The Reality of War Versus the Politics of Liberals

In a Pajamas Media article I wrote just after Obama was deified:

Indeed, it is Obama who apparently is doing the most in terms of recognizing (the far left’s bleeding anti-Bush vitriol notwithstanding) that Mr. Bush didn’t do that bad of a job after all. He’s adopting the vast majority of his anti-terrorism and economic policies (i.e., the bailout plans).

Notice, please, the not-so-surprising indications that President Obama plans to work within the structures of Mr. Bush’s anti-terrorism measures. As an example, I mentioned at BitsBlog recently the expanded presidential wiretapping powers, and how the FISA court had ruled in Bush’s favor — a fact little reported by the Dinosaur Media.  (Oddly, the report I cited was a New York Times piece.) There has certainly been some argument back and forth over these measures. The fact remains, however, that Obama, while still a senator and presidential candidate, voted for those expanded powers. For all the noise that Mr. Obama is making with regards to water boarding (a practice I should point out was already banned in 2006 under Mr. Bush), Obama has refused repeatedly to explicitly ban all interrogation methods not outlined in the Army Field Manual.

For all the vitriol that has been coming from the left, and specifically out of President Obama’s mouth during the campaign, there’s a difference in tone coming out of the Obama camp over the last several weeks. There has been an abandonment of the hot rhetoric of the leftist in favor of of a liberal forced to face the reality of the world around him (i.e., adopting existing White House policy). The change in tone is a recognition that the rhetoric that the American public was offered during the election was simply not based on reality.

As President Obama and his people are briefed on what has been happening in the world these last eight years, the insider’s view has given them a completely new perspective on what to do about the situation, resulting in completely different actions as compared to the ones they were telling everyone they would take once they were given the power.

President Obama and his fellow Democrats are now responsible for the outcome of the next four years.  They are pragmatic enough to understand that they are the ones who will take it on the chin politically after the next terrorist attack or if the current economic problems continue for long. They’re beginning to understand how wrong they were in chastising Mr. Bush and his policies. Thus, they are adopting them. That, dear reader, is vindication.

They earnestly hope that nobody, particularly on the left, will notice the change in direction.

So, you can imagine that I was extraordinarily interested to learn that following the most recent midterm elections the Obama administration has decided not to pursue their insane policy of trying terrorists in civilian courts.

Video

At least, they put the whole process on “Hold” until after the next election. At this stage of the game what we have is a White House trapped in its own politics.   They proclaimed and back in the campaign of 2008, that they would be trying these people in civilian courts, and they based their claims on constitutional grounds.  It struck me as interesting at the time, because it’s one of the few times that the left has ever given a damn about the constitution or its meaning.

This would seem to be confirmed with the idea that now that the politics of the thing puts them in an impossible situation, there going to keep KSM, as an example, behind bars in the hands of the military until after the next election when it’s possibly more politically feasible.  Ask yourself a question ; if the constitution and not politics were the prime motivation for Obama and company, would even be close to proposing keeping him in custody until after the next election?  We both know better, you and I.

What we have here is an utterly clueless group of liberals caught up in their own nonsense.

What this is in the end is Obama being forced once again to recognize that Bush did the correct thing… while trying desperately not to admit exactly that because of the political costs involved.

The problem now, of course, is that the correct thing isn’t very popular with his far leftist base. He needs their support to make it past the next election, if there is indeed a hope in hell of him doing so, at all. So, he refuses to hold the trials at Guantánamo bay, which would be a total and complete admission that the policy of holding such trials and civilian courts is a bad move and one that never should have been proposed in the heat of the election.  He also refuses, on the other hand, to make arrangements for a civilian trial which will not only annoy centrists but the leftist based in the states where he would propose such trials be held.  For example we note the objections coming from prominent Dems such as New York’s governor elect Andrew Cuomo.

In short, Obama’s mouth got caught writing checks that in reality he can’t cash.

We’ve had a spot of bother with the plug-ins normally used here.  One of them updated, and crashed the entire system , probably on Friday.  While you were able to see everything that we’ve written to that point, some of us if not all of us were unable to access the control panel.  Therefore, we were unable to post anything new.  I wasn’t aware of the problem until I looked at it this morning and it took me several hours to get us operational again.

It appears, that one of the automatic updates caused serious problems here.  What precisely is going on I don’t know, but I have a minimal set of plug ins running and we’re back in business.

I think I’ve figured out a way to post more frequently to the site, and will commence doing so as soon as I finish up the details.  Sometimes connectivity from the road is a little sketchy at best.  Thanks always to those reading and particular thanks to David for his ceaseless efforts at keeping the place afloat.

Taking Dumbo Care to Tusk:

ST.  PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a potential GOP presidential candidate, stepped up his attack Thursday on President Barack Obama’s federal health care law with a court filing challenging its cost to states.

Cat food we ca live with, commission calls for defunding presidential pervert Kevin Jennings:

(CNSNews.com) – A draft report by the president’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform calls for, among other items, eliminating a division of the Education Department run by one of the most controversial appointees in the Obama administration: Kevin Jennings, the safe schools czar.

A win-win, eliminating Dumbo’s “safe school” czar would save taxpayer’s dollars and actually make our schools safer.

Corn is fer drinking, not driving, kill the ethanol subsidies    Save money at the pump and the grocery story.   Story from Liberty Pundits.

