Recently in Republican Hypocrisy Category

Rachel Maddow's takedown of former Vice President Dick Cheney and the other Republicans who are politicizing the foiled terror attempt on Northwest 253 is a must watch segment.

As she asks throughout the piece, where was Vice President Cheney's outrage when the administration in which he was serving had a similar reaction to the shoe bombing in December 2001? And, as Maddow notes at the end of this piece, members of the media have a choice, they can "just copy down what the Republicans and Vice President Cheney are saying, and click send, and call it journalism, or you can actually fact check those comments and put them into context."

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Media Matters catches Obama appointee and former White House Press Secretary Dana Perino rewriting history as she tells Sean Hannity.

"We did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush's term.

Could someone tell her that September 11, 2001, and the anthrax attacks that followed actually happened after President George W. Bush took office?

Dear Mr. President: why was it you appointed Perino to the Broadcasting Board of Governors again? Really, there were no other Republicans in the nation who were qualified for the job?

What Glenn Greenwald says:

The College Republicans at the University of Massachusetts are hosting an event called "All I am Saying is Give War a Chance." It is devoted to the "costs, necessities, consequences, and benefits of war." The speaker is grizzled warrior Jonah Goldberg. Is there anything more outright ludicrous than a bunch of combat-avoiding, prime-fighting-age College Republicans and Jonah Goldberg sitting around in Amherst chatting with each other about the Glories and "benefits of war"?

Gee, with a background like this, who could have figured that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would be such a failure as a diplomat?

Blacker remembers Rice tearing the woman to shreds.

“Let’s get one thing straight,” he recalls her saying. “You are behind the counter because you have to work for minimum wage. I’m on this side asking to see the good jewelry because I make considerably more.”

While the former speaker attacks current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her trip to Syria, Greg Sargent reminds us that Newt interfered with President Bill Clinton's foreign policy -- going so far as to call then Secretary of State Albright an "agent for the Palestinians."

Just another example of Newt's seemingly endless supply of hypocritical acts and statements.

Matthew Yglesias catches another right-wing messenger making an argument regardless of the facts:

Wesley J. Smith reviewing The Party of Death, observes that Ponnuru's "thesis about Democrats is unassailable. Supporting the 'right to choose' is an uber litmus test for any ambitious party member seeking national influence." Unless you want to achieve national influence by, say, becoming Minority Leader of the United States Senate, that is. And David Bonior was Minority Whip in the United States House of Representatives until he stepped down to run for governor.

New York Observer columnist Joe Conason writes about the shameful silence that was accompanied Ann Coulter's latest hate-filled publishing effort, especially Coulter's attack on the September 11 widows.

Conason rightly reserves his harshest judgment for Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman, who often speak of moral courage, but have not yet bothered to defend the widows -- women with whom they both worked closely on the legislation that created the 9-11 Commission. As Conason writes:

The truth about the Jersey Girls—Kristen Breitweiser, Patty Casazza, Mindy Kleinberg and Lorie van Auken—is that they loved their husbands deeply, of course. They and their children continue to suffer from the loss that Ms. Coulter so heartlessly mocks. The truth is that in their suffering, these courageous women joined with other widows and family members to demand a serious investigation of 9/11. Together, they organized, researched and lobbied for thousands of hours to win the appointment of an independent commission, against the determined political opposition of the White House. The truth is that their success was an important victory for every American, without regard to party or ideology, and a vindication of grassroots democracy. The nation owes them all a debt of gratitude.

What is most disturbing about this episode is not that these women can be victimized by a brutal bully like Ms. Coulter, nor even that the mainstream media, which abandoned traditional standards of fairness and decency years ago, would eagerly assist her. That is our hideous political culture. What is most disappointing is the abject dereliction of the prominent politicians who worked so closely with the Jersey Girls.

John McCain and Joseph Lieberman, the Senate sponsors of the bill that created the 9/11 Commission, both believed that an independent investigation was essential for reasons of honor and national security. They both know that they could not have prevailed against the White House—and the Republican Congressional leadership—without the help of the widows.

