CNN-fail

By GottaLaff

But... but... they're TBPNTOTV!!!

Since Obama took office, CNN’s prime-time audience has dropped sharply, raising doubts about whether the network’s middle-of-the-road strategy can be effective against more opinionated programming on Fox News and MSNBC.

"Middle of the road"? Really? I hear more Rushpublic talking points and see more Rushpublic punditiots on CNN than Blago has hair follicles.

[CNN President Jon] Klein pointed out that "Anderson Cooper 360" is beating "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" at 10 p.m. — but of course, that’s the repeat of the 8 p.m. airing of Olbermann's MSNBC show.

But of course, Klein failed to mention that, but of course.

It's Cooper’s ratings that are the most troubling, say staffers, given the resources and heavy promotion for his show, and persona. For years, Klein has talked up Cooper, once famously dubbing him “the anti-anchor” and, in the aftermath of Katrina, as “a reporter [who’s] got that magical something.

But that magic may be wearing off.

The thrill is gone. Sigh. Maybe Chris Matthews can loan him one of the ones that went up his leg awhile back.

Current and former CNN staffers, though, say there’s definite concern inside about how Cooper and [Campbell] Brown are faring against the competition.

Suh-nap alert:

But when it comes to the prime-time metrics on which the industry focuses, MSNBC now has bragging rights. So in the afterglow of the March numbers, MSNBC President Phil Griffin took a shot across the bow at CNN.

“What do they stand for?" Griffin told The Associated Press. "That's their biggest challenge. CNN ain't what it used to be, and that has given us an opening because we stand for something and they don't."

Ohhh, suh-nap! (told you so)

Obama hit by Republicans for night on the town

By GottaLaff

Leave it to the Rushpublics to find fault with the Obamas finally having a little down time. Let's not forget, the plane they were on was smaller why again? Oh yeah, for energy efficiency. This is all the Rushpublics have, and it's utterly pathetic:

The "personal" trip to New York President Obama and First Lady Michelle made Saturday became grist for the Republican National Committee. The RNC hit the First Couple up for taking the trip--the RNC called it "a joyride"-- on Air Force One while the nation's economy is suffering.

The RNC put up a clip from the White House Correspondents Dinner on May 9 where Obama joked about daughters Malia and Sasha taking a joyride on Air Force One.

Read my lips: The smaller airplane is still called Air Force One when the president is a passenger. He could probably take a "joy ride" in a single-passenger propeller aircraft run by hamsters scampering on a wheel, and they'd still call it... Air Force One.

Read the entire press release here.

VIDEO: Sneak peak at "Inside the Obama White House"

By GottaLaff

This will be airing on June 2 and 3 on NBC:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

H/t: Dr. President

President Obama, the Pentagon, and the leaked sexual abuse photos

By GottaLaff

Earlier I posted about the Abu Ghraib photos and that their existence has been confirmed. I went back and reread the article I linked to. Please go read the whole thing, but this part stood out:

The most prominent victim in the past of [Pentagon spokesperson, Bryan G. Whitman's, who came to prominence during the Bush administration] disinformation may have been none other than Barack Obama. On the campaign trail, in Austin, Texas, candidate Obama said he had gotten a message from an Army captain in Iraq who described how his unit had been shorted in munitions and equipment. I learned from reporters that Whitman started a whispering campaign with the Pentagon press corps telling them (not for attribution) that he didn’t believe Obama’s claims were true. Whitman’s game, however, was stopped by ABC reporter Jake Tapper, who tracked down the captain, interviewed him and fully verified the account.

Bryan Whitman remains on the job in the Pentagon today. But the effort to suppress the shocking photographs is already failing, as they leak to the public and reliable sources verify their authenticity. A senior military officer told me that in the months before the Abu Ghraib scandal broke, Pentagon officials engaged in strange maneuvers to avoiding viewing the pictures. That, he noted, didn’t make the photos any less real. But it apparently made it easier for Pentagon officials to dissemble about them. That process hasn’t stopped.

