American Politics Journal -- Pundit Pap



"The Pundits, Flush With Pride" courtesy the Wizard of Whimsy.

Sunday, May 13, 2001 -- NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (APJP) -- The top topic was, of course, the FBI's revelation that they had "discovered" 3000 or so documents which terrorist Tim McVeigh's attorneys had never had the chance to see, and the chain of events that ensued: Justice Minister John Ash-KKKroft postponing McVeigh's execution one month, and McVeigh's lawyers hinting that McVeigh may now put up a fight. Naturally, there was also talk about the death penalty itself.

But two other topics filtered to the surface: California Gov. Gray Davis (D) came out swinging, and bloodied the Cheney-Card Administration over their shady handling of power shortages in California, apparently in the aid of some of Usurper Boy's biggest political contributors in the sleaziest quid-pro-quo of the last decade. And a number of political luminaries debated the budget and tax cuts.

After wasting the first minute of This Weak with a slickly-produced opening piece previewing all the "big issues" the show would handle this Sunday, Cokie led with an urgent piece of breaking news: the death of Perry Como. we're not making this up.

McVeigh defense attorney Nathan Chambers was the first guest. ABC News erroneously billed him as Tim McVeigh's lead attorney; Chambers corrected Sam Donaldson and said he was a member of the team. Nice job on that bit of research, ABC -- "the most trusted name in news." Yeah -- trusted to bear water for George W. Imbecile!

Chambers said that McVeigh is considering a number of options, with a final decision hinging on what the FBI documents contain -- in other words, McVeigh is in fact considering fighting his death sentence. Sam wasted the segment by asking too many hypotheticals, and implied that the Chambers team could not review all 3000-plus documents in 30 days.

Then Sam asked Chambers about comments made long ago by former McVeigh lawyer Steve Jones claiming that there are six to eight co-conspirators. Chambers deflected -- but acted as if he was doing his damnedest to imply that Jones is about as reliable as, say, Ted "What Arkansas Project?" Olson.

Chambers also lit into the FBI (which we now believe should stand for Freeh's Bureau of Incompetence), asking if indeed more documents would turn up.

Sam then turned to McVeigh prosecutor Beth Wilkinson, who characterized the debacle as an "unfortunate error" -- but she also said that her team had gone back to the FBI prior to McVeigh's trial to ask about the existence of any additional documents, but there was nothing in their computer database.

Now that strikes this writer as odd. The Bureau has a reputation for scrupulously documenting everything including documentation itself -- ESPECIALLY when the Bureau is involved in a high-profile case. So what gives? Was this an "escape valve" to delay the execution -- and perhaps allow his sentence to be commuted to life in prison, thereby depriving nutcase militia and patriot movement nutcases of a martyr?

Chambers said that she doubts there will be anything in the documents helpful to McVeigh.

Then Sam turned to Sen. Charles Grassley, who slammed the "management culture... cowboy culture" that puts image above procedure in high-profile cases. What a riot -- you could use that same rhetoric to slam the FBI's handling of Ruby Ridge or their acquiescence to the modern-day Torquemada, the disgraced pornographer and tobacco lawyer Kenneth Winston Starr. Sam talked about a report of "outdated" computers (obviously put out there so that the FBI can leverage the cash to buy better and more sophisticated toys to snoop on Americans). Much to our delight, Grassley slammed the meme of "outdated" machines. Sam talked about what were labeled on screen "FBI Missteps": the Wen Ho Lee mess, the Hanssen spying debacle, and tapes of wiretaps in the wake of the Birmingham church bombing that killed four little girls that magically appeared decades after the fact. Sam asked point-blank: is this Louis Freeh's fault? Grassley essentially said yes, in that Freeh has not challenged the "cowboy culture."

Wow -- Grassley was just hammering a not-so-stealth Clinton-hater. And Sam sounded indignant and condescending when he asked, "You're saying he was a prisoner of the corporate culture?" Grassley said he wants an FBI boss who will challenge the culture and enforce objective ratings and reviews of personnel. Should there be congressional hearings? Grassley said "absolutely," adding that Congress would "melt" in Freeh's presence.

Grassley then turned to "taxpayer relief" (which will barely cover price hikes in electricity and gas) -- and said there will be "no trigger" for the relief.

