Colbert vs. Coulter

Over at Carpetbaggerreport, I discovered this great comparison between Stephen Colbert who does a parody or an over-the-top right-wing idiot and Ann Coulter who actually is one.  Try the following quiz yourself.  Is the quote from Coulter or Colbert?

1. “Even Islamic terrorists don't hate America like liberals do.
They don't have the energy. If they had that much energy, they'd have
indoor plumbing by now.”

2. “There's nothing wrong with being gay. I have plenty of friends who are going to hell.”

3. “I just think Rosa Parks was overrated. Last time I checked, she got famous for breaking the law.”

4. “Being nice to people is, in fact, one of the incidental tenets
of Christianity, as opposed to other religions whose tenets are more
along the lines of 'Kill everyone who doesn't smell bad and answer to
the name Muhammad.' “

5. “I believe that everyone has the right to their own religion, be
you Hindu, Muslim, or Jewish. I believe there are infinite paths to
accepting Jesus Christ as your personal savior.”

6. “[North Korea] is a major threat. I just think it would be fun to
nuke them and have it be a warning to the rest of the world.”

7. “Isn't an agnostic just an atheist without balls?”

Answers below.

1. Coulter

2. Colbert

3. Colbert

4. Coulter

5. Colbert

6. Coulter

7. Colbert

The infallible George W. Bush

It's so nice to have a president who makes no mistakes.  With all the success we're having in Iraq and now with N. Korea's nuclear program it is good to know that “Bush Stands Firm on Policies” as the Post put it.

Despite setbacks on North Korea and Iraq,
President Bush vowed yesterday to stick with his policies on both
crises, praising Chinese condemnation of North Korea's apparent nuclear
test and citing progress in helping the fledgling Iraqi government
stand on its own.

So, I guess that the key is to look for a silver-lining in every towering thunder-cloud and conclude that everything is a-okay.  It must be nice to live in George Bush's pleasant little world.

It’s not easy being John McCain

I used to really like John McCain.  Sure, we disagree on a lot ideologically, but he seemed to really have an integrity and not play stupid political games.  I miss that McCain.  It has become quite clear that he is full-scale soul-selling mode in his attempts to win the Republican nomination for 2008.  His latest attempts to blame Clinton for N. Korea's missile tests are the scurrilous lying and talking points we'd expect out of any Republican hack.  Slate's Fred Kaplan takes him down pretty good.  It's complicated, so if you really want to understand, you need to read the whole column, but here's some highlights:

Sen. John McCain has skidded his Straight Talk Express off the highway
into a gopher's ditch of slime. The moment came Tuesday, when he
responded to charges by Sen. Hillary Clinton, his potential rival in
the 2008 presidential election, that George W. Bush bears some
responsibility for North Korea's newborn status as a nuclear-armed
power…

McCain's version of history goes beyond “revisionism” to outright
falsification. It is the exact opposite of what really happened.

Here's a nice summary of the facts from ThinkProgress:

One more time, here are the facts:

North Korea?s bombs are built with plutonium. They produce their
plutonium in a reactor they built during the Reagan presidency,
starting around 1984. They separated enough plutonium for perhaps two
bombs during the first Bush presidency.

When they tried to make more plutonium under President Bill Clinton, he said he would go to war to stop them. He had plans prepared for the attack. The North Koreans backed down.

Bill Clinton froze the program in its tracks. North Korea did not separate a gram of plutonium while Bill Clinton was in office. He also stopped their missile tests.

George Bush walked away from the deal in his first months in office.
In March 2001, Secretary of State Colin Powell said he wanted ?to
continue the process begun under Clinton.? Bush cut him down….

Bush did nothing.

This is Bush?s Bomb. All the plutonium made for these bombs was made
either during his presidency or his father?s. To blame his failure on
Bill Clinton should not be allowed to stand. Senator McCain should be
ashamed.

Or, if you prefer, ThinkProgress has an even simpler summary:

A cheat sheet:

Bush I: 1-2 bombs worth of plutonium
Clinton: Zero plutonium
Bush II: 10-11 bombs worth of plutonium and counting, first nuclear test

So, to end on my original point.  It is a real shame that someone like John McCain, who could be respected for his political honesty, has joined the Republican leadership in their mass creation of their own alternative reality.