Bob Woodward Writing on Obama

As much as I love Obama, you have to admit that most libraries are going to have to build new wings just for all the PBO books. Via Taegan-

Since the inauguration, Bob Woodward has been quietly reporting a new book on the Obama White House, according to the New Republic.

Said Woodward: "I'm in the preliminary stages of working on it. I'm working on it and making progress."

The White House says, at least officially, it is not adopting a special press strategy to respond to Woodward.

Video- Media Matters Week in Review: May 29, 2009

The best of teh crazy in one spot.

Soccer dad-in-chief

By GottaLaff

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama make their way to board Air Force One Saturday en route for New York City.

Ooo, they always look so purty when they step out:

President Obama may hold the title of commander-in-chief, but on Saturday he donned another cap: Soccer dad.

The president, dressed in jeans and a navy polo shirt, and first lady Michelle Obama ventured from the White House to watch daughter Malia's soccer team — the Tsunamis — take to the field, according to pool reports. For the record: Malia's team won.

The first couple, known for having weekend date nights, is also making a visit Saturday night to New York City for what the White House is calling a personal visit. The New York Times reports that the Obamas will see the Broadway show, “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.”

Also, instead of taking the larger Air Force One plane for their trip north, the Obamas are taking a smaller plane, a G-3, which will then become Air Force One once he's on board.

The press pool will be traveling in a separate aircraft, a G-5, and a G-3 will carry White House support staff, according to the pool report.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest cites “efficiency” — as in fuel efficiency — as the reason the big plane is staying in the hanger and the smaller planes are being utilized, the pool report said.

Practicing what they preach. Good thinking.

Video- Obama's Great Uncle Speaks On WWII And Obama's Grandfather

More of the interview here.

Make Sotomayor's confirmation hearings worth hearing

By GottaLaff

From the L.A. Times op-ed page:

Here are five ways that the White House, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and ranking member Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) can try to impose a new order to the proceedings without taking away the Senate's important "advise and consent" role.

* Invite, cajole and beg former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor to appear before the committee as a witness to discuss and debunk the myth of "judicial activism." [...]

* Invite a panel of distinguished judges, "liberal" and "conservative," to discuss the extent to which federal appeals court judges are required consistently to "make policy" when they interpret ambiguous statutory language given to them by lawmakers who practice the art of compromise at the expense of clarity. [...]

* Demand of Sonia Sotomayor that she eschew the "Ginsburg rule" -- refusing to answer questions on cases or controversies she might have to resolve as a justice. She should answer such questions and perhaps even offer her personal views about certain legal standards and doctrines. She can do this without guaranteeing that she'll vote a certain way in a certain case. [...]

* Require all committee members to be physically in the room during the hearing unless there is a pending vote -- and make sure there are no pending votes. [...]

* Dramatically limit the time each senator receives for on-camera speechmaking while the nominee is in the chair. We all know what each senator thinks -- their tribunes issue copies of the speeches and post them online. [...]

In a perfect world, confirmation hearings would be an invaluable exercise in constitutional democracy and a wonderful lesson for students of law, politics and governance. Instead, they have become unworthy of the nobility of their place in our system of separation of powers. Someone needs to fix that. And it might as well be these guys, at this time, with this nominee, in these circumstances.

Empathy=Strength: Goofus and Gallant edition

By GottaLaff

(click on image to enlarge)

Would the Rushpublics dare to defy Gallant?

ObamAdministration Refuses To Release Secret Wiretap Document

By GottaLaff

Showdown time:

The Obama administration insists it has no obligation to provide access to a top secret document in a wiretapping case, setting up a showdown next week with the judge who ordered it released.

Justice Department lawyers, in a response Friday with the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, also argued that Judge Vaughn Walker had no cause to penalize the government over its refusal to turn over the document.

Walker on May 22 threatened to punish the administration for withholding the document, which he ordered given to lawyers suing the government over its warrantless wiretapping program.

The judge has ordered department lawyers to appear before his court Wednesday to make the case why he should not award damages to the now-defunct Oregon chapter of the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation. That group is challenging the wiretapping program.

In its response, the department said that in this case "disclosure of classified information - even under protective order - would create intolerable risks to national security."

