scandals at Brave New Films

Drill Baby Drill?

2008-12-02T02:03:59Z

Hat tip to Brilliant at Breakfast for finding ths video, interspersing as it does clips from GOP rallies in the Nuremburg stylee featuring obnoxious chants of "Drill, Baby, Drill!" interspersed with news coverage of a new and breaking scandal involving those responsible in the Interior Department for oil and gas leases on Federal lands.

And their excesses of debauchery as would make Bobby Baker look like a Magic Mountain Troll from back in the 1970's and early 1980's (remember?)

Sarah Palin: Media Victim or Campaign Weapon?

2008-10-22T14:50:16Z

(September 4, 2008) The Republican National Convention became the coming out party for Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska as John McCain's vice presidential nominee. A storm of worldwide negative media coverage scrutinizing every controversial detail of her life at times felt like a soap opera. Now, as the media are portrayed as the bad guys, many speculate it was all a part of McCain's grand campaign strategy.

SOURCES: Al Jazeera, Qatar; Press TV, Iran; Tele 13, Chile; TV5, France; BBC, U.K.; FOX News; U.S.; San Francisco Chronicle, U.S.; New York Times, U.S.; The Huffington Post, U.S.; NBC, U.S.

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Global Pulse is a fast-moving and informative television and web series that helps you navigate the news of the world by comparing and contrasting TV news reports. See all the episodes of Global Pulse at linktv.org
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Was Palin a Bad Pick for VP? - Mann and Ornstein

2008-10-31T03:31:10Z

Complete video at: fora.tv

Political analysts Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein criticize John McCain's pick of Sarah Palin for Vice President, and discuss how Palin may affect McCain's chances in the 2008 Presidential Election. This interview was recorded at the Republican National Convention, on September 1, 2008.

FORA.tv coverage of the RNC: fora.tv

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Thomas E. Mann is a Senior Fellow in Governance Studies and the W. Averell Harriman Chair at the Brookings Institution. A noted congressional scholar, Mann writes and speaks widely on issues related to campaigns; elections; and the effectiveness of Congress. He has conducted polls for congressional candidates and overseen national public opinion studies. Mann recently co-authored The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track.

Norman J. Ornstein is a Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. An election analyst for CBS News, he writes a weekly column called "Congress Inside Out" for Roll Call. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and Foreign Affairs, and he appears regularly on television programs like The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Nightline, and Charlie Rose. He serves on the board of the Public Broadcasting Service and several other nonprofit groups. Like Mann, he is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

Gerard Baker is United States Editor and an Assistant Editor of The Times of London. He joined in 2004 from the Financial Times, where he had spent over ten years as Tokyo correspondent and Washington Bureau Chief.

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Obama too "Slow" on Reverend Wright? - Willie Brown

2008-10-26T15:30:55Z

Complete video at: fora.tv

Former San Francisco Mayor and influential Democrat Willie Brown criticizes Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama's handling of the Reverend Wright scandal.

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The Former Mayor of San Francisco Willie Brown speaks on the state of politics today.

Willie Brown covers the changes in the Democratic nomination process that was not enacted with minorities and women in mind; compares Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton's strategies and relative successes and failures; and examines the role that race and gender will play in the coming 2008 election.

Willie Lewis Brown, Jr. was the 41st mayor of San Francisco, serving from 1996 to 2004. Brown is an American political figure who served over 30 years in the California State Assembly. He was the 58th Speaker of the California State Assembly serving from 1980 to 1995. Brown is a member of the Democratic Party.

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Joel Nathan Rosen - Do Athletes Make Good Role Models?

2008-10-19T03:30:20Z

Complete video at: fora.tv

Author Joel Nathan Rosen questions the pop cultural practice of casting professional athletes as role models.