Spitting on Spitzer,  Legal Insuirrection new co-blogger strays a bit off the reservation, with respect to Client Number Nine, a/k/a Eliot Spitzer, from Kathleen McCaffrey:

“Former targets of Spitzer’s prosecutions were ‘only too happy to dance on Spitzer’s grave’ for the documentary.”

Quibble, quibble, but with Client Nine, the word is not prosecution but rather persecution.   Spitzer’s lawsuits were mostly civil lawsuits filed with the backing of the state’s lawyers to enforce Spitzer’s entirely personal and percular set of ethics.  In other words, Client Nine did not pursue violations of the law but rather attempted to enforce his own personal set of beliefs.

John Boehner republican leader:

Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), the presumptive Speaker-elect of the House, will not use a private jet as Speaker for trips back and forth to his home district, he said Wednesday.

“Over the last 20 years, I have flown back and forth to my district on commercial aircraft, and I’m going to continue to do that,” Boehner told reporters at a press conference.

The statement signals the first time since 2001 that a House Speaker has traveled commerically between Washington and their home district.

Following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the Speaker of the House, third in line to the presidency, was assigned a designated Air Force jet to shuttle them back and forth to their home districts on weekends.

Former Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) used the jet, as does Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). In 2007, Pelosi requested, and received, a larger jet than Hastert had used — this one capable of flying between Washington and California without stopping to refuel.

A spokesman for Boehner said the Minority Leader had already spoken to security officials about his desire to travel commercially on the weekends, and that he would still use military transport for certain types of trips, like those to Afghanistan or Iraq

Hat tip:  Jjm Hoft, Gateway Pundit.

White House lies, jobs die, Michelle.

MoDo’s smarter brother, as attributed to her brother Kevin by Maureen Dowd, in the New York Times:

As a semichastened Barack Obama appeared at the press conference following the election, he conjured up the image of the curtain opening in “The Wizard of Oz,” revealing a little old man working the controls, not the great and powerful Oz.

But unlike the Wizard, Dumbo appears incapable of learning.

Nice work if you can get it, Number of government employees making over one hundred fifty thousand dollars a years sky rockets, from Useless Toady:

-Long-time workers thrive. The biggest pay hikes have gone to employees who have been with the government for 15 to 24 years. Since 2005, average salaries for this group climbed 25% compared with a 9% inflation rate.

End all longevity raises after say five years.   From my observations, too much job security impedes productivity.

Dumbo underestimated political cost of Obama Care, from Daily Mail(UK):

Barack Obama today admitted his controversial plans to overhaul the healthcare system have proved more costlier in political terms than he anticipated.

In a TV interview, the President also said he ‘gets discouraged’ when facing up to scale of the economic problems facing America.

Speaking on CBS’s 60 Minutes, Mr Obama struck a conciliatory tone as he was questioned over the Democrats’ disastrous performance in the mid-term elections

Who would have tbunk!

Government controlled and rationed health care has been the wet dream of the democrats since the Truman administration.    The mere threat of  it imposition helpws spawn  the tea party movement    It polled horridly    Required Obama to lie out of his teeth the sell it.   Dirty Harry Reid had to resort to political briderylike the Louisiana to get passed by the Senate and Mrs; Pelosi has to blackmail her own caucus to get through the House.   Yet Dumbo was surprised by the political cost.

Bill Kristol’s victory lap, Keith Olbermann is back as of today.  The good news it allows Bill Kristol to gloat, and his does, from Weekly Standard:

On Friday, THE WEEKLY STANDARD called MSNBC’s suspension of Keith Olbermann “ludicrous,” and urged, “Republicans of the world, show you believe in the free expression of opinion! Tell the crony corporatists at NBC—keep Keith!”

Republicans and conservatives across this great land responded to our call … and NBC has backed down. Here’s the “STATEMENT REGARDING KEITH OLBERMANN,” from MSNBC president Phil Griffin: “After several days of deliberation and discussion, I have determined that suspending Keith through and including Monday night’s program is an appropriate punishment for his violation of our policy. We look forward to having him back on the air Tuesday night.”

You’re welcome, Keith.

The good news is that conservatives gets claim both the moral high ground and continue to use Keith Olberbite for sport.

Dumbo v PIAPS,  while I never believed her, Mrs. Clinton was famous for pretending to listen to the concerns of the voters.    Witness  her famous listening tours,which allows seemed endorse her pre-tour position.    Unlike Mrs. Clinton, Barack Obama does not even fake pretending to listen.   With Dumbo, it never the matter of him not listening, but rather the voters not understanding,  from Politico:

President Barack Obama has performed his act of contrition. Now comes the hard part, according to Democrats around the country: reckoning with the simple fact that he’s isolated himself from virtually every group that matters in American politics.

Congressional Democrats consider him distant and blame him for their historic defeat on Tuesday. Democratic state party leaders scoff at what they see as an inattentive and hapless political operation. Democratic lobbyists feel maligned by his holier-than-thou take on their profession. His own Cabinet — with only a few exceptions — has been marginalized.

His relations with business leaders could hardly be worse. Obama has suggested it’s a PR problem, but several Democratic officials said CEOs friendly with the president walk away feeling he’s indifferent at best to their concerns

Wise people listen to learn.   A fool like Obama, feels no need to listen, because he feels he already knows everything.

