Burn After Reading

The trailer for the Coen Brothers' follow-up to No Country for Old Men, called Burn After Reading, is now available.

Looks like a winner to me.

My favorite Harvey Korman sketch (that he wasn't in)

Yesterday comic legend Harvey Korman died at the age of 81 from a brain aneurysm. Over at this thread on the news, I talked about my favorite sketch of his from "The Carol Burnett Show", which I had been unable to find on YouTube. Luckily, a saint reading the thread named PattyAnn found this link and emailed it.

In true moron form, I was describing a skit that Korman wasn't even in. It was Lyle Waggoner*. But, since it's my blog, I'm going to post it anyway.



For skits that actually feature Korman, head over to the above link or the Moron-in-Chief's.

He'll be missed, even if I am too much of a 'tard to remember which skits he was in.

*In my defense, I wasn't even born when the show was on, and the last time I saw it was a rerun on ABC Family about 12 years ago.

Liebs and Grahamnesty leave Vets group...because the group attacked Obama?

It must be fun to be a Senator and put what's best for your fellow Senator before what is best for the country. Anyways. The other day, Vets for Freedom issued the following ad, asking Sen. Obama why he will meet with Iran, but not with Gen. Petraeus:



In response, Sens. Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham promptly stepped down from their positions on the group:

Senators Joseph I. Lieberman and Lindsey Graham, prominent surrogates for Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign, stepped down Wednesday from their positions with an independent group that released a pair of Internet advertisements attacking Senator Barack Obama on Iraq.

Mr. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut, and Mr. Graham, Republican of South Carolina, were both on the policy advisory board to the organization, Vets for Freedom, which on Wednesday released its second Web advertisement in less than a week attacking Mr. Obama.

[...]

After inquiries from reporters, the senators released a joint letter to Vets for Freedom on Wednesday saying they had requested a leave from their positions to come into compliance with the new policy.

“This is obviously something we’re working through,” said Brian Rogers, a spokesman for the McCain campaign. “This is the kind of thing that happens when you have the strictest possible policy on these issues.”

The new policy was meant to head off embarrassing questions about connections of members of the McCain campaign to special interests that run counter to Mr. McCain’s reformist reputation. But adhering to that standard has proved complicated.

So anyways, we're screwed in 2008. Especially if McCain's campaign is going to be that insane.

Exit question: Why did Sen. Lieberman have to step down from his position at Vets for Freedom, but not have to cancel a speaking engagement at a conference held by Rev. John Hagee?

Song of the Day

"Mississippi G*ddam" by Nina Simone



And you can do audience participation while you watch! Yippie!

Shocka! Portland Hipsters Love the Obamessiah (oh yeah, and free music)!

Earlier this week, he had a crowd of 75,000, and I was not shocked that so many hipsters came out to see the Obamessiah. Turns out I was right to not be shocked, as right before Obama came to the stage, hipster-doofus band The Decemberists played a free 45-minute concert for the crowd. I'm shocked, shocked, that the media failed to report that.

The Decemberists, if you don't know, are a popular, well received Portland-based band. I (somewhat) liked their album Picaresque, but haven't really listened to them since one of my friends made me listen to them almost non-stop on a road trip. That kinda thing usually puts me off a band for a long time.

I, like Jim Geraghty, wonder if they played their song "Sixteen Military Wives":

The video depicts a bully named "Henry Stowecroft" (Kissinger and Brent?) representing the United States in a grade school model United Nations who declares war on Luxembourg. I kid you not when I tell you the video begins with the bully putting on a flag pin.

The lyrics:

Sixteen military wives
Thirty-two softly focused brightly colored eyes
Staring at the natural tan
of thirty-two gently clenching wrinkled little hands
Seventeen company men
Out of which only twelve will make it back again
Sergeant sends a letter to five
Military wives, whose tears drip down through ten little eyes

Cheer them on to their rivals
Cause America can, and America can't say no
And America does, if America says it's so
It's so!

And the anchorperson on TV goes...
La de da de da

Fifteen celebrity minds
Leading their fifteen sordid wretched checkered lives
Will they find the solution in time
Using their fifteen pristine moderate liberal minds?

Here is the video in question. I was able to watch it 30 seconds before finding it too obnoxious to finish. You could have a drinking game to go along with all the half-brained dKos talking points presented therein.

Is this the truth or just Bill O'Reilly being Bill O'Reilly?

McCain might cut off Newsweek from the Straight Talk Express?



I agree with the panel that this wouldn't be productive. He should keep Newsweek reporters on the bus, but mock them at every turn.

Ratboat '08!

When redneck analogies attack!



I love it.

When Troofers Attack...

...Secret Service agents. Ha.



RON PAUL RON PAUL RON PAUL!!!

Nintendo on your coffee table.

It comes with a game genie the size of your garage, so I hear...

Leave Akon Alone!

Oh, Dorian...I will leave him alone. I promise. Put the Visine away...

It's Old: The "Obama Lied About Denouncing Wright Last Week" Edition

In case you haven't noticed, I haven't been blogging as much lately. That's because the hours at my job changed to a 4-day work week, which leaves me little time for blogging. (It's part of the state government's plan to crush the will of all their employees, I think.)

Despite the downsides, these new hours do allow me to listen to listen to old airings of Rush Limbaugh's show. Something he highlighted on the show I was listening to (originally broadcast the day after The Press Conference that Saved America) was this exchange between MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell and Joe Scarborough:



So Sen. Obama, who was "angry" about the comments Jeremiah Wright made at the National Press Club (that were just reiterations of the comments Obama had already defended, natch), spent the rest of his day overturning his "denouncement" of Wright that morning. And the media, sans Andrea Mitchell, were so wrapped up in the afterglow of the Sermon Ass-saving Pander on the Mount that they totally missed this.

