Showing posts with label George W. Bush. Show all posts
Showing posts with label George W. Bush. Show all posts
Thursday, August 02, 2007
George Bush Really Is A Douche
RenaRF writes in a diary at Daily Kos about President Stupid McDry Drunk blaming democrats in congress about the tragedy in Minnesota.
We also talked about -- in the Cabinet meeting talked about the status of important pieces of legislation before the Congress. We spent a fair amount of time talking about the fact that how disappointed we are that Congress hasn't sent any spending bills to my desk. By the end of this week, members are going to be leaving for their month-long August recess. And by the time they will return, there will be less than a month before the end of the fiscal year on September the 30th, and yet they haven't passed one of the 12 spending bills that they're required to pass. If Congress doesn't pass the spending bills by the end of the fiscal year, Cabinet Secretaries report that their departments may be unable to move forward with urgent priorities for our country.
Bush has threatened to veto all this legislation. The chimp is so full of shit. He doesn't give one good damn about infrastructure repair, or the normal functioning of government. The morning after the bridge collapsed.
I also read that Tony Snow tried to turn the Republican governor of Minnesota into a Democrat and blame him and local officials for the infrastructure troubles. Tony Snow might die of cancer at any time. This disproves the stereotype that people who get sick decide to become nice people. Snow is still an asshole.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
The Blow Job That Roared
Bill Clinton was impeached over lying about a blow job. He wasn't convicted, despite the fact that lawmakers such as Trent Lott voted against impeaching Richard Nixon for his high crimes and misdemeanors, yet thought Clinton's sexual habits were worthy of removal from office.
That is just politics. Impeachment is a political act as much as a legal one. The conviction of Bill Clinton did not occur because the American people were opposed to drumming a man out of office for the high crime of adultery.
Large segments of the media on the other hand, cheered and declared Clinton unfit for office despite what the rabble in the masses thought. They knew better. David Broder famously quipped on the "seriousness" of Clinton's transgressions.
"He came in here and he trashed the place," says Washington Post columnist David Broder, "and it's not his place."
Oddly, like Trent Lott, "Dean" Broder thought the Nixon impeachment was much ado about nothing.
Today, comes word that Karl Rove gave pep talks to U.S. Diplomats on ways they could give help to at risk Republican congress members. The ambassador to Denmark needs to know how to help Chris Shays beat a challenger in order to do his job apparently.
Also today, Alberto Gonzales lied under oath once again, with the response being another stifled yawn. It turns out, under version 583 of Gonzales' story, that he was there talking to a sedated man out of surgery to be helpful.
"We never had any intent to ask anything of him if we did not feel he was competent," Gonzales testified at an oversight hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee, saying that Ashcroft was "lucid" and did most of the talking during the meeting.
There is a litany of abuses. Habaes Corpus, Geneva Conventions, illegal wiretapping, going around the courts, ignoring subpoenas and to call the reaction muted in contrast with the stain upon our constitution that was Monica Lewinsky's navy blue Gap dress would be an understatement.
My question is why. Why is violating our constitution brazenly, repubsively, wantonly and arrogantly less of a crime than a horny middle aged man playing doctor with a twenty-three year old woman? There never is an answer. "Moderate" pundits such as Chris Matthews, David Broder, Maureen Dowd either don't hear the question, or demur from answering.
It does not mean we should stop asking. Anybody who went against the public wishes and demanded that a blow job create a constitutional crisis does not deserve to be listened to discussing inane chatter while our Republic is torn assunder by a disrespect for our constitution that would have even given Richard Nixon pause.
Today is the 33rd anniversary of Nixon being compelled by the courts to turn over the White House tapes. Even Nixon realized that executive privilege was a matter to be litigated by the court. Does anybody feel that serenely about Bush complying even under the order of the Supreme Court?
But, he didn't get a blowjob. There is that.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Reagan Speechwriter Abandons Bush
It's been a slow week in a hot era. I found myself Thursday watching President Bush's news conference and thinking what it is about him, real or perceived, that makes people who used to smile at the mention of his name now grit their teeth.
He's in a good mood. There was the usual teasing, the partly aggressive, partly joshing humor, the certitude. He doesn't seem to be suffering which is jarring. Presidents in great enterprises that are going badly suffer: Loncoln, LBJ with his head in his hands. Why doesn't Mr. Bush? Every major domestic initiative of his second term has been ill thought through and ended in failure. His Iraq leadership has failed. His standing is lower than any previous president's since polling began.
He's in a good mood.
