Humor at the Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner

Although it was not as funny as Stephen Colbert's performance last year...

It was still quite good. President Bush's self-depreciating humor was actually pretty funny. About Political Humor documents everything quite well...

"A year ago, my approval rating was in the 30s, my nominee for the Supreme Court had just withdrawn, and my Vice President had shot someone. (Laughter and applause.) Ahhh, those were the good old days."
...
I have to admit we really blew the way we let those attorneys go. You know you botched it when people sympathize with lawyers. (Laughter and applause.)
...
Considering what's next -- President Clinton, of course, wrote a very successful presidential memoir, with 10,000 pages or something. (Laughter.) I'm thinking of something really fun and creative for mine -- you know, maybe a pop-up book. (Laughter and applause.)

LINK: Bush's Comedy Routine at Radio-TV Correspondent's Dinner

About Political Humor also documents Karl Rove's "MC Rove" Rap.

Improv comedians Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood of the ABC show "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" tapped Karl Rove to come on stage and participate in an impromptu rap song. Rove brought down the house as he frolicked on stage. (Watch the video)

From The Politico:

His arms flailed, he mugged, he shimmied, he crossed his hands, he backed it up, his BlackBerry became a prop, his voice went guttural, he took it up an octave. He waved, leaned back and exited the stage with both arms raised in victory.

As Newsweek's Richard Wolffe noted, Rove could soon be giving Tucker Carlson a run for his money on Dancing With the Stars.

Jimmy Kimmel: "We're still at war, right? Just checking. Bush is joking, Rove is rapping, Condoleeza Rice is in a thong singing the 'Milkshake' song."

Rove's performance inspired Jon Stewart to come up with his own rap:

From the West Wing to the Crawford Ranch
Karl Rove has destroyed the executive branch
He has no scruples and I don't mean maybe
He said John McCain had a secret black baby
F**k that guy (Watch the video)

LINK: Karl Rove as 'MC Rove'

LINK: Karl Rove Raps, Bush Plays Comedian at Press Gala

YouTube Video...

LINK: Karl Rove as MC Rove

RELATED READING:

MyWay News: Bush Serves Jokes at Broadcasters Dinner

Crooks and Liars: Bush Monologues: Open Thread

Think Progress: Video: Rove raps at correspondents dinner.

Crooks and Liars: Give It Up for MC Rove!

Crooks and Liars: JibJab.com's new JibJab’s “What We Call The News”

Good stuff! But the Karl Rove thing was nothing short of creepy.

-Mr. Joseph

Savage on 9/11: "That was God speaking."

Media Matters documents Michael Savage's latest horrible statement that is reminisent of what Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson said about 9/11, and the horrible message spread by the Westboro Baptist Church...

Media Matters puts the report together quite well...

On the March 27 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Michael Savage complained that Americans currently live in "post-Christian times" in which "[t]he churches are emptying out, the bathhouses are filling up, the sex-change operations are speeding up, the lesbian fertility clinics are increasing around the country." Savage went on to argue that God "orchestrated the rise of radical Islam" in order to counter the "spiritual collapse of the West." He continued: "It's becoming increasingly clear to me that God wants radical Islam on this planet at this time -- that it's not actually the scourge you think it is." He further claimed that God wants to show "you boys in Hollywood and you girls in New York City" that he does "exist" through acts of catastrophe like the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001: "Down came the World Trade Centers. That was God speaking."

Rev. Jerry Falwell made a similar statement on September 13, 2001, saying that abortion rights advocates, feminists, and homosexuals, among others, were responsible for the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Savage's comments also echo the rhetoric of Rev. Fred Phelps, pastor of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, which operates the website GodHatesFags.com and whose members have protested the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq because, the website asserts, the soldiers "voluntarily joined a fag-infested army to fight for a fag-run country now utterly and finally forsaken by God who Himself is fighting against that country."

From the frequently asked questions section of GodHatesFags.com:

Why do you fly the American flag upside down?

An upside down flag is the international sign for distress. This country, as well as the rest of the world, is in mortal danger -- we're in distress. Our national support of perversity is bringing God's wrath upon us. September 11 was only the beginning. We have reached the point of no return. It is too late for this evil country to repent (2 Chronicles 36:16, 2 Kings 23:26). God's people must save themselves from this perverse generation (Acts 2:40).

...

As Media Matters has documented (here, here, and here), Savage has a history of hateful attacks on gays and lesbians. He has repeatedly referred to "the homosexual mafia," claimed that "the homosexual dance of death" is the "seminal issue of our time," and compared gays to "drug addicts." As Media Matters has also noted, Savage was signed by Hollywood's Creative Artists Agency (CAA) for "representation in all areas" -- including television and film -- but was reportedly dropped by the agency after he attacked singer and CAA client Melissa Etheridge for thanking her wife during her Academy Awards acceptance speech.

...

From the March 27 broadcast of Talk Radio Network's The Savage Nation:

SAVAGE: So the country is founded on the principles of Christianity. A couple of hundred years later, where are we living? So-called post-Christian times. The churches are emptying out, the bathhouses are filling up, the sex-change operations are speeding up, the lesbian fertility clinics are increasing around the country. And the country is on the verge of an insane breakdown.