These distractions just really aren't helping Michelle Obama's children though, so hush it.

"We shouldn't be asking 'Why us?' We should be saying 'Well, why not us?'"

Last month Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin gave birth to her fifth son, whom she has revealed has Down syndrome. There's a good article in the Associated Press today about the situation:

The results of Gov. Sarah Palin's prenatal testing were in, but the doctor's tone was ominous: "You need to come to the office so we can talk about it."

Palin, known for a resolve that quickly launched her from suburban hockey mom to a player on the national political stage, said "No, go ahead and tell me over the phone."

The physician replied "Down syndrome," stunning the Republican governor who had just completed what many political analysts called a startling first year in office.

[...]

The 44-year-old governor waited a few days before telling her husband Todd, who was out of town, so she could understand what was ahead for them.

Once her husband got the news, he told her: "We shouldn't be asking 'Why us?' We should be saying 'Well, why not us?'"

There was never any doubt the Palins would have the child, and on April 18 she gave birth to Trig Paxon Van Palin.

"We've both been very vocal about being pro life," Palin said. "We understand that every innocent life has wonderful potential."

Glenn Beck, who is also the parent of a child with special needs, talked about Sarah and Trig Palin on his show the other day:



Great story.

(Unrelated, but the following line from the article gives me pause about a VP bid for Palin: "She stood up to the powerful oil industry, and with bipartisan support in the statehouse she won a tax increase on oil companies' profits." Hmmmm....)

John Gibson smacks around "Rev." Marty Parrish

...and a dumb caller on his radio show.



Ha!

UPDATE:It turns out my instincts to put quotes around Rev. were right! Marty Parrish isn't even an active member of his church, let alone a minister!

reason magazine interviews Grover Norquist.

It's about 45 minutes long, but worth a listen. Topics include "talks about splits among libertarians and conservatives, the many failures of the Bush administration and the GOP Congress, his trouble with Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the urgent need for reform in Social Security, health care, and education, and much, much more."



If the player is acting screwy, the link to the video's page at reason.tv is here.

Under the weather...

I don't really feel all that well, so I doubt I'll be blogging too much this weekend. Meanwhile, the fellas at Red State Update have a debate proposal for Obama and Clinton.

Hillary listens to Newt?

Who knew?

Well, she probably doesn't, but when it comes to debates, someone at the Clinton campaign is channeling something Newt Gingrich said this fall. That is, Clinton campaign manager Maggie Williams has found a way for the Obamessiah (change be upon Him) to avoid "distracting" debate moderators:

In the spirit of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, we make this proposal:
Senator Clinton and Senator Obama will participate in a 90-minute debate in an open public forum. Just the two of them -- no questioners, no panelists, no video clips. One candidate would speak for two minutes, then the other, alternating back and forth all the way through the debate. Their discussion – not any pre-set rules – would determine how long they spend on one subject before moving on to another. Such a debate would range across all of the challenges, large and small, we face as a nation or it could focus on the most significant issue we face today -- the economy.

We can readily agree on a host, a place, a date, and a broadcaster or series of broadcasters.

Ha! Best Democratic primary evuhhhhhhh!

The Obama campaign has already, predictably, rejected such a debate. But why? There is no way for his answers to get cut down to "snippets" and taken out of context. There are no moderators to bring up "distractions". There will be no one to blame but him if he has a disastrous perfor....oh wait. There we go. I forgot the First Rule of Democratic Politics: always have someone to blame besides yourself.

Gateway Pundit has already noticed the blatant racism of Clinton's debate suggestion:

Didn't Lincoln and Douglas debate slavery? Is that what this is all about?... Another twisted racist attack by the Clinton's?

Is this some sick stunt where Hillary gets Obama on stage, plays Democrat and defends slavery for 90 minutes? Sick.

/snark

UPDATE: I found video of Hillary delivering the challenge to Obama. Here you go...

Obama camp fightfightfightin' Fox News Sunday

As you may remember, Fox News Sunday had set up an "Obama Watch", counting the number of days since he last said he would appear on the program. A refresher:



Well, the Obamessiah (change be upon Him) has decided to descend from the heavens tomorrow to communicate with we lowly rabble - you know, those of us who cling to guns, religion, and racism because we're poor - and appear on the program. But, via TPM's Election Central, he plans to be at his netroots-style fightfightfightin'-est:

A senior Obama adviser vows that he will "take Fox on" when he appears on the network this Sunday, though it's unclear yet just how.

[...]

Here is what the adviser IM-ed me about this today:

We are clear-eyed about Fox’'s role in the dissemination and amplification of Republican talking points this election. They have been the tip of the spear when it comes to repeatedly broadcasting some of the most specious of rumors about Obama. He is going on their Sunday show to take Fox on, not because we have any illusion about their motives or politics in this election.

He'll be ready if that mean old meanie Chris Wallace tries to ask him about any of those "distractions".

Common (Wo)Man Nancy Pelosi: Gas is $2.56 a gallon most places

If you remember, a year ago the Associated Press was breathlessly informing all of America that then-GOP frontrunner Rudy Giuliani was out of touch with Americans because she didn't know the correct price of milk or bread.

Cut to one year later, here's Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Larry King's show:



I expect to see an article from the AP any minute telling readers how uneducated Speaker Pelosi is on one of the most important issues of the day. Annnnnnnny minute.

"Everything's going to get louder, even if it never gets better"

Today's song of the day, "Get Better" by Mates of State, seems to be about the election season. Heh.



One of the most fun bands to see live.

This makes me laugh every time

It fits so perfectly.