The President-elect’s brilliance was the number one reason we were supposed to overlook the thin resume, ignore the lack of any true leadership positions in his past and not question his long term associations with an assortment of very questionable characters.

As he constructs his team, President-elect Obama seems to be showing some sound judgement and shrewd political skill. Larry Johnson offered up a great post last night praising the expected selection of General Jim Jones as National Security Advisor.

However, the media cheerleading apparatus just can’t help themselves when it comes to Hillary Clinton.

The Senator is so powerful that she weakens the MSM immune system. When the immune system is compromised the body is open to a host of infections and viruses. It is in this weakened state that long dormant viruses like herpes or Clinton Derangement Syndrome can burst to the surface. The ugly sores can last for weeks and are very contagious.

How else to explain the plethora of columns questioning the great Obama’s judgement for potentially tapping her as Secretary of State. Every one of these columns follows the same pattern. About six to seven paragraphs admitting why she is so qualified to be Secretary of State and a concluding set of two to three paragraphs painting Hillary Clinton and former President Clinton as so self obsessed as to be completely incapable of serving the Obama administration and working on behalf of the greater good of American citizens.

For the most recent example, you can read this column from Paul Richter. His closing is fairly typical for these columns.

In matters of state, it is the duty of the secretary, like other aides, to step forward and take responsibility for any failure of the administration, so the president is not blamed. If she cherishes her own ambitions, she be reluctant to do so.

And even if she’s willing to subjugate her own interests, will her husband do the same? Bill Clinton may be tempted to call a journalist, as he sometimes has done in the past, to put out a storyline that makes his wife look good.

The former president has been working with Obama’s team on a deal under which he would seek clearance from the new administration before making any speech that could affect U.S. foreign policy. But controlling those speeches may be difficult. The former president himself has joked about the fact that he usually makes up a large part of his speeches as he goes along.

The former Clinton foreign-policy official said that while Obama has said he would relish having a team of political rivals in his Cabinet, as Abraham Lincoln did, Hillary Clinton may be different.

“Lincoln never had to deal with the special dynamic presented by having this secretary and this spouse,” the former official said. “[Bill Clinton] loves politics and diplomacy, and it’s going to be very tough for him to sit back and not get into it.”

There it is, the sores burst out on the lips (or more personal places) in all their glory. No way to cover it up or hide it. They’ll sit there and fester for awhile until they scab over and heal, just waiting for an opportunity to burst out again.

Here are the questions I have for those suffering from this diabolical and ugly virus. Since becoming a US Senator and carving out her own political career independent from that of her husband, has Senator Clinton shown herself to be anything but a consummate team player? What defeated presidential contender not named as a running mate ever worked harder to help secure his/her rival’s November victory? When has she acted on anything in the U.S. Senate to benefit the activities of former President Clinton? When has former President Clinton’s influence interfered with her service to the people of New York and the United States?

The things is that the writers, reporters and pundits all know the answers to the questions above. Those answers are the reasons why President-elect Obama apparently feels comfortable enough to ask Senator Clinton to serve in his administration. The MSM hacks all know this too. It’s just they can’t help themselves. They are infected with an incurable virus. Occasionally, you can buy a balm or gel for some temporary relief, but if you have been exposed to Clinton Derangement Complex you know that there are times you will feel that tingle (much like the one in Chris Matthew’s leg) and the sores will come bursting out.

The headline on the MSN homepage (via MSNBC) declares, “Dem sources: Clinton to help wife get State job.”

This headline refers to the fact that President Clinton is disclosing his financial records and those of his charitable work. But the sexist opportunity was too good for MSNBC to pass up. President Clinton is not helping his wife “get a job,” he’s merely presenting financial documents to Obama’s transition team. Ostensibly, all potential cabinet members and their spouses are also going through this process now. The big difference, however, is that the Obama team made Clinton’s financial records a campaign issue.

Can you imagine the headline turned the other way? I don’t recall seeing, “Liddy Dole to help husband get job” or “Mary Matalin to help James Carville get job.”

There are major problems with the MSNBC headline. First, of course, it presupposes that Senator Clinton wants the job. There’s a report today in the New York Times that she’s “hesitant” to give up the independence of her senate seat. But of course independence is what it’s all about.

A key element of Obama Sexism in this recent campaign was the constantly pushed narrative that Hillary was dependent on President Clinton for her senate seat and her presidential campaign. Chris Matthews infamously said “on ‘Morning Joe’ [that] the reason Hillary Clinton won her New York Senate seat and is a front-runner in the presidential race is because Bill Clinton ‘messed around.’”

