indicate that the stormtroopers are insufficiently armored, that they have been inadequately trained and have been referred to as simply cannon fodder . How do you respond to that?
Lord Vader: I don’t find those sort of characterizations helpful, and I would prefer to not respond to anonymous quotes. That said, I resent the hate speech against our glorious stormtroopers. It represents this sort of… hate speech that is so embraced by the Hate The Empire left. It’s not patriotic, and is frankly a violation of the Empire’s Lack of Freedom of Speech Act we imposed in order to fight terrorists. Next.
Q: There are rumors that you might be stepping down due to ill health.
Lord Vader: There are no such rumors.
Q: There are no such rumors.
Lord Vader: You admire my bold leadership style.
Q: I admire your bold leadership style.
Lord Vader: Next.
Q: My Lord, are there any further plans to communicate the value of membership in the Empire to other nations? And by communicate, I mean, a series of invasions.
Lord Vader: Well… wait a minute, are you from FOX News?
Q: Yes my Lord.
Lord Vader: Fantastic! I just want to tell you I love the O’Reilly Factor. I often wish I could just tell the enemies of the Empire to just shut up . But I just kill them. And Fair and Balanced — what a great concept! I’ve often told the other folks in the Empire leadership that simply making things up is the best propaganda we could ever think of. You guys at FOX, you make our job so much easier. I salute you. Next, Jeff…
Q: Jeff Gannon, Talon News. Lord Vader, beloved leader and master sith lord, some of your political opponents like Viceroy Reid have mocked your bold and decisive economic policies. They claim that there are bread lines on Tatooine, water shortages on Naboo how can you work with people so disconnected from reality?
Lord Vader: It’s hard, Jeff. Real hard. It’s hard work to go about dominating the universe when there are these constant whinings about freedom and civil rights and protests against intergalactic facist domination . My job isn’t easy. I yearn for the day when the entire known universe is under the yoke of the Empire, but I must deal with the nattering nabobs of negativism both in the political classes and in the mainstream media in order to further our oppresive agenda. It is hard work.
Q: A follow-up sir…
Lord Vader: Yes?
Q: I believe you forgot to leave the credits on the bedside table last night.
Lord Vader: Did I?
Q: Yes sir.
Lord Vader: I paid you in full for your sexual services.
Q: You paid me in full for my sexual services.
Lord Vader: My mask and the heavy breathing is erotic.
Q: Your mask and the heavy breathing is erotic.
Lord Vader: Well, thank you all for attending this press conference. I do hope that the threatened penalty of death was not too nerve-wracking for you. Those of you in the biased or neutered press may return to your organizations. The rest of you are doomed to death in the sarlac pits. May the Force bless the Empire, and nowhere else.
Holy crap that was good. I was totally not prepared for it to be that good a movie (although I can think of several thousand actresses that would have been better than Katie Holmes whose acting skills seem to be limited to “emote”). That said, watching this video diary from Bryan Singer of the making of Superman Returns is starting to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
Batman Begins : The Official Movie GuideThe Rove speech blaming everything on liberals is a classic “look over here” ploy. I don’t think progressives should allow such smears to go without response, but in our responses we must make clear that this is Bush and the Republicans dividing us in order to cover up their failures in the War in Iraq and the War on Terror. Respond and attack, respond and attack.
Deadliest day yet for U.S. women serving in Iraq
Musharraf: Bin Laden Tips Welcome
Suicide bomber kills at least 9 in Iraq
The Bush Strategy: Troops Won t Return Home For Several More Years
Somehow I don’t think us liberals are the biggest threat America currently faces, it seems the president believes otherwise.
According to Jon Henke, it isn’t okay to point out the corrosive agenda of the right-wing, because we have to preserve the pretense that “both sides” are equally bad. Does anyone wonder why journalism is so bad? Does anyone still wonder why so many liberal pundits stink? They buy into this nonsense.
Just noticed this email from him uses “Washington Republicans” twice…
Citizens United, along with a bunch of other far right websites are trying to skew the results of Discovery’s “Greatest American” program by voting for Reagan. Please go there and vote for anyone but Reagan (my choice is Martin Luther King, but I feel the others are similarly worthy).
Ronald Reagan is not The Greatest American or else its time to pack up and go home.
Here’s Patrick Ruffini, until a few months ago a paid member of the Bush-Cheney re-election team unleashing a long string of spin about how supposedly liberals have not been supportive of the war on terror. Patrick even goes so far as to revive the canard about John Kerry waging a more sensitive war on terror when both Dick Cheney and George Bush urged sensitivity in the global war on terrororism.
Is this an oversight on Patrick’s fault? Did he just forget? No, not at all. This is how they operate. If it means smearing half of our nation in order to prop up their political idols, the right is ready willing and able. If they can get help from the useless liberal wing of the left, the better for them, but they’ll defile our side any way.
I have been harping on this for years now, I thought people would wake up after 2000, wake up after the 2002 midterms, wake up after the 2004 election: these people are the enemy and the only way to defeat them is to fight back as hard as they kick us down.
Are we learning yet, folks, or do you want to lose some more?
Maybe he realized he’s in a blue state and holding on to his seat by a thread but Rick Santorum says that Karl Rove doesn’t speak for him…
