Danny Doom’s Booze Cabinet

WOW!

UPDATE:

WHOA!

Man, I hate to post anything after I’ve posted my Friday booze picture (see below the raccoon and bee), but this awful woman, who already has a shitload of hate mail at the Trib, is talking more trash, and I can’t stand it. Regarding McClellan she says:

Although I’m a true believer in the confession of sin, I think it’s better to confess when you can make a difference and even, perhaps, save lives. ‘Fessing up when it’s too late only to line one’s pockets is something less than honorable.

I haven’t read all of the many many many books that have been written by people who have left the Bush Administration over the years, but I know that there is common theme that ties a lot of them together, and that is the lack of communication and/or receptiveness of dissenting voices. Richard Clarke, David Kuo, and Paul O’Neill’s books come to mind, but there are more.

In each case, they were insiders who met resistance or rejection within the system and found that, at some point, like The Dude, they could not abide. Whether McClellan voiced his concerns to the inner circle, I have no idea, but it appears that one of the reasons he did such a shitty job as press secretary is because he was being lied to, and in turn then lied to the American people. I mean, it’s his job to lie, or spin, or misinform; that’s what a press secretary does. But he was extraordinarily bad at it. I mean, this guy sucked at it.

Make no mistake, I think this guy is a total dwelshbag. But to say that he (or any of these other ex-aides) could have done something while still within the confines of this White House is complete bullshit. History is only beginning to tell this story, but it’s already a running thread in the “Bush Loyalist’s” stories: keep your opinions to yourself, unless they match ours. And if you don’t believe that then you probably don’t believe they would out a CIA agent in order to discredit unwanted information either.

UPDATE:

Oh god, and now I’m quoting Peggy Noonan, but hey, she’s right:

The right will—already has—pummel him for disloyalty. But those damning him today would have damned him even more if he’d resigned on principle three years ago. They—and the administration—would have beaten him to a pulp, the former from rage, the latter as a lesson: This is what happens when you leave and talk.

She also notes that “the implication of his assertions and anecdotes is that Mr. Bush is vain, narrow, out of his depth and coldly dismissive of doubt, of criticism and of critics.” Like I said.

While in Michigan, I was attacked by killer raccoons with X-ray eyes.

I was attacked by giant killer bees.

And I drank wine.

There’s so much to talk about with the “Lost” finale that my head is gonna explode. The Tribune’s Watcher has it all right here. Honestly, I’m reading it and I can’t stop thinking about how stupid and childish these preachers are. Focus! Focus!!

Pssst! Barack! One bit of advice? Stay away from religion! You don’t need it! They’re all a little loose in the screws. They say silly shit. And, as I have been saying all along, they preach “divisive, backward-looking rhetoric.” Rise above it.

I pass the Cubby Cave all the time over by there on Pulaski. The Cubs, by the way, are currently sporting the best record in all of baseball (tied with Tampa Bay in the AL). I like it!

UPDATE:

Make that THE best record in baseball, tied with no one!

In supporting Obama for President instead of, say, John McCain, I don’t have to do silly things like pretend that Obama is “gaffe-prone” or try and compare Auschwitz to Buchenwald in order to diminish an Obama relative’s military service (Buchenwald was not as bad!). Nor do I have to pretend that I am outraged by things that really don’t outrage me, and I can wear any old scarf that I like. That’s the kind of freedom I can really get behind.

No, instead of all those silly things, I can point to statements like this one from Mr. Obama as a reason to support him:

“I would call my attorney general in and review every single executive order issued by George Bush and overturn those laws or executive decisions that I feel violate the constitution.�

That sounds like something I can get behind: the Constitution! Who’d a thunk it?

Other goals for his first 100 days: work out a plan to withdraw troops from Iraq; make progress on alternative energy plans and launch legislation to reform the health care system.

These are all Things That I Am Glad About.

Meanwhile, far more important things are happening, like Dunkin Donuts caving in total insane freak Michelle Malkin. I can barely understand how this even happened, but apparently Rachel Ray wore a scarf in an ad for DD that looked too…Arab-y. And so the masters of fake outrage, led by Ms. Malkin, threw a fit. Really? This is true?

I read this and think: “Oh, we have such a long way to go as people.” Evolution, spin faster, please!

