Blogoland

The monkeys have been scratching their heads bald here at Blogoland HQ trying to figure out where this "dissent is treason" meme has come from. We get a little closer to the top with The Weekly Standard's Fred Barnes wailing about those dastardly Democrats (hat tip, Sullivan and Drum).

Holy crap! line:

Stronger countermeasures will be needed, including an unequivocal White House response to obstructionism, curbs on filibusters, and a clear delineation of what's permissible and what's out of bounds in dissent on Iraq.

Or what? They shoot?

I know, I know, it's Rush, but where are the right wing loonbags getting this meme from?

"The insurgents used a Down's Syndrome child as a suicide bomber. That's what the American left sides with."

AND

"There is no question that the sentiments of the leadership of the Democratic Party were with the terrorists and the insurgents who sought to undermine yesterday's election in Iraq."

Rush considers this a "pearl of wisdom," but what kind of sickness breeds this type of thinking?

Oh, yeah, I forgot.

Just saw Wellington Webb, former candidate for DNC chair, on C-SPAN. He has bought the Republican race-card gambit of not being able to legitimately criticize loser-minority appointees trotted out by the administration.

This is not an exact quote, but is as close to it as I can get. The context is Webb talking about "critcizing minority candidates." Wellington is black.

"I think we have to be careful not to create a dilemma for ourselves,"he said. "Because we're in danger of losing our base."

Too bad for Bush: He could have rounded up some homeless minorities and placed them all throughout the government. This guy would give 'em all a pass.

At least for Instapundit readers. From today's Insty:

Glenn: as predicted, the offending paragraph was missing from this morning's hard copy. New lede: "Bombs Kill 35."

Sigh.

Sigh Sigh. For the record, this "lede" (in news biz parlance, they're actually called 'headlines' -- the lede is the first paragraph) was blared across the top of Page 1 this morning:

"Defying Threats, Millions of Iraqis Flock to Polls"

For those that scrutinize the Times with Talmudic fervor, I know it was tough to miss this one. Also, the Insty reader had a tough time even getting the subhead right. It reads "Bombers Kill 35," not "Bombs." Better luck next time, pal.

Perhaps this was missed in all the flood of happytalk yesterday, but here is John Derbyshire, everyone's favorite non-gay, gay-seeming, gay-hater (and torture fan!) on yesterday's elections:

And while the election proceedings have been heartening, euphoria is surely out of place. Elections don't by themselves guarantee constitutional government. I have just finished reviewing Philip Short's new biography of Pol Pot(review to appear in the NY Sun next week). The Cambodians had elections a plenty, but they ended up with the Khmer Rouge just the same.

I don't wish the Iraqis any ill, though, and I am glad their election went well. Now, let's concentrate our thoughts on getting the heck out of there.

Paging the wingnuts! When will the hate rain down on this terror-lover?

Then again, perhaps he was disappointed that there weren't spontaneous formations of naked Iraqi pyramids.

Fox News, maybe? OK, they left out the "Sun King" part, but the template was already laid out for them Friday.

Blogoland: BAGHDAD, Jan. 30 (AP) -- The glorious President Bush, Sun King for All Time, is leading the advance of freedom and liberty around the world due to elections that were held here today.

In a historic vote that many good-hearted and patriotic Americans see as a harbinger of a democratic Middle East to come, some 13 brave Iraqis turned out to cast their ballots.

* * *

Fox News: BAGHDAD, Iraq — The polls in Iraq have closed, ending the country's first open elections in more than 50 years and setting a course for what U.S. officials hope will be a long democratic future.

All around the country, Iraqis defied threats of violence and cast their votes. An initial estimate of turnout from the Independent Electoral Commission (search) indicated that 72 percent of eligible Iraqi voters had turned out to cast their ballots.

* * *

Seems like Fox has updated its story today, to you know, let people know before the third paragraph that some 44 people actually, like, died.

These banner heads were splayed across the following websites at 10:26 last night:

Washington Post: Iraqis Defy Threats as Millions Vote

The New York Times: Defying Threats, Millions of Iraqis Vote

Trippy.

Dear God, is this man flying under the radar or what? Leafed through The Times just now and noticed everyone's favorite Pentagon exile-cum-Iraq-leader and spy-secrets-with-Iran-sharer. Yup, he's on one of those inscrutable tickets (the "United Iraqi Alliance" for all you keeping score, with Abdul Aziz al-Hakim of SCIRI fame). Here's how the NYT chooses to thumbnail (click on "interactive graphic" to the right) describe him:

Ahmad Chalabi: Shiite Arab. Secular minded. A leading candidate for Prime Minister. Controversial with both Iraqis and Americans.

