Digby!

Patients! (all of us, eventually)

Rush is fully immersed in moral depravity. There is apparently no limit to how low the road can go. Funny how Rush just makes shit up yet calls other people fake. Disgusting.

Sad but true statements, Jane. Why Rush is still regarded as “mainstream” is a mystery beyond my comprehension. The comments by K-Lo are equally inane. I’d love to know which “doctors and experts” were speaking off the record about Fox’s condition. I think it was the voices in her head, since every quote for attribution I’ve come across indicates that actual doctors and experts think Rush is completely full of crap.

Sad times indeed for this country and the world.

bastards.

I’ve been saving up some OTs so here they are. George Bush held a press conference today. Much of it was a rehash of previously stated positions. Because of its length, I will treat only his opening statement in this comment.

We learned some key lessons from that early phase in the war. We saw how quickly al Qaeda and other extremist groups would come to Iraq to fight and try to drive us out. We overestimated the capability of the civil service in Iraq to continue to provide essential services to the Iraqi people. We did not expect the Iraqi army, including the Republican Guard, to melt away in the way that it did in the phase [face?]of advancing coalition forces.

It wasn’t a case of “overestimation” at all. Paul Bremer Bush’s viceroy for Iraq in his first two acts as head of the CPA fired all the Baathists which meant nearly everyone in the civil service and dissolved the Iraqi Army. They got rid of these guys and then wondered why they weren’t there. How weird is that?

Al Qaeda and insurgents were unable to stop this progress. They tried to stand up to our forces in places like Fallujah, and they were routed. So they changed their tactics. In an intercepted letter to Osama bin Laden, the terrorist Zarqawi laid out his strategy to drag Iraq’s Shia population into a sectarian war. To the credit of the Shia population, they resisted responding to the horrific violence against them for a long time.

It says a lot about Bushworld that he sees Fallujah as a victory. In fact, it converted an amorphous resistance to the occupation into a full fledged insurgency. It also destroyed a city. In keeping with this flight from reality, Bush also praises the Shia who initially “resisted responding” to Sunni attacks. They have since, of course, been making up for lost time and now run the largest death squads.

Americans have no intention of taking sides in a sectarian struggle or standing in the crossfire between rival factions.

Snip

Most recently, we have moved additional coalition and Iraqi forces into Baghdad so they can help secure the city and reduce sectarian violence.

Sometimes it can be so difficult to keep one’s lies straight. So while American troops are not getting caught up in the sectarian violence (i.e. the civil war), they are.

I know the American people understand the stakes in Iraq. They want to win. They will support the war as long as they see a path to victory. Americans can have confidence that we will prevail because thousands of smart, dedicated military and civilian personnel are risking their lives and are working around the clock to ensure our success. A distinguished independent panel of Republicans and Democrats, led by former Secretary of State Jim Baker and former Congressman Lee Hamilton, is taking a fresh look at the situation in Iraq and will make recommendations to help achieve our goals. I welcome all these efforts. My administration will carefully consider any proposal that will help us achieve victory.

I think most Americans realized a long time ago that we are not going to win in Iraq. They want our troops out and to forget that there ever was such a place called Iraq. As for the Baker-Hamilton Iraq Study Group, note that Bush is only interested if it helps him “achieve victory”. Sounds like lip service to me since Baker and Hamilton have already ruled out the possibility for “victory”.

If we do not defeat the terrorists or extremists in Iraq, they will gain access to vast oil reserves, and use Iraq as a base to overthrow moderate governments across the broader Middle East. They will launch new attacks on America from this new safe haven. They will pursue their goal of a radical Islamic empire that stretches from Spain to Indonesia.

OK so this is the standard rehash of an old Bush strawman: If we do not do what Bush says blah, blah the terrorists will gain control of our Iraqi oil blah, blah and establish an Islamofascist Caliphate.

I know many Americans are not satisfied with the situation in Iraq. I’m not satisfied, either. . . But we cannot allow our dissatisfaction to turn into disillusionment about our purpose in this war. We must not look at every success of the enemy as a mistake on our part, cause for an investigation, or a reason to call for our troops to come home.

This is the first time that I remember Bush bringing up the subject of investigations and this may indicate that even he doesn’t believe his protestations that Republicans will hold on to the Congress. Is it just me or does this sound like Bush is saying if the Democrats investigate then the terrorists win?

As General Casey reported yesterday in Iraq, “the men and women of the Armed Forces… have never lost a battle in over three years in the war.” Every American can take pride in our troops, and the vital work they are doing to protect us.

This struck me as an eerie and kind of creepy echo of the rhetoric surrounding the Vietnam War. We never lost a battle there either.

The full text is here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news…..61025.html

Kinda like Chris Matthews’ all disingenuous asking Dick Durbin if the blonde bimbo TN ad against Ford is the kind of thing Barack Obama can expect if he runs for president.

While providing a forum for the racist Philly version of Rush, Michael Smerconish.

And it all comes from the top…from George W. Bush. Filtered down thru Rove and Mehlman and their lackeys.

And gee, George is such a nice guy, a charmer, whatever else the MSM wants to use to assuage their consciences about carrying water for this pack of outlaws….

Judge a man by the company he keeps…and this President keeps company with the likes of Abramoff and Foley and Hastert and Delay and Chee-knee and Rove and Mehlman. Corrupt, hypocritical, lying pigs, all.

sorry to go off topic but this is important

raw storty has an article of the rove/npr interview

rove INSISTS his polls indicate a CLRER win for the republicans

this in spite of what we know about how people thing

I am telling you with no doubt, the fix is in, get set to feel that knot in your stoumack the same way you felt it when kerry lost even thoug the exit polls said he won

exit polls are never wrong, they’ve never been wrong, they weren’t wrong in the vote for president, kerry won that election

there is no paper trail and even if the exit polls show a dispareging result, there cannot possilby be reoounts

this time they will be smarter, they will make the election tally closer then they did last time, but no matter who we vote for, the republicans maintain their majority

sorry to be so off beat, but after reading how smug rove was, I know as a fact the fix is in

for instance, if the fix weren’t in, he wouldn’t be saaying the republicans are a lock, he’d be telling everyone the democrats could win so you must vote

we are in for a huge dissapointment

Claire M did quite a good job fending off stupid Tucker Carlson by pointing out that it is a good thing to get the whole country talking about stem cell research

well, I posted elsewhere on this…

if you believed the end was near / that the Rapture is around the bend…

or that the sooner you die the better so you can get to heaven…

you wouldn’t support Stem Cell Research either.

I compared this to the Tillman family story – where it was said that if the family had religion – if they believed he’d gone to heaven – they wouldn’t need to pursue finding out how he’d died. But since for them, he’d just become worm dirt, they couldn’t let it go.

Hard to get a handle on this illogical crap – that for some percentage of the population of the good old USA, it’s fine that our sons and daughters (as well as a bunch of Iraqis) are getting killed in Iraq – surely, our kids are getting a turbo boost ride to the promised land?

God Help us All.

Rush’s fans are certifiable. He CAN’T fuck up as far as they are concerned. Most of what Rush says would offend people who expect honesty and sensitivity from their talking heads- but that simply doesn’t apply to lard head- he can get away with just about anything and there is no consequence.

by the way

hasn’t rush’s listener ship been halved?

I think it used to be around twenty, now it’s around ten million

Rush & Bush sound remarkably alike as they absolve themselves of personal accountability.

Has anyone here heard the Corker jungle drum radio ad? You can get to it thru TPM or Kos.

Prairie Sunshine @ 7

Kinda like Chris Matthews’ all disingenuous asking Dick Durbin if the blonde bimbo TN ad against Ford is the kind of thing Barack Obama can expect if he runs for president.

While providing a forum for the racist Philly version of Rush, Michael Smerconish.

And it all comes from the top…from George W. Bush. Filtered down thru Rove and Mehlman and their lackeys.

And gee, George is such a nice guy, a charmer, whatever else the MSM wants to use to assuage their consciences about carrying water for this pack of outlaws….

Judge a man by the company he keeps…and this President keeps company with the likes of Abramoff and Foley and Hastert and Delay and Chee-knee and Rove and Mehlman. Corrupt, hypocritical, lying pigs, all.

You have a way with words. :)

Bush’s presser continued: The questions

Q Are we winning?
THE PRESIDENT: Absolutely, we’re winning. Al Qaeda is on the run. As a matter of fact, the mastermind, or the people who they think is the mastermind of the September the 11th attacks is in our custody. We’ve now got a procedure for this person to go on trial, to be held for his account. Most of al Qaeda that planned the attacks on September the 11th have been brought to justice.

The reference to the 911 mastermind is to Khalid Shaikh Mohammed who was captured on March 1, 2003. So this is not exactly a recent development. Bush shows his ignorance of the law (and his ignorance in general) by equating death or capture with “being brought to justice.” In fact, no one has been “brought to justice” using the military commissions to which he is referring and which he signed into law only a week ago. His statement about al Qaeda ignores that both it and terrorism have morphed and evolved and that his own NIE indicates that terrorism has grown because of his policies. Bush also avoids the point that al Qaeda’s One and Two Osama bin Laden and Zawahiri are still at large.

Bush defines victory

I want to remind you, victory is a government that can sustain itself, govern itself — a country that can govern itself, sustain itself and defend itself, and serves as an ally in the war on terror – which stands in stark contrast to a government that would be chaotic, that would be a safe haven for the enemy to launch attacks on us.

This isn’t just a definition of victory. It’s a good yardstick to measure eternity. Oh, and note that democracy thing no longer appears.

