I’ll believe things are going well in Iraq, when this isn’t the story of the day:
Traveling with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and a small retinue of other top officials, Bush flew to Baghdad in secret Monday night, landing Tuesday afternoon local time. Much of his Cabinet and White House staff was kept in the dark about the trip, and Maliki was told of Bush’s imminent arrival only a few minutes before he landed.
Bush today defended that secrecy, saying he is "a high-value target" for some enemies and that Iraq "is a dangerous place." He said that "half my Cabinet" did not know about the trip and that some secretaries were surprised to see him on a video transmission from Baghdad during a scheduled joint U.S-Iraqi Cabinet meeting yesterday. Giving advance word of the trip "would have given somebody a chance to plan," Bush said, adding that "I was happy to see [Maliki], and he was happy to see me."
Let’s see: the President flies in the dead of night, with no lights on the plane, sneaking in and out of the heavily-fortified green zone area, to meet with the newly elected Prime Minister of Iraq — who is neither trusted enough nor is his staff trusted enough to be informed more than a few minutes prior to meeting with Bush that the President is even on the ground in Iraq…um, hello.
Is the Iraqi government sovereign? Because it sure as hell doesn’t sound like it if we are just flying in and out of their airspace without any formal notification. High target value or not — and I do fully appreciate the need for security given the situation in Iraq — there is no sense pretending that everything is all roses and candy when it is not.
Logic dictates that if the Iraqis are sovereign, we treat them as we treat any other independent nation. That we treat them like we own their airspace and borders, and can do with them as we please, gives lie to everything else the President says about the trip. The public is not all stupid, and more and more they are waking up to the visual con scam that Rover and his ilk have been running.
That he is not called on this point every single time he opens his mouth about it is a testament to how the Commander Codpiece persona can blind the media into complicit silence or fawning awe. (see, e.g., O’Donnell, Noron, MSNBC)
(Great photo by Jason Reed of Reuters (via MSNBC) from today. Look at the faces of the folks on the front row. Classic.)
Related posts:
- In Iraq, As in So Many Contexts, Withdrawal is Victory
- Torture: Obama Heeded Maliki on Abuse Photos, Says McClatchy; What That Says for Our Occupation
- Changing of the Guard: US Troops Withdraw from Iraqi Cities; Maliki Declares “Sovereignty Day”
- Bill Press: Lou Dobbs’ Birther Lunacy is Killing CNN’s Credibility
- The End of the Delusion in Iraq
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NED!
WEBB!
Are trolls monogamous?
Where is everyone?
Right here. *g*
Fitz!
EPU’d but not OT for this post.
…how the Commander Codpiece persona can blind the media…
For those of you that watched the Decider-in-Chimp’s presser this AM, maybe you remember the reporter that stood up to ask a question and was cut-off by the Decider who said %u2013
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, Peter. Are you going to ask that question with shades on?
Q I can take them off.
THE PRESIDENT: I’m interested in the shade look, seriously.
Q All right, I’ll keep it, then.
THE PRESIDENT: For the viewers, there’s no sun. (Laughter.)
Q I guess it depends on your perspective. (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: Touche. (Laughter.)
Q Following up on the other Peter’s question about Karl Rove.
Well – turns out that the reporter in question in legally blind. Thinkprogress reports:
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/…..er-shades/
Why can’t the friggin press EVER ask a decent question like the ones you offer Christy?
There was only one good question about Rover and credibility, the others just plain STUNK!
Christy, yep. The MSM continue to let him off the hook. His simplistic red herring non-responses beg SO many questions that they will never follow through with. Makes me ill.
twolf1….OMG….that is UNBELIEVABLE
He’s the most hated man in the world. What else could we expect?
Franco 10
I watched the presser this AM and saw the exchange. I thought Chimpy’s comments were out of place (but trying to keep up his frat-boy, regular-guy persona). BUT, now knowing that the reporter is actually blind and that is why he was wearing shades, makes it SOOOO much worse. I think chimpster owes someone a public apology.
This whole photo op, happy looked him in the eyes thing has me reeling. No diplomatic protocol. I guess he is preznit of Iraq too– it seems obvious to me, anyway. Diplomacy, schiplomacy. Democracy, schemocracy. I say potato, you say potahto. Let’s call the whole thing off.
Did he have to have a visa to enter sovereign Iraq?
Blech.
Darkblack OT
I was wondering if you could apply your considerable photo techniques and sense of humour to that vortex of evil currently im-bunkered in the WH, known as Dick Cheney.
He has demonstrated implicitly and explicitly since (and before?) 9/11 that he has the credibility and legitimacy of another notorious socio/psychopathic individual who was found not guilty for his heinous crimes :OJ Simpson (Obviously, I hold little hope for the prospects that Cheney will be convicted by this Department of Justice (although hope springs eternal)).
As OJ pledged to continue the search for Nicole’s killers and proceeded to play all the local public golf courses in this quest, I was wondering if you could construct a photo treatment featuring OJ and his spiritual fellow Cheney tooling around in a golf cart, valiantly ensuring that the world remain free and true.
Do you take requests?
Bushco is an ‘F-n’ liar.
Love the picture of him, though. The WH propaganda machine keeps claiming he’s 5′11′ barefoot. He’s not a milimeter over 5′8″.
Maybe he could get the name and address of the outfit who makes Tom Cruise’s lifts? :-)
I caught about the last twenty minutes of his babbling, and he undercut every point he tried to make. When asked directly why he snuck into the country he went on and on about how dangerous Iraq is and what a high-value target he is. But the part that really jumped out at me was when he said we’re working toward a well-defined goal, meanwhile being unable to state what the goal was. Okay, sure.
And from the looks of Bush in that photo I see he still has his alien technology harness on underneath his coat.
So GW Clusterfuck met Howdy Doody- the new puppet Prime Minister of the US Republic of Iraq and found him to be a satisfactory marrionette?
This can’t be true:
“Traveling with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and a small retinue of other top officials, Bush flew to Baghdad in secret Monday night, landing Tuesday afternoon local time.”
Our government, which has exercised impeccable judgment in every other aspect of its reign, did not pack both the puppet and the puppeteers into a plane and drop them into the middle of their war on terror.
Ah, twolf1 beat me to it.
You have to give him credit – Bush can digest shoe leather pretty damned well. God knows, he has to, the way he’s always sticking his foot in his mouth.
Christy,
They can spin their whirlygigs all they want. The public isn’t buying their shtick anymore, cept of course for Ann Molter, Noron etc….
It’s a very small comfort to know that atleast they don’t believe the shit they’re shoveling.
GW Clusterfuck is going to play his big victory with 500 lb bombs for everything it’s worth. He’s already stretched it through four or five news cycles. How far can it be stretched before it snaps?
On Bushbabble and Iraq. It’s gotta be clear that he has put us in a problematic quagmire. He cannot anything but incoherently dissemble now. He has kicked open the hornet’s nest. And our soldiers will continue to die and be maimed in the crossfire until he is out of office, and probably beyond. The neocon dream of the effortless cakewalk transformation of Iraq and the region lies in a Baghdad morgue.
