Actor and Presidential Candidate Fred Thompson Dead at 73

Image from source, Raw Story

Fred Thompson has passed away. I know it's awful, but I heard the Law & Order "duh-duh!" sting in my head when I saw this news. I wasn't particularly stunned or saddened by the news, because I'd assumed he was much older than he really was. He's just one of those guys who seems to have been born old, seems to have looked the same for decades. 73 is not so old, and so, learning that I felt a little sad. It's no spring chicken, but it's not so old, not anymore. Especially not now that I'm watching my odometer spinning past 49.5.  RIP, Mr. Thompson. I'm very glad you were never president, but I liked your acting.

By the way, it's worth noting that if Mr. Thompson had managed to get elected to the presidency and have two terms, he would have been our first president to pass away in office since John F. Kennedy.

[Excerpt]

Fred Thompson — ‘Law and Order’ actor and former U.S. Senator — dead at 73
 
Actor, politician and former Republican presidential candidate Sen. Fred Thompson has passed away at the age of 73. The Tennessean newspaper reported Sunday that Thompson died after a recurrence of lymphoma. . .

Read more at: Raw Story

War on Christmas: Sarah Palin Babylon (And On, And On)

GOD, this woman is an idiot. Five years from relevance, she continues to babble on about artificial scandals and controversies, from death panels (which don't exist), to ACORN (which doesn't exist anymore) to the "War on Christmas," which only exists in Right Wing World, Palin just keeps squawking. Comedienne Stephanie Miller says that it's like a Scrabble game exploded in her head. I think it's more like she's barfing up a special Republican edition of Magnetic Poetry, the refrigerator magnet word set. Freedom! Tyranny! Liberty! Maverick! You betcha!

[Excerpt]

Magnetic Poetry: The secret behind Sarah Palin's word salad?

Palin links ‘zealot-like’ atheists to the ‘war on Christmas’ and ‘slavery’ from federal debt

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin called on a group of conservatives to act over the weekend because she said atheists, secularists and other liberals had launched a “war on Christmas” and were pushing the country into “slavery” by borrowing from China. During a Saturday speech to promote her book “Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas” at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition’s fall fundraiser, Palin observed that “everywhere it seems that we see that faith, religious freedom is under attack… and it’s censored. . .”

Read more at: Raw Story

In Case You Missed It, Sarah Palin Has Been Famous for 5 Years

Seems like longer somehow, right? Yes, Sarah Palin was inflicted upon the nation at large five years ago yesterday. I happened to be home from work that day, due to a reduction in hours at work (thanks Obama)* and got to see the whole sorry affair, and even sorta live-blogged the event. Let's get in the wayback machine, and see what my first impressions were, shall we?

Originally published August 29, 2008:

"Like many, I woke this morning to the news that John McCain has chosen Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. Who? That was my first thought. Second, I thought, "well he picked one of the only people who can take some buzz away from Barack Obama's speech last night."

This is probably as close as I will ever come to "live blogging," since I have the day off from work, and am watching this unfold on the TV machine. MSNBC is a little wary of the choice. CNN is being very analytical about it, and FOX "News" is bubbling over with enthusiasm, right down on the floor with the chubby cheerleaders in the auditorium."

 

Palin's Wikipedia shot, used
in my original post.

I continued in my next post:

 

". . .OK, Palin is introduced. Crowd goes wild. Music abruptly cuts off. She's pretty. Doesn't have a girly voice, which I frankly expected her to have. Not quite Elle Woods, at least on first impression. I'm always a little suspicious of hard-right younger women. I wonder, what the heck happened to her? She looks like she could be McCain's granddaughter, which she almost could be.

Nice looking husband and family. Palin has a decent amount of charisma, which is something McCain plainly lacks. Now she's talking a little more in depth about personal family stuff. Back on track, talking about her son enlisting in the army on September 11th. What's his name? Tack? Track? Crowd erupts into short burst of "USA! USA!" I guess the Iraq War is still a popular deal in Dayton.

