Beauty VS the Beast

Last night, Rachel Maddow defended recent guest Bill Nye “The Science Guy” after recent criticism from Glenn Beck.

The Fox News host took issue with Nye’s saying that people who question climate change because of the blizzard in Washington are “almost unpatriotic” and “denying science.” Maddow, in a segment, ran through what she/Nye/Beck said on this issue over the past few days, before closing with a shot back.

I commend Mr. Beck for his success. I wish his giant audience all the best. He has made a lot of people very afraid about a lot of things. And that tried-and-true strategy has reaped big financial reward for him and for Fox News.

I think it’s between you and your God or you and your conscience as to how much you’re willing to stir up Americans’ fear and prejudice for profit. But it’s between you and me when you accuse me of lying. I didn’t lie. Back off.

Posted by Michael Calderone

Maddow defends Nye; tells Beck to ‘back off’ – Michael Calderone – POLITICO.com.

Fox Poll

Ha ha, well, this will surprise exactly no one, but: LARFS!!! Your most trusted news source in America, Fox News, has conducted a very important science-based poll regarding what should be done with captured Taliban news leader Mullah Baradar, and the respondents to this poll have opinions! They also have ideas that are either very creative or cribbed from the spec script for Saw XVIII! Let’s see what demonic torture tricks could be deployed by supersecret CIA contractors (Jack Bauer) in an underground Polish bunker, if only President Obama had the nads to authorize them.

• Knowing Obama, he’ll give a “RIGHTS” to these terrioist.
• Once interogated for 3months he should be taken to new york city and have his head chopped off on telivision as a message to them that we have the nads to do as they do when forced into defending our rights to exist, this i know most think causes them to mistreat our military but they mistreat them anyways so show some nads and let them know their heads can roll too. oohrah semper fi

Read more at Wonkette: http://wonkette.com/413738/fox-readers-have-the-nads-to-deal-with-mullah-baradar#more-413738#ixzz0fp1j9rLS

The Palin Compound

Without leaving home, Sarah Palin will be able to reach much of her political base, courtesy of a soon-to-be-built television studio in her living room paid for by her newest media patron, Fox News. From her house in Wasilla, Alaska, Ms. Palin also sends missives to 1.3 million Facebook “fans,” writes newspaper columns, Tweets and signs copies of her book for donors.

She reads daily e-mail briefings on domestic and foreign policy from a small group of advisers who remained loyal after her tumultuous vice presidential campaign in 2008. And though she has fashioned an image as an antiestablishment conservative, she also speaks regularly to a bipartisan nobility of Washington insiders who have helped enrich her financially and position her on the national political stage.

Ms. Palin is becoming increasingly vocal and visible, with a series of events scheduled this weekend: delivering a paid speech to the Salina, Kan., Chamber of Commerce on Friday night, headlining a national Tea Party convention in Nashville on Saturday and appearing on behalf of the re-election campaign of Gov. Rick Perry of Texas in Houston on Sunday.

This latest foray “Outside” (Alaskan slang for the rest of the country) culminates a week in which she achieved a typical run of multimedia ubiquity from Wasilla: She e-mailed a high-profile endorsement of Dr. Rand Paul in a Republican Senate primary in Kentucky. She called — via Facebook — for the resignation of the White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, for using the term “retarded,” and announced — via a column in USA Today — that she would attend a Tea Party gathering next month in Searchlight, Nev., the hometown of the Senate Democratic leader, Harry Reid.

Her growing cast of advisers and support system could be working in the service of any number of goals: a presidential run, a de facto role as the leader of the Tea Party movement, a lucrative career as a roving media entity — or all of the above. Ms. Palin represents a new breed of unelected public figure operating in an environment in which politics, news media and celebrity are fused as never before. Whether she ever runs for anything else, Ms. Palin has already achieved a status that has become an end in itself: access to an electronic bully pulpit, a staff to guide her, an enormous income and none of the bother or accountability of having to govern or campaign for office.

“Few public figures not in office have leveraged the nexus between media and political positioning as Sarah Palin has,” said the Washington lawyer Robert Barnett (who negotiated, among other things, Ms. Palin’s lucrative deal with Fox News, an arrangement with the Washington Speaker’s Bureau that pays her a reported $100,000 a pop, and a deal with Harper Collins to write her memoir, “Going Rogue,” which has already earned her upward of eight figures).

