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http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/07/20/meet-the-press-tom-brokaw-wants-al-gore-to-think-of-the-children/

  Download | Play   Download | Play  (h/t Heather)

Somewhere in the darkest recesses of the RNC (or from Norquist’s or Rove’s office, your pick) the fax machine was working over time making sure that Tom Brokaw had the latest GOP talking points to discredit Al Gore for his appearance on Meet the Press.  You know Al, that over-achiever that managed to win an Oscar, an Emmy, a Nobel Peace Prize and legitimately the office of the Presidency before the Supreme Court overreached and gave it to George W. Bush, the lifetime underachiever.  That kind of superiority niggles at a party that believes that government can’t do anything well, so they’ll find anything–and I do mean anything–to detract from Al Gore’s message.

This one is especially laughable though, and truly beneath Brokaw in its clear partisan bent.  When the “Draft Al Gore” movement was in full gear, Gore demurred from running again, saying that he wasn’t interested in the political gamesmanship necessary to mount a campaign.  Tom Brokaw confronts Gore, worried that he’s sending the wrong message to the children: 

BROKAW: Let me ask you about your attitude towards politics these days. I was a little surprised. You’re a man who was in politics at the highest level in this country: in the House of Representatives; in the Senate; Vice President for eight years and yet you said recently, “What politics has become requires a level of tolerance for triviality and artifice and nonsense that I have found in short supply.” Is that the right kind of signal to send to the young people of this country who more than any time in recent memory are deeply involved in the political decisions that we’re making this year? And young people who want to get into the political arena look to Al Gore and he said ‘it’s all about trivia and nonsense.’ 

Oh good lord.  That’s so head-poundingly stupid that I’m surprised that Al Gore took the time to respectfully respond.  My first inclination would have been to laugh in Brokaw’s face and point out that those kinds of questions are exactly the kind of triviality and nonsense I have little tolerance for.  But it gets worse.  Gore’s response merits the concern troll follow up of “but I can hear Rush Limbaugh saying this about you…”

BROKAW: With all due respect, Mr. Vice President, I can already hear your critics and I don’t do Rush Limbaugh, so I will not attempt to. But I can hear him saying on radio, “Well there’s Prince Albert. There he was, 25 years hanging out with lobbyists, raising big money, then he lost and now he’s above the process, calling it trivial and nonsense.”

Tom Brokaw = Concern Troll.  Gore goes on to encourage Americans to be on the forefront of alternative energy development and to raise awareness of the ramifications to our environment if we don’t and Tom Brokaw–elder statesman of NBC News–wants him to be worried about Rush Limbaugh poking fun at him.

Transcripts below the fold

BROKAW: Let me ask you about your attitude towards politics these days. I was a little surprised. You’re a man who was in politics at the highest level in this country: in the House of Representatives; in the Senate; Vice President for eight years and yet you said recently, “What politics has become requires a level of tolerance for triviality and artifice and nonsense that I have found in short supply.” Is that the right kind of signal to send to the young people of this country who more than any time in recent memory are deeply involved in the political decisions that we’re making this year. And young people who want to get into the political arena look to Al Gore and he said ‘it’s all about trivia and nonsense.’

GORE: Well, no….I…that quote you used was about my own personal tolerance for…bear in mind, I was in the political process for almost 30 years. And I…no, I encourage people to get involved in politics. Public service is an honorable calling and I’m very excited by the way, about the fact that millions of young people that haven’t been involved in the past are now getting involved, many of them for Senator Obama, of course. And I think that’s exciting. I do think, Tom, that we have a very serious set of problems affecting our democracy. The role of big money, the role of lobbyists, the role of special interests, it’s a very serious problem for our democracy. I think the new internet-based forms of organizing and mobilizing people and that’s what has gotten a lot of these young people involved offer a real ray of hope. I’m optimistic, but I think my best role is to try to help that…bring…come to pass and to focus on enlarging the political space so that we can start focusing on real solutions and not these gimmicks.

