Hatin’ Cheney: He Sure Gets Their Goat
Cheney is B-a-a-a-D!
Say what you will about Cheney, but the top left bloggers really REALLY hate him with a passion. They’ve recently devoted lots of webspace to their rage:
HuffPo’s Borowitz spews out lame satire at Cheney, saying the Former VP is To Travel Around Country In Sound Truck. Groan.
DailyKos’ David Swanson verbosely explains the Three Worst Reasons to Delay Putting Cheney in Prison. Like all morally confused liberals, Swanson is SO for “enforcing laws.” Of course, laws only apply to liberal causes, they can be skirted with “empathy” when laws cause “social injustice.” Aside from that, it’s doubtful that any laws were actually broken, and there will never be prosecutions b/c top Democrats would be dragged down, too.
The fringe leftists at Democratic Underground indulge in ancient Cheney-based fantasy claiming Cheney Confirms Iran-Contra Cover-Up; says Cheney:
“I went through the Iran-contra hearings and watched the way administration officials ran for cover and left the little guys out to dry. And I was bound and determined that wasn’t going to happen this time.”
Because he used the word “cover,” he has now admitted a “cover-up”? Oy.
The ever-excitable Andrew Sullivan has another go at Cheney, implying that Cheney betrayed his oath of office by supporting harsh interrogation of deranged psychopaths bent on killing Americans. Says Sully, “Is Cheney’s ultimate defense is that he didn’t understand the oath he took?” Go ahead and believe that Sullivan, you’re already a lost cause.
ThinkProgress works it over hard, trying to make Cheney look bad because he’d choose Rush Limbaugh over Colin Powell. Who in their right mind would choose Powell the Backstabber?
Greg Sargent at Plumb Line gets himself all excited when he finds out White House To Declassify “Holy Grail” Torture Report That Could Undercut Cheney. The report supposedly says it’s “difficult to determine conclusively whether interrogations have provided information critical to interdicting specific imminent attacks.” Just because it’s difficult, doesn’t mean it’s impossible, duh. Another secret the White House will give to the terrorists for free. How quaint.
Josh Marshall at TPM is so hot and bothered he decided to share a Dick Cheney Deep Thought, “Megalomania is a hard drug to kick.” Save it for twitter, Marshall.
Heather at Crooks and Liars thinks she really has something in taking advantage of Cheney and Limbaugh’s negative poll numbers. Take a look-see at Mary Matalin: Newt Gingrich, Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh Exemplify Conservatism. Heather seems to think that Republican policies have been rejected by a large portion of the electorate. Yep. That would be the self-identified “Democrats.” Brilliant like a stone light bulb.
Hilzoy at Political Animal gets dramatically offended by Cheney and decries, “How Dare He?”
Dick Cheney forfeited the right to lecture anyone on their willingness to sacrifice American lives the day he decided to deceive us into an unnecessary war.
Please stop with your Superior Moral SuperForce, Hilzoy, you’re making the chickens nervous.
HuffPo: How DARE Amazon Mispronounce the Name of The One
HuffPo gets wacky with it (as of 9:32 AM 5/8/2009):
The NERVE!
Here we have the implication that Amazon does not worship (as everyone should for their own good) the Left’s One True Living God With Glistening Pecs: Emperor Obama. How could Amazon NOT consider the EXTREME IMPORTANCE of ensuring the Great One’s name is pronounced correctly? Only those who harbor RAAACIST HATRED would overlook such a detail.
It’s clear that Amazon is on the Angry Left’s hit list, especially after the GLBT book delisting debacle. HuffPo links to a NYT article and even the article acknowledges another instance of the Kindle mispronouncing:
Kindle owners in Boston, however, may want to avoid the sports pages for now. The Kindle pronounces “Celtics” with an initial hard “c.”
This must mean that Amazon harbors deep antipathy toward the Boston Celtics too!
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos debunks the idea that there’s anything amiss:
When asked about the error in pronouncing the president’s name, Jeffrey P. Bezos, chief executive of Amazon.com, said, with his trademark laugh, “that’s unfortunate.”
The next day, an Amazon spokesman, Andrew Herdener, wrote in an e-mail message that Nuance Communications, the Massachusetts-based company that licenses its text-to-speech engine to Amazon for the Kindle, had added the correct pronunciation of the president’s name.
