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 Saturday, August 14, 2004
Swami Holden Sez. Political Predition: If Hurricane Charley results in any appreciable damage watch for Unka Karl to spin federal disaster recovery efforts to the Chimp's advantage.
I foresee a bullhorn-enhanced speech from atop a mound of rubble in Tampa, with brave first-responders in the background. [First Draft]
Is the world just too cynical or will we really see federeal disaster efforts doled out like so many Halliburton contracts? 10:08:35 PM 
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George and Laura Lie to Larry King. The Bushes were on Larry King Live last night. What follows is a partial list of the whoppers told by the Midland Misleaders side by side with the truth.
On the seven minutes spent reading My Pet Goat:
G. BUSH: Well, I had just been told by Andrew Card that America was under attack. And I was collecting my thoughts. And I was sitting with a bunch of young kids, and I made the decision there that we would let this part of the program finish, and then I would calmly stand up and thank the teacher and thank the children and go take care of business.
And I think what's important is how I reacted when I realized America was under attack. It didn't take me long to figure out we were at war. It didn't take me long to develop a plan that we would go after Al Qaeda. We went into action very quickly.
[snip]
G. BUSH: What is relevant is whether or not I understand and understood then the stakes. And I recognized that we were at war. And I made a determination that we would do everything we could to bring those killers to justice and to protect the American people. That is my most solemn duty.
....[First Draft]
read the rest about how Bush completely misrepresented what is ON TAPE. I asl like this exchange: On giving Gen. Tommy Franks everything he asked for:
And I said to him: General Franks, do you have everything you need? Are you satisfied with the plan? And do you have all you need? And he looked at me and said: Yes, sir, Mr. President.
[snip]
And the reason I tell you that story is that Tommy, General Franks, now Tommy, knew me well enough to be able to walk right into the Oval Office and say: Mr. President, we don't have what we need. We need of this or that.
What Franks says: (Link):
The U.S. general who routed Saddam Hussein's army in three weeks warned before the invasion that a quick victory could lead to a "catastrophic success" because the United States was not prepared for postwar anarchy in Iraq.
"We will have to stand up a new Iraqi army and create a constabulary that includes a representative tribal, religious and ethnic mix," retired Army Gen. Tommy Franks writes in a new autobiography recounting the tense days before the war. "It will take time."
President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld agreed, but Franks did not get the "open checkbook" he needed to put Saddam's soldiers on the new Iraqi government's payroll.
"I would continue to argue that there could be no security without civic action," Franks writes in "American Soldier." "Penny wise will surely be pound foolish, I thought. We will spend dollars today . . . or blood tomorrow."
Dollars to day or blodd tomorrow. This Adminstration seems to have chosen blood. 10:04:08 PM
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Economic Statistics Briefing Room. I found a new feature on the White House web site today, the Economic Statistics Briefing Room. I don't know why they put it up there, though, as four of the five statistics they report make the Chimpster look bad (the fifth category was Household Wealth, but the figure cited is from 1995 so I'm not even sure why they bothered):
Disposable Personal Income
In June 2004, real disposable personal income remained the same at a seasonally adjusted monthly rate.
Per Capita Income
In June 2004, per capita real disposable personal income (at a seasonally adjusted annual rate) decreased $20.
Farm Sector Income
The 2004 forecast net value added of $93 billion is down almost $6 billion from 2003's record level, but still $3.8 billion higher than the 1994-2003 average. After payments to stakeholders, the residual income is net farm income, which is forecast to be $47.6 billion, down 13% from 2003 but only slightly below its 10-year average of $48.2 billion.
Household Income
Median household money income in the United States in 2002 was $42,409, 1.1 percent lower than in 2001 after adjusting for 1.6 percent inflation. Under four alternative income definitions that deduct income and payroll taxes and include the value of various noncash benefits, real median household income did not change for three of the four income alternatives and declined 0.8 percent for income after taxes.
