A special counsel is focusing on whether Vice President Dick Cheney played a role in leaking a covert CIA agent's name, according to people familiar with the probe that already threatens top White House aides Karl Rove and Lewis Libby.Does anyone else feel like this whole thing, if it weren’t so damned horrifying, would be laughable in its plodding deliberateness and revelation after (shocking!) revelation? It’s like an episode of Law and Order: Criminal Intent, where the audience knows whodunit the whole time, and we just have to wait for the cops to catch up.
The special counsel, Patrick Fitzgerald, has questioned current and former officials of President George W. Bush's administration about whether Cheney was involved in an effort to discredit the agent's husband, Iraq war critic and former U.S. diplomat Joseph Wilson, according to the people.
Fitzgerald has questioned Cheney's communications adviser Catherine Martin and former spokeswoman Jennifer Millerwise and ex-White House aide Jim Wilkinson about the vice president's knowledge of the anti-Wilson campaign and his dealings on it with Libby, his chief of staff, the people said. The information came from multiple sources, who requested anonymity because of the secrecy and political sensitivity of the investigation.
Cheney “May Be Entangled”
Take Me Out to the Ballgame...
Okay, it's true...I'm a Cubs fan. But I'm still completely thrilled for the other hometown team. Good on ya, mates.
Go White Sox!
The Dark Wraith He-Stuff Challenge
First of all, I had nothing to do with this—lol!
As most of you know, I lost my job awhile back. When I first told you about this, your generosity was just overwhelming to me and Mr. Shakes. Losing your job rattles you down to the bones, but finding out that lots of people care about you does wonders to see you through. I remain tremendously grateful for the donations, support, suggestions, and other help offered by so many people.
I'm still looking for work, and I haven't said much about how we're doing lately. I haven't thought it all that appropriate to keep up the drumbeat in public about the trials in my own life. As probably expected, I'd rather be snarking and swearing about the dicks in DC than moaning and groaning about my own problems.
A few of you know that Mr. Shakes spends a lot of his time on the internets hanging out at The Dark Wraith Forums and The Dark Wraith Forums Message Board. He and the Dark Wraith have become friends, forging that friendship in the fertile ground of bawdy jokes and serious conversations—the beginnings of a lasting friendship, even if they never see each other in person. It's one of those things where someone knows you're still in some deep shit, even when you're not saying much about it.
In a wholly misguided effort to help out your host and Mr. Shakes, the Dark Wraith has launched a deeply troubling (but highly amusing) fundraiser on our behalf. It's called The Dark Wraith He-Stuff Challenge. I found out only Friday that something was going on behind my back when the Wraith wandered over here and posted some hints on the comments section of this post, suggesting that I find out more from Mr. Shakes, who stubbornly played it coy.
I'm just now finding out what, exactly, is going down, and these are my marching orders: I'm supposed to be the one who keeps track of donations to a fundraiser where people tell me in which blogger's name they have donated. Meanwhile, the Dark Wraith is going around to select male bloggers' sites, where he is "slap-slapping" each of these "he-bloggers" with the following Challenge: get people to donate a combined total of $50 to Shakespeare's Sister in your name. If you do, you must post an unretouched picture of your own he-boobs on your blog as a reward. (Yep, that’s what donations are buying—snaps of sexy he-boobs!) Tomorrow night, the Dark Wraith will be posting on his blog a complete list of all the guys who've accepted this Challenge. That means prospective donors will have a one-stop shop to see who's signed on to this very strange fundraiser. (Although, I can give you one sneak-peek—Mr. Shakes is a not only an architect of this lunacy, but also a participant, and will be running his portion of the Challenge here.)
The Wraith says the clock begins at midnight tonight; for the rest of the details, check out his post (linked above). When people donate, they're supposed to send me an e-mail telling me in what he-blogger's name the donation is to be marked. A week from now, I'll announce those man-bloggers who surpassed the goal (and I won't mention those who didn't). The "winning" he-bloggers will then have 24 hours to post their stuff on their respective blogs.
I guess the only thing left for me to do now is sit back while Operation Mayhem unfolds, and wait for my chance to see some titties! Let the insanity begin…
Question of the Day
Having done a bit with movies lately, which everyone seemed to enjoy, and anticipating the next episodes of Rome and Curb Your Enthusiasm this evening, which are, aside from The Daily Show, the only shows Mr. Shakes and I watch with any regularity, I thought we’d hit the small screen today.
