Like alcoholic parents trying to disavow their crack-whore son, the Washington Times is attempting to distance itself from the bogus Obama-madrassah story — a story that they and Fox News had amplified.

The Washington Times, which is also owned by the Unification Church, but operates separately from the Web site, quickly disavowed the article. Its national editor sent an e-mail message to staff members under the heading “Insight Strikes Again” telling them to “make sure that no mention of any Insight story” appeared in the paper, and another e-mail message to its Congressional correspondent instructing him to clarify to Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama that The Washington Times had nothing to do with the article on the Web site. “Some of the editors here get annoyed when Insight is identified as a publication of The Washington Times,” said Wesley Pruden, editor in chief of The Washington Times.

But can the Washington Times disavow itself?

Barack Obama announced last week he was forming an exploratory committee to explore whether he can really be as fabulous as the media say. And happily the answer is: Yes. He is young, gifted and black, and white and Hawaiian and Kansan, and charismatic and Congregationalist, and Muslim. He rejects the way “politics has become so bitter and partisan,” he represents “a different kind of politics.” He smokes, which is different.He was raised in an Indonesian madrassah by radical imams, which is more than John Edwards can say. …The madrassah stuff was supposedly leaked to Insight Magazine by some oppo-research heavies on Hillary Rodham Clinton’s team. If true, that suggests Hillary is losing her touch. It’s certainly the case that a foreign education doesn’t always assist in electoral politics: John Kerry didn’t play up the Swiss finishing school angle. But look at it from a Democratic primary voter’s point of view, the kind who drive around with those “CO-EXIST” bumper stickers made up of the cross and the Star of David and the Islamic crescent and the peace sign. Your whole worldview is based on the belief that deep down we would all rub along just fine and this neocon fever about Islam is just a lot of banana oil to keep the American people in a state of fear and paranoia. What would more resoundingly confirm that view than if the nicest, most nonbitter, nonpartisan guy in politics turns out to have graduated from the Sword of the Infidel Slayer grade school in Jakarta?

Maybe someone at the Washington Times needs to circulate another memo.CNN, through the rare implementation of something called “journalism,” debunked this nonsense last week::

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Ever since Mayor Newsom bravely fought for civil rights when he allowed gay couples to marry in 2004, the country’s knuckledragger population has been speculating he’s gay. These are probably the same dimwits who assumed that if you doubted Hussein had WMD, it meant you were secretly the founder of the “I Want Saddam’s Love-Child” club. Anyhow, Newsom seems to have chosen an odd way of dispelling the rumors. Next time, he might want to try using someone who’s not married to a good friend.

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So Rudy’s in.In the days after 9-11, America needed a hero and it picked Rudy. Talk of “President Giuliani” began just a few days after 9-11, and I’m still waiting for someone to explain to me just what Rudy Giuliani has done to indicate he deserves to sit in the Oval Office. He was an unpopular, scandal-ridden mayor known mostly for his police department’s torture and murder of unarmed Black men. But then the terrorists brought down the towers. He didn’t soil himself and hide under his desk on 9-11 (or even fly around aimlessly like our current President). He kept his cool and did his job. That’s expected, not extraordinary.**UPDATE: Doug comments,

Darrin, I don’t know where you are getting your information about the NY police “torture and murder of unarmed Black men.” Truthfully, it sounds like something that was reported in the National Enquirer, rather than a legitimate source! 

For some reason, I’m not able to respond in the “comments” section right now, so I’m updating the main post with my reply:Here you go. This (and his arrogant response to it) is what Giuliani was known for until 9/11:The Diallo and Louima casesGiuliani took credit for falling crime rates, but crime rates fell in all big cities at the time, due in no small part to Bill Clinton’s COPS initiative, which put 100,000 new cops on big city streets across the country. Other Giuliani achievements:• He tried to have Yasser Araft booted out of NYC (despite Arafat having been invited by the UN), nearly causing an international incident.• He decided, over objections, to place the anti-terror command center in the World Trade Center, which was as smart a decision as placing an earthquake response center on the San Andreas Fault. Perhaps the constant video we saw of Giuliani bravely roaming the streets of Lower Manhattan were due to his having no command center to go to.• He caused a big stink about a museum that hung an African artist’s painting of the Virgin Mary that was made with elephant dung (insisting on mischaracterizing it as a deliberate insult, despite elephant dung being sacred in that artist’s culture — I don’t know about you, but politicians who mischaracterize to score political points lose points with me).• He tried to use 9/11 to advance his own political career when he proposed cancelling the mayoral elections so he could stay on indefinitely.

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Faux News affiliates sure are subtle, aren’t they?

Don’t think subliminal crap like this works? Take a look at how well it works even on people who make their living at it (watch it through to the end for the payoff):

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I saw something on YouTube the other day (I’ve posted it below) that I found disturbing. But luckily, I had the foresight to pull out and leaf through my tattered copy of The Modern American’s Guide for Interpreting Other People’s Behavior: Women/Minority/Gay Edition™. I carry it with me everywhere I go. It comes in handy in department stores, for instance.Just a few months ago at Target, I found myself wondering why a security guard seemed to be following me at a distance as I perused the cargo shorts aisle. I started to feel nervous. I kept walking, and the nerves turned to incredulity, the kind where the world sort of slows down and you start to feel detached, like your’e watching something absurd instead of living it. I saw his eyes poke around the corner behind the socks to look at me looking at black boxer briefs. I started to feel my ears burn as the detachment faded into anger. That’s when the manual saved me. It was right there on page 92, under “The Target Security Guard.” It said “He’s not suspicious of you because you’re Black/Mixed/Whatever-the-hell-you-are, he’s suspicious of you because you’re a teen-ager.” That would’ve made sense years ago, when I first bought the manual, but what the hell, I’m not old yet. It could still apply.Now that was a relief. Life is easier with the manual. People seem much less ridiculous. Sunsets are rosier. The air even smells fresher, somehow.So when I saw a link that had the words “Fox” and “Obama” in the same sentence, I immediately reached again for that manual. I sure am glad I did. Watch this clip, and then I’ll tell you how The Modern American’s Guide for Interpreting Other People’s Behavior: Women/Minority/Gay Edition™ helped me put it all in perspective:

Now, according to The Modern American’s Guide for Interpreting Other People’s Behavior: Women/Minority/Gay Edition™, there was absolutely nothing racist about any of this. Here’s what it said, right there on page 18,978:

Clip from Fox News’ allegedly satirical take-off on The Daily Show: “The 1/2 Hour News Hour”1. Time index 01:01- Masses of dancing Africans are shown while Fox mentions Barack Obama supporters.This is not – we repeat, NOT – Fox News intentionally trying to scare White viewers with the thought of hordes of unruly dark people taking over the streets. They probably just couldn’t find any other footage on such short notice.2. Time index 01:14- “BO Magazine”This is not Fox using racial code words & concepts in an ongoing campaign to help as many of their viewers as possible get back in touch with their inner bigots. This is not – we repeat, NOT – Fox News dredging up the age-old stereotype about Black people smelling bad. That stereotype hasn’t been widely used for at least several decades. Several years. Well, at least several months. So it’s unreasonable to think anyone at Fox has heard of that stereotype, much less that anyone there would intentionally employ it.2. Time index 01:37- “Organize Your House – and your Senate”Fox News is not trying to conjur up the image of a Black housekeeper. In fact, this is more evocative of magazines aimed at housewives. So maybe they’re complimenting Barack Obama’s wife. Have you ever stopped to think of that?2. Time index 01:46- “Barack vs. Tiger Woods: Who’s More Diverse? “This is not an example of Fox News mocking the very existence of mixed-race Americans in order to reinforce deep-seeded White resentment. They’re actually praising diversity – showing how grateful they are that we live in a country where anyone can marry and raise kids with whomever they want (‘long as they’re not queer).2. Time index 02:03- “Don’t tell Mama, I’m for Obama”Nothing to see here.

Thanks for making life more bearable, The Modern American’s Guide for Interpreting Other People’s Behavior: Women/Minority/Gay Edition™!

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Having lied, invaded, occupied and vacationed away his honor in the eyes of about 70% of Americans, George W. Bush tried to borrow a little bit from George Washington yesterday.That reminded me of this cartoon I published back in ’06, when the Congressional leadership first tried (and failed) to use the nifty “cut and run” slogan to tar and feather those who opposed the ongoing occupation.

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From today’s In the Loop column (Washington Post):

Speaking of the House oversight committee, it’s not often that someone below the rank of Cabinet member can merit a cameo appearance in a syndicated cartoon. But General Services Administration chief Lurita Alexis Doan, apparently to the amusement of some folks at the GSA, has won that unusual distinction, becoming a thinly disguised amnesiac in the cartoon Candorville.

Doan won the high honor after she repeatedly told the committee on March 28 that she could not remember details of a Jan. 26 videoconference presentation for top political appointees at her agency by White House deputy political director J. Scott Jennings, who works in Karl Rove’s shop.

Barack Obama on the incompetence and secrecy of the Bush administration, and on why impeaching them is unacceptable:

“There’s a way to bring an end to those practices, you know: vote the bums out,” the presidential candidate said, without naming Bush or Cheney. “That’s how our system is designed.”-USA Today 

Well, no. Our system was actually designed so that we can remove criminal officials through impeachment.He goes on:

“I think you reserve impeachment for grave, grave breeches, and intentional breeches of the president’s authority,” he said. 

Illegally spying on millions of Americans in violation of the Fourth Amendment, holding American citizens without providing access to counsel for years, torturing captives, evidence of felonious vote caging (aimed at denying Blacks their right to vote), etc., don’t constitute “grave breeches”? Exactly what would constitute a “grave breech” in Obama’s mind? And what does he mean “intentional breeches”? Does he think Bush spied on Americans by accident?

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I still have no idea why Barack Obama believes the current administration’s violations of our Constitutional rights do not constitute “grave breaches.” I’m sure his desire to not be impeached himself, should he win, has nothing to do with it. Watch this recent Bill Moyers special (in 5 parts) for a less self-interested assessment:

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For some unknown reason, Elayne Boosler, guest hosting the Stephanie Miller Show on Jones Radio Network (& aired on many Air America affiliates), decided to spend a few minutes interviewing yours truly this morning. I didn’t post about this beforehand or tell friends or family because it would scare the hell out of me knowing that people were actually listening to me live. “They” say most Americans fear public speaking more than they fear death, and for a cartoonist who’s used to spending his days alone, half-naked in a tiny studio with only his characters to keep him company, death would be #3. #2 would be having to wear pants.Still, I sit for interviews whenever I’m asked because, hell, this is a dream come true for me — creating cartoons that strangers (who don’t owe me anything) spend a few precious, irretrievable seconds out of their days to read — and when someone asks me to talk about that on the radio or TV or a panel discussion, it’s a reminder that it’s actually happening, that that little kid who “wasted time” drawing Optimus Prime and Snoopy in his textbooks actually became what he wanted to be.Here’s the interview. Behind this buffer of time, it isn’t so scary. From today’s Stephanie Miller Show:

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