Bill Maher on Ann Coulter and the Fox Debate

From his March 12 interview on Larry King Live:

MAHER: You have to think like a right-winger. First of all, it’s interesting to note that she made that comment in front of that right-wing convention. She was not booed. There was actually a moment of ooh and then they all burst into applause. It went over like a cross on fire.

They actually liked that comment. And to people, normal people, you know, people who think like human beings, it was just confusing.

It was like why is John Edwards gay?

He’s good looking.

OK, is that equivalent with gay?

No. And then she explained it and I kind of thought about it and I see what she’s saying, is that, no, she really meant to say — what she was trying to say, it’s code word for the Democrats are — I hope I can say this — you said faggot — pussies.

Can I say that?

KING: That’s code word for — I never read that. That never came through.

MAHER: No. No, but that’s what they mean, is that he’s a faggot because he thinks and speaks in complete sentences and reads whole books and doesn’t just go off to war without thinking about it twice. And he cares about poor people and the environment, you know, poof stuff, Larry.

KING: Do you still like Ann Coulter?

MAHER: I haven’t talked to her in so long. I don’t know if she still likes me.

KING: Really? She used to come on your show a lot.

MAHER: A lot. Yes.

KING: Would you have her back?

MAHER: Yes, I’d have — of course I’d have her back. I mean I like her — I like what she says less and less. I never agreed with her. But she never was like out there. But this was a joke, in her defense.

KING: Right.

MAHER: I mean she was making a joke.

KING: A bad joke.

MAHER: I don’t know. You know, for that crowd, it was apparently the right joke.

KING: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

MAHER: As a comedian, I know that’s the crowd it got a…

KING: The Democrats have pulled out of the Fox debate.

MAHER: Well, and this is why she has a point.

They’re pussies, OK?

Do you remember when Bill Clinton went on with Chris Wallace a few months ago?

KING: Yes.

MAHER: And he showed everybody in that Democratic Party how it should be done.

KING: Get mad.

MAHER: He took on Chris Wallace.

These guys were like oh, no, Fox News, un-nnh, no, I’m sorry, we can’t do that. We — we didn’t like the joke.

KING: Well, were they mad at a bad joke, right?

MAHER: They were made at a — who cares what they’re mad at? Instead of withdrawing, which says to everybody in the country oh, typical Democrats. They don’t call people out, they just walk away. They don’t raise the bet.

Go on there. It’s just Chris Wallace. If you can’t stand up to Chris Wallace, can you stand up to the terrorists, let alone the Republican Party?

KING: So, a mistake, in your opinion?

MAHER: Yes.

KING: OK.

MAHER: Take it to their house. Win an away game.

Yeah, remember when Bill Clinton took on Chris Wallace? The cheering heard in the blogosphere and elsewhere was deafening. Now those same people are not only saying that Democrats should not debate on Fox, but that they should freeze out Fox completely. These same people who have been screaming for our Democratic leaders to get a spine and stand up and articulate what we stand for are now telling those same Democratic leaders to “run Forrest, run!” What?!?

Do they not understand the sort of message this sends to the other 99.9% of the voting public who are NOT the political junkies we (bloggers) are?

Haters, Lovers and Daylight Savings

Sigh.

The Kos/MoveOn wing is now silent. Instead, now I am receiving emails telling me how horrible we are to drop the Fox debate. Can’t win for losing now, can we?

At this point, all I can do is laugh (ruefully, of course). What else is there to do?

On another note, have you all moved your clocks forward? And for you Outlook users, you might want to review your calendar appointments for the next three weeks. It appears that Outlook took it on its own to adjust for the time change and moved all my appointments forward an hour, even though my OS adjusted my laptop and PC properly. So I had to go in and move them all back to their correct times. Once April kicks in, everything is fine.

Thank goodness for sweeties that love me. My dearest has installed a 5-speaker sound system in our living room. I must admit, I was initially dubious, with fears that I’d be blown from my sofa anytime we watched TV. But sweetie has done an excellent job, and the system is wonderful. DVD movies sound like they do in the movie theater, but not nearly as loud. And no one is talking on their cell phone or rattling their candy wrappers. We also have Hughes (DirecTV) satellite so we get a bunch of XM stations. Right now I am lightly enveloped by the soothing sounds of Audio Vision. Nice. Thanks, Babe.

Who lost?

