This isn’t a slam, Michelle. No, really: It’s just a critique on a few minor points of your Iraq reporting — some constructive criticism for the next time that you and your boy ward set out to demolish the liberal MSM’s war coverage during a couple of days in-country.
Above: Michelle demolishes MSM reports about
so-called ‘matching ensembles.’
Dr. Atrios points us to this awesome poll:
[T]he state of the Bush administration is at its worst yet, according to the latest NEWSWEEK poll. The president’s approval ratings are at their lowest point in the poll’s history—30 percent—and more than half the country (58 percent) say they wish the Bush presidency were simply over, a sentiment that is almost unanimous among Democrats (86 percent), and is shared by a clear majority (59 percent) of independents and even one in five (21 percent) Republicans. Half (49 percent) of all registered voters would rather see a Democrat elected president in 2008, compared to just 28 percent who’d prefer the GOP to remain in the White House.
Now, a lot can happen in two years’ time, but right now it looks as though George W. Bush has done significant, long-lasting damage to the Republic Party’s public image that it will take years to recover from. George W. Bush, it seems, has become this generation’s Jimmy Carter*. Ouch, baby. Very ouch.
*I got nothin’ against the good Mr. Carter, who is by all accounts a stand-up guy. But he was widely seen as a highly ineffective preznit by the American public, albeit on a much smaller scale than Bush is. And for the record, yes, I think Bush is about a katrillion-gajillion times worse.
In the comments to this thread, Dan Riehl writes:
If you are going to make allegations, you should first get the facts. While I believe nesbusters may offer some sort of plan linked to ad rev or somehting, I’m really not sure, as, to date, I have lected to not participate in any paid manner with NewsBusters. Perhasp youshould try asking them before you try to smear someone that way. I annot you idiots out of love. I don’t need to do it for money.
Let’s leave aside the fact that Dan’s text reads like it was scribbled by a three-year-old on a Steel Reserve bender. Instead, let’s focus on the substance of his remarks.
It’s true that I had no idea whether or not Dan was a wingnut welfare recipient when I wrote my post. I also have no evidence that Dan’s employment status has always been dependent upon conservative think-tanks and/or the Republic Party, or that he has ever, say, accepted payment to write favorable pieces about No Child Left Behind, or ever been hired for a job that he was disastrously unqualified for, or ever gotten a job because he had a famous mother. Thus, it was unfair of me to imply that Dan was a wingnut welfare recipient. I labeled him as such because I am a shitbag fuckstick who is too lazy to conduct even the most basic of Google searches. I pledge to never engage in such benavior again, at least until next week when I do it again to someone else.
Y’see, some wingnuts, such as Dinesh D’Souza and Ben Domenech, are all about C.R.E.A.M. get tha’ money, dolla-dolla bill, y’all. But others are just in the wingnut game because they love the hustle. Dan is clearly one of those cats, and it was wrong for me to assume otherwise. Now, I could be a jerk and call Dan a chump for doing all this work for free while others are getting paid lotsa dough for it. But Mama Bradrocket didn’t raise no h8r, so I gotta give Dan a big ol’ salute and tell him to “Keep it Rieeeeeeeeeeehl!”
Above: The Icy Hot Stuntaz, a.k.a. the Hottest Guys EVAR, hope Dan keeps it Riehl too.
Word.
Gavin adds: I ain’t sayin’ he’s a gold digger…
The Editors’ video tribute to wingnuttery is a thing of beauty. Watch and watch again:
I think “My Pal Foot-Foot” is the only song that would work for such a lovely subject.
Above: Human Cheeto-Disposal Jonah:
“Feed me, or I’ll smear you!”
‘Shorter’ concept created by Daniel Davies and perfected by Elton Beard.
Shorter Peggy Noonan:
Above: Wore the grooves off her Jimmy Castor Bunch records to prove it
‘Shorter’ concept created by Daniel Davies and perfected by Elton Beard.
Bradrocket adds: Instead of running Ned Lamont for Senate, we should have asked the GOP if we could simply trade them Joe Lieberman straight-up for Hagel. Understand that I’m not the world’s biggest Hagel booster, but he’s still a damn sight better than Holy Joe.
Travis adds: Have you been reading all those articles lately about how young people should be careful about what they post on their Bloggers and their Facebooks and their MySpaces? It’s good advice, really, because that stuff stays online forever:
The polls show the American people are growing pessimistic about Iraq, and no wonder. They are being rallied against the cause by such statesmen as [Ted Kennedy and Chuck Hagel]. Six months after they repudiated the insurgency in a historic election, free Iraqis are continuing to make slow but steady political and military gains. Where the terrorists are gaining ground is in Washington, D.C.
