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You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2008 / Liar, Liar

Liar, Liar

by John Cole|  March 31, 20086:14 pm| 107 Comments

This post is in: Election 2008, Site Maintenance, Democratic Stupidity

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Ed Rendell, someone I actually like, is on Hardball right now lying through his teeth, claiming the Democratic party did nothing wrong in Florida and Democrats are being unfairly punished. Roll the tape:

If you look closely underneath the swelling, jolly belly, you will clearly see the name Steve Geller, and note that he is a Democrat.

Please, Hillary supporters, cut the bullshit. In other election news, this:

The nation lingered in political limbo Monday, with its election commission staying silent on the results of Saturday’s presidential election, raising additional concerns that Robert G. Mugabe was intent on rigging the outcome.

As the country waited, a network of civic groups issued its own projection of how the vote will turn out, if legitimately counted. It estimated that the main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, would receive 47 to 51.8 percent, while President Mugabe would get 39.2 to 44.4 percent.

Mugabe insists he intends to stay in the race until Florida and Michigan are counted.

Consider this an open thread.

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Reader Interactions

107Comments

  1. 1.

    Rick Taylor

    March 31, 2008 at 6:28 pm

    I’m copying this link from the previous thread because it fits with the video above. It’s from February:

    The Democratic National Committee is pressuring Michigan and Florida to hold Democratic presidential caucuses so the delegates they’ve lost for holding January primaries could be seated at the national convention, a top Michigan Democrat said Wednesday.
    . . .

    But Michigan Democratic Chairman Mark Brewer said the DNC isn’t saying anything it hasn’t said before to Michigan and Florida.

    ”Everybody involved, the candidates, the DNC and we, need to remain open-minded. So if someone comes up with a creative way that meets everyone’s interests, we can do that” and get the delegates seated, he said.

    Florida Democratic Party spokesman Mark Bubriski agreed with Brewer that the DNC’s position isn’t new. But he said the party has no intention of holding another election.

    ”We’ve said all along that we’re going forward with our delegate selection program using the vote on Jan. 29,” he said. ”We’ve got more delegate applications than ever.”

    As some fuckhead told me, the DNC tried to get the states to do caucuses, they asked them to come up with some solution that would abide by the rules, and Florida at least told them to go screw themselves.

    This is a mess, but it is not Obama’s fault.

  2. 2.

    LiberalTarian

    March 31, 2008 at 6:31 pm

    La ti da. I’m almost finished with my epic project to move all my CDs to books out of their cases and burn everything to my ipod. I will only ever do it once (I swear).

    Loosely on topic: I wish Edwards … well, wishes aren’t horses and I couldn’t afford to keep a jillion horses anyway.

  3. 3.

    zack

    March 31, 2008 at 6:33 pm

    Of course, that thug Obama was standing behind him just out of camera range orchestrating this whole thing. This is not a joke, John, and that nervous smile on Geller’s face is because he knows if he doesn’t do this, he’ll be taken out Chicago style. It’s just so obvious.

    Why can only Hillary supporters see this?

    Fact: Obama disenfranchised Florida voters.

    Repeat: Obama disenfranchised Florida voters.

    I can’t wait for the musical. It’ll be a big hit in August at the convention.

  4. 4.

    demimondian

    March 31, 2008 at 6:34 pm

    I understand your joke, John — but, really, Robert Mugabe is a mass murderer, someone to whom I’d be reluctant to directly compare George Bush — although the case could be made for Iraqis, Bush has never intentionally murdered his own people — much less Hillary Clinton.

  5. 5.

    Dennis - SGMM

    March 31, 2008 at 6:34 pm

    Want to know how relevant Bush and al-Maliki are in Iraq?
    Iranian general played key role in Iraq cease-fire

    BAGHDAD — Iraqi lawmakers traveled to the Iranian holy city of Qom over the weekend to win the support of the commander of Iran’s Qods brigades in persuading Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr to order his followers to stop military operations, members of the Iraqi parliament said.

    Sadr ordered the halt on Sunday, and his Mahdi Army militia heeded the order in Baghdad, where the Iraqi government announced it would lift a 24-hour curfew starting early Monday in most parts of the capital…

    Iran persuaded al-Sadr to declare the Basra cease fire. One of those who approached the Iranians was a senior member of al-Maliki’s Dawa party. They brokered a separate peace in defiance of both Bush and al-Maliki.

  6. 6.

    Conservatively Liberal

    March 31, 2008 at 6:42 pm

    Shorter Rendell: Who needs reality when we can define our own?

    The Clinton campaign and their supporters are swallowing handfuls of blue pills every morning. They love the Matrix.

  7. 7.

    cbear

    March 31, 2008 at 6:45 pm

    Bush has never intentionally murdered his own people

    I’m sure that’s a comfort to those 4000 dead-as-fuck soldiers, sailors, and airmen.

  8. 8.

    Dug Jay

    March 31, 2008 at 6:45 pm

    Way to go, John…real classy…equating Hillary to a murderous thug like Mugabe.

  9. 9.

    John Cole

    March 31, 2008 at 6:46 pm

    I understand your joke, John—but, really, Robert Mugabe is a mass murderer,

    Then why are you lecturing me?

    Way to go, John…real classy…equating Hillary to a murderous thug like Mugabe.

    Sorry Dug Jay, didn’t mean to step on your turf.

  10. 10.

    DrDave

    March 31, 2008 at 6:47 pm

    I was at a reception/cocktail party for Joe Sestak (D-PA, 7th district) this past weekend. Sestak was on Bill Clinton’s national security council, knows the Clintons well and supports Hillary. He was asked how he thought Obama vs. Hillary would work out and his answer (not the Clinton campaign party line, just the opinion of a retired Admiral who knows the Clintons and who knows how politics works) was this: Hillary needs to win 6 of the 9 remaining primaries convincingly. As in by blowout. She needs to either pass Obama in the popular vote or come to a virtual dead heat. And she knows this and will continue or not continue based on being able to fulfill these requirements. So, if she doesn’t blow Obama out in PA and then gets blown out in NC (+/- Indiana), look for her to bail. But if she strings together some big wins, look for her to fight until the end.

    That’s the impression I got, anyway.

    One last thing: Sestak was emphatic that regardless of which candidate is nominated that he will support either 150%. He is very concerned about Hillary supporters who say they won’t support Obama and vice versa. At the end of the day, either Obama or Hillary will make fundamental changes and McCain will put more Scalia/Alito’s on the Supreme Court (Stevens and Ginsberg are hanging on by a hair…) and keep us in Iraq for the foreseeable future. Something to think about.

