A couple of brief thoughts on Blair as DNI

post from They gave us a republic... - Front Page on 19 December 2008 11:31:46 AM. © They gave us a republic... - Front Page

This post is subject to being updated as I have time to do a little more research into this guy. I just don't know that much about him. But what I do know makes brilliant sense in context.

The choice of Blair as DNI indicates that Obama is playing for keeps. Naming Blair fills two separate bills quite nicely. First it sends a message to the military that he is no Bill Clinton, and he will not have an adversarial relationship with the military. Blair deliberately did the opposite of what Bill Clinton wanted him to do during the East Timor crisis in the mid 90s, and he was not named to this position in spite of that act of insubordination - he was named because of it.

And the fact that everyone knows beyond all doubt that Blair is not a yes-man makes him the perfect political cover for the house-cleaning that is at hand. There are a lot of Bush sycophants in the intelligence agencies that need to be rooted out and removed. Blair is the guy who can do that.

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Maddow: Obama Choosing Warren For Invocation Is
The ‘First Big Mistake,’ A ‘Lose-Lose Proposition’

post from Think Progress on 19 December 2008 11:30:00 AM. © Think Progress

Yesterday, President-elect Obama?s press conference on his new economic team quickly digressed into a discussion on Obama giving Pastor Rick Warren ? who has a long record of anti-gay views — the privilege of delivering the inaugural invocation. Obama said he was reaching out to religious conservatives, showing that he could ?disagree without being disagreeable.?

MSNBC?s Rachel Maddow, who is openly gay, devoted an entire segment last night to the topic. Maddow noted that Obama has now sparked the ire of the LGBT community as well as the religious right, some of whom are even attacking Warren for accepting Obama’s invitation. She called it Obama?s ?first big mistake?:

MADDOW: What are we left with here? We are left with the cold, hard political fact that this is a lose-lose proposition for Barack Obama, the first big mistake of his post-election politicking. The Christian Broadcasting Network folks are proverbially loaded for bear against him anyway. … And Obama’s supporters among centrists and progressives? Well, they just dumped a big bucket of tarnish all over Obama’s star power.

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In his press conference, Obama stated, ?A couple of years ago, I was invited to Rick Warren?s church to speak, despite his awareness that I held views that entirely contrary to his when it came to gay and lesbian rights, when it came to issues like abortion.” Maddow countered that Obama had invited Warren to speak at the people’s house, not his own private domain:

MADDOW: The implication of Sen. Obama’s defense is that he is returning the favor. … But Obama is not inviting Rick warren to his church or to his campaign or something. He’s inviting him to the nation’s capital to convene the swearing in of the next president of the United States. The President-elect did not invite Warren to his home. He invited him, proverbially, to our’s, the nation’s.

Maddow concluded that in centuries, when human rights activists reflect on the inauguration of the first black president, they might also ask, “But what was that guy who compared homosexuality to incest doing there?”

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As you've probably heard, Sean Hannity went up
against reality again, and once again suffered a first-round KO. Really, it can't be easy being Sean

post from DownWithTyranny! on 19 December 2008 11:30:00 AM. © DownWithTyranny!

It's official: There's somebody nuttier than Brent Bozell!

"Shocker: The president-elect is crowned Time magazine's Person of the Year; this after Time magazine's D.C. bureau chief accepts a job in the Obama White House. Ah, I'm sure it's a coincidence."
-- the unspeakable Sean Hannity (yes, out loud! on the air!)

by Ken

If you haven't already heard the story (it earned him yet another in an impressive collection of Worst Person in the World awards from Keith Olbermann last night), here's Media Matters' account.

As if that sniveling suckup Jay Carney, the Time Washington bureau chief tapped by VP-elect Joe Biden to be his communications director (I guess that's "a job in the Obama White House," sort of, but isn't that kind of a stretch? I mean, it's not a job working for, you know, Obama), wasn't already a junior member of the Village Boys' Treehouse Club. But no! To argue logically suggests we should take any of this demented fantasy seriously. Really now, is there anybody in the entire world who doesn't understand the selection of Barack Obama as Time's Man of the Year? Apart from the unspeakable Sean, that is.

