Political Theatre category archive
Thought Crimes 1
Slipped under the door:
From ASZ:
What is so frightening about this bill is that it was sponsored by Democrats, and pushed through with essentially no discussion. I read the news for hours every day, and just learned of it last week. There has been incredibly thorough analysis on blogs, but the major news outlets have been silent. This bill suspends the first amendment, and only three Democrats, including Dennis Kucinich, and three Republicans voted against it.
You can read the text of the bill here.
On the face of it, it seems that somegirl may be over-reacting, but the issue deserves more discussion than it has received.
The Truth Will Out with Most Miraculous Organ 0
Scott McClellan:
There was one problem. It was not true.
I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice President, the President’s chief of staff, and the president himself.
Liar, liar, pants on fire.
Via Atrios.
Dirty Tricks 0
On the Media investigates political dirty tricks in the day of the Innertubes.
Lefties tend towards blogs; righties tend towards email whisper campaigns, such as infamous, fraudulent, and apparently immortal Obama madrassa email.
Visit the website or listen here:
Madama Perjurfly 0
Steve at ASZ:
If forced to testify, Vitter should do his best to “demonstrate true contrition,†Holt said.
“You can survive any political situation if you conduct yourself with dignity,†Holt said. “Preserving your dignity, while extremely difficult in this situation, is still possible.â€
Charlie Black, a Republican strategist and former Republican National Committee spokesman, said Vitter must decide whether it’s worth trying to quash the subpoena.
“I might go ahead and do it rather than having a protracted fight over whether he’ll have to do it,†Black said.
If Vitter takes the stand, Black said, the key will be to offer as little new information — and fodder for critics — as possible.
Seems typical Republican advice to me. Neither of these guys recommends that Mr. Vitter tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Evidently they don’t understand American jurisprudence or something.
“Demonstrating true contrition” and “feeling true contrition” are, of course, not the same thing.
Danger! Will Robinson! Danger! 3
Josh Marshall observes Islamofascism Awareness Week.
No, that’s not right.
He doesn’t observe so much as dissect it.
Which fits with this, from Arianna Huffington. As I have observed to a couple of my Republican friends (yes, I do have them, and, yes, we are able to talk with fisticuffs, because they are good and decent persons–I’m the jerk), the Republican Party of Ev Dirksen, Dwight Eisenhower, and even Robert Taft is long gone:
Reagan’s GOP has been replaced by the dark, moldering, putrefied party of Bush, Cheney, Rove, Limbaugh, Coulter, and Malkin. Morning in America has given way to Midnight in America.
Of course, there the Republican Party has always had it Jesse Helmses, Spiro Agnews, and Lee Atwaters. But they were the minority, far removed from the mainstream of the Party — Ronald Reagan, Jack Kemp, the first George Bush.
But these days it has become impossible to tell where the mainstream stops and the fanatical fringe begins. Just look at what the so-called “mainstream” of the party is endorsing
We have a mainstream on the right that supports torture, that is backing an Attorney General nominee who is agnostic on torture, and that rallies behind a president who refuses to define what the word “torture” means.
A mainstream that supports — even applauds — the behavior of Blackwater thugs.
A mainstream that continues to back the White House’s delusions about Iraq at the expense of our military, our treasure, our safety, and our standing in the world.
A mainstream that supports the gutting of our civil liberties.
So, it can no longer be denied: the right wing lunatics are running the Republican asylum.
Josh Marshall video via Brendan.
Follow-Up 0
More on this, which I mentioned a little while ago:
Under the revised list, poultry growers won’t have to file complex risk assessments for the propane they use to heat their chicken houses, two sources familiar with the regulations said.
An original list of 344 chemicals — some with specific weight thresholds — was proposed in April and caused an uproar among businesses that assumed they would be exempt from such terror-related reporting laws. Chicken farms fell under the umbrella of any business with more than 7,500 pounds of propane.
