Fox Nation: Obama Reacts Too Swiftly To Haitian Earthquake

Posted by on January 13, 2010 at 11:32 am. 30 Comments :

The headline on Fox Nation today shouts that: Pres. Obama Reacts to Haiti Earthquake Faster Than Christmas Bomber. How typical of Fox to turn a tragedy into a trivial partisan attack.

News Flash to Fox Nation: The Crotch Bomber succeeded in blowing up nothing other than his own loins. He was quickly subdued. The plane suffered no damage. There were no casualties amongst the passengers. He was taken into custody without incident and he remains incarcerated. Moments after the event there was no imminent risk to anyone on the plane or elsewhere. There was no reason to rush a response to the Crotch Bomber because the threat had been neutralized.

On the other hand, Haiti was struck by the worst earthquake the region has experienced in over two hundred years. Thousands may be dead, and thousands more in peril. Fast action is necessary and will undoubtedly save lives. The risk is severe and ongoing. But all the Fox Nationalists care about is politicizing the catastrophe and castigating the President for responding with appropriate urgency.

What a despicable bunch of cretins. Perhaps they would be happier with the Bush model that left New Orleans stranded, desperate, and dying, in the critical hours after Katrina.

At least the view from the right is thoroughly consistent. If a few air travelers (and wealthy airlines) are briefly threatened by an incompetent, wannabe terrorist, drop everything and rush off to Detroit. But if it’s an entire population of dark-skinned, poor people who are in danger, let them suffer. After all, as Rush Limbaugh said of the Haitian people this morning, “They produce zilch, zero, nada.” Therefore, there is no reason to extend any humanitarian services to alleviate their suffering. Or as Pat Robertson said, they brought it on themselves because they “swore a pact to the devil.” See? These lazy Satanists are just getting what they deserve.

For those who are not despicable rightist cretins, you can donate to Haitian relief efforts here:
International Committee of the Red Cross
Doctors Without Borders
Oxfam International

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Fox Nation Wonders What Obama Is Avoiding

Posted by on January 12, 2010 at 6:58 pm. NO Comments :

The folks at Fox Nation featured a story today about the lack of recent press conferences by President Obama. They headlined the piece, “What’s Obama Avoiding? Six Months Since Pres Held Press Conf.”

That immediately struck me as funny because previously the Fox Nationalists made such a big deal about how often the President was holding press conferences with headlines like:

  • All Obama, All the Time: The President Is Getting Overexposed
  • Overexposed?
  • Another Speech: Obama Addressing Joint Session of Congress
  • Obama Presser Backfires… Approval Rating Dives
  • Obama to Do ‘Full Ginsburg’ on Sunday

So if the president does frequent press conferences he is overexposed. If he holds back for awhile he is hiding something. I wonder where the sweet spot is. And if it isn’t enough to merely point out the Fox Nation’s brazen hypocrisy, the truth was even articulated by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs in the article to which they linked:

“The last time we had this conversation here about the president’s media strategy, I was informed by many of you that the president was overexposed.”

Do the Fox Nationalists even read the articles they link to? Or do they just slap disparaging headlines on any old article and expect that their audience isn’t going to bother reading it anyway? The answer is pretty clear. It is also clear that no matter what this administration does Fox will find a way to criticize it. If Obama healed a leper they would want him prosecuted for practicing medicine without a license.


Fair And Balanced Fox News Swallows Sarah Palin Whole

Posted by on January 11, 2010 at 4:58 pm. 6 Comments :

Sarah Palin has taken the first preliminary steps in preparation for quitting Fox News – by joining Fox News. Adding Palin to their team as a contributor, Fox is proving that they are not afraid to lower their already submerged collective IQ. The announcement this morning came in a press release from Fox Executive VP of programming, Bill Shine, who gushed:

“Governor Palin has captivated everyone on both sides of the political spectrum and we are excited to add her dynamic voice to the FOX News lineup.”

