Tweet
The WaPo reports that the Bush White House has embarked on a strategy which has the President publicly appearing to listen to opposing opinions, and that this may be the same thing as Bushie coming out of his bubble:
A White House long accused of squelching internal dissent and ignoring outside viewpoints has been reaching out in its moment of weakness to prominent figures who have disagreed with the president. Bush just hired a Treasury secretary who opposed his policy on global warming and a press secretary who dismissed his domestic agenda as timid and listless.
How much such moves reflect a genuine opening up for an insular White House remains uncertain. Symbolically, at least, the White House is eager to rebut the longstanding public impression of a president in a bunker listening only to like-minded advisers. Substantively, Bush has hardly signaled a major course change in the direction of his presidency, and skeptics recall past instances when nonconformists within the administration were shut out.
Yet some Washington veterans detect signs of a tentative new willingness by the administration to heed the advice of others rather than sticking stubbornly to its position. Just this week, under pressure from European allies and U.S. foreign policy elders, the administration reversed itself and agreed to join talks with Iran if it suspends nuclear activities. And last week, Bush temporarily sealed documents seized from a congressman’s office in response to complaints from Capitol Hill.
Bolten’s PR offensive aside, I call bullshit. Unless and until we see some willingness for George Bush to actually consider opinions contrary to his own, discuss them, and contemplate the ramifications of his action above and beyond "my way or the high way," all of this is just so much pre-election PR positioning. I’m with Larry Wilkerson on this one:
Others are more dubious. "I want to see the proof," said retired Col. Larry Wilkerson, who was chief of staff at the State Department until last year, when he emerged as a vocal critic of the administration. "I can hope, as I imagine 60 to 70 percent of Americans are hoping, . . . we are going to see some moderation and it’s going to bear some fruit. But I’ve got to see the fruit, because I’ve seen this before.
Actions speak louder than a new chief of staff’s attempts to put lipstick on a pig. And so far, the only action I’m seeing is a busy WH fax machine.
UPDATE: Oliver Willis and Peter Daou caught this as well. I don’t care what kind of blue light special they are selling this under, a steaming pile of bullshit still smells.
139 Comments
Support this site!
Subscribe to the newsletter
Advertise on Firedoglake
Send
us your tips
Make us your homepage
About Firedoglake
Fitz!
Fitz, master of snark.
same old crap. here’s the real Chimp in action, pandering to the same old base with the same old issues. time to start counting how many border appearances the chimpster makes before november………
“WASHINGTON – The campaign against gay marriage is scheduled to get the full White House treatment on Monday – words from President Bush in front of assembled VIPs and a bank of television cameras.
Such a carefully staged production aims to confer the grandeur of the office on the push for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. But even before administration officials announced the event, some invitees denounced it as a sham.”
Good Morning Christy!
Heard this little tidbit on Rhandi Rhodes show last night and then found this… http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/
Defend Marriage when your wife is living at the Mayflower Hotel? What is the excuse, painting or exterminators?
Pig Lipstick for November. Among other reasons, the White House hopes that a more moderate Presidential image makes it harder for campaigning GOP candidates to slag their Dear Leader.
It ain’t nothing more than Presidential photoshopping. Thank you WaPo for giving the administration even more benefit of the doubt!
Bush is temperamentally incapable of listening to opposing views, and intellectually incapable of processing those views into a usable synthesis. And the current administration as a whole is utterly incapable of being honest on any subject.
It’s pointless and foolish to look for signs of improvement from Bushco. Our only meaningful course of action is to attempt to neuter them until such time as they can be replaced.
Fool me one, shame on you, fool me twice, you known the song and dance don’t you….Next week same sex whatever again…the week after, flag thing…Fitz were the hell are you, I want to see Rove taking to Big Bubba, up close and personal…
My thoughts exactly when I read this. It’s for appearances. Bubble boy lives.
Blowing bubbles is much different than leaving the one you live in.
If he comes out on Monday and doesn’t endorse the Federal Marriage Amendment, then I’ll start to consider that he’s left the bubble. Other than the faxes, though, it doesn’t look like things have changed all that much.
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true;
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face – er, FITZ!
I’ll believe him when he puts Marilyn Manson in charge of the NEA. Now that would be opening up to an opposing viewpoint.
Are we over our cyber-mizries of earlier this morning? Wuz ver’ frustrating.
Redd, I too call not only bullshit, but also bullshit, bullshit, bullshit, and total fucking most transparent imaginable bullshit.
Sorry, when Bush came out on Memorial Day and cricized the patriotism of those who dared to oppose his disastrous war mongering, he lost the last shreds of respect that were due to him by intelligent Americans.
If he wants to listen to opposing views, he should invite me to the Oval Office. I can give him a piece of my mind for a couple of hours. And the last part of the speech would be an impassioned plea for him to resign, for the good of the country, along with the rest of his corrupt administration. He’s already done enough damage to our Constitution and the rule of law. Every day he soils the White House by his presence is an affront to the principles that the Constitution stands for. He swore an oath to protect the Constitution, and he’s doing his damndest to destroy it.
Lipstick or not, I’ll buy this if he comes out Monday and plants a big, fat wet one on Dick Cheney’s lips.
It could happen…LOL!
This is a full frontal WH PR campaign. WH/neocon mouthpiece and Wapo columnist Jim Hoagland writes a whole column in Sunday’s Wapo (already on website) on that Iran offer. So WH is planting stories and ideas with friendly reporters and columnists. We can expect this kind of talk on Sunday talk shows too.
Hoagland:
President Bush handed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and German Chancellor Angela Merkel a significant foreign policy victory and put new distance between himself and Vice President Cheney with last week’s decision to dangle the carrot of U.S. participation in talks with Iran. But it is a victory of process rather than of substance and could still come undone.
