News Roundup for 7/14/09

Smarter than Glenn Beck

-Headline of the day-
"Glenn Beck Complains About Softball 'Questions' During Sotomayor Hearing -- But There Weren't Any Questions."

If you haven't already, you can go ahead and add "stupid" to the list of things that are wrong with Glenn Beck. Long known for his feverish lunacy, the FOX host expanded his repertoire to include mental helplessness yesterday. After showing a montage of Senators praising Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, Beck said, "As our country burns to the ground... This is the questioning!"

Except it's not.

The first day of the confirmation hearings is reserved for opening statements, not questions. Beck -- or his viewers, for that matter -- might've gotten a clue that no questions were being asked when none of the sentences ended with question marks and Sotomayor didn't say anything after the senators finally shut up. I guess, if you were generous, you could give Beck credit for not saying that she was refusing to answer any of these "questions." But I'm not generous, so I'm not gonna. Fuck me, but is this man ever dumb. In fact, he's inventing whole new levels to be stupid on.

After showing GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham saying that the only way she wasn't going to be confirmed would be if she had a "complete meltdown," Beck slapped his face and asked, "Does anybody remember when Lindsey Graham wasn't a worm?"

No I don't, but good on you for asking the only question of the day, Glenn. "This is like a cartoon show," he finally moaned.

It's unclear whether he was referring to the Sotomayor hearings or his own Glenn Beck's TV Psych Ward.

Remember their motto, kids; "FOX News: We Report, You Get Dumber." (News Hounds, with video)


-Speaking of FOX News...-
...would it surprise you to find out that FOX "journalists" give really lousy political advice?

When Mark Sanford disappeared for days on end, FOX, the Washington Times, and the Wall Street Journal emailed his staff and told them not to worry, this whole "vanishing governor" thing was going to blow over in no time.

"Having known the Governor for years and even worked with him when he would host radio shows for me -- I find this story and the media frenzy surrounding it to be absolutely ridiculous!" wrote one unnamed FOX host. "Please give him my best."

"If you all want to speak on this publicly, you're welcome to Washington Times Radio," a Times staffer wrote. "You know that you will be on friendly ground here!"

"Someone at WSJ should be fired for today's story. Ridiculous," wrote Brendan Miniter, an editor of the Wall Street Journal's OpinionJournal.com.

Wow, I thought the rest of the media was supposed to be biased.

But the best email comes from Stephen Colbert:


As you may know, I declared myself Governor of South Carolina last night. I went power mad for about 40 seconds before learning that Gov. Sanford was returning today.

If the governor is looking for a friendly place to make light of what I think is a small story that got blown out of scale I would be happy to have him on. In person here, on the phone, or in South Carolina.

Stay strong, Stephen


The only real difference between the fake right wing journalist and the real ones is that the fake one is supposed to be funny. (TPMMuckraker)


-Michael Steele said something stupid again-
Those of you keeping track, let me know which stupid thing this is that Steele's said so far -- I lost track way back around 407.

Asked by a blogger how Steele plans to get minorities back into the Republican party, he tipped his hand and let all the liberal commies in on his brilliant strategy. "My plan is to say 'Y'all come,'" he answered. "I've got the fried chicken and potato salad."

What could I possibly add? (Raw Story, with video)