We had a fine discussion yesterday about Sidney Blumenthal’s new book, How Bush Rules. It’s an incredible book by a serious author who has played no small part both in modern politics and the discussion thereof. It was led by noted historian and scholar Rick Perlstein, who was one of those to peer-review Sidney’s book, published by a University Press. Sidney himself will be here to discuss his book at the salon next week. I’m very proud not only of the exchange that ensued yesterday, but the way that it was appropriate to the tone and topic of the book.
In contrast, as Eric Boehlert points out, the New York Times assigned a lifestyle writer to review the book, a rather frothy bit of business named Jennifer Senior whose recent articles include "My Life as a Thin Person" and "Are Jews Smarter." She quickly and with little thought foxtrots right into a frenzy of right wing media canards and straight to the conclusion that Bush’s critics are so blinded by hatred they’re incapable of stringing a sentence together, and jeebus why can’t they be funny.
Yes this would be right at the same moment that the Administration is trying to suspend habeas corpus and legitimize torture. Somebody get me my joke book, I seem to have misplaced it.
Boehlert:
Every author understands that the politics of book reviews can be complicated and infuriating, and for the most part it’s every man and woman for themselves. (Disclosure: Blumenthal is a friend and former colleague of mine.) But what makes this review so irksome is it doubles as a swipe at an entire political movement; a calculated attempt to dismiss and ridicule Bush critics who time and again have been proven right about his incompetence, yet remain MSM targets. Indeed, the Times critique strains mightily to paint Bush critics as "smug," "unglued," "condescending," "berserk", and "not wholly credible" "loathers" who reside beyond the mainstream.
We’ve heard it before. How damned uncivil we can be. I’ll just be over here coughing into a linen hankerchief on the fainting couch while our leaders ratify us into barbarism, ‘kay?
Yes, getting angry about usurping the constitution, torture and sending thousands to their deaths in a losing war for inexplicable reasons among a hundred other outrages is aesthetically jarring. Please, children, use your indoor voices. There’s no reason to scream.
If you think you’d enjoy a discussion of Blumenthal’s book that treats the subject matter with appropriate gravitas, feel free to take a look at Rick Perlstein’s post from yesterday and the conversation that he led. If you’re more interested in an Us Magazine wannabe-tone and an intellect more aptly pitched to writing about the first markdown sale at Barney’s, have a look at what they did at the newspaper of record.
Draw what conclusions you will.
Related posts:
- FDL Book Salon Welcomes David Cole, Torture Memos: Rationalizing the Unthinkable
- Liz Cheney: Calling My Daddy a Torturer is Libelous
- Ridge Watch: Duct Tape and Peppermints, Meaningless Nouns…
- FDL Book Salon Welcomes Eric Boehlert, Bloggers on the Bus: How the Internet Changed Politics and the Press
- The IG Report Delay May Actually Be a Good Sign
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FDL vs NYT? Four hundred quatloos on FDL! Four hundred quatloos on the newcomers!
Wow!
Jane!
“Have You Had Enough?”
mien Gott, I really was first. Damn. At last, the precious zero was mine, and I wasted it!
Hurm. “They also serve who gets the ‘1′.”
Cleter:
Oh man, that’s a lot of quatloos!
Oops… I’m late to my Fizzbin game!
Well, perhaps I am a “loather.” My post on the previous thread about Lieberman, where I imagined a post-election Lieberman weeping about his loss amidst his own Howard Hughes-like filth, was not very nice. But “not wholly credible?” I resent that. I have a goddamned master’s degree. And there seem to be a lot of other people here who are entirely credible. Stupid New York Times.
Jane,
This post makes me love you even more. If that’s possible.
Um, let’s see now. Spinach or no spinach.
More MSM hard-hitting journalism at work:
Cover of the International version of Newsweek (Cover story – magazine cover on left margin)
Cover of the USA version of Newsweek (same deal – check the left margin)
WTF?
As I’ve murmured before, hither and yon: When Blumenthal writes; I read. When Blumenthal speaks; I listen. I am so looking forward to his visit.
i want jane and christy as the editor and publisher of the nyt – keep all the good reporters, let them do their jobs (none of this 1 year of delay over nsa warrantless spying), and put the important stuff on page one.
omg – itsn’t that sad… when i get all hot about a fantasy of who’s running the nyt.
i’m pathetic.
The great oddity in Senior’s review is that the right can be funny, while the left cannot. I can think of perhaps one person on the right with funny creds, and that’s P.J. O’Rourke, who’s become less and less funny the longer he hangs out with the likes of Jonah Goldberg.
The remainder on the right may make jokes, but that doesn’t mean they’re funny, unless one includes sophomoric variations on calling everyone on the left a “useful idiot.”
I ask you, when was the last time you heard a real side-splitter from David Horowitz, or a genuine knee-slapper from William Kristol (and he should have a whole file cabinet of good material after working as Dan Quayle’s chief of staff…)?
I have the very strong feeling that Senior didn’t do anything but scan the book and then called up David Brooks and asked him what he thought of it, and, since Brooks hadn’t read it, either, that made him an authority in her view.
Hope Senior’s happy with her new status as the Leni Riefenstahl of reviewing.
cleter @ 3
A quatloo reference is never a waste!
cleter @ 6
I think it’s entirely credible given his behavior since August 8th. And hysterically funny.
montag @12
Great comment. Have been thinking a lot lately about Riefenstahl and how much the right seems to be channeling her.
When I read the NYT Book Review section on Saturday night, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The review (and reviewer) was so absurd, it seemed like it must be a snark.
I was in college during Vietnam and thought that was a challenging time for our country/culture. However,the absolute cacophany of these wingnutjobs is overwhelming.