What a fucking mess.
Secret President Man!
Secret President Man!
This relates this morning’s “On Point” on NPR, where I heard talk about the way forward in Iraq. They talked about a report by Barry McCaffrey and various other ideas for things to do, but seemed oblivious to the idea that for many of them, they’re not things “we” can do. We would either have to undermine any illusion that Iraq is sovereign, or convince the Iraqi government to do them without making them look like puppets.
When we were actually running Iraq, the neocons were more concerned with conservative dogma like destroying labor unions and privatizing government than in creating institutions that would actually work, and now that they’ve rushed to declare Iraq’s government sovereign for the sake of GOP domestic politics, they’ve closed off a lot of options.
Thinking about it, I think the GOP plan was that if they created an Iraqi government and pulled back our troops from active patrols as much as possible, the news media would stop caring about it and it would disappear as an issue. I think this has backfired and the media are less constrained about reporting car bombs and insurgent attacks, since there are less grounds for smearing them as reporting things that are bad for the troops or for America.
clem says:
June 14th, 2006 at 11:30 am
It doesn’t say they were on the same plane. At least that’s how I read it, and I don’t think they normally would be. On the other hand, sneaking into Baghdad in the middle of the night tells me how bad it really is around there. Any corners we’re turning are on the road going straight to the sanitation facilities.
The ReTHUGlican meme…”the way forward”, knocking over whomever at whatever expense, criminal, fiscal, personal.
Plain and simple.
Christy, you say that Iraq is a sovereign nation BUT we are occupying it. I’m not trying to justify it but Bush and the others have been flying in and out of Iraq since 2004 with regularity and probably with little notice to the government.
Sneaking into Iraq and
hamming for the webcam!
Secret President Man!
D.Mason your 21
I see little indication that they don’t believe that the shit coming out of their mouths and Commander Codpieces piehole is actually duck liver pate…
Redshift 25 -
Yeah, all ya gotta do is re-read Naomi Klein’s “Baghdad Year Zero” piece, she captured the mess-making dead-on.
http://www.harpers.org/BaghdadYearZero.html
A mess.
Mary @ 80 from down yonder:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I’m at “who knows” re: what is going on. I care, but not like I care about GITMO, NSA & other secret law, secret testimony (defendants own) and secret legal arguments – so secret they can’t tell the court – crap going on. Add in a war that has young soldiers singing and chuckling over holding up a child to take a bullet; voting machine issues; a raft of Democratic candidates that are not worth saving a square of toilet tissue for, much less the Republicans there; and a completely subverted and perverted remnant of a system of justice in this country and %u2014 well, take one of those off the plate and I’d buy Rove coffee and give him a big wet kiss. Maybe even a donut with yellow sprinklies making a happy face.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Well said!!! I’d spring for the coffee and donut– the wet kiss, er, not so much. ;)
twolf1 and watertiger,
He has an unnatural affinity for this kind of faux pas. I remember the one where to a widow who lost her husband on 9-11 which was also their anniversary, he said, “Double whammy!” and then there was the vet in a wheelchair to whom he showed the scratches on his arm from clearing brush.
It’s an absurdist drama being performed as reality that only the mindless and the shameless could possibly be buying; the administration’s continued insistence that freedom is on the march is taking on a slightly hysterical undertone that has me questioning their collective sanity.
They talk about troop reductions – the bone they throw to ward off the increasingly angry citizens – at the same time they are sending more in. In their world, more equals less.
I haven’t checked, but I heard Harry Reid was supposed to be rolling out the Democratic platform today. Here’s hoping it’s a winner.
Hugh,
as attaturk reminded me, there was also that incident a month or two ago when Bush was on his “Medicare is DA BOMB!” tour. He walked into a room and all the seniors but one got up to clap. He walked over to the one guy who didn’t get up and said, “Comfortable?”
The guy was wheelchair-bound.
the story quoted above about Bush traveling with Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld and a small retinue is incorrect. Those were the folk informed ahead of time about the Preznit’s forthcoming trip to Eye-wrack. They indeed traveled to Camp David for the Monday meeting but they did not travel on Tuesday to sunny historic beautiful downtown Baghdad…just the Preznit and a few courtiers…
Is FDL going super-slow for anybody else today?
Found this incredible tale on Drum’s site. Read it if you feel like shaking your head back and forth.
On the other hand, if you feel like furrowing your brow at the media’s passion for stereotyping people from Massachusetts check out what CNN has on their homepage:
Wilson
More Like “I-wreck”.
hawkeye #28
Formal sovereignty was returned to Iraq on June 28, 2004. This coincided with the establishment of the interim government and the end of the CPA under Bremer.
Bush also said in the Rose Garden, (paraphrased) “When he walked out (Prime Minister of Iraq)I didn’t fear him”.
There you have it, Bush doesn’t fear the Prime Minister of Iraq. Now, what about Tony Blair and other heads of state?
Congress vote itself another pay raise….Thing are going soooo…well
BobbyG 31, “Baghdad, Year Zero” is some of the best writing on the subject since the invasion began. Period.
The part about the cement factories and Bremer Walls is the perfect metaphor for the entire situation and Bush administration approach to foreign policy.
Hugh and all the others:
Why, at this point, is anyone surprised at what insensitive and stupid things Bush says?
He is a sociopath incapable of having any feelings toward others, so he would have probably said the same thing to the reporter KNOWING he was blind.
Hey owlbear1, how ’bouts:
They’ve given you a codpiece
and taken ‘way your brain
Secret President Man!
I don’t get all you freedom hating cynics. George was most certainly at the controls of Airforce One when al- Zarqawi was dispatched with two 500 pound bombs. Condi navigated, and Donald pushed the release. It’s hard work, and dangerous.
Of course a cover story was necessary to protect the lives of our troops. This so called visit was that cover story.
Dover Bitch 42 -
And, her article is bulletproof. My wife’s company had recon contracts in Iraq (they’ve pulled out). I can tell you, from weekly security conference calls she participated in, that the mess was/is as bad as Naomi described.
It was all gonna be SO easy. They completely fucked Iraq up. The place is gonna be a stew of bloodshed for decades now.
I’ve been watching ABC news since Dan Rather got kicked off CBS. It has been a tragic farce. Peter Jennings dies. For months on months, Peter was continuously brought back; for this or that report on lung cancer and his favorite causes. Then Bob Woodruff and Elizabeth Vargas take over. Bob goes off to war and Elizabeth gets pregnant. Only after she is fired in her last days do they flash a full height view to show that Elizabeth really is with a child. Yesterday, Bob visits the office, looking a lot like Tom Hanks in “Forest Gump”. Charlie Gibson mentions he was “asleep, unconscious” for 36 days. ABC News never reported that their Anchor was in a coma for over a month. Perhaps, because it would shed some light on how really dangerous Iraq is and the trauma 18,356 wounded soldiers have experienced.
seeing the picture of the two aides on Air Force One fully suited in body armor, I really wonder how their’s compare to those of the troops
BobbyG 46,
No doubt. Iraq was a GOP corporate shill’s wet dream. An American-controlled empty slate with billions in taxpayer dollars rolling in to fund completely unregulated development with no labor or environmental standards to meet.
