Our Condolences, To The Olbermann Family

Tough weekend, in the Death Business.

We just discovered that Theodore Olbermann, father of MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, passed away today, after an extended illness, following what had been successful colon surgery.

My father died, in the city of his birth, New York, at 3:50 EST this afternoon

He was my inspiration, and will always remain so. His bravery these last six months cannot be measured. He is as much my hero now, as he was when I was five years old.

Early in The Garlic's history, we often featured Olbermann's rants, his "Special Comments", unique at that time, as he sought to bring to the attention of the American Public the lies, crimes and misdemeanors, of the Court Appointed President.

More recently, he used his pulpit, to shake his fist at the spineless Congress, and the Right Wing Freak Show, using his father's situation, to highlight the need for comprehensive healthcare reform;

Drew Grant: Keith Olbermann Discusses Father, “Life Panels”

Ron Chusid: An American Cry For Help

Our condolences, to the Olbermann Family

The Night The Russians Rolled Into Georgia - McCain's August Anthem

Well, he did bring it up, managed to squeeze it in, in one of his cheating responses during the Saddleback Show the other evening.

We also learned about his musical tastes, being that he was groovin' to Abba's 'Dancing Queen" before he was shot down - even though the song didn't come out until after he came home from Vietnam (maybe Abba was "supporting the troops", sending them demo tapes, or something).

Between the cheatin' at Saddleback thing ...and, of course, that Christmas Light from the sky, The Guard-and-the-Cross-in-the-Sand thing (which is only getting worse, now, bobsledding downhill for him), and this evening, having Keith Olbermann slam him on the ground, for all this and more, with a Special Comment, our "Cone of Silence" veteran, Stumblin' Bumblin John McCain probably could use a new tune.

So, as we have done so often here on The Garlic, we have come up with a signature song, McCain's August Anthem, if you will ... Maybe something they can fire up out in Minneapolis ...

It's an old classic, that went #1 when Stumblin' Bumblin' Johnny limped home from the war, so he can, without fear of looking like a jackass again, cite this tune as something he listened to on the plane, or wherever.

Sing along, you may not want to admit it, but you know it.

The Night The Russians Rolled Into Georgia

He was on his way home in the Straight Talk Express
Been two weeks and Obama's at the beach on a rest
He's listenin' to Abba 'fore he went home to her
Randy Scheunemann said "Hello"
And he said "Hi, what's doin', Wo?"
"John, sit down, I got some bad news, it's gonna hurt"
He said "I'm your best lobbyist and you know that's right"
"But your young democracy ain't alone tonight"
"Since you been gone she's been seein' that Putin boy, John "
Well, he got mad 'n' he saw red and Randy said "John, don'tcha lose your head"
" 'cause to tell ya the truth, I been makin' a lot of money myself"

That's the night that the Russians rolled into Georgia
That's the night that McCain pretended to be President
Well, don't trust your soul to no K Street sleazy lobbyist
'cause all the lobbyists in the town's got money in their hands

Well, Randy got scared and left the bus
Walkin' on home 'cause he didn't know who to trust
See, Randy didn't have many friends and he'd just lost him one
McCain thought his democracy musta fallen down
So he went home and finally found
The only thing his campaign had left him, that video, The One

And he went off to Randy's house
A'skippin' through the backwoods quiet as a mouse
Came upon some dollar bills too small for Randy to take
He looked through the screen at the back-porch door
And he saw Randy lyin' on the floor
In a pile of loot and he started to shake

Well, the Adoring Media was a'makin' their rounds
So he belted out some bellicose just to flag 'em down
And a big-bellied anchor and said "What is Mr. President?"
And the Media said "Anti-Christ" in a make-believe trial
And slapped the McCain on the back with a smile
Said' supper's waitin' at home and I gotta get to it"

That's the night that the Russians rolled into Georgia
That's the night that McCain pretended to be President
Well, don't trust your soul to no K Street sleazy lobbyist
'cause all the lobbyists in the town's got money in their hands