The filing said President Barack Obama has authorized access to classified information on a "need-to-know" basis and argued that the government "cannot be sanctioned for its determination that plaintiffs do not have a need to know classified information." [...]

[T]he Obama administration is also fighting the court-ordered release of prisoner-abuse photos and is reviving, in a revised form, military tribunals where suspected terrorists have limited access to information.

Confirmation that photos show torture and rape

By GottaLaff

This back and forth about the photos is dizzying. And what about the videos that were referred to? My posts about all of this are here, here, here, here, and here.

Now we can add this to the collection:

[Y]esterday, Scott Horton reported that he has confirmed that the photos do, in fact, “depict sexually explicit acts,” including “a government contractor engaged in an act of sodomy with a male prisoner and scenes of forced masturbation,” as well as “penetration involving phosphorous sticks and brooms.” Horton writes further:

A senior military officer familiar with the photos told me that they would likely provoke a storm of outrage if released. … Some show U.S. personnel engaged in sexual acts with prisoners and each other. In one, a female prisoner appears to have been forced to expose her breasts to be photographed. In another, a prisoner is suspended naked upside down from the top bunk of a bed in a stress position. [...]

Still other withheld photographs have been circulating among U.S. soldiers who served in Iraq. One soldier showed them to me, including a photograph in which a male in a U.S. military uniform receives oral sex from a female prisoner.

Horton also obtained what he characterizes as “rarely seen Abu Ghraib torture photos,” which can be viewed here.

It looks like it's time for someone to sort all of this out. Again, IMHO, the ObamAdministration should control the message. Leaks like this are already getting out of hand (as you can see by the number of posts I've done on this subject), and eventually, the photos/videos themselves will make their way out to the public.

Oh, and accurate reporting wouldn't hurt either.

Don your berets! "Republican Renaissance" coming!

By GottaLaff

I wonder if the Rushpublics will start dressing in velvet and thigh boots and wear funny hats. Or would that be too gay?

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele praised Bob McDonnell Saturday for receiving the official nomination in the state's gubernatorial race, and said he is part of a "Republican renaissance that starts this year in Virginia."

“I would like to congratulate Bob McDonnell for being selected by Virginia Republicans today as their candidate for governor," Steele said in a statement. "It is going to be a tough fight, but we are well positioned for victory in November."

Morning Distraction

Something to tide us over since there is nothing going on right now.

First Couple to Hit Broadway This Weekend

Think they'll have good seats?

For all of the people sprawled out on those lawn chairs along shuttered Broadway in Times Square, take note: A certain famous family plans to be awfully close by on Saturday evening.

President Obama and his wife, Michelle, plan to visit New York City on Saturday and take in a Broadway show, the August Wilson play “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” at the Belasco Theater on West 44th Street, according to three theater executives who have been informed of the First Family’s plans.

The theater executives spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the president’s itinerary, and cautioned that the trip was subject to change.

Cartoon of the Day

Click to enlarge, via.

Saturday Linkage

Still sucking down the coffee, trying to get the brain waves going.

Disgruntled Urbanites Could Sway Iran Vote

For all the debate about interrogation, little research exists

'Lost' music instrument recreated

Army Investigating Nude Shower Photos

Three Men In Their 80s Finish Building 30-Foot Boat In Essex

Man who tracked Che for CIA awarded $1 billion in lawsuit

Wikipedia To Block Edits By Scientologists

Threats against federal judges increase

Video- John McLaughlin: Dick Cheney's Approval Rating Will Be At 61% By Christmas

McLaughlin has just gone painfully head first into the PUMA pool, it's hard to watch the show sometimes. And I'd be willing to take that bet John.

Video- President's Weekly Address: Judge Sotomayors Experience

Newt Gingrich blasts Sotomayor: "UnAmerican" !!!!!!!

By GottaLaff

Newtie, Newtie, don't you realize you're well on your way to becoming toast? I won't even go into his typos and overuse of !!!!!!!!s. I've edited this down... it was endless:

Renewing American Leadership, a 501(c)3 nonprofit that he heads, sent out an email to supporters calling on them to both "send blast faxes" to U.S. Senators demanding opposition to Sotomayor and contribute money to help the fight.

