Day: May 9, 2006

Bush Lied about Catching Fish

Jon Ponder

Gawd. Am I gullible or what? I believed Bush’s assertion that the best moment of his presidency was catching a 7.5 pound perch. When will I ever learn?

The only problem is that the world’s record for the largest freshwater perch caught is 4 pounds 3 ounces.

So Bush either doubled the world record, and didn’t report it, or he’s a liar.

UPDATE: Apparently, the White House has changed the transcript from “perch” to “bass.” Odd thing is, catching a 7.5 bass is no big thing, right? Developing…

Special Delivery — Bush’s Letter from Iran

Buck Banks

Return to sender: You have to admire the cojones of Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejab to pen a note and send it rather publicly to George W. Bush, a notorious non-reader. It’s a great public relations ploy, and when you read excerpts from the letter, you realize that Ahmadinejab’s questions are our questions, and Bush should be made to answer them.

Reuters India somehow got a copy of the letter and translated it from Farsi. Here are a few excerpts from Reuter’s excerpts:

Mr. George Bush,

For some time now, I have been thinking, how one can justify the undeniable contradictions that exist in the international arena … Many questions remain unanswered. These have prompted me to discuss some of the contradictions and questions, in the hopes that it might bring about an opportunity to redress them.

Can one be a follower of Jesus Christ (Peace Be Upon Him), the great Messenger of God, feel obliged to respect human rights, present liberalism and a civilization model, announce one’s opposition to the proliferation of nuclear weapons and WMDs, make “War on Terror” his slogan, and finally, work towards the establishment of an unified international community – a community which Christ and the virtuous of the Earth will one day govern, but at the same time, have countries attacked. The lives, reputations and possessions of people destroyed and on the slight chance of the presence of a few criminals in a village, city, or convoy for example, the entire village, city or convoy set ablaze?

Or because of the possibility of the existence of WMDs in one country, it is occupied, around 100,000 people killed, its water sources, agriculture and industry destroyed, close to 180,000 foreign troops put on the ground, sanctity of private homes of citizens broken, and the country pushed back perhaps 50 years.

….

Mr. President,

You might know that I am a teacher. My students ask me, how can these actions be reconciled with the values outlined at the beginning of this letter and duty to the traditions of Jesus Christ (Peace Be Upon Him), the Messenger of peace and forgiveness.

There are prisoners in Guantanamo Bay that have not been tried, have no legal representation, their families cannot see them and are obviously in a strange land outside their own country. There is no international monitoring of their conditions and fate. No one knows whether they are prisoners, POWs, accused or criminals.

….

Young people, university students and ordinary people have many questions about the phenomenon of Israel. I am sure you are familiar with some of them. Throughout history, many countries have been occupied, but I think the establishment of a new country with a new people is a new phenomenon that is exclusive to our times. Students are saying that 60 years ago such a country did not exist. They show old documents and globes and say, try as we have, we have not been able to find a country named Israel.

….

The people of the world are not happy with the status quo and pay little heed to the promises and comments made by a number of world leaders … The people are protesting the increasing gap between the haves and the have-nots and the rich and poor countries. The people are disgusted with increasing corruption. The people of many countries are angry about the attacks on their cultural foundations and the disintegration of families … the people of the world have no faith in international organizations, because their rights are not advocated by these organizations.

Liberalism and western-style democracy have not been able to help realize the ideals of humanity. Today these two concepts have failed. Those with insight can already hear the sounds of the shattering and fall of the ideology and thoughts of the Liberal democratic systems.

Mr. President, whether we like it or not, the world is gravitating towards faith in the Almighty and justice and the will of God will prevail over all things.

Quote du Jour

Buck Banks

Americans have always had an ambivalent attitude toward intelligence. When they feel threatened, they want a lot of it, and when they don’t, they regard the whole thing as somewhat immoral.

— Vernon A. Walters, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations

The President Pelosi Scenario

Jon Ponder

Bush and Cheney would fight the impeachment every step of the way, stubbornly refusing to give testimony and evidence, ignoring the entreaties of the party elders to do as Nixon did and fall on their swords, only to become the first president and vice president to be removed from office by impeachment.

That Nancy Pelosi could become the first female president of the United States next year is one of the longest long shots going in the current political environment. Nonetheless, it remains a technical possibility — and even a practical reality — if President Bush and Vice President Cheney were to decide to tough it out to the end of their impeachments in a Democratic controlled Congress in 2007.

We first wrote about this last June, back when the idea that impeaching President Bush and Vice President Cheney was all but unthinkable except to a few liberal extremist Bush haters.

Now about half of country would favor impeachment if there was reasonable cause to believe the president has broken the law. (And Bush has broken at least 750 laws, so take your pick.) And about a third favor impeaching the president based on what they know now, which is 7 percentage points higher than the number who wanted to impeach President Clinton in 1998.

I was reminded of my musings a year ago about possibility that Nancy Pelosi could become president when I saw this article Sunday at Ice Station Tango:

Impeachment is meaningless unless both Bush and Cheney go down. If Cheney stays in place the goal of the impeachment movement seems that much more daunting. Two impeachments?

Keeping Cheney is the equivalent of the Republican party going all in. If Bush and Cheney are impeached and removed, then the Presidency likely falls to Nancy Pelsoi. Convenient for a Rovian administration that has already successfully smeared her. Impeachment would then be a choice between someone Republicans call an “uber-liberal” and “staying the course. Could be a problematic frame for the impeachment movement.

If Democrats re-take the House this fall (and that is a big “if”), Pelosi will become the first female Speaker of the House. In that position, she would also be third in line to become president.

If Democrats also take control of the Senate (an even bigger “if”), the odds that the president and vice president will be impeached become all but a dead cinch.

Assuming all those conditions fall in place, we might expect that Bush and Cheney would follow the course set by the previously most corrupt presidential administration: Cheney would resign, as Nixon’s vice president, Spiro Agnew did, and the party elders would force a new vice president onto Bush without consulting him — someone like John McCain.

With McCain in place as VP, Bush would be forced to resign, clearing the way to the McCain ascendancy.

But President Bush is not a student of history, as we have learned, and everything we have seen about his temperament indicates he would hold out until the end — that he and Cheney would fight the impeachment every step of the way, stubbornly refusing to give testimony and evidence, ignoring the entreaties of the party elders to do as Nixon did and fall on their swords, only to become the first president and vice president to be removed from office by impeachment.

Which scenario sounds more like them: falling on their swords for the good of their party and nation — or toughing it out to the bitter end, even though they know they are guilty?

Poll: Bush at 31% in USA Today/Gallup

Jon Ponder

Another new low:

In the poll, 52 percent of conservatives and 68 percent of Republicans approved of Bush’s job performance.

President Bush’s approval rating has slumped to 31 percent in a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, the lowest of his presidency and a warning sign for Republicans in the November elections.

The survey of 1,013 adults, taken Friday through Sunday, shows Bush’s standing down by 3 percentage points in a single week. His disapproval rating also reached a record: 65 percent. The margin of error is +/- 3 percentage points…

Bush’s fall is being fueled by erosion among support from conservatives and Republicans. In the poll, 52 percent of conservatives and 68 percent of Republicans approved of the job he is doing. Both are record lows among those groups.

Moderates gave him an approval rating of 28 percent, liberals of 7 percent.

These results offer a glimpse at the difference between conservatives and Republicans: Conservatives are 16 percentage points smarter than members of the GOP.