Best of the Blogs

All the king’s flip-flops

We will never know if the exclusion of Hilla the Hun reflected the hidden hand of Theresa Heinz Kerry, a registered Republican until two years ago. But Jean le Grand has taken her name off the Index and personally invited her to speak prime time at the Democratic National Inclusionfest. Julian Borger, writing in the Guardian, suggests that the Potty is concerned that prime-time TV viewers will see Hilla as being “too liberal” and that that stink will rub off on candidate Kerry. But the GOP is having similar prime time problems, alienating their right wing “base” with the likes of Giuliani and even McCain who are seen as being too “moderate.” Kerry and Edwards have picked up big time momentum in "battleground states" Tennessee and North Carolina. But it is sad and ironic that a Democratic presidential campaign being run by a woman does so little to connect with and empower female voters who have the potential to swing the election for the Dems.

posted by Groom 3:38 PM

Hi, I'm John Kerry and I Share Your Values

David Brooks is on the money today:

Of course, if Kerry really shared our values, he probably wouldn't have to tell us so every minute, and once, just once, he might actually say what the values we share actually are.

posted by Jerry Bowles 7:43 AM

Bushovictim takes a hard one to the gut

Back in the corner, Rove is shouting instructions, sponging the champ’s chest. Andy Card is pouring water over his bosses head. Lord Cheney, wearing a Halliburton Athletics t-shirt, is holding smelling salts near his nose. Condi is in the center of the ring decked out in a scant bikini, holding up a placard for the next round, nervously eyeing Tom Ridge for the word on calling the fight. For sure, it wasn’t John Kerry who dealt the heavy leather to the belly. It was a swift, silent sucker punch from the Washington establishment. Bick mistake for our Ritalin kid president to name a new CIA director before the November election. The pro-Bushovictim media is downplaying the story as the White House "deferring" the decision. But after all the Rove-Hughes hype, not being able to deliver the goods represents a staggering loss of presidential power and credibility. After winning the early rounds, it’s unclear whether the War of Lies is enough to carry the champ to a victory on points. It all depends who yells the loudest into Kerry’s ear.

posted by Groom 6:50 AM

Friday, July 16, 2004

Well, Democracy is Messy

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

Iyad Allawi, the new Prime Minister of Iraq, pulled a pistol and executed as many as six suspected insurgents at a Baghdad police station, just days before Washington handed control of the country to his interim government, according to two people who allege they witnessed the killings.

This is why American kids are dying--to replace one brutal thug with another?

posted by Jerry Bowles 12:11 PM

Rope a Dope or Just Dope

So here we are, round nine of a twelve rounder, the champion bloodied, mostly from punching himself in the face, the challenger laying on the ropes, finished or maybe just playing rope a dope, the fate of the free world in the balance. The current titleholder is vulnerable; a couple of solid blows would send him to the canvas but the challenger, who is slightly ahead on the scorecards, is being oddly cautious and having trouble putting him away. The challenger's fans are getting increasingly restless; the next three rounds will be the key to victory and they know their boy fights best when he is losing and is overly careful and indecisive when he's ahead. He has too many cornermen telling him what to do--go for the knockout, jab and dance and stay out of reach, clinch and hold and ride out the clock. The champion's fans are getting louder by the round as they sense that the challenger has run out of gas or will start throwing the hard leather too late, allowing their boy to squeak by on a split decision. Will the challenger finally rise to the occasion or is he simply riding a one-way ticket to Palookaville?

posted by Jerry Bowles 8:57 AM

Truth held hostage in a privatized war

No more Abu Ghraib hearings until after the election. Part 2 of the Senate Intelligence Committee report focusing on the White House off the radar screen until next year thanks to a Dem sell-out. Now the Washington Post is reporting that Bushovictim is refusing to provide data on $1.4 billion in sweet deal Halliburton contracts to the International Advisory and Monitoring Board (IAMB). This is the watchdog organization established to make sure Iraq’s oil doesn’t evaporate into a cloud of baksheesh. Auditors KPMG noted that the Coalition Provisional Authority’s failure to install meters on Iraq’s Persian Gulf export loading platforms made it difficult to figure out how much oil Iraq was exporting. Don't think that Jerry Bremer will want to testify on the Hill about that. Another day in the life with the Hessians of the Global Economy.

