Blogs

Last week Josh won the George Polk award for legal coverage on their covering the U.S. attorney purge. Today the New York Times follows up with a very nice write up about Talking Points memo.

Thursday night Obama brought up this story:

"You know, I've heard from an Army captain who was the head of a rifle platoon -- supposed to have 39 men in a rifle platoon," he said. "Ended up being sent to Afghanistan with 24 because 15 of those soldiers had been sent to Iraq. And as a consequence, they didn't have enough ammunition, they didn't have enough humvees. They were actually capturing Taliban weapons, because it was easier to get Taliban weapons than it was for them to get properly equipped by our current commander in chief."

And the wingnuts immediately called him out as a liar. Now ABC's Jake Tapper has confirmed the story with the actual Army captain:

I called the Obama campaign this morning to chat about this story, and was put in touch with the Army captain in question.

He told me his story, which I found quite credible, though for obvious reasons he asked that I not mention his name or certain identifying information.

So the wingnuts (the people who play cheerleader for wars, yet are to scared to go fight in them), basically have called this Army captain a liar. But they aren't alone in their blasphemy of a U.S. soldier. The Pentagon also seems to be chiming in on the smear now. With treatment like this I am surprised more people aren't rushing to enlist.

It has been almost two hours since news broke that Republican Congressman and McCain's Arizona campaign co-chair, Rick Renzi, was indicted. In that time there has not been a peep out of the right wing blogs. Not even a thing on Drudge. Hot Air also seems to be ignoring this rather big story.
Hey guys - just because you ignore it doesn't mean it didn't happen.

Bob has all the details. Sick twisted bitch should be her new online name.

Randi did a skit yesterday saying that Romney supporters will go on killing sprees and commit mass suicide if McCain becomes the nominee. Of course the wingnuts are going crazy over this. Here is the skit:

I don't see anything to outrageous in this. She is making fun of what people like Rush Limbaugh has been saying. And speaking of Limbaugh, did any of these wingnuts speak up when Rush called Obama a "spade" and Hillary a "hoe" in one of his skits? Nope - we heard crickets from that side. Perhaps that means they enjoy these type of sexist and racist remarks?

I was just doing my nightly dose of eye bleeding browsing of the right wing dribble out there (hey everyone likes a good nightmare), when I noticed this at Red state:

Update: For another entrant into the below-mentioned department of legislation, check out this oldie but goodie from 2006: a Democrat State Senator from Ohio filing legislation that would make it illegal for registered Republicans to adopt in that state.

Ahh what a crazy ass proposal! Of course that is what Robert Hagan thought when he first proposed this ban in 2006. I blogged about it back then, which you can see here. Hagan was doing this to highlight the absurdities of similar legislation proposed by Republicans, banning gay couples from adopting. Of course the humorless side of the blogosphere, the side on the right, couldn't figure this out. This of course gives more credence to Hagan's faux bill.

Oh InstaPundit. Romney is a Republican - sincerity with them is about as common as actual compassion. Hasn't Bush taught you anything? How about the "family values" platform? Republicans will say anything just to get elected.

Not only me, but all bloggers are now a threat to national security. Now this is absurd.

The right wing blogs have been in going on about the ten year anniversary of the Monica Lewinsky ordeal. As with any anniversary, it is time to reflect. In particular I would like to reflect on some very obvious hypocrisy's this is pointing out.

• They dwell in the past - Isn't this something the wingnuts attack us on the left for, particularly when it comes to the Iraq war and the non-existent WMDs? So is it bad for us to dwell on the lies George Bush told that has lead to nearly 4,000 dead soldiers and cost us billions, yet it is ok to dwell on two consenting adults engaging in a sexual activity?
• We cannot forgive! - That seems to be the mantra of the right wing. Ironically we saw a Republican Senator get busted with hookers and his wife forgave him, so that was acceptable. We also saw the Reverend Ted Haggard exposed for being in a relationship with another man. The church was able to forgive him. This is fine, yet Hillary is not allowed to forgive Bill?
• They love the cock! - From Ted Haggard to Larry Craig to Mark Foley, nothing says "i love the cock" more for the wingnuts than their constant obsession with Bill Clinton's cock. I swear if they were given the chance any of them would have jumped on the opportunity to switch positions with Monica. Yes - their obsession makes it that obvious.