  11. 11.

    cbear

    March 31, 2008 at 6:47 pm

    Sorry Demi, I know that’s not what you intended to say…it was just jarring to see “Bush has never…” written.

  12. 12.

    calipygian

    March 31, 2008 at 6:59 pm

    I heard Mugabe was going to get his buddy, Antonin Scalia, to stop the count in Broward County.

  13. 13.

    McGuffin

    March 31, 2008 at 7:10 pm

    What’s the semantic inverse of “authoritarian prick”?

  14. 14.

    LiberalTarian

    March 31, 2008 at 7:18 pm

    I’m sure that’s a comfort to those 4000 dead-as-fuck soldiers, sailors, and airmen.

    Don’t forget the 3000 or so in 9/11 (cuz whatever else anyone might say, they were asleep at the wheel and let it happen at the very least by incompetence), and the many others who are victims of respiratory illness as a result of Whitman’s “the air is safe.” Then there are the 1500 or so who died in post-Katrina flooding and anarchy.

    Believe me, Bush has plenty to answer for. Mugabe is a ruthless prick–Bush is a sociopathic prick. Mugabe and Bush are both getting away with murder.

  15. 15.

    Scotty

    March 31, 2008 at 7:46 pm

    How about this one? Same realm I believe.

  16. 16.

    demimondian

    March 31, 2008 at 7:55 pm

    Oh, for Christ’s sake. If you really want to go whole hog, why don’t you list all the brown folk in New Orleans he stranded to drown?

    Yes, Bush has a lot of deaths on his soul. He’s a sociopathic monster. He has not, however, created a mass starvation by expropriating land, causing a significant fraction of his people to starve to death, nor intercepted international aid sent to save them redirecting it only to those his supporters, nor any of a long list of other horrific crimes I could lay to Robert Mugabe’s account.

    Folks, you really need to get a grip. Please.

  17. 17.

    demimondian

    March 31, 2008 at 7:57 pm

    Stay classy, Dug Jay. Stay classy, baby.

  18. 18.

    Ted

    March 31, 2008 at 8:02 pm

    Dug Jay is an angry, angry person. It must suck.

  19. 19.

    JasonC

    March 31, 2008 at 8:05 pm

    He has not, however, created a mass starvation by expropriating land, causing a significant fraction of his people to starve to death, nor intercepted international aid sent to save them redirecting it only to those his supporters…

    well that’s your opinion. in my equally valid opinion, which is equally valid because they are both opinions, yes he has.

    he also somehow gave me herpes. still researching that one, though.

  20. 20.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    March 31, 2008 at 8:09 pm

    He has not, however, created a mass starvation by expropriating land, causing a significant fraction of his people to starve to death, nor intercepted international aid sent to save them redirecting it only to those his supporters…

    Oh no. He sure didn’t. No no no.

    He did that to Iraq, but not to his OWN people.

  21. 21.

    D-Chance.

    March 31, 2008 at 8:15 pm

    So who’s playing the race card? Ah, an Obama supporter speaks:

    It is hard to relate what it feels like to see Mrs Clinton (I wish she felt self-assured enough to use her own name) referred to as “a woman” while Barack Obama is always referred to as “a black man”. One would think she is just any woman, but she is not. She carries all the history of white womanhood in the US in her person; it would be a miracle if we, and the world, did not react to this fact. How dishonest it is, to try to make her innocent of her racial inheritance.

    I can easily imagine Obama sitting down and talking to any leader – or any person – in the world, with no baggage of past servitude or race supremacy to mar their talks. I cannot see the same scenario with Clinton, who would drag into 21st-century US leadership the same image of white privilege and distance from others’ lives that has so marred the country’s contacts with the rest of the world.

    Of course Alice Walker pens this in the April 1 edition of The Guardian, so maybe she’ll follow up with “April Fool!”

    Enjoy the pony ride.

  22. 22.

    Dennis - SGMM

    March 31, 2008 at 8:18 pm

    He has not, however, created a mass starvation by expropriating land, causing a significant fraction of his people to starve to death, nor intercepted international aid sent to save them redirecting it only to those his supporters…

    Well, he does have a few more months in office. Bush strikes me as the type who will create as much chaos as he can on the way out – just so that his successor will look bad.

  23. 23.

    cbear

    March 31, 2008 at 8:22 pm

    nor any of a long list of other horrific crimes I could lay to Robert Mugabe’s account.

    You know, after somber reflection, I realize that you are correct and the Chimp has not caused anywhere near the death, misery, and destruction that Mugabe has.

    He’s really more in the league of a minor Pol Pot— but catching up REAL fast to the big boys.
    In fact, since the depth of the conflagrations he’s responsible for are ongoing…he may wind up the all-time leader in death, misery, and destruction.

    Attacking Iran, which I firmly believe he intends to do, could just vault him to the top of the board.

  24. 24.

    Fwiffo

    March 31, 2008 at 8:24 pm

    I wanted to point this video out to Jerome over at MyDD but it seems I’ve lost commenting privileges for the crime of not being a Clinton supporter.

  25. 25.

    Dennis - SGMM

    March 31, 2008 at 8:26 pm

    Attacking Iran, which I firmly believe he intends to do, could just vault him to the top of the board.

    I recall that a few months back some of the neocons were saying that Bush had to attack Iran because he was the only one who could do it. I think that what they actually meant was that he was the only one who who was stupid enough to do it.

  26. 26.

    Ted

    March 31, 2008 at 8:32 pm

    D-Chance. Says:

    You feel the walls closing in on her campaign, don’t you.

  27. 27.

    demimondian

    March 31, 2008 at 8:37 pm

    In fact, since the depth of the conflagrations he’s responsible for are ongoing…he may wind up the all-time leader in death, misery, and destruction.

    Jesus Christ on a Freedom Toast Stick!

    Stalin was directly responsible for the extermination of more than twenty million Russians and Ukrainians. (That ignores the deaths during the Great Patriotic War. It’s possible that some of those could have been avoided had he not been a pig headed moron, but no one knows.) The lower bound for the body count for Mao Tse-Tung is three times that, and the most likely estimate is more like 100,000,000.

    Attila the Hun killed roughly one sixth of the world’s population.

    Bush? I’m sure he views himself as a big deal, but even among the truly monstrous, he’s a loser.

  28. 28.

    Incertus

    March 31, 2008 at 8:43 pm

    I’ve got to admit, I don’t like going to the Florida Republican youtube page to get that video, but I’m glad it’s available somewhere. Now if only there were video of Karen Thurman doing much the same thing…

  29. 29.

    Dennis - SGMM

    March 31, 2008 at 8:46 pm

    Bush? I’m sure he views himself as a big deal, but even among the truly monstrous, he’s a loser.

