Predictable: Bristol Vs. Keith

In which Sarah Palin's drunk stalker - John Zeigler - has Bristol Palin on his show to take predictable and sophomoric jabs at Keith Olbermann after Bristol made the top of his WPITW segment.



Bristol's response began within the warm confines of conservative talk radio.



But Bristol's ghostwriter - the same one who does Mama Palin's posts perhaps? - took to Facebook to try and turn hypocrisy into conservative gold:

Accusing me of hypocrisy is by now, an old canard. What Mr. Olbermann lacks in originality he makes up for with insincere incredulity. Mr. Olbermann fails to understand that in order to have credibility as a spokesperson, it sometimes takes a person who has made mistakes. Parents warn their children about the mistakes they made so they are not repeated. Former gang members travel to schools to educate teenagers about the risks of gang life. Recovered addicts lecture to others about the risks of alcohol and drug abuse. And yes, a teen mother talks about the benefits of preventing teen pregnancy.

I have never claimed to be perfect. If that makes me the "worst person in the world" to Mr. Olbermann, then I must apologize for not being absolutely faultless like he undoubtedly must be.

To Mr. Olbermann let me say this: you can attack me all you want. But you will not stop me from getting my message out about teen pregnancy prevention. And one day, if you ever have a daughter, you may change your mind about me.

I seriously doubt that Bristol would use the word "canard" in her everyday conversational walk, but that's another point for another day.

While Zeigler and his co-host attempt to deflect from Bristol's very real and unblushing hypocrisy by claiming that Olbermann is the real hypocrite because of his private donations prior to the 2010 Midterm elections, they ultimately relied on the "people do this all the time" meme.

Here's where they are, and continue to be, on the wrong side of the issue.

Every time I see some half-cooked PSA about how you shouldn't do "insert problematic issue of the moment" from someone who has been partaking in that "issue" for years, it is nothing more than a "so as I say, not as I do" set of talking points. Personally, I think that last thing that Bristol should be doing is talking about how you shouldn't have sex before marriage - just as I still think that last thing that "recovering alcoholics" - like Glenn Beck for example - should do is talk about how no one should drink. This is hypocrisy in it's purest form. Period.

But Bristol and her ever drooling fans are going to lap up everything she says and does. And to think that people like her and her mother are actually shaping corners of American culture in their image is truly a frightening thing indeed.

Exit observation: I don't really agree with Olbermann's use of the "Bush kept us safe from 9/11" comparison, as it really doesn't do anything but provide ammunition for people like Zeigler, Palin and her ghostwriting staff, and conservatives that like to think they are just like her. Was Keith using it in an absurdist way? One can only assume, but that still doesn't make it any more palatable.

Parallels Between Radical Muslims And Teabaggers

It seems that neither are capable of understanding or accepting satire.

This piece of animation seems to have stirred up some serious outrage amongst members of the tea-bagger movement:



NPR's "Political Junkie" Ken Rudin shed some light on how this was amped-up by a man who is no stranger to having his stories linked with death-threats: Bill O'Reilly.

Bill O'Reilly, host of the fair and balanced O'Reilly Factor on Fox News, was, as he often is, exercised by something to do with NPR. In this particular case -- which aired yesterday -- he was displeased with a cartoon on the NPR Web site by independent syndicated columnist Mark Fiore entitled "Learn to Speak Tea Bag." (Fiore's cartoons have appeared on our Web site in the past.) I hadn't previously seen the Tea Bag cartoon, or any of his stuff, but I've watched it now. (For the record, it appeared back in November.) In my view, this particular cartoon was not especially funny, clever or subtle -- certainly not subtle. But it is, after all, labeled "opinion," and there's no mistaking that's what it is. The NPR Web site, for anyone who has looked at it, includes opinion from the left and right, and shades in between. That's why it's a must-see every day.

The death threats leveled against Mark Fiore remind me quite a bit of death threats against the Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard who depicted the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb in his turban. The only difference between that story and this one is that conservatives rallied to defend Westergaard.

The loudest voice was that of Michelle Malkin.

How about kicking off the New Year with a stark reminder that jihadists don’t just hate us because of Iraq and Afghanistan? The Religion of Perpetual Outrage hates all infidels. The targeting of the Danish Mohammed cartoonists is a lingering pretext to demonstrate that centuries-old, Koran-inspired hatred. If it isn’t cartoons, it’s always something else. From fresco rage to book rage to film rage to beauty pageant rage to Koran-dropping rage to cartoon rage to Pope rage, to ceramic Mohammed bobbleheads, it never ends.

