It seems like Tim Russert got a lot more 24/7 love than poor Walter has received. I know that others here picked up on this, too. This seems really incorrect to me. Just wrong.

Being of the progressive variety, I was sorry for Russert and his family, but Russert's legacy, in my mind, is forever draped with his facilitating George W. Bush and Dick Cheney's lying us into invading Iraq. I give Russert only this credit: he wasn't a White House stenographer like Judy Miller was with her direct feed propaganda into the ink at the New York Times.

Possibly Russert, safe and a star there at his studio set, had seen what happened with the sacking of Phil Donahue at MSNBC and took note that it wasn't healthy for one's career to criticize that "war on terror". Robert Scheer would know a little about that, too.

Cronkite loathed the entertainment creep into television news, as did Dan Rather. But Paddy Chayefsky saw it all coming long ago, didn't he? Watching Murdoch's Faux or Fixed News is like watching "Network". Roger Ailes, a telvision hack, apparently thought Chayefsky's work was a prototype, perhaps a "pilot".

Sure Cronkite has gotten a respectable amount of coverage with his passing, but nothing like the worship, fawning and brain-numbing coverage Russert got. It doesn't seem right.

Maybe Michael Jackson has something to do with it all. Poor Farah Fawcett never really had her day. The Gloved One stole all her ink. Maybe Americans just want to take off their sackcloth and send it to the dry cleaners after the last month.

But whatever, Walter Cronkite was the real deal. Had he passed when Russert did, the coverage probably would have been greater.

I think that maybe in the aftermath of Jackson's non-stop season of mourning, Americans are just worn out with eulogies. Or maybe...maybe Chayefsky knew us better than we gave him credit for.

Ponder this fact. Fact, not fiction...although it sounds like fiction.

The Central Intelligence Agency has been operating at least one funded program with people in its employment for six months now without the knowledge of the President of the United States.

Forget about the fact that Leon Panetta, the Director of the CIA itself did not know about this illegal enterprise, and rather focus on this:

1.) a former Vice President, Dick Cheney, an outspoken critic, if not enemy, of our current democratically elected president, left behind a rogue element within the CIA operating with Cheney's secret knowledge since January (that would now be 13% of President Obama's entire first term as President).

2.) Cheney's "stay behind" clandestine CIA structure was ordered by Cheney to be kept secret from the U.S. Congress and, apparently kept it secret from President Obama, too.

So,

That's a conspiracy.
That's a CIA conspiracy.
That's an illegal CIA conspiracy and it is a "high crime" if there ever was one.

Many of us who believe that the evidence of a CIA rogue element planning and executing the murder of President John F. Kennedy have been mocked with the catch-all "conspiracy nut" perfunctory dismissal of the facts that still support that belief.

The charge against us was always: "How could a rogue element of CIA operatives possibly be acting without the knowledge of a newly elected President?" "Why, that's incredulous. It can't happen here," we've been told with smug mocking.

Well, maybe those who mock might want to mock a little quieter these days. You think?

If it can happen in 2009, you still want to tell me that it couldn't have happened back in 1963?

Because I love this President, I worry about him.

Here's hoping that Attorney General Eric Holder will immediately launch his own full-throttle investigations with all hands on deck into this high crime...and treason.

The Insurance Corporations and Big Pharmacy have cooked up a doozey that is sucking Democrats right into their plan to kill the Public Health Option: A National Health Care Co-Op. And who would run the National Health Co-Op? Why the insurance companies and the pharmaceutical corporations with a few purchased politicians to give it an "official seal of approval" with the public.

So our hopes, our struggles for a national health-care public option --- a competitive government-run option for the public --- has been co-opted with a co-op card trick at the last moment.

The Co-0p is to Co-opt the true public plan.

Co-opt: to commandeer, to appropriate or take over.

That's the rug being pulled out from under your feet.

Dr. Howard Dean should have been Obama's first choice to have been Secretary of Health and Human Services. Period. End of the "argument".

