Gen Zinni:

"When we put [our enlisted men and
women] in harm's way, it had better count for something, It can't be
because some policy wonk back here has a brain fart of an idea of a
strategy that isn't thought out."

WH press congerence - Traitorgate


QUESTION: Scott, just to confirm, the President would rather the Department of Justice launch an investigation of this White House or the broader administration, rather that than him, you know, sort of broadly saying, anybody who works for me who was involved in this, you better 'fess up now, because we don't want to go down the road with the FBI. He'd rather the FBI do it, rather than him give the directive, himself?

Here's the DNC blog entry:
Sep 28, 2003

The second shoe drops

The Justice Department has opened an investigation into allegations that senior adminstration
officials revealed the name of an undercover CIA agent. They revealed the name of Joseph
Wilson's wife as political retribution for his report that President Bush's claim about Iraq buying
uranium from Africa was false.

And according to a Washington Post story this morning, the senior officials shopped the story
around to six different reporters before conservative columnist Robert Novak took the bait:

Yesterday, a senior administration official said that before Novak's column ran,
two top White House officials called at least six Washington journalists and
disclosed the identity and occupation of Wilson's wife. Wilson had just revealed
that the CIA had sent him to Niger last year to look into the uranium claim and that
he had found no evidence to back up the charge. Wilson's account touched off a
political fracas over Bush's use of intelligence as he made the case for attacking
Iraq.

"Clearly, it was meant purely and simply for revenge," the senior official said of
the alleged leak.

Sources familiar with the conversations said the leakers were seeking to undercut
Wilson's credibility. They alleged that Wilson, who was not a CIA employee, was
selected for the Niger mission partly because his wife had recommended him.
Wilson said in an interview yesterday that a reporter had told him that the leaker
said, "The real issue is Wilson and his wife."

A source said reporters quoted a leaker as describing Wilson's wife as "fair game."

The facts are starting to come out. Don't let the administration bury this story or let Ashcroft
get away with an investigation that doesn't hold the White House accountable.

Write letters to the editor, call talk radio shows, send this story to your friends. It's going to
take enormous public attention to keep the Bush administration from doing everything it can to
push this story under the rug.

Update: Ambassador Wilson be on C-SPAN's "Washington Journal" Monday morning at 7:45.
Tune in if you can.

And in comments to our "first shoe" story, Leah Faerstein points us to this interesting quote
from the first President Bush in a speech at the CIA:

Even though I'm a tranquil guy now at this stage of my life, I have nothing but
contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our
sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious, of traitors.

Posted by Jesse Berney @ 17:13 :: Comments (19)

Open Thread 9/28

I shared my quote with the DNC blog and they mentioned me by name today. Wash Post article ends thusly:


Democrats e-mailed a quotation from former president George H.W. Bush, a
former CIA director, who said in 1999 at the dedication of the agency's
new headquarters that those who expose the names of intelligence sources
are "the most insidious of traitors."

Poppy on what Rove did to Plame (or others):

Even though I'm a tranquil guy now at this stage of my life, I have nothing but contempt and
anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view,
the most insidious, of traitors."
Remarks By George Bush
41st President of the United States,
At the Dedication Ceremony for the George Bush Center for Intelligence
26 April 1999

NYT editorial:

This is clearly an uncomfortable question for the Bush administration. Yesterday, Secretary of
State Colin Powell met with Times editors. Asked whether Americans would have supported
this war if weapons of mass destruction had not been at issue, Mr. Powell said the question
was too hypothetical to answer. Asked if he, personally, would have supported it, he smiled,
thrust his hand out and said, "It was good to meet you."

Quote of the Day

"The $87 billion request for Iraq and Afghanistan
is less than 4% of the entire federal budget next
year - about the same amount as Americans spend
on cosmetics." - Ed Gillespie, RNC Chairman

Here's the text from Al Sharpton's opening remarks at today's debate:

SHARPTON: Well, first of all, as the only New Yorker, I want to
welcome General Clark to New York and I want to welcome him to our
list of candidates. And don't be defensive about just joining the
party. Welcome to the party. It's better to be a new Democrat that's
a real Democrat, than a lot of old Democrats up here that have been
acting like Republicans all along.

