Bush White House allies in the private sector have begun a campaign to swiftboat their own GOP members of Congress — in an enormous ad buy of over $15 million dollars nationwide — that can mean only one thing: the WH is in full panic mode over how bad the report is going to be in September. And that GOP members are getting far more pressure at home from constituents than the corporate media is reporting.
It’s the “Buy George Bush A Legacy” campaign in full swing, with former WH flack Ari Fleischer presenting the PR face forward. And damn the consequences for the long term to the re-election hopes for all of the Republican members involved.
Seems to me, there’s more than just how members of Congress are going to vote in this — spending that much money on public ad buys says their wingnut base support is eroding as well, and they know it. From the NYTimes:
Mr. Fleischer said the central message of Freedom’s Watch is that “the war in Iraq can be won and Congress must not surrender.” The ads will run as Congress is awaiting the Sept. 15 release of a report from Gen. David Petraeus that will evaluate progress in Iraq.
Who are the folks involved with “Freedom’s Watch,” the 501(c)(4) group set up to pay for this WH CYA advertising blitz? According to their own press release:
Former U.S. Ambassador Anthony Gioia, Former U.S. Ambassador Kevin Moley, Former U.S. Ambassador Mel Sembler and Former U.S. Ambassador Howard Leach; Dr. John Templeton, Edward Snider, Sheldon Adelson, Richard Fox, Ari Fleischer, Gary Erlbaum, and Matt Brooks.
Quite the assemblage of neoconnery and GOP donor money, isn’t it? And that’s just the folks on the public listing at the moment.
Here is something that Ari Fleischer failed to tell the NYTimes — the vast majority of the money spent by this group from everything I can find on it is going toward ads directed at Republicans. As Tom Matzzie points out at Americablog, 37 of the 41 members of Congress they are targeting are Republicans. They are swiftboating their own (YouTube of one of their ads) — to the tune of $15 million dollars for starters — in order to cover the President’s ass and push policy toward their own ends, whether or not that means continued failure.
All of this is to keep George Bush and his supporters from having to own up to errors in judgment. And to keep the base in a lockstep line.
The WH apologists are spending money on a campaign to shove Republicans in Congress in the wrong direction to provide CYA for a President who can’t admit he’s a failure, whether or not those members of Congress lose the next election as a result. These people are willing to eat their own in order to provide the President cover. How’s that working for you, GOP? Sounds like desperation to me…
(Photo via malingering.)
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Zed?
Christy!
ein?
Mornin Christy, how you doing today?
Kornbluth…Not. (Mea culpa, but I blame Google–and and my obsession.)
They’re afraid of what the report they are going to write will say?
Good grief.
Neocons in their next to last throes.
Let’s watch them eat their own. Could be entertaining huh?
JF at 6 — Well, supporting documents do have to be found and, frankly, testimony from Patraeus in public isn’t going to be pretty. From what I am hearing, there is some work going on behind the scenes to line up witnesses for contradictory information and that is a much easier task these days.
It’s a carefully choreographed testimonial kabuki we are about to see.
Priceless, eating their own.
Mebbe there won’t be enough of em left to mount a serious challenge in 08.
Ya gotta wonder what some people are thinkin to play ball with this bunch when you see shit like this.Good grief, having to BUY cheerleaders for this asshats stubborn refusal to accept reality.
Stay away from crack.
“Buy Bush a Legacy”? Only if you have several money printing machines and a convoy of truckloads of paper.
That is interesting that they are concerned about defections from within the Repub minority party. They won’t make these guys look good while doing this. Might help get some Dems elected.
Have I mentioned I was on TV yet?
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/sto…..id=5587625
dakine01 @ 12
Scratch crack, don’t snort it.
Is the photo of Fleischer? I’m just asking because, you know, he was always behind the podium and everything. You never know with these guys.
Well, one reason they need a reasonably united front is that in order for the dolchstosslegend to work they need most of the push to end the war to be from Democrats. It’ll be easier for them to pick up the pieces later if their side doesn’t fragment as they go down.
I will say one thing for these bastards, they understand how bare-knuckle hyper-partisan politics works in the modern era. If more of the Democratic caucus understood this as well we wouldn’t have crap like the FISA cave-in.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 10
I would hope they consider bringing six enlisted men from the 82nd Airborne home from Iraq a few weeks early. These six men can testify to the facts on the ground far better than Betrayus or any of the recipients of the Pentagon’s Dog and Pony tours.
What’s gonna stop these people?
We need an Anti Reptile Brain Party, with extremely powerful and well-articultated talking points.
I am so fucking tired of Rovebbels crapola, just working and working!
It’s looking like Bush will do anything, anything at all, to guard that precious legacy of is that he’s been fantasizing about.
Christy — Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could get the 7 that wrote the NYT article to testify before Congress on the same day as the Betray-us report?
How sharper than a serpent’s tooth than an ungrateful trust fund baby!
This is the logical conclusion of electing an unexamined life that, because it was never allowed to fail, never learned to succeed.
Pure ego.
Crack is wack.
Bush’s legacy! What a boob…
Franco @ 9
We’re doing the same thing with bushdogs. Is that eating your own, or building your own?
