Orcinus: FBI wanted Obama plotters charged, but a Rove appointee said no

Average Bro: RNC night three recap

The Rude Pundit: Perfectly pitched critique of Palin's speech

World-O-Crap: Wingnuts say the darndest things

Hannah's Blog: Did McCain's mole sell US on invasion od Iraq?

The Satirical Political Report: Palin's 'contributions' to women

at The Aristocrats, here's an excerpt:

Republicans, when confronted with a 'problem' choose several activities from the list below:

ignore it, deny it
borrow a mountain of money for you know, whatever
talk to your prostitute about it
email Wright "goddamn America" youtube
blame it on Dems 'San Francisco values'
capitalize it collateralize it securitize it and sell it to the world
call it al Qaeda in (wherever it is)
cover it with a big flag
pretend you've already solved it in the future

Open thread below...and we've also got the Oregon/Kentucky Primaries Open Thread going at the same time...

Josh Marshall highlighted the good news: the Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week from last October -- featuring "heavily subsidized and poorly attended events on campuses around the country" -- has spawned a sequel.

Of course, it's tempting to ignore David Horowitz's Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week because it's just too silly to bother. On the other hand, it's also tempting to marvel at the occasion and offer a reminder of just how far gone today's conservative movement really is. It's probably more fun to go with the latter.

Here's Horowitz's pitch:

The purpose of this week and the campaign leading up to it will be: 1) To highlight the genocidal agendas of the Islamo-fascist crusade; and 2) To make the public aware of the "soft jihad" -- the domestic networks that fund and provide political support for the agendas of the jihad, including its armies of terror.

Ron Chusid's take from October is still spot on: "It's just getting harder to keep track of all those holidays. I mean, is Sweetest Day, which just occurred, a real holiday, or just an excuse to sell more candies and cards? Now I learn that this is Islamo-Fascism Awarness Week. Is this a real holiday, or just an excuse to sell more right wing paranoia?"

All evidence points to the latter, though I don't think Horowitz & Co. are "selling" claptrap so much as they're peddling it for free, hoping no one notices how nonsensical their materials really are.

At a minimum, we should get some good quotes out of the events. Last fall, in one of my personal favorites, Rick Santorum told a Penn State audience, "Islam, unlike Christianity, is an all-encompassing ideology. It is not just something you do on Sunday."

If anyone sees similarly illuminating remarks at this week's events, be sure to let me know.

Fascinating post by Jesse Wendel at Group News Blog regarding the kind of language the Democratic frontrunners are using to describe themselves and their campaigns:

Workers are all about competence. Why? ...Because workers sell their ability to make and keep promises. [The Worker Candidate] talks of her competence and experience, promises she will do what she's always done, and has the policy plans and papers to prove it...Clinton uses the language of a worker, the language of deep experience and competence...She tells us you can trust her judgment, knowledge and understanding, her years and years of being on the job, wisdom and training. She is no doubt genuinely baffled that anyone would choose someone who doesn't have the competency and vetting she has.

Managers aren't about declarations. Managers are about requests...[The manager candidate] requests you elect him to fix problems, lobbies for a change so he can fix the system. Edwards is an old-style Union man so even when his words are canonically declarative, if you listen carefully, what he's really doing is making a request for you to elect him because he can't deliver on his vision unless he's President.

Executives make the fundamental declarations of the enterprise: ...What business are we in? Who are we competing with? Who is our long term strategic ally? [The leader candidate] speaks in declarations, inspires, leads. ...When Obama speaks, he creates a future of an America in which all of us together will take on the troubles we know in our heart are coming and repair the damages which have occurred. Every time Obama opens his mouth, that future is more and more real. It happens AS he speaks. Obama's speaking makes it so. By declaration.

Obama is breaking out now because he speaks the language of a leader.

Read more...

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Mike Huckabee's populist rhetoric, which is scoring big with voters, has the punditocracy on FOXNews in a tizzy. How can you scorn Democrats for missing the boat if the leading candidate in your party is talking about the little guy too? Brit Hume issues the warning shot across the bow to Huckabee:

This is a party that if you’re going to be a populist, you better be for a lot of things that say, Ronald Reagan was for. You better be in favor of a lot of the…you don’t want to be a candidate associated with possible tax increases, policies that would require increased regulation and so on down the line. You can’t…I don’t think the anti-corporate message…it isn’t even selling very well in the Democratic party and I certainly don’t think it’s going to sell in the Republican party.

