
(Tonight's guest poster is Thesaurus Rex of Incomprehensible Demoralization)
First off, let me say that I am terribly honored to be here tonight. I was flattered and a little awe-struck to be asked to contribute to FDL. This is my favorite blog, so it's kind of like standing in the audience watching my favorite band tear down the house, and then suddenly the lead singer hoists me up on the stage and hands me the mic. Well, here goes nothing.
You know, one of my favorite soldiers in the Pundit Wars these days is Randi Rhodes. So many of the people purporting to represent "us" in the media are about as passionate and compelling as a bowl of tepid, lumpy oatmeal. (I'm looking at you when I say that, Joe Klein.) They inevitably cave to conservative pundits, apologize for being liberals, and fall right in with the Republican tactic of painting common-sense, majority-held positions as some kind of far-left, extreme propositions. ("An exit plan for Iraq? YOU HATE AMERICA!") All of us know the drill by now.
Randi, well, she don't play dat. She bites down on a topic and locks her jaw like a pit bull and doesn't back down. Nowhere is this tactic more in evidence than in this confrontation from Larry King Live where weenie pundit Ben Ferguson attempts to take her down about Iraq and ends up getting his ass handed to him, but not before Ms Rhodes has shredded it, stomped it, backed over it a couple times with the car, and fed it to the pigeons.
Let's go to the transcript, shall we? In the process of trying to defend his position in the 101st Fighting Keyboarders, Little Ben says, "I have friends in Iraq", as if this makes him an expert in U.S. Mid-East Policy.
But that's just the opening Randi needs:
FERGUSON: Randi, I have friends in Iraq, OK?RHODES: Listen, you should be in Iraq. You're 22. When I was 22, I was in the military. Why aren't you there?!
FERGUSON: I'm 24 years old.
RHODES: Why aren't you there?! Then GO!!
FERGUSON: And just because I support something doesn't mean I have to always go fight.
RHODES: You go. You go. Go ahead. You go and then you come back because you know what happens when we come back?
FERGUSON: I support the Yankees doesn't mean I wear their uniform. RHODES: Once you've served, you come back, and you're suddenly a liberal. Do you know why, Ben? Because you're only as good as the weakest. And that's why you aren't in the military.
MMMMMMMMMM!!! Tastes like Chicken Hawk!! Sigh. Where do they get these idiots, anyway? I am right on the verge of declaring that absolutely any guy who wears that stupid, pudding-bowl frat-rat haircut should be automatically banned from any speaking or writing engagement whatsoever. No Regnery book-deal for you, Scooter! And no, you can't go try and cop some weed off Don Imus. We're not letting you on his show, either.
Is this the best the Rightards can do for advocates, now? Is the last 29% of the population who support Bush made up entirely of ex-home-schoolers who went to Patrick Henry "University" and are now writing puff pieces for NRO's "The Corner"? WHY is this little shit-stain considered an authority on ANYTHING? I have ties older than that kid! Ferguson petulantly insists, "I'm 24!" which reminds me of when I was a kid and would insist to people, "I'm not nine, I'm NINE AND A HALF!"
So, tell the truth. Did the Larry King producers have an empty chair, so they just went to the local Fat Tuesdays, threw a set of Land Rover keys in the air and grabbed the first drunk that staggered out of the crowd? Was the next topic up for discussion that night "How to Build a Beer Bong" or "Diversifying Your Trust Holdings"?
I don't know about you guys, but I am SICK of these little blue-blooded turnip-heads who have never worked a day in their lives trying to tell me that I don't know what's good for America. "I support the Yankees, but I don't wear their uniform"??!! Listen, kid, we aren't talking about a BALL-GAME here! When the Yankees lose, they don't get taken off the field in body bags. And thousands of people in the stands aren't being slaughtered by factions from the rival team.
Jesus effing Christ. GET A JOB, YOU LITTLE PUNK! I know there's a table at a Chili's somewhere that needs bussing and it's got your name allllll over it. When we need advice about how you and your wealthy friends can rape a stripper and then hire a hot-shot attorney to get you all off scot-free, we'll give you a call. In the meantime, let's get someone with a little firmer grasp of the issues. My neighbor has a nice hanging fern that I think would look just great on camera. I'll ask her about its prime-time availability in the next few weeks.
