Get Out The Vote

In an effort to maximize Democratic turnout nationwide on Tuesday, Roger Ailes promises that for each state that Senator Kerry wins, this blog will post, on consecutive days beginning November 3, at least three items per day. Good ones, too.

Note: This does not constitute payment for votes, since I am offering nothing of value.

Speaking seriously -- although my promise is serious -- I have no illusion this blog has changed anyone's mind, or will change anyone's mind. And, at this point, there are no more minds left to be changed. There are only ballots to be cast.

It's up to all of us now. Let's not let ourselves down.

We can win.

We have the power.

Another Faux Whore

"In one sign of the enormous stakes involved for the Kerry campaign, campaign officials reacted furiously to a discussion on Fox News on Friday night in which a guest commentator, David Johnson, a Republican political operative, said it 'looks like an endorsement by Osama bin Laden of John Kerry.'

A Fox commentator, Alan Colmes, interjected, 'I don't think he's going to have a Kerry-Edwards sticker in the cave.'

But the anchor, Neil Cavuto, replied: 'He's all but doing that. I thought I saw a button.'

Kerry aides quickly demanded a retraction by Fox, and one threatened to throw the network's producer off the campaign plane."

From 30,000 feet, I hope.

Say Anything

Can I get a whore?

KURTZ: President Bush and Senator Kerry facing off on the trail during the final days of this campaign about the story dominating headlines this past week. "The New York Times," in cooperation with "60 Minutes," reported Monday that U.S. troops had failed to secure 380 tons of high grade ammunition at an Iraqi facility called al Qa Qaa...

DAVID FRUM, NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE: I think it is a phony story. Look, there may be some truth in it. It may ultimately prove to be a good story. But I think "The New York Times" and CBS were very driven by their desire to get this out before the election. And so they did not...

KURTZ: Do you seriously believe -- I mean, this came to them from a letter written by the Iraqi interim government a few days before the story. Do you seriously think they said, a-ha, we can use this and we can get Bush with this story?

FRUM: No, I think what happens is one step more removed. It is very much like what happened with the forged National Guard story. I think that there are certain circumstances where the natural skepticism of some people in the media, their natural, their normal desire to complete the job gets eroded by their passions.

So in the forged documents story, here was something that was a pretty obvious fake, and yet Dan Rather was fooled. He was fooled because he wanted to be fooled.

KURTZ: This story is not fake.

FRUM: This is not fake. ...

Pornographers For Bush/Cheney

It's a few days old, but this story from the Los Angeles Times might explain how Sinclair Broadcasting CEO John-David Smith got his interest in prostitutes, and how he got that Mercedes he approached them in.

Long before the company began its march toward its current media empire, David Smith in the mid-1970s was a partner in a company called Cine Processors, according to public records and an interview with one of his former partners.

David E. Williams, a co-partner in the business with Smith, said the Baltimore company turned out hundreds of copies of 8mm pornographic films at a property which was owned at the time, records show, by the Commercial Radio Institute, the company founded and headed by Smith's father, Julian.

Williams -- who eventually had a falling out with Smith over expenses, and money Williams says he was owed for medical bills stemming from an automobile accident while on company business -- said that Cine dealt exclusively in pornographic films. Repeated requests for comment from David Smith, now 54, went unanswered.

Mark Hyman: "No, no, no, we were never going to show Stolen Honor. It was Swollen Honor!"

A Programming Note

James Wolcott, blogger and author of the Roger-recommended Attack Poodles and Other Media Mutants, will be appearing on C-SPAN2 this afternoon/morning. Wolcott writes:

Sunday at noon eastern time, C-SPAN 2 will be running the 90 minute chat Jay Nordlinger and I had about 2004 political books, hosted by the lovely and gracious Connie Doeble. It was probably best that C-SPAN vetoed my fun suggestion that Mr. Nordlinger and I dress up in Crip and Blood colors, for it made for a more civil exchange of reckless accusations and witty observations, such as my calling Bernard Goldberg "a disgruntled gasbag."

This should cleanse the palete nicely after a bitter breakfast of Pumpkinhead, Wolf and Howie the Putz.

Update: This program aired live last Thursday, so you can watch it here as well.

p.s. Nordlinger looks like Karl Rove's double, sans Rove's double chins. Feed Nordlinger a few cheeseburgers and he can do Uncle Karl's jail time for him.

Almost Daylight

Don't forget to set your clock back one hour on October 31.

Don't forget to turn the clock forward 100 years on November 2.

Markos Moulitsas Zuniga of the Daily Kos suffers the ultimate insult.

Do Not Call

Like most sane people, I've been enjoying the absence of telemarketing messages on my voice mail and the absence of evening interruptions from phone solicitors. I can't recall the last time I've heard from a carpet cleaner, roofer or vacation-scam peddler.

In the past few weeks I've gotten no recorded calls from political campaigns, either, even though I recieved many right before the elections in 2000 and 2002. I understood that political campaigns/candidates were exempt from the Do Not Call Registry legislation. Have politicians taken the hint from the popularity of Do Not Call and voluntarily abandoned the practice so as not to annoy potential voters?

(You know, if I was an actual reporter instead of just a blogger, I could investigate this.)

O'Reilly Post-Mortem

In comments, Cybelle asks:

Bill and his lawyers are claiming that there was no "wrong doing". wtf? Sexually harassing an employee and threatening her _is_ "wrong doing". What world do these people live in? Or is that some kind of lawyer speak for "this is over"?

It's lawyer speak for you can buy anything for enough money.

Many settlement agreements in civil suits contain a boilerplate recital that the defendant does not admit liability, that the settlement is only the compromise of a disputed claim, that the defendant is merely "buying his/her/its peace." The defendant denies fault, but the plaintiff does not agree.

The O'Reilly settlement contains a statement that the parties assert there was "no wrongdoing whatsoever" by any of the parties, which also means that O'Reilly is admitting Mackris and her lawyer were not trying to extort money from him. Which, implicitly, at least, negates the assertion that O'Reilly didn't do anything wrong -- O'Reilly is admitting that Mackris had good reason to demand 60 million (or whatever amount) from him based on his conduct. Or, to put it another way, that every accusation in his complaint was false.

In reality, the "no wrongdoing" recital is meaningless language that O'Reilly purchased from Mackris, presumably at a (steep) additional cost. It allows him to go on his program and indirectly proclaim innocence, while claiming he can't say anything more because of a confidentiality provision in the settlement agreement (which he presumably also demanded). Mackris, feeling fully compensated -- and also knowing that O'Reilly can't smear her -- could not care less. Her attorneys don't mind: they get a nice cut of the settlement as well as O'Reilly's written acknowledgement that his claims against them were baseless.

The irony of this story is that we've finally found one of those frivolous lawsuits the right keeps bitching about. O'Reilly admits that his lawsuit against Mackris and his attorney has no merit -- they did nothing wrong. Perhaps the New York State Bar should look into whether Mr. O'Reilly's (and FOX's) attorneys knowingly filed meritless litigation, particularly since O'Reilly wasted judicial resources -- his motion hearings -- suing people who were guilty of "no wrongdoing." (Of course, that won't happen, because the courts love it when litigants settle voluntarily, and it's hard to imagine any third party who'd have a basis to bring a claim based on a meaningless recital in a private contract.)

O'Reilly claims he did what he did to "protect his family." It's heartwarming to see a man pay millions to deep-six tapes in which he is heard abusing an underling and/or himself -- for the sake of his children. Welcome to the All-Vibrate Zone.

Retired CBS News political correspondent (a veteran of eight presidential campaigns) and Bruce Springsteen fan, Eric Engberg, passes along this press release:

PRESS RELEASE FROM "E STREET VETERANS FOR TRUTH"

The decision by Mr. Bruce Springsteen of New Jersey to publicly support the Democratic presidential campaign requires that we rock n' roll veterans step forward to tell the truth about gross fabrications concerning Mr. Springsteen's alleged career in music. As "cool rocking daddies" who were present for all 42,528 performances of the famed "E Street Band," or at least in the same state where the concerts were held, we can assert without qualification that Bruce Springsteen never performed with us. Furthermore, there is even substantial doubt that he can sing at all. While the real E-Street Band toured the nation and recorded countless hit records and CD's, this Springsteen imposter was wasting time racing in the street, stranded in the jungle, looking for work in refineries and taking a piss at fortune's sweet kiss. There is ample documentary evidence to support our charge.

Although he has claimed for himself the title "Boss," members of our organization, who will soon be appearing on Hannity and Colmes and all 6,400 Sinclair Broadcasting Corp. TV stations, have signed affidavits stating that he is not a boss; rather he is unfit to command. Said one member of the E-Street veterans, "Has anyone ever seen him sing? I mean his lips move and noises come out, but can anyone document actual singing?

As they say on Fox, 'You decide.'"

END PRESS RELEASE

Bush has had his chance to kill or capture bin Laden. The closest he's come was in that fantasy in Peggy Noonan's column.

I have no doubt that Kerry can do what Bush can't. After all, Kerry shot in the back an unarmed fourteen year old who was wearing a loincloth. I wouldn't want to fuck with someone like that.

