Fresh Loaf

1. AJC buyout list official — 74 to leave (In addition to the dozens of veteran reporters who jumped ship, news of Pulitzer-winner Cynthia Tucker’s move to D.C. and food writer John Kessler’s brief departure from food-writing made it a very productive week for us pageview-hoarding wretches at Fresh Loaf.)

2. Atlanta Tea Party with Sean Hannity to feature ’shit sandwiches’ (It’s estimated that 10,000 people attended. Imagine the response had Hannity been offering roast beef!)

3. Bottoms up at Frolicon (That’s a lot of booty.)

4. Anti-tax protestors urged to, um, ride MARTA (Irony sandwich, anyone?)

5. CNN’s Anderson Cooper on why Republicans can’t find their voice (A  recap of last week wouldn’t have been complete without at least one teabagging reference. Phew.)

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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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)

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Tonight anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 people will converge upon the Georgia Capitol to shake their fists and dangle their rage-filled tea bags in protest over nanny-state, big-spending guvmint!

Notables expected to bask in the spotlight — or face possible jeers — include America’s Most Noble Human Sean Hannity, former U.S. Rep. Dick Armey of Texas, a country singer, and this guy who wants you to know about the dangers of the approaching digital TV signal conversion. State lawmakers include Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ranger, and Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers of Woodstock.

And it looks like the $25,000 fete will create confusion for motorists.

“The Tea Party at the Capitol combined with Braves traffic could possibly create a traffic nightmare,” said Paul Marshall, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.

Marshall advises using MARTA if going to either event, and he urged Braves fans traveling by car to take the Fulton Street exit off the Downtown Connector to avoid the area surrounding the Capitol, where he said the Hannity event “could draw thousands.”

Yes, MARTA, the same public transit system that many of the GOP honchos who are attending or contributing to tonight’s event kissed off during the legislative session.

If you do decide to drive to the protest on the metro region’s heavily subsidized road system, be prepared for gridlock. The AJC quotes Marshall as saying the worst traffic will be during rush hour and at approximately 11 p.m. CBS Atlanta has a list of road closures. Central Atlanta Progress and the Georgia Building Authority have maps of nearby parking lots.

MARTA, however, will be your best bet. Check out Citizens for Progressive Transit’s A-TRAIN trip planner for the best route to and from public transportation.

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How’s that for a headline, eh?

Tomorrow night at the Capitol, thousands of people will gather as part of the Atlanta Tea Party, one of more than 500 scheduled on Tax Day. There, outside one of the most beautiful and useless buildings in the state, the crowd will complain about something that’s been going on for years — gross misuse of taxpayer dollars and business-as-usual politics. Emceeing this affair will be Sean Hannity, Fox News’ angriest white man.

Turns out Hannity and some of the various dignitaries who’ve signed on for the event might not get the warmest of welcomes. A tipster tells us that some members of the state Libertarian Party — have they gone rogue?!? — have printed more than 600 signs that scold the talk show host and politicians for turning their heads during Bush-era bank bailouts and excessive spending. (Even if you disagree with their policies, Libertarians have an incredible sense of humor. The Allen Buckley radio ads during the U.S. Senate race gave that grueling contest a much-needed jolt of excitement.)

(UPDATE: Just spoke with Daniel Adams, chairman of the Libertarian Party of Georgia. He wanted to stress that these signs were made by individual party members and not endorsed or approved by the party. Adams says the state party is co-sponsoring Atlanta’s April 15 protest to show support for the grassroots movement that’s organized these events. He says the website listed on the signs is a mirrored site belonging to the national party, not that of the state’s.)

The aforementioned tipster was kind enough to pass along PDFs of the signs, which I’ve posted after the jump. You can download them all here. Print ‘em out and join the crowd! It’ll be fun!
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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

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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.

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— The polls show we may actually have a race on our hands for Georgia’s Senate seat. There was a debate last night down in Perry and DriftGrift was on the scene. His account is more poetic than reportage, but the headline — Clouds and Clods — gives you a hint.

— Some conservatives get it, argues ATLmalcontent. But others do little more than mouth the agenda offered by the Sean Hannitys of the world. And why is Johnny Mac following the lead of pundits who, just a few months ago, were leading the charge against his nomination? Has J-Mac sold his soul?

— And the conservatives who do get it? Jason Pye contends they are turning away from the dynamic duo. Federal bail-outs equate to socialism and, Pye says, that puts Johnny Mac to the left of his opponent.

— At Politits, Dcup talks back to the mainstream media after she heard a CNBC anchor say that people aren’t shopping these days because they’re scared of the economy. Well, not quite, Dcup answers. They’re not shopping as much because they don’t have money. She’s also worried about the anger that Johnny Mac and Caribou Barbie are whipping up on the campaign trail.

— And Amy at Georgia Women Vote smells a Republican conspiracy. Why else would Karen Handel send 2 million names to the social security administration to check their identity? Funny how the states who also sent in huge lists of names happen to be … wow, what a coincidence … swing states. Ah for the good ol’ days when the voter rolls allowed you to vote from the grave.

— And, finally, on the personal political front — men and women, that is — Amber Rhea has some tips for the male species on showing a little respect.

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(Photo by Joeff Davis)

Influential talk-radio host Neal Boortz was shocked this morning — shocked, I tell you —as he blasted Barack Obama for failing to wear an American flag lapel pin in Iowa campaigning.

“Barack Obama will no longer wear a flag on his lapel because he says it is a symbol of supporting the war in Iraq,” Boortz said, in the midst of his incredulity and outrage over Obama’s near-treasonous wardrobe admission.

Never mind that Obama never actually said the lapel omission had anything to do with Iraq. Or that it’s pitiful to try to turn lapel flags into a litmus test for presidential candidates. Surely, I thought, Boortz must brandish the flag on his chest wherever he goes out in public! Then, Andisheh pointed out that Boortz (left) didn’t appear to be wearing a flag at an event CL photographer Joeff Davis shot last week. Neither did the ever-patriotic Newt Gingrich (center). Nor überpatriot Sean Hannity. Strange. Perhaps, they were wearing patriotic underwear.

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What do you call an American who supports terrorists and sells sophisticated weapons to the mullahs who run the anti-American regime in Iran?

Why, you call that person a headliner at Sean Hannity’s “Freedom Concert” scheduled for July 10 at the Arena at Gwinnett Center. And the headliner’s name is, of course, Oliver North, who befouled the uniform of a Marine Corps officer by committing treasonous acts that became known as the Iran-Contra Affair.

Violating a law called the Boland Amendment, North was the point man in constructing the scheme that sold arms to Iran and funneled the money to Ronald Reagan’s pet terrorists, the Nicaraguan Contras. Those fellows, as detailed by investigative author Gary Webb, also raised money by selling cocaine on the streets of Los Angeles. North himself was well aware of the Contras’ – and possibly federal agents’ – drug dealing or complicity in drug dealing. North’s handwritten notes about funding the Contras from July 12, 1985, state: “$14M [million] to finance came from drugs.” Two DEA agents later said that in 1985 North had wanted to take $1.5 million in Medellin Cartel bribe money that was carried by a DEA informant and give it to the Contras. North was convicted on three felony counts – but like many lawbreakers avoided justice because of a convoluted technicality, that he had been immunized in testimony to Congress.

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