Wingnuts freaking out

WingNut Daily is just FURIOUS because the official caption on the photo of Mary Cheney's and Heather Poe's new baby calls them "parents." (I kid you not. If wingnuts aren't bursting a blood vessel over SOMETHING, they aren't happy.)

Let's see if Cheney - who has gone BALLISTIC whenever any Democrat has even MENTIONED Mary Cheney, however respectfully - says ANYTHING when right-wingers actively attack and smear his daughter and her partner

I'm betting not.

VP's lesbian caption ignites 'sinful' fury
White House calls Mary Cheney, Heather Poe 'parents' of new baby
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

It was just a few words in the fine print under a news release photograph of Vice President Dick Cheney, his wife Lynne and their newborn grandson, Samuel David Cheney, but it has Christian organizations praying for the sins of the administration.

The caption included the words: "...His parents are the Cheneys' daughter Mary, and her partner, Heather Poe. White House photo by David Bohrer."

"I say shame on the White House, shame on the president and shame on the vice president for allowing such a caption to be 'officially' added onto the White House website and such a beautiful photo of two happy grandparents and their new grandchild," said Stephen Bennett, founder of Stephen Bennett Ministries, which advocates for those who choose to leave the homosexual lifestyle.

Lies from the right-wing media.

"If we quit Vietnam, tomorrow we'll be fighting in Hawaii,and next week we'll have to fight in San Francisco." - LBJ

"We are fighting that enemy in Iraq and Afghanistan today, so that we do not meet him again on our own streets, in our own cities." - Bush

Source: Common Dreams

We already knew this

That Valerie Plame was covert, that is.

An unclassified summary of outed CIA officer Valerie Plame's employment history at the spy agency, disclosed for the first time today in a court filing by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, indicates that Plame was "covert" when her name became public in July 2003.

The summary is part of an attachment to Fitzgerald's memorandum to the court supporting his recommendation that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's former top aide, spend 2-1/2 to 3 years in prison for obstructing the CIA leak investigation.

Unfortunately, the right-wing nutjobs STILL won't believe it because...well, because they're nutjobs.

A Republican has a fine idea.

"I would like to suggest that maybe we give Paul Wolfowitz a new job and send him over [to Iraq] as mayor since the neocons got us in over there." - Rep. Walter Jones (R - Returned to His Senses)

Rep. Jones was a serious backer of the Iraqi War.

Well, when we said 'succeed,' we didn't exactly mean 'succeed.'

WASHINGTON — U.S. military leaders in Iraq are increasingly convinced that most of the broad political goals President Bush laid out early this year in his announcement of a troop buildup will not be met this summer and are seeking ways to redefine success.

Everytime I look at this the sheer incompetence of these morons still astounds me.

"But some counterinsurgency advisors to Petraeus have said it was never realistic to expect that Iraqis would reach agreement on some of their most divisive issues after just a few months of the American troop buildup."

Then why were we told otherwise? Are these idiots STILL making decisions on the basis of their pie-in-the-sky wishes instead of on reality?

Not only are they incompetent - THEY DON'T LEARN.

"The new command has realized that there will be no quick national-level deal on the key issues, said the senior military officer in Baghdad.

"You are talking about Sunnis who had power and Shiites who have power forgetting about what happened over the last 30 years," the officer said. "How easy is that going to be?"

Can I hear a big "No shit" from the audience?

Read that sentence and realize that everybody else in the world realized that going in.

And everybody else TOLD them that going in.

And it's TAKEN THEM BY SURPRISE.

How worthless are these people?

How worthless must you be to be surprised by something that everyone else knew and everyone else told you about?

How many more Americans have to die because of their idiocy?

Over there

8 U.S. Troops Die In Iraq On Memorial Day

Bombs, hostage-taking rock streets of Baghdad; 24 dead

Three Westerners abducted in Iraq.

The troops don't support the war

GIs in Iraq are no longer true believers

But now on his third deployment in Iraq, he is no longer a believer in the mission. The pivotal moment came, he says, this past February when soldiers killed a man setting a roadside bomb. When they searched the bomber's body, they found identification showing him to be a sergeant in the Iraqi Army.

"I thought, 'What are we doing here? Why are we still here?' " said Safstrom, a member of Delta Company of the 1st Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry, 82nd Airborne Division. "We're helping guys that are trying to kill us. We help them in the day. They turn around at night and try to kill us."

His views are echoed by most of his fellow soldiers in Delta Company, renowned for its aggressiveness.

From your mouth to God's ears.

Borger Predicts ‘Mass Resignation’ Of House Members Due To Stricter Ethics Standards

Boo

Andrew Card received an honorary degree yesterday from the University of Massachusetts - and was absolutely showered with derision and boos.

You have got to see this to appreciate it.

I'm a lazy blogger.

