Year: 2005

Can’t Win ‘Em All

Trish

The Bunnypants Plan for Feeding the Social Security Budget into the Coffers of Our Buddies on Wall Street isn’t catching on the way previous successful initiatives like the Bunnypants Plan for Coalitionzing Iraq’s Oil and the Bunnypants Plan for Working Up Simple-Minded Christians About Non-Existent Threats from Gays and Constitution Supporters (aka People in Favor of Separation of Church and State) did. Wonder what’s wrong?

Gallup reported this week:

The overall picture for Bush remains lackluster — only 27% of Americans would like to see Congress pass a Republican-backed plan for Social Security this year… Also, just 35% of Americans today approve of the job Bush is doing on Social Security, while 58% disapprove.

Public reaction to the centerpiece of Bush’s reform plan — private accounts — remains more negative than positive –There has been no statistically significant change in support for private investment accounts since Gallup first tested this in December.

This is particularly disturbing because Bush has been really trying on this one. Still, his 60-state and counting (do you get the joke there?) tour at taxpayer expense is a bomb, and I mean that in a bad way. Even after he got desperate enough to pull out the ultimate carrot “needs-based Social Security” no one bit.

Yesterday’s White House “Press Gaggle” given by Trent Duffy aboard the Mississippi-bound Air Force One was hilarious.

Q: Trent, some Republican senators have expressed reservations openly in the last few days about the indexing plan that Bush announced on Thursday. You have Allen, and you also have Brownback, and some of the centrist Republicans, through aides, are also saying that their bosses are not inclined to support it… how can you push it through if you don’t even have full support of all the Republicans in the Senate?

MR. DUFFY: Well, the Senate Finance Committee is just getting started. But he welcomes the discussion. It’s the exact kind of reaction that the President sought to spark when he provided his proposal.

Q: Does that mean he’s open to other ideas to replace the indexing proposal he just made on Thursday?

MR. DUFFY: The President is open to all ideas, as he said — That’s what the President is most interested in, is providing the best solution.

Q: So the final approach that’s approved by Congress does not need to include this indexing proposal?

MR. DUFFY: Well, the President has put out his proposal; the Senate Finance Committee is just getting started. And we welcome an active debate in that committee about how best to address a solution —

Q: Where do we stand on the 60-day campaign — is he going to stop going around the country and talking about it? Is that phase over?

MR. DUFFY: Well, I think our presence on Air Force One, traveling to Mississippi as we speak, is evidence that the President will continue talking with the American people —

Q: Was there a strategy shift? Thomas is now going to try and get out ahead, and get something out to the House floor by June. Previously it was Grassley that was going to take the first move, but not until July. Was there a coordinated effort to get the House moving, to give it some momentum?

MR. DUFFY: Those legislative, tactical calls are going to be decided by the members of Congress — But the bottom line is, it is moving forward in both houses, and that’s exactly the kind of momentum that the President wanted to build —

Q: And Mississippi is the 26th state?

MR. DUFFY: I believe. Let me double-check on that.

Q: Virginia was 25, and the previous —

MR. DUFFY: Do we know, Ms. Godfrey, what state Mississippi is?

MS. GODFREY: I’ll have to check.

MR. DUFFY: We’ll provide an asterisk at the end of the gaggle —

Q: One other auto question. The President has been at a BMW plant in South Carolina. Now he’s going to a Nissan plant. He’s never been, as far as I know, to GM or Ford. Is there any significance there?

MR. DUFFY: I’ll check on what plants he’s visited or hasn’t visited, but he was invited by this plant to attend. I know that he’s been working with Senator Lott on coming down and visiting — All good? All right, thanks.

Footnotes that followed indicated that Mississippi is the 26th state to fail to embrace the President’s plan and that in fact, he has never visited a domestic automaker’s plant. And while they have never been asked inside, he did invite domestic automakers to the White House lawn one time to hear him read a speech that contained big words like “hydrogen,” “technology” and “fuel-efficiency.”

