I Don't Like You Either

More Awards! GoLeft TV Chooses ALL of Fox News as "Media Moron of the Year" for the War on the "War" on Christmas

Via Video Cafe, this gift of seasonal awesomeness: 

Transcript is over here.

InstaSnark: The Media & the Wingnuts Play: Connect! the!! Blago-Obama Dots!!!...

...which are, of course, in completely different coloring books. Meanwhile, the Left just laughs the bitter laughter of adults who have seen it all before because OF COURSE everyone knew it was coming, even though it is all so stupid, so stupid and transparent, so stupid and transparent and bogus, and yet full of wingnutty media-fuelled portentousness and pomposity.

Whiskey Fire: BREAKING: The Untold Story of the Blagojevich Corruption Scandal! (Did Anyone Say... WILLIAM AYERS!?)

Edroso: Times Pretends to Believe Blago is Trouble for Obama

Sadly, No!: They’ll Get To That Part Later

Sadly, No!: Blago Bung¹ [another shorter Michelle Malkin]

The Poor Man: Blagwater

Attackerman:  Oh, My.  He's So Gangster

Lawyers, Guns, & Money:  Gangster - The Rod Blagojevich Story

Rising Hegemon:  Lincoln Isn't Spinning, He's Snickering

Balloon Juice: Make It Stop

Balloon Juice: Sometimes Doing the Right Thing Pays Off

The Rude Pundit:  Note to Republicans and the Media: We Don't Care About Obama and Blagojevich

The Heretik:  I Swear

Ride the Wayback Pony: The 10 Worst Prognostications of 2008

William Kristol made number 1, with his prediction that Hill had the Democratic nomination all sewed up. Kristol is, of course, reliably wrong, which is why we love him so.  Cockney Robin wrote a piece back in 2007 deconstructing Kristol's "Why Bush Will be a Winner" that still makes us laugh out loud.  (Naturally, we're laughing at Kristol rather than with him).

But our personal favorite, which ranks number 2, will remain forever and always Jim Cramer.

H/t to Wall Street Jackass---whose tagline ("This is me not listening to you") we can only envy---for the link.

Did the Media Suppress Stories that Would Have Reflected Poorly on McCain?

Huh.  Politico reports:

Rove & O'Reilly: The Dire Economy is Just a Media Ploy to Make Obama Look Better Than Bush

So...we can all stop worrying.  Santa Claus WILL come down your chimney as usual with his bag full of toys for your kids and a new job and a new mortgage for you!  There WILL be presents under your tree and a turkey dinner (with razzleberry dressing) on your table! 

Would Papa Bear or Karl Rove misrepresent the facts?

Think Progress has thoughtfully published a transcript:

To MoDo & Her "Thoughts": Outsource THIS

We commented---very, very briefly---on this piece on the out-sourcing of reporting by Maureen Dowd (A Penny for My Thoughts).

Don't know how we missed Molly Ivors' incisive and scathing---in the manner of a flaying---commentary at Whiskey Fire.  In the course of reflecting on MoDo's role in dumbing down public discourse, she says:

Jon Stewart: Is MSNBC Fox News for Progressives?

We love MSNBC---but then we're progressives.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

MSNBC Replaces Fox News

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Wingnuts in a Nutshell: Bill Kristol Solves Global Jihadism

Jihad's True Face

Nutshell version:  "Only patriotism, endless global warfare, racial profiling, and punishing the innocent along with the guilty, can save us from global jihad."

Though probably you will prefer TBogg's "shorter":

Chicago Tribune: Moderate White Supremacists Alarmed by Increase in Hate Crimes Since Obama's Election

Says so right in The Chicago Tribune: Hate Incidents in U.S. Surge.  Look:

"Even some white supremacist leaders who describe themselves as moderates say they are alarmed."

Walk Him Out in the Morning Dew: Bill O'Reilly's Valuable Opinion on Homeless Vets

From Scott at World O' Crap:

Bill O’Reilly, as you may recall, doesn’t believe that any homeless veterans exist in this country as a result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Now this may seem to contradict observable reality, but you have to remember, this is Bill’s opinion, which is worth millions of dollars a year to FoxNews, thus making it one of the finest opinions that money can buy. 