 

She just invoked the POW card for McCain, and committed a little bit of an Ohio sin. . .she praised former Sen. John Glenn. . .a hated figure amongst Ohio Republicans.

She's reminding me a little of Sally Field now, even if she's right-wing. Now, giving a shout-out to Hillary Clinton. She's going for the ever-elusive PUMAs with a "18 million cracks in the glass ceiling" comment. She's wrapping up. Sounds a little like Marge Simpson trying to rally a Springfield audience. My take: Grandpa and Gidget (all right, that's just what they look like, but it's funny!)"

 

So, see, I was sort of giving her a chance. Over the next couple of weeks, the campaign kept her very under wraps outside of heavily scripted appearances. Because of this, some of her Alaska baggage became grist for the national gossip mill, including the stuff about Bristol being pregnant, and some

Palin, GILF? Subject of my most popular
post, oddly enough.

speculation that Sarah's fifth child was really Bristol's first. The right wing confused the blogosphere noise for "the media," and still pretends that Palin was besieged by unfair press treatment.

 

We all know now, that though she can throw red meat at a tea baggin' base, she's a sentence mangler, is about as deep as a kiddie pool, and as bright as a small appliance bulb. But she's a charter member of the oddball Tea Party Heroes™ league, along with Joe the Plumber, Ted Nugent and crazy eyes Michele Bachmann. And, oddly enough, another early post I wrote about Palin became my most-clicked post ever, racking up hundreds and hundreds of views in a day and a half. Its title?

VP Pick Sarah Palin: GILF?

Sarah Palin: Hypocritical, Washed-up Grifter?

Grifty McGrifterson. Image from Daily Beast.

It's sometimes hard to believe that Sarah Palin has only been a nationally known figure for a little over 4½ years. Seems longer, doesn't it? But she's managed to go from superstar to loser, to national joke for much of America, while retaining some cachet amongst her most fervent fans. I remain amazed at the low caliber of most conservative heroes, which include Palin, Joe the Plumber, James O'Keefe and the late Andrew Breitbart. Sarah's star has faded, but she's still among that group, and boosted her profile a bit with a stellar (if Mean Girls-ish) performance at CPAC last month.

But where does she go from here? From the looks of things, she's giving one more push for relevance, one more big money grab (though I'm sure she's hoping to re-light a longer-term fire). But will she be able to continue fooling what's left of her fandom? Can she fleece them one more time, maybe even somehow move into a 2.0 (2.5?) stage of her career? Or is she finally waning?

[Excerpt]

Palin’s SarahPAC Embarrassment: Consultants Are Cashing In

Sarah Palin attempted to relaunch her political career and her political action committee, SarahPAC, on Thursday with a Web video called “Loaded for Bear,” which presented the former Alaska governor as the new kingmaker for conservative populists in the GOP. . .

Read more at: Daily Beast

You Betcha! Bye, Bye Now! Sarah Palin Out at FOX "News"

You know, across this great country of ours, the freedom--and liberty, also--allowed by that hallowed document, the founders' Constitution, we're blessed to have a God-given right to freedom of speech and freedom of expression, too, and if we're very lucky--not to mention fortunate, although those may be the same thing--you might get to get your pretty face up on the nation's TV screens, on one of the biggest cable channels or stations or whatnot, too, and be beamed all over the world as well, also, well but not in Iran or the country of Africa maybe, I'm not sure, you know, but all good things must come to an end (just ask mavericky John McCain), and so must Sarah Palin's time at that great fair and balanced (you know, they report, you decide, right?), and completely objective--also--number one cable news outfit in these lower forty-eight states, as well as (and who could forget?) Alaska, but maybe not Hawaii which I'm not sure is a state. Also.

[Excerpt]

Sarah Palin Out at Fox

Sarah Palin will no longer be a paid contributor to Fox News. The former Alaska governor and the network have parted ways, a source close to Palin told ABC News. The same source said it was her decision to leave the network and that Fox offered her an opportunity to renew her contract. . .

