Memo  to Loansome Roads Beck:

When you trend your lies and deceit and neo-fascist talking points in front of your faithful Fixed Noise/Teabagger audience, you are in good hands.

When you attempt to parlay that BS in front of actual thinking adults, on the other hand, you are on quicksand.

And when you attempt to smear the likes of Rachel Maddow with same BS….well, may heaven help your soul, because it just won’t help your ass from the mudhole it gets stomped into.

It all started when Rachel had Bill Nye (aka, “The Science Guy”) over at her show last Monday to help disprove the misconception and recent right-wing meme ongoing that the recent “Snowmageddon”/”Snowpocalybse” record snowfall that has whacked the US this winter season is the dagger in the theory of “global warming”/”climate change”….that’s the theory that says that the increase in global atmospheric temperatures in the past few years will cause climate changes that could ultimately and radically affect all matters of human life unless radical changes in lifestyle are imposed.

Of course, right wingers like Beck (and his cohorts over at ClusterFox like InSanity, BillO, and Greta von Sustren) see this as  nothing more than the usual commie threat against The Capitalist/Free Market Way, invented by former Vice President Al Gore as merely a way to deny Americans their right to their God-earned profits and land. What got Beck particularly incensed was that Nye had labeled such global warning/climate change skeptics as “unpatriotic”.

Well, Beckster wasn’t going for that….and on his Fixed Noise TV show on Tuesday, he attempted to smear Nye (and by extension Maddow) by challenging their belief that he had even questioned the notion of global warning.

[...]  On his February 12 radio program, Beck responded by falsely asserting: “Nobody’s saying that … who has claimed that this snow storm is proof that global warming doesn’t exist?  How many times have I said, both for hurricanes and no hurricane, this doesn’t — one storm, one storm does not prove anything. It’s a trend.” [via MediaMatters.org article here]

Big Mistake Number One, Mr. Beck….because that night, during a segment of her show, Rachel hit that softball clean out of the park (Taken from the official transcript of The Rachel Maddow Show from last Tuesday, again via Media Matters):

MADDOW [after replaying the clip of Beck challenging her claims of him denying global warning]: Who’s claimed that?  Dude, you have.  A lot.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

BECK: Well, the snow is hammering Washington, D.C. again. I believe God is just saying, “I got your global warming here, eh?  You want a piece of global warming?”

MADDOW: Same radio show. Same guy and it’s not like that was a one-off occurrence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECK [February 10 edition of Fox News' Glenn Beck]: I don’t think it takes a genius to see through the “more snow is proof of global warming” claim.

[Fox News guest host Eric Bolling]: Sixty-three percent of the country is now covered in snow. And it’s breaking Al Gore’s heart because the snow is also burying his global warming theory.

SEAN HANNITY, HOST, “HANNITY”: It’s the most severe winter storm in years, which would seem to contradict Al Gore’s hysterical global warming theories. Rumor has it that another storm could be headed this way next week. Global warming, where are you? We want you back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MADDOW: Who has claimed that the snowstorm is proof that global warming doesn’t exist? Who has claimed that?  It is one thing to be totally outrageously wrong about facts in science. But the price of that is getting made fun of for it and getting called out on it by, boom, Bill Nye the Science Guy.

Smarter folk would have gotten the hint and given up.  Glenn Beck, fortunately for us, isn’t quite that smart.

Apparently, he thought that he would embarrass Rachel as this loony leftist lesbian liar working for that commie network MSNBC distorting everything he says….so the next day (yesterday), he produced a video blog for his website GlennBeck.com in which he decided to slam Maddow as a liar who distorted what he really said to support her — and by extension, the evil LEEEEEEEBROL media’s — dirty elitist biases. Again, quoting Media Matters:

MADDOW (video clip): Who’s claimed that? Dude, you have. [BECK CUT]  It is one thing to be totally outrageously wrong about facts and science.  But the price of that is getting made fun of for it and getting called out on it, boom, by Bill Nye, the Science Guy. On climate change, new rule – you lie, you must pay the Nye.

BECK: Ah, I see. I’m a liar, but – and here’s the inconvenient truth what was the very next sentence I said that they cut off?

BECK (video clip): Who has claimed that this snowstorm is proof that global warming doesn’t exist? How many times have I said both for hurricanes and no hurricane, this doesn’t – one storm, one storm does not prove anything? It is a trend.

BECK: Kind of nukes your whole point, doesn’t it?  I guess that’s why they didn’t show it. No wonder they sympathize so much with the alarmists who hide and lose key data. Looks like they don’t mind doing exactly the same thing themselves.

In the actual vblog Beck does, Maddow has her eyes electronically shielded, like she’s some secret porn starlet or former Soviet double agent….and the entire clip is captioned with the blazing headline: “Media Shamelessly Attack Glenn: Selective Editing At Its Worst”.

Even Bigger Mistake #2 for Loansome Roads…because that night on her show, Rachel not only rebutted his attempt at smacking her down with her usual low key snark, but noticed something very interesting about Beck’s attack on her for “selective editing”.

Namely, that he engaged in his own selective editing of her remarks.

Hence, I present the rout.

The Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC): 2/16/10 segment responding to FOX News host Glenn Beck’s videoblog accusing her of distorting his statements on global warming (via YouTube/MSNBC)

Yeah, I agree wholeheartedly…although I’m not so sure that Beck understands the meaning of those words. Still…if he’s that much a glutton for punishment, I say,”Back off, Beck…..DON’T!!!”

For someone who has not released a major hit is, say, nearly 30 years, Olivia sure does seem to still have some major pull, doesn’t she??

This story from Yahoo! News:

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Move aside Madonna and watch out Barry White. The winner of the sexiest song of all time is — Olivia Newton-John with “Physical,” according to music publication Billboard.

Billboard has come up with a list of the 50 most popular songs about sex in time for Valentine’s Day with each song given points according to its performance on the Billboard hot 100 chart from August 1958 until January this year.

“Physical,” released by Newton-John in 1981, topped the list after spending 10 weeks as No. 1 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart. And while it certainly speaks to sex with lyrics such as “There’s nothin’ left to talk about, unless it’s horizontally,” the song became known as well-known as a track for aerobics classes in line with the singer’s exercise-themed video.

Second in the list came Rod Stewart’s 1976 song “Tonight’s the Night,” followed by Boyz II Men’s 1994 ballad “I’ll Make Love To You.”

“Some songs are steamy slow-jams, some are hi-octane arena-rockers, but what they all have in common (and what got them on this list) is that the subject matter of each song is directly related to sex, in some way,” Billboard said in a statement.

Other highlights include Rod Stewart, who made the top 10 twice with “Tonight’s the Night” and “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy,” and Marvin Gaye hit No. 5 with the classic “Let’s Get It On.”

Following is a list of the top 10 of the top 50 sexiest songs:

1. “Physical” – Olivia Newton-John

2. “Tonight’s The Night” – Rod Stewart

3. “I’ll Make Love To You” – Boyz II Men

4. “Too Close” – Next

5. “Let’s Get It On” – Marvin Gaye

6. “Hot Stuff” – Donna Summer

7. “Do That To Me One More Time” – Captain and Tennille

8. “Like A Virgin” – Madonna

9. “Kiss You All Over” – Exile

10. “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?” – Rod Stewart

————————————————————————————————————————

Keep in mind that this was NOT a popular opinion poll, but centered on points based on the songs’ ultimate success on Billboard’s record charts.

Considering that “Physical” stayed on top of the charts for 10 straight weeks from November 1981 to late January 1982 in much part due to its suggestive lyrics and ground breaking fitness-themed video…and to Olivia at that time being just plain HOT, probably not surprising that it topped the list.

Some, such as Lambert Strother over at Corrente, have deemed this to be the equivalent of the ultimate sign of the Apocalypse.

Me…I consider it to be just plain scoreboard. And proof that old school sexy can sometimes still rule.