And who can forget Greg Craig of the Obama campaign? A former Clinton classmate and friend, when discussing Hillary’s important role in bringing peace to Northern Ireland, claimed that Hillary Clinton was an appendage to her husband and only met with “the women”:

She traveled to Ireland with her husband and met with the women, and the women, of course, were heroic in their work for peace. But she can’t take credit for bringing the women together. They were the courageous ones that did it themselves. What she said was, “It’s a good thing you’re doing it. We’re all for you. I hope you’re successful.” That’s not instrumental. That’s not bringing peace to Ireland.

Of course Hillary never claimed to have brought peace to Northern Ireland. The Obama Sexism trope from Craig is even more glaring when you ask, What foreign policy credentials did Obama have? Hillary was President Clinton’s closest adviser and she was assigned many important tasks in his administration. But Craig, like MSNBC now, perpetuates Obama Sexism in order to diminish Hillary Clinton.

Promise me you’ve restrained your hands in some way. Okay? Now click the arrow.

I know, I know … it’s disgusting and reprehensible.

UPDATE about Secretary of State HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON! This news makes those losers you just saw above nearly irrelevant, sinking in the ash heap of history! Ha! (Oh, how I loved adding that Secretary of State … Category to our blog!) From The Guardian (UK): “Hillary Clinton to accept Barack Obama’s offer of secretary of state job,” via Memeorandum.com — at the end of this post is more, including my EXPRESSION OF HEARTY APPROVAL of Hillary’s decision (and before you judge, please read why I’m so thrilled for her and for the United States and the entire world) …

So, if you can soothe your nerves, and slow down your beating heart, tell me what else is going on in the world.

::::::::::

UPDATE OPINION COMING … I wanted to be sure to get the UPDATE story link published for you first. Then I’ll reopen the story and write my thoughts - Susan (Okay, I’ve finished writing my thoughts below the screenshot of Memeorandum’s coverage, and I invite you to read what I wrote, below.)

From The Guardian (UK): “Hillary Clinton to accept Barack Obama’s offer of secretary of state job,” via Memeorandum.com -

Here’s my two cents on why Hillary is correct to take this job that carries with it such prominence, such power, such esteem, and such massive opportunities to do so very much good for both the United States and the entire world:

1) Hillary is over 21 and can do whatever she wants;

2) Hillary knows the “operators” in the White House and the Obama team like few others — and she knows the games they play far better than ALL OF US, combined!

3) Given this knowledge and extensive experience with Barack Obama and “crew,” Hillary knows what to expect and has an arsenal of tools that she has picked up over her two-plus decades of intense, non-stop experience in political arenas of all types, including EIGHT years in the White House as a true political partner with her husband.

4) Hillary has not only flown to 80+ countries, she has spent TIME in remote parts of Africa and Asia, in tiny villages, where she was a longtime advocate for impoverished WOMEN.

5) I have no doubt that Hillary will make sexism and misogyny part of her agenda as Secretary of State.

6) For a very long time, Hillary has understood the most COMPLEX international issues. I vividly recall one night — gosh, was it 2001 (something like that) — on PBS’s Charlie Rose show when she demonstrated that she has in-depth knowledge of EVERY international issue and potential crisis that the United States might face. I particularly recall how much she knew about North Korea.

7) I hate admitting this but I used to be one of the throngs who “hated” Hillary Clinton. And I watched that Charlie Rose show while “hating” Hillary Clinton, but noting how brilliant and knowledgeable she is.

Then it dawned on me one day in 2007 that I’d been duped into “hating” Hillary Clinton because of the years and years and years of attacks on her from the rightwing media, including Rush Limbaugh — who will no doubt be VERY entertaining to listen to tomorrow! He’ll be frothing at the mouth, I expect.

So what happened to me and to many “lefties” was this: Without consciously realizing it, we all were taught to “hate” Hillary Clinton by the far right.

That’s why the Daily Kos crowd went nuts every time one of us wrote diaries in favor of Hillary Clinton.

Yet, the Daily Kossacks NEVER conducted any rigorous self-examination of why they “hated” her. If they had, they would have realized that that hatred had its roots in what Rush Limbaugh et al. said about her. And they would have been as embarrassed and horrified as I was when it hit me.