Really? PM? Oh boy.

UPDATE: Eschaton and Jack Shafer are on this story but good. Can someone tell me what's going on? And, full disclosure, I do frequent freelance work for the NYT, but am in no way related to Ms. Miller.

Courtesy of the NYT's Carl Hulse in today's Week in Review on Democrats' opposition to Rice and Gonzales:

Republicans expressed surprise that their adversaries have aimed such intense fire at two Cabinet nominees who are seen by many as exemplary members of two groups whose votes are crucial to Democratic political success. And they wondered whether such tactics would come back to haunt the Democrats in the next election.

Several Republican legislators said they were surprised by the moves, adding that they thought the Democrats were making a mistake by attacking Ms. Rice and Mr. Gonzales.

Michael McKenna, a Republican pollster who studies Hispanic voters, said he thought Democratic opposition to Mr. Gonzales was particularly risky given that Democrats are in a struggle for the allegiance of Hispanics. "His presence in office will be a constant reminder to the community of how he was treated, and that is a community that is in play right now," Mr. McKenna said.

Reading assignment for Mr. Hulse: his own managing editor's book on racial politicking and Clarence Thomas. This cynical use of affirmative action by conservatives to appoint an unqualified, middling minority to a high-ranking post and then use that appointee's race as a bludgeon against any criticism is perhaps the sickest joke ever perpetrated on the country. Surprise, indeed.

John H. Hinderaker, founder of Time Magazine's "Blog of the Year," and clearly a reasonable, rational person, was just on WABC-AM with Larry Kudlow. After calling the Iraq elections a "bombshell" (interesting word choice) for the Middle East, he went on to say that it was "pretty clear" that in our country, "the Left had lined up behind the terrorists."

I agree. I also agree that the Right has lined up behind the Nazi pedophile crackheads, but what are you gonna do?

UPDATE: Welcome, Eschatonians. Feel free to poke around this all-too-infrequently updated interweb journal thingy.

Also, the quote above should read: "The Left HAS lined up behind the terrorists." Just for accuracy's sake.

UPDATE 2: Reader Chuck Olsen says he's made a documentary that includes Hinderaker making very similar comments to the ones above. Check it out.

What a great day for Iraqis. No matter where you fall on the political spectrum, whether you think President Bush is the Second Coming or the Great Satan, this election, at least thus far, can be considered a success. I think Zarqawi and his clan realized that full-scale mayhem and attacks on people attempting to finally be free would probably be a great tactical mistake, though 30 people died in various strikes today. Now comes the intersting part -- making the country work without the U.S. as puppetmaster and law enforcer.

I used to visit Prof. Reynolds's site every day, that is, before he started on his recent "everyone who disagrees with the President is a traitor" kick. It's rather inexplicable, but his recent over-the-top post insinuating that every radical leftist really represents the thoughts of the entirety of liberal-minded people everywhere reminded me that he is, in fact, a big Limbaugh fan. Here's Rush on Ted Kennedy yesterday:

He's only helping the Democrat Party implosion. It makes me happy. He's only feeding that zoofull of kooks that make up the Democrat base, and all of that makes me happy. But at the same time, his comments here are extremely disgusting. They're just downright disgusting, bordering on traitorous if you ask me, and treasonous

Glenn Reynolds, yesterday:

When Ted Kennedy can make an absurd and borderline-traitorous speech on the war, when Michael Moore shares a VIP box with the last Democratic President but one, when Barbara Boxer endorses a Democratic consultant/blogger whose view of American casualties in Iraq is "screw 'em," well, this is the authentic face of the Left. Or what remains of it.

Someone should sue for intellectual theivery.

The Iraqi election story the warbloggers seem to want:

BAGHDAD, Jan. 30 (AP) -- The glorious President Bush, Sun King for All Time, is leading the advance of freedom and liberty around the world due to elections that were held here today.

In a historic vote that many good-hearted and patriotic Americans see as a harbinger of a democratic Middle East to come, some 13 brave Iraqis turned out to cast their ballots.

Reporters embedded with the Fourth Infantry Division were able to glimpse -- from behind a barricade, in a HumVee, 700 yards away and through a viewfinder -- the noble eight men and five women who voted nationwide in these first free elections. It was unclear whether the Iraqis were wearing body armor or thick wool vests.

Sporadic explosions that produced thick, black smoke went off throughout the day here, and were believed to be the result of fireworks and celebratory gunfire set off by enthusiastic voters, according to U.S. officials who declined to be named.

