Recently in Legacy Media Category

Excuse me just a bit.

[loud sound of wood scraping on the floor]

Okay, there. I've got my soap box in place. Now, I just have to find my microphone.

[turns head about, looking for microphone]

Oh, come on! It's a simple request! Where in hell is my mic?

Oh, there it is.

[grins sheepishly]

Sorry. It was just sitting here on this table. Don't know how I missed it the first time.

[Steps up on soap box, adjusts mic on stan....]

Where the hell is my mic stand?

For Christ's sake! Who took my mic stand?

Oh, wait. There it is under my winter coat.

[another sheepish grin]

My bad. I forgot I hung it on the stand when I first arrived.

[steps back up on soap box, adjusts mic on stand, causes loud feedback]

Oh, jeez! I am so sorry.

[hops off of soap box and adjusts setting on amp]

[steps back up on soap box, adjusts mic on stand, taps mic]

Can you all hear me?

What? You, in the back, speak up. Turn it up? Oh, okay. I gotchya.

[hops off of soap box and adjusts setting on amp again]

[steps back up on soap box, adjusts mic on stand, taps mic]

Can you hear me now?

[makes a dead pan face]

No, I don't work for Verizon. Smart ass.

[makes final adjustment to mic stand, holds hands out for quiet]

Yeah! I got up early enough to write a quick blog post. I've checked the news. It damn near put me back to sleep. What news that is out there is being pressed into service as the next worst thing to ever happen in our nation. It's a shtick that right wing radio has had down pat for decades, but now it seems as if the Legacy Media and the various blogs are flagging that old approach well past it's death.

Yeesh. It's just a slow news day. Seriously. After 7 plus years of BushCo™, I suspect we are going to find ourselves bored with the lack of sensationalism. No one, and I mean no one, is going to displace BushCo™ as the most controversial United States administration in modern times.

We are all going to be like drunks looking for that elusive intoxication. Try as we might, we will never feel that exhilaration we first felt as we published a post about the latest outrage from the impertinent son of a misplaced New Englander.

Our drug of choice has actually been gone for quite some time. He's gone into hiding now that his popularity has sunk lower then Nixon's.

So, like any good addict, we've switched; thus lies the explanation of our fascination with Sarah Palin. In my using days, if I couldn't get pot, I got drunk. In today's blogging milieu, if we can't have our BushCo™ story, by God, we've got Sarah to take it's place. It's the same cheap, tawdry content, only with a feminine label.

Soon, though, she'll be empty. Then what? Write outrage over Obama? Does anyone really think that Barack will be as incompetent, as amoral, as ignorant as George W. Bush? If anyone out there thinks that; put down the pipe, back away, and check yourself into treatment. Or the psych ward. Because, DAMN, your either high or psychotic. Or both.

About damn time.

TIME: Swampland

I don't think a war with Iran is coming, thank God, but this time I am not going to pull any punches. My voice isn't very important in the grand scheme of things, but I'm going to do my job--and that means letting you know exactly where I stand and what I believe. I believe there are a small group of Jewish neoconservatives who are pushing for war with Iran because they believe it is in America's long-term interests and because they believe Israel's existence is at stake. They are wrong and recent history tells us they are dangerous. They are also bullies and I'm not going to be intimidated by them.

Maureen Dowd can be a real misogynist at times. But damn! when she's on, she is on

New York Times

The cheap populism is really rich coming from Karl Rove. When was the last time he kicked back with a corncob pipe to watch professional wrestling?

Rove is trying to spin his myths, as he used to do with such devastating effect, but it won't work this time. The absurd spectacle of rich white conservatives trying to paint Obama as a watercress sandwich with the crust cut off seems ugly and fake.

Obama can be aloof and dismissive at times, and he's certainly self-regarding, carrying the aura of the Ivy faculty club. But isn't that better than the aura of the country clubs that tried to keep out blacks? It's ironic, and maybe inevitable, that the first African-American nominee comes across as a prince of privilege. He is, as Leon Wieseltier of The New Republic wrote, not the seed but the flower of the civil rights movement.

