Friday, September 19, 2008

Charlie Rangel-Another Congressional Embarrassment For Obama

ASTONISHING: Rep. Rangel Calls Palin 'Disabled'

Already under fire for his tax troubles, Manhattan Congressman Charles Rangel really put his foot in his mouth on Friday.

In a CBS 2 HD exclusive interview, Rep. Rangel called Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin "disabled."

The question was simple:

Why are the Democrats so afraid of Palin and her popularity?

The answer was astonishing.

"You got to be kind to the disabled," Rangel said.

That's right. The chairman of the powerful House Ways & Means Committee called Palin disabled -- even when CBS 2 HD called him on it.

CBS 2 HD: "You got to be kind to the disabled?"

Rangel: "Yes."

CBS 2 HD: "She's disabled?"

Rangel: "There's no question about it politically. It's a nightmare to think that a person's foreign policy is based on their ability to look at Russia from where they live.

Rangel is a piece of work and a bigot against those less fortunate than him.

Sarah Bernhard-Another Celebrity Embarrassment For Obama

Sandra Bernhard: Palin Would Be Gang-Raped By Blacks in Manhattan
In fact, the play wears its politically VERY correct heart on its sleeve with its indictment of America as "A Man’s World, It’s a White Man’s World, It’s a F–ked Up White Man’s Racist World" and can only be suggested to be racist in its content if one is hell-bent on protecting White Folk for Sandra’s blistering indictment.When Sandra warns Sarah Palin not to come into Manhattan lest she get gang-raped by some of Sandra’s big black brothers, she’s being provocative, combative, humorous, and yes, let’s allow, disgusting.

Bernhard didn't say whether Obama, her political idol and bro, would be part of the gang. I guess she can't be that articulate.

Current Antiquity As Lodging

Clan Cottages, Scotland

These five self-catering cottages outside Oban might be modern inside, but they’ve been constructed to look like a small Celtic settlement. Part of a five-acre smallholding, each cottage has a thatched roof and a garden. They sleep between two and six people, If you wish to explore more ancient local architecture, the adjacent loch has a crannog (Iron Age defensive loch-dwellings built out in the water, found throughout Scotland and Ireland), and the area also has several Neolithic chambered cairns.Clan Cottages, Dalnabreac, Kilmore, by Oban, Argyll, Scotland (01631 770 372; www.clancottages.com). Rental of a one-bedroom cottage starts at £120 per night or £625 per week.


The Sexism Of Olbermann, Wright, Et al Writ Large

Good thoughts that the media and Democrats could use. If they had mothers.

Gazette & Courier - Monday, November 23, 1874
Woman's reputation
Woman’s reputation - We have all of us met with instances in which a word heedlessly spoken against the reputation of a woman has been magnified by malicious tongues until the cloud has become dark enough to overshadow her whole existence. To those who are accustomed - and not necessarily from bad motives, but from thoughtlessness - to speak lightly of woman, we recommend a few hints as worthy of consideration. Never use a lady’s name in an improper place, at an improper time, nor except with respect in any company. Never make assertions about her that you do not know to be true, nor allusions that you feel she herself would blush to hear. When you meet men who do not scruple to use woman’s name in a reckless and unprincipled manner, shun them, for they are the worst members of society, men lost to every sense of honor, every feeling of humanity. Many a good woman has had her character ruined and her heart broken, by a lie manufactured by some villain and repeated where it should not have been heard, even were it the truth, in the presence of those whose little judgment would not deter them from circulating the foul report. Respect the name of woman for your mothers’ and sisters’ sake, and as you would have their fair names untarnished and their lives unembittered by slander’s serpent tongue, heed the ill that your own words may bring upon the mothers and sisters or the wives of some fellowmen.

I know they had mothers. Even pit bulls and pigs have mothers.

Olbermann & Wright Wrong On SEC & McCain. Again.

Olbermann has a program on television. That means he's good looking, smart and rich, right? No.

Volokh: A quick search of the history of the SEC rules and regs indicates that the President was given the power to name the Chairman from the group of confirmed Commissioners in a set of regulations adopted during the Truman Administration.

As to the first point, my guess is that the error is probably Olbermann's in misunderstanding what the network legal correspondent was saying. As for the second, it seems quite plausible that the legal correspondent was simply unaware of how a Chairman of an independent agency is appointed. But then again, that's a good reason to be a little more humble and a bit less sarcastic in challenging someone else's knowledge. Regardless, both of these errors are pretty inexcusable, it seems to me.

Olbermann is actually a pit bull. Without the teeth or smarts of a pit bull. Lipstick in private.

ABC, not wanting to be left out of any McCain pile-on, got into the action early:

Bainbridge: ABC News David Wright got the most erroneous meme of the day started when, in reporting John McCain’s criticism of SEC Chairman Chris Cox, Wright claimed that “while the president nominates and the Senate confirms the SEC chair, a commissioner of an independent regulatory commission cannot be removed by the president.” I’ve explained why this is wrong in an earlier post, but Wright’s claim is being widely --- and uncritically repeated—all over the web.

ABC, as usual, should change the name of its news division to 'The gang that couldn't shoot straight.'