"Do As I Say (Not as I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy"

That's the title of Hoover Institution fellow Peter Schwezer's most recent book (according to his Hoover bio).

Interesting, then, to read this post at ThinkProgress.

Not that there isn't a distinction between hypocricy and indifference to factual accuracy. There is. But it's too bad that Mr. Schweizer lobs charges on the former using the cloak of the latter.

An Ill Wind Blows for the Good Doctor

The announcement likely today that Bill Frist won't run for President is some evidence that Frist may be more aware of reality than was apparent. Frist's slow, grinding, public descent into POTUS-possibility irrelevance was the mirror image of George Allen's shockingly fast fall from possible frontrunner to Senator-un-elect.

Watching Frist, all I could think was, does this guy really think he has a shot at the nomination? Any dumbfool can see he doesn't have a chance -- his woodenness makes you think Al Gore got it from something in the Tennessee water, and why would the religious right support Frist when they'll have so actual true-believers available (even with Allen and frothy Santorum gone, think Brownback, and so on). Yet off he would go to the Senate floor, day-after-other-day, to do their bidding. He did stand up on the bill to provide federal financing of embryonic stem-cell research, but that was the exception that so glaringly proved the rule.

For me, the twin confirmations of Frist's venal 2008-oriented self-sale to the religious right were

• the spectacle of this highly trained surgeon refusing, in a televised interview with George Stephanopoulos, to debunk the claim that AIDS can be spread via sweat and tears, and, of course
  
  
• his preposterous diagnosis-by-videotape of a neurology patient (imagine a neurologist performing a heart transplant!) in the service of enacting a federal law to force judicial intervention in a family-law dispute.

Dr. Frist, indeed.

The Shark Jumps Itself

I really can't add anything to the basic statement of facts over at TPM.

This From the Guy Who Fretted Over Serbian Sovereignty

Well, we may have gotten a new Congress without DeLay, but damn, things are going to be interesting to watch.

In the Immortal Words of Tenacious D...

FUCK, YEAH!

With thanks to Jack Black .

Update: Pardon my French. I got a little excited there.

Mark Halperin Responds. Really.

WELCOME TALKINGPOINTSMEMO.COM READERS! WE HOPE YOU'LL HAVE A LOOK AROUND http://cardcarryingmember.blogspot.com. AND IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING THAT spacegirl AND I ENDORSE YOUR STATE'S /DISTRICT'S DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE! (And: Thanks to Josh Marshall for the link!)

Atrios and Josh Marshall both have posts describing the apparent unwillingness of the national political media to cover the deliberately deceptive and harassing phone calls being made by GOP-funded groups. Probably the most ire-attracting target is Mark Halperin, ABC's political news director, who recently went on Hugh Hewitt's radio show and, to be polite about it, treated HH and the right the way a male prostitute treats Ted Haggard.

Curious to see if Josh and Duncan were right, I went to http://abcnews.com and did a quick search of their politics coverage to see what if anything I could find about the harassing and deceptive calls. Couldn't find anything.

So, I thought I'd call Mark Halperin's office to ask him about all this. I went to Google Maps, clicked "Find Businesses", and entered "20009" for the zip and "ABC News" for the business. Here's a shortcut to the resulting page.

So, I called (202) 222-7777 and asked for the office of Mark Halperin. I was transferred to his voicemail.

About 2 minutes later, he returned my call (perhaps because I have a DC-area cell number). It's kind of amusing in this day and age to answer your phone and hear "This is Mark Halperin".

So, I said something like this:

Hi Mr. Halperin, I'm an ABC viewer, and I'm concerned that you're not covering the Republicans' harassing phone-call strategy.

Halperin replied, very pleasantly if rushed, something like this:

No, we're covering it. It's all over ABC radio and TV---the largest political radio network. It's going to be all over the place.

Thinking that perhaps he was talking about they-all-do-it coverage of robocalls in general, rather than the GOP deceive-and-harass variety, I said something like

I'm talking about the ones where they call and deceive the person who picks up into...

He cut me off---though in a polite tone---and said

I know what you're talking about. That's what we're covering.

Puzzled, I said

Well, that's strange, because I didn't see anything about it on abcnews.com.

And he replied something to the effect of

It's not on the website yet, but it will be.

And I said something like

Well, thanks very much. I'm glad to hear you're covering it. I'll be looking for that coverage.

And he said

You're welcome sir, have a nice night.

So how about that.

If it turns out he was telling the truth, I'll be pleased to hear it and to credit him and ABC (if only for doing the job they *should* be doiong).

If not, I'll be posting communications information about how you can really screw up Mark Halperin's election eve and day.

Update: As of 5:16pm, http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/ is running a no-link banner that reads

BREAKING NEWS DEMOCRATS SEND CEASE-AND-DESIST LETTER TO REPUBLICAN CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE OVER AUTOMATED PHONE CALLS TO VOTERS.

Let's hope they really cover this issue.

Second Update: abcnews.com now has a story on the Dems' letter.

More on the GOP Dirty Tricks Campaign

At least one commentator is suggesting that "what happened in New Hampshire is perfectly legal." Perhaps. As I wrote, I don't know the law here.

On the substance, though: One thing that drives me nuts about Dem responses to the various GOP outrages is that the Dems wind up sounding like a bunch of whiners -- confirming the weak-Democrats stereotype that the GOP finds so useful.

I wish that on-camera Dems would stop simply being outraged and start hitting back.

For example: why not put up an ad (and if it's too late for that, hold a press conference) in which Dem staffers announce the home and cell numbers of Ken Mehlman and other RNC and NRCC folks. Just as good, announce the home and cell numbers of the GOP candidates the NRCC is trying to help. Actually, don't stop there: announce the home and cell numbers of their families, too. And maybe their friends. That way, people receiving these early-morning, repeat robocalls can call the perps and their beneficiaries to complain. I bet the local and national media would cover that story.

They're All The Same

Or are they?

Next time someone tells you that Dems and Republicans are comparably bad, don't point out the 2002 New Hampshire phone-jamming scandal.

Nah. That's old news.

Just ask them what the Dems have done in recent memory that compares to this garbage.

These people don't believe in democracy or representative government. The only thing they understand or believe in is power. I hope that people receiving these calls will file an FCC complaint for every harassing, fraudulent call they receive. I don't know the law here, but I wonder whether conspiring to use telephone lines to harass and deceive subscribers is not just a civil but also a criminal offense.

I also hope that local news stations --- the ones that Bush-Cheney like to use to try to duck the national media --- will inform their audiences that those calls they're getting between 5-6am are coming from GOP groups, for the purposes of deceiving them.

Enough already.