Brisingamen @ 22
Excellent suggestion!
Three cheers for Captain Ahab!
Should be called the Be Tray Us report.
Dakine01 @19:
See my 22?
SNAP!
Brisingamen @ 22
One of the seven has been shot in the head since the editorial was first written but before publication and is supposed to be on his way back to the states already.
This is one to SPOTLIGHT. Maybe some of the media would follow such a good lead. Funny pic, Christy.
Some how I don’t think it is only, or even principally about “their own.” It is also directed as the HRC, Schumer, Lieberlier crowd in the Democratic party as well. These ads are saying “we have drawn the line in the sand,” you are either with us or you are against us (meaning AIP*C) on this.
Hey, as far as I am concerned the WH can torpedo the shit out of their “allies” (don’t the retardo republicans realize that the amount of R-E-S-P-E-C-T that they get from Preznit Horse Fluffer and Darth Dick is less than zero?). As long as we don’t trade a bunch of wingnuts for blue-dogs or DLC’rs let the right wing swiftboating of rightwingers begin.
Pass the fucking popcorn. Please.
I love that “Buy George Bush a Legacy”. It’s so accurate. It must be hard when you buy into the NeoCon cult. It’s like after years of being with Charles Manson’s group. You just can’t admit the rottenness of your own heart for buying into a death cult. How do you turn that one around? You already sold your heart, mind and soul.
dakine01 @ 31
I hope the other six are very careful. Bullets can come from anywhere these days.
These bastards continue to win. Everyone hates them. They don’t care. Another day of my lunch (retirement) money gleefully stolen, more endless murder halfway round the globe. The cops (Leahy, Pelosi) can’t be bothered to leave the donut shop. Oh, sometimes they do write a very harsh letter indeed.
Crack Kills!
Now that the Right are eating their own, perhaps the Left will develop the will to fight in Congress.
QuakerGirl @ 35
I did not realize that any of those were a requirement for membership in the NeoCon wing of the republicrat pah-tay.
dakine01 @ 31
*Blurry monitor syndrome*
Goddess blast and eternally incinerate those responsible for all the deaths and injuries their policies have produced.
May the OATHBREAKERS never prosper.
Richmond @ 33
Yep. The ads are directed at any critter up for reelection who saying the surge isn’t working, so bring our troops home from Iraq.
Hmm, seems as if the 11th Commandment hasn’t just been broken, it’s been stomped into dust and buried next to Jimmy Hoffa….
This also strikes me as the way Brezhnev-era Kremlinology would play out in capitalist, advertising-driven society. :)
Jo Fish @ 39
I was trying to be fair. But, tehehehe, you are right on.
Bet you they are really using OUR money to fund this propaganda push.
Who’s the actual company producing it — a known Republican-operative video production company?
One that might also have government contracts for other ads used in other markets, like Iraq?
Just sayin’.
And I haven’t checked yet, but is there a relationship between these folks who are “out” and listed as involved in this 501(c)4, and the folks who wrote letters on behalf of Libby? Occurred to me there could be an overlap.
I don’t think Bush is working on his legacy.
He doesn’t give a damn about the American people — how they’re faring, what they feel or think.
I think his whole game plan is to hand, with a cordial grin, a big steaming pile to Hillary on 1/20/09.
montag @ 42
St Ronnie be spinnin’ in his crypt. WWRS? (What Would Ronnie Say?)
I’m not convinced over the idea that the WH is in panic mode — seems Bush can just order Petraeus to make stuff up anyway (at pain of losing his job). Bush will just figure the best way to lie and spin things and give Petraeus his script.
Alice’s Restaurant flash-back:
What if one person calls a right-wing talk show and says “The surge isn’t working, bring our troops home?”
The next day two people do it, and even more the day after that…
Would they call it a movement?
do check out Meyerson’s piece today, “A Dickens of A President.” It’s priceless.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..01422.html
“Some mornings it’s just not woth chewing though the leather straps.” Emo Philips
Sounds like desperation to me…
Nah, it’s evil – pure, unadulterated evil.
Protect the war – damn the costs.
Apparently the neocons are finding the Republicans harder than Democrats to line up behind a continuation of the surge. Per Glenn Greenwald:
But their goal is to start a war between the U.S. and Iran, just as it was to start a war between the U.S. and Iraq back in 2001.
Biodun @ 21
If you consider the shredding of the Constitution and the repressive laws and exe. orders over the past few years..the people controlling Bush may do anything. The fact is, that this evolution toward a police state barely causes a ripple in public opinion. It’s the “cooking frogs method” government control.
I am not laughing that Bush and the GOP until we have and win the ‘08 elections.
These people are not finished and I recommend reading Digby’s piece “Hail Caesar”.
A Dibgy quote:
Hail Caesar
by digby
I’ve been getting a lot of emails about this group Family Security Matters which boasts such right wing luminaries as Barbara Comstock, Monica Crowley, Frank Gaffney, Laura Ingraham and James Woolsey among others on its board of directors. It seems like they are just another of the dozens of wingnut welfare programs devoted to throwing good money after bad keeping conservative operatives gainfully employed.