Another GOP Adulterous Hypocrite: Rep. Sherwood Was in Alleged Long-Term Extramarital Affair When He Voted 2004 ‘Marriage Protection Act’

Jon Ponder

Rep. Don Sherwood, right, who has represented Pennsylvania’s 10th District since 1998, is a wingnut conservative who voted for the 2004 “Marriage Protection Act” at the same time he was allegedly involved in on-going an extra-marital affair with a woman half his age.

The affair came to light when the girlfriend called the DC police claiming that Sherwood assaulted her:

Police responded to a 911 call on Sept. 15 from Cynthia Ore, 29, of Rockville, Md. She locked herself in a bathroom in Sherwood’s D Street apartment and told operators that Sherwood “choked her for no apparent reason” while giving her a backrub.

Sherwood, 64, told police he was giving Ore a backrub when she “jumped up” and ran to the bathroom.

Police said they saw no visible injuries on Ore’s neck, and Ore later backed off her story when questioned by police.

“Both parties have left out significant information or are not willing to discuss in detail what actually happened,” Washington Metropolitan Police stated in the incident report.

Ore said that she and Sherwood, who is married, have had an ongoing relationship since 1999, when the two met at a Young Republicans meeting. Sherwood has refused to specify the nature of their relationship, calling Ore “an acquaintance.”

As an adulterer who voted for a measure that supposedly protects the sanctity of marriage, Rep. Sherwood is in illustrious company. Then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich helped move the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) through the House of Representatives in 1996 while simultaneously conducting an adulterous affair with an aide. His counterpart, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, left his first wife for another woman, whom he gave a do-nothing job on his Senate staff. Additionally on DOMA, Rep. Bob Barr, who drafted the legislation, has been married three times. Rep. Bob Livingstone, who was tapped to take the Speakership from Gingrich, lost the position when it was revealed he had been involved in multiple kink-filled orgies, to which his wife was not invited, while supporting the GOP “values” agenda.

When asked about the political future for Rep. Sherwood – who allegedly physically abused his girlfriend and appears to be a typical hypocritical adulterous GOP sleazebag – Marge Matisko, an activist with the Luzerne County [PA] Republican Party said: “The congressman is a family man. When I think about family values, I think about the Don Sherwoods and Rick Santorums of the world.”

On that last point, Ms. Matisko, we wholeheartedly agree.

House Blend Has Actual Freeper Quotes™ on Robertson’s Latest Gaffe

Jon Ponder

Every normal American owes Pam Spaulding at Pam’s House Blend a debt of gratitude. She often risks getting slime on her Internets by visiting Freeperville to bring back a dose of buzz from the Dark Side, which she calls Actual Freeper Quotes™.

Here’s a taste of the AFQ in response to Pat Robertson’s statement on Sunday that our constitutionally mandated independent judiciary is a greater threat than Islamic terrorists :

“As much as i like the guy comments like these are over the line. I think the judiciary is a threat, but saying that a bunch of unelected judges are worse than terrorists who want to blow us up is silly. Robertson really should take back what he said.”

“Man oh man..this is SURE to raise the credibility of the Republican Party and conservatives in general. Get a grip, Pat.”

“I’m no fan of Robertson, but the basic hypothesis has some good arguments for it. AQ killed 3000 Americans, judges have killed 40,000,000 and counting.”

“What a stupid thing to say! This will of course be used against the cause of stopping judicial activism. With friends like this, who needs enemies? It’s as bad as the abortionist killers or the Phelps “God hates f**s” people for harming the cause of decency, pro-life, pro-family and judicial restraint.”

“Everyone please pray for Pat!”

“What a stupid thing to say, especially after the Delay fracas. He’s senile and should be replaced.”

“Only difference between Pat Roberts and someone like Paul Crouch is better clothes and smoother delivery. In his heart, he is a bitter little snake-oil salesman, nothing more.”