Thank you Dab from CT. I’m a firm believer that over-the-top, satirical hyperbole in pursuit of liberty is no vice. And in the case of Senior, crappy-ass reviews in pursuit of “balance” is no virtue.
Cleter at 16:
It gives you some idea of what have we have come to that we look back at Barry Goldwater with warm nostalgia. Oy.
The Boehlert quote is especially revealing about those who substitute adjectives for argument. Rather than address an issue on its merits, call the person advancing an argument “smug,” “unglued,” “condescending,” “berserk”, and then with the arrogance of ignorance suppose you are just so insightful you don’t know if you can stand it.
petedownunder @ 17
Hell, I’m even feeling nostalgic for Tricky Dicky and I never thought I would EVER say those words…
Jacqrat @
7
Jacqrat — the feeling is absolutely mutual. Thanks for all you do.
Glamored and cynical in the extreme, the NYT lost my subscription four years ago. Bumiller, Seyelle, they all type up their opinions and print them as fact. Even Gail Collins took the bait and allowed herself to be defanged for a promotion to lead the most frequently ignored editorial page in NYT’s history. I mean, who bothers with them anymore?
Marion in Savannah @ 19
Yeah, or when John Dean is a hero at FDL. Tricky was at least curious about the world and in his own paranoid bizarre way interested in effective foreign policy. W is just.. well, words fail me.
Hell, I’m even feeling nostalgic for Tricky Dicky and I never thought I would EVER say those words…
Jane Hamsher @ 20
Aww. That’s sweet.
Unhinged and berserk, my ass. Stupid New York Times.
Petedownunder,
John Dean became a hero of mine years ago during the Watergate hearings. He at least tried to tell Tricky about the “cancer growing” in the White House. God, why don’t we have men with the balls of Judge Sirica, Archibald Cox and the rest of them? Remember, back when men were men and crimes were actually called crimes, and there were actually hearings… Ah, my. Or was that just all a fever dream???
montag @
12
She doesn’t have that kind of talent. She’s more like the Squiggy Riefenstahl of reviewing.
(And can we refer to a Wonkette wannabe as a Wonkabe, or would that just sound too much like some kind of flying candy?)
Oh my.
Linen hankerchiefs? Is that a step up from “boxers or briefs?” I can’t even drop my linen and start my grinnin’ since I’m “commando” all the way.
I get so tickled at these “pretenders”.
I know tough. There are 27 tough sumbitches worldwide.
Every Christmas I get 26 Christmas cards.
These yahoos ain’t on the list.
Jane @ 15
Wonkababe???
petedownunder @
22
Nixon may have been a paranoid deranged bastard, but he took presidenting seriously, rather than some kind of reality show prize or dress-up game.
The New York Times doesn’t have the collective moral stamina to evaluate what a disaster our leaders have created over the last six years, or how poorly the New York Times served in its purported function of evaluating them.
Oilfieldguy @ 26
OFG- Much as I admire you, I don’t really think I needed to know about your commando status. I like to think that everybody who posts here is wearing a suit and a tie, or perhaps a toga, like the wise Greek sages of yore. Please don’t burst my fragile illusions.
Eli said “Nixon may have been a paranoid deranged bastard, but he took presidenting seriously, rather than some kind of reality show prize or dress-up game.”
Right. He only wanted to dress up the White House Imperial Guard…! (Does anyone else remember that debacle!?)
cleter @ 31
I’m wearing both. It makes me look super-respectable.
Perhaps Ms. Senior wants us to laugh more because the people running the ship of state aground are clowns.
But I doubt it.
Rock it out,Jane.
I would pay damn good money for a Jane v. Jennifer debate.
What a lovely way to prepare hors d’oevres for the cocktail weenie set, don’t you think?
Marion in Savannah @ 32
Well, he *was* a strange one, which was one of his most endearing qualities. Remember his bizarre photo op with Elvis? Didn’t he deputize Elvis in the War On Drugs or something like that?
Me, I’m wearing a whalebone corset and 14 petticoats… Jane, may I borrow the fainting couch?
Say what you will about Nixon, at least he won rather than stole his Presidential elections. More or less.
Marion in Savannah–Didn’t Nixon want the guards to wear crazy-ass Napoleonic War/high school marching band uniforms?
NeoJoe @ 35
Yes, I would like to see Jane Clintonize her.
Only worse, as I suspect Ms. Senior makes Chris Wallace look like Socrates.
Jane@16 I feel the same way. No matter how much things seemed to be screwed up in the 60’s,I never had the feeling that the social/political situation was out of control or that it would not eventually work out OK. The feeling today is very different and I don’tthinkitis the pessimism of advancing age. The political and social climate is evil and I don’t use that word lightly,. and I am not sure it will work out OK.
Eli @ 36
Oh, Lordy! I had forgotten that! Yup. He sure did. I think HST had something to say about it in Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail. Funny thing, though, he actually respected Nixon. Knew he was a bastard, but respected him. Loved the dedication of one of his books: “To Richard Milhouse Nixon, who never let me down.” No more HST, but Matt Taibi may be picking up that torch…
Steve @ 40
The Republicans are *openly* trying to steal the government and legitimize torture, and a very large chunk of the country seems to be perfectly okay with it.
Nixon tried to keep his dirty tricks secret; Bush *sells* his.
PASS THIS ON http://worldcantwait.net/index.php
October 5: No Work. No School. Protest in the Streets.
THIS REGIME DOES NOT REPRESENT US! AND WE WILL DRIVE IT OUT!”
I will be in S.F. on Thursday.
How about you?
http://911billofrights.blogspot.com
Bush wears his Nixonian evil as a badge of honor. Nixon at least had the decency to be furtive about it.
cleter @ 44
Well, Nixon had to be. Bush apparently doesn’t.
