KNOW YOUR ROLE

RUSS MITCHELL


I rarely watch the Sunday morning talking head shows, choosing instead to spend the lazy morning with my family or, with the season fast approaching, preparing to watch NFL football all day. But this Sunday was a little different as the wife and Gracie were over at Grandma's house and I was over at my folks' house just diddling around online. So, I decided to catch Face the Nation, this week guest hosted by Russ Mitchell. [Transcript available here.] After watching Mr. Mitchell attempt to interview Senator Mitch McConnell, the word "tool" came to mind. And since "tool" popped into my head, henceforth for this article, Russ Mitchell will be known as Tool. Clear?
The most important lesson I'd like to depart upon Tool today is that the show is, in fact called "FACE THE NATION" and not "BEND THE NATION OVER AND HAVE YOUR WAY WITH IT". As such, I expect the moderator of the program to digest what a particular speaker is saying and be able to respond with pertinent followup questions. The job of the moderator is not to ask a series of canned questions pumped into your little earpiece with nary a thought of context while your guest goes through his various talking points and never being challenged on any of them. Unfortunately, Tool apparently didn't get the memo on how to be an effective moderator as he allowed McConnell to spout of any number of questionable statements and outright lies including the ad nauseum equation that fighting Iraq somehow equals no terrorists in the U.S. He then claimed that, contrary to polling and conventional wisdom, it is the Democrats that are in trouble in the fall elections. He specifically referenced Washington's senate race, where Cantwell currently holds an 11 point advantage based on the average of the last five polls taken and the open seat in Minnnesota's senate race where Klobuchar currently holds a nine point lead (again based on an average of the past five polls taken). He even made reference that there may even be a chance in Nebraska's senate race - a race in which Nelson holds a HUGE 21 point lead against Ricketts.
Now, a competent moderator might have actually, I don't know, done a little bit of homework and called McConnell on some of this garbage, but not our boy Tool.
McConnell continued by then fellating Don Rumsfeld, first by saying that his speech (you remember the one equating anyone against Bush's running of the Iraq war is akin to Nazi appeasers and are morally and intellectually confused, right?) was "superb" and that "Secretary Rumsfeld's done an excellent job." In fact, he'll he "remembered as one of the great secretaries of defense."
Astoundingly, what with all the softballs that McConnell is tossing to him, Tool completely whiffs any chances of hitting one out of the park by actually asking any tough questions. Instead, Tool stuck right to his set of scripted questions, never once challenging McConnell's malarky. I guess Tool was sick that day in Journalism school where they taught you how to properly interview someone. Since Tool apparently hasn't a clue how to ask a pertinent question, let me throw one at you: When is Bob Schieffer coming back?

[Note: Polling info courtesy of Pollster.com.]

WEEK THREE TOP TEN

FIRST UPDATE


With all the merriment and good times going on over the long weekend, I've been remiss in my TOP TEN duties. Well, it's been a busy weekend, so I've got a solid starting six to begin the new week list with. This was kind of a tough one to rank since all of them fit the bill as far as my mission statement - chronicling the top scoundrels and nincompoops who are screwing up this nation, but none in the group really hit a nasty one out of the park. With that in mind, know that these guys are just about interchangable on the list right now. I welcome any and all readers to rank them yourselves and share the rankings in the Comments section. So, without further ado...

Rich Lowry starts things off at number six, with his "creative interpretations" of polling numbers.
Coming in at number five, we've got Rick Santorum, who stood up on Sunday and proudly proclaimed that he'll be going down in a blaze of glory by fulling supporting anything and everything Bush this November after he piddled around the middle of the political spectrum a couple of weeks ago. Huzzah, my good man!
At number four, there's Pat Buchanan, who technically should be disqualified from the list this week because I documented his offense this past Thursday, but since I forget to consider him in the FIVE WORST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD column this past week, he'll get another chance at it this week. And honestly, it's not like he's not going to say something bitterly racist and moronic this week anyway.
Arriving at number three is Don King, who claims that blacks didn't vote for Bush in '04 (and 2000, for that matter) because "they don't know any better." Oh, and here I thought it was because the GOP is riddled with racists who never miss an opportunity to let African Americans know exactly where they stand time after time.
Bill Kristol arrives at number two today. He really got under my skin this past weekend when he claimed that Scooter Libby should be pardoned immediately because he didn't really lie about anything important when testifying before the grand jury in the Plame leak case ... like getting a blow job or something.
And finally, debuting at number one is Oliver North, who resurrected the classic Cheney chestnut that if people vote for Dems this November, then we're all going to die!!!

