Olbermann spanked for making faces at Beck?

Just in case: that’s RedState dot COM, Keith.  Have you noticed that nobody in the media ever updates their links?

Here’s the (very entertaining) timeline:

  • Thursday, September 3rd, 11:18 PM: Glenn Beck calls for his Twitter followers to send him information on “CASS SUNSTEIN, MARK LLOYD AND CAROL BROWNER” (all caps in the original, which is honestly a bit much).
  • Friday, September 4th, 3:36 PM: Dave Weigel reports on all of this.
  • Sunday, September 6th, 12:05 AM: It becoming clear that Van Jones is a crazy 9/11 Troofer and a generally not-particularly-mainstream fellow, he resigns as Green Jobs Czar (via AoSHQ).
  • Sunday, September 6th, 10:14 AM: Keith Olbermann declares a Crusade against Glenn Beck (via Verum Serum).  This is to be an epic war of battle between Olbermann and Beck, yadda yadda.
  • Tuesday, September 8th, 8:21 AM: Media Decoder hesitantly points out that media-on-media wars may not be the smartest things in the world; and is treated to a righteous, stylized response from Olbermann himself.
  • Tuesday, September 8th, 8:22 AM to 9:46 AM (time indeterminate): Somebody in either MSNBC or GE notices that Olbermann is calling for a Crusade.
  • Tuesday, September 8th, 9:47 AM: Olbermann calls off the Crusade (via Newsbusters & Instapundit).

There is, of course, no evidence whatsoever that GE sent Olbermann was off to bed without his binky.  Personally, I’d have enforced a timeout and Olbermann being made to write out ten things that he liked about Glenn Beck, but that’s just because I’m a dad now.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Libyans shopped around for favorable Lockerbie diagnosis?

I was looking for a palate cleanser, I swear.  Something nice and non-political.  Relaxing.  But Fark Geek had to spoil it for me:

Libya paid doctors who said Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Al Megrahi had three months to live

The Libyan government paid British doctors for medical advice which could have helped bring about the release of the Lockerbie bomber.

Cancer specialist Karol Sikora and two others received £100 an hour to consider how long they believed Abdelbaset Al Megrahi had to live.

Professor Sikora admitted yesterday that although he initially thought Megrahi could live for as long as 18 months, he was ‘encouraged’ to conclude he would die from prostate cancer within three months.

This is important as it is the amount of time under which Scottish law allows someone to be freed on compassionate grounds.

I don’t know why I’m surprised at this – anymore that I was surprised that the administration was fully kept up to date on the terrorist’s release (although Allahpundit’s reaction is more or less mine on that).  But I am.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

The September Rasmussen Public Trust Numbers.

The Democrats may simply have to accept the fact that they no longer can automatically count on the trust of the American people on any topic.

September 2009 August 2009
Issue Dem GOP Diff Dem GOP Diff Shift
Health Care 44% 44% – 41% 44% (3) 3
Education 45% 40% 5 38% 41% (3) 8
Social Security 43% 41% 2 39% 43% (4) 6
Abortion 37% 44% (7) 36% 46% (10) 3
Economy 39% 47% (8) 40% 46% (6) (2)
Taxes 40% 48% (8) 35% 51% (16) 8
Iraq 37% 47% (10) 42% 42% – (10)
Nat’l Security 39% 51% (12) 43% 47% (4) (8)
Gov’t Ethics 34% 35% (1) 34% 31% 3 (4)
Immigration 33% 45% (12) 35% 43% (8) (4)

Seven out of ten, and one tie.  The good news for the Democrats is that they made some decent recoveries from August’s numbers; the bad news is that August was really bad for them, so they’re still trying to make up ground.  The most important/topical number there – health care – is probably their brightest spot, but being equally trusted on an issue when you’ve spent the last few years being clearly trusted is not the most welcome news in the world.  Particularly when ‘trusting the Democrat’ does not exclude ‘trusting the Democrat to vote the Republican position.’

Moving on: nice to see that the Government Ethics numbers are starting to consistently reflect objective reality, not to mention the Economy ones.  I’m interested how much of that is reflected by cap-and-trade – and how bringing that issue back will affect the Taxes question.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Massachusetts succession crisis!

Alarmingly, House Kennedy lacks a suitable heir to the vacant Senate seat!  The last real possibility declined to be elevated to the position:

BOSTON – Joseph P. Kennedy II’s decision not to seek the U.S. Senate seat long held by his late uncle, Edward M. Kennedy, has touched off a succession scramble.

(H/T: Hot Air) For those keeping track: this is the Kennedy that makes six figures running a nonprofit organization and who cozies up to Hugo Chavez.  He’s not the anti-science Kennedy with the crazy beliefs on autism; and he’s not the Kennedy with the drunk driving problem… to be more specific, he’s not the Kennedy currently in Congress with the drunk driving problem.  He’s not even the Kennedy that had the song “Sweet Caroline” written for her; which is a shame, because as near as I can tell that’s the most useful thing that any of the younger generations of Kennedy aristos have been associated with in my lifetime.

At any rate, the people of Massachusetts are giving serious consideration to having something called an ‘election’ for the Senate seat: no word yet whether the eventual winner will have to change his or her name to Kennedy afterward.

Moe Lane

PS: Today, John Kerry woke up, went to the bathroom mirror, and murmured “Senior Senator from Massachusetts” to his reflection.  This has become part of the little ritual of the morning for him, and helps counter the mental vertigo that comes from going through one’s days without never quite being certain what one should be doing next.

Crossposted to RedState.

White House: It was all Valerie Jarrett’s fault!

More accurately, it was a source from the White House Counsel’s office:

The counsel’s office places part of the blame on the Office for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement, which is overseen by Obama Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President Valerie Jarrett. Jones’s “czar” job was created by the OIAPE, and Jarrett interviewed Jones for the position. In speeches before far-left groups over the past five months, Jarrett touted Jones’s hiring, in part, because the groups, many of which count 9/11 truthers and radical environmentalists and anti-capitalists as members, were familiar with Jones’s brand of anti-Americanism and economic radicalism.

(via Jim Treacher) Well, most accurately of all this was an anonymous shot from one faction of the White House against another faction of the White House. Welcome to Washington, DC. Continue reading White House: It was all Valerie Jarrett’s fault!

Traficant’s back!

He’s tanned (not really), toupee’d, and ready to… why, he’s ready to do anything at all for OH-17, really.

Anything.

BOARDMAN, Ohio — Seven years in prison doesn’t appear to have changed former U.S. Rep. James Traficant’s style whatsoever, and the 1,200 supporters who gathered at a Boardman banquet hall Sunday afternoon loved him for it.

“I was a quarterback. I was a congressman. Now I’m a convict,” Traficant said, his signature toupee firmly back atop his head. “I wouldn’t change one single thing. And to the powerful enemies that I have, I’ll just say this to you: They had to cheat to convict me.”

The crowd roared. After 15 minutes of remarks, hundreds swarmed the make-shift stage to shake his hand or ask for an autograph.

Continue reading Traficant’s back!

Book of the Week: The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun

A day late, but what are you going to do? – backhoe, remember?

Anyway, we say good-bye to A Song for Arbonne and hello to The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun, which may not have been the best choice for light weekend reading. On the other hand, as Anglo-Saxon goes it’s prime stuff.