Unlike W., Obama doesn't have a chip on his shoulder and he doesn't make a lot of snarky remarks. He tries to stay on a positive keel and see things from the other person's point of view.

He's not Richie Rich, saved time and again by Daddy's influence and Daddy's friends, the one who got waved into Yale and Harvard and cushy business deals, who drank too much and snickered at the intellectuals and gave them snide nicknames.

This is probably propogating a sexual stereotype, but damn, she sure did castrate Rove. Well, she would have, if he actually had any balls to begin with.

Other than the death of George Carlin, it appears to be a slow news day. Indeed, since the end of the Democratic primary drama, it's been a slow time for national news all the way around. And I need to amend a statement, even George Carlin's death in not necessarily "news."

Death is not a news story. It is simply a part of life. I am not all that inclined to consider the passing of people as some horrible, terrible incident. I am willing to admit to the pain and grief I experience when someone I love has passed away. But again, it is simply a part of life. I was going to say part of the human condition, but having seen a raccoon mourn the loss of their mate, it's far from just a human condition.

Anyway, I was just noting that on the grand scale of life, we are in a slow news cycle, where the trivial and the mundane are being elevated to heights far exceeding their worth.

I am linking to this TPM post simply because it brought up a thought. Through the years, I have never been a newspaper reader. I always heard the news by way of other people talking about what they had read, coupled with what I heard on the radio and TV. So, in a sense, the doom of the print newspaper industry just does not bother me all that much.

Also, it may explain why I took to blogs so easily. Blogs are simply a round table discussion, such as happens in cafes and coffee shops around the nation, only without the necessary step of having to leave the house and go to a cafe or coffee shop.

MSNBC

WASHINGTON - Tim Russert, NBC News' Washington bureau chief and the moderator of "Meet the Press," died Friday after a sudden heart attack at the bureau, NBC News said Friday. He was 58.

Russert was recording voiceovers for Sunday's "Meet the Press" program when he collapsed, the network said. No details were immediately available.

When I first read this over at Digby's, I thought it was some kind of joke, because there was no link, so I looked it up.

As always, I never speak ill of those who've passed on.

The Savaging of Scott McClellan continues. But it is not just the right that is tearing him apart. Several of our own progressive members of Blogstonia appear to be piling on just as righteously. Over at TPM, there are continued posts of Scott's past statements that, by his own recent admission, were misleading and lies. And yet, despite his admissions, he is being ridiculed, mocked, and smeared.

Was David Brock, a man most of us know to have been instrumental in the defamation, and eventual impeachment of Bill Clinton, held to this level of scorn and ridicule? Obviously not, considering his website, Media Matters, is the go-to site for all things propaganda.

Over the last 6 plus years, since the run up to the invasion of Iraq, a nation obviously not capable of mounting any type of attack against us, we have been demanding that the administration acknowledge it's propaganda agenda. Time and again, on blogs and websites across the progressive spectrum, there has been anger and disgust at the lack of honesty and forthrightness.

Now, finally, Scott McClellan steps forward, announces quite loudly, and convincingly, that the Bush administration used propaganda in the run up to the invasion, and what does he receive? Our derision and scorn.

"Where the hell were you back in 2002? Why the hell did you not resign in protest back then?" Here are some links: CampusProgress, The Register-Guardian, MetaFilter, Oliver Willis, All Spin Zone.

Stop. It. Seriously. Stop it right now.

Scott McClellan has stepped forward, just like David Brock, just like Paul O'Neill, just like Richard Clarke. Now, when those three stepped forward, did it make a difference? Did Paul O"Neill's account of the fiasco that is the Bush administration's handling of the economy make things change? Doh! Of course not. Did David Brock's admission of being instrumental in the propaganda machine -- The Mighty Wurlitzer -- of the conservative right result in the failure of the propaganda machine? Do I need to type Doh! again? And do I really need to point out the lack of serious security despite Richard Clarke's admissions? Yeah, I thought not.

Okay, maybe Scott could have done the honorable thing and bowed out earlier. In the end, it would not have mattered one iota. They simply would have filled his position with another mouth piece. Gee, in fact, they've done it twice since he's left.

