Did anyone else just see this?

What an unsufferable putz Douglas Feith is!

Stewart was in medium-attack mode; he took him to task, but I think was still too polite. He really didn't go after him as I would've... specifically on the "evidence" they used to sell the War to the public. Feith maintained they were merely "wrong" which meant they didn't "lie." See it's ok, everyone makes mistakes.

Stewart let this slide.

What Stewart SHOULD have done was attack him over the Valerie Plame issue. If they HONESTLY BELIEVED their evidence was correct, why did they have to threaten the anonymity (essentially threaten the life...) of the wife of the guy calling into question the nature of said "evidence?"

Stewart should have been prepped by the Daily Show's legal counsel for this one. He could've really dragged this little slimeball over the coals. I would've loved to see him storm off the set in a huff.

... a presidential candidate, in the middle of one of these kow-towing, pro-Israeli interviews, just said, "You know what?!? Fuck Israel! There. I said it.", and walked off the set?

Comic gold.

As Chomsky pointed out, the simplest equation seems to explain a lot of the sanctimony surrounding the conflict in Palestine:

The Pentagon + The Israeli right wingers = unlimited corporate welfare for the US Defense industry.

I haven't seen any credible arguments to the contrary.

It has nothing to do with supporting "the only Democracy in the Middle East." (we overthrow those all the time).

It has nothing to do with terrorism. (we know that's a loaded word to describe anyone we don't like)

I'll hold off any judgments until mid-2009.

Although, I don't know how the credit crunch could be over; when (or how) did everyone get that worthless mortgage debt off their books???

There have been several stories about write-downs. Are they all through with that?

Does anybody who actually understands the banking system want to chime in, or is this just going to be a forum for a bunch of conspiracy theory nut-jobs to vent about how the Evil Federal Reserve and the Illuminati are trying for "control"?

"For the Republicans, Israel comes first."

I wonder how THAT would play in the Carolinas?

I was wondering the same thing, though I perhaps put it a little too inartfully.

How has the anti-semitic undercurrent that exists in rural America been ignored? Or maybe all the Pentecostal support for Israel (e.g. from the Rev. Hagee's of the world) has done away with it?

I'm thinking of all the conspiracy theory nuts that buy into the "Protocols of Zion" type stuff. As Neo-conservatives have courted these people to be their cherished, coddled voting bloc, they have to realize they are playing with fire.

Did he actually see Team America? If so, I'm guessing the satire went over his head.

As Amity so sarcastically noted:

If Americans really believed any of that commie nonsense, they would have learned some basic economics, gotten involved in politics, and fought for it themselves 10 or 20 or even 30 years ago. Instead we let professional economists tell us everything we need to know in Time magazine. Much less work!

That should show Nan Mooney and these socialist fifth columnists at Salon that they're out of step with the values of real Americans, who are proud to stand around some more and scratch their heads in confusion while being screwed into submission by the rich, rather than give in to some dumb ideal of government.

Here's the problem in a nutshell, a "case study" like they teach in Business school, if you will: How many people bitch about health care costs? Yet you know what the Big Pharmaceutical lobby did a couple years ago? Took away the states' ability to negotiate drug prices that would be supplied to recipients through state programs. This was one of the last few remaining cost control measures available that constrained an industry coddled with all sorts of government protection. Now the immediate compromise was that prices to current recipients would be frozen for 5 years. Therefore, the typical American sheep, who only see in the most immediate short term time frame, were in no position to complain.

If any PR campaign was mounted, it probably would've stressed how without this new legislation, Big Pharma would be UNABLE to COMPETE in the competitive marketplace. See, "Free Market Economics" is now just a PR euphemism for "We WANT a government handout." In practice, the bill passed was completely the OPPOSITE of what FREE MARKET ECONOMICS would have favored. It allowed these companies to even more effectively monopolize the market WITHOUT being forced to compete on price & quality.

There was, of course, some legislative opposition to the Bill. Why vote for someone or something that hasn't donated any money to your re-election campaign??? However, the lobbyists & corporate strategists knew EXACTLY how many votes were needed. I think something like 12 senators were bought out-of-hand. Those 12 ALL have $200,000+/year salaries at various big pharmaceuticals corporations.

None of this made the news until 60 Minutes did an expose WELL AFTER the bill had passed.

Few, if any, Americans learned about it, and fewer did anything about it.

YET, IN 5 YEARS, GUESS WHO IS GOING TO BE BEWILDERED BECAUSE THEY'RE NOW PAYING EVEN MORE FOR THEIR MEDICINE???

"DUH... THEY TOLD US THE FREE MARKET BRINGS PRICES DOWN. WHAT'S GOING ON???"

This is why the middle-class has stagnated. Bunch of self-satisfied idiots, who shy away from any real hard mental tasks, while desperately trying to convince themselves that they are upper-class.

Here's a tip: you're not. THEY have Lawyers and Lobbyists. THEY are looking out for themselves. YOU are blind.