They didn't understand the movement 6 months ago. When will they get it?

John Murtha, who represented the 12th district of Pennsylvania for 35 years, died Monday. David Stout's obituary in Tuesday's edition of the New York Times, "Representative John P. Murtha Dies at 77; Ex-Marine Was Iraq War Critic," focused on Murtha's influential anti-war turn and "history of hawkishness," but omitted Murtha's smear of the military -- his preemptory claim that Marines in the town of Haditha, Iraq had killed women and children ''in cold blood'' in a November 2005 incident. Of the eight Marines accused, only one still faces possible charges -- the rest were either acquitted or had the charges dropped.

Stout hit the sordid highlights of Murtha's legislative career, including the Abscam scandal, which he survived by the skin of his teeth, turning down money from an undercover FBI agent posing as a sheikh but said would be willing to talk about it later. Stout called it an "awkward moment." But Stout made Murtha's anti-Iraq war position a running theme of the obituary, while not once bringing up Murtha's smear of the Marines at Haditha.

On Tuesday’s Morning Joe, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough took exception with FNC analyst Bill Sammon for using the word "hate" to describe mainstream media sentiment toward Sarah Palin, contending that "you can't just say that people ‘hate’ Sarah Palin." But, while he spent more than two minutes complaining about Sammon’s use of the word "hate," Scarborough seemed to contradict himself at one point as he ended up himself using the word "hated" to describe media reaction to the former Alaska governor after she was first chosen as John McCain’s running mate.

The MSNBC host went on to suggest that the media got over their initial feeling of "hate" and "tried" to "start reporting on her down the middle." Scarborough: "And, by the way, we called out the media when they attacked her without even knowing who she was. And we said they hated her in the press early on without knowing her because she was a pro-life woman. Now, did they get past that and start reporting on her down the middle? They tried. But again, they don't hate her. I don't think they under-, a lot of people don't understand somebody from Wasilla who hunts, who is pro-life. There is a cultural gap. But to just say that they hate..."

Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Tuesday, February 9, Morning Joe on MSNBC, with critical portions in bold:

In a story on American charitable giving on CBS’s Sunday Morning, correspondent Mark Strassmann cited liberal Princeton University bio-ethics professor Peter Singer on how much people should give: “[He’s] worked up a giving guide. The more you make, the more he believes you should give....He believes it’s within our power to virtually end world poverty.”

A clip was played of Singer arguing: “Well I think we should be giving something quite substantial....the right thing to do in this situation, where there are millions of children and adults, of course, dying from avoidable poverty related causes is to give something pretty significant. Something that makes a difference to how you live.”

While Strassmann simply introduced Singer as a bio-ethicist, in reality, the professor has a history of promoting radical ideas, such as justifying infanticide. In an excerpt of his 1993 book Practical Ethics, entitled “Taking Life: Humans,” Singer concluded: “Killing a disabled infant is not morally equivalent to killing a person. Very often it is not wrong at all.” CBS certainly picked an odd person to lecture Americans on caring for those less fortunate.

White House Budget Director Peter Orszag and Congressional Budget Office Director Doug Elmendorf have a problem: They can't revise their budget estimates quickly enough to account for the continued bad news about tax collections arriving daily from the Treasury Department. Luckily for them, but unfortunately for taxpayers, an establishment media obsessed with PDS (Palin Derangement Syndrome), TDS (Tebow Derangement Syndrome), and TPDS (Tea Party Derangement Syndrome) isn't paying any meaningful attention to the problem.

Back in August of last year, the CBO guesstimated that collections during fiscal 2010 will amount to $2.264 trillion. That guesstimate assumed a 7.5% increase over the $2.105 trillion collected in 2009, and clearly depended heavily on a revival in private-sector economic growth and employment.

Well, economic growth has occurred. The problem is that it's the government that has grown, while the private sector has shrunk. Additionally, according to the Establishment Survey published by Uncle Sam's Bureau Labor Statistics, seasonally adjusted total employment has continued to fall.  