Oh….and BTW??? Olivia still doesn’t look too bad these days, either.  Even though she has kinda repudiated her most successful song. Props, madam….some of us still remember.

Still…for those of you who need a reminder:

Olivia Newton-John: Video for “Physical” (Physical, 1981, Geffen Records/MCA), via YouTube/Vimo)

Well…it’s been one week since Super Bowl XLIV commenced….and the celebration in New Orleans, throughout the state of Louisiana, and all along the diaspora of the Who Dat/We Dat Nation continues unabated. The fact that Mardi Gras/Carnival is already ongoing right now in the Crescent City is just another excuse that Saints fans don’t need…but what better reason to extend the celebration?

And not even a freak snowstorm or unseasonably cold weather could keep the masses from coming out for the festivities…the Championship parade on Tuesday drew an unprecedented 800,000+ visitors to The Big Easy, and backed up traffic so bad in metro NOLA that even Louis Armstrong International Airport had to delay some flights. “It was like a reverse hurricane evacuation..but with everybody coming into the city,” quoted a city official.

And it wasn’t just New Orleans digging in the festivities, either…Baton Rouge is planning a celebration for its own native son hero, Pick-6 hero’legend QB slayer Tracy Porter (who was raised just across the river in Port Allen); my home city of Opelousas is planning a parade and a name change of a street in honor of WR Devery Henderson, another native son who also happened to attend LSU in college.  And don’t get me started about Drew Brees, who has already had the honors of a Disney parade, leading the “Lombardi Gras” parade, getting a call from Prez Obama (who also was smart enough to pick the Saints to win, BTW), and will probably have enough endorsements to set him up for life. (Oh, and he’s supposed to lead the Krewe of Bacchus parade through uptown N’Awlins tonight, too. Try not to throw out your arm, Drew…save some for the repeat.)

Meanwhile, on the flip side of the scoreboard, the Colts were getting what every Super Bowl runnerup/loser usually encounter…especially one whom had been such prohibitive favorites. Amid all the shock and stunned silence of seeing their Super Bowl dreams go fleeting out the windo as fast as Porter completed his 70-yard Pick-6, there were the screams about whether or not Peyton Manning “choked” another one.  (He’s now 9-9 in postseason games, with only the ring he won in SB XLI against Chicago.) There was the crying about the organization’s decision to deliberately rest their players for the final two games rather than go for the perfect 16-0 season.  (They pulled all their starters in the third quarter against the New York Jets, thusly losing that game and the subsequent game against the Buffalo Bills; it almost came back to haunt them when they ended up facing the same Jets in the AFC Championship game.)

Perhaps that shock of losing was responsible for the abysmal turnout for the Colts return to Indianapolis, with no less than 11 — that’s right, ELEVEN – fans meeting the team plane arrival back in Indy.

But even that didn’t compare to the attempts by the more distraught Colts Fan to rationalize away their team’s defeat…mostly by denigrating the Saints’ victory as somehow tainted.

The main focus of Colts Fan’s ire seemed to focus of the gutty and successful decision of Saints head coach Sean Payton to attempt an onsides kick to start the third quarter. Most folks on the outside looking in saw the move as risky, gutsy, ballsy, and typical of the gambling mood of Payton..and its success indicative of how much he trusted both his offense and defense….and how much he wanted to take advantage of an extended halftime show to keep Peyton Manning and the Colt offense off the field and cold.

That’s not how some Colts fans saw it , though.

One crushed fan named Charles Kellett decided that the bad luck of the Colts was not the result of the Saints being the better team, but because the game was…get this…FIXED. By the officials, and by the brass of the NFL. A sample of what Kellett wrote for a blog called The Bleacher Report:

I did not understand that scowl that Peyton Manning had on his face when he walked into the stadium.  I thought maybe he was tired of the cameras in his face, or that it was a put-on, however, in hindsight, I think he was told that the fix was in for the Saints to win.

[...]

The first two receptions by the Colts had a very clear defensive hold and a pass interference.  No Flag was thrown.  I had a bad feeling when I saw that.  Even with the Colts up by ten I knew something was wrong.  A defensive lineman for the Colts (unnamed) twittered after the game that he went to the refs to report that he was being held consistently and the ref would not even make eye contact with him.  ”Usually when I tell the ref that I’m being held he will ask his number.  Tonight I got no response, not even eye contact.  He would not even look at me!  That makes me think.”  A previous post was “I guess America wanted the Saints to win.”  I think the NFL wanted the Saints to win.

The turning point in the game was really the on-side kick to start the second half.  It was not shown during the game, but a day later they released the replay that showed Baskett with both hands on the ball and he and the ball were on the ground in contact with an opposing player.  That is a recovery right there.  Give Peyton the ball at mid-field and that is a guarantee for at least 3.  13-6 or more likely 17-6.  That changes the game big time.

I watch the replays of the Saints highlights and in virtually every one of their big plays there were obvious holding calls that were not made.  Penalties:  Saints 3-19  Colts 5-45.  The Colts had only five in their other two post season games.  I think this is why Tony Dungy retired after the loss to San Diego.  That game was stolen by the officials and this one was to.  NFL politics.  The integrity of the NFL is a really big question to me now.  I have in the past, but this one really was blatant and a lot of people had to know to cover it up.  All the analysts were in too.  The TV people were clearly in to cut away and not show certain replays to cover for what the refs were doing.

Sure. The NFL was soooooo biased against Peyton Manning and the Colts for being 5 point favorites that they deliberately threw the game in favor of the Saints. When most of the analysts were pulling for a Colts-Vikings (or to be more direct, a Peyton Manning/Brett Farve) or a Colts-Cowboys Super Bowl. Of course, that explains why those dirty Saints headhunters were allowed to knock out two Hall-of-Fame QBs (Farve and Arizona’s Curt Warner) and why they got those home cooking calls to defeat Minnesota in the NFC Championship game…never mind seven Viking turnovers and an ill-fated pass across his body to the middle of the field by Farve that Tracy Porter picked off to kill the potential game-winning drive by Minnesota late in the fourth quarter. Never mind that Drew Brees managed to get off eight straight pass completions to open receivers in the drive that gave them the lead in the 4th quarter of the big game…or that Manning threw a hurried pass under fire from a Saints blitz that Porter jumped on and returned back the distance. Naaaaah, the better team just couldn’t have won fair and square….it MUST be a conspiracy!!!

Well…at least Kellett is more of a novice blogger, so his enthusiasm can be excused.

Steve Montana, on the other hand, is a more seasoned commentator, so he has no excuses.

Now, at least Montana is man enough to give the Saints some credit for winning..well “up to a point”. But he sees his conspiracy theory in the onside kick call, which he proclaims to be “dirty pool” and a violation of the quietly assumed “gentleman’s agreement” that the team that loses the coin toss at tha beginning of the game must be allowed to receive the ball to start the second half. A sample of his rant, also posted in The ‘Bleacher Report”:

When the Saints won the coin toss and elected to receive the ball to start the game, they made their choice. The other team gets to receive the ball to start the second half, but the Colts never received the ball. It was stolen from them on a cheap and dirty onside kick.

Although it was a legal play by existing NFL rules, there has always been an unwritten rule, a gentleman’s rule that you do not attempt an onside kick to start a half.

At any other time on a kickoff, fine, but when you win the coin toss, you only get to receive the ball to start a half once. You don’t get to break the rack in nine-ball 2 times in a row.

That would be greedy.

Actually, Stevie…no, it wouldn’t. Just because you elect to receive the ball and force the other team to kick off does not mean that you automatically recieve the bal to run plays from scrimmage.  You still have to receive the kick. And the kicking team reserves to themselves the right to attempt at any time an onside kick to gain possession of the ball; when that happens, it is up to the opposing team to recover the attempt. It isn’t cheating if its perfectly legal.

