The least dangerous branch

When morons meet microphones....

2009-07-16T12:55:00.001-07:00

From His Emanence Rush Limbaugh's Tuesday, July 14th show:RUSH: And that's another thing. This precedent business, stare decisis, "Well, I'll go for precedent every time I can except when I won't. Precedent is not locked. Precedent doesn't mean you can never vary. If precedent meant that, we'd still have slavery.Ummmm ... <*sotto voce*> Pssssst, Rush: The Thirteenth Amendment (a

Who voted from Obama?

2009-06-12T20:29:00.000-07:00

Read it and weep.That isn't the first.See here and here and here and here and here and here.That's the final straw. F*ck "centrism".Update:This brilliant thought occurs to me:If Clinton was the first black president, Obama is the second Clinton president.He seems to be thinking of how he can get everyone to go along with him ("centrism" or "triangulation", and/or possibly the venal aspirations

Watch the language....

2009-06-10T21:23:00.000-07:00

Today, as we hear of the white supremacist (and Obama "birther") who shot and killed a guard at the National Holocaust museum, we have Sean InsHannity going with his usual language even after reporting the shooting, blissfully unaware of the nuances. Here's two "talking points" phrases that jump out at you:"Conservative Underground"Yes, this is an underground patriotic movement that is bravely

So when do the trials begin?

2009-06-04T15:45:00.000-07:00

Republican Senator and former military Judge Advocate Lindsey Graham:GRAHAM: I am convinced, as an individual senator, as a military lawyer for 25 years, that waterboarding…does violate our war crimes statute and is clearly illegal under domestic and international law. … I don’t think you have to have a lot of knowledge about the law to understand this technique violates Geneva Convention Common

Uhhhh ... <pssst> ... Mr. Dionne....

2009-06-04T09:45:00.000-07:00

E.J. Dionne makes an astute observation (for once):If you doubt that there is a conservative inclination in the media, consider which arguments you hear regularly and which you don't. When Rush Limbaugh sneezes or Newt Gingrich tweets, their views ricochet from the Internet to cable television and into the traditional media. It is remarkable how successful they are in setting what passes for the

Pot callng the kettle black...

2009-05-26T10:15:00.000-07:00

The Wall Street Journal opines that Barack Obama's been stealing the Underpants Gnomes' business plan:Sometimes it takes "South Park" to explain life's deeper mysteries. Like the logic of the Obama administration's policy proposals.Consider the 1998 "Gnomes" episode -- possibly surpassing Milton Friedman's "Free to Choose" as the classic defense of capitalism -- in which the children of South

Cows and barn doors....

2009-05-21T08:27:00.000-07:00

In the N.Y. Times article linked in my last post, we have this interesting tidbit:The F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, said Wednesday that moving detainees to American prisons would bring with it risks including “the potential for individuals undertaking attacks in the United States.”Like wow.... You know, part of that sentence sounds vaguely familiar for some reason. Do we really have

Certain words just jump right off the page at you....

2009-05-21T08:10:00.000-07:00

Dan Froomkin's White House Watch column today has this little tidbit:Sheryl Gay Stolberg writes in the New York Times:President Obama told human rights advocates at the White House on Wednesday that he was mulling the need for a "preventive detention" system that would establish a legal basis for the United States to incarcerate terrorism suspects who are deemed a threat to national security but

The latest conservative star in the N.Y. Times firmament

2009-04-28T13:13:00.001-07:00

Heeeeeerrrrreeeee's Ross Douthat!:At the very least, a Cheney-Obama contest would have clarified conservatism’s present political predicament....Perhaps. Let's see:...In the wake of two straight drubbings at the polls, much of the American right has comforted itself with the idea that conservatives lost the country primarily because the Bush-era Republican Party spent too much money on social

Putting the horse before the cart

2009-04-27T11:18:00.000-07:00

The "Dean" of Beltway Journalism, David Broder, explains:But having vowed to end the practices [of torture], Obama should use all the influence of his office to stop the retroactive search for scapegoats.Yes, indeed. Searches for scapegoats should always be proactive. How else to stop them before they can embarrass you? And if we're to stop such insidious attacks, we'll need the proper tool...

Why does this need to be said?

2009-04-24T10:24:00.000-07:00

Glenn Greenwald, in today's excellent (and devastating) post, makes this unremarkable statement:People like John McCain argue that only "banana republics" prosecute former political leaders, but the reality is exactly the opposite.Indeed. Why doesn't the so-called "liberal media" point this out? It is only in a country where the rule of law doesn't hold that "former political leaders" are given

Extra! Extra! Pot calls the china cup black!

2009-04-23T17:28:00.000-07:00

Over at Talking Points Memo, Josh Marshall is amased:I must be mistaken. But I think Foxies Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly are on TV whipping each other up into a sudsy lather over NBC's alleged lack of news credibility because of its corporate ownership by GE.Two words: "Rupert Murdoch".Josh still hasn't come to terms with the depths of the Rethuglican psychosis. The pathology is sufficient for

Clarence Thomas opens up....

