Scales On His Eyes

Charlie "Radio Talker/Columnist/TV Host/Part-Time Pundit" Sykes cuts-and-pastes this from Powerline this morning.

We live in a political system that has not yet been adequately described,
but one might call it a "mediated democracy." Mediated by a self-appointed,
generally ignorant but highly opinionated "elite" that is not elite by any
conventional measure--income, intelligence, education, social position--but that
successfully dictates the terms of political discourse even though it no longer
controls (exclusively, anyway) the means of production of the news. Someday,
social scientists may be able to explain this. For now, we appear to be stuck
with it.

Charlie? He's talking about guys like you.

Bark Radio

Courtesy of Glenn McCoy:

The saddest part is that it so accurately reflects Milwaukee squawkers and their listeners.

I'll Wait For It

I won't post the Brave New PAC's ad that MSNBC just yanked based on Bilious O'Reilly's rantings. I'm sure that Charlie, with his newfound penchant for bringing to the forefront opinion pieces which have been spiked, will be posting it any minute now.

And, of course, all those copy-cat bloggers who bellowed, "Censorship," will be spreading the message of McCain's health concerns far and wide.

Sure. When pigs, lipsticked or lipstickless, fly.

NO MORE CUTS

Once again, gentle reader, we see Walker's weaselly ways with the county budget, cutting services, cutting jobs, cutting the quality of life for every man, woman and child in the county that doesn't happen to be one of his top staff members or one of his political backers.

He wants to services to the elderly. He wants to cut services to the disabled. He wants to cut services to the poor. He wants to cut the frequency of buses while raising fares. He wants to cut the quality of the parks. He wants to cut the livelihood of hundreds of workers.

What he needs to do is just cut the crap that he keeps trying to pull.

Please join me and several hundred of my friends to let Scott Walker know that the people of Milwaukee County want no more cuts to the services that we need to be a safe, affordable and proud community. Please join us as we let the county board know that we are holding them responsible for correcting Walker's negligence and maliciousness.

Join us at a rally for "No More Cuts" on Wednesday, October 15th at 5 p.m. It will be held at Clas Park, which is on the south side of the Milwaukee County Courthouse.

Further details will be made as they become available.

Save Wisconsin's Vote

We already know of the low-handed ways that the desperately flailing Republican party is willing to stoop to win the upcoming elections, whether it be by hook or by crook. This includes, but in now way is limited to, Camp McCain mailing out fraudulent absentee ballots to Democrats on a statewide basis.

The fine folks at One Wisconsin Now have created a way for us to demand that Team Spuds is held accountable for their shenanigans:

Media are reporting Wisconsinites have received absentee ballot applications from the John McCain for President campaign with incorrect return addresses, which would likely prevent registration and processing from being completed.

The easy solution would seem to be: check the records, inform people who received an incorrect application and make sure no one is disenfranchised.

Unfortunately, the McCain campaign has been unwilling to provide the exact number and refuses to be interviewed about the scope of the problem. A top Republican Party of Wisconsin official said “hundreds of thousands” of absentee ballot application have been mailed by the McCain campaign.

Fair and clean elections are a critical issue for the state of Wisconsin and protecting the right to vote is essential to our Democracy.

Unfortunately, the McCain campaign has been unwilling to provide the exact number and refuses to be interviewed about the scope of the problem. A top Republican Party of Wisconsin official said “hundreds of thousands” of absentee ballot application have been mailed by the McCain campaign.

Act now and sign the petition to the newly-created Election Task Force and the Government Accountability Board below calling for an immediate investigation of the mailing. They must get to the bottom of this as soon as possible.

They also have a tool available for filing a complaint for those that have already received one of the bogus petitions. Both are available here. Click on it and sign it now.

Cross posted at Cog Dis.

I Thought He Just Did That For Radio Discourse

I blame the book. Kids were reading it and starting to lose IQ points with every page. Fortunately it's dropped back to 58,630 in the Amazon sales rankings so the taint won't spread.

No Insight On Incite

Man, oh man. A guy goes away for a couple, three days, and all heck breaks loose.