So, how about instead of bitching about what he didn't do, because it doesn't really matter, and take comfort in what he has done. Because, unlike David, Paul, and Richard, Scott's book, and it's timing, might actually prevent the invasion of Iran. He has become an ally to our cause. How about we accept him?

Besides, if you really want to bitch about someone doing the right thing and preventing this mess, how about you bitch about this. Because, in the end, having a different man as president would have been the only way to prevent the failure that is the Bush administration.

You have to give Scott McClellan credit.  It takes a lot of courage to stand up and publicly announce that you were wrong.  Now, obviously, Scott has not directly said he was wrong.  But Scott is a well-trained press secretary.  He knows that his message will be seen implicitly as stating he was wrong.  Most of the electorate in our country will see that and internalize his admission.

The benefit of Scott's book is that he is setting an example.  One of the cornerstones of recovery, or sobriety, as well as an integral part of Catholicism, is the concept of confession.  Now, the manner of that confession might be argued, with some claiming confession should be personal and private, while others are okay with public confessions.

In Scotty's case, a public confession appears appropriate.  Mostly because the topic of his confession were the lies and manipulation he conveyed for the administration to the public.  But even more to the point, his current actions give courage to others to acknowledge their experience of being pressured by the administration and corporate executives prior to our invasion of Iraq.

Already a highly visible journalist, Jessica Yellin, and a legacy media anchor, Katie Couric, have come forth, as Glenn Greenwald so amply noted at Salon.  And then there's Michael Turk's message posted at Twitter.

Now, a lot of people are questioning Scott's motive for his disclosure at this time. However, his motive is not the issue. What is important is the unintended consequences of his book.  Or maybe not so unintended consequences.  Regardless of Scott's monetary gain with the release of this book it appears to be a public display of personal introspection; a process that hopefully Scott's example indicates has begun in our nation and will spur others to mirror.

Perhaps the collective visceral shock our nation experienced after September 11, 2001 has finally cleared and we are now recognizing the consequences of the Bush administration's knee-jerk reaction.  Often, after a great shock, people have a tendency to lash out in an effort to protect themselves from further hurt.  Unfortunately, that means those people who normally are our support and comfort are driven away.  And when we finally see that consequence, are aware of its damaging effects, it's still difficult to acknowledge -- both to ourselves and to those important in our lives -- our behavior.

Whereas Paul O'Neill and Richard Clarke did come out with books criticizing the Bush administration they never acknowledged or admitted any personal mistakes.  Yes, Richard Clarke did apologize to the families of the victims of September 11, 2001, but only as a surrogate for the Bush administration, not as the man solely responsible for that tragedy.  Also, both of them simply criticized the policies of the administration, they made no moral or ethical charges.

Indeed, Scott's scathing disclosure comes across as an implicit acknowledgment of shared immoral and unethical behavior.  This conveys a spiritual aspect in Scott's action that was missing from all the prior tell-all books released by former administration members.

I think this book will strike a deeper cord in the American electorate than all the past books of former Bush administration officials. It portrays a sense of awakening, of returning to a core set of beliefs. Whereas candidate Bush simply talked the talk about "restoring honor and dignity to the White House" Scott has walked the walk.

Now, to beg the question; is our country awakening and preparing to return to it's core set of beliefs about individual freedom and basic rights? If Scott's book is any indication, we just might be, we just might be.

No, not leaning left, but restoring balance.

Joe Kline

Just trying to beat a certain economist from Philly to the punch.

Cokie, I can speak for myself. I don't need you attempting to tell the rest of the country how I think, or what I believe. So, just do me a favor. The next time you feel the need to speak out for me, shut the fuck up.

Star Tribune

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE - White House officials waged an extraordinary campaign during an 11-hour Air Force One flight to put a positive spin on the outcome of Sunday's summit talks between President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Four times on the long flight back to Washington from Sochi, Russia, Bush aides trooped back to the press cabin to make the case that the summit had turned out well, particularly on missile defenses.