“He may not have worded it correctly, but I think his premise is not so off. Judges have the potential to take down the country more effectively than the terrorists. Particularly now that Al Queda has been checked. Not to mention that judges have allowed millions of babies to be killed through judicial activism. That is pretty serious stuff.”

Go read the rest….

ABC to Run Ad from Homophobic, Lying Hate Group

Jon Ponder

AmericaBlog:

This is really outrageous. According to the NYT, ABC is running an ad from hate group Focus on the Family during the season finale Monday of the hit primetime show Supernanny. This after CBS and NBC refused to run an ad from the United Church of Christ because it dared to be welcoming of gays.

Focus on the Family is a hate group and has a history of lying and distorting facts when speaking to the media. Any org that wanted to focus on them and challenge their lies in major stories could have made this group untouchable for any respectable media outlet years ago. Ditto the Traditional Values Coalition et al. But they’re considered repsectable enough to run ads on major networks but a Christian church is not?

Contact ABC News Chief Doug Westin: support@abcnews.go.com – or 212.456.6200. fax: 212.456.4292

Coulter Finds Love on the Down-Low

Jon Ponder

From the Gatecrasher column in the New York Daily News

OMG! Arch-conservative Ann Coulter is totally dating a Democrat on the down-low.

I hear the mighty righty is discreetly seeing a twentysomething country singer by the name of Rob Ryan.

And yes, Mr. Ryan is an out-and-proud Blue Stater.

The two have been spending nights together at her pad on the upper East Side.

“When they’re together they’re talking more about music than politics,” a pal of theirs told me…

Coulter, always a good sport, told me via E-mail: “I refuse to admit or deny whether Rob Ryan is a Democrat.”

Coulter, who frequently lies about her age, is in her mid-forties.

Poll: Bush Fails to Make His Case – Again

Jon Ponder

The first CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll since President Bush’s “news” conference on April 28 shows that former Andover cheerleader has failed again to rally the American public behind his plan to phase out Social Security. In fact, while 81 percent of the respondents agreed that the program is broken, only 35 percent liked the President’s approach. The poll also showed that Bush received an over-generous 48 percent approval for his job performance.

The news conference came after the President campaigned for his plan to end Social Security for 60 days at staged events packed with his supporters in mostly Red state venues. The White House hoped the events showcasing the President would gin up positive coverage on local news channels, but this plan apparently backfired.

What is difficult to calculate is how many viewers of local news coverage came to see Bush’s plan for what is – an attempt to make the Social Security safety net disappear in order to gain partisan advantage. Republicans don’t give a damn if we end up with millions of elderly Baby Boomers living in cardboard boxes in 20 years. Their stated goal is to end the two party system in the United States. By destroying Social Security, they will remove it as a reliable arrow in the Democrats’ quiver of political issues.

These are the same craven political masterminds who sent us to war in Iraq primarily to ensure that Bush would be a “war president” and thus win reelection in 2004, and who are about to destroy the parliamentary rules of the US Senate, thus laying waste to the last institution of civility in our republic, in order to pack the courts with Talibani judges who can be relied upon to roll back civil rights.

Democrats – and especially the MSM – dare not speak the truth about the Gops’ true goals lest they be labelled “librul” by corrupt conservatives like Rush Limbaugh and Tom DeLay and millions of their dittohead followers. And that factor, the demonization of the word “liberal” by the Right, may be the neatest trick of all. Shunning the liberal label has become so reflexive that it forces the Republicans’ opponents and their watchdogs to censor themselves, without any means for reprisal.

Runaway Bride Predictions, Olbermann vs. O’Reilly

Jon Ponder

From TVNewser:

Keith Olbermann, Countdown, Friday: “Those photos of this woman — I don’t know how recent they are. There’s just a feeling about those shots, with her eyes sort of bugging out, that you look at that and say, Is she going to run or do something?”

Bill O’Reilly, The O’Reilly Factor, Friday night: “The epidemic of crimes against women and children in America continues with the disappearance of 32-year old Jennifer Wilbanks from an Atlanta suburb.” Also: “It’s got to be a crime. A woman like that with a long history of responsibility. She had a steady job… She just wouldn’t bolt and not tell anybody.”