Thus, CBO dropped its estimate of fiscal 2010 receipts in projections it released in late January to $2.175 trillion. The collections guesstimate in the Obama administration's budget is actually a bit lower:

CNN’s Jack Cafferty returned to bashing Sarah Palin, one of his favorite subjects of scorn, on Monday’s Situation Room, but also slammed President Obama and top Democrats again for their closed-door negotiations on health care “reform.” Cafferty, along with anchor Wolf Blitzer, poked fun of Palin for writing talking points on her hand prior to her Tea Party Convention speech.

The CNN commentator devoted his regular 5 pm Eastern hour segment to the former Alaska governor. Cafferty sarcastically remarked, “That’s swell,” after noting that Mrs. Palin was considering a run for president in 2012. He continued with more sarcasm: “Palin, who was woefully unprepared to be John McCain’s running mate, acknowledges that she- quote, ‘sure as heck better be more astute on these national issues,’ unquote- than she was two years ago- seriously- and maybe that’s why Palin says she’s started receiving daily political and economic briefings over e-mail from various Washington experts. That ought to do it, right?”

"Their choices are up to YOU" is the tagline for the new pseudo-reality show "Bump+." A fictional Web series designed to look like a reality show, "Bump+" follows the stories of three women facing "unintended pregnancies." Their decision as to whether to abort, or bring their babies to term and either put them up for adoption and keep them, rests on the viewers, who weigh in via the "Bump+" Web site. Yes, killing of the unborn has now become interactive entertainment.

Washington Post's Kathleen Parker described the show as "Jerry Springer meets Oprah meets ‘American Idol' meets Dr. Oz meets ... America's conscience." Christopher Riley, the show's co-executive producer it was "inspired" by President Obama's call last year to find "ways to communicate about a workable solution to the problem of unintended pregnancies."

Here's something you won't hear from the liberal media: that whole "birther" conspiracy movement? Yeah, that was started by a couple of Democrats, and neither is named Orly Taitz.

Their names, in fact, are Linda Starr and Philip Berg, according to John Avalon, author of the new book "Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America" (just to clarify, he singles out "wingnuts" on both sides of the aisle). Both were die-hard supporters of Hillary Clinton during the 2008 campaign.

Starr was cited as a source of the false documents that got disgraced CBS correspondent Dan Rather fired. Berg is an aggressive Pennsylvania attorney (and former Pennsylvania Deputy Attorney General) who filed a lawsuit against former President George W. Bush in 2004 alleging he was complicit in the September 11 terrorist attacks.

On Sunday, Washington Post fashion writer Robin Givhan took a break from her usual ogling over Michelle Obama and praised the glitzy fashion shoot of CBS anchor Katie Couric in an article headlined "Harper’s Bazaar hails the conquering Couric, a power broker in stiletto heels."

Nowhere in the article does Givhan discuss the bad PR echo after the layoffs of "dozens" at CBS News, where network suits surrounding the "conquering Couric" declared she would make no pay concessions to save the little people. (Isn’t it a little funny when a news organization won’t offer a precise layoff number to other media?)

Instead, Givhan lauded the anchorwoman for daring to obsess over her own image and add some "sexy," and for helping get those wonderful Obamas elected:

Good Morning America’s George Stephanopoulos on Tuesday became emotional over the passing of John Murtha, named by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington as one of Congress’ most corrupt politicians. He lauded the Democrat as "one of those guys who make the [House of Representatives] work." [Audio available here.]

Neither Stephanopoulos, nor Juju Chang, who filed a news brief on Murtha, mentioned his 2006 smear that U.S. Marines killed Iraqi civilians "in cold blood." Stephanopoulos, a former Democratic operative, reminisced as he tried to maintain control: "I’m going to get a little choked up. I miss him already. You know, I went to Capitol Hill as an aide almost 30 years ago."

He cooed, "And he did it with such a sense of joy and fun and he taught me an awful lot." Stephanopoulos skipped the following quote from Murtha in May of 2006 about a supposed massacre in Haditha, Iraq: "Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood."

With Washington, D.C. buried beneath at least 20 inches of snow, and with more in the forecast, common sense would suggest global warming alarmists look elsewhere to make the argument to raise awareness for their concerns.

But no, Dylan Ratigan thinks it's ridiculous to suggest all the snowfall totals could cast doubt on the theory of anthropogenic global warming. On MSNBC's Feb. 8 "The Dylan Ratigan Show," Ratigan criticized those who would dare express misgivings about climate change based on the so-called "snowpocalypse."

