With Rummy on the ropes, Dubya and Cheney rush to the defense of their man in Defense. Hey, hold him to your breast as long as possible, Mr. President…maybe then, you’ll all go down together come November.
Category: Politics (2002-2004)
Leap of Faith.
Pollster John Zogby believes Kerry will win in November. That’s good to hear, and I’m inclined to believe him…but I also think that the issue that will define this election has yet to occur, for good or ill. Either way, Kerry’s current press slump is nothing to write home about. There’s always a dry spell for challengers between the end of the primaries and the choosing of the veep. Um, so who is going to be the veep, anyway?
Sarge Sidelined?
Just in case John Kerry wasn’t feeling enough pressure about his forthcoming choice of a running mate, The Atlantic Monthly‘s Scott Stossel imagines how Sargent Shriver on the Humphrey ticket could have made all the difference in the bitterly (and closely) contested election of 1968.
Blowback.
From The Economist to the NY Times, Salon examines the growing calls for Rumsfeld to resign as a result of Abu Ghraib. When even Karl Rove is forced to admit the damage done by these horrifying pics, you know it’ll be rough for Rummy in the weeks ahead, even with Dubya’s vote of confidence. Well, I’m all for getting rid of Rumsfeld, but I don’t think he should be the only fall guy for this Iraq fiasco…the decision may have began with Cheney, Wolfowitz, & co., but it ended with Dubya. For Abu Ghraib as with so much else, they all gotta go.
A Moral Abattoir.
I don’t know how we will ever recover from this. Medley aptly sums up my stomach-churning disgust at the Iraq atrocity photos now circulating around the world. If there wasn’t a connection between Dubya’s carnival sideshow in Iraq and the war in terror before, there assuredly is now. And if a picture is worth a thousand words, just think how many possible US-hating terrorists have been born with each one of these vile and grotesque snapshots. Our entire nation and way of life have been shamed by these depravities, perhaps to fatal effect.
Onward, Christian Soldier.
Iraq increasingly a quagmire, deficits soaring, the economy in the tank…what Bush worry? As Rick Perlstein points out, it’s easy for Dubya to remain preternaturally calm when he believes he’s divinely ordained.
Get off the bus.
“Peace and freedom depend upon this election. Prosperity for the people depend upon this election.” You know something, Dubya? You’re darn skippy.
Where was I again?
Dubya and Cheney work on getting their stories straight for tomorrow’s joint appearance before the 9/11 committee. If the press machinery worked in this country, there is no way on God’s Green Earth Bush would be allowed to bring along his compadre for help on this one, or that the two of them would be able to testify without any recorded transcription, particularly when you consider how President Clinton was treated during his Lewinsky testimony. Absolutely pathetic.
Keeping Secrets, Keeping Suspects.
Slate‘s Dahlia Lithwick reports in on the Bush administration’s twin attempts before the Supreme Court to lock up US citizens and hide their shady energy deals indefinitely. Update: The Times and Post weigh in as well.
Losin’ It.
Continuing his recent spate of bizarre pronouncements, Zell Miller calls for repeal of the 17th Amendment, as apparently the direct election of senators is the primary cause for the domination of special interests in Washington these days. Well, the principle of federalism aside, it’s hard to take seriously any such special interest prescription from a guy like Zell, who’s gone so far out of his way to prostrate himself before Dubya and his cadre of corporate cronies. Sorry Zell…it’s Miller time no longer.