That's it! That's the list! As I said, you're all welcome to rank them as you see fit down in the Comments section. Help yourself.

LAZY DAYS

ME


Please excuse the lack of posting today. After averaging about 4-5 insightful and witty articles a day for the past three weeks, I'm taking it easy while I visit family. We just got back from a little swimming (Gracie's becoming very brave in the pool) and are getting ready to have some lunch. Later on, we've got a family fantasy football league and today's the draft so we'll be doing that for a few hours. I'll let you know what my roster looks like later.
I've actually got a couple of things percolating in my noggin today so expect a full slate of snark from me tomorrow and maybe a quickie tonight.
Thanks for coming by.

UPDATE: We had our fantasy football draft and I think I made out pretty well. I won't give the whole lineup, but some of the highlights on the roster include QB Donovan McNabb, RBs Rudi Johnson, Cadillac Williams and Reggie Bush and WRs Torry Holt, Santana Moss and Hines Ward. I'm fairly satisfied with my team going into the season, which starts Thursday night. I hope to break out of the funk I've been in for the last three years and this could be the team to do it.

DANCE WITH THE ONE WHAT BRUNG YA

RICK SANTORUM


A couple of weeks ago, Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum seemed to be inching more and more towards the center of the political spectrum after spending the last several years in Crazywingerville in an effort to siphon some votes from his surging Democratic opponent, Bob Casey Jr. I would assume that Santorum thought a none too subtle shift to the middle, coupled with the GOP-funded Green Party candidacy of Carl Romanelli might be enough to for him to eek out a November victory against an opponent in Casey who I've heard nothing but mediocre things about.
But with the chances of Romanelli even making the November ballot fading due to (surprise!) GOP signature chicanery coupled with the fact that he's not drawing nearly enough off of Casey as was originally hoped, it appears that Santorum has dropped the facade of moderation altogether and go lockstep with the Bush administration come hell or high water. Sunday's appearance/debate with Casey on Meet the Press signaled this shift. And all indications are that Santorum succeeded in nothing more than shovelling dirt onto his own political grave.

Some "highlights" from Santorum:
- began the debate with a show of support for embattled Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld, whom he said is doing a "fine job";
- put forth no plan for dealing with the quagmire in Iraq, instead signaling his continued support for "stay-the-course";
- still continues to believe that there are WMDs in Iraq when even his own president has dispelled that notion;
- falsely claimed that Iraq and al Qaeda were in cahoots on 9/11 (another assertion that his own president has denied);
- supports Bush's illegal wire-tapping;
- thinks Bush has been a "terrific" president and has supported him 98% of the time;
- reiterated his support for Social Security privatization;
- crudely referred to Casey's dead father when discussing Casey's support for Plan B contraception, saying his dead father "would be very upset" with him; and finally,
- revealed that he spends about a month every year actually living in Pennsylvania.
(Full transcript can be found here.)

So, this is Rick's strategy. There'll be no slide to the middle for him after all. If he's going down, he'll do so being his true Bush stooge self. And I suppose that I can sort of respect that he's staying true to himself, regardless of the fact that I personally find his true self nothing short of loathsome.

SAUCE FOR THE GOOSE...

BILL KRISTOL


Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol appeared on Fox News Sunday (Think Progress has the video) and advocated the immediate pardoning by Mr. Bush of Scooter Libby. In his words, "It would be fantastic." As I'm sure most of my readers are aware, Libby has been charged with obstructing justice, making false statements to a grand jury and perjury. Serious charges, I believe. Serious enough, one would think, to impeach a president of the United States, perhaps? Kristol goes on to say that Libby “didn’t lie in any serious meaning of lying before a grand jury" which seems to imply that while Kristol acknowledges that Libby did indeed lie, it wasn't necessarily anything important.
A quick history lesson: Kristol was one of the leading voices in the runup to impeaching President Clinton. According to Tom Hayden:

In the Clinton years, [Kristol] played "cheerleader" to the inquisitive Kenneth Starr and anchored the impeachment movement from the pages of The Weekly Standard . According to one interviewer, "if not for Kristol's obsessive marshaling of the pro-impeachment forces, said a number of conservatives, independent counsel Kenneth Starr's investigation might have petered out, and House Republicans might have allowed the public's disapproval of their course to dissuade them from voting to impeach the president".

