Month: November 2005

Poll: Americans Already Dreaming About ’08

Buck Banks

Escape from reality: Things have gotten so bad under the Worst President Ever, a new poll suggests Americans are fantasizing about the way things might could be in 2008. This is from National Journal’s PollTrack:

Two marquee names top Americans’ lists for their visions of the two major political parties — but according to a new Diageo/Hotline survey, only one represents the reality.

One half-sample of this month’s survey named the politician they thought each party currently stands for; the other named the politician they thought the party should stand for.

For the Democrats, the answer was the same: New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Twenty-eight percent of respondents said she best represents her party and a quarter said she best represents what her party should be. She also came out ahead in every party breakdown, with more than three in 10 Democrats saying she symbolizes what their party’s values are and should be.

But the GOP had a gap between its current image and the one respondents envision. Three in 10 — a big plurality — said Arizona Sen. John McCain best represents what his party should stand for. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, McCain’s next closest contender, had just 17 percent of the vote; Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had 16 percent.
[…]

Runaway Galloway On the Loose in Syria

Buck Banks

It’s funny — in an uncomfortable way: To the jugheads who characterize Pensito Review as “extremist,” I give you the following excerpt from a report from CNS News (“The Right News, Right Now”):

America is defeated in Iraq, British Prime Minister Tony Blair is a “slave of slaves,” and the political strength of President George W. Bush is beginning to “seep away into the sand,” according to British MP George Galloway who made the remarks in a speech delivered this week at Damascus University in Syria.

The remarks were carried by the Al-Jazeera TV network on November 13.

“America is losing the war in Iraq,” said Galloway. “[P]ublic opinion in Britain and America is moving decisively against the policy of Bush and Blair.”

“No American soldier who leaves his barracks can be sure that he will come back alive,” said the MP who has previously described insurgents in Iraq as “martyrs” who “are writing the names of their cities and towns in the stars…”

“Every Iraqi, every roadside, every car is a potential deadly ending for him. And the American army… The American army is losing the will to fight.”

“[T]hese are the final days of Tony Blair,” said Galloway. “The British media is discussing every day whether this day Blair will resign.”
[…]

Poll: Another New Low for Bush

Jon Ponder

Maybe he should just stay in Asia: The latest Harris Interactive poll gives Bush a 34 percent approval rating, which is a point or two less than his lowest rating in several other polls. Still, he should be pleased because 34 percent is still an incredibly high rating for the Worst President Ever:

In November or October of their fifth year, Presidents Johnson (67 percent), Reagan (66 percent) and Clinton (58 percent) all enjoyed the support of majorities, while President Nixon (29 percent) was less popular than Mr. Bush is now.

Bush’s current job approval rating stands at 34 percent, compared with a positive rating of 88 percent soon after 9/11, 50 percent at this time last year, and 40 percent in August…

Vice President Dick Cheney’s approval ratings slipped to 30 percent this month from 35 percent in August, while Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s approval ratings dropped to 34 percent from 40 percent and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s approval ratings fell to 52 percent from 57 percent according to the poll…

Mr. Bush’s current ratings don’t compare favorably with those of three of the last four two-term presidents at a comparable time in their fifth year in office. In November or October of their fifth year, Presidents Johnson (67 percent), Reagan (66 percent) and Clinton (58 percent) all enjoyed the support of majorities, while President Nixon (29 percent) was less popular than Mr. Bush is now.

Bush’s only hope is that the Republican Party continues to follow him blindly off the cliff!

Which Bush Brother Do Floridians Hate More? Tough Call

Trish

Get out, and take your mean, nasty brother with you.

Finally, some uplifting news from the Sunshine State. A recent poll finds that Floridians want Jeb gone, and his war-mongering big brother even goner.

A growing majority of Florida voters disapprove of the job President Bush is doing, a poll shows.

Most also say they wouldn’t likely vote for his brother, Gov. Jeb Bush, if he seeks the presidency in 2008.

The Quinnipiac University telephone poll of 855 registered Florida voters Nov. 8-13 found 61 percent disapproved of the president’s performance, compared with 37 percent approval…

Floridians’ assessment of the president’s performance mirrors the way they feel about his handling of Iraq: 64 percent disapproval, 31 percent approval. Sixty percent said going to war there was the wrong thing to do.