Keep all that in mind as you read the latest on the attack against Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard

I wonder what she has to say about the "tea-bagger" piece from Fiore? As of right now, there's nothing on her site about this, but considering that those that refer to Malkin as "The Boss" have already tackled this from the "your tax dollars hard at work" angle, I'm pretty sure they are going to say away from the death-threat issue right now until they can find a sufficient way to spin it.

Fiore seems to be taking this all in stride as he responds to the complaints and threats on his site:

“Learn to Speak Tea Bag” ran on my usual client sites, including NPR, which really set off the guys over here, here (note Condi giving child flowers down by "donate" button), here, here and here. Before you could say, “due to a pre-existing condition, your health coverage has been denied,” there was a full-fledged viral campaign by right-wing media outlets and blogs to jump, scream and shout about this animation. Which, to me, is just great!

I say that not because I get some thrill out of receiving emails that are in all capital letters or have more exclamation points than letters in the alphabet, I say that because one of the most important functions of a political cartoon, or political animation, is to foster a discussion. With thousands of comments posted, loads of emails and tweets, discussion was definitely fostered, and then some. It’s the “then some” that worries me.

This cartoon, as reported by greendem over at DailyKos, has drawn the ire and outrage of the good people over at Brietbart's "BigGovernemnt". Considering Andrew's continual spots on Fox"News" after the ACORN affair, I'm sure that we'll be hearing more about this cartoon on America's "fair and balanced" network.

The tea party movement seems to perpetually be in the cross hairs of the Left’s most insidious propaganda artists. A post on taxpayer subsidized NPR’s blog that’s getting some attention this week features a video by Mark Fiore entitled “Learn to Speak Tea Bag.” The cartoon gives mock step-by-step instructions on what Fiore believes is the modus operandi of tea party activists. Fiore unintentionally serves up a nearly all-inclusive package on all that is dishonest and malicious about the Left’s continued campaign to discredit this wildly popular grassroots force.

Fiore’s isn’t the first and likely won’t be the last tea party hit job. Everyone from the President to “mainstream” media commentators have joined in since the movement’s inception in February 2009. This multifaceted attack on the tea party movement has revealed an interesting trend that mirrors the evolving tactics of a maladjusted, intellectual deficient schoolboy bully.

I'm still trying to figure out why conservatives are thinking this was a piece contracted by NPR. Fiore explains on his site that this was used by multiple sources. After all, Fox"News" has Mara Liason and Juan Williams on their payroll as well, so there's quite the double-standard happening here.

The thin-skinned nature of conservatives shows that they have little ability to respond to situations without resorting to extremes. People like Ann Coulter talk about the eternal "victimhood" status of Liberals/Progressives, but that seems to be more projection than anything else. Is the rage emanating from the modern conservative movement indicative of their lack of creativity, sense of humor, or is it something much more substantive - that they know they'll never be able to win an argument considering their perspective is so skewed and not framed within the reality of our times?

How Does One Spell, Glenn Beck?

While watching this I was overwhelmed, not just with the rank hypocrisy from the whining, bobble-head of the conservative movement, with this bizarre side-show and how it is being validate by people across the country.



And this is the guy that gets paid to spout sophomoric invective at those with whom he disagrees.

And what's with this "drug addict alcoholc" meme? Is the alleged Dr. Ablow attempting to convince Beck that he's the interventioner and everyone else are the addicts?

Truly, another reality bending episode of Beck.

Hypocrisy Disguised As Moral Outrage

Fox"News" has been falling over on the fainting couches ever since Micheal Jackson's death. Not because the world lost a genre defining musician, but because there isn't matching coverage of soldiers that are dying on the field of battle in Afganistan.

The story began when a letter from Lt. Brian Bradshaw's aunt was published the Washington Post:

A day before New York Rep. Peter King called Michael Jackson a “pervert” unworthy of nonstop media coverage, the aunt of a U.S. soldier killed in Afghanistan on the same day Jackson died asked why her nephew's death went virtually unnoticed while the King of Pop got memorial shrines across the country.

"Mr. Jackson received days of wall-to-wall coverage in the media," Martha Gillis wrote to the Washington Post. "Where was the coverage of my nephew or the other soldiers who died that week?"