A perfect petri dish for the GOP experiment. Whoops.
Let’s see chimpy goes down vp takes over. Did vp think this up? The real President of America would not put his country or himself at risk for another pr stunt!
fyi– Dorgan back on the Senate floor hollering about waste, fraud and abuse…………….in Iraq.
Just a reminder…
Tonight at midnight is the last airing of The Human Experiments on the Sundance Channel. Set your Tivos (or in my case, the old VCR) because this one-hour documentary is a must-see.
Oops. “Human Behavior Experiments”
Man, those photos of Bush in Iraq are damning. Here we are nearly five years after 9/11 – Osama still on the loose, our feckless adventure in Iraq teetering on complete disaster, the economy creaking, real wages dropping, health care costs exploding ….
and Bush and his cronies look like a bunch of frat boys playing dress-up for a mock survivalist weekend. Tee-hee, look at us! Isn’t this fun! Aren’t we cool! And the press laps it up. Pathetic.
What – no trips to see all the school openings? How is he going to report to us on all the good things going on in Iraq when he just stays in the green zone and …
never mind.
Dont forget, Bush also had Malki COME TO MEET HIM at the United States EMBASSY (American turf) as opposed to meeting at the Prime Minister’s office….the nerve….
When we have to stop acting like Iraq is our 51st State then it will be time to come home…..
What is health care?
Who is the redhead sitting in the front row in front of the podium?
what’s galling is that americans still fall for bush’s 9/11 gag about saddam being buddies with osama, thanks to what america’s stooge reporters keep parroting: that’s more enervating than the missing wmd because it lets bush keep saying iraq’s the leading front in fighting the war on terror — the irony is that by being sheep, our news media make blogs like FDL the roaring success they are
I’m struck by the constant smoke and mirrors stylistics that confuse those in the MSM. It seems to me that all the focus was on what a herioc thing Bush had done by pulling off this secret flight and “dropping in on” the Prime Minister of a country we have bombed to smithereens. Like he’s some kind of Boy Scout earning his latest big badge. It was most obviously a publicity stunt, especially playing up the angles of how he fooled even his most trusted advisors – which makes no sense unless they themselves would have tipped off the insurgency – and how crafty and damn near cinematic his descent into the Green Zone had been. Mission Accomplished regurg. The guy is a Class A chickenshit who can’t buy himself an uptick because his little gig is falling flat for just about everyone save the real lunatic power mad fringe. The press weren’t especially laughing at any of his condescending jokes. He treats them like buffoons, which of course they are fast becoming, primarily because they buy all the distractions. Bush looks like a stark raving maniac to me. Absolutely pathological.
Bobby G.
Thanks for the Harpers link. Absolutely incredible story- and very well written.
Most americans know NOTHING about any of this- and it’s why we’re stuck in the sand in Iraq.
If someone wants to make a blockbuster movie- this is a place to look! Could totally change the political atmosphere in this country.
Mary: you’re right! damn! what a missed photo opportunity! The Preznit in a blue shirt with rolled up sleeves perspiring while helping repaint a school ! A picture for the ages!
twolf1 and watertiger
I guess it offends him when one of us peons wears sunglasses when addressing him, but what about what’s his name the Saudi Ruler when he was holding hands with “the decider” and wearing his shades?
I know that picture’s out there somewhere
The Stenographers of the Press in the front row all look like Shooter does these days, either half asleep or just asleep.
John Byrne, NYTIMES, just said on ‘To the Point” that Maliki was conspicuously irritated by the conspicuous photo-op affront by the president’s surprise visit. Like all of Dubya’s grandstanding, it seems this serves a purpose contrary to the one that he is selling the U.S. electorate. I’m not buying any of the political theater.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t Rep. Peter King (R-Larchmont Lockjaw) speecifyin’ yesterday how his wife could walk through beuatiful downtown Baghdad without a care in the world, but Washington, DC was much more dangerous?
You’d think the Mighty Wurlitzer could play from one sheet of music, as organized as Mehlman’s Musicians are reputed to be, but maybe not.
We know that Iraq is sovereign because the liberal NYT dutifully duplicated Condi’s handwritten “Dear Mr. President, Iraq is sovereign” on its cover. And we know that Fredo understands the concept of “sovereignty” because he’s explained it to us:
“Tribal sovereignty means that, it’s sovereign. You’re a — you’re a — you have been given sovereignty and you’re viewed as a sovereign entity.” -George W. Bush, August 6, 2004
end centering, please!
al-Scooter 66,
That was Rep. Steve King (R-IA).
I guess it depends on who’s wearing the shades
WASHINGTON (AP) %u2014 The economy flashed signs of slower growth heading into the summer but that didn’t help alleviate inflation concerns. Stung by rising costs for energy and other materials, some businesses felt inclined to boost their prices.
That was the picture emerging from a Federal Reserve survey, released Wednesday, of the business climate around the country.
USA Today
So GWClusterfuck has created chaos in Iraq and stagflation at home.
Heckofajob Clusterfuck!
the Congressman with the endangered Washington wife was one from Kansas … I cant find the news story right now…
DB, thanks. I got my Kings mixed up. Once past King George IV, I begin to lose track.
It was Steve King from Iowa.
Oh- and how’s Clusterfuck’s roadmap for peace goin?
Whichever, will Mrs. King be escorting Dubya through the non-Green Zone anytime soon?
rwcole at 75 — He’s having trouble getting it folded back up properly.
I’m still waiting, though not holding my breath, for this question: “Now that you can’t prejudice an ongoing criminal investigation, when will you be firing Karl Rove? After all, your firing threshold, as articulated in 2003, was involvement, not indictment or conviction. And you’re not going to stand there and seriouesly contend Rove wasn’t involved, are you? Or are you?”
Good one, Christy.
Christy at 77,
Because ,like the rest of his policies, it is upside down.
America is suffering from Bush fatigue.
I know his that Raw story has a link to a new USA today poll with Bush at 38%, But I can not imange Americans wanting another two years of this hell.
.
BOEHLERTING ALONE, YOU FOOL NO ONE.
WORKING UP THE NERVE TO ACCEPT EMAIL ANY TIME SOON?
Ha! Following up on my post #37…
CNN has edited their homepage blurb:
ralphbon, THAT is the question.
I took his statement at this morning’s presser that everything Karl did is A-OK with him.
Iraqi quote of the day:
…Shaykh Mahmud Jarad al-Isawi, imam and preacher of the (Sunni) Al-Kilani Mosque, as likening the US’s presence in Iraq to the presence of a dead animal in a well, “spoiling” its water content. Al-Isawi says: “A decaying rotten animal has entered our country. There is no solution to the problem we are suffering from without the departure of this animal. The occupation forces spoiled everything when they entered our country, including our ethics and morals, until we have reached our present unenviable state.”
Great shot Redd- wish I’d thought of that!
