Debra Saunders - Conservative Misinformer

Does Debra Saunders believe the readers of the San Francisco Chronicle are stupid? There is really no other explanation for her latest column in which she states that Democrats don’t care about ethics and then goes on to tell you that the reason people oppose someone like Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania is this:

“Other Republicans, however, seem guilty mostly of being targeted by Democrats for defeat in 2006. Take the prim Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa. He is cited -- get this -- because his kids attend a Pennsylvania charter school (instead of a school in Virginia) and because he supported legislation to clarify the mission of the National Weather Service after a group gave his campaign $2,000. Oooooooo. (CREW's Melanie Sloan did not get back to me by my deadline.)”

You can go to this website called Santorum Exposed to find out why someone might really oppose the “prim” Santorum. Maybe in Debra’s world “prim” Rick is just a normal, everyday Republican out to do good for the country even if the country doesn't know what's "good" for them. No, it isn’t possible that Santorum is an extreme conservative who makes statements like this:

"In far too many families with young children, both parents are working, when, if they really took an honest look at the budget, they might confess that both of them really don’t need to, or at least may not need to work as much as they do… And for some parents, the purported need to provide things for their children simply provides a convenient rationalization for pursuing a gratifying career outside the home."

"But unlike abortion today, in most states even the slaveholder did not have the unlimited right to kill his slave."

"And if the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything. Does that undermine the fabric of our society? I would argue yes, it does. It all comes from, I would argue, this right to privacy that doesn't exist in my opinion in the United States Constitution, this right that was created, it was created in Griswold — Griswold was the contraceptive case — and abortion. And now we're just extending it out. And the further you extend it out, the more you — this freedom actually intervenes and affects the family."

She also mentions Tom DeLay being in trouble for getting a golf trip paid for by Abramoff. Wow, that's all Tom is in trouble for Debra? Couldn't possibly be anything else?

I will have to do some research on Richard Pombo who appears to be a favorite of Ms. Saunders. If Debra is backing him he must be a swell guy though.

Scarred For Life By A Unnecessary War

I don’t really know how else to explain this:

“He won't talk about the weeks that followed. He only mentions moments, like still frames from a film. The day his column barely survived an ambush, escaping through a broken door as bullets struck near their feet. The morning he woke up to discover that a cat had taken up residence in the open chest cavity of an Iraqi body nearby, consuming it from within.
The day he discovered that Demarkus Brown had been killed.
"When we found out, I told a couple of my buddies who were close to him, too. We just sat around, and we didn't say much at all," Miller said. "You didn't have the heart to cry."
But it wasn't those terrible benchmarks that affected him the most, Miller said. It was the daily chore of war: the times he had to raise his rifle, peer through the scope and squeeze the trigger to launch a bullet, not at a target, not at a distant white truck, but at another human being.
"It's one thing to be shot at, and you shoot a couple rounds back, just trying to suppress somebody else," Miller said. "It's another thing when you see a human being shooting a round at you, knowing that you're shooting back with the intent to kill them. You're looking through a scope at somebody. It's totally different. You can make out a guy's eyes."

Or this:

"I really didn't want to go. ... There was a possibility we would be shooting people," he said. "We could be going into another (urban warfare) environment just like Iraq, except this would actually be U.S. citizens.
"Here we go, Fallujah 2, right here in the states."
Not long after they arrived, as Hurricane Rita bore down on them, the Marines were packed into the amphibious assault ship Iwo Jima to wait out the storm offshore. And one day, as Miller headed for the smoke deck with a Marlboro, a passing sailor made a whistling sound just like a rocket-propelled grenade.
"I don't remember grabbing him. I don't remember putting him against the bulkhead. I don't remember getting him down on the floor. I don't remember getting on top of him. I don't remember doing any of that s -- ," Miller said. "That was like the last straw."
On Nov. 10, 2005 -- the Marine Corps' 230th birthday and one year to the day after the Marlboro Man picture appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Miller was honorably discharged after a medical review. His military career was over. “

Democracy Is A Wonderful Thing

I wonder how much Bush thinks so now. The White House says it wasn't surprised by Hamas winning. If you believe that I have a lovely tower in Paris I would love to sell you.

Katie Couric Is A Walking GOP Talking Point

Go to Crooks and Liars to check it out. If you believe there is some kind of liberal bias in the news explain Katie and this "interview" with Howard Dean to me.

Disgusting.

Addicted To Oil

This is just insane and so is this. The answer is quite clear in so many ways don't you think? Not when you are fighting absolutely nutty ideas like this. Are we really this stupid? Or is it just big business doing what it does best, making money for itself in the short term with out taking in account people or the long term damage? Nah, that couldn't possibly be.

Medicare Drug Program Disaster

Did you expect anything else from a BushCo idea? Nearly everything they touch is just a disaster. Seriously, think about it. Naturally this is going to be good for the insurance companies and bad for people. How do we know this? Because the program was written by the companies that's how. This isn't rocket science.

All of this this Medicare Drug Program and Health Savings Accounts business is a complete joke that does nothing to get at the fundamental problem. We need single payer national health care, it is the only answer for our country. All of these "private"sector the free "market" will dictate and "work" out everything idea is just putting off what needs to be done.

George Bush Scorecard

Let's see what we have and in no particular order:

1) Iraq rebuilding debacle and incompetence

2) Bush and Jack Abramoff

3) A torture fan

4) Privatize Social Security

5) Misinformation and lies about Iraq war

6) Health Savings Accounts: Increase patient responsibility!

to be continued.....

Chris Matthews Unofficial GOP Spokesman & Whitehouse Apologist

He has swallowed so many Karl Rove/GOP talking points whole lately that he can't tell the difference between Michael Moore and Osama Bin Laden. Of course when he is called out on making this horrible statement he says he was "misunderstood". I would say you could only not understand what he said if you didn't speak the english language. Otherwise, it is quite clear what he said.

