Mother, May I Sleep with Treacher?

I used to think Southerners who flew the Confederate Flag were jerks

But considering Obama's defense of his long, well-documented association with remorseless terrorist William Ayers -- even friendship, according to Chicago Mayor Richard Daley -- I'm having second thoughts. Obama keeps saying, "I was only 8 or 9 when Ayers did those bombings and said all that 'Kill your parents' stuff!" Well, nobody who's alive today is old enough to have fought for the Confederacy. No American is old enough to have owned slaves. So what's the big deal about flying the ol' Stars and Bars? It doesn't mean you're sympathetic to those ideas. There can be no such thing as a legacy, because then that standard could apply to Obama too.

Makes you wonder about all that "Bush is Hitler" stuff, though. Bush was born a year after Hitler died. So by the Obama Standard, there's no logic to the comparison. Ha ha, I said "logic." How silly.

It's like they're trying to turn the whole country into one big college campus

Patterico: Any Argument Against Barack Obama Is By Definition Racist

P.S. More like the National Organization for Wacists!

Dear Gloomy Gus:

An excerpt from Mark Levin's show last night, for the people who see the desperate campaign against McCain/Palin not as the last gasp of a dying media industry, but as proof of a plummeting sky:

If we don't engage now, four and a half weeks out, then when are we going to engage? When it's too late? I can hear the calls when they start passing this crap [that Obama wants]: “Mark, what can we do?” You can't do anything. Don't you see? It's rigged. The courts no longer uphold the Constitution and limit the power of the elected branches. The elected branches keep pushing people onto the courts who will support what they're doing. The Constitution is being shredded every single day. You're losing liberty every single day. What do you want me to do? What can I say? If you're not going to get engaged, no matter what kind of stupid comments John McCain makes... If you don't get engaged -- not for John McCain, for yourself, for your children, for your future -- then what can I possibly tell you?

I'm going to be honest with you, when I drive around my neighborhood, I see these Obama stickers everywhere. It's like being in Peking -- I guess they call it Bejing now -- when Chairman Mao was around. The photos are everywhere, the stickers are on the cars, the signs are on the lawns... What the hell is going on here? And a lot of you look at that and say, “Oh. It's over.” I look at that, and you know what I say? It's only over if I let it be over. They only roll me if I let them roll me. Screw their yard signs. They're still driving around with Kerry/Edwards stickers on their cars, and they're proud of it, these morons.

Forget the pundits. Forget the polls. Think for yourself and say what you mean. This is a good start.

Has that ever really been a problem for you, Rachel?

"The next person that winks at me, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to take it after tonight," says MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow.

I feel kind of bad for 23/6

Even Matt Yglesias doesn't know who they are.

You'd think 23/6 would have a higher profile as the only place for liberal humor besides The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, The Onion, Real Time with Bill Maher, The Late Show with David Letterman, Cracked, College Humor, Something Awful, Youtube, Countdown, the Daily Kos, the Daily Dish...

Even Dave Winer is capable of giving me credit

And he's Dave Winer! (As opposed to me, Jim Whiner.)

BTW, the number for Hannity's show is 1-800-941-7326. If you think he should give bloggers credit when he uses their material on the air, please let him know.

P.S. I don't listen to Hannity or Limbaugh or the rest of them, but I do like Mark Levin. Yeah, he's cranky and his voice is annoying, but he actually knows what he's talking about. What little I understand about the Freddie and Fannie mess, it's come from listening to Levin. He puts up each evening's show on marklevinshow.com for free, so check it out. (And for the record, I like the dopey nicknames.)

I'm getting multiple reports that Hannity did indeed rip me off

Whether by accident or design, he used my "Ifill questions" on his 10/2 radio show without crediting me. If you like this blog, I need your help. Hannity's contact page is here. And this is the URL to send him:

http://jimtreacher.com/archives/001643.html

Please let him know that we're not all as dumb as Colmes. It's bad enough that the news uses bloggers as unpaid researchers. Now we're unpaid humorists? No. What I do is in no way humorous. But even so, we can't let these rich creeps steal our work just because they've got hours to fill and they're too lazy to think of something interesting themselves. I don't like it when Sean Hannity does it any more than I like it when Lorne Michaels does it. But at least Hannity takes callers.

P.S. If anybody's got audio of it, please let me know. I want to hear how he butchered my dumb gags. He's not exactly a comedic mind. I know that Colmes once had a career in stand-up comedy, but I do not know the name of the ventriloquist.

