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GOP Swiftboats the Moveon Ad – And Dems Surrender

Jon Ponder

Surrender Does Not Work. Just Ask Pres. Kerry

If you think Democrats in Washington are on high alert and in rapid-response mode, readied for the inevitable barrage of Republican Swiftboat attacks, think again. The sad fact is the GOP successfully deployed just such a campaign this month right under their noses, and the Dems fell for it, folding their tents at the Republicans’ first suggestion that they are anti-military.

How to create Rovian disinformation: Craft sentences that imply more than they say. Deliver them with conviction. When found out, reveal the artful parsing that proves you never said what everyone heard.

The smear campaign had the standard Swiftboat profile — a concerted, tightly scripted roll out of disinformation designed to discredit an otherwise credible opponent. But maybe the Dems didn’t recognize the attack as Swiftboating, per se, because the target was not a person. It was a newspaper ad published Moveon.org.

Sure, the opportunity fell into the Republicans’ laps, but their rapid-response seized the moment, turned it around and eventually won the day. (Meanwhile our rapid response team is still hiding under the bed.)

The GOP had its talking points together within a few hours. They slammed Moveon for having the temerity to criticize the general, thus shutting off discussion of the charges they’d made against him. If liberals criticize uniformed officers, the talking points said, it proves they disrespect the troops.

In reality of course, criticizing Petraeus proves nothing of the sort. He was sent to Capitol Hill as Bush’s political proxy to defend the president’s policies in Iraq, because Bush is too weak politically to defend them himself. To suggest that Bush’s surrogate can’t be criticized, or that this military man performing an unprecedented political role is emblematic of the entire military is a ridiculous attempt to close off debate.

Ridiculous or not, it worked.

[…]

Maybe If Karen Thurman Had Said ‘Pretty Please’

Buck Banks

It seems the Florida Democratic Party just gets patheticker and patheticker. According to the Politico, state Chair Karen Thurman, in an effort to make the party’s October state convention at least marginally meaningful compared with its totally meaningless January primary, wrote to the four early-primary states to ask them to permit the Dem prez candidates to attend the convention.

Maybe Karen and Co. can console themselves with a ride on ‘It’s a Small World’ or a visit to ‘Country Bear Jamboree.’

See, following the Democratic National Committee’s smack-down of the the Florida Dems for moving the state’s primary to Jan. 29, ahead of the Feb. 5 earliest-allowed date, the four leading Dem candidates signed a pledge not to campaign in the state unless FlaDems fixed the date thingy. The state party leaders are supposed to teleconference next Saturday and come up with a final solution to the mess before the Sept. 29 5 p.m. deadline. Nothing like leaving it to the last possible minute.

In the meantime, Thurman asked the lead states — Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina — to allow the candidates to come to Disney World for the FlaDem convention next month. (Appropriate venue, no?) The answer? No way, not until you folks get together a “compliant” plan to render your primary meaningless. One wonders why Thurman didn’t wait until after the party had figured out what it was going to do before crawling hat in hands to the early states. But then, one wonders often at Thurman’s behavior. For instance, why wait until just hours before the deadline to convene the party leadership to discuss what to do about Jan. 29.

Here’s the hard-assed letter signed by reps of the four states:

The Hon. Karen Thurman September 18th, 2008
Chair, Florida Democratic Party
Dear Congresswoman Thurman,

The Florida Democratic Party has requested that candidates who signed the “Four-State Pledge” with Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina attend their Democratic Convention in October. We understand from the Florida Democratic Party that this is an important event for them.

Each candidate signed the pledge and indicated they understood that the intention of the pledge is to bring finality, predictability and common sense to the nominating calendar. The pledge refers to the 2008 Delegate Selection Rules for the Democratic National Committee, including, but not limited to, Rule 20 c 1 b.

These rules hold true for any state infringing on the pre-window. Candidates have signed a pledge to honor the calendar with regard to the pre-window and that applies to all states moving forward.

[…]

Appallingly Stupid M.I.T. Student Not Even Tasered

Trish

The prestige of an M.I.T. degree just took a dive.

An MIT student wearing what turned out to be a fake bomb was arrested at gunpoint Friday at Logan International Airport and later claimed it was artwork, officials said.

Star Simpson, 19, had a computer circuit board and wiring in plain view over a black hooded sweat shirt she was wearing, said State Police Maj. Scott Pare, the commanding officer at the airport…

The battery-powered rectangular device had nine flashing lights, Pare said. Simpson also had Play-Doh in her hands, he said.

Man, what an idiot. Logan was the airport where two of the four 9/11 planes took off. I would think they’d be just a tad jumpy about things like this.

The trooper, joined by others with submachine guns, confronted her at a traffic island in front of the terminal.

“She was immediately told to stop, to raise her hands and not to make any movement, so we could observe all her movements to see if she was trying to trip any type of device,” Pare said. “Had she not followed the protocol, we might have used deadly force.”

Of course, had she been trying to ask a question at a John Kerry talk she would at least have been Tasered. So what was up?