So, the August debate in Reno has been cancelled. I’m waiting to hear if something will be done to replace it. But the way I see it northern Nevada loses. Here’s why. From the NSDP web site:

To date there are two candidate forums and three debates scheduled in Nevada:

• February 21 forum in Carson City sponsored by AFSCME
• March 24 health care forum co-sponsored by SEIU and the Center for American Progress (Las Vegas)
• Mid-August debate focused on Western regional issues to be held in Reno
• November 2 debate sponsored by the Nevada State Democratic Party at UNLV (Las Vegas)
• January 15 debate co-sponsored by the Caucus of African American Nevadans and Impacto, the political arm of the Latin Chamber of Commerce in Las Vegas

Las Vegas gets the remaining presidential debates and forums. Northern Nevada gets the shaft. At least one of the many, many people that sent protest emails to me from all over the country understand our loss a bit. In answer to my reply to their original email they said:

We understand that the debate has been cancelled. This is not the result that I was hoping for. I wanted Fox’s connection to the debate ended. I can’t believe that there are not alternative sponsors.

Oh well. Be careful what you wish for. Those unintended consequences can be a bitch, can’t they?

Calling off the dogs

vigilante comments on this post.

Oh come on, guys. Make nice. Kiss and make up?

I’d love to. But I have no dogs to call off. Only MoveOn does. I have no problem with their campaign to point out the right wing spin of Fox. What I do have a problem with is their trying to take down one of their natural allies. Are they going to go after the Congressional Black Caucus now? Who is next who doesn’t pass their ideological purity test?

This is what the right wing does. Look at how they ruined that hunter’s whole career within days of his comments about assault rifles and prairie dogs. It didn’t even matter that he apologized. He made one misstep and he was dead to them. His 40+ year career is over.

Is that what our side should be doing?

A comment from the blogosphere

Sal comments over at Nevada Up North:

. . .This isn’t the first time a party has been unresponsive to its members, and it won’t be the last. So what do we do? We tell the leadership we’re not happy and we work with them to make it as right as we can. We use our votes to show what we want, and we accept that not all decisions in a democratic party system are the decisions we’d like to see.

Now, speaking more to other blogs where I’ve read about this issue, rather than just the readers of this one: The pure hatred I’ve seen directed at Fox and their viewers by fellow Democrats and liberals sickens me. I am saddened that some of us would actually make binding and dismissive judgments of so many people based solely on what t.v. channel they watch. The greatest asset I believe the Democratic party and the liberal-minded members of our society have is our compassion for others and our willingness to embrace everyone and occasionally give up a little of our own self-interest and comfort to make sure that people are not left behind in education, that others do not go hungry without someone at least trying to help, and that people are not judged based on their race, gender, occupation or thoughts (hint, hint).

This little feud over Fox and our debate is not an almighty sign of the moral decay in this party. But it certainly shows Democrats at our worst. I hope this issue fades away soon.

I’m done with MoveOn.org

I’ve been a member of MoveOn for years. No more.

For years I have supported MoveOn’s national efforts to draw attention to the misdeeds and outright criminality of Bush and his buddies. I’ve held movie nights, gone to vigils, called my congress critters, written letters.

I forgave them for interfering in our presidential election in 2004, even though they siphoned away some of our best activists in Lyon County to do their canvassing. Federal law prevents political parties and PACs from sharing information on canvassing so any work done in our precincts was often repeated by MoveOn volunteers. Some of MoveOn’s volunteers were our own activists (and we couldn’t talk to them), and many were from out of state. Post-election reports by Democratic volunteers told stories of literally being a few blocks behind a MoveOn volunteer.

I forgave them for this. After all, I reasoned, they were just as eager as I to see George W. Bush defeated in Nevada. Except, all we got was pissed off voters.

Then I saw them do it again in Nevada in 2006 by butting into Jill Derby’s congressional campaign. I wrote them and BEGGED them to not interfere. Their answer to me was that because I was with the Democratic party, they couldn’t talk to me. And…they continued on their merry way, calling Nevada voters, and again, all we got was pissed off voters.

And now, they are at it again. Yeah, yeah, they hate Fox. So do I.

But they are attacking the Nevada Democratic Party and right now have an email out calling on its members to phone the state Dem office to object to the Fox debate. So, the phones are jammed down south, and any work that should be getting done with regards to our upcoming caucus is on hold. All hands are on deck fielding calls and the circular firing squad is in full swing.

And while MoveOn is great about publishing everyone else’s phone numbers, if anyone can find a phone number to contact them anywhere on their site, please leave it in the comments, because I can’t find it.

