That's SENATOR Franken, You Little Wingnut!

(With apologies to Gary Trudeau and the Chairman of the Board.)

Unleash the 57% of an Al Franken Decade!

Minnesota Supreme Court rules unanimously, Norm Coleman finally concedes so as to spend less time posing with his family.

Smooth Operator

If I had a plan for wooing my significant other back into the fold this would be about the worst strategy possible.

During an emotional interview at his Statehouse office with The Associated Press on Tuesday, Sanford said Chapur is his soul mate but he's trying to fall back in love with his wife.

Yeah, that lines a sure winner with Mrs. Sanford, Jackass.

Chapur is the love of his life?

This is turning into CORNPONE EDWARD & MRS. SIMPSON.

Banned Words of 2010™: Q2 Update

Because it's never too early to put the world on notice ...

New items in bold. As always, add your suggestions in comments, tune in for future updates, and join us in December for year-end list culling.

1. Recession
2. Gunman
3. Retention bonus
4. Lockdown
5. Too big to fail
6. Octomom
7. Toxic assets
8. Stress Test
9. Obamism
10. Green shoots (re the economy)
11. Temperament
12. The New New
13. Twitter
14. Bánh mì (It's a sandwich, people!)
    
15. Swarovski crystals
16. Empathy
    
17. New media, including but not limited to "Social Networking"
18. Closely watched yardstick (Athenawise from comments)
19. Emboldended (The Kenosha Kid from comments)
20. Cougar (Jay C from comments)
    

Deep Bench

Barack Obama is a truly gifted politician, though -- as ever a triangulating one [one commonality I always saw between he and Hillary Clinton]. But all-in-all an adroit one, who reaches the great majority of Americans -- and with luck will continue to do so.

But even if he doesn't, the Republicans remain truly his best ally on the road to a second term.

Who are the GOP contenders? Williard Romney, Newt Gingrich, and the Crazy Queen of Alaska.

In the aftermath of the November election, the conventional wisdom among Palin’s supporters in the Republican establishment was that she should go home, keep her head down, show that she could govern effectively, and quietly educate herself about foreign and domestic policy with the help of a cadre of experienced advisers. She has done none of this.

And though the disaster of Sarah Palin is ultimately as much, if not more, McCain's fault that any other (in an election he'd probably have lost anyway in only slightly less of a defeat) there is a moment when you feel some humanity for McCain...

Election Night brought what McCain aides saw as the final indignity. Palin decided she would make her own speech at the ticket’s farewell to the faithful, at the Arizona Biltmore, in Phoenix. When aides went to load McCain’s concession speech into the teleprompter, they found a concession speech for Palin—written by Bush speechwriter Matthew Scully, who had also been the principal drafter of her convention speech—already on the system. Schmidt and Salter told Palin that there was no tradition of Election Night speeches by running mates, and that she wouldn’t be giving one. Palin was insistent. “Are those John’s wishes?” she asked. They were, she was told. But Palin took the issue to McCain himself, raising it on the walk from his suite to the outdoor rally. Again the answer was no.

Here's a guy who's dreams of being President (and face it, he'd had that dream for about the whole length of the Republic's history) have been forever dashed and the Queen of Wasilla wants to kick off 2012 over his benediction.

I do have to say this is my favorite part:

More than once in my travels in Alaska, people brought up, without prompting, the question of Palin’s extravagant self-regard. Several told me, independently of one another, that they had consulted the definition of “narcissistic personality disorder” in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders—“a pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy”—and thought it fit her perfectly. When Trig was born, Palin wrote an e-mail letter to friends and relatives, describing the belated news of her pregnancy and detailing Trig’s condition; she wrote the e-mail not in her own name but in God’s, and signed it “Trig’s Creator, Your Heavenly Father.”

(pic via Something Awful)

I'm a couple days late

But not too surprisingly the title of biggest moron on the internet has been locked up for all eternity. What a pity for Jonah Goldberg, Cliff May, Michael Goldfarb, Andy McCartney and the favorite at the turn, K-Lo. I give you Jack Cahill (well, actually Scott Kaufman gives you) of the ironically, comically, named 'American Thinker'.

Returning to the exotic, in his Indonesian backyard Obama discovered two "birds of paradise" running wild as well as chickens, ducks, and a "yellow dog with a baleful howl." In [Ayers'] Fugitive Days, there is even more "howling" than there is in Dreams . . . In [A Kind and Just Parent], he talks specifically about a "yellow dog." And he uses the word "baleful" to describe an "eye" in Fugitive Days. For the record, "baleful" means "threatening harm." I had to look it up.

You did read that right. Cashill did cite as "A-level" evidence the fact that Ayers and Obama used a word he didn't know, despite his being the Executive Editor of Kansas City’s premier business publication, Ingram’s Magazine; despite his having written for Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The Weekly Standard; despite his having authored five books of non-fiction; and despite the word "baleful" having appeared in print 342 times in the past six months alone. Granted, all those appearances were in high-minded literary publications like Newsday ("[w]ith his baleful countenance, wild hair, sonorous baritone and sage pronouncements") or leftist rags like The Washington Times ("warn them in baleful tones if they've forgotten, say, the Constitution"), so it would be unreasonable to expect Cashill to have been familiar with the word . . . or would be, were it not for the fact that it also appears 19 times in the pages of the American Thinker, the publication for which Cashill penned this tripe. (Seems he can begin his careful literary analysis of the other 848,000 potential ghost writers closer to home.)

Well, since you put it that way

The whole bizarre aspect of the Sanford thing (and when you get down to it outside of the immediate family, that's what it is, bizarre [much like Edwards and his affair]) it makes you lose focus on other types of infidelities.

For example, the one that combines all types of "affairs" and blends them into a big stew of hypocrisy:

[John] Ensign, 51, admits to an eight-month intimate relationship with Cynthia Hampton, 46, longtime wife of Doug Hampton and longer-time friend of Darlene Ensign, the senator's wife. Cynthia and Darlene have known each other since high school in Orange County, Calif.

The affair started in December 2007, flared dangerously when the Ensigns separated the following April, then finally ended last summer, with the senator and his wife reconciled and in counseling. By autumn everyone was back in their handsomely landscaped houses in gated communities on opposite sides of Crestdale Lane.