Help for Republicans:

Since I've been talking up Edwards, I thought I be fair. Here's Barack. More like this:

I'm having a busy day...

which is unfair just before Memorial Day Weekend.

So here's John Prine for the weekend. Everything old is new again.



YOUR FLAG DECAL WON’T GET YOU INTO HEAVEN ANYMORE
– John Prine

While digesting Reader’s Digest
In the back of a dirty book store,
A plastic flag, with gum on the back,
Fell out on the floor.
Well, I picked it up and I ran outside
Slapped it on my window shield,
And if I could see old Betsy Ross
I’d tell her how good I feel.

But your flag decal won’t get you
Into Heaven any more.
They’re already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don’t like killin’
No matter what the reason’s for,
And your flag decal won’t get you
Into Heaven any more.

Well, I went to the bank this morning
And the cashier he said to me,
“If you join the Christmas club
We’ll give you ten of them flags for free.”
Well, I didn’t mess around a bit
I took him up on what he said.
And I stuck them stickers all over my car
And one on my wife’s forehead.

But your flag decal won’t get you
Into Heaven any more.
They’re already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don’t like killin’
No matter what the reason’s for,
And your flag decal won’t get you
Into Heaven any more.

Well, I got my window shield so filled
With flags I couldn’t see.
So, I ran the car upside a curb
And right into a tree.
By the time they got a doctor down
I was already dead.
And I’ll never understand why the man
Standing in the Pearly Gates said…

“But your flag decal won’t get you
Into Heaven any more.
We’re already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don’t like killin’
No matter what the reason’s for,
And your flag decal won’t get you
Into Heaven any more.”

May the bird of paradise fly up your nose.

I agree with the sparrow.

As President Bush took a question Thursday in the White House Rose Garden about scandals involving his Attorney General, he remarked, "I've got confidence in Al Gonzales doin' the job."

Simultaneously, a sparrow flew overhead and left a splash on the President's sleeve, which Bush tried several times to wipe off.

Mr. Olbermann has a special comment.

Here.

Ask me again why I like John Edwards

Sadly, there appears to be only one Democrat with a spine who is actually saying what needs to be said, instead of walking on eggshells, terrified that they might make Karl Rove angry.

Conceding to the president on full funding for the Iraq war is a serious mistake. It is time to force an end to this war, and the only way for Congress to do that is to use its funding power. Any compromise that funds the war through the end of the fiscal year isn't a compromise at all, it's a capitulation. As I have said repeatedly, Congress should send the president the same bill he vetoed again and again until he realizes he has no choice but to start bringing our troops home.

Bush's Monica

(CNN) -- Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' former White House liaison testified Wednesday that she never discussed the hiring or firing of U.S. attorneys with White House officials.

"I did not hold the keys to the kingdom, as some have suggested," said Monica Goodling, who was senior counsel and White House liaison until resigning in April.

"To the best of my knowledge, I never had a conversation with Karl Rove or Harriet Miers while I served at the Department of Justice, and I'm certain I never spoke to either of them about the hiring or firing of any U.S. attorney," Goodling said in her opening statement to the House Judiciary Committee.

Two questions:

1) If she had no information, why did she take the fifth?

2) How is it possible for the White House liaison to not have talked to White house officials? Wasn't that her job?

Bush'

(CNN) -- Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' former White House liaison testified Wednesday that she never discussed the hiring or firing of U.S. attorneys with White House officials.

"I did not hold the keys to the kingdom, as some have suggested," said Monica Goodling, who was senior counsel and White House liaison until resigning in April.

"To the best of my knowledge, I never had a conversation with Karl Rove or Harriet Miers while I served at the Department of Justice, and I'm certain I never spoke to either of them about the hiring or firing of any U.S. attorney," Goodling said in her opening statement to the House Judiciary Committee.

Two questions:

1)If she had no information, why did she take the fifth?

2) How is it possible for the White House liaison to not have talked to White house officials? Wasn't that her job?

Politics trumps national security

"President Bush is using declassified intelligence on bin Laden's 2005 non-Iraq terror units in hopes of rallying support for his war in Iraq."

The bulletin warned that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a senior bin Laden operative in Iraq, was enlisted for plotting strikes in the United States. At the time the bulletin was described as credible but not specific.

The administration was not convinced enough to raise the National terror alert level.

In the first place, some pundit should point out that declassifying information for PR purposes is pretty damned disgusting.

And in the second place, it is a damning measurement of Bush's total lack of credibility that the above move has elicited a great, big, national yawn.

New Strategery

Train the Iraqi troops.

President Bush and his senior military and foreign policy advisers are beginning to discuss a "post-surge" strategy for Iraq that they hope could gain bipartisan political support. The new policy would focus on training and advising Iraqi troops rather than the broader goal of achieving a political reconciliation in Iraq, which senior officials recognize may be unachievable within the time available.

That's a new strategy?

What, exactly, have we been doing for 4 years?

