Day: June 11, 2008

Summer 2008 Forecast: Heat, Weather Catastrophes, and Attacks on the Obamas

Trish

It’s going to be a long, hot summer, especially if you’re Barack or Michelle Obama. It seems like somebody gave the signal that attacking Mrs. Obama could be the best way to take down her husband. A string of attempts to catch the possibly future first lady saying or implying things outside the so-called mainstream mindset is proof.

The “whitey” tape is supposedly being held by, alternatively, Karl Rove, the GOP, a major news broadcaster, or Rudy Guiliani

Right-wing web sites recently claimed a tape of Mrs. Obama would show her blaming “whitey” for various problems during a panel at Trinity United Church in 2004. They explain that this tape is being held by, alternatively, Karl Rove, the GOP, a major news broadcaster, or Rudy Guiliani. Supposedly, in reference to Pres. Bush she said, “Whitey attack Iraq, whitey let Katrina happen, whitey leave millions of children behind.” Except that since Michelle Obama doesn’t talk like that, the more likely quote — if she said anything at all, was probably — “Why did he attack Iraq? Why’d he let Katrina happen? Why’d he leave millions of children behind?” Whatever the case, more than a week has passed since the tape was supposedly going to be released and during that time, the bloggers changed the story from Michelle appearing on the panel with Louis Farrakhan to her sharing the stage with Mrs. Louis Farrakhan. And The National Review, which originally licked its chops at the prospect of a such a tape, now doubts its existence altogether.

But that doesn’t mean the Obama attacks are ending. No, the wallopers are just getting warmed up. The New York Post’s Cindy Adams warns the Obamas of the next salvo, this one focused on the candidate himself: a “Swift Book.”

Publisher, Regnery. Ships to stores, July. On shelves, August. Price, $37.95. Title, the longest in captivity: “Scorcher. The Case Against Barack Obama: The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media’s Favorite Candidate.”

The so-called scorching? That his politics-of-change will be liberal politics as usual. That the Rev. Wright thing reveals a deceitful nature. That his inexperience is more dangerous than any threat we have today. That as commander in chief this non-Republican is a serious threat to our national security.

Their projected p.r. TV lineup includes Fox’s “Hannity & Colmes” and “The O’Reilly Factor,” CNN’s Glenn Beck, MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” Radio: Michael Reagan, Laura Ingraham, G. Gordon Liddy.

So cheesy and yet, so tasteless. But like the heat itself, there’s no way around these machinations and no way to drown out the noise. We’ll just have to go through it, knowing that cooler, quieter times are ahead.

Quote du Jour

Buck Banks

The natural liking for the false has several causes: the inheritance of prejudices, which produces an unconscious habit, a slavery; the predominance of the imagination over reason, which affects the understanding; the predominance of the passions over the conscience, which depraves the heart; the predominance of the will over intelligence, which vitiates the character.

— Henri Frederic Amiel (1821-1881), Swiss philosopher

House Set to Vote on Bills of Impeachment against Bush

Jon Ponder

7:58 a.m.: Well, not so much “at this hour,” as C-SPAN suggested. After 40 minutes of “morning business,” the House is debating AMTRAK. Either C-SPAN was wrong or the schedule was altered a bit. I suspect it was the latter.

In the meantime, here’s a bit from CQ Politics on the politics of Kucinich’s impeachment effort:

Under House rules, the chamber must act on the measure within two days.

Judiciary Chairman John Conyers Jr. , D-Mich., declined to say whether his committee would consider the articles.

Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer , questioning whether impeachment hearings were the right use of time remaining on this year’s election-shortened calendar, defended Congress’ record on confronting Bush.

“This Congress, for the first time since this president has been in office, is holding him accountable, doing oversight in terms of Iraq and Afghanistan, domestic policy, and international civil liberties and civil rights,” said Hoyer, D-Md.

Although many view a referral to committee as a burial for the resolution, Kucinich insisted that “referring it to committee indicates that there should be hearings on this.”

He said the record to support impeachment is “so voluminous and well-documented” that hearings ought to be held.

Kucinich said he and his staff originally put together 60 articles of impeachment but cut that list to what he described as the “most powerful” allegations.

Of course, the real reason the Democrats are not moving to impeach Bush is because it is politically helpful to them to have him twisting in the wind with a 28 percent approval rating. They also fear that impeaching Bush could backfire on them the way impeaching Pres. Clinton backfired on the Republicans.

7:00 a.m.: At this hour, the House is preparing to vote on whether to send 35 bills of impeachment against George Bush to the Judiciary Committee. The session is being led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi herself, which is another sign that the measure will fail.

