Why?

Joshua asks, reasonably enough:

I read the transcript of Hannity and Colmes that was referred to on your blog. I don’t understand why you go on those Fox News shows, Ted. To me, it is similar to trying to have a scientific argument with creationists; it simply legitimizes them and gives them a forum to spout their lies. Sean Hannity and his ilk are masters of spin, logical fallacy and lies. It doesn’t matter that you’re smarter than them; they’re masters of their medium.
And Colmes; what a sniveling worm. Is he afraid Sean is going to hit him or something?

Re: Colmes – I feel sorry for him, having to work next to that psychotic mook Hannity every day. Hannity never turns it off. He’s REALLY like that, even off the air–trash-talking, insulting, downright rude. Unsurprisingly, staff turnover for H&C is high; you hardly ever see the same person working there twice. Bill O’Reilly, on the other hand, is decent when the cameras are off. It’s not like all right-wingers are like Hannity, thank God.

So why bother? It’s a question I’ve often asked myself. Mainly because, now that I’ve lost my outlet as a talk radio host, it’s the only way to convey my ideas in the broadcast medium. I also think it’s important for thinking Americans to show the neofascists that they’re fast on their feet and aren’t afraid of them. On the other hand, as Joshua says, it’s their show and they control it.

Few viewers are aware, for instance, that “The O’Reilly Factor” is taped a few hours in advance. Liberal zingers tend to get “lost” during the editing process. Fox’s guest chairs are lower, smaller and less comfortable than the host–and you don’t get a table to lean on (something that media trainers will tell you is a must for a TV appearance). “Hannity” is live but the guest’s mike is turned on while Sean runs off his mouth about nothing of importance.

There are other sins: Hannity’s show likes to book you to discuss a topic only to have the subject change to an unrelated ad hominem attack once you’re there.

Unsurprisingly a lot of first-rate liberal personalities, resentful of sandbagging tactics, have stopped appearing on Fox. I don’t blame them. But until Air America or Clear Channel calls to offer me the kind of access to America’s eyes and ears offered by those shows, I’m not quite ready to follow suit.

Subject Line was: “Get a Useful Life.”

Hate mail from Sidney:

I am sorry to be yet another to inform you, but you have not a clue. You have made a life for yourself by chanting ignorance amongst the masses. In the end, when you look back, you will pat yourself on the back for the absolute nothing you stand for. You are a terminal whiner. Don’t breathe so much. It is a waste.
How vain is this, ‘This permits me to spend more time doing something constructive, like corresponding with people who understand and appreciate what I do.’ Let me translate…if you don’t agree with me, why should I listen to you. Moron!!!!! I know you might feel this correspondence is validation for what you do. I have to tell you though that I read one editorial of yours, was disgusted, went to your archives and read two more with the same result. Crawl back under your rock buddy, you missed the boat.

Penultimate is the word for second to last. Is penultimate penultimate third to last? if so, that’s the sentence in this email I agree with.

Ted Rall Merchandise

Karl (no, not THAT Karl) writes:

Just was curious about why the Generalissimo El Busho merchandise segment of your website consistently comes back with the message “the page can not be displayed.” (at least on my personal computer) Perhaps you might
know if this is a glitch in your website, involved servers, or something odd in my computer. Or at worst, is this yet another government attempt to somehow block our freedom of expression? Any daylight that you might shed on the above given situation would certainly be appreciated.

Not even the evildoers at 1600 Penn can prevent patriotic Americans from getting their fix of TR merchandise! My former merchandise provider, Agitproperties, appears to have gone under. So I’ve created a new site at www.cafepress.com/tedrall that has all the TR merch your capitalistic heart will ever desire. I’ll change it from time to time, so if you want something now’s the time to get it.

Karl Rove, Traitor

Derek writes:

You are beginning to demonstrate a pattern of disregard for pesky facts in your ravings.
As the facts are developing, Ms Plame was no longer a covert operative of the CIA at the time of Mr. Rove’s statements to the reporter. She had been stateside for over 5 years, working at a desk in the CIA headquarters building. Sorry, Ted, but you don’t go to work everyday parking in the CIA lot and remain covert. That just doesn’t work.
Identifying someone as a CIA employee (there are hundreds of CIA employees that are NOT covert operatives) when that person blatantly passes through the doors of the CIA building every day can’t possibly be considered crossing any lines, legal or ethical.

