Do It I luv Jane Hamsher. I’d totally marry her, given half a chance. But there are some reasons to disagree with her on the Dems’ health care reform. So here’s a point-by-point response to her “10 Reasons” post. Some of these…
Save Israel From Its Rightwing Destroyers The far right really is intimidated by J Street. Check out this limp hit by Lenny Ben David, the West Bank settler who has been tasked with smearing J Street by investigating its donors. Lenny, who was sent packing by…
Clayton Swisher Reports From Kandahar My friend, Clay Swisher at Al Jazeerah, , reports on choices American military personnel must make in Afghanistan. Check it out. Anyone who think Afpak choices are easy especially need to see this. PS Clayton, be careful. At least, for…
Mary Matalin claims President Bush ?inherited? the September 11th terror attacks. On CNN today, GOP strategist and former Dick Cheney adviser Mary Matalin argued that President Obama is speaking too much about the severe debt, deficits, and economic recession he inherited from the previous administration. Defending her former boss, Matalin charged that President Bush had in fact “inherited a recession” and the September 11th attacks from […]
On CNN today, GOP strategist and former Dick Cheney adviser Mary Matalin argued that President Obama is speaking too much about the severe debt, deficits, and economic recession he inherited from the previous administration. Defending her former boss, Matalin charged that President Bush had in fact “inherited a recession” and the September 11th attacks from President Clinton:
MATALIN: I was there, we inherited a recession from President Clinton and we inherited the most tragic attack on our own soil in our nation’s history. And President Bush dealt with it and within a year of his presidency within a comparable time, unemployment was at 5 percent.
Watch it:
In reality, the terror attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center occurred on Sept. 11, 2001 — eight months into President Bush’s first term. Also, the 2001 recession technically began in March of 2001, well after Bush assumed office. Last month, former Bush administration spokesperson Dana Perino claimed that “we did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush’s term.” Former Bush administration officials seem intent on misrepresenting history to pretend that the country never suffered its worst terror attack in history under Bush’s watch. It’s a peculiar talking point, even considering the other efforts to whitewash Bush’s disastrous record.
Palin rehashes ?metaphor? excuse to dodge accountability for the Lie of the Year. Sarah Palin must be running out of excuses for her gaffes. As ThinkProgress noted earlier this week, the former governor was forced to address her “death panel” lie in the wake of PolitiFact’s designation of her claim as “Lie of the Year.” In an attempt to spin the lie, Palin is now calling the “death […]
Sarah Palin must be running out of excuses for her gaffes. As ThinkProgress noted earlier this week, the former governor was forced to address her “death panel” lie in the wake of PolitiFact’s designation of her claim as “Lie of the Year.” In an attempt to spin the lie, Palin is now calling the “death panel” claim a “metaphor“:
Though Nancy Pelosi and friends have tried to call “death panels” the “lie of the year,” this type of rationing – what the CBO calls “reduc[ed] access to care” and “diminish[ed] quality of care” – is precisely what I meant when I used that metaphor.
This should sound familiar to those who have been closely following Palin’s year-and-a-half in the spotlight. After Palin made the jaw-dropping claim that Alaska’s proximity to Russia counts as foreign policy experience, the McCain-Palin campaign used the “metaphor” excuse to defend the then-Governor:
A senior campaign aide who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity admitted that Palin’s knowledge of Russia may be limited to the way someone from Miami might obtain a general feel for Latin America.
“It is very much being able to look off the tip of Alaska,” the aide said. “Metaphorically, I’m talking about.”
Despite how metaphorical, allegorical, or analytical people attempt to make Palin sound, the truth is that her limitlessstring of gaffes and missteps are simply nonsensical.
Equipment to detect explosives is available The explosive allegedly used in the failed bombing plot aboard a transatlantic jetliner over Detroit on Christmas Day could have been detected by existing screening equipment, and the failure to do so reflects significant weaknesses in aviation security and intelligence, former U.S. government…
Uninvestigated terrorism warning about Detroit suspect called not unusual When Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s father in Nigeria reported concern over his son’s “radicalization” to the U.S. Embassy there last month, intelligence officials in the United States deemed the information insufficient to pursue. The young man’s name was added to the half-million entries in a…
My Conservative Brother’s Annual Column Maureen Dowd, NY Times WASHINGTONMaureen Dowd As my brother Kevin headed off to Christmas Eve Mass in the Maryland suburbs, I asked him how he thought the first year of Barack Obama had gone. He didn’t have to pray long over that one. “Fine,” he replied, “if you like unmitigated disasters like the Hindenburg and the Redskins season.” If it’s Christmas, it must be time for my conservative brother to take over my column and turn it a blazing shade of red. So without further ado, here is Kevin unplugged, offering a perspective from “the real…
John McCain is the Man (of a Year Too Late) Bill O’Reilly, Boston Herald Pity Ben Bernanke. He was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year, and the reaction rivaled fish sticks in the enthusiasm category. Old Ben might well be the guy of 2009, but few know who he is or understand what he does. Being chairman of the Federal Reserve may have advantages, but public visibility is not among them.Here’s all you need to know: After being honored by Time, Ben did not get a call from Oprah.When you think about persons of the year, the list is short. Perhaps Lady Gaga, Nancy Pelosi or the late Edward Kennedy, who drove the health-care bill. This was not…
Tsunami, Five Years After Five years ago, almost 250,000 people were killed by one of the worst natural disasters of the modern epoch, the tsunami in the Indian Ocean. Today, citizens are memorializing those who were lost and pointing to the fact that many villagers are still homeless or without proper housing. —JCL The Guardian: Countries across the Indian Ocean are today solemnly marking the fifth anniversary of the tsunami that killed almost 250,000 people. In Indonesia’s Aceh province, where more than 166,000 died, thousands held prayers in public mosques and private homes. On Thai beaches, Buddhist monks in saffron robes chanted prayers as mourners held pictures of loved ones lost on Boxing Day five years ago. Hundreds of tourists returned to Phuket to mark one of the worst natural disasters of modern times. A moment of silence was observed on Patong Beach in Phuket to mark the moment the tsunami struck. Read more
Five years ago, almost 250,000 people were killed by one of the worst natural disasters of the modern epoch, the tsunami in the Indian Ocean. Today, citizens are memorializing those who were lost and pointing to the fact that many villagers are still homeless or without proper housing.? —JCL
The Guardian:
Countries across the Indian Ocean are today solemnly marking the fifth anniversary of the tsunami that killed almost 250,000 people.
In Indonesia’s Aceh province, where more than 166,000 died, thousands held prayers in public mosques and private homes. On Thai beaches, Buddhist monks in saffron robes chanted prayers as mourners held pictures of loved ones lost on Boxing Day five years ago.
Hundreds of tourists returned to Phuket to mark one of the worst natural disasters of modern times.
A moment of silence was observed on Patong Beach in Phuket to mark the moment the tsunami struck.
States With Expanded Health Coverage Fight Bill States that have already broadly expanded health care coverage are pushing back against the Senate overhaul bill, arguing that it unfairly penalizes them in favor…
Sarah Palin must be running out of excuses for her gaffes. As ThinkProgress 
