Month: April 2006

Bush: ‘I’m the Decider’

Jon Ponder

Via Crooks & Liars:

Reporter: What do you say to the critics who believe that you are ignoring the advice of retired generals and military commanders who say there needs to be a change?

Bush: I say I listen to all voices but mine’s the final decision and Don Rumsfeld is doing a fine job. He’s not only transforming the military, he’s fighting a war on terror – He’s helping us fight a war on terror. I have strong confidence in Don Rumsfeld. I hear the voices and I read the front page and I know the speculation but I’m the decider and I decide what is best and what’s best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the Secretary of defense.

In Bush’s world, responsibility for being “the decider” ends when the decision goes wrong and it’s time to lay blame — same as it ever was in every aristocracy in world history.

Duke Rape Suspects Are from New York and New Jersey

Jon Ponder

I’m not saying that North Carolina boys are more or less likely to be rapists than boys from the Tri-State area. And I’m not saying there aren’t Southern racists attending Duke University this very moment. But I suspected from the start that the early line on this incident, that it was a typical small town Southern racial incident, was wrong:

Duke lacrosse players Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann were arrested early Tuesday on charges of first degree rape, first degree sexual offense and kidnapping…

Finnerty and Seligmann arrived at the rear sally port of the Durham County Jail about 5 a.m. in a Sheriff’s Office squad car. Handcuffed, they were taken inside to be booked and photographed.

Finnerty, 19, of Garden City, N.Y., is sophomore who plays attack for the lacrosse team. Seligmann, 20, of Essex Fells, N.J., is a sophomore midfielder.

Personally, I believe that if there was a rape at the off-campus party that night, race was only a minor factor. I mean: they would have raped her if she’d white, black, Asian or any mix thereof.

Tony Soprano Agrees with Sen. ‘Sanatorium’ on Gays

Jon Ponder

Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pennsylvania — whose chief of staff is gay — once suggested that if society is forced to accept homosexuality it will eventually be forced to accept bestiality, ignoring the fact, of course, that bestiality by definition is nonconsensual.

On Sunday, we heard from a (fictional) representative of Sen. Santorum’s base. America’s favorite mafia don, Tony Soprano, a fictional resident of New Jersey, agrees with the senator from his neighoring state:

On Sunday night’s episode of “The Sopranos,” Tony (James Gandolfini) told his shrink Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco) that when it comes to homosexuality, he agrees with “that Sen. Sanatorium, who says if we let this stuff go too far, pretty soon we’ll be f—ing dogs.” Santorum, several years back, made similar remarks, only he used more delicate language than Tony did.

We called Santorum’s office yesterday to ask if he was flattered about getting a shout-out on a popular show.

Apparently not.

“We’re not gonna dignify that comment by commenting on it,” said Santorum communications director Rob Traynham.

Blair Cancels U.S. Trip to Avoid Photo Op with President Bush

Jon Ponder

Stank on Ya: As we surmised on Sunday, because British Prime Minister Tony Blair is facing polling a few points lower even than President Bush’s, he opted Great Britain out of Bush’s latest scheme to improve his approval ratings by nuking Iran.

Now the Huffington Post is reporting that Blair has abruptly canceled a trip to the U.S.:

Tony Blair has canceled an upcoming trip to America to avoid being photographed with Bush. The prime minister was scheduled to visit the US this spring for meetings with the president, but the trip was called off after Blair decided that being photographed with Bush would be too toxic for his image.

Conservative Religious Cult Leader Reveals Right’s Hatred of Sex

Jon Ponder

If you follow the money that has created the rightwing movement that dominates the political culture of the United States, one place the funding trail will lead you is to the upper reaches of one of the most notorious cults in American history, the Unification Church.

Women who don’t procreate should have their breasts and sex organs removed. For men, Moon prescribes daily genital self-mutilation.

The cult leader, Rev. Sun Yung Moon, controls the Republican newspaper, the Washington Times, as well as the once vaunted United Press International. He has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to President Bush’s political campaigns and doubtless millions to other conservative causes.

Rev. Moon has some very peculiar ideas about how human sexual behavior that cross the line firmly into the psychotic — and that provide a window into the self-hatred that propels today’s religious conservativism:

“After the act of love,” read the instructions from the Rev. Moon’s conservative Family Federation, “both spouses should wipe their sexual areas with the Holy Handkerchief. Hang the handkerchief[s] to dry naturally and keep them eternally. They must be kept individually labeled and should never be laundered and mixed up.”

His advice for the ladies:

“The women are the problem in history,” he said in 2004. “Women who don’t want to have children should cut away their breasts, bottoms and love organ because the purpose for those was first for the children. If they don’t fulfill that purpose, then they are not needed.”

“Woman’s sexual organ is like the open mouth of a snake filled with poison,” he said in 1996.

For men, daily genital self-mutilation is prescribed:

Keep pliers in your pocket, he says, “and when you go to the bathroom, once a day, pinch your love organ. Cut the skin a little bit as a warning.”

Gay men — into the burning fires of hell for ye:

Moon told an audience he’d like to see them removed in a “purge on God’s orders…. Gays will be eliminated, the three Israels will unite. If not, then they will be burned. We do not know what kind of world God will bring, but this is what happens. It will be greater than the Communist purge but at God’s orders.”

Freepers React to Bush’s Low Polls

Jon Ponder
“Bush is losing freepers for crying out loud. So unless he’s picking up support with DUmmies [Democrats], these numbers seem right.”
— A Freeper

President Bush is even losing support among some of the simple-minded denizens of the ultra-rightwing Free Republic site. Here’s the reaction Pam Spaulding found in Freeperville to the persistive vegetative state of their (former?) Dear Leader’s poll numbers:

Actual Freeper Quotes™

The so called Generals Revolt is going to hurt alot. And, it will be a gift that keeps on giving to the dems to election day.

