The Lieberman campaign has now acknowledged to us that they produced the flyer, which was distributed in and around black churches. A Lamont spokesperson blasted Lieberman for the flyer, saying the Lamont campaign was "disappointed" with the tactic.
"People have reported to us that it was distributed at churches in the minority community," Lamont spokesperson Liz Dupont-Diehl told Election Central.
The flyer contains a picture of Joe Lieberman clasping arms with Bill Clinton. It hails Lieberman's record on civil rights while blasting Lamont's record on race. It questions why he resigned from an exclusive country club only just before beginning his Senate campaign, and includes a couple quotes from Lamont about his decision in a New York Times story from July.
"According to Lamont: He didn't pay as much attention to race...until he got into the Senate race," the flyer reads. "Stand by the guy who has stood by us and always will. Vote for Joe Lieberman for U.S. Senate."
Dan Gerstein, an adviser to Lieberman speaking on behalf of the campaign, confirmed that the campaign was behind the flyer and defended the tactic.
"We're surprised that the Lamont campaign wants to make an issue of this," Gerstein told Election Central. "This flyer simply states the facts, and in particular repeates a very questionable statement Mr. Lamont made which raises many questions he has yet to answer. If he's so concerned about discrimination, why didn't he resign from this club before he became candidate for u.s. senate? Also, what are the policies at the club and why won't he answer that question?"
I bet the house that Dan "the DLC hitman" Gerstein and Sean "low info voter" Smith were the masterminds behind this racist smear campaign in the first place. How can anyone have any respect for Joe Lieberman is beyond me at this point. Using race baiting to smear someone like Ned Lamont is beyond disgusting.
AGAIN, WHERE IS THE FUCKING MEDIA ON THIS!!! Christ, how can you guys in the media allow the Lieberman campaign to get away with this type of shit?!? You guys in the local media was aware of this crap for weeks yet you haven't done ONE report of this OBVIOUS race baiting tactic while allowing Lieberman to dodge not answering relevant questions.
That the hell is going on here? How did the media allow Lieberman to get so off the topic of the issues regarding this primary race? Can someone ANYONE from the media e-mail me and explain this to me? With over 2500+ Americans dead and tens of thousands injured in Iraq, you guys allow Joe to babble about Ned's holdings and don't hold Lieberman's campaign accountable for their OBVIOUS race-baiting flyer (for God sakes, the bloggers and a reporter from OUT-OF STATE had to break this story).
To add insult to injury, "psycho" Marion and the rest of the goons at Lieberman central lied about Ned's statement.
Sargent gets it right and knocks it out of the park.
In the flyer the Lieberman camp left out a couple other of Lamont's quotes in the July Times story, which read as follows:
"It's not as diverse as it should be," Mr. Lamont said. "I didn't pay as much attention to that before the race began, to tell you the truth.
"They don't have any discriminatory policies," he added.
Again, is it too much for the media to stop allowing themselves to get fooled by Lieberman's bullshit tactics and call him out on crap like this? At this point, you're doing a disservice to the voters of Connecticut by not holding the Lieberman campaign accountable for this type of garbage and not asking Lieberman the relevant questions that placed him in the primary race in the first place.
Where's the question on Schiavo?
Where are the questions about Iraq?
Where are the questions about the current state of affairs in the Middle East?
Where is the follow question from Mark Davis regarding Lieberman's Halliburton holdings.
Where are the questions surrounding Lieberman's refusal to announce his events (or hold ANY public events).
Where are the questions regarding Joe's refusal to answer any questions from THE PUBLIC (while holding phony photo-ops and using kids from his campaign as props).
Enough is enough!
BTW: You so-called Democrats who support this jerk have no heart and at this point, I question you loyality to the party as Democrats should NEVER stoop to this level of campaigning (against a good man like Ned). The Lieberman campaign is running a whisper smear campaign in the inner cities of Connecticut for God sakes! At what point do you walk away from Joe?
By ANGELA MONTEFINISE and ELIZABETH WOLFF July 30, 2006 -- Just 12 hours before yesterday's heartbreaking funeral for Jennifer Moore, another young woman, who'd been boozing it up on the same Chelsea block as the slain teen, lay collapsed on the pavement.
At around 4 a.m., cops stood by her limp body - as she lay drooling and shoeless - for 35 minutes until an ambulance came to take her away.
Up and down West 27th Street between 10th and 11th avenues, a block teeming with more than 5,000 club kids on an average weekend night, teens and 20-somethings can be found stumbling and vomiting and passed out.
Just three days earlier, Moore, 18, left Guest House here on West 27th at about 2:30 a.m. and stumbled to a West Side impound lot - where her 18-year-old friend Talia Kenan passed out and had to be taken away in an ambulance.
Moore then wandered off and was allegedly picked up by Draymond Coleman, 34, who cops say took her to Jersey, raped and killed her.
And while many of the underage revelers on West 27th Thursday and Friday nights said they were spooked by Moore's murder, it hasn't kept them from going wild.
A 20-year-old named Melissa, also from New Jersey, told her mom she was going to a slumber party on Thursday night.
But at 3 a.m. Friday, the college student was wandering down 27th Street on the heels of her stumbling-drunk friend Jessica, a strawberry-blond 18-year-old from Paramus, weaving through the throng of young bodies.
Jessica and Melissa said they hit the clubs on 27th Street twice a week in the summer, flashing IDs belonging to older relatives and dropping names of promoters and others who work in the clubs in order to get inside.
"These are the clubs we see on 'Sex and the City.' It's the whole image. It feels cool to be there, like you're really part of the city circle," Melissa said. "You learn where to go and who to talk to."
Weeknights are the easiest times to get in, she said.
"There's such a rush when you get to the door and actually get in. These places are exclusive, lots of cool people," said Melissa, who didn't want to reveal her last name.
"There's nothing to do in Jersey," she laughs. "Everyone's here."
Jessica insisted that she was "just fine" and "a little buzzed," but Melissa had to find her keys and stuff them in her Coach bag.
"We'll have to take a cab. Seriously, you can't drive," Melissa said.
She said her friends "usually have a designated driver" to take them home to Jersey, but "things got a little out of hand tonight, so we'll have to cab it."
Just then, there was a commotion down the block.
A bouncer had to carry a drunken woman to the backseat of her friend's car because she'd twisted her ankle trying to leave.
A few feet away, 21-year-old Luke from Mineola, L.I., threw up on the sidewalk, smiled and said, "That's a good night."
On both 10th and 11th avenues, traffic was bumper to bumper until 5 a.m.
It gets so bad on weekends that police set up barricades blocking cars and pedestrians from 27th Street.
Earlier in the night, crowds swelled as bouncers wait until they have a big line outside their club before letting anyone in. That way the first people to come won't be in an empty club - and the crowd outside attracts more people.
Outside club Marquee, a red Lamborghini is parked as men honk from Range Rovers asking girls to come "for a good time."
Just down the block at Guest House - where Moore spent her last night alive - a bouncer took $20 from a clubgoer trying to get in, then demanded, "Give me double that."
Down the street, a group of people waiting to get inside Bungalow 8 cheered as a couple slammed themselves up against a storefront and started making out.
People sat on the sidewalk, smoking and holding their heads in their hands.
"Just last week, I saw three girls sleeping on the street corner from 2 to 5 in the morning," said Omar Ellonzi, the owner of a popular food truck that sells sausages and gyros to people leaving the clubs.
"Girls, boys, they're always drunk. Crazy," he said.
The crowds usually start to clear on out Fridays by 5 a.m.
But that's when the block turned even more raucous. .........................
Courtney Siegel, 19, who has been an insider in the Chelsea club scene since she was 14, said suburban youngsters treat 27th Street like "a big night out."
"The guys'll spend more, the girls'll get dolled up and the bouncers can take advantage of that, because getting inside means everything," she said.
Siegel said promoters with e-mail lists 10,000 names long tell their underage clientele to meet at 11 p.m. so the promoters can escort the bulk of teens through the door, no IDs, no questions asked. ............................... "A lot of teenagers come and use fake IDs," said Moss. "It's easier in some places than others. But when you're 18, you want to be in places like this."
The kids usually learn about club parties by word of mouth and online promotions. Rachel - a 19-year-old Columbia University student with a realistic-looking fake ID - said she loves clubbing during the summer as a break from her studies.
"Pretty much, if you go clubbing you get to know people who let you know where to go on any given night," she said.
Chelsea is crawling with the bridge-and-tunnel crowd in the summer, Rachel said - and it's a totally different crowd.
