Saturday Roundup: Liz Cheney! Ayers! Wright! Hillarycare!
* Liz Cheney caused a big stir yesterday by accusing Obama of visiting Dover just for the publicity, and said Bush used to honor fallen soldiers privately.
Turns out, though, that Bush went out of his way to advertise his private meetings with the families of the fallen, inviting a Washington Times reporter into the Oval Office to talk about his role as “comforter in chief”:
“People say, ‘Why would you do that?’” the president said in an Oval Office interview with The Washington Times on Friday. “And the answer is: This is my duty. The president is commander in chief, but the president is often comforter in chief, as well. It is my duty to be – to try to comfort as best as I humanly can a loved one who is in anguish.”
Mr. Bush, for instance, has sent personal letters to the families of every one of the more than 4,000 troops who have died in the two wars, an enormous personal effort that consumed hours of his time and escaped public notice. The task, along with meeting family members of troops killed in action, has been so wrenching — balancing the anger, grief and pride of families coping with the loss symbolized by a flag-draped coffin — that the president often leaned on his wife, Laura, for emotional support.
*******************************************
* The amusing thing about the right’s claim that Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright visited the White House is that officials made it clear on the very first page of the document dump — even before the names! — that the duo weren’t who they seemed to be.
* John Boehner, in the weekly GOP radio address, invokes an old health care bugaboo, the length of Hillary’s health care plan:
“The best way to get a sense of what Speaker Pelosi’s takeover of health care looks like is to actually look at it. Just shy of 2,000 pages, it runs more than 620 pages longer than the government-run plan Hillary Clinton proposed in 1993.”
Not sure that golden oldie will have the magic it once did…
* After all these years, Bush is still a millstone around Blair’s neck.
* And here’s today’s very amusing installment in the Alan Grayson chronicles.
Got anything else?
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Only this (h/t to a dkos poster)
“America will never be free until the last pundit is strangled with the entrails of the last pollster.”
pundits & pollsters = fifth columnnists
““The best way to get a sense of what Speaker Pelosi’s takeover of health care looks like is to actually look at it. Just shy of 2,000 pages, it runs more than 620 pages longer than the government-run plan Hillary Clinton proposed in 1993.””
O so now the GOP can’t pass health care reform because it’s too long.
Right.
From Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network (now apparently taken down)…
“During Halloween, time-released curses are always loosed. A time-released curse is a period that has been set aside to release demonic activity and to ensnare souls in great measure … During this period demons are assigned against those who participate in the rituals and festivities. These demons are automatically drawn to the fetishes that open doors for them to come into the lives of human beings. For example, most of the candy sold during this season has been dedicated and prayed over by witches.
I do not buy candy during the Halloween season. Curses are sent through the tricks and treats of the innocent whether they get it by going door to door or by purchasing it from the local grocery store. The demons cannot tell the difference.” http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/
They don’t have to invoke HillaryCare to slam this ridiculous bill. It is over $1Trillion in cost, and will be even more when you include payments to doctors, something the Dems plan to put in a separate bill in a pathetically deceitful move that they don’t think the public knows about. It requires over $500 Billion in new taxes, almost an equal amount in Medicare cuts, etc. They don’t need to mention Hillarycare, this bill, which will never pass by the way, is crappy all on its own.
PS How is that Lieberman filibuster working out for you guys?
Matt Compton writes a bright piece on the RNC’s latest leap into beyond-cutting-edge (see “Whipcast”)…
http://www.thedemocraticstrategist.org/
Bernie = You know, Pat is about 123 years old and I’m convinced he doesn’t die cause he’s scared to – he thinks he’s going to hell.
“PS How is that Lieberman filibuster working out for you guys?”
How is it working out for you, since it is nothing more right now than talk?
Cheney not remembering… http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2009/10/22-things-dick-cheney-cant-remember-about-plame-case
Bernie – I saw that.
What a liar the man is.
Greg, I think you owe a major correction on this.
First, your post puts words in Liz Cheney’s mouth that don’t appear at the link on which you relied — words that go quite a bit farther than what TPM quotes her as saying.
Second, article on Bush is dated December 22, 2008, a month before he left office and part of his round of exit interviews. Your characterization of it as showing that “that Bush went out of his way to advertise his private meetings with the families of the fallen” is untrue.
And it is untrue in a very unfair sense. You can think whatever you want of Bush, but he endured years of accusations from opponents that he didn’t care about American troops and was even accused on the House floor of sending them to die for his own amusement. In all that time, he in fact did not seek publicity for all the time he spent honoring the dead and comforting families.
Your attempt to use that article to assert that he sought publicity is unfair and untrue.
Tena – it truly would be hell if he’s there with me
Bernie – Will torture work with darth to make him “remember” ? A lying, cowardly scum.
“Bernie = You know, Pat is about 123 years old and I’m convinced he doesn’t die cause he’s scared to – he thinks he’s going to hell.”
