Thanks to Sean Hannity, we now know that Sarah Palin gets her news from the Neanderthal Times, also known as Newsmax.  While not a shock, I did expect by now the half-governor would be astute enough to tell a fawning Hannity that she was a fan of Foreign Affairs or some other highbrow journal.

Alas, our conservative celebrity (does anyone remember how Obama was disdained as a mere “celeb”?) probably had some misplaced fear that even a prostrate Hannity might come up for air long enough to ask her about Vali Nasr’s, Forces of Fortune: The Rise of a New Muslim Middle Class and What It Means for Our World,  or other arcana from the world of Foreign Affairs.

It’s not that Newsmax doesn’t have some high-powered conservative journalists behind it.  After all, it was founded by Chris Ruddy (with financial help from Richard Mellon Scaife, who famously called a female reporter a bleeping Communist bleep, for being brave enough to ask about his political giving). 

Ruddy became a hero on the right through his obsession with “the strange death” of Vince Foster (hint: the Clinton’s may have had him killed or covered for who did) and who suggested that Ron Brown, Clinton’s Commerce Secretary, may have been shot in the head, just prior to a Croatian plane crash in 1996.  Ruddy didn’t make it clear just why someone would bother to shoot Mr. Brown, when normally a plane crash is sufficient to do the job.

But such is conspiracist logic.

Most recently, Newsmax carried a column by John Perry, which suggested that the “Obama problem” might be solved by a nifty military coup.  Such patriotic prose makes great reading on those long Alaska nights, when Todd is crossing the tundra on a dog sled, and our fair Sarah is curled up next to her Hewlett-Packard, absorbing the enormous amounts of misinformation necessary to convince Katie Couric, Charlie Gibson, and the rest of America that she is more than just a pretty face.

Thankfully, Sister Sarah’s troubling reliance on Newsmax has been offset by the comforting fact that she has some running-mate love for Glenn Beck, which certainly eases my pain and convinces me that she is part of the mainstream conservative movement.

While the bubbabots no doubt had “Drill, baby, drill” on their minds upon first seeing the shapely Sarah, they now chant, “Run, baby, run” as they plan their next tea party. 

And though I have my doubts,  I can only hope she will.

     Throughout the Clinton Administartion and even afterwards, President Clinton and Hillary Clinton were constatntly linked to the death, apparent suicide, of one of their longtime advisors, Vince Foster. Mr. Foster allegedly died of a gunshot wound, ruled as suicide.

     Now, years later, and a new Administration, and it seems that Obama is racking up a group of “similar” “disfunctional” colleagues and associates.

     Christopher Kelly, an aide to former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, allegedly died of an overdose of pain killers just after pleading guilty to federal corruption charges.

      This week, Michael Scott, the President of the Chicago Board of Education, committed suicide. Mr. Scott was an integral member of the failed Chicago Olympics bid, and he had real estate holdings that were called into question during the Olympic planning process.

      And, of course, who can forget the choir director of Obama’s church, Trinity, who was murdered in December 2007, just before Obama’s campaign began to get traction.

      Is there a suicide epidemic among the Chicago political mob?

http://www.homelandstupidity.us/2009/11/17/suicide-epidemic-hits-chicago-bureaucrats/

Admittedly, I have been highly critical of contemporary conservatism’s caustic critiques of President Obama and the Democrats. I have even claimed that the level of vitriol directed at Obama is to some extent historically unprecedented.

Now, I’m not so sure.

Recently in Kosovo, an 11-foot statue of Bill Clinton was unveiled to honor our 42nd president. Kosovo’s ethnic Albanians were celebrating Clinton’s role in launching NATO’s bombing campaign against Yugoslavia in 1999 that saved their lives and culture from the attempted ethnic cleansing perpetrated by the Serbians. As some chanted “USA!,” “USA!,” Clinton was honored as a hero.

The attention on President Clinton’s good deed—which, of course, was also America’s good deed—was not prominently featured on right-wing media outlets. All of which made me start to remember the days of the Clinton administration, most of which were filled with endless attacks on Bill and Hillary emanating from people I considered to be my ideological allies at the time.