But impeach they did. The charges? Only perjury and obstruction of justice, ostensibly for lying under oath to cover up an extramarital affair.
So, for those of you keeping score at home, the president of the United States was impeached (though not convicted) for lying under oath in an effort to cover his ass because he got caught doing something that would cause no end of grief and embarassment for him, but ultimately affected no one in the world outside of his immediate family.
Meanwhile, Libby has been charged with lying to a grand jury and obstrusting an investigation brought about because an undercover CIA agent's identity was compromised, and all indications were that the agent's identity was compromised as part of a political vendetta.
So, in Kristol's mind, one is an impeachable offense while another is a pardonable offense. So much for intellectual honesty and consistency. But then, why would I expect something like intellectual honesty and consistency from the editor of the Weekly Standard?

LIES, DAMN LIES AND SPIN

RICH LOWRY

Mark Twain (among others) once said that there are three kinds of lies - lies, damn lies and statistics. After reading Rich Lowry of the National Review, I've decided that there one more kind of like should be added to that prestigious lists - polls. Look at the following CNN poll, conducted in early August (h/t Polling Report):

"Do you think the U.S. should withdraw SOME troops from Iraq by the end of the year, or do you think the U.S. should keep the SAME NUMBER of troops in Iraq through the end of the year?" If "Withdraw": "Do you think the U.S. should withdraw ALL troops from Iraq by the end of the year, or do you think the U.S. should keep SOME troops in Iraq through the end of the year?" Half sample, MoE ±4.5 (8/2-3/06 )

Withdraw All - 26%
Withdraw Some - 35%
Keep Same Number - 34%
Unsure - 5%

Now, the average reader might examine this and note that 61% of those polled favor a withdrawal of at least some forces by the end of the year. But Mr. Lowry is a different sort of animal. He looks at these lemons and instead makes a whole buttload of tomato juice. From Townhall via Think Progress:

Politically, Iraq is a loser for Republicans, except for the bright spot that the American public is not yet ready to quit. A CNN poll in August found that 69 percent of Americans oppose withdrawing American troops by the end of the year[.]

Eh? Did you see what he did there? He took the "Keep Same Number" and added it to the "Withdraw Some" number to get to his 69% figure. So, what Lowry is saying is 69% of those surveyed do not support withdrawing ALL troops. Of course, he didn't say this in the quoted statement above, but I'm sure that I'm just being nitpicky. Far be it from me to point out any intellectual dishonesty on Mr. Lowry's part.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

RUDI GIULIANI


Continuing my fascination with the mayor who would be president, I bring you this interesting story about Rudi Giuliani (via Slate):

As the mayor answered the last of the three questions from reporters, he talked about the root causes of terrorism: "oppressive governments that demagogue and blame and project their problems other places and do nothing to solve the problems of their own people."
"Sounds like the Democrats," shouted a man.
...
"Time out," he said bringing his hands together to make a T. "Time out." The crowd quieted down. "The other thing we have to learn is that we can't get into this partisan bickering. The fact is that Republicans and Democrats have the same objectives. … Democrats are loyal Americans. Republicans are loyal Americans. I think we have better answers, but we have to respect each other."

The naive optimist in me sort of gets all gooey inside when I read stuff like this. Seriously, it is rhetoric like this that could win him more than a few votes from my side of the aisle. The cynic in me, however, knows that ultimately this is all just words. Remember, we're living with a president who infamously claimed to be "Uniter and not a Divider." This was the outsider who was going the change the tone in Washington. As we all now know, he most certainly did change the tone, and the Dems have been playing the role of punching bag ever since.
Taking what was said at face value, the concept of engaging a Republican president with whom the Democratic Party can have policy disagreements while still maintaining a civilized level of discourse is something that is so foreign in this day and age that it just feels ... archaic. And unfortunately, highly unlikely. While Giuliani's statement makes me wistful for better days in the future of national politics the crushing weight of reality obliges me to accept that there is simply no way that Rudi will even make it through the primary. Conservatives voters are far too conditioned at this point to the Democrat = traitor paradigm. As John Dickerson says at the end of the Slate article, "This guy is never getting the nomination." Unhappily, I am forced to agree.

SAME SMEAR, NEW DAY

OLIVER NORTH


Their statements are separated by almost exactly two years. Yet the sentiment of each bridges that time as if one were a mere echo of the other.
The August 31st edition of HANNITY and colmes, featured guest was Oliver North, who wholeheartedly whipped out the GOP-approved Fear Card when he inferred that if Democrats get control of Congress in November that it would lead to a nuclear catastrophe. Excerpt courtesy of Newshounds:

If we elect a Congress in this election on November 7 that is committed to being anti-war, get out now, withdraw America, then we’re in serious, serious trouble. This could be catastrophic. That’s exactly what happened in 1974, when the Congress re-elected decided to get out of Viet Nam. But in this case, it won’t be boat people, it will be nuclear weapons in the hands of fanatics.