First: neither the CIA nor Plame nor Wilson can or will comment on what covert actions she may have been involved in during the previous five years…because they’re covert. So we won’t find out, yes? The point is, Rove didn’t care about the national security of the nation which employs him and grants him top security clearance. If no one was endangered as a result of his treasonous actions (and there are doubtlessly others), that’s just dumb luck–like driving through a schoolyard full of kids and not hurting anyone. But he should still be taken off the road.

Once again, the liberal (I’m sorry, “progressive”) community has come up with a dry well. The more you scream and wail, the more foolish you look as the objective facts of the situation come into focus.
Too bad for you that there are dozens of news outlets these days that still offer the public unbiased facts in their reporting.

Heh, heh. Right.

By the way, I hope you’ve gone back to Dayton recently to update your impressions of the culinary offerings available there. Even if you think the people of the Miami Valley are fools and rubes, there are at least a few decent places to eat.

So I hear. Can’t wait to check ’em out soon.

Future Speaking Gigs

Dan asks:

I read with joy, a whole year after the fact, the transcript of your appearance on Hannity & Colmes from June 2004. Do you have any other appearances scheduled? I’m a big fan and have never seen you speak.

I post media appearances here on the if and when there’s sufficient advance notice. I also speak in person, usually at universities and before various groups, when invited. Anyone interested in inviting me to talk about my cartoons and contemporary politics should drop me a line at chet@rall.com. (Please note: I request an honorarium.)

Brian writes:

Goldberg was the guest on The Daily Show tonight. Jon Stewart gave him a moderately hard time. I thought he did a decent job challenging the premise of the book, and Golberg was clearly frustrated by Stewart’s silliness. Still, I was hoping he would rip into Goldberg like he did Tucker Carlson on Crossfire. He’s generally too deferential to his guests – the interview with Colin Powell a few weeks ago was nauseating. Maybe they should let Lewis Black sit in on interviews. Goldberg spent most of his time discussing the “coarsening” of the culture as though he was doing a public service by identifying the culprits. I thought that was elegantly rebutted by the footage of Jimmy Carter building a house
overlaid with a graphic showing him as #6 on Goldberg’s list which they ran before going to commercial.

As if Goldberg’s blacklist wasn’t coarsening the culture! Honestly, I don’t really understand why so many Bush-bashers like “The Daily Show” so much. I find much of it dull. And it’s hardly balanced: the guests run from centrist Dems to right-wing Republicans, as if the third of the country to the left of that spectrum doesn’t count. In that respect it’s indistinguishable from most other media outlets. Jon Stewart is a smart, funny and talented guy, but his show could be more interesting.

Good luck moving up in the ranking. Maybe you can do something to get him to juggle the order prior to the paperback release. It’s a really obvious idea now, but some person or group should write a book listing the people
who really are screwing up America. Of course you and several other people on Goldberg’s list have already written about some genuine scoundrels, just not in the same format.

Various progressive blogs have done that already. As for moving up in the ranking, the trouble is that I barely have time to screw up America as it is. Between cutting the lawn, drawing cartoons and figuring out why my car is making that funny whirring sound, by the time I get around to screwing up America I can’t even do a half-decent job.

Was Bush Crossing His Fingers?

Garrett writes:

Just read your Treasongate: It’s Not Just Karl Rove on commondreams.com
Check out video of Bush’s 2001 inauguration. When he’s asked if he’ll uphold the Constitution, note his body language.
It’s eerie.

There is, indeed, a strange shift in Bush’s body movements at that point.

I’ll be on Michael Medved’s radio show today (check local listings) at 4 pm East Coast time today.

Editor & Publisher Piece About Goldberg Book

Editor and Publisher notes my inclusion in Goldberg’s Bushian enemies list.