"Here's the problem - these ‘snowpocalypses' that have been going through D.C. and other extreme weather events are precisely what climate scientists have been predicting, fearing and anticipating because of global warming," Ratigan said.

David Rogers glossed over the late Rep. Jack Murtha's (D-Pa.) Haditha Marines smear in an obituary published yesterday and updated this morning at Politico:

Rather than lie low, Murtha further made himself a target with public comments in the spring of 2006 pressuring the Marine command to investigate allegations of civilian casualties at Haditha, Iraq. This infuriated many Marines, and critics argued that the congressman had become more partisan himself out of loyalty to Pelosi.

But Murtha went beyond pressing for a formal military investigation, which is a legitimate call any congressman could and should make after an incident like Haditha. The former Marine practically declared the Marines at Haditha guilty by saying they have killed "in cold blood." 

The media's hate parade against the former governor of Alaska hit a disgraceful peak Monday night when comedian Stephen Colbert said on national television, "Sarah Palin is a f**king retard."

In a five minute segment bashing the former vice presidential candidate for her remarks at Saturday's National Tea Party convention, as well as her use of crib notes -- surprise! -- the Comedy Central star ended with the controversy surrounding White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel's "retard" comment.

After playing a clip of Palin telling Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday" that Rush Limbaugh's use of the word was acceptable because it was satire, Colbert concluded, "It is okay to call someone a retard if like Rush you clearly don't mean it" (video embedded below the fold with partial transcript, vulgarity alert):

For general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: What is Iran planning for Thursday?

Khamenei, whose public statements should be taken seriously, is promising some sort of devastating "punch" against the West on Thursday the 11th, the same day as the Green Movement is calling for a monster protest against his regime.

What might he have in mind? I don't know; they say a lot of things just for effect, but threats/promises from the supreme leader have a certain standing. If I were an Israeli official, I'd recheck my information on Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad.

What do you think, NBers? A legitimate threat, or more posturing?

Now the Democrats have gone and done it. And what resulted wasn't pretty.

Here's libtalker Ed Schultz on his radio show Friday, obsessing on Democrats' acquiescence to the GOP and his diagnosis for what's needed to turn this around (click for audio here) --

SCHULTZ: It's time for the Democrats to grow a pair. That was the theme of one of my segments last night, although I couldn't say it exactly that way.

Fox News has a business strategy of seeking to "undermine" the MSM by alleging that it has a liberal bias.   That was Chuck Todd's assertion on Morning Joe today.

Todd, NBC's political director and chief White House correspondent, was reacting to Fox News Washington managing editor Bill Sammon's statement on "Fox News Sunday" that "the mainstream media hates the tea party movement almost as much as it hates Sarah Palin."

See here for our response. Retards.

1. Fails to provide a quote of what Rush Limbaugh said.

 Jonathan Goldwater the liar: I like when Rush told the caller the other day to take the tampons out of her ears.

The exact quote - "...your mind is totally closed, you got tampons in your ears."

2. Brought 20 year old falsely attributed quotes from Dan Quayle mixed in with some possibly true quotes. When called on it, he refused to source or separate out the lies from the true quotes.

"Mars is essentially in the same orbit... somewhat the same distance from the Sun, which is very important. We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, that means there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe." -- Quayle, 8/11/89 << I had to source this - true - A Quayle Vision of Mars

"Bank failures are caused by depositors who don't deposit enough money to cover losses due to mismanagement." -- Quayle, 1988 << LIE. No source provided or found

"Republicans have been accused of abandoning the poor. It's the other way around. They never vote for us." -- Quayle,1988 << LIE.  "Future Quayle Quotes We Can Expect to Hear", Mad Magazine, October 1991, pp. 10–11

"A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls."-- Quayle, 1988 <<  LIE "Future Quayle Quotes We Can Expect to Hear", Mad, October 1991, pp. 10–11

"It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it." -- Quayle, 1988 <<   LIE "Future Quayle Quotes We Can Expect to Hear", Mad, October 1991, pp. 10–11