And besides….the risks involved in attempting an onside kick at that time are enormous enough — giving Peyton Manning and the Colts offense a very short field to work with if the attempt had failed — that most teams would not have done it; but I’m guessing that Payton felt that the benefits of “Ambush”-ing the Colts and getting more time for Brees and the offense, as well as keeping Manning off the field and cold, outweighed the risks enough for him to roll the dice.

The fact that it worked makes him look like a genius in the end, and someone who’s not afraid to risk it all for his team. If it had failed, and the Colts gone on to win, he would have been ripped apart for his decision…but that’s football for ‘ya. Just give him credit for having the cojones to make that call…and credit the Saints O for making his decision count by scoring the touchdown to put them ahead, too.

No fixes. No conspiracies.  The better team won Super Bowl XLIV…and they wore black and gold.

Deal with it, Indy, accept it, and prepare for next year.

Oh…and just in case you can’t get enough of Porter’s Pick-6 clincher, here you go:

Tribute to New Orleans Saints CB Tracy Porter’s 70-yard “Pick 6″ that sealed Super Bowl XLIV (includes both TV call by Jim Nantz/Phil Simms for CBS and radio call from Jim Henderson for NOLA local radio station WWL-AM/Saints Radio Network — via YouTube/CBS)

New Orleans Times Picayune, 2-8-10 front page cover salute to New Orleans Saints victory over Indianapolis Colts, 31-17, in Super Bowl XLIV. (via NOLA.com)

“A finesse team.”  Yeah. Right.

Saints RB Pierre Thomas diving into the end zone for the first touchdown of the second half in Super Bowl XLIV, following the successful onsides kick to start the 3rd quarter. (via New Orleans Times Picayune/NOLA.com)

“The 26th ranked defense in the NFL will get schooled.” Uh-huh.

Saints CB Tracy Porter mugs for the cameras after the “Pick 6″ interception return that basically sealed the win.  (via New Orleans Times Picayune/NOLA.com)

“The only way they win is to play dirty and get help from the refs.”  Sure.

Saints WR Lance Moore cradles the ball to complete a critical two-point conversion in the 4th quarter. The play was originally ruled as incomplete, but overturned on appeal by the replay booth. (via NO Times Picayune/NOLA.com)

“Peyton Manning will destroy them.”  Ahhh….OK.

Everyone can run their smack before the game.

But the ultimate scoreboard remains the same:

New Orleans Saints 31, Indianapolis Colts 17.

Drew Brees outplays “RoboQB” Peyton Manning.

Sean Payton outcoaches Jim Caldwell.

That onside kick to start the second half was just pure BRASS BALLS….and typical of Payton’s aggressive approach to the game.

Garrett Hartley was just plain MONEY….three field goals of 40+ yards, and all of them nailed as perfect as the game winner against Minnesota.

The D bent some early, stayed patient throughout…and then struck the death blow when needed.

And how apropos that Tracy Porter, who drove the stake that killed Brett Farve in the NFC Championship game, is the one that schools Peyton by jumping on Reggie Wayne’s “smash” route and taking it the distance.

And Drew Brees…..oh, Drew Brees. A freakiin’ SURGEON with a football. Amazing how fresh he looked in the 4th quarter while “the greatest QB in history” was struggling with “happy feet”. It sure helps, though, when you have an offensive line that protects your backside, quality depth of receivers, and a coach that believes in your abilities.

So now, the Saints have the trophy.

New Orleans has just one more reason to go crazy. As if Mardi Gras isn’t enough.

The Who Dat Nation now graduates to “WE DAT!!”

And a city that has suffered so much devastation gets something to boast about.  Something that can’t be taken away.

Heck of a job there, boys.  And for once, that’s NOT meant in sarcasm.

Pigs don’t really fly. Hell is still hot.

But, the New Orleans Saints are still World Champs.

Who Dat say what now???

[Note by Anthony:

Sorry once again for not posting lately...work plus illness has set my blogging back a bit.  I do plan on returning to regularly scheduled smack running as soon as I can, so be patient.

In the meantime, and in preparation for Super Bowl XLIV later this evening, here's a repost of something I wrote last Friday for the Canal Street Chronicles blog, which serves as a fan support blog for the New Orleans Saints, who will be playing the Indianapolis Colts for all the marbles tonight. The Colts have been established as a 6-point favorite by the oddsmakers, and much of the establishment media and sports hacks have given the Saints about as much a chance of winning this as donkeys flying. We'll see what happens for sure, I suppose.].

Why (In My Only Slightly Biased Opinion) The Media Consensus Is Wrong And The Saints Will Win Super Bowl XLIV

If you were to read all the newspapers outside of New Orleans (or Louisiana) and nearly all of the media outlets for the past 2 weeks concerning Sunday’s upcoming Super Bowl XLIV, you’d probably think that the New Orleans Saints were simply the warmup team for the ultimate second coronation of Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts….the NFL’s equivalent of the Washington Generals, to be merely used as fodder for the wizardry of Air “Meadowlark, Son of Archie” Manning, Reggie “Geese” Wayne, Dallas “Marcus Haynes” Clark, and Dwight “Curly the One-and-a-Half-Legged Wonder” Freeney.

You’d think that according to the media consensus, Peyton Manning is simply the most perfect adaptation of “RoboQB” (since the original supposed prototype, Philly’s Randall Cunningham, turned out to be not quite the fit) who will simply slice, dice, and light up the “28th ranked” Saints D like Wyatt Earp mowing down villains at Tombstone; and that New Orleans is simply the luckiest team to even make the finals (their 13-3 record be damned), having been given the right to rep the NFC through the forgiveness of Minnesota, some divine (or, to some conspiracy theorists, very human) help from the officials, and the sheer luck of not facing “America’s Team” (aka Dallas) in the playoffs at all. Only by playing dirty and knocking Peyton Manning out of the game do the Saints have any chance of winning, so the meme goes….and not even the injury to defensive end Dwight Feeney or the lack of a noticeable running game or even taking advantage of having defeated weaker offensives than the Saints will offer (no one would dare to compare Mark Sanchez or Joe Flacco to Drew Brees…but knocking out Kurt Warner and Brett Farve means nothing?

Well…let the media do what they do.  It will make the ultimate New Orleans victory that much sweeter.

I’m not saying that Peyton Manning isn’t an outstanding QB with real weapons in the passing game (Reggie Wayne, Pierre Garcon, Austin Collie, Dallas Clark), or that the Colt D isn’t a better than average D that did do a decent job in shutting down teams that attempted to beat them through power football.

What I am saying, though, is that as good as the Colts are, the Saints can match them…and in some cases, even out do them.

Here’s my reasoning why I do think that the Saints will shock people:

1) Offensive Balance.

If there is one team with one QB that can beat you strictly with passing, it is Indy with Peyton Manning. Problem is, though…there is another team that can beat you with passing too…Drew Brees isn’t exactly a dead arm himself…and he may have even more depth of weapons than even Manning has. Four wideouts (Marques Colston, Devery Henderson, Robert Meachem, and Lance Moore) who can not only beat you on the short and medium pass, but can threaten you deep. Flexibility at the tight end position (Jeremy Shockey eating up the intermediate zones up the middle; David Thomas as an all-around utilitarian player playing every position from traditional TE to H-back to even fullback.) And don’t get me started about Reggie Bush as a threat out of the backfield.

But what the Saints do have that the Colts have not seen from anyone this side of New England is a genuine running attack that balances Brees and the passing game out. The trio of Pierre Thomas/Mike Bell/Lynell Hamilton allow the Saints to play keep away and grind out yards and spin clock when they need to…and while they might not have the power of Shon Greene/Thomas Jones, they certainly can, when they are at their best, keep the other team’s offenses of the field…and set up real opportunities for play action deep passing. (Oh..and did I mention that Reggie Bush fellow, who seems to have found his groove and is actually running out of the backfield with some authority these days??)

