The Truffle

Senator Joe Biden is among my least favorite Democrats--a smarmy blowhard who loves to hear himself talk almost as much as he loves telegraphing his presidential ambitions. Like another Senator Joe (Lieberman, that is), Biden is among those "Fox News Democrats" who appear on talk shows and chuckle along with right-leaning pundits in the name of providing (ahem) "balance." Feh. Try Googling "Biden" and "shut up" and you'll find a lot of people wanting him to shut his piehole. Richard "Fuhgeddabout the Valerie Plame scandal" Cohen sums it up eloquently: The only thing standing between Joe Biden and the presidency is his mouth. That, though, is no small matter. It is a Himalayan barrier, a Sahara of a handicap, a summer's day in Death Valley, a winter's night at the pole (either one) -- an endless list of metaphors intended to show you both the immensity of the problem and to illustrate it with the op-ed version of excess. T...

Ayn Clouter explains why.

This is the most puke-inducing thing I've ever read. If Tweety were female, he'd be an aging rock groupie showing off old 1970s photos of himself at the Continental Hyatt House with Jimmy Page and Rod Stewart. BLECH!

The Warrior Princess You are strong, courageous, and dynamic, a woman of action. You have an iron will and a sharp tongue. Indecisive, weak, or wishy-washy people test your patience. You tend to grow bored quickly and yearn for excitement. Role Models: Brunhilde/The Valkyries, Xena You are most likely to: Lead your people to victory against an army of orcs. What Kind of Princess are You? - Beautiful Artwork (Original Music is BACK!!!) brought to you by Quizilla I love online personality tests.

Mr. Matthews' new nickname: Jihadball! Nice to see Michael Moore is taking Chris Matthews' recent smear in stride. These guys aren't letting Jihadball off the hook... Meanwhile, John Aravosis is promising something, uh, big re Mr. Jihadball and his bosses. I was pissed, but this looks to be getting fun...

What do you do when you've just been indicted? Keep thinking shiny, warm, happy, fuzzy thoughts. (Via Majikthese. )

That's the word that comes to mind when I read about her. Her education and career seem to be pretty unremarkable. But she's a friend and confidante of Bush and a White House counsel, so supposedly this makes her a prime candidate for the Supreme Court. Right. And, of course, the "a" word is going to come up again during her confirmation hearings. Of course, you can spin her stance any way you like: either she's a rabid pro-lifer or she just wanted ABA to be a "big tent," open to pro-choice and anti-abortion views. Somehow, I suspect the latter, and I hope to hell she's grilled on Roe vs. Wade. Given that it's impossible for me to trust this administration, I'm kind of, uh, nervous about this choice, just as I was with the choice of Roberts. Both Roberts and Meirs have minimal paper trails and little (Roberts) or no (Miers) judicial experience. Thus, there's no way to know if they're Scalias or Souters. Oh, and seems that Mie...

Except actually, it's not. It's a GOP candidate trying to disance herself from the Preznit. Woo-hah! Marilyn Brewer, a leading Republican candidate for the nation's only open House seat, stared into the TV camera and proclaimed her support for the president. She was not talking about George W. Bush. "I stand side by side with Ronald Reagan on less taxes and less government," Brewer told voters at a candidate forum. **** Later, the self-described loyal Republican who voted for the president in 2004 explained her calculus: "If the election was this year ... he would not be re-elected." I imagine after this, Karl Rove will figure out a way to remove Ms. Brewer from the running. (Via Americablog.)

You know, with respectful younger artists showing their appreciation for musical giants by recording duets with them. Ray Charles and Norah Jones, Sinatra and whoever, Louis Armstrong and Kenny G. LOUIS ARMSTRONG AND KENNY G. I still don't know how that was ever accomplished. Well, I do. Armstrong being already dead and in no position to protest probably had something to do with it. Now? Now, you've got senior citizen songcrafters teaming up with gangsta rappers for protest music. It's Burt Bacharach and Dr. Dre, d00d! Doing protest songs! Oh frack, here are all the details.

Dear Abby: Look, I know you've got Alzheimer's and your clueless daughter is doing your column now, but this is really important. I really have to tell someone. I mean, really, really, really, really. Really. See, just 11 months ago, I was so bummed out. Well, if you were reading the news, you'd know why. This country seemed to be turning into the Theofascist Republic of North America. Drastic measure such as a move to Canada or another civil war seemed awfully attractive. My friend Steve predicted that Bruce Springsteen and the Dixie Chicks were going to disappear after November 3. I don't want to see Bruce and the Dixie Chicks disappear! Well, 2005 plodded along and lots of news came out, none of it good. Specifically, Iraq was a debacle, and the GOP thought that putting a feeding tube in a brain-dead woman was a matter of national importance. The Bush administration was still slimy. The GOP was still shitfaced with power. The Faux News blabbermouths kept ...

The Hammer's been indicted. Oh, happy, happy day! Meanwhile, over in the Senate, Block o'Wood Frist is being investigated for some questionable stock sales. Can anyone say "insider trading"? It sounds weird, but there's clearly an upside to a GOP majority--and it's spelled s-c-h-a-d-e-n-f-r-e-u-d-e. Woohoo!

