Jack & Jill Politics

It is clear to me that those who perpetrated the 9/11 attacks are sick and twisted individuals. Somehow, conservatives have decided that putting terrorists on trial is too something — too risky, too easy and too open to the public. So we need to do more. We need military tribunals. For some conservatives, that doesn’t sit right either. Some have argued that these terrorists do not deserve the same rights that we enjoy. They should not have a trial. They are guilty and that’s that.

I beg to differ. We have evolved a legal system over more than 250 years. Our system balances the rights of the accused versus the rights of the victim. Trials are as much about evidence as they are about process. We’ve been told by our politicians that we are a good and just people. If that is true then we should be able to have a trial in which US citizens set on the jury, weigh the evidence and make a fair decision. In my opinion, these trials are as much about placing the guilty behind bars as it is in showing the world that eight years after the terrorist attacks that we can conduct a fair and just process not only in the eyes of the American people but also in the eyes of the world.

more

Saturday, November 14th, 2009
For the Stans: Bey Bey and her “Bodyguard Boo” Julius Party in London
Posted by Bossip Staff

http://bossip.com/179300/for-the-stans-bey-bey-...

Charles Barkley And TNT Make Fun Of Sammy “Soft-White” Sosa
Posted by Bossip Staff

http://bossip.com/179311/charles-barkley-and-tn...


this is so funny; watch the video at the link.

Denzel Washington Watches Son Malcolm Play Penn Basketball (PHOTOS)
First Posted: 11-13-09 11:30 PM | Updated: 11-14-09 04:11 PM

Denzel Washington's son Malcolm played his first basketball game as a member of the University of Pennsylvania tonight, and the movie star attended to cheer his son on. Wearing a black Yankees cap and Patagonia fleece, the AP reports that Washington went "virtually unnoticed in the Jordan Center crowd." Malcolm did not play and his team lost to Penn State, 70-55.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/13/denzel...

Maine Town Is Riven by Housing Dispute
By ABBY GOODNOUGH
Published: November 14, 2009

MILBRIDGE, Me. — Down a rural road where wood smoke spirals from chimneys in the settling twilight, a five-acre lot thick with spruce trees is the unlikely site of a dream deferred.

This is the intended spot for a small apartment complex for farmworkers, a few hundred of whom are Hispanics living year-round in this remote corner of Down East Maine. They harvest blueberries, process seafood and assemble holiday wreaths, and most live in trailers near the fields and factories where they work.

A local nonprofit group won a $1 million federal grant last year to build the six-unit complex, a first step toward expanding housing options for the immigrant laborers, most of whom come from Mexico and Honduras.

But then ugly words were uttered, a petition was circulated, and voters in this town of 1,300 approved a moratorium on multifamily housing in June, blocking the project.

Now the group, Mano en Mano — Spanish for Hand in Hand — has filed a federal lawsuit alleging discrimination under the Fair Housing Act and the equal protection clause of the Constitution. And Milbridge, which once won acclaim for its efforts to welcome and integrate immigrants, is smarting from accusations of racism.

“We have always been very open and receptive and accommodating,” said Lewis Pinkham, the town manager, police chief and code enforcement officer. “In my personal opinion, this got blown out of proportion.”

According to the lawsuit and local newspaper accounts, some residents opposed the project on grounds that farmworkers’ children overburdened the schools; others predicted it would be a drug haven. The petition, signed by 48 residents, said jobs should be saved for local lobstermen, whose industry is suffering, and not “given out to minorities that may move into these units.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/us/15milbridg...

In House Record, Many Spoke With One Voice: Lobbyists’
By ROBERT PEAR
Published: November 14, 2009

WASHINGTON — In the official record of the historic House debate on overhauling health care, the speeches of many lawmakers echo with similarities. Often, that was no accident.

Statements by more than a dozen lawmakers were ghostwritten, in whole or in part, by Washington lobbyists working for Genentech, one of the world’s largest biotechnology companies.

E-mail messages obtained by The New York Times show that the lobbyists drafted one statement for Democrats and another for Republicans.

