The desperate lies of Johnnie Mac

Once again, "Straight Talk" gets thrown under the Express:

Couric: Senator McCain, Sen. Obama says, while the increased number of U.S. troops contributed to increased security in Iraq, he also credits the Sunni awakening and the Shiite government going after militias. And says that there might have been improved security even without the surge. What's your response to that?

McCain: I don't know how you respond to something that is such a false depiction of what actually happened. Colonel McFarlane (phonetic) was contacted by one of the major Sunni sheiks. Because of the surge we were able to go out and protect that sheik and others. And it began the Anbar awakening. I mean, that's just a matter of history. Thanks to General Petraeus, our leadership, and the sacrifice of brave young Americans. I mean, to deny that their sacrifice didn't make possible the success of the surge in Iraq, I think, does a great disservice to young men and women who are serving and have sacrificed.

Shorter John McCain: "Pardon me while I lie out my ass, Katie."

He's got some gall opening with a comment about "false depictions" when there isn't a shred of truth to anything McCain says, here. In order to manufacture an attack, he completely reinvents the framing of Couric's question to claim that Obama gave no credit to U.S. forces and that isn't even the real whopper.

It's "a matter of history" that The Glorious Surge began the Anbar Awakening?

Interesting observation, considering that said surge didn't even begin until the Sunnis had already been working towards security goals for months. I'd be curious to find out exactly what history ol' Johnnie is going by. Perhaps the same one where Iraq and Pakistan are neighbors.

Despite this fundamental error/egregious lie, CBS does their best to perpetuate McCain's revisionist history. First, the subheader is priceless:

"Senator Tells Katie Couric Obama Does Not Understand Challenges The U.S. Faces In Iraq"

Of course, since John McCain is so deeply experienced in matters of foreign policy, he is the one who "understands," even when he clearly doesn't.

Worse, CBS chose not to air that portion of the interview on their broadcast, (though it is available on their website, if you read through the entire transcript or watch the 14 minute video clip). After his inability to tell the difference between Sunni and Shia, his repeated Czechoslovakia references, and hot on the heels of his Iraq/Pakistan border blunder, CBS conveniently omits perhaps the most glaring "McCain Moment," yet. No slip of the tongue or outdated reference, here. This is, at the very least, a total lack of understanding, not only of timing, but the basics of how events transpired in the first place.

Obama would be pilloried for his political naïvety for making such a claim. Johnny Cakes will likely just get another box of doughnuts from his adoring stenographer friends in the press pool.

EDIT:

Countdown busts CBS here:




FURTHER EDIT: And here's CBS' actual hackery--about :40 in, after the Olbermann intro (Courtesy Jed Report):

Saturday Shuffle

Love Can Destroy Everything - The Raveonettes
The Regulator - Clutch
Blitzkreig - Metallica
It Hasn't Happened Yet - William Shatner
New Dawn Fades (live) - Joy Division
Clan in da Front - Wu-Tang Clan
Ghostbusters - Ray Parker Jr.
I Want You Back - The Jackson Five
Under Pressure - Queen w/ David Bowie
Theme from Dr. No - John Barry

They wanted me for their army or whatever. Picture me givin' a damn, I said, "Never."

20 years of brilliance.

A little Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos, from all the way back in the year 1988, B.B. (Before Bling)

What. The. Hell.

(EDIT: Greetings, visitors from Feministe. Thanks to Jill for the link, and to you for coming by. By all means, have a look around).

Seriously?

There's just no explanation, available, that would make this "ok."

It's not witty, satirical, or anything else. There's simply nothing there to debunk or ridicule the patently offensive smears that this graphic so helpfully encapsulates.

Burning flag? Check.

Faux News' "Terrorist fist bump?" Check.

Michelle as a Pam Grier caricature? Check.

A visual Osama/Obama "slip?" Check.

I can only assume that the graphics department made an executive decision that trying to shoehorn in Rev. Wright would've made the cover look too "cluttered."

Can you even imagine a national publication--any national publication, save, perhaps, for Mad magazine--going a similar route with John McCain? For example, a cartoon of Johnny Mac drooling in a wheelchair while Cindy snarfs down a fistful of Percocets and Joe Lieberman hits the 'bomb Iran' button in the background?

We saw what happened when Wesley Clark dared to ask completely legitimate and respectful questions regarding St. McCain's qualifications for the presidency. He was jumped on, with both feet, for defaming the man's military service, despite having done no such thing.

Doing to McCain what is being done to the Obamas would prompt a pundit-led media firestorm that would not be allowed to end without someone, and, most likely, several someones, losing their jobs. In this case, however, the best Obama can hope for is some choice words from the John Stewarts and the Keith Olbermanns of the world, which won't even come close to unringing this ugly bell.

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Saturday Shuffle

More and Faster - KMFDM
Assassination Day - Ghostface Killah
Cornflake Girl (live) - Tori Amos
All Good Things - Medicine
Waiting for a Train - Johnny Cash
How To Love Again - Oran "Juice" Jones
Exploder - Audioslave
Halloween II - The Misfits
4 Ghosts I - Nine Inch Nails
Tale O' the Twister - Chagall Guevara

Boo. Hoo.