Once again, the Angry Left harms their credibility.
The Torment of The Torture Debate
Left to Right: You WILL BELIEVE Waterboarding is TORTURE! GAGHKAAAAAAAA!!!!
OMG, the left has dramaticly convulsed with faux indignance about the not-torture memos foolishly released by Obama. The topic has now reached feverish proportions. I’ve noted, in their discourse, leftists are purposely confusing actual torture with hard core interrogation in order to keep themselves outraged enough to distract from the the painful truth they don’t want to face. The left needs something to be Extremely Upset about to keep themselves going, and the not-torture memos fit the bill quite nicely.
Brutal, Unpleasant Reality
The anti-interrogationists label those who oppose their view as “pro-torture,” but, here’s the thing of it:
Did you know that America trains some of it’s citizens to kill people with guns? It’s called an Army. Do you know what happens to the bodies fo the people on the receiving end of American Army guns? The bodies of people shot by guns die, are torn to shreds, mutilated beyond recognition or sometimes their brains explode, being hit with such extreme force that they spatter all about in a stomach-churning goopy mess. If a targeted person happens to survive being shot by a gun, the bullets that penetrate their body cause excruciating pain, internal bleeding and/or infection that often kills them anyway. If they survive that, the target can face major surgery, possibly amputation of a limb, and months or years of physical recovery. On top of this they will likely face years of psychological recovery – if they ever fully recover. Quite an unpleasant affair, no? Americans have been killing non-American people with guns for some time – no memos justifying that, though. Perhaps we should ban killing by Army guns too, considering how morally repugnanat it is.
Oddly enough, people have been involved in killing Americans, too. For example, this event happened about 7 1/2 years ago:
That video always puts things in perspective.
Facts of the Matter
Speaking of perspective, strange how the left didn’t stage a freak out when Obama recently fired missiles killing 15 people, including three children. So the left is OK with America killing children when necessary, but they have an epileptic seizure when a deranged psychopath bent on killing Americans capitulates after being strapped to the floor and having water poured on him six times a day for a month. And, some more moderate voices have joined the anti-interrogation madness. Fox News’ Shepherd Smith exclaimed recently, ”we are America, we do not f**king torture.” But Shep has no such problem with an American Predator drone strike killing children who happen to be in the vicinity of their terrorist relatives. Can you say ‘cognative dissonance?’
We encounter more dissonance in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. telephone poll released in November 2007. 58% of respondents said the government should be not be allowed to use waterboarding to try to get information from suspected terrorists. Altering the question to include the caveat ‘if the safety of you and your loved ones was credibly threatened’ would have significantly altered the percentage, probably placing pro-waterboarding respondents solidly in the majority. Asking that question (including the caveat) of the populace of New York in the months immediately after 9/11/2001 would likely show a dramatic majority in favor of waterboarding. It is easy to hold to lofty, unrealistic ideas over the telephone from the safety of home after six years of no subsequent terrorist attacks. Things change when people feel their safety is truly threatened.
Part of the reason there have been no subsequent attacks is because hard core interrogation has proved effective. The CIA confirmed that Khalid Sheik Mohammad supplied the intelligence that aborted 9/11-style attack on Los Angeles:
In the memo itself, the Justice Department’s Bradbury told the CIA’s Rossi: “Your office has informed us that the CIA believes that ‘the intelligence acquired from these interrogations has been a key reason why al Qa’ida has failed to launch a spectacular attack in the West since 11 September 2001.”
That’s called “actionable intelligence,” but the left is convinced we have placed ourselves in Grave Moral Danger by obtaining it through harsh coercion.
Blood-Colored Glasses
The humiliating truth is the left doesn’t have the stomach to face harsh, ugly reality. Protecting America is a dirty business and most leading liberals don’t like dirty – it offends their delicate sensibilities. They’d rather put the terrorists in therapy or send them home with reparations.
The debate the left is trying to usurp is about where we draw the line, about what is and isn’t too much. Waterboarding and the other coercive techniques used by the CIA walk up to that line, but not past it. It is good for America to question itself, to ensure we are doing the right thing, but the left keeps trying to rescue us from the thoughts they’re afraid we’ll have. They tell us there is no way they can be wrong, no way any opinion other than theirs can possibly be considered – and you’re vilified if you do. But, the leader of the left has already showed signs of retreat from his previous life as an anti-”torture” leftist.