As I am trying to catch up on the things I missed whilst tied up in other ventures, I find the perfect example on why no one, and I mean not one person, should ever take Patrick McIlheran seriously.

Showing he is the ultimate shrill for the hate-and-fear-mongering Republicans, Paddy puts up a notice that he will be on Sykes' Sunday Incite show, complete with this laugher (emphasis mine):

Well, politics hasn't gotten mean on "Sunday Insight with Charlie Sykes," though the tone of the presidential campaigns will be one of the topics.

Sykes is pure meanness. How else could one explain his racism, his sexism, his prejudice and his flat out lies?

PaddyMac isn't any better. Remember how he defended the blatant racism of a local blogger. Paddy called it "refreshingly caustic and pungent."

Only the most deranged, or the most fearful of sheep, could ever take either of these people seriously.

Kevin Fischer Calls On Lazich To Eschew Per Diem!

Not really. The big lug just wants Franklin's alders to pay for mileage and expenses out of their own pockets.

Way to go, Kev. You've really shown how to expect someone else to make a sacrifice you're not willing to make.

Shock As A Commodity

Charlie Sykes and Doug Stanhope traffic in a single commodity. They have nothing to offer for their pay except the attention of the public. They have each in their own way decided to maximize that attention by stretching the limits of the public's tolerance.

Stanhope makes his living touring as a "comedian" who deals in shock. He's taken shtick from Lenny Bruce and George Carlin and funneled it through a dark prism of Bill Hicks and Sam Kinison and then dragged it through the gutter. Stanhope counts as coup the number of patrons he can make walk out of a club at any single show.

Sykes thrives on the same anger vibe. He checks the pulse of his audience and dials down on the point where it's a single throbbing mass. Then he picks at a story that can easily be fit into one of his templates of outrage, twists the reading for maximum shock and then touches a match to bring fire to his airwaves.

Both are good at what they do. Stanhope keeps selling tickets. There are a cadre who hang on his every demented word. OTOH, I don't know anyone who's bought tickets to a second Stanhope performance. I'm not the target audience. Stanhope aims at frat boys and those who just don't think a fart joke is funny enough. At some level I'm sure he knows that his audience will outgrow his act but he knows that he has another class coming in right behind.

Sykes is probably the smarter though. He knows that if he plays his cards right his audience will never be satisfied. If he pokes and prods just right he can keep the indignation and fear stirred up until his base gets bored or dies. I'll also give Sykes credit for being the more subtle of the two. His style of pander does provoke the non-believers so often as Stanhope.

They do share the same reaction when they are called for their lack of decency, though. "It's a joke." "You need to get a sense of humor," they'll say. "You're not a victim. Stop whining." It's the typical taunt of the bully to put the blame back on the one he's attacked. In that sense Stanhope and Sykes are just two sides of the same die as Andrew Dice Clay and Rush Limbaugh, shock comics for a new millennium.

The difference is that Clay and Stanhope know that what there saying is valueless. Limbaugh and Charlie try to make us believe they're somehow informing us. At least until someone shows them up for the bullies they are.

I Can Explain That

Kev wonders why the corporate cuts at MJS go largely unreported in the paper while his own defenestration from WTMJ was reported with stunning rapidity and clinical detail.

The fact is Cuprisin is more than gleeful to report ASAP the firings in the not so kind, rough and tumble broadcast business. Many moons ago, when I was let go by WTMJ, there was a brief headline on Page One instructiing [sic] readers to turn to another page. On that page, a few paragraphs with more instructions to turn to Cuprisin's column. My firing, however, somehow failed to make it in the sports section.

It's easy to explain, Kev. The JS is just giving people what they want.

There's Something Fischy In Franklin

Franklin Mayor Tom Taylor, channeling his inner Scott Jensen, has been charged for using city employees to do work for his campaign while on the taxpayers' dime. For details, I would refer the gentle reader to Janet Evans and Greg Kowalski who are covering the developing story.

But this post is not about Taylor and any crimes he may or may not have committed. It is about Kevin Fischer and his response to the story.

