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Proof That Kerry is Not French

Speaking from Sioux City, Kerry said in his radio speech: "For John Edwards and I, this campaign is about listening and learning from Americans who believe in their heart that tomorrow can be better than today, Americans who are ready to build a stronger America that is once again respected in the world."

It's "for John Edwards and me," not "for John Edwards and I." For John Edwards. For me. For John Edwards and me. How can he expect to be President if he mangles the language?

posted by Jerry Bowles 11:10 PM

Flip Flop, Do the 9/11 Bop

The Bush administration has been so aggressively unfriendly to outside ideas that the spin that it plans to seriously consider the proposals put forth by the 9/11 Commission can only be seen as an act of political desperation. This is an administration, remember, that opposed the creation of the commission, then tried to put the corrupt Henry Kissinger in charge, refused to let Condi Rice testify until forced to do so by public opinion, stonewalled the handover of key documents, and insisted that the President and Vice President be interviewed together so Uncle Dick could help Shrub keep his story straight. Now the White House is behaving like the report was its idea in the first place and suggesting that it is anxious to actually implement some of its recommendations. Shades of Clintonian cooption.

Many of the commission's recommendations are quite sensible and could be put into effect by Executive Order so Shrub has no excuse (except, perhaps, being too busy clearing brush on a non-working ranch in Texas in August)to not get started. One idea worth sitting on for awhile is the creation of an overall intelligence czar. In nearly 40 years of hanging around the corporate world I have never seen a single problem solved by adding another layer of management.

posted by Jerry Bowles 5:18 PM

The Moonie candidate

And this is the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Maybe after letting Rev. Moon use a Senate hearing room to "convert" Stalin and Hitler to Christianity, Warner will aks the world's best brainwasher to "reach out" to the US military and "contract" torturers at Abu Ghraib and Rummy's gulag.

posted by Groom 5:14 PM

Our man in the Sudan today… our men in the Sudan tomorrow

Who else but Tony Bliar... getting ready to launch his bid for reelection, the British PM has asked his Downing St. staff to draw up intervention plans for the “humanitarian crisis” (genocide) in the Sudan. The British army has informed Bliar that it can put together a brigade of 5,000 troops to send down to “aid” the Sudan “very quickly.”

And now that Benador & Associates is hot on the case, you might want to check to see if the Aladdin Hotel sports book is taking odds on how long it will be before the Bushovictim incorporates the Sudan into the “war on terror.” We’ll probably start hearing a lot of intelligence suggesting that the former British colony is crawling with thousands of Al Qaeda sleepers who have been linked to Osama, Saddam, Zarkaoui, al-Sadr, the Iranians and a secret Osama-funded unit created to building a dirty bomb.

Lord Rummy, Lord Cheney and Wolfie would be happier than pigs in shit if they could tap the collective guilt of a post-9/11 report Congress and send 10,000 troops as the “first phase” of a larger manpower commitment to "apply the successes" from nation building in Iraq to the Sudan. Stopping the African genocide in 2004 when the Democrats turned the other cheek in 1998 could be a big plus for the Bushovictim, who is desperately searching for African-American votes. If the election isn’t postponed and John Kerry wins he will be inheriting yet another Bushovictim policy and with it the politically ugly task of reinstating the draft.

posted by Groom 7:11 AM

Friday, July 23, 2004

Reading the 9/11 Report

The part where Elder Ashcroft rounds up the usual suspects and takes the first decisive step toward the subversion of habeus corpus and the American Constitution.

Beginning on September 11, Immigration and Naturalization Service agents working in cooperation with the FBI began arresting individuals for immigration violations whom they encountered while following up leads in the FBI’s investigation of the 9/11 attacks. Eventually, 768 aliens were arrested as “special interest” detainees. Some (such as Zacarias Moussaoui) were actually in INS custody before 9/11; most were arrested after. Attorney General John Ashcroft told us that he saw his job in directing this effort as “risk minimization,” both to find out who had committed the attacks and to prevent a subsequent attack. Ashcroft ordered all special interest immigration hearings closed to the public, family members, and press; directed government attorneys to seek denial of bond until such time as they were “cleared” of terrorist connections by the FBI and other agencies; and ordered the identity of the detainees kept secret. INS attorneys charged with prosecuting the immigration violations had trouble getting information about the detainees and any terrorist connections; in the chaos after the attacks, it was very difficult to reach law enforcement officials, who were following up on other leads. The clearance process approved by the Justice Department was time-consuming, lasting an average of about 80 days.

posted by Jerry Bowles 3:18 PM

Reading the 9/11 Report

The part where everybody recalls that it was only "Slobber Hair" Wolfowitz who wanted to go after Iraq immediately but all the sensible people thought it was a dumbass idea.

According to Rice, the issue of what, if anything, to do about Iraq was really engaged at Camp David. Briefing papers on Iraq, along with many others, were in briefing materials for the participants. Rice told us the administration was concerned that Iraq would take advantage of the 9/11 attacks. She recalled that in the first Camp David session chaired by the President, Rumsfeld asked what the administration should do about Iraq. Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz made the case for striking Iraq during “this round” of the war on terrorism.

A Defense Department paper for the Camp David briefing book on the strategic concept for the war on terrorism specified three priority targets for initial action:al Qaeda,the Taliban,and Iraq.It argued that of the three,al Qaeda and Iraq posed a strategic threat to the United States. Iraq’s long-standing involvement in terrorism was cited, along with its interest in weapons of mass destruction.

Secretary Powell recalled that Wolfowitz—not Rumsfeld—argued that Iraq was ultimately the source of the terrorist problem and should therefore be attacked. Powell said that Wolfowitz was not able to justify his belief that Iraq was behind 9/11.“Paul was always of the view that Iraq was a problem that had to be dealt with,” Powell told us.“And he saw this as one way of using this event as a way to deal with the Iraq problem.” Powell said that President Bush did not give Wolfowitz’s argument “much weight.” Though continuing to worry about Iraq in the following week, Powell said, President Bush saw Afghanistan as the priority.

posted by Jerry Bowles 11:40 AM

A Man Named Illinois

My wife and I wandered into the Lincoln Center Plaza last Friday afternoon and were greeted by a cooking big band wailing away on "Stompin' at the Savoy," a swing era anthem that is always stirring to people of a certain age. The group--led by a dapper, white-haired Creole man named Illinois Jacquet, the last of the great "Texas-style" tenor saxophonists--was rehearsing for the final night of Lincoln Center's annual "Midsummer's Night" series of free concerts. Jacquet had closed the series for the past 16 years. We stopped to listen for awhile and marvel at the great arrangements and the way this ancient and beautiful old cat would occasionally pick up his tenor sax and toss off a perfectly executed extended solo that seemed to come from a different, more civilized, place and time. Before we left, I shot a couple of photographs, one of which I posted here on my personal blog.

Jean Baptiste Illinois Jacquet, 81, died yesterday at his home in Queens. Friday night was his last concert. I feel honored to have spent a few final minutes in his majestic company.

posted by Jerry Bowles 9:44 AM

Fifty dollars make Carville holler

I was just shaking some Crystal hot sauce on my eggs when I opened an e-mail from James Carville with this mugshot asking for money to help John Kerry win big. You gotta wonder if Dick Cheney is paying Mrs. Carville a/k/a Mary Matalin to dress him funny. Who wants to give money to somebody who looks like a member of Mussolini’s secret police? Like Josh says, a picture is worth a thousand words and here’s more proof the Dems don’t get it.

posted by Groom 7:13 AM

Thursday, July 22, 2004

This Just In--Iraq Was a Very Bad Idea

A new Harris Poll finds that only a small minority of the public believes that the handing over of sovereignty to the new Iraqi government will achieve positive results. Twenty percent believe it will "enable most U.S. troops to leave Iraq in the next year." Eighteen percent think it will "reduce the number of attacks on U.S. troops." Twenty-nine percent believe it will "lead to a reasonably free and democratic system of government in Iraq," and 22 percent believe it will "be a model which will spread freedom and democracy in the Middle East."

And 32 percent believe that if a frog had wings he wouldn't bump his ass so much.

posted by Jerry Bowles 10:44 PM

Reading the 9/11 Report

The part where the Happy Warrior conveniently recalls his days as an ace fighter pilot to bolster the obvious lie that Uncle Dick really did ask him before giving the Air Force authority to shoot down threatening planes.

The Vice President remembered placing a call to the President just after entering the shelter conference room. There is conflicting evidence about when the Vice President arrived in the shelter conference room. We have concluded, from the available evidence, that the Vice President arrived in the room shortly before 10:00, perhaps at 9:58.The Vice President recalled being told,just after his arrival, that the Air Force was trying to establish a combat air patrol over Washington.

The Vice President stated that he called the President to discuss the rules of engagement for the CAP. He recalled feeling that it did no good to establish the CAP unless the pilots had instructions on whether they were authorized to shoot if the plane would not divert. He said the President signed off on that concept. The President said he remembered such a conversation, and that it reminded him of when he had been an interceptor pilot. The President emphasized to us that he had authorized the shootdown of hijacked aircraft.

The Vice President’s military aide told us he believed the Vice President spoke to the President just after entering the conference room, but he did not hear what they said. Rice, who entered the room shortly after the Vice President and sat next to him, remembered hearing him inform the President,“Sir, the CAPs are up. Sir, they’re going to want to know what to do.” Then she recalled hearing him say, “Yes sir.” She believed this conversation occurred a few minutes, perhaps five, after they entered the conference room. We believe this call would have taken place sometime before 10:10 to 10:15.

Among the sources that reflect other important events of that morning, there is no documentary evidence for this call, but the relevant sources are incomplete. Others nearby who were taking notes, such as the Vice President’s chief of staff, Scooter Libby, who sat next to him, and Mrs. Cheney, did not note a call between the President and Vice President immediately after the Vice President entered the conference room.

posted by Jerry Bowles 9:32 PM

Democrat Words vs. Republican Pictures

Let’s face it: Democrats like to talk, to put things in words; Republicans talk less and prefer pictures. Ed Rollins, Reagan’s media advisor, was on a special the other night with some former White House press types, including Leslie Stahl. When Stahl cited an example of media coverage she did what she thought was a scathing piece on Reagan. It showed Reagan “Good Morning in America” pictures but her voice over quoted statistics that “proved” the opposite of the Reagan claim. Rollins was thrilled with the coverage, much too Stahl’s surprise. Why? Because, as we all know, images are stronger than words and most of us recall images more easily than speeches.

That was 20 years ago and Democrats still don’t get it. Compounding the problem is BushCo’s folks are really good at pictures. When they come to New York next month, they have already planned for delegations to visit Harlem, feed the poor, work in Habitat, help the homeless—all pictures of “compassionate” Republicans. So when the Democrats are trying to get words in through protest, the news media will have a picture to cancel the words.

I bet the Democrats in Boston will not even be able to find Concord, and recreating the urgency of the revolution or Paul Revere’s ride is an image the Democrats could use these days. See, I said all this without one picture. Ducky for us.

posted by Josh 9:58 AM

Signs of Improvement

I caught Kerry on CBS Evening News last night and I was impressed. He was sharp, assertive, direct and brief. While he did not have a command of facts and figures ala Howard Dean, he did have Dean's cadence down. Someone has been coaching him and it showed.

When Dan Rather challenged him on his use of the word "arrogance" to label Bush's handling of Iraq and asked if "it was too strong of a word," Kerry simply said, "No." When asked again, he simply said "No," again. He didn't elaborate. When asked about his so-called flip-flops, Kerry challenged him to name one, catching the aging Rather off guard. When Rather brought up his vote on the war, Kerry succinctly explained his vote, showing how he had been consistent--a little bit of a stretch, but much improved over his legislativespeak of the past.

We'll know a week from tonight if this man has any fire in his belly.

posted by Josh 8:27 AM

Oil for Aladdin’s lamp

The huge casino in Vegas that gave Linda Ronstadt the hook has a troubled financial past and is just emerging from a bankruptcy that might cause some to call it the Enron of the gaming industry. “Kenny Boy” Lay, Paul Bilzerian and Billie Sol Estes would be proud of this billion-dollar bustout. Hotel-online.com reported that “twenty nine lawyers participated in a conga line march at the bankruptcy court… professional fees cost the Aladdin casino more than $1 million per month.” Maybe Aladdin topper Mike Mecca used some of the political science savvy he learned at the University of Oklahoma to hedge his bets. The Beebs are now reporting that Aladdin management is considering lifting their Vegas fatwa on la Ronstadt, who, after all, does come from a good Republican family in Tucson, Arizona. Planet Hollywood, and OpBiz, the group behind it who control the Aladdin, would be happy if they could do a land office business with folks from both sides of the aisle.

posted by Groom 6:21 AM

Conventional Dirty Tricks

I always look back at the masterpiece of guerrilla political theater as the moment someone thought to send every pregnant black woman they could employ, to the 1968 Republican convention, to march around with a picket sign saying "Nixon's The One."

But the guerrilla theater I envision for the GOP Convention in New York is this: The convention hall, in the midst of the Bush-Cheney ReCoronation, suddenly filling with cleancut young men (and some young women), who are -- well -- missing legs. And eyes. And hands.

And suddenly it dawns on the assembled: These are the Iraq War wounded.

These young veterans are all wearing identical T-shirts, emblazoned with a copy of the Declaration of Independence, with the following words, set off, in bold: A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free People.

(Hey, lately they've been "cleansing" every public assembly in the Wrecks-All Wrangler's immediate vicinity of everyone wearing an "anti-Bush" slogan on his T-shirt -- we've got to get patriotically ambiguous and obscure here.)

Then, slowly, they begin to chant -- first softly, then loudly. What they chant is --

"Shame! Shame! SHAME! SHAME! SHAME!"

At least, I'd call that "must-see TV."

posted by Michael 2:02 AM

Wednesday, July 21, 2004

And Away We Go!

In half an hour I head for the airport to board the flight from Narita to Chicago, where Ruth and I will hook up and continue on to Boston where we will be participating in the Democratic National Convention.

Heard a great pep talk from former Hanoi Hilton resident, Congressman, and Ambassador to Vietnam Pete Peterson last night. A big theme was how the Repugs will be playing the threat level up and down to steal news cycles and try to keep the public in a panic.

As I was listening to this, it occurred to me it's no accident: The colors they will show us (never the green or the blue) are all shades of yellow. How appropriate for a party whose aim is to turn America into a nation of cowards.

posted by John 8:14 PM

AmBush Marketing the Democratic Convention

According to this AP report, the Republicans are setting up a "war room" in Boston to counter any claims by the Dems that are "disconnected from reality." They have a list of Republican "celebrities" all lined up to supposedly counter what the Dems are saying, but in reality, to co-opt the already limited Dem airtime.

This is what is known in the ad biz as "ambush marketing," when a corporation tries to co-op a major event that they have not sponsored, but their competitor has.

American Express pioneered the practice in 1992, when it launched ads around the Olympics, of which VISA was an official sponsor, pointing out that you did not need a VISA to travel to the games. This practice is legal, but considered a low blow even in ad circles.

Note the comments from RNC spokesman Jim (as if!) Dyke: "We understand we're swimming upstream here," referring to their attempt to limit the convention bounce with this practice. But someone at the RNC told AP that they expect this bounce to be around 15 points, which from what I read, is far from realistic.

This is a classic Bush tactic at work: sandbag the expectation level so that when the actual number, say a bounce of 7 points, is delivered, you can claim "victory."

What should the Dems do? Well, for one, they should be screaming bloody murder to the press and nailing this practice for what it is. Calling it marketing would not hurt, either.

Also, they should be setting up a counter, counter tactic, setting up their own celeb-studded press conference for the am hours as well.

Last, but not least, they should turn off the power in the hotel where the Republicans are located. After they have sent a few starlets up to the rooms, with cameras.

posted by Evelyn 5:00 PM

What if Kerry wins II

Evelyn examines this possibility in a post below. I’m following up with a few thoughts… This will be the ugliest transition in the history of the American presidency. The horror stories about missing files, trashed offices, erased hard drives and phone records that came out during the Poppy Bush-Bill Clinton transition will be nothing compared to what’s on tap. Sam Berger’s “sticky fingers” in the document room are only the beginning for the GOP francs-tireurs. There will be plenty casualties in the appointments department… new bobbleheads to replace Zoe Baird, Mike Espy and Kimba Wood. A Kerry popular vote victory will also activate GOP vote challenges, charges of electoral fraud, and yes, even allegations that the Dems hired hackers to jack the vote on those GOP-owned electronic voting machines. Aks Benny Ginsburg for details. Hundred days? What hundred days? If Kerry wins the popular vote without a clear mandate and then the electoral college and Dem pickups in the House and Senate are minimal Jean Le Grand will be relegated to changing the nuts and bolts on the Bush agenda he inherited. Four more years, John Kerry president. Hey, man… show me that I’m wrong on the last part... assuming that the Bushovictim doesn't "postpone" the election.

posted by Groom 4:01 PM

WiFi Under the Bridge

The U.S. Department of Labor announced an initiative today to help homeless Americans "find jobs through mainstream as well as targeted training, education and placement services and to provide a vital link to government-wide resources." The centerpiece of this new initiative is--wait for it--a website.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's announcement of free laptops for the homeless.

posted by jabartlett 3:06 PM

Even Better Yellowcake Reductum

From Matt Yglesias, who asks the question why, as the Butler Report mentions, if the Iraqis did seek uranium from Niger, did they not get it?

posted by Evelyn 2:07 PM

Life After Bush

If all goes well and Kerry is elected in November, will this be cause for celebration?

I was very disturbed to read about the fallout from Linda Ronstadt’s appearance Saturday night at the Alladin, when she urged at the end of her show that her audience see Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 911. Apparently some members of her audience, who no doubt had not seen the film, caused a small riot, tearing down her posters. The Alladin manager escorted her from the hotel and publicly declared that she would not be asked back.

Are the folks that caused this “bedlam” simply going to accept a Bush loss in November? Are they going to graciously fold up their tents, as the disappointed Dems did in 2000, and all “just try to get along?” Don’t count on it. Nothing short of Shrub being caught in a video at Abu Ghraib is going to de-tox them from their daily dose of liberal bashing. Fox News isn’t going anywhere soon. The Heritage Foundation, the Club for Growth, and the Project for the New American Century will be still turning on the lights. And Clarence Thomas will still be waiting for his calls.

If Kerry thought Viet Nam was tough, he hasn’t seen nutthin’ yet. Governing this country is going to be a more difficult task after the election than we can imagine today. As noted below, Seymour Hersh recently spoke to the ACLU and said that we are facing the most important election since 1860. And I worry that the consequences will be equally as grave.

posted by Evelyn 7:12 AM

Comic Relief

Atom Films has a nice little political spoof here.

posted by Evelyn 6:49 AM

Genocide denied

Things would have come down a lot differently if the Turks had let US forces transit their country and establish a “northern front” in Iraq. But, hey, these guys are our valued Muslim allies in NATO and the Bushovictim will do whatever it takes to keep them happy. That includes denying that Turkish genocide killed nearly one million Armenians during and after World War I. Makes you wonder if the Bushovictim and Rove believe the Holocaust took place or if they secretly think it is just more “jewish history” like the Old Testament.

posted by Groom 6:33 AM

Lord Rummy's private Gulag

New evidence of Rummy's network of private detention and torture centers from the BBC. This time it's American "bounty hunters" working the turf in Kabul.

posted by Groom 5:18 AM

More Cat-lick Den Da Pope

So where do American Catholic bishops get off, threatening to deny Kerry communion because he's "pro-abortion" --

-- when the Pope himself gives Italian pro-choice politicians communion in Rome?

posted by Michael 2:21 AM

Indispensible Men

Why is it that one of the lessons us homo saps never quite learn is that the graveyards are filled with indispensible people. Mental giants, leaders of men, national treasures, people without whom the system will unquestionably grind to a halt--they're all there and yet, somehow, we muddle through.

I can only think that when Sandy Berger found out six months or more ago that he was the subject of a criminal investigation for pilfering classified papers from the National Archives he objectively weighed the 99 percent chance that the investigation would become public and greatly embarass the Democratic presidential candidate at exactly the wrong moment against the 1 percent chance that the whole thing would blow over and he might become Secretary of State in a new Kerry administration and decided that he could simply not deprive the American people of the latter, happier possibility. How else could he go on making himself so highly visible as Kerry's go-to guy on foreign policy, writing op-eds and speeches, and laying out great visions of a "Democratic foreign policy."

A lesser man might have considered the extremely likely possibility that those mean Republicans would wait for a moment when they needed a distraction to spoonfeed the press the tired, old "Former Clinton Advisor Hides Classified Documents in Sock" story and stayed as far away from the candidate as possible. Not our Sandy.

Thanks a lot, Sandyman. We owe you.

posted by Jerry Bowles 12:04 AM

Tuesday, July 20, 2004

Sentimental Journey

If you need some relief from politics as usual, take a look at my personal blog called Postcards From a Life. Today's post is especially meaningful to me and, hopefully, might be to others whose fathers served in World War II.

posted by Jerry Bowles 10:23 PM

Blanche Does Iraq

Absolutely the iron-clad best movie scene about the South is not the one when Scarlet raises her fist against the technicolor sky and vows never to be hungry again, or when Sidney Poitier tells Rod Steiger that they call him Mr. Tibbs. No that honor must definitely be awarded to, naturally, Tennessee Williams for the scene in Streetcar Named Desire, when Blanche, played to type in the film with wonderfully refined neurosis by Vivien Leigh, confronts Stanley about hers, and her sister’s, fortune. As it begins to dawn on Marlon Brando’s character (don’t you always feel sorry for any actor who has had to play Stanley since?) that Belle Rive, the big place in the Delta that the family has owned for generations, was sold by Blanche, he being the pragmatic sort inquires about what has happened to his wife’s inheritance.

“Lost,” Blanche tells him. With all his questions, Stanley gets this single, magnificent answer. But what about the deed of sale? What about a paper trail? “Papers, I’ll show you papers.” And Blanche puts on her reading glasses and throws a chaotic pile at Stanley.

Having grown up with decayed Southern gentry, I get an electric thrill every time I see this scene, probably like the one some guys get when they see Tom Cruise lip-synch in his shivvies. I’ve been there! Yes, the one word sums it all up and it allows not a question. Not “sold,” not “negotiated,” not “pissed away,” but yes, “lost” and “lost” some more.

I now successfully use the “lost” word at home, and find it most convenient. Where’s that pool pass? “Lost.” Where’s that dinner? Where’s that 401-K? It brooks little discussion, and as long as you stick to your guns and refuse to divulge more, you will confound your antagonist much as Blanche did Stanley.

How delighted I was then to read that Halliburton has also discovered the power, the mystery and majesty of this single word. It turns out that the $1 billion from appropriations for Iraq have been “lost.” Listen to Seymour Hersh’s entire speech to the ACLU recently, you can forward to the 1:06 mark, and savor the word.

posted by Evelyn 6:42 PM

Louisville Slugs

Josh Marshall has been following the story of the nice Republican folks down in Kentucky who have been passing out "Kerry is bin Laden's man/President Bush is mine" bumperstickers. That is unfair and a complete outrage; everybody knows that Osama is a Bush man all the way. U.S. Rep. Anne Northup, a Republican, found the signs to be a little over-the-top and asked that they be removed. The local GOP chairman--who, by the way, beats his dog--had this to say:

Jack Richardson, chairman of the Jefferson County Republican Party, said yesterday that his office is out of the stickers and will not be distributing any more.

But he said he is still searching for whoever printed the stickers because he has been "flooded" with requests for them. If he determines who printed them, he said, he will put his callers in contact with them.

Richardson said about 40 to 50 of the stickers appeared at the GOP headquarters on Muhammad Ali Boulevard last week, but he doesn't know who placed them on a table with other political stickers.

We think it was probably Joe Frazier.

posted by Jerry Bowles 5:11 PM