Greatscat!:

From Reuters yesterday afternoon:

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp [..] will sell eight U.S. television stations to private equity firm Oak Hill Partners for about $1.1 billion.

I couldn't help but wonder who was buying up tv stations in an election year, so a quick check of Oak Hill Partners :

Oak Hill Capital Partners traces its roots to Robert M. Bass, one of the four brothers who founded Bass Brothers Enterprises in Fort Worth, Texas.

From Texas, eh? A little more checking as a Texas based company raised my eyebrows right away:

Robert Muse Bass is a Texas billionaire worth approximately $5.46 billion as of 2006.

Bass was born into an extremely wealthy family with an uncle, Sid Richardson, worth $810 million. He and his three brothers Lee, Ed, and Sid Bass all attended Yale University, where they solidified their moneyed and political connections. Ed Bass was a classmate and personal friend of George W. Bush, and the brothers, especially Lee Bass, helped Bush financially both before and throughout his political career.

As Diane points out on her blog, it would be interesting to monitor these stations to see what kind of coverage they offer during the election and what impact, if any, it might have.

Sen. Larry "I am not gay, I have never been gay" Craig's legal team has opted for a new tactic, given that their initial attempt to have Craig's guilty plea withdrawn was essentially laughed out of court. Now they are opting to try to invoke something that Republicans haven't seemed too concerned about in the last few years: constitutionality.

MN Star-Tribune: Sen. Larry Craig will argue before an appeals court that Minnesota's disorderly conduct law is unconstitutional as it applies to his conviction in a bathroom sex sting, according to a new court filing.

This is the first time Craig's attorneys have raised that issue. However, an earlier friend-of-the-court filing by the American Civil Liberties Union argued that Craig's foot-tapping and hand gesture under a stall divider at the Minneapolis airport are protected by the First Amendment.

Funny thing about that Free Speech argument, you never know who is going to use it...like maybe a man who described a rather crude and fumbling assignation with Craig twenty years ago, culminating in Craig taking out a twenty dollar bill and saying

‘Remember, I can buy and sell your ass ten thousand times over. You were never here. Don't try to come back here. You don't know me.'

Charming to the last, Larry.

Poor Ann Coulter. Every time things start going really bad for the White House, the usual suspects start their distraction campaigns. Then Ann Coulter--who desperately and rather pathetically wants to believe she's still relevant--has to come out and prove that she's the top of the slime heap by saying something even more outrageous. Her new book isn't selling well, and well, let's be honest, she reeeally needs to sell some -- and for more than the buck or worst, penny they go for. After all, it's not like those black cocktail dresses she prefers grow on trees, and let's not even talk about her cosmetic expenses--you think that comes cheap?

Appearing on Tucker to pimp her latest rag (and how sad a gig that is, the lowest rated show on MSNBC), the official Republican Spokesperson tosses out her contribution to the right wing mud wallowing to make everyone forget that they are the last stubborn stragglers to utter failure: John Edwards had an 18 month affair -- as reported by the NATIONAL ENQUIRER. At that point, even Tucker had to laugh at the feckless Coulter. Let's face it, if Tucker's laughing at your journalistic sourcing, Ann, you're officially a joke.

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As with just about every stop on her comedy book tour, she manages to get in a dig at Elizabeth Edwards--who called her out on Coultergeist's disgusting last attempt at attention--dismissing her as "Lizzy" (gee Ann, you wouldn't happen to be trying out for the road show of "Heathers, The Musical," would you? Remember, "bulimia is so '87") but Tucker just can't get past the tabloid comment. He tells Ann he'll wait to get confirmation on the Enquirer story the next time he's at the supermarket -- and as the segment comes to a close and she stares doe-eyed into the camera Tucker slips this in:

Carlson: "Good luck at Safeway."

And then there's this... it's scary how far she has to go to out do herself...The smell of desperation just reeks from her.

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

From Democrats.com email:

Help build the impeachment momentum by wearing and encouraging others to wear this symbol of commitment to restoring our Constitution.

Good quality silicone, comfortable and eye-catching. As low as 75¢ each. Fund-raise by selling for $1. or $2. each. They sell like hotcakes. In a test sale at a recent rally a team of two sold 600 in just three hours.

You can order them through AfterDowningStreet.  How about purchasing one for Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, Harry Reid and your elected representatives?   Think an avalanche of impeachment bracelets might pierce through that bubble?