Fitzaroonie !

book em, Fitzo

I have already chastised the WaPoo on their own Blog about this http://blog.washingtonpost.com…..aunch.html

I’m kind of surprised he went. So public, y’know? Doesn’t he like dark basements better? It’s wierd to see him with sunlight above.

I think you’ve got the term wrong. In the language of this administration, it’s
“Presidentiating” not “Presidenting”

Thanks, *ilson, I added it.

You know I think we do them a big favor. When Dick gets them on the horn and says “hey, cover for me,” they now have an excuse for actually doing their jobs — they can answer “no can do, Chief, they’ll tear us apart.”

I’m expecting my thank-you note in the mail any day. I’ll pass it on when it comes.

Add to the list of WP puff pieces. Here is one published today on Abu … I mean, really? Please. You don’t have to SLURP the kool-aid and then say ‘YUMMY”, do you? And note that any criticism ANY and these effers bring up terrorism. ANY.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..01305.html

To me that photo says WE ALL HATE YOU, YOU TIRED OLD FUCK TRYING TO REDO NIXON AND VIETNAM, GOD JUST LOOK AT YOURSELF ASSHOLE – AND NO WE YOUNG MEN ARE NOT READY TO DIE ENDLESSLY FOR YOUR CREEPSHOW IGNORANCE HORSESHIT VANITY, YOU TOTALLY PATHETIC OLD WRINKLED MAN-WANNABE CREATURE

Jane, you underestimate their likely gratitude. You’ll be their new liberal blogger

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA

Since I couldn’t be there I’ll add mine now.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Watched the vid. Bet crowd was hesitant about booing when there were wounded Iraq/Afghan vets also on the field. On the whole, I’d bet he’d rather be in Philly.

As for ‘Here We Go Again’… does anyone have an idea how reliable this pub is?

http://www.worldtribune.com/wo…..22223.html

at the very end, they quote our man mentioned in last thread:

“At the Council on Foreign Relations discussion, Reuel Gerecht, a former CIA operative in the Middle East and now with the American Enterprise Institute, said the Bush administration would wait three months to determine whether the Security Council was prepared to sanction Teheran. In July 2006, Gerecht said, the military option would undergo open debate in Washington.

“We have not had that debate,” Gerecht said. “We are going to have that debate. I think we should have that debate sooner, not later, so we don’t have to get bogged down.”"
—————–
Nightmare AND Groundhog Day.
Pre-election unleashing the hounds of fucking HELL.
Please, no.

If it weren’t for the “cocktail weenie” media Bush wouldn’t be president. Our media(mainstream) is more corrupt than our politicians- both need to be disinfected.

Of course, the Mets won.

I’m expecting my thank-you note in the mail any day. I’ll pass it on when it comes.

Just make sure it isn’t ticking before you open it first.

“I’m expecting my thank-you note in the mail any day.”
LMAO.

Jane should be their new liberal blogger. Seriously.

Nah, fuck it. Wapo is so beyond dead.

‘Stop that booing right now, or I’ll unleash my sharks with frickin’ lasers on their heads!‘

;>)

Cheney, being a NeoCon Vampire, could have been dispatch ‘to the otherside at the Old Ball Park if someone had simply driven a ‘Strike’ through his heart.

That or a beaner off the head with a Silver Fast Ball.

Another way to reach Ms. Howell, courtesy of Emily Schreiber at washingtonpost.com Customer Care (yes, we’re Customers and they Care):

http://projects.washingtonpost…..ah+howell/

=========
Had enough?
=========

Done. Fired off an email, pointing out that the booing was for Cheney personally, not the quality of his pitching.
Zennurse, you’re right. It is weird seeing him in sunlight. I’d have thought he would burst into flame.

Also, watching the vid, it looks like he’s got a flak jacket on under the Nats colors. Or is he just that porcine?

Timely post — considering I just came from cspan watching a segment sponsored by, no kidding, the “Schieffer School of Journalism”. Now that Cute Katie is taking his news spot, he has to do something.

Anyway, they had Downie, Jill Abramson, somebody from MarketWatch, and The Woodward gal from CNN. And they were talking about the “new” journalism and ‘blogs.’ And how you can’t trust those blogs because, as Schieffer puts it, there is no editor. And to that, I said a great AMEN.

They must be worried. Downie was talking that Washington Post now is dong WashingtonPost radio. So we get to call in — well maybe not.

This is just like those fake ‘think tank’ seminars they kept putting on touting their line of spin.

Sorry to harp, but that’s really a watertiger-level thousand words photograph. Creepy old cowardly fuck juxtaposed with young men in the same image. TONS going on in that thing.

Blank Kludge ,

Excellent observation! Sho’ ‘Nuff!

Blank kludge-
Porcine.

Next sighting for Cheney should be in Iraq for Easter sunday– serving up a plastic bunny to the troops and teaching them firearm safety. His jacket will be stuffed with Peeps of all colors for the dual purpose of protecting him and keeping him well-fed and high on glucose.

Someone must have clean audio from the event, right? Right?

Cheney is Spiro Agnew minus electoral legitimacy.
Hard to belive you could come up with anything worse than Nixon/Agnew, but there you are.

You know, this really mystifies me.

It’s just so stupid.

They just got waxed over lying in that editorial Sunday, and now they print a lie so easily debunked. . . it’s as if they want to get caught.

WTF is going on here?

Cheney, being one of the “Undead”, probably interpreted the booing as more praise to the Dark Lord of Wingnuttia.

Gentleman Jim is right. Cheney probably thought the crowd was booing the sun.

Leaker-in-Chief had wounded servicemen on the field for his first pitch too. Creepy when your leaders have to be accompanied by the troops they’ve maimed when they go out in public, in order not to get booed.

Sharkbabe

What’s worse is that I think they are the wounded from the wars:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A loud mixture of cheers and boos greeted Vice President Dick Cheney on Tuesday as he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Washington Nationals baseball game.

Cheney, wearing a red Nationals warmup jacket, tossed a pitched that reached Nationals catcher Brian Schneider on one bounce.

