You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: (1659)

PLAYS: (2592)

Rupert Murdoch, probably the most powerful media mogul in history, submitted to an interview with Sky News Australia's David Speers last week that was incredibly revealing. (We'll have a follow-up post to some of the other things he said. The full interview is here.)

And probably the most revealing was his full-throated defense of Fox News and its War on Obama -- and particularly Glenn Beck for calling President Obama a racist.

When Murdoch poo-poohed the notion that Fox's news coverage was slanted, while its opinion shows like Beck's were supposed to be opinionated, Speers pointed out that the problem was how far Beck was going:

Speers: Glenn Beck who you mentioned has called Barack Obama a racist, and he helped organize a protest against him and others on Fox have likened him (Obama) to Stalin is that defensible?

Murdoch: No, no, no, not Stalin, I don't think, ah, not one of our people.

On the racist thing, that caused a (unintelligible). But he (Obama) did make a very racist comment. Ahhh -- about, you know, blacks and whites and so on, and which he said in his campaign he would be completely above. And um, that was something which perhaps shouldn't have been said about the President, but if you actually assess what he was talking about, he was right.

Well, just for anyone interested, we've provided both in the video above and in transcript below exactly what everybody said.

First, here's what Beck actually said that Murdoch thinks was "right":

Beck: This president has exposed himself as a guy, over and over and over again, who has a deep-seated hatred for white people, or the white culture, I don't know what it is. But you can’t sit in a pew with Jeremiah Wright for twenty years and not hear some of that stuff and not have it wash over you.

... This guy has a social justice – he is going to set all the wrongs of the past right.

... I’m not saying that he doesn’t like white people. I’m saying he has a problem – he has a – this guy is, I believe, a racist. Look at the things that he has been surrounded by. Let’s look at his new green-jobs czar.

Now, what exactly was it that Obama said that brought Beck to this conclusion -- and which Murdoch claims was a "racist" thing for him to say? Well, he was talking about the Henry Louis Gates arrest:

Now, I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts what role race played in that, but I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry. Number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home and, number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. And that's just a fact.

As you know, Lynn, when I was in the state legislature in Illinois we worked on a racial profiling bill because there was indisputable evidence that blacks and hispanics were being stopped disproportionately. And that is a sign, an example of how, you know, race remains a factor in this society. That doesn't lessen the incredible progress that has been made. I am standing here as testimony to the progress that's been made. And yet, the fact of the matter is that, you know, this still haunts us. And even when there are honest misunderstandings, the fact that blacks and hispanics are picked up more frequently and often time for no cause cast suspicion even when there is good cause, and that's why I think the more that we're working with local law enforcement to improve policing techniques so that we're eliminating potential bias, the safer everybody's going to be.

And this was racist exactly how?

I suppose if you redefined "racism" to include "bringing up historically and factually accurate information about racist behavior of white people", then I suppose you could say that. I don't think we're there yet, but Rupert Murdoch is obviously working on it.

Continue reading »

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: (1195)

PLAYS: (1452)

So nice to see Sean Hannity isn't too concerned about ClusterFox being seen as an arm of the Republican Party with this latest hackery. On his Friday evening show on Fox he brought on Michele Bachmann to help promote her call for people to come protest the halls of Congress against the health care bill--as though they don't have enough problems with dealing with security as it is. If she wants people to show up in the Congressional halls next week, I hope they're showing up at her office to tell her to quit upping the ante with whipping up the crazies out there. The only time I've heard someone use the phrase "the whites of their eyes", it had to do with shooting someone.

Given Bachmann's lack of concern for her previous inflammatory rhetoric this is of little surprise. It seems she's not going to stop this stuff until someone gets hurt or killed out there. What's absolutely disgusting is the lack of will of from anyone in the GOP to tell her to stop it. While I certainly do not think that Michele Bachmann is hoping any harm will come to another member of Congress, she obviously is either oblivious to or just doesn't care what sort of response using this type of language might invoke.

From The Hill--Bachmann urges confronting lawmakers on healthcare bill:

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) is urging Americans to come to Washington, D.C., next week to roam the halls of Congress and lobby lawmakers against the House Democrats' healthcare reform plan.

