WE HAVE A TALK RADIO PRESIDENT

And by that I mean that Pres. Fredo exemplifies the stupidity, ignorance, anger, dishonesty and bile found not only on right-wing talk radio but also in the minds and hearts of the listeners who take these gasbags seriously, as in "You're a great American, Sean," a standard opening for true believers to the Sean Hannity radio show.

Matt Yglesias was surprised that Fredo interpreted the MoveOn ad as an attack on the troops but there shouldn't be anything surprising here about this "error": It's useful for the right-wing extremists. Remember the editorial cartoon by Tom Toles? The one with the clear meaning that then-DEFSEC Rumsfeld was out of touch with the realities of the Iraq War? Well, the radio gasbags went nuts over that also and worse, the Joint Chiefs of Staff joined in. And the wingnuts wonder why we are a little suspicious of generals!

Here's Pres. Fredo sounding exactly like Sean Hannity (9/20/07):

Q What is your reaction to the MoveOn.org ad that mocked General Petraeus as General "Betrayus," and said that he cooked the books on Iraq? And secondly, would you like to see Democrats, including presidential candidates, repudiate that ad?

THE PRESIDENT: I thought the ad was disgusting. I felt like the ad was an attack not only on General Petraeus, but on the U.S. military. And I was disappointed that not more leaders in the Democrat Party spoke out strongly against that kind of ad. And that leads me to come to this conclusion: that most Democrats are afraid of irritating a left-wing group like MoveOn.org -- or more afraid of irritating them than they are of irritating the United States military. That was a sorry deal. It's one thing to attack me; it's another thing to attack somebody like General Petraeus.