Recently in Right Wing Noise Machine Category

While the Republican/Conservative movement has relied mostly on the megaphone style of political persuasion, I see the Whisper Campaign as a more effective style of political persuasion for the Democrats/Progressives. Let the Republicans blast away with the few megaphone mouths (Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, et. el.). The Democrats can simply walk softly and whisper quietly to individuals among the masses. You know, do the grassroots thing.

Granted, the Teabagger's movement was a type of grassroots in that the corporate/conservative elites were able to tap the anger of the intellectually ignorant; feeding them misinformation and out right lies. But it only created a squeaking wheel. It did not constitute any huge majority, or even a respectable minority. Instead, it brought together a whole bunch of crazy, that left a poor impression on the general population.

From what I can see, the Republican/Conservative grassroots movements have been an abysmal failure, easily falling short of fund raising as accomplished by comparable progressive movements. And in what is no doubt the greatest irony of all; the Republican/Conservative grassroots rely on funding from individuals comparable to their rich, liberal, villain De jour, George Soros, the man supposedly funding the entire progressive infrastructure.

I just can't help but see the Republican/conservative elites losing power. Not when their efforts include the manipulation of ignorant, intellectually lazy people. Contrary to popular belief, the majority of the human race is not ignorant. If it was, we would still be Neanderthals living a stone age existence.

Sigh. Yes, I understand Rush, Hannity, and Beck might exemplify the modern Neanderthals, but they really are still a minority.

After my initial thought about Rush, I spent some time analyzing my feelings and I came to the conclusion, that though I do not wish death upon anyone, mostly because they are going to die at some point anyway, I do not find myself poised to feel remorse, grief, or any type of sadness should he pass away.

If there is one sliver of positive about Rush surviving a possible heart attack (Yes, I know! Who'd a thunk one existed in that bloated, drug damaged body) is that I, and many others in Left Blogstonia, can continue to speak ill of the man.

'Despite my dislike for him and his perverse propaganda, and that I believe his death would possibly end much of the partisan bickering in this country, I do hope he recovers.'

As an aside; it was a heart attack that seemed to spur my father's move from conservative to moderate. Not that I am suggesting any such thing about Rush. I am just saying.

With the Washington Times bleeding worse than a cut forehead, I can not help but wonder if this is the start of a trend. Are purely partisan propaganda print-shops going the way of the Dodo?

CNN, MSNBC, and the network news organizations ought be ashamed of the fact Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show," a comedy show, of all things, was able to bust Fox news on it's incredibly juvenile attempt at deceit. And make no mistake, Hannity and company purposely inserted that bogus video of Beck's September 12 rally. It is not like the old days where you had to manual splice film, or even videos, and accidentally grab the wrong film/video. The September 12 shots are stored in a file on a computer, and had to be purposely accessed.

But to the point: After coming to the defense of Fox News when the Obama Administration accused them of being the propaganda arm of the Republican party they now have to accept they are tarnished by association. When are they going to get a clue? Fox News has no intention of being anything other than the Conservative Republican Propaganda Network.

As an aside; I wonder how long it would take Google to block a bomb of Fox News = Conservative Republican Propaganda Network? Not that I generate enough traffic to actually get this bomb launched.

Lord, help us all. This is what drives the modern Republican party.

And I never will, after reading about his latest column over at BBWW. 

This is what the conservatives have done for decades; they spoke their mind, regardless of it's political correctness. Hell, they did not even care if it was based on facts, or simply ignorant opinion, they said whatever they damn well pleased. Nice to see someone follow the conservative's playbook.

Novotny: John, what about this controversy over opposition to Obama's speech to school children?

Harwood: I've got to tell you Monica, I've been watching politics for a long time and this is, this one is really over the top. What it shows you is there are a lot of cynical people who try to fan controversy and let's face it, in a country of three hundred million people there are a lot of stupid people too, because if you believe that's it's somehow unhealthy for kids for the President to say work hard and stay in school, you're stupid.

Novotny: Ouch.

Harwood: In fact, I'm worried for some of those kids, I'm worried for some of those kids of those parents who are upset. I'm not sure they're smart enough to raise those kids.

More of this please. Seriously, we need more people from the progressive side of the isle speaking their mind. Honestly, no matter what, the rabid, right-wing conservatives are going to screech, whine, and basically holler, whatever the subject or issue. So, call them out on their ignorance, their stupidity, and their hypocrisy. The conservatives have shown quite some time ago that they are simply not interested in a civil, rational, educated debate. They are all about being the squeaky wheel looking to get the grease. So, let us simply squeak louder.

And it is not who you would think.

