Month: July 2008

Quote du Jour

Jon Ponder

Well, you know, God bless [George Bush], bless his heart, the president of the United States, a total failure, losing all credibility with the American people on the economy, on the war, on energy, you name the subject. And for him to be challenging Congress when we are trying to sweep up after his mess over and over and over again… At the end of the day, Congress will have passed — honored its responsibility to pass legislation starting with our Department of Defense bill. The president knows it. He needs something to talk about because he has no ideas.

— Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (b. 1940) on Friday, July 18, 2008

Jane Mayer, Author of ‘The Dark Side,’ on Terror Politics And War Crimes

Jon Ponder

A Former Condi Adviser Told Mayer That After 9/11 ‘Fear And Anxiety Were Exploited by Zealots And Fools’

In this interview with Steve Clemons, editor of The Washington Note, Jane Mayer discusses David Addington, Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, whom she profiled in the New Yorker last year and who plays a central role in her new book, The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals, which Trish wrote about this week.
Any efforts to charge Bush officials with war crimes will become moot later this year when Bush issues blanket pardons to all his henchmen, probably on Christmas Eve, just as his father did in 1992.
The fact that hardly anyone has heard of David Addington is no accident. He shares his boss’s fetish for secrecy as well as his belief in the imperial presidency.

The excerpt in the following transcript comes about 11 minutes into the interview. The quote mentioned by Mayer and Clemens is the last line in Mayer’s book. It comes from Phillip Zelikow, a former counselor to Condoleeza Rice, who attempted to explain what went wrong within the administration after the attacks on September 11 this way: “Fear and anxiety were exploited by zealots and fools.”

[…]

Poll: Homophobia Lobby’s Anti-Marriage Amendment Lags in California

Jon Ponder

51% Oppose; 42% in Favor – Only 7% Are Undecided

A new Field Poll shows that 42 percent of California voters say they will vote for Proposition 8, the ballot initiative sponsored by the national anti-gay lobby that would amend the California Constitution to revoke the right of gay people to marry, while 51 percent say they plan to vote against it, according to a report in the Mercury News:With the state GOP nearly bankrupt and without Schwarzenegger or McCain available for campaigning, supporters of Prop 8 will have to rely on the fatcats at the national homophobia organizations to fork over millions for television advertising in California.

The poll showed a California sharply divided over a constitutional ban — along the lines of geography, gender, race, age, religious belief and political affiliation. But it’s also a California where Proposition 8 supporters may have a hard time winning in November. Just 7 percent of voters were undecided, a strikingly small amount so long before Election Day, leaving relatively few voters to sway.

“Very few initiatives in the history of the Field Poll have started out behind and come from behind to be approved,” said Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll. “The fact that (Proposition 8) is behind does not bode well for its chances.”

Mercury News also reports that “[women], older baby boomers and residents of coastal California — particularly the Bay Area — were among those most hostile to the proposed ban. Protestants, Latinos, residents of inland counties and people in their 40s and over age 65 were the most likely to favor it.”

At least one professional advocate of bigotry toward gays was quick to downplay the poll results. “Historically, the Field Poll has understated the support for upholding the definition of marriage,” Jennifer Kerns, a spokeswoman for ProtectMarriage.com, told the Mecurty News. “The reality is that the vast majority of Californians support the definition of marriage as between a man and woman.”

One factor that may help quash Prop 8 is the fervor in California to elected a Democratic president this year. Yesterday, a Field Poll found that Barack Obama leads John McCain in California 54 to 30 percent. Obama also holds a 46 point lead over McCain (64 percent to 18 percent) among independents, the fastest growing voter group in the state.

McCain — whose authority on “protecting marriage” should be tarnished because he left his first wife Carol to marry an heiress worth $100 million after Carol became disabled in an accident — has come out in favor of Prop 8. But unless his poll numbers improve exponentially, it is unlikely he will spend much time in California campaigning for the initiative. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, has announced that he is against the amendment.

[…]

Florida’s Economy Tanks as Governor and Girlfriend Party in Europe

Trish

Photo from the governor’s web site. Caption reads, “Governor Charlie Crist and Carol (sic) Rome with His Royal Highness, Charles Philip Arthur George, The Prince of Wales.”

Floridians who still read a morning newspaper drank their coffee over this bad news.

Florida’s economic slump is worse than state economists had predicted earlier this year, and now they say it’ll last about six months longer than previously expected.

Their February outlook had been for recovery to start about a year from now, but a new update says things probably won’t begin turning around until the end of 2009.

“It’s a bit more bleak than it was originally,” legislative economist Amy Baker said Thursday.

Carole Rome’s engagement ring

The housing market, which boomed bigger in Florida than the rest of the country, went bust-er here as well. Dried-up credit wells mean less businesses willing to take risks in the state. Tourists are staying home because of their own money woes, which leave them unable to afford the gas or airfare to come here, or the prices once they arrive. After all, one-day tickets to Disney’s Magic Kingdom are $71 each for ages 10 and up, and that’s just for park entry. A hamburger and soda will run you at least $10.

So it’s not looking good if you’re a Floridian…unless you’re Charlie Crist or his fiancee, Carole Rome. While we get the bad news back home, they’re whooping it up in Europe, schmoozing with royalty, ambassadors, and the media. In what is billed as an economic development mission, the governor and his intended are having a blast on the taxpayer’s dollar.

Rome’s soon to be ex-husband was said to be divorcing her for her profligate ways and expensive tastes. Charlie Crist, longtime “bachelor” and a lifer on the public dole, doesn’t even own a house. But thanks to people like me — and her willingness to marry a man long reported to be gay — Carole can live in the governor’s mansion and spend summers in Europe.

Republicans are great at lecturing the rest of us to pull our weight so government won’t have to provide for us. Are they thinking if we did, there would be more there for them?

Gawd Help Us: Bill Clinton Threatening to Campaign for Obama

Trish

Good lord. Bill Clinton, whose performance on the campaign trail for the former First Lady was in large part to blame for her missing her party’s nomination, is threatening to “help” Barack Obama.

Former President Bill Clinton said Thursday he’s prepared to hit the campaign trail on behalf of Barack Obama as soon as the presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee asks him to.

“Whenever he asks — that is, we had a good talk, and he said he wanted me to campaign with him, and I said I was eager to do so,” Clinton told reporters in New York Thursday. “He’s busier than I am, with politics anyway, so I just told him that whenever he wanted to do it, I was ready.

“So it’s basically on their timetable, he’s got a lot of things to do between now and the convention,” the former president added. “I’ll do whatever I am asked to do, whenever I can do it.”

Obama will, of course, have to accept the offer. Let’s just hope that Bill sticks close to the program he’s given and doesn’t try to explain possible sniper fire in Bosnia, say.