For some reason, after years of using Alan Colmes as a personal punching bag for bringing a thesaurus to a knife fight, Sean Hannity is doing to pre-inaugural stunt casting and has invited Rev. Al Sharpton and Meatloaf to an upcoming segment of his shout-fest on FOX News. I don't know if this is just to stir up some trouble/ratings, but say what you will about the Good Reverend Al -- he's no Al Colmes.
My one true criticism of Hannity (coveted winner of The Black Snob's "Most Hated" award on "Top Pundit") was that it was unfair to bring the mild-mannered, librarian like Colmes to his Fight Night at the Apollo Creed-like show. If he had his druthers and really wanted to stir up things he'd have on someone as loud and crazy as himself, like Ed Schultz, who I can't stand, because he is just as irresponsible with his words and conspiracy theories as Hannity is. A nut should fight a nut, but no, he picked Colmes to berate and mock because he wanted to promote the stereotype of the wimpy, effete Liberal (even though Colmes sort of developed a bit of a spine as Obama gained momentum towards the end, perhaps knowing that he was totally blowing this Popsicle stand once the election was over).
Al is more like Ed than he is like Alan. A matter of fact, he's a lot like Ed, only Al (shock of shocks) is slightly more responsible about the words that come flying out of his mouth. Dare I say it: he has some restraint compared to the feral Schultz. That said, Al is as much of a scheming, sly opportunist as Hannity and a likely bit smarter around the mouth area. He will be bringing a gun underneath that James Brown perm to the knife fight? You know the Good Reverend always does!
So what is this? Suicidal or crazy like a FOX News show? I think it's a little of both. And if Hannity is savvy, he will bring on more lefty whackadooes and less Liberal cockadoos, re: people as nutters as he is on the left, to produce a more "entertaining" fight for the masses. Plus, he might get some people other than the regulars to watch the show and all TV news is turning into shouting as a viable public discourse so, why not? He could actually claim the "high horse" over Keith Olbermann and charge that he at least has Liberals on his show to mock regularly, as opposed to fellow ideologues and "impartial" beat reporters.
And that is my biggest criticism of Keith, who I enjoy occasionally, but sometimes annoys the shit out of me. At least Chris Matthews and Papa Bear Bill O'Reilly invite the opposition onto Hardball and The Factor to get shouted down and berated like the condemned, sans ciggie, in front of a loud, obnoxious, verbal-diarrhea afflicted firing squad. Keith is as loud as the rest of them. What gives? Why is lovable, hateful, crazy Pat Buchanan the only member of the Fightin' Fruitcakes to get an occasional spot at the table? I mean, I love crazy Pat the Bigot as much as the next person, but, c'mon, you could have his equally hateful sister, Bay, on once and awhile! Jon Stewart does!
But back to the question at hand: Hannity versus Sharpton -- will you watch? (Or will you watch it on YouTube, I should say. I know some of us are pretty adamant about not supporting FOX in any form.)
The new Alan Colmes-less Hannity premieres Monday with frequent Fox News guest Al Sharpton filling the liberal seat on Sean Hannity's newly christened "Great American Panel."
Rep. Michelle Bachman (R-Minn.) will fill the seat on the right. (And she should have plenty to talk about given the Senate dispute in her state between Al Franken and Norm Coleman.) ...
Hannity will employ a rotating panel in lieu of a permanent ideological counterpoint. The show will also bow a few new elements including the Hate Hannity Hotline featuring highlights from Hannity haters.
Side note: If Hannity's show does turn into "Fight Club" would this mean that FOX News has actually recreated CNN's "iconic" (and I say that ironically) original political fight club show, Crossfire? And does that mean Jon Stewart can get invited on to kill the show again? Because that, my friend, that was awesome. Jon Stewart KILLED A SHOW!
Why do others care? It's Ann Coulter. She's two steps from self-immolation just to sell a book. And she's impervious to insults because, seriously, what can you say about the bag-o-bones that hasn't been said before? Isn't it just sad and funny now? Yet, this is everywhere so ... HERE IT IS ON THE SNOB!
Coulter wrote, "Her obvious imitation of Jackie O's style - the flipped-under hair, the sleeveless A-line dresses, the short strands of fake pearls - would have been laughable if done by anyone other than a media-designated saint."(Huffington Post)
Oh, SNAP! Damn, Ann! Can't top that one! Michelle's a bootleg Jackie O. clone and she's married to B. Hussein Obama. Dammit woman, get some new material! If you're going to raise my ire at least make an effort. This is sooo not low blow enough. Where are all the cocaine references? The misuse of hip hop slang? The "angry black woman" shizz? Accuse Michelle of sucking the blood of dead fetuses or something to keep her youthful sheen. Baby rape is always a winner. Trust!
Maybe you can find some new 9-11 wives to mock. Maybe military widows this time.
OK, Ragedy Ann, I'll quit my mockery and admit my obvious bias. When it comes to conservative female pundits, I have picked my poisons -- James Carville's equally nutters wife Mary Matalin; the original Ann Coulter (but better, bitchier and, dare I say it, smarter) Bay Buchanan; CNN conservative/independent darling Amy Holmes and the equally hateful, but more entertaining Laura Ingraham. GO AWAY, Ann! I can't take someone who took the Prince of Darkness to the prom seriously. Amy AT LEAST goes for cute Jew boys. Have some STANDARDS!!!
Mike Paul, Republican strategist, tells Pat Buchanan, unapologetic bastard, that the Republicans need to be a "big tent party" and reach out to the young, women and minorities. Pat's all, "Um ... no." Then has a good laugh about it, doing his best to frustrate, confound and infuriate Paul, who (naturally) wishes there would be more than just him, Condi Rice, Michael Steele and Ron Christie at the holiday party. Pat is Pat and Paul takes offense. Insanity ensues and this time Chris Matthews didn't have to do any heavy lifting. I can't believe I forgot to post this last week!
Pat, who I "lovingly" call "The Bigot," is notorious for not putting up any happy-talk when it comes to doing anything different from what they did in the Nixon Administration to get some black votes. Pat's of the mind that if you can get your 12 to 20 percent, great. If you can't, who cares? Why is he going to waste time winning over people he either:
A) Believes cannot be won over
B) Doesn't want anyway
Pat all but told Paul, "Vote Republican! That's great! Convince your friends and family! Go do that! Me? Me? I'm doing what I've always done. Jack shit. Because I don't give a shit. No sir. I do not!"
