That pesky liberal media is at it again. Here’s the headline from CNN:
68% Give Obama Speech a Thumbs-Up
Hmmm…so if 68 percent liked it, then I guess 32 percent didn’t, right? Wrong. Actually, almost everyone liked it.
Sixty-eight percent of speech-watchers questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey had a very positive reaction, with 24 percent indicating that they had a somewhat positive response and 8 percent indicating that they had a negative reaction.
Hold on, 68 percent were very positive, while another 24 percent were somewhat positive? So 92 percent were positive? But the headline says only 68 percent gave the speech a “thumbs-up.”
In fact, only 8 percent gave it a thumbs-down. But wait, there’s more.
Eighty-five percent of those polled said the president’s speech made them more optimistic about the direction the country is headed in over the next few years, with 11 percent indicating that the speech made them more pessimistic.
Eighty-two percent of speech-watchers say they support the economic plan Obama outlined in his prime-time address, with 17 percent opposing the proposal.
Yes, 85 percent said the speech made them feel more optimistic and 82 percent say they support it. And yet, we were told that only 68 percent give it a “thumbs-up.”
If that was the liberal media, I guess we can expect this headline from FOX:
Is it me or does Robert Gibbs just seem really nice? And doesn’t it sound like he says, “the dumbass don’t tell” policy? If so, right on, brother!
“Open for Questions” is a feature at Change.gov where people can submit questions directly to Pres.-Elect Obama. This is the second time such questions have been addressed.
During this second round, we decided to leave the voting open significantly longer, but even with that extra time we were surprised to see the final totals: 103,512 people submitted 76,031 questions and cast 4,713,083 votes. We can now be confident that the success of the first round was not just about a new trick, but just a hint of the willingness of the public to permanently change the way they interact with their government. There’s plenty of room to grow.
For this round we refined the process to make it more user-friendly, and broke out the questions into categories. We think this made for a more interesting experience, and ensured that a broader array of questions could get exposure. But we also wanted to try a new way of responding to the questions, so this time instead of text answers, we asked incoming White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs to sit down with us. Since there were so many popular questions in so many categories, we tried to pull out some of them that had been addressed previously by the President-elect or Vice President-elect in order to focus the video portion on questions that haven’t been as specifically addressed during the Transition.
Reid’s Rejects: From left, Jackson, Davis, and Jones
I knew eventually that the Democratic party’s leadership being infiltrated by Mormons would hurt us. I have made clear I believe Mormonism to be a racist, sexist, homophobic, fraudulent, and bizarre cult so if you’re coming in late and are astounded that I make no apology for my views, well…you’re coming in late.
Reid is clearly letting his Mormon beliefs override good sense, assuming he has any
Under the racial restrictions that lasted from the presidency of Brigham Young until 1978, persons with any black African ancestry could not hold the priesthood in the LDS Church and could not participate in some temple ordinances, such as the Endowment and celestial marriage…
The priesthood restriction was particularly limiting, because the LDS Church has a lay priesthood and all worthy male members may receive the priesthood. Young men are generally admitted to the Aaronic priesthood at age 12, and it is a significant rite of passage…Holders of the priesthood officiate at church meetings, perform blessings of healing, and manage church affairs. Excluding blacks from the priesthood meant that blacks could not hold significant church leadership roles or participate in certain spiritual events.
“I’ll support it, I’ll vote for it, move on,” the governor said of the Amendment 2 gay-marriage ban in an interview during a trip to tour flood-damaged areas in Central Florida. “It’s not top-tier for me, put it that way.”
When asked if he’ll spend time plugging Amendment 2, Crist said, “I don’t think so. I think I will campaign for candidates much more extensively — Sen. McCain.” The governor also reiterated his position of precluding the Republican Party of Florida from spending money to support the gay-marriage ban.