That is a stunning indictment of Bush from Reagan speechwriter and loyalist Peggy Noonan. Nixon even had demons. Carter suffered during the Iran hostage crisis, yet W still acts like a frat boy as his poll numbers drop and our casualty numbers climb.
Laura Bush has famously stated that "no one suffers more than their President and I do." There is no evidence of this. The President still has not attended a military funeral; the only chief executive who has skipped this sacred duty. Bush has not allowed pictures of coffins ton be aired on our screens. During a time of war, he has by far taken more vacation days than any President in history (He broke the record in just over four years).
Now even rock-ribbed conservatives are grasping there is something wrong with the man. No matter what horrors his policies have wrought, he remains chipper without a care in the world. Conservatives recognizing this signals the beginning of the end.Even Republicans have suffered enough.
Monday, July 02, 2007
Let The Historians Historify
The Washington Post has one of those inevitable profiles on how President Bush deals with the fact that he is a miserable failure, and everybody hates him. History is going to judge him! Some of his apologists are quite amusing.
At the nadir of his presidency, George W. Bush is looking for answers. One at a time or in small groups, he summons leading authors, historians, philosophers and theologians to the White House to join him in the search.
Over sodas and sparkling water, he asks his questions: What is the nature of good and evil in the post-Sept. 11 world? What lessons does history have for a president facing the turmoil I'm facing? How will history judge what we've done? Why does the rest of the world seem to hate America? Or is it just me they hate?
Can Jesus microwave a burrito that is so hot he can't eat it?
"His faith is very strong," said Novak, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. "Faith is not enough by itself because there are a lot of people who have faith but weak hearts. But his faith is very strong. He seeks guidance, like every other president does, in prayer. And that means trying to be sure he's doing the right thing. And if you've got that set, all the criticism, it doesn't faze you very much. You're answering to God."
That was crazy neo-con Michael Novak, not crazy paleocon Robert Novak. We have been given a great reminder of why it's a bad idea for a leader to claim to have God on his side, yet Novakn just smells roses. To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, it is not about having God on one's side, but trying to be on the side of God. This is nuance. Something Bush doesn't do too well.
Monday, June 04, 2007
Radar Magazine has a quick peak into the new tome by Jenna Bush called Ana's story. Jenna Bush, typically the butt of jokes (Jenna and Tonica anyone?), attempts to discuss the scourge of AIDS amongst poor women throughout the third world.
With such an earnest subject, Ms. Bush has done well to deflect criticism from those who might point out that her prose—comparing Ana's life to a song, for example ("To me her words and her life are like a song—a song of hope and resiliance. I met with Ana for more than six months and listened to the melody and lyrics of her life."), or the complete and utter lack of any details of place or setting—is, well, not particularly good. And while Ana's message—abuse is bad, AIDS is a reality—seems obvious to the point of stupidity, the book's pro-condom/pro-education message is a kamikaze-like leap from Daddy's nest.
This reminded me of a factoid that rests in my head. George H.W. Bush was a strong advocate for birth control. In his very short term in the House in the 1960's, he acquired a nickname; Rubbers Bush.
Bush Senior was the co-author of the Title X program in 1969 which amongst other things funded planned parenthood and population control. In 1980, he had a born again experience. If he wanted on Reagan's ticket he had to declare that condoms, abortion, and family planning were "icky" to use the scientific jargon. He didn't mean it.
Unfortunately his son does. Bush has continued the ban of federal funds for overseas programs that promote birth control. We as humanity suffer as unwanted children grow up often get the sense that they weren't a blessing, and act accordingly.
Jenna Bush is actually following in her family's history with this advocacy. Critics have argued that Bush Sr. wanted poor dark skinned people to have condoms so they would stop producing so many poor dark skinned children, but in the Bush family, W. is an aberration.
In all sincerity, Jenna Bush is trying to do the right thing, but while advocating condom usage for poor black women at risk for AIDS is a noble gesture, her father and grandfather have put a weight on her shoulders that makes this a venture that many will question from all sides of the political spectrum.
President Bush is a fan of jigsaw puzzles and especially those designed by British painter Howard Robinson, according to Britain's Northern Echo newspaper.
The president is so fond of Mr Robinson's designs that First Lady Laura Bush asked him to paint the family's dogs - Miss Beazley and Barney - for a special puzzle given to the president on his 60th birthday.
Mr Robinson, from County Durham in the north-east of England, told the Northern Echo he was "thrilled" to receive the commission.
"But never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that the President of the United States of America would be sitting in Camp David doing one of my puzzles."