What's "sad" is some ... er ... ill-informed conservatives have bashed Paul on the blogosphere for this above sparring with Buchanan, accusing him of supporting Barack Obama. I'm going to assume they based that on pigmentation only because between Paul, Ron Christie and Amy Holmes, I don't know who was tripping over their feet the hardest to explain why electing Barack Obama would be a nightmare. I almost wanted to comment and defend Paul, then I remembered how I couldn't stand him and stopped myself. "What am I doing!" I said as I started to type.
But, you know, I care. Even when I don't agree. I care ... about keeping the record straight. Besides, I don't want them putting Mike Paul and The Snob on the same team.
PS. I'm still on vacation! Complain all you want, but Mariah and Nick will still be there until next Monday (because I wrote all the items two weeks in advance)!
Someone won't stop hitting the Sarah Palin panic button at McCain headquarters and the giant screeching noise is giving me a headache
When all this Republican caterwauling over Sarah Palin ruining everything began a few weeks ago little did I know that it would get this far.
For the first time since never, a political party has begun its "pre-blame game" for a loss that hasn't even taken place yet.
I blame the yellow bellies of The George Will Revolt. They kicked off this kvetching, leading to multitudes of smarty-pants, conservative-to-moderate noodle-noses balking over marching to the Sarah Palin drum.
They'd choked down their George W. BushBoones Farm and pretended like it was Chablis, but they were not sucking down this latest batch of Palin Political-Wine-in-A-Box.
They went to Harvard. They are simply better than this ... all of a sudden.
Watching columnists, politicos, pundits and authors suddenly bolt from the McCain-Palin Pox has been amazing. Individuals who normally would have held their noses and voted McCain for King of America for All Eternity over "pick-a-Democrat-any-Democrat" are scrunchie-faced because they refuse to share a cheerleading section with Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Kellyanne Fitzpatrick Conway. The nerve!
Oh, now you don't like the Blonde Fembots for Freedom and their candidate of choice? You are soooo getting put in their slam book, Peggy Noonan!
Then there are the staffers, the back-biting, shark-jumping, whiny staffers, leaking words like "whack job" and "diva" to the press, who are basically accusing Palin of being the causation of the entire downfall of the ticket, party and possibly the industrial world. She just cruised in wearing a tiara and playing a flute, taking a wrecking ball to it all.
Really, noodle-noses? Really?
While I can't stand anything about Gov. Palin, the Maybe it's a pitbull, Maybe it's Maybelline cadidate, is not the cause of The Great GOP Panic of 2008.
She is a mere symptom.
The "panic" is a McCain-Bush production based purely on Bush having the opposite of the Midas touch and McCain tying himself to Bush post-2004 when the senator finally stopped hating Junior just long enough to realize he wanted to be president that badly.
Let's be real here -- John McCain PICKED Sarah Palin. Palin did not hop on Todd's snow machine with her five kids, future grandchild, governorship, a six pack of Schlitz and a sawed off shotgun (hand on pump, of course) and demand Mr. Walnut Cheeks to put her on the ticket. She was chillin' in Anchorage where no one knew her from Adam as the longest of longshots while Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty and Charlie Crist took turns holding the bowl of ice water McCain soaks his balls in while reciting the most famous line from Grey's Anatomy over and over: "Pick me. Choose me. Love me."
It didn't matter if they'd seen McCain and Sen.Joe Lieberman holding hands the other day. McCain needed a pro-lifer and everyone in that trio loved life ... especially if it began and ended on Pennsylvania Avenue. Crist was willing to enter a loveless marriage ... with a woman! It was that serious! So poor pitiful McCain had options and he went with a little Northern Lights "Razzle Dazzle."
Now Gov. Crist has extended poll hours in Florida from eight-a-day to 12. Apparently he is ignoring his "please do your best to suppress the vote turnout" memo.
But if the McCain campaign thinks Palin is some hick albatross they can to dress up to the tune of $150,000 only to hang this screeching, screaming, faltering massive Republican freak-out on her, they are sadly mistaken. No sir! You will NOT blame the Caribou Barbie for this! Every time you point one finger at the failed sportscaster you point three more back at you.
If I were Sarah Palin, I'd be looking out for number one like I legally changed my name to Ocho Cinco. She may not be an intellectual, but she's no numb-nuts. She can see the-powers-that-be within the McCain campaign measuring the noose for "a long drop with a short stop" just for her after the election. Why not go rogue when you know John McCain was only using you as disgruntled Clintonista/Jesus Freak bait anyway? It's Operation Chaos, baby. Yukon style.
Palin is doing one of my favorite "wronged woman" routines -- The Bitch Who Would Not Die. (Sometimes also known as The Bitch Who Would Not Leave. Just think Angelina Jolie in every movie she's ever been in and of Jennifer Holiday singing "And I Am Telling You" from the original Broadway production of Dreamgirls.)
The phrase refers to that point in the book, soap opera, movie or life story where everyone has decided that a particular woman is horrible and should just go away for the bettermint of everyone, but that woman looks back and screams nothing but Efie White until she either gets carted away or starts getting AWESOME.
Now, I don't want this to go "awesome" for Palin. I want this to end with her vice presidential dreams dying quite abruptly on Nov. 4. But until then, I want to see her go out in a psychotic blaze of glory. Don't wait for General Sherman and his army to show up and burn your proverbial Atlanta to the ground when you can torch that sucker yourself! Burn, baby, burn, Sarah Palin! Go so "Rogue*" you start hanging out with Stan Lee, wearing yellow and green jumpsuits. Dye a long white streak in your auburn hair and accessorize all your Anchorage consignment shop suits with full-length leather gloves as you purge the posh money Republicans, centrists and Colin Powells from the party.
There's only one way McCain can make the potential election loss on stick to My Fair Veep. McCain would have to capitulate again, join The George Will Revolt, denounce himself and cheer on as the GOP burns with Palin as the last woman standing, fatally destroying her chances of a second act.
Of course, McCain quitting would STILL make her crashing and burning and going "oh what a world!" John McCain's fault, but it might distract a few people.
Or he could concede. I suggest he consider it.
*And, yes. That is my second X-Men reference for the week. And, yes, when not being a snob, I am a nerd. And no, Todd cannot be Gambit even if Todd kind of looks like Gambit with short hair. He's not from the Bayou and he's not Cajun and I've revealed enough of my nerdom for TODAY!
What have I become, my sweetest friend Everyone I know goes away in the end You could have it all My empire of dirt I will let you down I will make you hurt -- Nine Inch Nails, "Hurt"
When Sen. John McCain looks at himself in the mirror does he like what he sees?