It would be interesting to learn what Shine thinks the definition of “captivated” is. To be sure both sides of the political spectrum have strong feelings about Palin. On the right, Tea Baggers worship her, but many conservatives (including some who managed her VP campaign) regard her as ill-informed and embarrassing. On the left, Palin has inspired a virtually unanimous response that is a unique combination of disgust and amusement. In either case, Shine’s definition of “captivated” stretch’s the boundaries of reason. And his definitions of “dynamic” and “news” don’t hold up very well either. But at least he’s striving to cover both sides of the Fox spectrum: the Right and the Far-Right.

None of this hinders Palin’s ambition to be the savior of America’s forgotten and embattled white, Christian, majority. She believes that her place on the Republican ticket was where God wanted her to be and therefore, God must now want her to be on Fox News. That’s an odd assignment for someone who has spent the last two years bashing the press from the safety of her Twitter stream. Palin has still never held a press conference, but now she wants to become the press. She wants to become that which she previously sought to avoid.

Palin: I like being able to answer these tough questions without the filter, even, of the mainstream media kind of telling viewers what they’ve just heard.

Of course, her new job as a pundit, even, will be telling viewers what they’ve kind of just heard, also. Except that she will be bringing to punditry a thorough lack of knowledge or insight. In other words, she’ll fit right in at Fox. And she will be even more sequestered from tough questions than ever. As a Fox News contributor she will likely not be appearing on other networks to face challenges to the positions she will take on Fox. Her colleagues on Fox are also unlikely to make things difficult for her by engaging in substantive debate. She will have free reign to pontificate in her uniquely ignorant fashion. I can’t wait for the segments she does with fellow former beauty queen, Gretchen Carlson.

So what does Fox get from this? On the surface they appear to be snapping up a cultural phenomenon with a vast legion of disciples who will flock to Fox News to clutch dearly to her every word. But in truth they are just getting another right-wing evangelist to add to their collection of partisan bloviators. Exactly how many Sarah Palin fans are not already watching Fox? Probably not enough to populate a tea party in a pantry. So the best case scenario is that Fox will succeed in attracting viewers they already have. Beyond that they will solidify their reputation as an illegitimate source for news and as an activist PR platform for Republican orthodoxy.

Palin is joining fellow Republican 2012 presidential hopefuls Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum on the Fox roster. When Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty sign up we can declare Fox the official farm team for the GOP. In the meantime, Palin will be the star rookie seeking to raise her profile by sucking up to Murdoch’s media dominion:

Palin: I am thrilled to be joining the great talent and management team at FOX News. It’s wonderful to be part of a place that so values fair and balanced news.

You betcha! The fair and balanced home of Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Gretchen Carlson, Neil Cavuto, Karl Rove, Ann Coulter, Steve Doocy, etc. Somehow I think the truly thrilling part of this for Palin is the paycheck. Having Palin on Fox News has always been a good fit for both her and Fox. Neither have an interest in, or reputation for, honesty or accuracy. And both have profited from exploiting controversy and sex.

Congratulations Sarah!

Update: Fox EVP Shine adds more humor to this story by admitting that Palin is a lightening rod for controversy and that that is exactly what Fox is looking for:

“She is one of the most talked about and politically polarizing figures in the country,” said Bill Shine, the network’s executive vice president of programming. “First off, we hope she brings that.”

Then he addresses the concern about Palin’s propensity for false statements, which he dismisses because he is going to make sure that Palin is well coached:

“Along the way, we’ll talk to her and have conversations and I’m sure everything will be fine,” he said, adding that the expectations that Palin will utter something controversial will likely drive viewership. “In the end, that’s probably going to help us in that that’s what people will want to watch.”

The best part is that Shine admits that people are going to tune in specifically to see Palin screw up. It’s the “crash on the freeway” school of television programming. I guess Shine has some experience in this area because I’m still convinced that half of Glenn Beck’s audience are liberals waiting for his brain to implode.