The vice president, whose popularity is slumping along with that of President George W. Bush, walked out on the field to cheering and booing from the near-sellout crowd. The boos appeared to be little louder than the cheers at RFK Memorial Stadium.

On the field with him were three U.S. servicemen, two of whom had been wounded in Iraq and a third who was injured in Afghanistan.

One of the younguns is on crutches, one has a cane, the other one has no devices that I can see. All look sad and disgusted…

Ole Dead Eye probably threw a crappy pitch just so he could spin that the booing was for his poor pitching skills.

That’s from the sports section, too. I’d always thought of sports writers as not really giving a fuck what the editorial staff thought. I wonder what Nakamura’s original lead looked like.

text for the video at the WaPo: http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..01153.html
Vice President Dick Cheney is greeted with a mixture of cheers and boos as he throws out the first pitch during Opening Day ceremonies at RFK Stadium on Tuesday.

Might be worthwhile to email the author of the article to get a statement I did a Nexis/ Lexis search of his WaPo articles, and it seems that he has mostly covered the stadium story of late, apart from a few articles about local crime, and one about a whistleblower who was fired because she exposed high levels of lead in local drinking water. Since I didn’t follow the DC stadium issue, it’s hard to get a read on this guy from reading a few of those articles. It is very rare that I would say “give him the benefit of the doubt” about a WaPo writer, but it might be wise to give the guy a chance to explain himself by contacting his directly. I’m not saying that he was correct, just that this guy hardly seems like a major player- more like some poor schlub of a reporter pressed for time. Who knows, maybe with a friendly approach he’d say, well actually, I was forced to write it that way because…. contrarian view, rare for me re: FDL articles, just saying. Please don’t pound me for this… which is not to say that I’m not interested in FDLers opinions.

The vets in the background don’t look like they appreciate the presence of Dead-eye Dick.

And, re: the Newt thread (and others): One of my friends pointed out that none of the folks who got us into Iraq have any real military service, as in ‘none of them have ever been shot at for real’. And his friends who have been shot at agree.

re Sharkbabe 23 -watertiger already has a Dirtball Cheney pitch image with a caption that reads “Just imagine that it’s a grenade, and you’re aiming for a covey of quail . . . or a basket of kittens.”

you guys keep this up and Jane will call for another Cheney poetry contest.

I hate the fuck Cheney with the intensity of a thousand white hot suns – all post-dark-ages civilization, all American founding fathers’ hope for humanity, it has all come down to this fat half-dead prick and his silly monkey. Thanks, television.

They should invite Cheney back on another day, perhaps a day when they do one of those free giveaways to the spectators.

Dogshit Day comes to mind.

Pachacutec @ 29,

Its a cry for help.

The vets in the background don’t look like they appreciate the presence of Dead-eye Dick.

They’re afraid some quail might break cover and he’ll end up shooting them in the face, of course. Those guys know what it’s like to get shot at. Of course they aren’t smiling.

In 1999, while I worked on a background piece on Harris County, Texas, judge Robert Eckels, some Houston politicians invited me to a fund-raising reception for then governor George W. Bush.

Bush, already mentioned as a front-runner for the GOP Presidential nomination in 2000, easily won a second term as governor the year before by building a very un-Republican like coalition of Hispanics and moderates.

Bush sipped a bottle of Corona as he walked among well-to-do Texans at the outdoor event, slapping some on the back. He approached and stuck out his hand.

“I’m George Bush,” he said. The handshake, quick and limp, lacked any warmth or sincerity. The plastic smile looked phony. He moved on.

Later in the evening, I walked behind a group where Bush spoke with some of his cronies. They were talking about possible opponents for the GOP nomination. One member of the group suggested some opponents might use Bush’s less-than-sterling past against him.

“Let ‘em try,” Bush said with swagger. “I’ll fucking destroy them.”

I recounted the story with my host as he drove me back to my hotel.

“That’s our governor,” he said. “Don’t let the smile fool you. He can turn on you in a second. You don’t cross George Bush.”

Capital Hill Blue

Maybe someday soon Bush will get to enjoy his very own 18% JAR. Cheney looks like he’s enjoying the hell out of 18%.
Hey, RW Cole, what are the metrics on the Cheneyclypse? How low does Cheney have to get?

Just went back to the WaPo article. Earlier, the “click on the reporter’s name to send him an email” link was enabled. I know it was, because I sent him one earlier today. Now, no link when you mouse over David’s name. Guess he’s heard enough, and turned off his in-box.

WTF is going on here?

Pach – post-reality.

Seriously, they have killed all fact and all reality. We’re up against sheer mental illness.

Mary–

Are you here? I want to thank you for the information you sent me about 3 threads below. I just found it. Should be useful.

From the AP:

“There were large patches of empty seats Tuesday when Vice President Dick Cheney emerged to mainly boos and scattered applause for the ceremonial first pitch.”

Link

TeddySanFran- #47 Before I wrote my comment, I also clicked on the link, and it was working, and just checked again, still seems to be working: http://projects.washingtonpost…..+nakamura/

I would have written an email myself but I since I can’t get the video up I figured that I might not be able to give him a convincing pitch.

the A.P. respectfully differs from the WaPo :
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Greeted with loud boos and some cheers, Vice President Dick Cheney threw out the ceremonial first pitch Tuesday at the Washington Nationals' home opener.

Oh, TSF, I am actually registered at the WaPo site. Maybe this is the difference. Sometimes when I click on articles through blog links rather than directly at WaPo, I get the need to register thing. Maybe just some computer glitch.

I don’t give a rat’s ass whether Cheney got booed before he threw the bad pitch. If he did, he deserves it. If he didn’t, the people in the crowd are stupid.

But I care very much that the WaPoohoohoo, which I once considered to be one of the best papers in the country, would lie or mislead its readers, and in such a transparent trying-to-make-the-White-House manner. It has become a travesty. Ben Bradlee and Carl Bernstein don’t work there anymore. Oh, I forgot, Bob Woodward is the assistant managing editor. Maybe he edited the story and changed the part about Cheney getting booed before the pitch. Who knows, it might get him a private interview with Old Deadeye.

