The Last To Know

Guest blogger "TPM Reader DK" at Talking Points Memo is a little slow on the uptake:

"I figured ABC was mostly guilty of agreeing to air a boneheaded docudrama, but it's starting to look like ABC was also complicit in a right-wing PR campaign."

Hasn't that been blindingly obvious from day one, with ABC making the vid available to Big Pharma and wingnut bloggers and hiding it from everyone else? Was there ever a time when this bullshitmentary was in the public consciousness that ABC's pandering to Republicans and the right wasn't evident?

And "complicit in a right-wing PR campaign"? Without the Mouse That Whored and its broadcasting facilities, there isn't any P.R. campaign.

Our friend olvlzl has a thought-provoking guest post on religion, the left and politics at Echidne Of The Snakes.

Speaking of books best left in the loo, the late, unlamented Sam Francis has posthumously published a book deserving a prominent place submerged in the crapper. Among those plaudits from Francis' racist and, unfortunately, breathing friends is this gem:

"When I think of Sam Francis and Shots Fired, I think of what was said about his fellow Tennessean, General Bedford Forrest: 'He bought a one-way ticket to the war.' That means that Forrest, once committed to a good cause -- the defense of his people -- devoted his all to the cause and never looked back. Such a man was Sam Francis." -- Clyde N. Wilson, Professor of History, University of South Carolina

Comparing Francis favorably to a founder of the Klan, war criminal and anti-American traitor -- that's high praise indeed. (By the way, why isn't this ignorant USC cracker getting the Ward Churchill treatment?)

Other bigots praising the corpse include Fran Coombs, head Kleagle of the Moonie Times, and some other douchebag who credits Francis with "exposing Rosa Parks as a professional agitator planted on her famous bus by a pinko training school in Tennessee...." It also appears that Basic Cable's Most Beloved Racist(tm), Pat Buchanan, wrote an intro or foward to the book.

This world became a slightly better place when Francis left it, and it will improve by a much greater margin when all of those who endorse Francis' book return to their highest and best use, as worm shit.

(Link via John Gorenfeld's WIWDCIRM?)

Roger's Campaign Against Adult Illiteracy

If you read only two books this year, make them these:

On sale here.

And

On sale here.

And you might want to start reading more, too. Reading in Anti-Fundementalist.

And if you accidentally take two books into the restroom of your local chain bookstore and forget to return them to the shelves this year, make them The Professors by David Horowitz and Women Who Make The World Worse by Snaggletooth O'Beirne.

Bush Lied, People Died, Part Three Thousand And God Knows How Many

The publication of this report will undoubtedly lead to an increase in the number of Americans who believe the Administration lies of a Saddam-Al Queda ties:

WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 -- The Central Intelligence Agency last fall repudiated the claim that there were prewar ties between Saddam Hussein's government and an operative of Al Qaeda, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, according to a report issued Friday by the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The disclosure undercuts continuing assertions by the Bush administration that such ties existed, and that they provided evidence of links between Iraq and Al Qaeda. The Republican-controlled committee, in a second report, also sharply criticized the administration for its reliance on the Iraqi National Congress during the prelude to the war in Iraq.

...

The panel concluded that Mr. Hussein regarded Al Qaeda as a threat rather than a potential ally, and that the Iraqi intelligence service "actively attempted to locate and capture al-Zarqawi without success."

The Republican-controlled report focused on the CIA -- Cover Idiotboy's Ass:

The reports did not address the politically divisive question of whether the Bush administration had exaggerated or misused intelligence as part of its effort to win support for the war. But one report did contradict the administration's assertions, made before the war and since, that ties between Mr. Zarqawi and Mr. Hussein's government provided evidence of a close relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda.

I'd say not so much politically divisive as easily answered by an 8 year old.

As recently as Aug. 21, President Bush said at a news conference that Mr. Hussein "had relations with Zarqawi." But a C.I.A. report completed in October 2005 concluded instead that Mr. Hussein’s government "did not have a relationship, harbor or even turn a blind eye toward Zarqawi and his associates," according to the new Senate findings.

On the other hand, Rummy did have relations with that dictator, Mr. Hussein.

A set of conclusions that included criticism of the administration's ties with the Iraqi National Congress was opposed by several Republicans on the panel, including Mr. Roberts, but was approved with the support of two Republicans, Chuck Hagel, of Nebraska, and Olympia Snowe, of Maine, along with all seven Democrats. Senator Roberts even took the unusual step of disavowing the conclusions about the role played by the Iraqi National Congress, saying that they were "misleading and are not supported by the facts."

Super. Now can we get someone to look into the ties between the New York Times and the Iraqi National Congress?

Just asking.