I've never been a fan of the senator, but there was a time when I didn't loathe the man. I was disgusted over his push back of a federal holiday for Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1980s, but time passed and by 2000, I was so blinded by my utter distaste from the inarticulate, "reformed" frat boy slacker seed of George Herbert Walker Bush, that McCain seemed endearing. Refreshing even. He was a champion on ethics and campaign finance reform (largely out of the hard lessons learned during to the Keating 5 scandal.) To the media, who he once affectionately called his base, couldn't get enough of his accessibility and loquacity and his affinity for "straight talk."
There was this sense that John McCain was letting you in on what was really going down within the Republican Party. There was even a time, after getting trounced in 2000 by George W. Bush, when he was actively being sought by Democrats to at least become a dependent or switch sides altogether.
He entertained the notion, but like Sen. Chuck Hagel did recently, he declined.
The race in 2000 was devastating to McCain on all fronts. His wife was verbally abused and assaulted for her painkiller addiction. His adopted Bangladeshi daughter Bridget was used as a smear to insinuate that McCain had fathered a black child out of wedlock. He was accused of being a traitor to his fellow POWs. He was accused of being unfit for command due to post-traumatic stress and a bad temper. Karl Rove's minions all but branded the man as insane.
McCain, never good at hiding his true feelings, hated Bush. He might still hate Bush. The 2000 South Carolina leg of the Republican campaign was dirty. The man turned tail on the red hot Confederate flag issue. Bush's team humiliated him. Other conservatives hated him because his ethics reform dogma interfered with being a true GOP party man.
When he endorsed Bush in 2000 after being destroyed by the affable man-child, he could barely contain his bitterness and he spat out several times in a row:
I endorse Gov. Bush! I endorse Gov. Bush! I endorse Gov. Bush! I endorse Gov. Bush! I endorse Gov. Bush!
He said he didn't want the vice presidency. His body language said he didn't want anything to do with him.
What a difference four years make.
After years of being bitter, after the smears, the lies and the obfuscations, Sen. John McCain found himself on a stage helping out a man he hated. Mired in a tough 2004 presidential re-election campaign McCain lent his credibility and brand to Bush, famously captured in the photo of that enthusiastic, but awkward embrace. This snapshot demonstrated McCain had decided if he could not beat them, he would join them.
All was far in love, war and politics.
Old enemies became tepid friends. Bush had an incredible team who could raise funds and get him elected. The both had similar views on the rectitude of the war. The Republican Party was known for rewarding individuals when it was "their time" to be the nominee. McCain was finally willing to capitulate, finally willing to play ball.
Finally willing to bend over and sell his soul in one tender embrace.
It is the defining moment of John McCain's political career: The Hug. George W. Bush's 2004 reelection campaign needed help. After four years of a surprisingly radical brand of conservatism, Mr. Bush needed some moderate bona fides. After a campaign of fiction and falsehoods that led us to war, Bush needed a credibility transfusion. After the Democrats nominated a certified war hero, John Kerry, Mr. Bush (who famously avoided serving not only in Vietnam but even in the Alabama National Guard) needed a warrior's support.
And so John McCain gave him The Hug.
In embracing George W. Bush that August afternoon in Pensacola, Florida, John McCain embraced Mr. Bush's agenda, his policies, his principles, and his manipulative, mendacious brand of politics. And McCain embraced him with gusto.
This wasn't an irrationally exuberant Sammy Davis, Jr., spontaneously wrapping his arms around Richard Nixon. This was a calculated, choreographed commitment. The John McCain most people thought they knew would never have hugged George W. Bush. More likely, he'd have punched him in the nose. And for good reason.
Put yourself in McCain's shoes. Someone benefited from (and, some believe, orchestrated) the most savage attack on your sexuality, your sanity, your marriage, your wife, and your daughter. He smirked as his supporters attacked your honor, your dignity, your manhood, and your innocent child. What would you do? Seriously. Some of us might have shunned someone who'd treated us that way. Others might have cursed them. Still others might have kicked them in the shin or kneed them in the groin. But not John McCain.
John McCain hugged George W. Bush.
What about forgiveness? you may ask. Good point. But forgiveness starts with confession and contrition, and neither Mr. Bush nor his top advisers have ever manned up and confessed to smearing McCain. Indeed, as recently as 2007, Karl Rove aggressively challenged a questioner who alleged he had "helped spread the false story" about McCain's daughter. "That is absolutely not true, and I take offense," Rove replied to the questioner at Troy University in Alabama. "If you have any bit of evidence that anybody connected with the Bush campaign was involved in that, you bring it forward, because it is a reckless charge."
So why would John McCain embrace George W. Bush? Not to be too simplistic: He wanted to. He believed in the Bush agenda and wanted to advance it into a second term.
But I'd take this one further with Begala.
John McCain embraced Bush for John McCain. Not for the country or ideology or party solidarity. He embraced him because he believed it benefited him and his cause. It gave him leverage. Now W. owned him one. If he became the nominee in 2008 that meant access to W.'s people, donors and team. The same individuals who successfully brought down him and Sen. John Kerry.
No longer the "outsider," he would be in that inner circle by the oldest political deception -- the marriage of convenience.
The base loved Bush, not McCain, and he would never see the White House without the support of the base. The 2000 race had taught him that. So many enemies became friends like Bush, McCain found himself kissing and making up with old adversaries like Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, the numerous Republican operatives who spread those defamatory tales.
McCain began selling it all away -- his morals, his integrity -- the minute he decided that power trumped all. In his self-prostitution he decided he could make it up to the country later.
If he was the right man for the job, and he'd believed he was, America would understand.
The ends justify the means.
Yet what I've seen lately is a man who has sold so much of himself for victory he is running out virtues to markdown. These last six months John McCain has been hosting a morality fire sale. All items must go to insure the presidency.
Straight talk? Gone. Integrity? Gone. The high road? He's on the low. Experience? Gone with the Palin. Why try substance when you can pull stunts? Why bother with talking to the best of Americans when you can rile up the weak base by appealing to the worst? Let's bring back the ghost of Jesse Helms to reach out with his white hands and snatch the White House away from a steadily advancing Obama.
Early this summer we learned that Sen. Hillary Clinton's fired adviser Mark Penn wanted the Senator to push hard on Obama by painting him as "the other." He wanted her to bring up former Weather Underground founder and 1960s counter-culture activist/reformed domestic terrorist William Ayers, by pushing harder on his "exotic" upbringing, by painting him as unAmerican.
