GeekPol's evil twin

File under "Things I didn't know"

Sean Hannity was a construction worker.

He was also a cop and a sailor. I don't know about him being an Indian, though.

Person Who Should Really Know Better of the Day

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)

Listening to the Randi Rhodes show now. She's playing tapes from the hearing for Feingold's censure motion. John Dean was testifying before the committee. In his testimony, he called the Shrubbery's use of FISA-violating surveillance of vegan groups worse than Nixon's offenses resulting from Watergate. Graham was tring to impugn John Dean's integrity, saying that Dean shouldn't be trusted because he went to jail over Watergate. And oh yes, Graham claimed that Nixon was actually impeached.

Do I have to finish this? Obviously, Nixon was never impeached, as any knucklehead knows that only oral sex is what brings impeachment. [snicker] Moreover, John Dean never actually went to jail; when he pled guilty to his part in Watergate, the judge cited Dean's previous participation in the Witness Protection Program and sentenced him to time served in that program.

If a high school student in a civic class tried to claim that Nixon was impeached, that student would fail. Are Republican Senators held to a lower standard than that?

For the guy in DC that keeps spinning my paltry hit counter

I hope it's this bit of sophomoric humor that's making you giggle.

Backpfeifengesicht of the week

Ryan Dombal of Pitchfork Media.

Conservative idioting

In which Howard Kaloogian (R-obviously) snaps a pic in the European part of Turkey and tries to pass it off as Downtown Baghdad.

Nifty Jack Chick parody

Bronze Dog manages to parody a parody, and do it damn well thank you very much. [Via Pharyngula]

Anyway, on edit he says...

I give full permission for any readers to copy the images and pass them around.

You got yourself a deal. So without further ado, the work of Bronze Dog (no it's not mine either)...

Image Dogtoring #1

Bronze Dog rokks, dude.

This is pretty embarrassing

I'm not sure that Dick Durbin really remembers history all that well. At any rate, when I read this, I wasn't sure whether to scream or bury my head in my hands. Since I wasn't alone where I was at the time, I chose the latter.

In Kevin Horrigan's Sunday St. Louis P-D column, he asks Durbin, supposed tough guy from East St. Louis, whatever happened to the Democratic Party. Durbin's response:

"I understand the frustration," he said. "I tell you, it's hell not to have the pulpit. This man (President George W. Bush) sets the agenda. He moves the agenda. It's always been that way. And we (Democrats) don't speak with one voice. You don't until you have a nominee. The media doesn't treat us in the same way as they treat the president and the White House."

Even so, he said, "to say that we're devoid of a mission or a message, we're not. What we're trying to do is what Gingrich did with his contract, which is to wait for the right moment to strike, and for him that was after Labor Day. If you do it too early, people say, 'Ah, that was last year. What's this year's agenda?' So I hope our timing is right."

Dammit, Dick, that is not what happened. Newt and his boys did not simply roll out their plan on Labor Day 1994 and hoped for press coverage. Their noise machine had been cranking since before Clinton was ever elected, all the way through that election, and they still haven't stopped. Bob Barr was drawing up impeachment articles on Inauguration Day. The House Bank bit wasn't in every paper unless someone from the minority party was screeching about it. The phony Whitewater scandal was openly pushed by an anti-Clinton press, leaving out any story that served to exonerate Bill and Hillary. Does he not remember all that? He was in the House at the time.

Here's a clue - the press doesn't give a crap about any Contract On For America if the party doesn't have the press' attention already. To assume that the press is just going to shout your plan from the rooftops when you roll it out in September is naive at best.

The press needs to be awakened yesterday. At least Russ Feingold is trying to do that.

So, shorter me: Make some noise, already. And don't worry about David Broder snivelling about how rude you are.

So who else is a plagiarist?

The AP, for one.

(via MyDD)

The horse ran away. Let's shut the barn door.

Congress has passed out of committee a bill that would allow consumers to freeze their credit only after their identities have been stolen and thousands in bills have been racked up in their names.

Morons.

Shorter John McIntyre:

• Things are OK in Iraq. Just pay no mind to the headless bodies over there.

Can't even judge a dog show

One of the tenets of conservatism, such as they are, is that the reason the "right people" should be in charge is that the rest of the people are generally of poor character. Since they set themselves up as judges of that character, it's amusing when they do such a crummy job at it.

Witness Box Turtle Ben, who's been the object of a lot of the criticism this week, all of it deserved. Now witness Vladimir "Vlad the Inhaler" Putin. Apparently, Putin's sin is much the same as Box Turtle Ben's: he inflated his academic credentials and plagiarized his university thesis. And this is the man that Bush said he could trust just by looking at him. Object lesson: when a conservative says he can judge character, watch your pockets.

Hat tip to SusanG at DKos.

They write letters

Gen. J. C. Christian applies for the Washington Post blogger opening.