Last night at the DailyKos meetup event here in New York one of the main guests was old frontpager Dr. Tom Schaller. The day before he went on The Colbert Report to talk about his new book, "Whistling Past Dixie." His main argument is that the Democratic Party can maintain control of Congress and win the White House without the South. Without having read the book, I do agree with that assertion. If you can win the West, Mountain West, and the Northeast with solid majorities then the next President will have a D next to their name.
However the problem with ignoring the South is that means the Democratic Party will never be a national cohesive unit. There are plenty of people who affiliate with the Dems down there and they need to be able to have a voice in their party. Howard Dean understands this and is part of the reasoning behind the 50-state strategy that he began implementing.
Anyways, Colbert teased him on his positions, getting Tom to say that if the South seceeded Al Gore would be President right now. Though technically he did win but thats for another post.
Schaller points out that Democrats need to focus on areas that are not the most conservative of the country. Tom did pretty well on the 'faux' conservative show, especially with Stephen being from South Carolina.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Do The Democrats Need The South?
The Misstatement Of The Union
Well last night was truly spectacular to say the least, but it certainly wasn't because of anything Bush plans on delivering. Personally the best line of the night was in Webb's response, where he said that we will show the President the way if he doesn't comply with the will of the American people. The bar I was at last night was cheering him on loudly at that point. So what if it was in the middle of New York City, where the Democratic Party outnumbers their rivals five to one? The rest of the nation will just have to catch up.
Back to the President's speech. If you didn't see it, you should check out this top ten list by Perrspectives. Dubya talked a lot about issues everyone cares about, like aid to African nations. Though he also got a few swipes in at the left. Two of them stood out for me, first he addressed the 'Democrat majority.' Seriously STFU with that right-wing bullshit. It may be funny for some to emphasize the 'rat' at the end but this isn't pre-school people. The Democratic party crushed the Republican...party in November and we will get the respect we deserve. The second example was where he called on the Congress to support the troops in Iraq.......And the ones he is sending on the way, which has been opposed by the American people, the Democratic party and now eight Republicans with more to come. Again, STFU with that.
Bush also made up a lot of things about energy independence, yet as Webb retorted, the President has said this many times and there has been no action. That is because he is a man of no action, unless it helps his greedy f*ckin friends.
Daily Show's SOTU Preview
Ah, if only TDS was filmed after the speech. Nevertheless Jon delivered another brilliant performance, ripping the President before it even began. Hell, how could you not with all of his previous material.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Bush Gives The State Of The Union
If Bush would have wrote it himself instead of being the 'editor-in-chief,' this would have been it.
Colbert Defends Impeachable AG Gonzales
In classic Colbert form, Stephen skewers the Attorney General for his atrocious acts against the constitution under the tutelage of George Bush. The segment launches into 'The Word', showing a comparison between Greg Brady and Alberto. The piece is full of jabs, you just have to go watch it at
Crooks and Liars.
Libby Claims He Took The Blame For Rove
The trial is just under way and the fireworks have already begun. The defense's opening statement portrays Libby as the set-up guy to protect Bush-Brain Karl Rove from taking the heat over leaking information to the press. Oh goodie, it is a bad day to be a Republican, ain't it?
From MSNBC (video included):
In their opening statements, Libby's attorneys said Bush administration officials tried to blame him for the leak to cover up for presidential adviser Karl Rove’s own disclosures.Attorney Theodore Wells said Libby went to Cheney in 2003 and complained that the White House was subtly blaming him for leaking Plame’s identity to columnist Robert Novak.
“They’re trying to set me up. They want me to be the sacrificial lamb,” Wells said, recalling the alleged conversation between Libby and Cheney. “I will not be sacrificed so Karl Rove can be protected.”
Why You Should Know What Acinetobacter Baumannii Is
Bush and friends may have claimed Saddam had weapons of mass destruction and foretold of a giant mushroom cloud but none were found...big f*ckin surprise. After their story fell flat the excuse to invade Iraq changed to spreading Democracy. The only problem is that there is a weapon of mass destruction that was created in Iraq and is now spreading beyond the civil war zone.
Acinetobacter is the weapon of mass destruction we should all be worried about. This bacteria was unleashed from the soil of Iraq and thanks to the life-saving medical technology available to the soldiers over there, it seems this virus has been able to adapt itself to fight off anything we have available.
The original story was written by Wired Magazine and if you have the time I highly recommend you read all 7000 words or so. The work that went into the article is nothing short of fantastic and covers everything imaginable on the topic. RawStory followed by Crooks & Liars posted about the topic yesterday. This bacteria preys on the sick, wounded, young and old. It is affecting our troops that have been wounded in battle and anyone that cannot protect themselves against it.
From RawStory:
A drug-resistant bacteria that is infecting wounded US soldiers in Iraq -- and has spread to civilian hospitals in parts of Europe -- accidentally evolved in US military hospitals in Iraq, Wired Magazine will report in a massive expose on Monday, RAW STORY has learned.
......
The several thousand word expose is set to bring uncomfortable new light to the bacteria Acinetobacter baumannii that Pentagon officials previously said was likely a product of Iraqi soil.
