DOWNLOADS: (1187)

PLAYS: (1177)

Embed

The new talking point by Fox News and conservatives who are attacking health care reform is to complain about the size of the bill. Last night on Greta Van Susteren's show, for instance, Sen. Orrin Hatch tried to tell us that the very size of the bill ensured that it would be a bad thing. Of course, most appropriations bills are bigger than this thing, and Hatch has not only voted for but sponsored his share of those. Maybe he'd find it acceptable if it were printed on golden tablets or something.

How desperate are they? Very f*&king desperate. The Democrats made a smart move by comparing it to Sarah Palin's book:

There are a lot of analogies floating around about how the Senate health care bill compares in size to other notable writings. Republicans have been hyping them all day.

Here's a new one from the Democratic arsenal: Sarah Palin's book, which runs 413 pages.

"This bill if you put in regular type style is about the same size as Sarah Palin's book," said Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska). "So it is not that big. There is a lot of show and tell and razzmatazz."

Which would be a better read?

"Depends if you want substance or not," he said.

Looks like the Palin line is a Democratic talking point. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) told a gaggle of reporters the same thing Wednesday night.

Conservatives were running around trying to wrap the entire bill around DC or something during the House debate.

Fox News jumped in with their usual conservative spin.

Today, Fox News' Live Desk continued the House Republican caucus and Politico's silly obsession with the length and size of the House health care reform bill. During a span of less than 45 minutes, co-host Trace Gallagher repeatedly told viewers the health care reform bill is so long, it makes the Russian novel War and Peace "look like a short story."

This is the time of the day where Rupert Murdoch says Fox News is in its actual "news cycle." If that's true, then why are they actively attacking the length of health care bill? Why does the page count matter to a news organization? Would they rather have a three-page bill handed over to them the way Paulsen did when he asked for $700 billion for Bush?

And Sen. Tom Coburn won't read the health care bill on the floor Saturday.

Republican Senator Tom Coburn is backing off his threat to require that the Senate read the 2,074-page health care bill because some GOP colleagues aren't supporting the effort.

The Oklahoma lawmaker said there's uncertainty about whether reading the bill during Thanksgiving week would be productive. He also said that if the Republicans do decide to tie up the Senate for the dozens of hours it would take, six GOP colleagues have committed to pitching in on reading duty.

Via The Huffington Post:

At least four major firms have pulled advertising from Michael Savage's nationally syndicated radio show following a campaign highlighting his inflammatory rhetoric. One other company, Geico insurance, is expected to follow suit.

The campaign, launched recently by Brave New Films, generated thousands of calls urging advertisers on the Savage Nation show to sever financial ties to the widely popular (and frequently offensive) talk host.

"We are thrilled at the amazing response of the true patriots all over the blogsphere who responded to our NOSAVAGE campaign," Robert Greenwald, head of the film company, said in a statement. "People have called and emailed and the responsible sponsors have responded by pulling their ads and asking that their ads not be on this racist and hateful show." Read on...

The Weiner Man is just one in a huge gaggle of right wing nut jobs on the radio, but his brand of hate stands alone. The poor guy was canned last year by his management agency for attacking Melissa Etheridge and lesbians and now the schmuck is finally being dumped by some of his biggest sponsors. Kudos to Brave New Films and everyone who has spoken out against this cretin.

Flashback from C&L's archives: Scotty not answering any questions about Rove's involvement in PlameGate.

Download | play Download | play

Gregory: Do you stand by your statements from the Fall of 2003, when you were asked specifically about Karl and Elliot Abrams and Scooter Libby and you've said I've gone to each of those gentleman and they've told me---they are not involved in this, do you stand by that statement?

McClellan: And if you will recall, I said as that part of helping the investigators to move forward on the investigation, we're not going to get into commenting on it. That was something I stated back near that time as well.

Gregory: I mean this is ridiculous. The notion that you're going to stand before us after having commented with that level of detail and tell people that are watching this that somehow you decided not to talk. You've got a public record out there. Do you stand by your remarks from that podium or not?

McClellan: David, I'm well aware of, like you of what was previously said and I will be glad to talk about it at the appropriate time...

I guess he's finally ready to discuss the investigation.

The most powerful leader in the world had called upon me to speak on his behalf and help restore credibility he lost amid the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. So I stood at the White house briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior-most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby.

There was one problem. It was not true.

I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice President, the President's chief of staff, and the president himself.

It sucks to be him....

Isn't that his job?

At least three retired four-star generals approached by the White House in recent weeks have declined to be considered for the position, the sources said, underscoring the administration's difficulty in enlisting its top recruits to join the team after five years of warfare that have taxed the United States and its military.

I wonder if that person will have to be a graduate of Regent University? Where's Lieberman?

I heard this from the gaggle this morning and Duncan has the text: Rahm Emanuel

Rahm Emanuel reminds us that once upon a time the "war czar" was called the "Commander in Chief," that is until the boy king decided it was hard work.

The Washington Post reports that the White House wants to appoint a war czar to run the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but they can't find anyone to do it. Someone needs to tell Steve Hadley that position is filled, it's the Commander in Chief, unless the decider's become the delegator.