Psycho Sully, Qu'est-ce Que C'est

At 12:20 p.m. today (if Sully's time stamps can be believed), Andy Sully writes:

I have no idea why the Clinton administration should get a pass in dithering while a mortal threat gathered in the 1990s. I hope ABC stands firm.

At 6:14 p.m., Sully gives John Podhoretz an "Yglesias Award" nomination -- which, in Sully's tiny mind, is a compliment* -- for writing this:

"The portrait of Albright is an unacceptable revision of recent history and an unfair mark on a public servant who, no matter her shortcomings, doesn't deserve to be remembered by millions of Americans as the inadvertent (and truculent) savior of Osama bin Laden."

So what happened to Sully between noon and six?

* The "award" is actually an insult and not a compliment, as it suggest that Matt Y.'s primary virtue as a writer is not his writing or thinking, but his willingness to "criticize his own side." It's sort of like giving a "Sully Award" to those demonstrating a hysterical, pathological fear of the Clenis.

Added: Except in Sully's case, it would be accurate.

The Mouse That Whored

Is there a stupider television critic than Alessandra Stanley (now that Jeff Jarvis is out on permanent disability)? I say no.

Consider this passage from Stanley's review of ABC's "Pathological Lies About 9/11":

"'The Path to 9/11' is not a documentary, or even a docu-drama; it is a fictionalized account of what took place.

But if it's a fictionalized account, it's not about "what took place." It's an account of what didn't take place.

Stanley seeks confused about the difference between reality and fantasy:

"The outside pressure was intense enough to persuade ABC to re-edit one of the more contested made-up scenes in the film. In the version sent to critics, it depicted C.I.A. operatives and their Afghan allies armed with guns and night-vision goggles creeping in the dark to snatch Mr. bin Laden from his compound in 1998. The men are told to stand by, in harm's way, as the C.I.A. director, George J. Tenet and the national security adviser, Samuel R. Berger, cavil by videoconference. Rather than take a firm decision, Mr. Berger flips off his videophone, and Mr. Tenet aborts the mission. (Among other things, ABC agreed to excise Mr. Berger's hissy fit.)

"In reality the C.I.A. got close, but never that close...."

"In 2001 President Bush and his newly appointed aides had ample warning, including a briefing paper titled 'Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.,' and they failed to take it seriously enough, but their missteps are not equal. It's like focusing blame for a school shooting at the beginning of the school year on the student's new home room teacher; the adults who watched the boy torment classmates and poison small animals knew better."

Bush was fully informed about the threat from Bill Clinton himself, Richard Clarke, etc. and did nothing. If Bush had "ample warning," then how did the Clintonites "know better." What the fuck was the Clinton administration supposed to do, refuse to turn over power until all terrorists were eliminated? Stay in office until Bush passed a reading comprehesion test? If Bush was not prepared to deal with terrorism from day one, he should have never stolen the election in the first place.

And Stanley, like her NYT pals, again demonstrates her endless fascination with Bill Clinton's cock:

"The Sept. 11 commission concluded that the sex scandal distracted the Clinton administration from the terrorist threat."

Well, not in the real world, but don't tell Stanley.

Stanley is as dishonest as ABC, The Mouse That Whored. Her article is a fictionalized account of what didn't take place. But that's good enough for the paper of Judy Miller, Jeff Gerth and Bobo Brooks.

Joe On The Dole

This is from a Moonie rag, so buyer beware:

The White House funneled millions of dollars through major Republican Party contributors to Sen. Joseph Lieberman's primary campaign in a failed effort to ensure the support of the former Democrat for the Bush administration.

A senior GOP source said the money was part of Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove's strategy to maintain a Republican majority in the Senate in November. The source said Mr. Rove, together with Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, directed leading pro-Bush contributors to donate millions of dollars to Mr. Lieberman's campaign for re-election in Connecticut in an attempt that he would be [wtf? -- RA] a "Republican-leaning" senator.

"Joe [Lieberman] took the money but said he would not play ball," the source said. "That doesn't mean that this was a wasted investment."

Seems to me the subliterate Moonie rag could name some of the donors if the story is true. And the rag doesn't quote either Chinless Ken or Triple-Chins Karl with either a confirmation or denial. On the other hand, Joe Fuckyourself undoubtedly got (and continues to get) a lot of right-wing cash; the only question is whether it arrived at the White House's command.

I happened to surf by the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon this weekend just in time to catch Norm Crosby telling this joke (paraphrased):

But research is very important. Did you know that we're now spending more on breast implants and Viagra than on Alzheimer's research? This is great. In 2024, men and women will be walking around with giant breasts and huge erections and they won't know why.

At least Norm made the effort to keep it topical. Foster Brooks never did that.

She's The One That They Want

Thank you, Florida Republicans, for electing a holy-water worshipping, anti-Semitic sociopath as your Senate candidate. Ms. Harris truly is the mainstream of the G.O.P.