THE PRESIDENT: David, there is a significant difference between benchmarks for a government to achieve and a timetable for withdrawal. You’re talking about — when you’re talking about the benchmarks, he’s talking about the fact that we’re working with the Iraqi government to have certain benchmarks to meet as a way to determine whether or not they’re making the hard decisions necessary to achieve peace. I believe that’s what you’re referring to. And we’re working with the Iraqi government to come up with benchmarks.

Listen, this is a sovereign government. It was elected by the people of Iraq. What we’re asking them to do is to say, when do you think you’re going to get this done, when can you get this done, so the people themselves in Iraq can see that the government is moving forward with a reconciliation plan and plans necessary to unify this government.
That is substantially different, David, from people saying, we want a time certain to get out of Iraq. As a matter of fact, the benchmarks will make it more likely we win. Withdrawing on an artificial timetable means we lose.

Benchmarks aren’t timetables because they lay out a series of goals to be met within certain time limits while timetables lay out a series of goals to be met within certain time limits. I’m glad he cleared that point up because I was a little confused about it.

THE PRESIDENT: Iran and Syria understand full well that the world expects them to help Iraq. We’ve made that very clear to them.

This is standard Bushspeak. Of course, we haven’t actually talked to them about any of this because that would show weakness. Anyway, this whole talking to other countries is vastly overrated. They know what we want without it, and we only will talk to them if they first do everything we want, at which point what is the need to talk to them?

THE PRESIDENT: Wait a minute, let me say — the ultimate accountability, Peter, rests with me. That’s the ultimate — you’re asking about accountability, that’s — rests right here. It’s what the 2004 campaign was about. If people want to — if people are unhappy about it, look right to the President.

I think the President makes a good point here, one we should all remember on November 7.

Q What if there is a civil war?
THE PRESIDENT: You’re asking me hypotheticals. Our job is to make sure there’s not one, see. You been around here five-and-a-half years, you know I won’t answer hypotheticals. Occasionally slip up, but –

Meanwhile the hypothetical rages on in Iraq. Makes you wish we had someone like a Lincoln now, you know the President during the American Hypothetical.

As to the Michael J. Fox political spot and the Limbaugh response to it. Rush is one of the nastiest pieces of work to come down the pike in my lifetime. And I don’t think for one moment that Karl Rove didn’t approve in advance, the Limbaugh comments. And these guys call themselves Christians. The Limbaugh comments on Michael Fox is precisely the kind of sick sewer-ball politics the Bush characters thrive on.

Bush presser: Conclusion

Bush also gave a statement of his core philosophy:

The enemy still wants to strike us. The enemy still wants to achieve safe haven from which to plot and plan. The enemy would like to have weapons of mass destruction in order to attack us. These are lethal, cold-blooded killers. And we must do everything we can to protect the American people, including questioning detainees, or listening to their phone calls from outside the country to inside the country. And there was — as you know, there was some recent votes on that issue. And the Democrats voted against giving our professionals the skill — the tools necessary to protect the American people.

I will repeat, like I’ve said to you often, I do not question their patriotism; I question whether or not they understand how dangerous this world is. And this is a big issue in the campaign. Security of the country is an issue, just like taxes are an issue. If you raise taxes, it will hurt the economy. If you don’t extend the tax cuts, if you don’t make them — in other words, if you let the tax cuts expire, it will be a tax increase on the American people.

You have enemies. You don’t need to know who they are but be afraid. Bush will take care of it. You don’t need to ask any questions. You can trust him. Democrats are weak. You can’t trust them. They like terrorists. They don’t even like torture. Bush is too big a man to question the patriotism of these traitors but (cool segue) they don’t like tax cuts for the rich either. They want to hurt the economy. They want to strike at you. Return to top and repeat as necessary.

Rush ratings

I haven’t seen any recent ratings for Rush- but I’d be surprised if he ISN’T losing listeners.

People started listening to him cause they were pissed off at the pointy headed politicians in Washington. Now Rush spends most of his time DEFENDING the pointy headed politicians in Washington. His role now is actually to CONSTRAIN anger at the govt. It won’t work for him in the long term. It requires him to pretend that the democrats are still in power.

That’s it. I’m taking a break from politics tonight. For the rest of the evening, I officially refuse to care.

But I will link to this before I forget, in case anyone’s interested. I transcribed a bit more of David Korten’s talk from a couple weeks ago.

One of the many lessons that I learned in my years abroad is that much of what we call development is actually a process of expropriating the land and water resources on which the bottom 85% depend for their livelihoods, in order to make way for the dams, mines, shrimp farms, agricultural estates, golf courses, suburban sprawl, and shopping centers that primarily benefit the top 20%. Now to put this in simple language, conventional economic growth indicators in fact measure the rate at which productive resources of the poor are being transferred to the rich, and converted to garbage.

http://realreligiousleft.blogspot.com

Fine post, Jane. I’ll spotlight it to some people (I know honey catches more flies than vinegar, but it’s hard not to explain to Fred Hiatt that these are the fleas you wake up with, when you lie down with rabid, pestilence-ridden dogs.)

me to me -

I can’t speak for anyone else but this progressive won’t be surprised if we remain a minority in the house and the senate; I have zero hopes tied into us winning.

And I’m not talking about vote shenanigans either, which I assume will take place where they can get away with it. I’m just not a believer that things will be turning around so quickly.

I can’t be any more disappointed in my fellow Americans than I already am. ‘04 should have been a lock, a landslide of such proportion it would have been impossible for them to steal.

I’ll still vote, I’ll still work for change, but I ain’t no political spring chicken anymore.

As a guy who never once took a snap as QB in organized football at any level, he had no grounds whatsoever to have questioned the intelligence of Donovan McNabb.

The sports media did the right thing and ran him out of town.

There were too many people smarter, more experienced and simply better human beings in that arena to pay more than a few days worth of attention to Rush Limbaugh.

He is no more of an expert on politics than he is football, yet he has a steady job. Why is that?

Because controversy helps muddle the real issues. Scream louder, we don’t care how ridiculous it is – if the lefties are riled up it actually helps our cause, no matter how inane the premise.

WE WANT PEOPLE TO SEE A DISTINCTION BETWEEN US AND THEM!

Try not to fall for this shit.

Well done, Jane. We should be spotlighting this to the national media, and particularly to the NBC, MSNBC networks.

On tonight’s Hardball, Chris Matthews showed the Fox ad, then showed rush’s responses, and asked his panelists what they thought. Neither was outraged by Rush, and Chris himself said, “well, I like Rush, but this may be over the line.”

Same old stuff.

Last OT blast

Your daily gas and oil prices

Average price for regular gasoline 10/25/06 in 50 states and DC

$2.90 plus 1 state : Hawaii
$2.80 plus 0 states
$2.70 plus 0 states
$2.60 plus 1 state : Alaska
$2.50 plus 2 states
$2.40 plus 5 states
$2.30 plus 3 states
$2.20 plus 13 states
$2.10 plus 15 states
$2.00 plus 11 states : Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, New Jersey, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia

Average national price: $2.199, down $.003 from yesterday
Down 41.4 cents from same time last year.
Highest recorded national average price: $3.057 9/5/2005

Highest average price: Hawaii $2.924
Lowest average price: New Jersey $2.039

http://www.fuelgaugereport.com/sbsavg.asp

Nymex Crude Future $61.65, up $2.30 from yesterday
Dated Brent Spot $59.61, up $2.07
WTI Cushing Spot $59.10, up $2.00

Gas prices decline but now at a rate of about 2 cents a week. The oil markets woke up to reality today and moved upward away from the artificial and unsustainable lows of the last few days. I would say the trading range at the moment should be $58-$62 but we’ll see.

U.S. generals call for Democratic takeover

http://www.salon.com/news/feat…../generals/

Tug @ 23

As a guy who never once took a snap as QB in organized football at any level, he had no grounds whatsoever to have questioned the intelligence of Donovan McNabb.

The sports media did the right thing and ran him out of town.

There were too many people smarter, more experienced and simply better human beings in that arena to pay more than a few days worth of attention to Rush Limbaugh.

He is no more of an expert on politics than he is football, yet he has a steady job. Why is that?

Because controversy helps muddle the real issues. Scream louder, we don’t care how ridiculous it is – if the lefties are riled up it actually helps our cause, no matter how inane the premise.

WE WANT PEOPLE TO SEE A DISTINCTION BETWEEN US AND THEM!

Try not to fall for this shit.

I am an Eagles fan because of rush.

Look, folks. We’re forgetting our references here. This is plain and simple the Wellstone Memorial service of the 2006 midterms. Phony scandal, fake outrage, mere weeks before voters may go to the booth and change the landscape. They need to pull something out of their, uh, hats. All they need to do is turn off 2% of the voters, and they win.

This is chess, and Rove knows what moves he needs to make not to keep it close, but to win. Fox must have been a serious enough threat to the plan to keep power that he needed to be attacked. I would take this a signal to run twice as many Fox ads – obviously they are threatening and throwing a wrench into Rove’s plans.

Olbermann is cranking it up.

While I’m sure Rush’s knowledge of pharmacopia is exhaustive, his logic — which runs something along the lines of “doesn’t everyone start shaking when they stop taking the little pills” — doesn’t seem to apply in the case of Fox and others who suffer from Parkinson’s disease. Who knew?

Perfect.

This quote is just what the clinic’s medication safe needs (duly credited, natch).

Thanks, Jane!

The horror of Parkinson’s — my Dad passed last April — is that as a collection of symptoms it is variable and all over the place. There are the “frozen ones” and the “shakers,” those whose step is faulty and those whose grip is unrelenting. For someone as ignorant and bestial as Rush Limbaugh to be quoted by TradMed as knowing ANYTHING about this disease, especially as opposed to an articulate, brave, and attractive spokesperson as Michael J. Fox, is shameful. But entirely predictable, as the base probably thinks it’s Alex Keaton talking to them. And that’s scary to Rove, Rush, et.al.

