Dana Perino: There Was No Terrorist Attack on the U.S. Under Bush

In a discussion of the Fort Hood shooting, Dana Perino criticizes the Obama administration for not calling it a terrorist attack, and then makes the obscene claim, "We did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush's term."

Incidentally, Perino was just asked to serve in a media-oversight job in the Obama administration:

"Dana M. Perino, Mr. Bush’s fourth and final press secretary, was nominated Thursday by President Obama to serve on the Broadcasting Board of Governors, an independent agency responsible for overseeing the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and other non-military broadcasts sponsored by the federal government."

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

(via media matters)

Obama Sees Fallen Soldiers Arrive Home at Dover

Obama makes a pre-dawn visit to Dover to witness the bodies of soldiers returning from Afghanistan.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

On FOX News radio's John Gibson show yesterday, Liz Cheney suggested Obama did it for the publicity. Said Cheney:

"I think that what President Bush used to do is do it without the cameras. And I don't understand sort of showing up with the White House Press Pool with photographers and asking family members if you can take pictures. That's really hard for me to get my head around...It was a surprising way for the president to choose to do this."

Actually, Bush never bothered to go see the fallen troops arrive home.

Watch the ceremony, AFTER THE JUMP...

News: Nevada, Scholastic, Rihanna, Malta, Sean Hayes, GOP

Repeal of HIV travel ban in final stages.

Marriage equality campaigns push for early vote in Maine.

Scholastic bans gay-themed book from book fairs: "Luv Ya Bunches, about four elementary school girls who have little in common, but bond over the fact that they’re all named after flowers, is the first installment of a four-book series. But Scholastic says the book, released on October 1, failed to meet its vetting process because it contains offensive language and same-sex parents of one of the main characters, Milla."

The fleshjack for fangbangers.

New Yorkers plan calling party this Friday for Maine marriage equality.

GOP moderate who supports marriage equality in New York state in race seen as test for 2012 presidential elections.

Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth coming to Broadway in revival of Promises, Promises.

George W. Bush will never shut up about his rug.

Silhouette and initials of Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz shot at by Southeast Republican Club at gun range event: "Among the approximately 40 people at the event was Robert Lowry, a Republican seeking his party’s nomination to run against Wasserman Schultz next year. Lowry shot at a target bearing the letters 'DWS' next to the silhouette head. Lowry said he didn't know who wrote Wasserman Schultz' initials on his target, but said he knew they were there before he started shooting. He initially described it as a 'joke,' but after answering several questions he said it 'was a mistake' to use a target labeled 'DWS.'"

James Franco: Just don't ask him to pronounce Versace.

Rated R: Album cover drops for Rihanna's latest.

Billy Bell drops out of So You Think You Can Dance due to illness.

Scientists discover gene that makes rodent's cells "cancer-proof".

President of Malta condemns anti-gay discrimination: "He said he had LGBT people specifically in mind when referring to minorities and various families during his inaugural speech. President Abela stressed the important of anti-discrimination legislation in employment and agreed that Malta EU membership is a positive factor contributing towards greater debate on diversity and acceptance."

Daytime TV to see mass gay wedding of 22 couples on One Life to Live.

Ricky Gervais to host the Golden Globes.

Ang Lee has fond memories of the Brokeback kiss: "I was directing Heath kissing [Jake Gyllenhaal] and I told him that you would never kiss a woman that hard. He needed to do it in a heroic Western way, more passionately. I remember seeing Michelle watching while we filmed - at that point they were already 'friends' - and she had a look of concentration on her face because she also thought he should be stronger with Jake."

Madonna hits Malawi to break ground for her girls' school.

More than 1,000 couples have registered as domestic partners in Nevada: "he law took effect Oct. 1, and more than 700 couples pre-registered and picked up their certificates that day. Nevada's constitution bans gay marriage, but the partnership law extends certain rights previously enjoyed by only married couples to couples who live together. That includes community property and the right to seek financial support after a breakup."

Speechwriter: Bush Didn't Want to Tell a Gay Kid He Couldn't Marry

The Huffington Post's Ryan Grim has published a trove of nuggets from the forthcoming book from former Bush speechwriter Matt Latimer, Speech-less: Tales of a White House Survivor. Two I've lifted for this crowd:

Bush, when told that Idaho Sen. Larry Craig had been the latest GOPer to be caught in a sex scandal involving boys or men: "What is up with all these Republicans?"

For a commencement address at Furman University in spring 2008, Ed Gillespie wanted to insert a few lines condemning gay marriage. Bush called the speech too "condemnatory" and said, "I'm not going to tell some gay kid in the audience that he can't get married." (Of course, Bush ran his 2004 campaign telling that kid just that.)

Here's the book's description, for those of you who haven't seen the TV pre-press: "As a young political geek, Matt Latimer dreamed of one day heading to Washington to work for a conservative president and usher in another Reagan Revolution. With the support of his slightly mortified liberal parents, he tried to do just that -- but his youthful exuberance began to cool as he moved up the rungs of power. On Capitol Hill he worked for a Congressman who “misremembered” basic facts, assisted a U.S. Senator who hid from his own staff, and met another who cowed her male aides into carrying her purse. Finally ensconced in the White House as one of George W. Bush’s chief speechwriters, he soon realized that the post wasn’t at all what he’d envisioned. Less like Aaron Sorkin’s 'The West Wing' and more like NBC’s 'The Office,' D.C.’s most prestigious address turned out to be a bizarro world in which the major players were in some ways mirror opposites of their public images. 