    “Monsteratin’ is hard work!”

  30. 30.

    jake

    March 31, 2008 at 8:48 pm

    even among the truly monstrous, he’s a loser.

    If that isn’t a fitting epitaph for the man, I don’t know what is.

  31. 31.

    The Other Steve

    March 31, 2008 at 8:49 pm

    On a related topic. There’s an argument over in a /. thread about John McCain’s “I’m happy with being in Iraq for 100 year” quote. The Republicans are freaking out over it, claiming it was taken out of context and how grossly unfair that is.

    When pointed out the Gore invented the internet theme from 2000, the Republicans are seriously claiming that is totally different.

  32. 32.

    The Other Steve

    March 31, 2008 at 8:51 pm

    Bush has never intentionally murdered his own people—much less Hillary Clinton.

    If Bush murders Hillary Clinton, is that grounds for impeachment?

  33. 33.

    The Other Steve

    March 31, 2008 at 8:52 pm

    Stalin was directly responsible for the extermination of more than twenty million Russians and Ukrainians.

    Yeah, but, those people didn’t count because they didn’t vote for Hillary.

  34. 34.

    The Other Steve

    March 31, 2008 at 8:55 pm

    OH OH!

    Ralph Reed wrote a fiction novel!

    Book Description
    After the Democratic presidential nomination is stolen by Senate Majority Leader Salmon Stanley in a bitter credentials fight at the nominating convention, Bob Long, the moderate Governor of California, shocks the political establishment by launching an independent bid for the Presidency. The FBI and the Justice Department launch a full-blown criminal probe of the credentials dispute, and prosecutors empanel a grand jury that indicts the campaign chairman of Senate Majority Leader Stanley for perjury and obstruction of justice. The Republican candidate, the incumbent vice-president, appears to be coasting to victory in the topsy-turvy three-way presidential race. But the morning after he accepts the presidential nomination in a stirring speech, he is murdered in a violent terrorist attack. David Petty, his lackluster replacement, the first African-American presidential nominee in history, is hobbled by a grassroots rebellion led by a politically savvy and occasionally demagogic television evangelist.
    The campaign ends in a cliff-hanger finish, with the outcome in several states too close to call. As a result, the election is thrown into the House of Representatives. The shrewd and devious Speaker of the House, torn between his own voracious ambition and his constitutional duty, presides over this constitutional crisis. All this takes place against the backdrop of the war on terrorism and a looming conflict with a newly nuclear Iran. The lame-duck President, seeking to avenge the murder of the late Vice President, plans a military strike against Iran, but stops short when the government grinds to a halt while the House chooses his successor. Described by a veteran of seven presidential campaigns with a quarter century of experience as a political strategist, Dark Horse sizzles with authenticity and reads truer than non-fiction. Offering a looking-glass into presidential politics on the eve of the 2008 election, Dark Horse contains characters, plot twists, and rare insight that will no doubt be relevant to the real-life presidential campaign now underway.

  35. 35.

    cbear

    March 31, 2008 at 8:55 pm

    “Monsteratin’ is hard work!”

    ROTFLMAO.

  36. 36.

    The Other Steve

    March 31, 2008 at 8:55 pm

    I hearby declare Revolution!

    I’m turning this into The Other Steve’s open thread.

  37. 37.

    Wilfred

    March 31, 2008 at 8:56 pm

    Enjoy the pony ride.

    Another stupid motherfucker. It’s going to be a pleasure stripping the black vote away from Clinton and her coterie of tired old white women and button-down rednecks. At my Ph.D. defense the all white examining committee expressed wonder at a slide I had from Farrakhan’s play Orgena. It showed African slaves boarding a ship named Jesus that would take them to the new world. Every educated black person I’ve met, American or otherwise, knows the historical truth of that. How many people here do?

    I cannot see the same scenario with Clinton, who would drag into 21st-century US leadership the same image of white privilege and distance from others’ lives that has so marred the country’s contacts with the rest of the world.

    Only a voice stuffed with white, class-bred privilege, the typical Clintonite, would even question the truth of that statement, let alone mock it.

  38. 38.

    Tax Analyst

    March 31, 2008 at 8:56 pm

    Bush? I’m sure he views himself as a big deal, but even among the truly monstrous, he’s a loser.

    Yeah, but he’s the only loser we have right now…at least as President…

    Are some engaging in hyperbole when they put Chimpy in with Mugabe & Pol Pot? Yeah…he’s probably not as purposefully sadistic and murderous as those two.

    But “he really didn’t mean to” is a fucking lame, bullshit excuse (and I’m not saying you said that – not at all). By running for President of the United States he had an obligation to the public…several obligations actually, and by any realistic account he has failed the people in just about every regard.

    So let the vilification continue. You can split hairs when and if he’s ever actually in a War Crimes docket as a defendent. As long as he continues with his dangerous and deadly tomfoolery he deserves as much scorn, ridicule and disrespect and anyone around here can muster.

    When he starts to take some real responsibility it might be time to take mitigating circumstances into account, but until then why would anyone really give a shit and want to bother? He’s driven us into a fucking toilet and still has the gall to sit there with that smirky Alfred E. Newman face telling us what we’re smelling is really lilacs. Fuck him.

  39. 39.

    cbear

    March 31, 2008 at 8:59 pm

    If Bush murders Hillary Clinton, is that grounds for impeachment?

    Probably not, TOS.
    However, if he murders Hillary, forcibly rapes Larry Craig…and goes all Michael Vick on Barney—we might have a shot at it.

  40. 40.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    March 31, 2008 at 9:00 pm

    Jesus Christ on a Freedom Toast Stick!

    Stalin was directly responsible for the extermination of more than twenty million Russians and Ukrainians. (That ignores the deaths during the Great Patriotic War. It’s possible that some of those could have been avoided had he not been a pig headed moron, but no one knows.) The lower bound for the body count for Mao Tse-Tung is three times that, and the most likely estimate is more like 100,000,000.

    Attila the Hun killed roughly one sixth of the world’s population.

    Bush? I’m sure he views himself as a big deal, but even among the truly monstrous, he’s a loser.

    So are you saying it isn’t a matter of difference, but of degree?

  41. 41.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    March 31, 2008 at 9:03 pm

    Wilfred:
    Only a voice stuffed with white, class-bred privilege, the typical Clintonite, would even question the truth of that statement, let alone mock it.

    Did you read Alice Walker’s endorsement of Barack Obama? It touched on those themes.

  42. 42.

    Dennis - SGMM

    March 31, 2008 at 9:03 pm

    However, if he murders Hillary, forcibly rapes Larry Craig…and goes all Michael Vick on Barney—-we might have a shot at it.

