Remember: George Bush Has Failed America

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Wednesday September 08, 2004 · 1:17 PM PDT

2004/09/08 · 13:17

George Bush has Failed America.

Unlike some around here I'm still pretty confident that Kerry is going to win this thing. But its going to take hard work, a hell of a lot of hard work, so when I saw the "miserable failure" meme resurface over here a few days ago I shuddered. Like a lot of people in these parts when Gephardt first dropped those two words onto Bush I was ecstatic, finally the attack was coming from more then just Dean. But within days it was clear it wasn't an effective attack. It alienated most voters, and the criticism of Bush wasn't sticking. Once again the Dems showed their misunderstanding of negative campaigning. Let see if that can change. Read More

Kitty Kelly Bush Book Rumors

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Friday September 03, 2004 · 10:30 PM PDT

2004/09/03 · 22:30

The Kitty Kelly Bush family book is coming in less then two weeks, and the rumors dem spreading. Wild, unsubstantiated rumors. Just the way I like them. The juiciest might be about Dubya's 'special friend' a mayor of an unnamed Tennessee city and of unnamed gender...

Read them all in the extended entry and treat as utterly suspect. And feel free to speculate on the book's impact. Kelly tends to bring out the scandal and make it sell bucketloads, I'm hearing 600,000 first printing... Read More

The Troop Withdrawal (From Iraq?)

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Tuesday August 17, 2004 · 8:18 AM PDT

2004/08/17 · 08:18

It took me a day or so, but I'm starting to realize what Bush's "troop withdrawal" plan is about, and damn does it scare me.

No, its not about sending the troops to Iraq. Note that much of the withdrawal doesn't happen till 2006.

No, its about withdrawing troops from Iraq. Its about winning the Iraq war. Not in reality of course, its still a disaster on the ground. No, its about withdrawing the troops from Iraq in the public's eye, winning the war on Iraq against the media.

Step back for a second. Bush announces a troop withdrawal. From where? Europe and Asia. Most people don't have more then a vague recollection that we even have troops there. The only public troops around are those in Iraq. And when, off in the corner or your eye, you see something about troop withdrawal, you think Iraq.

This is exactly the same process used to get the American people thinking Iraq and Al Qaeda are linked. The 10% that follow politics or the news obsessively will know exactly what the withdrawal is about. But public opinion doesn't work like that. As news spreads it becomes vague and ill defined. Only the sharpest defined and the most unique details are stressed. The rest becomes a background blur. A blurry war in Iraq is on, boring, but there. A blurry war on terra, boring, but there.

When the troop withdrawal hits the nervous system, well its not the most interesting piece of news is it? It comes in low res, bland, a minor fact. But how do we contextualize this minor fact? Bush's people I believe are betting people will associate the troop withdrawal with Iraq. And if the Democrats don't combat that impression hard, many I'm sure will. Its a nice cap to the Iraq media game. Push the war to the background. Make it seem like the troops are coming home. Make it seem like the Iraq disaster is behind us...

Anyone See This Presidential Press Conference?

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Tuesday June 01, 2004 · 1:01 PM PDT

2004/06/01 · 13:01

Wonkette seems to think the president held an impromptu press conference. It doesn't appear to be April Fools today, so Rove must be running scared if he's willing to let Dubya loose so soon after his last one. Did anyone catch it? If so any comments?

Nick Berg Beheading Video

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Tuesday May 11, 2004 · 8:34 PM PDT

2004/05/11 · 20:34

The video is truly awful. If you really want to see it though, Ogrish.com has it. I truly wish I hadn't watched it. But I believe in openness and a free press so I think its important we all have the option to watch this. Important to actually watch it perhaps, as I've argued before we shouldn't be hiding ourselves from the horrors of war.

You have the option, you make the choice.

Concerts for Kerry, tonight in NYC, across the country till November

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Friday April 30, 2004 · 2:28 PM PDT

2004/04/30 · 14:28

Concerts for Kerry is starting to take off and there is a show tonight in NYC. All proceeds go directly to the Kerry campaign, or perhaps its better to say all proceeds go towards defeating George Bush in the coming elections. Entertainment and political impact all wrapped in one, this is the way to do it folks!

There will be shows all across the country till at least the convention in July, and probably all the way till election day. The more shows the better, so please visit the site to get involved.

Not only can we win this in November, but we can have fun in the process! Let's go.

From Guantanamo to Iraq

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Friday April 30, 2004 · 1:21 PM PDT

2004/04/30 · 13:21

"A former head of the U.S. Guantanamo Bay jail in Cuba has been sent to Iraq to ensure proper prison conditions, after photos apparently showed U.S. soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners, the military said on Friday."

so says Reuters

The Images That Need to be Seen

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Friday April 30, 2004 · 12:51 PM PDT

2004/04/30 · 12:51

Yes these are horrible images, shocking images, images you might not want your kids to see. You know what? War is horrible, war is shocking and war is certainly something you don't want your kids to see.

Now I don't have any kids, but if and when I do, I really don't want them to face the prospect of going to war. Yet we are living in a country where the horrors of war are complacently hidden by a newsmedia that insists on treating everyone as if they were kids. Sure CBS ran these images, but no one else in either American newspapers or American TV seems to have the guts to do so. I'm not particularly surprised.

What is surprising in that none of the big blogs are running these. This is supposed to our alternative media, our way to route around the oligarchies of information. Yet the big boys of blogs are behaving just like the real big boys of media. Why? I'm not sure, but I'm guessing it might have something to do with a fear of being offensive by posting these images.

But I have news for them, war is offensive. It should shock you, it should offend you, it should repulse you. And if we shield ourselves and our children from this, we are setting ourselves up for another repeat, another disaster, another offensive war.

I'm posting these images because I'm upset. Mostly by what's contained in those pictures, but also because of how poorly distributed they are. A nation is shielding its eyes from reality, and it's not pretty. This is not how my country should be represented to the world.

So let us look at these pictures. Let us be shocked, let us be horrified. And let us remember and let us move forward to a place where these horrors exist only in history.

Scalia and Cheney, hunting together

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Saturday January 17, 2004 · 11:46 AM PST

2004/01/17 · 11:46

Guess we should have known:

Vice President Dick Cheney and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia spent part of last week duck hunting together at a private camp in south Louisiana, just three weeks after the Supreme Court agreed to take up an appeal by the vice president in lawsuits over his handling of the administration's energy task force.
Although Scalia and Cheney are avid hunters and longtime friends, several experts in legal ethics questioned the timing of their trip and said it raises doubts about Scalia's ability to judge the case impartially.
But Scalia rejected that concern Friday, saying, "I do not think my impartiality could reasonably be questioned."

Wonder if they went hunting together back in the fall of 2000?

Not really sure what the ramifications would be if Scalia removed himself from the case. With 8 judges you still need 5 for a majority ruling. But perhaps the hearings proceed differently without Scalia around? Regardless this sort of back room sleaze that Cheney specializes in needs a lot more light shining its way.

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