It seems like Sunday in the Park with McCain was rife with wingnut alternate reality. Glenn Greenwald catches a dilly from Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), who said it was "like a normal outdoor market in Indiana in the summertime." From Pence's own website:
The merchant almost refused to take my money. He kept touching his heart and shaking his head no. His eyes, like so many others, radiated with affection and appreciation. He wanted to give me the rugs. I insisted that he accept my ten dollars and, happily, he relented.
Just brimming with appreciation? Er…maybe not:
NPR went to Baghdad's Shorja market after the visit, and spoke with the carpet seller, Ahmed al Krudi: "I didn't accept the money. I said to myself, they must be guests, so I must give them a good impression of Iraqis. After all, we are occuped by these Americans, and they are accompanied by a lot of U.S. security."
Al Krudi says he is angry at the insurgents who bombed the market in February, killing dozens, but he doesn't like the American presence here either:
We are not against the resistance. We are with them. However, the resistance must fight the occupiers, not the Iraqi people. A huge number of U.S. forces came yesterday. Why didn't they shoot at them, instead of harming us?
I think the great untold story of this trip must've been who was holding, because everyone on the Straight Talk Express was clearly snapping bongloads.
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In re: “And they’ll greet us with flowers.” Would those be funeral bouquets?
Alright zed!
Poor guy probably knew that someone with access to a sniper rifle was watching.
News reports (out of today’s London Times) say that 21 merchants from that same market were rounded up, shot dead, and their bodies dumped in Baghdad today–their reward for selling Lindsay Graham $5 worth of carpets.
Flowers, indeed.
landreau @ 4
Take me down little susie, take me down
I know you think youre the queen of the underground
And you can send me dead flowers every morning
Send me dead flowers by the us mail
Say it with dead flowers at my wedding
And I wont forget to put roses on your grave
No I wont forget to put roses on your grave
Man in the Mists @ 3
H’mmmm. Never thought about haggling about price that way.
In googling about one day–obscure recall activity about McCain in his local district or something, I came across that they call him something like Forked Tongue Express.
I really would like to get my hands on some of that AR bong hit material.
I mean, I like the Real Reality, but a dance in an Alternate Reality just might be the dance I need right now.
The only photo op that would make ME believe that it is getting safer in Iraq, is to have McCain and Graham walk to the marketplace with THEIR wives.
Hey Jane -
I wonder if this guy was one of the 21 market workers bound and murdered in that same market today.
A NEWBORN baby was one of at least 14 children and adults killed today when a suicide bomber detonated a truck laden with explosives close to a primary school in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.
The latest massacre of Iraqi children came as 21 Shia market workers were ambushed, bound and shot dead north of the capital.
The victims came from the Baghdad market visited the previous day by John McCain, the US presidential candidate, who said that an American security plan in the capital was starting to show signs of progress.
I heard this piece on NPR yesterday. I was moved by this man’s situation. He has very little and was willing to sacrifice his livelihood at that moment for someone who is using him as a pawn.
CNN’s Barbara Starr repeats Def Sec Gate’s statement that if all funds were cut off, then the war would have to end — a truism — but then fails to mention that both Dem bills provide the full funding requested by Gates.
eCAHNomics @
6
It’s the best way to get a bargain. Sometimes you even get stuff for free.
I, like so many others, want some of that shit. It’s goooood. One hit and who needs reality?
Yeah, those Iraqis just aren’t that grateful for our “liberating” their country, are they? Huh.
Today’s reports about the retribution violence at the market McCain and Graham visited makes my stomach turn. Ed Schultz was going on about it today, and he was very right to point out that John McCain and Lindsay “Really, I’m Straight” Graham should know better than just about anyone that their photo op could have terrible consequences. Both of these men led distinguished careers in the military, and they know that payback could likely happen after their personal army left the area, making the shopkeepers vulnerable.
No wonder the merchant was afraid to take Pence’s money.
And we wonder why they aren’t grateful.
OT – the latest on Iglesias.
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002951.php
OT: Bush has done it again – swiftboater Sam Fox has been installed as ambassador on a recess appointment.
(Bush pulled Fox’s nomination last week when he saw Fox was doomed to not be confirmed. Sneaky bastard.)
details via Think Progress
Scarecrow @ 12
Isn’t that omission intentional when every MSMer does it? Are they just that stupid? I just don’t get it…
landofthefree @ 16
Gee, Bush really wants friends in the Senate. Probably made Joe Lieberman happy but not too many others.
Yep, 21 folks murdered to prove a point following the Neverland photo-op.
