A very important Daily Howler.

Of course, this isn't the first time that Bush supporters have tried to innoculate the Administration's foreign policy from criticism by smearing critics as anti-semites. Lucianne Jnr. did it last March, and Chris Hitchens made the same baseless claim in Slate In June. Dick Durata also notes this slimy tactic in the comments below.

Brooks's column is aptly named "The Era of Distortion." But it's Brooks who's telling the big lie.

Update: Links added, and corrected to reflect that the Hitchens article was published in June.

NewsMax shows us why Susan Estrich is up for a WOTY:

Geraldo, a liberal who was an ardent defender of the Clintons during the Whitewater scandal of the 90s, suggested a political motive for the prosecution of Limbaugh.

...

Geraldo also noted that the local prosecutor, Barry Krischer, has ties to Janet Reno and is a Democrat.

Geraldo's comments drew surprising support from a guest on his show: well-known liberal and Democratic pundit Susan Estrich.

"This one stinks, this one really stinks," Estrich told Geraldo about the Limbaugh investigation.

...

But Estrich believes politics, not simple justice, is motivating the prosecution of Limbaugh.

"I have been sitting here stewing about this Rush Limbaugh one for a long time. First of all this doctor shopping, how many senior citizens decide which doctor they like better? This notion they are going to get him for going to two doctors in the same thirty day period to dupe them into giving him a medication, this is an utterly ridiculous charge."

Two "liberal" Faux-Hos making excuses for their boss's close friend, Big Pharma. How gallant (and balanced).

Estrich, who reportedly attended law school, certainly knows the doctor shopping law doesn't criminalize visiting multiple doctors to choose one of them for treatment, but rather obtaining multiple prescriptions from multiple doctors at the same time. (And frankly, there aren't that many senior citizens who could afford all the drugs Limbaugh was purchasing, let alone treatment from multiple doctors at the same time.)

If Estrich wins this one, she'll certainly have to thank (the other) Roger Ailes in her acceptance speech.

American Dynasty

Why hasn't this book gotten the major publicity of such Bush-blowing books as Bush at War and The Right Man? It's ranked at 112 at amazon.com and it's hard to even find a review of it. This article says the book's got some information on the "profitable" Bush-Moon connection. Hopefully we'll hear more about American Dynasty in the coming days.

p.s. -- I wonder if this is the article that inspired the book.

Tom Tomorrow makes the case for Charles Quackhammer as WOTY.

The quack was at it again this weekend on Inside Washington, proclaiming that Dr. Howard Dean was just like one of the arrogant docs he "knew in medical school." On a related note, I've just discovered a new mental disorder: Krauthammer-IMAX Syndrome.

Fight the Power

Radical Chris Hitchens demonstrates his concern for the erosion of civil liberties in the Bush era by ... bitching about Mayor Bloomberg. In Hitchens' mind, the slow and painful destruction of constitutional rights in America most worthy of his time is not the detention of persons indefinitely, without bail, as material witnesses; or the deportation of foreign nationals without a hearing; or the designation of U.S. citizens as enemy combatants. No, it's the inability of drunks to light up a butt inside a New York bar.

Most of the examples of enforcement of the laws that Snitch cites, other than the smoking ban, seem abusive or unnecessary, although one suspects that Chris was silent until they came for the smokers. But they all involve fines of $200 or less, not even misdemeanors. Certainly Chris could find greater causes to champion. If he hadn't sold his soul to Dubya and the Crisco Kid, that is.

Of course, I haven't read Chris's article. Maybe the Bloomberg bit was a sidebar to a 10,000 word piece on the Ashcroft Justice Department. Would any journalist of integrity just pose for a few pictures sitting on a milk crate and the feeding the pigeons as a publicity stunt and call it a day? And would he do it just because his boss has a hard-on for the politician in question?

Chris also reports his move to New York City:

"New York City is now the domain of the snitch willing to drop a dime on a harmless fellow citizen."

(Editing courtesy of Nedra Pickler.)

Unforgiven

Here's Howie, who really really wants that WOTY. Question to Howie:

RE: Baltimore:
"For a brief time in their debate Sunday, Democrats seemed to be hewing to a New Year's resolution to stick more carefully to the facts on taxes, the budget and more. But old habits die hard."

[snip]

Howard Kurtz: I don't see that as biased at all. It's old-fashioned truth squadding -- what Dean said, what the facts are, what Dean's explanation is.

