This can’t be good news for Bush supporters.
Bush’s bounce notwithstanding, the electoral college map still favors Kerry 307-231. Now, granted — that Kerry lead is ever so slight and the usual caveats about polls and margins of error (expressed in the WSJ link, so I won’t repeat them here) apply.
Digby is asking some pretty blunt questions about Bush’s drinking and cocaine problem.
Like . . . why is Bush, who supposedly kicked his alcohol problem in the 1980’s, drinking a beer here at the G-8 Summit? (Yes, it’s his glass. Count the participants and match them with the booze).
And why was Bush so drunk here (Quicktime video) in 1992?
And why does he keep getting all bruises on his face from falling down? Choking on pretzels?
All this, of course, while Kitty Kelly’s book comes out which alleges that Dubya was doing coke at Camp David during his father’s presidency. Don’t look now, but even the mainstream media is covering that one . . .
No, no. This is not a smear. You see, I’m just asking questions here. After all, Bush made his drinking and drug habit a campaign issue, since he is running on family values (he does, after all, mention "values" in every speech). And unless the President comes clean with the American people about these questions, I will be forced to declare his claims of alcohol and drug rehab as officially bogus.
And I haven’t even brought up Robin Garner (nee Lowman) and her abortion yet. Heh.
The Texans For Truth group as a new ad out . . . .
Speaking of video, check out this news footage of the skirmish at the RNC, showing a Republican kicking a female protester when she was on the ground . . . and then lying about it to a reporter.
By the way, notice that that "oh, shit" look in that Republican’s eyes when the reporter informs him that they have footage. That "oh shit" look. Where have we seen that before? Oh, yeah . . . here . . .
The Associated Press has conducted an analysis of Bush’s "military" records and identified "five categories of records that should have been generated after Bush skipped his pilot’s physical and missed five months of training."
For example, Air National Guard regulations at the time required commanders to write an investigative report for the Air Force when Bush missed his annual medical exam in 1972. The regulations also required commanders to confirm in writing that Bush received counseling after missing five months of drills.
No such records have been made public and the government told The Associated Press in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit that it has released all records it can find.
Imagine my surprise.
White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said there were no other documents to explain discrepancies in Bush’s files.
No, of course not.
Via Kevin Drum, we hear from William Arkin, a military analyst with the L.A. Times, who opines about the military blunders of the Bush Adminstration. One of them, one still not learned, is:
Never mistake a mirror for a window.
With dismaying frequency, Bush, Rumsfeld and senior military leaders have made critical decisions on the basis of what they thought was a clear view of their adversaries — looking at the enemy through an open window, so to speak. In reality, they were looking at a mirror and seeing fuzzy images of themselves.
….Senior officials talk about Iraq as part of something fundamentally different from past military challenges. But they fight it like a conventional war: From the beginning, our strategy was to engage the enemy in battle, win a crushing victory and reap the fruits of unconditional success. Thus, field commanders have talked of "victories" in Najaf and "strategic progress" in Fallouja. Meantime, soldiers continue to die by the ones and twos on conventional infantry patrols.
Unfortunately, our adversaries are not interested in engaging us head-on. That’s why the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon happened in the first place.
….What is true militarily in Iraq is also true politically, there and in the rest of the Arab world: We keep thinking that, deep down, our adversaries are really just like us. In reality, for the present and for the foreseeable future, most of the Islamic world is not — and does not want to be — like us. It has profoundly different values and priorities. Thus our entire strategy is predicated on a mirror-picture that we will someday "defeat" the increasingly angry anti-American mob of Iraqi nationalists and Islamic fundamentalists, with democratic stability miraculously arising from the ashes.
Drum adds that:
strikes me as the critical point in the debate on terror. Bush has surrounded himself with people who fundamentally believe in the use of military power and flatly don’t understand that conventional assaults aren’t always the answer in a nonconventional war. To them, anything aside from a smashing military victory is simply a sign of weakness.
He is absolutely correct. And if people would only stop seeing this as a comic book/movie kind of conflict, we might actually be able to rid the world of terrorism.
(1) February 19, 2002
Rewind to that date. This was only 5 months after 9/11/01. The United States had barely begun its invasion of Afghanistan. This was loooong before the Bush White House starting rolling out (and marketing) its new "product" — the Iraq War.
According to Bob Graham, he ran into a very dejected General Tommy Franks on that date. Sen. Graham asked Franks about Afghanistan. Franks responded:
"Senator, we are not engaged in a war in Afghanistan.”
”Excuse me?” I asked.
”Military and intelligence personnel are being redeployed to prepare for an action in Iraq,” he continued.
Not only that, but other resources — such as the Predator Drone (which was SUPPOSED to look for bin Laden) — was being diverted to Iraq.
