The Hollywood Liberal

Asst. AG Harasses College Student
For months, an assistant attorney general in Michigan has waged an online campaign against Chris Armstrong, the gay student body president of the University of Michigan. Andrew Shirvell runs a Chris Armstrong Watch blog accusing him of gay orgies and racism, slams his family members and friends and admits to protesting outside his house. He calls Armstrong a “Nazi-like” recruiter for “the cult that is homosexuality.”

Late Late Night FDL: Big Town Playboy
Ana Popovic — Big Town Playboy.

Ana Popovic — Big Town Playboy.

What’s on your mind?

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And THIS is why he gets the big bucks
Oh thank goodness, Tom Friedman is here to tell us what the Tea Partiers really believe…and it is exactly what Tom Friedman believes.

The Mustache of Understanding and Powdered Donuts via some Attaturk guy at flickr.com

And here I was just assuming Richard Cohen was still the nation’s tritest Op-Ed writer. I am crestfallen. For Tom Friedman’s ‘Mustache of Understanding’ (credit Atrios) has demanded the mantle:

The Tea Party that has gotten all the attention, the amorphous, self-generated protest against the growth in government and the deficit, is what I’d actually call the “Tea Kettle movement” — because all it’s doing is letting off steam.

Oh, you see what he did there? Considering the fact it became the “Tea Party” only after it’s bleaters found out what “teabagging” meant requires that any other nickname would be trite beyond belief. Enter Thomas Friedman. I bet he spent at least six months coming up with it, so one Friedman Unit, an “F.U.” But enough about that, let’s see how the Mustache would make everything just right...suck.on.this!

The Tea Partiers actually want us to raise taxes.

Um, yeah, good job there Tom, you’ve really got their belief system pegged, that’s exactly what they want. That’s some solid political analysis of what makes ‘em tick.

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Obama Finds Lack of Enthusiasm ‘Irresponsible’
Rolling Stone has a fascinating, sprawling interview with President Obama, who sees the tea party as an amalgam, says Gen. Stanley McChrystal didn’t meet his standards, and defends his administration as “the most successful … in a generation in moving progressive agendas forward.” The interview exemplifies why Obama is such a frustrating character. On the one hand, he is so casually brilliant that he can kibitz about the brevity of the journalistic golden age between Hearst and Fox News. At the same time, he is dense as a stone when it comes to his economic team (Larry Summers didn’t work at Goldman Sachs, he protests—no, he just pocketed its $135,000 payoff, er, speaking fee). The president is clearly frustrated that he hasn’t gotten credit for his legislative accomplishments. And even if he can understand that his base is disappointed, Obama does not believe such disappointment excuses apathy in the coming election, as you can see below.  —PZS Rolling Stone via TPM: The idea that we’ve got a lack of enthusiasm in the Democratic base, that people are sitting on their hands complaining, is just irresponsible. Everybody out there has to be thinking about what’s at stake in this election and if they want to move forward over the next two years or six years or 10 years on key issues like climate change, key issues like how we restore a sense of equity and optimism to middle-class families who have seen their incomes decline by five percent over the last decade. If we want the kind of country that respects civil rights and civil liberties, we’d better fight in this election. And right now, we are getting outspent eight to one by these 527s that the Roberts court says can spend with impunity without disclosing where their money’s coming from. In every single one of these congressional districts, you are seeing these independent organizations outspend political parties and the candidates by, as I said, factors of four to one, five to one, eight to one, 10 to one. We have to get folks off the sidelines. People need to shake off this lethargy, people need to buck up. Bringing about change is hard—that’s what I said during the campaign. It has been hard, and we’ve got some lumps to show for it. But if people now want to take their ball and go home, that tells me folks weren’t serious in the first place. Read more

Rolling Stone has a fascinating, sprawling interview with President Obama, who sees the tea party as an amalgam, says Gen. Stanley McChrystal didn’t meet his standards, and defends his administration as “the most successful … in a generation in moving progressive agendas forward.”

The interview exemplifies why Obama is such a frustrating character. On the one hand, he is so casually brilliant that he can kibitz about the brevity of the journalistic golden age between Hearst and Fox News. At the same time, he is dense as a stone when it comes to his economic team (Larry Summers didn’t work at Goldman Sachs, he protests—no, he just pocketed its $135,000 payoff, er, speaking fee).

The president is clearly frustrated that he hasn’t gotten credit for his legislative accomplishments. And even if he can understand that his base is disappointed, Obama does not believe such disappointment excuses apathy in the coming election, as you can see below.? —PZS

Rolling Stone via TPM:

The idea that we’ve got a lack of enthusiasm in the Democratic base, that people are sitting on their hands complaining, is just irresponsible.

Everybody out there has to be thinking about what’s at stake in this election and if they want to move forward over the next two years or six years or 10 years on key issues like climate change, key issues like how we restore a sense of equity and optimism to middle-class families who have seen their incomes decline by five percent over the last decade. If we want the kind of country that respects civil rights and civil liberties, we’d better fight in this election. And right now, we are getting outspent eight to one by these 527s that the Roberts court says can spend with impunity without disclosing where their money’s coming from. In every single one of these congressional districts, you are seeing these independent organizations outspend political parties and the candidates by, as I said, factors of four to one, five to one, eight to one, 10 to one.

We have to get folks off the sidelines. People need to shake off this lethargy, people need to buck up. Bringing about change is hard—that’s what I said during the campaign. It has been hard, and we’ve got some lumps to show for it. But if people now want to take their ball and go home, that tells me folks weren’t serious in the first place.

Read more

Related Entries

• September 27, 2010 Mental State of Their Own
• September 27, 2010 The Man, the Myth

This Joke’s on Congress
Stephen Colbert is no Elmo—which is why it was crazy for House Democrats to have him testify before a subcommittee last week about migrant labor. By Ruth Marcus

Stephen Colbert is no Elmo—which is why it was crazy for House Democrats to have him testify before a subcommittee last week about migrant labor.

Related Entries

• September 27, 2010 Mental State of Their Own
• September 27, 2010 The Man, the Myth

Duchess Harris: President Obama’s report card
On Friday September 17, The Washington Post reported that “Black Scholars [were] to debate how to hold Obama ‘accountable.’ I was fortunate enough to be…

Jonathan Richards: No Change
Some thing never change. Snow is cold, rain is wet. And you can count on Republicans…to be Republicans. New ideas? Who needs ’em?…

Bradford Kane: The Tea Party’s 4 Themes and Their Antidotes For the November Election
Widespread frustration among Americans is sure to play a major role in the November midterm election. The lingering recession and intensified partisanship in Washington have…

WSJ/NBC Poll: President Clinton Gets Top Rating
One of the most popular politicians in the country right now isn’t even running in this election year. Former President Bill Clinton had by far…

Baucus Urges Probe Of Advocacy Groups
The Senate’s chief tax writer has called for a federal investigation into advocacy groups that have become increasingly popular vehicles for outside donations. These groups,…

Obama is right: Fox News promoting “destructive” GOP agenda

In a recent Rolling Stone interview, President Obama said Fox News is part of the tradition of using the press “very intentionally to promote their viewpoints” because Fox “has a very clear, undeniable point of view” that “is ultimately destructive for the long-term growth” of the country. Indeed, Fox has a long history of actively promoting the Republican agenda and of opposing economic positions which economists say would stimulate growth.

Obama: Fox a “destructive” network that uses its platform “very intentionally to promote” its “point of view”

Obama: Fox “has a very clear, undeniable point of view” that “is ultimately destructive for the long-term growth” of the country. In an interview to appear in the October 15 edition of Rolling Stone, Obama stated his belief that Fox News is a “destructive” network that uses its platform to “very intentionally promote” its point of view, which is “ultimately destructive for the long-term growth” of the country:

The golden age of an objective press was a pretty narrow span of time in our history. Before that, you had folks like Hearst who used their newspapers very intentionally to promote their viewpoints. I think Fox is part of that tradition — it is part of the tradition that has a very clear, undeniable point of view. It’s a point of view that I disagree with. It’s a point of view that I think is ultimately destructive for the long-term growth of a country that has a vibrant middle class and is competitive in the world. But as an economic enterprise, it’s been wildly successful. And I suspect that if you ask Mr. Murdoch what his number-one concern is, it’s that Fox is very successful.