Hollow Weenies

Per Jim Rutenberg, I'm duty bound as a lefty blogger to engage in especially viscious personal attacks on the virtuous, scrupulously honest presstitutes. Accordingly, as a public service, I offer this list of souless ghouls you will see this weekend, vandalizing your community with rhetorical bags of flaming dog-shit.

This is what they look like without their costumes:

Bill Gertz: Sailor Moonie

Mickey Kaus: Kaus Hackula (of course)

Dick Morris: Spanky, the Naughty Little Puppy

Rush Limbaugh: Cletus, the Crack-Whore Yokel

Bill O'Reilly: Sperm-Vibe-Sponge-Pants

Tim Russert: Pumpkinhead (hollow version)

Matt Drudge: Egghead (cracked version)

William Safire: Roy Cohn

John Tierney: William B. Shockley

Jim Rutenberg: Matt Drudge

Thuggery doesn't pay, but thugs do

I may have underestimated O'Reilly's payout. Ten million is even more than Brent Bozell paid for sexually harassing slandering Vince McMahon's company.

But why is FOX News surpressing the details of this story? Clearly it's trying to influence the outcome of the election.

John Gorenfeld reveals that Bill Gertz, the Moonie Times reporter who wrote the bogus claim of Russian removal of the al QaQaa explosives, is a favorite of the maniacal Messiah, the Rev. S.M. Moon. Moon expresses his love for Gertz here:

America is the most powerful country in the world. But its powerful leaders listen to the Washington Times. A statement from the Times can affect them dramatically. The government of other nations also listen to the Washington Times. Who at the Washington Times is having the biggest impact? [Bill Gertz.] Bill Gertz. How old is he? He is young. He only graduated from high school, joined the Washington Times and became famous. If you are a high school teacher, you should raise such students. If you are a college professor, you should become the most famous one in history.

Now that even Rummy and the Pentagon are denying the Gertz/Shaw claim of Russian relocation of the missing munitions, It's clear that the Moonie Times is not a reliable source on the al QaQaa story. But then the Moonie rag has never been reliable on anything.

By the way, can we all acknowledge that anyone stupid enough to link to Drudge on a pro-Administration story is, like Drudge himself, wholly lacking in credibility. It's beyond comprehension why supposedly intelligent people -- professors, authors, attorneys, etc. -- are eager to trash their own reputations by endorsing the claims of a proven fraud.

1-888-FOXVIBE: Two Million Dollars And Ninety-Nine Cents For The First Twenty Minutes...

It's been a rough week for Roger in a couple of different ways, but at least I've never had to pay people I've accused of being blackmailers, and then admit they did nothing wrong.

(Yes, I know O'Reilly negotiated a confidentialty clause to keep his payment secret, and if he wants to deny making a payment, I'll be happy to print his documented denial.)

Two Years Before The Hacks

Like everyone else, I forgot this blog's second anniversary last week. Roger Ailes first published on October 23, 2002, with a post insulting Dick Morris. Since then, I've posted 2,676 times. And each post was a gem.

For those looking to buy gifts, it's cotton (traditional) or obligation sex (modern). (The third anniversary is leather, so you can be sure I'll be around for at least another year.)

My sincere thanks to everyone for reading. It's been my pleasure.

That story about Katherine Harris obstructing traffic down in Florida reminds me of something.

Ah, here it is.

It's True: Guiliani Blames The Troops

I also saw this on The Today Show just minutes ago.

And check out this link from Atrios too.

The Shaw-Wank Deception

Deputy undersecretary for making shit up John Shaw and Moonie Times wanker Bill Gertz are peddling the Bush ass-covering story that the Russians carted off the tons of HMX and DMX compounds from Iraq in March 2003. The Russians say "Nyet."

MOSCOW -- Russia angrily denied allegations Thursday that Russian forces had smuggled a cache of high explosives out of Iraq prior to the U.S. invasion in March 2003.

Defense Ministry spokesman Vyacheslav Sedov dismissed the allegations as "absurd" and "ridiculous."

"I can state officially that the Russian Defense Ministry and its structures couldn't have been involved in the disappearance of the explosives, because all Russian military experts left Iraq when the international sanctions were introduced during the 1991 Gulf War," he told The Associated Press.

So why the fuck is the Administration calling for an investigation if its Deputy Undersecretary for Defense already knows what happened?

Three strikes, and Bush is out.

Make Howie Cry

Cowboy fetishist Howard "the Duck" Fineman wants you (and me) to stop saying personal and nasty things about him. Today's New York Times quotes the wimpy slime as follows:

"Most of us now realize that this is a constant conversation, and I think that largely that part of it is good," said Howard Fineman, chief political correspondent for Newsweek. "Some of the stuff includes very personal and nasty things about people - they go after people's physical characteristics, they'll say somebody's ugly - and you just have to ignore that."

Still, he said, "I would be lying if I didn't say it could be hurtful."

No, Howard, you are withholding your opinion if you don't say something. You would be lying if you repeated your pro-Bush reporting.

My general policy is not to comment on physical appearance or personal matters unless the target engages in such tactics (such as Kaus), the matter is relevant (hypocrisy) or particularly funny (e.g., toupees). But I would be lying if I said I consistently followed that policy.

Fun With Propositions

California's principal Voter Information Guide for 2004 is only 168 pages long. 62 pages of pro-con arguments on the propositions and reports from the Legislative Analyst on fiscal impact, and another 83 pages of small print, setting out the texts of the proposed laws to be enacted by the propositions. And there's a 24-page supplemental guide too.

The pro-con arguments are presented with plenty of persuasive CAPITIALIZATION, ITALICIZED CAPITALIZATION and both italicized and non-italicized EXCLAMATION POINTS! Plus: References to David Duke! A "No" endorsement by Bob Barr! A handy map of Tribal Casinos!

My favorite argument in support of a proposition: "We've never heard of this attorney who opposes Proposition 61. Have you?"

To relieve the burden, California also gets celebrity endorsements of many propositions on the teevee: Jamie Lee Curtis, Stephanie "Mrs. Hart" Powers, Michael J. Fox and Christopher Reeve (before his death). So voters really don't need to read anything.

Fool Me Twice

Yeah, and ABC News held that story about Kerry's affair with Alexandra Polier to help the Senator too.

What tools these wingers be.

Al Qaaqa

Senator Joe Biden was remarkably effective on the Today Show this morning, and handed the lying Chickenhawk Chambliss his ass.

Joshua M. Marshall continues to point out the Administration's lies, non-denials and flat out silence on the missing explosives. Although by relying on NBC and Drudge, the Administration gets the award for the best job of discrediting the Administration.

Snitch and Switch

Atrios points out that Chris Hitchens is supporting Bush in The Nation, but supporting Kerry at Slate.com. Hey, a paycheck's a paycheck.

Look for the following additional endorsements by Chris between now and November 2:

In Vanity Fair: Ralph Nader.

In The American Spectator: Lyndon LaRouche.

In First Things Magazine: Mother Teresa.

On specially marked Fun-Size packages: The yellow M & M.

A Right-Wing Smear

Here's an amazing example of scumbaggery from New York Daily News columnist Zev Chafets:

This was back in the mid-'80s, soon after Kerry had been elected to the Senate. The Boston branch of the Anti-Defamation League organized an educational trip to Israel for him. He was accompanied by a delegation of Massachusetts Jewish activists and Democratic campaign contributors.

The government of Israel takes such senatorial visits seriously. A high level of hospitality was laid on. The senator wanted to visit a military air base, and the ministry of defense was only too happy to comply. It even assigned him a reserve military escort officer: me.

Kerry got the standard tour of the fighter jets. Then, unexpectedly, he asked for permission to fly one. I was against it - in the army you are responsible for whatever you sign out, and I had signed out a U.S. senator - but it wasn't my call. The base commander suited Kerry up and took him for a run over Israel.

In Florida on Monday, Kerry invoked that experience as a pro-Israel credential. "I've had the privilege of ... learning firsthand how tight that security is, how close the borders are, how tiny and fragile [Israel] is," he told his audience.

Here's another story from that trip that Kerry didn't tell: He and his delegation were taken, as all visiting dignitaries are, to the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem. Kerry toured the exhibits, asked questions and emerged somber but dry-eyed.

"Sen. [Al] Gore was here recently," one of his Israeli hosts said. "This museum brought him to tears."

There was probably a bit of malice in this remark; everyone knew that Kerry and Gore were rivals. Kerry responded by asking for a private moment. He went off to the side and stood alone. When he returned, according to people who were there, he had tears running down his cheeks.

A particularly vicious piece of unsubstantiated gossip, provided by that unimpeachable source, "people who were there." Perhaps Chafets could name the eyewitnesses to this alleged ham-handed display of insincere emotion.

Or perhaps he can't.

Here's another account of Kerry's trip, which contains numerous first-hand accounts of people convinced of Kerry's sincerity, and no accusations of pandering.

Kerry and Gore were both elected to the Senate in 1984, they certainly weren't rivals for any political office in 1986. And yet "everyone," including Kerry's Israeli hosts, supposedly knew all about this bitter rivalry. And why would someone seeking to win the favor of a United States Senator bait him with a malicious remark?

Chafets is no better than Matt Drudge or Bill Safire.

