THE NIXON TAPES

Richard Nixon, the Archie Bunker of Presidents

The Nixon Tapes provide a rare glimpse into the mind of a small, sweating "unindicted co-conspirator" whose paranoia proved his undoing. Some of the tapes are chilling, with Nixon railing like Captain Queeg in "The Caine Mutiny," while others yield unintentional humor.

In this clip, Nixon discusses homosexuality and the liberal bias of "All in the Family" with his henchmen John Erlichman and Bob Haldeman.



"All in the Family" was a situation comedy that was originally broadcast on CBS from January 12, 1971 to April 8, 1979. Produced by Norman Lear, the show broke ground depicting issues of class, race, politics, religion, homosexuality, rape and feminism. Carrol O'Conner played Archie Bunker, a conservative working stiff who despised the hippies and liberals and adored President Nixon.

a scene from the liberal situation comedy "All in the Family"

GET READY FOR THE INAUGURATION

If you're like me, you're checking your mailbox every day for an invitation to the inauguration. This inauguration will be historic. I've been shopping for the right clothes. Believe it or not, I don't own a suit, but I have some nice jackets and ties, and I can probably pull something together. I'd hate to find myself doing jello shooters with Barack and Michelle and suddenly realize I'm dressed like an extra from "Rent." Actually, they probably wouldn't mind. They seem cool. Not like the last bunch. I just hope my invitation arrives in in time.

The President and First Lady: Those ballroom dance lessons came in handy.

Looking sharp: JFK and Jackie arrive at the Kennedy inauguration, 1960

Here's the Spin Magazine guide to inauguration concerts--from Springsteen to Jay-Z--HERE

SAY GOODNIGHT, GEORGE

We're going to be celebrating January 20th when Barack Obama is inaugurated. We're not sure of the schedule, but at some point Obama will raise his sword and the Orcs will leave Mordor.

I'm just kidding.

Republicans are people, too. Dick Cheney may be evil, and Ann Coulter is certainly a heartless shrieking harpie, but they're still people. Technically. Let's be magnanimous enough to sympathize with their plight, just as we sympathize with the thousands of people who died as a result of the war they engineered, lied about, and profited from.

There I go again. Sorry, that's not the spirit of bi-partisanship we'll need in these troubled times. Troubled times the Republicans brought on with their greed and ignorance, I might add. Still, they're welcome to help with the clean-up of the mess they made of things.

Say Goodnight, Dick

After the plague in the 14th Century, survivors donned colorful clothing and danced in the streets. The inauguration will be more like that. The mead will flow and the music will play and people with good hearts will rejoice that the dark years have ended.

Republicans preparing to leave Washington, DC, January 20th.

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE BUSH FAMILY

This is what you've been waiting for: the official White House Christmas video--the very last video starring Barney the dog. Who says Bush hasn't been busy lately? The man is a dynamo. And not a half bad actor. (In fact, I suggest he quit his day job immediately).

So pull up a chair, and enjoy the holiday with the Bush Family. I suspect Barney's dream sequence has been doctored by subversives, but the film would be unwatchable without a little tampering. Even so, the warmth and blandness of the First Family shines through, and I guarantee your Christmas spirit will flare up like treacle in a cavity.

Can we go now?

LET'S GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD!

President-elect Barack Obama introduced the new national security team Monday, and then took a much-needed break. Dude has been busy, yo. The order of the day? Shake it, shake it, shake it like a Polaroid picture. Hey ya!

No big surprises at Monday's press conference, but Obama officially announced that former campaign rival Hillary Clinton will be the new secretary of state. Not that it matters, but bellowing gas bag Rush Limbaugh called the selection "brilliant."

But who cares what he says?

Obama also announced that Bush's Pentagon chief Robert Gates will stay on as defense secretary for continuity sake--we're fighting two wars, after all. In related news, Obama is ousting top Bush Pentagon officials, including many of Gates's top deputies. More from the Washington Post, HERE.

Other picks: Marine Gen. James Jones as White House national security adviser, former Justice Department official Eric Holder as attorney general, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano as secretary of homeland security, and Susan Rice as UN Ambassador.


Meanwhile, in another part of town, outgoing President George W. Bush told ABC News' Charlie Gibson "I was unprepared for war," and "I'm sorry" for the economic crisis.

Bush expressed remorse that the financial crisis has cost jobs and harmed retirement accounts. "I'm sorry it's happening, of course," he said. "Obviously I don't like the idea of people losing jobs, or being worried about their 401(k)s."

Bush pointed to incorrect intelligence that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction as "the biggest regret of all the presidency."

"I wish the intelligence had been different, I guess." When pressed by Gibson, Bush was clear. "That is a do-over that I can't do."