Following the break, George Stephanopoulos engaged in an edited taped interview with California governor Gray Davis. The gist: Davis slammed deregulation and said that a price cap must be re-imposed. Steph said the Bush regime won't go for it -- how would a price cap help the power "shortage"? Davis said that it would force utilities not to withhold energy and squeeze every penny out of California. So why not impose it yourself? Because federal regulators have the final say, said Davis -- and while he is not willing to play chicken right now, he may do so soon.

We predict he will. This is a major Achilles heel for Cheney and his Smirk puppet -- Davis can pin both the prices and shortages on the occupants of the executive branch.

"This is America... you don't charge $1900 a megawatt hour when you charged " under $40 last year. The culprit, said Davis, was Reliant Energy -- a "big time" Smirk supporter.

Steph said that Davis has to share the blame for not locking in long-term contracts. Davis said that the utilities turned him down, and slammed Bush's claim that his tax cut would be helpful to consumers because the giveback would be a "pittance" compared to what consumers will pay. Davis again slammed Big Time Cheney's lies about supply and power plants in California. Davis said that his goal is to hold down outrageous prices being charged by (Davis's emphasis) Texas companies; "the federal government is completely AWOL."

Surprised, Governor Davis? Don't be -- it's not the first time Little George has been AWOL!

Will Davis step in and take over the utilities? This was Davis's most important answer: "I'm not ruling anything in, I'm not ruling anything out."

Davis further hinted that if the utilities want deregulation, "they cannot take down the biggest state in America." And he put in one last shot at deregulation -- "you'd better pass on it BIG TIME unless you have more power than you need."

We tuned out a superficial puff piece on the queen of vehicular homicide, Laura Bush, which Cokie conducted in "honor" of Mother's Day. Honor? Too bad This Weak couldn't honor the holiday and find a mother who's succeeded in raising a well-behaved kid -- God knows, Hillary Clinton sure succeeded where Laura failed!

Issue one: "Tipping the courts." John "McLaugh-In" ranted about 31 appeals vacancies -- and admitted that Smirk is tilting the courts to the right! Jeez -- as if we haven't figured THAT out already, John. John also talked about the "blue slip" procedure that can stop a nominee from being ruled on by the Senate Judiciary Committee. "The year started with hanging chads -- and is marching on to blue slips!"

What a laugh -- we were wondering if McLaugh-In was going to hang the "blue slips" on "stupid" Florida voters with that bad analogy!

Pat Buchanan said -- catch this -- that Smirk is appeasing Dems and Dems are about to "Bork" slimy Ted Olson. That Pat! What a card. We say that Olson's problems have only begun -- and he should pray that all he gets is a "Borking." Can you say PERJURY, Pat?

Eleanor Clift said that eight years of GOP blue-slipping caused the hundred-plus vacancies, but now the GOP wants to stop blue slips and pack the courts with right-wing judges that will legislate from the bench. Tony Blankley said this is not mere Borking, but the Dems in lockstep. John called the American Bar Association a liberal interest group! Our sides were aching from the laughter at that line -- why are most of the ABA members WE know Republicans, John? Larry O'Donnell said that blue slips save the time filibustering would take. John mixed his pundit metaphors as he asked the panel if America wants "strict constructionists" or "judicial activists" -- the most interesting comment came from Larry O'Donnell, who said that the Democrats WANT a long floor debate on Chris Cox.

Is he ever right -- Cox would be exposed for the hard-right weasel that he is, and there are enough moderate GOPers in the Senate that he'd be toast. His fact-challenged "Cox Report" would surely be cited.

Tony said that paranoid fringe types don't need help to be paranoid. Buchanan whined about Ruby Ridge and Waco. Larry said that it raises issues about the death penalty -- and for the FBI to screw up like this is unforgivable. Eleanor called it a computer foul-up that feeds conspiracy theorists. The Group said they doubt McVeigh will not be put to death. Tony defended Freeh. Will McVeigh be executed on June 11?
Pat: No
Eleanor: No
Tony: It could be more than a year
Larry: It's crazy to execute McVeigh because there's talk that more people were involved
John: No

... until the goofy prediction question: "Will President Bush nominate Chris Cox to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals?" A unanimous "Yes" ensued.

The real question: will blue slips and Cox's sleazy past torpedo his nomination?

We tuned in for the second half of FNS. Holy cow --there was Gray Davis, mere minutes after his interview with Little Judas on This Weak!