Poverty
For the second consecutive year the poverty rate rose, from 11.7 percent in 2001 to 12.1 percent in 2002. The number of poor increased also, by 1.7 million, to 34.6 million poor in 2001. [First Draft]
More people in poverty, those with jobs saw it decline, and households saw their income decrease. I wonder what this Administration will do to deflect notice from these horrible numbers? Right, Kerry is a liar. That sure seems to be working ;-) 9:58:55 PM
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Another Republican for Kerry. Link.
Ohioan Ed Tovey has been a staunch Republican since the 1980 presidential election of Ronald Reagan. In the aftermath of the 2000 election Tovey started tracking [base "]just the facts[per thou] [^] an issues list that he would use to rate George W. Bush as the CEO he claimed to be. The results: on every issue Tovey tracked he found the Bush administration had failed. This year Tovey is supporting John Kerry.
Bush set a goal of creating 5.5 million new jobs, 4.1 million created through the economy[base ']s normal job growth projections, and 1.4 million due to tax cuts. According to Labor Department[base ']s numbers released August 6, the administration has instead lost nearly 1.6 million jobs. The new jobs Bush claims to be adding pay 36% LESS per year than the ones we are losing.
[snip]
About the war in Iraq, Tovey asks one question: Was the war executed as well as we should have expected? Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told a Senate hearing: "There's a lot of money to pay for this that doesn't have to be U.S. taxpayer money, and it starts with the assets of the Iraqi people." Yet, as of several days ago, cost projections for this war were nearly $250 billion dollars. Even now, with oil at historic high prices, we are still pouring money into this war. Nearly 1,000 of our brave young men and women have died. Another 12,000 have been wounded.
[per thou]The RNC advertisements that Kerry caused us to send troops in without body armor are ridiculous,[per thou] Tovey told RepublicansForKerry04.org recently. [base "]Senators don[base ']t send our kids to war [^] the President does.[per thou]
On down the list -- homeland security, ethics and responsibility, health care -- in every case Tovey found that by the administration[base ']s own standards, George W. Bush as the CEO has failed. [base "]Anyway you cut it the answer remains the same,[per thou] Tovey says. [base "]Sorry George we have to let you go![per thou]
[First Draft]
Seems like Bush is doing te same thing to the US that he did for so many of his companies - run them into the ground and hope to be bailed out by friends. 9:55:56 PM
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'Kangaroo Courts': Guantanamo. No suprise here, the first four detainees at Guantanamo to have a hearing have been adjudged "enemy combatants." They only got the hearing after the Supreme Court said they were entitled to them. Rumsfeld and the Bush Administration settled on... [TalkLeft: The Politics of Crime]
So, after the Supreme Court slaps them down, they respond by Soviet-style show trials, without lawyers, without full review of the evidence against the accused and with the military making the final decision. I guess we have our own Gulag now on Cuba. SOunds like we are trying to arrange some more. Boy, am I proud. 9:29:58 PM
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Why Oh Why Are We Ruled by These Fools (Goss Says He Is Unqualified to Work at Langley Department).
Goss gives himself a very bad reference. Via Obsidian Wings:
Obsidian Wings: Goss Not Boss Material: President Bush might have researched his nominee's own feelings about his qualifications for the job though, if for nothing else his willingness to be interviewed by Michael Moore:
"I couldn't get a job with CIA today. I am not qualified," Mr Goss told Moore's production company in March.
The White House has dismissed the interview as "ridiculous hearsay".
The interview did not make it into the final edit of the film, which criticises President George W Bush's policy on Iraq.
But... Moore has released the transcript and video excerpt....
"I don't have the language skills. I, you know, my language skills were romance languages and stuff. We're looking for Arabists today. I don't have the cultural background probably," Mr Goss says on the video... [T]he things that you need to have, I don't have."
[Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal (2004)]
How much fun it must be to have a boss who says he is not qualified to do your job? I imagine morale is really high over this latest political move by Bush. I guess it is Goss's reqard for the hack job he has been doing ltely. 9:23:03 PM
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It Depends on What the Meaning of "Cooperate" Is. From Joshua Micah Marshall:
Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: August 08, 2004 - August 14, 2004 Archives: Steady leadership in times of change ...
