Our Ignorant Dolt of the Week .... Robert Novak

Yes, 50% of the old "Errors and No Facts" team ...

The man who stops for no one, which included homeless people crossing the street in Washington DC, when zipping around in his Corvette (Yes, hard to focus on the image of this lump of fecal matter tooling around in a suped-up sports machine).

The man who was a party in the leaking of the identity of a covert CIA agent.

The man who stormed off a television set, rather than answer to the truth.

Robert Novak, our Ignorant Dolt of the Week!

Robert Novak, the conservative hack-whore, whose stench from carrying the GOP's water all these years actually waifs up from the newspapers that carry his column, or, the television screen he happens to appear on.

Now, it's not really clear he was watching the same election that was held last Tuesday night.

Maybe he got some scrambled version of GOPTV, or an early draft of the RNC/Rove talking points.

Or he got a whiff of his own stench, blurring his eyes.

For how else to explain this;

NO REALIGNMENT: No mandate for Obama, no lopsided Congress

The national election Tuesday was not only historic for the election of the first African-American president in the nation's history but also for how little the avalanche of Democratic votes changed the political alignment in Congress.

But Obama's win was nothing like that. He may have opened the door to enactment of the long-deferred liberal agenda, but he neither received a broad mandate from the public nor the needed large congressional majorities.

Hmmm ... Let's see here ...

Obama beat Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain by 7.5-millions votes, roughly a 6% margin, turned 10 states from Red, to Blue, while the House picked up 20 new seats, bringing their majority to 255, and the Senate has picked up 5 seats, with a few races still to-be-determined.

Looks like a pretty good, lopsided, ass-kicking, landslide, majority mandate to me.

It's also deafening, how the Right Wing Freak Show is screaming this meme, and how the country is a "Center-Right" country.

Running, right up to the election, was something close to 85% of the country saying we needed change, while continuing to pin down The Commander Guy with ratings you could almost count on your two hands, yet people like Novak, and a whole stable of others, want to tell us to "pay no attention" to those election results, nothing is going to change.

They are clutching to the curtain that is closing on them.

But Wait, There's More!

No Facts turns around today, and starts touting Newt Gingrich as the man-with-a-GOP-plan

Newt in 2012?

In serious conversations among Republicans since their election debacle Tuesday, what name is mentioned most often as the Moses, or Reagan, who could lead them out of the wilderness before 40 years?

To the consternation of many Republicans, it is none other than Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House.

Oh Jesus!

Just what we need, Newt coming onto the playing field, armed, no doubt, with a new Contract On America.

It was just barely two years ago, Newt wanted to cut back on our Freedom of Speech, so, with the promising cleansing by an Obama Administration, not sure there'll be an appetite for a Bush Grindhouse-style blowtourching of our liberties in 2012.

It's a real, slobbering wet one of a column, so, apparently, No Facts, even in his twilight years, isn't afraid to drop to his knees to take one for the team that he thinks he's still on.

He's an old hack, believing that being fed smearing lies, or gossip, is the equivalent of gumshoe journalism

So, for such obvious, over-the-top dogma, for even trying to play the RWFS old game, Robert "No Facts" Novak joins our growing roster of IDOTW, Michele Bachmann, Brad Blakeman and Elizabeth Dole.

That's going to be some field they're warming up, to send out onto the field in 2012.

Newt, Joe The Dumber, and The Wasilla Whiz Kid.

Hmmm ... Perhaps a bigger mandate, a larger landslide be a'comin'?


Bonus "No Facts" Riffs

The Rude Pundit: Time to Rub Their Fucking Faces in It

Skippy the bush kangaroo: sorry, we can't hear you when we're ignoring you

Matthew Yglesias: New Leadership for the Past

Sadly No: Glorious news

Could This Be The Answer For The Torn GOP?

Mighty MendIt

Yes, Billy Mays and his Mighty MendIt!

He's more ubiquitous than Michael Caine, and, as we have all seen, he's up to virtually any job, always guaranteeing success, fixing any problem, solving any need.

Hey, they're touting The Wasilla Whiz Kid, Billy Mays can't be much worse.

This Date ... On The Garlic

8 November 2006... On The Garlic

Hot Dog and Hee Haw! ... Guess What We Got Today!


8 November 2006... On The Garlic

Top Ten Cloves: Things Karl Rove Did As Last Night’s Elections Results Rolled In


8 November 2005... On The Garlic

Breaking News! High Court To Hear Tribunal Case, With Extraordinary Secret Measures Taken

News In Brief - Vatican Sends Warning To High Court Catholic Majority

Top Ten Cloves: Things Overheard During The Riots In France

This One's For Sarah ...

Sorry Garlic Fans, that this is a late post today - and my only for the day.

As has happened in the past, jammed up on the homefront, and the dial is bouncing between "very tired" and "exhausted".

