Year: 2007

Swiftboating Hillary: Clinton Calls Bush Out Over Cheney’s Lies About Her Pentagon Letter

Jon Ponder


Republicans made good on their promise to “Swiftboat” Hillary Clinton on Monday, deploying their most practiced liar, Vice Pres. Dick Cheney, to go on CNN and insert into the record a falsehood about the contents of a letter Clinton wrote to the Pentagon in May, falsely claiming that Clinton “demanded” to see Pentagon plans for leaving Iraq. The truth is, Clinton simply sought assurance that contingency planning was underway.

“[Sen. Clinton] was demanding the plans for withdrawal from Iraq.”
— Vice. Pres. Cheney’s big lie about Clinton on “Larry King Live” this week.

Clinton responded by challenging Pres. Bush “set the record straight” on the role of Congress in oversight.

Unfortunately, on the day after Cheney’s intentional lie made a little news, cable news began its full-time coverage of the freeway bridge collapse in Minneapolis — and after today, Congress is heading into a month-long recess. Still, all eyes should be on the Clinton campaign to see if they will respond more forcefully to GOP Swiftboating in the 2008 campaign than the John Kerry campaign did in 2004.

On Monday, in what appears to have been a carefully calculated move, Cheney chose a soft target — “Larry King Live” on CNN — as the platform for his Swiftboat attack on Clinton, knowing full well that King would allow him to get away with deceiving his audience. Cheney arrived for the interview with the lie pre-scripted and ready to go:

KING: A member of the Department of Defense sent Hillary Clinton a letter saying she should not criticize because it helps the enemy. Do you agree with that letter?

CHENEY: It didn’t say she should [not criticize]. She was demanding the plans for withdrawal from Iraq. And…

As noted, Sen. Clinton “was demanding” no such thing. Here’s the text of her letter to the Pentagon in May:

Given the express will of the Congress to implement a phased redeployment of United States forces from Iraq and the importance of proper contingency planning to achieve that goal, I write to request that you provide the appropriate oversight committees in Congress – including the Senate Armed Services Committee – with briefings on what current contingency plans exist for the future withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. Alternatively, if no such plans exist, please provide an explanation for the decision not to engage in such planning.

The seeds of many problems that continue to plague our troops and mission in Iraq were planted in the failure to adequately plan for the conflict and properly equip our men and women in uniform. Congress must be sure that we are prepared to withdraw our forces without any unnecessary danger.

True to form, Larry King ignored Cheney’s false statement about the Democratic frontrunner, and gave Cheney the opportunity to characterize the Pentagon’s outrageous letter in response to Clinton — which was written by Eric Edleman, a longtime Cheney henchman — as “a good letter” and, what the heck, to compound his lie about the senator:

[…]

Repost: Bush Tax Cuts at Work — Roads, Waterways, and Skies are a Mess

Trish

This is a repost from March, 2006. Thanks for the reminder, BlogCritics!

Chalk up another failure for the Bush tax cuts. The head of UPS today is warning that America’s neglected infrastructure is hobbling us in the global marketplace.

Describing the nation’s roads, ports, railroads and airports as the backbone of global trade, UPS’s chief executive officer today warned that America was taking a chance with its future by neglecting its infrastructure.

“What’s shocking, quite frankly, is the inability of our transportation infrastructure to keep up with the normal day-to-day stresses imposed upon it,” said UPS CEO Mike Eskew. “Our highways, waterways, railroads and aviation networks are simply not keeping up with ordinary demands.

“What’s shocking, quite frankly, is the inability of our transportation infrastructure to keep up with the normal day-to-day stresses imposed upon it,” said UPS CEO Mike Eskew

After Hurricane Katrina even emergency supplies languished in ports and parking lots. Eskew said you don’t have to wait for a storm or earthquake or terrorist attack to see the problems. You also don’t have to be a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, but they have issued a scathing analysis of our transport system.

“In 2005, here’s what our infrastructure report card looked like: our aviation system got a D+; navigable waterways a D-; roads a D, and rails a C-.”

“What does the overall report card on our national transportation infrastructure look like? Well, let’s put it this way: if your kids brought home report cards like this, someone would be grounded.”

Eskew was especially critical of railroads. As those of us who live near its Jacksonville headquarters are well aware, Bush Treasury Secretary John Snow was head of CSX before his crony status qualified him for a seat at the Bush cabinet table. CSX is a leader in the rail industry at avoiding liability and sticking it to the taxpayers every time its worn-out tracks cause an Amtrak derailment.

Eskew [added] one private business sector that particularly needs to step up is the rail sector. The nation’s railroads are “under-investing” in advanced technologies available today that could improve the capacity and safety of their networks, he asserted.

The problem is not insurmountable, he added, but it’s time “to sound the alarm.”

Americans Really Are Moving to Canada

Trish

You know how both times Bush stole an election, people said they would move to Canada? Apparently it wasn’t an idle threat.

The number of U.S. citizens who moved to Canada last year hit a 30-year high, with a 20 percent increase over the previous year and almost double the number who moved in 2000.

In 2006, 10,942 Americans went to Canada, compared with 9,262 in 2005 and 5,828 in 2000…

Not only that, fewer Canadians want to be in America.

Last year, 23,913 Canadians moved to the United States, a significant decrease from 29,930 in 2005.