Feel the hate.
“Tena – it truly would be hell if he’s there with me”
I already worked all that out. According to the Dante test, I’m spending eternity on the 2d level, with the rest of the lustful. I think Pat’s headed for the 1st circle and I doubt I’ll spend much time with the aristocracy.
“Feel the hate.”
Feel the laughter, dude. I don’t believe in hell, but Pat does.
Greg, Do you know anything about Scozzafava dropping out of NY-23 race ? If true, congrats to gop for making their gene pool, stinky as it is, still shallower.
“What a liar the man is.”
What a joke that comment is. Question any busy person — which I think Cheney probably qualified as — about details of a relatively minor matter that occurred long before, and he will not recall many details like these. And no one being asked the questions by the FBI can speculate.
Memory is one of the most misunderstood and overestimated faculties, but any experienced lawyer ought to know this.
“Feel the laughter, dude. I don’t believe in hell, but Pat does.”
Doesn’t matter. The hatred is evident.
“The amusing thing about the right’s claim that Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright visited the White House is that officials made it clear on the very first page of the document dump — even before the names! — that the duo weren’t who they seemed to be.
”
C’mon, Greg….you didn’t expect a little thing like facts to get in the way of all the wingnut hyperventilating, did you?
Tena – Being a good Catholic, Dante would imagine punishment for lust. At the same time, being a good Italian, he’d find a way to toss himself into that below-decks sauna with other naked writhers. Yet I’m uncomfortable with this formulation, in my case imagining the likelihood of finding Duke Cunningham or David Vitter a few bodies over.
“Doesn’t matter. The hatred is evident.”
Well, any hatred I exhibit today is probably due to all of the demons – I just ate a piece of Laffy Taffy.
“Well, any hatred I exhibit today is probably due to all of the demons – I just ate a piece of Laffy Taffy.”
That’s it! I had snack size Snickers – I’m possessed!
“. Yet I’m uncomfortable with this formulation, in my case imagining the likelihood of finding Duke Cunningham or David Vitter a few bodies over.”
Not me – I have this planned. Pak is holding down my table in the Great Club in the Sky or in the abyss – either way, I”m with Pak for eternity.
Ever notice the size of Tupak’s feet?
Tena – for the obvious reason, I avoid looking.
“’mon, Greg….you didn’t expect a little thing like facts to get in the way of all the wingnut hyperventilating, did you?”
Speaking of hyperventilating – there’s a lede over at HuffPo: “New revelation about the 24hours after Kennedy was killed! – LBJ’s Strange Behavior!”
What was it you ask? They couldn’t take off in AFOne until they found him and he was in the bathroom, crying and scared because he thought he was next.”
To which I say: THIS is a revelation? *heavyfrakkingsigh*
Tena: I saw that article over at Huffington Post and all I could muster was a “WTF?”.
“Memory is one of the most misunderstood and overestimated faculties, but any experienced lawyer ought to know this.”
All lawyers know that people lie like rugs, too. Including lying like rugs when they under oath.
Cops are the biggest liars on the planet.
“WTF?”
Somebody Arianna listens to – if there is such a creature – needs to call her out on these National Enquirer ledes over there.
quarterback, here’s Liz’s quote:
“I think that what President Bush used to do is do it without the cameras. And I don’t understand sort of showing up with the White House Press Pool with photographers and asking family members if you can take pictures. That’s really hard for me to get my head around…It was a surprising way for the president to choose to do this.”
Liz is saying, very clearly, that Bush, unlike Obama, did not publicize his honoring of the fallen. But if what Obama did was crass by Liz’s lights, than what Bush did was also crass. End of story.
I won’t deny that people lie under oath, including cops. I’ve had the CEO of a major company lie through his teeth at deposition — which lies were happily exposed through further discovery, much to my client’s gain and his company’s loss. And I’ve had even more ordinary plaintiffs lie through their teeth at deposition and trial.
But memories about details like these are also woefully unreliable, and all experienced lawyers know this, too. You have no basis to declare Cheney a liar for not recalling those details.
Greg,
With all due respect, you said Cheney accused Obama “visiting Dover just for the publicity.”
All she actually criticized was taking the press pool photogs. Perhaps you don’ think that is a difference. It is if you are concerned about accuracy.
It’s pretty clear Liz Cheney lied and it’s not the first time. If she can’t remember the details then she should just shut up!
quarterback, are you kidding? she accused him of “asking family members if you can take pictures.” What is that supposed to mean?
Scooter Libby was doing it, all on his own. Dick Cheney and his wife, Morgan Fairchild knew nothing about it.. Yeah Yeah, that’s the ticket!
Nice of Dick Cheney and his wife, Morgan Fairchild, to work so hard to defend Scooter Libby, and to seek to get him a Presidential Pardon, for something that Dick Cheney and his wife, Morgan Fairchild, have no recollection of. Yeah Yeah, that’s the ticket!