Thanks also for highlighting Leslie Stahl’s blameshifting on the Andy Rooney show, Jane. There wasn’t nearly enough attention given to Ms. Stahl for charging Grandma with incivility. Good to see you circling back for that one!

========
Had Enough?
========

Great info Jane & lots of outstanding thoughts in Hugh’s posts.

Sorry OT/ speaking of wellstone, has anything been heard about the missing field director from Tester’s campaign?
Apparently he’s been found.

David Gregory asks Bush about semantics on Iraq. And Bush presumes to lecture us. My God.

My father who had been an active Democrat for most of his life drank the Regan era kool aid. He was proud to call himself a Regan Democrat afterwards. He bought into Rush, and as his hearing went with his age and health, it was painful on many levels to listen to 2 radios blasting Rush every day, watching my father buy into his crap, and being my father’s primary caretaker, there wasn’t much I could do to avoid hearing what Rush had to say.

I have to say after the hospice care took over, and my Dad went to sleep to for the last time, it felt so good to know that my father was at peace, and I could turn Rush off for the final time.

On the Bush presser he says Rumsfeld is smart. Wasn’t the same said of Robert McNamara?

speaking of charming individuals (via TPM):

Cheney confirms that detainees were subjected to water-boarding
By Jonathan S. Landay
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON – Vice President Dick Cheney has confirmed that U.S. interrogators subjected captured senior al Qaida suspects to a controversial interrogation technique called “water-boarding,” which creates a sensation of drowning.

Cheney indicated that the Bush administration doesn’t regard water-boarding as torture and allows the CIA to use it. “It’s a no-brainer for me,” Cheney said at one point in an interview.

UptownNYChick @ 34

Sorry OT/ speaking of wellstone, has anything been heard about the missing field director from Tester’s campaign?
Apparently he’s been found.

Thanks, Noonan.

I agree with TeddySanFran. Parkinson’s can present in a number of ways. I met a man with a big flapping tremor. Although it was disconcerting to others, he thought nothing of it. It was a lot better he said than being on an increased dose of his medication which has nasty side effects.

This makes me weary with outrage. Seriously, what the f**k is wrong with the MSM that they cannot see it or are just too cowardly to say what’s really going on here??? How can we live in a country where a person like vile bastard Rush Limbaugh is revered by ANYONE?

That has to be the weirdest experience I’ve ever had. I meant to type in that the man had been found…but the words and the link were already in place at the end of your comment in the edit box.

Bo @ 29

This is chess, and Rove knows what moves he needs to make not to keep it close, but to win. Fox must have been a serious enough threat to the plan to keep power that he needed to be attacked. I would take this a signal to run twice as many Fox ads – obviously they are threatening and throwing a wrench into Rove’s plans.

I think that’s right, and that’s why other candidates, like Webb, are planning to use Fox to help them. If Fox’s ads were hurting the Dems, the Republicans would stay silent and let the Dems hurt themselves. Just keep doing this.

LindyH @ 42

That has to be the weirdest experience I’ve ever had. I meant to type in that the man had been found…but the words and the link were already in place at the end of your comment in the edit box.

when I went to quote that comment, I saw your disappearing ink response embedded there. had to rub lemon juice all over my screen to make it out, however.

Bush: If, when we’re successful in Iraq…..

Whoops!

Fox v. Fox

UptownNYChick @ 4:58 pm (#27)

Tug @ 23

As a guy who never once took a snap as QB in organized football at any level, he had no grounds whatsoever to have questioned the intelligence of Donovan McNabb.

The sports media did the right thing and ran him out of town.

There were too many people smarter, more experienced and simply better human beings in that arena to pay more than a few days worth of attention to Rush Limbaugh.

He is no more of an expert on politics than he is football, yet he has a steady job. Why is that?

Because controversy helps muddle the real issues. Scream louder, we don’t care how ridiculous it is – if the lefties are riled up it actually helps our cause, no matter how inane the premise.

WE WANT PEOPLE TO SEE A DISTINCTION BETWEEN US AND THEM!

Try not to fall for this shit.

I am an Eagles fan because of rush.

I grew up an Eagles fan, so this incident sticks in my mind. If nothing else, you’d think that the “MSM” would have remembered this episode and figured out that it showed not only that Rush is extremely insensitive, but that he’s full of crap.

From the Chicago Sun-Times today:

“Illinois’ two hotly contested congressional races could be pivotal in helping determine who will control the House of Representatives. The Mark Foley scandal, corruption indictments in Washington and escalating dissatisfaction over the state of affairs in Iraq have given Democrats a lift in numerous other races around the nation. Still, a lot of political capital is riding on the outcome in Illinois’ 6th and 8th districts. In both contests, we endorse the Democrat.”

Joke Line, via Kos, via atrios:

KLEIN: You know, I just can`t get over Rush Limbaugh. Boy–you know, people who live in glass pillboxes shouldn`t throw spitballs, right? I mean, this is the guy–the guy least in the country who should be criticizing an ad like this, given his own history of addiction.

And I got to say that, you know, for the vice president of the United States to legitimize a guy like Rush Limbaugh is every bit as bad as all those Democrats who went out to Las Vegas to kiss the ring of the Daily Kos and the left-wing bloggers. I mean, can`t we–can`t we just stop this crap?

Excellent post, Jane. Olbermann is going to hit this very topic next up on Countdown — thought everyone might like a heads up to watch.

KO/Countdown: First he shows Tony Snow telling Fox News, in answer to the question “so is the President abandoning the term “stay the course?” Snow responds that “we went back and checked and could only find 8 times when the President used that phrase.”

So KO played all 8 of them; then he played umpteen other exmaples of “stay the course” repetitions over the last 3 years. Each one accompanied by a “ding!”

The Mighty Wurlitzer sounds so great when played by our side and we pick the songs.

I suspect that Rove is over rated as a chess player- as this campaign so far shows. This is the first time he’s had to run a marathon without a gale force wind at his back and he’s comin up very lame.

Millineryman.

True story. When my mother-in-law was in intensive care in her last days, early in Rush’s national spewing, she was on a ventilator and communicated with notes.

When we came into her room, Rush was on the radio and the machines were beepng and the ventilator was doing that awful shuuush, shuuush sound. And she wrote in a frail script. Turn it off, please turn it off.

Knowing the suffering she’d gone thru we thought she meant the ventilator and we made the appropriate soothing, caring phrases to her.

“No,” she wrote, “The radio. Turn it off!”

We were glad to do so. And a nurse was the recipient of mr. sunshine going ballistic on her sanctimonious ass.

punaise @ 38

speaking of charming individuals (via TPM):

Cheney confirms that detainees were subjected to water-boarding
By Jonathan S. Landay
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON – Vice President Dick Cheney has confirmed that U.S. interrogators subjected captured senior al Qaida suspects to a controversial interrogation technique called “water-boarding,” which creates a sensation of drowning.

Cheney indicated that the Bush administration doesn’t regard water-boarding as torture and allows the CIA to use it. “It’s a no-brainer for me,” Cheney said at one point in an interview.

Hmmmmm. No brain pretty much describes Chee-knee. He has met the evil terraist enemy and it is him. Seventh circle of hell?

rw at 52 — the last few years, he’s gotten lazy and out of shape. As has Rush. If all they have is lying to the base with some false bravado about winning when they know they are sucking air…well, all the better for us. Because they are no better at lying to their “followers” than they are at lying to the rest of us — it’s just that this year, someone pulled the curtain back and exposed their asses for the rest of the country to see.

Bo @
29

This is chess, and Rove knows what moves he needs to make not to keep it close, but to win. Fox must have been a serious enough threat to the plan to keep power that he needed to be attacked. I would take this a signal to run twice as many Fox ads – obviously they are threatening and throwing a wrench into Rove’s plans.

Even before the election heated the whole entire US population favored stem cell research… even Republicans…

I call that a weakness for Rove, and his want is to take a weakness and make it into a strength.

another Terri Schiavo boo boo… I’m hoping

scarecrow @ 51

The Mighty Wurlitzer sounds so great when played by our side and we pick the songs.

“We Write the Songs”
Bury Many Low

If you have not already done so, please read DemFromCT’s comments: http://thenexthurrah.typepad.c…..ads_a.html

Interestingly, the Michael J Fox ad is getting more play than just the ad. Rush Limbaugh’s clumsy attempted take-down (he’s either off his meds or acting for effect) is not going over well.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com…../8571.aspx

And Rush Limbaugh’s suggestion on his radio show yesterday that actor Michael J. Fox is exploiting and exaggerating his illness — Fox has Parkinson’s — in TV ads for Democratic Senate candidates just isn’t going to play well, even though Limbaugh has since apologized. Fox cut the spots for a couple of Democrats because they favor federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. The New York Times’ TV critic writes about the ads, which show him swaying back and forth uncontrollably: “Mr. Fox’s display of the toll Parkinson’s disease has taken on him turned into one of the most powerful and talked about political advertisements in years… The issue of embryonic stem cell research is divisive, but Mr. Fox is not.”

(snip)

rwcole @ 52

I suspect that Rove is over rated as a chess player- as this campaign so far shows. This is the first time he’s had to run a marathon without a gale force wind at his back and he’s comin up very lame.

I’ve been waiting for that. If the Republicans lose the House by a lot, let alone the Senate, there will be a lot of revisionist history about “Rove is a genious” assessment; instead, he’ll be the dunce that ran the country into a quagmire, the bus into the ditch, his President into the image of the worst.president.ever, and his party out of power. I can’t wait for the first Glenn Greenwald post of November 8.

