Mike Huckabee steps up

Showing the fundamentally decent Huckabee that exists when he doesn't have to grovel to the far-right wing of his party, Huckabee decried the knee-jerk reactions of the GOP to anything and everything Obama. He said:

When he [Barack Obama] was at Dover the other day, and went there to pay respect for soldiers, I heard a lot of people on the Right say "Aw, that's just a cheap photo-op." No, I think it was the Commander-in-Chief of our military paying respect to a dead soldier, and I'm grateful that he did that, and I was proud of him for doing that. And I think we all -- as Americans -- should give him credit for doing that.

When he and Michele hosted the tricker-treaters on Halloween, quit finding something wrong with that. Say "Good, I'm glad that he and the First Lady are treating children to an experience at the White House." And I just find it deplorable that some people on my end of the aisle want to find everything wrong and nothing right about the man as a man.

Fear-gasm

(Bob Cesca)

Have you noticed the new KSM photo?

Until now, every time Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was discussed on television, we'd get this picture:



The Drunken Ron Jeremy photo in which he's clearly borrowed a t-shirt formerly worn by an elephant.

But now that we're talking about bringing KSM to New York for trial and the Republicans are in full pissy pants frightened crybaby mode, they're using this photo:



Wild scary eyes in full evildoer regalia. HEEELP! This crazy bastard will be ordering egg creams and blowing up subways any second now! Just look at his scary grinning face! AAAAAH!

Boy, that seems familiar. Where could I have seen.... oh, yeah.....




By the way, when you have three guys normally referred to as far-right whackjobs telling you to knock off the fear-mongering, you might want to listen. It's like Paris Hilton telling you that you're acting like a skanky ho.

Former Republican Congressman and Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr, David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union and Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, have teamed up to urge the Gitmo detainees be taken to the U.S.

"The scaremongering about these issues should stop," Barr, Keene and Norquist wrote.

"Civilian federal courts are the proper forum for terrorism cases," they wrote. "Civilian prisons are the safe, cost effective and appropriate venue to hold persons in federal courts."

When they say Ole Miss, they mean, 'ole' like 1830-style

Ole Miss Chancellor Dan Jones has banned the Rebels' marching band from playing the fan favorite "From Dixie With Love" during football games after a group of students disregarded an edict that they stop chanting, "The South will rise again." Now his support of the student-led initiative to end the chant is drawing attention from some groups he'd rather not see on campus.

The Oxford Eagle reported Wednesday that the Mississippi White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan plan to march in full robes and hoods on the campus sometime in the coming weeks. Jones said the attention of the Klan and the Council of Conservative Citizens, which sent a letter to Oxford-area media supporting the chant, only cemented his decision.

"Sadly, we have also heard from a few outside our university who support the chant as an expression of values associated with the segregationist movement discredited so many years ago," Jones told the Eagle. "We cannot even appear to support those outside our community who advocate a revival of segregation. We cannot fail to respond."

And one of the school's "student leaders" was caught on a cell phone camera dropping the nuclear bomb of racial insults. We won't link to it here, but it's out there.

All the Rebel flags and Dixie stuff going on at Ole Miss must make recruiting a challenge. This can't help the cause.

Notice how it takes Mr. Frat-boy Student Leader only 9 seconds to drop the bomb.

Palin still doesn't know what she reads but is "a lover of books and magazines and newspapers"

(TPM)

During her interview with Oprah Winfrey, Sarah Palin explained her infamous gaffe from the 2008 campaign, when Katie Couric asked what newspapers and magazines she reads, and Palin responded that she reads "all of them, any of them that have been in front of me over all these years." And Palin said that she was annoyed at someone asking about what people in Alaska read.

"Now obviously, you've read books and magazines," said Winfrey. "Why didn't you just name some books or magazines?"

"Well, and obviously I have of course all my life read. I'm a lover of books and magazines and newspapers," said Palin. "By the time she asked me that question, even though it was kind of early on in the interview, I was already so annoyed, and it was very unprofessional of me to wear that annoyance on my sleeve."

Uninsured E.R. patients twice as likely to die

A recurring talking point of the anti-health care right is that the uninsured don't need insurance because "our emergency rooms don't turn anyone away, so anyone can get emergency care".

Ignoring the obvious question of 'where does that money come from, the health fairy?' for a minute (no Barney Frank jokes, either, please), this article makes a startling find: uninsured patients are twice as likely to die in emergency rooms.

(MSNBC/AP)

Uninsured patients with traumatic injuries, such as car crashes, falls and gunshot wounds, were almost twice as likely to die in the hospital as similarly injured patients with health insurance, according to a troubling new study.

The findings by Harvard University researchers surprised doctors and health experts who have believed emergency room care was equitable.