Not only no, but Hell no, George Pataki is hinting at running for President, from Rick Klein, ABC News:

“When you look back at the past two years, it’s been very disappointing, not only — not just for Republicans, but for the American people,” Pataki told us. “And I think it shows the importance of experienced leadership — leaders who have shown the ability to govern and to move forward in a nonpartisan way, leaders who have been tested and shown their ability to get through those tests.”

“What I’m going to be looking at is, do we have the right people out there who have that experience, who have experienced leadership, who have been challenged and who can bring people together — not just Republicans and conservatives, but conservatives [and] Democrats. And make a decision on who else is out there, and whether or not they have those characteristics we need to be able to win this election and govern successfully.”

I confess that voted for Pataki three times.   The last two,  I held my nose.  That said, I”ll donate money to the Dope from Hope, Mike Huckabee, before I vote Pataki.   New York State nominated a lunatic from Buffalo, in Carl Paladino, and left fresh meat on the table by refusing to mount a serious challenge to Kristin Gillibrand,  while Pataki stood mute on the sidelines.   Leaders, lead.   Pataki is afraid of a political vote.   Governor, go back to Peekskill, and stay there.

Dumbo’s Delusion I, refuses to admit, or can not see, is the American people do not like his polices, from Toby Harnden,Telegraph (UK):

The one thing Obama was not prepared to admit was that his policies, which have led to a massive expansion of government power and the national debt, could in any way be at fault. The problem with health care reform, he said, was that the process used to achieve it was “an ugly mess” – no mention that it was hugely unpopular and pushed through on a partisan vote without a single Republican legislator’s support.

Dumbo’s Delusion II, Obama has blind faith in failed economic ideas, Victor Davis Hanson, Pajamas Media:

No, my worries run deeper. Apparently, the president is unaware that after some 2,500 years of both experience with and abstract thought about Western national economies, we know that a free, private sector increases the general wealth of a nation, while a statist redistributive state results in a general impoverishment of the population. At the root of that truth is simple human nature — that people wish to further their own interest more fervently than the more abstract public good (e.g., why the renter does not wash the rental car, or why the public restroom is treated differently from its counterpart at home), and can be encouraged to invent, create, and discover which in turn helps the less fortunate, lucky, healthy, or talented.

All most enough to make a person pine for a president as smart of Jimmy Carter or as reasonable as Lyndon Johnson.

It is three AM for Dana Milbank, or the WaPo talks primary,  Washington Post:

As I sat in the East Room last week watching a forlorn President Obama account for his shellacking, I listened with concern as he described the presidency as a “growth process” and suggested that the midterm setback was somehow inevitable.  “You know, this is something that I think every president needs to go through,” he said.

It brought to mind Hillary Clinton’s 3 a.m. phone-call ad from the 2008 campaign, and her withering criticism of Obama: “When there is a crisis . . . there’s no time for speeches or on-the-job training.” I wondered whether Democrats would be in the fix they’re in if they had chosen a different standard-bearer

With polls showing that Dim Won, b/k/a Barack Obama, would even lose to the Dope from Hope, Mike  Huckabee,  the talk of primary challenge will only grow louder, and with fresh  candidates, unlike the recycled Mre. Clinton.

Ode to the Lame Stream Media, Jennifer Rubin, Commentary:

And in all of this, one wonders what the left-leaning intelligentsia has learned. A Harvard Law Review editor, a law professor, a garden-variety leftist, a talker-not-a-doer, and a proponent of American un-exceptionalism is a bust as president.  In short, someone like them is utterly incapable of leading the country, and to rescue himself he will have to shed the very qualities and beliefs they hold dear. You can understand why they’d prefer to label the rest of the country “crazy.”

That is all.

Billy says:

At Faceboook, McPhillips had written:

“As best as I can tell, Republicans spent the day rapidly falling behind the curve of their own success last night. I expect that by January they will be suited up in the usual coveralls to perform their traditional duties as janitorial socialists as they take the baton in the House from the aggressive malignant socialists. If you don’t believe me, listen to the language they are using.

For instance, this more or less composite statement: ‘We have to work together to get things done for the American people.’ No, you have to look this monstrosity in the effing eye and rip its entrails out.”

What you’re seeing in this aspect, Martin, is the fallacy of “representation”. What that word connotes is an epistemic matter, and the fact is that the entity (man) which is the subject of this whole affair simply doesn’t work the way that democracy purports for it.

I’m not quite sure I would go that far, Billy.

You and I have argued about this in the past.  I understand your position pretty well.  That said, however, I suggest to you that what we’re seeing is precisely why the tea party carried as much weight as it did as quickly as it did within this last cycle.  I’ve been saying for some time that unless the republicans removed the so called moderates , that this is exactly what would happen.  What you and Martin correctly observe, is exactly what I predicted.

I back this statement with a point that I’ve made to you in private years ago ; the one combination of government in this country that has never been tried is all three branches of government being held by conservatives … and I mean real conservatives.

The outstanding question to my mind at this point is whether or not the tea party is going to be able to hold onto its principles long enough to make a serious dent in the long Marxist march.

Keith Olbermann, Eric opined:

David has been rightly chiming in on the Keith Olbermann business. It’s kinda like observing a train wreck.

