Dirty Words

[BlogBox]

This week's dirty words, aka hot blog topics: honor is like Santa Claus - it only exists if you believe in it (Bush's bloody comma); love your neighbors (rob them of their votes); and demonstrate your dignity (get FOX to attack President Clinton, the man who really hunted Bin Laden). All this and much more. Enjoy!

Bush's Bloody Gracie Allen Comma Of Death

Is this man just another pixel in Bush's bloody comma? John in DC at AMERICABlog says "America is better than this.":

At least this used to be true before the Republicans took over by John in DC - 9/27/2006 11:28:00 AM

To read Molly Ivin's scathing reaction to Bush's totally idiotic comma remark ("The war is not a goddamn comma"), click on over to Truthdig. This Ivins gem is a treasure.

Well, well, well. What do you know? Trent Lott is threatening Democrats with "retribution" if they continue holding hearings on Bush's Iraq War. Hoffmania addresses the non-media coverage of Democrats' attempts to do their jobs; and AMERICABlog has video links for the testimony of Major General John Batiste, Major General Paul Eaton, Col. Thomas Hannes, Major General Batiste on Troop Strength, Major Batiste on Congress, Major Batiste on Rumsfeld, Colonel Hammes on equipment for the troops, and Major General Eaton on Rumsfeld.

About that "comma" - Greg Mitchell at Editor & Publisher thinks he knows the genesis of Bush's latest gaffe:

This is it: He likely meant to finish it off by suggesting that, looking back, the Iraq war will be viewed as "just a comma, not a period."

Not surprisingly, this is rooted in current Christian teaching, often in reference to Jesus' death, or more generally as "Don't put a period where God puts a comma."

Where does this come from? Not directly from the scripture, apparently. A quote by comedienne Gracie Allen is cited on many religious Web sites: "Never place a period where God has placed a comma." United Church of Christ parishes in Massachusetts were recently urged to put that quote on banners during Lent and color in the words as the weeks went by.

Of course, many of us of a certain age remember Gracie Allen, the actual and TV wife of the legendary George Burns. Memo to the president: She was the batty one who often talked nonsense.

Hmm. Gives new meaning to "Say good night, George," doesn't it?

Cheat The Vote

Campaign 2006: Just another reason for Republicans to pretend to be liberals. From Election Central:

NH-02: GOP Aide Busted Posing As Liberal Blogger

An aide to GOP Rep. Charles Bass has been busted for posing as a liberal blogger on several local left-leaning blogs. Today's Roll Call reports (subscription only) that the unnamed aide was unmasked by several liberal bloggers for posting on sites such as Blue Granite, NH-02 Progressive, and others. Bass' office admitted the aide's guilt and said the staffer would be "appropriately disciplined." It turns out the blogger -- who posed as "Indy NH" or "Indie NH" -- raised suspicions when he tried to cast doubt on a poll showing Bass tied with Dem challenger Paul Hodes. The lib bloggers tracked his IP address to the House server.

Hey, if they can't cheat, they can't win. And they know it. Also posted at Election Central:

IL-06: GOPer Says (Amputee Iraq Vet) Dem Would "Cut and Run" From Iraq

Peter Roskam, the GOP candidate to succeed outgoing Rep. Henry Hyde, accused Dem opponent Tammy Duckworth of wanting to "cut and run" from Iraq during a debate a couple days ago. The use of this common pro-war talking-point in this case surprised some observers -- not to mention Duckworth herself -- because the veteran Duckworth lost both of her legs in Iraq. Duckworth's post-debate reply was rather straightforward: "I just could not believe he would say that to me."

Santorum's Abramoff dough-$i-dough makes Little Ricky #65 on the Republican taint list. Dengre (at Kos) has the meeting schedules and the amounts paid.

This week's God Gladiators: meet The Family Federation. Psst! They used to be called The Unification Church. Yep, Moonies have a new & improved moniker, and Talk To Action has compiled some video footage of GHW Bush, Ford, Pat Boone and others (like Bauer, Lahaye Reed and Falwell) celebrating Reverend Moon, whose wingnut Washington Times newspaper is one of the pillars of a well-known secret, yet oh, so flauntingly public, theocratic-centered synergy plan. And the money pockets run wider and muddier than the River Jordan.

Pass the popcorn in Pennsylvania. As of now, the Republican-backed Green senate candidate, Carl Romanelli, has been tossed off the ballot due to 9000 bogus petition signatures. TPM Muckraker notes:

After Romanelli gathered almost 100,000 signatures to qualify, Democrats challenged the signatures' validity. A court fight followed, and now a judge has found that the Greens are short almost 9,000 valid signatures from the 67,000 required by law.

Update: The Greens have one last hope -- but it seems a long shot. The state supreme court has yet to rule on Romanelli's bid to change the threshold of signatures required by the law. If Romanelli won that motion, then he would only need about 16,000 signatures. But for now, Romanelli's off the ballot and would have to appeal to get back on.

Guess that means that Little Ricky's ridiculous idea to debate his Republican party's personally-funded Green candidate -- and not the Democratic party candidate, Bob Casey, is... er, off. Stay tuned. I fear this is far from over.