Not blaming it on McCain, but this shit happens 3 times a day over there, and the wingers are flailing around trying to get their next fix, cause tomorrow will be different. Promise.
I’ve never seem such shameless behavior. They’ve hitched their wagon to the war, so they need to keep it going at all costs.
Politics over people. Ambition over Sensibility. Another day in Republican-run hell.
Great so the carpet seller must have felt somehow like this was some kind of extortion. Paying tribute to John McCain and Huckleberry. Enjoy the rugs, arsewipes! $5 indeed.
raven @
5
Exactly!
posted this on the previous thread by mistake…
the full presser in 2 parts and Michael Ware’s rebuke and more can be viewed here.
http://www.youtube.com/profile…..tNutmegger
just scroll down a bit for all the videos.
landofthefree @ 16
There was another scuzzy recess appointment earlier today, something about oversight IIRC (link on earlier thread. I may try to find it.)
I guess W isn’t worried about get his war funds out of Congress. IN YOUR FACE>
I wish everyone in this country would have watched that clip of Larry Johnson saying that in their little Photo-op trip to the market, McCain and Lindsay Graham and their delegation in fact put soldier’s lives in danger protecting them. He pointed out that there is a distinction between embedding yourself with troops who are going out a military mission anyway, and needing a hundred troop escort for the purposes of taking pictures in Baghdad. Of course they also put the lives of the marketers at risk, as we now know, because the marketers are looked on as collaborators by their own people. It’s pretty disgraceful, really, to do this just to prove a false point.
Eureka Springs @ 17
The Dems are mostly out of town, so the WH knows if they run an Administration official out there with today’s spin, it will just go right on the news — note the late afternoon timing — because many reporters are too lazy to pick up the phone and call Reid in Nevada and get a response, etc, etc. It’s lazy journalism — or worse.
landofthefree @ 14
Insufficient gratitude on the part of occupied peoples is often a cause of friction with their self-sacrificing liberators. This has been pointed out by many wise men in the Heritage Foundation as well as the American Enterprise Institute along with our brightest and finest leaders. Unfortunately the problem does not easily yield to a solution, although mass detentions and torture have proved useful in limited cases.
AZ Matt @ 18, what a hateful, vindictive, spiteful, mean son Babs and 41 gave us.
“because everyone on the Straight Talk Express was clearly snapping bongloads. “
okay. no fair. i just managed to turn my head and spit iced tea on the floor instead of the keyboard. brilliant.
I’m assuming at some point we’ll learn if any of the 21 dead were any of the shopkeepers or rugsellers that were forced to participate in the McCain/Graham/Pence pathetic photo op. If they were, I think we need to find some journalist, any journalist worth their salt, to confront these creatures with the evidence of their delusions. I think I feel sick.
You think they cleared some nearby buildings and had U.S. snipers trained on protecting Arsewipe and Huckleberry? I mean Eastern countries are famous for their love of bargaining. It’s almost like a sport in China. And it’s supposed to fun. Except when you have guns trained on you.
landofthefree @
16
Sum’Bitch! What a bastard. Cannot play by the rule EVER!
that’s the problem when you’re a nutter and live too long in your alternate reality. those rose-colored glasses cloud your perception so that when the local merchant shoves his goods at you and waves you away you see “gratitude” in his eyes rather than, say, abject fear that being seen with you might get him labeled a collaborator and result in his being murdered. glad to know the congressman can’t tell the difference between appreciation and panic.
Sally @ 27
They think he’s a good man. Most likely because of the way he’s made the family trust funds grow since he was installed as preznit.
Bongs with a little Opium from the Taliban Terrorist Ally in Afghanistan thrown into the mix.
Sally @ 27
I’ll second that… or third it…
angie @ 22
Pence uses the same gestures that Britney Spears does when she is reaching for some words.
landofthefree @
14
John “Really, I talk Straight” McCain
5 dollar rugs without any bargaining say one thing for sure. Please go away now. I wonder if those carpets were used by Saddam for wiping his feet and nobody wanted them.
Well, this whole thing (Iraq) – to me – seems like a Sopranos episode – I’m thinking The Bust Out with Tony’s friend Davey as the American and Iraqi people
WASHINGTON: President George W. Bush named Republican fundraiser Sam Fox as U.S. ambassador to Belgium on Wednesday, using a maneuver that allowed him to bypass Congress where Democrats had derailed Fox’s nomination.
Democrats had denounced Fox for his 2004 donation to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. The group’s TV ads, which claimed that Sen. John Kerry exaggerated his military record in Vietnam, were viewed as a major factor in the Democrat losing the 2004 presidential election to Bush.
The Republican Party as the Bush Party is in free-fall collapse mode right now.