There were large patches of empty seats

good. yes yes yes.

TSF Just clicked again on the link I gave in #51, which I copied from the link I got via the article. Still works for me, at least it gets the email message box to appear.

You’re welcome Neuro – I think the ABA info is a resource to be used.

anon at 6:15 pm – ARGH! Can we have Yoo come explain dad’s job to his son? When we need torture people, or crush their children’s testicles, waterboard, make mothers and fathers “disappear” etc. – your dad’s job is to smile at COngress and say, “it’s legal bc the President said so.

What a piece of tripe. Of course, any public figure leads, in many ways, a tough life and they and their family make sacrifices – even someone like Gonzales. But to adopt the pretence that his involvement in “spying and torture” is something other than ok’ing it, is disturbing beyond belief.

“That they could get it so wrong was a sign that they had lost touch and couldn’t mold public opinion on every issue as if it were the mashed-potatoes mountain in Close Encounters of the Third Sign. But so thick, rich, and impacted was their arrogance that they ignored the warning sign, just as they ignored the warning signs in Iraq until it turned into a danse macabre.”

**snip**

“One more trip to the well with the old fear-laden, us-versus-them cultural themes of Ronald Reagan’s craven Southern Strategy has yielded disaster for nativist conservatives.”

**snip**

“The grip of fear can’t be sustained indefinitely in an open society addicted to entertainment and diversion, and Bush’s grip has cracked. He seems a shrugging, camera-mugging irrelevance when you see him on the stump now. It’s as if he’s trying to convince us he’s still in charge, or perhaps trying to convince himself.”

http://jameswolcott.com/

Trying-to-make-the-White-House-like-us

I’m ashamed to admit I too am registered at WaPoO. I was unclear about what I found, VG. The link you have still works, but what I had seen earlier was that the reporter’s name “lighted up” so a reader of the article could click on it and immediately be taken to your link. That “click right through to the reporter” function seems to have been turned off, not a big deal though since we all have the direct link to him.

You know, the remake of the 10 Commandments is just not very good.
Not that that has anything to do with Cheney. But it’s true. What was ABC thinking?

Jane– your Kurtz smackdown is a thing of beauty!!!

nobody (27): Someone *must* have clean audio from the event, right? Right?

I doubt it, it’s really tough to get clean audio of anything inside RFK Stadium; it’s a big ol’ concrete structure. Unless it was all boos or all cheers, it would be difficult to identify definitively.

this bears repeating (a few times):
xyz says:
April 11th, 2006 at 4:59 pm

Jane – at 26 you stated “Mary 8 — I think the whole “declassification†issue just distracts from the larger issue — Libby leaked the contents of two documents that weren’t declassified to Judy. Who authorized him to do that?â€

Thank you for keeping your eyes on the prize. The question is this: Libby was unwilling to disclose the contents of a classified NIE regarding Iraq’s WMD program without first getting confirmation from Dick Cheney that George Bush had authorized its declassification. Libby was so cautious that even after he received this confirmation from Cheney, he still checked with Addington to make sure that this unorthodox declassification procedure was legitimate.

Raise your hand if you think that someone who was so cautious about the NIE would suddenly go ahead and reveal the identity of a covert CIA NOC to several journalists in rapid succession without also obtaining exactly the same confirmation from exactly the same persons?

I thought so.

If Libby wouldn’t disclose the NIE with authorization from Bush, then he wouldn’t disclose a CIA agent’s identity without the same authorization. Bush has acknowledged that he authorized the disclosure of the NIE, thus confirming that part of Libby’s story. Logic takes us the rest of the way.

Bush authorized the leak of Valerie Plame’s CIA identity.

Heavens! It is about time that we all stop ranting about WAPO’s shilling for the Bush administration. I have done my part writing to Howell, Brady, Hiatt, etc… To no avail. These clowns have been chastized on their site by outraged readers, again to no avail. They hide away in Cheney’s bunker and do not respond.

WAPO has become a right-wing rag. And a boring one at that…

I buy The New York Post because I (perversely) love their screaming headlines. At least, the NYP has no journalistic pretension. And their headlines are quite funny! I regularly burst into raucous laughter while reading the rag on my way to work. Nothing like starting your day with a good laugh….

So, let us all ignore WAPO. It is obvious that the powers-that-be at the rag have decided that their bottom line is tied up with the Bush shills.

So, to heck with WAPO.

Instead of pointing out inconsistencies as if WAPO were still a newspaper of repute, let us decry it it for what it is: a sorry rag.

I don’t think they can type unless Karls lips are moving.

The only thing readable at the Post is Froomkin.

He’ll be fired before the year is out.

is the Wapo blog different registrationwise from the Wapo?

my tried and true username & email to get past their gate – gorevidal/gorevidal@fuckyoupost.com

From the WaPoo blog:
“….For that, Vice President Cheney received a round of boos from the home crowd this afternoon.”
Is that right? Then how come I hear the boos before the pitch? Something wrong with the video?
Posted by: Hume | April 11, 2006 09:54 PM

Speaking of the Dark Lord, have I missed anyone mentioning the story that was up top on the MSNBC webpage this morning about how Cheney was himself ‘peppered’ by birdshot in the late 90s.

Cheney wasn’t hurt but he was miffed, Forrest [the shooter] told the Journal. “He said, ‘You guys watch where you’re shooting!’ He was very offended,†Forrest said.

Recall if you will that our Vice President himself once shot an old man in the face. (Some people even say he had downed 6-8 Rob Roys during the two hours prior to the shooting.) Not that it advances the story of poor Harry, but it does provide an ironic twist to things.

TeddySanFran @ 6:45 pm (#47) – Just went to that artcle and the “click to e-mail” link was there. Maybe they set a cookie once you write an e-mail about that article?

I suspect that DeadEye didn’t request wounded veterans from the Iraq/Afghanistan Occupation to be with him on the field.

Oh, give this guy a break. At least this time he did not hit anyone.