Dr. Howard Dean, a graduate of Albert Einstein College of Medicine, happens to know just a little bit about this subject. Dr. Dean, whose wife is still a practicing physician herself, was the first Governor of any of our 50 states to provide health-care to every child in his state. Dr. Dean set the example while all of the other career politicians just talked about it. He created the first national template in Vermont.

Dr. Howard Dean not only has a sharp intellect and sweeping knowledge of medicine, but also has unquestioned successful executive experience at providing health-care to the general population. His foresight and problem solving skills were not only recognized in Vermont, but he later took the national Democratic Party from its pathetic, cowardly and impoverished minority status to a rejuvenated, courageous and empowered majority status in 2006...against all odds. Dean's stunning political success as Chairman of the Democratic Party and his commitment to his then-ridiculed 50-state strategy set the tables for a second electoral sweep in 2008.

On the other hand, we have Mr. Tom Daschle. Tom Daschle is an embarrassment to our Democratic Party. He and his lobbying wife spent decades blurring the line between illegal bribery and just plain old unethical lobbying. In fact, Tom and Linda Daschle are the Democrats' mirror image of Phil and Wendy Gramm. Tom Daschle permitted more reactionary and right-wing legislation to pass under his "leadership" of the Senate when he was majority leader than what was passed under his GOP replacements, Trent Lott and Bill Frist. Patriot Act? Tom Daschle. Iraqi War Resolution? Daschle's list of "accomplishments" as Senate Majority Leader is a record of shame...if one is a Democrat and not a Republican.

Good God! Daschle is precisely the wrong prescription for Barack Obama's new administration. Daschle has spent the last years working as a lobbyist -- without the honesty of registering as a lobbyist -- for the very corrupt health-care executives who directly benefit from the current immoral situation where nearly 50 million Americans have no health-care whatsoever. And, typcial of Dashcle, he hid his tax fraud from Obama and worse, he wants to carry that ethics-challenged virus right into Obama's Cabinet.

Memo to Obama: Get rid of the Quack and hire the real Doctor. And do it now.

Here's a picture of what a great American Secretary of Health and Human Services would look like!

Last night I was truly disappointed to see how quickly some felt compelled to rally behind a very hurtful decision by Barack Obama against the GLBT community in selecting an outspoken bigot to be honored and spotlighted in front of the entire world next month.

Let's clear the smoke and the bullshit, shall we?

Rick Warren is not just a homophobe who keeps his loathing of my GBLT sisters and brothers to himself.

Rick Warren has built his career making horrible statements about my community. His hateful comments inspire discrimination and violence against a vulnerable group of Americans who still are denied fundamental rights in employment, housing, military retirement benefits, and even the right to a fair trial.

Rick Warren has used his power and influence and money to systematically oppress my family and my loved ones.

The threads that have appeared here at the DU in the last 24 hours to defend Obama's choice have grasped at every straw to defend the indefensible. And the threads have been all over the map in offering knee-jerk "rationale" to honoring Warren, and thereby insulting GLBT Americans.

Let me clear some of the air about some of these threads:

1.) Rick Warren did not help Obama win the election or help him carry Virginia.

2.) Barack Obama did not pick Rick Warren to win him over from his loathing of my community or his underwriting hateful campaigns against us.

3.) Barack Obama is not "balancing" the Inauguration with Rick Warren. If that was his intention, then he should also honor a racial bigot like David Duke, as BlueBear has pointed out.

4.) It's not just a "little thing" that some of us are "whining" about as a surprising amount of posters have said.

Are you interested in knowing what's almost as bad as being fired from your job because you are gay, being beaten in a parking lot because you are gay, being evicted from your apartment because you are gay, being discharged from the military because you are gay, being thrown out of your home as a child because you are gay, being bullied every day at school because you are gay, being kept from your companion in a hospital because you are gay, being denied a funeral because you are gay, and more?