BROKAW: With all due respect, Mr. Vice President, I can already hear your critics and I don’t do Rush Limbaugh, so I will not attempt to. But I can hear him saying on radio, “Well there’s Prince Albert. There he was, 25 years hanging out with lobbyists, raising big money, then he lost and now he’s above the process, calling it trivial and nonsense.”

GORE: I’m not saying that I’m above the process. I was in it for a long time. When I first was elected 32 years ago, I called for full public financing of every federal election. I introduced legislation and proposed that every year…

BROKAW: And your guy Obama has turned it down…He said he was for public financing and now he’s decided to stay in the private sector.

GORE: There’s a new reality now with the internet-based small donor playing the dominant role. And I think that’s another example of how the internet has helped to bring about some positive changes that can give us a way to break the back of the special interests dominance that we have in government today.

Three days at Readercon, followed by a power outage when we got home, means I've been off the Internets since Friday morning. And likely won't really be on again until tomorrow. So if something happened, assume I'm unaware of it.

Does anyone know of a chiropractor in or near Arlington who could see someone with a newly-received back injury on short notice on Mondays?  Thanks!

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http://icanhascheezburger.com/?p=76778

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/07/20/adm-mullen-on-fox-right-now-im-fighting-2-wars-and-i-dont-need-a-third-one/

  Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, appeared on FOX today and delivered a message that’s sure to upset Bill Kristol and the rest of the neocon armchair generals.

 Download | Play   Download | Play (h/t Dan)

WALLACE: I want to ask you two questions about Iran. How do you weigh as a military man, as the top military man, the downside risk if either the U.S. or Israel were to militarily strike Iran in terms of blowback from Iran and its allies in the region, increased turmoil in that area, increased turmoil in the oil market?

MULLEN: I think it would be significant. I worry about it a lot. I’ve said when I’ve been asked this before right now I’m fighting two wars, and I don’t need a third one. […]

But I worry about the instability in that part of the world and, in fact, the possible unintended consequences of a strike like that and, in fact, having an impact throughout the region that would be difficult to both predict exactly what it would be and then the actions that we would have to take to contain it.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/07/20/the-chris-matthews-show-why-the-white-house-really-wants-mccain-to-win/

  Download | Play   Download | Play  (h/t Heather)

We’ve long since documented the desperate lengths that John McCain is willing to go to win the office of the Presidency, even to the point of hiring the same people responsible for those whisper campaigns in 2000 that he might be a little off his rocker from his years as a POW and that he fathered an illegitimate black baby.  Chris Matthews seems a little surprised that John McCain is actually seeking to win the election.  Not sure what Chris thinks McCain’s been doing for the last 18 months, but it’s Howard Fineman who gives the real answer to the $64,000 question.  The White House wants McCain to win because they know there would be no accountability for all their criminal acts with another Republican in office.

FINEMAN: If you’re in this White House, you want another Republican administration to follow. You don’t want a Democratic administration coming in there while the evidence is still fresh, so to speak. To look at it the way…

MATTHEWS: With the subpoena power…

FINEMAN: With the subpoena power and looking through all the records and looking at all the decisions that were made. You want to cover over your two terms with a third term the way Ronald Reagan did with George HW Bush.

All of which is undoubtedly true, and one can only hope that there might be a depressingly rare accountability moment coming from a Democratic White House (although nothing about the current Democratic majority would lead us to believe they have the fortitude to pursue it).  But the thing that chaps my hide is the tacit admission by Fineman that the Bush administration would have stuff to hide.  Not that they don’t…we’ve been saying so since the beginning of C&L, but that after years and years of having Fineman and Co. make excuses for the Bush administration and be content to regurgitate their talking points (just as Kelly O’Donnell unapologetically does in this clip), NOW Fineman admits it as if it’s been common knowledge all along. 

