Psst! Want To Know A Secret?

[BlogBox]

No wonder GOPers are so pissed off: their propagandists' old tricks no longer work in cyberspace; serial husband Rudolph Nineelevenani's kids are... well, disgruntled, to say the least; Bush's Lyme disease treatment exposed... a year later, of course; for GOPers, it's all just a game; and DUers SalmonChantedEvening, whirlygigspin and NanceGreggs spill the good beans. All this and much more. Enjoy!

If You Can't Beat Them, Just Hate Them

Why do Republicans hate Yearly Kos? BeggarsCanBeChoosers knows the answer.

The old GOP propagandists' old tricks no longer work in cyberspace. No longer can GOP liars like Dick Cheney fall back on their usual tactics (like claiming they were misquoted). On today's Web, your words live forever in easy-to-access audio and video files that let people hear your actual quotes first-hand.

The dawn of the Web gave the ordinary people a voice that, for the first time in history, could potentially rival the traditional corporate media. Indeed, Daily Kos, with its millions of visitors, does rival the likes of Fox News in audience size. And YearlyKos sums up everything that the GOP/Fox News/Wingnut crowd hates about today's new era of media democracy.

By the way, if you missed all of the mainstream media YearlyKos coverage (yes, I'm kidding), the gurus at Talking Points Memo have compiled 27 videos for you.

Rudolph And The Kids: Family Values In Crisis?

While everyone is oohing and aahing over Caroline (daughter of Rudolph) Giuliani's "one million Strong For Obama" Facebook photo, Jossip.com's further Facebook digging produced this gem:

Meanwhile, even as the Giuliani camp attempts to run damage control following Caroline's impetuously dropping the l-bomb comes news that the Facebook profile of one Andrew Giuliani is potentially more damaging given that he is both the founder and sole member of the group "My Dad Rudy Giuliani Married A Gold-Digging Whore."

Republican kids start the darndest Facebook groups, don't they? And at least one prez candidate spouse, the womb-deficient one who would be our first first gentleman, knows the score when it comes to mainstream media damage control. Now he's after the rightwing destruction of the Fairnes Doctrine. From The Huffington Post:

Bill Clinton: The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board Is Even More Right Wing And Irrational Than Fox News

"With regard to media consolidation, the rules were relaxed too much," Clinton said during his Million Dollar Hamptons fundraising marathon this last weekend.

"Anti-trust law should apply. I think we shouldn't have abandoned the fairness law; if a media outlet were pushing a particular political point of view...then you had a right to demand the opposite point of view. The airwaves belong to the public, not to anybody, particularly not to Fox News.

"But having said all that, the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal is even more right wing and irrational than most of the commentators on Fox News.

"And completely predictable...it's like Pavlov's dogs."

Fairness? What a quaint idea, Bill. Catchy, though. Maybe it'll come back into fashion one of these days. In the meantime, let's take a baby step toward...

Stifling Autonomy

From abortion to "Don't ask, don't tell," GOPers have spent decade after decade dealing in secrets, their most cherished commodity... until now, that is. Hannah explains it all for us:

The Republican party has become the party of secrets–not just the dispenser of secret benefits to cronies, but the collector of personal pecadillos that can be used to blackmail the members and keep them in line. And, it extends to the rank and file. So, for example, the vociferous opposition to the premature termination of pregnancy seems more motivated by a desire to keep the procedure secret and shameful, than any real opposition to a surgical intervention.

The same interest in keeping secrets seems to have prompted the "don't ask; don't tell" requirement concerning sexual inclinations. It's one thing to respect personal privacy by not being inquisitive; it's another to prohibit someone from discussing his or her personal reality.

Perhaps that's just how the authoritarian impulse is manifest on the most basic level. If people can be made to feel ashamed of their very essence, then individual autonomy is effectively stymied.

While we're on the subject of feeling ashamed, here's a drugstore cowboy who should feel ashamed, but probably thinks he should win Bravo's Project Runway...

Hannity's Got Vanity Boots, Y'all

Never mind the voice as smooth as a horse hair doormat. Never mind the acid-peeled face that would make Dick Clark jealous. It's the boots, y'all. And the last-minute free ticket give-away to the so-called Freedom Concert (to benefit Oliver North's fake charity). Newshounds reports:

We had a News Hounds blogger at Thursday night's Freedom Concert. He/she reported back to us that the concert was not sold out, that KFMB AM was giving out free tickets (4 packs) to listeners who called in, and that Oliver North's Freedom Alliance, the beneficiary of this supposedly charitable event, was also giving away tickets. While Hannity bragged on Hannity & Colmes that it was a benefit for Freedom Alliance's Scholarship Fund, only $4 of every ticket purchased (prices ranged from $38-78) went to the Fund. According to KFMB's news report, only hundreds attended. Our Hound got a photo of Hannity's vanity boot.