Clinton was accused of a lot of things throughout the 2008 Democratic Primary, but in this one situation the-woman-who-would-not-be-queen said no. She had to draw a line somewhere. Calling Obama a dangerous foreigner was it.
McCain started out the general election, disowning individuals who demagogued Obama for having a Muslim name or those who used racial slurs. He said he was going to run on the issues, but the issues were not in his favor.
McCain tried a lot of things to "define" Obama, but none of them stuck. He's inexperienced! He's a celebrity! He's an elitist! He eats arugala! A lot of the false outrage rang of hypocrisy. McCain, while being in the senate for 26 years had no more executive experience than Obama. McCain was infinitely more wealthy than Obama by virtue of his rich second wife, Cindy's, inheritance. He was a sub par student who got into and got by in the academy trading off his father's well-respected name.
He gained some ground when he pulled out the politrick of picking Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, but in a matter of weeks (and a few nightmarish interviews), he was down again. The thinking class of the Republican Party were already writing his obituary, leaving him alone with the disparate fractions of a broken political apparatus.
Columnist David Brooks of The George Will Revolt (growing larger with every passing day) called McCain's vice presidential select "a fatal cancer to the Republican Party."
Then McCain was struck by his Achilles' heel. Not his temper, but his other Achilles' heel -- the economy.
When the market crashed he was found flat-footed. He gambled again on an "in-name-only" campaign suspension to work on the crisis. He came off as harried and erratic compared to Obama's calm, unflappable demeanor.
He'd done all he could, he sold all he could to get to where he is now. Maybe in his mind he could justify it. He could make it up to America later. He was the right man for the job and Obama wasn't so it was OK. Maybe that's what he told himself when he looked in the mirror before joining in with the angry, fearful mob shouting out "terrorist," "off with his head" and "kill him," during rallies. The mob that was fuming and thrilled every time Sarah Palin pounded Obama for a trumped up relationship with Ayers.
Like a not-so-secret recipe of hate -- add one part Ayers, one part black, one part "secret Muslim" and one part "Hussein" -- no one in the McCain campaign would admit what their alphabet soup was spelling, but his supporters could easily read fill in the blanks.
Terrorist. Dangerous. Manchurian candidate. Foreigner. Black. Bad. "Not one of us."
It's been done since forever and many times it has worked. But this is a different candidate, a different election and a different electorate. Dog whistles are one thing. The tubthumping of Palin, John McCain and a suddenly "mad as hell and not going to take it anymore" Cindy McCain, were leading a rallying cry for the natives to grab their torches and pitchforks.
Who did this Obama fellow think he was anyway?
Many people, like pundits/politicos David Gergen, Chris Matthews and Joan Walsh of Salon.com, pointed out that this was going in a scary, old school Strom Thurmond/Richard Nixon, "Southern strategy" direction. MSNBC host Rachel Maddowwondered if this talk bordered on inciting violence. The Secret Service and FBI were already looking into a few more verbose individuals.
Some scoffed at this notion. Especially certain conservatives like Pat Buchanan who thinks almost any smear against a Liberal or a Democrat is fair game. Even if it's a terrorist laden, racialized smear when our country has a history of murdering black people under the most suspect and flimsiest of circumstances.
No one is expecting a return to Bombingham, but the theatrics did not make McCain look good and at the end of the day, in the most recent debate, he couldn't even fling those smears he so forcefully promoted on the stump and in commercials to Barack Obama's face.
McCain had a choice: bite down hard and bend over if he really wants this presidency by any means necessary or try to put out the fire he started?'
The episode reflected the intensity of the anger that many McCain-Palin supporters have for Obama -- anger that was stoked, in large part, by McCain itself. It also underscored just how difficult a situation McCain has walked himself into. Hours before he attempted to calm nerves, the Senator's campaign sent out a statement to reporters defending the remarks of its crowd members.
"Barack Obama's attacks on Americans who support John McCain reveal far more about him than they do about John McCain. It is clear that Barack Obama just doesn't understand regular people and the issues they care about," read a statement from spokesman Brian Rogers. "Even worse, he attacks anyone who dares to question his readiness to serve as their commander in chief in chief. Raising legitimate questions about record, character and judgment are a vital part of the Democratic process, and Barack Obama's effort to silence and shame those who seek answers should make everyone wonder exactly what he is hiding."
He tried to do the later and got booed. His base. His Muslim fearing, fear of a black presidency spewing base turned. They never could trust the bastard anyway. Did John McCain want this thing or not, hard right critics asked? George Bush, the son or the father, never let a little demonization get in the way. What was McCain's problem? Why couldn't he pull the trigger?
After his first debate with Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), both spectators in the hall and commentators on TV noted that McCain had deliberately avoided looking at his rival.
A close McCain friend said the reason is clear: McCain is miserable about having to run a campaign that’s antithetical to his persona.
“He is basically having to be somebody that he isn’t,” said the friend, who remains strongly supportive. “He is just not a guy that goes on the attack in public. For him to be on the attack constantly, attacking Obama’s character … McCain is uncomfortable with that, and it’s made him grumpy.”
That's why when I hear McCain speak and sound lost. When I look into his eyes and see confusion, frustration and exasperation that leads him to Bob Dole-esque flourishes of "Where's the outrage?" in calling Obama "that one." When I watch his campaign oscillate between "straight talk" and "hate talk," I see a man of two minds. One that remembers what he sold of himself to get here. Another that wants to win by whatever it takes.
In his wrestling with the devil we already know who's winning. This leaves the other side to look into the mirror and wonder what has he become. Things have come full circle and he is McSame -- but not for Bush's policies or his ideology -- but because he has become the thing he once hated.
The war hero is now the villian in the story of his life.
But I see McCain looking in the mirror, telling himself it'll all be worth it because he's not doing this to win, not for himself, but for the country. He's simply the better man for the job.
He blocks out the fac that he is steadily morphing into a charicature of Gollum from "Lord of the Rings." McCain nakedly desiring for "his precious" -- the power that comes with being biggest man to walk into any room.
The self-hate and the anger is there. But he will not divert from the path he has embarked. With a soldiers rectitude he will see this through even if the experience leaves nothing resembling the old John McCain behind.
The potential of absolute power corrupts absolutely.
The beast is unleashed! (Not that it was every properly tied up in the first place.) And now it's being used and directed by Cheerleader-In-ChiefSarah "Silverman" Palin -- guilty as charged of saying reprehensible things will attempting to be adorable.
