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Pres. Reagan: “If I’m so lame I’ve decided to get a cast. And that’ll be useful when I have to do some kicking.”

Deborah Potter (CBS News): “Left unsaid that some of the kicking will be aimed at the moderates within his own party who’ve already vowed to nudge him towards what they see as an unpleasant reality; the deficit can’t be cut enough without a tax increase.”

Unpleasant realities, something The Reagan Years were very good at sweeping under the carpet. And of course, fixing blame on the opposing party when the reality rears its fur-tongued head.

Same as it ever was - same as it ever was.

Here is a CBS World News Roundup broadcast from the morning of November 29, 1984. The players, the faces and the situations are all intact.

Sensational headlines aside, there are some revealing moments among the few newly-released Department of State cables published by Wikileaks. Although the transcript for this particular cable is long, it's worth reading the entire strand in context rather than by excerpt.

A somewhat long cable narrative, relating the gist of a meeting between Senator John Kerry and the Amir of Qatar reveals how the urgent the Obama administration views Iran's misbehavior in the region, and how frustrated they are at Iran's continued rebuffs. Qatar's Amir is clearly biased toward Iran, claiming that Ahmadinejad's success is due to the fact that he is "uncorrupted" as he chides Kerry and the US for siding with the protesters during the Iran elections.

At one point, the Amir points out that the US must remember that Iranians are Persians first, and must be approached on that basis. What does that mean, exactly? There is another cable from 1979, written by Victor Tomseth before he was taken hostage later that year which outlines the basis upon which the US should approach any negotiations with Iran, beginning with the understanding that the single dominant aspect of the Persian psyche is an "overriding egoism". I'm not sure if this was what the Amir was referring to, and Senator Kerry seems to look at his warning as an admonition to recognize the Persian tradition in arts, education and music. It might be instructive for him to consider the content of Tomseth's cable.

The takeaway for me so far with regard to the Middle Eastern set of cables is how the Obama administration is taking that region as a holistic endeavor, recognizing that peace between Israel and Palestine is part of finding a peaceful resolution to the ever-restive Iranians, and they are serious about trying to broker a peace throughout that region.

The full quote from the cable of this portion of the conversation follows.

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Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman isn't hiding his love for Rupert Murdoch's media empire.

In a Monday interview on Fox Business Network's Imus in the Morning, the senator from Connecticut declared that the Fox Business Network, Fox News and anything Murdoch owned were his "favorite."

Host Don Imus asked Lieberman if thought The New York Times should be prosecuted for reporting on secret State Department cables released by the whistleblower website WikiLeaks.

"I don't know if you can prosecute The Times under existing Supreme Court decisions," Lieberman said. "But I'll tell you this, I wish The Times, just as an act of citizenship had said, 'No, we're not going to publish this stuff because it's going to do the country damage.'"

"I know they will probably will say once it goes up on the WikiLeaks website in the world you can't control it and they redacted, they blocked out some of the stuff in these cables," he continued. "But, you know, The New York Times, afterall, is The New York Times with all its stature and I wish this stuff had appeared somewhere else. I wouldn't be for prosecuting The Times, but I would say I wish they had shown better citizenship."

Lieberman then commended CNN for turning down the WikiLeaks documents because they were asked to sign a pledge of anonymity.

"Incidentally, I heard last night, I was watching CNN and Joe [Johns] was on and he was doing the 10 o'clock news show and he said that CNN had been offered these documents by Wikileaks or a third party, but had turned it down because they refused to sign a pledge granting the source anonymity, which The Times did. And I give CNN and whoever else turned it down credit for doing that. The New York Times' hands are dirty in this and they should have said 'no,'" Lieberman said.

"I hate CNN," Imus replied. "I wish you hadn't brought that up."

"I'm sorry about that! It just happened. But of course, really, Fox Business is my favorite and Fox generally, anything Rupert Murdoch owns," Lieberman confessed.

The liberal blog Think Progress first noticed Lieberman's comments to Imus.

The Connecticut senator may have good reason to love Fox News. During a tight 2006 Senate race, a volunteer for Ted Lamont accused the news channel of placing campaign signs for Lieberman in advance of an interview.

