Same drill today...as much as I feel betrayed, disgusted and outraged over the Democrats cowardice, I just don't have the energy (or time) to really express much here yet, but I've got a lot of clips from people who are doing it for me quite well. So here you go:
This is the guy the Dems are afraid of on Iraq???
New polls shows Mr. Bush with 23 percent approve of his handling of the situation in Iraq, 72 percent disapprove; 25 percent approve of his handling of foreign policy, 65 percent disapprove; and 27 percent approve of his handling of immigration issues, while 60 percent disapprove.
COMMENTARY ON THE COWARDLY D'S
This week’s cave-in on Capitol Hill — supplying a huge new jolt of funds for the horrific war effort in Iraq — is surprising only to those who haven’t grasped our current circumstances. Public opinion polls aren’t the same as political leverage. The Vietnam War went on for years after polling showed that most Americans opposed the war and even saw it as immoral. Slick phrases about the need to bring our troops home can easily become little more than platitudes on wallpaper in media echo chambers. No matter how many Democrats are in Congress, they won’t end this war unless an antiwar movement develops enough grassroots strength to compel them to do so.
-- Norm Solomon
It is a dark day in our nation’s history. That sounds melodramatic - but it is true. Today America watched a Democratic Party kick them square in the teeth - all in order to continue the most unpopular war in a generation at the request of the most unpopular president in a generation at a time polls show a larger percentage of the public thinks America is going in the wrong direction than ever recorded in polling history.
SNIP
...what happened today was perhaps the most stunning travesty I’ve seen in a decade working in Democratic politics. A Democratic Party that six months ago was elected on a promise to end the war first tried to hide their complicity in continuing the war in the House, and then gave a few token speeches as the blank check sailed through the Senate club. And it all happened, as the New York Times reported today, because these Democrats believed criticism from President Bush - the man who polls show is the most unpopular president in three decades - “seemed more politically threatening to them than the anger Democrats knew they would draw from the left.
Democratic politicians, Capitol Hill staff, political consultants and all their lobbyist friends sitting comfortably tonight in their Northwest Washington homes believe the public thinks Democrats are “weak” because they don’t more strongly support leaving American troops to be killed or maimed in the middle of a bloody civil war in a country half way around the globe that had no WMD and had nothing to do with 9/11. What they seem unable - or unwilling - to realize is that the public has believed Democrats are weak not because some in the party have opposed the war, but because many in the party refuse to wield the power the public entrusts them with on all sorts of issues. At least on Iraq - the biggest issue of the day - the public’s perception has proven right. As I wrote to one congressional lawmaker in an e-mail correspondence we had today: “The spoils go to those who use the power they are entrusted with, while infamy goes to those who squander it.”
-- David Sirota
John Edwards with more great proposals and critiques (to think I ever thought that Obama would be even close to as good as Edwards...not even close)
"The core of this presidency has been a political doctrine that George Bush calls the Global War on Terror…He has used this doctrine like a sledgehammer to justify the worst abuses and biggest mistakes of his administration, from Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, to the war in Iraq. The worst thing about the Global War on Terror approach is that it has backfired -- our military has been strained to the breaking point and the threat from terrorism has grown. It’s a bumper sticker, not a plan. It has damaged our alliances and weakened our standing in the world – it’s been used to justify everything from the Iraq War to Guantanamo to illegal spying on the American people. It’s even been used by this White House as a partisan weapon to bludgeon their political opponents."
SNIP
``I've proposed a plan to lead an international effort to educate every child in the world. As president, I would increase foreign assistance by $5 billion a year to make millions of people safer, healthier, and more democratic, and by creating a cabinet-level post to lead this effort.'' If he were elected president, Edwards said he would close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, ``restore habeas corpus, and ban torture'' to help restore America's stature in the world.
Edwards said he would use military force only if all options, including diplomacy, had been exhausted, and then only for justifiable causes such as a response to aggression, stopping genocide or preventing terrorists from acquiring nuclear weapons. Fnally, Edwards proposed a 10,000-member ``Marshall Corps'' made of up ``expert professionals'' to serve in humanitarian missions. `Civilians with training and experience need to be involved in stabilizing states with weak governments and providing humanitarian assistance where disasters have struck,'' he said.