There are too many things to list, but day by day the unraveling continues apace.
*The peaceful end to the Iranian sailor issue…..It wasn’t ended by Tony Blair threatening to nuke Tehran.
*PR victory for Ahamadinejad making the Iranians appear humane compared to the Abu Ghraib/Guantanimo horrors of Bush/Cheney.
*The pathetic story of the rug bazarr shopping trip with McCain and Pence and Dingleberry Graham.
*Saudi Arabia stepping forward to deal with the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
*Saudi King Abdullah publicly slapping Bush’s war in Iraq.
*The Democratic cash advantage of 15 million over the Money Party Republicans.
*Bush’s continued attempts to scream at congress and in the process attacking 70% of America.
*The RWNM cracking under the pressure with the growing shrillness of the Limbaugh, Coulter, Beck, Drudge, O’Reilly axis.
*The elevation of Speaker Pelosi to world traveling leader of great stature….That is a big plus for 08.
*Deadeye Dick Cheney being a shrub lurking creep.
*Giuliani standing strong on his pro-choice stance.
*The Matthew Dowd defection.
*The continued slow-twisting of Gonzales and Bush’s arrogant and ignorant support of him and his crimes.
*The slow twisting of the screws by Henry Waxman.
*The buffoonery of Rove and the spotlight on his disastrous strategies that have left the once all powerful Republicans a smoldering shell.
They are coming unglued.
-GSD
Pence forgot to haggle! You have to haggle. Otherwise, no glasses and funny beard for you!
I’m thinking that “straight talk McCain” better start providing some truthful straight talk or the repub nomination for president he so covets is going straight down the toilet.
All this in Iraq for photo ops to prove a point only makes him look like a fool. A dangerous fool.
raven @ 40
The Fuck You Presidency.
-GSD
Sixty Something @ 43
Oh, I think it’s already gone, my man.
I can’t see McCain recovering from this.
well, Thom Hartman had a clip from some Murdock paper that the Iraqi’s filmed dealing with the McCain “excursion” were gathered and asainated
he said he didn’t double check the sources but he trusted the paper…the British new york times or something like that
you know, if one of the draft dodging fascists pulled this stunt I wouldn’t be surprised but McCain is a war veteran and for some strange reason I didn’t think he was this kind of military moron
this a-hole took a brand new contingency to secure Iraq for his “excursion”
he didn’t go on a scheduled tour, he didn’t just embed in an existing tour
this friggin a-hole took our sorely extended soldiers and actually put them in additional harms way for his moronic photo opportunity
what the frig does that kool-aid do these these idiots?
McCain had better be ashamed and if he has any sense at all, he will realize his presidential opportunity is long past
he is raising disappointing funding for his presidential campaign, which means the big bucks won’t bet on him
this moronic adventure by McCain should tell him to not only get out of the race but that he needs to try to re-claim some kind of respect for himself because he has lost it among everyone
even his military credibility is no gone
McCain or staff, if you read this BLOG here at the lake then inform the senator;
he will not win the presidency
there is a move in chess called “desperado”
it usually comes just before the end of an exchange, you are about to loose a piece, you can either let your opponent take the piece or you grab a pawn instead, therefore getting at least something for a piece that is lost
it’s now time for McCain to “desperato”…he must realize the office of presidency is lost to him and he must re claim the higher ground to which he has squandered
he must now take bush to task for all that has come from those failed policies
he must say;
“now that I see how bad things have come in Iraq,
wherefore I needed 100 soldiers and a flack jacket just to stroll the streets
wherefore the policies have squandered our standing influence in world affairs
wherefore we are no longer respected as a fair broker of international events
wherefore our armed forces are strained and our recruitment ability broken
I have come to the sad realization these policies have harmed our country, put our national security at greater risk, squandered international support
and wherefore these policies have created even more terrorists and terrorism not in spite of the policies but because of them
I do now before America hold the president and vice president responsible for the most inept handling of American affairs and I do suggest congress take appropriate action”.
I do live in a fantasy land at times do I not?
landofthefree @ 16
I picked this up from the AP Article:
“Bush also used his recess appointment authority to make Andrew Biggs deputy director of Social Security. The president’s earlier nomination of Biggs, an outspoken advocate of partially privatizing the government’s retirement program, was rejected by Senate Democrats in February”.
“*Deadeye Dick Cheney being a shrub lurking creep.”
LOL
From the Raw Story, Condi really doesn’t want to talk with Henry: Go Away Henry!
Sixty Something @ 43
McCain became a fool when he sold himself to the Bush family. In the end, it looks like the torturers finally won.