Liveblog the debate? Why not?

There's supposed to be a CoverItLive window there, but I'm not sure it works with this crappy version of Movable Type I've never bothered to update. If not, click here.

Well, that sucks. CoverItLive crapped out on me after 2 minutes. Guess I'll have to do it the old-fashioned way...

Do I need to add Hannity to my list?

I'm told he used my "Ifill questions" without attribution on his radio show today. Can anybody confirm? And if so, does anybody have the show's e-mail address? I'm getting fed up with this crap.

$5.95 is a darn good price

I don't see any substance to this whole "conflict of interest" thing they're throwing at Gwen Ifill, and neither does Iowahawk.

Also, you racists who keep calling her "Gwen Quotafill" should be ashamed of yourselves. You won't see me not using that one.

Silly, silly me

A partial list of Gwen Ifill's questions for the VP debate

Mayor Palin, Barack Obama is a handsome, charismatic demigod. How many boxes of Kleenex will you need after your crushing loss?

Senator, could you please sign my book?

P.S. Do you suppose Saturday Night Live will change it to the Luxembourg Parliament?

P.P.S. History Is Happening Now raises a good point: Jerome Corsi and David Freddoso would make lousy moderators for this debate too. The difference being, of course, that they'd never be asked.

P.P.P.S. I'm told Hannity used this without attribution on his 10/2 radio show. If that's the case, and if you enjoy my work, could you please let him know he should give me credit for it? If he's going to criticize SNL, he should try a little harder than they do.

On the bright side, your average mainstream reporter’s political views will be a perfect fit in his or her new job as a Starbucks barista

"The fix is in, and it's working."

"Five: Top billing."

You know what it's all about? It's all about Iowahawk.

Google Biden aneurysm

Sometimes I send e-mails:

To: Slate's Explainer (ask_the_explainer@yahoo.com)
Re: What happens if a presidential candidate passes away at the last second?

What will happen if Biden has an aneurysm? It would only be his third. And I'm pretty sure it can kill you a lot more quickly than skin cancer. Like, y'know, the same day.

Bonus question: Why haven't we seen Obama's medical records? He's 47 and an ex-smoker, but apparently he hasn't seen a doctor in almost 2 years. Or if he has, he won't tell us what he found out. He works out every day and eats arugula, and somehow that makes him immortal?

As long as this stuff is on the table. What are the health risks of holding my breath until I get a reply?

Oh, but I'm so silly to think that anybody at SNL might be reading me

Do the right thing, Lorne.

P.S. Blame J.R. for getting me going on this.

Glad I could help, Lorne

"SNL" extends strong ratings run

The unpaid writing staff on the Internet is a great cost-cutting measure, too.

Seriously, I think Lorne Michaels might owe me some money

From last night's debate sketch on SNL, courtesy of NBC.com:

Lehrer: Now let's turn to the topic of nuclear proliferation. Senator Obama, you have frequently been critical of this administration's efforts to stop Iran and North Korea's nuclear weapons programs.

Obama: Uh, I have.

L: What would you do differently?

O: Uh, first of all, Jim, I would use traditional diplomacy. Something this administration has consistently refused to do. Should that fail, then and only then would I try what I call "playing the race card."

L: And how would that work?

O: Take North Korea. I would ask Kim Jong-il to shut down his country's nuclear weapons program. If he declined, I would say to him, "Alright, I get it. I know why you're really refusing to stop the program." And he would say, "No. What are you talking about?" And I would say, "It's because I don't look like all the other presidents you've dealt with." And then he would say, "Wait. That's not fair. That has nothing to do with it." And I would add, "That's cool. I understand. I'm different. I'm not like the other guys on the 5- and 10-dollar bills." It's a long, delicate process. But eventually, he'll have to give in.

Compare that with this post, which I wrote on Sept. 19:

A scene from Obama's first term

Obama: The United States demands that you cease all efforts to manufacture nuclear weaponry.*

Ahmadinejad: No way, Yankee dog. Death to America!

[Pause]

O: Huh. Okay, I get it.

A: ...what?

O: No, no, I get it.

A: Get what? All I said was "Death to America."

O: Don't worry about it, man. That's just the way it is, I get it.

A: The way what is? Seriously, I don't understand.

O: Right.

A: Is it because I hate America? I didn't think you people had a prob--

O: "You people!"