And enter this picture, entering this picture are devout Muslims, not only in America but around the world, many of whom, most of whom today are not fanatic, by the way. I have no doubt they would become fanatic if they smelled a chance to get away with it. I'll put that in context another time. If they could, they would impose their religion on everybody else, because that's a tenet of their religion. It is a fundamental tenet of Islam to convert everybody around them whether they want it or not. OK? But right now everyone is acting, you know, like good Americans. They're just minding their own business, the majority of them. And the others are watching over their shoulder for the FBI and the other intelligence agencies, as they should, because the FBI is doing a darn good job of keeping them in line, to be very frank. You know, just lay it on the line. They're keeping the would-be bombers on their toes, let's put it to you that way. All right? And that's good.

Now, you come to a point where the spiritual vacuum has emerged in the United States of America. Enter the vacuum are very religious Muslims. They don't like the stuff that I don't like, frankly. The very same things that offend me, offend them. That's the strangest part of it. As they do offend -- for example, the city manager cutting his schmekel off to become a woman. To me it's disgusting; the doctor should be arrested, their licenses taken away, they should be given 10 years in prison for what they're doing to these poor mental cases. I mean these head cases who suddenly say, "Oh, I want to be a woman, all my life, there was a woman within --" this is a mass psychosis that's going on now in America: "Oh, God, you're so wonderful, Steve, for becoming Clara. Oh, you're such an advanced, progressive human being. Isn't that wonderful."

[...]

SAVAGE: Enter the vacuum, comes the fanatically religious Muslim who doesn't go along with the gay and lesbian propaganda, doesn't go along with the sex-change operations, doesn't go along with the slew of the very social degeneracy that we are all struggling to, let's say, live with without accepting. Because there's a huge chasm between living with something, and accepting it. But, you see, the other side not only wants you to live with what they do, they want you to not only accept what they do; they want you to celebrate what they do. They want you to mainstream what they do.

And what they're gonna get in return is the very opposite of what they think they're gonna get, by pushing too hard. But that's a separate story for another time -- few years down the line, you know. Well, a few years down the line, we'll have this discussion again. So, as I say to go back to my primary point, and forgive me for rambling here in this kind of filibuster-y kind of manner: God abhors a spiritual vacuum. That is why he has permitted, in fact probably not only permitted, but in a way orchestrated the rise of radical Islam.

[...]

SAVAGE: It's becoming increasingly clear to me that God wants radical Islam on this planet at this time -- that it's not actually the scourge you think it is. What it is -- it's a counterpoint to the Romanization of the United States of America and the West. The collapse -- the spiritual collapse of the West, the death of the West in that regard, is being countered by the birth of fanatic religion, which is fundamentally a fanatic love of God, when you think about it.

[...]

SAVAGE: And God, who is the center of this monotheistic religion, has said, "Oh, you don't worship me anymore? Oh, you don't like me anymore? Oh, I don't exist anymore? Really? All right, I'm going to show you boys in Hollywood and you girls in New York City that I do exist. But since you're very hard-headed, stiff-necked people, and you don't really believe that I exist because you've gotten away with everything you've done all your life without any repercussions, I'm going to show you I exist in a way that you can't believe." Down came the World Trade Center towers. That was God speaking.

LINK: Citing more sex-change operations, increased lesbian fertility clinics, Savage said of 9-11: "That was God speaking"

More bad news here...

Think Progress:

“By getting married, the woman has consented to sex, and I don’t think you can call it rape,” said right-wing activist Phyllis Schlafly yesterday at Bates College. She also noted that women have an “inherent physical inferiority” and should not be firefighters, soldiers, or construction workers: “Women in combat are a hazard to other people around them.”

LINK: Married women can’t be raped by their husbands.

And Savage is running for President...
-Mr. Joseph

McCain-Space: McCain for "marriage between two passionate females"

This is brilliant. A shout out to Mike Davidson of Newsvine -- a website that I am part of...

From Crooks and Liars...

Someone on Presidential hopeful John McCain's staff is going to be in trouble today. They used a well known template to create his Myspace page. The template was designed by Newsvine Founder and CEO Mike Davidson (original template is here). Davidson gave the template code away to anyone who wanted to use it, but asked that he be given credit when it was used, and told users to host their own image files.

McCain's staff used his template, but didn't give Davidson credit. Worse, he says, they use images that are on his server, meaning he has to pay for the bandwidth used from page views on McCain's site.

Davidson decided to play a small prank on the campaign this morning as retribution. Since he's in control of some of the images on the site, he replaced one that shows contact information with a statement:

Today I announce that I have reversed my position and come out in full support of gay mariage…particularly marriage between two passionate females.

LINK: John McCain’s MySpace Site Gets An Interesting “Straight Talk” Twist

More from Countdown's The Newshole...

The site was hacked over a breach of netiquette by McCain's web people, who were using a free page template without giving credit (that's almost stealing!), and "hotlinking" images from the designer's site, using his bandwidth (that sorta is stealing!).

The 'hacker' tells his tale here.