Of course, Charlie is affianced to a woman, Carole Rome, so if the amendment passes, it wouldn’t affect him. Of course, if that marriage only lasts six months and the whispers about Crist’s being gay turn out to be true, he’d want to keep his options open if the right fellow came along.
This video of the buffoonish morning crew at Fox News is laughable at first. The idea that the newsreaders and spokesmodels employed by the propaganda organ of the Bush White House political shop would spend five minutes criticizing another media outlet for bias is a real hoot. To be clear, Rachel Maddow in no way can be compared with sexual deviants like Dick Morris and Bill O’Reilly.
But then, at 01:20, the segment turns ugly when the media “expert” they’ve brought on, Tim Graham of Media Analysis MRC, the rightwing front group headed by Brent Bozell, feels it necessary to make the point that MSNBC’s new anchor, Rachel Maddow, is gay. He refers to her, sneeringly, as the “lesbian Air America host.”
Leaving aside the facts that no serious person evaluates Maddow’s performance, or her views, based on her sexuality, or that being gay is not always a marker for liberalism — there are millions of Republican lesbians — the Fox News staff should be careful about throwing stones inside their own glass house.
For example, there are old rumors that Fox News anchor Shephard Smith is gay — he refuses to talk about his personal life. And the son of Fox News anchor Brit Hume, Sandy Hume, a reporter for The Hill newspaper, committed suicide in 1998, at the same time rumors began circulating that he was having an affair with then-Rep. Bill Paxon (R-N.Y.), an up and coming member of the GOP House leadership and the husband of then-Rep. Susan Molinari (R-N.Y.) Paxon and Molinari both retired from the House soon after Sandy Hume’s suicide. (The fact that Paxon is a thoroughly unpleasant person would seem to make this story less than likely, but there is no accounting for taste.)
If Fox is going to use sexuality as a barometer about whom to take seriously, then the network should reconsider the air time they give professional Clinton-hater Dick Morris, who is a notorious adulterer, who consorts with prostitutes and who became a national laughingstock over revelations that he has a toe sucking fetish.
And then there is Fox’s biggest star, Bill O’Reilly, another flamboyant adulterer who famously cost the network millions when he was sued for making unwelcome sexual advances toward a female producer.
To be clear, Rachel Maddow in no way can be compared with sexual deviants like Morris and O’Reilly. The point is, the sexuality and/or sexual shenanigans of all these folks is irrelevant to the job they do — unless, of course, Fox chooses to make it an issue.
Events in the campaign this week offer a case study in how Fox News assists the right wing — in this case, the McCain campaign — disseminate disinformation:
Monday: Speaking before the Veterans of Foreign Wars, John McCain falsely claimed credit for supporting the 21st Century GI Bill, which was sponsored by Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.):
As a political proposition, it would have much easier for me to have just signed on to what I considered flawed legislation. But the people of Arizona, and of all America, expect more from their representatives than that, and instead I sought a better bill. I’m proud to say that the result is a law that better serves our military, better serves military families, and better serves the interests of our country.
In reality, the bill McCain “sought” was not Webb-Hagel, which he opposed because its tuition benefits were “too generous” to the troops. The version he sought was a different bill that he co-sponsored:
The GI Bill as approved in no way resembles McCain’s so-called proportional proposal. The GI Bill provides 100 percent tuition payments to those who have served 36 months in active duty, and gives 80 percent to those who have served 24 months. By contrast, under McCain’s proposal, a soldier would have had to serve four times as long — 12 years in active duty – to be eligible for the most generous benefits.
If McCain’s version had passed, service members would have to wait to start college until they were 30 years old or older.
In the end, McCain did not even bother to show up on June 26 to vote on the bill, which passed the Senate 92 to six. All six senators who voted against it were Republicans. (The only other senator who did not vote was Ted Kennedy, who had recently been diagnosed with a brain tumor.)