Debates frenzy and magic in NYC

The New York Clarkies met downtown - in the little park across the old Customs House (now the
American Indian museum). We were a huge crowd - enthusiastic and bearing good signs. We
waited for a while - with some loud stadium music blaring at us. Clark came and "worked the
rope" as the lingo goes, I got to tell him to stick with "This Land is Your Land" - because it
resonates with a lot of my friends. He thanked me. Afterward we started walking towards Pace
University - the debate site (about 20 blocks away) giving away Clark bars. We were a smaller
group now but very spirited. A Columbia group had a whole song and dance routine (one on the
theme of "Sound off" ) Their signs were theme coordinated "Another Chocolate lover for Clark"
Another bad dancer for Clark" aso.We got to the City Hall Park were Dean was having a rally. We
did our song and dance on a different part of the park with the cameras following us. At Pace
large groups with professionally made signs were converging: Dean, Kerry, a few guys for
Lieberman and a vocal group for Sharpton. As the large group of Deanies crossed the street
from the park to Pace we engaged in dueling chants - but in a friendly way. Privately, we were
telling each other - I'd vote for your guy - no problem" As the dueling chants went on, our brilliant
Lu, sensed the vibe and started a new chant: DOWN WITH BUSH! Deanies joined in and we made
some good music. Now the cop that up to that moment had no problem with our raukus, suddenly
turned sour and waved us away from the Pace entry. As we crossed the street, our chant grew:
DOWN WITH BUSH! DOWN WITH BUSH! Kerry people joined in: DOWN WITH BUSH! The few men in
shirts and ties carrying Lieberman signs joined in too. Only the Sharpton gang stuck to their own
chants - odd, considering how courteous their candidate was to ours.
No matter. It was at that moment I knew: bush is toast!
--

Dick Morris advises W:

"The advice that I’d be giving to Bush is that he ought to do an Act Three in the war on terror — it’s good policy and good politics — which is Iran. Not that we ought to invade Iran – it’s 65 million people, we don’t want to do that, it’s too dangerous for us to do that – but to talk about it a lot and begin to take strong economic measures against Iran. … The only reason we forgave him for not finding [Osama] bin Laden is because he was busy with Iraq, and the only reason we’ll forgive him for the mess in Iraq is because he’s busy with Iran. None of these countries lends themselves to simple and easy solutions......"

The most rewarding paragraph - TNR on Clark becoming frontrunner:

If voters can forgive these missteps, than the Washington
establishment and political reporters will be forced to forgive them.

Conason on Clark:

"
overweening ambition. He was painted as
both a patsy for war
criminals and a hothead who almost started
a war with the Russians. He
has been bushwhacked with exaggeration in
every publication from
The Nation to the American Spectator to The
New York Times.

Hey, that's
me under the NYC loves Clark sign!

Back from Clark's speech on economy

There were about 100 of us on this brilliant NYC morning (it poured here yesterday for W, but
cleared up when he left). We were by the east River, sparkling in the sun, in Lower East Side - a neighborhood not often used as background for political speeches. An army of reporters - Snafulopagos, Kurtzman from CBS and many I
couldn't recognize. Clark came in and immediately started shaking hands.
Then he delivered that great speech - I hope you got it on C-Span. He got us hopping with the "new
patriotism" (dissent is patriotic). His economic ideas were good too and I love the way he preempted the "are you
raising taxes?" thingy: "I am not raising anything. I am simply moving money from places it
doesn't work for us in places it will help"
I positioned myself right behind him with my double sign (NYC LOVES CLARK - SILVER STARS VS
SILVER SPOON" and "CLARK FOR JOBS") - exposing both sides to the cameras.
After he finished, he came back to us. He shook hands, laughed with some he knew already -
than grabbed two lucky guys by the shoulders and sort of huddled with us in football team
fashion. He gave us a great pep talk - I wish I could quote verbatim but I was too excited. In
effect he said he is in this because we asked him , that he needs our help and he's counting on us
to be strong because we need to change the future of this country and ended with "We're going
to win this thing." I thanked him for coming to my neighborhood and left floating on air.
I gave two interviews on the way out. One for a Pittsburgh publication to a pretty interviewer
who seemed as enthusiastic as I was. A second one to CBS - where I was able to peddle my sound
byte : "It's the Democracy, stupid" in explaining why Clark above everyone else.
I am telling you guys, this guy is a winner!