(TPM) In a set of bullet points listed under a heading, "Extension of the Speech," one of the points used to say: "Write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president. [highlighted by me] These would be collected and redistributed at an appropriate later date by the teacher to make students accountable to their goals."

However, that bullet point now reads as follows: "Write letters to themselves about how they can achieve their short‐term and long‐term education goals. These would be collected and redistributed at an appropriate later date by the teacher to make students accountable to their goals."

I understand the speech is targeted at adolescents. However, whoever wrote the bullet point on the website with the phrase "help the president" is the idiot. Maybe in some alternate reality, or a return to yesteryear, one could think about writing a phrase in such a manner. But in today's reality, it was an obvious open door for the bat-shit crazies to walk through. And walk through they did. What the hell did the White House expect?

So, in this one situation, I really can not get worked up over the lather now foaming on the mouths of various right wing politicians and pundits. Like a dog who always drools, foaming is the natural state for bat-shit crazy right wing fanatics. It is what they do, after all.

Look, in Blogstonia we know not to feed the trolls. It is obvious the White House failed to remember that particular lesson.

Honestly, though, how could they forget their opponents are more immature than adolescents?

It's insane here. Noisy, crowded, and full of life. Since I am here, it's only appropriate that I "borrow" a pic from Norwegianity.

Seriously, can you be any more ignorant and stupid?

Kilmeade and two colleagues were discussing a study that, based on research done in Finland and Sweden, showed people who stay married are less likely to suffer from Alzheimer's. Kilmeade questioned the results, though, saying, "We are -- we keep marrying other species and other ethnics and other ..."

At this point, his co-host tried to -- in that jokey morning show way -- tell Kilmeade he needed to shut up, and quick, for his own sake. But he didn't get the message, adding, "See, the problem is the Swedes have pure genes. Because they marry other Swedes.... Finns marry other Finns, so they have a pure society."

Did anyone bother to see if he has a swastika drawn in his underwear?

Oh, and other species? Seriously, WTF???????

Seriously, watching this Colbert segment makes Hannity appear to have the emotional maturity of a 14 year old.

Just because I can, here it is embedded.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Sean Hannity Loves America
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Gay Marriage Commercial

I mean, really; WOW!



Ever since Katrina, Shepard Smith has been showing himself to be less and less interested in following the daily talking points handed down from Roger Ailes. No doubt he simply had enough of the pretend debate about torture.

Whether it's effective or not, torture is wrong, and the United States is not to engage in it's use.

Hat Tip: ASZ

From working in a residential setting, I learned quickly that those who were thieves in the past tended to be the ones that complained about there being thieves in the residence. On several occasions, they turned out to actually be the thieves. Hence, my total lack of surprise at the shrill response of the Right Wing Noise Machine.

I also think it's especially ironic that the loudest of shrill networks would actually produce a level-headed piece pointing out the over-reaction of the Right Wing Noise Machine.

I swear, Shepard Smith is trying to get himself fired from Fox.

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A day after publishing a cartoon that drew fire from critics who said it evoked historically racist images, the New York Post apologized in a statement on its Web site -- even as it defended its action and blasted some detractors.

This is what we call in the CD biz a "Ya But" answer. In other words; yes you're right, but no you're wrong. So, basically, everyone is both right and wrong in the criticism of the cartoon.

The Post said the cartoon was meant to mock what it called an "ineptly written" stimulus bill.

"But it has been taken as something else -- as a depiction of President Obama, as a thinly veiled expression of racism," reads the statement. "This most certainly was not its intent; to those who were offended by the image, we apologize."

Very impressive.

But the statement immediately swerves to fire back at some of the image's critics.

"However, there are some in the media and in public life who have had differences with The Post in the past -- and they see the incident as an opportunity for payback," the statement says. "To them, no apology is due. Sometimes a cartoon is just a cartoon -- even as the opportunists seek to make it something else."

Nice going on covering all bases!  Yes. Very impressive.

My new hero!

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.

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.

Joe Kline

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

New York Times

To the public, these men are members of a familiar fraternity, presented tens of thousands of times on television and radio as “military analysts” whose long service has equipped them to give authoritative and unfettered judgments about the most pressing issues of the post-Sept. 11 world.

Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, is a Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance, an examination by The New York Times has found.

The effort, which began with the buildup to the Iraq war and continues to this day, has sought to exploit ideological and military allegiances, and also a powerful financial dynamic: Most of the analysts have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air.

You mean they are not unbiased analysts with integrity and honor? <snark>Well, knock me over with a feather.</snark>

It is a long, and damaging article detailing propaganda at its worst.

This whole interview rocks.