Although Nixon still would have been furtive, because, well, he’s Nixon.
montag @ 27
That became apparent with the rise of the likes of Rove and Lee Atwater. Add in the constant stroking of the religious right and hardball fundraising (and hardball tactics like push-polling) and you have a prescription for the worst principals in the process being adulated and reewarded for their successes.
cleter @ 38
You bet he did. I can’t find a picture of them, but I did find the following description (spew alert here):
“Upon his return from abroad, Nixon ordered up secret service uniforms replete with gold trim, white tunics and plumed black hats that came to a rounded peak. The uniforms, especially the hats, were heaped with scorn, mainly because they made their wearers look like volunteer members of the Nelson Eddy Brigade. It is perhaps significant that this same summer Nixon authorized, then rescinded, a plan to expand domestic intelligence gathering.”
http://modernuniformsmag.com/m….._crowning/
I WISH I could find a picture. They were absolutely HILARIOUS…
Marion in Savannah @ 47
Good Lord. I have no idea why I never heard about this.
Perhaps Bush will make the Secret Service start wearing those uniforms Emperor Palpatine’s guards wore in the Star Wars movies.
I read Jennifer Senior’s “Are Jews Smarter” when it came out. The article isn’t as bad as the title might suggest when intermixed with her seemingly pop assignments. She cherry-picks Ashkenazi history rather dreadfully, though.
But the Blumenthal review is atrocious, and Jane’s take once again illustrates how challenged for humor or originality the lockstep right is as they complain the left has no humor. Jane – Yes this would be right at the same moment that the Administration is trying to suspend habeas corpus and legitimize torture. Somebody get me my joke book, I seem to have misplaced it.
Just stopping in between work tasks. I called Anchorage’s nuttiest AM-radio wingnut this afternoon. He was praising Chris Wallace for putting up with Bill Clinton as Clinton hijacked the nice Chris. Dan Fagan claimed Clinton was “screaming and frothing at the mouth. “It’s just scarey that this guy was the most powerful man in the world for eight years.”
Anyway, I was courteous, slipped in mention of Clinton’s statements about the Battle of Mogadishu. Fagan repeated his assertion he made last Friday that Clinton left Somalia within days against the urgings of all the GOP congressional leadership. Then I let him have it. Nicely.
At first he said he’d let me read the quotes. But when he figured out I was going to read terse quotes by Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Bob Dole, Trent Lott, John McCain and a couple others, he started screaming (frothing at the mouth? I wonder…), cut me off and went to the next caller. Who proceeded to criticize Fagan for “cutting and running” and backed me up.
First time I’ve ever been cut off like that….no. sense. of. humor…
Looking forward to Blumenthal this weekend. I’ll lurk. No time to read his book. I’m reading _Podcasting and Blogging with Garage Band and IWeb_, by Robin Williams. The OTHER Robin Williams.
cleter @ 49
Emperor Whelpatine.
the reason these idiots think the right is funny is because they’re a big friggin joke… they’re the only ones who can laugh at the things that are going on right now…
competence and honesty or hilarity and corruption.
and in response to no humor- all i need to do is point to jon stewart and stephen colbert… who do they have? g.dub. an unintended joke. so funny you want to cry
Eli,
Those uniforms cropped up and were shot down so quickly… They had the glide angle of car keys and the howls of laughter made even Nixon blush. By the way, did you notice the last sentence in the quote? Where the writer notes that even NIXON rescinded a plan to expand domestic intelligence gathering? No wonder we’re all feeling nostalgic for the old bastard…
Eli–Imagine a bad Broadway musical about Napoleon. Something that would be called “Naploleon!” or perhaps “Waterloo!” Then imagine a sort of wretched road-show production of that musical. Imagine the costumes from such an atrocity. That’s what the Nixon uniforms looked like.
Rarely a day passes observing this crazed president and his enablers that I don’t miss HST and wonder aloud what he’d be writing about today. Billmon probably comes closest to the good doctor’s unique worldview….
dachoste @ 52
Or maybe they just assume creatures like Coulter and Limbaugh and Hannity are amusing personae, like Andrew Dice Clay or (I think) pro wrestlers.
And maybe to some extent they are, but most of their followers take everything they say as the gospel truth, which is fooking *terrifying*.
There are three differences between Nixon and Bush
1) The composition of the House of Representatives
2) The composition of the Senate
3) The composition of the U.S. Supreme Court
If Watergate happened in 2004, Nixon would have gotten away with it. Hell, Congress probably would have passed a statute making burglary and wiretapping legal, if the president did it.
I’m getting all misty. I was in college when JFK left us and Camelot did, too; I was a young married traveling through Rapid City, SD, on June 6, 1968, when it was gone forever. For all of the history of we who were there and remember, this eight years is going to be one big blank of nothing good to report. Lord knows we’re all trying here to fix that! No more dreaming – I have work to do and so do we all! I’m proud of everyone who’s fighting in whatever way they can.
McGee @ 55
Rarely a day passes observing this crazed president and his enablers that I don’t miss HST and wonder aloud what he’d be writing about today. Billmon probably comes closest to the good doctor’s unique worldview….
I love Billmon too, but Matt Taibi has a certain “skating REALLY close to the edge” lunacy that HST had. He did a great piece on following Joementum’s campaign around in the last days before the primary…
neurophius @ 57
Absolutely. Specter would have expressed his horror and dismay at the president’s disregard for the law, then introduced a bill to retroactively fix the law, thus eliminating the problem.
neurophius @ 57
And Nixon’s dad wasn’t a rich-ass ex-President with a Golden Rolodex. Wasn’t Nixon’s dad a lemon farmer or somesuch?
God, I can’t believe we have a preznit so ghastly we long for the good old straight-up perfidy of Nixon.