It's been a rough past few days ... A comedy of errors on Wednesday, attempting to get a blood sample taken from my soon-to-be-96-year-old Aunt, getting it in time for our regular check-up visit today (She's A-Okay! ... Passed with flying colors, gained a little weight, all is well; I did, though, discuss with the doc the uptick in her dementia and now I am armed with some meds that can tamp down and mellow her out, when-and-if, she gets too agitated, as has happened a few times).

So, that left me out of the loop for most of the day today.

I did feel the ground moving, and the cable television heads all-a-flutter, due to Obama, and HIS FIRST PRESS CONFERENCE AS PRESIDENT-ELECT!

I suspect, we'll be hearing a lot more "Firsts" leading up to January 20th.

And I did catch some of the on-going, landfill-sized dirt bombs the Dead Campaign Express is been attempting to bury Mommy Moose with ...

Interesting, after being spat upon by the Flying Monkeys, for daring to point out The Wasilla Whiz Kid and a doorknob are about par on the smarts, now, the people that picked her (McKKKain, going to the gates of the Arctic Circle), coached her, defended her, exploited her, clothed her, are the ones opening up the Alaskan-sized closet.

Didn't know Africa was a continent, thinking it was a country, heh?

Oh My!

Well, this one is for you, Sarah ..

It's an old classic and we apologize for not being able to find a video or audio file of the killer Tshala Muana rendition of it.

Grand Kalle & L'African Jazz - Afrika mokili mombimba




P.S.

Sarah, "Africa Mokili Mombimba" means "Africa Everywhere"

Stay Tuned ...Hope to back on-track tomorrow.

We'll have our Ignorant Dolt of the Week for you (and this weeks' winner, actually, has been an Ignorant Dolt for a number of decades now)

This Date ... On The Garlic

7 November 2007... On The Garlic

Editor's Note: No Drum-Banging Rabbit Around Here


7 November 2006... On The Garlic

Breaking News! Developing Story! White House Rerunning 2000 Post Election Plans; Bush Unhinged, Huddles With Lawyers And Preps Briefs To Contest Election Results; With GOP Losing House, Tighter Senate, Appeal Will Be Filed; Snow: “What Worked in 2000 Can Work Again”


7 November 2005... On The Garlic

White House Tension Builds As Bush, Cheney Clash Over Ethics Classes

Top Ten Cloves: Other CIA Secret Torture Projects

Joe ... You're Nothing To Us Now!

The Godfather Part 2 - Michael & Fredo Corleone



Now, I am not suggesting, by using the above-video referencem if what happens to those that turn against their own, that Harry Reid, or the Sargent-at-Arms, should take McKKKain's Mini-Me (aka Senator Joe Lieberman, R-I, CT) out fishing anytime soon, however, he does need to be buried, deep, within the Democratic Caucus somewhere.

Lots of political drama today, up on the Hill, with the big meeting between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Party-Joltin' Joe.

From Lieberman Meets With Reid, Tries To Cling To Senate Chairmanship

Immediately after his meeting with Reid, Lieberman told reporters that he had not made a decision about his future in the caucus, and appeared to launch his first public appeal to members of the Democratic steering committee, whose members decide committee chair assignments.

"I completely agree with President-elect Obama that we must now unite to get our economy going again and to keep the American people safe. that is exactly what I intend to do with my colleagues here in the Senate in support of our new president, and those are the standards I will use in considering the options that I have before me," Lieberman told reporters.

Here's the video of it.

What an asshole!

After spending the summer stumping with the Dead Campaign Express, Mommy Moose (and also some down-ticket Republican races), jumping in on all the lying and smearing, and he now wants to hide behind Obama?

Along with his Fredo-like qualities, he also is acting exactly like any one of the Bush Grindhouse deadbeats, avoiding taking responsibility for his own actions, obfuscating his position of campaigning against the Democrats by now embracing the new order.

Jesus, he spoke at the Republican National Convention!

You don't do that!

However much he wanted to support his buddy, Stumblin' Bumblin' John McKKKain, you don't go out and speak at the oppositions keg party.

Those are staged and reserved solely for tooting your own party's horn, strutting your party's positions, and demonizing the opposing party.

It's almost as if the debunked Mavericks' poor judgment is contagious

And he didn't stop there.

Just last week, he openly dissed his colleagues in the Dem caucus, spewing, just like all the other Flying Monkeys, the RNC Talking Points.

Lieberman: ‘I Fear’ That ‘America Will Not Survive’ If Democrats Get 60 Senate Seats

Today, in an interview with right-wing radio host Glenn Beck, Lieberman made clear that he firmly opposes Democrats gaining 60 seats in the Senate, saying that the survival of the country is in doubt if Democrats break the filibuster threshold:

BECK: But do you agree that Senator Hatch said to me that if we don’t at least have the firewall of the filibuster in the Senate that in many ways America will not survive?