Hold on; still contemplating which side of my ass these jokers can kiss:

ATLANTA - The chief executive officers of a dozen U.S. airlines, beset by record fuel costs that have caused several to cut jobs, reduce capacity and impose higher fees on customers, are now asking for their customers' help to curb the rise of oil prices.

They have co-signed a letter being sent to frequent fliers of their respective carriers, asking customers to contact Congress about the problem of market speculation, which they believe is driving up the price of oil.

"This pain can be alleviated, and that is why we are taking the extraordinary step of writing this joint letter to our customers," the letter states. A copy was received by The Associated Press on Wednesday.

..."We need your help," the letter to customers says. "Get more information and contact Congress."

Almost funny, really.

Arguably the worst customer-service industry in the nation, and their executives have the gall to turn to the very people whom they've consistently treated like garbage and ask them to make a populist plea to help their business.

You have to love how government action is so often met with cries about overregulation and demands to "let the market decide" until the corporations get into trouble. THEN, Congress can't get involved fast enough. It's also interesting to note that, while their alleged belt-tightening includes "cutting jobs, reducing capacity and (of course) imposing higher fees on customers," cutting executive compensation isn't anywhere on the list.

Their own paychecks safe, they turning around and charge for a single checked bag and even water, and now they want something from us?

All after battling a Passenger Bill of Rights?

Let 'em burn.

One silver bullet and two Vicodin...

Coming to a town near you: Alkaline Trio

"Emma"

Let's not irritate the human rights abusers

Schmuck.

TOYAKO, Japan (AP) — President Bush said Sunday he does not feel the need to boycott the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics to state his opposition to China's human rights record. Skipping the event would be an "affront" to the Chinese people, he said.

Bush spoke at a news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who announced that he also plans to attend the ceremonies. Other world leaders have decided not to go as a rebuke to China's violent crackdown on anti-government protests in Tibet.

Because previous "statements of opposition" have made such a great impact, huh?

Maybe it's just me, but it seems that the Chinese people find their government's treatment of domestic dissent a BIT more offensive than a snub by a foreign head of state. The spotlight on the world stage is a bright one, and, this summer, it's going to be focused, squarely, on China. This is exactly the wrong time for alleged leaders like El Presidente to simply smile for the cameras and lend respectability to the dog and pony show that the Chinese government is trotting out for global consumption. They wanted the attention and the economic boost the Olympics brings, so they should have to deal with it, warts and all.

Separated at birth?

Fictionalized Bigot

James Woods as Byron De La Beckwith



The Real Thing

Jesse Helms, (R-NC)
10.18.1921 - 07.04.2008

Over the years Helms has declared homosexuality "degenerate," and homosexuals "weak, morally sick wretches." (Newsweek, 12/5/94) In a tirade highlighting his routine opposition to AIDS research funding, Helms lashed out at the Kennedy-Hatch AIDS bill in 1988: "There is not one single case of AIDS in this country that cannot be traced in origin to sodomy." (States News Service, 5/17/88)

...And the man ABC News now describes as a "conservative icon" (8/22/01) in 1993 sang "Dixie" in an elevator to Carol Moseley-Braun, the first African-American woman elected to the Senate, bragging, "I'm going to make her cry. I'm going to sing Dixie until she cries." (Chicago Sun-Times, 8/5/93)

...A year before the election, when public polls showed Helms trailing by 20 points, he launched a Senate filibuster against the bill making the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. a national holiday. (David Broder, Washington Post, Aug, 29, 2001)

...Sen. Jesse Helms says the government should spend less money on people with AIDS because they got sick as a result of "deliberate, disgusting, revolting conduct," The New York Times reported Wednesday..."We've got to have some common sense about a disease transmitted by people deliberately engaging in unnatural acts," Helms told the Times.

Saturday Shuffle

Break Up the Family - Morrissey
Let's Live it Up - Brian Setzer Orchestra
Bloodied Up - Alkaline Trio
Where Have You Gone - Mike Doughty
Xich Vs. The Migra Zombies - Concrete Blonde y Los Illegals
L.M.L.Y.P. - Ween
Ironhead - Helmet
Fiberglass Jungle - The Crossfires
O'Malley's Bar - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Gentle Groove - Mother Love Bone

Pullman '08

Happy 4th.

An F-U to the fig leaf

Good:

According to a new Quinnipiac poll, as Joe Lieberman campaigns for McCain his approval rating at home is sinking:

Sen. Joseph Lieberman gets a 45 - 43 percent approval, down from 52 - 35 percent March 27 and his lowest score ever.

"Sen. Lieberman's approval rating has dropped below 50 percent for the first time in 14 years of polling, with nearly two-thirds of Democrats giving him low marks, probably because he is campaigning for Sen. John McCain," Dr. Schwartz said.

Democrats tend not to like Democratic representatives--even "independent Democrats"--campaigning for the Republican candidate.

Go figure.