You see, John McCain's people commandeered my world-renowned MySpace design template and did a few things wrong:

1. They did not credit me for the template, even though the template explicitly requested credit.
2. They used my own unmodified imagery, specifically for the "Contacting John McCain" table.
3. As if #2 wasn't bad enough, the McCain crew is actually pulling their image directly from my server on each page load. So every time someone visits the McCain MySpace page, my bandwidth is being used to deliver part of the page! Bad McCain!

So...

Numerous people have written me over the last few weeks to tell me that McCain has been using my code, but up until I realized he was pulling images from my server, I didn't really care. A lot of celebrities including Ryan "Van Wilder" Reynolds and the beautiful Nelly Furtado use my code and I'm totally cool with it.

But then I read the article in today's Newsweek about how politicians are all setting up MySpace pages in order to "connect" with younger audiences. McCain's MySpace page is listed, as are the pages from several other candidates. I think the idea of politicians setting up MySpace pages and pretending to actually use them is a bit disingenuous, so I figured it was time to play a little prank on Johnny Mac.

LINK: MCCAIN FOR 'MARRIAGE BETWEEN PASSIONATE FEMALES'

Too funny...
-Mr. Joseph

Inhofe Is Put in His Place...

“No, that isn’t the rule. You’re not making the rules. You used to when you did this. Elections have consequences. So I make the rules.”
-Sen. Barbara Boxer

First, Think Progress notes Gore's excellent performance at the hearing...

At the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing today, leading climate skeptic Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) tried to cast doubt on the science behind global warming, claiming “even the mainstream media are now noticing that global warming science is uneven and evolving.”

Vice President Al Gore rebuffed Barton’s attempts to interrupt his testimony and quickly debunked the claim that the recent warming trend is ordinary. Gore noted, “20 of the 21 hottest years ever measured in the human record have been in the last 25 years. The 10 hottest have been since 1990. The hottest was 2005. The hottest in the United States of America was 2006. The hottest winter ever measured globally was December of last year.”

Mocking global warming deniers, Gore said, “The planet has a fever. If your baby has a fever, you go to the doctor. If the doctor says you need to intervene here, you don’t say, well I read a science fiction novel that tells me it’s not a problem. If the crib’s on fire, you don’t speculate that the baby is flame-retardant. You take action. The planet has a fever.”

Transcript:

BARTON: The first thing I want to address is the science of global warming as portrayed in the Vice President’s film An Inconvenient Truth. This is something I believe we absolutely have to get right. Even the main stream media, Mr. Vice President, are now noticing that global warming science is uneven and evolving. we need to be deliberative and careful when we talk about so-called facts.

[…]

BARTON: But it remains a fact, and it’s clear from the data that we do have, that for hundreds of thousands of years, CO2 levels have followed temperature rise, not the other way around, as you preach.

[…]

GORE: That’s exactly what the models predict. That’s exactly what the science says –

BARTON: Mr. Vice President, my time is up. What’s your answer on the CAFE increase?

GORE: If I could complete my response, congressman.

BARTON: I hope that there’s an answer in there somewhere.

GORE: May I?

BARTON: I’d like to have an answer to the straight question.

GORE: Well you asked quite a few of them. And I’m doing my best. On CO2 and temperature, when CO2 goes up, temperature goes up. That is why 20 of the 21 hottest years ever measured in the human record have been in the last 25 years.

The 10 hottest have been since 1990.

The hottest was 2005.

The hottest in the United States of America was 2006.

The hottest winter ever measured globally was December of last year, and January and February of this year — last month. This is going on right now.

The planet has a fever. If your baby has a fever, you go to the doctor. If the doctor says you need to intervene here, you don’t say, well I read a science fiction novel that tells me it’s not a problem. If the crib’s on fire, you don’t speculate that the baby is flame-retardant. You take action. The planet has a fever.

[…]

BARTON: The temperature goes up before CO2 goes up.

GORE: Sometimes, that has been true in the past. The opposite has also been true in the past. But what is happening now is that we, because of human action, are overwhelming all of those cycles.

LINK: Gore: ‘If The Crib’s On Fire, You Don’t Speculate That The Baby Is Flame-Retardant’

Then... Barbara Boxer shuts Inhofe down...

Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) has said Al Gore is “full of crap” and compared people who believe in global warming to “the Third Reich.” During today’s Senate hearing, Inhofe used a considerable amount of time to attack Gore’s use of carbon offsets and try to convince him to sign a sham “energy ethics pledge.” (Find the real facts on Gore’s energy usage HERE and HERE.)

Inhofe asked Gore for his reaction, but then quickly cut him off saying Gore had taken up too much time. When Gore tried to go on, Inhofe repeatedly interrupted, adding, “I don’t want to be rude, but from now on, I’m going to ask you to respond…in writing.” Inhofe said Gore could respond verbally only if it was a “very brief response.”

Committee chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) finally intervened. “Would you agree to let the Vice President answer your questions?” Inhofe said Gore could respond when he was done talking, but Boxer wouldn’t have it: “No, that isn’t the rule. You’re not making the rules. You used to when you did this. Elections have consequences. So I make the rules.” The hearing audience applauded loudly.