"The commuters go crazy," she said. "They go to the extremes. It's not real life to them. It's a game."
The "game" turned deadly last week, when Moore was raped and killed after leaving Guest House.
Either Moore or her friend Kenan may have known the DJ at the club, which helped get them in.
............................
Jen
WHY THE FUCK WAS SHE GETTING DRUNK ANYWHERE when she's only 18. WHY this has not been mentioned by ANYONE in the MSM is beyond me. The whole reason why she was wandering alone was that her friend was so shitfaced that she needed to get in an ambulence. She was drunk enough that even though she had a cell phone she didn't call for help--she called her boyfriend but not the cops? She didn't just stick around at the tow yard after that and get transport home from there?
Also it begs the question--where were the parents? Did this girl even have a valid night-time license yet to drive? If so, why was a newbie driver tooling around Manhattan? I did the drive from the burbs to NYC for years and it is NOT an easy haul sober, in broad daylight, on a dry day.
Everyone was all over the Falls like stink on shit (rightfully so) after St. Guillen was killed. Why no outrage here over a place that is apparently known for serving up scads of underaged drinkers every weekend?
PS--this is why I hate big name clubs, by the way--a LOT of them look like Daycare with Booze crowdwise. It makes me really miss the old days of MotherNYC in the Meat Packing District. Minimum door age was 25, and average age was 30ish. People with jobs, and lives, who just needed a place to do shit like dress up.
My friends own bars, they let in kids, they're in court.
Kids are bad for business, they fight, they screw each other in bathrooms, they get way too drunk. A smart business doesn't want kids.
This is a bar closing infraction kind of thing. When Immette St. Guillen was found dead, the scumbag Dorian family had the cops all in their shit. But the people who own this club haven't even been interviewed.
I don't believe for one second that an "adult" bought them drinks. I think the bartender served them and serves anyone who comes in. The bouncers don't give a shit and the owners love the crowd, and they don't give a shit either.
The Moore family should sue the owners for letting their underage daughter in and serving her alcohol. Because that's a clear violation of New York law.
But what bothers me more is that she left her friend. Even today, I never leave my friends without letting them know. I have seen teenage girls do this time and again. If your friend is passed out, why would you leave her? What could you possibly be thinking?
I am looking for someone to help me develop sites based around this national guard recruiting affiliate program. I am already registered with the program and passed all their recruiting tests. All I need to do now is start feeding it leads. You make $2,000K for every soldier that enlists and goes to basic training. Really not that hard as most soldiers gather information about joining the Army National Guard through the net. Advertising would be cheap as there is not much competition here (just do a search on Google for National Guard). There are NO limitations on how many people you can get to sign up, and from where you can get them to sign up from. Im thinking getting 100 people a year to sign up is not impossible. Thats $100K. Expenses would be very minimal. However, the catch is that all of you guys/gals won't be able to join this affiliate program because your not currently in the national guard. If you want to join let me know, I've been in for four years and I am currently an army officer; I can give you the low down. Anyhow, any developers and webmasters out there that are interested in making some of the sickest affiliate commisions in the world. Let me know. The beauty of this is that the army does all the work for you. Once you generate the lead, it's left up to a professional recruiter to close the deal, and you get paid the money. You simply have to connect the recuiter with the lead. A form capture website would do the trick. The information can then be sent off to a army recruiter in that persons area. I will do 50/50 with the right partner. Let me know ASAP as I will be posting this offer on other forums. I want to give my WickedFire.com brothers and sisters first stab at it. Please PM me on this, or email me at onlinebizplans@gmail.com if you are interested. I really believe this would be easy to set-up and make sick cash. I currently have too many projects going to do this full time. I'm looking for someone to do site development, I can handle advertising.
__________________
Who would do this?
Doesn't this scumbag have enough friends to make money off of?
So, the idea is that you dig up your friends, send them off to Iraq, and make money off of it.
Yeah, great. Why not get them drunk first, like the pressgangs used to do.
You know, the racist contempt for the black voter, voters that they have needed to reach to be reelected, on the part of the Lieberman campaign is amazing. The top flier reminds people that Joerus the heretic marched with Martin Luther King. Well, it's 40 years later, what have you done for us lately.
Let's see, support the Iraq war.
Support school vouchers
Oppose affirmative action.
He liked helping black people when they were to be pitied, but when they had the same rights as whites, Lieberman walked away. I wonder how many black people are on his staff? After all, he had to hire an "expert" on urban voting to run his campaign. He hasn't had one living black politician of note campaign for him. Martin Luther King is dead, has been dead since April 4, 1968. Died in Memphis, TN.
Meanwhile, country club Ned Lamont has had Al Sharpton and Maxine Waters campaign for him. Waters came twice to walk with him. I'm sure he bribed them with memberships.
Look, Lieberman belongs to a club with one black member and it didn't seem to bother him. Lieberman hasn't been any kind of advocate of african americans in a long time. Like his stand on the Vietnam War, it's part of his past, not his present.
As much as we respect Dr. King's legacy, it is a legacy and not the present. And it isn't Joe Lieberman's or Bill Clinton's to hijack.
We need to understand something, Joe Lieberman has NO RESPECT FOR BLACK VOTERS. He thinks they can be manipulated and conned. Oh, Marse Bill is coming for ol' Joe. We's got to vote for him. He doesn't talk to them the way he talks to white voters, he has no respect for their intellect and grasp of the issues. He thinks he can drag up 40 year old shit and black folks are supposed to have a Pavolvian reaction when they hear King's name. We're not talking Moses here. Walking with King doesn't get you lifetime absolution.
Well, black people want to hear about the economy, Iraq and other issues of the day. They want to be appealed to intellectually, not emotionally.
The Lieberman campaign and his expert want to appeal to black voters on emotion without offering them anything. It's a racist insult of the worst kind, far more hurtful than tar baby or nigger. Because you show you think blacks are emotional children with no capacity for rational thought or action.
And to add insult to injury, he hires mostly white kids from suburban Jersey, kids his staff would be comfortable with, to do his field operations. Ignoring the pleading from the local pol to hire her people, the known persuaders, stick some money in their pocket, nope. Not gonna hook them up, they had white people to hire instead. And that is going to be remembered by the people his team screwed.
"We do it like this in Jersey" is bullshit. They don't do it that way in Hudson or Essex County and win. Cory Booker tried that in 2002 and lost.
Lieberman is supposed to be a moral man. Bullshit, he's running a campaign of the most obvious racial contempt run by anyone since Rudy Giuliani. Lieberman thinks blacks are emotional morons, easily swayed by a few names and emotional arguments.
I don't know Ned Lamont, but I know if Shapton, Waters and others are going to march with him, and I really think Lieberman will regret his constant harping on King and his legacy, I know he's not a racist. And he doesn't need to drag up the past to make his point.
Republican candidate for Ohio governor Ken Blackwell decided last week that he wouldn’t show his income tax return to voters, something even wealthy, low-rated incumbent Republican Gov. Bob Taft did in both his runs for the state's highest office. This is a political mistake. The refusal becomes the story. Voters wonder why. It is better to open up all information, which only election junkies would look at, thus getting it out of the way of real issues.
Meanwhile, Democrat candidate Ted Strickland says he will release his tax returns. Of course, this will be a lot easier for the Southern Ohio congressman, since he doesn’t have as much as his opponent. Blackwell is a millionaire, with most of the money presumably coming from the sale of a string of radio stations he owned with other investors.
This Blackwell political gaffe was exacerbated when his political mouthpiece, Carlo LoParo, said this to the Dayton Daily News: “... If Ted Strickland wants to highlight the fact that he lives paycheck to paycheck on a congressman’s salary, that’s his right. My understanding is he doesn’t have any investment income and it’s a pretty simple return."
If LoParo was trying to make his candidate more attractive to some rich voters, that was a pretty good statement. The problem is those voters already were voting for him. The last time I looked, the wealthy were in the minority in Ohio, and since their votes don’t increase with their portfolios, perhaps LoParo should have held back on the cheap shot.
It’s one vote, whether you have a million or you have a buck. Since many, many Ohioans live paycheck to paycheck, like LoParo says Strickland does, the Republican spokesman probably helped the Democrat candidate.
Maybe this all is irrelevant. I don’t usually make political predictions this early, but I've been watching this race, and I think it is over. Unless he commits some enormous political blunder, Strickland wins with about 54 percent of the vote this November.
I'm sure the hillbillies will be happy to have Blackwell's income tossed in their face. It should also help the black voters be reminded of who he is.