Michael (Injun) Steele Calls For Harry (Negro) Reid To Resign

Posted by on January 10, 2010 at 2:41 pm. 4 Comments :

The press is going bonkers over the latest pseudo-scandal it is attempting to whip up. The headlines are popping up everywhere and with ever greater sensationalism. The chairman of the Republican Party wants the leader of the Democrats in the Senate to resign for using inappropriate language.

  • Steele calls on Reid to resign, Washington Post
  • GOP Chairman Pressures Reid on Obama Remarks, New York Times
  • Republican Steele Says Reid Should Step Down From Leader Post, BusinessWeek
  • Senate leader must go following ‘Negro’ remark: Republicans, AFP
  • GOP chair: Reid should step down following race remark, CNN
  • Steele tells Reid to step down, Politico
  • Steele: Reid should resign Senate post, UPI
  • Republicans call on Senator Reid to quit post, Reuters
  • Steele: Reid Should Quit Leadership Post, Wall Street Journal
  • Michael Steele Shocks the World by Calling for Harry Reid to Step Down, New York Magazine

And on it goes. Personally, I wouldn’t mind in the least if Reid surrendered the Majority Leader post. I’ve been advocating a change in leadership for almost two years. This may not be the way I would have chosen for him to go, but I believe the Democratic Party would be better served by a more aggressive and tactically savvy leader. Reid is responsible for some of the most infuriating capitulations in recent memory. From FISA to Iraq/Afghanistan to health care, he seems determined to begin every negotiation from a disadvantaged position.

That said, it is utterly absurd for Michael Steele to be taking the lead in calling for Reid to step down due to Reid’s use of the word “negro.” While Reid’s comment was certainly inappropriate, the word in itself is not pejorative, it was said in private, and in context it was complimentary to Obama. However, just a few days ago Steele publicly used an unambiguously insulting term for Native Americans: “Injun.” Yet Steele defends his criticism of Reid and dismisses his own intolerance. When asked if he should resign himself, Steele told Chris Wallace…

Steele: No, absolutely not. Why should I Chris? I’m pushing the ball. I’m raising the money. I’m winning elections. I have got the base fired up. […] I wasn’t intending to say a racial slur at all. The reality is that’s not the same as what we were talking about before.

Of course it’s not the same if it refers to himself. And since he didn’t intend to say a racial slur we should all just drop the subject – except Reid should still resign. This couldn’t be more hypocritical if Steele had insisted that “That cracker should resign for saying negro.”

Republicans might want to see if they can find another spokesperson on this issue. Steele doesn’t exactly hold the moral high ground. What’s more, his pompous self-glorification regarding his fundraising and electoral prowess is mightily overblown considering that Republicans have lost more races than not during his tenure (especially the NY-23 embarrassment), and he is bankrupting the party while stuffing his own pockets. The only people he is firing up are tea party activists who are after his hide, and deep-pocketed donors whom he has motivated to cease all contributions as long as he is chairman.

The substance of these events are decidedly negative for Steele and his party, yet somehow the media is still spinning it as a problem for Reid and the Democrats. Can someone please remind why we are supposed to believe that the media is liberal?


Ashamed And Sickened By Roger Ailes

Posted by on January 10, 2010 at 9:16 am. 3 Comments :

Roger Ailes

Fox News CEO Roger Ailes has become a bit of a crimp in the Murdoch family’s harmony. The New York Times is reporting that Matthew Freud, the husband of Rupert Murdoch’s daughter, Elisabeth, is not particularly fond of his in-laws.

Freud: I am by no means alone within the family or the company in being ashamed and sickened by Roger Ailes’s horrendous and sustained disregard of the journalistic standards that News Corporation, its founder and every other global media business aspires to.

Uh oh. That’s gotta make for some awkward holiday gatherings. Freud’s complaint isn’t a trivial personal incompatibility. He is aiming straight at the heart of a news enterprise’s most cherished asset: its journalistic standards. The charge of “horrendous and sustained disregard” is hardly an incidental difference of opinion. And the fact that there are others who share his shame doesn’t smooth things out for Ailes.