Defense Tech: Double the troops and costs for "Surge", but don't blame the Decider, we have a new scapegoat....and the subject inspired some fancy tap dancing at the gaggle

The Left Coaster: "Blame Iran" campaign stumbles

Simply Left Behind: Today, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will issue its fourth annual report on global warming, and it's expected to be a doozy. The American Enterprise Institute, an ExxonMobil-funded think tank, has offered $10,000 to scientists to dispute the study.

Talk To Action: Everybody loves Jesus: The unofficial lobbying fest known as the National Prayer Breakfast

Feministing: Hit me with your best (HPV) shot

The Aristocrats: The new face of terror

[Update: I'm sorry I left out the link to Parry's column. Here it is .]

Robert Parry of Consortium News writes,

The American Right achieved its political dominance in Washington over the past quarter century with the help of more than $3 billion spent by Korean cult leader Sun Myung Moon on a daily propaganda organ, the Washington Times, according to a 21-year veteran of the newspaper.

The 21-year veteran is former WT reporter George Archibald, who wrote an internet essay about internal turmoil at the newspaper. Parry continues,

Archibald also confirmed claims by some former Moon insiders that the cult leader has continued to pour in $100 million a year or more to keep the newspaper afloat. Archibald put the price tag for the newspaper’s first 24 years at “more than $3 billion of cash.”

At the newspaper’s tenth anniversary, Moon announced that he had spent $1 billion on the Times – or $100 million a year – but newspaper officials and some Moon followers have since tried to low-ball Moon’s subsidies in public comments by claiming they had declined to about $35 million a year.

The figure from Archibald and other defectors from Moon’s operation is about three times higher than the $35 million annual figure.

Parry goes on to describe Sun Myung Moon as a nexus connecting organized crime, including drug trafficking, with prominent right-wing American politicians. This you can read and judge for yourself. For now I just want to say a little more about right-wing media infrastructure.

Continue reading »

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow held a quick gaggle with reporters in Crawford yesterday, when an interesting subject came up.

Q: Tony, earlier this year the President brought in some advisors to talk about the war in Iraq, some outsiders -- outside experts. Is he doing anything similar, or are any senior officials doing anything similar with respect to the Middle East? Are you bringing in any outside experts or --

Snow: Yes.

Q: -- perhaps Jewish or Christian or Muslim --

Snow: There have been meetings of that sort in recent days.

Q: What can you tell us about them?

Snow: You know what, I'll see what I'm cleared to tell you about.

Asked what "types of people" have offered the White House advice on the Middle East, Snow said, "Again, at this point, I really don't want to do it." Asked if "religious leaders" have been part of these meetings, Snow said, "Again, I'm just not going to go any further."

Why all the secrecy? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that White House recently invited a Christian apocalyptic fiction writer to chat about biblical prophecy.

--Guest Post by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report

Right Wing Talk show hosts admits being wrong about Bush

C&L reader Kevin caught this last night on KABC AM-Los Angeles. Talk Show host Doug McIntyre, has turned on Bush. Will this start to become a trend?

full transcript:

"So, I’m saying today, I was wrong to have voted for George W. Bush. In historic terms, I believe George W. Bush is the worst two-term President in the history of the country. Worse than Grant. I also believe a case can be made that he’s the worst President, period. After five years of carefully watching George W. Bush I’ve reached the conclusion he’s either grossly incompetent, or a hand puppet for a gaggle of detached theorists with their own private view of how the world works.
Listen here. (or click here.)
"Or both. I thought the connection to 9-11 was sketchy at best. But Colin Powell impressed me at the UN, and Tony Blair was in, and after all, he was a Clinton guy, not a Bush guy, so I thought the case had to be strong. I was worried though, because I had read the Wolfowitz paper, “The Project for the New American Century.” It’s been around since ‘92, and it raised alarm bells because it was based on a theory, “Democratizing the Middle East” and I prefer pragmatism over theory. I was worried because Iraq was being justified on a radical new basis, “pre-emptive war.” Any time we do something without historical precedent I get nervous...read on

He's using the Brit Hume defense. It's ok to leak to defend himself. Kevin Drum says:

"Basically, Bush is saying that it's all right for him to selectively leak classified information whenever he feels it would help him politically."

I thought that was Judy Miller's job? Read today's Gaggle with Scotty.

I didn't know that Lieberman was part of the PMRC group. The nuts that wanted to censor music back in the 80's.

Howie Klein:

"The story starts with the founding of the PMRC and if you're too young to remember, you ought to read about that sad chapter in American political/cultural history (in that link back there or either this one here or this Gore-bashing right wing point of view here). The principals' names should all sound familiar: Tipper Gore (wife of Al), Susan Baker (wife of Bush family retainer/fixer James), Nancy Thurmond (one of the Strom wives), Lynn Cheney (lesbian pornography writer and wife of alcoholic current vice president Dick). This gaggle of powerful men's wives was the forerunner for three of Washington's most celebrated, loud-mouthed hypocrites: Bill Bennett, Sam Brownback and, of course, Joe Lieberman, who took up their campaign almost as soon as he was elected....read on"

Being a musician-this is quite disturbing. I'll have more on this tomorrow, but it's just another reason to support Ned Lamont.