The strategy aims at resurrecting the momentum Republicans enjoyed during the August recess, when many critics challenged their members of Congress on healthcare reform. Since then, Democrats have regained their footing and have captured some political momentum to pass a bill.

During an appearance on Fox's "Hannity," Bachmann on Friday night said the plan can be defeated, but only if critics make their case face-to-face with legislators.

Bachmann told conservative commentator Sean Hannity, "The clock is ticking 11:59 ...I've never done this before but I am asking people to come to Washington, D.C., by the carload and next Thursday at noon I'll be at a press conference on the steps of the Capitol.

"I'd love to have every one of your viewers to join me so we can go up and down through the halls, find members of Congress, look at the whites of their eyes and say, 'Don't take away my healthcare.'"

And from Think Progress--Bachmann Calls For Health Care Protest Rally In DC Next Week: ‘We’re Going To Have A Big Party’:

In an interview with the Washington News Observer, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) revealed that, next week in Washington, D.C., the right wing is trying to galvanize yet another mass protest rally against health reform.

Following in the spirit of the “tea party” protests in April and the Glenn Beck-inspired 9/12 rally, Bachmann announced, “We’re going to have a ‘house call’ and a big party out on the National Mall [next week], and we’re going to tell Congress what they can do with their health care bill.”

Fashioning herself as the leader of this mass protest, Bachmann exhorted everyone to “get off the couch, get in your car, get a van together, get a bus together, but get here! We’re going to have a ‘house call’ next week, and we need every American to be here.” She then issued this dire warning (infused with pop culture references):

The American people realize this is it. Just like that brand new Michael Jackson movie came out, ‘This Is It.’ This is it for freedom. If you believe in liberty, and if you’re rejecting tyranny, this is it. Dr. Mark Levin wrote a seminal book that really swept this country called Liberty and Tyranny. And that’s what this debate is about next week. Liberty and tyranny.

Newshounds also had a nice run down of the entire interview Bachmann did on Hannity's show and had this to add:

As the segment ended, Bachmann could barely contain her joy as she said that the Blue Dog Democrats “are clearly on the fence.” She added, “That’s why this is such an exciting opportunity for us… This is our liberty and tyranny moment. This is it! This is about patriotism and manning up. And if we can get Americans literally by the busload to come to Washington, D.C. next week, look their Member of Congress in the eye, pay a house call on Congress, and say ‘Don’t you dare take away my health care,’ … we’ll stop this.”

After another plug for her event, Hannity said, “Maybe I’ll have to show up and observe this so our cameras can see democracy in action.”

It's funny, but while Bachmann was crowing about patriotism and participation in democracy, and asking Americans from all over the country to visit different Representatives (not just their own, presumably), she refuses to accept emails from anyone outside her district. But you can telephone. So if you can't make it to Washington either to support the bill or to let Bachmann know she does not represent the country which consistently supports a public option for health insurance, you can call her office at (202) 225-2331.

I'm so glad someone who has been there has finally said it:

(I)n a move that has sent ripples all the way to the White House, (former Marine Corps Captain Matthew) Hoh, 36, became the first U.S. official known to resign in protest over the Afghan war, which he had come to believe simply fueled the insurgency.

"I have lost understanding of and confidence in the strategic purposes of the United States' presence in Afghanistan," he wrote Sept. 10 in a four-page letter to the department's head of personnel. "I have doubts and reservations about our current strategy and planned future strategy, but my resignation is based not upon how we are pursuing this war, but why and to what end."

The reaction to Hoh's letter was immediate. Senior U.S. officials, concerned that they would lose an outstanding officer and perhaps gain a prominent critic, appealed to him to stay.

U.S. Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry brought him to Kabul and offered him a job on his senior embassy staff. Hoh declined. From there, he was flown home for a face-to-face meeting with Richard C. Holbrooke, the administration's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"We took his letter very seriously, because he was a good officer," Holbrooke said in an interview. "We all thought that given how serious his letter was, how much commitment there was, and his prior track record, we should pay close attention to him."