    Unless it’s on network television I’m thinking that he’ll just get another Strongly Worded Letter.

  43. 43.

    cbear

    March 31, 2008 at 9:06 pm

    Dennis-
    I saw a few comments on another thread that myiq had been run off, or done a Checkers on us. What’s up with that?

  44. 44.

    demimondian

    March 31, 2008 at 9:06 pm

    So are you saying it isn’t a matter of difference, but of degree?

    Hmm.

    Well, yes and no. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, yes, that’s a fair summary of what I believe about George Bush: he’s even failed to go down in infamy. As far as the US is concerned…the jury is still out.

  45. 45.

    4tehlulz

    March 31, 2008 at 9:08 pm

    Book Description

    I actually felt sorry for the poor bastard who had to produce that summary.

  46. 46.

    GSD

    March 31, 2008 at 9:10 pm

    Well, if Hillary Clinton is Robert Mugabe then that makes anyone who calls for her to step down a racist.

    -GSD

  47. 47.

    LiberalTarian

    March 31, 2008 at 9:16 pm

    So, demimondian, you are saying that atrocity counts only if it is against “your own”?

    Could you not say that as the USA has set it self up to be Police Force and Moral Compass for the World, his actions resonate, and therefore have caused suffering, around the world??

    There really isn’t any argument that we consume more resources than any other country, is there? Our fingers are in every pie, are they not?

    It seems odd to me that you are defending Bush, as though his ineptitude in dealing with the Isreali/Palestinian crisis has not lead to needless suffering. Yeah, as long as only Palestinians and Lebanese suffer, then Bush is cool, right? He can’t be expected to control the Israelis, just because he decides whether they get a billion dollars in US aid or not.

    His “abstinence only” funding for Africa hamstrung efforts there to help women. Centers that used to be able to treat things like fistulas were defunded–have you ANY idea how horrific that kind of thing is? These are just a few examples of how you can cause pain through demogogic indifference–and yet, since these are not US citizens being starved first hand, they don’t count?

    Well, OK. Let’s look at one thing the Bush administration has done that has hurt real live US citizens–rolled back environmental protections to nearly industrial revolution/Guilded Age standards. Even though it polled equally among conservatives and liberals, environmental protections in this country have been shredded.

    So, even though for a few dollars a year scrubbers could be added to coal burning plants that would remove mercury from emmissions, GW Bush says that is too much of a burden on industry. Mercury is incredibly toxic, and taking it out of the effluent stream is a smart thing to do in terms of public health. But, it isn’t his kids suffering, so fuck you–and anyone else who has to eat, breathe, or drink.

    OSHA is funded pitifully, and although it may seem like a few paltry tens of men, those men who died in those mining accidents were tax payers, and left anguished familes behind.

    And how about Superfund? Did you know he signed an executive order that stopped chemical companies from paying into the fund that cleans up toxic waste sites? Have you ANY idea how many Superfund sites there are around the country, and how they contribute to disease of the local population?

    How many kids are going to pay for his corruption of environmental and food safety standards? In 30 years, will we have epidemic mad cow because the USDA did a piss poor job of inspecting meat? That meat went to kids you know–it could be a long ass time before we see the effects of Bush’s administration.

    What about the toxins in toys and poisonous food from China? At least it was just 30K pets who died from melamine poisoning, right? How is it possible that the most technologically advanced country the world has ever known imports poisonous food components and doesn’t even notice??

    Bush has governed solely in the interests of short-term profit. More importantly, he has done it in the United States. It is supposed to be different here than some God-forsaken third-world country. If he is any better than Mugabe, it is only because he was restrained from being as bad, not because he wanted to be better.

    You know, a US president really can be one of the worst bastards in history. We don’t even know yet what all he has done (aside from raping and pillaging all that we used to think of as moral in this country). You, or anyone you know, could be disappeared off the street tomorrow. That is what Bush has done to our country.

    I appreciate you telling me to get a fucking grip–but you are complacent, and really believe that Bush is better than Mugabe. I say there should have never been any basis for comparison–yet, there is. Bush is only “better” because he is sneakier, and more, because we still believe that the USA doesn’t generate tyrants and thugs. I’m sure the victims of death squads in Iraq would be relieved, since we sent Negroponte (infamous for his ignorance of death squads in Nicaragua and Guatemala–right, and pigs fly).

  48. 48.

    cbear

    March 31, 2008 at 9:17 pm

    Well, if Hillary Clinton is Robert Mugabe then that makes anyone who calls for her to step down a racist misogynist

    fixt.

  49. 49.

    demimondian

    March 31, 2008 at 9:20 pm

    LiberalTarian —

    I can chred your entire screed by quoting exactly one sentence, just to show you how foolish you are. You say that Bush has:

    rolled back environmental protections to nearly industrial revolution/Guilded Age standards

    Oh, really? Is there cocaine in your Coke? Opium in your cold medicine? Does your car still have a catalytic converter?

    You are full of shit, lady. Get a fucking grip, or expect to be told to do so.

  50. 50.

    BH Buck

    March 31, 2008 at 9:20 pm

    Degree?

    Murder, whether it involves a couple of thousand or hundreds of thousands, does not matter. The loss of ONE LIFE is too much! The taking of just one life catapults you into the league of monsters.

  51. 51.

    Dennis - SGMM

    March 31, 2008 at 9:24 pm

    Dennis-

    I saw a few comments on another thread that myiq had been run off, or done a Checkers on us. What’s up with that?

    Not sure. I read that he sang a swan song. Too bad, because when he wasn’t on about Clinton he was fun.

  52. 52.

    The Other Steve

    March 31, 2008 at 9:25 pm

    Another stupid motherfucker. It’s going to be a pleasure stripping the black vote away from Clinton and her coterie of tired old white women and button-down rednecks. At my Ph.D. defense the all white examining committee expressed wonder at a slide I had from Farrakhan’s play Orgena. It showed African slaves boarding a ship named Jesus that would take them to the new world. Every educated black person I’ve met, American or otherwise, knows the historical truth of that. How many people here do?

    Jesus of Lubeck.

    Slavery is regarded as immoral by all in todays society.

  53. 53.

    LiberalTarian

    March 31, 2008 at 9:26 pm

    Bullshit demimondian. You are simply ignorant, not enlightened. Keep on it though. Bush is your guy, that’s great.

  54. 54.

    Dennis - SGMM

    March 31, 2008 at 9:26 pm

    Oh, really? Is there cocaine in your Coke? Opium in your cold medicine?

    I might think better of Bush if there was.

  55. 55.