Yeah, it was faulty intelligence that made Bush go into Iraq.
(2) Bush Cover-up
According to Graham, two of the 9/11 hijackers had a support network in the U.S. which included agents of the Saudi government. The details of this financial connection was within in the 27 pages of the congressional inquiry’s final report that were heavily redacted by Bush (to the consternation of many). Some of it has been mentioned before, but perhaps Graham’s new book (written about here) might remind us just how much Bush is beholden to Saudi Arabia at the expense of national security.
Are the Swiftees pissed at Kerry because he supposedly lied in his Senate testimony, or are they pissed because he told the TRUTH (thus breaking the unspoken code of slience among brothers-in-arms)?
Well, it seems that at least ONE of the Swiftees — actually, one of the group’s organizers — had no problem ordering the execution of Vietnamese civilians.
Means, a 55-year-old investigator for several Bakersfield law firms, was particularly annoyed by the words of one retired admiral. Roy F. "Latch" Hoffman, one of the co-founders of the pro-George W. Bush group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, had publicly criticized Kerry, a former Swift boat commander, for having brought back stories about alleged war crimes by U.S. forces — often carried out, Kerry said in 1971, "with the full awareness of officers at all levels."
Seemed to him, Means said, his own Swift boat crew had come close to committing a war crime themselves one day. A senior officer, hitching a ride up the coast aboard their Swift boat, had ordered the crew to fire on a small group of unarmed Vietnamese fishermen working their nets in unrestricted waters, Means said. The boat’s commanding officer had refused to comply.
Was that the way the boat’s commander remembered the incident too, all these years later? Means had to know.
So he got on the Internet and hunted down Thomas W.L. "Tad" McCall, the retired Navy captain who’d commanded Means’ boat, PCF 88, as a newly minted ensign. Means called him.
Not only did McCall remember the day in question, and that confrontation off the coast of South Vietnam, he remembered the name of the officer who had given the command to shoot: "Latch" Hoffman himself, then a Navy captain in charge of the entire Swift boat task force in Vietnam.
(Source) (subscription required)
Yup. They don’t like Kerry . . . because Kerry spoke the truth to power.
Never mind the fact the Dubya may or may not have actually attended training at the Alabama National Guard.
Let’s look at why he was in Alabama in the first place, and what he did while there. Here‘s a pretty revoltin’ development. Check out what George "Some may not like my stagger; in Texas, we call it walking" Bush was up to.
This is going to be the political story next week (spurred by the upcoming "60 Minutes" interview with Ben Barnes), although it may get overshadowed by Frances.
Clinton Has Heart Attack: Mean-spirited Republicans rejoice:
No doubt his arteries are clogged up with pounds of MacDonalds hamburgers and pizzas.
I at least hope he lives long enough to see JFK AND Hildabeast go down in flames. Then he can go down in flames, metaphorically speaking. I hope his big honkin’ bible is printed on asbestos so he can carry it with him.
Give him a enema and send him home. The widow Hillary will gather the sympathy vote in 08′
sorry, I cant muster any sympathy. I’d feel the same if they said Saddam was gettin bypass surgery. It’s a waste of time and money.
UPDATE: Appears to be chest pains, but still nothing to dismiss — quadruple heart surgery is required. Meanwhile, the we’ve-come-to-bury-you Republican machine rolls on. Today, when Bush said at a campaign rally that Clinton was "in our thoughts and prayers", the Republican audience (because you can’t into a Bush rally otherwise) . . . booed! Hat tap to my dear LQ.
Let’s get a few preliminary obvious things out of the way first. The Republican National Convention wasn’t geared to people like me, and not being a Republican or a conservative, I’m not supposed to "get it". That said, here are some random chicken-scratchings, for what it is worth:
(1) I find it very telling that McCain and Giuliani were placed in the shitty slots (the first night, with the lowest viewership). If the Rove strategy was to speak to on-the-fence moderates and swing voters, both those men — the most "accessible" in the Republican Party — would have been in more prominent positions. Instead, the Republicans opted to give those prime slots to the flame-throwers. It seems clear that the Rove strategy is to energize the conservative base (hoping that more conservatives will be motivated to vote), rather than go for the swing/undecided vote. And who knows? It may work!
(2) Was it just me or did the "cutaways" seem less friendly to the RNC than they were with the DNC? I was surprised how often the Republicans delegates really looked bored or comatose.
(3) I understand that the Repubs want to project a positive image, but is "hopeful" the best word they could think of (as in, "a stronger, more hopeful, America")? "Hope" is an optimistic desire for something. "I hope to get a BMW." "I’m hoping to save enough money to pay off my student loans." And so on.