I’d been kind of supporting Bill Richardson (yeah, well …) and then I saw him on TV a couple times, and he sounded like an idiot and he embarrassed me.

Then I listened to Hillary, and I liked what she was saying and I found myself — woah! — liking her too.

But I was afraid to tell anybody.

I finally told my closest female relative. She shocked me by saying that she too had been looking hard at Hillary as the candidate to support.

Then Larry Johnson called me one day, and I somewhat haltingly told him that I was looking at Hillary Clinton. He then told me his story of briefing her in her Senate office and how she’d knocked his socks off.

So we decided to express our support for Hillary on No Quarter.

Well, lord almighty, did we get creamed for that. But we persisted. I was somewhat shy about it because I didn’t like the angry comments. Larry was reserved about expressing his support and took his time to carefully state his reasons for supporting her. Then he wrote a great, great post about meeting her and how much she impressed him.

Slowly but surely, more and more people at No Quarter and new to No Quarter began gathering at No Quarter to talk about Hillary.

One of the attributes that Hillary Clinton has that drew us to her, and which we witnessed throughout the grossly unfair media coverage of her primary run, was her ability to stay on course and to keep fighting and to never give up.

Hillary Clinton has all the requisite moxie to handle her detractors who’ll plot against her in the Obama White House.

Hillary Clinton has all the needed resolve to keep fighting and to never let her detractors or the media get her down.

And, best of all, she’ll NEVER let any detractor keep her from doing a brilliant job as our Secretary of State.

She will be the best damn Secretary of State we could ever hope for.

We will have so much to be proud of as we watch her, from afar, perform her job so brilliantly.

Can you begin to imagine how she will begin to restore our relationships with nations around the world?

Oh, it will be glorious.

For now, if I may suggest how your mind should be focused: Please put a halt to your fretting about what the Obama cohorts might do to her, and IMAGINE ALL THE GOOD SHE WILL DO.

Just IMAGINE those poor women in those remote African villages she visited as First Lady, and how she will now be able to get back to helping them.

Hillary Clinton has NEVER forgotten those impoverished, mistreated African women. They surely have never forgotten her. And now they know she will return to them, and once again help them, as she did before when she set up economic plans to aid them in creating their own businesses with child care and good medical facilities.

IMAGINE the joy in those women’s hearts when they find out that Hillary Clinton will return and do more for them.

IMAGINE.

And here’s Rachel’s report on the rumor about Hillary Rodham Clinton to be Secretary of State — this is a vastly MORE SUBSTANTIVE and VETTED REPORT than that given on Fox News:

YES! The last part of the report is bruising. But it is a mentally challenging report.

Rachel asks some tough, but salient questions. That’s good journalism. We can handle our Hillary being tussled up a bit, so long as it is a report that make us all think.

KEEP LISTENING through the section where Rachel asks the tough questions. A fascinating interview follows that part, with Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

Rachel Maddow gave this story a lot of time and thought. She did a lot of research, preparation and writing. She gave this story FAR MORE TIME and IMPORTANCE than Fox News gave it. So I give them their due.

I tire of flogging the same people and institutions all the time. We need to mix it up.

Fox News is asleep at the switch.

MSNBC is offering some substantive reporting and — in the case of the Hillary Clinton rumor — had GOOD sources and a great backgrounder report.

…….

*Just keep this among ourselves without discussion, may we? We are trying NOT to draw attention because some people will not stop until they destroy my entire life. If they do that, I will self-immolate in front of the Federal Building at the nearest major city. If only to shame the thugs. I will have nothing left soon enough if they succeed, so there’ll be nothing left to do anyway. So don’t contribute to the problems by asking a lot of questions, if I may be harsh with you for a moment. I really thought people would figure this out without my having to say anything, but apparently not.

The modern media’s 24 hour news cycle has changed the way the news is delivered and has pretty much destroyed the tenets of journalism. In order to get information out first and constantly refresh the news product, old rules about double and triple checking information provided by sources and investigating the integrity of those sources no longer fit the game.

Shortly after election day, Fox News ran a story quoting an unnamed McCain source as saying that Sarah Palin was not aware that Africa was a continent. Just a few minutes later, the story popped up on MSNBC after someone who saw the Fox piece e-mailed the tip to a friend in the MSNBC newsroom.

Instantly, e-mails and blogs started buzzing and those suffering from extreme “Palin Derangement Syndrome” were ecstatic over having more “proof” that she wouldn’t make it past the first round on “Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader”.