To heck with the Bush twins, sounds like Mrs. King is a volunteer. Wait till she finds out she gets a new outfit too!
Things are going so well the Brits want us to give up Humvees and assault weapons and go with bicycles and better enunciation.
tralalalalalalalala
Mary #87: ROFL!
Where are those pictures of commander codpiece and his posse in Iraq?
Two most recent Clusterfuck Polls:
6/11 Gallup 38%- up 2%
6/11 CBS 33%- down 2%
So GW Clusterfuck has either gotten a bump or a kick in the ass depending on which poll you want to pick. (Both are inside the margin of error- so statistically there is no change).
What bothers me about the Chimpinator is that he seems so hung up on the trappings of the office and seems piqued whenever someone slights him…you know the crippled guy not standing…the blind reporter not taking off his glasses..Bill Clinton trying to walk through a door BEFORE him.
It all seems so juvenile and petty. He doesn’t appear to have an ounce of humility or grace, yet we are always given “stories” about he is just filled to the brim with those qualities.
-GSD
About this trip being a PR stunt
Exhibit A
Exhibit B
KABUL, Afghanistan, June 14 — An Afghan government delegation to Guantánamo Bay said today that about half of the 94 Afghans still being held there were not guilty of serious crimes and should be released.
The remainder, including several high-level members of the former Taliban government, should be tried in Afghan courts, said the leader of the delegation, Abdul Jabar Sabit, a legal adviser to the Interior Ministry.
John- linkies no worky
My personal – and unprofessional – opinion about the serial inappropriate comments Bush makes is that, as a weak person himself, he automatically seeks out those he perceives to be weaker than he is, and then asserts his “strength.”
OT: but obliquely relevant
Reading a disturbing trend cropping in the net neutrality argument. Hot on the heels of the perception that net neutrality has been knocked down in legislation, I’m starting to see arguments against ‘porn’ and ‘hate sites’ and ISP’s being pressured to block them.
http://www.gnn.tv/headlines/94….._Hate_Porn
Since net neutrality has nothing to do with the internet being ‘free’, it has everything to do with filtering content. Mr. Whitacre’s assertion that nobody will ‘use his pipes’ for free is a red herring. Bandwidth is expensive, but people already pay for it, at both ends of the buyer/supplier market, this is an established fact of any thing to do with the internet.
The real issue here is about getting the ISP’s in a position to filter content, specifically content that is politically ‘inconvenient’ or could be labelled
thoughtcrimehate-crime.http://arstechnica.com/news.ar…..-7043.html
Apologies for the off-topic, but there are lots of blogs and antiwar sites I am partial to that could become termed hate-sites for their critical appraisal of the neo-cons, and their role in the whole Iraq war run-up.
So van #86,
What do you think that al-Isawi is trying to say? Do they still like us aside from that rotting corpse thing?
Hmmmm, they work for me
Go to http://www.bagnewsnotes.com or http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnewsnotes
Looks like there goes KOS and FDL. Notorius left wing hate sites.
Long live Free Republican and RedHates.
-GSD
Sophist, don’t worry, the decision on what is a hate site will be up to the steady minds of James Sensenbrenner and Sam Brownback.
Hugh- Yes- they like us very much. They say we taste like chicken.
If that Representative King is the one from Iowa’s 5th district….. He has no clue!! That’s also the reddest part of the state as well. Also, compared to where they’re from…. DC is an extremely dangerous area, comparitively speaking. Cow tipping and speeding is the worst that goes on in the western part of the state.
rwcole,
ROFL!
Should have been asked if the reason he didn’t inform his staff and other Cabinet members was due to fears of a leak.
You’ll know Iraq is truly sovereign when they start charging people for things like Haditha. The silver lining is that we’ll be out of there pretty quick when things like that start happening.
As for King’s wife, I’m sure we can all chip in and fly her out to Baghdad for the weekend. We can even throw in a Lonely Planet guide, so she can see all the sights. Can wait to see her photos!
OT: I left this in EPU territory of the previous thread, but there’s a question in it for anyone with legal experience (theoretical – I’m not looking for advice ;)).
If you’re looking at the standard “moving up the food chain” scenario of prosecutions, then there’s no one left whom Fitzgerald can indict, is there? It’s Bush and Cheney, as far as I can tell (well, Andy Card …). So if it’s one or both of the first two, is it worth his while?
Any thoughts on that, current or former prosecuters?
Now, I’ll go read the article.
Frankly, all of the cloak and dagger stuff gives me the willies…He is behaving like some mob boss or third world dictator.
Pretty soon he is going to be using that dude from the Press Club joke-a-rama as his body double, just like Saddam used to do.
-GSD
Anne #96
I think it’s more a “subliminable” unease that perceives a potentially embarrassing moment and then perversely actualizes. Freud I think would call it anal, or just bad manners.
If Bush starts using a body double, we will know the moment he/she/it says a word — no one could possibly as inarticulate as Commander Codpiece.
Everything rwc says has a nugget of truth. *g*
OT Sophist – good to know, thanks.
OT Who is Olberman’s stand in? I really like that voice thing he has going and that very serious air he can bring to it all. I noticed some of the usual suspects almost look a little nervous when they are responding and he keeps giving them that very grave “it’s not that funny to have people dieing for this President’s photo ops” look. Can’t someone on cable ditch a Ritatype and give this guy his own show?
Okay, “let’s put on a show” was a cute shtick for The Mickey Mouse Club, but it’s way past time for the grown-ups to step in and put an end to the Bush administration’s deadly version.
And this “we’ll stand down when they stand up” thing is starting to remind me of some kind of weird game of musical chairs. How much more “up” do these alleged 240,000 trained Iraqis have to be before we bring our kids home?
ck- including his body language. Watch his body language during his Iraqi Presser, with the sound down…..says it all. At least Bush treats everyone with equal disdain.
Mary – Brian Unger. Cute too.
They say that the age at which someone starts abusing substances is the age that emotional growth stops. That might explain why Bush acts like a teenager.
Dover Bitch @ 11:52 am (#37) – Incredible tale, indeed. Oooh, I just feel so safe now, knowing we’re in the capable hands of Homeland (In)Security.
OT-Sorry if this story’s been posted/linked already, but here’s the AP’s take on Jane’s Lieberman scoop from last night:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200….._lieberman
I hope the screen door hits him especially hard.
Rather than show actual progress, Bush chose once again with his “5 hours in Iraq” tour to address a serious issue with PR and promises. We have all seen it before, about a thousand times. These guys never, never learn. They are a one trick pony now and forever. For them and the third of the voters who are their base, it never gets old and they think if they do it just one more time the rest of us will go ‘golly geewhiz’ and climb back on board.
cathy @ 115– that’s is exactly right– my best bud (who works daily with substance abuse/mental health clients) and I were just talking about that on Saturday!
except, Bush acts more like a rotten schoolyard bully whose development was halted at ca. 8 yrs. Just see how he treats the press corps and his best buds with the nicknames and the occasional slur… tough guy from the podium who stole 2 elections cause he has friends in high places.