It was the heaviest lobbying campaign veteran reporters could recall ever occurring on the president's plane. Press accounts of the summit had been sent to Bush's plane and administration officials thought they were too negative. Clearly, Bush's aides were disappointed.

Oh, for crying out loud. Just how desperate are these bozos willing to act? At this point, it is becoming obvious that Bush has developed webbed feet and is quacking loudly. All the spin in the world is not going to keep that fact from reaching an already apathetic Republican electorate.

Do you think Fox will make mention of this little fact? Okay, okay. It really is rhetorical.

Star Tribune

SAN FRANCISCO - They work long hours, often to exhaustion. Many are paid by the piece -- not garments, but blog posts. This is the digital-era sweatshop. You may know it by a different name: home.

A growing workforce of home-office laborers and entrepreneurs, armed with computers and smartphones and wired to the hilt, are toiling under great physical and emotional stress created by the around-the-clock Internet economy that demands a constant stream of news and comment.

Of course, the bloggers profess a love of the nonstop action. At the same time, some are starting to wonder if something has gone very wrong. In the last few months, two among their ranks have died suddenly.

Once again, it's blame everything except the personal choices made by people. I usually don't speak ill of the dead, but in this case I have to speak out. It is not that a blogger's lifestyle kills, it is that people choose to work the hours they do, and live the life they live.

What is it with people? Something new comes along that makes a major impact on society, and those not benefiting from, or participating in, the new trend, decide it is evil and dangerous.

Cue Shatner; Get a life, people.

Actually, stop being so fraking scared. Your way of life is not going to disappear in a flash of bright light, leaving you destitute and hopeless. So some people lived life as they chose, and possibly burned themselves out to the point of death. It was their choice of lifestyle, not a diabolical new industry, that killed them.

USA Today

Five years ago this week, as bombs began to rain down on Baghdad, this newspaper's front-page news story said President Bush's order "signaled the beginning of a preventive war unique in American history and one on which he has staked his presidency."

Subsequent events have shown the pre-emptive attack on Iraq to have been one of the great foreign policy blunders in American history, one that has driven Bush's approval rating down to 32%. Saddam Hussein, it turned out, had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks, possessed no weapons of mass destruction and posed no imminent threat to U.S. security.

While the U.S. deposed a brutal dictator, in the process it destabilized Iraq, emboldened its archenemy Iran and opened the door for al-Qaeda terrorists to establish a foothold in a place they hadn't been. Efforts to defeat the insurgency and salvage a semblance of stability in Iraq have cost nearly 4,000 American lives and more than $500 billion.

Normally, I do not post opinion pieces from newspapers. However, this one is from USA Today. When America's Cheerleader newspaper states that the pre-emptive attack was a foreign policy blunder, that is saying something.

Oh, and they call the invasion "Bush's Blunder." That's going to stick.

TVNewser

Insiders tell TVNewser Tucker Carlson's 6pmET show Tucker is getting the axe, but Carlson stays on as a political contributor to all MSNBC shows at least through the 2008 election. The official announcement, expected tomorrow, will include details about who will replace Tucker at 6pmET as well as other political programming additions. Sources say the network is going to beef up its schedule with more NBC News talent.

You know, I am trying like hell to work up some sympathy for ol' Tucker. But, try as I might, it is bone dry in that particular department today.

Seriously, that boy got his chops handed to him by John Stewart and he never recovered. He was never a good newsman. The fact he tried to nail John as not asking hard hitting questions on The Daily Show was the clincher. This cancellation is a foot note to a lack luster career.

He really was nothing more than a tag-a-long of the Mighty Wurlitzer. He collected the crumbs from the big boys, attempting to mimic their blow hard bellows to only produce an effeminate lisp.

Oh, and that segment with John Stewart is still great to watch, even if it is close to 4 years old.

New York Times

The inflation has many causes, from rising global demand for commodities to the monetary constraints of currencies pegged to the weakening American dollar. But one cause is the skyrocketing price of oil itself, which has quadrupled since 2002. It is helping push many ordinary people toward poverty even as it stimulates a new surge of economic growth in the gulf.[highlighted by Rook]

What, so ordinary people are not usually poor? Seriously, what idiot wrote this incredibly stupid sentence? So ordinary people are not normally poor. Ordinary people are middle class or upper class. So, I guess that makes poor people not ordinary. Maybe they are just lucky ducks.

