Day: October 28, 2007

Krauthammer: Reagan Wasn’t All That Great

Jon Ponder

Rightwing big thinker Charles Krauthammer trashes Reagan’s 11th Commandment, “Thou shalt not speak ill of other Republicans,” by picking at the weakness of the GOP’s ’08 field — and then speaks ill of Reagan too, for good measure:

Major grumbling among conservatives about the Republican field. So many candidates, so many flaws. Rudy Giuliani, abortion apostate. Mitt Romney, flip-flopper. John McCain, Mr. Amnesty. Fred Thompson, lazy boy. Where is the paragon? Where is Ronald Reagan?

Well, what about Reagan? This president, renowned for his naps, granted amnesty to 3 million illegal immigrants in the 1986 Simpson-Mazzoli bill. As governor of California, he signed the most liberal abortion legalization bill in America, then flip-flopped and became an abortion opponent. What did he do about it as president? Gave us Sandra Day O’Connor and Anthony Kennedy, the two swing votes that upheld and enshrined Roe v. Wade for the past quarter-century.

Of course, Krauthammer then proceeds to proclaim the current crop of candidates to be an exceptional group of fellows, among whom is the party’s next great leader.

Still it’s nice that he reminded his readers what the rest of us remember all too well. Reagan wasn’t all that great. His illness was genuine cause for sympathy and the memory of his rough edges were smoothed over by the long years of suffering. Plus his image benefits from the fact that the current president is the worst one ever. Even Bush I looks better when compared to his son.

Was the Phony FEMA News Conference Illegal? Why Did One Participant Suddenly Depart to a Cushy Job at Another Agency?

Jon Ponder

In case you’re just tuning in to this story, last Tuesday, Oct. 23, as the wildfires raged in Southern California, FEMA held a news conference that was broadcast by the cable newsers. Within hours, however, it was revealed that the entire news conference was fake. That’s right — good ol’ gubmint propaganda:

The Bush administration was reprimanded in 2005 for using the taxpayers’ dime to tart up government spin as hard news.

[FEMA] had called the briefing with about 15 minutes notice as federal officials headed for southern California to oversee and assist in firefighting and rescue efforts. Reporters were also given a telephone number to listen in on but could not ask questions.

But with no reporters on hand and an agency video camera providing a feed carried live by some television networks, FEMA press employees posed the questions for Johnson that included: “Are you happy with FEMA’s response so far?”

According to Friday’s Post account, which Walker confirmed, Johnson replied that he was “very happy with FEMA’s response so far.”

He also said the agency had the benefit of “good leadership” and other factors, “none of which were present at Katrina.” Chertoff was head of the Homeland Security Department during Katrina.

FEMA’s administrator during Katrina, Michael Brown, resigned amid widespread criticism over his handling of the disaster, despite U.S. President George W. Bush’s initial declaration that he was doing a “heck of a job.”

Michael Chertoff, the Republican political operative who serves as Bush’s Secretary of the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS), seemed angry:

“I think it was one of the dumbest and most inappropriate things I’ve seen since I’ve been in government,” said Mr Chertoff.

“I have made unambiguously clear, in Anglo-Saxon prose, that it is not to ever happen again and there will be appropriate disciplinary action taken against those people who exhibited what I regard as extraordinarily poor judgment.”

But at roughly the same time that Chertoff was declaring that “appropriate disciplinary action” would be taken, one of the participants was being transferred to another high-profile agency and, apparently, promoted:
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