Freud is married to Elisabeth Murdoch, who left the family business to run her own UK-based enterprise, Shine Limited. Shine also has interests in the U.S., including Reveille, the company that produces “The Office” and “Ugly Betty.” Elisabeth was an enthusiastic supporter of Barack Obama and held a fundraiser for him in London. That contrasts significantly with the views of Ailes, whom the Times says threatened to quit if Murdoch permitted his New York Post to endorse Obama for president.

The Times notes that Ailes also played a part in Lachlan Murdoch’s decision to leave his father’s company in 2004 and return to Australia. Up until then Lachlan was considered Rupert’s heir apparent. The article goes on to hype Ailes’ mythic reputation as a political strategist and media guru. But what it doesn’t say is that while being successful at lining the pockets of the principles, Fox News was also killing the Republican Party.

It’s good to know that there are some reasonable members of the Murdoch clan who aren’t afraid to voice their opinions. It makes for some interesting speculation about the future of News Corp. when the Murdoch progeny assume control. While son James is still a high-ranking executive running Papa’s European satellite operations, siblings Elisabeth and Lachlan will inherit equal voting shares from their father’s estate.

Should any of this make Ailes nervous? Well, would you want to keep a division head that made you “ashamed and sickened” if you inherited a multinational media empire? Would you allow your news network to continue to have a “horrendous and sustained disregard” for journalistic standards? Would Ailes even want to remain at Fox with Obama supporters as his new bosses? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

[Update] News Corp responds: “Matthew Freud’s opinions are his own and in no way reflect the views of Rupert Murdoch, who is proud of Roger Ailes and Fox News.”

Rupert Murdoch’s pride in Ailes irrevocably ties him to the insults, lies, and journalistic disrepute that is the hallmark of Ailes and his stars like Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Bill O’Reilly. Murdoch again chooses to align himself with the dregs of the television idiocracy. That will be his legacy.


Thank God For RNC Chair Michael Steele – Seriously!

Posted by on January 9, 2010 at 7:27 pm. 2 Comments :

He does indeed work in mysterious ways. I’m talking about the Chairman of the Republican National Committee, Michael Steele. Mystery surrounds him like the Shroud of Turin. That’s why we have to be grateful for the gift that Steele represents and not question it. No one could do what he is doing – for the Democratic Party. And he couldn’t have come at a better time. So say a prayer for Chairman Steele who recognizes the divine role he has been sent to play:

Steele: God, I really believe, has placed me here for a reason because who else and why else would you do this unless there’s something inside of you that says right now you need to be here to do this?

Such poignant questions. Who else and why else? There must be a reason that Steele is here sabotaging the interests of his party. That reason is becoming clearer with every passing day: God is a Democrat.

Why else would He send a GOP leader who praises ACORN?
Why send a leader who concedes the elections of 2010 ten months in advance?
Why send a chairman who tells the critics in his own party to “shut up?”
Well, to be fair, they want him to shut up too.
And what did Democrats do to deserve a Republican leader who is bankrupting his party and alienating donors?

God’s messenger, Michael Steele claims to be a real Tea Bagger. In fact he promised to bring “change in a tea bag.” That was last year when he also asked a college audience to wear his “hat of an idea,” and announced that “the era of apologizing for Republican mistakes of the past is now officially over,” and bragged that he was “going beyond cutting edge.”

Steele’s recent public comments on his party’s prospects this year extend beyond his opinion that they don’t look too good. He actually passes a sort of judgment on them questioning whether they are even ready to assume power. He says it’s something that he is “assessing and evaluating now.” Where he got the impression that that is the role of a party chairman, I don’t know (from God?). Mere mortal party chiefs generally understand their duties as raising money and getting more members elected, not shaping policy and anointing candidates. But Steele rises above such restrictions, freely criticizing his flock and lecturing them on political matters.

If you think this is just too good to be true, reflect for a moment on what Steel told us last March that confirms the mystery in his ways:

Steele: If I do something, there’s a reason for it. Even, it may look like a mistake, a gaffe. There is a rationale, there’s a logic behind it.