Greg,
As to the Bush interview being “crass,” he spent roughly five years being tarred as not caring about the troops and being indifferent to families of the fallen. To my knowledge, he never in response even to these calumnies publicized his countless hours of honoring the fallen and comforting families during all that time.
It is a distortion to suggest that the interview he gave while leaving office shows him going out of his way to publicize it. How you can compare that to Obama’s taking photographers to photograph with families at Dover is beyond me, whether or not Cheney’s criticism is fair.
Greg,
I dont’ understand your point. That’s exactly what I said. Cheney’s criticism was of taking photographers. Whether or not that’s fair, she did not say he went to Dover just for publicity. Two very different criticisms.
Well, Liam, since Libby didn’t do “it” to begin with — if by “it” you mean revealing Plame — you probably need to come up with a different theory.
Surprised this wasn’t posted yet, huge news in the last hour is that NY-23 just got a whole lot less interesting… the GOP candidate ceded to the wingnut, in a move I think will prove very predictive of future fights within the GOP. Teabaggers will now feel empowered to put their own candidates up, and will do so in to the detriment of the Republicans as a party. 2010 is going to be much rougher than the GOP thinks with every candidate running to their right out of fear of candidates like Hoffman sapping support and funds.
Forget it, Greg. You’re in a pizzing duel with yet another teabagging skunk. All this kind wants to do is obfuscate, create false equivalencies, split hairs, and engage endlessly in specious, circular “logic.”
Wingnut apologists will never yield. NEVER. It’s part of their lifestyle of anger, resentment, paranoid sense of “victimization,” backsliding irresponsibility, proud ignorance and profound arrogance. Think Dick Cheney for the perfect example of this despicable mindset.
A toxic brew, and deadly for our country’s future. But we *will* eventually overcome their backward, regressive ilk.
In the meantime, just ignore them, and tell ‘em to go climb their tiny thumbs. You owe these troll punks NOTHING.
Quarterbrain is either being deliberately obtuse, or else he is just an imbecile.
When a President attends a ceremony he does it as a representative of the nation. That makes it a public event, which gets covered, so that the nation get’s to witness it, be it a visit like this one to Dover, or to Arlington Cemetery or to the site of 9/11.
Recall Bush with the bullhorn. Was there no press along for that stunt, and did Bush want to put on that stunt in private, or his Flight Suit, Mission Mis-Accomplished, Publicity stunt, with live TV coverage.
Bush was cynically manipulating the Media, to gain political advantage of the dead, with his flight suit charade.
Yes indeed. Bush never cynically used the dead of 9/11 or those who died when he invaded Iraq, for to obtain mass media coverage.
“Well, Liam, since Libby didn’t do “it” to begin with — if by “it” you mean revealing Plame — you probably need to come up with a different theory.”
How do you know? How?
Are you connected at the roots with the rest of the Aspens?
Greg, I’m fully with Benton. Ignore the trolls, or better yet, ban them.
We are frakking drowning in trolls of all varieties.
# Tena | October 31st, 2009 at 12:17 pm
“Well, Liam, since Libby didn’t do “it” to begin with — if by “it” you mean revealing Plame — you probably need to come up with a different theory.”
How do you know? How?
Are you connected at the roots with the rest of the Aspens?
………………………
@Tena,
and how can Quarterbrain put so much trust in his own memory, after he has spend all morning tell ever one that memories are often faulty, and can not be trusted.
Liam – there’s that.
And there’s the fact that he’s another lying troll.
I wonder if time-released curses come in little capsules, like time-released cold relief?
Confirmed
DeDe’s Done
http://www.dedeforcongress.com/news/read.aspx?id=73
Paul W. – Teabaggers will now feel empowered to put their own candidates up, and will do so in to the detriment of the Republicans as a party. 2010 is going to be much rougher than the GOP thinks with every candidate running to their right out of fear of candidates like Hoffman sapping support and funds.
It’s the time-released curse I put on the GOP – I am loving this. They are doing exactly what I want them to do.
Now for something of great importance.
Abdullah Abdullah may pull out of the Afghanistan Election Run-Off.
He has not opened a single campaign office in Afghanistan, since the run-off date was set. This would make the whole mess in Afghanistan far more dicey.
If Karzai were to win by default, after he engaged in massive vote rigging in the first round, the USA would truly have no legitimate partner to offer the ordinary people.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/1031/breaking11.htm
“Abdullah ‘may quit Afghan poll’
Sat, Oct 31, 2009
Afghan president Hamid Karzai’s election rival Abdullah Abdullah cancelled a planned trip to India today, his advisers said, heightening speculation he would pull out of next week’s disputed run-off vote.
