With Landrieu winning, the Chafee/McCain double-switch fantasy enters the realm of (unlikely) possibility.

Haha, the prince of darkness says that Lott was "kidding."

SHIELDS: And now for the Outrage of the Week.

This week Mississippi Senator Trent Lott said, quote, "When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him.
We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over
all these years either," end quote.

In his 1948 campaign defending racial segregation, Thurmond said, quote, "All the bayonets of the Army cannot
force the Negro into our homes, our schools, our churches," end quote.

To his credit, Strom Thurmond changed dramatically. Why, then, does Trent Lott romanticize an era of hate when
black Americans were truly oppressed?

Bob Novak.

NOVAK: I think Trent Lott was kidding, Mark.

Rodney Alexander 85,720 50%
Lee Fletcher 85,202 50%

Mary Landrieu 626,054 52%
Suzanne Terrell 588,701 48%

How come you never see headlines like 'White Turnout is Vital as Louisiana Goes to the Polls.'?

Mickey's psyched tonight...

From his keyboard to the Economist's pages.

"On reflection, neither of these traits seem disqualifications: politics has always been a game for self-promoters, and Americans seem to like electing toffs. Mr Kerry's real "personality problem" is that he seems so cold and aloof. His brow is perpetually furrowed . He almost never smiles. To be fair, Abraham Lincoln made rather a good president without being able to smile. But in modern times Americans have tended to like their presidents to be able to grin a bit. Can the Democrats really afford to send a dour Massachusetts liberal to do battle with an affable Texan?"

Trent Lott's home state led the nation in black victims of lynching from 1882-1930, both in terms of the absolute numbers and per capita of the black population. And through 1962 as well.

Reasons giving for lynchings:



Acting suspiciously
Gambling
Quarreling
Adultery
Grave robbing
Race hatred; Race troubles
Aiding murderer
Improper with white woman
Rape
Arguing with white man
Incest
Rape-murders
Arson Inciting to riot
Resisting mob
Assassination
Inciting trouble
Robbery
Attempted murder
Indolence
Running a bordello
Banditry
Inflammatory language
Sedition
Being disreputable
Informing
Slander
Being obnoxious
Injuring livestock
Spreading disease
Boasting about riot
Insulting white man
Stealing
Burglary
Insulting white woman
Suing white man
Child abuse
Insurrection
Swindling
Conjuring
Kidnapping
Terrorism
Courting white woman
Killing livestock
Testifying against white man
Criminal assault
Living with white woman
Throwing stones
Cutting levee
Looting
Train wrecking
Defending rapist
Making threats
Trying to colonize blacks
Demanding respect
Miscegenation
Trying to vote
Disorderly conduct
Mistaken identity
Unpopularity
Eloping with white woman
Molestation
Unruly remarks
Entered white woman's room
Murder
Using obscene language
Enticement
Non-sexual assault
Vagrancy
Extortion
Peeping Tom
Violated quarantine
Fraud
Pillage
Voodooism
Plotting to kill
Voting for wrong party
Frightening white woman
Poisoning well



It is important to note that the purpose of lynchings, and defending the right to keep on doing it, wasn't just to punish the victims for their perceived transgressions. It was terrorism, plain and simple, designed to intimidate the black population.

I've never quite understood why every time Glenn Reynolds says something half way reasonable all the lefty bloggers feel the need to point it out and praise him. It reminds of the pathological behavior some victims of spouse abuse display - "Isn't he wonderful! He didn't hit me today!"*

But, in any case, this time Reynolds hasn't said something half way reasonable, he's said something quite offensive and Sam Heldman so far is the only one to call him on it (that I've seen, anyway).

Reynolds says:


It's easy to forget how things once were. Lott has, apparently. At least, it would be worse if he hasn't.

It isn't that Lott is a bigot who remembers exactly how things used to be and misses it, it's that he's forgotten!

Not reasonable at all.


*Yes, by casting the hypothetical spouse abuser as a male I have once against demonstrated what a sexist Leftist I am.

Digby sez:

Jay Reding must be so very confused. Back on the first thread last Monday re: American Renaissance magazine, Jay informed us that we were all wet about these dixiecrat scumbags holding an influential spot in the mainstream GOP Southern Strategy to appeal-to-racism-to dominate-the-electoral-map.

He said in response to the comment "Take a gander, kids. We'll be seeing more of it..."


No, we won't. The paleocons are (thankfully) a dying breed. The GOP won because they took their message to the center. Trying to lump these nutballs in with the current conservative movement is like trying to say that the Shining Path is representative of contemporary liberalism.