Marek

goodnight all

kisses and hugs to all non-fucked-up civilized people everywhere

The games are broadcast on radio.I’d think that audio might be cleaner, FWIW.
Mets = WFAN
Don’t know the Nats.
Either way, good luck requesting some producer edit out a 30 sec MP3 for ya.

As Atrios would say, “Oy”.

Dear Ombudsman (re: Cheney’s popularity pitch)

The man’s popularity percent is at nineteen. Do you really believe it was his pitch that was booed? More importantly, Do you really think we believe that? The post description of events is telling. Why not just tell it like it was? Maybe you should view the video like the rest of us have, really.

John Casper # 69

heh heh– it’s the old 30 sec video and audio advance rather than the boring old fashioned delay… see you can make everything up now with all these tecknawlogies.

Next time instead of booing, we all laugh our asses off. Then they can spin our laughter into…………. what ?

Just watched the video, and from what I can tell Cheney wasn’t just getting booed when he walked out onto the field… he was getting the living SHIT booed out of him. I mean, unless there was a terrible misunderstanding and the crowd was in fact wildly cheering for somebody named “Lou”, I don’t see how that could even vaguely be described as “a mixture of cheers and boos” (unless, of course, we’re counting “Bronx cheers.”)

Well — my first thought was that they might have booed Cheney because of the security nightmare he imposed on opening day — but screw that, they were already in the ballpark and they probably would have cheered 3 years ago.

Second point — between Deadeye Dick and Commander Codpiece with his magic peckerwood, which one is most sane and impressionable? More to the point, which one is more likely to be talked out of nuking Iran?

Last point — I think Kevin Drum is a perfect candidate to be the WaPoo lib blogger. He is more or less one of us, despite his noodley neo-lib tendancies, and he is dyin’ for a cocktail weenie gig.

Seriously — they could do a lot worse than Kevin Drum.

=====

speaking of spin and editing, CNN’s anchor was on and looking forward to the pitch– he said, oh he already did it, we missed it? They then did a video replay with not much sound and it showed deadeye throwing into the dirt. The anchor said– he hit the ground, it was a one-hopper. Cut to commercial. Not another word from him about it. Do you think they had to quick edit the live feed? I do.

(paraphrased the anchor, natch.)

Steve Clark-
Like this:
“The crowd laughed good-naturedly at the Vice-President’s short pitch. With a self-deprecating chuckle, Mr Cheney joined in the crowd’s merriment.”

What, you were thinking something along the lines of “hoots of derisive laughter greeted the Vice-President’s incompetence.”
That seems unlikely. Never underestimate the spin!

Ya now, I cannot BELIEVE how blantant these guys are about using 9/11 and our service people as political props. And the MSM doesn’t EVER call them on it. Anybody remember the terror alerts? What happened to those? Anyone call those bastards on that? When Bush leaves office, and people no longer fear him and Rove. All this stuff is going to come out. And our asleep at the switch media will look even worse.

OT – Cujo, from below thread. I’m unconvinced so far, but open to argument.

In general (and excluding situations like declassifying to a status of something like sensitive but classified, or agency use only, which no one has said happened and is not consistent with release to a reporter for publication) I still don’t think you can on the one hand claim that a document has been declassified, while on the other hand “classifying†the knowledge of the declassification to a “need to know†threesome. Unclassified information is not limited to “need to know†(absent other special categories – like sensitive, etc. that no one has claimed) and it just does not comport with any definition of declassification I can think of to “classify†the fact that something is “declassified†and then say – “well, it was declassified.â€

Actually, I think there is an “obligation to inform†in the constructive if not actual sense, in that the document, per 1.6(c) of the order should be marked to show “, and which portions are unclassified.†Also, Section 3.7 provides for information to go into a declassification database to “coordinate the linkage and effective utilization of existing agency databases of records that have been declassified and publicly released.â€

So for a general declassification (that does not place the information into another limited category – such as SBU) I don’t think you can say a declassification has taken place when the status of the document remains, in essence, classified to a group of three. It’s like having the President take a look at something, decide it should be unclassified, then never saying that or doing anything to evidence it and yet claiming that the President’s mental state, without any overt action or indicia, results in the document being “declassified†bc that determination has been made – in his mind – but not communicated. If it is communicated, but not through channels and only to one or two other people and with a restriction on them from telling anyone, IMO, that is a dissemination, not a declassification.

I also think that the intent, to pass on the information to a preselected reporter, almost seems like an effort to adversely restrain competition in access to the unclassified information, contra to 1.7 (3); but more tellingly IMO, “classifying†the declassified status of the document (affirmatively limiting the knowledge the document has now become unclassified) seems to me very much in violation of 1.7(4), which provides that you cannot “classify†to “prevent or delay the release of information that does not require protection in the interest of the national security.†If you have decided that the info (NIE key judgments and a couple of other things) no longer should be classified, but you limit that knowledge to Cheney and Libby so that they can utilize it secretly and without govt. attribution, haven’t you acted to prevent or delay the release of the info that you have supposedly determined no longer requires protection and can be released?
OK- I agree to quit beating the horse, bc Jane is right about the other docs and I’m picking nits, but fwiw, I just don’t know that what he did was a “declassification” under the cirumstances so far described.

Not so much that he can’t declassify, but that what he did was not a declassification.

Blank Kludge,

“The games are broadcast on radio.I’d think that audio might be cleaner, FWIW.
Mets = WFAN
Don’t know the Nats.
Either way, good luck requesting some producer edit out a 30 sec MP3 for ya.”