But I have to tell you that I look at this situation and have to wonder if there isn’t a connection between his sudden dismissal….  (OK, suspension, but you and I both know we won’t be back… What would you call an indefinite suspension without pay?  )… and the historic repudiation of the Obama White House by the voters, last Tuesday.

Sober people can not take seriously any so-called news commentator who is Howard Beale all the time.

Eugene Robinson and the race card, Robinson, Washington Post can not get past seeing the tea party movement as racist:

I ask myself what’s so different about Obama, and the answer is pretty obvious: He’s black. For whatever reason, I think this makes some people unsettled, anxious, even suspicious – witness the willingness of so many to believe absurd conspiracy theories about Obama’s birthplace, his religion and even his absent father’s supposed Svengali-like influence from the grave.

The unwashed tea party rednecks just elected two blacks to Congress.  So suggest some alternative reason for Dumbo’s debacle.   To wit, Obama  is stupid, arrogant, lazy and a socialist to boot.   Obama bitterly clings to his failed ideas  Obama Care, Cap and Tax, more spending and higher taxes.

Tsunami machines, Eric featured this quote from Stuart Rothenberg:

“Big changes in the House require a political wave. You can cherry-pick your way to a five- or eight-seat gain, but to win dozens of seats, a party needs a wave.  Recruiting better candidates and running better campaigns won’t produce anything like what took place in 1980, 1994, 2006 and 2008, when waves resulted in huge gains for one party. The current political environment actually minimizes the chance of a near-term wave developing.  The problem for Republicans is that they aren’t yet in the position — and won’t be in one by November of next year — to run on a pure message of change, or on pent-up demand for change.  Waves are built on dissatisfaction and frustration, and there is little in national survey data that suggest most voters are upset with President Barack Obama’s performance or the performance of his party.”  That was written in April of 2009.

While it is true that the United State is right of center nation,  under t he normal flow of election cycles is would take years to restore the natural republican majority.    However Barack Obama incompetence and over raech combined with Mrs. Pelosi hard left objective together created a electoral tsunami.

Stop calling Barney Fag gay, Mr. Frank is not gay. He is bitter, video:

It is time for Mr. Frank to stop using his sexuality as an excuse for being rude, crude and socially unacceptable.

David has been rightly chiming in on the Keith Olbermann business. It’s kinda like observing a train wreck.

But I have to tell you that I look at this situation and have to wonder if there isn’t a connection between his sudden dismissal….  (OK, suspension, but you and I both know we won’t be back… What would you call an indefinite suspension without pay?  )… and the historic repudiation of the Obama White House by the voters, last Tuesday.

Until now, MSNBC has been able by whatever means to convince itself that liberals really were in the majority.  That all they had to do was keep spewing their leftist bile until such time as folks caught on that theirs was the channel to be watching.  After all, didn’t want other denizens, James Carville, write a book called 40 More Years in which he predicted that the democrats would be in charge for another 40 years? Limbaugh pointed this out in his monolouge yesterday:

Rush Limbaugh

James Carville wrote, among other things, “Republicans have no hope of making serious inroads into Democratic advantages in 2010, or likely in 2012 and 2014 and so on. It’s time to call TOD on the GOP.”  TOD stands for time of death.  In May of 2009 James Carville, How the Democrats Will Rule the Next Generation.  This book was about how the Democrats will be in power for 40 years and how the Republicans have no hope in 2010, 2012, 2014, and beyond.

In April of 2009 political analyst Stuart Rothenberg, another anointed one, another of the ruling class, smartest guy in the world, best at what he does, “noted that a trio of Republicans ‘have raised the possibility of the GOP winning back the House of Representatives in 2010.'”  About that idea, Stuart Rothenberg wrote: “That idea is lunacy and ought to be put to rest immediately.  None of the three actually predicted that Republicans would gain the 40 seats that they need for a majority, but all three held out hope that that’s possible. It isn’t. … there are no signs of a dramatic rebound for the party, and the chance of Republicans winning control of either chamber in the 2010 midterm elections is zero. Not ‘close to zero.’ Not ‘slight’ or ‘small.’ Zero.

“Big changes in the House require a political wave. You can cherry-pick your way to a five- or eight-seat gain, but to win dozens of seats, a party needs a wave.  Recruiting better candidates and running better campaigns won’t produce anything like what took place in 1980, 1994, 2006 and 2008, when waves resulted in huge gains for one party. The current political environment actually minimizes the chance of a near-term wave developing.  The problem for Republicans is that they aren’t yet in the position — and won’t be in one by November of next year — to run on a pure message of change, or on pent-up demand for change.  Waves are built on dissatisfaction and frustration, and there is little in national survey data that suggest most voters are upset with President Barack Obama’s performance or the performance of his party.”  That was written in April of 2009.

Keith Olbermann

It’s easy, therefore, to understand why the liberals at MSNBC carried an air of “wait and see” inevitability about them.  With the most recent elections out of the way, however, MSNBC has apparently come to the conclusion that they already had what liberals there were up there watching.

Now, I should point out that technically speaking, Olbermann was suspended from MSNBC for his political contributions. That doesn’t even pass the laugh test.  Does anyone …. and I mean anyone at all …. really think that Olbermann was ever anything but a shill for the left?  That is in fact why MSNBC brought him on in that role in the first place.  Now, of course, the usual lefties such as Client Number Nine are leaping to his defense. but even in that defense, Spitzer admits that Olbermann has never been anything but biased to the left.