posted by Groom 6:17 AM

Just Following Orders

The mayor of Charleston, West Virginia says that local police "were acting on Secret Service orders" when they took away a couple in restraints because they were wearing anti-Shrub t-shirts at a July 4 Bush rally on State House grounds. A judge dismissed the charges yesterday. Back in September, the ACLU filed a federal lawsuit against the Secret Service, seeking an injunction against the Bush administration for segregating protesters at his public appearances and the Secret Service agreed to stop the practice.

Obviously, it doesn't mean they won't lean on local authorities to do their dirty work for them.

posted by Jerry Bowles 12:02 AM

Thursday, July 15, 2004

Silence of the Hams

For the second time in as many months, Sy Hersh has given a speech (this time to the ACLU) describing the further videotaped horrors at Abu Ghraib prison -- boys being raped in front of women prisoners. Seems to me this is the kind of evidence that might destroy whatever pretense of credibility the Wizard of Ozymandias has left, perhaps even bringing calls for his impeachment, and certainly hastening our exit from Iraq.

Of course, for the Mainstream (pronounced "Dean-Scream") Media to reveal this evidence at this point, would bring uncomfortable questions about their own complicity in the conspiracy of silence about this topic until now . . . so I wouldn't hold my breath.

posted by Michael 7:37 PM

Who stole the Charmin?

It's "class action" for the rich. Gotta wipe the mess before the terrorists postpone Election day. AP, Bloomberg and other news sources are reporting today that the "shell company" formerly known as Enron will finally emerge from bankruptcy and pay investors $12 billion or about 20 cents on every dollar they got a bankruptcy court to believe they owe. The Texas Attorney General’s office says that lawyers, accountants and “examiners” totted up a cool $665 million, or 5.5 percent of what the new Enron will remit to investors. You don't suppose there's a lot of campaign contributions in that tidy little sum?

posted by Groom 2:23 PM

If John Kerry could channel Marc Chagall…

Back in my previous life I lived for a spell in Paris on the Quai d’Anjou not far from artist Mark Chagall. There were times we passed each other and nodded, strolling the quiet, tree-lined quai. One says nothing to a giant. Then, at one of Claude Pompidou’s wild tout Paris art parties there he was holding forth. He offered a pearl of wisdom that John Kerry ought to pick up on before its too late...

“when I create from the heart, nearly everything works… if from the head, almost nothing”
Marc Chagall

posted by Groom 7:24 AM

The Official Story

The CIA is still playing games with the Red Cross by hiding "high value" prisoners somewhere in the elaborate gulag the Bush administration has built around the world--mostly in countries with despicable human rights records. Many have been tortured and it is likely that some of them will never be seen again. While these are almost certainly bad people our treatment of them is a complete betrayal of the most fundamental American values and makes it impossible for the United States to ever again occupy the moral high ground in the war against tyranny. Thanks to BushCo we are now, officially, a rogue nation. Aren't you proud of us?

posted by Jerry Bowles 6:56 AM

Trump to Bush: "You're Fired."

Reuters has just dropped the following poop on Bush's chances of reelection.

Billionaire Donald Trump, famous for telling contestants "You're Fired" on his hit show "The Apprentice,"' is not happy with the Bush administration's handling of the Iraq war.

In an interview for the August edition of Esquire Magazine to be published on Friday, the magazine says he makes it clear the administration would never keep a job with him.