I don’t want to go into all of the lurid details, so I will just cite a couple of passages that sort of bring back the flavor of those times:

Timothy Noah, writing a review of former conservative David Brock’s, Blinded By The Right, for Slate in March of 2002, said:

We know, well before picking up Brock’s book, that an appallingly well-financed hard right was obsessed with smearing Clinton, and that a large proportion of Clinton’s hard-right accusers failed to conform to hard-right notions about morality, being either adulterers, homosexuals, or begetters of aborted fetuses. We know further that Clinton was placed deliberately into a perjury trap, whereupon he committed perjury.

Senator Al Franken (take that Rush Limbaugh!) wrote in his book, Lies (And The Lying Liars That Tell Them):

…did you know that Hillary Clinton is a lesbian? And that, despite her homosexuality, she was having an affair with Vince Foster? Who then had to be murdered to cover up Whitewater? And did you know that Foster’s execution was only one small part of a killing spree that claimed nearly forty lives, including those of former Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and the wife of an Arkansas state trooper who apparently didn’t “get the message”? And did you know that Clinton, to finance his own gargantuan cocaine habit, had struck a deal with the CIA and the Contras to smuggle duffel bags filled with coke into Arkansas?

If you didn’t, you weren’t reading the Wall Street Journal editorial page, the American Spectator, or the Washington Times.

Reading these short summaries of the 1990s reminded me of some things I had forgotten, like how fervently publications like the American Spectator had attacked Clinton, and then how those unfounded attacks made it into the mainstream media, sort of like how today some of the nonsense on Fox “News” makes it into the New York Times. Conservatives learned in the 1990s that if you throw enough dook at the wall, some of it will eventually stick.

Franken also reminded me of just how disrespectful conservatives were of the office of the presidency, as they employed epithets for Clinton like: “scumbag” (Rep. Dan Burton from Indiana), “sociopath” (Craig Shirley), “perpetual preener” and “rapist “(George Will), “craven miscreant” (Michelle Malkin).

Additionally, Franken reminded me of the little publication, The Clinton Chronicles, which attempted to link the Clintons to “dozens of murders.” According to Franken, The Clinton Chronicles sold over 100,000 copies, “thanks in large part to the Reverend Jerry Falwell, who cofinanced, publicized, and distributed the video…“

Snopes.com had to begin “The Clinton Body Count,” as the bodies of people killed by Bill Clinton were starting to pile up—the last count was “close to fifty.”

Damn! How could I have forgotten that?

So far, Sean Hannity hasn’t had anyone on his program accusing Barack Obama of murdering one of his cabinet members (like when Sean had on Chris Ruddy, who wrote, The Strange Death of Vince Foster). But stay tuned. It’s early yet, and so far no member of Obama’s cabinet has died in a “mysterious” plane crash, so the right-wing hasn’t had much to work with.

At this point I will have to recant my previous claim, and give an edge to Bill Clinton in the Right-Wing Hate Sweepstakes. But, as conservatives continue to document Obama’s plan to destroy American culture—gifted to us by white Europeans—Obama is at least gaining on him.

(Photo credit: Valdrin Xhemaj/EPA)

1. In the “Have you killed a Palestinian today” department, Hesham Tillawi has an interview here with Haneen Zouby. Ms. Zouby is a Palestinian who is also a member of the Israeli Parliament. She and Hesham, pronounced Hshm by Mark Glenn, discuss Israel’s favorite sport, Murdering Palestinians, and focus on Israel’s champions from the year 2000.

Jonathan Cook had some interesting comments on this sporting event, red highlights are mine, as usual.

Wissam Yazbak, at rest in a Nazareth cemetery, cannot tell the story of what happened to him nearly three years ago, on the night of 8 October 2000. That evening a mob of several hundred Israeli Jews from the neighbouring town of Nazareth Ilit marched on the eastern quarter of Nazareth, many armed with guns and chanting “Death to the Arabs”. As the mob attacked the first Arab homes, Nazareth’s mosques called on local residents to defend their town.

I recommend reading the rest of his article linked to above. But hell, I’ll link to it again here.

Now don’t worry, the police who ended up intervening and in a series of clashes in the Galilee managed to kill 13 Palestinians and no Jews, were not indicted or punished. They got off Jew-free, just like many Israeli traitors in the US.

Need I point out that these 13 murder victims are actual Israeli citizens? But they are Arabs, so who gives a shit?

Haneen does, so again,  here’s a link to the interview.

