I’m blogwhoring this in its entirety from Steve Soto at The Left Coaster: When Harry Reid shut down the Senate earlier this week due to Pat Roberts and Bill Frist’s stonewalling of a Phase Two investigation over how the Bush Administration used intelligence in making its case for war, many of us wondered why now? What took you guys so … Read More
At Least Michael Brown And Harriet Miers Aren’t Getting One
Well, when George Tenet got one of these things, the whole concept of the "Medal of Freedom" became a sad joke. Apparently, anyone can get one of these. That said, and working from the pretense that Medal Of Freedom Awards are still a worthy honor, let me comment on some the recently-announced recipients who will recieve their awards next Wednesday: … Read More
He Wanted To Be Rainbow High
I guess Bush thought that going to Argentina would be fun, and he would be high flying adored. But, as it turns out, the descamisados don’t like El Busho too much. In fact, they revile him more than Americans do: A recent poll of Latin Americans in business, government, and education in six Latin American nations showed that just 17 … Read More
Bush vs. Nixon
Some good graphs from A Tiny Revolution:
North Carolina Turning Blue
Raleigh News & Record: President Bush’s approval rating in North Carolina continues to decline, according to a poll released Friday by Elon University. The poll found that 41 percent of those questioned approve of Bush’s handling of the job of president. That is down from 45 percent in a poll Elon did in April and 52 percent from a poll … Read More
Bay of Morons
White House Ducks Prewar Intel Questions WASHINGTON – The White House sought to deflect politically charged questions Wednesday about President Bush’s use of prewar intelligence in Iraq, saying Democrats, too, had concluded Saddam Hussein was a threat. "If Democrats want to talk about the threat that Saddam Hussein posed and the intelligence, they might want to start with looking at … Read More
Mr. 35%
How low can Bush’s approval rating go? The CBS lede paragraph says it all: Bush’s low job approval is far below that of some of his two-term predecessors at this point in their second terms. In November 1985, President Reagan had a 65 percent approval rating, and Bill Clinton’s job approval in November 1997 was 57 percent. Bush’s rating is … Read More
Ignoring Whig
My jaw dropped when I read this crap from Glenn Reynolds at MSNBC: Perhaps Reid should look at this Senate Intelligence Committee report on Iraqi WMD, which found that errors in intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction didn’t stem from White House pressure, but from groupthink and systematic failure within the Intelligence Community: The Committee found significant short-comings in … Read More
“What Does Bush Keep In His Pockets?”
That was the question asked by CNN (What? Has it been a slow news week or something, guys?). Okay, an intriguing question, I suppose. Let’s see. What could the answer be? A small copy of the Constitution? A bible verse? A letter from a U.S. soldier stationed in Iraq? A picture of his family, or Barney? Any of these things … Read More
This Is An Important Post Because This Is What It Is All About
Neo-cons were certainly thrown today by Senator Reid’s invocation of a rule calling for a closed session of the Senate. Mostly, they just said that Reid was throwing a "temper tantrum", which is of course, bullshit. Not to mention a childish response to a serious concern. In order for the Senate to discuss matters of intelligence, it is prudent — … Read More
Restoration Project
From Billmon: George W. Bush will repair what has been damaged . . . On the first hour of the first day, he will restore decency and integrity to the Oval Office. Dick CheneySpeech to the 2000 Republican ConventionAugust 2, 2000 My fellow citizens, we can begin again. After all of the shouting, and all of the scandal. After all … Read More
Really Not Too Smart
Matt Yglesius observes: Watching CNN it’s obvious that the conservative strategy on these indictments is the same old playbook: Slime and defend. Except they can’t slime Patrick Fitzgerald, so instead they’re going to attack … Joe Wilson. But why? Wilson has literally nothing to do with the allegations being made here. Scooter Libby said some things under oath to the … Read More
The Bar They Set
Standards Of Official Conduct MemorandumJanuary 20, 2001 MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES SUBJECT: Standards of Official Conduct Everyone who enters into public service for the United States has a duty to the American people to maintain the highest standards of integrity in Government. I ask you to ensure that all personnel within your departments and agencies … Read More
We STILL Didn’t Start The Fire
Shake’s Sister has gone to the trouble of adding more verses to Billy Joel’s 1980’s hit We Didn’t Start The Fire to include subsequent events. It’s very good: Bush and Cheney, voter fraud,9/11, war abroad,Condoleezza, Donald Rumsfeld, neocon cabal.Mushroom cloud, “Dead or alive,”More tax cuts, “Now watch this drive,”Rightwing pundits, propaganda, marches on The Mall. Swift Boat Vets, Rove takes … Read More
Bush Administration Withheld WMD Intelligence
One of the wingnut talking points re: Iraq is that Congress had access to the same pre-war intelligence as the White House, so they are just as much to blame as Bush for the no-WMD-in-Iraq fiasco. Not true. Not true. That talking point is now officially dead. The Bush Administration not only failed to fully inform Congress of all the … Read More