March Of The "Morans"

[BlogBox]

Before we dive head first into the morass that is Bush World and celebrate the bloggers who've thwacked so many BushBots this week, it's important to remember just who we're thwacking and why. So, without further ado, let's...

Thank A DUer!

Many thanks to HawkeyeX for starting an awesome "Get a brain, Morans" thread with lots of great pics, including the ultimate classic moran, as well as the most recent additions to the moran collection:





And thanks to proud2Blib for adding this one to HawkeyeX's collection:


Finally, thanks to Philosoraptor for posting:

Pretty pathetic when your savior is fred frikkin' thompson.

Yep. Pretty pathetic, indeed. You know what else is pathetic? How the corporate-owned media ignores stories they would've Pavlov-ed over had the name Bill Clinton been involved.

And The Media Crickets Band Chirped On...

Why is our national media missing the story of the century? Scarecrow at Firedoglake wants to know.

Too many in the media seem either in denial or blissfully ignorant that we are headed for an unavoidable showdown to determine whether the constitutional principle of checks and balances will survive. That's the principle that stands between democratic government that respects the limits of government power so as to safeguard individual liberties against government encroachment, and a very different concept of government that recognizes no limits on the executive's ability to slide into potential tyranny. In this showdown America will decide whether the rule of law applies to the executive or whether we move inexorably towards an unaccountable executive - in essence, a monarchy in which there is no meaningful check on the President's power and no meaningful oversight of his actions while he remains in office. And if that doesn't interest you as political news people, you're in the wrong profession.

Hello, Tim Russert and Katie Couric! Hello Wolf Blitzer and PBS NewsHour! The biggest political story in a century is unfolding right in front of you, and you're not reporting it; you're missing the forest and just barely covering a few trees. Wake up and do your jobs, because we need you and it's your country too.

By the way, "the forest" link takes you to Bill Moyers' video on impeachment, and the transcript is posted there, too. Definitely bookmark-worthy.

You Don't Need A Bazooka To Swat That Gnat, O'Reilly

Major snaps to Taylor Marsh for her play-by-play post on how easily Clinton's man, Howard Wolfson, swatted Bill O'Reilly without resorting to a bazooka.

But last night Howard Wolfson laid Bill-O out.

"I think it's unfortunate that in the last week or so you have cherry picked some comments on the Daily Kos site that you or I or others might find objectionable and decided to smear an entire community - hundreds of thousands of people who go to the site every day, who talk to one another, who participate vigorously in our democracy; and you are urging Democratic presidential candidates to stay away from their yearly conference. And unfortunately with all due respect for you, the days where you can dictate where Senator Clinton and other Democrats go, who we talk to, are over." - Howard Wolfson

Going on "The Factor" to talk about Clinton's appearance at YearlyKos after Howard Wolfson his comment about O'Reilly's attacks on the convention, as well as Daily Kos, was a brilliant move. That Wolfson left Bill O'Reilly slack jawed was a bonus. Wolfson didn't get combative or argumentative. He didn't offer a laundry list of insults that O'Reilly himself has hurled. Wolfson didn't name all the guests and the outrageous things that get said on "The Factor" either, but only mentioned that reality almost in passing, as an assumption. He didn't have to. Instead, Wolfson stated very matter-of-factly that O'Reilly was wrong to say the things he did and "cherry pick" comments from a blog that has millions of commenters over the last years. He also talked about the thousands of dedicated progressives out here in the blogosphere, as well as stating that he didn't agree with every single comment, but policy disagreements are welcome. Wolfson acknowledged the criticism Clinton takes in the blogosphere, which is an understatement. You've seen the video, so you know how this turned out.

O'Reilly, throughout it all, kept coming at Wolfson, intent on making him blink, back down, come over to Bill-O's side. When O'Reilly read some of the comments placed on Daily Kos, he made sure to read one about "the blue dress," which had a twisted smear that was directed at candidate Clinton. You could see Wolfson close his eyes at that point. It was a disgusting display by O'Reilly to try to goad Wolfson down to his level. But he didn't bite, not once, not ever.

