• Politics, Schmolitics

    Pres. Jimmy Carter Next On Hit List

    Carter: White House manipulated Iraq intel And with that look for a raft of criticism from the rabid Right. They’ll bring up embarassing items from the past and attempt to paint Carter as an irrelevant, confused old guy. Yeah, the rabbit thing was weird, but I bet Jimmy could still fix a nuclear sub in a pinch. AND he’s still doing a hell of a lot of good work for the poor and the homeless.

  • Politics, Schmolitics

    Oh My: Cat 1 White House Scandal Blowing

    Scandal Visits the White House: The Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal reached into the White House yesterday, picking off President Bush’s top procurement official — who just barely had time to resign before being arrested. The federal charges against David Safavian stem from his tenure as chief of staff of the General Services Administration, predating his arrival at the White House a year ago. But his arrest nonetheless draws renewed attention to the ongoing corruption and influence-peddling inquiry swirling around Abramoff, a lobbyist well known for his connections to conservative Republicans in the White House and Congress. And for a White…

  • Politics, Schmolitics

    Nice Speech, Nobody There

    Bush to Offer Hurricane Aid Package – Yahoo! News Rather than speak before a live audience, Bush planned to stand alone and broadcast his message directly into the camera from the evacuated city’s historic Jackson Square, according to a White House official speaking on condition of anonymity since the site had not been announced. The square and its most famed landmark, the St. Louis Cathedral, were on high enough ground to avoid flooding but did not escape damage from Katrina’s 145-mph winds. Two massive oak trees outside the 278-year-old cathedral came out by the roots, ripping out a 30-foot section…

  • Politics, Schmolitics

    The Shameful Eleven

    These are the eleven Republicans who voted against the $51.8 billion Katrina aid bill. Remember, the National Republican Congressional Committee issued a press release attacking 65 Democrats (like Utah’s Rep Jim Matheson) for voting against this bill, when actually they voted for the final version (they had voted against some procedural action on it earlier in the day, but the NRCC couldn’t be bothered to correct its release). These eleven congressmen, Republican conservatives all, just voted against the $51 billion package ( H. R. 3673) for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Horrible human beings, all. Rep. Joe Barton – TX…

  • Politics, Schmolitics

    Tough Crowd, or Wishful Thinking?

    Okay, this photo has been making the rounds of the Net; I spotted it at BB: Now, all of the news items I’ve seen (and oddly, though it’s an AP photo, it’s kind of hard to find) are from “blue-stater” sites, so they’re all trumpeting how the loveable old battle-hardened codgers were sitting on their hands and not clapping for the Prez while he blathered on repeating the 9-1-1 mantra (did you know that September 11th was the opening salvo in our war on terrorism? I did not know that). Anyway, the gentleman in the photo is identified as Bill…

  • Politics, Schmolitics

    Finger Constantly On The Button

    CBS News | Bush To Rally Iraq Support | August 22, 2005?11:00:05 My lucky family in Salt Lake will have the dubious pleasure of a Presidential visit there; meanwhile the anti-war activists on the Cindy Sheehan bandwagon couldn’t even get an ad on one local TV station, because it was deemed likely to be “offensive to the community.” No, really it’s likely to be “offensive to the conservative power base most likely to support Bush while his ratings take a dive with everyone else.” A comment on Dan Froomkin’s Washington Post “live interactive” page from a while back comes to…

  • Politics, Schmolitics

    Two Months Later, Durbin Checks In

    Hey! Remember that Downing Street Memo thing? I blogged about it on June 12: I see via various blogs (BoingBoing and others) that the Downing Street Memo still hasn’t gotten much mainstream media attention. The new website on the Memo has a lot of information on the issues surrounding the document, and also under the Take Action link, you can sign on to the letter to the President that asks the questions originally asked by Sen. John Conyers and 88 other members of Congress on May 5, 2005. There’s a link to a PDF copy of the actual document, with…

  • Politics, Schmolitics

    Katherine Harris Is Too Smug

    >BRANDON, Fla. – (KRT) – U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris is holding court in a crowded Republican Party headquarters in a strip mall east of Tampa, fielding questions from an enthusiastic crowd, eager to hear her thoughts on abortion, gay marriage and stem cell research. Then, from the back of the room comes the inevitable: “How do you plan on dealing with people still mad about the 2000 election?” The immaculately groomed woman in the perfectly tailored suit smiles. ”Do you think anybody will be?” she asks coyly. ”We simply followed the law.” Her audience applauds, delighted at the response from…

  • Politics, Schmolitics

    The Vacation President

    Chicago Indymedia: newswire/61312 The local peace-and-justice folks pass along plans for today’s visit by President Bush to the Caterpillar plant in Aurora: “War President? VACATION PRESIDENT!” That’s the main message. Bush tops vacation time of any pres while soldiers die. Be at the at the Caterpillar plant in Aurora, Illinois Wednesday Aug 10th 8:30AM, doors open 9, Bush speaks 11. South on Orchard Road at the intersection of rt30 and Orchard Road in S. Aurora. Main Entrance Caterpillar Drive. Questions: Tetricus at Yahoo dot Com. Or at least, they were organizing it. A link for more information appears to be…

  • Politics, Schmolitics

    Word Searches Are Fun

    Columnist Dan Froomkin noted that it was possible to do a word search on messages posted at Americasupportsyou.mil, and wondered if certain words were more likely to show up in a search than others. A participant in his Live Online chat today obliged with an interesting list of searches: White House Talk: Dan Froomkin Douglassville, PaRe: americasupportsyou.mil Keyword search: pray – 9,425 god – 5,488 Christian – 96 Islam / Muslim – 4 Republican – 46 Democrat – 18 media – 230 democracy – 137 Interesting results. Dan Froomkin: Fabulous. Thanks. Other word searches are encouraged. Some attendees obviously think…