But no cigar. CNN calls NY-03 for Peter King. Fortunately, his ass is gonna be off the Homeland Security Committee. Congratulations to Speaker Pelosi and the rest of the House Dems who unseated Rethugs to take at least one chamber of Congress.
I wish Dave Mejias and his staff the best and congratulate them for giving Peter King the tightest race of his political career. I plan to support Dave in his future political endeavors if he feels the urge to run for national office again.
More tomorrow, I'm tired.
Tuesday, November 7, 2006
...and how did your voting experience go today?
Following up on yesterday's post, I just got back from voting and thought I'd share.
The touchscreen machine was sitting right there next to the check-in table. I asked if anyone had spilled coffee on it yet and one of the ladies said, resoundingly, "NO!". I told 'em I figured they'd have got that out of the way first thing and the other gals laughed.
We didn't have to show any ID. They had our names in a book, and we just signed our names as usual. It's still a friendly deal out here in Mayberryland.
The voting booths were set up directly in front of the poll workers, who were all women. They had a few words to say about getting to look at folk's derrieres showing below the privacy screen all day, and there was a comment about one guy in shorts who had hairy legs.
Our voting booths are cardboard with a trash-bag privacy screen. They've used these for the 26 years I've been here. They're not very spacious, and I don't much like standing to fill out a long ballot like ours, so I just sat at a table. We have modernized somewhat: a ball-point pen was used instead of a pencil.
This year I got to put my ballot directly into the optical scanner instead of a box. The thing looked for all the world like a shredder, but didn't sound like one. It yanked the ballot out of my hand so fast I was lucky to get let go of it!
Just for fun, I went and looked at the touchscreen machine. Yep, Diebold. The polling-place commander, Mavis, said nobody had used it yet. This was at 2pm and I was voter no. 205 for the day, which is more than usual. I've gone there at 6pm and been no. 85. She said she hoped nobody wanted to use it, as even though she had been snapped-in on it, she wasn't sure how to use it. She didn't even want the thing there. Her parting words to me were, "Don't you even tell nobody we got the damn thing!"
Yes, ma'am.
The touchscreen machine was sitting right there next to the check-in table. I asked if anyone had spilled coffee on it yet and one of the ladies said, resoundingly, "NO!". I told 'em I figured they'd have got that out of the way first thing and the other gals laughed.
We didn't have to show any ID. They had our names in a book, and we just signed our names as usual. It's still a friendly deal out here in Mayberryland.
The voting booths were set up directly in front of the poll workers, who were all women. They had a few words to say about getting to look at folk's derrieres showing below the privacy screen all day, and there was a comment about one guy in shorts who had hairy legs.
Our voting booths are cardboard with a trash-bag privacy screen. They've used these for the 26 years I've been here. They're not very spacious, and I don't much like standing to fill out a long ballot like ours, so I just sat at a table. We have modernized somewhat: a ball-point pen was used instead of a pencil.
This year I got to put my ballot directly into the optical scanner instead of a box. The thing looked for all the world like a shredder, but didn't sound like one. It yanked the ballot out of my hand so fast I was lucky to get let go of it!
Just for fun, I went and looked at the touchscreen machine. Yep, Diebold. The polling-place commander, Mavis, said nobody had used it yet. This was at 2pm and I was voter no. 205 for the day, which is more than usual. I've gone there at 6pm and been no. 85. She said she hoped nobody wanted to use it, as even though she had been snapped-in on it, she wasn't sure how to use it. She didn't even want the thing there. Her parting words to me were, "Don't you even tell nobody we got the damn thing!"
Yes, ma'am.
Repugs suck the poll
Shakespeare's Sister is doing a heckuva job (sorry, Sis!) posting on polling place problems. Go see.
"Rumsfeld is an obnoxious jerk and a war criminal"
From Cursor:
My favorite curmudgeon didn't go very far "over the line" if at all. "Obnoxious jerk" may be a little too subjective. Maybe a little too complimentary in this case as well.
Rumsfeld is still a war criminal, just one of many in high places in this maladministration.
Watch CNN's Jack Cafferty call Defense Secretary Rumsfeld "an obnoxious jerk and a war criminal." Cafferty later indicated that he "stepped over the line" in criticizing 'Saddam's Unindicted Co-Conspirator.'
My favorite curmudgeon didn't go very far "over the line" if at all. "Obnoxious jerk" may be a little too subjective. Maybe a little too complimentary in this case as well.
Rumsfeld is still a war criminal, just one of many in high places in this maladministration.
Voters Angered by Robo Calls in California
TPM Muckraker
I must have said "fuck you" to machines forty times in the last few days.
A lady, an actual person, called me on behalf of a coupla candidates for our local airport district. I said I was already going to vote for them and the gal was so relieved not to get yelled at or cussed out that I could hear her relax. We had a nice chat.
The illegality lies in the robocallers' not identifying themselves at the beginning of the call. That they purport or mislead folks into thinking it's from the opposing candidate is just sleazy. If you listen to the call, they identify themselves at the end, but who does? Hell, I've hung up on both Clintons and Al Gore this week. Mrs. G talks to them...
From TPM Reader DG in California's 4th District, where the NRCC robo calls have been hitting:
We were calling Dems today to GOTV. Phone Bankers are getting yelled at by Dems who have been getting the Robo Calls and blame Brown. Another aspect to this is that the phone banker volunteers get discouraged after being yelled at so much, you hear "Is this really doing any good calling these people?"
Update: We're trying to get as many examples of the NRCC's robo calls together that we can. We're collecting them here.
I must have said "fuck you" to machines forty times in the last few days.
A lady, an actual person, called me on behalf of a coupla candidates for our local airport district. I said I was already going to vote for them and the gal was so relieved not to get yelled at or cussed out that I could hear her relax. We had a nice chat.
The illegality lies in the robocallers' not identifying themselves at the beginning of the call. That they purport or mislead folks into thinking it's from the opposing candidate is just sleazy. If you listen to the call, they identify themselves at the end, but who does? Hell, I've hung up on both Clintons and Al Gore this week. Mrs. G talks to them...
Votemas?
St. Petersburg Times
Oh, Lord, please don't make every day Saturday for us Olde Fartes (Lctp)! One bath a week is plenty!
This is probably a good idea, but it pre-supposes knowledge of the issues and an interest in being a good citizen.
While it would be nice if more folks took an interest in their country, we need smarter voters as well as more of them. If you need proof of that, look at what's in the White House.
It would probably do just as well to make disallowing employees time to go and vote into a felony. More employers need to be recognized as the felons they are, anyway.
Please go read the rest of the article. It's interesting.
Today is Election Day. It should also be, in my humble opinion, a national holiday.
We hear all the time about the embarrassing low voter turnout numbers around the country, so it should be a no-brainer that we make it easier for people to get to the polls.
Like by not making them choose between voting or getting fired for missing work.
In retiree-dominated communities like Citrus County, this is not such a huge issue. For many of our residents, every day is Saturday and it is not a hardship to vote.
Oh, Lord, please don't make every day Saturday for us Olde Fartes (Lctp)! One bath a week is plenty!
But that is not the case across the United States. And even here, there are thousands of younger workers who can't break away from the construction site or the restaurant to vote.
This is probably a good idea, but it pre-supposes knowledge of the issues and an interest in being a good citizen.
While it would be nice if more folks took an interest in their country, we need smarter voters as well as more of them. If you need proof of that, look at what's in the White House.
It would probably do just as well to make disallowing employees time to go and vote into a felony. More employers need to be recognized as the felons they are, anyway.
Please go read the rest of the article. It's interesting.
As long as you're goin' to keep havin' 'em, vote for their future
In honor of An Angry Old Broad's new granddaughter Molly, I present this piece from The Progressive Daily Beacon:
Even though I personally feel that it's purty near time for the human race to stop breeding before it fucks itself out of a place at the dinner table, I know it's not going to happen until it becomes way more obvious that there's too many of us for the planet as we know it to support.
When God appoints me his right-hand man on Earth, I will implement a replacement-minus program, starting with Republicans and fundies.
In the meantime, on an individual level, a new child is generally recognized as a joyous event, so congrats AOB.
The rest of us will now go and vote for the future of our country on Molly's behalf.
Maybe you don't want to vote, because Bush and Republicans were successful in their effort to "turn off" voters - and turned you off they did! However, maybe you have one to a dozen reasons to vote. They might be reasons, perhaps, that you don't normally consider while pondering whether or not to vote. The reasons you should vote this year: your children.
What, you might ask, do your children have to do with you voting or not voting? The answer, of course, is simple - everything!
What will you tell your children when they ask, "What did you do to help stop global warming?"
What will you tell your children when they ask, "What did you do to ensure every child in America had health insurance?"
What will you tell your children when they ask, "What did you do to ensure I could attend college?"
What will you tell your children when they ask, "What did you do to protect my civil liberties?"
What will you tell your children when they ask, "What did you do to stop our government from torturing human beings?"
What will you tell your children when they ask, "What did you do to prevent our economy from collapsing under the weight of massive debt?"
What will you tell your children when they ask, "At what point did you decide that too many of my friends were dying for a war based on lies?"
Maybe you don't want to vote, because "things have gotten too nasty." Maybe you don't want to vote, because you are too busy? Maybe you don't want to vote, because there isn't a difference between the parties?
Maybe you just don't think your vote matters? If your kids matter, your vote matters! On November 7, get out and vote. Your children and their future are depending upon you...and your vote!
Even though I personally feel that it's purty near time for the human race to stop breeding before it fucks itself out of a place at the dinner table, I know it's not going to happen until it becomes way more obvious that there's too many of us for the planet as we know it to support.
When God appoints me his right-hand man on Earth, I will implement a replacement-minus program, starting with Republicans and fundies.