--

Chiraq at UN:

Do not succumb to a show of might...
We reject the policy of fait accompli...

"I cannot support a failed foreign policy...
  But before we get deeper embroiled into this Balkan quagmire, I think that an assessment has to
  be made of the Kosovo policy so far. President Clinton has never explained to the American people
  why he was involving the U.S. military in a civil war in a sovereign nation, other than to say it is for
  humanitarian reasons, a new military/foreign policy precedent."
   Tom Delay (R-Moron)  4/28/99

Willie Brandt posted on DU:

Why I will not support ClarkEdited on Mon Sep-22-03 11:21 PM by WillyBrandt
Reading DU, I have decided to renounce my support for Wesley Clark. Here is why:
- A man named Michael Jackson said that Clark was crazy. He tried to seize an airstrip that the Russians did not want him to seize, and almost started World War III. I will trust the WW III jibe on its own merits. Also, there is no way the American people will vote for a man who stands up to the Russians.
- I read a virulently anti-Clinton, anti-Democrat website called CounterPunch that Clark is no good for the Democratic party. Therefore, I will trust them, since their hatred of my party shows they have my party's best interests in mind.
- Clark has no political positions, except for those he has articulated. And while those he has articulated are liberal, that is only evidence that he secretly holds right-wing beliefs.
- I have a link to a right-wing publication trashing Clark, he is no good for the Democrats. Clinton, Carter, Kennedy and Roosevelt were never trashed irrationally by both the right and left!
- Does anybody know whether the the quote "Clark would personally crowbar hobos for fun" is actually true? Stop saying I'm smearing him! These are my theories! Do you have any proof that he DIDN'T crowbar hobos? EVER?
- I am PROUD of my vote for Nader. Hey! Don't call me retarded! Stop it! Stop it!
- While Clark sounds like a centrist and thinks like a liberal, Dean sounds like a liberal and thinks like a centrist. It is clear that the latter is better for the Democratic Party, since he is less likely to get elected, and less likely to push forth liberal positions if he is.
- Clark was pushed into the Democratic Party by sneaky Republican operatives, who wish to secure a Bush victory by electing a Democratic president.
- The hatred the GOP has for Clinton is evidence that he is a Republican. Therefore his friend Wesley Clark is a Republican.
- Clark voted Republican about 20+ years ago, therefore he is not a Democrat. The fact that right-wing Reagan was once a devoted Democratic is not a counterexample by proposition X, which I leave unspecified.
- Alright, so some Nader fans are retarded, but I'm not! Alright!?
- Because I'm a REAL Democrat, I will not support the Democratic nominee unless s/he is X.
- Clark has the potential to expand the party by bringing in culturally disaffected and politically disenchanted Reagan Democrats, while taking positions more liberal than the other candidates. Unfortunately, those Reagan Democrats are dirty, and shaking their hands is too high a price to pay for power.
- Except for his experience in high-level diplomacy, ever-rising poll ratings, and evident ease in front of the camera, he is too much a political novice to win.
- Since the Constitution grants the franchise only to those who (1) are members of DU; and (2) are extremely irrational, there is no way Clark can win the presidency.

Quote of the Day:


Bush said he insulates himself from the "opinions" that seep into news coverage by getting his
news from his own aides. He said he scans headlines, but rarely reads news stories.

"I appreciate people's opinions, but I'm more interested in news," the president said. "And the
best way to get the news is from objective sources, and the most objective sources I have are
people on my staff who tell me what's happening in the world."

Bart's Dueling quotes:

 Dueling Quotes

"The Democratic Party seems to think that Saddam did not hit us on 9-11, but Halliburton did."
       --Ann Coulter, September 13, 2003

"No, we've had no evidence that Saddam was involved with 9111."
      -- Never-elected Moron, September 17, 2003

Jay LenoJay Leno: "According to the latest Zogby poll of American voters -- listen to this -- Al
Gore right now, you know he's not running. Al Gore leads George Bush 48% to 46%. Isn't that incredible?
Bush two points behind Al Gore. You know what that means? If the election were held today, Bush would
win again." (9/20/2003)

GOP petition drive to recall Clark's announcement



Republicans are also exploring other ways to use the courts to block
Clark's candidacy. The RNC is seeking a permanent injunction to stop
Clark from entering the race, on the grounds that it would
constitute an infringement of their alleged trademark, President®.