Do you think it would be neat if Al Gore ran?

I hate Democrats

Passionately.

(AP) After weeks of refusing to back down to President Bush on setting a timetable on Iraq, House Democratic leaders face having to explain to their party's rank and file why they've now relented.

How did I find myself in a party spineless scared little mice? What the hell are they afraid of? EVERYBODY wants a timetable, except one guy. They should send him back the same bill again and again and let him veto it again and again, until there is no funding and they HAVE to come home.

I need a drink.

Pelosi sez:

The point is about accountability. The American people want accountability, and that is where the President refuses to listen. Weve worked in a bipartisan way with the President on trade, on immigration, on our innovation agenda, on many issues. But when it comes to the war in Iraq, the President has a tin ear. He just cannot hear except that which he wants to hear on it.


One thing is for sure: By the time we leave here to honor our war veterans and those who have given their lives for our country on Memorial Day weekend, we will have legislation to fund the troops.


I believe we have an obligation to the American people to try to find common ground. But if the president says, No accountability; I want a blank check with a war without end, well have to oppose that.

Here's the video. Don't click the link unless you really want to see it. It's official ABC News, and they make you look at a stupid commercial first. I am opposed on principle to making people watch dumb commercial to see video on their computer. The corporate morons have yet to wake up to the concept of free information, and I don't we should encourage them.

What gray, has a trunk and lives in the circus?

That's a relephant.

CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - The White House on Sunday fired back at former President Jimmy Carter, calling him "increasingly irrelevant" a day after Carter described George W. Bush's presidency as the worst in history in international relations.

Yeah, Carter is so irrelevant that the White House felt the need to attack him personally.

And you will notice that they don't even pretend to address the substance of what he said. They just used a personal attack, and left it at that.

Because they CAN'T address the substance of what he said. Because he's right.

The fact that Bush may actually BE the worst President ever - and that includes James Buchanan - is a relephant in the room that nobody is talking about.

Thank you, Mr. President

"I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history. The overt reversal of America's basic values as expressed by previous administrations, including those of George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon and others, has been the most disturbing to me." - President Jimmy Carter

The real beauty of this is that the right-wingers will claim that anything Carter says can be ignored, on the grounds that most people don't think he was a good President. But, of course, that argument could just as well be used as a reason to ignore anything BUSH says, since most people think he's WORSE than Carter.

Yes, it's an AOL poll. But isn't it fun, anyway?

I vote for Simon Bar-Sinister

From the Agonist:

Whiplash Declines Job as Head of World Bank

Citing his own advancing age and political differences with the Bush administration, Snidely M. Whiplash, Esq. declined the position of President of

the World Bank, as replacement for resigning President Paul Wolfowitz.

Whiplash, considered by many to be the true father of the modern conservative movement, first arrived on the public scene in the mid-1960's during repeated clashes with Canadian law enforcement officer Dudley Do-Right over what he called "mortgage reform issues." The main disagreement centered on his collection methods, which were regarded as excessive.

Later Whiplash was recognized as the inspiration for several long-term conservative initiatives, including perpetual tax cuts, wage cuts, benefits cuts, limb severance, mortgage reform, tying women to railroad tracks and drowning things in bathtubs.

While widely regarded as the mentor of Leo Strauss and Irving Kristol, Whiplash claims that his methods were far more civil than those employed by his philosophical heirs apparent in the Bush administration.

"Let's face it," he said, "I was a two-dimensional cartoon, so nobody took my threats too seriously."

Gonzales' Signature Moment

"New Rule: You can't send the National Guard to Iraq and then claim it's still here. The helicopters, the Humvees, the men... Like Dorothy and Toto, they're not in Kansas anymore. Sorry, Mr. President, but the last documented case of a National Guardsman able to be in two places at one time...was you. " ---Bill Maher

Life is good

WASHINGTON -- A bipartisan group of senators and President Bush agreed yesterday to a potentially historic deal on an immigration bill that would give 12 million undocumented residents the chance to become legal Americans while beefing up border security and cracking down on employers who hire illegal workers.

I'm not happy about this because I agree with it. I PROBABLY agree with it, but I haven't looked at the details. I've thought before that immigration may be the only thing that I agree with Bush about, although I think our motives are different. I think Bush just loves the idea that he and his cronies will have a steady supply of cheap labor. But ok - if that leads the idiot to actually help decent people get legal, I'll take it.

But the reason I love it is because the right-wing nutcases are going BANANAS. Absolutely losing what little is left of their minds.

A sample:

"dEPORT tHE pRESIDENT aND cLOSE tHE bORDERS."

"My brother had started to call him El Presidente Jorge Arbusto."

“I’m startin’ to get on board with the impeachment folks.”

"The rule of law has just been thrown out the window. I agree that impeachment is in order."

"And the SELL OUT of the AMERICAN people begins!"

