VIDEO- Keith Olbermann's Special Comment on Fear and Racism

By GottaLaff

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Here you go!

Roger Ailes worries about terrorist attacks on Fox

By GottaLaff

The New York Times took a look-see at ClusterFox's Roger Ailes and found all kinds of treasures.

Apparently, Roger Ailes was not happy that Rupert "Aaarh!" Murdoch was thinking about a New York Post endorsement of Obama during the 2008 election, so he threatened to quit. Know what that got him? $23,000,000.

The Post endorsed McCain/Palin.

Remind me to hold his wallet.

Mr. Ailes, the son of a foreman at the Packard Electric plant in Warren, Ohio, described his upbringing with three words: “God, country, family” and said that credo was responsible for the success of Fox News.

He forgot "fear".

[T]he 9/11 attacks had a profound effect on Mr. Ailes. They convinced him that he and his network could be terrorist targets.

Roger is a vewwwy vewwwy fwightened wabbit. He surrounds himself with corporate-provided security. Would Faux provide any other kind?

He travels to and from work in a miniature convoy of two sport utility vehicles. A camera on his desk displays the comings and goings outside his office, where he usually keeps the blinds drawn. [...]

A sign outside his house shows an illustration of a gun and advises visitors that it is under video surveillance.

So this is where Blackwater employees wind up once they're done killing Iraqis.

Some Senate Press Offices Think Politico Tax Info Request = A Threat

By GottaLaff

This e-mail from Politico caused a few Senators to reach for their Xanax. Now what would make them so jumpy:

From: FBDC DELETED NAME
Sent: Thursday, February 05, 2009 10:12 AM
To:
Subject: Tax Story

Hey XXX,

We're doing a story about how all 100 senators prepare their taxes, and we're putting together a chart of how everyone responded and whether people didn't respond. My editors want to start posting answers this weekend, so we'd like answers by end of the day Friday, if possible.

You may recall that we did something similar last year in asking all 100 senators about their mortgages. Here's just one story from that series. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0608/11353.html

Thanks for your help, I appreciate it. Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Here are the questions:

1. Do you prepare your own taxes?
2. If not, who does?
3. Have you or the IRS ever discovered an error on a tax return you've filed?
4. Have you ever paid back taxes?
5. If the answer to either 3 or 4 is yes, please explain.

NAME DELETED BY FBDC

Politico

Wow. Scary, huh?

The email says that Politico will use the information for a database they plan to construct and write about.

An FBDC source says "the e-mail has created a raging controversy among the Senate press offices over whether to respond or not. Many staffers believe it is meant to intimidate each office into complying."

More details here.

There's an awful lot of controversy over tax records these days. It's gotten to the point where the very word sends chills up and down the spines of public officials. Maybe someone should invent a vaccine. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of investigation.

Your poll-itics fix

By GottaLaff

Come on, you know you want it:

Most Proud of Obama's Election

A new USA Today/Gallup survey asked how people felt about Barack Obama's election as president: 67% said proud, 67% said optimistic, and 59% said excited.

On the other side, 30% said pessimistic and 27% said afraid.

Yes, be afraid of the evil, dark-skinned, scrawny-armed man with the funny name who brings change.

Change is big and scary. Which means, of course, that one should never veer from the same movie and/or TV show, never try new hairstyles or clothes (cough::Palin::cough), and should always eat the same food at every meal, every day. Never make new friends, either. And keep your kids enrolled in only one school until they're 18.

Naturally, one should never enlist in the military to "see the world", nor should one leave an inferior job for one that pays more.

And for goodness sake, refrain from all travel. New environments can result in headaches, nausea, bloating, blurry vision, heart palpitations, dizziness, and erections lasting more than four hours. Side effects may vary.

RNC: Fear trumps integrity

By GottaLaff

Via Ambinder, an e-mail from one of his readers:

Anyway, we got the Ayers robocall on our voicemail in Colorado yesterday. I saved it for my wife. She was aghast (we moved from Chicago since the previous election). I was more bemused than anything.

My question: Do these things work? I would suspect that they rile up the opposition supporters as much as anything, especially in an information-saturated environment like the current one.

(And as purely anecdotal evidence to convince you to move Colorado to lean Obama, my bus ride home takes me from an up-and-coming trendy part of Denver, through several very wealthy neighborhoods, to a more middle class suburb-in-a-city neighborhood on the south edge of the city. As of yesterday, the sign count was 17 Obama houses and 3 McCain houses.)

And Ambinder responds:

Put it this way: I know some RNC staff members who aren't proud that their committee is being associated with calls, but fear has prevailed upon their bosses.

