That’s What I Said: Bill Maher on Democrats Still Chasing Bipartisan Cooperation

I don’t like Bill Maher. He’s a pompous jackass with some problematic ideas regarding race. But damned if I didn’t nod my neck sore, watching this “New Rules” segment on the Stewart/Colbert rally.

While I only partly agree with his critique of the Comedy Central duo (specifically the false equivalence of the Olbermann/Beck parallels), he’s definitely reading from my most private journal when he rips on the Democrats for waiting patiently for reason to return to the Republican party like a little latchkey kid who swears Poppa will be back any minute now. He just went to buy some smokes. Three weeks ago.

Here’s a bit of what Maher had to say:

“The message of the rally, as I heard it, was that, if the media stopped giving voice to the crazies on both sides, then maybe we could restore sanity. It was all nonpartisan and urged cooperation with the moderates on the other side forgetting that Obama tried that and found out…there are no moderates on the other side. When Jon announced his rally, he said the national conversation was dominated by people on the Right who believe Obama’s a Socialist and people on the Left who believe 9/11’s an inside job, but I can’t name any Democratic leaders who think 9/11’s an inside job. But Republican leaders who think Obama’s a Socialist…all of them.”

To read more and watch the video, check out Mediaite’s take on the the segment:
MEDIAITE: Bill Maher Disses The Daily Show Rally: It’s Better To Have A Rally That’s “About Something”

Grinds My Gears: The Cordoba House “Debate”

Sometimes, I hate people. I’ve been trying to stay out of this Cordoba House madness in the hope that by not feeding it in some way on my little blog, the shit would go away. But of course that isn’t the case, and shit’s starting to get real out here. In my opinion, all this anti-Islam furor is a better anti-American terrorist recruitment tool than anything bin Laden ever came up with.

So with that, America, I must enumerate what grinds my gears about this whole Cordoba House mess.

That’s What I Said: NYMag on Obama’s Latest Backtrack

I know this is old, but like I said, I’ve been busy. I feel like I’ve missed my window to properly address the Cordoba House mess. But I had to at least address this mess somehow.

NYMAG: Obama ‘Recalibrates’ on Ground Zero Mosque

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Sack up, Barry.

Sherrod Blowback: Breitbart’s Latest Successful Race-Bait Attempt Perhaps Not So Successful

Andrew Breitbart, far-right media blowhard and Karl Rove/Lee Atwater fetishist, most famous for the scandal he fabricated about community organizing group ACORN, may have finally been caught in the act.

A few days ago, he released a clip of USDA official Shirley Sherrod seemingly regaling the crowd at a local NAACP event with the tale of her denying a white farmer the help he so sorely needed. The media was up in arms, brimming with appropriate outrage. So were the USDA and NAACP — the latter immediately condemned her actions and the former forced her to resign immediately (apparently insisting she tender her resignation from wherever she was, via Blackberry).

As it turns out, Breitbart only showed a fraction of her 40-minute speech. Not only did that apparent abuse of power happen in the late ’80s, and not during her USDA tenure, but there was no abuse of power. The selected portion of her speech was part of a larger one in which she explains how she went from considering whites less disenfranchised (and thus, less deserving of her help) than blacks, to deciding that poor whites were getting shafted just as much as blacks were. She then goes on to detail her efforts to save this white farmer from the lawyer who was supposed to be helping him save his farm (also white, seeing as we’re playing Racial Bingo here), and spends the rest of the video preaching racial unity and co-operation with a touching sincerity.