In the meantime, on an individual level, a new child is generally recognized as a joyous event, so congrats AOB.
The rest of us will now go and vote for the future of our country on Molly's behalf.
"The most important election in my lifetime"
Gore Vidal, with video.
Amen.
We're facing the most important election in my lifetime - which does not quite extend back to that of Abraham Lincoln, but it's pretty close. There'll be nothing more important in the voting line that one can foresee that will come our way while any of us is still hobbling around. This will determine whether we regain the republic which we have lost over the last five years.
The coup d'etat was so rapid that even I, who am ready for such things ... I thought, these people are going to make a grab for it. But I thought, my heavens, there's still the courts.... Even a shameless Supreme Court is not going to back up the loss of habeas corpus....
So, my fellow countrymen, as I sit here, not yet at Gettysburg, I have a notion that this is the most important vote that you'll probably ever cast. Because should this gang of thugs continue in the two houses of Congress, there isn't any chance of getting the Constitution back....
This is the last chance, really, by getting some new chairpersons to head committees in the House ... to have a clean sweep, which, in normal times, if we'd ever enjoyed them, would have happened by now. Now it has got to happen, or welcome to the Third Reich.
Amen.
Campaign '06 - Goodbye and Good Riddance
Molly Ivins
No shit. The campaign is over. I hope we wake up tomorrow to the only outcome that can save the United States of America.
Then let the games begin! And the '08 campaign, of course. Yeesh.
AUSTIN, Texas - Right to the end, this insane conversation between reality and Not Reality. The president of the United States STILL says we are reducing terrorism by fighting in Iraq; STILL says we are creating democracy; STILL says we're preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and making Israel more secure; and, shoddiest of all, STILL not allowing that our fallen have died in vain.
While this perfectly insane dialogue has been taking place, Congress stands before us so hopelessly corrupt that the stench has washed all over the country. Perhaps my least favorite excuse for cheating is "Everybody does it." NO, everybody DOESN'T do it. Nor does the system make you do it, or alcohol or drugs or Jack Abramoff. I do not want to hear one more excuse - apologize and go.
On the other hand, I am really going to miss the stories this Congress provided. Remember Terri Schiavo? I mean, you wake up one morning and there it is, kind of like finding Fidel Castro in the refrigerator. And you listen to these people who hold high elective office having this debate - as though they know, as though they have any idea, as though they have any right. And then there are some of the troops, like Randy "Duke" Cunningham, semi-owner of the houseboat The Duke-Stir. Some days you couldn't wait to get up to find out who'd been indicted. I miss watching Katherine Harris from Florida wear less and less blue eye shadow as she went through her Senate race.
Well, it's been rank - racist, sleazy, lying and full of insinuating scare tactics. Thank God it's over.
No shit. The campaign is over. I hope we wake up tomorrow to the only outcome that can save the United States of America.
Then let the games begin! And the '08 campaign, of course. Yeesh.
GOP Must Go
TAC
God help us if we make the wrong one.
There may be little Americans can do to atone for this presidency, which will stain our country's reputation for a long time. But the process of recovering our good name must begin somewhere, and the logical place is in the voting booth this Nov. 7. If we are fortunate, we can produce a result that is seen - in Washington, in Peoria, and in world capitals from Prague to Kuala Lumpur - as a repudiation of George W. Bush and the war of aggression he launched against Iraq.
On Nov. 7, the world will be watching as we go to the polls, seeking to ascertain whether the American people have the wisdom to try to correct a disastrous course. Posterity will note too if their collective decision is one that captured the attention of historians - that of a people voting, again and again, to endorse a leader taking a country in a catastrophic direction. The choice is in our hands.
God help us if we make the wrong one.
Various Loose Ends and Random Thoughts...
Sadly No! puts together a poignant photo montage...
Steve Gillard puts together alot of good voter info in one handy spot for anyone experiencing problems with their participation today....
David Neiwert with a huge WTF? Moment in American Politics...
Driftglass being...well...Driftglass....with more pictures....
Now it's a waiting game,we've got about 12 hours or so before we'll see how this is all going to shake out.
Tonight is the Stewart/Colbert Midterm Midtacular election coverage. You can even watch it live on the internets if you don't have cable.
Steve Gillard puts together alot of good voter info in one handy spot for anyone experiencing problems with their participation today....
David Neiwert with a huge WTF? Moment in American Politics...
Driftglass being...well...Driftglass....with more pictures....
Now it's a waiting game,we've got about 12 hours or so before we'll see how this is all going to shake out.
Tonight is the Stewart/Colbert Midterm Midtacular election coverage. You can even watch it live on the internets if you don't have cable.
And so,another member of the next generation is added to the AOB family...
I have a new grandbaby girl. Molly was born weighing in at 7 lbs 14 oz over the weekend. Mom and baby are home and doing well. As is the case with most of the babes born in my family,she's a hairy little thing,lol. She's sporting quite the punk rock do at the moment. What sucks is that Miss Molly is in Ohio and I'm in Georgia so I can't love on her and kiss her and stuff. I love new babies,all that human potential for great things is right there in a little squirmy(and usually gassy)bundle. The best thing ever(for me at least)is a baby asleep on my shoulder,I could do that all day long.
This makes grandbaby number 3 for me,Molly has a brother who is 4 and a sister who is almost 2. I am entirely too young to have this many grandchildren.
So,get out and VOTE today folks,if you haven't done it early. Do it for Molly,her brother and her sister. And cross your fingers for Ohio today,they need to be a blue state up there,it's pretty critical. All these years of GOP corruption have really cost the poorest folks in rural Ohio alot. My daughter and the babies live in Bob Ney's old district,which is as corrupt as the year is long. Ney's resignation is the tip of the iceberg. Throw the bums OUT.
This makes grandbaby number 3 for me,Molly has a brother who is 4 and a sister who is almost 2. I am entirely too young to have this many grandchildren.
So,get out and VOTE today folks,if you haven't done it early. Do it for Molly,her brother and her sister. And cross your fingers for Ohio today,they need to be a blue state up there,it's pretty critical. All these years of GOP corruption have really cost the poorest folks in rural Ohio alot. My daughter and the babies live in Bob Ney's old district,which is as corrupt as the year is long. Ney's resignation is the tip of the iceberg. Throw the bums OUT.
Election Day
If you do nothing else today:
VOTE
We've said all we can by this point; it's up to you the People now. If you're sick and tired of what's gone on over the past 6 years, you have no excuse not to go to the polls today. My wonderful staff and I have given you all the info you need to make an informed decision and now you have the ball. We can't go to the polls and pull the lever for you. Get up and do the right thing.
My day will be pretty crazy. I'm leaving in a couple minutes to take the Mrs. to the airport, yes she voted via absentee ballot, and then I'm off to vote before I go to work. Dave Mejias will be campaigning on Long Island's north shore today and I extended the invitation for them to make an appearance at the shop. I can drum up a crowd in seconds so I'm on a 2 minute warning for that. Tonight, I'll be with the Mejias camp as the election results come in. Don't know about liveblogging, I haven't determined what kind of Internet access I'll have, but I'll have details one way or another.
Remember:
VOTE
I'll see you when I can.
We've said all we can by this point; it's up to you the People now. If you're sick and tired of what's gone on over the past 6 years, you have no excuse not to go to the polls today. My wonderful staff and I have given you all the info you need to make an informed decision and now you have the ball. We can't go to the polls and pull the lever for you. Get up and do the right thing.
My day will be pretty crazy. I'm leaving in a couple minutes to take the Mrs. to the airport, yes she voted via absentee ballot, and then I'm off to vote before I go to work. Dave Mejias will be campaigning on Long Island's north shore today and I extended the invitation for them to make an appearance at the shop. I can drum up a crowd in seconds so I'm on a 2 minute warning for that. Tonight, I'll be with the Mejias camp as the election results come in. Don't know about liveblogging, I haven't determined what kind of Internet access I'll have, but I'll have details one way or another.
Remember:
I'll see you when I can.
Monday, November 6, 2006
Borat, Repuglican Operative
Don Davis
Awful close to truth these days.
In light of the polls showing the loss of at least the House of Representatives in tomorrow's midterms, the GOP has decided to throw the ultimate "Hail Mary" - a last minute campaign blitz with Borat.
As RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman put it, "who better than Borat to appeal to all of the red-meat issues that rile up our base: hatred of Jews, hatred of gays, hatred of women, and hatred of the Enlightenment."
"And the fact that he's been married to his half-sister," Mehlman added, "is bound to solidify our hold in the South."
Awful close to truth these days.
Hell Yes! on CO 44
Go see the best reasons ever to legalize reefer at Safer Colorado.
Under no circumstances should you miss the audio 'Tequila' ad! Note: Liquid Alert. Forego the Herradura shooters for a minute. Unless, of course, you like distilled cactus juice and oysters shooting back out yer nose.
Under no circumstances should you miss the audio 'Tequila' ad! Note: Liquid Alert. Forego the Herradura shooters for a minute. Unless, of course, you like distilled cactus juice and oysters shooting back out yer nose.
An Epistle of Shameless Schadenfreude
Thanks again to Jo Fish for this piece by Mrs. Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian. Note: Maximum Liquid Alert!
Go have fun.
In the sidebar is this somewhat related message, available on products:
I suspect that this will be a rather uncomfortable weekend at the Ted Haggard tax-free mansion. You see, Reverend Haggard is a vociferous spokesperson against gay marriage and, until yesterday, his wife probably had no idea she was actually in one.
