So there I was, on Countdown with Keith Olbermann ...

... and Janeane Garofalo. At what point does all this go from the sublime to the ridiculous? If we haven't gotten there yet, we will soon, I'm sure ...

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Thanks, Keith (didn't you mean "spunk'd?" ;) ) and Janeane, for the nice things you said about me (well, except maybe for the "unemployed blogger" part), and for putting me on national TV for the first time since a certain game show ...

By the way, do you think any of those people knew what the word "profligate" means?

Catching up: photo goodness from the first two days of Denver

It's taken me so long because I have been so focused on things happening RIGHT NOW, but I think I can get some pictures up now before I head to the Trojan Condom-sponsored event featuring Bill Maher, an event I've affectionately nicknamed the "Condom-Nation."

Multiple choice: Denver International Airport (pictured) looks like:
a. A lemon meringue pie
b. That funky building in Vancouver, B.C.
c. A ship
d. Someone's deranged idea of cutting-edge architecture

Coors Field, Rockies vs. Reds. Nice ballpark, gorgeous day.

Denver skyline from Coors Field.

Denver's iconic Union Station, which MSNBC is using as the backdrop for KO and Tweety.

Inside the Big Tent on Sunday afternoon ... I thought it would be bigger. (If I had an nickel for every time I've heard that ...)

Invesco Field ... sorry -- "Invesco Field at Mile High" -- home of Thursday night's DNC festivities (and the Denver Broncos).

Delegate reception Sunday night at the Colorado Convention Center (CCC).

The College Democrats convention, in the Wells Fargo Theatre of the CCC.

Protestor outside the CCC: sign reads "A Vote for Obama Is A Vote for Dead Children." I disagree, of course, but don't forget that a vote for Huggy Bear is a vote for more dead soldiers. (Trust me, you didn't want to see the right side of the poster.)

Sunday night outside the CCC. More police than protestors, probably by a ratio of three to one.

Nighttime in Larimer Square, downtown Denver.

Okay, I've gotta go ... more pictures (from today) later tonight or in the morning. And, yes, those pictures will be more political in nature. Probably.

Today's Daily Schadenfreude: Allen West

This is terrific.

Allen West, the crazed wingnut challenging Rep. Ron Klein (D-Fla.) in my own district, Florida's 22nd, was named Worst Person in the World by Keith Olbermann on his Countdown show on MSNBC yesterday. Click on this image to view the video (unfortunately, it can't be embedded):

For the video-challenged among you, here's a transcript of the pertinent part:

And our winner, Florida Republican congressional hopeful, retired Army lieutenant colonel Allen West.

A guest booker from a TV network tried to get him to come on a show and talk about the increase of violence in Afghanistan. But since West had not been to Afghanistan in eight months, he saw through their smokescreen ... he knew what they were really planning on doing: kidnapping him.

[Said West,] "My B.S. flag really went up when they said they wanted my address to pick me up at night." The network which asked him to come on? Al-Jazeera. "I was not about to be a puppet," he says, for a network, quote, "which has helped torment our men and women in uniform."

Col. West evidently does not know that past guests of Al-Jazeera include Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff and some guy named John McCain.

We have no idea if Col. West has won any medals for paranoia.

Republican Florida congressional candidate Allen "A TV Network Plans to Kidnap Me" West: today's Worst Person in the World!

Well, of course, West has virtually no chance to defeat Ron Klein in November. But, at least now we know that if he somehow managed the colossal upset, he would have plenty of company with all the other batshit crazy Republicans in Congress.

And, Col. West, beside your Worst Person in the World award on your mantel, you can add one more honor ... because today's Blast Off! Daily Schadenfreude is for you!

The honorable thing to do

On Monday, one particularly moronic MSNBC talking head said that John Edwards should drop out of the presidential campaign if he does poorly tomorrow in South Carolina because "it would be the honorable thing to do." Obviously, this "pundit" lacks brain function beyond only those basic requirements for life, because he clearly has no higher brain activity of any kind.