So why they are celebrating this anniversary, let's celebrate ours. It has now been ten years since we saw that numerous on the right who try to act like the "moral police" of this nation are in fact nothing but hypocritical, phallic envying, jealous little kids.

But let's not dwell on that. Instead we should dwell on the current President's lack of better judgment, and where it has led us. We are a broken nation in an unending war. I for one care about our soldiers and country enough that I want to see some justice done for what has happened to them. I believe our country deserves accountability for this fatally flawed administration. I would gladly go back to the days of blow jobs and white stains instead of this nightmare we are in.

So go back to your corners little Republicans. Curl up in your fetal positions while holding your "Big Bubba Dildo" and go back to screaming "why Monica - why not me???"

This award has to go to Erick at Red State for this tidbit :

In South Carolina tonight, Democratic voters would rather vote for the rich, Southern, white man than either the black man or the female yankee.

Excuse me? Obama won 55% of the vote. It sounds to me like Erick is trying to say that African American's can't be part of the Democratic Party, but that's not as disturbing as the logic he is using:

In fact, exit polling by and large shows that John Edwards, by staying in the race, is taking votes that would otherwise typically go to Barack Obama. Is this a racist ploy? Is John Edwards in league with the Clintons to make sure white voters, who don't want to vote for Clinton, have a white alternative to go to, lest Barack Obama get more traction?

Did we forget Iowa, a state that is predominately white and voted for Obama? Actually Erick's argument here has strong hints of racism. Perhaps he is saying that the "white folk" should drop out because of the black man in the race.

I worked hard developing this site. I spent countless hours to bring you the new IntoxiNation - now can I have $80,000? I mean it took me about 3 hours last night and 4 hours today to get it done so $80,000 should be about right.

If you are confused, don't be. What I am talking about is the pathetic donation drive going on over at Red State. Currently they run the same platform that I do - Drupal. They need all this money to finish up development on their new system though, because Drupal is so limited and hard to use. Yeah right.

For years right wingers would taunt out the fact that Democrats were in the minority. That minority was very slim though. Both times Bush won the White House, it was so damn close.

So these same wingnuts who so boldly reminded us of our minority status over the past several years now find themselves in the minority. This isn't by a few percentage points either.

Let me explain:

Eight in 10 Americans favor expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or S-CHIP, including large majorities of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents.

While the president has raised concerns about the additional cost of expanding S-CHIP, those who favor the proposal say they'd even be willing to pay more in taxes to help the program cover more children.

More generally, the poll finds that only about one in five Americans (22 percent) approve of the president’s handling of health care. That's lower even than his approval rating on Iraq (26 percent).

Ideologues like Michelle Malkin are thumping their chests over the S-CHIP fiasco going on. They have attacked children and basically advocated for abortion because a parent doesn't have insurance (right to life unless it costs money!). That is how pathetic they have become, and now they are in the super-minority. 22% of this country approves of Bush's veto. That sounds about like the FOX audience.

The problem is how these wingnuts approached the whole argument. They told lies to smear a 12 year old who suffered severely from an accident. For example - Malkin has constantly talked about insurance plans for a couple of hundred dollars. Wow! What a deal! Well she does fail to mention the fact that insurance companies will reject pre-existing conditions, such as these children suffer.

It is just another case of forgetting facts that the wingnuts are best known for. And when Malkin cries about losing this battle, we will sit back with the comfort of knowing who the winners are - the children who need this healthcare. Healthcare is family values and right to life. Apparently Malkin and the other right-wing blogs don't care about family values and life. Their anger just proves that money trumps anything. So - who would Jesus let die?

