Keith Olbermann pinned the honor on him 8/17 for his remarks about Cindy Sheehan.

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Keith :

But the winner -- oh, it's the irrepressible Rush Limbaugh. On the radio, he said, quote, "Cindy Sheehan is just Bill Burkett. Her story is nothing more than forged documents. There's nothing about it that's real."

I guess she made up that dead-son-in-Iraq business! He also referred to her supporters as "dope-smoking FM types." I guess the painkillers wipe out your memory along with your ethics. Rush Limbaugh, today's worst person in the world!

",0]);D(["ce"]);D(["ms","46b7"]);//-->The Memory Hole

The Right Is Wrong and Small As Well

With every national poll (83% opposed) condemning government interference in the Terry Shiavo matter you would think by the immense media presence of supporting talking heads that the reverse was actually true. In fact, no case in recent memory (possibly Elian Gonzales) has demonstrated the enormousimbalance between the vocal pundits of the lunatic fringe right wing and their actual lack of support bymainstream Americans.

All week long, pundit after pundit from the Right, followed politician after politician from the Right, by inundating the national media with twisted rationale and downright lies and smears of the innocent people just doing the civic jobs in a fully functioning Democracy. From one court loss to the next, the panicking pubescent pundits of the Right leaped from one cable news show to the next. An uninformed observer might believe by viewing these manic media performances that this group represented a gigantic swath of the voting populace in America. But when the dark star dust settled, there was simply no one home. In fact, no poll number in the recent history of Red State/Blue State divisive battles has reached as high as the 80% region. Clearly, the American people have spoken.

The problem is, the lunatic fringe on the right couldn't care less.

emailed by Mark G

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(h/t Heather)

Has there ever been a worse man running a political organization than Micheal Steele? I mean, I agree with his take here from the other day on Hannidate, but I doubt his RNC peeps do. They attacked him the following day which made him back off. I have to say he's been a really interesting character. He's stuck more shoes in his mouth than any politician that comes to memory since Kristol's boy named Dan Quayle. I do hope they don't fire him because he gives us so much material to work with.

HANNITY: Predictions for the election?

STEELE: Predictions for the election, I think that overall -- and we're beginning now to do the assessments on the various races. But I think overall, given what we know so far and what this administration's proclivities are, we're going to see, I think, nice pick-ups in the House. I think we're going to see nice...

HANNITY: More specific.

STEELE: Well, I can't give a number right yet. Because like I said, we're just now beginning to look at the races. And we have races where it hasn't been clear...

HANNITY: Do you think you can take over the House? Do you think Republicans...

STEELE: Not this year. And Sean, I would say honestly.

HANNITY: You don't think so?

STEELE: Well, I don't know yet, because all the candidates we still have vacancies that need to get filled. But then the question we need to ask ourselves is, if we do that, are we ready?

HANNITY: Are you?

STEELE: Are we...

HANNITY: Answer your own question. Are we -- do you think they're ready?

STEELE: I don't know. And that's what I'm assessing and evaluating right now. Those candidates that are looking to run have to be -- have to be anchored in these principles. They have to be -- they have to understand...

HANNITY: I'm agreeing with what you're saying. I think...

STEELE: They have to understand these steps, because if they don't, then they'll get to Washington, and they'll start drinking that Potomac River water. And they'll get drunk with power and...

Honesty is a deadly word when you're a conservative. The NRCC responded this way.

"The NRCC's goal - as the campaign arm of the House Republican Conference - has always been to recapture the majority in 2010. Independent political analysts and even liberal columnists have stated that Republicans have a very real shot at taking back the majority in 2010. Make no mistake about it, we are playing to win," said Ken Spain, NRCC Communications Director.

...to vote! White lace and promises...

There are a bunch of votes still left to take in the Senate. How many, you ask?

Ezra Klein knows:

Louisville, Ky.: Ezra, can you shed some light on the process involved in moving the Health-Care bill through the Senate? I've heard bits and pieces about number of votes required, but would like some clarification about: voting to block filibuster in the Senate, taking the bill back to a joint Senate-House conference, then back to the floor for final vote. Would you expand on this? Thanks.

Ezra Klein: Sure. Next move is the Finance Committee vote on Tuesday: that requires a bare majority of the committee (I think that means 11 votes, but that's just memory). Then Reid and the Democratic leadership blend the HELP and Finance bills into one bill. That doesn't require any votes. Then the bill comes to the floor. It'll need 60 votes against a filibuster, and 51 votes in favor of the legislation.

Then we have to deal with the House bills. Do you have a headache? People are becoming very irritable in America. Haven't you noticed? The health-care debate and the economic situation is really, really making life miserable for most of America.

A kiss for luck and we're on our way...

Before the rising sun we fly...

So many roads to choose...

We start out walking and learn to run...

We've lost healthcare reform's biggest hero, and it's only fitting that HR3200, the healthcare reform bill, bear his name.

Progressive Change has started a petition asking Congress to honor Ted Kennedy's memory.

In just a few hours, they've collected over 10,000 signatures. You can add yours here.

For many members of Congress, it may be the inspiration they need to get this done.

That this 36-year-old gem of snarky, vinyl-based, paleo-blogging was my very first political convention-related memory probably explains an enormous amount.

Open thread below...

Darcy Burner: "It's just stuff" More from Kos. In lieu of donations to the family, Darcy has made the following request:

For those who would like to do something to express their support, let me suggest making a contribution to your local humane society or animal shelter in memory of Charlotte, or to the Washington State Council of Firefighters Benevolent Fund.

And best wishes for a very speedy recovery to liberal blogger Brian Beutler.

Good morning, scamps and scoundrels. I’m your round-up guest host for the week, Melissa McEwan, otherwise known as Shakespeare’s Sister (that’s a Smiths’ and Woolf reference, not an egregious bit of braggadocio, cheeky gits!), the bare-knuckled proprietress of Shakesville—a group blog absolutely chock-a-block with shameless purveyors of libertine feminism and the radical gay agenda. Buckle up; off we go…

Egalia over at Tennessee Guerilla Women knows she not the only dummy who expected the Dems to act like an opposition party.

The Heretik helpfully suggests they could try actually opposing something.

Peter at Right Wing Watch finds that professional a**hole Randall Terry is heartbroken by Pat Robertson's endorsement of Giuliani and his "hypocritical and seductive evil."

Amy at Incertus puts on her science geek cap to take a look at what brains are saying about the candidates.

Eric Hopp raises his voice once again in support of universal healthcare, in the wake of the news that the US is among the worst in the world for infant deaths.

Dave Neiwert provides space for Trefayne to take a stroll down Memory Lane and spend some time with Ron Paul's Congressional record.

Amanda finds one more reason for people in the Reality-Based Community to avoid seeing Bee Movie, if anyone still needed one.

And over at WIMN's Voices, the lovely Echidne takes a look at the alarming allegation that feminism killed the Neanderthals. We're so powerful, evidently, we can retroactively kill entire species! Mwah ha ha ha!

That’s all for today. Seeya tomorrow! If you’ve got any hot tips, email me at shakespeares_sister at comcast dot net.

Please go and see this new movie about the way the government uses the media to sell war after war after war. It's a brilliant flick that dissects the great propaganda machine which is a curse to our democracy.

War Made Easy reaches into the Orwellian memory hole to expose a 50-year pattern of government deception and media spin that has dragged the United States into one war after another from Vietnam to Iraq. Narrated by actor and activist Sean Penn, the film exhumes remarkable archival footage of official distortion and exaggeration from LBJ to George W. Bush, revealing in stunning detail how the American news media have uncritically disseminated the pro-war messages of successive presidential administrations...read on