The lobbyists, employed by Genentech and by two Washington law firms, were remarkably successful in getting the statements printed in the Congressional Record under the names of different members of Congress.

Genentech, a subsidiary of the Swiss drug giant Roche, estimates that 42 House members picked up some of its talking points — 22 Republicans and 20 Democrats, an unusual bipartisan coup for lobbyists.

In an interview, Representative Bill Pascrell Jr., Democrat of New Jersey, said: “I regret that the language was the same. I did not know it was.” He said he got his statement from his staff and “did not know where they got the information from.”

Members of Congress submit statements for publication in the Congressional Record all the time, often with a decorous request to “revise and extend my remarks.” It is unusual for so many revisions and extensions to match up word for word. It is even more unusual to find clear evidence that the statements originated with lobbyists.

The e-mail messages and their attached documents indicate that the statements were based on information supplied by Genentech employees to one of its lobbyists, Matthew L. Berzok, a lawyer at Ryan, MacKinnon, Vasapoli & Berzok who is identified as the “author” of the documents. The statements were disseminated by lobbyists at a big law firm, Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/us/politics/1...

Posted Wednesday, November 11, 2009 4:45 PM
Tempers Flare Over Obama Documentary
Jonathan Alter

A very good source tells me that African-American friends of the Obamas in Chicago and Washington are steamed over the editing of the campaign documentary By the People, which aired on HBO last week. The documentary team was granted extraordinary behind-the-scenes access to the Obamas and their staffers and friends.

Senior adviser Valerie Jarrett and close friend and informal adviser Marty Nesbitt were interviewed at length for the film but appeared only in the background. (The source wasn't sure whether a third longtime friend of Obamas, Eric Whitaker, was interviewed.) Both were present for critical moments like the Reverend Wright episode and are, of course, extremely close to Obama. But in the film, they came across as extras.

The source said that the filmmakers shot much more tape than they could possibly use and that lots of important people and scenes were left on the cutting-room floor, but the omission distorts history. "For them to exclude her [Valerie] is a false reflection of reality," said the source, a close friend of both Jarrett and the Obamas. "Some of us were almost physically sick watching it."

http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/thegaggle/archiv...

something doesn't ring true for me regarding this article...Jarrett and the rest of the inner circle of the Obama's can't be that petty and self-centered that they expected to be highlighted in this HBO doc, can they???? If these people are airing those kind of feelings I would hope they would no longer belong to the "inner circle." ONLY the president and his family had the most to lose in this election and risked their safety and personal and private lives and everyone else who worked for them and with them gain by riding on their "WIN!" If the Obama's lost, those same people wouldn't take any "credit" for a loss.

I hate this kind of bs article.

angelar: I hate this kind of bs article. MEGA-CO-SIGN!!

Found some INTERESTIN' INFO of Alter:

+Jonathan Alter
From Wikipedia,

When Newsweek launched his wide-ranging column in 1991, it was the first time the magazine allowed regular political commentary in the magazine, other than on the back page. After the election of Bill Clinton in 1992, during which Alter was a consultant to MTV, he was among a small group of reporters and columnists who had regular access to Clinton, though he was far from a reliable supporter, particularly during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. "Alter bites me in the ass sometimes, but at least he knows what we're trying to do," Clinton was quoted as saying in the book Media Circus by The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz.

Sooooo- it seems as IFF - - -ya CAIN'T TRUST him!!!

they had to perpetuate some ' controversy' about the documentary, didn't they?

though i agree with you all on the article, it made me think of something that angela davis said about history. she said that we have to "rectify the tendency to erase the contributions of those who have done perhaps the most to bring about progressive change." she used the example of the freedom movement to show how women were systematically excluded from the history as it is largely transmitted. this could be part of the unconscious reason why valerie was excluded from public records like this one. . .

It seems like yall having a hard time believing that someone like Jarrett could come off as petty as she does in the article. I mean, for all we know, she could be THAT petty. I'm just sayin...

Her boss is the most powerful person in the world, if Jarrett is that "petty" she is a done deal and won't last.

she's known the Obamas for nearly 20 years; don't you believe the 'petty' side would have revealed itself during that time?