Thank you and good night.
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Fitz!
FITZ
TRex! You is the king of this thread!!! Congrats.
He IS the king. Thanks so much for taking the mic, you rock the house.
Anyone seen Fitz?
Rexstar :)
wow! Sizzlin’
fucking hilarious, thank you…
al-Scooter- Fitz has been spotted in my dreams :>)
I do love Foghorn Leghorn, too! Great post; I really love how she decimated him. It was so perfect and she was tenacious.
Is he claiming that if the Yankees tried to recruit him, he’d turn them down?
No, he’s not in the Yankees because he doesn’t meet their admission requirements.
He’s not in Iraq because he doesn’t really support the war.
TRex!
You Rock! No avians* in your blood line.
A big fdlelcome to ya!
(*well, since the Cretaceous. anyone who is still worked up about that can really hold a grudge.)
TRex you are the cat’s pajamas.
I had to go find out who this guy was.
http://www.radioamerica.org/Pr.....rguson.htm
===The War on Terror and in Iraq have increased demand among young listeners for substantive, news based programming. The Ben Ferguson Show offers an opportunity to reach those young men and women that are hungry for talk radio that speaks directly to them.===
TREX ROX
LMAO @ MMMMMMMMMM!!! Tastes like Chicken Hawk!!
I saw that interplay and Randi had the men looking for earplugs alright. Who hired that little boy for a radio show?
Thanks T
I listen to Randi whenever I have the chance.
She is sometimes obtuse, often shrill and ALWAYS on point.
I’d give my left nut to hear our ‘Party Leaders’ hand it to those Repug assholes, I’m lookin at you little Russ, the way Randi took it to The Fab Ben.
good post
Nicely done, Trex.
I love Randi; she certainly does kick some ass, but she’s funny and has a bit of sweetness about her that makes it hard even for her targets to hate her.
Yay! I’m so glad you guys enjoyed the post!
Right after I hit ’send’, all hell broke loose here at the radio station. I have computers that are suddenly going tits-up in the middle of my show, but I wanted to pop by and thank you guys for being THE GREATEST BLOG COMMUNITY IN HISTORY!!
Have a good night.
Damn! Well said, TRex! That’s a good name for you, too.
Yo, TRex. Mad props from a former Athenian! Hope you’re keepin’ it real in the classic city.
Great thread T-Rex! I saw the exchange - and thought “Ben, you stupid coward punk weasel”. ) And then I thought of Bush and Cheney, too. What a very sad statement) I had to (laughingly)turn away from the verbal carnage. Randi rocked! Got passionate about it too - which only added extreme contrast to Ben’s vapid, insipid remarks. Passion vs talking points. No contest. When will the conservatives of this nation stop confusing PR (bad at that) with real substance??
Beautiful, TRex; you nailed it!
I love Randi Rhodes. She’s loud and she has heart - and it shows. The Larry King moment was a thing of beauty, and Ben was too stupid or too convinced of his own superiority to know when he’d been shown up - but good. A prime-time punk outing - did my heart good.
This was a great post to end my Monday! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
“Did the Larry King producers have an empty chair, so they just went to the local Fat Tuesdays, threw a set of Land Rover keys in the air and grabbed the first drunk that staggered out of the crowd?”
What excuse did Larry King’s show give for putting this Fuckhead out there? This “fair and balanced” shit has gone too far? Are we going to hear from the Flat Earth Society and from Philosophers that believe that we really don’t exist? How about Elvis Sightings?
Ummm…
“When we need advice about how you and your wealthy friends can rape a stripper and then hire a hot-shot attorney to get you all off scot-free, we’ll give you a call.”
I understand the point you’re are trying to make but your reference is case specific (Duke), and may I add, a conclusion (premature)in the “Trial by Media” fiasco that surrounds it.
Wish I’d been more careful with these: ))(0())
OT re this post, but dead on re Christy’s Gnome in the Garden post this past morning.
http://yro.slashdot.org/commen.....d=15329078
The writer works (or worked) for a company that was invited to bid on some of the TIA work that Poindexter was in charge of for a while:
“The level of information mined includes 100% of all commercial database data that could be obtained. This was not necessarily limited to the amount of data “Legally” obtainable. It included software engines to recognize speach, pictures and to even identify where a picture was taken, when and what angles etc. It was not limited to metadata either. The engines would generate contextual metadata on their own. The intent was to be able to listen electronically to 100% of all world wide phone, fax and internet traffic with full understanding and full cross reference of data. The computer networks and engines to do this are very big and do exist. The US Government under this routinely intercepts a large amount of data and has search engine skill applied to the output.”
