
Keith knocks another one out of the park (Crooks & Liars has the video):
Mr. President, former Secretary of State Colin Powell says the world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism. If a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and former secretary of state feels this way, don't you think that Americans and the rest of the world are beginning to wonder whether you're following a flawed strategy? BUSH: If there's any comparison between the compassion and decency of the American people and the terrorist tactics of extremists, it's flawed logic. It's just -- I simply can't accept that. It's unacceptable to think that there's any kind of comparison between the behavior of the United States of America and the action of Islamic extremists who kill innocent women and children to achieve an objective.
**Of course** it's acceptable to **think** that there's "any kind of comparison."
And in this particular debate, it is not only acceptable, it is obviously **necessary.**
Some will think that our actions at Abu Ghraib, or in Guantanamo, or in secret prisons in Eastern Europe, are all **too** comparable to the actions of the extremists.
Some will think that there is **no** similarity, or, if there is one, it is to the slightest and most unavoidable of degrees.
What **all** of us will agree on, is that we have the right -- we have the **duty** -- to **think** about the comparison.
And, most importantly, that the other guy, whose opinion about this we cannot **fathom**, has exactly the same right as we do: to **think** -- and **say** -- what his mind and his heart and his conscience tell him, is right.
**All** of us agree about that.
Except, it seems, this President.
With increasing rage, he and his administration have begun to tell us, we are **not** permitted to disagree with them, that we **cannot** be right. That **Colin Powell** cannot be right.
And then there was that one, most awful phrase.
In four simple words last Friday, the President brought into sharp focus what has been only vaguely clear these past five-and-a-half years - the way the terrain at night is perceptible only during an angry flash of lightning, and then, a second later, all again is dark.
"It's unacceptable to think..." he said.
It is **never** unacceptable... to think.
And when a President says thinking is unacceptable, even on **one** topic, even in the heat of the moment, even in the turning of a phrase extracted from its context... he takes us toward a new and fearful path -- one heretofore the realm of science fiction authors and apocalyptic visionaries.
That flash of lightning **freezes** at the distant horizon, and we can just make out a world in which authority can actually suggest it has become unacceptable to **think.**
Thus the lightning flash reveals not merely a President we have already seen, the one who believes he has a monopoly on **current* truth.
It now shows us a President who has decided that of **all** our commanders-in-chief, **ever**... he, alone, has had the knowledge necessary to alter and re-shape our inalienable rights.
This is a frightening, and a dangerous, delusion, Mr. President.
You know someone is feeling the heat for Olbermann's continuing outspoken heroisim, most likely Olbermann. If you'd like to thank him personally please join us for the FDL Book Salon on November 5 when Keith will be here discussing his book, The Worst Person in the World: And 202 Strong Contenders at 2pm PT/5pm ET. You can also help its Amazon rankings by buying the book here.
That'll be enough to drive the wingnut welfare queens batshit crazy. Oh and O'Reilly. Never forget O'Reilly.
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fitz!
And I sent a large thank-you note to the countdown just now.
Countdown@msnbc.com
KO!
Where am I?
Keith is on a mission.
Here’s to continued ratings increases (to which I’m unable to contribute ’cause comcast basic cable doesn’t include msnbc)!
Cheers.
Last night, I attended a talk by Rob Boston of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. I just wrote up a bit of it here…
Thomas Jefferson: Unelectable
It was only a matter of time before the concept of “thoughtcrime” became a reality.
Hail to the Keith!!!!
Is Bush saying, perhaps, that the proper analogy is to Soviet Gulags, where political prisoners were sent on the basis of secret evidence unavailable to the accused, presented to military tribunals, without any notice to their families and the outside world, and where they were subjected to intense cold for long periods of time, agressive interrogation techniques designed to extract the names and information on their partners in political thought crimes?
Get your analogies right, everyone - the NSA is making a list and checking it twice . . .
While dubya certainly owes the world (not just us Americans) some serious apologies, there are some things that apologies cannot atone for, and he’s been operating in that territory for a LONG time.
Oh and O’Reilly. Never forget O’Reilly
media skank (3), jackasses with word processors (2), loofah (2), conservative (1), falafel (1), firedoglake (1), oreilly (1)
http://www.amazon.com/Culture-.....mp;s=books
heh heh
Keith!!!