2. Gareth Porter and Scott Horton recently nuked the huge mountain of Zionist Bullshit about Iran’s nuclear facility in Qom. The mushroom cloud was so huge that the manure is still falling all over the faces of the traitors working at the Jerusalem Washington New York Times Post, in Congress and in the White House. To listen to the interview, click here.

3. As we all know, Arab women are oppressed by a weird Middle Eastern religion that looks down upon Arab women and treats them like slaves. Fortunately, this disgusting Middle Eastern regime was conned into emancipating twenty of these horribly treated Arab women about whom you will hear nothing from Hillary Vince Foster Who? Clinton.  Thank God for the care that Hamas has about women and managed to free these 20 women from the clutches of the Jewish state. That Jewish state has arrested hundreds of Palestinian women since 2000 and currently holds about 80, though that number may be 60 with this release. On the joys of being a Palestinian female in an Israeli prison, go here.

4. B’T Selem, in the interest of fairness here, says that Gilad Shalit was illegally kidnapped and should be released immediately. Their position is spelled out  here.  Of course, if you don’t want to have your soldiers taken as hostages, it might be a good idea to not be a state of ravenous blood thirsty murderous beasts.

الله معك يا لنان

5. We hope to have a more major update later in the week. So much Zionist treachery, so little time. But we do hope you all have a great weekend and will get out and play some real sports – find one that doesn’t involve murdering Palestinians.  You can do it.

And Anonymous Arabist, this one’s for you.

!خراء

FBI denies editing Oklahoma City bombing tapes. The FBI says it did not edit videotapes of the aftermath of the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building before turning them over to an attorney who is conducting an unofficial inquiry into the bombing.
The FBI turned over more than two dozen tapes taken from security cameras on buildings and other locations around the federal building to Salt Lake City attorney Jesse Trentadue, who obtained them through the federal Freedom of Information Act. Trentadue said the tapes are blank at various times in the minutes before the blast.
“They have been edited,” Trentadue said Wednesday.
The soundless recordings show people rushing from nearby buildings immediately after a 4,000 pound fertilizer-and-fuel-oil bomb detonated in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995, killing 168 people, including 19 children, and injuring hundreds more.
Some show people fleeing through corridors cluttered with debris. None shows the actual explosion that ripped through the federal building.
Trentadue said the absence of footage before the blast indicates something was on the tapes that the FBI did not want to make public.

David Kellermann, Acting Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Freddie Mac, was found dead this morning.

He was with Freddie Mac for more than 16 years. He began as a financial analyst/auditor in 1992, worked for several years in the company’s securities sales and trading unit, and served in a variety of positions in the company’s capital markets division, most recently serving as vice president strategy execution and integration and the Investments and Capital Markets division controller.

The chief financial officer is responsible for the company’s financial controls, financial reporting and oversight of the company’s budget and financial planning. He was in a position to know exactly who did what and when. Was he going to come clean about something?

My first thoughts were all the people who died of mysterious reasons or committed suicide under Clinton’s regime. Is Kellermann the first Obamacide?

Do you remember these:

Marilyn Monroe killed herself.

Vince Foster shot himself with a gun that wasn’t there – oh, the gun appeared later! And Hillary wouldn’t allow the FBI into Vince’s office, until they had removed all the evidence.

Mary Mahoney committed suicide by shooting herself five times.

Steve Willis, Robert Williams, Conway LeBleau, Todd McKeehan all committed suicide after ‘guarding’ Bill Clinton.

Paul Tully managed to finally commit suicide, but boy it took some effort to run him to ground and make him do it.

Kathy Furguson committed ’suicide’ – managed to shoot herself in the head twice and THEN wrote her note.

Would you like the rest of the 200+ list of Democratic operatives committing ’suicide’ in just the past two decades?

I am sure that damage control is at full throttle this morning. Democrat cleaners rummaging through Kellermann’s personal effects.

I fear this event will be covered up as much as possible, as it tarnishes Obama’s first One Hundred Days. Freddie and Fannie are both protected by Frank and Dodd so any investigation (which at this time there aren’t any) will be completely swept under the rug. And we will not hear much from the mainstream media – their job is to hush this up. If it had been a Bush guy, they would have stopped the presses.

Let’s hope the Fairfax County homicide detectives dig deep and resist political pressure. We need more information.

Terrorist Muslim Fist-Bumpin' Preznit ZOMG!

