Diaper-Free Edition

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Bloggers and DUers ruled this week: fun with The Dick; more about Dick's pickle; Murdoch's latest muck up; the Sununu shuffle; the swiftboating of John Edwards' bloggers; joke of the week: "President Rudy"; and DUers annabanana and NanceGreggs made the week much sweeter. Enjoy!

Two heads, One Asshole

Ready for some fun with The Dick? When you consider how few options Tricky Dick Cheney has left, Red Tractor-USA's report that Cheney and Rumsfeld have fused together as one person (Rummy skated, after all, didn't he?) makes for some snarky, salacious fun this week:

Two heads, one person. Cheney and Rumsfeld combined!

Washington, DC - By J.D. Burgan - Two heads, one asshole. After more than thirty years of working together the "Big Two" have finally decided it would be easier to kick more ass if they are fused into one being. Despite Rumsfeld's blackened heart from authorizing the bombing of civilian populations in Iraq, he was the natural choice for the left side of Mr. Cheney's ailing body. Rummy is unemployed and the fusion makes it easier for the Big Two to attend pending suits for torture. Mr. Cheney felt comfortable with the selection, "Who else could I fuse my body too? I mean, "Scooter" is under Federal Indictment, besides me and Rummy are into S & M."

Hm. Does this mean more ass licking or less? Read the rest to find out what fictional administration staffers have to say. While you're giggling, consider the twisted, evil mind necessary to be confronted with Libby's grand jury testimony and your own hand-written notes which prove you're the one who told Scooter about Valerie Plame's secret CIA identity... and saying, "Who? Me?" Why, that's the kind of twisted, evil mind that would claim that no one ever gave him Joe Wilson's Niger yellowcake report...

Of Course, Cheney Knew!

Larry Johnson cuts to the chase:

There is no way that a CIA Briefer, who knew of the Vice President's keen interest in the issue of Iraq, Niger, and uranium, would not present a piece of raw intelligence to the Vice President that addressed Cheney's question. In fact, the Vice President received the report on March 8, 2002 or March 9, 2002. Look for yourself. On page DX64.4 of the CIA memo, paragraph 6, we are informed that the CIA's Directorate of Operations widely disseminated the report and that the sensitive source, Joe Wilson, is highly reliable.

Cheney was given an intelligence report in response to his original query on 12 February, 2002. The report made clear that Niger was playing ball with the U.S. and was not about to even meet with Iraqis, much less sell them uranium.

Cheney also plotted. Looking for proof that BushCo planned to invade Iraq as soon as the Supreme Court succeeded in appointing the son of a Bush in 2001? Frank Rich (at frankrich.com) has created the definitive timeline (a 79-page pdf file). Curl up and enjoy. Then ponder...

What if Gore had outed Plame?

Pensito Review says:

Imagine the reaction from the media and the Republican Party if this story had been in the news ten years ago:

Sworn testimony has revealed that Vice Pres. Al Gore masterminded the unmasking of a covert CIA agent who specialized in the terrorist blackmarket for weapons of mass destruction - and that Gore's motive was to exact political retribution against the agent's husband, an outspoken critic of Clinton-Gore policies.

It is hardly an exaggeration to suggest that Vice Pres. Gore would have been hounded from office within weeks of such headlines - as Vice Pres. Mondale or any other Democratic vice president would have been.

Bush Admits He's A Liar

Nice catch from Think Progress, as always:

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, President Bush acknowledged that as early as "September/October" 2006, he realized a major change was needed in Iraq:

WSJ: Was there a moment in the war when you said we have to make a major change in the way we're doing things in Iraq?
GWB: Yes, there was.
WSJ: When was that?
GWB: September/October.

But even after Bush realized that a major change was needed - in the weeks just prior to the midterm elections - he continued to knowingly mislead the American public and claim U.S. was "winning" in Iraq and that the strategy was "working":

QUESTION: Are we winning?
BUSH: Absolutely we're winning. ... We're winning and we will win, unless we leave before the job is done. And the crucial battle, right now, is Iraq. (10/25/06)

Too stupid for color TV. Stupid? TV? That reminds me...

Murdoch Mucks It Up

Murdoch: "We tried" (to propagandize the war). Juan Cole explains:

Rupert Murdoch, who gives you Bill O'Reilly, Daniel Pipes, and other fantasists of the hard Right, by his ownership of a vast media empire, admitted at the Davos conference that his companies had "tried" to propagandize for Bush's Iraq War. He said that they were critical of the execution of the war, though. He doesn't watch or read his own media if he thinks that. It is never a discouraging word and 'what were the RNC talking points today?' over there in Foxland.

And when Murdoch pisses and moans about bloggers, remember that he bought MySpace, thinking he'd be able to control it while profiting from it. Idiot. Speaking of idiots...

The Sununu Shuffle

Step one: Run away! From TPM:

When Sen. John E. Sununu (R-N.H.) saw reporters approaching him last week, he took off in a sprint, determined to say as little as possible about a nonbinding resolution opposing President Bush's troop escalation plan expected to come before the Senate today.

"You know where I stand," the senator, who is considered politically vulnerable back home, said repeatedly as he fled down stairways at the Capitol. "I'm still looking."

Pretty shabby for a senator from New Hampshire, where the state motto is "Live free or die."

"I'm still looking" doesn't have quite the same ring to it.

Kinda makes one want to move to New Hampshire and vote this blood-sucking toad out of office, doesn't it?

Step two: Samba with Bush after all: From Kos, it appears that Sununu decided our troops didn't qualify for that "Live" part of his state's motto. The "Die" clause now applies to them... but not to The Shuffling Sununu.