"Darlene, Cindy, John and Doug are all kind of the same decent-character people," said Darlene's brother, Jeff Sciarretta, who owns a tile business in town. "The story really begins and ends with, you simply had people who had known each other for a while and were having problems in their marriage, and that's how they got together.

"John not being innocent, Cindy not being innocent, they found mutual companionship, sympathy. The typical thing."

Except: Both of the Hamptons worked for John Ensign. Doug was a senior aide in the Russell Senate Office Building. Cindy was treasurer for his campaign. The employment situation alone presented whole new vistas of complication in a situation that, in the least public workplace, would already have been as delicate as emptied eggshells. And this was in the Senate.

Do Terry Hatcher and Eva Longoria work their way into this somewhere?

Michelle Bachmann takes a break, someone pitches in

It is difficult to be insane 365 days a year. Occasionally one has to sit back and commune quietly for a day and ask God, with whom you think you have a personal relationship, to smite ACORN. Apparently this is what Michelle Bachmann was doing yesterday because somebody stepped up in the Minnesota GOP to grab the mantle of crazy for just one day.

As an Iowan, I would ask someone to step up and let Steve King take a day off once in a while.

Anyhoo, I give you John Kline's thoughts, to use the term liberally (he hates that), on Franken v. Coleman:

I would like to see the Minnesota Supreme Court say there isn’t a winner here. There is not a winner. We cannot declare a winner...

But this is truly unique. I don’t know that anybody knows of anything like this anywhere in the country, ever, where you had a race this close and no reasonable way to resolve it.

I'm sure John Kline said the same thing about Bush v. Gore. Oh wait, that race had a reasonable way to resolve available, but the Supreme Court decided against that.

-- Good thing, according to Kline, Bush v. Gore never happened. Whew.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Every Picture Tells a Story

I look at this one and see a Tennessee Williams play in the making.

Write the plot in comments.

The Rapture is Nigh!!!!

As if Michael Jackson, Billy Mays and now Fred Travelena's departure from this earth did not tell us already, this is truly the AGE of MIRACLES!




WWJD for a Klondike Bar?

You heard it here first

What purports to be the "John Edwards Sex Tape" (and let me just add, "um, no thank you") will be found.

And it will end up consisting of nothing more than Rielle Hunter screaming things about "whitey" for about 15 minutes.

Twats, enhanced reality version

(pic from Driftglass)

Projection, it's a Village specialty

Only in Washington could the guy on the left feel free to say "You're such a Dick".

Just remember everybody

It's been three days since Michael Jackson died...and since it didn't happen with Reagan there's still a possibility. I'm just throwin' it out there, all Terry Moran-like.

Keep a close eye on your elementary schoolers.

Open Letter to Democrats

In this day and age of Obama, I wish to remind Democrats of one simple and unavoidable fact:  our vote for Democratic candidates is not to be assumed.

In several states around the country, Democratic governors and legislatures appear to be in a bizarre game of onedownmanship! Who can cut education more?  Who can balance their state's budgets while cutting funding for public services while still giving out tax giveaways to companies at a pace Republicans could only dream of.

Are you listening Ted Strickland of Ohio?

I am here to say that there will be consequences for squandering the public trust put into you after eight disaster years of Bush-Cheney and runaway right-wing thuggery, if you abuse the trust put into you.

Attacking librarians for their anger over shouldering cuts of 50% when the state budget shortfall is 6% is not "shared sacrifice" governor Stickland.  More information here. 

We will not stand for attacks on the public's need for essential services and real reform -- not just the mentality of "must cut to make my budget work" slight of hand -- in health care, education, library and information services to the poor and working classes, early literacy programs, support for colleges and universities, access to reproductive health care, efforts to dismantle the digital divide, and much more. 

Remember just spending stimulus money to balance your budget or widen roads or to give tax breaks to large companies does not count as real reform.

And our vote is not automatic if there is a letter D after your last name.

Another giant gone

Frankly, it is rather sad that a passing sets itself up for so many jokes, after all it is no joke to his family.

But still:

Nationally known TV ad pitchman Billy Mays, 50, was found dead this morning in his Tampa home, the Tampa Police Department reported.

Mays was found unresponsive by his wife and the Tampa Fire Rescue pronounced him dead at 7:45 a.m., the report said.

Foul play not suspected, but you do have to be curious about whether the Shaw-Wow guy has an alibi, or had the "camera guy" filming his movements.

Obama's secret plan for the fall 2010

This should keep attendance down from the right-wing at the polls if this stuff is unleashed (I'm going by the comment (about 2:05 in)):



Although I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that "Matt Morningwood" is not the actual name of a porn film director.

Warning not safe for work, but it's Sunday...I'm sure it's perfectly safe for church, especially if a Republican politician is in attendance.

Behold the Washington Post

There was actually a response from the Ombudsman on Friday to the firing of Froomkin by the Post.

And the Post revealed why they are such an awesome editorial page...for understanding the VILLAGER mindset:

I was off much of this week with a minor medical problem. But when I was able to start querying editors yesterday, a wall of silence was erected. Raju Narisetti, the managing editor who oversees the Web site, declined to go beyond last week’s PR statement. Online Opinions Editor Marisa Katz, after talking Thursday with the Washington CityPaper, said she had been instructed not to respond to additional queries. And Editorial Page Editor Fred Hiatt, who had previously responded to questions from me and other journalists (including the CityPaper on Thursday), today said he was unable to comment.

But hacks like Richard Cohen and Robert Samuelson, not to mention Broder, who existence seem to remain ONLY for the purpose of being mocked go on and on forever.

The fact is, the Post, when Obama came in decided to try to destroy what made Froomkin so good -- and, in fact, it never has respected what made him so good. Fearlessly demanding the media, including the Post, act like journalists -- Froomkin is a hundred times the more honest media critic than Howark Kurtz, and two-hundred times brighter than the smarmy Dana Milbank.

Oh dear, dear dear

He wanted a 'landing strip' after a 'brazilian'

On Thursday, Sanford agreed to reimburse the state for part of a more-than $8,000 tab that enabled him to see his mistress on an official economic development trip to Argentina's capital city. At a Cabinet meeting Friday, he told the head of the state Commerce Department he was sorry about the trip.

The department had initially included only Brazil on the official itinerary but added meetings in Buenos Aires at the governor's behest, said Kara Borie, a spokeswoman for the state Commerce Department.

Sanford did conduct business in Buenos Aires, although Borie said there were no specific economic development projects that have come from them.