This is just sick:

“The press corps was under enormous pressure from corporate executives, frankly, to make sure that this was a war presented in way that was consistent with the patriotic fever in the nation and the president’s high approval ratings,” Yellin said.

Oh, Scott, you have opened up the gates of hell!

If you were so inclined you could look around at the many right-wing sites that have cheered Bush and his war (and everything else) and find this sentiment again and again, regarding Scott McClellan’s book: I’d have more respect for him if he resigned instead of waiting until now to vent his feelings.

Which is, of course, not true at all. He would have been a hero on the left if he had come out and said that he can no longer spew the propaganda and then resigned in disgust; it would have actually meant something. But he didn’t, and so he doesn’t get that credit. He is simply confirming what we all knew.

So let’s fix that: I would have more respect for him if he resigned and then said what he has said; the entire right-wing would have tore him apart and destroyed him if he had done that. Just like they are doing now. Don’t pretend that it would have been any other way.

Over Memorial Day Weekend I hung out with swans.

I heard some jazz and drank beer.

And I shot at things.

A lot of fallout is coming from Scott McClellan’s new book, and it is delicious, but let’s get this one front and center: the myth of the liberal media. The right has been whining like babies about this for so long that it has somehow been accepted as fact, and even cited as a reason for Fox News’ existence–it’s to counter-balance all of the liberal bias, of course.

It is bullshit and it’s always been bullshit. What the right calls liberal bias was actually known as “journalism” when criminal Richard Nixon was uncovered and brought down. The liberal media helped Ronald Reagan win two terms and become the beloved hero that the right makes him out to be, despite his involvement in the Iran-Contra scandal and disastrous economic policy. And, as McClellan points out, the deferential liberal media stood by silently as George W. Bush led the country to war in Iraq without justification or necessity.

The bias that hounded Bill Clinton through two terms and impeachment? Liberal media disguised as tabloid right-wing media!

John McCain has been riding a wave of “maverick,” straight-talk liberal bias for years, while Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama face daily inquisition on the slightest of minutia with no relevance to their campaigns. Let’s not forget about John Edwards’ $400 haircut! That was important stuff that the liberal media tackled.

There is no liberal bias. It never existed. The only truly biased media coverage that this country has is on the Fox News Channel, and everyone knows it. The rest are simply overcompensating after years of right-wing bitching.

I happened to read part of this NY Times Magazine article this weekend, which seems to have started a firestorm in the “blogosphere.” I only read part of it because it was a beautiful day, and there were better things to do, and I couldn’t stand to read any more. But if anyone ever wonders why personal details are mostly spared in this Cabinet of Booze, well, just read the article. TMI, people, TMI.

Years too late and way past time for redemption, Scott McClellan finally writes his book that says what we knew all along. Doesn’t do us much good now, but it serves as another reminder for the Apologists who’ve been blindly supporting Bush for so many years: wrong as usual. And yet, in the race for the next president, we have serious examinations of flag pins and preachers, and plenty of fake outrage to go around. We really do get the country government we deserve, as if any more proof is needed.

“If anything, the national press corps was probably too deferential to the White House and to the administration in regard to the most important decision facing the nation during my years in Washington, the choice over whether to go to war in Iraq.”

“The collapse of the administration’s rationales for war, which became apparent months after our invasion, should never have come as such a surprise. … In this case, the ‘liberal media’ didn’t live up to its reputation. If it had, the country would have been better served.�

“History appears poised to confirm what most Americans today have decided: that the decision to invade Iraq was a serious strategic blunder. No one, including me, can know with absolute certainty how the war will be viewed decades from now when we can more fully understand its impact. What I do know is that war should only be waged when necessary, and the Iraq war was not necessary.â€?

Now, what to do about the war criminals responsible?

I like what Roger Ebert wrote about the movie “Recount,” which I have not seen:

“Recount” portrays a lot of Democrats as being in favor of an “orderly transition of power” at whatever cost, and a lot of Republicans who are in favor of winning, in an orderly transition or any other kind. At least, as an exhausted Warren Christopher says when all is over and his man has lost: “The system worked. There were no tanks in the streets.” Of course at that time he would not have been thinking of the streets of Baghdad.

I don’t wish to relive that whole debacle, but I would like Katherine Harris to apologize, for everything.