Tuh-weet! Palin lectures media on credibility

By GottaLaff

Who better than BaldFace McSpewLies to lecture the media on credibility:


The media expert has spoken. In fact, Half-Gov McHypocrite never stopped speaking, ever. Oh, except when the media asked her to, repeatedly, during Election 2008.

Hey LameScream McEthicless: Want 2 earn some credibility? U hammered the "lame stream" media 4 doing their job in '08, but ignored them when they revealed you to be a complete nitwit. Change that.

H/t: EmeraldKnight76

VIDEO- Russian President Medvedev: Obama's a "thinker", "someone" else wasn't

By GottaLaff

Dimitry's not naming names, but....



Now who could Russian President Medvedev possibly be referring to?

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, one of 47 world leaders gathering for the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, D.C., appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America to relay his country’s concerns ahead of the summit.

Hint:

Medvedev gives the phrases "that certain someone" and I have "someone on my mind" whole new meaning.

Boy Georgie gives us heartburn.

George W. Bush 'knew Guantánamo prisoners were innocent'

By GottaLaff

Tell me if you've heard this one before. Oh wait, you have, because it's exactly what I've been writing about for months regarding Lt. Col. Barry Wingard's client Fayiz al-Kandari.

The difference is, now Colin Powell's former aide Larry Wilkerson is saying it, right out loud:

George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld covered up that hundreds of innocent men were sent to the Guantánamo Bay prison camp because they feared that releasing them would harm the push for war in Iraq and the broader War on Terror, according to a new document obtained by The Times.

The accusations were made by Lawrence Wilkerson, a top aide to Colin Powell, the former Republican Secretary of State, in a signed declaration to support a lawsuit filed by a Guantánamo detainee. It is the first time that such allegations have been made by a senior member of the Bush Administration.

Of course, the Obama administration would rather not look back, only forward. I have a feeling that may change one day soon, the way evidence has been mounting against BushCo. If they ignore this information, then we have a real problem.

Wilkerson's recounting of what happened is nearly identical to Fayiz's story:

[T]he majority of detainees — children as young as 12 and men as old as 93, he said — never saw a US soldier when they were captured. He said that many were turned over by Afghans and Pakistanis for up to $5,000. Little or no evidence was produced as to why they had been taken.

Bingo.

Cheney, Rumsfeld, and even Bush himself were in on it, per Wilkerson. Re: Cheney...

“He had absolutely no concern that the vast majority of Guantánamo detainees were innocent ... If hundreds of innocent individuals had to suffer in order to detain a handful of hardcore terrorists, so be it.”

He alleged that for Mr Cheney and Mr Rumsfeld “innocent people languishing in Guantánamo for years was justified by the broader War on Terror and the small number of terrorists who were responsible for the September 11 attacks”.

Just. Go. Read.

****

All my previous posts on this subject matter can be found here; That link includes one specific to only Fayiz al-Kandari's story here. Here are audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.

Lt. Col. Barry Wingard is a military attorney who represents Fayiz Al-Kandari in the Military Commission process and in no way represents the opinions of his home state. When not on active duty, Colonel Wingard is a public defender in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

If you are inclined to help rectify these injustices: Twitterers, use the hashtag #FreeFayiz. We have organized a team to get these stories out. If you are interested in helping Fayiz out, e-mail me at The Political Carnival, address in sidebar to the right; or tweet me at @GottaLaff.

If you'd like to see other ways you can take action, go here and scroll down to the end of the article.

Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.

More of Fayiz's story here, at Answers.com.

H/t: Tosfm

President Obama conjugates his verbs

By GottaLaff

Via Greg Sargent:

Mike Allen flags a fascinating moment from David Remnick’s new Obama book, in which Obama explains why he had an easier time than the previous generation’s African American pols in calibrating his “dialect” for different audiences:

“The fact that I conjugate my verbs and speak in a typical Midwestern newscaster’s voice — there’s no doubt that this helps ease communication between myself and white audiences. And there’s no doubt that when I’m with a black audience I slip into a slightly different dialect. But the point is, I don’t feel the need to speak a certain way in front of a black audience. There’s a level of self-consciousness about these issues the previous generation had to negotiate that I don’t feel I have to.”