You want to know what's almost as bad as all of that? Coming to a "progressive" blog and seeing how quickly millions of gay Democrats are rapidly dismissed by a heterosexual majority of pseudo cyber liberals who never miss a chance to weigh in about how my community should "prioritize" our concerns, how we "over-react" to events, how we "should focus on the big picture" instead of our "narrow agenda". Such pompous "advice" which is usually replete with homophobic giveaways in your language is, at least, informative of where you stand.

The most devastating weapon of mass destruction ever employed against the people of the United States of America has been George W. Bush. No enemy, foreign or domestic, has ever hurt our fair country more than this single man. None. Not ever.

1.) Our once powerful military is now just a ruined and broken shadow of what it once was. Our soldiers and Marines are worn out and have been abused. Our military hardware and weapons have been depleted and we are vulnerable now as never before in over 200 years. Osama bin Laden didn't do that to America. George W. Bush did!

2.) Our banking system, once the underpinning of the entire world, is about to possibly be nationalized as it collapses before our very eyes. Osama bin Laden didn't do that to America. George W. Bush did!

3.) Our collective business community, large and small, is in peril from coast to coast as credit is unavailable and as they have been forced to compete against 23 cent/hour slave labor in China. Osama bin Laden didn't do that to America. George W. Bush did!

4.) Our equity markets are in a free fall of panic with no bottom in sight. Osama bin Laden only took out two towers on Wall Street while George W. Bush has just about taken down all of Wall Street.

5.) We lost the City of New Orleans and watched our fellow citizens drowning, dying of thirst and starving to death in front of our eyes. We watched them being prohibited from leaving by force. And he grinned, partied and ate cake with John McCain and played air guitar in San Diego as our fellow Americans perished. Osama bin Laden did not do that to the people of New Orleans. George W. Bush did.

6.) Our national integrity is gone and the trust America had once around the world for centuries is gone. Our national government is a joke. Osama bin Laden did not do that to America. George W. Bush did.

7.) Our personal savings and retirement investments are nearly gone now leaving tens of millions of older Americans in dire straights and in fear for their very futures. Osama bin Laden didn't do that to America. George W. Bush did!

8.) Our manufacturing base, the bedrock of our nation, is 1/10th of what it once was. Osama bin Laden didn't do that to America. George W. Bush did!

9.) There are now millions of Americans being evicted from their homes. Millions of children are watching mommy and daddy being forced to live in their cars, tent cities and homeless shelters. Osama bin Laden didn't do that to America. George W. Bush did!

10.) The first biological attack on American soil against our own people did not come from Osama bin Laden, but from the government run by George W. Bush.

11.) Our constitutional form of government, our very civil liberties, our habeas corpus rights, our right to privacy have been assaulted and undermined and stripped away from us. Osama bin Laden didn't do that to America. George W. Bush did!

12.) Our precious, but fragile democracy, our right to free elections, our right to count the votes and to verify the outcome of elections is a joke now. Osama bin Laden didn't do that to America. George W. Bush did!

George W. Bush has been a greater enemy to the American people than anyone in modern times and no single individual has ever hurt our beloved country more than this man.

The fact that Osama bin Laden --- who planned and executed the attacks of September 11th, 2001, murdering three thousand people --- is still not even a target of the President of the United States some six long years later should tell everyone in this country one thing: George W. Bush has no intention of ever capturing or bringing him to justice. And why is that? Because the Bin Ladens and the Bush Families have been business partners for over 50 years now. In fact, we might as well call it the B&B Company, because that's what it truly is!

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON, LIKE GRANDSON:

In the middle of the last century, a young George Herbert Walker Bush, the son of Prescott Bush, found early on that pimping cheap Arabian oil against his fellow Texan oilmen had both its political and financial rewards. Indeed, it was Bush's relationship with his new found Arabian oil buddies that eventually cost him his bid to for the U.S. Senate from Texas after Senator Lloyd Bentsen exposed Bush's undercutting Texas oil men with cheap Arabian crude. Sure, Bush may have lost his shot at the Senate, but what did that really matter? The grease of money from his new Arabian friends, dictators and business tycoons, more than compensated for his loss to Bentsen.

