Senate Majority Leader Reid expresses "outrage" -- while some in American press corps privately "wonder about qualifications."

At the rate of ten GIs killed (and who knows how many maimed) and $3 billion dollars a week, what's not to like about the Bush/McCain/GOP Iraq policy?

Hey, it's so damn popular, after Bush expands the war into Iran it'll be really, really popular!

It will be so "popular" that Bush will probably make sure that it happens after the elections, when all that "popularity" will have no effect on Republican election hopes.

When Pelosi summarized that Bush "was wrong and he knows it," wouldn't she have made the point a lot more forcefully if she just said the president was "lying"?

One would think that by now -- with unambiguously truthful statements by this president so rare that, if ever confirmed, they would merit historical footnotes -- that the "L-word" could be used without censure.

Republicans are so nostalgic for Ronald Reagan, and McCain is so eager to shamelessly pander for their support, that he's willing to assume the Reagan-esque mantle of presidential senility.

That, or McCain really is too impaired to keep his Iran/Iraq delusions coherent -- but we should never expect our corporate media to be so "impolite" as to report that fact about the Sainted Maverick War Hero & Serious Foreign Policy Expert Untainted by Corruption Who Will Be Tough on Terror.

The neutering of the American press corps made the Iraq debacle possible despite the experience of Vietnam so recent in historical memory.

It's not debatable that anti-war views were suppressed by major media during the run-up the the Iraq invasion. Nor is it debatable that the press corps responsible for informing the public about war policy were reduced to stenographers, simply regurgitating White House and Pentagon press releases as fact without any critical review.

Shockingly and most damningly, our corporate media continued this credulous stenography even after the Bush regime had been caught lying repeatedly about fundamental issues of Iraq war policy.

This debauched abdication of journalistic responsibility continues even today. During the waning days of the Bush regime, our "press corps" will no doubt be put to good use once again as we catastrophically blunder into Iran.

It's probably hard for the young whippersnappers to understand the significance comics had for us old farts. Back in the day before CGI and whiz-bang F/X in movies and TV, comics were the source of escapist entertainment.

But it should be stressed that the quality of comic books wasn't utterly destroyed by the Comics Code. When Marvel Comics exploded on the scene they proved that creativity and originality could thrive even under the strictures of the Code.

McCain may have just mixed-up his standard red-meat applause lines to the GOP rubes with what he's supposed to say when in the "reality-based community." He's been pandering so hard it's easy to see how might get confused -- the man's 72-years old, after all.

It'll be interesting to see if the M$M is as forgiving (since he has no comparable domestic policy "bonafides") when he serves-up these laughable Republican staples:

* The Bush tax cuts went primarily to the middle class and need to be made permanent

* Tax cuts increase government revenues (despite record deficits)

* Social Security should be privatized

* Exploitive private health insurance companies are better than a national health care system

Nobody gets rich touting the interests of the poor and middle class.

Conversely, there's plenty of big bucks to be made for defending the interests of the rich and powerful. There's so much right-wing cash spread around in this regard even the fringiest of the fringe can make a living. Even prospective college kids are on the payroll in a type of GOP farm-club system.

Liberals/progressives have no comparable infrastructure. We are truly amateurs.

As a result, what was considered kook-right stuff 20 years ago is now considered "mainstream."

You've obviously never heard of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, then.

Peanuts compared to the money spread around by the right-wing noise machine -- and the influence exerted on our national discourse.

And Moyer in particular has spewed hatred of conservative Christians, as has Garrison Keilor, who said they should be denied the vote.

If you can honestly describe Moyers and Keillor as "haters," you may just be too hyper-sensitive (and hypocritical) to ever leave your fainting couch.

Compared to the likes of Coulter, Limbaugh, Savage, Malkin, et al, those guys don't even register on the Hate-O-Meter.

Just bomb them until they don't hate us anymore.

What is it, which presumably would be revealed by allowing the telecom suits to proceed, that the Bush administration would (literally) pull out all of the stops to suppress? Why would Mukasey humiliate himself like this? It really makes me curiouser and curiouser. The more they resist, the more alarmed I become, and the more I want to know what it is..

"It" is the nub, isn't it? I suspect "It" has to be the illegal wiretapping of domestic political opponents and the press.

This would explain three things:

1. Why the program was run without FISA court approval

2. Why there have been so few challenges to egregious Bush regime abuses of power (wiretapping could provide ample grist for extortion)

3. Why the Bush regime's highest priority -- even higher than the safety of the American people -- is to prevent further exposure of the program by demanding telecom amnesty

Does anybody believe that the type of people who would lie to get us into an unnecessary war would balk at this degree of illegality -- especially if they thought they could maintain secrecy though the guise of "national security"?

Since both Obama and Clinton are avoiding the obvious -- eliminating the insurance companies altogether from the health-care equation -- Edwards may be holding back his endorsement for a more important role at the convention.

If the nomination is deadlocked, Edwards may throw his support (and his delegates) to a compromise Gore nomination.

Socialist

Far Left

Ultra Liberal

Liberal

Centrist

Conservative