Firestorm edition

Maybe Rembrandt didn't have this in mind



Teh best -- James Wolcott believes that Republicans fear running against Clinton more than Obama. "And now along comes Wayne Barrett in The Village Voice, persuasively arguing and methodically documenting that the original Obama infatuation emanating from such untrustworthies as Robert Novak, Rush Limbaugh, William Bennett, George Will, and others was indeed a hydra-headed head fake. . . With their lipless smiles and lidless eyes, conservative connivers don't even bother to disguise their duplicity, so proud and gleeful are they of their little tricks. And why shouldn't they be, when so many liberal bloggers and pundits are ready to fall for them?"

Finally! One of the A-List bloggers wised up and "noticed how the Obama campaign is manipulating the toxic charge of racism." Lambert quoted Kevin Drum, "[T]he current attempts to tar Hillary as a racist have gone way, way over the top. They’re revolting. . ." and then asked some follow-up questions. For example: "3. Now that we’ve talked about racism, when can we talk about misogyny?" Hmmmm?

What Big Tent Democrat said: "If Ferraro was trying to do some dog whistling ['to white voters who resent affirmative action'], she sure picked an unusually ineffective forum for it. It's way more likely that she just blurted out something dumb to a local reporter, and then got her dander up when people started piling on about it. That's no excuse for saying something dumb . . . but it's pretty unlikely that Ferraro had any serious dog whistling agenda here." (Talk Left)

Geraldine Ferraro says the Obama camp owes her an apology. Watch the video.

How dare Avedon tell the truth! Responding to Ferraro's remarks about Obama, Josh Marshall asked: "Can anyone seriously claim that it's an asset to be an African-American in a US presidential race?" M'yeah. As Avedon astutely observed: "No, of course not, because there is no excitement whatsoever about the idea of a black candidate who has a credible shot at the presidency, and there is not one single person in the world who has ever hoped someday to see a black president sworn into office, and not the faintest hint that anyone, anywhere, would have felt the least bit more interested in a less-than one-term Senator with an undistinguished record in the Senate because he was black. . . So far be it from me to suggest that in this moment, with this man, yes, being black just might be an advantage for Obama in winning the Democratic nomination." Wheeee-ooo! Good on ya, Avedon.

Rudov rundown -- Like blogger CLD and me, Melissa McEwan took issue with Professional Douchebag Marc Rudov and his answers to O'Reilly's question, "What is the downside of having a woman become the president of the United States?" Somehow, we women missed the memo about the "female agenda," and with Melissa, we "eagerly await O'Reilly and Mark Rudov exploring the downside of having a man become the president of the United States, and whether the men currently in the running, especially John McCain, have a male agenda."

On the Hill -- Can it be true? Congressional Democrats are growing spines? "The House on Monday filed a civil lawsuit against former White House counsel Harriet Miers and White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten in an effort to get them to comply with a congressional subpoena to testify about the firings of nine U.S. attorneys." Then came news that "House Democratic leaders are readying a proposal that would reject giving legal protection to the phone companies that helped in the National Security Agency’s program of wiretapping without warrants." We'll see if their spines stiffen.

Gay panic in Oklahoma -- Remember the totally unhinged Sally Kern, the lawmaker who likened gays and lesbians to a threat worse than terrorism? Queerty reported that Kern may have a gay son. Their "digital detective work dug up numerous postings naming Jesse as the outcast offspring" when he attended OBU and was "expelled for making inappropriate advances in the library toilets." Whoa. Now let me get this straight, er, correct. Sally is a Christian married to a Baptist preacher? Lawd, lawd. Save us from your people. (Via)

Shooting at church -- "Congregants consider homophobia as a possible reason behind a shooting at the Metropolitan Community Church in Shaw on Friday evening, WJLA reports. MCC serves a predominantly LGBT congregation, and this marks the second time in recent history that the church was the victim of gunfire." The DCist

10 tips to aid the prevention of school bullying: One example: "If it's sexual harassment, call it sexual harassment; if it's homophobia, call it homophobia; and so forth. To lump disparate behaviors under the generic "bullying" is to efface real differences that affect young people's lives."

Who is John Hagee? Eric Alterman asked rhetorically. Answers.

A spring popped out of Keith's head -- And Taylor Marsh promptly snipped it off: "...Keith Olbermann is going to do something no other anchor could dare try. He's going to go on the air to single out Hillary Clinton's campaign, which is being hailed as the first ever special comment to target a Democrat. If Mr. Olbermann really was trying to live up to his sign off, which steals from Edward R. Murrow, he would also include in his special comment a word about Obama's camp and their continual sexism, starting with Jesse Jackson Jr. way back in New Hampshire, or Obama's 'hoodwink - okey-doke' talking points, which I assure you Mr. Obama will not drag out for Pennsylvania, as well as the threats and robo-calls against African American congressmen who were threatened and called 'uncle Tom' for supporting Clinton." Ouch!

Crooks and Liars posted the video and the transcript of Olbermann's special comment on Sen. Clinton. What's there to say to Keith? How 'bout, "Good night, and f**k off!"

Florida re-vote plan released -- Courtesy Jeralyn, the Jan. 29 results, maps, and commentary. Gee, I wonder what my friend CLD thinks about it?

Shhhhhhhhhh!: "The Pentagon on Wednesday canceled plans for broad public release of a study that found no pre-Iraq war link between late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and the al Qaida terrorist network." Reporters will have to request copies to read the findings and the study will not be available on the Internet. "But the study, based on more than 600,000 captured documents, including audio and video files, found that while Saddam sponsored terrorism, particularly against opponents of his regime and against Israel, there was no evidence of an al Qaida link." McClatchy

Lest we forget the war in Iraq -- "While civilian deaths hit an low of 20 per day in January," March totals are "up to 39 daily.” TP