What an ignorant comment to make in an election.
54 percent? No, I think Strickland will come closer to 60.
There's nothing working class white people dislike more than a black man lording his riches over them. Blackwell's base is working class whites.
-NEW HAVEN — Bill Clinton’s name is mentioned so often in the U.S. Senate race these days, it’s almost as if it’s the 1990s and he is still leading the country.
.............
Smith said they now have between 200 and 300 volunteers and paid staff, to canvass daily. Democratic workers in New Haven said the campaign told them it hopes to hire up to 4,000 workers by Election Day.
Over at the Lamont camp, campaign staff said they have been in the field for several weeks already and have a higher ratio of volunteers to paid workers, although they would not talk numbers. Meanwhile, New Haven Alderwoman Jacqueline James, D-3, said a young, mostly white staff from New Jersey was in charge of canvassing for Lieberman, and that hundreds of people were turned away July 22 after being told the campaign was looking for 16- to 21-year-olds.
The alderwoman estimated 56 young people were hired out of about 500 people who showed up, attracted by the $60 a day fee, or about $800 for the duration.
She said LGS does not know the demographics of the city at all. James suggested that they match inexperienced teens with more savvy workers, but this was rejected.
"They kept saying this is how we do it in New Jersey. I kept telling them, ‘This is not New Jersey,’" said James, who no longer volunteers for Lieberman.
Smith said an age cutoff was not a policy of the campaign.
"Anyone who wants to come and work and volunteer for Joe Liberman, we don’t turn anyone away. In fact, the supervisor who was telling people that (about the age cutoff) is no longer with the campaign, if in fact he was telling people that," Smith said.
The emphasis on youthful workers was apparent at the Palace Theater rally with scores working the hall, passing out balloons and Lieberman signs, as well as at the start of Lieberman’s 10-day bus tour of the state Friday, as they lined up behind the senator.
How stupid can they be? She wanted her people to get paid. And not only did they embarass her, they made a whole bunch of new Lamont voters.
They desperately need black voters, so they turn away the local persuaders and send out white kids from Jersey?
I think it was Stephen Glass who showed how little the New Republic mattered.
Sure, he slunk off into sociopathy land, but in the end, his story was a dull movie, now cable filler, but it already confirmed that TNR wasn't exactly relevant. It was the extention of the Harvard Club for the moderately talented. But there was no great scandal, completely making up stories. But it just didn't matter, because TNR didn't matter.
But like armies runs by old generals, they rarely know how badly they've been beaten until they get beaten.
They had been Joe Lieberman's ideological home as moderates moved to the left and conservatives to the right. They sat in the yellow stripe middle when there was no appeal for it.
But, misjudging their audience completely, their army-aged writers signed on for the Iraq war, from their desks. And the worse the war got, the sillier they looked.
Then, of course, they realized the blogs were coming after them, hard. They didn't like the scruffy blogs, and tried to ignore them. Then they realized Kos and Atrios had more readers than they did and more influence. So what did they do? Attack.
Like a cornered rat, they lunged at Kos. Not at first, but after Yearly Kos, they shit the bed. Kos had to be on the take, he had to be doing something wrong. So what did they dig up? A six year old SEC complain against the non-Kos Jerome Armstrong. And they created some conspiracy around that.
Until they ran an e-mail I didn't write. Whoever sent it to them is a bed shitting moron, but the fact that they ran it without checking, was amazing. Not only was it bad journalism, it was stupid. I can make my case, Kos can make his case, and the people who read us like us more than them. And our readers send letters. Which means don't lie about me in print. I don't have take it like some peon.
Now, I don't fault Frank Foer in this. He should have fired Jason Zengerle, but I think he'll eventually have the chance to do the right thing. The fact that he didn't burn his source was disappointing, but now every word TNR publishes is suspect, it's management a joke, it's word questionable. Sure, it was gutless to not burn their source, but sometimes a man has to eat.
What they didn't understand is that the blogs can fight back, and they thought they had the upper hand. They didn't then and don't now.
But the reason I bring this up, besides mild pleasure, is to tie them into the collapse of Lieberman. Within the next few days, his black vote strategy is going to collapse. Al Sharpton is campaigning with Lamont, and that's going to be a problem for Lieberman. Because while white voters may not like him, if this race is about black voters, Sharpton is a credible figure. Sharpton is joining Maxine Waters and other, local Dems in supporting Lamont.
However, TNR has tied their publication closely to Lieberman. If Lieberman loses, it bodes ill for the current editorial direction of the rag. They will be facing bloggers who have no tolerance or time for their appeasement politics. They will be on the wrong side of American politics and doomed.
Will Marty Peretz see reality and dump the appeasers, or will he soldier on, running an irrelevant freak show, which has lower journalistic standards than the National Enquirer. After all, they have a financial stake in the truth.
Among the most nervous people on August 8th will be the staff of the New Republic. Because if Joerus the heretic goes, they may well be next
BY LESLIE CASIMIR and CELESTE KATZ DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
A young marine whose journey to a new life in the United States ended in death during a battle in an Iraqi war zone was mourned yesterday by scores of loved ones in Queens.
Marine Cpl. Julian Ramon, 22, a Colombian immigrant who lived in Flushing, was fatally injured July 20 by an explosion during combat operations in Iraq's Anbar Province, an area rife with insurgent activity.
"He was a good son, a good cousin, a good nephew, a good grandson. He was great with all his family members," said Ramon's cousin Maria Camilla Mutis.
"Since he died on the independence day of Colombia, he will be liberated from this world and from all pain," she added.
"The smile that he always gave to his family members will always stay in our hearts."
Mourners brushed tears from their eyes during the solemn service at St. Michael's Church, which featured a Mass celebrated in Spanish.
Ramon came to the United States at age 4.
After graduating from John Bowne High School in Jamaica and working briefly at an Off-Track Betting parlor, he enlisted in the Marines, hoping later to attend college and have a career in criminal justice.
We don't run many of these, because they seem to happen once a week in New York. Guardsmen, active duty Army, Marines. They keep dying while Bush's body man goes to Harvard Business School without a BA, and Barbara conducts tours at the Cooper-Hewitt.
For some odd reason, that just doesn't seem fair, or just.
By SALLY BUZBEE, Associated Press Writer Sun Jul 30, 4:41 PM ET
CAIRO, Egypt - It's hard to defeat a group of extremists who can mingle among civilian supporters and are pros at propaganda.
Israel's military faces the same conundrum the United States has encountered elsewhere — finding that airstrikes are costly in civilian deaths and public support, while ground attacks are risky for soldiers.
That does not mean Hezbollah is winning militarily. But the guerrilla group has so far avoided a knockout by Israel, even as international pressure for a cease-fire has grown. And in the war of perceptions, Hezbollah has only to look strong against Israel and make Israel look bad to win across much of the Arab world, many analysts say.
That was brought into stark focus Sunday when an Israeli airstrike flattened a house in southern Lebanon, killing at least 56 people, mostly women and children. Israel apologized for the deaths and blamed Hezbollah, accusing it of using civilians as human shields.
But the backlash against Israel and its ally America was swift: Lebanese officials reacted in fury and Beirut protesters attacked a U.N. building and burned American flags. At an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was "deeply dismayed" his previous calls for a cease-fire had been ignored.
The United States knows this scenario well from Iraq and elsewhere: Pictures of dead children and women killed in airstrikes can hurt support even among friends.
Yet the alternative for Israel, if it wants to push back Hezbollah, is either a full-scale ground war or a lengthy series of smaller-scale incursions to eliminate the group's positions along the Israeli-Lebanese border.
For now, Israel says it has no plans for a big land invasion, still leery from its costly occupation of south Lebanon from 1982 to 2000. But the smaller incursions have brought relatively high Israeli casualties and low apparent impact: U.N. observers in south Lebanon say Hezbollah's supply of rockets remains adequate to fight, and most of its leaders have survived.
Israel has privately told the United States it needs 10 days to two weeks to accomplish what it wants.
First, they DON'T hide among the population. They avoid the population, at least the military wing does, and the faces of the IDF grunts coming off the line indicate they are in the fight of their lives.
Qana is the result of the IDF's overreliance on air power and the refusal to get in the bunker clearing business. They were repulsed from Bin Jebail, they didn't leave it. They couldn't hold the town without taking Pacific War like losses, and the IDF cannot take heavy losses. Which Hezbollah can.
This is a massive military defeat for Israel. Not only have they been shown down by a Hezbollah Army far better trained and led than they knew, they have been surprised at every turn. From missiles to bunkers to mined roads.
