Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Pre - preview
A peek into Tim Kaine's response tonight after the president.
Per CNN, Bush is actually going to say "America is addicted to oil." Well, no shit and who might have a hand in furthering the addiction? Also, this gem:
"In a complex and challenging time, the road of isolationism and protectionism may seem broad and inviting - yet it ends in danger and decline. " "The only way to protect our people - the only way to secure the peace - the only way to control our destiny is by our leadership. So, the United States of America will continue to lead."
Translation: I haven't learned a goddamn thing.
Per CNN, Bush is actually going to say "America is addicted to oil." Well, no shit and who might have a hand in furthering the addiction? Also, this gem:
"In a complex and challenging time, the road of isolationism and protectionism may seem broad and inviting - yet it ends in danger and decline. " "The only way to protect our people - the only way to secure the peace - the only way to control our destiny is by our leadership. So, the United States of America will continue to lead."
Translation: I haven't learned a goddamn thing.
A disaster
This is the adjective used by righty Tucker Carlson to describe a possible Democratic takeover of the House this year. Apparently the country wouldn't be able to stand the numerous investigations that would ensue.
Unfortunately, I will miss the SOTU. Evident by the existence of this blog, I am a political crackhead as well as a deep admirer of the presidency itself. Oh well.
Unfortunately, I will miss the SOTU. Evident by the existence of this blog, I am a political crackhead as well as a deep admirer of the presidency itself. Oh well.
AN HOUR AND FIFTEEN MINUTES!
This might as well be the screaming headline on all the cable talking head shows this evening. Let me put it out there for anyone reading:
Expect the same, lofty, tired rheotoric from this president on everything from healthcare to energy dependence. Expect every Repub to stand after every presidential pause and clap until their hands bleed. Expect shots of angry Dems, especially Kennedy, sitting on their hands.
And just to rub some salt in the fresh wound, expect new justice Sam Alito right in the front.
Expect the same, lofty, tired rheotoric from this president on everything from healthcare to energy dependence. Expect every Repub to stand after every presidential pause and clap until their hands bleed. Expect shots of angry Dems, especially Kennedy, sitting on their hands.
And just to rub some salt in the fresh wound, expect new justice Sam Alito right in the front.
Ramsey Clark
Just saw the former attorney general on a panel discussing the impeachment of the president, I can't get my head around someone who is supposedly for human rights defending someone who gouged children's eyeballs out. Attaching Clark's name instantly deflates any impeachment talk, even when its warranted.
Is it just me?
Is it just me?
War?
At least someone is asking this question: (tip, Washington Monthly)
"Iraq is not a war, because, though we have savage assault, we have no enemy. The war on terrorism is not a war because, though we have an enemy, the muscle-bound Pentagon offers no authentic means of assault."
Jim Carroll of the Boston Globe beat me to it. If only I was a well connected, well paid journalist who is stating the obvious.
"Iraq is not a war, because, though we have savage assault, we have no enemy. The war on terrorism is not a war because, though we have an enemy, the muscle-bound Pentagon offers no authentic means of assault."
Jim Carroll of the Boston Globe beat me to it. If only I was a well connected, well paid journalist who is stating the obvious.
A master
"Tonight, on the 1,050th day of the Iraq War (the 912th day of the Second World War was D-Day), the nation needs an adult hour, including a measured meditation on overreaching, from the Middle East to Medicare's new prescription drug entitlement. But in State of the Union addresses, rarely is heard a discouraging word."
"The Democrats have already been heard from. In their ``pre-buttal'' to the State of the Union, they promised, among much else, that, according to House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, if they come to power, ``every American will have affordable access to broadband within five years.'' Which tells you something about the state of the union."
-George Will today.
"The Democrats have already been heard from. In their ``pre-buttal'' to the State of the Union, they promised, among much else, that, according to House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, if they come to power, ``every American will have affordable access to broadband within five years.'' Which tells you something about the state of the union."
-George Will today.
Democratic reponse to SOTU preview
As much as Bush will be predictable tonight ("will he call for unity?" give me a break) the Democratic response will be just as predictable:
We too encourage more tax cuts, but only for the middle class, and at a certain amount we still can't afford.
We too feel we must stay in Iraq until "the job is done."
We too are hesitant to embrace the Constitution in the fight against terrorism.
Tim Kaine, a man who had to literally show the citizens of Virginia he prays to win election, is the go to guy after the president is done pretending he's righted the ship for the past year. Why another centrist? Why not a Feingold?
We too encourage more tax cuts, but only for the middle class, and at a certain amount we still can't afford.
We too feel we must stay in Iraq until "the job is done."