That settles it. Do not dare to question God’s servant. He is playing on level that far exceeds your ability to comprehend. He even has the gift of clairvoyance. Just yesterday, after taking heat from his party comrades for exploiting his position for personal gain and promoting his book instead of tending to party business, Steele shot back that he had written the book before he had become party chairman. But miraculously, he must have known in advance a multitude of events in 2009 that occurred after he had become chairman but were still included in the book he now says was written before. If that isn’t evidence of sainthood, what is?

So say a another prayer for Michael Steele. He is a treasure for which we must all be grateful. And be thankful that Democrats everywhere have him working on their behalf in the name of God. Amen.

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What You’re Missing On Breitbart’s BigJournalism.com

Posted by on January 9, 2010 at 1:31 pm. 1 Comments :

For those of you lacking the hardy constitution to stomach Andrew Breitbart’s BigJournalism, I have compiled the current list of stories featured on the uber-rightist web site that launched last week. This is what you’re missing by not visiting the site that aspires to fix everything that’s worng with the media:

A Fox News intern complaining that people responded negatively when they heard she worked at Fox.
That’s actually pretty good news. Obviously people know about Fox and are responding appropriately. The sad thing is that after her internship she still thinks that “Fox actually does investigative journalism.”

A criticism of public officials who have relationships reporters – particularly if they are Democrats and are nerdy looking.
This story seeks to expose the bias of reporters who are in bed with partisan political operatives. Somehow they left out Howard Kurtz and Sheri Annis; Campbell Brown and Dan Senor; and Elaine Chao and Sen. Mitch McConnell. But I can’t argue with the author’s (Ben Shapiro) credentials on nerdiness.

A defensive screed by Breitbart who didn’t like the interview with him published on another web site.
This one is a pathetic attempt by Breitbart to puff himself up. He is quite obviously too thin-skinned for this business.

A polemic on why we shouldn’t worry about Global Warming because thirty years ago we worried about nuclear war and that hasn’t happened – yet.
The case being made here is that the arms race was once looked on as a potentially catastrophic endeavor, but has waned in urgency over the years. The problem with the author’s logic is that the reason nuclear annihilation is no longer viewed as an imminent threat is that we did worry about it back then and took steps to alleviate the danger. But this author opposes such common sense actions today.

An attack on Media Matters for correctly criticizing shoddy journalism at the New York Times.
If you want to read a substanceless diatribe that mocks George Soros and trivializes responsible media analysis, this is the article for you. But don’t expect any meaningful revelations or maturity.

An argument in favor of respecting the opinions of bloggers over scientists with regard to Climate Change.
This may be my favorite. The author, Patrick Courrielche (who helped Breitbart and Glenn Beck attack the National Endowment for the Arts), actually celebrates what he calls…

“…the death of unconditional trust in the scientific peer review process, and the maturing of a new movement – that of peer-to-peer review.”

By this he means that biased blogs disseminating stolen emails (that proved nothing with regard to Global Warming) are more trustworthy than climatologists whose work has been validated through rigorous research and testing. He’s advocating peer-to-peer (i.e. partisan bloggers) over academically sound and objective scientific modeling. In other words, he’s advocating ignorance over knowledge. I can only suppose that it’s because he has more personal experience with the former.

A lament that the media has given short shrift to the bogus ClimateGate story.
BigJ is going after the environment in a big way. This is the third story on the subject and they still fail to grasp the reason that some in the media haven’t covered it: There is no story. The deceptively edited clippings from the stolen emails were mischaracterized and out of context. And none of it disputes the voluminous findings compiled by thousands of researchers over dozens of years.

A critique of the Los Angeles Times (owned by the notoriously right-wing Tribune Company) as being too liberal.
When the Times endorsed Barack Obama last year, it was the first time it had EVER endorsed a Democrat for president. This is their idea of a liberal paper?

Another defensive screed by Breitbart.
He just can’t stop thinking about himself.