Mr Robinson said he received a "lovely" letter from Mrs Bush saying how much the family had enjoyed the jigsaw.
President Bush got three of the four pieces put together before he asked for Laura's help an hour later, so we should give him the props he deserves.
Saturday, June 02, 2007
He asked grieving mothers of soldiers killed in Iraq to not go selling their presidential coins he gave them on E-Bay.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
There is an article in the Observer detailing the NY Firefighters protesting Giuliani's leadership. Rudy's abrasive manner, and dictatorial style pissed off a lot of NY'ers during his mayoral career. Making the fire fighters stop trying to recover bodies of their comrades at the WTC, was the last straw for those who still had warm tingly feelings about "America's Mayor".
We have all the UFA, the UFOA, and the fire members are all behind us -- the International Association of Fire Fighters,” said Riches. “And we’re going to be out there today to let everybody know that he’s not the hero that he says he is.”
The group’s complaints center on the faulty radios used by the fire department that day and what they say was a lack of coordination at Ground Zero.
And Riches disputes the notion that Giuliani provided any form of leadership on September 11 or in the days following.
“If somebody can tell me what he did on 9/11 that was so good, I’d love to hear it. All he did was give information on the TV”
“He did nothing,” Riches continued. “He stood there with a TV reporter and told everyone what was going on. And he got it from everybody else down at the site.”
Riches is right of course. The mainstream media suggesting that Rudy Giuliani has foreign policy experience because foreigners flew planes into the WTC is ridiculous. If a natural gas leak vented a large explosion and brought the towers down, would he then not have the "requisite experience" in foreign policy. Did Rudy round up terrorists, consult the joint chiefs, and reach out to the diplomatic community or something? Giuliani was Mayor during a disaster, that was compounded by the fact that he signed off on putting the command and control center in a prime terrorist target; the World Trade Center.
The reason that Giuliani is fondly remembered is he wasn't George W. Bush. Reading 'The Pet Goat' for seven minutes after he learned of the attacks and flying around in hysteria to Nebraska to avoid the terrorists wasn't all that comforting.
Giuliani was briefed by people, and related it to the public. He did his job in otherwords. There is a soft bigotry of low expectations for Republicans these days.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Here are some quotes from Thomas Jefferson and from President George W. Bush. In comments, if you like, tell me who said each one.
1.All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.
2.My job is a job to make decisions. I'm a decision -- if the job description were, what do you do -- it's decision maker.
3. Make no mistake about it, I understand how tough it is, sir. I talk to families who die.
4.Information is the currency of democracy.
5.I think -- tide turning -- see, as I remember -- I was raised in the desert, but tides kind of -- it's easy to see a tide turn -- did I say those words?
6.The spirit of this country is totally adverse to a large military force.
7.That's George Washington, the first president, of course. The interesting thing about him is that I read three -- three or four books about him last year. Isn't that interesting?
8. No question that the enemy has tried to spread sectarian violence. They use violence as a tool to do that.
9.Books constitute capital. A library book lasts as long as a house, for hundreds of years. It is not, then, an article of mere consumption but fairly of capital, and often in the case of professional men, setting out in life, it is their only capital.
10.I am mindful of the difference between the executive branch and the legislative branch. I assured all four of these leaders that I know the difference, and that difference is they pass the laws and I execute them.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
President Bush on Tuesday declassified intelligence showing in 2005 Osama bin Laden planned to use Iraq as a base from which to launch attacks in the United States, according to White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe.
Johndroe said the intelligence was declassified so the president could discuss the previously secret material on Wednesday during a commencement address at the Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut.
The speech will be aimed at defending a key part of the president's war strategy -- the contention that the United States cannot withdraw from Iraq because al Qaeda would fill the vacuum in the Middle East.
What the jackass doesn't say is that Osama only started measuring the drapes in Iraq AFTER we fucked things up really badly. Saddam Hussein wasn't too peachy keen on letting a fundamentalist militant set up base in his country in an attempt to put the caliphate back together under religious rule.
Think on this please. Why would a secular, nationalist leader invite somebody to hang out with him, whose goal was to turn Iraq into a greater fundamentalist islamic empire, with religious leaders ruling the place. Anybody? Bueller? That lie the Bush administration told was one of their best/worst ones.
So now, the country is full of chaos, ripe for being toppled, and Osama wants in. It's because Bush fucked up. Period. Osama's rival was toppled, the country was shattered, and we must stay there because of it. Bush never gets to that point. If he acknowledged reality and admitted how badly his insane policies have been, it would be a modicum of proof that his policies would change for the better.