Read more at: ABC News

Romney Fails to Wow with Foreign Policy Speech

There was a point in the 2008 presidential election--some time in September, I think--that Obama supporters began to freak out and swallow their tongues. McCain/Palin had improbably surged, and the Obama/Biden ticket fell upside down in the polls. Used to losing after Bush/Cheney 2000 (where we felt it was stolen) and Bush/Cheney 2004 (which was hinky, but we had a dull candidate), we expected the worst. There was much rending of garments and gnashing of teeth for a week or so, and then the polls flipped over again, and all was right in Democratland.

Image from source, NYT.

We've had a bit of a repeat, this time due to the perceptions formed around the first presidential debate. It hasn't been quite as dramatic or decisive--not yet--but it still has many liberals worried and upset. I'm a bit of a pessimist, so I'd be worrying some anyway, but I'll cop to feeling a bit blue after having a nearly carefree spring and summer politically. I don't think it's as dire as it's being made out to be, but sometimes it is perception that rules the day. Obama's camp has been doing a bang up job since the debate, except for a minor kerfuffle over Sesame Street and Andrea Mitchell (?!). But polls are slow, and it's hard to know when a bubble or bounce is over, or if the trend is here to stay.

For their part, the Romney campaign hasn't actually been setting the nation on fire. The "undecideds" might be so fickle as to change horses after a single debate, but could they change back? After debacles like Monday's Mitt Romney foreign policy, will the needle move? Do the undecideds even pay attention to substance (or lack of it)? I don't know. So I'll be over here in the corner hoping for the best. . .

[Excerpt]

Parsing Romney’s Foreign Policy Speech

There’s hardly a paragraph in Mitt Romney’s foreign policy speech at the Virginia Military Institute that doesn’t need clarifying in one way or another. . .

Read more at: New York Times

4 Years Ago Today: Voter Rolls in at Least 19 States Being Purged

The more things change, the more they stay the same. . .

ORIGINAL POST: October 2, 2008

Conservatives often rail about "voter fraud," where dead people, illegal aliens, criminals, and unregistered voters allegedly vote--apparently for Democrats. The cases have been pretty thin, with people convicted of voter fraud numbering somewhere around a few handfuls. Maybe not even enough to matter in Palm Beach County, Florida in the 2000 election.

But election rigging--a specialty of Republicans--is real, and much more effective. By various means, they attempt to sway elections, and probably (almost certainly, by my estimation) even decided both elections for George W. Bush.

Image from source, BradBlog

Unfortunately, the issue apparently isn't very sexy to your average American, and only crops up in the news right before an election. Usually to late to do anything about it. And just as unfortunately, even when the rigging becomes known, very few people go to jail for it (Karl Rove, anybody?). You'd think in America that people messing with thousands of legitimate voters would be a big deal. But if they care at all, they're worried that Mickey Mouse cast one vote in Chicago or something. If they're going to focus on an illegal voter, you'd hope they'd finally go after Ann Coulter.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Even if you don't want to read this article, I urge you to click the link at the bottom of the story, and find out if you are registered to vote. Even if you know you are, it doesn't mean you haven't been "purged." It's an easy and useful tool, and took me all of two minutes.

[Excerpt]

BS News: New Study Details Massive Voter Roll Purges Underway in At Least 19 States

Tonight's CBS Evening News finally covered what may well be the November Surprise that we've been trying to warn about for months here at The BRAD BLOG: Massive voter roll purges being done in secret, with little or no oversight, and often under federal Justice Department cover, in states and counties around the country. . .

Read more at: BradBlog

4 Years Ago Today: Dow Drops 777; Largest Drop Ever

Four years ago, this was the point in John McCain's campaign that the writing was on the wall. Given his comments on the economy, the massive nosedive of the stock market just didn't fit with his narrative, and he kept making it worse. But on the day this happened, I wasn't really putting it in that context. I was just blown away by the spectacle. So much so that I used a fairly bad graphic--but then, it was from the source, so I guess they did too? It should have been a jagged stab downward. . .