From the Desk of Newt Gingrich

"I have a dream: that my four little children will one day live
in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their
skin, but by the content of their character."

- Dr. Martin Luther King

Can you imagine if the President of the United States nominated a judge to the U.S. Supreme Court who said this:

"My experience as a white man will make me a better judge than a Latina woman would be."

Or could you imagine if that same judge ruled from the bench to deny 18 African-American firefighters a promotion just because of their skin color?

That judge would be called a bigot -- and in my judgment, rightly so! Would there be any doubt that he would be FORCED to WITHDRAW his nomination for the Supreme Court?

None.

There are only two options for how we govern ourselves – by laws, or by the will of those in power. The rule of law represents objective, dispassionate knowable standards that are applied and enforced equally to all citizens regardless of their background.

The will of those in power represents subjective, fleeting standards that are never fully known by any and are applied purely to satisfy the wishes of a small, concentrated group in power. [...]

President Obama should withdraw her nomination to the Supreme Court.

Consider what Judge Sotomayor said about how her being a Latina woman will affect her decisions as a judge:

"I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."

You read that right -- Judge Sotomayor said that her experience as a person of a particular sex and ethnic background will make her a better judge than a person of another sex and a different ethnic background!

When did that view become acceptable?

If Civil War, suffrage, and Civil Rights are to mean anything, we cannot accept that conclusion. It is simply un-American. There is no room on the bench of the United States Supreme Court for this worldview. [...]

If President Obama will not withdraw his nomination, then the Senate has a duty to ensure that judges with who hold these beliefs are not confirmed to serve on the Supreme Court.

SEND BLAST FAXES TO EVERY U.S.
SENATOR, DEMANDING THEY REJECT
JUDICIAL ACTIVISTS LIKE SONIA SOTOMAYOR!
The United States is a nation of immigrants from many backgrounds and their contributions have made our country great but that was made possible because our nation was built upon a solid foundation of law and order. The rule of law should be non-negotiable. It cannot be subordinated to ethnic or racial biases. To do so would be to make our Constitution arbitrary and meaningless undermining the very foundations of our society.

The rule of law is a crucial safeguard for the preservation of freedom.

[...] Cases brought before the U.S. Supreme Court should be judged on the merits of the arguments rigorously tested against the United States Constitution. They should NOT be judged based on the racial and ethnic preferences of the judges making the decision!

Unfortunately, that's exactly what we'll get if Sonia Sotomayor is confirmed to the Supreme Court -- a judge who will interpret the law based on her ethnic background, rather than based on the LAW. [...]

Remember, this is the same woman who, when speaking at Duke Law School, made it clear that she believes it is a judge's role to "legislate from the bench": responding to a question on the pros and cons of different types of judicial clerkships, she stated that the court "is where policy is made!" She tried to correct her slip, by joking that "I know this is on tape and I should never say that, because we don't ‘make law,' I know, I know." But, she already made herself clear: She believes JUDGES MAKE LAW!

She is wrong. Lawmakers make law NOT judges.

Words mean things and her words give her away. No amount of explaining or spin can change what she truly believes and if she is confirmed she will bring those beliefs to the Supreme Court. [...]

The U.S. Supreme Court is no place for these kinds of judicial philosophies -- we need to STOP this nomination from going any further before it is too late!

SEND BLAST FAXES TO EVERY U.S.
SENATOR, DEMANDING THEY REJECT
JUDICIAL ACTIVISTS LIKE SONIA SOTOMAYOR!
Of course, no one believes that any judge can be 100% impartial and unbiased in every situation. Judges are human beings, and will occasionally allow their personal biases to cloud their attempts at impartiality.

But this is VERY different -- this judge is making it CLEAR that she thinks she SHOULD be biased and partial, based on her ethnicity and gender! [...]

When judges make decisions based not on the application of law but on their personal biases about an issue at hand, the independence and authority of the judiciary is compromised. [...]

Your background should NEVER impact the application of law under the U.S. Constitution. It should not be a consideration by the judge or an expected consideration by the judged. Decisions made by the highest court in the land should be made on the basis of what is right and wrong -- not who is right and who is wrong! [...]

