Shut Up Already

The Nastiness of the Right

A good reminder of what went on in those gauzy, golden days of the 2000 presidential campaign. I was torn on the McCain/Kerry question; if he had decided to run as Kerry's VP, we would most certainly have won, but at what cost? Compelling or not, he's a true conservative and I am not. But now that my memory has been refreshed about what went on in SC in 2000, I think McCain's a sell-out. I don't want him on our side, no matter the potential gain. What is Bush offering him that could make him approve those ads that have been running, where McCain praises Bush's leadership?

From the article linked above:

... For a man so famously preoccupied with honor, both personal and political, his transformation into a tool of those who have consistently denigrated him signals a low moment.

While many Americans only dimly recall what his Republican opponents did to stop McCain during the 2000 primaries, it seems unlikely that the target has forgotten...

...

Watching her husband embrace the president in the new commercial must be distressing to Cindy McCain, whose former dependence on prescription drugs was highlighted in anonymous campaign leaflets the night before the South Carolina primary (before anyone knew that Rush Limbaugh would make addiction fashionable on the far right). According to Newsweek's inside account of the campaign, she began sobbing loudly while watching the returns that sank McCain's campaign. Trying to soothe her, her husband said, "Think of how the Bushes felt two weeks ago in New Hampshire," where Bush had unexpectedly lost the primary. Between sobs, she replied, "We never called his wife a weirdo."

The assault on McCain's family didn't spare Bridget, the little girl they had adopted from a Mother Theresa orphanage in Bangladesh. In the mouths of anonymous "push-pollers," who called Republican voters across South Carolina to smear the maverick reformer, Bridget was transformed into an illegitimate black baby (a variation on Bill Clinton's mythical black son). "Christian" conservatives eagerly spread baseless rumors that McCain had consorted with prostitutes (another old Clinton-bashing smear), and that he was also homosexual.

...Bush had the gall to stand up at a rally with Ted Sampley, the vicious pamphleteer who denounced McCain as a "traitor" and a "Manchurian candidate." The whispering campaign said that McCain had been found "mentally unstable" after his release from the North Vietnamese prison camp. As McCain asserted in a CNN debate, Sampley had launched other nasty smears against Bush's own father years before. "You should be ashamed," scolded McCain. But Bush, who had urged his campaign team to go heavily negative, showed no signs of remorse.

..."They know no depths," McCain would complain wearily to reporters on his "straight talk" bus. "They know no depths." Bush should hardly have been surprised when his battered opponent rebuffed his peacemaking gestures. "Don't give me that shit," barked McCain when Bush took his hands and suggested that their rivalry was becoming too personal. "And get your hands off me."

...McCain is a figure of character and charm, but he cannot leave the Republican Party, as his idol Teddy Roosevelt once did, and strike out against the big-business lobbyists and theocratic demagogues who now dominate the GOP. He won't be making history or remaking politics. He will stand up dutifully, like Colin Powell, in the service of inferior men who would gladly ruin him -- and leave us to wonder why.

A mini Fahrenheit 9/11

This is one British blogger's swan song. Excellent. It takes a minute to load, but it's well worth it.

I LOVE This Kid

from Salon article about people waiting in line at a book signing of Clinton's My Life:

...And then there was Matt Lloyd-Thomas, who said he was 13, though he was really 10, because the lady at the door had said that the age limit for kids to get signatures was 12. His younger sister, Sophia, who was really 7 and a half, was posing as 12. "We've just been passing the time, reading," said Lloyd-Thomas, whose skin was brown with suntan and a couple of freckles. "My sister's been bugging me the past few hours. Once the rain started there wasn't much we could do because it was really quite wet and you couldn't sit down." They'd had to wake up at 4, which Matt admitted was hard. But the whole trip had been his idea. "I was listening to NPR one afternoon and they said that President Clinton would be signing books in midtown Manhattan, so I said that's pretty close, why don't we go in?" So Matt, Sophia and their mother, Beth -- all from Westport, Conn. -- came to New York last night and stayed at an uncle's place. "I think it's pretty cool to have a book signed by a former president," said Matt of his reason for marshaling his family into action.

But then, Matt is also a kid who a year ago persuaded his whole third-grade class -- some of them Republicans -- to send letters to President Bush asking him not to send troops into Iraq. His mother said that lately he's taken to giving PowerPoint presentations on the benefits of voting for Kerry over Bush. "You know, his father and I are both Democrats but not that involved," she said, shaking her head slightly. "Matt is very much his own thinker.