Popping in to offer a quickie:
having suffered through the Gov Shrub years before us Texans palmed him off on the nation (deepest apologies), I’ve watched his body languish diminsh and change over the years, not to mention his verbal skills.
If you’ve never seen old debate tapes from his 1st run for govenor, you’d be amazed that he could actually talk coherently at one time. that is, string words together, without repeating them, that made sense,at least the snytax made sense.
Here’s what I’m watching for now:
The depth at which his head sinks further into his neck. Ever notice that his neck is getting shorter? It is.
The furtive glances that end with a faraway stare. His eyes dart and then stop on a dime and just freeze. That’s a recent thing too (well, since he was govenor).
His decrease in using his hands for emphasis. Less and less hand motion in the past 5 years, as though he’s frozen with fear and uncertainty.
I could go on but I’ve got a doc to finish in the next half hour.
Disclaimer: I cannot bare to listen to him anyhmore. The very sound of his voice sends me flying for the mute button. But I do study his body language which I find fascinating.
cathy says
June 14th, 2006 at 1:25 pm
They say that the age at which someone starts abusing substances is the age that emotional growth stops.
______
Really? Hmmmm.mm..m… that would make me ~27. I was into copious amounts of everything except smack (never went there). Then it seems one day I just decided ‘this shit is boring’ and quit.
Mr. Bush, are you going to deliver your entire speech wearing those rose colored glasses?
-GSD
GSD-
lol. It’s a true sign of disrespect that he keeps them on when he talks to us.
What Mary 111 sez re. Obiwann’s stand-in.
Just before election 2006 I am sure Bush will show up in Baghdad to hand out home made falafel sandwiches to the locals and swing a hammer or two at the groundbreaking of a new mosque.
-GSD
A little OT, but otherwise I’m in the EPU zone on the other threads . . .:
Egregious in an earlier thread had a nice quote from the WaPo referring to the “young bloggers” on the left who are putting pressure on things. What’s with Corporate Media’s meme that the progressive blogs are fueled solely or even primarily by “young” people? If anything, YKos proved otherwise, by revealing lots of weathered and wise faces. OTOH, whenever I see blog activities from the right, those guys (and it’s mostly guys, although that may be another media misperception) are indeed all on the youngish side.
I need to think more about this.
al-Scooter at 117 – it’s ALL about Joe, isn’t it?
I am the last, the VERY LAST person to defend Bush, but read through the blind quotes again while considering that all involved knew the guy was blind, and that he was ok about jokes. Possible?
We have enough real issues here, let’s not pounce on an imaginary one, that’s for our Republican friends :)
BobbyG at 121
Money seem to cause severe emotional damage in many people. They get ‘hooked’ on it, begin craving their ‘fix’ and start treating those around them badly, unless they are in possession of more.
I wonder if it qualifies as the worst type of substance abuse.
Just being facetious, but the comparison is kind of chilling.
Ah, Froomkin is up, its my new afternoon tea-time, get my coffee, sit and read…
Egregious,
If Bush were to lose limbs saving children and baby seals from a fire I would still mock him.
-GSD
BobbyG @ 1:33 pm (#121) – I suspect the “they” in this case haven’t any personal experience to draw from. Back in the day, the first time you used drugs was usually the first time you had motive and opportunity.
Well, we know Bush has a thing for looking into people’s eyes, so maybe that’s his excuse. Think Progress had a blurb about it, and the reporter stated that he had never told Bush about his condition and didn’t think Bush knew.
Still…he has no filter when he needs one. It’s like making the mistake of asking a woman when her baby is due if you don’t actually know that she is pregnant. Someone did that to a friend of mine – really awkward moment.
Well, for me, when the preznit made his comments about the reporter in sunglasses today, it was more of the same– take those sunglasses off sonnyboy and address me with respect. More petulance from the boy- king. I’ve seen it over and over again. Turns out he did not know the guy was legally blind, but it was still the same derision with which he speaks to the press and the same smirk. I remarked on an earlier thread that I was impressed with how smoothly the reporter answered the preznit; now I know why.
OT.
It looks like the far right wing meltdown continues. Even the Southern Baptist Conf. has moved away from the wingnut leadership…
There is a concerted effort going on. From the “I.D” fundie losses in PA’s last election, to the melting away of moderate R’s in Kansas, and now we have the Baptists stepping back to the center.
http://www.abpnews.com/1090.article
-GSD
-GSD
Cujo359 -
I was in the band back in those days. Opportunities abounded. No ascetic here…
;)
egregious,
Either Bush is an insensitive asshole as he has shown in many similar situations by making fun of someone with a disability or who has had a tragedy or he is an insensitive asshole because he makes irrelevant “jokes” while discussing his new “serious” approach to Iraq where Americans and Iraqis have died and are still dying. Either way he’s an insensitive asshole.
OT – As usual.
Fellow pups and patriots, you owe it to yourself to read this kos dairy.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyo…..182259/301
Anne #127:
It shouldn’t matter what political persuasion one has, this idea that Gurney Boy’s entitled to a seat of power rather than being priveliged to serve the interests of the people in CT is so symptomatic of what’s happened to our democracy.
God, Schumer is an idiot. He is still going to support Holy Joe, even if he decides to run as a independent.
http://hotlineblog.nationaljou…..st_14.html
angie 134 -
Do you notice that, more and more, he starts to mumble and comment even while the questioner is still amid his/her question. Makes me crazy. It’s a tactic to start the deflection by attentuating/smothering the actual question in progress. ‘Like, STFU, George, and actually LISTEN to what you’re being asked, you dipwad.’
OT
Schumer just gave Lieberman the green light to go indie. Story at dKos. Disgusting. Predictable.
Frank at 106: As for King’s wife, I’m sure we can all chip in and fly her out to Baghdad for the weekend. We can even throw in a Lonely Planet guide, so she can see all the sights. Can wait to see her photos!
Might wanna send along a Turkish translator, to help with the photos.
GSD at 131, if you stopped mocking him it would be a class A emergency around here.
I have read that people who do serious drugs eventually “grow” out of using if they live through it. Apparently it is not unusual for that to happen sometime in the 40’s. This was a fairly recent article. I just can’t remember where I saw it.
OT – anybody see Nancy Pelosi with Wolf at about 4:40 EST? I thought she did quite well with a strong message. He will probably replay it sometime in the next hour or the 7:00 hour. She was very direct.
GSD
Thanks for the link to the Southern Baptist Convention story.
It isn’t really clear whether the issue had anything to do with national politics- more intramural politics it sounds like. Something about how much money should be spent on missionary work?
Might wanna send along a Turkish translator, to help with the photos.
LOL – memories, misty watercolored memories
Hugh at 137, yeah I’m basically good with your analysis about his being an insensitive a**hole.
Just trying out logical possibilities. Keeps the mind fresh. However betting on a high level of human kindness there is not a good use of money.
Got a few minutes?
Read, ‘Baghdad Bush’
http://billmon.org/
Rasmussen Reports poll shows Lieberman leading primary challenger Ned Lamont (D) by just six percentage points, 46% to 40%.