Blog for Our Future has a round-up of bloggers’ reactions to Gore’s testimony.

UPDATE: Three more notable videos from Gore’s testimony today are HERE.

<>LINK: Boxer Slams Down Inhofe’s Global Warming Filibuster: ‘You Don’t Make The Rules Anymore’

RELATED READING...

LINK: Boxer Tells Inhofe “An Inconvenient Truth”

-Mr. Joseph

Even MORE on the Olbermann/Beck Feud

Media Matters documents the Olbermann "Worst Person" rip and Think Progress notes Glenn Beck's rant...

Olbermann:

On the March 16 edition of MSNBC's Countdown, host Keith Olbermann named CNN Headline News host and ABC News contributor Glenn Beck the winner of his nightly "Worst Person in the World" segment for claiming on the March 15 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, as Media Matters for America documented, that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) cannot be elected president because of her voice: "[S]he is like the stereotypical -- excuse the expression, but this is the way to -- she's the stereotypical bitch ... that stereotypical nagging." As Media Matters also noted, on the March 16 edition of his radio show, Beck denied calling Clinton "a bitch," claiming instead that "Hillary Clinton sounds like the biggest nag on the planet ... I never said that Hillary Clinton -- excuse the language -- I never said that Hillary Clinton was a bitch. I said she sounded like one."

Olbermann awarded Fox News host Sean Hannity "the bronze" because, as Media Matters also documented, "He repeated the tale that President Clinton fired a U.S. attorney because the attorney was investigating Whitewater." Olbermann observed: "In fact, that U.S. attorney, Charles Banks, a Republican, investigated Whitewater, decided in October 1992 that there was no there there, resisted pressure from the first President Bush's attorney general to prosecute anyway." Olbermann acknowledged that "this could have gone to the Wall Street Journal editorial board," which made a similar accusation in a March 14 editorial, as Media Matters also documented.

From the March 16 edition of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann:

OLBERMANN: The bronze to Sean Hannity, although this could have gone to the Wall Street Journal editorial board or Republican strategist Joe Watkins, who repeated this lie today on the network, or a lot of other people. But Sean likes "Worst Person" honors, so, tag, you're it. He repeated the tale that President Clinton fired a U.S. attorney because the attorney was investigating Whitewater.

In fact, that U.S. attorney, Charles Banks, a Republican, investigated Whitewater, decided in October 1992 that there was no there there, resisted pressure from the first President Bush's attorney general to prosecute anyway.

[...]

But our winner tonight, Glenn Beck of CNN and ABC, explaining that Senator Clinton cannot be elected president because of her voice. Quoting, "[S]he is like the stereotypical -- excuse the expression, but this is the way to -- she's the stereotypical bitch ... that stereotypical nagging -- nah, nah, nah, nah, nah," unquote. Beck says he would say the same thing about [Secretary of State] Condi Rice. Yeah, except he didn't. Glenn Beck, today's "Worst Person in the World."

LINK: Olbermann named Beck "Worst Person" for calling Clinton "the stereotypical bitch"; Hannity took "bronze"

RELATED READING:

VIDEO: Worst Person: Glenn Beck

Beck:

Last month, CNN’s Glenn Beck attacked MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, calling him an “intolerant ideologue” whose ideas “smack of the same McCarthyism [Edward R.] Murrow fought so valiantly against.”

Yesterday on CNN’s Reliable Sources, Beck once again went after Olbermann: “I’m in the hot seat almost constantly because I’m doing an opinion show — but I am telling you I’m doing an opinion show. I am in the hot seat because I’m a conservative — but I’m telling you that I’m a conservative. It’s people like Keith Olbermann doing news shows, never will ever admit that he’s a liberal. He is a liberal and he’s also blending news and comment together. That is the great danger.”

Beck is wrong. From a 6/9/05 Houston Chronicle profile:

A lot of my personal worldview is unmistakably sympathetic to things in a liberal playbook, but honest to God, I have been called a reactionary by some on the far left, a liberal by some on the far right and I’m insulted by both terms. My point of view is about delivering information and context. It has nothing to do with a political point of view.

While Olbermann admits that personally, he is liberal, he maintains that he focuses on criticizing those in power, which included President Clinton in 1998. I try to be “fair and honest and as accurate and as informed as possible, and allow my viewer to be the same way,” Olbermann told CSPAN last year.

On the other hand, Beck’s comments are more than just “conservative.” They are also, at times, racist, anti-gay, and sexist.

Transcript:

KURTZ: All right. Well, let me read you some comments from MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann. We’re going to play part of your on-air response and we’ll talk about it on the other side. Olbermann told “Rolling Stone” this month, he called you a wolf in sheep’s clothing, a very dangerously bigoted guy who’s selling himself as a pragmatic philosopher. I don’t think he sees his own bigotry. There’s something about him that suggests one night he will say something that costs him his career in television. And you addressed this question of making a career ending move on your show. Let’s watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: If I’m going to be shut down for that, well, it will likely be because of an intolerant ideologue like Keith Olbermann. The very idea smacks of the same McCarthyism Murrow fought so valiantly against.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: Now he wasn’t calling for you to be shut down. He said you might shut yourself down by saying something.

