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WASHINGTON, June 23 (UPI) -- The DHS did not notify the White House of its final allocations of anti-terrorism grants for major U.S. urban areas.
U.S. President George W. Bush and his White House were kept in the dark about the Department of Homeland Security's grant allocations, even though they included controversial cuts to New York City and Washington, until after the decisions were made, congressional and administration officials said Wednesday.
[full story here.]
I'm starting to think that this Presidenting gig doesn't really require much skill. Lots of style, but very little substance, from what I've seen over the past five years. I mean, your working knowledge of geopolitics need only be basic; whenever something bad happens, your press secretary burns a DVD of all the news footage for you to watch while you're perched on the West Wing john; the Armed Forces keep dressing you in discontinued, presidential seal-emblazoned "Members Only" jackets that would make Kim Jong Il launch an ICBM in a fit of envy; and you get to hand-pick your audience when you have to make that annoying policy speech over and over again.
God knows, you don't have to be particularly photogenic or articulate. You don't even have to believe what you're saying. To quote Eddie Izzard: "70% of what people react to is how you look . . . , 20% is about how you sound, and only 10% is what you say." All you have to do is mouth the words.
Yeah, yeah, you occasionally have to entertain foreign dignitaries at state dinners or go abroad to smooth feathers, but it's not like you have to know their names or observe their customs or even eat what passes, for them, as "food." That's what the Secretary of State is for. And besides, all those trips are terrific for amassing a "spoons of the world" collection.
Best of all, even though you're the Executive, you don't have to make any executive decisions - that's why you stock your Cabinet with people smarter and/or smarmier than you are. Heck, they don't even have to be qualified for their positions. It makes life a lot easier to nominate your friends and frat brothers. (Like Congress is going to say no. Oh, please.) And when the press hounds you for surrounding yourself with over-protective sycophants, all you have to do is forcefully pound the podium, look sternly at Helen Thomas, call yourself "The Resolver" or "The Chooser" or "The Figure-Outer," and you're out of the Rose Garden and on your mountain bike before Andy Card can put on his jock.
I'd like to be President. I could use the exercise. And I'd really like to expand my assortment of snowglobes.
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I don’t think the White House does any vetting. They didn’t with Bernie Kerik, they didn’t on the ports deal, they didn’t on the Homeland Security allocation of funds. They really don’t do much of anything.
As an aside, this is my first post at FDL. It’s good to be here!
Rootz!
for that matter — what on earth happened to Andy Card? He certainly disappeared rapidly, didn’t he?
David Brooke has written:
“The Keyboard Kingpin, aka Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, sits at his computer, fires up his Web site, Daily Kos, and commands his followers, who come across like squadrons of rabid lambs, to unleash their venom on those who stand in the way,” writes Brooks. “And in this way the Kingpin has made himself a mighty force in his own mind, and every knee shall bow.”
That’s a filthy lie! FDL are the Kingboard Kingpins!.
So, what am I to think about all this? Remember, wherever you people sit is the head of the table. Whatever you say is the way it’s going to be.
Thanks watertiger, great post.
This was cross-posted at Dependable Renegade this a.m. For full disclosure, and all that. I didn’t know Christy was going with it!
BTW, check out Raw Story’s clip of David Brooks getting all pissy on Kos!
My guess is darth cheney and rummy do all the deciding.
Ah, Sonoma beat me to it.
PsiFighter37!!!
No offense watertiger, but we really wouldn’t have to look very hard for an improvement over the “Rexall Ranger”.
David Brooks aiming at Kos but pissing on himself in the New York Times gives a whole new meaning to “yellow journalism.”
I wonder if the Sultzburgers will be amused?
it was very smart of the NYTimes to release an advance copy of the Sunday column of David Brooks. They knew it would ruffle some feathers in the blogosphere and generate a lot of publicity…
The White House does not want to know. It’s called plausable deniability.
I used to think that Reagan was the ultimate delegator. He couldn’t hold a candle to Little Bush.
Love the graphic, BTW.
Heh. A commenter over at Eschaton has dubbed the left blogosphere (jokingly) the Kosa Nostra.
