Montel Williams is my new hero.

In a segment about the death of Heath Ledger where everyone was supposed to cluck their tongues and look sad while also insinuating he was a drug addict and wild partier, Williams, the former Marine, approached it another way.

My favorite part of this video is the single Fox technician who keeps trying to applaud. I feel you, bro!

Daily Kos said it isn’t known if Montel’s show was canceled as a result of this appearance, or if he already knew he was canned and felt freer to let it fly. Either way, he is right, right, dead straight right on correct. He also didn’t return after the break.

Fox should make this the first of a new series: “People Who Don’t Give a Shit About the So-Called Stars.” Next episode: People who don’t give a shit about Britney. Can I be on it?

Now that the 2008 presidential campaign has narrowed to four candidates — Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John McCain and Mitt Romney — one thing is clear: The next president of the United States will be a liberal.

It may seem counterintuitive to younger people but, back in the day, liberal Republicans were relatively common, and many of them were quite powerful: Pres. Teddy Roosevelt, Vice Pres. Nelson Rockefeller, New York City Mayor John Lindsey and Michigan Gov. George Romney (father of Mitt), to name a few.

In the Reagan era there was a concerted effort to reframe the word “liberal” to give it a negative connotation — the Republicans’ sneering construct of the “liberal media” was a product of this effort that is still with us today. As a degree on the scale of political ideology, “liberal” was replaced by “moderate” — “liberal Republicans” became “moderate Republicans.” Conversely, in order to make “conservative” a purely Republican association, the media were also complicit in Republicans’ rebranding of “conservative Democrats” as “moderate Democrats.” The result today is that in the public mind, only Republicans are “conservatives,” and only Democrats are “liberals.”

In fact, branding and framing aside, “liberal,” “moderate” and “conservative” are simply degrees on the ideological scale. Dennis Kucinich is more liberal than Hillary Clinton who is more liberal than Joe Lieberman who is more liberal than McCain who is more liberal than Tom DeLay, and vice versa.

While most people on the left would not consider either McCain or Romney to be liberals, doctrinaire conservatives — who are heavily invested in maintaining “liberal” as a slur — do.

In particular, leading rightwing propagandists like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity feel about McCain the way that liberals feel about Sen. Joe Lieberman. They hate him:

[…]

Jeb and Charlie in happier days

There have been a buttload of stories in Florida about Republican Gov. Charlie Crist endorsing Sen. John McCain in the primary. Most are like this.

The backing from the governor, who has an approval rating that hovers near 70 percent, could prove to be a crucial factor in persuading Republicans who have yet to make up their minds to vote for McCain…

”He’s a great American patriot. He’s a true American hero,” Crist said of McCain as the two appeared together on stage at a Republican dinner in St. Petersburg. “He’s a great friend and will do a great job for the United States.”

Yada yada. But the really big news here is not that Crist is paying McCain back for campaigning on the governor’s behalf in the 2006 Republican primary (even though he is). No, the whopper is the way Crist just keeps distancing himself from Jeb Bush.

Back in that 2006 race, Charlie made it look like he and Jeb were the best of pals, and that voting for Crist would be like voting for Jeb all over again. That worked, but from day one in office Charile has taken every opportunity to not only not do it Jeb’s way but to ignore the former governor’s bequest altogether.

Which brings us to endorsing McCain. As early as a year ago, Jeb let it be known the Mormon from Massachusetts was his guy.

Jeb Bush, who hasn’t publicly picked a favorite in the Republican presidential race, privately is talking up the candidacy of Mitt Romney and steering some of his closest advisers to the campaign.

The former Florida governor has said repeatedly he won’t be a candidate in 2008 despite encouragement from his father, the former president, and his brother, the current one. But Jeb Bush’s support, even tacit, would be critical in the state that decided the 2000 presidential election.

“Governor Bush said, ‘Before you commit, I want you to meet Mitt Romney. He is the kind of guy you will like no matter what,'” said former Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings. “The governor was very candid about the fact that he really liked this guy.”