The bills were introduced by Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, and include allegations that Bush and his top aides lied to the Congress and the American people about the reasons he was invading Iraq.

Buck just posted a finely honed, rhetorically nuanced op-ed piece on the allegations in the impeachment bills.

If the measure were to pass, the bills of impeachment would be sent to the Judiciary Committee for hearings.

Text of the complete Bill of Impeachment is here.

Bush’s Impeachment Should Be On, Not Off, the Table

Buck Banks

Last night we watched two hours of the official reading into the congressional record of Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s motion to impeach President George Bush on C-SPAN. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay up for the whole thing, which apparently took Kucinich nearly five hours to read on Monday, but I did last through four tag-team readers.

In April 2007, the Ohio Democrat and former presidential candidate introduced articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney. That resolution was killed in November when the Republicans of the House surprisingly voted for a floor debate and the Democrats managed to quickly send it to committee where it was tabled. It was at this time that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued her “impeachment is off the table” line that now is trotted out every time the I-word comes up.

Look, nothing is going to be accomplished in the late months of Bush’s lame-duck administration, aside from possibly going to war with Iran, so there’s nothing to be distracted by, so let’s impeach the bastards.

The Dems argue that if they move to impeach, the Republicans will argue that with all the problems facing the country — two wars (both started by Bush), children’s health care and education at risk (due to Bush’s policies), high oil prices (benefiting the administration’s oil industry cronies) and an economy tanking (due to Bush’s unbridled spending and tax breaks for the rich) — that the Democrats are just playing partisan politics instead of dealing with the nation’s problems (which are almost all directly attributable to George Bush’s disastrous presidency). See where I’m going with this?

Look, nothing is going to be accomplished in the late months of Bush’s lame-duck administration, aside from possibly going to war with Iran. There is no health care proposal pending in the wings, we’re not leaving Iraq anytime soon, nobody knows how to fix the economy and we have an election coming up. So I argue that there’s nothing to be distracted by, let’s impeach the bastards.

I like Dennis Kucinich. Wish I could vote for the little guy for president. He is consistent in his positions and doesn’t mind pointing out the odd flip-flop of his fellow congressmen or rival presidential candidates. His 35-point motion was a masterpiece of rhetorical construction. It was incredibly detailed, listing dates and sources for George Bush’s repeated lies to the American public about the necessity to go to war in Iraq. It was all there, a veritable litany of obfuscation, misdirection and downright whoppers.

Dennis Kucinich made a very strong case that George Bush is a liar and has violated his oath of office and should be impeached.

It is the business of the legislative branch to run herd on the administrative, a responsibility the Congress has consistently shirked. Isn’t it about time we had some accountability on the part of Congress, and Congress in turn would make the Bush administration accountable for its actions?

There likely is some concern that impeachment might hurt the Democrats in the upcoming election. I disagree. By dragging out every lie that Bush and Cheney, et. al., told and associating them with the consequences, and then associating John McCain with more of the same, seems to me it would help the Dem cause. And let Barack Obama deliver the speech justifying impeachment — he could eloquently and effectively counter the Republicans’ arguments and no doubt bolster his own campaign.

We’re not talking about lying about a dalliance with an intern here. We’re talking about a systematic disinformation program implemented by the top level of the Bush administration that has led directly to the death of more than 4,000 U.S. soldiers and at least a million Iraqis.

If that doesn’t belong on the table, what does?

In Europe, Bush Admits Cowboy Talk on Iraq Was a Mistake While Adviser Issues Threat to Iran on Nukes

Jon Ponder

On his final trip to Europe as president, George Bush acknowledged that his Wild West lingo in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq was overly bellicose:

“I think that in retrospect I could have used a different tone, a different rhetoric,” Bush told the Wednesday edition of the Times of London, referring to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

He acknowledged that phrases like “bring them on” and “dead or alive” had given the impression he was “not a man of peace.”

Of course, the main objective of the European trip for this man of peace is to drum up European support for attacking Iran. The European Union plans to offer Iran a new package of political and economic incentives in return for giving up its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Bush left it to his national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, to issue bellicose threats toward Iran masked in the language of diplomacy:

“We’re going to make this offer, and if the Iranian regime denies the Iranian people the benefit of the offer, then we’re going to have to turn up the pressure and I think everybody recognizes that.”

Europeans are watching the U.S. presidential campaign with interest. They are aware that Barack Obama’s policy toward Iran would emphasize diplomacy over threats of mass violence.

They are also aware that Republican John McCain would continue Bush’s policies and has summed up his approach on this issue by singing, “Bomb Iran. Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.”