Haggard is also claiming that he purchased a "first time customers only" introductory sample of crystal meth (meth dealers are notorious for their promotions). But threw it away. This must be our GOP version of the implausibility of "not inhaling," but, in typical Republican fashion, seems rather more blatantly wasteful. Did he not think of the consequences of this lie? Why, poor Nicole Richie is probably combing the side of every road out of Denver for that tiny baggie as I type this. But the talent-free waif searches in vain. Anyone who listens to Haggard's insistent voice messages can tell that this was someone jonesing for a fix, not a mildly curious man given to impromptu middle-age hard-drug experimentation like another 50 year-old might finally try a Mojito. Listen to the recordings: we're talking "Lindsay Lohan down to her last kilo" desperate here.
Go have fun.
In the sidebar is this somewhat related message, available on products:
The real Jesus forgives your Jesus for being a greedy Republican warmonger.
Hanging Judgments
Christopher Dickey in Newsweek:
G's Hot Wall Street Tip: buy rope stock.
A court has decided Saddam Hussein's fate. Now American voters have to decide what to do about his former collaborators, the Republicans.
G's Hot Wall Street Tip: buy rope stock.
"Y'all kin use that new-fangled shit if ya wanna..."
This is from the Nevada County, California, Voter Information Pamphlet and Sample Ballot under the heading "Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and Electronic Voting":
They apparently had to buy one of these things for every polling place, but they don't seem to be actively pushing for its use. Pretty smart for a buncha dumbass country fucks.
It's pretty hard to hack a #2 pencil.
I wouldn't doubt that the senior citizens who staff our polling place are probably hoping the damn thing breaks pretty quick so they don't have to deal with it.
To comply with federal law, Nevada County will deploy one touchscreen voting machine in every polling location. The touchscreen unit includes a voter verifiable paper audit trail. The paper audit trail created on the touchscreen will be used in the event of a recount. Paper ballots will be issued to voters at the polls and for absentees. Voters who wish to use the touchscreen voting machine instead of a paper ballot will need to ask to do so (my em).
They apparently had to buy one of these things for every polling place, but they don't seem to be actively pushing for its use. Pretty smart for a buncha dumbass country fucks.
It's pretty hard to hack a #2 pencil.
I wouldn't doubt that the senior citizens who staff our polling place are probably hoping the damn thing breaks pretty quick so they don't have to deal with it.
If you read anything ...
Before Election Day, read Wolcott.
And that's just the beginning.
If the blue states are sinkholes of moral decay, as right-wing pundits insist, how come red states lead the nation in violent crime, divorce, illegitimacy, and incarceration, among other evils? To a bus-riding innocent on Manhattan's stroller-filled Upper West Side, it looks like a case of hypocrisy meets stupidity.
...
And that's just the beginning.
Big tip o' the Brain to our brother Jo Fish.
Reminders at Arlington
NY Daily News
I have nothing that could add to that.
The ones who started this war do not want you to see the ceremonies that begin at Patton Circle or near McLellan Gate and make their way to section 60. They do not want you to hear the mournful sound of the bugle playing taps or the sound of the three-volley salute fired for Army men like Capt. Mark Paine. They would rather have Tuesday's elections be a referendum on anything except another young soldier ending up here.
There is nothing at section 60 for the people who started this war, who still try to tell the country that it is somehow essential to the safety of this country. The President rolls up his sleeves, like a tough, regular guy, and says, "If we don't stop them there, they will follow us here," as if somehow his war in Iraq is essential to the future safety of Cedar Rapids. And then he is never near a coffin at Arlington National if he can help it, and he acts if a solemn outdoor cathedral like this, with a couple more military burials every week, does not exist.
He tries to act as if his party is still running on this war and runs away from it instead. George Bush wants this midterm election to be about anything except Iraq, and 100 more dead soldiers in the month of October, and no end in sight, even as his vice president, Dick Cheney, who set a world's record for draft deferments during Vietnam, surrounds himself with soldiers at a campaign stop in Colorado. Suddenly Bush and Cheney want everything to be about John Kerry all over again, now that Kerry sticks a foot in his mouth at a campaign stop of his own.
Only this election is not about Kerry. It is not about a peep show like Rep. Mark Foley's, or an Evangelical minister with a hunky boyfriend, or the cheap lie, peddled door to door by this administration, that opposition to Bush's war makes you some kind of weak, lousy traitor. No. Tuesday will be about this war, about coffins we aren't supposed to see at Arlington, about the back rows of section 60, about Capt. Mark Paine of the U.S. Army, who was proud to serve his country, who was supposed to come home from Iraq for good so he could be home for Christmas.
I have nothing that could add to that.
NYT Endorses No Republicans
NYTimes
About time, Gray Lady. You could have done a lot to prevent this war and occupation, but you promoted it. We won't forget that.
I hope as many people read the New York Times and value its opinion now as did then.
On Tuesday, when this page runs the list of people it has endorsed for election, we will include no Republican Congressional candidates for the first time in our memory. [...]
For us, the breaking point came over the Republicans' attempt to undermine the fundamental checks and balances that have safeguarded American democracy since its inception. The fact that the White House, House and Senate are all controlled by one party is not a threat to the balance of powers, as long as everyone understands the roles assigned to each by the Constitution. But over the past two years, the White House has made it clear that it claims sweeping powers that go well beyond any acceptable limits. Rather than doing their duty to curb these excesses, the Congressional Republicans have dedicated themselves to removing restraints on the president's ability to do whatever he wants. To paraphrase Tom DeLay, the Republicans feel you don't need to have oversight hearings if your party is in control of everything.
An administration convinced of its own perpetual rightness and a partisan Congress determined to deflect all criticism of the chief executive has been the recipe for what we live with today.
Congress, in particular the House, has failed to ask probing questions about the war in Iraq or hold the president accountable for his catastrophic bungling of the occupation. It also has allowed Mr. Bush to avoid answering any questions about whether his administration cooked the intelligence on weapons of mass destruction. Then, it quietly agreed to close down the one agency that has been riding herd on crooked and inept American contractors who have botched everything from construction work to the security of weapons.
This election is indeed about George W. Bush - and the Congressional majority's insistence on protecting him from the consequences of his mistakes and misdeeds. Mr. Bush lost the popular vote in 2000 and proceeded to govern as if he had an enormous mandate. After he actually beat his opponent in 2004, he announced he now had real political capital and intended to spend it. We have seen the results. It is frightening to contemplate the new excesses he could concoct if he woke up next Wednesday and found that his party had maintained its hold on the House and Senate.
About time, Gray Lady. You could have done a lot to prevent this war and occupation, but you promoted it. We won't forget that.
I hope as many people read the New York Times and value its opinion now as did then.
Limiting the Damage
This is a humdinger, folks. Paul Krugman from NYTimes "Read It For Free!" week:
At some points during his piece, Mr. Krugman actually criticizes Bush, more than the quotes might suggest. He's right on the money as usual. Go read.
President Bush isn't on the ballot tomorrow. But this election is, nonetheless, all about him. The question is whether voters will pry his fingers loose from at least some of the levers of power, thereby limiting the damage he can inflict in his two remaining years in office.
At this point, nobody should have any illusions about Mr. Bush's character. To put it bluntly, he's an insecure bully who believes that owning up to a mistake, any mistake, would undermine his manhood - and who therefore lives in a dream world in which all of his policies are succeeding and all of his officials are doing a heckuva job. Just last week he declared himself "pleased with the progress we're making" in Iraq.
In other words, he's the sort of man who should never have been put in a position of authority, let alone been given the kind of unquestioned power, free from normal checks and balances, that he was granted after 9/11. But he was, alas, given that power, as well as a prolonged free ride from much of the news media.
Just imagine, then, what he'll do if faced with demands for information from, say, Congressional Democrats investigating war profiteering, which seems to have been rampant. Actually, we don't have to imagine: a White House strategist has already told Time magazine that the administration plans a "cataclysmic fight to the death" if Democrats in Congress try to exercise their right to issue subpoenas - which is one heck of a metaphor, given Mr. Bush's history of getting American service members trapped in cataclysmic fights where the deaths are anything but metaphors.
But here's the thing: no matter how hard the Bush administration may try to ignore the constitutional division of power, Mr. Bush's ability to make deadly mistakes has rested in part on G.O.P. control of Congress. That's why many Americans, myself included, will breathe a lot easier if one-party rule ends tomorrow.
At some points during his piece, Mr. Krugman actually criticizes Bush, more than the quotes might suggest. He's right on the money as usual. Go read.
Sunday, November 5, 2006
Republicans? Fuck them.
Rude Pundit lays it out in his usual gentle politically correct style.
That was the last part. Go read the first part.
Sure is a lotta talk around the 'sphere about cleanin', oilin', and sightin' in...
Fuck them for...well, you know what? Just fuck them.
Fuck them all, all the Republicans in Congress, all members the conservative spooge-bucket brigade, all their corporate masters yanking on their nipple clips and shoving cold cash up their asses for their obeisance, all the liars and sinners and avaricious rats of the evangelical right, and especially all the wads of fuck in the White House. They all had their chance and they fucked it up. So fuck them.
When you walk into the voting booth on Tuesday, no matter where, with that rage burning in you, stab that motherfuckin' punch card, beat the shit out of that Diebold touch screen, and yell, "Fuck them" as you vote them into oblivion.
And if on Wednesday morning it turns out they've dicked us over one more time by hacking the vote, by screwing with the polls, then maybe we've reached a point in this America where it's time to fight or flee.
That was the last part. Go read the first part.
Sure is a lotta talk around the 'sphere about cleanin', oilin', and sightin' in...
Note to Jesus freaks:
Don't ever, ever, ever preach to me about morality again. If your leaders are such hypocritcal, lying bastids, I'd hate to see what the rank and file's morals are all about. Just STFU.
Your vote counts
Following up on Fixer's post, here's a personal example of just how much your vote can count.
I have not voted in exactly ONE election since 1968, and it was a mistake.
Several years ago in my small town there was a $1M local school bond issue on the ballot. As a general rule, I vote "No" on public indebtedness, because I'm the public and I can incur enough debt on my own, thank you very much.
