Login Here
The nameless fellow(s?) and good friend of Michelle Malkin's behind the right-wing blog aggregator Volunteer Opinion Journal thinks he's caught us all being naughty. Pretty mild stuff, compared to what his comrades were and are saying about Scott Thomas Beauchamp (for more, go here and here), but hey, you work with the "hate speech" you have, not the hate speech you wish you had -- such as what regularly issues from the posts and comments over at Michelle Malkin's shop. These people are the Republican base, and as TRex points out, this is precisely why the Republicans don't dare do a YouTube debate in which their base has any sort of say: It would hand the presidential election to the Democrats the same way that Pat Buchanan's Republican-pleasing froth-at-the-mouth speech at the 1992 Republican National Convention guaranteed that Bill Clinton would be our next president.
Of course, what our nameless commentator doesn't mention is that the vast majority of non-righty bloggers and commenters talking about Roberts' seizure, such as Digby and our own Pachacutec in my respectful post on the subject, urged our readers to play nice with regard to Roberts. I've gone poking about the VOJ looking for his thoughts on Scott Thomas Beauchamp, and I've yet to see him -- or any other right-wing blogger or radio host, with the sole honorable exception of John Cole (for which he got flamed, repeatedly, by other righty bloggers and their readers) -- tell his fan base and other conservative personalities to play nice where Beauchamp is concerned. (I've also yet to see Mister VOJ, or any other conservative commentator of any sort, condemn Michael Savage for trying to blame John Roberts' health problems on a Democratic conspiracy.)
Once again, the wingnutosphere's accusing non-wingers of bad behavior is like Hitler accusing Churchill of war crimes. Or Hot Tub Tom DeLay condemning Bill Clinton's morality. Or Republican Newt Gingrich hounding his Democratic predecessor out of the Speaker's job and the House over a $50,000 book deal even as he himself was making a $4 million book deal with Rupert Murdoch in exchange for the legislation that made FOX News possible.
Share This 
Spotlight
zwed
PW!
zed?
or zed
BigMitch got it!
Single digits!
Hey! I just met Marcy by the elevator.
ed T — are you here?
Big Mitch, EPU I was referring to this request.
Is anyone else watching Tony Snow on CSPAN3? He was just asked if Rove is gonna testify tomorrow. I missed most of his answer but Fred Fielding was mentioned. Anybody catch it?
OT I don’t have a permalink for this but this is the current picture of typhoon Usagi about to hit Japan.
http://www.goes.noaa.gov/FULLDISK/MTIR.JPG
BigMitch @ 8
Yeah. Please see #89 in the previous thread, big guy.
Does anyone think we should be asking the Democratic candidates where they stand on RE-regulating media ownership?
I think we should go back to only allowing companies to own one newspaper, or radio station, or TV channel per market area.
Helen @ 10
Heck Helen wouldn’t you rather work than watch Snowjob?
Today’s Froomkin on Cheney:
LINK
ccmask @ 7
Coolness! How’s everything going so far?
Hugh @ 11
Man. Clear as a bell. Thanks.
Helen @ 10
I’ve got him on, but after awhile it just seeps through. I totally missed it.
Consider it done after 11:15 local time, when she will be on the air.
Helen @ 10
Alas, my ‘puter won’t let me see C-Span.
Thanks again, Helen, for your kick-ass work!
PW,
The funny thing is, Hitler did accuse Churchill of war crimes. During the Battle of Britain, during which the Luftwaffe bombed London for 58 consecutive days, Hitler went on the radio and condemned Churchill for dispatching “British air pirates” to Berlin.
Accuse your enemy of what you yourself are doing?
“Al Gore is trying to steal the election in Florida!”
BigMitch @ 19
You the man!
Phoenix Woman @ 16
Great. Quiet right now though. I ate White Castle for lunch .
ccmask @ 23
I am going to be getting so frigging jealous this week! She must have finished cleaning her house.
Ron D @ 21 - classic projection
AZ Matt @ 15
Cheney: I don’t recall.
Gonzo: I don’t recall.
Tillman hearing: I don’t recall.
Libby trial: I don’t recall.
At least be somewhat creative about it…
Danziger on Murdock’s new WSJ Editor!!!
Helen @ 10
well, it’s a pretty safe bet that it wasn’t, “Fred Fielding has instructed Mr. Rove to appear at the hearing tomorrow and answer all questions truthfully and completely. The American people are entitled to no less.”
Ed*ard Teller @ 24
Sheis sitting here blogging with me.
AZ Matt #27,
Sprite all over my keyboard-Thanks, man.
I would say Savage is truly unhinged. I wouldn’t be surprised if he went off the deep end big time one day.
NSA, NSC, what’s the difference? ;-)
new deep throat?
Follow the amnesia.