Um, about that phony George Bush twangy cowboy act-- that was just fine with the GOP. They bought into the brush clearing, the strutting around in flight suits, "mission accomplished"... but conjugate verbs?

Verbs??

That's positively criminal.

VIDEO-Helen Thomas: Most press rolled over, played dead, gung-ho for war during Bush years

By GottaLaff



After Helen Thomas persisted in asking Boy Georgie why he went to war, he "shut down" completely when it came to calling on her.

They press is "emboldened" now, with President Obama, she says.

She wants to know what Obama believes in [slightly paraphrased]:

"Where is his courage?"

"He should give up on bipartisanship, just fight for what he believes in. [...] He has great integrity and conviction, but he wants to be liked."

She also says we're "in a depression, not a recession."

VIDEO: Bret Baier Interviewing Obama Vs. Bret Baier Interviewing Bush

I didn't notice any kneepads during the Bush interview, but I'm pretty sure Baier was wearing them. Via Think Progress.

Obama losing chance to reshape judiciary

By GottaLaff

I have a lawyer friend on Twitter (he goes by "Rawls") who read the same L.A. Times article I did, and was very disturbed by it, as I was. He then linked me to a New Yorker piece by Jeffrey Toobin. You can read excerpts of that below.

But first, here are Rawls' comments from one of my earlier posts, the one about Justice Clarence Thomas' Tea Bagger wife:

At this juncture I will make the following point (Joe Scarborough loves this style of argument, only I will do it better): Thomas will never recuse himself for this issue. You will see it go away. But, Thomas opinions are, in a light most favorable to him, nonsensical. At the end of the day, he'll step down when he wants. In the meantime, we need to focus on the crap that will come from the Right when Stevens and Ginsburg step down. The craziest filibuster is yet to come. Write it down. The next two appointments will create a logjam in the Senate you've never seen.

He makes a good point.

Now for the little not-so-bitty unnoticed news item that has bothered us so much:

An early chance for the Obama administration to reshape the nation's judiciary -- and counter gains made in the federal courts by conservatives -- appears close to slipping away, due to a combination of White House inattention and Republican opposition. [...]

During President Obama's first year, judicial nominations trickled out of the White House at a far slower pace than in President George W. Bush's first year. Bush announced 11 nominees for federal appeals courts in the fourth month of his tenure. Obama didn't nominate his 11th appeals court judge until November, his 10th month in office.

Moreover, Obama nominees are being confirmed at a much slower rate than those of his predecessor, largely because of the gridlocked Senate. [...]

If the Democrats lose seats -- or if Republicans take control of the body -- then Obama likely would be forced to appoint centrist judges more acceptable to the GOP.

There are details, numbers, comparisons, and information that you can read about in that piece. The point is, Bush managed to appoint a lot of judges who are shaping our legal system, and the entire country, and President Obama has not followed suit. He's been busy, he's faced gridlock, he's got people to see, places to go...

But hey.

Our lives are affected by this. Our democracy is affected by this.

And of course, there's that little Supreme Court issue that will arise. From the New Yorker article:

In Stevens’s absence, leadership of the Court’s liberals would fall, by seniority, to Ginsburg, but she is also elderly and has suffered from a range of health problems. Even if President Obama appointed a like-minded replacement for Stevens, that person, while taking his seat, would not fill his role.

Stevens is an unlikely liberal icon. When he was appointed, he told me recently, he thought of himself as a Republican and always had [...]

But, more than anything, his career shows how the Court has become a partisan battlefield. In that spirit, Roberts last week denounced President Obama’s criticism of the Court in his State of the Union address, saying that the occasion had “degenerated to a political pep rally.” When Stevens leaves, the Supreme Court will be just another place where Democrats and Republicans fight. [...]

