Buck Naked Politics

Sanford: "King David Didn't Resign," So Neither Will Sanford

Good stuff as well about humility. What an example to the many, many other disgraced Republicans who once called for Clinton's impeachment and then just sank out of sight!  I must say that quite a few SC Republicans I've spoken to are in a much less tolerant frame of mind toward Sanford than he is toward himself. 

TPMtv "The Day in 100 Seconds" for June 25, 2009: The Personal Tragedy of Mark Sanford

The emails...the sanctimony of the talking heads....not to mention the prurient glee....There are no words.  At least any I can think of.  As always, our useless media isn't short of things to say.  After the jump! 

It's the Hypocrisy, Stupid Part ######: The Downfall of Mark Sanford

 by Damozel | The State paper has the emails exchanged between Mark Sanford and his love connection.  They are rather touching, actually.  Or would be if Mark Sanford weren't yet another GOP member who made a career out of being what Christ -- who hated hypocrisy almost more than anything -- called a whitened sepulchre, pretty outside, but full of rotting bones.  Sanford himself was all about the marital fidelity back during the Lewinsky mess, calling Bill Clinton -- this is so South Carolina -- a "rascal." (HuffPost) NYT:  "“He lied under a different oath, and that’s the oath to his wife,” Mr. Sanford said at the time on CNN. “So it’s got to be taken very, very seriously.”"

Speaking of which -- this is according to WSJ --- Representative Bob Inglis (SC-R), "zealous" pursuer of Bill Clinton, seems to have been having a serious think about the duties of a Christian, including Mark Sanford.  I imagine he was thinking of the same Gospel references I was when he said that perhaps the GOP should lose the "stinking rot of self-righteousness," as Inglis --having reinvented himself -- has apparently decided to do. (WSJ)

Iranian Guardian Council Refuses to Annul Votes (News Round-Up with Video)

by Damozel | According to Iran's powerful council of 12 clerics, the more than 100% who voted in 50 cities isn't a problem because Iranians are allowed to vote in cities where they are visiting, and often do. (BN-Pol)  Never mind that, according to The New York Times' analysts, "many districts where the excess votes were recorded are small, remote places rarely visited by business travelers or tourists." "Fortunately" the Guardian Council didn't find "a major breach." (NYT)

On Press TV, the English-language state television satellite broadcaster, Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei, the spokesman for the Guardian Council, declared: “...Therefore, there is no possibility of an annulment taking place.” He was speaking late on Monday in Tehran and his remarks were posted early Tuesday, Tehran time....“Statistics provided by the candidates, who claim more than 100 percent of those eligible have cast their ballot in 80 to 170 cities are not accurate — the incident has happened in only 50 cities,” said Mr. Kadkhodaei said Monday...

The Guardian Council had offered a random 10 percent recount of the ballot but the opposition rejected it, saying it wanted a new election. (NYT)

Does Olive Garden Need Boycotting?

Yesterday, the Politico reported that someone working for the Olive Garden restaurant chain had stated that the chain would pull all of its TV ads from the David Letterman show, simply because the late-night comic had made an arguably off-color joke about Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol (the one who ended up pregnant, despite her mother's public lectures about "family values" and "abstinence only" birth control).

Later, a different person working for Olive Garden said that the chain had simply finished its ad schedule.

Iran Clerics Call for Pro-Mousavi Rally; Mousavi Calls for Day of Morning & Protest

by Damozel | In Iran, a reformist body made up of influential clerics has asked permission to hold a pro-Mousavi rally in Tehran on Saturday, during which Mousavi himself will address protesters.  (PressTV.Ir)  Meanwhile, Mousavi himself has called for a day of mourning for protesters killed by Iranian security forces. (Juan Cole)  Mousavi has asked for a peaceful protest and for the release of pro-reform activists who have been arrested. (BBC News)

Mr Mousavi's call for further action on Thursday is in open defiance of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is due to deliver the sermon at Friday prayers and is expected to appeal for calm.(BBC News)

Juan Cole discusses the significance of today's protests.