The last paragraph from the article that she quotes:
President Bush can fail in his duty to himself, his country, and his God, by becoming “ex-president” Bush or he can become “President-for-Life” Bush: the conqueror of Iraq, who brings sense to the Congress and sanity to the Supreme Court. Then who would be able to stop Bush from emulating Augustus Caesar and becoming ruler of the world? For only an America united under one ruler has the power to save humanity from the threat of a new Dark Age wrought by terrorists armed with nuclear weapons.
Me: If we underestimate these people, we loose our country.
Brisingamen @ 48
Except that being a reich-wing talk show host means never having to listen to anyone else’s views on the air.
Brisingamen @ 48
Only if they make the well-heeled repulicrats sit on the “Group W bench”, next to the father-rapers and other criminals, where they would fit right in might I add…
I went back to my personal archives to bring up this list of indications which I posted here several times that the surge isn’t working.
1. Failure to meet the two goals of the surge: 1) Security in Baghdad and 2) A political settlement
2. The move away from benchmarks because little or no progress has been made on them
3. Failure to recognize Iraq is in civil war and create a strategy which addresses it
4. Continued conflation of al Qaeda with the Sunni insurgency
5. Exaggeration of Iran’s role in Shia militias and minimization of Saudi Arabia’s role in the much more deadly Sunni insurgency
6. Failure to resolve tensions between the Kurds and Turkey in the North
7. Corruption, disorganization, sectarian nature, and ineffectualness of the Iraqi government
8. High levels of violence and deaths of Iraqis which have not declined
9. Iraqi security forces remain largely fronts for militias and death squads
10. The Iraqi army has almost no reliable troops and remains strongly dependent on our forces
11. Deterioration of basic services, such as water, electricity, and healthcare
12. Large scale malnutrition among Iraqi children
13. Continued high levels of unemployment
14. Declining oil production, Iraq’s principal source of income
15. High numbers of refugees: 2 million in neighboring countries, 2 million internally displaced
16. Tenuousness and temporary nature of Sunni truce in Anbar
17. Increased Shia on Shia violence in the South
18. Exhaustion of American troops and equipment
19. Inability to sustain the number of troops needed for the surge
20. Post-withdrawal violence will occur if we leave now or later
I would also like to see a couple of graphs:
One which shows total deaths of Iraqis due to violence by month since January 2006. (I believe this would show that violence has not declined contrary to the current Bush/Petraeus spinning.)
One which plots month by month US combat deaths over the last 3 years, with each year a separate line so that you can compare the “progress” in increasing US casualties by year.
Moooommmmm!! They’re doing it again!!! Jeeze. Don’t these Goopers have any other message they can slam us with? “the war in Iraq can be won and Congress must not surrender.” Yep – either line up with us, or you are a) soft on terror, b) a traitor, c)a supporter of Al Queda, d) all of the above.
Nope, boys, the war in Iraq can NOT be won – not yesterday, not today and not three years from now. The whole thing was mismanaged from the start (unless you count putting major tax payer dollars into the pockets of Blackstone and Hallibutton (and by extension, Dick Cheney)). The surge is a failure. The people can’t even get electricity and potable water. Children are being sickened by the water that is available. Even Mousselini could keep the trains running on time. The longer we stay, the worse it gets for the people of Iraq. We won’t even talk about our military. This whole thing is a piece of garbage – and an advertising campaign to try to sell The Big Lie just makes it worse. I’m off to email my congress folks to just wear their “I’m ignoring you, George” tee shirts.
I would also like to see a couple of graphs:
One which shows total deaths of Iraqis due to violence by month since January 2006. (I believe this would show that violence has not declined contrary to the current Bush/Petraeus spinning.)
One which plots month by month US combat deaths over the last 3 years, with each year a separate line so that you can compare the “progress” in increasing US casualties by year.
Like this?
http://icasualties.org/oif/
Campaign theme:
It is NOT chicken shit, it is chicken salad, because I say it is.
Hugh @ 56
A little statistical suggestion, Hugh. If you plotted these as cumulative graphs, you might be able to make some predictions using autocorrelation methods.
btw, I think I deserve a medal for all the pix I perused to find this particular picture… *g*
What the hell is that in the photo?
One trick pony.
Terra Terra Terra.
Quite the imagination Rove has.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 61
George Tenet has one he doesn’t deserve, maybe you could have it.
Link for @ 53
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com…..tting.html
Reuters is reporting that the target number of MRAPs (which are supposed to be much safer for troops than Humvees) to be delivered to Iraq has been cut back from 2500-3000 to 1500 (maybe). Score another one for the military procurement system.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters…..ref=slogin
Richmond @ 33
The thing is, the CHS demonstrates in her links it is about “their own”. What’s your evidence it’s directed at Schumer and HRC? And why would they need to direct such ads to Lieberman? For that matter, why would they need to direct the ads to Schumer and HRC, who already have their own Democratic Mel Semblers to pester them up there in New York?
