Gutless at CBS
The network’s decision to yank ‘The Reagans’ was just a craven—and short-sighted—bid to keep advertisers happy

Nov. 4 Hallelujah! The Gipper is safe and the hated liberal media humbled. It’s a big victory for the “Elephant Echo Chamber,” the unholy trinity of conservative talk radio, conservative Internet sites and the Republican National Committee. The decision by CBS late yesterday not to air “The Reagans” meant, Matt Drudge exulted, “a tremendous night” for his team.

BUT IF THIS IS, as Drudge says, “the beginning of a second media century, much more of a people-driven media” we should look a little harder at what that might entail. More gutless TV executives? Programming that caters to loud political partisans? Fictionalized treatment of historical figures that cannot be critical?
Look, I’m not defending “The Reagans.” I have neither read the script nor seen it. (No one outside CBS has). It may well be the hit job described in leaked reports or, at a minimum, another stupid docu-drama that distorts the historical truth. It’s a little tacky to be taking a lot of pot shots when the former president is ailing. More important, it is not “censorship” when people organize boycotts or public campaigns trying to keep something off the air. (Censorship, remember, is when the government controls what is published or broadcast). This was plain old free speech.

My problem isn’t with the whining critics, it’s with the CBS executives. In its press release, the network said the decision to cancel the docudrama, scheduled for Nov. 16 and 18 (and sell it to Showtime instead), was based “solely on our reaction to seeing the final film, not the controversy that erupted over the draft of a script.” If you believe that, you think “Survivor” is a nature program. You think CBS is still the Tiffany of networks.
Clearly what happened here is that CBS caved to its advertisers, who feared a boycott orchestrated not just by Matt Drudge and talk radio but by Ed Gillespie of the Republican National Committee, who got into the act last week. This was not only craven of CBS but short-sighted. Docudramas depend on jucy personal material. No one wants to watch one about the brilliant successes of the Strategic Defense Initiative.
CBS’ whopper was exceeded only by Drudge, who told Joe Scarborough on MSNBC that “if they went and did a Clinton story [that was critical] there would be just as much outrage.” Yo, Matt. Spare us. If the Fox network wants to air a docudrama about how terrible Bill and Hillary were (and it’s only a matter of time), do you really think it would be pulled because of pressure from advertisers? Do you think the next time some sleazy producer tries to make a quick buck with the 5,834th docudrama about the sins of the Kennedys that some liberal talk radio establishment will immediately materialize to smite it?
The coup de grace, Drudge reports, was when it was leaked that the Ronald Reagan character, played by James Brolin, referred to himself as “the anti-Christ.” We have no idea of the context of this comment, but it sure sounds like “Reagan” taking rueful note of his critics’ frenzied attacks upon him—-in other words, a pro-Reagan indication of how insane some of criticism of the period turned out to be. Instead, it was deployed as red meat for evangelicals to feast on.

The other scenes that apparently stuck in the craw of the Reagan hero-worshippers and GOP political operatives who saw a way to rally their base were those that depicted tensions within the Reagan family and Nancy Reagan’s controlling personality. Imagine! A docu-drama that actually reflects the headlines from the era! Anyone who was alive in the 1980s knows that the Reagan First Family was close to dysfunctional (as in, not speaking to each other for long periods) and that the First Lady plotted her husband’s schedule with the help of an astrologer and fired his chief of staff. That’s not spin; it’s fact. As Yogi Berra said, you can look it up.
So now we’re in a new media century. I shed no tears for “The Reagans,” which will not make me rush out and subscribe to Showtime. Unless you count “The Missiles of October,” there was no golden age of TV docu-dramas, which have always been the cheesiest meal on the media food chain. Primetime television is uncorruptible, because there has never been anything left to corrupt in the first place.
But I’m glad for the artistic and historical advice now booming through the elephant echo chamber. It’s good to know that network docu-dramas are, forthwith, supposed to be “true,” unless, of course, the truth is somehow “offensive” to the myth, then we’ll take the myth, as long as the myth corresponds to the reigning politics of the moment.
One thing’s for sure: When they make “The Bush Dynasty” docudrama, that “Mission Accomplished” banner won’t be visible in the scene on the aircraft carrier.

A Trip through the Ecosystem mid-section was revealing. 3000 down to 2800 with only 14 liberal blogs. 30 to 40 of this 200 were dead ends. Old dates, switched to MT from blogger, or just dead links. The Ecosystem has lots of deadwood if this section is any indication
2801.Waremouse (6) details
2832.ddjangoWIrE (6) details
2836.Leftist Propaganda (6) details
2845.Loaded Mouth (6) details
2847.The Decembrist (6) details
2859.The Parks Department (6) details
2890.PoLiTicAl - - D i A b L o G (5) details
2894.Charen Watch (5) details
2895.Seize the Fish (5) details
2896.Dubya Chronicles (5) details
2919.Short Hope Unfiltered (5) details
2927.6040hindsight (5) details
2935.Constant Struggle (5) details
2949.Capitol Blog (5) details

AS promised the Liberal Linker is gonna slowly work the way up the Ecosystem seeing what kewl voices lurk in the muck of micro-organisms. Here are 28 of the bottom 150 with at least a bit of a liberal bent.
One obeservation: What's with the 50% Canadian Blogs at this level
These contestants are no-longer no-link wonders
Welcome new Slimy Mollusks.