Mike Madden: The Same GOPpers Who Wanted to Bomb Iran Now Want to Love Bomb It

by Damozel | Funnily enough, the GOP are now concerned that Obama isn't giving enough love to Iran.   

"We lead," McCain told NBC's David Gregory on the "Today" show when asked about a different vote altogether -- the one in Iran on Friday. "We condemn the sham, corrupt election. We do what we have done throughout the Cold War and afterwards ... We speak out forcefully, and we make sure that the world knows that America leads."...While President Obama and his advisors try to navigate the American response to a situation that's changing faster than anyone can Twitter about it, Republicans have decided the time is right for blunter rhetoric than anything coming out of the White House. And they're not shy about saying so....

[T]he notion that Republicans are suddenly the defenders of progressive Persia is a little hard to swallow. Just two years ago, McCain was joking -- and singing -- about bombing the very cities where the protests are now erupting. The neoconservative foreign policy establishment -- the folks who brought you such successful hits as the war in Iraq -- have been urging aggressive military action against Iran for years.  (Salon; more)

Poll Shows Public Support for Obama, with Increasing Public Doubt About Obama's Economic Plan & Continuing Lack of the GOP

by Damozel | While his overall job approval ratings remain high, a substantial number of Americans want Obama to do something about the deficit.  What?  They haven't a clue.  But something.  The poll reflects faith in Obama as a leader, but severe reservations about specific measures he's adopted, according to The New York Times.  

A distinct gulf exists between Mr. Obama’s overall standing and how some of his key initiatives are viewed, with fewer than half of Americans saying they approve of how he has handled health care and the effort to save General Motors and Chrysler. A majority of people said his policies have had either no effect yet on improving the economy or had made it worse, underscoring how his political strength still rests on faith in his leadership rather than concrete results.

TPMtv for June 17, 2009: Iranian Media Crackdown...

...highlighting the important of amateur journalism.  Are Iranians beginning to question the system? See more after the jump.

Recount Scheduled in Iran, but Protests Continue; Seven Now Reported Dead

by Damozel | According to the BBC, the Guardian Council has apparently agreed to a recount.  Meanwhile, events in Iran seem to be taking a violent turn.  The BBC says that several protesters have been killed.   At Huff Post, Nico Pitney summarizes some of the reports coming out of Iran:

- The Wall Street Journal: "a student-run news service reported that five students -- two women and three men -- were killed Sunday night in dormitory raids by Basij forces at Tehran University. That report couldn't be independently verified."

-- The UK Guardian: "A Farsi website, Balatarin, carried an unconfirmed report that seven people had been killed in the southern city of Shiraz following confrontations with riot police at the local university. Five busloads of plainclothes officers had been sent to confront the demonstrators during Sunday's protests, but were said to have been unable to prevent them from being joined by members of the public and marching to one of the city's main squares. It is unclear whether all those said to have died were students."

TPMtv's "The Day in 100 Seconds" (June 14, 2009 Video): Was There Voter Fraud in Iran?

by Damozel |  We'd like to believe it, wouldn't we?  As this blogger says, we know nothing about Iran and even less about its election processes.  After the jump....

FAA Cracks Down on Regional Airline Safety

by Damozel | About damn time, too.  After the jump....

Ayatollah Ali Khameini Orders Probe into Question of Iranian Election Fraud

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Tehran Becomes a Battleground; "Defeated" Mousavi Refuses to Back Down as Supporters Arrested; Iranian Official Predicts, "There will be Blood (Video Included)

by Damozel | Picking up where Bill and Deb left off:  Supporters of Iran's defeated (or rather "defeated") moderate candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi have taken to the streets in protest. Nahid Siamdust writes:

It's way past midnight in Tehran, but this city is not sleeping. Outside on the streets, people are honking their horns in protest and stretching their hands out of cars making peace signs — a sign of support for Mir-Hossein Mousavi, the opposition candidate apparently defeated by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran's presidential election on Friday.

In neighborhoods across north and central Tehran, shouts of "Death to dictator!" fill the air, mostly in female voices, coming from house windows. There are also shouts of "Allah-o Akbar!" — reminiscent of the revolution — on the urging of a communique from Mousavi's office.