Don't Forget: Tomorrow Is The Throwdown in Oaktown For Bay Area Bloggers

Pete M. and Scaramouche will be hosting a bloggers' night out for West Coast bloggers at Ben & Nick's Bar and Grill, 5612 College Avenue, in the fashionable Rockridge District of Oakland.

Hey, Bulldog

Jim Capozzola's own Mildred the Bulldog has started a Bulldogs for Kerry-Edwards blog. I knew there was something I liked about bulldogs.

Now if we can only get McGruff the Crime Dog to take a bite out of Tom Delay's flea-bitten arse.

Keyboarders Go AWOL

The wingnuts are still waiting for Uncle Karl and the Chinless Twins to e-mail them today's scripts.

Instapudnut has found Steven den Beste (and why was he looking for him?), but can't seem to find those 380 tons of missing explosives.

Hugh Fuckwit, blogging directly from Ken Mehlman's rectum, valiantly tries to distract with the Security Council bed-wetter, but can't get any traction. Fuckwit only finds the looted explosives story significant as it relates to Bush's election chances, showing no concern over how (or against who) the stolen explosives might be used.

Batsboy calls it a "screw up," and he should know.

These boys sure are slow on their feet.

The Sound of Music

A James Wolcott solo, music to my ears:

First of all, how does Fineman know the crowds aren't pumped up for Kerry? Did he attend these rallies? Did he ask anyone? No, he's assuming, as most of the media elite do, that no one could possibly be "up" for a Kerry event because the media narrative is that Kerry is a stiff hunk of bark.

As reflected in Adam Nagorney telling Charlie Rose that heck he has more charisma than poor Kerry.

Really, Adam? You think you could hold the interest of 12,000 people, as Kerry did at a recent rally in Reno, Nevada?

You're the kind of putz people walk away from at cocktail parties!

Hier Sitze Ich. Ich Kann Nicht Scheissen.

Another toilet story from the BBC, this one involving Martin Luther. Further proof that a diet of worms leads to constipation.

I wonder if "Are You Going to Go My Way?" had similar origins.

(Yes, I found this via Sully, who not only blew the comedic possibilities, but also wrote a post which doesn't make much sense, except as a cheap shot at Protestants.)

It's Hard Work

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 24 - The Iraqi interim government has warned the United States and international nuclear inspectors that nearly 380 tons of powerful conventional explosives - used to demolish buildings, produce missile warheads and detonate nuclear weapons - are missing from one of Iraq's most sensitive former military installations.

The huge facility, called Al Qaqaa, was supposed to be under American military control but is now a no-man's land, still picked over by looters as recently as Sunday. United Nations weapons inspectors had monitored the explosives for many years, but White House and Pentagon officials acknowledge that the explosives vanished after the American invasion last year.

The White House said President Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, was informed within the past month that the explosives were missing. It is unclear whether President Bush was informed. American officials have never publicly announced the disappearance, but beginning last week they answered questions about it posed by The New York Times and the CBS News program "60 Minutes."

Administration officials said yesterday that the Iraq Survey Group, the C.I.A. task force that searched for unconventional weapons, has been ordered to investigate the disappearance of the explosives.

American weapons experts say their immediate concern is that the explosives could be used in major bombing attacks against American or Iraqi forces: the explosives, mainly HMX and RDX, could be used to produce bombs strong enough to shatter airplanes or tear apart buildings. The bomb that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 used less than a pound of the material of the type stolen from Al Qaqaa, and somewhat larger amounts were apparently used in the bombing of a housing complex in November 2003 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the blasts in a Moscow apartment complex in September 1999 that killed nearly 300 people.

...

The International Atomic Energy Agency publicly warned about the danger of these explosives before the war, and after the invasion it specifically told United States officials about the need to keep the explosives secured, European diplomats said in interviews last week. Administration officials say they cannot explain why the explosives were not safeguarded, beyond the fact that the occupation force was overwhelmed by the amount of munitions they found throughout the country.

...

Officials in Washington said they had no answers to that question. One senior official noted that the Qaqaa complex where the explosives HMX and RDX were stored was listed as a "medium priority" site on the Central Intelligence Agency's list of more than 500 sites that needed to be searched and secured during the invasion. In the chaos that followed the invasion, many of those sites, even some considered a higher priority, were never secured.

"Should we have gone there? Definitely," said one senior administration official. "But there are a lot of things we should have done, and didn't."

Missing, just like the warfloggers on this story. Unfortunately, unlike the disappearance of the warfloggers, this will continue to have consequences.

The Administration not only lacks a plan to win the peace, they don't have a plan to win the war.

Thank God this hasn't distracted Condi from her campaign duties.

This Week

In this otherwise worthless whine-itorial, published online yesterday, the Wall Street Journal acknowledges that the Sinclair Broadcasting Group was going to broadcast Stolen Honor until the actions of Sinclair shareholders forced them to abandon their plans.

Sinclair Broadcast Group's decision this week not to air "Stolen Honor," a documentary on John Kerry's post-Vietnam antiwar activities, is being cheered by liberals as a victory for truth, honor and the Democratic Party.

So Sinclair lied to journalists and its own shareholders, according to the Journal? Which of Sinclair's lies should we believe?

Meet Your Liberal Media: Ho Pioneers! Edition

In what passes for journalism these days, the New York Times' John Tierney recycles tripe from a far rightwing website without displaying any skepticism whatsoever:

To Bush-bashers, it may be the most infuriating revelation yet from the military records of the two presidential candidates: the young George W. Bush probably had a higher I.Q. than did the young John Kerry.

That, at least, is the conclusion of Steve Sailer, a conservative columnist at the Web magazine Vdare.com and a veteran student of presidential I.Q.'s....

Mr. Kerry's SAT score is not known, but now Mr. Sailer has done a comparison of the intelligence tests in the candidates' military records. They are not formal I.Q. tests, but Mr. Sailer says they are similar enough to make reasonable extrapolations.

Mr. Bush's score on the Air Force Officer Qualifying Test at age 22 again suggests that his I.Q was the mid-120's, putting Mr. Bush in about the 95th percentile of the population, according to Mr. Sailer. Mr. Kerry's I.Q. was about 120, in the 91st percentile, according to Mr. Sailer's extrapolation of his score at age 22 on the Navy Officer Qualification Test.

Linda Gottfredson, an I.Q. expert at the University of Delaware, called it a creditable analysis said she was not surprised at the results or that so many people had assumed that Mr. Kerry was smarter. "People will often be misled into thinking someone is brighter if he says something complicated they can't understand," Professor Gottfredson said.

People also will often be misled into thinking someone's a disinterested expert if a journalist doesn't disclose all the pertinent facts.

How did Tierney locate the authoritative and unbiased "I.Q. Expert," Linda Gottfredson? From Sailer's web column, of course. And it's not the first time Sailer has quoted Gottfredson on the question of Bush's I.Q. I'm sure Tierney meant to mention those facts in his article, but just forgot.

He also forgot to note that Sailer's an apologist for the Pioneer Fund*, and that Gottfredson has been a recipient of Pioneer Fund largesse. I won't bother going into the Pioneer Fund or its purposes in more detail, since the only purporse of this post is criticize the Times for publishing a dubious wingnut claim as fact, without seriously challenging the premise of the claim through the opinion of a disinterested expert. But Mr. Tierney (or his editors) might want to consider his sources.

The liberal New York Times has sunk to the level of Kausfiles.

* No link provided; Google: Sailer Gottfredson Pioneer Fund to confirm.

Moronic Equivalence

Joe Klein, bound by the sacred oath of punditry to find equivalence where none exists, compares Bush's egomanical, delusional and bloodstained victory lap to Senator Kerry's use of someone else's hunting gear -- in a phony call for seriousness, no less:

But two days after Paul Nitze died, the Massachusetts Senator, who once criticized Bush for prancing around in a flight suit on the deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln beneath a mission accomplished banner, could be found prancing about the backwoods of Ohio costumed as a hunter on a wild goose chase. Those two macho, flamboyantly phony images -- fighter jock and gooseslayer -- are the sad legacy of this election year.

Yeah, yeah. No one's more butch than you, Joe. But the appropriate parallel would be if Bush borrowed a cheerleader's outfit and held a pep rally at an eastern prep school.

If I want to read crap fiction about an election, I'll fork out $2.99 for a remaindered copy of the The Running Mate.

Celebrity Subrogation

In loo of actual news, the prestigious British Broadcasting Corporation reports on the plumbing mishaps of the rich and famous:

Rocker Lenny Kravitz is being sued over an allegation that one of his toilets overflowed into a neighbour's apartment causing "catastrophic" water damage.

Insurance company Amica Mutual accused Kravitz in court papers of allowing "a commode to become blocked, clogged and congested with various materials"....

Amica said it had had to pay $333,849.77 to fix Mr Disend's apartment on the floor below Kravitz's flat in their building in Manhattan's SoHo district.

You've got to love the lawyering for the insurance company, too: Blocked, clogged AND congested -- they're not kidding around!

Meet Your Liberal Media: Ass-Kissing-er Edition

An article for the New York Times demonstrates how the SCLM are actually the steno pool for the right-wing:

"The only reason for this call was to tell you that despite all appearances to the contrary in this city you still have some friends," the CBS correspondent Marvin Kalb told Mr. Kissinger during a chaotic period in 1975 when President Gerald Ford had just stripped him of his title as national security adviser, which he had held simultaneously while serving as secretary of state.

