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Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former President Clinton reported $20.4 million in income for 2007 and more than $109 million since 2000 as they gave the public the most detailed look at their finances in eight years.
She Knows What Americans Are Going ThroughPost + Comments (89)
Steve Benen asks, “What do you think would happen if a Democrat had said this“:
We spent the night in the Green Zone, in the poolhouse of one of Saddam’s palaces. A little weird, I got to be honest with you. But I felt safe. And so in the morning, I got up early — not that I make this a great habit — but I went to the gym because I just couldn’t sleep and everything else. Well, sure enough, the guard wouldn’t let me in. Said I didn’t have the correct credentials.
“It’s 5:00 in the morning. I haven’t had sleep. I was not very happy with this two-bit security guard.
Do you even need to ask? Really?
If McHenry was a Democrat there would be a full on red alert action report sent across the WingNetTM. Kerning charts would be pulled out for referencing. Cheeto’s and Mountain Dew stock would triple. McHenry’s countertops would be inspected, and the Confederate Yankee would spend a week linking all the times McHenry had been in the same state as Barack Obama, showing decisively that Obama hates the troops (Jake Tapper would note that he thought this was the case, because he has a really keen sense for traitors- ask anyone in his family). We would learn that someone in McHenry’s family tree did something vaguely subversive in the 1960’s (maybe smoked a joint while listening to Jimi Hendrix’s version of the Star Spangled Banner, rather than standing erect and proudly displaying a lapel pin).
The Instapundit would kick his passive/aggressive BS into overdrive, linking every rambling yahoo on the intertrons who wants to proudly display their patriotism (500 different links to poorly written proclamations without the benefit of a shift key that “OUR TROOPS AIN’T JUST SECURITY GUARDS THEY ARE THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTESTEST). Red State would send out a fundraising letter for another 25k for website development to combat evil leftist smears against our troops. Mickey Kaus would stop sodomizing fellating goats long enough to pen a column about his outrage, and since he is a Democrat himself (wink, wink), this would give the outrage enough respectability that the odious fool Howie Kurtz would write six columns about it, describing the outrage, pushing it until there would be wall to wall coverage on the cable networks and Wolf Blitzer finally asks the poll question:
“Why do Democrats hate our troops and why do they hate the country, and how can they expect to win the Presidency with that attitude? ”
That is what would fucking happen.
*** Update ***
Apparently something similar already did happen, but with a reporter instead of a Democrat (same thing to a wingnut). My prediction of what would happen is alarmingly accurate.
*** Update #2 ***
Tom Maguire asks:
My question – what in the telling of this story (other than their own partisan desire, of course) makes them think the guard in question is either American or a soldier?
I am doubtful that we are talking about a full security checkpoint at the limits of the Green Zone, although even there it is possible to encounter foreign troops, Iraqi security, and (IIRC) private contractors. But if the encounter occurred inside the Green Zone, as is likely, why couldn’t the “two bit security guard” simply be an Iraqi rent-a-cop or private doorman?
Nothing, and I actually thought about that myself when I watched the video. And here is where it gets really, really depressing. Even if the “two bit security guard” turns out to be an actual “two bit security guard,” if a Democrat uttered it, the outcome would be the same. The right-wing outrage machine would keep on a’churning, and instead of asking why Democrats hate the troops they would ask why Democrats hate Americans over there protecting us. And, regardless, it would enter into the mythology that it was a soldier anyway, and for the next 30 years that Democrat would have people accusing him of hating the troops. That what was so particularly evil about Jonah Goldberg’s bs Liberal Fascism. Everyone with a brain knows it is utter nonsense. Everyone, that is, but the target audience- the brain-dead frat boy morons and Corner readers who will repeat it for the next 30 years.
*** Update #3 ***
Our buddies (I kid) at Protein Wisdom (You got to admit they have a crack staff over there. I mean, it couldn’t be easy finding someone more long-winded than Jeff, but they did with Karl) have the following to add:
The Leftosphere, at post-time, has not updated their posts to reflect Amanda’s apparent error. ThinkProgress should have particular fun explaining themselves, given that they recently passed along a bogus claim that Iraqi doctors in al-Anbar province are warning of a new disease they are calling “Blackwater Fever” named after the controversial security firm. However, John Cole deserves special mention for admitting he considered that the story maight not involve a US soldier from the outset, only to argue that he really does not care, because — if the roles were reversed — the ”right-wing outrage machine” would just perpetuate the Big Lie anyway. Them are some fine standards he’s got.