Afghanistan has been hit by weeks of political uncertainty after widespread fraud marred the first round, with security another major concern after a resurgent Taliban vowed to disrupt next Saturday’s run-off vote.
With Afghanistan’s political future hanging in the balance, President Barack Obama is also weighing whether to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan. Mr Obama met US military leaders in Washington yesterday.
Mr Abdullah, who is Mr Karzai’s former foreign minister, had been due to leave for India today for a leadership conference but his aides said he cancelled the trip and would likely hold a media conference in Kabul tomorrow.
“He is staying because of the election,” Mr Abdullah’s spokesman Ali Farhad Howaida said.
Western officials have pointed out that Mr Abdullah has not opened any campaign offices in Afghanistan since the run-off was called last week. Neither candidate has campaigned openly.
“The signs are there. (Abdullah’s) not doing any campaigning. Everyone is looking at the two camps and willing them to do some form of accommodation that will avoid a run-off,” one Western diplomat said.
The run-off was triggered when a UN-led fraud investigation found widespread fraud, mainly in favour of Mr Karzai, had been committed during the first round in August.
Diplomats and analysts have said that, according to the constitution, it was possible the run-off might go ahead with Mr Karzai as the only candidate if Mr Abdullah pulls out. They fear that would have a serious impact on the government’s legitimacy.
“If Abdullah boycotts, voter turnout will be very low and Mr Karzai will be declared winner but with a very low legitimacy,” said Haroun Mir, a Kabul-based analyst and director of Afghanistan’s Centre for Research and Policy Studies.”
Tena:
“It’s the time-released curse I put on the GOP – I am loving this. They are doing exactly what I want them to do”
And that would be choose their own representatives rather than having them selected for them?
We’ll see. If they appeal to the electorate in their district,(as opposed to bitter harpies in Dallas), then they’ll win.
I’m not afraid of that, it’s called representative democracy.
As opposed to a personality cult, (which in SOME circles passes as political activism).
Liam – The fact that Obama is taking his time with the decision on what to do about the troop level in Afghanistan is the single most encouraging thing about this whole mess.
Big difference from metaphorically jumping on your horse and riding right into the face of the combined Cheyenne/ Sioux nation, like Commander CooCoo Bananas was wont to do.
Only metaphorically, since George W Bush is terrified of horses. Some cowboy, that one.
Reality Check.
The number of Taliban in Afghanistan has quadrupled since 2005.
The Bush/Cheney team were warned several times, by their Generals, from 2005 through 2008 that The Taliban were a growing threat. The Generals requests for more Troops were all refused.
Media; Go ask Dithering Dick why he and President Bush let that happen.
Liam – I think Abdullah is playing it smart by delegetimizing the karzai presidency that was bound to happen. Good that Obama has not revealed his hand yet on the mcchrystal’s stupid demand for troops.
Liam:
“The number of Taliban in Afghanistan has quadrupled since 2005″
Does the Taliban pay it’s census workers well?
Taliban have quadrupled in Afghanistan since 2005, according to Pentagon reports, including the latest report from McChrystal.
When the Right Wing Nutters can not handle the truth about how Bush/Cheney did not “listen to their own Generals” and lost Afghanistan, then the nutters always try to deflect with childish rubbish from Inbreds, such as Bilgey!
“How do you know? How?
Are you connected at the roots with the rest of the Aspens?”
Um, because it was Armitage who did “it” — not Cheney and not Libby. You must not have followed very closely if you didn’t know that. Go read up.
“Yes indeed. Bush never cynically used the dead of 9/11 or those who died when he invaded Iraq, for to obtain mass media coverage.”
One of the most assinine statements ever made on this board. Not a shred of evidence, as usual.
Quarterbrain is either being deliberately obtuse, or else he is just an imbecile.
When a President attends a ceremony he does it as a representative of the nation. That makes it a public event, which gets covered, so that the nation get’s to witness it, be it a visit like this one to Dover, or to Arlington Cemetery or to the site of 9/11.
Recall Bush with the bullhorn. Was there no press along for that stunt, and did Bush want to put on that stunt in private, or his Flight Suit, Mission Mis-Accomplished, Publicity stunt, with live TV coverage.
Bush was cynically manipulating the Media, to gain political advantage of the dead, with his flight suit charade.
Yes indeed. Bush never cynically used the dead of 9/11 or those who died when he invaded Iraq, for to obtain mass media coverage.
By God, Quarterbrain can not trust his own memory.
Now he does not remember Bush in the Flight Suit Mission Accomplished stunt, with live Network TV coverage.
Poor old Quarterbrain; he does not remember that massive exploitation of the War, for political purposes, by George W. Bush.
Scooter was convicted, given a jail sentence. According to Quarterbrain, that never happened to Dick Cheney’s chief of Staff. Scooter was found guilty, and George W. Bush had to commute his sentence, to keep Scooter from striking a deal with Fitzgerald, and spilling the beans.