A: No, wait.

O: "You people." That's just great.

A: No, all I mean is, is, you know... When your wife said that thing about... Just hold on a second, this is going way too fast.

O: Hey, if you guys want to keep trying to build nukes, I think we all understand what you're really saying.

A: I'm really saying I want all unbelievers to burn! Why are you trying to read something bad into it?

O: It's okay, you can say it. I don't look like the presidents on the dollar bills.

A: What are you talking about? Have I gone insane or something?

[AND SCENE]

*I know, I know, he'd never actually say this. Just go with it for the sake of the joke.

Coincidence? Seems pretty darn close to me. They did switch dictators, but that's about it. And my traffic has been way up over the last month. I'm even getting links from places like the Washington Post and the New York Times. (Also known as "news-papers.") So it's not entirely outside the realm of possibility that maybe, possibly, somebody at 30 Rockefeller Center might've kinda sorta taken a shortcut. And why not? It's not like stealing or anything. It's only the Internet.

I will accept a personal check, Lorne.

P.S. Fun discussion.

And to the writer of the "Obama will play the race card on world leaders" joke on SNL last night?

You're welcome.

P.S. Dear Tina: Whatever happened to "Bitch is the new black"?

Thanks, I guess

Since somebody over there is reading me, apparently, could you please Google Axelrod astroturfing? Thanks in advance.

Taking a quick look at Palin's Blogrunner page, it looks like the current CW is that she's done for. Deja vu, huh? Sounds a lot like what they were saying in the days leading up to her acceptance speech. These people have the long-term memories of parakeets. Nobody's mentioned Eagleton today, at least.

Well, if Oct. 2 is anything like Sept. 3, Obama is in for a long night.

The Difference

To make Sarah Palin look bad, her detractors have to twist her words into the opposite of what she really said.

To make her detractors look bad, all you have to do is walk down the street.

(thx, gordo)

Yet another false, defamatory "Palin is a secessionist" smear ad is up on Youtube

It's called "Palin's Secret Allegiance" and it's here, at least as of 5 p.m. EST. And here's the user page for unitedwestand5077, who joined on Sept. 25 and posted the ad the same day:

The Jawa Report has more details. This one doesn't seem (to me, anyway) to be as professionally produced as the previous false, defamatory smear ad by Ethan Winner of Winner & Associates, but it's still a lie and whoever created it knows that. You can watch Palin's entire 82-second statement here. As Rusty Shackleford points out, the full quote they've truncated is, "I share your party's vision of upholding the Constitution of our great state. My administration remains focused on reining in government growth so individual liberty and opportunity can expand. I know you agree with that." She also reminded them that Fairbanks, where their convention was held, was the same city where Alaska's Constitution was created.

Wow, how radical, huh? She didn't say anything outside her duties as governor, and she said it in a tone of civil disagreement and with a gentle reminder that the attendees of the convention were going against their state's own history. Cutting off her quote to make it sound like she's a secessionist is just another baseless slur. That's the exact opposite of what she was saying. It's like taking a clip of Obama saying "I am not a Muslim" and editing out the word "not."

On the bright side, if this is the best they can come up with, she's doing fine. Palinoia strikes deep!

P.S. Following the links from the Youtube video, a Democratic Underground thread where it's discussed is here, and the same ad is on Google Video here.

P.P.S. Here's the full text of her statement. Emphasis mine, for anybody who's too thick to get it:

I'm Governor Sarah Palin, and I am delighted to welcome you to the 2008 Alaskan Independence Party Convention in the Golden Heart City, Fairbanks.

Your party plays an important role in our state's politics. I've always said that competition is so good, and that applies to political parties as well. I share your party's vision of upholding the Constitution of our great state. My administration remains focused on reining in government growth so individual liberty and opportunity can expand. I know you agree with that. We have a great promise to be a self-sufficient state, made up of the hardest-working, most grateful Americans in our nation.

So as your convention gets under way, I hope that you all are inspired by remembering that all those years ago, it was in this same city that Alaska's Constitution was born. And it was founded on hope, and trust, and liberty, and opportunity. I carry that message of opportunity forward in my administration as we continue to move our state ahead and create positive change.

So I say: Good luck on a successful and inspiring convention, keep up the good work, and God bless you.

Some secessionist, huh?

If you still don't get it, here's what she's saying: "I don't agree with you, but it's a free country: America. Where you live. Let's just try to remember what we have in common, okay?" She's meeting free speech with free speech, and reminding people she disagrees with that they have a common bond, instead of trying to shout them down.