We've set up a website where you can send "blast faxes" to EVERY SINGLE MEMBER OF THE SENATE, telling them to REJECT Sotomayor's nomination as the next U.S. Supreme Court Justice! For less that what it would cost you to gather every fax number and send all those faxes yourself, you can send SCORES of faxes, ALL AT ONCE to Capitol Hill -- to make SURE they hear your voice!

BUT... we have to act QUICKLY! Sotomayor's nomination will be debated very soon in the Senate Judiciary Committee! SEND YOUR FAXES NOW!

SEND BLAST FAXES TO EVERY U.S.
SENATOR, DEMANDING THEY REJECT

JUDICIAL ACTIVISTS LIKE SONIA SOTOMAYOR!
Your friend,

Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House
Renewing American Leadership

P.S. The Obama White House is already attacking me for pointing out the obvious: that Judge Sonia Sotomayor is unfit to serve on the Supreme Court. When he was specifically asked at the daily briefing to respond to my statements, spokesman Robert Gibbs gave a very ominous warning to anyone who dares to challenge this nomination:

"I think it is probably important for anyone involved in this debate to be exceedingly careful with the way in which they've decided to describe different aspects of this impending confirmation."

Well, I am not going to back down and neither should you. I see the damage that this nomination could do to our Constitution... and our country. We MUST stop Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court -- or any OTHER nomination that threatens the Republic. Justice demands it!

SEND BLAST FAXES TO EVERY U.S.
SENATOR, DEMANDING THEY REJECT
JUDICIAL ACTIVISTS LIKE SONIA SOTOMAYOR!

We need YOUR help to take this fight to Capitol Hill. Please consider supporting Renewing American Leadership with a generous donation today. $25, $50, or $100 will dramatically help us stand strong for the Rule of Law in America!

PLEASE MAKE YOUR BEST
CONTRIBUTION NOW:
DONATE ONLINE!

I haven't seen so much racism, sexism, and hypocrisy since... since... 2001-2008. Poor wittle thing, big bad Robert Gibbs ATTACKED HIM!!!!! How unAmerican of Gibbs to challenge the latest Swiftboating campaign. What a racist, activist Press Secretary!!!!!!

By the way, Newtie, that rule of law you're so fond of referencing? It went out the window with John Yoo, Jay Bybee, and Stephen Bradbury. Maybe you should BLAST FAX THEM!!!! TOO!!!!! OKAY!!??!!

Who knew?

By GottaLaff

Trivia:

From the forthcoming CQ's Politics in America:

Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. (D-IL) is a fitness buff with a black belt in tae kwon do. Jackson also frequently gets around Capitol Hill on his own Segway.

Rep. David Scott (D-GA) is Hank Aaron's brother-in-law.

Rep. Bobby Bright (D-AL) is the 13th of 14 children of a sharecropper.

Rep. Robert E. Andrews (D-NJ) used Rahm Emanuel -- later his House colleague and now White House chief of staff -- as an opposition researcher in his first campaign in 1990.

Rep. José E. Serrano (D-NY) learned to speak English by listening to Frank Sinatra records.

Retired Navy Vice Admiral Joe Sestak (D-PA) is the highest-ranking military officer ever elected to Congress or to serve in the House of Representatives.

Great fun facts.

Who knew?

Exec. Director Of Tancredo's PAC Guilty Of "Karate Chop" Assault On African-American Woman

By GottaLaff

(to see enlarged image, go here)

Earlier I treated you to a video of the Racist of Racists with a capital R, Tom Tancredo. But wait! What's that? Look up in the sky! It's a bird, it's a plane, it's...Racist Man and his sidekick, Wonder Marcus!

Tancredo's outlandish cries of racism are difficult to take seriously considering his own well-documented bigotry. However, the conservative blog Little Green Footballs has flagged a lesser known story demonstrating Tancredo's embrace of intolerance. Apparently, the executive director of Tancredo's anti-immigrant Team America PAC (also executive director of Pat Buchanan's group, The American Cause) pled guilty to "verbally and physically assaulting a black woman" and will be sentenced in July. According to the Factual Proffer from the case:

[...]

