No matter what Rush and Sean and O'Reilly tell you, the "Liberal Media" is simply a lie they would like you to believe to benefit their own cause. The NY Times --- the paper of record which sets the agenda for the rest of the world's papers --- admitted earlier this week how they were a sycophantic tool for the Bush Administration's propoganda to help trick America into believing we should go to war with Iraq.

And now CNN proves again how it too is a mouth-piece for Administration Propoganda. Courtesy of Atrios:

So late last night / early this morning, while listening to Air America, I was alerted to a web poll being run over on Hannity.com asking "Who should be President of the United States?"

I stopped by, voiced my opinion, and saw that the results of the unscientific web poll to that point --- with some 11,000+ votes cast --- was about 65% Kerry, 33% Bush, 2% Nader.

This morning when I woke up, I checked it again. It was then at 75% Kerry, 22% Bush, 3% Nader.

Checked back about 20 minutes later to find that "This poll has been disabled."

So presumably, there's a kink in the well-oiled GOP Media Spin Machine. Was the poll taken down because it was soiled after Air America alerted listeners to it's existance? Presumably, Hannity either did, or would have told his 10 million or so (largely Republican) listeners to stop by and vote on his web poll and then reported the Fair and Balanced results later on his show.

Yet the "inconsequential", "failing", "nobody listens to it" Air America informs it's American listeners about the poll which resulted in numbers --- I guess --- that Sean didn't care for. So the poll comes down.

It's a rather small point, nothing as outrageous as repeatedly playing the uncut audio of an American screaming in horrific agony as his head is sawed off "live" on the air (as I reported in "Sean Hannity: American Shame") but it does serve to illustrate the desperate and deceptive Anti-American nature of the #2 GOP Spokesperson who is given free reign on the Public Airwaves coast-to-coast across the nation.

Perhaps it's time for another look at the FCC's "Equal Time Rule" which is seemingly now wholly ignored as it applies to the political propoganda being shovelled out under the guise of "entertainment" on America's Public Airwaves. I'm not holding my breath.

UPDATE: After listening to the first two and a half hours of Hannity's show today, he has not made one mention of his aborted poll. Down the memory hole, I guess...

In case you still wonder how anybody could suspect the Bush Administration of being less than honest...I mean, enormous liars...Take a look at this snippet from the press briefing aboard Airforce One on the afternoon of September 11, 2001:

Remind me again why we should believe them about anything at this point? And isn't that lack of credibility alone --- both here and worldwide --- reason enough to remove them from office immediately? How effective can they be when nobody in the world trusts them? And they said nobody trusted Clinton?!

(Thanks to ProudLiberals.com for the find!)

Remember when Dubya was arguing for those Tax Cuts during the 2000 election because the economy was so good that "folks deserved some of their money back"? (He stated during the debates that he refused to believe there would be a downturn in the economy - It's the judgement, Stupid!...but I digress before I've even begun)...And then after he was "elected' and the economy went south he again argued for Tax Cuts this time because they were needed to jumpstart the slumping economy.

That's the GOP Win-Win Spin-Spin. Same set of plans no matter what the circumstances. Just find any appropriate justification for what you wanted to do in the first place.

It's ideology in place of reality. Only the policy matters. Not the reasons for them. They want what they want, and it has nothing to do with you or me, or the "problem" they claim to be trying to solve.

Such reckless behavior is, of course, at work in Iraq where the plan moves ahead and the people who implemented them stay in place no matter how different circumstances on the ground may be from what they actually assumed to begin with. The architects of the plan stay in place no matter the results. Full steam ahead. Critics are just unpatriotic or partisan or insane (Gore enjoyed that honor this week) or otherwise enemies of the state or freedom or whatever the GOP Attacking Point of the Week is.

And now let's bring it back home.

If you're having trouble following along (and I know there are a lot of Rightwingers who follow this blog) I'll type slowly, so pay attention:

I'm certain you've heard by now what a terrific job George W. Bush is doing to fight Terrorism because "there have been no terrorist attacks on American soil since 9/11" (never mind the anthrax thing, we don't know who did it, so it doesn't count or something I guess, and there I go digressing again). I'm sure you've either hard someone selling you the line, or in the case of the Rightwingers, you've likely tried to sell it yourself on numerous occasions.

So George W. Bush is The Man for Us because he's kept the "homeland" safe from Terror. Okay, keep following...

Yesterday Ashcroft (apparently unbeknownst to Ridge, but let's not digress yet again) announced the latest Terror Threat that is supposed to scare the crap out of us!!!! He told us an attack is coming --- "90% ready" in fact --- and we should get prepared for it or look out for it or whatever the hell we're supposed to do about it.

Now, should this "spectacular attack" occur prior to the Elections, does anybody --- on any side of the political fence --- think for a second that such an attack wouldn't be the newest reason for why "we need to re-elect George W. Bush as President"? He will, no doubt, be then spun as "the tough man we need in these difficult times in wake of this horrible attack."

Got it?

He deserves to be re-elected because we haven't had an attack since 9/11. Unless we get attacked again. In which case, he deserves to be re-elected because we need him to keep us safe.

The GOP Win-Win Spin-Spin! Brought to you by the Freedom Loving GOP! A solution for every problem! It's simple, because it's the same solution for every problem!

It's easier to keep things straight that way anyway. And frankly, given the folks left that could possible think George W. Bush deserves re-election at this point, they better keep things nice and simple, Stupid.

Not enough SEX on this blog! So while I've been too busy of late to do as much blogging as I'd like, go read WaPo's article about a Blogging/Sex scandal in DC.

Then go read the actual DC Sex Blog!

Hopefully you'll be nice and relaxed by the time you get back, and I'll be back in the game with a bit more time...

It's particularly frustrating since there is so much to blog about at this very moment! It's almost impossible to keep up!...

...Just to name a few. Oh, well. Can't save the world all in one day. Go read and enjoy...

More from the "Whoda Thunk It?" department...this time courtesy of today's lead story from my new favorite Rightwing rag, the inimitable World Net Daily:

And the Understatement-of-the-Year Award goes to...(drumroll)...Ibrahim Hooper of the controversial Council on American-Islamic Relations!

Congratulations Ibraham, please don't forget to have your cavities searched on the way out.

At this point, apparently, the Bushies are unable to tell the truth about anything it would seem.

Courtesy of Kos:

From the "Whoda Thunk It?" File...Courtesy of Reuters:

If only anybody would have thought of that before we went into Iraq! D'oh!

From the LA Times:

Here's just a few (but not all) of the descriptions in the full article about the deaths being investigated. Not just at Abu Ghraib, and not just in Iraq:

None of that, of course, includes the 11,000 Iraqi Civilians and 5600 Iraqi Military that we were apparently justified in killing.

Meanwhile, on the radio, Sean Hannity continues to remind us (as I write) that none of the prisoners who died during detention had their head or hands cut off. So what's all the fuss about?!