Year: 2007

Bill Kristol Predicts Bush Presidency Will Succeed in the End – But He Hasn’t Been Right Yet

Jon Ponder

The Washington Post gave William Kristol space in its Sunday editorial pages to send a sweet summer bouquet to his BFF in the White House:

“I suppose I’ll merely expose myself to harmless ridicule if I make the following assertion: George W. Bush’s presidency will probably be a successful one.”

Kristol offers three reasons for this magical thinking: 1) We haven’t been attacked since 9/11, 2) the economy is doing great and 3) the war in Iraq is going to turnaround any day now.

In reality, of course, the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center came eight years after the February 1993 attack in which terrorists set off a bomb in the garage under Tower One. We’re not quite six years out from the 2001 attacks.

The economy may be doing well for the top income earners like Kristol and his buddies, but I don’t know anyone who thinks the economy is as “strong” as Kristol described it.

On the war, it’s hard to imagine how the United States, or any third party, could “win” an Iraqi-on-Iraqi civil war.

Maybe Kristol is privy to a new Bushite marketing campaign in the works for a September roll-out in which the president declares victory and gets out. Otherwise this is just more bad, delusional thinking from Kristol, whose track record is among the most abysmal of the Beltway pundits — a group that is beyond disgrace and would be tarred and feathered were it not for the fact that they are accountable to no one.

Kristol closes with this:

[What] happens when voters realize in November 2008 that, if they choose a Democrat for president, they’ll also get a Democratic Congress and therefore liberal Supreme Court justices? Many Americans will recoil from the prospect of being governed by an unchecked triumvirate of Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. So the chances of a Republican winning the presidency in 2008 aren’t bad.

What it comes down to is this: If Petraeus succeeds in Iraq, and a Republican wins in 2008, Bush will be viewed as a successful president.

I like the odds.

A brief scour of Bill Kristol’s writing and TV punditry produces very few instances when his prognostications have been correct. On the other hand, in January, Glenn Greenwald at Unclaimed Territory composed a list of instances when Kristol has been flat-out wrong :

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Novak: It Gives GOP Hope That Dem Nominee Might Be Female or Black

Jon Ponder

Le Douche on an all-male, all-white panel on Meet the Press today:

[ROBERT NOVAK]: Republicans are very pessimistic about 2008. When you talk to them off the record, they don’t see how they can win this thing. And then they think for a minute, and only the Democratic Party, with everything in their favor, would say that, “OK, this is the year either to have a woman or an African-American to break precedent, to do things the country has never done before.” And it gives the Republicans hope.

Karen Thurman is Screwing Up the Florida Democratic Party and Florida ‘Progressives’ Say ‘Who Cares?’

Buck Banks

Co-editor Trish tried to get the Florida Progressive Coalition in their weekly radio blog to address the problem of Florida Democratic Party Chair Karen Thurman taking money from Republican lobbyist Al Cardenas. You know what they said? It’s a non-issue and anyone who thinks otherwise is an idiot.

Well, you know who the idiots are? Florida Democrats, that’s who. (Full disclosure: I am registered Independent, but I still don’t want to see the FDP screw up — again).

Karen Thurman, whose intellect and capabilities I have questioned before, is paid $100,000 per year by the Florida Democratic Party to lobby for the Florida Democratic Party. That she takes $3,500 per month from Cardenas to lobby for Republican issues is an issue, and if these numbnuts don’t think it’s an issue, then they are as useless as the FDP.

Look, Florida stands the first chance in a long time in the coming presidential election of turning from red to blue, and the “brightest lights” of the “Florida progressive movement” don’t think it’s an issue that the chair of the Florida Democratic Party is in bed with a Republican operative?

Anyone who thinks that is really an idiot.

Why Fred Thompson’s Really Waiting to Announce

Trish

It’s all about bucks, baby.

Under the equal-time rule, if a network gives time to one political candidate, it is required to provide the same amount of airtime to his or her opponents. In other words, if Thompson appeared on a “Law & Order” episode for 10 minutes during prime time, NBC would have to give Thompson’s rivals for the Republican nomination 10 minutes of prime time each.

“The equal-time requirement applies when the person has legally qualified as an official candidate in a relevant state — for example, having his or her name formally approved to be on a state’s primary ballot — not merely when he/she declares his or her intent to run,” an NBC spokeswoman said. “If Fred Thompson formally announces his intention to run for president, NBC will not schedule any further repeats of ‘Law & Order’ featuring Mr. Thompson beyond those already scheduled, which conclude on Saturday, September 1st.”

John McCain’s Gay Sweater

Jon Ponder

John McCain’s campaign is broke — as any operation would be that burned through around $100,000 a day with no revenue coming in.

McCain reportedly believes his campaign is foundering because his handlers forced him to wear “gay sweaters” last spring. The real reason is his support for the Worst President Ever’s unpopular war, of course. On the other hand, the photo above seems to prove his point.

Christian Lobbyist on DC Madam’s List

Jon Ponder

Jack Burkman:

Burkman, a former staffer for Rep. Rick Lazio (R-NY) and a Bush-Cheney ’04 staffer, recently worked as a lobbyist for groups such as the Family Research Council, Caring To Love Ministries, and America’s Heroes of Freedom.