Clark on war vote:


"I would have never voted for war," Clark told Reuters before
delivering a foreign policy speech at the University of Iowa. "I'm a
soldier. I understand what war's about, but I would have voted for
the right kind of leverage for the president to head off war and
avoid it."

"President Bush is asking Congress for $80 billion dollars to re-build Iraq. And when you make
out that check, remember there are two L's in Halliburton."

- David Letterman, "Late Show," September 8, 2003

Ted Kennedy:
"There was no imminent threat. This was made up in Texas, announced in January to the
Republican leadership that war was going to take place and was going to be good politically. This
whole thing was a fraud," the Massachusetts Democrat told the AP.

Quote of the Day:


Jay Leno: "Today, retired General Wesley Clark announced he is
running for president of the US. Pretty amazing guy. Four star
general, graduated first in his class at West Point, supreme
commander of NATO, served combat in Vietnam. What, he won the bronze
star, silver star, the purple heart. Wounded in battle. See, I'm no
political expert, but that sounds pretty good next to choking on a
pretzel, falling off a scooter and dropping the dog."

Letter to White House.Org



SUBJECT = the economy
NAME = John Winfield Bates
MESSAGE = I believe you economic advisor had played out his options. There's little
time left. I don't want a Democrat or Howard Dean as President. Who was Bill
Clinton's economic advisor. How did he turned around the economy so quickly? What
did he use? Something had to be done for Clinton to ride the surf of a high economy.
Have you check out Pat Robinson or any Christian economists?

Fearless leader getting out of harm's way - again!

Later Wednesday, Bush flew to Camp David, Md., a day early because of the approach of Hurricane Isabel.
snip
That period is exactly when the brunt of the storm was expected to reach the Washington area.
http://www.optonline.net/Article/Feeds?CID=channel%3D32%26article%3D9112388

On Clark:



"He is brilliant, he is brave, and he is a good man," Clinton said.

Quote of the Day

"It would be hard if the U.N. were running it -- Halliburton might have to bid for their contracts,"
Bill Clinton

Door to door in NYC

Well, of course one doesn't dare do that here. We hit the streets in NYC!
An enthusiastic group armed with signs, noise makers and Clark bars descended on Time Square
tonight. My first recipient, a distinguished gentleman with white beard said: "Thanks! I shall eat it
with a knife and fork like Mr. Pips" ("I love Seinfeld too", I said). And so it went: soon, street
performers, the theater crowd, cops and the uniformed guys at the recruitment center were all
munching on bars and reading the cards (very few were discarded - I rescued them). The guy
with the little alligator, the one with the huge yellow snake draped around his neck, the
saxophone player and the guy with the mohawk were all seriously reading the card. We had very
few negative reactions: "Get a clue" and "Bush/Clark" and the strangest to me: "I don't eat
chocolate" After picking my jaw from the floor I handed him a card without a bar.
I had almost emptied half of a heavy duty plastic bag and on the way home, in the train I handed
most of the rest. "We are moonies now" one of us called to the rest of us. Maybe, but then it's fun to be a moonie.

Condi: We never linked AlQuaeda to Saddam. But the war resolution sez:

"Whereas members of al-Qaida, an organization bearing responsibility for attacks on the United States, its citizens, and interests, including the attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, are known to be in Iraq;"
http://www.webdesignsbycarson.com/warres.html 
 Alert

Mission Accomplished!
We drafted Wesley Clark!

Ironic Times:

U. S. NEWS
White House Split on Terror War
Some want to exaggerate achievements, others to overstate threat.

Quote of the day:
""This will allow Grey Davis and Cruz Bustamante to overturn an election."
Darrel Issa on the court decision postponing the recall

"The American people, not 5 percent of them know Bush gave me a tax cut and then
  kicked children out of after-school programs. They are not putting those things together.
 All we have to do is make it clear what our differences are."
   -- Big Dog

Fox News spokeswoman Irena Briganti said of Amanpour's comments: "Given the choice, it's better to be viewed as a foot soldier for Bush than a spokeswoman for al-Qaeda."