As for Gov. Bush, 58 percent of Florida voters said they probably or definitely would not vote for him for president, while 33 percent said they probably or definitely would.

[…]

The Upside of Being Reamed by Big Oil

Trish

Corporate welfare: If oil companies hadn’t dropped prices after Congress threatened to not only withhold their tax breaks but take back a share of their ill-gotten gains, their profits could have stayed as high all year as they did in the heady, price-gouging days following Hurricane Katrina. In that case, here are their annualized gains over last year, along with the portion of the checks you and I are picking up:

Exxon Mobil — $9.92 billion (75 percent annual increase)
Royal Dutch Shell — $9.03 billion (68 percent increase)
BP — $6.5 billion (34 percent increase)
Conoco Phillips — $3.8 billion (89 percent increase)
Chevron Texaco — $3.6 billion (12 percent increase)

This year Congress handed oil and gas companies $2.6 billion in tax cuts as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. It also included funds for a $1.5 billion oil consortium (in Rep. Tom Delay’s Congressional District). The total payout in the energy act is over $4 billion.

In addition to the 2005 energy act, billions more in handouts are in effect, including: $5.1 billion credit for non-conventional fuels; a $2.8 billion depletion allowance; and $2.4 billion credit for “intangible drilling” costs.

In total, the U.S. government is subsidizing oil and gas to the tune of nearly $14 billion — at a time when profits are at record highs.

These breaks were meant to act as incentives for cutting edge exploration and alternative fuels. Even President Bush, who never met an oil man he didn’t like — said recently, “With oil at more than $50 a barrel, by the way, we do not need taxpayers’-funded incentives to explore for oil and gas.”

No, “we” don’t. But I can’t help but think that oil companies did us a favor by bleeding us dry. For the first time, we are hearing Congress – even some of its Republican members – calling for fossil fuel alternatives, and threatening to come up with a real energy policy (as opposed to a bundle of tax breaks and freebies for oil companies) that will encourage us to use less non-renewable resources. They are also starting to demand truthful answers from the lying liars.

I say to oil companies, keep the prices high and enjoy it while you can. The more you squeeze us, the faster you put yourselves out of business.

Democrats Demand that Oil Execs Return to Testify about Apparent Lies to Congress

Jon Ponder

Lying liars: There was a dust-up last week before the Congressional hearings into price gouging by oil companies. The hearing was chaired by an oil company stooge, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Of Course), who decided that it wasn’t necessary to swear in the CEOs of the nation’s largest oil companies before they testified.

The execs may have thought they could lie with impunity since they were not sworn in, but there are broader laws against lying to Congress.

The Democrats objected to this, but Stevens simply over-rode their objections. The oil execs went on to field questions from the Congressional panel – and, it turns out, most of them lied:

Here’s an exchange during the hearings last week:

SENATOR FRANK LAUTENBERG: Did your company or any representatives in your companies participate in Vice President Cheney’s Energy Task Force in 2001, the meetings?

MR. RAYMOND [EXXONMOBIL]: No.

LAUTENBERG: Sirs?

MR. O’REILLY [CHEVRON]: No.

MR. MULVA [CONOCO PHILLIPS]: We did not, no.

MR. PILLARI [BP AMERICA]: To be honest, no. I wasn’t here then.

LAUTENBERG: But your company was here?

MR. PILLARI: Yes.

MR. HOFMEISTER [SHELL]: Not to my knowledge

Just a few days after this “testimony,” an unnamed government official leaked a document to the Washington Post that showed that these companies did indeed meet with Cheney in secret to draft the nation’s energy policy:

[…]

Ousted GOP Public Broadcasting Chair Charged

Jon Ponder

The former chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting broke federal law and repeatedly violated the organization’s rules and code of ethics in his efforts to promote conservatives in the system, an endeavor that included consultation with White House officials, according to the findings of an internal investigation made public Tuesday.