This guy is the poster boy for rightwing unctuousness. Here’s a typical over-the-top statement in which he pontificates about morality:

“But [the issue of gay marriage] and the moral fabric of the country is five times as important as the war on terror and the war in Iraq combined because … America will never be defeated in the field. Just like the Roman legions, we will never fall in battle. I mean, if Osama bin Laden thinks he can defeat the United States by knocking over buildings, he‘s crazy. But where we will fall and where we are falling as a civilization is from within.

Last summer, Wonkette reported that a young woman who was in Washington for gay pride events said Burkman tried to pick her up, gave her his real name and a business card. She told him that she was gay and said he asked if she ever made exceptions for men. She told him, “Not for Republicans.” She also described him as a “CREEEEEEEP.”

Intel Official: Bush Knows Where 9/11 Perps Are Hiding But Chooses Not to Capture Them

Jon Ponder

Apologists for Pres. George W. Bush routinely lay blame for the 9/11 attacks on the Clinton administration, alleging they missed a purported opportunity to capture Osama bin Laden.

In 2005, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the rest of the geniuses who took us into Iraq had a chance to decapitate al Qaeda but chose to let them go.

But since 2005, at least, the Bush administration has known that al Qaeda’s senior leadership, including, presumably, bin Laden, is in Pakistan:

Al Qaeda’s core leadership — a reference to bin Laden and his top aide, Ayman al Zawahri — is increasingly directing global terrorist operations from a haven in Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, officials from the CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in presenting the unclassified report [to Congress last week].

And yet, unbelievably, Pres. Bush refuses to apprehend them. Why are the terrorists who attacked us in 2001 allowed to plot new attacks without interference? Because our allies, the Pakistanis, won’t allow U.S. forces to enter their country:

“It’s not that we lack the ability to go into that space,” said Tom Fingar of the office of the Director of National Intelligence. “But we have chosen not to do so without the permission of the Pakistani government,” Fingar told members of Congress [in testimony on July 11, 2007] who demanded to know why the U.S. did not take more decisive action against a known enemy.

In 2003, Bush invaded the sovereign nation of Iraq, without permission, to topple Saddam Hussein, who even Bush now admits had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. But today the president refuses to bust up a safe haven for the perpetrators of the atrocities because Pakistan’s dictator, Pervez Musharraf, won’t allow it. How bizarre.

Karl Rove drew derisive laughter at a news conference in Denver earlier this month when he inadvertently acknowledged the Bush administration’s new policy of not invading other countries preemptively:

KARL ROVE: The United States has concerns about taking unilateral action in a sovereign nation without their approval. And so this has always been the difficulty we have with — [Laughter.] Unless, of course, they‘re Saddam Hussein

Rove gave that answer to a question about the revelation that, in 2005, the administration had fixed locations for senior al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan, but while the Navy SEALs were en route, Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and, probably, Vice Pres. Cheney, called off the attack.

Let’s get this straight: Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the rest of the geniuses who took us into Iraq had a chance to decapitate al Qaeda but chose to let them go.

If the American people ever find this out, it’ll make it very difficult for loyal Bushies to blame the next attack on Bill Clinton.

UPDATE (July 17, 2007): The summary of the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) that was released today described al Qaeda’s location in Pakistan:

“We assess the group has protected or regenerated key elements of its homeland attack capability, including: a safe haven in the Pakistan Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), operational lieutenants and its top leadership,” according to the estimate.

“We see a firming up of their capability, primarily because of the safe haven,” one official said at a briefing on the report. Said another, “The existence of this safe haven is critical to their ability to train and to plan.”

Schwarzenegger: Environmental Cheerleader

Buck Banks

At the close of the Serve to Preserve global climate summit in Miami, Republican Florida Gov. Charlie Crist called in another Republican, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, to cap off the conference. It was a good call, as it drew lots of media, aligned Florida with California in the fight against greenhouse emissions and set the stage for Crist’s signing this afternoon of executive orders mandating a slew of environmental measures that mirror the Golden State’s.

Schwarzenegger fulfilled his rah-rah role admirably, delivering a speech aimed at making the audience feel good about itself for attending the summit. Long on platitudes and short on substance, it was one of those speeches that are forgettable but serve a salutary rhetorical end.

After listing his accomplishments and the goals he has set for California, Schwarzenegger went over the now-familiar economics of environmentalism argument: “We won’t have an economy if we destroy our environment. It’s not a choice of either or, the two go hand in hand.”

Then he hit the old bipartisan note: “There is no Democratic Earth, there is no Republican Earth, there”s just one Earth and it’s up to us all to save it.”

Schwarzenegger then went into full cheerleader mode, exhorting his audience not to be surprised when others attack you for championing the environment. He mentioned that there is a billboard in Michigan accusing him of destroying 85,000 jobs in the automotive industry by imposing emissions standards that Detroit can’t meet. He argued that he is not telling Michigan to get out of the car business, “I’m saying to Michigan, get off your butt!”

The climax of the cheerfest was Schwarzenegger quoting one of his famous movie lines: “We have to say, Hasta la vista, baby, to greenhouse gases.”

The Governator received a standing ovation for that gem.