As I’ve mentioned before, I seem to have a great talent for ensuring that any television show I enjoy will be promptly cancelled (so all of you who enjoy Lost ought to be glad I don’t watch it). The only runaway successes of which I’ve been a huge fan are Seinfeld and The Simpsons, the former of which, during its run, required I made no plans on a Thursday night for years, and the latter of which I always forget to tune into and watch in re-runs. Other favorites include Twin Peaks, Freaks and Geeks, Six Feet Under, Fawlty Towers, Absolutely Fabulous, Kids in the Hall, Soap, Mr. Show,
Seinfeld, however, remains my all-time favorite; I have seen every episode no fewer than nine thousand times, and I laugh until I’m crying every single time.
So…what’s your favorite TV show ever?
Ouch
The Fixer sums it up:
Heh . . . see yas!Indeed.
Three more assholes to get stretched. WaPo via Digby:
Abramoff quietly arranged for eLottery to pay conservative, anti-gambling activists to help in the firm's $2 million pro-gambling campaign, including Ralph Reed, former head of the Christian Coalition, and the Rev. Louis P. Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition. Both kept in close contact with Abramoff about the arrangement, e-mails show. Abramoff also turned to prominent anti-tax conservative Grover Norquist, arranging to route some of eLottery's money for Reed through Norquist's group, Americans for Tax Reform.
Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys.
Hustlers
I just watched Kung Fu Hustle with Mr. Shakes and our friend Mickey Mouse, who's visiting this weekend and brought his copy with him. (They're out searching for good ice cream at the moment.) KFH has to be one of the most unique films I've ever seen; it's completely brilliant! If you're looking for something good to do this weekend, rent KFH. I happen to love martial arts films, but I'm not sure that's necessarily a prerequisite for enjoying this one. It's described on the cover as Kill Bill meets Looney Tunes, which is a pretty good description, although it's better than both. Loved it!
Plame Investigation Update
Raw Story reports that Judith Miller will be taking an indefinite leave of absence. Meanwhile, the NY Times has a big story on Miller’s involvement here, and Editor & Publisher discusses it, raising some very interesting questions here.
The AP and the WaPo have more and more on the grinning visage of Rove after his latest round of testimony.
All I can say is that this sounds like some kind of B.S. I might have tried to pull on my parents when I was about three years old:
[W]hen the prosecutor in the case asked her to explain how "Valerie Flame" appeared in the same notebook she used in interviewing Mr. Libby, Ms. Miller said she "didn't think" she heard it from him. "I said I believed the information came from another source, whom I could not recall," she wrote on Friday, recounting her testimony for an article that appears today.Lissa Lyn, how did this crayon get on the wall?
I dunno!
Did you put it there?
I don’t think so!
Then why does it say “Liss loves ponies?”
I believe the cited fondness for ponies comes from another source, although I’m not sure who.
Yeesh.
Discussion Topic: Media Bias
In Ezra’s post, Good Night, and Good Luck, he references:
the idea of the news anchor as advocate, the concept that enormously trusted, unelected individuals could be beamed into millions of homes and use their status and reach to shape tomorrow's stories, not just publicize yesterday's tales. That was real bias. But maybe it was better.I think overt media bias can be better. In much of Europe, for example, there are left-leaning papers, right-leaning papers, and moderate papers, all clearly identified as such; people buy the one that suits them. Americans have the notion that objectivity and accuracy are somehow inextricably linked, but, as we’ve seen, attempts by the media to appear objective (and, specifically, balanced) have often resulted in giving equal time to opposing positions that aren’t equally credible.
In theory, I don’t have a problem with Fox News’ bias. I have a problem with their assertion that they are “Fair and Balanced” when they are clearly not. If, however, they operated exactly as they do, with a slogan indicating their distinctly rightward slant, I wouldn’t take issue with them at all.
What do you think? Would we be better off with news outlets who openly aligned themselves with a right- or left-leaning view, instead of the current emphasis on objectivity?
(Crossposted at Ezra's place.)
Help Wanted
AfterDowningStreet is in need of a programmer to design a site for them very quickly in conjunction with a new endeavor. It will be a very simple site but will require developing the functionality to dump emails into a database. All copy will be provided, but some design expertise will be needed, too. If you are willing and able to help, please email me or ADS’ Jonathan Schwarz ASAP. Thanks!
Interesting
Still lively discussions on the Movie Scenes That Make You Cry and Movie Scenes That Make You Laugh threads, so jump in if you haven’t already, and if you have, jump in again.
I wanted to share this comment from Bella for everyone to see, though:
I just went to Netflix to add "Shadowlands" to my queue and figure a whole lot of you must have beaten me to it -- got a "this movie has a long wait" message, the first time I've seen that.Isn’t that nutty?
By the way, I own Shadowlands; it’s one of my favorites—and I can assure you, it’s worth any wait you may have to endure.
