Considering Missy’s own pathologically loaded verbiage - one can only wonder what language she is so offended about. For someone who uses words like “unhinged” and “smear” and other words designed to incite, one would assume this kind of talk would be a-ok with Michelle.
Hannity and Rush were wringing this non-story dry today. Must be a slow news day or these “conservatives” have really thin skins.
There is something to be said for tradition. Apparently Fox and CNN will kick Helen Thomas to the curb without even blinking. To replace Helen with Fox News reporters apologists is almost a crime. CNN, you would expect, would have more class.
Every theater-style seat in the White House briefing room, now closed for renovation, had a brass plaque inscribed with the name of a news organization. Only one, in the middle of the front row, had a name: “HELEN THOMAS,” it said. The unique assigned seat between the chairs for CBS News and ABC News was reserved for the legendary United Press International correspondent who is now a columnist for Hearst Newspapers.
… Thomas, who has been questioning presidents and press secretaries for 46 years, plans to be there. But her front-row seat won’t be.
…Thomas has been at the front of the class ever since scribes just pulled their chairs up around the press secretary. Now, the assigned seats are coveted real estate – both as a sign of status and because the closer you sit to the front, the better your chance of getting called on …
…It’s the only seat that traditionally is left vacant if unoccupied. Every other chair gets filled in by those without regular seats, whose questions do not always live up to Thomas’s zingers.
Thomas has retained her edge over the years and asks blunt, argumentative questions, often sympathetic to Palestine. Nevertheless, press secretary Tony Snow treats her with deference. One day, he mysteriously said from the podium that he wanted to see her afterward. It turned out he wanted her to sign one of her books.
I hate it when the really smart guys go on vacation. I love it when they come back.
The Blog | Bill Maher: New Rule | The Huffington Post
However, when it comes to the most important ISSUE of the day, last year, Joe Biden was out ahead on calling for an Iraq broken into three countries - and that is what’s going to happen, no matter how much surging George Bush does. And I say fine, so what if Iraq gets broken up, it’s a made up country anyway, there’s only been an Iraq since 1932 - it’s 7 years younger than Paul Newman. And the people in it hate each other so much, and are now in such a, shall we say “intense” phase of the revenge cycle, that they’re only going to be able to start breathing again if they live in different countries - which they’re already moving to, on their own.
Spocko’s Brain: A Pervasive Branding Problem
The “Hardlines” newsletter, a Canadian trade periodical aimed at insiders in the lumber and building industry and edited by Michael McLarney, reports today in their “Companies in the News” section that Lowe’s (the large US hardware and home improvement store) is opening its first store in Brampton, Ontario, this year. It also reports that Lowe’s has pulled its advertising from “The O’Reilly Factor” because of comments made by Bill O’Reilly:
MOORESVILLE, N.C. - Lowe’s has pulled its advertising from Fox TVs O’Reilly Factor after its host suggested that a 15-year-old boy enjoyed the experience of being kidnapped by pedophile Mike Devlin.
Fox News is shameless. With their new “comedy” news show clip getting thumbs down all over the net you would think they might lay low and lick their wounds. Noooooo. With Bill O’Reilly screeching about NBC turning “far left” and basically watched for the “laugh factor” he provides, you would think Fox News would buy a clue. Nooooooo. Fox wants to up the ante by knocking Helen Thomas out of the front row at the White House. Never mind that she is a national treasure.
Talk about attention for bad behavior. Fox News is not only stupid but now we can add mean. Pathetic.
Note: Does not apply to Gretta or Shep Smith
‘Fox and Friends’ Discusses FNC Getting Helen Thomas’s Seat in White House Pressroom | NewsBusters.org
It’s safe to say that columnist Helen Thomas is not a favorite figure in the White House pressroom as far as conservatives are concerned. On Wednesday morning, the “Fox & Friends” crew discussed the revelation that the Fox News Channel has asked for a better seat during gaggles and pressers in the newly renovated pressroom once it’s completed, one in the front row in fact.
Co-host Steve Doocy mentioned that FNC and another cable outlet have asked for this privilege, but as the new design only includes one more front-row seat, Helen Thomas would have to be kicked out of her chair to accommodate both outlets.
Campfield had a minor blogswarm awhile back for some rather stupid comments on his blog. I guess he needed to make some more news. Now he wants to collect information on those who choose to have an abortion by having the state require death certificates for the aborted fetus. Somehow I do not think Campfield is a rising star of the GOP.
Tennessee would collect death certificates for aborted fetuses under a bill introduced in the General Assembly.
Rep. Stacey Campfield said his bill would provide a way to track how many abortions are performed in Tennessee. The measure would also likely create public records on which women are having abortions.
