• Hot Off The Presses - Politics, Schmolitics - Radio

    NPR: Tom DeFranco Debunks Myth of Friendship

    NPR : Notes on the Real Gerald Ford Just now on MSNBC's coverage of President Ford's funeral, an old Washington pol was trotting out the "Nixon and Ford had a deeper friendship than previously thought" meme. According to DeFranco on NPR this morning, it's utter bunk. Nixon used to say to anyone in hearing that Ford was stupid, while Ford was much, much smarter than anyone gave him credit for. Apparenlty, he's the only President who was able to conduct his own budget briefing, a complicated affair usually left to experts. Bet Bush leaves it to people with higher math skills.…

  • Hot Off The Presses - Politics, Schmolitics - Uncategorical Weirdness

    A President’s Posthumous Last Words

    Ford attacks Bush over Iraq invasion in message from beyond the grave | Iraq | Guardian Unlimited President George Bush, accustomed to criticism from Republicans of his fathers generation, suffered a rebuke from beyond the grave from the late president Gerald Ford yesterday in published comments calling the war on Iraq a mistake. In an interview with the Washington Posts Bob Woodward, granted on condition that it be published only after Mr Fords death, the late president said he strongly disagreed with Mr Bushs stated justification for the war – that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. He also…

  • Politics, Schmolitics - Uncategorical Weirdness

    Guarded optimism on Sen. Johnson (D-SD)

    An Update on Senator Johnson – The Caucus – Politics – New York Times Blog From my conversations with the doctors and based on the progress he has been making, I feel very confident that he is going to be getting back to work sooner rather than later.  I've been watching this story out of the corner of my eye since it first broke – didn't want to jinx myself by blathering on without knowing too much. How unbloggerlike of me. Anyway, I hope Sen. Johnson continues to make progress. It's ironic that for the moment, the hopes of progressives…

  • Episcopal - Hot Off The Presses - Politics, Schmolitics - Radio - Uncategorical Weirdness

    Jim Wallis Replies To Bush Radio Address

    The Swamp – Chicago Tribune – Blogs. This is the text of the Democratic Party's radio address (audio link here): "I’m Jim Wallis, author of God’s Politics. I was surprised and grateful when Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid called to say his party wanted to set a new tone and invite, for the first time, a non-partisan religious leader to deliver their weekly radio address and speak about the values that could unite Americans at this critical time. "So, I want to be clear that I am not speaking for the Democratic Party, but as a person of faith who…

  • Hot Off The Presses - Parish: Holy Moly (ECUSA) - Politics, Schmolitics

    Obama: Democrats Must Court Evangelicals

    Obama: Democrats Must Court Evangelicals | Chicago Tribune Obama ROCKS. Right on. RIGHT on: WASHINGTON — Sen. Barack Obama chastised fellow Democrats on Wednesday for failing to “acknowledge the power of faith in the lives of the American people,” and said the party must compete for the support of evangelicals and other churchgoing Americans. “Not every mention of God in public is a breach to the wall of separation. Context matters,” the Illinois Democrat said in remarks to a conference of Call to Renewal, a faith-based movement to overcome poverty. “It is doubtful that children reciting the Pledge of Allegiance…

  • Politics, Schmolitics

    Keep The Story Alive: RFK JR and the Stolen Election of 2004

    This story came out while I was off in Utah, dealing with the family crisis (or not dealing, depending on whichever day it was). Since then, I’ve seen a few “mainline” news citations in Bloglines. The Seattle P-I wonders if this will be this year’s version of the infamous Downing Street Memo; a story that was so not “nothing new” that bloggers had to remind journalists to use their own noses and smell a hot lead. Just doing my bit to keep this one alive and smelly, too. Rolling Stone : Was the 2004 Election Stolen? Like many Americans, I…

  • Politics, Schmolitics

    Rumsfeld vs. McGovern Edits

    Media Matters collated several different news stories and compared different edits. Some edits amount, in varying degrees, to a lack of truthiness. There’s a video clip with them all run together – it gets pretty repetitive. The interesting thing is the FOX news one – it shows how much more contentious the setting was, with two other protestors visible (one being grabbed by a security guard) and you can hear more heckling from people on both sides. Maybe FOX wanted to show how embattled Rummy was and how idiotic those damn liberrrls were to disrupt the proceedings. Media Matters –…