Bill Maher Nailed It This Weekend

If you have HBO, check out this week's episode of Real Time With Bill Maher (it's usually replayed several times over the week). I especially liked his opening monologue, which poked fun at Hillary's false claim that she came under sniper fire in Bosnia:

Hillary warned this week that the economy is headed toward a Japan-style depression and she said she did not help raise the flag on Iwo Jima to let that happen here in America.

But the economy is kind of in the shitter, is it not? I mean, consumer confidence they said this week is at the lowest level in 16 years -- no one wants to spend any money. In fact, this week, Eliot Spitzer had sex with his wife!

Maher also introduced an ultra-violent new video game called Hillary Clinton's 3 AM Call of Duty: Mission Bosnia ("Sinbad's down! Sinbad's down!!").

By the way, anyone who doesn't think that the GOP would have a field day with Hillary's Bosnia fabrication is living in Fantasyland.

Condi "Worst National Security Adviser Evaah" Rice Considering VP Slot

From Newsmax:

Despite saying she wants to return to Stanford University, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has let it be known in Republican circles that she would consider running for vice president if asked.

One source told Newsmax that she expressed interest in the possibility when Rudy Giuliani was running for president. Another source said she has more recently let her interest be known discreetly within top Republican circles, presumably including John McCain’s camp.

I think whether this actually happens will depend on what occurs in Iraq over the next few months. And right now, things aren't going so great:

Anti-American Shiite militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his followers Saturday to defy government orders to surrender their weapons, as U.S. jets struck Shiite extremists near Basra to bolster a faltering Iraqi offensive against gunmen in the city.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki acknowledged he may have miscalculated by failing to foresee the strong backlash that his offensive, which began Tuesday, provoked in areas of Baghdad and other cities where Shiite militias wield power. * * *

Yeah, I too am stunned that merely launching an attack on al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army would cause such a strong backlash. I totally expected them to roll over.

Well, At Least It's Something

From CNN:

Former White House adviser Lewis “Scooter” Libby, convicted last year for lying to a grand jury and federal agents probing the leak of a CIA agent’s identity, was disbarred from practicing law in the nation’s capital on Thursday.

“When a member of the Bar is convicted of an offense involving moral turpitude, disbarment is mandatory,” the District of Columbia Court of Appeals wrote in its opinion, which is posted on its Web site.

Last July, a court sentenced Libby, once Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, to a 30-month prison term. President Bush later commuted Libby’s sentence, calling it “excessive.” The president stopped short of an outright pardon, noting that “our entire system of justice relies on people telling the truth.”

Meanwhile, the rats continue to flee:

Rep. Thomas Reynolds, a once-powerful lawmaker who saw his fortunes fall with those of the House Republicans, will announce Thursday he is retiring from Congress, The Associated Press has learned.

The 57-year-old lawmaker from Clarence, N.Y. will announce he will not seek another term at a news conference scheduled for noon Thursday in his western New York district, according to a person familiar with Reynolds' decision. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement hadn't yet been made.

Before Thursday, 28 House Republican incumbents had indicated they would not run again, giving Democrats an opportunity to expand their majority this fall.* * *

Is OxyContin Rush Affecting National Polls?

Here is a good piece from NBC Political Director Chuck Todd (thanks for the link, JB) with regard to the superdelegate issue and how the media are trying to keep Hillary's campaign alive and are treating her as the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination even though she isn't.

But this part of Todd's piece really caught my attention:

On Monday, a Gallup poll showed that in a potential match-up, Clinton would best John McCain 51 percent to 46 percent. Obama would lead 49 percent to 47 percent. Surely, these numbers are giving Team Obama some serious heartburn.

Although I know that Gallup has, in the past, demonstrated a GOP bias when it comes to the people it contacts for these polls, there may be something more going on here.

As everyone knows by now, drug aficionado Rush Limbaugh has been telling his listeners to vote for Hillary in the primaries, and it is hard to dismiss the effect that this would have with regard to national polling. After all, thanks to Limbaugh's efforts, 130,000 Republicans voted for Hillary in the Texas Democratic primary, and 100,000 Republicans voted for her in the Ohio Democratic primary.

