Hey, "Bagdad" Jim McDermott--you're on the list, buddy!

There's a new book, about which you may have heard, that purports to list the 100 worst Americans from a republican POV. Among them, my Congressional Representative, "Bagdad" Jim McDermott.

Now, fair disclosure--even if I didn't respect McDermott anyway, which I do, his office recently did a signifigant service for my mother--they got Social Security to cough up money she was owed. But why is he on the list? According to The Seattle Times:

The book assails McDermott's pre-Iraqi war statement that President Bush "would mislead the American people."

Um...well, that does seem to be the consensus of the entire world, now including the American people, but hey, thanks for playing.

But, good news! Know who else is on the list? Your humble blogger. Okay, not me personally, but the entire city of Seattle, which according to the same story in the Times is described as:

home of more "progressive loonies than anyplace else on the Left Coast."

Now personally, I can't believe we've beaten San Francisco in the progressive loonies department--although, you know, I have been away a long time. But I have to say I like the style of the president of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, Steve Leahy, who said:

"Perhaps this will give us a whole new tourist slogan: 'Loonies? Just another part of Emerald City's charm.' "

The full title of the book is "100 People Who Are Screwing Up America (and Al Franken Is # 37)," the author is one Bernard Goldberg. Now, I have read the award-winning, best-selling Franken's book "Lies And The Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right." Specifically the relevant chapter "I Bitch-Slap Bernie Goldberg," in which Franken lays out a pretty convincing case for just how far Goldberg will reach to score a dubious point. So you'll forgive me if I assume there just may be some petty score-settling going on here.

Speaking of stretching (the truth) to make a point:

In an interview, Goldberg said that he wasn't just including McDermott because of what he said on the eve of the Iraq invasion, it was where he said it — Baghdad.

Right. Never mind that what McDermott said was--provably, rationally, and by any reasonable standard, true--it's just that he had the indecency to say it while standing in a place where we were about to kill thousands of people for no reason. What a prick.

One final note: If Jesse Taylor at Pandagon's experience is any indication,

the marketing technique of writing a book that sounds funny and then openly calling out an actual funny person on the cover is backfiring

I do recommend checking out the list, though--if nothing else, it's an excellent way of telling who you should be listening to. If they're shooting at you, you know you're doing something right. President of People for the American Way? Check. Krugman? Check. Carter? Check. Executive director of the ACLU? Check. Moore? Check.