    The Other Steve

    March 31, 2008 at 9:27 pm

    I think demi is fighting a war against hyperbole.

    Good luck on that one. :-)

  56. 56.

    cbear

    March 31, 2008 at 9:30 pm

    LiberalTarian—

    Beautifully stated.

    Demi- You are full of shit, lady. Get a fucking grip, or expect to be told to do so.

    You are one dumb fuck. Everybody pretty much gave you a pass on saying something that was obviously and demonstrably stupid and, yet, you come back for another bite at the apple?

    Man, I hope you’re not planning on on using that brain for anything that might effect me and my family.

  57. 57.

    demimondian

    March 31, 2008 at 9:31 pm

    You are simply ignorant, not enlightened

    Answer my questions, lady. Is there cocaine in your Coca-cola? Opium in your cough syrup? A catalytic converter in your car?

    C’mon, girl, put up or shut up.

  58. 58.

    LiberalTarian

    March 31, 2008 at 9:37 pm

    I think demi is fighting a war against hyperbole.

    He’s arguing in support of GW Bush.

    That I can’t fathom.

    I didn’t say anything is that is not true. Analogy is not the same is literal fact–glib of him to note that in the 1890s there was coke in Coca-Cola. If I had been arguing that, well, he’d be right, eh? But I wasn’t. I was saying the lack of regulation is like the Guilded Age. That is not hyperbole.

    Whatever. Let him have is coke. It makes him happy.

  59. 59.

    demimondian

    March 31, 2008 at 9:38 pm

    All, right, cbear… was there a SINGLE thing that LiberalTarian wrote which was even close to true? Be careful, cause, you know, facts are verifiable things. C’mon, smartass — give it a try.

    “How many kids are going to pay for his corruption of environmental and food safety standards?” None, because the courts have blocked those changes.

    Oops.

    B-b-but…it’s for the kids!

    No — it’s for the fear-mongering. And it’s no more moral when it’s done for the sake of “progressivism” than it is when it’s done for the sake of the sky-ghost-of-the-week or this month’s version of “traditional morality”.

  60. 60.

    The Other Steve

    March 31, 2008 at 9:40 pm

    The McCain girl is pissed. Apparently that video wasn’t intended as a joke.

  61. 61.

    demimondian

    March 31, 2008 at 9:42 pm

    I didn’t say anything is that is not true. Analogy is not the same is literal fact—glib of him to note that in the 1890s there was coke in Coca-Cola. If I had been arguing that, well, he’d be right, eh? But I wasn’t. I was saying the lack of regulation is like the Guilded Age. That is not hyperbole

    Bullshit.

    What you wrote was:

    rolled back environmental protections to nearly industrial revolution/Guilded Age standards

    “nearly industrial revolution standards” wasn’t hyperbole? Oh, yeah, right. You were engaging in fear mongering, and every one of your examples was the classic form of demagogic lie.

  62. 62.

    LiberalTarian

    March 31, 2008 at 9:42 pm

    “How many kids are going to pay for his corruption of environmental and food safety standards?” None, because the courts have blocked those changes.

    You are just ignorant. What can you be expected to know?

    Look up Creutzfeld-Jakobs Disease. There is a reason you don’t want downer cows in the food supply.

    What you don’t know can hurt you, you idiot. Worse, it can hurt my kids.

    Yeah, you go look up everything I said. I didn’t make it up–it happened.

    Then go home and snuggle with your GW B bear. Sleep well asshat.

  63. 63.

    jake

    March 31, 2008 at 9:43 pm

    The Republicans are freaking out over it, claiming it was taken out of context and how grossly unfair that is.

    G.O.P.S.O.P.

  64. 64.

    BH Buck

    March 31, 2008 at 9:43 pm

    I think we all owe demimondian a big round of applause. He/she was able to find a spot on the turd called Bush that actually doesn’t stink.

    Congrats!

  65. 65.

    demimondian

    March 31, 2008 at 9:49 pm

    Look up Creutzfeld-Jakobs [sic] Disease.

    Which form? CJD? v-CJD? Do you intend for me to discuss the nature of the prion which is reputed to cause scrapie, BSE, and v-CJD? Do you intend for me to discuss what regulations actually may or may not actually prevent the entry of the prion into the food chain?

    You do realize, don’t you, that it’s actually been illegal to permit downer cattle into the food chain for many, many years, and that those regulations have not be relaxed?

    Would you like to explain which changes, if any, that took effect during the Bush administration would raised the threat to any person?

    Or perhaps, would you like to admit that I actually know quite a bit about what you’re talking about here — and that you, in fact, don’t?

  66. 66.

    jake

    March 31, 2008 at 9:55 pm

    Everybody pretty much gave you a pass on saying something that was obviously and demonstrably stupid and, yet, you come back for another bite at the apple?

    Apple pie that is.

  67. 67.

    LiberalTarian

    March 31, 2008 at 9:55 pm

    Bullshit. You know that baby cows are fed blood meal when they are weaned? You know that very few downer cattle are tested for CJD, and then only in certain parts of their brain, even though the prion disease agent can be found elsewhere? You know that part of the scandal in the Chino feedlot was that downer cows were being forklifted into the food supply???

    Your dad died of CJD?

  68. 68.

    John Cole

    March 31, 2008 at 9:58 pm

    The McCain girl is pissed. Apparently that video wasn’t intended as a joke.

    If this is some covert op by Democrats to drag down the McCain campaign, I support it. If it is not, it is even better.

  69. 69.

    Cain

    March 31, 2008 at 10:00 pm

    er, I don’t think demi was acting in support of chimpy. More of an argument of scale. Leaving aside his idiotic war, I don’t think Bush has done near the kind of damage that Mugabe has. Mugabe is a ruthless thug who took a relatively successful african nation and ran it to the ground. He did this for short term gain for his friends and himself. Bush on the other hand is a village idiot. He doesn’t know shit about anything and ran full tilt into a war by cronies he trusted. I don’t think he’s particularly evil, just jaw droppingly stupid.

    We aren’t as bad off as what Mugabe did. A lot of the death that went on in Iraq was sectarian violence between sunnis vs sunnis, sunnis vs shiites, shiites vs shiites. While yes, the soldiers had abu graib and so forth, I hardly think they were as responsible for all the deaths in Iraq. Bush lit a powder keg, and watched it explode.

    cain

  70. 70.

    LiberalTarian

    March 31, 2008 at 10:03 pm

    So, demi, are you saying you are one of those CJD researchers? Which ones? In Minnesota, where they have a lab staff of 3? In San Fran, where the going line is “only 1 in a million” are susceptible to CJD? Well, how about 1 in 250,000, which is the statistic for people over the age of 55?