Since my last post about the comment left at Maine Web Report calling for a terrorist attack at San Franciso, a lot has happened. I did similar posts atCrooks and Liars and Firedoglake. Markos also did a post on the comment.

In walk Newsbusters. Now they are saying how wrong we are about it and that the comment was actually left bye a Democrat. Their proof? The IP address.

Mattew Sheffied, the Executive Editor of Newsbusters, published a post explaining how he found out the IP address. Now that is a very interesting bit of evidence, but like George Bush's "Executive Privelage", it doesn't do much good.

First thing Matthew - IP addresses are not posted on comments for the average person to see. Wordpress does not do this (unless you hack it to), and as people can see by the screen shot of the comment - no IP address is present. Now since you were so quick to point out that we should "correct" ourselves, would you care to answer why the comment was allowed to remain on the site for the last day? It has now been 23 1/2 hours and the comment still remains on the site.

I find it truly amazing how the right is quick to attack our side when a bad comment is posted, even when that comment gets deleted within minutes. The fact that this comment has been allowed to remain on their site proves that the right does not take responsibility for their sites like the left does.

Secondly Matthew - the IP address you posted comes back to a dynamic IP provided by Road Runner. That means that IP address could belong to anyone in Maine and be shared by numerous subscribers at different times (hence the name "dynamic"). Please leave the tech sleuthing to the internet professionals Matthew.

I also find it disturbing, but not shocking, that News Busters and Maine Web Report would publicly disclose the IP address of a poster like that. The more professional sites do not resort to such tactics, as there are bad people out there who know how to do bad things. So Matthew, do you not take the security of your visitors to heart? How about Lance?

I doubt Matthew will answer to this, but I will answer his concern about "profanity" he raises with a quote from someone he fully supports. Go fuck yourself! Maybe a little Cheney will remove the stick from your ass Matthew.

News For The Left posted this yesterday:

After seeing this post by John Aravosis on AmericaBlog, I was incensed and concerned at the same time. Here is the comment on O'Reilly's blog that crossed the line:

If Hillary wins, I will be respectful of our leader. If you could read my thoughts, I would be on the SS [Secret Service] watch list.

So, I did what a responsible person should do when they see something like this on a blog. I called the Secret Service to report it. This comment isn't about politics or defaming Senator Clinton. It outright states a threat to her life. It is unacceptable.

After reading this, I got thinking about when that bomb went off in Afghanistan that was targeting Cheney. People posted comments like "damn they missed" on Huffington Post about the incident. Of course the staff at Huffington Post did the reasonable thing and instantly shut off the comments on that post. That didn't stop the rabid dogs on the right from launching a full assault against the Huffington Post and the left in general.

Now these comments appeared on a site that anyone can register to post on. You don't have to pay to voice your opinion over there, just register for a free account and post away.

O'Reilly's site is different. To post on his blog you need to pay $49.95 a year. To even access his forums, you must become a paid member. So why are posts like this allowed to exist? His posters don't have the anonymity that people posting on Huffington Post do (or any other progressive site). They have a record of payment from their posters, which must contain their personal information.

So we got an example of a very popular right wing site allowing this kind of illegal talk to exist. Under federal law they should be reporting this information to the authorities to prevent any possible crimes. But they haven't - and that isn't the worse of it. To make matters worse, they haven't posted it and they allow the comments to remain on their site.

Of course the Malkin's out there won't point out this hypocritical point that crosses the line of legality. Instead they will go to any extreme to protect their idol. It just shows why the left has dominated the blogosphere, while the right continues to fail. On the left we have adopted a code of ethics and conduct. Of course comments appear from people that cross the line, but every major site has moderators that instantly deletes them and bans the person if needed. The right don't even allow anonymous comments, and yet this stuff is allowed to remain. Something is wrong here and it isn't on our side of the blogosphere.

Steve Gillard passed away this morning. Please keep his friends and family in your thoughts.