Digby's Hullabaloo Posts

Bring On The Smelling Salts

This is interesting. The State Department Tried to Stop Airing of Bin Laden Tape.

Bush knew about this tape for a while and they obviously were not sure quite how to deal with it. They know that it can break either way for them.

It appears that they have decided on a modified “Mary Cheney” — shock and outrage that Kerry allegedly politicized the issue, when he actually didn’t. They are claiming that he brought up Tora Bora when he was talking to a Wisconsin repoter and that this is a crude and reprehensible act of opportunism. There’s only one problem. When he spoke to the Wisconsin reporter he had only been told that a tape existed and had no idea what it said or whether it was even real. It was only after the interview that he was briefed about it, at which point he made his statesmanlike comment.

The Bush campaign is going to try to wrap Kerry in a straightjacket with one of their phony, sanctimonious coordinated fits of the vapors. Kerry is a bad, bad man. They will hide behind their dainty white hankies and shake their heads in sadness at Democratic vulgarity.

Frankly, I think there is so much white noise that nothing is going to penetrate this week-end. I’m having trouble keeping everything straight and I think that most voters at this point are a little bit befuddled and a little bit weary of all of this. If anything, this bin Laden tape just looks like another Bush fuck-up to those who are paying attention and those who aren’t probably aren’t really computing the relevance either way.

The country has been polarized for four years. This race has been tighter than tight for months and nothing’s going to change that in these next few days. It is as it’s always been. We have to get our vote out. That’s what it’s all about.

From The You Can’t Make This Shit Up Files

Raw Story has the story of the Republicans filing a complaint against a radio show for urging voters to defeat David Drier.

The General Counsel to the National Republican Congressional Committee has filed a complaint against a California radio show for advocating the defeat of Republican Rep. David Dreier, saying the show’s advocacy is illegal and goes beyond their first amendment rights.

RushSeanMichealLauraNeiletc., however, are perfectly within their rights in trashing John Kerry and every other Democrat — and making a tidy profit at it.

Mediawhorgy

The media narrative is gelling that this bin Laden tape totally benefits Bush. Chris Matthews and the bunch have that glassy eyed, pre-orgasmic, reach-for-the-codpiece look and they are very excited about the prospect of Bush doing another metaphorical landing on the carrier. The security moms are panting with barely leashed desire. My gorge rises with every minute of this.

Chris Jansen quoted Karl Rove saying that John Kerry “trashing” Bush about Tora-Bora made this issue fair game. Jansen inexplicably claimed this means that Bush won’t politicize it, but that makes no sense. Indeed, Bush just brought up the Tora Bora issue in Columbus as I write.

Bush just threw down the gauntlet. I say throw it right back in his face.

Bin Laden isn’t stupid. He knows who the media will say this tape benefits. Perhaps Americans need to ask themselves why he would help the man he supposedly fears?

Update: Ask and ye shall receive.

Kerry Campaign Response to Bush in Columbus

Washington, DC – Kerry-Edwards spokesperson Phil Singer issued the following statement tonight in response to George Bush’s remarks in Columbus, OH:

“This is a serious issue, and it’s disturbing that the White House seems intent on making it a political issue. The president was briefed on the tape before he delivered one of his most negative and divisive attacks of this campaign.

“America deserves a national security debate on the merits rather, than a president who desperately resorts to distortions, falsehoods and untruths on a regular basis.

“John Kerry was very clear tonight that we will stop at nothing to hunt down and kill the terrorists and that all Americans – Republicans and Democrats – are united in the war on terror. George Bush wasted no time in dividing us again.”

Dickie Fills The Void

Atrios and Josh are amazed that Danielle Pletka accused Michael Moore of giving aid and comfort to bin Laden with fahrenheit 9/11 (presumably because of the My Pet Goat reference.)

FYI, this is a Dick Morris talking point. I watched him spew it extemporaneously to John Gibson and Gibson even commented that he was surprised that the “operatives” (Racicot and Devine) who appeared previous to Dickie had been so non-committal by comparison. Dickie said they hadn’t received their talking points yet.

Pletka came on shortly thereafter evidently after feverishly taking notes in the green room. I agree with Atrios that we should hope these talking points really gain currency. If Morris is behind it, it will guarantee Kerry’s win.

Pletka, btw, is one of the leading neocon Iraq “intellectuals” over at AEI. It says a lot, doesn’t it?

PAX Americana

I’m a little bit surprised there hasn’t been an outcry about this. It seems that PAX TV is pulling a Sinclair in the swing states this week-end. They are showing a propaganda hit piece “Unfit For Command” starring Scumbag For Truth John O’Neill at five in the afternoon and 11:30 at night on Saturday and Sunday in various battleground markets, particularly Florida:

“Unfit for Command”: hosted by John E. O’Neill

Hosted by Unfit for Command’s best-selling author, John E. O’Neill, this program picks up where the book leaves off and brings to the screen the faces and real stories of the eyewitnesses that served with John Kerry in Viet Nam, and as a result, strongly oppose him.

Far from the “war hero” image of his carefully crafted public campaign, these men consider him a fraud, a liar, and a coward in battle. In fact, most Americans do not know that three of John Kerry’s fellow officers asked him to leave Viet Nam because they considered him a liability.

Never before has a former member of the Armed Forces been so adamantly opposed by his fellow sailors and officers – Why?

