Joe, you forgot when Dana Milbank showed up on Olberman's show with a blaze orange vest and hat on.

File under "What Liberal Media?"

I wouldn't make too much of the bin Laden connection. The Bush family is solidly in bed with them, and you know it.

And if you read this through, there really isn't much to disagree with...

Al Gore told a mainly Saudi audience on Sunday that the U.S. government committed "terrible abuses" against Arabs after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and that most Americans did not support such treatment. Gore said Arabs had been "indiscriminately rounded up" and held in "unforgivable" conditions. The former vice president said the Bush administration was playing into al-Qaida's hands by routinely blocking Saudi visa applications.

"The thoughtless way in which visas are now handled, that is a mistake," Gore said during the Jiddah Economic Forum. "The worst thing we can possibly do is to cut off the channels of friendship and mutual understanding between Saudi Arabia and the United States."

Gore told the largely Saudi audience, many of them educated at U.S. universities, that Arabs in the United States had been "indiscriminately rounded up, often on minor charges of overstaying a visa or not having a green card in proper order, and held in conditions that were just unforgivable."

"Unfortunately there have been terrible abuses and it's wrong," Gore said. "I do want you to know that it does not represent the desires or wishes or feelings of the majority of the citizens of my country."

On Iran, Gore complained of "endemic hyper-corruption" among Tehran's religious and political elite and asked Arabs to take a stand against Iran's nuclear program. Iran says its program is for peaceful purposes but the United States and other Western countries suspect Tehran is trying to develop nuclear weapons. "Is it only for the West to say this is dangerous?" Gore asked. "We should have more people in this region saying this is dangerous.

The main reason it's not all over the press is because he's right, and the wingnut/whitehouse controlled US news doesn't want to portray Gore as being on the right side of any argument. Speaking the truth is not treason.

Others who have given speeches at the bin laden-supported JEF include President George W. Bush Snr., President William Jefferson Clinton, Neil Bush, John Cusack, Chevy Chase, Tom Ridge (remember Tommy?), George Soros.

I like to DOVE hunt! Would you like to go along sometime Zero ? I'll carry the gun you can carry the bag of LIME and the shovel. : )

You guys are totally makin' shit up.

Dick Cheney didn't shoot that guy Whittington.

You see, there was another vice president on the grassy knoll, and a magic shotgun pellet...

In all seriousness I really feel awful for Mr. Whittington, and I'm saying a prayer or two for him.

It's not a simple situation of the MSM blowing a complete nothing out of proportion, however. If the DA in Plano has any integrity, if Mr. Whittington doesn't make it, the Veep will probably face manslaughter or negligent homicide charges; or at least be subject to a grand jury inquiry. This is a pretty big deal - not the hysterical scandal the press is making it into, but a fairly major legal event. Yeah, it's tragic and I'm sure it wasn't intended, but sometimes common negligence carries with it crim law consequences.

Offered without comment:

Where's Neil Bush these days?

...the president's brother showed up in Saudi Arabia in late January to deliver the keynote address on the concluding day of the three-day Jeddah Economic Forum. [snip]

In Saudi Arabia, Bush gave the conferees advice on how to press their case in the United States visa via the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In a speech certain to raise the hackles of supporters of Israel, Bush maintained that the way to change perceptions in the United States about the Israeli-Palestinian question is for the Arab countries to expand their political lobbying. Bush claimed the American public favors Israel because of intense lobbying of U.S. politicians by Israeli supporters.

In his remarks, Bush also called for exploring the roots of terrorism, an idea that might not sit well with brother George. "There could be economic disparities, social unrest or unemployment causing growing dissatisfaction in the region," he said. "But I have been told that the bigger issue is the resolving of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There was only lip service for ending the conflict, but since Sept. 11 there has been a difference. There seems to be a sense of urgency. The difference is public opinion has shifted. Public opinion shapes public policy dramatically. It's true in the U.S., in this part of the world, and elsewhere."

4 According to Newsweek, Bush's visit to Saudi Arabia was sponsored in part by "the Saudi Binladin Construction Group [the family of Osama bin Laden]...

"If the United States boosts defence spending in its quest to stop Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden's alleged terrorist activities, his family may be the unexpected beneficiary of that, media reports said.

"Among its far-flung business interests, the well-heeled Saudi Arabian clan, which says it is estranged from Laden, is an investor in a fund established by Carlyle Group, a well-connected Washington merchant bank specialising in buyouts of defence and aerospace companies," The Wall Street Journal said in an investigative dispatch.

It said "through this investment and its ties to Saudi royalty, the bin Laden family has become acquainted with some of the biggest names in the Republican Party."

"In recent years, former president George H W Bush, ex-secretary of state James Baker and ex-secretary of defence Frank Carlucci have made the pilgrimage to the bin Laden family's headquarters in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia). "Ex-president Bush makes speeches on behalf of Carlyle Group and is senior adviser to its Asian Partners Fund, while Baker is its senior counsellor and Carlucci is the group's chairman," the journal said."

