Tag: Bush

The ever continuing Story of Obama Wright Gate

Now it has gone to a new level of silly

The Story: Jeremiah Wright was White House guest (Via Ben Smith’s Blog @ Politico.com)

The recent coverage of Rev. Jeremiah Wright has often cast him as a marginal, almost fringe figure, but Trinity Church is a major Chicago institution, and Wright has long been a prominent pastor on the American scene.

And an anonymous blog set up to defend his church offers some compelling photographic evidence of this: A photograph of Wright and President Clinton, which it says was taken on Sept. 11, 1998 — the date of a White House gathering for religious leaders.

[UPDATE: The blog seems to have taken that item down; here’s the full image that was posted.]

Hillary Clinton, according to her recently released schedule for the day, was present at the gathering. Al Gore also appears in the picture.

"In the course of his two terms in office, Bill Clinton met with, corresponded with and took pictures with literally tens of thousands of people," Clinton spokesman Jay Carson told Politico.

That’s where Clinton reportedly told the assembled clerics, at the depth of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, that he had "repented."

The only reason I can see that this was even picked up by the MSM and the Bigger Blogs, is because of an effort by the Conservative Bloggers to make ALL Democrats look like hatemongers.

Nice try guys, anyone with a half a brain is going to know that Presidents often meet and are photographed with many people. This picture, as it says above, was snapped during the Clinton Monica scandal.

Of course, we are dealing with Desperate Conservatives aren’t we? Could it be that they are totally scared out of their minds, that a LIBERAL might take the white house back and they will lose those tax breaks, that they received from the alcoholic,  coke headed, village idiot, in the White House? Who’s having extra-martial sex with Coni Rice!

Horrors! Rolling Eyes

Others on this: The Trail, Telegraph, Tennessee Guerilla Women, Wonkette, Liberal Values, Spin Cycle, The Monkey Tennis Centre, Shakesville, Hot Air, The Truth About Trinity …, Macsmind, Political Machine and The Page (via Memeorandum)

Obama Passport-Gate

This new Obama story that will bury the Rev. Wright Scandal.

 The Story: 2 fired over Obama passport breach (msnbc.com)

Quote:

Two contract employees of the State Department were fired and a third person was disciplined for inappropriately looking at Democratic Sen. Barack Obama’s passport file.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the department itself detected the instances of "imprudent curiosity," which occurred separately on Jan. 9, Feb. 21 and March 14. He would not release the names of those who were fired and disciplined.

"We believe this was out of imprudent curiosity, so we are taking steps to reassure ourselves that that is, in fact, the case," McCormack said.

This was Keith Olbermann’s Lead story tonight and I believe he dedicated the rest of his show to it. As did Dan Abrams.

I have been reading around and listening to the coverage. People are comparing this to the 1992 breeching of President Clinton’s passport records, of which, I must confess, I knew nothing of.

There has also been, already, comparisons to Watergate. Which I think is a bit of a stretch, if you ask me. Although, I believe before it is over, someone will be charged over this or at least will be publicly shamed.

This will be an interesting story to follow.

Others: Crooks and Liars, The Huffington Post, The Moderate Voice, Attytood, Boston Globe, Bang the Drum, Oliver Willis, Corrente, Sister Toldjah, Blue Girl, Red State, The Agonist, Political Machine, Cliff Schecter, Washington Times, Associated Press, Think Progress, Redstate, Fox News, Hot Air, Macsmind, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Brilliant at Breakfast and Obsidian Wings

It is official Dick Cheney is an Asshole

This comes via Think Progress:

Transcript:

CHENEY: On the security front, I think there’s a general consensus that we’ve made major progress, that the surge has worked. That’s been a major success.

RADDATZ: Two-third of Americans say it’s not worth fighting.

CHENEY: So?

RADDATZ So? You don’t care what the American people think?

CHENEY: No. I think you cannot be blown off course by the fluctuations in the public opinion polls.

Man, not only is he an asshole, he’s a delusional asshole as well.

Of course, when you’re the second lackey to a President who’s approval rating is 19% and has a bunker mentality of it’s us against the world, what do you expect?

Others: CNN, Reuters, Washington Times, Firedoglake, World-O-Crap, Hullabaloo and Dependable Renegade

It has been Five Years…..

That’s right folks, Five years since this War began…. Unreal.

Looking Back at Five Years in Iraq (via New York Times)

FIVE years on, it seems positively surreal.

On the evening of March 19, 2003, a small group of Western journalists had grandstand seats for the big event in Baghdad, the start of the full-scale American bombing of strategic targets in the Iraqi capital. We had forced a way through a bolted door at the top of an emergency staircase leading to the 21st-story roof of the Palestine Hotel, with a panoramic view of Saddam Hussein’s command complex across the Tigris River.