Cheney has been outflanked by the diplomats of Foggy Bottom before, most notably in the summer of 2002, when Bush agreed to let Colin Powell take the case for a preventive strike against Iraq to the United Nations. But we know now that Bush had accepted the substance of Cheney’s argument for war even as he let the diplomats ply their trade in New York.
Mad Dogs — ewwww…I haven’t had nearly enough coffee for that mental image yet this morning. *g*
And don’t even get me started on the phony Iran offer. They’ll talk to Iran about stopping uranium enrichment, if they agree to not enrich uranium before they start talks? Please.
I’ll agree to talk to Bush about resignation, if he resigns first.
dictators have several faces, and bear no doubt that they are right, and everyone else is wrong. we will never see this group do anything but talk, their agenda has been quite clear. war and profit. they will destroy anyone that gets in the way
People don’t change, they become more so.
Bullshit it may be, but by Sunday morning, the teevee will be serving it up in scrumptiously yummy little servings.
Morning. I agree with the article, and with the first paragraph of 5, jimBob. Right on target.
But here’s my worry: while Democrats are absolutely smart enough to recognize such tricks….we have a tendency to just sit around and do nothing about it. Thus, we have the debacle of Kerry’s swiftboating.
I urge the Democratic leadership to continue to attack this WH, and across a broad front. There’s plenty of things to attack on, both foreign and domestic. But you got to get up off your rear end and…fight. I hope the leadership charges forward.
Ghostman
This Administration listen?
Bwahahahaha!
If by “listening” the White House means “be a stenographer for special interests,” the answer is yes, the White House listens.
Other than that, this Administration has proved itself pathologically incapable of “listening” in any commonly understood way. I’ve almost 20 years of experience in Washington, and I have never seen less sensitive or responsive administration. And for Josh Bolten to champion this is truly rich. Under his leadership at OMB, OMB didn’t issue a circular or a memo that did not scream “Booz Allen Hamilton told us this is what we need to tell you to do.” When the shortcomings of the guidance were noted, the response was, “this is what BAH told us to do. Do it.”
Perhaps this new “listening” is the “kinder, gentler” face of an authoritarian White House. But it’s nothing but a head fake to distract the MSM from the continued consolidation of power by the special interests that put Cheney and Bush in the White House.
Speaking of Marilyn Manson and Bush the Fake, I was looking at some of MM’s lyrics the other day, and I found this:
Am I sorry your sky went black,
put your knives in babies backs?
Am I sorry you killed the Kennedys and Huxley too?
But I’m sorry Shakespeare
was your scapegoat
and your apples sticking into my throat
Sorry your Sunday smiles are rusty nails
and your crucifixion commercials failed
but I’m just a pitiful anonymous
And I see all the young believers
Your target audience
I see all the old deceivers
we all just sing their song
So much for the guy being stupid…
Lipstick on a pig, Condi comes to my mind with her hooker red shade. No offense intended to actual pigs.
Meanwhile, far to the east …
Salam Adil intros his latest weekly roundup of Iraqi blogs with, “When it comes to food, I know where I would rather live. … Today I will highlight bloggers talking about food and that is not all, there is also the rich variety of posts that the Iraqi bloggers always serve up. As it is topical I also must cover the Haditha Massacre. … “
http://asterism.blogspot.com
When Bush was launched on the national stage in 1999 he looked reasonably attractive to many Americans. Problem is that the more we see of him the more we realize that he does not have the qualities of a great leader. And no amount of “lipstick” is going to cover up for this fact.
I will believe they have changed their ways when they stop targeting and smearing the people who express dissent. This is all window dressing.
I just wish I’d invested in pig lipstick 5 years ago. The stuff has just gone through the roof.
Lipstick, meet pig. Bwa-hahahahahah!!!
I never pictured Josh Bolten as the Revlon-toting kind of SAO, but there you go, he must have one of those bandolier ammo holsters strapped on with a full complement of lipstick tubes to do his job. Granted, somebody will come out of this for the better: owners of comestic-industry stocks will be happy and at least one person will have softer lips.
(darkblack, there you go, another graphic assignment for you…)
Bush had the chance in the earliest days of his first administration. This isn’t an internship we’re talking about, where young turks are afforded the chance to learn from f*ckups and the subsequent efforts required to make it right. This is our country, the largest economy in the world, the democracy which once was a paragon to the rest of the globe. There are no second chances; we already know what kind of man this president is, an intolerant and incompetent sonovabitch who values loyalty to him first and the party second above all things.
What we are learning, if anything, is that it is the Chief of Staff that sets the tone for this administration, that the President is compliant only for what must look like servitude inside the halls of the White House, allows himself to be used as a prop by whatever forces currently animate the administration. The real question is: who the f*ck is running this show now?
And what’s their REAL agenda — because these Movement Neo-cons always, ALWAYS have one.
you should have title this one “Have you heard the one about”…
How unkind of you to refer to Junior as a pig with lipstick.
Gary at 30 — I know, it was awfully thoughtless as to the feelings of pigs, but I thought they’d understand. *g*
How unkind of you to refer to Junior as a pig with lipstick.
Unkind to pigs.
There might only be 28 people who are fooled by this latest campaign – and that’s all it is – a campaign. Just like all the other campaigns that have been launched to sell this or sell that, or boost the numbers of a president who says he doesn’t care about polls…yeah, right.
So, we’re to believe that after six years of being president, he’s just now deciderating to let those with other opinions talk at him? And I say “talk at him” because there’s a big difference between “listening” or “hearing” and what he’s going to do – which is to let people speak (and I suspect that this will really just be the lyal and the few asking what seem like confrontational questions, which will just give him the opportunity to say the same warmed-over gobbldygook he always spouts). I’m pretty sure that if these are really people with a beef, he’ll have been fitted for industrial-strength ear plugs, so that there isn’t even a possibility that a word or two that makes sense will be able to penetrate his Teflon-coated brain.