All MLB games are available live or archived via mlb.com, radio broadcasts (home or away version via the Internet). Same deal at mlbtv.com (TV version over the Internet). Both are subscription services. Last year I had both. This year, not, as in not interested so much lol ; )

3 from the WaPoo blog:

[1]”As a proud Wyomingite, I am very upset by your emasculating coverag of VP Cheney’s first pitch at the Nationals game. I saw it, and he wasn’t booed because he throws like a girl, he was booed because you East Coast liberals are soft on terror, torture, and shooting people in the face. We like ourselves some Cheney out here, and we like him good and evil. Fear inspiring. Awe inspiring.
I wish he’d throw all your liberally biased lot into Gitmo for insinuating that he can’t get a good boo unless he throws a limp wrister.
P.S. I didn’t mean that part about Gitmo, unless you are also muslims.
Posted by: flounder | April 11, 2006 10:00 PM”

[2] “Can you guys type without Karls lips moving?
Posted by: Oilfieldguy | April 11, 2006 10:00 PM

[3] “as has oft been said: who are you going to believe? The Washington Post or your lying eyes?
Posted by: Wilson46201 | April 11, 2006 10:06 PM”

David E. Always nice to see you here. This is for you, as a movie guy: And geez, after reading that WaPoo editorial, I have a high level of anxiety. The idea of being killed in the shower with a rolled up newspaper isn’t so psycho after all.—

Wandering around I found this Canadian article called

Is George Bush the Worst President in 100 years?

ya gotta watch out for that “flounder”….

Actually, the WAPO might be right. Although the crowd did start booing prior to Deadeye’s pitch, they only did so because they knew that he was such a wuss that he couldn’t possibly reach home plate with his Deadeye toss.

I’m amazed the old coot got to the mound under his own power, frankly.

zennurse,
yes, yes he is. worst president in 150 years, in fact. The incompetence of Buchanan and Van Buren, mixed with the electoral illegitimacy of Rutherford B. Hayes, all swirled together in a smotie of presidential awfulness.

I watched the clip and I don’t see how you call it anything but being booed both on to and off of the field. Probably not everyone, but a lot of boing going on.

OT but related. The PR push is on, isn’t it? Bush with his talks, Cheney throwing out the first pitch, and the saddest thing I saw today – Pace pulled out to defend Rumsfeld from the now emerging criticism from officers who have left the service.

We should all get over the fact that WAPO used to be a serious newspaper and face reality. The WP has become the Administration’s propaganda mouthpiece. Let us ridicule it for it.

Let us make fun of the rag. Sarcasm and acid wit go a long way to discredit a newspaper.

A Billmon key graf gem, on nuking Iran:

http://billmon.org/archives/002375.html

The bottom line is that most of the world’s powers – and nearly all of its weak countries – have a vested interest in sucking up to the hegemon, or at least in not antagonizing it. And this would still be true even if the hegemon turns out to be a full-fledged nuclear war criminal. If the realists are correct (and their batting average has been pretty high lately) neither morality nor democracy are likely to change that fact. States run by religious lunatics and self-appointed messiahs are still the exception, not the rule, in the global cockpit. Most states are as single-minded and relentless in the pursuit of their interests as your average Renaissance pope – like sharks, in other words, although not as warm and cuddly.

smoothie of presidential awfulness, I mean.

emailing ombudsman@washpost.com doesn’t work. Quit buying the paper, quit visiting the website, quit acknowledging their existence. Wouldn’t it be sweet if it were possible?

We give more credence to their arguments everytime we visit their site, mention their bogus arguments.

Sure we can’t just ignore what they wrong, but in the process all we are doing is upping their presence, their value. We affirm them by our need to watch them. We have to figure a way to fight them and at the same time ignore them. Possible?

Until we do that, all we do by citing their disinformation is embellish their value. Their value is almost nil — other than as a window into what the GOP is thinking. This is our problem, our conundrum.

I propose we drink.

For you guys interested in Fitz … there is lots of stuff going on in Chicago. The George Ryan (R but liberal on the death penalty) trial is coming to a head, and Fitz is going hard after Mayor Daley’s (D) office and thier hiring practices. One defendant tried to destroy computer files and emails so prosecutors have to recreate them from backup files … hey, where have I heard this before?

thersitz
I would agree with not feeding the troll of wapoopoo toilet paper, except that it had a historic reputation for obtaining and important inside information and for factual and good reporting. I personally want them to restore their honor, or go down hard with the whole world watching.

Cheney throws like I do left-handed. I guess that’s ’cause he’s sinister.

WASHINGTON – Greeted with loud boos and some cheers, Vice President Dick Cheney threw out the ceremonial first pitch Tuesday at the Washington Nationals’ home opener.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/s…..amp;ATT=49

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US Vice President Dick Cheney received a less than warm welcome when he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at a Washington Nationals baseball game.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20…..0411211810

WASHINGTON, April 11 (UPI) — U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney was booed as he threw the ceremonial first pitch at the home opener Tuesday of the Washington Nationals.

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/v…..3340-1212r

Not to worry though, the NSA has the entire video/audio of Cheney’s escapades today and they are sealed in a vault inaccessible to all commoners and plebeians forever. But we know what we heard and saw… er, maybe they’ll erase that, too.

hehe Uncle Bug…

Look, this idea we should accept bad media is frankly a stupid idea, dumb strategy.

It’s been cropping up more lately and it’s just frankly. . . a dumb idea.

In a different, more fair media environment, Gore would have won. In a different, fairer media environment, there would have been no Clenisgate. In a different, fairer media environment, even with Bush as president, there may not have been any Iraq War (see: Judy Miller).

The list goes on and on. So anyone arguing we should leave the establishmnet political media alone is telling progressives we should accept unchallenged winger hegemony.

I’m sorry. Flame me all you want. But I’m getting fucking sick of this argument surfacing. It’s wrong. We don’t have time to be gentle about this. There may be an Iran war in the offing. So fucking spare me the “leave the establishment media alone” crap.

And anyone arguing Firedoglake should not try to bitchslap the media or the WaPo into some semblence of responsibility should frankly read another blog or start their own. Firedoglake is under their skin, as is the lefty blogospherre, and they are feeling lefty pressure for the first time in decades. This not the time to piss all that progress away.

It pains me to have to point all this out. I’m usually very polite about these kinds of things. But this is too important, and the stakes are too high.

I read someone’s comment on another blog that someone should have thrown a hotdog at Cheney.

I can picture a wide yellow streak on that red jacket…mustard you know. Not (the vegetable) ketchup, wouldn’t show.

Call it the Cheeeney Weeeenie.

