The Opinion Mill

The Bush family has often been referred to as the WASP version of the Corleones, but the Soprano clan makes for a much better comparison. At its best, "The Sopranos" is an acid mockery of the phony gravitas of the three "Godfather" movies. Where Michael Corleone is heroically evil, an international player who consorts with statesmen and the Vatican before succumbing to his tragic flaw, Tony Soprano is a sewer rat engaged in the grubby business of preying on human weakness and fear -– when his fall comes, it will be tragic only to himself. Until then, however, he’s going to make as much money as he can for himself and his buddies, and leave the rest of the world holding the bill.

I'm not just using hyperbole here. I do think that when honest historians assess the Bush administration, they will find it more useful to treat George II and his Republican cronies as a criminal organization rather than a political party. The best tool for analyzing Bush's policies is not historiography, but the procedures used by federal agents as they pursue a RICO investigation into a mobbed-up business.

Take the money and run. As long as Republicans are in power, that phrase should replace "E Pluribus Unum" on the national seal. It's the natural outcome of a quarter-century of rhetoric about how government is the problem, not the solution; how government doesn't work; how deregulation is the only way to build the economy. If government is nothing but a taxpayer-funded scam, then why not use it to enrich yourself and your buddies? If the very idea of public service as an idealistic calling has been turned into a mealymouthed joke, then where's the shame in abusing power and running the country into the ground? As long as you can convince just over 50 percent of the suckers to vote your way, you can throw yourself a party and leave the world holding the bill. Read on

Bullet Bags for Bush A Liberal Dose

Displaying the singular tact and deep humanitarianism for which he is so deservedly reknowned, Chief Chimp hostedRead on

City of Chicago uses Ebay!

Chicago to auction Windy City 'experiences'

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- City officials hope there are people willing to pay plenty of money to own a vintage Playboy Bunny costume, toss green dye into the Chicago River or throw a dinner party prepared by Oprah Winfrey's chef.

The Chicago-related items and experiences -- Playboy Enterprises and Winfrey's show are both based in the city, and turning the Chicago River green for St. Patrick's Day is a hallowed city tradition -- will be up for sale December 2-16 on eBay.

The Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, which is sponsoring the auction, has seen its budget from federal, state and city sources decline from $11.8 million in 2002 to a projected $8.8 million next year, said department spokeswoman Anne Dattulo.

Hmmm...I guess Dick Cheney was right!

I am getting so sick and tired of watching Tim Russert on "MTP" throw softballs to the Condi Rice's of the Republican world, and then grill John Edwards using Republican talking points. I thought I could see the words: flip/flop tatooed on his head while he asks his questions!

Our friend (and C&L fan) Richard Lewis returns to Countdown

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We love you, Richard, but Amato wants to know if it would kill you to mention C&L when you're on Countdown. C'mon, throw the guy a bone. You can pick up Richard's book The Other Great Depression here and here on audio.

That's a head-to-keyboard sentence if I've ever heard one. Pam's House Blend:

Good god. Perhaps all that work on Liddy has caused something to snap. Out of all the people to try to honor in an Act dedicated to fighting AIDS, Elizabeth Dole spits in the face of LGBTs by proposing the now-dead Jesse Helms be added to the "Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008." Here's the Congressional Record:

SA 5074. Mrs. DOLE submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill S. 2731, to authorize appropriations for fiscal years 2009 through 2013 to provide assistance to foreign countries to combat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows: On page 1, line 5, strike ''and Henry J. Hyde'' and insert '', Henry J. Hyde, and Jesse Helms''.

Why is this so unbelievably wrong on so many levels? Because of what Jesse Helms said about AIDS:

Joe Jervis of Joe.My.God says it all: Jesse Helms, the man who in 1987 described AIDS prevention literature as "so obscene, so revolting, I may throw up."

Jesse Helms, the man who in 1988 vigorously opposed the Kennedy-Hatch AIDS research bill, saying, "There is not one single case of AIDS in this country that cannot be traced in origin to sodomy."

Jesse Helms, the man who in 1995 said (in opposition to refunding the Ryan White Act) that the government should spend less on people with AIDS because they got sick due to their "deliberate, disgusting, revolting conduct."

I don't know about you, but I smell a Worst Person in The World award going to one Liddy Dole for this crushingly insensitive move.

While talking about RNC Chairman Mike Duncan's promise to go negative on Barack Obama Thursday night on "Verdict," conservative dinosaur Pat Buchanan made the astute observation that the GOP's only shot at winning this year is to trash Obama for his "associations" with controversial figures, and raise doubts among the electorate about choosing an "exotic" (code word for black) guy. Luckily, Tanya Acker was there to call him out on it right away and make him look like the racist "exotic" fool that he is. Buchanan's stammering definition of exotic is equally as absurd.

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Buchanan: The only way the Republicans can win this -- when everyone wants to throw the Republicans out -- is to raise questions, raise doubts about the alternative. They're gonna use his associations, and they're gonna use his statements, his elitism, they're gonna use the fact that hes exotic. That's what's gonna happen.