Sunday talk show tip sheet
ABC’s “This Week” has both Clinton and Giuliani, who blasted the administration's move Friday as proof “we have regressed to a pre-9/11 mentality with respect to Islamic extremist terrorism.”

Clinton also headlines NBC’s “Meet the Press,” where she’ll be followed by an education discussion with Education Secretary Arne Duncan, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and the Rev. Al Sharpton.

Giuliani also appears on CNN’s “State of the Union,” as do senior White House adviser David Axelrod, who's traveling with President Barack Obama on his nine-day Asia trip; Sens. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and Judd Gregg (R-N.H.); and Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, a Democrat.

Gregg, the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, will be interviewed as well on C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers.”

The former mayor, who’s reportedly flirting with a bid for New York governor, also takes to “Fox News Sunday,” along with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.).

CBS’s “Face the Nation” hosts Michigan Rep. Pete Hoekstra, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, and Vermont Sen. Pat Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Bloomberg’s “Political Capital” hosts Anita Dunn, who's stepping down as White House communications director, and White House Budget Director Peter Orszag.

Dunn, interviewed Friday by Bloomberg’s Al Hunt as part of its Washington Summit at the Newseum, said the White House’s fight with Fox News had discouraged other TV networks from following its lead. “It did help people get a sense of perspective again,” Dunn said. “People took a step back and said, ‘Hmm, am I really wanting to go chase those stories?’ ”

Finally, TV One’s “Washington Watch” interviews Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.), retired Army Major Gen. John Hawkins and Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

rikyrah: OF COURSE I hadta "go 2 ALASKA" 2 check out the SMARMY/SARCASTIC/SNARK on "The EX-GOV.":

+The Shannyn Moore Show – Live Blogging



There’s going to be lots to talk about on The Shannyn Moore Show today. Like it or not, you-know-who is back in the news. She’ll be interviewed on the Oprah Winfrey Show and her book Going Rogue is out in bookstores this week, advanced copies are circulating and pages are making their way on to the web. Going Rouge – An American Nightmare is available from OR books.

The media is all over Sarah Palin like a raven on Wendy’s french fries. (Trust me)

So, pull on your boots, get your shovels and roll up your sleeves. We’re goin’ in.

Shannyn’s guest today for this godawful Palinpalooza? Me!

To read a sneak peak of Going Rouge, you can enjoy my essay from the book, which is posted in its entirety on The Huffington Post.

And read Shannyn’s excellent piece about Palin, Exxon and Oily Lies HERE.

Live Stream it HERE.

Time: 5-7pm Alaska time, 6-8pm Pacific, and 9-11pm Eastern.

Give a call, and live blog it in the comments!

The number is 907.274.5297. The toll free number (in state only) is 866.610 5297

+Page 57 Goes Rogue!

Well, it looks like rogue pages from Sarah Palin’s memoir are making the rounds on the internets. Here’s my contribution to the growing collection, courtesy of a Mudflatter who wishes to remain nameless.

Gather round for story time, children!

In this page, we join Sarah Palin as she recounts the birth of her daughter Bristol. We’ll learn how Todd elbowed his way past the post-partum Sarah to tackle the birth certificate, fill it in and name his daughter Bristol without consulting the new mother. We’ll also learn that Bristol did not get saddled with taking care of Piper and Trig all the time against her will as it appeared to the casual observer. Why, ever since she was a tiny child, she’s been begging…yes BEGGING I tell you, to take care of other people’s children. And we can only imagine how thrilled the teenage Bristol is about being called a “near freak” and having her potty training details memorialized forever in print. Track, we learn, was “clingy” and always needed his mom in sight. And then there were the tantrums… But I’m sure he won’t get ribbed about that in the army.

And, there was even a casual “I was reading” reference just to stick it to all those people who think that she doesn’t read everything they put in front of her. I’m sure those will be popping up frequently.