Quarterbrain will now come along and tell you all, that never happened, but as he has pointed out, his memory can not be trusted.
Good grief, Liam, you are an idiot. Not just ignorant and uninformed but an addle-brained idiot. There is no point explaining your errors, because you can’t think rationally.
Quarterbrain, as usual, when he can no longer deny the facts, he resorts to empty bluster.
Quarterbrain just go soak your sorry arse in a tub of hot water, after the kicking I just gave to it.
Blah blah blah, said Liar. Please post your proof that Libby outed Plame and was convicted for it. Until then, shut up.
“George W. Bush had to commute his sentence, to keep Scooter from striking a deal with Fitzgerald, and spilling the beans.”
This, by the way, is complete bunk. Your lies don’t even make sense.
Here’s a good blog from Open Left on Reality Based Optimism. Talks about the situation in both parties and also mentions Lieberman at the end.
“The political middle is shrinking. The Democratic party is becoming more progressive and the Republican party is full of crazy loons becoming more conservative. Fox News is very popular with Republicans; MSNBC has become very popular with Democrats and CNN is in the middle and struggling. Conservative blogs do well; Democratic blogs do better; very few successful blogs are “bipartisan.” Democrats hate the moderate Joe Lieberman (and I wrote that before today’s Lieberman news – perhaps despise is a better word). Republicans hate the moderate Olympia Snowe. John McCain became more conservative to enhance his popularity in his party. Harry Reid has embraced a public option more robust than one Obama would have accepted. Need I say more? Very few moderates are politically viable these days. Obama is one, or at least plays one very well, even if the crazy loons right portrays him as a socialist-Communist-Nazi-enemy-of-humanity.”
OOps forgot the link.
http://www.openleft.com/diary/15712/on-realitybased-hope
So is Obama a moderate, or is he just playing one?
Scooter was convicted of lying to the FBI, or as Patrick Fitzgerald put it: “throwing sand in the umpire’s eyes”. He was convicted of engaging in a cover up, with regards to the Plame outing.
If there was nothing to cover up, then he would not have been engaging in a cover up.
Poor Old Quarterbrain just can not handle the truth, so he tries to deflect.
lmsinca:
“Obama is one, or at least plays one very well, even if the crazy loons right portrays him as a socialist-Communist-Nazi-enemy-of-humanity.”
He might have played one well for long enough to flim-flam the squishy middle in the latter half of last year, but since the end of June of this year, his mask has slipped.
He tends towards crony neo-socialism where he thinks he can politically get away with it.
Says the Secessionist Neo-Confederate Racist named Bilgey!
not to put too fine a point in it but the thing is that beyond the quote greg unearthed about Bush being conforter in chief–neither he nor Cheney *ever* went to Dover, never. They never saw the coffins coming home.
@Ifo,
And Bush blocked the families of the fallen, from being able to allow pictures to be taken, and shown, if they wished to. That is all President Obama has changed. If a family does not want pictures taken, they still will not be shown.
“Scooter was convicted of lying to the FBI, or as Patrick Fitzgerald put it: “throwing sand in the umpire’s eyes”. He was convicted of engaging in a cover up, with regards to the Plame outing.
If there was nothing to cover up, then he would not have been engaging in a cover up.”
That is one huge fallacy, Liar. Fitz’s self-serving PR statement is proof of nothing. The essential facts are known and undisputed. Richard Armitage “outed” Plame, as you lefties like to say. Fitz knew that from very early on but kept “investigating” to see whether he could ensnare someone in allegations of covering up what he already knew they didn’t do. Good old overzealous, white hat prosecutor syndrome.
Ask yourself, did Fitz ever identify any actual information he couldn’t get because of Libby? No, of course not. Ask yourself as well, how did he get a perjury conviction without proving the truth about what he accused Libby of lying about??? You are in completely over your head, Liar.
As for your ridiculous claim that Bush had to commute Libby’s sentence so he wouldn’t “spill the beans,” just think of how ridiculous it really is. If Bush needed to protect against Libby’s “spilling the beans” (about something we know didn’t happen in the first place), he would have pardoned him before he was even tried, not commuted his sentence after conviction.
As I said, even your lies make no sense.
Liam:
“Says the Secessionist Neo-Confederate ”
It means so much that you remembered!
(Have you still got that macro’d?)
Hey…in the rump remainder of the USA after it ends its illegal occupation of CSA territory, y’all can pass a law and allow only Gay people to be schoolteachers!
Won’t that be just SWELL for you?
Y’all will be emancipated from our nasty ol’ Christian Southern cultural imperialism.
Hockey, Taxes, Socialism and Sodomy…it’ll be a moonbat’s veritable Promised Land, won’t it?
Seriously…I don’t see a downside to this at all from either of our POVs.
yep Liam, Bush & Co were all about armchair courage and never had to feel the pain of the people they sent to die. So Liz can just STFU.
