The conservatives at Lucianne Goldberg’s site, lucianne.com, used the story of Obama visiting his half-brother, Mark Ndesandjo (right),  while in Asia as an excuse to display vile contempt.  After posting part of the story…

Beijing – President Barack Obama said today that he met briefly with a half brother who lives in China and who recently wrote a semi-autobiographical novel about the abusive Kenyan father they share. Obama, who spent three days in China during his first official tour of Asia, acknowledged the meeting in an interview with CNN. He offered no details. An aide said later that the meeting took place Monday night after Obama arrived in

…comments kicked in.

Posted by: ribald1, 11/18/2009 9:54:19 AM

So the real reason for the China visit was to pay off another family member to keep quiet.

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Posted by: wnaegele, 11/18/2009 10:13:17 AM

So the Chiccoms have their hands on a half-brother of the pres….

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Posted by: caddyjak, 11/18/2009 10:39:31 AM

In the interest of economy, why not lease Yankee Stadium and he can meet all the halfs, one quarters, etc. in one place.

It’s good to know that conservatives come from such perfect families that they can pass judgment on others.

Arizona Republican John Shadegg, already infamous for dragging a baby onto the floor of the House and acting like a puppeteer, wanted to know how New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s daughers will feel when they’re kidnapped by a terrorist. Shadegg went after the mayor or, more specifically, his daughters, after Bloomberg said New Yorkers aren’t afraid of hosting terror trials.

“I saw the Mayor of New York said today, ‘We’re tough. We can do it.’ Well, Mayor, how are you going to feel when it’s your daughter that’s kidnapped at school by a terrorist? How are you going to feel when it’s some clerk — some innocent clerk of the court — whose daughter or son is kidnapped? Or the jailer’s little brother or little sister? This is political correctness run amok.”

Shadegg issued this apology: “I apologize for the insensitivity of my remarks with respect to the mayor or his family, however I think it is important to note that this decision involves potential risk to innocent people.”  To his credit, Shadegg didn’t apologize while holding a seven-month-old and making her mouth the words.

• Are new guidelines for mammograms tantamount to health-care rationing? Or are they simply an effective way to control costs? Dr. Dennis Gottfried, author of Too Much Medicine, shares his prescription for better and more affordable care.

• The Politics of Fear? As Sarah Palin’s book hits store shelves, Alan responds to claims that liberals are afraid of the former governor.

• Washington Times Editor Emeritus Wes Pruden says the President of the United States is un-American. Alan analyzes Pruden’s logic.

Such thigh-slapping hilarity!  On the Washington Times radio show former Bush Attorney General Michael Mukasey was asked to respond to Virginia Congressman Jim Moran’s statement about Republicans attacking the decision to hold terrorist trials in New York. Moran had said, “They will seize on any opportunity to [demagogue], and that means they’ll even take a stand that’s un-American. It’s un-American to hold anyone indefinitely without trial. It’s against our principles as a nation.” (h/t Think Progress).

Q: Congressman Jim Moran of Virginia says anybody that questions KSM coming to New York City for a civilian trial — that they’re un-American. What is your reaction to that?

MUKASEY: I think he’s lost touch with reality. He ought to get professional help, perhaps from Maj. Nidal.

The hosts seem to think this is high humor.

According to Washington Times Editor Emeritus Wes Pruden you can’t blame President Obama for not understanding America because his father was Kenyan and his mother “was attracted to men of third world (h/t Think Progress). Pruden believes that Obama “on the loose in a foreign land is enough to frighten protocol officers and embarrass the rest of us.”  And Pruden doesn’t miss a shot at Bill Clinton:

It took Bill Clinton months to learn how to return a military salute worthy of a commander in chief; like any draft dodger, he kept poking a thumb in his eye until he finally got it.

But Obama’s foreign roots can excuse him, says Pruden:

It’s no fault of the president that he has no natural instinct or blood impulse for what the America of “the 57 states” is about.

A poll conducted by the Associated Press in association with Stanford University and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation shows that the majority of Americans favor taxing the rich to pay for health care.

The House bill would impose a 5.4 percent income tax surcharge on individuals making more than $500,000 a year and households making more than $1 million.

The poll tested views on an even more punitive taxation scheme that was under consideration earlier, when the tax would have hit people making more than $250,000 a year. Even at that level the poll showed majority support, with 57 percent in favor and 36 percent opposed.

While President Obama comes under fire for bowing to Japan’s Emperor Akihito, conservatives are ignoring the history of American presidents showing deference to, in come cases, questionable world leaders.

Richard Nixon embraced Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.

Nixon had a romantic moment staring into the eyes of Chairman Mao.

President Eisenhower bowed before French President Charles DeGaulle.

And Ronald Reagan went to Bitburg where 49 SS soldiers were buried, so as not to offend West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl.

• AfterDowningStreet.org co-founder David Swanson says that if Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is prosecuted, his interrogators should be prosecuted as well. Swanson defends his controversial demand.

• Tennis legend Andre Agassi tells Alan why he decided to reveal his life’s darkest moments in his new book, Open: An Autobiography.

• Alan considers the strange standards that some pundits have when evaluating presidential leadership.

On “Inside Washington,” columnist and commentator Mark Shields said he’s been bitten by the nostalgia bug (h/t Think Progress).

SHIELDS: We have a president of real intellectual horse power who is cool, detached and analytical and if anything you can watch the emotional side of him emerge in this whole process. … There’s an emotional aspect, the comforter in chief as well as the commander in chief. Both roles. And I think it makes me nostalgic for those days when we had a manly man in the White House who could say, “Let’s kick some tail and ask questions afterwards” you know? That’s what we really need instead of any reflection.

Jed Lewison had a little fun with Rudy Giuliani’s appearance over the weekend on Fox News Sunday. Remember, it was Joe Biden who famously said, “There’s only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun, a verb, and 9/11.”