Of course, if we don’t win on November 7, I propose we all go down to the hardware stores and purchase pitchforks, then purchase tickets to DC.

Are they blissfully unaware that the task fell to Rush to use child molester rational and blame the young House pages for tempting Mark Foley into his pervy online behavior?

Of course, in the same way that underage Dominican Republic street urchins tempt Porky Prig into a down-low ‘lust junket’… After he doctorshops to get a bogus script for Viagra so that his little winkie, permasoftened from years of flabulent living and narcotics abuse, might be put into service abusing children in the time-honored neoconservative tradition.

Blame them. And Clinton.

;>)

Prairie Sunshine @ 54

punaise @ 38

speaking of charming individuals (via TPM):

Cheney confirms that detainees were subjected to water-boarding
By Jonathan S. Landay
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON – Vice President Dick Cheney has confirmed that U.S. interrogators subjected captured senior al Qaida suspects to a controversial interrogation technique called “water-boarding,” which creates a sensation of drowning.

Cheney indicated that the Bush administration doesn’t regard water-boarding as torture and allows the CIA to use it. “It’s a no-brainer for me,” Cheney said at one point in an interview.

Hmmmmm. No brain pretty much describes Chee-knee. He has met the evil terraist enemy and it is him. Seventh circle of hell?

Well, I guess that this week we also get to retire the phrase, “we do not torture.” We’re losing language left and right, and at this rate, by next week, the Administration will have no words left to use.

punaise @ 49

Joke Line, via Kos, via atrios:

KLEIN: You know, I just can`t get over Rush Limbaugh. Boy–you know, people who live in glass pillboxes shouldn`t throw spitballs, right? I mean, this is the guy–the guy least in the country who should be criticizing an ad like this, given his own history of addiction.

And I got to say that, you know, for the vice president of the United States to legitimize a guy like Rush Limbaugh is every bit as bad as all those Democrats who went out to Las Vegas to kiss the ring of the Daily Kos and the left-wing bloggers. I mean, can`t we–can`t we just stop this crap?

Good grief. No Joke Line, you can’t stop this crap, and your sputtering spew of analogy proves why.

Time to let some left-wing bloggers try. So lead, follow, or get out of the way.

it’s time for the old chess nut Rove to give his Checkers speech

Limbaugh is beyond hope.

KO destroying Rush Limbaugh. He shows the ad, shows Limbaugh; then explains the effects of medication and no medication, then shows Michael J. Fox giving a gracious explanation, shows Fox doing a similar ad for Arlen Specter (with no Rush concern them) then has a guy explaining why the Republicans are worried. KO is getting it done.

Are you paying attention, Chris Matthews???

I thought that Mimikatz’s comments about the House races might be of interest:
http://thenexthurrah.typepad.c….._ho_1.html

Updating the House Races
By Mimikatz

Tomorrow I’m off for a brief trip to the Southwest, and will check out firsthand how the Dems seem to be doing in New Mexico and Arizona. I’m back just before the election, but I voted early just in case some factor between now and then might prevent me from casting a ballot on November 7. Like what? A Halloween attack on Iran? More likely bad weather or some problem with the arilines.

The Senate seems to have come down to 3 races, MO, TN and VA. It looks like Menendez is ahead in NJ just enough to take it (and I think the fact that the New Jersey Supreme Court decided that the Legislature could let straights keep the magic term “marriage” if the rest of us could just have equal rights won’t matter). Harold Ford has an ad that uses a bit of humor to defuse the racist ads Corker and his allies are running, and with the rivers of dreck running in so many districts, that, and a little bit of backlash, will probably help him. If Claire McCaskill gets a little help, she could win as well.

The House has the feeling of a stream that is somewhat placid on the top but with strong currents underneath. There seems to have been some firming up of GOP support, but the same races seem to be leaning towards the Dem column, just a little stronger with each new update by the pros. Chuck Todd analyzes five House bellwethers as a key to the race, and Bob Novak is out with a new ranking of the races. Novak sees a 20-seat Dem pickup. Novak’s thinking is shockingly closer to mine than Todd’s on many races.

(snip)

Rule number one of American life: Sick celebrities are not to be messed with. Limbaugh’s words will put Fox on the air in every one of those Entertainment Tonight clones, all of which have bigger audiences than his, by the way, and they’ll all be on Fox’s side. The dittoheads are hopeless, but the ET crowd are mostly only occasional voters, and if this moves one of 100 of them to the polls, it’s a huge win for the Dems.
Talent might beat McCaskill anyway. But if she wins, some Republicans are going to blame Rush, in public. Now THAT’s entertainment.

punaise @ 63

it’s time for the old chess nut Rove to give his Checkers speech

Rove can’t make a “checkers” speech, because he is a crook and he doesn’t have a wife, let alone one who wears a plain Republican cloth coat or a dog. He’s on his own.

punaise @ 63

it’s time for the old chess nut Rove to give his Checkers speech

Is it too soon to be thinking of chess nuts roasting on an open fire? (g)

Olbermann mentions Madonna. Can anyone explain this woman’s ‘draw’?

major spew warning, attaturk via watertiger:

preview of the “GOP: Character Counts Calendar”

I think Limbaugh is faking his obesity problem to make himself more sympathetic to his target audience, who are between the ages of 59 and death and on average, 25 to 50 pounds overweight. The real Rush Limbaugh is a svelte 155 pounds, but each day, he arrives in make-up at 3:30am to don the cumbersome fat suit and heavy theatrical makeup that make him the bucket of lard we know and (*cough*) admire.

He’s so courageous, that Rush. I also heard that he was off his oxycontins to intensify his sweating and twitching. What moral courage! What determination! Rush Limbaugh, you are a TRUE! AMERICAN! HERO!!

Oh man, Sam Seder so completely rocks. Being able to say the words Rush Limbaugh, hillbilly heroin and viagra in the same sentence on national teevee? PRICELESS.

I’ve been thinking 20 seat takeover based on Charlie Cook’s ratings of the races- now Cook comes out and is throwing 27.5 seats around as a ballpark (if things don’t change). Charlie’s so careful that he throws his tie over his shoulder before takin a leak- so that’s a bit of a shock.

TRex @ 71

I think Limbaugh is faking his obesity problem to make himself more sympathetic to his target audience, who are between the ages of 59 and death and on average, 25 to 50 pounds overweight. The real Rush Limbaugh is a svelte 155 pounds, but each day, he arrives in make-up at 3:30am to don the cumbersome fat suit and heavy theatrical makeup that make him the bucket of lard we know and (*cough*) admire.

so that wasn’t him as the body double stunt man for Fat Bastard in Austin Powers 2?

scarecrow @ 24

Well done, Jane. We should be spotlighting this to the national media, and particularly to the NBC, MSNBC networks.

On tonight’s Hardball, Chris Matthews showed the Fox ad, then showed rush’s responses, and asked his panelists what they thought. Neither was outraged by Rush, and Chris himself said, “well, I like Rush, but this may be over the line.”

Same old stuff.

My spotlight attempt is bogging down again (not because I don’t know how to use it). Let’s see, if I’m spotlighting to 10 people, should I being “Dear Sirs”, or some such? Maybe I’m better off with the individual approach.

“Dear Fred Hiatt, my almost neocon friend…”

Rover’s got a wife– she sits in a small room all day and dreams about having a life and a husband.

Limblob is a hell of a guy.These right wing nut jobs make me feel like were still living in the 15th century.Stem cell research will go forward with or without our enlightened right wing knuckledraggers

From every corner of the land, people have HAD ENOUGH.

Kos reports that in the Alaska governor’s race the Republican was 15-20 pts up in August and now is a DEAD HEAT.

Surely this is also an opportunity for us to promote Congressional candidate Diane Benson-D, running against the odious Don Young (R-Forced Abortions, Marianas).

The FBI is rumored to have enough evidence on him to bring a case linking him to the same scandal involving Pombo and Doolittle. Will it be soon enough? And will we be ready to let people know our Benson is a strong alternative?

Please help us elect Diane Benson for the Congressional seat that represents all of Alaska. She needs money for radio and TV ads to reach this enormous state. Please help us get the word out.

Stephen Parrish, CPA @ 69

Is it too soon to be thinking of chess nuts roasting on an open fire? (g)

Of course not

;>)

Just started reading Friedrich Meinecke’s The German Catastrophe, which he wrote as an old man (in his 80s) in 1946. Too much of what he relates sounds like Rush. He was a German liberal, which means by our standards, not too liberal, but of basically good heart. He stayed through the catastrophe rather than leave, which he easily could have done.

whatever they’re trying to cell, the GOP cannot stem the tide

let’s get as many of us onto rush’s show as possible with these questions for starters … you can add your own … just get past the screener and onto the live part:

– rush, what happens to you when you stop taking your drugs

– rush, was it a butt pimple that kept you out of vietnam

– rush, when was the last time you saw your feet or your dick

so that wasn’t him as the body double stunt man for Fat Bastard in Austin Powers 2?

No. But if you saw his name in the credits, it was because he played the homing device that was planted in Fat Batstard’s asshole, a role he method acted for, spending weeks in preparation by climbing up Dick Cheney’s asshole and staying there.

ifthethunderdontgetya @ 76

scarecrow @ 24

Well done, Jane. We should be spotlighting this to the national media, and particularly to the NBC, MSNBC networks.

On tonight’s Hardball, Chris Matthews showed the Fox ad, then showed rush’s responses, and asked his panelists what they thought. Neither was outraged by Rush, and Chris himself said, “well, I like Rush, but this may be over the line.”

Same old stuff.