I submit to you - we are also the Yakosa.
Personally, I’d rather see the NY Times release David Brooks . . .
Off topic: Just got back from coffee with herladyship, Jane Hamsher. She is doing well and deeply grateful for all the support. I was able to make her laugh several times, and her laughter fell on my ears as raindrops to a parched earth. I am deeply smitten. Passion without fanaticism, brilliance without ego, pride without arrogance, beauty without vanity…I could go on for days. I had to turn around THREE TIMES to get to my own fucking house! Remember, I’m a truck driver!
watertiger…great post….as for #15, LMAO
In the case of the Homeland Security fund allocations, Bush wasn’t The Decider, he was The Ignorer.
Sonoma @ 1:39 pm (#4) - The Angry Bobo has arrived. I’m sure they’ll sell a few online subscriptions over this one.
I must confess to not reading Kos very much. Does he issue orders? And how much venom do Kossacks have? Inquiring minds and whatnot …
Oilfieldguy,
glad to hear it!
Brooks will of course accomplish what Rove wants; but only somewhat.
Moderates who wouldn’t know a blog from fog will be curious, google dkos, and take a peek.
Traffic will go up. Who knows, exposure may make ‘moderates’ lean left. Just a guess.
Heya watertiger — I didn’t know I was going with it, either, but we had a hitch in the 4:00 pm post giddy-up. And I can’t tell you how much I appreciated having this in the bank as back-up. (My brain is altogether too fried to do coherent snark at this point…)
Great post, btw! :)
Jane’s headed off to CT. Our tireless crusader.
Christy,
Mi casa et su casa! I was working on tomorrow’s post and was terrified that i’d hit “publish” on this post by accident.
Talk about your “heart in your mouth” moment.
to CT? I always thought Jane was our Girl of the Golden West? or is she going to bite the ankles of Joe-nertia?
watertiger: we can pull them back. My Late Nite post accidentally went live a little while ago before I took my head out of my ass.
You do good werk!
Bobo’s just jealous is all.
BTW, Brooks says Kos = Tom DeLay.
This leadership vacuum we have is really depressing. It makes for great jokes and all, but the problems we face are so huge, it’s hard to wrap your mind around all of it. I see a huge opening for someone to point to a brilliant sunrise and say, “Follow me.”
pach,
it was a momentary brain fart. seems to be happening more frequently these days.
i blame the Bush Administration.
Good for you, Oilfieldguy. Did she show you her Kommander Kos slave bracelet?
*ilson
Yeah, she doesn’t want to go home and “rattle around in an empty house.” She is going to throw herself into work and head for ground zero–Joe-nertia’s jugular. Gawd, I almost feel sorry for the whiny little “democrat”.
Re: Brooks
You call that snark?
What a pissant rookie.
If Brooks ever had tried to start out by competing as a blogger, he’d never have made it.
Doesn’t matter so much to us in-front-of-the-curtain types how Watertiger got here, just that she did.
But if Kos = Tom DeLay, does Steve Gilliard = Karl Rove? I think BoBo’s math skills need an upgrade.
neurophius @ 2:02 pm (#32) - Did she show you her Kommander Kos slave bracelet?
Hasn’t she had the implant done yet? The lab must be behind schedule again. Liberals - you just can’t get any work out of ‘em.
‘It is obvious to the most simpleminded that Bush is of an inferior breed.’
;>)
neurophius,
No, I stayed completely away from such topics as those who threw stones at her in her time of grief. I tried to stay on hope and future and positive things. A steely woman shaped like a daffodil.
an empty house? just who is minding the doggies? but if she is going to dog Lieberman, she’d better have a rabies shot … he’s a vicious lil cur !
Jeeebus! “Squadrons of rabid lambs. . .” WTF? Man’s lost his mind. Pitiful.
Just kidding, Oilfieldguy. She has plenty of better things to think about. I’m sure your visit did her good.
Does anybody have a link to the Brooks atrocity, er, article?
She loaded up her dogs and brung ‘em with her! Muddy paw prints in the passenger seat of her car. Priceless. I don’t think Joe wants to get caught in the same county as Jane.