4942.Turn That Shit Up (0) details
4945.Hypgnosis (0) details
4947.Gore4Dean (0) details
4950.Clark Truth Squad (0) details
4953.American Politics (0) details
4954.Economics and Other Random Stuff (0)
4955.Empty Wheel (0) details
4956.Weather Head (0) details
4957.Jeff Davis (0) details
4963.reagank.com (0) details
4964.Braganza (0) details
4966.Herb Bowlman (0) details
4967.Coprolites (0) details
4968.Fates Worse Than Death (0) details
4970.Unnamed Democrat (0) details
4973.This is not my .com (0) details
4975.The Chestnut Tree Cafe (0) details
4994.Random Thoughts (0) details
5001.canadiansfordean (0) details
5030.April Follies (0) details
5036.It's Craptastic (0) details*
5038.The Daily Travesty (0) details
5039.John McCrory (0) details
5040.Windmills of My Mind (0) details
5041.1 Florida Democrat (0) details
5085.The Ivy Bush (0) details
5086.No Right Turn (0) details*
5092.The Expat (0) details
ROCK THE CONFEDERACY
Welcome to the Future
Start your tour of the League of Liberals here:
The Democratic Veteran asks Where have all the Cowboys Gone? and offers a lesson on the Fish Dyslexicon
Anglican Aftermath and Cowardly Cave are the crux of the avuncular entries on All Facts and Opinions
What rhymes with witch-slapped? and other "horrors" are among the Halloween holdovers at WTF is it Now?
Seek or See different strings on Diebold problems in Va.
Bush Sucks Bush hates Blue Skies read Sick of Bush it is a Principal of Least Effort.
Futurballa voted for Whale Power
Speedkill supports the League of Liberals by vote and voice
Limbaughtomy revisited Escape and Diebold sued see Rush Limbaughtomy
Please welcome Blogs Canada: Officially Unofficial to the League of Liberals
Officially Unofficial has voted and is officially a member. Blogs Canada posts on everything from Farting Fish to Canadian Prescription Drugs and is among the TOP BLOGS of Canada. Welcome Blogs Canada: Officially Unofficial to the League of Liberals and update those blogrolls.
You gotta read this * *** from Happy Furry Puppy Story Time

DIEBOLD Sued Over Threats

Free speech advocates sued a manufacturer of electronic voting machines Tuesday, demanding it stop sending legal threats to groups that publish company documents leaked by a hacker. Voting activists who have received the cease-and-desist orders, including students from at least 20 universities, claim the documents raise serious security concerns about Diebold Inc., which has more than 50,000 touchscreen voting terminals nationwide.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation and Stanford University's Cyberlaw Clinic filed for a temporary restraining order in federal court. Diebold executives could not be reached for comment Tuesday. But spokesman Mike Jacobsen said in late October that the internal documents aren't necessarily authentic.

A hacker broke into Diebold's servers in March using an employee's ID, and copied thousands of company announcements and internal e-mails. Jacobsen said the documents might have been altered afterward. The hacker e-mailed the data to voting activists, some of whom published stories on their Web logs. A freelance journalist at Wired News also received data and wrote about it in an online story.

In one series of e-mails, a senior engineer dismisses concern from a lower-level programmer who questions why the company lacked certification for a customized operating system used in touch-screen voting machines. On Monday, a California advisory panel refused to certify new Diebold voting machines, saying it plans to investigate uncertified software and hardware that may have been used in a recent election.

Choices present themselves for the League of Liberals
Here are a few for now.
A Legal Victory for Clarefied and Death by Invitation
Cosmic Iguana's Deadly Garage Sale
Gotham City 13 cites That ol Bush Admin and joins the League
Is the Philosophical Scrivner a Geek?
or a virgin?
What to do with the NASCAR DADS? asks Maha and Censoring for the Gipper
Linda Tripp on MTV that's an 18 Minute Gap that should get your attention
Rick has new diners at his Cafe Americain are you on the A list?
Relax go surf and see on the healing waters of the Indigo Ocean
Take the Oxy out of Oxymoron
Take the poll at SKBubba and remember Rabin the recipie at the Poison Kitchen
Welcome to the Future with a Cup O Joe
Return of Poison Rush has Churchill spinning in his grave _ the untold costs of war

The Reagan Truth - WTF is it NOW?
The NRO is Pathetic - Dohiyi Mir
blunted on reality - The End of the World
Windfall - Hell for Halliburton
Disconnect? - Happy Furry Puppy Story Time
Crappy Porn? - Shock and Awe
All Fact's and Opinions on Left Wing Media?
Mad Kane has the Spinning Song and
Pen-Elayne is Spinnin
different strings - Bush is a NITHING
Futurballa has a new gallery
Meet the NeoCons on Cup O' Joe
Indigo is NaNo
SpeedKill from Bozeman has his own Roundup
A Byrd in the hand is worth 200 Bushes - Sick of Bush
Arms and the Man - Sabotage
Election Day - at Rick's Cafe
Chomsky Soundbites And Then
Art Spies? - the Estimated Prophet
Rebel War - A Changin' Times