Jay Reding


Trent, unfortunately proved him wrong on the first point. He IS the majority leader, so it's hard to say that he is out of the mainstream. He was elected, after all, by the members of his Senate caucus to represent them. Lott's views are well known, so It's pretty clear that the GOP doesn't have a problem with pandering to racism to get votes. If the Majority Leader of the Senate and all of his GOP colleagues don't get it, it's pretty clear that a goodly number of the Red State GOP enthusiasts don't either.

But, surely it can't be that the Republicans could actually be more extreme than the Democrats, could it? Aren't the Democrats the wacked out, fringe dwellers who don't understand Heartland American values and disdain everything good and wholesome and pure? After all, it's the GOP that has moved to the center (which is why they won the unprecedented landslides of '00 and '02)

Of course the Democrats are more extreme. Why, Tom Daschle said just the other day that if only Che Guevara had prevailed in the western Hemisphere we'd be in a lot better shape than we are today. And I could swear that Nancy Pelosi was quoted back in 1998 speaking to a Shining Path convention in San Francisco as saying, " you represent the right principles and the right philosophy and if the Democratic party stays on the right "shining path " our children will be the beneficiaries."

See, even if Trent Lott (the second most
powerful elected official in the Republican party) is an unreconstructed Dixiecrat racist , you have to understand that he's actually a centrist because the Democrats would then be led by radical Marxists revolutionaries.

By Jay's logic, anyway.


digby

And David Neiwert brings this ADL story about Lott and the CCC to our attention.

Haha, we're *never* going to see the Iraq documents.

Amin also said it would name companies and countries that helped Iraq develop weapons of mass destruction in the past, information that could help in prosecutions under other nations' export-control laws.

I love being right! Well, not really.

While the John Kerry haircut story made Inside Politics, the what the hell is up with helmet-head Lott's hair story Trent Lott's comments did not. Nor did that little bastard Jonathan Karl ask him about them.

It is of course hideously disgusting that anyone would turn a BIRTHDAY PARTY into a paritsan political rally.

Kudos to William Kristol on this. Occasionally some of these people surprise me.

William Kristol, editor of the conservative Weekly Standard, said "Oh, God," when he learned of Lott's comments. "It's ludicrous. He should remember it's the party of Lincoln," referring to Lott's role as Republican leader of the Senate, which the GOP will control when the new Congress convenes next month.

Hey, the Post actually reminds us:


In 1998 and 1999, Lott was criticized after disclosures that he had been a speaker at meetings of the Council of Conservative Citizens, an organization formed to succeed the segregationist white Citizens' Councils of the 1960s. In a 1992 speech in Greenwood, Miss., Lott told CCC members: "The people in this room stand for the right principles and the right philosophy. Let's take it in the right direction, and our children will be the beneficiaries."

Asked to comment on Lott's remarks at the Thurmond celebration, Gordon Baum, CEO of the Council of Conservative Citizens, said "God bless Trent Lott."

Gotta love Trent's Christian Identity pals. God bless them.

Here is what Senator Lott was proud of in 1948 Mississippi. Check out the offical Democratic Party sample ballot.





(source)

You see it was all about States' Rights. The State's Right to condone lynching of 'Nigras.' If only Strom had won, and Truman's anti-lynching law hadn't passed, we wouldn't be having all these problems. Simple.

Look! John Kerry got a haircut!




From the Dixiecrat Platform, regarding their opposition to the repeal of the poll tax:


The negro is a native of tropical climate where fruits and nuts are plentiful and where clothing is not required for protection against the weather ... The essentials of society in the jungle are few and do not include the production, transportation and marketing of goods. [Thus] his racial constitution has been fashioned to exclude any idea of voluntary cooperation on his part.


[edited to add the words 'repeal of']

Trent Lott

Here is what Senator Trent Lott, Republican of Mississippi, said yesterday at Senator Strom Thurmond's birthday party, according to ABCNEWS' O'Keefe. "I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had of followed our lead we wouldn't of had all these problems over all these years, either."

Since political correctness is the scourge of society, I won't mention that the problems Lott is referring to are the Civil and Voting Rights Acts.


UPDATE: To be fair, as people have pointed out, Lott is also likely referring lots of other horrible things like the Brown decision as well.

UPDATE 2: Cut the crap my friends on 'the other side.' Tim Noah reminds us exactly what Strom was running on, and what Lott was saying he was proud his state supported:

"I want to tell you, ladies and gentleman, that there's not enough troops in the army to force the southern people to break down segregation and admit the Nigra race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes, and into our churches.

I'm sure Lott's frightening comments will get at least much coverage as John Kerry's hair.

Wal-Mart Resells Donated Toys

However, they should nonetheless be above criticism. I'm no communist.

Bush Spends 2-14 Grand on Suits!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Does his vanity know no bound??

