Fresh Loaf

Fox News Host Sean Hannity

Travis Fain, one of the state’s best political reporters, interviewed Fox News host and Master Teabagger Sean Hannity about his role in tonight’s Tea Party protest at the Capitol. It’s an excellent interview and worth checking out — mainly because he gives Hannity a fair shake and actually debates him.

TELEGRAPH: How many of the things that you and Rush Limbaugh, other talk show hosts — how much of what you say is an absolute belief and how much is to draw in readers, listeners and viewers?

HANNITY: I can tell you Sean Hannity doesn’t — you know, everything I say is true. I’m surprised you’d even ask that question. You mean you think I would contrive opinion just to get reaction?

TELEGRAPH: I wouldn’t say… I certainly wouldn’t say that. But it is an entertainment business, although you’re in the news business. There has to be a, sort of, flair to it. I’ll give you an example if you like. … Today on your show I heard you say that Barack Obama has this country headed for a total economic collapse, much worse than anything we’re experiencing now, within the next few years.

HANNITY: What I was saying there is, when I add up all those numbers that I just mentioned to you… and I look at the Congressional Budget Office analysis, which for years was the gold standard in terms of predicting what the deficit and the impact on the economy economic plans are going to have … and they’re telling me that the numbers are not sustainable. … That is a formula for economic — potential economic — collapse. … You can’t really fully, completely predict. But I was saying that in the context, with the texture of, these numbers are frightening.

TELEGRAPH: They are frightening. The (Government Accountability Office), though, has been saying for many years that our way of life is unsustainable. I’m not certain that this is a Barack Obama problem. I think this may be an America problem.

Definitely worth reading.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

Bookmark It

>> Penthouse magazine may be closing. Stock up on your nudie shots now.

>> Viruses target Facebook to steal important information, like 25 things the hackers didn’t know about you.

>> Proof that octo-mom probably shouldn’t have had even one baby. She’s raising hellions…

>> HUH?: So young Iraqis are wealthy enough to buy Hummers like they’re Corollas…

>> “A black day for Pakistan cricket”: Seriously? Someone considers a cricket team a valid terrorist target?

>> Rush Limbaugh again calls for the failure of the stimulus package and other recent attempts to stave off economic apocalypse, because he “wants the country to survive.” Yeah, that makes sense.

>> Michael Vick’s old Sugarloaf mansion is up for auction. Check out photos of what you lose when you torment doggies.

Bookmark It

On Sunday, the AJC’s brand-new publisher, Doug Franklin, shed a little more light on upcoming changes to the newspaper’s print edition through an article addressed directly to readers. Most of the changes he mentioned were already anticipated, but he provided a few new details.

Here’s what Franklin says to expect:

• In mid-March, the Tuesday-Saturday Business section will merge with an expanded A section. The Sunday section will remain a stand-alone.

• The three Sunday feature sections (Living & Style, Arts & Leisure and Travel) will be combined into one.

• The current TVWeek supplement will be replaced with our own stand-alone, full-color TV section.

OK, I didn’t see the TV supplement coming, although I must admit I can’t be bothered to care. That aside, the other tweaks are fairly conservative first steps toward running a tighter ship. Even so, I’m assuming that a few jobs will be shaved simply by combining sections. With all due respect to the folks who now put together the AJC’s Sunday Living section, that thing’s been in dire need of an update longer than Mickey Rourke’s needed a comeback.

(more…)

Bookmark It

Rush disses Obama. Obama disses Rush. Gingrey disses Rush. Gingrey begs Rush for forgiveness.

Rep. Phil Gingrey

“I would be honored if the drive-by media headlined me all day long: ‘Limbaugh: I Hope Obama Fails.’ Somebody’s gotta say it.”

—    Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh on his Jan. 16 show

“You can’t just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done.”

—    Pres. Barack Obama to GOP leaders on Jan. 23

“It’s easy if you’re Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh … to stand back and throw bricks. You don’t have to try to do what’s best for your people and your party.”

—    U.S Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Marietta, as quoted in a Jan. 27 Politico.com article about criticism of Obama’s economic stimulus plan.

“I clearly ended up putting my foot in my mouth … and I just wanted to tell you, Rush, that I regret those stupid comments.”

—    Part of Gingrey’s lengthy apology on Limbaugh’s Jan. 28 radio show

Bookmark It

— Has there ever been a sillier television show than Real Housewives of Atlanta? Oh, let us kount count the ways. You can’t even call them “Buckhead Bettys” because none of them actually live in Atlanta proper. Local celebrity chef Richard Blais is keeping a blog on the show, that includes impressions on different restaurants the BBs visit, and he’s decided the show is missing one key ingredient: Drama. What? Isn’t Kim’s off-key singing, and her perpetual cigarette and glass of wine enough?