Yes, Vera Wang is weeping. Pathetic. But is pretending to be a cowboy worse than wanting a powdered wig and a ruffled shirt?

Fred Thompson Thinks He's George Washington

How many wingnuts will feast on this tasty morsel, cited by Democrats.org's blogger, Mike Gehrke?

Fred Thompson, lobbyist and actor, apparently considers himself the second coming of George Washington:

Fred Thompson's new non-campaign bio--a feature of I'm With Fred dot com 2.0--is a fascinating read, inasmuch as it provides insight into how the non-candidate will seek to shape his narrative, turning weaknesses into strengths and smoothing over the rough edges. This part (see: Fred Today), however, really caught my eye:

"In the tradition of President George Washington, a leader Thompson had admired growing up, he walked away from an easy reelection victory to seek new challenges. He joined the American Enterprise Institute as a visiting scholar, traveled the country as speaker and served on a Wall Street advisory board."

George Washington? Really?

Well, maybe Fred Thompson cannot tell a lie-- except to the pro-lifers --like when he covered up his lobbying for an abortion rights group...

Hey, wingnuts! We know you're hungry for a new Reagan, but Washington? Sheesh. Get a grip.

Feeling Sorry For The Tick

Mixter is.

I feel sorry for the tick!!
Bush was treated for Lyme disease a year ago. I wonder if the tick that bit him still has a bad taste in its mouth?

Mixter

In other Bush Lyme disease cover-up coverage, Newsvine's Killfile provides the best headline:

President Bush Has Lyme Disease - Potentially Neuropsychiatric Disease Hidden From Public For A Year

Hmm. Note Killfile's comment after his post:

Lyme disease has a number of rather terrifying late stage components. A 2005 study showed that some patients have neurocognitive symptoms even after intensive antibiotic therapy.
Wikipedia has a short list of potential Neuropsychiatric symptoms of late stage Lymes:
# panic attacks, anxiety
# depression
# short-term memory loss
# sleep disturbance
# hallucinations
# depersonalization
# neurocognitive impairment (brain fog)
# psychosis (rare) including diagnosis of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder
Yea -- this is the sort of thing the American People deserve to know.

This Lyme disease disclosure certainly explains the plethora of "deer overpopulation" news stories this morning on Washington DC's local news channels. So far, though, no "Bush Lyme disease" story. Thanks for nothing, Channel 8. So much for that left-wing media myth.

In other "Bush secrets revealed" news, several hours after BushBot spokesfibber Tony Snow claimed that Bush hadn't called Barry Bonds to congratulate him on his asterisk-laden home run record, naturally Bush picked up the phone and called Barry Bonds to congratulate him on his asterisk-laden home run record. Think Progress has the details.

Bush makes delayed phone call to Bonds.

Bush called Barry Bonds to congratulate him for breaking Hank Aaron's mark as the all-time homerun king. The White House was apparently in no rush to make the call. "It was after noon before the president finally called, spending about three minutes on the phone." Why the delay? The Swamp speculates:

Might this have had anything to do with the suspicion of steroid use by the San Francisco Giant who has batted his 756th homer?

"Right now, there is a leaguewide investigation going on in regard to steroid use," Snow, said, and the president encourages the pursuit of that investigation and also thanks senators for pressing it.

Last week, Think Progress noted, "Should Bonds break the home run record sometime this week, Bush will face the question of whether or not he should call to congratulate the new all-time home run king and give legitimacy to a tainted record. It should be noted, however, that his hands are hardly clean on the issue."

Hey, file this belated phone call under: from one asterisk to another.

Psst! It's All A Game To Them

If you're not reading Dover Bitch (I know, I know. But it's her choice to call herself that), you should be. She's connected the dots perfectly this week to expose how the Bush family and their trusty BushBots really feel about the world:

Only in the Bush family could they compare a man engineering conflicts that are costing thousands of lives with a kid booting a ball at third base. There are plenty of fathers today who will never go to a Little League game with their sons.

Because they're dead now.