"Bring my Step-Son home from Iraq now El Presedente. You don’t deserve his service."

"Good Lord, how many more do they intend to bring into the country? Isn't 30-50 million enough for them? The sorry bast*rds. They're traitors to America/Americans. I hope they rot in hell."

"Can't wait to hear him stammer and stutter about how his long-wished-for betrayal of America is finally coming true."

Heh.

Gee, it looks like we now have bipartisan support for impeachment.

Who'da thunk it?

Heh.

Ron Paul, The Candidate With Two First Names, has been tried and found guilty of telling the truth. And there is NOTHING that pisses off Republicans more than telling the truth.

Now, I don't like Ron Paul. His economic ideas were pronounced dead at the end of the Gilded Age. But they appear to have risen from the grave, joined the legions of the undead and are now animating Ron Paul's body. But despite that, he's dead right on Iraq.

Here's the video of Ron Paul telling the truth and Rudy Giuliani (R-Total Asshole) almost pissing in his pants at the sheer effrontery. And the right-wing extremists in attendance, of course, getting all happy about it. (No surprise there - in the same debate, they also cheered torture.)



And now - just to show what a big tent they all have - the head of the Michigan GOP wants to get Ron Paul banned from future debates.

Republicans. They have no idea what in the hell they actually believe in. But nothing pisses them off more than the idea that someone may actually believe anything else.

Wolfowitz resigns

Effective June 30

He was guilty of nepotism; guilty of covering it up; guilty of hubris; guilty of believing that rules didn't apply to him; guilty of being a moronic neo-con; and guilty of just being a generally all-around disgusting human being.

"Pride goeth before destruction; and an haughty spirit before a fall.

Bush ducks question

Bush was asked directly about Comey testimony, and blatantly ducked the question.

Regarding Comey's testimony:

"To me, this episode explains so much. Now we know why Jim Comey left. We all knew he was on the outs. We just didn't know why," said Mark Corallo, Ashcroft's principal spokesman, who now runs a crisis-communications firm. "I was about as close to John Ashcroft as you can get … and I knew nothing about this."

He called Gonzales' conduct toward Ashcroft "an instance of unbelievably bad behavior" that Comey properly brought to light.

"You have the Justice Department saying they had questions about the legality of the program, and the White House counsel ready to override the Justice Department," Corallo said. "When you see someone who is willing to set up a constitutional crisis over a national security program … one can only have a negative view of that individual. How can anyone look at the attorney general right now and trust this man?"

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-comey17may17,1,3971539.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

Rudy is an asshole

Gee, apparently Giuliani is now claiming that Democrats think that America deserved 9/11.

Somebody should remind this sad, sorry son of a bitch that he was mayor of a largely Democratic city, and ask him if he really believes that most New Yorkers think that 9/11 was America's fault.

It's time for the entire City of New York to disown this creep.

Tbe unraveling

From the Evans/Novak Political Report by way of Josh Marshall.

Rove's former assistant, Susan Ralston, is currently seeking immunity to testify before Waxman's committee. Ralston is a former assistant to Jack Abramoff, the disgraced Washington super-lobbyist and Republican fund-raiser. As Rove's gatekeeper, she became special assistant to the President and the highest-ranking Filipino-American in the administration. For Waxman, she is a link between Abramoff and Rove. Ralston was deposed behind closed doors prior to her request for immunity. According to her friends, she has nothing to say that would cause problems for Rove. Her request for immunity was forwarded to the Justice Department, whose recommendation may or may not be followed by Congress.

Oh, Dear

A letter has been sent to Alberto Gonzales from Senators Dick Durbin, Charles Schumer, Russell Feingold, and Edward Kennedy asking if he would like to change his lie.

Dear Mr. Attorney General:

In very dramatic testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday, former Deputy Attorney General James Comey testified that in March 2004, when you served as White House Counsel, you were involved in "an effort to take advantage of a very sick man," referring to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Specifically, Mr. Comey testified that you and former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card went to Mr. Ashcroft's bedside at George Washington Hospital, where he was in intensive care, in an effort to get him to agree to certify the legality of a classified program that he and Mr. Comey, who was serving as acting Attorney General at the time, had concluded should not be so certified. Mr. Comey stated that when the Administration decided to go forward with reauthorizing this classified program without that certification, he and several other Justice Department officials, including possibly Attorney General Ashcroft himself, were ready to tender their resignations.

You testified last year before both the Senate Judiciary Committee and the House Judiciary Committee about this incident. On February 6, 2006, at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, you were asked whether Mr. Comey and others at the Justice Department had raised concerns about the NSA wiretapping program. You stated in response that the disagreement that occurred was not related to the wiretapping program confirmed by the President in December 2005, which was the topic of the hearing. The following is a transcript excerpt from that hearing:

Senator Schumer. Let me ask you about some specific reports. It has been reported by multiple news outlets that the former number two man in the Justice Department, the premier terrorism prosecutor, Jim Comey, expressed grave reservations about the NSA program and at least once refused to give it his blessing. Is that true?