Sound familiar? It should. From the Washington Post, September 6, 2004:

It's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on November 2nd, we make the right choice, because if we make the wrong choice then the danger is that we'll get hit again, that we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States, and that we'll fall back into the pre-9/11 mind-set, if you will, that in fact these terrorist attacks are just criminal acts and that we are not really at war.

Cheney's comments made at the height of the 2004 presidential campaign no doubt had some effect on electorate. Two years hence, and I wonder if this same type of scare tactics will be as effective. The American public is clearly not in the same place as it was back then. Will this type of inflammatory and unfounded rhetoric only serve to illustrate that this adminstration (and it's dutiful mouthpieces) has nothing to run on for the midterms? In 68 days, we'll have our answer.

DISPICABLE

DON KING


I've known for some time that, among his many other faults, Don King is also a staunch Bush apologist. During the various news programs' various one-year observances of Katrina, King was on Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto spinning all the president's spin. (And I won't even get into why Cavuto would have King and Richard Simmons as guests discussing Katrina. What, were ALF and Carrot Top busy?)
Here's just a few of his comments (courtesy Media Matters):
"... George Walker Bush is one of the best presidents we have ever had in the history of this country."
King also demands that we "stop blaming the president" for the federal government's botched response to Katrina. And somewhere off in the distance I hear the ghost of Harry Truman whispering softly, "The buck stops here... ." Not on Bush's desk, President Truman, not on Bush's desk.
Cavuto then brought up Senator John Kerry's criticism of Bush's response, to which the asshat responded, "... he's a flip-flopper. So, when you're flip-flopping all the time, you don't know what stand he's really taking. So, we can disregard that." Funny, I don't recall Mr. Kerry saying, "I was for Bush's Katrina response before I was against it." I suppose in Don King World, if a person ever changes their mind on any subject, even if it is only once, then that person can never be taken seriously again. Okay. Good tip, Mr. King.
And finally, we've got the coup de grace, wherein Mr. King claimed that African-Americans supported Kerry in 2004 "because they didn't know any better." Wow. George Felix Allen Jr. could learn a thing or two about racism from this guy. I'm about the whitest of white Irish Catholics there is and that offends even me. It just says so much about the state of discourse on the right these days. Much like Don Rumsfeld a few days ago, if you don't agree with Bush and company, then you're obviously an idiot. I'm sure the predominantly black crowds that were abandoned at the convention center and the Superdome when New Orleans was spiralling into hell were totally regreting not voting for Bush, because he was doing such a bangup job helping them in their hour of greatest need. After all, they are just black folks who don't know any better.
I know I shouldn't get so worked up about a clown shoe like King, but when you say crap like Bush is the bestest president ever and speak down to the black population like they're small children who "don't know any better" for not voting for Bush, well you've just gone and earned yourself a place on the TOP TEN.

WELCOME TO ANOTHER EDITION OF

FRIDAY GRACIE BLOGGING

Since most of you reading this have never been here before, you should know that this is my version of Friday Cat Blogging. I don't own a cat. I'm not a big fan of cats. But what I do have is my daughter, who I never miss an opportunity to show off. She's two and a half years old and she's the center of my world. So, what has she been up to over the past week?

Well, this week's pottytraining has been going better than the previous week. No big accidents in the house, though she did, um... "excuse herself" outside when she saw Otto, her dog, doing it. She also just had a little accident at Grandma's house (we're visiting them in New Orleans over the Labor Day holiday) but it was no biggie so she's happy and dry again.

Oh, and she said to tell everyone Happy Labor Day!

THE FIVE WORST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD

SECOND EDITION


Dick Cheney starts things off at number five. His straw man arguments from earlier in the week are still reverberating, if only because the White House has finally been called on them and cannot name a single Democrat who has actually said any of the things that Cheney accused them of, specifically that our leaving Iraq will satisfy the appetites of the terrorists. Not six months ago, Cheney may have gotten away with that kind of BS, but it looks like the press (and the Democratic Party) have decided to grow a sac and stand up to the bullies in the administration.

At number four is George W. Bush. He's begun his PR push, known as FEAR, SMEAR AND LIES - U.S. TOUR 2006 and it's basically the same talking points mixed in with dangerous oversimplifications of the threats we face as a nation. Expect more useless nonsense out of Bush over the coming weeks as he once again tries to take political advantage of 9/11 while also trying to convince the American people that "stay the course" is the way to go in Iraq. Good luck with that, Mr. Decider.