Reader casss comments:

why not first get the Truth about obama? Is obam eligible to be POTUS ? Is larry sinclair s allegation about obama s Drug and homosexuality True?? Donald Young the murdered choir director did obama have anything to do with it ?/

HIDE!

Indeed!  Casss, the points you raise are far too important to be relegated to the comments whenever you want to post them.  You didn’t even mention the Clintons killing Vince Foster!  What about the terrorist fist bump?  Isn’t Obama a Muslim?  And a terrorist?  Oh, and what about JFK and the single bullet theory?  Did you know that Bush and Kerry were both in Skull and Bones?  Don’t even get me started on Area 51

And then there’s the Illuminati….

Seriously, though.  What Casss may have noticed in the articles linked to in my previous post is that Obama is threatening to not investigate Bush.  I find that to be a prime example of my core criticism of the man: too willing to let a group that has deeply damaged this country get away with more of the same.

NEVER AGAIN!

PS:  I can’t wait to see what referring links the tags from this post bring to my blog.  More wingnut comments, please!

Joe Conason, Salon, January 9, 2009

If Al Franken were not a longtime public figure — and thus severely handicapped by American jurisprudence — he could file a powerful complaint for libel or slander against several of the most prominent wingnuts in the United States. From Rush Limbaugh to Bill O’Reilly to Richard Mellon Scaife, a chorus of familiar voices is loudly defaming the Democrat whose razor-thin win in the Minnesota Senate race will now be tested in that state’s courts. Ever since Election Day, on radio and television, on the Internet and in print, they’ve screamed that Franken is stealing, rigging, pilfering, scamming, thieving and cheating his way to victory.

These media figures, some of whom occasionally pretend to be journalists, have spewed such accusations repeatedly, without offering any proof whatsoever — in plain contradiction of the available facts. Not only is there no evidence that Franken or his campaign “cheated” in any way during the election or the recount, but there is ample reason to believe that the entire process was fair, balanced and free from partisan taint.

For Franken’s most famous adversaries, spewing lies about him may be a form of cheap revenge. A prime example is Fox News host O’Reilly, who has hated Franken for years, dating back to when the comedian and author berated him in a public debate, then exposed him in “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them,” and ultimately provoked him into filing an ill-advised lawsuit that only generated vast amounts of free publicity for Franken’s book before the suit was thrown out of court. Of course O’Reilly was preceded by Limbaugh, that “big fat idiot” whose deceptions and bigotry were featured in the comedian’s first bestselling book way back in 1996.

So Limbaugh, quoting an erroneous editorial from the Wall Street Journal, has been ranting about the supposed theft of the Minnesota election for months now. “We did not elect Al Franken,” he told a caller on Jan. 5. “He stole the race. They are stealing the race up there blind in front of everybody’s nose. They are counting absentee ballots [which election officials are required to do by law]. … They’re counting votes twice — votes that were rejected, all kinds of things [which election officials ordered after determining that some votes were rejected wrongly]. That’s just — the Democrats are stealing the election up there.” Even the Journal’s tendentious and sloppy screeds have never quite accused Franken of “stealing” the race or the recount. Rush just made that part up.

On Jan. 7, O’Reilly hosted an appearance by Dick Morris, the former Clinton consultant who lost his job for consorting with a prostitute and has gone into business selling himself to the highest Republican bidder. Aside from Fox News, Morris seems to appear with the greatest frequency on Newsmax.com, the popular right-wing Web site owned by Scaife and operated by Christopher Ruddy, a journalist known mainly for his fanciful theories about the Vince Foster suicide.

Read More Here

It seems that our Senator from Pennsylvania is intent on dragging out the confirmation hearing of Attorney General Designate Eric Holder well into the spring, based on this New York Times story today, which tells us that…

Mr. Specter raised questions about Mr. Holder’s role as deputy attorney general on a range of issues that included an investigation into the 1993 federal siege in Waco, Tex., that left David Koresh and about 80 of his Branch Davidian followers dead, and an espionage investigation involving a nuclear scientist, Wen Ho Lee.

