April 10, 2005 - Pensito

Michael Kinsley has said that in Washington, a “gaffe” is when a politician slips up and tells the truth in an public interview. Last week, Republican Sen. Jim Jeffords made just such a gaffe when he told a Vermont NPR interviewer that he believes Pres. Bush and his followers would declare war on Iran to put another Bush family member in the White House.

“I think it was all done to get oil,” Jeffords said of invading Iraq. “And the loss of life that we had, and the cost of it, was to me just a re-election move, and they’re going to try to live off it. Probably start another war, wouldn’t be surprised, next year. Probably in Iran.”

“Do you think that’s likely?” VPR host Bob Kinzel asked.

“I probably shouldn’t even talk on it, I just feel so bitter about the thinking that’s gone on behind them, and the reasons they go to war and went to war,” Jeffords replied. “But I feel very strongly that they are looking ahead, and that there will be an opportunity to go into Iran and try to get their son elected president. I don’t know, but you do it each time they (are) going to have a new president. I’m very, very (Jeffords chuckles). Oh, well, I better be quiet.”

Chris Shays (R-CN) demanded that Majority Leader Tom DeLay resign.

“Tom’s conduct is hurting the Republican Party, is hurting this Republican majority and it is hurting any Republican who is up for re-election,” Rep. Chris Shays, a Connecticut Republican, told The Associated Press in an interview, calling for DeLay to step down as majority leader.

The Wall Street Journal chimed in saying DeLay should get out, and Sen. Santorum (R-PA) called on DeLay to explain his conduct to the public.

The sudden barrage from the Right comes as a group of DeLay supporters is gearing up for a campaign to convince the public that DeLay is a godly Christian hero and that charges against him are all trumped up by Democrats, liberals and the leftwing media.

Democrats like Shays, liberals like Santorum and leftwing media like the WSJ.

Day: April 10, 2005

GOP Sen. Jeffords Says Bushes Will Declare War Again to Win Elections

Liberal Gop Chris Shays Calls for DeLay to Resign

Poetic Justice

Verbatim

“They have no navy, they have no air force, they have no air defenses. Their leadership is fractured. They have hyperinflation, their currency is worthless, and they’re having trouble making payroll… I guess other than that, they’re doing well.”

— Secretary of State Marco Rubio, quoted by the New York Post, on Iran.

— Sebastian Smee

“This is a gem sitting there. I think the Democrats … have been episodic in touching it, rather than front and center. Corruption as part of the affordability narrative is more chess, where affordability alone is more checkers.”

— Rahm Emanuel told Semafor that Democrats “should sharpen their arguments about President Donald Trump’s self-dealing while in office — by hitching them to affordability-focused messaging.”

Numerati

61%

54%

59%

A new Pew Research survey finds 59% of Americans say the country’s best years are behind us, while 40% say its best years are ahead.

3.8%

56%