"This is another drop in a sea of evidence that the uninsured fare much worse in their health in the United States," said senior author Dr. Atul Gawande, a Harvard surgeon and medical journalist.

...more

Lou Dobbs goes Palin

Conservative Brooks rips into Palin: "a joke", "potential talk show host"

Appearing on ABC's "This Week", conservative columnist David Brooks tore into Sarah Palin on the eve of her book release:

"She's a joke. I mean, I just can't take her seriously. We have got serious problems in the country. Barack Obama is trying to handle war. We just had a guy elected Virginia governor who is probably the model for future of the Republican Party, Bob McDonnell: Pretty serious guy, pragmatic, calm, kind of boring. The idea that this potential talk show host is considered seriously for the Republican nomination, believe me, it will never happen. Republican primary voters are just not going to elect a talk show host."

Conservatives piss all over American values; turn into cowards

With the decision by the Attorney General to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self- proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, in federal court in New York City, conservatives are flipping their shit in three directions.

First, they feel it's presents a security threat.

Second, they don't want to give Mohammed a forum for his extremist views.

Third, they fear that putting him into criminal court, as opposed to a military tribunal, will expose the trial process to "unforseen circumstances"

Let's go one by one and address the security issues first.

Rudy Giuliani said moving the trials to New York will create additional costs and security concerns for the city.

To refute Rudy, I present.... Rudy. On March 5, 1994, he said:

"(The verdict in the trial of the 1993 WTC bombers) demonstrates that New Yorkers won’t meet violence with violence, but with a far greater weapon — the law.

It should show that our legal system is the most mature legal system in the history of the world

I think it shows you put terrorism on one side, you put our legal system on the other, and our legal system comes out ahead."

Additionally, in 2006, he praised the civilian trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, saying he was "in awe of our system" and that we "are a nation of law."

So, at it's essence, when it's George Bush putting them on trial, our judicial system is the proper venue. When it's Obama, it's a mistake.

Hypocrite much?

Plus, Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Kelly have declared New York ready to handle the security issues. And finally, Giuliani is acting like NYC isn't currently a terrorist target - trial or not.

Secondly, the forum argument. Sarah Palin decries allowing our Constitution to work, saying:

"Criminal defense attorneys will now enter into delaying tactics and other methods in the hope of securing some kind of win for their 'clients.' The trial will afford Mohammed the opportunity to grandstand and make use of his time in front of the world media to rally his disgusting terrorist cohorts. It will also be an insult to the victims of 9/11, as Mohammed will no doubt use the opportunity to spew his hateful rhetoric in the same neighborhood in which he ruthlessly cut down the lives of so many Americans."

Let me get this straight. We should throw away the document that makes us better than them. We should strip them of the rights and protections that they themselves would see removed from their own people. We should prove ourselves to be hypocrites and conduct a trial in secret, without the rule of law.

I always suspected that the far right wanted to be like the Taliban, this just helps prove it.

Lastly, the danger of "unforseen circumstances". Ummm..... like the waterboarding that the GOP supported to obtain confessions? The waterboarding Mohammed went through 183 times? The risk that a judge might throw out parts of the confession?

I don't like the idea either. But I like much less the idea that we'll conduct ourselves like a 4th world banana republic when it suits our needs. Our judicial system has been one of the bulwarks of our democracy for the last 218 years. We can't go ditching it now out of fear or expediency.

Pat Buchanan proud of opposing Voting Rights, Medicare

(Media Matters)

On last night's Hardball, MSNBC's Pat Buchanan relived his glory days while offering the Republicans some political advice:

BUCHANAN: Look at '65, Medicare, Medicaid, education, Voting Rights Act.

MATTHEWS: You guys won in '66.

BUCHANAN: We won 47 seats. We didn't do a thing but say no, no, no.
...
BUCHANAN: In 2010, we are the alternative. We are against them. That's all you need.

Most people, upon recalling their opposition to the Voting Rights Act, would probably express some remorse.  But not Pat Buchanan, who complains that "Old heroes like ... Robert E. Lee are replaced by Dr. King."

Please remember this as Palin 2 rolls out....

As the Re-education of Sarah rolls out, please remember that it wasn't just the Couric interview that was a disaster. That wasn't the lone gunman that took her down. She presented a firing squad of incomprehensible interviews.

Remember "position flexible", where she tries to explain the office of the vice president? You know, the office SHE WAS RUNNING FOR?



There was this nonsense from the vice-presidential debate:

Well, our founding fathers were very wise there in allowing through the Constitution much flexibility there in the office of the vice president. And we will do what is best for the American people in tapping into that position and ushering in an agenda that is supportive and cooperative with the president's agenda in that position. Yeah, so I do agree with him that we have a lot of flexibility in there, and we'll do what we have to do to administer very appropriately the plans that are needed for this nation. And it is my executive experience that is partly to be attributed to my pick as V.P. with McCain, not only as a governor, but earlier on as a mayor, as an oil and gas regulator, as a business owner. It is those years of experience on an executive level that will be put to good use in the White House also.