My spotlight attempt is bogging down again (not because I don’t know how to use it). Let’s see, if I’m spotlighting to 10 people, should I being “Dear Sirs”, or some such? Maybe I’m better off with the individual approach.

“Dear Fred Hiatt, my almost neocon friend…”

I just use something like “Distinguised Journalist:” and keep it respectful. I don’t want to lose them in my comments. I want them to get to Jane’s post. 10 is the limit. If you go over, remove one.

egregious @ 78

Kos reports that in the Alaska governor’s race the Republican was 15-20 pts up in August and now is a DEAD HEAT.

it’s not the heat, it’s the cupidity

rwcole @ 74

I’ve been thinking 20 seat takeover based on Charlie Cook’s ratings of the races- now Cook comes out and is throwing 27.5 seats around as a ballpark (if things don’t change).

I wonder what a .5 House seat looks like.

dab from CT @ 86

rwcole @ 74

I’ve been thinking 20 seat takeover based on Charlie Cook’s ratings of the races- now Cook comes out and is throwing 27.5 seats around as a ballpark (if things don’t change).

I wonder what a .5 House seat looks like.

a one bun margin

Oklahoma kiddo @ 70

Olbermann mentions Madonna. Can anyone explain this woman’s ‘draw’?

Like Rush, she is a great ‘entertainer’ who is grossly overrated. They are both quite cynical and narcissistic and have (I hope) a nagging sense of having peaked.

Rush has temporaily lost his Clinton symbiotic foil and the Material Girl, like the rest of us, is getting old. They start to get desperate in between waves. One hoists herself in mock crucifixion; the other ridicules someone who is coping quite well with a serious neurologic disorder.

They both get much more air/blog-time than they deserve.

I wonder what a .5 House seat looks like.

It looks just like Denny Hastert, who half-asses his way through everything of importance.

I just learned that James Webb’s last name will be left off the ballot in a large portion of Fairfax County=huge area, suburban VA. Of course all of Allen’s name fits.

They claim it is because of a different, enlarged font. The only thing enlarged here is Republican arrogance.

I AM SO DISGUSTED.

This is the doing of Hart Intercivic Machines.

So the ballot will say
James H. “Jim” NO LAST NAME
v
George Allen

Gentlemen, you have a new enemy.
Beware.

dab from CT @ 86

rwcole @ 74

I’ve been thinking 20 seat takeover based on Charlie Cook’s ratings of the races- now Cook comes out and is throwing 27.5 seats around as a ballpark (if things don’t change).

I wonder what a .5 House seat looks like.

I know what a .99 Senate seat gain looks like: Ned Lamont beats Joe Lieberman!

rwcole @ 77

Rover’s got a wife– she sits in a small room all day and dreams about having a life and a husband.

Really? Then my apologies to the lady.

egregious @ 90

I just learned that James Webb’s last name will be left off the ballot in a large portion of Fairfax County=huge area, suburban VA. Of course all of Allen’s name fits.

They claim it is because of a different, enlarged font. The only thing enlarged here is Republican arrogance.

I AM SO DISGUSTED.

This is the doing of Hart Intercivic Machines.

Gentlemen, you have a new enemy.
Beware.

Egregious, my understanding of the situation is this is happening to the summary screen, and not the actual ballot.

Election officials said it’s possible that some confusion may result when voters reach the summary page of the ballot but stressed that it will not cause votes to be cast incorrectly and that Webb’s full name appears on the ballot’s first page, where voters choose for whom they vote.

long link.

There’s an undertow at work here. It’s not just Rush-the-Rovian-Meat-Puppet at work.

It’s raw, naked, ulcerating JEALOUSY.

Michael J. Fox, in spite of his disability, still has an incredible amount of appeal to women, enough that a popular television show would create a character around him, and even bring the character back. Look at him in this photo. I can’t think of a straight woman alive who wouldn’t pick him over the likes of Rush or Rove.

Rush, on the other hand, in spite of his money and audience and blessing from the RNC’s powers that be, cannot ease his needs or obtain companionship without the aid of illegally prescribed meds and a trip to a foreign country where he is relatively unknown and his wallet will overcome his numerous shortcomings.

Ditto for Rove; really, who would sleep with that slug? I doubt Darby does; she’s probably into money and power and not men.

dab from CT @ 87

rwcole @ 74

I’ve been thinking 20 seat takeover based on Charlie Cook’s ratings of the races- now Cook comes out and is throwing 27.5 seats around as a ballpark (if things don’t change).

I wonder what a .5 House seat looks like.

Remember I put in earlier for 6 and 28. Cook is a pessimist at 27.5.

punaise @ 88

dab from CT @ 86

rwcole @ 74

I’ve been thinking 20 seat takeover based on Charlie Cook’s ratings of the races- now Cook comes out and is throwing 27.5 seats around as a ballpark (if things don’t change).

I wonder what a .5 House seat looks like.

a one bun margin

A one bunny margin? Can my wee Paul help out?

punaise @
88

dab from CT @ 86

rwcole @ 74

I’ve been thinking 20 seat takeover based on Charlie Cook’s ratings of the races- now Cook comes out and is throwing 27.5 seats around as a ballpark (if things don’t change).

I wonder what a .5 House seat looks like.

a one bun margin

Were you speaking frankly?

Kevin Drum’s Quote of the Day:

ABC News political director Mark Halperin on Bill O’Reilly’s show last night:

As an economic model, if you want to thrive like Fox News Channel, you want to have a future, you better make sure conservatives find your product appealing.

Noted without comment.

OT

For those of you thinking about buying pitchforks if republicans win both houses in November, despite polls showing otherwise:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTCQSk2l8bc

Does anyone know how Glenn Beck got a TV show? I’m just asking what everybody else is thinking!

Rayne, are you suggesting a gay man might make another choice? ‘Cuz I’m here to tell ya. . .

thunder,

I thank you and my cardiologist thanks you.

Marathon not sprint. Marathon not sprint. I WANT TO RUN DAMMIT!! Marathon not sprint.

Right Fools @ 101

Does anyone know how Glenn Beck got a TV show? I’m just asking what everybody else is thinking!

Too good-looking for radio?

Tug @ 23 said–

“As a guy who never once took a snap as QB in organized football at any level, he had no grounds whatsoever to have questioned the intelligence of Donovan McNabb.

The sports media did the right thing and ran him out of town.”

Good point.

And to take it one step further……Does this mean sportsfans and sportscasters care more about the state of the game than citizens and mainstream journos care about the state of the nation?

And, if so, does this explain, perhaps, why former Olbermann is the only game in town?

.

Scarborough: Limbaugh remains defiant today….

Shows the vclip of Rush bouncing and rolling in his chair. Jabba the Rush, complete with hardwire behind his ear to get his marching orders from Rove. Or maybe that’s his mainline….

Let’s say for a moment that Michael J Fox was off his meds and shook more than he would have if he was on them. (I know that’s not true but let’s pretend) Does that change anything about the benefits of stem cell research and the need for it? Does that change anything about the hell that Michael J Fox is going through in his life? Does that change the fact that he will die from this disease? Does that change the fact that he shakes like that when he’s not medicated?

whoops…

former ’sportscaster’ Olbermann is the only game in town?

Christy Hardin Smith @ 72

Oh man, Sam Seder so completely rocks. Being able to say the words Rush Limbaugh, hillbilly heroin and viagra in the same sentence on national teevee? PRICELESS.

SEDER is Air America for me. He was great with Keith . . . and i agree w/ him that this LimpBaugh vs. MJ Fox kerfluffle is not making turdblossom happy. is not the kind of ‘news’ rove wants . . .

Pach, I’m not going to presume for gay men at all.

I figured given that entre, one of my many gay brethren would pipe up and give me an Amen from their perspective.

Teed up, baby, knock it out of the park!

And anybody – tell me I’m wrong that there isn’t a bit of the old, fat, ugly men raging at the dying of their light, now shining on a much better, younger specimen.

I don’t know who is paying for it but the ad (posted here quite some time ago) with poeple asking a bush in a park questions is getting an incredible amount of television play in our area. The M.J. Fox ad is as well. One hard hitting ad against McCaskill (my local stations are out of Springfield, MO) is one that hits her hard for failing to investigate nursing homes as promised in earlier campaigns, then mentions she recently married a wealthy nursing home owner. It’s a pretty damning ad, I wonder if it has any truth to it.
So far these ads are playing non stop in our area.

On Scarborough re rush:

Lawrence O’Donnel: Fox ad was very effective; most powerful; rush has made it more powerful by getting it played, over and over, opposite rush’ reaction.

Scarborough gets the medication effect backwards. O’donnel says the controversy has made this the most effective Dem ad in the country.

Pat Buchanan says this is a big issue in MO. It’s a deep moral/emotional issue; okay for rush to raise the issue. But Rush went over the line by mocking Fox. He says Repub candidate does not want this happening; and Joe agrees.

RossK @ 105

Tug @ 23 said–

“As a guy who never once took a snap as QB in organized football at any level, he had no grounds whatsoever to have questioned the intelligence of Donovan McNabb.

The sports media did the right thing and ran him out of town.”

Good point.

And to take it one step further……Does this mean sportsfans and sportscasters care more about the state of the game than citizens and mainstream journos care about the state of the nation?

And, if so, does this explain, perhaps, why former Olbermann is the only game in town?

.

Absolutley.Look at the passion fans have for teams, the stories each game generates — it dwarfs the coverage of policy and gov’t. I bet the all-star voting for baseball is a higher percentage (because not every state is included) is higher than general election.

Steve Abudato, analyst, says Rush represents “mean-spirited” rightwing, and he’s now being denounce by Tom Keane in NJ, so it’s backfiring.