RonD @ 30
Oh, Any time!
OT folks. http://www.globalresearch.ca/i.....8;aid=6407 Got corn? The Chimpsta’s bio-fuel plan.
AZ Matt @ 27
Bwahahahaha
I thought we showed remarkable restraint during the whole John Roberts discussion. I was expecting some questions asking ‘where’s the wife and family?, “Who’s he with?” etc. but nary a one.
Remarkable restraint.
Rove…probably not
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....-congress/
Besides… they are going to give them FISA reform WTF!
musicsleuth @ 35
D’oh.
Hot potato- http://www.globalresearch.ca/i.....p;aid=6407
Right-wingnuts are so full of hate and bile and nastiness! Karma, I say. They’ll get their just desserts one of these days, months, years…
Why are the Dem leaders even discussing FISA reform until these bogus claims of executive privilege are waived and the facts concerning abuse of domestic surveillence are disclosed? WTF!!
Will someone in Chicago this weekend PLEASE make Nancy explain in detail why the hell she is going to give Bush FISA reform? Why not just go ahead and make him dictator? Get it over with and go on vacation.
Ed*ard Teller @ 18
I made the mistake of trying to watch as I ate my lunch! Can you say dyspepsia? Oooooh…
Narrowly defined programs (translation: we’re just way too smart for you!) Rising costs associated with Schip, Budget cap (translation: Billions for new H bombs, not a penny for the children) I have to go be sick now.
FISA has been revised numerous times since its inception. Still you have wonder what tin ears Reid and Pelosi have. They should be framing this as narrow, responsible, and unrelated to the wildly illegal NSA program or Abu’s perjury. It’s another case of clowns opposing crooks. When will the Democrats get a clue?
Help!
While I was trying to get C-Span3 up on the ‘puter and look at comments on FDL, I noticed that there was some army type — I think a leutenant General, who in a headline was mis-identified as a leutenant — who was evading service of a subpoena issued by Waxman’s committee.
Did anyone else notice this?
For non-military types: a leutenant is the lowest ranking officer in the Army. A leutenant general wears 3 stars.
ironranger @ 31
Please refer to “Savage” by his real name: Michael Wiener.
Hi Pw - great post. It’s astounding that their heads do not simply explode off their shoulders with the sheer impact of conflicting stances. Perhaps it has to do with the thickness of the bone matter.
FYI –
Rick Moran at RightWingNutHouse had an excellent conservative-oriented post on Beauchamp.
There are logical conservatives, but as the post notes, the hardcore wingnut base tends to gravitate to the obscene.
Ah yes. Wiener is much more accurate.
Hugh @ 44
I respectfully disagree.
We need a foreign intelligence surveillance program that is kept up to date with changes in technology. Dems would be fools to open themselves up to the charge that they withheld this for “political theater” reasons. It is important that they enact and monitor a legal program for surveillance of our enemies.
We do have enemies.
brendan @ 46
Gevalt! Don’t we Jews have enough to be embarrassed by?
snowbird42 @ 37
Just called my Rep and told her to vote against the bill…don’t know if it will do any good. Sent messages to my Senators saying same.
Hugh, I don’t think the Congress should give Bush a FISA reform until he comes clean on what they are already doing. Bush has proven to be way too authoritarian-minded for me to be comfortable giving him any more authority, IMO.
BigMitch @ 50
In the White House
Further to me at #50, above:
The new and improved FISA reform bill should be explicit in out-lawing any unregulated surviellance program. Does anyone know what the new bill says in this regard?
If Bush is given more authority, who expects him to exercise it competently, for the good of the nation? Who expects him to respect whatever boundaries ARE set?
Exactly.
BigMitch @ 50
Aren’t you agreeing? I think Hugh’s point is that the administration is taking advantage of the renewal for legislation to muddy the waters and conflate the current renewal with whatever it was they were doing that was so illegal.
Though there are reservations about the renewal expressed here ACLU, etc: http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....id=topnews
BigMitch @ 55
That would be a great idea-until the inevitable signing statement to follow, where it says the President doesn’t have to obey the law, since it infringes on his authority as Commander-in-Chief.
Ask McCain about that.
wow — just got done with the Rumsfield testimony.
High ranking officials in the Pentagon and the Administration don’t remeber a damn thing they did, but they are sure they didn’t coldly exploit a tragedy for purely political reasons. At least you can’t prove we did. I think it was a rogue underling.
Cheney doesn’t recall if he sent Gonzo. Gonzo doesn’t recall whether he’s wearing godamn underwear or not. Rummy doesn’t recall the details of Tillman’s death. Pentagon doesn’t recall its investigation. Scooter doesn’t recall who sent him out for the Plame hit.