We too are hesitant to embrace the Constitution in the fight against terrorism.
Tim Kaine, a man who had to literally show the citizens of Virginia he prays to win election, is the go to guy after the president is done pretending he's righted the ship for the past year. Why another centrist? Why not a Feingold?
Monday, January 30, 2006
Polls
Go here for a thorough analysis of the latest and any poll that comes out in relation to the president and his job approval. To summarize:
"The President will address a nation that rates his performance in office roughly ten points lower than when he won reelection in November 2004."
Americanlogic prediction for Bush poll numbers post SOTU: he'll lose five points after the aura of the SOTU wears off.
"The President will address a nation that rates his performance in office roughly ten points lower than when he won reelection in November 2004."
Americanlogic prediction for Bush poll numbers post SOTU: he'll lose five points after the aura of the SOTU wears off.
Davos
I am not encouraged by Mark Warner at all. If he is the best hope for the party, we've lost another four years. As Steve Clemons of the Washington Note points out the right is still winging the battles.
He has been away for a while, but Baghdad Scott is back in a big way. I caught the press briefing this evening on CSPAN, a boy was he on his game. Apparently, Bush is not responsible for the gutter politics we've been experiencing for the past five years. I missed the across the aisle gesturing the president has been doing right under the nose of the punditry. You'd have to go back to 2001 and the No Child Left Behind bill in which a Dem wasn't portrayed as a traitor and a terrorist loving hippie. And what about the drumbeat of democracy in Palestine?
According to Baghdad Scott, free and democratic elections are only the beginning to harmony and world justice especially in relation to a terrorist organization. This is what Hamas is, they were not elected to hold hands with Olmut chanting "We are the world," but to dominate and threaten Israel into putting up more walls.
My favorite was Scott's insistence that it was Bush's spending restraint that gets us to the cushy economic state we're in now. Forget about the ginormous federal deficit, trade deficit, largely ineffective Medicare prescription drug program and the billions into Iraq.
Can't wait for the speech tomorrow night where we get to hear more fantasy. Tim Kaine will respond, hopefully he will pull no punches.
He has been away for a while, but Baghdad Scott is back in a big way. I caught the press briefing this evening on CSPAN, a boy was he on his game. Apparently, Bush is not responsible for the gutter politics we've been experiencing for the past five years. I missed the across the aisle gesturing the president has been doing right under the nose of the punditry. You'd have to go back to 2001 and the No Child Left Behind bill in which a Dem wasn't portrayed as a traitor and a terrorist loving hippie. And what about the drumbeat of democracy in Palestine?
According to Baghdad Scott, free and democratic elections are only the beginning to harmony and world justice especially in relation to a terrorist organization. This is what Hamas is, they were not elected to hold hands with Olmut chanting "We are the world," but to dominate and threaten Israel into putting up more walls.
My favorite was Scott's insistence that it was Bush's spending restraint that gets us to the cushy economic state we're in now. Forget about the ginormous federal deficit, trade deficit, largely ineffective Medicare prescription drug program and the billions into Iraq.
Can't wait for the speech tomorrow night where we get to hear more fantasy. Tim Kaine will respond, hopefully he will pull no punches.
A Democratic Reagan
This is the what the Dems need, a donkey version of Ronald Reagan. It obviously worked for the Republicans, so why not give it a try?
Someone who is committed to the homeland first. Workers first, corporations second. Someone who will work to fix the broken border situation, adopt a defensive isolationist tone when it comes to world affairs, stop the desire for empire and domination.
Reagan, while stubborn, was committed to rebranding government after Jimmy Carters failed micromanaging. Big, bold ideas are what we may need. The Bush era has given us Woodrow Wilson squared plus Hardingesque domestic policies. Bush has divided the country into two, dismissing urges to find a cause to bring all americans together. C'mon, Bush in the same league as FDR, Lincoln and JFK?
The Dems need to be the perveyours of competent, smart and above all concerned government. They should nominate someone in 08 who has no questions circling about them. We should know where they stand, for better or for worse. This nominee should fight for us, no one else. I'd take the sunny optimism of the Reagan years over the rightly pessimistic times we live in now.
The only people that stand in the way of this grand vision for a renewed, serious Democratic party are Bob Schrum, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy and the rest of the institutionalized Dems who have been comfortable playing the game.
Someone who is committed to the homeland first. Workers first, corporations second. Someone who will work to fix the broken border situation, adopt a defensive isolationist tone when it comes to world affairs, stop the desire for empire and domination.