GSD @ 44
I wonder how they’ll screw up Belgium. It makes sense only in the Universe of Bush to put the guy who insulted French people as Ambassador to a French speaking country.
Georgesimian @ 42
Just sent an email to Pence asking him if he were proud that 21 Iraqis died so he could get a photo op in Baghdad.
GSD — good list. I like this one:
*The elevation of Speaker Pelosi to world traveling leader of great stature….That is a big plus for 08.
I think the Dems need to take a close look at what a positive image she presents as the Congressional leader of the Party. CNN couldn’t dismiss her enough, but the actual films and statements are excellent, and the contrast of her class act with Bush/Cheney petulance couldn’t be better.
Ah — CNN just asked whether Pelosi has just upstaged Rice!!! Bingo.
Badwater @ 50
McCain became a fool long before that.
landofthefree @
16
Statement of Senator Dodd on the President’s Recess Appointment of Sam Fox
eCAHNomics @ 52
Not to mention the children who sewed that rug!
Scarecrow @ 53
Bingo indeed. Compare and contrast. Adults vs. Children.
Georgesimian @ 42
“ten-for-that-you-must-be-mad!”
OT: My favorite ad on MSNCB- connectile dysfunction.
Gawd! You don’t think they’d take away our Stella, do you?
Georgesimian @ 56
They WILL greet us with flowers……or nuts…
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/i…..lo_600.jpg
…we just have to act more presidential.
twolf1 @ 55
Thank God. We need more Democratic Leaders to denounce this type of abuse of Power. I guess congress will not be able to recess for the next two years.
GSD @
41
Add to their freefall: The most conservative university in the country, BYU, is protesting against Cheney speaking there. His dishonesty is biting him in the butt.
“‘I’m sure that this thorough and comprehensive’ response, department spokesman Sean McCormack said yesterday, will be sufficient to ‘obviate the need’ for a formal hearing,” Kamen wrote.
The printer is being warmed up and the legal paper is being restocked in the House Oversight Committee office. They’re probably getting the paper by the pallet. I think they’ve probably ordered more printer supplies, too.
The GOoPers don’t seem to have figured out that oversight is actually here. They keep trying to run things like it’s still 2002.
Yeah, but it was gone way before this. Helps to have another nail in the coffin, though.
(Sorry if this looks mangled. This type of coding isn’t familiar to me, and there’s no preview button. :( )
Update posted on ThinkProgress re: Sam Fox’s recess appointment. Senator Chris Dodd sounds like he wants to challenge Bush legally on this.
OT ~ Who is the most FOOLISH American? http://www.crooksandliars.com/…..ools-poll/
I wonder how they’ll screw up Belgium. It makes sense only in the Universe of Bush to put the guy who insulted French people as Ambassador to a French speaking country.
Well, at least there is some silver lining!
Georgesimian @ 56
Darn it! I hit return instead of preview.
Not to mention the rugdealer felt like he was being extorted by some thugs (John McCain and Huckleberry)
Italics, begone!
OT..but this kind of “fuck you” behavior by the Criminal in Chief really pisses me off and needs to be dealt with.
WASHINGTON -
President Bush named Republican fundraiser Sam Fox as U.S. ambassador to Belgium on Wednesday, using a maneuver that allowed him to bypass Congress where Democrats had derailed Fox’s nomination.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200…..g_congress
Liberty Lover @ 31
Rules are for the little people. Sort of like taxes.
raven @ 69
Well, at least there is some silver lining!
Well, maybe the Belgiums will return the favor when Darth and Chimp turn up Den International Court.
Crap, I mean Belgians.
what will it take before aticles of impeachemt are voted on by congress?
what the FRIG does it take?
this IDIOT lied us into war…really, how bad can it get before congress steps to the plate and swings the bat?
Rules are for the little people. Sort of like taxes.
They serve at thmui @ 75
I’m sorry, I’ll never get over the French. . .something about Indochina.
Steve @ 72
Republicans are silent on this stuff. They seem to not realize that their silence about Bush forfits their right to complain about any future President.
(oops – guess I should have refreshed before posting the Dodd statement – others posted it as well).
So, do you all think Bush is just trying to flagrantly taunt Democrats with the power he still has, or is he just trying to pick fights? Digby had an interesting post today about how Bush could avoid using the veto and just put a signing statement on the Iraq supplemental bill, but Digby thinks Bush wants a big fight. I heard someone on one of the talk shows yesterday (it might have been Pat Buchanan, but i don’t remember) who said that when a President is down in the polls, a good tactic is to start a big partisan fight. It gets the attention of people who have been tuning out the President. It makes the Prez look like a tough guy who has convictions.
