Here is a wonderfully cogent tear down of this fishy smelling "case" by an anthrax expert:

http://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/2008/08/beyond-reasonable-doubt.html

via GG at Salon.

Posted at August 7, 2008 2:39 PM in response to Anthrax Scientist's Emails Suggest Paranoia, Mental Problems

His campaign issued a written statement to that effect. Not sure whether his campaign speaks for him or he speaks for himself today. The mixed message may be something new at the moment.

Posted at August 7, 2008 1:21 PM in response to McCain Mocks Obama's Accurate Claim About Tire Pressure

Reagan needed "Mommy" to help him along when he was befuddled.
Considering how difficult it was for McCain to spit out his crowd pleasing "Tired of paying $4.00 a...gallon" for the bikers in the Dakotas, he needs some assistance. (For a moment in his splutter, I almost thought he was going to blurt out $4.00 for soap...)
This marble mouthed stuff is why it was necessary to drop the "rawther win a campaign than a war" line about Obama. He could hardly slap it out.

Posted at August 7, 2008 1:18 PM in response to McCain Mocks Obama's Accurate Claim About Tire Pressure

McCain doesn't dig holes, he drills them.

Posted at August 7, 2008 1:12 PM in response to McCain Mocks Obama's Accurate Claim About Tire Pressure

I look up four digit zip extensions on my computer. Is it possible that Ivins had such wizardry at his command, too?

Posted at August 7, 2008 1:10 PM in response to Anthrax Scientist's Emails Suggest Paranoia, Mental Problems

Would anybody else like to see the redacted stuff? I would.
Also, I 'd be interested in the hundreds of thousands of other e-mails the guy sent during the same stretch of time.
If this isn't cherry picked malarky, how did they allow Ivins to continue at the facility?
Not that I think that the crowd in Washington who hoodwinked us into the bloody romp in Iraq would continue to behave according to pattern or anything...
Another puzzlement; if this is how squirrelly things get when the spotlight is on a "suspect" how lovely the mess collected on all U.S. citizens in the wiretapping dragnet must be. Gee, they are really the people to carry this ball aren't they?

Posted at August 7, 2008 11:41 AM in response to Anthrax Scientist's Emails Suggest Paranoia, Mental Problems

Absolutely gut wrenchingly pathetic. I can't believe I've lived long enough to see the U.S. operate it's own personal gulag. This was the boogeyman stuff used to scare us all last mid century. It was used to illustrate authoritarian commie behavior and (supposedly) make us want to be dead rather than red.

Posted at August 6, 2008 12:17 PM in response to BREAKING: Hamdan Convicted

I don't want to knock KO too much, but he does put himself on a bit of a pedestal with his "Good night and good luck" close. It rankled the first time I heard it; and yes he is ostensibly self-effacing about not being up to ERM's standard. At best, he delivers a mixed message with the sign off, though.
I remember KO from his early days in the L.A. market. This is a guy who has remade his image from a kind of arrogant dorky nerd (I wish I had his headshot from back then - weird hair, glasses askew -). He worked hard to present the package now delivered. There's more than a little ego rolling out of this guy and well considered contrivance for career advancement.
That said, he could've clobbered Milbank for being a jerk but I don't think it was only "class" that prevented him from doing so. His restraint was politic.
And I'll still catch "Countdown" whenever I can.

Posted at August 5, 2008 4:41 PM in response to Olbermann on Milbank

If Suskind's new book is to be believed, and I think it should be, this crew in the White House had no qualms about such a set-up as this squirrely business with the anthrax implies. It's no different than arranging for forged letters to conflate the "reasons" for invading Iraq. It's one among the many things in the mountain of (at worst) circumstantial evidence that suggests that Cheney had an agenda to run and come hell or high water, it was going to happen.
With regard to Watergate (Cheney was part of the administration then, too, and Rumsfeld, and Rove was part of CREEP...), the Dick had no issue with the crimes or the cover-ups, only that a wall had not been built for "plausible deniability" by the president. It was not an ethical problem he had with it, only a logistical one. He wanted nobody to be held accountable, that's all.
It isn't hard to figure out that this all fits the profile of diabolical schemers who are prepared to run their agendas over dead bodies if that's what it takes. As long as they aren't playing the part of the cadavers, so what?, as a famous politician recently said.

Posted at August 5, 2008 4:15 PM in response to DOJ Plans To Close Anthrax Probe As Questions, Critics Mount

"Age seems to be a factor here, with the internals showing Obama ahead 48%-46% among votes under the age of 50, but McCain ahead 53%-41% among voters over 50."

The old school wheelchair crowd seems to be in the bag for McCain, then? Oh, the sky is falling...

Posted at August 4, 2008 7:05 PM in response to Poll: McCain Ahead In Florida