I really can’t wait for the MSM to fawn all over Bush for his “remarkable openness” and his “bravery in facing public opinion.” Blech and Blergh and Gack.
I wonder whn it’s going to occur to these dimwits that they ought to have tried actually governing once in a while – think of all the money that could have been saved on those backdrops – the ones with slogans on them so both Bush and the audience can remember what the hell Bush is supposed to be talking about. And the cost of the security and the fuel for the planes…Big. Waste. Of. Money.
Honest to God, if things weren’t so god-awful, I’d think we were in the middle of some absurdist black comedy.
(Shaking my head and muttering again).
Leaving pigs aside, all I can say is that if the next president “talks to God” I hope he talks to a different one than Bush does.
It’s Saturday, and only weeks away from the family wedding. THis means I can’t stay to read or to comment because the errands and responsibilities keep getting in the way. But I do have something to say about W’s ability to take in new opinions, accept them and change his mind.
He has demonstrated throughout his lifetime that when criticized, even by his closest friends, that he loses control and his temper at the same time… One time, Laura said something critical, but very gently about a speech he had given. He became so incensed that he drove the car through the garage door. (This was years after trashing the neighborhood when his parents commented about his drinking.)
He continues to be in competition with his father – has been since very early years. First for the affection of his mother, then in school when his grades and athletic competence were below his father’s, he became Mr Popularity – a title his tightly strung father could not match. He now has Cabinet members that were of his father’s, but they went to war when in Poppy’s term they were held back.
If her were to give in to cricitism now, if would mean that he “lost” to his father’s intelligence and insight once again.
It. Ain’t. Gonna. Happen.
The bubble is in place just as it has been all along. This is simply the “Lipstick for November” (per backspace #4)
I couldn’t agree more Christy, thanks.
OfT: “Iraq says will press on with own Ishaqi probe”
“BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s government believes the U.S. military’s exoneration of U.S. troops accused of killing civilians in the town of Ishaqi in March was unfair and will press on with its own investigation, an aide to the prime minister said on Saturday.
Adnan al-Kazimi also said the government would demand an apology from the United States and compensation for the victims in several cases, including the alleged massacre in the western town of Haditha last year…..”
OT — leaving this for punaise, whenever she arrives…and I can’t wait, because she is going to have a field day with this lipsticked pig…
Try a 7 and 11 wood. Worth the hassle and expense of having them made up. I almost never use my irons any more, unless I’m in a tight spot behind a tree or within 70 yards of the hole.
Ghostman 22 – zactly – we/dems see this stuff for the pathetic horseshit it is, and tend to trust it will die of its own lameness. We’ve seen again and again, with a bought MSM, it will NOT. Dems need to learn Rove’s three little words – ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK.
Early in the article we’re told that Bush hired Paulson for Treasury even though their views on environmental warming differed.
Later in the article, we’re told: “Bush has not agreed, for instance, to change his mind on global warming just because Paulson will join the Cabinet.”
The economic impacts of global warming (good and bad) are enormous, certainly should be front-and-center of any economic analysis of economic activity. But, from Bush? No change. Seeing Al’s movie, even? “Probably not.”
Please. This is jus one more bucket of bullshit P.R., at which these people excel. That’s what they do, that’s what they sell, that’s what you can always dependably get from them: one fresh, warm bucket of bullshit P.R.
Impeach. The. Bastard. Already.
Rayne @ 29 —
Oh. My. God. I can’t stop chuckling. Somehow the image is now burned into my mind of militant drag queens sporting bandoliers of lipstick and mascara. I know that wasn’t your intention, but …
Bolten must really be into applying pig cosemetics.
And if my commment ever makes it out of moderation (tap tap tap!) you’ll see I couldn’t agree with you more.
Bush’s talking point to the voices of dissent:
“If I agreed with you, we’d both be wrong, right?”
In the TImes today, Judge rules against Libby request for huge document request.
“My…what a big tongue you have Dick” his eyelashes fluttering as he gazes longingly into those Man of Steel baby blues.
Dick lasciviously laughs as he licks W’s Bubble Yum lipstick off his lips.
To be continued…
i’m forever blowing bubbles
pretty bubbles in the air
they fly so high
they nearly reach the sky
then like my dreams they fade and die…..
does anybody but me actually remember this song? my mother used to sing it when i was a kid.
Redd–I’m glad you commented on this monstorous pile of steaming bullshit served by a Washington Post reporter dressed in full Clusterfuck regalia and accompanied by the Marine Corp marching band.
Tweety dealt with this story the other night while interviewing McCaffery- one of the few to be invited inside the bubble. Barry said- yeah he JUST listened to us-(no questions or comments- the typical Clusterfuck “sleep while pretending to listen” act.
Tweety asked “Why was Karl Rove there?” which was exactly the right question. It’s a staged political event that some ignorant or worse WP reporter is claiming represents a fundamental change in the administration. The duration of the meeting was- of course- not reported.
Are these people ACTUALLY this stupid? Can’t be!
Bush just hired a Treasury secretary who opposed his policy on global warming and a press secretary who dismissed his domestic agenda as timid and listless.
Bush had a policy on global warming? Who knew?
,,,and a press secretary who dismissed his domestic agenda as timid and listless.
His poll numbers have collapsed because his agenda for destroying the New Deal safety net, shoveling tax money at fundamentalist Christian organizations and shifting the tax burden away from the super-rich and onto everyone else hasn’t been radical enough? Gee, I kinda thought it was the opposite of that.
