Saturday, May 31, 2008
Fair And Balanced: A Quote From A Conservative With Which I Agree
Well, OK, only pretty much. But first....
My arguement or dispute is this is pretty much focused on the cashing out thing. (Which is not true; McClellan's advance was quite small.) And it doesn't address the possibility that this is a sincere change of heart since leaving the White House.
But I completely agree with the general thrust that the time to argue is while in power, not after the fact, after leaving the position of power.
Link.There are miserable creatures like you in every administration who don't have the guts to speak up or quit if there are disagreements with the boss or colleagues. No, your type soaks up the benefits of power, revels in the limelight for years, then quits, and spurred on by greed, cashes in with a scathing critique...That's from an e-mail sent by former Sen. Bob Dole to former White House press secretary Scott McClellan. The one-time Republican presidential nominee's e-mail was obtained by the Politico.
No doubt you will "clean up" as the liberal anti-Bush press will promote your belated concerns with wild enthusiasm. When the money starts rolling in you should donate it to a worthy cause, something like, "Biting The Hand That Fed Me." Another thought is to weasel your way back into the White House if a Democrat is elected. That would provide a good set up for a second book deal in a few years...
You're a hot ticket now but don't you, deep down, feel like a total ingrate?
My arguement or dispute is this is pretty much focused on the cashing out thing. (Which is not true; McClellan's advance was quite small.) And it doesn't address the possibility that this is a sincere change of heart since leaving the White House.
But I completely agree with the general thrust that the time to argue is while in power, not after the fact, after leaving the position of power.
Friday, May 30, 2008
President McCain's Prior Pronouncements On The Iraq Fandango
How would American troops be greeted?: "I believe… that the Iraqi people will greet us as liberators." (March 20, 2003)Link.
Did Saddam Hussein have a nuclear program that posed an imminent threat to the United States?: "Saddam Hussein is on a crash course to construct a nuclear weapon." (October 10, 2002)
Will a war with Iraq be long or short?: "This conflict is… going to be relatively short." (March 23, 2003)
How is the war going?: "I would argue that the next three to six months will be critical." (September 10, 2003)
How is it going (almost two months later, from the war's "greatest critic")? "I think the initial phases of [the war] were so spectacularly successful that it took us all by surprise." (October 31, 2003)
Is this war really necessary?: "Only the most deluded of us could doubt the necessity of this war." (August 30, 2004)
How is it going? (Recurring question for the war's "greatest critic"): "We will probably see significant progress in the next six months to a year." (December 4, 2005)
Will the President's "surge" of troops into Baghdad and surrounding areas that the senator had been calling for finally make the difference?: "We can know fairly well [whether the surge is working] in a few months." (February 4, 2007)
Newsflash!
On a day when Washington was abuzz with the news that former White House spokesperson Scott McClellan had published a tell-all memoir, President George W. Bush offered his personal reason for not reading it.Link.
“I have no intention of reading Scott McClellan’s book,” Mr. Bush told reporters, “because it’s a book.”
Mr. Bush said he was “surprised” that Mr. McClellan had written a book to criticize him because “if you’re trying to communicate some criticism to me, a book is pretty much the last place you’d put it.”
The president said that he thought the chances of his someday reading Mr. McClellan’s book were “zero,” adding, “If I didn’t read the Iraq Study Group’s report, I really don’t think I’m about to read Scott McClellan’s little book.”
Presidential historian Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota observed that if Mr. McClellan honestly expected his memoir to somehow reach Mr. Bush’s nightstand, “that demonstrates just how little he knows George W. Bush.”
“Scott McClellan would have had a much better shot if he had put his memoir in Xbox 360 format and then slipped it into a package labeled ‘Grand Theft Auto 5,’” he said.
For his part, Mr. Bush said that there was in fact a book published this week that had caught his eye: the new James Bond thrilled entitled “Devil May Care.”
“Now, that book looks like it could be good,” he said. “Maybe I’ll have Laura read it to me.”
