where’s everybody?

Fitz?

That’s what I was wondering, punaise. I’ll go tell ‘em.

FITZ!

How odd.

That Matt Bai certainly sounds like a charming fellow. A shining exemplar of our, cough, liberal media elite…

punaise- they’re all trying to figure out how to get real player to open the CSpan archive of the Plame panel. I left instructions below.

Someday I knew I would be able to say I knew Marcy Wheeler before she was famous. Who knew it would be so soon?

guess those #0 comments aren’t so elusive anymore

hey, Valley Girl!

Reading the article by Gerstein was really cool. It’s awesome to see some of the blog discussions now in the spotlight to people who are usually just reading newspapers. Yearly Kos and the attention from it this year was such a blast that the next year, and the year after that, will surely by supernovas.

From that article: “Efforts to reach Ms. Miller for comment were not successful.”

LOL! I just love the idea of someone calling Miller to get a comment on this.

I been an emptywheel fan for almost three years now

thanks for saying what I’ve been saying

Emptywheel rules the Plameology Department of the internets

Jane, ReddHead and Polly USA know more than your average bear, Boo Boo

But EW is the leader in the field

cept for that Fitzgerald dude, maybe …

Marcy Wheeler knows more than any human on a lot of things and should always be listened to, regardless of topic.

Hey Punaise- btw below = end of last thread. Just to clarify.

Am I a shallow person for observing that Joe’s wife is Baberaham Lincoln?

hey matt at 12

sure, ew knows a lot

but i got really limited interests

(wink)

sorry to blogwhore (ok, no i’m not) but i’m particularly proud of my liveblogging of the panel.

check the index of links at the top of my right hand sidebar.

also, read my letter calling wonkette on her spreading of the false “kos is 0 for 20 in endorsing successful candidates” meme.

I heard EW say she has a PhD- anyone know the area/ discipline? Just curious.

You might be shallow and you might not be shallow, and the issue of shallowness may or may not be any big deal whatsoever.

But,

the Wayne’s World reference means you kick ass.

Bless everhopeful for sticking around to make sure the driver was paid.
God, what little brats.

Wanna bet David Schuster’s gonna be reading FDL and emptywheel a lot more carefully as Plamegate goes forward?

Bless everhopeful for sticking around to make sure the driver was paid.
God, what little brats.

There is a definite whiff of entitlement. Entitlement, along with impunity, makes for extremely vile, unpleasant, and often downright evil people.

Wanna bet David Schuster’s gonna be reading FDL and emptywheel a lot more carefully as Plamegate goes forward?

Not Jason Leopold?

Thank you, nines. But let me quickly add that I have mega double secret respect for Joe Wilson’s true patriotism. He is the person, above all other possible surfer-dude candidates, in whom my alma mater should take the greatest pride.

I’m streaming the Plame panel video to disk right now (finally figured out how to do it) and am now listening to Murray Waas. He just said that one of the advantages he has is that even though his magazine only has 13,000 subscribers, when FDL and other blogs link to his stories, hundreds of thousands of people will read his stories. That generates a lot of page hits, and spreads the word. He benefits from writing stories worth reading much more than he would have in the traditional publishing world. We, of course, benefit from having better journalism to read.

Yo, valleygirl:

EW taught media history

check TNH, emptywheel did a recent post with some limited info about her academic interests

see “Harry Gave Em Hell”

When I taught media history, I did it from a wide perspective

I asked a semi-related question, and recieved this response (part of it anyway)

One of the undergraduate courses that inspired me to do grad school was a Book History course that covered all these issues, and if I still have an intellectual home in academics, that’s where it is.

don’t know how to do links, and I’m surprised the block quotes lived, but there’s the meat of it for you

mentioned it earlier, but congrats to Jamie for top billing at the Daou Report today with “Fiscal Irresponsibility Claims Another Victim”

(alas, behind the salon.com wall)

OT but conservatives sure like to defend other conservatives when it comes to plagiarism. When irrefutable evidence is presented, they go into “minimize the damage” mode.

Read the comments in this Wizbang post and you’ll see what I mean.

http://wizbangblog.com/2006/06…..s-book.php

“I got out of the limo and felt I had to stay around to make sure each of the children paid the driver because they all seemed to think someone else “had it covered.”

gawd, seeing that would have been good for a laugh.

what a bunch of posers.

Isn’t Gerstein also the guy who wrote the articles on Karl Zinmeister’s, er, creative resume? A brief Googling shows that he’s clearly a real reporter rather than a FoxBot.

You know, the NY Sun is a pretty good paper in some ways, especially the arts coverage. As RW papers go they’re far superior to the RupertPost.

I hope the netroots will have a much more vigorous and coordinated approach to this Nov mid-terms which is of collosal importance. Winning a majority in the House and gaining subpoena power is so very important. I really hope that the netroots not get distracted with 2008.

We know the Rove play is in motion with this weekend PR show put together at Camp David.

“It came as Republicans began a new effort to use last week’s events to turn the war to their political advantage after months of anxiety, and to sharpen attacks against Democrats. On Monday night, the president’s top political strategist, Karl Rove, told supporters in New Hampshire that if the Democrats had their way, Iraq would fall to terrorists and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi would not have been killed.

“When it gets tough, and when it gets difficult, they fall back on that party’s old pattern of cutting and running,” Mr. Rove said at a state Republican Party gathering in Manchester.”

White House hones strategy

How should the netroots influence and help Reid and Pelosi and the Dem talking heads prepare to get ahead of the swiftboating and frame the debate and not just react to Rove’s gameplan?

Excuse my ignorance, but I don’t know who Matt Bai is. I mean, I attended a panel session he was on, in which he berated bloggers for stereotyping traditional journalists and denied ever meeting a cocktail weenie, and it was said that he writes for the New York Times Magazine. But why was he on the panel? What is his relationship, if any, with the blogosphere? Can anyone help me out? Thank you.

With the onset of this hurricane season making itself known in the Gulf tonight, this is an interesting way to follow the intensity and paths of hurricanes. It has a feature that lets you see last year’s storms as well as historical storms. It begins with the most current storm which at the moment is Alberto:

Hurricane tracker

.

EDITED BY SITE OWNER

Please do not de-lurk just to SPAM.

OfT: Judy Miller’s lawyer’s kid got promoted to be Olbermann’s boss.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..01717.html

*KOS talking point about the contractors—-”You conservatives miss the “larger point” that these men chose to be there and they can’t expect to be saved by the government everytime things go wrong.”

*Rover bringing his spinning roadshow to NH shit—’That cutting and running talking point is going to be wearing awfully thin by 2009 Rover’.

*Just watched a documentary “Inside Deep Throat”. The funniest part was when Helen Gurley Brown spoke of the miracles of jizz facials….Scariest point is the prosecutor who said “Once we stop the terrorism we can get back to prosecuting obscenity in a big way”.

-GSD

it was said that he writes for the New York Times Magazine

it’s well known that newspaper weekend “magazines” are the isolation ward of the journalism trade.

if you’re assigned to work on one of these things, you’re already on the down escalator.

so any attempts at looking down one’s nose while having to pen long-winded “features” on “hollywood” should be viewed as the pathetic bicycle-pump ego inflation that it is.

my favorite part is all of them attempting to avoid paying for their limo ride.

children of privilege suck.