Limbaugh may be a walking and talking piece of fecal matter, but you can't dismiss his ability to sway ignorant people. I was sitting in the doctor's office the other day, and some folks sitting nearby were talking politics. I could tell they were Republicans because pretty much everything they said was complete bullshit, but they were talking about Rush Limbaugh a lot ("Rush said this . . .," "Rush said that . . . "), and they were speaking about him as if he was Jesus Christ Himself and were commenting as if everything this Limbaugh Idiot said was the gospel truth.

What would stop devoted Limbaugh listeners who receive calls from Gallup to simply say they'd vote for Hillary over McCain? I mean, if 100,000 Ohio Republicans and 130,000 Texas Republicans and 38,000 Mississippi Republicans were willing to get off their asses to vote in Democratic primaries, how hard would it be for these morons to pick up the phone and lie when Gallup calls?

If I Were Obama . . .

. . . I'd run television ads featuring this:

For a party that loves to hate the Clintons, Republican voters have cast an awful lot of ballots lately for Senator Hillary Clinton: About 100,000 GOP loyalists voted for her in Ohio, 119,000 in Texas, and about 38,000 in Mississippi, exit polls show.

A sudden change of heart? Hardly.

Since Senator John McCain effectively sewed up the GOP nomination last month, Republicans have begun participating in Democratic primaries specifically to vote for Clinton, a tactic that some voters and local Republican activists think will help their party in November. With every delegate important in the tight Democratic race, this trend could help shape the outcome if it continues in the remaining Democratic primaries open to all voters.

Spurred by conservative talk radio, GOP voters who say they would never back Clinton in a general election are voting for her now for strategic reasons: Some want to prolong her bitter nomination battle with Barack Obama, others believe she would be easier to beat than Obama in the fall, or they simply want to register objections to Obama.

"It's as simple as, I don't think McCain can beat Obama if Obama is the Democratic choice," said Kyle Britt, 49, a Republican-leaning independent from Huntsville, Texas, who voted for Clinton in the March 4 primary. "I do believe Hillary can mobilize enough [anti-Clinton] people to keep her out of office." * * *

Obama's ad practically writes itself. You'd start with a segment on the history of the right wing's hatred for all-things-Clinton, then cite the above-referenced numbers showing how many Republicans voted for Hillary in Ohio, Texas, and Mississippi, then conclude the ad by stating the obvious, namely, the only reason rabid Clinton haters are voting for Hillary in droves is because they know that they can beat her in a general election and they know they can't beat Obama.

By the way, here is the quote of the day:

"I think the only 'red-phone' moment was: 'Do we eat here or at the next place.'"

Comedian Sinbad said this in response to Hillary Clinton's claim that her trip to Bosnia in 1996 was something she did to prepare her to be Commander-In-Chief. Although one of Hillary's supporters described it as a "serious trip under serious circumstances," it is worth noting that accompanying Hillary and Sinbad on this very dangerous, harrowing adventure were singer Sheryl Crow and a 16-year-old Chelsea Clinton.

So you took a sixteen-year-old kid into a war zone, Hillary -- nicely done.

There They Go Again

God I'm tired of these people:

Hoping to capitalize on consumer concern about gasoline prices, Alaska's two Republican senators introduced legislation Thursday that would allow oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge if the price of oil hits $125 a barrel.

With oil hovering near $110 a barrel and gasoline expected to reach $4 a gallon, Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Ted Stevens said that they hoped the continuing price spiral would spark consumer clamor and overcome opposition to opening the wildlife refuge to drilling.

"This has got to come from the ground up," Murkowski said. "From the constituents, from the American consumer saying 'Enough, Congress.' This is the No. 1 issue domestically in the country right now, what is happening with the price of energy."

It would take about a decade before they'd be able to pump anything out of ANWR.

And btw, wasn't Ted Stevens supposed to be indicted on something?