But hey, glad to know there’s some real fresh fanatical conservative air being let into the fuzzy liberal bubble that W’s been living in. Now we’ll see us some real progress you bet.
here it is, the gooper strategy for november……
“In one North Carolina congressional district, for instance, Republican challenger Vernon Robinson has aired a radio ad attacking Democratic Rep. Brad Miller with mariachi music playing in the background: “Brad Miller supports gay marriage and sponsored a bill to let American homosexuals bring their foreign homosexual lovers to this country on a marriage visa. If Miller had his way, America would be nothing but one big fiesta for illegal aliens and homosexuals.”
The reversal on Iran is no sign of open-mindedness. The administration was humiliated and forced to back down. That’s what happens when your military is breaking down exhausted, you’re plunging toward fiscal ruin, and your creditors have you by the balls. I look forward to much more of it at the hands of Russia and China, our new guarantors of interrnational stability. Whatever it takes to stop these snakehandling fanatics.
Anne says, “I wonder whn it’s going to occur to these dimwits that they ought to have tried actually governing once in a while …”
So my question is to the longtime Texans among us: When Chimpy was guv there, did you ever see any actual governing go on? I’m not talking about GOOD governing, of course, but just anything at all that was clearly POLICY as opposed to POLITICKING?
(Rayne: Punaise be a boy. An 11-wood? what, the size of a tablespoon? replacing your what — 6- or 7-irons?)
scory (#42):
applied pig cosmetics…..
required for graduating seniors
patrick henry college
All my hopes lay in the judicial branch. MSM stenos, rubberstamp congress and a criminal enterprise in the WH.
Didn’t I read somewhere that ACLU v NSA is actually before a judge and will provide a ruling? The gubmint tried the states secret ploy, and arguments will be heard AFTER hearing the merits of the legality of spying without warrants.
Isn’t this exactly what we’ve been hoping for, ie “Tell it to the Judge!”
Clusterfuck DOES have a policy on Global Warming. It’s “Bring it ON”.
Mark B @ 34
That was *my* first thought.
Leaving politics and policy behind for the moment:
My impression of GWB has always been that of an an arrogant, spoiled, rich brat. He likes to play joe six pack and mingle with the servants, but it’s just a game.
A telling moment was caught on camera during the 2000 campaign, where he spun and almost struck a costume tech who took him off guard while trying to brush lint from his suit. He snatched the brush from her hand as if to say “do NOT touch me without permission”.
I think it was on the Leno show…
Anyways, the man lacks any real ability to consider others.
It is as simple as that.
John Casper, that is Iraq calling ‘BS’ on a curiously speedy exoneration coming at a time when the storm waters of international outrage are getting dangerously high.
As to the administration personnel moves, they merely reflect the reality that the available pool of talent has been pretty much fished out.
Good Morning Everyone,
. . . apologies to our porcine friends
heckuva job Joshie !
http://www.newmediajournal.us/…..y_bill.jpg
Soul-kissing Dick Cheney. Now that’s something that not even Samuel Beckett, Sid Vicious, and Hieronymous Bosch combined could get their heads around.
Btw little Mary C, kiss-me-I’m-a-fascist-dyke poster child, had a book signing this past week at our little Cap Hill right-leaning bookstore down the block. Suffice to say there wasn’t quite the line around the block. Not too many showed up for McCain a couple weeks earlier either.
per Kate at 8:04 from the NYT’s
“Court Turns Aside Libby’s Request for Many Documents”
“WASHINGTON, June 2 %u2014 A federal district judge dealt a severe setback on Friday to I. Lewis Libby Jr., denying him a trove of documents that his lawyers had said were crucial to his defense against charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.
The judge, Reggie B. Walton, ruled that most of the material sought by Mr. Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was not relevant to the charges. Judge Walton said the issue in the trial would be a narrow one: whether Mr. Libby lied to both a grand jury and F.B.I. agents about his conversations with journalists concerning Valerie Wilson, an operative of the Central Intelligence Agency….”
Fairway woods.
A five wood equals a three iron- seven wood four iron- nine wood five iron- eleven wood- six iron..although most of us actually hit the fairway wood equivelent further, higher, and more consistently than the iron it replaces.
here it is, the gooper strategy for november……
“In one North Carolina congressional district, for instance, Republican challenger Vernon Robinson has aired a radio ad attacking Democratic Rep. Brad Miller with mariachi music playing in the background: “Brad Miller supports gay marriage and sponsored a bill to let American homosexuals bring their foreign homosexual lovers to this country on a marriage visa. If Miller had his way, America would be nothing but one big fiesta for illegal aliens and homosexuals.”
Fortunately, the idiot racists and homophobes are a minority in this country. Unfortunately, they are rabid in their hatred, which makes it easy for a coward like Bush to manipulate them. Their numbers are large enough to swing elections in many places, keeping up the Republican majority in the House and Senate. 2006 may be the year that the idiots become disillusioned enough with being manipulated that they stay home enough to turn the Congress over, but don’t count on it. They are REALLY stupid, if you promise to keep brown people and homos from getting equal rights, they will probably turn out to vote for you, regardless of the amount of corruption and other criminal acts associated with the party.
Someday, the Republican party will pay price for the deal they made with the devil. Hopefully, sooner rather than later.
I just figured out why the wingers are anti-choice. Who is going to pay for their massive tax cuts?
Just read that DeWine has assured his re-election in Ohio by being the co-sponsor of the anti-gay marriage amendment. Put him right over the top it did!
So he’s coming out of his bubble… to attack gay marriage?
I hate to say this, but if the American people put up with this sort of shit then they deserve what they get.
RR
The phrase “lowering the bar” comes to mind. . .
<snark>
WASHINGTON (AP) – In a bold move of presidentialness, Mr. Bush now allows dissent to be expressed in his august presence. Such dissent shall be measured, of course, and must always be expressed humbly and meekly with a disclaimer that said dissenter may in fact be wrong.
