Growth!

He's That Dude!

President Obama just spent a little time kicking Republicans, politely, in their teeth for the whole world to see on TV. That shit was FRAWESOME! And as SOON as its up on youtube or another site, I will embed it here. I wish it would have been done in primetime because it was much more enjoyable than the State of the Union address which was by itself pretty good. Make sure to pass it around so everybody can see!

Update: Here you go, its long but well worth it!

Update II: Evidently the CSPAN embed isn't working. Ill try to find a youtube version.

Update III: MSNBC to the rescue!

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Blackwater Doesn't Apologize

Even when they kill a man's 9 year old son and he agrees not to sue them if they just admit what they did and apologize. I have to say, Erick Prince and Blackwater are a shit stain on America that needs to be washed clean ASAP!!! That we are still doing business with that company should be shameful to each and every citizen of this country...

(h/t Attackerman)

James O'Keefe PWNAGE

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Rudy Giuliani, Always Wrong

You know the sad part is, maybe 8 or 10 years ago he would have gotten away with this kinda shit.

Schooling Tweety (And Others)

Last night after President Obama's State Of The Union address, Chris Matthews had this to say on MSNBC,



I had a lot of things I wanted to say about how ignorant the comment of his was about forgetting President Obama was black for an hour was, but then I happened upon TNC's post on it and felt like his response said most of what I wanted to say.

One way to think about this is to flip the frame. Around these parts, we've been known, from time to time, to chat about the NFL. We've also been known to chat about the intricacies of beer. If you hang around you'll notice that there are no shortage of women in these discussions. Having read a particularly smart take on Brett Favre, or having received a good recommendations on a particular IPA, it would not be a compliment for me to say, "Wow, I forgot you were a woman." Indeed, it would be pretty offensive.

The problems is three-fold. First, it takes my necessarily limited, and necessarily blinkered, experience with the fairer sex and builds it into a shibboleth of invented truth. Then it takes that invented truth as a fair standard by which I can measure one's "woman-ness." So if football and beer don't fit into my standard, I stop seeing the person as a woman. Finally instead of admitting that my invented truth is the problem, I put the onus on the woman. Hence the claim "I forgot you were a woman," as opposed to "I just realized my invented truth was wrong."

Ditto for Chris Matthews. The "I forgot Obama was black" sentiment allows the speaker the comfort of accepting, even lauding, a black person without interrogating their invented truth. It allows the speaker a luxurious ignorance--you get to name people (this is what black is) even when you don't know people. In fact, Chris Matthews didn't forget Barack Obama was black. Chris Matthews forgot that Chris Matthews was white.

To that I will just add this, I don't think Tweety in his whole life has or would say he forgot a white person was white when he was speaking to them and really that goes to the bullshit standard floating around about who "real Americans" are. The comment he made really could have come out of the mouth of Pat Buchannan because it had just the same kind of racial overtones. You see in order to make that statement, what you really have to believe is that it is the rare black person who can speak for the rest of America. That black people are somehow inherently predisposessed to only speak for other black people for the most part. And that all the abitions that we have and reach for are uniquely black and foreign to white Americans. That is patently absurd.

Until "good white people" like Chris Matthews, who really probably thought he was proffering a compliment, come to understand that WE are "real Americans" too, this is the kind of bullshit you can expect to slip out from time to time throughout President Obama's time and office, and even worse the mindset that will prevail even if not spoken outwardly.

So please Tweety, try not to do us any more favors, ok....

He Knocked That Shit Outta The Park!!!!!

President Obama was full of WIN tonight and he put both Republicans AND Democrats on notice. Its time to get shit done!

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And I Bet He STILL Gets Quoted By WingNuts On Waterboarding

Well, it's official now: John Kiriakou, the former CIA operative who affirmed claims that waterboarding quickly unloosed the tongues of hard-core terrorists, says he didn't know what he was talking about.

