A sculptor in San Francisco makes urinals in the likeness of former President George W. Bush, and two American media outlets actually reported it last week.

This disgusting story appears to have first surfaced Monday on CBS's San Francisco affiliate KPIX.

The following day, CBS News felt it necessary to share this vulgar farce with Americans from coast to coast by publishing the segment at its website (video embedded below the fold):

She'd never admit it, but if there's one person secretly hoping for a big Republican victory in 2010 and, yes, a President Palin in 2013, it could be . . . Katrina vanden Heuvel.  That's right, the editor of The Nation might well be looking at GOP success as her best shot at salvaging the sinking fortunes of her far-left magazine.

A recent article in Vanity Fair—which no one would accuse shilling for the right—is entitled: Hate Sells: Why Liberal Magazines Are Suffering Under Obama.  It details how circulation at The Nation has been dropping significantly since Pres. Obama took office.   I was prompted to research the magazine's numbers when, watching Larry O'Donnell guest-hosting Countdown this evening, a Nation commercial appeared that consisted largely of a trip down liberal nostalgia lane: Bush bashing . . .

Appearing as a guest on Thursday’s Joy Behar Show on CNN Headline News, filmmaker Michael Moore continued his recent attacks on Democrats for not delivering more effectively on a left-wing agenda, called out gay Republicans for "hypocrisy," and seemed to suggest that President Bush fooled many Americans because "we have created a society of ignorant and illiterate people."

Host Behar started the interview by asking Moore his views on former Democratic Congressman Eric Massa, who recently resigned amid charges that he sexually harassed male aides. Moore used the opportunity to bash gay Republicans as he praised the film Outrage which seeks to expose Republicans rumored to be gay. Moore:

The Washington Post must dislike tax cuts even more than it likes President Barack Obama. On March 6, staff writer Lori Montgomery warned that the national debt would climb by $9.7 trillion under Obama’s budget.

Relying on the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) for data, Montgomery reported that the debt would be "higher than White House forecast" but not because of spending increases by Obama. Instead, she used the CBO to attack Obama's "tax-cutting agenda" continuing a media theme of portraying him as fiscally conservative despite the largest budget ever.

"Proposed tax cuts for the middle class account for nearly a third of the ($9.7 trillion) shortfall," Montgomery wrote. Her one-sided article relied solely upon the CBO and its director Douglas W. Elmendorf.

On Saturday’s Fox News Watch, FNC contributor and panel member Jim Pinkerton of the New America Foundation twice cited the Media Research Center – parent organization to NewsBusters – the first time as he pointed out that ABC News had given six times as much attention to attacking Republican Senator Jim Bunning’s efforts to delay the extension of unemployment benefits – as if doing so were a scandal – as opposed to covering the actual scandal of Democratic Congressman Charlie Rangel’s unethical activities. Pinkerton recounted:

Striking, as Scott Whitlock at MRC pointed out, ABC News devoted six times more coverage to trashing Bunning where Jonathan Karl, the reporter, went all Jesse Watters on Bunning, following him around in the Senate and trying to barge into the elevator, than they did on Chairman Rangel's, of the Ways and Means Committee's, forced resignation in a scandal. So a two-day procedural thing was six times bigger news to ABC than a genuine corrupt scandal. [Audio available here.]

The FNC contributor cited the MRC a second time during a discussion of the media’s coverage of Iraq as he noted that the mainstream media have lost interest in the subject and have not asked a question at a White House press conference since June 26. Host Jon Scott brought in Pinkerton by bringing up a recent article in the Daily Beast about positive developments in Iraq which did not mention former President Bush:

On Friday's Today show NBC's Matt Lauer offered viewers a sneak peak of next week's exclusive interview with Karl Rove and if today's segment is a suggestion of what's to come expect a lot of shots taken at his former boss's intelligence and blaming of Republicans and not Democrats for a divided country. In a highlighted portion of the interview Lauer asked Rove if he was pleased by the nickname "Bush's Brain" (Rove called it "derogatory") and derisively mused: "If Bush was The Decider, you might say Karl Rove was The Divider." [audio available here]

MATT LAUER: While Bush dubbed him "The Architect" critics called him "Bush's Brain." In the privacy of your own office, behind closed doors, did you ever stop and think, "Well that's kind of flattering to me?"

