Good News For Democrats

Katie Couric was giving a speech at the National Press Club and this was reported about said speech:

Everyone in this room would agree that people in this country were misled in terms of the rationale of this war,” said Couric, adding that it is “pretty
much accepted” that the war in Iraq was a mistake.

This was enough to send McBride in a tizzy. She claims that this is merely another liberal talking point. This is good news for Democrats, as that would mean approximately 70% of the country is now liberal.

But then she does get one partially correct with this:

Out here in fly-over country, many of us believe that the people of this country were misled about the rationale for war. By Saddam.

Unless Saddam is the Iraqi word for Bush. Then she is right on the money.

Wanted: Activist AG with old-time religion

Jessica McBride and the right wing posse continue to pursue J. B. Van Hollen, the Republican attorney general, who is not enough of an activist to suit them. (They used to rail about the old "activist" AG, but that was then, when a Democrat held the office.)

Details: In God and Krispy Kreme We Trust."

All things in moderation

Brew City Brawler, long mystified by McBride, offers an example of what types of comments McBride considers appropriate on her blog. She moderates the comments, which means they need her approval before they appear on the site. In the past, some of mine apparently have been too offensive to pass.

From the Brawler, just a small sample of what passes muster with McBride:

Johnny Williams has no clue what enemies of America would and will do to him, if given the oppurtunity.
Johnny Williams lives in a FREEDOM VACCUM, in which he is a spoiled PRICK, because SOMEONE ELSE made the ULTIMATE SACRIFICE, AND, Little Johnny DimWad, USES the FREEDOMS afforded him AND HIS 2 DADDIES BY OTHERS, to SPOUT ABOUT America being FREE, and HIS OWN FREEDOM to be a COMPLETE FUKJOB and LOSER.

Now we can see why she needed to moderate comments, so she can screen out the offensive stuff and approve analysis like that.

If you must, read the rest of that thoughtful comment here.

Oh, There's No Bitterness Here

McBride is now after a different columnist at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Apparently, not satisfied with her dominance over WTMJ radio, she is also giving advice to MSJ on who their columnists should be:

When is the JS going to give Jeff Wagner a column already?

Answer: Never. They will continue to foist the liberal Laurel Walker on the
poor Waukesha County saps who still subscribe to the paper.

McBride must have never taught public relations either. In one fell swoop, she not only alientated the readers of MSJ (apparently only Waukesha County readers count in her world), but also Patrick McIlheran, the residential conservative blogger at MSJ. Perhaps even he isn't conservative enough for her.

In reality, the only people who are being taken advantage of are the the subscribers to the Waukesha Freeman, who have to be exposed to McBride's screeds.

McBride Admits Her Views Are "Over The Line"

In yet another post about Iranian president Ahmedinijad's appearance at Columbia University, McBride gives the following quote:

There is no value in it. Some repugnant viewpoints don't deserve the legitimacy
accorded by such a forum. I acknowledge that defining viewpoints as "repugnant"
can be a slippery slope. But virulent anti-Semitism and homophobia of the sort
spouted by AhMADinejad should be obviously over the line. A society that has
lost the ability to recognize that fact is a society without an internal
compass.

By McBride distorting Ahmedinijad's name into a schoolyard taunt, she is practicing anti-Semitism, as all Arabs are also Semites. And McBride's homophobic tendencies are evidenced in her posts about Sen. Larry Craig.

Whallah recognizes the truth in that these types of views are over the line, and will continue to point them out until McBride finds her internal compass.

She Might Teach French

An observant reader pointed out the title from a recent posting at the conservative blogsite, No Runny Eggs. The title reads:

Legislative Audit Bureau investigates Indian gaming, finds boku holes

As the reader points out in his missive, the author was probably looking for the word beaucoup.

On the other hand, maybe he just learned his French from McBride.

Shouldn't Journalists Be Able To Do Basic Research?

McBride, quoting a blurb from wispolitics.com, claims Scott Walker to be a crimefighter. Even though this can give one a terrifying image of Walker in a spandex costume, she was referring to Walker funding the Lakefront park patrol of the Sheriff's Office.

Now, if only she would have done the minimum of research, she would have found the MSJ article reporting that this crime fighting initiative is nothing more but the partial restoration of the patrols that Walker and Sheriff Clarke eliminated a few years ago. She may have also noticed, in the same article, that Walker, Tosa Ranger, is actually shorting the Sheriff's Department by $1 million dollars, compared to this year.