Toles!

Admiral Fallon Gets The Shinseki Treatment

Defense Secretary Gates just announced that Admiral William Fallon, commander of Centcom, is "resigning." From MSNBC:

Adm. William Fallon is stepping down as head of the U.S. Central Command, which oversees military matters in the Middle East, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Tuesday.

Gates said Fallon took the decision because of recent statements attributed to him that Fallon felt had created a misperception about his goals and those of President Bush.

Gates said Fallon had asked Gates for permission to retire and that Gates agreed.

Fallon was the subject of an article published last week in Esquire magazine that portrayed him as opposed to Bush’s Iran policy. It described Fallon as a lone voice against taking military action to stop the Iranian nuclear program.

Fallon is also famous for being critical of "the Surge" strategy as well as for calling General David Petraeus "an ass-kissing little chickenshit." In any event, it now looks like military action against Iran is inevitable.

By the way, I wonder what ass-kissing little chickenshit will be chosen to replace Fallon.

A Question I'd Love To Hear Somebody Ask Hillary

Q. Senator Clinton, you've made "commander-in-chief readiness" a major theme in your campaign, and you've taken the position that Senator Obama does not have sufficient experience to be an effective commander-in-chief. George W. Bush has been president for over seven years now -- that's seven full years of on-the-job experience. Do you think George W. Bush is an effective commander-in-chief right now?

Client 9: Spitzer Pulls A Vitter

The talking heads at MSNBC and CNN are spinning madly over this one:

Gov. Eliot Spitzer has been caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a high-priced prostitute at a Washington hotel last month, according to a person briefed on the federal investigation.

The wiretap recording, made during an investigation of a prostitution ring called Emperors Club VIP, captured a man identified as Client 9 on a telephone call confirming plans to have a woman travel from New York to Washington, where he had reserved a room. The person briefed on the case identified Mr. Spitzer as Client 9.

The big story here, in my opinion, is that the governor of New York is referred to as "Client 9." I'm dying to find out who Clients 1-8 were.

FauxNews is reporting that Spitzer will resign. My response -- what politician in his right mind would resign over something like this in the post-Vitter Age? Senator David Vitter confessed to having been with the DC madam, and then found Jesus; and after he found The Lord, all was forgiven.

My advice to Spitzer? It's time to Jesus-up. Getting some drug and/or alcohol treatment probably wouldn't hurt either.

It's Hard To Argue With This

"[P]robably the worst national security adviser since the office was created."

David Kay, former head of the Iraq Survey Group and a weapons inspector in Iraq after the 2003 U.S. invasion, on Condi Rice (quote from Bob Woodward's "State of Denial").

You've Just Lost My Vote, Hillary

Actually, that's not entirely true, because Hillary basically lost me in 2002 when she casted her very cowardly vote in support of the Iraq War.

But now I won't even vote for her in the General Election should she get the nomination. Indeed, I'm may actively campaign against her given all the bullshit that went down today.

Where to begin. This is as good of a place as any I guess:

In a Cabinet-style setting, surrounded by retired military leaders, Sen. Hillary Clinton said the public should ask whether Democratic presidential rival Barack Obama has met the criteria needed to become the nation’s commander in chief.

“I think that since we now know Sen. (John) McCain will be the nominee for the Republican Party, national security will be front and center in this election. We all know that. And I think it’s imperative that each of us be able to demonstrate we can cross the commander-in-chief threshold,” the New York senator told reporters crowded into an infant’s bedroom-sized hotel conference room in Washington.

“I believe that I’ve done that. Certainly, Sen. McCain has done that and you’ll have to ask Sen. Obama with respect to his candidacy,” she said.

What the fuck? For Christ's Sake, Hillary, maybe you and McCain should get a room. And what exact experience do you have that demonstrates you've crossed the commander-in-chief threshold, Hillary?

And speaking of sex and politics, check this out:

An aide to Hillary Clinton likened Democratic presidential rival Barack Obama to independent prosecutor Ken Starr on Thursday, comparing criticism of her to the 1998 probe that led to President Bill Clinton's impeachment.

Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson criticized Obama's promise to take a more aggressive stance with the New York senator after she won three of four states on Tuesday in their hard-fought battle for the Democratic nomination to face Republican John McCain in November's election.

"I for one do not believe that imitating Ken Starr is the way to win a Democratic primary election for president, but perhaps that theory will be tested," Wolfson told reporters. * * *

Obama, an Illinois senator, said on Wednesday he planned to step up his criticism of Hillary Clinton and raise more questions about her national security credentials and issues like her refusal so far to release her recent personal tax returns.

Was Wolfson referring to the Ken Starr, that Republican sex maniac who presided over the Clinton PenisGate Scandal (i.e., the scandal which revealed that Hillary's husband was being blown by Monica Lewinski)? Does the Hillary Campaign really want to bring all that up at this particular moment in history?

And why don't you want to release your tax returns, Hillary? After all, wasn't it you who criticized your opponent for Senate a few years back when he didn't release his tax returns?

Eight years ago, when Hillary parachuted into NY to become our Senator, she and Howard Wolfson became completely obsessed with opponent Rick Lazio's tax returns, which he did not release until the end of August..

They talked about them at every opportunity. In early July, Hillary called it "frankly disturbing." A guy in an Uncle Sam outfit was dispatched to be a nuisance at various Lazio events in August. Howard himself showed up once to try to rattle Lazio by offering him a copy of some Chappaqua property tax receipt after Lazio said he'd release his state returns as soon as Hillary released hers (which didn't exist, because she had just moved up here).

And do you remember last week when someone in Obama's camp was accused of contacting the Canadians to explain that Obama really wasn't going to do anything to hurt NAFTA? Well, check this out:

A storm of reports in the Canadian media say that the Nafta-gate flap last week involving Barack Obama was started by a key aide to Canada's prime minister - who told journalists that Hillary Clinton's campaign - not Obama's - had contacted the Canadian government to play down its Nafta-bashing.

The Canadian Press wire service - the equivalent to AP - reports that Ian Brodie, chief of staff to Stephen Harper, was talking to journalists last week: "Brodie was asked about remarks aimed by the Democratic candidates at Ohio's anti-Nafta voters that carried economic implications for Canada." It quotes a witness who reported Brodie's remarks: "He said someone from (Hillary) Clinton's campaign is telling the embassy to take it with a grain of salt ... That someone called us and told us not to worry."

Excuse me? Hillary undoubtedly got people to vote for her as a result of the original story, but now it turns out that it was Hillary's campaign that made those reassuring remarks to the Canadians.

Anyway, I wouldn't vote for Hillary now even if you held a gun to my head, particularly given that she seems to have no problem praising John McCain while at the same time attacking Obama. And something tells me that I may not be the only progressive-leaning person in this country who feels that way.

In fact, the only thing that would piss me off more at this point is if Obama doesn't go nuclear against Hillary given all that went down today.

Toles

Here Is An Ad That Obama Needs To Run

OK, so Hillary goes negative and it keeps her in the race. I think we can expect more of the same from her in the coming weeks. That means that Obama needs to go on the attack, not merely counter-attack when he gets attacked. Here's an ad I think he should run:

[The ad begins with images of the Trade Towers burning, people jumping 80 stories to their deaths, the towers collapsing, etc.]

[VOICE-OVER]: "September 11, 2001 -- nearly 3000 Americans were murdered when terrorists based in Afghanistan -- and supported by the Taliban -- attacked the United States. So we attacked them back."

[Show images of U.S. troops heroically going into Afghanistan]

[VOICE-OVER]: "But then something tragic happened -- George Bush, John McCain, and Hillary Clinton decided to take their eyes off of Afghanistan and instead direct the bulk of our Army's combat forces against Iraq, a secular Muslim country that had nothing to do with the 9-11 attacks."

[Show films of McCain and Hillary speaking in the Senate in favor of the Iraq War resolution].