"All of a sudden, two or three out-of-state vans (accompanied by a Fox News crew) pull up and unload a bunch of Lieberman lawn signs, placed right in front of the Lamont signs that had already been planted," the volunteer said. "And, what do you know, after a few more minutes, who shows up but Joe himself, ready for the cameras."

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UPDATE: The Supreme Court rejected the claim today without comment. [H/t marionetta]

We've always said that wingnuts never, ever give up. And that would be especially true of the wingnuttiest of the current crop, the Birthers -- because their theory has been so manifestly disproven so many times that you'd think they might have a clue by now. But no.

Now they're expanding their theory. They're arguing that Obama, per the constitutional requirement that he be a "natural born citizen", is disqualified from such status because his father was a British subject of Kenyan birth.

What's really funny about this theory is that these fetishists of all things from the Founding Fathers would thus have disqualified one of the leading founders, Thomas Jefferson, from the presidency.

What's perhaps not so funny about it is that the Supreme Court has this case on its docket.

Unsurprisingly, the wingnuts at WorldNetDaily are all over the story:

The Supreme Court conferred today on whether arguments should be heard on the merits of Kerchner v. Obama, a case challenging whether President Barack Obama is qualified to serve as president because he may not be a "natural-born citizen" as required by Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 of the U.S. Constitution.

Unlike other eligibility cases that have reached the Supreme Court, Kerchner vs. Obama focuses on the "Vattel theory," which argues that the writers of the Constitution believed the term "natural-born citizen" to mean a person born in the United States to parents who were both American citizens.

"This case is unprecedented," said Mario Apuzzo, the attorney bringing the suit. "I believe we presented an ironclad case. We've shown standing, and we've shown the importance of the issue for the Supreme Court. There's nothing standing in their way to grant us a writ of certiorari."

There really shouldn't be much to worry about here, truthfully: the lower courts have all tossed out this suit, and indeed the Third Circuit Appeals court ordered Apuzzo to explain why he shouldn't be sanctioned for filing a frivolous lawsuit (an order that was later vacated.

On the other hand, considering that these appeals were tossed not on the merits of the case but on the lack of standing that Charles Kerchner actually had in filing the suit, and the fact that the Roberts Court has shown a disturbing tendency to liberalize standing when it suits the conservative wing, maybe we shouldn't be so blithe.

And what's the basis of their theory? Back to WND:

Apuzzo is arguing the "Vattel theory," which asserts that the term "natural-born citizen" as used in the Constitution was defined by Swiss writer Emer de Vattel. Vattel, whose work, "The Law of Nations," was widely known and respected by the founding fathers, used the term to mean an individual born of two citizens.

According to Apuzzo, Congress and the courts have addressed the question of who can be an American citizen, for example regarding former slaves, Asian immigrants, and American Indians. However, the term "natural-born citizen" has never been altered.

"The courts and Congress have never changed the definition," said Apuzzo. "The founding fathers understood that the commander-in-chief of the armed forces needed to have two American citizens as parents so that American values would be imparted to him."

Apuzzo said the Supreme Court had clearly accepted Vattel's definition of "natural-born citizen" in "dicta," or statements made in opinions on cases addressing other matters. He cited Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall's opinion in the 1814 "Venus" case, in which Marshall endorses Vattel's definition.

This is pretty odd reasoning. Especially when you consider that the same standard would have disqualified Thomas Jefferson -- whose mother, Jane Randolph Jefferson, was born in London, England:

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John McCain is never going to admit it was a mistake or apologize for unleashing Sarah Palin on the rest of us. He continued to defend her on this Sunday's State of the Union program on CNN. Someone needs to tell Candy Crowley that he's never going to read her book either.

CROWLEY: I have less than 30 seconds here. But I have to ask you about Sarah Palin. New book out that you're going to read sooner or later. She's going to Iowa, she's going to South Carolina. The big game is, is she going to run for president, isn't she going to run for president. You know her probably better than any politician who does. How do you read what's going on?

MCCAIN: I read I think she's keeping her options open, and I think she should. I think she is an incredible force in the American political arena.

CROWLEY: And a divisive force, would you agree?

MCCAIN: I think that anybody who has the visibility that Sarah has is obviously going to have some divisiveness. I remember that a guy named Ronald Reagan used to be viewed by some as divisive.

CROWLEY: So you sort of -- do you see her as a parallel?