Obama knows that he’s in dangerous territory by “banning” these techniques. His adminstration’s waffling shows he wants it both ways; to obtain vital intel without using harsh coercion – but I can’t help but get the feeling he wants the “torture” option in his back pocket. Obama is responsible for protecting the U.S. from another terrorist attack; he knows he has undermined himself and, believe you me, he’s worried about the ramifications. He needs hard core interrogation to stop those insane maniacs from killing more innocent Americans, but he promised to shut down Gitmo and gave the terrorists an interrogation resistance manual to boot.
Left wing opinion leaders have made a major misstep in selling the waterboarding-as-torture narrative, though given their warped ideology it was probably inevitable. The attitude which produced that narrative, ignoring all unpleasantries and hiding inside a hero costume made of faux morality and self-righteousness, is what undermines American security and will be ultimately responsible for the needless, preventable deaths of more Americans at the hands of terrorists.
Michelle Malkin Leverages Her Crowbar
Michelle Malkin has taken intolerant Liberals to task for their double standards, disrespect, and lack of civility about the Miss California/Carrie Prejean fiasco.
But in the Age of Obama, there’s no room for such nuance and inconvenient truths. A decent young woman is a “dumb b*tch” for holding the same view of marriage as the Obamessiah. A conservative campus speaker is bullied as a hatemonger by wild-eyed hatemongers. A grassroots movement is debased as a bunch of racist vulgarians by a media mob of racists and vulgarians. Civility and tolerance have taken a left-hand turn down a one-way street. So much for changing course.
I disagree with Malkin’s assertion that left wing rage and incivility is merely an effect of the “Age of Obama.” This has been happening for longer than a few months; and, it’s getting worse.
Blogger Andrea Tantaros also leverages her crowbar, painting a more accurate picture:
This issue goes beyond beauty contests and reveals a much scarier truth: You cannot voice a dissenting opinion without being assaulted by the progressive left. The left is not interested in debating, only suppressing debate. Destroying your life and career is the sentence for anyone who dissents on these issues. The activists will carry out the sentence with the willing assistance of a compliant media.
Many on the left incorporated rage and abuse into their political discourse during the Bush years and the Miss USA/gay marriage fiasco is partly a result of that incorporation. Conservatives must continue to challenge the left (and often themselves) to return to more civil and respectful discourse. If conservatives fail in this task, the left may well continue down the dark path of hate they have chosen.
Perky Meghan McCain Declares Karl Rove ‘Creepy’ For Twitter Follow
Found this cubic zirconia on Truthdig: ‘Creepy’ Karl Rove on Meghan McCain’s Twitter Trail:
You know a social networking trend has gone too far when: (1) Karl Rove has caught on, and (2) Karl Rove attempts to “friend” you—or, in Meghan McCain’s unenviable case, follow you on Twitter. Ew.
Ew? Not sure if it was Robert Sheer, Zuade Kaufman or someone else who wrote that, but ‘ew’ speaks volumes about their maturity level. The image forming in my mind: a 13 year old girl with friends says, “Oh my God, Karl Rove is, like, sooooo creepy!” followed by “Ewwwww!” in unison and then lots of giggles. Heh.
Truthdig then cites McCain at The Daily Beast:
Karl Rove follows me on Twitter. That’s creepy. I joined Twitter a few months ago; so far, it has been a liberating way to transition from political to personal blogging. It’s allowed me to share the less-serious aspects and humorously uncensored moments of my life. But there’s also been a downside: I am now being followed by Karl Rove, and my local sheriff, and God knows how many other political pundits. We need to take Twitter back from the creepy people.
Yep. The giggling 13 year olds image has become vivid. I guess McCain just can’t STAND that guy Rove because he, like, keeps following her on Twitter and stuff.
In an interesting turn, McCain then talks about how SHE has explored Rove’s Twitter feed:
On the surface, Karl Rove’s Twitter feed intrigues me. Here’s a guy who for years has been perceived as some kind of inaccessible man-behind-the-curtain figure. And now he Tweets numerous times a day. I’ve never met him in person, which only makes our Twitter relationship even weirder. And to be honest, I find Rove’s Tweets boring. Sometimes he takes questions; other times he talks about his appearances on cable news and other shows. But he doesn’t say anything substantive. If I had to guess, I’d say Rove has a “ghost Twitterer” (as in a ghost writer) or an assistant updating his feed for him.