Normally, I always go with generics over brand-name formulations. The active ingredients and their quality are identical, and it saves a lot of money.
However, I do make an exception for time-released concoctions. Though the active ingredients are the same, the reliability of the time-release mechanisms can vary a lot. It can make a big difference as to how fast or slowly the active ingredient is release as the devilery agent winds its way through my entrails.
Bottom line: Steer clear of store-brand confections, and stick with well-known brands like Mars, Nestlé, or for you highway enthusiasts, Hershey.
qb and bilge take teh stoopid to new levels. Congrats guy(s).
Guys, if you’d rather a particular type of poster disappear then simply do not engage them. Don’t bother reading them and certainly don’t respond.
It is amusing that people who worship the New Deal would call their opponents’ attacks “golden oldies”.
NY 23 is very interesting. God knows the pressure and incentives brought to bear on this lady to drop out. The RNC strategists are hoping to encourage a “America is dissatisfied with Obama” narrative next Tuesday and desperately need wins to give this narrative any credibility at all.
The risk for them is obvious – being perceived as moving even further to extremist positions even while a very popular President is in place (see Luntz’s latest memo – “don’t attack Obama”). It seems pretty clear that they are shooting here for the nearer goal of next November, then full frontal on Obama.
@jzap:
“Bottom line: Steer clear of store-brand confections, and stick with well-known brands like Mars, Nestlé, or for you highway enthusiasts, Hershey.”
Nestle and Hershey have been known to take out life insurance policies on their workers btw. They will never get another dollar out of me.
Maybe the demons in the candy come from all the bad psychic energy from the workers whose deaths they have profited off of.
Oh, and good old DICK’s lawyer, who was busy trying to obstruct justice during the Plame investigation, was bad for with, you got it, TAX PAYER DOLLARS!! $$$$$
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/10/30/the-taxpayers-paid-dick-cheneys-personal-defense-attorney-to-work-at-the-white-house/
Don’t cha just love DICK???
“bad” should be “paid”. I have no idea how that word got in there. Funny how the brain works sometimes.
Pat Robertson vs. Larry Flynt debating about prostitution on radio show.
http://02e56fa.netsolhost.com/blog1/index.php/2009/10/30/pat-robertson-admits-using-a-prostitute-
Re: Plame-
Read “Anatomy of Deceit” by Marcy Wheeler, aka, Emptywheel.
Man is it ever awesome to have liberals use the “but Bush did it too” defense. Regardless of how much Bush talked about visiting families, he never went to the airport to be photographed with a casket. And even if Bush did do it, it is still wrong. Obama is just plain creepy, as is the cult-of-personality like following he has that refuses to condemn him no matter what he does.
Abdullah plans runoff boycott to delay Afghan vote
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091031/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan
“KABUL – President Hamid Karzai’s challenger plans to call for a boycott of next weekend’s runoff election in an attempt to force the vote’s postponement until spring, his campaign manager said — a move that would dim U.S. hopes for a stable Afghan government for months.”
……………………..
Since General McChrystal admits that the first brigade of the extra Troops he requested, would not be available until early next year, then President Obama should not send any more Troops until he knows if we will have a strong political partner in Afghanistan.
We would not be able to send the full forty thousand extra Troops until early in 2011. According to McChrystal, that would be too late, but he admits that we just do not have thee Troops to send now.
What the hell sort of double talk is he engaging in. He says that if he does not get the Troops, then Afghanistan will be lost within the next twelve months. Then he goes on to admit, that even with the extra Troops he can not say, with any confidence, that he could rescue the situation. After that, he goes on to admit that he knows that we will not have those Troops available in full, until early 2011.
In A Nut Shell.
McChrystal wants 40,000 Troops now, because without them Afghanistan will be lost during 2010, but with the Troops it still could be very well lost.
Fine; then let us rush those Troops over there, to give General McChrystal just a shot at saving Afghanistan in 2010.
O Wait. McChrystal says he knows that we will not have those extra Troops to send in 2010
What the hell is he up to?
Honestly, I fail to see how the CIC, whoever it is, is “creepy” for having his picture taken with caskets.
Are generals not photographed the same way saluting fallen comrades?
Obviously the CIC is a politician so, *that* consideration outranks the fact that he is the perfect person to honor the fallen dead? Ridiculous.
I seriously do not see anything wrong with Bush doing what he did or Obama doing what he does.
President Obama was only photographed with the coffin of the family that first gave permission for media coverage.
President Bush alerting the networks so they would cover his flight suit, and mission accomplished, stunt, was purely political.
…and I left out:
what the heck is wrong with having a *picture* of the president honoring flag-draped coffins at Dover or anywhere else? Apparently its ok to have him pictured at Normandy?
Re; Bush- I was talking about his meeting with families. Not the “Mission Accomplished” bit.
Obviously the situation with dead soldiers (or anyone…) is sacred and should not be a circus. I wouldn’t've held it against any president to meet the fallen-wherever.
To turn that into a political issue by the POTUS, media, pundits or bloggers is inexcusable. I’m not naive to think it won’t ever happen but I’d rather have the president *be there* and for us to see him there.
I’m not sure one has an ultimate right to privacy when one enlists in the armed forces.
Were Gardiner, Brady and O’Sullivan vultures for taking pics of Civil War dead?
Andrew Sullivan on NY 23 –
“Within the GOP whatever nerve anyone had to resist the imprimatur of Erickson, Malkin, RS McCain et al is surely gone now. If a moderate cannot survive even in up-state New York, it’s over.”
In the multi-cultural world …
http://www.memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD262309
Looks bad for newspapers, including the WP …
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004030296#
Its Fido or the planet …
The eco-pawprint of a pet dog is twice that of a 4.6-litre Land Cruiser driven 10,000 kilometres a year, researchers have found.
Victoria University professors Brenda and Robert Vale, architects who specialise in sustainable living, say pet owners should swap cats and dogs for creatures they can eat, such as chickens or rabbits, in their provocative new book Time to Eat the Dog: The real guide to sustainable living.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/national/2987821/Save-the-planet-eat-a-dog
In yet another illustration of the difference between campaigning and governing, the Obama administration invoked the state secrets privilege in the Shubert case (relating to “warrantless wiretapping”) in San Francisco in federal district court on Friday. Attorney General Eric Holder’s statement is here, in which he comes close to saying, “Hey, when we invoke state secrets privilege, we do it the right way, and we’re reluctant, and we feel bad about doing it, so it’s cool. The Bush administration liked to do it, it made them feel good, so that wasn’t cool.” But I kid. The AG made the correct call here, so CWCID.
http://tigerhawk.blogspot.com/
Freehold said: “In the multi-cultural world …”
That it, and I certainly can’t deny it, rather less agreeable than Jerry Lee Lewis marrying his 13 year old first cousin.
“it” equals “is”, at least in the above case.
Freehold said: “looks bad for newspapers”
Yeah, I’d caught that piece the other day. Hard to know how this is going to play out. The big negative, it seems to me, is the reduction in expenditures for foreign bureaus (and decline in local coverage). Whether information can be efficiently and intelligently aggregated online to fill in the gaps is certainly possible (best coverage of recent Iranian elections came via citizens there) but not yet certain. Brave new world.
“Its Fido or the planet …”
Very interesting. I’m in the process of running the numbers to see how much greater the problem is if I contrast a small terrier with my mother in law.
Re Shubert case etc… for a clear-eyed criticism of Bush/Cheney policies continued, see… http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/12122008/watch.html
Should we start a pool on when Kay Bailey Hutchison suspends her run for Texas Gov.? Clearly without Palin’s support she has no chance.
Bernie, some time back you postulated that the repubs are testing the waters for 2010 by projecting the women faces like that twit from tundras, darth’s daughter, that crazy eyed and still crazier brained nutcase from MN et. al.
NY 23 seems to prove otherwise, doesn’t it ? It’s the bat-shite crazy ideology, not the gender, that seems to be the repugs’ ’stratergy.’
we should also start a pool on how long it takes for Liz Cheney to comment on the Halloween activities at the WH tonight.
@amk – women are being pushed forward, that seems certain. Matalin’s comment gives a peek into a strategy (if not ‘the’ strategy) and my guess is they see this as a way to pull female voters away from Obama and dems. My assumption at this point is that Palin’s polling puts her outside of the set of electable individuals and she’ll be used to help rile up the base. Glenn Beck is making noises about her heading up a third party but the big boys won’t let that happen because they are interested in power – they’ll facilitate Beck/Palin nuttiness only so long as it looks valuable to that end.
Part of the problem in reading intentions/plans is that the party strategists themselves are uncertain how things will play out and they need to stay nimble afoot. Their first objective is to diminish Obama and that will remain the ongoing and overarching objective.
But they do have the problem of continuing and increasing extremism in their base (thus Kristol’s last column in this paper). They’ve created this beast and they are now stuck with it, so must try to make it work for them. It’s not that this is smart, it’s that it is all they’ve got.
Bernie, I don’t think palin will play the useful idiot role that gracefully. Remember her wanting to make a “speech” to her “dear followers’ during mccain’s concession ? And that was just after her entry to national level politics too. Do you think she’ll gladly step aside after having riled up her base in 2010/12 ? Both she and her crazed base wouldn’t allow it for a minute. I’m hoping mittens and huckster are sharpening their knives as we speak.
Clinton’s visit came at a time when Pakistanis’ suspicions about U.S. intentions in their country are at an all-time high.