While Bradshaw's death, and the death's of others on the field of battle are more worthy of coverage, the hypocrisy of Fox"News" is astounding in its own right.

The media, regardless of who they are, are focused on ad revenue and what "consumers" ( read: viewers ) want. This isn't about what MSNBC, CBS, or ABC wants, it's what the people that buy the ad time are wanting - eyes and ears glues to televisions and asses posted on couches. The same holds true of Fox. The advertisers don't care what O'Reilly says as long as he pulls in the numbers. Of course, there is a line that can be ( and has been ) crossed where the advertisers will step in, but when you pull in 31 millions people for a memorial service, then that's dollar signs in the eyes of ad execs.

Fox takes the same approach to the entire military, regardless if you are dead or alive. It's war-porn for the right-wing realm. But don't let the blathering masses at Fox fool you, they weren't always concerned with the deaths of individual soldiers:



Conservatives and Fox"News" are acting like media outlets have never reported on the deaths in Iraq and Afganistan. If you will recall, it hasn't been that long ago the these same people were lambasting the other networks for covering the death tolls in both conflicts and claiming that their coverage is entirely negative because it focused so much on the death-toll.

The Convenience Of Conservative Moral Authority

O'Reilly attempts to take on the issue of Human Rights and fails.

*click image to play video*




As if it has become some Pavlovian response, O'Reilly continues with the meme that the torture - O'Reilly prefers to use the term "waterboarding", as it doesn't sound as bad as it actually is - provided actionable intelligence and "saved lives". The "record" that O'Reilly is referring to is more than likely the script that he is reading off a teleprompter.

It has been shown time and again that the continual and sadistic "waterboarding" of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed didn't provide this "life saving" intel that O'Reilly is peddling as fact. And Ali Soufan, an FBI interrogator, stated that the non-agressive interrogation of Abu Zubaydah provided actionable intel as well revealing Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as the "mastermind" of the September 11th attacks as well as Jose Padilla's "dirty-bomb" plot.

These are facts that O'Reilly, and virtually all within the conservative realm, are more than willing to ignore.

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In terms of Dr. Tiller's murder as well as his abortion clinic, O'Reilly is attempting to reframe the debate and distance himself from his own rhetoric that eventually lead to Tiller's assassination.

No one is saying that abortion, late-term or otherwise, isn't a difficult and troubling issue to deal with. As I've stated before, I know of no woman that has been forced into ending the life of her unborn child. O'Reilly's claims that Dr. Tiller performed the abortion procedure for "trivial" reasons is suspicious at best. The reason is, is that we have to take his word for it. Save the one time that he blatantly, and with malice of forethough, exploited a young woman and her story of her own late-term abortion performed by Dr. Tiller.

Abortion is a final alternative for woman, as no-one is "pro-abortion". Women have, and should continue to have, the right to choose.

O'Reilly's ham-fisted attempt to draw some sort of equivalency between how progressives/liberals/democrats view waterboarding and abortion is not only laughable but patently false. Of course, he knows this, but this is the type of schtick that keeps his ratings high.

As O'Reilly flows through "Jessica's Law" and the murder of Pvt. William Long, attempting to show that progressives/liberals/democrats are guilty of rank hypocrisy when it comes to Human Rights, it becomes clear that it's not that people don't talk about these issues - that progressives/liberals/democrats don't see issues like abortion, murder, and the protection of children are important - it's that they don't report them "enough".

O'Reilly thinks that since Fox"News" saturates their programming with these issue ( and ultimately ignoring other stories ) it means that, if others of opposing ideological perspective don't act in the same fashion, that Fox holds the moral high-ground.

Ultimately, this all boils down to who does and who doesn't believe as O'Reilly does, who watches his program, and who is willing to believe any and everything he says.

Bizarro Sykes

And if you were one of those that though Wanda Sykes's WHCD routine was offensive, check this out.

...Sykes suggested that conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh is supported by Hamas, and that Islamists are "constantly issuing Limbaugh talking points." She joked about terrorists supporting conservatives in general, suggesting that recent violent events in Iraq are attempts by terrorists to swing the upcoming midterm elections in favor of Republicans.

Then she got really personal. She joked that Limbaugh was a racist who doesn't want black people to "escap[e] the underclass." She accused him of being responsible for killing "a million babies a year," and aired her friend's theory that Limbaugh himself was a terrorist attack," a followup to 9/11. She also, most disgustingly, said that if conservatives kept apologizing to Limbaugh, they'd eventually contract "anal poisoning." She wondered when Republicans would finally stop "bending over and grabbing their ankles" for Limbaugh, and finally concluded that Limbaugh was just a "bad guy."