A review of the allegedly friendly treatment of Obama by the media
This is one I still can’t figure out. After a campaign that obsessed over Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, flag lapel pins, and birth certificates, Obama took office facing criticism for being a socialist indoctrinator of children who bowed too much. If the media has been friendly over the past year, I’d hate to see them turn nasty.

So now you’re caught up on what BigJournalism thinks is news and you can go enjoy your Saturday. Rest assured that BigJ will continue to misinform their readers and contribute to the general decline in intellectual discourse in America. But don’t expect me to continue bringing you these reports. I think I can find more productive uses for my time. Well, that’s a pretty low bar that would include separating M&Ms by color or counting the hairs on my forearm.


Glenn Beck: God Is The Grantor Of Rights

Posted by on January 8, 2010 at 9:35 pm. 13 Comments :

Pope BeckYesterday’s sermon from the Reverend Glenn Beck was a revelation into the source of the rights enjoyed by the American people. His examination of these holy endowments was undertaken with his customary superficiality.

The sermon began with Beck chastising Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) for his determination to treat health care as a right. That blasphemy was too much for Beck to endure.

Beck: Harkin is declaring Congress as God, because we all know where the rights come from. If you read the Declaration of Independence there’s a phrase from the Declaration of Independence on where those rights come from. You may have heard it before. It goes something like this: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. […] God is the grantor of rights. No one else.

This is going to come as a surprise to Constitutional scholars and legal experts. According to Beck, it was God who established freedom of speech. And the bearing of arms is also a gift from the Most High. And apparently God didn’t take kindly to the quartering of troops, but He did insist on jury trials and reasonable bail. These rights are just a few that are enumerated in the Bill of Rights whose preamble begins with…

RESOLVED by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, two thirds of both Houses concurring, that the following Articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States…

Apparently these lawmakers think that they are the grantors of rights. And they continued to believe that as they persisted in drafting additional amendments to the Constitution and passing thousands of other laws. Amongst these are rights like being permitted to vote if you’re a woman or not having to be a slave. God must have overlooked those rights when the Constitution was originally ratified. Or maybe He didn’t consider them unalienable. At any rate, it’s a good thing that legislators got around to cleaning up God’s mess.

The only difference between health care being a right and it being a profit center for greedy, compassionless corporations is the passage of a bill and the signature of a president. It doesn’t require God’s endorsement. That’s a political framework more aligned with the Taliban than with democracy. Maybe that’s why Beck doesn’t understand it. After all, “democracy” has many of the same letters as “Democrat.” Hmm? Coincidence?

The Declaration of Independence gave specific examples of what the framers considered to be unalienable rights (life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness). They were all general principles that the framers regarded as foundational to a free society. However, the actual rights were established by legislators and citizens who were decidedly mortal, contrary to Beck’s assertion that no one else but God can grant rights. Beck’s inability to comprehend the role of law is boundless. This should come as no surprise to anyone who has heard his interpretation of law.

For instance, lately Beck has escalated his rhetorical ravings to maligning progressives as … I’ll give you one guess … that’s right, fascists (what else?). In a hilarious fit of befuddlement he has taken to charging that progressives were responsible for Prohibition. Never mind that it was largely church-based temperance groups who campaigned for the 18th Amendment, and the enacting legislation, the Volstead Act, was proposed by Andrew Volstead, a Minnesota Republican. That bill was subsequently vetoed by Woodrow Wilson, whom Beck regards as the father of modern progressivism and whom Beck has called “One evil SOB.”

So contrary to Beck’s claim, it was religious fundamentalists and Republicans who gave us Prohibition, in spite of Wilson’s veto, which was over-ridden by Congress. And the kicker is that, when the nation realized its mistake, it was Heber J. Grant, an apostle in the Church of Latter-day Saints (Beck’s Mormon Church), and the LDS who led the fight against repealing the 18th Amendment. Once again, reality is diametrically opposed to Beck’s perverse perception of it. But he is devoted to his dementia. The more absurd, the tighter he grips. Until he he ends up spewing nonsense like this:

Beck: More and more Americans are finding themselves where I am. In a place where you don’t want to believe the stuff that you now do. Even the stuff that you would have thought a year ago was crazy town. But you do believe it because you’re honest with yourself. You promised yourself, as I have, to seek the truth no matter how many times you think about it. No matter how many times you think, “Oh my gosh, what does this mean to my future or the future to my children.” If it makes me a pariah, so be it. It is the truth, not stuff I want to believe. But everything is in jeopardy. Our children’s future is at stake.