Hat tip to Spontaneous Arising

Bark Bark Woof Woof

In other words, the Republicans, who can't run on their record or rely on the sharp memory of their candidate (Shia? Sunni? Iran? Al-qaeda?) or his plans for revitalizing the economy (ready for more cake?), will do precisely what they're best at: attack their opponent and try to scare the crap out of the electorate without offering anything more than platitudes, nostrums, and the firm assertion that John McCain is most assuredly not George W. Bush; he just plans to do the exact same things he did but without the fake Texas drawl.

There is no doubt whatsoever that the Republicans will do exactly what Mr. Kristol predicts; that's a given, since it's worked so well the last couple of times. But Mr. Kristol's record for predicting the future is also well-known. He's one of the bunch that said that we would be greeted as liberators in Iraq, that the war would last a couple of weeks or months, that it would pay for itself with the oil revenues that we'd get, and that our influence and model of democracy would turn Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia into the Iowas of the Middle East with freedom and McDonald's springing up on every street corner from Riyad to Damascus. With that kind of record, it really makes you wonder why anyone gives serious attention to anything he says other than to hold it up for mockery and derision.

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.

By way of Buzz Flash:

International Harold Tribune

WASHINGTON: As Senator Barack Obama prepared to give a major speech on Iraq one morning a few weeks ago, a flashing-red siren alert went up on the Drudge Report Web site. It read, "Queen of the Quarter: Hillary Crushes Obama in Surprise Fund-Raising Surge," and, "$27 Million, Sources Tell Drudge Report."

Within minutes, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's fund-raising success was injected via Drudge into the day's political news on the Internet and cable television. It did not halt coverage of Obama's speech or his criticism of her vote to authorize the war in 2002, but along the front lines of the campaign - the hourly, intensely fought effort to capture the news cycle or deny ownership of it to the other side - it was a telling assault.

Clinton's aides declined to discuss how the Drudge Report got access to her latest fund-raising figures nearly 20 minutes before the official announcement went to supporters. But it was a prime example of a development that has surprised much of the political world: Clinton is learning to play nice with the Drudge Report and the powerful, elusive and conservative-leaning man behind it.

That man, Matt Drudge, came to national prominence a decade ago as a nemesis of the Clintons who used the Web to peddle, gleefully, the latest news and rumor generated by the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

That people in Clinton's campaign orbit would tip off the Drudge Report to its fund-raising numbers is in part a reflection of her pragmatic approach to dealing with potential enemies like Newt Gingrich or Rupert Murdoch.

Sorry, Hillary. Sleeping with the enemy just lost you my support. The Mighty Wurlitzer has been the major cause of our political woes in this country. Willing to supplant true democracy with corporate fascism, it has manage to destroy in a few short years what Russia failed to due in over a half a century.

You have done nothing this election but desperately sink lower and lower into the very pond scum you had so successfully stayed above during the eight years of your husband's presidency. Indeed, your desperation set in shortly after your early losses to Obama. Maybe, just maybe, in the end it is Obama's willingness to stay out of the once wholly owned Republican Right Wing Noise Machine that has won over the electorate of this country.

People are tired of the same old partisan politics that have been a standard since your husband's presidency. They are looking for a change. And Obama appears to be embracing that change. It is not so much he will coddle up to the remnants of the Republican party and it's wheezing, aged Wurlitzer, as it is he will avoid the political gamesmanship so long a staple of Washington partisanship, something this article suggests you fail to grasp.

That being said, should a small miracle happen, and you still come out the Democratic nominee, you will have my support. I still see you qualified for the presidency above any Republican or Independent currently in the running. Unless, of course, Gore decides to run as an Independent. Then it is "See Ya!"

Star Tribune

FORWARD OPERATING BASE FALCON, Iraq - Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Monday endorsed, for the first time, the idea of pausing the drawdown of U.S. forces from Iraq this summer.

"A brief period of consolidation and evaluation probably does make sense," Gates told reporters after meeting with Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq. Petraeus has indicated in recent weeks that he wants a "period of evaluation" this summer to assess the impact on Iraq security of reducing the U.S. military presence from 20 brigades to 15 brigades.

In other words, you bastards lied to us about the surge, its purpose, the goals, and its actual success. Had the surge produced positive change, made the political, ethnic and religious conditions more favorable for peaceful coexistence, would there even need to be a discussion of "consolidation and evaluation?" Of course not. We could bring our service personnel home without any type of waiting and evaluating. There would be clear, observable facts on the ground even as I type this post. But that is not the case, is it?

11 Killed in Baghdad

5 US soldier killed

Arming Iraq's Future Gangs

Iraqi Women Struggle

The wingnuts can scream all they want about schools being painted, etc., etc., etc. But in the end, there is still too much conflict, death, and destruction in Iraq to claim any kind of success.