First Rule of Harold Ford ...

You don't talk about Harold Ford

Second rule of Harold Ford, you don't talk about Harold Ford.



Now, it would really be story, if it comes out that the that the helicopter-flyin', wanna-be-carpetbagger was a member of 'Fight Club'.

That would seem to be the case, as The Smoking Gun has unearthed Ford's rider, for his nicely-paid speaking gigs.

Harold Ford Superstar - U.S. Senate wannabe's tour rider anticipates swarms of adoring fans

Like Jay-Z and Lady Gaga, Harold Ford, Jr. has a tour rider.

[snip]

According to the below contract for an appearance Wednesday at a Missouri college, Ford demands that when his limo driver picks him up, the chauffeur must be carrying a sign reading "H.F.." Presumably, if the Democrat's name was spelled out, hordes of fans/groupies would be alerted to his impending arrival and swarm him (something that has bedeviled the Jonas Brothers).

The Smoking Gun as a copy of the rider, so go check it out.

Alex Pareene, over on Gawker, had some fun with it, as well;

Presumably, if the driver just wrote "Harold Ford" (or "Ford"?), the would-be candidate would be swamped by a mob of adoring fans. So the rider stipulates that the sign read, cryptically, "H.F." (What if Howard Fineman is at the same airport? Or Hank Finkel? Or... Hitler Frankenstein?)

Bonus points to Alex, for using "Hank Finkel" in there.

Now, this isn't as extensive as the former Shadow President's rider, which demanded that Faux News be on any television within his eye range (and, we riffed on that with "Top Ten Cloves: Slogans and Tag Lines For Caffeine-Free Diet Sprite – If Dick Cheney Was Pitchman"), as the rider says, no shellfish, but nothing about caffeine-free drinks, or Faux News.

And, since Ford took to calling Senator Kirsten Gillibrand a "“parakeet", here's hoping he does run against her, and that she shits all over him.

Barry Crimmins On Max Baucus, and Healthcare

Barry Crimmins has a tremendous riff up on Max Baucus "(Influence redistributionist - Mt)" that you need to check out.



Pre-existing outrage ... Coffers over Coughers

The propaganda and fiscal arm-twisting campaign is meant to keep our allegedly exceptional nation from joining the rest of the world in acknowledging that single-payer health care is the only answer for those who prefer civilization. Unfortunately, due to the river of green that's flowed under Washington's table, single-payer is all but off it. There are still some peeps about a "vibrant public option" but what we really need is to kill the private one before it kills any more of us.

[snip]

Baucus's plan would make the purchase of health insurance mandatory for all Americans. Concerned that a program designed to force each citizen to purchase their oft useless product might not make it out of committee, the racketeers put on their villain garb to verbally body-slam the Big Sky Bagman's plan. Mind you, these hated criminals know better than to appear in public, except when they want to exploit America's inability to fathom reverse psychology. The insurance peddlers scripted remarks cautioned us that Max's bill could result in higher premium prices. There's little doubt that this increased-cost warning will soon be looked upon as prescient. But getting credit for its ability to foretell its own price-fixing is a paltry co-pay compared to the billions of extra bucks Baucus' mandatory insurance plan will steam-shovel the sticky hands people's way.

Read the entire piece over on Barry Crimmins' website

Garlictorial: The Blank Check Club

"Come visit me sometime, my boy; Even you will take off your hat when you see how respected I am there. Only the day before yesterday, they wanted to make me their legislature - the whole legislature. I don't know what they mean by that, but it must be the greatest honor the can bestow ..."

Howard (The Old Man) from ''Treasure of the Sierra Madre'

I don't think that B. Traven, when he wrote this passage, or John Huston, when he filmed this scene, had our 43rd President in mind, but they could have been visionary ... Bush & Co. might as well be "the whole legislature" (though, to be fair, Dick Cheney will have his own "whole other legislature" and not be part of the Bush & Co's. "whole legislature").

It certainly appeared that the Bush Grindhouse barked "Badges? What Badges? ... We don't have to show you no stinkin' badges" and the Democrats in Congress cowered and ran for cover.

The problem stems well beyond, and isn't solely pinned to, just the Democrats

What is, perhaps, the most astounding, and deeply troubling aspect of having both the Senate and the House voting approval of The Commander Guy's dream FISA Law, is that this Congress hasn't had the courage, the sense of purpose, to hold this administration to scrutiny and accountability - criminally so, possibly - to the repeated abuses and felony violations of the original FISA rules, and, not to mention, the Constitution.