Well, they smeared Obama before he could say
The war mongering he saw while on his way
At Andy's house and back that night was Schmidt's
And the cheatin' democracy was still hunkered down
And that's one lie that'll never be found
See, big Stevie Schmidt don't miss when he aims his smears

That's the night that the Russians rolled into Georgia
That's the night that McCain pretended to be President
Well, don't trust your soul to no K Street sleazy lobbyist

FADE
'cause all the lobbyists in the town's got money in their hands

If you need some help, like a Karaoke thing, here's the original

Vicki Lawrence - The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia





Bonus Stumblin' Bumblin' Johnny Riffs

The Bob Dole For The New Millennium

The Gift That Refuses To Stop Itself From Giving

McCain Waves The POW Flag

If He Really Wanted To Scare'em, He Would Have Named Big Daddy Lipscomb ...

Is John McCain Buggering Little Boys?

Minced Garlic - Keith Olbermann Special Comment ... Smackdown!

This is scary.

It's scary that she said it ...

And it's even scarier that she's defending saying it ...

I don't know, is this like a Britney Spears thing? Is there anyone around Geraldine Ferraro - handlers, staff, family - that can pull her aside and ask WTF?

Throw cold water in her face? ...

Slap her, if necessary?

Or is this a long festering, soul-eating, bitterness, of being saddled with Walter Mondale in her historic run, and now, in her "golden years", she has sit on the sidelines of this years' truly history-shattering election?

And Hillary ...

No surprises there ... Anything she can hang on Obama is, in the Clinton book, a good day

So what the kitchen sink she's having tossed around has Stars and Bars decals on it ...

So what the kitchen sink she's using this week comes from the "White Only" museum ...

One of Obama's staffers calls Hillary a monster, and, Christ, you thought the country was collapsing ...

Ferraro channels David Duke, and Hillary barely raises and eyebrow.

Perhaps due to the magnitude of this ... The odiousness of it ... The disgust of it that MSNBC Countdown host Keith Olbermann just couldn't sit idle ... Couldn't sit silent ... And, unlike the Clinton Campaign, couldn't let this sit unchallenged and totally vilified.

In your tepid response to this Ferraro disaster, you may sincerely think you are disenthralling an enchanted media, and righting an unfair advance bestowed on Senator Obama.

You may think the matter has closed with Representative Ferraro's bitter, almost threatening resignation.

But in fact, Senator, you are now campaigning, as if Barack Obama were the Democrat, and you… were the Republican.

And Ferraro's weak-ass whining that she's the victim in this;

No matter what Ms. Ferraro now claims, no one took her comments out of context.

She had made them on at least three separate occasions, then twice more on television this morning. Just hours ago, on NBC Nightly News, she denied she had made the remarks in an interview -- only at a paid political speech.

In fact, the first time she spoke them, was ten days before the California newspaper published them... not in a speech, but in a radio interview.

On February 26th, quoting...

"If Barack Obama were a white man, would we be talking about this, as a potential real problem for Hillary? If he were a woman of any color, would he be in this position that he's in? Absolutely not."

The context was inescapable.

And this;

Somebody tells her that simply disagreeing with and rejecting the remarks is sufficient. And she should then call, "regrettable", words that should make any Democrat retch.

And that she should then try to twist them, first into some pox-on-both-your-houses plea to 'stick to the issues,' and then to let her campaign manager try to bend them beyond all recognition, into Senator Obama's fault.

And thus these advisers give Congresswoman Ferraro nearly a week in which to send Senator Clinton's campaign back into the vocabulary... of David Duke.

"Any time anybody does anything that in any way pulls this campaign down and says let's address reality and the problems we're facing in this world, you're accused of being racist, so you have to shut up.

"Racism works in two different directions. I really think they're attacking me because I'm white.

"How's that?"

How's that?