Around the web with the League of Liberals
Natalie Davis at ALL FACT'S AND OPINIONS covers Justice for HMO Members.
Oppose the parade of Right Wing Judges join ARMACT Alerts
Is Halliburton protected at the expense of injured workers? - see Arms and the Man
Do we only protect the white troops? asks Blunted on Reality
Clarified asks "What does a Lawyer look like?"
Iraq price tag to hit $200 Billion? - The Cosmic Iguana
Cup O' Joe says they want us LINED UP AND SHOT
Democratic Veteran covers yet more Republican whining.
Different Strings finds Wolfowitz Over the Line
Dohiyi Mir has a Quote from Cheney we all should read and take to heart.
Futurballa has his own take on Ecosystem fluctuations.
The Happy Furry Puppy runs down the Conservative Columnists.
Hell for Halliburton takes on the Mutual Fund Inside Traders
Indigo Ocean strings it all together
Mad Kane has the Spinning Song and The Felonious Elephants finds Lincoln spinning in his grave
That hissing sound is Dennis 'the menace' Miller's ego inflating on TPRS
Pen-Elayne covers the Strange Case of Stephen Kaye
The Philosophical Schrivner is all over the E-mail dilemma
163 Million Dollars for LASSER of Prudential and he could not resist stealing a million on top of that?
Should we baptise Patriots - see Shock and Awe
Sick of Bush on the STALKER T-Rex on the Party of Hatemongers The Mahablog on Bush's Down Day The Poison Kitchen offers and invitation to Canada
The difference between CEO's and CIA agents? check here: The Spy Game
Nobody should have to go a day without WTF is it NOW!?
Read Rush Limgbaughtomy for the latest on the growing Mutual Fund Scandal

The Anti-Coulter - Michael Moore is SRO on his book tour.

Michael Moore Speaks to Overflow Crowd

He is outside, addressing those members of the audience who are unable to enter the packed auditorium.
"I can only hope that my book will make a small contribution toward that day when we'll see one long perp walk of administration officials in handcuffs being led out of the White House and into a waiting paddy wagon. Like I said, I'm not asking for much. 'Dude, Where's My Country?' is also my humble attempt to violate the Patriot Act on every single page of the book."

Asked about the mood on college campuses and now it compares to the '60s era of radicalism, where Moore came of age, he replies, "There is no difference. I think it's a baby boomer myth that colleges are necessarily bastions of progressive thinking. Back then, just like now, there was a small group of people who were working towards change, and they got all the attention."

"Maybe it's a sick fantasy of mine, but I am really looking forward to a debate between a general and a deserter. (President Bush served in a reserve national guard unit during the Vietnam War, and his attendance has been called in to question more than once.) Plus, I really want to hear President Bush have to say, "Yes, General, No, General," he laughs. Moore explains, "I just think it's pretty unique that we have a United States general who is pro-choice, supports the environment, and is against what we are doing in Iraq."

"I think what was so significant about the recall elections was that for the first time ever, the Republicans had to move to the left in order to get elected! Republicans don't want another Democrat acting like a Republican, they have their own wack jobs for that. "Actually, Californians don't want a conservative Republican leading their country, which is why they elected someone like Gray Davis. Even he is better than an extreme right-wing Republican!

The American political populace has shifted to the left. "The fact is that most Americans are pro-choice, they want the environment protected, they want health care," he explains. "They just don't want the government taking their money."

He bristles visibly when a campus reporter asks him about a story in the Wall Street Journal which criticized his research and fact checking. "That is not a critic that is the Wall Street Journal and someone who writes for a conservative think tank, who is writing for a right wing newspaper, on their editorial page." "I have a team of fact checkers who work for me and do research. When they are done, another team of fact-checkers checks their work. I have probably spent about $60,000 through my last four books on research alone. And do you know how many lawsuits have been initiated against me for libel or slander? Zero." "You should understand the difference between a critic and someone who just disagrees with me," he continues. "A critic can offer his take on something I've said and offer his own response. But most of them don't want to argue the facts, they would rather spread slander and libel."

Americans are easily duped by the media, who are guilty of imposing an "enforced ignorance" on a "population that is so easily manipulated by lies and fear." "Lies and fear," says Moore, "And here is a good example: 'There is no terrorist threat.'" The audience roars. "There may be someone out there planning something, but we are not living under the current threat of a terrorist act taking place in Los Angeles tonight."

In fact, Moore saves much if his lighthearted venom for recently admitted drug addict/political commentator Rush Limbaugh. "Here is a guy who has spent the last ten years just spewing hate, and much of that hate has been directed at drug addicts." He gets wound up again. "There are two million people in jail in America, and 1 million are in there for drugs, and I say let them out!" The auditorium shakes. "I can't find one iota of sympathy for Rush Limbaugh... One (illegal use) of OxyContin is a felony. And 100 is 100 felonies!" The friendly audience roars with laughter and approval. Limbaugh is a miserable failure.