ORIGINAL POST: September 29, 2008

It's admittedly hard to write this blog, when the biggest stories of the day are in an area I simply cannot speak authoritatively about. I've written a few times already, that I just don't get Wall Street, and all that it entails. And I'd be a bad broker if I did understand it, because the roller coaster ride of the Dow Jones Industrial Average gives me heartburn anyway.

Image from source, AOL News

Today's stock market ride was kind of like watching someone spike your bid on eBay. After seemingly being headed back up after a dive, at about one minute until closing bell, the bottom dropped out. I have a stock ticker on my desktop, and when refreshing it every 20 or 30 seconds, it went down each time. And after 1:00 pm Pacific time, it still kept dropping, from the six hundreds to the low seven hundreds, all the way down to minus 777. That's a lot, right? And how does it keep dropping after the market has supposedly closed? Maybe I don't want to know how all of this works.

Oh, and the headline below is rounding to the nearest fraction, but 777 is the number being used most.

[Excerpt]

Bailout Vote Sacks Dow by Record 778
The failure of the bailout package in Congress triggered a historic selloff on Wall Street - including a terrifying decline of nearly 500 points in mere minutes as the vote took place, the closest thing to panic the stock market has seen in years. . .

Read more at: AOL News

4 Years Ago Today: Obama & McCain's 1st Debate

Can you believe it's already time for this again? Of course you can, this campaign has been waging for over a year, and we're ready for it to be over! But I didn't remember that the first debate was a week earlier last time.


ORIGINAL POST: Sept. 26, 2008

Not surprisingly, MSNBC (or at least Keith Olbermann) thinks that Barack Obama won the debate. And even less surprisingly, FOX "News" has called it for John McCain. I honestly have to call it a draw. I of course agreed more with Obama, and much less so with McCain. But both came off strong, in command of their understanding of the facts. No major gaffes were made, at least not what I'd consider major. And no very notable soundbite moments jumped out.

 Photo from source, MSNBC

I seriously doubt, unless the media picks up on a point that catches fire, that either candidate gets much of a boost out of this debate. Neither Obama nor McCain supporters are likely to have changed their minds watching this. In fact, I believe that McCain supporters might gain some grudging support for Obama's ability to lead, and Obama supporters might have more confidence in McCain's lack of--what--dodderingness?

[Excerpt]

Bank crisis overshadows defense in first debate

Wall Street hijacked the first presidential debate Friday night between Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain, who clashed over tax cuts, congressional spending and President Bush's proposed $700 billion bank bailout in a forum that was supposed to be about foreign policy. . .

Read more at: MSNBC

4 Years Ago Today: Sarah Palin's Pastor Problem

Over the next few weeks until the election, I'm going to highlight items from exactly four years ago. The point is multi-fold: to remind us about big things, little things, parallel things and disparate things. You'll see stories that you forgot about, stories that still stand out, and puzzlements that never did pan out.

This one has to do with double standards, and the fact that while Barack Obama's religion and religious experience was a huge campaign issue, Sarah Palin's wacky Christian offshoot religion never sparked a WTF moment from the right (or even much from the left).

ORIGINAL POST - SEPTEMBER 19, 2008:
Sarah Palin's Pastor Problem

Photo from LiveJournal

There are many things I'm sick and tired of in politics. One of them used to be candidates that promised "change." It is an often used phrase, but this time, I'm hoping that my candidate (guess who) delivers.

Another thing I'm tired of is IOKIYAR. To the uninitiated, that means it's OK if you're a Republican. Now, don't get me wrong, there are some parallels on the other side of the aisle, and I'm sure right-wingers probably have their own IOKIYAD laments. But that is not what seems to be as strongly in play right now.

Here are just a few examples:

- Barack Obama, not well known, gave a good speech, celebrity. Bad.

- Sarah Palin, not well known, gave a good speech, celebrity. Good.

- John Edwards cheated on his wife, and that somehow reflects badly on Barack Obama.