How can he do this, one may ask? Well, more basic research would have shown that Walker wants to let a private agency transport inmates all over, and to close the Community Correction Center, letting some 350 criminals hit the street.

It is hard to imagine which is more terrifying, McBride thinking this is courageous crime fighting, or that she teaches journalism.

Respect My Authoritah!

On July 13th, McBride went on a tirade about being disrespected by her archenemy, Eugene Kane, in an article in the August 2007 edition of Milwaukee Magazine. Now, we find McBride is channelling her inner Cartman with a letter to the Magazine, which reads:

I was surprised Milwaukee Magazine did not call me for comment after quoting Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist Eugene Kane calling me a "female robot" under the intellectual control of a more powerful man [The Mil, August]. I am a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a master's degree, 11 years of journalism experience, and numerous state and national journalism awards. I think for myself.

I never joked about a drive-by shooting on my radio show, as the item falsely stated. I poked fun at Mr. Kane for refusing to come on my show to debate. The audio clearly reveals I consider the drive-by shooting to mean the city is in a crisis state and was questioning why Mr. Kane downplayed the crisis. I had previously done a radio segment and blog commentary expressing outrage over the death of Jasmine Owens, which the media has not reported.

Whallah does believe McBride when she claims that she thinks for herself, as it is hard to imagine anyone else wanting to take credit for some of the things she says and writes.

Indeed, Why Is It Relevant?

McBride goes after one of her favorite targets in her latest posting about Michael McGee, Jr. She notes in her writings:

The site has a hint of racism, when it notes:

Alderman Michael McGee Jr. is currently being held on Federal charges based on information supplied by an Arab businessman in his district, who is also an FBI informant.

Why is it relevant that McGee's alleged victim is Arab?

Indeed, that is the same question Whallah asks every time she mentions that an alleged criminal may be an illegal alien. Of course, then again, her postings often do more than hint at racism.

Telling it like it is

And the reviews are in. Illusory Tenant on McBride's latest efforts to bring religion into government-sponsored events:

This morning reveals a post called “Madison Atheists reach a new low,” typically content-free and revealing the analytical skill and temperament of a colicky adolescent.

She Doesn't Teach History Either

McBride, in yet another poorly written rant, discusses the issue of Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, being invited to Columbia University to speak. She blasts the university and brings up that they would invite Adolph Hitler, then adds an update at the end of her rant stating that Hitler actually did appear at Columbia U., which is an allegation Other Side points out as being completely false:

Jessica McBride really should be sure of what she is posting before doing so. In this case McBride, as an update at the end of a rant about Columbia University inviting the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to speak, informs us that Hitler once did visit Columbia University. She gives a hat tip to that intellectual, Michelle Malkin (though no link) for leading her to that fount of accurate info, Little Green Footballs. It is there, she says, where the truth of the University's dalliance with the enemy is revealed.

Well, not exactly. Little Green Footballs reveals that it was the German ambassador to the United States, Hans Luther, who was invited to speak, not Hitler. In fact, the closest Hitler ever came to the United States was probably in some trench during WWI. Something the eternally clueless McBride could have discovered if she had checked. Something, you know, a lecturer in journalism at a major university might have done.What gets me the most, though, is not this yet-another-example of McBride's sloppy writing, it's the fact that she really does not understand how a free society operates ... you know, that marketplace of ideas thing that she should be promoting as (I shudder to write this again) a lecturer of journalism at a major university. ...

McBride is not a person who should be complaining about who universities allow to speak, else she finds herself out of another job.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss

Story: Its strategies shattered, a desperate Washington is reaching out to the late dictator's henchmen.

Here's a sample:

When Gen. David Pet­raeus, commander of the multinational force in Iraq, appeared before Congress with Ambassador Crocker to testify about the results of President Bush’s “surge” strategy, he talked a lot about these tribal militias and the success of Anbar. It is the only progress the U.S. has made in Iraq for years. It’s unclear whether the additional 30,000 troops that make up the surge have had much effect on the Anbar Awakening. But watching Gen. Petraeus, I was struck by how familiar his words sounded. The general talked like every Sunni I’ve ever met in Iraq—hell, he sounded a bit like Saddam. The old tyrant would have had one of his characteristic chest-heaving guffaws watching Petraeus as he intoned the old Baathist mantra about the dangers to Iraq: Iran, Iran, Iran. Bush took up Gen. Petraeus’s views a few days later in a nationally televised speech about Iraq, in which he talked about the threat Tehran posed. It seems that Petraeus and Bush have come to the same conclusion as Saddam: the main enemy is Iran, and you can’t govern Iraq without the Sunni Arab tribes, even as you encourage anti-Iranian nationalism among the Shia. This is what Saddam did during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, and what Washington is trying to do now. One of the main problems with this strategy is that both the Sunni tribes and Shia nationalists are profoundly anti-American and don’t trust each other—a potential recipe for further disaster.