As you probably know, PAX is that nice wholesome Christian network (partly owned by GE/NBC) that set out to counter the hedonistic, immoral mainstream media:

“Sure there are skeptics out of Hollywood and the TV industry: no sex, no violence, no ratings,” Paxson says. “But I have no doubt that mainstream media will recognize that talking about God is a good thing and can make you money.”

And allowing lying scumbags to spew unrebutted character assassination on your network the week-end before an election is sending you straight to hell, “Bud.”

It’s too late to preempt this, but it sure wouldn’t hurt to make these guys pay after the fact. This is another example of a wingnut media mogul using public airwaves to help the Republican party. We are very foolish to let this pass in any instance. They will only take it as encouragement.

Republicans very smartly fight every single time, even if they know they are going to lose. They do it to make us have to fight for everything too. We need to do some of that. These media guys especially have to be schooled hard or by the time anybody really notices, it will be too late.

Update: FYI, with the exception of Pennsylvania, these are all broadcast stations. This isn’t cable.

Morris’s Law

Dick Morris just told John Gibson that bin Laden can’t actually explode a bomb so he’s reduced to sending a tape. This is because Junior has made America safe.

And bin Laden was much harder on Bush than Kerry which means that he favors Kerry. He used the My Pet Goat anecdote which proves that the far left is helping terrorists. Therefore, bin Laden just won the election for Bush.

Morris’ Law states that whatever he says means the opposite is surely true. Therefore, the tape is a scathing indictment of Bush and will help Kerry.

We’ve Heard From Him Now

Q (March 13, 2002): Mr. President, in your speeches now you rarely talk or mention Osama bin Laden. Why is that? . . .

Bush: So I don’t know where he is. You know, I just don’t spend that much time on him , Kelly, to be honest with you. . . .

Q: But don’t you believe that the threat that bin Laden posed won’t truly be eliminated until he is found either dead or alive?

Bush: Well, as I say, we haven’t heard much from him. And I wouldn’t necessarily say he’s at the center of any command structure. And, again, I don’t know where he is. I — I’ll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him. I know he is on the run. I was concerned about him, when he had taken over a country. I was concerned about the fact that he was basically running Afghanistan and calling the shots for the Taliban.

Maybe if he’d been a little bit more concerned about bin Laden and a little less obsessed with “takin’ out” Saddam, he might not be threatening us still today.

Is there any better reason to fire this asshole than this?

Codpiece Dysfunction

As Bush introduced the mother of a New York Port Authority police officer killed at the World Trade Center, a machine that was to blast confetti into the air at the end of the event went off prematurely with a loud, startling bang.

Bush flinched and paused, then resumed his speech as the confetti fell around him.

Bush had planned to campaign here with Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, a World Series hero with Kerry’s hometown team. Schilling’s presence was canceled at the last minute for what was described as an ankle problem.

Looking like a Loserman more and more each day.

Busted

again

Salon.com interviews a physicist who is an expert on imaging. It’s not good news for the Codpiece.

George W. Bush tried to laugh off the bulge. “I don’t know what that is,” he said on “Good Morning America” on Wednesday, referring to the infamous protrusion beneath his jacket during the presidential debates. “I’m embarrassed to say it’s a poorly tailored shirt.”

Dr. Robert M. Nelson, however, was not laughing. He knew the president was not telling the truth. And Nelson is neither conspiracy theorist nor midnight blogger. He’s a senior research scientist for NASA and for Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and an international authority on image analysis. Currently he’s engrossed in analyzing digital photos of Saturn’s moon Titan, determining its shape, whether it contains craters or canyons.

For the past week, while at home, using his own computers, and off the clock at Caltech and NASA, Nelson has been analyzing images of the president’s back during the debates. A professional physicist and photo analyst for more than 30 years, he speaks earnestly and thoughtfully about his subject. “I am willing to stake my scientific reputation to the statement that Bush was wearing something under his jacket during the debate,” he says. “This is not about a bad suit. And there’s no way the bulge can be described as a wrinkled shirt.”

Being A Republican Means Never Having To Say You’re Sorry

Atrios is mighty angry about this story and so should we all be. As I read it I got more and more enraged and I had toask myself why it was. After all, we’ve been hearing about this nationwide scheme to suppress the vote through dirty tricks and intimidation for the last month. What is it about this particular story that is so inflammatory?

After taking a few deep breaths I think I have figured it out. It’s that the Republican Party’s corruption has extended far into the grassroots. It’s not longer just the Nixonian Roger Stones or the Rovian Nathan Sproul’s, it’s average, everyday, pillars of the community who have joined in doing the sickening dirty work of a party that cannot win a majority legitimately. These weren’t operative sharpies. They were older Republicans willing to do the bidding of their corrupt party and they didn’t seem to care even when confronted with proof that their scheme was entirely unethical.

Of course, this little drama was really republican vs republican. There were decent republicans on the board who were disgusted by this underhanded plot and they did the right thing. But, they were few and far between. The state GOP was only sorry that they hadn’t sent in better lawyers to defend the miscreants.

I suppose that I thought that most average Republican voters were honest citizens with whom I disagree. I’ve always blamed the leadership for the modern party’s Nixonian reliance on dirty tricks and corrupt election practices. Once again I’ve been proven wrong. The sickness has flowed all the way down to the grassroots.

How long can the decent people like those two on the board hold out against a machine like this? I doubt they will. They will either go over to the dark side or leave the party. When average citizens are willing to be fronts for a dirty tricks operation there is no room left for decency.