Apart from sounding exactly like Rush Limbaugh attacking the black football quarterback Donovan McNabb?

Apart from sounding exactly like what Ms. Ferraro said about another campaign, nearly twenty years ago?

Quote:

"President Reagan suggested Tuesday that people don't ask Jackson tough questions because of his race. And former representative Geraldine A. Ferraro (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday that because of his "radical" views, "if Jesse Jackson were not black, he wouldn't be in the race."

So... apart from sounding like insidious racism that is at least two decades old?

Apart from rendering ridiculous, Senator Clinton's shell-game about choosing Obama as Vice President?

Apart from this evening's resignation letter?

"I am stepping down from your finance committee so I can speak for myself and you can continue to speak for yourself about what is at stake in this campaign.

"The Obama campaign is attacking me to hurt you."

Apart from all that?

Well. It sounds as if those advisors want their campaign to be associated with those words, and the cheap… ignorant… vile… racism that underlies every syllable...

And that Geraldine Ferraro has just gone free-lance.

God help us if this is the case, and Hillary Clinton is signing on to it.


Read Keith Olbermann's Special Comment

Watch the video of Keith Olbermann's Special Comment

Minced Garlic - New Keith Olbermann Special Comment: To Bush - "You're A Fascist! ... You're A Liar"

Another strong - even very animated - Special Comment last evening from MSNBC Countdown host, Keith Olbermann, which had him leaning into the camera to call The Commander Guy a "Fascist" and "A Liar".




Olbermann also presented this Special Comment in a slightly different format.









Rather than his customary last segment of the program, Olbermann segued from the #3 story on 'Countdown', "On FISA and telecom immunity", introducing the recent Bush Grindhouse's efforts to play the Fear Card, and of, perhaps the most startling event of the day - The House Democrats showing a stiff spine and the House Republicans showing they care more about politics than the their own chamber, not to mention the rule-of-law, the Constitution, et all.

Rather than bring up the FISA Bill and give The Bush Grindhouse their most cherished Telcom Immunity (about the only reason they're - once again - beefing up the FISA Bill ... The Protect America Act really should be retitled to Protect The Telecommunication Companies Act ... Read Glenn Greenwald's FISA 101 for an excellent overview of it).

Instead, the House Leadership decided to remind its' members that two of the Bush Henchmen and Henchwoman have thumbed their noses at Congress, so the matter of declaring Harriet Meirs and Josh Bolten in Contempt of Congress was on the agenda, so John "Cry Baby" Boehner led a walkout of the Republicans (this after they busted the Dem's balls, by playing procedural games, interrupting a memorial service for Rep. Tom Lantos, who passed away earlier this week).

The Contempt measures were passed and, as of midnight tomorrow evening, the FISA Bill extension will expire, which has lead the Bush Grindhouse to go to great lengths this past week, to browbeat the Congress into giving the Telcom Immunity, otherwise, the intelligence-gathering program comes to a halt (it doesn’t) and that the dreaded terrorist will soon be invading our country to kill us all.

So, in essence, other than the new component of the Telcom Immunity, it has been business-as-usual for the Bush Grindhouse and the Republicans.

Play the Fear Card, overstate and outright lie about the threats and then turn around and label anyone that questions them as traitors, terrorist appeasers and people who would rather see the terrorists win.

Much like many of us, we had enough of this, and Olbermann teed off on it in his Special Comment.

"You have subjected us, your citizens, to that greater danger! This, Mr. Bush, is simple enough for even you to understand.

For the moment, at least, thanks to some true patriots in the House, and your own stubbornness, you have tabled telecom immunity, and the FISA act.

You. By your own terms and your definitions, you have just sided with the terrorists. You’ve got to have this law, or we’re all going to die. But, practically speaking, you vetoed this law.

It is bad enough, sir, that you were demanding an ex post facto law that could still clear the AT&Ts and the Verizons from responsibility for their systematic, aggressive and blatant collaboration with your illegal and unjustified spying on Americans under this flimsy guise of looking for any terrorists who are stupid enough to make a collect call or send a mass e-mail.