Moore makes the natural connection from Limbaugh to the power of the American media and the conservative stronghold on talk radio and television. "Here's what I don't understand. They have every talk radio station, they have two major cable networks. What are the Republicans so mad about? They own EVERYTHING!"

Please welcome differentstrings to the League of Liberals. and update your blogrolls naturally!

Futurballa has joined the League of Liberals

Cup O' Joe
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ink from the squid: investing in the future


MORE GREATEST HITS AROUND THE WEB
SouthKnoxBubba has a rant worth reading

Shock and Awe is in the League of Liberals

WTF is it Now? is in the League of Liberals

Maybe you should read the Democratic Veteran

The Poison Kitchen is in the League of Liberals - maybe you should check it out and join too.

T-Rex
Does
Please welcome Major Barbara of Arms and the Man to the League of Liberals
Please welcome and continue to be Sick of Bush

Please welcome The Felonious Elephant to the growing League of Liberals. An Elephant never forgets to blogroll

Please welcome member number 30 Speedkill and remember those blogrolls.


The BRIDAL PARTY


It was a PERFECT Wedding Day - as the Backdrop and the Setting show

Read Rush Limgbaughtomy for the latest on the growing Mutual Fund Scandal

.
THE LEAGUE OF LIBERALS BANNER IS DISPLAYED

The League of Liberals comes roaring out of the gate in their first official week in the contest to deliver a staggering 100% (yes, 100%) participation rate among their 27 members. Full results are:

League of Liberals: 27 of 27 = 100.0 % participation
Blogger Alliance: 40 of 89 = 44.9 % participation
Axis of Naughty: 6 of 24 = 25.0 % participation

"I am therefore declaring the League the winners for this week effective immediately, and their logo now hangs in the place of honor atop the Showcase. Congratulations to the League for their victory!" NZ BEAR

CONGRATULATIONS FELLOW LIBERAL LEAGUERS

New Blog Showcase Winner Patrick Taylor and the Poison Kitchen become the first Canadian Charter Members of The League of Liberals Please welcome The Poison Kitchen and update those blogrolls for Patrick who blogs from beautiful Halifax, Nova Scotia.

INDIGO OCEAN is a former New blog showcase winner we have heard from on the League of Liberals comments. Read Mindfullness V. Concentration and Leave No Corporation Behind on her beautiful blog with exquisite photos from Hawaii. We encourage Indigo Ocean to join our League of Liberals

This prodigious pachyderm ponders the crimes of Republican Politicians
Please welcome The Felonious Elephant to the growing League of Liberals.
An Elephant never forgets to blogroll

Smart Solid and Stimulating SPEEDKILL slips into the League of Liberals.
Please welcome member number 30 Speedkill and remember those blogrolls.

Natalie Davis at All Facts and Opinions has an excellent Sunday Sermon on Steps to Recovery from Bible Abuse
Is Kynn at Shock and Awe a "Spongite" (if you know what that is) or are the folks at The Boar's Head hypocrites? Make up your own mind

Democratic Veteran has the good news from Illinois. The slide continues and gathers momentum

Follow Eric Idle on his Greedy Bastard Tour with Pen-Elayne on the Web

Susan Madrak over at Suburban Guerrilla has something in common with Cher. Is it the wardrobe?

Earl Dunovant says Black Conservatives make his head hurt. Check it out at Prometheus 6

Maru at WTF is it NOW has the scoop on Faux News threat to sue The Simpsons for a parody news crawl: POINTLESS NEWS CRAWLS UP 37 PERCENT ... DO DEMOCRATS CAUSE CANCER? FIND OUT AT FOXNEWS.COM ... RUPERT MURDOCH: TERRIFIC DANCER ... DOW DOWN 5000 POINTS ... STUDY: 92 PERCENT OF DEMOCRATS ARE GAY ... JFK POSTHUMOUSLY JOINS REPUBLICAN PARTY ... OIL SLICKS FOUND TO KEEP SEALS YOUNG, SUPPLE ... DAN QUALYE: AWESOME ... ASHCROFT DECLARES BREAST OF CHICKEN SANDWICH "OBSCENE" ... HILLARY CLINTON EMBARRASSES SELF, NATION ... BIBLE SAYS JESUS FAVORED CAPITAL-GAINS CUT ... STAY TUNED FOR HANNITY AND IDIOT ... ONLY DORKS WATCH CNN ... JIMMY CARTER: OLD, WRINKLY, USELESS ... BRAD PITT + ALBERT EINSTEIN = DICK CHENEY ...
"Fox News has told the Simpsons creators that it might confuse the viewers." NO KIDDING It looks like a FAUX NEWS FEED to me.
My good friend Jack of The Peoples Republic of Seabrook posted this picture withcomments about extremists on the Left who are doing damage to Liberals by these anti-American flag burinings

Kevin Hayden at Reach Em High Cowboy Noose Network has an excellent post on Censoring the Dead about the ban on pictures of returning coffins from IRAQ.