Oh you've got to be kidding me. From Drudge:


FLASH: Steve Forbes and conservatives will emerge today to push Bill Archer and Phil Gramm for top economic spots...

Al Gore Flashback!

We also need to recognize that some members of Bush's economic team simply do not inspire confidence in the markets nor carry weight on his behalf on discussions in Congress, the Federal Reserve, the business community and economic policy makers in other countries - and they need to be replaced.

Hey, E.J. Dionne chimes in on media bias. Not bad.

and TBogg gives us the media response to Dionne.

Wargasm™ of the Day
(courtesy of vaara)

From AndyLand.

<...> the December 8 deadline is so important. It's the first clear trip-wire for war. (pant pant pant) What if Saddam produces a list of mainly civilian-use technology and the Bush administration declares that it knows it's incomplete. What then? (grooannnn, oh yeah) <...> If his December 8 declaration is a lie, then Saddam is clearly violating (unnhhhh!) the terms of the 1991 truce and the U.N.'s last chance option. So we declare war (oh God yes, YES!!). We could be on a direct war-path by next week (Ohh FUUCCKKKK YEAH!!!!). In fact, I think it's highly likely we will be. (oh yeah, c'mon, GIVE IT TO ME!)And then the counter-strikes (ngh ngh UNH UNH ) in Northern Lebanon and throughout the West may well be ramped up. (AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!) This is the calm before the storm. As snow blankets much of us, we should savor it while we can.

(Damn! I need a cigarette!)

(uggabugga has a cute picture, too)

Unemployment up to 6.0%.

Bye bye Paul O'Neill...UPDATE: and LIndsey too...

wonder who they're going to have to defrost to replace him (Them)?

Charles Dodgson brings this little nugget to our attention:

It turns out that the Republican leadership had an informal agreement to let the families of 9/11 attack victims approve one of the five Republican committee members (with Sens. McCain and Shelby, who have close ties to the families, acting as their agents). Which is particularly significant because the commission will require six votes to issue a subpoena --- so if all five Republicans are beholden to the White House, then Dubya and co. will be able to squelch any inquiry which threatens to make them the least bit uncomfortable.

And the families have made a perfectly respectable choice, former Republican Sen. Warren Rudman. But that's not enough for Trent Lott, who has refused to agree to the appointment. The families claim he's being pressured by the White House, but it can't be --- Ari Fleischer said explicitly that the White House, having chosen Kissinger would have no voice in the selection of the other committee members. And if that's a lie too, then Fleischer had better be careful. If he keeps this sort of thing up, he may wind up with a reputation.

Fleischer actually accuses Helen Thomas of siding with Iraq:

Q Ari, two questions. What was the President thinking when he appointed an alleged war criminal to investigate a war crime? What was he thinking?

MR. FLEISCHER: Who are you thinking of?

Q Chile, Allende, Cambodia, Kissinger.

MR. FLEISCHER: Would he appoint --

Q Kissinger.

MR. FLEISCHER: Oh, I see what you're saying. Everything that I said when Henry Kissinger was appointed two weeks ago, about the outstanding integrity of Henry Kissinger and the high regard in which he's held. You should have been here two weeks ago; you missed that one.

Go ahead, you get a follow-up because you haven't been here.

Q You said Iraq has lied in the past and its continuing to lie. Kissinger lied to Congress about Cambodia. Kissinger lied to Congress about Chile. How do we know he's not going to lie about his investigation?

MR. FLEISCHER: I think that if you want to compare what Tariq Aziz said last week to what Henry Kissinger, who has ably served the United States and who continues to ably serve the United States and is held in very high regard by people in both parties, including the families of 9/11, that's your judgment, your business. The President rejects that line of thinking.

Q Where does find these great men? Where? Every one from the Iran-Contra scandal has been named to this administration. (Laughter.)

MR. FLEISCHER: Helen, tomorrow I announce your appointment. (Laughter.)

Does this mean Hitchy-poo is siding with Iraq too?

UPDATE: oops - the first part was Russell Mokhiber.

Nobody told me they had Snotty Letters!

The White House has lately been citing such Iraqi actions such as the snotty letters sent to the Security Council to protest the terms of the new inspection regime and the fact that Iraqi anti-aircraft gunners continue, as they have for the past five years, to fire at planes patrolling the "no-fly" zone maintained by the U.S. and Britain as signs of Saddam's continued defiance.

They must be stopped!

Are they weapons of crass destruction?

Who knew Robert Mundell was a commie?

Hesiod has the scoop on Drudge's latest incomprehensible sillyness.

I'm sure Judy Woodruff will report it tomorrow. Let's at least hope she can explain what the issue is. I'm sure it'll just be "Gore...China...reminds us of fundraising scandal...Clinton..blowjob.."