This may be akin to a bank robber having the police take his car to the car wash, before letting him hightail it on his getaway.

The Republicans, between their fear mongering, the sky-is-exploding, and their blind loyalty to their failure of a party leader, are like the frog sitting in that pot of water, croaking happily away, before it's too late, the 2008 elections representing the boiling death slowing engulfing them.

We gave them a song last evening and now, it appears, we missed the bigger picture.

They don't have a Democrat Caucus ... What they do have is "The Blank Check Club".

And there were two, at least, of the 16 Democrats, who are writing those blank checks and who voted for the bill, that have some "splaining" to do.

Senator Jim Web (D-VA), the hard core Navy man, who dusted off the Macaca Guy and just a short few weeks ago, stuck Senator Lindsay Graham's head on a pole during an exchange on 'Meet The Press', over Graham's fantasy-based assessments of Iraq, and using "our troops" as political pawns (a subject today by Frank Rich, in his column "Patriots Who Love the Troops to Death").

And there's the pragmatic, 'Can-Do" Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO), who said she “I’m not thrilled,” to etch her vote in the Hall of Shame.

“There are some changes we need to make to make sure that American citizens are protected. But it’s a lot better than a lot of things that have been forced down this Congress’ throat right before recesses that trampled on American’s liberties.”

You're from the "Show Me" state, McCaskill, not the "It's A Lot Better Than" state.

Things that have been forced down our throats.

How's about the Democrats, such as Webb and McCaskill, elected in the 2006 wave of "things are going to be different" and promising to stand up to the Bush Grindhouse.

And what about the Democratic Leadership?

Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. She must be out measuring the length of hoses, before she starts "draining the GOP Swamp", with her co-hort, Harry Reid, seemingly, more occupied with auditioning for the role of the Captain of the Titanic.

Reid must sure like the taste of shit, because that's what Bush & Co. keep feeding him and he's only been too happy to gobble it up.

There are some that are saying today that we shouldn't worry about this FISA vote, that it's only temporary, it's only for six-months.

Yeah, right.

They have the blinders on again.

For an administration that has so thoroughly trampled the Constitution, broken so many laws and lied us into an invasion and occupation of a sovereign nation - and then double-downed to lie some more, and "surge" more troops into the conflict, that they are worried about things being "temporary" or Sunset Clauses?

Likely, as soon as Congress returns from their capitulation-soaked vacation, the Bush Grindhouse will be amping up the rhetoric to make this new FISA law permanent.

They'll be booming of "al Qaeda everywhere" and pointedly warning, "your child" and "your family" may be the next terrorist target, trotting out new plots and new twists that puts a jihadists on your doorstep, and the Democrats will, if recent history tells us anything, fall into line and slurp it up like Happy Soup.

Or, just as likely, The Decider Guy will continue to govern as he has, virtually the entire time of his stolen presidency - via Signing Statement.

And he does this because Congress hasn't stood up and exercised it's Constitutional authority.

They fume and posture over it, but they haven't called him on it.

They haven't censured him on it.

And they haven't impeached him on it.

You seem confused about Impeachment, Madam Speaker.

Otherwise, you wouldn't have said “If I were not the speaker and I were not in Congress, I would probably be advocating for impeachment.”

Gee, what a major drag for us ... Too bad we don't have a private citizen who is in Congress and is Speaker of the House ..

Why bother coming back from vacation?

Perhaps, while you're back in district on your vacation, you'll sigh and moan, handing out some commemorative pens that you used signing those Blank Checks, falsely promising again how you're going to stop the war, how you're going to keep the Bush Grindhouse in-check.

But we know now.

The Bush Grindhouse has the Patriot Act, the new, harsh Executive Order, the Crony General running the Injustice Department, Cheney and his branch of government, and of course, the new and improved, bullet-proof FISA Law.

With his adroit use of the Signing Statement, No. 43 has got "the whole legislature" and that is the embarrassing and dubious honor you, the 110th Congress, have bestowed on the American people.

Bonus Links

Larisa Alexandrovna: An Open Letter: No more power to the Executive Ms. Pelosi. No More!

Larisa Alexandrovna: It's official, we are police state...

Meteor Blades/Daily Kos: Enough Already with the Pathetic Excuses

Video - Keith Olbermann and Jonathan Turley: Just how broad are the spying powers of the administration in the proposed terror bill and what should we be concerned about?

The Country's Brain Trust? ... Or, The Three Amigos? ... You Decide!