“She said that it was a piece of art and she wanted to stand out on career day,” Pare said at a news conference. “She claims that it was just art, and that she was proud of the art and she wanted to display it.”

Simpson was charged with disturbing the peace and possessing a hoax device. A not guilty plea was entered for her at her arraignment Friday and she was released on $750 bail.

She was lucky again. Had she beaten up a fellow high school student in Jena, Louisiana her bail would have $90,000. If she were black, that is.

Cowboy Bush Is Scared of Horses?

Jon Ponder

All Hat and Five Cattle

This this new nugget of info about our swaggering faux-redneck president underscores why it is important to put quotemarks around the word “ranch” when describing Pres. Bush’s vacation home in the hinterlands of Crawford, Texas:

Vicente Fox, the former president of Mexico, derided his political friend as a “windshield cowboy” — a cowboy who prefers to drive — and “the cockiest guy I have ever met in my life”.

He recalled a meeting in Mexico shortly after both men had been elected when Mr Fox offered Mr Bush a ride on a “big palomino” horse.

Mr Fox, who left office in December, recalled Mr Bush “backing away” from the animal.

”A horse lover can always tell when others don’t share our passion,” he said, according to the Washington Post…

The article also points out that there are five cows and no horses on the Bush “ranch.”

Friday Funnies: CheatNeutral.Com

Trish

Have you, like me, had problems with the whole concept of carbon offsets? As it’s usually explained, you drive your Lady Hummer, fly when it would be easier to walk, and install an ice rink in the backyard of your Miami home…BUT you also pay someone to clean up enough carbon somewhere else on the planet to make up for it.

Is the problem you have with this somewhat convoluted and contrived brainchild the nagging thought that it would be more effective not to burn all those greenhouse gases to begin with? Well, the British have a parody web site for you.

CheatNeutral.com applies the idea behind carbon offsets to relationships. They sell cheat offsets to those who are being unfaithful to their significant others, while paying monogamous couples to stay that way. Watch them explain the concept to folks on the street, and it really dawns on you how much better it would be to just use less of the planet’s scarce resources. And oh yeah, how much better not to sleep around on your partner!

Umbrage, Hand-Wringing, Britney, Hillary, and MoveOn

Trish

The whole country is beginning to sound like that guy (who knew?) who sobbed over the justified criticism of Britney Spears’ lackluster MTV Video Music Awards performance.

More than anyone else, Hillary Clinton is taking a pounding over allegedly egregious transgressions. An incredibly slanted story on ABC takes the Democratic front-runner to task over supposedly beyond-the-pale references to Rudy Guiliani by Clinton supporter former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack. ABC claims Vilsack made a personal attack on Guiliani by merely acknowledging the former mayor has some “issues.”

The attack came in an interview on NY1, when former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, a top Clinton presidential campaign adviser, laughed when an interviewer discussed the prospect of Giuliani as the GOP presidential nominee…

Whatever your interpretation of the ad, all the gasping for air and waving of scented handkerchiefs among the war’s most enthusiastic supporters is pretty comical

“I can’t even get into the number of marriages, and the fact his children — the relationship that he has with his children, and what the kind of circumstance New York was in before September the 11th, and whether or not he could have even been re-elected as mayor prior to September the 11th,” Vilsack said. “There are lots of issues involving Mayor Giuliani and I’m sure if he becomes the nominee we’ll be able to see those.”

Kaaay. I agree — if Rudy gets the Republican seal of approval, we’ll all be knowing way more about the thrice-married-once-to-his- cousin-absentee-dad-extraordinaire-9/11-best-thing-to- ever-happen-to-him-and-fellow-lame-o-George-Bush than we want.

But the veracity of Vilsack’s comments matter not. The important thing is this is a chance to skewer Hillary. Kind of.

On Radio Iowa today, Clinton was asked about an interview Thursday when she said she was focusing on a positive agenda.

“Have you told Gov. Vilsack privately that you don’t appreciate his negative comments that were made in New York on that television station yesterday in regards to Mr. Giuliani?” the station’s news director asked.

But instead of distancing herself from the remarks, Clinton replied that Vilsack “is more than capable of speaking for himself.”

Good damn answer.

All this false outrage at Hillary is best explained by a Time essay from Michael Kinsley, analyzing the “How dare you” stance Republicans are taking, particularly in regard to the MoveOn.org ad about Gen. Petraeus’ testimony before Congress.

Goodness gracious. Oh, my paws and whiskers. Some of the meanest, most ornery hombres around are suddenly feeling faint. Notorious tough guys are swooning with the vapors. The biggest beasts in the barnyard are all aflutter over something they read in the New York Times…

Welcome to the wonderful world of umbrage, the new language of American politics. You would not have thought that the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly would be so sensitive. Sticks and stones and so on. Yet they all seem to have taken one look at that ad and fainted dead away.

[…]

Media Ignores Story of Federal Prosecutor Nabbed Soliciting Sex from Five-Year-Old Girl

Jon Ponder

Despite the high profile of the alleged perp, the national media is ignoring the arrest of a longtime assistant U.S. attorney in Detroit on Sunday in a child-sex sting:

In his online profile, Atchison appears to be into infantilism, a fetish where adults wear diapers and act child-like for sexual gratification.