Another bold move of presidentialness under consideration is to have Mr. Bush actually answer the questions that are posed to him at press conferences. Such a move would only be undertaken, according to unnamed senior administration officials, if the press expressed remorse for their past unseemly behavior. Helen Thomas was explicitly mentioned by name in connection with this policy by more than one of our anonymous sources.
</snark>
Klu Klux Klan marches in Alabama in support of the gooper anti- immigration position. Goopers have made the Klan mainstream. Congratulations goopers!
fahrender 46 – first heard that song on one of my dad’s Jackie & Roy albums – their version is still the definitive one for me. Dad not only had a taste for the big bands, but for interesting tight vocalizing. Thank gods he put Lambert, Hendricks & Ross into my very blood.
rw at 58 –
Yes, I was really pleased to switch to 7 and 9 woods (though I sometimes miss that good ol’ 5 iron), but I’ve not yet seen anybody with an 11 wood, so I’m curious.
Didja take the goopers’ money yestiddy, huh huh?
Oilfieldguy, that is all going to be taken care of by the Rapture.
“Maranatha”
OT, but a great read — Billmon’s journey up the Nile
http://billmon.org/archives/002461.html
The Gift of the Nile
The Egypt we see on the map – the irregular rectangle with the Sinai hanging off one corner, like a stumpy tail – is a fraud, existing only in some colonial boundary commission’s imagination. The real Egypt is shaped like a sinuous snake, with its fangs clamped firmly into the bottom of the Mediterranean. (Indeed, one of the ancient symbols for upper Egypt, above the delta, was the cobra.)
To the west, a string of oases – the snake’s ba, or soul shadow — follow the parallel line of another ancient valley, which once marked the river’s course to the sea. Beyond that, only sand and wind and the faint sound of scorpions, scuttling across the dunes.
Egypt, in other words, is the Nile, and the Nile is Egypt – a 500-mile miracle that exists only because the highland forests of central Africa happen to drain north, through the Sahara, instead of west, into the Congo basin, or east, into the Indian Ocean. It’s hard to imagine a country more completely defined by an accidental quirk of geography – or, as the high priests at Karnak probably would have argued, that represents such a unique gift from the Gods.
There is, in short, no place like it on earth.
…
Having experienced a Cairo summer the first time I was in Egypt, I really can’t imagine how life goes on in Baghdad now that the power is down to an unreliable hour or two a day. It’s closer to hell than any human being who isn’t Dick Cheney or Donald Rumsfeld should ever have to go. Thanks to the high Aswan dam and generous government subsidies, electricity is cheap in Egypt, which means air conditioning is more common than you might expect in one of the world’s poorest countries. …
fahrender @ 46 –
Mine too. Usually when we were out in the back with a bowl of dish soap blowing the bubbles.
Lowering the bar!?!?!? Hell, we threw it on the ground and Bush tripped over it.
“WASHINGTON – The White House on Friday sought to soften criticism by Iraq’s prime minister over allegations that U.S. Marines killed two dozen unarmed civilians in the western town of Haditha last November.
White House press secretary Tony Snow said that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had told U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad that he had been misquoted. But Snow was unable to explain what al-Maliki told Khalilzad or how he had been misquoted.
“That is a little too complicated for me to try to read out,” Snow said at a briefing where he was pressed to explain how al-Maliki’s remarks were supposed to have been distorted. “It becomes a little convoluted and so I don’t want to make a real clear characterization because it’s a little hazy to me,” Snow said.”
AP–
You really need to read the full transcript of this press conference to get the full flavor of just how bad Snow’s performance was and how the press corps smelled the strong scent of bullshit permeating from his breath. This guy’s on his way to pinata status already- after what- two weeks?
For whomever was asking about long time Texans -
Shrub – by Molly Ivins and Lou DuBose told anyone willing to listen just what we were all in for – unfortunately, M$M and pundits everywhere had cocktail weenies in their ears
http://www.amazon.com/gp/searc…..ex=blended
rwcole –
“Piñata” was item one on Snow’s job description. He knew it coming in, though (like the proverbial girlfriend of the bad boy) he thought to himself “Oh, but I’m different. I can change them.”
Lotus– I left before the accounting- but I doubt it- I didn’t play well- and my gooper partner played worse. I’m afraid that I added to the net worth of some yet to be determined gooper. (Hangs head in shame).
You really need to read the full transcript of this press conference to get the full flavor of just how bad Snow’s performance was and how the press corps smelled the strong scent of bullshit permeating from his breath. This guy’s on his way to pinata status already- after what- two weeks?
Well, as a former FOX anchor, he has plenty of experience as a pig cosmetologist, but it’s just different when you spend all day every day inside the sty. You’re bound to end up covered in pig shit.
Remember how this administration was “leak proof” and how no information seeped out unless approved by the Whitehouse.
It is still the same. All of these foolish stories are leaked propaganda items. They have no names attached to them…they are all subterfuge and chicanery. Never are there quotes from real people, just spinnuendo and mind-melding.
I can’t describe just how base and vulgar and power hungry these jackoffs are.
-GSD
Nemmind, rw, you’ll get it back next week.
Tight eyes, loose hands.
lotuslander @ 26
Great link – thanks! (lots to check out, while waiting for the Fitz to hit the Fan.)
ck, that actually is a billmon two-parter with the previous posting his equally interesting account of working through obstacles in an alien environment in order to get on that train.
Lotus- I’ve never bought an eleven wood either- and I’m giving the nine wood a time out because of the great new set of Ping Irons I bought- but the seven wood is a “can’t be without” club.