I’m sorry to be off topic watertiger. BTW, I really like the way you write. You got game girl!
rabid lambs? Agnus Kosei ?
Hypatia,
have you never come face-to-face with a rabid lamb?
they’re TERRIFYING! all that downy softness and foaming mouth…
OFG #38:
Those who would desecrate the Sorrow thread lack the energy and/or the skill to deface headstones or rob graves. The real tragedy is that their respective communities’ mental health resources haven’t yet discovered them and delivered the appropriate caregiving. But there’s still hope.
Brooks excreticle.
Maybe Brooks wanted to contribute a recipe for rapid lamb and it just got misprinted?
at best, David Brooks commands squadrons of syphilitic lemmings …
If sheep get caught in the rain does their wool shrink?
Afternoon. Hmmm…..a few days back, little Howie jumped up….today a David Brooke leaps out. I smell the Rover. Karl The Coward Rove. You’re out there, aren’t you, you little coward! Well, draft dodging Karl The Coward Rove….maybe I need to compose another Special Message to you….heh, heh.
Ghostman
neurophius,
I saw it through raw story.
How troubled are the Repugs that they have to swiftboat Murtha, and now Kos?
I guess when Karl “The Weasel” Rove’s only tools are defame and blame, you use the tools you’ve got rather than the tools you wish you had!
You know…stuff like facts and heaven forbid, honesty!
oilfieldguy,
as I told Christy, spending the last year and a half coming up with pithy one-liners about Bush has retarded my growth as a writer. Now I’ve got the attention span of a parakeet.
She and Jane have graciously allowed me to start working the kinks out.
SOME parakeet, watertiger!
Christy, i hope you won’t mind if i say i’m a bit worried about you? please take care of yourself - you’ve been doing a lot of the heavey lifting… don’t know of anything i could do to help (if there is, i’m counting on you to ask)… but i did want to say “thank you” to you and all the guest-posters/behind-the-curtains-moderators/and everyone else who’s pitching in…
i’m sure i’m not the only one who really appreciates all the many efforts… many, many thanks from the peanut gallery…
Thanks, Watertiger.
My only question after reading the Raw Story article is, what do I have to do to relieve my “squeaking fury?” Squeak squeak…
Well, stretch them legs girl. I know talent when I see it. You coulda been me and spent five years writing ad copy.
I suspect this whole “Townhouse” listserv nonsense is going to be the right-wing blogosphere’s equivalent of Whitewater.
watertiger - i wish you WERE the president, instead of the one we’ve got.
What hilariously atrocious writing. This could be the model for a “‘Twas a dark and stormy night. . .” contest for pontifical writing. Rabid venomous lambs. I can’t stop giggling.
selise,
the republicans would hate my socialist tendencies.
I don’t see anything wrong with the kids at the big table trying to get a handle on the message. Wingers have used think tanks and wingnut training bootcamps for years. They are hugely well-financed to grow a new crop of wingnutlets and place on the payroll for the express reason to fatten the coffers of the paymasters. Just look at the huge hole in the ground that used to be our full treasury when Bill Clinton left office. The wingnut welfare system has paid off in spades. We need a battle plan to put forth a coherent message and dialogue to steer this country a’right. So, by all means, compare notes.
OFG — I just want to point out that you never spoke about me that way after we met at YKos. *sniffle* It’s okay, though, my girlish pride can take it. *wipes eyes* *g*
Best comment so far from the DKos diary on Brooks:
Ewe will be assimilated.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I gotta go re-leash my venom before it wanders down the block and leaves something in a neighbor’s flower bed.
That’s okay. I hate Republicans.
btw, there seems to be a concerted pushing back from the right on another of the straight-talking, naked emperor fronts.
Jon Stewart, it appears, is poisoning democracy.
Just a word on all these attacks on Kos - I find the sources esp. interesting indeed with the so-called “liberal” media being the attack dogs out in front - this is not coming from the rightwing blogosphere but from a small circle of establishment print “liberals” supportive of Lieberman, etc. and we need to stay aware of that. The rightwing flare-ups are simply piling on after the TNRs, etc do their thing.