It was 45% three days ago

what happened is gas prices quickly went up

Well there is no reason for any poll to show 40 percent approval. Bush spends like a drunken sailor; refuses to protect our borders; has signed off on the US being a part of some north american one country and has wasted all of his politcal capital in return for very little. Having said that, I agree that he is better by a factor of 1000% over either algore or jean kerri, but that doesn’t mean he is any good.

I still support President Bush 100% +. Funny, the Polls never call me. The good news is – my opinion is the one that counts with me.

Wait for the privately funded DNC campagn campaign ads with Generals demanding that Rummy step down. This is a well organized plot. But, think if you were the average American and you were unhappy with the way the war was going and out pops a number of generals saying this isn’t the militaries fault it is Bush and Rummy’s fault, what are the American public going to think?

And, of course, you bitchers and bellyachers have just the right candidate in mind…… Likely, some extremist that stands no chance of getting more than .5% of the vote, but, by God, he’s the right man for the job. I have to laugh at how negative this place has become.

Prices are pretty close to where they were after Katrina, and there’s no hurricane now.

almost everyone I work with is an uninformed sheeple – none of them are talking about the generals, everyone is talking about gas prices, and a few are talking about the immigration issue.

I don’t think so. Bush is losing freepers for crying out loud. So unless he’s picking up support with DUmmies, these numbers seem right.

It’s the pollen count.

Yes! That’s it. The pollen count.

Gingrich for GOP Nominee in ’08

Jon Ponder

Run, Newt, run!

Since the rightwing media has annointed Hillary Clinton as the 2008 Democratic nominee, I think we “leftist extremists” (as your humble editors were once called in this site’s comments) should nominate our favorite candidate for the GOP nomination.

Therefore I am throwing my full support to Newt Gingrich to be the Republican Party’s 2008 nominee. After all, he is tanned, rested, full of ideas — and just about everybody has forgotten that he left the office of House Speaker in disgrace after it was revealed that he’d been having an affair with a coworker while he was driving the GOP’s persecution of President Clinton over his adulterous affair with a coworker that led to the president’s impeachment.

Despite being one of the foremost hypocrites in the history of politicsi, Gingrich is on the campaign trail in New Hampshire:

It’s almost always a joy listening to Gingrich when he’s on a tear. And he’s almost always on a tear of some sort. I caught up with Newt as he wandered around New Hampshire last week, which is what people who think they’re running for President do. Please, God, no, you say. Not that angry guy again. “He’s probably carrying too much baggage to be President,” said Peter Bergin, a Republican state representative from Amherst, N.H. “But he sure is a terrific idea man. He needs to be part of the debate.”

Maybe Rummy Doesn’t Matter

Jon Ponder

If President Bush were to retire Defense Sec. Donald Rumsfeld, would Rummy’s replacement be any better? Whoever is there is going to have to deal with Vice President Cheney.

Still, the Ostroy Report lays out a convincing bill of particulars against the two-time Secretary of Defense:

Rumsfeld is an arrogant, bullying micromanager who grossly miscalculated strategy in Iraq while ignoring and/or discounting the advice of the military commanders on the ground. Even one of his staunchest supporters, retired Marine Lt. Gen. Michael DeLong, in a NY Times op-ed Sunday, admitted Rumsfeld is a micromanager who wanted to be involved in all decisions. As such, several of his strategic decisions have come under intense scrutiny from the generals. First, Rummy’s “modern war” premise grossly underestimated the level of troops needed despite strong opposition from Gen. Eric Shinseki, who was later booted from his post for stating that hundreds of thousands of soldiers were needed to maintain order post-invasion. Furthermore, it was Rumsfeld who decided to cancel the deployment of the First Cavalry Division, which would’ve bolstered the initial invasion force and helped stave off the mounting insurgency. And perhaps the biggest blunder was Rumsfeld’s unilateral decision to dissolve the Iraqi military without consulting the Joint Chiefs.

Schwarzenegger Supporters Funneled Millions for Ad Through National Group

Jon Ponder

What’s the only thing more annoying than a Christmas ad in July? How about political ads in heavy rotation six months before regular campaigning gets underway.

If you think the barrage of campaign ads that usually starts after Labor Day and escalates until election day is unbearable, then please feel our pain in California. We’ve been assaulted with a feel-good campaign about Gov. Schwarzenegger — whose approval ratings have been down at Bush levels — that ran for months, seemingly on the quarter hour, until last week when they abruptly went dark.

The last of these, titled “Remember?” was designed to soften public sentiment about the governor by comparing him to his predecessor, the inartful Gray Davis. Message: “Arnold may be bad, but at least he’s not as bad as the last guy.”

Because Schwarzenegger’s accomplishments are so few, the ad is short on specifics and long on Reaganesque “Morning in America” symbology. In a key shot, we see him taking the oath of office, projecting pride and reverence for duty. And tellingly, Arnold is seen but not heard throughout.

Sponsored by the U.S. Chamber in Washington, D.C., nominally at least, the ad is categorized as part of an “independent issue advocacy program,” a status which allows the chamber to skirt California election laws that would otherwise require disclosing funding sources and adhering to donation limits.

However, the Los Angeles Times reports today that the funding for the ad allegedly comes from the governor’s closest supporters in California who routed the money through the chamber:

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