Lawrence O'Donnell annihilates Alan Grayson on MSNBC

MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell gets in, what may be the Last Word, on the biggest loon ever elected to Congress.  I don't agree with O'Donnell on anything really, but there is a reason he is giving Fox's Greta Van Sustern a run for her money in ratings.  O'Donnell knows what makes great television; I guess his years working on The West Wing continue to pay off for him. The Other McCain has the video so I won't post it here.  Watch Ezra Klein's facial expression (about the 2:35 mark) as Grayson is really on a tear.  Klein's expression was priceless.

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Harrah Reid lassoing his casino payback to the tax bill

It appears  Harry Reid found a target for his payola Pottersville project I mentioned on Saturday.  Majority leader Harrah Reid thinks it would be swell to lasso it to that controversial tax bill:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is trying to use the tax cut package President Barack Obama brokered with Republicans to legalize online poker, POLITICO has learned — a move that could further complicate the deal Obama announced Monday.

Already, the online poker proposal has exposed the Nevada Democrat to charges of flip-flopping on a controversial issue, as well as using his Senate leadership position to repay big casino interests that helped him win reelection in a hard-fought campaign against Republican Sharron Angle last month.

How much of a payback would this little Pottersville proposal be, you ask:

“The House Republicans will go crazy if this is in the bill,” said one senior congressional aide, declaring it “a total, 100 percent payback” for the support Reid received from gambling interests. The aide asserted that lobbyists for the Las Vegas-based casino operator Harrah's, now known as Caesars Entertainment Corp., even helped write the legislation.

“You could call him ‘Harrah Reid’ at this point,” the aide quipped.

Once again, Reid's office is silent on this proposal.  What can they possibly say other than they're just really grateful Harrah's execs recognized “Waking up to the defeat of Harry Reid Nov. 3 will be devastating for our industry’s future.”  Reid is so grateful he let them write their own payback.  Where would we be without Harry Reid?  His bumbling guardian angel has the answer.

More on Memeorandum


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Parody - Grandma got molested at the airport

A friend posted this hilarious parody of the song Grandma got run over by a reindeer on Facebook earlier.  I couldn't resist posting it here.  Everyone knows the tune I am sure and the video has lyrics.  Feel free to sing along:



Thanks to Doug Ross for the Larwyn Link!!
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Book Review - Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin and the race of a lifetime

I was pleased to be offered an opportunity to review the paperback edition of Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime as part of TLC Book Tours virtual tour.  I read the hardback edition when it was released in January, tantalized, as were most, by the juicy revelations leaked  in the days leading up to the release.   On January 11, 2010, I mentioned having stopped at several book stores trying to pick up a copy of the book; it was sold out everywhere.  For political junkies, Game Change was the equivalent of the latest Harry Potter release, sans the wands and costumes.

Witches, however, were in abundance, at least as we found them in the pages of Mark Halperin and John Heilemann's insiders' accounting of all things campaign 2008.  On the path to elect a candidate with a paper-thin resume, two women Palin and Clinton, were burned at the stake in the press while a third, Elizabeth Edwards, is revealed to be an insufferable shrew.  We've come a long way haven't we ladies?

Halperin and Heilemann reveal Obama to be the improbable beneficiary of a plot among senior Democrats to stop a Clinton nomination.  Democrats such as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid were fearful a Clinton nomination was one salacious report of a Bill Clinton affair away from implosion.  Indeed, the Clinton campaign was reported to have established a "war room" devoted to containing the threat of yet another adulterous scandal that could derail a Clinton candidacy.  Ironically, the greatest threat to Clinton's candidacy was another love affair entirely; the soppy adoration among DC insiders and the bulk of the liberal media is evidenced by the absence of "dirt" delivered to the authors in their extensive "deep background" interviews with over 200 beltway insiders.

That the failed McCain candidacy frequently targeted Sarah Palin as a scapegoat for an inadequate campaign strategy and an uninspiring candidate has been widely reported from election night onward.  For this reason, I found revelations about Palin, as reported by these same insiders, the least interesting and least surprising in the book.  Oddly enough, it is Hillary Clinton who emerges as the most intriguing and sympathetic personality.  Accounts of Bill Clinton's anger and frustration as he was painted a racist because he criticized the media fairy tale that was Barack Obama, foreshadowed how most would be treated if they dared criticize Obama as well.  Details of the strain and frustration experienced by the Clintons during the primary to the tenuous alliance with Obama in the days post election are worth the price of admission alone here.

Halperin and Heilman include new material in the latest paperback release.  In an afterward they opine on the political futures of Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Sarah Palin.  The authors give further pause to those hoping Hillary might make another run for office.  Besides facing an age barrier, Clinton we are told, hates Iowa.  I find talk of a viable Biden candidacy laughable particularly when a second term for Obama seems far from a sure thing at this point in time.  Palin, of the three, has the benefit of time on her side.  We'll all be waiting to see what she does in coming days.  One thing is assured, however, Palin will never be the beneficiary of the laudatory coverage Barack Obama received, nor will she find senior Republicans conspiring to see her elected over the supposed frontrunner.