I’m done. MoveOn, Kiss Off.

Major candidates distancing themselves from Nevada? I think not.

There has been some word on the street that the NSDP deal with Fox is hurting us and that the top tier candidates are starting to avoid Nevada. This doesn’t sound like it. (Hat tip to Desert Beacon)

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign has hired four more Nevada staffers, giving the Democratic front-runner the largest campaign staff in the state so far.

The campaigns of Sen. Barack Obama and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson have also staffed up in Nevada in recent weeks as the Democratic candidates prepare for a first-ever early Democratic presidential nominating caucus in the state.

The Clinton campaign said Monday it has hired political directors in Northern and Southern Nevada, a communications director and a deputy field director.

The Edwards people are on the ground here as well.

Okay…one more post on the Fox kerfuffle

Coyote Angry points out that it’s not just Fox that is full o’crap.

Are We Really This Stupid?

We’ve clearly established that Fox network is a barrel full ‘o retarded wingnuts so that isn’t even interesting enough to discuss at this point but wait a sec, what about those other networks?

Dullard Mush gets responses to the dustup from Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie and Washoe County Democratic Central Committee Chair Chris Wicker

Tom Gallagher gives his 2 cents over at NevadaToday as does Mike Zahara. I’m in agreement with Tom.

Sunday Blog Round Up

Desert Beacon asks:

Question: Why is it when we’re talking about expanding prisons that members of the Nevada GOP can’t wait to sign on — but talk about building schools, expanding school programs, or funding schools and not a one of them can find a pen with enough ink in it to sign on as a co-sponsor?

I found a new blog worth checking out. Check out BHFRK at Club Lefty out of Eugene, OR.

Coyote Angry is always worth a click. Check out her posts on the Fox debate kerfuffle here and here.

Nevada Mojo Rising points us to this McClatchy article about the misrepresentation of the number of terrorism prosectutions. (Clue: they aren’t understating the numbers of prosecutions)

The Justice Department has routinely misrepresented the number of terrorism prosecutions, possibly undermining decision-making in the war on terrorism, an independent government audit has found.

The report, released Tuesday by the Justice Department’s inspector general, concluded that the department in most cases “could not provide support for the numbers reported or could not identify the terrorism link used to classify statistics as terrorism-related.”

Bubba has some Redneck humor for us over at No Safe Place.

Jack Wood at Nye Gateway basically tells Eric Odom to suck it up. Jack adds his two cents on the Fox debate. It’s quite interesting how us rural folks aren’t as concerned about the decision to partner with Fox for the August debate as our Democratic brothers and sisters in the more highly populated areas of the state are. Maybe it’s because we deal with Rs every waking hour of the day and know that we need to be able to meet them on their turf?

Myrna the Minx proffers a potential solution for the Fox dustup.

Howard Dean has something to say about the Fox debate dust-up

From today’s San Francisco Chronicle:

For now, the Democratic Party’s leaders are ready to work with Fox even if they get burned by the network that uses the tagline “fair and balanced” for its coverage. The lead player is Dean, who was elected as party chair on a strategy to appeal to voters in all states, a strategy that was supported by many liberal bloggers.

“This is about talking to voters, not a network,” Dean said Thursday. “While the Fox News Channel rarely has coverage that is fair and balanced, we believe that Fox viewers, who are potential voters, should have the opportunity to see a debate between our candidates. These forums provide an important unfiltered opportunity for potential voters to see Democrats without the bias of the network.”

From the same article:

Nevada Democratic Party spokeswoman Kirsten Searer sought to tamp down concerns about Fox’s influence on the broadcast. Each major decision about the debate, Searer said, “from the background on the stage to the debate moderator, will be reached by mutual agreement of the state party, Western Majority Project (a coalition of western Democratic politicians) and Fox News.

“A 50-state strategy means talking to every American. The debate in August is not an endorsement of Fox. Instead, it is an effort to reach out to Fox viewers. We will not win elections if we don’t win over new people.”

[...]

Jane Fleming, executive director of Young Democrats of America, appears as a guest on Fox News two or three times a week, often as the lone liberal tangling with some of Fox’s conservative personalities. She doesn’t support, as some have advocated, freezing out the network — refusing to appear on-air as a liberal counterpoint.

“The thing is, if we don’t appear, there are plenty of Democrats Fox will find who aren’t really Democrats — they’re just people who will agree with the host all the time,” Fleming said. “We need to be on there pushing back.”