Transcripts below the fold

MATTHEWS: As we’ve said, President Bush and John McCain have had a chilly relationship at best. Things turned arctic after that brutal primary fight back in 2000 and while they warmed up a bit in recent years, few people believe Bush and McCain are close friends. But the president and some of his former staffers are working hard to get their former rival elected. No surprise there. Getting another Republican in there would be Bush’s best hope to carry on, even bulk up his legacy. Here’s Bush back in March when he made it plain that he wants McCain there to continue his foreign policy.
[video]

BUSH: John McCain will find out when he takes the oath of office his most important responsibility is to protect the American people from harm. And there’s still an enemy that lurks. An enemy that wants to strike us. And this country better have somebody in that Oval Office who understands the stakes. And John McCain understands those stakes.

[end video]
MATTHEWS: So Kelly, they’re not ready to turn the ball over to the other side, see how well they can play it, huh?

O’DONNELL: Well the President would certainly like to continue that idea of offense as a part of foreign diplomacy, which is something that John McCain talks about a lot. Where McCain does differ is he is more open to some of the diplomatic negotiations that you hear so much from Barack Obama. Different than Obama, but I think McCain does have a slightly different view on foreign policy than the President.

MATTHEWS: Again, Karl Rove is hovering over this campaign. Steve Schmidt, one of his former people… associates is in there running the campaign now. Now it looks to me like they want to win.

RATHER: They want to win and John McCain wants to win. Because he has bought in to the Rovian strategy for this next election and why wouldn’t he? Karl Rove ran two brilliant campaigns for president. However, that could cost him on the other side, because on the one hand he’s trying to say, ‘you know, what…I’m not Bush III’ on the other hand, he’s having Bush’s operatives run the campaign for him.

O’DONNELL: Obviously top Republican operatives have worked for the Bush/Cheney era. But Schmidt would be the first to tell you he’s an Arnold Schwarzenegger man. He ran his re-election campaign, helped him to win coming back from a big deficit. So even this new guy whose sort of running this organization is not as tied to President Bush and Vice President Cheney as you might think.

MATTHEWS: I’m looking at Rove here, over this whole campaign, not just Schmidt, but Rove. I wonder if the polarizing, partisan way that the Bush campaign put his whole operation together the last two terms isn’t going to invade and perhaps hurt the McCain effort. ‘

TUCKER: Well, remember Rove worries about his legacy too. Just a little while ago, he was thought of one of the most brilliant political strategists of a generation. But more recently he’s been looking like the guy who has diminished the Republican brand.

MATTHEWS: Yeah.

TUCKER: So he wants McCain to win not just for Bush’s sake, but for Rove’s sake as well.

MATTHEWS: Yeah, he’s was five feet ahead of the Special Prosecuter, let’s not forget that, in the leak case.

FINEMAN: Yeah. That’s part of it too. First of all, belief matters here. Bush and McCain agree on Iraq…

MATTHEWS: Right.

FINEMAN: …Which is a big deal. One of the biggest, most consequential decisions any president ever made. So there’s belief. There’s also fear. If you’re in this White House, you want another Republican administration to follow. You don’t want a Democratic administration coming in there while the evidence is still fresh, so to speak. To look at it the way…

MATTHEWS: With the subpoena power…

FINEMAN: With the subpoena power and looking through all the records and looking at all the decisions that were made. You want to cover over your two terms with a third term the way Ronald Reagan did with George HW Bush.

MATTHEWS: Yeah…

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/07/20/fns-lie-berman-shills-for-mccain/

Ah…Holy Joe Lieberman.  As reliable as the proverbial broken clock, and just as correct.  On FOXNews Sunday, Joe Lieberman played coy on whether he would pull a Zell Miller and appear at the Republican National Convention.  

 Download | Play   Download | Play   (h/t Dan @ PoliticsTV)

WALLACE:  If you’re asked, will you?