The problem for Israel is that they have revealed that they cannot beat Hezbollah or control land occupied by Hezbollah without taking unacceptable casualities. When dealing with Hezbollah, victory can only come with a clear, concise defeat. Anything less is a massive defeat.
What is even worse for Israel is that their attack on Lebanon has created massive sympathy for Arabs in the West, making Israel a bad guy and discreting their legitimate security arguments, even in the United States.
Bush did a very foolish thing in not stopping the Israelis. Cheney, despite ALL evidence, wanted to take a second bite at the apple in beating down Iran and Syria and not only did it fail, it made Hezbollah stronger, and even worse, established them as the defenders of Lebanon. When the chips were down, it was the Shia of Hezbollah who faced down the IDF while the Army sat impotent.
I can't stress enough how badly this has gone. The IAF has become reknowned for blowing up hospitals. The IDF cannot take a Lebanese town without getting shot up, one with bunkers their intel and special ops never came across. One their spies never heard of.
You can only maintain that level of security when you do not have civilians around. A professional army attacking a neighboring state is surprised? Uh, what does your intelligence service do?
Now, after the inevitable errant bomb, Israel is shamed before the world. Not exactly what Olmert had planned. He thought he'd be a hero for getting rid of Hezbollah and pressuring Iran and Syria. Now he's the man who bombs women and children in hospitals. And classlessly blames Hezbollah for hiding behind women and children when they bombed and killed them.
Hezbollah has not been much better, but Israel lost the battle of equivency when they tore up gas stations and red cross convoys. Now, Hezbollah's rockets are a footnote to Israel's bombs. Why the Bushies couldn't see this coming is beyond me.
I wish Mel Gibson well in dealing with his alcoholism, but alcoholism does not excuse racism and anti-Semitism. It is one thing when marginal figures with no credibility make anti-Semitic statements. It is a completely different thing when a figure of Mel Gibson's stature does so. Even when he sobers up and apologizes.
According to the handwritten report of the deputy who pulled Gibson over, published by TMZ.com, after he was arrested Gibson launched into an anti-Semitic tirade, saying: "Fucking Jews... The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world." Gibson then asked the deputy, "Are you a Jew?"
At a time of escalating tensions in the world, the entertainment industry cannot idly stand by and allow Mel Gibson to get away with such tragically inflammatory statements. When The Passion of the Christ came out, Gibson was quoted as categorically denying any anti-Semitism attributed to him: "For me, it goes against the tenets of my faith, to be racist in any form. To be anti-Semitic is a sin. It's been condemned by one Papal Council after another. There's encyclicals on it, which is, you know -- to be anti-Semitic is to be unchristian, and I'm not."
Now we know the truth. And no amount of publicist-approved contrition can paper it over. People in the entertainment community, whether Jew or gentile, need to demonstrate that they understand how much is at stake in this by professionally shunning Mel Gibson and refusing to work with him, even if it means a sacrifice to their bottom line.
There are times in history when standing up against bigotry and racism is more important than money.
Ever see Entourage? Well Jeremy Piven's character is based on the author of this piece.
OK, Jen's been a bit frazzled at work lately, so I wanted to post up some possible solutions to her problems. And since she likes pictures of cuddly appearing animals.......
Imagine strolling around the office with one of these on a leash. Late reports? Well, not after Timmy the Tiger lunges at coworkers. Those fangs and claws will keep the workforce in line, if they don't want to be tiger chow
That pool party will never be the same when the baby hippo rampages. Your coworkers will live in mortal terror of an invite to your home, and the baby hippo. And maybe that will inspire them to work all the harder. One rampage is more than enough for most people. If they live.
Charlie the chimp has a warm inviting smile, and seven times the strength of a human. So when Charlie starts flinging office supplies around and wheeling around the office, locking the door is no retreat. He can smash the door. Maybe a banana will calm his simian rage, or timely reports. I don't know, I don't plan on being around an enraged Charlie
Kenny the Koala. He's so cute, but his razor sharp claws make for a perfect letter opener. Or weapon against a lazy, sloppy staff. You cannot run from Kenny, you can try, but you shouldn't hope for much success, as his claws rip your clothes from your flesh.
Well, they are expensive to keep up, but they can keep a staff of slackers in line..........or else.
What? A Brown shirt. an armband. what's the big deal?
Nikki Finke, who is an insanely well connected Hollywood reporter, , is saying Gibson is in real trouble here. And if she's saying it, I'd place credence in it .The New Yorker did a story on the Pelicano case, which may gut Hollywood over wiretaps, which started when he threatened her over a story which suggested that Steven Segal made a movie with mob money
.............................
Among the allegations within TMZ.com's four pages, Gibson "angrily stated" that "'My life is fucked'" and "became fixated on his notoriety and concern that the incident was going to be publicized." The celebrity became "belligerent' and "threatened" the deputy, saying "'I'm going to fuck you. You're going to regret you ever did this to me.'" Then, Gibson "blurted out a barrage of anti-Semitic remarks about 'Fucking Jews.' Yelled out 'The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.' Then asked, 'Are you a Jew.' Conduct concerned and frightened me to a point. I called ahead to the station requesting a sergeant meet the arrival of my patrol car in the station parking lot..."
As soon as TMZ's Internet pages surfaced about Gibson's alleged anti-Semitic slurs, Hollywood's entertainment leaders began phoning one another asking if it could possibly be true. (Already this morning, I personally spoke with several prominent players wanting to know more.) Now, with my confirmation from Lt. Smith that those pages are similar to the official Sheriff's reports, showbiz moguls are certain to be shocked and angry. Still, to be fair, whether any person should be held responsible for what may have been under-the-influence ramblings is certainly debatable. But Gibson is a special case because his worldwide mega-hit The Passion of the Christ was criticized by some Jewish leaders as anti-Semitic, and Gibson's father, a local religious leader, has said that the Holocaust did not happen. Hutton Gibson in statements has decried the Holocaust as "fiction" and claimed there were more Jews in Europe after World War II than before. Mel Gibson, however, has repeatedly denied his movie Passion was anti-Semitic. But the actor/director's views about his father's Holocaust denial have been under scrutiny. When asked by an interviewer in early 2004 whether the Holocaust happened, the actor / director / producer responded that some of his best friends ''have numbers on their arms,'' then added: ''Yes, of course. Atrocities happened. War is horrible. The Second World War killed tens of millions of people. Some of them were Jews in concentration camps.'' But in the same interview, Gibson said his father, Hutton Gibson, had ''never lied to me in his life,'' and Holocaust scholars have cited those and other statements as evidence that he has failed to disassociate himself clearly from his father's views. Perhaps to counter that, Gibson late last year announced he was developing a nonfiction mini-series about the Holocaust for ABC. His TV production company will base the four-hour miniseries for ABC on the self-published memoir of Flory A. Van Beek, a Dutch Jew whose gentile neighbors hid her from the Nazis but who lost several relatives in concentration camps. Gibson was not expected to act in the mini-series, nor was it certain that his name, rather than his company's, will be publicly attached to the final product, according to The New York Times. But Quinn Taylor, ABC's senior vice president for movies for television, told the paper at the time that the attention-getting value of having Gibson attached to a Holocaust project was a factor. ''Controversy's publicity, and vice versa,'' Taylor was quoted as saying. Now it remains to be seen whether the contents of these LA County Sheriff's Department arrest reports will make Gibson's Holocaust project too hot to handle for the network.
ABC's parent company, Disney, is distributing Gibson's latest Hollywood movie project, Apocalypto, through its Buena Vista Pictures Distribution arm. The action epic set before the Spanish conquest of Mexico and Central America about the bloody decline of the ancient Mayan civilization (filmed in their language) wrapped production earlier this year and planned for a Dec. 8 opening. In his most recent act of controversy, Gibson recently compared the fearmongering and human sacrifice of the Mayans to President George W. Bush's political actions. Previously, the Bush administration, Christian religious leaders, and conservative politicos had embraced Gibson for making The Passion of the Christ despite the overwhelmingly negative response to the film inside Jewish circles.
Hollywood, especially its Jewish moguls, has simultaneously rejected and embraced Gibson before, during and after Passion. Right before the movie was released, several top Hollywood Jewish executives saw an anti-Semitic subtext in the religious movie and pledged privately never to work with Gibson because of it. But once Passion became a surprise hit at the box office, and rang up humongous $611 million theatrical grosses worldwide, much of the heated criticism of Gibson began to cool inside Hollywood circles. And, in some quarters, the actor / director / producer began to be hailed as a genius for tapping into the zeitgest of those spiritual moviegoers often ignored by Hollywood moviemakers.