MarchDancer @ 58
MarchDancer, I think one of the reasons we’re doing a bit of yukking it up here is because the only other response is to weep. Bobby must be spinning in his grave… Remember? An AG who didn’t approve of torture? Damn…
I guess the bottom line for me is that, for all his little faults and peccadillos, Nixon was at least a grown-up.
I think it was Reagan who established the basic Republican principle that the president does not need to be in any way grounded in reality, and even Reagan had some occasional lapses into pragmatism.
Someone with a better knowledge of American history can correct me, but I think Bush is closer to Woodrow Wilson than Nixon with respect to civil liberties in time of “war”. Wilson was a racist, had a severe distrust of hyphenated Americans, pushed the Espionage and Sedition Acts and established the Committee on Public Information. A spy on your neighbor network was also implemented. The country was spared a third term by strokes.
Steve @ 64
Somehow I suspect strokes would not save us this time…
The truth is like holy water to these fucking vampires. Good on you Ed*ard.
As to Senior, she’s too busy playing Sex and the City wannabe. What these idiots don’t get is that if it was an honest criticism based on fact, that they would be left alone. We might disagree, but to just take a lazy approach and turn out a piece of shit is inexcusable.
At least the reviewer didn’t use the latest rhetorical trickery advanced by Shotgun Dick Cheney…
“I haven’t read the book”.
-GSD
GSD @ 67
They can’t all be avid readers like Dubya.
At least they didn’t get Farhad Manjoo from Salon to review it. I just learned that his personal blog is entitled: OFFICIAL SPEW ALERT:
“What I Learned From Wikipedia.”
Honestly. You can’t make this shit up, you know….
Doesn’t everybody pretty much know that both the WaPo and NYT book reviews of anything to the left of Bay Buchanan are always dumbass hit-pieces for some years now.
I must say, they do keep outdoing themselves. Why Ms. Senior, anyway? Was Michael Savage unavailable? What about Carrot Top?
Glad to see The Jane with a few choice words on this nonetheless.
Oh, and I can usually only lurk during the day lately, but damn, Citizen Hardin Smith was en fuego today.
(Peanut: “Mommy, why is smoke coming out of your ears?”)
Marion in Savannah @ 69
Damn shame, too. I had 400 quatloos on Manjoo.
Dubya is 60. I read Camus “The Stranger” at 16 and discussed it with my friends. We did it for fun!
ralphbon @ 71
He gives the rest of us man-Jews a bad name.
cleter @
31
Clete, I guess I shouldn’t tell you that I always post while wearing a jock strap and thigh-high gladiator boots?
Well what were you expecting? It’s the New York Times!
Didn’t I just explain this all to you yesterday?
DO try and keep up!!!!
And makes us dyke shiksas cry, too.
More good news! Earth temperature is now the highest it has been in thousands of years.(NO SHIT) James Hansen,(the NASA climate guy who was gaged by the christo-fascist NASA PR punk) stated that the temp has increased .36 degrees per decade over the past 30 years. If the temp increases another degree, it will be hottest period in the past million years.
Sharkbabe @ 76
Or sharksas, as the case may be…
Sharkbabe @ 76
And us straight goyishe goddesses…
Way up at #9, Jacqurat notes the difference between the covers of the international (Losing Afghanistan) and the US editions (My Life in Pictures) of Newsweek. We occasionally see the Aust-NZ editions of Time and are startled at the editorial tone…critical and analytical of US insanity. Of course, that would never fly back in the US, but it does show that those news organizations have enough of a grip on reality to know that US Happy Talk will not sell overseas.
Marion in Savannah @ 79
And gay, goldfish-owning 60ft. theropods.
KO…
“My special comment and THE END OF GEORGE BUSH’S FREE PASS!!!!”
Hoo boy!!~!~
707
NZ Expat @ 80
And vice versa. God forbid anyone should present us Americans with Bad News. I mean, look how that’s worked out for the Democrats.
Steve @ 77
I hope I did this right! Y’all will tell me if I didn’t – I trust you that way! The Pacific Northwest is in a Drought. It’s not raining where it’s supposed to rain. No more.
LOS ANGELES – Mel Gibson criticized the war in Iraq while recently promoting his new film “Apocalypto” at a Texas film festival.
Gibson, 50, drew parallels between the collapsing Mayan civilization depicted in the movie and the United States at a screening Friday at the Fantastic Fest in Austin, the Hollywood Reporter said Monday.
“The precursors to a civilization that’s going under are the same, time and time again,”…
What to make of this?
Cozumel @ 82
Let’s hope Georgie’s free pass was thrown by George Allen (now there’s a pair made for each other). :) “W’all, shit, we’re drugstore cowboys and wanna run the world. Vote fer us, wimps!”
It’s been grand, but my dinner is ready. I’ll see y’all later.
TRex, I firmly expect you to polish up those thigh-high theropod gladiator boots and stomp on something or someone later… We rely on you to make it all better before we put on our jammies and go nighty-night… Please??
News alert:
GOVERNMENT CAVES, SAYS “EGREGIOUS IS RIGHT”;
MASCARA IS NOT A THREAT TO THE NATIONAL SECURITY
About friggin’ time. I was beginning to feel slightly less than gorgeous.
Time stamp 5:50pm at the Washington Post.
At last some good news. As of 4:00am tomorrow, tiny amounts of liquid are permitted.
The New York Times . . .
Is it one of those entertainment books that one purchases for a quid to get half-off when they eat at the worst restaurant in town?
I suppose I’d rather engaqe in a serious debate. I know, is it better to be half-on, or half-off?
Cozumel @
82
Heard this and had to log into FDL. Can’t watch this without y’all
TRex @ 74
Thigh-high on a tyrannosaurus is what, 25-30 feet?
About friggin’ time. I was beginning to feel slightly less than gorgeous.
egorgeous?