- John McCain cheated on his wife, and we're not supposed to comment on it.

- John McCain's history as a POW 40 years ago tells us about his character.

- John McCain's behavior 30 years ago (adultery), and 20 years ago (Keating 5) are irrelevant.

- Barack Obama attended a radical (black) Christian church for 20 years. Bad.

- Sarah Palin attended a radical (crazy) Christian church for 20 years. So?

[Excerpt]

And If She Weighs The Same As A Duck...

. . .The pastor whose prayer Sarah Palin says helped her to become governor of Alaska founded his ministry with a witchhunt against a Kenyan woman who he accused of causing car accidents through demonic spells. . .

Read more at: DailyKos

A Thought on Sarah Palin, Game Change, and the Mormon Church

Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin. Bet she wins an Emmy.
Image from Vanity Fair.

It's been a week since HBO's Game Change--you know, the Sarah Palin movie that Sarah Palin didn't like--aired. It was a compelling docudrama that told the story of John McCain's 2008 campaign for President against Barack Obama. Yeah, it didn't go so well.

But that isn't the point of this post. Sarah Palin (played by Julianne Moore) was actually humanized in the film, in both good and bad ways. From the film, it was clear that she's a good mother and wife. She was shown to be driven, enthusiastic, energetic, and a go-getter. But, she was also shown to be profoundly ignorant of basic foreign policy issues and other basic knowledge. She was shown to be somewhat emotionally unstable, belligerent, a giant pain in the ass, and completely unsuited to be one septuagenarian's heart-beat away from the White House.

It was interesting to see how Steve Schmidt (Woody Harrelson) and Nicolle Wallace (Sarah Paulson)--two prominent McCain campaign operatives--dealt with Palin's obvious failings. Wallace grew weary of Palin's abuse, and basically washed her hands of Palin. Schmidt hit upon Palin's strength: acting. Acting like she knows what she's talking about. Give her a script, wind her up, and watch her go. She's a little firecracker!

But Schmidt, Wallace and the rest knew they were dealing with a dangerously incapable candidate. Their biggest issue wasn't the potential problem of an unqualified second-in-command. Their biggest issue was how to camouflage that, well enough to win the election. So, when I watch Wallace and Schmidt on television, confirming, yeah, that's how it all went down. . .well, I'm glad to hear the movie was accurate. But wait! I'm aghast that these people admit what they did!

Typical Mormons. Image from ABC News

It all reminds me of a book called The Mormon Murders by Steven Neifeh. The book recounts the true story of a con-man named Mark Hoffman. He was an antiquities dealer who had the amazing ability to find exceedingly rare Mormon artifacts. He conned the Mormon Church at its highest levels with amateur forgeries (and killed people when he got busted). Those forgeries--believed to be authentic by the church--pointed to the in-authenticity of the church itself.

So, did the church prepare to inform their congregants and potential converts that Joseph Smith was a fraud after all, and that the whole Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was now going to become a secular charity or something? No, no they didn't. They paid Hoffman beau coup bucks to take the documents and hide them away! Let's go over that again: they believed the documents saying the church was a fraud were authentic. And rather than re-assessing the whole religion, they decided to put their fingers in their ears and go, la-la-la!!!

Maybe it's a bit of a stretch, but I see the McCain campaign's decision to soldier on, and try to win--despite having knowledge of Palin's disqualifying shortcomings--to be the same kind of willful disregard for the facts. Charging ahead anyway. I find both to be disgusting.

Joe the Plumber Wins Ohio Primary for Congress

Image from Wikipedia

Did I say that Ohio avoided embarrassing me for not voting for Rick Santorum? I take it back. Any state that would vote for Samuel "Joe the Plumber" Wurtzelbacher for anything is not to be taken seriously. Okay, maybe I should just save my ire for the 9th district, but still.