-GSD
Anyone see this? John King’s take on his trip to the Green Zone.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITI…..index.html
Yeah, BobbyG!
Babs: Now, Georgie, put your listening ears on! Are they on?
W: yea, mom.
Babs: What did I tell you about blowing up frogs?
W: To stop doing it if people are watching.
Babs: Why are you blowing up people so everybody can watch?
W: Well, dad did it!!! I keep telling the teevee people not to show that stuff. I try to tell the press corpse not to talk about it either, but nobody listens to me much anymore…
murmur, mumble, blah. Makes me even more convinced he is scripted– it all he knows, SOS.
As per Sophist’s #130;
http://tinyurl.com/9gx78
RWCole,
To be sure about the points you brought up. But it is significant as the “Top Down” model is endemic among the authoritarian right wing….
Also, this quote says a lot too:
“I’m an inerrantist — I believe in the word of God — I’m just not mad about it,” Page said in a post-election news conference.
-GSD
From Kos – Schumer is showing very poor judgment
Schumer just gave Lieberman permission to quit the Democratic Party:
Schumer said that the DSCC “fully supports” Sen. Joe Lieberman in his primary bid, and he refused to rule out continuing that support if Lieberman were to run as an independent.
There were degrees of independence, Schumer said. “You can run as an independent, you can run as an independent Democrat who pledges to vote for Harry Reid as Majority Leader.”
That’s true, when there isn’t a Democrat on the ballot, like in Vermont. Connecticut isn’t Vermont.
The DSCC’s mission is to support Democrats in elections.
Our mission is to elect more Democrats to the United States Senate. We are the largest organization committed to electing a Democratic Senate in the country. From grass-roots organizing to candidate recruitment to providing campaign funds for tight races, the DSCC is working hard all year, every year to increase the number of Democratic Senators.
Supporting Lieberman over Lamont would be a violation of this mission.
Schumer is a Democrat. He runs the DSCC. He needs to respect the will of the Democratic voters in Connecticut.
Update: Reid’s office refuses to comment on this. The “Lieberman Problem” in all its glory.
Christy, This ia o/t but I figure your the one who may know.
I heard that a lawyer for one of the gitmo detainees who committed suicide, was on npr 2 days ago and is saying that the 3 men that died were found with rags shoved in their mouths and that they may NOT have killed themselves.
Have you heard this?
I just want to know, after Tony Snow and Dan Bartlett crapped their chinos, was the Baghdad Gap open and could they find their size?
Pade @ 1:52 pm (#145) – The people who don’t live through it, I think, are the ones who become addicted. Well, a few deaths are due to misadventure, IOW, driving under the influence, that sort of thing. I think most of those who aren’t addicted eventually “outgrow” it for one reason or another.
Lobstergirl 157 -
LOL!!!
The looks on those two chickenhawk faces, priceless.
dogeatdogi at 156 — I have not heard anything about that, but I’ve been out of the loop the last few days. I did hear yesterday (I think?) that one of the detainees who died had been set to be released, but no one had as yet bothered to tell him prior to the suicide.
Democrat Ford in dead heat against GOP opponents, a new Zogby International telephone poll shows
The race for the U.S. Senate from Tennessee, seen as a key battle in the fight for control of Congress’ upper chamber, is shaping up to be one of the tightest in the nation, a new Zogby International telephone survey shows.
The seat is open because of the pending retirement of Majority Leader Bill Frist, who is contemplating a run for the White House in 2008. The Zogby poll was conducted via telephone with 502 likely voters statewide on June 12, 2006, and carries a margin of error of +/– 4.5 percentage points.
In prospective tests pitting Democrat Harold Ford Jr., a popular Democratic congressman, against three Republican rivals, Ford is running competitive races. Ford is dead even in a head-to-head race with former Congressman Ed Bryant, with each taking 42% of the vote in a potential match-up. Against former Congressman Van Hilleary, Ford trails by a narrow two-point margin, 43% to 41%. Former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker leads Ford by the largest margin, 46% to 42%.
(Zobgy)
Tennessee is the crucial sixth seat that the dems would need to take over the senate. Ford has been running ten points behind- until now. Very good news.
Dems would also need to take Rhode Island, Montana, Pennsylvania, Missouri, and Ohio- and hold vulnerable seats in New Jersey, Maryland, and Minnesota.
In the event that Lieberman runs as an independent, wins, and votes for gooper leadership, dems would need one more seat- Virginia, Nevada, or perhaps Arizona- none of which look good right now.
The nightmare scenario is that Ol Joe ends up as the power broker- negotiating with both parties for his vote.
Recent polls show that he would win convincingly as an independent- but the election’s a long ways off- so that could change.
I wonder what Dean has to say about the Lieberman thing.
Just a quick question for Christy on your previous post about Rove.
What about the grand jury? Does the fax mean that Fitz didn’t ask the GJ to indict or that the GJ failed to indict? Shouldn’t there be a legal proceeding on that? Do you just stop a grand jury investigation right in the middle without any formal ending of it? Is that why he went to Hogan, to tell him to excuse the GJ for his purposes? If the GJ failed to indict, wouldn’t it have met with Hogan to record that?
Why didn’t Fitz formally end the GJ for his case?
President Bush made a point of walking into the press-corps wearing a deep red shirt. A reporter, never seeing the president in such a shirt asked about it.
Bush replied: “I wanted to be a strong and show the press I am in charge. In the event we are attacked, if I were to take any fire, I would bleed, but no one know because of the red shirt.”
The press applauded Bush’s bold stand.
The President then went back to his quarters. Just then several missiles were fired at the helicopter.
Bush shouted to his nearest aid. “Can you go get me a pair of brown pants?”
-GSD
“Traveling with … a small retinue of other top officials….
retinue / retina, why quibble?
Maggie at 163 — it most likely means that Fitzgerald is not going to ask the grand jury to seek indictment, which is generally how things are done with the jury — you provide a proffer of charges to the jurors and they make a determination as to which are or are not proper under the evidentiary circumstances. And no one said anything about the grand jury investigation being at an end (well, other than the allusion to that from David Johnston which I think was simply him writing up the Luskin spin without doing the necessary critical thinking on this…). Just because the Rove portion may be at a standstill, that does not preclude further investigation on other fronts via information obtained during Libby’s trial or otherwise.
If the G/J had declined to indict Rove, then a “no true bill” on the requested charges would have to be entered with the Judge.
I’m certainly not a Bush fan, but you got to give him credit-when he realized the LAT reporter was blind, he did start speaking more loudly and slowly for him. I mean he’s not completely out to lunch, right?
Seems to me Schumer and the DSCC need an object lession in actions have consequences. What would be an appropriate action/nonaction consequence for his quislin’ comments about Joewoementum?
Withholding $$$ for each day they withhold strong support of the Democratic primary process in CT?
Christy Hardin Smith @ 2:01 pm (#160) – I did hear yesterday (I think?) that one of the detainees who died had been set to be released, but no one had as yet bothered to tell him prior to the suicide.