Fischer comes out defending Taylor's behavior, but that should not come as a surprise to anyone, considering his own ethically-challenged behavior regarding work. What really caught my eye was this (emphasis mine):

I spoke with Assistant DA Bruce Landgraf a few weeks ago. We agreed that I wouldn’t publicize our conversation, but I gathered from our chat that no charges would be filed because of the nature and source of the complaint: Basil Ryan was setting the stage for an embarrassing defeat, and that is, indeed, what happened. Ryan was trounced by Taylor. I guess my read of the tea leaves about the complaint was wrong.

I am curious about this conversation. I would like to know in what capacity Fischer approached ADA Landgraf.

If he came as a blogger, or citizen journalist, why would the ADA talk so openly about an ongoing investigation, especially one that might lead, as this one did, to criminal charges being filed? I do not find that explanation as being plausible.

The same holds true if Fischer approached the ADA has a private citizen who happens to be chummy with the accused.

Another possibility was that Fischer was called in for questioning. Did he give Taylor bad advice? Was Fischer aware of these alleged improprieties when they occurred?

Yet another possibility is that Fischer approached the ADA in his official capacity as being an aide to State Senator Mary Lazich. I find this doubtful as well. This isn't the type of thing a state politician would get involved with or want to have their named tied to. Unless, of course, Fischer did this without the blessing of his boss, which would mean that Fischer was misrepresenting himself, which of course would be normal for him.

Or perhaps he got the brush off from the ADA, and he is trying to ease the pain of his bruised and fragile ego. This is also a very plausible scenario.

It would be very interesting to know how this alleged conversation between old Kev and the ADA took place, and under what pretense. Of course, I doubt Fischer will ever be forthcoming and honest about that whole thing.

After all, look again at the emphasized section from his post. "We agreed that I wouldn't publicize our conversation..." Isn't that exactly what he is doing by writing about it?

It's scary to think that this guy has any kind of role in the makings of the laws and policies of this great state. And that we, as taxpayers, have to pay for it.

What Sykes Won't Be Saying Today

It just seems like yesterday that Sykes was crowing about how the stock market was on the verge of breaking the 14,000 barrier. He was putting all the credit on George Bush's economic policies and the big tax breaks for the rich.

Today, after the Dow Jones has dropped more than 800 points in the last three days, and is opening at 10,600, even Sykes has to admit that the economy is falling apart. Somehow, he fails to see the relation between the economy now and Bush's policies.

Could it be because McCain voted with Bush 90% of the time? Could it be that McCain has morphed his economic policy to be the mirror image of Bush's?

Of course, we can't expect that type of intellectual honesty from Sykes. That's why we are here.

GOP Director Says, "No list is perfect." Attorney General Says, "Huh?"

Well let's see how last week went. Attorney General Goodhair filed suit against the Government Accountability Board, essentially because the refused to go back in time and clean up the database discrepancies between the voter rolls and the DoT files.

The GAB has said that it has confidence that the files can be made to match going forward from August of this year. The AG wants them to be forced to go back to January of 2006 to meet the arbitrary deadline set within the Hinder American Voters Act (brought to you by Flyin' Jim Sensenbrenner.) Goodhair (Did we mention that the AG is co-chair of McCampaign in Wisconsin?) says that a 20% mismatch rate between the databases is unforgivable and has filed his little suit just in time to create maximum disruption at the polls in November.

Also this past week, McCampaign is soliciting vote fraud by mailing out flyers asking, mostly Democrat voters, to file for an absentee ballot in a district in which they do not reside. The McCain Campaign, false sense of honor intact, claims a mistake. "We never intended to disqualify Democrats," they demur. "We are not lying scum who would take advantage to drum up a cry of fraud," they claim with a straight face.

Here's the money quote from Mark Jefferson, executive director of the state GOP..."You do the best with the lists you have, and no list is perfect...[ ]" There you have it. "No list is perfect."

Somebody should tell the Attorney General. (Did I mention that the Attorney General, tasked with maintaining fair elections is co-chair of the campaign for the formerly honorable John McCain?)