Spitzer said that, while that reading of the situation was technically true, the “big question” for him was that “it’s a silly policy…it is ridiculous to believe that MSNBC any more than FOX is impartial.”

I suppose you have to get your digs in were you can when you work for a network which is also obviously biased to the left, and is also losing the ratings game to Fox so badly for the last decade .  And did you notice the “But Mom…. he does it too” defense? I’ll bet it wored as well this time as it did when Spitzer tried to explain his actions to his then wife, right?  But let’s face it, it’s been no secret it all that Olbermann is so far left he makes Castro look like a centrist,  and has been using his MSNBC perch to raise money for far left this causes.  Olbermann Watch:

Olbermann Watch first reported on Olbermann using his position at MSNBC to raise money for political causes back in November, 2004: OLBERMANN USES BLOG TO PROMOTE FUNDRAISING FOR VOTER RECOUNT

And again:

An indefinite suspension without pay sure sounds like he was fired which, of course, raises all sorts of questions about the future of Olbermann Watch.  While it remains to be seen what the future holds of Olbermann and Olbermann Watch, today is a good time to look back to the post from the old The National Debate blog which led to the creation of the Olbermann Watch site six years ago this month.

MSNBC DEFINES DEVIANCY DOWN AS KEITH OLBERMANN’S INTERNET-FUELED JIHAD ON JOURNALISTIC ETHICS CONTINUES The only Countdown worth watching at MSNBC is “Days Remaining Until Keith Olbermann’s Head Explodes.”

No one has ever accused Keith Olbermann of being a journalist even though his current boss, Rick Kaplan, describes KO as a “news anchor.”  For sure, no one in the NBC News organization is confusing Olbermann with Huntley and Brinkley – or Lauer and Couric for that matter. The notoriously hot-tempered Olbermann is a sports guy who has bounced from network to network alienating supporters and burning bridges as he ravages the cable broadcast countryside. This Attila of the CableNets has grown increasingly erratic as his ratings nosedive has begun to approach terminal velocity. Over the past couple of months Olbermann has descended into a jouralistic netherworld where fringe web sites are news sources and fact-checking is no longer “cool” enough for the ultra-hip word stylist.

A few examples of Keith’s free-fall,

On September 7th, Olbermann reported on an Indiana University study that found parents lose 12 to 20 IQ points after having children and quoted a Dr. Hosung Lee saying the report “explains why every parent thinks their child is the smartest kid in the class or the best athlete… even if that child is as dumb as a box of rocks or needs a calendar to time their 40-yard dash.” And this was not just any story is was Countdown’s “number one story of the day”. Olbermann would have done well to trust the instincts of his next guest, Carl Reiner, who, when asked “Do you buy any of this?”, replied “Not at all.”

Countdown viewers may be forgiven for believing that Olbermann had read or even skimmed the study he was reporting on, or given Dr. Lee a jingle on the telephone, since he did not cite any source for his information. Despite presenting the news as original reporting, Olbermann had, in fact, pilfered the story from a single, unattributed source. For those of you who made it through high school this is sometimes referred to as “plagiarizing.” And what was this single, unimpeachable source that formed the bedrock for Keith’s MSNBC news report? The New York Times? The Associated Press? The New England Journal of Medicine?  How about the online edition of The Hoosier Gazette?

Now every journalist worth their salt knows that it’s a big time no-no to lift material from another source and pass it off as your own.  People get fired for that in newsrooms all the time (see Blair, Jayson) as do their bosses (see Raines, Howell). In this case, Olbermann not only failed to credit his source but failed to verify that his source was even real.

You see, there is no such thing as The Hoosier Gazette – the online “version” is a satirical web site that features fake news from in and around Indiana. Had Olbermann even looked he might have wondered about articles such as “Indiana UFO sightings up 25% over last year” and “Jacko sells Neverland Valley, returning to Gary.” Apparently, Olbermann’s reporting was so lazy and sloppy that he didn’t even bothered to visit the web site himself. Olbermann later admitted that he never contacted Indiana University or tried to track down Dr. Lee or a copy of the report.

Undeterred, Olbermann was back at it a few weeks later, this time slamming the host of the show which routinely trounces Countdown. On November 8th, Bill O’Reilly was named the number one “newsmaker of the day”. In announcing the selection, KO said “Bill O’Reilly…told his audience that, on election night, at this hour, nine times as many Americans were watchingThe the  Fox News Channel as were watching MSNBC.  Actually, they had 7-1/2 million viewers at 8:00 Eastern last Tuesday.  We have we had 2.6.  That wouldn’t be nine time as many.  That would be less than three time as many.  It’s too bad Billy isn’t as good with a calculator or a brain as he is with a loofah.”

One problem. O’Reilly never said it.  On Thursday, November 4th, during an interview with Bernard Goldberg – a little irony here as Goldberg has authored two books which sum up KO nicely – “Bias” and “Arrogance” – O’Reilly said “last night, on the Fox News Channel, at this hour, eight o’clock, the Factor time, nine times as many Americans watched us as MSNBC”. In other words, O’Reilly was referring to Wednesday, November 3rd not election night, Tuesday, November 2nd. O’Reilly was right; Olbermann got it wrong. Too paraphrase, too bad Keith isn’t as good with a transcript or a brain as he is with making up the news.