But McCain may have been prevaricating to the wrong crowd. Turns out VFW leaders supported the Webb-Hagel bill:
VFW’s deputy director for legislative affairs Eric Hilleman: The Graham-Burr-McCain plan is “very partisan and is seen as a way to convolute the GI bill, or to slow the Webb-Hagel proposal down.â€
VFW National Commander George Lisicki: “People are leaving after their first enlistment because they are tired of being shot at, and their families are tired of the frequent deployments … Whether they stay in four years or 20, we owe this newest, greatest generation the gift of education.â€
CAMERON: John McCain initially took some opposition to it [the GI Bill], because in McCain’s view, it didn’t proportionately give GI benefits to servicemen and women, depending on how long they were actually in active duty and service. He thought it should be a more proportionate award. He fought for it, it was inserted into the legislation, and in the end, McCain supported it.
In reality, the 12-year term was not “inserted in the legislation,” as Fox News asserted, and not only did McCain not “support” it, he didn’t even pause in his campaign long enough to vote for it “in the end.”
Either Fox did not bother to fact-check, or they were deliberately lying on McCain’s behalf.
Their engagement is barely a month old, and people are already asking questions about the buddyish appearance of the so-called romance between Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R-Gay) and his fiancee, Carole Rome.
The lovebirds: “My tan’s darker than yours”
They may as well be an old married couple.
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist’s sexy betrothed gave him a tie for his 52nd birthday Thursday.
“Well, it’s a …,” started Rome, about to reveal its brand. As a former New York City socialite, she did spend some time on Madison Avenue.
“Oh, let’s just keep that to ourselves,” Crist said, rolling his eyes, as he gently caressed the tie. “I hope it’s from Dillard’s.”
Strange that the Florida governor — whose hasty engagement is rumored to be more about trying to be picked as John McCain’s running mate than true love — would toss out Dillard’s, based in Arkansas, instead of Jacksonville’s own Stein Mart. Then again, sounds like he was in a hurry to cut Rome off before she gave away TMI about her finances.
Rome ran her family’s Halloween costume importing business until a few years ago, when she relinquished control to her sister and moved to Miami. No doubt she knows her way around a tie and Charlie’s is first-rate.
But I wonder what she’ll get him for Christmas. Maybe some really nice socks?
The subject of Florida Gov. Charlie Crist’s impending nuptials drew snickers from the crew at “Left, Right and Center,” my favorite weekly political chat show, which is produced by KCRW-FM, in Santa Monica.
The topic was “veep stakes,” and the moment of mirth came after guest host Lawrence O’Donnell, who represents the political center, asked Tony Blankley, the former editor of the Washington Times and the show’s token rightwinger, whether Mitt Romney had made a “downpayment” on the vice presidency by opting to eat his $45 million campaign debt.
Arianna Huffington, who represents the “independent progressive blogosphere” on the show, noted, “Well Gov. Crist also made a downpayment by announcing he’s getting married … So there are downpayments all around being made.”
Republicans really do think people are stupid. Honestly, who really thought this would work — a sudden announcement of marriage that appears to be, because it is, hastily arranged to make Crist a palatable candidate for vice president? It reminds me of George Bush Sr. saying he picked Dan Quayle to be his running mate because Quayle was good-looking and so would get the female vote.
Photo from the governor’s web site. Caption reads, “Governor Charlie Crist and Carol (sic) Rome with His Royal Highness, Charles Philip Arthur George, The Prince of Wales.”
Floridians who still read a morning newspaper drank their coffee over this bad news.
Florida’s economic slump is worse than state economists had predicted earlier this year, and now they say it’ll last about six months longer than previously expected.
Their February outlook had been for recovery to start about a year from now, but a new update says things probably won’t begin turning around until the end of 2009.
“It’s a bit more bleak than it was originally,” legislative economist Amy Baker said Thursday.
Carole Rome’s engagement ring
The housing market, which boomed bigger in Florida than the rest of the country, went bust-er here as well. Dried-up credit wells mean less businesses willing to take risks in the state. Tourists are staying home because of their own money woes, which leave them unable to afford the gas or airfare to come here, or the prices once they arrive. After all, one-day tickets to Disney’s Magic Kingdom are $71 each for ages 10 and up, and that’s just for park entry. A hamburger and soda will run you at least $10.
