Let's face it: if Osama Bin Laden had access to the courts, he could sue Al Qaeda in Iraq and win hands down. It's like if someone in Iraq thought that because of the lawlessness there, they could get away with opening a burger stand and calling it "McDonalds in Iraq". Oh wait-- the real McDonalds is already in Iraq, aren't they? But the real Al Qaeda isn't -- at least not in the form of AQI. It's a separate group that took on the name for a bit of borrowed "prestige", right? They should have to run a little disclaimer under their name in fine print for the lawyers: "Al Qaeda in Iraq is not affilliated with Al Qaeda, Inc., and no relationship between the groups should be inferrred."

GG: "He has no good explanation as to why so many of his Democratic colleagues are so deeply afraid of being attacked by one of the weakest presidents in modern American history."

Gee, could it be because illegal wiretapping has already been used to garner embarassing, private evidence against Democratic (and Republican, too, mind you) lawmakers, that those in power are using to keep them in line? Wasn't that the kind of thing that like-minded people were looking for in Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office all those years ago? Wouldn't that explain the behavior of so many people?

GG writes: "The only difference this time... is that it is being directed at the side that typically wields such accusatory rhetoric, rather than by them."

The exact same phenomenon accounts for the recent Republican revulsion (expressed succinctly by Michael Medved among others) at Larry Craig's bathroom advances. Sexual harassment is the coin of the realm among these manly types (witness Tim Russet's "Lean a little closer to the camera" antics) -- but they must NEVER, EVER be on the receiving end of it. It would contradict their beliefs about who holds the power in this world.

Brian Williams: "Thank God" Cheney Was In Office On 9/11

Think Progress | October 9, 2007 03:28 PM

For his new book, Reality Show, Washington Post media reporter Howard Kurtz conducted "extensive interviews with journalists and executives at all levels of ABC, NBC and CBS" about their networks' coverage of the Iraq war and the post-9/11 era. In one of those interviews, someone revealed to Kurtz that on 9/11, NBC anchor Brian Williams found relief in the fact that "that Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell were on the team":

For Williams, it all went back to Sept. 11, 2001. As a citizen, he thought on that fateful day, thank God that Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell were on the team.

Of course "trust (in government officials)" is a "basic tenant of journalism" -- and the networks are the landlords! We already know that gov't mouthpieces have been *renting space* on broadcast media for quite some time! ; )