So,

Ann Coulter's still around. Looks like she had that adam's apple thing tucked.

(AP Photo/Noah Berger)

Philander American you traitor

Oh dear, how classic:

Last December, the executive said, Ms. Chapur was dating a young Argentine a few months after her affair with Mr. Sanford began. The man happened to see the e-mail messages being exchanged between the governor and Ms. Chapur, said the executive — who said he had direct knowledge of the situation — and hacked into her e-mail account to see the rest.

Infuriated, the man sent the messages to The State, the newspaper in South Carolina’s capital, Columbia...

And now, Stanford who has the gall to still be playing the fundy car ("David didn't resign after he got it on with Bathsheba" -- yeah, Old Testament quotes -- stay away from the pork and shrimp Levitic-ass!) has some more info revealed about his Argentine love interest:

The executive said Ms. Chapur’s main role at the network was to monitor international press coverage of Argentina, preparing a summary each evening from the financial and European news media.

“She was a follower of international news,” the executive said, “an avid reader of foreign news and regularly attended policy seminars.” He said she spoke fluent English and French.

Sanford dates somebody who's the opposite of a FoxNews viewer and/or news personality.

Vice President

Dear Media,

With regard to Jenny Sanford's "high powered career" as a Wall Street vice president ...

Every third person on the Street is a vice president.

Just saying.

xxx...res

Fair and Balanced

Nice job AP and/or Yahoo:


Who's writing your blurbs on Yahoo-News, Sean Hannity?

The Besweatered Co-Dependent

Chock full of assholes, babies, and ass-kissers:

MSNBC host Joe Scarborough was all set to appear this Sunday on ABC's "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos until yesterday, when Scarborough canceled because David Gregory, the host of NBC's "Meet the Press," allegedly threw a fit.

"What is David Gregory so afraid of?" asked one network insider.

Stephanopoulos was first pitched to have Scarborough as a guest by Scarborough's "Morning Joe" co-host on MSNBC, Mika Brzezinski.

"About three weeks ago, George got a handwritten note in the mail and a copy of Scarborough's book, 'The Last Best Hope,' " said our source. "The note said, 'Would you consider putting Joe on your show?' "

Last week, the booking was finalized. "She [Brzezinski] said she checked with all the high-ups at NBC," said our source.

But on Wednesday night, Stephanopoulos was alerted there might be a problem. Scarborough is said to have informed him, "I'm terribly sorry, but David Gregory had a fit." Yesterday morning, Scarborough canceled his appearance, leaving Stephanopoulos scrambling to find a replacement guest.

I know it's the NY Post and it's gossip -- but in my relative defense it fits in well with my blogging themes and truly that is what matters.

Fez tip Atrios.

Golly Popeye,

You still angry 'bout something?

He's really pissed to the 'finich'
'Cuz black guy eats spinach
He's Popeye the angry man!
(toot! toot!)

Oops, he sharted.

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

OMG! Did Cokie Roberts Control Top Panties get all bunched!

"Hey, everybody, let's all get lei'd...hey, that's not what I mean Senator Ensign."


Obama brings EXOTIC land to the White House!

OMG! OMG! OMG!

Straw huts, hula dancers and kids playing with hula hoops were all on display Thursday evening in the White House's backyard -- not the typical congressional picnic.

President Barack Obama wanted it this way for the annual picnic for members of Congress and their families.

"I just want to say to all the members of Congress, you've been working hard. I wish I could give you all trips to Hawaii," Obama said in his brief remarks. "But I figured since, given our budget crunch we can't do that, that we'd at least bring Hawaii to you."

I bet he went all secret muslimy and ate pig too.

(pic (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

WTF? Jello-Jay of all people?

When we last checked in with Jay Rockefeller he was caving on national security principles before the awesome charisma of Dick Cheney.

Well, he's back and oh my gawd, he says something I like:

On Thursday, Rockefeller admitted he expects little bipartisan support.
"There is a very small chance any Republicans will vote for this health-care plan. They were against Medicare and Medicaid [created in the 1960s]. They voted against children's health insurance.

"We have a moral choice. This is a classic case of the good guys versus the bad guys. I know it is not political for me to say that," Rockefeller added.

"But do you want to be non-partisan and get nothing? Or do you want to be partisan and end up with a good health- care plan? That is the choice."

Well that is great, honestly.

Just don't turn into a Democratic Arlen Specter, Jell-O Jay, because one, I know you are up to that based upon past practice, and second, the Democrats already have one of those.

Jiminy Jeebus, get on with it

Stop compromising civil rights principles for process principles. Abe Lincoln issued the "Emancipation Proclamation" and THEN backed the 13th Amendment (and don't give me that equivocating shit, there's civil war and there's FoxNews as much as I hate the latter it's not anywhere near the former).

I really don't give a shit if a group everybody but themselves hates, right-wingers, call you a socialist, fuck 'em. I find it hard to believe it troubles you or your staff's sensitivities, but you do have a LOT of Clintonistas on your staff so I guess it's possible. In any case, stop triangulating -- get on with it!

You're Barack Obama, not Grover Cleveland.

Yet Dana Milbank wanks on

Now this is sad.

Tomorrow will be White House Watch's last day at The Washington Post. One of my many regrets is that I didn't get around to writing more about Obama's Afghanistan policy, its extraordinarily bloody ramifications, how it threatens to sink the nation in a Vietnam-like quagmire -- and, most significantly, how the president has never really made the case for his decision to increase rather than decrease our troop presence there.

So the Washington Post fired it's best reporter, even though he wasn't even a reporter.

Awesome plan.

I'm sure Andy Alexander will have virtually nothing of consequence to say about this.

Enjoy bankrcuptcy boys & girls, you hit that intellectual state some time ago.

Oh well

I guess we'll have to put up with one long, one-week media circus bukkakke of freakishness about Michael Jackson, rather than a half-dozen over 20 years now. And idiots, you're doing it wrong.

Thank goodness we're keeping in all in perspective.

Update | 7:00 p.m. Ethan Zuckerman, a senior researcher at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School, notes on Thursday that it only took a few minutes for news about a celebrity death to outstrip news about Iran on Twitter:

My twitter search script sees roughly 15% of all posts on Twitter mentioning Michael Jackson. Never saw Iran or swine flu reach over 5%

An Iranian Twitter user writes that he doesn’t care about Michael Jackson and is more worried about rumors that a prominent opposition politician may have died in custody.