Heres the problem, the entire story was a hoax perpetrated by a couple of guys trying to drum up interest in a television show based on a fictional character they have created.

Believe it or not, the NY Times actually has the story. Read about it here

If you are waiting for prime time retractions, don’t hold your breath.

Who would say such a thing? On Monday the answer popped up on a blog and popped out of the mouth of David Shuster, an MSNBC anchor. “Turns out it was Martin Eisenstadt, a McCain policy adviser, who has come forward today to identify himself as the source of the leaks,” Mr. Shuster said.

Trouble is, Martin Eisenstadt doesn’t exist. His blog does, but it’s a put-on. The think tank where he is a senior fellow — the Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy — is just a Web site. The TV clips of him on YouTube are fakes.

And the claim of credit for the Africa anecdote is just the latest ruse by Eisenstadt, who turns out to be a very elaborate hoax that has been going on for months. MSNBC, which quickly corrected the mistake, has plenty of company in being taken in by an Eisenstadt hoax, including The New Republic and The Los Angeles Times.

Now a pair of obscure filmmakers say they created Martin Eisenstadt to help them pitch a TV show based on the character.

The creators of this hoax, know just how easy it is to take advantage of today’s media.

They say the blame lies not with them but with shoddiness in the traditional news media and especially the blogosphere.

“With the 24-hour news cycle they rush into anything they can find,” said Mr. Mirvish, 40.

Mr. Gorlin, 39, argued that Eisenstadt was no more of a joke than half the bloggers or political commentators on the Internet or television.

Even MSNBC admits to the mistake

An MSNBC spokesman, Jeremy Gaines, explained the network’s misstep by saying someone in the newsroom received the Palin item in an e-mail message from a colleague and assumed it had been checked out. “It had not been vetted,” he said. “It should not have made air.”

And while the MSM is easily fooled, bloggers are even bigger victims of information hoaxes.

But most of Eisenstadt’s victims have been bloggers, a reflection of the sloppy speed at which any tidbit, no matter how specious, can bounce around the Internet. And they fell for the fake material despite ample warnings online about Eisenstadt, including the work of one blogger who spent months chasing the illusion around cyberspace, trying to debunk it.

As for Sarah Palin, the damage is already done for now. No amount of retractions will make up for the hits her image has taken. Jay Leno, David Letterman, Bill Maher and Jon Stewart will not be telling jokes about how stupid they were in repeating this nonsense. Maybe they should have written a few more jokes about the guy running for President of the 57 United States.

On the media level, there are no solutions coming. News organizations will not invest more time and money into vetting stories. Reporters and bloggers will not take more time to carefully check their facts in fear of losing out to competitors. The only solution has to come from us, the consumers. We just have to accept that every news story that comes down the road, is just a story and we can not rush to judgement.

Step aside, LD! We have the genius now:

I remember a time when, if a woman was brutally raped, the cops would ask her,

“What were you wearing?”.

Those were the days, not so long past, when it was the woman’s fault if her husband kicked the crap out of her. She asked for it. It was also her fault if she got raped because she asked for it.

I thought we had improved since then. But we haven’t. Well, actually we had made progress, but there is a certain man who is now the elected President of the United States, who set back gender relations by a minimum of 50 years. But nobody is blaming him. It can’t possibly be his fault as a maliciously gleeful Enabler. Why blame him when there is a woman or two around to blame? And why not? When men aren’t busy blaming us women, we are busy blaming each other.

This morning I tuned into FOX. It was the first time I had bothered with a news channel since the election. FOX was my only choice, as MSNBC and CNN are forever dead to me. There, I watched the classy Lady Lynn Forester De Rothschild sitting there on a panel designed to discuss What’s Wrong With Sarah.

Yes, “regressive progressive” boys, I know that Lady R is married to a rich man, so that cancels her out in some of your little minds.

The fact that Lady De Rothschild was a successful businesswoman and a millionaire in her own right before she married isn’t really relevant is it? I recall my immigrant grandmother, who had no education to speak of all, telling me that it’s not wise to hang around with a guy who has less than you do.

So Lady R was smart enough to marry somebody who wasn’t going to suck down her assets. Too bad some other women I have known in my life didn’t take that same advice. Sorry Lynn’s good sense disappoints you, regressives fellas.

