Our media

Dumbass

Packing:

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - David Huckabee, a son of Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, was arrested at an Arkansas airport Thursday after a federal X-ray technician detected a loaded Glock pistol in his carry-on luggage.
"I removed the bag and asked Mr. Huckabee if he knew what he had in the bag," Little Rock police officer Arthur Nugent wrote in a report after being summoned to a security checkpoint. "He replied he did now."

Troops held hostage

Home run

Jig's up

McClatchy:

WASHINGTON - For six years, the Bush administration, aided by Justice Department political appointees, has pursued an aggressive legal effort to restrict voter turnout in key battleground states in ways that favor Republican political candidates.
The administration intensified its efforts last year as President Bush's popularity and Republican support eroded heading into a midterm battle for control of Congress, which the Democrats won.
Facing nationwide voter registration drives by Democratic-leaning groups, the administration alleged widespread election fraud and endorsed proposals for tougher state and federal voter identification laws.

Almost worked, too. They can't win without cheating.

Here we go

More of W's legacy:

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court's conservative majority handed anti-abortion forces a major victory Wednesday in a decision that bans a controversial abortion procedure and set the stage for further restrictions. For the first time since the court established a woman's right to an abortion in 1973, the justices upheld a nationwide ban on a specific abortion method, labeled partial-birth abortion by its opponents.

Among Arkansas' delegation, only Vic Snyder had the gumption to vote against this atrocity against women.

What can anyone say?

Sorry we asked:
Debbie Schlussel demonstrates why she'll never be anything but a C-list wingnut.
B-list wingnuts are never at a loss for words.

Speechless

What can anyone say? If you must.

Back to the base

Best laid plans

This one didn't work out.

Our media

Galloway:

While the nation’s airwaves this past week were filled with the urgent news of who fathered Anna Nicole Smith’s baby and the spectacle of Don Imus waving goodbye to his career in broadcasting over racist and sexist remarks on the air, few seemed to notice that 10 more American troops were killed in Iraq over the weekend.

Bummer

Vonnegut.

What's that smell?

Fishy:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House said Wednesday it had mishandled Republican Party-sponsored e-mail accounts used by nearly two dozen presidential aides, resulting in the loss of an undetermined number of e-mails concerning official White House business.

They were able to delete their files. How convenient.

Can't find a fall guy

WaPo:

The White House wants to appoint a high-powered czar to oversee the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with authority to issue directions to the Pentagon, the State Department and other agencies, but it has had trouble finding anyone able and willing to take the job, according to people close to the situation.
At least three retired four-star generals approached by the White House in recent weeks have declined to be considered for the position, the sources said, underscoring the administration's difficulty in enlisting its top recruits to join the team after five years of warfare that have taxed the United States and its military.

Josh:

Someone to oversee wars, the Pentagon, the State Department and everything else? Don't we elect that person every four years?

Everyone knows where the buck stops.

Drinking Liberally postscript

Happy birthday, Greg. And thanks for the ride, Andy (same link).

And thanks to bigassbelle and johnny panic for leaving comments. Comments are the mother's milk of blogging.

When will it end?

U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, acknowledging that the security crackdown in Baghdad might increase attacks outside the capital, April 8, 2007:

You have the enemy trying to show it is still strong and able to move and stir fear in the population. We anticipated a movement of enemy forces and violence to the north, south, east and west of Baghdad.

Rummy, asked where the WMD were, March 30, 2003:

We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat.

Blogger code of conduct

Good luck with that.

W prays for peace

Hypocrite:

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) -- President Bush prayed for peace Sunday at an Easter service during a visit to an Army post that has sent thousands of soldiers to war in Iraq.

If only he could make that Army post stop it.

McCain at the market

Calling bullshit

McClatchy:

WASHINGTON - It's become President Bush's mantra, his main explanation for why he won't withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq anytime soon.
In speech after speech, in statement after statement, Bush insists that "this is a war in which, if we were to leave before the job is done, the enemy would follow us here."
The line, which Bush repeated Wednesday in a speech to troops at California's Fort Irwin, suggests a chilling picture of warfare on American streets.
But is it true?
Military and diplomatic analysts say it isn't. They accuse Bush of exaggerating the threat that enemy forces in Iraq pose to the U.S. mainland.

Equally idiotic is McCain's -- and others'-- assertion that if we leave we'll just have to go right back.

News flash

Bigtime's a liar:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Vice President Dick Cheney repeated his assertions of al-Qaida links to Saddam Hussein's Iraq on Thursday as the Defense Department released a report citing more evidence that the prewar government did not cooperate with the terrorist group.

Of course, everybody listening to Rush's show believed him. These people have no souls.

We're fucked

This is all Frank's fault:

FAYETTEVILLE -- About 24 hours earlier, Arkansas had introduced Dana Altman as its new basketball coach.
But late Tuesday afternoon, on nearly the same spot outside Bud Walton Arena that Stan Heath spoke from after being fired, Altman revealed a jolting reversal of thought.
He couldn't cope with leaving Creighton and couldn't handle putting his family through a life-altering move to Arkansas. So, in the end, he simply decided he wouldn't.

These guys round it up.

NYT reporters Iraqis hate McCain

This is backfiring big time:

BAGHDAD, April 2 — A day after members of an American Congressional delegation led by Senator John McCain pointed to their brief visit to Baghdad's central market as evidence that the new security plan for the city was working, the merchants there were incredulous about the Americans' conclusions.
"What are they talking about?" Ali Jassim Faiyad, the owner of an electrical appliances shop in the market, said Monday. "The security procedures were abnormal!"
The delegation arrived at the market, which is called Shorja, on Sunday with more than 100 soldiers in armored Humvees -- the equivalent of an entire company -- and attack helicopters circled overhead, a senior American military official in Baghdad said. The soldiers redirected traffic from the area and restricted access to the Americans, witnesses said, and sharpshooters were posted on the roofs. The congressmen wore bulletproof vests throughout their hourlong visit.
"They paralyzed the market when they came," Mr. Faiyad said during an interview in his shop on Monday. "This was only for the media."

Nice try.

How they did it

Proof

AP:

McCain said the Republican congressional delegation he led to Iraq drove from Baghdad's airport to the center of the city, citing that as proof that security was improving in the capital. Prominent visitors normally make the trip by helicopter.
The delegation was accompanied by heavily armed U.S. troops when they were not in the Green Zone, site of the U.S. Embassy and Iraqi government. They traveled in armored military vehicles under heavy guard.
... Underscoring security concerns, [U.S. military spokesman Rear Adm. Mark] Fox said two suicide vests were found unexploded Saturday in the Green Zone, less than a week after a rocket attack killed two Americans in the vast central area.

Some security.