Says that Rush should have apologized, and instead he’s a fool and is embarrassing those he supports.

Here’s an item of some note from Vermont:

http://www.vermontguardian.com…..eals.shtml

Under the Military Whistleblower Protection Act, active-duty military, National Guard and reservists can send a protected communication to a member of Congress regarding any subject without reprisal.

What began as 65 servicemen and servicewomen has now reached nearly 350, with more than 125 of them on active duty.
The idea for the redress appeals originated January when Seaman Jonathan Hutto of Atlanta, GA, was deployed to Iraq.

An old buddy of his, who was a member of the G.I. movement to resist the Vietnam War back in the early 1970s, sent him a 30th anniversary copy of Soldiers in Revolt written by David Cortright. The book chronicles the G.I. movement within the military during the Vietnam War who advocated to end that war and bring the troops home. One of the avenues they used was appealing to their political leaders in Washington.

By 1971 more than 250,000 of these active duty servicemen appealed to Congress. Reading this gave Hutto an inspiration to speak out.

One of the active service members who has taken Hutto’s lead is a Vermonter.

——-
Wonder how this works in the ‘mainstream’ of opinion. Timetable is NOW.

egregious @ 5:51 pm (#91)

I just learned that James Webb’s last name will be left off the ballot in a large portion of Fairfax County=huge area, suburban VA. Of course all of Allen’s name fits.

They claim it is because of a different, enlarged font. The only thing enlarged here is Republican arrogance.

I AM SO DISGUSTED.

This is the doing of Hart Intercivic Machines.

So the ballot will say
James H. “Jim” NO LAST NAME
v
George Allen

Gentlemen, you have a new enemy.
Beware.

The summary page cuts off Webb’s name. That’s the page where the voter confirms his vote. Here’s a quote from the WaPo article, courtesy of Taylor Marsh’s article:

U.S. Senate candidate James Webb’s last name has been cut off on part of the electronic ballot used by voters in Alexandria, Falls Church and Charlottesville because of a computer glitch that also affects other candidates with long names, city officials said yesterday.

Although the problem creates some voter confusion, it will not cause votes to be cast incorrectly, election officials emphasized. The error shows up only on the summary page, where voters are asked to review their selections before hitting the button to cast their votes. Webb’s full name appears on the page where voters choose for whom to vote.

Thus, Democratic candidate Webb will appear with his first name and nickname only — or “James H. ‘Jim’ ” — on summary pages in Alexandria, Falls Church and Charlottesville, the only jurisdictions in Virginia that use balloting machines manufactured by Hart InterCivic of Austin.

“We’re not happy about it,” Webb spokeswoman Kristian Denny Todd said last night, adding that the campaign learned about the problem a week ago and has since been in touch with state election officials. “I don’t think it can be remedied by Election Day. Obviously, that’s a concern.” …

They apparently noticed this too late to write, test, and distribute a software patch. I can assure you from personal experience trying to make user interface software work, this sort of thing happens rather often, I can also assure you that in a properly run development environment, this would have been caught quite some time ago. I left some lengthy criticism in the comments at Taylor’s site, and there was a spirited discussion, to say the least.

That Senate hearing was 7 long years ago. Parkinson’s disease is a progressively degenerative disease. Fox has not said he went without his meds for this ad. And 7 years is a lifetime when you have Parkinson’s. Limbaugh’s comments are unacceptable & should not be tolerated.

O’Donnel says everyone knows that with this disease, you have good and bad hours, so “faking it” is phony charge.

Recalls that when Rush came back after his own drug treatment — now he question’s Fox medication.

Scarborough asks: Is this the defining ad of this campaign? Pat B. says it may be; this may be the deciding ad of this campaign.

[Jane, you are so clever. Sorry, I’m a little slow.]

Next up on Scarborough: why Bush should be impeached . . .

we’ve come a long way from last November, folks; this should be spotlighted all over.

OT: POV on PBS in Iraq with footage of Armitage in Iraq as well as Abu Graib in the first five minutes.

Holy crap, Scarborough hammering away on the Michael J. Fox story, too. Got a media analyst Steve Aduato (sp?), Lawrence O’Donnel beating on Limbaugh, and Pat Buchanan tepidly trying to give cover to Limbaugh.

Scarborough is obviously not happy with Limbaugh with a 2-to-1 ratio here.

Great post, Jane.. but in combination with what I’ve seen on Countdown and read on other blogs tonight, I have an icky feeling.. not to mention that Laura was in Mpls today raising money for Repub. candidates.. AND, I accidentally listened to Santorum on NPR this morning…that made for a terrible start to an otherwise lovely day. Sorry for the negativity – I’m a bit under the weather.

ironranger…. I am one, also.

Larry King is going to do a segment on political ads across the country…

I just got out of class this evening and I am on my way to the train.

But I just had to say, Jane, this is a great, well written post that really nails the issue. Most excellent.

cathy @ 6:04 pm (#107)

Let’s say for a moment that Michael J Fox was off his meds and shook more than he would have if he was on them. (I know that’s not true but let’s pretend) Does that change anything about the benefits of stem cell research and the need for it? Does that change anything about the hell that Michael J Fox is going through in his life? Does that change the fact that he will die from this disease? Does that change the fact that he shakes like that when he’s not medicated?

I’ve asked myself those questions, and for me the answer is certainly that it doesn’t make any difference. I also have no idea how anyone besides Micheal Keaton, his family and close friends, and his doctors would have any idea whether he was on his medication or not. I have my doubts that Rush’s information came from any of those people.

So all the way around, Rush was full of crap.

Uptown NYC @113–

OK – maybe it is time to resurrect Howard Cosell and go to town….

‘Down Goes Mehlman!’

.

Scarborough refuses to criticize Rush- he knows that would be the kiss of death with Rush’s many demented fans.

Rush is the kid we remember from the schoolyard. The misfit who tries to prove his bravado by shoving the crippled kid with crutches.

He’s been a misfit his whole life. Maybe those entertainment shows oughta track down the ex-wives and ask for their stories. Was he always a thug? Or did it start when he went on the RNC payroll?

Right on Jane- TradMedia has’t grasped that Rush is giving MJ Fox the same “Treatment a la Rove” that Annthrax spewed on the 9/11 widows.

Joe highlighted a paragraph from Fox’s book where Fox said that he withdrew from his medication before testifying to congress as he thought that congress should SEE his disease rather than just hear about it.

That suggests that the medication DOES mask the symptoms.

RossK @ 125

Uptown NYC @113–

OK – maybe it is time to resurrect Howard Cosell and go to town….

‘Down Goes Mehlman!’

.

He was a bit before my time, but I enjoyed the movie.

Check out NPR’s coverage

http://www.npr.org/templates/s…..Id=6383374

All Things Considered, October 25, 2006 Actor Michael J. Fox has made television commercials in support of Senate candidates who are in favor of embryonic stem cell research.

The effects of his Parkinson’s disease are painfully obvious onscreen. Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh says Fox is allowing his illness to be exploited for political gain. Initially, Limbaugh had accused Fox of emphasizing his symptoms. He later retracted that statement.

Commentator Lennard Davis says that it is Limbaugh who is exploiting Fox’s disability — and taking the focus away from the real issue: stem cell research.

Davis is the author of The Disability Studies Reader and Bending Over Backwards: Essays on Disability and the Body.

It’s not easy fighting the Rothchilds.

http://www.npr.org/templates/s…..Id=6383374

Check out NPR’s coverage…

All Things Considered, October 25, 2006 Actor Michael J. Fox has made television commercials in support of Senate candidates who are in favor of embryonic stem cell research.

The effects of his Parkinson’s disease are painfully obvious onscreen. Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh says Fox is allowing his illness to be exploited for political gain. Initially, Limbaugh had accused Fox of emphasizing his symptoms. He later retracted that statement.

Commentator Lennard Davis says that it is Limbaugh who is exploiting Fox’s disability — and taking the focus away from the real issue: stem cell research.

Davis is the author of The Disability Studies Reader and Bending Over Backwards: Essays on Disability and the Body.

Yeah, the Fox ads were a ploy, but I think Limbaugh acted gracelessly.

punaise @
75

TRex @ 71

I think Limbaugh is faking his obesity problem to make himself more sympathetic to his target audience, who are between the ages of 59 and death and on average, 25 to 50 pounds overweight. The real Rush Limbaugh is a svelte 155 pounds, but each day, he arrives in make-up at 3:30am to don the cumbersome fat suit and heavy theatrical makeup that make him the bucket of lard we know and (*cough*) admire.

so that wasn’t him as the body double stunt man for Fat Bastard in Austin Powers 2?

Oxycontin, GET IN MY BELLY!

TRex @
90

I wonder what a .5 House seat looks like.

It looks just like Denny Hastert, who half-asses his way through everything of importance.

Actually I believe they count Denny as 1 1/2 seats.

Yeah Rush blew it. He’s used to the shelter provided by his brain dead listeners and doesn’t ever anticipate what would happen if his bullshit hits the street.

It’s entirely possible that Fox was accentuating rather than minimizing his symptoms for the purpose of the ad- but it’s just fuckin rude and insensitive to say so- that’s what Rush doesn’t get- and he’s created a big loss for the goopers because of his stupidity.

Michael J. Fox has an upcoming campaign appearance here in Virginia with Webb.

Oklahoma kiddo @
64

Limbaugh is beyond hope.

Those of, ahem, a certain age will remember a fellow by the name of Joe Pyne, who was as cracked as any Michael Savage or Rush Limbaugh, and who had a radio show in LA and a syndicated television show which he used to promote an extreme right-wing looniness (Pyne’s on-air persona prefigured current radio wackos–Pyne’s favorite line to callers unhappy with his POV was “go gargle with razor blades”).