Chuck Schumer steps into it, in the Virginia primary, loses DSCC supporters and cash:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..01492.html

I want to know who the OTHER characters are in everhopeful’s story….

it’s well known that newspaper weekend “magazines” are the isolation ward of the journalism trade.

if you’re assigned to work on one of these things, you’re already on the down escalator.

Huh? Maybe for smaller newspapers, but the features stories in the NYT Mag are often the best journalism in the NYT.

JProg @ 10:40 pm (#33) – I hadn’t read this before. This is either one wierd story or a wierd bit of fiction. There’s been some speculation about this sort of thing happening (McNulty quashing the case, per the second story), but I don’t recall anyone speculating about a case that was known to exist. IOW, it was “if an indictment is ever brought against Rove/Addington/whoever, then Mcnulty might quash it where Comey, his predecessor, would not”.

IANAL, but I wonder if another possibility might be that Rove’s lawyers challenged Fitzgerald’s authority to pursue the case. I remember some speculation or discussion about that. I don’t know if that would explain a “Sealed Vs. Sealed” case.

Welcome back, Jane. Well done. Well done indeed.

Very sad to have missed it, but my toddler is too young to gamble, his mom was out of town at the ADA (diabetes) conference, and I probably learned more by watching the excellent C-Span feed. I feel like a withered little petunia that got watered after a long dry spell. Thank you.

Specifically, thank you for becoming a Plameologist and setting off on your quest. Maybe your nonpareil drama decoding instincts that led you to it. I’ve been to kabuki theater in Japan, and needed a guide there, too. In kabuki, even if you speak the native language well there is a lot of loud disharmonic music, the Shakespearean Japanese is indecipherable, and the plot line would make all the bureaucrats in Byzantium wince. Impossible for an outsider to know what’s going on. But there is always a dagger, and people keep getting stabbed with it. In our equally tumultuous national theater, Plameology is that dagger. The tragically hubristic leaders, the comically pathetic magazine hacks slumming in the hall, the great and the small who show their backside to the little dagger and moon it will all fall, and their bodies will pile up offstage until the system and the play reach a point of dynamic stability again, as they must. Otherwise the play can’t end.

In short: see you next year. ;-)

1. Well, I did get to see the Plame panel thing. It wasn’t quite what I expected, but good overall. I give a dead-heat tie to Larry and the ambassador for best remarks. Very well done.

2. I haven’t heard anything, but I’ve got one of those feelings that a few folks, like “Steno Sue”, Judy Miller, York, and some various MSM management types are just TOTALLY bent out of shape. They may not be saying it publicly….but I bet they are twisted up in knots beyond belief.

3. Now, awhile ago, I think….well, maybe Ms. Hamsher it was…but anyway, someone wrote a article about how many politicians are not using the internet to it best capabilities. The article went on to note that the Lamont campaign seems to be one of the few that’s very adept at this. Ok…..how then, can the various films, videos, etc. of this convention, including the Plame panel be “maximized” via the internet? I don’t have the answer…but I think, among you computer geeks, it’s something to answer and explore and pursue. It spreads the message out to more and more and more people.
Ghostman

The French respond (to YKos):

http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/6/12/185639/745

The Webb / Miller primary tomorrow is interesting. In the past, I never would have considered supporting a former Republican like Webb. But I’ve changed. I’m more attracted to people who look like fighters. Of course, my favorites are still people like Feingold who are both authentically progressive and fighters.

Oh, and that Leopold article is crap.

No matter what I do, my Mac wants open CSPAN’s archives in QuickTime instead of RealPlayer, so I grabbed the URL for the .rm file from the page source. If anyone else has this problem just copy this URL and open it in RealPlayer-

rtsp://video.c-span.org/15days/e060906_bloggers.rm

Rob Zuber @ 11:04 pm (#44) – What’s the explanation? Total fiction, or did it turn out the Sealed Vs. Sealed was a different case?

Very funny piece by Henry Rollins…

Ann Coulter, STFU.

http://downwithtyranny.blogspo…..-anne.html

-GSD

I think it’s time to send Leopold back to Hank to have his motherboard serviced. The Rove team is just yanking his chain now to watch him jump.

Oh Goody! FDL is being spammed in Japanese!

Hey, VG-

I’m here, too. That’s not Japanese, it’s Chinese. But I can sort of read it. It says, “Buy…iPods…Crazy Low Prices. See…our ad…at the Washington Post Blog”.

Very funny, TRex!

Maybe all that talk of bukakke got some Asian web attention?

-GSD

Very funny, TRex!

I live to hear those words.

TRex!!!!! my #51 was in response to the Hank comment!!!

But #50 was even better! I wondered if it was Japanese or Chinese, but I flipped a coin! You are SO SO funny- See our ad at the Washington Post Blog- geez, if there’s another one, please save it for reposting there!

lol good link gsd. Good to hear Rollins get involved.

How should the netroots influence and help Reid and Pelosi and the Dem talking heads prepare to get ahead of the swiftboating and frame the debate and not just react to Rove’s gameplan?

“When the going gets tough, the Republicans do more PR and leave our valiant soldiers bearing the burden of their stubborn failure to admit their mistakes. Of course we all want the Iraqi government to succeed, but hope is not a plan.”

Or in longer form — Bush is stubborn, not resolute, and can’t come up with a plan that will work for Iraq because he never admits mistakes. With every new event in Iraq, we’re told that now things will start to get better, but when they don’t, the Administration doesn’t admit that they were wrong and they need to change. They brand anyone who suggests a change of plans as a coward, and then they have the gall to say that those who disagree with them “have no plans.”

“Stay the course” means keep doing what we’re doing, and hope it works this time. Real Americans fire people who screw up, they don’t promote them.

Hi All
op99 called me this morning to tell me she arrived home OK… went straight to her MD’s office. Her leg is improving. It seems that she might of been bit by a spider!

The greatest thing trick that the right wing corporate media has pulled on pretty much everyone is that sense that, facts don’t matter, or when they are really on their game, that facts don’t exist at all. Of course facts to matter, and they have a funny way of rising to the surface through any manmade barrier. Like grass up through the cracks in cold hard concrete, the truth (justice) is slow goings but in the end it’ll win out.

The truth is going to come out in all of this and its thanks to be people like Emptywheel, Jane and Christy. The news has been cancelled and the big paradigm shift is on. These people ARE guilty that’s what matters, they are going to get their due. Godamn is it hard waiting for it though!

Jesus, tired. “the big paradigm shift is on” late night FDL indeed.

TeddySanFran 10:49 pm- egregious, a Webb fan, will love that Schumer news.

I am sure this has been discussed. Has Leopold revealed his sources as promised?

hayduke — “paradigm shit,” now that strikes me as an excellent Matt Bai nickname.

TeddyInSanFran at 37: Schumer is an idiot. As usual. Most voters have no idea who the DSCC are, and will not hear of this before voting tomorrow, and it’s not bringing in money in time to do anything, so it won’t influence the vote. If he has bet wrong, he looks like a meddling jerk, and if he has bet right, he looks like a last-minute opportunist. All it will do is make high-level Miller supporters feel the same way grassroots Hackett supporters felt earlier this year.