KARL ROVE: No, because, look, I know him. I've known him for almost four decades. He is a really smart person. And to suggest that I was his brain is a way to be derogatory about him. It's a, it is a shorthand for a sloppy and ideological way of viewing him. 

LAUER: He helped Bush win the White House twice, and for six-and-a-half years, Rove held a unique perch in the heart of the West Wing, orchestrating the administration's political strategy. But if Bush was The Decider, you might say Karl Rove was The Divider.

On Friday's Fox & Friends, co-host Steve Doocy picked up an item reported on by NewsBusters on Wednesday about MSNBC cropping President George W. Bush's face out of the latest Newsweek cover. As Doocy explained: "...on MSNBC...They have cropped all of President Bush's face out. So why does the mainstream media have so much trouble giving him credit?"

Doocy discussed the issue with a political panel that included Democratic strategist Doug Schoen, who acknowledged: "What MSNBC did makes no sense." He later added: "...that makes no sense at all. Because to do that is just plain mean-spirited and wrong." Another panelist, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Karen Hunter, later admitted: "perhaps cropping him out completely may not be too fair."

On Wednesday's Morning Joe program on MSNBC a picture of the Newsweek cover was shown, but with only President Bush's arm visible, his face had been completely cut out of the original image.

Conservative radio host Steve Malzberg on Wednesday laid into MSNBC and Joe Scarborough for cropping George W. Bush out of the cover of Newsweek.

As NewsBusters reported, "Morning Joe" earlier that day showed a picture of the Newsweek cover altered to omit former President Bush's face from the shot.

"Big conservative Joe Scarborough. Big conservative my butt," said an angry Malzberg.

"They know no shame," he continued. "Good thing Obama keeps having those hosts over to the White House for little private meetings" (audio available here, transcript below the fold):

UPDATE: MSNBC responds (read below).

On Wednesday's Morning Joe on MSNBC, host Joe Scarborough pointed out the cover of the latest edition of Newsweek magazine, which proclaimed "Victory At Last; The Emergence of A Democratic Iraq" and featured a picture of President George W. Bush walking the deck of an aircraft carrier. However, the image of Newsweek that appeared on screen cropped out President Bush's face entirely (h/t George Miller).

The magazine cover showed Bush on the deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln in 2003, after making his "Mission Accomplished" speech following the successful invasion of Iraq. While Newsweek cropped the picture to include half of Bush's body and face, MSNBC further cropped the image to leave only the arm of the former president visible (See original Newsweek cover below).

One of Scarborough's guests, Council on Foreign Relations President Richard Haass, reacted to Newsweek's declaration of victory in Iraq: "Too positive....For sure. We're going to take months to see a new government formed and we don't know how well the new government's going to operate....Too soon to take out the champagne, if ever." Show co-host Mika Brzezinski added: "Still a lot of controversy as to why we went in."

On Friday night, ranting leftist radio host Mike Malloy attacked conservative and libertarian "tea bagger freaks" for opposing Big Government, which he equated with "You want to eat poison! You want to breathe poison!"

Conservative talk-show hosts persuade the limited-government types to "kill your children, make your spouses sick, send Granny and Grandpa into intensive care." He also ranted against Bush: "you people continue to vote for these morons? These people who are just eating you alive?"

This rant started in an odd place: a blog post by Susie Madrak on the leftist Crooks & Liars blog complaining about high mold counts in tomato paste and puree sold to Kraft Foods, and how Team Bush gutted the Food and Drug Administration. Susie Madrak wrote with alarm that "every time we put something into our mouths that wasn't grown and bought locally, we're taking a chance."

Chris Matthews believes it's too soon for George W. Bush nostalgia.

Such was discussed during this weekend's syndicated program bearing his name.

In fact, Matthews made this his big question of the day asking his guests, "Will there be George W. Bush nostalgia this November when his book comes out?"

To his discredit, Matthews was the only person of the five in front of the camera that felt the answer was no concluding, "I think he needs a little more time to be away" (video embedded below the fold with transcript):  

Imagine the outrage and attempts to implicate hate speech by conservatives if someone planted and threatened to explode bombs, and ended up leaving a suicide note railing against President Obama. But just over a year ago, a similar individual who expressed his hatred of President Bush and Karl Rove in a suicide note received little attention. As Aspen, Colorado, delayed its New Year’s celebrations while the city faced threats from several bombs planted by would-be bank robber James Blanning as he tried to extort money from local banks by threatening to detonate the bombs, little attention was given to the left-wing sentiments expressed in his suicide note in which he railed against President Bush, Karl Rove, the rich, and the war in Iraq.