> Update: 7:13pm: “The epidemic of crimes against journalism in America is apparently a lot more serious than we thought,” Olbermann blogs…

Gays face same enemy as Jews in ’30s: hatred

Buck Banks

In today’s Miami Herald, Leonard Pitts Jr. examines the au courant tendency to label the crisi dujour as whatever’s “Holocaust.” In this case, it’s a gay holocaust. While drawing the distinction between capital H and little H holocausts, Pitts notes that the tendency of conservatives to want to limit freedoms, especially those of gays and lesbians, does harken back to the neo-fascist days of the late ’30s, early ’40s.

Gay Holocaust?

That was the subject line of an e-mail I received last week from ”Chris,” a lawyer in a red state. He wanted to know if anybody else sees a similarity between the beginning of the Holocaust — the nibbling away of rights and personhood that ultimately led to the attempted extermination of a people — and what is happening to gay people in American right now.

He knows it’s far-fetched. ”But,” he says, speaking of the conservative element that is pushing hardest against gay rights, “we are not dealing with normal people here.”

Chris concedes that there are differences between the plights of Jews and gays. “But they also have this in common — at one time in history, that time being the present for gays, they were the object of official government-sponsored hatred couched in the name of religion or morals.”

Here’s what I think:

The Holocaust is an atrocity unique in history, and I’m wary of appending modifiers: the ”this” holocaust or the ”that” holocaust. There’s a reason the word takes a capital h.

Which is not to say the lawyer is off base. I’ve long felt the current spate of laws — you can’t do this because you’re gay, can’t have that because you’re lesbian — bears a discomfitting resemblance to Germany in the 1930s.

Both spring from a mind-set that says a given people is so loathsome, so offensive to our sensibilities, that we are obliged to place them outside the circle of normal human compassion. We don’t have to hear their cries, don’t have to respect their humanity, don’t have to revere their tears, because they are less than we — and at the same time, are responsible for everything that scares or threatens us.

Whatever it is, it’s all their fault. Blame them, whoever ”them” may be.

WE’RE ALL HUMAN

My problem is that I see human dignity as all of a piece. I don’t know how to want it for me and mine but not for them and theirs. As Martin Luther King Jr. put it, we are caught in a network of mutuality. As Dick Cheney put it, freedom means freedom for everybody. As Cain put it, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

I always considered that the signature lesson of the Holocaust; always felt that in the largest sense, it was not about Jews and Aryans, but about humanity and inhumanity. The Holocaust was, after all, only hatred carried to its logical extreme, the predictable outcome of an environment where we countenance taking rights from ”them,” heaping scorn on ”them,” making scapegoats of “them.”

And who can deny that this describes the plight of gay Americans in 2005? Or that demagogic lawmakers are using this environment to further their own ambitions?

There used to be an expression in Southern politics. The candidate who lost because he had been found insufficiently draconian on racial issues was said to have been ”out-niggered.” These days, the worry seems to be that one might be ”out-homoed.” Consider, for instance, a law under consideration in Alabama to ban books with gay characters from public school libraries.

Books. With gay characters.

AN IMPORTANT QUESTION

It prompted a group of gay Alabamans to rise before a legislative committee and ask a pregnant question.

Why do you hate us?

And it strikes me that the same thing could have been asked by an Armenian in 1915, by a Bosnian Muslim in 1992, by a Rwandan in 1994 and, yes, by a Jew, in 1936.

We just don’t learn.

Ours is a stable and prosperous democracy, so no, I don’t predict train cars full of gays rolling toward death factories.

Still, the mind-set of aggrieved righteousness that allowed those trains to roll is not dissimilar from that which would ban gay people from public school libraries.

Maybe your instinct is to find the comparison unthinkable. Nobody is interning gays, nobody mass-murdering them.

You’re right. But ask yourself: How many would if they could?