Oh, and speaking of the kind of "reporting" that makes a freak show, even showier, I give you Terry Moran.

Yes, we can't have government run things

The marketplace is so awesome:

Health insurers have forced consumers to pay billions of dollars in medical bills that the insurers themselves should have paid, according to a report released yesterday by the staff of the Senate Commerce Committee.

The report was part of a multi-pronged assault on the credibility of private insurers by Commerce Committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.). It came at a time when Rockefeller, President Obama and others are seeking to offer a public alternative to private health plans as part of broad health-care reform legislation. Health insurers are doing everything they can to block the public option.

Undoubtedly not noticed by Charlie Gibson & Dianne Sawyer.

Also unnoticed -- because after all insurers buy a LOT of advertising will be this:

The star witness at the hearing was a former public relations executive for major health insurers whose testimony boiled down to this: Don't trust the insurers.

"The industry and its backers are using fear tactics, as they did in 1994, to tar a transparent and accountable -- publicly accountable -- health-care option," said Wendell Potter, who until early last year was vice president for corporate communications at the big insurer Cigna.

Maria

Maria,
Mark Sanford met a girl named Maria,
and suddenly the name
will never be the same to me.

EXCLUSIVE PHOTO...WAHOO, MUST CREDIT TURKETTE!

I could digress and say that you have the ability to give magnificently gentle kisses, or that I love your tan lines or that I love the curves of your hips, the erotic beauty of you holding yourself (or two magnificent parts of yourself) in the faded glow of night’s light — but hey, that would be going into the sexual details we spoke of at the steakhouse at dinner — and unlike you I would never do that!

Jenny doesn't have anything better than a farmer tan apparently.

The Right Reverend Uriah Heep

There's a reason Billy Graham "counseled" President after President, from Eisenhower to Clinton (or even Bush II) before he passed the kiss-ass baton to his son, the odious Franklin.
Because he let the President seem "extree" Christiany and they all like that for the most part.

But he also got invited because he was always there to buck them up and tell 'em what they wanted to hear.

From killing more Vietcong to killing more brown people, from understanding the delay in civil rights legislation to forgiving an extra-marital blowjob, Billy Graham was always there to give the latter figuratively.

Every President knew what Graham was there for, and Graham always knew it too. A little mutual ass-kissing for their mutual benefit. The President got a free pass and Graham got to be the Protestant Pope of America.

And there's no more offensive and blatent example than his coddling of Nixon's anti-semitism.

A 1973 conversation between President Nixon and evangelist Billy Graham about Jews, laden with critical references including a Biblical verse on the "synagogue of Satan," has put the aging, frail Graham back in unwelcome headlines...

... An earlier release of tapes in 2002 shocked fans of Graham, who is heard agreeing with Nixon as the president rails against liberal Jews' political activism and media clout. Graham tells Nixon how Jews befriend him but adds, "They don't know how I really feel about what they're doing to this country."

And, as ever, Abe Foxman of the ADL is there with a far too late, far too ineffective statement of condemnation of conservative anti-semitism.

Anti-Defamation League director Abraham Foxman on Wednesday blasted both Nixon and Graham, saying that, "while never expressing these views in public, Rev. Graham unabashedly held forth with the president with age-old classical anti-Semitic canards."

Foxman has spent the last two decades ignoring GOP anti-semitism because evangelical right-wingers are pro-Israel -- in order to facilitate the rapture when, the point being bringing about the murder of all Jews (and other non-Christians) when Jeebus comes back packing heat to kill all those who don't worship him -- out of his gracious love.

I didn't say it made any sense, it's religion. But it serves the ADL's and the Evangelical Right's short-term interest (well long-term really because the rapture isn't happening) so they'll ignore the ultimate message as long as they can (that would be forever).

Luv-a-lee thing enabling isn't it?

Hannity's Dear dear...dear friend

Also best buds with Pat Buchanan.

Today, FBI agents went to the New Jersey home of white supremacist blogger/radio host Hal Turner and arrested him "on a federal complaint filed in Chicago alleging that he made internet postings threatening to assault and murder three federal appeals court judges in Chicago in retaliation for their recent ruling upholding handgun bans in Chicago and a suburb,"

Not such an idle threat considering white supremecists have taken violent actions against Federal Judges and their families in Chicago quite recently (in most countries the media might call this "terrorism", but it's just another murder in the U.S. of A.). Hal Turner absolutely adored the act and wanted it done some more.

And who just is this Hal Turner?

Identifying himself as "Hal from North Bergen", Turner became notable in American conservative circles as a frequent caller to WABC radio talk shows hosted by Bob Grant and Sean Hannity. Turner parlayed this fame into a role as the northern New Jersey coordinator for Patrick J. Buchanan's 1992 presidential campaign. He went on to serve as campaign manager for Libertarian Party candidate Murray Sabrin in New Jersey in the 1990s, including a 1997 gubernatorial campaign.

Turner reportedly established a friendship with Sean Hannity, on whose program he was a frequent presence. However, when confronted by the New Black Panther Party's Malik Zulu Shabazz about his association with Turner (in light of Hannity's scrutiny of Barack Obama's association with Jeremiah Wright), Hannity at first denied knowing Turner, then said he had banned Turner from his radio station, and that he never supported Turner's views. Turner subsequently posted this response on his website: "I was quite disappointed when Sean Hannity at first tried to say he didn't know me. In fact, Sean does know me and we were quite friendly a few years ago."

This is also not the first time Hannity & Buchanan's buddy has made threats against the judges of the Seventh Circuit.

In short, he's a FoxNews/RightWing Radio kind of asshole.

Haley's Plummet

Following in the heals of former Presidential aspirants Jon Ensign and Mark Sanford, potential 2012 GOP candidate Haley Barbour, Governor of Mississippi has been appointed to a Republican Committee. This has become known as the American equivalent of an Al Qaeda No. 3.

The Sanford Presser

This is what the Sanford presser reminded me of. Some "Tootsie"-style revelations at the end would have been awesome. At this point, pious, self-righteous, hypocritical Republicans barking about "family values" while cheating on their spouses is just so 1998.

Scroll forward to 2:15.

Sounds familiar

Sanford's wife releases statement saying she'd asked him to leave two weeks ago.

Hmmmm...

Dah dee dah dee dah dee dah...