Crooks and Liars has the video plus much more on Bill-O's "Don't Go To Yearly Kos" hatefest. And while we're on the subject of Bill-O, he's morphed into both pot and kettle this week. John Aravosis at America Blog explains...

Bill O'Reilly's Web site threatens Hillary's life

FOX News' Bill O'Reilly has been attacking the liberal blog Daily Kos, and liberal blogs in general, over some extreme comments left by some of our visitors. It's interesting therefore that O'Reilly's own Web site contains some of the most hideous hate you've ever seen. Over the next few hours, we'll be documenting some of that hate. And you'll be interested to know that while O'Reilly holds others responsible for the words strangers leave on their Web sites, on O'Reilly's Web site, he's not responsible at all for the hate and threats his readers leave behind. And I quote O'Reilly's own Web site:

"BillOReilly.com will not be held liable for any user activity on the message boards. We do not actively monitor user-submitted content."

You see, it's okay when he does it.

By the way, ?CLICK">here's the Bill-O link to those nasty anti-Hillary comments.

Mysterious Ways, Indeed

Sometimes you just have to wonder. Check out these two images posted at Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy and see if the "Newsfake" one isn't really so fake, after all:

Goose, meet gander

Bad news:



Good news:

Truly heavy sigh. But where there's a yin, there's always a yang. Sort of...

Bupkis, Meet Glove (Or One Media Cricket Chirps)

This week, White House spokesFOXer Tony Snow claimed that making Attorney General Alberto Gonzales clarify his senate testimony was "bupkis," and so far no one had "laid a glove on him." Well, Think Progress has the Associated Press's smoking glove:

AP Reveals New Document Demonstrates 'Clear Case' Of Gonzales Perjury On Spying Program

The AP reports that a four-page memo sent by then-National Intelligence Director John Negroponte in May 2006 confirms that a March 2004 White House intelligence briefing for top congressional leaders was on "the Terrorist Surveillance Program."

That's the way the bupkis bites, Tony. Oh, by the way...

How To Lie Like BushBot

Mad Kane has done it again! She's managed to reduce all BushBot lies to their lowest common denominator... in one simple limerick:

Alberto Gonzales is but one of the Bushie liars and Bush enablers whose Congressional hearing testimony can be summarized by this limerick:

Every Bushie's Testimony Summed Up In A Single Limerick
By Madeleine Begun Kane

"Don't recall, don't remember, can't say
What I did or I said on that day.
But I happily swear
On the life of ma mère,
I did nothing that's wrongful. No way!"

Frankly, there's more news value in that one limerick than a whole day of cable snooze coverage.

Still Looking For Real News?

The Real News Network website is up, running, and on track to provide real web-based TV news this Fall.

The Real News will investigate, report and debate stories that help us understand the critical issues of our time. We will combine breaking-news footage from around the world with reportage from some of the world's best journalists, expanding from several news items per day to a 24/7 news website and daily news hour for television.

This is not CNN. And Katie Couric doesn't work there. Hell, Wolf Blitzer wouldn't even make it through the first personnel interview session. There won't be aby corporate sponsors to censor things like... oh, I don't know... the #1 YouTube debate question, which was (per Democrats.com) on impeachment. Real news. How cool is that? Back to that CNN control of the debate questions deal...

Cyborg Or Impeachment?

Does anyone honestly believe that the most popular debate question was about Arnold Schwarzenegger's cyborg impersonator gig? Me, either. Rory O'Connor explains:

Unfortunately, and all too typically, however, CNN's old media fear of losing control trumped its fascination with the new. In only going halfway, the cable news net delivered an inevitable result - a debate that was only half great. Instead of leaving the decision of which questions would be asked to the same citizens who had already sent in thousands of mostly intelligent, serious and to-the-point videos, CNN honchos decided they needed to 'filter' the process and decide themselves which questions would get asked, so as to ensure the seriousness and high purpose of the evening would not be dragged through the mud of the mob. To defend this dubious decision, they pointed to a crazy question about Arnold Schwarzenegger being a cyborg as the 'most popular' questioned submitted to YouTube. It turns out that was just an 'early return,' however, and in the end the most popular question - which went unchosen by the CNN priesthood and thus unasked - was a very serious one about the possible impeachment of President Bush.