"I cannot tell you how much I appreciate that," Mr. Kissinger replied.

A year later, as Mr. Kissinger's tenure drew to a close, Ted Koppel, then diplomatic correspondent for ABC News, told him: "It has been an extraordinary three years for me, and I have enjoyed it immensely. You are an intriguing man, and if I had a teacher like you earlier I might not have been so cynical."

"You have been a good friend," Mr. Kissinger replied. Mr. Koppel ended the conversation by saying, "We are lucky to have had you."

This may have occurred 30 years ago, but, as Bob Somerby points out, only the asses have changed. Today, the same journalists -- and newer ones -- are sucking up to Colin, Rummy and Condi.

Fred Barnes and Charles Krauthammer Make A Snuff Film

Fred and Charles have lent their putative good names to a film project released by David Bossie, the disgraced former bagboy for the Republican-controlled House Appropriations Committee. From a review of Celsius 41.11:

Less savvy propagandists than Mr. Moore, the "Celsius 41.11" filmmakers apply their thesis with a trowel. The film opens with the image of the second World Trade Center tower being hit by a plane, and returns to the attack, with the towers in flames and then tumbling, again and again. The filmmakers make their political line of reasoning clear when they soon follow this Sept. 11 imagery with snippets of antiwar demonstrations. One nitwit protester defends dictatorship (she is for it if it means health care for everyone), a slice of loony nonsense that is followed by images of dead children. As with most of the news material folded into "Celsius 41.11," it is impossible to know who these children are or who killed them. Other images, including that of a woman in a burka being executed, remain similarly unidentified.

...

Directed by Kevin Knoblock; written and produced by Lionel Chetwynd and Ted Steinberg; based on the books "The Many Faces of John Kerry" and "Intelligence Failure: How Clinton's National Security Policy Set the Stage for 9/11" by David Bossie; edited by Michael Hilton and John Tracy; released by Citizens United. Running time: 71 minutes. This film is rated R.

WITH: Tony Calabrese (Narrator) and Fred Barnes, Michael Barone, Barbara Comstock, Alice Fisher, Mansoor Ijaz, Charles Krauthammer, Michael A. Ledeen, Michael Medved, Joshua Muravchik, John O'Neill, Bill Sammon, Fred Thompson and Victoria Toensing.

The least appealing cast in the history of pornography.

And yet Bill O'Reilly gave it two thumbs up his own ass.

November II, Act 4, Scene 3

Scene: Your polling place, 7 a.m.

And our first Tuesday shall be stolen ne'er again,
From this day to the ending of the world,
And we on it shall be reenfranchised -
We many, we happy more, we band of voters;
For they to-day who cast their ballot for Kerry
Shall beat the freepers, and Repugs so vile,
This day we shall restore the Constitution;
And slimebags from Texas now-a-bed
Shall think themselves fuck'd like ne'er before,
And hold their manhoods cheaper still (if that's possible) while all rejoice
That vote with us upon Election Day.

Grand Old Police Blotter: Illinois, Land Of Drinkin' Edition

The 51st Congressional District of the Illinois State Legislature is served by a drunken Puke:

Barred from driving for a year because of a drunken-driving conviction, state Rep. Edwin Sullivan Jr. (R-Mundelein) often hits the campaign trail these crisp fall days astride his mountain bike.
...

Sullivan had just left a party with a group of Illinois lawmakers and lobbyists attending an annual golf outing. He was held overnight in the Berrien County Jail after a breath test showed that his blood-alcohol level was twice the .08 legal limit, his arrest report showed.
...

Sullivan plans to apply for a restricted driving permit from the secretary of state's office soon.

But first he needs to complete 22 hours of alcohol-abuse counseling at the Lake County Traffic Court Building in Grayslake, he said.

How very Bush/Cheney of him. Better wear a helmet and some body armor on the campaign trial, Eddie -- the roads are full of Republicans.

Toothpick A with Tina Clown

After averring that Senator Kerry indulges in Clairol, Botox and other cosmetic enhancements, Tina Brown accuses unnamed Democrats of obsessing over trivialities:

At this precarious moment any distraction is a disaster for Kerry, even when it's Bill O'Reilly's sexual harassment problems. Gleeful Democrats who could have been spending useful hours signing up disenfranchised minority youths to vote instead spent whole mornings poring over the Fox moralist's phone-sex fantasies.

.... What happens if the audiotape surfaces on the day of the election? Whole precincts of swing voters would stay home and play it.

It's a good thing Tina picked up the slack, "signing up" all the disenfranchised minority youths she knows in seconds, while politically-active Dems, lacking an Oxford education, struggle their way through the O'Reilly suit at a snail's pace, their lips twisting out each syllable and spittle cascading from their mouths.

Airheads are the definitive Washington Post columnists.

From BuzzFlash:

When the Boston Red Sox Make the World Series, You Got to Start Betting on Kerry -- And They Just Did. 10/21

Although, as we learned in 2000, we can't count on the umpires to do the right thing.

Just Be Grateful It Wasn't Purdue

From a Slate article on Bill O'Reilly's fascination with things pornographic:

In 2002 he bragged on air about breaking a sex story nationally. His scoop: An adult production company had shot in the dorms at Indiana University, using students as performers. He did two segments on the topic and returned to IU once again in 2004 to interview a girl who had set up a porno Webcam in her dorm.

Judy Miller-apologist Bill Keller really, really doesn't want Judy to spill the beans about her sources. I wonder why that might be.

"The casual reliance on nameless sources has contributed to public mistrust and undermined the authority of stories in which anonymous sourcing is genuinely important," says Keller. No, the consistent use of dishonest sources and repitition of lies from Administration flacks has contributed to public mistrust, Chalabi-breath.

West Coast Bloggers Are Throwin' Down

pitchers of domestic beer, most likely. San Francisco Bay Area bloggers -- and their groupies -- will be gathering to plot their revenge against those limelight-hogging, media-darling East Coast bloggers who don't know their 15 minutes of fame are up. Your congenial hosts will be Scaramouche and Pete M. of Dark Window, who says:

So come join me, our legendary co-host Scaramouche, and several other celebrity Bay Area bloggers (TBA) and readers next Wednesday, October 27th.

We'll be meeting at 6:00 PM at Ben & Nick's Bar & Grill in Oakland's Rockridge district and hang around until we get sick of each other (or get kicked out - we are, after all, Puppeteers in Satan's Army). The bar is located at 5612 College Avenue - just a half block from the Rockridge BART station and only a couple of short blocks from Freeway exits (Hwy 24).

It's also within blocks of a 24-hour Albertson's, Zachary's Pizza, and a 51 bus stop. And only a couple of miles from the fabulous Grand Lake Theater marquee.

Why not attend? It's not like any of the presidential candidates are going to show up in California.

Dung-Eating Dogs Have No Privacy

Here's the Moonie Times "respecting Mary Cheney's privacy" in the past few months:

Politics1, a political Web site, posted a story and a picture of Maya Keyes with a woman identified as her lesbian girlfriend. Keyes is staunchly anti-gay and told a New York radio talk show all gays were living in sin and were "selfish hedonists," including by definition Mary Cheney, the openly lesbian daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney. (September 28, 2004)

The Republican candidate for Senate in Illinois, Alan Keyes, has been off the leash lately. Last week, he called Mary Cheney, the vice-president's daughter, a "selfish hedonist" because she is a lesbian. To duck this kind of abuse, Mary didn't even appear with her family on the podium Wednesday night. (September 3, 2004)

Mr. Romney took the stage before the acceptance speech of Vice President Dick Cheney, who has a homosexual daughter. (September 2, 2004)

In his answer, Mr. Cheney noted that he and his wife "have a gay daughter, so it's an issue that our family is very familiar with." ... [Para.]The Cheneys have two daughters, both of whom work on the campaign. Mary Cheney, who is homosexual, is director of vice-presidential operations for the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign. She held a public role as her father's assistant in the 2000 campaign and helped the GOP recruit homosexual voters during the 2002 midterm elections. (August 25, 2004)

The ad was sponsored by DontAmend.com and Mr. Aravosis' Web site, DearMary.com, which aims to convince Vice President Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter, Mary, to urge her father to drop his support for the amendment. (July 12, 2004)

If the G.O.P. outrage on this was any more fraudulent, Bush would use it as an excuse to invade Iran.

(You can look these up at the Moonie Times Insider page. E-mail: fuckmoon@hotmail.com; Password: prudenbigot.)

Grand Old Police Blotter: We Don't Know Dick Edition

Dick Dasen's fellow Montana Republicans are distancing themselves from the fundie philanthropist/pervert:

The list of potential witnesses on behalf of Kalispell businessman Dick Dasen Sr. is down by at least one....

State Rep. Verdell Jackson, R-Kalispell, didn't know he was on the list until his wife read Jackson's name in a newspaper story about it Saturday....

While he could testify in a limited way about Dasen's community deeds, Jackson said "it would be counterproductive" to Dasen's defense if Jackson was cross-examined about what he thinks of the accusations against Dasen.