"Joe" gained fame by posing as a licensed plumber (he wasn't) named Joe (he isn't), and asked then-candidate Obama an inaccurate tax question. The reason this catapulted him to fame was that it prompted from Obama the inelegant response, ". . .right now everybody’s so pinched that business is bad for everybody and I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody. . ." And the right took that answer to mean that Obama is a communist pinko socialist (and on and on).

But "Joe" turned out to be less than he said, and was in fact behind in paying taxes. And he's kind of a doltish lummox. But that is all it takes--in this post-Sarah Palin candidacy America--to be a political superstar. Embarrassing.

[Excerpt]

Joe The Plumber Wins: Samuel Wurzelbacher Defeats Steve Kraus In Ohio Congressional Race

An Ohio plumber thrust into national politics during the 2008 presidential campaign has won the Republican nomination in his home state as he makes a bid for Congress. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

Game Change: Do We Want to Watch the 2008 Campaign Again?

Seriously, we're right in the midst of the 2012 Presidential cycle. Do we want to rehash and relive the 2008 campaign from the John McCain side, in movie form? Well, I didn't think so either. But with Julianne Moore and Ed Harris in the roles of Sarah Palin and McCain, well. . .it looks good!

Former Presidential Hopeful John Edwards Indicted

Image from source, New York Times

More than four years ago, the Democratic field for the 2008 presidential campaign was very strong. Late in March 2007, I went with my friend Stupid Monkey Planet to an SEIU event here in Las Vegas featuring all of the candidates: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, Bill Richardson, Dennis Kucinich (?) and John Edwards. This was right after Edwards' wife, Elizabeth, announced the relapse of her cancer, and all eyes (and cameras) were on the couple. The Monkey and I were right behind her in the bleachers, so we even ended up in the video of the event.

At the time, it was clear that Edwards, Obama and Clinton were the three it was going to boil down to. Obama was impressive with his intelligence and unscripted answers to questions (asked by Margaret Carlson, I think), and no, there was no teleprompter. Clinton worked the crowd like a pro, and really wowed me. But Edwards was my choice after that day. There was something so earnest, so sincere about him. And there was my empathy for Elizabeth, and let's face it, Edwards cut a dashing figure. I could really picture him as president. Then, he turned out to be a scumbucket. And the Democratic Party really dodged a warhead, didn't they?

[Excerpt]

Edwards Indicted in Campaign Fund Case

John Edwards, the former senator from North Carolina and presidential candidate, was indicted Friday morning by a grand jury in Raleigh on charges that he violated campaign finance law during his 2008 presidential campaign. . .

Read more at: New York Times

Is Rudy Giuliani Going to Run?

"Tho what if I look like Nothferatu, and thound like Thylvethter
the cat! 9/11!!!" Image from source.

I just have to say that (September 11th) I never imagined that (9/11) Rudy Giuliani would even consider (ground zero) another shot at the presidency. There was a time (September the eleventh) when Rudy seemed like he might have a shot. But he flamed out so abruptly and so utterly in his 2008 attempt, what on earth makes him think something has changed? Are they going to prop up Fred Thompson, and give him a go too?  Ugh. No, Rudy isn't even attractive a candidate as ol' Law & Order. He looks like a cross between Gary Oldman as Dracula and C. Montgomery Burns as Dracula. Ugh. Spare us!

[Excerpt]

Rudy redux: What's behind the Giuliani-for-President rumors?

Rudy Giuliani really might jump into the race for the 2010 Republican presidential nomination. That’s according to his friend Peter King, a GOP congressman who represents chunks of Long Island. Representative King told reporters on Monday that Mr. Giuliani “is very close to saying he’s going to run. . .”

Read more at: Christian Science Monitor

Elizabeth Edwards Loses Battle With Cancer

Image from source, CNN

It's alarming how quickly these things can happen. I mean, I know that Mrs. Edwards has had cancer for a while, but it was a day after the announcement that she was quitting cancer treatment. Shocking and sad.

[Excerpt]

Elizabeth Edwards loses battle with cancer

Elizabeth Edwards, the estranged wife of 2004 vice presidential candidate and former North Carolina senator John Edwards, died Tuesday after a lengthy battle with cancer. She was 61. . .