On election day, Mrs. G and I decided we were tired after work, so we didn't go the polls and vote.
The bond measure passed by ONE vote. Had we done our civic duty, it would have lost by ONE vote. I am reminded of our lapse in citizenship every time I look at my property tax bill, where my part of the payment has been added on.
I'll never miss another election.
One more thing. I know some of our friends and readers are so disgusted by our political system that they have decided to vote for Green, or American Independent, or Peace, Love, Dope party candidates, or whatever.
Please don't. Not this time.
Look, I'm not too happy with the Democrats either, but this particular election is too important to throw your vote away. I'm going to vote a straight Democratic ticket because I'm voting against Repuglicans, and that's the only - I say again, only - way to get rid of them. We have good Democratic candidates in my district and Fixer's, but that's icing on the cake. Right now, I'd vote for a Dem ax murderer over a Repug Mother Theresa.
There is a greater principle in play here than the fact that you are not personally happy with the Democrats. The principle is that this is our country, not Bush's to do with as he pleases. Make no mistake about it, if you throw your vote away by voting for a fringe party, you are voting Republican. Idealism is fine, but the realpolitik here is we have to get as many of these Repug bastards out of office as we possibly can, and we have to do it by enough votes that it will be hard for them to steal the election, or at the very least that it will be blatantly obvious.
You can get back to your idealism later. This is WAR. Hold your nose if you have to, but vote Democrat. If you don't, there may not be any idealism to get back to.
I have not voted in exactly ONE election since 1968, and it was a mistake.
Several years ago in my small town there was a $1M local school bond issue on the ballot. As a general rule, I vote "No" on public indebtedness, because I'm the public and I can incur enough debt on my own, thank you very much.
On election day, Mrs. G and I decided we were tired after work, so we didn't go the polls and vote.
The bond measure passed by ONE vote. Had we done our civic duty, it would have lost by ONE vote. I am reminded of our lapse in citizenship every time I look at my property tax bill, where my part of the payment has been added on.
I'll never miss another election.
One more thing. I know some of our friends and readers are so disgusted by our political system that they have decided to vote for Green, or American Independent, or Peace, Love, Dope party candidates, or whatever.
Please don't. Not this time.
Look, I'm not too happy with the Democrats either, but this particular election is too important to throw your vote away. I'm going to vote a straight Democratic ticket because I'm voting against Repuglicans, and that's the only - I say again, only - way to get rid of them. We have good Democratic candidates in my district and Fixer's, but that's icing on the cake. Right now, I'd vote for a Dem ax murderer over a Repug Mother Theresa.
There is a greater principle in play here than the fact that you are not personally happy with the Democrats. The principle is that this is our country, not Bush's to do with as he pleases. Make no mistake about it, if you throw your vote away by voting for a fringe party, you are voting Republican. Idealism is fine, but the realpolitik here is we have to get as many of these Repug bastards out of office as we possibly can, and we have to do it by enough votes that it will be hard for them to steal the election, or at the very least that it will be blatantly obvious.
You can get back to your idealism later. This is WAR. Hold your nose if you have to, but vote Democrat. If you don't, there may not be any idealism to get back to.
Dave
It could have come sooner in my book, but:
More Rethug dirty tricks. Would have been nice if Schumer came out a month ago but at least he stepped up when he had to. Put an end to the Rethugs' corruption on Long Island:
Learn about the candidate and volunteer - Dave for America
Contribute - Dave's ActBlue page.
Vote for Dave Mejias. Do you live in NY-03?
FARMINGDALE - After Republican incumbent Peter King attempted to mislead voters in a recent campaign mailer, Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) set the record straight today by making his support of Nassau County Legislator Dave Mejias, the Democratic candidate for Congress in New York's Third Congressional district, loud and clear. By using misleading photos and quotes, Peter King is trying to associate himself with popular New York Democrats in a desperate attempt to distance himself from President Bush and the failed policies he rubber stamped.
...
"I whole heartedly support Dave Mejias for Congress in New York's Third Congressional District," said Senator Charles Schumer. "Our country is going in the wrong direction and new leadership in Washington starts with new representation at home on Long Island. Dave Mejias has proven himself an independent voice in the Nassau County Legislature and has always delivered for Long Island. We can reclaim American dream, receive our fair share of Homeland Security funding, and put America back on track with new leadership in Congress."
More Rethug dirty tricks. Would have been nice if Schumer came out a month ago but at least he stepped up when he had to. Put an end to the Rethugs' corruption on Long Island:
Learn about the candidate and volunteer - Dave for America
Contribute - Dave's ActBlue page.
Vote for Dave Mejias. Do you live in NY-03?
I refuse ...
To get giddy. Pardon me for not jumping on the Bandwagon of Happiness at the polls coming out showing Dems will take the House, some saying the Senate too. I'll reserve my elation for Wednesday morning, when all the votes are counted and the results firm.
You see, 72 hours out, I don't put anything past the Republicans, and I refuse to underestimate the stupidity of the American people. A Rethug landslide win on Tuesday wouldn't surprise me in the least.
Over the past 6 years, we've seen more dirty tricks, more questionable vote counting, than you would in some Third World toilet, run by some tin-horn dictator. Does anyone think that's gonna change? Personally, I think it'll get worse this year because the Dems are supposed to pick up a buncha seats.
The reason I'm so 'doom and gloom' is I want Dems to get to the polls Tuesday. I don't want them hearing 'it's a lock' and most of them decide to stay home. Dems have to win, and they have to win going away. No one-run wins in extra innings, this has to be decided by the third, more runs than the Rethugs can ever score in the last 6.
Get out to the polls on Tuesday and cast your vote. I don't care how long you have to wait in line (go when your polling place opens, 6 a.m. for me, and avoid the line), your vote counts more this year than it ever has. The Rethugs want nothing more than for you to stay home.
Citizenship is difficult, and this is the most important election in years, in my memory at least. Put up with the hassle. Deal with the stupid shit the Rethugs will throw in your way. And if you think there was a problem with your voting machine, raise Hell.
Remember, if the Rethugs hold on to a majority, this might be the last election you vote in.
You see, 72 hours out, I don't put anything past the Republicans, and I refuse to underestimate the stupidity of the American people. A Rethug landslide win on Tuesday wouldn't surprise me in the least.
Over the past 6 years, we've seen more dirty tricks, more questionable vote counting, than you would in some Third World toilet, run by some tin-horn dictator. Does anyone think that's gonna change? Personally, I think it'll get worse this year because the Dems are supposed to pick up a buncha seats.
The reason I'm so 'doom and gloom' is I want Dems to get to the polls Tuesday. I don't want them hearing 'it's a lock' and most of them decide to stay home. Dems have to win, and they have to win going away. No one-run wins in extra innings, this has to be decided by the third, more runs than the Rethugs can ever score in the last 6.
Get out to the polls on Tuesday and cast your vote. I don't care how long you have to wait in line (go when your polling place opens, 6 a.m. for me, and avoid the line), your vote counts more this year than it ever has. The Rethugs want nothing more than for you to stay home.
Citizenship is difficult, and this is the most important election in years, in my memory at least. Put up with the hassle. Deal with the stupid shit the Rethugs will throw in your way. And if you think there was a problem with your voting machine, raise Hell.
Remember, if the Rethugs hold on to a majority, this might be the last election you vote in.
*To be hung by the naughty bits ...
Until dead. The October November surprise:
So, prepare to hear nothing else on the news for the next couple days.
*Apologies to Monty Python.
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Saddam Hussein was convicted and sentenced Sunday to hang for crimes against humanity in the 1982 killings of 148 people in a single town, as the ousted leader, trembling and defiant, shouted "God is great!"
As he, his half brother and another senior official in his regime were convicted and sentenced to death, Saddam yelled out, "Long live the people and death to their enemies. Long live the glorious nation, and death to its enemies!"
...
So, prepare to hear nothing else on the news for the next couple days.
*Apologies to Monty Python.
Link via citizen spot.
Saturday, November 4, 2006
Desperation
I wish I could write like Ed:
By Tuesday, that Liberal Hunting License might become a reality. Desperate men are dangerous men.
...
I haven't seen or heard demagoguery on such a level since the last time that I watched 'Triumph of the Will' and the glazed look on the faces of the zombies in the audience was eerily similar to the normal looking Germans in what is widely hailed as the greatest propaganda film of all time. Bush's speech writers and image masters are now outdoing themselves and are starting to make Leni Riefenstahl and Paul Joseph Goebbels look like rank amateurs by comparison.
...
By Tuesday, that Liberal Hunting License might become a reality. Desperate men are dangerous men.
The Army Times editorial
Full text at Montag's. Gord alluded to this yesterday:
No shit.
...
For two years, American sergeants, captains and majors training the Iraqis have told their bosses that Iraqi troops have no sense of national identity, are only in it for the money, don't show up for duty and cannot sustain themselves.
Meanwhile, colonels and generals have asked their bosses for more troops. Service chiefs have asked for more money.
And all along, Rumsfeld has assured us that things are well in hand.
Now, the president says he'll stick with Rumsfeld for the balance of his term in the White House.
This is a mistake.
...
No shit.
Programming note
Kenneth Quinnell and the Old White Lady have been gracious enough to rerun my novel The Captains over at The Practical Press. If you missed it when I ran it last year, here's another chance. I post a chapter on Saturday nights or Sunday mornings. Chapter 3 just went up.
Eating their own
Vanity Fair:
The above named men (and a few more I can think of) should be the first upon the gallows when the revolution comes.
As Iraq slips further into chaos, the war's neoconservative boosters have turned sharply on the Bush administration, charging that their grand designs have been undermined by White House incompetence. In a series of exclusive interviews, Richard Perle, Kenneth Adelman, David Frum, and others play the blame game with shocking frankness. Target No. 1: the president himself.