Yo, TRex. Mad props from a former Athenian! Hope you’re keepin’ it real in the classic city.
Right, ON, Dr. N!! What years were you here? Maybe we know some of the same people.
EXCELLENT
EPU’d from the last thread ~
angie 146~
I just thought of another “fond†memory: One night, the electricity went out and the only thing that worked was the portable battery powered radio. The only thing we could get was Nixon speeking from the Oval Office. The next day, I said to one of the neighbors that I was absolutely deranged that Nixon was all I could get. She said,â€I thought it was rather comfortingâ€. I kid you not!
T-Rex Rocks!
after I finished your juicy post, I turned off all the house lights, stood up in the FDL wheelhouse and raised lit bics in each hand - excellent Trexster!!!
I should point out that some of the commenters to the slashdot post were rather skeptical about that post.
whew, Leslie, ugh!
Kevin Phillips on Colbert.
How dare you besmirch our ‘pundit jugend’, the last bastion of thoughtlessness between us and harsh, unyielding reality?
How can you expect them to sully their beautiful minds with such icky doubleplusbadbad concepts as deductive logic, sequential reasoning, and the broccoli of the principles of reasoning …Applied critical thinking?
It’s all so unfair.
Oh, wait…Perhaps those tender tyros were what old ‘Straight Talk’ was referring to when he said:
VG,
I looked that twit up as well, was asking the other night what his wingnut welfare connections were - Mommy, Daddy, Uncle who ran Aryan Youth Camps??
all Wiki had was a ’stub’ - found it appropriate - does anyone know ?
This must be Ben’s week. He has also attracted the attention of Jesus’ General. In a manly, heterosexual way, naturally.
http://tinyurl.com/fefz8
Phillips says bush gets frequent g- grams and colbert said g- mail. (referencing God)
‘he (bush) deserves to be at 29%’– wow Phillips does not like chimpy a t’all.
catch it if you can.
Thanks for the quotes. But why is this such a great post for TRex? The glory belongs to Randi alone. And if anyone argues that point, I’m gonna open a can of Rhodes whoop-ass on ya. OK, TRex, you get a point for throwing in that shit stain remark. But that’s all. OK the rapist remark gets another 1/2 point. That’s all.
I agree with RR, and I’d still shit my pants if I called her show and she let me on the air. She’s almost as mean to her fans as to her critics.
Slightly OT, but what the hell –
I accidentally clicked on the SEIU PurpleOcean ad, and it is a cool thingy . . .
Scrolling down, there is Hillary, lauded for introducing a higher minimum wage bill — yea!!! But the photo’s are worth the click — Hill is kinda doofus, with a loaf of white bread underneath.
Go there for all of the good things SEIU does — and enjoy the unintended art . . .
T: I was in Athens between ‘75 and ‘81… long ago. Lived near the corner of Boulevard and Chase.
… bought records from Pete Buck at Wuxtry, and was once the victim of road rage from Ort.
GREAT article! Thanks! About time Randi got a good article in the blog!
Thanks TRex, you’ve made my night and inspired me to come out of the shadows to say hello. I’ve been sitting here for hours bangin’ my head against the computer and crying tears of frustration while trying to prepare a state complaint against Los Angeles Unified School District. I needed a break and decided to come to the lake for awhile. Ye gods man!You made me laugh and I sure needed that.
Thank-you so much my carnivore friend, and thanks to you Jane, Christy, and all the others…I feel like I know you even tho’ we’ve never met.
TRex~ Great post!
I saw that happen and cheered. Today on Randi’s show, she described how angered she was - not only by what they (Ben and Don) said, but that during the break, the mics had been left turned on, and D Prager and Ben and the host talked about how they should look bored and drink water, and roll their eyes whenever Randi was talking so that if the camera ever panned them, they would seem bored with her!
She said it pi**ed her off so much that she could barely manage. And that was why she sounded so shrill on that particular show.