Commenting on Amampur's assertion that Bushco and Faux intimidated the press in war reporting

Quote of the Day


"Nobody believed me when I said Hillary Clinton would be the next
senator from New York. And nobody believes me now. But Wesley Clark
will be the next president of the United States."

-- Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.)

"The highest calling of the armed forces is
not to wage war, but to prevent war."

Wesley Clark

Clinton's speech:

Democrats want to fall in love while GOP only want to fall in line. So, go ahead, fall in love now, but after the primaries, fall in line"

"It's time to make more friends than enemies"

"bush made all these cuts just to give me a tax cut"

Clark vs media

Zahn: "Which candidate will you hurt most?"
Clark: "The pResident"

Alterman:
Anyway, tough luck, guys. Starve us all you like. Make our senators and representatives beg for a lousy $13 billion while you shower 20 times that much — to say nothing of the lives lost and the families uprooted — on the quagmire you demanded. (The $87 billion is just a down payment.) Refuse the victims’ families the right to any information about just why you were so asleep at the switch when your country needed you to protect it. Send John Ashcroft to arrest us if we take out the wrong library books or wear unpopular T-shirts. We’re not going anywhere. I just bought a new place and the kid started kindergarten in the very public schools you are trying to leave behind. And though you wisely decided to stay away today, Mr. President, come September 2004, you’ll be hearing from us.

Krugman predicts:


"The result, clearly, will be an ugly, bitter campaign—probably the
nastiest of modern American history. Four months ago it seemed that
the 2004 campaign would be all slow-mo films of Bush in his flight
suit. But at this point, it's likely to be pictures of Howard Dean or
Wesley Clark that morph into Saddam Hussein. And Donald Rumsfeld has
already rolled out the stab-in-the-back argument: If you criticize the
administration, you're lending aid and comfort to the enemy."

"I am committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the
President next year."
- Wally O'Dell, CEO Diebold Voting Systems

bush in Georgia:

"2 1/2 years ago our country was.......uh......2 years ago our country was attacked by"terrasts."

It's after all, 9.11.

Freeper classic:

According to the Democrats, success is bombing Serbia for a couple months, capitulating to most of Milosevic's demands and then declaring victory, whereas failure is taking Iraq and holding it for nearly six months with fewer than 400 service deaths.

Dear MWO:

I don't believe, if you look at facts, that Mr. Bush has succeeded at anything. Arbusto, Spectrum 7, Harkin, all were money losing ventures. Texas is in trouble. It seems that the United States is rapidly becoming just another Bush failure. Hopefully, family connections will bail us out.


Robert Campbell / Chamois Moon

From the Clark Tribune - Sept 6

tical to getting Clark support
for his run to the White House (crossing my fingers). The quote of the day comes
from Leah Faerstein:

"A very anti-military democratic voter was converted to support Clark by what he said
... it was the raising of the political discourse 'not Iraq, not the economy, but the
need to restore the debate in society as basis for making decisions.
Dean surged in polls because he identified our anger. But it's Clark who figured
the real cause. It's not the unwarranted war - upsetting as it was. It's being called
focus groups. It's not the destroying of the economy as much as the stealing of my
vote. This is the theme: 'It's the Democracy, stupid'"

Families for Peaceful Tomorrow

organized a pilgrimage to Ground Zero from Union Square - Circle of Hope. We were to encircle the site with our lights and observe silence in the memory - not only of those who died on September 11, but all the victims of violence - in Afghanistan, Iraq, ME and other parts of the world.
Some thousands of Colombians - some dressed in white, hats, carrying elabirate floral arrangements intermingled with us turning the vigil in some sort of a carnival/Columbian rally (they did come from Columbia to pay homage).
I haven't been at Ground Zero these two years - it was the right way to finally do it.
There were lists of names, pictures, flowers, signs: "DO NOT BUID ON MY SISTER'S GRAVE". it was very emotional. Many hundreds of thousands of people were there.