-- Associated Press on Edwards proposals
MORE ON GOP CAGING FROM GREG PALAST
Here's how caging worked, and along with Griffin's thoughtful emails themselves you'll understand it all in no time. The Bush-Cheney operatives sent hundreds of thousands of letters marked "Do not forward" to voters' homes. Letters returned ("caged") were used as evidence to block these voters' right to cast a ballot on grounds they were registered at phony addresses. Who were the evil fakers? Homeless men, students on vacation and - you got to love this - American soldiers. Oh yeah: most of them are Black voters. Why weren't these African-American voters home when the Republican letters arrived? The homeless men were on park benches, the students were on vacation - and the soldiers were overseas. Go to Baghdad, lose your vote. Mission Accomplished.
The committee was perplexed about Monica's panicked admission and accusations about the caging list because the US press never covered it. That's because, as Griffin wrote to Goodling in yet another email (dated February 6 of this year, and posted here), their caging operation only made the news on BBC London: busted open, Griffin bitched, by that "British reporter," Greg Palast. There's no pride in this. Our BBC team broke the story at the top of the nightly news everywhere on the planet - except the USA - only because America's news networks simply refused to cover this evidence of the electoral coup d'etat that chose our President in 2004.
And now, not bothering to understand the astonishing revelation in Goodling's confessional, they are missing the real story behind the firing of the US attorneys. It's not about removing prosecutors disloyal to Bush, it's about replacing those who refused to aid the theft of the vote in 2004 with those prepared to burgle it again in 2008. Now that they have the keys, let's see if they can put them in the right door. The clock is ticking ladies and gents...
-- Greg Palast
VIDEO SECTION
Olbermann on the Bush press conference…this is sick, sick shit. “Your children will die if you don’t support me” kind of sick. And yes, he’s still equating 9/11 with Iraq. I feel nauseous…my soul literally hurts when I watch this, and then to think of the Dems caving in to this sociopath...its almost too much to absorb. Watch this:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/05/25/olbermann-fear-we-go-again/
Olbermann and turley discuss some of the recent revelations on the attorney firings:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/05/25/countdown-turley-breaks-down-gonzo-goodling/
Daily Show dissects Goodling's testimony...classic:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/05/25/daily-show-dissecting-goodlings-testimony/
Al Gore on the Daily Show...a good interview:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/05/25/al-gore-on-the-daily-show-2/
Now compare Jon Stewart’s journalistic ability and interviewing style to that of another mainstream media imbecile. Here’s Leslie Stahl also interviewing Gore on his new book…sit back and revel in the idiocy, as each question only confirms his thesis:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/05/21/al-gore-with-diane-sawyer/
The Daily Show nails it: "the Pussy Party"
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/05/25/countdown-turley-breaks-down-gonzo-goodling/
Colbert does too...f****** cowards:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/05/25/colbert-slams-democrats-for-capitulating-on-iraq/
This is classic…watch Rep. John Boehner cry on the house floor…as he lies and misleads AGAIN about the connection between Iraq and 9/11. This my friends, is the top leader of the GOP for Christ’s sakes!! One cannot overstate how totally fanatical, criminal, and out and out ridiculous this GOP band of sick f***’s has become:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/05/24/rep-boehner-crying/
News headline of the day…read this, then listen to bush’s press conference…straight up, stone cold lying…the actual, diametric opposite of what he says…”Orwell, what didn’t you know?”
Report says Iraq problems were expected
Intelligence analysts predicted, in secret papers circulated within the government before the Iraq invasion, that al-Qaida would see U.S. military action as an opportunity to increase its operations and that Iran would try to shape a post-Saddam Iraq. The top analysts in government also said that establishing a stable democracy in Iraq would be a "long, difficult and probably turbulent process."
Among other conclusions, the analysts found:
Al-Qaida would see the invasion as a chance to accelerate its attacks, and the lines between al-Qaida and other terrorist groups "could become blurred." In a weak spot in the analysis, one paper said that the risk of terror attacks would spike after the invasion and slow over the next three to five years. However, the State Department recently found that attacks last year alone rose sharply.