'But old habits die hard.' -- The message here is that Democrats are liars. That's not normal truth-squadding. That's buying into Republican spin about their opponents.

Howie's response:

Howard Kurtz: Forgive me for not seeing the spin. ....

Bonus whore points to Howie for saying "Politics ain't beanbag." As played by the Putz, it's teabag.

Whores of 2003

The Horse is back with a vengeance... and with 2003's crop of the creme de la whores. This year's contenders:

Tim Russert
Ted Koppel
Kathleen Parker
George Will
Charles Krauthammer
David Brooks
Howard Kurtz
Susan Estrich
Frank Luntz
Zell Miller

Right now, I'm leaning toward Pumpkinhead Russert, although the Putz, Estrich, Will and Luntz are still in the running. As always, a tough choice.

Did Neil Bush Commit Perjury?

I'm no expert on sexually- transmitted diseases, but it sounds like Neil "Silverado" Bush may have been ... elongating the truth under oath. Atrios links to this deposition testimony from Neilsie's divorce case:

Brown: "Well, I'm sorry. How ... how many venereal diseases do you suffer from?"

Bush: "I've had one venereal disease."

Brown: "Which was?"

Bush: "Herpes." (Emphasis added.)

WebMD says:

There is no cure for genital herpes. After the primary outbreak, some people have just a few recurrent outbreaks over their lifetime, while others may have 4 to 6 outbreaks a year. Recurrent outbreaks are more likely if the cause is HSV-2 and generally are less severe and heal more quickly than the primary outbreak. Usually the number of outbreaks decreases after several years. While genital herpes is bothersome and may cause emotional distress, it usually does not cause serious health problems in healthy adults.

Now, Neilsie doesn't say he had genital herpes. Or maybe he's invented a cure for the disease. I'd hate to think that Neil Bush lied under oath.

(After composing this, I see that commenter Julius Civitatus already said the same thing. But it bears repeating. For the youngsters. Play safe, and don't fuck a Bush!)

The End of An Era

The Jennicam website has shut down, presumably due to an intense lack of interest. Who knew it was still operating? As "Adam" -- who doesn't appear to be a "troll" -- says at the BBC News site, "I'll really miss those five-gallon metal petrol containers."

The interesting part of the story is that PayPal recently refused to process payments for Ms. Ringley because of nudity on her site, which certainly was much more unwholesome than those penis enlarging pills and sex toys anyone can purchase on EBay.

Hmmm.... Now that this market niche has opened up, maybe Rogercam can fill the void.

Trolls, Ducks and Whores

Howard the Duck Fineman, cowboy fellatilist, senses trouble in the Dean campaign. Why? Because he has somehow confirmed the sincerity of anonymous posters at the Dean campaign website:

The murmurs of doubt are faint, barely audible above the background hum of the Internet cosmos, but they are worth listening to at the moment, for the doubters don't seem to be "trolls" --provocateurs in digital disguise -- and they express concerns about their favorite son, Dr. Howard Dean, in the bosom of his own blogosphere.

Fineman, who doesn't seem to be a journalist, goes on to quote suspected non-trolls "WVMicko," "Lancaster" and "irmaly." Now, whether the authors of these comments are Dean supporters, fake Dean supporters, trolls or RNC operatives, and whether they sincerely hold the views expressed, Fineman's entire exercise is meaningless. His only purpose was to put RNC spin in the mouths of supposed Dems. (I guess Pat Cadell, Zell Miller and Tammy Bruce were out of town for the holidays.)

Revolting as it may be, read the entire article. You just may learn who selected those anti-Dean quotes for the Duck.

p.s. to Fineman: Those hot barely legal co-eds you're cybering with -- they actually look a lot like your pal Karl too.

Nothing Changes On New Year's Day

Yes, 2003 has come and gone, and Clownhall is still a cesspit of bigotry. Today's Townhall.com homepage links to this lovely comment on Howard Dean's faith:

Howard Dean's comments place him squarely in the "Jesus of convenience" camp. His wife and children are Jewish. Cool. But I have to wonder: if Howie's faith in Jesus Christ is so important to him, why didn't he marry someone with the same faith? Why didn't he insist on raising his children in that faith? Say it with me, on three: because what faith Howard Dean has in Jesus isn't central to his life.

I wonder how the Jews linked by Clownhall (Krauthammer, Goldberg, Shapiro, et al.) feel about sharing their little corner of cyberspace with bigoted dickwads like Matt Grills.

Due to other obligations of your harried host, the venerable Roger Ailes Year in Review Quiz will not be presented this year. Too little time and not nearly enough Roger, I'm afraid. There's a possibility of a Thirteen Months' in Review Quiz at the end of January, but it's a slim one. My sincere apologies.

William Safire's Next Column

I hear Bill's trying to regain credibility.

Person Of The Year

The 2003 Roger Ailes Person of the Year is:

An entrepreneur.

A caregiver.

A compassionate conservative.

A champion of law and order.

She has been vilified by the powerful and the well-connected.

She has been targeted by the haters and the partisan hacks.

And she will be vindicated.

My friends, I give you the 2003 Roger Ailes Person of the Year:

Ms. Wilma Cline

Linking Without Thinking

It must be something in the blog. Daniel Drezner fills in for Sully Joe and immediately laspes into Sully's habit of linking without reading. Drezner asserts that this Los Angeles Times article is "trying to predict the 2004 election" by "roll[ing] out th[e] fact" that since 1960, "'the party in the White House lost when the unemployment rate deteriorated during the first half of the year.

In fact, the article doesn't try to predict the election. The article is about jobless rates. It cites the fact, and then cites an author of several books who says that it's not a coincidence that the President loses when unemployment increases before the election. But there's nothing in the article predicting the outcome of the 2004 election, or even suggesting the outcome in 2004 will follow past history. The Times article doesn't say it, and it doesn't quote the author as saying it either.

Next time, Daniel, "[r]ead the whole thing -- yes, even if you need to register." And don't pick up Sully's bad habits.

This, from a man who couldn't best Dick Cheney in a debate:

"I've got some news for Howard Dean ... The primary campaign is a warm-up compared to what George Bush and Karl Rove have waiting for him. . . . He's going to melt in a minute once the Republicans start going after him."

Melt? You mean, like this:

LIEBERMAN.... I think if you asked most people in America today that famous question that Ronald Reagan asked, "Are you better off today than you were eight years ago?" Most people would say yes. I'm pleased to see, Dick, from the newspapers that you're better off than you were eight years ago, too.

CHENEY: I can tell you, Joe, the government had absolutely nothing to do with it. (LAUGHTER) (APPLAUSE)

MODERATOR: This question is to you.

LIEBERMAN: I can see my wife and I think she's saying, "I think he should go out into the private sector."

CHENEY: I'll help you do that, Joe.

Yeah, that's exactly what we need.

Receding Timelines

Little Mickey Kaus, who demonstrates his intellectual cred by referencing theorist "Milton-Friedman" (you know, of the Stanford Milton-Friedmans), blasts Senator Hillary Clinton for criticizing the administration's "artificial timeline" for leaving Iraq. He then says "[i]f the timeline needs to be pushed back, it can be pushed back." But doesn't that make the timeline artificial, in the sense of meaningless or false? Sure, every timeline is artificial in the sense that it's human-made. But certainly saying that a timeline with drop-dead date is okay because the drop-dead date can be changed at will is not an endorsement of the timeline.

Kaus is also perusing Free Republic for Michael Jackson commentary. You know, Kaus and "Hillary's Lovely Legs" have never been seen in the same room together.... or maybe they are always seen together.

The Bad Prose Zone or, Who's Licking Out For You?

A reminder that the nation's leading basic cable moralist is not only a sack of crap, but crap in the sack as well. And a bad writer:

"Ashley was now wearing only brief white panties. She had signaled her desire by removing her shirt and skirt, and by leaning back on the couch. She closed her eyes, concentrating on nothing but Shannon's tongue and lips. He gently teased her by licking the areas around her most sensitive erogenous zone."

Uh, wouldn't it be more effective to lick the erogenous zone, rather than the areas around it?

Sully: I Invented Blogging

Hipster economist Bruce Bartlett, who, I repeat, is not the dead guy from the Wall Street Journal has published his annual blog recommendations. This year B.B. gives a plug to Max Sawicky and his blog MaxSpeak, saying that Max is "unafraid to represent a far left, almost Marxist, viewpoint" and a "good enough economist to be moved by the data, which is rare among ideologues." Although Bartlett claims to read MaxSpeak regularly, he manages to use the old link, and not the current one, which is here.

B.B. also links to Brad DeLong but, again, fails to link directly to Brad's blog. At least he's expanded his horizons from last year's trinity of tripe (Joe Sully, Little Mick and Egg Boy).