Davis started his taped interview with Tony Snow by slamming price gouging by Texas energy companies as California's economy grew faster than the rest of the country (it's interesting to note Davis's talking about growth and business on FAUX as opposed to ABC). Davis said that there will soon be enough power plants for deregulation to actually work. Tony said that California's credit rating is bad -- and Davis said that Texas energy companies are gouging California, so he may impose a windfall profits tax and take control of power companies.

We loved Tony's reaction -- he seemed more upset about the taxes than the seizures. Amazingly, Tony did not fire back at Davis using the usual simplistic conserva-jingo.

Why would anyone want to do business with California given Davis's stand? Davis again slammed utilities for taking advantage of a short-term shortage to drain California of cash. He said Bush has been helpful on many issues -- but he must move on imposing temporary price caps: "I'm asking him to step up to the plate."

Interesting that Davis saved his baseball analogy for FAUX News and his AWOL "Big Time" comments for ABC. We suspect there's a reason that Davis was more gracious to Bush on FAUX News than on ABC: the attention-deficit-plagued Bogus POTUS probably only watches FAUX News Sunday and can't take more than one hour of pundit blather before he gets antsy like a sixth-grader who needs his Ritalin.

Tony said that the "energy mess" is Davis's problem -- when does it become Bush's mess? Davis said Thursday night, when Bush gives his energy speech -- unless he makes the right moves.

Following the break, Tony presented a new feature -- stories that slipped under the radar. Yes, he puts his conservative spin on the stories -- but picks "news" absurd enough to keep even us laughing.

Panel time! Brit Hume said that McVeigh's supporters hate the FBI anyway (who would've known) but he doubts McVeigh's lawyers will find anything in the "2000" documents headed their way. Mara Liarson... er, Liasson said that if there were anything exculpatory, the FBI would've kept the material hidden.

Juan Williams is not comfortable with the death penalty and prognosticated over the issue of the system making errors. Hume said the system worked -- but Williams said the FBI knew the spotlight was on them and they STILL blew it. Mara said that if 3,000 documents are missing in this case, what about other cases? Hume suddenly got defensive about the FBI. Heh-heh -- Lord forbid that exculpatory evidence about Wen Ho Lee should surface, huh, Brit? That would make your butt-monkey Freeh look even worse!

Talk turned to how awful those partisan Democrats are about sticking up for the little guy while Max Baucus cozies up to GOPers on the issue of tax givebacks for the rich... well, Mara didn't put it that way.

Tony played a clip of Orrin Hatch and Pat Leahy having a little dust-up in committee ON MIKE. Orrin was snippier than Snippy himself, expressing his anger to Leahy over the hold-up of sleazebag Teddy Olson's nomination. Leahy's cool comeback: c'mon, you have ten THOUSAND people in DOJ working hard. Orrin's arrogant comeback: "lookit" how fast we rammed Ass-KKKraft through committee when I was in charge!

We missed what the panel said about the exchange because we were laughing so hard! Go, Leahy!

The final segment celebrated the fifth anniversary of FNS -- and their emphasis on humorous segments, music and manipulation of images. Yes, their proud of their pro-right propaganda approach to the pundit show -- but we enjoy both the intentional and unintentional laughs, the fast pace of the program, and the scope of spin points they manage to cram into one hour per week.

Tim Russert's first guest was Robert Nigh, a lawyer for Tim McVeigh. Tim pressed Nigh on McVeigh's statement that he wants to be executed -- as if new evidence would not change such a "final" wish -- and on the comments that McVeigh had made to two authors in which he admits to bombing the Murrah Building and wants to "check out." The dry Nigh, who has the most monotonous voice we have heard on a pundit show in over a year (he sounds like a cross between sober version of Carlton the Doorman from the long-defunct Rhoda TV series and Ben Stein on Quaalude), said that McVeigh wishes to "reevaluate" his present situation.

Nigh also came out against the death penalty, saying it was time to stop the cycle of violence. Tim pressed Nigh on McVeigh's having called dead kids "collateral damage." Nigh pointed out that this is a military term used whenever soldiers end up killing civilians.

Next up: Sen. John McCain. Tim gave McCain the cue to slam the UN for "replacing" the U.S. with Sudan on the Human Rights Commission -- and McCain called for withholding UN dues.