Here’s some better coverage from the NYT’s Mets beat writer:

The afternoon began with the crowd booing Pedro Martínez — public enemy No. 1 around here for twice hitting the Nationals’ Jose Guillen last Thursday — during pregame introductions. Martínez, who proceeded to wave to the crowd, received a slightly warmer reception than Vice President Dick Cheney, who was jeered before and after short-hopping the ceremonial first pitch.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04…..2mets.html

Mary…

Are you perhaps English, Irish or maybe a Scot?

Just curious. Cheerio.

He…he…he…I shared the love both ways.

Say, did ya hear?

Cheney’s new Secret Service moniker will soon be changed from “Big Time” to “Doin’ Time”.

Keep up da good work FDL!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..40_pf.html

Fitzgerald made a mistake in the filing over the NIE claims. Has this made it here yet?

Here’s the first sentence of the Post story: “When all the fans settled into their seats under the sun, long after Vice President Cheney had skipped his ceremonial first pitch into the dirt in front of Washington Nationals catcher Brian Schneider — and received boos on his way off the field — there was still none of the juice, none of the spine tingles, that came at this point last season.”

They got the boos in.

Calm down, Pach, down boy. One post out of all the rest of us, not a regular, doesn’t know the plan, man. We have many, many lurkers and the rest of us are at it. I don’t use the blog over there, it’s too easy for them to ignore. I send snail mail or direct email to the editor, so just because you don’t hear about all of it or see it there doesn’t mean it isn’t happening.

Jane – have you seen this over at kos?

Breaking – Abramoff Clients Big GOP Donors (well breaking for Deborah Howell)

http://www.dailykos.com/

If the President is getting “bad numbers†on the leak, what do you think Cheney’s would be if they ran them?
OT – Plame. I’ve mentioned this before but I never seem to think of it during a time when there’s a Plame thread going and I’m on – The emails and the Grand Jury. Fitzgerald has not been to the GJ since all the letters and subsequent production of the emails, has he? If not – is it bc he is “saving up†and will go back to them in one fell swoop when he is ready to ask for indictments? Or bc it is not really “new†info, in that he had the substance of the emails and has already covered it with the GJ? Or maybe that they have things in them that would be very hard to keep under wraps for long? Or just busy?

harry=
as soon as it hit the web. about an hour ago.
but thanks, this is the place, as you know.

angie,

I know. I go there everyday. I just get so fed up with their constant complicity. Anymore, they are just elitists in the most negative connotation of that word. They have an end that is different from the end we need, or that we idealize. And at some moments, i realize that, and I get so disillusioned.

And therefore I drink.

new thread – old racism

Ok, zennurse, I’ll chill, but I’ve been encountering this in some places where frankly I shouldn’t, lately, so that’s my context.

here’s a copy of the e-mail I sent.

What the hell is the matter with you people? Can’t you tell the truth about anything?
First it’s the editorial which claimed and parroted Whitehouse spin, in regards to the “good leak”.
Now, you blatantly misrepresent Cheney’s appearance at the National’s home opener.

Cheney was CLEARLY booed the minute he took the field, ostensibly because of his bad behavior and rotten policies, not because he threw the ball like Aunt Bee.

Sheesh!!! Can you be anymore of a shill? Trust me, the people that make cocktail weenies will continue to do so long after these criminals have left office, you don’t have to worry about never tasting their gristly goodness again. If it makes you feel any better, I’ll send you a few pounds to tide you over during your exile from the D.C. party scene, and you guys can get back to telling the truth without fear of going hungry.

I remain your loyal opposition,

Heartland Patriot

Yea, Pach!

I’ve gone from apoplectic to totally depressed, because the Lying Right Wing Media is the co-conspriator/enabler of the BushCo takeover/destruction of our country.

But what to do? The corporate media are the big time Gannon/Guckert whores of BushCo — how do we change their ways?

=====

OT Rumsfeld rebuts his critics:

snip

In particular, Rumsfeld said he didn’t recall retired Lt. Gen. Gregory Newbold raising any objections to the war planning when he was working in the Pentagon for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“He never raised an issue publicly or privately when he was here that I know of,” said Rumsfeld. “An awful lot of people around here were not shy about giving their views. … But in terms of why he would come up with this now, I just can’t speak to that.â€

Well class, can you say Shinseki?

Meanwhile, Gen. Peter “Bring’em on†Pace when asked about whether the US had the soldiers for a war with Iran said:
“We have sufficient personnel, weapons, equipment, you name it, to handle any adversary that might come along.â€

Thanks for your concern for the troops, General. I’m sure they really appreciate it.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/w…..htm?csp=24

OT – Mary (#85) Guess I’ve always assumed that the declassification was just done on short notice, and someone neglected to follow through on making the changes in document status known to those it should have been made known to (which I think means the CIA). However, if they actually conspired to keep that knowledge to themselves, and weren’t the classification authority, then you probably do have a case. At least 1.7(4), and willful negligence in not informing the CIA about the status change.

And as for Jane’s point about the other documents, whoever mentioned in the last thread that we might see this same excuse for those documents has a good rebuttal. I think we’re going to become more familiar with this process in the next few months.

That said, what offends me is that they did this so blithely, when it’s certain that had they been any civil servant or contract employee at DoD they would have been fired in a heartbeat for doing this kind of thing. Even assuming those document parts were FOUO, the government still maintains that documents must only be released through proper channels. These guys just decided that they’d declassify the parts of this document that they liked and leak it to a reporter. They treated the classification system and the public’s right to review the decision as annoying details to be gotten around.

Folks like Valerie Plame have to live their entire lives not being able to speak about or even acknowledge some of the things they’ve done. They have to lie to everyone who isn’t a close family member about what they do in order to protect that information. If you have been entrusted with classified information you can’t even talk about it when those around you know about it anyway, unless they are cleared. That Bush and those other assholes would so readily leak this information just pisses me off. What they did may or may not be against the law, but they deserve to be in jail for it, anyway.