Schwarzenegger Loads, Aims at Foot, Shoots

Jon Ponder

Marc Cooper writes in an op-ed in today’s Los Angeles Times that there was a whole lot less to the Minutemen Project than the media tried to portray. Organizers claimed that 1,000 patriotic citizens – many of them armed – were going to watch for illegal immigrants along Arizona’s border with Mexico for the entire month of April.

All Mexicans traveling north without proper documents got wind of the publicity and chose another route into the United States. The Minutemen noted the lack of illegal traffic along the Arizona border and declared victory. The media – and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger – fell for the ruse, and for the governor this could prove to be politcally fatal mistake. Coooper writes:

On its opening day, I could count no more than 135 participants, even at the two kickoff public rallies along the Arizona border. At one near the border town of Douglas, two dozen reporters and a handful of TV cameras swarmed over no more than 10 Minutemen — most of them sitting in lawn chairs or in pickup truck beds.

One Minuteman organizer admitted, “This thing was a dog-and-pony show designed to bring in the media and get the message out, and it worked.”

Illegal immigration is the “third rail” of politics for Republicans in California, but maybe Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger didn’t get the memo. Perhaps he was busy filming a Sci-Fi movie in 1994 and didn’t notice when his friend and advisor Pete Wilson ran for governor a second time using Proposition 187, the anti-immigrant initiative as a wedge issue. For Wilson, the campaign worked in the short term. He was reelected with comfortable margins. But for California Republicans, the campaign was a disaster. It energized California Latinos and drove millions of them into the Democratic Party. Many of these Latinos – especially younger males – switched parties to vote for the Terminator.

As disengaged as young male voters tend to be, you can bet they heard about this:

[On Thursday], Schwarzenegger called a conservative talk radio show in Los Angeles to blast a local Spanish-language television station for a billboard that “promotes illegal aliens to come in here, and that’s the last thing we need.” He went on to praise the controversial Minuteman Project, saying the group has done “a terrific job,” by putting hundreds of armed civilians in Arizona to stop illegal immigrants from crossing the Mexican border.

This is not a case of the Governor shoring up his base. Schwarzenegger is a liberal Republican who has no base among the far Right in his party. They’ll hold their noses and vote for him, or they’ll stay home. The votes he’ll need to push him over margins will come from Latinos who may identify with immigrants, and thus resent the anglos in the pick up trucks watching with binoculars and guns.

Jeff Gannon On HBO’s ‘Real Time’ with Bill Maher

Jon Ponder

I made a point of catching Jeff Gannon on Bill Maher’s HBO show last night. In fact, I’ve seen quite a few of the interviews this guy has done, and he is a piece of work.

In case you just woke up under a rock after many months and then tuned into Pensito Review to find out what’s going on in the world, “Jeff Gannon” is the nom de plume of a prostitute named James Guckert who worked out of the DC area using the nom de ho, “Bulldog.” Guckert invented his Jeff Gannon persona when he suddenly, with no prior journalism experience, started covering White House press briefings for a website called GOPUS.com, which subsequently changed its name to Talon News.

The story of how Gannon got access to the White House has yet to be revealed. The shameless libertines who run the White House and GOP Congress have no interest in getting to the root of this White House sex story. (So if Monica had been paid for sex with the president, there would have been no Starr investigation?) The powers that be are equally uninterested in knowing how a $200 per hour prostitute cleared a security check – or how he knew in advance when the bombing of Baghdad was going to start, or how he got inside information on the leaking of the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame.

If you want to know just about everything there is to know about Bulldog, go to AmericaBlog. The site’s editor, John Aravosis, broke much of this story, and he has posted a list of links to his Gannon coverage in the left hand column of the homepage. (Scroll down.)

Gannon did have one funny line last night:

“Usually the way it works,” Gannon said, “is people prostitute themselves AFTER they become reporters.”

Gannon has been openly begging to be invited to the White House Correspondents Dinner tonight but as of yesterday he’d received no offers. It’ll be interesting tonight to see if he shows up.