The primary is a very strange mix. Webb has more online support and probably more offline grassroots support (though that’s harder to judge), and he has more support from national, out-of-state Dems. Miller has more regional party support, and I think more statewide party support (though I’m not as sure about that, and it’s narrower than his Northern Virginia support.) It’s definitely not the simple grassroots vs. establishment situation.

BTW if anyone runs across a photo of Ana Marie Cox in her clam diggers at YK I need it.

Jane,

I’ve been busy since the end of last week helping my wife wrap up her 30-year career as a grade school teacher, helping her prepare for her next job and other stuff, so I wasn’t able to comment much during the conference. But I caught up on watching stuff I missed today, and have been browsing through fdl posts and threads.

What a turning point! Congratulations on a job well done, Jane, Redd, Pach, Siun! Even with the net neutrality shutdown and my friend Ted Stevens’s fascist legislation coming down, this populist-intellectual movement is most likely unstoppable.

So much depends on how the netroots people are able to get out voters who can actually throw a lever, touch a viable screen, press a button or stick an absentee ballot in the mail which actually gets counted – between now and November. And, of course, make alliances with existing progressive and Democratic party structures.

I’ve been registered as a Green since 1990. I was so inspired by watching the conference on C-SPAN, that I’m seriously thinking of re-registering as a Democrat. I’ve never been one.

Until a new wave of activists get to DC and state capitals, we’re going to be dissed and dissed and dissed. But if we can begin to shift the paradigm, the media are going to follow. Let’s hope we can show as much character in power as we’ve shown at places like this awesome blog.

Thanks again.

I inquired earlier about what Matt Bai’s relationship to the blogosphere is and why he was on a panel at YKos (he didn’t really seem to belong there), but received no replies. Any ideas?

It was funny how some of the media thought they were traveling incognito… That we bumpkins do not get out and know what some of them look like. Ann Marie was sulking around the hallways “trying to hide”.

Maureen Dowd was delightful. She slipped into a chair next to me at 8am in my first session on Thursday, Tshirt, stone washed jeans, fresh scrubbed look with her hair in a pony tail. Took one side glance at her and did that “HaaaH” sound that you do when you are startled like that… She was very gracious, shook hands all around & chatted.

Jane, did you send me an email?

Redshift #57 — I saw a few clips of Nixon (in reference to Vietnam) talking about the US leaving as the Southern Vietnamese Army stood up for themselves. Eerily similar to our “Stand down when the Iraqis stand up”. Was this connection made in the MSM and I didn’t notice it? Shouldn’t it have been?

(the clips were in a movie preview before “An Inconvenient Truth”)

I think Matt Bai wrote a NYT Magazine piece, maybe a week ago, about upcoming YKos, but he was probably already slated for the panel….

Good luck tomorrow, Redshift! Hope the primary turns out well!

Jane,

Your post @#64 reminded me that when I was reading the Cox post this afternoon, I was struck by how strange the thread was becoming. But it was an important point for you to bring up. There have been articles and themes Wonkette brought up which struck me as sound, but I was always intigued that the group her blog was affiliated with was quite commercially oriented. Sort of a predecessor of other liberal appearing groups who were actually being funded by the right.

As blogs and bloggers become successful in terms of viewership and what that means to advertisers, the morphs which then happen must be worth several doctoral dissertations.

JH: “BTW if anyone runs across a photo of Ana Marie Cox in her clam diggers at YK I need it.”

Or, from what I’ve read, Jane, could it also be:

BTW if anyone has a photo of clam diggers running across Ana Marie Cox at YK I need it.

Ghostman- Whatever happened to Colberts video would probably be a good model for others. Thoughts from a dial upper. *g*

neurophius 11:34 pm- IIRC Matt Bai-righter was anointed by his employer the NYT.

To TeddySanFran #38:

I wish I knew who the other players were too. All I know is that one of them, a dark-haired young woman with an accent, writes for In These Times.

I should clarify, though, that I don’t really think they planned to stiff the driver or anything. It’s just that they were so self-absorbed, with that “I’m so above it all” attitude, and when a couple of them looked like they were about to walk off I stopped them and told them they each had to give the driver $10.00 before they could leave. I had to say it twice and the “you’re such a bitch” looks were priceless!

So, maybe it was just me being paranoid that I was gonna get stuck with the bill. I dunno.

FLASH: COULTER VS. CARLIN ON LENO
Mon Jun 12 2006 19:53:54 ET
Controversialist Ann Coulter will square off with controversialist during George Carlin NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Wednesday.
Carlin will discuss his role in “Cars,” from Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios. The movie is currently the #1 at the box office. Coulter will talk about her latest controversial book “Godless: The Church of Liberalism,” currently the #1 book at AMAZON.

I got 5 bucks says Carlin guts her like a carp.

VG- lmao Ana Marie Cox and clams hmm. Sounds like a darkblack opportunity. hehe

everhopeful- Who else was in your Limo??

What– Coulter on Jay Leno? I’m still incredibly surprised how she’s been getting booked on so many talk shows still. I’m hoping she gets pied on national television.

I found it interesting that after all the hocus pocus of the last month. In the CBS poll out tonight Bush lost 2 more points down to 33% from 35% in May. That boys and girls is a Dead Zarqawi bounce.

Ed*ard Teller 71 — I’ve had enough of the disparagement of Joe Wilson. We are going to rewrite that particular narrative. Ana Marie Cox just happened to be a) stupid enough to step into it at the wrong time (x10 for using it to score points with Glenn Reynolds) and b) extraordinarily vulnerable to humiliation and ridicule, something the liberal blogosphere does rather well. We’ve got quite the week planned out for her, we’ll see who wants to follow in her footsteps.

I’m tired of these people and their callow repetition of right-wing bullshit, especially regarding someone whose shoes they are not fit to kiss. I’m up late putting together an all-star guest lineup.

This is going to be fun.

neurophius — you got me. But that panel appearance was a dilly, quite a bit in store for him tomorrow I believe.

GGL,

33%? Wait until the Dow hits 10,200 and the NASDAQ loses another 3% in a week.

Jane,

I can’t wait! I’ve been using the internet for 22 years, and have seen so many poses by poseurs exposed. Anyone who drums up readership by combining DC politics with, as you painted it, alcohol-soaked bukake fantasies (didn’t know what that word meant until I looked it up this afternoon – whew!, what a cheerleader fantasy), to take a 180 or 740 when the paying gig shows up, deserves the same scrutiny as any other porn queeen. On the other hand – porn, bukake, alcohol – if the Cunningham investigation is allowed to play out, we’ll all know these definitions soon.

JH,

just e-mailed you a wonkette pic.

Jane, re the coming campaign, why do I feel like one of the villagers in Seven Samurai? (Probably the old guy with the rictus smile who was afraid of everything.)

Anyway, if we sharpen a bunch of sticks, will you teach us how to use them?

>>>>fastening seatbelt

Ed*ard Teller (11:34pm)– we would welcome you to the reborn Democratic Party with open arms; goodness knows we could certainly use more Green power in our ranks! Just look what unleashing his Green side has done for Al Gore!