Can we all chip in and ship these bastards some ginko? These are all the forgettingest bunch of pre-Alhizmers serious-brain-truma people I’ve ever met. My mom’s got a day-planner with notes in it, for pete’s sake!
Perhaps a stroll through the rightwing fever swamps for choice quotes after Sen. Tim Johnson was stricken ill would be quite illuminating.
-GSD
brendan @ 57
It there an emoticon for “slapping forehead and saying, ‘I must be a dope’? It sure would come in handy now.
Big M: What does “gevalt” mean?
I love to say “oy gevalt,” even though I’m a shiksa — it is such a satisfying exclamation. But I don’t know what I’m saying…..
Mitch @51:
It wasn’t the Jewishness of the name I was calling attention to, but the overcompensating incongruity of “Savage” and “Wiener”.
BigMitch @ 50
Yes — and they’re at the top of the Executive Branch.
I say don’t give the Criminal-in-Chief anything he wants UNTIL he gives us what we want — our troops out of Iraq — NOW not 2009.
And would you really want the current Justice Department managing these new FISA rules? Not a good idea while Gonzo the Walking Carpet is in charge.
Off topic a bit, and I may have missed this with all of the other crap coming out lately, but did anyone notice that there is a new “Homeland Security” regulation that allows the Department to data mine information from people coming from Europe? I remember something about this, but it isn’t just SS Numbers and addresses, it also includes, but not limited to:
Race/Gender
Political Affiliation
SEXUAL PREFERENCES
What, should we be scared of the always dangerous West Amsterdam Soc*al*st Muslim Transgenders coming and bombing us because they hate us for our freedom? The new Democratic President must sign an executive order within his/her first 100 days renaming Homeland Security to something else, and then tearing down these data mining capabilities. This stuff just makes me sick to my stomach sometimes.
~~~ModNote: Edited for content to clear filters.~~~
and that is an excellent reason for Democrats not to cave on it.
RonD @ 42
Speaking of dictators, anyone else notice how Gonzales and Cheney say they are “accountable to the President” when asked about “accountability”? Like, hey, if it’s OK with him, then it’s OK!
Consider me irked.
oddmommy @ 62
“Gevalt” means literally force, or power. It is like if someone were (God forbid) being raped, s/he might say “Help! Rape!” In the same way, it means, “stop! you are hurting me with the forcefulness of what you just said.”
busboy33 @ 59
more reasons for health care reform!
Make it a big Costco size container.
BigMitch @ 45
Not sure what you’re asking here; I know squat about how officers rank, but the person who evaded the subpoena was Kensinger. And Waxman actually said the Marshalls can’t find him, so they’re looking for him. McCrystal sent the P4 to Abbizaid, Brown and Kesinger warning them to tell the WH not to talk about Tillman’s death until they knew what happened. At the hearing Abizaid and Brown both said they did not talk to Bush about the P4.
Brisingamen @ 13
Absolutely, but not, repeat, not, to be mentioned before the election. Me, I’d go back to the rigid control — networks cannot own local stations, companies/individuals may own radio or tv or print, not all……. Networks may not be divisions of giant corporations — could be fun!
brendan @ 63
Of course, I understood that. I am just saying the guy is “a disgrace to the race” as it were.
do-si-do @ 67
And when Pelosi was asked what she thought of impeaching Gonzo, she rubbed her forehead, with a furrowed brow, and said. “we should just concentrate on our agenda.” What the hell is the agenda, then? Raising minimum wage? There must be accountability for the ass-raping the Constitution has taken the last 6 years. Even if one is not inclined to side with the “living Constitution” theory (I do), the assault on the basic tenants of the Constitution must be addressed.
BigMitch @ 50
Thanks for completely missing my point. This is a question of timing and framing. Reid did the same “If we all work together we can get this thing done” with the Military Commissions Act. What a great success that turned out to be. Changes to FISA have occurred. This Administration in the past when asked if it thought it needed changes to FISA to update it in technological terms said no, it didn’t. It then went off on its own putting in place the warrantless NSA wiretapping program.
Now the Administration suddenly decides it wants to make FISA more technologically relevant. Why now? It is all very good to say we have enemies but we had them last week, last month, last year. Where was the rush then? The issues have certainly been known for years. So why now just as Congress is about to leave town?
The timing and precipitate nature of the request are both bogus. The framing by the Democrats is inexecrable and inexcusable.
Yes, implement the new FISA rules just in time for the election so that Bush and Gonzales and the cadre of loyal Bushies can use the new rules to compile a whatever they need on the Democratic opponents and run a legendary dirty tricks campaign.
-GSD
They can’t find Kensineger to serve him the subpoena? Hopefully they are freezing his pension checks until he is located.
Big Mitch:
You say:
“I respectfully disagree. We need a foreign intelligence surveillance program that is kept up to date with changes in technology. Dems would be fools to open themselves up to the charge that they withheld this for “political theater” reasons. It is important that they enact and monitor a legal program for surveillance of our enemies. We do have enemies.”