MCCAIN: No, I think she's doing a great job. I think she's doing a great job. I think she has motivated our base. I think she had a positive impact on the last election, and I'm proud of her.

CROWLEY: Senator John McCain, there is never enough time. Thank you so much.

MCCAIN: Thanks for having me on.

CROWLEY: I appreciate it.

Looks like they're never going to stop with the revisionist history on Ronnie Ray-gun either. I hate to break it to you, Johnny, but he's still viewed as divisive by many of us as well.

One of the newly released WikiLeaks documents concerns a meeting between several Senators and Syrian President Asad. During the conversation, Senator Amy Klobuchar presses for Syrian assistance to pressure Iran to release the three hikers imprisoned in Iran.

From a lengthy cable describing a meeting between Syrian Bashar al-Asad and Senators Gregg, Bayh, Specter, Enzi, Cornyn, and Klobuchar on January 4, 2010:

¶12. (S) Senator Klobuchar commented that she had supported Barak Obama because of his promise to advance a new approach to international relations. While there were no easy solutions in the region, the U.S. and Syria appeared to have overlapping interests in avoiding war and in ensuring a strong and stable Iraq. From the U.S. perspective, Syria might demonstrate as a goodwill gesture its interest in better relations by helping obtain the release of three American citizens -- Joshua Fattal, Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd -- who apparrently crossed into Iran while hiking in northeastern Iraq. Swiss officials had visited them, but they were isolated and the U.S. lacked information on their whereabouts and any pending charges.

¶13. (S) Asad replied he was unfamiliar with their case and requested that the Embassy send more information. Senator Specter interjected later in the conversation that the Embassy had delivered a letter to the MFA that week from the Secretary. Specter added he had personally raised the matter in Washington with Syrian Ambassador Imad Mustafa. The U.S. would view positively Syrian efforts to secure the three Americans' release, Specter said, comparing the case to the Iranian detention of UK sailors whom Syria helped to free. "We'll try our best," replied Asad, saying it would be necessary to ask about the legal aspects of the case. Specter clarified there had been no charges filed. It had started as a trespassing case, but U.S.-Iranian relations were so poor it was impossible to resolve.

I would be interested to know if there was any follow up to this conversation, if there was any effort on the part of Syria to approach Iran about their release, and whether other similar requests were made of other countries in the region with diplomatic relations with Iran. Part of the problem I have with how these documents are released and disseminated is their lack of context or followup. There's no stream, just cherry-picked pieces of information.

Still, it's a positive sign to see not one, but two US Senators putting pressure on Iran's allies in the region to release the hikers. One down, two left.

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Fox News is helping a former Republican congressman spread the myth that President Barack Obama was born in Kenya.

Appearing on Fox News Monday, John LeBoutillier explained that his new fictional book uses "real things" like Obama's grandmother once claimed she was present for his Kenyan birth.

LeBoutillier's new book, The Obama Identity: A Novel (Or Is It?), seems to be referring to a 2008 World Net Daily article where a Pennsylvania man is said to have a telephone recording of Obama's grandmother.

"Ed Klein and I, when we wrote this book, used real things in a book of fiction," LeBoutillier told Fox News hosts Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade.

"There's so much real stuff in this book. Like you asked me before we came on the air about Obama's grandmother living today in Kenya. And we have her in the book. It's fiction but in reality, she has claimed consistently that he was born in Mombasa, Kenya. She said this adamantly on the record. We took that and used it in the book in a very funny way," he said.

"I'm sure that will resonate well with everybody," Kilmeade replied sarcastically.

"I'm sure the White House will be thrilled," LeBoutillier joked.

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Mediaite picked up on this little exchange with Reagan/Teddy Roosevelt biographer Edmund Morris and Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer. Unfortunately, their focus was less on the content and more on the adolescent giggling over the use of a naughty word on the part of Morris:

Although the clip below from CBS’s Face The Nation is not as confrontational as the title to this post might suggest, it’s actually much funnier. Bob Schieffer annually hosts a roundtable in an attempt to bring together for an intellectual conversation four authors who wrote serious historical or political books. This year authors Ron Chernow (Washington: A Life), Arianna Huffington (Third World America), Edmund Morris (Colonel Roosevelt), and Bob Woodward (Obama’s Wars) participated in the thoughtful and sedate conversation, that is until a sound rarely, if ever, heard on a Sunday morning news show caught all viewers by surprise: a censor bleeping.