There is the rub that the elites aren't addressing. Bush will not admit or acknowledge mistakes, but we are supposed to just keep following him around as if he has a good idea NOW as to what he is doing.
We are doomed.
Monday, May 21, 2007
President George W. Bush on Monday accused Democrats in Congress who are seeking no-confidence votes on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales of engaging in "pure political theater."
Brushing aside concerns from Republicans as well as Democrats about the effectiveness of the chief U.S. law enforcement officer, Bush said: "He has got my confidence. He has done nothing wrong."
Senate Democrats last week announced plans to offer a resolution of no confidence in Gonzales, and two Democrats in the House of Representatives introduced one on Monday. Neither measure is expected to be voted on until after Congress' week-long recess, set to begin on Saturday.
Bush on the other hand never allows politics to dictate what he does.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Former US President Jimmy Carter has criticised outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair for his "blind" support of the war in Iraq. Mr Carter told the BBC Mr Blair's backing for US President George W Bush had been "apparently subservient".
He said the UK's "almost undeviating" support for "the ill-advised policies of President Bush in Iraq had been a major tragedy for the world".
One quibble. Blair screwed himself, his party, and the world open with his eyes wide open. Nothing blind about it.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Bush on Comey: I'm not talking about it
At a White House press conference, George W. Bush was just asked if he sent Andy Card and Alberto Gonzales to John Ashcroft's hospital room to get him to reauthorize the administration's warrantless wiretapping program. The president's response: "There's a lot of speculation about what happened and what didn't happen, and I'm not going to talk about it."
We'll take that as a yes.
The story, for those not following, is that the President and his minions wanted to do some spying that was so overboard that even John Ashcroft refused to go along with it. John Ashcroft had pancreatitis and turned over power to his deputy James Comey. Comey agreed with Ashcroft that this particular spying plan was illegal. So Andy Card and Alberto Gonzales went to Ashcroft's sick bed, the day after surgery while he was groggy, trying to get him to sign off on the proposal. They apparently hoped that he would sign anything in his drugged state.
Bush refuses to say if he sent them over to do it. I think it's kind of important that we find out. But, I am whacky that way.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Digby has yet another great post on the back and forth between Glenn Greenwald and Joe Klein with some other thoughts along the way. I want to highlight one thing that has driven me nuts for the last six years.
When the equally phony George W. Bush came to town it was love at first sight, and why wouldn't it be? Here you had a man whom these people could truly admire --- a rich man of the bluest blood, born into one of the most powerful families in America who nonetheless pretended to be some hick from Midland Texas. He took great pride in his phoniness, just as they did, and they all danced this absurd kabuki in perfect step for years each pretending to the other that they were all "just regular guys."
George W. Bush's pedigree is pretty much unmatched in this country. His father was President George W. Bush, his grandfather was Connecticut Senator Prescott Bush. The Walker in his middle name stands for the same Walker as in the trophy in Golf. His mother is related to Franklin Pierce, was the daughter of the President of the McCall magazine empire.
George W. Bush summered in Connecticut, went to Andover, Harvard and Yale, and we are supposed to pretend that he is a simple Texas good old boy. As many have noted, his Texas dialect has grown much more pronounced since he actually left Texas to enter the White House.
Bush is the elite of the elites. He has banking, commercial, publishing, political, economic connections that are breathtaking. Why do we play along with his routine of being a simple hick? He may not be all that intellectually curious, but the man wasn't raised in a turnip field either.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
President Bush was pleased with the Attorney General’s testimony today. After hours of testimony in which he answered all of the Senators’ questions and provided thousands of pages of documents, he again showed that nothing improper occurred. He admitted the matter could have been handled much better, and he apologized for the disruption to the lives of the U.S. Attorneys involved, as well as for the lack of clarity in his initial responses.
The Attorney General has the full confidence of the President, and he appreciates the work he is doing at the Department of Justice to help keep our citizens safe from terrorists, our children safe from predators, our government safe from corruption, and our streets free from gang violence.
That is the official press release from the White House. Did they write this crap before the hearing started? Please tell me that they did. In short, Bush is saying Heckofa job Gonzie. Actually Michael Brown is a lawyer. He couldn't do much worse at justice than Gonzales.
Monday, April 16, 2007
French secret services produced nine reports between September 2000 and August 2001 looking at the al Qaeda threat to the United States, and knew it planned to hijack an aircraft, Le Monde newspaper reported on Monday.
One document prepared in January 2001 was entitled "Plan to hijack an aircraft by Islamic radicals", and said the operation had been discussed in Kabul at the start of 2000 by al Qaeda, Taliban and Chechen militants.