LIEBERMAN: Well, I hope it’s not like that, but I fear.

Then, he added;

LIEBERMAN: And I think the filibuster is the key. You know, it gets a bad name, but it was really put there, a 60-vote requirement, to, as somebody said to me when I first came to the Senate, stop the passions of a moment among the people of America from sweeping across the Congress, the House, through the Senate, to a like-minded President and having us do things that will change America for a long time. So the filibuster is one of the important protections we have.

Who's that "we" you're talking about there, Mini-Me?

So, what to do with Mr. Finger-in-the-Wind?

The consensus is that Reid and the Dems will strip Mini-Me of his chairmanship, and downgrade him to some sub-committee of nothingness.

I would like to suggest to Senator Reid, that it be on the level of washing dishes, scrubbing pots and pans, cleaning toilets.

Party-Joltin' Joe has, pretty much, made his own bed here.

No doubt, the GOP side of aisle will be sweet-talking him, and out of forced angry, and insincere outrage, he may bolt over.

But Jane Hamsher has that angle covered;

Joe now goes to see if he can get a better deal from the GOP, knowing his chances of winning in Connecticut as a Republican in 2012 are about "zero."

Maybe, if you ask them nice, Joe, they'll let you sit next to the Stumblin' Fly Boy when the Senate is in-session.

However, just in case, learn to say the "Hail Mary", it brought Fredo good luck every time ...

Well ... All but once.


Bonus Joe The Weasel Riffs

Jane Hamsher: Sign the Petition: Strip Joe

Joe Sudbay (DC): Lieberman is learning there will be consequences

Spencer Ackerman: All You Fake Emcees You Know The Deal, I Carve Up Your Face Now You Look Like Seal

Steve Benen: REID AND LIEBERMAN HAVE A CHAT...

Breaking News! Lieberman Pledges To Support “Whichever Party Elects Me”; Post-Debate Bombshell - Lieberman Announces Plan C – Will Run In All 50 States; Hires Nader For ‘Underdog” Experience; Pledges To Support “Whichever Party Elects Me”

Pluto Planning Run With Independent Solar System; Takes Cues From Lieberman, Who Says May Caucus With New Galaxy

This Date ... On The Garlic

6 November 2007... On The Garlic

Damn You, Nancy OffTheTable and Stagnant Hoyer!

Top Ten Cloves: Things Overheard Backstage at Saturday Night Live, With Brian Williams Hosting


6 November 2006... On The Garlic

Minced Garlic - Keith Olbermann Special Comment: Where are the checks, balances?

Top Ten Cloves: Ways James Dobson Will Cure Ted Haggard And Offer "Spiritual Restoration"

Beam Me Up Scottie!

It still is, thinking back to last evening, something awesome, incredibly unreal, and thoroughly satisfying.

I wonder how many Republicans today, cued up their DVD's, to look back at the Republican Convention, and watch all those speakers mock Barack Obama for being a "community organizer".

Yeah, you showed'em, alright!

Obama kicked ass, that then knocked their teeth out for mumbling about it.

If it were a road race, Obama came damn-near close to lapping the Dead Campaign Express.

Also, it was rather interesting watching it all unfold.

MSNBC seemed slow, on the take, to call states for Obama.

And, if MSNBC was slow, CNN was absolutely petrified, seemingly fearing to put that "Best Political Team on Television" in a position were they would actually have to say something of importance, and not just prattle their own talking points.

And the sets ...

OMG!

Who sold them on going with the look of a bad Las Vegas floor show?

It was like a Cirque du Soleil idea, only missing the Cirque du Soleil imagination and talent.

MSNBC's virtual set appeared like the ripped it right out of the Michael Douglas-Demi Moore movie 'Disclosure'.

I half expected, the program to be torn apart, ending in acrimonious charges of "political harassment" by the end of the evening.

All that play between Rachel Maddow and Pat Buchanan during the course of the campaign coverage, the fighting and arguing, leading to a "steamy encounter", with Buchanan the injured party, claiming Maddow was working her "liberal ways" on him.

The first showing of this came early in their coverage, when they threw it over to Ann Curry (moonlighting from her usual "other members of the cast" Today Show post) for some Exit Poll mishmash.

Curry walked into the 'Disclosure' set, and, Walla!, a virtual reality snowcone-type thingy popped up with the hyped data.

I'm surprised that didn't go all in on this virtual stuff.

Think of the possibilities they could have had, bringing back Little Timmy Russert, to ghost-whisper election nuggets to his former colleagues.

And what happens to The Commander Guy's buddy "Stretch"?

David Gregory's show, 'Race To The Whitehouse', if we believe the title, closed its' curtain last evening, the race being over.

Do they retitle and repackage?