They cannot understand the open source nature of the wider community and they are very very threatened by what we did at Ykos, Markos’ great media appearances, and what we are all continuing to do. Since they don’t get the open source thing, they think that attacking Markos will somehow diminish the force of our all work - how little they understand! They can only imagine that our model must be as limited as theirs …
We did demand (and we promptly got) a correction from the NYT over an attempt to portray YKOS as corrupt … they did not understand the independence of YKOS at all but did a good job of correcting once the point was made.
But the sources of the continuing attacks should be carefully noted and remembered - Brooks is simply using a tale that our supposed allies are inventing.
First they ignore you
then they laugh at you
then they fight you
then you win.
At the third stage already! That was fast!
I suggest Kos come out with a T shirt with some clever phrase taking advantage of his hypnotic power over us all, and really rake in the dough.
It’s utterly disheartening to realize that the person you described - and altogether too kindly - is the President of the United States. And it’s embarrassing, to boot.
What I cannot understand is why - why - anyone would think he was the right guy to maneuver into the White House. Was this just a grand Machiavellian scheme to allow Karl Rove to strut his stuff and get Cheney and Rumsfeld into positions of power? Is Bush just the useful idiot?
It’s one thing to laugh at Will Ferrell doing his Bush impression; it’s another thing to feel like your president isn’t even capable of doing a good parody of an intelligent person. Nothing funny there.
CHS,
Did you not read what I wrote about you? (from memory)
CHS, unfair for such grace and wisdom to be placed in a vessel so young. On her brow rests wisdom, in her hand sits grace.
I need to watch my attempts at prose, it might come out some day sounding like…
Out west, where you vacation, the Aspen leaves will all be turning. They turn together, because their roots connect them.
Nah, I’ll never suck that hard.
It occurs to me that Brooks, if he actually believes what he’s writing, probably thinks we’re like the lemmings from the Parents Television Council, generating thousands of complaints to the FCC on command. Another case of projection — the right it entirely authoritarian, with a top-down command structure and obedient dittoheads, so he assumes the rest of the world (I won’t fall into the trap of calling it “the left,” since it’s so much broader than that) must work the same way. If there are people who are getting on TV (like Kos), then they must be the leaders, and all the rest of us must be mindless followers, obeying his every command.
Of course, being able to sustain that viewpoint while simultaneously believing that we’re in disarray and unable to agree on anything is a sign of a seriously twisted mind…
It seems to me that the President’s job requires one who delegates but than reviews the job that the delgatees are doing.
Bush has delgated the job of President to Cheney and the rest of the Gov’t is being run by Bush and Cheney cronies with no experience in the jobs they are doing and no oversite.
Also, if you’re a delegater you need more than “Yes” men telling you what is going on. In this administration, truth is a job liability.
Hey if Jon Stewart is poison, I don’t want the antidote!
Christy at 64:
As any of us Irishmen know, redheads are the best!
Erin Go Bragh!
Potato(e) eatin’ Irish over here!
That Jon Stewart story that Watertiger cited above describes what sounds like some pretty wacky research.
The writer says, “Two political scientists found that young people who watch Stewart’s faux news program, “The Daily Show,” develop cynical views about politics and politicians that could lead them to just say no to voting.”
That is interesting. I guess I figured that a lot of young people who watch The Daily Show do so BECAUSE they already have cynical views about politics and politicians.
I’d kill for Christy’s hair color.
No, seriously. With my bare hands.
BTW, watertiger, are as hot as your picture shows?
Well, alla us potato(e) eaters are in luck today, ‘cuz downstairs folks are still arriving with more stories and food, and pulling up more chairs!
I’m patiently waiting for the TNR-NR merger. Two subscription lists, one POV. Think of all the costs to be taken out. (Yeah, I’m lookin’ at you, Jonah.) Might be a money-maker yet, even without the Star Trek get-ups.
When you have government by Laurel and Hardy every day you’re going to laugh before you cry.
David Brooks pines for the good old day when all could be explained away knowingly as the scheming machinations of the Elders of Zion or Kremlin spymasters (or did he repeat himself?)
