Stephen Budiansky's Liberal Curmudgeon Blog: Not us

Esquire Politics Blog: Political violence in America always has been a matter of great convenience to the people who actually own the country. They don't have to inspire it, or finance it. They can even deplore it. All they really have to do is control the reaction to it.

Crooked Timber: Hoisted from comments

War Is A Crime: Who is in Gitmo now

Prose Before Hos: The police are not your friend

OFF THE BEATEN PATH: Ohh Shoot, Papamoka Straight Talk, The Inverse Square Blog

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Dana Bash interviewed the most hated man in America on The Situation Room and he had the balls to call what we have now a "progressive" health-care bill.

BASH: But you talked about the fact that on this particular issue, a Medicare buy-in, you have changed your position and you've said it's because things have changed. The deficits are high and Medicare is in more trouble -- the system.

LIEBERMAN: Yes.

BASH: But give me a little straight talk like your friend John McCain gives. Is it also that you philosophically have moved to the right a little bit?

LIEBERMAN: No, I don't think so. I mean, actually, this is a very progressive bill. The parts that I didn't like are taken out, I'm prepared to support. I've always believed that government has to be there when nobody else will be there to help people. But in this country we don't believe the government should take over everything. And for me, that's what's been on the line here. What kind of future are we going to have? And of course all of this goes to the debt -- the national debt and taxes. If government takes over everything -- the public option is something the public will pay for. And that means higher taxes. That's why I did that.

Didn't you know that John McCain won the election and put Lieberman in charge of health care reform?

There was nothing in this bill that could be considered a government takeover of health care in America, but don't ask a Villager to make Lieberman be honest about it. He has his bullshit fallback position and they just eat up his words and move on. Opening up Medicare to people at age fifty-five would have only helped Americans.

You know that if a health-care bill does pass, Joe Lieberman will take full credit for it. He'll be out there saying that it shows how incredible our system of government is. The media -- who love Lieberman and consider him a real independent soul who was forced out of the Dem party because of the dirty hippies -- will praise Joe's leadership on getting a bill passed.

Since the media believe liberals should always lose, they will relish the opportunity to promote Lieberman all over the TV because they know how much it will piss us off. Anybody who gives that lowlife props should be vilified early and often.

(Cartoon by Steve Greenberg.)
For a good laugh, check out the Obama '08 bumper sticker on the back of the Straight Talk Express. Damn kids!

Although FOX News is crawling with them, it's pretty hard to find a bigger right-wing hack than Fred Barnes. Thursday on FOX News' "Special Report," Barnes called Gramm's insensitive and bone-headed remarks about struggling Americans "straight-talk," and reiterated Gramm's view that Americans are whiners because they acknowledge how poorly the economy is doing.

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Transcript via Think Progress:

BARNES: He wasn’t wrong to say that. You know what this was? This was straight talk that McCain always says he’s giving it, and this is exactly what Phil Gramm did. He gave straight talk…They claim about how bad the economy is–and it’s weak, no question about that. …They’re whining all the way through it.

Happy Saturday, rascals and rogues. Melissa McEwan of Shakesville, coming to you one last time with bits and baubles from around the blogosphere. Thanks so much to Mike for giving me the opportunity to spend some time with you, and thanks to Nicole for her help and patience. I had an absolute blast, and I hope to see some of you at Shakesville in the future! Off we go…
David Kurtz, on the subject of McCain's "How do we beat the bitch?" incident, wonders How do Republicans get away with it?

Cara, meanwhile, notes that McCain is using The Bitch to make The Man some money. Watch for McCain on the next episode of Pimp My Ride, when he has the Straight Talk Express tricked out into the Straight Talk Pimpmobile.

Digby discusses what was the most embarrassing moment of the latest Dem debate, only to update with an even more embarrassing moment. Ezra notes the galling hypocrisy of a network having spent a week lambasting Hillary for planting a question about global warming themselves planting a question about jewelry.

Fixer has a great story about an animal rescue and the organization that made it possible. Mannion offers up a great puppy dog tale, too.

Madison Guy makes my blood run cold with a chilling hypothesis about Cheney's future. Robot overlords, indeed!

Portly Dyke writes a splendid post explaining how to f--k up.

And Kevin Hayden says Gag me with a Constitutional Protector!

That's all for me, folks! Your next cruise director will be Manila Ryce from The Largest Minority. You can send tips to him at john[dot]william[dot]harrison [at] gmail [dot] com. Toodles!

The Existentialist Cowboy: Six years on, amid a failed invasion and war, only 3 percent of Americans believe the US will bring democracy to the Middle East.

Vagabond Scholar: Right-wing cartoon watch

GOOD 006:  Speaking of cartoons, this is an awesome strip

Simply Left Behind: Bad Air Day

HOLY CRAP: Punditosis often enables Holy Crap...Crackpot Creationists are taking their war on evolution to Turkey...More "Christian Nation" nonsense...Know thine enemy--The Libertarian Theocrats:...How Neoconservatives and the Religious Right have joined forces to fight stem cell research...We linked this story last week, but it deserves more attention...Taxpayer dollars used to promote Kentucky's Creation Museum... Presidential religiosity, race, and gender...

OFF THE BEATEN PATH: Papamoka Straight Talk, Last Left Turn Before Hooterville, the field negro, earthfamilyalpha

Political Base:

Nevermind that 67 percent of Americans (and 50 percent of Republicans) believe our president should be willing to meet with our enemies.

Those new polls must really be bothering Johnny Boy.

Leave it to the Jed Report to try to explain to the right wingers why this is offensive:

If you think there's nothing disrespectful about McCain's ad, take a look at this ad that I mocked up in just a few minutes time. Like McCain's actual ad, it uses visual imagery to to make a brutal attack, in this case suggesting that John McCain is personally indifferent to the deaths of American soldiers.

Whether or not you agree with my mock ad's message, is there anyone who thinks McCain would consider it to be "respectful"? And if not, then how is his ad respectful? Just imagine how angrily the McCain campaign would respond if Barack Obama ever ran an ad such as this.

To be clear, I know that political campaigns are a tough business -- and I'm not squeamish about that. But McCain said his campaign was going to be different, and when he made his pledge, he received glowing press coverage for having set himself apart.

And now that he's broken his promise, launching the first negative attack ad of the general election, straight talk demands that he be held accountable.

The Heretik is shocked, shocked to discover . . . Bush never wanted to be a war president? He does, however, have an extensive collection of jackets with Commander in Chief embroidered on them. (Bush also hasn't figured out he is in fact a politician in Washington). The reluctant warrior has returned to stay the course terminology in asking for more time for his surge strategy, which replaced his stay the course strategy. About that September report on progress: It isn't the end, it's just the beginning. ""What Congress will get this week is a snapshot of the beginning of the retooling of the mission in Iraq," Snow said. "Everyone says, 'We want to do it a different way.' We agree. It's just now started." The surge of BS will continue forever, possibly longer.

The Numbers Game: Bush may think people are still behind him, but his latest polling numbers are a boot in the ass. Plus so many Friedmans. And you might want to take a closer look at that mortgage rate. One, two, three . . . . some base assumptions.

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