Considering that the Colts D is more of a speed based, fly-to-the-football oriented scheme, they could be very much prone to over-pursuit, which plays right into the strength of the Saints offensive line, which happens to include THREE Pro Bowlers, and a battle-tested fourth lineman in Jerome Bushrod. Even WITH a healthy Feeney, Indy would have real issues getting through this line, which has protected Brees outstandingly all year long….save for the Cowboys game, where Demarcus Ware simply ate Bushrod for lunch. If Feeney playes hurt or doesn’t play at all, it becomes nigh impossible without going to blitzing or mind games.

2) A Defense greater than the sum of its parts.

Much has been said about the New Orleans D and their lowly ranking (26th statistically in yardage given up; 26th in passing yardage given up this year) and the huge chunks of points and yardage they gave up to average passers like Jason Campbell, Josh Freeman, and Chris Redman….and the fact that they were basically torched by the combination of Brett Farve and Adrian Peterson in the NFC Championship game.  (Minnesota gained nearly 400 yards of total offense, had a nearly 2-1 advantage in time of possession, and got both 300+ yard passing AND 100+ yard rushing performances.) The basic fact that the Saints were only able as late as the Minnesota game to gain their starting rotation in the secondary back from injuries that handcuffed them in the mid-to-late part of the season (plus the fact that even with all the injuries, breakdowns and collapses, the Saints still managed to go 5-3 whereas last year they probably would have lost all those games….and I probably shouldn’t count the Carolina loss in Week 17 since they rested everybody..or even the Tampa Bay loss because even with Cadillac Williams running free through the Saints D, it still took a Garrett Hartley shank of a chip-shot field goal at the end of regulation to allow the Bucs even the chance of the upset ).

What the haters…..errrrrrrrrr….the skeptics….are missing, however, is that an old John Madden rule of football applies here: if you stop the other team from scoring, and/or take away the ball from them and score yourself, then you can afford to give up huge chunks of real estate in the internim.  Gregg Williams’ defensive scheme is built on the premise of high risk bringing high rewards….that since our O is good enough to score points by the bunches, we can take risks and chances that might give up the bigger plays to go for the rip, strip, scoop, and score…or the Pick 6 that changes the game or gives the O more opportunities to score themselves.  Of course, it does help to be physical and knock the opposing QB’s literally into near retirement…and even gain a reputatiion for being “intimidating”.

Of course, one man’s “intimidating” is another man’s “dirty”, and the rep of the Saints D for allegedly headhunting opposing QBs may backfire on them big time this time, be either alerting the officials to drop the flag quicker or by motivating the Colts offensive line to better defend their franchise. The point of it all is, however, that even RoboQB has to think a bit about the joys of pain from so many hurries and hits after releasing the ball…and you can’t draw a flag if you time your “remember me” taps perfectly. Manning is professional enough and tough enough to endure this, of course, and no one is even implying that he will completely wilter…but all the Saints need to do is to pressure him enough to draw the occasional bad floater or simply wear him down so that his velocity weakens in the 4th quarter. And all it takes for Darren Sharper or Jonathan Vilma or Tracy Porter is one or two mistakes to make Manning pay dearly.

3) Special Teams.

Has anyone managed to notice that Saints punter/kickoff specialist Thomas Moorstead has been booming them of late?? As in, kickoffs deep in the end zone that usually end up as touchbacks, and nice, long, high punts that  usually end up in either fair catches or weak returns?? (OK, I’ll give you the return by Micheal Spurlock that tied the Tampa Bay game, but other than that, especially during the playoffs, he has been spectacular.) It’s much harder to go 80 yards than it is to go 40 for touchdowns in the NFL, even for QB’s as “perfect” as Peyton Manning…and here’s where the Saints running game and their ability to sustain long drives really pays dividends.

And then, there is the deadly combination of Courtney Roby and Pierre Thomas returning kickoffs, and Reggie Bush returning punts. Of course, Reggie can just as likely in the wrong situation blow up in your face, too, as the muff in the Vikings game proved; but he is just as likely to bust at least one or two highlight reel returns.

4) Team chemistry.

Yes, the Colts have been here before.  Yes, they have even won in this very same venue two years ago, and thusly do have an apparent advantage over the Saints, who of course have never been to football’s Promised Land before this year.

On the other hand, though, this team has shown time and time again that they have a real chip on their shoulder that really, really does not like being taken for granted…and all this talk of inevitability of crowning Peyton and the Colts with the crown will more than likely fuel the motivation far beyond the usual hype of a Super Bowl.  Besides, it’s not as if the Saints haven’t tasted victory in Miami, either….they defeated the Dolphins on this very field in Week 3 46-34, where they overcame a 14 point deficit in the 4th quarter and the best efforts of Reggie Brown and former Saint Ricky Williams and the then-vaunted “Wildcat” offense to secure the victory.

5) The Who Dat Nation.

No one doubts the loyalty and dedication of Colts fans. No one should doubt the loyalty and dedication of Saints fans, either.  The difference, however, is that the Who Dats are, shall we say, slightly more jacked up than the usual spicy Creole or Cajun cuisine….and more than likely, more of the latter will be able to make the trip to Miami than will Colts Fan….especially given the weather situation brewing this weekend. Plus….imagine New Orleans Mardi Gras with a world championship. Yeah….forget “off the chain”; they will have to postpone Ash Wednesday for a week. Plus, given all the media undercounting of their team and Roger Goddell’s ill-fated attempt to grind down local merchants with the “Who Dat-gate” copyright infringement fracus, they will have almost as much a chip on their shoulder as the team.

Toi be fair, it is entirely possible that every bit of what I say will be disproven, and Peyton Manning will indeed drive through the Saints D like Sherman through Georgia, and Indy wins in a walkaway.  If so, then props and hail to the champions, and see you next year in Dallas. But remember…they said the same thing about Tom Brady and the seemingly perfect New England Patriots two years ago….and we all know how Tom “Stalag” Coughlin and the New York Football Giants resolved that story. Ask David Tyree the day before the game when his team was considered in very much the same way the Saints are today.

The difference this year is this: the New Orleans Saints have plenty of David Tyrees that can make the clutch play.

My Prediction: New Orleans 38, Indianapolis 27.

Updated…scroll to bottom.

No, I usually don’t venture this blog beyond the usual issues of sex and politics…but, being a fan of the National Football League, I figure that I might as well add my predictions for this weekend’s conference championships. Especially since they now affect me pretty directly.

First, the AFC early game:

New York Jets @ Indianapolis Colts – 3 PM EST kickoff, broadcast by CBS (Indy as 6-1/2 point faves)

Ahhh, the mouth and self-confidence of Rex “Son of Buddy” Ryan…and thus far his defense has more than backed up his smack with two straight road wins (Cincinnati and San Diego). The fact that he was helped by key critical mistakes by those teams (as in 3 missed field goals by the Chargers and a subpar performance by Carson Palmer and the loss of Cincy’s deep threat with Chris Henry’s tragic passing) does not change the fact that the J-E-T-S are in the Pentultimate Big Show….and that their rock-solid D and smash-mouth power running game (and the steady hand of rookie QB Mark Sanchez) gives them both a rally cry for the old school style of play and the oppurtunity to beat the house.

Problem is, for the Jets, Peyton Manning ain’t Carson Palmer or even David Rivers…he’s seen it all and responds all too well to pressure. And, even if Darrelle Revis, who is the ultimate Shutdown Corner right about now, can eliminate Colt WR Reggie Wayne, who will stop the rest of the Indy receivers?? Pierre Garcon??  Aaron Colie?? David Clark?? Oh, and while Indy’s running game has been a bit nonexistent, it is during the big games where backs like Joesph Addai flash their greatness.

If Rex’s boys can keep the game tight going into the 4th quarter, then they have a real chance for the upset. I just don’t see it getting that close, though…too much Peyton and dome field advantage.