Stay Classy, Republicans

For all their denial that race is a factor in the upcoming presidential elections, the Republicans must think that people are as ignorant as they are.

First there was the T-shirts that tried to portray Obama as Curious George.

Then they were selling racist buttons.

Now, those classy Repugnicans are selling boxes of "waffle mix" with racist pictures on the front and back of the box. It even includes the already disproved allegations that Obama is a Muslim. Only a moron or someone blinded by their own racism still believes that. Real classy, these Republicans.

Tip of the crown to James Rowen.

Is PaddyMac's Job In Jeopardy?

If I were Patrick McIlheran, I would start updating my resume. First we have seen how, twice in the last year, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has cut key staff people due to their financial troubles. Then this past week, they've started cutting features and consolidating others, all in an effort to cut down the size of the physical paper.

It doesn't help Paddy to be spending all that time and wasting all that ink on a column that is quite false in nature. His points are so weak that even Charlie Sykes and Dad29 feel they have to act as endorsers (or is apologists) for such drivel.

To make things even worse for Paddy, they actually printed a column by a talented writer, James Rowen, on the front page of the Crossroads section. All this does is highlight that Paddy is severely lacking in honesty and talent.

Award Winning Celebrity

Always Remember, Never Forget

Charlie's Obsession

In yesterday's squawk session, Sykes showed more than his usual level of obsession with the faux outrage that Team McPalin is trying to stir up regarding Obama's "lipstick on a pig" comment.

Even though it made Sykes look as desperate as the McPalin campaign, he tried to work lipstick into every topic and in every segment.

Then it dawned on me why the phrase reverberated so much for Sykes. It has to do with his still lingering disappointment with RUDY! dropping out of the presidential race, and one of the reason Sykes likes him so much:

So doesn’t that make talk radio a bit like community organizing?

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett pointed out at a debate yesterday that Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s intransigence on developing new transit options seems to have more to do with appeasing his talk radio constituency than sound public policy.

Walker shot back that Barrett was must be beholden to his rail-supporting donors.

Barrett noted to a reporter later that his donors actually have diverse opinions on rail.

But Walker, in a move that would make his talk radio minders proud, refused to elaborate on his unfounded charge: “I'm not going to get into tit-for-tat."

Of course not.

That’s what Charlie and Mark are for.

Cross posted at Pundit Nation.

Wagner Says, "Turn Off That Radio. Stop Buying That Cruddy Paper"

Jeff, not being able to recognize the hand that feeds him says,

As for the media consumer? Well, there are ways to fight back!

I couldn't agree more. Just turn off that crud on TMJ and pick up a good book.

It's Primary Day

Today is Primary Day. Go out and vote, and when you vote, vote smart.

Like for Marge Krupp, for example:

We need Krupp

Marge Krupp, the most hard-working and qualified candidate for the 1st Congressional District, gets my vote on Tuesday.

When I look at my food, water and air, I want to know there is someone protecting me in Congress that has a chemical engineering degree — Marge has it with honors. No staffer will to do her homework for her. She won’t be fooled by lobbyists or cronies working for chemical companies.

Marge’s MBA from Northwestern will be needed as the debate turns to businesses we need to attract and how to do that. She won’t be forced to rely on staffers to explain things to her.

Marge still made time to serve her church as a president, dug up vegetables for the needy, gave time to the Shalom Center. She worked hard with her husband making a home and raising their son. Now, that’s a hard worker dedicated to improving the lives of people around her.

Marge wants access to decent heath care for every American, she wants a decent education for every child, she knows that without a college degree you don’t have a bright future in the workplace. She wants to make higher education achievable for all students.

Marge Krupp, the only serious candidate for these serious times. We need Marge Krupp to represent us.

Kay Collins-Schulz

Waterford

Creep-tastic

He-Whose-Tie-is-Too-Long links to a T-shirt available on CafePress that says, "I am Sarah Palin. Her story is my story," entitling the post "Tips for the Well-Dressed Conservative Woman."

I wish I were making that up.