Dasen, 62, has pleaded innocent to promotion of prostitution, aggravated promotion of prostitution, sexual intercourse without consent and sexual abuse of children.

Meanwhile, Dick's attorney gives us a preview of his client's exculpatory evidence:

The depositions were filed Friday in District Court by George Best, Dasen's defense attorney....

Sworn statements of Cari Halama and Valerie Hondius, however, describe Dasen as a man who gave them thousands of dollars to keep them off the streets with no expectation that he would ever be repaid.

...

Hondius said she called Dasen from a motel room, where she had an 18-year-old friend. Dasen went to the room and, after minimal introductions, engaged in sex with Hondius' friend.

Later, the three met at Dasen's house, where he took pornographic pictures of the teenagers and performed a sex act on the other woman. After both occasions when all three met, Dasen wrote Hondius a check for $2,000, she said.

"At any time, did Mr. Dasen say that he wanted to pay you for this or that you were -- did you ever say that we'll do this if you give us money?" Best asked Hondius.

"It was expected," she said.

However, she told Best that Dasen never tried to touch her or made her feel intimidated or threatened.

"What was your impression of him?" Best asked.

"That he was a really nice guy," Hondius said....

She went to Dasen to ask for a loan to get into a house with her three children. The friend had told her that Dasen "was known to help people" and had bailed him out of jail once without ever asking for repayment....

According to her deposition, it was about three or four months after she met Dasen when she had sex with him at his home....

Halama's world was populated by women that Dasen helped, including her best friend Marshall and women who had breast enlargements courtesy of Dasen.

Eventually, Halama slashed a woman's tires because she owed Halama money for drugs. Dasen paid to replace the tires, but ended his relationship with Halama. He stopped taking her calls and they haven't spoken since, she said.

"What are your feelings as we speak today about him?" Best asked Halama.

"I care about him a lot," she said....

I was hungry, and you had sex with my 18-year-old friend; I was naked and you took pornographic pictures of me; I was a stranger, and you got me breast implants.

That's quite a novel defense: Here's some other women I didn't pay for sex, and these other teenagers I was involved with weren't underage, either. Things aren't looking too good for ol' Dick.

I Got Your All-Volunteer Army Right Here

While Bush peddles the no-draft line on the campaign trail, the Selective Service puts in place a plan for a draft of medical professionals:

The Selective Service has been updating its contingency plans for a draft of doctors, nurses and other health care workers in case of a national emergency that overwhelms the military's medical corps.

In a confidential report this summer, a contractor hired by the agency described how such a draft might work, how to secure compliance and how to mold public opinion and communicate with health care professionals, whose lives could be disrupted.

On the one hand, the report said, the Selective Service System should establish contacts in advance with medical societies, hospitals, schools of medicine and nursing, managed care organizations, rural health care providers and the editors of medical journals and trade publications.

On the other hand, it said, such contacts must be limited, low key and discreet because "overtures from Selective Service to the medical community will be seen as precursors to a draft," and that could alarm the public.

...

The chief Pentagon spokesman, Lawrence T. Di Rita, said Monday: "It is the policy of this administration to oppose a military draft for any purpose whatsoever. A return to the draft is unthinkable. There will be no draft."

"We prefer the term indentured servitude," explained Mr. Di Rita.

And why exactly would we need more medical professionals in the armed services anyway?

The most interesting part is the Selective Service's plan to use p.r. tactics on the American public to garner support for a draft. The Service held focus groups to learn that:

People are apprehensive about the length of service that might be required. The "occupation of Iraq has proved more costly, in terms of dollars and lives, than most Americans expected." Members of the National Guard are "serving tours of duty far longer than many ever anticipated."

Could that be because the Administration used lies and p.r. to sell the war? And what does that tell us about the credibility of Bush's no draft pledge?

(Thanks to a reader for the link.)

Sullen Honor

Precisely how dense is Sully? He thinks the blogad on his site for the smearumentary Stolen Honor "funnels a few Sinclair dollars to the blog." He also believes he's running an "ad from Ann Coulter."

In fact, both ads are from NewsMax.com. NewsMax is giving away the Coulter book to idiot subscribers. The situation with the Stolen Honor video is slightly less clear, as the NewsMax site asks purchasers to make out a check to Red, White and Blue Productions, Carlton Sherwood's corporation, but to send the check "care of" NewsMax. Presumably, the two corporations have some sort of profit sharing deal for videos sold through NewsMax, but clearly it doesn't involve Sinclair, which is simply broadcasting the faux-umentary, and doesn't own it.

So who exactly is Sully promoting? Here's "NewsMax pundit Steve Farrell"'s latest column:

Homosexuality is not a natural equivalent alternative. It is, in every way, a perversion -- unnatural and unhealthy. ... The gay marriage issue is not a question of rights vs. discrimination. It is a question of supporting what is not only natural but also most beneficial for society (the natural family) vs. encouraging what is logically a behavioral aberration that should be treated rather than honored.

Sully's never had qualms about taking cash from anti-gay bigots. Now that it appears the Father's Rag is no longer publishing Sully's tepid gruel (maybe he's just on hiatus until November 3!), he's got to earn his crust from other cretins. And Carl Limbacher and his crew are as cretinous as it gets.

Incoming

Here's another Stolen Honor suit, this one against Carlton Sherwood and, potentially, the Sinclair Broadcasting Group.

The New York Times version of the story says:

A veteran shown in a new film critical of Senator John Kerry's anti-Vietnam War activism is suing the producer of the movie, saying it libels him by deceptively editing his statements.

The suit, filed yesterday in Philadelphia, involves the film "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal," which accuses Mr. Kerry, the Democratic nominee for president, and the antiwar group he joined of making up the accounts of wartime atrocities that Mr. Kerry later talked about in his 1971 Senate testimony. The Sinclair Broadcast Group has asked its 62 television stations to show the movie this week.

The veteran who brought the suit, Kenneth J. Campbell, is shown saying he was not at one of the massacres later discussed, and asking another veteran whether he could produce accounts of the massacre.

A lawyer for Mr. Campbell, a decorated marine who is now a professor at the University of Delaware, said the film was edited to take out footage in which Mr. Campbell made clear that only soldiers who witnessed the atrocities firsthand would be allowed to testify at the hearings, and footage in which he recounted his military superiors ordering him to kill innocent civilians.

"It edits little clips to make it look like they're just making up instances," said the lawyer, David Kairys, who said Mr. Campbell was not connected with the Kerry campaign.

And for those who would cite this news report as evidence of the Times' supposed liberal bias, it is buried deep in the paper's front section, while today's oped pages have three Bushites (Brooks, Franks and Leaves Buchholz) vs. one Krugman, and an editorial asserting that American soldiers should shut up and commit suicide, on principle. I guess it's hard to give up being a cheerleader.

Speaking of bigots associated with the Moonie Times, anti-semite Tony Blankley will be taking questions on C-SPAN's Washington Journal tomorrow morning:

7:45am - Tony Blankley, Washington Times, Editorial Page Editor
8:30am - Greg Palast, Harper's Magazine, Contributor
9:15am - Elgie Holstein, Kerry-Edwards Campaign, Energy Adviser & Myron Ebell, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Director of Global Warming Policy

Remember what Blankley said about George Soros this summer:

Using unmistakably anti-Semitic tropes and metaphors, Blankley appeared on Fox's Hannity & Colmes to call Soros a "robber baron" and "pirate capitalist." "This is a man who blamed the Jews for anti-Semitism," he continued. "This is a man who, when he was plundering the world's currencies, in England in '92, he caused the Southeast Asian financial crisis in '97. He said that he has no moral responsibility for the consequences of his financial actions.... He is a self-admitted atheist; he was a Jew who figured out a way to survive the Holocaust." As blogger Josh Marshall pointed out, "You have to hand it to [Blankley], pasting together a rant which manages to weave together accusations of anti-Semitism and most of the key anti-Semitic slurs and motifs." Moreover, Blankley implies that Soros should somehow be blamed for surviving the Holocaust.

Not only a waterboy for a bigot, Blankley is a bigot himself.

Here's more of Blankley's poisonous diatribe.

Want to give Blankley a piece of your mind?

Call-In Numbers
Support Pres. Bush:
(202) 628-0205
Support Sen. Kerry:
(202) 737-0002
Support Others:
(202) 628-0184
Email:
journal@c-span.org

The Father's Waterboy

John Gorenfeld has an interesting item on why John "A Mighty Fatass Is Our" Podhoretz parted ways with the Moonie Times, according to previously unpublished magazine article:

Podhoretz describes his decision to leave the Times as a "personal one which I will not discuss." However, some of his colleagues say that he was deeply troubled upon his return from an Alaskan fishing trip he took with Moon last August. Moon used the occasion, say sources, to expound on his "Zionist conspiracy theories" and what Podhoretz perceived to be undiluted anti-Semitism. Indeed, some of Moon's teachings contend that Jews have "suffered four thousand years of punishment for killing Christ."

It's surprisingly easy to conjure up an image of Poddy in the Alaskan wilderness, wearing his windbreaker, canvas hat and life jacket, sitting next to a riverside campfire as the Reverend Moon (through a translator) expounds up his theory of Jewish indemnity.