Gyro Gear Lo*se (11:51pm) — I’ll see your fiver and raise you same. I need to go back to bed so I’m rested to watch that debacle tomorrow night; that’s quite a commitment since I can’t stand that ‘winger shill Leno.

This from yesterday’s “Stars and Stripes” helps you realize how superbly our country and the Iraqi government are handling he basics of building an Iraqi army to “stand up so we can stand down”:

“Andrew Tilghman / S&S
An Iraqi army soldier prepares food in the kitchen of his small patrol base in Haditha.
HADITHA, Iraq — Iraqi soldiers in Al Anbar province are leaving their army in droves, draining much-needed manpower from fledgling Iraqi security forces and preventing U.S. troops from reducing troop strength in the volatile region, U.S. and Iraqi military officials say.

Lousy living conditions, bad food and failure to receive regular pay are the main reasons behind the exodus, which is running at least several hundred soldiers a month, the officials say.

“Many of my soldiers have not gotten paid in six months. Sometimes, they don’t eat for two or three days at a time. I tell my commander, but what else am I supposed to do?” said Lt. Moktat Uosef, a 29-year-old Iraqi army company commander based in Husaybah.”

Here’s the link:

http://www.estripes.com/articl…..chive=true

Ed*ard Teller @ 12:16 am (#82) – alcohol-soaked bukake fantasies (didn’t know what that word meant until I looked it up this afternoon – whew!, what a cheerleader fantasy)

There are times when I wonder if we humans are really all the same species. Seeing a bukake video was one of those moments.

Rayne,

I wouldn’t be “re-born,” as I’ve never been a Democrat. Went from Republican to independent to Green. I left the Republican party in 1981 when the God Squad showed up.

Taylor has a caption contest going on and it seems like too good an opportunity to miss.

Cujo,

Yeah. Never seen one, but my imagination is vivid enough, thanks. There are so many similar metaphors out there to describe what these controllers are doing to the majority of Americans and think they can do for the majority of people on the planet.

Ed*ard Teller (12:31 am) — by “re-born” I wasn’t referring to you, just the Dem Party which “fresh horses” like me are rejuvenating from the inside out. I despaired in the ’90’s for the loss of so many folks who left the Dems to go Green; I nearly went Green myself for similar reasons, unable to reconcile the “Republican Lite” that the Dems were becoming. At one point in my early teens I might have considered being identified with being a Republican, but they were a completely different breed in my state at that time, more like William Milliken. It was after Milliken and about the time the God Squad arrived that I never gave being a Republican a second thought.

Rayne,

That’s why I was enthusiastic enough to get back into a dialogue here after a month or five weeks of reading and occasional posting. The YKos conference was an important milestone in American progressive political history.

Since Al Gore’s Cooper Union speech, this strikes me as the most energizing moment on the left. I was so happy to see the serious way C-SPAN jockeyed stuff around at the end of last week to accomodate important workshops and forums. Note to Jane and Redd – give those people a BIG hat tip (maybe you did and I missed it).

“. . . world-class buttfucker Ana Marie Cox . . .’ Man, I wet my pants again reading FDL.

redshift-57

we’ve seen this movie before. rove takes a weak link and makes it strong because the Dems don’t frame the issue and then find themselves caught flat-footed.

this nov will not be a slam dunk despite the generic polls. ca-50 is instructive. the repubs do turnout the base unlike the Dems. Dems can’t win the majority unless they win in some repub leaning districts.

the netroots can play a role in getting the Dem leadership to get out in front before the Rove label of cut and run becomes the perception. The Repubs will bring up some inane and meaningless legislation that paints it as staying in Iraq as long as necessary to bring the joys of freedom to the Iraqis. The Dems will be afraid to vote against yet when they vote for it the Dem base gets turned off.

That’s why its important to frame the issue as this Administration has no credibility on Iraq. They lied and got us in a war that was unnecessary and that has now resulted in a sectarian civil war. Our troops have done the job of removing Saddam. They have no role in getting in the middle of a civil war. Thats for the Iraqis to sort out. The Repubs have no credibility on any issue from Katrina to social security to fiscal management. They are just a bunch of partisan PR hacks. This gives them the opportunity to vote against and fire up the base. Turnout will decide Nov. If we get a CA-50 Dem turnout then we are hosed.

Suffering from insomnia…have now read and re-read that NYSun article.

Jeepers, is it just me in my dopey-need-more-sleep condition, or did this article seem extremely lucid?

Did this one panel already change things in the media?

I’d better get back to bed, I must be dreaming! Don’t pinch me until 6:00 EDT. Wonder what reporting might look like from here on out, if this isn’t a dream, though?

BTW, while I was driving from a rehearsal to my wife’s retirement party this evening, I tuned in to Michael Savage, who was savaging YKos. Anyone hear it? Like all national talk radio, it was time-delayed here, so I don’t know when it went out live. He’s so fascist – perhaps the most fascist of all the radio nuts.

Hi y’all — Safely but damply back in Tallahassee, catching up on FDL before tottering off to bed. Katymine, thanks for the update on Op99. A spider bite? Good heavens! That’ll teach her not to stay at the Sahara. I’m so glad it wasn’t a clot. And Neurophius, glad you made it back to Kansas. Bai did an article on blogger ethics or something and accepted an invitation from whoever organized the panel to come and speak. If you go to the NYT website and use the search feature, you can probably find his piece and his reasons for accepting the invitation. He was, in print at least, charmingly rueful about the prospect; pity he turned out to be a schmuck. It was a good panel, though, and Christy was, as usual, superb. Now I’m off; see you all tomorrow, if the hurricane will let me.

Rayne, if you are still up, what was the NYSun article about?

Ed*ard Teller @ 12:53 am (#97) – The remarks that got him fired from MSNBC were enough to discourage me from ever listening to him. I know it’s true that everyone knows something that I don’t, but in his case I can’t imagine it would be worth listening to.

Curious in Central Texas @ 1:06 am (#99) – I think Rayne has headed back to bed, so I’ll sub. It’s mostly about one reporter’s observations about the Plame panel, but I think there were some other things thrown in. It was a lot less snarky than most of the U.S. news people have been.

Time for me to get out of here, too. Don’t forget to check out Taylor’s caption thing. Hate to let an image like that one go to waste. Goodnight, all.

Thanks Cujo359. I’m trying to find the article now.

Curious in Central Texas @ 1:12 am (#103) – It’s the first link in this article, right under the picture.

Saw Jane on C-Span introducing the panel. She was great, wonderful sense of humor. I would bet dollars to donuts that the vast majority of the American public would rather watch Jane Hamsher than Tim Russert and all the bubble-headed pundits that saturate the corporate media.

Assimilated Press
http://assimilatedpress.blogspot.com/

OT, but I need to get it down before I forget it.

I first posted here about a year ago when either Jane or Redd wondered about views from our serving military on some subject, and I put my 2 pennies in.

Saturday I played paintball for my first – and not last – time. My son and some of his friends play once a month at an abandoned Nike missile site thirty miles from where we live. It is a better-than-average faux Stalingrad. Sixteen players. We did five scenarios by what I guess are fairly strict and safety-conscious rules.