Swopa @ 92
I like big boots and I cannot lie!
Enjoyed every minute. ‘nite all.
WTF is Alter doing?
And why Annie Leibowitz, Newsweek? Don’t you know she kept godless kissy-face company with that murka-hata commie Sontag?
Eli @ 93
Well, yes actually :D
Eli you funny.
Just PR. A noxious anti-semite trying to pull a fast one on a blinkered public and a credulous press.
Marion in Savannah @ 88
We’re having a special invitation to lurkers to de-lurk tonight! We thought it would be nice to start the week off meeting some new faces.
Hey Eveningdogs!,
throwing in my quatloos with Twisted Martini above -
Ms. Senior has visions of Wonkette dancing in her head – My Life As A Thin Person Taking It In The Ass
waving to “noted Film Historian David Ehrenstein”
loved seeing you get that Vanity Fair love
OT- but wasnt feingold supposed to give a speech today? anyone hear about it? i was so hoping for a rousing anti-torture anti bush home run to rally the dems
Marion in Savannah @ 37
I was wondering why you looked a bit red in the face. With that corset, I don’t see how you can faint gracefully. (::envisions a falling log::)
cbl @
101
Um, yeah, I was going to make that kind of comparison (replete with “ass” quote) but I figured I’d leave a little something for people in the comments.
Thanks for picking up the baton.
cbl @ 101
But are thin people smarter?
lurkers’r’us @ 102
I was just at MyDD, and Bowers said he was going.
TRex @ 100
New faces? *sniff* Does that mean you’re tired of me lowering the level of discourse with stupid phrases like “jacktard” and “shitbeard” and “quatloo?”
BTW-You bein’ from Athens ‘n’ all, I just assumed you were wearing thigh-boots and gothic clothemongery. Under your blogging toga, of course.
Oh and eat me Yahoo – all day checking my mail I had to endure this “Condi’s private life” headline. Like not only a big scoop, but a charming big scoop. I would put half a trillion quatloons on that creature not even knowing what an orgasm is.
Meanwhile, you ever have days when you just grow sick of being right about shit?
Me last thread:
ralphbon @ 71
Now, on cue, AP dutifully reports that Pat Roberts (!) has joined Democrats in urging the Administration “to declassify the most recent, high-level intelligence assessment on global terror.”
But the story continues (emphasis mine): “Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said the American people should be able to see a public version of the report and draw their own conclusions about its contents.”
Yeah, the “public version.” Won’t that be an edifying read!
Sharkbabe @ 107
I wouldn’t, unless you’re limiting it to sexual orgasms. I’m pretty sure she gets off on war and expensive shoes.
Sharkbabe @ 107
I’m pretty sure she gets wargasms.
Olbermann is ratcheting it up for another “special comment.” :)
Sharkbabe @ 107
Quatloon? Is that one quarter of a loon? :)
Sharkbabe @ 107
Jeebus Sharkbabe, dinnya know?
She’s been saving herself for you! Call 1-800-Condi-is-waiting.
First 100 callers get the video too!
SharonW @ 112
They might be gold pirate quatloos.
Now I am going to have deal for the rest of the evening with the image of rabid sheep on their hind legs wearing togas.
I sniff a slow pups night, but I obviously missed alot of heat thru the day. Just got home from a long day of teaching and, thoroughly whupped, tuned in for diversion. Pretty interesting protest in the Senate from what I could see on C & L. They really got Specter’s goat. I wonder how they got in – and with Cindy Sheehan.
Jane Hamsher @ 104
Umm, so to speak.
Hugh @ 115
Some of whom are wearing thigh-high boots.
Richmond @ 116
The one the Republicans have pictures of him with?
Boy, do I want to hear what Olbermann has to say about the “comma” comment. That remark will go down in history as hugely stupid and callous.
And has no idea of what thin gruel it is, in the scheme of things. I am her exact age, and thank you gods that I’m me.
Plus I’m sure hubby Chimp is as thoughtful and caring a lover as could be imagined. How could he not be.
George @ 120
Keith can feel free to steal my line about how the “comma” needs to turn into some sentences. Loooong sentences.
cleter @ 118
And…uhm…playing with batons.
Eli @ 114
Ah, em, okay, is it pirate day again? And what denomination is that? It sounds as alien as Quark’s gold-pressed latnum.
Sharkbabe @ 121
That would explain Laura’s fixed smile (hey, I just realized it looks the same as the one on the wife in those creepy Enzyte commercials…).
Magnificent, Ms. H, as per usual.
Mad Dogs @ 113
Careful with that one! OT (I am not sure there still is one on this thread now) but I keep the google news page as my web browser, and just had the scary thought that they put up news stories geared to what our google activities show.
SharonW @ 124
It’s the favored currency of glowing brains in jars, but I’m not sure what the exchange rate is.
you’re welcome, we urchins do what we can
I trust you doggs with tv will fill in your tv-less-by-choice comrades on Keith R. Murrow’s latest utterances.
David Ehrenstein @ 99
I would have to say the thought bounced, however briefly, around and off the walls of my brain.
So, did anyone actually watch Katie Couric’s stab at flying with Condi’s rehabilitation tour? WTF?
Eli @ 119
Don’t know your source, but what I saw was a group of people in orange t-shirts (shades of Abu G) spelling out the words NO TORTURE, as they turned their backs to the camera.
Eli @ 109
Bet she got a lot of mileage out of the whole Commander Codpiece thing, too. You know, him in the flight suit and her in a killer pair of Manolos…the two of them in the jet, working the stick, dropping a bomb or two…
(Now looking for soap to wash that image from my brain)
Richmond @ 133
It’s just a theory, really. But it would explain a lot.
raw story link to whatever happened in Senate protest today
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2….._0925.html
Eli @ 125
Well, his Mission Accomplished, flying ace uniform certainly revealed his uh…package. Maybe Laura enjoys playing shish kebob without any gourmet finese.