Jane!!!!
and completely OT, I always wondered where “bedlam is dreaming of rain” came from. On my way to school today I was listening to Bad Religion and there it was in Los Angeles is Burning. I love that song but somehow never heard that line (correctly) before. Anyway thanks to Keith for his voice and thanks to Jane and the rest of the gang here for your voices.
bdu @
10
True dat. But we gotta start somewhere.
Thanks Keith, keep up the good work. Look forward every night to your show…
“It’s unacceptable to think…” he said.
It is **never** unacceptable… to think.
I think it’s important to remember that Mr. Bush would have to take a basic civics class in order to understand Olbermann’s request.
Amazon just sent me an Email saying my copy of Keith’s book is on it’s merry way (along with Benjamin Britten’s pacifist opera Owen Wingrave on DVD)
I love the way Olbermann keeps raising the stakes. Tonight he demanded an apology. The logical next step is to demand that Bush resign.
How about doing something…….sign the petition.. Bush broke the law:
http://scoop.epluribusmedia.or.....19140/5000
“This week, the Senate is planning to quietly hold a vote that would pardon President Bush for breaking the law by illegally wiretapping innocent Americans without warrants. According to Senator Leahy, the bill would “…immunize officials who have violated federal law by authorizing such illegal activities.”1
President Bush broke the law, and courts are starting to agree. Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter once said the program was illegal “on its face.” But he has now caved to pressure from Vice President Cheney, and introduced legislation that marks a new low: the bill justifies everything the president did. Worse, it makes it legal to wiretap Americans, in secret, without warrants or oversight, whenever the administration wants to.2″
I think we in this country are well beyond the point where apologies will make any kind of difference.
An apology in front of a tribunal at the Hague before sentence is rendered . . . now that’s another story.
LAWYERS, GUNS, MONEY AND VALERIE
Check out this curious story of Plame-Ney-Fitzgerald vs. The Evildoers at
waynemadsenreport. Neocons would never sell weapons of mass destruction secretly to terrorist states, would they? Unless it would give them a moral basis for a war.
“Mrs. Wilson and her CIA network were targeting the very same smuggling and money laundering networks that were aided and abetted by Cheney and his neocon influence network.”
“Eager to protect his and then-New Jersey federal prosecutor Michael Chertoff’s own cover-up of the U.S. intelligence links to the 1993 World Trade Center bombers, Fitzgerald folded when confronted with the threat of exposure from Gonzales, who was acting on behalf of Cheney, Rove, and Bush.”
Mullah Daullah has a plan.
Also, not to ignored, Israel has moved Irans nuclear timeframe ahead….quite a bit.
-GSD
Kofi Annan had better talk to George W. Bush. No one says Iraq is in a civil war until George W. Bush declares it to be so.
Not so fast Kofi.
Complete transcript now up if you want to savor, like fine wine, every delicious drop.
Imagine KO delivering his comments from the floor of Congress.
Here’s that address again for Thank You Keith Olbermann….
He did it again
Leave a little note will Ya.
I just ordered KO’s book too. I also ordered “Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog” by John Grogan and “Wait! Don’t Move to Canada: 10 Steps to a Liberal America” by Janeane Garofalo.
Balrog @ 23
Ex cathedra, you mean?
keith olbermann for president!
Oh that Keith O.
It is good to know that there are still some sane and rational thinkers left.
In the media to boot.
-GSD
Livni is a regular diplomat and voice of reason, eh, GSD?
Face it. We lost Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and the fakey breaky “GWOT”, too.
I’m gonna buy me some boots so I can get in line and dance! It may be the only solution.
Billy Ray Cyrus– yoo-hoo!
Gotta wait to see KO at midnite– read the transcript though and YAY!
J. Donne @
17
This is where, in my mind, he got really subversive*:
*By “subversive” I mean “patriotic.”
RevDeb @
19
Punch line of a joke I can’t remember.
Bush isn’t sleeping well the fourth night when he sees another figure moving in the shadows.
It is the ghost of Abraham Lincoln, Bush pleads,”Abe,
What is the best thing I can do right now to help the country?”
Lincoln replies, “Go see a play.”