I asked him if the center of gravity had moved to the right since he became a Justice. “There’s no doubt,” he said. “You don’t have to ask me that. Look at Citizens United.” He added, “If it is not necessary to decide a case on a very broad constitutional ground, when other grounds are available, then doesn’t that create the likelihood that people will think you’re not following the rules?”[...]

In all areas, Stevens has favored gradual change over sudden lurches and precedent over dramatic overrulings. But, especially since Roberts took over as Chief Justice, Stevens has found himself confronting colleagues who have a very different approach—an aggressive, line-drawing conservatism that appears bent on remaking great swaths of Supreme Court precedent. [...]

In Bush v. Gore, Stevens framed his colleagues’ decision as an insult to the judicial role, one that could, he wrote, “only lend credence to the most cynical appraisal of the work of judges throughout the land.” In words that became better known than anything in the collectively written majority decision, he continued:

Although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year’s Presidential election, the identity of the loser is perfectly clear. It is the Nation’s confidence in the judge as an impartial guardian of the rule of law.

[...] As for Obama, Stevens said, “I have a great admiration for him, and certainly think he’s capable of picking successfully, you know, doing a good job of filling vacancies.” He added, “You can say I will retire within the next three years. I’m sure of that.”

We cannot lose an opportunity to reshape the judiciary, because if we do, that is tantamount to tacit approval, or at the very least acceptance, of the status quo. And that is unacceptable.

Poll-itics: Voters prefer brains to boots

By GottaLaff

Of course, the Big Recession is all President Obama's fault. That's why he polls 10 points ahead of Bush:

In case you were wondering, a new Zogby/Newsmax poll shows President Obama would beat George W. Bush in a hypothetical match up, 48% to 38%.

Said Zogby: "Despite the turbulent crises that face Barack Obama and the sense of dashed expectations that Americans, especially independents and moderates, feel, he still handily defeats George W. Bush in a face-off."

As I type this, I'm listening to Howard Fineman and Chris Matthews compare the Obama White House to a sputtering car with its muffler dragging on the road.

Looks like the punditiots are looking under the wrong hood.

Comic book series to feature Al Franken

By GottaLaff

What better subject for a comic book than a former comic? Via CNN:

Franken, the comedian-turned- liberal radio host-turned U.S. senator, will be featured in an upcoming 22-page color spread as part of the "Political Power" series published by Bluewater Productions.

"We want to tell stories about people who are not the Barack Obama's of the world and Sen. Franken isn't someone people would expect us to cover," publisher Darren Davis said in an interview with CNN. Davis said the May issue of the series will "show his early life as a comedian to modern day. "I don't think anyone knows Sen. Franken co-wrote the movie "When a Man Loves a Woman," said Davis, referring to the 1994 dramatic film starring Andy Garcia and Meg Ryan.

Al Franken is a source of pride for the Democratic party. "Political Power" obviously has splendid taste, featuring only the finest, simply the best, clearly the political gold medalists:

The current issue features George W.Bush.

Way to end a story with a thud, CNN.

Poll-itics: Obama Rated Higher on National Security

By GottaLaff

Eat your words, Dickless McHeartStent:

Greg Sargent flags a new Democracy Corps poll that shows President Obama is actually rated better than former President Bush on national security and the handling of terror suspects -- despite former Vice President Cheney's steady drumbeat that "by undoing Bush policies, Obama has made us less safe."

File this under "Neener Nanner".

VIDEO: Why David Gregory should not be hosting Meet the Press

By GottaLaff

C & L's Heather opines as I would. Please go read her rant. I'll simply remind you of who currently hosts Meet the Press, and why NBC made such an egregiously misguided choice:

Attaboy, David. Show us how objective you are. Give us a little peekaroony at what great judgment you have. Let us in on your profound insights.

Iraq war v. health care reform.

Illegal war that murdered thousands v. a plan to save millions.

Bush v. Obama.

Gregory v. true and accurate reporting.

Puh-leeze.

Karl Rove: Cheney 'squirmed' when offered VP spot

By GottaLaff

Oh goody. KKKarl wrote all about Dickless McHeartStent in his new book. I'm sure every word he's written is true and accurate.