No doubt many of those making good on the threat we have all uttered are from places already Canada-ish, like Seattle and Fargo and Portland(s). Those of us further south have a little harder time with the whole concept of frozen things. Still, our country is losing some of its best and brightest.

“Those who are coming have the highest level of education — these aren’t people who can’t get a job in the states,” [Jack Jedwab, executive director of the Association for Canadian Studies] says. “They’re coming because many of them don’t like the politics, the Iraq War and the security situation in the U.S. By comparison, Canada is a tension-free place. People feel safer.”

Would you have ever thought you’d understand — and agree — with that statement?

Quote du Jour

Buck Banks

My country has in its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived.

— John Adams (1735-1826), second President of the United States, in a letter written when he was serving as Vice President

Aug. 1 is the Anniversary of Emancipation from Slavery in the Caribbean

Buck Banks

Many Caribbean nations are marking the anniversary of emancipation with calls for apologies and reparations from countries that profited from the human trade.

Slavery finally was abolished in most Caribbean territories on Aug. 1, 1874. Although abolished some 26 years earlier in 1807, it was not until Aug. 1, 1833, that British member of Parliament and social reformer Thomas Buxton presented the Emancipation Bill before the British Parliament. The ensuing act went into effect one year later on Aug.1, 1834.

After Railing against DailyKos, O’Reilly Finally Goes after Rightwing Hate Postings on Free Republic

Jon Ponder

This video was edited by Freepers, so who knows what was omitted

Update: This story was originally about Bill O’Reilly’s hypocrisy in going after random comments left on DailyKos while ignoring hate-filled comments left on the Free Republic site. Last night, O’Reilly did half-heartedly criticize Free Republic for the hateful postings in its comments section, but really just focused on them briefly in order to provide himself with the opportunity to go through his litany of comments from DailyKos.

Freepers are already claiming that the quotes O’Reilly read from their site were fabricated. And not all of them are O’Reilly fans, which is ironic since he is first and foremost a righwing tool:

Bill O’Reilly has a really silly, pathetic hatred for any site that criticizes him. that is what it is really all about.

And:

I can’t believe O’Reilly is going after Free Republic. Any vile or inappropriate comments on this site seem to be removed within a split second – the moderators here are the best! And I also feel like a dope for all the defending of O’Reilly that I’ve done on this site.

The excerpts that follow are from Free Republic’s comments, with links back to the original sources.

Here’s my original intro from yesterday, followed by the Freeper comments.

Bill O’Reilly has ramped up his fake outrage over DailyKos again yesterday, calling it “that hate site,” “vicious,” “beyond shameful … very offensive” and “haters.”

ALL dims [Democrats] are allies of bin laden and worshipers of satan… no exceptions… they are pure evil and motivated by a hate of GOD and Country!

It strikes me that O’Reilly is purposefully ignoring the granddaddy of all hate sites, Free Republic. But then he could hardly be expected to criticize his core audience.

As usual, O’Reilly’s hypocrisy in going after DailyKos while giving a pass to Free Republic is never mentioned by the “liberal media.” One of his tactics is to have an intern read the DailyKos comments and cherrypick inflammatory excerpts to read on the air.

Taking a cue from Pam’s House Blend‘s regular feature “Actual Freeper Quotes” (see specific examples here and here), I rounded up a small sampler of comments from the Free Republic site.

Keep in mind that Free Republic is heavily moderated, so these comments have been given a pass by the site’s operators:

[…]

Quote du Jour

Buck Banks

Anthropologists continue to turn up examples which prove that competitive, aggressive, warlike cultures are those in which sexual stereotypes are most polarized, while those social structures allowing for an overlap of roles and functions between men and women (in tasks, childrearing, decision-making, etc.) tend to be collectivist, cooperative and peaceful.

— Robin Morgan (1941- ), feminist, poet, writer, editor

Ken Starr’s Law Firm Gives More to Hillary’s Campaign Than Any Other

Jon Ponder

My, how the times they are a-chaninging:

Lawyers at Kirkland & Ellis, the law firm that’s home to Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr and Bush administration official Jay Lefkowitz, have given more to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign than to all of the top Republican candidates combined…

Lawyers say the change is largely due to disenchantment with the Republican Party’s social policies and the war in Iraq.

Republican Scandal #83,196: Ted Stevens’ Mysterious Home Renovations

Trish

The man whose name is synonymous with both “bridge to nowhere” and — in reference to the Internet — “series of tubes” is in big trouble. Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) has been raided.

Stevens, 83, has been under a federal investigation for a 2000 renovation project more than doubling the size of his home in Girdwood that was overseen by Bill Allen, a contractor who has pleaded guilty to bribing Alaska state legislators.

Allen is founder of VECO Corp., an Alaska-based oil field services and engineering company that has reaped tens of millions of dollars in federal contracts.

Agents from the FBI and Internal Revenue Service arrived at the senator’s home Monday afternoon, said Dave Heller, FBI assistant special agent.

Not really a whole lot of doubt what that’s all about.

Stevens, who has been in office since 1968 and is the longest-serving Republican in Senate history, said the interests of justice would be best served if he commented after the investigation.

“I continue to believe this investigation should proceed to its conclusion without any appearance that I have attempted to influence its outcome,” Stevens said.

Well, there’s a first time for everything I suppose.