True, according to this BBC news story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wor…..073634.stm
Now was anyone else struck by W’s statement in the press conference about Zarqawi that the US was able to track him down and “bring him to justice.”
What kind of justice is that? They just droppped a pair or 500 pound bombs on him. So they were the judge, jury and executioner.
Now of course he was a horrible person, so why not say they just killed him. It is after all a war. That makes sense
You don’t “bring people to justice” in a war, unless your idea of justice is a cowboy mentality, frontier law, “just string ‘em up!”
GSD at 135: Wow, that’s fascinating.
I had no idea that Southern Baptist bloggers were an influence, much less a positive one. It gives me more hope that there may actually be something to this idea that blogs are a printing-press-level revolution in democratizing organizations of all sorts, reducing the ability of authority figures to impose their will on the grassroots.
Has this been posted over at Kos? I think people would find it really interesting.
“The Decider’s” Plan for Vikctry 12/05/05
I don’t have a problem with Schumer’s statement — but if the DSCC gives money to Weepin’ Joe, that is out of line. If they give him money after he’s bolted the party, that is a betrayal of the first magnitude.
david s 170 -
You raise an interesting point. Relatedly, given all the news now about how they’d been tracking him for weeks, closing in — WHY was it necessary to kill him instead of making the collar? I’s not like there was a battalion of terrists there with him. What? They killed a total of about 8 people, including women and children.
Someone posted the link to this NYDN article earlier but I think it’s worth quoting:
The part about the trip to Baghdad salvaging his “Katrina-squandered reputation for competence” is especially priceless….
BobbyG,
Dead men tell no tales. The Neocon/Al Qaida alliance depends on it staying that way. They need each other to exist, but more than that they need us not to know it.
david s @ 2:09 pm (#170) – To me, justice isn’t a trial. Justice is a cosmic idea that someone who does something horribly wrong pays for it. In that context, Zarqawi got justice.
Whether our leaders should be trumpeting that idea, given the circumstances, is another question entirely.
From the Let’s-have-it-all-ways-Department-of-Lowered-Expectations…
Rice: Democracy Uncertain in Iraq, Afghanistan
By ANNE GEARAN and TIM WHITMIRE
(WaPo) The Associated Press
Wednesday, June 14, 2006; 11:27 AM
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday that the U.S. military interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan do not assure those countries will become successful democracies. But she said the chance for success is worth the price…
_____
As long as OTHERS pay “the price” ‘eh, you bitch?
cathy at 162: I wonder what Dean has to say about the Lieberman thing.
Well, he did say that he thought the DSCC endorsement in the VA primary was inappropriate. We’ll see.
Lobstergirl 174,
“A lot of leadership is the appearance of leadership, and that’s the way this trip is going to play,” said a prominent Republican strategist.
That sounds like an Ed Rogers quote to me. At least it sounds just as dumb.
new thread — weepin’ joe
http://www.firedoglake.com/200…..n-game-on/
twolf1 @ 7
This confirms it. Bush is legally moronic.
I was going to say dumb but apparently he still has a voice…We hear ya’ Dumbya
Unbelievable.
~
A perfectly orchestrated rethuglican photo op…
Administration cancels a big briefing on Iraq.
Zarqawi is found and killed. (with all the usual caveats)
Iraq chooses the rest of the cabinet.
W. flies to Iraq under the cover of darkness and unheard of secrecy after finding out Rove is not going to be indicted. (yet)
Coincidence?
I think “bring to justice” is the marketing term for an exodus that involves that euphemistic *collateral damage* A euphemism, wrapped in a banner.
Bombs = bringing justice to Iraq.
After all, don’t you know they were behind 9/11. /sarcasm
GSD #134- Interesting link, looks like surly must watch site. Ronnie Floyd, pastor of First Baptist Church of Springdale, Ark is (dangerous) behind Asa Hutchison, now Republican nomine for AR Gov. ‘06. Can we say Iran Contra Mena Airport for Gov. Very very nasty indeed. Oh and they are the oil that burns science text books in this state.
Bobby G – 31
Just catchin gup here, and read the Harper’s article you referenced.
Wow.
Anyone who has not done so, take the time. It’s worth it.
Good post, Christy, but I don’t think the media is blind about the snakeoil-and-bullshit dispensary that bushCo’s been running since the gin-up; I think they know exactly what they’re doing, which is, trying to save the petro-borgs (thanks again, Drift! :o)) and corporate ameriKa from having to eat an Exxon Valdeze full of bloody, putrid, crow.
This one is for all the marbles. That’s what goatboy did, when he got down on his knees in the back alley, and threw the dice with the invasion.
Either they kill enough of the Iraqis, that the insurgents, and the sectarian violence, dies down to sporadic little acts (and that’s practically impossible) or they have to deal with an american public that is tired of hearing a bunch of Fortune 500 media shills, pimping more “it’s going great!” bullshit to them, at the time when the wheels are unspinnably, coming off.
To steal Dr. Thompson’s phrase, it’s gonna be fear and loathing in america, when the victory bauble turns out to be a frozen-but-thawing turd, and pump prices hit $4 a gallon, and the SUV-Panzers start showing up on used car lots. :o)
But this needs to happen with jr. in office, so there won’t be any doubt about who gets the “credit”; otherwise, the INSTANT a democratic president is sworn in, or, a democratic congress starts looking at all the “intelligence” and the sweetheart contracts for Halliburton and Bechtel, at that nano-second, it will all become their fault, in some rather different alternate universe than the one in which 9-11, 9 MONTHS after Clinton left office, was HIS fault.
Bobby G, if Rice is starting to crawfish on the “It’s-all-about-bringing-democracy-to-the-ragheads” thing, why don’t some of the pom-pom wavers in the MSM ask her to tell george-goatboy to shut the fuck up about it?
Urban Pirate 18 -
Yup. The neocons believed utterly in their little cakewalk and miraculous follow-on new capitalist paradise. The height of cultural imperialist naivete.
tanbark 188 -
Be nice if someone would ask His Serene Deciderer who’s right, him or CondiSleeza?
I think the secret trip was a psy ops ploy. Iraq’s president will get so accustomed to Air Force 1 dropping in on a moment’s notice (not unlike a mother-in-law who lives next door), that he’ll be taken by surprise when the door to Air Force 1 opens and out pour SEALs and Rangers, who throw out the Iraqi regime and plant the American flag.
oh yeah and one more thing re my 183– the trip to the Green Zone has been planned for a long time, according to them that knows…
orchestration by the stinkers. Extreme makeover, W.H. edition.
Exellent points. One of my first thoughts was that the only two ways I could get away with a few minutes notice of arrival at a site was if I had cleared it with them well in advance or if I was the Boss. Which one applies to Bush? I think a lot of Iraqis have their opinion.
Maureen, it’s a little late for flag-planting or election “do-overs”.
Sistani will raise one cheek of his ass and fart, and for starters, the brits will be looking at 50,000 armed Shiites, telling them that their mother’s are calling them from Kuwait.
