Ah, good old politics

And media conglomeration. The New York Times is reporting that Judith Regan (famous for trying to publish OJ's "if I did it" book and having an affair (including carrying on the affair "at an apartment near ground zero that had been donated as a haven for rescue and recovery workers") with Giuliani friend and millstone/scumbag Bernie Kerik) is alleging that News Corp (famous for America's own millstone and scumbag duo of Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch) tried to influence her testimony on her affair. Why? To protect America's Mayor in his search for the White House. Yeah, that old liberal media was really a problem. Good thing we have replaced it with people like this who manipulate the news purposefully to help out their own horses.

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We have hopes that Mukasey will be a decent AG, though his insistence on not defining waterboarding suggested that Dick Cheney was watching his testimony with a gun to Mukasey's dog or something. But his decision to reopen the wiretapping probe that Bush originally shut down under Gonzales is positive. At least for now. Of course, compared to Gonzales, this Macbook would make an excellent AG. Time will tell. Cheney's brilliance (and really his only skill as far as I can tell) is to work the system from behind. He won't allow Mukasey to hang him out.

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Speaking of the President, I really wonder about Bush. Does he recognize that he is a failed President? Or does he just think that we are all too stupid to understand his greatness? After all, "childrens do learn." Even though he is down in the polls, he has to appeal to the homophobic part of his 29% base and one way was to appoint religious conservatives to positions in government. YOu know, appointing someone opposed to birth control to oversee, well, birth control. But appointing this gay hating doctor to Surgeon General seems unnecessary. And it looks like the fact that the nomination is dead just means that Bush will use a recess appointment. Bush has ruled this country with a middle finger extended to anyone who disagrees, and I think that will be his last gesture as he leaves the White House. He really has contempt for a majority of the country.

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Speaking of Bush's America, our friend Jon Swift points to a story that just makes us scratch our heads. Evidently, when the American bridge team won the World championship (evidently there is one) in Shanghai, one held up a hand-written sign that said, "we did not vote for Bush." The American Bridge something organization is actually considering punishing these women:

"'This isn't a free-speech issue,' explains Jan Martel, president of the United States Bridge Federation, commenting on what the organization refers to as the 'Shanghai Incident.' 'There isn't any question that private organizations can control the speech of people who represent them.' A statement released by the USBF reiterates, 'This situation is not about free speech; it is about determining whether the USBF has a responsibility to its membership to impose sanctions on those who have acted contrary to the best interests of the organization and its members.'"

I just remember when conservatives loved to trash Clinton here, overseas, on television, radio, in Country songs, in speeches and ads, from the House floor, or behind a pulpit. The good old days. I am sure that conservatives and corporations will recover that love of dissent when a democrat runs the country. We already see signs of something like this, certainly about Hillary:

"At a campaign event in South Carolina Monday, a female supporter asked John McCain: "How do we beat the bitch?"

If the Arizona senator objected to that particular characterization of Sen. Hillary Clinton, he didn't exactly say so.

Instead, as the room erupted in laughter, McCain said he'd try to offer a "translation." Somebody in the audience shouted out, "I thought she was talking about my ex-wife." There was more laughter all around, and then McCain said: "That's an excellent question."

As TPM and others have noted, this is the same candidate who bent over backwards to apologize for his mother's attack on Mitt Romney's mormonism. Calling Hillary a "bitch" is ok, I guess.

Wow, the GOP just impresses me each and every day.