I was going to let this go, it being the puff piece that it is, but I saw this from Atrios:
Three months ago today, the 4th branch of government said that it was game time" in Iraq.

Since then, approximately 177 US troops have died in Cheney's game.

It's all a game to them.

Dover Bitch continues with Sports game quotes from Jonathan Alter, Tucker Carlson, and Chris Matthews. Heavy sigh. There's nothing left to do but...

Thank A Duer!

Thanks to SalmonChantedEvening for this hilarious reply to an original post on the Brownbakc-Huckabee "I'm a Better Christian" smackdown:

Two snowballs argue over who has a better chance in hell.

Thanks to whirlygigspin for posting the housing crash-induced video meltdown of MSNBC's Jim Cramer, which is almost as painful (but fraught with shades of Schadenfreude) as watching an episode of that graphic (trans. bloody) plastic surgery reality TV show.

And many thanks to NanceGreggs for the new rant, "I'm a Twenty-Six Percenter!" Here's a snippet:

I'm one of the twenty-six percent of citizens who still believe in our great President Bush, and everything he's done for our country!

I believe my tax dollars should not be wasted on welfare, healthcare, and other communist programs. That's why I support an administration that uses my tax money to increase Halliburton's profits, or just allows it to go missing in Iraq!

I believe in the party of moral values. That's why I vote for the party of Duke Cunningham and Mark Foley!

I believe that trickle-down economics will eventually trickle down to me, and I will become a billionaire. That's why I support tax-cuts for the wealthy!

Way to expose the wingnut spin - padded thicker than a Serta - and cram it back down their gullets where it belongs, Nance.

Exposing GOP secrets is job #1 this year. As long as we keep them scurrying around and wondering when their dirty laundry will be aired in prime time, they'll have fewer opportunities to lie, cheat, steal and smear. It's way past time for GOPers to stop dealing in secrets. The American people deserve much more than that.

-- Delilah Boyd

[bleever]

1. Woo Hoo! Fifth rec on this gem.

Blog Box really deserves higher visibility, up there with Top Ten Conservative Idiots.

:thumbsup:

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[givemebackmycountry]

10. Solve - no one has done it yet so may I be the first to say...

WELCOME TO DU and what GREAT promise you show with that KILLER post.

Have fun here my friend.
I see great things ahead for you!

:hi: :hi: :hi: :hi: :hi: :hi: :hi: :hi: :hi: :hi: :hi: :hi: :hi: :hi: :hi: :hi: :hi: :hi: :hi: :hi: :hi:
:pals: :pals: :pals: :pals: :pals: :pals: :pals: :pals: :pals: :pals: :pals: :pals: :pals: :pals: :pals:

[myrna minx]

2. This was a delicious read. Thanks! K&R. n/t

[troubleinwinter]

3. "vanity boots": My republican congressman's custom-made boots...

"Rick Renzi promised himself a pair of cowboy boots if elected Northern Arizona's U.S. Congressman.

Renzi presented some design elements to include: the family crest, dating back to 13th-century Florence (Firenze), grapes and leaves to honor the vineyard the Renzi family owns south of Tucson."



Those aren't "cowboy boots". They look like English riding European aristocracy style.

[understandinglife]

4. Nifty. Fun. True. Recommended.

:thumbsup:


Peace.

[truedelphi]

5. 27 videos from YKOS

YIkes! Thank you for the link.

[PatSeg]

6. Neuropsychiatric Disease Hidden From Public For A Year?

A year? He must have been bitten by a tick a LONG time ago. He's had these symptoms for a lot longer than a year.

[live love laugh]

7. "Rudolph Nine-Elevanni"....It took me a while to decipher that but...

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

[AnnieBW]

9. Now I'm not sayin' she's a gold digga

But you don't see Judi with no poor, uh, Democrat...

[AX10]

11. Kooky Klansman Hannity can't sell out his "freedom" concerts.

Maybe that's because he's and ass, or maybe people don't want to see wash-up Aaron Tippen.

[tbyg52]

12. It's the hypocrisy, stupid!

I'm trying to get my memes out there....

I'm also rather fond of "It's the corporations, stupid!"

How about "It's one set of rules for you and another set of rules for them, stupid!"

[displacedtexan]

13. Thanks for the great comments!

Please PM me or email me your favorite blog links for future columns. My deadline is Thursdays @ noon, so send me your links by Wednesday. My editor, EarlG, puts the column together on Thursday and posts it on the homepage every Friday.

Delilah