Day: August 30, 2006

Repost: Flashback – Bush Cuts Vacation Short to Intervene in Schiavo Case

Jon Ponder

This is repost of an article from Pensito Review’s coverage of Hurricane Katrina. This post was published one year ago, on August 30, 2005

“Everyone recognizes that time is important here,” White House press secretary Scott McClellan said. “This is about defending life.”

If politics and ideology are at stake, President Bush will cut short his vacation – immediately, as he did on March 19, 2005:

President Bush is changing his schedule to return to the White House on Sunday to be in place to sign emergency legislation that would shift the case of a brain-damaged Florida woman to federal courts, the White House said Saturday.

“Everyone recognizes that time is important here,” White House press secretary Scott McClellan said. “This is about defending life.”

But when tens of thousands of Americans are homeless and millions are without power, water, sewage and emergency services, he makes a few stops in California, goofs around with a guitar, heads back to his second home in Texas to get a good night’s sleep and then returns to work.

And keep in mind, these are Red staters who are in crisis. They are fools for supporting this president and his party – but they still have our heartfelt sympathy for what they’re living right now, and the horrors to come.

Hat tip to West Coast

GOP Stronghold South Carolina Ranks Dumbest, Fattest and Poorest State

Pensito Editors
The GOP requires under-educated people in order to survive, and in places like South Carolina, the Republican Party is thriving

Sorry, but as an expatriated North Carolinian, I can’t resist this story. National Journal’s Hotline put together a state-by-state ranking based on SAT scores, obesity levels and poverty rates and, based on these data, South Carolina ranked as the worst state in the union.

Most Americans assume that the Carolinas are one homogeneous region, sort of like the Dakotas. But North and South Carolina are decidedly different places — geographically, socially and historically. Like feuding conjoined twins, the states have had a contentious rivalry going back to 1710, when the British colonial province of Carolina was split asunder.

[…]

Cheney’s Office Cannot Identify ‘Some’ Who Said Retreat from Iraq Would Get Terrorists to ‘Leave Us Alone’

Jon Ponder
The vice president’s staff was unable to identify a single instance when either Murtha or Lamont said that leaving Iraq would make terrorists, quote, “leave us alone.”

Damnable lies: We should be thankful that there is at least one cable news program — MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann — that questions the outlandish falsehoods propagated by the Bush-Cheney-Rove team. Still, the biggest threat to the tattered remnants of American democracy may well be the fact that 99 percent of the “liberal” media lets statements like these from Vice Pres. Cheney go without challenge:

[ALLISON STEWART, subbing for Keith Olbermann:] Vice President Cheney yesterday also suggested that those who criticize the war in Iraq are attempting to appease terrorists.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Some in our own country claim retreat from Iraq would satisfy the appetite of the terrorists and get them to leave us alone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEWART: COUNTDOWN contacted Mr. Cheney‘s office to find out who he was saying has made this claim. His staff would not name anyone, but directed us to a previous speech of Mr. Cheney‘s in which he referred to Congressman Jack Murtha and Connecticut senatorial candidate Ned Lamont.

We gave Mr. Cheney‘s office an opportunity to dispute the notion that he was referring to them. They declined to do so but also were unable to identify a single instance when either Murtha or Lamont said that leaving Iraq would make terrorists, quote, “leave us alone.”

The maddening aspect to this, of course, is the fact that the violence in Iraq is not coming from “terrorists” but from a civil war between factions of Iraqi society who have been in violent conflict with each other for generations. It’s a typical Rovian lie within a lie.

Jack Kemp on Lieberman’s Campaign Trail

Trish

Former Republican candidate for president and vice president, Jack Kemp, is back on the campaign trail. This time, he’s not asking for votes for himself but for an old sympatico pal:

Joe Lieberman.

Kemp’s supporting the Republican this time around too.

“I think if anyone complains about Jack Kemp coming in on my behalf, it just shows that they’re still blinded by the old partisan politics,” he said. “Jack’s a devoted Republican, I’m a devoted Democrat, but we agree on a lot of stuff.”

Joe needs a little help with terminology. First, there’s his use of the word, “devoted,” which normally means “loyal” and “committed.” Then there’s “Democrat,” which more often than not excludes people who run for office as Independents.