This ABC interview raises many questions, the most salient being: "Can Barack Obama start early?"


The ABC News interview with outgoing president, George W. Bush, 12/01/08

WHAT A WEEK, AMERICA

What a week, America! Thank God the weekend is here! This should give you a chance to clear the adrenaline and alcohol out of your system and soothe your jangled nerves. You will never forget this week as long as you live--and not just for the record number of mini-tacos you consumed while screaming at the television. This is history, babe. Now take a breather.


In this short film from 1945, Frank Sinatra teaches a gang of street kids a lesson about tolerance, and sings "The House I Live In (That's America to Me)." This film might puzzle you now that racism no longer exists. Just kidding. The short was made to combat prejudice and antisemitism at the end of World War II, when soldiers came home from fighting Hitler's "racial superiority" overseas to find a segregated, racist America just the way they'd left it.

The film is dated, for sure, and it might make you wince in spots--the crack about "the Japs" is unfortunate--but judged in the context of its time, when it was first screened in theaters in 1945, it can be seen as an honest attempt to teach tolerance. It seems corny now, but this recent presidential election made it clear that such a message isn't completely irrelevant in some backwards corners of the country. I'm just saying...



"The House I Live In" was written in 1943, with lyrics by Abel Meeropol and music by Earl Robinson. Meeropol wrote under the pen name Lewis Allan, and had very liberal views and mixed feelings about America. He loved the constitutional rights and freedoms of America, but was sickened by its racism, antisemitism, and mistreatment of people with unpopular political views. America was at war with Nazi Germany, where those attitudes ruled, when Meeropol wrote these lyrics to explain what was right about America.

Abel Meeropol (1903-1986), poet, songwriter, high school teacher from the Bronx

It should come as no surprise that Meeropol was hounded by the US government for his liberal (some would say communist) views. Earl Robinson was also blacklisted. Like many progressives, Meeropol took an interest in the controversial case of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, a married couple executed as spies in 1953. Meeropol felt they were wrongly accused, and he and his wife adopted their orphaned sons, Michael and Robert. The boys took Meeropol's last name (it was easier to be a Meeropol than a Rosenberg at the time), and have spent their adult lives trying to clear their birth parents' names.

Meeropol also wrote "Strange Fruit," a haunting poem about the horrors of lynching which became the signature song of jazz singer Billie Holiday.

-information from songfacts

YES! OBAMA WINS!

Barack Obama wins the presidential election with 349 electoral votes to John McCain's 147. Obama becomes the 44th president of the United States of America in the largest voter turnout in 90 years--since women got the vote.


Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert announce the historic news.


Juan Williams describes the road leading to the first black president in America's history, and gets a little choked up.


President-elect Obama's victory speech

LIVING OUTSIDE THE NARROW AMERICA

Sarah Palin remarked that she loved visiting the "pro-America" parts of the country, and maybe the McCain camp will clarify her statement, but probably not. They're too busy putting out fires--and starting them--as they continue to "go negative" in the final weeks of the presidential campaign.

With her statement, Palin implied that many of us live in an "anti-American" America, which is ludicrous, but maybe not to Palin. If by "pro-America," she means supporting her red-baiting, robo-calling, swift-boating, racially-overtoned, slanderous, Karl Rove-directed campaign, she might be right. In that case, her narrowly defined America--let's call it Narrow America--is rapidly shrinking and I'm not surprised she's sounding so desperate and shrill.

If by being "pro-America" she means shouting "Kill him!" when Obama's name is mentioned, or agreeing that Obama's tax plan is dangerous socialism, and that he "pals around with terrorists," then I live outside that Narrow America.

To Palin and Company, it seems that "pro-America" means anti-science, anti-feminist, anti-minority, anti-choice, anti-gay, anti-environment, and anti-intellectual.

If by "pro-America" she means waving a McCain placard, then most of the country wouldn't qualify. Obama is making serious inroads in the red states. The McCain camp is losing and feeling desperate, and if "pro-America" means running a campaign based on scare tactics and bald-faced lies, thank goodness we're not in that Narrow America.


If by "pro-America" she means supporting corporate profits over people, deregulation over consumer safety, racism over tolerance, superstition over science, and war over peace, I'm glad I don't live in Palin's Narrow America.

Outside Sarah Palin's narrowly-defined America, honesty is still important, and winning isn't the only thing, but winning fair and square. It may sound corny and naive, but throwing sand in your opponent's eyes isn't okay where I live. Outside Palin's Narrow America, the Constitution still carries some weight, and so does the Geneva Convention, even though they've both taken a beating these past eight years.

Vote.