What did he think of the president he was about to meet -- a man who was first elected before he was even born? "Well," began Matt thoughtfully, "not in his personal decisions but politically, I think Clinton was a very good president, especially since he was interested in what was going on in this country more than in foreign affairs." But what about those pesky personal decisions? "Well, I was only 6 at the time, and I didn't really enjoy politics," he said. "But I think that lying about a personal affair is one thing. Lying about weapons of mass destruction or lying about connections between Iraq and al-Qaida -- which affects a lot more people -- is a lot worse."

"My sister thinks I'm a news junkie," confided Matt, who said he skims the Times but mostly relies on NPR's "Morning Edition" for his news. Sophia, in a Nantucket lifeguarding sweatshirt and looking very, very, very bored, nodded silently.

"We're going to the American Girl Cafe after this," said their mother. "So that they both get something they like out of this trip."

Well, Duh

Commission finds no evidence of a link between Iraq and al-Quaeda

The commission would also like to report that the sky is blue. In a related story, the moon is not made of cheese.

Responding to the Commission’s findings, President Bush said today that he had never said there was a connection between Iraq and al-Quaeda. What had made us think such a thing? Sure, he mentioned “Iraq” and “al-Quaeda” in the same sentence during every speech he’s given in the last eighteen months or so, but he was not trying to fool the American public into entering into a war of vengeance and greed. If that had been his goal, he would have used the code phrase “yellowcake uranium.” Or made someone else say it, anyway

Some Perspective, Please

Please skip this post entirely if you really heart the Gipper and spent any part of this weekend feeling remorse over his demise. Especially if you teared up.

So, you know how I haven't really been blogging that much about politics lately?

I'm having a mild relapse.

My sister had to remind me on several occasions this weekend that it's always sad when people die, and that moaning and spitting at the television, as Aaron Brown smiled wistfully about what an amazing man Reagan was and droned on and on, might be a little rude.

Well, I don't care. Reagan was a hateful, terrible man who used devious means to win his presidency, didn't mention AIDS for six years, sold arms to terrorists in Iran and used the money to fund more terrorists in Nicaragua, lied under oath, said ketchup was a vegetable and that trees cause pollution, increased government spending exponentially, turned mentally ill people out in the streeeet in droves, and left office with the largest deficit in history (though the Boy King is well on his way to breaking that record.) Oh, and there was that pesky little thing about him arming corrupt regimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

20 Questions for Dubya

One for each stubby little finger and toe...

Some of these are less worthy than others, but some--especially the ones about scary--ass PNAC--deserve an answer.

Source

1. President Bush, were you arrested for cocaine in 1972 in Harris County, Texas (Houston area)?

2. President Bush, in 1972 did your father arrange to have your cocaine arrest expunged from the records through a judge, a close-acquaintance of your fathers, in exchange for you to perform community service at Project Pool, a Houston inner-city program that mentors youth in poor neighborhoods?

3. President Bush, was your friend from the National Guard, James R. Bath, arrested for cocaine around the same time? Is this why both of your National Guard records show suspensions in 1972 for refusal to submit to annual medical exams? Is this why you were no longer allowed to fly? If so, why did you make up the story that you no longer WANTED to fly?

4. President Bush, do you remember Bill Calhoun from your National Guard duty in Alabama? No one else remembers your serving in the National Guard in Alabama at that time, but "coincidentally" the Republican National Committee suddenly found this Bill Calhoun to vouch for you. Is Mr. Calhoun a paid operative of the Republican Party? Or did he just volunteer to lie to save your reputation?

5. James R. Bath was appointed by your father as a CIA operative in 1976 leasing aircraft in Houston and serving as a liaison between wealthy Arab sheiks (including the Bin Ladens) and American entrepreneurs. According to all sources, Baths company served as a front for the CIA. Before 1976, Bath was broke, according to all accounts. What was it that prompted your father to select James R. Bath in 1976? Did he hold incriminating evidence against you?

White House Diverts Funds Illegally from Afghan War?

via CNN...

This could get interesting...

The book also reports that in the summer of 2002, $700 million was diverted from a congressional appropriation for the war in Afghanistan to develop a war plan for Iraq.

Woodward suggests the diversion may have been illegal, and that Congress was deliberately kept in the dark about what had been done.