Media Critic Tim Rutten has become the weekly highpoint of my daily LA Times breakfast table ritual. This morning he slams the Right’s treatment of the press covering Iraq—and their losses.
http://www.calendarlive.com/pr…..l-calendar
BTW, front paged story on the trouble Bush’s India Nuke plan is running into in Congress…the little guy can’t seem to get anything through at the moment…
http://www.latimes.com/news/na…..-headlines
Peterr 65 – heh
Jesus, everybody speculating/genuflecting/deferring/having to deal with this human fucking braindead rock, somehow elevated to life and death power over the planet, my fucking god, we need some fresh coinage for way beyond all absurdity to describe this situation.
President Bush is a flip-flopper.
He flip-flopped on Sensenbrenner’s immigrants-are-felons bill.
He flip-flopped on negotiating directly with Iran.
Although we might like the direction he flip-flopped in — we still need to call Bush out on this. Constancy, or stubbornness, is the attribute his 29% remaining supporters like about him. Once they see they can’t count on him (”At least you know where he stands”) then they’ll stay home this November. Big time.
George W. Bush: do you know where he stands?
Nope, he’s a flip-flopper.
Pass it on.
Bullshit, it most certainly is, Christy.
Now that the barbed-wire anal-suppository of reality is being shoved up his ass, we’re supposed to give him credit for acknowledging the existence of the concept of pain?
Btw, driftglass has outdone himself in three parts, just go and savor
http://driftglass.blogspot.com/
You’re welcome, Peterr. I’ll watch the Iraqi blogs for us and pass along what I find (though I’m pretty half-assed about it, generally being so caught up ratchere).
rwcole says
June 3rd, 2006 at 8:21 am
I saw the presser and you’re absolutely right! It was surreal watching him trying to be the new, improved Scottie and the press went after him BIGTIME– especially David Gregory. I was bemused that none of the reports on teevee later in the evening reflected Snow’s new characterization.
The honeymoon is over.
Hey,
Where can a clown go for some action around here?
-Bubbles the Clown
Sharkbabe, now this:
Soul-kissing Dick Cheney. Now that’s something that not even Samuel Beckett, Sid Vicious, and Hieronymous Bosch combined could get their heads around.
is the most accurate disconnect-description of that evil-old moldy-asshole cloaca-spore fuckdirt-demon i have read in one helluva goddamn L O N G time !!
thankee, much !! ;-)
Interesting piece over at Huffington.
The prime minister (or whatever he is) of Canada decided that he wouldn’t answer questions from reporters at a “Press Conference” unless they “registered” first by putting their names on an official list.
As the press conference began, most of the reporters walked out. The rest had refused to “sing up” so the Canadian Clusterfuck was left at a press conference with no press to ask questions. Brilliant. Why don’t ours do this shit?
sharkie: (Mr. Sharkie, The White courtesy Telephone Please!) (#67)
pardon me for that lame riff, Sharkbabe, but re: L,H & R, do you know “The Bobs”? truly swayve and de boner……..
Sharkbabe,
drifty has been on it for a while hasn’t he ?
BUT, I have been on the Paths of Glory train for over a year and a half and am glad someone has finally seen it’s exquisite appropriateness – and if possible, it is going to get more so in their prosecution of ’slightly higher ups’ in these atrocities
Those planning to move to Canada–wait. You might want to see just how fascist that canadians decide to be.
Molly Ivins and Lou DuBose told anyone willing to listen just what we were all in for – unfortunately, M$M and pundits everywhere had cocktail weenies in their ears
The Corporate Media Harlots are paid to stick those cocktail weenies in their ears. Like Upton Sinclair said, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his job depends on not understanding it.”
The Media Whores are paid to fluff the Bush codpiece, and those who refuse put their careers in jeopardy. Those who tell the ugly truth are shown the door, or worse — Robert Parry, Gary Webb, and J.D. Hatfield are prime examples of what happens when you cross the Bushes.
Bubble, for a good time, call FITZ! :o)
Snow turns out ta be Scottie plus lame one liners. They ain’t so funny in the middle of the bar-b-q”
Hmmmmm, it doesn’t appear that the Moonie Times agrees with the WP assessment ….
Bush Circles the Wagons as Approval Ratings Slip
http://washingtontimes.com/nat…..-8608r.htm
“With just five months to go before the midterm elections, President Bush, whose once-faithful base has abandoned him in droves, is turning to the same conservative hot-button issues that won him re-election in 2004 — homosexual “marriage” and judicial nominees. “
Gee, he sounds really open to dissent and new ideas, doesn’t he? Watching the desperate flopping and searching for a new campaign strategy would be entertaining, if it wasn’t also so sad. Guess it never occurred to Rove and Co that at some point you actually have to govern. Ya know …. show some competence, craft good public policy, hire people that have a depth and understanding of the issues. Nah, let’s trot out the kool-aid drinkers at the WP and ramp up the gay-haters. Plus we can always talk about the Clinton marriage. Sigh. I’m really beginning to fear what this country is going to look like by the time these guys are finished. How long can you run up the debt and completely gloss over the work of goverment, before the whole thing crashes.
I’m buying gold, man.
oh no– send a brick with the brick biatch on MSNBC live now– AGAIN.
Gooper have yet to find their voices in the “Marines Murder Iraqis” story. Just wait- they’re about to gin up the “It’s unamerican to attack the troops” chorus- they’re “tuning up” in the wings as we speak- ouch- hurts my ears.
lotuslander (51) — 11-wood really isn’t that much smaller than a 7- or 9-wood, but the angle of loft is the difference. I had a 7 and 11 made up to match my existing set of carbon-composite shaft clubs (off-name); because the shafts are shorter, they are a bit stiffer but not as heavy or as stiff as an iron, giving them more play. They also have a larger sweet spot than my irons, and I tend to hit straighter with them because I can’t rotate the face on them as much as an iron. I tend to swing too hard and rotate the club while doing so; woods have changed that.
rwcole (76) — no worries, it’s not like it’s an election. Heh. Bust their chops next match; at least you don’t have to worry about them stealing the match.