In other ridiculous Republican candidate news, Paul Kiel (TPM) has caught those mean old Democrats going after Rick "Youthful Indiscretion" O'Donnell (CO, 7th):

Life is so unfair. All Rick O'Donnell did was call for the elimination of Social Security when he was a young and irresponsible 24 year-old. Now he's down 17 points to Dem Ed Perlmutter in the latest poll out of Colorado's 7th District.

Just another Poor Little Ricky saga. BWAAAHAHA.

Want more fun? Check out FascArt for some nifty graphics and try out Slate's George Allen Insult Generator. Here's a screen capture:


Did anyone really expect FAUX Snooze to treat President Clinton fairly? JABBS didn't:

Fox News Shows (Again) Why It Isn't "Fair And Balanced"

During an interview with Bill Clinton that aired this morning, Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace insisted it was conducted in "good faith."

Check out the image at right. That's how the Fox News website promoted the interview.

"Fair and balanced"? Hardly.

For more FOX fun, take The Freeway Blogger's multiple-choice FOX News Quiz. Here are your answer choices:




Over on MSNBC, Tweety is trying desperately to transform himself from Bush-loving war cheerleader into war protester. Media Matters, of course, has the Chris Matthews cheer roster (2003-2006).

Scommenting is not for the Internet-impaired. A Tom Kean Jr. campaign idiot has been caught red handed scommenting (posting bogus blog comments, pretending to be several different people) on Blue Jersey.

Thank A DUer!

Thanks To KansDem for explaining Bush's low, low unemployment/ strong economy:

US businesses ranked by employee size:

TOP SIX EMPLOYERS
1. Manpower, Inc--2,027,100
2. Wal-Mart--1,700,000
3. Printing and Communications Media, Inc.--757,149
4. Kelly Services, Inc.--708,400
5. Labor Ready, Inc.--602,900
6. McDonald's Corp.--438,000

Now, I'm not an economist but it appears of the top six employers in the US, three specialize in temporary or part-time help and two in low-wage, low-skill jobs (I don't know about No. 3), making me wonder if the economy is really doing as well as the Bushistas and their minions in the Corporate Media want us to believe.

Source: Dun & Bradstreet Business Rankings, 2006.

Incidentally, the total for Manpower, Wal-Mart, Kelly Services, Labor Ready, and McDonald's is 5,476,400.

To POAS for this sobering comment on reports of Bin Laden's possible death:

In spite of tortured captives, OBL died a free man.
In spite of thousands of dead in Iraq, he died a free man.
In spite of countless illegal wiretaps, he died a free man.
In spite of a War President and mission accomplished, he died a free man.

Wow! That's really something to talk about.

And to NOLADEM, for posting this after Peter Roskam (IL- Henry Hyde Wannabe) accused multiple amputee Tammy Duckworth of "wanting to cut and run from Iraq":

Three easy steps to arguing like a soul-less, unthinking right-wing ideologue.

1. First, say something rude. Keep saying it until the victim responds. When the victim reacts, demonize her reaction as an attack.

2. Agitated by the victim's response, overreact in gradually more outrageous ways.

3. Repeat until righteous in your errant and untenable position, without ever having to debate the merits of said issue.

So true. And so immorally. Typical Republican, though.

If you read only one blog post from start to finish this week, it should be this one by Ellis Weiner at The Huffington Post. The short & sweet: if Dems won't stand up to Republicans, how can anyone expect them to defend us against terrorists?

Yes, this may be news from the land of DUH to most of us, but it needs to be screamed from sea to shining sea, damn it. On a personal note, inside the Kerry campaign in DC HQ, we all waited for Senator Kerry to confront the swiftboaters... and we waited... and waited some more. And it never really happened. Sure, there were dignified denials and even a few whispered How dare you?s. And we all wondered why... until we saw this week how the corporate media treats the most popular former president since, well, ever, for fighting back. The Kerry/Edwards high-road roadmap's final destination was both an honorable loss and an America even Rod Serling couldn't find on his Twilight Zone map.

Yes, Republicans will call you every name in the book while feigning innocence and simultaneously smearing your good name. Yes, they'll cheat. And yes, they'll smile while they do it. Fighting for America's honor is our Constitutional duty, y'all. Damn the dirty word torpedoes! Full speed ahead toward November 7th!

Know a hot blog that needs covering? Contact Delilah at [e-mail]

-- Delilah Boyd

[grasswire]

1. good post, thanks!

Are you covering Dan Froomkin over at WaPo? He's becoming more and more unfettered in his commentaries.

[displacedtexan]

3. If you've got blog links...

... that is, links to blog posts discussing Froomkin, send them my way.

Delilah

[JeffR]

2. Check out yesterday's post by the Rude Pundit

A keeper...

[nealmhughes]

4. Well, Delilah, I have nothing to blog this coming week.

Maybe something on the ex-Taliban GOPer Libertarian who is running the incumbent Rep. Governor of Alabama's campaign and who did not pay federal taxes for 14 years as a "personal statement" and whose masterpiece agitprop is to characterize the incumbent Lt.Gov. Democrat Lucy Baxley as "too liberal for Alabama" in a montage of street scenes...

Looks like you summed up the entire week pretty fairly. I don't have the energy to go into the Senate debate that I watched on Thursday all day on C-Span 2. I am struck that an 88 year old man with two canes and trembling hands who had to frequently request "help me" when fumbling with his speech was the last voice for the American Republic...

I am ready for the Gulag now.