Now, although "hope" suggests a positive and upbeat feeling, it also implies a paucity. I mean . . . we don’t hope for things we already have, right? So what is the subtext behind a "hopeful America"? Doesn’t it imply that America is somehow lacking? That we must hope for (prosperity, peace, security, whatever) because we don’t have it? And isn’t that an odd slogan for an incumbant to be running on?
I just think they should have picked a better word. "Positive" or "optimistic" come to mind.
(4) Gotta talk about Jenna and NotJenna. Their speech, aside from being embarrassingly unfunny, made my head explode. At first I thought, well, they’re young, so what can you expect? But then I thought about the men — and women — in Iraq, and how some of them are as young or even younger than the Bush twins. And some of them are not coming home. And then I thought about John Kerry, also around that age, risking his life in the war of his generation. And then I thought about the Bushes — W and his daughters, specifically — all of them products of privilege — partying while others their age were facing death. Such serious times we live in and, like Vietnam 35 years ago, it is our youngest generation that makes the greatest sacrifice for our country. Then, as I reflected on the burdens of the generation before me and the generation after me, I heard one of the Buish twins say that their parents’ favorite term of endearment is "Bushie." [awkward laughs from the delegates]. And that’s when my head exploded.
(5) You know what? Having heard it over and over again a decade ago, and having heard it again only a month ago, the "girly men" reference STILL isn’t funny. By the way, I’m not one of them, but I think there are literally millions of people who ARE concerned about the economy. And legitimately so. Calling them "girly men" for the sake of an in-crowd punchline is not only unhelpful and nonresponsive, but it also isn’t, uh, compassionate.
(6) For an interesting exercise, I suggest you read the keynote speech of the DNC (Barack Obama) and the keynote speech of the RNC (Zell Miller). Or even better, watch the videos.
(7) Oh, yeah. About the distortions and deceptions . . . sweet wounded Jesus, so MANY of them! WAY too many to possibly reference them ALL. (But that was the idea, wasn’t it, Karl?). My favorite (so far) was the moving soldier’s letter referenced by Bush. You probably thought it was just an average soldier from middle America. Actually, no. It was from a guy named Joe Roche who, although being a soldier with the 16th Combat Engineer Battalion in Iraq, is ALSO an adjunct fellow with the conservative think-tank known as The National Center For Public Policy Research.
(8) Did I mention how mean-spirited the RNC was, in my view? It really was.
I have a few more thoughts, but that’s good for now.
I’m not the first to say it, but it bears re-stating — blogging has officially jumped the shark.
The moment when the shark got hisself all jumped: 10:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, last night. That’s the moment when Larry King first blogged. Ugh! And this is what he blogged:
Posted: 10:00 p.m. ET From Larry King, host, "Larry King Live" It’s a new thrill to me to blog … and I may become a permanent blogger. In fact, blogging could become my life.
"Duluth, Minnesota! Welcome! You got a question for the blogosphere?" [A fellow blogger’s response to this subject can be found starting here.]
REALLY GOOD! Here’s what Bush said on Rush today:
I just would remind your listeners that Pakistan is now an ally in the war on terror [Except for its government workers and scientists – Kman]. Saudi now takes Al-Qaeda seriously, and they’re after the leadership. Libya is no longer got weapons of mass destruction [They’ve given away the designs to terrorists, too! – Kman]. Afghanistan, I don’t know if you’ve discussed this on your program, but there are over ten million people who have registered to vote in Afghanistan, which is a phenomenal statistic when you think about it.
Bush wasn’t lying either. 10.35 million people have registered to vote in Afghanistan. And that is a phenomenal amount . . . especially when you consider that the U.N. estimated only 9.8 million eligible voters in the country!
Perhaps Bush meant to say that corrupt capitalism must be flourishing in Afghanistan. Yeah, that’s it. With voter registration cards selling on the street at $100 a pop, democracy ain’t lookin’ so good. But corrupt capitalism? Zowie!!