Kiriakou, a 15-year veteran of the agency's intelligence analysis and operations directorates, electrified the hand-wringing national debate over torture in December 2007 when he told ABC's Brian Ross and Richard Esposito in a much ballyhooed, exclusive interview that senior al Qaeda commando Abu Zubaydah cracked after only one application of the face cloth and water.

"From that day on, he answered every question," Kiriakou said. "The threat information he provided disrupted a number of attacks, maybe dozens of attacks."

No matter that Kiriakou wearily said he shared the anguish of millions of Americans, not to mention the rest of the world, over the CIA's application of the medieval confession technique.

The point was that it worked. And the pro-torture camp was quick to pick up on Kiriakou's claim.

snip

Now comes John Kiriakou, again, with a wholly different story. On the next-to-last page of a new memoir, The Reluctant Spy: My Secret Life in the CIA's War on Terror (written with Michael Ruby), Kiriakou now rather off handedly admits that he basically made it all up.

"What I told Brian Ross in late 2007 was wrong on a couple counts," he writes. "I suggested that Abu Zubaydah had lasted only thirty or thirty-five seconds during his waterboarding before he begged his interrogators to stop; after that, I said he opened up and gave the agency actionable intelligence."

But never mind, he says now.

"I wasn't there when the interrogation took place; instead, I relied on what I'd heard and read inside the agency at the time."

foreignpolicy.com

"Waterboarding kept us safe" was, is, and always has been a load of bullshit meant to justify the indulgences of cowards. Sadly, no matter how many of these stories come out now, the wingnuts and many other people who just don't follow the news closely will never acknowledge and or realize just how opposite it was from the truth.

Why Glenn Beck Is Dangerous

Everyone should take the time out to watch this "The Young Turks" video because Cenk is exactly right about what Glenn Beck is doing and the violence he is trying to inspire. The question is will people just wait for the inevitable, or will SOMEBODY in the mainstream media finally have the balls to call him out with no false equivalence and ask that he be taken off the air?

Fuck It, I Give Up

Liberals and progressives are in full freakout over news that President Obama is proposing a 3 year targeted spending freeze to help deficit reduction during the SOTU tomorrow. Nobody seems to give a shit that a second stimulus and health care are both exempted. They also don't seem to give a shit that what is proposed to be cut is wasteful spending while underresourced progressive programs are to have increases. And nobody seems to give a shit that the alternative is to raise taxes on everybody.

Nope, instead heads are exploding over a Democratic President who is actually trying to have some fucking budget discipline and actually get us back on track as a country.

I have had plenty of gripes about President Obama, primarily his handling of health care reform, but when I see the left attacking him damn near more forcefully than the right even on issues when he is more right than wrong, its apparent to me that I am in bizarro world where we obviously want Republicans to run the country in perpetuity.

Fuck it, im done.

All That Needs To Be Said About Harold Ford Jr.

Paul Krugman does the honors.

Wow. Harold Ford’s op-ed in today’s Times has to set some kind of new standard for cluelessness.

If this cat wins an election for dog catcher in New York I am moving out to the hills and becoming one of those militia men because the Apocalypse is surely upon us.

Florida Senatorial Candidate Kendrick Meek Leads Efforts For Haiti

Congressman Kendrick Meek was on Hardball after the devastating earthquake in Haiti to talk about what our response should be and to respond to Pat Robertson's vile and insensitive commentary.



Not content to just sit in Washington and work the phones, Congressman Meek actually went to Haiti himself to check on relief efforts and managed to catch this touching footage of a little girl being rescued by Miami Dade firefighters after 5 days stuck under the rubble and reunited with her father.



Florida is a very diverse state and we have a significant Haitian population here so the question I have is where has Charlie Crist and Marco Rubio been since this tragedy happened? We know may far right Republicans and conservatives like Rush Limbaugh et al don't seem to have any interest in showing concern for the Haitian people and I think you have to ask yourself if Crist and Rubio have stayed silent to appease their right wing base. Senators from the state of Florida are supposed to support and represent ALL of their constituents, not just the ones that vote for them in a primary. The contrast between their silence and Congressman Meek's hands on approach is stark, and shouldn't be forgotten come November...