If ever there was an example of a Freudian slip, this is it.

Arrogance, thy name is New York Times.

Suicide or murder? If it's suicide, it'll be old news soon. If it's murder, we've got ourselves another pretty white thing for national obsession.

Ex-news anchor found dead - Crime & courts- msnbc.com

ROYAL OAK, Mich. - A former TV news anchor in Michigan who was accused of embezzling from a man she dated and advised financially has been found dead in her home.

Police tell The Detroit News that a relative found Suzanne Wangler unresponsive Saturday afternoon in her home in suburban Royal Oak. Detective Dan Swiatkowski isn't confirming how she died but says an autopsy is planned.

Technorati Tags: Suzanne Wrangler, Suzanne Page, Murder, Suicide,

Commercial Appeal

Memphis blogger Thaddeus Matthews is nobody's idea of an objective reporter. But local authorities should follow the same set of rules in dealing with bloggers as they would follow with established media.

Like him or not, Matthews is among a growing cadre of Internet savvy communicators who are using the Internet to democratize journalism. When he obtained and gave his readers a draft statement from the suspect in the murder of police officer Edward Vidulich, he was using a common journalistic tool. Snatching that tool from the hands of journalists of any stripe ultimately damages the public's ability to hold the government accountable.

Offered without comment.

The Daily Brew 
February 10, 2008

As I was watching the returns come in from Maine, where Senator Obama won his forth straight contest since Super Tuesday, I was getting irritated by the fact that the corporate news continues to include the so-called Super Delegates in the reported delegate totals.  As we know, the Super Delegates can change their minds, and there is good reason to suspect they might. Many senior party members are already cautioning the Super Delegates that they should think twice before changing the results, should they eventually show a decisive preference among the voters.  

Reporting the Super Delegates as though their votes were cast in stone has the effect of showing Senator Clinton as "leading" the race, when in fact, Senator Obama has actually won more delegates in the state contests.  This is just one of the myriad of small ways the corporate press use to try to control the outcome of our political process.

Since it is clear that the media is using the Super Delegates to skew the race, I was curious to see how much effect the Super Delegates are having in undermining the voters from their own states.  So I did a quick check to see how many of the Super Delegates were committed to a candidate that lost in their home states.  

What I learned is that there are 42 Super Delegates committed to Senator Clinton from states Senator Obama won, and there are 32 Super Delegates committed to Senator Obama from states Senator Clinton won.  This discrepancy accounts for more than a third of the 27 delegate "lead" that CNN is reporting for Senator Clinton.

Here, for your edification, are the names of those Super Delegates:

Just for kicks, I thought 

Super Delegates Committed to Senator Clinton from States Senator Obama
Won:
(42 total so far)

DNC Patti Higgins (AK)
DNC Joe Reed (AL)
Rep. Diane DeGette (CO)
DNC Manny Rodriguez (CO)
DNC Maria Handley (CO)
DNC Ramona Martinez (CO)
DNC Ellen Camhi (CT)
Gov. Ruth Ann Minner (DE)
DNC Rhett Ruggerio (DE)
DNC Karen Valentine (DE)
Rep. David Scott (GA)
Rep. John Lewis (GA)
Michael Thurmond (GA)
Carole Dabbs (GA)
Lonnie Plott (GA)
DNC John Rednour (IL)
Rep. Leonard Boswell (IA)
DNC Sandy Opstvedt (IA)
DNC Sarah Swisher (IA)
DNC Mike Gronstal (IA)
DNC Teresa Krusor (KS)
Gov. John Baldacci (ME)
DNC Ken Curtis (ME)
VP Walter Mondale (MN)
DNC Jackie Stevenson (MN)
DNC Rick Stafford (MN)
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II (MO)
Fmr. Rep. Dick Gephardt (MO)
DNC Doug Brooks (MO)
DNC Sandy Querry (MO)
DNC Don Fowler (SC)
DNC Marva Smalls (SC)
DNC Hon. Karen Hale (UT)
DNC Helen Langan (UT)
Sen. Maria Cantwell (WA)
Sen. Patty Murray (WA)
Rep. Jay Inslee (WA)
Former Speaker Tom Foley (WA)
DNC Ron Sims (WA)
Rep. Norm Dicks (WA)
 