Barbara at The Mahablog remembers the Berlin Airlift and touches on these same Anti-war movement demonstrations and A.N.S.I.R.
What's Wrong with America - try this from Musings of a Philosophical Scrivner

N. Todd at Dohiyi Mir solves the crime - Mr. Green did it in New Hampshire with the Ballot Box

The Manis2society or Cosmic Iguana sees Turkey on a sawed off limb
The Valerie Plame coverup seems to be holding - just another day in The Spy Game

Annthrax Coulter Wet Doll
Wets her pants when she hears Sean Hannity,
Rush Limbaugh, and Michael Savage

Accepting Pre-Orders Now! Orders will ship first week of November, 2003.

Listen To Her speak! Below are only a few of the 14 different phrases that the Ann Coulter Action figure says when you press her buttons. Sample Phrases:

1)"In the past twenty years, one-hundred percent of terrorist attacks against this country have been by Muslim extremists"
2)"There is a one-hundred percent chance that the next terrorist attack will be made by a Muslim extremist, it's no longer a profile, it's a description of the suspect."
3)"Timothy McVeigh, The Unibomber, and Eric Rudolph were muslim extremists"
4)"We should invade Muslim countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity"
5)"Joseph McCarthy was the greatest Senator in US History"
6)"Anybody who doesn't agree with me is a traitor"
7)"Paula Jones is poor white trailor trash"
8)"Whether they are defending the Soviet Union or bleating for Saddam Hussein, liberals are always against America. They are either traitors or idiots."
9)"Liberals demand that the nation treat enemies like friends and friends like enemies."
10)“..no one is allowed to call liberals unpatriotic. Liberals relentlessly attack their own country, but we can’t call them traitors, which they manifestly are..�
11) "My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times Building."
12)"The good part of being a Democrat is that you can commit crimes, sell out your base, bomb foreigners, and rape women, and the Democratic faithful will still think you're the greatest."

Visit The People's Republic of Seabrook for the Rummy version
blunted on reality has a great Ann Coulter Doll Post too.

Annthrax or Adam - you be the judge



Skippy the Bush Kangaroo has two pieces of lowered pie from the "prosperity is just around the far distant almost visible corner squatters" at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Kynn at Shock and Awe has posted an awesome and colorful tribute to The League of Liberals.
Thank you Kynn for you link to our entry in the Ecosystem new blog showcase
Everybody should check it out.
visit Rush Limbaughtomy for a breaking story on Halliburton and Cheney

Contact The League of Liberals through the comment section for information if you want to join The League of Liberals - A Fearless Force for Truth and Justice in Cyberspace.

The game is afoot and the League of Liberals has been challenged to do battle against the larger Blogger Alliance (83 members) and Axis of Naughty (24 members). If you have friends who blog and who will vote ask them to join. We need to strengthen our numbers.

Liberal League Launches
Current vote, links, and visits information

Hell for Halliburton: entry Halliburton Again - and again - and again has been entered in the TTLB New Web Log Showcase.

We need to get as close to 100% participation from The League of Liberals as possible to become the reigning sponsors of the New Weblog Showcase next week. Be sure to use the URL Link as indicated above somewhere on your blog this week.
Multiple links appear to count.

This link TTLB Hell for Halliburton votes will display the current votes from our membership.

Welcome Sam from Blunted on Reality and Kynn from Shock and Awe to The League of Liberals
Welcome Natalie Davis of All Facts and Opinions To the League of Liberals.
Please Welcome the Dememted Delirious Drivel of Dubya's Daily Diary and Please Welcome the Magnificent Marvelous Magical Madeleine Begun Kane and Please Welcome the Penetrating Pensive and Perceptive Pen-Elayne to the League of Liberals!!!

Check the Democratic Veteran for Rush'N Odds and register your take in the comments.
Things to do around the web.
1) The Marvelous Mad Kane has Fox News declaring the 2004 Election results very early and her regrets at being left off the NRA Blacklist 2) Read Mark A. R. Kleiman on the Ministry of Truth 3) SouthKnoxBubba has an interesting debate on violent computer games 4) The Daily Howler is as always a must read for me and this one is among the best.

THE LATEST STUPID QUOTE FROM ANN COULTER


From an appearence in Johns Hopkins University Oct. 9 in an attempt to defend racial profiling:

"In the past twenty years, one-hundred percent of terrorist attacks against this country have been by Muslim extremists, Naturally, the democrats won't let us look for Muslim extremists. When there is a one-hundred percent chance that the next terrorist attack will be made by a Muslim extremist, it's no longer a profile, it's a description of the suspect."

Timothy McVeigh, The Unabomber, Eric Rudolph - Muslim extremists Ann? You are a stupid racists moron aren't you Ann.

The "Third Kind" wants to establish a self-regulating classless society on planet earth. I have had radio encounters with two Republican members of the "Third Kind," Ann Coulter (author of the best seller Slander) and David Horowitz (author of Empire and Revolution and How to Beat the Democrats and Other Subversive Ideas).