Yes they do, coming on air this evening, same set and graphics, but now called "1600" (see, that happens to be the address of house the previous version of the show was racing to ... Yes, you can use the word"stretch" here, as well)

And CNN ...

Holy Electronic Hijinks, Batman!

If MSNBC was running with the Son of Kirk movie theme, CNN went full bore a retro vibe of Star Trek, beaming reporters and others in for interviews via holograms.

I would have like to been on the set for that, if only to see Wolf Blitzer turn from his usual screaming at large flat screens, to screaming at empty greenscreen space, which I am sure still has the leader of "The Best Political Team on Television" totally freaked out today, ducking at shadows and pigeons.

Over at the Faux News Network, the only thing missing was a mournful Astor Piazzolla dirge, to accompany the long faces (and in Brit Humes' case, a face so long, only Elastic Man could possible match it).

And, for a moment, I half-expected a wonderful, possible, FCC moment.

Just as Hume and Turd Blossom finished looking at the ever-growing Blue map, and Rove riffing, Joe Pesci-style, as he watch the goons beat his brother to death in 'Casino', on the shortening ways McKKKain could still "pull it off", Hume tells him that Ohio just got called for Obama.

For a split-second, time was suspended, awaiting a foot stomp and plaintive cry of "Fuck!"

Fred Barnes?

He was so spooked and shaken, it took him about five-minutes to spit out one sentence.

But, then again the only sentence that matter was that Barack Obama was elected to become the 44th President of the United States.


Bonus Bonus

Astor Piazzolla (1921 - 1992) "Milonga Del Ángel"

"We lock and load our ideological ammunition."

Don't be so gloomy...After all, it's not that awful. Remember what the fellow said... In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed, but they produced Michaelangelo - Leonardo Da Vinci, and the Renaissance...In Switzerland, they had brotherly love. They had five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce?...The cuckoo clock ... So long, Holly.

Harry Lime, to Holly Martin, in the Ferris Wheel scene, from from 'The Third Man'

It would be a nice thought to think of the Right Wing Freak Show churning and churning on their little wheels for the next four-years, watching the country sail by them, as they simmer-and-stew over allowing Stumblin' Bumblin' John McKKKain blow it for them.

For this morning, poking around the great World Wide Web, we stopped by the Queen Freaker, Michelle "Stalkin" Malkin, to check in on the losers.

It seems all the little Flying Monkeys are lost, crestfallen, wandering around aimlessly.

So, Ms. Pro-Internment offered no pats on the head, but rather some bare-your-fangs, tough love;

There is no time to lick wounds, point fingers, and wallow in post-election mud.

I’m getting a lot of moan-y, sad-face “What do we do now, Michelle?” e-mails.

What should they do Michelle? How do they survive the next four years, the Presidency of Barack Hussein Obama?

We stay positive and focused.

We keep the faith.

We do not apologize for our beliefs. We do not re-brand them, re-form them, or relinquish them. We defend them.

We pay respect to the office of the presidency. We count our blessings and recommit ourselves to our constitutional republic.

We gird our loins, to borrow a phrase from our Vice President-elect.

We lock and load our ideological ammunition.

We fight.

Yeah, that's it ...

Keep firing that "ideological ammunition", the same stuff that you, the rest of the Right Wing Freak Show, led by the Bush Grindhouse and Faux News, have been firing, you know, the stuff that has left our country bankrupt, had us invade and occupy another nation, and, oh yeah, allow a major United States city to drown.

But she doesn't just let the little Flying Monkey off with a stern lecture.

Nosireebob!

They have tasks, homework, action items.

First assignment for fiscal conservatives in Washington:

1) Oppose the Democrats’ next stimulus boondoggle.
2) Oppose Obama’s windfall profits tax proposal.
3) Oppose new bailouts for states deep in debt.
4) Oppose new foreclosure prevention measures that will simply provide perverse incentives for borrowers to walk away and delay a needed market correction.
5) No more federal loan guarantees for corporations

Again, that "ideological ammunition", just bog everything down, jam the gears, bring Congress to a standstill as the Republican have done so well, so that nothing gets accomplished.

The Flying Monkeys were attentive, offering the Queen Freaker some of their own suggestions, via the Comment section

Like this one, who, rather than engage in the rebuilding of our country, apparently, wants to raise stupid children;

If this does anything, it really will weed out neo-conservatives from true conservatives.

But I’ve got to tell you…we don’t stand a chance to carry the movement forward if we do not educate our children, friends, neighbors (and others we come in contact with) on these principles that work. Moms and Dads…don’t wait for the schools to provide the education to them…it ain’t gonna happen. There is no more truth taught in the pediatric penitentiaries and houses of brainwashing.