She has studied from the annals of Patrick J. Buchanan (who has the world's most obvious and disgusting dirty old man crush on her) and she's demagoging as fast as she can to make up for her dear soul mate, Johnny Mac's, lackluster campaigning.
She's Sarah Palin-Christ, Political Superstar, and she just wants to let you know -- there's something not right about that Barack Obama.
“Well, I was reading my copy of The New York Times the other day, and I was really interested to read about Barack’s friends from Chicago. Turns out, one of his earliest supporters is a man named Bill Ayers. And according to The New York Times, he was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that, quote, ‘launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol,’” the Alaska governor said.
“Barack Obama said Ayers was just someone in the neighborhood. But that’s less than truthful. His own top advisor said they were, quote, “certainly friendly.” In fact, Obama held one of the first meetings of his political career in Bill Ayers’s home. And they’ve worked together on various projects in Chicago.”
"Our opponent ... is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country." — Palin, to donors Saturday at a private airport in Englewood, Colo.
"This is someone who sees America as 'imperfect enough' to work with a former domestic terrorist who targeted his own country." — Palin, at a rally Monday in Clearwater, Fla.
"To tell you the truth, Bill, I don't know why that association isn't discussed more, because those were appalling things that that pastor had said about our great country, and to have sat in the pews for 20 years and listened to that — with, I don't know, a sense of condoning it, I guess, because he didn't get up and leave — to me, that does say something about character. But, you know, I guess that would be a John McCain call on whether he wants to bring that up." Palin, in an interview with William Kristol, published Monday in The New York Times.
"I'm making it very clear, as I have a couple of times in the past, that there's no place for that kind of campaigning, and the American people don't want it." — McCain, speaking to reporters on April 23 about the North Carolina GOP ad which called Obama "too extreme" because of his association with Wright.
Well, the cat's out of the bag! Barack Hussein Obama is a secret America-hating terrorist bent on killing "whitey!" Hey, where da white women at, indeed!
But wait? Didn't this cat get out during the lengthy Democratic Primary with Hillary Clinton where everything from former Weather Underground radical William Ayers was brought up in an ABC News debate to Rev. Jeremiah Wright's greatest hits played ad nausem on the cable news? And didn't that cat do nothing since he still was nominated as the head of the Democratic ticket?
Funny thing that lengthy Democratic Primary, the sparring with Sen. Hillary Clinton mixed with the media's desire to hop on the salacious story of the week, be it Hillary avoiding sniper fire in the former Yugoslavia to whether or not Obama was "black enough," everything that could come out about Barack and his wife Michelle is already out, has already been examined and is already old news.
To be blunt, we already went through this. He's been vetted, thoroughly no matter what backwards world you're living in. The press ran with whatever angle they could find (Rezko, that Madrassa rumor) and found nada. What new are Xena Warrior Smear Princess and Mr. Maverick Magoo going to find? Are they going to bust out that picture of Obama in traditional Somali garb? (Done that.) Play that misquote by Michelle Obama loving her country for the first time? (Been there.) Find that "whitey" tape? (Urban legend.)
That's the downside the long campaign. You're playing the media's greatest hits from five months ago. You're too late. Unless you find something new all you're doing is preaching to the Sean Hannity choir.
But don't let me stop you. Please, discuss this instead of the fact that we're all screwed because there's between $16 and $60 trillion in funny money out there according to 60 Minutes. Go ahead. Get the yokels all riled up in this "us against the world" garbage that the ruling class has been using it since early colonists used the "specialness" of whiteness to separate white indentured servants from black indentured servants who were, quite suddenly, turned into slaves.
We know why they do it. For the base, the mau-mauing just plain works.
Palin's routine attacks on the media have begun to spill into ugliness. In Clearwater, arriving reporters were greeted with shouts and taunts by the crowd of about 3,000. Palin then went on to blame Katie Couric's questions for her "less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media." At that, Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, 'Sit down, boy.'
Nice. "Sit down, boy." As I've half-joked, half-seriously said, can we just bust out with the N-jokes already, because I'm tired of this "golly gee gosh," wink, wink "elitist is the new uppity" baloney. Gimmie the straight bigotry, no chaser. Reveal yourself as the baseless, desperate, ruthless political pugilist you are, Sarah, Plain and Full of Gall. So tough you can sling these words in front of 3,000 faithful, but so fearful that you can't say one word to a reporter who doesn't come from FOX News -- and even then you barely talk to them.
They're all the enemy (even though other Republicans talk to them all the time with little problem). Let's face it. If it doesn't involve rote memorization or a stump speech you are stumped by anything that requires deep thought. Or even cursory thought. You claim annoyance with Katie Couric's "gotcha" questions of "what do you read?" and "what Supreme Court case do you disagree with?" Perhaps if she'd asked what your favorite color was or your views on the New England Patriot's "Spygate" scandal of 2007?
All of this to distract us from the truth -- that the McCain hath no clothes. That the economy has left him bare. That his own risks have left him with the taint of one who is too dangerous to lead. That he is the wild one and the young guy, he's the calm in the midst of the hurricane.
McCain is all Rita, all Katrina, all Ike all the time. A whirling dervish of desperation, hiding behind the skirt of a political light weight refashioned as the not-so-heavy. But can he throw that Ayers laced punch himself at the second debate? Can he go even further? Even in that first non-game changed debate, McCain spent most of it looking agitated, as if he could tell he wasn't making up any ground. And looking constipated did not endear him to voters who threw the debate to Hopey McChange.
Damn that Hopey McChange! Johnny Mac tried to be Maverick McChange, but it didn't really catch on. So then he ripped some Kenny Loggins and took us all to the danger zone. Maverick's in the hizz house, bizz-itches, and he marches behind with the woman everyone really came to see.
Manufactured hype, no wind in the sails. All looking, no touchy-touchy! All style, no substance. And isn't that what they used to say about our dear Hopey?
To quote the malapropism Bart Simpson once uttered, "The ironing is delicious."
So this is the campaign, Johnny Mac? Now that you've stopped even trying to explain what you'd do to save us all from financial doom. Now that you don't bother to offer a tepid exit strategy in Iraq. You've pulled out of Michigan, announcing it, another contradiction -- letting the opposition know what you're going to do.
Plus, no one told the Palinator. She really wanted to give Michigan shot. Back of the bus, honey. Your job is to look good while saying douchey things, not interrupt the menfolks as they do their hardest to mismanage this boondoggle.