Le Monde said the French report of January 2001 had been handed over to a CIA operative in Paris but that no mention of it had been made in the official U.S. September 11 Commission, which produced its findings in July 2004.
Why does Condi Rice still have a job? Why does George W. Bush still have 30% approval? Btw, I don't believe it was a conspiracy; it was incompetency. These people are genuinely feckless, clueless, and disinterested in policy. I am sure this report got sent to somebody who should have done something with this. Likely, Condi Rice knew of the French Intelligence when she spewed her crap stating that we would have no way of knowing they would do such a thing.
But, according to the media, these are the types of people we would like to have beers with so what the heck. Pass me something harder instead, and wake me up in January 2009.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) compared President Bush to former President Nixon today, suggesting Bush is "as isolated" now over the Iraq war as Nixon was during the Watergate scandal, reports Politico's Carrie Budoff.
"The president is as isolated, I believe, on the Iraq issue as Richard Nixon was when he was hunkered down in the White House."
For fun, here is Richard Nixon's I am not a crook speech. Replace crook with evil doer, and have Bush mangling the english language and I can see it happening once again. These Nixon comparisons by the way are totally unfair... to Nixon.
Richard Nixon made the opening to china, signed the EPA legislation, and read books. He even wrote quite a few without Karen Hughes help. Nixon may have been evil and paranoid, but he was intelligent, and willing to change course on an issue when persuaded with facts. It's an insult to Nixon to lump Bush in with him.
Update:Anybody have thoughts on this? Nixon or Bush. My money goes on Bush as being the worst president ever. It's not even close. I would dig up Nixon, put his stinking corpse in the oval office chair, and prop his fingers in the classic V for victory pose. He wouldn't do nearly as much damage as Bush.
Sunday, April 08, 2007
The Washington Post's blog has a disturbing round up of appearances by leading democrats on this week's political gabfests.
Last Sunday, senior Democrats said that they would not hold back funding for the war if the president vetoed a bill including an Iraq withdrawal timetable. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, reiterated that point on ABC's "This Week." He said, "We're not going to vote to cut funding, period."
Should he veto this bill, which means he will be vetoing the money for the troops, we will try to come up with a way, ... trying to compromise with the White House, that both supports the troops and yet changes the strategy in Iraq, which we feel is misguided," Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on "Fox News Sunday."
Let me be blunt here. The democrats are being cowards here. President Bush knows that they were going to blink. Why compromise when you know the other side isn't serious? There appears to be two problems here. The democrats don't have the will to fight on this issue. 70% of americans do want us out of Iraq within a year. George Bush's approval rating is in the low 30's, yet democrats still seem to be institutionalizing their fear of the "popular" president, which only exists in Karl Rove's imagination these days.
The other reason is frankly more cynical. Democrats might think that they can run against the GOP and their war again in 2008 to electoral victory. If they say they tried to stop Bush, but couldn't because of the veto pen, they will run on getting the White House and congress back so they can finally stop the war. This frankly is bullshit.
They can defund the war period. The President has until July until funds run out. The democrats could stand firm and say take our bill or leave it. If you leave it, we will appropriate enough money to hold the troops until the end of summer and to redeploy them. If Bush refuses to go along, then the troops will have to come home for lack of funds to prosecute this war. It is Bush's choice to refuse any compromise. He will be responsible. The democrats are trying to have it both ways here. As a democrat this offends me deeply.
It reminds me of Republican abortion and bashing homosexual promises. No, really, we want to put homosexuals in camps and execute abortion doctors, but those pesky (fill in the blanks) are preventing us from doing it. We just need a few more seats, or the white house, to get it done. A tip to any fundamentalist reading this. They are bullshitting you. They are Lucy, you are Charlie Brown, and if you ever kick the football, you may grow tired of the game.
What isn't being spoken of enough is the fact there are over 3,200 dead americans, an Iraqi nation in shambles, and cynical politics is trumping any of those considerations. The american people are not "as political" as many would imagine. They want leadership. They ache for leaders. It's why Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton were popular even though their policies were not the same.
The right thing to do, the popular thing to do, the only thing to do is to end this war. Do not look at me next summer for campaign donations to "end the war" by electing you, if you failed to do what you can do now. If you play this game over the dead bodies of those in the Iraq quagmire, you are not much better than the Republicans.
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Presidenting is apparently really hard work. He has already spent over 1 year at the ranch, and he barely has had the job for 6 years.
Osama must be hiding in the brush, and he is going to smoke him out.
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