Could the neocon war pornographers such and Newt et al get any more orgasmic whenever the scenario of big, bountiful, bodice-busting bombings and war rear up as a possibility? You want these insecure, repressed children to find a room to drool over themselves. That the media still refuses to call out these psychopaths each and every time these start beating their puny chests over the Risk gameboard sickens me.

And can the media also retire the adjectives “intelligent” and “brilliant” when mentioning Gingrich? This is one of those lazy framing devices they use, like McCain being a “maverick” … just because Newt uses a big word and says way-out garbage (I know, for repubs not repeating the usual talking points must mean you are smart) doesn’t mean he’s smart, just insane and better at hiding his nastiness.

I'm too busy to join in today, but I have to give props to mbf's comments in this stream - you're on fire ... and I loved the Our Town reference ... keep up the good work!

they don't serve humble pie at those breakfast meetings....

Richard Wolffe (from the Tony Snow round-table): “[Bloggers] want us to play a role that isn’t really our role. Our role is to ask questions and get information. … It’s not a chance for the opposition to take on the government and grill them to a point where they throw their hands up and surrender.”

Obviously, Charlie Savage is thus not a real journalist and should be thrown out of the Kool Kids' Insider Reporter Klub for his treasonous work.

... I thought my tinfoil hat was protecting me from the government tracking…

As Glenn mentions, anyone in support of such big-brother laws is probably too far gone to even try to engage with on a rational level, and I am glad you mentioned the right’s abandonment of its (former) core states-rights issue. Anyone who could set up or attend something called “Resolved: Better More Surveillance Than Another 9/11” must have suppressed their irony meter long ago (not to mention their gag reflex and ability to write coherent English). They want a tsk tsk-ing Nanny State run by amoral, power-hungry ninnies … luckily history shows these crumble under their dubious foundations, but not before the damage is done.

Once he's done with the nukes and China, Jack Bauer will straighten this all out ....

It's all of the same psychological set ... no different than the belief in an omnipotent being that nobody has seen, which means it must be real. We'll just add "The Gospel of Gaubatz" to the pile ....

... to a great man – thanks to Glenn for culling these Halberstam passages. Far from being redundant, it only makes me sadder and angrier each and every time I read them. Halberstam was a great human and towering journalist, and he will be missed. But keep in mind the reason he was a giant is exactly because most of his compatriots in the media were of the same obsequious mold as today’s vapid dimwits. The disconnect between these journalists’ views of themselves versus reality is as stark as the truth v. fiction of Iraq.

… by nature, being insecure geeks forever wanting to be in the cool kids’ club, were eager to be the first to welcome their new alien GOP masters when they came in, and get behind them supporting the war, assuming the conservatives – being so masculine and powerful – would of course win, and they, being on the winning side, would be welcomed to join the new leaders in their utopian, rich world. Unfortunately for them, they bet the wrong side (after all, the press is the repository of some of the best second-rate minds), never realizing their new alien masters were really the same old power-drunk losers dressed up in poorly tailored He-man costumes. Fearing a return to a life full of atomic wedges and being ostracized, they are and will continue asserting they did nothing wrong – they have no choice but to hold on with their fingertips to their perches with all their might. Our job is to place the final foot stomp on those fingers.

"obsequious toady" but I am sure there is a more technical one out there ...

... the result of a critical mass of corruption and deceit and death, but eventually the tide will come back in – will we be ready next time? Trust me - I am ecstatic about what I am starting to see in this country after feeling like I was losing my sanity between 2000-2006. We are witnessing the beginning of the crumbling of this foundationless goon takeover, and to finally warm ourselves in some sunlight is welcome. But while we may sweep them out and reason and truth is ushered back in, as is human nature we will get complacent, and they will just slink away, regroup more powerfully like a bad virus, and again insinuate themselves into our political world. So take an internal picture of how we all feel now, this anger and activism, and keep it close to your heart – I think we all know this is everlasting war with the forces of immoral and unethical power and there is no finish line.

How about "jackals" ... pretty much what these opportunistic scavengers are.

Or we can just simplify and call them the modern-day GOP....

Again, the fact that we are even having a “discussion” on something so obvious and ingrained in our country’s existence is cause for alarm and dismay. I know our vigilant press will be on top of it … oh sorry, MoDo is too busy today making up nicknames for Tenet – her tireless valiant work is never done.

Sure – bring on the omnipotent Leader – so when President Hillary takes office and enforces “one-(wo)man rule” we all can sit and watch Manfield’s head explode.