Poor People = Stray Animals. WHAT THE FUCK?!

You stay classy South Carolina.

GREENVILLE - Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer has compared giving people government assistance to "feeding stray animals."

Bauer, who is running for the Republican nomination for governor, made his remarks during a town hall meeting in Fountain Inn that included state lawmakers and about 115 residents.

"My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed. You're facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don't think too much further than that. And so what you've got to do is you've got to curtail that type of behavior. They don't know any better," Bauer said.

David Plouffe To DNC, Howard Dean To OFA?

Now that's a double switch I could get down with!

Update: Here is an interview Plouffe did with Ari Melber. Pay particular attention to what he says at 3:49 in the video. That would have been great advice to the Coakley campaign don't you think?

"No Bed Wetting"

David Plouffe has penned an op-ed to be run tomorrow in the Washington Post, giving great direction to Democrats on how they should handle governing and compaigning until the midterm elections in November. I have a somewhat radical proposition. Why not make Plouffe the DNC chairman? I think I am going to spread this around....

Here was the most salient part of his advice in my honest opinion.

-- No bed-wetting. This will be a tough election for our party and for many Republican incumbents as well. Instead of fearing what may happen, let's prove that we have more than just the brains to govern -- that we have the guts to govern. Let's fight like hell, not because we want to preserve our status, but because we sincerely believe too many everyday Americans will continue to lose if Republicans and special interests win.

Democrats, A Perfect Illustration

President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and Harry Reid should pass this cartoon around the next meeting of the Democratic Caucus and then just leave the room.

Pass The Damn Bill!!!

That is all.

President Obama In Ohio

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Waiting For The Clouds To Move

Right now I am abstaining from engaging in the health care reform discussion because nobody really knows what is going to happen next. I don't think it does me or anybody else any good for me to freak out over every single rumor being floated around. I have a strong feeling that in about a week a plan will come together in some form or fashion and then I will hop back in at that point. Until then I will probably remain mostly silent unless something major comes up. Peace

SCOTUS Bends To The Corporations

The Supreme Court today ruled that corporations are not distinguishable from individuals when it comes to free speech in elections. What that means is that they have opened the door for some of the richest businesses in America to basically hand pick the Congress and the President. Its a ruling so bad that I can't help but believe some new legislation will be quickly forth coming to effectively overrule it. Still, the overjoyed reaction of GOP leaders to this ruling should put to bed any thoughts of them actually being all about the people and riding a wave of populism. They will ALWAYS side with their financial benefactors to the detriment of the regular folks in order to get in power and stay in power. Anybody who can't see that at this point is just a fool.

The Volker Rule

Looks like somebody has pissed President Obama off. Good! If he had set this kind of tone last year I firmly believe we would be done with health care and on to climate change legislation. Here is hoping he keeps that fire in his belly!

If You Don't Know What The Hell You're Talkin Bout, Just Change The Subject!

Oh man this is classic John McCain. Caught getting it wrong on the facts of the Abdulmutallab case instead of admitting he was wrong he just angrily challenges Michael Leiter on some bullshit strawman shit. Just remember every time you criticize President Obama, that you could have had THAT asshole running the country.

And Another One Bites The Dust

The GOP and their wingnut base have claimed another scalp after repeated attacks on Errol Southers, the Obama administration choice to head the TSA, forced him to withdraw his name from the process.

You know when there is only one side screaming and ranting sooner or later people will pay attention to them no matter how dead ass wrong they are. Another lesson not learned by Democrats...

Words Of Wisdom

"If the Democrats run for cover, if we become pale carbon copies of the opposition, we will lose--and deserve to lose," he said. "The last thing this country needs is two Republican parties."

-Ted Kennedy

At some point either Democrats are going to wake up to the reality that people over the last two election cycle voted them in because we want DEMOCRATS running the country, or they will continue to try to look "centrist" and they will get their asses handed to them in November. Martha Coakley was a shitty candidate but even a shitty candidate wins that race yesterday if the legislation from last year, ie the stimulus bill and a health care bill, were more progressive.