Hey, John -- do you think the UN is trying to send us a message? Perhaps they want to make the point that Smirk's nominee for UN ambassador, John Negroponte, has been DIRECTLY tied to Central American "death squads"? Of course, most of the nations of the UN would readily agree that Sudan is not exactly one of the planet's best nations in the human rights arena. But they'd also agree that most of the world sees Negroponte as nothing less than a 21st-century fascist working for a cadre that stole the presidential election last year, as anybody doing a simple skimming of any recent week's worth of The Guardian, Le Monde or Asahi Shimbun would tell you. And that's not to mention that there are a lot of nations out there -- including democracies -- who see His Fraudulence's daddy as a criminal.

Talk turned to China. McCain sees no problem with cutting back on military-to-military contacts with China, and said that China "must choose to be a peaceful competitor [as opposed to] an adversary." McCain wants to see the spy plane being held on Hainan Island returned post-haste.

What would you say to Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein, who has stepped up firing on American planes, if you were President today? McCain said that America should be pushing for his overthrow and beefing up support for those who oppose him. Tim said that Smirk is thinking of reducing the number of flights over the no-fly zone; McCain wants them to be stepped up, with greater "security" for the flights.

"Can this president afford a $1.3 trillion tax cut over ten years AND a missile defense?" McCain is skeptical about Bush being able to do both -- and supports decreases in the "death" tax (it's called the ESTATE Tax, J.S.) and the marriage penalty. Will he support repealing the 18-cent-per-gallon gas tax? Yes; McCain would also "call" our friends in the Middle East for "help" and step up the push for alternate fuels.

Well, gee, J.J., why hasn't Daddy Bush done that already? Could it be that all his friends in the "energy" biz stand to make a bundle on a ginned-up "crisis" -- including a bundle for their OPEC schmoozing buddies? Neither Bush Sr. nor his imbecile son will raise a finger -- unless and until the political gain outweighs the money, which ain't likely.

A picture of Bush and McCain together was flashed on the screen as Tim pointed out the remaining friction between the two: "Have you become a thorn in his side?"

McCain tried to say no -- but he sure is, and we hope he stays that way. McCain has loads more charisma than Smirk. And he does have integrity -- he's a real war hero, while Smirk kicked some kid out of line so he could join the Texas Air National Guard -- then essentially deserted and got booted down to an enlisted man! His short temper reportedly has the Cheney-Card team in a wringer, too. Now, J.J. may be another hard-righter when you get down to the foundation of his politics, but he's a thousand times the man Smirk will ever be -- and for that reason alone he will always be a "thorn" in His Illegitimacy's side.

Next up -- Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), who disagreed with McCain's call to withhold UN dues, calling it "leaving the field" when we should be playing hardball. Kennedy also slammed missile defense as a boondoggle that provides NO protection against a suitcase or boat bomb; it is time, he said, to relieve international tensions (in other words: Snippy, stop pissing other countries off). Kennedy also cited bio-weapons, against which missile defense is useless. Kennedy said that intelligence agencies are providing good details on the real dangers (translation: Dr. Strange-feld's missile defense dreams are a mistake).

Where Kennedy should have been more emphatic was on the issue of missile defense as a destabilizing factor in global politics.

Tim brought up the "energy crisis." Kennedy even called the present situation an "energy crisis" but said that bad policy is rampant in the Bush League, and it's time for antitrust action against energy companies -- his brother did it with steel, Bush ought to do it for energy. Tim cited phony Washington Post numbers that "estimate" huge increases in demand. Kennedy pointed out that new technologies will change the supply-demand equation, and the "drill-drill-drill" solution is WRONG. On the tax cut program, Kennedy said "It's excessive and it's unfair... essentially a sham." Kennedy said that the Appropriations Committee was going to get active on the issue, and there should be SOME relief for the everyday workers who built this economy -- segueing into the need to fund education and health programs. Tim mentioned Nita Lowey's having given His Fraudulence an "F" on education in the Democrat radio address yesterday. Kennedy said that he was not interested in the politics of the issue -- but is interested in investing in kids.

Tim asked if Kennedy has been "sweet-talked" by Smirk on the education issue, as a Thursday Washington Post article said (Kennedy essentially said no), then undercut the premise of the question by asking why Kennedy objects to vouchers! Kennedy actually does not object to reading programs run by religious organizations.