Prediction: Colts 28, Jets 17.

Now, the late game:

Minnesota Vikings @ New Orleans Saints – 5:40 New Orleans time kickoff, broadcast by FOX (NO favored by 4-1/2)

The Vikings didn’t pay Brett Farve that much money, and head coach Brad Childress didn’t spend all that time coaxing him out of his “retirement”, just for fun. Just his experience and his wiles and his thowing out of his backside and finding the right guy at the right time has elevated the Vikes into a genuiinely feared Super Bowl threat. And although Adrian Peterson hasn’t had the big numbers of early seasons and hasn’t broken off the really big runs, he’s still durable and physical enough of a back to be taken seriously. That, and the modern day Purple People Eaters in the defensive front 4 (led by Jarred Allen), who basically decimated the vaunted Dallas Cowboys offense last week.

That was last week, though. And that was in Minneapolis.

New Orleans, though, is a fundamentally different team.

This is NOT the same team that gave up huge numbers to the likes of Washington, Atlanta, and Carolina, and who rested on their laurels and basically gave up the Tampa Bay game (though it still took a shanked Garrett Hartley game-winning field goal attempt at the end of regulation to keep the Bucs alive to win it in OT). Nor is it the same team that in the last four regular season games could not defend the run or run it themselves.

Drew Brees is….well, the surgeon that Drew Brees has always been, and with three All-Pro linemen defending his backside and some nifty playcalling by head coach Sean Payton, they should basically control that Minnesota pass rush. (Allen being the caveat, of course, if G Jerome Bushrod doesn’t get help in his blocking schemes.) It would help a great deal if TE Jeremy Shockey can play, he’s struggling with a knee injury, but is expected to contribute.

Oh…and did I mention this kid named Reggie Bush who has been hidden all this time during the regular season??  He adds the sizzle to the already steady and consistent trio of Pierre Thomas, Mike Bell, and Darnell Hamilton….and if the Viking front line is as dinged up as reported (DT Pat Williams is doubtful due to a knee injury), that could take tremendous pressure off of Brees and allow the Saints to do some ball control of their own and keep Farve off the field.

And when Farve is on the field, he won’t have one of key weapons, WR/KR Percy Harvin, who is suffering from chronic migranes and may not even make the trip down to New Orleans. One less headache for Saints D Coordinator Gregg Williams, who will attempt to both contain Peterson from breaking the big play and pressure Farve into making throws out of his ass…which could mean a big INT payday for all time interception leader S Darren Sharper.

Still…you dont want Brett Farve to have the ball last with time on the clock and a chance to win it all…he is that dangerous.

Fortunately, I don’t think that the Saints will allow him to get to that…because they start quick, score early and often, and get the breaks of a Peterson fumble and a Sharper INT (and perhaps even a Bush punt return TD or three)…and then slam the door on Farve late with constant pressure D.

Not to mention….they have the fiercest Dome-field advantage EVER….80,000 Whodats united blowing the roof off the Superdome can do wonders.

Prediction: Saints 38, Vikings 24.

We will see, of course, tomorrow. Should be fun times.

Update (1-23-10): Minnesota WR Percy Harvin did make the trip to New Orleans, but he’s still doubtful due to his chronic migranes. I do expect him to make a go at it. Saints TE Jerome Shockey is expected to play with a dinged up knee.

Some very interesting comments from TheCoach overat Lion’s Den University regarding his personal opinions on both games, First, on Saints/Vikings:

Last week, the Cowboys didn’t actually play as bad as the 34-3 thrashing intended. Dallas moved the chains early on in the game and had positioned themselves for a touchdown and a field goal before committing stupid penalties and turnovers but as soon as Flozell Adams went down, Jared Allen took over the game getting to Romo on almost every play. TheCoach doesn’t see Allen having the same type of impact this week unless the Saints suffer a huge blow during the game to their offensive line. No team has been able to pressure Brees this year because he is protected by one of the best offensive lines in football. After the Cardinals mauled Aaron Rodgers the week before, they couldn’t even bring down Brees once last week. If you watched the Cardinals-Saints game, you saw how good New Orleans can be when they play Saints football. It is not only because of their vast amount of talent, but because of how their head coach utilizes the talent. Sean Payton is a great head coach and at times in the game last week had linebackers covering wide-outs and had the entire Arizona defence bite on the flee-flicker that scored a touchdown. E.J. Henderson’s absence at middle linebacker didn’t hurt the Vikings last week because Romo had no time to do anything anyways, but Sean Payton and Drew Brees have WAY to many weapons to not take full advantage of a team who hasn’t looked the same since Henderson went down. Last but certainly not least, the fact Reggie Bush is starting to look like the player we expected him to be, could mean big things come Sunday for the Saints.

TheCoach still calls it a closer game than I do (New Orleans 30-20), due mainly to the Dome field advantage.

Then, he has this on the AFC matchup (Indy-NY Jets):

Peyton Manning played good last week, but this week he is going to have to play great! His offence has the worst running game in the league (ranked 32nd), and the Colts are facing the best pass-defence and if Peyton can’t do it all himself (the guy has done it his whole career), the Jets will be able to upset the Colts. Indianapolis needs to jump out to an early 10 or 14 point lead in order to make the Jets abandon their running game and put the game in Mark Sanchez’s hands. That’s how the Colts blow out the Jets. There is no way Sanchez can keep up with Manning’s prolific offence but if the Jets can keep Peyton off the field early, and run the ball and put up some points themselves… this will turn out to be another great game as the Jets are the Cinderella of the NFL right now. I expect Revis will blanket Reggie Wayne but it won’t matter because when Peyton wants to score, Peyton scores, and will find Garcon or Clark and utilize them all day reminding everyone of why Manning is the best quarterback in the league. No other quarterback has been able to get past what Revis and the Jets do and havn’t had a great game in the process. Before Peyton exited in week 16, he was 14-of-21 for 192 yards, practically on pace for 400 yards and 30 completions… the Colts were up 15-10 and rarely when Manning has a lead does he lose.

I’m not nearly as sold on the Jets because even with their #1 ranked D, they still needed huge help to even make the playoffs, and they also relied as much on the mistakes of the other teams as they did their own talent. I just can’t see Peyton Manning allowing Indy to make those kind of mistakes in a pivotal game…and nothing says that Indy’s running game might just emerge as a surprise.  Nevertheless, if they are close or even leading come the 4th quarter, they can definitely pull the upset. I just don’t think that they will bet there.

And for the record, he calls it Indy 23-20.

Once again, Salon columnist Glenn Greenwald gets it exactly right.

First, from his latest column in Salon.com on the reemerging “Blame the Left for the Massachusetts Debacle” bullshit meme:

In what universe must someone be living to believe that the Democratic Party is controlled by “the Left,” let alone “the furthest left elements” of the Party?  As Ezra Klein says, the Left “ha[s] gotten exactly nothing they wanted in recent months.”  The Left wanted a single-payer system, then settled for a public option, then an opt-out public option, then Medicare expansion — only to get none of it, instead being handed a bill that forces every American to buy health insurance from the private insurance industry.  Nor was it “the Left” — but rather corporatist Democrats like Evan Bayh and Lanny Davis — who cheered for the hated Wall Street bailout; blocked drug re-importation; are stopping genuine reform of the financial industry; prevented a larger stimulus package to lower unemployment; refuse to allow programs to help Americans with foreclosures; supported escalation in Afghanistan (twice); and favor the same Bush/Cheney terrorism policies of indefinite detention, military commissions, and state secrets.