BECK: There’s a difference. There’s a difference here and I think this is what it is. We are in a very politically correct world and you can — if you’re honest about it, you can see that there is a different standard. I mean here I am. I’m in the hot seat almost constantly because I’m doing an opinion show but I am telling you I’m doing an opinion show. I am in the hot seat because I’m conservative, but I’m telling you that I’m a conservative. It’s people like Keith Olbermann doing news shows never will ever admit that he’s a liberal. He is a liberal and he’s also blending news and comment together. That is a great danger. But I would think that…

KURTZ: When he does his commentary, it says on the screen ’special comment.’

BECK: You’re only finding his commentary there in the special commentary? I mean come on.

LINK: Beck Falsely Claims Olbermann Will ‘Never Admit He’s A Liberal’

Developing...
-Mr. Joseph

Four Years in Iraq Today...

In light of the anniversary today, I have three items to post...

TP:

Robert Greenwald’s Brave New Foundation has launched an online war memorial that honors members of the U.S. armed forces who lost their lives serving in Iraq. The Memorial is a collection of video memories from family, friends, and military colleagues of those who have fallen.

Monday marks the four year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. See our timeline HERE.

VIDEO / LINK: A video memorial to the fallen.

Think Progress's Mailing List, the Progress Report put this together...

IRAQ
Four Years of Chaos On March 19, 2003, President Bush spoke to the nation from the Oval Office and announced that the United States was invading Iraq. "Our nation enters this conflict reluctantly -- yet, our purpose is sure. ... [O]ur forces will be coming home as soon as their work is done." Four years later, the American public is no longer sure what the President's "purpose" was for invading Iraq, nor do we know when our troops will be coming home. Instead of "reluctantly" going to war, "the president and his administration exaggerated, cherry-picked and simplified" intelligence that it then used to tell the American public, wrongly, that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. As a result, approximately 3,200 American troops have died, the military is overextended, and the world is less safe. Violence in Iraq continues to skyrocket, and Bush's escalation seems to be driving the United States into "a much deeper and longer-term role in policing Iraq than since the earliest days of the U.S. occupation." The White House has indicated that Bush's plans for today include "going about business as usual," including "playing host to the 2006 NCAA football champions, the University of Florida 'Gators.'" The Progress Report has put together a timeline looking back over the past 48 months HERE.

IRAQIS ARE LESS SECURE: On March 17, 2003, Bush declared to Iraqis, "The day of your liberation is near." Yet at least 150,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed in violence since the beginning of the war. Car bombings reached an all-time high in January and February, and for the first time, the Pentagon last week acknowledged that "some of the violence in Iraq can be described as a civil war." It was the Pentagon's "bleakest assessment of the war to date." The report also found that two-thirds of the Iraqi people "believe that conditions are worsening, and as many as 9,000 are fleeing the country each month." A new BBC/ABC News poll finds that fewer than 40 percent of Iraqis "said things were good in their lives," compared to 71 percent two years ago. One Jan. 10, Bush announced his plan to send 21,500 more combat troops to Baghdad, promising it would "help the Iraqis carry out their campaign to put down sectarian violence and bring security to the people of Baghdad." On March 6, Bush declared his plan to be working. "Yet even at this early hour, there are some encouraging signs," he stated. But as the Washington Post reported, "Sectarian attacks in Baghdad are down at the moment, but the deaths of Iraqi civilians and U.S. troops have increased outside the capital." Bush also claimed that "Iraqi and U.S. forces have rounded up more than 700 people affiliated with Shia extremists." But according to a military official, Bush's numbers appear "to have little to do with the new strategy. The number is ' based on captures...since July 2006.' ... Bush first reported the same roundup -- citing 600 captures -- last fall." Iraqi officials are also falling behind on the benchmarks of progress it promised to meet. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has announced that will miss his "self-imposed deadline for reshuffling the Cabinet," and just two Iraqi brigades and one battalion of a third have arrived in Baghdad, despite the Iraqi government's promise to employ three brigades.

TROOPS ARE LESS PREPARED: In 2000, Bush stated, "To point out that our military has been overextended, taken for granted and neglected, that's no criticism of the military. That is criticism of a president and vice president and their record of neglect." Yet now, as all signs point to a military that is overextended, the Bush administration is trying to deflect criticism and claim that the military's readiness is "unprecedented." In reality, the U.S. Army's preparedness for war "has eroded to levels not witnessed by our country in decades." Virtually all of the U.S.-based Army combat brigades are "rated as unready to deploy," Army officials say, and a recent Pentagon survey found that troops in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from chronic shortages of armored vehicles, heavy weapons, and communications equipment. Army and Marine Corps officials say it will take years for their forces to recover from a "death spiral," in which rapid war rotations have "consumed 40 percent of their total gear, wearied troops, and left no time to train to fight anything other than the insurgencies now at hand." "We have a strategy right now that is outstripping the means to execute it," Army chief of staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker recently told the Senate Armed Services Committee. Similarly, troops coming back from war -- with unprecedented levels of mental health disorders -- are facing a bureaucracy unprepared to deal with them, as the Walter Reed scandal highlighted. Seventy-six percent of Americans, including a majority of Republicans, believe the Bush administration hasn't "done enough to care for [Iraq war] veterans." Bush plans to "cut funding for veterans' health care two years from now," even though "the cost of providing medical care to veterans has been growing rapidly -- by more than 10 percent in many years."