“All these people who say they are pro-life — at least we would see how many lives are being ended out there by abortions,” said Campfield, R-Knoxville.
He seems nervous to me. He tries, very hard I think, to connect with his audience in the room. Acknowledges the audience around the world. I can’t help it. I feel sorry for him. He knows – you can see it in his eyes. He knows we all want to like our president, trust him - and we just can’t, we can’t even give him the benefit of the doubt. We want to be able to, we really, really do. We want him to succeed, for our country, for the world. We want to be proud of him, give him the energy of the people to help him succeed. And we can’t.
He laughs nervously. His many tics and gestures are telling. He looks down to check his feelings a lot. He wants us to like him, appreciate the sacrifice he has made. He knows he has used it all up, his charm, his down home quality, his name, our honor - respect for the man.
He stammers and stutters his answers. He wants us all to understand that which he cannot explain. He looks down again - for a moment it all seems to make sense. Again he looks down, and then continues and makes that clear moment muddy once more.
“Thank you all for coming. I enjoyed it,” he says, and walks out of the room.
We watch the grey headed man leave and wish we could cheer him on. A tragic historical figure, a tragic presidency. The press conference ends.
It may be non-binding, but a political slap in the face is exactly what the Republicans need. It is a step in the right direction.
Assimilated Press: Non-Binding Resolution Becomes Political Statement
Unlike the other resolutions submitted, the Mizrahi design includes a veil.”It’s a darling little veil that allows The House to preserve its congressional modesty even while being so bold as to make suggestions to the President,” said Mr. Mizrahi. “It’s sexy but it’s also coy, it’s a safe way for The House to flirt with dissent without jumping into bed with the antiwar movement.”
Debbie Schlussel Hates Sean “Vanity” As Much As She Hates Atheists and Muslims - Liberal Values - Defending Liberty and Enlightened Thought
I’ve been critical of Debbie Schlussel for her slurs on Barack Obama’s name and for her atheist-bashing on CNN earlier in the week. We’ve had different views on 24. I even agreed with her once before with her dismissal of Mel Gibson’s apology. Now she has taken on a much better target, Sean Hannity, apparently renamed Vanity. Schlussel is accusing Hannity, oops, Vanity of plagiarizing her work. If Schlussel is going to wage a jihad against Vanity and bring other conservative bloggers into it I wish her luck.
The Raw Story | Frank Rich: Stop Obama before he’s ‘too’ experienced
What Obama did not have to say is that he had the judgment about Iraq that his rivals lacked. As an Illinois state senator with no access to intelligence reports, he recognized in October 2002 that administration claims of Saddam’s “imminent and direct threat to the United States” were hype and foresaw that an American occupation of Iraq would be of “undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences.” Nor can he be pilloried as soft on terrorism by the Cheney-Lieberman axis of neo-McCarthyism. “I don’t oppose all wars,” he said in the same Chicago speech. “What I am opposed to is a dumb war.”
What Planet Is Cheney Living On? - Helen Thomas
His experience has obviously not improved his vision. After the first Persian Gulf War ended in March 1991, Cheney — then serving as defense secretary in the first Bush administration — was asked on ABC-TV why Operation Desert Storm had not gone all the way to remove Saddam Hussein from power.
He replied prophetically: “I think for us to get American military personnel involved in a civil war inside Iraq would literally be a quagmire. Once we got to Baghdad, what would we do? Who would we put in power? What kind of government? Would it be a Sunni government, a Shia government, a Kurdish government?
“Would it be secular, along the lines of the Baath party? Would it be fundamentalist Islamic?” he asked. “I do not think the United States wants to have U.S. military forces accept casualties and accept responsibility of trying to govern Iraq. It makes no sense at all.”
Daily Kos: State of the Nation
This question, this irritating question that some people just won’t let go, isn’t a check for 20-20 hindsight. Neither is it a request for judgment on the administration’s effectiveness in matters strategic or tactical. The question, Senator Clinton, is have you learned anything? Have you learned that to authorize war is always a last resort, not a first, or seventh, or seven times seventh. Have you learned that it’s not okay to allow fear – including fear for your career in politics – to herd you along with the crowd. Have you learned that good judgment isn’t just avoiding error. it’s acknowledging that an error has been made and working promptly to correct it.
The recruitment canard explains a lot about why Haggard’s fall from grace, although swift and thorough, did not irredeemably condemn either the man or the empire over which he presided, including the political movement to make gay marriage unconstitutional. Instead, Haggard reinforces the need to labor on. If Haggard could be recruited — and, by the other side of the coin, converted — then why concede the point that God could have made gay people in his image?