I just loved it when she told that little punk, Ben to do his homework.
Also today, she said that the *big* conservative talk show people won’t debate her because they know she does her homework and they can’t compete with her in a fair debate.
I {heart} Randi
EPU’d and OT, but I wouldn’t mind an answer to my #169 from last:
Anne: 8:35
Care to back this up?
I’m betting they come in on international flights, through Canada, just like some of the 9/11 hijackers.
Hope that closed the tag.
Welcome, Irishmom!!!
Please post again — whenever you need a break, or the spirit moves you!!!
TRex,
Nicely done!
From last thread: “2. The “Well, if you have nothign to hide….†bullshit obviously rankles. It is such bullshit.”
The response needs to be: “Fine, then our govt should have nothing to hide either. I have a Constitutional right to unreasonable searches, and my privacy. This is a democracy. Next.”
BTW, TRex, great post. Have the exchange, if you can call it that, saved. Would love to see RR and some of the others, like AC, from the R side. Cage match anyone?
Ah, the Republican Party doing its level best to thwart purple finger moments in New Hampshire.
(Snip)
Purple Finger-Gate in NH
“He’s chosen to take millions of dollars from people to engage in a coverup,†Twomey said. “It’s an awful crime; it’s a crime on democracy.â€
http://www.nashuatelegraph.com.....2/60514022
TRex- WABE is playing piano music by Samson Francois. Just tuned in and got the very last of the voice. Is that you or another parallel universe?
Hell yes. Randi does not get nearly enough respect out here in Blogsylvania.
Perhaps, in a way, we should be thankful that this young man was a guest. He did get creamed by that Rhodes lady. My point is, it seems to me that too many times in the past, a talk show would line up 2 guests, one would always be an eloquent conservative, and the other would be a progressive…but just not very eloquent in making his/her points. Thus it would always come off as though the conservative’s points were stronger and wiser.
So, I would welcome this Ferguson guy to appear again…just make sure someone like Ms. Rhodes is also present.
Ghostman
I have to say that John Roberts did a really bad job of moderating that show.
from the transcript:
>>>>>>
ROBERTS: What we are going to need to do is we are going to need to take another break, and we promise you we are going to be talking about those poll numbers some more just as soon as we come back. We are trying to get Randi excited, but it is not working. I don’t know what is going on here.
ROBERTS: All right. We’re back, and the blood is flowing on the floor here. Let me keep it in the studio here.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRA.....kl.01.html
I think Randi shows us why the MSM shuns progressives on their shows-she can’t be controlled and she totally kicked the snot out of that putz. They would much rather have their docile house liberals like Joe Klein and Colmes to reinforce the notion that we are weak and have no new ideas. You go, Randi!!!
and was once the victim of road rage from Ort.
OMG!! I saw Ort for the first time in about five years today! He looks EXACTLY THE SAME, but a little greyer.
Boulevard and Chase, awwww. I am right down the street at the intersection of Childs and Barrow, if you remember where that is. Right across Prince Avenue from the old Coca Cola bottling company.
#41.
That adds an awful lot to her appearance. I almost never see or hear her..and it looks like the reason is Republicans hate to have to work and they have to work when they debate her.
She offers a moving target…she’s not a punching bag like Alamo Combs(He gets killed everytime) or Donna Brazile or a Republican meme confirming mook like Joke Line(Joe Klein) or Susan Ostrich.
-GSD
“I’m 24 years old”
ooooh nice repartee ben.
now i can see how this jerk off “earned” his way onto cnn. meritocracy indeed.
I get the feeling that Randi is getting asked back on CNN (she’s been on Dobbs & Zahn previously) because she’s damned good on the TeeVee. They’re beginning to understand that people will put down the remote when she’s on.
Watching the Bush rerun…
“To secure our borders, we must REDUCE the number of people coming across”
Reduce?
Thanx Mr. T. Well done!
I’d be really keen to see you serve up a tasty morsel of that blowhard Tucker Carlson.
Randi rules. Ben Fergusen drools. Puleeze, I root for the misguided war of the US of A, as long as I don’t have to be fight it? Patriotic soul (with really awful blow-dryed hair) there, mmm?!?