...
The above named men (and a few more I can think of) should be the first upon the gallows when the revolution comes.
Hat tip to C & L.
Why you should vote Dem
Commander Huber:
...
At the end of the day, we'll likely do something that combines John Murtha's proposal of redeploying to the periphery, focusing whatever troop strength we leave in-country in Baghdad, and a sea change in our diplomatic efforts with Iran and Syria. And the sooner that day comes, the better.
But that day won't come any time soon if we leave the elephants in charge of Congress next week. Neoconservative rule has already put America's ship of state bow down in a sand dune. Two more years of it, and the United States will have guaranteed its fate as a footnote in a Mandarin language history book. [my em]
WTF?
We'll go back to the standard Uniform of the Day on Wednesday. The new look is to remind people how critical this election is.
Dave
Roots.
As I was telling Froggy in comments on another "Dave" post, I've seen the grassroots following for Dave swell from just Mrs F and me attending his events to people stacked 5 deep and a city block long on the sidewalk on Thursday afternoon. Long Islanders are waking up.
Read the entire New York Sun article at PKW.
Learn about the candidate and volunteer - Dave for America
Contribute - Dave's ActBlue page.
Vote for Dave Mejias. Do you live in NY-03?
...
While the two candidates disagree over the accuracy of a recent poll that shows them in a dead heat, the race is close enough to encourage Democratic supporters to reach into their pocketbooks. Mr. Mejias has raised more than $650,000, with roughly 75% coming from individuals.
The DCCC has taken note, adding Mr. Mejias to its Red to Blue program, which introduces congressional candidates to Democratic donors across the country. [my em]
...
As I was telling Froggy in comments on another "Dave" post, I've seen the grassroots following for Dave swell from just Mrs F and me attending his events to people stacked 5 deep and a city block long on the sidewalk on Thursday afternoon. Long Islanders are waking up.
Read the entire New York Sun article at PKW.
Learn about the candidate and volunteer - Dave for America
Contribute - Dave's ActBlue page.
Vote for Dave Mejias. Do you live in NY-03?
Friday, November 3, 2006
Rumsfeld! Fall out!
Pensito Review
This is good and the timing is right for the election, but I doubt it will accomplish anything vis-a-vis getting rid of the senile evil old fool
On MSNBC, Keith Olbermann is reporting that on Monday, the day before the midterm elections, editorials will run in the most influential military newspapers calling on President Bush to fire Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
The editorials will say they are giving voice to a silent majority of uniformed personnel who are are prohibited from speaking because of respect for the office of the presidency.
The editorials will run in Army Times, Air Force Times, Marine Corps Times and Navy Times, which are privately owned and not affiliated with government.
This is good and the timing is right for the election, but I doubt it will accomplish anything vis-a-vis getting rid of the senile evil old fool
139 - 1
Karena:
Because every household should have at least one Kalashnikov.
... Amnesty International won a major victory today when a the UN passed a vote to draft resolution for a global Arms Trade Treaty to curtail the international weapons trade that fuels " conflict, poverty, and serious human rights violations." Amnesty International formed a Control Arms Trade alliance with individuals and other groups to persuade the UN to take these measures. The vote to draft the resolution was the first step, with 139 nations voting in favor, and only one nation voting against, the United States... [my em]
Because every household should have at least one Kalashnikov.
Laughable ...
A buncha reality-based vets refused to take a Rethug seriously. Good on 'em:
They heard it before, pal. 40 years ago, and it means as much now as it did then.
PALMETTO -- Republican Vern Buchanan was interrupted by laughter during a debate before a group of veterans Thursday when he insisted that the White House has a strategy for the war in Iraq.
...
Buchanan had objected to [Democrat Christine] Jennings' repeating her frequent charge that the Bush administration doesn't have a strategy for winning the war.
"But there is a strategy and it needs to be flexible," he said.
Some of the veterans started chuckling, and Buchanan had to stop speaking after telling them that he expected the White House would adopt a more flexible strategy.
...
They heard it before, pal. 40 years ago, and it means as much now as it did then.
Great thanks to Maru.
Bechtel bags bucks, boogies...
Paul Krugman
That's an easy one: they're dying for oil, capitalistic greed, imperialism, and Bush's ego.
I think we have more in common with the Iraqis than we knew.
You can bet your bottom dollar the administration doesn't want that to happen. They'd have to let a bunch of pot smokers out of prison to make room.
Since reconstruction is done with, and Bush's puppet Iraqi government now appears to be strong enough to tell U.S. troops what to do, all that's left is the dying.
Somebody please slant-drill into Iraq and siphon off all the oil so our men and women can come home.
Please go to the link and read the first comment.
As Bechtel goes, so goes the whole reconstruction effort. Whatever our leaders may say about their determination to stay the course complete the mission, when it comes to rebuilding Iraq they've already cut and run. The $21 billion allocated for reconstruction over the last three years has been spent, much of it on security rather than its intended purpose, and there's no more money in the pipeline.
The failure of reconstruction in Iraq raises three questions. First, how much did that failure contribute to the overall failure of the war? Second, how was it that America, the great can-do nation, in this case couldn't and didn't? Finally, if we've given up on rebuilding Iraq, what are our troops dying for?
That's an easy one: they're dying for oil, capitalistic greed, imperialism, and Bush's ego.
Consider the symbolism of Iraq's new police academy, which Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, has called "the most essential civil security project in the country." It was built at a cost of $75 million by Parsons Corporation, which received a total of about $1 billion for Iraq reconstruction projects. But the academy was so badly built that feces and urine leak from the ceilings in the student barracks.
Think about it. We want the Iraqis to stand up so we can stand down. But if they do stand up, we'll dump excrement on their heads.
I think we have more in common with the Iraqis than we knew.
As for how this could have happened, that's easy: major contractors believed, correctly, that their political connections insulated them from accountability. Halliburton and other companies with huge Iraq contracts were basically in the same position as Donald Rumsfeld: they were so closely identified with President Bush and, especially, Vice President Cheney that firing or even disciplining them would have been seen as an admission of personal failure on the part of top elected officials.
As a result, the administration and its allies in Congress fought accountability all the way. Administration officials have made repeated backdoor efforts to close the office of Mr. Bowen, whose job is to oversee the use of reconstruction money. Just this past May, with the failed reconstruction already winding down, the White House arranged for the last $1.5 billion of reconstruction money to be placed outside Mr. Bowen's jurisdiction. And now, finally, Congress has passed a bill whose provisions include the complete elimination of his agency next October.
The bottom line is that those charged with rebuilding Iraq had no incentive to do the job right, so they didn't.
You can see, by the way, why a Democratic takeover of the House, if it happens next week, would be such a pivotal event: suddenly, committee chairmen with subpoena power would be in a position to investigate where all the Iraq money went.
You can bet your bottom dollar the administration doesn't want that to happen. They'd have to let a bunch of pot smokers out of prison to make room.
And we're not planning to do anything about it: the U.S.-led reconstruction effort in Iraq is basically over. I don't know whether the administration is afraid to ask U.S. voters for more money, or simply considers the situation hopeless. Either way, the United States has accepted defeat on reconstruction.
Since reconstruction is done with, and Bush's puppet Iraqi government now appears to be strong enough to tell U.S. troops what to do, all that's left is the dying.
Somebody please slant-drill into Iraq and siphon off all the oil so our men and women can come home.
Please go to the link and read the first comment.
Dave
Following up on my post from the Mejias press conference with Ambassador Joe Wilson yesterday. From the Mejias camp via email:
FARMINGDALE - Former Ambassador Joseph Wilson came to Long Island today to campaign with Nassau County Legislator Dave Mejias, Democratic candidate for Congress in New York's Third Congressional District. While on Long Island, Wilson and Mejias spoke to members of the press about the failures of Peter King and this Republican-controlled Congress to provide the necessary oversight their positions demand because of blind partisanship. Our country was mislead into a war with no end in sight, because Congressmen like Peter King were too busy vying for power instead of asking the tough questions. Now that King is Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, he is a reliable rubber stamp for George Bush, and has voted with the President 100% of the time on matters of Iraq.
"Peter King cares more about keeping his job than doing his job," said Mejias. "Our young men and women are fighting and dying in Iraq with no end in sight because Peter King and the Republican controlled Congress rubber stamped Bush's failed policies. King is President Bush's most ardent supporter; he votes lock step with President Bush and refuses to recognize the severity of the situation in Iraq. King recently said that downtown Baghdad is as safe as downtown Iraq, and stood by his statement that 95 percent of Iraq is secure and safe."
Former Ambassador Joseph Wilson gained national attention in July 2003 when he penned an opinion-editorial article in the New York Times questioning President Bush's rationale for going to war in Iraq. Shortly thereafter, Bush administration officials disclosed to the press that his wife, Valerie Plame, was a CIA officer who held non-official cover status. Wilson has been campaigning across America for various Congressional candidates and came to Long Island to lend support to Dave Mejias, who he calls the personification of the American success story.
"This is the most important election of my life, it is about restoring accountability in American Government and this can only be done with a Democratic majority in Congress," said former Ambassador Joseph Wilson. "The Republicans have marched lock step in every way behind George Bush and his White House minions sacrificing the Constitution of the United States on the altar of misplaced partisan loyalty."
At today's press conference Dave Mejias and Ambassador Wilson were joined by U.S. veterans Tom Cleere, Richard Wood, George Olenick, and Al Britvan. Tom Cleere, a former United States Army Captain and Iraq war veteran spoke at the event. "I served in Iraq and I can attest that Downtown Baghdad is not as safe as Downtown Manhattan, Peter King is out of touch with the realities in the Middle East. I have known Dave Mejias for many years, I am confident that Dave will better represent us in Congress because he knows about honor, commitment and the need to ask questions; all qualities that I learned about during my service in the Army."
