Valentine's Day fun

The Texas soufflé

Here's a very interesting article from The Progressive Southerner

...Referred to as George Bush, Jr. by newspapers in those days, sources say he also tended to show up late every day, around noon or one, at Blount's campaign headquarters in Montgomery. They say Bush would prop his cowboy boots on a desk and brag about how much he drank the night before.

(snip)

Many of those who came into close contact with Bush say he liked to drink beer and Jim Beam whiskey, and to eat fist-fulls of peanuts, and Executive burgers, at the Cloverdale Grill. They also say he liked to sneak out back for a joint of marijuana or into the head for a line of cocaine.

(snip)

Bush also made an impression on the "Blue-Haired Platoon," a group of older Republican Women working for Blount. Behind his back they called him "the Texas soufflé," Archibald said, because he was "all puffed up and full of hot air."

(snip)

Two books now contain the charge that Bush was arrested for possession of cocaine in 1972 in Texas, most likely in late November or December after his stint in Alabama. Bush was allowed to perform community service in 1973 by working for a minority children's program in Houston, Professionals United for Leadership League (PULL), chaired by his father. The record of that arrest was expunged, meaning he apparently received the equivalent of Youthful Offender status at the age of 26.

Not only does this article touch on Bush's questionable stint in the Texas National Guard, his cocaine use and heavy drinking, it includes cameo appearances by Osama bin Laden, Lee Atwater, Karl Rove AND mentions that Tom Blount, (son of Winton "Red" Blount, whose campaign Bush was working on) "co-produced and underwrote a telling movie called The Trip, set in the period from 1973 to the early 1980s, about a young gay Texan and his conservative Republican lover."

Just go read it.

Just when you thought it was safe to work in the US

Five suburban teenagers lured two immigrant day laborers by promising them jobs, then beat the men with pipes, sticks and fists and stole their money, authorities said.

The teens spent the money, about $570, at restaurants and stores, said Jeff Lance, assistant police chief in Canton, about 35 miles northeast of Atlanta.

``It was just taking advantage of the weak -- the big kid on the block syndrome,'' Lance said Thursday. ``It appears it was for run-around money.''

The suspects are white and the victims Hispanic, but Lance said the attacks were not considered hate crimes.

Okay, strictly speaking it might not be a hate crime. But you'd have to be pretty naive not to believe that the fact that the workers were Hispanic had nothing to do with it.

Not so funny when it's you

Like most of us David Brooks doesn’t have the talent to write a really good column which is of course why he wrote this one. But if he were an actual writer—and not merely the heir-apparent to a swiftly tilting William Safire—I’m sure this is the column he would have written.

David Brooks: I know this column is crap. I know my career, my party, and possibly my whole sense of self are made up rationalizations, half-truths, and fanciful red state/blue state binaries. Do you think I wanted it this way? Do you think I don’t see my sanity going the way of Bush’s public support?

But you see I am a war columnist, and being a war columnist means forgoing thoughtful interesting writing in favor of cribbing the cast off notes of Peggy Noonan.

I look at my fellow columnists Krugman and Herbert. They seem to think that the job of a columnist during wartime is to remain firmly rooted in reality.

But they should understand that for me reality is complicated and unpleasant nothing is as important to me as escaping it.

I know I could be fired. I don’t know who reads me or even care. But I do know that all will be right with the world if Bush is reelected.

More on the People's Gas--Enron probe

llinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan has subpoenaed Peoples Gas for information about dealings with its parent company's joint venture with Enron Corp., the utility said in a filing Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Hmm. Maybe this will actually go somewhere.

Kudos to O’Reilly for taking baby steps into reality.

Bill O'Reilly has finally conceded the race to Hillary Rodham Clinton.

For weeks the Fox News star has been pushing the notion that his book ("Who's Looking Out for You?") would outsell the New York senator's book ("Living History"). But bulk buying, he declared, would not count, because "the Democratic National Committee has bought a ton of her books and gives them away for contributions."

After an e-mail exchange with DNC spokesman Tony Welch, O'Reilly last week acknowledged that the organization has not yet bought any Clinton books, though it plans some promotional giveaways.

"It was just for sport," O'Reilly says. "We wanted to see if we could beat her. Everyone loves a horse race."

Says Welch: "It was a silly attack that he tried to get some juice from. On this one he was wrong -- the numbers indicated which book people liked best."

O'Reilly told viewers that Clinton's book had outsold his, 1.1 million to 800,000. Actually, says Robert Barnett, Clinton's lawyer, "Living History" has sold 1.5 million copies and, he disclosed, an additional 1.2 million overseas. He also praised O'Reilly's 800,000 in sales -- the commentator's third No. 1 bestseller -- as "a fantastic accomplishment."

O'Reilly calls himself "the dumbest guy in town" for not realizing how books can be promoted onto bestseller lists and says he believes Clinton's political committees bought a large batch of hers (only 1,200, says Barnett, and those aren't included in retail sales figures). But he has wised up: Billoreilly.com has sold 25,000 books purchased from Barnes & Noble.

Shorter Meet The Press with George W. Bush:

Tim Russert: Mr. President this is what your critics are saying and here is the evidence to back to them up. How do you respond?

Pres. Deer-caught-in-headlights: Well Tim, they're just wrong. Everybody else is wrong and I'm right, and Jesus Christ an hour's an awfully long time. Karl, save me!