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Athletes as Role Models in the Steroids Era

The Mitchell report revelations of baseball's "steroids era" led to outrage and dismay. Now the government is involved, with Roger Clemens testifying before Congress. But that's not all - 2007 turned out to be a year of scandal in sports: Michael Vick's dogfighting, Bill Belichick's "spy-gate" and Isiah Thomas' sexual harassment trial, to name a few. In light of all this, many have criticized professional athletes for unacceptable behavior. But are athletes held to a higher standard? Should they be judged as role models? At a time when the sports pages seem to contain more social commentary than game breakdowns, the NY Salon has assembled a panel of experts to discuss what this all means for both the sports world and our society at large - NY Salon

Joel Nathan Rosen is Assistant Professor in Sociology at Moravian College and author of The Erosion of the American Sporting Ethos (2007).

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what comes up must come down

2008-12-02T20:51:14Z

politics as usual

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Republicans' multiplying woes. How. Very. Sad. We. Are. For. Them.

2008-03-10T19:15:34Z

Oh. Dear. I. Am. So. Upset. For. The. Poor. Desolate. Republicans.

Did that sound sincere? No? GodI'mGood.

For National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Cole (Okla.), every week seems to bring a new set of problems. On Saturday night, things got even worse.

With Democrat Bill Foster’s victory in the Illinois 14th District special election, Democrats now hold the seats occupied only 21 months ago by former Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) — the two GOP lawmakers who ran the House from 1998 to 2006.

And then there's this little nugget:

Alaska Republican Party Chairman Randy Ruedrich is facing a coup attempt from disgruntled Republicans who say corruption has hobbled the party during his tenure and he needs to go. [...]
"I have believed for the last few years that the party was heading in the wrong direction and it is due for a change in leadership," [Republican Gov. Sarah] Palin said.

How do I schadenfreude thee? Let me count the ways:

Since September, Cole has faced a barrage of bad news:

• The NRCC lags behind the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee by nearly $30 million in cash on hand.

• GOP House leadership endured an embarrassing scuffle when Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) tried to fire Cole’s top two staffers, during which Cole threatened to resign.

• There has been a wave of retirement announcements by veteran Republican lawmakers that will force the NRCC to defend what were once seen as safe GOP seats.

• Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.) was indicted on 35 federal corruption charges, which puts another Republican-controlled district in play.

• And the FBI continues its criminal investigation into a brewing accounting scandal that centers on the former NRCC treasurer’s activities.

Oh. No. How. Terribly. Upsetting.

The loss of the Hastert seat trumps everything else, though.

“By itself, this would not be that big of a deal, but coupled with everything else it will just deflate the [House Republican] Conference,” said an aide to one top GOP lawmaker. “And symbolically, losing Hastert’s seat is like the toppling of the Saddam statue in Baghdad for Republicans.”

How precious, comparing Hastert to Saddam Hussein! Let's start calling him Dennis Hussein Hastert. Has anyone checked to see if he wears a lapel pin?

Oh, and just fyi, even John Sidney "Mr. Experience" Hussein McPain and all the king's men couldn't put Oberweis together again:

Even better from Democrats’ perspective, the efforts on behalf of Oberweis by Hastert, House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), their presumptive 2008 presidential nominee, were not enough to stave off Oberweis’ loss. All three Republican leaders had campaigned for Oberweis in recent weeks, with McCain attending a fundraiser for him last month that raised nearly $257,000.

See where experience gets you? More good news:

Foster’s victory “sends a political shock wave across America this election year,” DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen (Md.) said in a statement released after the results were announced Saturday night. A DCCC memo pointed out that “80 percent of the Republican open and Republican incumbent seats the DCCC is targeting this cycle have better Democratic performances than Illinois 14. Forty out of the 50 seats the DCCC is targeting have Democratic performances of 45 percent or higher.”

Oh. My. For some reason I've run out of compassion. Pity, after all that hard work President (sic) Bush did to instill it in me. I guess he failed at that, too. How. Tragic.

Contempt order substitutes for impeachment?