Tim then bored us with a two-minute clip of Kennedy debating funding of parochial schools on MTP -- forty years ago! Good grief -- is Tim so lazy that he has to keep marking time with these irrelevant, boring Beat the Press reruns? As if that was not bad enough, Tim and Kennedy talked about the "Profile in Courage" award going to Gerald Ford for pardoning Nixon. We grabbed a double espresso and a couple No-Doz.

Things picked up when the issue of approving Dumb-Yuh's judicial "federalist" nominees came up. Kennedy conceded that two wrongs do not make a right (i.e. the blue slip debate), but nobody should assume that people are qualified to serve on the courts just because the president nominates them.

Translation: any connection to the Federalist Society could replace opposition to Rowe v. Wade in becoming a justified litmus test for judicial nominees.

We skipped the final segment, in which Tim pitted Phil Donahue against Pat Buchanan to debate the death penalty.

It's sickening -- all of a sudden, Pat is turning up like a bad penny on the GE-NBC crop of pundit shows. And that says a lot about GE chief Jack Welch and new NBC boss Andy Lack Of Integrity.

Topic one: Simian Boy's judicial nominees. Another painful clip of the knuckle-dragger attempting to read a simple statement was shown. I think he was trying to say something, though it's hard to tell. He STILL has not one clue as to what he's actually saying, EMPHasizING the wrong syllABles and punching up meaningless words, as usual. His facial expressions made him look more genetically damaged than Ed Grimley. (I must say!) The fact that anyone can continue to maintain that this guy is both engaged and in charge is laughable.

Then a few short clips of Dems: Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) saying that if nominees are picked because of their ideology and the direction they want to bring the court, then they will not be confirmed. (Yeah, right! We wish!) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) saying he hopes that these nominees aren't the best they have to choose from.

Then they tossed it to the panel. After hearing the exchange, I was left wondering just what is it that makes kids turn out like Bob Novakula and Kate (George Washington's Choppers) O'Beirne? Was it harsh toilet training? Someone ought to commission a study -- and quickly.

Discussion moved right along, with Margaret Carlson (she's the one without the bow tie) predicting that these Nimrod nominees will be confirmed and stating the obvious: the Repugs are breathtakingly hypocritical in their demand that the Dems' style of "thuggish sandbagging" of judicial nominees should end forthwith. She pointed out that Orrin and gang blocked 167 Clinton appointees, which is why there are so many vacancies for Smirk to fill.

Then came the good part. Wooden Teeth O'Beirne (are they on loan from the estate of George Washington or that of some other founding slaveholder?) started her claptrap, first stating how many judges were approved during Clinton's terms, and then bashing the left, making the usual loony generalizations. She said that the left needs these judges, since they've gotten used to winning using unelected federal judges since they can't win legislatively, and asserting that this whole judgeship thing is all about abortion. "They don't want any judge on any bench that doesn't think a woman should be able to have an abortion anytime during the 9 months for ANY reason."

O'Beirne thinks most people WANT conservative judges and spouted the nonsense crap that conservative judges interpret law instead of making law (which is nonsense, because they confuse a judge interpreting law and prescribing a remedy which they don't happen to like as the judge making law).

But then, Mark Shields made the EXCELLENT point that she should include the presidency in the things decided by the court!

Novakula approved of the "conservativeness" of the nominees, which should be enough to alarm anyone, again tried to characterize People for the American Way as an "extremist" group, and then scoffed at anyone considering Rep. Chris Cox as a right-winger.

Al Hunt started off by showing Kate how off-base she is by pointing out that the Repugs rejected THREE TIMES the number of Clinton nominees as the Dems did of Reagan's. He continued with a slam-dunk example of the Repugs small-minded games.

Smirk nominee John Roberts, he said, is well-respected, was a clerk for Rehnquist, and a senior partner in a major law firm. Hatch says he'll have hearings on him soon. Then there's Alan Snyder, a Clinton nominee. He was well-respected, had clerked for Rehnquist, and was senior partner in the exact same firm as Roberts. It took 231 days before a hearing on his nomination was held, and it was never acted upon!

Next topic: "edjumacation." A clip was shown of Edward Kennedy coming alive and denouncing the slashing of the Education Department budget by the Bushniks on the Senate floor (very refreshing, though Novak later said Kennedy was "screaming and yelling" because Kennedy "likes to scream and yell"). There followed a clip of the vomit-inducing Bill "Ipecac" Bennett, whose smarmy voice has also been known to trigger epileptic seizures. His pap was not worth comment.