WORLD IS LESS SAFE: The Center for American Progress and Foreign Policy magazine recently released their second "Terrorism Index," a bipartisan survey of America's top national security experts. The consensus: the world is growing more dangerous, and America is losing the war on terror. Eighty-one percent of Terrorism Index respondents "see a world that is growing more dangerous for the American people, while 75 percent say the United States is losing the war on terror." Among the 81 percent of experts who believe the world is becoming "more dangerous" to the United States, a large plurality identified the Iraq war as the primary cause. These results are supported by the findings of the National Intelligence Estimate released last fall, which stated that "the Iraq jihad is shaping a new generation of terrorist leaders and operatives," and that Iraq "has become the "cause celebre" for jihadists." Nearly six in 10 experts of all political stripes say the Bush administration is doing the "worst possible job" in Iraq and fully 88 percent of the experts believe the war in Iraq is undermining U.S. national security.

TIME TO REDEPLOY: "For the first time since the Iraq war began, less than half of Americans believe the United States can win in Iraq, a CNN poll said Tuesday. Just 46 percent think the United States will win." Fifty-eight percent of Americans "want to see U.S. troops leave Iraq either immediately or within a year." Forty-nine countries joined Bush's Coalition of the Willing at the start of the Iraq war. By mid-2007, just 20 countries will remain after Britain, Denmark, and South Korea reduce their forces. Even National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley recently acknowledged that some Iraqis want the U.S. military presence to be, "over." The Center for American Progress has a plan called "Strategic Redeployment" that calls for a gradual drawdown of American troops coupled with increased engagement with Iraq's political leaders. The plan goes beyond the debate between "cutting and running" and "staying the course" to show how we can more effectively achieve success in Iraq. The House Appropriations Committee also recently approved legislation to calling for troops to "leave Iraq before Sept. 2008, and possibly sooner if the Iraqi government does not meet certain benchmarks."

Get the Progress Report HERE...(Enter your email address on the right)

And finally, my local Senator, Russ Feingold sent this letter out in his mailing list...

Dear Joseph,

Four years ago today, President Bush embarked on what has become the greatest foreign policy mistake in the history of our nation. The reckless and coercive drive to war, the botched handling of the reconstruction and occupation, and the recent escalation of our presence in Iraq has cost our country billions of dollars, eroded our military's readiness to respond to significant national security challenges, wounded tens of thousands of our brave service members and ended the lives of over 3,200 of our courageous men and women in uniform.

Co-Sponsor My Amendment

I've been working tirelessly to convince my colleagues that it's long past time for Congress to act responsibly and end this war. I was the first Senator, over 18 months ago, to propose a timetable for withdrawal. I also offered a second version of my flexible timetable, calling for complete withdrawal from Iraq by July of this year. Following the Democratic gains in last November's elections, I called on Congress to use its main power, the 'power of the purse', to stop George Bush's war.

Co-Sponsor My Amendment

It has become increasingly clear that the only way we are going to be able to end the President's failed policies in Iraq is by setting a date after which funding for the war will end. Those who argue that we should somehow defer to the President are wrong. The President has sent our country down a failed path and because he has abdicated his responsibility to correct the course for far too long, it's now up to Congress to provide much needed leadership.

Congress has the power and the responsibility to bring the situation in Iraq to an end. I plan to continue to press the issue by offering an amendment to the upcoming supplemental funding bill that would use the 'power of the purse' to safely redeploy our troops out of Iraq.

Co-Sponsor My Amendment

I'm looking to you, on this sad anniversary, to stand with me in our efforts to put this chapter of American foreign policy to bed and to continue moving forward with our focus on fighting the real war on terror and repairing our nation's stature in the world. Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

Russ Feingold
United States Senator
Honorary Chair, Progressive Patriots Fund

LINK: Progressive Patriots

Had to believe it has been four years...

-Mr. Joseph

Savage vs. Media Matters... and his own words...

Michael Savage is an asshole. There is no way around it...

Media Matters:

On March 5, Media Matters for America received the following email from radio host Michael Savage:

From: ****************@aol.com
Sent: Monday, March 05, 2007 5:55 PM
To: *******@mediamatters.org
Cc: *****@****.com
Subject: Re: Savage continued attacks on Etheridge & Hollywood

If you ever harass me again I will have you prosecuted under California's anti-stalking legislation. This indicates malice and intent to harm on the part of media matters.

The email was sent in response to a Media Matters email forwarding an item posted earlier that day. Michael Savage's email address is available on Bacon's.com to anyone with an account.

