LIBERADIO(!)

Last night my brother, Bob Mancini, coach of the Saginaw Spirit junior hockey team, made his second appearance on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report.” He kicked some comedic ass with Colbert.

It’s funny but some are turning to Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” to get their unfiltered news. Now it looks like the Comedy Central Blog, Comedy Central Insider, might be scooping other news outlets on actual news.

The CC Insider/InDecider has just heard more rumors (see earlier posts) from a SECOND reliable source that Dick Cheney will be stepping down as Vice President and will be replaced as Vice President by Condoleezza Rice. And now we’re hearing that she would like to be on the ticket as the GOP VP candidate in ‘08.

According to our rumor-meister, John Negroponte will be filling Condi’s current position as Secretary of State. Negroponte is currently the Director of National Intelligence (the first person ever to hold the few-years-old position) and the former US Ambassador to Iraq.

Laugh if you want but as Crooks & Liars points out, the Comedy Central blog predicted (correctly) Rumsfeld’s resignation.

Maybe that’s why the VP has been so grumpy lately.

Also, I started a post yesterday about Dick Cheney’s reaction to Wolf Blitzer’s question about his gay daughter’s pregnancy. He called the question “out of line” which made me wonder, does he realize he belongs to the party that asks these “out of line” questions of average Americans all the time? Does he realize that just like he loves his daughter very much and is looking forward to his new grandchild so do the parents of gay men and women all over this country? Or is he too busy passing judgement from his ivory tower to notice? Jon Stewart nailed the hypocrisy last night.

“Officer Refused to Deploy to Iraq“, by Terry Gross (Fresh Air, NPR)
Enlisting turns out not to be the best way to explore your constitutional rights. Learn the sad story of Army Lieutenant Ehren Watada, who might as well be at Guantanamo.

“In Baghdad, The Story Hits Home“, by Robert Bazell (The Daily Nightly, NBC)
War is not, as it turns out, fantastic. Did we not learn anything from two world wars, Korea, or Vietnam in the past century? Oh, right: none of those were pre-emptive wars fought on the basis of a vice president’s 1% doctrine.

“The Schooling of Barack Obama“, by Jake Tapper (Political Punch, ABC)
Liberadio(!), which learned it from watching the White House, occasionally likes to set the record straight. For instance, take the echoes from the chamber regarding Borat Hussein Osama’s radical madrassa education to be a terrorist who could become president. In fact, take it to the trash. Some real journalists finally got ahold of the Drudge-like smear and thoroughly debunked it.

“Obama Says It Is Time for Universal Health Care“, by Tahman Bradley (Political Radar, ABC)
Following Gore’s lead of a few years ago, universal health care can now be uttered by Democratic politicians on a national stage. Let’s hope Obama’s next announcement is that he’s quit smoking in order to make this a better investment for all American taxpayers.

“The Ringer“, by Jeffrey Goldberg (New Yorker)
Despite protestations from the White House Correspondents’ Association as well as the White House, Rich Little knows why he was hired for this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner. “…Believe me,” he said,” you won’t hear the word ‘Iraq’ out of my mouth the whole evening. They know I’m a safe bet over there at the White House.” Snort.

Summary: This episode we interview Bob Mueller, co-anchor of NEWS 2 at 4 and 4:30. Bob is an award winning journalist and investigative reporter and a really good guy (as evidenced by the fact that he didn’t walk out of the studio when we tried to bring the funny about his iconic mustache). In addition to his role as anchor, Bob brings us indepth local and national political analysis each week as host of This Week with Bob Mueller, which airs on Sunday mornings prior to ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopolous. We like to call it the “Muelleropoulos” effect.

Listen to: Mueller…? Mueller…? Mueller…? (21:10 19MB)

Last night, Liberadio(!) and DFANashville hosted a State of the Union watching party. There was a whole lotta love in the room and we captured it all on film (see the pictures below). Thanks to everyone who came out to watch the speech, watch the rebuttal, play Bush Bingo, and drink the beer. Thanks also to Mayoral candidates David Briley, Bob Clement, and Kenneth Eaton who came out to meet some of their potential constituents.

Per the Boston Globe, Kerry calls “game off”.

Since a few folks have found it valuable, I’ll be keeping my presidential scorecard updated throughout pre-primary season. Let me know if I’m leaving anyone out.

On Monday, Mary and I had a little bit of a squabble about how best to approach the debunking of the smear monster that often runs rampant in the right-wing echo chamber. In this case, the echoes we were hearing were about the issue of the educational background of Sen. Barack Obama. Unfortunately, neither of us were equipped with the resources (like an international travel budget) to research the topic appropriately. In the aftermath, Jake Tapper reminds us that we don’t have to rely on non-partisan non-profits to do our fact-checking for us; the actual real live media can do it, too. Props to CNN for their myth-busting, and props to Mr. Tapper for his recognition of it.