Cue Dueling Wanhams.

Steno Howie

Howie the Putz writes, in shorthand:

On Fox's "Special Report," the comments made about Kerry over the summer were an eye-opening 5 to 1 negative. In September Kerry fared only slightly better, moving from 17 percent to 21 percent positive. Is that because Fox leans Republican -- or provides a balance to the more pro-Kerry networks?

...

Whatever their orientation, journalists are the last line of defense against public deception. If they fail to challenge distortions by politicians, they might as well join the stenography pool.

Whatever their orientation, media journalists are the last line of defense against public deception. If they fail to challenge the lies of Fox, they might as well go down on Rupert Murdoch on page CO1 of the Washington Post.

Shill Bill

Howie the Putz, shilling for Bill O'Reilly and Faux News, falsely suggested that O'Reilly's accuser violated the law if she taped the blowhard in New York without his consent. The Washington Post was forced to correct the Putz's error:

Correction to This Article

An Oct. 15 Style article on a sexual harassment accusation against cable TV host Bill O'Reilly incorrectly said that it is illegal in the state of New York to tape a telephone conversation without the other party's consent. The practice is legal if at least one of the participants is aware of the taping.

Next time, spend 15 seconds on Google before you shill for Faux, Howie.

The Smell of Desperation

William Safliar joins the desperate Republican attempt to smear Kerry for his remarks on Mary Cheney during the final presidential debate.

In an attempt to make Kerry look bad, Safliar acknowledges that Dick Cheney has openly spoken of his daughter's sexuality, but claims "the press - respecting family privacy - had properly not made it a big deal."

Well, the New York Times, for one, has printed 18 articles during the period from 2000 to immediately before the recent debates which include the words Mary + Cheney + lesbian, including one from January 2001 which starts like this:

WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 -- It was a first for gay Republicans. Last week's inaugural events included a breakfast honoring the Republican Unity Coalition, a new political group that includes gay members of the party. The master of ceremonies at Friday's celebration was a respected Republican elder, former Senator Alan K. Simpson of Wyoming, a close friend of both the Bush and Cheney families.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Simpson noted, "Not one of us doesn't have someone close to us who is gay or lesbian." Then he invoked Mary Cheney, the daughter of the vice president, who attended the inauguration with her partner. Mr. Simpson said that after Ms. Cheney said she was a lesbian, her father, Dick Cheney, "protected and loved her as his very special, special daughter."

So Safliar, like the Cheneys, wants it both ways. Ms. Cheney's sexual orientation is "no secret or anything [to be] ... ashamed of," but it's private and shouldn't be mentioned in the press. It's okay for "political junkies" to know, but it certainly should be mentioned in front of the great American unwashed - Lord knows what mischief they'll get up to if they're let in on such delicate matters. It's The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name, Except At G.O.P. Fundraisers For Wealthy Gays.

And, of course, when Kerry mentions it at the same time he's telling those 50 million viewers that he's more progressive on gay rights than Bush, it's a trick to get people to vote against Bush. That's even less credible than Safliar's claim that he knows what the unnamed (of course) Democratic strategists who "concocted this base-surpressing dirty trick" are now advising Kerry.

All of Safliar's recent columns reek of desperation -- he sees his boy going down. This one even invokes Tailgunner Joe. Your old pal, Roy Cohn, would be very proud, Bill. For so very many reasons.

Keyes Blasts Reagan

U.S. Senate candidate Alan Keyes told a rally Saturday that incest was "inevitable" for children raised by gay couples because the children might not know both biological parents.

"If we do not know who the mother is, who the father is, without knowing all the brothers and sisters, incest becomes inevitable," Keyes told the Marquette Park rally held to oppose same-sex marriages.

"Whether they mean it or not, that is what will happen. If you are masked from your knowing your biological parents, you are in danger of encountering brothers and sisters you have no knowledge of."

Gee, wouldn't Ambassador Keyes's criticism apply equally to his old boss, Saint Ronnie? I wonder how many of his biological sisters Michael Reagan has fucked, due to the selfish hedonism of his adoptive parents, Ron and Nancy Jane.

(link)

Bill O'Reilly, Voice of Experience

Jimmy Breslin finds this nugget of self-recognition in O'Reilly's new parenting book, The O'Reilly Factor for Kids:

"Here's a big word for today: dehumanization.

"That's when you go out with someone only for their appearance - their big pecs or long legs. When you are interested in someone only on the basis of physique, you're dehumanizing him or her, seeing that person only as an attractive object. If you are doing that, remember, good sex occurs between two human beings, not between two objects ...

"Are you surprised by my thoughts on the subject? Did you think that O'Reilly would tell you sex is off-limits? As you know, things are more complicated than that. But I repeat my mantra: Sex is best when you combine sensible behavior with sincere affection ...

"It is also smart to recognize that there is no area more potentially dishonest than the sexual arena.

"And if you exploit a girl, it will come back to get you."

But what about one human being and one battery-operated phallic object?

Bullshit and Shame

In a front page story, the New York Daily News does Karl Rove's work and lies about Senator John Edwards. I don't have the time to do a full Somerby, but the point is that Gwen Ifill raised the fact, not Edwards, and Cheney himself "invaded the privacy" of his own family months before the V.P. debate.

The Republicans see it differently. After all, John Edwards raised it unilaterally in the vice presidential debate, much to the irritation of the veep, who thanked Edwards for his remarks but was, in fact, ripped about them.

"People understand the invasion of privacy of a family," a top Bush campaign adviser said. "They are going to pay a price for this."

There's little argument that the gambit of making Mary Cheney's lifestyle a high-visibility issue is what the adviser calls "obviously highly calculated."

"Some cutesy person over there like [Kerry senior strategist Robert] Shrum must have got the stupid idea that they can undercut our base because Cheney has a gay daughter," the adviser said.

The theory is that homophobes in Bush's base may recoil after learning the veep they adore has a homosexual daughter.

There's little argument? There's zero evidence!

And if the chinless top Bush adviser is pointing the finger at a specific individual, Robert Shrum, the paper shouldn't give him or her anonymity.

Thomas Defrank, Celeste Katz, Kenneth Bazinet and Maggie Haberman: You're all whores.

Who's Looking To Destroy You?

While it's fun to make fun of O'Reilly's purported use of sex toys (if he sues to keep Mackris from disposing of the tapes, can she subpoena the vibe?) and lame "seduction" rap, it should be remembered that the allegations against him describe a mysogynistic thug:

Mackris alleged in the suit that when she told O'Reilly in April that he had engaged in similar conduct with other staffers and should be careful, he replied: "If any woman ever breathed a word I'll make her pay so dearly that she'll wish she'd never been born. . . . It'd be her word against mine and who are they going to believe? Me or some unstable woman making outrageous accusations. They'd see her as some psycho, someone unstable."

That doesn't mean he shouldn't be subjected to ridicule, just that he should be subject to both ridicule and condemnation and legal sanctions if the threat allegations prove true.

As they say: Let's go to the tape.

Here's today's Tossing Points Memo:

Mackris, an associate producer on Fox News Channel's top-rated "The O'Reilly Factor," said he advised her to use a vibrator, told her about sexual fantasies involving her and engaged in unwanted phone sex.

During an appearance to promote his children's book on "Live with Regis and Kelly," O'Reilly said he'd been repeatedly threatened with lawsuits and bodily harm over the past few years. He said he knew that by filing his lawsuit, he could perhaps ruin his career.

"If I have to go down, I'm willing to do it," he said.

Gee, Bill, you're more progressive than I thought.

The name of the book? My Pet Pussy.

(link)

Anti-Social Engineering

A hairless hack writes:

I support the idea of experimenting with gay marriage, but surely it's possible to be a non-bigot and be reluctant to immediately tinker with such a venerable social institution (even if modern monogamous marriage is itself a tinkering with the much longer-standing human tradition of polygyny). Once you admit this possibility of non-bigoted reluctance, then Kerry's move looks less like hypocrisy-puncturing and more like a straight appeal to homophobia. As such, it does no credit to Kerry.

A gay marriage experiment? That's mighty white of you, Mick.

How exactly would this experiment work? Let gay men and lesbians marry, but reserve the right to repeal the law in five years if things don't work out to Kaus's satisfaction? Attach recievers to the spouses' ears and have Heritage Foundation-trained behavorial psychologists monitor their behavior? Separate but equal wedding registries at Crate & Barrel, to be integrated with all deliberate speed?

In trying to make Senator Kerry look bad, Kaus reveals his own intolerance.

"Cheap And Tawdry Political Trick"

Was Lynne Cheney describing her own comments last night, or what she sees when she looks on the mirror?

You decide.

By the way, here's a cheap and tawdry political trick by Alan Simpson (R-WY):

CALLER: During the debate, Ms. Ifill posed a question about gay marriage to Vice President Cheney. He gave a standard campaign response, and then afterward, Mr. Edwards gave a good response about how the constitutional amendment against gay marriage isn't needed. But then when offered a rebuttal, Vice President Cheney just basically said, "Thank you for saying nice things about my family."

KING: Right.

CALLER: Isn't that basically saying that the Kerry-Edwards position is the right position?

KING: Well, David, that's an area where the vice president disagrees with the president, isn't it?
...