You want to talk about hypocrisy of the press? Where are the pundits saying that Rudy Giuliani should drop out because he has yet to reach double digits in any state? What about the Candidate for the Insane, Ron Paul? He's far less of a factor in his race than Edwards is in his ... so why's he still taken seriously? Just because Paul can persuade a bunch of too-clever-by-half college students and disaffected fringe political junkies and anti-war advocates* to follow him off the cliff doesn't mean that he deserves a seat at the table anymore.

On behalf of all sentient Americans everywhere (and "pundits," too), I hereby call on Ron Paul and Rudy Giuliani to drop out of the presidential campaign. It would be the honorable thing to do.

---

* Yeah, I'm anti-war, too but, by way of clarification, I'm not a racist insane douchebag like Ron Paul.

Faux News: Are you scared yet?

Sorry I don't have any photographic evidence for this, but late last night and early this morning (two separate times), I was flipping channels among CNN, MSNBC and Faux News to see their coverage of the Minneapolis bridge collapse.

I spent far more time on CNN and MSNBC than on Faux. Yet, every time I clicked over to Faux, they were trumpeting the fact that there was no evidence that terrorism caused the collapse!!!one!!1! CNN and MSNBC, I believe, mentioned something like that once each during the times I watched.

Well, you've gotta give Faux credit for knowing their audience. Remember, these are people who support a "government" that rules by fear. It would be of great journalistic importance to report a negative to ensure that the fears of their frightened, cowering viewers are addressed immediately and repeatedly.

Fuckin' propagandists.

J'accuse

Keith Olbermann's special comment, on MSNBC's Countdown last night.

As you celebrate Independence Day today, please take ten minutes to watch and listen to this, and consider the meaning of "independence" in 2007.



Transcript here.

Forget Paris

No, I'm not referring to Billy Crystal's tepid 1995 comedy, but rather to the astounding and heartening discovery of a teevee journalist with integrity. Unfortunately, she's wasting it by appearing on Joe "Dead Intern" Scarborough's morning show on MSNBC.

I'm referring, of course, to Mika Brzezinski, who had a commendable and long-overdue response to her producer's (and Joe's) request that Paris Hilton's exploits (pun intended) be the lead story on one of this week's shows.



You can say what you want about professionalism, but I think Mika showed a ton of class (while her co-hosts, predictably, were boorish assholes). So much of the mess we're in as a nation today is due to the mainstream media's fascination with such trivial things ... we've got a criminal president who thinks nothing of sending kids to die in Iraq for nothing, and the news readers want to focus on Paris Hilton? Despicable.

You go, Mika.

Tweety Hardballs Coulter tonight

Sorry if the title put anyone off their kibble for a while ... but Palm Beach County's own fraudulent voter Ann "the Man" Coulter will be on MSNBC's Hardball tonight.

Not only that, you can even submit a question beforehand.

You know what to do. Make it a good one. Bonus points for bringing up transgender issues.

Guess which cable news network ignores Iraq the most?

Yes, it's another episode of Simple Answers to Stupid Questions. If you have to ask, then you haven't been paying attention.

Overall, MSNBC and CNN were much more consumed with the war in Iraq than was Fox. MSNBC, for instance, devoted nearly a third of the time studied to the war (26% on the policy debate, 3% on events on the ground and 2% the homefront). Fox, by contrast, spent less than half that much time on the war—15% in all, (10% on the policy debate, 3% on events in Iraq and 1% on the homefront).

See, Fox News was too busy cheerleading for the Bush crime syndicate! If they actually reported what was going on over there, then their loyal viewership of moronic brownshirt fucks right-wing zealots might actually learn that their hero, Drunky McStagger, is an abject failure. And they just can't have that, can they?

Hold on ... maybe they weren't just cheerleading after all.