The very idea that an administration run by Barack Obama and Rahm Emanuel and staffed with centrists, Wall Street mavens, and former Bush officials — and a Congress beholden to Blue Dogs and Lieberdems — has been captive “to the Left” is so patently false that everyone should be too embarrassed to utter it. For better or worse, the Democratic strategy has long been and still is to steer clear of their leftist base and instead govern as “pragmatists” and centrists — which means keeping the permanent Washington factions pleased.  That strategy may or not be politically shrewd, but it is just a fact that the dreaded ”Left” has gotten very little of what it wanted the entire year.  Is there anyone who actually believes that “The Left” is in control of anything, let alone the Democratic Party?  The fact that Lanny Davis — to prove the Left’s dominance — has to cite one provision that was jettisoned (the public option) and another which the Left hates (the mandate) reflects how false that claim is.  What are all of the Far Left policies the Democrats have been enacting and Obama has been advocating?  I’d honestly love to know.

And he takes on the Obama loyalists who have been prone to the same BS analysis, too:

And then there is the “Blame the Left” theme from Obama loyalists, who actually claim that the Democrats’ problems are due to the fact that the Left hasn’t been cheering loudly enough for the Leader.  I recall quite vividly how Bush followers spent years claiming  that the failings of the Iraq War were not the fault of George Bush — who had control of the entire war, the entire Congress, and the power to do everything he wanted — but, rather, it was all “the Left’s” fault for excessively criticizing the President, and thus weakening both him and the war effort.

To insist that the Democratic Party’s failures are not the fault of Barack Obama — who controls the entire party infrastructure, its agenda, the news cycle, and the health care plan — we now hear from Obama supporters a similar claim:  it’s all the Left’s fault for excessively criticizing the Leader.  A couple of days ago, Josh Marshall promoted — and Kevin Drum endorsed — a post that made this claim:

And we can look no further than Howard Dean, and MSNBC, and Arianna Huffington, and, yes, some columnists at the Times and bloggers here at TPM–you know, real progressives–who have lambasted Obama again and again since last March over arguable need-to-haves like the “public option,” as if nobody else was listening. They’ve been thinking: “Oh, if only we ran things, how much more subtle would the legislation be,” as if 41 senators add up to subtle. Meanwhile the undecideds are thinking: “Hell, if his own people think he’s a sell-out and jerk, why should we support this?”

The reason “the Left” criticized the Iraq War was because . . . they thought it was a bad thing and thus opposed it.  The reason some on the Left have been criticizing the health care plan and other Obama policies (the ones I listed above) is because . . . they think they’re bad things and thus oppose them. For instance, health care opponents believe that forcing Americans to buy private insurance that they can’t afford and/or do not want is bad policy and will harm the Democrats politically.  That’s what rational citizens do:  they support proposals that they think are good and oppose the ones they think are bad. What are people on “the Left” supposed to do:  go on television and into their columns and lie by pretending they support things that they actually oppose, all in order to sustain high levels of affection and excitement for Barack Obama?  Someone who would do that is what we call a dishonest propagandist and party loyalist, and, in any event, is unlikely to have any credibility with anyone beyond already-converted, fellow Obama admirers

Oh, but Greenwald wasn’t finished with the Democrats…at an online roundtable discussion over at the New York Times website on the repercussions of the MassSen debale on the Democrats, he swiftly and decisively debunked the mountain of denial which the Democrats were piling up to spin the loss and blame liberals and “the Left”:

Of course, Greenwald will be criticized in some quarters as just another DFH blogger and a purist…but that’s par for the course.

So now, it is official….Scott Brown — Teabagger, Playgirl poster guy — is now warming Ted Kennedy’s old US Senate seat for the next 2 years.

Goodbye, Democrat supermajority and filibuster protection. Goodbye, any chance of reasonable health care reform, since now Lieberman and Nelson can now play Kingpin and extract even more onerous concessions to Big Insura and the antiabortion lobbys (and still not avoid the inevitable GOP stall tactics.

Already, the usual suspects are playing the blame game.

The Dem establishment is blaming their candidate, Margaret Coakley, for running a weak campaign.

The usual media Village Idiots are blaming the Democrats for overreaching themselves with a “big government” agenda (to use NBC reporter Andrea Mitchell’s phrase) at the expense of those prestine “swing voters” and “moderate Independents”.

The usual Democratic Leadership Council mouthpieces (see Evan Bayh and Lanny Davis) blame the supposed dependency of the Dems on “the Left” (or to use the current popular phrase, “the left of the Left”) for dragging the party down and alienating said “independents” and “moderates” for the favor of those “dirty effin hippie” bloggers who put ideological purity above practical pragmatism.

And of course, those same liberal bloggers are all over President Obama for allowing the vaunted mandate of reform to slip through his hands and enable the Teabaggers and Blue Dogs to seize the moment and revive themselves.

But, what if this debacle was not really a surprise, but the inevitable and even predicable result of a party continuing to take its “base” for granted and not addressing their key fundamental concerns, even going as far as ignoring their basic needs?

What if the results were made inevitable by the many double crosses and private deals that the Obama administration and the Democratic “leadership” were foistering in the smoke-filled back rooms whale saying the exact opposite in public about “transparency” and openness??

What if this was all about the ruse of Prez O talking up “change” while in reality retaining much of the worst of Dubya’s past policies, from FISA immunity to the Af-Pak wars to corporate bailouts paid for with taxpayer money, to the on-again/off-again crawfishing on DADT/DOMA??

And what about the bait and switch of “health care reform” where all the talk about “public option” and universal health care affordability got mutated and morphed into Baucus-Romney-MassCare with a Stupak kick in the ovaries for women’s reproductive choice and a few extra bribes for Ben Nelson and Nebraska??

Perhaps that had a lot to do with why most of the Dem base in Massachusetts stayed home and the Independents bolted, allowing Buff Brown the Teabagger Pinup to emerge victorious and grab a supposedly in-the-bag “liberal” seat???

Naaaah…must be Coakley’s fault for running a bad campaign.

In any case, the repercussions for the 2010 midterms and the 2012 Presidential elections could be enormous, especially if it spells that the rumored death of the GOP proves to be as premature as all the death calls of 1992, of 1977, or of 2008. Boy, they sure look like they are the more disciplined party, even with the wingnuts in charge..and it’s the Dems who look like a fragmented, ideologically listless party with no identity.

But, that’s what happens when you attack your base and run for the “corporate center”, and thusly allow principled right-wingers to play the “populist” card.

Unfortunately, my guess is that the Dems are so dominated by Village Idiot Conventional Wisdom and the old DLC/Fixed Noise logic that their basic instinct response will be to retrench to the (Center-)Right, attempt to find at least one Republican to compromise with to make the “bipartisan” facade look real, and dump on “the Left” and those “DFH’s” in the “netroots” for dragging them down….and hope that the craziness of the Teabagger/Birther Hard Right and the specter of a Beck-Palin Presidency is enough to keep liberals in the fold.

Problem is, though, that blaming Dubya and using Sister Sarah and the Teabaggers as a convienent foil just isn’t going to work anymore if you blow your supermajority.  Ultimately, you have to actually govern on your own merits…and given what little the Dems have produced with their majority, it’s only fair that they reap the whirwind of their lack of initiative.

If Dems can’t even hold on to Ted Kennedy’s seat, for crying out loud, then there isn’t much hope for swing states, now isn’t there??

It’s past time for the Democrats to decide what kind of party they want to be. The first option is for them to rework themselves as a genuine progressive populist party and oust the BlueDogs and ConservaDems and the DLC shysters (and that means that Rahm Emanuel needs to get his walking papers, too), and for Obama to move HARD to the Left and start kicking.GOP/Teabagger asses like Ronald Reagan used to kick liberals in the teeth. Rediscovering progressive social values like respecting reproductive and sexual choice and not selling out GLBT’s wouldn’t hurt, either.

The other alternative would be to follow the DLC/Bayh template and abandon the liberals altogether and remake the Dems in their own corporate, BlueDog image, with Harold Ford, Jr. (the African-American Redneck version that ran for Senate in Tennessee a while back, not the latest model trying to carpetbag his way into Hillary Clinton’s old NY Senate seat this year) being the prototype…perhaps even with a special wrap-around to the thinly-veiled Wallace racist instincts of the “working class White” voters whom were the “Reagan Democrat” swingers of old.