While introducing Ambassador Wilson, Dave Mejias commended Wilson for his great service and unwavering dedication to our Country. "I greatly admire Joe Wilson's courage and determination," said Mejias. "It is no wonder he chose Dante Alighieri's quote 'The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality' from The Divine Comedy as the epigraph in his book The Politics of Truth." [my ems]
Learn about the candidate and volunteer - Dave for America
Contribute - Dave's ActBlue page.
Vote for Dave Mejias. Do you live in NY-03?
DIY*
Yeah, ya gotta watch them terrists and the Axis of Eeeevil. They want to learn how to make a nuke. I wonder where they'll get the know-how? Why, from the U.S. government of course:
God, what a buncha idiots running this country. 5 days left, ladies and germs. If you're a Dem, you'd better have your ass at the polls on Tuesday, goddammit.
Last March, the federal government set up a Web site to make public a vast archive of Iraqi documents captured during the war. The Bush administration did so under pressure from Congressional Republicans who had said they hoped to "leverage the Internet" to find new evidence of the prewar dangers posed by Saddam Hussein.
But in recent weeks, the site has posted some documents that weapons experts say are a danger themselves: detailed accounts of Iraq's secret nuclear research before the 1991 Persian Gulf war. The documents, the experts say, constitute a basic guide to building an atom bomb. [my em]
...
God, what a buncha idiots running this country. 5 days left, ladies and germs. If you're a Dem, you'd better have your ass at the polls on Tuesday, goddammit.
*Do It Yourself. Tip o' the Brain to Digby for the link.
Thursday, November 2, 2006
November 7 May Be Point Of No Return
Robert Parry
November 7th may be the salvation or the damnation of the United States for generations to come. It's our choice, depending on who counts the votes.
Go read this one.
In many ways, Election 2006 not only marks the last chance to exact some accountability from those responsible for the disastrous Iraq War and other failures, but it also represents a point of no return for a nation hurtling toward a future of endless warfare abroad and a new-age totalitarianism at home.
If Bush follows the pattern of 2002 and 2004, he will interpret a Republican victory on Nov. 7 as a mandate for pursuing and expanding his policies.
That would presumably please neoconservative activists and prominent Republicans, such as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who have spoken eagerly about waging "World War III" against Islamic militants around the globe.
Since much of the "World War III" talk is tossed about in a cavalier fashion, it is not clear if its promoters have weighed the likely consequences of fighting a global conflict with many of the world's one billion Muslims. How the United States would muster the vast numbers of troops needed for such an endeavor has never been explained.
In his stump speeches, Bush agrees that Election 2006 represents a crucial turning point for the nation, although his warning is of the dire consequences from a Democratic victory.
On Oct. 30 in a speech in Statesboro, Georgia, Bush added, "However they put it, the Democrat approach in Iraq comes down to this: The terrorists win and America loses."
Despite the sometimes over-heated rhetoric, Election 2006 does come down to these fundamental questions:
Does the public's desire for more safety from terrorists trump the nation's historic commitment to constitutional liberties? Should the United States abandon its founding principles as a Republic where citizens possess "unalienable rights" and trade that in for a system where one man decides where to wage war and whom to imprison?
Is "World War III" between the United States and Islamic militants inevitable or should other alternatives be tried first aimed at reducing tensions and isolating the hard-core extremists?
Granted, these are difficult and complex issues for the U.S. press corps to explain. It's a lot easier to frame a story around John Kerry's joke.
But no American should go to the polls on Nov. 7 - whether voting Republican or Democratic - without recognizing what that vote will mean. The United States is at a dangerous crossroads. Indeed, it may be at a point of no return.
November 7th may be the salvation or the damnation of the United States for generations to come. It's our choice, depending on who counts the votes.
Go read this one.
Halp!
These guys are smarter than Bush and his evil dwarves. They apparently got the joke even though it was botched.
Tourist Bounty
EssEffChron
Well, they're small.
Hmmm. I got more of a problem with American people than he does. About 30% of 'em anyway. I totally agree about the government.
I think, given who's in charge of our B-52s and Tomahawks, that I'd rather go to the zoo, thank you.
This is just soundin' better and better, huh?
Boy, that'd settle your vacation plans! All expenses paid, free rides to and from the airport, accommodations to rival the finest in Teheran, warm breezes. Gitmo, here I come!
Iran is offering money to travel agents who can lure certain types of tourists to Iran, and the rate is double for bringing European and American travelers.
"Iran's Tourism Department will pay $20 for every American or European tourist that travel agents can bring," Mohammad Sharif Malekzadeh, deputy director of the Tourism and Cultural Heritage Organization, said Tuesday in a statement reported by the news agency IRNA. The statement also specified a $10 payment for luring Asian tourists.
Well, they're small.
"We do not have a problem with American people," Ahmadinejad said. "We oppose only the U.S. government's bullying and arrogance."
Hmmm. I got more of a problem with American people than he does. About 30% of 'em anyway. I totally agree about the government.
Last month, Iran offered to open its nuclear sites to foreign visitors as another incentive for visitors. Esfandiar Rahim-Masahai, head of the Tourism and Cultural Heritage Organization, said Ahmadinejad had ordered the move and that it was intended, in part, to convince the world that the nuclear program is peaceful.
I think, given who's in charge of our B-52s and Tomahawks, that I'd rather go to the zoo, thank you.
Despite Iran's diverse landscape and ancient historical sites, the effort to attract more foreign tourists has failed so far.
A ban on alcohol and a law that requires women to cover their hair have been powerful hindrances.
Iran also has insufficient hotels and tourist facilities around the country because of its isolation since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Most tourists are Shiite Muslim pilgrims from the region who travel to religious sites.
This is just soundin' better and better, huh?
Malekzadeh said tourists can also apply for visas on the Internet to ease the process.
Boy, that'd settle your vacation plans! All expenses paid, free rides to and from the airport, accommodations to rival the finest in Teheran, warm breezes. Gitmo, here I come!
Dave Mejias and Joe Wilson
Just wow. Joe Wilson is amazing. The detail he keeps in his head, names, dates, places, and he spoke off the cuff for about 20 minutes. He and the candidate took turns slamming Peter King and George Bush and I had to stop myself from just yelling out 'you tell 'em, boys'. Ambassador Wilson spoke of Karl Rove and Scooter Libby as "toadies, lickspittles, and traitors".
We spoke for a few minutes afterward about his problems with the administration and the hassle they've had since his wife's outing at the hands of
Happily, Dave didn't drag my ass over to say anything this time (My prepared remarks posted here if you're interested.) and after the press conference, the candidate and the ambassador waded into the crowd outside Mejias Headquarters.
And a little 'inside baseball': I've been bugging Mr. Mejias about his wearing the same tie to every appearance. It's a beautiful red, white, and blue striped affair and he loves it. The first thing he says to me when I walk into the office today is, "look, Rich, I got a new tie!"
Learn about the candidate and volunteer - Dave for America
Contribute - Dave's ActBlue page.
Vote for Dave Mejias. Do you live in NY-03?
Vote Flipping in Texas
From KFDM, Deep in the Heart of Texas:
No problems at all. They're working just like they're supposed to.
Friday night, KFDM reported about people who had cast straight Democratic ticket ballots, but the touch-screen machines indicated they had voted a straight Republican ticket.
Saturday, KFDM spoke to another voter who says it's not just happening with straight ticket voting, he says it's happening on individual races as well, Jerry Stopher told us when he voted for a Democrat, the Republican's name was highlighted.
Stopher said, "There's something in these machines, in this equipment, that's showing Republican votes when you vote for Democrats, and I know Ms. Guidry's a nice lady, and she's working hard, but her theory that my fingernail was somehow over the Republican button is just unrealistic, my fingernail was not. The equipment is not working properly as far as I can tell."
Jefferson county clerk Carolyn Guidry says her office has checked the calibration of the machines and found no problems.
No problems at all. They're working just like they're supposed to.
WWJBF?*
From Cursor:
*You figure it out.
'Gay escort claims sex tryst with preacher' Ted Haggard, who heads 'America's Most Powerful Megachurch.'
*You figure it out.
Interview With A Small Planet
Go see this interview with Gore Vidal. He has a few words to say about nearly everything, such as Iraq, 9/11, the Bush coup d'etat and the state of the nation. He has a few choice words about the media as well.
Memorable quote: "This is a curious country. We have more good writers than good readers."
The video is long, but it's the best 18 minutes you'll spend with your clothes on today.
Memorable quote: "This is a curious country. We have more good writers than good readers."
The video is long, but it's the best 18 minutes you'll spend with your clothes on today.
I love it when the mighty falleth....with a CRASH.
Oh it's a good day in my world,mweeheehee...First,I get a totally awesome haircut at lunchtime that makes me look fucking fabulous,and then I read of the beginning of the end of one of Colorado Springs' evangelical leaders with ties to the White House. Meth AND Gay Hookers,what a prize package bonanza.
The reason I have it in for people like Pastor Ted is because what he does literally destroys families. My family has directly been ripped apart by this kind of disgusting hypocrisy and self-centered greed and hatred,so when one of these fucks is exposed for being the sorry excuse for a man he is,oh,it brings such joy and warmth into the cockles of my teeny little black liberal heart.
Make sure you read that first link on John's site to the Harper's article,pay attention to the homo-erotic artwork all over Ted's "church".
Look,it's simple. This warped brand of christianity HATES women. Healthy gay men don't hate women at all, repressed,controlling,misogynistic,hateful gay men do,especially when they have access to power of any sort. They parade around as hetero,but 9 times out of 10,they aren't remotely attracted to women,they're gay.Gay.Gay.Gay. Teh Gay! If they weren't so repressed,they probably wouldn't be so pervy and mean. They do a shitload of damage to every life they influence or touch, and for that reason,they have no choice but to crash and burn,eventually. But not before they do horrific damage. Unfortunately these days,far too many of them have been allowed into the Halls of Power,many times in stealth mode(how fitting for someone in the closet),where they sow more seeds of division and hatred. While making a fortune to boot.