Obama is right: Fox has an extensive record of pushing GOP agenda, candidates

Five potential Republican presidential candidates are employed by — and speak almost exclusively through — Fox. As Media Matters documented, five potential Republican presidential candidates are employed by Fox News as contributors or hosts and have made at least 269 appearances on the cable channel — compared to a total of six appearances on all other major news channels combined. Fox also has a record of supporting ex-employees’ bids for elected office with free airtime, fundraising opportunities, and on-air adulation.  

Fox lavished coverage on the GOP’s legislative agenda. Following the House Republican Conference’s unveiling of its 2010 legislative agenda, “A Pledge to America,” Fox lavished attention on the pledge, devoting at least 2 hours and 33 minutes on September 22 and 23 to promoting, discussing, and reporting the agenda.

FoxPAC: Fox News’ corporate parent gave Republican Governors Association $1 million. News Corp., the parent company of Fox News, donated $1 million to the Republican Governors Association, causing journalism experts and news veterans to criticize the donation for “compromising the appearance of fairness.”

Fox News host and contributors also raise big bucks for the GOP. Meanwhile, Fox News hosts and contributors — including Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, Karl Rove, Dick Morris, and Sean Hannity — continue to raise money for Republican candidates and causes using political action committees and 527 and 501(c)4 organizations. Delaware’s Republican U.S. senatorial candidate, Christine O’Donnell, even thanked Palin and several other Fox-tied supporters for propelling her to a primary victory over Rep. Mike Castle.

Fox also supports candidates with fawning free coverage and serves as a launching pad for their campaigns. Republican candidates regularly appear on Fox for softball interviews to launch their campaigns and promote fundraising. Indeed, Nevada’s Republican U.S. senatorial candidate Sharron Angle recently bragged to supporters that her appearances on a “friendly press outlet” like Fox are very profitable for her.

Fox News aggressively promoted tea party protests. Fox News aggressively promoted the tea party protests which the channel described as primarily a response to Obama’s fiscal policies, going so far as to host several of the network’s shows on location at protests.

Fox has a history of adopting and promoting GOP talking points — without even stopping to edit them. Recently, following Republican Congressmen Kevin McCarthy’s and John Boehner’s repeated assertions that failing to vote on tax cuts will inject “uncertainty” into the economy on Fox News Sunday, Fox personalities ran with the talking point, spreading the claim throughout the network. Similarly, last year, Fox News host Jon Scott aired a segment purporting to “take a look back” at how the economic recovery plan “grew, and grew, and grew.” In doing so, Scott referenced seven dates, as on-screen graphics cited various news sources from those time periods — all of which came directly from a Senate Republican Communications Center press release. A Fox News on-screen graphic even reproduced a typo contained in the Republican press release. Fox did not attribute the data to the Senate Republican Communications Center at the time. The following day, Scott apologized — for running the typo.

Economists agree with Obama: proposals pushed by Fox bad for long-term growth

Fox has opposed every major effort to stimulate the economy — despite economists’ support. Since Obama took office, Fox personalities have opposed every major package proposed to stimulate the economy, despite support from a consensus of economists and economic analysts. Recent opposition has included Obama’s newly proposed infrastructure plan, the extension of unemployment insurance, aid to states, and food stamps, all of which have been shown to stimulate the economy.

Fox’s campaign to extend tax cuts for the wealthy would add debt, do little to stimulate growth. Over the past few months, Fox has launched a campaign aimed at extending the Bush tax cuts for the rich. However, economists and financial analysts agree that those cuts will cost $700 billion and would be much less effective at stimulating the economy than extending unemployment insurance, food stamps, and providing direct aid to states – all proposals which Fox personalities have repeatedly opposed.