"On June 13th Mark Sanford was asked to remove himself from his place of residence. That request came from his wife. Deep down he knew she was right. But he also knew that someday he would return to her.

With no where else to go he appeared at the residence of his Southern Hemisphere mistress NAME WITHHELD. Several years earlier NAME WITHHELD'S spouse had thrown her out, requesting that she too never return.

Can two divorced morons share a 3rd world nation without driving each other crazy?"

3 Quick Thoughts on the Sanford Press Conference

1. He was talking about being the wild bull of the pampas, yet I'm the one that needs a cigarette.

2. He sure loves Tom Davis -- A LOT!

3. What a traitor, couldn't the dude PHILANDER AMERICAN?!


UPDATE:

Another thought, when is K-Lo going to cut and paste Sanford for Ensign in her praise of Republicans who cheat on their spouses?

Matthews Redeemed (For the Moment, Anyway)

After you're done sucking it, Joe & Charlie "CNBC" Gasparino, you can go to the doctor for some FREE HEALTHCARE!

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

EVITA

From the musical life of Mark Sanford:


MS: "Don't cry for me, I'm in Argentina!"

Mrs. Sanford: "You were supposed to be here asshole, that's all we wanted, not much to ask for."


MS: "Ah fuck the promise, you keep your distance!"



Of course, he may have been hiking...and buying assless chaps from the buff gauchos.


...I claim dibs on the name "Gaucho Mark"

Yep

Professor Smooth & Debonair sums up the Iranian dilemma quite well and jumps ahead of the soon to be made GOP wanking-points:

Obama will likely be as helpless before a crackdown by the Iranian regime as Eisenhower was re: Hungary in 1956, Johnson was re: Prague in 1968, and Bush senior was re: Tienanmen Square in 1989. George W. Bush, it should remember, did nothing about Tehran's crackdown on student protesters in 2003 or about the crackdown on reformist candidates, which excluded them from running in the 2004 Iranian parliamentary elections, or about the probably fraudulent election of Ahmadinejad in 2005. It is hard to see what he could have done, contrary to what his erstwhile supporters in Congress now seem to imply. As an oil state, the Iranian regime does not need the rest of the world and is not easy to pressure. So Obama needs to be careful about raising expectations of any sort of practical intervention by the US, which could not possibly succeed. (Despite the US media's determined ignoring the the Afghanistan War, it is rather a limiting factor on US options with regard to Iran.) Moreover, if the regime succeeds in quelling the protests, however odious it is, it will still be a chess piece on the board of international diplomacy and the US will have to deal with it just as it deals with post-Tiananmen China.

But McCain, Graham, and undoubtedly Holy Joe will have to prove themselves as stupid as Sarah Palin, Sean Hannity or Glenn Beck -- because that's how they roll.

The tail wagging the dog cont.

Being strongly pro-Israel is fine, I'm strongly pro-Israel. But I'm not too keen on Israel dictating foreign policy to us.

Two people asked a Pentagon official cooperating with prosecutors in an investigation into the American Israel Public Affairs Committee to fake his own death to avoid testifying against two pro-Israel lobbyists charged in the case, according to the Justice Department.

Pentagon analyst Lawrence Franklin pled guilty in October 2005 to participating in a conspiracy with AIPAC officials Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman to obtain and distribute classified information. The Justice Department dropped the case against Rosen and Weissman last month as a trial approached.

"Just prior to the entry of his guilty plea, Franklin was approached by two individuals who made a pitch to Franklin about faking his death by suicide and disappearing, thus thwarting any cooperation in the case against Rosen and Weissman," prosecutors wrote in a brief filed in connection with a motion to reduce the 12-year prison term Franklin was originally sentenced to.

If this had been a Muslim or Arab interest group, say even a made up one like Atta in Prague with Iraqi Colonel al-Mustard in the Conservatory or ACORN (bad touch, bad touch, Glenn!) imagine the hell there would be to pay?

Show us where "Dick Cheney" touched you, Glenn

Soon FoxNews will simply be a series of photos, all of delicious candy.

Fox News has been going the extra mile to break things down for its most simple-minded viewers.

Well, of course they have. They hired Steve Doocy, Brian Kilmeade, Gretchen Carlson, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly.

Last night Glenn Beck made crude drawings on a chalkboard, and tonight he and Bill O'Reilly used Barbie dolls to explain ACORN.

And I will use a Ken Doll to explain the dimensions of Glenn Beck's junk.

Mark Sanford -- It's a personal matter

Liketly between himself and his Caribbean comfort teen of indeterminate gender! And I'm saying this only because both he and apparently Rush Limbaugh have disappeared simultaneously:

The black Chevy Suburban believed to have been used by South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford to leave town has been found in the parking lot of Columbia Metropolitan Airport.

CNN was alerted to its location by a law enforcement official...

The SUV is outfitted with blue police lights and two-way radio. Inside the vehicle: A baseball cap, running shoes, sunscreen, a pair of shorts, a canvas bag and a sleeping bag.

Hmmm, left car at Capital, spotted in Atlanta at airport, wife claims to have "no idea" where he is...

My money remains on the Cabana Teen.

Well, at least Dick never disappoints

Nixon's still the one, the original DICK:

"What I really think is deep down in this country, there is a lot of anti-Semitism, and all this is going to do is stir it up," Nixon said. At another point he said, "It may be they have a death wish. You know that's been the problem with our Jewish friends for centuries."

And, of course, his preemptive strike against Tiger Woods is pretty disturbing:

"There are times when an abortion is necessary. I know that. When you have a black and a white," he told an aide, before adding: "Or a rape."

I suppose it's not his style, but I do hope Obama flips off Nixon's painting before he assigns the portrait to hang in Biden's office.

But y'know, compared to the modern GOP I kind of miss the old prick.

That's not what she said...

Hard to do with dough in your pants.


Ah, National Review, putting that bitter old bastard William F. Buckley on spin-cycle in the family crept -- goes hard-core:



Hard to believe this made it through editing, until you remember who the editors are. Although, outside of "artic ice flow" or "the moon" I can't think of a better place to strand Jonah Goldberg.














Next up,


(last photo modified from here)

Yay, more Nixon tapes

Oh I do hope there are more ethnic epithets.

But the GOP still plays wars the same as ever:

The tapes being released tomorrow were made during the first two months of 1973. Our friends at the Miller Center provide some historical context:

During this time, Nixon forced South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu to accept a settlement with North Vietnam that both men recognized would lead to a Communist military victory. Nixon needed the settlement to conceal the failure of his "Vietnamization and negotiation" strategy to achieve the goal of a South Vietnam that could defend and govern itself.