KING: Alan?

SIMPSON: I thought that was the most authentic thing on both of them. Because Kerry [sic] looked down and Mary was there, with Heather, her companion, a wonderful woman, Heather Poe. I know her. I've known Mary since she was eight. He looked down when he said that. He was very real. And Dick Cheney's response was very real. That was a very powerful moment on an issue which is so sensitive that none will ever know unless we have loved ones who are gay or lesbian in our family.

Alan Simpson is not a good man.

Cheney's priorities are clear: Bush first, family: not a priority.

Good News

They finally got the straightjacket on Cal Thomas.

Breaking News: New York Times Hires Matt Drudge

From today's op-ed page:

A name that keeps coming up in my poking around is Marc Rich, the American billionaire who was for many years a fugitive, until blessed with one of Bill Clinton's midnight pardons. Rich's company Trafigura, spun off from the Swiss-based Glencore, and its possible dealings with outfits like Jean-Paul Cayre's Ibex have excited the interest of many of the sleuths I've spoken to.

Possible dealings? Excited dicks? Did'ja get that over the transom, Safliar?

What are the odds those private dicks are lower on the ethics food chain than David Bossie, Chris Ruddy and Rex Armistead?

Threepeat!

Pre-Debate Poll

For the fourth time in three weeks, I won't be liveblogging the debate.

Although I considered it, I had to ask myself, "when such connsumate pros as Katherine Q. Seelye, Bob Novak and VH1's Jessi Klein have blogged the debates, how much can I really add to their collective wisdom." That, and I won't be near a computer.

Instead, here's a pre-debate poll for readers:

In the weeks between now and the November 2 election, who will create the biggest problems for the Republican Party and its presidential candidate? (Originally, the question was "cause embarassment," but who am I kidding?)

A. Nathan Sproul

B. The Sinclair Broadcasting Group

C. Prime Minister Ayad Allawi

D. Spunk Bill Sponge Mitts O'Reilly

Write-in votes are allowed, including, just to select a name entirely at random, William Safire. You can't vote for George Bush, he has to keep his losing streak intact.

Results of this poll are highly scientific, and beyond criticism.

Recyclables

In an effort to increase what is generously called "content" at this site, I am recycling a comment I made at Eschaton concerning the statement by Sinclair Broadcasting spokeswhore Mark Hyman, who said that networks which did not conduct and air interviews of anti-Kerry former P.O.W.s "are acting like Holocaust deniers and pretending these people don't exist." My retort profound?

So has Sinclair (as opposed to the network(s) affiliated with its stations) ever broadcast a documentary featuring interviews with Holocaust survivors?

Has it ever ordered all of its stations to preempt regular programming to broadcast a documentary with interviews of Holocaust survivors?

If not, according to their own standards, Sinclair and Hyman are Holocaust deniers.

And can we call [Sinclair President and CEO] David Smith a low-cost ho survivor?

Coming soon: The Best of Roger's College Term Papers.

Kauspiles

Midget Mickey Kaus wakes up at 3:00 a.m. to see a man about a horse, and drops this steaming insight:

A surprising number of Democrats I meet don't like John Edwards. ... 3:07 A.M.

Scintillating.

Given that the Democrats Kaus meets are the Susan Estrich/Zell Miller faux variety, this revelation is even more meaningless than it would be if Kaus talked to real Dems.

An unsurprising number of Democrats I meet think Kaus is a Republican hack.

Reeve's Tale

Here's a link to an edited version of a recent BBC World Service interview with Christopher Reeve that I heard broadcast about a month ago. Reeve talks about his recent setbacks, stem cell research and how Bush set back progress on that research "by years, if not decades" (at approx 5:00).

Sherwood Be Nice To Have Some Credibility

In addition to penning a love letter to the Father of Lies, Reverend Moon (a tome put out by the disreputable Regnery) Carleton Sherwood has other possible skeltons in his career closet. In the Washington Post,
Frank Aherns and Howie Kurtz (of all people) recall Sherwood's dicey career:

Sherwood, the filmmaker, is also no stranger to controversy. He once worked for Washington's Channel 9, which in 1984 apologized for his four-part series questioning the finances of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund and donated $50,000 to the fund. Sherwood has said he felt vilified by Kerry's antiwar comments and believes the candidate branded all Vietnam veterans as "war criminals."

Now why would a television station apologize and donate money to the target of a Sherwood investigation? Fifty K in 1980 dollars isn't Brent "Smackdown" Bozell money ($3.5 M to the WWE), but it's not chump change either. I hope the misdeeds didn't include placing veterans in a false light.

Chronologically, from local television to Moonie rag to Regnery sounds like a downward career spiral.

(Moon link courtesy mw.)

Roger's Trivia Challenge

Who is George de Paris, and why won't you read about him in the so-called liberal media?

(No Googling.)

That's It ... They Got Nothing

Featured article at The New Republic Online:

WHY JIMMY FALLON ISN'T FUNNY

They might as well bring Easterbrook back.

Luntz Plays Howie

And then there's this. Howie writes:

[Frank Luntz] said last week he had forgotten that he worked for California gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon in 2002 and for the effort to recall Democratic Gov. Gray Davis last year.

Asked how this squared with his MSNBC role, Luntz said he was working only for the network during the 2000 and 2004 campaigns.

This is misleading at best. Luntz had his own program, America's Voices, on MSGOP, which began airing weeks before the October 7, 2003 California recall election. Luntz was working for MSGOP during a 2003 campaign -- the recall election campaign.

Even more significantly, NBC and MSNBC had Luntz commenting on and performing work regarding the recall election both before the election and on the night of the recall. Here's a September 2, 2003 "Hardball Briefing" which appears to be a legit copy of the MSNBC program's e-mail newsletter:

And Later...Luntz is gonna do a live focus group of Burbank voters and he and Chris will ask them what the think of The Recall, Arnold and the rest of the field...We'll also throw in comedian Ben Stein to get his take...Last time he was on he was totally slamming Arnold...

(See also here, here and here.)

I can't tell whether the network or Luntz disclosed his employment by the G.O.P. recall effort during any these programs. If anyone can find transcripts, let me know.

But Luntz's statement to Howie clearly avoids the fact that MSGOP was using Luntz to report on the G.O.P.-backed California recall effort that he supported and worked for.

Fool Howie twice, shame on the Washington Post...

Private Lies, They're Spinning You, Howie's Private Lies...

Howie the Putz is in full G.O.P. apologist/damage control mode today. First, he bends over forward to excuse the bias of Fox News and Carl Cameron:

Angry Fox executives made no attempt to defend their chief political correspondent, with a spokesman saying he has been reprimanded for his "stupid mistake." The New York Daily News says Cameron should be put in the "hoaxer hall of shame."

No one is defending Cameron's poor judgment, but his satire wasn't intended for public consumption. He had sent it to a producer, and someone at FoxNews.com mistakenly posted it as a story. If every journalist who privately ridiculed a candidate had those remarks broadcast, there would be plenty of red faces in America's newsrooms.

Where's the proof of executive anger, Putzie? Where's the reprimand? Cameron is still working on the election. He hasn't suffered any penalty. Of course Fox will say it was a mistake for Cameron to inadvertently disclose his bias, plausible deniability is their motto.

You, Putz, are defending Cameron's judgment ("everybody does it") -- AND Fox's bias.

Even more grovelling is the Putz's treatment of Frank Luntz. Luntz lies to Howie's face, and Howie thanks him. (Assuming Howie didn't know it was a lie, that is.)

Luntz, who once helped Newt Gingrich sell the "Contract With America," initially told The Washington Post he had taken on no Republican clients since 2001. He said last week he had forgotten that he worked for California gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon in 2002 and for the effort to recall Democratic Gov. Gray Davis last year.

That's mighty fine reporting you do there, Howie. Luntz forgot his G.O.P. work last year like you forgot to investigate his lie, and ran it in the Post like it was the truth. Why didn't you ask Luntz how much those gigs paid -- and how likely it was he'd forget those amounts of money?

And, given your own family ties to the California recall, Howie, how likely is it you didn't know about Luntz's GOP work in 2003?

I guess you were too busy lining up your wingnut pals for spots on Reliable Sources to do the work of a real reporter.

Shorter Okrent: I Hate The Internets

Atrios lays some much needed wood on Okrent Wimpy, the readers' representative who never met a reader he liked.

Someone who appears to be the real Steve Schwenk responds to Okrent here, with intelligence and courage:

When I wrote that e-mail to Mr. Nagourney, I was complaining about his sloppy reporting. And I was pointing out that it was because of such sloppy reporting (as the NYT has admitted in its mea culpa in May) that 1000 US tropps died in a war that likely never should have happened.

Now I know it is impossible to tell that from Okrent's piece. He has portrayed me falsely. He clipped the most inflammatory statement in the exchange, and falsely portrayed me in the worst light possible.

And not only that, Mr. Okrent called me a "coward." He printed that, not in an e-mail he sent just to me, but in the New York Times. And he refused to allow me even one word in my own defense. My private e-mail went to one person. The Nagourney-Okrent smear of my name went out to millions of people.

I admit that my choice of words was wrong; it was a mistake, I was angry, but my point was not malicious. I was angry at 1000+ dead in a war that never should have happened, and likely never would have happened, had the Times and other media done their job.