I posted on the subject in the last post and I was cheered to see this ad buy in another light, as an unexpected symptom of neoconservative weakness. It’s hard to see the facts presented above otherwise.
Predicton: it is going to work on BOTH the GOP and the Dems. Bank on it.
GOP criminals and Fainting Goat Dems will fall for yet another idiot trick by BushCo and the war will go on.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 61
So, what key words did you use?
taylormattd @ 62
What the hell is that in the photo?
I think we can rule out that being Karl Rove’s ass, since it stops well below his mouth.
Sharkbabe @ 24
Hey, Sharkbabe! Long time no see!
Christy: I am always amazed at how you can find appropriate pictures so fast. Do you have an entire library with tags or something?
Hugh great posts! (this thread and last)
On that item alone (making the distinction),
Progressives better be armed to the hilt come report time.
FAUXnews is already running away with this, seemingly unchallenged.
Brisingamen @ 48
We play Alice’s Restaurant every year before the Thanksgiving meal – belting out the lyrics. Where are the protest songs today? Oh I forgot Clearwater is keeping the airwaves clear and pure for the Savage Rush…..
AZ Matt @ 64
And he’s relative to the subject matter also.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 10
Yeah, and testimony from Crocker may not be much better, if this article is any indication.
sofistic at 72 — Nah, I’ve just gotten really good at finding just the right snarky search terms and…voila! “CYA” in the flesh, so to speak. *g*
Richmond @ 74
Clear Channel you mean. I have a distinct sort of hatred for them and their total destruction of live radio DJs.
taylormattd @ 62
You can rule out Liberty Lee. She has a tail.
1,575 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND..
Citizen Hardin Smith and the Firepup Patriots:
Great post, thank you. My question now is, what does that say about those Democratic Party “leaders” like Mrs. Clinton who are advocating for permanent occupation? It seems to me that this “Freedom’s Watch” strategy only works if they have the Democratic Party leadership on board, they ken sell this to the 37 Republican representatives only if it is clear that the Democrats will go along with the “run out the clock” strategy. That is, Mrs. Clinton, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Rahm Emmanuel et al will provide the cover for the Republican waverers to vote with the fascist leadership.
This entire last 6 and a half years of outright corporate fascist rule would not have been possible without the overt complicity of the leadership of the Democratic Party. If the Democratic Party leadership does not call for repeal of the Iraq war resolution after Gen Petraeus drops the bullshit on the floor of Congress, then we need to take the battle for democracy to the streets and onto the laps of our congressional leadership at the convention in Colorado. We hafta make the Democratic Party convention in ‘68 look like a kindergarten cakewalk…they are settin’ it up jest like ‘68 only Mrs. Clinton ain’t half the person Hubert Humphrey was!
Look out folks, triangulation gunna getcher momma!!
KEEP THE FAITH, PASS THE AMMUNITION AND KEEP YER EYES ON THE TARGET
it’s The War ON Iraq and The War IN Terror, not the other way round.
now to speed up the erosion … new slogan :
George thinks you’re stupid. He doesn’t know better.
Years back, I worked for a non-profit business organization (a 501 (c)6), and there was an IRS prohibition against so-called grassroots lobbying, which is what this is. Now, this is a 501 (c) 4 organization, and maybe it is permitted. Regardless, life was sure a lot nicer when the airwaves were not filled with this BS.
When we get this gang of subversives out of office, I hope some good sense will prevail with the new regime, and restrictions put back in place so that we don’t have to listen to all of this crap. Maybe someone thinks it is ‘educational’ in some form, but it is only designed to misdirect the true issues.
brendan @ 67
I don’t have proof (it is an opinion). But one can turn your argument on its head. The Rethugs are going to support this surge anyway because they want to be shown as “tuff on terror” (Guilani tuff) and have banked on this sloganizing “support the troops” stuff in the past few elections. Some 30% of Americans are supporting this surge now, the rest not so much. So, the key demographic here seems to be the moderates, Rethugs, Independents, andDLC types, whom they hope they can keep on their side before the leopard’s tail (the left, the progressives) pulls this whole war movement back from the brink with a steady ever stronger flicking of its hind end.
OK, that picture is just disturbing cos that looks like a belly button. Then it doesn’t. Then the clothes don’t make sense. But it still looks like a belly button. AUGH.
Its a short term play to that will succeed in getting Republican defectors (and those thinking about defecting) back in line. It will also scare the Centrist Democrats. Hillary will increase her war-mongering rhetoric. It will buy Bushco some time, but it won’t hold the floodgates of public opinion long. In the long run, it will hurt those Rethug congressman who decide to acquiesce to the strong arming, but acquiesce they shall.
It will not turn public opinion around. They can’t stop the body count and the public doesn’t trust them.
Love the freeway blogger. Let’s have more of that. CalTrans calling the signs a distraction. Hah! I’ll tell you what’s a distraction – crossing the Bay Bridge while CalTrans is pulling its trucks into your lane without notice or the Bay Bridge being held together by duct tape or debris all over the only three lanes open or commercial trucks cutting you off traveling at excess speed.
Spiritcatcher @ 81
“George thinks you’re stupid” would make a great button.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 61
That’s a good one alright.