Senator Robert Byrd speaking to Paul Wolfowitz on the floor of the senate...

"Congress is not an ATM Machine."

Robert Scheer on W's demand:

How can the president tell us with a straight face that we taxpayers have a patriotic duty to cough up
$87 billion more to enable him to sink us deeper into the Iraq quagmire of his making? That's a lot of money on top of the
$79 billion already appropriated by Congress in April -- enough to bail out California and every other state experiencing a
budget crisis because of economic problems this president has only exacerbated. Shouldn't those who warned against
Bush's folly at least qualify for another one of his signature tax rebates?

"They closed Wall Street for Asscroft! One needed an ID to get in!"

        


Our protest was on Broad street - close enough - and with the sound on - I think we were heard if not seen. It was a nice turn-out - abouy 5000 by my estimate. Not bad for a work day in NYC! The crowd was very fired - especially when the "abusing the 9.11" was mentioned. NYC is hopping mad!

Response to DU thread: Does Dean's anger scare off voters?

I am political and angry and not bery happy with his way
of showing his anger. I went to the NYC rally - trully open minded and ready to give him a shot. I was awed by the organization. I was underwhelmed by his speech.
My full conversion to Clark happened after that (and partly because of it + NRA).
I always have this mixed reaction to his speeches. They usually look much better on paper than from his mouth.
Ex: someone posted what he said campaigning for Davis - I was impressed. Then I watched him saying it - when he said "It's not about Davis's record" it sounded to me like "sure, Gore may be stiff, but..." - a non-defense defense. The tone implied: "he may be shitty, but....
Clark delivers deadly blows calmly ans sweetly ("nice uniform - many wore it with honor" or "what may sound good in Texas doesn't necessarily sound good in the rest of the world"). More effective, inspiring, voters attractive.
I am just describing my personal process of picking a candidate here. The perceptions of a very angry Democrat.

MF bush is in an elementary school in Florida today. Memories...

From Kristen Breitweiser article in Salon:
" Can you imagine one of those second-graders years from now when
they are asked where they were on the morning of 9/11? They will simply
say, "I was sitting with the President reading him a story."

Response to a GOP-er for Clark:

here's one view: I became fierce Democrat in 2000 when my vote was stolen (was independent
before). Last night, as we were cruising from one meet-up location to another, I discover I was
riding in the cab with 2 former Nader voters in 2000 (after telling them that a few month ago I
was trying to draft Gore). My first reaction was: "I am surrounded!" Then I said: Just the fact
that the 3 of us are riding together to a Clark event tells you something. We elaborated on it,
and they both insisted that it wasn't so much the aversion to bush as being genuinely impressed
with Clark. There was no party discussion at the meet-up and your friend would be wise to keep
her partisan views for other venues too. There was a reason the general kept his affiliation
undeclared for a while. He wants to reach accross party lines. You are the proof he succeeded.
let's keep our eye on the ball.

The worst part comes when the president meets a young
mother and child who are desperately searching for their missing father
and husband. President Bush takes the picture of the child's father and
signs his name across it, telling the young girl, "When your daddy comes
back, tell him you met me." For a child and wife facing the devastating
loss of a loved one who very likely has just been burned, crushed and
buried in rubble, meeting the president doesn't rightly matter. Nor does
it matter having his signature scrawled across a photo that you wanted
to display on a wall of missing victims -- something that would have
offered at least a glimmer of hope.

How can anyone say I am againat immingrants? I did four films in Mexico!