Yes, Glenn is stuck believing things from crazy town that he doesn’t want to believe. He seeks the truth no matter how many times he has to think about it. And he manages somehow to carry on though everything is in jeopardy. On the plus side, it’s fortunate that he is comfortable being a pariah.


Dick Cheney’s Campaign Of Treason Is Unraveling

Posted by on January 6, 2010 at 3:57 pm. 8 Comments :

Since at least last May, I have been unveiling the efforts of extremist right-wing politicians and pundits to signal our enemies in Al Qaeda that now is the time to strike (See: The Republican Advance Team For Terrorism). They have been waving their arms excitedly and shouting to anyone who will listen that America is less safe and, therefore, vulnerable. They have been partnering with their pals in the press to make sure that the message gets out. And they know full well that the enemy is paying attention.

Dick Cheney is the de facto leader of this forward brigade. He outlined the theme over five years ago when he said:

“Terrorist attacks are not caused by the use of strength; they are invited by the perception of weakness.”

And ever since Barack Obama took up residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Cheney and his comrades have endeavored to produce the very perception of weakness about which he pretended to warn. The question is, how does announcing to the terrorists that our nation is weaker make us safer? Are they just pasting a big bulls eye on America and hoping for an “I told you so” moment? I desperately hope that that’s not the case, but there aren’t many other plausible explanations.

Finally, some in the media are beginning to recognize the danger into which Cheney et al are leading us:

Keith Olbermann: “We are at war,” Dick Cheney came down from Mt. Megalomaina to announce, “and when President Obama pretends we are not it makes us less safe.” If Mr. Cheney believes we are at war, then he, as the most recent former occupant of the vice-presidency is under the strictest obligations to put aside his case of terminal partisanship and rally to the support of his president at a time of war. Instead his remarks not only give encouragement to the enemies of this country, they give them an exact measure as to how successful they have been in damaging our freedoms.

Jonathan Alter: The problem I think we have now is sort of crystallized by former Vice-President Cheney’s role in this debate. I think that he has actually gotten to a place where he is actually emboldening the terrorists.

It’s about time that these traitors are called to account for their actions. If they believe that our country is at risk, they should consult privately with the administration and/or national security officials to alleviate that risk. They could work behind the scenes to close any security gaps and contribute to enhancing our safety without alerting the enemy to our alleged shortcomings. They certainly should not be coaching the opposing team from the sidelines.

It is bad enough that Americans have had to surrender so many basic freedoms in the face of terrorist threats. And every new attempt results in another knee-jerk response to prohibit an otherwise ordinary activity. This continually tightening noose of restrictions that we are forced to endure can only be celebrated by our enemies. They know they can alter our way of life and each time they do they gain encouragement to proceed. As I wrote in my 2006 ode to the Pre-9/11 Mindset:

They’ve seen the passage of the Patriot Act that limits long-held freedoms. They’ve seen our government listening in on our phone calls and monitoring our financial transactions. They see us lining up at airport terminals shoeless and forced to surrender our shampoo and Evian water. They see us mourning the loss of our sons and daughters who are not even engaged in battle with the 9/11 perpetrators. They see us as fearful and submissive. Is this not emboldening the terrorists for whom this perception of weakness will be seen as yet another invitation to attack?

We need to find a way to defend ourselves that protects both our lives and our way of life. We cannot allow terrorists to take control of our daily affairs. When they observe the effect of their attacks, even those that don’t succeed, they regard it as a victory. They cheer as we establish ever more restrictive and intrusive policies that cost us billions of dollars. They see themselves as winning tactically and at the same time draining our financial resources, which is a prime objective of theirs.

