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Here’s some of what our wonderful GOP/Media Complex has been up to (or not up to) lately:
– Remember the “UN Oil for Food Scandal” that was all over the TV news and drive-time radio from 2003 to 2005? Remember how Senator Blow-Dry, Minnesota’s own (eeeew) Norm Coleman, attacked George Galloway over this? Remember how the wingnuts claimed this proved that Kofi Annan was evil incarnate?
When Annan was exonerated back in 2005, I predicted that this would not get anywhere near as much attention as did the original smears — especially as the real perps turned out to be (as we were reminded again recently) Texas oil men, a species whose members (as we were also reminded again recently) vote for and donate to Republicans to this very day. So don’t be surprised if you turn on the evening news or your drive-time radio this week and somehow don’t hear Norm Coleman haranguing Texas Republican oil men over this.
– When Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi joined several House Republicans in making bipartisan fact-finding and de facto diplomatic tours to Syria, the tame parrots of the GOP/Media Complex joined the Bush White House in denouncing her and her trip (even as they stayed silent about the Republicans who’d been to Syria). But when Bush does it, or when Condi does it (or rather, is forced off her butt to do it), it’s A-OK, according to his press lapdogs.
– Legitimate non-internet-based polls like Gallup show Hillary Clinton beating all Republicans, and are all but ignored by the press. Bogus Zogby poll shows Hillary losing to Mike Huckabee, and the news media can’t stop talking about it. (Of course, cherry-picking polls to show Republicans beating Hillary seems to be a fetish with Serious Journalists.)
– Baghdad reporters don’t dare say this when the TV cameras are rolling for fear of ticking off their Bush-loving bosses, but when talking privately and anonymously they admit that Baghdad is still unsafe and that media coverage has been “too rosy”.
– And of course there’s alleged journalist Joe “it’s too hard” Klein and his alleged editor Rick Stengel being complete frickin’ morons.
As for what this all says about our wonderful GOP/Media Complex, I’ll let Atrios have the last word.
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2
Pw!
Joe Klein is a Zen master!
C’mon, PW, how can you forget the IOKIYAR axiom…
Balance?
These media folks might want to heed a bit of western wisdom: Straddling a barbed wire fence can be a painful experience.
*Even* if you’re a republican.
PW!!!
On fire today at the lake of Firedoggies!
FunnyD
I never forget IOKIYAR, but that doesn’t mean I like it, let alone accept it as a valid reason for…anything.
evening, all
Funnydiva2002 @ 6
race ya for the zedigg funnydiva!
starting
1 2 3 …
Elliott @ 8
Guess you win, Elliott. As long as someone does it. Your summary is probably better than my last one anyway…
FunnyD
Look if you subtract out the violence, chaos, and lack of basic services things are better in Baghdad.
Funnydiva2002 @ 9
HA!
you distract me with sweet talk!
ratz
Hugh @ 10
And that leaves…??? *g*
FunnyDiva
Oil was down to $90.62/bbl today. They are practically giving it away I tell you.
Hugh @ 10
Thing got so bad that down looks like up. I always thought we’d come to this point about Iraq.
Elliott @ 11
R U Kiddng Me, grrl? I write sweet talk to give U head start!!!
So.
FunnyDiva
Channeling my favorite gato blogger.
Hugh @ 13
yeah right, love that almost in the eighties price!
Hugh @ 13
DAM, and I just filled the tank Saturday, too.
FunnyDiva
No good market timing for me…
Hugh @ 13
Yep. Got so high, up looks like down. Thought we’d get there on the oil price too.
Seen at tpmmuckraker.com:
>>> Mutlaq told the newspaper Kul al- ‘Iraq that the Iraqi people — meaning his constituency — would see the deal as “a U.S. imposition.” The only way to avoid that perception would be… if the U.S. set a timetable to withdraw from Iraq. That’s clearly at cross-purposes with the point of the security deal.
So now it is more than an agreement on ‘principles’; it’s a ‘deal’. When does it grow up and become a treaty? Does it oblige the U.S. to do something particular in foreign affairs? Just what is the difference between a “security deal” and a “treaty”? And if it is in effect a treaty, why hasn’t it come before Congress to get approved? And why isn’t anybody in Congress objecting to THIS end run around them?