Snark O' the Day: "Raging" "Impotent" Netroots, Eh?

by Blue Stockings |  I don't think so.  But it's a meme that's emerging since the Lieberman thing and the media are running it for all it's worth.  Here's a piece by James Kirchick in The New York Daily News to prove it, all "Obama isn't afraid of the raging, impotent netroots because Joe Lieberman blah blah netroots furious rah rah blah dee blah blee." Read it yourself. 

Republican Governors Bravely Conceal Sullen Fury Over the Hijacking of Their Conference by One Gov. Sarah Palin

by Blue | The other governors present barely got a look-in, and great was the barely-concealed sullenness as a result.  She is so going to be their party's next presidential nominee. Princess Sparkle Pony has an excellent picture of them all looking disgruntled.

Shorter Maureen Dowd (The Tracks of Our Tears)

by Blue Stockings |  MoDo likes nothing better than a sentimental-yet-wryly-tongue-in-cheek journal of self-discovery.  Are you wondering what MoDo is thinking now that her secret dorky crush has been elected president? (O Brave New World that has such people in it!) See The Tracks of Our Tears.

Shorter nutshell version:

Am I the only white person who finds it awkward talking to black people, now that electing Obama has made it de rigeur for the fashion-forward?  Strangely, some interpret well-intentioned attempts to probe their feelings about the election as false or condescending.  I must ask my African American friend to explain to me what her people want.

Election Night Hilarity at BBC News: Gore Vidal vs. Anchor David Dimbleby

by Nicholas | "Mad as a box of frogs," said the bloke who posted it, and he didn't mean Dimbleby.  I cannot improve on this as a summary.

Colbert Interviews Rachel Maddow

He will miss Bush because he smells like pine forests and has very soft hands.  And she believes that the role of government is...to govern!

Hell's Bimbo

by Nicholas  |  OMFG!!  It looks as though John McCain’s dignified concession speech is about as good as it gets as far as the Republicans are concerned.  Of course, any losing side in an election will hold an inquest, examine where its weaknesses were and generally make plans to do better next time.  One or two sacrificial heads may roll -- that is to be expected -- but in general it’s always a good thing to keep recriminations as restrained as possible

Things in the Republican camp may be a bit more vigorous than that right now.  If we are to believe what we read and hear (And why shouldn’t we?  The meltdown is delicious!) there is a  vast build-up of latent hostility between the McCain camp and the Palin camp that is about erupt into a bout of name calling , finger pointing and backstabbing .  And Sarah herself it seems, is not the adorable bimbo everyone thought she was.  Okay, she was a bimbo, but not adorable (Well, some people thought she was adorable. I always found her repulsive).  We all know that she had no idea what the function of the Vice President is, and that she seemed to think that the First Amendment existed to protect her from the probing questions of reporters.  Now it appears that she didn’t know which countries were included in NAFTA.  And she thought that Africa was a country, not an entire continent.  Yes, she could always be advised about these facts but surely, someone who wanted to understudy the presidency, who has reached the age of 44 and who has been through university, should already know these things.  These aren’t arcane details of something outside the mainstream -- these are essential facts.

Have a look at this page from the Huffington Post and make sure you play the clip from The O’Reilly Factor on the Fox News network, which isn’t exactly known for its love of the Democrats.  Tantrums?  Paper throwing?  Making her staff weep?  So much for adorable.  America had a narrow escape last Tuesday. 

Jon Stewart Will Miss His Bush Impression the Most

Jon Stewart discusses victory night coverage and the electoral college.

Snark O' the Day: Who is Megan McArdle?

by Teh Nutroots | ...that is to say, the Megan McArdle employed by The Atlantic as their so-called econoblogger?

Susan of Texas provides a clue.

The first time, you think Megan has a tin ear for insulting and potentially damaging comparisons.

Barack Obama will break 90%--or do really well, with third-world dictator popularity levels.

But by the second time, you know it's deliberate.

This is not particularly urgent, since my voting "options" were New York and DC; in both places, the question is not who will carry the state, but whether Obama will get a mere 80% or so of the vote, or achieve Saddam Hussein-like vote totals*.  *Before you say it--no, not by fixing the election, by being so popular that he achieves fairly what Saddam achieved by force.

Gaaaaah.  That just might be a "subtle" enough dog-whistle to confuse the people who read her column (judging strictly by the comments). 