Attorney General Gonzales. Senator, here is a response that I feel that I can give with respect to recent speculation or stories about disagreements. There has not been any serious disagreement, including - and I think this is accurate - there has not been any serious disagreement about the program that the President has confirmed. There have been disagreements about other matters regarding operations, which I cannot get into. I will also say -

Senator Schumer. But there was some - I am sorry to cut you off, but there was some dissent within the administration, and Jim Comey did express at some point - that is all I asked you - some reservations.

Attorney General Gonzales. The point I want to make is that, to my knowledge, none of the reservations dealt with the program that we are talking about today. They dealt with operational capabilities that we are not talking about today.

Senator Schumer. I want to ask you again about them, just we have limited time.

Attorney General Gonzales. Yes, sir.

Senator Schumer. It has also been reported that the head of the Office of Legal Counsel, Jack Goldsmith, respected lawyer and professor at Harvard Law School, expressed reservations about the program. Is that true?

Attorney General Gonzales. Senator, rather than going individual by individual—

Senator Schumer. No, I think we are - this is—

Attorney General Gonzales. By individual, let me just say that I think the differing views that have been the subject of some of these stories does not - did not deal with the program that I am here testifying about today.

Senator Schumer. But you are telling us that none of these people expressed any reservations about the ultimate program. Is that right?

Attorney General Gonzales. Senator, I want to be very careful here. Because of course I am here only testifying about what the President has confirmed. And with respect to what the President has confirmed, I believe - I do not believe that these DOJ officials that you are identifying had concerns about this program.

In addition, on April 6, 2006, in answer to a question from then House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner about the hospital visit, which had been reported in the press, you responded: "Mr. Chairman, what I can say - and I'm sure this will not be acceptable, but let me say it anyway - is that I have testified before that the disagreement that existed does not relate to the program the President confirmed in December to the American people."

We ask for your prompt response to the following question: In light of Mr. Comey's testimony yesterday, do you stand by your 2006 Senate and House testimony, or do you wish to revise it?

Sincerely,

RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD
United States Senator
CHARLES E. SCHUMER
United States Senator
EDWARD M. KENNEDY
United States Senator
RICHARD J. DURBIN
United States Senator

Glenn Greenwald

A must read.

[J]ust consider what it says about this administration. Not only did Comey think that he had to rush to the hospital room to protect Ashcroft from having a conniving Card and Gonzales manipulate his severe illness and confusion by coercing his signature on a document -- behavior that is seen only in the worst cases of deceitful, conniving relatives coercing a sick and confused person to sign a new will -- but the administration's own FBI Director thought it was necessary to instruct his FBI agents not to allow Comey to be removed from the room.

Comey and Mueller were clearly both operating on the premise that Card and Gonzales were basically thugs. Indeed, Comey said that when Card ordered him to the White House, Comey refused to meet with Card without a witness being present, and that Card refused to allow Comey's summoned witness (Solicitor General Ted Olson) even to enter Card's office. These are the most trusted intimates of the White House -- the ones who are politically sympathetic to them and know them best -- and they prepared for, defended themselves against, the most extreme acts of corruption and thuggery from the President's Chief of Staff and his then-legal counsel (and current Attorney General of the United States)...

How is this not a major scandal on the level of the greatest presidential corruption and lawbreaking scandals in our country's history? Why is this only a one-day story that will focus on the hospital drama but not on what it reveals about the bulging and unparalleled corruption of this administration and the complete erosion of the rule of law in our country? And, as I've asked times before, if we passively allow the President to simply break the law with impunity in how the government spies on our conversations, what don't we allow?

If we had a functioning political press, these are the questions that would be dominating our political discourse and which would have been resolved long ago.

Yolanda King, daughter of MLK, dies

Feels like an almost perfect yin and yang, with the passing of her polar oppostie yesterday.

Yolanda Denise King, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s eldest child who pursued her father's dream of racial harmony through acting and motivational speaking, has died. She was 51. The family did not know the cause of death, but relatives think it might have been a heart problem, said Steve Klein, a spokesman for the King Center.

We have a Czar. Cool.

Does calling someone a "Czar" mean that they'll actually do a good job?

It looks like the Commander-In-Chief needs ANOTHER Commander-In-Chief. Or, more likely, needs somebody to blame the coming fiasco on.

I wonder if Bush will put him in a cool costume.

The White House tried to coerce Ashcroft

These clowns really DO think that the Constitution is just a piece of paper. Toilet paper.

How extreme are they?

JOHN ASHCROFT thought they were too extreme.

At Ashcroft's bedside, Gonzales did most of the talking, Comey said, adding that Gonzales and Card pressed the attorney general to reauthorize the program in spite of reservations about its legality. Comey said Ashcroft reiterated his concerns and refused to sign the order reauthorizing the program.

