Buck Naked Politics

Friday Point 'n Laugh Continues: WSJ Asks, 'Is Obama Too Fit to Win the Election?' [A Bloggerama]

by Teh Nutroots | Aw, hell.  I can't let this one go.  Amy Chozick---as Damozel comments, it's kind of hard to believe it is with a straight face---asks, at The Wall Street Journal, is Barack Obama offensively physically fit to the fat American electorate?  Will middle-aged fat gits like Mister Teh Nutroots refuse to vote for someone so distastefully thin from eating elitist [healthy] food like arugula lettuce [which unlike all-American iceberg lettuce supposedly contains some food value] and working out on a regular basis? 

The McCain Campaign's Obama=Celebrity=Pop Star Dis

by Teh Nutroots | Two words:  'Ronald Reagan.'

Check out Spin Cycle and the blogosphere's reactions.

Democrats Call for Contempt Charges Against Rove

by Teh Nutroots | The House Judiciary Committee voted along party lines to hold him in contempt.  (NYT) I find it extraordinary that everyone, including all Republicans, doesn't hold him in contempt.  Why do Republicans insist on shielding wrongdoers within the Bush administration?(NYT)  Lying to Congress got Bill Clinton impeached in the House. 

But defying Congress?  That's apparently fine, even for people who aren't the president.  'The White House has invoked executive privilege in asserting that current and former top officials cannot be forced to testify before Congress, because the president’s right to confidential advice from his trusted aides would then be compromised.' (NYT) 

Far Right Rhetoric & The Tennessee Valley Shooter

by Teh Nutroots | First off, I don't think Fox News caused Jim Adkisson to shoot those Unitarians.  If Fox News didn't exist, I'm sure he'd have found other crazy rhetoric to justify the yowling demon inside him.  I don't agree that Fox 'pushed him over the edge'---based on a certain amount of experience, I suspect he jumped.  Hatred of others is the disease; Fox is just the symptom.

Irony Alert: Former Bush Speechwriter/Neocon David Frum Lashes Out at Comedy Central for Distorting the Facts

by Teh Nutroots | Via Sadly No: See Frum get very cross indeed with Stephen Colbert for twisting  facts to further his own [comedic] purposes and to manipulate people's emotions. Huh.  Here's David Rose, quoting Frum a couple of years ago.

"I always believed as a speechwriter that if you could persuade the president to commit himself to certain words, he would feel himself committed to the ideas that underlay those words. And the big shock to me has been that although the president said the words, he just did not absorb the ideas. And that is the root of, maybe, everything."

Veepstakes: Obama Campaign 'Floats' the Name of Ann Veneman [Sound of Bitter Laughter]

by Teh Nutroots | If it's a trial balloon, shoot it down.  I don't care what they did on The West Wing, YOU DON'T PICK A REPUBLICAN TO BE YOUR SUCCESSOR, and especially not that one.  I'm sorry for the all caps, but I actually am shouting.

According to The Politico, the Caroline Kennedy/Eric Holder led committee has 'floated' her name to members of Congress.  And they were 'surprised.'  Why?  'The low-profile Republican was close to food and agriculture industries but clashed with farm-state Democrats and environmentalists during her tenure, which lasted from 2001 to 2004.' (The Politico)

McCain's Foreign Policy Cred Is Down the Latrine

Teh Nutroots | Yep, more on McCain.  Damozel already posted something on this.

The real moral is getting lost in all the quibbling over details. The REAL point is that McCain's military experience doesn't translate into superior understanding of foreign policy.  The whole surge thing---McCain was right; Obama was wrong blah blah blah; and never mind that it's kind of previous to make that call---was supposed to prove that 'experienced' McCain was more likely to get these things right.

What---if he can't even keep the details straight?  How's he going to make good judgments if he can't cope with details? 

Stuart Taylor at Newsweek: 'We Must Pardon the Torture Sanctioners...'

by Teh Nutroots |....then they can apologize to the 'Truth Commission' Taylor will set up and we can all move on. 

Did I read this wrong?  Nope: 'To get a full accounting of how U.S. interrogation methods were used, the president should give those accused of 'war crimes' a pass.'   I get angry and then I start spluttering and foam flecks fly out my mouth.  Instead of denouncing this tripe in coherent fashion, I point shaking fingers and make little squealing sounds. 