Given today's confirmation by the Sheriff's Office that Gibson's alleged anti-Semitic tirade is in his DUI arrest reports, the debate will rage anew in Hollywood and Jewish circles about Gibson's true feelings about Jews. The actor / director / producer works closely with many Jewish VIPs in the entertainment business at talent agencies, in law firms, and at the studios. Now, with Gibson's statement, this incident is very, very difficult to explain away.
" I came over here because I wanted to kill people."
Over a mess-tent dinner of turkey cutlets, the bony-faced 21-year-old private from West Texas looked right at me as he talked about killing Iraqis with casual indifference. It was February, and we were at his small patrol base about 20 miles south of Baghdad. "The truth is, it wasn't all I thought it was cracked up to be. I mean, I thought killing somebody would be this life-changing experience. And then I did it, and I was like, 'All right, whatever.' "
He shrugged.
"I shot a guy who wouldn't stop when we were out at a traffic checkpoint and it was like nothing," he went on. "Over here, killing people is like squashing an ant. I mean, you kill somebody and it's like 'All right, let's go get some pizza.' "
At the time, the soldier's matter-of-fact manner struck me chiefly as a rare example of honesty. I was on a nine-month assignment as an embedded reporter in Iraq, spending much of my time with grunts like him -- mostly young (and immature) small-town kids who sign up for a job as killers, lured by some gut-level desire for excitement and adventure. This was not the first group I had run into that was full of young men who shared a dark sense of humor and were clearly desensitized to death. I thought this soldier was just one of the exceptions who wasn't afraid to say what he really thought, a frank and reflective kid, a sort of Holden Caulfield in a war zone.
But the private was Steven D. Green.
The next time I saw him, in a front-page newspaper photograph five months later, he was standing outside a federal courthouse in North Carolina, where he had pled not guilty to charges of premeditated rape and murder. The brutal killing of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and her family in Mahmudiyah that he was accused of had taken place just three weeks after we talked.
When I met Green, I knew nothing about his background -- his troubled youth and family life, his apparent problems with drugs and alcohol, his petty criminal record. I just saw and heard a blunt-talking kid. Now that I know the charges against Green, his words take on an utterly different context for me. But when I met him then, his comments didn't seem nearly as chilling as they do now. ............................
Morale took another nosedive soon after, when the hastily rigged electrical wiring system caught fire and burned down the Americans' living quarters. The soldiers watched as the early-morning blaze destroyed all reminders of home: the family photographs, the iPods and the video games that provide brief escapes from combat. When I got there a week later, a chow-hall storage room, packed with radios and satellite maps, was serving as the base command center. The sergeants were still passing out toothbrushes and clean socks to the young troops who had lost everything.
The company commander in charge of Green's unit told me that the situation was so stressful that he himself had "almost had a nervous breakdown" and had been sent to a hotel-style compound in Baghdad for three days of "freedom rest" before resuming his command.
And yet despite the horrific conditions in which they were daily being tested, I found extraordinary camaraderie among the soldiers in Mahmudiyah. They were among the friendliest troops I met in Iraq.
Green was one of several soldiers I sat down with in the chow hall one night not long after my arrival. We talked over dinner served on cardboard trays. I asked them how it was going out there, and to tell me about some of their most harrowing moments. When they began talking about the December death of Sgt. Kenith Casica, my interview zeroed in on Green.
He described how after an attack on their traffic checkpoint, he and several others pushed one wounded man into the back seat of a Humvee and put Casica, who had a bullet wound in his throat, on the truck's hood. Green flung himself across Casica to keep the dying soldier from falling off as they sped back to the base.
"We were going, like, 55 miles an hour and I was hanging on to him. I was like, 'Sgt. Casica, Sgt. Casica.' He just moved his eyes a little bit," Green related with a breezy candor. "I was just laying on top of him, listening to him breathing, telling him he's okay. I was rubbing his chest. I was looking at the tattoo on his arm. He had his little girl's name tattooed on his arm.
"I was just talking to him. Listening to his heartbeat. It was weird -- I drooled on him a little bit and I was, like, wiping it off. It's weird that I was worried about stupid [expletive] like that.
"Then I heard him stop breathing," Green said. "We got back and everyone was like, 'Oh [expletive], get him off the truck.' But I knew he was dead. You could look in his eyes and there wasn't nothing in his eyes. I knew what was going on there."
He paused and looked away. "He was the nicest man I ever met," he said. "I never saw him yell at anybody. That was the worst time, that was my worst time since I've been in Iraq."
Green had been in country only four months at that point, a volunteer in a war he now saw as pointless.
"I gotta be here for a year and there ain't [expletive] I can do about it," he said. "I just want to go home alive. I don't give a [expletive] about the whole Iraq thing. I don't care.
"See, this war is different from all the ones that our fathers and grandfathers fought. Those wars were for something. This war is for nothing."
.............................
Green knew a few words of Arabic, and along with bits of broken English, some hand gestures and smiles, he joked around with the Iraqis as he sipped their tea. Most U.S. soldiers didn't hang out on this side of the base with the Iraqis.
I asked Green whether he went there a lot. He did, he said, because he liked to get away from the Americans "who are always telling me what to do."
"These guys are cool," he said, referring to the Iraqis.
"But," he added with a shrug, "I wouldn't really care if all these guys got waxed."
As we talked, Green complained about his frustration with the Army brass that urged young soldiers to exercise caution even in the most terrifying and life-threatening circumstances.
"We're out here getting attacked all the time and we're in trouble when somebody accidentally gets shot?" he said, referring to infantrymen like himself throughout Iraq. "We're pawns for the [expletive] politicians, for people that don't give a [expletive] about us and don't know anything about what it's like to be out here on the line."
The soldiers who fought alongside Green lived in conditions of near-constant violence -- violence committed by them, and against them.
......................................
In the end, I never included Green's comments in any of the handful of stories I wrote from Mahmudiyah for Stars and Stripes. When he said he was inured to death and killing, it seemed to me -- in that place and at that time -- a reasonable thing to say. While in Iraq, I also saw people bleed and die. And there was something unspeakably underwhelming about it. It's not a Hollywood action movie -- there are no rapid edits, no adrenaline-pumping soundtracks, no logical narratives that help make sense of it. Bits of lead fly through the air, put holes in people and their bodily fluids leak out and they die. Those who knew them mourn and move on.
But no level of combat stress is an excuse for the kind of brutal acts Green allegedly committed. I suppose I will always look back on our conversations in Mahmudiyah and wonder: Just what did he mean?
I wonder how old and experienced this reporter is. Because it's one thing to be blunt, it is another to be indifferent to the people you kill. It is almost taboo to tell strangers you joined the Army to kill people. His "honesty" was really psychopathic behavior. He killed someone and felt nothing is not honesty. It is a sign of deep sociopathy.
I mean, he didn't like people telling him what to do, hung out with Iraqis, yet didn't care if they all died. Uh, Mr. Reporter Man, he's a fucking psycho.
Most people feel some serious, life altering guilt at killing other human beings. The idea of Green being diasppointed in killing should have scared people shitless. This reporter should have realized that Green was not just being cool, but was so ill he should have never made it out of Benning.
Black voters in Maryland yesterday said Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele's run for U.S. Senate was not hurt -- and might have been helped -- by his recently publicized criticism of President Bush.
"Just because Michael Steele disagrees with Bush, I'd probably vote for him," said Bjorn A. Fingal, 19, a pizza-delivery driver and registered Democrat from Mount Rainier. "We're anti-Bush where I'm from."
Johnny Jones, a retired federal worker from Silver Spring, said he didn't think anybody was swayed by the flurry of news reports about Mr. Steele, a black Republican who said he does not want Mr. Bush campaigning for him and that his party affiliation is like a "scarlet letter" in Maryland, where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly 2-to-1.
"He just speaks the truth," said Mr. Jones, 69, a registered Democrat. "He is a Republican, but he doesn't like everything the Republicans are doing. That doesn't mean I'll vote for him. I'll probably vote Democrat."
More than 150 news organization around the world have reported on Mr. Steele's remarks, which originally appeared Tuesday in a column in The Washington Post. The remarks were based on an off-the-record interview, and the column did not attribute the comments to Mr. Steele.
Mr. Steele almost immediately took responsibility for the remarks, including his criticism of the Bush administration's handling of Hurricane Katrina and the war in Iraq -- positions he has often taken publicly since entering the Senate race nine months ago.