On the March 5 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, which aired at 6 p.m. ET, five minutes after the email was sent, Savage lashed out at "[t]hose scum-sucking vermin. Those left-wing rats" who he claimed "won't be happy until we're all on prayer rugs waiting to have our heads cut off." He continued: "You ought to be happy, you liberal SOBs, that I am only a talk-show host. You ought to thank God that I have no avariciousness in my soul. You ought to thank God that I'm not power mad like you liberals, because if I ever ran for office, I can guarantee you, you wouldn't be in business too long. I can guarantee you you'd be arrested for sedition within six months of my taking power. I'd have you people licking lead paint, what you did to this country."

As Media Matters for America has noted, Savage was signed by Hollywood's Creative Artists Agency (CAA) for "representation in all areas" -- including television and film -- but was reportedly dropped after Media Matters documented his comments attacking singer and CAA client Melissa Etheridge for thanking her wife during her Academy Awards acceptance speech. Savage also responded to Etheridge's speech by stating that homosexual marriage "makes me want to puke" and saying that married gay couples' raising of children amounts to "child abuse."

In the March 5 broadcast, Savage repeated his claim that "lesbian marriage" is "nauseating" and "disgusting," and he again asserted that it is "child abuse" for "lesbians who are married [to] rais[e] children." He also claimed that his comments are not homophobic: "What it is, from my point of view, is not homophobia at all. I don't fear lesbians who are married raising children. I have contempt for them."

On Savage's website, there is a poll that asks, "Should Michael Savage Run for the Presidency?" According to the site, there are more than 2.8 million "yes" votes. Savage has said that once he reaches 5 million, he will make a decision on whether or not to run.

The Savage Nation reaches more than 8 million listeners each week, according to Talkers Magazine, making it the third-most-listened-to talk radio show in the nation, behind only The Rush Limbaugh Show and The Sean Hannity Show.

From the March 5 edition of Talk Radio Network's The Savage Nation:

SAVAGE: Those scum-sucking vermin. Those left-wing rats, they won't be happy until we're all on prayer rugs waiting to have our heads cut off.

You ought to be happy, you liberal SOBs, that I am only a talk-show host. You ought to thank God that I have no avariciousness in my soul. You ought to thank God that I'm not power mad like you liberals, because if I ever ran for office, I can guarantee you, you wouldn't be in business too long. I can guarantee you you'd be arrested for sedition within six months of my taking power. I'd have you people licking lead paint, what you did to this country.

[...]

SAVAGE: There's a guy named Bill Maher, I don't know who he is, I know he's some kind of guy on television. He actually looks like P.T. Barnum, but he thinks he's smart. He doesn't make as much money as I do, by the way. He has a small show on HBO. He could never do talk radio. This is too tough a medium.

His standard format is to have six idiot lefties, and he invites one dummy conservative, and they all attack him, and he sits there like Mister Goofball. He called for Cheney's death, OK, and everyone knows that.

Apparently it's OK to call for the death of the vice president, but it's not OK to say that you find lesbian marriage disgusting and nauseating and it makes you want to puke. This shows you why liberalism is a mental disorder.

Apparently a death threat is not as bad as homo -- let's say homo -- it's not even homophobia. What it is, from my point of view, is not homophobia at all. I don't fear lesbians who are married raising children. I have contempt for them. I think it is child abuse. That's my personal opinion. And I guarantee you if you polled most Americans, they would say the exact same thing that I'm saying. If you polled most politicians they wouldn't, though. That's why we're in trouble in this country -- no truth, no justice, no hope.

The culture is imploding like Chernobyl. It is melting down like Chernobyl, the Pink Hand has melted the country down. The Pink Hand has melted the nation down.

LINK: Savage to Media Matters: Stop stalking me!

It is not the ridiculousness of this email that makes me post this, but what he said about Bill Maher.

Check what he said again...

There's a guy named Bill Maher, I don't know who he is, (emphasis mine) I know he's some kind of guy on television. He actually looks like P.T. Barnum, but he thinks he's smart. He doesn't make as much money as I do, by the way. He has a small show on HBO. He could never do talk radio.

Ignore the immature insults that Savage lobs at Maher, but note that he states he doesn't "know who he is"... Now consider that in his latest book, The Political Zoo, he dedicates AN ENTIRE CHAPTER to Maher!

So either Savage is lying by claiming he doesn't know who Bill Maher is, or he had a ghostwriter write The Political Zoo. My guess is both...

RELATED READING...

LINK: Savage breaks vow, refers to Media Matters

Just to note, a review and partial rebuttal to The Political Zoo is coming soon...

Developing...
-Mr. Joseph

Breaking: Nevada Fox News debate killed

Think Progress documented this good news quite well...

“Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and the Nevada Democratic Party announced today that they are backing out of a Fox News-sponsored presidential debate in August following Fox President Roger Ailes’s recent remarks comparing Democratic Senator Barack Obama to al Qaeda terrorist Osama Bin Laden. Fox News did not answer calls seeking reaction to the decision.”

UPDATE: Markos on the winners, the losers, and what comes next.

UPDATE II: Fox News responds attacks: “We have not received official word from the Nevada State Democratic Party disclosing a change in debate plans. Rumors are being circulated and if true, news organizations will want to think twice before getting involved in the Nevada Democratic Caucus which appears to be controlled by radical fringe out-of-state interest groups, not the Nevada Democratic Party.”