LIEBERMAN:  If John asks me, and he thinks I can help him, because I believe this is no ordinary time, no ordinary election, John McCain is no ordinary candidate.  I want to help him.  I’m not going to go to attack Barack Obama.  I’m going to go to explain why I as an Independent Democrat am supporting John McCain, hoping that I can convince other Independents and Democrats to join me in choosing the man who is clearly more ready to be the President America needs today.

Okay, whatever, Joe.  I hear words coming out of your mouth, but what do they mean?  Independent Democrat?  No ordinary election?  More ready to be President?  That America needs today?   Meaningless platitudes, Lie-berman.  But none so meaningless as that statement “I’m not going to attack Barack Obama” because it takes nothing for you to start spouting off those RNC-crafted talking points to attack Obama.

 Download | Play    Download | Play

LIEBERMAN: If Barack Obama’s policy in Iraq had been implemented, he couldn’t be able to be in Iraq today. It’s because he was prepared to accept “retreat and defeat” and that would mean today, al Qaeda would be in charge of parts of Iraq, Iranian-backed extremists would be in charge of other parts of Iraq, there’d be civil war and maybe even genocide. And the fact is, we’re winning in Iraq today. And you know, you can’t choose as Sen. Obama seems to think, to lose in Iraq so you can win in Afghanistan. The reality is if we lost in Iraq-which Obama was prepared to do-we would go to Afghanistan as losers and instead, al Qaeda has its tail tucked between its legs as it’s exiting Iraq to go to try to [crosstalk-unintelligible] into Afghanistan.  

What color is the sky in your world, Joe?  Because I’m pretty sure you’re talking from some parallel reality.  If Barack Obama’s initial policy in Iraq (opposing invasion) would have been implemented, we wouldn’t have gone into Iraq at all.  His current policy of a measured withdrawal is the one favored by the Iraqi government.  So are you saying that listening to the democratic government we propped up helped establish is “retreat and defeat”?  And I don’t know how to break this to you, Joe, but if we hadn’t gone into Iraq, there’d be no opportunity for al Qaeda to establish any foothold in Iraq, much less control a section of it.  And the Iranian-backed sector?  They’re called the Shi’a.  They’re the ones in charge now that we got rid of the more secular Sunni government of Saddam Hussein, you freakin’ idiot.  Not to mention there IS a civil war and with more than a million Iraqis dead and 3 million refugees, I’d say there’s a genocide going on as well.

But this is what Joe Lieberman thinks is “winning” in Iraq and sending al Qaeda running with “its tail between its legs.”  Riiigggghtt.

Don’t miss where Evan Bayh rightfully shoots down these BizarroWorld talking points with a little injection of reality and both Lieberman and Wallace race to interrrupt and shut him down.  Can’t let those Fox viewers be informed.

Transcripts below the fold:

</p>

Clip 1:

WALLACE: Real quickly, are you going to speak at the Republican Convention?

LIEBERMAN: Uh, I don’t know yet.

WALLACE: If you’re asked, will you?

LIEBERMAN: If John asks me, and he thinks I can help him, because I believe this is no ordinary time, no ordinary election, John McCain is no ordinary candidate. I want to help him. I’m not going to go to attack Barack Obama. I’m going to go to explain why I as an Independent Democrat am supporting John McCain, hoping that I can convince other Independents and Democrats to join me in choosing the man who is clearly more ready to be the President America needs today.

WALLACE: Even if that means the Senate Democrats would kick you out of their caucus?

LIEBERMAN: Well, I’m following the model of John McCain. I’m going to do what I think is right for the country and not worry about the politics and John McCain is definitely right for the country as our next President.