Acker: Exotic? What does exotic mean? Is exotic code for black? I dont understand what exotic means.

It's pretty fascinating to watch someone like Pat Buchanan opine on the 2008 Presidential race with Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee. It's almost seems at times like Pat is living in a different country, in a different era. One which doesn't resemble 21st century America, and one in which he undoubtedly would feel more comfortable.

It's my yearly push for some extra funds from C&Lers. Here's what's going on so far: We have a new homepage designed and ready to go. I also will be adding a few new web sites and bloggers that will be joining C&L. We are working hard on maximizing our servers and expanding their capabilities for some very nice features that you'll see rolled out hopefully very soon. We're looking to make C&L more interactive and more comprehensive.

I have over 11,500 video clips on my servers now, which is insane to me. When I first started trying to put clips online it was uncharted territory, but now it's become an Internet standard. :-) I also would like to throw a few bucks to the kind people that work so hard behind the scenes...so please help if you can. I will be posting about this all week, so anything you can do would be much appreciated.

Snail Mail checks to:

Crooksandliars.com

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Los Angeles, CA 90066

You can also buy C&L hats, t-shirts and coffee mugs if you click here.

If Thompson doesn't win this one will Lady MacCheney throw in the towel? And Mike really didn't mean anything meant by this:

“You don’t like people from outside the state coming in and telling you what to do with your flag,” Mr. Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas, told supporters in Myrtle Beach, according to The Associated Press.

“In fact,” he said, “if somebody came to Arkansas and told us what to do with our flag, we’d tell them what to do with the pole; that’s what we’d do.”

He feels that the Confederate flag is a private matter for SC and nobody should be shocked by what it stands for...Or something...

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Ah...the Doughy Pantload strikes again. Speaking in front of the Heritage Foundation (because, honestly, who else could sit through this tripe?) to pimp his latest book, Liberal Fascism, Jonah Goldberg tries again to prove Moynihan wrong, not only by coming up with his own facts, but his own definitions as well.

The primary definition that Goldberg ignores for his own version is "Fascism." In Doughy Pantload World, "fascism" means "something bad". This is something I've suspected for many years about conservatives: They don't actually know the definitions of the epithets they like to throw out to dismiss and demean the left. They just think it means "something bad." For example:

To sort of start the story, the reason why we see fascism as a thing of the right is because fascism was originally a form of right-wing socialism. Mussolini was born a socialist, he died a socialist, he never abandoned his love of socialism, he was one of the most important socialist intellectuals in Europe and was one of the most important socialist activists in Italy, and the only reason he got dubbed a fascist and therefore a right-winger is because he supported World War I.

Um, actually, not so much. Mussolini was dubbed a fascist because he founded the Fascist Party, you big, fact-ignoring dope.

Jonah's hatred of Hillary Clinton knows no rational bounds (the original sub-title was "The Totalitarian Temptation From Mussolini to Hillary Clinton"--Mussolini as an American politician--who knew?) and he steals liberally from Naomi Klein to dive head first into the Godwin abyss with fantastical allusions to 1984 and some Big Brother bleak bureaucratic scenario of DMVs with Jumbotrons with nanny-state advisories on breastfeeding, based on Hillary Clinton's It Takes A Village.

The dizzying logic of it all just shows you why if Jonah Goldberg is one of the great thinkers on the right (and certainly, he's has prominent enough platforms from which to spew this tripe to argue that point), the right is bankrupt of intellectual honesty and comprehension.

(Update: BG thanks her fellow liberal bloggers for this.)

So Happy It's Thursday, as the kids say!

Hey there, Actor212 of Simply Left Behind here once again, winding down the week with you. Thursdays...never could get the hang of Thursdays...I was born on a Thursday.

Onto the links. You guys probably got a poker game to get to...you know what? I'm tired of kicking Republicans around! It's too easy! Let's pin a few tails on donkeys in here... - Does the American education system have to mean apartheid? In a three-part series, liberalamerican of The Strange Death Of Liberal America examines the education system in America, and how it's helping to create a caste system.

- Alex over at Martini Revolution examines the shallow end of the pool: media and gene.

- What do you do when a governor says one thing in his state, and another outside it? RadioPatriot calls South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford on his lies.

- All Things Democrat: Why Congress should NOT tell us what torture is not.

- Richard Power writes one of his most achingly lyrical pieces: Hard Rain Journal*-- Who Will Rescue The Goddess of Liberty from Her Abusers & Their Enablers in the US Congress? *link fixed

- Drexel Democrats remind us that Stephen Colbert is a modern day Nostradamus.

- Marty Peretz of The New Republic - Dick

Don't forget: Voting in the 2007 Weblog Awards is open until 5PM ET (2PM for those of you on the PCH), You can vote for Crooks and Liars here, for Best Video Blog, and if you'd like to throw a little lovin' my way...don't worry, the shots cured me...please vote for my blog, Simply Left Behind.

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