Medal of Freedom, Anyone?

via BlondeSense: Did anyone else see Ben Bradlee on Ted Koppel tonight? Koppel asked Bradlee what he thought of Pat Buchanan's comments that Deep Throat Mark Felt was not ...
Bradlee didn't even allow Koppel to finish.
Bradlee said, why should I see Buchanan or Gordon Liddy practically fresh from prison talk about Mark Felt and morality.... Felt couldn't go to Attorney General John Mitchell--who is worse? Mitchell or Gonzalez? Because Mitchell helped plan Watergate with Liddy in his office at the Justice Department. read on

BALANCE, CABLE NEWS–STYLE

via Tapped ...Nothing quite captures the storied revolving-door problem in American political punditry like seeing old Watergate players themselves (or, in the case of Pat Buchanan, not a Watergate participant but certainly a loyal Richard Nixon soldier) playing disinterested pundit-analysts on one talking-head show after another discussing Mark Felt. At this point maybe it shouldn’t seem so bizarre to me to see Chris Matthews chatting with G. Gordon Liddy about this story as if they were David Brinkley and Chet Huntley chewing over the day’s headlines.

That these characters have carte blanche on the cable chat shows to serve as credible Felt naysayers is just one more illustration of the wonderful cloak of immunity enjoyed by all right-wingers in the clubby, insular D.C. punditry world. Lying, stealing, prison time -- literally nothing can discredit a conservative gabber enough to cancel their membership card to the commentariat. And today we have Peggy Noonan to thank for granting some establishment pundit legitimacy to Ben Stein’s thoughtful Deep Throat-as-genocidaire thesis. Can’t wait to hear Liddy’s thoughts on it tonight on Hardball.

[Poster by Favianna Rodriguez for Presente.]

The Right is throwing every little bit of ugliness they can at Sonia Sotomayor in hopes of derailing her nomination to the Supreme Court.

They've called her a racist. They've compared the National Council of La Raza to the Ku Klux Klan. They've called her a "lightweight" and "anti-white." They've suggested she lacks the right temperament, since she's just another stereotypical hot-blooded Latina. They've even suggested she's unfit to be a judge because she menstruates.

OK, we get it, fellas. The kid gloves are off.

Presente has organized a grassroots campaign to let ordinary citizens send the following message to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee:

We are outraged by the smear campaign against Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Instead of discussing her record, right-wing activists have sought to question Sotomayor’s intelligence and temperament, and suggested that her racial identity will prevent her from ruling fairly. This thinly veiled racism and sexism is not only insulting to Sotomayor, it's an affront to anyone who believes that a nominee should be judged on her record, not her heritage or skin tone.

The reality is that Sotomayor is an accomplished judge who would start with more federal judicial experience than any Supreme Court justice in 100 years. In her more than 3,000 panel decisions and almost 400 opinions, she has consistently protected the rights of working Americans and become one of the nation’s most respected legal minds. Sotomayor is not only a superbly qualified nominee; she is a powerful example of the American dream and knows how the law affects the daily lives of Americans.

I stand with Judge Sotomayor, and urge the Senate Judiciary Committee to give her nomination a speedy hearing and a positive confirmation.

Go here to sign it.

Or you can see it at the G. Gordon Liddy post below.

Open Thread....

You know, this all has a vaguely familiar sound to it. Anybody seen G.Gordon Liddy recently? I'm just sayin'...

Minnesota Monitor:

For a second time this month, someone has broken into DFL Headquarters in St. Paul. Indications are that the intruder broke into the office of Andrew O'Leary, the DFL's executive director, stealing a computer that was not visible from outside of the building and going through materials in his desk.
Two weekends ago, an intruder smashed a window and stole a laptop from the office of Nick Kimball, the DFL's Interim Communications Director. The DFL has no official statement on this latest incident.

The article was updated to state that more than a laptop was stolen in the second robbery, without specifying what. Perhaps not so coincidentally, there are reports of similar thefts to Democratic offices in Ohio and New Hampshire. Funny how they're all Democratic offices, isn't it?

The wrong kind of media I should say.

Wonkette:

Just to let you know, the US Marines have blocked access to “Wonkette” along with numerous other sites such as...

Wonkette - blocked
O'Reilly -- OK
Air America -- blocked
Limbaugh -- OK
ABC News "The Note" -- OK
Al Franken Show -- blocked
G. Gordon Liddy Show -- OK

If anyone can test to see if they are blocking C&L that would be great.

via Outside the Beltway

Talk radio king Rush Limbaugh, upon hearing that Rev. Al Sharpton has been the latest figure on the Left given a radio show in hopes of capturing a Limbaugh-like audience, mused about the possibility of having Sharpton on his show and offering pointers. Sharpton has eagerly accepted....read on

I'm not kidding, this is true. James Joyner thinks it could be a lighthearted give-and-take between Sharpton and Limbaugh for a few weeks would be quite fun, akin to the occasional Gordon Liddy - Al Franklen interactions. Seeing Sharpton on O'Reilly, I'm not so sure he would be all that effective but who knows.

via The Poorman: Republicans today criticized Paul Revere for his famous ride, saying that he had violated professional colonial ethics by divulging military secrets in violation of his duty to his lord, the King of England. “These were sensitive informations about military troop movements with which he had been entrusted,” said G. Gordon Liddy, an expert on ethics in government and a professor at several unaccredited law schools...read on

Richard Ben-Veniste trashs G.Gordon Liddy to his face on Fox News Sunday.

Download | play -WMP link still uploading:be a few mins.

Sometimes when you're a thug and a felon trying to impersonate a man of character and you come across your exact opposite; it doesn't go over too well. I rolled of my couch listening to this exchange. The real message in this segment is that when these liars are confronted by men who speak the truth and know how to do it, they seem to shrivel up and become almost speechless.

Also Obsidian Wings has a great post: Watergate: For The Record :..."This is not just the normal lying, cheating, and minor corruption (although Nixon had a particular flair for that: iirc, on the occasion of a candlelight vigil on the White House lawn, he brought up the possibility of using low-flying helicopters to blow out all the candles.) This is planning murder, arson, and of course burglary. In addition, there was a lot of financial corruption, and the use of the entire machinery of government -- the FBI, the IRS, you name it -- to go after those Nixon thought of as his political opponents....read on

The purpose of the MSNBC segment was to discuss a skit from Air America's Randi Rhodes Show (4/25/05).
On MSNBC, host Joe Scarborough turned to Liddy for his response to this incident, asking: "G. Gordon Liddy, are conservatives guilty of similarhate speech on their shows?"

Liddy's response: "Well, if they are, I certainly haven't heard of it."

That would mean that Liddy has not listened to his own program. On August 26, 1994, Liddy told his radio listeners: "Now if the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms comes to disarm you and they are bearing arms, resist them with arms. Go for a head shot; they're going to be wearing bulletproof vests." Liddy's advice that day was explicit: "They've got a big target on there, ATF. Don't shoot at that, because they've got a vest on underneath that. Head shots, head shots.... Kill the sons of bitches." ...read on

I called Scarborough Country the following day to complain that he didn't have a liberal or anyone representing Air America on, but of course I couldn't reach someone. I'll try on Monday.