Of course, Sykes didn't say any of these things. Rush Limbaugh said these things about Obama and various others within the Democratic party.

But this isn't to excuse "bad behavior" with "bead behavior", it's simply to point out that the feigned, conservative, moral outrage is not only pointless but hypocritical.

( h/t: CFLF )

Grasping At Straws And Shoelaces

Conservatives are are completely beside themselves over Michelle Obama's shoes.

While some are attempting to not look like complete doofs - but are still giant douche-tacos, it is becoming more and more apparent that these people are either running out of source material to write about, or they are quickly becoming that which they have continually claimed to loathe these 8 years prior.

As with their continued harping of Obama using a teleprompter, doesn't this discussing smack of rank hypocrisy?

Seriously, they're shoes.

Granted, they are expensive, but does this actually warrant such nonsensical ramblings from conservatives? Of course it does. We are, after all, speaking about a wandering, leaderless, class of people that would prefer to talk about how right they are about everything and not even offer facts to back these statements up or have any type of coherent plan for the future.

As for Michelle, I'm willing to bet that her shoes aren't going to end up in trash bags.

Healthcare, Hannity, And Unions

There's more than just a little talk from the Fox"News" prattle-heads about healthcare. The problem there, aside from the fact that it's Fox we're talking about, is that these people know nothing about the healthcare system - other than that they HAVE healthcare.

Well, at least some of them do:

HANNITY: I'm on the Fox Plan and the AFTRA Plan. I have no clue what insurance I have. I don't have a special health care plan! I have the same plan that you do.

BECKEL: No you don't. I don't have a health insurance plan.

HANNITY: You work for FOX, you're on the FOX plan.

BECKEL: I don't qualify for the Fox plan, because I have a pre-existing condition

Hat Tip to Media Matters for the video:



You know what AFTRA is?

The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) is a national labor union representing over 70,000 performers, journalists and other artists working in the entertainment and news media

That's right, Sean Hannity is a labor-union member.

AFTRA is also part of AFL-CIO, which supports The Employee Free Choice Act - which is something that makes Hannity act as if he is having sand poured into his vagina.

Derangement Syndrome?

She's not so much deranged and she is, well.......take a look for yourself.

Now, the tables have been turned. Some folks are invoking Nazi allusions against Barack Obama.

I’ve pretty much stayed away from using such rhetoric against those with whom I disagree — especially having been on the receiving end of Nazi allusions myself countless times over the years.

Since she's "pretty-much" stayed away from it, I suppose now is her time to welcome the less-than-creative on her side.

Malkin was famous for whinging about those on the "left" that used Nazi imagry against her man.

She's got an entire "look-how-clever-I-am" section of her blog devoted to "Bush-Derangement-Syndrome"

Anyone that lacks the creativity to pose an intellectually sound rebuttal, and opts for the "Nazi" retort, deserves to be mocked. But since Malkin now seems to think it's alright, she's no better than those she derided for the past 8 years.

The mere fact that she is even defending this clown - and the rhetoric that she once denounce in all her purse-lipped fury - makes her not only a hypocrite, but so glaringly pathetic that anyone that takes even a fraction of what this woman says seriously should reconsider their ability to think for themselves.

She's not deranged, she's just an opportunist of the worst order.

He Just Can't Get It Right, Can He?

In the annual "War On Christmas", Bill O'Reilly is more than likely to focus on something completely trivial and turn it into a monster all it's own. Such is the case with the first salvo launched against Washington state's governor.

However, O'Reilly can't even seem to get it right himself.

Here's some info on his latest "quiz" available through Parade Magazine:

As the holidays near, the pace of the nation quickens. How much do you really know about this festive season? Interesting fact: Congress was in session on Christmas Day, 1789, because it had not yet been declared a holiday. Our religious traditions have always aroused political passion.

Test your holiday IQ with our quiz from Bill O'Reilly then enter for your chance to win a signed copy of his new book, A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity.

That's right, it's aHoliday Quiz.

Not a Christmas Quiz, or even a Goddammit, Isn't Baby Jesus Fuckin Sweet Quiz.

What's even funnier is the complete lack of an "Christiann" symbolism in the graphic that accompanies the quiz.