Hat tip: McBride's Media Matters. (She just wanted you to look at the picture, not read the article.)

Standing up for the troops when it counts

McBride's frothing over her coffee again, or maybe just foaming at the mouth:

Feingold voted NO for a resolution that read:

To express the sense of the Senate that General David H. Petraeus, Commanding General, Multi-National Force-Iraq, deserves the full support of the Senate and strongly condemn personal attacks on the honor and integrity of General Petraeus and all members of the United States Armed Forces.

Russ Feingold is a disgrace. Let it be known. He's on record. He doesn't support the troops.

Oh contrary, as McBride would say in French.

Feingold not only supports the troops but did something meaningful to demonstrate it in the last two days. First, he voted for a reasonable bill from Sen. James Webb, a former Navy secretary and Vietnam hero, to give our troops some respite between repeat tours of Iraq. Republicans, who say they're for the troops, killed the bill.

Feingold also introduced an amendment to start bring the troops home soon, but it got only 28 votes. Sen. Herb Kohl voted with him on both of those bills.

McBride's outrage that anyone would question a member of the military rings more than a little hollow. As I suggested in a comment on her blog, which may or may not see the light of day, Republicans should have passed an amendment to "condemn personal attacks on the military except for John Kerry and Max Cleland, two decorated Vietnam heroes, who may be slandered at will." They should be comfortable with that.

For much more on MoveOn and the events of the last few days in the Senate, I've written a longer post on Uppity Wisconsin.

UPDATE: The Senate deadlocked 47-47 Friday on another Democratic proposal, from Sens. Carl Levin and Jack Reed, to begin bringing troops home within 120 days, remove most troops within nine months, and shift those remaining from combat to support roles. Kohl and Feingold both voted yes. Because of the threat of a GOP filibuster, the amendment needed 60 votes.

Too much fun; enough is enough

Fun's fun, but it's time for us to move on -- us as in Template, the original member of what has become a group blog.

They say it's unsportsmanlike to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed person. We've spent too much time doing that.

Jessica McBride, our inspiration for Whallah!, continues to provide easy targets on a daily basis. A number of people, on this blog and elsewhere, regularly shoot down her sophomoric musings. That's a worthwhile effort; the public and the media need to be reminded continually that she is not to be taken seriously. There seem to be enough others who will do that, perhaps not with the zeal or frequency with which we have taken her on, but enough to maintain a check on at least the most incredible things she spouts.

We want to turn our attention elsewhere. Perhaps some more serious writing, perhaps more time and energy toward stopping the war in Iraq.

If there are others who would like to join the Whallah! family of contributors and keep the heat on Ms. McBride, just email us at Whallah@gmail.com and we'll tell you how to participate.

As McBride would say, oh reservoir.

WWBD?

Jessica McBride asks:

Why are we getting involved in this?

Violent crime in Milwaukee, illegal immigration, so many issues....

Is this worth spending time on?

NEW YORK (Associated Press) -
Wisconsin's attorney general asked the federal government Tuesday to block the
combination of the nation's only two satellite radio companies.

Am I missing something here? Is this a big deal to Wisconsin? I know some prominent conservatives have supported the merger. Among them: Ronald Reagan's AG Ed Meese, "Economist Thomas Hazlett, Christian conservative Gary Bauer, and tax cut crusader Grover Norquist."

Is this helping the consumer or interfering in the marketplace?

Merits of the case aside, among other questions her post brings to mind:

How could anyone question the Holy Trinity of Meese, Bauer and Norquist?

WWBD? What would Bucher do? (Oh, never mind, he lost to Van Hollen, didn't he? And the Buchers are all over that, right?)

UPDATE: Deposed talker McBride stands up for the wingnut right (maybe that should be her slogan) on talk radio. Yawn.