And this one, who has already planned, and mapped out, Obama's Impeachment;

Obama will not be impeached before 2011, when the GOP could conceivably recapture the House, and could not be convicted in the Senate if impeached before 2013, when the GOP might recapture the Senate. And if the GOP captures the Senate in 2012, Obama probably own’t be sworn in for a second term in 2013.

Then there's this fellow, seemingly, wanting to go Vichy and give up names, start filling Queen Freakers Internment Camps;

Also, I don’t know how many of you were watching Fox News coverage of McCain’s speech, but afterward, the journalist assigned to his campaign commented that there were some (maybe many) in the McCain camp that felt that all along McCain thought that, because Obama was black, Obama should win. Essentially, MY FREINDS, we had a rat among us and it the head of our ticket. That would help to explain why he would not attack Obama on ANYTHING. Did you hear that Fox offered McCain the same 30 minute time slot during Obama’s Infomercial FOR FREE and he turned it down!!! If if ever appeared to any of you that McCain didn’t seem to even WANT to win this, you may have been right. We had one party running, not two. McCain’s biggest REACH ACROSS THE EISLE AND THEY’LL LOVE ME.

Let's add something that will really piss them off (or, at least, it will rile up Stalkin' Malkin).

For Inauguration Day, First Lady Michelle Obama should wear a special, Democratic Blue keffiyeh


What's that old saying, for every ying, there's a yang?

The Wall Street Meltdown, now, that hurts ...

The Right Wing Freak Show meltdown .... Priceless!


Bonus Michelle "Stalkin" Malkin Riffs

Capt. Fogg: They burn witches, don't they?

Chris Kelly: Meet John D'oh: Michelle Malkin is Watching You

Logan Murphy: Frost Parents Talk About The Right’s Jihad Against Their Son On Countdown

When A Michelle Malkin Quits The O'Reilly Factor, And No One is Around To Hear it, Does It Make A Sound?

Mirror, Mirror ... She's Still The Sickest! ... But The Bush Grindhouse Is Gaining Ground ... Follow-Up On The Graeme Frost Conflagration

Mirror, Mirror .. If Only Keith Olbermann Offered A "Sickest Person In The World", Sighs Michelle Maudlin, "I Would Surely Be The Sickest"

Tweety Baits, Rat Catcher Bites

Something is going on here.

For the second time in a month, Tweety, either on his 'Hardball' program, or, as last night, in the Special Election coverage, is showing great restraint, patience, just laying back, and letting the Flying Monkeys of the Right Wing Freak Show shit all over themselves.

We had, of course, the incident that launched The Garlic's Ignorant Dolt of the Week, when Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann dove right in, channeling her inner McCarthyism.

And last evening, in MSNBC's Special Election Coverage, Tweety brought on The Rat Catcher (aka former corrupt Republican Majority Whip, Tom "The Hammer" DeLay, who, before he displayed for the world, his legislative intellect, and unbridled greed, prepared for his role in high government via his exterminating business).

Now, there is a question of judgment, why Tweety, and/or MSNBC, would want to have The Rat Catcher on for an interview, being it was, in effect, The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Night of Barack Obama.

But on he slimed, with Tweety baiting him about the unfolding meltdown of the Republican Party, giving The Rat Catcher the opportunity for him to toot the tin, RNC talking point of how a Democratic Majority is going to bring on the end of the universe.

At the end of The Rat Catcher's spewing, Tweety, all smiling and chuckling, cuts his legs off on national television, labeling him a "hater" (perhaps code for something else, no?)

Here it is, captured for posterity;

Rethug Tom Delay Says Dems Will Screw Economy, Chris Matthews Calls Him A Hater




Let's roll out a deal for The Rat Catcher ... We'll give'em a special nod as "Ignorant Hater of the Day!"


Bonus Rat Catcher Riffs

DeLay, the Lobbyist? ...DeLay Resignation Clears Way For Medal of Freedom Award; To Scold Wayward Republicans, President To Conduct Ceremony In Full Session

Lobbyist Sought $15M To Introduce Bush To Cheney; New Documents Show Abramoff Peddling Secret Bunker Access, In Concert With Fallen House Leader DeLay

Old Ethics Rules Back In Force; DeLay Now Facing Additional Charges; Stowaway On Air Force One Effort To Avoid House Investigation

DeLay's Wife Demands To Speak With President; Wants Answers But Not Sure Where To Camp Out - D.C., Crawford or Hurricane Region?

Cheney Backs DeLay At Fundraiser, Despite Upheld Charges; VP Promises Former House Leader "Strong Iraq Press"; Cheney Takes Cut From Gate For New "Bunker" Fund

Conservatives To Fete DeLay Tonight; Last Chance For Favors In Case House Leader Censured or Expelled

RNC, Congress Planning 'Support Our Majority Leader' Rally For DeLay; Music, Speakers and Celebes Slated For K Street Parade; President To Attend If Not In Gulf Region Again

This Date ... On The Garlic

5 November 2007... On The Garlic

Minced Garlic: New Keith Olbermann Special Comment - Kicking Ass and Taking Names!