    Did you help develop procedures for sterilizing surgical instruments for hospitals? Did you know my dad had three surgeries that cut across neural tissue and could have infected the instruments (unless they were disinfected with both acid *and* pressure and heat). None of us can donate blood, either. But you knew that, right??

  71. 71.

    BH Buck

    March 31, 2008 at 10:06 pm

    The Gold Star Moms will be so relieved.

  72. 72.

    jake

    March 31, 2008 at 10:10 pm

    er, I don’t think demi was acting in support of chimpy.

    Well, cain everyone here knows that except for one numbnut who caught on late and is now (rather fittingly) arguing about mad cow disease in a pathetic attempt cover for his earlier error.

  73. 73.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    March 31, 2008 at 10:23 pm

    John, can you add a new tag for Creutzfeld-Jakobs Disease?

    Jeepers – instead of tearing each other apart debating the merits of how many devils can dance on the head of a Bush turd, can we just admit that we are all bored out of our skulls waiting for this damn primary season to end already?

    The first two months were a hell of a sugar rush, and now suddently we’ve segued from Star Wars into Waiting for Godot (at this point I’d settle for GoodTroll).

    [ Yoda:
    bored, out your minds you are?
    Hah!
    Spend 500 years in this slimy mudhole you did not!
    As well you should..

    bang! thud..
    Gawd, I thought that green long ear’d freak would never shuddup.]

    Face it, the only even remotely entertaining thing in this thread so far is:

    The Other Steve Says:

    OH OH!

    Ralph Reed wrote a fiction novel!

    Book Description
    After the Democratic presidential nomination is stolen by Senate Majority Leader Salmon Stanley in a bitter credentials fight at the nominating convention, Bob Long, the moderate Governor of California, shocks the political establishment by launching an independent bid for the Presidency. The FBI and the Justice Department launch a full-blown criminal probe of the credentials dispute, and prosecutors empanel a grand jury that indicts the campaign chairman of Senate Majority Leader Stanley for perjury and obstruction of justice. The Republican candidate, the incumbent vice-president, appears to be coasting to victory in the topsy-turvy three-way presidential race. But the morning after he accepts the presidential nomination in a stirring speech, he is murdered in a violent terrorist attack.

    The Other Steve:

    OK enough about the idiot plot a 3rd grader could write. Are teh sex scenes any good? That’s all these sort of books are any good for anyway.

    So, TOS? What’s da scoop? Does Ralphie dish it out like only a hardcore GOPer can? Does he eclipse Newt as a writer of steamy airport newstand fiction? Will he make Jim Webb turn green with envy? Inquiring minds want to know!

  74. 74.

    LiberalTarian

    March 31, 2008 at 10:25 pm

    OK, fine. Environmental quality is for losers. Cool. It only counts if bullets come into play.

  75. 75.

    demimondian

    March 31, 2008 at 10:38 pm

    Well, LiberalTarian, TOS is right — I have a history of taking on hyperbole, because, like bullets, it kills. Just because it kills people on “the other side” doesn’t mean it’s all right.

    As to CJD — I’m sorry for your tragic loss. I recognize, from my own experience, the burden of living with a chronic crippling disease, and the burden of dealing with a degenerative disease which will eventually kill you, and I regret any pain I might have caused you.

  76. 76.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    March 31, 2008 at 10:47 pm

    LiberalTarian,

    I’m sorry I snarked on CJD as a thread topic. My last refresh of this thread (before I started writing my 10:23 comment) was from before your 9:55 post so I hadn’t seen it until just now. I’m sorry for your loss.

  77. 77.

    Dennis - SGMM

    March 31, 2008 at 10:52 pm

    LiberalTarian, for as long as I’ve been following politics the record on the environment of both Democrats and Republicans has been more shitty or less shitty. Neither party ever goes near the law that says that if someone owns whatever mineral is under the ground he can fuck up whatever is between him and his property. Despite the fact that the Arab Oil Embargo occurred in 1973, no subsequent administration or Congress did fuck-all about conservation or energy independence. Sure, Bushco is bad but, I can’t award the palm to the Dems on this issue either.

  78. 78.

    LiberalTarian

    March 31, 2008 at 10:53 pm

    Demi. Accepted.

    I get excited. My dad was the best person I ever knew, and somehow he caught this terrible disease.

    I do get excited, and I think small things add up to big things. The study of history is all about how seemingly insignificant things add up to movements, which are big things. My realization that the lessons of history did not stop people from doing exactly what they wanted to do caused me to go into environmental science. I thought it would be free of crazy people thinking. D’oh.

    I am sorry I got excited. Please accept my apology.

  79. 79.

    Cain

    March 31, 2008 at 11:04 pm

    group hug? we do need that here occasionally? or at least some spanking.

    cain

  80. 80.

    demimondian

    March 31, 2008 at 11:05 pm

    But, of course, small things do add up to big things. Look at the small things George Bush has done.

    He reduced the number of USDA inspectors at meat packing plants across the nation. The USDA inspectors have never done a good enough job of monitoring for downers, and by cutting their numbers, he only made the situation worse. That’s what he and his cronies intended — and they’ve done far too well.

    He put the fox in charge of the hen house on mine safety, and, as a direct result, we’ve had a string of mine catastrophes.

    I’m a huge backer of nuclear power — but I’m very glad that the greens have managed to block any plants for the last few years, because, for better or for worse, Uranium tailings do need to be handled with respect, which I don’t expect from a Republican administration.

    Small things: a couple of missing permanent inspectors, and downer cows are coming in on fork-lifts (and, yes, I saw that video). Small things: a few missed inspections, and thirty-nine miners are dead because a few small pillars have been pulled. Small things: an inspection doesn’t take place, a dike bursts, and an aquifer is radioactive for billions of years. I know a lot about small things.

    The point is to treat small things as small, and explain how those small things will become big bad things while sticking to the truth. Yes, that might leave room for the bad guys to wiggle out with a compromise. You can’t win them all — but you’re far more likely to win if they can’t accuse your of lying. Cause believe me, they’ve got a lot more practice pulling plausible half-truths out of their butts than you do.

  81. 81.

    demimondian

    March 31, 2008 at 11:05 pm

    Oh, and apology accepted of course. I do understand.

  82. 82.

    LiberalTarian

    March 31, 2008 at 11:13 pm

    OK. I start my state job next week looking at environmental contaminants. I’ll try to do my best to keep “small is small” and “small is going to be big” sensors working well. I’ll be part of the government, after all, you know, front line on environmental protection. I hope I can tell the difference between what will metastatic and what is benign.

    Thank you Demi.