2008-03-19T00:45:16Z

There's no substitute for a well-earned, overdue impeachment, and a contempt citation sure won't fit the bill. That's kind of like saying that Jay Leno is a worthy substitute for Jon Stewart... only this isn't funny (neither is Leno, IMHO). But at least it would open a can of very sleazy, slimy, wiggly, legally worms:

Is Pelosi's ultimatum a suitable replacement for the impeachment proceedings that [Fla. Rep. Robert] Wexler and 18 other Democrats demanded in a December letter?
"It is not a replacement. It's not a substitute," Wexler said. "We need to answer the question where are the Democrats? Where is the backbone? The speaker has begun to answer that question."

Discovering backbone is one thing. Employing it is a who-ole other story.

Pelosi's ultimatum is the closest that the pro-impeachment Democrats are going to get to full-blown congressional proceedings to remove Bush from office, barring some unforeseen scandal.

::screeeeeeeching brakes!:: "Barring some unforeseen scandal"? Like there haven't been countless impeachmentworthy scandals up until now? Like there won't be some unforeseen (or foreseen; read: Iraq, Iran, election fraud, U.S. Attorneygate, ad nauseum) scandal in the future? Like there aren't a few brewing right this second?

Democratic aides involved in the progression of the contempt citation acknowledged its political benefits, notably cheering up a base demoralized by Pelosi's inability to get the caucus to force Bush to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq. [...]
[Wexler] said Democrats need to make the case they are pushing back by challenging Bush more on his use of warrantless wiretaps and claims of executive power to ignore Congress.
Pelosi, he said, "has successfully begun establishing that Democrats have a backbone and that Democrats can be bold in standing up to the president. That's critically important both substantively but also for political purposes."

It's a start. But starting something that should have begun 7 years ago? Sigh. Better late than never, I suppose.

Icky endorsements: The land-scammer, the foot-tapper, and the sinner

2008-05-13T08:08:19Z

Is it worth getting an endorsement when it comes from one of these sleazebags?

Today Republican Congressman Rick Renzi of Arizona was indicted on charges of extortion, wire fraud, money laundering and other matters in an Arizona land swap scam. Renzi is also one of the Arizona state co-chairs for Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign.

Next up: The Willard Romney Endorser:

Republican Senator Larry Craig was a big-time backer of former Gov. Mitt Romney, before being accused of soliciting sex in a Minnesota men’s bathroom.

Oh, and how can we forget the Vitter For Giuliani campaign?

And Senator David Vitter was a big part of Team Giuliani, before his name turned up in the blackbook of "D.C. Madam" Deborah Jeane Palfrey's. Vitter was forced to apologize for "a very serious sin in my past." (By that he mean soliciting prostitutes, not backing Giuliani.)

Oh, but it doesn't just stop at accepting an endorsement. What do the candidates do when they discover their groupies' indiscretions?

But how they handle their relationship when the chips are down is a bit revealing. Today, McCain expressed more concern than anger when he learned of the Renzi indictment. [...] "I’m sorry obviously, you always feel for the family as you know he has 12 children. But I don’t know enough of the details or anything to make a judgment, this kind of thing is always, is always very unfortunate. I rely on our department of justice and our system of justice to make the right outcome.”

Larry "I Love My Wife" Craig was none too happy when Willard reacted to his foot-tapping:

Mitt Romney on the other hand chose the nuclear option when dealing with the Larry Craig matter. He called Craig’s reported actions, “disgusting.”

However:

He is still a Senator, and Mitt Romney is no longer a presidential candidate.

Ooooh, snap! That nasty, naughty boy got the last laugh.

It's good to see these stellar paragons of our community putting themselves out (no pun) for the Family Values Party. Keep up the good work.

Racial Issues in the Media

2008-10-19T15:30:19Z

Complete video at: fora.tv

Stanford Law Professor Richard Thompson Ford criticizes ways in which issues of racial prejudice are discussed in American media and popular culture.