I have told my staff, I want full cooperation with the Justice Department.
-- George W. Bush, 10/06/03
In January, Justice Department investigators asked White House staff members to sign a waiver requesting "that no member of the news media assert any privilege or refuse to answer any questions from federal law enforcement authorities on my behalf or for my benefit." But in February the Washington Post reported, "Most officials declined to sign the form on the advice of their attorneys."
-- Salon, 8/13/04
No wonder he can't get our allies to do anything he wants them to do." [Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal (2004)]
Since these people work at the pleasure of the President, their failure to cooperate should be seen as a sign of insubordination, resulting in their termination. That is, if Bush was really interested in cooperating with the Justice Department. Since they are all still there, one must assume that Bush does not really care about full cooperation and, horrors, lied about wanting full cooperation from his own staff. (I really hate using that word but since everything that Kerry says gets labeled a lie by the right-wing sock puppets, I will overcome my revulsion.) 9:18:08 PM
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In politics, being.... In politics, being a little ahead and motionless is a delicate, tremulous place to be. And that is, arguably, where the Kerry campaign is right now. If you look at the rivers of commentary flowing out over the Internet you... [Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall]
I think most of this comes from the fact that after a convention, the candidate is limited in what funds he can use for election. Kerry is so limited but not Bush, at least for the month of August. So Kerry is trying to keep his money squirreled away to use next month, orking to keep Bush's smears from sticking. So far it seems to be working but we are only half-way through the month. 9:09:20 PM
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Kerry - Life Saver. The newest republican talking point is how John Kerry couldn't "think" for forty minutes after the first plane hit on 9/11. This is their response to Pres. Bush's 7 minutes of inactivity after being told of the attack. First, John Kerry is a senator, not commander-in-chief. Second, since he is not commander-in-chief, what was he supposed to do? We have to look at past instances for how John Kerry would respond in a time of crisis, when time is critical, don't we? Hence this little nugget I found at the progress report:ETHICS âo[base "] KERRY, THE LIFE SAVER: Sen. John Kerry didn't only save the lives of troops in Vietnam; he also saved the life of one of his colleagues in the Senate. Former U.S. Sen. Chic Hecht of Nevada -- a staunch Republican âo[base "] "thanks his lucky stars for Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts." The story: "On July 12, 1988, Hecht was attending a weekly Republican luncheon when a piece of apple lodged firmly in his throat. Hecht stumbled out of the room, thinking he might vomit but not wanting to do it in front of his colleagues. Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., thumped his back, but Hecht quickly passed out in the hallway. Just then, Kerry stepped off an elevator, rushed to Hecht's side and gave him the Heimlich maneuver -- four times. The lifesaving incident made international news, and Dr. Henry Heimlich, who invented the maneuver in 1974, called Hecht to say that had Kerry intervened just 30 seconds later Hecht might have been in a vegetative state for life." Asked about the life-saving event, Hecht said, "He knew exactly what to do. But a lot of people know what to do. They just don't size up the situation immediately."
It may just be me, but this seems like quick thinking and fast reaction time to me. [Change for America -]
Kerry has drectly saved the lives of at least 2 men: Rasmussen in Vietnam and Hecht in the Senate. What is very interesting is that Hecht's political party did not matter, not the fact that Kerry was helping campaigns against Hecht. Kerry stepped off the elevator and did exactly the right thing. Due to his quick and decisiive decision, he saved a fellow Senator's life. I do not think he would have sat around for 7 minutes.
By the way, that 40 minutes mistruth comes from a remark he made where he stated that after the first one hit, he and some other Senators went into a room and sat down in shock, until the second oe hit. There was a 40 minute time difference bewtween the two events but that is a maximum. Kerry did not say they went immediately into the room. I do not know when he heard the first event, so it could have actually been a very short time. Since he has displayed life-saving decision making abilities several times in his life (Has Bush even done one?) I would not expect him to have frozen like Bush did. 8:51:59 PM
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