I remember hearing Molly Ivins on NPR, before the 2000 election IIRC. I was struck by how much she had been suckered by the nice guy, doofus moderate image that Rove had worked so hard to cultivate.
Anything, everything ChimpCo says, does has all the sincerity of an air kiss.
It means they think lots of Americans are stoopid. Oh wait, they are right about something.
Among the stoopidest is the pathetic excuse of a press corp. They drop the latest truthiness meme into their laps, and voila, it’s a fact.
As for the Pickles living at the Mayflower Hotel story, if it were Bill and Hil, satellite trucks would completely ring the hotel 24/7.
If the little Gawd is drinking again (any fauning GOP photo-op props wiff that Sunday morning derelict smell? Of course that would go unreported), Pickles needs to go to Alanon instead of the UN.
Rayne- I get another shot at their wallets monday.
Best thing about the lofted fairway woods in my opinion is that they are much smoother out of the rough- they seem to glide through the heavy grass rather than trying to “mow” it.
I carry four “tight lies”. Great clubs.
In other news, the brother of one of the people killed in the attack on a “terrorist house” by our troops in Ishaqi, is calling Centcom’s finding that there was no wrong-doing by american troops, basically, bullshit.
What’s interesting about this, is that he’s getting some airtime in the american media. I read this on the DellNewsPage. It’s certainly due to the timing of the Haditha massacre, but the BBC has obtained, and is airing, video of the Ishaqi killings, in which, among the 13 killed, were an old woman and more children.
This is not going away.
Ever heard of co-optation? How stupid do these people think we are?
Hmmmmm, it doesn’t appear that the Moonie Times agrees with the WP assessment %u2026.
This gang has no problem with throwing one load of crap at the majority of Americans, and throwing a different load of crap at their base. They are microcasting the spin of the day so that you can receive a different message from a right-wing propaganda outlet like the Washington Times than you receive from a mainstream propaganda outlet like the Washington Post.
No telling how many mini massacres have been covered up in the last few years. This could drive someone to re-open the Fallujah debacle.
Iraqis KNOW what’s going on- it’s only the american press stuck in the green zone who doesn’t have the faintest fuckin idea. If the practice of actually asking the Iraqis what’s going on continues- we could get buried in the truth if we’re not careful.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Jamison Foster-
http://mediamatters.org/items/200606030001
Nor should it, tanbark. Painful as it is, the truth needs to come out and we have to face it, however it ends.
New thread, prescient cbl!
new thread: Foster hits clean-up
lol cbl — I just put a new article up on that piece. It’s a good one. :)
In other news, the brother of one of the people killed in the attack on a “terrorist house” by our troops in Ishaqi, is calling Centcom’s finding that there was no wrong-doing by american troops, basically, bullshit.
If that fellow [El Hadithi?] hadn’t been there with a video camera to record some of the aftermath, the Army would probably have been able to cover it up. One wonders how many massacres have occurred where someone wasn’t around to dispute the official story.
Snort. I just finished reading the Foser article and was coming here to post. I love this blog, everytime I read something and get concerned or excited … bam, there it is on fdl.
Oilfieldguy – on the ACLU suit, we can hope. It is going before the court on a summary judgment motion, which has a lot of downsides, but we can hope.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I don’t understand the scepticism here about the Presidential Outreach efforts. It’s almost as if you’ve forgotten the tsunami-like impact of the historic meeting with all the past secretaries of defense and state. And how quickly you forget the non-screened speeches where questions like: Mr. President, what can I do to help you resonanted. Sheez, it’s almost like you think that people get thrown out of sentencing hearings and off planes for wearing anti-Bush t-shirts.
I, for one, would never few taking a couple of fairly high profile critics and putting them into positions where they are unable to publically criticize me, while I am free to ignore them, as some kind of a ploy. It is a very real effort to lessen criticism, uh, lessen to, ummm, listen to criticism.
Did the WaPo reporter bother to ask him whether he would seek input into the accomodations at the journalist gulag before the first roundup?
I can see where it is confusing for a professional stenographer, but dragging off people to secret detention and interrogation while they moan “no, please God no” is not actually the same as listening to dissent.
Canadian Media=Harper’s Marks
-GSD
angie (89) — that took no time at all, did it?! So…should we start a board on how long it takes before Snow leaves to spend more quality time with his family?
rwcole (101) — they’ll go on the attack against the Iraqis of Haditha, how they must have been tormenting our troops. Waiting for that to start any time now; their response could also look a lot like the response to Fallujah. On Diane Reem’s show covering the assault on Fallujah, two goopers called in back-to-back with virtually the same comments, down to the exact wording: why wasn’t the press covering the stunning victory at Fallujah? Bet we’ll see that to a limited extent, that there was some stunning victory in all this tragedy. The other response to Fallujah was a “changing the topic” approach, into which unfortunately our own progressives bought. The subject was the unusual cruelty towards civilians, including the summary shooting of male teens and the use of white phosphorus as a chemical weapon; the goopers played it up that WP wasn’t a chemical weapon, it was an ordinant blah-de-blah-de-blah about the technical reasons, redirecting attention from the horrific wounds on the bodies of women, children, teenagers, old person lying in their beds…
Any time now.
Anybody remember how goopers defended My Lai’s attrocities?
Sharkebabe 87 – have you ever stuck your head into drifty’s archives? I think, from what I have read, that “he” is a “she”, much like thee. Now, there would be a great match ;-)
MaryAnn,
moonie times courtesy of everyone’s favorite passive aggresive;Newt
and yeah Tanbark,
Haditha, Ishaqi and god knows what else is coming is NOT going away – although my inner cynic tells me it is not the result of some moral outrage or even professional obligation to inform, but b/c it’s a story made for their ACME Reporter’s Kit – have any of them openly questioned the Ishaqi verdict yet ?