Although I do hope for the former, I’m guessing that given the current power dynamics and media dominance, we will see more of the latter…and Obama will be a one-term President before the next wave of Republican reaction takes over.

And the Dems can’t blame Ralph Nader for this one, though…they destroyed themselves all by themselves.

Maybe it’s time that we had a real party of the Left that actually gave a damn about fighting for principles of equality and justice and social solidarity..and wasn’t afraid to name names and kick ass??? I’m open for suggestions, people.

You would think that even the densest of wingnuts would give the proper gravitas and respect to natural calamity. That no one would stoop so low as to turn a disaster of cataclysmic proportions into yet another self-promotional, egotistical excuse to shill their personal myopias.

Unfortunately, Rush Limbaugh and the “Reverend” Pat Robertson either didn’t get the memo about being tactful in the face of devastation…or they are just that plain racist, dimwitted, tone-deaf, blind, and generally typical right-wing asshat fuckheads.

Imagine, if you will, if it was, say, Staten Island rather than Haiti that had suffered a cataclysmic 7.0 earthquake that basically flattened even 4-story buildings, wrecked infrastructure, and basically left millions of people in utter chaos not knowing whether or not their friends or family or lovers were even alive.

I’d probably suspect that you wouldn’t be hearing any talk of blaming the victims for creating their own doom, or accusing those officials rushing over to give whatever assistance they could of playing political games.

But..when the country is Haiti, the US President is Barack Obama, and the bulk of the victims happen to be Black….well, let’s say that the temptations of some of our more racist and chauvinistic politicos and spokespersons are just a bit too much to resist.

First, to “Rev”. Pat, who has long had a fabled history of seeing pain and suffering as “God’s will” and “God’s revenge” on the victims for not living right — as in ‘not living right-wing as good, fascist fundie Christians should live”. (Remember how he amd the now departed Jerry Falwell blamed the terrorist attacks of 9-11-2001 on “atheists”, homosexuals, and “abortionists”?? Or how he basically predicted that Florida would suffer through hurricanes due to Walt Disney World’s dangerous tolerance of queers??) Yesterday on his syndicated program The 700 Club, rhe Far Right-eous Reverend decided to put his foot in it again, this time discussing why Haiti had such a horrible string of natural disasters. (That country had been devastated earlier by Hurricanes Fay, Gustav, and Ike, as well as non-tropical flooding, not to mention the aftereffects of political and ethnic strife and economic imperialism, the Duvalier dictatorship, and just being the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.)

And you know Christy, something happened a long time ago in Haiti and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French, uh you know Napoleon the third and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said we will serve you if you’ll get us free from the French. True Story, and so the Devil said OK it’s a deal. And they kicked the French out. You know, the Haitians revolted and got themselves free. But ever since they’ve been cursed by one thing after the other desperately poor. That island is Hispaniola is one island. It’s cut down the middle. On one side is Haiti on the other side is the Dominican republic. Dominican Republic is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, etc.. Haiti is in desperate poverty. Same island. They need to have and we meed to pray for them a great turning to god and out of this tragedy I’m optimistic something good may come.

Oh, I see….so it’s that damn Voudou (only ignorant Westerners still refer to the native magickal tradition as “voodoo”) and the foolishness of Toussaint :L’Overture in thinking that Black slaves there actually deserved to be the equal of the White man that condemns Haiti to such bad luck….but, if they would just get right with Jesus Christ, then all would be much better and they’d enjoy the prosperity of their enterprising brothers on the other side of the island. Or..so says Rev. Pat.

Of course, it would have been even pathetic even if Robertson got almost everything in his rant wrong…like, the fact that it was Napoleon Bonaparte, NOT Napoleon III, who ruled Haiti in the name of France at the time of the slave revolt. Or the fact that that “deal with the devil” not only helped that nation achieve their freedom, but ultimately greatly benefited the United States, since it was the bleeding dry of Napoleon’s troops and funds that prompted him to give up the entire Louisiana Territory — not only New Orleans and what is now the state of Louisiana, but the whole damn territory running from Canada down to the Gulf — for what would be considered as the bargin of the millenia at $10 million.

It took Haiti’s ambassador to the US to put down Rev. Pat’s senility but good.

The Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC): 1-12-10 Segment with Haitian Ambassador to the US Raymond Joseph reacting to Pat Robertson’s “pact with the devil caused Haiti’s suffering” smack (via YouTube)

There’s wingnut history…and then there’s REAL history. Too bad all of Rev. Pat’s millions couldn’t get him an actual book to read other than the Old Testament.

But, at least Rev. Pat has the legitimate excuse of senility.

Rush Limbaugh, on the other hand, simply knows better…he’s just that much of a racist asshole.

Jabba the Fat-Ass Oxycontin Addict/Football Analyst decided yesterday te bring his own verbal diarrhea to the debate, using his junk box of a radio talk show to focus on Prez O’s immediate response to the tragedy, incorporating it to his usual rants of “Obama the Magic Negro attempting to play the Black community” meme and his ceaseless comparison to the response to the “Underpants Bomber” aborted attack in Detroit earlier this month.

All the quotes following are taken from Media Matters via their “Limbaugh Wire” column of yesterday.

LIMBAUGH: I want you to remember it took [Obama] three days — three days — to respond to the Christmas Day Fruit of Kaboom bomber. Three days. And when he came out after those three days, he was clearly irritated that he had to do it. He didn’t want to do it. He comes out here in less than 24 hours to speak about Haiti.

[...]

Oh, this is what he lives for. He lives for serving those in misery. Now don’t misunderstand here, folks. See, this is — I wonder — I don’t have the whole press conference, but I wonder: Did he apologize for America before acknowledging we are the only people on Earth that can possibly help them out down there in any significant way?

Oh, but let’s just compare….three days to react to an attempted plane bombing that ends up killing no one, with the offender arrested and placed in custody (and compared to the six days it took for Dubya to respond to the earlier Richard Reid “Shoe Bomber” attempt)….versus 24 hours to react to a major devastating 7.0 earthquake near the capital city of a major low-lying and heavily populated area in the Western Hemisphere, with a potential death toll moving into tens of thousands, if not the hundreds of thousands. But, hey, it’s just those shiftless nigg…..ahhh, I mean, those welfare queen and gangsta Blacks, so why should we decent conservatives give a shit…ehhhh, Rushbo??.

So, why is Obama sooooo worried about those poor folk?? Can’t be because of human empathy for suffering and cataclysmic disaster, or simply the human need to lend a hand to those in need.  Naaaah….must be something more political and nefarious afoot…like, domestic politics, maybe??

LIMBAUGH: Yes, I think in the Haiti earthquake, ladies and gentlemen — in the words of Rahm Emanuel, we have another crisis simply too good to waste. This will play right into Obama’s hands — humanitarian, compassionate. They’ll use this to burnish their — shall we say — credibility with the black community, in the both light-skinned and dark-skinned black community, in this country. It’s made-to-order for ‘em. That’s why he couldn’t wait to get out there. Could not wait to get out there.

Hmmmm….so actually sending our best and brightest people and resources to a country in complete chaos and disorder following a natural disaster of untold magnitude isn’t motivated by moral kindness and urgency…but plain old fashioned Machevellian realpolitick.  Yeah, right, Rush, you fuckhead, just like what Dubya and “Heck of a job” Brownie did during Hurricane Katrina. And just like Dubya did when he rushed himself to New York City to aid the victims of 9-11…oh, wait, he didn’t???