I can't believe these people haven't been caught doing something egregiously, flagrantly wrong enough to raise the ire of the Average American yet. Maybe this is it.

Guide to Condi's Testimony

Courtesy of America Coming Together...

National Security Advisor Condoleezza Ricewill testify in front of the 9-11 Commission tomorrow for just two and a half hours. Bush Administration officials have shown a reckless disregard for the facts and no hesitancy to stonewall or mislead Congress and the Americapeople so we put together a guide to help you separate the spin from the truth. The testimony will go by fast and Dr. Rice has carefully prepared so keep this guide close to your remote control.

If Condi says ...

"I'm saying that the administration took seriously the threat." [Source: Condoleezza Rice, 3/28/04]

Remember...

"I didn't feel a sense of urgency." George W. Bush to Bob Woodward, "Bush at War." 2002

Rice did not take the threat seriously. "But a review of the record, from testimony and interviews, suggests that Ms. Rice faces a daunting challenge because her own focus until Sept. 11 was usually fixed on matters other than terrorism..." [Source: New YorkTimes, 4/5/04]

"Still, the reality is that Ms. Rice has virtually no public utterances about Al Qaeda to point to as evidence that she was as engaged in the issue as she was in Mr. Bush's other foreign policy agendas." [Source: New YorkTimes, 4/5/04]

Bush Department of Justice and F.B.I. did not take the threat seriously. "But commission officials said evidence gathered in their investigation, when added to the detailed public record about law enforcement failings before Sept. 11, showed that the F.B.I. and the Justice Department had never given adequate attention to counterterrorism, and that the bureau had not seen connections among seemingly obvious danger signs in the summer of 2001." [Source: New YorkTimes, 4/6/04]

Bush's Attorney General did not take the threat seriously. "Commission officials said their evidence showed that Mr. Ashcroft had taken little interest in counterterrorism before Sept. 11 and, days before the attacks, had rejected pleas from senior F.B.I. officials for more money for counterterrorism even as intelligence agencies warned of an imminent, possibly catastrophic, terrorist attack." [Source: New YorkTimes, 4/6/04]

Bush Department of Defense did not take the threat seriously. "I began saying, 'We have to deal with bin Laden, we have to deal with al-Qaeda.' Paul Wolfowitz, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, said, 'No, no, no. We don't have to deal with al-Qaeda. Why are we talking about that little guy? We have to talk about Iraqi terrorism against the United States.' " [Source: Richard Clarke, 60 Minutes, 3/21/04]

Bush's Secretary of Defense did not take the threat seriously. "...Rumsfeld did not order the preparation of any new military plans against al-Qaida or its Taliban sponsors during the seven months between his arrival at the Pentagon and the Sept. 11 attacks." [Source: New YorkTimes, 3/24/04]

If Condi says…

“I don’t think anybody could have predicted that they would try to use an airplane as a missile, a hijacked airplane as a missile.” [Source: Condoleezza Rice, 5/16/02]

Remember…

Bush and Rice were in Italywhen warned of plot to use Airliners as missiles in July 2001. “U.S.and Italian officials were warned in July that Islamic terrorists might attempt to kill President Bush and other leaders by crashing an airliner into the Genoasummit of industrialized nations, officials said Wednesday.” [Source: LA Times, 9/27/01]

Intelligence did predict just such a scenario. “Two years before the Sept. 11 attacks, an analysis prepared for U.S.intelligence warned that Osama bin Laden's terrorists could hijack an airliner and fly it into government buildings like the Pentagon.” [Source: CBS, 5/17/02]

The report noted: "Suicide bomber(s) belonging to al-Qaida's Martyrdom Battalion could crash-land an aircraft packed with high explosives…into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the CIA, or the White House." [Source: CBS, 5/17/02]

Bush was personally briefed on the fact that terrorist would use airplanes.