END
REAL IMPACT OF BUSH TAX CUTS
America's largest corporations have decoupled from the United States. Their overseas subsidiaries are booming even as their American operations stagnate. General Electric expects more than half its revenue this year to come from outside the United States for the first time. More than half of Boeing's new orders are from overseas. Ford is struggling in America but doing well in Europe.
In other words, the president's supply-side tax cuts are great for America's global investors, who have been investing their extra money around the world -- either in foreign companies or in global American-based ones. But little or nothing is trickling down to average working Americans. Half of U.S. households do own some shares of stock, usually through their IRAs or 401Ks. But the vast majority own less than $5,000 worth. Their equity is in their homes, whose values have slumped. They're paying far more for health insurance and fuel. And their wages haven't kept up.
Bottom line: The Bush tax cuts have delivered for Wall Street but done zilch for America's Main Streets.
-- Robert Reich is professor of public policy, at the University of California, Berkeley
AGAIN: GIULIANI IS A FRAUD, LIAR, AND TRAGEDY WHORE
As I've been saying for years, wait until the real Giuliani record comes out about before, during, and after 9/11...well, its starting to, as I predicted it would:
From Crooks and Liars: Rudy Giuliani's most appealing quality with the right-wingers is the so-called "strong on terror" image that sprouted up out of his "leadership" on 9/11. So when Jerome Hauer, Rudy's former emergency management director, speaks out and demolishes that myth, we should all take note.
New York Times:
As Rudolph W. Giuliani runs for president, his image as a chief executive who steered New York through the disaster of Sept. 11 has become a pillar of his campaign. But one former member of his inner circle keeps surfacing to revisit that history in ways that are unflattering to Mr. Giuliani: Jerome M. Hauer, New York City’s first emergency management director. In recent days, Mr. Hauer has challenged Mr. Giuliani’s recollection that he had little role as mayor in placing the city’s emergency command center at the ill-fated World Trade Center.
Mr. Hauer has also disputed the claim by the Giuliani campaign that the mayor’s wife, Judith Giuliani, had coordinated a help center for families after the attack. And he has contradicted Mr. Giuliani’s assertions that the city’s emergency response was well coordinated that day, a point he made most notably to the authors of “Grand Illusion,” a book that depicts Mr. Giuliani’s antiterrorism efforts as deeply flawed.
Hauer is not the only one to take a sledgehammer to Rudy's bogus 9/11 mystique. In March, the President of the International Fireighters Association blasted Rudy for his "egregious acts" against the FDNY in the months after the attacks. What else would it take for people to understand that his record of "leadership" on terrorism is dismal? He doesn't seem to have a good grasp of the underlying causes of Islamic terrorism, either.
END
Remember, nearly every major move these guys make, you have to look deep as to how it may relate to stealing another election...they've done it numberous times before, and they know they'll need to pull off a few whoppers to get back power in the future:
REPUBLICANS PROPOSE IMMIGRATION BILL AMENDMENT TO REQUIRE DISENFRANCHISING PHOTO ID RESTRICTIONS AT POLLING PLACE!
Sen. McConnell's Provision Would Amend Help America Vote Act (HAVA) to Include Attempt to Keep Legally Registered Voters from Voting!
GOP Prepared to Stop at Nothing to Undermine Most Basic American Values...Such as Democracy...
Un-believable. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has introduced an amendment to the proposed new Immigration Law that would require disenfranchising Photo ID restrictions on voters at the polling place, according to a press release just out from National League of Women Voters.
The provision tagged onto the immigration bill would amend the horrible Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002 that McConnell co-sponsored and pushed through to passage along with his Republican counterpart and lead author in the House, the now-jailed Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) and Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT) and Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-IL).
The key provision in the amendment is as follows:
SEC. 304. IDENTIFICATION OF VOTERS AT THE POLLS.
(a) In General.--Notwithstanding the requirements of section 303(b), each State shall require individuals casting ballots in an election for Federal office in person to present a current valid photo identification issued by a governmental entity before voting.
(b) Effective Date.--Each State shall be required to comply with the requirements of subsection (a) on and after January 1, 2008.
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4595