TPMtv's "The Day in 100 Seconds" (June 11, 2009 Video): The White Face of Hatred

White separatist James von Brunn's history of hatred, while the government was busy screening for Muslims. .Meanwhile, the murdered Museum's guard mother prays for the killer to see the error of his obsession....after the jump. 

TPMtv's "The Day in 100 Seconds" (June 10, 2009 Video): A Holocaust at the Museum

Tragic story after the jump of one very elderly man's vendetta....somehow attributed to "the Obama effect."  Grief and shock ensue.

Deeds' Amazing Win in Virginia Primary; McAuliffe Resoundingly Defeated

by Maggie Temple-Smith  | R. Creigh Deeds -- a "quiet, unpolished lawmaker" and conservative Dem from a rural area -- coming from behind and without his opponents' advantages in funding, won in every region of the state. (WaPo)

His victory was so dominant that he captured 10 of the state's 11 congressional districts, including the one held by Moran's brother, U.S. Rep. James P. Moran Jr. All three campaigns and state political experts had agreed that Deeds was coming on strong in the final days of the race, but no one expected him -- or the other candidates -- to come close to winning the 50 percent of the vote that he captured.

At Balloon Juice, John Cole explains why Democrats should probably think that frontrunner  Terry McAuliffe's defeat at Deeds' hand  is a good thing.  "My strong sense is that quite a few people voted against McAullife," says OTB's James Joyner.  "It...doesn’t help to have a grating personality."  Or to have Bill Clinton campaigning for you, apparently.

Palau Will Take Chinese Muslims from Gitmo

by Maggie Temple-Smith | Palau, a "sparsley populated archipelago in the North Pacific," has agreed to accept the 17 Chinese now in prison at Guantanamo, The New York Times reports.  This is the first agreement reached since Obama took office -- so far, 100 countries have said, "No, thanks" when asked to accept Gitmo detainees.

[The agreement] gives Mr. Obama some relief on an issue that has become a political hot button among Congressional Republicans and even some Democrats, who have noisily protested against releasing what they call potentially dangerous extremists on American soil or transferring them to prisons in the United States.

The 17 Uighurs... have been in a state of limbo since fall, when a federal district court ordered that they be released in the United States and an appeals court overturned the ruling. The Bush administration said that it did not classify the men as enemy combatants.

North Korea Sentences 2 American Journalists to 12 Years Hard Labor as Tensions Continue to Escalate

by Damozel | In Seoul, two female journalists have just been sent to 12 years of hard labor in North Korea for illegally crossing the border from China into North Korea and for some as-yet unspecified "grave crime."  (AFP)  The administration is "deeply concerned".  (WaPo)   Hillary Clinton has protested that the charges are "absolutely without foundation" and has demanded the release of the journalists. (AFP)  The Washington Post reports:

Laura Ling and Euna Lee, television reporters detained in March along North Korea's border with China, received harsher sentences than many outsiders had expected. But several experts in South Korea predicted that talks will begin soon to negotiate their release.

There's even a possibility -- "not ruled out by the State Department" -- that Al Gore himself may fly out to negotiate their release, since Ling and Lee were working for Current TV, a web network he cofounded.  The sentence might in fact be a power play by the North Korean government. 

Did Shooter of Arkansas Recruiters Have Terrorist Ties?

by Damozel |  Abdulhakim Muhammed, an American convert to Islam, murdered one man and seriously wounded the other.  They were standing in front of a recruiting station as part of a program that uses troops out of basic training to promote recruiting. 

So far, investigations into any terrorists ties have proven inconclusive, according to The New York Times.  The murderer said that he acted alone and that "he was mad at the U.S. military because of what they had done to Muslims in the past," according to the arrest report.(NYT)   But it's emerged that on one occasion the 23 year old was detained in Yemen on a certain occasion "for possessing a fake Somali passport and other counterfeit documents."(NYT)   "[H]is travels to Yemen and possibly Somalia raise questions about whether he met with any of the militant Islamic groups that are active in both countries."(More at NYT)