If goatboy decides that things are getting out of hand, and/or if the new “parliament” sends him a demand for a fixed withdrawal timetable, and NOT one with a 5 year shelf-life, and junior Cromwell’s the parliament out of existence, the coalition will evaporate like a puddle of back-alley piss.
I wonder if Laura Ingraham will call the President cowardly for not leaving the greenzone.
She doesn’t mind taking cheap shots at the press for supposedly reporting from balconies.
After all, she spent eight whole days there.
How many days has Bush spent in Iraq? Less than 10 hours?
Some Commander.
Yea, things are just peachy in Iraq.
Politics and personalities are very important….
End the damn war.
George Bush’s new pal, Maliki, will be GIVING AMNESTY TO IRAQI’S WHO KILLED AMERICAN TROOPS. MALIKI IS CALLING IT ‘AN ACT OF RECONCILIATION’
Read that again.
Maliki made this announcement the day after Mr. “I looked in his eyes and I could see his soul” Bush left Iraq’s green zone after his lengthy 5 hour plastic turkey-like visit/photo op.
SO, GEORGE BUSH HAS GIVEN TOTAL FAITH, CONFIDENCE AND RESPECT TO THE NEW IRAQI PRIME MINISTER, MALIKI, A MAN WHO OPENLY CONDONES THE KILLING OF AMERICANS. Nice. Very nice. Good job George. When will people learn that Bush has the worst judgment of any President in history, particularly on matters of war.
FRONT PAGE NEWS THURSDAY:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..02432.html
Can hardly wait to hear Bush and the Right/Fox spin this to make Bush look good.
I can’t wait to see the new Fox News chryon. It will be like one of their others that is one of my favorites:
“Could a full blown Civil War in Iraq be a good thing?”
…that is an actual Fox News graphic/chryon from a couple of months ago. When they lost the battle of trying to brainwash their viewers into thinking Iraq was nowhere near a Civil War and it would never happen, they were forced to put a desperate spin on it. They had to make their moronic viewers think that, ‘oh, well Fox likes the idea of a Civil War, therefore a Civil War must good and it will make Bush look good.’
I’ll expect the same on Maliki’s AMNESTY to those in Iraq who killed, maimed, attacked Americans.
Something like:
********FOX NEWS*********
MALIKI HAS TO JUSTIFY KILLING AMERICANS TO ADVANCE FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ
or:
************FOX NEWS************
COULD KILLING U.S. TROOOPS IN IRAQ BE A GOOD THING?
also, isn’t the word/idea of ‘AMNESTY’ a huge no no to conservatives? This will further divide the GOP in their Iraq debate/”strategically nebulous and morally obtuse” ploy. I’d like to see any Republican stand behind this kind of Amnesty (from Bush’s new best friend)
Additionally, Bush is RE-billing the War in Iraq as the ‘front on the War on Terror’….yet at the same time, in the same speech today, he said he wants to turn responsibility of Iraq to Maliki and the Iraqi ‘government’. WHY IS BUSH TURNING OVER ‘FIGHTING THE WAR ON TERROR’ to a relatively clueless government that have no interest/nor obligation to pursuing people who attacked US on 9/11 ?! Bush truly thinks people will believe that the violence in Iraq has very little to do with Insurgency, Civil War. He really thinks that people will be fooled into thinking that the enormous, endless amount of violence and death will be assigned to his Iraq-scapegoat, al Qaeda.
Signs of desperation.
1) Beg Fitz for a cover-note after delivering up Cheney on a plate.
2) Leverage lucky strike in Iraq by Hitlerian plane psy-op. ‘ Airforce one’
3) More rose garden follies that make ‘ Salad Days’ by the Monty Pythons look tame.
Last days folks – final days. They are written all over shrubs ugly twitching face. Isn’t it amazing watching him lecture the press like a kindergarden cop?
But of course he’s just a trained chimp repeating whats been drilled into his numbskull.
Thanks for the commentary here folks – telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
Fine shades of meaning
not Dubya’s strong suit
The New York Daily News
Rush & Malloy
http://www.nydailynews.com/fro…..0017c.html
President Bush didn’t realize that reporter in sunglasses was legally blind.
President Bush might want to get a little more sleep before his next press conference – or, better yet, just ignore anybody in Ray-Bans.
Just back from his surprise trip to Baghdad, the jet-lagged leader deftly inserted his foot into his mouth yesterday while taking questions from reporters in the Rose Garden.
The classic moment in Dubya’s media relations came when he admonished Los Angeles Times reporter Peter Wallsten for wearing sunglasses while addressing him.
“Are you going to ask that question with shades on?” the President joshed Wallsten. “I’m interested in the shade look. Seriously. For the viewers, there’s no sun.”
But Wallsten wasn’t trying to look cool. He’s legally blind.
“Peter covered Bush on the campaign,” one colleague noted. “[The President] should have known better.”
Maliki got five minutes warning of Bush’s presence; presumably with ten minutes Bush would have been mortared in the Green Zone.
Make fun of a blind reporter since you can’t use your super-dooper Decider special ability of reading peoples heart, mind, and soul by “lookin’ ‘em in the eye”.
Denial. Truthout.org (motto: “If you want the truth, get out of here”) “reports” that Rove actually has been indicted. “As of Friday afternoon that indictment, returned by the grand jury the week of May 10th, remains under seal–more than a month after it was handed up by the grand jury. The case number is “06 cr 128.” On the federal court’s electronic database, ‘06 cr 128′ is listed along with a succinct summary: ‘No further information is available.’ ” Says blogress Christy Smith: “Unless and until I hear it from Patrick Fitzgerald, the investigation continues to be ongoing. Which means that there are still potential developments down the road.”
Bargaining. “This latest news doesn’t prove or disprove the basic question of whether Fitzgerald was ready to indict Rove,” claims Duncan “Atrios” Black. “It’s quite likely Rove has cut a deal of some sort. It’s quite possible that Fitz’s letter to Luskin, which hasn’t been made public as far as I can tell, says something along the lines of ‘as long as you cooperate as promised your ass is safe for now.’ ” Black’s employer, Media Mutters, says maybe Rove will lose his security clearance for–well, for what isn’t quite clear.
Anger. “He doesn’t belong in the White House. If the president valued America more than he valued his connection to Karl Rove, Karl Rove would have been fired a long time ago,” says Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean on the “Today” show. “So I think this is probably good news for the White House, but it’s not very good news for America.”
Despair. “My Heart Is Broken, My Spirit Crushed, My Faith in America Destroyed,” declares “Dementer” on DemocraticUnderground.com. “On the other hand, I am sure that there are numerous other criminal enterprises that Kkkarl [sic] has participated in, so we just have to keep digging. Perhaps Fitz is doing just that–he has the license to do so. Or am I approaching the definition of insanity, here?”
Acceptance. “I think the chances are nil that Luskin is making this up since that’d be practically daring Patrick Fitzgerald to indict his client,” says Josh Marshall, who had been one of the most credulous cheerleaders. “Whatever else he may be . . ., he’s no fool.” Though Marshall must be feeling quite foolish for having been one of Wilson’s most enthusiastic and credulous cheerleaders way back when.