Bush soon carved himself out a very special niche in international business: he became the premier American contact and agent for the Saudi family, the Bin Ladens. In fact, this relationship was so tight that whenever GHW Bush traveled all those many years to the Middle East, he passed over the many fine hotels in Saudi Arabia...always preferring to stay in the bin Laden family palace. Indeed, the Bin Laden and Bush coziness became downright family-like. When GHW Bush's daughter, Dorothy, divorced her husband and was "depressed", it was the Bin Ladens who took her in --- only as kinship do --- giving her a place to regain herself. Later, it is reported, Dorothy would go on to provide cover for closeted homosexual David Dreier and "date" him when he needed to be seen with a woman. Such endearing family values!

Of course, GHB's star continued to rise politically and financially with all that Saudi money bankrolling his endeavors, and by 1980 it eventually put him at the second highest position of power in the United States: Ronald Reagan's VP. Ah...the B&B Company has its distinct advantages. Take that Lloyd Bentsen!

By this time, George W. Bush, the grandson of Prescott and the son of the Vice President Bush, was overcoming his lost decades of cocaine and alcohol abuse to discover that old family vibe ATM machine...the Bin Ladens. Young George (well, not that young), gladly took $50,000 from the Bin Ladens under the pretense and shell of a "start-up". To the world it would be "seed money", but in reality it was just a shakedown of his now very-powerful father's friends. The company went broke, of course, but young (well, not that young) Bush got the $50K, didn't he?

FAST FORWARD TO SEPTEMBER 11, 2001: Well, the documented relationship of the B&B Company (that's a good name, isn't it?) continues until GW Bush himself wound up as the President of the United States of America following his father's footsteps. And my, oh my, was the B&B Company ever set now! Why there were deals and deals and deals to be made! The Bush Brothers, Marvin, Neal and Jeb, could all get in on the action, too! The B&B Enterprise was growing.

And then came the surprising events of September 11th, 2001. The Pentagon was allowed to be the target of a strike after over one hour of knowledge that a hi-jacked jet was heading its way...after the Twin Towers in New York had already been hit. How did that happen? The Pentagon? The Pentagon!

And even though the President GW Bush was out of town and busy in Florida, where his brother was Governor, his father and former President GHW Bush, was sitting in Washington, D.C. with...of all people...representatives of Osama Bin Laden's family in Washington, D.C. Yeah, I know. It sounds crazy, doesn't it?

So how could GW Bush, who stood on the rubble of the Twin Towers and vowed to go after the mastermind of the terrorist attack, actually be expected to do that? How could a partner and life-long beneficiary of the B&B Company go after one of their very own? The B&B Company had a little problem on their hands.

First, the Bin Ladens would have to leave the country and so arrangements were made to pick them up all around the country and jet them back to Saudi Arabia. B&B was on the march.

THE GREATEST MAGIC TRICK IN AMERICAN HISTORY: Next, came the trickiest part of all: to get Osama off the hook. To somehow morph into the very minds of the American people that Osama Bin Laden who had attacked us was one and the same with another person, and who happened to be a B&B enemy: Saddam Hussein. But that would be impossible, wouldn't it? No one in their right mind would ever swallow that one! Everyone knew that Osama Bin Laden was the one who had attacked us. Everyone knew it, that is, up until about the Fall of 2002 when guess what? Saddam Hussein, our corporate news dutifully informed us, had actually been behind the attacks of 9/11.

But...what about Osama...that Bin Laden guy? "I hardly give him any thought at all" replied President GW Bush to a silly question posed to him. And that was the end of that silly line of thought. Osama who? Forget about it.

The B&B Company. And they are still in business. These days B&B have another serious competitor that they need to dispose of: that pesky little leader in Iran.

No wonder the Secretary of Defense, Mr. Gates, and the Secretary of State, Ms. Rice, are in Egypt today whipping up all the usual suspects against the B&B's competitor. These guys are good!