*Tumbleweed blows by*
I got a chuckle out of this. Lately, when I've posted on politics, I've been "mined" by Unpartisan.com, a site that (from what I can see; haven't poked around there too much) seems to automatically trackback blogs that post on a certain subject. They trackbacked my Rove post, and just curious, I went to go see what was being said. They have 3 columns on their pages: "From the Left," "From the Right," and "Related Articles."
So... on Turdblossom today:
From the Left? 16 Liberal blogs posting on Rove.
From the Right? Not a goddamned thing.
Does this mean the sinking ship is completely rid of rats?
(Lots of curves, you bet... even more, when you get, to the cross-post...)
Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Bottle of Blog nails it. I guess it’s too much to ask that these wankers admit it was we who have been right all along.
(Via The Green Knight.)
Morning at Shakes Manor
I just don’t have a head for the serious stuff today (as you might have noticed), but I feel obligated to report some news, so here’s the latest from Shakes Manor.
Shakes (waking up sleepily, rife with fall allergies): Mmph. Glurg.
Mr. Shakes: How are you feeling, Tschoobs?
Shakes: Yucky. My dominant nostril is all stuffed up.
Mr. Shakes: Bwah ha ha ha! Your doominant noostril? Bwah ha ha ha!
Shakes: What? It’s a real thing! Everyone has a dominant nostril!
Mr. Shakes: I knoo, but noo one talks aboot their doominant noostril! Noo one says “My doominant noostril is all stoofed oop!”
Shakes: Shut up, turd.
Mr. Shakes (hopping on bed and speaking in mocking-Shakes baby voice): Woe is me! My poor wittle doominant noostwil is awl stoofed oop!
Shakes: I hate you.
I’m going to be hearing about this for months.
Are You Reading the MoJo Blog?
If not, you should be. There's tons of good stuff there right now, as always. I have no vested interest in pimping it; I just think it's really good and wanted to give it a shout-out.
And It’s Not Silent Velcro, Either…
This post from Political Wire reminds me of something I’ve said before about Bush’s plummeting support—his presidency is so inextricably linked to the war in Iraq, that as support for the war falls, it’s inevitable that support for his administration will, too.
Craig Crawford's latest column is a must read (available here later today) in that it sums up the Bush administration's political problem perfectly:When someone insists on being the center of a poorly constructed universe, he oughtn’t be surpsrised to find himself at the bottom of the rubble heap when that universe comes crashing down.
"The source of this president’s power -- the cult of personality so finely crafted in his image -- is proving to be the key to his undoing. The secrecy, spin control and demands for loyalty in his White House have always been about making Bush the one and only face of his presidency. From the West Wing inner circle to the Cabinet, the Bush team was on orders to stay out of the limelight and let the president take the lead on all fronts.
"This system worked well for Bush when there was mostly good news to claim credit for. But now that blame for bad news must be handed out, the president stands almost alone in the receiving line."
By letting others take credit in good times, it's easy to blame someone else when something goes wrong. Crawford notes Ronald Reagan’s "famous detachment from the particulars of governance earned him a reputation as 'the Teflon president.' Nothing bad ever seemed to stick to him."
Now, Bush is in danger of becoming "a Velcro president" with all bad things sticking to him.
Case in point: The New York Times reports on yesterday's teleconference with American troops in Iraq that "came across as carefully scripted and a bit awkward." Worse than that, the event backfired and the staging became the entire message. For instance, the AP story only talks about how the teleconference was scripted.
Hotline On Call got it right: "We think the Daily Show will have a month's worth of fodder."
Yeesh
Setbacks and infighting mar Bush's second term, threaten his legacy
In case you were wondering, that’s his legacy as a brilliant president. His legacy as a complete and utter asswipe is solidifying by the day. Anyway…
President Bush is meeting the second-term jinx less than a year after he won triumphant re-election.Triumphant re-election? Give me a break. He was a war president who won in a squeaker. I can only hope that lede from Knight-Ridder is either tongue-in-cheek or a literary conceit used to make his eventual thud resonate that much more resoundingly.
His White House appears in disarray, its once sure-footed political operation stumbling over his choice for the Supreme Court. His party is rebelling over the court pick, runaway spending and more. Top aides face a grand-jury investigation, and key allies in Congress are in legal trouble, too.Bold domestic agenda? Again, please. There’s nothing especially bold about redistributing wealth to the upper classes, warmongering, or bullying gays and women. As far as I can tell, that’s been his base’s agenda for my entire lifetime.
His bold domestic agenda, centered on transforming Social Security, is all but dead. His dream of transforming the Middle East is a nightmare in Iraq. And he appears powerless, at least for now, to do anything to climb back.
Underscoring it all: A new Pew Research Center poll Thursday shows that Americans are increasingly sour about Bush, his Republican Party, the war in Iraq and the overall state of the country.