It's time to double-down and get ugly as McCain continues his MacBeth march to infamy. Better to go down in a blaze of hate (or a blaze of glory if the stunt works), than out with a whimper a capitulation. No need to put on niceties or heirs. The high road was abandoned a long time ago.
I had a length conversation with reader Dorothy last night about Sarah Palin. She was infuriated by Palin fulfilling the prophecy of myself and many political experts -- that the McCain campaign would find a way to rear the head of William Ayrers. This time it came through the mouth of their Cheerleader-in-Chief, Sarah Barracuda.
I told her that Palin was the embodiment of the sexual desires of conservative men in search and described her as such.
(S)he's the perfect person to do (attack Obama). She's the Punky Brewster of the Republican Party. The love child of Ann Coulter and (George W. Bush) ... But they're all so in love and proud of her and wanting to fuck her. It's by far the sickest thing I've ever seen. It's horrifying. She's the Britney Spears (circa 1999) of the Republican Party. Back when she did The Rolling Stone cover in her PJ's and undies and said she was virgin.
And on Sept. 26, Tom Perrotta of Slate.comwrote this:
Caribou hunting aside, Sarah Palin represents the state-of-the-art version of a particular type of woman—let's call her the Sexy Puritan—that's become a familiar and potent figure in the culture war in recent years.
Sexy Puritans have been around for a while. Anita Bryant, the Miss America runner-up turned anti-gay crusader in the 1970s, was an early exemplar of the trend. The young Britney Spears, provocatively dressed and loudly proclaiming her virginity, is a more modern version, though that didn't turn out so well. Elisabeth Hasselbeck, the most conservative member of The View, has a bit of the Sexy Puritan about her, as does Monica Goodling, the former aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales who admitted to engaging in improperly political hiring practices, including the dismissal of a career prosecutor Goodling believed to be a lesbian.
I continued to write to Dorothy:
I get sick of the small town vs. big city. When they first (introduced Spears) that's what they played on. That she was this "good" girl from a small town who didn't know she was hot who had a corny accent, but danced with a stripper's pole. That's where Palin is. And what he said is part of Palin's 90s Britney Spears allure.
She's a whore and a virgin. A virgin/whore. The unicorn of the patriarchy -- a woman who doesn't complain and puts out and does whatever you want her to do. It doesn't matter that even Palin doesn't cosign onto that shit. But some menfolks need the dream.
(A)fter watching Pat Buchanan, ordinarily a hateful bastard to everyone, go in lust/love over her and discount the fact that she was woefully unprepared or that "good enough" isn't good enough for the (vice) presidency, he just was like, "Fuck that shit! I got me a unicorn!"
She's someone they can point to when yelling at other women.
"See? She has five kids, stays hot and is governor! Why do you have to bitch about me (not helping to raise) my own kids? I want my woman to bring home the bacon, fry it in a pan and never let me forget who has the penis!"
Like many people, I thought, "Damn, a hyperconservative, fuckable, Type A, antiabortion, Christian Stepford wife in a 'sexy librarian' costume -- as a vice president? That's a brilliant stroke of horrifyingly cynical pandering to the Christian right. Karl Rove must be behind it."
It is a kind of eerie coincidence that Sarah Palin is being sprung on the public at the same time as the bimbo/frat-boy titty comedy "House Bunny," which features a poster of a beautiful young lady with Playmate-style bunny ears, big, stupid eyes and her mouth hanging open like someone just punched her.
Sarah Palin is the White House bunny -- the most nauseating novelty confection of the evangelical mind-set since Southern "chastity balls," wherein teen girls pledge abstinence from premarital sex by ceremonially faux-marrying their own fathers.
I'm not alone, in thinking that part of fervor is over the fever of the mythology of the Madonna/mother/whore psychology. Conservative pundits focus on her razzle dazzle and her camera-ready looks, but not on the fact that she was only able to recite talking points and defend herself. But you have to play make believer that Palin is about substance, otherwise you have to acknowledge that her selection was about sexing up McCain's saggy ticket. That she as a winky diversion to McCain's wrinkly politicking. Many aren't willing to admit that like Buchanan, most rather bask in the lust, dreaming of Palin, conservative Dominatrix-in-Chief 2012.
I can almost see the gears turning in the Obama Campaign machine.
Nobody move. This son-of-a-bitch could implode all on its own.
Sometimes I wonder if John McCain wants to throw the election. One person can't be this reckless, erratic and risky. This has to be performance art. There has to be a trick here, a method to this madness, yet we only see madness after madness.
Even conservative columnist Charles Krauthammerhad to fill Barack Obama with backhanded praise for being the one of even temperament and intellect compared to McCain's high wire, hail Mary circus act. For McCain there's no problem a tacky gimmick can't fix. There is no gawdy, grandiose display of "Country First" that's too shallow, disingenuous or shady. The wheels came off a long time ago, but he's still sliding around, getting by on what is left of his formerly good name. Relying on culture wars and the "us versus them" that he's never engaged in with any authenticity to get him through.
Because John McCain isn't a true believer. That's the main philosophical difference between him and George W. Bush. He's a war hawk and a free market lover and a hater of graft (ever since his career was almost destroyed by his involvement in the Savings and Loan debacle in the 1980s). But he's not a culture warrior. He's not Pat Buchanan or Phyllis Schlafly. He's not some Bible-thumping, Jesus-quoting, gay-bashing, master of divide and conquer rhetoric.
Everyone is expecting McCain to become increasingly desperate and dirty if the trend of Obama pulling away continues. People are predicting a dusty return to Rev. Jeremiah Wright (which would be pathetic) and more attempts to tie Obama to William Ayers (which would be the apex of pathetic).
The operatives and pundits recite all on cue that McCain is near the nadir of his campaign, a depth which he may descend to and never dig out of. Chris Matthews remains one of the few TV yakkers who can't let go of the fact that McCain's no. 2, Gov. Sarah Palin gave a "spelling bee-esque" performance that could have been done by any well coached grad student. That there was no thought in her answers, just the reciting of talking points and when those failed her, the rambling of words, a stream of consciousness that muddled the McCain's position on gay rights and the role of the vice presidency.
Did she really mean that the vice president needed more constitutional powers? Was she just bullshitting to get through the two minutes? Could it really be a success, Matthews bellowed if she kept having to look at her notes and had to rely on winks and declaring that she wouldn't answer the questions as asked no matter what, how could that be deemed a success? All politicians evade answers, he said, but few announced from jump that they would be doing so.