The difference from then to now is the degree of exposure offered Limbaugh and the degree to which Limbaugh and his imitators work to promote a primarily Republican agenda. Everyone knew Pyne was off in the stratosphere somewhere, but, how does one say the same of Limbaugh when he’s laying out exactly the same talking points as all the President’s men (albeit more outrageously)? Mainstreaming radicalism makes it seem, well, the normal course of thought. When Hannah Arendt talked of the “banality of evil,” she was describing exactly that–a cultural phenomenon where the radical seems normal and everyday.

So, the guy with Parkinson’s and a political interest in the matter is called a fraud and a political dupe, while the guy doing the hatchet job–in service of a political agenda–is let off the hook with a sigh and “oh, well, it’s just Rush again.”

When something seems, from the evidence, upside-down, it probably is.

new thread

http://www.firedoglake.com/200…..5-can-buy/

Baby Snooks @ 134

Yeah, the Fox ads were a ploy, but I think Limbaugh acted gracelessly.

Michael Fox honestly described his personal direct experience of the results of GOP policy.

Fox – the man – speaks the patient’s truth.

Your lame diversion attempt is a ploy.

Baby Snooks @ 134

Yeah, the Fox ads were a ploy, but I think Limbaugh acted gracelessly.

A ploy? Are you kidding me? Fox’s disease is real, and his prognosis is that someday he’ll probably die from it, but he’ll gradually lose his motor control until he can’t even speak properly or take care of himself in any way. This may take as much as twenty years, according to the Wikipedia entry on the disease. He and others stand to gain years of useful life if a cure can be found, and the lack of embryonic stem cell research in this country is closing off one of the most promising avenues of research.

All for what I’d have to say is a patently ridiculous ethical stance, given what those same Christians seem willing to countenance.

down to the hardware stores and purchase pitchforks, then purchase tickets to DC.

we’ll have to fed ex the purchase to dc and pick them up as we depart the airport

Ya have to wonder who in the christian right decided to make stem cell research a huge issue- don’t remember the polling but their support is in the cellar for this piece of shit. Dems should be makin a lot of hay with this issue- and Rush has just helped em to do it.

If we can somehow get the Schiavo bullshit tied in- it’s a winner.

Thank ya fat man!

Rush movin left- helping dems to cement victory in this election! Whoopaa!

Best scene in the whole scenario was Rush mockin the cripple– stupid fuckhead- didn’t yer momma teach you ANYTHING?

njr @ 143

down to the hardware stores and purchase pitchforks, then purchase tickets to DC.

we’ll have to fed ex the purchase to dc and pick them up as we depart the airport

Fed Ex them to the hotel. They’ll store them in their safe for you ;-)

I am sick and tired of people being afraid of science, and at the same time boo-hooing about how the US is lagging behind in the areas of science and math. How exactly, do you encourage people to teach science, go into research and continue to make discoveries if, at every turn, there are people attempting to erect religion-based boundaries around it.

If these same people had had their way, we would still be living in the Dark Ages, people would still be dying of common diseases, and people like tommy yum’s son would not have a panoply of treatment options available to treat and cure some their diseases.

My grandfather had Parkinson’s, and the drugs he took turned him into an expressionless, wooden statue, before the dyskinesia started, and then the hallucinations.

Katie Couric announced tonight that tomorrow they would have an interview with Fox, and – in some warped notion of fairness, I guess – Rush Limbaugh. Please. Why would anyone look to a thrice-divorced, drug-addicted, blowhard to opine on any issue, especially one he clearly knows nothing about.

One has to figure that all the right-wing talk show hosts got their marching orders in their confab with Bush the other day, and like the good soldiers they are, in the only war they have the courage to fight, are following their leader as ordered.

Exploiting his Parkinson’s? I would say Michael J. Fox has a vested interest in whatever research and drug development can be done, and if there are going to be pinheads out there distorting the stem-cell issue, I think there is no one better to speak about how important it is not to impede science and technology.

There is no level too low for these people to stoop to, no boundary of taste or respect they cannot breach.

I don’t wish terrible things to happen to people, but if there is a God, I hope He plans to teach some of these people a lesson or two that may bring home to them just how wrong they are.

Anne @ 6:40 pm (#147) – Larry Johnson, the ex-CIA guy who blogs at No Quarter, wrote this yesterday about Rush:

Rush Limbaugh, you obese horror of a human being, how dare you attack the integrity and courage of Marty McFly.

If there is a God then you will be diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Hopefully it will be accompanied by incontinence and weakened sphincter. You spend so much energy shitting on others that you should spend a decade shaking and shitting on yourself.

That’s actually most of the article. It wasn’t long, but it really didn’t have to be.

http://noquarter.typepad.com/m…..lovia.html

Jane, you should play for the Tigers, you hit a home run! I think Rush is doing his typical schtick, but people aren’t in the mood to listen to it and accomodate his fat ass anymore. Howard Stern did 15 minutes on how much he fucking hates Rush and what a piece of shit he is.

The sports media is reality based bacause sports is very measurable. Rush had no credibility with those guys, and they didn’t appreciate him pissing in their pool.

Balrog @ 136

TRex @
90

I wonder what a .5 House seat looks like.

It looks just like Denny Hastert, who half-asses his way through everything of importance.

Actually I believe they count Denny as 1 1/2 seats.

a one bun margin

Actually I believe they count Denny as 1 1/2 seats.

*******

LOL – I knew there would be some clever responses…

I personally will be thrilled to kick Limbaugh’s ass out into the Gulf Stream the next time he oozes down into Florida. Contact me personally, Rush. Baseball bats at 10 yards. No helmet.

I don’t necessarily see druggy bimbaugh’s vile comments as a problem. Mostly he’s further defining the defference between the cult of republicanism and decent people.

Bush has clarified that there are 35% of the American population that are as unspeakably vile as limbaugh. Let limbaugh preach to them and throw them their maggot infested red meat. There is no reaching them anyway.

For the middle 35-40% of the population though, the ones that have started to see the rotted putred core of the cult of republicanism, the spew of limbaugh at this point only serves to further drive them away. Surely any decent person is repulsed by limbaugh.
.

Jane,

If you watched Olberman on “Countdown” tonight, you got the visual of that hot, steaming, gass bag of a creature (Limpballs) immitating Michael Fox. Makes you wanna holler! If there WAS a god, [s]he’d have no mercy on that utter, classless fool.

rwcole @ 129

Joe highlighted a paragraph from Fox’s book where Fox said that he withdrew from his medication before testifying to congress as he thought that congress should SEE his disease rather than just hear about it.

That suggests that the medication DOES mask the symptoms.

Stop the presses!

And why would we be taking medications to begin with? To ease the symptoms of the disease.

We’re nearly down to the final sprint.

I think the race is clearly all offense for Dems and it’s in Missouri, Tennessee and Virginia.

The Repubs are in ‘patriotism’, ‘values’ and ‘pride’ country and they’re bringing out ‘lying’ (in the case of the accusation that Michael J Fox was shaking intentionally in the ad he made for MO), ‘immorality’ (in the case of the ‘white women with black men’ t.v. ad in TN) and ‘racism’ with George Allen’s macacah racism & smugness in VA).

Dems should attack full force with ads showing up every single failing of character or morality of the Repubs in recent years.

All the big-time Dems should dump some money on McCaskill, Ford and Webb for them to run strong ads.

The unpatriotic outing of Valerie Plame, the immoral page scandal, the lying and immorality of Florida’s Repub gubernatorial candidate who was outed, the thievery and lying of Jack Abramoff who stole from Indian tribes, the lying and immorality of the Repub leadership laughing at the ‘moronic Religious Right’ behind their backs, Noe’s thievery, everything! Perhaps a long series of 10 or second ads highlighting each violation would have good impact, but one (action packed) ad would do the job.

Let those good folk know what kind of scum they have in Washington, so they’ll be reminded clearly of why they want to vote to kick the bastards out.

Katie Couric announced tonight that tomorrow they would have an interview with Fox, and – in some warped notion of fairness, I guess – Rush Limbaugh. Please. Why would anyone look to a thrice-divorced, drug-addicted, blowhard to opine on any issue, especially one he clearly knows nothing about

Loser! Can we just conclude that some people don’t deserve the available air to breathe? Limpballs is un-worthy of our attention. Stop giving that gass bag a mike.

I’d sure hate to be Rush, standing at the pearly gates, trying to justify MY existence to God…

but it’d sure be fun to watch!

OldCoastie @ 158

I’d sure hate to be Rush, standing at the pearly gates, trying to justify MY existence to God…

but it’d sure be fun to watch!

Something tells me Rush isn’t even going to get his chance to plead his case at the pearly gates, but that might be wishful thinking on my part. I think permanent purgatory would be a good place for him.

Sometime in the middle of a very quiet night Rush will wake up in a cold sweat. He will not be able to figure out why he is so constricted, so unable to control the beads of wet running down his face. He knows he is not in withdrawal cause he fixed before going to sleep. Maybe somewhere in the dark regions of his worst dream he finds a confused but simple fact. His heart is telling him he is a heartless prick who sold his soul for fame, power and secret (not so secret) drugs. The thing that calls him from the dark is his own apprehension, his own fear. All the while Michael J. Fox sleeps soundly and sweetly.

rwcole @ 129

Joe highlighted a paragraph from Fox’s book where Fox said that he withdrew from his medication before testifying to congress as he thought that congress should SEE his disease rather than just hear about it.

That suggests that the medication DOES mask the symptoms.

The medications mask the symptoms for a while…
every patient is different, but eventually the medications’ side effects become what this film showed.