Clip 2:

LIEBERMAN: If Barack Obama’s policy in Iraq had been implemented, he couldn’t be able to be in Iraq today. It’s because he was prepared to accept “retreat and defeat” and that would mean today, al Qaeda would be in charge of parts of Iraq, Iranian-backed extremists would be in charge of other parts of Iraq, there’d be civil war and maybe even genocide. And the fact is, we’re winning in Iraq today. And you know, you can’t choose as Sen. Obama seems to think, to lose in Iraq so you can win in Afghanistan. The reality is if we lost in Iraq-which Obama was prepared to do-we would go to Afghanistan as losers and instead, al Qaeda has its tail tucked between its legs as it’s exiting Iraq to go to try to [crosstalk-unintelligible] into Afghanistan.

BAYH: I have to respond to that. Barack Obama was not for “losing” in Iraq. Barack didn’t want the war to begin with. John McCain opposed surging troops in Afghanistan till last week. [Lieberman interrupts] Joe, excuse me. Was John for losing in Afghanistan? I don’t think so. And now you have Maliki, even President Bush, are moving towards Barack Obama’s position. His judgment [crosstalk] was right…

WALLACE: Gentleman, I want to…we could continue this…

LIEBERMAN: Bottom line, no question Barack Obama was prepared to lose in Iraq. [crosstalk]

BAYH: That’s not true…

LIEBERMAN: Whether it was right or wrong…

WALLACE: Gentleman, you’re going to have to agree to disagree. I want to move on to the whole issue of his trip this week…

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http://icanhascheezburger.com/?p=76665

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/07/20/obamas-mini-state-dept/

  The discipline and organization of the Obama campaign is truly remarkable.

A Cast of 300 Advises Obama on Foreign Policy

Every day around 8 a.m., foreign policy aides at Senator Barack Obama’s Chicago campaign headquarters send him two e-mails: a briefing on major world developments over the previous 24 hours and a set of questions, accompanied by suggested answers, that the candidate is likely to be asked about international relations during the day.

Behind the e-mail messages is a tight-knit group of aides supported by a huge 300-person foreign policy campaign bureaucracy, organized like a mini State Department, to assist a candidate whose limited national security experience remains a concern to many voters. 

In contrast, McCain has loose-knit group of about 75 advisers, consisting of a virtual “who’s who” of the neoconservative foreign policy establishment:

McCain receives advice from several generations of Republican strategists and former top foreign policy officials such as Henry Kissinger and Richard Armitage, often grouped in the realist camp of foreign policy, as well as William Kristol and Robert Kagan, leading neoconservative voices. The campaign lists Kagan as a leading foreign policy adviser…

The last two names on that list really tell you all you need to know about the direction of McCain’s foreign policy should he become President. McSame indeed.

I figure someone on here has to know about this. I'm trying to fly to Boston for a weekend this fall, and I need to do so as cheaply as possible.

I have a friend who works for Delta, but before I go through the whole awkwardness of asking for a buddy pass, I'm wondering if it's even worth it. What are the rules and fees for using a Delta buddy pass?

Well the day has finally come.
My baby girl is going on a week long vacation with her cousins and not us.
This is the 1st time ever she will be out of my site for my then one night.
Im going to go crazy missing her.
But she’s going to have a wonderful time.
And she is sooooooooo excited.

According to Box Office Mojo, the weekend's estimated earnings of The Dark Knight are $155 million, breaking the Spider-man 3 record.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/07/20/bill-kristol-obama-is-so-unqualified/

It’s FOX NEWS SUNDAY, which means more idiocy with William the Bloody. Too bad for Bill that Maliki endorsed Obama’s Iraq plan of withdrawal—which basically makes him out to look more ridiculous than he normally does. There are no warmongering mountains too high for William the Bloody to climb.  He’s going way over the top with his attacks of Obama.

  Download | Play  Download | Play

Kristol:  …I never before running for President in a time of war who was so unqualified to be Commander in Chief. No, I don’t mean that in a polemical way.

Bill keeps his hate going. 

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/07/20/subliminal-message-in-mccains-new-ad/

UPDATE:  There appears to be a coding problem with the YouTube.  The original video is at John McCain’s campaign website.  