Wonder why Drudge changed "Mr. Moon" to "one source."



here

and compare to here.

Wonder who the mysterious Mr. Moon is...


And can someone please explain to me why Drudge's site always causes my wireless to reboot. Argh.

The Very Greedy Plutocraterpillar.

Neal Pollack wrote and offered to split his $10 million advance if I advertised his new book. I demanded he also let me borrow his manservant, Roger, for a month, and he agreed.

So, please pre-order Beneath the Axis of Evil , which has already been hailed as the definitive work of 21st century war journalism, narrowly edging out Geraldo Rivera's foray into this genre. If you don't, the Islamic Fundamentalists and their supporters at the New York Times have already won.

And, speaking of The Times and Howell Raines' campaign of terror against the poor beseiged Augusta Golf Club, a recent report on CNN highlighted the rank hypocrisy that has infused those politically correct Stalinists. Apparently a woman has qualified to enter into a PGA tournament for the first time. You see, while the PGA is quite happy to admit women into their tournaments, the LPGA does not allow men to play in theirs. Why hasn't Raines condemned this sexism? Hmm? Hmm?? Apparently it is okay for lesbian feminist golfers to exclude men, and perhaps even to have them killed.

I should be used to the double standards of the sexist Left by now, but I remain enraged. Perhaps Roger can help me to relax.

The Watch has some good stuff up.

Neal Pollack discovers he has been blackballed by the Times.

That said, we have absolutely no excuse for publishing a writer of Mr. Pollack's low character. Here is a man who once referred to Howell as "ass-monkey of the week" in an article in The Weekly Standard. Here is a man who writes favorably in major magazines about the Swiss company that manufactures the testosterone-enhancement substance to which he is addicted. He also regularly kicks his beleagurered manservant in public, a practiced despised in these pages since 1961. Here, in other words, is a man.

Have I ever mentioned how cute my wife is? Shh.. don't tell her.

Calling all Yahoos.


Give Johnnie Pointdexter a call.

See where he lives.

Being, roughly speaking, on "the left," I have of course been accused many times, one way or another, of "hating America." You know, me and my good buddy Chomsky who I apparently worship though I've never really read. I've never quite known what this meant, actually. It's easy to dismiss it simply as rhetorical bludgeoning by one's political opponents, I suppose - a pee-wee league version of a Hitchens polemic. It is more than that, of course. I've posted before about the underlying source of this belief - roughly, conservatives believe they have a unique claim on the "true America" which has been tainted economically by that liberal FDR, politically by activist judges and states' rights violating Civil Rights and Voting Acts, and socially by homosexuality. Or something. If only one could remove the stain of the liberal legacy, we could truly return to the glory days of our untainted past.


But, still, what does it mean to "hate America?" I'm sure David Horowitz would inform me that by voting for Democrats I was advocating a Stalinist takeover of America. Or something. But, assuming there are some marginally more reasonable person than the fuzzy loveable Horowitz who would accuse me of hating America, what is it they think I desire to happen to my country? Presumably to hate it is to desire, in some sense, its destruction. Maybe that simply means a destruction of those values which in their minds ARE America.

Jokes aside, however, could there be anything more "America hating" than the desire for its political disintegration -- a desire for a segment to secede? Aside from wishing its physical destruction, could anything be more anti-American than the belief that it had gone so far astray that the desired political change from within was impossible? That the only hope was to end the Union?

Please give some money to me Scoobie Davis. He's earned it.

You knew it would happen..The Michael Jackson Baby Drop Game!

Turd Blossom

Eventually I met with Rove. I arrived at his office a few minutes early, just in time to witness the Rove treatment, which, like LBJ's famous browbeating style, is becoming legend but is seldom reported…. I squeezed into a chair near the open door to Rove's modest chamber, my back against his doorframe.

Inside, Rove was talking to an aide about some political stratagem in some state that had gone awry and a political operative who had displeased him. I paid it no mind and reviewed a jotted list of questions I hoped to ask. But after a moment, it was like ignoring a tornado flinging parked cars. "We will fuck him. Do you hear me? We will fuck him. We will ruin him. Like no one has ever fucked him ."


what was that about honor and dignitude?

Fair Media Alert

HBO Recycling Gulf War Hoax?

December 4, 2002

The fraudulent story of Iraqi soldiers throwing Kuwaiti babies out of incubators during the occupation of Kuwait in 1990 is depicted as if it were true in "Live from Baghdad," the HBO film premiering on the cable network this Saturday that purports to tell the story behind CNN's coverage of the Gulf War.

In the months before the Gulf War began, media uncritically repeated the claim that Iraqi soldiers were removing Kuwaiti babies from incubators. The story was launched by the testimony of a 15-year-old Kuwaiti girl before the Congressional Human Rights Caucus in October 1990. Eventually, as repeated in the media by the first President Bush and countless others, it blossomed into a tale involving over 300 Kuwaiti babies.