But he saved his sharpest criticism for Mr. Holder’s role as deputy attorney general in three controversies in Mr. Clinton’s second term: Mr. Clinton’s pardon of (fugitive financier Marc) Rich in 2001, the president’s decision in 1999 to grant clemency to 16 members of a Puerto Rican militant nationalist group, and the Justice Department’s rejection in 1997 of an independent counsel to examine accusations of campaign finance abuse by Vice President Al Gore and the White House. In each case, Mr. Specter said, Mr. Holder appeared to go against the advice of career professionals at the Justice Department.

Geez, Arlen, you mean you’re NOT going to try and find a way to blame Holder for returning Elian Gonzalez to Cuba also? You’re slipping!

And after this is concluded, I’m sure Specter also will press for hearings into the “real” death of Kurt Cobain, as well as the “murder” of Vince Foster.

To say that all of this is pointless is an understatement; the only one of these “controversies” that I care remotely about is the Rich fiasco, which I posted about here.

And I’ll be curious to see exactly how far Specter goes with his little inquisition on Holder; as Bob Geiger notes here, Our Man Arlen did a lot of yapping about former Bushco AG Abu Gonzales, but didn’t do a whole hell of a lot to try and persuade the Repug Senate “leadership” at the time that Gonzales should go (and Chris Durang of HuffPo notes here that Specter didn’t even put Gonzales under oath when he testified; let’s see if he tries that little trick when Holder visits “the Hill”).

Also in the matter of Specter on a separate issue (FISA), we have a clip from Jack Cafferty here which states in fairly blunt language how our senator buckled on the surveillance issue the same way he did on Gonzales.

Finally, I’d like to remind Specter and the Repugs that, in 2001 when the Dems were the minority party, they chose not to filibuster the confirmation of John Ashcroft as Attorney General even though the Repugs didn’t have the now-traditional “60 votes needed for passage” (here). Though I don’t expect the Repugs to return the favor on Holder if he gets less than 60 now that they’re the minority party, I just thought I’d remind them anyway.

I sincerely hope Chris Matthews is paying attention to all this (still can’t quite get used to him as the party standard bearer against Specter, but there you are).

Update 1: Looks like Grassley wants to play with Arlen too on the Holder nomination based on this (and kudos to Leahy for using Ass-Croft to slap them down).

Update 2: Also looks like Matthews is out (oh noes!!! – I think; hmmm…).

Update 3 1/8/09: What BarbinMD sez here…

Update 4 1/12/09: More of Arlen’s particular brand of hypocrisy here (h/t Atrios)

Now that the Barack Obama has asked America to open wide to swallow Hillary as Secratary of State it is interesting to note an odd phenomenon. Let’s call it qualification reversal. Just a few months ago in the primaries, you remember the primaries that short period of time when Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama were speaking the truth about each other. Hillary was saying Obama was naïve and not ready to lead. In return the Obamatons were pooh-poohing Hillary’s claim that her time as first lady was foreign policy experience.

Just a few months later and abracadabra presto, Mrs. Clinton is praising Mr. Obama’s strong leadership qualities and He Who Is has picked her who wasn’t as the best person in the country to be the front for our new foreign policy. Yet there are still some of you who don’t believe in miracles! Maybe this is the change you can believe in but I believe that something more sinister is afoot.

Over the last few weeks I have been waggishly saying that this new administration was going actually going to be a continuation of the failed economic and foreign policy of Jimmy Carter but now I must admit I was wrong. In the most Machiavellian turn of events since the DeMedicis took over the Vatican this is shaping up to be the return of Bill Clinton. Although the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy has never been a big fan of Billy Boy we do admire him in the same way that Patton admired Rommel. This guy has now installed a puppet government with many of his former lackeys in place. All we need is for Janet Reno and the ghost of Vince Foster to get appointments and the old gang will all be here. When he saw his wife’s campaign unraveling he quickly took action. He dispatched Bill Richardson to the Obama side with orders to start sucking up. Other former Clintonistas David Axelrod, Jamie Gorelick and Greg Craig were already deep inside the Obama camp and ready to strike.

So now Bill has out Putined Putin. His shadow administration is in place and ready to take orders from their master. These former Clinton employees are already set for key positions. Gregory Craig, the Clinton impeachment defender is now White house Counsel. Eric Holder, the liberator of Marc Rich is now appointed to be the new Attorney General. Larry Summers, Peter Orszaig and Tim Geithner, Clinton loyalists all, are the Obama economic team. Mrs. Clinton will be at the foreign policy helm for her husband by running the State Department. There are others but perhaps the key man in the Clinton Coup is John Podesta.  The former White House advisor is running the transition team, how perfect for getting hundreds of sleeper Clintonisas into not only front line but second and third tier jobs.