If The Telecoms Get Amnesty, Will Reporters or Photographers Be Jailed For Reporting It?

Good Post Alert: Shaun Mullen and The Legacy of Paul Tibbets,The Enola Gay & Separating the Warrior From the War

Retro Garlic - Life Imitating The Garlic ... Again!


5 November 2006... On The Garlic

Weekend Special - Sautéed Cloves

Speaker Pelosi, Best You Make Like A Hockey Player This Week, And Skate With Your Head Up ... The Results - The Garlic's Weekly Poll

Editor’s Note - The Nation’s “Bring Democracy Home”


5 November 2005... On The Garlic

Weekend Special - Sautéed Cloves

Oh, Happy Day!

YES WE CAN!!!

President-Elect Barack Hussein Obama!



At the precise hour of 11:-00 EST, the networks, after biting on their lips for about the past 2-hours, called it.

Pretty fucking incredible!

NBC: OBAMA ELECTED 44TH PRESIDENT; Illinois senator to become first African-American executive in U.S. history

Barack Obama, a 47-year-old first-term senator from Illinois, shattered more than 200 years of history Tuesday night by winning election as the first African-American president in the history of the United States, according to projections by NBC News.

Obama reached the 270 electoral votes he needed for election at 11 p.m. ET, when NBC News projected that he would win California, Washington and Oregon. The Associated Press reported shortly after 11 p.m. that Obama’s opponent, Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, had called Obama to offer his congratulations.

I'll save the satire and snark for tomorrow, and the days ahead.

Tonight is a night to savor, to reflect, and to celebrate the incredible accomplishment of Barack Obama, Team Obama, and every single citizen who voted for the change and new direction this country desperately needs.

So, shout it out loud ...

Oh, Happy Day!

Edwin Hawkins - Oh happy day

Cheney Fluffer Hayes Blows Into CNN

CNN is slowly becoming Fox, but with out the blaring, cacophonous, over-the-top, kirons.

At least, as far as their "Best Political Team on Television", which Wolf Blitzer is under contract to breathlessly shout out, every two-minutes, goes.

And that's both on, and off, air.

You can be sitting in a restaurant with Wolf, and, bang, every two-minutes, he's going to stand up and belt out "The Best Political Team in Television!"

Yesterday, news, with a bullet, came out, that CNN is adding official Dick Cheney Fluffer, Stephen Hayes, to their "Best Political Team on Television.

Yes, that Stephen Hayes, the one John Amato, of Crooks and Liars, pegged as "Cheney's Karen Hughes" (you remember her, our first and only National Tupperware Lady), one of the bigger Flying Monkeys, perched over at the Weekly Standard, the heavy duty water carrier for the Bush Grindhouse".

And, about that "Best Political Team on Television" ...

Steve Benen nails it pretty good;

But let's also consider this announcement in the broader context, and note the other most recent additions to the self-described "best political team on television."

The latest CNN team members include David Brody (conservative employee of radical TV preacher Pat Robertson), Alex Castellanos (conservative Republican), Tara Wall (of the conservative Washington Times), and Frances Fragos Townsend (Republican best known for misleading the media on a regular basis while working for a conservative Republican president). They joined J.C. Watts (conservative Republican) and William Bennett (conservative Republican) as part of CNN's political coverage.

There's a real kaleidoscope of American Politics, heh?

That's a good strategy there, CNN.

Keep adding the Flying Monkeys, peel off those Faux News viewers.

Perhaps, with the addition of Fluffer Hayes, you'll have to recalibrate Wolf, to bellow his "Best Political Team of Television" every one-minute, now ...


Bonus "Okay Hayes, Drop Down and Start Your Fluffing" Riffs

Spencer Ackerman: Failing Upward Redux: Steve Hayes Joins CNN

Atrios: Your Liberal Media

Matthew Yglesias: CNN Wants Its Viewers to Be Misinformed

Spencer Ackerman: Idiot Wind Blowing Every Time You Open Your Mouth

No Doubt, Lou Dobbs Will Go Absolut-ely Apocalyptic

Obama Romps ... And, Gloria Borger, with The Best Political Team on Television, Sticks Her Neck Out

This Date ... On The Garlic

4 November 2007... On The Garlic

"According To Our Records" ... The Results - The Garlic's Weekly Poll

Vote For The Moderate Voice

Was Something In the Air, or Water, Last Week?

A Hearty Thank You To All The Garlic Subscribers!


November 4, 2005... On The Garlic

Bush Calls For Color-Coded Pandemic Warning System

Top Ten Cloves: Things Aaron Brown Is Considering Now That He's Been Ousted From CNN

Something's Coming

Well, the tension is all set now.