CNN's reticence and failure to embrace either the promise or full reality of citizen media was clearly a mistake - but an unsurprising one. The initial error of exerting 'too much control' was compounded by a second one - the unwillingness or inability of moderator Cooper adequately to control the candidates and push them to answer in a forthright manner those questions CNN did at least allow to be asked. Failing to exert proper control as moderator too often meant that a great, pointed question from the electorate was met by the sort of evasion and obfuscation one has become accustomed to hearing from those so anxious to represent us.

Don't hold your breath waiting for CNN (or any other corporate-owned media outlet, for that matter) to give up more control, Rory. Ain't gonna happen. For more thoughtful commentary on CNN's YouTube Debate, check out PM Carpenter's post, "CNN's YouTooCanMakeItMeaningless.com format." Here's a snippet:

Bam. Obama was hurt, bleeding like the public treasury. But did he have a chance to counterpunch? -- that is, actually debate the point? Silly us. Next question.

At any rate Dick Morris cleared it up for us afterward, saying Hillary's punch might appeal to the snooty, inside-the-Beltway crowd, but Obama was speaking for "the people." I, for one, and as one, was glad he cleared it up.

Is there anyone out there as nasty as Dick "Toe Sucker" Morris or any other Bornagain BushBot? Uh, yeah...

Watch Out, Sesame Place! Elmo's Got A Gun!

In one the most ridiculous public relations campaigns ever waged, the National Rifle Association is offering a Sesame Place Theme Park discount in return for donations to the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action Of course, The Gun Guys are on the case:

A "family-friendly organization?" Are you kidding? How does the NRA say something like that with a straight face?

"Family-friendly?"

This from an organization that thinks the deaths of young children is worth the price of easy access to guns? Or even more chilling, the "price of freedom?" In fact, according to the CDC, between 1999 and 2004, over 900 children and young people under 18-years-old died from unintentional gun injuries.

Truly sad.

Let's recap: the YouTube debate wasn't a debate, and CNN controlled the questions; the media continues to ignore the most important political stories of our time; our attorney general is a liar and belongs in prison; it's easy to thwack Bill O'Reilly if you can stomach talking to him; and just because you hand out discount coupons doesn't mean that guns don't kill children.

What a week. The morans are marching en masse, infiltrating Internet message boards with their divisive drivel, and doing everything they can to make you question your political point of view. But... ye shall know them by their straw men and bad grammar. Don't fall into their traps, don't feed them, and do sound the alert if you suspect flame bait dangling in cyberspace or in letters to editors. Their number isn't legion, and neither is their amount of grey matter. Stand tall, and keep fighting those tightie righties: they have everything to lose and nothing to be proud of.

-- Delilah Boyd

[PurpleChez]

1. I never get tired of seeing the "Get a Brain, Morans" guy.

I'm just sad that, from what I've read, he's never been identified. Stupidity like that -- not to mention that natty bandana -- should be honored. (Perhpas his mullet was wet that morning and he had to put it up.)

[YOY]

3. The quintessential mouth breathing dupe who falls for the shit they dish out

n/t

[PurpleChez]

4. Given the revolutionary roots of our nation, I always wonder

how it ever came to be that anti-intellectual dullards with a "do what you're told" mentality are seen/see themselves as the Real Americans. Bill Maher has a good bit on that. Somewhere....

[opusprime]

2. Even though I have seen most of these pictures before...

they give me a real chuckle when they are stacked up like that.

"Respect are-country" - nearly brought tears to my eyes.

[L. Coyote]

5. STOP the Moran Morass.