You cannot fundamentally change the culture of Washington and the way business is done if you simply promote the old middle management to the front office. Bill Clinton, once called the first Black President, is now poised to run the second Black President’s White House by proxy.  

6070rock.blogspot.com
Originally uploaded by johnvierdsen

Vierdsen’s been an observer of politics for about 20 years and a participant, off and on, for about half those years. During that time, he’s seen a lot. One of his first political memories (other than picking Jack Kemp for VP in kindergarten because he had a good name and hey, he was under the elephant. Alabama has an elephant. Win!) is of the notorious Willie Horton ad used against Gov. Michael Dukakis in the ‘88 campaign.

That brings us to “Boogie Man,” the brilliant documentary on Lee Atwater that played at The Nickelodeon and will be shown on PBS’ “Frontline” tonight at 9 p.m. Atwater was behind the ad, and farmed it out to a third-party group.

Now, sit down, kids. Uncle John wants to tell you some things.

A lot of S.C. politicos would like to fashion themselves after Atwater. Of the Brahmans of Palmetto State GOP consultants, most worked with him, for him, or employed him. The younger ones would like to be the next Atwater (almost like every basketball player wants to be the next Michael Jordan).

Atwater did some really nefarious shit. Not the least of which was to Columbia liberal activist and attorney Tom Turnipseed in his 1980 race for Congress. Whatever you think about Turnipseed’s politics, he’s a good man and didn’t deserve what happened. As we all know, Atwater later apologized before he passed away from cancer.

Still, Atwater’s legacy, as much as he didn’t want it to be, is rough, balls-out, mean goddamn politics. The political atmosphere in this state is cast in his image.

It’s a schadenfreude-based political economy. You love it when you nail the opposition, and you do it with ruthless action. Then, you have to get your shit together and keep composed when it happens to you. Because it will.

Some heavy things, back room deals and plain unethical behavior took place during the General Assembly primary races (and a few others in the general election). The consultants and candidates who approved, carried out or were at least complicit in what happened know who they are, what they did, and probably don’t care.

Vierdsen both loves and hates this mess. Seeing a candidate, person, or organization that you are targeting get blown up is as satisfying as watching a linebacker for your team nail the hell out of the opposition’s quarterback so hard that he fumbles and separates his shoulder.

Then again, you know you just earned yourself a few more years in Purgatory. And, watching other people get treated the same way, especially if you aren’t involved in either camp, can make you a little ill.

Ultimately, though, you’ve got to play the game. You’ve got to have the spine and the lack of scruples to win. In the paraphrased words of Ollie North’s ‘94 campaign manager, you’ve got to want to cut the other guy’s balls off.

If you do try to make out like you’re the next Atwater, no matter what you do, it’s important to have Vince Foster’s words in the back of your mind:

“I was not meant for the job or the spotlight of public life in Washington. Here ruining people is considered sport.”

Do you buy into the “experience” factor for the 2008 presidential race?  Personally I think Obama and Palin are inexperienced politicians.  Our constitution doesn’t say anything about experience being a requirement; too bad.

However would you rather have the inexpereienced person as our president or vice-president?  Heartbeat vs heartbeat away.

I’d rather see an inexperienced vice president and experienced president rather than an inexperienced president and experienced vice president.

Based on the spin coming out of the left wing pinko commo democratic party and its allies and their puppet web sites I’m beginning to think they are a bit worried about Palin.

As much as I loath the Clintons (Vince Foster, White House Travel Office, White Water, Monica Lewinsky, Paula Jones, stealing silverware on the way out, I could go on but what’s the point of highlighting more of the crimes of this modern day Bonnie and Clyde) it would have been fun if McCain had offered the VP job to Billary and she accepted.  That would really have sent the liberal media into a tailspin.

The interesting thing is that Tony Snow was just as kind, just as brilliant, just as much a champion for the underdog before he got cancer as he was afterwards. It is not the disease that made him. It only made us look at him and see who he was.