In, hopefully, less then 24-hours, we'll know who our next President is going to be.

God, I hope it's less than 24-hours, and that we don't get into a retro 2000 scene, that Obama, right out of the gate, as soon as possible, after the first polls close, starts cleaning the clock of the Dead Campaign Express.

Especially after today.

Mommy Moose saved some her best for the last day on the stump, spraying her lies and smears most viciously.

The Republicans, led by their California branch, worked their slime as well, filing a charge with the FEC, to rap Obama for using his Campaign plane to visit his ailing grandmother, who today, it was announced, passed away.

What do they call this, Desperate Compassion?

If McKKKain had any class, he'd either publically state for the charge to be withdrawn, or that he would have his wife pay whatever the cost was for the trip

So, as you gird your loins for the barrage of talking heads tomorrow, passing off anxiety attacks for commentary, repeating the same stale hash they have been for the past number of weeks and months, the donut eaters interpreting a Autumn afternoon breeze as some tell-tale sign that it will be a good night for the Stumblin' Fly Boy, let us hope that we don't have the greatest freak of all-time, that all the polls are wrong, and Obama, as well as the down-ticket contenders, crushes the GOP into oblivion.

Here's a little something to work off that tension with.

Sing along, sing loudly!

West Side Story-Something's Coming

Retro McKKKain: Town Hall Whining

If there were only one thing to be happy for, when this presidential campaign ends tomorrow, it will be (hopefully) the end of having to listen to Stumblin' Bumblin' John McKKKain whine, lie and obfuscate about how he had to run a Rovian, gutter-based, smearing, sliming campaign, because Barack Obama would not agree to do his proposed 10 Town Halls.

He even worked it into the script, of his pathetic SNL appearance this past weekend (or, maybe, he was just employing the Stanislavsky Method, of acting like a loser).

Yeah, right ...

Much like Mommy Moose's bridge, this crying of his should go down as "The Town Halls To Nowhere".

And he has pissed-and-moaned about it so much, he finally go that molded piece of cheese, often referred to as "The Dean" of political reporting, to buy into it.

David Broder, in his WaPO column yesterday, delivered the proverbial donuts;

In what history may record as his singular achievement -- dealing with the classic American dilemma of race -- he had the largely unappreciated help of his opponent, John McCain, who simply ruled out covert racial appeals used by politicians of both parties in the past. But Obama himself demonstrated repeatedly how to bridge the racial divides that still remain, by emphasizing his calm good judgment and respect for others. As a symbol of that national maturity, he carries a powerful, positive message to the world.

Obama is not, any more than other politicians, a paragon. He reneged on his promise to use public funds for his general election campaign, driving a stake into the heart of the post-Watergate effort to reform the campaign finance system. He rejected McCain's invitation to hold joint town hall meetings -- opening the door to the kind of tawdry exchange of charges that we have seen. In both instances, he put his personal goals ahead of the public good -- a worrisome precedent.

Get that ... "Opening the door to the kind of tawdry exchange of charges".

He even gives the Stumblin' Fly Boy a pass, as "who ruled out covert racial appeals ... "

Perhaps that's true.

It's just that the Dead Campaign Express used a few truckloads of covert other smears and lies, leaving the racial BS to those who attended their rallies, and the robocalls.

Steve Benen also called Broder on it;

But this doesn't make sense. If McCain wanted to be an honorable candidate, he could be an honorable candidate, whether his opponent is a Senate colleague or a total stranger. Building a rapport is not a prerequisite for honest campaigning -- character, integrity, and respect for the political process are prerequisites for honest campaigning.

Whether there are three debates or 300 is irrelevant. It's not like McCain and Steve Schmidt got together one day and said, "Well, I wasn't going to spend the fall lying pathologically and smearing Obama, but since there are only going to be three debates, we might as well."

The Retro Part, we hit on, back in September;

He's Still Harping About The 10 Town Halls!


Bonus McKKKain Whining Riffs

Glenn Greenwald: Poor John McCain: Forced against his honor to run an ugly campaign

Joe Klein: Senator Honorable in the Sewer

Joseph Palermo: If Only Obama Agreed To McCain's "Town Hall" Meetings

"So, maverick he is not ..."

We Told You He Was Just Like Bob Dole

Blakeman Takes A Victory Lap With His IDOTW Award

Me thinks the GOP Hack Extraordinaire, Brad Blakeman, our second Ignorant Dolt of the Week, is, perhaps, looking to get in the running for another IDOTW title.

Last Saturday, on MSNBC, with David Shuster and Ari Melber, Brad Hack-Man, started sounding the siren, inveighing against the pending landslide election, giving the Democrats a lock on the Congress, Senate, and White House, labeling it a "Democratic Dictatorship".