There was this response to the question: "What does the vice president do?"

"[T]hey’re in charge of the U.S. Senate so if they want to they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes that will make life better for Brandon and his family and his classroom."

She's an idiot, OK?

She's not an idiot because she's a woman. She's an idiot because she's an idiot.

Compare her dumbassery to the thoughtful deliberations of the man in the Oval Office now and there is no comparison. I'm not talking about the results of his deliberations, I'm talking about the fact that he has them. Serious ones.

As Bob Cesca points out today, she's famous because she's famous. She's an ex-reality show contestant. Nothing more. No weight, no gravitas. And if you support her, you're a fucking moron who proves that maybe we shouldn't let everyone vote.

Obama's decision on Afghanistan: none of the above

(Huff Post)

President Barack Obama does not plan to accept any of the Afghanistan war options presented by his national security team, pushing instead for revisions to clarify how and when U.S. troops would turn over responsibility to the Afghan government, a senior administration official said Wednesday.

That stance comes in the midst of forceful reservations about a possible troop buildup from the U.S. ambassador in Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, according to a second top administration official.

In strongly worded classified cables to Washington, Eikenberry said he had misgivings about sending in new troops while there are still so many questions about the leadership of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

This has not made Eikenberry very popular with the NSC. According to Spencer Ackerman in the Washington Independent, there was a very tense meeting in the White House this morning:

It was a tense meeting this morning at the White House, as Ambassador Karl Eikenberry addressed the National Security Council by teleconference from Kabul just hours after the media got hold of his dissent on the crucial question of sending more troops to Afghanistan. “He is very unpopular here,” said a National Security Council staffer who described the meeting.

No one was happy to read in The Washington Post that Eikenberry, who commanded the war himself from 2005 to 2007, thinks that the Karzai government needs to demonstrate its commitment to anti-corruption measures before the administration can responsibly authorize another troop increase. The prevailing theory is that “he leaked his own cables” because “he has a beef with McChrystal,” the staffer said. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, Eikenberry’s successor as NATO commander in Afghanistan, has requested an increase in troops to support a counterinsurgency strategy with a substantial counterterrorism component.

But Eikenberry — who also briefed the White House by teleconference yesterday — reiterated his concerns. The ambassador told the NSC not to send additional troops to Afghanistan “without an exit strategy” and urged that the president to adopt a “purely civilian approach” with the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development in the lead, not the military. According to the NSC staffer, Eikenberry “wants a realignment” of USAID, the Afghanistan inspector general’s office and the State Department’s stabilization and reconstruction office. Eikenberry said President Obama “wants that” — although Obama was not in the meeting — and he hailed the arrival of the new USAID administrator-nominee, Rajiv Shah, “because he will not wage war when the org charts start changing.”

Despite the dissatisfaction with Eikenberry’s apparent leak, according to the staffer, Obama “demanded” an exit strategy for the war “after Eikenberry’s cables.”

My response to this? Good.

A president should never be getting strategy advice solely from the military. Will a general ever admit that a war can't be won, or shouldn't be fought? Will the military ever push for a political or diplomatic solution to a problem? Of course not.

The major mistake in the Iraq conflict (besides lying to go in) was going in without an exit strategy. If Obama wants to avoid a repeat of the Bush mistakes, he NEEDS to not only decide on how many troops TO send, but how to get them out.

Obama at Arlington

The President marked Veteran's Day with a speech at Arlington, laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and then a surprise stop. In what Arlington confirms was the first ever for a president on Veteran's Day, the President and the First Lady got out of the armored limo and strolled through Section 60 - the final resting place for many veteran's of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.





New York Daily News journalist James Gordon Meek was there, visiting the graves of friends, when the President walked up to him. The entire story is worth reading, but following is an excerpt:

He didn't introduce himself. He didn't have to.

President Obama simply stuck out his hand and asked for my name as he stepped toward me amid a bone-chilling drizzle in the Gardens of Stone.

This was Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery. I wasn't there as a reporter, but to visit some friends and family buried there when Obama made an unscheduled stop - a rare presidential walk among what Lincoln called America's "honored dead" - after laying a Veterans Day wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

What I got was an unexpected look into the eyes of a man who intertwined his roles as commander in chief and consoler in chief on a solemn day filled with remembrance and respect for sacrifices made - and sacrifices yet to be made.

I'm sure the cynics will assume this wasjust anotherObama photoop.

If they'd been standing in my boots looking him in the eye, they would have surely choked on their bile.

His presence in Section 60 convinced me that he now carries the heavy burden of command.