OT here–I was just reading pre-correction analysis of Fitz’s filing re: Scooter’s disclosing the “key judgment in the NIE” by Glen here. Got me thinking. Another possible reason for Fitz to make the “key judgment” correction today-besides simply that Fitz seems to be an honest guy–is to possibly protect Scooter as an eventual informant against Big Dick, and even Bush. Why not clear this issue up now and not leave any appearance that Scooter lied in the Grand Jury about something so important–what he was told to do or believed himself authorized to do. That way, when/if Scooter later flips on Dick and Bush, no one can impeach his credibility about what he was told. I guess I just don’t believe Fitz got gamed by Babs et al to make this correction. I believe he did it so that he could keep his path to the prize clean and clear.

rwcole (45) — wow. I might have to pop a note to Capitol Hill Blue about that very event.

While poking around last year I went looking for financials of Harris County Repug Party; I saw notices for fundraisers, but never any financial reporting.

Hmm. And Austin/Round Rock are both in Harris County if memory serves…also in DeLay’s back yard.

The commentary about Bush-the-Nasty is validating.

Stephen Parrish — if you have free time after taxes, this is another little financial mystery worth looking into.

OK, I’m sorry you’re so upset, hate to see it, that’s all. I agree that it’s defeatist and implies approval and complicity. I think folks think if we don’t click and buy, they’ll get a message, kind of hit them in the bocketbook, but that misses the point, imo, yes?

Pachacutec # 29

You know, this really mystifies me.
It’s just so stupid.
WTF is going on here?

I some times wonder if someone is making $$$ off the falling stock price, e.g. selling short ? unlikely ? yes, but it would explain sooo many things. . .

Rayne, et al,

Austin is Travis County, Round ROck is Williamson County (me), Harris County is Houston

Otis @122

I think Fitz is one of our lurkers. Ha Ha. Funny Thought.

No really. I think you are correct. He is detailed an thorough and doesn’t want to screw it all up over a misunderstanding. Don’t want the juries or judges feeling the prosecutor is playing loose with the truth.

EPU’ed as usual…new thread.

ck: We’re doing it, but since we’re so close to it every day, it looks like erosion. But when you take a step back, you can see the progress in greater relief.

Good job Jane.

http://www.editorandpublisher……1002315663

Why does cheney have his back turned on those wounded vets? He is shameless when he should be embarrassed.

John Casper–fan mail from some flounder? [bullwinkle]

Just finished reading billmon. Classic. Terrifying. We are looking at actual evil, the real Bible kind, being carried out in our name. Germany, Pol Pot, move over, you’ve got competition.

Thersitz–re having a drink, I’ve been on a nonstop assault to my liver since December learning (1) we are hurtling into ANOTHER war of aggression, Iran; (2) World Trade 7 fell how? and (3) all the checks and balances are gone–Congress, media, voting machine fraud.

As an old liberal I find it unbelievable to be relying on the Justice Dpt, the military who are bold enough to confront aggressive nuclear war [that makes my teeth hurt just to type it], and the patriotic remnant of the intelligence agencies who remember loving country over king. Yet there we are.

sent the “omboosman” a note with the citations and remarks about listening in via MLB web audio/video.
with this kicker:
He is hated for the job he has done, not because his pitching is as accurate as his shotgunning.

Patch —

I know we are making headway — but we are fighting the both media AND the Democratic establishment, not to mention BushCo. I’ve been doing this for five years, and it’s hard not to get discouraged . . .

ck: we’re making real progress, doing rapid response, building infrastructure every day. . . I’m actually rather stunned at how much progress we’re making, even though the shell of the old regime remains in power.

I am, at my core, a strategist and an organization builder. Oh, and a leadership developer, a kind of coach/teacher. I do that for a living in the private sector, and I’m doing it voluntarily, informally, for the progressive movement. I really see it, and I’m excited. Most of it is not really visible to the daily blog reader and commenter, and I only see a fraction of it, though a lot of what I see, alas, I can’t discuss.

We will face unbelievable challenges in this century, but our side is growing and can step up to them, just as the FDR ere stepped up to the challenges of the last century.

Pach,
a name chosen to honor ink, or something. We (I) need to see that fire and need to be reminded of the stakes a. b. c. d. Too often I lose sight of the objective and try to think of something cute or clever to say. Peole are dying in an illegal war. Nukes are around the corner. Where in the fuck is the fourth estate??

Proposed nickname for Mrs. Howell (lil Debbie is cool, but I like those carb/fat/infinity shelf-life snack cakes):

Lovey

I liked Natalie Schaefer too, but I bet she’d be cool with this.

jb

what i offered them;

Hello to the editor; It appears you didn’t realize that the people began making “ooing” noises right from when it was announced, and it did continue throughout the time it was on the field. Your inability to hear now is called into question. A camera pointed at the audience might have confirmed that the sound did associate itself with the motions of people in the crowds lips making an “oooo” sound. It is a very pronounced and easily recognized way of forming ones lips within primates to make the sound itself, and can almost never be mistaken for anything else but a kiss. Since the accompanying sound and motions were not that of a kiss, even with only one sense, not both, you could realize that the activity had a succinct name. It is called a boo. This was just the major percentage of the crowd. The others probably had something else to say that added up to a lesser percentage of the overall disapproval expressed.
Your reporting and editorial comment is captivating. It is like watching someone near you that isn’t acting right any more and you wonder if you will have to intervene and take their fork away.

WaPo creates a new version of the Cheney booing:

When all the fans settled into their seats under the sun, long after Vice President Cheney had skipped his ceremonial first pitch into the dirt in front of Washington Nationals catcher Brian Schneider — and received boos on his way off the field . . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..00806.html

Did he steal anything on the way out of the stadium? I hope everyone was hangin’ onto their wallets/purses.

When Bush threw out the first pitch here in Cincinnati for our opener, he was smart enough to surround himself with wounded Iraq War veterans, to insulate him from any “inappropriate” booing.

It’s one of the most shamelss political misues of the military I’ve ever seen, but it was damned effective. That’s what you get when Rove’s on your side. Poor Cheney… he needs a Rove, and Scooter’s under lock and key.

Shame on the Washington Post. In the name of baseball, no less.

New Yawkers mugged him and kicked him in the nutz on June 29, 2004.