Reagan, while stubborn, was committed to rebranding government after Jimmy Carters failed micromanaging. Big, bold ideas are what we may need. The Bush era has given us Woodrow Wilson squared plus Hardingesque domestic policies. Bush has divided the country into two, dismissing urges to find a cause to bring all americans together. C'mon, Bush in the same league as FDR, Lincoln and JFK?
The Dems need to be the perveyours of competent, smart and above all concerned government. They should nominate someone in 08 who has no questions circling about them. We should know where they stand, for better or for worse. This nominee should fight for us, no one else. I'd take the sunny optimism of the Reagan years over the rightly pessimistic times we live in now.
The only people that stand in the way of this grand vision for a renewed, serious Democratic party are Bob Schrum, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy and the rest of the institutionalized Dems who have been comfortable playing the game.
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Reagan revisited
During the apex of the Reagan presidency, I was growing up, not even remotely interested in politics. I have never read Richard Reeves previous work on JFK or Richard Nixon, but I intend to pick up his new book on the Gipper because of this quote:
"Like one of his heroes, Frankln D. Roosevelt, he has become larger than life. As Roosevelt became an icon central to American liberalism, Reagan became the nucleus holding together American conservatism. He is the only president whose name became a political creed, a noun not an adjective: "Reaganism."
"Like one of his heroes, Frankln D. Roosevelt, he has become larger than life. As Roosevelt became an icon central to American liberalism, Reagan became the nucleus holding together American conservatism. He is the only president whose name became a political creed, a noun not an adjective: "Reaganism."
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Um...
"The Senate has a constitutional responsibility to hold an up-or-down vote on Judge Alito's nomination,'' Republican Bush said in his weekly radio address."
Sorry Mr. President, I don't believe that appears in the document you so obviously detest.
Sorry Mr. President, I don't believe that appears in the document you so obviously detest.
Challenger
An interesting take on the events of twenty years ago, not the fluff you will see on the major cable networks. Enjoy.
Friday, January 27, 2006
what took you so long
From John Dickerson in Slate magazine today:
The president did restate the U.S. position that he will not deal with Hamas, which advocates, among other things, the eradication of Israel. But he never tried to reconcile this position with his glowing remarks about liberty spreading across the Middle East. Nor did he explain how he reacts to the fact that his black-and-white world has suddenly gone gray.
Ah, but Mr. Dickerson forgets (for a moment) that this president and reality are mortal enemies.
Lonely voices
For a summary of the destructive economic policies of the tax cut and spend GOP and their budget go here (pdf file)
Then weep if you have young children like me.
Then weep if you have young children like me.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
the years to come
I want to expand a little on the Hamas victory in the Palestinian elections. They will almost certainly guarantee the election of Ben Netanyahu, the far right leader of the Likud Party, a party in which Ariel Sharon abandoned. Netanyahu, much like Bush, will stroke the fears of Israelis regarding the threats posed by Iran (ten years away from a nuke, maybe) and now Hamas.
This cycle will go on forever. Bush, it seems is waiting to see what happens and will decide whether or not to deal with the Hamas leadership. At this point in history, Americanlogic recommends we disengage from the whole mess. Send subtle signals to each party, while remaining on the sidelines. Deals in the past have been broken and until Israel gives up its nukes (ah, never) Palestinians will feel under the gun for all eternity.
The next president should adopt a bold, daring new approach to Middle East negotiations, withdraw completely unless one side threatens the other with total annihilation. We have supported Israel to long as well as been fooled by the PLO.
This cycle will go on forever. Bush, it seems is waiting to see what happens and will decide whether or not to deal with the Hamas leadership. At this point in history, Americanlogic recommends we disengage from the whole mess. Send subtle signals to each party, while remaining on the sidelines. Deals in the past have been broken and until Israel gives up its nukes (ah, never) Palestinians will feel under the gun for all eternity.
The next president should adopt a bold, daring new approach to Middle East negotiations, withdraw completely unless one side threatens the other with total annihilation. We have supported Israel to long as well as been fooled by the PLO.
the terrorism ticket
"What happened yesterday represents one critical pillar beneath the Bush foreign policy crumbling into dust." - Neocon Andrew Sullivan.
Um, no shit.
Um, no shit.
Bush on fire
Just listening to the president's news conference on NPR a few moments ago you get the sense that there has been no other president in modern times who has such a contempt for the press. The White House press corps are asking questions that need to be asked and the president answers in the same overdone folksy tone sprinkled with a "how dare you ask me that" attitude. He loathes these events and would never do them unless all of his staff implored him to do so. The reason is simple: he is completely at the mercy of accountability and for this president that is about as uncomfortable as a root canal, hence the grinding of the teeth whenever you see him on television.