Super Delegates Committed to Senator Obama from States Senator Clinton 
Won:
(32 total so far)

Gov. Janet Napolitano (AZ)
Rep. Raul Grijalva (AZ)
Rep. Anna Eshoo (CA)
Rep. Xavier Becerra (CA)
Rep. Barbara Lee (CA)
Rep. Adam Schiff (CA)
Rep. George Miller (CA)
Rep Zoe Lofgren (CA)
Rep. Linda Sanchez (CA)
DNC Hon. Eric Garcetti (CA)
DNC Norma Torres (CA)
Rep. Robert Wexler (FL)
DNC Allan Katz (FL)
Gov. Deval Patrick (MA)
Sen. John Kerry (MA)
Sen. Ted Kennedy (MA)
Rep. William Delahunt (MA)
Rep. Michael Capuano (MA)
DNC Alan Solomont (MA)
Rep. John Conyers (MI)
Rep. Steve Rothman (NJ)
DNC Steven Horsford (NV)
Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (NH)
Rep. Paul Hodes (NH)
DNC Hon. Martha Fuller Clark (NH)
Fmr DNC Chair Fred Harris (NM)
DNC Kitti Asbury - (OK)
Rep. Jim Cooper (TN)
Rep. Steve Cohen (TN)
DNC Lois DeBerry (TN)
 
__________________________________________________________________ 
The Daily Brew is an editorial/opinion column delivered to a select
group of political junkies who occasionally forward them along to their
colleagues.

If someone sent you this, you should consider it an invitation to join,
and sign up to receive future editions by entering your email address
here: 

http://brew.notifylist.com/thedailybrew.html  

I will never use your email for any purpose except to send more
columns.

I love it when I get edified.

Huffington Post

As Media Matters reported today, Rush Limbaugh, on his show said that those troops who come home and want to get America out of the middle of the religious civil war in Iraq are "phony soldiers." I'd love for you, Rush, to have me on your show and tell that to me to my face.

What in God's name is Rush smelling? You don't start calling people who've been in combat in one of the hottest places in the world "phony soldiers." He's got to be popping oxycontin again. And, if he's going to support the troops, then he needs to support their right as American citizens to exercise freedom of speech. Up to, and including, calling for the troops to come home.

Anyway, Jon Soltz has more to say:

First, in what universe is a guy who never served even close to being qualified to judge those who have worn the uniform? Rush Limbaugh has never worn a uniform in his life -- not even one at Mickey D's -- and somehow he's got the moral standing to pass judgment on the men and women who risked their lives for this nation, and his right to blather smears on the airwaves?

Second, maybe Rush doesn't much care, but the majority of troops on the ground in Iraq, and those who have returned, do not back the President's failed policy. If you go to our "Did You Get the Memo" page at VoteVets.org, there's a good collection of stories, polls, and surveys, which all show American's troops believe we are on the wrong track, not the right one, in Iraq.

Okay, it's official. He's back to using. Otherwise, he'd understand that pissing off a member of the Armed Forces is a really, really bad idea.

Washington Post

MoveOn, saying it had no reason to believe it was paying "anything other than the normal and usual charge," said yesterday that it would send the Times $77,000 to make up the difference.

The Times also violated its own advertising policy, which bars "attacks of a personal nature," Hoyt reported. He wrote that the episode "gave fresh ammunition to a cottage industry that loves to bash The Times as a bastion of the 'liberal media.' "

Many Republicans have seemed to prefer talking about MoveOn's ad rather than the war itself.

Even the Washington Post notes it's nothing more than a diversion from the war itself.

Pathetic.

New York Daily News

The old gray lady has some explaining to do.