  83. 83.

    cbear

    March 31, 2008 at 11:24 pm

    MyIQis2xu:

    So I’m bailing out and leaving John and the trolls to get their HillaryHate on by themselves. And this way TZ can go back to parroting Karl Rove’s talking points about Hillary without fear of exposure.

    Don’t look for me cuz I’m gone

    FWIW and IMHO, myiq is not a troll.

    He’s a guy with strong opinions that don’t always coincide with mine, or most of the folks here at BJ, but he’s also willing to laugh at himself (and his preferred candidate) more often than not.

    He’s also a worthy opponet in the flame wars that break out here with regularity—and can be funny as hell when discussing anything other than Hillary or MUP.
    Hell, in all honesty, sometimes he’s pretty funny roasting MUP (and the Muppeteers too) although we never admit it.

    On top of that, he’s Dennis’s and my wingman when we go for the full-on raunch at BJ late-nite.

    Shit, I guess this means I’m gonna have to go LURP the hellholes of Hildyland and try and find his sorry ass. I know he’s probably drunk as shit and posting pathetically in some lame tread over at No Quarter or Talk Shit. Those insane fucks might not recognize him as one of their own and tase him or something.

    I’m going in…if I’m not back in an hour, send Dennis-SGMM out after me—and tell him to bring the M60.

  84. 84.

    demimondian

    March 31, 2008 at 11:40 pm

    I hope I can tell the difference between what will metastatic and what is benign.

    That’s all anyone can ever do.

  85. 85.

    Dennis - SGMM

    March 31, 2008 at 11:40 pm

    I’m going in…if I’m not back in an hour, send Dennis-SGMM out after me—-and tell him to bring the M60.

    Got your back. Pop a smoke when you find him.

  86. 86.

    LiberalTarian

    March 31, 2008 at 11:52 pm

    Eh, eh? MyIQ went Goodbye Cruel World?

  87. 87.

    demimondian

    March 31, 2008 at 11:56 pm

    MYIQISGBCW?

    Say it isn’t so..

  88. 88.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    April 1, 2008 at 12:03 am

    LiberalTarian Says:

    Eh, eh? MyIQ went Goodbye Cruel World?

    Sad but true. Back in the “Obama is over 50%” thread. Gave a Nixonian “you won’t have me to kick around anymore” farewell speech too. It was magnificent.

    sniff…

  89. 89.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    April 1, 2008 at 12:11 am

    I’m going in…if I’m not back in an hour, send Dennis-SGMM out after me—-and tell him to bring the M60.

    cbear! First one dies you die too, but there will be others. You can count on that. You gotta let him go. You gotta let him go.

  90. 90.

    cbear

    April 1, 2008 at 12:16 am

    Pop a smoke when you find him.

    No luck. I left breadcrumbs for him, but I’m afraid they may have already greased the poor dumb bastard.

    I’m serious, look at the shit I stepped into over at No Quarter—you folks wanna see crazy, I got crazy for you right here.

    Scroll down and watch the youtube of the black guy they are linking to Mup.

    Those fucking people may be roasting our little myiq’s balls on a spit as we speak.

    I ain’t going out there again, Dennis….it’s just too damn dangerous.

    If myiq can’t make it back by morning….I say we send Dug Jay out.
    He’s got that natural gooper camouflage and can blend into the terrain. Besides, we can’t afford to lose anybody valuable.

  91. 91.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    April 1, 2008 at 12:17 am

    Shit, I guess this means I’m gonna have to go LURP the hellholes of Hildyland and try and find his sorry ass. I know he’s probably drunk as shit and posting pathetically in some lame tread over at No Quarter or Talk Shit. Those insane fucks might not recognize him as one of their own and tase him or something.

    Ablogolypse Now?

  92. 92.

    demimondian

    April 1, 2008 at 12:24 am

    Tell ya what — I know his kind. For them, BJuice is like…it’s like sex, man. They say they’re gonna quit the BJuice, and they say it, and they say it — but…man, they aint really gonna do it. Oh, they mean it, don’ get me wrong, man, but…they come back. They come back. It’s like a man to his woman — or a man to his goat — a man to his pink dining room…he gonna come back.

    You wait. Long as he livin…we gonna see MYIQNOGBCW back here again.

  93. 93.

    cbear

    April 1, 2008 at 12:26 am

    You gotta let him go. You gotta let him go.

    Fuck that shit, fuckhead.
    What kind of soldier are you?
    We’re not like those pussies over at Talk Shit—we bring out our dead.
    That’s the good news…the bad news is you’re the FNG here, and if Dug Jay don’t make it back—you’re going out next.

  94. 94.

    cbear

    April 1, 2008 at 12:42 am

    Ablogolypse Now?

    Oh yeah, its real funny now…but you and demi ain’t been where I been, and you ain’t seen the godawful shit I seen there.

    I’m telling you, man, it ain’t pretty—cats fucking dogs, HUGE glowing statutes of the Hildebeast, children screaming, muppets roasting over open fires…and the stench of death everywhere….the smell of it…oh Sweet Jesus I don’t know if I’ll ever stop smelling that awful, awful stench.

    I CAN’T GO BACK, ITS TOO MUCH TO ASK OF ANY ONE MAN!!!

  95. 95.

    Chuck Butcher

    April 1, 2008 at 2:06 am

    This spans a couple posts worth of comments & posts. DNC will not look at a “gimme” with FL/MI. The Rules Committee disallowed delegate selection from 2 Primaries because of schedule violation, the Credentials Committee is going to face the same problem, regardless of nomination numbers. The selection was blocked to keep control of the schedule, seating those psuedo-delegates validates the violation. How the Credentials Committee will go is a guess, but a good one goes with a blocking. Dean cannot come out for seating, not without losing the respect of the other State Parties – some of whom had the same promblems in their states.

    It is a mistake to conflate DNC State Parties with Democratic candidates or elected officials and these parties will send super delegates. OR will send the State Chair, Vice-chair, DNC Committeeman, DNC Committeewoman, and DNC At-large Committeeperson – that is 5 super delegates from DPO which is the DNC State Party, not one of these people was elected to any office except DPO and these are non-compensated positions, volunteers. These are not your Congressman or Governor, these are the in the trenches Democrats. These are the folks who really care about the entire ticket, right down to the State House and County Commissioners. They owe nothing to either of the candidates and have no personal gain to be had.

    This is not the RNC or anything remotely like it. The proportional delegate apportionment should make that clear. This set up is designed to allow small campaigns to get their feet under them, if they’ve got some place to go. The Dean strategy is completely counter to the McAuliff 50%+1 and especially the RNC. The Convention could get Machiavellian, but I doubt it. I think if PA is close by OR’s Primary May 20 the last nail will be driven. I do not know how DPO’s delegates will vote, though I have hunches.

