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!
Representative Brian Nieves, who as Missouri GOP Majority Whip is the #5 Republican in the state's House of Representatives, in the first clip refers to waterboarding as "a little water on the face," and in the second clip clarifies his position that he is really truly supportive of "waterboarding terrorists" but not American citizens held in a privately-run prison.
The mocking of the controversy about waterboarding as "putting a little bit of water in their face" is really offensive. If Nieves doesn't think that waterboarding doesn't reach the threshold for torture, fine. I think he's wrong (as do more than 70% of Americans, including weak-kneed libruls like John McCain), but the minimizing of the practice as just "water in the face" is way beyond the pale.
....[T]his Nieves Doctrine of torturing terrorists -- but not American citizens -- raises another whole set of questions. For instance: how does the Nieves [Torture] Doctrine address situations in which an individual is both a terrorist and an American citizen? For instance, would it have been okay to waterboard Timothy McVeigh or Unabomber Ted Kaczynski? If waterboarding is both (a) not torture and (b) effective, then why wouldn't we do it to citizens?
And why don't the voters of Nieves' 98th district throw him out on his fanny? Because he's tougher on terrorists than John McCain? Maybe they think they'll get more media attention if they're represented by a pro-torture decline-of-the-GOP poster child. We got your media attention right here, Missouri.
More likely, because Nieves can't run for re-election in 2010 due to term limits, he's working really hard to make a name for himself state-wide as "more Republican than thou", which of course means really really loving the waterboarding thing.
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:
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.
A sparkling list of hackery marks Friday's Worst Person in The World for Countdown. The bronze goes to Republican presidential contender Rudy Giuliani for letting his 9/11 Tourettes outbursts reach the point of caricature. Perennial list sitter Bill O'Reilly gets the silver for being too stupid to know the difference between the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence as well as having the bad taste to be proud of said stupidity. And finally, the gold goes to the richly deserved Roger Ailes for his revolutionary FOX Business Channel, who has only averaged 6,300 viewers during the day and 15,000 during prime time.
This morning on Fox NFL Sunday's pregame show, co-host and former NFL player, Howie Long, decided it would be a good idea to insult Al Gore to make a point about sports. Not only is this moron's statement wrong, it's unprofessional and he should be called out for it. Why do people like Howie and Al Michaels feel the need to mix politics with sports? You can write to FOXSports and tell them what you think about Howie's hackery.
Long:"...Mike Martz suffers from a rare form of the Al Gore syndrome, where Al still thinks he's the president and Mike Martz still thinks he's the head coach..."
*Note to Keith Olbermann - If you're looking for someone for your Worst Person In The NFL segment tonight, I think Howie is your man...
Considering that Colbert's speech here at C&L was the second most linked to post of 2006, I think it's safe to say that we're not expecting a similar reaction from this year's Correspondents' Dinner.
The White House press corps last week found itself embroiled in controversy -- a controversy over its efforts to avoid controversy at an event whose guests include President Bush. Stung by criticism that comedian Stephen Colbert went too far last year in his remarks at the White House Correspondents' Association annual dinner, the group announced last week that it had lined up a different kind of entertainer for its next dinner on April 21: impersonator Rich Little.
[..]The group's president, C-SPAN's Steve Scully, issued a statement saying: "The White House Correspondents' Association never dictates or censors the content of a press dinner entertainer's act . . . My advice to [Little's agency] when we booked [him] in December was to follow the time-honored Washington motto [of] the Gridiron Dinner: 'Singe, but never burn.' "
Admittedly, it's an old story, and Olbermann has already named them the "Worst Person(s) in the World" for this, but I want to put this out to you. Who do you think would have been a worthy successor to Stephen Colbert for the White House Correspondents' Dinner?
Informed Comment: Are we winning yet? Submarines, Iran & Gulf, Somalia, Afghanistan, Palestine...
TPMCafe: Forget Keith Olbermann's "Worst Person In The World" contest — it's now been completely upstaged by a new Sunday contest on Fox: Sean Hannity's "Enemy of the State" award.
Nuestra Voice: Exclusive...Majority Leader Reid speaks out on immigration reform
The Left Coaster: Analyzing the motives behind the creation and dissemination of (a) the Niger uranium forgeries and (b) the information extracted from, or linked to, the forgeries.
The BRAD BLOG: One of the nation's top critics of unverifiable electronic voting systems has been named by the new California Sec. of State Debra Bowen as Deputy SoS for Voting Systems Technology and Policy.
Norbizness: Back on track with the weekly litany of the crimes, misdemeanors, and other affronts to civilized society committed by The Left. Let's see what I've been up to...
Rep. Cynthia McKinney allegedly struck a police officer at a Capitol Hill security checkpoint the other day. The incident prompted syndicated scream radio winger Neal Boortz to unleash a stream of racist blather--including saying that McKinney looked like a "ghetto slut"-- which earned him Keith Olbermann's "Worst Person In the World" award last night. John weighed in on the matter--without commenting on McKinney's appearance. I'm just trying to imagine this happening to a white, Southern congressMan.
Countdown plays a bunch of O'Reilly's greatest hits and his "worst person of the world" awards. MSNBC spoofs it for almost nine minutes as other employees line up to sign the petition-while Keith does his best Ted Baxter impersonation. (dave reminded me in the comments.)
Imagine this surprise. Bill is named the "world's worst person," by Keith Olbermann. Who would have thunk it?