It has been five years it hardly seems conceivable. However, unfortunately, for the American people, it is a harsh reality of life. It has been five whole years, since the Bush Administration launched a preemptive strike against the sovereign nation of Iraq. This Strike, based upon bad, if not, outright false CIA intelligence. It was termed a “Slam Dunk,” by the then CIA Director George J. Tenet. Tenet resigned when this “Slam Dunk” turned out to be nothing more than a foul ball.

The thing that amazes me is the fact that the Bush Administration continues, to this day, to attempt to move the goalposts in regards to this so-called “War on Terror.” This is really, in all honesty, a case study exercise in fear mongering and Neo-Conservative Propaganda. Just ask Senator Barack Obama; he has been the victim of the fear mongering, and Republican Propaganda, all because of his racial and religious backgrounds. This information was mostly gleaned from white nationalist websites. This information was recycled, and revised to make it sound believable. It was and continues to be distributed by well meaning and very loyal people within the Republican Party and Conservatives who, quite frankly, just do not know any better.

The war however, is dragged on, all but forgotten by the mainstream media, because, I believe, they realized that people were just tired of hearing about the blood and carnage. The right wing camp, says that we are winning the war and that George W. Bush’s “Surge” is working. The reality is, that violence levels are back to down to what they were, before the civil war broke out between the two factions in Iraq. The Republicans call it progress, the rest of us that are still in touch with reality call it returning to pre-civil war levels. Some call it semantics; I prefer to call it a realist observation.

The toll of this war has been more than just physical, more than just dead bodies, although, that is a great part of it, lives ruined, lives lost, families devastated, it is quite the sad affair. However, there is a greater loss, our nation’s economy. A good friend of mine, Matt Gacht, is an auto mechanic; he specializes in working on Hummers. Since this war started, business has been bad, horribly bad. He also has a side business; he does electrical wiring in racecars. Since this war started, the cost of electrical wire has skyrocketed. It does cut into his profit margin. He would raise his rates, but if he does that, he cannot remain competitive. He is not the only person in this business. There are others in the business, people that have much more capital that he does, so, he has to be able to keep up with the big people. Sometimes, Matt Says, he feels like banging his head against the wall, because he feels like he is trapped in a difficult situation. It is tough, but his customers like him, because he takes pride in his work and he is almost disturbingly thorough.

Because I am a balanced person, I can also make this observation. The plain fact of reality is this, if this country pulls out of Iraq too fast. The country will, in fact, fall into chaos. The far left adamantly refuses to believe or accept this and it is quite sad. However, I do not believe that continuing the President’s policy and course will be a wise decision. There needs to be a change, as to what kind of a change? That will have to be decided and hashed out. There will have to be some very tough decisions made. I just hope and yes, I do pray, that there will be some wisdom used, that decisions made based upon facts on the ground and not based upon political ideologies.

Others on this: The Belmont Club and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and more via memeorandum

The Story that GWB wishes the world would forget about….

I must confess, I find this most funny. Hee hee 

Pentagon Report on Saddam’s Iraq Censored? (via Rapid Report)

ABC News’ Jonathan Karl Reports: The Bush Administration apparently does not want a U.S. military study that found no direct connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda to get any attention.  This morning, the Pentagon cancelled plans to send out a press release announcing the report’s release and will no longer make the report available online.
The report was to be posted on the Joint Forces Command website this afternoon, followed by a background briefing with the authors.  No more.  The report will be made available only to those who ask for it, and it will be sent via U.S. mail from Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, Virginia. 
It won’t be emailed to reporters and it won’t be posted online.

Asked why the report would not be posted online and could not be emailed, the spokesman for Joint Forces Command said: "We’re making the report available to anyone who wishes to have it, and we’ll send it out via CD in the mail."
Another Pentagon official said initial press reports on the study made it "too politically sensitive."

I would guess so, this is like red meat for the left.

If you think that the Democrats won’t use this, for campaign purposes come November, You’re crazy.

Others: Hullabaloo, Donklephant, News Hounds, TPMMuckraker, democracyarsenal.org, The Newshoggers, Liberal Values, Talking Points Memo, Bang the Drum, The Carpetbagger Report and The Washington Independent

Not everyone in the Obama camp agrees with him on FISA and Telecoms

Interesting… 

Check it out

Quote:

In a new interview with National Journal magazine, an intelligence adviser to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign broke with his candidate’s position opposing retroactive legal protection for telecommunications companies being sued for cooperating with a dubious U.S. government domestic surveillance program.

"I do believe strongly that [telecoms] should be granted that immunity," former CIA official John Brennan told National Journal reporter Shane Harris in the interview.  "They were told to [cooperate] by the appropriate authorities that were operating in a legal context."