    There are some politically astute people in the Clinton campaign, I have no idea what they are thinking, at this point. I know what they say, what they think can be quite different. It is a good idea to remember the some of these folks are riding a cash cow, now, when it’s over that’s another story. The Clinton campaign started out oozing money, now there are loans and other debts… Raising money to pay off failed campaign debts is tougher than raising money to win.

  96. 96.

    TenguPhule

    April 1, 2008 at 2:23 am

    Another Stupid Religious Couple Kill Child

    Presented without comment.

  97. 97.

    TenguPhule

    April 1, 2008 at 2:26 am

    He has not, however, created a mass starvation by expropriating land, causing a significant fraction of his people to starve to death, nor intercepted international aid sent to save them redirecting it only to those his supporters, nor any of a long list of other horrific crimes I could lay to Robert Mugabe’s account.

    ….Yet.

  98. 98.

    rachel

    April 1, 2008 at 3:17 am

    What’s the semantic inverse of “authoritarian prick”?

    Servile putz?

  99. 99.

    Chris

    April 1, 2008 at 7:29 am

    Well I thought my cynicism about Hillary Clinton was just too deep, but it looks like I was wrong. I can’t believe she’s getting ready to endorse John McCain if Barack wins the nomination.

    One warmonger for another, right?

    http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/29/clinton.obama/index.html#cnnSTCText

    Unbelievable.

  100. 100.

    Chris

    April 1, 2008 at 7:29 am

    Well I thought my cynicism about Hillary Clinton was just too deep, but it looks like I was wrong. I can’t believe she’s getting ready to endorse John McCain if Barack wins the nomination.

    One warmonger for another, right?

    http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/29/clinton.mccain/index.html#cnnSTCText

    Unbelievable.

  101. 101.

    Chris

    April 1, 2008 at 7:31 am

    Edit, ah fuck it. That was supposed to link here.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr0hH_wi6zk

    My April Fools’ joke failed. :(

  102. 102.

    Rick Taylor

    April 1, 2008 at 7:37 am

    Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote an editorial about how to get out of Iraq.

    Nonetheless, if the American people had been asked more than five years ago whether Bush’s obsession with the removal of Saddam Hussein was worth 4,000 American lives, almost 30,000 wounded Americans and several trillion dollars — not to mention the less precisely measurable damage to the United States’ world-wide credibility, legitimacy and moral standing — the answer almost certainly would have been an unequivocal “no.”

    Nor do the costs of this fiasco end there. The war has inflamed anti-American passions in the Middle East and South Asia while fragmenting Iraqi society and increasing the influence of Iran. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s recent visit to Baghdad offers ample testimony that even the U.S.-installed government in Iraq is becoming susceptible to Iranian blandishments.

    In brief, the war has become a national tragedy, an economic catastrophe, a regional disaster and a global boomerang for the United States. Ending it is thus in the highest national interest.

    Strangely, he doesn’t seem to understand that as McCain assures us the surge is working, we’re finally winning in Iraq, and those liberals calling for defeat have been completely embarrassed as will no doubt become clear in the next elections. Of course there still remains much work to do, but victory is assured so long as we never surrender to Al Queda and their allies in Iran.

  103. 103.

    Rick Taylor

    April 1, 2008 at 7:55 am

    There was a sixty minutes piece on Murat Kurnaz, an innocent fellow we imprisoned for five years in Gitmo. His book has just become available in the U.S: “Five Years of My Life: An Innocent Man In Guantanamo.” Of course to be fair, who could possibly have predicted that when you abolish prisoners rights, the government would abuse that an innocent people would suffer as a result? And the pentagon says his accounts of torture, being beaten with his head under water, being shocked, hanging from the ceiling for five days, are ridiculous, so that settles that. Besides, as any right wing blogger will tell you, anyone who complains about such treatment is a wuss. And have you forgotten 9/11? Torturing a few random people is the price we pay to be safe from terrorists.

    From the wikepedia page:

    The Washington Post republished one of the newly released documents, written by David B. Lacquement, a senior officer in Military Intelligence.[28] Among the justifications for considering Kurnaz an enemy combatant:
    He had covered his ears and tried to pray when the American anthem was being played;
    He had expressed contempt for US leaders;
    He has mocked the Guard’s monitoring logs, by telling a guard to record that he had eaten his whole meal, when he had only eaten an apple.

    Contempt for our glorious leaders? I’m surprised we let him go.

  104. 104.

    Phoenix Woman

    April 1, 2008 at 8:06 am

    Zack: Harold Ickes, Hillary’s own right-hand man (and Teddy Kennedy’s floor manager in 1980), himself voted to punish any states that broke the DNC’s rules on early primaries.

    Why did I mention that Ickes was Teddy K’s floor manager in 1980? Because Ickes, I suspect, is the guy who encouraged both Teddy in ’80 and Hillary today to go ahead and destroy the party because it was the only shot they had at winning.

    By the way: How much longer will Hillary be able to go around the country stiffing the locals? The media people are savvy enough to demand payment up front, so they get paid. Nobody else does, and the scuttlebutt is that she’s losing staff members left and right (the phrase my source used was “hemorrhaging staff”). She tapped her big donors early and often, and they’ve all hit their legal limits — if it wasn’t for the $5 million gift she made to her campaign, it’d be about $3 million in the hole right now.

  105. 105.

    Rick Taylor

    April 1, 2008 at 8:12 am

    McCain shows us why he’s the one candidate with the best Commander in Chief credentials by answering questions on recent developments in Iraq. He’s a little surprised by it all, but admired Maliki’s independence. He seemed troubled by Sadre’s demands, but blamed any setbacks on Bush for not putting enough boots on the ground to begin with, and on the British. Nonetheless, he opined things were looking good as Sadre who asked for a ceasefire, and only wuss’s declare ceasefires, so we’re likely winning.

  106. 106.

    The Other Steve

    April 1, 2008 at 9:34 am

    Why did I mention that Ickes was Teddy K’s floor manager in 1980? Because Ickes, I suspect, is the guy who encouraged both Teddy in ‘80 and Hillary today to go ahead and destroy the party because it was the only shot they had at winning.

    In fairness to Teddy K… In 1980 there was no way Carter was going to win.

  107. 107.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    April 1, 2008 at 4:43 pm

    In fairness to Teddy K… In 1980 there was no way Carter was going to win.

    In fairness to Carter… in 1980 there was no way Teddy K was going to win.

    So that sorta makes that particular reasonining null and void, huh?

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