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Finally Glenn Beck says something I agree with completely. During one of his insane rants about the left and progressives in America that David Neiwert posted about, he admitted this about his show while using his crazy Dr. Gene Scott blackboard.

Beck: I've added a lot to this. This is the worst television ever done. We're doing it every day, congratulations. I told you about this railroad track.

Yes Glenn, you are doing it every day. Thanks for agreeing with C&L.

Well, I just got to the Big Tent. Thankfully I have C&Ler Gordon traveling with me and he's got a video camera with us to capture some Convention fun during the week It's freaking hot in Denver, I'm having trouble breathing from the altitude, security is really tight and we're all just feeling our way around the madness that is the Democratic Convention. I grabbed Markos for a picture since we're hanging with Daily Kos.

I'm heading off to the Pepsi Center later....

[Update Nicole Belle says consider this a Convention Open Thread.]

On Tuesday's "O'Reilly Factor," BillO went after DailyKos founder Markos Moulitsas for having the audacity to run a site where people are free to write posts like this one, in which dKos member Mahler3 <gasp> juxtaposed photos from Jenna Bush's wedding with graphic pictures from Iraq. This was not a recommended diary, by the way, and was almost universally panned in the comments section.

Download | play Download | play (h/t Bill W)

Transcript via MediaMatters:

O'Reilly: And Newsweek magazine, by the way, has legitimized him by giving him a columnist position. I talked to the editor by email, and I said I can't believe that you're -- that's like hiring David Duke. Again, I use Duke too much, but I have to -- the level of hatred coming out of that website is unprecedented. Isn't it?

Markos responds here with some friendly and hate-free emails he got from O'Reilly viewers.

C&L'er Bill W writes:

Somehow Newsweek shouldn't have hired Kos because of what other people say in the comments or post in their user blogs, but of course he's okay with their hiring Rove who has been involved in scandal after scandal. Who's more like David Duke? Kos, or the guy behind the robocalls that said McCain had an illegitimate black child? I'm just sayin'.

Download | play Download | play (h/t Scarce)

As has been widely reported this week, Daily Kos’ Markos Moulitsas will be a contributor to Newsweek, helping offer commentary on the 2008 presidential election.

Predictably, the announcement was not well received among conservative bloggers, but the more striking reaction came from NPR’s Juan Williams in an interview last night.

“[T]he fact is that he’s not a journalist in terms of someone who knows how to do reporting, someone who reflects balance in what he portrays. To the contrary, he engages in the kind of hyperbole and extreme statements that’s represented by that crass and, I think, offensive statement he made about those dead people.

“But you know what? I think that’s just what’s going on in journalism. I think that, you know, there’s more and more opinion, less and less people who know how to do the job. All you’ve got to do is shout, say something on the blog that offends and attacks the other side, and suddenly, you have the credentials, and you’re said to be a journalist. I think it’s a great lie.”

Juan Williams said this while answering questions from Sean Hannity, during an interview on Fox News. The irony was apparently lost on the host, the guest, and the audience. What a shame.

On a related note, will Williams have similar criticism of Karl Rove -- who's been hired as Kos' counterbalance at Newsweek?

To the consternation of the right wing blogosphere, Ron Paul raised 4.2 million dollars to stay in the Presidential race, a GOP record. I'm supporting the Democratic candidates for President, but If I had donated to the Paul campaign---I'd email Red State and ask them why they discount you...And you all know how Charles Johnson feels...Captain's Quarters responds...

Updated: Glenn Greenwald digs a bit deeper...

By far the most significant and interesting political story of the past 24 hours is the extraordinary, record-breaking outpouring of support for Ron Paul's presidential campaign. Therefore, it is being ignored by much of our establishment press...read on

And the Great Orange Satan, Markos writes: The most impressive online campaign this cycle...

This is the single biggest example of people-power this cycle. And as annoying as it is that we're seeing it from a Republican -- and a crazy one at that -- it's nevertheless a beautiful thing to behold.

If you feel as strongly as we do then please sign the petition that will be sent to Harry Reid that asks him to stand behind Chris Dodd's hold against any retrocative immunity against the mult-million dollar Telecoms that spied on us..

We believe that any bill coming before the Senate that includes provisions for so-called 'amnesty' for large companies involved in illegally spying on Americans should be opposed, and have authored a letter to this effect addressed to Majority Leader Reid. You can co-sign it below. The letter will also be sent to Senate Democratic leadership and the Senate Judiciary Committee members. You can read the full text of the letter here.

So please co-sign the letter to Harry Reid with us (you can view the entire letter here).