So it's good,a very,very,very good thing,when one of them takes a header into an empty concrete swimming pool. Sadly,his wife and 5 kids will pay a heavy price,but they've been paying all along just by being around this venomous creature.
Personally,I'm doing a happy dance of joy. It would have been better if it had been one of Ted's very special Colorado Springs neighbors,James Dobson,but Ted's a good start. (and I know,call it my womanly intuition,that Daddy Dobson has some serious wicked ugly shit in his closet,I wish someone would come forward with some heinous dirt on that man,soon.I know it's there,beyond what we do know about him for certain)
The reason I have it in for people like Pastor Ted is because what he does literally destroys families. My family has directly been ripped apart by this kind of disgusting hypocrisy and self-centered greed and hatred,so when one of these fucks is exposed for being the sorry excuse for a man he is,oh,it brings such joy and warmth into the cockles of my teeny little black liberal heart.
Make sure you read that first link on John's site to the Harper's article,pay attention to the homo-erotic artwork all over Ted's "church".
Look,it's simple. This warped brand of christianity HATES women. Healthy gay men don't hate women at all, repressed,controlling,misogynistic,hateful gay men do,especially when they have access to power of any sort. They parade around as hetero,but 9 times out of 10,they aren't remotely attracted to women,they're gay.Gay.Gay.Gay. Teh Gay! If they weren't so repressed,they probably wouldn't be so pervy and mean. They do a shitload of damage to every life they influence or touch, and for that reason,they have no choice but to crash and burn,eventually. But not before they do horrific damage. Unfortunately these days,far too many of them have been allowed into the Halls of Power,many times in stealth mode(how fitting for someone in the closet),where they sow more seeds of division and hatred. While making a fortune to boot.
So it's good,a very,very,very good thing,when one of them takes a header into an empty concrete swimming pool. Sadly,his wife and 5 kids will pay a heavy price,but they've been paying all along just by being around this venomous creature.
Personally,I'm doing a happy dance of joy. It would have been better if it had been one of Ted's very special Colorado Springs neighbors,James Dobson,but Ted's a good start. (and I know,call it my womanly intuition,that Daddy Dobson has some serious wicked ugly shit in his closet,I wish someone would come forward with some heinous dirt on that man,soon.I know it's there,beyond what we do know about him for certain)
Quote of the Day
From, of all people, Andrew Sullivan!
Ba-Da-Boom!
"This is not an election anymore, it's an intervention."
Ba-Da-Boom!
Great Prophet Two
Much saber-rattling and flexing of muscles in the Persian Gulf area. From Al Jazeera:
"Regional security arrangements" sounds to me like a warning to those gulf states allied with the U.S.
"Potential enemy"? Who could that be?
"Cross-country military exercise"? Gee, what country could they possibly want to cross? I guess they want to make to make sure all their tanks and trucks run good in case they have to make a dash to Baghdad.
Read what a few experts have to say about "military options in Iran". You'll know more than Bush on the subject if you don't already.
Dare a crazy motherfucker like Ahmadinejad to do crazy shit, say by bombing his country, and we're likely to find out just how crazy he really is.
The Iranian army isn't very big, best guess about 350,000 troops and mostly draftees, but double that by combining them with Iraqi Shiite militias and all the Iraqi troops and police we've trained, who will turn on us in a minute because they have to live there after we're gone, and we may get to fight the kind of war we thought we would have with Saddam's army.
Only this time we'll get to do it with worn-out troops and equipment, and a 300 klick contested overland supply route from Kuwait to Baghdad, let alone to Anbar, etc. I think it will be all we can do to get our guys out of there. Read up on Dunkirk. Better yet, the German retreat from Russia, or the fighting withdrawal from the Chosin Reservoir. Those are all about defeated armies GTFO of places.
"Number Two" does not begin to describe what our "Great Prophet" Bush has gotten us into.
Iran has started military exercises in the Arabian gulf just days after six other nations, including the United States, held a series of exercises in the same area.
The television station said that the military manoeuvres, named Great Prophet Two, would last until November 11 and include drills in the gulf and Sea of Oman, and would be a show of defensive strength.
General Yahya Rahim Safavi, commander of the Revolutionary Guards, was quoted as saying: "The war games are aimed at demonstrating the deterrent power of the [Iranian Revolutionary] guards against possible threats."
Safavi said the drills were not a threat to Iran's neighbours.
"Our neighbours are our friends," he said. "The guards just want to prove that they ready to resist in any threatening situation."
The announcement came two days after US-led warships finished a two days of exercises in the gulf which were described by Iran as "adventurist".
Iran said the drills involving Australia, Bahrain, Britain, France, Italy and the US would not improve security in the waters of the gulf, through which about 20 per cent of the world's oil passes. It also called on gulf nations to set up their own regional security arrangements.
"Regional security arrangements" sounds to me like a warning to those gulf states allied with the U.S.
These are the country's third war games this year.
In August, Iranian armed forces held a cross country military exercise called Zolfaghar Blow to test new weapons and tactics against a potential enemy. The first stage of the Great Prophet war games was held in April.
"Potential enemy"? Who could that be?
"Cross-country military exercise"? Gee, what country could they possibly want to cross? I guess they want to make to make sure all their tanks and trucks run good in case they have to make a dash to Baghdad.
Read what a few experts have to say about "military options in Iran". You'll know more than Bush on the subject if you don't already.
Dare a crazy motherfucker like Ahmadinejad to do crazy shit, say by bombing his country, and we're likely to find out just how crazy he really is.
The Iranian army isn't very big, best guess about 350,000 troops and mostly draftees, but double that by combining them with Iraqi Shiite militias and all the Iraqi troops and police we've trained, who will turn on us in a minute because they have to live there after we're gone, and we may get to fight the kind of war we thought we would have with Saddam's army.
Only this time we'll get to do it with worn-out troops and equipment, and a 300 klick contested overland supply route from Kuwait to Baghdad, let alone to Anbar, etc. I think it will be all we can do to get our guys out of there. Read up on Dunkirk. Better yet, the German retreat from Russia, or the fighting withdrawal from the Chosin Reservoir. Those are all about defeated armies GTFO of places.
"Number Two" does not begin to describe what our "Great Prophet" Bush has gotten us into.
Not Better Late Than Never
Matt Taibbi climbs the News Establishment's frame over their part in Bush's Failed War and their current shift against it. Read this one.
I have no particular point to make other than "What's good for Big Business is good for Big Business".
I wonder how they're going to make money over the impending coverage they're going to have to do of our troops getting kicked out of Baghdad and having their asses handed to them all the way to Kuwait?
I'm sure they'll find a way. Everybody'll want to watch that.
Mass culture turns on the Republicans -- but why?
What's happening is that these talk-radio pit-vipers who for a decade or so had us all wondering, "How the fuck do these guys get away with this stuff?" are now no longer getting away with it -- there's now a mechanism in place in the national media that is poised to savage these guys for the same kinds of tactics that for the last ten years were mostly left to the likes of FAIR and Eric Alterman to bitch about.
Look, there's nothing mysterious about any of this. It's pretty obvious what's going on. We saw this same kind of cultural shift in 1968, after the Tet offensive (an analogy so obvious that even Tom Friedman saw it recently), when the American political establishment soured on the Vietnam War. Despite the conservative propaganda that for decades has insisted that it was the media that lost the war for us in Vietnam, in fact the media didn't turn on the Vietnam war effort until the war was already lost. And the reason the media soured on that war had nothing to do with it being wrong; it had to do with the post-Tet realization that the war was expensive, unwinnable and politically costly. America is reaching the same conclusion now about Iraq, and so, like Dave Letterman, a whole host of people who just a few years ago thought we "had to do something" are now backing off and repositioning themselves in an antiwar stance.
Well, that's putting it pretty fucking mildly, wouldn't you say? It's not that Iraq didn't make "as much sense" as Afghanistan -- it didn't make any sense, and anyone with half a brain could have seen that. And Letterman's subsequent reasoning -- that seeing one death turn into dozens and then hundreds and thousands made him reconsider the whole thing -- all that tells you is that this is a person who makes life-and-death decisions without considering the consequences. If the Iraq war was not ever going to be worth 3,000 American lives (and countless more Iraqi lives), then why the hell did we go in in the first place? If you make a decision to fight, you had better not be scared of blood. And if you're suddenly changing your mind about things after you lose a few teenage lives, you're a hundred times more guilty than the guys like Bush who are actually sticking to their guns about this war.
Because Bush and the rest of that crew sent young men to die for something they believed in, fucked-up as their reasoning might be and have been. But these shitheads in the political middle who are flip-flopping right now sentenced teenagers to death for the cause of expediency and careerism. There are young men coming home now without arms and legs because the Wolf Blitzers of the world were too afraid to lose their jobs or piss off advertisers bucking the war hysteria of the times. Remember, CNN and the rest of the networks did great business in the run-up to the war. They had artists cooking up fancy new "America's New War" graphics and they were selling lawn fertilizer and soda and male-enhancement drugs by the metric ton right up to the time when the Saddam statue came down. But the war isn't selling anymore; the war is a bummer. And so these guys are changing their minds.
This assault on the Republicans that's taking place in the national media right now is partially a reflection of national attitudes, but mostly a matter of internal housecleaning. The members of the Bush administration have proven to be incompetent managers of the American system, and so they are being removed. It's that simple. They screwed up a war that all of these people wanted, turned public opinion against the dumbed-down militarist politics that until recently was good business for everybody. And so they have to go. Mistake any of this for ideology or principle at your peril (my em).