Ashcroft "lifted his head off the pillow, and in very strong terms expressed his view of the matter, rich in both substance and fact, which stunned me - drawn from the hour-long meeting we'd had a week earlier - and in very strong terms expressed himself, and then laid his head back down on the pillow, seemed spent, and said to them, 'I'm not the attorney general,'" Comey said, adding that Gonzales and Card left the hospital that evening without a signature from the Justice Department allowing the surveillance program to continue.

"I was very upset. I was angry," Comey testified. "I thought I just witnessed an effort to take advantage of a very sick man, who did not have the powers of the attorney general because they had been transferred to me.... I was concerned that this was an effort to do an end run around the acting attorney general and to get a very sick man to approve something that the Department of Justice had already concluded - the department as a whole - was unable to be certified as to its legality.

ITMFA.

Jerry Falwell is Dead.

It sucks being a Republican.

Bigtime.

"The country doesn't believe George W. Bush, it doesn't trust him, and with 19 months to go it's only going to get worse. There is nothing the president can do to get his (poll) numbers back up.'' - Republican Strategist Ed Rollins

McNulty Resigns

(CBS/AP) Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty said Monday he will resign, becoming the highest-ranking Bush administration casualty in the furor over the firing of U.S. attorneys.

This whole debacle was obviously orchestrated by Karl Rove. Who the hell ELSE would decide that the U.S. Attorneys should be used as an arm of a political party? Who the hell ELSE would try to use them to skew elections?

But everybody else seems to taking the heat for it.

A statement from Senator Reid

Statement from Senator Reid:

Two weeks ago President Bush vetoed the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Bill, a bill to fully fund the troops in Iraq and change the course of that conflict. Late last week, the House sent a new bill to the Senate, and we received that legislation within the past hour. So the ball is now in our court, the Senate's court.

I've had a number of conversations with Senator McConnell the last several days. I spoke to him earlier today at some length. Democrats and Republicans agree the Senate needs to get a bill into conference as soon as possible, and we need to work together to make that happen.

As important as it is to get a bill to conference, we've not, on this side of the aisle, lost sight of the fact that the American people have concluded the President's Iraq policy has failed and are demanding a new way forward on behalf of the American people.

In an effort to ensure quick Senate passage of our conference vehicle later this week, as well as to give Senators an opportunity to express their views on the President's Iraq policy, I will offer two important amendments to the Water Resources Development Act.

The first amendment is Feingold-Reid. This amendment would immediately transition the mission of U.S. forces in Iraq to force protection, training Iraqi security forces and counterterrorism with a goal to safely redeploy troops not conducting these missions by March 31 of next year. The Feingold amendment enforces this timeline by prohibiting the funding of troops in Iraq not engaged in these three missions starting April 1, 2008.

I will also offer Levin-Reid, which is consistent with the bipartisan legislation approved by Congress with one major change it permits the President to waive the timeline for redeployments. It has in it some things that have received broad support from members on both sides of the aisle ensuring that our troops are ready when they are sent into battle, limiting extended and repeated deployments of our troops, and holding the Iraqis accountable with real consequences.

We'll have votes on these two amendments no later than Wednesday morning. I will work with the distinguished Republican leader to see when that can happen.

These votes represent an opportunity for the Senate to shape the important conference we hope will begin immediately upon passage later this week of the Senate version of the Supplemental. There's probably no end of amendments that could be offered. But on our side of the aisle, Democrats believe that we should do something very, very close to what was done in the bill that we sent to the President that he vetoed. And basically, that's what we have here. But in recognition that the President has exercised his veto power of a bill to fund our troops and is prepared to do so again, we give the President the ability to waive the timelines we have in the legislation.

I think it's very important to understand that transitioning in this mission to fighting Al Qaeda is part of the recognition of what we and the American people feel is important. At present, Americans troops are over there protecting the Shias, protecting the Sunnis, the Kurds, and at all times, all these different elements are shooting at the Americans.

We need to change the course in Iraq, transition the military mission there, rebuild our military power and redirect our efforts toward more effectively fighting Al Qaeda. The amendments I have offered this afternoon will give Senators an opportunity on the eve of our upcoming conference to vote on whether they agree with this need to change course to make America more secure.

More like this

"It's not just talking tough, because the truth is nobody's talked tougher than George Bush over the last six years. Being tough means, first of all, not having to talk about it all the time." - Barack Obama

Heh.

But two words: John Edwards.

I'm melllllllting!

11 Republicans went to Bush and told him that things had better improve in Iraq, or he will have no support in his party.

Will things improve in Iraq?

How?

GOP Moderates: Iraq War Having Corrosive Effect on Party

Where is GOP Realism

It never actually existed, but it's a good read, anyway.

Buh bye

White House seeks new poodle.