Here's the list of the other sites that are co-sponsoring this petition:

Continue reading »

It appears Susan Collins doesn't want to risk having a career ending blooper, like George "Macacca" Allen. One of her supporters posted this today on the Maine Web Report:

Markos Moulitsas’s hate-site The Daily Kos, the foul-mouthed fem-blog FiredogLake, and other ‘netroots’ extremists like MoveOn.org, have become the dominant fundraisers for Tom Allen’s senate campaign. This may be good news for Allen financially, but allowing these fringe fanatics to take over his campaign is creating a political atmosphere that will undoubtedly be rejected by Maine voters come next November.

Tom Allen’s involvement with these groups, particularly his participation in the website The Daily Kos, came onto the radar screen of Maine voters recently, as national media exposed a pattern of hateful, vulgar, and anti-semitic postings on the site. Now Allen’s extremist friends have landed on the ground in Maine, and are engaging in the same childish bullying campaign tactics that made Connecticut voters reject their attempts to unseat Senator Joe Lieberman in 2006.

The comments have been very interesting on MWR, especially this one:

(click the image to go to the actual comment)

Ironically this comment is still published on the site, more than 18 hours after it first appeared. What makes that so interesting is how Daily Kos is attacked in this article for a post which was deleted within minutes after it appeared.  

So is it an "extremist" position to take interest in your political party and try to get your people elected, or would it be considered "extremist" to wish for innocent Americans to die in a terrorist attack just so your party could maybe gain support? Perhaps Susan Collins could answer that.

And throw some cash Tom Allen's way if you can...

It really bothers Collins team.

(Photo of a tasty looking cafe au lait and oj in Quebec City via Bill on Capitol Hill.)

The Sunday Talking Head thread is up and ready for the reading. It's quite an interesting mix this morning, with everything from Iraq to infrastructure and a lot in between on the topics menu.

Perhaps it is just me, but I think the subject of Harold Ford's loss last year and this op-ed that Kos and SusanG penned for the WaPo yesterday might come up in passing on Meet the Press. Here's hoping that Markos gets an opportunity to ask Mr. Russert why it is that he even bothered booking the politically tone deaf, irrelevent, self-promoting Ford in the first place, and why Russert still masquerades as a news man now that all of us know that Dick Cheney owns him. What, you don't remember that Cathie Martin classic?

-- MTP (putting VP on MTP), plus a pro and con of putting VP on MTP Pros: best format, we control the message

Could make for some fun viewing this morning. Here's hoping, anyway. Plus, there is likely to be quite a bit of discussion on the "buy yourself some voters, promise them a buffet and stick 'em on a bus day" Iowa GOP straw poll. And of course, Bob Geiger has his regular cartoons.  So, what's on your mind, catching your eye in the news or on the blogs this morning?

The Great Orange Satan turned 5 yesterday. Did Markos ever think he'd be the target of a major hit piece by the RNC when he started? What an honor. Duncan says:

When historians look back on the decline and fall of America, May 26, 2002, will mark the point when order turned to anarchy, where liberal society turned to fascism, where our political discourse was snatched away from our betters and handed over, without thought to consequence, to the dirty masses whose ignorance and incivility drove our elites into hiding and our country into the abyss...

Dan Gerstein responds to Sargent's piece.

Dan Gerstein has responded to my post below. He says there's no problem at all with the fact that The Politico published a piece by him attacking some of Joe Lieberman's high-profile foes at the same time that he was collecting money from Lieberman...

What happened here is this: Gerstein used The Politico as a platform partly to settle the old scores of -- and to advance the current agenda of -- a paying client, but without mentioning the "paying" part. Is that really what Harris and VandeHei envision for something they're hoping to establish as the preeminently credible Web-based political publication?

As Duncan says:

For years it's been news, an almost obligatory reference in any article about bloggers, that Markos got a few bucks from the Dean campaign, something he fully disclosed at the time. Then it was big news that Markos had a friend who worked for Mark Warner which, again, wasn't exactly a big secret and the mere fact of this friendship was an existential taint of some sort.

Now the hot insiders at the Politico are letting paid flacks for politicians write articles without disclosing that information. And it's us unethical bloggers who have issues. What a bunch of wankers.

Apparently it's just fine by The Politico that they gave Gerstein a platform to bash bloggers without disclosing the fact that Gerstein is paid by Lieberman now and yes---it makes a difference,. The Politico knew exactly what he was going to say and it appears to me that Gerstein was given the platform to settle old scores for Harris and VandeHei as well in my opinion. Way to go. And you wonder why people turn to blogs.