Reading the book again, in preparation for this review,  I found the book every bit as interesting as it was back in January.  I found different passage more intriguing, particularly after the November midterm elections.   Admittedly, I am a political junkie who finds the details of the improbable election of Barack Obama intriguing on many levels.  With a $10 price tag for this latest paperback release, Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime seems like a great gift choice for the political junkie on your Christmas list.


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Crying foul on "Fair Game"

A scorching movie review in the place you would least expect it, a Washington Post editorial.  Here is a sample:

Hollywood has a habit of making movies about historical events without regard for the truth; "Fair Game" is just one more example. But the film's reception illustrates a more troubling trend of political debates in Washington in which established facts are willfully ignored. Mr. Wilson claimed that he had proved that Mr. Bush deliberately twisted the truth about Iraq, and he was eagerly embraced by those who insist the former president lied the country into a war. Though it was long ago established that Mr. Wilson himself was not telling the truth - not about his mission to Niger and not about his wife - the myth endures. We'll join the former president in hoping that future historians get it right.

3, 2, 1... heads explode in the left-wing blogosphere.

First stop TBogg at Firedoglake:

America’s fifth most influential liberal journalist Fred Hiatt doesn’t have enough to do these days having delegated most of his editorial responsibilities to sensible classical liberals like Charles Krauthammer, Michael Gerson, Marc Thiessen, Jennifer Rubin, Robert Kagan, Robert Samuelson, Kathleen Parker, and George Will. So today he thought he would try his hand at movie reviewing but, alas, he hasn’t grasped the differences between “drama” and “documentary.”

Heads-a-poppin' at Balloon Juice:

It was a movie—you know, fiction that tries to get to larger truths about life. But because one of the truths that it tried to explore was the waste of the Iraq war, Fred had to go on the attack.

Brad DeLong writes in a post titled, "There Ought to Be Resignations in Protest and Disgust from the Washington Post Every Day, But Today More than Ever:

Why oh why can't we have a better press corps?

Excellent question Brad, let us know when you come up with an answer.

More on Memeorandum

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Harry Reid lassos the moon

Look Harry Reid, every time a bell rings, a casino in Nevada gets a squeeze:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is pushing behind the scenes for lame-duck legislation that would allow poker games over the Internet but restrict initial licenses to casinos and racetrack operators that have been in businesses at least five years.

Some of the biggest casino operators in Reid's home state of Nevada are eager to get a piece of the online gambling industry, which generates an estimated $5 billion a year for offshore operators.

A congressional aide familiar with the issue said Reid aides were circulating the draft legislation, and a copy of it was obtained by The Associated Press. The aide was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter and did so only on condition of anonymity.

Four years ago, Congress effectively banned online gambling, passing legislation that prohibits banks and credit card companies from making payments to gambling websites. Supporters of online poker face less opposition with Democrats in charge of both chambers for another month. The House Financial Services Committee this year approved a bill that established a regulatory structure for online gambling.

Reid's office would not answer questions about the legislation.

What a surprise Reid's office is silent on this.  What could they possibly say?  I would love to hear Reid explain why he is in such a rush to pass payola legislation for the casinos that put him back in office.  Surely the 9.8% who are unemployed can wait.  Never mind worrying about the tax rates set to increase at the end of the year either.  The whole country can wait while Harry Reid puts a few finishing touches on his project Pottersville.  Someone needs to lasso Harry Reid
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Thanks to Doug Ross for linking

Obama in Afghanistan dodging bullets

Where else  would he go to dodge the latest  bad news from a stalled economy.  Notice he didn't take a surprise trip when Michelle gave the ok for us all to eat pie.  Obama decides to make a surprise trip as  unemployment unexpectedly hits 9.8%  and just as news hits both manufacturing orders and durable goods were down  in October.  It's almost as if the economy sees Obama as the enemy.

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Assange arrest imminent

Via Verum Serum, The Daily Mail has the details:

WikiLeaks supremo Julian Assange could be arrested in Britain today over sex allegations.

Scotland Yard detectives were last night preparing to detain the 39-year-old over claims of rape and sexual assault in Sweden.

An extradition warrant is expected to be passed to the Metropolitan Police today or early next week.

Meanwhile Stacy McCain has a harsher sentence in mind:

This guy is the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of the Internet. Kim Jong Il with a blog.

The appropriate U.S. response to Julian Assange could be summarized in four words: Predator drone. Hellfire missile.

Dude, that's harsh.  When I think Kim Jong Il with a blog, I think Meghan "sweet dumb babboo" McCain.    Assange as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of the internet is just about right though.

Exit Question:  Sweet Dumb Babboo?

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