Tea-Bagging

Sen. David Vitter will tea-bag. Fox News will cover your tea-bag.... Do you tea-bag?

Inert Propaganda Punch Line Below

Man falls into Panda pen. Because of a tall barrier, the man cannot escape.

Panda investigates. Begins to maul the intruder. According to CNN, The man's response to being mauled:

"The panda is a national treasure, and I love and respect [him], so I didn't fight back," Zhang said. "The panda didn't let go until it chewed up my leg and its mouth was dripping with my blood."

State run propaganda runs deep in some people.

A Clarification for Solon's Benefit, but which will Perhaps benefit others as well: Where Sexual Harassment Panda Came From

Holy &$#@!!!!!: "McCain Suspends Campaign To Help With Bailout"

Linky link.

Here's an Interesting Snippet:

He urged his opponent Barack Obama to do the same.

Here's another:

The Arizona senator also asked the Presidential Debate Commission to postpone Friday’s scheduled debate with Obama so that he can work on the financial crisis bailout plan now on Capitol Hill.

And one more:

McCain has fallen in recent polls as a result of the economic crisis. The latest FOX News/Opinion Dynamics poll shows Obama has taken a 45-39 percent lead over McCain, in large part because of independent voters. A Washington Post poll also showed that most voters think Obama has a better approach to dealing with the economy than McCain.

Okay. Like most Americans, Harrogate doesn't pretend to know what to do about this economic shitstorm. Most people would prefer no Bailout, it seems. But most people would prefer a Bailout to a full-scale Depression. So, most of us don't know what to think. The issue of CEO Compensation will not go away though, and neither will the Issue of Accountability in terms of how this money is spent, if we pony it up. That much these politicos need to remember, and remember well.

But meanwhile, Harrogate humbly makes the following assertion: There is No Way in Hell Obama should Agree to a Formal "Postponement" of this Campaign. There are so many fallacies built into what McCain is asking Obama to do, and what he is asking the Debate Commission to do, Harrogate doesn't even know where to begin. If Obama agrees to this Harrogate will be a Sad Panda.

But, Here let Harrogate add what he WOULD be supportive of. Let the Presidential Debate Commission switch the order of the topics. So that the economy is Friday's subject. Yes, we're all riled up about Im-A-Dinner-Jacket's visit to the UN. And we're worried about what is taking place in North Korea. And the two Wars we are in are really, really big deals. But the Rhetorical Situation we are in nevertheless dictates that the economy is what people are going to want to hear these candidates talk about, on this coming Friday night.

Hmmm. We'll see what they do.

OMFG. Or, One Man and His Parrot Take on the Empire

The recent Nader Ad. Harrogate just noticed that Andrew Sullivan also has this up on his blog but--SURPRISE--all Sully has to say about it is, it's "weird." So no Tip of the Hat for Andrew "Reagan Was Awesome But Gays Should Have Rights" Sullivan.

But, friends. Here is the unvarnished crux of the matter. Nader continues to make noise on his web site and in Ads and in his fundraising, about the "Media Blackout" on his candidacy.

Honesty demands first of all that we acknowledge that there has been a Media Blackout on his campaign. Reality would dictate that as close as this election is, the fact of his candidacy (and Barr's, for that matter) would be getting serious play.

Harrogate has made arguments in the past that this is also an issue of respect. 6% of the electorate nationally is a lot, and Nader's power in swing states looks to be huge.

But there is something else. Harrogate calls it the People Like To Pretend To Be Surprised factor. During the 2000 campaign Nader was also blacked out by the corporate media. But then, after the cataclysm known as Election Day 2000, media pundits couldn't get enough, talking about Nader. They went on and on about how he torpedoed Gore in New Hampshire, for example.

So here's a prediction that really shouldn't be necessary. Right now Nader doesn't exist as far as Barack Obama and the corporate media are concerned. But following election day, if Obama loses in a squeaker. And Nader carries between 4-6% in places like New Hampshire and Michigan, and McCain has won those states.

Then people on television will talk a lot about Nader.

Really, how stupid is that? Why not address the issue now when something can perhaps be done about it?

So here ye go, Readers. One very Assy McGeee kind of man, and his parrot, take on the corporate media behemoth. Ignore this at thy peril.

The Slender "Two Americas" Narrative: Now Completely 'Disappeared,' with Edwards' Political Judgment and Personal Cred, Into Rielle Hunter's Vagina

Papa Bear O'Reilly makes the move Harrogate has been expecting him to make since the Rielle Hunter story finally broke out of the tabloids and into the MSM.

It was out of respect for Elizabeth Edwards that O'Reilly, and other "responsible" guardians of the National Framejob known as Our Fourth Estate, had refused to run this story way back then. But no matter, quoth Papa Bear:

What we did do was expose Edwards as a dishonest politician, a man who tried to exploit American military people to prop up his preposterous theory that the United States economy punishes the poor.

Here he's telling the truth. Harrogate is not being sarcastic. Here Papa Bear is telling the Truth that throughout the Spring he attacked Edwards' "prepostorous theory."

Only much deeper into the Memo does O'Reilly actually Lie. It always makes Harrogate a Sad Panda to see Papa Bear lie, when he already has so much to Crow about, what with "Robin Hood" being dead and all. But here is the Lie:

There's no question the liberal media loved the message Edwards was putting out there that America is a place that caters to the rich and hammers the poor. That's why the committed left press ignored the National Enquirer investigation that proved to be true.

Really. It really really really doesn't get any worse than this. Even he ought to be ashamed of himself; knowing full well that there was no point during the Primary where Edwards or his arguments receieved more than a sound-blip, unless it was some Talking Head (like O'Reilly) trying to smash those arguments to smithereens.

What's that? The media is "politically correct" and therefore, Edwards was doomed as a white man running against "history"? Ovaries and pigmentation being more important than questions of social and economic justice? No, these ravings might sound good on a reflexive level, but the real reason they buried Edwards' message from the get-go is that no industry, including the Oil Industry, stands as much to lose by the ascendance of Progressive Politics, than the Media.

Anywho. Thank God nobody has to listen to Edwards anymore. That nobody is really left to take up the mantle of even tangentially challenging the further consolidation of wealth, unless you count Nader (heh). For example, Disney-ABC-ESPN-Anaheim Angels-Etc-Etc-Etc., was tiring of the compulsion to run a sound bite every few months.