Day: October 18, 2005

Fast Track to the Black Vote, Plus He’ll Always Know If It’s O.K. to Go Wee-Wee

Trish

How can George Bush show he really does care about black people?

Replace Dickface Cheney with the woman he consults before he takes a whiz: Dr. Secretary of State Condo Rice.

Replace Dickface Cheney with the woman he consults before he takes a whiz: Dr. Secretary of State Condo Rice.

With rumors mushrooming about Cheney’s prospects in the CIA leak investigation, and Bush’s approval ratings in the Little President’s Room, the one thing that could really put Bush ahead for 2008 (?) is appointing the first black female V.P.

These guys would love it:

“We have watched and listened over the last several weeks with a great deal of frustration and dismay while political opportunists and race-baiting black leaders and Democratic politicians took advantage of the tragedy and suffering in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, particularly in New Orleans, to engage in political opportunism and playing the race card,” [Coalition of South Florida African and Caribbean American Republican Party spokesperson Levi] Williams said, reading from a four-page statement.

“Equally disturbing is that many have used this tragedy to fabricate and distort the truth on the president’s commitment to poor Americans,” Williams said.

Of course, they’d love him no matter what, even if he made Condo use a different Little Secretary of State’s Room than Laura and Jenna and Barbara.

Fun With Polls — Vote Like a Wingnut, or Not!

Buck Banks

P-U poll: Our favorite jughead wingnut, Richard Viguerie, has rolled out a poll on his ConservativeHQ.com Web site and is exhorting true conservatives to let their opinions be known. At least within the skewed confines of his heavily weighted survey, that is.

The questions clearly convey the fact that Ricky feels betrayed from his pinstripes to his wingtips.

For a lark, go here and take the survey. Be sure to be free with those A+ grades when it comes to the Prez and Congress — remember, you’re there to skew Ricky’s poll results, not tell the truth. Peace out!

Terror Alert in Baltimore – Are Indictments Imminent?

Jon Ponder

Playing the terror card? Two tunnels under Balitmore Harbor have been closed due to “recent” and “credible” threats, according to newsreaders on both CNN and MSNBC.

Most of us – 61 percent – no longer believe the President and his staff are credible.

Here we go again.

If the threats were made “recently,” why are the tunnels just now being shut down?

When a threat and the reaction to it are asynchronous like this, it’s a marker for hidden government mischief. We’ve all seen many instances when, on bad news days for Team Bush, the government suddenly reacts to a threat that had been languishing for days and weeks.

These alerts benefit the Bush message-meisters two ways: They refocus the wall-to-wall coverage on cable news from Bush’s bad day onto terror, which is the President’s (only remaining) strong suit. And the alerts put red meat on the table for the Rightwing Echo Machine. These days, Rush, Hannity et al find themselves too often in the uncomfortable position of defending the indefensible about the Bush Administration. They’re happier when they can remind their Dittohead and Unsmart-American listeners to be fearful and to trust Dear Leader to protect them.

The serious side to this is that the rest of us – the other 61 percent – no longer believe the President and members of his staff – especially Scott McClellan – are credible sources of information. It turns out there are limits to the amount of spin the citizenry can swallow.

Read Keith Olbermann’s list of 13 coincidental terror alerts here.

The 23rd Qualm: Bush Is My Shepherd

Jon Ponder

A friend sends this verse, via the Internets:

Bush is my shepherd; I dwell in want.

He maketh logs to be cut down in national forests.

He leadeth trucks into the still wilderness.

He restoreth my fears.

He leadeth me in the paths of international disgrace for his ego’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of pollution and war,

I will find no exit, for thou art in office.

Thy tax cuts for the rich and thy media control, they discomfort me.

Thou preparest an agenda of deception in the presence of thy religion.

Thou anointest my head with foreign oil.

My health insurance runneth out.

Surely megalomania and false patriotism shall follow me all the day s of thy term,

And my jobless child shall dwell in my basement forever.

» Thanks ML!

Miers: Bush Is Smart Enough to Be a Lawyer

Jon Ponder

“All those editing skills, and you would think the president was a lawyer himself. He works so constantly. We’ll keep an eye out and make sure he does not start keeping track of his billable hours. Time and time again, it seemed, the president was able to zero in on the most difficult aspect of an issue and provide exactly the direction needed. Guess that is why he is the president.”

— Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, speaking to White House interns in June 2005

Rightwing Thinktank Says WH Did Not Force Firing of Senior Staffer Who Criticized Bush as Reaganite ‘Impostor’

Jon Ponder

Next stop – re-education camp: Bruce Bartlett’s conservative bona fides would appear to be in good order. He was an early proponent of the failed “supply side” economics scheme, who worked in the White House for Reagan and at Treasury for Bush I. He has been a reliable pundit/propagandist on rightwing economic policies for 20 years.

Like many economic conservatives who are principaled, albeit misguided, in their beliefs, Bartlett has grown increasingly disenchanted with the flagrant fiscal irresponsibility of the current President Bush. Now, after writing a book critical of Dear Leader, he has joined the swelling ranks of those who have experienced the sting of retribution meted out by rightwingers to those in their own ranks who dare to suggest that Mr. Bush is anything but brilliant and infallible.

Bartlett recently lost his day job as a senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis, a rightwing thinktank in Dallas, after he showed his bosses the manuscript for his new book, “The Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy.”

[…]

Bush’s Wage-Law Rollback Opens Door to Fraud in Hurricane Rebuilding

Buck Banks

Red state payback: So how does George Bush repay the loyal Repugs in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi who voted for him? He suspends the federal act that ensures they are paid a decent wage for rebuilding work in the region.

Senate Democrats and labor groups on Monday said President Bush’s decision to suspend a law that requires federal contractors to pay the prevailing union wage for reconstruction jobs is hurting workers and small businesses on the Gulf Coast.

On Sept. 8 Bush suspended the 1931 Davis-Bacon Act in areas of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi damaged by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The act sets a minimum pay scale and requires federal contractors to pay the prevailing or average rate in an affected region. It also requires financial reporting to the federal government. Without that reporting requirement, the potential for fraud is significant.

The Bush administration “is trying to take advantage of a natural disaster” to avoid paying a prevailing wage in federal contracts, said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., at a Democratic Policy Committee hearing Monday. “If this is allowed to stand, what you will see here are people being transferred under federal government contracts … in order to undermine prevailing wages,” he said.

“It is outrageous that the government of the United States would have policies that would take people who have lost their homes, lost their communities, and then as they begin to roll up their sleeves and begin to work to rebuild their communities, [allow them] to basically be kicked off the job,” said Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La.,. “This will not stand, Mr. Chairman.”

[…]

European Union’s First Bird Flu Case Confirmed

Buck Banks

Bird flu was confirmed inside the borders of the European Union yesterday, Monday, Oct. 17, when Greek officials confirmed that at least one case had been detected on an island in the Aegean.

The Agriculture Ministry said the H5 virus had been detected in a turkey on the island of Chios. It was not yet clear whether the bird was infected by the H5N1 sub-strain, which has claimed at least 60 human lives in Asia.

Chios is in the eastern Aegean, near the coast of western Turkey, where an outbreak of bird flu at a turkey farm, confirmed as H5N1, has brought a major cull. The virus has also been found in wildfowl in Romania’s Danube delta.