What was not reported at the time was the fact that the public relations company Hill & Knowlton was partly behind the effort, and the girl who testified was actually the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to Washington. Subsequent investigations, including one by Amnesty International, found no evidence for the claims (ABC World News Tonight, 3/15/91).

In the film, the story is turned upside down, portrayed as a deft public relations move by the Iraqi government, who grant CNN access to Kuwait in a calculated attempt to discredit the rumors that their soldiers were pulling babies from incubators. CNN reporters are ushered to a hospital in Kuwait, where a doctor, under obvious pressure from Iraqi soldiers, tells the reporters that no babies had been pulled from the incubators.

The CNN team does not believe the obviously nervous doctor is telling the truth, and the Iraqi officials pick up on this, promptly cutting the interview short. The scene ends with the doctor being led away by Iraqi officials. Moments later, the CNN crew listens to a BBC report on the radio that suggests that CNN had debunked the story of Iraqi soldiers killing Kuwaiti babies, and CNN's reporters are upset that they've been used by the Iraqi officials.

Mark Morford's Word of the Day:

corybantic \'kor-e-'ban-tik\ adjective (1642)
Like or in the spirit of a Corybant; esp; wild, frenzied, delirious, frantic, frenetic

Usage example: And just when the two hot young Wiccan lesbians on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" kissed, Lynne
Cheney let out a piercing screeching howl and fell into yet another fit of adorable corybantic spasms, crying out for
her Johnny Ashcroft, love sausage, to come medicate her and tell her it's all right, the world is still run by pale
sniveling overweight rich white impotent men.

I put this in the comments over at the Daily Kos but I suppose I'll post it here too, regarding the LA Senate runoff.

The issue isn't Landrieu's purity as a Democrat. The question is whether the political calculation she's made - court "moderates" in her state, and in doing so alienate black voters - is a winning campaign.

If she loses, there are two possibilities - 1) There was nothing she could do to win. Or 2) The strategy she chose of fellating Bush and causing "the base" to stay home actually cost her the election.

I don't know whether if it'd be 1) or 2). BUt, for those of us who suspect that maybe, just maybe 2) would be the answer I hope the right lessons are learned. Even, or maybe especially, in the South you can't win as a Democrat by running as a Republican. Maybe you can't win as a Democrat either, but at least you can lose and stand for something.

Hey, Schweiker signs law adding sexual orientation to their Ethnic Intimidation Law.

Body and Soul notes that the rioting and killing in Nigeria may not have been quite what we have been led to believe.

Let's consider what Dr. Michael Hill, founder and president of the League of the South thinks:

In a recent letter to League of the South members, Dr. Michael Hill wrote: "The day of Southern guilt is over -- THE SOUTH WAS RIGHT -- and let us not forget that salient fact. NO APOLOGIES FOR SLAVERY should be made. In both the Old and New Testaments slavery is sanctioned and regulated according to God's word. Thus, when practiced in accord with Holy Scripture, it is NOT A SIN. Our ancestors were not evil men because they held slaves. This issue is our Achilles Heel, and the only way to deal with it is to confront our accusers boldly and without guilt. After all, what we are really upholding is GOD'S WORD. Let us fear Him, and we'll fear no man."

Administration delays aid to local law enforcement.

Time to rethink some of those endorsements, FOP.

Texas Governor Rick "Goodhair" Perry says the Texas sodomy law is "appropriate."

TBogg says that even Tony Blankley is fed up with the Kool Kids.

What do we think about the League of the South?

The League of the South seeks to advance the cultural, social, economic, and political well-being and independence of the Southern people by all honourable means. Thus, the central idea that drives our organisation is the redemption of our independence as a nation. We envision a free and prosperous Southern Republic founded on private property, free association, fair trade, sound money, low and equitable taxes, equal justice before the law, secure borders, and armed and vigilant neutrality. Self-governing states and local communities invoking the favour and guidance of Almighty God. A bold, self-confident civilisation based on its cultural and ethnic European roots.

...

Once we have planted the seeds of cultural, social, and economic renewal, then (and only then), should we begin to look to the South's political renewal. Political independence will come only when we have convinced the Southern people that they are indeed a nation in the organic, historical, and Biblical sense of the word, namely, that they are a distinct people with a language, mores, and folkways that separate them from the rest of the world.

UPDATE: Just want to add that Southern Secession is essentially the goal of this organization. Do they hate America?

The Puke Funnel in Action.