Three of the players are active duty military back recently from Iraq. When we got whacked, we’d gather outside the playing area and BS until the game was over. I’m overtly liberal, don’t attempt to hide it. I made some friends.

These soldiers and airmen HATE what they and their families are having to go through. It was OK when they could believe the crap they were being fed by the upper levels of the chain of command, but they’re coming close to their tipping point.

I’m in regular contact with serving military – I’ll be playing “Taps” at two ceremonies later today. We need to start looking at the election of 2006 as having similarities to the election of 1864. Not as being a resonator for a successful but expensive governement policy, but as an election where serving military will express their true thoughts through their votes to a surprising degree.

neurophius at 10:37 pm – I don’t know much about the source here, but this diary at Daily Kos by DHinMI, one of the regulars at TNH, gives one persons perspective on Bai’s work. (including their opinion of that NYTimes Magazine Yearly Kos piece.)

What was the deal with 1864?

BTW paintballing is one of my favourite hobbies. Glad you could run around and enjoy it with your son and his friends.

Ha ha. From July of ‘05:
Inside the Bubble: Matt Bai Totally Rocks! – Wonkette.

On Whorowitz tonight: since anything now counts as satire, I want someone to say, on TV, in front of him, that he’s proving that Jewish McCarthyites don’t have to be closeted gay men. And when he tries to respond, say it’s just satire, isn’t it? Fuck the tactic of condemning the ‘incivility’ of the left when they call trolls like Coulter ’satirists’. Jonathan Swift was a satirist; Coulter is a crack ho.

CC,

1864 was important because:

a) we were in a desperate war (as opposed to a needless one).

b) people questioned the viability of the federal system and how it was implemented.

c) it was a close presidential campaign.

d) the number of military personnel voting was larger than the margin of victory by Lincoln.

e) the vote could have gone toward the conservative Democrats rather than the liberal Republicans, depending on the outcome of the Atlanta campaign.

On the surface, this doesn’t seem to have much relevance to 2006. But EVERY vote is going to count. Even more important, every accurately COUNTABLE vote is going to be very important.

I figure that, unless a singular integration happens in Iraq between now and October, the GOP will lose many congressional seats. They have the advantage of being able to steal about four million votes, but they may be over six million votes behind. We need to get 6.5 million out there, not 4.5.

#17 and #25: I hung out with ‘wheel a good bit over the weekend. She does indeed have an academic background; her Ph.D. is in Comparative Literature, a field which provides excellent training for the kind of sifting and sorting she does now. Specifically, ‘wheel wrote her doctorate on the French feuilletons of the 1840s, offering comparisons to later Czech traditions.

Among other things, I learned that composer Leos Janacek (1858-1928) was also a political pamphleteer writing under a pseudonym.

ab initio @ #30 asks about how to counter this sort of thing:

“On Monday night, the president’s top political strategist, Karl Rove, told supporters in New Hampshire that if the Democrats had their way, Iraq would fall to terrorists and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi would not have been killed.”

On the first point, it seems to me that one could try the truth, which is that there was and is almost no chance that
“Al Quaida in Iraq” could or would take power in Iraq if the U.S. left. Neither the Sunni insurgents nor the Shi’a militia would permit that, even if the Iraqi army and security forces were unable to defeat them. The reply to the second point would be to ask why, if Abu Musad was such a dangerous baddie, the Bush admin did not try to capture or kill Abu Musad et al, when they were just a small grouplet in Kurdish territory in NE Iraq, the which was within the “no-fly” zone regularly covered by U.S. and British fighter jets?

I don’t know how to make any of that rhetorically effective, and worse still, I for my part would want to point out that a women and a child died in that house when the two 500 lb bombs were dropped on it. And I would be for compounding the problem by asking why they made no attempt to capture Abu Musad and put him on trial? Were they afraid of what he might say? It would be a fairly bold Dem that would try that line…

Hoo boy. Lefty Lieberman?:

Meanwhile, [Lieberman spokeswoman Marion Steinfels] tried to portray Lamont as leaning to the right, accusing him of voting with Republicans most of the time he served on the Greenwich Board of Selectmen.

“We feel Washington already has enough Republicans like Ned,” she said.

Front paged at Daily Kos, with a link to the full story in The Boston Globe.

I got 5 bucks says Carlin guts her like a carp.

Ah, but you still can’t say those seven words on television. And it’s Leno, not Letterman. She’s too much of a coward to go on Letterman. Or The Daily Show. Or even Colbert. I really would relish the latter.

Coulter’s a troll: she’s said in print that if you don’t leave your opponent outraged, you’re not doing your job properly. I hope that Carlin calls her a crack ho on Leno, but I’m not going to put money on it.

We’ve got quite the week planned out for her, we’ll see who wants to follow in her footsteps.

The story of her spectacularly short tenure as editor of The American Prospect has never been properly told, has it? At least, not on the record. And if we’re all about digging up the juice on La Wankette, I have sources that go back to her days in SF during the dot-com era, who I daresay have stories.

The way I see it with voter fraud: Just like any other crime, the more you pull them, the sooner you’re caught.

If they try again, I’m hoping they’re caught red handed. There’s a lot more people watching this time around.

Also, as for Rove’s spin with Iraq and terrorists, all the opposition needs to do is point to Osama Bin Laden. They’ve been REAL successful catching him so far, haven’t they?

“On Monday night, the president’s top political strategist, Karl Rove, told supporters in New Hampshire that if the Democrats had their way, Iraq would fall to terrorists and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi would not have been killed.”

You respond to it thus: “and where’s Osama? You know, the guy who attacked us, not the guy who we chose not to attack?”

And as for al-Z, this Atlantic Monthly piece is pretty definitive.

Bukkake AND world-class buttfucking?
Glenn, Sully, and Ana Marie?

WTF? I was just in Vegas and nobody told me about any new shows…is it on the Strip? Where can I get tickets? Does Ken Melhman make a guest appearance? Are there lions and tigers involved? Does Kate O’Beirne do that thing with her teeth?

Jeebus, everybody told me that Wayne Newton was the hottest show in town…and now to hear about this.
How come I’m always the last one to find out about the really cool shit?

OT – California firedogs alert!

Democratic Assembly Speaker Nunez’ sudden decision to appoint alternates to the current California Coastal Commission to save the sorry ass of Clint Eastwood’s Pebble Beach Company on Wednesday in Santa Rosa begs for an official explanation if not an official investigation.

Such intrusion of political pressure into a regional matter of vital concern to his political constituency reeks of far worse fears than simply official misconduct.

Dirty Harry and his fellow owners of Pebble Beach Company as well as their favorite corporate partner AT&T have been moving hell on earth to win approval to destroy the oldest and largest old growth towering Monterey Pine forest on the central California coast. All for another unwanted & unneeded 18-hole golf course.

Greed & avarice & the appearance of corruption of high ranking public officials belongs in a Hollywood movie but this is real life folks. The writing has been on the wall for years. Clint starred in commercials filmed in the beautiful endangered forest with his beautiful wife assuring voters the good neighbor PBC were stewards not destroyers.