Anchors Gretchen Carlson on FNC’s Fox and Friends and Tamron Hall on MSNBC News Live mentioned some of the left-wing ramblings on January 2, 2009, while on CNN’s American Morning and The Situation Room, a clip of an Aspen law enforcement official was shown in which he recounted some of the political sentiments. The broadcast networks all reported the general story, but did not mention his political views. FNC’s Carlson informed viewers that Blanning’s note "criticized President Bush," and that he "resented the rich and was upset that Aspen had become a ritzy resort." MSNBC’s Tamron Hall noted that "he hated Bush and Rove with a passion."

CNN’s American Morning twice showed a report by correspondent Thelma Gutierrez that included a clip of Aspen’s Assistant Police Chief Bill Linn relaying that Blanning "had a problem with the Bush administration and wars in the Middle East." The same report ran twice on the same day’s The Situation Room.

Below are transcripts of relevant portions of the January 2, 2009, Fox and Friends on FNC, MSNBC News Live, and CNN’s American Morning and the Situation Room:

George Will said Sunday that people only talk about the government being broken when the Left is having trouble enacting its agenda.

During the Roundtable segment on ABC's "This Week," "Nightline" host Terry Moran brought up the recent announcement by Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) that he would not seek reelection in November because "Congress is not operating as it should."

When the baton was tossed to him, Will said, "[W]ith metronomic regularity, we go through these moments in Washington where we complain about the government being broken. These moments have one thing in common: The Left is having trouble enacting its agenda."

Will followed by noting, "No one when George W. Bush had trouble reforming Social Security said, 'Oh, that's terrible - the government's broken'" (video embedded below the fold with transcript and commentary):

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich addressed a huge audience at CPAC Saturday offering his plan to save America.

"I think this is the most important CPAC meeting since Ronald Reagan came and said that we have to have no pale pastels but bold colors," the Speaker stated to thunderous applause.

"I believe we are now in a struggle over whether or not we are going to save America."

Of course, one of the threats is a liberal press.

"Part of why the Tea Parties so deeply threatened the elite media is the Tea Partiers suddenly looked around and realized there are more of us than there are of them" (video embedded below the fold with transcribed highlights):

"Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane on Friday said former President George W. Bush is retarded.

Appearing on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher," MacFarlane was discussing the controversy surrounding last Sunday's "Family Guy" when a Down Syndrome joke was made at Sarah Palin's expense.

Maher pointed out that this wasn't inspired by White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's "f-ing retarded" comment: "[Y]ou've been making fun of the retarded for years."

MacFarlane replied, "[Y]eah, we've had our fair share of Bush jokes."

Moments later Maher said, "[I]ronically because of people like Sarah Palin, the country has done, become so stupid, we need the word retarded to constantly describe what is going on in America" (video embedded below the fold with partial transcript):

Is Rick Sanchez becoming CNN's answer to Keith Olbermann?

After all, he does almost as poor a job of hiding his love for Barack Obama or his utter disdain for conservatives.

Consider that during his Friday interview with Ann Coulter, Sanchez actually asked the conservative author why the audience at CPAC gave former Vice President Dick Cheney such a fabulous welcome when he spoke to them the previous evening.

Sanchez also repeated the typical Democrat talking points about Halliburton, no-bid contracts, Clinton surpluses, and how all the problems facing the current President are George W. Bush's fault.

With this in mind, as you watch the following, ask yourself if it is possible for Sanchez to be ANY MORE obvious about his political leanings (video embedded below the fold with full transcript, h/t Story Balloon):

Actress and activist Janeane Garofalo had more disgusting things to say about people whose views she doesn't agree with during her radio interview with comedian Rosie O'Donnell.

On top of what NewsBusters already reported, Garofalo once again went into a rant about conservatives, this time claiming, "The Republican Party has now morphed into a National Front," the all-white British Party that is often compared to neo-Nazis.

Beyond this, Garofalo repeated her despicable assertion, "The Teabaggers, that is racism, pure and simple."

Further illustrating her questionable grasp on reality, Garofalo accused the GOP of stealing the 2000 AND 2004 presidential elections (video embedded below the fold with transcribed highlights, h/t Radio Equalizer via Story Balloon):

CNN's Fareed Zakaria on Sunday demonstrated just how ignorant most media members are of how the federal budget works.