Oddly enough, Rove’s Tweets seem to reveal a softer side to him. Call it savvy marketing, but I find it disingenuous.
Wow, she’s been doing an awful lot of thinking about Rove. I’m finding it hard to imagine that Rove has spent as much time (if any) exploring McCain’s Twitter feed. Maybe Rove isn’t as interested in McCain as she seems to believe. Wait a sec. Obsession over someone who pays no attention to you… isn’t that kinda creepy??
Wonkette Declares Teen Retarded For Noting Their Anger, Hate and Vulgarity
I’m declaring this Wonkette author emotionally stunted for saying this kid is “retarded:”
From: Cindy ___
To: tips@wonkette.com
Date: Wed, Apr 15, 2009 at 5:32 PM
Subject: Neither Democrat or Republican – they both suck!I am almost old enough to vote and have a lot of questions about what’s going on with the government. Republican, Democrat, right, left, what does it all mean? What does each party stand for? When I came to this site I stopped to see what it was about. I found nothing but anger, hate and vulgarity. If this is liberal, NO THANKS! At least the people at the tea parties are trying to make a costructive statement. Lighten up.
You see, Cindy just doesn’t get that it’s edgy, cool and acceptable for liberals to hate and abuse people like Wonkette does.
Digby Advocates Abuse of “Eliminationist” and “Facist” Conservatives
In an amazing feat of über-condescension, liberal busybody Digby openly sheds all pretense of willingness to engage in civil, reasoned discourse with anyone she deems to be on “the modern American right,” and, she encourages the presumably heroic liberals to treat the right with even more “ridicule and contempt;” as if that were possible.
Digby begins by heaping undeserved praise for lefty bogger/author David Neiwert‘s new book The Eliminationists: How Hate Talk Radicalized the American Right:
The moral heart of David Neiwert’s absorbing new book, The Eliminationists: How Hate Talk Radicalized the American Right, is Chapter 8, “Eliminationism in America: A Brief History.” It is a heartbreaking narrative of virulently hateful rhetoric and bigotry sparking hundreds of years of unspeakably atrocious crimes against Native Americans, against Africans and African Americans, against Chinese Americans, against Japanese Americans, against Jews, Irish, Italians, against anyone who didn’t look like, speak like, act like, or think like those in the dominant white culture. The goal was to extirpate the different by any means necessary, including rape, torture, and murder.
Then Digby spends a moment constructing the keen idea that:
[the] sharing of values between the “secular” cosmopolitan and fundamentalist rural cultures occurs – not inside a specific religious tradition, but within the secular moral space created by the structure of American governance, a structure which produces a tolerant environment by denying the establishment of any religion. In other words, it is only within a liberal cultural space that such a genuine tolerance and respect of radically disparate worldviews…
Sounds great to me! But, alas, Digby casts an awfully wide net, wide enough to include most mainstream conservatives:
Fascism feeds on oversimplifications, bigotry, and violent provocation. It parries logic with toxic nationalisms, tribalism, and a fist. No amount of calm persuasion will open the mind of a Christian Reconstructionist, a white supremacist, or their more cleaned-up-for-primetime enablers like Coulter, Limbaugh, Bachmann, and Palin.
Ahh, there’s the dig. These “facist” people are also the “Eliminationists” of which Niewart speaks so verbosely in his Great new book!
Unable to ponder past her own rhetoric, Diby decided long ago that SHE is responsible for “confront[ing] the right:”
This brings me back to the question that has puzzled me from the day I began trying to find active ways to confront the right in an effective manner: How can liberals prevent proto-fascists, para-fascists, and fascists from seizing power in America (and I would add, although Dave probably wouldn’t, “again” )? Surely, as Neiwert urges, we always need to better understand our world – not only our own values but the values of those who disagree with us. But that is nowhere near enough.
Nowhere near enough???? What’s THAT supposed to mean? It means this:
To counter the modern American right will take a rhetoric that surely places reality, reason, and logic front and center. But that rhetoric needs also to contain a healthy dollop of ridicule and contempt (thank you, Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert). It must know when to confront the buffoons (such as Dave’s willingness to rebut Jonah Goldberg), and when to usefully ignore them (e.g., well-known scientists’ refusal to debate creationists).