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/20/bush-in-2008-im-not-going_n_292876.html

News: Serbia, Caster Semenya, China, Tim Hardaway, Cleveland

Obama appoints law professor, ENDA expert, and former legislative counsel to the AIDS Project of the ACLU Chai R. Feldblum as Commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Hamburglar chic at Marc Jacobs show.

Orbitz, Bertolli, Cadillac, Subaru, Lifelube, Allstate, Coors Light among nominees for GLAAD  Media Awards in Advertising.

David Beckham looks like a fool trying to golf.

Amnesty International: Serbian gay rights activists under attack. Serbian authorities expect Gay Pride clashes...

Teen sentenced to up to 9 months in juvenile detention for gay bashing of Steven Harmon in Portage, Michigan, after pleading guilty to aggravated assault. More on the crime here. "The 16-year-old was also ordered to obtain anger management counseling, victim restitution and write a letter of apology to the victim, Steven Harmon, said Karen Hayter, division leader for assistant prosecuting attorneys in the Family Court division of Kalamazoo County Circuit Court."

South African runner at center of gender debate,Caster Semenya, on suicide watch: "She is like a raped person. She is afraid of herself and does not want anyone near her. If she commits suicide, it will be on all our heads. The best we can do is protect her and look out for her during this trying time."

Gays take a stand (and a seat) in a public park in Guangzhou, China: "When the police descend on People's Park and shoo away the gay men gathered there, the men usually scatter to avoid trouble. But recently, about 50 or so confronted five officers who began a sweep and finally forced a police retreat after a heated but nonviolent standoff."

Straight spouses stung by closeted exes speak up for same-sex marriage: "If gays and lesbians were more accepted, I wouldn't have married a closeted lesbian."

Tim Hardaway foundation to hold Miami benefit for gay suicide hotline The Trevor Project.

Popular gay radio show Fernando & Greg booted from the air in San Francisco...

Jake Gyllenhaal takes in the Del Potro knockdown at the U.S. Open.

Penn Badgley on Gossip Girl cast: "In certain circles we're treated like royalty. We're treated like the Kennedys."

Mayor Frank Jackson and Cleveland City Council lift city's Gay Games bid to the tune of $700,000: "The money would help defray the costs of holding the games here and would not be spent unless Cleveland is the winning bidder. The city is one of three finalists for the 2014 Gay Olympics. Boston and Washington D.C. are the other contenders."

Former Bush speechwriter reveals how Bush dissed everyone in Washington.

Report cards issued to pharmaceutical companies with HIV drugs on the market.

Finish line: "on Sunday, September 13, 2009, 113 riders and a team of 50 volunteer crew members of Braking the Cycle ended their three-day cycling journey from Boston to New York, at the footsteps of the LGBT Community Center...Together, this small group of dedicated individuals raised $274,682 (Net) for the HIV/AIDS services of the Center."

Peoria, Illinois holds first Gay Pride event.

California Bar Association annual meeting split by protest over Prop 8 supporter Doug Manchester's Grand Hyatt in San Diego: "Most nights there is a noisy picket line in front of the hotel. Whether the State Bar should or could move its annual meeting was a great controversy in legal circles earlier this year. In the end, the State Bar decided that it was not prudent or possible to move their convention. However, the now truly independent Conference of Delegates found itself not bound by the State Bar decision. The Conference of Delegates moved more than a mile away to the new Hilton Bayfront, near Petco Park. Attorneys or judges who want to attend both are left to chose between their walking shoes or taking a pedicab or taxi."

Tom Ridge Was Pressured to Raise Terror Alert to Help Bush in '04 Election

Former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge is publishing a "tell-all" on September 1. Among the details of the book being promoted is something many folks had suspected for a long time — that national security alert levels were at least sometimes politically motivated and not based on actual threats (other than the GOP and Bush losing elections!).

From Thomas Dunne publishers tease of The Test of Our Times: America Under Siege...and How We Can Be Safe Again:

A “law and order” Republican who was on the shortlist to be John McCain’s running mate in 2008, Ridge writes with refreshing candor on both the successes and missteps of the DHS. He details the obstacles faced in his new post—often within the administration itself—as well as the failures of Congress to provide for critical homeland security needs, and the irresponsible use of terrorism by both parties to curry favors with voters. Ridge also reveals:

• How the DHS was pressured to connect homeland security to the international “war on terror”
• How Ridge effectively thwarted a plan to raise the national security alert just before the 2004 Election
• How Ridge had pushed for a plan (defeated because of turf wars) to integrate DHS and FEMA disaster management in New Orleans and other areas before Hurricane Katrina.

Paul Bedard of U.S. News and World Report: "Ridge was never invited to sit in on National Security Council meetings; was 'blindsided' by the FBI in morning Oval Office meetings because the agency withheld critical information from him; found his urgings to block Michael Brown from being named head of the emergency agency blamed for the Hurricane Katrina disaster ignored; and was pushed to raise the security alert on the eve of President Bush's re-election, something he saw as politically motivated and worth resigning over."

Ridge denied in 2004 that the security alert changes were politically motivated.