WOODRUFF: Just two days after moving closer to a presidential race, John Kerry already is in denial mode. His office says the senator does not pay $150 to get his hair cut, as claimed by Matt Drudge on the Internet. "The Boston Herald" quotes a source as saying that Kerry pays more like $75 to get what some have called the best hair in the Senate.

"The Drudge Report," which we've not yet confirmed, says Kerry's do is the work of a stylist at the chic Cristophe salon. And you may remember Cristophe from the $200 trim that he gave Bill Clinton on board Air Force One while it sat on the tarmac at LAX in Los Angeles. Clinton learned then what Kerry may know now. Even hair can be a cutting issue when you are or want to be president.


What the hell can we do about these people?

One step down the slope at a time..

American citizens working for al Qaeda overseas can legally be targeted and killed by the CIA under President Bush's rules for the war on terrorism, U.S. officials say.

The authority to kill U.S. citizens is granted under a secret finding signed by the president after the Sept. 11 attacks that directs the CIA to covertly attack al Qaeda anywhere in the world. The authority makes no
exception for Americans, so permission to strike them is understood rather than specifically described, officials said.

Pandagon reports on the delightful and charming Crazy Davey Horowitz.

No More Mr. Nice Blog discovers that Bush wears some damn expensive boots.

Oh Lordy. First Bush screws the civil service by denying them their regional COL equalization raises, and then he restores the cash bonuses for the political appointees.

CalPundit strikes the right note on Affirmative Action.

One could take the 'two wrongs don't make a right' argument more seriously if more people would acknowledge that the first wrong was still a problem. And, the fact that 40% of Alabamibans (haha I'm so Punny) voted against removing a symbolic ban on interracial marriage tells us that the first wrong is still with us. And, no, I don't think the South has a monopoly on racism. But, as ex neo-con darling Glenn Loury realized after the conservative embrace of the Bell Curve and The End of Racism, it wasn't that the Right had different solutions to racial problems in this country - it's that they (at best) just didn't give a crap.

Hey, I'm #41 on Blogstreet's Top 100. Not sure what that means, but...I'm catching you Mickey Kaus!

I just noticed Scoobie Davis had a post awhile back about my new pet projects - Jared Taylor and American Renaissance magazine.

In my comments section, Jay Reding said:


The paleocons are (thankfully) a dying breed. The GOP won because they took their message to the center. Trying to lump these nutballs in with the current conservative movement is like trying to say that the Shining Path is representative of contemporary liberalism.


Not sure he's correct, but I do appreciate his condemnation.

Anyway, check out this lovely Freeper commenting on an article by Derrick Jackson.

Jackson says:


In profiles, Rice talks about being hollered at as a child by a white store clerk for touching a hat. Rice's mother told the clerk ''Don't you talk to my daughter that way!'' Her mother then said, ''Now, Condoleezza, you go and touch every hat in this store.''

That reminded me of around 1965 when I was about 10. I bought comic books and ice cream in a drug store in DeKalb, Miss. Later, my grandfather informed me that was the ''white folks'' drug store. He could have berated me for breaking white folks' rules. Instead, he smiled and said, ''Good.''


Freeper says:

In some small towns and rural areas, much informal segregation remained after 1964. But Jackson's anecdote doesn't demonstrate that he was the victim of segregation. No one at "the white folks drug store" prevented Jackson from entering the store and making a purchase. Perhaps the store was locally known as "the white folks" store, but contrary to the idea of Jackson's grandfather, this did not mean the store was unwilling to sell to blacks.

I am disturbed however, by Jackson's idea that "breaking white folks' rules" was somehow inherently just. Did not the white folks of DeKalb, Miss., also have laws against murder, rape, robbery? If rules were to be broken merely because they were work of white folks, then hasn't Jackson gone a long way toward explaining the explosion of black criminality that began in the 1960s?

This shows how the civil rights movement, to a great extent, represented a direct assault on tradition and law. It is all well and good for the liberal to say, "Well, some laws and traditions are unjust." But who is to say which laws are unjust? Was it not true that the civil rights revolution was an exercise in pure political power, and that every measure from Brown v. Board to the 1965 Voting Rights Act was merely a function of the national majority imposing its will? If a bare majority is sufficient to strike down the laws of 15 states, and this be called justice, why then should we complain when, in 1973, a 7-2 majority of the Supreme Court declared void the laws of 49 states restricting or prohibiting abortion?

Perhaps Jay could weigh in on that one too. Always nice to hear the other side's perspective.

Make sure to check out Smarter Moonie Sullivan.

Question - for all his apparent efforts, how come the Mickster doesn't get to hang out on TV with the rest of the cool kids?

CalPundit's on the Berkeley sexual harassment case.

(actually, if true, it sounds like sexual assault to me..)

I'd like to joke that conservatives never heard a sexual harassment charge that they believed, but sadly I'd be wrong about that. There was at least one.