John D.R. Atchison, 53, of Gulf Breeze, Fla., an assistant U.S. attorney based in Pensacola, Fla., was arrested Sunday at Detroit Metropolitan Airport when he arrived for a meeting with a woman he thought was going to let him have sex with her young daughter, authorities said. The woman actually was a Macomb County sheriff’s detective and part of an Internet sex sting operation….

When he arrived Sunday, he was carrying presents for the girl, including a doll and earrings, and also had sexual materials, Sheriff Mark Hackel said.

While the story has gotten little play nationally, it has shocked Atchison’s hometown:

“He’s squeaky clean,” said one local official, on condition of anonymity. Another says there was no indication of any untoward behavior on his part as a coach and president of the Gulf Breeze Sports Association (GBSA).

However, the mug shot confirms Roy Atchison is the same local resident who serves as GBSA president and assistant U.S. attorney…

And:

“I can’t believe it. It’s something that’s just totally out of the blue,” [Gulf Breeze City Manager Buz Eddy ] said. “I never would have even thought ‘That guy’s a little strange’ or anything like that. I’m still hoping to hear some type of explanation.”

And yes, he’s a family man:

Atchison’s wife, Barbara, is a science teacher at Gulf Breeze High School and the two have three children.

The particulars of the case are really heinous:

[…]

Poll: Normal Americans Not Swayed By Petraeus’ Poodle and Pony Show

Jon Ponder

The results of the congressional testimony last week by Gen. David Petraeus — George Bush’s new (hired) poodle now that Tony Blair is off the stage — are in, and, not surprisingly, he failed to change hearts and minds of regular Americans:

After the “surge” ends next spring and U.S. security forces are no longer present in sufficient numbers to flood the zone of unrest, the violence will resume to pre-surge levels or worse — just as the 2008 election season is ramping up

A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday found essentially no shift in views on whether U.S. forces are likely to win the war — two-thirds predict they won’t –and if the United States should set a firm timetable to remove troops.

In the days before Petraeus’ appearances and President Bush’s speech to the nation last week, 60 percent supported setting a timetable for withdrawal and sticking to it “regardless of what is going on in Iraq at the time.” Now 59 percent do.

(A CBS News poll taken after the testimony and after Bush’s “stay the course” address to the nation last week produced similar results.)

Of course, changing the minds of normal Americans was never the goal. Bush’s prime objective was, and is, to avoid having the ghastly ending to his war occur on his watch. He sent Gen. Petraeus to Capitol Hill to keep the GOP base in line, thereby ensuring the loyalty of Republicans in Congress. On that level, the Petraeus hearings were a smashing success.

And yet, as the Republicans line up to follow Bush once more into the breach, it is beginning to look like their loyalty to Dear Leader has become a death wish. What else could explain such selfless obedience to a president whose only noteworthy accomplishment has been the efficiency with which he has emptied the treasury, and whose pathological lying and ineptitude have left his party at least as politically damaged as it was when it was forced to cede power to the Democrats after Sen. Joe McCarthy’s reign of terror in the 1950s and after Watergate 20 years later?

Republicans in Congress must know that after the “surge” ends next spring and the number of U.S. security forces is no longer sufficient to flood the zone, the violence will resume to pre-surge levels or worse. If this happens, the violence will be ramping up in Iraq just as the 2008 election season enters its final heat.

This is particularly dangerous for Republicans in the Senate, where almost half the GOP seats (with Warner and Hagel dropping out, I think it’s up to 24) are up for grabs next year, compared with 12 seats for the Democrats. By following George Bush off a cliff one last time, Republicans in Congrewss could find themselves in January 2008 handing a veto-proof majority to the Democrats — one more time.

Poll: Bush, Congress Set New Lows in Approval Ratings

Buck Banks

In a new Zogby/Reuters survey, both George W. Bush and the Democratic-led Congress have hit new low approval ratings. Just 29 percent of respondents approved Bush’s performance, down from his former low of 30 percent set in March. Congress is considered even more ineffective, with 11 percent of respondents approving of the legislative body’s performance, down from a previous record low approval rating of 14 percent.

‘The mood is getting ugly.’
— pollster John Zogby

Pollster John Zogby said events over the past months have affected the nation’s overall mood and outlook:

“Since the last time we polled we have had the mortgage crisis, and we are hearing the recession word a whole lot more than we’ve heard it in the past,” Zogby said. “There are things that happened in the September polling that drove the number down a bit, and they are mostly economic worries,” he added.

Nearly 62 percent of those polled think the country is on the wrong track. About two-thirds of Americans think the value of their homes will stay the same or decrease in the next year, and about one-third expect the housing slump and credit crunch to lead to a recession in the next year.

The poll also found that 68 percent of Americans rate U.S. economic policy as fair or poor, and 73 percent calling U.S. foreign policy either fair or poor.

“The public mood is not just dark. What’s darker than dark?” Zogby said. “The mood is getting ugly.”