On August 6, 2001, the President personally “received a one-and-a-half page briefing advising him that Osama bin Laden was capable of a major strike against the US, and that the plot could include the hijacking of an American airplane." [Source: NBC, 9/10/02]

“White House officials acknowledged that U.S.intelligence officials informed President Bush weeks before the Sept. 11 attacks that bin Laden's terrorist network might try to hijack American planes, and that information prompted administration officials to issue a private warning to transportation officials and national security agencies.” [Source: ABC, 5/16/02]

Rice also was warned specifically that there were al Qaeda cells in the U.S. “During the transition, Clarke briefed Secretary of State-designate Powell, Rice, and Hadley on al Qaeda, including a mention of “sleeper cells” in many countries, including the United States. Clarke gave a similar briefing to Vice President Cheney in the early days of the administration.” [Source: 9-11 Commission, Staff Statement No. 8, 3/24/04]

If Condi says…

“We committed more funding to counterterrorism and intelligence efforts. We increased efforts to go after al Qaeda's finances.” [Source: Rice op-ed, Washington Post, 3/22/04]

Remember …

Bush DoD vetoed $800 million in anti-terror funding. “Rumsfeld vetoed a request to divert $800 million from missile defense into counterterrorism.” [Source: Newsweek, 5/27/02]

DoJ “curtailed” program to track al Qaeda in the U.S. “Newsweek has learned that in the months before 9/11, the U.S. Justice Department curtailed a highly classified program called "Catcher's Mitt" to monitor Al Qaeda suspects in the United States....” [Source: Newsweek: 3/21/04]

Ashcroft sought to switch priorities away from anti-terrorism. “And under Attorney General John Ashcroft, the department was being prodded back into its old law-and-order mind-set… Counterterrorism, which had become a priority of the Clintonites … seemed to be getting less attention.” [Source: Newsweek: 5/27/02]

Bush cabinet “de-emphasize” terrorism as a priority in 2001. “The attorney general was hardly alone in seeming to de-emphasize terror in the young Bush administration. Over at the Pentagon, new Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld elected not to relaunch a Predator drone that had been tracking bin Laden, among other actions.” [Source: Newsweek: 5/27/02]

Bush Dept. of Justice actively shifted direction away from counterterrorism. Attorney General John Ashcroft’s 5/10/01 official annual budget goals memo mentions 7 strategic goals, not one is related to anti terror efforts. The same document the previous year was delivered a month earlier and put counter terrorism as one of two top priorities. [Source: Ashcroft memo, “Guidance for Preparing FY 2003 Budgets,” 5/10/01]

Draft DoJ strategic plan highlights 7 priorities, terrorism is literally not highlighted. Specifically highlighted by Ashcroft in his 8/9/01 strategic goals memo are domestic violent crime and drug trafficking prevention. Item 1.3 entitled "Combat terrorist activities by developing maximum intelligence and investigative capability" is not highlighted. After September 11, Ashcroft quickly amended his plans for DoJ's reorganization. The final strategic mission, which was released in November looks starkly different than Ashcroft's pre-September 11 draft. [Source: Center for American Progress, 3/22/04]

White House departs from efforts to track terrorist money. The new Bush Treasury Department “disapproved of the Clinton Administration’s approach to money laundering issues, which had been an important part of the drive to cut off the money flow to bin Laden.” [Source: “The Age of Sacred,” Terror, 2002]

If Condi says…

“The next day he [Bush] told me Iraq is to the side.” [Source: Condoleezza Rice, 3/22/04]

Remember . . .

“Plans for Iraq attack began on 9/11.” “CBS News has learned that barely five hours after American Airlines Flight 77 plowed into the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was telling his aides to come up with plans for striking Iraq— even though there was no evidence linking Saddam Hussein to the attacks.” [Source: CBS News, 9/4/02]

Bush signed Iraq plan 6 days later. “On Sept. 17, 2001, six days after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, President Bush signed a 2½-page document marked "TOP SECRET" that outlined the plan for going to war in Afghanistan as part of a global campaign against terrorism… the document also directed the Pentagon to begin planning military options for an invasion of Iraq, senior administration officials said.” [Source: Washington Post, 1/12/03]

Bush began planning for Iraq in first days in office. “The Bush administration began planning to use U.S.troops to invade Iraq within days after the former Texasgovernor entered the White House three years ago, former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill told CBS News' 60 Minutes.” [Source: CNN, 1/14/04]

The Schadenfreude Ad

Regular readers know how much I heart political ads. It hurts me deeply that I'm not living in a battleground state during election time. I want to see the attack ads! They give me an adrenaline rush. I know I'm weird; I've learned to live with it.

So anyway, I have to tell you that I chortled with glee when I saw this today. I may have half-consciously pumped my fist in the air. Apparently it's not enough for some "critics" to call this Administration liars; people need incontrovertible proof.

And now they have it.