But I caused Mr. Nagourney no harm in sending him that e-mail, or the several others we exchanged, and I never intended to cause him harm. It was a private e-mail. But by falsely portraying me the way they have, and by calling me a coward, in the New York Times no less, Nagourney and Okrent have most definitely caused me harm. And the real crime is that that was clearly their intention.Steve Schwenk

So that's why they call Jokrent a public editor, he edits the public's e-mails beyond recognition.

Secretly, Dick Loved It When Bush Put His Foot In His Mouth

Dick Morris has a fantasy even more bizarre -- but less expensive -- than the one where he's a french poodle caught piddling on his owner's slipper.

Bush's debate handicap: He simply knew too much

If President Bush had not clearly won the three debates in 2000 against so formidable a debater as Al Gore, one would be tempted to chalk up last week's inept performance to an innate lack of verbal skills. But Bush's forensic abilities were so amply on display four years ago that their disappearance last week is all the more puzzling.
The fault, one suspects, lies with the candidate's advisers and coaches, who clearly were not up to the task of preparing the president for the debates. It is a much more difficult task to prep a president than to get a challenger in shape to debate well. The president has a clear disadvantage: He knows too much.

...

But a president is sometimes muscle-bound and can't handle the arguments nimbly and articulately. He is blinded by knowing everything. When Kerry mentions Korea, for example, Bush probably recalls a thousand details that have been raised at a hundred meetings about how to deal with the reclusive and sullen regime.

As the debate turned to our relations with our allies, the president had to consider his personal relationships with a dozen foreign leaders, assessing each one and deciding how to address the issue broadly and publicly.

The president was also probably worried that his words could damage the American war effort. Asked, for example, about his failure to get United Nations approval for the war, Bush may have wanted to dwell on the corruption of our allies, each with their [sic] hand in the till reaping oil-for-food profits.

TONY BLAIR'S GOT HIS HAND IN THE TILL?

What about Poland?

It is the hand inside the Allawai puppet, or the little felt hand with the fingers drawn on?

You've been snorting too much Dr. Scholl's, Dick. The day that George Bush knows too much about anything is the day your tongue gets frozen to Satan's toe ring.

Lovers of justice, poetic, prosaic and otherwise, can enjoy the Florida Fourth DCA's opinion in Big Pharma v. State here. (October 6 opinions.)

The court declined Limbaugh's invitation to create a zone of privacy which extends in a fifteen-foot radius around the junkie blowhard's medical records. The majority blasts Limbaugh and his attorney for encouraging judicial activism, that is, the court's rewriting of Florida's medical privacy act to create a nonexistent privacy right therein.

This explains why Limbaugh is working so hard for a Bush election. He knows Kerry won't pardon him.

Shouting Beats Pouting

According to the initial viewer polls, at least. Respondents deemed Bush less of a miserable failure in the second debate than in the first. Having heard (most of) both on the radio, I thought he did worse last night. I couldn't see the smirking and snarling in the first, but I assume Karl subdued that with some ECT or aversion therapy.

But Bush shouting "TELL TONY BLAIR WE'RE GOING IT ALONE!!," interupting Charlie Gibson, an amiable doofus loved by millions, etc. made Bush sound churlish and childish, and not just look that way. Leading a nation and making Charlie Gibson your bitch are two entirely different talents.

Josh Marshall is right, Bush's "my mistake was hiring fuck-ups" does not instill confidence. Though it was nice of Bush to spare Condi's feelings.

Favorite Bush line: "And I recognize I've made some decisions that have caused people to not understand the great values of our country." Amen.

Hack Central Station

The Washington Post did the right thing in canning the corporate shill, Jim "Turfbuilder" Glassman. But why is Conflict-of-Interest Kurtz still working for the WaPo?

Here's a flashback for those curious about Glassman's conflicts. If anything, Harry Jaffe downplays Glassman's disqualifications.

By the way, if you're reading this, Len, I'm available for Getler's job. Consider this site my writing sample.

Facile

You certainly are, George.

Debate Open Thread

Resolved: That open threads are pointless.

The first affirmative constructive has nine minutes.

Kaus Outs Himself As An Idiot

I haven't written much on midget Mickey Kaus recently, mainly because his comments have been divided evenly between uninteresting and unreadable, but his hackery is shining through again. Here he accuses John Edwards of stealth gay-bashing:

Alert reader S.H. clues me in on the obvious purpose of Edwards' creepy 'congratulations on your gay daughter' ploy: it was "a very thinly disguised way of letting Reagan Democrats (and other conservative-leaning members of the electorate) know that Cheney has a lesbian daughter." In other words, a cynical, premeditated appeal to prejudice. You can say it's an appeal to prejudice that's justly deserved, because it turns the Republicans' bigotry against them. But that assumes opposition to gay marriage is now the same thing as general prejudice against gays. Edwards was playing to the latter, uglier sentiment. It's still creepy. ... Just his cold confidence that he could pull the trick off without seeming evil (indeed, while pretending to be friendly) is creepy. ...

Yes, Edwards appeal was so obvious that someone had to point it out to Kaus.

The only problem with argument is that it's wrong. Gwen Ifill raised the issue in her question to Cheney, saying "you used your family's experience as a context for your remarks." And Cheney raised the issue in the remarks Ifill cited.

How exactly does Kaus, or his idiot e-mailer, know what Edwards was thinking? It's an old Kaus trick, bogus mindreading to attribute bad faith to a Democrat.

Eczema In Broadcasting

The Fat White Puke lost his appeal to keep prosecutors from seeing the medical records seized from his myriad suppliers doctors.

Interestingly, losing litigator Roy Black hints that's there much, much more in Limpballs' closet.

Prosecutors seized all records, not just those pertaining to painkiller prescriptions, Black said. He said some of the records concern medical procedures that would be highly embarrassing if revealed publicly.

"He would be hearing about it for the next 10 years," Black said.

Highly embarrassing medical procedures?

Would it be irresponsible to speculate? As Pig Boy's pal Peg would say, "It is irresponsible not to."

Big Fucking Surprise

Tim Russert seemed impressed by Cheney, saying he rallied the Republican base and in effect told Edwards: "You're a young man in too much of a hurry. I never met you until you walked on the stage tonight."

p.s. to Howie the Putz: It's James Lee Witt, you fucking Republican hack.

Debate Post Mortem

Sorry. My e-mail was down, so Tad Devine and Bob Shrum weren't able to tell me what I thought about the debate. (Guys, once our man is elected, I expect dinner at the Oval Room at least once a week.)

My "thoughts" on the debate:

Dick was dragging. (Daddy's boy even agrees with me on this one.) On the radio, you could hear in his voice the fatigue, boredom, and resentment for having to carry Bush's sorry ass. Let's put the man out of his misery.

Shorter Dick Cheney: When I said I've never met John Edwards before tonight, I meant that Saddam Hussein was connected to 9/11. Fucking AIDS in African-American women? Why didn't that fucking Jim Baker get me Russert like I told him?

Edwards was well prepared, and effectively communicated Bush's inconsistencies and Dick's rabid right-wing voting record. He was less effective on the Bush/Dick mischaracterization of Kerry's positions.

Post-debate post mortem: CNN Idiot Bill Hemmer to focus group of (supposed) undecideds: "Did the debate help you to make up your mind on who to vote for, yes or no? Raise your hands."

I'm not easily shocked, but this kind of surprised me.

I didn't know Tanenhaus had it in him.

Boring Crap About Blogs

Check this out.

Hugh Fuckwit calling for Lehrer to play it straight? The man who gives radio fellatio to chinless Ken Mehlman on his radio program, like clockwork? That Hugh Fuckwit?

The only thing you get from regularly reading Fuckwit is the odor of sulphur, rolling in mighty waves from the folds of Hugh's hugh jass.

The Luntz Life

Josh Marshall smells a rat re: Luntz's claim to have done no work for the G.O.P. since 2001.

Sounds like he does pro bono work for the party, and paid gigs for individual G.O.P.ers. But work doesn't require pay.

And since you made the claim, can we see your 1099s, Frank?

Bush: A Christian Man of Principle

The November Vanity Fair presents a long article on how Bush's supporters did McCain dirty in the South Carolina primary 41/2 years ago....

After McCain's surprise victory in the 2000 New Hampshire primary threatened to derail Bush's march to the nomination, the Bushies made phone calls and sent out leaflets in South Carolina spreading rumors that McCain had fathered a black child, that wife Cindy was a drug addict and other slanders.

Bush ended up winning the state and securing his political future....

Francis Marion University political scientist Neal Thigpen recounted that shortly before the primary election, he received a phone call from a man who said "he was on leave from Gov. Tom Ridge's staff in Pennsylvania and down here working on the Bush campaign."

"The man said, 'I understand you're for McCain,' and I said, 'Yes,' " Thigpen recounted, "and he proceeded to tell me that Cindy was a drug addict and this kind of stuff."

Christian Coalition official Roberta Combs admitted to [VF reporter] Gooding: "I make a lot of things happen behinds the scenes and under the radar ... It doesn't matter who gets the credit, the main thing is just winning. But, yeah, we had some fun during that primary ..."

(link)