(I know; I’ve said all this before. Sorry. It was just seeing that the Iraqis themselves view it as a ‘deal’ that touched me off again.)
Hugh @ 13
I would like to put a cup on layaway please.
Hugh @ 13
I’ll bet you that next summer, it will be below $65/barrel. I bet you know why I think that.
Hugh @ 10
and unemployment – gotta subtract that too.
The Annapolis peace conference ended on an optimistic note, indicating that photo-ops still have a future.
Glenn can smell blood now, he has another Klein/Time post up:
Salon
Hugh @ 23
I thought the photo op was a failure. W mangled Ohlmert’s & Abbas’s names & Ohlmert had to drag him out from behind the podium to make the phtos work.
Joe Klein’s conscience @ 21
I was just thinking the same thing. Troops out of Iraq, oil prices way down, victory parades (Wes Clark said that)…or…a conglomeration of scandals coming to the forefront of the news…Bandar Bush, Rove/Siegleman, Sibel Edmonds, etc., or maybe tons of things we don’t even know about yet, like the economy; although I think they’ll find a way to hide or delay the real economic truth. I dunno…could go either way.
On the Syria front — not that I want anyone doing bad things to Syria, mind, or anyone else — it has long been a little difficult for some of the U.S.’s sometime-allies (like Canadians) to grasp why the Bush admin would be demonizing a regime at the same time that it is contracting-out to that very regime, the Syrians, the “enhanced interrogation” of kidnapped nationals of other countries (see the case of Maher Arar).
Joe Klein’s conscience @ 21
To help the ‘thuglicans in the prez-i-lection?
FunnyDiva
Grasping the obvious since 1968.
Hugh @ 23
You mean the White House “after party” (in the words of WH Press Secretary Dana Perino) was a hit?
I can’t wait to hear what Entertainment Tonight has to say about it.
(h/t Froomkin)
selise @ 22
Yeah, here, take mine away in that subtraction wouldja?
FunnyD
Hugh @ 23
Of course! Photos can’t mispronounce easy and common Arabic given names!
Feh
FunnyDiva
Steve-AR @ 24
That is embarrassing.
eCAHNomics @ 25
Bu’ushworld: A picture hides a thousand words/facts.
FunnyD
And Musharraf should be applauded for the progress he has made in taking Pakistan from a military dictatorship in a general’s uniform to a military dictatorship in a business suit.
skdadl @ 27
Difficult for many Americans, too. My only answer is Wilkommen in Bush Homelandia World, heil!
Evening everyone, PW. You guys have probably been all over the story of Guilliani hiding expenses to visit Miss Judith…HA!
skdadl @ 27
Well, it’s pretty hard to be living in America and be able to grasp why they do what they do…
Hugh @ 34
and for not crossing some line or other, I’m not sure what, since the dictatorship line was crossed long ago and the whole world knows it…
FunnyD
Steve-AR @ 24
Someone whose opinion I think very highly of covered this in his column today, underlining what Glenn said.
http://www.harpers.org/archive…..c-90001785
However, within the column, he had some flattering things to say about Kl*in. When I emailed him with my disappointment in his rare lack of judgement, he replied that he did it in the interest of domestic tranquility, as Joe is his next door neighbor. I somewhat obscured this comment as I think he would not want blowback.
Is anyone else planning on watching the Repubs play with YouTube questions this evening on CNN? It may prove amusing…
Huckabee could make a big move tonight if he nails Ghouliani with some snark. He’s got a good sense of humor. All I know is, I want Ghouliani, Romney, Thompson, McCain, and Tancredo…out…
Could be an interesting popcorn event…or not.
eCAHNomics @ 39
the dangers of divided loyalties.
realpolitik
Marion in Savannah @ 40
I can’t decide. Keith or Republicans…
Loo Hoo. @ 36
Listen this all has a perfectly innocent explanation. Rudy was mistakenly given a list of the Ten Commandments in his youth with the “not” taken out of the seventh and eighth commandments.
