Lick Bush and Dick in '04

And, why does the New York Times think this is worth not just one, but two stories?

This year was Whoopi Goldberg's turn. In her rambling monologue she made lewd jokes related to the president's surname, which President Bush's supporters pounced on as evidence of Democrats' "sickness."

[...]

The Bush campaign, however, immediately scolded Mr. Kerry for reportedly enjoying the show and demanded that his campaign release a video of the event to the public.

"At this event, there was a great deal of extreme venom and vitriol that spewed forth," said Steve Schmidt, a spokesman for the Bush campaign. 'Both John Kerry and John Edwards lacked the leadership to stand up and say this kind of rhetoric is wrong and it demeans our civic discourse. The fact that John Kerry said these people represent the heart and soul of America shows just how far outside the mainstream John Kerry truly is."


Oh my goodness, let's see a fine example of mainstream Republican rhetoric, shall we? And it only went out to 30 million people or so, so it's not as if it demeans our civic discourse.

During an appearance on last night's "Tonight Show with Jay Leno," comedian Dennis Miller unleashed a torrent of political humor aimed at Democrats who he says "are going to hell in a handbasket."

[...]

"Those are frightening affairs. That is such an empty-headed scrum those Democratic debates. I tune in, you see all nine of them together, it's like a Pez-dispenser séance."

"You know all the Democrats are going to hell in a handbasket. Now they got [California's] Nancy Pelosi. ... You ever see she has that pop-eyed look all the time? I always thought she might be hyper-thyroid, but then I heard her speak a couple times. She's stupid! The reason her eyes are so wide is that she's as shocked as we are that she made it that high!"

"Robert Byrd, this guy stands there and lectures Bush in the well of the Senate. He was in the Ku Klux Klan! He's demented. You know this guy's burning the cross at both ends! And you know something, if Robert Byrd were your grandfather and he came to Thanksgiving dinner and went off one of these demented screeds, everybody would sit there smiling at him, and as soon as he left the room, somebody'd say, 'Hey, what the hell are we gonna do about grandpa?'"

"And the Clintons won't shut up. If that marriage were any more about convenience, they'd have to install a Slim-Jim rack and a Slurpee machine at the base of the bed. [Hillary] jumps on every opportunity to take a shot at Bush. They have a blackout in New York, she starts blaming it on Bush. You know, this woman doesn't miss a trick – unless it's the one her old man's with on any given night."


I don't recall the Democrats calling a press conference and whining like a bunch of blubbering little sissies over that, but I could be mistaken.

These articles today are yet another perfect example of the press being useful idiots and conscious tools for the RNC. Limbaugh and his gang of thugs are on the air five days a week reaching tens of millions of people every single day, claiming that Democrats are filthy, traitorous enemies of America. (Not to mention his little S&M fantasies about torture to "blow off steam.") But none of that is worthy of mention in two separate articles in the same paper discussing the problems of alleged "hate-filled" rhetoric at a Democratic fundraiser, which the Republicans are blatently flogging as an example of Kerry being outside the mainstream of America.

This must be what they mean by context, balance and objectivity at the NY Times. Very impressive. I know that Bush has Saddam's pistol in the Oval Office, but I wonder if Rove has Pfc Lyndie Raines' famous leash sitting on his desk in the White House? It's such a perfect metaphor for his relationship with the press.