My spouse has been on medications for seven years and the side effects are beginning to show. Michael J. Fox has been on medications since 1991.

Once the side effects win, the next step (presently) is brain surgery to kill more nerves and stop the movements…

MJF has tough decisions to make shortly… stem cell research may be too late for him… as it may also be too late for my spouse.

It is clear that the blastocyst continued the process of cell division for a more powerful effect. It could have easily suppressed both meiosis and mitosis for the time it takes to film a commercial.

This was a pathetic and obvious ploy for sympathy and gives all pre-born Americans a bad name.

You want to stop the cycle.

Boycott Rush’s advertisers. Boycott MSM advertisers that support hosts who launder Rush’s “reputation”.

If you don’t hit them in the pocketbook quickly, loudly, and proudly every time. EVERY TIME. They will continue doing this shit.

Cujo359 @
147

njr @ 143

down to the hardware stores and purchase pitchforks, then purchase tickets to DC.

we’ll have to fed ex the purchase to dc and pick them up as we depart the airport

Fed Ex them to the hotel. They’ll store them in their safe for you ;-)

We’ll have to put our torches in our checked luggage, and buy the kerosene once we get there.

Scarborough had a panel on at 9:00EDT and after showing the MJFox add and the disgusting mimicry that Limpbaugh did he and Buchanan made this stunning anouncement. Scarborough: this is disgusting. Buchanan: This may be the pivotal ad in the whole campaign. The one that losses the Senate for the Rethugs! I am paraphrasing but it was really a mind blower. I think that this ad should be used over and over along with the new DNC add that showed up today.

Excellent analysis. Since when is our society is fine with the Limbaugh approach to political smears? Media buzzards like Rush have far too little accountability, and John Stewart had it exactly right — they’re hurting the country.

It’s a huge sign of weakness that, when really under the gun (so to speak) himself, Cheney has to make a beeline for Rush’s show to spew his mis-dis-information, like a true chickenshit,

Balrog– Some were saying that the symtoms are actually MORE visible with the medication.

The GOP will continue to smear, go negative, racial, dirty tricks, et al until the people get completely fed up and those kind of ads stop working.

See, if Katie Couric is fair, she will also ask Rush about his disease/addiction and about how he is not being hypocritical. And, then she should ask him about his Foley comments to expose his right wing bias. That would bring this whole thing full circle on this idiot.

I wonder when and if Rush and/or Bill O will “see the Light”. When they will suddenly claim that they were decieved, wrong about everything (”I was Lost But Now I’m Found”), and beg forgivness. And will they mean it, or will it be another con?
Is it possible they will one day wake up, look in the mirror, and gag at what they see, and what they’ve done? Or more likely they’ll see the tide is turned, and try to hop on a different boat from their Titanics?
Well, I’m running low on cliche metaphors, better stop. I only comment when I’m on meds, anyway.

But in Tennesse the ads will probably work for thexargaw @
168

The GOP will continue to smear, go negative, racial, dirty tricks, et al until the people get completely fed up and those kind of ads stop working.

But in Tennesse the ads will probably work for the next twenty years. The new south is a myth.

“Freedom from the Press”

http://tinyurl.com/yejc3f

Rush is a big fat idiot,
and a tasteless moron.
and a water boy for Rove..
but a big 0… someday.. when his legions of subpar IQ find some new… entertainment.

Rush, Mr. Oxicotton, has really no credible ground to stand on…. those who …listen and assimilate… deserve what they get…

anyway, this has gotten too much press.
turn him off,
call him a moron…
and get some work done…

F U Rush man…

I think that the American Public is smarter than the media on this one and the focus on this will fail, because we all know someone who could have this disease. And just like in the Teri Schiavo case, the public will see this for what it is.

It’s not surprising for a man that stocks up on Viagra, prescribed in someone else’s name, and heads off alone for a vacation to a country known for underage sex trade, would blame the pages for Mark Foley’s problems. After all, don’t all child molesters blame their five year old victims. “It’s not my fault. He/She flirted with me!” Blaming everyone else for your problems is classic behavior for the addicted. Just proves that Rush is nothing more than a fat junkie. His audience must be just as morally bankrupt. What kind of a sick twist makes fun of the sick or injured.

A Hue and Cry for Florida Parkinson Suffers.
By any means possible head for Rush’s broadcasting headquarters Monday Show him how 5000-10,000 suffers can shake,fake and act for his expert diagnosis abilities. Dare every major media network to ignore you as a group… bring sponser’s products hold them up for the cameras so that people know what not to buy… ever!

Hopefully the deer in the headlights look coming from Brian Williams, is him finally connecting the dots.

Until now, Rovian attacks were reserved for anyone who dared challenge the permanent war State. Valerie Plame, leftist subversive bloggers, Susan Sarandon, etc… Not too big of a deal for the likes of Williams, that type of attack would never touch him. With Rush going after M.J. Fox this now concerns Williams personally. A major entertainment personality is being attacked for disagreeing with a domestic policy matter, attacks are now not just limited to anti war beatnicks, but celeberties who disagree with policy.

Who’s next?

“MJF has tough decisions to make shortly… stem cell research may be too late for him… as it may also be too late for my spouse.”

I think it a mistake to interpret the ad that Fox is pleading his own case. I take his coming forward as his taking the opportunity to move the debate forward so others in the future might not suffer his fate.
.

F-ing unbelievable. I am sure Rush&Co are somehow tapping that age-old prejudice that the disabled and ill should stay home and not be heard from. Offically I think, we have now reached an age where the disabled and ill cannot afford to stay home and not be heard from. I hope MSM at least gets some of that message. Again, kudos to Michael J. Fox.

Tug @ 23 said–

“As a guy who never once took a snap as QB in organized football at any level, he had no grounds whatsoever to have questioned the intelligence of Donovan McNabb.

The sports media did the right thing and ran him out of town.”

Good point.

And to take it one step further……Does this mean sportsfans and sportscasters care more about the state of the game than citizens and mainstream journos care about the state of the nation?

And, if so, does this explain, perhaps, why former Olbermann is the only game in town?

This idea of sports analyts is actually brilliant. They pretty much by necessity are constrained and habituated to objectivity, no matter if they are “type a” or “b” or whatever otherwise loud-mouthed cornball town or country hick. At least, the good ones are.

Any of them have blogs, with comments? ;)

Limbaugh and the rest of the provocatariat exist solely to excoriate anybody who dares to speak out against the right. Their job description can be summed up in two words : Be vile. That’s it really, be nauseating, disgustingly vile. It can’t be easy at first but after the consciencectomy and the compassion bypass, I guess it gets easier. What a job: squash anyone who speaks freely then hide behind Freedom of Speech. Anyone performing that sort of moral gymnastics on a regular basis runs the grave risk of disappearing up their own rectum. In Rush’s case, it can’t happen soon enough.

The cognitive dissonance for middle America is compounded by the association of Alex Keaton, an earnest young Republican who appeared on the very same TeeVee set.

How can he really be a dirty hippie who is supposed to be attacked and mocked? That just twists their racial profiling training all out of whack.

Leslie Stahl will go on 60 Minutes and tell Nancy Pelosi with a perfectly straight face that she’s the reason we have to restore civility, and the cycle will repeat itself all over again.

Oh so true. That thought has run through my head several times this week, after seeing and hearing the racist ads against Harold Ford and now this nonsense.

We’re truly screwed in this country.

melior (in Austin) @
182

The cognitive dissonance for middle America …

That’s why the Right needs people like Limbaugh and the rest of the Hate Radio and Faux News hit squad. Aside from creating the fantasy world in which followers of the Right live, the Limbaughs must be ready to ridicule and marginalize all critics and truthtellers, forming what I call a Cognitive Dissonance Firewall, allowing their followers to discount and ignore facts and experiences that might conflict with their ideology and dogma.

Your comment reminded me of my call-in to the Sam Seder Show Thursday morning…

The critic or truthteller must be characterized as ridiculous or biased, in order to give the Right Wing minions a pass on critical thinking that might reveal contradictions to their ideology — providing a sort of cognitive dissonance firewall. As another example of this, beyond what you’ve already mentioned, we’ve been subjected to 25 years of demonizing of news media as “the liberal media” — allowing Right Wingers to comfortably ignore anything they might hear on the news that conflicts with the fantasy world created for them. And yet another example, pulled from this election cycle is “Nancy Pelosi”: the Right must demonize Pelosi to prevent their followers from hearing what she’s actually saying, and learning that they agree with most of it.

George Lakoff or someone else, I’m sure, has a term for this. But I like “cognitive dissonance firewall.”

what blows my mind (and call e duped, if you like) is that we have forgotten how to treat each other like HUMAN BEINGS!

i understand the politics, partisanship, however we want to label the exchanges that we have seen over the years…

yet it saddens me to see that no one, plainly, has said that no human should be treated/opined/commented in the light that Michael has.

where is the BASIC humanity?

it is not a dem thing, nor a repug thing… it is a human thing, and shame should befallen upon us for not recognizing the most basic element– that humans, regardless of race, life form, gender (whatever) should not treat each other this way.

now i realize that we dems are more likely to call the above argument… yet the thing is, we should not argue with the *other side* with their sordid points. just use the *humanity clause*– something that we are all required to uphold and obige…

yes, rant-ish, yet fed up here. if we started focusing on branding the repugs as those who are against humanity in all facets (by calling them out on their ugliness by tying it to the lack of humanity)… where do you think we would be?

possibly nowhere.. there are too many out there that do not care, so then the argument is: how do we make them care? what value do we need to leverage, one that they hold dear, in order to draw a comparison that will wake them up?

ok, off to bed for this northern european soldier of truth… :)

Jane, you’re spot on.