BREAKING:
The Ghouliani show will be over soon. There needs to be a criminal investigation of this malfeasance. Why has Mayor Bloomberg been sitting on this?
I know I’ll end up watching the debate. Specially knowing Rudy has his new problems.!
PhW,
The conservative radio station here doesn’t like Guido the killer Pimp.
“Guiliani made a statement to NASCAR fans…
…when is he going to talk about a dental plan?”
Touche.
As for Huckabee, he’s such a fraud that he put the TIT in Titanic.
They’ll go straight to the bottom with him.
Kevster @ 46
Maybe because he’s planning to run for president and wanted to have the lock on eliminating one rival?
Loo Hoo. @ 44
Or L&O reruns.
Every single one of the Democratic candidates is better than any of the GOP presidential hopefuls. Good gawd. Look at what the Republicans are offering up to us.
Loo Hoo. @ 44
I think MSNBC is running it too.
LS @ 37
I’m sure it is, and I don’t mean to hurt your feelings or anything.
What can I say? It’s worse everywhere else, and could you please stop the bastards? Because we sure can’t.
Kevster @ 46
All in the run up to 9/11 – August/Sept.2001…I guess that impacts his “ownership” of protecting NYC from terrorists…he was too busy boinking Judy. Brain bleach….Ewwwwwwww
Loo Hoo at 36: That’s a great story, but I think the diarists at Kos are getting ahead of themselves for predicting that this will end Rudy’s campaign.
Facts and reality haven’t mattered for a long time now…
Geez. Now the Gulliani Files become public! This is getting fun!
As New York mayor, he was for a state and federal hate crimes bill, Van Capelle said. One of the documents that Pride Agenda has on its site is a press release from Giuliani’s office dated March 30, 2000 and quotes Giuliani as saying: “Every hate crime is a crime against Our city, since it strikes at the diersity upon which New York thrives.”
But last spring, Bill Simon, one of Giuliani’s advisers, told the Christian Broadcasting Network that Giuliani is agaist federal hate crimes legislation.
randiego @ 55
Ain’t that the truth…
skdadl @ 53
I know just how you feel…we feel the same way..we are trying. Major frustration and outrage.
I suppose I’ll take in the Republican side show. But. I may walk out before the curtain comes down. When does this freak show start?
Oklahoma kiddo, 8 PM
Kevster @ 46
Actually, without any snark at all, I think this is something Bloomberg doesn’t care about. My read is that Bloomberg’s a manager, and not concerned with all that other stuff. I haven’t heard of any scandals during his administration (the way the RNC convention was run excepted, but that’s a different story), and think he’d react quickly if any surfaced in his Administration. But I think he doesn’t care about that political gotcha stuff. Now if investigating Rudy’s transgressions could lead to recouping meaningful dough for NYC budget that would be a different story.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 59
In 15 minutes.
I wonder if Queen Judith will ever dare call in on his cell phone, again..;>
Nice to talk to you this evening, LS. The kittehs and I are toddling off to sleep now. But I did appreciate that exchange.
Marion in Savannah @ 57
However, I still live in the reality-based world. One of the reasons I hang out here.
Marion in Savannah @ 60
Thanks.
skdadl @ 63
Goodnight! :)
The traditional American media. The greatest propaganda machine since the 3rd Reich or the Soviet Union.
skdadl @ 53
We’d love to. Hang out here every day trying to figure out how.
So, if you’ve got any good suggestions, now’s the time *g*.
Or if you want to just link me to your nation’s immigration regulations, that would work, too…
FunnyD
LS @ 62
;0)
PW, I am confused. Isn’t it a liberal media?
LS @ 54
This also ties in to the siting of the emergency command center in the World Trade Center so that Rudy would have a place within walking distance of the mayor’s office to do more of the aforementioned boinking.
eCAHNomics @ 61
I agree. I think that the bilking of the money is bigger than who Ghouliani cheated on his wife with or where. It is an abuse of power, and it shows bad integrity and dishonesty.