“It’s just silly,” said Pocomoke City chicken farmer Gary Pilchard who has more than 7,500 pounds of propane at each of his six chicken houses. “That’s the problem sometimes in Washington. You get folks sitting behind a desk, that might sound like a lot of propane, but in our world, that’s not.”
The rule ruffled other feathers as well.
Many of the chemicals on the department’s list are found on college campuses, but in small amounts. For instance, hydrogen chloride is used in chemistry experiments in several Yale University labs, said Peter Reinhardt, the school’s director of environmental health and safety. Each lab could carry between 3 and 5 pounds of hydrogen chloride at any given time, Reinhardt said.
But on the Homeland Security chemicals list, any amount of hydrogen chloride would need to be reported. Of the 344 chemicals on the original list, businesses would have to report any amount of 105 of them, including hydrogen chloride.
(More on hydrogen chloride here.)
Guiliani Trips over the Facts. Again 0
Whereas Fred Thompson gets his facts straight. From FactCheck dot org (follow the link for detailed analysis):
- Giuliani claimed Sen. Hillary Clinton once called the free-market economy “the most destructive force in modern America.” She didn’t say that. She quoted another author who said free markets were “disruptive.” She also said free markets bring prosperity.
- The mayor falsely claimed Clinton proposes to give $1,000 to “everybody.” Her proposed subsidies to workers’ retirement accounts would be for couples making up to $60,000 a year and would be $500 for those making up to $100,000.
- Giuliani falsely claimed that more than 2 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product is spent on “frivolous” lawsuits. The figure is from a study about the cost of all lawsuits.
Public Discourse Has Gone into the Crapper 3
A comment here has implied that Democrats and Republicans both are more or less equally responsible for the decline in the level of public discourse.
I’m not going to take on the comment when Digby has already disposed of that line of reasoning.
Not that I think Democrats are inherently the greatest thing since sliced bread, but I will point this out: Republicans turned me into a Democrat.
Before Bush, I was not a contributing member of the NAACP, the ACLU, the SPLC, Moveon.org, or KOS.
Now I am all those things.
Because I care about the blood that has been shed to create, preserve, and protect the ideals of the Founders.
I care that the government of the United States of America should stand for something other than invading civil liberties and torturing perons whom the Current Federal Executive doesn’t like.
I care that this great experiment not be betrayed, as it is being betrayed by the Current Federal Administration.
Common Law (Updated) 0
Guiliani–er–Errs 3
From FactCheck dot org:
The actual increase in the size of the force was about 3,660, or about 10 percent, during the period Giuliani pinpoints. And Giuliani doesn’t mention that the cost of hiring about 3,500 of the officers was partially covered by the federal government under President Bill Clinton.
On another matter, we question Giuliani’s claim that on Sept. 11, 2001, he had a new command center “up and running within half an hour” of being forced to evacuate his primary center near the World Trade Center. In his 2002 book, “Leadership,” he says that “we arrived about noon” at the backup site, which was two-and-a-half hours after the evacuation.
Awwww, forget it.
He doesn’t err. He lies. (That’s an honest word for “spin.”)
He would be a fitting successor to the Current Federal Administrator.
Tradition and all that, you know.
The Second Silent Debate 0
Aren’t they the best kind? Harry Shearer:
Late to the Party 1
But I can’t resist. It must have been some to that sublimal projection stuff:
Wide stance? Check.
In Minneapolis? Check.
Prison stripe-wearing? Check.
Starry eyed? Check.
As for the elephant humping the “2008”…
Are they going for a “Still screwing the country in 2008” theme, or is it a reference to hypocritical adulterers like David Vitter and just about the entire Republican presidential field?
Who Do You Favor? 2
USA Today claims to be able to help you choose. (Don’t forget to weight the issues after finishing the quiz).
Five Brothers 0
I’ve mentioned the five Sullivan brothers before. They were on the campaign trail.
The Pacific Campaign.
Not the flip-flop campaign.
It occurs to me, it must be really difficult to be a Republican. You don’t know what your candidates stand for from one election to another.
Via Andrew Sullivan.