Thanks CK, will do.The fine writing here intimidates me. I’m worried I’ll mispell something, or embarass myself by making some godawful grammatical mistake. But I love to read…
Randi has the courage of a thousand wingnuts and she’s smarter than all of ‘em. I started listening to her as soon as AA hit the airwaves and as much as I love Franken, he’s far more measured and will often pull punches when he should be delivering the knockout punch, Randi is better radio. She’s also an old pro. Al’s looking at running for the Senate so I can understand his deliberation.
Well done Trex!
On her show today, Randi said that Ben is celibate or a virgin or something. My feeling is that will be a lifetime condition for putzy little Ben.
As for Dennis Prager, Randi said she told him to eff off. He said that would be material for his next show. That would be an improvement.
Thanks for the laugh TRex.
dr. nobody,
I think you’re right. They get reaction — both pro and con — from the audience when Randi is on. In my dreams, Randi gets the hour before or after Olberman, and blows Fox out of the water. Given the chance, I think she could be the top-rated cable news show, because in addition to her passion and preparation, she is just damned funny.
So now Khaddaffy is a model leader? The “butcher of Lockerbie”. They trust Ghaddaffi more than the trust American citizens.
I think Kadafy will be a rogue leader once again. Come on, when you are a bad boy, you always straighten up, but then resort to form.
He’s gonna get roped back into some terrorist activity at the monthly poker game with Kim Jong Il, Castro, Bashar Assad, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Saddam(by video phone), Hugo Chavez, Putin and Hu Jintao and Tony Blair(he is invited because they all pick on him).
http://english.aljazeera.net/N.....B77A0F.htm
Going to bed in a stupor.
But ian’t it weird that Cluster is in the only job in America that you can’t quit?
Irishmom #60– I felt that way for a long time while I lurked I and make embarrassing mistakes all the time! But as you’ve probably noticed, this is a forgiving bunch. My hands used to shake and my heart pound in the beginning. You will get over it, promise. :)
Rip ‘em a new one, Randi! Thanks for sharing this one, TRex.
I want to swear a blue effing streak whenever I hear these punk-assed, cerebrally-challenged silver-spooners puling about their support for the war. They don’t sit day-after-day, night-after-night, waiting for a call from a family member, afraid to leave the house for fear of missing the one call that will assure them there will be no dark sedan with military plates pulling in the driveway. They don’t have to deal with the PTSD symptoms and the nagging concern of whether the kids are safe in the house alone with this person, or if the weapons and the alcohol in the house have been secured adequately, or if the service will try to contact this person and yank them back for another tour through their on-going backdoor draft. They don’t have to wonder whether the miserable spoiled brats lighting off their M-80’s in the next yard throughout the night, in spite of repeated calls to their parents and the police, will set off an experience that none of us need. They don’t have to wonder what their family member went through to make comments to the contrary that the garbage can does not smell like something died…
And I’m only a family member; I’m not the person who went over and lived through hell and came back with PTSD, along with the rest of the crew that served with him, that survived to return. But this family member would gladly rip the lips off Mr. Ferguson if he ever gave me lip like he tried with Randi.
For her ability to restrain herself and not commit an act of violence, I commend her. I don’t have that kind of restraint any longer.
Lea,
I am sure “Uncle” Dennis Prager will walk him across the bridge to manhood on a fox hunting and cigar smoking trip to the countryside.
-GSD
Like I probably said before, I love tough girls like Randi. I’m glad she’s on our side.
BTW-69. I know she’s a grown woman. I can’t help but affectionately refer to her the way my best friend and I affectionately used to call each other bitch.
Again but this time with emphasis on secure too. This might be the money line…
“To SECURE our borders, we must REDUCE the number of people coming acrossâ€
Aren’t “secure” and “reduce” mutually exclusive, Red State lurkers? ; )
IrishMom,
Type on
this family is forgiving. It’s the point not the grammatics type on
Great post, TRex. Darn right saurian of you. I have, of course, heard of Little Bennie Domenech, but this was my first exposure to the other Little Bennie of the Right. What a jerk. I’m glad she slapped him down.
Welcome Irishmom 60~
I know just how you feel - honest. Each time I write, I think, “This time it will be a clean post.” Then I read it after it’s posted, and bingo another mis-spelled word and I’ve done it again. But it isn’t the spelling that counts ever so much. It’s the content. (and that intimidates me even more. But FDLers are so encouraging.)