Do check out this story. The quotes from Trump are priceless.

posted by John 2:40 AM

Wednesday, July 14, 2004

All the News that Fits Continued

Eric Alterman also wonders why the big deal about Whoopi's Bush.

posted by Evelyn 6:11 PM

Kerry, Edwards no-shows on Gay amendment vote

What if a White House hit squad did a last minute sandbag on a couple of the six GOP senators who voted against amending the US Constitution to ban gay marriage? That would have given Lord Cheney an opportunity to break the tie. Once again senators Kerry and Edwards were MIA. Doyen Robert Byrd was the only Dem to cross over. Unlike Fritz Hollings and Bob Graham, he’s still got issues. Was Kerry too busy campaigning, or is he waffling on this one too?

posted by Groom 5:39 PM

When "inclusiveness" becomes detachment

Jerry, Josh and Evelyn have raised big time questions about why John Kerry appears so distanced and dispassionate on key issues, why he is unable to respond personally and passionately to show the undecided voters that he can take charge. If one takes this Washington Post piece by Jonathan Wiseman at face value, the policy component of his organization features more players than a Cecil B. DeMille movie and has some major structural problems that damage control PR can't hide. Its all too reminiscent of the "inclusion-fest" that doomed Clinton's health care task force... the one thing the Slickster said he regretted he didn't do right. If the Boston convention "re-introduces" John Kerry to the American people, maybe it should have John Kerry talking policy from his heart instead of outsourcing it to the land of 1000 wonks.

posted by Groom 2:28 PM

Wedgies

It looks like the Bushies' efforts to manufacture a "wedge" issue out of gay marriage is headed for a well-deserved non-start in the Senate. Most Democrats and many responsible Republicans are resisting Nurse Frist's attempts to dishonor the Constitution for short-term political gain. The lack of popular support is further evidence that most Americans are more tolerant than the majority of fools who present themselves to us as candidates for public office.

It seems to me that Kerry and the Democrats are missing a great chance to create an emotional issue of their own--one that has the added (although usually superfluous) advantages of being both legitimate and important. Whatever one thought about the necessity of going into Iraq, can anyone--right or left--deny that the lack of planning for the occupation has been a human and management disaster? Young Americans have died unnecessarily because Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz failed to provide enough troops to establish order. Hundreds of others have been maimed for life because the Army sent many of its tanks home too early and Humvees were too lightly armored. Thousands of troops slept for weeks in the sand without hot meals or showers and toilets because the Army "outsourced" meals and tents to corporations that hadn't reckoned on having to work in hot combat zones. The private food contractor for the severely overcrowed Abu Graib prison shorted the facility on hundreds of meals a day, and provided food containing bugs, rats, and dirt. This is not to mention the initial shortage of body armor.

How many of those 850 plus American deaths could have been prevented if the Pentagon had simply provided the troops with the right equipment and the appropriate force level? How many of those young Americans who has missing arms or legs today will still be whole if the Army has provided Bradleys instead of Humvees? This is not a wedge issue; it's a national tragedy that should unite all all in outrage.

posted by Jerry Bowles 10:17 AM

Picture Politics
”Selected Photos that are Fit to Print”

For the past six weeks I have been systematically analyzing the generally more favorable coverage of Bush in the New York Times compared to the coverage of Kerry. The Times' motto, of course, is "All the News That's Fit to Print." The editorial ratio has run as high as 8:1 for Bush; today’s headlines, for example, are 7:0 for Bush with one headline for a retrospective article about Edwards. Typically, the Bush headlines start on Page One and Kerry’s headlines are deepest inside the paper, usually around page 20, and usually smaller than the Bush headlines. Here is today’s happy Bush photo, in color on the NYT website and b/w in the paper:

In my exchange of emails with Bill Borders, senior editor at NYT, borders@nytimes.com complaining about this unfair imbalance, Borders defends the ratio by suggesting that most of the coverage of Bush is because he is President Bush, not candidate Bush. Giving Borders the benefit of the doubt, two of today’s headlines deal with the White House and CIA withholding a briefing memo from Congress. Now I ask you, because Borders has his head in the sand, is this presidential or politics? When Bush gives a “policy” speech in a swing state and mentions Kerry’s name, is that presidential or politics?

I’ve given up on the editorial side, but not on the photo side where the favorable coverage of Bush is blatantly worse—-and we know that a picture is worth a thousand words. The NYT photos of Bush tend to be in color, on the first page (both the “presidential” and political ones), clear images of him and his audience, happy people, positive images, larger, and, yes, more frequent. In today's paper the Bush-related photos meet this criteria: there are NONE for Kerry, except a retro photo of Edwards.

Even the photo selection for Kerry is skewed: they are smaller, more often black and white, unclear images, a fuzzy or soft image of the audience, and smaller than Bush photos. Lately, there have been some “art” pictures: Kerry and Edwards in silhouette or some abstract position, where the obscure composition of the photo is more important than the message. There have been NO silhouette or “art” photos of Bush, NONE.

I’ve also been corresponding with the office of Daniel Okrent, the Public Editor of the NYT, whose assistant, Arthur, says will be doing a story on the coverage and needs specific examples, which I have been providing. You can reach them at public@nytimes.com

If you share my concern, and read the NYT, drop these boys a line—-and tell them you heard about this at Bestoftheblogs.com

posted by Josh 7:35 AM

GOP mantra...pray for rain or pray for terror

“We should have elections on time… that is the view of the president.” The words of Rice-a-roni, playing the good cop in the latest Goebbels-like charade. But there’s a big difference between “we should have elections on time” and we will have elections on time. Some ambitious journalist needs to show up big at a photo-op and make the president go on the record.

Conventional wisdom has it that Republicans pray for rain on election day. But with this crew of reprobates, one can’t rule out using Bushovictim Ranger dollars to seed the clouds. Then too, the notion of a terrorist attack becoming the vehicle to transform America into a right wing police state appeals to the messianic instincts of our leader and his born-again clique.

Now that the rats have been zapped in the Skinner Box, what’s next. More bad cop when the tracking polls indicate it’s needed. Will it be Health and Human Services bobblehead Tommy Thomson borrowing a page from Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman, telling us that he has credible information that the “terrorists” plan to spike America’s water supply with LSD? You can't expect Christian Soldier Ashcroft to pass up some headlines following Ridge's call for a legal brief on how to postpone the election. Or will it be Agriculture Secretary Anne Veneman weighing in with “sensitive sources and methods” intelligence that “terrorists” plan to poison our nation’s food supply by planting a monster strain of avian virus at chicken processing plants in Maryland, Arkansas and California. Will Heartbreak Ridge then put on his white hat and reassure the American public that there is no need for alarm?

But, stop the presses, election day also marks the start of flu season. Boy did we screw up big time on that flu vaccine last year… it didn’t work. Maybe Max Schmeling look-alike Ridge will do a bad cop and announce that elections will be postponed because current intelligence indicates that “terrorists” plan to attack the US with a new monster flu virus. A great photo-op for the Bushovictim, getting his flu shot, playing good cop and telling the media that it will be several months until there is enough vaccine for the rest of us and that elections will be held... but not until the latest “terrorist” problem is resolved. Aaah, the high drama drones on. For some laughs and animation showing the Bushovictim and Kerry and his "real dealers" in action, click here.

posted by Groom 6:35 AM

Tuesday, July 13, 2004

Clear and present channel

The last time terrorists attacked the “homeland” a program director for media giant Clear Channel Communications compiled a list of 150 popular songs that should not receive airplay. The list, which leaked out(Clear Channel denies that the list was company policy) included “New York, New York” by Frank Sinatra, “Imagine” by John Lennon, and “Great Balls of Fire” by the Killer hissself… Jerry Lee Lewis. Since the 9/11 hijackers were mostly Saudis, perhaps only the Zogbys can tell us why Ray Stevens’ "Osama yo Mama" and "Ahab the Arab” didn’t make the list.

Now, with Heartbreak Ridge talking about “postponing” the November elections, Clear Channel has gone to court to keep an anti-war message off one of its billboards in Times Square. Clear Channel is owned by Bushovictim buddy Tom Hicks, who never met a Dixie Chick he didn’t like. Maybe we can all listen to Randy Newman’s syrupy, post 9/11 sell-out that would have given Roy Cohn a hard-on “Follow the Flag” as we watch our constitutional rights fade into the sunset... hey Randy, did you forget that these guys are still keeping the N-word down? What tunes will folks at the nation's largest radio network suggest not be given airplay when the GOP jacks the next election? Any suggestions…

posted by Groom 5:55 PM

Bushovictim II… the economy

When in doubt, blame terrorism. Terrorism is now a major threat to the economy, says treasury secretary John Snow. Pimping the Nazi-like Patriot Act on a radio talk show, America’s new Willard Scott look-alike says we’ve got to keep our guard up. You’d think he would be more concerned about finding the $1.5 billion/day the treasury needs to service the debt on the “twin towers” of borrowings and managing the growing trade deficit. What will the snowman say in November when the jacked election triggers an American kristallnacht?

posted by Groom 2:10 PM

Going After Ali Hassoun

The saga of Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun reminds me more and more of one of all-time favorite novels--Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien, which is one of the masterpieces of magic realism. In the novel, Pvt. Cacciato decides to simply leave the battlefield in Viet Nam and walk 8,000 miles to Paris where peace talks are being held. The remaining members of his squad are sent after him to bring him back and wind up following a trail of chocolate M&Ms through the jungles of Indochina, across India, Iran, Greece, and Yugoslavia to the streets of Paris. What happens? Who knows? The "story" is as elusive as it is beautifully crafted. As the narrator of the tale says: "The facts were simple: They went after Cacciato, they chased him into the mountains, they tried hard. They cornered him on a small grassy hill. They surrounded the hill. They waited through the night. And at dawn they shot the sky full of flares and then they moved in.... That was the end of it. The last known fact. What remained were possibilities." So it is, apparently, with Cpl. Hassoun.

posted by Jerry Bowles 1:32 PM

Jacking the Election: Big Media Snore

It’s amazing to me that given the attention paid to the jokes at the Democratic fund-raiser held last week, at which to my great shock and horror that sober and respected public servant, Whoopie Goldberg, played with otherwise non-profane language, the major, national media have let a huge issue like whether or not the fall elections will be postponed die on the vine.

Only the Washington Post reported and USA Today reported today that there has been discussion of a plan to postpone the elections in the event of a terrorist attack. However, The New York Times, which reported on the front page Saturday the Bush Campaign’s reaction to a “star-studded hatefest” decided that the department of Homeland Security’s review of plans to postpone the fall election did not warrant mention anywhere in the printed newspaper, only on its online Reuters feed yesterday.

All three major network news shows, which no doubt each had a reporter on the scene at last Thursday’s fundraiser carried the RNC’s talking points about how the performers' Bush invective (we have much worse here on our blog) raised substantial questions about Kerry’s “values.” (I think we are all going to be bloody well sick of that term by November.) While I did not see the news programs last night, a quick scan of their web sites this morning shows that ABC and CBS did give the story about equal weight to their report about Chevy Chase's comments last Thursday. But where was the Times? And the Journal gave the election plan a mention in its front-page "Worldwide" column with no follow up inside? Why is this not news?

posted by Evelyn 10:40 AM

Facts dont matter

For what it's worth, a new AP-IPSOS poll indicates that the Bushovictim is more decisive than fellow bonesman Kerry. Robert Scheer has an excellent piece in this morning's Los Angeles Times (reg. reqd.) linking all that "decisiveness" with all those "lies." Scheer points out that for all it did wrong based on bogus info the CIA made a key finding that there is no credible link between Saddam, Bin Laden and the Saudi 9/11 attack. Based on what John posts below, the Dems should be all over this like white on rice.

posted by Groom 6:09 AM

Taking Values Seriously

E. J. Dionne, writing in The Washington Post says it like it is.

Bush gave a powerful speech in York, Pa., last week describing his "values." He declared: "The culture of America is changing from one that has said 'If it feels good, do it, and if you've got a problem, blame somebody else' to a culture in which each of us understands we are responsible for the decisions we make in life."

That's a great idea. Applying it to the president means that he, not the CIA, is responsible for the case that was made for the war in Iraq. By the president's own logic, he can't blame a bunch of bureaucrats ("if you've got a problem, blame somebody else") for his administration's eagerness to offer the most lopsided picture possible of the threat Hussein posed.

With a new CNN Poll showing that 55% of Americans now feeling less secure than before the war in Iraq, security is clearly the value of the day. A tip for the Kerry campaign--just ask,

"Do you feel more secure today?"

posted by John 1:28 AM

Monday, July 12, 2004

Uncommon Common Sense

Once in awhile a reader leaves a comment that is so reasonable and on point that it merits pulling out of the pile and posting on its own. Jeffer did that on Josh's post today. Here it is:

You know, I think we each need to step back and ask ourselves these questions: Do you think Bushco is capable of mass murdering American citizens in a faux terrorist attack in order to win reelection?

Look, I hate that bastard as much as anyone, and this whole postpone the election debate is being handled as shoddily and sloppily as Bushco handles everything; if something happens, with or without Bushco's complicity, the question is now in play.

And this is the issue, to me: the debate about what to do about the election in case of attack would be a legitimate one if this president had any legitimacy. I don't want to think the president of my country is capable of blowing up tunnels for political gain, but more than that, I don't want a president that MAKES me wonder if he's capable of it. jeffer |

posted by Jerry Bowles 6:10 PM

Rudy in disguise

If you want to jack an election by postponing it you need somebody around that people will trust. Sir Rudy Giuliani is someone with experience in that department. Recommendations in this 2001 Wall St. Journal editorial show how easy it is, in the aftermath of terror, to abandon the democratic process, override term limits, demand legislation to postpone the New York mayoral election but allow citizens to vote for everything else. Dumping Lord Cheney for Sir Rudy as VP on the GOP ticket would build public trust in the "postponement"... then in perfect World Wide Wrestling Federation fashion, the War Lord could jump back in the ring and resume his VP duties. As for Sir Rudy, he could be shunted off to a new cabinet position... secretary for perpetual postponement (SPP).

posted by Groom 5:38 PM

Venezuela e-vote gets paper trail

As the US develops contingency plans to postpone its presidential election Venezuela is moving forward with a referendum on leader Hugo Chavez. Unwilling to become an oil puppet, the US-trained paratroop major has been demonized by the White House, the media and even John Kerry. The Chavez government has replaced machines made by Bush Ranger and Chuck Hagel-owned companies (which provide no verifiable paper trail) with units from a Florida firm that provide each voter with a receipt. Apparently that isn’t good enough for the AP writer who wrote the syndicated piece I've tagged above. Instead of leading with the fact that the new machines provide each voter with a receipt her entire article focuses on the “untested” factor implying that the "new" machines pose a threat to the democratic process. Maybe the AP editors should have Ms. Olson start looking a little closer to home.

posted by Groom 12:27 PM

There's Something Happening Here

I may be crazy, as Waylon memorably put it, but it's kept me from going insane. You can tell from our little motto at the top of the page that we're trusting types around here but even I am a little alarmed at the level of cynicism floating around about the prospects for a free and above-board election in November. An awful lot of blog readers here and elsewhere seem convinced that there is no way the band of thugs now in charge in Washington are going to play fair. Speculation about election "delays" by Max Schmeling lookalike Tom Ridge only fan the flames of paranoia among the rational centrists that the GOP attack gerbils like to call the angry left. Throw in voting machines with no paper trails--all made by companies with distinctly rightwing agendas, two thoroughly morally bankrupt political parties and Clarence Thomas and you have a scenario that make the Reichstag Fire look like a warmup act for George and the Apocolyptics. But, of course, nothing like that could happen here.

posted by Jerry Bowles 10:27 AM