But when you demanded it again during the State of the Union address, you wouldn’t even confirm that they actually did anything for which they deserved to be cleared.

“The Congress must pass liability protection for companies believed to have assisted in the efforts to defend America.”

Believed? Don’t you know? Don’t you even have the guts Dick Cheney showed in admitting they did collaborate with you? Does this endless presidency of loopholes and fine print extend even here? If you believe in the seamless mutuality of government and big business, come out and say it! There is a dictionary definition, one word that describes that toxic blend.

You’re a fascist — get them to print you a T-shirt with fascist on it! What else is this but fascism? ..."

And before a strong, flourishing finish, Olbermann laid these down;

"And if there’s one thing we know about Big Brother, Mr. Bush, it is that he is — you are — a liar."

"This is crap. And you sling it with an audacity and a speed unrivaled by even the greatest political felons of our history."

"You are a liar, Mr. Bush. And after showing some skill at it, you have ceased to even be a very good liar."

Check out and read Keith Olbermann's Special Comment "A veto of the FISA bill endangers Americans"

Watch The Video of it Here


Bonus Links

dday at Hullabaloo: Wahhhh, Wahhhh, Wahhhh

Atrios: They Write Letters - Congressman Reyes writes to President Bush

Scarecrow at Firedoglake: We Need a Constitutional Democratic Party

FISA Update #4 - Don't Let the Fat Lady - Or The Fat Corporate Cats - Sing!

Minced Garlic: New Keith Olbermann Special Comment ... Bush put telecoms ahead of citizens

Sorry we're late with our usual highlighting of, yet another stellar, Keith Olbermann Special Comment, fumed and ranted Thursday evening (For one, The Garlic has been working at half-speed the past few days, a bit under-the-weather and, MSNBC was a bit slow in posting the transcript).

Olbermann tackled the FISA fiasco, and was particularly steamed throughout the special comment.

The Garlic already had its' rant on this last Monday, offering the Democrats in Congress two reasons not to cave in on this issue.

For The Commander Guy, his henchmen (and the entire Republican Freakshow echo machine) has done purple-in-the-face, demanding Congress give The Commander Guy HIS FISA Bill, his Orwellian 'Protect America Act', for if they don't, terrorists are going to immediately invade the country and kill us all.

Being the current law works just fine (assuming, the people working it are honest and law-abiding), and it's been crystal clear this fevered push for The Commander Guy's PAA is about giving immunity to the telecommunications companies that broke the law with them.

With every dam, there comes a crack;

Which is why the Vice President probably shouldn't have phoned in to the Rush Limbaugh Propaganda-Festival yesterday.

Sixth sentence out of Mr. Cheney's mouth.

The FYCA bill is about, quote, "retroactive liability protection for the companies that have worked with us and helped us prevent further attacks against the United States."

Oops.

Mr. Cheney is something of a loose cannon, of course.

But he kind of let the wrong cat out of the bag there.

Because Mr. Bush and the corporations he values more than people didn't want anybody to verify what Mark Klein says.

Mark Klein is the AT&T Whistleblower who appeared on this newscast last November... who explained, in the placid, dull terms of your local neighborhood IT desk, how he personally attached all of AT&T's circuits, everything carrying every phone call, every e-mail, every bit of web browsing into a secure room — Room Number 641-A, at the Folsom Street facility in San Francisco, where it was all copied so the government could look at it.

Not some of it; not just the international part of it; certainly not just the stuff some truly patriotic and telepathic spy might be able to divine had been sent or spoken by or to a terrorist.

Everything.

Every time you looked at a naked picture, every time you bid on eBay, every time you phoned-in a donation to a Democrat.

"My thought was 'George Orwell's 1984,'" Mr. Klein told me, reflecting back, "and here I am, being forced to connect the Big Brother machine."