On September the 14th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers. I’ll never forget the day. A fellow pointed at me and said, "Do not let me down." Workers in hard-hats, and police and firefighters were shouting, "Whatever it takes. Whatever it takes." – May 7, 2004
On September the 14th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers. I’ll never forget that day. There were policemen and firefighters shouting, "Whatever it takes, Mr. President, whatever it takes." A guy in a hard-hat pointed at me and said, "Do not let me down." – May 8, 2004
September the 14th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers. I’ll never forget that day. Workers in hard-hats were chanting, "Whatever it takes." I remember working — trying to console people, and either a firefighter or a policeman said, "Do not let me down." – July 13, 2004
On September the 14th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers. I’m never going to forget that moment. There were workers in hard-hats yelling at me, "Whatever it takes." I remember looking in the eyes of either a policeman or firefighter, and he said, "Do not let me down." – July 14, 2004
On September the 14th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers. It’s a day I’ll never forget. Workers in hard-hats chanted, "Whatever it takes." A fireman or a policeman, I don’t know which one, grabbed me and said, "Do not let me down." – July 14, 2004
On September the 14th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers. It’s a day I’ll never forget. There were workers in hard-hats yelling at me, "Whatever it takes." A fellow grabbed me by the arm — I can’t remember if he was a policeman or fireman — and he said, "Do not let me down." – July 21, 2004
On September the 14th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers. It’s a day that I will never forget. There were workers in hard hats yelling at me, "Whatever it takes." I remember a guy grabbing my arm, a firefighter or policeman, I don’t know which one, he had tears in his eyes and he looked at me and said, "Do not let me down." – July 30, 2004
On September the 14th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers. It’s a day I will never forget. I remember those guys in hard hats yelling at me: Whatever it takes. I remember the firefighter grabbing me by the arm and looking me in the eye, bloodshot eyes and sweat pouring, and he said: Do not let me down – July 31, 2004
On September the 14th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers. It’s a day I’ll never forget. There were workers in hard hats yelling at me: Whatever it takes. I remember walking along and a fellow grabbed me, policeman or fireman, I don’t know which one, but he had tears in his eyes and said: Do not let me down – July 31, 2004
On September the 14th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers. It’s a day I will never forget. There were workers in hard hats yelling at me: Whatever it takes. A guy grabbed me by the arm, he had tears in his eyes, he was exhausted from searching through the rubble to find his friend. He said: Do not let me down. – August 4, 2004
On September the 14th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers. It’s a day I’ll never forget. I remember workers in hard-hats yelling at me, "Whatever it takes." I’ll never forget the guy that grabbed me by the arm — I don’t remember if he was a firefighter or a policeman. I do know he had been in the rubble searching for a loved one. His eyes were bloodshot. He said, "Do not let me down." – August 4, 2004
September the 14, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers. It’s a day I will never forget. I remember the guys in the hard- hats screaming at me, "Whatever it takes." I remember working the rope line and looking in the eyes of a man who had just come out of the rubble searching for a buddy. He said, "Do not let me down." – August 10, 2004
On September the 14th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers. It’s a day I’ll never forget. Workers in hard-hats were yelling at me, "Whatever it takes." I remember shaking people’s hands and a guy looked me in the eye, his bloodshot eyes, he’d just come out of the rubble, saying, "Do not let me down." – August 18, 2004
All the foregoing — plus lots more of the same — can be found on the White House website (Do a site search for "Do not let me down" in quotations).
[Chris Farley] Hey. You remember when — you remember the part about, uh, the guy who like pointed at Bush or grabbed Bush’s arm or had bloodshot eyes or tears ’cause he had just, like, come out of the rubble looking for his buddy or loved one or whatever, you know? The dude who Bush wasn’t sure if he was a policemen or a firemen (except for July 31, 2004), but he was all like "Do not let me down" and stuff? Y-y-you . . . . remember? Remember that? Yeah, that was awesome. That story rocked. I hope Bush uses that in his convention speech. [/Chris Farley]But here is my bestest FAVORITEST one — from last Friday — which I saved for last:
I was traveling with Rudy Giuliani yesterday in New Mexico, and I — (applause.) It reminded of the day we spent together, September the 14th, 2001, the day I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers, the day that, obviously, I’ll never forget. There were workers in hard-hats yelling, "Whatever it takes." I was walking down, thanking people, and a fellow looked me and said, "Do not let me down." This is one of these memories that have been indelibly etched in my mind. – August 27, 2004
Yeah, George. Traveling with Rudy "reminded" you of the story which you happen to tell at every single fucking campaign stop.
And then his ad lib at the end: "This is one of these memories that have been indelibly etched in my mind." Yeah, I would think so!
George Bush on the Swift Boat ads:
“I can understand why Senator Kerry is upset with us. I wasn’t so pleased with the ads that were run about me. And my call is get rid of them all, now.”
Upset with “us“? I thought y’all had nothing to do with those ads, George. Total credit for this catch goes to Andrew Sullivan.
Several months ago, and I can’t seem to locate where, I made the point that we can’t actually WIN a war on terror, since "terror" is a tactic and not an enemy. Which is why, I added, that it is wrong to claim that it IS a "war".
It seems Kerry agrees with me:
When asked whether we can "win" the "war on terror" Senator Kerry said: "Can we win? I don’t think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that the — those who use terror as a tool are — less acceptable in parts of the world.”
Oh, one more thing: Before you wingers jump down Kerry’s throat for being such a woosy spinless negative nay-saying candy-ass wimp, as I’m sure you will want to, check this out