Its really as black and white as you can get.

Campaigning For Dummies

Steve Benen has a very useful primer on how to win elections. I suggest every Democrat, especially Tim Kaine, pick it up and learn it verbatim.

I say especially Tim Kaine because the truth is as much shit as we talk about RNC Chairman Michael Steele, if he had lost the races that Kaine has already lost he would have been tossed out on his ass. I have to wonder why Kaine has gotten a pass so far. And no, this isn't on some racial shit. This is on some INCOMPETENCE shit.

Indictments And Arrests, Get But Naked!

I can't be sure whether this is big news or not, although it sounds like it is to me, but Laura Rozen is reporting (warning politico link) that the FBI just rounded up a bunch of military contractors in a "Foreign Bribe Sting". I know everybody is focused on Scott Brown beating Martha Coakley and for all intents and purposes scuttling health care reform and possibly the rest of President Obama's agenda for the foreseable future or until somebody in the White House or the Senate Majority Leader's office grows some balls, but I am thinking this story will get some burn in the days and weeks to come.

"As Opposed To Standing Outside Fenway Park In The Cold Shaking Hands?"

If there wasn't so much at stake because we have a pansy as Senate Majority Leader who can't keep his caucus in line and will allow Republicans to threaten to filibuster every single piece of meaningful legislation, I would say Martha Coakley deserves not only to lose this race but to be demolish. But I just refuse to see the gridlock in Congress get any worse only to usher in Mittens or Jindal, or some other Rethug ass hate into the Presidency in 2012. But if and when she gets into office she had better DAMN WELL vote with the caucus.

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Confirmed

We now have an, albeit begrudgingly, admission from a mainstream media source that "the Village" exists..

I read the bloggers and, while I admire their energy and commitment, I often find their near-hysteria off-putting. When they write about the Villagers, I detect, if not jealousy, then smugness, as if they believe they could do a better job than the journalists who take home the big bucks. As someone who grew up reading great political reporting, even the kind that produced the classic campaign books of previous years, I wish that all those who scoff about insular and un-self-critical Villagers would be proven wrong. It is too bad that Heilemann and Halperin have proved them, by and large, right.

That might be the only worthwhile thing that comes out of "Game Change", people will see the Villagers for the trivial self important ass coverers that they really are.

Another GITMO Cover Up

This is a fascinating read from Harpers on how three almost simultaneous deaths of GITMO prisoners were covered up and called suicides. Unbelievable...


(h/t Attackerman)

Now If You Want To Make Hay Out Of Something On Scott Brown

Martha Coakley and the rest of the Mass. Democratic machine have really been making a mess out of things in her race for Ted Kennedy's seat of late, but if they want to get people off their ass to vote in the election they should play this clip of Scott Brown questioning whether President Obama's mother and father were married at the time of his birth. It shows that the "moderate" he has been pretending to be on the campaign trail is just an act and the REAL Scott Brown came out for just a minute. And while they are at it they should put out a press releaase calling on all of the GOP leadership to say whether they think what he said was appropriate and calling on him to apologize to President Obama.



That ladies and gentlemen is how you play effective politics.

A Miracle In the MIddle Of The Chaos In Haiti

It makes my heart smile when we see stories like this one to counterbalance all of the doom and gloom and loss from the people down in Haiti. It reminds us all that even in immense tragedies there can still be miracles.

Enjoy Your Obscurity

It seems that Glenn Greenwald has decided to follow Jane Hamsher and her FireBaggers over the cliff. I can't wait until they have purified their version of the left to the point where its just Jane and Glenzilla left and they have a no holds barred cage match to decide who is the only "real" progressive.

Have fun with that.

Blog Roll just got one lighter.

Jon Stewart Hits the Haiti Responses Of Robertson, Limbaugh And.....Maddow?