OT New Froomkin up
jayt @ 58
Yes, I was thinking of using these numbers to plot in a line graph.
sofistic @ 60
I had not thought of that. That might be interesting too.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 77
There is something not quite right about that picture. I looks like that person has had a poor cosmetic result from surgery “pilonidal abscess” perhaps.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilonidal_cyst
So if the republicans attack their own, does that mean there will be more dems elected? Or more right-wing fundies?
Biodun @ 88
I like the pix. Are things we see really what we think we see or is what we see something other than what we see when we think what we see is what we see ? (a la Donald Rumsfeld)
Roger Stone resigns.
Thank God for flickr and YouTube and Google and the entire left blogosphere to help formulate them fighting words and install a war machine against BushCo and critter Repugs.
This is the current state of the Republican party.
In Montana, the two or three Republicans who dared vote with our Democratic Governor on a couple of good bills were soundly defeated in their own primaries in the 2006 elections. Why anyone would want to participate in the Republican party at this time is beyond me. They eat their own!
Richmond @83:
“I don’t have proof (it is an opinion). But one can turn your argument on its head. The Rethugs are going to support this surge anyway because they want to be shown as “tuff on terror” (Guilani tuff) and have banked on this sloganizing “support the troops” stuff in the past few elections. Some 30% of Americans are supporting this surge now, the rest not so much. So, the key demographic here seems to be the moderates, Rethugs, Independents, andDLC types, whom they hope they can keep on their side before the leopard’s tail (the left, the progressives) pulls this whole war movement back from the brink with a steady ever stronger flicking of its hind end.”
It’s not an unreasonable opinion, but it calls for evidence in the face of the strong counter-evidence in the post. Also, your assumption that “rethugs are going to support the surge anyway” is precisely what’s being questioned in the post. They are leery of supporting it precisely because it will cost them their seats. Saying they support it because they “want to look tuff on terror” is a bit of a circular argument: “looking tough on terror” is just the slogan attached to the policy, which comes as a directive from Republican hierarchy. Saying that is like saying that Republicans support the surge because they’re Republicans.
QuakerGirl @ 93:
Rumsfeld always saw himself as a latter-day Descartes: the Thinking Subject thinking Self into Being; and the distinction between Thinking and Perception.
From the Raw Story: Link
SnarKassandra @ 92
It’s hard to predict. Here in Virginia, when the anti-tax extremists have run primary opponents against incumbent Republicans, it has generally helped Democrats. This is similar in that it is Republicans attacking their own for not following the party line closely enough, at a time when the party line is unpopular with the general public and getting more so. However, it’s the Republican establishment doing the attacking, not the wingnut grassroots, so it’s not quite the same.
I tend to agree with Christy that they’re sacrificing future election prospects to shore up support for Bush, but there’s no telling yet whether it’ll be enough to sway elections. I don’t see any way it can help right-wing fundies; if it results in the nomination of people more slavishly following Bush, they’ll lose.
That one funder is former Ambassador Mel “Dis” Sembler by the way.
Balrog @ 94
Digby links to New York bloggers covering the campaign to destroy Eliot Spitzer. I knew something was fishy when I saw “Eliot Mess” on the front page of the NY Post a couple weeks ago.
dakine01 @ 89
And is he ever on topic!
Former Ambassador Howard Leach contact information for firepups who want to tell him what they think:
[Mod Note; Please do not give out anyone’s personal information without their consent. Thank you.]
Redshift @ 100
Basically, the Rs are doing exactly what the Ds have been accused of doing for decades – purging those who are not “pure” enough for the true believers.
David Gergen also blows with the wind, like Tweety. He’s been slipping over the years. And recently, he said some stupid things, like the Bush administration has been scandal-free. But then he teaches at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. I’m not sure if he just lectures or leads a seminar. The former would make more sense, since he can simply have his TA or RA cobble together his notes and he can read them out loud. Just like our estimable news anchors.
Ed*ard Teller @ 103
I put up the link before I had read it…
I’m surprised those who think the surge is such a great idea don’t sign up themselves. After all, woudln’t it just be the thing to put their money where their mouths are?
-S
From Froomkin, File under – Did He Actually Say That?!:
How can we have all of this talk about Viet Nam and not once mention the draft?
scarletp at 15-
congratulations!!!!! i read your blog the day you talked about when you started….
this is by-far my favorite sign you have done, i sent this around to friends, i love it.
http://freewayblogger.blogspot…..erday.html
And for anyone who has not grabbed onto the idea that this is an Administratino which has no moral center when it comes to healthcare for children, is this: the FDA has now OK’d Respirdal for kids and teens. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200…..tic_drug_2
My mom was given this during her last phase of dementia and I’ve got to tell you, it’s like using a nuclear bomb to kill a fly.
SnarKassandra @ 92
If the war in Iraq is a flaming turd and Bushco makes all Repugs eat it and more (American) mother’s children are getting killed every day for no good reason, more dems will get elected.
This is a short term republican rally the team exercise (in ultimate futility) that (in the long run) will hurt Republicans and help democrats.