I have no particular point to make other than "What's good for Big Business is good for Big Business".
I wonder how they're going to make money over the impending coverage they're going to have to do of our troops getting kicked out of Baghdad and having their asses handed to them all the way to Kuwait?
I'm sure they'll find a way. Everybody'll want to watch that.
Late ...
I'm running late, putting the finishing touches on some prepared remarks, just in case Dave decides I should say something this afternoon at the press conference with Ambassador Wilson. I'll be back afterward. Remember:
Learn about the candidate and volunteer - Dave for America
Contribute - Dave's ActBlue page.
Vote for Dave Mejias. Do you live in NY-03?
IT'S NOVEMBER!
Related morning reading.
Learn about the candidate and volunteer - Dave for America
Contribute - Dave's ActBlue page.
Vote for Dave Mejias. Do you live in NY-03?
IT'S NOVEMBER!
Related morning reading.
Wednesday, November 1, 2006
Load 'em up, move 'em out ...
This sickens me:
What to say?
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force is asking the Pentagon's leadership for a staggering $50 billion in emergency funding for fiscal 2007 -- an amount equal to nearly half its annual budget, defense analyst Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute said on Tuesday.
...
Another source familiar with the Air Force plans said the extra funds would help pay to transport growing numbers of U.S. soldiers being killed and wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. [my em]
...
What to say?
Tip o' the Brain to Maru.
Dave
First. Now I can tell you that Ambassador Joe Wilson will be campaigning with Dave Mejias tomorrow. I'll be attending a press conference with them in the afternoon in Farmingdale and of course I'll have details.
Next, Newsday gave their endorsement to Dave this morning. Listen to me: Two papers (NYT endorsement here) who share the highest circulation in the NY Metro Area endorsed Dave Mejias over a fourteen year incumbent. Got that?
We're on the downhill run, ladies and germs. IT'S NOVEMBER.
Learn about the candidate and volunteer - Dave for America
Contribute - Dave's ActBlue page.
Vote for Dave Mejias. Do you live in NY-03?
Next, Newsday gave their endorsement to Dave this morning. Listen to me: Two papers (NYT endorsement here) who share the highest circulation in the NY Metro Area endorsed Dave Mejias over a fourteen year incumbent. Got that?
...
Mejias supports a more pragmatic policy that would include tougher border security and employer sanctions, a guest-worker program and a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants already in the country. Mejias is the son of Hispanic immigrants. He overcame economic hardship to become a lawyer and a Nassau County legislator. He's been effective, for instance, by passing a tough county registration-and-notification law for sex offenders and a domestic worker bill of rights.
Mejias promises pragmatic solutions to the nation's problems, a refreshing change. Newsday endorses Mejias.
We're on the downhill run, ladies and germs. IT'S NOVEMBER.
Learn about the candidate and volunteer - Dave for America
Contribute - Dave's ActBlue page.
Vote for Dave Mejias. Do you live in NY-03?
Dead Elephant
Go see Dead Elephant's click-and-print instant bumper stickers. You can make your own. I'd make one for Nov. 8th if I knew how. Mine would just say "GOT HIM!"
Election Night
Tentative as of now, but I'll probably be blogging from the Mejias party on Election Night. Stay tuned.
And another 'stay tuned'. They're trying to set up press conference for this week. Details are embargoed until it firms up, but knowing the particpants (yours truly included) it should be excellent. I'll let you all know where and when as soon as I can.
And another 'stay tuned'. They're trying to set up press conference for this week. Details are embargoed until it firms up, but knowing the particpants (yours truly included) it should be excellent. I'll let you all know where and when as soon as I can.
Kerry to Noise Machine: "F*CK YOU!"
Well, we're in the midst of a big brouhaha over Senator Kerry's remarks on Tuesday. Some Dems are saying he should STFU, some are saying it's his finest hour. My feeling is that he screwed up his lines a little and the Repugs jumped all over it. Fuck them. He made it good.
Here's what he was supposed to say:
Makes perfect sense.
Here's what he said (same link as above):
Did he bungle it? Hell, yes. The first time I heard it I had a flashback to the '60s: Stay in school and keep your 2S deferment or you're goin' to Vietnam. I didn't believe he said it, but then I heard it a bunch more times, and realized what he said wasn't exactly what he meant. It just came out of his mouth all wrong, terribly ambiguous.
Bush and his Repugs were all over it in a heartbeat. The media and the gasbags were too.
It might turn out to be a blessing in disguise that Kerry couldn't tell a joke if his life depended on it.
Here's Hoffmania:
I'm with Kerry on this one. He fucked up - just a little, nothing even really substantive - but when the Repugs got on him, he didn't play nice like they probably figured he would and show himself, and thus all Dems, as weak. They'da loved that. He did what he should have done two years ago. He hit back. Clinton showed us the way with Cwissy Wallace and now Kerry has done the same to Bush and his whole goddam bunch. It's about fuckin' time somebody did.
Get some, John! Ya done good. Maybe it'll help stiffen some Democratic spines that really need it.
It's even helpin' me! I feel like I'm almost ready to come out of my shell with an opinion once in a while.
Here's what he was supposed to say:
A Kerry spokeswoman, Amy Brundage, said Kerry's prepared text had called for him to say: "Do you know where you end up if you don't study, if you aren't smart, if you're intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq. Just ask President Bush."
Makes perfect sense.
Here's what he said (same link as above):
He then said: "You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."
Did he bungle it? Hell, yes. The first time I heard it I had a flashback to the '60s: Stay in school and keep your 2S deferment or you're goin' to Vietnam. I didn't believe he said it, but then I heard it a bunch more times, and realized what he said wasn't exactly what he meant. It just came out of his mouth all wrong, terribly ambiguous.
Bush and his Repugs were all over it in a heartbeat. The media and the gasbags were too.
It might turn out to be a blessing in disguise that Kerry couldn't tell a joke if his life depended on it.
Here's Hoffmania:
The wingnut network has worked themselves into a lather over Kerry's remark. Again, they're trying to claim the mantle of being the true spokespeople for the troops. Make no mistake - they've glommed onto this like a pit bull. It's good to see Kerry not rolling over (even though he called it a "botched joke" - it was indeed a rap on Bush's policies, not the military). Someone must have grabbed him by the collar, slapped him silly and told him to stop being a pussy. Fortunately, he listened this time.
The bottom line: Most of America would absolutely agree with Kerry's observation. What the noise machine would like to do is to blur that fact by questioning a combat veteran's loyalty to the troops (SwiftBoating Part II, if you will). Coming to Kerry's defense is the other warhorse with a little experience in the matter, Max Cleland:
"John Kerry is a patriot who has fought tooth and nail for veterans ever since he came home from Vietnam. He has stood with his brothers in arms unlike this administration, which exploits our troops to make a political point and divide America," Cleland said in a statment.
The biggest saboteurs are right here in our own party, not having the guts to give their names:
"He has already cost us one election. The guy just needs to keep his mouth shut until after the election," a top Democratic strategist said Tuesday.
How about the geniuses on our side keep THEIR mouths shut if they can't muster up enough balls to agree with most of America on Iraq? Dear God, if the so-called strategists in our party are going to let the crackheads in the White House define what our people say and run with it as gospel truth, then hand in your goddamn voter registration cards and hit the bricks. We have no use for you.
Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld sent the troops in there without proper armor, with contaminated water, with expired food, with endless redeployments, and INITIALLY, sending them face-first into what was thought to be a pit of gasses, nukes and other WMDs - and they have the brass nutsacks to say KERRY don't support the troops?
Let's talk about THAT, Mr. Bush and Mr. Snow. Let's start saying THAT, Democratic "strategists." You useless dismal pricks.
UPDATE: Go here. See the transcript of today's press conference held by Kerry. You'll see EVERYTHING that the media will resolutely ignore in favor of Bush's prissy fake outrage.
If anyone thinks that a veteran, someone like me, who's been fighting my entire career to provide for veterans, to fight for their benefits, to help honor what their service is, if anybody thinks that a veteran would somehow criticize more than 140,000 troops serving in Iraq and not the president and his people who put them there, they're crazy.
It's just wrong. This is a classic GOP textbook Republican campaign tactic.
I'm sick and tired of a bunch of despicable Republicans who will not debate real policy, who won't take responsibility for their own mistakes, standing up and trying to make other people the butt of those mistakes.
I'm sick and tired of a whole bunch of Republican attacks, most of which come from people who never wore the uniform and never had the courage to stand up and go to war themselves.
Enough is enough. We're not going to stand for this. This policy is broken. And this president and his administration didn't do their homework. They didn't study what would happen in Iraq. They didn't study and listen to the people who were the experts and would have told them.
And they know that's what I was talking about yesterday. I'm not going to be lectured by a White House or by the likes of Rush Limbaugh who's taking a day off from mimicking and attacking Michael J. Fox, who's now going to try to attack me and lie about me and distort me.
No way. It disgusts me that a bunch of these Republican hacks who've never worn the uniform of our country are willing to lie about those who did.
It's over.
Powerful stuff. Too bad no one will have the balls to run it in their "liberal" newscasts.
I'm with Kerry on this one. He fucked up - just a little, nothing even really substantive - but when the Repugs got on him, he didn't play nice like they probably figured he would and show himself, and thus all Dems, as weak. They'da loved that. He did what he should have done two years ago. He hit back. Clinton showed us the way with Cwissy Wallace and now Kerry has done the same to Bush and his whole goddam bunch. It's about fuckin' time somebody did.
Get some, John! Ya done good. Maybe it'll help stiffen some Democratic spines that really need it.
It's even helpin' me! I feel like I'm almost ready to come out of my shell with an opinion once in a while.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)