While he did not share Hoh's view that the war "wasn't worth the fight," Holbrooke said, "I agreed with much of his analysis." He asked Hoh to join his team in Washington, saying that "if he really wanted to affect policy and help reduce the cost of the war on lives and treasure," why not be "inside the building, rather than outside, where you can get a lot of attention but you won't have the same political impact?"

Hoh is quick to say he's not some hippie peace-nik. Sigh. Why does he make that sound like a bad thing? But Hoh does feel that our presence does nothing but escalate violence and turmoil with the Afghans.

(M)any Afghans, he wrote in his resignation letter, are fighting the United States largely because its troops are there -- a growing military presence in villages and valleys where outsiders, including other Afghans, are not welcome and where the corrupt, U.S.-backed national government is rejected. While the Taliban is a malign presence, and Pakistan-based al-Qaeda needs to be confronted, he said, the United States is asking its troops to die in Afghanistan for what is essentially a far-off civil war.

As the White House deliberates over whether to deploy more troops, Hoh said he decided to speak out publicly because "I want people in Iowa, people in Arkansas, people in Arizona, to call their congressman and say, 'Listen, I don't think this is right.' "

"I realize what I'm getting into . . . what people are going to say about me," he said. "I never thought I would be doing this."

Continue reading »

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: (1068)

PLAYS: (1619)

From Democracy Now:

SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: When the American Bankers Association scheduled their annual meeting in Chicago for this week, they probably weren’t expecting the reception they’ve received. Instead of a quiet convention in a downtown hotel, the ABA has been greeted by a parallel gathering of thousands of people in what organizers call the “Showdown in Chicago.” Spearheaded by the group National People’s Action, organizers have tried to bring together a cross-section of Americans affected by the financial meltdown, including homeowners, renters, farmers, workers and retirees. The Showdown kicked off Sunday when protesters entered the lobby of the hotel where the ABA delegates are gathering.

PROTESTER: We are not here to cause trouble. We are here because we are in trouble.

PROTESTER: That’s right!

CROWD: Bust up big banks! Bust up big banks! Bust up big banks! Bust up big banks! Bust up big banks! Bust up big banks!

PROTESTER: The American Bankers Association has helped loosen the rules that protect us, allowing the unfettered greed that has brought us to the brink of a recession. And to those bankers who are members and support the ABA’s war against the working and middle class, shame on you! Shame on you! Shame on you!

CROWD: Shame on you! Shame on you! Shame on you! Shame on you! [inaudible] We’ll be back! We’ll be back! We’ll be back! We’ll be back! We’ll be back! We’ll be back!…

SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: For more on the Showdown in Chicago, we’re joined by George Goehl. He’s executive director of National People’s Action, the lead organizer of the Showdown in Chicago.

George Goehl, welcome to Democracy Now! Can you first explain why the protest and why the ABA in Chicago?

GEORGE GOEHL: Yeah, I mean, if you really think about it, this is an incredible situation. I mean, who would have figured that the same banks that created the foreclosure crisis, sent the economy into a tailspin, needed billions in bailout dollars, would then lead the charge to kill any real financial reform that would protect consumers and make sure something like this didn’t happen again? So the ABA is the top lobby for the banks, and they decided to have their convention in Chicago, and we felt we had to be there to greet them.

SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: And what are some of the main things that you’re calling for?

GEORGE GOEHL: Well, one, we think their ideas have failed. Their focus on deregulation paved the road that we walk today. So it’s time that they stop spending tens of millions of dollars up on Capitol Hill each month trying to defeat financial reform and sit out on the sidelines, particularly around consumer protection, around policies, around “too big to fail,” and around community reinvestment. There’s a Consumer Protection Agency that’s been proposed by President Obama that would actually protect people from predatory consumer products, but the bankers are trying to kill that program.

Continue reading »

Leonard Cohen played last night at Ramat Gan stadium in Tel Aviv last night, despite pleas from protesters pleas that he not play Israel in boycott of its last invasion of Gaza. Cohen, ever the class act, responded by offering to play in Ramallah and having the proceeds from both shows go to Israel-Palestine peace organizations.