A five-year, $7.5-billion aid package to Pakistan recently signed into law by President Obama has stoked much of the animosity. Measures in the legislation aimed at ensuring the money isn’t misspent have been perceived by Pakistanis as levers that Washington can use to exert control over their country.
Pakistanis also continue to be incensed by U.S. reliance on drone missile strikes to take out top Al Qaeda and Taliban commanders in Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-clinton-pakistan1-2009nov01,0,1313175.story
Big surprise that Liz Cheney lied again. She claims that Bush visited Dover to honor the dead soldiers, only without cameras. That is simply not true. Bush never visited Dover avec or sans cameras.
I’m not sure whether Liz Cheney intentionally lies to suit her own purposes or she really is not smart enough to realize the extent that she deviates from verifiable truth. If she is intentionally lying, she is still not very smart, because it is way too easy to fact check her whoppers. Maybe she is just a pre-Google gal in a post-Google world.
Either way, she is still wrong.
Here’s that bright shining line that demarks the wide gap between FOX news and FOX commentary… http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200910310004
As for Republicans pushing Women forward:
The Republican nominee for NY23 is a Woman, and they just just pushed her out of the race, after she won the party’s nomination.
I wonder how Women in the district will take that?
Purge time… http://www.redstate.com/erick/2009/10/31/the-gop-establishment-must-be-purged-as-the-gop-loses-in-ny-23/
Here’s a little copy sent out to Fox viewers re: The appearance of Rush on Sunday.
“Next week Rush Limbaugh will be our special guest. Rush has become more than just the number one radio talk show host in the country. He is considered an influential political player and is one of the most vocal critics of President Obama and Democrats who call him the leader of the Republican Party. Rush was recently dropped from a group attempting to buy The St. Louis Rams football team for past statements that created controversy. He is always ready to comment on hot topics and news of the day. Please let us know what you want to ask Rush.”
Liam – it’s a fair point but in the microcosm and relative invisibility of this small fight, probably of no consequence. It will be on the national stage and moving towards 2012 where I expect to see this ‘victimized women/mothers’ played out. I could have this wrong of course but I think there’s something to it.
A couple of months ago, I said that a necessary narrative must be established by the right which forwards the notion that Obama is unpopular and a loser. Without that narrative (with its opposite remaining in place – he’s popular and winning)the Republicans will have little to zero chance next November and two years on. They are counting on Tuesday to give heft to that narrative and that’s how they’ll spin it. Count on Hannity and Limbaugh to say, “Well, it didn’t take long for America to realize who Obama really is, did it? This is the begging of the end. These results show beyond a shadow of a doubt that Americans want Obama to fail.” So that is the primary narrative they need to set in place now. Other stuff will come later.
Further up the road, regarding my thesis, there’s the proviso that whatever tact is taken will be determined by events upcoming and which can’t be foreseen now.
All, Sunday post: Gingrich, of all people, condemning conservative leaders for mounting an ideological purge in NY 23!
http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/democratic-national-committee/gingrich-condemns-conservative-leaders-for-driving-liberal-goper-out-of-ny-race/
Bernie
That Red State post was really interesting. I love the “choose lesser Republicans” line. Wow, they’re basically eating their own when they call a moderate a “leftist”. It will be interesting to watch nonetheless.
I still think they’re just throwing everything they can at the population to see what sticks. We’re to the right of Bush, anti-government, anti-Obama, anti-g@y marriage as the hot button topic, regular Americans for Freedom, protect your children vote for a woman, anti-socialism blah, blah, blah, maybe we can pick up a vote here or there rhetoric.
“That was and is nonsense. Conservatives are willing to make compromises and choose lesser Republicans who can win in races a conservative most likely cannot. NY-23 was never one of those places and now the GOP is in a world of hurt.”
It will be interesting to see if the Republicans of NY’s 23rd district who do not count themselves among the rabidly conservatives will be willing to support the Democratic candidate or just stay home as a protest against the wingnut carpet baggers. Will the district decide that they want a goofball like Hoffman? Could this be the election that officially begins the schism between the wingnuts and what remains of moderate Republicans?
“Big surprise that Liz Cheney lied again. She claims that Bush visited Dover to honor the dead soldiers, only without cameras. That is simply not true. Bush never visited Dover avec or sans cameras.”
Here is what she actually said:
“I think that it is clearly important for a commander in chief, whenever he can in whatever way possible, to pay tribute to our fallen soldiers, our fallen military folks. But I think, you know, what President Bush used to do is to do it without the cameras. And, um, I don’t understand, sort-of showing up with the White House press pool, with photographers, and asking family members if you can take pictures. That’s really hard for me to get my head around.”
If you can read, you can see there is no claim Bush went to Dover. I don’t know whether he went there or not, nor does it matter.
Big surprise, it is Gasbag who is again lying in saying a conservative lied. How is it that this is the constant pattern with the left?