It's not even Friday yet, and I can honestly say that this has been the best week from a political standpoint that I can remember in a very long time.
Sure, the circular firing squad piece on Dems in the NYT was mightily discouraging, but for a week when we suspected that we'd have to watch Bush's favor with the people inch upward post-SOTU, it seems like we've been on a surprisingly good streak here.
Don't believe me? Let's check the box scores:
The Gonzales Spy Hearings
The American public saw Gonzales (a) demur at being sworn; (b) hem, haw, sigh prodigiously, and evade questions from both Republicans and Democrats; (c) provide arcane and confusing justifications for the administration's circumvention of FISA, and (d) come under fire from prominent members of his own party, who are understandably not keen to forfeit their powers of oversight to this President. Arlen Specter joked of AG-AG's legal argument: "He's smoking Dutch Cleanser."
WIN!!!
King Funeral
One word: Schadenfreudalicious!!!
The story? Bush steps outside bubble, invites self to funeral, finds truth painful, Republicans blame black people for boo-boo in Presidential ego. From the digs to the utterly apoplectic reaction of the right, not one of us could have scripted a better outcome. The louder the wingnuts kvetch, the more they call attention to the truth in the words of President Jimmy Carter and Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery. Doubt that this was an unadulterated windfall? When was the last time the White House Communications Office chose not to answer a naked criticism of Dear Leader?
WIN!!!
Oh, Hey, DeLay!!!
While I enjoyed having Bugman out of the news for a while (it gave me time to grow some hair back), the decision of GOP leaders to reward his behavior with a seat on the House Appropriations Committee proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that this Republican Congress is corrupt beyond the pale, and so bereft of leadership that they would rather drink political poison than contemplate genuine change. I say, bottoms up!!! Cheers!!! Skol!!!
WIN!!!
"Thwarted" Attack My Ass
Let me get this straight. Four years ago, the same terrorists who executed the 9/11 attacks flawlessly thought it would be feasible to develop, deploy, conceal and detonate a shoe bomb so precise in its yield that it would blow a neat, passable hole in a cockpit door, but not (a) breach the hull of the aircraft, (b) blow out a window, or (c) damage the hydraulics or controls of the plane such as to make it unflyable. Then they would repel counterattacks from surviving passengers and presumably evade Air Force F-18s to run the gauntlet and smash into...wait for it...a big, tall building!
But Bush thwarted it, yea thwartily, and now, four years later, because, I don't know, it seems like a good time, he's chosen to tell us all about it. Which is proof, you see (snicker)...the Preznit (snort)...is protecting us (pffffffffffft)...from terr'ists (BWAHAHAHAHA).
By the way, I LIVE in Los Angeles. I drive by the US Bank building at least once a day. All but its top 15 floors or so are surrounded by other skyscrapers. In contrast to the WTC Towers, whose profiles were much broader and largely exposed, pulling off a direct hit on the US Bank Tower with a jetliner would be a considerably tougher trick, and impossible in a depressurized, hydraulically compromised plane. This story reeks of desperation and bullshit; expect terrorism experts to debunk it on the talk show circuit tonight.
WIN!!!
I invite the rest of you to pile on. What else made you smile this week?