"It's a dramatic turnabout," said presidential historian Robert Dallek. "Events have overtaken him."No, events haven’t overtaken him. He’s just been hung by his own stinking petard. And the popcorn has never tasted so good.
Question of the Day
Amanda at Pandagon cribbed yesterday’s question, and added her own spin, which now I’m cribbing right back. Now that we’ve cried ourselves out, which movie scene always makes you laugh?
As I’ve mentioned before, I love good lowbrow comedy, and I also love dark comedy, sophisticated comedy, un-PC comedy…I’m pathetically easy to amuse, and I’m quick to laugh. I find funny just about anything that isn’t blandly derivative (if you’re going to do stand-up, you can’t just parrot Pryor or Carlin) or stupidly mean—the kind of dubious comedy that features prominently on shows like America’s Funniest Home Videos; guys getting hit in the crotch and fat ladies breaking chairs just doesn’t do it for me.
Anyway, the point is that I could name like a zillion scenes that make me laugh. One that springs to mind immediately, however, is the scene in Manhattan Murder Mystery, when Diane Keaton is flipping out and tells Woody Allen to keep ringing the doorman. She hands him the phone, and he says, “Yeah, I’ll keep ringing him,” hangs up the phone, and makes this face that is so hilarious, it puts me in stitches every time.
"No Comment"
I was trying to think of a snarky "Turdblossom" comment to make, but they were all getting too gross. Insert your own Rove pantload joke here. (Bolds mine)
Rove Testifies Again in CIA Leak Probe
WASHINGTON - Karl Rove testified for the fourth time Friday before the grand jury in the CIA leak probe, following public disclosure of his conversations with two reporters about the identity of a covert officer at the spy agency.
It was likely the White House aide's final chance to convince grand jurors he did nothing criminal in the leak case. Prosecutors have warned Rove, a top adviser and architect of President Bush's 2004 re-election campaign, that there is no guarantee he will not be indicted. The grand jury's term is due to expire Oct. 28.
Oh, to be a fly on the wall... It's just looking worse and worse for turdblossom.
The White House has shifted from categorical denials two years ago that Rove or Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, were involved in the leak of a covert CIA officer's identity to "no comment" today.
Oh, I like where this is going....
Press secretary Scott McClellan on Friday rejected suggestions that the investigation of two key players was distracting the White House.
"We're aware of all those things," he said. "But we've got a lot of work to do and that's where we're focused."
It's getting to the point where I'm almost feeling sorry for poor Scotty. I get the feeling his tongue has been permanently stained pink by Pepto Bismol.
The White House denials of Rove's and Libby's involvement collapsed three months ago, when Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper testified that Rove had been one of his sources for a story that identified Wilson's wife. Libby was another of Cooper's sources for the story, which asked the question, "Has the Bush administration declared war on a former ambassador?"
So, do you think the bargaining has begun? Man, if I was the prosecutor, I'd be thinking up some very creative requirements if Rove was planning on weaseling out of this one. I think I'd start by requiring him to wear a clown suit to work every day for the rest of his life. And a nationally televised public apology. And a legal name change to "Karl Turdblossom."
No sense in letting the guy off easy...
(Two Triple Cheese, Side Order of Cross-Posts...)
An Homage to the Brave
Nick Turse has written an article for TomDispatch, called The Fallen Legion: Casualties of the Bush Administration, that is nothing less than a stunning compilation of 42 of the governmental casualties of the Bush administration’s bullshit insistence on loyalty, disregard for reality, and single-minded purpose, no matter how foolish. Some of them are names we’ve heard; many of them are not. They share in common the determination to stand up for what’s right and a fate of excommunication from the administration, whether they were forced out, demoted, or resigned in frustration. They are described as:
the seemingly endless and ever-growing list of beleaguered administrators, managers, and career civil servants who quit their posts in protest or were defamed, threatened, fired, forced out, demoted, or driven to retire by Bush administration strong-arming. Often, this has been due to revulsion at the President's policies -- from the invasion of Iraq and negotiations with North Korea to the flattening of FEMA and the slashing of environmental standards -- which these women and men found to be beyond the pale.Check it out. A stark contrast to those like Colin Powell, whose careers were more important than their country, and whose attempts to reconcile allegiance with honored service left them disgraced, and excommunicated all the same.
[…]
However defined, the casualties of the Bush administration are legion. The numbers of government careers wrecked, disrupted, adversely affected, or tossed into turmoil as a result of this administration's wars, budgets, policies, and programs is impossible to determine. Although every administration leaves bodies strewn in its wake, none in recent memory has come close to the Bush administration in producing so many public statements of resignation, dissatisfaction, or anger over treatment or policies.