Here's Brad at Sadly, No! with some graphic photos showing, if you've already forgotten, what makes a war crime a WAR CRIME. 

Krugman: How the GOP Made the Economy What it Is

by Teh Nutroots l | Paul Krugman says it ain't all Bush's fault, not really. The real blame lies with GOP policy . And those who think of letting John McCain be elected need to remember that he ' has gone to great lengths to affirm his support for Republican economic orthodoxy.'  Such as his ludicrous promise to use the savings from defeating Islamic extremists to balance the budget.

The economy under Bush has never been all that great, no matter what Republicans who want to excuse their abysmal performance and get people who salivate when they hear the words 'tax cuts' try to tell you.

McCain to Balance the Budget And Spin Gold Out of Manure

by Teh Nutroots | Ho ha ha.  Ha ha hee. He's going to turn seawater into crude oil right before your very eyes as well. Right.  Via Mike Allen at The Politico:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) plans to promise on Monday that he will balance the federal budget by the end of his first term by curbing wasteful spending and overhauling entitlement programs, including Social Security, his advisers told Politico.

“The McCain administration would reserve all savings from victory in the Iraq and Afghanistan operations in the fight against Islamic extremists for reducing the deficit. Since all their costs were financed with deficit spending, all their savings must go to deficit reduction.” (Emphasis added)

Victory, eh?  And cutting 'entitlements'. It won't work.

Bush's 11th Hour Hunt for bin Laden; McCain --- Right for a Change --- Says 'We Need Better Human Intelligence'

by Teh Nutroots | Seven years later, Bush is finally back to chasing Osama bin Laden.   Remember him?  He's the guy who orchestrated the 911 attacks.  Bush got distracted by Saddam Hussein's non-existent 'weapons of mass destruction' and the job of de-stabilizing Iraq, but he's got OBL in his cross-hairs again. 

Defence and intelligence sources in Washington and London confirmed that a renewed hunt was on for the leader of the September 11 attacks. “If he [Bush] can say he has killed Saddam Hussein and captured Bin Laden, he can claim to have left the world a safer place,” said a US intelligence source. (Times Online)

"[The hunt] involves the use of Predator and Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles fitted with Hellfire missiles that can be used to take out specific terrorist targets...." (Times Online)  '“Bush is swinging for the fences in the hope of scoring a home run,” said an intelligence source.'(Times Online)

Howard Dean & the FL delegates: No nomination Without (Partial) Representation!

Posted by Teh Nutroots | First off, let me get this off my chest one more time:  Screw the DNC and its selective application of its intermittently all-important rules.  What if the DNC had been as strict with SC as with FL and MI? 

But apparently when SC decided to flout the rules, the DNC had grown tired of being hard-asses. See Wayne Barrett's discussion here (the part headed "Some Democrats are more equal than others"). "As much as the DNC tries to pretend otherwise, it had choices. In fact, it later showed understandable leniency to three other states who changed their primary dates--New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina -- seating all their delegates. The tough love treatment was reserved for Michigan and Florida." (HuffPost)

Inspector General Investigates the DoJ's Firing of Exemplary Prosecutor

Posted by Teh Nutroots |  The lawyer herself---known for reticence about her private life--- is keeping quiet, but the DoJ's inspector general is investigating whether one of the country's top prosecutors was let go because of rumors that she was a lesbian.  I apologize for the pop culture reference but come on, you know someone's got to say it.  As a (former) Law and Order fan, I--and everyone else who remembers the episode--- will obviously have thought of the "Serena Southerlyn" character's out-of-left-field exit line ("Is it because I'm a lesbian?") upon being fired by Fred Thompson's character a few years ago.  But whereas Fred Thompson's character "Branch" fired Rohm's character for being too lenient to be a prosecutor, Leslie Hagen's record reflects that her performance was exemplary.  

Executive Director of NY Civil Rights Coalition: "Obama Blew It"

Posted by Teh Nutroots | Michael Meyers opines at The L.A. Times  that "Obama blew it."  Meyers  is executive director of the New York Civil Rights Coalition and a former assistant national director of the NAACP:

"Tim Rutten's column, "Obama's Lincoln moment" and The Times editorial, "Obama on race" both miss the mark.... I'd say that considering the nation's undivided attention to this all-important speech, which gave him an unrivaled opportunity to lift us out of racial and racist thinking, Obama blew it.