Crooks and Liars has a video up that has Retired AF Colonel Gardiner saying (covert) military operations in Iran have already begun. If we openly hit Iran before the elections (or shortly after) I predict there will be chaos in the streets of America.
Looks like I’ve got a date with the book salon–I’ll have to order the book. Everything I tried to read this summer ended up unfinished.
Jane, I was thinking about you, FDL, the book salon, and the tremendous community here today. Are you like the “Oprah” of the liberal blogosphere?
I mean that in a good way.
Conversely, is Oprah the “Jane Hamsher” of the tv talk show world?
tommy yum @ 30
If Olbermann really wants to get subversive he ought to demand Bush commit hara-kiri…Live! On Fox and friends!
Bush is sure unhinged. Rumors of Laura leaving him and Condi having a boyfriend and all had to be tough on the man.
Eli @ 26
Majority Leader will do.
cheese
LindyH @ 37
uh- oh.
*g*
the edit button is active for 5 minutes after you post your fucked up comment. Click it and that gawdful drivel and scrivening appears in your usual commenting box — you have a chance to edit and change it into a witty aphorism or trenchant comment or gai bon mot - as you wish… Click ’save’ and it’s wafted once again to the awaiting eyes of the great unwashed masses …
Is Olbermann writing these things himself? They are incredibly well done. If there is a team behind this, they all deserve recognition. If Olbermann can write as well as he speaks, he really *could* be president.
This kind of clear thinking is exactly what the country needs a lot more of.
angie @ 38
Oh no, not more shrill parmesanship.
Thank goodness someone is still willing to speak the truth.
I will use the spotlight feature on this post.
ccmask @ 25
I ordered this one today. It’s Katrina redux. Arabian Horse Association cronie
screws upheads FEMA. Heritage Foundation croniesfu*k upput in charge of Iraq.http://www.rajivc.com/
I got KO’s book Saturday in the mail ; )
Thank god for Keith. Also there is a terrific review of Frank Rich’s new book in the Sunday NYTimes. Bless them both for taking on the powers that be - and through MSM!
Cozumel @ 11
I like this comment on his book Culture Warrior at that link:
“More like Loofah Warrior”
While I love KO and look for every opportunity to dislike Bush even more (if that’s possible), in this case it appears the president (sic) was simply saying he doesn’t agree with those who draw the comparison. However, he said it in a way that let KO pretend we should take the president’s words as literal.
I hope KO doesn’t make it a habit to read more into Bush’s comments than Bush intends. This administration gives KO plenty to work with; he needn’t twist a partial sentence into something it wasn’t. It cheapens KO’s tirade; makes it look manufactured. And I say that as a fervent fan.
Today Keith gave it a name. By identifying Bush’s 3rd grade rant, Keith has explicitly raised the stakes to a whole new level. The man is crazy, and everyone knows it.
Maybe we’re already at war for the future of our Union…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC2Wx7MYcpE
Olberman for President
Colorado Bob ?
where in THE HELL have you been ?!?! thought you might have been swallered up by The New Madrid or somethin’. Welcome Home
Olbermann. Thank god someone’s speaking out like this. Thanks KO. Maximum respect.
*ilson46201 @ 39
Or not… When I click that (expletive deleted) button I get a completely BLANK comment box, just as if I wanted to start ab ovo, hence I still don’t know what to do…
OT– Hil giving a very nice eulogy for Ann.
(Too bad she sucks at foreign policy.)
Liberal Heart @ 46
When KO said that it was acceptable to compare America’s actions to those of the terrorists, images of Abu Ghraib were flashed on the screen.
I think KO was taking what Bush spewed exactly as it was stated.
I have no idea what Bush might have been trying to say, but I don’t think he was merely disagreeing.
Liberal Heart @ 46
To be fair, he did say it was four words extracted out of context or something like that.
Marion, switch to Mozilla Firefox. IE doesn’t work with this function.
Bush said “It’s unacceptable to think that there’s any kind of comparison between the behavior of the United States of America and the action of Islamic extremists who kill innocent women and children to achieve an objective.”
I believe there is a comparison if Powell had said the behavior of the USA government. Let’s face it, a lot of children and innocent women have died to achieve Bush’s objective. Whatever it is.