Or try this:  Download | Play   Download | Play  (h/t BillW)

Did you catch it?  At the beginning of the ad, the title burns onto a picture of Obama, but the order is striking.

A L   Q   D   C MT RY

(screengrab courtesy of JedReport)

al Qaeda Commentary?  al Qaeda Cemetary? al Qaeda Documentary? Who knows?  But it’s not accidental.   In fact, Alex Castellanos is reportedly now working for the McCain campaign.  Who is Alex Castellanos?

There is speculation in the blogosphere that Alex Castellanos is behind this video. Who? This guy:

The Republican media consultant Alex Castellanos has been called the father of the modern political attack ad — an appellation he might not offer up himself, though we suspect he’s kinda proud of it. Although Castellanos has served on the GOP media team in every general election since 1988, his most infamous spot ran in the 1990 North Carolina Senate race between Jesse Helms and Harvey Gantt, the former mayor of Charlotte, who also happened to be an African-American. The commercial was called “Hands,” and it showed a white guy sitting at a table, the camera trained on his mitts as he crumpled up a job-rejection notice. “You needed that job and you were the best qualified,” intoned the voice-over. “But they gave it to a minority because of a racial quota.” Ugly? Sure. But it won reelection for Helms. In this year’s Republican race, Castellanos worked on Mitt Romney’s primary bid, but today he sits on what’s known as the McCain Ad Council, a group of A-list Republican admen serving as outside media advisers to the GOP standard-bearer.

  FDL offers some more on Castellanos

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/07/20/mikes-blog-round-up-583/

abu muqawama: What does the phrase “time horizon” actually mean?

drinking liberally in new milford: The real reason for McCain’s Friday night Phil Gramm dump

David Seaton’s News Links: Will Afghanistan/Pakistan become be the new Vietnam, or an opportunity
to do something useful?

Kiko’s House: David Carr & The Audacity of Dope

The Rude Pundit was ejected from Right Wing blogger’s conference hotel! Wonder if there were any “Real Men” there?

The Opinion Mill’s Sunday Bookchat: Takin’ it to the geeks! Naomi Klein goes onto the Fox “Happy Hour” and turns those smiles upside down! Dave Sirota dismantles a Republican wingbot on television! Barbara Ehrenreich has a new book, a conservative clod has some old candidates, and Grandmaster Flash sounds as fresh on the page as he does on vinyl — or CD!

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/07/20/fox-breaking-news-giant-stingrays/

Click for full size

It’s a matter of priorities.  Giant stingray caught by a British fisherman or the Iraqi Prime Minister backing the Democratic nominee’s plan for withdrawing from Iraq?  Which would you decide needed a big headline?

Don’t worry your beautiful little mind about what’s going on in the world, Fox viewer.  

So I haven't seen "The Dark Knight" yet. It's not by my own choice, however. I may have to wait a week or two. *sniffles* I can't believe this. I've waited over a year to see it...now I have to wait longer. I could go today, but I only have $11 in my checking account. ($8 for my website next month.) And it's hard to tell when I'll get more money my way.

In other news, after having a PayPal account since 2003, I finally verified it. Yup, I now have a working PayPal account, yet I don't know how to use it. Perhaps I should take some time and read their help section.

Another subject that is money related, I don't have to funds to send off for the proof of my novel. I have the layout complete, just no way to purchase my proof, and I need to do that before I can make the book public.

*sigh* So many finical headaches these days. Things are so bad that we may even lose the house. However, my mother said that she'll let everything else go before losing the house. *imagines living without electricity* Would it really go that far?


*seriously thinks about spending at least $6 for a movie ticket* Let's see, I have a birthday coming up and I'm suppose to get some money for that. All right! That's my plan. I hope someone can drive me to the theater. *runs off*


EDIT: It's a no go. I have no ride to the theater. *pouts* Oh well. There's nothing else I can do but wait. *goes off to draw*