OT FOR SURE: Today I received a letter marked “Undeliverable
As Addressed.” I hand wrote an long and supportive letter to a
“Recovering American Soldier,” sent to Walter Reed Army Medical Center. It was apparently rejected for security reasons. Did this happen to anyone else?
Marion in Savannah @ 57
Democrats believe the situation can be interpreted that way. But Republicans disagree, pointing to the well-known liberal bias of facts, reality and truth.
FunnyDiva
Thanks GlennGreenwald and TIME Magazine’s non-correction correction.
Hugh @ 71
Maybe he’s addicted to boinking….makes him feel all “manly” in front of his goons. Judith is not immune from his cheating either.
Remember when the MSM was touting the Secretary of State as presidential timber? Hillary debating Condi. The Hill would have eaten Ms. Rice’s lunch. Now that would have been fun to watch.
TexBetsy @ 70
That has to be sarcasm, right? Say it’s sarcasm.
LS @ 72
It does go to show why he hooked up with Kerik. Talk about birds of a feather.
skdadl @ 63
We try.
Bluetoe @ 77
yep. ditzy, muscle-relaxer, half blond sarcasm
LS @ 72
They are both Rethugs. Remember what “liberal” Bloomburg did via the police to protesters at the Republican convention. Bloomburg is another tool.
“(Jim)Jones and Ullman were challenging Krauthammer, and that generally would be a sign of constructive, realist thinking.” -Clemons
So we can assert that in this case Jim Jones doesn’t drink the kool aid?
upcoaster @ 73
I haven’t tried yet, but someone mentioned over the weekend that they included injured soldiers on their Christmas list and gave the WRMC address.
Jane’s upstairs:
http://www.firedoglake.com/200…..t/#respond
eCAHNomics @ 61
Wow, eCAHN. Hope you’re right. Nyoo Yawkers deserve a mayor who spends time actually managing the city instead of playing gotcha. And if he’s smart enough to be playing a very long game by letting others hang Rudy on his own rope, so he can enter the pres race having kept above at least some of the mud, more power to him.
Not that I’d vote for him for pres. Just can’t help giving props to any pol these days who seems to be doing their g-d job and/or using their smarts over the long term.
FunnyD
Mr.Murder @ 82
Ouch!
Yes, that was covered in my parenthetical ‘excepted’ phrase. Bloomberg started off as a D (hardly a progressive one, though) and so had to prove his converted spots with the RNC convention, plus his manager gene (don’t know, but suspect he’s a control freak) made him want to make sure there were no disruptions during the convention. I didn’t mean to imply that he’s a nice man, only that Guiliani’s transgressions wouldn’t appear on his radar screen.
Steve-AR @ 24
Thank God for Glenn Greenwald.
I think we need more than a Pulitzer prize for journalism. I think each MSM rag dedicated to the news should be graded at least annually by a neutral authority with explicit journalistic criteria such as those employed by NewsTrust, i.e., stuff like
* Information: Is this story informative?
* Fairness: Is this story fair?
* Sources: Is this story well sourced?
* Context: Does this story show the “big picture”?
* Evidence: Does this story provide factual evidence?
* Importance: Is this an important topic?
* Balance: Does this story present all key viewpoints?
* Style: Is this story well presented?
* Accuracy: Is this story accurate?
Plus one more: on a scale between Journalism and Entertainment, where does this publication rank? Is it an Entertainment magazine with some news, or a news magazine with some entertainment? What would Walter Cronkite say? Then we could see just how good– and how bad!– some of these publications are, and we can shift our reading habits accordingly!
I’m a bit embarrassed by the amount of entertainment pandering that Olberman’s Countdown employs (would Walter Cronkite have consented to doing a Worst Person in the World segment on his news show?), but at least the journalistic content is better than most other “news” programs.
BTW, I encourage everyone to register at NewsTrust, and do your own reviews. It is a good exercise in confronting the principles of good journalism, if nothing else!
Bob in HI
Hugh @ 71
but, but… the memo I got says he couldn’t boink her because of his prostrate treatments and she in fact, was helping nurse him.