Beyond what her Fox-watchers and Facebookers can see, Ms. Palin is quietly assembling the infrastructure of an expanding political operation. In addition to her longtime spokeswoman, Meghan Stapleton, Ms. Palin’s closest aides include members of her former running mate’s staff. Her current operations chief, Jason Recher, was a loyal lieutenant on Ms. Palin’s campaign plane — loyal to a point where some top McCain aides believed he was encouraging Ms. Palin’s “rogue” behavior. (According to internal campaign e-mail messages provided by a former top McCain aide, campaign officials considered firing Mr. Recher in October 2008 over “unacceptable” and “unprofessional” conduct during a rough swing through New Hampshire and Maine.)

“I wouldn’t exactly call it a badge of honor to be thought of negatively by some of these people,” Mr. Recher said. “But the bottom line is, I was incredibly proud to serve John McCain, and I couldn’t be happier to be part of Sarah Palin’s world now.”

Ms. Palin has also enlisted a small team of policy counselors to guide her through the substantive areas in which many deemed her to be lacking in 2008. Randy Scheunemann, a foreign policy adviser to Mr. McCain who also clashed with the campaign leadership, got $30,000 from Ms. Palin’s PAC in the second half of 2009. He helped write a speech for Ms. Palin in Hong Kong last September and also contributes to a daily briefing prepared by Kim Daniels, a Maryland lawyer who did legal work in Alaska for the McCain campaign. (She is now advising Ms. Palin on domestic policy issues and received $21,000 from SarahPAC in the second half of 2009.)

People with knowledge of the daily briefings say they are conducted by phone or e-mail. They typically include information on the day’s news, material that could be relevant to an upcoming speech, or guidance about a candidate Ms. Palin might endorse. Mr. Scheunemann in particular is known as a conservative hawk on foreign affairs, in keeping with what many Palin-watchers have viewed as her steady shift to the right.

“She used to be a moderate Republican in Alaska, but I think all of these attacks have hardened her and made her absolutely more conservative,” said John Coale, a Washington lawyer and longtime Democratic fund-raiser who helped Ms. Palin set up her political action committee.

Mr. Coale, the husband of the Fox News host Greta Van Susteren, said the crowds that swarmed Ms. Palin’s campaign and book events have provided comfort amid so much criticism.

“I think there have been times during all the attacks when she thought, ‘This is just too much,’ ” Mr. Coale said. “But now I think it all makes her more determined. Whatever she’s doing now, it feels like a calling to her.”

more at the Times……

Sarah Palin Is Vocal and Ready, but for What? – NYTimes.com.

Former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska has signed on as a contributor to the Fox News Channel.

The network confirmed that Ms. Palin will appear on the network’s programming on a regular basis as part of a multi-year deal. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Ms. Palin will not have her own regular program, one person familiar with the deal said, though she will host an occasional series that will run on the network from time to time. This person would not elaborate, but the network does have a precedent for such a series. Oliver L. North is the host of an occasionally running documentary series on the military called “War Stories.”

Many suspected that when Ms. Palin retired as the governor of Alaska last summer she was doing so to pursue some sort of career in television. The Fox News deal, however, would not seem to be all encompassing, and would appear to give her room for other pursuits, as well.

The deal could be formally announced as early as this afternoon. Robert Barnett, Ms. Palin’s attorney, did not respond to a call for comment.

Sarah Palin to Contribute to Fox News – Media Decoder Blog – NYTimes.com.

Republicans continue to work toward no apparent goal except to disrupt, obstruct and demonize anything the new administration proposes. They embrace and employ Fox News to foment hatred and vitriol for issues that Republicans know are lies.

When Sarah Palin lies, she lies as a good Christian Conservative Republican and her statements, buzzwords, and little catch phrases come straight from the party. Instead of calling the lies for what they are, the party embraces her hate-speak and works in concert with Fox News and their Glenn Beck liar-drone to reinforce Palin’s vile mouth.

more….

Republicans’ Palin, Tea Party the most disappointing ‘person’ in 2009.