Brooks, like a lot of others who hog the cameras as they bobble their tiny little heads to and fro, probably wouldn’t know a blog if one leaped out of his computer and bit him on the nose. They think they can weigh in on the basis of seeing someone like Markos in a medium - television - that they are familiar with.
What he doesn’t realize is that more and more, many no longer believe that being on television imbues someone with credibility, or elevates what is said on the TV to the level of truth.
I think it bothers them that we have gone elsewhere, and he and others like him are being kind of snitty about it.
oilfieldguy,
eye of the beholder and all that!
David Brooks
Yea, he should know. How much you wanna bet he’s a guest on Faux “News” tomorrow.
Disclaimer:
Hope hopes this offends no one and that its’
new to someone who checks it out. It puts me in a good mood and makes me laugh. Feel free to sing along, I’ve memorized the lyrics already.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....arch=fucks
The attack on Kos is part of a pattern. The telecom companies attack bloggers by trying to abolish net neutrality. “Miss Piggy” Rove gives a speech blasting bloggers, with their “anger” and “hate.” TNR attacks Kos–perhaps the most prominent blogger of the left–and other bloggers it portrays as his blind followers. And right wing trolls swarm FDL with messages of hate. This convergence may not be an accident.
Presidenting in the 21st century does require a killer wife, though.
Literally.
Have ya got a killer wife, watertiger?
there was a movie with peter selers…”the garner” or something like that
that’s this presdident
*adjusts tinfoil hat*
Hopie! How you fixed for another round o’ Pinas, girlfriend?
This thread has me dried out again.
Watertiger,
Just had to say how much I’ve enjoyed your site (the giggles per square inch is amazing!), and how pleased to have you posting here as well!
And yes, parakeets are people too! *g*
me to me: Being There
Naptime at LGF seems to be over — some of the tots are cranky, and tossing around their dirty diapers.
Neurophius @ 89:
The best part is, they devolve in personality from ‘earnest’ purveyors of serial logical fallacies to wild-eyed froth flinging behemoths and back, as the rotational call cycle goes around.
Entertainment just doesn’t get better than this
:)
ta, that’s it…that’s this president
TeddySanFran @90,
Sad to say, I’ve never run down any of my boyfriends.
Doesn’t mean I didn’t think about it. ;)
That’s a filthy lie! FDL are the Keyboard Kingpins!
Queenpins?
HopeSpringsATurtle at 87:
Billy-boy was kinda hopin’ that sheep would be pointin’ the other way. LOL!
The problem with the “Jon Stewart is poison” article (and perhaps the research is references) is NOT the methods they used to gather evidence. I haven’t checked the details of their methodology, but it appears to be ok.
The problem is the conclusion. Even the author admits that not voting is only one possible effect of becoming more disenchanted with politics (as a result of viewing TDS).
Another possible conclusion is that viewers will become motivated by their disenchantment to vote the rubber-stampers out! It’s absolutely no less supported than the conclusion provided in the article. Both conclusions are pure conjecture, but only one scares the corporo-fascists.
john in sacramento at 86,
My bad! Sorry for giving credit to the wrong poster!
Lotus…Miss Girl you now how your choice between Pinas and Midori Daquaris. We run a ‘tight’ ship on the weekends around these parts…
Watertiger,
I know the point isn’t to be serious but, I think you’re being easy on him.
read this
BTW I agree with OFG, you write well ;)
my god blogs…
can’t just have any common mook com’n in here say’n any ole thing he/she pleases…
screw david brooks he’s a moron. i can’t believe he gets paid so well for such tripe.
who is KOS?
This Brooks thingy reminds me of Mel Brooks in “The History of the World”:
“Sire, the peasants are revolting!”
“You’re telling me. They stink on ice.”
Who is Kos?
http://www.dailykos.com/
I guess CHS ran off. I figured she’d spew at that comment I left.
O-Kos Dei
Eeeny meeeny miiiny . . .
It just goes to show that anyone, by that I mean ANYONE, can be President.
Hopefully she’s napping with her tyke. God knows she needs it.
Things would be way yonder different if I was running things.
Punaise #109
LOL!