(I didn’t really say that, did I?)
Um, what? Oh, gimme a break, that’s the dumbest ass thing, Mel.
meta @ 132
Can’t Stand Her (Couric – but actually both). Wat ya mean? Spell out the details pleez! I’ll double your WTF. Is that spelled WWTTFF or 2(WTF)?
Eli-
I always wondered why the disembodied space-brains needed a currency at all. What did they spend it on? All they seemed to do was gamble. Also, why did Kirk run around shirtless in that episode? Chekhov at least had the decency to keep his space-tunic on.
Hey, TRex, are your thigh-boots all sparkly like the ones that fighting-thrall Shanna wore in the glowing, gambling space brains episode of Star Trek?
meta @ 138
Actually, that’s not that dumb.
Eli @ 135
I think I am officially brain dead tonight. Could you splain the “jus a thery” part and “would splain a lot.” ?
Sharkbabe @ 130
If it is true to form, he will have the transcript up on his bloggerman web site and C&L will have it in an hour or two. Meanwhile, we will do our best to fill in what we can on the thread.
Problem is that once he starts talking, it’s hard not to pay full attention. The spell of truth telling is powerful.
Anyone interested in a web poll asking whether it was Clinton or Wallace who was out of line during their interview this weekend? Most people in the poll are now saying that Clinton was out of line:
http://www.mediabistro.com/fis….._44378.asp
Richmond @ 142
That the Republicans remind Specter that they have pictures of him being… intimate with farm animals whenever he starts talking all Constitutional ‘n’ shit.
There were some bloggers from DailyKos who were blogging the whole thing and each wore a tee shirt with a letter on it.
They were admonished a few times for applauding at the few right moments.
meta @ 138
I’m sure Mr. Gibson is into any and all end-times mythology, and is probably simply showing off his knowledge of the Mayan calendar myth about the world ending in December, 2012.
These guys have a hard-on for god’s destructive impulses. Sort of matches their own. :)
cleter @ 140
Nope. Black. With silver buckles shaped like screaming skulls.
I forgot to mention that I always wear my necklace of ears, as well.
cleter @ 141
Yeah, one theory is that the Mayans burned all the trees around them to make the plaster needed to pretify their temples, and the land got wasted. It would be interesting to find out how much of our forests have been felled to build all the new tax payer funded mega churches around the country.
KO
“Bush admin given greatest pass for incompetence and malfeasance in history”
Oh man, Olbermann is BLASTING Bush!
Eli @ 145
cbl, thanks for the tip! I wonder if I can give those to Verizon to get my cellphone turned back on?!
OMG
Best. Keith. EVER
OH GOD! OLBERMANN’S ON FIRE!!!
the beauty of plain words – thank gods for you Keith – you are a hero and history will record it
Eli@145 – DOn’t do that to me unannounced! I just spilt a half cup of hot coffee on the dog curled up next to me on the couch!!
Keith!!!!!!!
Man, it scares me that it is so invigorating to hear a newscaster tell the simple truth.
Marion in Savannah @ 79
A college boyfriend of mine was the only gentile (as am I) in a “quad” of 8 dorm-mates. They called us Goy-boy and the Shiksa. All in good fun – who cares when everybody’s wrecked?
Sharkbabe @ 156
Depending on who writes it.
Keith just called bush a coward
SharonW @ 155
I am having major cable envy tonight. Hope it is up on C&L soon.
re Bush:
“TEXTBOOK DEFINITION OF COWARDICE”
SharonW I have a built-in soft spot for you – my most recent and spectacular ex is a SharonW too
plus your posts rock
BRAVO, KO!!!!!
KO
“Mr. Bush, Are yours the actions of a true American?”
Keith – stay off small planes…
Yes, I won’t turn off my wingnut filter to get MSNBC. I’ll just wait for youtube or C&L. But I do have a man-crush on Keith. I’d even go to a Yankee game with him.
Wow. That was the best commentary I’ve heard. They get better and better.
David Ehrenstein @
75
Okay. I read your post, David, at the above link. And must say I agree 100% although I have only “toiled” through the first through last page of Failed States. Chomsky tells “Truth to Power” and once you see what he is saying, you can never again claim “the Nation’s clothes are magnificent” nor the “Nation’s major newspaper” honest!
i think jennifer is working from a pre 9/11 mindset.
radical regimes require radical responses.
not that i see that happening.
maybe after someones son, daughter, or loved one is disappeared.
‘course, by then it will be too late.
snippets
“worst presidency since Buchanan”
sweet jeebus,
“lewinksy witchhunt distracted him and us . . .”
“a witchhunt CONDUCTED BY WHOM ?!!?!”
“clogging up this network with Lewinsky minutae”,
apparently Mr. Olberman has been wanting to say this for quite some time – he’s sparing NONE of the guilty
Richmond — a tidbit for you:
It was breathtaking, pointed, blunt.
All but called Bush what he is, a major f*ckup.
Olbermann!! Is he God?
Keith is not trying to keep any of his powder dry any more.
Would that the dems follow his lead– how ironic is that?
ok…c&l, if you’re out there, please give us some KO tonite. it’s been a long ass hard monday, and i could use some inspiration…. love to all yall!
Richmond @ 162
Guarantee this is on C&L in minutes. He was hot. He was great. He said everything you’ve ever wanted said about Bush publicly. He was freakin’ glorious.
I would have attempted to type as he spoke, but he was so on fire…I couldn’t keep up considering how enthralled I was.