Digby is saying the “modern American right,” which happens to include mainstream conservatives, can’t be reasoned with, so they must be treated with “ridicule and contempt.”
Haven’t Coulter, Limbaugh, Bachmann, and Palin already been treated in a manner that far exceeds the descriptor “ridicule and contempt?” So what behavior “needs” to happen that has not already happened? What the hell is Digby advocating here?
That tolerant, compassionate, urban liberal Digby is advocating abuse toward mainstream conservatives that exceeds current levels!!
The next step in Digby’s line of reasoning is to advocate the detention of “Eliminationists.” And, what step is after that? How much is “enough,” Digby?
Watch out for this reprobate ideology, folks.
Benen: Tea Party Conservatives Are “So Dumb” For Believing They Have a Real Grievance
Political Animal’s Steve Benen bears his fangs at conservative Tea Party activist Brendan Steinhauser for having the audacity to think that the government has gone schizophrenic when it comes to expanding programs and spending money.
Steinhauser:
“We’re applying Saul Alinsky’s ‘Rules for Radicals’ here,” said Steinhauser. “We’re using methods that the Left has used, and that other movements have used, all the way back to the Civil Rights movement. First of all there has to be a real grievance, and that’s what Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King had. That’s what we have.”
First, Benen gets confused because Steinhauser mentions Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr as an example of someone having a “real greivance:”
This is so dumb, it’s hard to know where to start. The most obvious problem, I suppose, is the idea of a Republican activist comparing his plight to those who suffered under the violence and discrimination of segregation. The comparison itself is ridiculous enough to be insulting.
What’s obvious is that Steinhauser was NOT “comparing his plight to those who suffered under the violence and discrimination of segregation.” Steinhauser was saying that people are genuinely upset, just like Blacks were upset that they were being discriminated against. But, this is what passes for political analysis in the left blogsphere.
Benen really dislikes conservatives referencing the Civil Rights movement because it interferes with the lefty narrative that conservatives are the victimizer and everyone else is their victim. The Tea Party movement is about everyone being the victim of government overreach, overspending and overtaxing, regardless of race or class.
The real story, though, is that Benen is upset that conservatives are daring to think that they have a “real grievance:”
What’s more, the Tea Baggers continue to think they have “a real grievance” to justify their Fox News rallies, but they haven’t quite explained what that grievance is. Indeed, no one seems capable of explaining why, exactly, tomorrow’s events are taking place.
The more I read lefty blogs, the more I wish they would start making interesting arguments instead of trotting out tiresome memes like referring to Tea Party rallies as “Fox News rallies.” Boring!
The “no one seems capable of explaining why” is also a common-but-lame lefty blogger assertion. Here is why the Tea Party movement exists.
Benen continues to marginalize himself by being disrespectful, pushing lame analysis and blurting out monotonous memes.
Peyser: Ron Howard Is A Baguette-Eating Celebutard
Bighollywood blogger Andrea Peyser unfortunately displays disrespect for the hard left Hollywood director Ron Howard, showing that both sides have a ways to go:
Question: What do you get when you cross an American icon such as Academy-award-winning director and former kid actor Ron Howard with the continent of Europe – and shake with double doses of celebrity idiocy?
Answer: A baguette-eating Celebutard.
Ugh, it makes me cringe. It’s supposed to be funny, but it just isn’t. The only way it would be funny would be at Howard’s roast.
What’s worse is that Peyser has a book coming out entitled Celebutards: The Hollywood Hacks, Limousine Liberal and Pandering Politicians Who Are Destroying America.
It is true that the Hollywood crowd tends to be narcissistic and vapid, but calling them “celebutards” is just classless and uncivilized.
Krugman: Rick Warren And Tub of Lard Are Interchangeable
I was kinda surprised to find this level of juvenile disrespect coming from Paul Krugman, he usually spends his time supporting schizophrenic government spending:
So I was all ready to talk about Rick Warren on today’s panel, only to learn that he had cancelled out at the last minute. The show replaced him with pirates, plus an extended roundtable. But I think they should have done what the British show Have I Got News For You did when a guest failed to show: they replaced him with a tub of lard, addressed throughout the show as the Rt. Hon. Tub of Lard.
Is he serious? If not, I recommend that Krugman stay away from comedy.