DU, You Have Just Witnessed History; GOP Is Choking on Their Spew by Starpass
......I've waited decades for this moment. You will never know what a freedom I feel this evening. YOU have witnessed history this evening: you have seen that what "goes around, JUST DONE DID COME AROUND!!! Hang a second with me...you don't know what you just witnessed with this asshole in chief's speech.
Ronnie and the repukes preached the gospel of greed and it became the repuke screed for decades. They sold us on "ME ME" and told us that it was bleeding heart liberal shit to spend a fucking dime on someone else---it was the ruin of this nation. They taught us to hate 'cause it's easier to not spend a dime on your neighbor if you hate them then if you care for them. They told us to puke and fight any and all taxes because it's YOUR MONEY. They wrapped it in a flag and added a cross as an accessory. The rightwing preachermen on tv (and elsewhere--and I saw it) told us that this is what Jeeesus meant--he didn't want us to help others because it "enabled" them (Christ must be picking slivers from the cross out of his butt and saying "don't you fucking nail that on me")! And now tonight this regime rests on the total anthesis of what the scum have preached.
They want us to "love Iraqis more than ourselves" and spend and sacrifice for them. The Americans that they have trained so well won't spend a dime to help the children of their own community (schools, etc.)--- do they think they give a fuck about foreigners with brown skin whom the repukes have preached are slimy, Muslim, foreign devils (huh, Falwell, do they)?? Do they think this greedy society doesn't care that much about their financial security and comforts that they want to give it all away to some bastards who they think will eventually steal their jobs??? Do they think they want to PAY THE FUCKING NATIONAL DEBT FROM THEIR OWN POCKETS (taxes) for "freedom for Iraq". All you have to do is listen to call-ins to C-Span......the repukes refer to how great George is because he's keeping the terrorists busy over there and, thus, not here. Ahhhh, I thought we were suppose to be thrilled at liberating these people (the last excuse for George when no WMDS, etc. showed up)...but it seems it's okay to blow these fuckers to hell 'cause they are foreign trash to save our own skin---get the picture, folks. We don't care about these people because the repukes taught us not to. And now Bush NEEDS us to care to give him bizillions and pay for it AND to LOVE HIM AND WORSHIP HIM FOR HIS GENEROSITY (a word they laughed at and made a joke of here in America)....ain't gonna happen George. You animals did your job too well. America doesn't care....you made them that way and now you can't get them to feel all warm and fuzzy so that you can hold your ill-gotten job.

Poppy's skeletons falling out of the closet?

Bone, organs found near Bush Maine home
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine -- A woman walking along a beach about a mile from former President
Bush's summer home Sunday found what appeared to be body parts on the shore, police said.
The state medical examiner will inspect the items, which include at least one bone and what
appeared to be internal organs, said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the state Public Safety
Department. He said it wasn't immediately known if they were human.

Posted on DU by Atomic cat:

Coulter, Hannity, Fox News, etc. are the masturbation wing
of the Neo Conservative movement. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc. are it's very ugly climax. The movement has shot it's wad. We are now in the Tissue stage, where the hand that once concerned itself only with stroking must instead focus on clean up.

Predictions for W's speech on DU - Alfredo

Good evening
Tonight I want to talk you you about bowel movements. I am not talking about those little balls that drip and drop, I am talking power dumps. You know, the type that take two flushes. The type that leaves your bung hole tired.
Do you know that I have just peed my pants. It's nice and warm.
Oh, where was I? Yes I was talking about when I was a fighter pilot, I peed my pants then too. I have a piece of popcorn stuck in the back of my mouth and it is driving me crazy.
You know, I can see myself in the TV camera, and there am I on that TV over there. I am waving back at me. I like TV but I can't eat pretzels when I watch anymore. Karl won't let me. Uncle Dick tries to get me to eat them, but he scares me. I don't like playing kiss the snake with him.
But seriously, you have to wash your hands when you are done, the backs too. Mommy told me that.
I'm going home and play Nitendo.

From bush's secret order confiscating Iraq's national property:
I further
determine that the United States is engaged in armed
hostilities and that it is in the interest of the
United States to confiscate certain additional property
of the former Iraqi regime, certain senior officials of
the former regime, immediate family members of those
officials, and controlled entities. I intend that such
property, after all right, title, and interest in it
has vested in the Department of the Treasury, shall be
transferred to the Development Fund for Iraq

BBC on France's turn:


The US wants Iraqis to assume more of the security burden

"France's only mistake was to have been right too early," said the conservative newspaper Le Figaro.

"Why should it spill the blood of its soldiers and jeopardise the credibility of its diplomacy just to assure the re-election of George W Bush?

"Bush's strategy is insolent. He is calling for help, then trying to dictate the terms of the rescue," it said.

Salon: Would you like some freedom fries with your crow, Mr pResident?