Of the heartless, by the heartless:

The parts of the 516-page book that cover the selection of Cheney as Bush's running mate suggest that the longtime Republican insider was not comfortable when offered the position.

Neither were we.

"Bush surprised Cheney by asking him to think about becoming his running mate. Cheney said he'd consider it but wasn't certain it was a good idea for Bush or for him."

Oh yes, I'm sure that's just how it went down:

Bush: Whaddya say you run for president, DickHead?

Dickless: You mean vice president, don't you?

Bush: Hehheh, nope. But that'll be my new nickname for ya. Vice President DickHead. But we'll keep that to ourselves. We're like that, me and you. Sym-pat-ic-o. Kinda like conspirators, heheheh. Accessories under the fact.

"Some people have suggested that Cheney engineered his own selection. This is far-fetched. I saw the man squirm as Bush pressed him to accept," Rove writes.

Bush: Whoa, DickHead, yer gittin' all squirmy on me. What's up, a-mi-go?

Dickless: "Vice" president. Too many things wrong with that. F*** "vice".

Bush: Hold up there, chief. You'll be holdin' the reins. Yer the head honcho. Oo! Oo! I know what'll convince ya!

Dickless: For chrissake, George, STFU.

Bush: Nonono, yer gonna like this. Lissen up: I'll bomb Iraq. Ya got my word. To smithereens. And then we'll move on to Iran. Man, this is gonna be a blast! Hey, didja see what I did there? The little play on words? Blast? Bombs? Heheheheheheheh!

Dickless: Deal. ... And never, ever, call me amigo again... for your own good. Just thinking of you, junior. Need you to stay in one piece if I'm gonna be surreptitiously running the damn country.

Bush: What's shrubterishously mean?

Dickless: STFU.

"Cheney had a clear understanding of what John Nance Garner, FDR's first vice president, had said about the office - that it was 'not worth a bucket of warm piss.' Cheney was too much of a patriot to act on that knowledge."

Yeah, Cheney's too much of a patriot to avoid the "warm piss" reference. But not too much of a patriot to avoid telling Pat Leahy to f*** himself. What a stand up guy.

Fallujah birth defects blamed on US weapons; doctors told "not to embarrass Americans over the issue"

By GottaLaff

BushCo's fraudulent little war takes yet another turn for the worse:

Birth defects in the Iraqi city of Fallujah have soared in recent years, with doctors saying advanced US weaponry such as white phosphorous and depleted uranium shells may have caused a "massive, unprecedented number" of congenital health problems.

A BBC investigative report has found that the incidence of birth defects in Fallujah has reached a rate 13 times higher than that found in Europe. One doctor at a US-built hospital in the city says the number of birth defects has spiked from one or two per month prior to the Iraq war to two or three per day today. [...]

[BBC world affairs editor John] Simpson says the Fallujah doctors who raised the alarm about birth defects were "well aware that what they said went against the government version, and we were told privately that the Iraqi authorities are anxious not to embarrass the Americans over the issue." [...]

Simpson further reported that he had "heard many times" that women in Fallujah were being warned not to have children.

If this is true, and I believe it is, it's inexcusable. There was controversy over the weaponry at the time. Now we see the horrific consequences of actions taken in our name.

I (among many others) don't recall giving my approval, but Boy Georgie and his trainer Dickless McHeartStent were just a tad headstrong and didn't care. About anything. Except their own little power trip.

As for embarrassing Americans, BushCo managed to do that all on their own.

Former TX GOP chair: Bush "was a lousy president of the United States"

By GottaLaff

Once upon a time, Texas Workforce Commission Chairman Tom Pauken, a former chairman of the Texas Republican Party, wrote a book.

And in this book, he wrote about Boy Georgie, who he has known since he was a “young man”.

There go the souvenir sales:

George W. Bush might have made a terrific Major League Baseball commissioner, but he was a lousy president of the United States.

The former Texas Republican Party chair has spoken, er, written.

For more, plus a radio interview, go here.