So, I really only have one question anymore: How does one buy stock in that B&B Company?

It's time for a serious Come-To-Jesus Meeting here at the DemocraticUnderground.Com. It's high time that a lot of us (me included) face the cold hard fact that President Bill Clinton's shabby behavior with an intern while he was President of the United States resulted in the Democrats losing control of the U.S. Senate and in losing even a greater number of seats in the House of Representatives. Most of all, Clinton's misconduct cost Al Gore an even clearer-cut victory against then Texas Governor George W. Bush in 2000.

The fact that our nation's right wing went into melt-down mode, into total hysteria in their utterly hypocritical and malicious campaign to wrongfully drive him from office through the impeachment process still does not change the simple stark truth that Bill Clinton, and Bill Clinton alone, allowed himself and the rest of us within the Democratic Party to be sidetracked from what we should have been doing into defending him.

Bill Clinton should have put the good of the nation and the best interests of his Party first and should have had the grace to have resigned his office and thereby permitted his Vice President, Albert Gore, to step immediately into the Executive role in the White House. A President Gore, with Tipper at his side, would have had all the trappings of the Executive Branch at his disposal and would have carried the 2000 election in a landslide. Indeed, had Gore become President, I doubt that Governor Bush would have run in 2000 because Karl Rove would have known better than to challenge a popular sitting President.

Al and Tipper Gore could have never been assailed for Clinton's tawdry conduct. It would have never stuck. Everyone knew that the Gores had a strong marriage, an enviable union, if there ever was one. And with out the Lewinsky stench hanging over the White House, Gore could have carried the day, perhaps in 50 states, with the nation prosperous and at peace in the world.

Instead, we had a stretched out, blood wrenching two year tug-of-war that exhausted all the political capital of the Democratic Party to defend Bill Clinton's right to be President. We never stopped to ask ourselves that old, but helpful question: Was that the hill that we all really wanted to die on? Well, we won the battle alright, but we sure as hell lost the war, didn't we?

We've lost, at minimum, two precious opportunities to nominate to the Supreme Court. We've lost millions of jobs to outsourcing. We've lost a $3 trillion Social Security surplus to a projected $10 trillion deficit. We've gone from being the champion of human rights in the world's collective eye to becoming military occupiers and the torturers of Abu Graib. We have fallen from the hope and promise of science and medicine to the backward darkness of back-wooded superstition and demagoguery. We have squandered the greatest economy in our nation's history and all the good that we could have done with it. We can't turn back time. It is what it is.

But, fellow Democrats, don’t be down heartened. Don’t despair. We can still all crow alongside Bill Clinton that we did stop the impeachment and removal of a President from office. We did win that one, didn't we? But what a price we have all paid.

The butterfly effect of a blow-job.

If you are terrified of horses and afraid to be near them, and yet like to dress up in cowboy costumes as an adult and ride bicycles rather than horses on a former pig farm that you call a "ranch", you just might be an asshole.

If you were a cocaine-snorting, shiftless and worthless drunk until you were forty years old, and yet then begin to pontificate sanctimoniously to the entire nation about "decency and honor" and "moral character", you might just be an asshole.

If you dodged the military draft and avoided a foreign war because you were the privileged son of a Congressman, and yet like to dress up in military costumes as an adult and send hundreds of thousands of poor kids to a war that you alone started, you might just be an asshole.

If you and your brothers went from one failed and questionable business venture to another and were bailed out time and again by taxpayers and family friends, and yet have the gall to lecture a nation on economics and budgeting, you might just be an asshole.

If you and your family helped arrange for your girlfriend to have an abortion because you didn’t have the sense to use a condom when you were young, and then later wag your finger at women about the “sanctity” of life of an embryo, you might just be an asshole.

If you have the audacity to criticize our Armed Forces for helping restore order and civility to a region torn by thousands of years of ethnic strife and ridicule its success with a snarl calling it “nation building”, and yet, then later embark on a ill-advised and failed $300 Billion attempt of it yourself, you might just be an asshole.