From Jane Hamsher comes the story of Jackie Speier, California State Senator and candidate for Lt. Governor. Speier is the kind of fighting Democrat that the party really needs more of. The most fascinating part of her career concerns her early political career. Speier was a congressional assistant to Rep. Leo Ryan, and she accompanied him on his fact-finding trip to Jonestown in the late 1970s. Ryan was killed during the mission; Speir was shot five times and left for dead. Here's an SFGate piece with more details on this chapter of her life. And she's suffered other tragedies as well: two miscarriages and the death of her first husband in a car accident (when she was pregnant with her second child, no less). No wonder this woman's got fighting spirit. She's the one who first noticed Schwarznegger's little conflict of interest regarding nutritional supplements. Something tells me that all she's lived through, Ahnuld is a walk in the park. And she wan...

Mike Brown, past FEMA head and current FEMA consultant (no, that's not a joke) blames everything on Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin. And I quote: "My biggest mistake was not recognizing by Saturday that Louisiana was dysfunctional." Brownie still can't explain why FEMA took three days to get to Mississippi.

The mainstream media is still pretending that the antiwar movement too small, too fringe-y, and too radical to be taken seriously. How much longer will they keep pretending? Who knows? But according to Americablog , yesterday's antiwar rally was a major success. Reuters gives a general number of over 100,000 protesters; organizers say it's 300,000. "The protesters were graying baby boomers who had railed against the Vietnam War, parents pushing strollers with toddlers, college students and a few adults in wheelchairs," the Reuters piece says. Sounds like this antiwar movement isn't limited to the ANSWER/aging hippie/leftover Marxist crowd. Perhaps the media pundits should get it into their heads that this is not just a bunch of Saddam lovers, would-be fifth columnists, and lunatic-fringe radicals, hmmmmmmmm? In fact, the antiwar movement counts some right-wing voices among its ranks, most notably the conservative libertarians of Antiwar.com. Rep. Walte...

I gotta admit, these online political belief tests are soooooooooo predictable. You are a Social Liberal (66% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (21% permissive) You are best described as a: Democrat Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Yes, I'm a Democrat! Boo, you poor Freepers! BOOOOOOOO! I scare ya! My favorite quote from this test: "You exhibit a very well-developed sense of Right and Wrong and believe in economic fairness." And people find fault in this?

Joe asks "Can't we do better?"

It had to happen. After Aaron Broussard's tearful appearance on Meet the Press , some bloggers began to dissect his account of a woman's drowning death in a nursing home. I guess they wanted something to take their minds off all the Bush bashin' in the media. The flap over Broussard's testimony is really a tempest in a teacup. All they could prove is that he might have mixed up the date the lady died. Apparently, Broussard is supposed to take time out from overseeing a herculean hurricane relief effort to verify the exact date a person died. What can I say? I guess some bloggers are hoping against hope that people will stop, erm, playing blame games with the federal government, but still... Anyhow, Broussard was on "Meet the Press" again this morning. Russert replayed his original, heartrending testimony and then the attack of the right-wing talking points began: Mr. Russert: Mr. Broussard, obviously that was a very painful, emotional moment, but let ...

Coney Island was rather sparsely populated yesterday. It made me miss sweaty, sticky summer, the season of the Siren Festival and the Mermaid Parade. Ah well. Le Sweetie and I went on some of the rides while there was still time. We took a spin on the go-karts and went on the flume. We also ate ice cream and generally pretended that it was still July. Le Sweetie really, really doesn't like scary rides, so there was no Coney Island Cyclone this time. There were people fishing on the Coney Island pier as the sun went down. The temperature dropped into the 60s or so--and it felt a little chilly. I saw people walking on the beach, but nobody swimming. Everyone wore long sleeves and sweats. We went to see the Shins and the White Stripes. Brendan Branson was the first act up and sounded good--very 1970s power pop. The Shins were rather dull. The White Stripes, OTOH, seriously rocked. Seriously. These guys make sloppy and garagey seem like a virtue, God bless 'em. Next ...

Rita's on its way. It's "only" a Category 3 hurricane now. But the Gulf coast is seriously fucked. And Houston's evacuation plan has run into snags, like cars backed up the wazoo and running out of gas. Oh, and Texas's governor is a Republican, so the wingnuts can't play blame games here.

Well, the National Enquirer says that Bush has started drinking again. The lefty blogosphere loves to hear bad things about Bush (I know I do), but nevertheless, this IS the Enquirer. Elayne Riggs is pretty annoyed to find the leftyblogs chortling over this (probably and possibly fake) story: You know, the guy in the White House has an actual record of what he has and hasn't done this past 4+ years. Most liberals would find that record abysmal. In criticizing this administration, can't we stick to all these known facts, and more are being revealed every day it seems, rather than go to the friggin' National Enquirer to dig up and delight in rumors that Bush is back on the sauce? Amen, Elayne. This story only serves to distract from the really juicy and easily documented wackiness of Bushland...like Jeb Bush's imaginary friend, Chang.