So, how did Olbermann get it wrong again? KO thinks of the internet as a sort of a virtual Burger King where, if you look hard enough, you can always “have it your way”. This time, Olbermann pulled his “quote” off TVNewser, a blog web site run by a teenager in Maryland. In yet another dash of irony, the young blogger was taking a shot at O’Reilly for calling Olbermann arrogant:

…and because no day is complete without a quote from Bill O’Reilly: On election night, “nine times as many Americans watched us than MSNBC,” O’Reilly said late last week. “That plurality has never been seen before in the history in network news…With respect to our colleages at that other place, they’re as arrogant as they get.

Again, Olbermann failed to credit his source and, as usual, failed to fact-check a blog source. Even worse, Olbermann was just plain sloppy.  The post on the blog site put the words “on election night” outside of the quotes so even TVNewser was not, technically, quoting O’Reilly. In the blogger’s case, he merely got the date wrong, and the central point of TVN’s jibe had nothing to do with when the comment was made. In Olbermann’s case he conflated bogus information with an inaccurate, partial quote, put it in on their air with fact-checking it and compounded his errors by attempting to rip O’Reilly for getting his facts wrong. And yet Olbermann is baffled that his show runs last in the ratings week in and week out.

Earlier this week, Olbermann aired yet another e-canard, this time a supposedly mysterious outcome in five “democratic” counties in Florida which went for Bush by large margins despite a large edge in registered Democrats. KO interviewd Erica Solvig, a reporter for the Cinncinati Enquirer. Viewers were told that in “Baker County, Florida, on the Georgia border for instance.  69 percent of voter registered Democrats.  24 percent Republicans.  Yet President Bush got 7,738.  And Senator Kerry, just 2,180.  In Holmes County, in the panhandle, seven Democrats for every two Republicans in the district.  Bush beat Kerry 6,410 to 1,810.  In Dixie County, 77.5 percent registered Democrats, Bush 4,433, Kerry 1,959.  Lafayette County, 83 percent Democratic, Bush, 2,460.  Kerry, 845.  In Liberty County, Bristol, Florida, 88 percent of registered voters there are Democrat.  8 percent Republican.  Bush, 1,927.  Kerry, 1,070.”

To appreciate the art in this “Olbermann” you have to note that the story KO is discussing, initially, is a report out of Warren County which is Erica Solvig’s beat in Ohio. He introduces her by pointedly describing the Cinncinati Enquirer as a “mainstream newspaper.” With KO that’s code for “check your wallet” you are about to be had. Solvig talks about a story she broke in Ohio. This makes sense, her paper is from Ohio and Warren County politics is her beat. Out of the blue, Solvig pivots and starts in about Florida as if she were a native. How did Solvig suddenly become an “expert” on voting returns in obscure Florida counties? That’s never explained. Nor is Solvig’s source. But Keith knows.

Olbermann has once again allowed MSNBC to serve as headquarters for the Cloud Koo-Koo-land brigade. In this case, the unnamed source is a fringe-fringe web site in Utah (fringe-fringe sites are sites so fringe that fringe web sites point them to show why they are “mainstream”). A “numbers expert” from outside Salt Lake City named Kathy Dopp concocted an “analyis” that purported to show inexplicable voting patterns in counties that used electronic voting and “proved” that Bush stole the election. This on site that a week ago was getting less than 50 visitors a day. It should come as no surprise that there are more than a few problems with the analysis not the least of which is that Dopp didn’t bother to examine any historical voting data. If either Dopp, Solvig or Olbermann had bothered to check, they would have seen a long history of registered Democrats living in the Florida panhandle who vote Republican in presidential elections. They are often referred to as “Southern Democrats.” How is that Olbermann, who actually participated in MSNBC’s election night coverage was unaware that Florida’s panhandle is dominated Zell Miller voters.

Last night, another blogger, Bob Fertik at Democrats.com, put up a post announcing some “political dynamite” as “the collective efforts of progressive Internet activists reached a critical mass” and sent it over to MSNBC. The news? Two fringe candidates (David Cobb of the Green party and Michael Badnarik of the Libertarian party) were trying to raise $110,000 to pay for a recount in Ohio.

Are you detecting a pattern here?

Sure enough, old Keith bit and bit hard, leading his broadcast with a breathless update of the “voter fraud” story that he alone is now “covering” – and featuring the news that Cobb and Badnarik were raising money on their web sites (hint, hint) to pay for a recount.

For quite some time Olbermann has had the luxury of getting away with using his show to monger rumors of the web because no one watches his show (he gets about a .7 rating, or slighly better than the now cancelled McEnroe show on CNBC). But word is starting to get around that Olbermann is embracing the lunatic fringe, apparently determined to take the reputation of NBC News down with him.

Ann Coulter recently ripped Olbermann on the Florida Panhandle mystery – “…I guess we can add “math” to Keith’s growing “I Don’t Do” file, along with “Reading the Congressional Almanac,” “Basic Show Prep,” “Getting My Attitude in Line With My IQ”

The New York Times, hardly a bastion of the GOP, traced the origin of Olbermann’s panhandle story in an article entitled “Vote Fraud Theories, Spread by Blogs, Are Quickly Buried”

Dean Esmay of Dean’s World notes that John Gibson has come pretty close to accusing Olbermann of fanning terrorism in Iraq.