Rayne #67:
You ever feel that way, you come here first so we can wade through it with you. There is no - repeat no - chickenhawk worth future consequences in a 1:1. You’re much too beautiful a life for that.
I have to think the national guard is getting a little tired of being Bush’s errand boys…
Imagine a Democrat proposing that US troops serve as truck drivers, fence makers and paper pushers?
-GSD
ROTFL– see Irishmom, check out my # 66– word order incorrect!!! supposed to read “and I”
Thank you TRex
that was great! She said everything I was screaming at my TV.
Irishmom~
yup and I misspelled speaking after changing it from speech. (thus my speeking see #27)
I hate when that happens.
Thanks everyone. You make me feel very welcome.
OT
Here’s hoping Tony Snow gets his cherri poped tomorrow with this :
FBI Acknowledges: Journalists Phone Records are Fair Game
May 15, 2006 7:18 PM
Brian Ross and Richard Esposito Report:
The FBI acknowledged late Monday that it is increasingly seeking reporters’ phone records in leak investigations.
“It used to be very hard and complicated to do this, but it no longer is in the Bush administration,” said a senior federal official.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/thebl.....ledge.html
Wow - being a baseball fan is just the same as being a war fan. I know he likes the Yankees, but is it the killing part or the dieing part of the war he likes best? Buy the boy a beer and a dog and let him kick back and enjoy himself.
Randi is very tough and I’m glad she is getting some air time. So much better than watching Joe Biden again. Joe would have spent the rest of the program discussion headwear with young Ben.
A few more TRex’s and Randis and the party might have a few more Feingolds.
Gyro,
They will cite Pat Fitzgerald as their inspiration. The very thing that got Rove’s tit in a wringer is now going to be turned on the people.
How very Rovian.
-GSD
Mary,
Of course, the war is just a game to the Republican right wing…to be played by poor and black and brown folks, anyone but them.
-GSD
TRex, congrats and well done! Maybe every time Falafel O’Reilly tries to get a Dem on his show, the answer should be, “I’ll come on your show after you go on Randi Rhodes’.”
Irishmom, we all make mistakes from time to time here; nothing to worry about. Speaking of mistakes, a little OT digression. I meant to say in the West Wing thread that though I loved all the characters, Leo McGarry was probably my favorite. He was just so very human, in the best sense of the word: so flawed, but so noble; not perfect, but good — always trying to do the right thing as he understood it. If I had to choose a fictional character as a role model, I would pick Leo.
OT: Gyro at 80…what’s amazing to me is that there is NARY a mention of this story on the MSM webpages. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Ok maybe on ABC (whose blogger broke it) but otherwise, the very people who are so affected (apart from us, the citizens) are silent. Still.
Gyro Gear Lo*se says:
May 15th, 2006 at 9:43 pm
That should make for a lively gaggle. I wonder whether Snowjob will refuse to “comment on an ongoing investigation.”
LMAO - great post TRex
http://tinyurl.com/a6erq
^^^ HELP IMPEACH TODAY
Keep the pressure on Congress… Talking about impeachment wakes people up… They question, it’s a strong motivator to get people thinking. It also lets Congress know how intense the dissapproval is for this President… They seem to be a little slow on the uptake. So please:
1) Sign petitions if you have not done so
2) Send a letter to Congress (both Senators & House rep)
3) Send a copy to the media
4) Enlist friends and family to help, ask them to chip in time
5) Spread the link around, email it (with a request to forward) post it on a blog, or in the comments of a news story.
Help out!!!
Thanks :)
FDL - a link to sanity in an otherwise bonkers era. Thanks everyone for restoring my faith and growing optimism.
Two Beers is right - Randi has great wit and knows not only today’s issues but also gives the listener historical info to back up arguments.
Frankly, even Bush’s appointees seem to be missing major brain cells. Look at the Secretary of Education, that Frances Townsend, undersecretary (?) of Homeland Security - even Stephen Hadley - then there’s Karen Hughes and on and on. None make any sense and lack a true professionial presence. Perhaps it’s having to tell lies constantly that makes all seem like they are so out of their league.
OT- TRex- the online station link does not work in Firefox, at least not my vers. 1.0.5. Had to go back to Explorer.
Weird. We had a Rove speech and a Bush prime-time address. And I look back on the last 24 hours and think that the most newsworthy event was the indictment of the 3rd Duke lacrosse player.
80 and 86
The reporters should ask whether the Bush administration has ever directed the spooks to spy on the phone records of a member of the White House press corps.
If we ever find out that Natalee Holloway eloped with Osama bin Laden, I’m leaving.
Fantastic post, TRex. I love me some Randi Rhodes, and listen to her every single chance I get. She is not just passionate but informed and kicked natural ass on Larry King. I couldn’t believe that prepubescent twit had the idiocy to compare Iraq to the Yankees - as if joining the Yankees is something he could choose. They shouldn’t even let him wear a Yankees ballcap. If only they’d let Randi debate someone who mattered.
I am sure Helen Thomas has so many bugs in her house that they interfere with her ‘Clapper’.
-GSD
I still read a handful of college newspapers online (mostly Big 10 and MAC) and there tends to be a pattern. A handful of college Young Republicans who enjoy letter campaigns to the editor. No doubt the Republicanus studientus is a minority on college campuses, so in an effort for the editorial page to seem “balanced” or to seem like it’s “engaging in discussion” it continually reprints the talking point musings of a select minority. To the untrained eye, it just might seem like there are actual movements, but just read for a month or two and you’ll see the same names taking that repub talking point stance. So these same people who faithfully repeat the mantras to college newspapers get picked up to work on larger projects since they’re so good at regurgitation.
The Repub PR machine used to be so much more slick. There aren’t any exprienced pundits so now the fresh college faces are doing the repeats? Is the RNC press room what Young Republicans consider being in the trenches and on the front line? If you can survive the heat of seemlessly duplicating memos on the radio and on TV, then you deserve a respectfuljob just like any other veteran? It goes comething like this:
“Where’d you get that scar? Iraq ‘03? Afghanistan ‘02?
Naw, I was pulling a tour on Hannity and Colmes in ‘05. I was yelling and I was so agitated. It was a great performance. But button flew off my shirt in my fake flurry and clipped my eye. It still stings even though I know it’s healed. I lost a buddy back in Scarborough Country. I told him to memorize his cue cards! He wouldn’t listen. He fumbled his cards and lost his place. They had to go to commercial break. I still have nightmares. I’m one of the lucky ones…. I got an honorable discharge after that and I do what any other vet does… I’m a lobbyist for an oil company.”
Figures that he’s a Yankees fan…..Ferguson S..ks!
And Randi and Big Ed Rock!
You know, I like Randi’s attitude, but she gets stuff wrong a lot. Little things - so inconsequential that I wince when I hear them, then forget them - but she does make misstatements often.
In a similar vein, Sam Seder (oe whoever is doing majority report tonight) keeps calling the NSA “NASA”. You know how embarrassing that it? What ever-so-slightly open minded former Bush supporter is going to give Air America a second chance when he hears some whiny liberal conflate the Administration that send out rockets with the one that taps our phones and catalogs our contacts with everyone?
Great post! I really like that weak-ass comparision. “I don’t wear the Yankees uniform”… Umm… the Yankees don’t take just anyone off the street with a high school diploma, unlike the Army, moron. Not to mention the whole dying part.
I’ve always thought, beyond my omniscience, there was some deep meaning behind my lifelong love for the Mets -and now I know. So that’s one question I can cross off the list.
I guess George Carlin is off limits to rightards (great term btw), probably b/c he cussed too much and questioned the powers that be, b/c we all know that football and war are the same. If he said he was a New York Giants fan, I think he really would have showed Randi.
Randi is wonderful! That being said I have a minor rant the is somewhat OT. Bill Maher had Gibson (from Fox) on the other night. They talked about Joe Wilson and Gibson told every single RW lie about him out there. Every single one, I kid you not. Maher just let him get away with it without a question or comment. I was pissed! Still am as far as that goes.
But I have making my way through the blogsphere and not one person has commented on it. Why? Doesn’t anyone watch his show but me? Is it not important that Maher allows liars to get away with it? What’s going on? Am I so out of it that there is something stopping people from talking about it that I don’t know? It’s literally driving me nuts. I sent him a nasty email and didn’t get an answer of course, but I am still pissed and frustrated that nobody else seemed to see it or give a shit.