This is unacceptable. And the irresponsible, unpatriotic actions of Dick Cheney and company play right into the hands of the enemy. It is good to see Olbermann and Alter honestly discuss the vile and reckless behavior of these rightist thugs. It would be even better if more of the media were equally as candid. But this is a start and it should be encouraged. Because if the Cheneys of the world have their way it will be a dark world indeed.


Hannity And Morris Campaign For Waterboarding

Posted by on January 5, 2010 at 4:10 pm. 6 Comments :

Sean Hannity and his guest Dick Morris spent some quality time advocating for waterboarding yesterday. They fell all over each other to see who could be the most vigorous proponent of torture for the would-be crotch-bomber.

HANNITY: We can’t talk to this guy. We ought to be waterboarding this guy.
MORRIS: Absolutely. This is an exact example of something where his insistence on treating everybody as a civil liberties issue gets in the way of the intelligence. By the way, the information we get after we waterboard him should not be admissible this criminal trial.
HANNITY: But you agree with me. We should waterboard him.
MORRIS: Yes.
HANNITY: And by the way, you and I are going to be hammered tomorrow.

Let the hammering begin. However, I would like to direct my hammering at the breakout idiocy of Morris. After drooling over the prospect of a lovely torture, Morris swerved to another topic so that he could peddle his disdain for the Constitution:

MORRIS: But, Mr. Blogs, I don’t think the evidence that we get from waterboarding him should be admissible in his criminal trial. The Fifth Amendment still exists. But it should be actionable for intelligence to break up other Al Qaeda plots.

Mr. Blogs? I’ll assume that he’s talking to me and answer thusly: Mr. Prostitute Toe Sucker, you can’t simply dismiss the Fifth Amendment on a whim. What’s more, your whole argument against placing a terrorist in the criminal justice makes no sense. You say that providing an attorney will result in the defendant clamming up. But that would not be the case when the defendant was captured in the act at the scene of the crime. Under those circumstances, an attorney would not be advising a not guilty plea and seeking an acquittal. He would most likely advise a guilty plea and seek to trade information for leniency. Consequently, there would be a greater likelihood of extracting intelligence through the criminal justice system than through torture, which has been proven to provide unreliable data.

But Morris doesn’t stop spewing stupidity there:

MORRIS: …the other point here is the reason 9/11 happened is that Bill Clinton treated the ’93 bombing of the Trade Center as a crime, not as an act of war.

Actually, unlike 9/11, we caught the perpetrators of that incident and put them in prison. In addition to that, we bombed their foreign facilities and “retired” some of their operatives. If anything, our success may have spurred the terrorists to seek revenge.

MORRIS: I think that if we don’t take our country back in 2010, it’s not going to be there for us to take back.

Where is it going to be, Dick? Is it going to spontaneously combust? Will it join Atlantis at the bottom of the sea? Will there be an asteroid collision with the planet? Are you really suggesting that there will be no more America after the 2010 if Republicans fail to assume power? I think you and Glenn Beck had better sit down and coordinate your stories on the Marxist, socialist, progressive utopia in our future.

MORRIS: There are Democrats and there are Republicans. Now I used to be one of them. I used to be a conservative Democrat. I’m not any more because it doesn’t exist. […] If you’re a Democrat, you’re a Democrat, you’re a Democrat, and that’s all you can be.

So despite the fact that it has been Democrats who have battled to form working majorities, and it’s the Republicans who have voted in lockstep throughout this session of Congress, it is still the Democrats who Morris regards as philosophical purists. Even though Republicans have actual “purity tests” that their members are pressured to abide by, while Democrats are plagued by Blue Dogs who vote more like Republicans.

It’s always interesting to observe this sort of cognitive breakdown. It’s just that it’s becoming a bit too predictable for people like Morris and his Fox News enablers. It would be nice if every now and then they refrained from saying things so monumentally stupid it makes you pity them. Just for variety they should try to make sense once in a while – if they are able to.