coincidence

Oh this is really good.

As you probably recall, many Republicans and conservatives who surely knew better got carried away with outrage when the Daily Caller published its thorougly bogus series of hit pieces alleging that Journolist represented some kind of shadowy liberal conspiracy to undermine our journalistic insitutions from within for the good of the Democratic Party.

So it's pretty funny to see that Daily Caller has now turned its indefatigable investigative reporters loose on Eric Cantor and the National Review.

Last week, the Daily Caller alleged that according to two "high level Republican sources," that much-discussed National Review editorial hailing the boldness of the GOP Pledge to America had been "prearranged" with senior GOP aides. The National Review is adamantly denying the claim. But Daily Caller editor Tucker Carlson is now doubling down:

Not so fast. In addition to the two trusted sources who spoke on background to Ward, we have evidence that there was in fact coordination between National Review and Congressman Cantor's office. We know that GOP leadership aides were aware of, and excited by, National Review's editorial before it was published. We know that the piece was posted online just minutes prior to the start of the Wednesday evening caucus meeting, yet somehow aides were ready with copies to pass out to members. A coincidence? Please.

Nothing like a little infighting to ring in the election season!

The dipshit of Minnesota is back in the news. Here’s the one and only Michele Bachmann:

BACHMANN: I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out then under Democrat President Jimmy Carter. And I'm not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it is an interesting coincidence.

But as Think Progress points out, that outbreak in the 70’s happened in February of 1976, when Republican Gerald Ford was President.

Bachmann is trying to turn this possible pandemic into a political game with totally wrong facts. That’s what happens when she tries to play with the big kids.

The "God Hates Fags" idiots of Westboro Church, lead by Fred Phelps, had thousands of dollars in damage caused by a fire this weekend:

Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, known for its vocal condemnations of homosexuality, website GodHatesFags.com and picketing of gay pride parades and funerals, has sustained thousands of dollars in damage after a fire early Saturday morning. Impromptu protest followed as firefighters carried out their response.

"None of what they do is going to stop us from delivering our message," said church counsel Shirley Phelps-Roper of any "cowards" that would have set the fire on purpose, also saying that it was the "most aggressive act" towards the Phelps family to date.

Couldn't happen to nicer people, but look at this item from April:

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett placed a lien on the properties of the church and its founder, Fred W. Phelps Sr., and ordered two of Phelps’ daughters to post cash bonds of $125,000 and $100,000 within 30 days.

Bennett also placed a lien on a $232,900 office building owned by Phelps and his wife that the family law firm uses. The liens mean that no new mortgages can be taken out on the properties, and no money can be borrowed against the equity in them. Bennett noted that it would require “extraordinary circumstances” for the church to avoid posting a portion of the judgment.

I hope fire investigators are looking at this very closely. Phelps is already blaming gays and judges for the fire.

When it looks like these missing emails may have altered other investigations then it is time for a criminal probe into it:

Apparent gaps in White House e-mail archives coincide with dates in late 2003 and early 2004 when the administration was struggling to deal with the CIA leak investigation and the possibility of a congressional probe into Iraq intelligence failures.

Here is where the Plame case may come into play in this:

Among the times for which e-mail may not have been archived from Vice President Dick Cheney's office are four days in early October 2003, just as a federal probe was beginning into the leak of Valerie Plame's CIA identity, an inquiry that eventually ensnared Cheney's chief of staff.

Pretty convenient that emails would happen to be missing from those four days, and Melanie Sloan seems to concur:

If you first read the cover story that appears on the November 14 issue of
Forbes magazine you may think its just a typical article from a publication
that caters to the business community. Further reading into it reveals something
even more disturbing to people like me and other bloggers out there.

The article attacks bloggers around the country. It focuses on some of the
isolated incidents where blogs were used to attack companies or individuals.
Some of the attacks have actually been based on fact and there are some that are
based on lies.

One of the key victims of this attack is Google who hosts the very service
this blog is on.

But even the Constitution doesn't give a citizen the right to unjustly
call his neighbor a child molester. Google and the like argue they bear no
more responsibility for content than a phone company does for slander over
its wires. But Google's blog business looks less like a phone company and
more like a mix of reality TV and an online magazine. Bloggers provide the
fare, and Google maintains it for them free of charge, sometimes selling
ads.