Looking pissed-off that the right's loony ideas hadn't survived intact in the education spending measure, Novak the Undertaker bloviated that giving the Dems ANYTHING, ANYTHING AT ALL in the name of bi-partisanship was "surrender and capitulation."

Gee -- I wonder what old Bob would call the Dems behavior since Smirk was installed? Abject ankle-grabbing seems a fit description.

Then a clip of the knuckle-dragging dope was shown telling us that the solution to the serious energy crunch affecting millions is -- you guessed it -- a massive tax cut for the richest 1%! Stop laughing! He REALLY said that!

I have no doubt that he also thinks that a massive tax break to most wealthy will also keep raccoons out of your garbage, improve your love life, and fix that weird noise your car's been making lately. Truth is, it might allow you to be able to afford a new pair of work boots. (If you're very, very wealthy already, substitute an addition to your summer place -- the guys that break their backs with no health insurance to build your addition might get the boots.)

Every episode of Capitol Gang - which remains the best comedy series on CNN - ends with each panel ranting about The Outrage of the Week. But this week, you could say the real outrage was their guest, that bugged-out bug man from Sugarland, Tom DeLay, politics' answer to Max Cady (cue music from Cape Fear).

This DeLay guy is a certified liar and lunatic. I can say in full confidence that there's no one comparably bad on the left, not even someone remotely close. And this menace is a LEADER of the Republican Party!

To ensure a penetrating, hard-hitting interview, they had Walnutmouth O'Beirne interview the Napolion-complex-ridden DeLay.

He backed off his nick-name of "The Hammer," saying the press invented that and suggesting that he's really warm and cuddly (like a cactus crawling with scorpions).

On the media's treatment of the Chimp administration, DeLay gave a glimpse into his insidious effort to effectively spread right-wing lies and disinformation, saying that he and his ilk "have a strategy" to not ignore the press, but instead go around the press and directly to the public - which is a nicer way of saying that they chose instead to spread their dangerous venom through such vehicles as Freak Republic, Rush "I-Lost-Weight-and-So-Did-the-Cyst-on-My-Butt" Limbaugh, and various other loon magnets on AM radio and the Internetnet where seriously deranged, ignorant, and incredibly gullible people are taken seriously by similar people whose cheese slipped off their cracker long ago.

DeLay then made a "Freeper Funny" by referring to CNN as the "Clinton News Network." I almost ripped a stitch laughing. Who says the conservatives don't have a sense of humor? Well, I guess CNN's extreme bias toward Clinton was just too obvious to escape notice by those ever-vigilant and alert right-wingers. Hell, without CNN working 24/7 for our side, Gore might have lost the election! Make time to thank CNN for their strong pro-Clinton, pro-Gore coverage (cough).

He regurgitated the false excuse for the energy crisis by blaming it on Clinton's supposed lack of an energy policy. All I recall is that there wasn't an energy crisis in the past 8 years. Maybe we didn't need one! And we'd be much better off without Oily Dick and the gang's "energy policy" of letting oil and mining corporations dictate our country's policy while ignoring opposing positions.

Bug Boy then said that the energy crunch, blackouts, high prices (and presumably the heartache of psoriasis) are all caused by Clinton's "very extremist environmental approach."

On McCain-Feingold: "[T]his is Big Government regulation of our most basic freedom of speech, our freedom to assemble, and our freedom to petition our Government." HUH? I think most intelligent people realize that McCain-Feingold is at least a step towards making sure Tommy's treasured freedoms are not reserved for only the highest bidders.

And DeLay's attempt to portray it as an assault on our revered Constitution is a sickening attempt to divert focus from this reality: if you don't have millions, you don't get heard.

And I think Bug Boy made some news in revealing that McCain-Feingold infringes on our right to assemble! Wow! We should be outraged! (What the heck, why not throw in a few extra freedoms just to punch it up for the red meat ditto-monkeys?)

Following this assault on reason and common sense, Mark Shields interviewed Richard Holbrooke, which by comparison was a breath of clean air after the stench of DeLay. Holbrooke brought up many facts that are not being reported and provided a balanced and informed perspective on the mess Dim Son's He-Man Club has caused in the UN.