I’m binding chain mail around my thigh right now!
“rabid lambs” doesn’t work for me. What does that MEAN? People who follow and are passive (Lambs) but if they bite you they will kill you slowly (rabid)?
Kinda like a zombie panda bear from hell?
Karl????? Come out, little Karl The Coward. I know you’re in there. Come out, you little yellow spineless piece of turd. Sending your little BOYS out to do your dirty work? Because you’re A COWARD!
Tell me, Karl The Coward…look into the future. Years from now. How will your adult family members react when they know: Daddy Karl was a Coward. Uncle Karl was a draft dodger. How does it feel to know that your legacy will be one of…COWARDICE? Well, draft dodger?? Have I got your yellow spine quivering? Got your yellow fat ass shaking??? Ok, ok, draft dodger.
I’ll calm down. You don’t like me in your face, do you Karl The Coward? It’s stressful for you. There, there. I understand. You know what they say…music soothes the soul. So let me play a song for you. Soft, gentle music. There, Karl The Coward. Just…relax. I’m playing a special selection just for you. It’s the theme song from MASH. Isn’t it soft and easy? Now tell me Karl The Coward, tell me again…how do those words go….?
just a reminder to dip back to the Pull Up a Chair recipe thread - there are some amazing/touching stories there.
Oilfieldguy - If you are running things, the FIRST thing you want to do is change those sheets in the Lincoln bedroom, no telling who has been in there.
OK, “rabid lambs” could mean impotent following sheep like critter who snap and slobber on their keyboards to no effect –
But that is clearly NRO?!
So, it’s just not working, Dave….
shooogarp 114
I’m binding chain mail around my thigh right now!
try a chain letter - it’s less painful, and you will be rewarded.
DHS kept the Preznit and his minions in the WH in the dark about anti-terror funding. A very convenient excuse to deflect away any blame that might be directed at Dear Leader. Of course not that any of the lapdogs of the MSM would ever dare to do that.
As Dear Leader’s favorite Democrat, Joe Lieberman, so infamously (and obsequiously) stated: “We undermine the President’s credibility ar our nation’s peril.”
Dissent is not allowed.
That might explain why in 2002 when the Dems controlled the Senate and horse lawyer Mike Brown was confirmed by the Senate as Deputy Director FEMA in 42 minutes before the Committee on Governmental Affairs. Who was the chairman of said committee? Joe Lieberman of course.
Oilfieldguy @ 2:13 pm (#50) - If sheep get caught in the rain does their wool shrink?
Never thought about that before, but I bet it does. It sounds like an evolutionary advantage - if a sheep’s wool doesn’t constrict, it’s probably more likely to become waterlogged, and more vulnerable to predators that don’t know enough to get out of the rain.
Blue dresses for all the chicks. Horn Dog in Chief is on deck. Tennshunn!
Now you jes’ leave them dear panda bears (and scroll down) OUT of this, B’rer Imm.
Punaise -
But, but…but Kos told me chain mail!
*adjusting brain transmitted implant*
Lotus, THAT’s what I am talkin’ about — Butterstick is clearly a rabid lamb. Look at that cutie!
Br’er Imm. (But it’s all Hope’s fault, getting me spelling while intoxicated!)
wow, jon stewart “poisoning democracy” because people who watch his show may “develop cynical views about politics and politicians”?
sounds SO much like samuel huntington in 1975 writing about the ‘crisis in democracy’ due to the decline in public confidence and trust in authority (and fears of lower voter turnout then too) and how this problem somehow had it’s roots in an increase of politically active citizens and an excess of democracy. i think he called it a democratic distemper. anyway, of course, NOTHING to do with a failure of political leadership and RATIONAL disenchantment of the political elite.
It just goes to show that anyone, by that I mean ANYONE, can be President.
Provided you are an inbred offspring from a long line of merchants of death, who financed Hitler, installed Gestapo agents in the CIA, helped kill a president to ignite a war, own the media, have photos of editors in compromising positions, and have journalists kissing your ass every day while saying it smells like a Mr Lincoln rose.
If you’ve got all that going for you, then you too can become preznit — with a 35% JAR.