Liberal Heart @ 46
When KO said that it was acceptable to compare America’s actions to those of the terrorists, images of Abu Ghraib were flashed on the screen.
I think KO was taking what Bush spewed forth exactly as it was stated.
I have no idea what Bush might have been trying to say, but I don’t think he was merely disagreeing with people like me.
At its heart, KO is exposing W’s absolute suppression of dissent, expressions of which are derived from freedom of thought. It is not a stretch.
Old Sow @ 56
what is IE??? lol.
the edit function works with a decent Javascript engine which seemingly works best with FireFox — M$ Internet Explorer doesnt handle it correctly.
Upgrade to the free FireFox — the superior browser! all the kewl kidz use it here!
http://www.mozilla.com/
The bit about Chimpy’s comment being like a flash of lightning at night was dead-on, I thought. I re-read Orwell’s “Politics & the English Language” this past weekend. It seems that KO (and any collaborators he has) have been as well.
If your allies can not tell you apart from your enemies, you’ve lost.
meta @ 59
I agree ‘. . . as long as I’m the dictator.’
On the sexuality scale, I’m just about as heterosexual as a male can be…but, still…I think I’m developing a “man crush” on ol’ Keith.
; )
When I was in fifth grade, one of my teachers scolded me with, “That’s what you get for thinking!”
I was shocked then, and I was shocked on Friday. Thinking is what I do best.
Go get him, Keith.
J. Donne @
17
Followed by the next logical step - impeachment.
RevDeb @ 19
The US is not a signatory to the treaty creating the ICC and so, unfortunately, Bush could not be tried by it, barring a Security Council Resolution or the US becoming a signatory. Still we can dream.
Old Sow @
56
Or switch to Netscape, which also works. Much as I get frustrated with the crashes (on a MAc, it’s especially frustrating)they are declared Democrats so I feel like I gotta support ‘em sometimes. Plus Mozilla hates me for some reason. Won’t let me comment, copy or cut.
Old Sow @ 56
OHH… OhhKay… My housemate has switched and raves about it. Thanks, Mr. Gates… (Anyone remember the old Calvin & Hobbes riffs on Microsquash?? heh)
Marion, Internet Explorer. Mozilla Firefox is a free download and allows for full usage of the editing and preview functions.
*ilson
I use FireFox. Are you saying that makes me kewl? Wow.
I’ve been watching the Goldwater documentary on HBO and John Dean looks so young.
Yes, Meta, I get what KO’s saying and I agree. I just think he pounced on a poor example (the partial quote) to make his point. I would bet the ranch that he could have delivered the same special comment without framing it around that specific phrase. I thought it was forced and beneath KO’s standards. That’s all I’m saying.
meta @ 47
And not just crazy, bat-shit crazy!
It’s time for printed paper pages. Over and Out, see you in the AM..
Comletely utterly OT, the new Aaron Sorkin show starts tonight - Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Many of the Sorkin Players will be there - Brad Whitford (member of the All Saints Church congregation) and a couple of others whose names don’t leap to mind.
ThinkProgress has a post.
Now here is something that’s been bugging me. Everyone knows that “‘alternative’ interrogation techniques” is just a euphemism for torture.
I keep hoping, wanting, to hear the loud, public statements of indignation against torture carried out by or at the behest of the US. Religious leaders at a minimum. Editorials. Our politicians.
I know there are some out there speaking against torture. But given the issue, given the scale, given that Bush is asking for a law to allow the US to conduct torture is just so appalling that I am shocked (and sadden) that there is not a greater out cry.
cameronga @ 60
{Making the sign of the Cross}
Internet Explorer… grrrrr
Netscape browser is based on FireFox so go for the gold! Actually, FireFox is supported by Netscape in an open-software arrangement.
http://www.mozilla.com/
Mommybrain, also OT: Isn’t Bill Clinton on The Daily Show tonight?
Lobster at 66: I am so sorry your teacher said that to you. What a snide sarcastic comment, and one that you have remembered clearly all these years.
Have the torturers gone on strike?
Hugh @ 67
So…to be a signatory, we just get the 2007 Democratic senate to ratify it, yes? Do we have to wait til 2009 for President Feingold to sign it, or would Senate ratification be enough?
