From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...
Wow. Now that it's safe to follow the herd, Chris Matthews goes out on a limb...
"If the war in Iraq was going better, we wouldn't still be asking how we got into it. But it isn't, so we are. For some, the deciding argument for going to war with Iraq was self-defense...it was nuclear. If Saddam Hussein had the bomb or was about to [get it], we had to stop him.
How many times were we told the smoking gun would be a mushroom cloud? How many times did the vice president tell us that Iraq had a nuclear program? Who can forget that the President himself used his State of the Union to warn of Saddam cutting a deal down in Africa? It was a smart, shrewd strategy...talking about mushroom clouds. It got people off the fence. It carried the undecideds. It shut down the opposition. It got us into Iraq. But it was based on faulty, bogus evidence.
Two years ago, with our forces fully engaged in Iraq, the nuclear threat was long seen as inoperative. Now a former Ambassador [Joseph Wilson], who had been sent to Africa before the war looking for evidence of an Iraqi uranium deal, said he came back empty. But he wasn't the first to try and knock down the nuclear argument. Intelligence agencies had been doing that for months, just as unsuccessfully.
The larger scandal in this White House/CIA leak story is not just who leaked the name of an undercover agent, but whether we were given a case for war---the deciding factor for many of us---knowing that it didn't hold water. As we work to find our way out of Iraq, we should focus a bit...on how we got in."
The Chris Matthews Show
July 24
Oh, Tweety...you're sexy when you're brave.
Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Cheers for Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Note: In a pinch, Cheers and Jeers can be printed out and stitched together to form an attention-grabbing pair of leisure slacks.
By the Numbers:
Days `til the Yearly Kos convention in Las Vegas: 316
Days `til the Machias Wild Blueberry Festival: 23
Number of Karl Rove-related Letters to the Editor in Sunday's Maine Sunday Telegram: 6
Number of letters that suggested Rove should be fired: 5
Average number of daily attacks by insurgents in Iraq: 65
(Source: "American commanders" via the New York Times)
Percent of female drivers who say they stop for directions when lost: 61%
Percent of men who stop for directions: 42%
(Source: Harris Interactive via The Week magazine)
Your Puppy Pic of the Day: We call this one, simply, "Locked and Loaded"
CHEERS to popping the clutch and hitting the gas. The Space Shuttle Discovery made a picture-perfect liftoff yesterday morning, pausing only briefly for coffee at the Mesosphere Stop-`N-Pump. First order of business this morning: locating their flies.
JEERS to Americans smoking crack. I just...can't...believe this. The latest USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll shows that a) a majority of Americans (51%) believe we were deliberately misled by Bush on Iraq's non-existent WMDs, b) Our chances of establishing democracy in Iraq are about the same as Antonin Scalia attending a NOW convention, and yet c) 53% stillsay it wasn't a mistake to invade Iraq. And people wonder why I hit the bottle.
JEERS to gabbers on wheels. In the first definitive study of its kind, Australian researchers say they have proof that talking on the phone while driving increases your chance of getting busted up in a crash. They compared cell phone records of 456 drivers against the time of their crashes and found that using a hand-held phone increases your risk of crashing by 4.9 times, while using a hands-free phone makes your risk 3.8 times greater. Strangely, talking on the phone while eating, applying lipstick, reading the paper and putting on panty hose has caused zero crashes. At least in my experience.
CHEERS to tasty sneak previews. C&J got an advance copy of the "dKos Trollhouse Cookbook"---tons of recipes submitted by the Kos community and compiled by Kossacks 42 and grndrush. They've put a ton of work into it, so check it out when it goes on sale in the near-future. Our official verdict: with a little ketchup, it ain't bad.
CHEERS to that stiff...er, quivering upper lip. While we're all toasting the Brits for being stoic and calm in the face of their recent terror attacks, a snarky UK web site says "Bullocks to that, we're terrified!". Heh...you guys were like that at Yorktown, too.
CHEERS to the iPod Flea. Yesterday C&J'er Kredwyn posted news of Apple's smallest music box yet. If you missed it, it's wicked funny. But we're holding out for the iPod Molecule. It holds three notes (the shuffle feature is kewl).
JEERS to Republican family values. Is Karl Rove having a secret affair with a close aide? Do they meet at clandestine rest stops outside the beltway to get down to business inside the beltway (if ya know what I mean)? Is her pet name for him "Jiggles?" And is this a secret video of Mrs. Rove going apeshit? So many questions...and all the time in the world to sort them out. My my my...
CHEERS to Lance Armstrong. If he goes into politics, Think Progress has reason to believe he might be leaning toward the Democratic side. The good guys always do.
CHEERS to Return of the Revenge of the Sith. Mark your calendars: November 1st. Memo to self: must remember to take day off.
JEERS to misplaced priorities. What's more important to the knuckledragger wing of the Republican party than providing support for our national defense? Why, pandering to the NRA, of course! The Goopers put off passing a defense bill until fall so they could instead pass a bill shielding gunmakers from liability lawsuits. Shoot me now.
JEERS to one of the "finest minds of the 13th century." Check out this lovely ad by the DSCC featuring Rick Santorum's Greatest Hits. And then marvel as mild-mannered Boston Globe columnist Tom Oliphant grinds the hack Pennsylvania senator into a fine powder. Somebody fetch the Oreck.
CHEERS to the other shuttle lift-off. Some dude did what the Shogun army never could: jump over the Great Wall of China on a skateboard. On hand to watch the milestone---I kid you not---was China's "Minister of Extreme Sports." And you thought American bureaucracy was bad...
CHEERS to the perfect meal during a hot spell. C&J ate peanut butter (extra-crunchy) and jelly sandwiches every day for our first, um, 25 years. We've re-discovered them during this heat wave and they are mighty tasty with a cold glass of milk and "fun size" bag of Cheetos...er, Cheesy Poofs.
C&J Flashback: July 27, 2004...
CHEERS to red meat vs. cotton candy. `Fahrenheit 9/11' tops $100 million at domestic box office, while Disney's antidote, "America's Heart and Soul," has made only $311,000 despite aggressive grassroots marketing to the conservative crowd. Memo to Michael Eisner: Even McDonalds knows not to sell Happy Meals to adults.
JEERS to the lost art of fine conversation. Americans spent 912 billion minutes on their cell phones last year, according to the Wall Street Journal. Over half of them consisted of important exchanges like: "Whatcha doin'?" "Nothin'."
And just one more...
CHEERS to your "Holy shit!" moment of the week. Fox News anchorman Shepard Smith said whaaaaaaa....??? "Hello, FCC? I'd like to report an assault on my delicate sensibilities. Yes...bleeding in both ears, that's correct. Yes, I'll hold..."
Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless Testimonial:
"Our long wait may be over. So, on behalf of the many millions of people who believe so deeply in what we do, good luck, Godspeed -- and read a little Cheers and Jeers up there."
Space Shuttle Launch Director Mike Leinbach
7/26/05
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