ALASKAN PANEL FINDS PALIN ABUSED POWER

"A legislative investigation has concluded that Gov. Sarah Palin abused her power in pushing for the firing of an Alaska state trooper who was once married to her sister, or by failing to prevent her husband Todd from doing so." - Anchorage Daily News, 10/10/08

"Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin violated ethics laws and abused her power as governor in pressing to have her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper, an independent legislative investigation concluded today." -- Los Angeles Times, 10/10/08

"No matter your partisan leanings, it's hard to see this as a good headline for Palin with less than a month to go before the election." - Washington Post, 10/10/08

McCAIN AND PALIN: FEAR AND LOATHING

McCain and Palin want to throw sand in your eyes. The collapsing economy--which McCain typified as rock solid just before it crashed--has left their campaign flatfooted, so they're pouring on the sleaze in the homestretch. Desperate to get their numbers up, and distract us from the real issues facing the nation, the Republicans are reverting to what they do best: attacking character. From now until the election, expect a campaign of fear and loathing.

According to the Washington Post, "McCain and his Republican allies are readying a newly aggressive assault on Sen. Barack Obama's character, believing that to win in November they must shift the conversation back to questions about the Democrat's judgment, honesty and personal associations, several top Republicans said."

Sarah Palin is claiming Obama doesn't believe in America, and he "pals around with terrorists." She is referring to Obama's association (what the NYTimes calls "sporadic interactions") with 60's radical, Bill Ayers, "a founder of the Weathermen who later became an education professor in Chicago and worked on education projects there with Mr. Obama." (New York Times)

According to the Associated Press, "...though [Palin} may have scored a political hit each time, her attack was unsubstantiated and carried a racially tinged subtext that John McCain himself may come to regret."

I don't think he'll regret anything, if it works. Greg Strimple, one of his top advisers, said the campaign will be very aggressive the last 30 days. "We are looking forward to turning a page on this financial crisis and getting back to discussing Mr. Obama's aggressively liberal record and how he will be too risky for Americans."

The trouble is, a campaign of bald-faced lies and dirty tricks can work!

According the Associated Press, "Effective character attacks have come earlier in campaigns. In June 1988, Republican George H.W. Bush criticized Democrat Michael Dukakis over the furlough granted to Willie Horton, a convicted murderer who then raped a woman and stabbed her companion. Related TV ads followed in September and October.

"The Vietnam-era Swift Boat veterans who attacked Democrat John Kerry's war record started in the spring of 2004 and gained traction in late summer."

From CBS News: "'We think the McCain campaign made a huge error by telling the press that their strategy was to distract from the most important issue facing voters,' a senior Obama official said. 'Every attack going forward will be easy to characterize for what it is - an attempt to distract from the Bush-McCain economic record.'"

For his part, Obama is preparing for the onslaught by sticking to his guns, taking the high ground, and countering the bullshit calmly and effectively. He slammed the McCain Campaign's "sordid attacks amid economic peril." His numbers are up, and he's gaining ground. Still, it's a long time till November 4th.

Read "Obama Warns Against McCain Smear Tactics," in today's Washington Post, HERE. Here's Obama's response to the latest wave of sleaze:


As usual, check the sources:
The New York Times story if HERE
The Associated Press story is HERE
The Washington Post story is HERE
The CBS News story is HERE

HOMER SIMPSON VOTES!

McCAIN DITCHES, LETTERMAN POUNCES

David Letterman riffed on McCain after the Senator canceled his appearance on the Letterman Show to fly back to Washington and take care of the economic crisis. Then Letterman discovered McCain down the hall with Katie Couric at the same time he was supposed to be taping "Late Night," and the sparks flew.

In this wonderful clip, Dave rips him a new one. After years of smarmy sleepwalking and inconsequential patter, Dave has his old fire back.

PALIN IS AN IDIOT

As you know, the Republicans have been hiding Sarah Palin from interviewers (28 days without a single news conference since her selection), and with good reason: she's dumb as a sack of hammers. After a high profile "meeting with world leaders," which was basically a photo-op with no press allowed, she was prepped in seclusion and jammed with talking points like the Manchurian Candidate, but still managed to sound woefully uninformed in an interview with Charles Gibson.

She sounded even worse in an interview with Katie Couric, which ran Wednesday and Thursday nights. Here's a clip...and yes, I'm rubbing it in. Coming on the heels of the McCain attempt to postpone his debate with Obama--and to bump the Palin/Biden debate completely--it all begins to make sense why they hid Palin from the press for so long.

In the words of today's Los Angeles Times, "if she's lucky, few are listening."