I first met Tony when he was a reporter for the Washington Times. He was fair but persistent and thoroughly honest. He was not impressed by White House spin which can often be outright lies, whether coming from a Republican or Democrat administration. As one of his few White House sources I tried to help him pursue his stories but he lacked the guile and aggressiveness of his rivals who would lie and manipulate back to get their information. I thought he was in the wrong profession, thought he should be heading up Mercy Corps.

He came into the Bush, Senior White House as I was leaving but I heard he was balm upon the troubled waters. It sounds like him. Of course, he would come back years later and do it again for George W. Bush too.

When I went through my days of infamy, as the taper of Bush the younger, he sensed there was more to the story. He understood all too well how complicated and dangerous Washington can be. So, over the objections of others, he had me on his television shows and once even asked me to sit in as a guest host for his radio program but I had a conflict and was unable to make it. It was a gesture I will never forget.

He never once asked for details, never once said, “Tell me what was really going on?”

He just knew, instinctively, that no one is all bad or all good, especially in Washington, D. C. and the stories the public thinks they know the best they usually know the least.

Vince Foster left us sadly. In his suicide note he called Washington politics a “blood sport.” In his own soft way, Tony Snow left us too. No suicide, of course, but a stress related disease nevertheless. Both men may have been better than their environment. We are certainly better knowing Tony Snow.

Blazac once wrote that kind men hide some earlier evil for which their life atones. If so, the life of Tony Snow has wiped it clean. Now, that the president has named a street after Tim Russert. Let him name one after Tony too.

Well, it just gets richer and richer. 

Now, it appears that no one on the McCain team actually talked with Franklin Graham, let alone, sent him a letter.  Apparently they left him a message on his answering machine.  And it was months ago!   According to the Graham people it was during the primaries and it was never followed up by either McCain or Graham.  And it had nothing to do with meeting Dr. Billy Graham anyway.  In fact, it had nothing to do with a private meeting with Franklin.  It was an invitation to Franklin to come to a McCain meeting with other evangelicals.  Franklin never responded to the voicemail message.

All of this out from the Graham people.

Wow! “Oh what a web we weave.”

Now, if you are not caught up on all of this go to my last blog and it will take you step by step, documenting every inglorious minute.  It is a nice vignette into what the late Vince Foster sadly called “a bloodsport.”  And it will be a primer for you Obama folks, so get ready.  Your turn is coming.

(Ron Paul’s forces have been the subjects of this bullying for months now, because of their impertinent efforts at State GOP Conventions.  In spite of their message, some of them keep operating under the illusion that this is still a constitutional Republic.)

Meanwhile, square the above revelation from the Graham team, that the only contact from the McCain people was that they left a phone message, with what the McCain people were saying yesterday.

CBN reporter David Brody: “The McCain campaign tells me that they have been reaching out to Billy Graham through his son, Franklin Graham. While no formal meeting has been set up, it is something they are working on. They told me that of course they want to meet with Billy Graham and hopefully that will get done soon.”

Brody adds this, “They tell me the Graham family has been very receptive to their overtures.” 

Chuckle, chuckle.  The McCain spokesman must have felt like he had hit pay dirt, a real sucker on the line who would believe anything he had to say, so you can’t blame him for pouring it on a little thick.

According to Brody, Tucker Bounds, a McCain spokesman said the following on the phone:

“The piece in Newsmax is false. Our campaign has been working directly with Reverend Franklin Graham’s office to facilitate an important meeting between John McCain and the Reverend Billy Graham. The report’s implication that we have ‘declined to meet with Billy Graham’ is blatantly false, because our campaign has already been working directly with Franklin Graham’s office and politely declined Mr. Jacobs’ offer to help facilitate a meeting.”

But the fact is that they did turn down the Jacobs offer and put it in writing. And at a time when they had nothing going with Franklin Graham.

In any case, we are pleased to learn that the McCain team recognizes that evangelicals cannot be ignored and that they are willing to meet with Billy Graham.  Case Closed.  Who knows, they may yet come down off their high horse and meet with James Dobson too.  Perhaps I should make a big deal about that.

This is all so ridiculous.  They should have done this work two years ago.  But they better get it done now.  And they better execute a little better too.  Being honest with religious people would be a good first step. 