Biden's Orlando Interview

by The Puppet Mistress |  I'm going to agree with Thers:

Pretty much all you need to know about why the GOP is losing this election is to be found in the high-fiving among "conservatives" about this interview where a ridiculous local TV host from Orlando asks Joe Biden completely asinine leading wingnut questions about why Barack Obama is just like Karl Marx. Biden came across like a grownup; the interviewer looked like, well, someone from the Onion News Network, only not funny and all too real.

The only part where I disagree is this:  the self-satirizing interviewer was funny.  I doubt it did Biden any harm with non-Republicans.

Chris Matthews Roughs Up McCain's Nancy Pfotenhauer

Heee hee hee hee heee heee heee heee.  He makes Pfotenhauer watch the clip of Palin (once again failing to understand what the VP does) not once but twice!

Jezebel has a piece called  Dear Nancy Pfotenhauer: Please Wipe That Smile Right Off Of Your Face.  Tweety wipes it off for her. 

Oopsie: New York Post forced to Retract the Lobster-and-Caviar Obama Story

by Blue Stockings | ....and hints darkly at condign punishment to be inflicted upon its source.  Via Memeorandum:

THE source who told us last week about Michelle Obama getting lobster and caviar delivered to her room at the Waldorf-Astoria must have been under the influence of a mind-altering drug. She was not even staying at the Waldorf. We regret the mistake, and our former source is going to regret it, too. Bread and water would be too good for such disinformation.  (NY Post)

I don't see why they're so upset about this particular piece of disinformation, but anyway. I wonder who told them it and what will happen to him or her?   "[O]ur former source is going to regret it too." 

Here's what the Murdoch-owned paper had published in its gossip column:

"Though he's battling GOP accusations that he's an Ivy League elitist, Barack Obama has a lifestyle of the rich and famous," the report read. "While he was at a meeting at the Waldorf-Astoria at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Michelle Obama called room service and ordered lobster hors d'oeuvres, two whole steamed lobsters, Iranian caviar and champagne, a tipster told Page Six."  (Salon)

Which....come on.  As Alex Koppelman says at Salon, really?  Iranian caviar?  Lobsters and champagne?  That is so lame.   It's like the person who made the story up picked the most obviously expensive food on the planet.  (No arugula?)   It's like...we all know we can't afford the lobster or the imported caviar. That's just dumb.

Limbaugh's Latest: Get a Load of This...

by Teh Nutroots | Of course, you know in advance it's a lie. And the ditto-heads, being morons, doubtless believe it.  In one way, I don't care.  It's not as if any of them were bright enough to know that voting Democratic would be in their best interests, whatever the Democrat's ethnicity or color. 

Anyone who listens to Limbaugh is a lost cause. I don't worry about whether he is misleading them----if he weren't someone else would. 

This is so much more than ordinarily stupid that it deserves a moment's sober attention, followed by loud astonished laughter and finger-pointing.   

On the September 22 broadcast of his syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh baselessly claimed that Sen. Barack Obama is "not black," and went on to ask: "Do you know he has not one shred of African-American blood?" Limbaugh continued: "He's Arab. You know, he's from Africa. He's from Arab parts of Africa. ... [H]e's not African-American. The last thing that he is is African-American."

The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board Angry About McCain's Attack on SEC head

by Teh Nutroots | Yep, the Masters of the Universe ain't too happy with the populist tone of McCain's remarks.  Reading between the lines, I infer that nobody understands what's happening on Wall Street except the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal.  And naturally they wouldn't like anything with a "populist" (new dirty word for "appealing to actual people).   Not that I think McCain knows what he is talking about.  I just get the feeling that the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal is going to say the same about anyone who threatens the Wall Street Way of Life.

Via HuffPost:

[O]n Thursday, [McCain] took his populist riffing up a notch and found his scapegoat for financial panic -- Christopher Cox, the chairman of the Securities and ExIn a crisis, voters want steady, calm leadership, not easy, misleading answers that will do nothing to help. Mr. McCain is sounding like a candidate searching for a political foil rather than a genuine solution.change Commission...[McCain said:]

Ride the Wayback Pony! Joe Scarborough to Rachel Maddow in March 2008: "It's Not the Economy, Stupid!"

Videocafeblog describes it thus:

Joe Scarborough tries to put some lipstick on the pig that is the Bush economy, and Rachel Maddow tries to interject some sanity into the conversation, and when she brings up the radical economic policies of the Bush administation that have brought us to where we are now, she gets talked over and cut off.