From a protest in New York with a very un-subtle parody of Cohen's "Democracy":

h/t Media Matters

And the Huffington Post has confirmed that the woman in the video is Fox News producer Heidi Noonan:

"The employee is a young, relatively inexperienced associate producer who realizes she made a mistake and has been disciplined," Bryan Boughton, Fox News Channel Washington Bureau Chief told the Huffington Post.

Here's the segment as it aired on Fox News.

So where is the rest of the media on this story? Maybe Rick Sanchez will bother to cover it for CNN. I'm sure we'll see this on Monday when Keith and Rachel get back on the air.

During the danse macabre of Saturday (otherwise known as the "Taxpayer March on D.C.") at least one voice of sanity was present, a Democrat with some very large cojones.

The villagers were not happy.

Edward Kimmel, 58, of Takoma Park, Md., is confronted by opponents of a government run health-care insurance option.

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: (1236)

PLAYS: (3147)

Marsha Blackburn who never had a problem with George Bush's wars and spending at the Tea Bag 9/12 protest in Washington D.C. saying the protesters want some fiscal responsibility. That's rich. And they want their "country back". From who exactly Marsha? Their elected representatives, or from the black man they think was born in Kenya?

Gotta' love Fox for staying classy with the "Don't Barney Frank Me" sign they were showing while they were interviewing her.

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: (56)

PLAYS: (177)

September 04, 2009 KOMO News 4

From BillionairesForWealthcare.com

Very original way to counter protest the tea baggers. The people in the video looked like they didn't understand that it was satire.

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: (107)

PLAYS: (432)

This too funny. Apparently Bill-O isn't happy with the way Jon Stewart has taken Fox to task for its "news coverage" and thinks he's "off the rails" for his treatment of his network. Truth hurts, doesn't it Bill? Bill tried to qualify his use of the word "loons" when it comes to liberals by cherry-picking one segment featured on the Daily Show, ignoring the fact that he throws the slur out there about every time he uses the word liberal. I'm sure the Great Orange Satan Markos Moulitsas or the good folks over at Media Matters that make Bill-O's head ready to explode on at least a weekly basis can attest to that.

Bill wraps this one by being worried that too many people think that Jon Stewart is "presenting an accurate picture of this country on his program". The propagandist doth protest too much about the court jester doesn't he? Sadly Bill, most people who watch The Daily Show are a whole lot more well informed than the ones who watch your show or your network, and the informed ones are well aware they're watching satire, and not "news".

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: (90)

PLAYS: (436)

August 16, 2009 CBC Sunday

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: (3377)

PLAYS: (29277)

Real Time's Real Reporter Dana Gould goes from a town hall protest with angry right wingers carrying Obama is Hitler signs and mad as hell, to a Remote Area Medical clinic, where the people waiting in line were polite and hopeful. Gould's response at the end of the segment is priceless, and not safe for work.

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: (1222)

PLAYS: (3712)

It made for a pretty long video -- even edited down -- but Bill Clinton's speech last night was not only pretty long but very compelling. His subject was the progressive movement and how it is moving forward with real momentum now -- something, he explained, that really is a product of the reality that America is changing dramatically.

As we become more and more multicultural, he observed, the nation naturally will become more communitarian in how it approaches problems and will increasingly as a result adopt real progressive solutions, while discarding the old fake divisions -- particularly the racial ones -- that have plagued us since our beginnnings. And he offered some thoughts on not only the necessity of keeping that momentum but how we do it.

At one point he was challenged by an audience member who shouted out in protest about Clinton's adoption of the "don't ask don't tell" policy for the military, and Clinton answered sharply and compellingly. It was a reminder of just how strong Clinton can be when dealing with critics.

I'd hoped edit it down to a normal-length video but just couldn't. But the message is well worth the length.

Mahablog: Remembering the atomic bomb.

No More Mister Nice Blog: Killing the Obama presidency with "kindness."

Whiskey Fire: The stupidest thing Jonah Goldberg has ever written (for now).

Comrade Kevin's Chrestomathy: Noam Chomsky, more pertinent than ever.

Satirical Political Report: Right-wing 'baggers protest health care reform.

Guest post by Batocchio. Temporarily e-mail tips to batocchio9 AT yahoo DOT com.