3. When alerted to his Quayle lies, he doubled down with even more.

"Are they taking DDT?" -- Quayle asking doctors at a Manhattan AIDS clinic about their treatments of choice, 4/30/92 (reported in Esquire, 8/92, and NY Post early May 92) << LIE. No source provided or found

"The best thing about rain forests is they never suffer from drought."-- Quayle << LIE. No source provided or found

-  "My position is that I understand from a medical situation, immediately after a rape is reported, that a woman normally, in fact, can go to the hospital and have a D and C. At that time... that is before the forming of a life. That is not anything to do with abortion." ---- Senator Dan Quayle, explaining that Dilatation and Curettage, a form of abortion which occurs after fertilization, is not really abortion << LIE. No source provided or found

-  Bobby Knight told me this: 'There is nothing that a good defense cannot beat a better offense.' In other words a good offense wins." -- Quayle comparing the offensive capabilities of the Warsaw Pact with the defensive system of NATO, 9/8/88 (reported in Esquire, 8/92) << I have to source again - true - Who is this Quayle

"May our nation continue to be the beakon of hope to the world."-- The Quayle's 1989 Christmas card << LIE. No source provided or found

-  "We shouldn't have to be burdened with all the technicalities that come up from time to time with shrewd, smart lawyers interpreting what the laws or what the Constitution may or may not say." ---- Vice-President Dan Quayle << LIE. No source provided or found

4. When spotlighted with his previous Quayle lies, He doubles down yet again.

"I stand by all the misstatements that I've made" Dan Quayle to Sam Donaldson (8/17/89) <<< LIE. Misquote. Real quote: "I made a misstatement and I stand by all my misstatements."

5. He personally lied about me

Here's where you used the link and claimed it as evidence.  Sucks when there's a track record for your insanity: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/geoffrey-dickens/2010/01/14/matthews-america-book-palin-didnt-read-she-doesn-t-know-us#comment-1140009

Odd that he would pick the second time I linked to Snopes. The first was Snopes correctly pointing out the MAD MAGAZINE false quotes. The second time was pointing out one of his quotes was listed at the same page. (Where they got the quote about Quayle's misstatements wrong too. Looks like Snopes did not do their research either. At least Snopes tried. The liar J.G. did not even try.

6. He called Palin a tax cheat.

   The fact is, the Palins have paid their taxes. There is a blog post that claims on of the Palin's tax assessments do not list the improvement (buildings) to one of their properties. It is up to the local government to ensure all improvements are listed for local property taxes not the assessee. The Palins have paid all their taxes.

the failing stock Market gets no coverage as everyone is watching the Palin bashing ball. We are where were last Nov and in the last month it has dipped lower than its gains, we are where we were in Nov 10, 2009. 

Evey time Obama opens his mouth down goes the stock.  it went down over 400 points on the DJI since Jan 11 (it droped 100, up 26, then 265, it went up 20, 10 then down another 100) 

Come on MSM quit being distracted and report on financial state of the nation which is about broken.  Catie Carwreck what you gonna do when there is no money to pay you your 14million a year contract.  MSM aint the back bone of American finance.

Chris Matthews Monday went on a twelve minute attack on former Alaska governor Sarah Palin that should make his fellow MSNBCers and the liberal blogosphere quite happy.

Here's how Monday's "Hardball" began:

Can a palm reader be president? What do we think of kids in school who write stuff on their hands to get through a test? What do we think of a would-be political leader who does it to look like she`s speaking without notes? What do we think of Sarah Palin this weekend answering pre-screened questions from a like-minded audience in Nashville, a tea party convention, and still having to put a cheat sheet on her palm to answer what she calls the basics of her beliefs? How can someone presume to be auditioning for president when they can`t even answer questions they know are coming?