The 67-page report — the culmination of a six-month investigation by Kenneth A. Konz, the corporation’s inspector general — portrays former Chairman Kenneth Y. Tomlinson as a rogue appointee who often exceeded his authority in his determination to address what he viewed as a liberal tilt in public broadcasting.

Konz’s report depicts the corporation as a deeply dysfunctional institution in which there has been little oversight over hiring and contracting and minimal communication between the professional staff and the board, made up of political appointees.

In his report, Konz agreed that Tomlinson — a Republican who was originally appointed by President Clinton — overstepped his boundaries and broke corporation rules. But he did not conclude that Tomlinson was seeking to remake the corporation as a conservative institution, as critics have charged, noting that the former chairman was following the CPB’s mandate to ensure objectivity and balance in public broadcasting.

In a statement included in the inspector general’s report, Tomlinson, who resigned his board position this month, denied any wrongdoing. He called the findings a triumph of “politics over good judgment” and disputed the charges as “malicious and irresponsible.”

GOP M.O. – If You’re Caught Lying Accuse Your Accusers of Lying

Jon Ponder

Also works for fifth-graders: Vice President Dick Cheney has set a new low standard for senior government officials who tell lies. In the run-up to the war in Iraq, he looked into cameras and lied to the American people about Saddam Hussein’s weapons capabilities and other matters. He has also made knowingly false statements to the public about the conditions in Iraq.

Now that most Americans have caught onto him – his approval rating is in the mid-20’s, according to a recent poll – he has gone on the offensive by sharply accusing his critics of being exactly what he is – and notice that his boss, the Worst President Ever – is chiming in too:

Vice President Dick Cheney is joining President Bush and other Republicans in accusing Democrats of foul play for asserting that the administration misrepresented intelligence to build support for taking the nation to war in Iraq.

Cheney said Wednesday the accusation is “one of the most dishonest and reprehensible charges ever aired in this city.”

“Some of the most irresponsible comments have, of course, come from politicians who actually voted in favor of authorizing force against
Saddam Hussein,” Cheney told the Frontiers of Freedom Institute, a conservative policy group.

“I agree with the vice president,” Bush said Thursday in South Korea when asked about Cheney’s remarks. “I think people ought to be allowed to ask questions. It is irresponsible to say that I deliberately misled the American people.

Fitzgerald Never Said Libby Was the ‘First’ WH Official to Reveal CIA Secret Identity

Jon Ponder

There was a qualifier: Bob Woodward’s revelation yesterday that an unnamed White House official revealed the identity of the CIA secret agent Valerie Plame to him even earlier than Scooter Libby outed her to other reporters has Libby’s supporters claiming some sort of victory in the case.

Fitzgerald said, “Mr. Libby was the first government official known to have told a reporter” about Ambassador Joe Wilson’s wife.

In particular, Libby’s lawyer said yesterday that Woodward’s revelation indicates that special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s case against his client is flawed.

The problem is, nobody bothered to read the transcript of what Fitzgerald said – nobody, except Keith Olbermman:

Wells issued a statement at midday, the key passage of which concludes that Woodward’s “disclosure shows that Mr. Fitzgerald’s statement at his press conference of October 28, 2005 that Mr. Libby was the first government official to tell a reporter about Mr. Wilson’s wife was totally inaccurate.”

But Fitzgerald never said that.

The transcript of Fitzgerald’s news conference is not disputed — nobody from his office has called up trying to get it altered after the fact. On October 28, Fitzgerald actually said: “Mr. Libby was the first government official known to have told a reporter” about Ambassador Joe Wilson’s wife.

“The first government official known to have told…” is a huge difference from “The first government official to tell…”

President Clinton Says Invading Iraq Was a ‘Big Mistake’

Jon Ponder

Associated Press:

Former President Clinton told Arab students Wednesday the United States made a “big mistake” when it invaded Iraq, stoking the partisan debate back home over the war.

Clinton cited the lack of planning for what would happen after Saddam Hussein was overthrown.

“Saddam is gone. It’s a good thing, but I don’t agree with what was done,” Clinton told students at a forum at the American University of Dubai.

“It was a big mistake. The American government made several errors … one of which is how easy it would be to get rid of Saddam and how hard it would be to unite the country.”