Category: Awards

"I'm George Stevens and I'm a person. I was held as property as a child. Even before my birth I was called a slave in an America you wouldn't recognize. But folks like you helped me escape North to freedom and in 1864, I joined the infantry to fight for my country. I fought so all slaves would be recognized as persons, not property. And we won. But today in Colorado, there are still people called property – children – just like I was. And that America you thought you wouldn't recognize is all around you and these children are being killed. This November, vote "yes" on Amendment 62. Amendment 62 declares unborn children persons, not property. And that's the America I fought for," – Personhood Colorado radio ad. Audio here. (The group's website has a section labeled, "Scare Tactic Alert" – with no apparent irony.)

"While most of America was on vacation, President Obama bypassed the Senate confirmation process and on July 7 appointed a radical, Dr. Donald Berwick, to the Department of Health and Human Services to oversee the nation's Medicaid and Medicare system. While I was helping my 1-year-old son, Gunner, do his life-prolonging breathing treatment, his president betrayed him and others who suffer from cystic fibrosis," – Kristan Hawkins, Washington Examiner.

"We noted yesterday the controversy over the Obama administration's reaction to Scotland's proposed release of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohment al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds, i.e., the claim that he was about to die. Foreign newspapers quoted a letter from a U.S. Embassy official in London, Richard LeBaron, which said that the U.S. would prefer that Megrahi not be released, but that if he were to be let go, the Obama administration thought it was "far preferable" to free Megrahi than have him transferred to a Libyan jail. On its face, this preference seemed odd; many wondered whether the notoriously pliable Obama administration had used Megrahi's alleged illness as another opportunity for "outreach." But, as I noted last night, the full text of LeBaron's letter had not been made public, so it was difficult to judge. Today the State Department did release the full text of LeBaron's letter. In my opinion, it answers the questions we asked yesterday and reflects credit on the State Department and the Obama administration," – John Hinderaker, Powerline.

Debbie Schussel gets an honorable mention too:

Michelle Fraudkin, Matt Drudge, and virtually every other right-of-center source picked up and ran the complete lie.  Now that it’s been shown to be a total fraud, per their usual fakery, no apology, no correction, no nothin’.

Debbie needs to recall that today's American "conservatism" is never wrong, almost never apologizes and rarely corrects. They learned this from Bush and Cheney.

"Although he now denies that lots of informal — and some formal — coordination took place on Journolist, to his credit listserv founder Ezra Klein was a force for moderation. He stopped others from organizing a weekly message, stopped people from organizing open letters on Journolist (after they did so on one occasion), wouldn’t let those currently working in the government on the list, and seemed more reasonable than many in his remarks," – Jonathan Strong, Daily Caller.

"The simple reason Andrew Breitbart owes an apology is this: He alone released the edited video – that did not include the rest of Sherrod’s story, in which she shows how her original reaction was wrong and how she moved on, and then helped the white farmer as best as she could- thereby indeed saving him from foreclosure and saving his farm. He and his wife have been Sherrod’s friends since then. Breitbart now says over and over “They made it about her,” as he did on a TV interview. No, HE made it about her, by releasing the misleading video. If he refuses to own up to his mistake, he has then squandered any credibility he may have had.  So, I repeat: Andrew, apologize to her and to all of us," – Ron Radosh.

Yglesias gets his hits in:

One gets the sense that Gingrich’s reasoning is so weak here because he actually has no idea why it would make sense to prevent mosque-construction in Lower Manhattan. He just knows that this has become a far-right cause celebre and he likes to ride the far-right wave. If the far-right wants anti-Muslim bigotry, then he’ll provide it. But he’s an “ideas guy” so he has to try to think up a reason.

And look who he's following: Palin.

''The time for double standards that allow Islamists to behave aggressively toward us while they demand our weakness and submission is over. The proposed 'Cordoba House' overlooking the World Trade Center site — where a group of jihadists killed over 3,000 Americans and destroyed one of our most famous landmarks — is a test of the timidity, passivity and historic ignorance of American elites,'' – Newt Gingrich, conflating all American Muslims as Islamists, and ignoring the many non-Americans killed at Ground Zero. Extra points for fake populism, and following Palin's despicable lead.

The Palin-led tone of the GOP is increasingly, well there's no other word for it, neo-fascist. As if it is now un-American to support freedom of religion – especially near a site destroyed by those who oppose it. Palin sees a mosque as a stab in the heart of America. I see it as a sign of America's endurance as a place where freedom of religion is sacrosanct, and where we make distinctions between genuine believers and those who distort and pervert faith for political and murderous ends.

I see the Cordoba project as the best response to Bin Laden's evil that a true democracy can muster.

by Chris Bodenner

GREENSPAN: I should say [Congress] should follow the law and let [the Bush tax cuts] lapse.

Q: Meaning what happens?

GREENSPAN: Taxes go up. The problem is, unless we start to come to grips with this long-term outlook, we are going to have major problems. I think we misunderstand the momentum of this deficit going forward.

by Chris Bodenner

"They make more money off of race than any slave trader ever. It's time groups like the NAACP went to the trash heap of history where they belong with all the other vile racist groups that emerged in our history," – Mark Williams, a national spokesman for the Tea Party Express. And around we go …