Bushco is embarrassed that some of his team is breaking off message and dissing the war. He’s gonna whack them back in line with this formulaic (question their patriotism, courage, manliness and support of the troops, etc.) ad blitz.
They will be sorry when they do, but they are cowards and they will be cowed.
Steve-AR @ 53
Bush has the motivation — he’s guilty of war crimes — and has prepared the means for a coup attempt — http://samsedershow.com/node/329. And he has purchased 100,000 acres in Paraguay in case of failure.
The only question is who’d join a coup attempt by someone with such a proven King Feces touch?
Balrog @ 94
CREEP
SnarKassandra @ 92
It depends on how and when their internal attacks produce results and what kind of results those might be. In many states, Alaska in particular, long-entrenched GOP organizations are under fire from within from all sides. It isn’t so much that the party is now capable of producing major changes in its own organization so much as they feel complaints from all levels that they’re facing an Armageddon next November.
The fungelicals and Christian Zionists think Bush is doing too little for their base. The fiscal conservatives, especially the bright ones, see this administration and many inept GOP legislators as ticking bombs. Bush got those two big parts of the GOP base to unite in 2000 and combined that with the fear factor to squeak through 2004, but the GOP hasn’t been this scared in my lifetime. I’m 60.
There is an op-ed at the NYT in defense of the FISA revisions:
The Warrantless Debate Over Wiretapping by Philip Bobbitt
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08…..bbitt.html
It is a rehash of White House talking points. It portrays it as a much needed fix, sort of overlooking that the original Democratic deal with DNI McConnell was the fix. What was passed was the power grab.
Bobbitt on the one hand argues that the gutting of FISA was necessary to update it for technological reasons but then brings up historical examples of “similar” intrusive searches. The one seems to undermine the other.
Bobbitt also disingenuously equates electronic communication with the public street where surveillance say by TV monitor can be conducted without warrant. Following this logic someone could follow Bobbitt around 24 hours a day recording everything he does, including his bedroom. After all, if you ditch the notion of privacy, if there are no lines between public and private, what’s the diff?
Almost forgot. Why the h*ll is the NYT running this cr*p?
Remember when Jordan hit six straight 3-pointers in the Finals? He was in such a zone he eventually turned to the sidelines and gave an “I can’t believe how good I am either” shrug. That’s the zone Bush is in with his lying:
He could just have honestly said:
neocons rallying to bushco’s defense? and we’re surprised?? WHY??? ho-hum nothing new….whats awful is dems swallowing repug talking points….
The Vietnam association (not analogy) will turn out to be a rhetorical disaster for Bush. He pushed the limits of specious argument way out of the ball park. Bush also needs to read Plato and Aristotle on analogy. The rhetorical move he made today was association and not analogy.
AZ Matt @ 99
I actually find it really interesting that Bush has finally invoked one of the central wingnut arguments, which is that we coulda won Vietnam if those hippies and journalists hadn’t undermined the country. (He’s touched on it before, but hasn’t really made it a central point until now.)
Vietnam is the simplest way to determine whether someone is a conservative or a liberal (at least for people who are old enough; I’m not sure about younger people.) Just ask the following multiple-choice question:
The Vietnam War was:
A. A pointless quagmire of a guerilla war that we couldn’t have won, that did great harm to our country and national interests, and that we never should have gotten involved in.
B. A noble and important battle in the struggle against Communism, which we could have won if our country just had the will/guts and hadn’t been undermined by The Left/hippie protesters/journalists.
The radical Right absolutely believes that the Vietnam War could have and should have been won. (And I think this is true even at the top, unlike the pandering to the religious right, for example.) Remember how the first Iraq War “ended Vietnam syndrome”?
Now that they’ve definitively proved themselves wrong and still won’t recognize it, we’re in for decades more of the same, only with “Iraq” substituted for “Vietnam.”
Redshift @ 120
A
Biodun @ 98
Have you noticed how distorted and watered down a concept becomes past the original thought? Guerjieff and Ouspensky called that mechanical thinking. We have the destruction of an entire nation on our hands as a result of mechanical thinkers.
Wow !! Not one single person has posted an excuse for not coming to DC in September to help end the war. I had better put the tea on and chill the keg!!
You can find us anytime at codepinkalert.com or codepinkdc.blogspot.com.
wigwam @ 113..
Bush is a psychopathic, moronic sock puppet. The question will be if “Bush’s” handlers think they can pull it off. With the right kind of “Reichstag Fire” 28% of Americans would support it and another 35% would be passive in their support.
Plan for the worst and hope for the best..a Dem landslide in ‘08.
For starters: How could you compare the completely different historical and political and social conditions and forces in the Middle East with those of Southeast Asia?
dakine01 @ 122
IF only George would have actually gone to serve in Vietnam then we would have won!
So who’s telling Shrub to make the Iraq-Vietnam association/analogy? Rove, Bolten, Kristol, Cheney, Laura, Jenna’s fiance, Barney?
Of course, the worst case scenario is that he’s thinkin’ this shit up all by hisself.
