Year: 2007
Dick Morris: Keep Troops in Iraq As a ‘Convenience’ to Terrorists
Political terror: One of the stupidest scare tactics deployed by Pres. Bush et al is that idea that if we leave Iraq, the 4,000 or so al Qaeda terrorists there would “follow us home.” Obviously, nothing about our presence in Iraq prevents al Qaeda terrorists in Iraq — or Afghanistan, Pakistan, London, Düsseldorf or anywhere else — from coming here.
“Convenience is a big factor when you’re a terrorist.”
— Dick Morris
— Dick Morris
You’d have to be pretty thick not to see through that, but since the Bushies continue to hammer at it, it must be working with their base.
Now Dick Morris, the professional Clinton-hater and semi-pro foot fetishist, has taken this dumbest of all war rationales to the next level, saying we must keep our troops in Iraq to serve as live bait for the terrorists:
One of the things, though, that I think the antiwar crowd has not considered is that, if we’re putting the Americans right within [the terrorists’] arms’ reach, they don’t have to come to Wall Street to kill Americans. They don’t have to knock down the trade center. They can do it around the corner, and convenience is a big factor when you’re a terrorist.
Translation: Support our troops by making them terrorist magnets.
What is really scary here is the fact that about a quarter of our fellow citizens are so ignorant and/or easily deluded that they can’t parse the cynicism behind statements like these.
Griffith Park Is On Fire – No Word on Status of Los Angeles Zoo
The fire in Griffith Park in Los Angeles has spread to 150 acres. Local news is preempting other shows but no word so far on the status of the Los Angeles Zoo, which is in the park.
UPDATE: (7:15 PM) Finally saw a report on the zoo. The fire was close but not a direct threat. One official said most of the animals were “too fragile” to move in any case. Local TV has gone back to regular programming, which is invariably a sign that the situation is under control and not newsworthy. (On the other hand, it is sweeps month.)
UPDATE: (5/9/07 – 5:15 AM) 600 acres have burned but so far the flames have not endangered the zoo, the Griffith Park Observatory, the Greek Theatre or other structures. However, the city has called for mandatory evacuations of homes in a Los Feliz neighborhood adjacent to the park.
Bush Whines to Texas Friends: Nobody Understands Me
In the 2000 campaign, we were told that George Bush doesn’t read polls. Unlike Bill “Finger-in-the-Wind” Clinton, Bush knew his own mind and besides he had his finger on the pulse of regular Americans. In reality, of course, he doesn’t need to read the polls since Karl gives him a full briefing every morning.
“His inability to harvest experience, and so to think and form successful judgments, is just so inexplicable.”
A story at HuffPost appears to confirm that Bush is not only aware he’s tanking in the polls, he’s whining about it:
[We’re] hearing that some big money players up from Texas recently paid a visit to their friend in the White House. The story goes that they got out exactly one question, and the rest of the meeting consisted of The President in an extended whine, a rant, actually, about no one understands him, the critics are all messed up, if only people would see what he’s doing things would be okay…etc., etc.
This is called a “bunker mentality” and it’s not attractive when a friend does it. When the friend is the President of the United States, it can be downright dangerous. Apparently the Texas friends were suitably appalled, hence the story now in circulation.
There’s no hope George Bush will learn anything from his failed presidency. What his party might learn from it is an open question.
Update: Trish saw this article at ABC News — 18 Big GOP Donors Dine With the Queen — which may offer a clue to the identities of the “Texas friends” who were subjected to Bush’s whining.
Questions from Mars — Presidential Debates Explained
Although we are loath to send you, gentle reader, from Pensito Review and off into the cold cruel, sometimes one comes across something that’s just too good not to share. Even if one didn’t write it oneself (but wishes one had).
Check out Politico writer Roger Simon’s Q&A on the presidential debates, as told to Martians. It’s a funny.
Quote du Jour
Television is the literature of the illiterate, the culture of the lowbrow, the wealth of the poor, the privilege of the underprivileged, the exclusive club of the excluded masses.
— Lee Loevinger, Federal Communications Commission, 1966.
Writing the Book on Iraq Reconstruction
Wasteful reading: The plot is thick, the characters familiar. The inspector general tasked with overseeing the Iraq reconstruction has been criticized by disgruntled former employees for using agency resources and personnel to produce a book along the lines of the 9/11 Commission Report about the reconstruction. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen is currently the subject of an ongoing investigation that some believe might have been instigated from the White House due to the agency’s occasional (gasp!) criticisms of the Bush adminsitration’s handling of the decon … er … I mean reconstruction of Iraq.
Waste represents a transgression that is less than fraud and abuse, and most waste does not involve a violation of law.
SIGIR spokeswoman Denise Burgess said the project, called the “Story of Iraq Reconstruction,” or SIR, is a “capping report” that will present SIGIR’s unique perspective on the reconstruction, including the period before oversight was established.
“What it’s not going to be is a publication with a whole bunch of reports in it,” Burgess said, explaining that it would use a narrative style to appeal to a wide audience. Citing the Iraq Study Group report and the recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission as models, she said the SIR project would “drill up” to capture the full picture of reconstruction.