Signorile on Gore and Moonie Sullivan

Meanwhile, which do you think is more dangerous to American democracy: the perceived cult of liberalism that supposedly envelops The New York Times, or the actual cult known as the Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church, which envelops The Washington Times?

I bring this up because Andrew Sullivan likes to focus on the evils of Howell Raines’ New York Times, but he’s now working for Moon’s Washington Times, aka the Moonie Times. It’s true–though he’s kept it quite on the down low. He now has a sort of cut-and-paste job of a column there: items he writes on his website are given a new sentence or two to make them seem fresh. (Who said conservatives aren’t into recycling?)

Sullivan has been spending lots of time lately railing against Islamic fundamentalists’ ugly views on America and the West, but as the blogger named Roger Ailes (no, not that Roger Ailes–this one can be found at rogerailes.blogspot .com) pointed out, Sullivan is now silent about what his new employer, the Rev. Moon, has to say about us heathens in the West, which eerily doesn’t sound much different from Osama bin Laden’s thoughts on these matters:

Thinking it Through's take on L'Affaire DiIulio. (and I'll be glad when I can stop having to remember how to spell that last name)

Read Barney Frank slap the hell out of Falwell here.

Kevin Raybould writes about Kaus. I have one major quibble with this statement:

The only questions are whether or not the mainstream press will allow those hacks to dictate the coverage of Kerry as they allowed them to dictate coverage of Gore, and whether Kerry can effectively fight back.

The hacks ARE the mainstream press. Don't think they're a bunch of good folks being bamboozled by the likes of Kaus and if only we can get them to see the light they'll be okay. They ARE Kaus.

Since the '04 presidential campaign system is essentially here, it's time to brush up on our Howler.

The official story lines are in. The "new" Gore is nuts, and Kerry is just like the old Gore.

The evil crusading Howell Raines lets a little conservative light shine into his otherwise stalinist-infested editorial page.

The questioning of the mental health of your politcal opponents has a long and glorious history.

Here's the full DiIulio memo.

(Thanks Hesiod).

But Paul, I thought the Jews killed Jesus!

"Islam is at war against us," Paul Weyrich, an activist who is influential in the White House, wrote last week. "I have had much good to say about President Bush in recent months. But one thing that concerned me before September 11th and concerns me even more now is his administration's constant promotion of Islam as a religion of peace and tolerance just like Judaism or Christianity. It is neither."

Bush's remarks came after religious broadcaster Pat Robertson was reported as saying that "Adolf Hitler was bad, but what the Muslims want to do to the Jews is worse." Another religious conservative, the Rev. Jerry Falwell, referred to the prophet Mohammed as a "terrorist"; Falwell later apologized. The Rev. Franklin Graham, who spoke at Bush's inauguration, has called Islam "evil." Lesser-known religious leaders have been downright vulgar in their descriptions of Mohammed.

Laura Bush really does look like Tom Baker.

UggaBugga gives us Mickey Kerry.

From Me and Ted:



I think conservatives have found
Fox, like it and are going to stick
with it. FoxNews’ highest rated
program in October was a
President Bush speech. It got a
4.2. The speech wasn’t among the
top five on CNN. People who
enjoy listening to the President
naturally turn to Fox. CNN’s
highest ratings came from its
sniper coverage. The only good
news for CNN was on the
commercial front where Fox’s
second most played commercial
was for Barbara Bush’s Points of
Light Fund. It’s a Public Service
Announcement (PSA) and
ordinarily they’re carried on the air
free.

Ordinarily?

CalPundit tells us that Jerry Falwell is back to blaming our wicked ways for 9/11. Oh, and saying this to Barney Frank:




I don't hate you Barney, I just think you're a moral pervert.

Ah, a religion of peace and love.

Let's compare DiIulio's statement with Fox News' writeup.

Fox says:

DiIulio denied that his exchange with author Ron Suskind, a former Wall Street Journal reporter and
Pulitzer Prize winner who wrote a piece last summer about the power of departed adviser Karen
Hughes, included such comments. DiIulio also stated that Suskind's piece contained factual errors,
mentioned exchanges that never took place and attributed comments to DiIulio that DiIulio denies
having made.

While DiIulio (quoted by them) says:

"My work schedule being too packed to permit sit-down interviews ... I gathered up [Suskind's]
questions and responded in a single long memo in late October 2002. However, several quotes and
anecdotes concerning or attributed to me in the article are not from that response," DiIulio said in a
written statement.

"Obviously, I cannot speak to the veracity or accuracy of comments in the article by numerous named
and unnamed others, but, in my opinion, the article is unjustly hard on Mr. Rove and over-the-top
complimentary to me, thereby creating a too-pat contrast that is, I feel, most unfair to Mr. Rove," he
wrote.