How could the pundits see a tie when all the polls said American saw an overwhelming victory by Sen. Joe Biden, even though their feelings towards her general intelligence and capabilities went from zilch to, "Oh, I guess she was just a little nervous when she bungled those elementary questions CBS News Anchor Katie Couric asked. She seems chipper now. She's talking loud and saying nothing, but she's standing on her hind legs and being assertive. Attaboy!"
More than once, Matthews, and many others have simply wondered allowed what on earth is going on in the McCain campaign? Why did every night appear to be amateur night for a veteran politician? All the Obama campaign has to do is lie in the wings and wait. McCain was doing the heavy lifting, dismantling his own campaign exploding brick by exploding brick for Barack.
I'm sure Barack appreciates it too. He needs a "Bradley Effect" buffer. He'll take every fumble and foible. Those ahead don't fall over the one behind. He can see the tip of McCain's sword and is anticipating a fall. No one fully trusts it, but that is the impression given.
Him pulling out of Michigan. Rumors he may pull out of Pennsylvania. The fact that his number one surrogate, his running-mate, can't do TV interviews. Hardliners pushing for McCain to play Rev. Wright's greatest hits one last time, but rumors that McCain likely won't, depending on the RNC and 527 groups to do the muckwork. The George Will Revolt, which continues despite Palin's make-up exam, with conservative critics suddenly turning on their nominee as if they've already declared him dead in the street. They talk as if he's already gone.
But sometimes they come back.
So we're left watching, waiting, staring not wanting to make one false move before November. We want to hasten the fall, but we don't want to delude ourselves into thinking the hard work is don. So we wonder what's next? No one could be this bad on purpose, we ponder. This has to be a trick.
I don't necessarily think this is a trick. These are the acts of distraction by a desperate man trying to break through the albatrosses of President Bush and the tarnished Republican brand. He's trying to survive a collapsing economy and discontent over two wars. He's trying to argue why a Republican can fix the mess a Republican president created. That they are not two of a kind. That he is not "McSame." This is how you act when you're coming from behind. Throw everything, do everything -- something has to work. There's no method to this madness. It's just madness. But just because they are desperate acts of insanity doesn't mean they won't work.
1) Is this a joke? Seriously? She couldn't name a news paper? Not even the ones owned by Rupert Murdoch (New York Post, The Wall Street Journal) or the conservative alternative in D.C., The Washington Times? What kind of conservative is she? She couldn't think of a magazine? The National Review? The Weekly Standard? The American Spectator? The American Conservative? I don't even READ these publications and I know about them. She couldn't name something safe like The New York Times or The Washington Post? USA Today? No, she just says she reads "all of them" or whatever people give her. Is this performance art at this point? Thank God you can train and memorize for a debate, because when it comes to a TV interview this woman is a walking, talking nightmare.
2) She's a pro-life conservative, but ... she calls herself a feminist, she's cool with the gays (no judgments even though she calls it a "choice), she has no problem with most contraceptives (stopping short of the morning after pill), is for evolution being taught in schools, that man is partially responsible for global warming, and doesn't have a home church, only going to a variety of churches sometimes, a la our current president (who doesn't go to church) and her running mate, the other original maverick. She's already pissed off the intellectuals. Now she wants to leave the churchniks with some doubts? Who ARE you, Sarah Palin? And you're pro-Union (an issue not addressed in the interview)? WHO ARE YOU??? Dorothy, we are not in Kansas anymore.
Would the real original maverick please stand up? Because I could have sworn she was being sold as a hardcore faith-based, intelligent design jockeying, pray-the-gay-away churchnik and in the body of a pretty n' tough "hockey mom." I'm getting conflicting messages!
Monday Night Gov. Sarah Palin returned to CBS News with her dad running-mate John McCain for another round with the perkiest network anchor in the biz, Katie Couric. I don't know if he or she or they helped themselves much. Even though I've heard that this dual interview was scheduled long in advance they HAD to know what this would look like.
A parent/teacher's conference.
Katie: Sarah hasn't been doing very well with her oral exams. I don't think she's been taking her studies serious enough.
John: I assure you I am working very hard with Sarah and her tutors and she is prepared and will be prepared for her big test on Thursday. I promise. She promises. She's ready.
Sarah: But Dad, if I could just say ...
John: Quiet you!
And for bonus points, Couric STILL managing to get the goat of Palin with Palin's own gaffes, sidesteps and faux pas. She is really making Couric out to be a far better interviewer than she's ever been. I mean, Couric is not known for bludgeoning or out-smarting her guests. She kills with kindness and Katie's one more interview of doing the work of The George Will Revolt for them.
And at last check, The George Will Revolt now includes: ringleader George Will, David Brooks, Kathleen Parker, David Frum, Peggy Noonan, Mike Murphy and the son of William F. Buckley, satirist Christopher Buckley, who, like a good satirist, has made fun of this entire sorted affair (but is sympathetic to the poor dear).
Leslie Sanchez, a person who I'm going to bite my tongue and describe as "not stupid," labeled these individuals as part of the conservative intellectual elite. (Is elite the new "bastard" or N-word now?) So did Bill Bennett. This is laughable considering Sanchez and Bennett aren't exactly slumming it with the degrees, advanced degrees, fancy white collar jobs and radio shows and such. These individuals aren't exactly Larry the Cable Guy.
Larry actually has a purpose. He makes people happy. And he's acting. I've interviewed the man before. He just plays an idiot. In the real world he's a smart, capable entertainer who created a lucrative market for himself -- the undeserved subgroup who read Jeff Foxworthy's "You know You're A Redneck If ..." and clamored for more.
I honestly don't know what Sanchez and Bennett do for the human race other than play good little soldiers on this Palin thing. And that's really what this is about. The separation between the conservatives who won't go along to get along and the troopers. Sanchez is a trooper, as is Bennett, Amy Holmes, Alex Castellanos, Sean Hannity, etc. are all willing to reserve judgment, to bite the tongue, to keep the faith unless the wheels completely fly off.*
Some snap sooner than others (see Murphy, Mike). But he might have stayed on the reservation if he'd realized that camera was still rolling when he and Noonan went all "IT'S OVER! McCain '08 is DOOOOOMED!" in regards to McCain picking Palin.
It's only when shit officially hits the fan that out of exasperation (and shame) that they put down those buckets of water they're carrying and mutter something that sounds like doubt.
Until then -- of COURSE Sarah Palin is qualified and I'm a sexist for pointing out her weaknesses!