Seriously, the first time I see a woman wearing that shirt, I am going to be uncontrollably compelled to ask, "So, you have five children with somewhat odd names, one of whom has Down Syndrome, and one of whom is pregnant out of wedlock with a self-proclaimed "f-ing redneck," your husband supported your home state's secession from the United States right up until you were elected Governor of your state before being asked to inject youth and a bogus reformer image into a septuagenarian Washington insider's wayward campaign which up until now has focused almost exclusively on experience (not that you have all that much) and reminding us all five hundred times a day that he was, in fact, a POW for five-and-a-half years? Oh, and you smoked pot but didn't like it? That's your story?"

Maybe the fact that my second chromosome is a Y and not an X is preventing me from grasping some greater truth about women's solidarity, but is it really just the fact that Palin has two X chromosomes that would make people wear shirts like this? Or is it that some people feel comforted when people who are "just like them" get elected to office, instead of "elites" (however loaded with crap that term has to be to not include a wealthy son of a former President who was educated at Yale and Harvard)?

So, I confess, maybe I'm too male to understand, but this shirt is seriously creeping me out.

Cross-Posted to Brazen Maverick.

Help Me Understand, Please

Chuck, who wets himself whenever someone mentions the Fairness Doctrine, seems to think that it's wrong for the bookers of the Oprah Show to ignore the Republican's VP Designate. I have some questions.

1. Would Chuck let Oprah book his show?
2. Why does Chuck think that Oprah's Show is an appropriate and necessary venue for a candidate who's dodging the Sunday news shows?
3. Did TMJ's bookers try to get the candidate on his show when they were 20 miles up the highway?

There was a time when News and Entertainment were separate. That line has been blurring for quite some time now to the point where certain fools believe that Us Weekly is a news magazine. It's not so very long ago that the most we expected of Us Weekly was that the ink not come off on our hands while we waited for our tunafish to be run through the register.

But no, shows like Charlie's have been lowering the bar one day at a time to the point that some folks can't even tell what is news and what is dreck. Charlie will tell you that his show is news when it suits him and cry that it's entertainment when anyone mentions "standards." What's clear is that he really, really wants you to do something. Maybe you should ask why.

Someone Slipped James Wigderson A Mickey

For those of you that are new, or may have simply forgotten, here is a brief background on mickey.

mickey is an extreme righty commenter that could be immediately identified by his immature name-calling, his spastic keyboard, and his over the top personal attacks. Because he is so often so far out of control, he has been banned from various right wing sites, like Booots and Sabers and Badger Blogger.

mickey had disappeared for a while, but like a bad penny, he has shown up again. The only difference is that he now uses the name "gus". He still had the same name-calling and the same over the top personal attacks. Now it appears his keyboard appears to have had a relapse.

In a post in which James bit on the false flag story, mickey/gus has shown that he is already in mid-season form:


Folktunes, Obama is not patriotic.
You cannot impugn someones Patriotism, when the person "impugned" is not patriotic.
Jay, a bit of advice??? N'est ce pas???
Get off of the Obama-wagon. He is a complete and utter LOSER. CAPITAL L, CAPITAL O, CAPITAL S...yet get my drift Jay???
Or Jay, you can make a bigger ass of yourself.Kerry was a Fraud, Obama is a waist of time......Gore????
Jay, are you a "Gore man"?
Jay, do you see a PATTERN DEVELOPING?
Jay, you are a decent guy, but you are being SUCKERED by those you desperately want to believe in.
Cutting to the chase Jay.
Santa Claus does NOT exist.
Jay, CARING, does not make you BETTER.CARING has no value.gus

09.06.08 - 11:20 pm #

Fischer Bites On Another Hook

For someone that is supposed to have a journalistic background, Fischer isn't much better than that other person who claimed to be a journalist and teaching professional (whatever her name was again).

This time he bit on the lies spread by Camp McShame about Obama's campaign discarding hundreds of American flags.

Too bad for Kevin that it was made up. Too bad it was made up by the same guy who got into trouble for lying about John Kerry in 2004. Of course, it would make sense that old Kev bit on this one.

The other liar was from Faux News, and they can't tell reality from delusion either.