On July 7, 2007 at approximately 7:15 p.m., at Jefferson and M Street, Northwest, in Washington, D.C., defendant was walking down the street when he encountered the complainant, Ms. [Redacted], who is African-American. The defendant uttered, "[N*****]," as he delivered a karate chop to [complainant's] head. Ms. [Redacted]'s [redacted] attempted to detain defendant, but defendant was able to escape. Ultimately, the defendant was stopped and arrested by Secret Service officers.

The defendant, Marcus Epstein, is still featured prominently on Team America's website nearly two years after the crime. So, it's evident Tancredo is only "concerned" about racism when it furthers his bigoted agenda.

For official documents from the case, go here.

Quite the Rushpublic superheroes, huh?

Quote-O'-The-Day: Lawrence O'Donnell edition

By GottaLaff

Lawrence O'Donnell just now on Countdown:

"Barack Obama is the best politican we've seen since the invention of television."

Palin's TwitterFail

By GottaLaff

Remember when I posted about Sarah Louise Palin's Tweet where she disclosed that she's going on the Colbert show... in Iraq? Seems her Twitterexpertise is a little, um, nonexistent. Oh, what a vice president she would have made:

Way to spoil a surprise. More comedy gold from Sarah Palin’s Twitter account. She’s gone and blown it.

Via Lindsay at Videogum comes the news that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin bleated out a tweet on her Twitter that seems to have revealed the heavily, and comedically, guarded actual destination of Stephen Colbert’s upcoming trip to the Persian Gulf. So, SPOILER ALERT:

Getting ready to tape shout-out for our awesome US troops serving overseas! Will be on ‘Colbert Report’ next month, broadcast from Iraq…

Yes, so Colbert is going to…uhm…Iraq! Which is really great for the troops stationed there! But it still seems, well…a bit anti-climactic for the rest of us, doesn’t it? Which is probably why the show was working so hard to drag the whole thing out, for the sake of laughs.

PalinFail.

VIDEO: Obama defends Sotomayor

By GottaLaff

If you haven't seen it yet, here is President Obama trying to put out a fire. Should he have addressed this at all? Ed Schultz is going berserk saying that Prez O opened the door to a flood of Rushpublic Swiftboating.

However, Howard Fineman, Chuck Todd, and others are saying that Sotomayor's comments took on a life of their own, and the president had to step on it before it got completely out of hand. Nobody seems too worried about the eventual outcome, though.

IMHO, this is one more example of the corporate media fanning the flames in order to bring in viewers, and to give themselves something to do for the next 24 (or 48, or 72) hours.

Watch:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Rep. Sullivan (R-Okla) Treated for Alcohol Addiction

By GottaLaff

Via Roll Call, subscription only:

Rep. John Sullivan (R-Okla.) has checked himself into a facility for alcohol addiction, according to his office.

Wedge Tweet: Dems go after Gingrich "racist" Twitter

By GottaLaff

Wedge Tweet, indeed. Did Newtie think nobody but his Tweeple would see it?

Dems are seizing on the fact that Gingrich is headlining a June 8th fundraiser for Sessions and the NRCC to demand Sessions condemn Gingrich’s claim.

The fundraiser, obviously, was scheduled before Gingrich’s now-infamous Tweet calling Sotomayor a “racist.” It’s kind of amazing that single solitary Tweet made Gingrich border on radioactive so fast. Call it a Wedge Tweet.

I'll do my best to get this post all over Twitter to help the Dems out a little. Hear that, my fellow Tweeps? It's Wedge Tweet time!

VIDEO-- Tom DeLay: Hispanic rights groups like La Raza & LULAC: "bunch of radical leftists"

By GottaLaff

Why on earth are they giving this thug any credibility whatsoever? Why is he allowed to speak for anyone?

The Rushpublic Wall-O'Shame is littered with wanted posters. The corporate media ambles over, throws a dart, it lands on one of the many criminals, and they interview the face in the picture.

This conversation should not be taking place. Sotomayor is getting smeared and the punditiocracy perpetuates it. Are you listening, Sanchez? If you need ratings this badly, your career is in big trouble.

Pop a Dramamine and watch:

VIDEO: Tom Tancredo, would you like to apologize for your KKK remarks? "No."

By GottaLaff

Tancredo's mouth opens, racism falls out. He couldn't bring himself to answer when Ed asked him if the ObamAdministration hates white people. Read that again.

Now watch him, if you think can do that and still manage to hold your lunch down:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Palin on Colbert

By GottaLaff

Stephen Colbert will eat her for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) tweets: "Getting ready to tape shout-out for our awesome US troops serving overseas! Will be on 'Colbert Report' next month, broadcast from Iraq..."

The upside: Going to Iraq gives her one more opportunity to not be in Alaska.

CNN Poll: Americans OK with more government influence in return for lower health care costs

Yesssss.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – A new national poll indicates that most Americans are receptive to having more government influence over their health care in return for lower costs and more coverage.

Sixty-three percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Friday said they would favor an increase in the federal government's influence over their own health-care plans in an attempt to lower costs and provide coverage to more Americans; 36 percent were opposed.

The poll also suggests that slightly more than six out of 10 think the government should guarantee health care for all Americans, with 38 percent opposed.

(snip)

The poll indicates a partisan split. Democrats overwhelmingly support increased government influence over their health-care coverage in return for lower costs and great coverage for more Americans. Six out of 10 independents feel the same way, but only one in four Republicans agree.

"Opposition to President Barack Obama's health-care plan is ideological. It comes from Republicans and Conservatives. You are not hearing a lot of opposition right now from the business community and the health-care industry," Schneider said.

Obama Receives Large Sotomayor Bump

I really don't get all the crosstab mumbo jumbo that Chris eats for breakfast, so go here to see his analysis of how Sotomayor bumped President Obama's favorability with Hispanics by 5 freakin' points practically overnight. This is what I wanted to point out-

While President Obama is receiving his first real post-inauguration bump from Sotomayor, and while a disproportionate percentage of that bump is coming from Latinos, Republicans keep calling her stupid, unqualified, mean, racist and privileged. Not only is this a total political disaster for Republicans, but any Republican who actually tries to stop the trainwreck is excoriated by his own party.

The enormity of this political opportunity can hardly be overstated. Republicans are handing us a second Terri Schaivo on a silver platter. We need to keep fueling this discussion.

Heh, Tom Tancredo is on with Shuster right now. Bring 'em on!!

Video- President Obama at Five Guys Burgers & Fries in Washington

Twittered Bo Pic From White House NBC Filming

Photo of Bo on grass outside Oval Office. Very playful, grabbing crew #1 microphone. -BNoel
NBC is doing the filming for the two part show next week on inside the White House and has a pretty neat site complete with Twitter updates from thru the day on people seen and stuff done.

Video- Bob Shrum V Pat Buchanan on Judge Sotomayor

I've never seen Pat take so many sips from his cup before. I think he was trying to not say too much. "That woman". Ahem.

AUDIO: G. Gordon Liddy On Sotomayor: ‘Let’s Hope That The Key Conferences Aren’t When She’s Menstruating’

By GottaLaff



I'm running off to work, so unfortunately, just a copy/paste:

Yesterday on his radio show, conservative host G. Gordon Liddy continued the right wing’s all-out assault on Judge Sonia Sotomayor. First, just like Tom Tancredo, Liddy slammed Sotomayor’s affiliation with the civil rights group La Raza — and referred to the Spanish language as “illegal alien“ [...]

Finished with the race-based attack, Liddy moved on to denigrate Sotomayor’s gender:

LIDDY: Let’s hope that the key conferences aren’t when she’s menstruating or something, or just before she’s going to menstruate. That would really be bad. Lord knows what we would get then.[...]

Finally, Liddy disputed the entire idea that there’s anything wrong with the paucity of women and total lack of Hispanics on the Court

Are they intentionally trying to implode? They're morphing into nothing more than bigoted, toxic piles of dust.

*Note from Paddy- Yeah, this is the guy whose opinion I care about.