+HERE IS PAGE 57

MANY of the COMMENTS R HI-LAR-IOUS!! annnnnnnnd - - BRUTAL!! :>)

fyi.....My tribal leaders' comment re the meeting of over 500 tribal leaders at the White House

http://www.petoskeynews.com/news/article_e3e7d9...

..."“I thought it was really neat when he did the question-and-answer portion ... although I raised my hand to speak, 75 other hands went up,” Harrington said. “At the end of his speech, he was supposed to walk out a side door, but instead, he walked around the front and did personal hand shakes.

“I thought (Obama) was very respectful and sincere.”

The centerpiece of Obama’s keynote address was his signing of a presidential memorandum which directed every Cabinet agency to complete a plan for improved tribal consultation within 90 days.

Harrington said this was a significant moment, because in the past, President Bill Clinton had issued an executive order to establish regular and meaningful consultation and collaboration with the tribes, but it fell short.

“(Clinton’s order) was more of an announcement,” Harrington said. “President Obama said we will do this, but we’ll put it in writing so we have accountability..."

this sounds good. never been done before, why am I not surprised?

uh - no kidding?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33932611/ns/local_n...

"For the second year in a row, President Obama is included on Ebony Magazine's "Power 150" list of influential African-Americans."

he's PRESIDENT - duh.....
like he's not top of the list...LOL

Michael Kors on the First Lady's fashion style

http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/chi-style-...

",,,Everything I just said about Chicago, Mrs. Obama is very that. She enjoys fashion and is very stylish, but she doesn't let it rule her life. ... When she wore Michael Kors for her official portrait, I was in London at the theater, and I came out, and my Blackberry was filled with about 200 e-mails. We had made the dress for her, and I thought it would be great for her. It's understated, timeless but modern. The cut is classic but has an athletic feel, the way the dress is cut...."

evaluating the First Lady by comparing her to a city...that totally works, IMO.

rikyrah: 'member THIS?

WELLLLLL, this article comes under the HEADING: "HOW TO AVOID A LAWSUIT -101"

Swim Club Accused Of Racism To File For Bankruptcy

PHILADELPHIA — A suburban swim club accused of discrimination last summer after revoking the memberships of mostly black and Hispanic children plans to declare bankruptcy, a newspaper reported Saturday.

Valley Swim Club president John Duesler sent an e-mail to club "friends and families" Friday saying the board of directors had voted to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy this week, The Philadelphia Daily News reported.

Duesler wrote in the e-mail that many would blame the bankruptcy on legal proceedings and negative media exposure, the newspaper said. But, he said, "the truth is that the club has struggled to stay out of the red for at least the last decade" and owes more than $100,000 in operational expenses and legal fees, the newspaper reported.

[NOTE: UH - -HUH!!]

Duesler declined to comment to The Associated Press on Saturday.

Members "are all tired and beaten down and just sickened by how our club has been improperly portrayed," he said, according to the Daily News. "After speaking to many members, my sense is that mostly everyone wants to move on."

The Creative Steps day camp had arranged for the youngsters to swim at the Huntingdon Valley club each Monday during the summer. But during the first visit in June by 56 children – 46 black and 10 Hispanic – two children reported hearing racial comments, and the day camp's payment was later refunded, according to the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission.

The commission said in a decision in September that it had found probable cause to conclude that the campers were asked not to return because of the "racial animus" expressed by one member and "racially coded comments" by other members.

"I am taken aback right now. It really comes as a surprise," Creative Steps director Alethea Wright told the AP on Saturday when told about the reported bankruptcy plans. She referred other questions to the day camp's attorneys, who did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

The Valley Club has maintained that the number of children exceeded the number of lifeguards on duty and that only a few of the children knew how to swim. A club attorney said it had offered to reinstate the campers for the rest of the summer or guarantee them free memberships next year.

The state commission, however, said other large groups that came to the swim club did not elicit a similar reaction, and the club had no black members among 334 paid memberships for the last two years.