Tip of the crown to Jay.

Paging Sykes, Belling, et. al.

Remember all that outrage about Jeremiah Wright and his views on what God should do to America? What have they to say to this, I wonder?

On July 20, 2008, the pastor of Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s home church, Larry Kroon, delivered a sermon called “Sin Is Personal To God.” Kroon, the senior pastor of the non-denominational Wasilla Bible Church in Wasilla, Alaska, used the book of Zephanaiah as his reference point for discussing “that great day of the Lord when God will finally bring closure to human history… a day of wrath.” According to Kroon, “all things and all people” are going to bear the brunt of God’s “intense anger.” “There’s anger with God,” he proclaimed. “He takes sin personal.”

Kroon placed Zephaniah in a modern context, warning that the sinful habits of Americans would invite the wrath of God. “And if Zephaniah were here today,” Kroon bellowed, “he’d be saying, ‘Listen, [God] is gonna deal with all the inhabitants of the earth. He is gonna strike out His hand against, yes, Wasilla; and Alaska; and the United States of America. There’s no exceptions here — there’s none. It’s all.’”

Sarah Palin's pastor thinks God is going to strike out at America, pretty much just like Reverend Wright. So, Messrs. Sykes, Belling, and company, this is worthy of our disdain too, right?

H/T: Andrew Sullivan.

Oh, and many thanks to Capper for his kind invitation to join the Royal Court.

Who Are The Real Cowards?

Over the course of the last day or so, all of the local media squawkers have been haranguing about Oprah Winfrey not taking Sarah Palin on her show. They feel that this really needs to happen.

The irony in their complaints are hilarious. When was the last time that Charlie Sykes, Jeff Wagner or James Harris invited me, one of the other dozen writers here, Obama, Doyle, or any other liberal and/or Democrat onto one of their shows? Hell, they won't even let a liberal to call in most times.

Nor have our intrepid blabbermouths ever, not once, questioned why McMansions won't let Palin do even one, just one, interview with the media.

No wonder they fear even the specter of the Fairness Doctrine. They know their fragile lies can't hold up to the truth.

Fischer Don't Know His Fries

For a guy that is always talking about food, when he isn't violating Godwin's Law, one would think that Fischer would know of which he writes.

But then again, we are talking about Kevin Fischer.

He goes on about how Serb Hall learned their lesson about ruining their fish fries, and are back to the $8.95 price.

Here's a news flash that old Kev can post: They've always had $8.95 fish fries. They just stopped the all you can eat, and filled half the plate with veggies.

I would know. I actually went there. Three months ago.

This Just In. Ha!

Those Who Don't Study History...

are doomed to repeat themselves.





Tip of the crown to Steve Hanson

The Smartest Man In Ozaukee County

From the Brawler, whose keen eyes caught the smartest man in Ozaukee County:




Also check out the Brawler for his not one, but two, takes on the classlessness of the Republicans in Wisconsin. Especially the honesty-challenged Charlie Sykes.

Gouda Speak Louder, Please?

No wonder Sykes has problems getting the facts straight. He's got an ear(cheese)wax problem:

Belling’s buffoonery gains national notice

Media Matters for America has an item about Mark Belling's September 4th show where he attacked feminist activist Gloria Steinem:

On the September 4 broadcast of The Mark Belling Late Afternoon Show, radio host Mark Belling called author, activist, and Ms. magazine co-founder Gloria Steinem a "grizzled old bag," and an "old witch." Belling made these remarks while discussing Steinem's September 4 Los Angeles Times op-ed, in which she criticized Sen. John McCain's choice of Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running mate. Belling also asserted: "She [Steinem] was the cutting edge feminism. Feminists prior to her were the old bags, the previous generation prior to the [The Feminine Mystique author] Betty Friedans of the world, the women that were so ugly you couldn't stand to look at them. Here came Gloria Steinem wearing the mini skirts and dating the famous people and being the glamorous representation of what American feminism is. Well now Gloria Steinem is just nothing more than a 74-year-old, embittered, old has-been sitting out in Los Angeles."