They're scared, they're cowardly, and they're unscrupulous. And they've made their choice. Now it's time for America to make theirs. I'm more and more hopeful that they'll make the right one.

"Evil In The Eye" Flyer

TPM has a facsimile of this flyer up at their site that a GOP outfit sent out, and they seem to feel this picture from the last page is of Obama. Immediately when I saw it, before reading the story, I thought it was Mohammed Atta, one of the 9/11 hijackers. What do you think?

UPDATE- Looks like it's Bin Laden, but I agree with whoever said it in the comments, it was probably left ambiguous for a reason. A nasty reason.



ADDED- TPM does some great comparison work.

It's never good enough, is it?

By GottaLaff

I didn't even have to turn on the sound on my Television Machine today. All I had to do was read the chyrons. Here's what we should be very, extremely, ultra stressed about today:

• Was Hillary's speech good enough to win over her die-hard supporters????
• Why didn't Hillary address Obama's inexperience????? Why didn't she say he was ready to lead????
  
• Is Bill Clinton a wild card??? Will he support Obama enough???? Will he talk about more than his assigned foreign policy theme??????? Or will he stray and get into his preferred topic, economics???? Will his Big Day overshadow Hillary and... Obama??????????
• Are the columns that were constructed at Invesco Field too audacious???????
• Are Democrats disgruntled at the lack of "economics" subject matter????
• Are Democrats disgruntled because they haven't been thrown enough "red meat" in the speeches, especially by Hillary???????
• Should Hillary have been the vice presidential candidate???????

After watching the unity last night, and feeling a sense of relief after all that endless, breathless, witless talk of a PUMA revolt, I guess it's time to reassess. Things aren't nearly as positive as I thought.

I better start scowling. I was caught unawares and now I'm way behind.

Joe Lieberman says 2009 terrorist attack likely

By GottaLaff

No fear mongering here, nope:

Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Democrat-turned-Independent who is a strong supporter of Republican John McCain's White House bid, suggested Sunday the United States will likely face a terrorist attack in 2009.

The controversial comments followed remarks by top John McCain adviser Charlie Black late last week that a terrorist attack leading up the the general election would probably help the Arizona senator's White House hopes.

It's all Obama's fault that Al Qaeda is stronger than ever. He's so gosh darned naive. He'd lead us right into another 9/11. John McCain was a P.O.W. so he'll know exactly what to do to prevent that from happening. It's all so clear now.

Michelle Obama In Phoenix: "Fear Is A Useless Emotion"

By Paddy


Crap, this made me tear up.

The room remained still and quiet. Imagine having that talk with your children. Then, she paused, gathering herself, pulling herself up, seeming to grow even taller, Michelle, the campaigning wife returns. She says,

"I've talked about this before. Barack is probably safer now than he was before. Kids are dying in the street in our community. They get shot walking to class, sitting in school, taking the bus home. They are dying in the street.... Send us good vibes. Pray for us. Think positive thoughts. But most of all, be vigilant. Be vigilant about stopping this kind of talk.
It's not funny. You don't have to like Barack to dislike that kind of talk. Be vigilant about stopping that kind of talk."

Then she reminded the crowd what we are fighting for, and why it is important to forge ahead without fear. "Fear is the reason this country is where it is today. Fear is a useless emotion. Don't ever make decisions based on fear. Make decisions based on hope and possibility. Make decisions based on what should happen, not what shouldn't. Don't ever make decisions based on fear."

Liveblog: Thom Hartmann talks about Obama and Bush's dependence on fear

By GottaLaff

Thom Hartmann:

Bush invoked the Nazis while indirectly referring to Obama. Hitler and his followers were nuts. Naziism was a cult...

Nonetheless, we have a history of American presidents going back to Washington who have talked to our "enemies"... even England during the Revolutionary War. This is the absolute worst kind of demagoguery.

Even Reagan did it, talked to his "enemies". Common problems could be discussed. He said (paraphrased) that the fact that neither of us likes the other doesn't mean we shouldn't talk... Nixon opened up China. So Bush is repudiating the American way.

Obama responded, saying this is sad. Obama is a statesman.. . "this is sad"... the way JFK was.. Bush uses the Knesset to make a partisan political point.

Whenever Bush talks about terror, fear, hatred, he suddenly becomes more articulate. But when he talks about Social Security, Katrina, etc. he becomes inarticulate, fumbling, stumbling. It's all about hatred for George W. Bush...and so many Republicans in his tiny little hate group.

America is ready to move beyond hatred and fear... and this isn't just to say what Obama is saying, but we're ready to move beyond his pathetic, small-minded, wimpy little politics of fear, and say "We're Americans and we're not afraid." "We have nothing to fear but fear itself."

But fear is all Bush has.