Heya Karl. Here is Ed at Hot Air:
Does this really make it any better? After all, the contractors risk their lives as well, albeit for better compensation. One of my good friends worked in Iraq as a contractor, and I can assure McHenry that Mike the SEAL is no two-bit security guard. He’s a highly trained professional who does vital work whether as a SEAL or as a contractor.
Ding Think Progress for the inaccuracy, but McHenry isn’t off the hook.
Quit worrying about my standards, Karl, because I am right about how you all would react. Besides, don’t you all have ex-girlfriends to publicly trash (we know- it is tough love).
*** Update #4 ***
Karl, continuing to suffer from bunched up Superman underwear:
Wrong. Cole’s side of the story is that he watched the video, noticed it did not really specify a soldier, but decided to go with it anyway because the “right wing outrage machine” wouuld do the same if the shoe was on the other foot. But as you and I agree, people on the Right criticized McHenry for his comments (though it now turns out some selective editing was involved). So Cole propagated the bogus story based on a bogus perception of his opponents. I don’t know whether that qualifies him as Father of Lies, but it does make him doubly dishonest in this instance.
Umm, I didn’t propagate a bogus story, I simply gave a response to the Carpetbagger about what would have happened in Karl’s little circle-jerk of friends had McHenry been a Democrat. That it already happened to a McClatchy reporter, precisely as I suggested it would, is just doubly funny.
Does Karl really doubt this? Does anyone? Really? Seriously?
Jeffrey Moran, Ad Executive at Absolut.
Apparently the 27% crowd, in the midst of everything going on in the world, has taken the time to focus on a real outrage- this Absolut ad:
Apparently unaware that corporations compete in a global market and sometimes engage in niche advertising, occasionally placing different ads in different countries, our frothing lunatics are in high dudgeon over this grave insult to white America. Sometimes, the treachery is so bad that these evil America hating corporations even use foreign languages in their commercials and in their advertising!
This, of course, means that Queen Outrage herself has kicked into high gear, with numerous posts on the matter, inevitably leading to the type of citizen activism that is much approved among this crowd- harassing people who have jobs. Michelle, champion of the halfwit, reports excitedly:
You know what has been heartening the past two days as reaction to the Absolut Reconquista ad continues to pour in? The fact that so many of you still take our sovereignty seriously and are willing to give voice to your concerns without apologizing for it.
Because we all know that nothing protects our national sovereignty like manufactured outrage over a Vodka ad. At any rate, whipped into a lather, the drooling brigade of Malkinites picked up their crayons and fired off a number of missives to the Absolut ad executive, who promptly told them to go fuck themselves.
Seriously:
Your message
To: Moran, Jeffrey
Cc:
Subject: Offensive ad
Sent: Thu, 3 Apr 2008 15:18:30 -0400was deleted without being read on Thu, 3 Apr 2008 16:28:51 -0400
Jeffrey Moran, hero for a day.
*** Update ***
Confused about all this reconquista stuff? Ask a Mexican:
Another thing that was covered last night (again, chiefly by Matt and Ross), was the history of political blogging. Ross pointed out out that when blogging really got started around 1999-2001, it was mostly reactionary in nature in that it was right-wingers reacting to what they considered to be a dominant liberal media. The irony of that was that this coincided with a time period in which the Bush administration was receiving extremely favorable press, and liberals quickly reacted.
Another thing that was noted was that liberals were much quicker to embrace blogs as a tool of political organization, and the Daily Kos was mentioned. Ross seemed to be upset that conservatives still had not caught up to liberals in this regard.
One of the overall recurring themes, although it was never stated outright, was the reactive nature of blogs. Mainly, this was touched in the question/argument over whether blogs will replace the traditional MSM, and the prevailing opinion was that no, they would not. More than likely, they would consume each other, as we are seeing now. As an anecdote, Ross mentioned what the Atlantic crew was doing. Essentially, they built their blog operation around Sullivan and his traffic, and the idea was that the best supplement to the long-form writing at the Atlantic was blogs.