[VOICE-OVER]: "Well, we all know how that turned out -- 4000 American troops killed with another 30,000 suffering life changing injuries, a half a million Iraqis dead, a trillion of your tax dollars spent, and no end in sight."

[Show a montage of images of brutal combat in Iraq, the charred bodies of American contractors hanging from a bridge, electrodes stuck to a hooded Iraqi prisoner, flag-draped coffins being loaded on planes, an IED going off on an Iraqi street, a headline showing that oil is now over $100 a barrel, and finish the montage with footage of McCain claiming that we'll be in Iraq for a hundred years followed by an image of McCain and Hillary together at some event, like the image at the bottom of this post].

[VOICE-OVER]: "In fact, security experts agree that the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq has actually made America less safe. And if that isn't bad enough, our enemies in Afghanistan -- the same ones that killed 3000 of our fellow citizens on 9-11 -- are now strong again."

[Show headline reading something like "TALIBAN RESURGENT -- U.S. MISSION IN AFGHANISTAN IN JEOPARDY," like this one].

[Cut to image of Barack speaking at a podium with American flags waiving patriotically behind him and patriotic music crescendo-ing].

[VOICE-OVER]: "Barack Obama had the courage and wisdom to oppose Bush's Iraq invasion from the start. Unfortunately, John McCain and Hillary Clinton did not feel that way, and America is now paying the price for their incompetence. If you are truly concerned about the safety and security of your loved ones, shouldn't you vote for the candidate who doesn't have an enemy identification problem?"

The end needs a little work, but you get the idea. I don't think Barack should go on an all-out attack -- that's just not his style -- but he should run a few ads with the tone of the one set out above, and the key to such ads will be to always mention McCain and Hillary together. This would be a fair tactic to use, given that Hillary recently praised McCain's security credentials while at the same time attacking Obama's, which was despicable in my opinion.

Also, if fear is going to be the dominant theme in this year's election, then Obama needs to really hit the one big truth of this campaign, namely, the Republicans want Hillary to get the nomination because they know that she is beatable.

Obama's people should produce an ad featuring Rush Limbaugh telling Republicans to "cross over" and vote for Hillary in the Democratic primaries. The voice-over for such an ad could simply say, "Why is Rush Limbaugh of all people encouraging Republicans to vote for Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries? Because he can read the polls and he knows that McCain would beat Hillary in a general election."

Obama might also want to consider running a humorous ad against Hillary with regard to Iraq. One such ad could start with the question, "What would have Hillary done in response to the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941?" The ad would then cut to a scene where President Hillary Clinton (her back to the camera) is informed on December 7, 1941 of the Pearl Harbor attack. The ad then depicts her responding to the attack by ordering an invasion of Mexico.

I Knew It!

The first four words of this article pretty much say it all:

High on Mount Sinai, Moses was on psychedelic drugs when he heard God deliver the Ten Commandments, an Israeli researcher claimed in a study published this week.

Such mind-altering substances formed an integral part of the religious rites of Israelites in biblical times, Benny Shanon, a professor of cognitive psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem wrote in the Time and Mind journal of philosophy.

"As far Moses on Mount Sinai is concerned, it was either a supernatural cosmic event, which I don't believe, or a legend, which I don't believe either, or finally, and this is very probable, an event that joined Moses and the people of Israel under the effect of narcotics," Shanon told Israeli public radio on Tuesday.

Moses was probably also on drugs when he saw the "burning bush," suggested Shanon, who said he himself has dabbled with such substances.

"The Bible says people see sounds, and that is a classic phenomenon," he said citing the example of religious ceremonies in the Amazon in which drugs are used that induce people to "see music."

He mentioned his own experience when he used ayahuasca, a powerful psychotropic plant, during a religious ceremony in Brazil's Amazon forest in 1991. "I experienced visions that had spiritual-religious connotations," Shanon said.

He said the psychedelic effects of ayahuasca were comparable to those produced by concoctions based on bark of the acacia tree, that is frequently mentioned in the Bible.