Burgess said plans for publishing the report still are being fleshed out, but it is expected to be complete by the end of 2007. She said she did not know the size of the team working on it, but said it consisted of in-house employees, though she said contractors have done much of the writing for the IG’s quarterly reports to Congress and three lessons learned reports.
But, in a plot twist eerily similar to the firing of federal prosecutors, some have seen the heavy hand of the White House behind the yearlong investigation:
Some news reports have suggested that the investigation could be a form of retaliation by administration officials against Bowen, whose office often has been critical of the reconstruction effort.
White House spokesman Tony Snow also has said there is no link between the White House and the investigation, noting that “when people raise allegations, somebody is going to look into it.”
So who can blame Bowen for wanting to protect his reputation in these days of legacy-building? Meanwhile, he continues the difficult task of overseeing the rebuilding of a ruined country:
In February, Bowen worked with the head of the Government Accountability Office and IGs at the State and Defense departments to come up with a common definition for “waste.” The overseers agreed that “waste represents a transgression that is less than fraud and abuse, and most waste does not involve a violation of law. Rather, waste relates primarily to mismanagement, inappropriate actions or inadequate oversight.”
Whew! I’m glad we finally got that “waste” definition out of the way four years into the thing. Now we can carry on with the real job of rebuilding. Once we definitively define it, that is.
Quote du Jour
Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.
— Blaise Pascal
Gingrich Advises Republican Candidates Not to Mention Bush
[On Sunday’s] CBS’s Face the Nation, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich advised fellow conservatives not to talk about President Bush’s record. “President Bush is not the future. He’s not a solution. He doesn’t solve Social Security. He doesn’t solve Medicare. He doesn’t solve the economy. He doesn’t solve the environment. He doesn’t solve education. He’s a current fact,†Gingrich said.
It’s also a “current fact†that the conservative agenda has failed to “solve†these important issues over the past six years.
Gingrich went on to say that conservatives “have to say, this is not what we want to debate. It’s not in Baghdad, it’s not in Katrina, it’s not at Walter Reed, it’s not with the U.S. attorneys, but I have a better plan for a better solution that fits your values.†When Host Bob Schieffer suggested that Gingrich seemed to advocating steering clear of President Bush, Gingrich responded, “Well, I think that’s clear.â€
Novak Pans Fred Thompson’s First Campaign Speech
Republicans who are unhappy with the current crop of 10 GOP candidates for president have pinned their hopes of “Law & Order” actor Fred Thompson. A former senator from Tennessee and (formerly?) a good friend of second-place candidate Sen. John McCain, Thompson has been sending signals that he plans to enter the race.
Republicans stumbled the last time they nominated someone whom they believed to be Reaganesque. After being fooled into believing that George W. Bush was Reagan’s political heir, he turned out to be the heir of his actual ancestor, Pres. Franklin Pierce, a one-termer who left office in disgrace in the 1857.
Thompson made his first campaign-style appearance Friday night in Orange County, the fountainhead for GOP fundraising in California. I happened to catch part of the speech on C-SPAN over the weekend and was surprised at how bad he was. His delivery was flat and unenergetic, and the message was less than inspiring — talking points strung together in no particular order.
Of course, Fred Thompson doesn’t stand a chance with me. I’ve never voted for a Republican, for one thing. For another, I am immune to the charms of millionaire Republicans like George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan who project folksiness.
However, no less than the prince of conservative darkness himself, Robert Novak, who was in the room, had a similar take:
“It was not Reaganesque.” “No red meat.” “Too low key.” That was the preponderant reaction I heard to Thompson’s half-hour presentation (leavened by a few favorable comments, mostly by women, that he was more “statesmanlike” and “presidential” than the announced candidates). Lincoln Club members, like many conservative Republicans, have been unimpressed by the existing field of Republican hopefuls and envisioned Thompson as the second coming of Ronald Reagan. They did not get it Friday night…
Surprisingly for such an experienced performer, however, Thompson had trouble with the podium microphone as his low, conversational tones faded in and out. He ended his speech on a down note by reporting a recent visit to 6-year-old schoolchildren and what they had told him. Thompson worried that the long Lincoln Club program preceding his speech may have turned off the audience, but he may have been the one who lost his enthusiasm.
Novak also gave notes on the debate among the 10 announced candidates last week in Simi Valley, Calif.:
Dissatisfaction with the current presidential field was intensified by the chaotic debate of 10 Republican candidates broadcast nationally the previous night. Rudy Giuliani seemed uncomfortable dealing with standard conservative issues. John McCain sounded harsh and hawkish. Mitt Romney’s newfound conservatism still seems contrived to many in the Republican base.
Republicans stumbled the last time they nominated someone whom they believed to be Reaganesque. After being fooled into believing that George W. Bush was Reagan’s political heir, he turned out to be the heir of his actual ancestor, Pres. Franklin Pierce, a one-termer who left office in disgrace in the 1857. (Pierce was the only sitting president rejected by his own party for a second term.)
Despite Thompson’s stumble in front of the big-money crowd Friday night and his lackluster record in the Senate, he may still be the best candidate the Republicans have to offer next year.