GOP Hack Begs For Mercy From Blogs After Dumb Attack On Dems



Sorry Brad, the whining is property of Stumblin' Bumblin' John McKKKain.

You don't get to piss with the big dogs.


Brad Blakeman, Hack Extraordinaire

SourceWatch: Bradley A. Blakeman's

Our Ignorant Dolt-of-the-Week ... Brad Blakeman!

IDOTW Update ... Blakeman's Paying Off!

Here's To You, Studs Terkel!

I was remiss over the weekend, in not acknowledging, and giving a shout out to Studs Terkel.

Terkel passed away last Friday, at the age of 96, and, boy, what a life he had.

A television institution for years, a radio staple for decades, a literary lion since 1967, when he wrote his first best-selling book at the age of 55, Terkel was born in New York City on May 16, 1912. "I came up the year the Titanic went down," he would often say.

Mary Dudziak's post, notes "My epitaph? My epitaph will be 'Curiosity did not kill this cat,' Studs Terkel once said."

From the NYT;

In his oral histories, which he called guerrilla journalism, Mr. Terkel relied on his enthusiastic but gentle interviewing style to elicit, in rich detail, the experiences and thoughts of his fellow citizens. Over the decades, he developed a continuous narrative of great historic moments sounded by an American chorus in the native vernacular.

Although detractors derided him as a sentimental populist whose views were simplistic and occasionally maudlin, Mr. Terkel was widely credited with transforming oral history into a popular literary form. In 1985 a reviewer for The Financial Times of London characterized his books as “completely free of sociological claptrap, armchair revisionism and academic moralizing.”

It is really a shame he couldn't have hung in there another week, time to his Barack Obama elected President, supported, largely, by the working stiffs, the everyday people, he wrote about so often, and so passionately.

Barry Crimmins reminds us today;

The late, great Studs Terkel suggested Barack Obama read FDR's Second Inaugural Address. For Studs and for us, please take a look.

Studs Terkel was a giant, in every essence of the word, passing at time when there are so few.

Here's to you, Studs Terkel!

Thanks for sharing your great life!


Studs Terkel: Conversations with America

Books by Studs Terkel

Tula Connell: Remembering Studs Terkel

Dave Schuler: Take It Easy But Take It

Good Post Alert: Media Matters Makes It On Broadway!

Hats off, and kudos, to all the crew over there at Media Matters for America.

With the pending landslide election, the NYT, perhaps, saw fit, to give a nod to a dedicated group that keeps the dwarfs, finks, phonies and frauds in check, calling them out, with detailed documentation, on their lies and smears.

An All-Out Attack on ‘Conservative Misinformation’

Ripping a page from an old Republican Party playbook, Media Matters has given the Democrats a weapon they have not had in previous campaigns: a rapid-fire, technologically sophisticated means to call out what it considers “conservative misinformation” on air or in print, then feed it to a Rolodex of reporters, cable channels and bloggers hungry for grist.

Producers for both “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report” on Comedy Central take calls from the organization. James Carville, the Democratic strategist and CNN commentator, has read from its items on the air, not least, he says, because they “just irritate the right to no end.”

Digby adds;

Yes, they are ridiculously thorough, which is the kind of thing mainstream reporters and political analysts just hate. Stuart Rothenberg simply discounts all information that doesn't come from allegedly neutral sources. I'd love to know what he thinks those are. (I guess all those videos and documentation from Media Matters are just so booooring to have to look through to evaluate if what they are saying is true. So much easier to just put your fingers in your ears and your faith in Cokie Roberts.)

Go read the entire piece, it's pretty good.

And, if you aren't hip to them, go visit Media Matters, and you should bookmark them, and sign-up for any newsletters, its all great stuff!

This Date ... On The Garlic

3 November 2006... On The Garlic

Top Ten Cloves: Surprising Things Found On “Operation Iraqi Freedom Document Portal” Website


3 November 2005... On The Garlic

Special Sing-Along: Dick, The Magic Vice Prez

Everything Must Change

Well, the day didn't go exactly as planned.

A few rough spots on the homefront, and feeling pretty rundown (there's a Flu-thing going around and I have been doing yeoman work to stay away from it), so time for writing got tossed overboard.

Rather than putting up a goose-egg, I though, with these final, frantic, hectic, over-the-top hours of the campaign, we'd give you a respite, something to take time-out with, chill out for a few minutes, catch your breath, collect your thoughts ...

And, it, kind of, fits into what's going down right now.

We give you the Benard Ighner tune, "Everything Must Change", first heard, I believe, on the Quincy Jones album, "Body Heat".(I first got hip to it, in 1980, having moved to Venice Beach, LA had a 24-hour Jazz station at the time, KKGO, they played it often, and since then, it has been somewhat of a Jazz standard, covered by many)

So, take a break for a monster tune.

Quincy Jones " Everything must change " 1974