UPDATE III: Reaction from MoveOn, Robert Greenwald, Matt Stoller and others is HERE.

LINK: Breaking: Nevada Fox News debate killed.

Well done, Moveon.org...
-Mr. Joseph

‘Inhofe of the House’ To Lead New Global Warming Panel

Think Progress covered a news story that regarded the embarrassing WI representative...

The House of Representatives voted yesterday to create a new congressional committee devoted solely to addressing the global climate crisis.

Unable to block the creation of the committee, House conservative leaders are now doing everything they can to neuter it. Conservative leadership aides reportedly told Republican members that a vote in favor of the bill creating the global warming panel “would put them out of running for a seat” on the panel.

Worse, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) has named Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) to be the committee’s top ranking Republican member. A look at Sensenbrenner’s record:

Sensenbrenner praised as ‘Inhofe of the House’: “If there is an Inhofe on the House side, it has to be Wisconsin’s James Sensenbrenner Jr.,” says the American Conservative Union’s David Keene, referring to Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), who calls global warming the “greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people.” [Link]

Sensenbrenner led climate skeptic delegation to Kyoto conference: “As chairman of the Science Committee back in 1998, Sensenbrenner led a delegation of skeptics to the Kyoto conference and fought then-President Clinton’s attempt to go along with the Kyoto protocols.” [Link]

Sensenbrenner asked scientist about placing catalytic converters on cows to combat warming: “Does (it) mean to stop this increase in methane we’ve got to put catalytic converters on the backs of cows?” Sensenbrenner asked a climate scientist at a hearing last month. If cows are partly responsible for methane gases, Sensenbrenner said, that “could hit Wisconsin’s economy right between the horns.” [Link]

Sensenbrenner endorsed by Competitive Enterprise Institute: A spokesman for the oil industry-backed Competitive Enterprise Institute called Sensenbrenner “exceptionally well qualified” and “a good choice.” [E&E Daily, 2/17/07]

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) — who last month claimed that global warming may have been caused by “dinosaur flatulence” — was reportedly a finalist for the ranking member slot. Only 13 percent of congressional Republicans say they believe that human activity is causing global warming, according to a recent poll, compared to 79 percent of Americans.

LINK: House Conservatives Appoint Chief Climate Skeptic To Lead New Global Warming Panel

Way to represent, Sensenbrenner!
-Mr. Joseph

Coulter gets "Worst Person" for "faggot" remark...

Media Matters:

As Media Matters for America documented, during her March 2 speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Coulter said she "can't really talk about" Edwards, a Democratic presidential candidate and former senator, because "you have to go into rehab if you use the word 'faggot.' "

Additionally, Olbermann named syndicated radio host Rush Limbaugh "Worst Person" runner-up for, as Media Matters noted, stating that, since ancestors of Rev. Al Sharpton were slaves and ancestors of Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) were slaveowners, "could we not say that if Obama wins the Democratic nomination and then wins the presidency, he will own Al Sharpton?"

From the March 5 edition of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann:

OLBERMANN: Thank you, Amy. Couldn't resist this trio. I'm just sorry there could not be golds for all of them. The bronze to Newt Gingrich, visiting us briefly in this dimension to blame the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on a, quote, "failure of citizenship in the Ninth Ward, where 22,000 people were so uneducated and so unprepared they literally couldn't get out of the way of a hurricane." Yeah, Newt, all that education sure helped the Bush administration shine after the hurricane.

The bronze [sic: runner-up], comedian Rush Limbaugh, pointing out that since ancestors of Al Sharpton were slaves and ancestors of Senator Barack Obama were slaveowners, quoting again, "could we not say that if Obama wins the Democratic nomination and then wins the presidency, he will own Al Sharpton?" No, actually, we couldn't say that. But we could say that any lingering doubt about this is at an end: Rush Limbaugh is a racist.

But the gold, of course, to Coultergeist. Calling John Edwards that name. I mean, Annie, just because you're more mannish-looking? Hell, you're more mannish looking than every man on the planet. Coultergeist, today's "Worst Person in the World"!

LINK: Olbermann gave Coulter "gold" in "Worst Person" segment for "faggot" comment; Limbaugh came in second

RELATED READING...

LINK: ‘Worst Person in the World’: Ann Coulter

Coultergeist, that is clever...
-Mr. Joseph

UPDATE (3/10/07): Sixth and seventh newspapers drop Coulter -- editor of NC paper calls her CPAC comments "the last straw"

UPDATE (3/19/07): UPDATE: Nine newspapers drop Coulter in the wake of CPAC remarks

List of Papers that dropped her column...

• The Lancaster New Era (Pennsylvania)

• The Oakland Press (Michigan)

• The Mountain Press (Sevierville, Tennessee)

• The Sanford Herald (North Carolina)

• The Daily Chronicle (DeKalb, Illinois)

• The Times (Shreveport, Louisiana)

• American Press (Lake Charles, Louisiana)

• Herald & Review (Decatur, Illinois)