/waving to IrishJim – I just caught your reply to me in the earlier thread today.
Today’s other recess appointment :
Marsha Blackburn talking about pork, boy talk about a setup for snark!
Steve @ 72
Yeah, it’s maddening and confirmation that GWB is just a dick, but it’s also stupid and petulant – no one on the right really cares about the Ambassador to Belgium, for crissakes, and yet because he got in a snit about his guy not getting approved, he pulled this nakedly transparent stunt about which the White House will be answering questiuons for days, not to mention that if Land of the Free’s comment @ 67 is any indication, the Dems are going to fight Shrub on this one and look good doing it.
On Bill Maher last week D.L. Hughley was talking about Bush, and mentioned the old Dentyne ad. Remember? 4 out of 5 dentists surveyed recommend sugarless gum…
As Hughley said, Bush is that motherf*&#$ing 5th dentist…
you know what?
this is a rove thing, he did this to rub crap in congress’s face
I am positive, this appointment is a rove thing
“like a normal outdoor market in Indiana in the summertime.”
Oh, I am SO glad that Pence came out and spoke truth to power.
Those outdoor markets in Shipshewana IN are a daily bloodbath in the summer, what with all those non-violent, teetotaling, non-smoking severely dressed Amish trying to get Midwestern passersby to eat homecooked breads and buy their handmade quilts in plein air flea markets…
What a crock of horse shite. Pence didn’t need to go all the way to Iraq on our dime to find such manure.
Badwater @ 78
Well, that’s a bit optimistic – they’ve never had a problem doing a 180 when the White House changed occupants before…
Congress needs to use a new word, not recess. No recess until Feb ‘09.
ok, I got the rove brain thing working overtime
this might actually be GOOD…no kidding
congress can be SO aphalled, the IMPEACH these recess appointments
HA
get the impeachment process BEGUN with the easy stuff and watch bush quake in his imitation cowboy hat
perris @ 83
They’re ALL Rove things.
Badwater @ 78
The solution is for the Dems to say that there will be no more recesses for the remainder of the Bush term.
Steve @ 89
kind of doubt this is within their power
The entire world is sick of Bush. His little Rovian games don’t work anymore…….The Democrats ought to start pounding the drum that Bush is supposed to be the president for 100% of America, not 29% of America.
He’s the Great Divider. They should start calling him that.
-GSD
Steve @
89
Can they do that?
Lou Costello @ 68
That’s a riot. Very very funny.
GSD @ 91
agrees GSD…we have begun to understand the war if rhetoric, pelosi and feingold do an excellant job, time to get the rest of the progressives up to speed
Urban Pirate @ 93
wow, that makes fox even the mostest foolish
there they are, they didn’t even edit their own screenshot, talking about britney spears as the winner when their own screenshot shows the winner of the esteemed title is bush
can you say “morons”?
Interesting that there was one Republican in the Pelosi group.
Pelosi Delegation
Henry A. Waxman
Tom Lantos of California,
Louise M. Slaughter of New York
Nick J. Rahall II of West Virginia
Keith Ellison of Minnesota
David L. Hobson, Republican of Ohio.
raven @ 69
the Flemish may take issue with that statement…
Sangemon @ 92
Yes, but it sure would get int he way of campaigning now, wouldn’t it? Let’s not play into the RNCs plan.
Hobson being there really screws up Bush’s rants!
allan_in_upstate @ 80
Whoa –I think that’s far more important than the ambassador. Now Bush has handed the Dems a weapon — “Bush tries an illegal end run on Social Security –is it time to put Impeachment on the table to send this guy a message that he has to obey the law and stop acting like a spoiled child and King?” I say, go for it.
Can we petition the Belgian govt. to not accept Fox’s credentials when he shows up?
Are the people who the Senators talked to dead already? Please, no snark.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/t…..604931.ece
They’re always holding on these campaign tours, the Bongload Express. McCain has a cheap gin nose and doesn’t appear to be snapping bongloads. Gen.Betrayus looks really high in every photo I’ve seen of him.
It is really pathetic that Pelosi is getting slammed for her visit to Syria and these goons just made fools of themselves and are still saying how safe Bagdad is.
Maybe he meant Gary, IN?
We should ALL bombard the wingnut blogspots with these quotes! Even if the wingies keep shutting their eyes, we must keep shoving the truth down their throats.
Jane:
You’ve just dissed all us bong tokers. Comparing our behaviour to nincompoop neocons?
Shame on ya.
Your penance:
You don’t get passed the bowl this around…..
Oh, snap! Pence just got served.