Hillary Takes the High Road

by Teh Nutroots |    Last night, at an assembly of "more than 200 black community newspapers across the country," Hillary Clinton took a step in the direction of restoring civility to this campaign. She apologized for any offense her campaign may have caused to black voters across the country (Breitbart).

Yeah, I know.  It won't cut any ice with certain of  her political opponents.  Some of them are so crazed with Hillary Derangement Syndrome that they can no longer see any act except through the filter of their Hillary-hatred.  But as a former Obama supporter from early on who got off the merry-go-round when all the Hillary-hating O-bots clambered aboard, I'm really glad she did it.

Tina Fey "Endorses" Hillary

by Teh Nutroots |  UPDATE 9-22-08:  TO SEE TINA FEY PLAYING SARAH PALIN, GO HERE.  We love Hill, but Obama won the nomination so...OBAMA ALL THE WAY.

My DD has the whole Tina Fey story.

McCain: Intimations of a Sex/Ethics Scandal?

by Teh Nutroots | The New York Times has published a piece that's stirred up an internet shoutfest and completely altered the current of the current endless jabber-jabber of discussion of the candidates  (NYT)   Rallying at last to McCain's cause, conservative bloggers and columnists are yelling "Foul!" and launching their little firecrackers in the Times' direction.  What are the chances they'd be calling names rather than feeding the rumor mill as fast as their little fingers could type if the piece had been about Clinton, Obama, or any Dem? You and I both know that the people complaining most loudly about the McCain piece would be all over it like cockroaches on cotton candy if the NYT had so much as hinted at a sex scandal  involving a Democrat.

You can see why they're outraged.  After all, Republicans never become the subject of allegations of ethics scandals or sex scandals or sex 'n ethics scandals.  Okay, hardly ever.  Okay, not in the last two months or so.  Anyway, whenever they are, they get drummed right out of their family-values-loving party, at least if the scandal involves allegations about gay sex

Note from a Disenfranchised Floridian to the Rule-Obsessed DNC

by Teh Nutroots | I am almost too pissed off about this to blog about it.  But I WOULD like to point out to all the self-righteous nitwits who are praising Nancy Pelosi for (finally) taking a stand about something, and to insist that the superdelegates 'not overrule voters' that the will of Florida voters is not going to be represented at the Convention at all.  Where is the person who will speak for us?  We had no control over the events that lost us our delegates.   I've lost all respect for the DNC and its rules.

It's like the form-over-substance morons on the Committee and the ones who are preaching about not overriding the will of the majority can't tell the difference between the state and the individual voters like me who couldn't prevent 'the state' from making a decision we didn't approve and couldn't prevent.  I'm a Democratic voter.  What about my will?   Talk about your 'legal fictions':

The Shooting at Northern Illinois & the Dangerous 'Solution' Proposed by Gun Advocates

by Teh Nutroots |  In "a large lecture hall" at Northern Illinois University, a gunman shot at least people, five of whom are now dead.  Afterwards, he shot himself.  (CNN)  Four died at the scene.  Two more died after being taken to the hospital.  Most were shot in the chest or head. (CNN) 

The gunman stepped out from behind the curtain in a lecture hall at the front of the room and started firing. (CNN)  A student reported: ""He just kicked the door open, just started shooting...All I really heard was just people screaming, yelling 'get out.' ... Close to 30 shots were fired."(CNN)   According to the Chief of Police, the gunman used:  a shotgun, a Glock handgun and a small-caliber handgun.(CNN)  He was still standing at the front of the room when he turned the handgun on himself.(CNN)   

Romney's Out

by Teh Nutroots | Wow.  I did not expect this:

Mitt Romney suspended his bid for the Republican presidential nomination Thursday, saying if he continued it would "forestall the launch of a national campaign and be making it easier for Sen. Clinton or Obama to win."

"In this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror. This is not an easy decision. I hate to lose," the former Massachusetts governor said.

"If this were only about me, I'd go on. But it's never been only about me. I entered this race because I love America, and because I love America, in this time of war I feel I have to now stand aside for our party and for our country." (CNN)