I really get as a non military person the application of ‘collateral damage’ is sometimes lost on me, but holding old people and babies in a room for an hour before you execute them doesn’t go anywhere near collateral damage !
When W went to Camp David yesterday, Was Laura with him? Usually, TV cameras record the helicopter event.
rwcole (105) — you know, that’s exactly what I was taught in a college course on golfing, to use my fairway woods whenever possible in long grass because the grass will catch and wrap itself around the clubhead on on iron. The 3-5-7 irons always encouraged me to spray into the long stuff, then I’d struggle getting out of the rough.
Until my short woods. Go get ‘em Monday!!
I hope whoever wrote that WaPo piece was snickering when they did–otherwise, it’s just more puff pastry.
I wonder if the press’ll still be this nice to him when they discover that Bush is the evil twin of Ted Bundy (lot of things Babs never told Poppy)….
Snow and Mr Goldman and Sachs are just the strategy for coopting a member of a club (that might embarass you publicly by criticizing,) using a club buddy to be your spokesman so the other club members don’t attack their buddy because it would be impolite( remember dissent is rude and politeness is a public virtue for Bushco-pointing out failings publicly not allowed). Bolten is just trying to stave off criticism from quarters that may be waking up and smelling a skunk( not just coffee). Incompetence is rank but if you put new faces that the audience pals around with how can the new faces be attacked for the incompetence behind them? transparent PR
emel (124) — you are absolutely right about that. I have been wondering for a while now whether this was part of the strategy since the administration “lost” CNBC and much of Wall Street. The last 6-plus months watching CNBC has been a hoot; the talking heads have been making a mockery of John Snow on air during interviews with him. Now they’ll have a tougher time doing it with Paulson. The Ports Security debacle also featured prominently with the Wall Street folks, still hasn’t been fully resolved. I wonder if Paulson will help that ease off into the sunset.
Along with the pending merger of NYSE-EuroNext…and the possible buy-out of both by the Deutsche Bourse. Here’s another fine mess, the largest American exchange being sublimated to foreign interests without any review by CIFA to date.
The timing is incredible, n’est-ce pas?
Hmm…let me see… Bush met with Amir Taheri and Fouad Ajami as his experts on Iraq. Not exactly what I would call a stroll outside the bubble. These guys mix the kool aid that Bush drinks.
No one should miss Larry Johnson’s latest, especially reader Transhuman’s reply.
“To call the gunning down of children “manslaughter” is outright bullshit. What, you don’t have the balls to call it “murder”? What part of directly shooting a kid in the head is in any way “manslaughter”, Larry, regardless if how “stressed” the murderer happens to be?”
http://www.tpmcafe.com/node/30402
Bush probably spends his whole time in these meetings thinking about tacos.
Tacos rule.
There are, of course, several “time” aspects to the shitmire.
One of them occurred to me this morning, while I was reading that 15 people were killed in a car-bombing in “quiet” Basra, and that 8 severed heads were found in Baquba, north of Baghdad:
The point HAS to be coming, where ALL of the factions having at each other in the undeclared civil war, will take a look around at our troops increasingly hunkered down in their permanent fortress amerikas, complete with pools and McDonald’s, as they try to avoid casualties, and the Sunnis and Shiites, etc., will decide that by killing each other like cockroaches, while bush sits there, tsk-tsk’ing, they are, to some extent, playing right into junior’s hands.
But, for the life of me, I don’t see how that realization is going to have a salutary effect on the “happy trails!” scenarios so beloved by rumsfailed, etc….
His bubble is his stupidity, so he can’t come out of it.
“…….the President publicly appearing to listen to opposing opinions,…….”
yeah, appearing to……
The new treasury sec. designate has a history of being a deficit hawk aka a fiscal conservative aka “Concord Coalition”.
This is big big news to them because they are reaching out to the country club/Wall Street wing of the party.
They are admiting error on the only thing they care about…money.
If all you care about is money, then hinting at error on the deficit is big big news.
And really…does anyone doubt that all they care about is money?
But don’t expect any change. This is just windowdressing for the election. Appearance is reality, is it not?
It’s easy to dispose of this. They are lying. That’s what Bush, his criminal cronies and the entire ReThug Party do.
They have no other choice.
For as Americans learn what the ReThugs are really up to they become…..
Progressives.
Just the other night I was confronted by an apologizing bully – he was butt-hurt because I objected to his attempts to objectify me for point-and-laugh material.
“You still mad at me?”
“No, not mad – just wary.”
“OK, well I said I wouldn’t do that anymore.”
“Well, you’ll understand that I can’t take you at your word. Guess I’ll just be watching for awhile.”
“Can’t blame you for that.”
Same thing here with Our Dear Leader.
there could never be anything but superficial smoke and mirrors change as long as cheney is around running the show.
.
And, of course, if he does remove troops from Iraq, it is just to send them to IRAN. Aren’t the buildings finished in Iraq? I thought so.
I’m printing this letter to the author of the Washington Post article, in a few places because I want to encourage others to focus on writing similar communications to media sources all of the time.
a leading figure on this matter wrote to me “When someone tells you contacting media outlets doesn’t do any good, give them [something strongly encouraging them to do otherwise] They absolutely have to be kept under pressure, constant pressure, to do the right thing.” I agree. I also think a democracy is only as strong as the quality of its mainstream information, and that America’s mainstream information has been poor. I think that the most effective thing thing that can be done is to help the media to do a better job.
A more thorough example, on the coverage of an issue that changed the course of this nation’s history.
Yeah, yeah. Bush is now bubbling over with open good will. Or something.
It may just be an insincere effort to change Bush’s image for the history books, the bulk of his presidency being over.