Let me make sure I've got this right. After being insulted, belittled and called
irrelevant by the swaggering machos in the Bush administration, the United Nations is now
supposed to step forward to supply cannon fodder for America's disastrous Iraq occupation --
while the U.S. continues to run the show?

In other words, the rest of the world is to send its troops to get killed so that a U.S. president it
fears and despises can take the credit for an invasion it bitterly opposed.


The rest of the world may be crazy, but it ain't stupid.

General Zinni on the war in Iraq:

"My contemporaries, our feelings and sensitivities were forged on the battlefields of Vietnam, where we heard the garbage and the lies, and we saw the sacrifice," said Mr Zinni, who was severely wounded while serving as an infantry officer in Vietnam. "I ask you, is it happening again?"
He spoke to US army and Navy in Sidney - warmly received, tapes + CDs bought of his speech

Moveon:


Our work to connect the dots is taking hold. CNN "Inside Politics"
today aired a segment with this theme: "The 4 R's: Remove (Clinton),
Recount (Florida), Redistricting (Texas), Recall (California)",
featuring interviews with the Senators. The national media is
getting the message!

Wolfowitz accomplishment:

WASHINGTON (AP) The bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad was ''a
breakthrough, a sad one''

Mark Morford:
== Let Them Eat Cake Off Lynne Cheney's Cellulitic Thigh ==

The nation's rocky economy sent 1.4 million more people into poverty
last year, a Census Bureau survey found. Nearly half of the newly
impoverished were children. Roughly 17.2 percent of children, or 12.2
million, lived in poverty in 2002, up from 16.4 percent, or over 11.5
million, in 2001, according to the American Community Survey results.
President Bush, distressed at the news, immediately gave huge tax
relief to the wealthiest Americans in the nation, slashed welfare and
school budgets and moneys for social programs of a thousand different
varieties, and gutted the national budget so severely that the states
were required to sell off their prettiest little girls to Thailand to
make extra cash just to pay for water and electricity and shopping mall
maintenance. Meanwhile, the GOP simply didn't give a damn, everyone
with any sense of tenderness or concern felt this crushing sense of
bitter ennui and sad detachment coupled with an overwhelming urge to
take a long hot bath and drink fine scotch and try to numb the savage
karmic pain, and one million unwanted dogs in shelters all across the
country waited, patiently, for someone to come and take them home.
There. Can we all just scream now?

TNR on Kerry "voting on the threat of war"




Now, maybe Kerry believed that the vote was actually one of those wink-wink, nudge-nudge sort of deals; maybe he thought that President Bush would consult Congress before actually making good on any threats. But particularly since the resolution specifically stated that Bush needn't report to Congress about the attacks until 48 hours after they began, Kerry probably understood what the vote meant--and simply felt it was the right thing to do based on the information presented at the time. Whether or not he now regrets that decision, he should be honest about it

I Cannot believe This speech (bush in Kansas City)
posted on DU by realpolitik:

cannot believe his speech.
It was a play to his base, corporate America.
I watched those stepford execs stagger in
the unaccustomed light of day. In a waddling line
of suits that tested the limits of a single button, well tanned
I.T. 'entrepreneurs' from Sprint, and worried looking progeny, the
Johnson County wallets were there to applaud the same old thing, hoping that it would work this time, as it did not for his father or Ronnie.
A few stared at the chanting, sign waiving crowd across the street with the smug self righteous attitude of a Rush Limbaugh, some looked at the protesters sheepishly, but most avoided looking directly across the street at all. It was too painful to stare at the truth, and they did not come for the truth. They were there to cheer on the man who was looting their country, in hope more blood soaked money would trickle down on a rising tide of Iraqi oil.
In short, they were toadies, and they knew it.

Voltaire's comment on DU to article:

"Bush Salutes Workers on Labor Day's Weekend":

"Like having syphillis salute your nervous system"

the Chief Prosecutor at the Nuremberg
Tribunal.
"We must make clear to the Germans that the wrong for which their fallen leaders are
on trial is not that they lost the war, but that they started it. And we must not allow
ourselves to be drawn into a trial of the causes of the war, for our position is that no
grievances or policies will justify resort to an aggressive war. It is utterly renounced and
condemned as an instrument of policy". -- Supreme Court Justice Robert L. Jackson