Ohh, but wait, El Rushbo’s not quite finished with this:

LIMBAUGH: That place, Haiti, has been run by dictators and communists. And how long is it gonna be, how long is it gonna be before we hear Obama and the left in this country say that what we really need to do is reinstate the communist Aristide to the leadership position down there to coordinate putting the country back together? The Haitian economy is entirely dependent on foreign aid. They produce nothing — zilch, zero, nada.

Awwww, come on, Rush….you’re not going to give Papa Doc and Baby Doc Duvalier and the Tonton Macoutes their due for ruling Haiti with an iron fist for the benefit of United Fruit and Chiquita??  Or for doing you and your “business” allies the favor of toppling Jean-Bertrand Aristide from power (and slaughtering hundreds of thousands in the process in the name of progress and prosperity)?? And actually, putting Aristide and the people back in power would be a great idea…for later. Saving lives and getting things in some sembulance of order takes first priority right now.

But even with all that, you would think that that small, tiny smidget of a soul that wasn’t cut out of Limbaugh’s heart after his recent surgery would enable him to at least support efforts to get funds and relief to the people struggling for basic survival. Yeah, sure he would…as long as it’s not organized by the Obama White House.

LIMBAUGH: Would you trust the money’s gonna go to Haiti?

CALLER: No.

LIMBAUGH: But would you trust that your name is gonna end up on the mailing list for the Obama people to start asking you for campaign donations for him and other causes?

CALLER: Absolutely.

LIMBAUGH: Absolutely right.

CALLER: That’s the point.

LIMBAUGH: Besides, we’ve already donated to Haiti. It’s called the U.S. income tax.

Yeah…the same income tax that donates $3 BILLION a year of foreign aid to the state of Israel to maintain nuclear overkil. And I though that right-wingers like Limbaugh wanted to do away with income taxes as evil Marxism incarnate??

Blackened hearts like those that beat from Limbaugh and Robertson can only be pitied by those of us with normally functioning brain cells and morals…but the fact that these charletons are able to actually thrive and profit off other people’s sufferings and pain, and even use such as a talking point for their mockery, is just plain pathetic. But then again, this is America, where bigotry sells.

I’ll just leave Olbermann to pass the true and final consensus judgment on these fools, as only KO can.

Countdown with Keith Olbermann (MSNBC): 1/13/10 “Quick Comment” on the rantings of Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh on the Haiti calamity (via YouTube)

[Another post recovered from the old SmackChron blog, originally posted from November 22nd.]

[Updated: scroll to bottom.]

You know, everyone is talking about the absolute dire threat that Sarah Palin — former Alaska Governor and former VPOTUS nominee — brings to the election campaign.

You know…the adoring crowds of Teabaggers just hoping to jump her bones….errrrrrrr…….catapult her into the White House on the strength of her right-wing convictions and spunky “never say die” attitude.

And of course, her desire to speak the truth about the issues of the day is….shall we say, unrivaled.

Of course, her truth is just a wee bit different from the actual reality, but isn’t that par for the course for the usual brand of wingnutter Republicans recently??

This week, the former half-term governor/nearly landslide loser in the 2008 election kicked off the publicity tour of her much awaited book of memoirs of said campaign, titled Going Rogue; which for some strange reason made it up to #1 on Amazon.com’s bookseller list. In it, she basically blames the campaign staff of her mentor and running mate, Arizona Senator John McCain, for not using her properly in the ‘08 campaign, and not allowing her to show herself as the conservative asset that would have blown Barack Obama back to Illinois (or Hawaii, or Kenya, or to his radical Islamic socialist madrassa school in Indonesia, I guess) if only given the leeway and the freedom. She also uses the book to make the usual wingnutty statements about the evil “socialist”/”communist”/”big government” agenda set upon the American people by Prez O and the Democrats; and to defend her record as governor of Alaska against critics who dared level the charge of “quitter” at her.

In order to maximize the sales of her book (and to avoid palling around in alien liberal territory where she might have to face actual criticism), she decided to go on friendly outlets like Fixed Noise (mostly Sean Hannity’s show) and not quite so friendly, but vital for book sales venues like Oprah Winfrey’s show…the fact that Oprah announced the next day that she was shutting her show down after the 2009-2010 season was just mere coincidynk…or perhaps Palinitis is becoming as virulent as the H1N1 Swine Flu virus.

Probably a good thing for Gov. Palin, too….considering that her book has come under considerable fire for its consistent…shall we say….fudging of the facts. Or, to put it more directly, it’s repeated and consistent knack for spawning repeated cries of Repub Congressman Addison “Joe” Wilson’s pointed phrase: “You LIIIIIIIIEEEEE!!!!!!”

Plenty of folk have come forth to fact-check Going Rogue….The Huffington Post website did a slideshow featuring a mere 18 choice whoppers that they found — among which were the claims that Palin was only told right before McCain’s concession speech on Election Day that she wouldn’t be allowed to speak (in fact, she was told several times that day); that the McCain folk had attempted to put the bill on her vetting on her (in fact, they used her legal defense fund), and that she was intimately involved in the legal wrangling over the Exxon Valdez oil spill, even taking credit for the final compensation (the actual Supreme Court decision radically reducing Exxon’s damage claims, and her own public statements back then expressing “disappointment” at the ruling back then, nonwithstanding). In fact, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs in that case had two choice words for Palin’s accounting of the case: “cockamanie bullshit”.

And then, there are the lies chronicled by Keith Olbermann that clearly make you marvel at her capabilities:

Countdown with Keith Olbermann (MSNBC) 11/18/09 segment on the continuing lies of Sarah Palin (via YouTube)

Now, all this probably wouldn’t matter much to Palin’s diehard fans, who would normally flip off such criticism as such liberal media hateration.After all, their queen wouldn’t slight them in any way, right??

Actually, she would. Ask the folks in Noblesville, Indiana.

Yesterday, some of Nobelsville’s finest citizen wingnuts lined up and waited in the cold and the rain for more than nine hours for Palin’s book tour to hit their fair town. The idea was that they would purchase a copy of her book, then use the receipt to finangle their way to Palin for a signed autograph.

It would have worked well, too, had Palin decided to stay to the end….problem was, for whatever reason she only got as far as the “N’s” before she decided that enough was enough, and headed back into the comfort of her tour bus. Which made for some pretty angry people on the outside looking in.

Needless to say, certain media folks were quick to take advantage of this rift in the Palin fan continun.

Countdown with Keith Olbermann (MSNBC, Lawrence O’Donnell guesthosting): 11/20/09 segment on Sarah Palin’s grand book tour FAIL in Noblesville, IN (via YouTube)

Question for Rush Limbaugh: Still think that she’s such a brilliant political analyst??

I’ll say it again: Lisa Ann is more qualified for a VP slot than Caribou Quitter Spice ever will be. And more intelligent. And sexier. She should get the Newsweek cover….on general principles.

I did say that she was sexier, too….right??

Update: Guess who else thinks that Lisa Ann should get more props for showing Sarah Palin who has brains?? None other than…Tina Fey, whose spoofing of Palin for Saturday Night Live has earned her fame and fortune. Spaketh Ms. Fey, hosting the Ad Council’s annual dinner, as quoted by The Huffington Post:

“Mrs. Palin and I continue to have so much in common,” she said. “They recently made a porn movie about Sarah and then this same porn actress, Lisa Ann, played me in a parody of ‘30 Rock’ … And weirdly of the three of us, Lisa Ann knows the most about foreign policy.”

Scary thing about that comment?? It may just be is true.

Quite naturally, LA had a quick response to the props from Tina Fey. Posted today at her Twitter page (@thereallisaann):

Thank you Tina Fey!! U r amazing. Also thank u sarah palin, for just being you!! Hahahahr

That “porn movie” is now a porn series, which Lisa Ann, along with HUSTLER, who produced the “Naylin’ Paylin” series, is now offering as a special box set at her official website, TheLisaAnn.com (Warning, the link is definitely NSFW). If you are into such things, check them out, and feel free to join her site, too.