I get Jon Stewart's point about not using the Haiti crisis for political gain, but comparing what Rachel Maddow did with what Rush Limbaugh and Pat Robertson said is the height of false equivalence in my opinion.

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The NCTC

Check out Spencer Ackerman's profile of the National Counterterrorism Center. There seems to be some structural problems over there that make analyzing intelligence harder than it already is. If I had to guess, that is where some head will end up rolling.

The Kiss Of Death

So today Anthony Weiner basically said Harold Ford Jr would be another Joe Lieberman.....

If Gilibrand's people are smart they will start repeating this theme 1000 different ways.

Update: Come to think of it, maybe this should be the platform of many of the Dems in the mid terms. Instead of running against Bush or running against the GOP, maybe running against Lieberman is the answer...

I Couldn't Have Said It Any Better...

Check Out Florida Senatorial Candidate On TV Tonight

U.S. Senate Candidate Kendrick Meek is appearing on various shows on CNN and MSNBC tonight to discuss the situation in Haiti. His appearances are as follows:

MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews at 5:20 PM

CNN at 7:15 PM

MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews at 7:45 PM

CNN will also be airing a story about Kendrick's work on behalf of Haiti throughout the afternoon and evening.

This Is Why You Set Deadlines

Remember how the wingnuts threw a fit when President Obama announced that we would begin withdrawing troops in 2011? Well how about a probable result of that announcement was a major spike in Afghanis signing up for military service. Evidently these folks WANT to take responsibility for their own country sooner rather than later.

Who woulda ever thunk it?

This Muthafucka Right Here

I have made a decision. If you listen to Rush Limbaugh or support him in anyway I can't fuck with you. Yeah, I believe in free speech definitely but enough is a fucking nuff. If you think its cool that he can say this kind of bullshit or that its just all in fun, well you and I have too much of a different view of life and its not even worth dealing with you in any meaningful way to try to change your opinion. A line has to be drawn somewhere and dammit, Im drawing it!

Yeah, What He Said!

In Which I Disagree With Adam Serwer

Adam Serwer has a post up complaining about Jon Stewart's interview last night with John Yoo. Now on the substance of all the things Stewart could have called Yoo on, I totally agree with Serwer's assessment. But I think he missed some of the points that Stewart DID make. Points for which Yoo had no answer. I am posting the second part of the unedited version from The Daily Show's website. In this clip, although there aren't many laughs, I think Stewart put in some good work. The most telling moment to me is when Yoo tries to claim that having terrorist attacks against our country was unprecedented and that is why the Bush administration was justified in looking for ways to torture that would have been otherwise illegal. Stewart pushes back with specific terrorist attacks that had happened in this country and all Yoo can muster in response basically was that 9/11 was bigger. And when Stewart presses him on how many people have to be murdered in order for it to rise to the level where the President overlooks our treaties and goes his own way, Yoo totally tries to change the subject because he knows he has been nailed.

Now maybe the audience missed that point, but I surely didn't. And I guarantee you that Yoo will never get asked questions that hard on the rest of his book tour.

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All Politics Is Local: Teabagger Edition

National teabaggers try to stage a protest at the Detroit Auto show to protest government intervention in the car industry.

Michigan teabaggers who would have been most affected if the auto industry had gone under say TO HELL WITH THAT!

See government spending is bad, unless it is helping THEM.


Don't you just love that smell of hypocrisy in the morning?

Sit Yo Five Dolla Ass Down: Michael Eric Dyson Edition

Michael Eric Dyson is quickly making a name for himself as the country's preeminent race hustler for the new decade. I mean seriously, this cat would never see the inside of a TV studio but for his crusade against President Obama dating back to not being invited to the White House. Not only does he look like the first fool in saying Obama has run from the issue of race considering his speech during the campaign after the Rev Wright fiasco as well as the media invented Skip Gates situation, but he also then doubles up on his fuckery by comparing him to a black man running from the cops. Yeah, race hustler, thats the image I want everyone to have of black men.