National Guard to Texas… Can you say MILITARY COUP?
It’s going to take us two and a half years to train 6,000 Border Patrol officers, but we’re going to train a whole new Iraqi army in the same time?
WTF?
Even David Gergen tonight on CNN said we’re in a lot of trouble if it takes us that long to train that few officers.
BTW, great post tonight, T-Rex! You can join Christy, Jane, and Randi tonight right up there on my Mt. Rushmore of progressive women voices. It’s about time the Black Hills had some gender balance, anyway.
Rock on TRex and Randi!
Great seeing you both take it to the wingnuts!
al Scooter (75) — thanks for the offer, but I just plain avoid situations with them because of this, easier than becoming a topic of the local 11 pm newscast.
I caved in this past weekend and spent an evening with people I now consider former friends because of their absurdly neo-con perspective. It was a long evening and I will now refuse to see these people again until after November after biting through my tongue the entire night.
You see, this couple are just coming to terms with their son/stepson enlisting in the service immediately out of high school — and now they are all yanked up about it. Stepmom is being all righteous about it, but dad is having a very hard time with it. Funny, this is the same guy who told my spouse while our son/stepson was in Iraq in 2003, “Hell, we’ll just blow them all into melted glass and it will be all over.”
Three years later and they still haven’t clued in on what we’ve been through, or what their role has been in all of this.
Conveniently, karma is a much nastier bitch than I am and is only now beginning to flex her claws in this situation.
Trex, I say AMEN! Just the sermon needed for those standing vigil for Fitzmas…
Bush is going to protect the oil in the Republic of Texas from the rest of the Old Dominion.
-GSD
Maher is a bit of an arrogant ass. I bet he doesn’t look into a lot of things very deeply.
Having Gibson on a show should be like having David Duke on the show.
Irishmom == delurking is ALWAYS better than pounding one’s head into the computer.
As for quality of writing, there are few better than on this site. I cannot write like many who hang out here, but common sense and thoughtful words are always cherished here and I feel that I can say a few words without hiding behind the counter.
I heard Randi’s show this afternoon and she was actually complimentary about goin on the Lou Dobbs show. Whowouldathunk.
Lou treats Randi with respect– at least every time I have seen them together on the show. I think he has a teensy crush on her…
#99 - whiney liberal? Sam Seder? When people are trashing the consitution, we do not whine — we are raging mad.
BTW, that story about Rove’s AEI speech in FT is rather amusing.
A block, not even a parry. Will have to double-check the Luskin statement per Rover.
But the rest of the article showed a man who is very much in denial, blaming the tanked and nearly bottomed-out JAR on the bitterness of war and blatantly ignoring other indices.
Gotta’ wonder what kind of mushroom-growing closet this guy has hidden himself in to be able to cling to this unreality. Or maybe he’s smoking the mushrooms.
Rayne #106:
You’re doing the right thing. I mucked through the rice paddies a couple of wars ago, and I just can’t seem to get the Gen-X/Y crowd to understand my frustration at seeing the same mistakes made again and more young lives being cut short.
Living where I do, I spend a lot of time in the car. I’ve trained myself that when I see a bumper sticker I don’t like, I grip the steering wheel a little tighter rather than indicate my displeasure. No good can come of it, so I just try to find someone to persuade later on. And vent the anger at the gym. The machines don’t care, and they always win anyway.
I wonder what kind of dirt thay have on O’Liely. Phone orders for falafel delivery?
“Where’d you get that scar? Iraq ‘03? Afghanistan ‘02?
Naw, I was pulling a tour on Hannity and Colmes in ‘05. I was yelling and I was so agitated. It was a great performance. But button flew off my shirt in my fake flurry and clipped my eye. It still stings even though I know it’s healed. I lost a buddy back in Scarborough Country. I told him to memorize his cue cards! He wouldn’t listen. He fumbled his cards and lost his place. They had to go to commercial break. I still have nightmares. I’m one of the lucky ones…. I got an honorable discharge after that and I do what any other vet does… I’m a lobbyist for an oil company.â€
Uh. Mah. Gawd. That is teh funny. This deserves its own post.