Some justice

Better justice would be this guy being allowed to live in Bush's guest house.

The discovery of suicide martyr videos seemed certain proof that Abd al Rahim Abdul Rassak was part of al-Qaida. A closer look at his video, though, showed he was actually being tortured by al-Qaida...

Federal prosecutors had argued that even though Rassak was tortured by al-Qaida as a suspected Western spy and imprisoned by the Taliban for a year and a half, he still maintained some kind of allegiance to his tormentors.

"I disagree!" wrote the judge, adding that U.S. officials are "taking a position that defies common sense."

You know, what the hell federal prosecutors? The truly fucked up thing about Gitmo and the whole bullshit perpetual detention regime is that it causes these unconscionable positions. Oh, they weren't terrorists, but now that we've systematically abused them, detained them, and ruined their lives we can't let 'em go because they will be really mad.

Golly, that makes 'em sound like about right to me.

I hear Mark Sanford

Is just looking for Judge Crater.

Or maybe it's an Eric Rudolph reenactment tour?

Oh, this will so help the reputation of political operatives

Oh, good plan:

Last week, Andrew Young, a lifelong friend of Edwards and a longtime aide, began shopping a book to New York publishers; according to his proposal, represented by David McCormick at McCormick Williams, the book would chronicle the tale of his long friendship with the Edwards family, his attempt to help Edwards by taking a pregnant Rielle Hunter into his home to live with him and his wife, Cheri, and their three children, and the fallout when the press (and Elizabeth Edwards) caught wind of the plan...

According to editors who saw the proposal, Young went along with the plan—for an undisclosed sum of money—and took Hunter in for eight months. Aided by the late Fred Baron—the Texas lawyer who was an unofficial “uncle” to Edwards and who admitted paying to move the Youngs-plus-Hunter to Santa Barbara, California—Young wanted to help his friend, he says.

We all know a "real" political operative like Karl Rove would have taken the money and in Soviet parlance "liquidated" all involved.

P.S. Can you imagine the conversation Young had with his wife about this arrangement?

From the Office of Senator John McCain

Statement of Senators McCain & Lieberman:

My friends, Ronald Reagan once said, "People fighting for Freedom, are the loveliest people in the world, now go out there and win one for the Gipper." And now my friends we face such a moment again. My friends, as people fight for their right to freedom and recognition before the television screens of the world, or twatting on their talk box contraption, my friends, the Obama Administration stays strangely silent.

My friends, the time is now, the moment is here, the pudding is warm, the cats in the cradle with the silver spoon, it is time for the President to stand up and speak with one voice for the voiceless multitudes of the world demanding justice, freedom, and the American way. My friends, it is time for the President to Act.

And so, my friends, we call upon the Obama Administration to immediately order the American government to prevent the divorce of Jon & Kate by immediately bombing Iran. Failure to do so, my friends, will the worst abdication since Louis XVI during the French Revolution, which I was born before.

John McCain

P.S.

"Ditto for me and AIPAC"
- Joe Lieberman


"Dibs on Jon, er, I mean Kate"
- Lindsay Graham

CNBCan You Please Just STFU Up?

I had to go to the bank today and while I was there I noticed that the bank had installed two televisions. CNBC was blasting away on both of them (at top volume). Why in God's name would an institution that is trying to convey a sober stability want CNBC talking heads bleating away like Sarah Palin at a turkey "pardon"? Honestly. I was in there for all of three minutes and I came out with a headache. The people on CNBC are ginormous dickheads of the first degree.

Lest we forget that these pointless collection of dimwits, dingbats, dolts, and dullards did their part to help the economy along to its' near-collapse, I think everyone needs to take another look at this:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
CNBC Financial Advice
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Jason Jones in Iran

Fill in the Blanks

Your answers in comments, please. No clicking!

The Economist:

Men like these see Mr. __[A]___’s administration as dangerously incompetent in its domestic policy and recklessly confrontational in foreign affairs. Most ominous to some have been his purges not just of __[B]__s, but also of the wider __[C]__ from __[D]__, local government and ___[E]___ in favour of people seen as narrow-minded, bullying provincials. This, together with the parcelling-out of rich government contracts to ideological allies such as __[F]_____, has raised fears that __[G]____ is drifting towards a Venezuelan model of demagogic cronyism.

Bonus points: list a few examples of "narrow-minded bullying provincials".

Yes, the Neda thing is a tragedy

And for once I'm outraged over the same thing as the Neo-Cons.

It's terrible when a government kills the innocent.

But I prefer it when those who complain are not monstrous hypocrites who've been begging for the US to do to Iran what we've already done to Iraq.





Courtesy of the U.S. of A.

The Tighty Whities of Man

Last week I put up a post mocking Glenn Beck (redundant I know) claiming that his "book", if that's what you want to call it, is dedicated to and inspired by Thomas Paine -- and Beck obviously thinks he is the modern day Paine.

Um, bullshit, and here's a few Paine quotes to demonstrate it:

Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good.

-- Oh my God, Paine not only doesn't hate Mexicans or Muslims, he's an internationalist and a one-worlder!

The circumstances of the world are continually changing, and the opinions of men change also; and as government is for the living, and not for the dead, it is the living only that has any right in it. That which may be thought right and found convenient in one age, may be thought wrong and found inconvenient in another. In such cases, who is to decide, the living, or the dead?

-- Thomas Paine, NOT a strict constructionist -- why'd he'd even be for regulating handguns.

When an objection cannot be made formidable, there is some policy in trying to make it frightful; and to substitute the yell and the war-whoop, in the place of reason, argument and good order.

-- Thomas Paine, he wouldn't like Beck's heroes George Bush or John McCain and would positively loathe most all of FoxNews.

When I contemplate the natural dignity of man; when I feel (for Nature has not been kind enough to me to blunt my feelings) for the honor and happiness of its character, I become irritated at the attempt to govern mankind by force and fraud, as if they were all knaves and fools, and can scarcely avoid disgust at those who are thus imposed upon.

-- Thomas Pain would hate Glenn Beck -- a lot!

I believe in the equality of man; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy.

-- Socialist!