Let Bush's base fund the war.

Here's a kos diary. I love this idea.

Although I would love to see the Democratic Congress refuse to allocate any more funds for the Iraq Occupation, I doubt they will choose to resist the enormous pressure to do so.

So why not craft a bill that actually pays for the emergency allocation by repealing one of Bush's favorite tax cut? $100 billion for another year of occupation, paid for entirely by Bush's "base."

Hell, let's go further and pay for the now concluded Iraq War by repealing all his tax cuts? Tie funding for next year to a $500 billion surcharge on the Republican Base, the money to be used entirely to cover the bad checks used to pay for the war to date.

Can you IMAGINE the reaction?

Is this a timetable?

Here.

"Many of my Republican colleagues have been promised they will get a straight story on the surge by September," said Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.). "I won't be the only Republican, or one of two Republicans, demanding a change in our disposition of troops in Iraq at that point. That is very clear to me."

"September is the key," said Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.), a member of the House Appropriations subcommittee that funds defense. "If we don't see a light at the end of the tunnel, September is going to be a very bleak month for this administration."

The Republicans are falling apart. They are staring at the fact that the leader of their party has screwed up like nobody since Buchanan, and people are furious, and he's tied around their neck like an dead albatross. If Iraq hasn't changed by September, expect the wheels to finally fall off this whole stinking mess.

U.S may no longer be allowed to pick the head of the World Bank.

And it looks like one more piece of destruction from the Bush White House might be that the US no longer gets to pick the head of the World Bank.

Leading governments of Europe, mounting a new campaign to push Paul Wolfowitz from his job as World Bank president, signaled on Monday that they are willing to let the United States choose the bank's next chief, but only if Wolfowitz steps down soon, European officials said.

European officials previously had indicated that they wanted to end the tradition of the United States picking the World Bank leader. But now the officials are hoping to enlist U.S. help in persuading Wolfowitz to resign voluntarily, rather than be rebuked or ousted.

Obviously, they won't let that happen, right? Wolfowitz will step down rather than let that happen, right?

He would if he wasn't a Bushite. But I suspect that psychological blockheadedness and making decisions by temper tantrum may be the defining characteristic of the whole species.

Wolf at the door

Wolfowitz has been found guilty of ethics violations.

I suspect that they'll just fire him. Why wouldn't they? Not only do they have him dead to rights, nobody actually LIKES him. He basically has no friends at the World Bank.

Let's see - he surrounds himself with cronies, refuses to admit that he's made any mistakes, doesn't think the rules apply to him, and feels unfairly treated when people point out that he broke them.

Gee, who does that remind me of?

Good riddance. We don't need a guy who basically hates the poor and thinks that wealth is a measurement of virtue to be the head of the World Bank anyway.

Wolf at the door

Wolfowitz has been found guilty of ethics violations.

I suspect that they'll just fire him. Why wouldn't they? Not only do they have him dead to rights, nobody actually LIKES him. He basically has no friends at the World Bank.

Let's see - he surrounds himself with cronies, refuses to admit that he's made any mistakes, doesn't think the rules apply to him, and feels unfairly treated when people point out that he broke them.

Gee, who does that remind me of?

Good riddance. We don't need a guy who basically hates the poor and thinks that wealth is a measurement of virtue to be the head of the World Bank anyway.

The L.A. Times embraces sanity

It's a pretty half-assed mea culpa, but you know what they say: when the dog actually sings, you don't complain that he's off-key.

This newspaper reluctantly endorsed the U.S. troop surge as the last, best hope for stabilizing conditions so that the elected Iraqi government could assume full responsibility for its affairs. But we also warned that the troops should not be used to referee a civil war. That, regrettably, is what has happened....

Having invested so much in Iraq, Americans are likely to find disengagement almost as painful as war. But the longer we delay planning for the inevitable, the worse the outcome is likely to be. The time has come to leave.

Right-wingers racist? Of course not.

That's why CBS News has decided to turn off the Comments feature when they run an article about Barack Obama.

Today CBSNews.com informed its staff via email that they should no longer enable comments on stories about presidential candidate Barack Obama. The reason for the new policy, according to the email, is that stories about Obama have been attracting too many racist comments.

"It's very simple," Mike Sims, director of News and Operations for CBSNews.com, told me. "We have our Rules of Engagement. They prohibit personal attacks, especially racist attacks. Stories about Obama have been problematic, and we won't tolerate it."

CBSNews.com does sometimes delete comments on an individual basis, but Sims said that was not sufficient in the case of Obama stories due to "the volume and the persistence" of the objectionable comments.

"Former CIA director George Tenet has a new book where he says there was no serious debate within the administration about going into Iraq. It'll hit the stores on Monday, under the title: No Shit."
---Bill Maher

What a long fall.

Do you realize that if Bush, Cheney and Rove simply escape impeachment and jail, the right-wingers will actually claim that that's "victory"?