Here’s the audio clip:

The thing about Belling’s rant is that it’s more representative of the actual views movement conservatives have about women than this week’s love fest for Sarah Palin in St. Paul. You’re welcome to the party—as long as you’re anti-Choice and don’t make a fuss about women getting paid less, overall, than men. No one should be surprised when the right’s new found concern for women disappears after November 4.

(H/T: illusory tenant.)

Sykes' Advice To John McCain In Regard To The Sarah Palin Debacle

Rule 22: You are not a victim. Stop whining.

Does He Really Want To Go There?

Why would a man who brags about "owning" his daughter think he knows one thing about feminism, much less what it means.

Sykes Spins Out Of Control

I had taken the day off to take care of some castle-keeping business that has been put off for too long, and had the chance to catch most of Sykes show today. I tell you, gentle reader, he was spinning more than your average dervish, and if one had the opportunity to see him live, I bet his head was spinning like Regan's in the Exorcist.

I won't get into all of the factual errors he made today, both intentional and unintentional, because it would simply just take too long to type them all out. But I am not the only one that notices Sykes having his meltdown this morning. Bert, Mav and Dan also picked up on the fact that Sykes was being more than a wee bit hypocritical and out of control.

But what was causing Sykes' meltdown? That is the question that piqued my interest. He was literally besides himself in his anger to quell the sudden storm surge of information coming out about Sarah Palin. He kept going back to the point on how terrible it was that the media was talking about Palin's pregnant teenage girl, and telling us how terrible it was for the majority of his show, and about a half dozen posts on his blog.

Nothing like making some mileage doing what you are blaming others for doing, is there?

Sykes kept asking if Obama would be vetted the way that Palin has been. This I found especially amusing, considering that was probably about 80% of his show for the past two months and 50% of it for the previous eighteen months.

He also kept threatening to go into Obama's relationships, like with Rezko, Rev. Wright, Ayers, and whoever else they've tried to hang on his neck. Like he hasn't done that ad nauseum.

Sykes was using every hateful label he could think of for anyone that was part of the media or a blogger from the left. There was more name calling in this morning's show, than in all of the playgrounds in Milwaukee on this first day of school.

So why was Sykes manifesting this crazed behavior. Some of the less objective readers from the right would comment that Sykes was simply defending Palin's honor. Sykes might even try to make that argument himself. But, outside that a professional politician would need protecting from the likes of Sykes, and outside of the fact that that would be a rather sexist attitude to have, it is also inaccurate.

If that was Sykes' goal, he would have been much more effective to use facts in a reasoned and reasonable tone of voice to refute the allegations against Palin. He didn't do that. He resorted to name-calling, threatening, and intimidation and belittling people that would call and disagree with him. That is what most people would call being a bully.

Bullying is often most associated with school children, but also happens in the work place. Or in this case, on a social level. Either way, the reasons are usually the same.

The bully feels that life is out of control, and thus bullies other people that he or she believes to be weaker, in order to get a sense of control. The bully also may have low self confidence in themselves, and uses that sense of control they feel when bullying someone else to make themselves feel better about themselves. Building oneself up by tearing other people down, as it were. Sometimes it's just because the bully is an asocial asshole.

I'm not saying any of these necessarily apply to Sykes, in this specific situation, but it does seem to be more than a passing trend among some of the local right wing media and bloggers, but more of a conscious lifestyle choice.

I personally think it's just because they were in panic mode, and that became hysterical panic mode when McCain announced Palin to be his running mate. They realize they are in a losing battle, and are just getting extremely desperate.

The Juneau Effect

News of Jamie Lynn Spears' pregancy sparked a flurry of tongue-clucking and "What will we tell the children" or "Where are the parents?" talk on the Charlie Sykes show. Indeed, the Brawler recalls hearing such chatter as recently as a few weeks ago.
Thus we can only suspect that when Charlie hits the mike on Tuesday he'll be equally critical of the potential vice president Sarah Palin given her 17-year-old daughter is five months pregnant.
Right?
"Life happens," says the McCain campaign, and the Brawler agrees. Charlie's position is, what's the word, situational.