Sarah Palin's Sean Hannity Interview--"Sean, Pin Her Down!"

by Blue Stockings | "Hannitized for her protection."  Listen to him feeding her the leading questions.

Palin:  "An unfair attack on the verbiage [sic] that John McCain chose to use." 

There's just no end to the stupid that comes burbling out of her mouth. 

Olbermann & Tweety Reined In. Greenwald Asks: Why Now?

by Blue Stockings | Tweety & Olbermann won't be covering the election anymore because they are too "incendiary."  Certainly their behavior during the last convention might be called a bit, er, "erratic."

After months of accusations of political bias and simmering animosity between MSNBC and its parent network NBC, the channel decided over the weekend that the NBC News correspondent and MSNBC host David Gregory would anchor news coverage of the coming debates and election night. Mr. Olbermann and Mr. Matthews will remain as analysts during the coverage.  (NYT)

Glenn Greenwald---who I never wish would lighten up because he always turns out to be right---says that this is an instance of the right dictating MSNBC's programming decisions. 

'Nutball Blogger' Spreads Palin Smear! Pass it On!!!!!!

by Nicholas | First, you see, there was a report setting forth allegations concerning Palin which, IF TRUE, would demonstrate that she holds attitudes which even the GOP (well, most of them) would consider unacceptable in a VP.

But is the report true?   Personally, I would need more and harder evidence to feel sure enough even to suggest that it might be true.  I've no way to assess the credibility of the people who repeated the statements imputed to Palin.

And here at IDLYE, we assume that if these reported "whisperings" have any basis in fact, further evidence will be forthcoming.  If not, we don't want any part of it.

There are actually already enough Palin negatives (e.g., here, here, here, here) to scare off anyone except the hardcore wingnuts and the evangelical Christians. Even my wife's 80 year old Republican mother in South Carolina thinks the Palin pick was "wacky."

But GOP timeserver Michelle Malkin couldn't just dismiss the piece with an airy wave.  She went into full-on panicky bug-eyed mode.  Here's the nutshell version:

"Groundless left-wing smears circulating among moonbats!  Laughable!   Untrue!  Ludicrous!  Hahahahahaha, the real racists are the Lefty Moonbats!  PASS IT ON!"

Oh Noooo! Peggy Noonan & Mike Murphy Gossip About Palin in the Presence of a Live Mic

Teh Nutroots | Oh dear oh dear. Two well-known GOP shills, Peggy Noonan and political consultant and McCainite Mike Murphy dissing McCain's choice of running mate.  HuffPost has more.

For bonus fun, check out Peggy N explaining what she really meant to say at The Wall Street Journal. The backing and filling is piled right on top of a previous article, arguing that Palin is "a clear and present danger" to the Left.

Shorter Ms. Noonan: Sarah Palin is the American Left's worst nightmare!  We in America are all Wausillans, not Chicagoans!...

[aside]  K. That's a wrap.. By the way, that was bullshit I just said.  It's over, do you hear me?  O-V-E-R.  Hey, is that thing on?  Uh, it is? 

NOVER!  I said "NOVER!" As in, "It isn't over!"  NOVER!  NOVER, NOT OVER...---".

Shorter Lefty Blogosphere:  HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

Shorter Maureen Dowd: "Life of Her Party"

by Damozel | The thing about Dowd is that the more times you read one of her postings, the less you know what any of it means.  So often she just hurls poison darts at all and sundry.   Nothing is any worse---and no one is any better---than anything or anyone else.  In today's column, she's still on about Sarah Palin.

What is she saying, if you boil it down to the essentials?  Um...hmmmm....huh....yeah.  Eh?  Okay:

Maureen Dowd on Sarah Palin: Fan Fic for Mean Girls (Continued)

by Damozel | See also:  But I'm a Frenemy Toooo

Vice in Go-Go Boots?

Campaign Trail Fan Fic for Mean Girls (nutshell version):  John McCain's pick of a beautiful, quirky, untested, unqualified beauty queen to be his running mate has totally preempted the script I'm currently writing for a Lifetime Original Movie (in which the presidential contender chooses a beautiful, quirky, untested, unqualified columnist to be his running mate and then chokes on a pretzel, after which she becomes the true American idol.)  I am seriously displeased. 

Did he think I was going to let that go?  I'm not going to let that go.