Damn, the best ever! Hotchie Motchie, Keith, you rock hard.
charley @ 171
Soon to be legal…
op 159 – that’s what I’ve always loved about the Jooz I’ve been lucky enough to find in my life & r’ships – uniquely funniest muthafuckas ever. Take Eli, for example. (Please.)
Agh. I left it on MSNBC too long, now I hear Lawrence O’Donnell puling on about the Faux interview with Clinton.
Did any of these stupid dorks get the message that Clinton was blindsided by these Faux Fascists about the nature of the interview???
Here’s one who is trying…
Fuckin’ A Wes! Get medieval on their corrupt and incompetent asses!
Sharkbabe @ 179
It’s a scientific truth that Jooz is good for you.
Here it is. (the transcript)
A textbook definition of cowardice
Keith Olbermann comments on Bill Clinton’s Fox News interview
Eli @ 178
When has that ever made a difference to these thugs?
neurophius @ 184
Apparently it makes a difference on some level, since they’re trying so hard to make all their crimes legal now.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWzer
Keith was on fire. What a writer. All I can say is Keith Olbermann speaks for us!
RevDeb @ 183
Don’t forget to scroll down and rate it.
Sharkbabe @ 164
Awww, well, I’ll take any advantage in likeability I can muster. That’s also so kind of you to say that about my posts considering the bounty of witty and pithy writers that are here in abundance. ;)
OK, that’s it. I’m gonna hook back up to those DirecTV bastards just for St. Keith. And tell them it’s why.
Rayne @ 173
WOW!! Thanks so much for the teaser. What a hero! I also would be worried about KO trying to get on big planes considering what happened to a certain dignitary from South America recently.
My tivo runneth over with Olbermann greats! We need DVD’s Keith!
Sharkbabe @ 189
DirecTV is owned by Murdoch. Go with DISH!
Does he write his own stuff?
Eureka Springs, AR @ 191
I’ve started burning DVD’s of Olbermann off of the TIVO. Gotta keep these for posterity! Got the 9/11 comments and last friday’s (not just Clinton, but Turley, very important) and a few others waiting to be burned.
Sharkbabe @ 179
Oh, we had a grand old time. Started a two-on-two basketball league, with the teams named after concentration camps. We was some sick bastards, lol.
op99 @ 195
Must… resist… concentration camp/basketball puns…
That Olbermann hit ten point two on the television richter scale this evening.
Best speach ever! lets see fox fight this.
Twisted Martini @ 193
I’m sure he has a staff of researchers and writers, but I have no doubt he has a lot of input to his Special Comments.
I have removed the NYT from my bookmarks recently. They are on the other side.
I give people credit for reading all the trash in the media. It just makes me angry and gets me nowhere.
Soon to be legal…
that’s pre 9/11 think’n.
we don’t need no stink’n laws.
we make our own reality.
after awhile, you’ll get used to it.
Twisted Martini…KO writes his own stuff. He is INCREDIBLE>
LindaR, I know – Dish doesn’t serve my boonies though, I tried. Maybe I should do re-check out comcast. Like any of these bastards aren’t thieving evil mind-sucking fucks.
RevDeb @ 194
Wonderful! Time for this hillbilly to upgrade.)
called chris wallace
“a monkey disguised as a newscaster”
on Clinton’s Fox appearance
“as startling and as liberating as anyone in the last 5 years”
“The Bush Admin DID NOT TRY”
after speaking of FDR, Hoover, Lincoln and their having to take responsibility for historical events
“but not this President
to hear him bleat and whine and bully at nearly every opportunity, one would think someone else had been President on 9/11 or the eight months that had preceeded it”
cbl @ 204
Actually, Keith?
No-one was.
“but not this President
to hear him bleat and whine and bully at nearly every opportunity”
I especially love the bleating part.
Oh, this is adorable. C&L just knew everyone would want to see Olbermann.
Up now: We’re working on it. :)
Like this too:
I missed most of Keith’s comment but heard the last part. Can’t wait for the video.
oh crap !
“consider the timing – the very same week end the NIE to be released, and show the Iraq war to be the fraudulent failure it is”
oh my, we have been very good little urchins indeed
RevDeb – you forgot “the hyenas”*g*
I am certain that nobody but K himself writes his centerpiece orations. No, it’s actual real shit from an actual impassioned human being, and actually on a tv screen.
Imagine that, public speakers on tv actually thinking up their own words. For that alone he’s astonishing and an entity unto himself.
cbl @ 210
LOL – Yeah, that was great…the Fox hyenas.
neurophius @ 209
script is HERE. Rate it high, e-mail it around, etc.
Can we stay up late and impeach now?
Wow – wonder if they ever let Bush watch KO…and it might be enough to give Cheney “the big one.”
KO I think was being unfair to James Buchanan. If we survive as a country, George W Bush will be the most detested man in American history.
KO kicked ass, again. My wife and I think he’s working up to calling for impeachment.
Tangentially topical, I’m 2/3 through Frank Rich’s “The Greatest Story Ever Sold”, and I thoroughly recommend it.Clear, concise, beautifully written, and funny in a “laugh or you’ll cry” kind of way.
thank you kisses msnbc reporter pals!
Olberman is magnificent. He shames us all.
Anne @ 215
from your mouth (keyboard) to the Goddess’ ears! Then again, perhaps better wait until after the mid-terms.
more on Chris Wallace – for trying to pass it all off as viewer e mails -
“had I in one moment surrendered all my credibility as a journalist and been irredeemably humiliated as was he, I would’ve gone home and started selling seeds . . .by mail”
RevDeb @ 220
Bush will declare Keith an unlawful combatant.
Since it’s election season, I do hope Keith works up to KKKarl. Would be very nice if he could convince the entire electorate to watch their votes, or KKKarl is gonna steal `em, suppress `em and stomp on `em….