— It’s still political season in Georgia and, nationally, the right-wing conservatives are trying to regroup. DriftGrift has a thoughtful post on the battle between moderates and conservatives for the soul of the party. He also notes Rush Limbaugh’s quote that uber-conservatives want moderates to vote Republican but that “they can never be one of us.”

— And then there’s the Paul Brouns of the world. At Rather Than Working, Dave posts a letter he sent to the distinguished Congressman noting that there’s a big difference between objective opposition and just being plain stupid.

— The folks at Down Right were also taken aback by Broun, and say that comparing our president-elect to Hitler doesn’t accomplish very much. Instead, they write, let’s step back and assess how Obama handles all the burning issues he faces once he takes office.

— At Going Through The Motions, the lovely Sara also pleads for reconcilliation and partnership. And she’s also found a cool blog that tries to foster that spirit: From 52 to 48.

— And, finally, Muskrat shares the meaning behind Veterans Day, and what the little things meant to him when he was deployed to Iraq.

Bookmark It

Even worse than losing an election, the national Republican Party has lost its way. The party that worked so hard at dividing America with one cultural wedge issue after another now finds itself divided, split into two camps: those who realize they need to reform the party and those who don’t.

At this point, I’m hoping only the most blinkered partisan would deny in his or her heart that the GOP somehow ended up being the party of ignorance, fear and intolerance. At least, those have tended to be the tools that party strategists have used to rally the troops.

By ignorance, I mean the systematic attacks on book-learnin’, evolution and competence reflected in the personality cults surrounding Pres. Bush and Gov. Palin, and in the ridiculous war on “elites,” whatever that means. Fear-mongering – over terrorist attacks, Iran, etc. – was, of course, the Bush administration’s default position. And the intolerance shown against gays and immigrants is hardly in keeping with real American values.

In the waning days of the presidential race, David Frum and other Republican leaders and strategists acknowledged that their party was floundering and that the Rovian tactics of smear and knee-jerk social conservatism won’t work anymore.

(more…)

Bookmark It

— Jason Pye wonders why a member of Congress wants to spend $50 million over the next four years to study bed bugs. For that matter, so do we.

— Someone in the Atlanta TV news business is cynical, cynical, cynical. On the Live Apartment Fire blog (one of our faves, btw), a guest poster using the pseudonym of Race Bannon discourages young people from going into television news:

It will only take around five years before they become jaded and calcified experts on exploiting the survivors of ordinary fatalities, zooming in slowly to tear stricken faces and trembling hands. At the town murder de jour they learn to recognize family members who still don’t know their son or daughter was the one killed in the ever so recent lawlessness. They’ll roll their cameras early to get every frame of the coming implosion and emotional collapse. Yay!

— Former CNN anchor (and former Rush Limbaugh main squeeze) Daryn Kagan has a new favorite television series and we’re waiting with baited breath to find out what it is.

— The first television ad from the Clayton County sheriff’s race is ripe for the pickin’ on Peach Pundit.

— Can Obama take Georgia? A new Insider Advantage poll taken last week suggests he and McCain are almost in a dead heat. An interesting tidbit: 51 percent said they’d be more inclined to vote for Obama if he chooses Sam Nunn as his running mate.

— Georgia governor wannabe John Oxendine has so much money in campaign contributions, that he’s going to spread the wealth to every Republican House and Senate candidate who has Democratic opposition. Read Oxendine’s email on Tondee’s Tavern, and the speculation that maybe he’s trying to buy the goodwill of his fellow Republicans.

Bookmark It

After liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org ran a newspaper ad questioning the loyalty and patriotism of U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus, Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., voted for a House resolution condemning the group.

After conservative talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh referred to soldiers who oppose the Iraq war as “phony soldiers,” Kingston reacted quite differently.

“The left has long targeted conservative talk radio and in particular, Rush Limbaugh.”

— From “Jack’s Blog” on Kingston’s House of Representatives website

“Commending Rush Hudson Limbaugh III for his ongoing public support of American troops serving both here and abroad. Recognizing Mr. Limbaugh for his relentless efforts to build and maintain troop morale through worldwide radio broadcasts and personal visits to conflict regions.”

— From a House resolution supporting Limbaugh submitted by Kingston on Oct. 1

“He has a right to speak out and say what he thinks.”

— Kingston, defending Limbaugh in the New York Times

Bookmark It