During the most recent installment of "Fareed Zakaria GPS," the host actually said, "[T]he Bush tax cuts are the single largest part of the black hole that is the federal budget deficit."

Before we examine the staggering stupidity on display here, let's first look at exactly what Zakaria said (video embedded below the fold with transcript):

Keith Olbermann Friday blamed 9/11 on former President George W. Bush.

"3,000 people died on September 11th, 2001 because George Bush did not prioritize," the "Countdown" host disgracefully told his small number of viewers.

"Perhaps no one says it because it is such a painful, awful truth to confront, 3,000 people dead because Bush and Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld and others simply had other agendas than fighting terrorism."

Olbermann then brought on the equally disgraceful Lawrence O'Donnell - who earlier in the day was cut off by Joe Scarborough due to his atrocious behavior on "Morning Joe" - to assist him in making his disgusting point (video embedded below the fold with transcript):

Press reports about the prediction by President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers that the economy would add an average of 95,000 jobs per month during calendar 2010 weren't exactly overflowing with praise, but were lacking in something one would have expected: historical context.

Philip Elliott's Associated Press report provided none. Sewell Chan's New York Times coverage at least pointed out that the promised level of job growth was "barely enough to keep up with the normal number of jobs the economy would have to create to meet the growth in the labor force and keep the unemployment rate steady."

But how would what the administration predicts compare to previous recoveries? As seen in the following chart based on more detailed information here, all based on data from the government's Bureau of Labor Statistics, a 95,000 per month performance in job growth following a breakout quarter after a recession wouldn't exactly be impressive:

MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell went into an unhinged attack on a former Bush administration official Friday, and was eventually shut out of the discussion by Joe Scarborough.

Appearing on "Morning Joe" with former Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen who was brought on to discuss terrorist interrogation procedures, O'Donnell began by first calling him a liar, and then accused the Bush White House of inviting 9/11 "by having no idea what was going on with al Qaeda."

As O'Donnell continued with his attack, others on the set were heard asking him to calm down and stop.

When Thiessen tried to respond, O'Donnell violently interrupted him forcing Scarborough to cut in, go to a commercial, and say that he would be interviewing Thiessen alone (video embedded below the fold with commentary, h/t Hot Air):

Comedian Joy Behar is known for saying some pretty absurd things on television, but her comment on Wednesday's "The View" was nothing less than disgraceful.

When co-host Barbara Walters brought up the issue of Sarah Palin, and how White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs had made a joke to the press pool by writing some notes on his hand, a rather heated discussion broke out with lone conservative Elisabeth Hasselbeck making the case that such behavior is beneath the office of the President.

"When the Press Secretary is up there being the mouthpiece for the White House during a time of crisis like we've been in for so long, don't make a joke and write on your hand. You are the Press Secretary of the White House."

This didn't sit well with Behar who actually responded (video embedded below the fold, h/t Story Balloon):

Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh absolutely trashed Wolf Blitzer Tuesday for ignoring Barack Obama's declining poll numbers.

As he opened the program, Limbaugh informed listeners about new data showing the President's approval rating at the lowest point since he moved into the White House.

"He's down to 44% in a couple of polls, 46% in another, and where is the State-Controlled Media reporting this?"

To drive home the point, Limbaugh shared a montage of how Blitzer one day in March 2006 reported George W. Bush's sagging poll numbers almost every hour on the hour (video embedded below the fold with transcript, h/t Right Scoop):

"It is not irresponsible to demand that bureaucrats do the job we pay them to do. It is not irresponsible to expect people in authority to be held responsible for dumb, and perhaps fatal, mistakes. And, finally, it is not irresponsible, even in time of war, to raise questions about the presidency of…"

Can you guess whose name was dropped at the end of that quote? We'll have to go all the way back to…2002 and, of course, the George W. Bush presidency.

What's that? You thought this quote from Bill Press was referring to President Barack Obama? Quite reasonable, actually, given that one of his chief national security officials today took to the opinion pages of USA Today to call critics of the Obama Administration's handling of the war on terror unpatriotic.

Well, he didn't actually use the word "unpatriotic", but neither did then-Vice President Dick Cheney when he told Congress that criticism of the administration's war effort "is thoroughly irresponsible and totally unworthy of national leaders in a time of war." That was the quote Press took issue with in 2002, so where is his disdain for the Obama Administration?

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):