And that was just the teaser! Readers are strongly cautioned to prepare themselves for a level of vitriol and invective normally only spewed on television by Matthews' colleague Keith Olbermann (video embedded below the fold with full transcript, h/t The Right Scoop):

Joy Behar had Eve Enslar ('Vagina Monologues') on her HLN program and the topic of discussion was Sarah Palin.  Ms. Behar asked Ms. Enslar what she meant by her statement, "A woman running for U.S. vice president believes in creationism but not global warming."  Enslar's response, "I just think the whole idea, that she doesn't believe in global warming is bizarre."  Behar agreed, "Every scientist of any note believes in it but Sarah Palin doesn't believe it," Behar quipped.  Also, according to the pair, the idea that our country would entertain having such a non-believer in a position of Vice President, is "insane."  Ms. Ensler went on to bemoan the amount of press coverage Sarah Palin receives, whining that her own 'V-Day' events pull in more support than the recent TEA Party Convention (for which Palin was the key note speaker) and doesn't get the 'proper' amount of press coverage.  She then said, "Why is anyone giving attention to people who have really, umm, a level of intelligence that hasn't even evolved yet?"  "I agree with you!" Joy said.  To top off the interview, they poked fun at Sarah Palin's ideas on foreign policy and drilling for oil.  Apparently, the pun couldn't be resisted - "There's no place in the world she wouldn't drill!  Isn't that how her daughter got in trouble in the first place?"

According to this dynamic duo of tone-deaf geniuses, one who believes in the intelligent creation of the universe is uneducated.  These two would have people believe there is more evidence of (the more debunked with each passing day) global warming (would you agree, Washington D.C., under your record setting amounts of snow?) than of creation.  What a person chooses to believe is neither here nor there, but to paint those that believe differently than yourself as "bizarre," "insane," and of "a level of intelligence that hasn't even evolved yet" is inexcusable.  Take comfort though, it's only FOX News that's biased... 

See the video   

From Monday's broadcast network evening newscasts: CBS and NBC found hypocrisy in Sarah Palin scolding President Obama's incessant use of a Teleprompter while she had “crib notes” written on her hand during her Saturday Tea Party convention appearance, CBS followed by giving Obama two-straight minutes to explain why the public will come around to “connect” with him again and, meanwhile, ABC devoted a full story to “whether Republicans want action or are just the 'Party of No'?”

CBS's Nancy Cordes reported, over a helpful graphic showing the words written on Palin's hand, that while Palin “dismissed the President Saturday night as a 'charismatic guy with a Teleprompter,' she may have been relying on some crib notes of her own.” Cordes concluded: “Her supporters called it an endearing sign that Palin's a real person, while detractors argue it's proof she doesn't know her facts.” On NBC, Brian Williams led the Palin story with how “it happened after a speech where she criticized the President for relying too much on a Teleprompter.”  

Next on CBS, Katie Couric highlighted how, in her pre-SuperBowl sit-down with Obama, she had raised with him that “people are not sure who he is or what he stands for.” Viewers were then treated to a two-minute long answer from Obama, ending with his insistance that when the economy improves “we'll do just fine and everybody will be saying what a connection President Obama has with the American people. Which is what they were saying a year ago.” (“They” being journalists?)

The Washington Post website today linked to its sister site of black political analysis, The Root, where former Time magazine editor and columnist Jack White asserted Sarah Palin's "tea party speech revived the ancient practice of attacking people who actually know something." 

White painted Palin (and conservatives) as unthinking. Like many liberals, he doesn’t grasp that what conservative speakers are often inveighing against is not people who think. It’s against people who think that conservatives don’t think. White is clearly, precisely one of those people.

White plucked out one phrase of Palin's speech -- that "we need a commander-in-chief, not a law professor at a lectern" -- into a grand indictment of know-nothing populism, vigilantism, book-banning, and the general hatred of knowledge:

On Monday’s Rick’s List program on CNN, Slate’s Fred Kaplan attacked Republicans for politicizing national security, accused the GOP of being in an alternate reality, and blasted Sarah Palin for “talking...complete and utter nonsense.” Kaplan also wrote off the tea parties as not a “mass movement,” and, along with anchor Rick Sanchez, accused Palin of forwarding “anti-intellectualism.”

The Slate national security columnist, who is also a former correspondent for the Boston Globe, appeared as a guest during the last ten minutes of Sanchez’s program, just before the top of the 5 pm Eastern hour. Before introducing Kaplan, the CNN anchor set up the discussion by referencing the political debate over the granting of Miranda rights to attempted airline bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab after his Christmastime arrest. Sanchez first asked the Slate writer, “Who’s doing the politicizing here?”