Get the fuck outta here wit dat bullshit. Nobody is buying your big ass words and binoculars.

And he for damn sure doesn't speak for most black Americans.

On Harry Reid's Comments

I am not about to go into a long ass post about Harry Reid's comments describing President Obama as a "light skinned" black person who doesn't speak with a "negro dialect" unless he wants to. For one, what he said is true. For two its all been said before, just with "nicer" words. Every time a political pundit last year said President Obama was "non threatening" because of his background and demeanor or anything close, they were saying the exact same thing that Harry Reid said in 2006. Want to take issue with "negro dialect"? Ok then explain to me what the hell ebonics is. I know some of us black folks don't like to admit that many of our people don't speak the King's English well, but its true and trying to act like it isn't is pretty damned disengenuous.

Was it racist? I guess the question I would have in response is who would it have been racist against? Every racist term or sentence or phrase that I know of is meant to demean a person based on their race. Harry Reid was actually speaking favorably of President Obama and talking about why he had a chance to be our first black President. And what do you know, he was right. I guess MAYBE you could try to make the case that it was racist against all black folks not named Barack Obama, bu then of course you would still have to show how its demeaning. As I pointed out before, just the existence of the word "ebonics" in our culture speaks to the fact that many people belive black folks and other minorities speak a different language. Is that a negative? Most of the time it is, especially if you are applying for a job. And wasn't there a story not too long ago about business not bringing people who "sounded black" over the phone in for interviews? But hey why let facts like that get in the way of a hysterical over reaction right?

In closing I will say this, if you ever have had the occasion to praise and or promote Rush Limbaugh or Pat Buchannan, you shouldn't have a got damn thing to say about any of this. And if the mainstream media types were doing their job they would point this out at every turn.

P.S. One more thing, was I the only one who read Reid's comments and immediately thought, "Damn, I guess that means Michael Steele could never be President" lmaooooo

P.S. 2: This still doesn't change my position that Harry Reid is doing a shitty job as Majority Leader. Thanks, that is all.

Bob Barr Destroys All Of Bill O'Reilly's Fear Mongering Arguments

Facts really are pesky little things.

Deep Thought

On the one hand Republicans and NeoCons knock President Obama for trying diplomacy instead of war with our enemies because they claim you can't keep them from attacking us with just words.


On the other hand Republicans and NeoCons think the solution to keeping us safe from terrorism is President Obama saying the words "War On Terror" over and over again.

Memory Relapse

Rachel Maddow is simply the best TV pundit in the game right now and she made sure last night to tear Rudy Giuliani to shreds over his idiotic comments about there having been no terrorist attacks under Bush's watch. I and others have long not only pointed to the anthrax attacks but also the DC sniper attacks as at least two terrorist attacks that happened after 9-11 under Bush but until now you hardly if ever saw a TV journalist include the DC snipers in that context. Congressional Democrats as well as the White House should grab this bit of video and distribute i far and wide to discredit not just Giuliani, but the rest of the GOP/NeoCon fools who keep trying to have their own selective memory lapses about what really happened under President Bush with respect to terrorism.

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RIP

Vice President Joe Biden's mother, Catherine Eugenia 'Jean' Finnegan Biden, has passed.
My condolences to him and his family.

Dude, Please STFU

Michael Steele just keeps on digging.

Please Give Me Some Of Whatever Giuliani Is Smoking!

Lets, for a moment, leave aside the fact that 9/11 happened under Bush. If Giuliani's point is that we had a terrorist attack under President Obama because of he underpants bomber, doesn't that mean we also had a terrorist attack under Bush with the shoe bomber? I mean, c'mon man, how fucking idiotic can you get?

But worse than that, why isn't the guy interviewing him pouncing all over his dumbass when he spouts this bullshit? I don't think anybody bought it, but got dammit why do we even HAVE a media anymore if they are unwilling or unable to call bullshit on such a blatant ass lie?