After making a late rush at the end of the week, Ann Coulter finds herself at number three. About to be written off by serious commentators like myself, she came up big with yet another death threat against a public servant. I continue to contend that if a liberal were to say half the things that this harpy spews from her piehole that they'd be investigated by the FBI in no time flat. I guess it's just Ann being Ann.

Coming in at number is Joe Lieberman, if for no other reason than he warranted three columns by me in one week; a new record. First we finding him thumbing through the GOP campaign playbook with his unfounded smears of Ned Lamont and his supporters; then he dusted off the irrelevant Jack Kemp to campaign for him; and finally he thumbed his nose at the Dems, who are concerned that his minor party candidacy to hold onto his seat/ego will hurt the party's chances in November. His exact quote: "Well, they should have thought of that before they had the primary." Nice.

And finally, coming in at number one is Donald H. Rumsfeld. While only making one appearance this week, he single-handedly fired up a significant portion of talking head land as well as the blogosphere. His calling those who disagree with Bush policy in Iraq as cowards and intellectually and morally confused may have ruined Bush's PR offensive before it even started. Apparently, people have started to wake up and they just aren't buying this administration's line anymore. Of course, Rumsfeld refuses to listen to the winds of change and instead jams his fingers in his ears and calls his opponents cowards and appeasers.
I think Rahm Emmanuel said it best: "Instead of continuing his political barnstorm across the country, he should get to work at the Pentagon devising a real strategy for success in Iraq."

Updated Tally:
Bush - 7 points
Lieberman - 7 points
Rumsfeld - 5 points
George Felix Allen Jr. - 4 points
Coulter - 3 points
McCain - 2 points
Hugh Hewitt - 1 point
Cheney 1 point

(Points are awarded based on five points for a first place finish, four points for second and so on. Points will be carried over from week to week.)


Coming up later, I'll have some FRIDAY GRACIE BLOGGING so make sure to come back for that. I'm assuming that traffic will be down given the Labor Day weekend so posting should be a bit lighter than usual. Still, I've got a couple of things percolating in my head, so come on back and see what's up.
Thanks for coming by.

THE DEADPOOL

ANN COULTER


Seriously, I really thought that I was about done with Ann Coulter. Her act is boring; tired. One can only be shocked so much before the effect wears off. But if there's one thing that really piques my curiosity, it's when Ann "puts out a hit" on a public figure. First, some history...

Ann has a storied past when it comes to her desire to see people she dislikes lying dead in a gutter. She really shows no bias as far as their line of work - she's advocated the death of Supreme Court justices, members of Congress, the media and even the president of the United States while he was still in office.
The fact that she is so rarely called on this sort of behavior is probably what bothers me more than anything. If a liberal were to go on television spouting some of the things she's said, that person would be crucified in the public square, but if Coulter does it, well then that's just Ann being Ann. After all, she's always such a good guest with such fascinating insights into the world of politics. Not that I ever will, but I couldn't imagine spending any amount of time with this woman. Think about it. A person who, in every public appearance she makes, seems to drip hatred and nastiness and disdain for those who disagree with her narrow point-of-view. I cannot imagine her being an even remotely pleasant person to be around, unless you're one her of syncophant friends who smells as much of vodka and hate as she does.
Her most recent victim of an "Ann-Hit" is Senator Lincoln Chafee, a moderate Republican from Rhode Island who is in serious jeopardy of losing his seat in a primary to a hardcore rightwinger.
Writing recently for her online column on the website Human Events, the headline of her piece was "They Shot the Wrong Lincoln" as she calls out her Republican brethren for supporting Chafee and not the certified nutjob opponent, who, if he were to win the primary, will have absolutely no chance of winning the general election. Chafee actually polls well against the Democratic opponent, which is why the rank and file are support Chafee in the primary, much to Ann's chagrin.
In the past, Ann has advocated the "permanent removal" of a number of opponents. When speaking of the media in general Ann said, "Would that it were so! ... That the American military were targeting journalists." She also said that if the New York Times executive editor Bill Keller were convicted of treason (for exercising free speech rights; a truly treasonable offense) she'd be open to debate on how he should be put down.
Ann believes that someone should put rat poison into Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens' food. That Ann, what a kidder.
She's taken a "shot" at Pensylvania Congressman John Murtha, claiming that he is the reason why soldiers invented fragging - military slang for intentionally killing a member of one's own unit.
And finally, she's gone after the big man himself, President Bill Clinton. During the whole Monica Lewinsky nonsense, Ann felt that the argument should focus on whether to impeach him or assassinate him. Yes, she said assassinate. About a sitting president. She's a subtle one, isn't she?
But I guess that's Ann being Ann.

[Footnote: all links to Ann's various "contracts" can be found at Media Matters.]