"Yoo, Bybee, Cheney and Bush have never suffered the burden of a conscience"

By GottaLaff

I've said this before, but I have no problem being redundant when it comes to torture: These thugs should be in prison.

Via the L.A. Times letters to the editor, Yoo asked for it:

Letting them off solves nothing

Re “Cleared but not vindicated,” Editorial, Feb. 23

The last line in your editorial reads: "They may not be disbarred, but they are disgraced."

In order for anyone to feel disgraced, they must have a conscience. It's been painfully obvious -- for some time now -- that John C. Yoo, Jay S. Bybee, Dick Cheney and George W. Bush have never suffered the burden of a conscience.

What is disgraceful is that so many of the Bush administration's transgressions will remain not only unpunished but uninvestigated.

*****

The "torture memo" and the horrors that sprang from it have discredited America and American ideals. The damage to our national security will take a generation to repair and, meanwhile, puts our nation and our citizens abroad at great risk. Yoo and Bybee could not have done more damage had they been undercover agents in the employ of an arch foe such as, oh, Al Qaeda.

Hmmm. Hmmm. If only there was a way to wring a confession out of them . . .

Hmmm. Hmmm. Indeed.

Bush: "I have no desire to see myself on television"

By GottaLaff

Finally, Boy Georgie and I can agree on something! I don't want to see him on the Tee Vee Machine either.

Presenting a "Former" (I prefer Ex):

"I have no desire to see myself on television. I don't want to be a panel of formers instructing the currents on what to do... I'm trying to regain a sense of anonymity. I didn't like it when a certain former president -- and it wasn't 41 or 42 -- made my life miserable."

-- Former President George W. Bush, quoted by CBS News, referring to Jimmy Carter's criticisms of his administration's handling of the Iraq war as a "flat out disaster."

For someone who's trying to find anonymity, he has no problem making news by insulting a former president.

Oh, and Georgie? Your life already was miserable.

Imagine a health care summit under Bush or Palin...

By GotaLaff

Can you imagine George "Nuc-u-lar" Bush conducting a health care summit like the one taking place today? For eight years we had to suffer through the ramblings of an incoherent, illiterate embarrassment called "W"... most likely because it's all he could spell.

And for the past two years, we've had to endure his female counterpart, Sarah Palin. It's nearly impossible to imagine Palin and John McCain maintaining a televised meeting for 7 straight hours. I can't even fathom either of them having a semblance of knowledge about any given topic, let alone 7 hours worth.

As I listened to President Obama, I marveled at his expertise, his intelligence, his calm. Despite the fact that I don't agree with him on key issues, I value him, his patience, his professionalism, his abilities, and his evenhanded approach.

Yet Obama is branded a terrorist. Why? Because he's a threat to those who value power and profit over democracy. If the president passes health care, even if it's watered down and has no public option/Medicare extension (one area where we part ways), he wins. The Republicans lose. They are terrified.

The GOP is no longer accustomed to dealing with a leader who is more knowledgeable than they are, and a better arguer, someone who can cut through their spin and fear mongering. They are no match, and they know it.

And therein lies the real terror.

Poll-itics: Blame Bush

By GottaLaff

It's not all good news for President Obama, but this was interesting:

While the president is showing signs of vulnerability on his handling of the economy — a majority of respondents say he has yet to offer a clear plan for creating jobs — Americans blame former President George W. Bush, Wall Street and Congress much more than they do Mr. Obama for the nation’s economic problems and the budget deficit, the poll found.

They credit Mr. Obama more than Republicans with making an effort at bipartisanship, and they back the White House’s policies on a variety of disputed issues, including allowing gay men and lesbians to serve openly in the military and repealing the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.

Psst! John Sidney McCain, spread the word: "Blame Bush".

PhotoOh! The Other "Miss Me Yet?" Billboard

By GottaLaff

I assume you're all familiar with this billboard by now:



Now there are spoofs! Lots and lots of spoofs! 9 more here. This was my favorite:

VIDEO: Obama, Bush & Clinton Stand Shoulder To Shoulder On Haiti Relief Funds

By GottaLaff

This covers most of the event: