Either Relevant or True » Give Them Something To Cry About

Monday’s tie: Brown stripes

Segue music: There wasn’t any

Worst Person in the World: Bill Kristol comes out against misogyny regarding Hillary Clinton, even though four months ago he was, in fact, semi-misogynistic regarding Hillary Clinton.

5 . Over the weekend, Wes Clark made quite a stir with comments regarding John McCain’s military service (short version: he said getting shot down and becoming a POW isn’t a qualification to be president - when he probably meant that military service doesn’t automatically qualify one to be president). Barack Obama came out against Clark’s comments today and said that he wouldn’t stand for attacks on anyone’s patriotism (including his own). Meanwhile, McCain is setting up a “truth squad” to repudiate attacks on his record and while he was kind to Obama, he didn’t exactly come out very strongly to defend Obama’s patriotism. And oh yeah, he’s using one of the Swift Boat Veterans as a surrogate now. So what gives, Richard Wolffe? Turns out McCain did go out of his way to be nice, but he knows he can score points when he attacks Obama’s patriotism, so he’s keeping that card in his back pocket. Basically, McCain needs to figure out how he can still remain the principled figure he was in 2000 while maintaining the ability to go negative when need be. (Remember, in the 2004 election, McCain was vocal about his disapproval of the Swift Boating, but that’s because he and Kerry are really good friends - he doesn’t have to worry about that this time.) R. Dub also says that Clark’s basic point does work, but he came across as ham-handed and that’s why he’s taking so much flak. Chris Cillizza says that no matter what, Obama’s patriotism is always going to be questioned, so it’s good that he came out today with his patriotism speech. This was actually the first in a series of speeches he’ll be giving about certain tough topics (tomorrow he’ll be talking about faith) and since Obama is such a great speaker, this could be a really great opportunity for his campaign. Also: Obama and Bill Clinton spoke! To each other! Chances are they reached some sort of détente, and we’ll be seeing more of Bill Clinton on the campaign trail (especially since Clinton has to rebuild his image within the party).

4. Today, GWB congratulated himself and John McCain on passing a new GI Bill. And some other people were involved too and stuff. This despite the fact that he and McCain were both against the new GI Bill. Sen. Jim Webb, who worked tirelessly to get the new GI Bill passed (and barely rated a mention in GW’s speech) joined Keith for a jovial interview. He was completely unsurprised that GW took credit for the bill, but in the bigger picture, he’s so happy it passed that he kind of doesn’t really care. Now he says that we need to stop making our troops political fodder and really work to help them in meaningful ways. Webb again shoots down VP suggestions and Keith congratulates him on the kind words the WaPo bestowed upon him over the weekend.

No Oddball, so here’s something weird for your amusement.

Best Persons: If you asked me what the strangest thing I saw on the streets of Amsterdam, escaped zoo animals wouldn’t have occurred to me, but it happened today. Are A-Rod and Madge hooking up? And Jed Babbin warns of the horrors of the “Olbermann Network.”

3. John McCain came out against Barack Obama, saying Obama cannot be trusted to keep his word because he has made some policy reversal decisions. It turns out that McCain has also been for a lot of stuff before he was against it. The McCain camp says their candidates views are “evolving,” although ostensibly he can still be trusted.

Tell me I am not the only one who saw the Scientology commercial during the break.

2. Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal says that there were no major oil spills following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Except… there were. And it turns out Bob the Builder isn’t the only one Barack Obama stole the “Yes, We Can” line from. According to Monica Crowley, he also stole it from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Except… he didn’t.

1. Keith’s Special Comment on FISA and Obama. Turns out John Dean is all over this (~~his editorial isn’t posted yet, but Keith said it will be this week; looks like Dean posts on Fridays for the most part~~ It’s totally up and stuff now) - the new FISA regulations don’t allow for the telecoms to have immunity in criminal cases, only civil ones. If the telecoms take immunity, they are tacitly admitting guilt and if GW pardons anyone, he is basically admitting criminal culpability. So Keith essentially extends to Obama two choices. He can vote for the new FISA regulations and then announce that when he becomes president, he’ll instruct his Justice Department to conduct criminal investigations or he can vote against it because the GOP is going to bitch about his patriotism no matter what. (They’ll probably bitch if he votes for it anyway). Video and transcript at the Countdown site and Crooks and Liars.

That bloody Dianetics commercial creeps me out. DANGER, WILL ROBINSON, DANGER.