"The Alaska governor defended her puzzling claim that geographic proximity makes her some sort of expert on Russia; went nearly blank when queried about McCain's achievements as a big-business regulator; agreed America 'may find itself' on the road to another Great Depression; and, promoting a troop surge in Afghanistan, casually suggested that it 'will lead us to victory there, as it has proven to have done in Iraq.'" - LA Times, 9/26/08

dumb and dumber?

Here's Palin's confused (and confusing) take on the bailout:

" . . . where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the healthcare reform that is needed to help shore up our economy. Um, helping, oh -- it's got to be all about job creation too. Shoring up our economy, and putting it back on the right track. So healthcare reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions, and tax relief for Americans, and trade, we've got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, um, scary thing, but 1 in 5 jobs being created in the trade sector today. We've got to look at that as more opportunity. All of those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that."

Sure, it's a jumbled mess. The problem is, there are plenty of dumb people out there...and if they link up with the confused, and connect with the folks who are too racist to ever vote for a black man, then Palin and McCain might have a chance of winning. God, I hope not.

For the LA Times article, click HERE.

PRISONERS OF WAR

John McCain was a POW, but you probably knew that since it seems to be the centerpiece of his presidential campaign. Some would even say he exploits that experience. While he may be a war hero, the question remains whether his wartime experiences qualify him to run the country. This interview with a former POW caught my attention.

Dr. Phillip Butler is a 1961 graduate of the United States Naval Academy and a former light-attack carrier pilot. In 1965 he was shot down over North Vietnam where he spent eight years as a prisoner of war.

Butler says John McCain is "not cut out to be President."

TWO FOR THE POLITICIANS

Sometimes, you have to return to the titans, the behemoths, the Godzillas of Classic Rock to find a fighting rebel spirit when fey indie pop won't get the job done. Here are two numbers for the politicians.



The first--appropriately enough--is "Politician" performed by supergroup Cream at Royal Albert Hall, London, 1968. Yup, that's Eric Clapton, along with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker.

The second clip, equally classic and appropriate, is "Won't Get Fooled Again" performed by the Who. Roger Daltrey swings the Divine Hammer, and guitar player Pete Townshend dances a little jig between windmilling power chords.

FACT-CHECKING THE REPUBLICANS

According the Associated Press, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her Republican supporters "stretched the truth" when they attacked Obama, and praised Palin's credentials to be vice president. There are plenty of great examples in the story (link below) but here are a couple of my favorites:

PALIN: "The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax, raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars."

THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded.

Obama would provide $80 billion in tax breaks, mainly for poor workers and the elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers and higher credits for larger families.

I swear!

FORMER ARKANSAS GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE: Palin "got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States."

THE FACTS: A whopper. Palin got 616 votes in the 1996 mayor's election, and got 909 in her 1999 re-election race, for a total of 1,525. Biden dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucuses, but he still got 76,165 votes in 23 states and the District of Columbia where he was on the ballot during the 2008 presidential primaries.

For the entire story, with plenty more Republican "untruths" from the convention, click HERE.

McCAIN FINDS PERFECT RUNNING MATE

Rumors are circulating that John McCain has found the perfect running mate. We knew that. We expect an announcement soon. You can't hide a love so strong.

Some say he is trying to steal the thunder from the historic nomination of Barack Obama and his selection of Joe Biden. Some say he is a damaged and angry man who sold his soul for power. Some say he did it all for George, the love of his life, and George tossed him aside like a used Kleenex.

Not counting George W. Bush, possible McCain running mates being discussed have included Mitt Romney, Condoleeza Rice, and Republicrat Joe Lieberman, who will be speaking at the Republican National Convention to be held next week on the seventh level of Hell.

OBAMA PICKS BIDEN FOR VEEP

Barack Obama just picked Senator Joseph Biden to be his running mate. Joe Biden is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and brings a wealth of foreign policy expertise to the Obama campaign.

Meanwhile, across town, John McCain is losing track of how many houses he owns. So much for the common man angle. (By the way, the number is seven.) Is anybody in his right mind voting for this guy?

IT'S ALL OBAMA'S FAULT!

The latest agit-prop from the McCain campaign explains the oil crisis in simple terms: Barack Obama is responsible. That sure clears things up. It's not gouging oil companies after all, not a spiraling out of control economy, and it's certainly not those smirking Texas oilmen in the White House whom McCain emulates. It's all Obama's fault! Thanks, John, for clearing up such a complicated issue in this critical election year.

McCAIN. MORE OF THE SAME, ONLY OLDER AND CRANKIER!

I'M VOTING REPUBLICAN!

Check out this video...this is real truth in advertising. These Republicans are being honest about their reasons for voting Republican.

Thanks for sending this in, Tom.