___

Information from: Philadelphia Daily News, http://www.philly.com>

I'll BETCHA that other "SWIM CLUBS" will B sendin' out invitations 2 "POC"! :>)

me.....playing world's tiniest violin.

rikyrah: LOL!! :>)

I - - -HEAR ya!! :>) :>)


P.S. THANKS 4 the FOLLOW-UP on Mr. Kareem. PRAYIN' 4 him/family.

they have no shame, besides covering elective abortion services for many years, guess what.....

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/11/14/rnc-health-...

"‘Death Panels’ Hypocrisy: RNC Health Insurance Provider Promotes End-Of-Life Counseling

Over the summer, one of the GOP’s loudest complaints against health care legislation was a provision offering senior citizens Medicare reimbursement for end-of-life counseling. Republicans claimed it would create so-called “death panels” or urge seniors citizens to die. RNC Chairman Michael Steele “endorsed this type of rhetoric, and on July 28, the RNC put out research document claiming that the government would “dictate” Americans’ “end-of-life care.”

But ThinkProgress has noticed that Cigna, the RNC’s health insurance provider, also urges beneficiaries to think about end-of-life services. Cigna’s website has a page called “Care at the End of Life,” which covers topics such as how to talk with “loved ones” about “end-of-life choices” and whether to stop life-prolonging treatment: .............."

remember, this end of life counseling was added BY A REPUBLICAN SENATOR.

A REPUBLICAN SENATOR.


their hypocrisy knows no bounds.

Mixed Signals on Honduras & Clinton’s position (should Obama replace Clinton because of situation in Honduras?: http://bit.ly/1HeblV

Saturday, November 14, 2009
The Presidential Submissive
Why does it drive right wingers up the wall so much when President Obama shows respect to foreign leaders? Who cares if he bows to Japan's Emperor? Isn't true strength being comfortable enough with your superiority to show deference to those that are weaker?

http://www.politicalinaction.com/2009/11/presid...

I liked this bloggers' comment at a different site.

"MP wrote: Whatever happened to the good old days when we could count on a Republican in the White House to puke on foreign dignitaries?"

LOL

angelar: LOL!! :>) GOOD GET!! :>)

rikyrah: MEGA-CO-SIGN!! :>)

That COMMENT is JUST! 2! SPOT! ON!! :>)

Obama Chooses an Inner-Circle Man
By JOHN M. BRODER
Published: November 13, 2009

WASHINGTON — In being named White House counsel less than a year into President Obama’s tenure, Robert F. Bauer is reversing a longstanding trend.

Many presidents initially name a close friend and ally to the post, and then turn to a well-known Washington legal fixture when they run into legal or political trouble. In this case, Mr. Bauer, a trusted back-room counselor who was one of the first people Mr. Obama hired when he came to Washington five years ago, is taking the place of Gregory B. Craig, a legal powerhouse who was a relative latecomer to Mr. Obama’s inner circle.

Ever since Mr. Obama arrived as a freshman senator from Illinois in early 2005, Mr. Bauer has been his personal lawyer and informal political adviser. Mr. Bauer, now 57, was the chief legal adviser to the Obama presidential campaign and one of the candidate’s most forceful advocates, once interrupting a conference call with reporters by the rival campaign of Hillary Rodham Clinton to argue with Mrs. Clinton’s chief spokesman over a campaign attack.

Among other matters, he defended Mr. Obama against a lawsuit claiming the candidate was born outside the United States and thus ineligible to be president. The suit was dismissed as frivolous.

Mr. Bauer’s wife, Anita Dunn, was also a senior campaign aide and has served until now as the White House communications director. She is stepping down this month.

White House aides said the main functions of the counsel’s office would not change with the switch in leadership. The office is responsible for vetting candidates for administrative jobs and judicial posts, for handling ethics matters and for reviewing lawsuits involving the executive branch. It also handles many delicate foreign policy and intelligence issues

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/us/politics/1...

reading the new ESSENCE today, and there's an advertisement of Carol's Daughter doing a line of products for the new Disney Movie, The Princess and the Frog.

http://www.carolsdaughter.com/product/kids/magi...