Fox News' Kirsten Powers tried to bring our boy back into earth's atmosphere: "There's no connection between Jay Carney -- I mean, you don't think he would have been the Man of the Year anyway?" Finally it took Brent Bozell -- yes, wingnut arch-loon Brent Bozell! -- to point out: ?I think Time magazine can defend naming him the Man of the Year. They normally name the winner of a presidential election campaign the Man of the Year.?

But you know all of that. Believe it or not, I'm here to defend our Sean. It can't be easy being him. The mere mention of your name sets sensible people to frothing over whether you're the dumbest creature on two legs or a vicious psychopath in need of immediate straitjacketing (and possibly a few thousand volts of therapy) -- or maybe just a gutless bullyboy who'd wet your panties if you had to meet one of the people you lie about face to face.

Think of the burden it must be, day after day, to keep it up: go on the air making up stuff even more cretinous and more insane, not to mention personally scummier, than the bullshit you spewed the day before. But then, isn't that why Fox News pays him the big bucks?
#

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This Week 'In the News' Highlights

post from Taylor Marsh on 19 December 2008 11:25:21 AM. © Taylor Marsh

BY TAYLOR MARSH--updated--The first topic I’m going to highlight is a story that sucks the life out of you. It’s my "In the News" feature of the day, which I’ll add at the top of every highlight post on Friday. In the city of Kirkuk[...]

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Franken Takes Lead in MN Senate Race

post from TalkLeft on 19 December 2008 11:25:00 AM. © TalkLeft

This morning, Al Franken took the lead in the MN Senate race for the first time. He's ahead a few hundred votes. Counting may be done this evening.

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Martha Rosenberg: Condi Rice's Legacy and the
'Creep Factor'

post from BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash on 19 December 2008 11:18:10 AM. © BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Martha Rosenberg

Condoleezza Rice finally lost her temper.

When Michele Keleman from National Public Radio asked the outgoing Secretary of State if Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe's discussion of human rights at the UN made it more difficult for her to talk about human rights, she exploded.

"To mention Robert Mugabe in the same sentence with the President of the United States is an outrage," she admonished in the December interview.

"Robert Mugabe is simply trying to cover the fact that he's taken a country which was once one of the jewels of Africa, made it into a center of starvation and now of rampant disease that threatens its neighbors. And no, we shouldn't fall prey to any kind of moral relativism here. We ought to call it as we see it."

You can't blame Rice for simmering.

With all the Election '08 talk about "firsts" for women and African-Americans and glass ceilings, what about her?

She was not the first female U.S. Secretary of State but she certainly was the first African American one. And she was certainly the first to brave diplomatic waters where a woman's hand outstretched for a handshake puts terror in the hearts of ruling male supremacists.

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Franken-Coleman Recount: Franken Takes the REAL
Lead

post from Firedoglake on 19 December 2008 11:16:11 AM. © Firedoglake

Now that the challenged ballots are being dealt with by the MN state canvassing board, Al Franken has, finally and officially, taken the lead.[...]

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Bristol Palin's future mother-in-law arrested

post from AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth on 19 December 2008 11:15:00 AM. © AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth

Ah, those small-town values:

The mother of Levi Johnston, the 18-year-old boyfriend of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's teenage daughter, has been arrested on drug charges, the Anchorage Daily News reported Friday.

Sherry L. Johnston, 42, has been charged with six felony counts of misconduct, the newspaper reported.

Levi Johnston entered the national spotlight this autumn when it was revealed that 18-year-old Bristol Palin ? the eldest daughter of Sarah Palin, who had just been tapped as then-Republican presidential nominee John McCain's running mate ? was pregnant with his child.

The baby is due Saturday, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

That family is like a bad country song.

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WINTER BREAKFAST BLOGGING.

In the summer, breakfast is easy. Medium iced coffee, splash of cream, half packet of Splenda. And oh, is that a banana? Yeah, I?ll take a banana. The winter is harder. For years, in fact, I?ve struggled with the question of winter breakfasts. Cold[...]

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=winter_breakfast_blogging

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MN-Sen: Franken Pulls Ahead...For Now

As expected today, the Minnesota canvassing board's review of the challenged ballots has now put Al Franken ahead of Norm Coleman for the first time in the recount. As of this posting, The Uptake lists Franken's lead at 78 votes. The Star Tribune's[...]

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