Mr. Steele is expected to win the Republican nomination in the Sept. 12 primary, then face either Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin or former National Association for the Advancement of Colored People leader Kweisi Mfume, the front-runners for the Democratic nomination for senator.
Mr. Steele also reiterated his support for the president and said Mr. Bush was a "homeboy," in the days following the column.
He has not hidden his close ties to the Bush administration, which was instrumental in recruiting him for the Senate race.
Mr. Steele has campaigned with Vice President Dick Cheney and former President George H.W. Bush. Last month, he held a fundraising event with White House senior adviser Karl Rove.
Tyrone Powers, host of a radio news journal on WEAA-FM in Baltimore that focuses on black issues, said black voters are torn between applauding Mr. Steele and dismissing his remarks as rhetoric to win votes. "African-Americans are inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt," he said. "They want an African-American in the Senate."
So what will Cardin or Mfume do? Show how close Steele is to Bush.
Steele only owned up to the comments when the WaPo had him on tape.
I mean the article showed that 90 percent of black Marylanders oppose Bush. Once they show how close Steele is to Bush and his minions, well, you can forget about that vote.
The problem Steele had with those quotes is that his backers didn't appreciate him disrespecting the family.
Come meet Senator Lieberman and bring out your dead
Fantasy
Dear Supporter,
The campaign keeps on rolling. Literally. Yesterday marked day one of a ten-day bus tour around the state. ‘Joe’s Tomorrow Tour’ will be all over the Nutmeg State these next few weeks. As the Senator said at the tour kick-off, there has been too much talk in this race by the media and the pundits about him and his opponent. That’s why Lieberman is taking the race back to the voters.
This race is about your future and your children’s future—and that is what Joe Lieberman is going to focus on for the remainder of the campaign. As Lieberman said, "For 30 years, I have fought for the core Democratic values of equal rights, civil rights, equal opportunity and a real shot at the American Dream for all our families." This is what this election is about.
Yesterday, "Joe's Tomorrow Tour" stopped in Meriden, Naugatuck, Seymour, Ansonia, Shelton and Orange. The senator met with voters at local eateries and gathering places in each one of these communities. Lieberman was received with great enthusiasm everywhere he went. The excitement surrounding our campaign is catching on all around Connecticut. It’s an exciting time to be a Democrat.
This is still a tough race and we continue to need your support. We urge you to volunteer during the next week and a half and we urge you to remind everyone you know to get to the polls on August 8th and pull the lever for Joe.
While Michael Schaivo was holding a press conference to remind everyone what a sanctimonious, meddling, holier-than-thou, politically opportunistic tin-eared prick Joe Lieberman was during the difficult last days of his wife’s life Joe was touring Connecticut on a campaign bus.
Almost nobody showed up to meet Joe, so it must have been comforting to find that the Kiss Float was trailing him along the way.
The Kiss Float and the Lieberman parade caravaned from Naugutuck to Seymour to Ansonia. While Joe would walk into diners that were virtually empty, the Kiss float provided a wonderful distraction for bored journalists who otherwise would’ve had precious little to cover.
As TrueBlueCT says, "It was Photo op after photo op, but nobody’s turning out for him — no supporters whatsoever. Why go around on this bus tour if he’s not going to connect with the people?" (Although former congressman Jim Maloney was one of the 11 or so people who turned up the entire day to pay homage to Holy Joe. Nice to see someone besides Bubba isn’t afraid to coat their political career with LieberCooties.)
Speaking of Bubba, Lieberman staffer Marion Slimefels was passing out big bags of "hug" buttons showing a precious moment between Lieberman and Clinton, reminding everyone that Joe’s favorite position is always playing the Little Woman to men more powerful than he is. Then someone noticed that the buttons didin’t have the union bug, and the campaign people quickly began denying they had anything to do with them. My that AFL-CIO endorement from Little Jimmy Olsen, Cub Labor Leader sure is starting to lose its luster.
At "Bar" Pizza one of the few people who showed up spontanously chewed out Joe over the war. This tour is supposed to last through the week. Wonder if Holy Joe’s sense of entitlement can carrying him through such a sea of apathy on the part of the little people?
Boys, the Imperium is with us, attack, attack attack!!!!!!
Lieberman campaigned hard for the Times endorsement, because to lose it is a disaster. It is a clear sign that the pro-Lieberman and anti-blogger arguments failed.
This is most valuable local endorsement available, and Gail Collins didn't just endorse Lamont, she ripped into the Lieberman philosophy of government. She basically called him an appeaser to Bush in a way none of us in left blogoland have said. Not even high commander Kos has been as brutal as that editorial. Collins said, in a few words, every argument we made, and she read, and threw them at the heretic like an indictment.
Lieberman's hug with Bill Clinton may be an attempt to impress the negroes, but the Times endorsement not only hurts him with upscale Dem voters, but with independents. This is a blocking move on an independent run as well. And considering that she jumped on Giuliani for trying to extend his term, similarly brutal treatment is awaiting Lieberman.
And then she says this isn't about Lamont, but getting rid of Lieberman.
Make no mistake, Lieberman's campaign is reeling from this. It is a disaster of the first order. Instead of smacking us blogofascists down, she's basically repeated our arguments and validated them in the most public way possible. This is going to make some people decide to jump ship, because it's becoming clear that Lieberman's campaign is a last hurrah.
Now, the Lamont people are nervous, they think they're in a dogfight until the end, and it would be stupid for them to think otherwise
But looking on from the outside, it would take Lamont being arrested for Lieberman to win and what people are really begining to debate is the degree of loss Lieberman will suffer.
The problem is that Lieberman is being held to account for his support of the war and his too close alliance with the GOP. And his friends did him no favors. Hannity? Brooks? Shit, to any thinking person, they're the reason for a Senator Lamont.
The fact is that Lieberman is running into empty crowds and almost no friendly ones. The Lamont people are dogging him all day, every day. His campaign won't discuss Iraq and he's losing supporters every day, while Lamont gains them. Lieberman has tried to shift the focus to his opponent, but it isn't working. His paid staff is more handicap than help at this point as the Lamont team focuses on the fine points of GOTV.
There have been some shitty campaigns this year, Steele, Harris, but for pure ineptitude, the Lieberman campaign is the worst. He had high name recognition, but squandered it. Now, every one knows him , and they don't like what he's done.
The worst part of the Times editorial is that it will probably sway fence sitters to Lamont.
Earlier this year, Senator Joseph Lieberman’s seat seemed so secure that — legend has it — some people at the Republican nominating convention in Connecticut started making bleating noises when the party picked a presumed sacrificial lamb to run against the three-term senator, who has been a fixture in Connecticut politics for more than 35 years.
But Mr. Lieberman is now in a tough Democratic primary against a little-known challenger, Ned Lamont. The race has taken on a national character. Mr. Lieberman’s friends see it as an attempt by hysterical antiwar bloggers to oust a giant of the Senate for the crime of bipartisanship. Lamont backers — most of whom seem more passionate about being Lieberman opponents — say that as one of the staunchest supporters of the Iraq war, Mr. Lieberman has betrayed his party by cozying up to President Bush.
This primary would never have happened absent Iraq. It’s true that Mr. Lieberman has fallen in love with his image as the nation’s moral compass. But if pomposity were a disqualification, the Senate would never be able to call a quorum. He has voted with his party in opposing the destructive Bush tax cuts, and despite some unappealing rhetoric in the Terri Schiavo case, he has strongly supported a woman’s right to choose. He has been one of the Senate’s most creative thinkers about the environment and energy conservation.
•
But this race is not about résumés. The United States is at a critical point in its history, and Mr. Lieberman has chosen a controversial role to play. The voters in Connecticut will have to judge whether it is the right one.
As Mr. Lieberman sees it, this is a fight for the soul of the Democratic Party — his moderate fair-mindedness against a partisan radicalism that alienates most Americans. “What kind of Democratic Party are we going to have?” he asked in an interview with New York magazine. “You’ve got to agree 100 percent, or you’re not a good Democrat?”
That’s far from the issue. Mr. Lieberman is not just a senator who works well with members of the other party. And there is a reason that while other Democrats supported the war, he has become the only target. In his effort to appear above the partisan fray, he has become one of the Bush administration’s most useful allies as the president tries to turn the war on terror into an excuse for radical changes in how this country operates.
Citing national security, Mr. Bush continually tries to undermine restraints on the executive branch: the system of checks and balances, international accords on the treatment of prisoners, the nation’s longtime principles of justice. His administration has depicted any questions or criticism of his policies as giving aid and comfort to the terrorists. And Mr. Lieberman has helped that effort. He once denounced Democrats who were “more focused on how President Bush took America into the war in Iraq” than on supporting the war’s progress.
At this moment, with a Republican president intent on drastically expanding his powers with the support of the Republican House and Senate, it is critical that the minority party serve as a responsible, but vigorous, watchdog. That does not require shrillness or absolutism. But this is no time for a man with Mr. Lieberman’s ability to command Republicans’ attention to become their enabler, and embrace a role as the president’s defender.
•
On the Armed Services Committee, Mr. Lieberman has left it to Republicans like Lindsey Graham of South Carolina to investigate the administration’s actions. In 2004, Mr. Lieberman praised Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for expressing regret about Abu Ghraib, then added: “I cannot help but say, however, that those who were responsible for killing 3,000 Americans on September 11th, 2001, never apologized.” To suggest even rhetorically that the American military could be held to the same standard of behavior as terrorists is outrageous, and a good example of how avidly the senator has adopted the Bush spin and helped the administration avoid accounting for Abu Ghraib.
Mr. Lieberman prides himself on being a legal thinker and a champion of civil liberties. But he appointed himself defender of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and the administration’s policy of holding hundreds of foreign citizens in prison without any due process. He seconded Mr. Gonzales’s sneering reference to the “quaint” provisions of the Geneva Conventions. He has shown no interest in prodding his Republican friends into investigating how the administration misled the nation about Iraq’s weapons. There is no use having a senator famous for getting along with Republicans if he never challenges them on issues of profound importance.
If Mr. Lieberman had once stood up and taken the lead in saying that there were some places a president had no right to take his country even during a time of war, neither he nor this page would be where we are today. But by suggesting that there is no principled space for that kind of opposition, he has forfeited his role as a conscience of his party, and has forfeited our support.
Mr. Lamont, a wealthy businessman from Greenwich, seems smart and moderate, and he showed spine in challenging the senator while other Democrats groused privately. He does not have his opponent’s grasp of policy yet. But this primary is not about Mr. Lieberman’s legislative record. Instead it has become a referendum on his warped version of bipartisanship, in which the never-ending war on terror becomes an excuse for silence and inaction. We endorse Ned Lamont in the Democratic primary for Senate in Connecticut.
The pillar of northeast establishment, the NY Times and its editorial board, will be endorsing Ned Lamont over Joe Lieberman tomorrow.
That report comes from Adam Nagourney, writing about Lieberman's troubles in taking Lamont seriously from the get-go.
The New York Times, in an editorial published on Sunday, endorsed Mr. Lamont over Mr. Lieberman, arguing that the senator had offered the nation a "warped version of bipartisanship" in his dealings with President Bush on national security.
The problem that Joe has had in painting Lamont supporters as far-left blogger-driven fringe people is that just about none of it is true. In an earlier post today, I referenced many of the quotes from local voters who have many issues with Joe from a long-standing and general lack of attention to CT issues, to his stance on nationalizing Terri Schiavo's case, school vouchers, and the Alito confirmation in addition to his stance on the Iraq War (which is becoming less defensible every day - the claim about Iraq being better off than a year ago that he made in the debate is hurting him badly, as is everything else he's previously said about Iraq).
It becomes harder still to make this a blogger-driven campaign with the Times endorsement. The fact is that the issues that are driving CT voters to the polls are mainstream issues that the rest of the country will have to deal with in due time.
The NY Times endorsement doesn't guarantee a win for Lamont any more than Bill Clinton's appearance guarantees a win for Lieberman. Both sides will need to get their people to the polls, an unprecedented task for an August primary this meaningful. But it does mean that the issues driving the primary will get even more of a hearing than they currently are. These are issues of interest to all the readers of the Times, both locally and nationally. It will be most interesting to read the endorsement in more detail when the link is available, but I think it's safe to say that mainstream opposition to Bush's foreign policy debacles (substituting surprise visits in a war zone for substance) just got turned up a notch. And although we've known it for a while (we read the polls), that's now a mainstream point of view.
TMZ has learned that Mel Gibson went on a rampage when he was arrested Friday on suspicion of drunk driving, hurling religious epithets. TMZ has also learned that the Los Angeles County Sheriff's department had the initial report doctored to keep the real story under wraps.
TMZ has four pages of the original report prepared by the arresting officer in the case, L.A. County Sheriff's Deputy James Mee. According to the report, Gibson became agitated after he was stopped on Pacific Coast Highway and told he was to be detained for drunk driving Friday morning in Malibu. The actor began swearing uncontrollably. Gibson repeatedly said, "My life is f****d." Law enforcement sources say the deputy, worried that Gibson might become violent, told the actor that he was supposed to cuff him but would not, as long as Gibson cooperated. As the two stood next to the hood of the patrol car, the deputy asked Gibson to get inside. Deputy Mee then walked over to the passenger door and opened it. The report says Gibson then said, "I'm not going to get in your car," and bolted to his car. The deputy quickly subdued Gibson, cuffed him and put him inside the patrol car. ............................................. Once inside the car, a source directly connected with the case says Gibson began banging himself against the seat. The report says Gibson told the deputy, "You mother f****r. I'm going to f*** you." The report also says "Gibson almost continually [sic] threatened me saying he 'owns Malibu' and will spend all of his money to 'get even' with me."
The report says Gibson then launched into a barrage of anti-Semitic statements: "F*****g Jews... The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world." Gibson then asked the deputy, "Are you a Jew?"
The deputy became alarmed as Gibson's tirade escalated, and called ahead for a sergeant to meet them when they arrived at the station. When they arrived, a sergeant began videotaping Gibson, who noticed the camera and then said, "What the f*** do you think you're doing?"
A law enforcement source says Gibson then noticed another female sergeant and yelled, "What do you think you're looking at, sugar tits?"
We're told Gibson took two blood alcohol tests, which were videotaped, and continued saying how "f****d" he was and how he was going to "f***" Deputy Mee.
............................................
Deputy Mee then wrote an eight-page report detailing Gibson's rampage and comments. Sources say the sergeant on duty felt it was too "inflammatory." A lieutenant and captain then got involved and calls were made to Sheriff's headquarters. Sources say Mee was told Gibson's comments would incite a lot of "Jewish hatred," that the situation in Israel was "way too inflammatory." It was mentioned several times that Gibson, who wrote, directed, and produced 2004's "The Passion of the Christ," had incited "anti-Jewish sentiment" and "For a drunk driving arrest, is this really worth all that?"
We're told Deputy Mee was then ordered to write another report, leaving out the incendiary comments and conduct. Sources say Deputy Mee was told the sanitized report would eventually end up in the media and that he could write a supplemental report that contained the redacted information -- a report that would be locked in the watch commander's safe.
..................... Nothing will be sanitized. There was absolutely no favoritism shown to this suspect or any other. When this file is presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney, it will contain everything. Nothing will be left out."
On Saturday, Gibson released the following statement:
............................................ I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested, and said things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable. I am deeply ashamed of everything I said. Also, I take this opportunity to apologize to the deputies involved for my belligerent behavior. They have always been there for me in my community and indeed probably saved me from myself. ..................................
I've been drunk. I've been in drunken brawls. I have been sober and angry at people who were Jewish.
I cannot imagine any circumstance where those words would come from my mouth. That's pure fucking hate, and it's what he thinks, drunk or sober. That's not something you say when you're angry. That's something you say when you hate people.
Drunk or not, that's part of who he is. He can deny it, but that's who he is in his heart. Because it couldn't come out of his mouth otherwise.
Well, that's the end of his career.
I mean, he could have been caught sucking some guy off in MacArthur Park, people would accept his story. He could have been fucking a 17 year old, people could believe it. He could be screwing multiple hookers in Vegas, ok. Even beating his wife would allow some people to accept him after a period of time.
But not this. Not in Hollywood.
I don't think it's unreasonable for Hollywood's Jewish community to refuse to work with an open Jew hater. I mean, he's hid it well for years, kept it away from the public. But every bigot slips in the end. And this was his slip.
They could pretend that The Passion of the Christ wasn't an anti-semitic screed. They could say they wanted to work with him.
Now, they can't. They've seen the man revealed for who he is.
What if the tactical mistake we made in Iraq was that we didn't kill enough Sunnis in the early going to intimidate them and make them so afraid of us they would go along with anything? Wasn't the survival of Sunni men between the ages of 15 and 35 the reason there was an insurgency and the basic cause of the sectarian violence now?
In other words, as Kurtz memorably wrote, "Exterminate all the brutes." And then Podhoretz asks:
If you can't imagine George W. Bush issuing such an order, is there any American leader you could imagine doing so?
Why yes, John, I can. Commander Jeff Schoep, the leader of the National Socialist Movement would be more than happy to issue such an order. He writes:
It is of tantamount [sic] importance, that each and every one of us as White Patriots be of steel will and determination! I will refer to a quote by a great American NS martyr, Capt. Joseph Tommassi "We must prepare to seize the day". Our Aryan peoples have triumphed throughout history!
A few examples: in Germany we had Adolf Hitler who fought Communism and Jewry (one and the same), in Romania the great Vlad Dracul (who drove the Turks out of his land), in Serbia the great Prince Lazar who repelled the mongrel invaders out of Kosovo, etc.
We are of the Race that drove Genghis Khan and the Huns from Europe, the Race that claimed America, and nearly rid it of the pestilence of the American Indians, the Race that drove the mongrel Mexicans out during the Mexican-American war, and many other glorious accomplishments throughout history!
We have a lot to live up to, as today's White Racial Patriots! ...
Thinking back to what I wrote about being timid, when duty calls. I am not trying to dwell on the issue, I just do not understand the rational [sic]. The will to protect and defend one's own, should be a natural instinct! ...
Whether Movement veteran, or fresh new enlistments, we all must put the collective Racial, and National whole, above self.
An assault on one of us, must be viewed as an assault on all, regardless of Rank, position, group affiliation, etc.
They also have some very groovy desktops John can download for his computer.
Of course, we'd have to persuade Commander Jeff to exterminate young Arabs. He is, after all, a proud anti-Semite but I think that once it's explained to him that Arabs are also not Aryan - and, in fact, Semites - he'll get with the program.
Hat tip to Anonymous in comments, who finds Podhoretz, I'm not kidding here, "insightful."
[UPDATE: Seymour Paine in comments notes that "anti-Semite" was coined specifically to refer to Jews, not *all* folks who speak a Semitic language. He also says that Nazis and Arabs have, historically, been quite friendly. Irregardless and notwithstanding,* once we explain to Commander Jeff why he shouldn't discriminate among kinds of Semites, John Podhoretz will have precisely the kind of American leader he so desperately craves.
Marion couldn't wait to hand Trueblue one of the Brand New "Hug Buttons" picturing Joe Lieberman and Bill Clinton hugging which the Liebermam Campaign debuted today.This Button was created as a way to counter the Now famous "Kiss Button" which inspired the "Kiss Float" which is Follwing the Liebermans Bus tour today.To Everyones amazement THERE IS NO UNION BUG ON THE HUG BUTTON.
Heres a message for John Olsen,The AFL-CIO and every union member in CT:
Joe Lieberman,His Staff and his Campaign just gave you the Biggest F*#K You anyone who runs as a Democrat can. They think so little of you and the entire Labor Movement that having a union Shop make their "Hug Buttons" wasn't important enough to even think about.Your endorsement was the only thing that mattered,not your workers not your families and not the Quality of work union workers guarentee.
PS-Every Dump Joe Bumper sticker and "Kiss Button" has a union Bug. WHY? Because it was that important to us that we made sure of it.
In a campaign of mistakes, this is the biggest mistake imaginable. Every campaign in a union heavy state uses Union shops for ALL lit. Not using a union shop is unimaginable.
How in the fuck could the Lieberman campaign, with their paid staff and DC consultant make a mistake that a local councilman wouldn't. When I did campaigns, the first thing you did was check the lit for the bug. No bug, you didn't use it.
It seems like a small thing, but it's not a mistake a pro makes. Never. In a union state, you use a union shop. ALWAYS.
I will say this: Lieberman is in massive trouble. He's got amateurs working for him. Pure amateurs. They hired people, but it's real late to hire good people. And he didn't hire them.
It's not the thing political reporters notice, but if you've ever worked on a campaign, this is one of the main things you take away. No lit drop goes without a union bug.
Poor Ann Coulter, thinking because Bill Clinton likes to have sex with women, lots of women, that he's a latent homosexual.
I guess she must have seen MASH where the dentist wants to kill himself because he thinks he has Don Juan syndrome.
Jesus Christ, you don't get much crazier than that.
But Coulter is no idiot, however we wish her to be.
In an era where Clinton is the most popular ex-president in some time, calling him a potenital cocksucker is a way to further demonize him. Now, Donny Deutsch, who's usual guest IS a professional cocksucker, of the female variety, may be a good businessman, but he doesn't handle cognitive dissodence all that well. Colbert or Stewart would have told her to shut the fuck up with her crazy talk. He let her prattle on for a few minutes.
If Clinton is gay, even latenly, so is George Clooney, and for that, you can sign me up. Because it means I get to fuck Lucy Liu and a bunch of other hot women.
Maybe it was revenge for the man Coulter jokes or the birth certificate searches, but there was something more to it.
The hard right has a sex-negative agenda and has used Bill Clinton as their whipping boy since 1992. The voters they rely on are scared of sex and would like to go back to a never never land of ignorance and myth, which is why so many abstinance programs are failed exercises in bullshit.
The irony is that one of their democratic allies is Hillary Clinton. She has always been far less comfortable than her husband with sex as a political issue. Now she blathers on about middle grounds on abortion and video games. What do you expect from a woman who wouldn't let her daughter ride a bike a few blocks to the library?
Clinton still doesn't get that the right uses her as the icon for everything they fear. I mean, homosexual slurs against the Clintons have a 15 year history here,mostly directed towards her. Hillary Clinton's sexuality has long been a football, and you can tell that, if nothing else, got to her. Why? Because she is an innately conservative person. While some of the other girls at Wellesley were playing slap and tickle, she was dreaming about her perfect husband. I'm more of a lesbian than Hillary Clinton.
Even if she had those feelings, she's probably more scared of them than Lynne Cheney, no Sisters for her.
So to tie Clinton into the last demonized group was no accident by Crazy Ann, no matter how nuts it seems. Hillary Clinton, who intellectually knows that her enemies have attacked her sexuality at every level, still cannot deal with it politically.
Which makes the Clinton's bizarre alliance with Joe Lieberman all the more perplexing. Lieberman is a liberal in the technical sense, but on social issues, he's far to the right of the Democrats. I know they've been friends for 36 years more or less, but Lieberman was all too comfortable in serving as the pointman on a host of issues.
Lieberman is clearly sex phobic, which is why he launches jerimads against the popular media. When he talks about "violence" in video games, he's really talking about sex and free expression. He doesn't talk about birth control with the same fervor, because, at heart, he's a moralist, and so is Hillary Clinton. They are comfortable in a world of moral certainties.
Only problem is that it bolsters Clinton's enemies.
Instead of backing Lieberman, they should have embraced Lamont with passion and went full bore after Lieberman for his idiocy. Even more than the personal betrayal, which at the time was spun as some act of loyalty, Lieberman's fuddy duddy approach to the modern world is poison to Clinton's further ambitions. Not that Lamont was some perfect candidate, but Hillary Clinton desperately needs to shed the soccer mom approach to politics. No one gives a shit about video games. They're rated, that's it. Leave it alone and tell people to mind their own kids.
Because while Lieberman wears it well, it reads like phony bullshit to most people.
What Hillary Clinton never got is that her enemies want to destroy her. They don't want to merely see her defeated, they think she and her husband are evil and want them banished from American life. Coulter's little rant is about shoving that along. She may have been inept in doing so, but it was no accident. It was about aligning Bill Clinton with America's newest despised group.
Cletus "I heard that Bill Clinton was a dirty cocksucking faggot"
Buford "Yep, saw it on the TV. Is there nothing that sick bastard won't stop at, raping women, now sucking cock. First he runs with the niggers, now the faggots. They oughta cut his dick off".
Hillary Clinton says all the right things about sexuality, but she isn't comfortable with free expression either. And that means she's not aware of how the right is going to demonize her on those issues. Wait until she's hit with the anti-homo offensive, going after her on gay rights and asking again if she's a married lesbian. Because it's coming, and Crazy Annie just sent up the warning flare.
It's a dog whistle attack and after all this time, the Clintons don't get that by sticking close to Lieberman, who is going to be one bitter SOB when he's turned out on his ass, it can only hurt them. Becuase the closer she sticks to a moralistic view of sex and culture, she's alienated from many potential supporters offended at the seeming hypocrisy of her stand.