As to Kemp, who served as HUD secretary under Bush I and Bob Dole’s running mate when he lost against Clinton/Gore in ’96, I think he’s got it right. He’s supporting the Republican this time around too.

Repost: Bush Fiddles (with a Guitar) While New Orleans Floods

Jon Ponder

This is a repost of an article published in Pensito Review one year ago, on August 30,2005, as part of our coverage of the Hurricane Katrina disaster

Message: I Don’t Care

Left: President Bush plays a guitar presented to him by Country singer Mark Wills, right, backstage after the president gave a speech in San Diego.

Right: Meanwhile, flood waters are rising in the city of New Orleans, where thousands of people are homeless. Fires are burning throughout the city, and looting has been reported in the Central Business District and beyond. Emergency services are stretched past capacity. Food and potable water are scarce. In counties along the Gulf Coast of the Deep South, millions are without power. Property damage from the storm is projected to be greater than Hurricane Andrew, the previously most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history.

Rock on, George!

Ousted GOP Public Broadcasting Leader Now Accused of Corruption at VOA

Jon Ponder

Ken Tomlinson is the poster child of Republicans who just can’t keep their fingers out of the cookie jar:

State Department investigators have concluded that Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, the head of the federal agency that oversees most government broadcasts to foreign countries, improperly hired a friend on the public payroll for nearly $250,000 over two and a half years, according to a summary of their report made public this afternoon by Democratic Congressional staff members.

They also said that Mr. Tomlinson, whose job puts him in charge of the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe, used his government office for personal business, including running a “horse racing operation” in which he supervised a stable of thoroughbreds he named after leaders from Afghanistan, including President Hamid Karzai and the late Ahmed Shah Massoud, that have raced at tracks across the United States. They also said that Mr. Tomlinson repeatedly used government employees to do his personal errands and that he billed the government for more days of work than the rules permit…

In providing the report to the members of Congress, the State Department warned that making it public could be a violation of federal law, people who have seen the report said. Today, Mr. Berman’s staff released a summary of the report.

Mr. Tomlinson was ousted from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting last year following a separate inquiry that found evidence that he had violated rules meant to insulate public television and radio from political influence. His renomination by President Bush to another term as chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors is pending before the Senate.

The summary of the State Department inspector general’s report said the United States attorney’s office in Washington had been given the report and decided not to conduct a criminal inquiry into the matter. It said the Justice Department was pursuing a civil investigation that focused on a contract Mr. Tomlinson had awarded to his friend.

Top-10 Stupidest Iraq Quotes

Buck Banks

Lies, damned lies and — more lies: From the folks that took the War on Terror to Iraq, here are some utterances that range from the inane to the profane to the insane:

1) “My answer is bring ’em on.” — President George W. Bush, challenging militants attacking U.S. forces in Iraq, July 2, 2003

2) “I think they’re in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency.” — Vice President Dick Cheney, on the Iraq insurgency, June 20, 2005

3) “As you know, you go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time.” — Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, responding to a U.S. soldier serving in Iraq who asked him why troops had to dig through scrap metal to armor vehicles, Dec. 8, 2004

4) “My belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators.” – Vice President Dick Cheney, “Meet the Press,” March 16, 2003

5) “F**k Saddam, we’re taking him out.” – President Bush to three U.S. senators in March 2002, a full year before the Iraq invasion

6) “Ladies and gentlemen, these are not assertions. These are facts, corroborated by many sources, some of them sources of the intelligence services of other countries.” – Secretary of State Colin Powell, testifying about Iraq’s chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons capabilities before the United Nations Security Council, Feb. 5, 2003

7) “Freedom’s untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things.” – Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on looting in Iraq after the U.S. invasion, adding “stuff happens,” April 11, 2003

8) “Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.” – President Bush, standing under a “Mission Accomplished” banner on the USS Lincoln aircraft carrier, May 2, 2003

9) “It’s hard to conceive that it would take more forces to provide stability in post-Saddam Iraq than it would take to conduct the war itself and to secure the surrender of Saddam’s security forces and his army. Hard to imagine.” – Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, testifying before the House Budget Committee prior to the Iraq war, Feb. 27, 2003

10) “From a marketing point of view, you don’t roll out new products in August.” — White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, on why the Bush administration waited until after Labor Day to try to sell the American people on war against Iraq, “New York Times” interview, Sept. 7, 2002