And there was this chewy morsel of a caveat;

There's yet another level to this, and here we move from Big Brother to Sleazy Son.

Mr. Bush's new Attorney General, Mr. Mukasey, the one who has already taken four different positions on water-boarding, and who may yet tie that record on this subject of telecom immunity, he has a very personal stake in this.

There happens to be a partner in the law firm of Bracewell and Giuliani, named Marc Mukasey. And Bracewell and Giuliani and the Attorney General's son Marc, just happen to represent Verizon.

You know, Verizon — Telecom Giant.

And all of a sudden this is no longer just a farce in which "protecting the Telecoms" is dressed up for us as, "protecting us from terrorist conference calls."

Now it begins to look like the bureaucrats of the Third Reich trying to protect the Krupp Family industrial giants by literally re-writing the laws for their benefit.

And we know how that turned out: Alfried Krupp and eleven of his directors were convicted of War Crimes at Nuremburg.

Hmmm ... The new Crony General has a personal stake in this ... Very interesting ...That is, of course, the Crony General admits to having son ...

Why, just the other day, the Crony General displayed his prowess;

From Glenn Greenwalds' "Mukasey's radical worldview is now the norm";

While Mukasey may be marginally more straightforward than Alberto Gonzales was -- more willing to conform to the procedural formalities of independence -- he is, ideologically, a clone of John Yoo and David Addington and is as much of a loyal adherent to the Bush/Cheney extremist worldview as Gonzales ever was.

Mukasey explicitly embraces the most extreme theories of presidential omnipotence and lawlessness and displays as much Cheney-ite contempt for the notion of Congressional oversight as the Vice President himself. He repeatedly endorsed patently illegal behavior -- including torture -- and refused even to pretend that he cared what the Senate thought about any of it. He even told Republican Senators that they have no right to pass a whistleblower law allowing federal employees who learn of lawbreaking to inform Congress about it, because such a law would infringe on the President's constitutional powers. In Mukasey's worldview, the President has unlimited power and Congress has none.

And Dahlia Lithwick, over on Slate, from her "Thank You. Now Go to Hell.Mukasey stonewalls Senate Democrats on water-boarding, and practically everything else.";

Over the course of a long, maddening day, it's quickly manifest that Mukasey's legal opinions have a 30-second shelf life. He won't opine on what's happened in the past and he won't opine on anything that might happen in the future. When Sen. Arlen Specter—concerned about seven years of vast new claims of executive authority—asks Mukasey whether, in his view, the president "can break any law he pleases because he's the president—including, say, statutes banning torture," as well as FISA and the National Security Act, Mukasey replies, "I can't contemplate any situation in which this president would assert Article II authority to do something that the law forbids."

"Well, he did just that when he violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act," Specter shoots back. Mukasey's response? "Both of those issues have been brought within statutes."

Specter is flabbergasted: "But he acted in violation of statutes, didn't he?"

"I don't know," Mukasey replies. But does is really matter? What's past is past.

And Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., tries to get Mukasey to explain why the Justice Department is investigating the destruction of the CIA torture tapes, but not investigating the underlying torture itself.

Mukasey's reply, "I don't start investigations out of curiosity," speaks for itself. When Whitehouse tries to get Mukasey to agree that they both know enough classified information to have a very concrete, nonspeculative legal discussion about whether what happened on those tapes is legal, Mukasey again insists that whether or not what happened on those tapes is legal is about which "certifications were given" and "who permissibly relied on it." Whitehouse calls this the "Nuremberg defense. ... I had authorization and therefore I'm immune from prosecution."

Any doubt that Crony General will go after those undertaking the illegal wiretapping?

Me thinks pigs will fly before that ever happens


Read Keith Olbermann's Special Comment "Bush put telecoms ahead of citizens; Pres. Bush demands a law which would clear phone giants from responsibility for government's unjustified spying on Americans"

Watch The Special Comment Video