It turns out Jeb’s support is, in fact, less than critical. Thanks to Charlie’s intense popularity and his big brother’s disgrace, Jeb’s support grows less important with each passing day.

Buck updated the list of former Jebbies who are now Mitties. The fact that Charlie Crist’s name is not among them speaks volumes about Jeb’s current influence and his prospects for future public office. Jeb who?

This could just be Robert Novak making mischief:

Illinois Democrats close to Sen. Barack Obama are quietly passing the word that John Edwards would be named attorney general in an Obama administration.

Installation at the Justice Department of multimillionaire trial lawyer Edwards would please not only the union leaders supporting him for president, but organized labor in general. The unions relish the prospect of an unequivocal labor partisan as the nation’s top legal officer.

It’s considered bad luck, or maybe hubristic, for primary candidates to start naming cabinet officials so the Obama campaign has been mum about Novak’s story.

Funny thing about this is, my friend and fellow political junkie, M. Tuttle, an Obama supporter, mentioned this possibility to me over lunch more than a month ago.

I don’t know. She seems a bit old for him:

Limbaugh, a vocal advocate of “family values,” has been divorced three times, and is currently unmarried.

Conservative radio talker Rush Limbaugh’s got a new sweetheart – and she’s nearly half his age.

Limbaugh, who turned 57 Jan. 12, told Page Two he’s been dating West Palm Beach resident Kathryn Rogers [who is 31] for the past six months.

Limbaugh, a radio entertainer known for his extreme rightwing views, is a vocal advocate of “family values” who has been divorced three times, and is currently unmarried. He said he met Rogers at a celebrity golf tournament near his home in Florida:

“We met four years ago when Kathryn worked for (golf great) Gary Player. There was a charity tournament. She was rounding up the celebrities to participate in the event. She called me and I played. It was at The Floridian (Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga’s private course near Stuart).

“We’ve stayed in touch since and started dating in the summer.”

Limbaugh introduced the blue-eyed blonde to the world Saturday night with a red carpet walk before dozens of paparazzi at [a charity event held at] Miami Beach’s Ritz-Carlton.

Rogers has the quintessential trophy girlfriend job:

[…]

What we’ve always thought! Romney doesn’t have a thought in his pretty, feathered little head. But he does hear voices.

Has anyone checked his back for mysterious bulges?

It’s hard to make the case that you’re the grownup of the Democratic party while getting a noogie from David Letterman, but John Edwards does.

Thanks to early voting, I have as of today now cast my ballot for John Edwards three times — in the 2004 primary, the 2004 general (as V.P. of course), and the 2008 presidential preference primary. May the third time be the charm. And while I haven’t talked to a single soul in my area who plans to vote for Clinton or Obama, you’d think from listening to the pundits that I wasted my vote.

As All Things Democrat asked, why are the standards so different for Edwards than for the Republican pack?

The TV talking heads sure seem in a hurry to narrow down the presidential nominee field which seems almost totally exclusive to Democrats, while a few of the piss-poor-showing Republicans, included among them those with big bucks, do not appear to be subjected to the same rush despite their poorer showings.

…what’s strange is that [Edwards has] got at least half the delegates of Obama and Clinton WHILE, where Republicans like Thompson and Giuliani barely have a handful of delegates BETWEEN them, pundits aren’t shouting to push Fred and Rudy off the campaign trail as they are with Edwards. Why? What’s the difference?

Thompson, of course, has since dropped out but the question remains. Are Hillary and Barack really that riveting? Not to me, and the more time goes on, the more I agree with my friend Joe from the credit union. Joe worries that the damage being done by Clinton and Obama to each other now will carry over to the eventual contest against whoever the Republicans pick. At first I disagreed with him but the lower the blows go, the more I see his point.

Hillary’s lackluster service on the Wal-Mart board of directors and Obama’s dubious (or as he calls it, “bone-headed”) 17-year dealings with Chicago developer Tony Rezko won’t go away once the contest goes wide. But the worst thing anyone can say about John Edwards is that he paid too much for a haircut.

Yes, may the third time be the charm.