The company spent a fortune creating a Trojan Horse called Measure A and using talking points & disinformation Karl Rove would be proud of. Sold to the voters as a legal instrument to protect the forest. A barrage of TV ads starring Clint assuring his viewers that the Pebble Beach Company would protect the Forest in perpetuity.

Back to reality Measure A removes the vital protections currently provided by the Local Coastal Plan. The staff of the Coastal Commission has recommended denial of certification of Measure A on grounds that its effect contradicts its stated intent.

Democratic Leader Nuniz has a whole lot of explainin’ to do and so do all the other party officials who followed the hapless Democrat through the inviting gates of Pebble Beach for a huge fund raiser PBC & ATT sponsored for them earlier in the spring.

The Del Monte Forest is a national treasure and the signature landmark of the central California coast. A treasured irreplaceable resource for the community and the west coast of California. It must not be sacrificed to the financial gain of a commercial interest.

The non-profit Concerned Citizens of Pebble Beach & Monterey County have a website with the whole sad facts. Time is short and Democratic Leader Nuniz & the Coastal Commission & media need to hear from the California netroots loud and clear over the next 24-hours.

Heart felt thanks & acknowledgement to Janice O’Brien of Pebble Beach for her immeasurable contributions to this urgent post as well as her distinguished decades-long civic leadership inside and outside the gates to Del Monte Forest.

William Timberman >”…if we sharpen a bunch of sticks, will you teach us how to use them?”

Think punji sticks & you`ll do just fine; sharp sticks covered with Wonkette`s “output”

“Before the Internet, the idiot tended to stay in his own village.” – unknown

Stephen Engleberg, Judith Miller’s former Editor at the New York Times, was on Countdown recently.

Keith opened the segment by stating that there was a 9/11 Truth Movement convention under way in New York City, and the implication was made that a lot of people actually believe that the government helped to plan the events of 9/11.

The story is now in the mainstream media – with the New York Times, AOL and Olberman covering it on the same day.

The segment on Miller proclaimed that she had received “a tip from a White House insider” (that wouldn’t be Scooter “conntected-at-the-roots” Libby, would it?) – and that two Al Qaeda Operatives had been intercepted complaining that the US had not bothered to respond in any meaningful way to the attack on the USS Cole – while relishing the thought of the “Big Attack Coming Soon to the US.”

OK…STOP.

Why would 2 Al Qaeda operatives be upset that the US had not retaliated against Arab countries in the aftermath of the Cole Bombing?

Answer:

They wouldn’t be.

Let logic take over here…

Who would be upset that the US had not bombed an Arab country in the aftermath of a PURPORTED Al Qaeda Attack?

What is Al Qaeda…really?

Judith Miller was the mouthpiece for admitted Zionist Scooter Libby in his effort to plant FALSE information in concert with Chalabi in order to enable the Administration’s invasion of Iraq.

On whose behalf?

The New York Times never ran the story about the warning of a major terror event in the months preceding 9/11.

The New York times held the story of Domestic Espionage from the public for a full year – knowing full well it would have cost Bush the election if they had run it prior to the 2004 election.

Scooter Libby writes a FAR TOO CLEVER letter to Miller with respect to the Plame outing – making reference to the Aspen tress growing in clusters – and recounting that they “turn together because their roots connect them.”

Both are staunch Israel-Firsters. Both had inside knowledge. He could turn on her if she turned on him. He knew about 9/11. So did she.

Both had prior knowledge of a “Big Al Qaeda Event coming to the US in advance of 9/11.

Both had knowledge of the fact that Plame was outed at the request of Cheney – in order to destroy any real evidence about Iraq’s WMD program and destroy Joe Wilson’s credibility.

Do the math, folks…

Do the math.

It’s time to change the LEAD STORY to:

“9/11 – An Inside Job?”

Rayne >”Suffering from insomnia…have now read and re-read that NYSun article.

Jeepers, is it just me in my dopey-need-more-sleep condition, or did this article seem extremely lucid?…”

I take it as a first instance in the ConMedia of “hearing foot steps”; something that football pass receivers experience while waiting for the ball to arrive & thinking about that mean linebacker coming up behind them really, really fast

I hope to see many more instances of it

“…I have reason to know, as do many of you, that when the evidence on a controversial subject is fairly and calmly presented, the public recognizes it for what it is–an effort to illuminate rather than to agitate…” – Edward R. Murrow

plunger >”…What is Al Qaeda…really?…”

Hmmmmm, Iran-Contra continued ?

“When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross.” – Sinclair Lewis

http://www.press.uchicago.edu/…..11928.html

Creeping Fascism

The voices of the past, on Recognizing the Unrecognizable

breaking: Rove won’t be charged… see NYTimes…

not the best thing to read this early in the morning.

ugh.

Rove will not be indited. Guess all we’re gonna get is Libby. Too bad. How the heck are they getting away with this?

CNN – Rove will NOT be charged

Imus – Rove will not be charged

Rove not to be charged.

Problem is that the only source right now is Luskin. Until I see someone else back this up, I doubt it’s accuracy. Luskin is a liar. This may be true, but I won’t believe it until someone other than Luskin confirms it.

NY TImes article on Rove…

How long before Rover makes a public speech claiming all the charges, everything he has been through, was all the result of partisan attacks?

Now we can only pray for the long shot – Cheney?

How are THEY getting away with this? Let’s see, they proably learned a few key lessons from the previous administration.

The Coup d’Etat is complete.

It’s official, there are no laws that govern this administration.

Name one.

CNN’s got the big red banner screaming “White House senior adviser Karl Rove won’t be charged in the CIA leak case, according to his attorney.”

BREAKING NEWS !!

KARL ROVE NOT TO BE INDICTED !!

REPEAT …NOT TO BE INDICTED !!

C-SPAN topic this morning is about a New York Times article about a Fitzgerald informing Rove that he WILL NOT

Sorry about that. The article states that Rove will not be indicted. Someone please say it ain’t so.

WHAT AN AWFUL DAY…HOW, HOW, HOW did he get away with it AGAIN……I just cannot comprehend this!

Chady, NYT article linked at #131 – Luskin is the only source and is heavily quoted.

The prosecutor in the C.I.A. leak case on Monday advised Karl Rove, the senior White House adviser, that he would not be charged with any wrongdoing, effectively ending the nearly three-year criminal investigation that had at times focused intensely on Mr. Rove.

The decision by the prosecutor, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, announced in a letter to Mr. Rove’s lawyer, Robert D. Luskin, lifted a pall that had hung over Mr. Rove who testified on five occasions to a federal grand jury about his involvement in the disclosure of an intelligence officer’s identity.

In a statement, Mr. Luskin said, “On June 12, 2006, Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald formally advised us that he does not anticipate seeking charges against Karl Rove.”

Mr. Fitzgerald’s spokesman, Randall Samborn, said he would not comment on Mr. Rove’s status.

For months Mr. Fitzgerald’s investigation appeared to threaten Mr. Rove’s standing as Mr. Bush’s closest political adviser as the prosecutor riveted his focus on whether Mr. Rove tried to intentionally conceal a conversation he had with a Time magazine reporter in the week before the name of intelligence officer, Valerie Plame Wilson, became public.

The decision not to pursue any charges removes a potential political stumbling block for a White House that is heading into a long and difficult election season for Republicans in Congress.