2009-04-13T18:38:00.000-07:00

Cthulhu save us!From the N.Y. Times:“Sometimes, when I get a little down,” Justice Thomas said wearily, he goes online. “I look up wonderful speeches, like speeches by Douglas MacArthur, to hear him give without a note that speech at West Point — ‘duty, honor, country.’ How can you not hear those words and not feel strongly about what we have?”OK, so now everyone's in the military, eh?....He

Deep thought....

2009-03-25T16:07:00.000-07:00

Listening to Michele Bachmann (R-LuluLand) on Sean InsHannity's radio show today, the question occurred to me:Why do all the Rethuglican Congresscritters sound just like John Birch Society members?

Happy Birthday!!!

2009-03-19T11:14:00.000-07:00

I got up this morning and I missed it. Not there in the paper. No note of this wonderful anniversary. I'd plumb forgot, and no one was going to remind me. But ThinkProgress was nice enough to mark the auspicious sixth birthday of our Iraq adventure ... as well as the deafening silence from the M$M ... that owes so much to this adventure, and who should be passing on their "best wishes" for

Richard Cohen: Clueless to the Nth degree

2009-03-17T13:45:00.000-07:00

Richard Cohen doesn't like Jon Stewart's legendary dumping on Jim Cramer.In a Washington Post article, he writes:What Jon Stewart needs is Jon Stewart. He could use a droll comedian to temper his ferocity and correct him when he's wrong, as he was about the financial media, particularly CNBC and its excitable analyst Jim Cramer. They didn't cover up the story of financial shenanigans. They didn't

Defending the indefencible

2009-03-09T09:05:00.001-07:00

From a Christian Science Monitor article defending the misnamed USA-PATRIOT Act:By Nathan A. SalesARLINGTON, VA. - Remember when the USA Patriot Act was seen as a common-sense counterterrorism tool? Congress enacted the law shortly after the 9/11 attacks by large bipartisan majorities. It wasn't even close.And for good reason: The Patriot Act made relatively modest changes to the law as it stood

John Galt's conundrum

2009-03-06T11:31:00.000-08:00

The Republican flacks for the health insurance industry are saying just a tad more than they should have:Five senior Republican senators, including Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican on the Finance Committee, and the minority leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, warned the president on Thursday that the public option would face opposition from many in their party.In a

CA Prop. 8 oral argument post-mortem

2009-03-06T11:03:00.000-08:00

There's plenty of note in the arguments, but here's a few of the early highlights (from this S.F. Chronicle article):In defending the removal of a previously recognised right via "amendment", here's Ken Starr for the respondents:"Rights are in the power of the people," said Starr, law dean at Pepperdine University and formerly the special prosecutor in the impeachment of former President Bill

New strategies for the Republican caucus

2009-02-05T12:28:00.000-08:00

Today we have this gem courtesy of ThinkProgress:In an interview with Hotline, Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) said the Republican party will have to be come an “insurgency” to counter Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, and added that the Taliban can serve as “a model”:“Insurgency, we understand perhaps a little bit more because of the Taliban,” Sessions said during a meeting yesterday with

"A stopped watch" and all that....

2009-02-05T12:15:00.000-08:00

Joe the Plumber (a/k/a Joe the guy who can't get a plumber's license a/k/a/ Joe the guy who can't bother to pay taxes a/k/a Joe the moron who thinks that he's worth $250K when he doens't have two dimes to rub together) -- after his illustrious career in newscasting -- has decided to take on the even-more-intellectually-challenging job of Republican party poobah and media star.But a stopped watch

Limbaugh does the Republican Party a service

2009-01-29T12:56:00.000-08:00

His Emanence Rush Limbaugh is acting as the de facto head of the Rethuglican Party (while they wait to see what racist/xenophobe/homophobe/CRW exemplar will get the RNC chair nod). Others disagree on terms (but I suspect not on substance); as the S.F. Chronicle puts it:But while an Oval Office shout-out may temporarily elevate a man who refers to himself as El Rushbo, it doesn't make Limbaugh

Negotiating with Republicans

2009-01-29T09:25:00.001-08:00

D: "OK, we've won the last two Congressional elections convincingly, we have the presidency, but let's not let the past trouble us. We want to work for the good of the country, and we're willing to listen to your ideas and let you sit at the table and work together with us...."R: <*snarl*> <*growl*> "Ayers." "Barack the Magic Negro." "You want us to bend over..."D: "No, really. We want to

BPMA

2009-01-28T16:36:00.000-08:00

That is to say, "bipartisanship, my a$$".The Rethuglicans have no desire to be "bipartisan". They care about party power above nation, about personal slights and vendettas above honour, and about themselves and their hallucinatory ideals of the 'perfect nation' above all else, everyone else be damned.His Emanence Rush Limbaugh has said it plainly (regarding Obama): "I hope he fails." But that

A warm welcome...

2009-01-27T21:59:00.000-08:00

... to the U.S. Department of Justice. Under new and better management, I hear. And thanks for stopping by. Feel free to look around, and I welcome any comments. Let me know too if I can be of help, or you're looking for anything in particular. Can I recommend some of my favourite posts (assuming you didn't just come for the pretty pictures): Torture can be just the ticket ... just keep it