Am I imagining things or do the Christmas holidays seem to bring out the cluelessness in more people than normal?

Take your average sales clerk in a big department store, for example. That is, if you can find one. Modern American retailing has become pretty much of a do it yourself shopping experience these days. And if you’re lucky enough to find someone to ask a question about a lost price tag or something similarly unimportant about a product you wish to purchase, the chances are very good that the clerk won’t have a clue. They will give you “the stare.” Like a deer in headlights, they will freeze with a smile frozen on their lips while the only thing moving is their jaw as they speed up their gum chewing ever so slightly. Then comes the inevitable giggle followed by “I’ll have to ask the boss.” And off they go into the wilderness never to be seen or heard from again.

Since the only time I’m ever in a department store is at Christmas time, I am not able to ascertain whether this behavior is a year round cluelessness or a simple outgrowth of seasonal stupidity. Be that as it may, since many of our finalists for Cluebat of the Week don’t celebrate Christmas (many of them being foreigners who are unaware of our secular holidays) they can’t claim holiday stress as an excuse.

Here are a few of our more outstanding Cluebats this week:

• Nancy Pelosi for…well, being Nancy Pelosi mostly. Several posts this week cover the Democratic House leader’s latest exercises in rhetorical sophistry.

• How about Iranian President Mahmoud “Nuke ‘em” Ahmadinejad who is not only a Holocaust denier but has also just recently banned “western music.” I don’t like Eminem either but banning Mariah Carey is just taking things a little too far.

• Finishing a close second was South Korean’s clueless stem cell researcher Hwang Woo Suk who tried to carry out a scientific fraud the likes of which may not have been seen since Piltdown Man was foisted on clueless scientists as the so-called “missing link” between apes and humans.

In the end, I had to give the Cluebat of the Week award to a late entry. Jonathan Alter’s editorial in Newsweek where he calls the President a “dictator” and compares the NSA intercept program with the domestic wiretapping done during the Nixon Administration is the most clueless screed published in a mainstream press organ in quite a while. Full of hyperbole, exaggeration, wishful thinking, and outright lies, it was a no brainer to give the award to Alter.

Here are 34 more examples of cluelessness from both the right and the left. Click till you drop.

“It’s too bad that stupidity isn’t painful.”
(Anton LaVey)

Hey Tony! It’s clear you’ve never read Daily Kos!
(Me)

************************************************************************
Surprise! Mark Coffey catches the nutty professor Juan Cole in another flip flop. This time it’s on Sunnis participating in the democratic process in Iraq. Looks like Cole forgot to delete the evidence of his about face again.

One of my favorite new blogs found through the Carnival is Skeptico. In this post, he takes on Bill Maher’s outrageous position on western medicine in general and vaccines in particular. What. A. Dolt.

Gentle Batya of Shiloh Musings (sounds like a great name for a blog…and a C& W band!) has something to say about the efficacy of polls and how clueless politicians use them.

In addition to winning “The Most Christmassy Blog Skin” award, Wonder Woman has the jaw dropper of the day; convicted murderers “supervising prisoners on “community outings” and transfers. Read the article all the way through. But first, take your blood pressure meds. You are going to need them.

The lovely Mensa Barbie has a post about a scary future with devices that can track our every move and the clueless people who might misuse the information.

Here’s your dosage of Carnival satire for the week. First up, The Bear who gives us possible articles of impeachment against President Bush. Then, Carnival Satirist in Residence Buckley F. Williams presents “A Guide to Dealing with Your Family During Christmas, Part I.” Can’t wait for Part II! And while you’re in the mood, check out this uproariously funny piece at Conservathink about Ahmadinejad’s ban on western music for “phat beats” as evidence of vast Zionist conspiracy.

The Anti-Racists Losers blog gives a big shout out to McDonalds Corporation for stopping professed anti-American moonbat Michael (last name not included so that Technorati will not send him or any of his supporters here) from using an altered version of their logo to promote his nauseating propaganda.

Judith at Kesher Talk hands out a “Cluepon” to two cluebats who both exceed expectations when it comes to stupidity about the PLO-Israeli war.

I can’t tell you how jealous I am of Carnival Pin-Up Girl Pamela and her little soire with UN Ambassador John Bolton. That said, read this whole post, especially the part about the cluelessness of Syria and how they continue to treat Lebanon as a captured province.

Soccer Dad has a great post about the cluelessness of some institutions of higher learning and where they recently got a big fat “gift” in order to foster “understanding of Islam.” Sheesh! Talk about whores!

The Yaks Attack! This time, our intrepid Big Shaggies are stalking the Iranian Interior Secretary who was trying to backpedal furiously from Ahmadinejad’s incredibly stupid comments about Israel. BTW, did you know that the male wild yak can weigh up to 1000 kg (2200 lb) and reach a height of 6’5”?

XYBA has some state government cluelessness for ya with this article on an LA County website that will email your sexual partner about your “disease” problem – just in case you’re too shy to tell them yourself. Nice thing to wake up to in the mornin’, huh?

My Right Word has an article about a religious cluebat of a professor who doesn’t quite seem to understand what Hamas is all about.

AJ at The Strata-Sphere lays into Harry Reid and the Democrats for their cluelessness on the NSA controversy.

More Nancy Pelosi commentary from Jimmie K. Did she think no one would notice how really, really stupid she sounded by saying her party would not have a position on the #1 issue facing the country?

Josh Cohen wonders whether or not Congress had anything better to do last week than investigate college football and the annual cries of anguish from constituents that their favorite team didn’t make it into the Rose Bowl this year. Maybe next year for my Mankato State Mavericks.

Raven shows how “Never Forget” 9/11 can quickly become “Fagettaboutit” when clueless Democrats and their hard left allies are concerned.

Cao of Cao’s Blog has another vital post on the trials of Jack Idema. The fact that Cao has been under vicious attack for her defense of Mr. Idema from the far left should tell you all you need to know about why this case is so important.

Orac takes apart President Ahmadinejad for his clueless denial of the Holocaust. Back in ‘45 when Eisenhower toured the death camps, he ordered as many soldiers as possible to bear witness to the atrocities because he thought there would come a day when people would say it didn’t happen. Eisenhower was a very smart fellow.

When I received this entry from New York City.Com I thought it might be a spam website. It isn’t. This guy is hysterical. Read his “Three Stooges” script submitted by the Pentagon to the Iraqi press and you’ll agree.

Tony B. at More than Loans has an interesting take on Nancy Pelosi’s clueless comments about a unified position for her party on Iraq.

Mr. Right has the results of his Captions Contest that featured a picture of Cluebat Hall of Famer Howard Dean in a sort of pensive moonbat pose. Hilarious!

Here’s a blog made for this Carnival; Abolition of Stupidity has a post about the cluelessness of the New Zealand government about the Kyoto protocols.

The American Scratchpad writes about a brand new museum; The Museum of the African Diaspora. Cluebats only need apply for membership.

Fred Fry is blogging “The Apprentice” and has writes about the cluelessness of the winner.

The Maryhunter has the scoop on the South Korean scientist who tried to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes by falsifying his stem cell research data.

Jack Cluth skins Bill Reilly alive for some of the bloviating one’s comments regarding the war on Christmas. As usual, good writing from Jack.

Those pistol-packing pachyderms at Elephants in Academia once again have Arlen Specter in their sights. This time, the Pennsylvania Senator opined about the NSA intercept program while he should have kept his mouth shut.

Adam is laying into the spammers for continuously trying to outfox him. Keep up the good work, man.

Finally, here’s my take on the clueless Mr. Alter and his editorial in which he calls the President of the United States “a dictator.”