I’m a sharp critic of Bush’s foreign policy, but in all fairness, I don’t think the issue with Pelosi’s trip to Syria had to do with the U.S. talking to Syria. The issue was who was doing the talking. When a member of Congress meets with leaders of a foreign country in her official capacity, and the official U.S. policy is not to meet with that leader, that is an issue. Like it or not, the U.S. has one official representative to other nations, and that is the Secretary of State. I’m hoping for a new one soon. So when the Bush Administration then changes policy and invites representatives of Syria to meet with the President and Secretary of State, that is not inconsistent with criticizing the member of Congress for going to Syria earlier.
LS @ 72
And apparently Rudy and Judy were meeting at gas stations…so it shows some disgusting bad taste in the selection of trysting sites.
One can only dare to guess where they were performing their romantic interludes? The mens toilet? Yeeecccckkk! Or maybe Judy has a “mechanics fetish” and they rented the whole place for the rendezvous?
“Miss, let me put the dip-stick back in and then we can talk about your discount” said the man with “Rudy’s Wrecking” embroidered on his overalls.
Sorry, Phoenix; I don’t believe Clinton can beat all the republicans.
Can you link to those polls, so we can take a close look at them?
I should also point out, that she regularly gets her ass kicked with progressive polls.
Do we want a candidate who runs AWAY from us on so many things?
Did you read the piece on Digby about her doing rehab on Colin Powell, down here in S.C., yesterday?
It was literally, nauseating.
She said:
“I won’t even wait until I’m inaugurated, but as soon as I’m elected I’m going to be asking distinguished americans of both parties—people like Colin Powell, for example, and others—who can represent our country well, including someone I know very well…because I want to send a message heard across the world. The era of cowboy diplomacy is over.”
Now…
I would suggest that what most “distinguishes” Colin Powell, is that he was one of the most effective of the warpimps, especially when he was slathering all that bullshit on the United Nations; which slathering was key to cinching the invasion deal for bush.
It’s practically a matter of record that he was also involved in covering up the My Lai massacre.
Two things about “the era of cowboy diplomacy ending”:
Colin Powell was highly instrumental in helping inaugurate that “era”. Why in the plu-perfect fuck would ANYONE who is sincere in wanting to end the “era”, talk about using HIM in their administration?
There is someone else who helped inaugurate it, and whom has never apologized for doing it.
Her name is Hillary Rodham Clinton.
I’ll be interested in looking at the polls which show her beating all of the republicans, but with the things she’s saying and doing, I’m at the point with her where I really don’t give a shit about her SUPPOSED ability to win.
What’s the sense of nominating and electing someone who wants to start out, pre-inauguration, by reaching out to one (or more) of the biggest liars of all the bloody-handed assholes who’ve dragged us into the shitmire?
It’s at the point where we’re not talking about republican lite, just republican. As someone posted on Digby:
“Eisenhower with a school lunch program.” (It think that was it.)
Think of what she’s saying and doing.
We don’t need someone to help the kneejerks and their handmaidens like Powell, erase the stain on themselves for what they’ve done to Iraq, and to us and the world; we need someone to excoriate these bastards for the wretched excuses for human beings and “leaders” they are.
Time desperately needs to ignore the criticism of Klein and make the fiasco go away — because going into a critical election cycle they surely have big plans to slip many more slurs against the Dems under the radar, and keep pretending they’re being objective.
Glenn, FDL, Kos etc. are crimping their style.
‘Reporting’ you say ………… ?
That went out when the New World Order and PNAC
entered the picture .
No more who , what, where , when and why nor is
there much objectivity ………… just screw-
ball comedy ala Glenn Beck, et al.
We are where we are because of the media failing to do their job ……questioning
authority.
I wonder how people like Novak, Krauthammer, Will, Miller and a host of others can sleep at
night?
Nevada Bob
A question I have is why every news or blog report I read states that Giuliani was having an “extra-marital affair?” He was having an adulterous affair and hiding it from the citizens and people he was purporting to represent on the governmental level as well as the moral level. Bloggers and reporters should use the correct terms instead of euphemisms that interfere with the true meaning of the content of the event.