Mr. Fitzgerald’s decision should help the White House in what has been an unsuccessful effort to put the leak case behind it. Still ahead, however, is the trial of Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby Jr., on charges for perjury and obstruction of justice, and the prospect that Mr. Cheney could be called to testify in that case.

In his statement Mr. Luskin said he would not address other legal questions surrounding Mr. Fitzgerald’s decision. He added, “In deference to the pending case, we will not make any further public statements about the subject matter of the investigation. We believe that the Special Counsel’s decision should put an end to the baseless speculation about Mr. Rove’s conduct.”

Ugh.

This is the problem with putting all your eggs in one basket. I think Fitz is a decent prosecutor, but he is not going to bring a case that he doesn’t think he can win and he is a career DOJ employee. Let me say that again, a CAREER DOJ employee. Lots of people on the board have warned that Fitz can’t ’save’ us from this administration.

It’s time to stop with the ‘Fitz’. If we are going to save this country, we have to follow Kos, Jane and Christy’s example and get involved ourselves. The only way we will know what really happened in Plame, is to launch a congressional investigation. And to do that, we need to win back a branch of government. Time to stop waiting for a savior – we are the calvary.

People. Chill. All we hear right now is coming from Luskin. Are you willing to believe that guy outright? I’m not. This needs another source.

As shown in #140, this is all heavily quoted Luskin. We need confirmation from another source. Don’t believe this until we get another source. (Don’t know who or how, but I don’t believe anything Luskin says.)

Don’t get too excited yet. This could mean Rove cooperated and Cheney will be indicted, or someone else.
If not, I’m sorry, but this whole thing has been a monumental waste of time.
Libby lied and obstructed and gets indicted, but no one has to pay for outing a CIA agent, damaging national security and possibly getting her contacts killed overseas? What justice is this?
OR- the indictments have been quashed, just like in my worst tin-foil hat imaginings after the Leopold article failed to pan out.

MAryAnn YOU ARE SOOOOOOOOOOOO RIGHT.
I feel like someone just hit me over the head with a bowling ball…….What was I thinking that ANYONE who is a career DoJ employee would indict Rover…
WOW

Also get ready for the obvious right wing follow up …

1. No one has been charged with outing Plame
2. If Fitzgerald bought Rove’s memory lapse defense, why didn’t he buy Libby’s?

We need a congressional investigation. Period. Anyone expecting a Patriot Act loving prosecutor to get these slippery bastards was fooling themselves (and I include me in that group).

rove doesn’t matter — it all comes down to the economy, which is going through a rough patch — americans vote their bank accounts

MaryAnn @141 – Yes! I hope that the lose of faith in Fitzgerald this may cause does not, in fact, come to fruition, but as Pach pointed out a few weeks ago, the exclamation should be about US: “Roots!”

Lil’ help:

Does “does not anticipate seeking charges” really close the door 100%?

No it does not.

It’s DISGUSTING how many people are now turning on Fitzgerald, referring to him as a “Patriot-act loving prosectuor” and impugning his lifelong DoJ reputation. You make me SICK how quickly you change your tune if things don’t turn out how you’d like.

sigh…double deep heavy sigh

Amen 150. Amen.

Anon #150…I see the wingnuts are already sending out their paid assasins…No one is impugning anything….We just know how slippery Rover is that’s all. Who are you really? A Comstock employee.

Since it’s now “Move along…nothing to see here.”
re: Rove,why not drop the charges on Libby as well
and spare us all more dissapointment? Just sickening!

Anon#150…do you actually think we are to believe, that there was NO proof that Rover lied?..HUH…give me a break….

rove not to be charged: W. T. F.??

All we have right now is random speculation based on statements from a known liar. Can we just give this story a little time to come into the light?

Lets see what Redd, Jane, and emptywheel say about it. They may be able to find out what’s really going on, and why.

Don’t suck down this surface story. It’s a little too convienent for Rove. There’s more to this than we know right now.

I’m not ready to give up on Fitz yet. Like I said above, I think the indictments have been quashed, and Luskin is spinning because Fitz probably can’t comment on it.

Muahahahahhahahahhahh. You leftists thought you could stop the almighty Rightwing! You will tremble as we are above all laws! Your keyboards will not save you from impending doom! Now that Rove is off scott free we shall celebrate by mass-producing collectable Karl Rove dinner plates for the heartland at a reasonable price. Our revolution is near completion…

Zergle, you are right…I will wait to hear what these brilliant ladies have to say. I hope Waas will write about it too…SOON!

Slooooow deeeeep breaths, everybody.

We don’t know much yet and haven’t had time to think or probe for more. Just hang on and go for calm until we do, okay?

Just as I thought, Comstock has sent out her minions asevidenced by Cancer Cures.

Take a look at how ABC and the BBC are parsing it. They emphaise “according to Rove’s lawyer” in the headlines. We need more sources. Period.

something does not feel right about this. personally, i have a hard time believing that mr. fitgerald wasted his time (and the time of dozens of others). imho, either the announcement by luskin is bogus (a stretch) or rove flipped on cheney.

there has to be a rational explanation forthcoming.

Matt Browner-Hamlin #140-Thanks, I needed that!

Luskin says Fitz told him. Luskin is slippery, but he’s not stoopud. It sounds true to me.

It may be that Rove’s no angel, but that this operation came from Cheney and Fitz has it figured that way.

The fact that you think everyone who doesn’t think exactly the same way as you is a Comstock employee is ridiculous. I’m a liberal Dem who can’t stand the level of discourse in this place lately. You need to get in touch with reality.

who’s laughing now?
Karl Rove apparently.
Oh, and Jason Leopold just lost his last remaining shred of credibility.

Since Luskin is the only source, what are the chances that he left a few things out of the letter, like, “does not anticipate seeking charges, contingent upon Mr. Rove’s full and complete cooperation with the special counsel’s investigation.”

What is the likelihood that an agreement to cooperate would be confidential? Suppose Rove agreed to cooperate – could he do so only on the condition that his cooperation not be made public, knowing that by the time the investigation was complete and charges were filed against someone, and his help might have to be made public, that we’d be long past the mid-term elections?

Grasping at straws, probably, but am bracing myself for the sudden need for the MSM to “front-page” and headline this in a way they never did with the actual investigation.

Blergh.

Guess we’ll know soon enough.

Luskin would not put such a statement out there in such an prominent venue if this thing were not true, so far as it goes.

The indictments have been QUASHED.

You know folks, if we’re relying on only a federal prosecutor to take down the White House, we’re in trouble.

Karl Rove is still an asshole every day, but the person that give him power is George W. Bush and a GOP Congress that initiate disastrous policies.

Let’s beat their brains in in November — while making sure the balloting is legal.

Anon#169, if you are not a Comstock minion, then why the Anon handle?…Liberal indeed….This is the last response to you !

Right on Attaturk……..That is why we all have to be engaged in whatever way possible.

Jesus. Another “win” for the bad guys.

It’s disgusting.

First person to rag on Fitz gets a smack.

Just to clarify…my post at #154 wasn’t a shot at Fitz, I’m sure he’s doing all he can. It’s just hard to escape the feeling that a horse head showed up in some influential person’s bed.