Read more at: CNN

Elizabeth Edwards Gravely Ill

Image from source, Washington Post

Very sad. I was in the audience a day or so after it was announced that Elizabeth Edwards was terminally ill, at an SEIU forum here in Las Vegas. All of the Democratic Candidates for President were there, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, Bill Richardson and John Edwards. It was a very interesting day, and seeing all of the candidates was inspiring. Clinton wowed me, Obama impressed me, and Edwards won the day, for me anyway (not anymore, obviously). Part of that feeling may have been empathy, since the press seemed to be focused on Elizabeth more than anything else, and I felt badly for her.

The poor lady has been through an awful lot.

[Excerpt]

Elizabeth Edwards gravely ill with cancer



Elizabeth Edwards, stoic as her husband's presidential ambitions collapsed, her marriage crumbled and cancer sapped her strength, thanked her supporters online Monday as word spread the disease may take her life within weeks. . .
 
Read more at: Washington Post

New Black Panthers Faux Outrage: The Real Story

Image from The New Liberator

If you--like me--have been wondering what all the hub-bub is over an alleged voter intimidation threat in 2008, involving the "New Black Panthers," here's a handy-dandy list of just what happened, and what didn't.

[Excerpt]

Manufactured scandal: Right wing's phony allegations against the Justice Department

J. Christian Adams' accusations that President Obama's Justice Department engaged in racially charged "corruption" in the New Black Panther Party case do not stand up to the evidence. Adams is a right-wing activist tied to the Bush-era politicization of the Justice Department who has admitted he lacks first-hand knowledge of the events he is discussing, and his claims fall apart given the fact that the Obama DOJ obtained judgment against one defendant, while the Bush DOJ declined to pursue similar allegations in 2006. . .

Read (lots) more at: Media Matters

Tea Baggers: The Phantom Menace?

Image from source, The Daily Beast

The article excerpted below asks a very relevant question: is all the hype about the Tea Party movement just a lot of hot air? It's a good point. Remember before the 2008 election, how the "Pumas" were thought to be Barack Obama's Achilles heel? They turned out to be a paper tiger, utterly irrelevant in the scheme of things.

Here in Nevada, the 'baggers descended upon Sen. Harry Reid's tiny home town of Searchlight last weekend, and you'd have thought it was the largest political rally ever held. Baloney. There were more people at the Obama events I attended here in '08. Shoot, I'll bet there will be as many people in the crowd at this weekend's final Las Vegas Wranglers hockey game of the season. They're loud, they're colorful, and they can't spell worth a shit (TeaBonics: Crazy Tea Bagger Signs). But do they matter?

[Excerpt]

The Tea Party's Phantom Menace

For all the fountains of vitriol and frantic media coverage aimed at the Tea Partiers, the movement doesn’t have the money or sophistication to win anything, much less roll back the new health-care law.

Health-care reform, student-loan reform, momentum building toward significant financial reform—yet, day after day, all we seem to read about are the dangers the Tea Party supposedly poses to the republic. . .

Read more at: The Daily Beast

"Joe the Plumber" Doesn't Owe John McCain Sh*t!

Image from source, Raw Story

With the huge list of cartoon characters on the right, from Michelle Bachmann to Glenn Beck to Sarah Palin, it's easy to forget some of the also rans. Like "Joe the Plumber!" Mr. Samuel Wurtzelbacher--who wasn't, and may still not be a licensed plumber--rode that wacky cable-news fame wave as far as it would take him. He managed to excite the tea baggers, before they had dipped a bag yet. But he doesn't sound to happy these days.

[Excerpt]

Joe the ‘Plumber’: ‘I don’t owe John McCain shit, he really screwed up my life’

For one-time political icon Joe Wurzelbacher, reminders of his old campaign buddy Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) aren't exactly pleasant.

Some grapes turn more sour than others, it seems. . .

Read more at: Raw Story