I ve bled pin-stripes all my life, and that may have been my proudest moment.

This is how the times covered it: (via Fromkin)

Tyler Kepner writes in the New York Times that Vice President Cheney visited Yankee Stadium yesterday, and watched the Yankees beat the Red Sox 11-3.

“During the singing of ‘God Bless America’ in the seventh inning, an image of Cheney was shown on the scoreboard. It was greeted with booing, so the Yankees quickly removed the image.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..Jun30.html

The crowd was merciless, they were screaming “go F### yourself !!!”

Can someone research and find how the wires, the NY Daily News, NY Post, and WaPo covered the beating he got in ‘da Bronx

Thanks for the info, Jane. Just popped off an email to Nakamura. You’re right. We can do this all day long. Scott

Why does the WaPo remind me of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation? Is it because of their lickspittlishness and incompetence, or because they’re going to be the first ones up against the wall when the Revolution comes?

My missive to WP assholes:

*****************************************
When I wrote “1984″, I never expected it to come to pass in the United States of America. Newspeak has replaced news.

The Washington Post, in violation of the most basic tenet of journalism, purposefully misled its readers. Objective viewing of the event video shows that the booing starts the instant Cheney steps on the field and dies down during and after the pitch.

This is much more serious than Sunday’s unsigned Newspeak editorial. Your newsroom has just lost a ton of credibility.

Washington Post reporters that have won Pulitzers and continue working for this propaganda outlet bring shame to that prize.

The really sad thing is that the Moonie Times got it right.

It’s been changed again: at least the WaPo link at the top of this post leads to a different one from what AmericaBlog had posted from the original editorial…

Vice President Cheney threw out the ceremonial first pitch, a right-handed toss that bounced in the dirt to the outside of the plate before being scooped up by catcher Brian Schneider. Cheney, booed by some as he walked to the mound, got even more catcalls after his throw —

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..01820.html

Howell, the ombudsman for the Washington Post, addresses Fred Hiatt’s outrageous Post editorial last weekend, “A Good Leak”, in her column today at the Post website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/…

Howell, as she demonstrated when she peddled the lie that Abramoff had contributed to democrats (and then whined about being called out on it), is about as much an ombudsman as I’m an astronaut. The woman is an incorrigible hack.

Thomas C’s diary :: ::
Readers of the Post detected various factual misrepresentations in Hiatt’s pathetic editorial, including (i) Hiatt’s claim that there was nothing unusual about the way Libby was granted a limited authorization to disclose certain portions of the NIE (in fact Libby testified before the grand jury that the arrangement was “unique in his recollection”), (ii) Hiatt’s contention that Fitzgerald had not presented any evidence in support of Joe Wilson’s claim that the White House had sought to punish him for his criticism of the Administrations claims about yellowcake and Niger (in fact Fitzgerald referred specifically in his court filing last week that the White House had engaged in precisely such an attempt to punish Wilson), and (iii) Hiatt’s claim that Wilson had asserted he’d been sent to Niger by Cheney (Wilson never made any such claim).

Howell never addresses any of these issues, and instead characterizes the controversy thusly: “The passage in the Post editorial that sent war critics round the bend was this one: ‘ . . . Mr. Wilson was the one guilty of twisting the truth. In fact, his report supported the conclusion that Iraq had sought uranium.’”

Were critics of Hiatt’s editorial “outraged” or “concerned” or “critical”? No, they were “around the bend.” Deb again overtly demonstrates a shocking hostility towards her paper’s readers. Even worse, however, she absurdly mischaracterizes the response to Hiatt’s editorial. There were over 600 comments posted at the post.blog on Hiatt’s crap editorial, and they touched on various factual misrepresentations by Hiatt, including the ones I cited above. To reduce these detailed and informed criticisms to a single sentence of Hiatt’s editorial, as Howell has done, is egregiously misleading. But it obviously served Deb’s purpose to divert the controversy from Hiatt’s various factual trespasses.

Howell turns her column on the controversy into a technical discussion of the wall between the editorial and news departments by quoting a letter from a reader that asked “Do the Post editorial writers read the Post articles before publishing their opinions?” She then proceeds to argue that Hiatt’s editorial had been written before Gellman and Linzer’s front page story that debunked various of Hiatt’s claims in the editorial. There are two very big problems with Deb’s approach: first, the bigget problem with Hiatt’s editorial is not that it contradicted the Post’s reporting, but that it contradicted various statements made by Fitzgerald in his court filings (the fact that Hiatt’s editorial got it so wrong while the Post’s reporters were accurately reporting these matters was merely irony); and second, the reader inquiry asking whether “Post editorial writers read the Post articles before publishing their opinions” WAS NOT MADE. Deb just made it up. I know because I’m the guy she cites as asking the question. Here is the e-mail I sent to Howell, which she requested she be able to cite in her column:

“Are we to believe Geller and Linzer’s reporting or the Post’s lead editorial? They are irreconcilable. The Post’s already dwindling reputation for credibility is seeping away with the continued silence from the editorial board and the Post’s ombudsman. I hope you appreciate how
grave this situation is for the Post.”

But Deb wanted to write a column that avoided the factual deficiencies of Hiatt’s Bush propaganda and focus instead on details regarding the Post’s internal housekeeping and so she fabricated a reader inquiry!

This woman has absolutely no shame. I urge everyone to read her ombudsman column and ask yourself: is this the job of an ombudsman, to denigrate her readers by suggesting they are “around the bend”, and then to neatly sidestep numerous misstatements of fact in a Post editorial in order to rationalize brazen pro-war propaganda?

Actually the article is an improvement over what usually goes on. I have this problem when I blog that suddenly the article will reappear written differently than I blogged on at the Post site. Drives me nuts.

I blogged on their article on the shelling of one of the Islamic compounds of a persona non grata to the USA government. Good article.. poof vanished into the wind and replaced by a nice article on how we were investigating the Persona non grata and had taken some minor actions. Shelling a compound if it was us was not minor however nothing remains so it is just me telling a strange story.

The land of the changing rewritten stories [counted one being changed 4 times in 8 hours]