So there I was, watching Lady R sitting on an “esteemed” FOX panel discussing Sarah Palin and how we can pin John McCain’s loss on her. So, who was on this “panel” with her?: None other than the morally bankrupt Jerry I love prostitutes so that makes me a real politician, but I got caught so now I encourage white trash to throw pies at each other in order to earn a living Springer.

But they weren’t alone. Nope. Nick DePaolo was there offering his ‘wisdom’ as well. Being Italian, I recognize a dago greaseball when I see one. This is why I was not surprised when ole Nick said in his best hairy macho, “Some female in the campaign had a problem with her” to describe why she is enduring smears at the moment.

I thought, Wow! Double-Dipping Woman-Blaming, Nick! Brilliant! You’re experienced at this! Your mother enabled you well! It’s a woman’s fault but we’ve got the wrong woman in our sights! It’s not Sarah at all! It’s some other woman who had a problem with Sarah who started all these rumors!

Yeah, that’s it, It’s a woman’s fault that it’s a woman’s fault. Nicky! Paisano! You didn’t let me down!

I’m not sure, but I think I saw Lady R nearly roll her eyes at that point. But, being a disciplined, well-educated person with a solid three-digit IQ unmatched by the two goons next to her, she was very gracious to these two knuckle dragging beasts she was forced to talk to. I really admired her at that moment. Here she was on a panel with two accurate remnant-samplings of Pithecanthropus Erectus and she didn’t haul off and tell them both just how stupid and useless they both really are. I suspect that Lady R understands the concept that you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.

So just to recap. John McCain’s loss was Sarah’s problem. This is an important point to make because, behind the scenes, there are several cowardly unnamed members of McCain’s staff who are trying to save their own incompetent asses in hopes that somebody will hire them again to work on another horribly run campaign.

Flailing, because they all look like idiots for managing a campaign that was suitable for a council candidate in a town of 10,000, they needed someone to blame. Fortunately for them, there was a woman there, else whatEVER would they have done?

So, because several seriously inept and embarrassing staffers in the McCain campaign are wondering whether they will ever work again, it worked for them to just say “It’s Sarah’s fault that we are stupid, inept and really should be working here instead of ever being allowed to run another high-powered campaign”.

And the main stream Unmedia was more than willing to jump on that wagon. After all, they were experienced at trashing a woman, having gotten plenty of practice on Hillary. ironically just as it was a few decades ago when women got raped, they even had the audacity to use “What were you wearing?” on Sarah.

And by the way, exactly where is John McCain during this current Sarah Palin trash session?

::::Crickets::::

Ok, so now we have it analyzed. In true, “Blame the victim not the perpetrator” fashion, we can only conclude that it’s all Sarah’s fault that we are about to install America’s first Marxist-Leninist President.

But wait! No!!!!!

It’s not Sarah’s fault at all!

It’s Hillary’s fault!

As I cruised the former We Love Hillary blogs and websites yesterday, I found myself reading all about how all of this is Hillary’s fault. There, in front of my eyes, respected people, people I truly admire, were blaming Hillary. Hillary didn’t push back. Hillary didn’t abandon the Party, Hillary didn’t expose Barack Obama, Hillary stumped for the candidate. Hillary sent us a message to go back to our abuser. Hillary put up with the sexism. Hillary didn’t spend every dime she had for principle! Hillary didn’t run as an Independent!

Let me ask you something, folks: Can you name me ONE President of the United States who won a race as an Independent? Go ahead, take your time. I’ll wait…..

The fact is, folks, Hillary did EVERYTHING she could, and YES she was a victim of an Enabler, and there wasn’t a single thing she could do about it without winding up NOWHERE! Anybody who imagines it would have been different is a fool and has certainly never run for office at any level.

But apparently, Hillary didn’t get skewered enough for The Cause, so now we all need to join in.

I mean, she wasn’t the victim or anything right!? The hypocritical biggoted DNC shouldn’t bear the brunt of our resentment, right? Barack Obama and his vibrating cell phone shouldn’t bear the brunt of our resentment, right? CNN and MSNBC shouldn’t bear the brunt of our resentment, right?. That would be far too difficult. Let’s make it easy on ourselves and blame her! And let’s get other women to join in! That always works well!

What was she wearing?

.

So Ok, I’ll play along: It’s Hillary’s fault!

But wait! No!!!!

It’s not just Sarah’s fault or Hillary’s fault, it’s the fault of all women !!!!

Yeah that’s it! Why stop with just two of you when we can blame all of you?