I think that would be a rousing show–Olbermann interviewing James C. Moore.
cbl @ 221
Yeah, I thought Wallace’s hiding behind viewer e-mail was as transparent as glass.
KOlbermann@msnbc.com
countdown@msnbc.com
viewerservices@msnbc.com
letters@msnbc.com
dabrams@msnbc.com
For those who might be inspired to give Keith some love tonight…
Thank you, KO, for the big KO
neurophius @ 206
Oh, no…. That doesn’t make him a rabid lamb, does it??? Please say it isn’t so…
Since Bush is God’s president and is doing God’s will, I am surprised that there hasn’t been more christo-fascist backlash against KO. If this latest hit on Bush doesn’t have them crawling out of the sewers, I don’t know what will. Body armor and no small planes for Keith.
and now he lays in to all those calls of Wag The Dog when Clinton dare mention OBL
“authoritarians”
this fucker is totally one of us – if that isn’t left blogistan patois . . .
Eli #205 — you got that right.
Bush was on vacation for an awfully BIG chunk of time in that first 8 months…not to mention that he’s an 8-to-5 kind of guy, goes to bed early, spends a couple of hours in the middle of the day working out.
What a slacker.
Mentally, spiritually, physically a slacker as president.
Marion in Savannah @ 226
Nah, by his age, George is just old mutton in a soiled DKE toga. Gotta still check for rabies, though. (On second thought, George isn’t showing signs of rabies. Scrapies, yes, rabies, no.)
Rayne @ 229
Imagine the damage he could have done if he worked at it full time.
if you Tivo O Reilly and 24, it wont let you watch a 3rd channel*g*
My, aren’t we speaking BOLDLY tonight!
I have been seeing shit about an October 5 protest. It falls on my daughters birthday, the one that is a fan of Jane’s day job.
It is also the Birthday of Barry Switzer, the God of OU football. So any protests set up that day, I must insist, be in the form of the wishbone.
And the Keith Keith Olbermann video is UP!
Steve @ 216
I recently had to upfont the Worst President Ever! on my impeach shrub page.
cleter@110: Wargasms! I’m a couple of hours late reading your 110 but thanks for the belly laugh!
BTW- new thread has been up for a while.
New thread upstairs. Jennifer Nix is offering We the Blogs.
Don’t worry, KO is not OT.
RevDeb @ 231
OUCH ;-)
I have raised a little hell in my day, but Olbermann is the bomb. Obviously, he is on fire, and deserves a million gold stars, but I keep wondering why he is still having to go it alone. I know, I know, the MSM sucks, etc., but really, what Keith is saying has been as clear as day for years.
There are three serious shows on TV today. Three teams of writers that are willing to stand up and be counted. Two of them have been at it for years, using humor to make their points; I speak of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. SC has had his own show only for a while, of course, but hit the highest notes up to that point at the correspondents’ dinner.
Tonight, Keith outdid Colbert’s astounding performance. And he did without (much) humor. Okay, the monkey thing was pretty funny, but basically, this was straight up, in your face, how dare you fuck up something as important as American ideals. Torture? Aggressive war? Pathological, sociopathic lying about the greatest issues our country faces today?
We’re going to get through this nightmare. It will take decades to recover what has already been destroyed, in the best case. I won’t live to see it, and neither will some of you, but my daughter has a good chance of living in the country that I grew up in, someday. For that, I will continue to fight.
Thank you, Keith.
I would have made the title “How Bush Rules: Chronicles of a Mad Regime.”
And how about Big Dog Bill Clinton on Fox News the other day.
That took courage on his part. Walking into the lion’s den at Fox News. Similar to a Christian walking into the lion’s den in days of yore.
In Big Dog’s case, he showed how the lyin’ lions at Fox News are nothing more than cowardly lions. Big Dog, in fact, faced off with one of the lyin’ cowardly lions at Fox News, and forced the cowardly lion to slink off with his tail between his legs. A cowardly Fox News lion who then licked his wounds down near where his tail was last seen hanging.
Anyway, this got me to thinking about the cowardly lyin’ lions Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld. You know, the cowardly lyin’ lions who, respectively, went AWOL, chickened out and (in Rumsfeld’s case) is currently destroying the U.S. military so hand-picked, partisan companies can “privatize” it.
They are so cowardly that they often only appear before fellow, handpicked crowds of cowardly lions. I guess this would be a pack of cowardly lyin’ lions in their den of iniquity. So, Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld are cowards. They can’t face a “tough” crowd, that is, a crowd not pre-packed with other fellow cowardly lyin’ lions.
While Bill Clinton, a courageous American citizen with both a spine and principles, walked into the Fox News lions den…and declawed one of the cowardly lyin’ lions.
(Gee, what a tongue twister. The cowardly lyin’ lions in the Bush administration. Cowardly lyin’ lions that in 2001, upon entering the White House, threw out Bill Clinton’s counter-terrorism programs because of their intense hatred of anything associated with Bill Clinton, like his successful counter-terrorism programs. And look at what happened eight months later. 9/11 happened, that’s what. And all because of the envy-based hatred all the cowardly lyin’ lions in the Bush administration had toward Bill Clinton. This, my friends, is what direcly led to the success of the hijackers on 9/11. The hatred of the Bush administration cowardly lyin’ lions for Bill Clinton, and all the success Bill Clinton had during his time in office, especially in stopping any further strikes inside the United States after the 1993 first World Trade Center attack. Oh, and look at what they’ve done to FEMA, a highly successful and professional agency under Bill Clinton, to see how much their hatred has hurt America. Corruption definitely starts at the top in the cowardly lyin’ lion Bush administration.)
Terry in Maryland @
144
You read the poll wrong. it says just the opposite (at least now it does [midnight EDT])
fahrender @
243
Funny how that turned out, isn’t it? :D