There is no excuse for enabling Coulter. Since they will not stand up for the 9/11 widows, I think we could all use a little less moral lecturing from Sens. McCain and Lieberman.

Raw Story previews what appears to be a must-read Frank Rich column set for publication tomorrow:

"What really angers the White House and its defenders about both the Post and Times scoops are not the legal questions the stories raise about unregulated gulags and unconstitutional domestic snooping, but the unmasking of yet more administration failures in a war effort riddled with ineptitude," Rich writes.

"It's the recklessness at the top of our government, not the press' exposure of it, that has truly aided the enemy, put American lives at risk and potentially sabotaged national security," Rich continues. "That's where the buck stops, and if there's to be a witch hunt for traitors, that's where it should begin."

Eric Alterman is appropriately snarky about this news:

Meanwhile, the Republican sex cop who authored Ken Starr’s final report on Clinton’s Lewinsky relationship after Starr cut and ran, has been charged with stalking an ex-girlfriend, a law enforcement official said, here. Should we be surprised? I dunno. Ask Rush Limbaugh, Bill Bennett or Newt Gingrich.

After reading this story, scroll down further for an excellent roundup on the Bush Administration's NSA warrantless surveillance spying programs against you and me.

High gasoline prices? Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says it's Clinton's fault. Think Progress debunks this silly notion.

Given how many times Republican leaders blame Clinton for their problems, you might forget that they've had exclusive control of the government for several years now.

Via Think Progress: Will half a dozen members of Congress really be implicated in a prostitution scandal?

CNN's Jack Cafferty sums up the Republican Party's governing philosophy. Crooks and Liars has the video:

Who cares if the Patriot Act gets renewed. Want to abuse our civil liberties-Just do it!

Who cares about the Geneva Conventions? Want to torture prisoners-Just do it!

Who cares about rules concerning the identity of CIA agents. Want to reveal the name of a covert operative? Just do it!

Who cares about whether the intelligence concerning WMD's is accurate. You want to invade Iraq? Just do it.

Who cares about qualifications to serve on the nation's highest court. Want to nominate a personal friend with no qualifications? Just do it.

And the latest outrage, which I read about in "The New York Times" this morning, who cares about needing a court order to eavesdrop on American citizens. Want to wiretap their phones conversations? Just do it.... What a joke.

A very cruel, very sad joke.

At least, as TalkLeft reminds us, that is what then Governor George W. Bush thought in June 1999.

Will we soon learn that such a standard only exists for Democratic presidents?

Vice President Dick Cheney had surgery yesterday. Instead of just admitting that fact, Cheney lied to GOP donors about why he was missing a fundraiser -- saying that he was dealing with disaster coordination and relief instead of readying himself for this serious operation.

As the Washington Note's Steve Clemons rightly argues about this lie:

This is (still) not the Soviet Union. Elected leaders should not mimic former Politburo members and say that they are out doing work for the nation when they are really at home (or dacha) ill, or out of commission.

Despite my intense frustration with this administration over the Iraq War and Cheney's recklessness that has damaged American prestige and position in the world, TWN wishes the Vice President well in this surgery.

But still. . .be straight with the American people, even would-be Republican donors.

Wow. Is there any limit to how far the radical Republicans will go to enforce their agenda? Here's a Knight Ridder story, highlighted by Kevin Drum:

Hours after a judge ordered that Terri Schiavo wasn't to be removed from her hospice, a team of Florida law enforcement agents were en route to seize her and have her feeding tube reinserted � but they stopped short when local police told them they would enforce the judge's order, The Miami Herald has learned.

....For a brief period, local police, who have officers around the hospice to keep protesters out, prepared for what sources called a showdown.

...."It was kind of a showdown on the part of the locals and the state police," the official said. "It was not too long after that Jeb Bush was on TV saying that, evidently, he doesn't have as much authority as people think."