More About The Dick's Pickle

Brent Budowsky at consortiumnews puts The Dick's disasterous anti-Joe Wilson conspiracy into its proper context.

When we were writing the original indentities protection law, not one of us could have ever imagined that identity disclosers would be high officials in the U.S. government. The law was aimed at people very hostile to the U.S. who were acting in a manner that helped the KGB.

It was unthinkable to all of us that anyone involved in these disclosures, felonious or not, would be high in the U.S. government. Anyone who goes on television and says otherwise is a liar.

More facts and predictions at the link, y'all. Sizzling!

Bush's Speech To The Democrats

Welcome To Pottersville writes:

In a speech to over 200 lawmakers at a Virginia retreat, Bush claimed, as he has all this time, that he's listened to Democrats (whom he said until election day kept saying No to fighting terr‘ism), his troop commanders in Iraq (the ones that he hasn't fired for straying from the party line) and, believe it or not, the GOP (like Chuck Hagel, of whom Dick Cheney told Newsweek it was difficult to keep from telling to go fuck himself as per Reagan's 11th Commandment of never speaking ill about a fellow Republican).

Bush is deliberately conflating hearing with actually listening. If you hear a car alarm going off endlessly, your first instinct is to think, "Will somebody shut that damned thing off?" However, if you're listening to what it could mean, you'll check it out to decide whether the alarm is legitimate. But Bush has demonstrated time and again that that's one of the things that he can't be bothered Decidin'.

Pitiful.

Big Time Blogger News

Newshounds' successful email campaign to advertisers has caused Lowe's to pull their ads from The O'Reilly Factor. Sweet!

A Blogger (Confined Space) Goes To Washington. The Pump Handle has the details (Sorry I was late on this news):

Yesterday, Jordan Barab mothballed his blog Confined Space, and workers and worker advocates lost a powerful online resource. The good news is that we've gained a political resource, since Jordan's departure from the blogosphere is due to his new staff position on the US House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor. Still, we'll all miss the combination of up-to-the-minute news, biting commentary, and ceaseless advocacy for worker health and safety that have characterized Confined Space since its inception in 2003.

Congrats, Confined Space!

Firedoglake is live-blogging the Scooter trial. Start from the beginning, butter the corn, and enjoy the Scooter squirming.

Last but not least, Hughes for America's excellent analysis of the rightwing's Edwards & The Bloggers swiftboating is this week's must read. Here's a snippet:

What bloggergate says about the movement

Like good drivers treat their cars in the midst of a frigid winter, the right wing must make regular efforts to rev up its outrage machine. From Coretta Scott King's funeral to Barbara Boxer's commentary on Condoleeza Rice, the latter-day conservative narrative represents a steady stream of overhyped, overwrought blow-ups intended to demonize the progressive movement while simultaneously - and always unsuccessfully - trying to avoid completely shattering the hypocrisy meter. The latest winners? Bloggers and true netroots role models Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan, both recent high-level hires of the John Edwards presidential campaign. Their crime? Blogging while being a progressive, a first-degree felony in the right-wing legal world.

Joke Of The Week: "President Rudy"

Contextual Musings provides the punchline:

Giuliani's campaign is such a big joke! This guy was a terrible mayor and quite a pathetic leader pre-9/11, and using that single event as a "qualifier" for the Presidency is simply absurd. Now, as far as conservatives go, Rudy isn't all that bad, having, as he does, some more liberal views (gay rights and abortion among them), but he has too much garbage in his past (which will make headlines), and is even less experienced for the Presidency than Barack Obama is (yet I hardly hear anyone talking about that).

Want To Join A Union?

It just got easier. According to the AFL-CIO blog:

Let's face it, how many people want to lose their jobs? (Firing workers for forming unions is illegal, but management does it anyway, counting on the fact that it often takes years for a workers' appeal to wind its way through the regional and national labor boards and even the courts.)

(snip)

The Employee Free Choice Act would:

* Establish stronger penalties for violation of employee rights when workers seek to form a union and during first-contract negotiations.
* Provide mediation and arbitration for first-contract disputes.
* Allow employees to form unions by signing cards authorizing union representation.

Hmm. Mother Jones is more than a magazine title. History teachers, do your duty!

Thank A DUer!

Thanks to annabanana for this post:

7O7.. Not only am I not getting any work done...

I find I have nearly abandoned my own dear DU. . just from lack of time.

My name is annabanana, and I am a Libby Trial junkie.

And thanks to NanceGreggs for explaining why we could never get elected as Republicans:

It's the Stupidity, Stupid!
By Nancy Greggs

Despite my keen interest in American politics, I have never seriously thought about running for office. I am astute enough to know that I've got too much going against me – like bluntness, a total inability to use a phrase like a "lack of straightforwardness" in place of "blatant lie", or the ingrained habit of suggesting, in not-so-polite terms, that someone who is shooting me through the grease might consider engaging in a sexual act that is, for the most part, physically impossible.

But looking at the recent crop of the powers-that-be in the Republican party, I realize that I could never be elected to any office - including dog-catcher - as a GOP candidate. It's not just the fact that I don't agree with the party's policies; it's the fact that my IQ would disqualify me right off the bat.

This is the blog week that was. Not a single diaper post needed. Liberals rule when it comes to citizen journalism. If we didn't, wingnuts wouldn't spend every waking moment trying to silence us, now would they? Keep ignoring the diapers and keep on fighting the tighite righties! And keep sending those great blog links!

-- Delilah Boyd

[PurpleChez]

1. no comments yet?!?!

Great selection as always!

[AwakeAtLast]

2. I've been missing Blog Box!!!

Great as always! :bounce: