Beware The Ides of Mad March Hares!

[BlogBox]

Everyone goes a little mad in March. 'Tis the season, after all. That being said, there are several hot blog topics you might have missed this week: What's Larry Craig's new and improved defense claim?; If mortgage brokers are Irish, aren't they really out of luck?; Who's not good enough and not smart enough in Minnesota?; Can you help the GOP name their new blog?; Which major BushCo failure has a new BushCo job?; And, how hard is it to expose a BushCo FISA lie? All this and more. Enjoy.

Bush Gives Karen Hughes A New Job

Just when you think she's gone to ground for the last time, major BushCo failure Karen Hughes emerges again. Unscathed. From Think Progress:

Bush appoints Karen Hughes to West Point board.

On Deadline reports that President Bush has appointed long-time friend and advisor Karen Hughes to the board of visitors at the West Point military academy. Last October, Hughes resigned from her most recent White House post as Under Secretary of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, where her role was to "marginalize violent extremists."

If you clicked through the links provided, the last one was a simultaneous cringe/laugh fest: "Karen Hughes Resigns With Legacy Of Unambitious, Misguided State Department Projects." Gee, the only thing Hughes has going for her is the lack of sex scandals...

It's Official: One Dem Sex Scandal Trumps All Republican Sex Scandals Combined

But you knew that already, right? While you were fixated on New York Governor Eliot Spitzer you might have missed Larry "I'm Not Gay" Craig's new 42-page reply to the charges against him, including these gems (via Wonkette) from Craig's lawyers:

First, Larry Craig was not acting disorderly at all. How do we know this? Because, uh, no one was shouting at a "small teenage girl."

(snip)

And those things Larry Craig said while being interrogated? Them's was not "fighting words" at all. They were sweet nothings.

(snip)

Finally, it seems to be Craig's lawyers' case that the police officer was really the gay one, and that he should go to Gay Jail.

Wonkette provides the documentation for these new Craig assertions, and some clever commenters weigh in on the hard work done by Craig's lawyers, whose job is obvious: defend your guy by gaying up the police report. LOL. Not good enough, Larry.

Not Good Enough, Not Smart Enough, And People Don't Like Him

Breitbart reports that Al Franken's Dem primary opponent has dropped out of the race. We all know why, don't we? All Ciresi had to do was look in the mirror and say the words.

Seriously, I'm just joking around. Both Dem candidates are far superior to the Republican alternative, but this tidbit just kinda writes itself.

No Mortgage Brokers Need Apply

But for an oopsy, we might never have known that employers aren't eager to sift through a sandstorm of job applications from former mortgage brokerage workers. The Washington Independent has the details, along with the link to the original news story. The independent headline reads: "And If You're Irish It's a Double Whammy."

Unfortunately for the thousands upon thousands of unskilled low-level mortgage brokerage/real estate workers who either participated in the recent scamfest or sat idly by and watched it happen, "naturally occurring boneheads" does not appear to be a protected class today, unlike being Irish. For those workers who demonstrated sanity and caution, surely there are character witnesses to help when job hunting.

One Quick Google, Another Right-Wing FISA Lie Exposed

If you're not reading Julian Sanchez, you should be. This week, he takes on The Weekly Standard's weakly-written defense of BushCo's FISA bamboozapalooza.

Read the whole thing, but get ready for the summation, where Sanchez writes:

Should we give a shit about the answer to a tendentious rhetorical question predicated on a string of falsehoods? I'm just askin'.

Feigned outrage is still all the Republican rage. Speaking of feigned Republican outrage...

Republicans Are 3-For-3: Davis, Siegelman, and Spitzer

Most Dems agree: it's not the sex; it's how the investigation came about. This week's case in point: the BushCo government's case doesn't pass the smell test. Jane at Firdoglake has some really interesting questions that need answering before Governor Spitzer makes another move, including:

1. Why would the bank tell the IRS and not Spitzer himself if there was a suspicious transfer?

2. What is a USA (US Attorney) doing prosecuting a prostitution case?

3. Mike Garcia is a Chertoff crony. Sources familiar with the investigation say that he sent a prosecution memo to DC two months ago asking for authority to indict a public figure (Spitzer). Which means they had their case made long before the wire tap of February 13. Why did they then include this line from that conversation in the complaint?

LEWIS continued that from what she had been told "he" (believed to be a reference to Client-9) "would ask you to do things that, like, you might not think were safe -- you know -- I mean that...very basic things...."Kristen" responded: "I have a way of dealing with that...I'd be like listen dude, you really want the sex?...You know what I mean."