Fox opposed the stimulus and since bill’s passage, have repeatedly falsely claimed that it failed. In covering the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, commonly referred to as the stimulus, Fox News consistently advanced false and misleading claims about the economic recovery package. Since the bill’s passage, Fox News figures have repeatedly advanced the false claim that the stimulus “failed,” despite the fact that independent and private analysts agree that the stimulus boosted GDP and increased employment.

Presented By:

TN Mosque Opponents Bring In National Sharia ‘Expert’ Frank Gaffney
The opponents of a proposed mosque near Murfreesboro, Tenn., have brought in prominent Sharia law fearmonger Frank Gaffney to help them stop the project in court.



Sharia – Frank Gaffney – Osama bin Laden – Sharia Law – Terrorism

AZ Sheriff’s Dept Reopens Case Of Deputy Allegedly Shot By Drug Smugglers
The Pinal County, Arizona Sheriff’s Office has announced that it is reopening the case of a sheriff’s deputy who was shot on April 30, after an article last week raised questions about the deputy’s story that he’d been involved in a shoot-out with drug smugglers — and just hours after telling TPM that the department stood by the original investigation.


Sheriff – Arizona – Pinal County Arizona – Illegal drug trade – United States

Mama Grizzly Versus the Pristine Christine?

Tea Party No Longer a Fringe Group
A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds 71% of Republicans “described themselves as tea-party supporters, saying they had a favorable image of the movement or hoped tea-party candidates would do well in the Nov. 2 elections.”

The survey also found that tea-party supporters “make up one-third of the voters most likely to cast ballots in November’s midterm elections.”

Crist’s Words Used Against Him
Florida Democrats released a devastating new ad that reminds voters of Gov. Charlie Crist’s (I) very partisan past. It shows him praising both former President George W. Bush and Sarah Palin and has him insisting, “I’m about as conservative as you can get,”

Rolling Stone Gets Obama to Open Up on Fox News, Tea Parties and the Threat of Election 2010
Obama runs the gamut in his RS interview, while telling progressives its inexcusable to be idle before the election.

Obama runs the gamut in his RS interview, while telling progressives its inexcusable to be idle before the election.

Why Having Political Hot Heads and Heated Debate Are a Good Thing
Have we overestimated the politics of cool?

Have we overestimated the politics of cool?

Face the truth about racial profiling

“I’ve seen a lot in my life but to be degraded? not just stripped of my clothes, being stripped of my dignity, was what I had a problem with.” Kurdish American Karwan Abdul Kader was stopped and stripped by local law enforcement for no reason other than driving around in the wrong […]

Alan Grayson: the Democrat Who Punches Back, Enraging GOP Hacks and Tea Party Billionaires
Alan Grayson is up against a Tea Party conservative. The billionaire Koch brothers, through their organization Americans for Prosperity, have dropped $250,000 in negative TV ads.

Alan Grayson is up against a Tea Party conservative. The billionaire Koch brothers, through their organization Americans for Prosperity, have dropped $250,000 in negative TV ads.

Corporate Mortgage Scams Threaten to Crash an Already Shaky Housing Market
A foreclosure pandemic riddled by corruption may stall America’s recovery.

A foreclosure pandemic riddled by corruption may stall America's recovery.

Triangulation Nation
Everybody should vote for all the Democrats this fall, every lyin’, weaselly, low-down, cowardly, corrupt, four-flushing double-dealing asshole. If that’s all you care about, you can leave now and reread the Clintons’ autobiographies. My interest is in restoring the meaning…


Democratic – United States – Politics – Barack Obama – White House

Supreme Court Democracy
The Times reports this morning on the way that one of the Karl Rove network of supposedly Non-Profit groups are gaming the election courtesy of the Roberts Supreme Court. Americans for Job Security, investigators found, had helped create the illusion…



Karl Rove – United States – Times – Politics – Supreme Court of the United States

Josh Marshall On Rahm’s “Unseemly” Departure
Here’s Josh from the front page. The word is that Rahm Emanuel is leaving the White House and his departure will likely happen this week. I know people have strong feelings on both sides about Rahm. But I must say…



Rahm Emanuel – White House – United States – chicagomayor – Pete Rouse