President Bush, monitoring the elections from the Oval Office, told reporters gathered there: “It’s clear now, to me, that the Iraqis are on the path to furthering their democratic ideals and will be so very much less likely to blow us -- and one another -- up from this day forward.”

Despite criticism from weak-kneed wusses and U.S. officials who themselves warned of widespread violence, the brave fighting men and women in our nation’s armed forces and the 16 fully-trained Iraqi National Guardsmen were able to prevent numerous would-be extremist-terrorist-homicide-murder-jerkface attacks.

In unrelated news, a mere 5,000 died in hundreds of spontaneous explosions around the country, according to a senior Iraqi official.

Straight from our Commander-in-chief's mouth.

He laughed when asked about his admission on Wednesday, during a news conference, that he had not read the article in the periodical Foreign Affairs written in 2000 by Condoleezza Rice, his new secretary of state, laying out his foreign policy.

"I don't know what you think the world is like, but a lot of people don't just sit around reading Foreign Affairs," he said, chuckling. "I know this is shocking to you."

George W. Bush: Laughing all the way into the abyss.

March 23, 2004, is sure to be a dark day for New York, and Margaret Spellings. For on that day the reviled and degenerate "Postcards from Buster"episode featuring a friend's "two moms" will be aired on Channel Thirteen. [via NYT, scroll to third item].

Thirteen's statement:

We seek to present programs that fairly represent reality, and we leave it up to our viewers to draw their own conclusions, using their own good judgment and intelligence."

Now why would they want to do something like that? All this, despite PBS's decision not to distribute it. WGBH in Boston will also be airing the episode.

Glad to see Rich Lowry, National Review's fair-minded editor-in-chief and would-be mayor of New York, has bravely come out to advocate a re-vote in Washington state's Gubernatorial race. All those lost votes, dead people, questionable tactics, just a travesty, really.

Reminds me of his principled stance re: Florida, 2000. (recounts need deadlines! Or else there will be chaos!) Or Ohio 2004 where he equally bravely advocated against a re-count.

No word from Rich on whether holding a new election that could toss an already-sworn-in governor out of office will or will not lead to chaos. I'm betting he thinks it doesn't.

Yeah, this week has been pretty hectic. More to come later, possibly later in the week. Right now the monkey slaves employed at Blogoland headquarters are pretty burned out. I'm taking them out for a night on the town, and then it's back to work.

Our favorite pudgy, ubiqutous, quote machine maintenance man from Long Island is at it again. This time, as a grieving Jets fan Saturday in a New York bar (courtesy of UPN-9, known to the 30+ set as WOR). "He should have made those two kicks. Well, at least one of two," he moaned of the Jets' place kicker, Doug Brien. "It's horrible."

All this despite a quote-ban from the Associated Press (scroll down).

Other recent Packer action:

• August 29, 2004, Cox News Service, acting as contrarian during the massive anti-GOP protest in New York ("Greg Packer, 40, of Huntington, on Long Island, is a Republican who marched with a sign offering to volunteer for the GOP convention.'I signed up, but they didn't pick me,' he said. 'They don't even have to pay me.')
• July 30, 2004 in a New York Post brief about people waiting in line for "Apprentice" tryouts (a favorite Packer past-time).
• June 23, 2004, in a Toronto Star article on people buying Bill Clinton's book (yup, first in line, again)
• March 6, 2004, weighing in on the Martha Stewart verdict ("She's no different than anyone else, and everything points to it - she's guilty.")

Maybe he never went away. Guess the folks in Secaucus didn't get the memo.

Hey, the Bushites weren't kidding when they called it a "central front in the war on terror." They're making us safer by the nano-second.

The other day I was dragging, and instead of doing actual real work clicked on E!!!! to watch a classic 1995 SNL re-run featuring Sarah Jessica Parker. OK it wasn't so classic, and despite the presence of Messrs. Farley, Sandler, Myers and McDonald was pretty un hilarious. Not to worry, though, The Official E!#>!? Crawl broke up the non-chuckles with the stunning, breaking news: that Britney Spears and Ana Nicole Smith were on some gay guy's "Worst Dressed" list. Thanks, E>&! Thank you, very much.

The History Channel's Crawl? "Hitler still very, very bad man, historian says."

"If we hope really, really hard, then Iraq will work out just fine, contrary to all the evidence I've laid out for you."