What is really going on here is that the Bush administration has got this country and specifically the media to the point who are basically unpaid spokesman for this neo-con group of criminals that ANY objection to their "war on terror" even if it involves invading a country that was no threat to the U.S. and had no involvement in 9/11 is akin to treason and "siding" with the enemy. I am sure Chris Matthews would be offended by this but that is too bad because he deserves it. How do you like being compared to this guy Chris?

Reichmarschall Hermann Goering at the Nuremberg trials: "Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger."

As was pointed out at here by Peter Daou can you imagine the uproar and foaming at the mouth vomit that would be spewed by the media and neo-cons if someone had compared Limbaugh or Hannity to Osama?

Karl Rove couldn't be happier than to have an idiot talking head like Chris Matthews say this kind of stuff even though it is Bush and his neo-con pals who have created this situation of increased terrorist attacks around the world. We won't even mention not capturing Osama Bin Laden. You don't hear Bush mentioning this guy much anymore do you?

There is a website dedicated to this horrible statement by Matthews. Check it out.

Letter To The Datebook Section Of The SF Chronicle

Editor -- Being a fan of Mark Morford's column I was distressed to read two letters (Jan. 11) from people who dislike his work and want him removed. I can sympathize with how they feel, for one of my fondest wishes is to never see a Debra Saunders column in The Chronicle ever again.
As that underrated philosopher of the '60s Mick Jagger once said, "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might find you get what you need."



This was published Tuesday in the Datebook section of the Chronicle. They called last Thursday asking if they could use it and I left a message saying yes and never heard back. Thought they weren't going to use it after all. I was surprised to find it this morning when I happened to remember and checked online.

Isn't Debra Saunders just wonderful?

A Wonderful Post From A Canadian About Iran, The USA & Nukes

"Speaking as a Canadian who is fond of judicious language, I feel that this situation deserves careful and measured thought. So let me just open with:
Is your entire f*cking country on crack??? Are all you Americans out of your cotton picking minds??? Are you completely freaking delusional? Homicidal? Psychotic? Have you lost any shred of a moral compass? WHAT IN THE NAME OF JESUS H. CHRIST ON A CRUTCH IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!!!!!"


Go read it here.

This is not anything new to think about unless you weren't paying attention, but boy does he nail it. I find out about it at This Modern World which you should always read.

Bush Loves Revisionist History

“You know when I was growin’ up, or other baby boomers here were growin’ up, we felt safe. Because we had these vast oceans that could protect us from harm’s way. September the 11th changed all of that.”

That’s a quote from our Supreme Allied Commander in the “war on terror” George Bush himself. A more flagrant bit of revisionist history you will not read in your lifetime. You could even call it a lie. I could explain why but all you have to do is go over to This Modern World and see for yourself. If I am not mistaken Tom Tomorrow is almost exactly the same age as me and probably has many of the same reference points as I do from our very early years on this blue ball floating in the cosmos.

Another GOP Lie Revealed

Remember all the conservatives talking about how great Chile's private pension plan and "personalized accounts" were doing and we should get rid of Social Security and do something similar? Here is a NY Times story on how it is in need of repair. Guess who is making money on it?

Republican Policy Kills Soldiers

I don't quite know how else to put it. The GOP would rather give tax breaks to the rich than send enough body armor to Iraq to help those soldiers dying in their invasion and occupation of Iraq. Read about it here.

Keep voting Republican and watch the country go down the drain even more. And no, I don't mean because of gays marrying but because of economic policy, which is the real issue.

As If You Needed Another Example...

....of how absolutely clueless and non- reality based your president and mine, George Bush really is, just check out this video courtesy of Crooks & Liars.

Try to believe your president was visiting wounded soldiers at a hospital and while there supposedly giving praise to how much honor they bring to the country he mentioned how he got wounded by a Cedar but won in the end.

Unbelievable.

Poor and working class people still think he is "one of them" which shows how out of touch they really are.

As Molly Ivins has said for years "Bush was born on third base and thought he hit a triple".

Absolutely fucking right Molly.

It is actually worse than I thought. Here is some more video of his visit at the hospital and he mentions how he is working for peace in 2006 and how great the economy is doing and naturally how much illegal wiretapping is really needed to protect you.

George Bush, have you no shame?

What's Wrong With Kansas?

I have just started reading the book, a little late I know, but I had read interviews with him and heard him interviewed on the radio as well so I had a fairly good idea where he was coming from. His book is really well written and as frightening as you can imagine as you read about the self- flagellation of poor and middle class people voting against their own interests over and over again.

You have to admire the GOP and the propaganda they have used to pull this off. It is brilliant but evil of course they are just promoting their own interests and getting people to vote for them on "cultural" and "moral" issues while they raid the treasury.

Astonishing.

Republican Party Is Corrupt...Nothing New!

It is laughable when you have a political party proclaim itself to be righteous and filled with the only "real" Americans after all the members that have come under legal "difficulty" as they say.

Scooter Libby
Bill Frist
Jack Abramoff
Tom DeLay
Bob Ney
Duke Cunningham

The list will just keep on growing and growing. It will be interesting to see how the media are going to ignore the fact that they are all from one party. You know the elephant in the room nobody talks about!

Bill O'Reilly is going to get "into their lives"

Coming from the the falafel king this is quite an interesting thing to say. He gets quite upset about "personal attacks"and really dislikes the New York Times and Frank Rich in particular. You can read about it at Media Matters.

For those with short memories you can read about Bill's fantasies here.

We already know about Bill's personal life more than most of us would care to.