This is a recurring theme that seems to play out in almost every discussion of blogging. While there is, no doubt, a great deal of original reporting on blogs, much of what blogs do is simply react to what is reported in traditional media. I don’t suspect that will change much, and we see it every day. If you go to memeorandum, most of what you see is people reacting to the news of the day. there is a great deal of pushback, there are attempts to correct the narrative of the day, and there are attempts to push the stories that bloggers agree with throughout the news cycle.
At any rate, I will try to get a link up to a digital version of the presentation as soon as there is one available. From my perspective, it really was the Ross and Matt show, as they addressed the issues I found interesting. Terence really seemed out of place, as he was more of a traditional reporter who recently made the leap to theRoot.com, Phillip was more of a professional campaign worker, and Abbi basically discussed how she covered blogging on the news, which seemed sort of meta to me.
It will be entertaining watching right-wing bloggers defend this:
Americans are more dissatisfied with the country’s direction than at any time since the New York Times/CBS News poll began asking about the subject in the early 1990s, according to the latest poll.
In the poll, 81 percent of respondents said they believed “things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track,” up from 69 percent a year ago and 35 percent in early 2002.
I am gonna suggest one of two possible defenses. First, they can do the old tried and true Hugh Hewitt mainstay that “statistics have a left-wing bias.” That is always a crowd pleaser.
If that doesn’t work, then I suggest a switch to “yes, people are really upset at the work of the Democratic led Congress.” That would tie into the laughably absurd claims made earlier at Red State to label the current economic downturn as the “Pelosi recession.”
Personally, I just want to know what wold have to go wrong for the other 19% to recognize things are not going well. Locusts? Rivers of blood? Human sacrifice?
What the hell is going on with Randi Rhodes? Jeebus. Given the events surrounding her fall a few months back, it looks more and more to me like she has a substance abuse issue.
At any rate, consider this an open thread.
The Nation reports on another contractor accusing KBR of covering up gang rape among their employees.
That dawn, naked, covered in blood and feces, bleeding from her anus, she found a US soldier she did not know lying naked in the bed next to her: his gun lay on the floor beside the bed, she could not rouse him and all she could remember of the night before was screaming and screaming as the soldier anally penetrated her while a colleague who worked for defense contractor KBR held her hand–but instead of helping her, as she had hoped, he jammed his penis in her mouth.
Over the next few weeks Smith would be told to keep quiet about the incident by a KBR supervisor. The camp’s military liaison officer also told her not to speak about what had happened, she says. And she would follow these instructions. “Because then, all of a sudden, if you’ve done exactly what you’ve been instructed not to do–tell somebody–then you’re in danger,” Smith says.
Read the whole thing. Her story is nauseating — the hurdles she’s forced to endure seem Kafkaesque. Jamie Leigh Jones was not alone. She is using a pseudonym not only to avoid the metascrutiny she would be subjected to otherwise, but because she is going back — if she doesn’t she loses her family’s health insurance, critical for her husband who suffered a partial stroke the day she returned from Iraq.
According to the order, imposed by Paul Bremer, US defense contractors in Iraq cannot be prosecuted in the Iraqi criminal justice system. While they can technically be tried in US federal court, the Justice Department has shown no interest in prosecuting her case. In fact, for more than two years now, the DOJ has brought no criminal charges in the matter. Representative Ted Poe, a Texas Republican who has taken up Jones’s cause, reports that federal agencies refuse to discuss the status of the investigation; meanwhile, in December, the DOJ refused to send a representative to the related Congressional hearing on the matter.
Even more appalling, the Justice Department, which can and should prosecute most of these cases, has declined to do so.
Her alleged attackers are effectively immune from criminal prosecution unless a President willing to administer justice can be found. The only way she and others like her (one firm has fifteen clients with sexual assault, sexual harassment and retaliation complaints against Halliburton, KBR, and SEII) can seek justice is through the US Justice Department, or Michael Mukasey. The only person he listens to is George W. Bush. January can’t come soon enough.
If I were Lisa Smith I’d accidentally amputate the dick off the next asshole who came to me for medical help after raping me. What are they gonna do, sue for malpractice? All contractors are immune from any criminal liability whatsoever right? KBR surely will have her back.