Earlier in the show, Schieffer probed Theodore Roosevelt biographer Morris about what Roosevelt would think of the Tea Party movement. Morris bristled at the idea of attempting to do the impossible and predict what a dead President would think of current events. However, that did not stop Schieffer from trying again with this exchange:

Schieffer: What would Teddy Roosevelt think of today’s politics, Edmund?

Morris: You keep asking these presentist questions Bob. As the immortal Marisa Tomei said in My Cousin Vinny, ‘that’s a bullshit question!’ because you cannot pluck people out of the past and expect them to comment on what’s happening today.

Not only was the expletive jarring, but so was hearing the erudite author change the tone of his voice in an attempt to mimic Tomei’s movie accent.

Kenyan-born Morris may have difficulty contorting his mouth to sound like the Brooklynite Mona Lisa Vito, but the point of his response is apt. Why does the media keep seeking to legitimize the tea partiers as a political movement by looking for historical validation? Here's one of the country's leading authorities on Teddy Roosevelt, who faced his own set of political issues and faced them soundly, establishing himself as one of the greatest American presidents, and you want to know what he'd think about a bunch of yokels who don't even realize they're doing the bidding of corporate forces like Dick Armey's FreedomWorks? Mediaite goes further to be outraged at Morris for slamming Americans for not being intellectually curious enough to know or care about anything outside their insular world.

The moment got even stranger as just seconds later the American film buff launched a devastatingly serious critique about what he sees as unattractive about the American people today:

I see an insular people who are insensitive to foreign sensibilities, who are lazy, obese, complacent and increasingly perplexed as to why [Americans] are losing our place in the world to people who are more dynamic than us and more disciplined.

Wow tell us how you really feel Morris. Maybe if America gave him a sequel to My Cousin Vinny he would be happier with our country?

Yeah, that's what Morris is looking for. Honestly, has Mediaite writer Matt Schneider not been paying attention? Americans ARE intellectually incurious and too wrapped up in their own lives to see how the country is falling behind. I promise, a couple of hours at a mall during Black Friday ought to convince anyone of that. Of course, instead of following up on that notion and perhaps leading the panel into a substantive discussion (that would include the delusions of the tea parties), Schieffer immediately goes to commercial. Because, you know, we wouldn't want to shock Schieffer's viewers out of their complacency.

If freedom is in danger, that is because we have fences to protect ourselves from it. The School of the Americas (now retitled the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, or WHISC) has trained men from Central and South America who went on to commit genocide, terror, rape, and torture. Since this makes us 'free,' we must protect it behind a three-layered chain-link gate. We must patrol the other side with four-wheeled vehicles, establish a command post in view of the gate, and place an ever-enlarging number of civilian and military uniforms around it over the weekend.

Against this, veterans and faith organizations and artists have deployed an annual festival of peace and freedom. Much more after the jump, if you're curious:

Watch In The Free Speech Zone At The School Of The Americas Watch in Web Series

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Look, I have no doubt that this sort of thing has been going on for a long time, and I certainly don't kid myself that the Democrats hold the moral high ground. But it still makes me sick. From Antiwar.com, via Wikileaks:

With over a quarter of a million WikiLeaks documents coming to light today, a number of previously stalled stories are being given new life, including the bungled kidnapping of German citizen Khalid El-Masri and his subsequent abuse in US custody.

Masri was kidnapped in early 2004 by CIA officials and sent to Baghdad and later Afghanistan, where he was repeatedly abused before officials finally discovered that they meant to kidnap Khalid al-Masri, an entirely different person with a similarly spelled name.

A 2007 State Department document revealed the US “warned” the German government against making any moves to secure the arrests of the CIA agents responsible for the kidnapping, saying any such move would have “repercussions” to the relationship between the two nations.

German officials, according to the document, conceded that they understood the possible diplomatic consequences but also warned hat given the outcry from the German media their options were limited. The US admonished them to consider the “political context” of the kidnapping of the innocent man.

Despite the warnings the German government did issue Interpol arrest warrants for CIA officials involved in the kidnapping, though they dropped them a few months later. El-Masri attempted to sue the CIA over his torture in a US court but the case was thrown on “national security” grounds.