What a long fall.

"Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall."

Some things just make your day brighter

An Iowa penitentiary had to change its locks after someone sold their keys on Ebay.

Ooops.

There is an email from Monica Goodling, instructing people to delete documents that were relevant to a pending investigation.

Now you know why she took the fifth.

Syrian Rice

The Leaning Tower of Condoleezza is going to meet with the Syrian Foreign Minister.

Just a month after Nancy Pelosi went to Syria, and was called a "traitor" by the mouth-breathing, knuckle-dragging right-wingers, Rice decides that, hey! may it actually was a good idea! Coincidence, I'm sure.

Is Cheney going to call Rice a traitor, too?

Bush: I'll just keep breaking the law

New York Times - Senior Bush administration officials told Congress on Tuesday that they could not pledge that the administration would continue to seek warrants from a secret court for a domestic wiretapping program, as it agreed to do in January.

What does it take to get a serious impeachment movement? What, exactly, does he have to do?

More Generals

From the Blog of Madam Speaker.

“The President vetoed our troops and the American people. His stubborn commitment to a failed strategy in Iraq is incomprehensible. He committed our great military to a failed strategy in violation of basic principles of war. His failure to mobilize the nation to defeat world wide Islamic extremism is tragic. We deserve more from our commander-in-chief and his administration.”
-Maj. Gen. John Batiste, USA, Ret.

“This administration and the previously Republican controlled legislature have been the most caustic agents against America’s Armed Forces in memory. Less than a year ago, the Republicans imposed great hardship on the Army and Marine Corps by their failure to pass a necessary funding language. This time, the President of the United States is holding our Soldiers hostage to his ego. More than ever apparent, only the Army and the Marine Corps are at war - alone, without their President’s support.”
-Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, USA, Ret.

What kind of Englishman is named "Tony" anyway?

Tony Blair: "Within the next few weeks I won't be Prime Minister of this country. In all probability, a Scot will become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom," Mr Blair told party supporters at a Labour rally in Edinburgh.

Bye, Tony.

What will Bush do without his poodle?

Letter to Bush

May 1, 2007

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

Today, in your veto message regarding the bipartisan legislation just passed on Operation Iraqi Freedom, you asserted that you so decided because you listen to your commanders on the ground.

Respectfully, as your former commander on the ground, your administration did not listen to our best advice. In fact, a number of my fellow Generals were forced out of their jobs, because they did not tell you what you wanted to hear -- most notably General Eric Shinseki, whose foresight regarding troop levels was advice you rejected, at our troops' peril.

[...]

As someone who served this nation for decades, I have the utmost respect for the office you hold. However, as a man of conscience, I could not sit idly by as you told the American people today that your veto was based on the recommendations of military men. Your administration ignored the advice of our military's finest minds before, and I see no evidence that you are listening to them now.

I urge you to reconsider your position, and work with Congress to pass a bill that achieves the goals laid out above.

Respectfully,

Major General Paul D. Eaton, USA, Retired

Ex-CIA analyst: Forged 'yellowcake' memo 'leads right back to' Cheney

Copied whole from Raw Story:


David Edwards
Published: Monday April 30, 2007

A former CIA analyst claims that falsified documents which were meant to show that Iraq's Saddam Hussein regime had been trying to procure yellowcake uranium from Niger can be traced back to Vice President Dick Cheney.

Appearing on MSNBC's Tucker Carlson Show, Ray McGovern who served in the CIA for twenty-seven years, said, "the [forged] memo leads right back to the doorstep of the Vice President of the United States."

According to McGovern, former CIA Director George Tenet told his "coterie of malleable managers" at the CIA to create a National Intelligence Estimate "to the terms of reference of Dick Cheney's speech of August 26, 2002, where Dick Cheney said for the first time Saddam Hussein could have a nuclear weapon in a year, he's got all kinds of chemical, he's got all kinds of biological weapons."

McGovern, who at one time chaired National Intelligence Estimates and prepared the President's Daily Brief, also claimed to have evidence that the memo leads back to Cheney, but he would not say what it was, except that the names of the people involved were "in the public domain."

In an op-ed posted at Buzzflash, McGovern argues, "If any good can come out of the intelligence/policy debacle regarding Iraq, it would be the clear lesson that intelligence crafted to dovetail with the predilections of policymakers can bring disaster. The role that Tenet, McLaughlin, and their small coterie of malleable managers played as willing accomplices in the corruption of intelligence has made a mockery of the verse chiseled into the marble at the entrance to CIA headquarters: 'You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.'"

McGovern also calls Tenet a "pathetic figure" who is trying to "justify himself for unjustifiable activity." Tenet, in his new book, claims that the Bush administration distorted his use of the term "slam dunk" in reference to intelligence that ultimately led to the Iraq war (RAW STORY's coverage is here).