So it’s not looking good if you’re a Floridian…unless you’re Charlie Crist or his fiancee, Carole Rome. While we get the bad news back home, they’re whooping it up in Europe, schmoozing with royalty, ambassadors, and the media. In what is billed as an economic development mission, the governor and his intended are having a blast on the taxpayer’s dollar.
Rome’s soon to be ex-husband was said to be divorcing her for her profligate ways and expensive tastes. Charlie Crist, longtime “bachelor” and a lifer on the public dole, doesn’t even own a house. But thanks to people like me — and her willingness to marry a man long reported to be gay — Carole can live in the governor’s mansion and spend summers in Europe.
Republicans are great at lecturing the rest of us to pull our weight so government won’t have to provide for us. Are they thinking if we did, there would be more there for them?
The John McCain campaign scrubbed its website today to remove all references to its Alabama campaign chairman, Attorney General Troy King. King, who has frequently made homophobic statements, including calling gays the “downfall of society,” is the subject of rumors that his wife recently discovered him having sex with another man.
King, who is known for extremist views on religion and who has frequently made homophobic statements, including calling gays the “downfall of society,” is the subject of rumors that his wife recently discovered him having sex with another man.
We happened upon the scrubbing of the campaign website as we did fact-checking this afternoon. At about 2:30 p.m PDT, when we checked the McCain campaign website, we found a news release from January on this now-blank page announcing the Alabama politicians who had joined McCain’s “leadership team.” The list included King, who was indeed named state campaign chairman.
A few minutes after we published the article, a reader left a comment alerting us that the link to the McCain website led to the blank page that is there now.
A search on the campaign site for “Troy King” returned no results, however a Google search for “Troy King” and “John McCain” still produced a link to the now-blank McCain campaign webpage near the top of the results as of 4 p.m. today.
We happened to have the webpage open and so made the screen capture of it and grabbed the text:
From Trump’s “stolen election” lies, we can’t get no relief,
He carps on about stolen votes, but he never names the thief.
Somebody needs to tell this guy
Americans aren’t buying his lies,
And that he’s turned us into the United States of Disbelief.
“If you are committing fraud against the American people, all of us in public leadership should be trying to stop it and throw you in prison for enriching yourself off the American taxpayer.”
“We are done, Americans are done with endless conflict in the Middle East, spending trillions of dollars, American lives… this is insane and we have to call it for what it is.”
“The U.S. State Department announced on Monday that it has revoked more than 175,000 visas during President Donald Trump’s administration so far,” Fox News reports.
President Donald Trump is asking for $1,500,000 million for the military for next year. That’s close to $600 billion (adjusted for inflation) more than we were spending on the military in fiscal year 2025, before Trump took office, Alternet reports. This increase is huge by any measure. It comes to around $4,600 per household. It is around 8% of the total budget.
A new Emerson College survey of likely 2026 voters finds the Democrats with an 11-point advantage over the Republicans on the generic congressional ballot, leading 53% to 42%. President Trump holds a 39% job approval rating, consistent with the past two months, whereas his disapproval increased another point, to 57%.
A new American Research Group poll finds just 30% of Americans say they approve of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as president and 67% say they disapprove.
Wall Street Journal: “Around 40% of voters in the 2024 election said the economy was their top issue, far outstripping any other matter. And those voters favored Donald Trump by 60% to 38%. Many say they were moved by his pledges to tame inflation, rebuild U.S. infrastructure, cut red tape and trim government waste. … About a year and a half later, more voters disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy than approve, 61% to 35%, an average of polls by the Cook Political Report found this month.”
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist is refusing to 
The lovebirds: “My tan’s darker than yours”
Carole Rome’s engagement ring