"By creating the most heroic and efficient means of saving lives in the history of warfare, the Pentagon had accidentally invented a machine for accelerating bacterial evolution and was airlifting the pathogens halfway around the world," the magazine reveals.
The Wired article details the story of a young twenty year old marine named Jonathan Gadsden who was injured in Anbar province in the summer of 2004. Usually his injuries would have been fatal but he was treated by medics who quickly arrived on the scene. He was taken to a nearby hospital and stabilized before being flown to Germany for further work and then on to Bethesda Naval Hospital.
As Jonathan recovered from his wounds the Acinetobacter baumannii developed in his body undetected. His friends took him out of the hospital to a Redskins game and he was slowly returning to normal, only something was still wrong.
From Wired:
But he still had mysterious symptoms that he couldn't shake, like headaches, rashes, and intermittent fevers. His doctors gave him CT scans, laxatives, methadone, beta-blockers, Xanax, more surgery, and more antibiotics. An accurate evaluation of his case was difficult, however, because portions of his medical records never arrived from Bethesda. If they had, they would have shown a positive test for a kind of bacteria called Acinetobacter baumannii.
In the taxonomy of bad bugs, acinetobacter is classified as an opportunistic pathogen. Healthy people can carry the bacteria on their skin with no ill effects - a process known as colonization. But in newborns, the elderly, burn victims, patients with depressed immune systems, and those on ventilators, acinetobacter infections can kill. The removal of Gadsden's spleen and the traumatic nature of his wounds made him a prime target.
Shortly afterwards Jonathan became gravely ill. On October 18th of 2004, less than two months after he was airlifted from the scene of battle, the 20 year-old marine suffered a seizure and a heart attack, eventually rendering him brain-dead. By October 22nd they switched off the life support system, officially ending the young man's time on this earth.
Afterwards the Marine Corp officially said Jonathan died of wounds attributed to enemy action, though an investigation was launched with the help of Rep. Bill Young.
Over 700 troops are reported to have carried the disease since the invasion was begun. Non-military patients have also contracted the deadly bug while being treated in the same hospitals as the infected troops. The Defense department has tried to keep this under the radar but thankfully we have magazines like Wired to broadcast this essential information.
Jon Stewart Previews The State Of The Union
I'll let Jon take it from here, he's a million times more funny than I could ever hope to be:
Elections Won And Lost By YouTube
We have seen plenty of examples of the power of recorded video in the previous electino cycle. Sen. Allen was plagued by the Macaca video and subsequent footage of his campaign and his vicious thugs. On the other side of the aisle an awful debate by Heather Wilson's challenger Madrid was spread around and her ratings tanked right before the election.
Now for 2008 things are going to get a lot more intense, check out the Washington Post yesterday:
"...if last year was the year of the rogue videographers, the already-underway 2008 presidential campaign is likely to be remembered as the point where Web video became central to the communications strategy of every serious presidential candidate.
Playing defense is only one use of Web video. Equally important, the candidates and their staffs see Web-based video as an inexpensive and potentially significant tool for telling their campaign story without the filters of the traditional media.
Call it the YouTube effect, and it is only growing. The video-sharing site, which less than a year after its founding was bought by Google for $1.65 billion, has revolutionized the transfer of information via video, spawned a number of imitators and forced candidates to recalibrate choices, from their announcement strategies to their staffing decisions."
Hillary, Edwards and Obama have already utilized video on the web to announce their candidacies and there is certainly more to come. The article referenced above also shows how the Mitt Romney and the republicans are using video on the web to play offense and defense in the early part of the 2008 Presidential race. So have your youtube browsers ready, get your popcorn ready and watch the fireworks!
Tweety Fawns Over Hillary: An SNL Perspective
This casts Darrell Hammond as Chris Matthews of MSNBC and Amy Poehler playing Hillary. Hammond works his usual genius in imitating Tweety, but Poehler nails Hillary. I couldn't stop laughing when she did the 'Hillary laugh.' It was right on, from the sound to the mannerisms.
From Raw Story:
"You're great!" says Hammond several times in Matthews' recognizable accent to Poehler's Clinton. As "Matthews" is about to ask "Clinton" some questions about Iraq, she sifts through his questions until she finds one she feels comfortable with.
"I think most Democrats know me," she says at one point. "They understand that my support for the war was always insincere." Later she goes on a profane, censored "tirade."
Mr. 28% To Give His SOTU
The state of the union address is scheduled for tonight and unfortunately George Bush is still making the speech in front of Congress. Thankfully this is the next to last for his awful Presidency. Mr. Bush is supposed to bring out a drawer full of diamonds that focus on a national agenda without touching too much on the mess that is Iraq.
Nevertheless he will still try to justify the escalation of 21,500 troops in the war-torn country, primarily in the capital of Baghdad. His first address to the nation two weeks ago fell on deaf ears for the most part and even persuaded more people to distrust his actions. With a mere 28 percent approval, his poll numbers have dropped further than Nixon at his lowest.
The speech tonight will most likely be more empty rhetoric from a President who has a track record of delivering bullshit with devastating results. This man has done nothing but ruin our country and will say...or not say what his next actions are to bring us further down in the eyes of the world and continue to tear apart our great country.