Strategerie @ 107
Yep! Put your body where your mouth is or as the man on the street says, walk the talk. Personally I like the Old West one, “Don’t tell me. Show me.”
montag @ 42
Ooh, I think that’s spot on. Having been a student of Russia and especially the Soviet union (egregious, are you out there?), I’ve been thinkin for a long time that Bush/Cheney’s behavior is more Soviet than “conservative.” From the moment they started expelling “untrustworthy” would-be-attendees to rallies in the first campaign, it has seemed to me that it’s the Soviet/totalitarian playbook they’re following. Supported by the “as long as I’m dictator,” comment, on and on, and on.
OT – hi, Sharkbabe! long time no see!
OT: Condemned inmate facing execution would be 400th in Texas
AZ Matt @ 99
I agree with the Gergen criticisms. Gergen is apparently still in denial about Iraq already being in the middle of a civil war. Gergen basically says that Bush is crazy and then proceeds to suggest something just as crazy, but then he is a Very Serious Person.
I’ll check in later. I really need to do something about my low blood sugar, like have lunch.
Redshift @ 120
Which, frankly, is only a variant on the “we were sold out by a weak FDR at Yalta” routine.
Hell, it’s not even enough to win a friggin’ war with these bozos.
Biodun @ 120
Uhm, Biodun, what makes you so certain the Criminal-in-Chief can read, much less read any philosophy?
ReneND @ 87
Good bumpersticker too: short and easily read.
montag @ 134
don’t forget that MacArthur was a hero to many of theswe folks for wanting to cross the Yalu river into China.
This could be the Bush Administration:
LINK
OT..The Salt Lake Tribune is doing real reporting and documenting the criminal behavior of Robert Murray and the MSHA.
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_6685703
They don’t need no stinkin elections:
January 08 Bomb Iran
March 08 Declare Martial Law in response to the rioting and “to protect our security” suspend elections in favor of president for Life GWB.
Silly liberals; elections are for losers;)
1,575 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND..
Citizen Redshift and the Firepup Patriots:
“I tend to agree with Christy that they’re sacrificing future election prospects to shore up support for Bush, but there’s no telling if it’ll be enough to sway elections.”
Yes there is a way of telling if it will sway future elections…if the Democratic leadership provides ‘em cover then the minority pro-war position will prevail in the short run, Republicans who support Bush will be safe and the pro-war faction and presidential candidate in the Democratic Party will be locked in. If the Democratic leadership in Congress allows the Freedom’s Watch strategy to succeed, then the opportunity to use the Iraq War against Bush supportin’ Republicans is gone.
The fix is in folks…Mrs. Clinton, the Democratic leadership and the corporate oligarchs are settin’ up 2008 to be 1968. The fascists are gunna use the old Hitler “stab in the back” line and use Vietnam like Hitler used WWI. Don’t follow Rove or Ari Fleischer or Clusterfuck…follow the Democratic Party response to this latest attack of the smoke and mirrors. The Democratic leadership in Congress must crank the heat up RIGHT NOW fer God’s sake…make it plain to those waverin’ wingnuts that they won’t get any cover at home from the Democrats in Washington.
You heard it here first: if Mrs. Clinton wins the nomination look for Rahm Emmanuel to be the next Speaker of the House.
Oh,by the way…does anyone think that Al Gore’s silence these last two months has anything to do with the threat to his son with the drug thing…
KEEP THE FAITH AND PASS THE AMMUNITION, IT’S ALL COMIN’ DOWN ON IN SEPTEMBER!!
And another: Political Islam is a completely different animal (obviously using this metaphorically) from communism informed by Leninism tinted with Maoist extremist reconfigurations. The rules of engagement are different. The playbook is different. The ideologies are different. Bush might be right about one aspect of the association: the Iraq war might turn out to be the national trauma that Vietnam has been for Americans. I guess that would be his precious legacy.
dakine01 @ 136
I’m pretty sure that he’s a hero to them because he wanted to nuke China… (at least, that was one of the major malfunctions he had with Truman–he kept wanting to drop about twenty-five nukes on the North Korea-China border to form a “radiation zone” and kept bugging Truman to give him battlefield authority to do so).
Steve-AR @ 139
I read their story this morning. They had a recent editorial slamming Murray who was talking about continued mining there.
Oh the Criminal-in-Chief is going to have one hell of a legacy, and here’s the short form of it:
Bush: The Failure of Imagination
John Johnson @ 138
Digby has something on that line of thought.
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com…..tting.html
Larry Johnson is on Thom Hartman right now AAR
Besides trying to buy George W. a legacy (so appropriate since everything he’s ever gotten has been bought, not earned), they want to buy Jeb his two terms as President. The only way that can happen is to whitewash the Bush name.
Badwater @ 148
People are not THAT stupid.
Montag — tactical, ground delivered. Google Atom*c Demolit**ns Munit**ns.
JimPreston @ 124
Wow! Do you find that jumping into random blog comment threads and insulting people is an effective recruiting tactic?
(btw, Ms. Redshift is involved in Code Pink DC so I know a bunch of the people there, and they are not assholes like this guy.)