“world class buttfucker”? You say that like it’s a bad thing. Please go with a less prudish new moniker, like something to do with her clam diggers, or her rude talking during a discussion panel. Pick on her bad taste or manners, not her hedonism.

Anne @ 171 is right. Don’t swallow this surface story. There’s more to it. Just be patient.

Urban Pirate, I think the underlying frustration is the slippery Rover, and the fact he got away with it AGAIN…..

Russert’s money quote this morning on Imus [partially paraphrased]:
the election’s about Iraq and the Republicans have played the card that they’re the tough guys and it’s time for the Democrats to call and make their argument about competence and the rest.

It’s long past time we–the Dems from the top down–collectively stand against the hordes of lies and propaganda that’ve been served up for the Republicans big corp interests. First opportunity, the Dorgan-Snowe legislation on net neutrality. Josh over at TPM has excellent resources. It’s about synergy, and never surrender, and…

We, the People. Rootz.

Rock the vote (in all seriousness now). The administration has gotten away with so much more than just this leak, that we shouldn’t be surprised if they squeak through this one, too. I think a lot of Americans were expecting that the identity of the leaker would have been discovered. I also think a lot of Americans will be even more frustrated that the administration got away with another crime (if this all turns out to be true). Silver lining? Sure there is.

Afterall, Rove was cleared. But whomever leaked is still snaking around in the White House..People will remember that.

Roots over Rove any day. Rove will hit the ground running, with a vengeance. Libby is still on a limb. At least we can move on.

Mary Ann (141) Ann and Attaturk: thank you all and I completely agree.

Patrick Fitzgerald is not going to indict a person of Rover’s “stature” unless he’s got every I dotted and T crossed. If he KNOWS he’s guilty but cannot fully PROVE it, he’s not going to indict.

Is it “fair”? Maybe not. But life isn’t and God knows the last 6 years haven’t been. WE MUST BE SMARTER and work harder. Pach and Jane and Christy and so many of you have the energy and ideas and commitment to make a change in this country. We just have to work for it. That’s life.

Hey anon – when I come upon a group of people whose conversation doesn’t interest me, or is not up to my standards, I don’t stick around. No one’s forcing you to be here, and if all you have to offer is a critique of the comments, posted from anonymity, well…we won’t be offended if you decide to move on.

Crime pays. Sheesh.

From what I hear, Rove seems to have “jumped the shark;” he’s out advising Republicans not to run from the Iraq war issue, but to confront Democrats about it. Nothing like pushing a losing GOP agenda to really draw in the voters – Democratic voters.

No doubt this will be EPU’d, but no indictment for Rove?!?!?!? Wow! Just…wow!

Well damn,Rove slips out of another well deserved noose.For now at least.Doesn’t mean there’s not a future case to be built against him though.

Wasn’t Libby also an assistant to the President,besides his job in Cheney’s office?It’s hardly ever mentioned,so I’m not sure how it ties in with everything else.I’d guess and say Scooter knows where alot of those proverbial bodies are buried,beyond the Plame case.

I think of this case with Scooter as pulling a thread on a knit sweater.It takes awhile to unravel the whole thing,but once you get to a certain place,the process speeds up tremendously.Sometimes it just takes awhile to pick that first thread loose to start the process.

My theory….

Rove was able to come up with a “plausible” explanation for his lies, and Fitz is not the kind of prosecutor who brings charges unless he knows he can get a conviction — i.e. Fitz wants evidence “beyond a reasonable doubt” that he can present to a jury.

That’s ethical. Its the difference between a Ken Starr and a Patrick Fitzgerald…..

Rove’s strength has always been finding a way to go for the cojones on a candidate’s perceived strongest quality. He goes for the cheapshot and the sucker punch. And so far it’s worked pretty well for him because he’s buffaloed the opposition.

But, hell, folks, we’ve been watching his game plan for years now. Enough already. Time to build a stronger team that can react not only to this strategy but whatever else he might come up with. Rapid response. Overwhelming force. Add the Powell Doctrine to our political strategizing.

Or the mantra which I chanted multiple times to get us through two years of medical nightmares and still use: that which does not kill me makes me stronger.

Time to be strong instead of roadkill.

Who’s laughing now? Not me. :-(

What I’m holding onto is that FITZ is holding onto Scoots … and CHENEY.

What could we see next? I certainly wouldn’t mind watching an early Cheney exit clear the way to impeachment (the timing of which keeps Chimpy on the throne, utterly undone but unwilling to hand over to Veep Condi before a Dem takes the oath on Jan 20, 2009).

That way: Rove Schmove, pretty much.

I wonder if Rover rolled over on Cheney et al and that’s how he’s evaded indictment. One can hope…

Let’s try to stay calm and see what the full story is. Luskin’s hardly known for full accuracy in his public statements.

paul @ 191 – that’s a great point and it’s why Fitz will maintain credibility in this community, IMHO, even if he doesn’t bring charges against Rove.

Rove has done “everything to cooperate”? Will he be testifying against Libby? Against Cheney? It seemed likely that his last, fifth, rushed appearance before the Grand Jury was the culmination of a deal: he was providing the testimony he had earlier in a deal promised to give. Just who his testimonmy most hurts is an important question now.

Damn

Addendum to my dream scenario above:

And next stop The Hague for the Whole Sick Crew!

Have just enough time for a quick thought:

If Rove rolled and gave up the Shooter or some other big fish (dare we hope, the Boy King?), would Fitzgerald go along with the idea of this Luskin media blitz? To lull future victim(s) into a sense of complacency before the hammer comes down? By not letting Rove tell others about having flipped?

A really nice thought is of Rove wearing a wire….

Morning, lotus – I heard evacuations have been ordered – does that affect you at all?

“Don’t swallow this surface story. There’s more to it. Just be patient.”

Sorry, I just ran out of patience. We have an administration of traitors and it seems that NO ONE is bothering to do anything about it! Whomever is unindicted on labor day will not be indicted. Period. Fitz will not inject indictments into an election campaign. The Dems are too busy hiding under rocks and pretending that we don’t have traitors in the administration. Which suits the traitors just fine. No indictments will translate into fewer Republican losses in November, such that they might even keep Congress.

new thread

Good morning, Anne. Rather than be EPU’d here, I’m taking your answer upstairs . . .

Bai was on a media panel at YKos that I attended. He sat at the end and made little grimaces, shaking his head, when he disagreed with someone (which was most of the time). He took any criticism of the mainstream media personally. By the end he seemed pretty peeved.

cooin’ Bai awe, my lord, cooin’ Bai awe
cooin’ Bai awe, my lord, cooin’ Bai awe

someone’s hacking lord, kumbaya

ex-wankette is a butt-fuckee, not butt-fucker

Ana Marie Cox is living proof that you can actually fuck your brains out.

Bai’s pieces are always dripping in condescension. And incredibly reductive. I.e., in the last piece: say a poli-blogger were to run for office someday? Um, so? Who thinks they wouldn’t, couldn’t or shouldn’t? How does that alter anyone’s fundamental message, now or ever?
It’s supposed to take some special Matt Bai-level of cognition to foresee that this might be a possibility?
And that’s just for starters…