Kevin Aylward at Wizbang blog points to Johnny Dollar’s Place where another blogger traces the origin of another Olbermann reported baked fresh in the blogosphere. JDP even has the video of The Factor – Goldberg debate that Olbermann twisted as a pretext for slamming Bill O’Reilly.

Henry Hanks at Crooow Blog finds nothing new in Olbermann creating a pretext to slam O’Reilly.

Tom Biro at The Media Drop is wondering whether KO-Gate spells a big problem for Olbermann and MSNBC.

NOTE: If you want to visit some of Keith’s favorite web sites check out the nut-jobs at www.CommonDreams.org, BlackBoxVoting.org, www.ustogether.org.

As for his supposed journalistic standards, and that of MSNBC, you would think that if there were any journalistic standards at MSNBC to be applied, he would have been out on his backside a long time ago.  Again, Olbermann Watch:

• Olbermann lied about O’Reilly’s ratings.
• Olbermann lied about a Brit Hume quote that he applied to an entirely different incident than the one Hume was discussing.
• Olbermann lied about O’Reilly’s Haiti coverage.
• Olbermann made up a nonexistent Patrick Fitzgerald statement.
• Olbermann lied, rewriting Palin’s words to fit his smear.
• Olbermann lied to protect Martha Coakley.
• Olbermann lied about Roger Ailes, and touched off a feud with FNC.
• Olbermann lied about flyers being distributed by Fox, that weren’t.
• Olbermann lied about Scott McClellan and Bill O’Reilly.
• Olbermann lied repeatedly about a leak to Fox News that never happened.
• Olbermann lied about lying.
• Olbermann caught on tape lying about Major Garrett.
• Olbermann smeared Albert Pujols and Chris Mihlfeld.
• Olbermann lied that Scott Brown ‘never disassociated himself’ from a shouted statement.

Those are just a small sampling of the many uncorrected slanders spouted by Herr Olbermahn. They remain uncorrected because he has structured Countdown to insulate himself from anyone who might even raise an eyebrow at the worst Keith kalumnies.

I’ve included rather generous quotes from that web site, because to be perfectly honest with you, it was the easiest and most direct way to light that this kind of activity from Olbermann is hardly a new thing, being in fact well known for a long time.  In fact I will guarantee you, that this bias is precisely why he was hired in the first place.  MSNBC, and the leadership thereof, are now fully established as liars in the league of Olbermann himself.

But…. that said… now comes the question;  Does this suspension of Keith Olberman mark a swing away from the left for MSNBC?  Consider the matter; both MSNBC and CNN had left for the last decade.  Actually, quite a bit longer than that, but let’s focus a little.  Can it be that the investors and other money types and MSNBC have finally figured out that tilting left is going nowhere with the American people?

Further, one has to wonder how long it will be before the denizens of the New York Times figure out that same message?  One could point, for example, to the former Enron adviser Paul Krugman as the next leftist shill to get his walking papers from a rapidly sinking New York Times. . Perhaps the leadership at CNN take a serious look at itself and wonder why in the bleep they brought Client Number Nine Spitzer in any kind of a serious role whatever?  To say nothing of the rest of their cast of lefttards being paraded as unbiased news types.

I doubt they will, but I will tell you that if they don’t , they, none of them,  will ever survive.

Et tu Keith, William Kristol, comes to laud the suspended Keith Olbermann, from Weekly Standard:

Perhaps Olbermann violated NBC News “policy and standards.” But NBC doesn’t have real news standards for MSNBC—otherwise the channel wouldn’t exist. It’s a little strange to get all high and mighty now.

Who knew Bill Kristol was a Roman?   He certainly knows how to carefully pick his targets

Say good night Keith, Michelle chimes in:

Whatever NBC’s guidelines may be, it was the basic journalistic failure of the Murrow wanna-be to disclose the donation on the night he hosted one of his cash recipients that seals his fate and undermines whatever iota of credibility his station has left.

Good night and good riddance.

Christmas in November, the worst speaker in the history of the House and the post child of the republican tsunami wants to get kicked some more, from ABC News:

In the wake of Tuesday’s shellacking, outgoing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, has been widely expected to step down as the Democratic leader and leave Congress.

Not so fast.

High-level Democratic sources in the House tell ABC News Pelosi is seriously considering staying in Congress and running for the position of minority leader.

The Bad Behar of the West just doesn’t know when to quit.   The United State is leans conservative moderate nation.   Mrs. Pelosi is die hard leftist.   She can not her party out of the electoral desert, but it will be amusing to watch.

Dumbo is a Daze, Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post:

The president, however, remains clueless. In his next-day news conference, he had the right demeanor – subdued, his closest approximation of humility – but was uncomprehending about what just happened. The “folks” are apparently just “frustrated” that “progress” is just too slow. Asked three times whether popular rejection of his policy agenda might have had something to do with the shellacking he took, he looked as if he’d been asked whether the sun had risen in the West. Why, no, he said.

It has  been said that God works in mysterious ways.   Well Dumbo, b/k/a Barack Obama, campaigned in Aught0Eight as a bipartisan uniter.   Obscrene democrat majorities (unfairly) robbed Dumbo of a significant opportunity to demonstrate his purported skills at working cross the party aisle.    Just like B.J. Clinton after the 1994 democrat debacle,  Obama now has his chance.    Can Dumbo rise to the challenge?   Film in ‘Twelve.

