What Did The President Know and When Did He Know It?

Ezra Klein:

"Remember those trailers, the Bushies went on and on about post-invasion? The ones that gave Stephen Hayes and The Weekly Standard kids such throbbing hard-ons? The mobile death labs filled with killer biological cocktails whipped up by villainous Iraqi scientists? Yeah?

They were for hydrogen balloons. As for what the president knew and when he knew it; he knew he was lying and he knew it two days before he lied to the American people....read on"

(title by Digby)

Ezra Klein: ..The lucky ones, among whom I include myself, find their path opening towards responsible, serious commentary. The sort of articles allow us to wake up, yawn, look in the mirror, and feel good about what we see. And then there are the unlucky ones, the Michelle Malkins, who achieve acceptance through hatred and venom, and find themselves groping down the darkest path to political success....read on"

Digby recalls a similar incident with Tucker Carlson:

"To get back at him, Fox posted Carlson's unlisted home number on its Web site. After his wife was inundated with obscene calls, Carlson went to the Fox News bureau to complain. He was told the number would be taken off the Web site if he apologized on the air. He did, but that didn't end the anger....read on

Health Care: Garden State example

Big Media Ezra says:

"I tend to go with the Garden State example: At the end the movie, it's clear that Natalie Portman (Sam) and Zach Braff (Andrew) are screwed. As an actor, Andrew needs to live in Los Angeles. As an epileptic paralegal in a firm with an "amazing" health plan, Sam can't afford to lose her insurance. So she can't move to be with him and he'd have to give up his profession to be with her. And all because of the employer-based health care system. Not only is it an impediment to economic efficiency on both the worker and employer side, but it obstructs true love...read on

Ezra Klein has a feature article in "The American Prospect" on Al Gore:

"Five years ago, Al Gore was the much-mocked pol who blew a gimme with his stiff demeanor and know-it-all style. Today? C’mon, admit it: You like him again...read on"

...One of the truly most damaging problems we have faced is that the people in these journalistic and political circles have cared far more about defending themselves and preserving their status in these clubs than they have cared about performing their role as journalists. They defend each other instinctively and truly see themselves as beyond criticism and above accountability, particularly from those who have not reached their lofty journalistic heights. The blogosphere has made it impossible for them to maintain that cocoon. They now have to hear criticism of their work and sometimes even have to lower themselves to addressing it...read on

(Update): Big Media Ezra (Atrio's nickname) disagrees with Glenn. It's a good discussion and both Klein and Greenwald respond on Ezraa's thread. Ezra and Glenn are both my friends. Glenn blogs on this site regularly now. Just because people blog, doesn't mean they are bloggers or even like the blogosphere. It's a new medium that they know they should be involved with. I've talked with many journalists who feel that their industry has big problems because of elitism.

Media Matters: Top 12 media myths on BUSHCO's spying.

Ezra Klein has NSA Questions, Bob has a visual aid, and Blah3.com says Bolton's NSA requests are key.

Wash Park Prophet: One more reason not to watch Fox

elementropy: Wingnut All-Star...Mark Steyn

This Modern World: The Year In Review (part 1)

This Modern World: The Year In Review (part 1)

AmericaBlog thinks 64% is bad number for the Preznit.

Ezra Klein asks his own questions: "Should the National Security Agency be allowed to secretly spy on Americans without any oversight?" Or, alternately: "Do you believe the NSA should be able to listen in on your phone calls and read your e-mails without oversight, probable cause, or a warrant?" Those, and their permutations, are the only questions that deserve polling....read on"

Saturday Miscellany

Blogospheric roundup:

Ezra Klein on the radical right's hypocrisy over the human papilloma vaccine
The Guardian Newsblog on a Gitmo detainee's testimony to Amnesty International
Scott Lemieux on the self-pity of the pro-life Democrat
Pro-choice Don on how he can't be bothered with Roe and Chris Clarke on how defending other people's rights gets tiresome.

--Lindsay Beyerstein of Majikthise

Ezra Klein: ... "Indeed, as Matt smartly points out, now that the privatization plan is dead, all those pundits and politicians who spent early 2005 screeching out warnings of Social Security's looming crisis have quietly moved on to other issues. This was never about solvency -- it was about ideology, and the fact that Bush's admission on that front helped kill all talk about Social Security's coming train wreck proves it. Good riddance...read on"

What ever happened to the doom and gloom our country was facing if we didn't destroy Social Security? Just another nail in the coffin of the ideologues word games and parlor tricks. Will President Bush go on a road trip to defend his boys after the indictments come down? That would only make it worst of course if we use the failure of his Social Security Tour as a measuring stick. How anyone believes a word that this administration says is beyond me.

THE CULT OF PERSONALITY RETURNS

Ezra via Atrios writes: Over at The National Review, Kathryn Lopez has written the single weirdest response to Harriet Miers' withdrawal that I've yet seen...read on

I'd call it scary myself.