Stupid people still piss me off though.
Were you surprised by the revelation of Sen. Larry Craig’s arrest? Or perhaps his guilty plea to a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge ((which appears to be bogus))? Turns out you weren’t alone! Conservatives across the country were shocked, shocked I say, at the news:
The reaction to the Larry Craig story provides one of the most vivid illustrations yet of how the right-wing movement works. Last October, just weeks before the midterm election, gay activist Mike Rogers reported that the married, GOP “family values” Senator repeatedly had sex with anonymous men in public bathrooms. His report was based on “extensive research,” including interviews with several men whom Craig solicited for bathroom sex.
[…] A virtually unanimous chorus on the Right furiously insisted that nothing could be more irrelevant than whether the married family values Senator had sex with men in bathrooms (acts that are simultaneously criminal and adulterous). The same political movement that impeached Bill Clinton and which has made a living exploiting issues of private morality for political gain insisted that Rogers had reached a new and despicable low in politics even by reporting this.
Whoops! My bad — they were shocked about the Craig story last year. And their surprise stemmed from the fact that there was a story about Craig, not that he may have acted inappropriately. Glenn Greenwald (as usual) has the whole sordid affair: the Republican slur machine mobilizing in Craig’s defense and lashing out at Rogers, only to pull a complete 180 when news of Craig’s arrest came to light. Greenwald observes:
But now, with the election safely over, a fundamentally different view — one might say the exact opposite view — has arisen among this same political faction (and, in some cases, though not all, even among the same individuals) over the Craig bathroom sex story, one which confirmed the truth of Rogers’ October report. Michelle Malkin yesterday called Craig a “weasel,” accused him of not caring about the “dignity of his office,” and demanded that he resign. Various other right-wing blogs — noting that a GOP governor will appoint his replacement — also are calling for Craig to resign.
Shocking indeed!
I mentioned KFM yesterday, but I feel like copy and pasting this entire post:
That’s the problem, as always — the peasants are revolting. Now that blogs have given them a publishing voice, why the national discourse is destroyed. When Judith Miller corrupted the New York Times in order to print lies about WMD’s and lead us into war, there was nothing to get upset about there, because she didn’t say fuck. Everyone’s aflutter at the swear words and some clumsy jokes in two relatively unknown women’s websites — they’re being called “mentally ill” by the right wing bloggers — while Dick Cheney subverts the Constitution, billions of dollars go missing in Iraq, habeus corpus is gutted, illegal wiretaps slide into place — oh, yes, you can disagree with thse things, but don’t dare raise your voice. Why, it brings on the vapors.
There are “reasons” to be upset, and then there are reasons to be upset. Kung Fu Monkey has it right:
If we’re uncivil, it’s because we’re angry. Because being polite, and reasonable, and taking it in the fucking neck for the last six years got us nowhere. People swear, my MOM swears, this is how real people talk — it ain’t quite as pretty as how the professionally trained pundits and journalists and politicians speak, but I’m still not quite sure how my saying “fuckwit” is worse than outing a CIA agent or cutting VA funds during a war or stop-lossing National Guardsmen.
That two women bloggers used obscenities and challenged the political message voiced by a religious hierarchy pales in comparison to the myriad abuses perpetrated on the American people during the past six years. Forgive us if we’re not happy about the situation.
Amanda is a friend, so, perhaps I have a vested interest in the situation. Either way, I’m happy to see a major political candidate reaching out to the bloggers who, day-by-day, carry the torch for progress. To argue that the Netroots, as they’re called, did not have an impact on the 2006 election is ludicrous, and the 2008 election will drive home that fact. It’s time to ante up candidates. Don’t back down because people who won’t vote for you anyway think your staffers have offended other people who won’t vote for you anyway.
So, good for you Edwards: you made the right choice.
Glen Greenwald:
It is only those who are losing a debate who have a desire to suppress it. And it is only those who are acting illegally who are desperate to avoid judicial scrutiny of their behavior. In 2002, attempts to equate scrutiny and criticism of the Bush movement with pro-Terrorism and anti-Americanism was a potent and effective tool of intimidation. But now, it just seems desperate, the last gasps of a political movement which is dying and which knows it is, and whose only hope is to forcibly coerce acceptance of their views — and foreclose examination of them — by insisting that open debates are themselves improper and therefore must cease at once.
(emphasis mine)
Part of a discussion on whether debate in Congress emboldens our enemies and/or hurts the morale of our troops.
As a former resident of the Bay Area, hear hear:
Did you hear that O’Reilly invented the slur “San Francisco values”? Yeah, he also thinks he invented sliced bread and fire.
But let’s talk about “San Francisco values”, you know — tolerance, entrepreneurship, and creativity.
Since O’Reilly boycotts everything he hates, I look forward to his boycott of all Bay Area-origin products. Same with every conservative who bashes San Francisco and the Bay Area. So no iPods or anything Apple. No HP computers. No Google. No Yahoo. No eBay. Those conservative bloggers using Blogspot, MovableType, or TypePad? Sorry. Those products are Bay Area-based.
Also no Adobe or Macromedia products. No computers, either, since most run on AMD or Intel. No tax preparation using Intuit products. Cancel your Netflix subscription. Cancel your TiVo subscription. Remove your Network Associates or Symantec virus protection software from your computer. Unplug your Netgear wifi router.
Don’t wear Levis (or any kind of jeans), Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, or buy your kids Gymboree. Avoid LeapFrog learning toys. Boycott Pixar movies. Boycott any movie using George Lucas’ ILM special effects shop. Stay away from Treos and other Palm devices. Don’t let Charles Schwab manage your portfolio. Don’t bank at Wells Fargo.
Yeah, those “San Francisco values” sure are dragging the region down. Making it weak as it falls behind the rest of the country — the parts that don’t share “San Francisco values” — economically and socially.
Or, maybe — just maybe — it’s made the region a magnet for the world’s smartest, most innovative, most entrepreneurial individuals and an incubator of the world’s most dramatic technological advances.
I think, by now, we’re all accustomed to seeing the Bush administration use the tragedy of 9/11 for political purposes. Now, we learn that ABC is pushing a new “docudrama” of the events leading up the 9/11, which serves as little more than a propaganda film for the GOP. The 6-hour, two-day miniseries plays host to general inaccuracies and distortions — even outright factual lies.
For example, Richard Clarke, a former counterterrorism official for both Bushes and President Bill Clinton, has issued a statement indicating a key scene in the movie was pulled from thin air. The action is set in the Clinton years, but Clarke sets the record straight (via Think Progress):
- Contrary to the movie, no US military or CIA personnel were on the ground in Afghanistan and saw bin Laden.
- Contrary to the movie, the head of the Northern Alliance, Masood, was no where near the alleged bin Laden camp and did not see UBL.
- Contrary to the movie, the CIA Director actually said that he could not recommend a strike on the camp because the information was single sourced and we would have no way to know if bin Laden was in the target area by the time a cruise missile hit it.
And while the “docudrama” lays the blame for 9/11 at the door of Clinton, ABC is refusing to provide an advanced copy of film to Clinton’s office or former officials from his time in office, like Sec. of State Madeleine Albright and National Security Adviser Samuel Berger.
Think Progress and has a useful tool for contacting ABC – let the network know how you feel about this “docudrama.” And check this page for all the latest on the film.