They need more than Billy Graham, having him is just a no brainer.  They also need Richard Land and Judge Paul Pressler and Paige Patterson and many other Southern Baptists out front.  And they need Pentecostals and Charismatics too, especially since they now don’t seem to have any and have repudiated the ones they had.  Who knows, maybe US forces will capture Osama Bin Laden and public opinion will turn on a dime and John McCain will have a chance this November?  We all hope so.  Just in case, they need to be doing the right things now.

Coming Tomorrow: Ron Paul’s Great Minnesota Adventure: What will happen at the RNC?

Full Story Here

Hillary Clinton has, in effect, converted her presidential campaign into a bid for the vice presidency, an unprecedented move and a high-risk gamble for a candidate in her position.

As What Really Happened commented:

The risk is to Obama!

See Vince Foster John F. Kennedy Jr.

See The Clinton Body Count

When he wins the primary tonight the next big topic will be and has been his running mate, all media eyes are on Hillary including herself. If O wins and chooses C then I have to vote for McCain. Why? Because that shows me that complete sell out of Obama. He touts change and social aspects the likes America hasn’t seen in decades yet he will/would kowtow to the Democratic party and ask a woman of low integrity and self respect to be our 2nd in command. Top it off with last weeks comment on how she won’t quit the race because of Bobby Kennedy’s assassination in June back in the late 60’s. Alluding to she’s hoping Obama would be assassinated this month so she can be the candidate of destiny. A quick bs retraction media blitz and all is well and forgotten. Well I don’t forget. I recall the scandals the Clintons had in office with the law offices in Arkansas, see Vince Foster. As well as close friends of the Clintons who have met untimely and violent death. Yes, I am a bit of a theorist on this and other topics but why not read into someones past with power brokers like the Clintons. I don’t want to waste time posting examples of how bad the Clintons are as I’m sure it would be a joy to sit down with Bill and talk shop about how women should be respected in and out of bed. I’d love to talk to Hillary about the Health Care reform she said she would get done while in office….back in 1993. 

If she had actually accomplished the Health Care reform or if she had divorced Bill back then and ran for President I’d have considered voting for Hill. I base my voting on actions and past experiences, not what they promise as every politician promises things you want to hear. I would be voting for McCain only to defeat Clinton as a VP. I wouldn’t put anything past the “Clinton Inc.” to place her as the first woman president by impeachment, accidental death or controversy over Obama. 

I like Obama. I like his ideals, demeanor, leetness, his big ears, his mocha latte lips, his dislike of the Clintons, his (former) church, his views on the war and terror, I like most of his wants and needs for America. I just wish he wouldn’t sell out on the VPee spot. Please. I’m sure he realizes what will happen if he DOES create the “Dream Ticket” for the presidency. He will alienate his most stout and ardent supporters of which he wouldn’t be where he is today without them. Not the fanatics but the grass roots supporters who flip from Republican to Demo, from Clinton to Obama. Those people. 

One thing that I still don’t understand is how a “super delegate” became a nothing word to the nations most powerful monarchy overnight. Despite our outdated election process and useless popular vote the decision will be in the hands of a new elite called “Super Delegates“. What does it take to be “super”. Can you imagine the phone calls put into these new kings and queens from the Clinton Inc. and Obama parade to sway their votes? I could. I’d ask for 3 brand new Mac Pro Powerbook, A trip to Japan or an Ambassadorship, No income tax for the length of their term, 95,000 World of Warcraft Gold and a used Saab. Thats all it would take for my super vote. 

I’d like to *but I won’t because I’m lazy* write down who these key supers are for future reference. i.e. IF Obama wins, see if these supers somehow make it on the Cabinet. My bet is some will. 

The real reason why Hill took this to the end isn’t so much for her to say she didn’t give up but more for her to be considered or suggested that she is the logical choice for VP. By sticking it out her case for VP is right up there with why the L.A. Riots happened because of Rodney King. Makes NO sense. I don’t ever recall being rewarded for 2nd place. Except the one time in Cub Scouts we had our annual Derby (we would take a block of wood and make a small balsa wood car with weights in the bottom) I took 2nd place and my mom and dad took me to McDonalds on a WED Night. Normally my father would take us for breakfast every Saturday Morning while my mom worked at Bell Telephone. We would only go ONCE a week. Going out to eat in the 1970’s and early 80’s was an event for us, so I treasure those times…anyway I’m digressing. Back to Clinton & Obama. 

Good luck Obama. It’s a cruel world for people of brown.