Below is a comment I received right here from a guy on this blog::

I am a long-time lurker here, and a first-time poster. My depression over BO’s victory is compounded by the apparent lack of impact from the millions of Clinton supporters who could have/should have been the difference in this election. What happened?

Here is my answer.

We women are pretty much accustomed to being blamed for every goddamned thing that you guys feel like laying on us, but this time I gotta push back.You need to ask the same question of those whiney far right republicans who sulked because some Far right whackjob wasn’t nominated instead of a centrist. I’ll bet more PUMAs voted for McCain than far right, social conservatives. Boy I guess they showed everybody huh?

You need to ask the same question of the evangelicals who, by last count, gave thirty percent of their votes to a communist who belongs to a religion tied to marxism and the middle east. And then ask them what size burka they would like because they are all fools.

You need to ask the same question of Catholics who went for Barack Obama on one issue only: Abortion.

We PUMAs aren’t going to take your own party’s rap. Sorry but no cigar.

This commenter didn’t even realize what he was trying to do. He was blaming The Women en masse for McCain’s horrendous campaign and loss, not because the commenter is malicious, but because he is programmed. So don’t hold it against him. He is programmed and we women helped to program him.

In addition, we women help enable this kind of thought process daily–by trashing each other. In a “man’s world” this is the oldest trick in the world–and probably the single most powerful device known to Man to ensure that women help them to keep other women down. It works well in Corporate America and it works well in politics. I’m here to tell you, I am NOT playing along. And if you, my sisters, had any brains, you wouldn’t play along either. We need to stop allowing other women who are victimized to be blamed by the perpetrators.

Back when Feminism actually meant something other than Roe v. Wade, back when feminists weren’t politically correct and would never have tolerated the abuses of women around the world, knowing that as we speak, a woman is being set aflame in the middle east for “shaming” the family after being raped, back when feminists actually DID circle each others’ wagons, I listened to a speaker whose name I no longer remember. But I remember her message well, if only in paraphrase:

Humans are the only species that has the female actually give birth to her own oppressors. Then the female teaches them the art of oppression.

I admittedly felt the need to join in with the “blame Hillary” movement at one point. It was the quote above that reminded me that this is wrong on so many levels.

I hope I have given at least one of my sisters food for thought today. Lady R clearly understands that when a woman enables her oppressors by joining in on the man’s game of trashing another woman, all women lose. And when one woman loses, the game continues– and one day you will be the victim of the very same game (if you haven’t already!).

We need to stop being so hard on each other, sisters! Lady R understands this!

Did Sarah say some dumb things? Yup. But let me ask you: HOW STUPID WAS JOE BIDEN during this campaign? Do we hear ONE thing about this moron who is a heartbeat away from the Presidency? Of course not! Do you know why? Because men circle each other’s wagons, ladies. And that’s our problem. We haven’t learned to do the same for our sisters. And as long as we continue being used by the Oldest Trick Known, we will always be the victims who are blamed by the perpetrators. It is the single biggest reason why we women, who comprise MORE THAN HALF of the electorate, are sitting in mud at this very moment.

Did Hillary fight like we have never seen another woman fight before? You bet she did! Then why have we forgotten this? What do we remember? We remember that she gave up. Well damn her for giving up in the face of an ENTIRE media assault, an Enabling Lying, Cheating Sexist Pig opponent she couldn’t vet without being called a racist, and an ENTIRE political party working against her! Shame on her for giving up, when she could have instead had the pleasure of losing her job, her life, her career, and the ability to do anything good for humanity in the future.

Oh I just know you would have done it differently, right? Right? Me too! Right!

In closing, I would like to ask all of my sisters out there one question: Do you think these women succeeded by joining in with men and bashing each other in public?

However, I’m thinking that being made fun of when you are deadly earnest and feeling your self-importance is not so positive. THAT means you’ve jumped the shark and now EVERYONE knows it. Heh. Keith has been feeling very good about himself for quite some time now. His “special comments” took off when he blasted President Bush some time ago, and Keith has since become agitated by Katie Couric, Hillary Clinton, and Geraldine Ferraro - all who have merited a “special comment.” (I’ve kindly provided a list below, of SOME of the Olbermann-related posts here at NQ.)

Trying very hard to imitate if not channel Edward R. Murrow, Olbermann, sees himself as a cable tv truthteller. His rants are actually truth-optional. Watching his “news” show is indulging in the television version of caveat emptor. Just try to find the objective facts.