Army Major General Taguba Saw Video of Male Soldier Sodomizing Female Detainee

By GottaLaff

UPDATE: Taguba denies he's seen abuse photos suppressed by Obama
But what about video?

Original post:

Again, this is becoming a hotter and hotter topic, as I knew it would be when I posted about some unreleased photos the other day. Also, a post about some others/same (?) here. More of my follow-up posts here and here. It's getting confusing, is it not?

Now, some clarification via Jason Leopold:

In 2007, shortly after he was forced into retirement, Army Major General Antonio M. Taguba, made a startling admission. During the course of his investigation into the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib Taguba said he saw “a video of a male American soldier in uniform sodomizing a female detainee.”

Taguba told New Yorker reporter Seymour Hersh that he saw other graphic photos and videos as well, including one depicting the “sexual humiliation of a father with his son, who were both detainees.”

That video as well as photographs Taguba saw of U.S. soldiers raping and torturing Iraqi prisoners, remains in the possession of the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division (CID).

Taguba said he did not discuss the details of the more graphic photographs and videos he saw in his voluminous report on the abuses at Abu Ghraib because of the Army’s ongoing criminal probe and the photographs’ “extremely sensitive nature.”

Taguba's report on the widespread of abuse of prisoners did say that he found credible a report that a soldier had sodomized “a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom stick.” [...]

But the photographs described by the Telegraph are not the ones that were at the center of the five-year-old lawsuit between the Bush administration and the ACLU that Obama had agreed earlier this year to release.

Two weeks ago, after Obama decided against releasing the photographs, the Telegraph published a story along with several pictures depicting Iraqi prisoners being abused claiming those too were the ones Obama was withholding. But that report was also incorrect as the photographs the Telegraph published had first surfaced in 2006. The newspaper has since changed the headline and first paragraph of its report.

The photographs Obama has decided to withhold, as I first reported May 15, are ones that were taken in 2003 and 2004 in which U.S. Army soldiers in Afghanistan took dozens of pictures of their colleagues pointing assault rifles and pistols at the heads and backs of hooded and bound detainees.

Another photograph, found on a government computer, showed two male soldiers and one female soldier pointing a broom to one detainee “as if I was sticking the end of a broom stick into [his] rectum,” according to the female soldier’s account as told to an Army criminal investigator.

I found the documents that describes many of the photographs that were set for release this month on the ACLU’s website. [...] Those files can be downloaded here: [Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5].

Amrit Singh, an ACLU staff attorney, confirmed that the photographs described in documents posted on the group's website were those that President Obama has decided to withhold fearing the disclosure would stoke anti-American sentiment and endanger U.S. troops.

That does not mean the photographs and videos described by Taguba do not exist, as Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman and White House press secretary Robert Gibbs seemed to suggest in response to the Telegraph’s report Thursday, which was also harshly critical of the British press in general. It's just not the photographs in question.

Leopold has more details here.

H/t: The Joshua Blog

Progressive radio host Jeff Farias has un-released Iraq torture photos

By GottaLaff

I've had some nice e-mail exchanges with progressive radio host Jeff Farias, he's a good guy. Guess what he got his hands on:

My friend Jeff Farias the Progressive Radio Host has come into possession of un-released Iraq Tortures Pictures. He wants to know: Should he publish them? I say yes ! Please call him today on the internet radio from 3pm to 6pm M.S.T. at thejefffariasshow.com 602-275-4130 or 800-385-1566

The author of this post is adamant about releasing the photos. Follow the link to read his passionate plea for releasing the images. Here's a small sample:

The publishing of these pictures will to the contrary not endanger my fellow soldiers lives it will protect them in the future from these stupid anti-constitutional officers and political leaders who condone and encourage torture by my fellow soldiers who are then rightly thrown into jail while un-rightly these cowardly political leaders stand by and watch my fellow soldiers be scape goated !

Please Jeff: Publish, Publish, Publish !
Leonard Clark, Persian Gulf/Iraq Occupation III Vet

This is becoming quite the hot topic, as I knew it would be when I posted about other unreleased photos the other day. More of my follow-up posts on that controversy here and here.

Your turn.

H/t: My Twitter pal Cindy