"I know people are concerned about that, but I do believe that’s the right thing to do," added Brennan, who is an intelligence and foreign policy adviser to Obama.

That wasn’t just a personal opinion, Brennan made clear to Harris. "My advice, to whoever is coming in [to the White House], is they need to spend some time learning, understanding what’s out there, identifying those key issues," including the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, he said — the law at the heart of the immunity debate.

"They need to make sure they do their homework, and it’s not just going to be knee-jerk responses," Brennan said of the presidential hopefuls.

On one hand, this is good thing, he’s taking opinions from other people. On the other, what if he decides to agree with this guy and the President gets away with breaking the law?

Should be interesting.

Others: The Newshoggers, American Street, Weekly Standard, The American Mind and The Campaign Spot

Related Articles and such @ Memeorandum

Bush endorses John McCain

On one hand this endorsement will be a good thing, amongst hardcore Republicans. However, amongst the Independent voters and those who are not pleased with the Bush Administration, this is basically a death sentence.

The Story: Bush endorses John McCain for president (via MSNBC.COM)

President Bush endorsed Republican nominee-in-waiting John McCain on Wednesday, two bitter rivals from the 2000 presidential race joining together now in hopes of preventing Democrats from winning the White House this fall.

"John showed incredible courage, strength of character and perseverance in order to get to this moment and that’s exactly what we need in a president — somebody who can handle the tough decisions, somebody who won’t flinch in the face of danger," Bush said, appearing with McCain in the Rose Garden.

The Video:

Again, while this may seem to be a great thing for John McCain and his campaign. To the Democrats, this is just fresh bait. For John McCain to say, "Yeah, I’ll let George W. Bush campaign for me!" is a death sentence amongst the Independent voters.

Because quite frankly, the President has like a 19% approval rating. You think Bush will be a helpmate to his Campaign? I highly doubt it. More like a paperweight!

I look for him to lose and lose hard, sorry to say it, But if the majority of America sees him as an extension of the current President, he doesn’t stand a chance in the general election.

The snort worth comment was the "I will tell him to be careful in who he has choose his running mate". A very funny reference to Dick Cheney. Bush’s dancing before the conference was quite funny too.

Before anyone calls me an Anti-Republican, please, hold your fire, I’m just a realist. I also have issues with the Democrats as well, especially Hillary.

Sometimes the idiots make it too easy….

The Story: Bush admin: U.S. has ‘lost intelligence’ (via Politico.com)

The Bush administration informed Congress on Friday that the government has “lost intelligence” because of the expiration of surveillance legislation caught in a political tug of war.

“We have lost intelligence information this past week as a direct result of the uncertainty created by Congress’ failure to act,” says an underlined passage of a six-page letter signed by Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey and Director of National Intelligence J. Michael McConnel

I think Keith Olbermann’s Words sum it up for me. I’m referring to the last one on this video… Big Grin

(click in the arrow to play video…)

(H/T Memeorandum)

 

Republicans have lost their minds….

There should be a law against this sort of blatant stupidity.

Right slams Obama as ‘shady Chicago socialist’ (Via Times Online)

LEADING Republicans believe they can trounce Barack Obama in the presidential election by tarring him as a shady Chicago socialist. They are increasingly confident that his campaign could collapse by the time their attack machine has finished with him.

Grover Norquist, an influential conservative tax reform lobbyist, said: “Barack Obama has been able to create his own image and introduce himself to voters, but the swing voters in a general election are not paying attention yet. He is open to being defined as a leftwing, corrupt Chicago politician.”

Not only will this not work. But if it’s taken too much to an extreme, could really come back to bite the Republicans in the rear. One only need to go to Wikipedia to get a list of the MANY scandals that have happened during the George W. Bush Presidential Administration. Some say his stint as President was the worst ever.  I cannot say that I disagree with that.

So, I mean, they can go this route, But I would not suggest it. It would be totally disastrous for the party. 

Of course, there are some that are saying, that this is all a doing of Hillary or at least she is loving it. This would not surprise me in the least. However, I don’t think that she is directly involved, I think it is the work of an over zealous, right wing fringe. 

It should be a very interesting election year. I will be here covering it all.

Others: Althouse, Fausta’s blog, Shakespeare’s Sister, Liberal Values, Booman Tribune, No More Mister Nice Blog, American Power, Gateway Pundit, Middle Earth Journal, Oliver Willis, progressive involvement, The Ruckus, protein wisdom, Lawyers, Guns and Money, Buck Naked Politics, TalkLeft, Firedoglake, Jules Crittenden and Taylor Marsh (via Memeorandum)