Seriously, when is someone going to tell these people you can read their old columns without going to the library and checking out microfiche?
Travis adds, chagrined: Steve in comments has a sharper eye than I. The second excerpt is, in fact, an unsigned editorial. You probably can’t hear it from where you are, but I’m presently whacking myself in the side of the head as I go back and proof the stuff I was working on at the same time for my job. There’s gotta be something wrong with that stuff, too…
Mark Steyn, Canada’s Leading Asshole, is at it again. Last week he took joy in thoroughly regurgitating the dolchstosslegende; this week, a little more of the same, with bonus chunks of batshit insanity retched into the airwaves and internets.
Steyn: “Billions for imperial administrators, but
not one fucking cent for the social contract.”
First, a dolchstoss redux of sorts. Goddamn it, argues our Wingnutien, if the Senate can’t get behind Dear Leader’s Improved Surge/Terminate-The-Brutes policy, then what’s the point of having a Senate at all, the fucking backstabbers?
Above: Improved Surge
In a two-party system, if you’re pro-war, it would be nice if one of those parties was pro-war. That’s to say it would be nice if the Republicans in the Senate understood that you need to be waging this war seriously, and not undermining the President’s conduct of it.
Above: H-to-tha-H on Foxnizzle
Here’s Julia:
I completely support this plan in an enthusiastic and wholehearted way
Hugh Hewitt, who’s looking more and more like a lock for Chickenhawk of the Year, is promoting a pledge for Republicans in which they promise not to donate to the National Republican Senatorial Committee if any NRSC money goes to a Republican who fails to support “the Surge” (h/t Glenn Greenwald)
Bob Geiger has a list of some of the Republican senators who are up in ’08 (specifically those who voted to eliminate the minimum wage).
Quite a few of those senators oppose the “Surge,” because their job security depends on opposing it.
I’m with you, Mr. Hewitt. Cut ’em off at the knees.
What are you waiting for? Go pledge.
This will definitely impose some much-needed discipline on the exploding and catching-on-fire Republican Party, which is too busy yelling about help! and being on fire and oh-no-we’re-about-to-explode to carry out its duty of supporting President George W. Bush at any cost.
If only there were a convenient pool of fake names sitting around somewhere. Oh wait…
Egad. Dan Riehl is just plain creepy:
Obviously unable to control themselves on even a purely ceremonial night, the Democrat Party, having recently secured but a slim Congressional majority, opted to breeze through any areas for potential common ground in three short introductory paragraphs via spokesperson Jim Webb, so as to get immediately to points of contention between the two parties.
Whoa. Wuh, wuh, wuh. Dan. Dan-o. The Danster. When did the SOTU address become a “purely ceremonial night?” It’s often a platform for the executive branch to unveil new policies and explain to the public the direction they’re taking the country in. There ain’t much ceremonial about it — indeed, the very point of unveiling new policies is (get this!) political.
Now just you watch, ’cause things are about to get really freaky:
At a time when most reasonable experts conclude today’s economy is an extremely positive tribute to the fiscal policy of the Bush presidency, a Democrat Party more interested in wealth distribution and entitlements can’t bring itself to see it that way.
I’ll link as oppose to address mostly the same populist rhetoric we’ve been hearing from Democrats for years. As usual, they seek only to divide America by class, instead of celebrating an America of free enterprise that encourages and allows even the poorest among us to elevate themselves and accumulate wealth as a result of their work.
Nope, it doesn’t matter that polls consistently show that Americans are anxious about the economy, or that data show that America has become less and less class mobile over the years. What matters is that Dan’s stock portfolio is doing just dandy, and everyone who wants to do better will just have to work harder or get a plum wingnut welfare job.
They remain the party which seeks to cultivate a society of average people, as opposed to nurturing what’s best in each and every American by urging them forward in working for their dreams, financial and otherwise.
And you know how much Dan simply hates those average people who weren’t smart enough to get Brent Bozell to cut them checks.
What I saw in Iraq
By Michelle Malkin
January 20, 2007[…]
I came to Iraq a darkening pessimist about the war, due largely to my doubts about the compatibility of Islam and Western-style democracy, but also as a result of the steady, sensational diet of “grim milestone” and “daily IED count” media coverage that aids the insurgency. I left Iraq with unexpected hope and resolve.
You know, I started this post a darkening pessimist about making fun of Michelle Malkin, due largely to my doubts about her ability to cut a big, honking raspberry in the face of reality in a way that we hadn’t already made fun of before. Yet in this brief narrative, Malkin breezily revises everything else she has ever written on Iraq and reimagines herself as a converted war-doubter and skeptic. Somehow, magically, this was the media’s fault (and possibly Islam’s). I leave this post with unexpected hope and resolve.
[Hanx: Nitpicker]