The countries the most famous and the most respected of antiquity are those which distinguished themselves by promoting and patronizing science, and on the contrary those which neglected or discouraged it are universally denominated rude and barbarous.

-- Have I mentioned how much he'd hate the modern GOP, FoxNews & Glenn Beck?

All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.

-- Oh yes, but he'd think the Mormons who came after him just peachy, right Glenn?

It is from the Bible that man has learned cruelty, rapine and murder; for the belief of a cruel God makes a cruel man.

-- If Glenn Beck had the foggiest idea who Thomas Paine was, he'd be crying his eyes out -- again.

What is it the New Testament teaches us? To believe that the Almighty committed debauchery with a woman engaged to be married; and the belief of this debauchery is called faith.

-- Can you imagine how much Thomas Paine would hate the modern GOP's base?

Yet this is trash that the Church imposes upon the world as the Word of God; this is the collection of lies and contradictions called the Holy Bible! this is the rubbish called Revealed Religion!

-- I don't think Thomas Paine would be in favor of teaching "Intelligent Design".


From here.

Apparently

There's a limit to sex scandals even in "old Europe".

A mature society like France can look the other way while the "family values" candidate for President dumps his wife after the election so he can hook up with the supermodel.

And considering his previous exploits they'll tolerate a hell of a lot from Berlusconi in Italy.

But apparently, running around naked, paying off mistresses, and inviting the heads of other countries to display their EXCITEMENT (NSFW) over the whole orgy concept has the nation remembering how embarassing that whole "I, Claudius" miniseries was.

And now it's time to toss Silvio up on the proverbial upside down display in Milan.

Shorter Fred Hiatt

I got mine.

When it comes to spending more than $2 trillion to invade a third world country on false premises....AWESOME!!!

When it comes to less than 2 trillion to provide medical insurance, even with worst case scenarios, to nearly all Americans and give some cost prevention to private insurers for the benefit of the citizens of THIS country, IT SUCKS!!!''


Meanwhile, Hiatt has awesome insurance -- just look at the COBRA notice he just sent Dan Froomkin.

The Health Insurance Industry is killing us

Screw you Blanche Lincoln (D - Blue Cross).

Meanwhile,

Americans are struggling to pay for healthcare in the ongoing economic recession, with a quarter saying they have had trouble in the past 12 months, according to a survey released on Monday.

Baby boomers -- the generation born between 1946 and 1964 -- had the most trouble and were the most likely to put off medical treatments or services, said researchers at Center for Healthcare Improvement, part of the Healthcare business of Thomson Reuters (TRI.N).

The study, available here, found that 17.4 percent of households reported postponing or delaying healthcare over the past year.

'

Yes, the health insurance industry bureaucrats screw you over at an efficient profit, why have competition?

"People Shouldn't be Afraid of Their Governments. Governments Should Be Afraid of Their People"

This is pretty incredible. Watch it until the end. These people are very, very brave.

Your conservative "meritocracy"

Fresh off decrying "affirmative action" because it keeps merit-based nepotism from being the American Way, Jonah Goldberg demonstrates that if it wasn't for who his mommy is, he'd be struggling to make sandwiches at Subway.

Rarely has such stupidity been condensed to two paragraphs...well, outside of NRO's the Corner, thank you for condensing the dense, Poorman.

Father's Day

I can't allow aged satrap* David Broder to remain at the top of the page all day.

To all the Hegemanics who are fathers: Happy Father's Day.

A few years ago, I got hold of a great book called Killed: Great Journalism Too Hot to Print in which cartoonist Ted Rall reflects on life with a "dad who wasn't a father" and concludes, "This year on Father's Day, I'm calling my real dad. I'm calling Mom."

Father's Day ain't for everyone.

I was lucky enough to have a dad who was a father. Alas, he's gone now, but while he was around, he reminded me of Tony Soprano, had Tony been educated and in a legitimate line of business. My father had a lot of good qualities -- curiosity about the world, an analytical mind, great skill with hammer and saws, leadership skills, devotion to my mother (especially during an illness he was powerless to stop), physical strength, stoicism in the face of great physical suffering, playfulness, and courage. He had some bad ones, too: a temper, a working class guy's suspicion of "the other", an affinity for AM political talk radio, impatience with the emotions of others, and estrangement from his own.

My point is, he was a regular person, with a great many good qualities and more than a few lousy ones. And yeah, I miss him.

Anyway, not sure where I'm going with this. Use comments to reflect on the fathers you've known.

*Credit to Kevin Baker for that gem of a construction.

MATLOCK!!!

Froomkin goes, but David Broder's musk lives on 4-ev-ah!

As one of the commentors succinctly put it:

I guess you were too busy watching sports on TV to write a proper column. Or, you're just becoming feeble.

About right

Today's Doonesbury:

Daddy's Girl

This is what happens when a dumb person who thinks she's a smart person gets hold of a really big megaphone.

Won't someone cut this little dimwit's mic before she embarrasses herself again?

Barring that, please put her on the 2012 Republican presidential ticket.

Testify, Brother!

h/t HoneyBearKelly

Figures

I'm sure the CIA Report showing that Cheney is/was/and always will be a lying scumbag who tortures because of some pathological imbalance will be delayed until nobody in the cable news or print world will care -- after all, by then Jon & Kate will each be on their 3rd marriage and competing with Octomom for children to adopt on "I'm a Celebrity, get me a Third World Child".

In any case, one thing we can be confident of, it will occur after Fred Hiatt fires Greg Sargent from Plumline -- because we cannot have this kind of actual reporting and shit.

I bet Dana Priest's days are also numbered, but Dana Milbank shall whine on in perpetuity.

Good job, nerd!

John Hodgman did a very funny routine at last nights 'Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner' before the President.

It was funny and it was clean.

Fuck him.

Hmmm

(AP Photo/Iranian Supreme Leader's website, HO)



1. White guys? Check
2. Religious Extremists? Check
3. Conservatives only? Check
4. No women around? Check
5. Yet plenty of "beards"? Check
6. Claim "definitive victory" in election rife with fraud? Check
7. Calling opposition traitors if they keep it up? Check

Just one small change and this could be RNC Headquarters.

Truly big news

Who cares about Iran anyway? Not our media:

Jon & Kate Gosselin To Announce "Life-Changing Decision" On Monday's Show

Hmmmm, let me guess. They're selling three kids to Angelina, three kids to Madonna and two others to Mia Farrow so they can enter the prestigious world of amateur porn.