His primary message was to caution against blaming the UN as an organization, but rather than the screw-ups that led to this situation in the first place.

Holbrooke refused to take Margaret's bait and blame this on Smirk, showing vastly more class than DeLay -- but Holbrooke made it clear in his explanations that these setbacks and embarrassments should never have happened.

This is a guy who knows how things REALLY work in the UN, and his insights do not square with the manner in which this issue is being presented and spun by the Sabbath gasbags -- or the Smirk "administrication".

Termite Teeth got in the last word, whining in a dismissive way that this is just the work of "the unholy alliance of our so-called friends and enemies that get their kicks out of kicking the U.S. around."

Well Kate, if your fearless leader wasn't such a moron, maybe they wouldn't take such joy in it, don't ya think?

Shields: The Dems challenging the right of the Republican Governor of Massachusetts, expecting with twins, to conduct her duties by telephone.

Novakula: To his credit -- and while not abandoning the conservative stance against government appropriating private property -- The Prince of Darkness came out against the Oily Dick Energy Committee's proposal to impose eminent domain in order to enable energy corporations to force the sale of land for power lines.

Carlson: The fact that the "reality" show Survivor isn't real, and uses body doubles and re-shoots scenes. Duh!

O'Beirne: As usual, the true outrage of the week is Kate's wild and uninformed attempts to carry water for Bush baby's administration. The Democrats, she said, are guilty of a "shameless partisan payback" for the Chimp's "victory" in Florida.

It seems O'Beirne thinks that their opposition to Ted Olson being appointed Solicitor General is a dishonorable thing. Ted Olson (a man with the face of a 80-year-old yet curiously has what appears to be an 18-year-old's hair) is a lying, scheming, and treacherous backstage hatchet man for the likes of Richard Mellon Scaife, and was up to his 18-year-old hairline in the "Arkansas Project" that sought nothing less than to bring down by ANY means necessary an elected President of the U.S. This guy LIED to the judiciary committee when he denied his involvement -- and everyone knows it, even himself, as he backtracked when answering further written questions from Patrick Leahy. His sins are too extensive to list here.

Kate thinks it's Democratic "persecution" to point these things out. She tries to discredit these reports by spewing this tripe:

"To avoid appointing the eminently qualified Olson, Dems hyped a bogus story based on a discredited source with an ax to grind about Olson's alleged involvement in a perfectly legitimate anti-Clinton media investigation."

Sending a team of lawyers into Arkansas with an unlimited budget to pay for dirt is "a perfectly legitimate anti-Clinton media investigation." Huh??!! And have you ever seen so many "hot-button" words packed into a short paragraph? Amazing.

Since this intentionally vague dig seems directed at the reporting of Joe Conason and Gene Lyons, two reporters with sterling credibility and credentials, I would dearly love to hear their reaction. I'd also like Walnutmouth to explain exactly how they've been discredited since I've yet to hear it.

And what ax do they have to grind, since I've never been able to detect any? Could it be that Conason's and Lyons's extensive investigation of the Arkansas Project might have influenced their opinion of Olson, and not in a good way? Perhaps his willingness to orchestrate sleazy right-wing schemes to humiliate and spread vicious untrue rumors about the Clintons affected their opinion of him? Perhaps finding Olson funneling millions in payoffs to anyone that supposedly had something, ANYTHING on Clinton, may have influenced the opinions of Joe and Gene? Maybe they might have such an opinion because they found that within the labyrinth of connections between Starr, the Paula Jones team, and the other shadowy operatives in the Scaife network, Olson is always the link among them? All this might have caused Conason and Lyons to develop a very well-informed and reasonable opinion of him, that opinion being that Olson should not be nominated, let alone appointed, to the highest legal stratum of government -- especially one having control over who gets nominated to the federal bench.

Hunt got the last outrage: the FBI's outrageous screw up regarding evidence not produced during discovery in the McVeigh trial.

Dave Gonzo used to be a disgruntled executive at a record label; now he's a disgruntled political commentator.
Morrie Friendly is a political consultant, retired advisor to GOP officials, and golf hustler who lives in the Beltway suburbs.
Dash Riprock welcomes your comments, kudos, or withering damnation at dashriprockapj@hotmail.com. He also accepts donations to his non-profit “It’s great to have food to eat” fund.



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