Egyptian sheet sales. 400-800 thread count. 60% off

You take an extra $25.00 off each set if you buy today. So the $200.00 sheets are $30.00

http://www.smartbargains.com/events1.aspx?ltype...

rikyrah: THANKS!! Ima take the one's that I bought 2-day BACK - - -

annnnnnnnd, Ima get a TICKET 2 EGYPT 2 "CATCH THIS SALE!!" :>) :>)

P.S. My "PALIN-ESQUE RESPONSE!!" :>)

TPM has been following the happenings at the Washington Times

Week-Long Storm At Wash Times Leaves Unanswered Questions In Its Wake
Justin Elliott | November 13, 2009, 5:37PM

A week that began with the ousting of three executives at the Washington Times and ended with the announcement that top editor John Solomon had resigned leaves three questions whose answers will determine the fate of the Times:

How will a newspaper that has never been a profit-making proposition survive in the current brutal media business climate? Will a family feud in the Unification Church, whose founder Rev. Sun Myung Moon created the Times, be resolved in a way auspicious for the future of the paper? And, finally, what will its ideological and journalistic identity be going forward?

Driving home the financial peril the paper finds itself in, today came the news that contributions to employee 401(k) accounts has been suspended. Times employees breathed a sigh of relief when their paychecks came through today.

The newspaper's parent company is controlled by Preston Moon, one of Rev. Moon's 13 children who sources have told TPM is currently locked in a dispute with the rest of his family, particularly a younger brother who Rev. Moon designated as his primary heir.

Originally founded in the early 1980s to toe Rev. Moon's staunchly anti-communist line in Washington, the Times has gone through several phases of ideological identity. But its influence has long exceeded its tiny print circulation numbers. Just today, the Times published a reminder it can be a force for right-leaning investigative journalism in the form of a 2,800-word front-pager purporting to expose wrongdoing by the pro-engagement National Iranian American Council.

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/1...

Please an explanation …


Did Noam Chomsky ever said this :

---

Pre Obama ....so far
" If the Nurenberg Laws were applied, then every
post-war American president would have been hanged "

---

I read it here (BBC.co.UK).

Obama Admin. Cracks Down On Burrowing -- Right Cries Foul
Zachary Roth | November 13, 2009, 12:33PM
In what may be another small dose of that precious change we can believe in, the Obama administration is taking steps to crack down on one of the Bushies' favored tactics for politicizing government: burrowing.

In the waning days of the Bush administration, we told you about some political appointees who had landed career jobs, with civil-service protections, at their departments -- allowing them to continue to exert influence under the new government, and making them difficult to remove. In fact, the Bushies were far from the first group to try this. The Washington Monthly's Charles Peters, who has chronicled the workings of the federal government since the 1960s, used to call it the "headless nail" phenomenon.

But now the Obama administration is trying to at least make it more difficult. A recent memo from John Berry, director of the Office of Personnel Management, announced that starting January 1, his office will have to sign off every time a political appointee who was appointed during the last 5 years is hired for a career position. Right now, OPM approval is only required during a presidential election year.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/...

Great move. This is one key area wilfully ignored by those who bash PBO when asking "is it done yet'? PBO can write Exec. Orders and pass laws day in and out, but, if there is no one in place with PBO best interest to implement those orders or laws from government agencies, nothing will happen.

Rep. King: New White House Counsel Brought In To Protect...ACORN!
Eric Kleefeld | November 13, 2009, 2:45PM

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) is attacking the appointment of Bob Bauer as the new White House Counsel -- saying that it's all a plot to protect ACORN!

In a new press release, King declares:

"Bob Bauer has a public record of defending Barack Obama's relationship with ACORN. Bauer has acted as the agent between Obama and ACORN, and now he will be perfectly positioned to be tasked with erasing the tracks between Obama and ACORN. Bauer's hiring appears to be a tactical maneuver to strategically defend the White House exactly one week after Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell raided ACORN's national headquarters in New Orleans and seized paper records and computer hard drives that may lead to the White House."

As evidence, King cites how Bauer, as Obama campaign counsel in the 2008 election, had sent a letter to the Justice Department objecting to Republican efforts against ACORN.