Keeping It Steele, Son

Elon James roasts Michael Steele

President Obama's Remarks About The Report On The Failed Terrorist Attack On Christmas

Update: For whatever reason the MSNBC code isn't producing the correct video when embeded so I had to grab TPM's youtube instead.

He Didn't Buy A One Way Ticket

TPM has compiled a report on what has been publicly reported about the attempted terrorist bombing on the Northwest flight Christmas day. There is at least one important correction to what has been reported and repeated erroneously all over the place since this attempted attack took place.

•The AP quoted a Nigerian official, Civil Aviation Authority chief Harold Demuren, saying that Abdulmutallab bought a round-trip ticket with cash at the KLM office in Accra, Ghana on Dec. 16. The $2,831 ticket was from Lagos, Nigeria, to Detroit via Amsterdam, he said. The return date was said to be Jan. 8, the Guardian quotes the same Nigerian agency as saying. A CBS report refers to a "scheduled two-week trip," which would be in keeping with the Jan. 8 return date. And a Dutch government report described by the International Herald Tribune (via Nexis) said that Abdulmutallab "had a round-trip ticket purchased in Ghana."

•However, multiple news outlets and commentators have asserted Abdulmutallab had a one-way ticket. That includes Time, former Attorney General Michael Mukasey in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, the Journal news pages, and Michael Gerson in the Washington Post. None of those outlets cite a source for the one-way ticket claim. The New York Times actually ran a Dec. 30 correction saying that an earlier piece "referred incorrectly to the plane ticket used by the suspect. It was a round-trip ticket, not a one-way ticket."

Now people on both sides of the political spectrum have used the notion that Abdulmutallab bought a one way ticket as a sign that the sytem didn't work because that should have been a red flag. And even further to assert that because Richard Reid, the shoe bomber, used a one way ticket, that its an even worse screw up for them to have not noticed Abdulmutallab because the situations seemed so similar.

But the truth is he bought a round trip ticket so that is one thing that was different from Reid. And when you take away the one way ticket meme then there isn't a whole lot that would make you think this was a mirror image of Reid.

There are other things that TPM dug up worth reading about as well. And as I was typing this post the official White House report was declassified. So feel free to click the links and get the truth about this incident. Obviously relying on our mainstream media hasn't worked out so well thus far.

Steele's Days Are Numbered

In the course of a regular daily conference call between senior Congressional communicators, House and Senate aides berated RNC staffers over Steele's comments that the GOP would not be able to take back the House, and that even if they did, the party would not be prepared to lead.

A senior Senate aide brought up Steele's comments, arguing that he was ruining what should be several days of glowing press for the GOP in the wake of retirement announcements from Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Chris Dodd (D-CT).

"Steele is setting us far back with his comments and it needs to stop," the aide said, according to 2 sources who were on the call.

RNC research director Jeff Berkowitz called the Senate aide out of line, but the Senate aide called Steele a "fool," sources said.

Hotlineoncall

If you think this information somehow got leaked accidentally you are crazy. Someone wants everybody to know that at least one Senate leadership aide not only thinks RNC Chairman Michael Steele is a fool but actually said so on a conference call with their peers. I don't think Steele will make it to April as head of the RNC, but after reading through this account several times I think I might be too generous with that estimate.

CNN Take Notes

I saw that CNN had Erick Erickson of Red State on in the last few weeks as their representative for a right wing point of view. But they never, not even once, brought up any of the over the top, racist and culturally insensitve things he said on his blog. You would have thought he was a perfectly average guy just having a difference of opinion on substantive issues. Thankfully he was stupid enough to go on the Colbert Report last night. Needless to say he was finally challenged over some of the things he has said. It continues to amaze me that we have to wait for late night comedy shows to actually ask the tough questions of political operators. But I guess something is better than nothing.

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Terror 2.0

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This Is Really Some Next Level Ish

Its been a long time since I saw a music video that actually drew my attention, but this Jay Z joint is game changing. Other cats better step their game up!

On To The Next One

Happy New Year!

Yeah, that's about right lol. Its been a long long year...