People such as Coulter and Horowitz do not want to talk about the very real existence of the "Third Kind" nor do they want you to know what is really taking place in this Republic and the world.

The "Third Kind" is actually the Radical Capitalist Class (RCC). The
Radical Capitalist Class is a group of people that are trying desperately to spread a very specific American/British Capitalism based on Fabian Socialism to encompass the globe.

Are Republicans Becoming the “Hypocrisy Party”
Exclusive commentary by Daniel Borchers Oct 16, 2003

Some conservatives have shed scruples and jettisoned principles to rush to Limbaugh’s defense. The wagons circling around one of our own only serve as targets for legitimate charges of hypocrisy and double-standards. Conservative credibility – already damaged by conservative support for liberal Arnold Schwarzenegger – can only further erode in the unscrupulous defense of admittedly illegal behavior by their premiere talk radio guru (“a great spokesman for conservatives” – Cal Thomas).

Moral and Legal Irrelevancies?

Author and columnist Steve Chapman is one of the few conservative voices critical of Arnold’s Republican candidacy, one of the few to hold conservatives accountable for unprincipled positions:
“At best, the evidence indicates that Schwarzenegger has a habit of sexual battery. This goes beyond the behavior that unleashed a scandal on Bill Clinton. So consider their double standard. When Clinton did with Monica, conservatives thought it was morally repugnant. They also thought it disqualified him from remaining in office. Yet they’re happy to have as governor of California someone who, by his own admission, has forced himself on unwilling women. Their new darling is a more aggressive sexual predator than the president they tried to remove from office. Morality? Law? They’ll leave it to liberals to fret about such irrelevancies. But if the charges persist and multiply, I predict conservatives will find a way to address Arnold’s behavior: They’ll blame it on Clinton.” – Steve Chapman, “Double Standards,” 10/9/03
Now this latest Limbaugh scandal – not connected with a faux Republican like Arnold but involving a genuine conservative and cultural icon – has conservatives scrambling for excuses, spinning the truth.

Before continuing, let’s talk turkey – cold turkey. Rush Limbaugh is addicted to narcotics and allegedly illegally obtained those narcotics for many years. Conservative radio talk show host Ken Hamblin and liberal television host Geraldo Rivera find agreement on this issue: Limbaugh is a “junkie.”

Some liberals do delight in Limbaugh’s moral failings while some conservatives refuse to even acknowledge the immorality of Limbaugh’s misconduct. Conservative skepticism of liberal criticism is natural, but in a very real sense it does not matter what the critics’ motives are – truth is truth. Rush Limbaugh has admitted long-term prescription drug abuse. Of greater concern than those who use morality for partisan convenience are those who “know better” but only pay lip service to their purported principles. When it matters, where do you stand?

Parsing Principle and the Law

Conservatives rightly ridiculed Bill Clinton’s infamous parsing of the English language, with his assertions that he “never inhaled” or that it depends on the meaning of “is.” Now conservatives emulate that Clintonian paradigm, shamelessly, without even paying homage to their own principles.

With Rush Limbaugh’s admission of prescription drug abuse, some conservatives unabashedly defend him. Rationalizations ran rampant tonight on MSNBC’s Scarborough Country (10/10/03), that discussion being emblematic of the debate within the larger conservative community. Guests included Court TV co-anchor Lisa Bloom, conservative author Ann Coulter, and conservative talk radio host Neal Boortz.


Those rationalizations for absolving Limbaugh of guilt included:
Rush Limbaugh is a brilliant commentator. “I listen to Rush Limbaugh not because, hey, it’s time for my daily dose of morality. I listen to Rush Limbaugh because of his brilliance and his, what I believe to be, just cutting-edge, insightful commentary on what’s going on in politics today.” (Boortz)


Rush Limbaugh is the beloved father of talk radio. “Look at what Rush Limbaugh has accomplished. We just take talk radio for granted now. … Rush Limbaugh pioneered something that was entirely new.” (Coulter)


Rush Limbaugh is a conservative. “I want to talk a little bit about Rush Limbaugh as an institution. … When I first got this job on MSNBC [when asked] what’s the epicenter of the American conservative movement? I said Rush Limbaugh … he’s the bedrock of American conservatism right now.” (Scarborough)


Rush Limbaugh was experiencing back pain. “acting like this guy was shooting up heroin or even, you know, smoking pot, smoking crack, drinking vodka for kicks, I mean, he had back pain the pain medication he was taking is incredibly addictive. … The pain medication he was taking is incredibly addictive. They spent $100 million a year fighting off addiction charges.” (Coulter)


Rush Limbaugh’s remarks about jailing drug offenders is ancient history. “Lisa Bloom, just to put it in proper perspective, what year did Rush Limbaugh make that comment? … When Rush Limbaugh made that statement, it was back in 1995, near the end of the crack epidemic that was ravaging American neighborhood.” (Scarborough)


No one is perfect like Jesus. “Conservatives aren’t claiming to be Jesus Christ. We do have flaws. … unless you are Jesus Christ and you have no flaws, then you can support punishing drug addicts while simultaneously having a flaw of being a drug addict.” (Coulter)