This also comes a few days after another King press release in which he alleged that the resignation of White House communications director Anita Dunn -- Bauer's wife -- was connected to the aforementioned investigation against ACORN in Louisiana.

So King previously seemed to be implying that Dunn was leaving in a hurry because of an ACORN scandal -- and now says that Bauer is coming in because of the same ACORN matter.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/rep-...

Rudy Relives the Giuliani Presidency
Josh Marshall | November 13, 2009, 4:08PM

Rudy Giuliani is right now being interviewed on the Cavuto show -- yeah, I know, just stop now. And it's amazing the utter contempt this man has for the American justice system. I can't even begin to dig out of the pile of nonsense he's spewing. But we'll have some of the video for you in a few moments.

I will give Rudy credit for realizing that the most important thing about fighting terrorism is the catch-phrases we use to describe it.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/...

Hutchison Switches Course, Won't Resign From Senate While Running In Primary For Texas Governor
Eric Kleefeld | November 13, 2009, 5:43PM

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) has announced that she will not resign from the Senate while she is running for governor of Texas, which she had previously planned on doing as she challenges incumbent Gov. Rick Perry in the Republican primary.

"A newly appointed senator would be selected in the midst of a political storm," Hutchison said in a statement that cited the battle against the Democrats on health care and energy legislation, "And will need on-the-job training in the midst of a crisis."

This comes after a Rasmussen poll today, which showed her trailing Perry by 46%-35% -- and which also showed that 60% of likely primary voters disagreed with her plans to resign. Perry had frequently been attacking Hutchison for the planned resignation, as well.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/hutc...

I betcha KBH is not as willing as Guv Helmet hair to go to the far right to win. She may not win the primary if she doesn't, but she would definitely have won a general election. Many non-conservative voters here in Texas would like her much more than Perry.

I agree with you on that. the hard part for her would be getting out the primary; once she did, the DEMS would be through. I keep on remembering last year, before Country Last picked Caribou Barbie, there was a big discussion over at Skeptical Brotha about the GOP going after the White Women's vote, but they thought he'd be logical and get someone like KBH. just WHAT IF, he had actually gone for one of the CREDIBLE GOP Female pols out there, who actually had a resume?

McCain still would've lost.

14 Nov 2009 02:56 pm
Hannity's "Apology"

A reader writes:

When I first heard that Hannity was offering up an apology (confession?) for his video lie, I was impressed. I honestly didn't think he had it in him. And then I watched the damn thing. Turns out I was right. Forget the tone, which I found gratingly smug. Or the final punchline thanking Stewart's writers for watching, a lame attempt to diffuse the troubling transgression with humor. What keeps nagging at me is his claim that it was some sort of accident. That no one meant for it to happen. Sorry, but I don't buy that for a second. Those sorts of things don't simply "happen".

Let me explain.

I have been working in television for the past 15 years. I know in detail how these things work: 1) you are assigned a story, 2) you send out a crew to shoot the necessary footage, 3) the footage is brought back to the studio and loaded into the Avid, or whatever editing system you are using, 4) you cut together your piece based on THE FOOTAGE AT HAND.

For footage from a different event that took place months earlier to find its way into an entirely new piece, well, someone had to: 1) make the decision to lie in the first place (and lets be clear, it IS a lie), 2) locate the old footage, 3) cut the footage into the new piece, 4) a producer or the like had to approve the clip for air.

Yes, accidents can happen. But I guarantee you someone on his show said, "Man, we need to make those crowds look bigger" (don't get me started on the ethical quagmire of that decision) and a writer, producer or editor said, "I know, we can use some stuff from Glenn's rally. No one will ever notice." True, Hannity may not have been aware of that editorial decision (he cannot supervise every piece of footage that airs on his show) but let's be clear: contrary to what he said, someone DID mean for it to happen, they simply did not mean to get caught. And his lame apology is covering someone's ass. It also leads me to wonder how often this is being done on his network.

Twisting words for political gain is one thing; manipulating video to deceive millions of viewers is another, and one that makes your Pravda reference all the more prescient.

As Cartman might say: "I'm just asking questions".

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily...