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Wednesday, October 27, 2004
The Massachusetts Miracle: Talk About Your Trifecta
Boy . . . the Patriots in February. The Sox in October. (Who'da thunk?)
I think Kerry needs to start bringing a broom with him everywhere for the next six days . . .
posted by Michael
10:45 PM
Good Dog! Here's A Milkbone
thanks to DC and bartcop
posted by Michael
10:27 PM
The Cousins drop another dime on Bush
Tony Bliar gave his approval to go to war and knew the invasion date five months in advance of the operation, according to a British court martial hearing yesterday. This means that Blair bought in to the Bush "war of lies" while diplomatic efforts to force Saddam to comply with UN resolutions were going on, reports The Independent. Nothing like Rummy, Wolfi and Feith undermining the negotiating process... don't think you'll hear much from NBC's Petagon beat guy Jim Miklashewski on this one.
posted by Groom
5:42 PM
George W. Bush: It's My Dedication to Thorough Deliberation That Sets Me Apart
Bush on the campaign trail this morning: "A political candidate who jumps to conclusions without knowing the facts is not who you want as commander in chief."
I believe we have a winner for head-snappin', what-the-hell-did-he-say political quote of the year.
posted by jabartlett
2:49 PM
Soundbite for John
The President's spokesman said yesterday that the President wants to get to the bottom of the missing ammunition in Iraq. This is the same President who said that he wanted to get to the bottom of who feloniously leaked a CIA agent's name to the press in retaliation for her husband having the audacity to point out George Bush's misstatements at best, deliberate distortions at worse, about Saddam Hussein's alledged nuclear program. We're still waiting. This is the same President who said that he wanted to get to the bottom of how the CIA failed in the days, weeks, and months before 911, and now we know that that report is complete but that the President's nominee to be head of CIA is refusing, on his own initiative or under orders from the President we don't know, to release the report until after the election. So when this president announces he wants to get to the bottom of another of his blunders we know how diligent he will be.
And this
Something's up. Drudge posted about half an hour ago a screaming headline about ABCNews having a video tape of supposed Al-Qaeda spokesmen threatening an pre-election attack on US. Trying to get in now it's too busy to get through. Regardless of whether it's true or a hoax, the wingnuttery is going to go apeshit. But didn't we expect this?
posted by Blackdogred
1:08 PM
GWB Messes With East Texas
One of the enduring mysteries of our time is why so many people who LOVE George Walker Bush often do so at the expense of their own self-interest. Their emotional connection to his "values," trumps all else, including common sense and their own financial well-being. In the hands of master puppeteer Karl Rove, a weak, small-minded, failure of a man has been transformed in the minds of his partisans into nothing less than the Man of Steel, himself. It is the greatest triumph of image over reality since we all thought Rock Hudson was straight and Tony Randall was gay.
Here's an example. The nice folks down in the Eastern District of Texas LOVE George Walker Bush. They voted for him overwhelmingly in 2000 and they'll do so again in 2004 because, as the Tyler Morning Telegraph wrote last Sunday: "President George W. Bush has demonstrated the ability, stability, conviction and courage to furnish the strong, effective leadership the job requires. This is no time to change leadership in the critical war against terrorism."
So which of the nation's 90 judicial districts do you think ranks dead last in terms of federal expenditures--things like salaries received by federal workers, payments for goods and services provided by businesses, social security and medicare benefit checks sent retired persons, grants received by state and local governments, research grants received by colleges and universities, and so forth? You got it; the Eastern District of Texas. On a per capita basis, federal payments there in fiscal 2003 were only $4,989 per year.
Contrast that with the $60,869 per capita spent in the District of Columbia or the $13,117 spent in DC suburbs of Virginia (where your Senators and Representatives actually live). In fact, three out of the top four ranked districts in terms of government spending are in and around the nation's capital. (Alaska does okay too, with $12,339 received for each man, woman, and child in that state--60 percent more than the nice folks in East Texas get.)
It's not like the Bush administration is cutting back on federal expenditures. In fact, the latest available information on overall federal expenses shows that per capita spending by the government is up 15% since President Bush assumed office, even after adjusting for inflation and the growth in the nation's population. This increase in expenditures has been steady and began even before the events of 9/11/2001. By contrast, during Big Spender Clinton's eight years in the White House, per capita inflation-adjusted government spending dropped by 1%.
By the way, the folks in Texas North, the area around Fort Worth, have seen a sharp rise in federal spending in their district under George Walker Bush. Maybe he plans to throw a little largesse into East Texas next time. That's probably it. Y'all have a nice election now, heah.
posted by Jerry Bowles
11:22 AM
Wednesday's Open Thread
John Edwards was 1) a mistake; 2) a big, big mistake or 3) a total disaster.
posted by Jerry Bowles
10:27 AM
36 newspapers dump Bush, back Kerry
That's the count, so far, according to Howard Kurtz in the Washington Post. These include the Cleveland Plain Dealer (which I used to home deliver as a kid back when JFK was president) and the Orlando Sentinel. Might we be seeing the making of a rout?
posted by Groom
6:43 AM
He can’t run but he can hide
Maybe that's why Bush has lowered expectations on finding Osama bin Laden. But we know where he is! Osama, Mullah Omar and the rest of the crew are hiding in Eastern Afghanistan according to The News of Pakistan's "monitoring desk" (with its close ties to the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency). But, alas, quack-quack DCI Porter Gauzehead is too busy suppressing an internal CIA report on the 9/11 intelligence failures. According to Newsweek’s man in Kabul, Sami Yousafzai, Osama still has considerable influence in 15 Afghan provinces. Maybe Karzai is really Osama's puppet? One more reason the George W. Bush presidential library should be located in Tora Bora, Afghanistan.
posted by Groom
6:14 AM
Fear And Loathing, Campaign 2004
Hunter S. Thompson -- making the empirical argument that the only rational way to deal with the Bush administration is to ingest phenomenal amounts of booze and pharmaceuticals -- returns to a familiar subject, and finds himself pining for The Unshaven One:
Richard Nixon looks like a flaming liberal today, compared to a golem like George Bush. Indeed. Where is Richard Nixon now that we finally need him?
If Nixon were running for president today, he would be seen as a "liberal" candidate, and he would probably win. He was a crook and a bungler, but what the hell? Nixon was a barrel of laughs compared to this gang of thugs from the Halliburton petroleum organization who are running the White House today -- and who will be running it this time next year, if we (the once-proud, once-loved and widely respected "American people") don't rise up like wounded warriors and whack those lying petroleum pimps out of the White House on November 2nd.
Nixon hated running for president during football season, but he did it anyway. Nixon was a professional politician, and I despised everything he stood for -- but if he were running for president this year against the evil Bush-Cheney gang, I would happily vote for him.
Absolutely worth reading. Features the recent presidential debates, RMN, LBJ, a little of both JFKs, Muhammad Ali, a truly ha-ha-strange sex limerick allegedly told by Shrub at Yale, the Reichtag fire, and a few other surprises.
That Hunter -- he might mince his brains, but he doesn't mince his words.
posted by Michael
1:24 AM
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