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Richard Thompson Ford considers "The Race Card: How Bluffing About Bias Makes Race Relations Worse."

The George E. Osborne Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, Richard Thompson Ford has published regularly on civil rights, constitutional law, race relations, and antidiscrimination law. In his new book, he asks what Katrina victims waiting for federal disaster relief, millionaire rappers buying vintage champagne, Ivy League professors waiting for taxis, and ghetto hustlers trying to find steady work have in common, and answers that all have claimed to be victims of racism.

Few people these days express openly racist beliefs or defend bigoted motives. So lots of people are victims of bigotry, but no one's a bigot? Ford considers whether a lot of people are lying about their true beliefs and motivations, or if a lot of people are jumping to unwarranted conclusions or just playing the race card.

Ford brings sophisticated legal analysis, lively and eye-popping anecdotes, and plain old common sense to this heated topic, offering ways to separate valid claims from bellyaching, and calling for us to treat racism as a social problem that must be objectively understood and honestly evaluated - Cody's Books

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Dana Milbank - In Washington, Party Loyalty Is Everything

2008-10-20T15:29:38Z

Complete video at: fora.tv

Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank discusses the importance of Party loyalty to Washington, D.C. culture.

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Dana Milbank discusses his book Homo Politicus: The Strange and Scary Tribes That Run Our Government.

Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank adopts the tools of an anthropologist to describe the bizarre tribal culture of Washington politicians. Milbank is naughty, acerbic, and straight on target in this funny and appalling portrait of our politicians performing in a milieu that is "extraordinarily tolerant of behaviors that other cultures would immediately attribute to psychiatric disorders" - Politics and Prose

A national political reporter for the Post, Dana Milbank writes Washington Sketch, an observational column about political theater in the White House, Congress and elsewhere in the capital. He covered the 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns and President Bush's first term.

Before coming to the Post as a Style political writer in 2000, he covered the Clinton White House for the New Republic and Congress for the Wall Street Journal.

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37 GOP Scandals In 4.5 Minutes

2008-03-22T21:54:37Z

This is excellent. Watch. It sums up the ruinous rule of corrupt Republicans quite well.

(h/t Gottalaff)

The Corporate Media: Unbuttoned

2008-01-12T20:17:43Z

Ever since the Larry Craig story came out (no pun), we've been hearing something a little different, like this quote today from CNN:

"Awkward moments for the [Republican] party and the president as well..."

It's ~~shocking~~ ~~unusual~~ refreshing to hear the corporate media say that out loud, not to mention incessantly repeating a laundry list of Republican "Oh My" moments, isn't it? All morning, there have been words bandied about like:

tawdry
lewd
resign
arrest
guilty plea

And they weren't about former President Clinton.

Okay, so it took Jeff Gannon, Ted Haggart, Duke Cunningham, Mark Foley, David Vitter, Bob Allen, and--well, Cliff can rattle all the scandals off for you--but it took all of those Oh My Guys before the news models finally unbuttoned their pastel-colored blazers, put on their Serious Faces, took a wide stance, and whipped out (no pun) their big guns (no pun) loaded with all the fun adjectives they've previously reserved for Mr. Hillary.

And so far, it's lasted an entire week.

It's nearly enough to get me to watch Larry King Live tonight. Nearly.

The Bush Adminitration Has Real Scandals to Deal With

2008-10-16T03:31:50Z

The Young Turks: Hosted by Cenk Uygur and Ben Mankiewicz. The Clinton Administration had some scandals but not as serious as this Amdinitration. Watch live from 6-9AM ET on www.theyoungturks.com. Listen from 6-9AM ET on Air America Radio

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Bill Maher: George W. Bush Collector's Plates Series

2008-10-16T21:30:43Z

Real Time commercial from 03/30/07. George W. Bush Scandal & F-Ups, Collector's Plates Series

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