Complete Text of This Week’s Column

A computer glitch caused the accidental deletion of a substantial portion of this week’s column. Here, therefore, is the whole thing:

TREASONGATE: IT’S NOT JUST KARL ROVE
National Security Compromised by White House
NEW YORK–Since Karl Rove surfaced last week as the White House official who probably unmasked a covert CIA agent, new developments appear to confirm that the deputy chief of staff and chief Bush political strategist has committed treason:
–Newsweek has published, and Time has authenticated, a Time reporter’s notes about his crucial conversation with Rove. “Spoke to Rove on double super secret background for about two [minutes] before he went on vacation,” Matt Coopers’ notes read. Rove told Cooper that “[former ambassador and Iraq war critic] Joe Wilson’s wife…apparently works at the [Central Intelligence] Agency on WMD issues.”
–In the past Bush Administration officials have repeatedly denied that Rove was involved and promised to fire whomever outted Plame. Now, rather than proclaim his innocence, Bush and his PR flacks are stonewalling. “This is a question relating to an ongoing investigation,” his press secretary repeats to an increasing torrent of journalists’ pointed questions.
–Denizens of official Washington invariably issue a powerful, categorical denial–sometimes accompanied by the threat of libel litigation–whenever an allegation is untrue. Rove’s silence on Treasongate can’t convict him in a court of law. That comes later. Still, it speaks volumes.
Imagine, for a few paragraphs, that you were the U.S. Director of Central Intelligence. Rove’s seditious behavior requires you to wonder about the possible extent of his inside job against U.S. national security. Did Rove act alone? Probably not. His Plame operation, no doubt conceived in league with Dick Cheney and other high-ranking scoundrels, may merely represent the tip of a huge iceberg of duplicity. How else did “Bush’s brain” subvert our intelligence community? Are Rove’s intimates, who include Bush himself, running interference for him out of personal loyalty, or are they trying to cover up their own treasonous acts? Someone at Langley provided highly classified personnel information to Rove, a dirty tricks specialist and pollster. Who?
In 1985 CIA traitor Aldrich Ames sold the KGB the names of every U.S. spy in the Soviet Union in return for $2 million. Arrests and executions soon wiped out America’s human assets in the Soviet Union. As they were caught unprepared by one shocker after another–glasnost, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the implosion of the USSR–intelligence professionals suspected a well-placed mole as the culprit. But Ames wasn’t caught for another nine years.
Karl Rove, on the other hand, has already been found out as a likely traitor to the United States. Now we must work backwards. Does his exposure help to explain some of the Administration’s most baffling foreign policy blunders?
No matter how remote, we must now consider the possibility that Karl Rove may in the employ of, and/or receiving money from, a terrorist organization such as Al Qaeda. Alternatively, could he be in the employ of a hostile foreign government? If he betrayed a CIA agent, Rove is a traitor and therefore capable of anything. Only an exhaustive investigation of his and his associates’ anti-American activities, up to and including those committed by George W. Bush, can resolve these questions.
Internal sabotage offers a tempting explanation for the fact that so much has gone wrong for the United States since 2001. After 9/11 Osama bin Laden was in Pakistan–which had financed the Taliban and trained the hijackers at its camps–but Bush shocked analysts by attacking Afghanistan and Iraq instead. Was Bush’s refusal to search for bin Laden in his nation of residence the result of spectacular incompetence–or a continuing alliance with the same Islamists his father’s presidency had armed and funded? Are we losing the wars against Afghanistan and Iraq because of Rumsfeld’s stubborn insistence on understaffing the military? Or are our leaders intentionally dragging out combat to accomplish their masters’ aims: increasing the popularity of radical Islam and the recruitment of terrorists? Even Bush’s domestic policies, from tax cuts paid to the rich people least likely to stimulate the economy to his attack on Social Security, seem designed to undermine U.S. stability and prosperity. Was Bush crossing his fingers when he swore to preserve and defend the constitution?
Maybe. Maybe not. The point is: we don’t know. But we must find out.
National security is bipartisan. Democrats and Republicans may be divided over various ideological conflicts, but all patriotic Americans should be able to agree on a zero-tolerance policy for treason. Rove, those who worked with him and anyone who protected him must go.
(Ted Rall is the author of “Wake Up, You’re Liberal!: How We Can Take America Back From the Right” and “Generalissimo El Busho: Essays and Cartoons on the Bush Years.”)
COPYRIGHT 2005 TED RALL