No imputation of bad faith, but you parrot Republican accusations with this kind of stock phrasing. What’s more, you’re asking Democrats to play defensive at the least appropriate moment, when they are already on the offensive and clubbing the Republicans with Gonzalez’s perjury and very vocally presuming the worst about the crimes Gonzalez and Bush are covering up with regard to “the program”.
Helen @ 70
Thank you. You answered my question.
BigMitch @ 50
What part of “FISA has been revised numerous times since its inception” was unclear? Bush is flat-out lying about “new technologies” being the motivation for changing FISA; it has already been revised since the inception of every one of the technologies he talks about.
If we’re still knuckling under to administration surveillance abuses because we’re afraid they might say mean things about us, we may as well give up now. They’re the ones who have claimed they don’t have to follow the law on wiretapping, denied in sworn statements that there were any abuses of NSLs, and claimed they don’t have to tell Congress anything about any program where they claim national security is involved. They have abused and concealed the powers they have, and how many terrorism prosecutions do they have to show for it? They should get nothing new until they show that they’re using the powers they have responsibly.
What the Dems do makes no difference to their attacks; if they give in on this one they’ll find something more outrageous to ask for so they can attack us for denying them that.
jim oconnor @ 76
who knows, maybe Rummy’s got him on ice somewhere
Helen @ 70
In yesterday’s ABC news story his lawyer said he was on a business trip and that his client wouldn’t be appearing at what he called, to paraphrase, a charade.
“They” used the NSC and contractors to spy on dissidents, American citizens. Hidden in plain sight. It’s the privacy. If the American people…knew. what. we. did. in. their. names. We are the enemy.
Helen @ 70
US military ranks.b>
The rush to change FISA and the fears of political backlash will lead to more stupidity.
It is similar to the AUMF/War vote and the Patriot Act.
“Hurry, we must act NOW or the terrrists will kill us all.”
I am sick and tired of fear as a motivating factor.
-GSD
The lovely fellow who referred to Pat Tillman as worm dirt is Lt. Col. Ralph Kauzlarich :
ESPN Tillman story
jim oconnor @ 76
I ’spose he’s hiding out with Iraq’s WMDs.
Brendan and Hugh, please re-read #61 supra.
GSD @ 84
And if they get FISA or something together, will someone please tell Conyers, or at least one of his staffers, to READ THE DAMN BILL. Please.
Get Tough @ 88
for a change
GSD @ 84
Hi GSD, I posted this yesterday but will repeat here for those who missed it.
ACLU’s response to FISA myths
Re Cheney not recalling whether he was the one who made the call to sent the White House Gang to Ashcroft’s bedside:
Do ya think that Scooter was working late that night? Cheney sez to Scooter: “Scoot, make a call, will ya? Send those guys over to the hospital. Tell them that the Prez would want it that way.”
Parsing, parsing. This country hasn’t been the same since Ed Meese found the magic “I don’t recall” formula.
do-si-do @ 85
It was fraticide, or whatever it is called. He was anti-illegal war, pro-kick ass in Afganistan, and wasn’t bashful about talking about it. Plus, he had money, other views and charisma that his unit didn’t have. What they did have is guns, and they killed him. After today’s hearings, and the autopsy report leak, it’s about a slam dunk a murder case that there is.
There was a right-wing idiot on the radio this morning saying that we’d save Iraq if we attacked Iran. I couldn’t listen to the rest, I shut the thing off.
The station I used to listen to in college has been ruined, now I can scarcely listen for local news and weather. I guess I’m going to have to convince my partner that we need to find a new station.
brendan @ 77
I also have a problem with Big Mitch here, and in his (earlier stated) support of Lieberman as someone who is an asshole, but little more. I fear B.M. is from the right coast sometimes.
BigMitch @ 87
Yes, please. We’re already good enough at eating our own. That’s the one thing that can destroy us right now.
How far in advance did he schedule this business trip?
Couldn’t he have made a deposition and saved the marshals a lot of time?
Any bets he’d also have amnesia or whatever it is that’s going around in DC?
Cheney’s denial was (shades of Ben Bradlee) a non-denial denial. Tony Snow’s latest script on the countless documents came straight out of All the Presidents Men. These guys can’t even come up with original lies and excuses. They’re replaying Watergate, and I’ll bet the so-called Total Surveillance Program, renamed Terrorist Surveillance Program, caused the threatened DOJ resignations because the data mining (done by outside contractors) was being used for political purposes. Everybody should send GOP house members an email to oppose FISA expansion because Hillary will use it next.
If we’re still knuckling under to administration surveillance abuses because we’re afraid they might say mean things about us, we may as well give up now. The