Re; Tonight’s SC- I gotta say I liked the informative style, but I think Keith’s gonna get slammed for basically giving Barack me Obamadeus advice on air. But, eh, wotever. I learned things and I love the minute details of the bill and learning what the language means.

AND KEITH HAD ON WEBB! \o/ :is a totaly Webb fangirl:

Why should anyone slam Keith for giving Obama advice on air? He’s always said he’s an equal-opportunity Special Commenter. He proved it again last night.

As for me, I’m pleased that he justified my faith in him. As I suspected, the man is so very fond of the Oliver Cromwell quote “I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken” that he even believes in taking it to heart when it may just apply to himself.

Lucy, totally agree regarding that stupid Dianetics commercial. I need to dig up their email and tell MSNBC to visit xenu.net and Enturbulation.org for more information. Luckily there wasn’t an Amway commercial last night!

I need to relisten to the SC. I have it on my iPod because I fell asleep. *sigh*

Yes, Lucy, when Keith asked Webb about being the Veep candidate, my heart was singing, despite his disclaimers.

Any man who can work as hard as Webb did to win these benefits for our troops and then laugh off the brazen efforts of Bush to take credit for himself and share that credit with McCain is an adult who knows that it is the work and results that matter, not the credit.

Long before McCain was the Republican presumptive nominee, I thought that pragmatically Obama needed either Webb or Clark as the other half of his ticket.

And, Kudos to Clark as well. I have never understood how being a prisoner of war qualifies anyone for elective office, especially high elective office. And yet even someone with Clark’s top drawer military credentials is getting blasted as if he had been uttering heresy.

Of course McCain went through a terrible ordeal, and I am thankful that he survived, but let’s face it, he was flying over a foreign country and dropping bombs on them when he was shot down. All that shows me is that he follows orders and can dehumanize the civilian population below him as its Bombs Away. No wonder he can sing about bombing Iran to a Beach Boys tune.

I am glad that Keith devoted some time to General Clark and his comments as well.

I would appreciate a little more examination as to why this country seems to think that military service is almost a prerequisite (and it used to be a prerequisite) for elective office. Perhaps with Jon Soltz.

I assume Keith knows Madonna isn’t 200 years old, she is 49, just like him

I guess he didnt realize the irony when he mentioned the age diff between she and A-rod -

Lola –

That “206″ comment is a joke that goes back to Sportscenter days. It’s not a sexist snark as he’s used it with men equally as with women — and with himself.

He talks about it on the Daily Kos if anyone is interested.

Lola, The one weak moment in an otherwise outstanding show.

One does assume that Keith knows that scientifically Madonna could not possibly be 200, or 206. And a quick Google would produce the info so he could say, “Why, she is just my age!”

This is male “humor”. Part of how they seem to interact is by insulting each other. It may have been directed more at A-Rod for possibly dating an, OH, THE HORROR, older woman.

Men who do not interact much with adult women do not seem to have caught on that most of us do not indulge in nor find amusing insulting age humor any more than we would joke about each other’s weight.

Yes, I agree, a very good show indeed - I meant my earlier comment regarding his Madonna quip to be a lighthearted one (guess I failed in that regard) - I wasnt trying to jump on the “Keith is member of the He-Man Woman Hater’s Club” bandwagon that started a while back - I thought a lot of the criticism he received in that regard was unfair

I enjoy the commentary on this site - just wanted to clarify -

Madonna has bugged me since she hit the scene, pretty much. Although I’m older now and better able to articulate things like “How is it feminist to counter prudery by making every intimate thought a commodity?”(although she’s been cute in “League of Their Own” and stuff like that, I admit.)
And even a heathen like me gets tired of her thinking she’s edgy by disrespecting spiritual icons.
Aw, man, I was hoping she’d stay married so we’d know who she was not having sex with.(/cheap single-person joke)

You can all relax… according to Madonna’s people, she and Guy Ritchie are not divorcing. Even though she hired Paul McCartney’s divorce lawyer. I know you were all losing sleep over it.

And John Dean’s commentary on Obama and FISA is up at FindLaw now.

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20080702.html

Okay, I’m a hypocrite. Tonight, listening to Rachel and Christian, when he followed up on the Obama owing Dennis Hasbert for 24 & Clinton owing Gena Davis comments with McCain owing Mel Brooks for the 2000 Year Old Man, I broke out laughing.

It appears that there are times when I do appreciate ageist humor.

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