4. How did Spitzer's name get leaked to the media, and who did it? Didn't happen to Dave Vitter.

There are many more questions, and the comments are golden. Also asking pertinent questions is American Street:

There's also outstanding questions that do deserve further investigation by journalists: who were clients 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 10 and why weren't they outed? Has the US Attorney's offices become so politicized that this is its proper role and strictly biased result? Is this the ultimate retribution by monied interests for Spitzer's list of successfully prosecuted Wall Street con men?

By the way, have you ever noticed that Republicans have no problem feigning outrage when it's a Dem, but crickets chirp when it's a Bush brazillion of their own? On top of that, the Republican party is chock full of people who claim that...

Homosexuality Is Like Toe Cancer, Only Gayer

Think I'm kidding? BlogActive has the video goods on one of Gawd's little green footballs apples, OK State Rep. Sally Kern, who claims that homosexuals are using the government schools to indoctrinate two-year olds, and there's something about homosexuality being like toe cancer. Oh, yeah. She also rants about gays being worse than terrorists, too. Toe cancer, and terrorists and terrible two's indoctrination still gets you elected to public office? Time to stop giving even the slightest nod to these hateful bigots. They'll use any wedge to divide us. Speaking of wedges...

A House Of D Divided

Psst! Your Bias Is Showing. And so is mine. No blogger discusses this phenomenon better than Kevin Hayden at American Street:

Hillary Clinton, perceived as the front runner since November of 2004. With about a month of looking less inevitable, she's alternated between the confident leader, the vulnerable real human being, the victim of rampant misogyny, the target of the anti-Clinton corporate media, the trailblazing pioneer, the ultimate political chameleon, disliked for being shunned by The Village and disliked for being too old school insider. Every legitimate complaint one might have with her political record and policy proposals cannot possibly be about that to Hillary worshipers. Those who live vicariously through her, viewing her as the Great Woman's Hope, are quick to point the fickle finger of sexism at any critic. The blogosphere has failed her because we did 'a' not 'b' or because we should, at least, be attacking the corporate media, or whatev. Guilty, guilty, guilty.

And the Obamaphiles. Any critique or reservation about him is rooted in racism, boomerism, unkewlness. We must be blind to his transformative message, the hopefulness he presents to people nationally and globally. Completely oblivious to the half of the nation and world who see a woman as transformative, too. Rejecting any move Clinton makes as devious and destructive and dishonest, no matter how ordinary and benign most of those decisions have been. And too often, so idealistic that it displays ignorance and denial about the reality that politics just ain't pretty. You can dress it up, modify it some, but it's the type of competitive sport that cannot ever be perfectly clean unless one enters it with a plan to lose.

Kevin adds:

When I sense someone's beating around the bush too long or sense they're trying to bully me by tossing around charges and calling people names, I start tuning out. And in a sizable portion of the progressive blogosphere - but not the majority - there are some I've tuned out that I once considered allies. Some are pro-Clinton, some are pro-Obama. It's not because of who they support. It's because of their methods and the rank hypocrisy that comes with the failure to see how much of their bias is interfering with their aim to persuade.

Methods and hypocrisy: sounds like a formula for more rancor to come, doesn't it? Definitely something for all of us to think about. But we can't ignore the Republicans while we duke it out in the primary, can we? Case in point...

Thank The Oil Man President!

Found at Crooks and Liars:

The Hummer drove off just as I was pulling in and I just had to take a quick photo. Is it fun to drive, sucker? (Homewood, Alabama March 5, 2008.)

The irony of it all? Bush had to cheat his way into the White House in order to make money in the oil biz. Pitiful. Need a quick laugh to wash off the oil man stink? Here you go...

Something To Chew On

The Democratic Party's blog has a sweet and neat little post on the Republican Party's call for blog name submissions:

Last we heard from the GOP Convention committee, they were promoting their odd-looking logo. Now they're back with a contest to name their blog, and the nominees can't be all that they were hoping for when they ran this video asking for help.

Here's a sample of what's in the running for the number one slot:

* Elephant Droppings

* Red Hot and No Blues

* Junk From the Trunk

* Twin Bitties

They've also nominated "The Gavel," which is already the name of Speaker Pelosi's blog. Feel free to submit your own favorites in the comments or help them choose the winner.

Get your thinking caps on and submit some good ones. So much fun to be had by all!

The Ides of March are upon us, and this year our Mad-As-A-March Hare divisiveness will surely outlast the month. Beware. With six more weeks of campaigning until the Pennsylvania primary, let's keep our eyes on the November prize. Let's not ignore the inevitable neck-and-neck John McCain/Dem Nominee race, which we all know the media will create for us this summer. Keep those great blog links coming, and keep fighting the right.

-- Delilah Boyd

[rurallib]

1. What a crappy voting site

I can't figure out how to vote. Go, elephant droppings!

[Demeter]

2. Toe Cancer? What Is Toe Cancer?

I know I've never been a follower of popular culture, but please, somebody tell me what this is, and what's going on?