UPDATE: The rest of the story…

Last night’s State of the Union was yet another exercise in futility. But while some believe that the President began the speech graciously by acknowledging the leadership of the first female Speaker of the House, what he actually did was to metaphorically slap the new majority in the house in the face.

The official version of his speech said this, “Some in this chamber are new to the House and the Senate — and I congratulate the Democratic majority.” Yet what the President said was, “Some in this chamber are new to the House and the Senate — and I congratulate the Democrat majority.” Unfortunately for the “Uniter not the Divider,” Democrat is not only incorrect but a code word used by fierce right-wing ideologues to annoy the crap out of the opposition.

How can you take seriously a man who would rather pander to Karl Rove’s right-wing echo chamber minions than give the most important speech of the year the gravity and gravitas it deserves?

I lost thousands of dollars tonight. I had bet and bet and then bet again that the state of our union would be “very strong”. Boy was I wrong! We are merely “strong”!! What kind of message does this send to the millions of Americans hoping to stay the course in Iraq in order to achieve victory?! Is the president subtly admitting that the terrorists are winning?! How can we not be very strong?!?!

Oh, right: because the Democrats took control of Congress, and they are weak. So, even though we have a Republican in the White House for 2 more years, we can’t truly be a “very strong” nation. Damn.

A few other notes:

• I have to say that it was pretty amazing to see Nancy Pelosi sitting in the seat that used to have Dennis Hastert’s name on it. And I gave props to the president right off the bat for acknowledging that historic assignment with grace.
• My prediction prior to the speech was that if the president included a section of the speech devoted to Iran, then we would engage in military action with them before his term is over. I stand by that. Whether we use Israel as a proxy to engage in tactical strikes or we do it ourselves from aircraft carriers entering the Gulf as I type isn’t really the issue. The Israeli Defense Forces just got some practice in Lebanon, and we just had some air strike practice in Somalia. If a Democratic Congress can’t stop an escalation in Iraq, will they be able to stop military intervention in Iran? The magic 8 ball says: Outlook Not So Good.
• The president’s idea for futzing with the tax code related to health insurance is surprisingly bad. Isn’t this the guy who swept to power wanting to simplify the tax code? Remind me how many Americans buying their own insurance because their employers are too cheap to pay for it are itemizing deductions at this point? My guess: not too many. Adding a provision requiring an accountant is not exactly a beneficent tax mechanism for helping low income Americans. I’ve been an entrepreneur enough times over in my life to recognize the pitfalls of this proposal. Here’s to hoping the Democrats send this one back to the president well worked over.
• Would it be possible for the president to pursue alternative and renewable energy policy that didn’t include subsidies for coal (no matter how “clean”) and nuclear? And can somebody tell me what is the damn deal with his insistence on “wood chips” as an energy source? Is this something he’s learned from clearing brush?
• Katrina? Anyone? Mr. President?

Otherwise, honestly, there wasn’t a lot of news made during this particular address. The policy objectives, no matter how misguided, were less ambitious than in years past, and the president didn’t even belabor the need for victory in Iraq despite giving over a significant chunk of the speech to our foreign policy aims. There were some threatening undertones, but he didn’t call on the American people to prepare for war in Iran. This doesn’t mean there won’t be military action; it just means we won’t be sending 100k soliders into the country. And he has already put this issue on the table in recent weeks. Is the more conservative portfolio of issues presented a sign that the president’s account is a little lower in political capital than previously? I’d say so, at least in part.

And, despite a low bar, I wasn’t that impressed with Jim Webb either.

Following the president’s model, I’d like to give a couple of shout outs at the end. Big ups to The 5 Spot for hosting our watching party. And thanks to Democracy for Tennessee for co-sponsoring.

For those who missed out, look for pictures from Mary in the near future…

Summary: Freddie give his version of the State of the Union and rolls his eyes at Senator James Webb. Also, Phil Bredesen was just sworn in for a second term as Governor of Tennessee and has promised to concentrate on public education. Boy, he sure could use some of that $1.2 trillion (that’s “trillion” with a “t”) we’ve spent in Iraq. Boy. And for the last time (well, probably not the last time) we don’t want big government, we want smart government.

Listen to: The State of Liberadio(!) is Very Strong and Our Rates are Very Attractive (28:51 27MB)

The “Where are We Going and How Did We Get in This Hand Basket?” State of the Union Party

Tonight, Tuesday, January 23
7:00 pm
The 5 Spot
1006 Forrest Avenue
East Nashville

Hosted by Liberadio(!), Democracy for Tennessee, and DFA Nashville.

Join us to watch the State of the Union address by President Bush, watch the Democratic response (given this year by Freshman Sen. James Webb, D-Va), play Bush Bingo for fun and prizes, hear the Democracy for America 2007 Plan of Action, and a ticket giveaway for the Tennessee Women’s Theater Project production of ‘Nickel & Dimed’ (based on the book by Barbara Ehrenreich).