Officials at the New York Times have admitted a liberal activist group was permitted to pay half the rate it should have for a provocative ad condemning U.S. Iraq commander Gen. David Petraeus.

The MoveOn ad, which cast Petraeus as "General Betray Us" and attacked his truthfulness, ran on the same day the commander made a highly anticipated appearance before Congress.

But since the liberal group paid the standby rate of $64,575 for the full-page ad, it should not have been guaranteed to run on Sept. 10, the day Petraeus warned Congress against a rapid withdrawal of troops from Iraq, Times personnel said.

"We made a mistake," Catherine Mathis, vice president of corporate communications for The Times, told the newspaper's public editor.

I swear, if there was ever a case of hitting your head against the brick wall because it feels good when you stop, the orcosphere and it's legacy media cohorts are prime examples. This well was dry from the beginning and yet they continue to go back to it time and again.

General Petraeus' testimony had zero affect on the opinion of the American populous. Yet, here they go again, attempting to score some kind of political resurrection by attacking the New York Times' selling of ad space. In truth, all they are doing is making their voices become background noise to be filtered out with the rest.

But what the hell. Go ahead fellas and fillies, keep beating that particular wall. However, I recommend some Ibuprofen, a strong cup of coffee, and maybe a few minute break in between bashes. Oh, and I suggest you don't add cream and sugar to the coffee, it ruins the ability of caffeine to reduce the pain.

Submitted without comment.

Yea, I know, I'm surprised too.

The New Republic

Of course, the Democrats have not threatened to take many incremental steps that would pose any real political risks to themselves. One, for example, would be to hold real hearings on whether there is any way to avoid reinstatement of the draft and maintain our national security if we continue an indefinite presence in Iraq, so that the American people begin to connect voting Republican with realistic anxiety about the lives and well-being of their teenage children. (The question Democrats have never asked Republicans since the war began is the only one that really matters: Would you send your own child to die in Iraq? And if so, have you done everything you can to convince your children that, if this is truly the war you say it is--for our freedom, for our very way of life, to keep the terrorists "over there" so that we don't fight them "over here"--they should drop their lucrative investment banking careers and be all they can be in Baghdad? Surely, with American freedom at stake, Jenna Bush could wait a few months to don her wedding gown and spend some time in army fatigues.) And while we're on our children, as Congress considers yet another supplemental appropriations bill for the war, the least Democrats can do this time around for our children, grandchildren, and generations yet unborn is to stop taxing them for this war (which is what deficit-spending for a war is), and to require that Bush and the Republicans put their money where their mouth is: Tell us whose taxes they're going to raise to pay not only for the next hundred billion dollars but for the half a trillion they have already spent from the piggy-banks of the innocent.

Washington Post

Yesterday, an organization so small its 17 employees don't even have a central office, found itself under attack by not only President Bush, who said the ad was "disgusting," but also by the Democratic-controlled Senate, which passed a resolution 72 to 25 expressing its own outrage. Many Democrats blamed the group for giving moderate Republicans a ready excuse for staying with Bush and for giving Bush and his supporters a way to divert attention away from the war.

In an e-mail to its members last night, the group acknowledged that the content of the ad might have angered its allies but argued that a larger issue is at stake. "Maybe you liked our General Petraeus ad. Maybe you thought the language went too far," they wrote. "But make no mistake: this is much bigger than one ad."

And it turned its criticism squarely back on the Senate, accusing it of "spending time cracking down on a newspaper ad" after failing on Wednesday to pass a bill lengthening the home leaves of U.S. troops fighting in Iraq, a bipartisan measure that some regarded as pressuring Bush into limiting the redeployment of U.S. forces.

Quite frankly, the whole brouhaha over the ad is just giving MoveOn that much more free publicity. It was a stroke of genius. And the more the Republican's rail against it, the more awareness it gains throughout the country. Indeed, a claim could be made it fits into the old adage The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend.

For MoveOn's supporters, the special notice from Bush may only serve to validate its confrontational style. "I think he just raised MoveOn several million more dollars," said Erik Smith, a Democratic media consultant.

I think the Republican's have forgotten their own play book.