If Fox was less focused on the Iraq War, what took its place? Mostly—according to the numbers—Anna Nicole Smith. Coverage of her death trailed just barely the airtime spent on the Iraq policy debate, accounting for 9.6% of all the Fox content studied (versus 10.1% for the Iraq policy debate). Fox also stood out for its lack of coverage on the firings of the U.S. attorneys, compared with the other channels. The story, which gained real momentum in mid March, consumed a mere 2% of Fox’s total airtime. CNN devoted twice that percent (4%) and MSNBC four times (8%).

It's disgraceful that Fox News can get away with passing itself off as a legitimate news source. I think its days of wine and roses fast are approaching their end. Or at least I hope so.

Nothing to see here

Yesterday, senior Justice Department cheerleader aide Monica Goodling testified before the House Judiciary Committee. Her testimony opened up significant questions about the veracity of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' earlier statements under oath.

So, naturally, the cable news networks covered it extensively, right?

Yeah, right.

During last night's 9-10 pm (Eastern) bloc, CNN had Larry King Live, MSNBC ran Scarborough Country, and Hannity & Colmes was on Fox News. All three covered the same lead story:

An argument between Rosie O'Donnell and Elisabeth Hasselbeck on The View.

The testimony implicating the U.S. Attorney General in perjury was less important than some cat fight on a daytime talk show. Disgusting.

It's really a good news/bad news situation, I guess. The good news is that only about 30% of Americans still have faith in the Bush crime syndicate. The bad news is that 98% of the mainstream media is in the 30% of American idiots.

UPDATE (3:46 pm 5/24/07): Thanks for the link, Wayne. It's cool that Blast Off! is becoming a regular source for Florida's alternative press. :)

Imus continues with fundraiser while "mutiny" causes MSNBC to dump him

Nice to see that Don Imus still feels charitable:

Don Imus raised nearly $1 million in the first five hours of his annual radio charity fundraiser Thursday, but it was only by voice - MSNBC pulled the plug on his talk show's television simulcast amid the uproar over his racial slur.

"This may be our last Radiothon, so we need to raise about $100 million," Imus said at the start of the event, which has raised more than $40 million since 1990.

[...]

Tony Gonzalez, supervisor of the Radiothon phone bank, said volunteers were getting about 200 more pledges per hour than they did last year, and most callers were expressing support for Imus.

As of 10 a.m., $850,000 had been pledged, he said. Last year's Radiothon raised a total of $2.9 million for three charities - Tomorrows Children's Fund, CJ Foundation for SIDS and the Imus Ranch.

"We haven't had much of a negative at all," Gonzalez said. "Most of them are very, very supportive, think it's a terrible situation."

Well, sure they're supportive -- after all, the callers are his base.

It emerged Wednesday that a key to pulling the plug on his MSNBC simulcast was an internal mutiny within NBC. About 30 angry NBC News employees, many of them black, met with news division president Steve Capus and said they'd had it with Imus' brand of coarse ethnic humor.

"Within this organization, this had touched a nerve," Capus said Wednesday. "The comment that came through to us, time and time again, was `when is enough going to be enough?' This was the only action we could take."

That's the precise point that all the Imus apologists are missing or obscuring, as is Imus himself. Perhaps if this had been an isolated incident, viewers and critics might be more willing to forgive and forget (note I said "perhaps"). But it's not -- Imus long has been known for his often-virulent racism, which I'm sure is one of the reasons that his "fans," who undoubtedly share his views, have stuck with him. He's being punished not just for his comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team, but rather because those comments were the proverbial back-breaking straw. It's just a shame it took those comments to rouse the networks and advertisers to action.

He should have been gone long ago, or at least marginalized. The idea that people like Imus, who repeatedly display their intolerance and narrow-mindedness (see, e.g., Beck, Glenn) for all to see, have a forum on national media for their bigotry, disgusts me.

MSNBC'n ya around, Pat

Joe Scarborough, of all people, ripped neofascist Pat Buchanan a brand new asshole last night on MSNBC's Scarborough Country ... I think the shouting match might have escalated into blows had they been in the same studio.

Video of the segment is here ... watch it all or scroll forward to 6:19 in the video to watch the fur fly.