Carlyle has become the nation's 11th largest defense contractor, owning companies that make tanks, aircraft wings and a broad array of other military equipment. It also owns health care companies, real estate, Internet companies, a bottling company and even Le Figaro, the French newspaper....

Mr. Carlucci makes it clear that his extensive government and global ties are as fresh as ever. "I know Rumsfeld extremely well," Mr. Carlucci said in an interview. "We've been close friends throughout the years. We were college classmates."

So, the horrid, unspeakable bin Laden family is a (major) investor in US defense. That doesn't seem right...does it Joe?

Oh, by the way...do you have a account at CitiBank?

Welcome to the NewWorldOrder!

OOOORRRAHHH!

Yeah, that does seem kinda strange that the bin Laden's are investing in the companies that make the stuff that kills Osama's boys and wrecks his plans - and that one day will ice him.

Man, they must not like him much. Or maybe they figure they know who's gonna win this one and are putting their money where it counts. Or maybe both.

Joe, let Zorro have his conspiracy theories. They help keep him warm in the dark watches of the night.

Joe, you are the one who breathlessly explains "Presidential candidate is paid by Osama bin Laden’s family to make an anti-American speech, in Saudi Arabia.".

Not I kemo sabe...

So, as I understand it- we are at war. The enemy is Radical Islam. Currently the bastion of Radical Islam is Saudi Arabia. Therefor, Saudia Arabia is the Enemy. The binLaden family is one of the wealthiest of our enemies, and owns considerable stake in US defense companies.

Now, of course, we all know that one black sheep does not make a family evil. I think it is just fine and advantageous to have foreign investors in US companies. And the Saudis are our allies in the War on Terror, so it's all good. I'm sure that they want to see peace and prosperity rule the day, and will soon condemn all the Danophobes around the world.

So just calm down...it'll be OK. We'll nuke Iran soon enough.

You are correct Zorro. The statements and actions of the president's brother in a foreign land should be given the same weight as the statements and actions of a former U.S. senator, vice-president, and presidential candidate in the same foreign land. (rolls eyes, turns sarcasm off)

In case you didn't get the point, let me go slowly. It is not fitting for a person who has held the offices that Mr. Gore has held to go to a foreign land and bash his country, especially not in such a public setting. It is inappropriate behavior.

Contrary to what seems to be your assumption, Neil Bush has little weight here in the United States and is a private citizen. It is embarrassing for his family, but has no implications for US policy or the direction of a major US political party.

The same cannot be said for Mr. Gore. His presence and the offices he held do have implications for US foreign policy, at least as proposals floated by the Democratic party, whose presidential candidate he once was. That cannot be ignored.

Neil Bush's behavior was crass and opportunistic, but he is politically speaking, a nobody. Mr. Gore's behavior was also, but his former offices add weight to his words. Thus his behavior was inexcusable.

Truly, your comparison was a case of apples and onions. But nice try.

A conspiracy wacko is Zorro. Mmmhmmmm. Straight talk and logic are not his ways.

What is really beyond belief is how a family of rather innocuous, well-to-do, mainstream, establishment, liberal-to-moderate Republicans like the Bushes have morphed into this crime family extraordinaire. George H.W. Bush is presented as some mastermind of deception and cruelty when in reality he makes Fred MacMurray look like Patton. George W. Bush is said to be a moron who can barely remember to breathe, or a manipulative Machievelli, depending where in the rant you are. Every thing they do, every action they take is to betray the nation, reward their friends, spread suffering to the innocent masses, or all three at once - a hat-trick of infamy.

Every person who works with them or is appointed to public office is an evil minion with total lock-step loyalty and devotion to their masters. They all eagerly join in seeking ways to pervert the public trust and rain ruin down on their fellow citizens, reveling in the smell and sight of the blood of the slaughtered who dared oppose them. Or just get in the way.

No method is too low. No plot is too despicable. Nothing is too wicked for this black-hearted clan to engage in as they amass ever-greater wealth and power over the lands of this earth.

This is not just villiany; this is not just cartoonish super-villiany - this is ultraevilubercartoonsuperduper-villiany. And it is just plain bizzaro.

Dr. Sanity was right - Hofstadter's essay has come back, but on the leftish side of the political spectrum.

I can't believe it, but I must, the evidence of the paranoia is too prevelant to ignore. The left is nuts and needs to be quarantined until the fever runs its course.

"If the people were to ever find out what we have done, we would be chased down the streets and lynched."

- -President George H. W. Bush

This quote was taken from White House Reporter Sarah McClendon's 1992 interview with President George H.W.Bush

Uh-huh. I bet it really means much.

"Hey, there, Miss McClendon. How's it going? You're gonna interview me? Great! Let's get this rolling! By the way, if the people were ever to find out what we have done, we would be chased down the street and lynched."

And then he drops in a statement like that. Which you take as some confession of guilt over his nefarious schemes.

Yeah. I'm real certain that the statement seriously means anything to anyone. Especially with the dread lack of context.