Bill Kristol's Brain

Happy 4th of July!

If we do not hang together, we shall surely hang separately.-Thomas Paine

Another Gutless Wonder in the Journalistic Ranks

This is eventually another story about a gutless CYA reporter, but indulge me for just a minute while I provide background...

Les Otten, former very peripheral and marginalized Red Sox part owner and serial business flop (he somehow screwed up skiing in Maine and is currently pushing wood pellets as the Next Big Thing), is running for governor, as a Republican, of course. Whoop-de-fucking do. Otten has always struck me as something of a C-list mogul wannabe, considerably overimpressed with his own cleverness, who is always trying desperately to figure out the big deal that will finally establish him as the next Donald Trump. In other words, as a friend of mine likes to say, all frosting and no cake, an unctuous bore.

Now, I don't think Otten even has a shot in the GOP primary, much less the general election, but that's not what this is about. Evidently, he's taken copying Democrats' 2008 tech advantage a bit too far, plagiarizing Barack Obama's logo and website.  If you don't think so, recall the Obama logo:

 

and compare it to the Otten logo:

 

Not to mention the website is nearly identical. Edie Smith, however, speaking for the campaign, denies ripping off the Obama logo (and then says even if they did, the Obamacans ripped it off from Pepsi). Uh-huh. Sorry, Edie, but it looks to me and to anybody else with a teaspoon of brains that the Otten crowd has been taking campaign advice from copycat extraordinaire Sarah Palin. At the very least, the similarities between the sites and logos are undeniable.  But here is where our ball-less MSM makes a joke of itself again. This is how Susan Cover of the Kennebec Journal reported the story:

The Democrats claim Otten's site looks a lot like the campaign site used by President Barack Obama.

Jesus, these cowards couldn't report on their own mugging. I, of course, fired off a snarky email to the owner of the byline:

Jesus, you guys have no balls.

 

"The Democrats claim Otten's site looks a lot like the campaign site used by President Barack Obama."

 

It is NOT biased reporting to LOOK AT THE SITES and report that they DO LOOK A LOT ALIKE. That is not ascribing motive. That is not saying the Otten exploratory committee did something it shouldn't have. But any two-year-old with normal vision can SEE THE SITES ARE ALIKE. What, if you were writing a story about a burning house, would you report it as "firemen claim that this house is on fire" when all you had to do was look and see the flames shooting out? What is the matter with you so-called journalists? This is how we ended up in Iraq-cowardly, gutless reporting. It's how you've all come to ruin yourselves.

 

We'll see if I get back a response. I never have yet. But at least maybe eventually I'll make SOMEBODY think about being something other than a gutless media parrot the next time they put out a story.

From My Inbox

Happy Father's Day

...to all the fathers and fathers-to-be out there. If you have your dad with you today, give him an extra hug and kiss for all of us who wish we could do the same for ours, even for just one more day.  I love and miss you, Dad.

I'll be away in a land of no internets for a week. If you need me, you can find me here.  See you when I get back!

Lindsay Graham Confesses

Sort of.

A born-again Christian and a crusader for traditional values, Ensign was a member of the Promise Keepers, a Christian evangelical ministry that emphasizes family values. In a statement, Promise Keepers said that the group “prays for John Ensign, and we are encouraged that he is pursuing reconciliation with his family.” Most Republicans withheld judgment, and none called on him to resign. Still, the story of his affair continues to unfold, and more damaging details could add pressure on the senator to resign, aides and strategists said.

“I think he will be welcomed back by his colleagues and go back to being a good senator,” said Sen Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who said Ensign shouldn’t have resigned his leadership spot.

Graham downplayed the political impact this would have on the GOP, saying, “Most Americans look at this as a personal situation.”

Graham let out a laugh and said: “I’ve got plenty of sins that I’m not going to share with anyone else.”

You don't suppose any of those sins Lindsay's talking about involve...Joe Lieberman, do you? I mean, they *are* always together, and what if, one night on the campaign trail they had too much to drink and the stress of it all just got to be too much and Joe "accidentally" stumbled into Lindsay's room and one thing led to another and then...

(Dunks keyboard in ammonia, jumps up and runs into bathroom with hand over mouth) 

EEEWWWWWW!!!!!! GROSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Right-Wing Reign Of Terror Intensifies

First, they kill cops, then a physician, then an African-American security guard at a Holocaust museum...and now they take aim at a Mexican father and his young daughter inside their own home.

A female vigilante from an anti-illegal immigration group led a raid on a house where a man and his nine-year-old daughter were shot dead, it emerged today.

Shawna Forde, 41, and two others allegedly dressed as law enforcement officers and forced their way into the family's rural home just ten miles from the Mexican border.

Brisenia Flores and her 29-year-old father, Raul Junior Flores, died and Brisenia's mother, who has not been named, was wounded in the attack.

Forde,  Jason Eugene Bush, 34, and Albert Robert Gaxiola, 42, have been charged with first degree murder along with other charges said Sheriff Clarence Dupnic of Pima County, Arizona.

Forde and Bush are part of Minutemen American Defence, a small border watch group in Arizona whose mottos are 'Doing the job our Government won't do' and 'Defending America's borders'.

Lou Dobbs is running over there right now to post bail, and has announced plans to hold a bake sale to raise money for the group's legal defense fund.

Glad to Know

It may have been initially a hideous and bloody sham built on a house of cards, but at least the Iraq war has generated some momentum in ensuring that good old Western-style democracy has finally been spread to the mean streets in the Middle East! The will of the people is finally beginning to be realized!

Or not.



Well, at least it gives the neocon crowd hope that Israel may yet do the US's dirty work over there. Assholes.

Rick Roll O'Reilly

YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!!!!!!!!

The Palins are all up in arms over a Letterman list:

Letterman had made several jokes on Monday's monologue about the Palin family's visit to New York.

His Top Ten list featured "Highlights of Sarah Palin's Trip," and included: "Bought makeup at Bloomingdale's to update her 'slutty flight attendant' look."

But the diciest joke centered on the family attending a Yankees baseball game.

Letterman said "an awkward moment" occurred for Palin when, "during the seventh inning, her daughter was knocked up by (Yankee third baseman) Alex Rodriguez."

Without naming her, the joke seemed to refer to Palin's 18-year-old daughter Bristol, an unwed mother.

But it was 14-year-old daughter Willow, not Bristol, who had been at the game.

Todd Palin issued a statement that said "any 'jokes' about raping my 14-year-old are despicable."

And Sarah Palin charged Letterman with "sexually perverted comments made by a 62-year-old male celebrity."

See, now, here's the thing...Sarah Palin opposes sex ed (her exact words: "I am opposed to explicit sex education."), as well as any programs that do not condemn sex before marriage. She and her family are also evangelicals who live in Alaska. Given that a) evangelical teens have sex earlier than do other teens, b) abstinence only education leads to unsafe sex and unintended pregnancy, c) Alaskan teens are leading the charge in unintended pregnancies, and d) Alex Rodriguez is a hound...I would say that Dave's remarks, while tasteless, were more probably prophetic than perverted. Frankly, Willow will have to be very strong to resist following the Yellow Brick Road of early sex and pregnancy paved for her by her mother. Good karma to her in her quest.  

And if she can't resist? Well, Sarah Stupid will have nobody but herself to blame, although, as we've seen time and again, it won't stop her from trying...

Asked about how she felt about being thisclose to a penis for the first time since Dorothy was conceived, Babs chuckled and replied, "So many of us here married to Bushies here, you know, were undersexed anyway, so this--this is working very well for us."