It was just prescription drugs. “There’s a big difference between prescription drug abuse like this and an addiction to heroin.” (Boortz)


Rush Limbaugh should be praised for doing so well while on drugs. “If this is what he’s like on painkillers, imagine when he’s off them. … Like I say, it is amazing that he can be as entertaining, as funny as he is, and all of this while addicted to painkillers. Whoa. Set him loose once he’s gone through detox.” (Coulter)
The host of Country, Joe Scarborough, soft-pedaled the narcotics abuse by repeatedly saying that he’s “addicted to prescription drugs.” Neal Boortz even attacked and maligned Lisa Bloom, claiming she delighted in Rush’s addiction (check the tape – no delight is evident) merely because she addressed the reality of drug laws and their applicability to Limbaugh.

Ann Coulter, notorious for her condemnation of liberal compassion and liberal support for rehabilitation programs, was indignant and apoplectic that anyone could see anything wrong with Rush’s behavior. Strikingly, Coulter has a history of stentorian opposition to the legalization of marijuana and its use for medicinal (pain-killing) purposes.

Coulter’s final, strongest defense of Limbaugh was “Look, if my mother committed murder, I wouldn’t want her to go to jail. … I don’t want murder laws applied to my friends.” By Coulter’s logic and using her criteria no one would ever go to jail for anything! (A novel budget balancing concept.)

Conservatism Abandoned by “Conservatives” What a spectacle!

Rule of law, law-and-order, tough-on-drugs conservatives now plead for leniency – no, for pardon – for one of their own. They want to absolve Rush Limbaugh of any responsibility for behavior he himself assumes full responsibility for. The criteria is now identity, not behavior.

In defending Limbaugh – for purely partisan purposes (they even admit their partisanship) – they besmirch and belie the nobility, dignity and courage which their putative hero, Rush Limbaugh, exhibits.These “conservatives” are no friends of Conservatism.

Lucas Doolin's Deer Camp has been added to the blogroll. Welcome Lucas
Matthew Langer at Untelevised a long time addition to the RL blogroll has an interesting concept about improving blog traffic and impact.

JOIN THE LEAGUE OF LIBERALS - the alliance of liberal bloggers
If you have a progressive liberal blog apply to join the League of Liberals
e-mail aurabass at hotmail dot com or leave a link and e-mail address in the comment section
Visit the League of Liberals for details.

The purpose of this blog is to form an alliance of Liberal Bloggers to counter the impact of the Blogger Alliance and the Axis of Naughty e-mail aurabass at hotmail dot com for application if you are a progressive liberal blogger.

Charter Members of the League of Liberals

Democratic Veteran

Rush Limbaughtomy

The Mahablog

The People's Republic of Seabrook

Hell on Halliburton

The Spy Game

Cosmic Iguana

T. Rex's Guide to Life

WTF is it NOW?

Treason Online

Musings of a Philosophical Scrivener

Savage Cruel Bigots

Dohiyi Mir

blunted on reality

Hell for Halliburton has the undisclosed location of Richard Cheney

You gotta love Ugga Buggas deconstruction of Annthrax on Limbaugh complete with pie charts
see the sample below shamelessly appropriated from Ugga Bugga - then go there for the whole thing.

Visit The Spy Game and vote in the TTLB New Weblog Showcase

The Thousand Yard Glare comments on the rise of the Citizen Blogger and mentions Open Source Politics

The Gunther Concept has the e-mail detail in bold audacity from Texas redistricting.

The NRO has fired the first shot in the 9/11 blame game and Tapped fires back citing Franken's Operation Ignore.

The Talking Dog takes a bite out of the People's Republic of China despite their manned space flight. Why doesn't the dog blogroll Rush Limbaughtomy Seb?

Suicides now account for 10% of the non-combatant deaths in IRAQ - via talk left

The Spoons Experience has come up with a defender of Rush Limbaugh. With supporters like Jimmie 'Dyn-O-Mite' Walker of Good Times who needs detractors. Of couse Rush will not be impressed since Jimmie is a member of the 12% minority "so who cares" said Rush.

Yikes - here is a grim view of Americans from Surfing the Tsunami
Double Yikes or Yikes Yikes - Get on the list to receive Rapture notification e-mails so you will know when your disappeared friends have been raptured into heaven. Just one question? Would it not be heaven on earth if everyone who believe in the rapture (Robertson, Falwell, Bakker, Swaggert, Reed & the pseudo-Christian coalition) suddenly disappeared? from the Stout Dem Blog.
Spilled Ink and more bad news on Diebold here.
A Speedkill of Bill O'Reilly is available here

Brainless Blond Bimbo Blasts Big Limbo Mumbo Jumbo Detractors
Annthrax predictably blames Clinton and Ted Kennedy for double standard.

After years of the mainstream media assuring us that Rush was a has-been, a nobody, yesterday's news -- the Rush painkiller story was front-page news last week. The airwaves and print media were on red alert with Rush's admission that, after an unsuccessful spinal operation a few years ago, he became addicted to powerful prescription painkillers.