At least according to playwright Kathie Lee Gifford. Yes, Kathie Lee. And stop rubbing your eyes. Seems the Billy Graham fanatic has put together a delightful new theatre production (title: "Under the Bridge") complete with lovable homeless scamps warbling these future hits:

"Long as we Have Us"
"Something Called Love"
"This is the Gypsy Life"
"Christmas is Everyone's Holiday"

Additional lyric credits: Bill O'Reilly.

Rejected songs: "God's got a plan for those Arabs," and "Everyone loves Pork"

Some disappointment in learning that the production was not, in fact, based on the Anthony Kiedis junkie epic.

EXTRA! Click here to listen to the enchanting: "You will meet with Adventure today"

Purchase the full-cast recording! (only $20!)

And a chat with Kathie Lee in which she reveals that a new, exciting play "Hurricane Aimee" (about a radio evangelist) is also in the works. Charming!

Read my exciting article on the proliferation of everyone's favorite law-enforcement tool: traffic cameras. I was ripped by one of my sources yesterday for painting a too-positive picture of the devices. "You make it sound like red light cameras are the greatest thing in the world," he said. He also called himself a " true patriot" for telling people the truth they don't want to hear. Tell me what you think.

They broke away from the confirmation hearings for a guy who basically said that it was the President's prerogative to ignore the law of the land, and instead thought it would be OK to watch the certifying of the national election on the floor of the house? Are they nuts?

Well, I'm not sure what to make of this excerpt in a review of Alias:

Tonight's episode begins with the boyish Sydney in drag, as she often is: This time wearing a teddy in a couchette, seducing a Russian-seeming scientist for secrets about isotopes. A fistfight flashes to life quickly, and suddenly Sydney's about to fall out of the train. But she doesn't.

OK, ok. Now I get it. She's wearing one of those men's teddys, right? And that prompts a fistfight with the other woman because the woman thought that Sydney was a man-beast woman, and she's, like, really a lesbian-beast-man.

Or something. All I know is judging from the way these things look, it's gonna be hard to hide her package. Shield thine eyes.

Give it up for the University of Southern California Marching Trojans!

Alright, scratch that. Now, they're playing 'Conquest'? The piece my old corps made famous?

That counts for something. And I've heard it twice so far. Not bad, A little slower than when we did it.

Well, maybe it turns out that USC made it famous.

And check out the USC Marching Trojans with Fleetwood Mac. Weird.

Hey football fans, didja catch the new "Wild Cherry Pepsi" ad for the "Wild playoffs" featuring a touchdown pass from McNabb to Owens? Eegh. Was it really that tough for the post-production people to alter that audio to something more appropriate, like, say "Brister to Jells"?

Up next? Donovan's mother giving him a Chunky Soup Can concussion.

Can someone please tell me why ABC got a Ross Perot impersonator to provide color commentary for the Sugar Bowl? He does not make me want to watch.

Apropos of posting on other sites about sincerity through writing -- I can't help but notice the lack of posting on certain blogs over the horrendous atrocities of the Bam earthquake on Dec 26, 2003. You remember, nearly 30,000 people died, and yet, curiously, not one post from those virtuous bloggers who happen to become astonished when other people react badly to being smeared. These non-posting scoundrels who refuse to acknowledge the deaths in Iran are surely descipable sub-humans for their lack of writing empathy. For shame.

In a perfectly fine article discussing a film about the homogenization of wine-making in France, the author just really, obviously can't control herself and feels that discussions of tannins and oxygen wouldn't be complete without this concluding paragraph:

The wine world is a microcosm of the world at large, he added, and "Mondovino" is above all an old-fashioned look at the nature and uses of power. "If you'd made a wine film in the fourth century B.C.," he said, "you would have observed the end of the Greek empire and seen the Greeks trying to colonize their last,Iraq-like gambit in the Sicilian expedition at the end of the Peloponnesian War - planting vines, making war. Act of civilization, act of imperial power. I think this is still true today."

Now if she could have just mixed in a "post-9/11" graf, that would have really punched up the piece.

In the NYT's Job Market on Sunday found this help wanted ad for an "Energetic, imaginative magazine":

EDITORIAL. NO NIHILISTS NEED APPLY

I sent my resume and clips, but all I got back was a link to this site, which helpfully has answers to the question:

"How can you do anything if you don't believe in anything. How can you get out of bed. It seems like a depressing and debilitating cosmology."

A. I think that some people may find a godless, chaotic universe a hellish place in which to live. But there are others who would find an orderly, god ruled universe equally hellish. Not all people have the same needs. Nihilism suits mine.

Really quite reasonable for a nihilist, huh?