Money now available

With Froomkin getting fired by the Post for being too liberal, too popular and too anti-beltway common wisdom (he criticized Krauthammer!) who will the post now sign to fill the void.

Liz Cheney?
K-Lo?
George P. Bush?
Scooter Libby II?
Random Ensign Love-Child?
Tennessee Ernie Cracker?

Surely Oswald Mosley has another child out there besides the Nazi-Fetishist chip off the old block that is determined to ruin Formula One?

The Franken non-decision

It will come eventually, and despite the protestations of one scholar of all things, it will come down in Franken's favor -- this wait is beginning to remind me of the wait for Fitzgerald to indict someone in the Libby/Plame matter.

Ruining our way of life

Someday people are going to get actual decent health insurance and alternatives, but that will take people actually obtaining political power through their own actions rather than the old fashioned way it works in D.C. -- from your parents.

Oh how tragically unentertaining it is watching Democrats obtain power only to cave like they did when they weren't in power.

The Agony & The Ecstasy

I had one of those "Only in New York" (for better and for worse) subway rides home.

Before I boarded the train, I saw one the most pathetic homeless people I have seen in years. No surprise here: New York is full of homeless people again. They are everywhere. They are younger and whiter. There are more females. And they are in really bad shape. It is awful. The line at the soup kitchen on my corner gets longer every day. I would guess this woman I saw today was in her late sixties. She was small of stature, but her legs were swollen to what must have been twice their regular size and they were also covered with sores. Even if she had shoes, she couldn't have worn them. She had just given up, plopped herself down on a terrifically busy subway platform, with what must have been every single one of her possessions in at least six different plastic shopping bags. I stopped to give her money and a woman standing behind her told me she had called the police. I didn't know what else to do. Every time I see a person like this I think, "This is someone's baby".

Later on the train, I sat next to a guy who had tattoos of text running up and down both inner forearms. I was trying to read it out of the corner of my eye during the entire ride, but the type size was just too small. Just before my stop, I finally said, "May I ask you what you have tattooed on your arms?" and he said, "The Rights of Man". Well, I assume he meant a passage from "The Rights of Man", owing to limited space, but in any case, how cool is that?

The "Starbursts" are thick with this one

Just last week Fox & Fruende has the lingerie bowl on just after decrying Sasha Baron Cohen.

Now, in a patented FoxNews format they go after "porn" by showing a shitload of...porn.

Now, we applaud the Fox News host's determination to keep pornography away from children, however it's puzzling why O'Reilly and his producers felt the need to show clips of porn from YouTube during his discussion of the dangers it poses. And not just a single clip, or a quick montage: O'Reilly aired extended montages of multiple YouTube porn clips.

It's almost like O'Reilly is a pervert.

Let he who cast stones stuff that loofa up his ass while he masturbates.

Why not offer to fellate him?

The Republicans are doing everything they can to make Obama more popular through what George W. Bush would call "reverse psychologicalogistism".

How else to explain the awesome possibilities of a George W. Bush interview, sans editing, in the Moonie Times -- surely the most prestigious publication on earth that comes cloaked in the smell of stale bubblegum.

Apparently, neither GRIT nor American MILF cares to interview George W. Bush.

Coming today

We hope (oh please, oh please!)

The Al Franken six-tenths of a Decade!

And You Shall Know Them By The Fruits of Their Colorists

I figured the wingnuts who took part in the big (snort) David Letterman protest wouldn't be be New Yorkers, but it's nice to have confirmation. Not one self-respecting New Yorker -- and I mean not a single one -- has frosted hair like that charmer at 0:10.

What have the Kagans been wrong about now?

I'd say they never learn, but there's no profit in learning for them:

"Obama sides with Ahmadinejad"

Time to recycle:

They're creepy and they're chubby,
Warmongering and schlubby,
With Freepers they are clubby,
The Kagan Family.

Think Tanks they do employ 'em
For Wars that are a screa-um
Please pay them their per diem
The Kagan Family.


Da-da-da-surge

(Neat)


da-da-da-surge

(Sweet)


da-da-da-surge da-da-da-surge da-da-da-surge

(Petite)*

So c'mon and get your War On
Cuz' Congress you can crawl on

For Op-Eds you can count on
Use the KAGAN Family.

Things I missed while I was gone

I do believe Glenn Greenwald took the measure of the Man who produces Pants full of Dough:

The thing that I will miss most about the departure of K-Lo is the regular source of material, of course. Though the frequency may diminish, at least there will still be some. And I also cannot just let this one pass:




I'm pretty sure K-Lo was never offended or demanded an apology for this...

...and then there's filthy-minded Lucianne Goldberg, who secured her footnote in American political history as Linda Tripp's accomplice, delightedly hawking a story to the equally spiteful New York Press about Clinton "finger-fucking" his daughter Chelsea.

I noticed El Pantload Pastoso didn't chirp in about Letterman the last two weeks. For once, avoiding blatant blog fodder on one thing.

Though he remained a douche for all other purposes.

And now I depart with just one example of classic Pantloadese demonstrating his "merit":



Let your fingers keep doin' the walkin' Jonah.

Important to Remember

Robert Fisk, the great - and sarcastic - british war reporter is in Iran and he has this report that Andrew Sullivan and others would be wise to remember (though Sully hates Fisk with a passion -- or at least did, over Iraq -- and look who was right about that?):

[The protest] is absolutely not against the Islamic republic or the Islamic revolution.

It's clearly an Islamic protest against specifically the personality, the manner, the language of Ahmadinejad. They absolutely despise him but they do not hate or dislike the Islamic republic that they live in.

This should temper and be remembered by some folks that think the whole system is going to be overturned, that is probably quite unlikely. Though Ahmadinejad may go, and Khamenei may have to either change his mind or be replaced, Fisk's report is clearly supportive of what Obama said yesterday, that foreign policy-wise there isn't a huge difference between Ahmadinejad and Musavi, just that the latter is a hell of a lot more temperate and a lot less likely to say stupid, offensive and counter-productive remarks. Also, history supports Obama. Regimes change, but historical foreign policy and diplomatic goals do not (not to mention for all his bluster as the face of the regime, Ahmadinejad doesn't set foreign policy, Khamenei & company do). Musavi may not scream about wanting a nuclear bomb to wipe out Israel, but he'll want nuclear power and he is and will be be opposed to most all of Israel's diplomatic agenda.