Read the rest ->

Anyway, SNL finally got Olbermann on both his style and pomposity. The sketch was a bit long, but if you’ve ever watched Keith lose his mind on tv, you’ll recognize every bit of posturing, spitting, snarling and tortured phrasing usually found on his show. His faux intellectualism is capped only by the ridiculous historical references during the sketch. Yep. That was KO all right.

Here’s what eonline said about the sketch:

Forget Gigli, Ben Affleck, all is forgiven. Brilliantly skeweing partisan windbag Keith Olbermann on Saturday Night Live last night, Affleck did a dead-on impersonation of the sputtering, hyper-rhetorical MSNBC anchor, with the SNL writing staff serving up a devastating satirical critique. Yo, Keith, good night and good luck!

Olbermann, himself, crashed the closed-set rehearsal to watch Ben Affleck tune up his impersonation, as Politico mentioned on Halloween.

Ben Affleck, who’s hosting “Saturday Night Live” this week, was rehearsing a skit this afternoon mocking Keith Olbermann when Olbermann himself got past security to watch, according to a source with knowledge of the incident.

A source described the skit as “savage,” in portraying Olbermann as a deranged person living at home with his mother. Affleck, said a source, became uneasy with Olbermann in attendance at the 3 p.m., closed-set rehearsal.

Ben does a pretty good job capturing the “real Keith.” But he doesn’t quite reach the level of pomposity. He can’t. Keith is in a league of his own on that.
Here you go:

NQ Keith-related articles:

MSNBC moves Keith Olbermann from sober news chair to color commentary. Wait, he was doing “news?”

MSNBC Goes Off the Rails

Olbermann v. Milbank: The Back Story

Keith Olbermann Declares: Off with Dana Milbank’s Head

Keith’s Traintrum
Keith’s demand for a first class train ticket to attend Russert’s memorial.

Keith Olbermann - Useless
Keith makes Katie Couric “worst person in the world” for saying HRC got sexist treatment

Special Comment for Keith Olbermann
A NQ response to Keith’s “she’s a killer” rant against HRC

A Special Commentary

A website devoted to all things Keith: Olbermannwatch.com

Viewers’ Alert Channels: NBC, CBS, and Fox Entertainment (following the world series game, if played tonight)

In lieu of watching those channels, may I suggest that we all tune in at precisely that time to FOX NEWS? Or how about Pushing Daisies on ABC?

Many of us, particularly we Hillary Clinton supporters, stumbled onto a heretofore unknown territory during the primary contests of 2007 and 2008. We true-blue types had always bought the Democratic party’s line, and all the liberal blather, that told us that Fox News was a hardcore knuckle-dragging scream machine for rightwingers. To protect our precious minds and to deny them rating points, we should never click on that channel.

But, lo, as we became very disheartened with the coverage of Hillary Clinton on CNN and especially MSNBC, we became wildly adventurous out of sheer desperation. We were so starved for positive news that, like the Donner Party, we made a brutal choice, no matter how unappetizing the choice. We clicked. We actually gave Fox News a try-out, even though we had ZERO expectations that we would get any nourishment. However, to our utter amazement, we discovered that not only did we stave off near-fatal starvation, but that we could reliably hear far more fair, and far more balanced news stories on Fox News than on CNN and most assuredly on MSNBC (which became best known as MSNBO). Why, Fox News actually reported fair and positive stories about all of the Democratic candidates (unlike CNN and MSNBO which were heavily weighted to favor Barack Obama and regularly reported ugly and foul stories about Hillary Clinton).

So, it is only “fair” that, in return for their more balanced coverage, we reward Fox News tonight with a bump in ratings.

Besides — INSERT VERY LOUD AUDIO OF DRUMROLLS HERE — if you should make the mistake of tuning in at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT to NBC, CBS or Fox Entertainment, you will see this (minus the intervention of Joe The Plumber):

In any fair and balanced world, Joe The Plumber would march out with his plunger and stick it in Barack Obama’s face.

And, dear faithful readers, in a truly fair and balanced world, we would — just for tonight — all inhabit the same time zone so that I could post that cartoon at the top of this story DURING that precise half-hour time period.

I reached out to Larry Johnson for inspiration as I worked on the draft of this story, and he suggested this paragraph for the finale:

If you have the stomach to watch the Golden Child try to induce mass hypnotism tonight you may want to grab the tool that plumbers regularly use to dislodge a wad of fecal material and get the pipes open. Yep, grab your plunger. You’re going to need it because the bullshit will be thick and deep.