Compare and contrast this with how Obama treats those who disagree with him.

P.P.P.S. Come to think of it, Palin was doing much the same thing McCain did with his congratulatory ad the day of Obama's acceptance speech. You know, reaching across the aisle. Expressing goodwill and fellowship. Showing some class. No wonder McCain picked this lady.

Mad About You and Your Socialism

I wasn't going to say anything about the debate, because, you know. WTF. It was a debate. But a guy who's been eaten by an Alien has commented on it.

No, really.

So. There's that.

This post is racist

Here's Why Sarah Palin Will Get Killed in the Debate, Pt. 3

Haw haw! Wotta dope. It's one thing to think it. But to say it out loud in front of the whole world? Man oh man, this is the worst pick for vice president ever. Can't wait for the debate!

Pt. 1
Pt. 2

Got linked by the Washington Post

Click it to go there. As recently as a month ago, that might have been a big deal. Back before You Know Who came along and removed any doubt that the people we depend on to tell us the news of the world are all completely insane. (Thanks to the Weekly Standard, though. Yeah, they're biased, but at least they admit it.)

Still, it's a good enough excuse for me to take the day off. That and running out of vodka-bottle molotovs to clear my sinuses.

A bit of perspective

There's at least as much evidence of a connection between Ethan Winner and the Obama campaign as there's evidence of a connection between Trig Palin and Bristol's uterus.

Everything I was going to write about the Ethan Winner scandal has been covered by this Youtube clip

Michelle Malkin explains it, clearly and precisely, on Fox News.

Now, it's Michelle Malkin on Fox News, so Olbermann's thick, dented skull is already pulsating. And O'Reilly's going to be covering it tonight, so they might want to put down plastic around the Countdown desk. But it's all true.

(Although I'm not surprised that Bill Hemmer doesn't know how the Internet operates. He barely knows how his hair dryer operates. How does Megyn Kelly put up with him day after day?)

The rest of the press is squeamish about covering the Winner Soldier mess, of course. Why? For the same reason they were squeamish about covering the Rielle Hunter fiasco: Because it might hurt their hero's chances of election.

Which is the same reason they're freaking out over not having unfettered access to Palin even though they wannit-wannit-wannit. How dare she put them on timeout until they can behave themselves? How can they twist her words if she won't give them any? Of course, they didn't complain when Obama held them off the same way. Because in that case, even just a brief moment basking in the radiance of The One was sufficient to nourish those reporters' souls and fill their hearts with enough love for a lifetime. Everything was perfect until that bitch came along!

Speaking of "bitch is the new black," the press didn't tread so lightly around Obama's astroturfing when it smeared Hillary. Remember that anti-Hillary "1984" ad way back in March '07, which was supposedly created by somebody with no connection to the Obama campaign? Well...

The creator of the faux-Apple ad against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has been unmasked as a Democratic operative who worked for a digital consulting firm with ties to Sen. Barack Obama, NBC News confirmed Wednesday night -- leaving Obama on the spot.

Andrea Mitchell said that. On MSNBC. For some reason, way back in the old days (18 months ago) it wasn't racist to hold Obama accountable for his actions. Mitchell even said:

The entire episode hangs a cloud over the Obama camp.

Oh, I get it. A dark cloud, right? Next time leave your white hood at home, Andrea! No, on second thought, please wear it whenever you're on the air.

Here's Why Sarah Palin Will Get Killed in the Debate, Pt. 2

Nice try, you moose-murdering moron! Dumbest. Vice-Presidential Candidate. Ever.

Pt. 1
Pt. 3

And then he grew up to be a conservative blogger for The Atlantic

"I don't want to put my willy in that secret hole."

Never mind

Obama/Biden '08!!!

P.S. Give it a name. The dog, I mean, not Obama's humiliation. I'm calling this adorable sweetie Biden's Little Follicle Donor.

P.P.S. from the I Wish I'd Said That, and Now Of Course I Will file. The Talk Arena corrects me:

What I see is a cute, fluffy, adorable little creature with a small mind but a devotion and love for its handlers. Handlers who feed and water and pet it on its little head every day.

And a dog.