SnarKassandra @ 149
You would be surprised!
dakine01 @ 137
I.F. Stone wrote a book with the thesis that MacArthur used our armies as bait to provoke war on a larger scale with China.
AZ Matt @ 144
I can think of a couple other places I’d like to see him breaking rocks into little pieces.
chimpy doesn’t think – its done for him…remember the bulge in his back….at this point in his term he’s throwing everything at us – hoping something will resonate – hah! wishful thinking? on his part
AZ Matt @ 152
Yeah, it’s going to be part of our life’s work to make sure that doesn’t happen.
No More Bushes! Never Forget!
AZ Matt @ 143
The kicker in the story was the fact that the previous owner rejected the mining techniques that probably caused the miners deaths because it was unsafe for the miners. After Murray bought the mine a year ago he proposed to change mining methods and the Feds approved the plan in less than a week. Who got the pay off..follow the money. Corporate murder should be prosecuted as a Capital Crime.
Balrog @ 94
My first reaction was, “Who?” These paragraphs explain all (from linked article):
He worked for CREEP! And he has the b__s to cry “frame-up?” Case closed. I can’t believe how much of today’s evil traces back to the Repubs of the early ’70’s.
tejanarusa @130:
The Chinese Communist Party is their model of capitalism. See AZ Matt’s @138 for a timely reminder.
OT but some good news. Tim Johnson has been given the go-ahead to leave the hospital and head back to SD. Hopefully it won’t be long before he is back in the Senate!
Steve-AR @ 146
I just read the Digby post – speechless.
mc @ 115
mc – I’m embarrassed by your conciseness compared w/ my blathering.
This is kind of amusing, in an irrelevant sort of way:
Jonathan Chait flays Bill Kristol (?!)
“Get your pies for the big pie fight.”
Fern @ 161
I am just adding 2 2; along with the Digby article, Time has one by an ex CIA on the January timetable for the Iran Bombing…the rest of it just sort of falls into place. Lightweight repug candidates with no real shot; none of the Repug candidates were selected by the cabal that selected the chimp…seems they won’t be needing to win any more elections;)
brendan @ 159
Yep. They’re (the Bushies) so good at choosing the best from the world’s “philosophies.”
/snark
from the wingnut piece Digby quotes:
Whenever I think I’ve become so cynical/jaded that nothing these crazy nutjobs come up with can surprise me, they prove me wrong.
Biodun @ 126
To begin with, think of how Iraq would be different if the Iraqi Army fought as well as the ARVN did.
Don’t expect anything to change until the people are ready, willing and able to storm the gates of government. Don’t expect the Congress to lead the way. They will only follow when there is so much pressure they are swept up by the masses.
mc @ 128
I was wondering the same about the t.v. ads showing wounded vets.
There appears to be a new ’sheriff’ political boss in town. Would it be Gillespie and perhaps Karen Hughes working together?
SnarKassandra @ 131
Our next President ought to sign a bill ending all executions.
realworld @ 160
Excellent!
mc @ 115
LOL! “I would submit that such a message could have been fabricated, and I will have voice analysis experts look at it…”
“Stone said the phone number cited by Bernard Spitzer’s lawyers is his, but the apartment is owned by a Spitzer fundraiser and someone else could have gotten inside to make the call or used other technology to mimic his voice and that number.“
Why quit if he is actually innocent, then? It’s almost as if he says…okay, you caught me…but if I can wiggle out of it by finding that someone else COULD HAVE made something that sounded just like me and use my mobile phone number…I sure will!
QuakerGirl @ 129
Yep! Where there were Abraham Lincoln Brigades of volunteers fighting the fascists in the Spanish Civil War…the Neo-Cons should form volunteer regiments helping fight the militias and Al Qaida in the Iraq Civil War. Emphasis on “VOLUNTEER”.
On the other hand, these ads might be intended to a) bolster support for the Republicans during heir opposition to the withdrawal of troops after the Petraeus report; and b) assist the Repugs in their re-election bids in those Red Districts.
The fact that they are targeting Red Districts really suggests that they are not even bothering to sway Democrats. The want to prevent defections by stimulating at least an equitable amount of comments to their Congressmen and Senators to balance those calls made by those who are demanding an end to the Iraq occupation.
So what that means is that large numbers of REPUBLICANS and INDEPENDENTS in these Red Areas are pissed off and sick as hell of this war! I suspect this because most progressives have utterly given up on the ideological conservative Republican Congressional Delegation. Except for an occasional visit (as LooHoos to Issa’s aide) we don’t even bother. But apparently there are lots of others that ARE!
So Fleisher’s Neo-Con group is attempting to give at least temporary space to extend this out another 3-6 months.
But by this very logic it “encourages the enemy”. Remember how they howled that having these periodic votes encouraged al Qaida to attack even more heatedly to influence the vote, endangering our forces? Well by that logic extending this by 3-6 months will simply do that once more. Deciding NOW would cut that future “Tet” offensive off at the legs.
And if al Qaida and the militias hunker down until we leave wouldn’t THAT give the Iraqis time to get their act together? I thought that was what the surge was intended to do…and we can do it while REDUCING OUR TROOP LEVELS!