Isn’t that Larry just the most inspiring guy ever ?!?!?!?!

And, I guess we’ll all be watching Bill O’Reilly tonight!

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The presidential race tightened after the final debate, with John McCain gaining among whites and people earning less than $50,000, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll that shows McCain and Barack Obama essentially running even among likely voters in the election homestretch.

The poll, which found Obama at 44 percent and McCain at 43 percent, supports what some Republicans and Democrats privately have said in recent days: that the race narrowed after the third debate as GOP-leaning voters drifted home to their party and McCain’s “Joe the plumber” analogy struck a chord.

According to the AP article, McCain closed the gap for the following reasons: he had a strong debate performance last week; McCain’s television advertisements on Obama’s encounter with Joe the Plumber resonated with voters; and many voters believe their taxes will increase under an Obama administration.

Yahoo News must be dissatisfied with the results of the AP’s poll, for a few hours after the AP released the results of their survey Yahoo published a story on Sarah Palin entitled “A Drag on the Ticket?” Normally one expects to read titles that are nothing more than unfounded allegations in the form of a question at partisan blogs, not on the websites of news organizations. But we are dealing with the American press, who in my opinion have demonstrated that they are nothing more than a group of Daily Kos drones with desks in press rooms this election cycle.

Citing an NBC poll and quoting Obamabot Chuck Todd of MSNBC, Yahoo News claims voters have reservations about Sarah Palin’s qualifications. But notice how they are unwilling to aver that voters have reservations about Palin in the article’s title. Also notice how they acknowledge Palin’s popularity in the first paragraph of the article. Phrasing the allegation as a question, Yahoo News hopes to raise doubts in the minds of readers who might otherwise have a favorable opinion of the Republican Vice Presidential running mate. That is their wish, and they hope it will be fulfilled as it is interpolated in the minds of readers who mistake their partisan bilge for so much factual news.

Let us return to the AP article. According to the subjects they interviewed, voters have concerns about Obama’s qualifications, not those of Sarah Palin. I quote:

“I trust McCain more, and I do feel that he has more experience in government than Obama. I don’t think Obama has been around long enough,” said Angela Decker, 44, of La Porte, Ind.

Notice how Yahoo News only quotes Obamabot and Washington elite political insider Chuck Todd, not an ordinary voter from the state of Indiana. If they bothered to interview ordinary voters, they would discover that most working Americans view Obama as unqualified.

But also notice why Yahoo News feels compelled to raise doubts about Palin. According to the AP poll, Caucasian voters and lower income voters who actually work for a living are abandoning Obama. I quote the AP again:

• Posted big gains among likely voters earning under $50,000 a year; he now trails Obama by just 4 percentage points compared with 26 earlier.
• Surged among rural voters; he has an 18-point advantage, up from 4.
• Doubled his advantage among whites who haven’t finished college and now leads by 20 points. McCain and Obama are running about even among white college graduates, no change from earlier.
• Made modest gains among whites of both genders, now leading by 22 points among white men and by 7 among white women.
• Improved slightly among whites who are married, now with a 24-point lead.
• Narrowed a gap among unmarried whites, though he still trails by 8 points.
• McCain has cut into Obama’s advantage on the questions of whom voters trust to handle the economy and the financial crisis. On both, the Democrat now leads by just 6 points, compared with 15 in the previous survey.
• Obama still has a larger advantage on other economic measures, with 44 percent saying they think the economy will have improved a year from now if he is elected compared with 34 percent for McCain.
• Intensity has increased among McCain’s supporters.

How does one reduce McCain’s advantage with Caucasian women? How does one convince voters that the unprepared Obama has enough experience to address our current economic woes? How does one temper Palin’s appeal with rural voters? How does one neutralize McCain’s recent surge in the polls? The question to all these questions is to portray Sarah Palin, the woman who is drawing large crowds everywhere she campaigns, as unqualified, inexperienced and divisive. Misogyny determined the outcome of the primary, and it will surely sway some voters during the general election. Or at least this is the media’s wish.

So Yahoo News will publish questionable polling data from NBC on the same day one news organization announces that the race for the Presidency is tied. While some would interpret this as a mixed media message, I prefer to view it as so much media wish fulfillment. After all, the media dreams while its indolent reporters sleep.