Category: The Dubya Era

Busted.

“[O]n close examination, the accounts of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth prove to be riddled with inconsistencies. In many cases, material offered as proof by these veterans is undercut by official Navy records and the men’s own statements. Several of those now declaring Mr. Kerry ‘unfit’ had lavished praise on him, some as recently as last year.” The Times ably dissects the Swift Veterans smear-job, complete with a spiffy graphic linking its moneymen to Dubya. “Records show that the group received the bulk of its initial financing from two men with ties to the president and his family – one a longtime political associate of Mr. Rove’s, the other a trustee of the foundation for Mr. Bush’s father’s presidential library.“

Landslide?

“The president — highly intelligent, personally flawed, detested by many, a man who was first elected in a narrow three-way race and then reelected easily — had faced impeachment. In the following election, his vice president, a decent man with decades on Capitol Hill, was beaten by an inexperienced governor from the South. Four years passed. The economy weakened and oil prices soared. Crises in the Persian Gulf and Afghanistan eroded our national confidence. Clearly the president was in trouble. Yet many were not comfortable with his opponent. Yes, he was effective on television. But was he a steady hand? Was he trustworthy? Would the country be safe in his hands? The year was, of course, 1980.” James K. Galbraith makes the case for a decisive Kerry-Edwards victory in November.

Offsides.

Iraq’s Olympic soccer team ask to be removed from Bush re-election ads. “‘My problems are not with the American people,’ says Iraqi soccer coach Adnan Hamad. ‘They are with what America has done in Iraq: destroy everything.'” Sorry, y’all…it’s just that Dubya has very little to fall back on these days. It’s not like he can campaign on his domestic record.

The Stepford Voters.

“Each session is like a 90-minute support group dedicated to him…For most of the question-and-answer sessions, the president is endlessly being thanked, for ‘serving our country,’ for ‘everything you did after September 11th.’” Hannah Rosin of the Post attends an “Ask President Bush” pep rally, in which Everyday Americans Just Like You are carefully weeded out in favor of pliant conservatives and Dubya-friendly evangelicals. In Salon, Sidney Blumenthal contextualizes this strategy: “‘Ask President Bush’ has crystallized the essential underlying question, framed succinctly by the greatest American poet of democracy, Walt Whitman, who wrote, ‘The President is there in the White House for you, it is not you who are here for him.’“

Follow the Puppet Strings.

“[H]ere’s what you really need to know about them. They’re funded by hundreds of thousands of dollars from a Republican contributor out of Texas. They’re a front for the Bush campaign. And the fact that the President won’t denounce what they’re up to tells you everything you need to know. He wants them to do his dirty work.” After remaining relatively quiet about the Swift Veteran Liars (whose falsifications are now contradicted by military records as well) in the early going, John Kerry finally returns fire at the man behind the curtain, George W. Bush. (Or would that be Karl Rove? Well, you get the picture.)

The Battle is Joined.

“It just outrages me that someone who got five deferments during Vietnam and said he had ‘other priorities’ at that time would say that…When I hear this coming from Dick Cheney, who was a coward, who would not serve during the Vietnam War, it makes my blood boil…He’ll be tough, but he’ll be tough with someone else’s kid’s blood.” Iowa Senator Tom Harkin lashes out at Cheney for the “sensitive war” bit he was banging into the ground last week. I don’t much care for the notion that not serving in Vietnam makes anybody a coward…but, then again, the veep had this coming. He should’ve known better than to push the tough guy thing so hard. After all, he’s a war profiteer, not a warrior.

Gangs of New York.

Various media outlets preview the protests in store for the GOP convention in two weeks. I basically agree with those who think that the protests will have to be very clever to have anything but a negative effect for the Kerry team. Shrill, violent, and generally idiotic forms of protest will only play right into the hands of the GOP, who are practically begging to have the distinction made between their flag-waving, 9/11-tombrobbing soiree in the Garden and the radical unwashed masses just outside. And given how lazy and bored the national newsmedia acted in Boston, I’d expect that the Talking Heads will be actively seeking out the craziest loons they can muster just so they can turn them into the story. We’re treading on delicate ground here, fellow lefty New Yorkers…let’s not screw this up.

Bamboozled.

“I don’t know about you, but when I hear a statement meant to inflame gratuitous resentment of white people, I prefer that it come from a black person. A white man who puts on blackface to call John Kerry’s wife a fraudulent African-American is committing so many kinds of bad faith that I scarcely know where to start.” Slate‘s Tim Noah delves into a new anti-Teresa ad running on black radio stations. Between this and Swift Veterans, it’s becoming clear that there’s no level below which the GOP will not sink this time ’round.

What would Jesus do?

Apparently, evangelicals are still waiting by the phone for their GOP convention invites. “‘People who are not part of the religious right might be alienated if they put too many conservatives as the public face of the party,’ said Merle Black, a political scientist at Emory University in Atlanta.” You think?