More Dumbo’s Brain, of lack thereof, Christine M. Flowers, Philly Daily News:

Sorry Ms Flowers, if Barrack Obama were intelligent, he would have had at least some accomplishment earned by merit..  He has none.   Yes Dumbo does seem to believe that he truly know what is best.   Yet, maybe because of too much cocaine snorting, he utterly unable  to explain any reason for any of his beliefs.   We are expected to trust Obama’s  supposed intellect.  But where is the evidence of this intellect?

Legal Insurrection goes co-ed,  William Jacobson, the former sole proprietor, authored the only blog professed to written by a law professor nearly worth reading on a daily basis.    After two years in the trenches,  Professor Jacobson has taken on a co-blogger, link:

If I were to bring someone on board, it would have to be someone who was consistent with my political outlook but at the same time brought a different focus, dynamic, and readership profile.  I also needed someone I trusted not to embarrass me (because only I am allowed to embarrass myself).

And I think I have found the first of such persons, Kathleen McCaffrey.  (Image right with Václav Klaus during his visit to Cornell.)

Kathleen, who is a Junior at Cornell, already has carved out quite a name for herself in the political blogosphere.  Kathleen is the co-founder of The Politicizer and also R&M Political Group, which does social media consulting.

Legal Insurrection is the only conservative site written by a law professor which puts a daily stream of political commentary, in fact written by the law professor, rather than an unname and uncredited series of unknown co-bloggers.

There law professor blogs to find magnificent photography, endless pop-up ad, or amazing deals at Amazon.    Whereas Legal Insurrection just offers conservative political commentary.

Comedy Gold, the Unhinged Mind, Glenn Greenwald makes Lawrence O’Donnell seem rational, video:

And who said it could not be done?

The Obama method, by Victor Davis Hanson, Pajamas Media:

[Barack] Obama, who was always himself given something (take your pick—Harvard admission, Harvard Law Review billet, Chicago Law School tenure offer, Noble Peace Prize, etc.) without requisite achievement, is thus stunned that the economy is not a malleable law school dean whom he can hope and change into compliance.

Trying to pass Dumbo off as intelligent, Michael Goodwin, in the New York Post, tries to depict Barack Obama as if he were intelligent:

There you have it. The signature policy he produced is “good,” despite being unpopular, despite driving up costs and taxes, despite hindering job growth, and despite forcing companies to drop coverage or seek exemptions. Any more “good” like that and the USA will be down for the count.

Ah, quibble, quibble. Facts be damned, the guy believes what he believes.

He’s a smart man and skillful politician who can certainly read election results. So, in theory at least, he knows exactly how the nation feels.

Can Mr. Goodwin explain this, if  as Barack Obama alleges his signature Obama Care is so damn good, and as Goodwin alleges, Obama is so damn smart, why can’t Obama explain the benefits of Obama Care?  The fact is the more Obama explains Obama Care, the less people like it.

Thought for the Day I, from Michelle:

Take Your Olive Branch and Shove It, Democrats

I don’t necessarily agree with Michelle, but I understand her frustration Mrs. Pelosi locked the republicans out of the process and Obama demonized them.  However the People’s representative work for the People.  If cooperation will put the nation back to work, sobeit.  On the other hand, if s stringing the ‘rate out to dry is what is takes, sobeit.

Thought for the Day II,   John Boehner:

“This is not a time for celebration,”

From John Podhoretzt, New York Posts.

Barack Obama in intent on destroying our country and he still has the power to do it.

Blue Dogs lose, from Puffington Post:

WASHINGTON — Tuesday was a tough night for Democrats, as they watched Republicans win enough seats to take back the House in the next Congress and began to ponder life under a likely House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). But one group hit especially hard was the Blue Dog Coalition, with half of its members losing their seats.

According to an analysis by The Huffington Post, 22 of the 46 Blue Dogs up for re-election went down

Nobody will miss them.

The remaining Blue Dogs will be much more cooperative.

Last night was a drubbing of a sitting president like we have not seen since 1932. At this writing, we’re at around 60 seats worth of swing away from the Democrats, and by the end of this, possibly 70 seats.

Look, let’s be honest…. Even assuming Obama and the minions of the left had a blinking clue about the degree of defeat they took last night, they’d never admit it. The one clue we’re going to get now is the left now preaching “compromise” and “working together”. A pause,  however…. I’m on record as saying the only time Democrats ever mouth the word “compromise” is when they’re losing. So it is today.

The vote yesterday was decidedly not about compromise. a couple of prime examples would be Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina. Remember this if nothing else about those two…  they represent compromise and were in fact hailed by the left as being the kind of Centrist Republican they could work with. The numbers of votes seem to suggest that rank and file Democrats were not interested in such centrists and such compromises. Much the same as the centerist compromise presidential candidate, John McCain was rejected by the left after they fawned over him for months… until after the Republican primary season was over.

And lets remember the “I WON” syndrome exhibited by Obama. Clearly working together wasn’t on his agenda either… at least until such time as the election results came in last night.

What we have in last night’s results is not an electorate wanting to work with Obama on completing his agenda… but an electorate wanting to stop him.