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Wednesday, September 17, 2003
Get Me Rove, Sweetheart
You would think the wingnuts could get their conspiracy theories straight. For months now, Republican attack gerbils have been peddling the notion that the Clintons are secretly rooting for Howard Dean because he is so far left that he’s bound to get trounced by Shrub, leaving a clear shot for Hillary in ’08.
Now you have Jed Babbin at The American Prowler arguing that “ the Clintons are fighting against the Dean candidacy because they recognize that if Dean is nominated -- and goes down like McGovern did -- it will take a decade or more for America to again take the Dems seriously. That would mean Hillary would never make it back to Pennsylvania Avenue. Clark's job is to keep the Dems from following Dean off the McGovernik cliff.”
Then there are folks like Lowell Ponte at FrontPage Magazine who are portraying General Clark as a stalking horse for Hillary or as a sock puppet for Bill.
Which is it, folks? Time to call the RNC for those talking points so we can all get on message.
posted by Jerry Bowles
10:01 PM
Was Saddam Involved in 9/11?
"We don't know. We've learned a couple of things. We learned more and more that there was a relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda that stretched back through most of the decade of the '90s." Vice President Dick Cheney, September 14, 2003
“I’m not sure even now that I would say Iraq had something to do with it. I think what the realization to me is -- the fundamental point was that terrorism had reached the scale completely different from what we had thought of it up until then. And that it would only get worse when these people got access to weapons of mass destruction which would be only a matter of time.” Paul Wolfowitz, August 1, 2003, Laura Ingraham Show.
“I've not seen any indication that would lead me to believe that I could say that. We know he was giving $25,000 a family for anyone who would go out and kill innocent men, women and children. And we know of various other activities. But on that specific one, no, not to my knowledge.” Donald Rumsfeld, September 17, 2003
''We've said all along that there's no evidence to suggest that that we've seen.'' White House spokesman Scott McClellan, September 17, 2003
"We have no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with the Sept. 11 attacks." George Bush, September 17, 2003 Let’s all say it together now: Dick Cheney is a lying sack of shit.
posted by Jerry Bowles
5:40 PM
Slipping the punch… Congressman Darrell Issa
Speaking of the California recall... my homie from Cleveland, Ohio. The self-made millionaire whose moolah got the California recall into high gear. Arrested twice for illegal weapons in addition to a car theft charge. His brother and partner-in-crime, Billy Issa, did time in Ohio for auto theft and receiving stolen property. Not the kind of boys from Cleveland’s Arab-American community that Donna Shalala’s parents would have wanted her to go out with.
But that was thirty years ago, Issa says. Right…Shrubby dodged the draft thirty years ago. Heck, Whitewater was nearly thirty years ago. The media in California did very little probing until last Summer, when the recall- and Issa’s quest for the governorship- became a reality.
Issa, the ex-joyrider, or car thief, made his millions in- what else- the car-alarm business. Yes, that really is his voice saying “please step away from the car” on the Viper alarm system.
After probing by the California press outed Issa for his misdeeds he withdrew from the recall election. His “Darrell Issa for Governor” website is still in operation, suggesting that the public donate funds to his campaign. You’re no Gary Condit, Congressman… not yet. We’re waiting for the other alarm to go off.
posted by Groom
3:38 PM
Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown
It's a well-known scientific fact among New Yorkers that living in southern California subtracts 5 points a year from your IQ. I have friends who use to be quite normal who live there so I speak from personal knowledge. That's why the spectacle of a bunch of rich rightwingers overthrowing a Democratic governor, creating a huge, costly mess, and then losing the recall because they can't agree on a single candidate, strikes me as not particularly newsworthy. These folks are d-u-m-b.
As a sideshow, though, it is an enormously entertaining spectacle and you got to love those cheeky justices on 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals who cited Bush v. Gore as a precedent for delaying the recall. Should the matter now go to the Supremes, they will find themselves in the awkward position of working around their own logic in their highly partisan coronation of Shrub in 2000. It's payback time.
posted by Jerry Bowles
3:11 PM
Where’s the education candidate?
Just a few minutes after Democratic presidential candidate General Wesley Clark gave several un-leader like responses to Matt Lauer’s questions on NBC‘s Today, Bill Gates and Caroline Kennedy reminded the rest of us that one third of all US kids starting high school this year will not finish. That figure jumps to half when you look only at minorities, Gates added. The pair have teamed up to fund a pilot school project in the New York public schools designed to help retain students.
General Clark’s handlers are trying to sell him as the national security expert who was first in his class at West Point. Maybe Clark and the rest of the Democratic hopefuls need to focus on how to get kids to finish class. We won’t be getting Clark’s take in next week’s “debate.” He says he’s got a “hard conflict” and won’t be part of the really big shew.
posted by Groom
11:17 AM
Welcome General Clark
One of the most gratifying side effects of having General Wesley Clark in the Presidential race is that it probably means we won’t have to see Shrub’s sorry ass in a flight suit again pretending to be macho man. While that “Mission Accomplished” sign has already become an embarrassment as the war in Iraq drags on, Karl Rove’s preferred re-election strategy has clearly been to position the Shrubster as an effective war-time leader, a man who is tough on terrorists, and the best choice to defend our nation against evil little brown men armed with box cutters. To accentuate the “continuing danger,” the hawks will continue to stir up wars and rumors of wars to keep the populace at a suitable state of alarm.
Against Howard Dean, the strategy probably works, which is why oozing, bottom-feeding creatures like Dick Morris say things like “Howard Dean is the only Democratic candidate who doesn’t have a chance against Bush.” Rove will have $200 million to spend and he will spend most of it portraying Dean as weak on national defense and homeland security. Picture that “Meet the Press” clip of Dean not knowing how many troops are in currently in the Army being shown a thousand times a day around the country and you get some sense of the uphill battle that Dean, and most of the Democratic candidates, face in confronting the administration on the one issue that most misguided Americans think Bush is doing a good job on.
Clark’s greatest potential asset (I say “potential,” because we just don’t know yet if he’s a viable contender or not) is that he negates the we’re-tough-on-security-and-they’re-not argument. It’s pretty hard to paint a West Point grad, Vietnam veteran, four-star general, and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander as “soft” on security. Beyond negating Shrub’s abuse of cheap Commander-in-Chief symbolism, Clark takes away the argument that Democrats are not good at military and foreign affairs. Whether he wins the nomination or not, his presence on the roster strengthens all the Democratic candidates.
posted by Jerry Bowles
9:43 AM
The Krugman Verdict
Mark Egan profiles our favorite columnist:
President Bush is an incessant liar bent on destroying America's social safety net, central bank guru Alan Greenspan should shut his mouth on issues unrelated to monetary policy and the U.S. media have done a terrible job of keeping the public informed. Reuters, September 17, 2003
posted by Jerry Bowles
8:15 AM
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