Liberal Heart @ 74
I somewhat agree. It lacked the bite of the previous two. B plus
Mark Steckel @ 78
I’m no political expert, but I’m pretty sure that any bill that legalizes torture is not a “compromise”.
Liberal Heart @ 74
Well, I think I know what you’re saying. But when I think about the entirety of that press conference, and the heart of the subject matter in question, I don’t know. I really think it’s spot on.
MS @ 78,
Religious leaders. Yeah, right. Dream on.
Next step: Thought Crimes
karen allen @ 82
Now that I’m a teacher myself, I do my best to set a better example.
Sounds like you might be one, too?
We don’t torture heh you fucking monkey?
“They choked him,” the lawyer said. “They bent his nose repeatedly so hard to the side he thought it would break. … They gouged his eyes. They held his eyes open and shined a Mag-lite in them for minutes on end, generating intense heat. They bent his fingers until he screamed. When he screamed, they cut off his airway, then put a mask on him so he could not cry out.”
Point of no return?
-GSD
They are dismantling this country, Bush, Rove, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Yoo, Perle, Kristol…the whole lot of them.
PeteCO @ 88
Progressive religious leaders. The conservative right does not have a monopoly on religious leaders.
Eli @ 86
That would be a compromise of American Values
Marion in Savannah @ 79
As long as we are on the subject, what about the euphemism of “military commissions” for kangarooo courts.
Religious leaders of all stripes have spoken out repeatedly against torture but it’s not news and not covered. Maybe a Bishop throwing red blood-colored paint from the Gallery of the House might get coverage, maybe not!
Mark Steckel @ 78
Alternative to …human, decency, what!?
Mark Steckel @ 92
The word is out — if you are a progressive religious leader and you speak out, your church will be threatened by the IRS.
Olbermann quoted Jefferson and Voltaire tonight-I thought intelligence in the media had been banned: anyone with a brain had long been sent to the American Gulag, tortured, tried in a kagngaroo court, and executed. How else to explain the dumb sheep all over TV, on the radio?
Keith, better watch your back.
*ilson46201 @ 96
that is true *ilson, brown Muslim leaders too!
Cozumel @ 85
Don’t fly in any small airplanes Keith!
Mark Steckel @ 78
I couldn’t agree more, Mark. Bush’s constant and abusive use of fear on the general population has allowed him to hold the entire nation in an extended post 9/11 trauma.
Perhaps it’s diminishing returns.
cleter @
72
It makes you unpatriotic.
Meta, you’ve just hit on exactly what I’m saying. Had KO’s comment been a response to the entire press conference, without making a moutain out of Bush’s verbal mole hill, it would have been, for me, less of a drummed up theatrical performance and a more reality-based statement from KO’s head and heart.
*ilson46201 @ 61
Oh, wow! Does that mean could be a Kewl Kid??? Really, though, thanks for all your help. I’ll try really hard to be worthy. Who ever thought I could be a kewl kid? Lord above knows, I’m no kid! I do thank you for all your help, and will endeavor to be “kewl enough for skewl…” (Sorry, it’s the old-timey proofreader coming out… stuff MUST agree…)
LH @ 74 and others
“In four simple words last Friday, the President brought into sharp focus what has been only vaguely clear these past five-and-a-half years - the way the terrain at night is perceptible only during an angry flash of lightning, and then, a second later, all again is dark.
“It’s unacceptable to think,” he said.”
That was KO’s whole point, I thought.It said more than five years of nonsense from the rest of the MSM.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Montana Sen. Conrad Burns, a Republican in a tight re-election race, flew on a private plane chartered by Vonage Holdings Corp., just days after he pushed legislation that the company has advocated for more than a year.
Burns accompanied Vonage lobbyist Frank Cavaliere on the company’s chartered plane to and from the “13th Annual Burns Classic Golf Weekend” in Bigfork, Mont., on Saturday. Cavaliere and a Burns spokesman both confirmed the plane trip to The Associated Press on Monday.
from Dailykos……
Liberal Heart @
46
pres was not saying he didn’t agree, because Powell’s comments made NO such comparison.
pres was making assumptions and jumping into the arms of strawmen while attacking for the sake of attack
meta @
47
meta, most third graders are about eight or nine years old… KO said the rant was that of a three year old