The nasty gash starts with a lie "mainstream media assuring us that Rush was a has-been, a nobody, yesterday's news " revealed by the fact that Limbo was on ESPN and had a 285million dollar radio contract, and the fascist slut dissembles from there into a nearly incoherent rant about Kennedy and Clinton including the lame excuse that Mumbo Jumbo required drug for his golfing pain. Recommended reading after 10 Oxycontins and a bottle of grain alcohol.

Ann Coulter, notorious for her condemnation of liberal compassion and liberal support for rehabilitation programs, was indignant and apoplectic that anyone could see anything wrong with Rush’s behavior. Strikingly, Coulter has a history of stentorian opposition to the legalization of marijuana and its use for medicinal (pain-killing) purposes.

Coulter’s final, strongest defense of Limbaugh was “Look, if my mother committed murder, I wouldn’t want her to go to jail. … I don’t want murder laws applied to my friends.” By Coulter’s logic and using her criteria no one would ever go to jail for anything! (A novel budget balancing concept.)

Conservatism Abandoned by “Conservatives” What a spectacle!

Rule of law, law-and-order, tough-on-drugs conservatives now plead for leniency – no, for pardon – for one of their own. They want to absolve Rush Limbaugh of any responsibility for behavior he himself assumes full responsibility for. The criteria is now identity, not behavior.

In defending Limbaugh – for purely partisan purposes (they even admit their partisanship) – they besmirch and belie the nobility, dignity and courage which their putative hero, Rush Limbaugh, exhibits.

These “conservatives” are no friends of Conservatism.

In a recent interview with Al Franken conducted by Edward Nawotka for Publisher's Weekly, after suggesting that some readers might want Franken to run for president, the interviewer proceeded to ask Franken hardball questions such as:

— "It's got to be a little grating to see your book on the same New York Times best-seller list as the Ann Coulter book."

— "You fact-checked Ann Coulter's book and found a lot of inconsistencies, outright lies and quotes that are taken out of context. Who is responsible for those kinds of errors, the author or the editors?"

— "How should booksellers deal with this?"

In a later interview with me, the same interviewer asked me questions like these:

— "(W)ho is ultimately responsible for the errors (in your book), you, the publisher, or both?"

— "What gives — was this an honest mistake or malfeasance as he suggests?"

— "Why all the name calling?"

Apparently it never occurred to Publisher's Weekly that Franken's allegations of errors in my book — or "outright lies," as the interviewer put it — were false. ANNTHRAX goes on with a laughable explanation. Read it here if you have the patience for it

Around the web on the Recall:
The Cheeseweasle adds err subtracts err crunches the numbers for Ahnuld, and leads us to George Wills Conservative Travesty
The Cosmic Iguana hits on potential Gropenator lawsuit number one - this one from the UK and Thars gold in them thar wars.
Emphasis Added covers winner take all aspects of the Recall
From the Swamp has Greg's take on the Recall
The Gutless Pacifist gives us Conan the Governor and Comics for Swartzengroper
The Liberal Oasis has Four Lessons from the Recall but they do not mention the one(s) just below.
Mark A. R. Kleiman has a short take on the Recall results
Plucky Punk's Happy Land thinks Californians my be fleeing to Santa Fe to escape the Terminator
Meanwhile Nurse Ratched's Happy Valley Asylum Notebook has patients from California lining up for immigration status to Canada

Kenneth Quinnell of T Rex has Right Wing Zombies classified (Like the Rush Limbaughmicus) at Open Source Politics
The Blowtorch Monkey Armada's Palmer Hass has his first post up at Open Source Politics
Guy Andrew Hall of Rook's Rant also has a post up at OSP.

Stephen at To the Barr icades turns 50: I am fashionably late in wishing him a happy 'it's not ALL downhill from here' day. We welcome Chris Grubner of American Dissent to OSP and agree that Republicans are out of their Gorditas
Natalie Davis at All Facts and Opinions is right _ we should be outraged until they Free Tommy Chong
I wonder if the Limbo Mumbo Jumbo druggie has looked into getting one of these yet _ read about the whizzinator at The People's Republic of Seabrook
Nurse Ratched over at the Happy Valley Asylum is gonna wash the foul mouthed administrations mouth out with soap. Meanwhile The Mad Prophet Blog's C. Bryan Lavinge explains his long absence. Does Ahnuld need practice? asks the Modulator Will computer woes stifle The Funny Farm? stay tuned for clues.
Speedkill has moved to a very nice new address. Update and blogroll progressive bloggers. The Cosmic Iguana of manis2society has another CIA outing for us to consider: Think Valerie Plame times two.

The father of slain CIA officer Johnny "Mike" Spann said Thursday he believes an independent counsel should investigate allegations that someone in the Bush administration exposed a CIA officer's identity -- an act he called treasonous.

Spann, the first American killed in Afghanistan, died in a prison uprising. His father, also named Johnny Spann, said he is still angry because he feels his son's identity and hometown were disclosed before his son's family could be adequately protected. see the links at the Cosmic Iguana
The top 10 things on Rush Limbaugh's to do list are up at Rush Limbaughtomy