Threat Levels, Day Two

There are more developments in the Secret Service situation today, and I'm not talking about the contractor with the criminal record who somehow got hired as a security dude at the CDC. What we are seeing now is an ensemble performance of the wingnut chorus on the theme of how the problems with his security detail are actually the president's fault, because of "political correctness" (Morning Squint), or because he's lazy, or because he thinks he's sooooooo smart. If somebody makes a try, I guarantee you, these people will wait a decent interval of, say, 17 hours, before blaming the president for his own wounds. But the prize package was presented to us by those hepcats 'n kittenz at Tiger Beat On The Potomac, who won the morning (!) by trotting out veteran ratfking author Ron Kessler to sing a remarkable solo, possibly because Gary Aldrich's line was busy. Kessler makes it plain -- if the worst happens, the president is his own worst Czolgosz.

Agents tell me it's a miracle an assassination has not already occurred.
Sadly, given Obama's colossal lack of management judgment, that

Fk Ronald Kessler eternally, and fk also eternally every nitwit at TBOTP who green-lighted this mess. I know Bill Clinton had it tough, but dammit, it is different with this president. It is more virulent, more inherently violent, and a goddamn sight more dangerous, for reasons that are obvious and terrifying. Shall we see why? Let's move along down my personal resume to The Boston Herald, where the current editors, whom I know well, today made me ashamed ever to have set foot in the place, let alone worked there for six years. They ran an editorial cartoon by someone named Jerry Holbert. In the cartoon, to which I nearly declined to link because, fk them all eternally, the White House intruder is in the bathtub while the president is brushing his teeth. The caption reads: "White House Invader Got Farther Than Originally Thought." This is what the cartoonist, Holbert, has the intruder saying from the tub.

"Have you tried the new watermelon-flavored toothpaste?"

For a brief moment, I wondered if, perhaps, the cartoonist was 12-years old and, therefore, ignorant of what he'd done. Nope. Holbert's bio says he was born in 1958, so fk him eternally, and his editors, and the entire squid-cloud of weaselspeak that they threw up in their own defense.

Holbert said he used the watermelon flavor because he found "kids Colgate watermelon flavor" toothpaste in his bathroom at home. "I want to apologize to
anyone I offended who was hurt by the cartoon," Holbert said. "It was
certainly, absolutely, not my intention."

Nobody is that stupid -- not Holbert, not his editors, and not the people to whom this weak tea is offered as an explanation.

"His cartoon satirizing the U.S. Secret Service breach at the White
is a veteran cartoonist with the utmost integrity."


UPDATE -- Perhaps because the Herald was the leader of the clubhouse in today's Lame-Ass Walk Back Competition, TBOTP made a late bid to get into that game, too. Kessler's piece no longer ends the way it used to end because TBOTP was afraid the original ending may have been misunderstood by some people, especially those who speak English and know what words mean, so we get this.

Agents tell me it's a miracle an assassination has not already
occurred. In typical Washington fashion, nothing gets reformed until a
disaster happens. If anything unites Republicans and Democrats, it is
Editor's note: Some readers have misinterpreted the
original last line of Kessler's article as somehow suggesting that the
president should be held responsible in the event of his own
if anyone interpreted Kessler's meaning in any other way.

Also UPDATE: as Top Commenter Darrin Burnett was quick to point out, absent the watermelon reference, the Herald cartoon is pretty funny. The watermelon reference was gratuitous, and William of Ockham would conclude that it was deliberate. no matterwhat Jonathan Chait believes.

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