How One Guy Thinks We Got Here
1. Limited areas available for offshore drilling;Link.
2. Stopped the rise of CAFE standards for automobiles;
3. Restricted nuclear power generation of Electrical;
4. Federal Reserve policies since 2001 led to a very weak US dollar (raising Oil prices);
5. Energy conservation policies? None
6. Iraq and Afghanistan wars contributing to Middle East tensions
7. No major United States funding for R&D on energy;
8. Kept CAFE standards for light trucks/SUVs much lower than autos;
9. Failed to raise efficiency standards for appliances for decades;
10. Provided no tax incentives for consumer purchases of hybrid automobiles;
11. Suburban Sprawl: Americans, on average, live further from where they work than Europeans do;
12. Mass transit system not a high priority;
13. Allowed tax credits for residential solar power to expire;
14. No special capital gains treatment for VC alt.energy investment
15. Ridiculous corn ethanol policy helped drive food prices higher also;
16. Amongst the lowest gasoline taxes in the developed world;
17. No special capital gains tax treatment for clean energy technology development;
18. Created a tax incentive (ADCS) that encouraged purchases of large inefficient vehicles;
19. Game changing breakthroughs over the past decades in solar, battery, or energy generation technologies? None
20. Exempted light trucks, SUVs, and pickups from gas-guzzler tax;
21. Discouraged clean coal, including gas liquification from coal;
22. Limited (or non-existent) state tax incentives for building energy efficient homes;
23. Failed to aggressively promote compact fluorescent light bulb;
24. Limited hydro-electric power generation;
25. Aggressive tax incentives for battery technology development? None
26. Failed to aggressively promote efficiency improvements for residential energy use, transmission of power, or consumption;
27. No new oil refineries built in the USA over the past 25 years.
Big Media Journos: Not Journalism; Government Propagandists
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think the press corps dropped the ball at the beginning. When the lead-up to the war began, the press corps was under enormous pressure from corporate executives, frankly, to make sure that this was a war that was presented in a way that was consistent with the patriotic fever in the nation and the president's high approval ratings.[more]
And my own experience at the White House was that, the higher the president's approval ratings, the more pressure I had from news executives -- and I was not at this network at the time -- but the more pressure I had from news executives to put on positive stories about the president.
I think, over time...
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: You had pressure from news executives to put on positive stories about the president?
YELLIN: Not in that exact -- they wouldn't say it in that way, but they would edit my pieces. They would push me in different directions. They would turn down stories that were more critical and try to put on pieces that were more positive, yes. That was my experience.
See it all here.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
In Case You Forgot Joe Lieberman Is A Total Wanker And The Worst Kind Of Hypocrite
Senator Joseph Lieberman is scheduled to headline Pastor John Hagee's 2008 Christians United For Israel Washington-Israel Summit this July 22. In accepting Hagee's invitation, Lieberman became the most senior elected representative confirmed to appear at the annual gala. Last year, when Lieberman spoke at Hagee's summit, he compared the Texas televangelist to the biblical prophet Moses, dubbing him "an Ish Elochim," or "a man of God." Unless he rescinds his pledge to appear at this year's summit, Lieberman can be expected to deliver another soul-stirring tribute.[more]
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
A Reminder Not Just For Memorial Day....
This Memorial Day remembering Marine Lance Cpl. Jeff Lucey who was lost to his family, friends and the rest of us fighting the war that stayed in him after Iraq. The anguish, pain and suffering resulting from this war continues to afflict 300,000 veterans every day. One hundred twenty take their own lives every week. To a very great degree vets are left to their own devices to cope with this and related illnesses. These American patriots need to be put at the top of the list, shown the way out of PTSD to the mental health services they desperately need. Jeff’s pain was unrelenting, although hidden. He did relate his stories in letters. He claimed to have been ordered to shoot two Iraqi soldiers at point blank range. He anguished over their age and the moral depravity of war. He took their dog tags and wore them himself. He took his own life June 22, 2004.Link.
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