Sidenote: Couric is STILL releasing more of her interviews with Palin. Hasn't she put that woman through ENOUGH?!?!?! Couric is a cruel news mistress.
*These individuals should not be included with characters like Pat Buchanan, Bay Buchanan, Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, Rush Limbaugh, Lou Dobbs, Glenn Beck or Bill O'Reilly. While all these individuals are right wingers their ego and personal issues supercede party politics. So they're a little unreliable, and with the exception of maybe the delightfully hateful siblings Buchanan, if it's between you and their ratings you're going down mother fucker!
Conservative columnist Kathleen Parker wants her money back. Well, not actual money, but she would probably like to take a few words back. If she ever said anything good about Gov. Sarah Palin, she'd like to take that back, please!
As we’ve seen and heard more from John McCain’s running mate, it is increasingly clear that Palin is a problem. Quick study or not, she doesn’t know enough about economics and foreign policy to make Americans comfortable with a President Palin should conditions warrant her promotion.
Palin’s recent interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity, and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who Is Clearly Out Of Her League.
No one hates saying that more than I do. Like so many women, I’ve been pulling for Palin, wishing her the best, hoping she will perform brilliantly. I’ve also noticed that I watch her interviews with the held breath of an anxious parent, my finger poised over the mute button in case it gets too painful. Unfortunately, it often does. My cringe reflex is exhausted ...
If BS were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself.
For those counting, The George Will Revolt now includes: David Brooks, Kathleen Parker and Lou Dobbs (although, technically, he hates everyone).
Sometimes you just feel like being a show-off. That you somehow you're the bigger Obama-ite because you've carved his visage onto the back of your head or you or you rock the "Dunk On McCain" T-shirt all-day, everyday. You've got an Obama ringtone of "Yes We Can." You've got the words "hope" and "change" tattooed on your knuckles. Good for you. For the rest of us, maybe we're looking to show our insane Fanhood of the Traveling Changelings and our esteemed respect for the Great Black Hopemongerer with something a tad more nuanced.
But for every harmless "I (Heart) Obama" contraption like these cute bits of ridiculousness, there is something that makes you go "Wow. That is totally racist."
You know something is racist when you can tell just by looking at it. Take Obama Waffles. They're like Aunt Jemima's, only instead of a head scarf he's rocking a turban/head wrap of some kind with references to Mecca. It was supposed to be a joke with its creators repeatedly explaining that it's "political satire" to a reporter with the American News Project in the above clip. They explain it is not racist if the box reminds you of Aunt Jemima because Aunt Jemima is a preferred product of the creators. So it's a compliment!
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
The "waffles" were unveiled during the Value Voters Summit which featured marquee speakers like former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former presidential candidate Mitt "Mittens" Romney. The Associated Press picked up on the racist breakfast item and how event organizers quickly tried to play things down, getting the hotcakes out of there not wanting the potential bad press, no doubt.
They claimed they had no knowledge of how Obama Waffles were dancing on the edge of Little Sambo.
Once again, Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
Values Voter Summit organizers cut off sales of Obama Waffles boxes on Saturday, saying they had not realized the boxes displayed "offensive material." The summit and the exhibit hall where the boxes were sold had been open since Thursday afternoon.
The box was meant as political satire, said Mark Whitlock and Bob DeMoss, two writers from Franklin, Tenn., who created the mix. They sold it for $10 a box from a rented booth at the summit sponsored by the lobbying arm of the Family Research Council.
David Nammo, executive director of the lobbying group FRC Action, said summit organizers were told the boxes were a parody of Obama's policy positions but had not examined them closely.
Never mind the fact that this unfunny breakfast treat is ignorant and plays on people's fears over Obama, probably the least scary black man in America this side of Will Smith, but it once again demonizes the religion of Islam as if praying towards Mecca was a gateway drug to suicide bombing.
I want to inform bigots such as these that Islam, Christianity and Judaism share a patriarchal origin in Abraham. That they differ in many respects, but share many of the same core principles. That Muslims actually like and admire Jesus Christ. Islam is a religion. It isn't fair to slander an entire group of people who are members of one of the largest faiths in the world, any more is it for me to condemn all Christians because a few anti-abortion extremists blew up abortion clinics and murdered doctors in the 1980s and 90s.
Every religion has good and bad apples in it. Every religion, at some point, has gone terribly, terribly wrong, abandoning its tenants. (Like the Inquisition, for example.) It's wrong to take peaceful, decent people of all ethnicities and backgrounds and conclude there is some failing in their moral fiber because they are the minority in a Christian/Secular majority culture.
Really. Grow up. Scoring political points is not an excuse to play on xenophobic, bigoted fears.
He was 53. I was not a fan of the man's views or his employers but he had style. No one could turn the tables on a reporter like Snow. He was a worthy opponent. Snow died of colon cancer earlier this morning after leaving the White House last year. He said it was for professional reasons (the paltry $168,000 salary for example) but when he cancer returned and he kept looking sicker and sicker through the rigors of chemotherapy. A lot of people felt he was really living because of his health.
Fortunately he left a body of work behind to confound the masses for ages to come.
As press secretary, Snow brought partisan zeal and the skills of a seasoned performer to the task of explaining and defending the president's policies. During daily briefings, he challenged reporters, scolded them and questioned their motives as if he were starring in a TV show broadcast live from the West Wing.
Critics suggested that Snow was turning the traditionally informational daily briefing into a personality-driven media event short on facts and long on confrontation. He was the first press secretary, by his own accounting, to travel the country raising money for Republican candidates.
I'll miss the guy, if only because I can't stand our current press secretary Dana Perino. It's like Dee Dee Myers broke that mold just so she could decorate it with designer shoes and Hello Kitty stickers. Sure, she's cute and all, perky even, but she's no Tony Snow.
My one true criticism of Hannity (coveted winner of The Black Snob's "Most Hated" award on "Top Pundit") was that it was unfair to bring the mild-mannered, librarian like Colmes to his Fight Night at the Apollo Creed-like show. If he had his druthers and really wanted to stir up things he'd have on someone as loud and crazy as himself, like Ed Schultz, who I can't stand, because he is just as irresponsible with his words and conspiracy theories as Hannity is. A nut should fight a nut, but no, he picked Colmes to berate and mock because he wanted to promote the stereotype of the wimpy, effete Liberal (even though Colmes sort of developed a bit of a spine as Obama gained momentum towards the end, perhaps knowing that he was totally blowing this Popsicle stand once the election was over).