Quick correction for Marc Ambinder

Over at a once-prestigious magazine called The Atlantic, Ambinder says this about the Ethan Winner story:

Partisans of the Republican ticket have every right to believe that the Obama campaign is malevolent, and to assume the worst of motivations; certainly, liberal partisans reciprocate. But it takes a willfull [sic] suspension of belief [sic] to assume that the Obama campaign is stupid.

Does it take a willful suspension of disbelief to assume that the Obama campaign is arrogant? Because that's what this behavior is. That's why you would put up a blatantly slanderous Youtube video about your opponent via a thinly disguised surrogate. It's not stupid; it's arrogant.

And why wouldn't Obama be arrogant at this point? His proven ties to racial separatists and domestic terrorists are no problem for the media. They're too busy digging into Palin's PTA squabbles and traffic tickets and whatever else to bother looking into Obama's involvement in Freddie & Fannie. McCain's melanomas are supposedly career-ending, but Biden's aneurysms aren't. Not to mention the media's total lack of curiosity about Obama's medical condition, which we know almost nothing about. If Obama's getting away with all that and more, why would he worry about getting caught out doing something like this? He knows he's got fast-fading media outlets like The Atlantic to cover for him. He can just deny it and blame McCain. They'll buy it.

Speaking of the cover of The Atlantic...

Here's Why Sarah Palin Will Get Killed in the Debate, Pt. 1

But I hardly need to remind you. Her astonishing gaffe has made front-page headlines for the past two weeks. Good luck, dummy!

Pt. 2
Pt. 3

PR Firm Linked to Obama's Campaign Manager Is Behind Palin Smear

...is a headline you'll never see in the New York Times, even though David Axelrod's associate Ethan Winner has just admitted putting up that false, defamatory "Palin is a secessionist" ad on Youtube.

Do you think you'd see this headline?

PR Firm Linked to McCain's Campaign Manager Is Behind Biden Smear

I'm guessing you would. Although such a smear would be a waste of time and money on McCain's part, because the only thing you need to make Biden look bad is a piece of duct tape that is not placed over his mouth.

Are you wondering why Ethan Winner, of Winner & Associates, deleted the Youtube account he'd had since Aug. '06 within hours after Rusty Shackleford at the Jawa Report pointed out the Winner/Axelrod connection? You'll never guess:

Some people have asked why I have pulled the video from the Internet. The reason is simple. Following the posting of personal information about me by the Jawa Report, my family began to receive threatening and abusive phone calls and emails.

This happened, we're led to believe, between 12:15 a.m. and around 4:30 a.m. EST on Monday morning. That's a little over four hours between Shackleford's post and the deletion of the eswinner Youtube account. In the dead of night. He's a regular Jack Bauer, this kid.

Presumably it was the abusive phone calls, and not the abusive e-mails, that woke them up in the middle of the night. Even though Shackleford didn't give out any phone numbers... Come to think of it, which part of that post was "personal information"? Specifics, please.

But hey, if the Winner family really is being harassed by right-wing nutjobs, it's our duty to fix this mess. As commenter Apogee at Patterico.com points out:

It should be quite easy for the Jawa Report to see who logged onto their page between the first upload of the post and the time the video was removed.

Cross indexing the IP addresses of those hits at Jawa with the origination area codes of the offending calls on Winners' incoming phone logs, we should be able to find these dastardly phone terrorists and pay them a visit. After all, it's a very short period of time.

Winner would be happy to cooperate.

Right?

Right.

P.S. "I'll have to get back to you as soon as I can."

More consciousness of guilt

Ace catches the Daily Kos sweeping more evidence of an organized anti-Palin smear campaign under the rug. If this stuff is all above board, par for the course, why are they scrambling to hide it?

By the way, if you've read Rusty Shackleford's post about the Winner family and their alleged connection to Obama, and you find it convincing, one way to spread the word would be to forward the link to Business Week. Their March 14 story, "The Secret Side of David Axelrod," about his side business as an astroturfer, sure does ring some bells when you analyze this anti-Palin campaign. Business Week's contact form is here. They might be interested in this new information, being one of the few mainstream media outlets to cover Axelrod's shenanigans.

I guess I'm doing some astroturfing myself by pointing you to it and encouraging you to write in. How about that, huh?

Here's a survey I'd like to see

Instead of polling Democrats for their responses to adjectives about blacks, how about polling Democrats for their responses to adjectives about pinkos? That might sway things a bit more in Obama's favor.

Here's an interesting factoid from the preceding AP story:

"Not all whites are prejudiced."

They know this because some of their best friends are white.