"I regret any and all misimpressions. In this season of fellowship and forgiveness, I pray the same."

He didn't say that anything in the article was incorrect - that he didn't say or write the things that were attributed to him - just that there are things that were written that weren't in the specific response he's referring to.

TAPPED misunderstands Katha Pollitt's point in her Nation column in which she says that Hitchens should be arguing with people like Kushner, Williams, Cooper, and Willis instead of Cockburn and Vidal . The discussion was not about who was representative of the politics and ideas of the "serious left" as Eric Alterman discussed in his column, but rather which writers for the Nation should be representative of The Nation's politics.

As Katha says:


As Nation readers know only too well, I am always complaining about the magazine. It isn't perfect. Still, why single out as representative of our politics Alexander Cockburn, Gore Vidal and Norman Mailer (who, a search of our archives reveals, has never appeared in our pages) and not, oh, I don't know, Tony Kushner, Patricia Williams, Marc Cooper or Ellen Willis?

Tim Noah explains things, very slowly, so that even Andrew Sullivan can understand.

Moonie Monday

"Part of our strategy," Moon said, "must be to make friends in the FBI, the CIA, and the police forces, the military and business community. . . as a means of entering the political arena,
influencing foreign policy, and ultimately of establishing absolute dominion over the American people. "


...
Is Andrew Sullivan a Moonie?

Is George H. W. Bush a Moonie?


Bush then travelled with Moon to neighboring Uruguay Sunday to help him inaugurate a seminary in the capital Montevideo to train 4,200 young Japanese women to spread the word of his Church of Unification across Latin America.

Moon already owns a major newspaper, bank and hotel in Uruguay and is buying up land in the Argentine province of Corrientes, where he plans to construct what his followers call "ideal cities".

"I want to salute Reverend Moon who is the founder of the Washington Times and of the new paper here," said Bush, who was reported by the Washington Post to have been paid $100,000 for his Buenos Aires appearance.

"A lot of my friends in South America don't know about the Washington Times but it is an independent voice," said Bush. "The editors of the Washington Times tell me that never once has the man with the vision interfered with the running of the paper, a paper that in my view brings sanity to Washington DC."

"I am convinced that Tiempos del Mundo is going to do the same thing," said Bush, who managed to avoid being photographed with the 76-year-old South Korean evangelist during his whole stay in Buenos Aires.

It didn't take long, of course, for Al Gore to be proven 100% correct. Remember when he said:


"That’s postmodernism," he offered. "It’s the combination of narcissism and nihilism that really defines postmodernism, and that’s another interview for another time, if you’re interested in it.


Link-whore Mickey Kaus steps up to the plate with (go find it yourself if you want the context).

What is it that makes so many people, myself included, intensely dislike Sen. John Kerry?

Of course, by 'so many people' he simply means the press corps and the pundits.

50 bucks that the Kerry Hair Cut Scandal makes it on Inside Politics today.

Another 50 bucks the liberal media won't be asking some other politicians how much they spend on their hair care.

TBogg says:


While it is easy to sit around and make statements like "well, I support choice, but I don't support it for birth control", the reality is that once you support choice you can't control the factors or the reasons that dictate a woman's decision to have an abortion. This is a simple yes and no question. If you support the rights of women to make a choice for themselves, then you have to trust them to make the right decision for themselves.


There is no middle ground.



Yes. And it is the failure of some in the electorate to understand this basic point that is a problem.

I give, for your viewing pleasure, American Renaissance magazine.

Take a gander, kids. We'll be seeing more of it....

TBogg tells me a story I didn't know about a stadium full o' losers.

Josh Marshall says:


The Washington press corps doesn't much like John Kerry. And, as we learned with Al Gore, that's important.


Actually, it isn't important. The Washington press corps won't like any Democratic candidate. What is important is that said candidate realizes that fact sooner and not later and stops trying to please them.

I'll admit that for a few very brief moments in '92 the press had a bit of a "Clinton Buzz" but that too was overwhelmed by their willingness to report any horseshit dished up to them about him. Dem candidates will always get a bum rap from the Alpha Girls. We can discuss why, but frankly it doesn't really matter unless we can figure out how to change it. Fact is, the Spite Girls will knock whoever the the Dem candidate is. That's the hand we've been dealt and it's time to figure out how to deal with it.

Boston Archdiocese preparing to file for bankruptcy.

Haha. DiIulio turns on Bush.

I think the cognitive dissonance is starting to get to Jay Caruso.

WarBloggerPundit has returned!

UggaBugga notes that the constitution guarantees us the right to bare arms.

Sitting here in my t-shirt, I can once again reflect on what a great country this is.

Talk Left on the United States of George Bush.