What did the President not know, and when did he not know it?

Whether or not WMDs are ever found in Iraq at this point, it has become increasingly clear that the Bushies were contradicting their own intelligence last September and overstating the WMD capabilities of Iraq to the UN, the international community, and the American people. Lying to America? Falsifying intelligence? As John Dean points out for CNN, we’re now entering Nixon territory. (Second two links via Pigs and Fishes and Medley.)

When the Sun Never Sets.

The Rove-Bush goal is to return government to its size before the New Deal, leaving the individual more exposed to corporate power than at any other time since the 1920s.” Jack Beatty of The Atlantic Monthly examines Rove’s long-term strategy for the Dubya tax cut, and how it’s cleverly designed to help the GOP in 2004 and 2008. Grim stuff. In a related story, Michael Kinsley offers his take on the dividend debacle: “The recently enacted tax bill is such a shocking and brazen gift for the wealthy that it is hard to describe in anything short of…cartoon-Marxist terms.”

The “Browbeaters.”

Is Paul Wolfowitz in a 12-step program? A week after confiding to America about the “bureaucratic” thinking that motivated the WMD casus belli, Wolfowitz opens up to an audience in Singapore, telling them “we had no choice” in our Iraq policy because “the country swims on a sea of oil.” (Via High Industrial.) And now it turns out Cheney and co. were leaning hard on the CIA to come up with the “right” intelligence about Iraq’s WMD capabilities (and an Iraq-Al Qaeda connection.) Hmm…looks like it’s getting grim at WMD Search Central. Update: Jake Tapper of Salon points out that Wolfowitz’s alleged Singapore statement is based on a misquote – Wolfowitz was talking about the efficacy of sanctions, not the reasons for war.

Credit Denied.

Despite growing GOP support in the Senate, Tom De Lay refuses to consider an increased low-income child tax credit in the House unless it includes more schwag for the filthy rich, such as an estate tax repeal. Speaking of which, new analyses of the Dubya debacle suggest that the middle class will end up footing the bill while the wealthy frolic. So much for “trickle-down.”

The Powell Rules.

On a party line vote, the FCC eases ownership rules, paving the way for another wave of media consolidation over the nation’s airwaves. With Chairman Michael Powell now playing kingmaker for the likes of Rupert Murdoch, the Commission has come a long way from low power FM in two short years.

Dropping the Other Shoe.

In a strange moment of candor, Wolfowitz tells Vanity Fair that the WMD argument for overthrowing Saddam was chosen “for bureaucratic reasons,” since “it was the one reason everyone could agree on.” (He also lends credence to the argument advanced in this Fred Kaplan article that removing troops from Saudi Arabia was one of the central purposes of the Iraq war.) Meanwhile, in the same AP story, the head of US Marines in Iraq says of the WMDs, “they’re simply not there.” Looks like the Bushies have some explaining to do…If they follow the usual pattern, I suspect they’ll answer any tough question with a flurry of 9/11-esque horror stories.

No Child Left Behind?

Surprise, surprise. Dubya and the GOP’s new tax cut leaves out an increased child tax credit for the nation’s poorest Americans. After all, gotta keep the priorities straight…Some families out there might want a second SUV.

War between the States.

“Bipartisanship is another name for date rape.” Ah, the wit and wisdom of a GOP flak…On what planet would that not be offensive? Republican strategist Grover Norquist also revels in the increasing acrimony within state legislatures. “We are trying to change the tones in the state capitals – and turn them toward bitter nastiness and partisanship.” I guess he’s a divider, not a uniter. (Via Medley.)

1896 it ain’t.


Resembling nothing so much as the guy who takes out a $10000 credit card advance and suddenly feels flush, the GOP contemplates an era of political dominance. (In fact, the administration is feeling so sure of itself these days that they’re bringing old Iran-Contra hacks like Elliot Abrams out of the woodwork.) Sorry, y’all, but the “young college Hipublican” vote only goes so far…most of these kids will drop you faster than a Linear Algebra class once their parents’ portfolios finish taking the Dubya tumble. As for the purported hepcats in this pic, I guess it all depends on your definition of “hip.” I can’t say I’m too plugged into the youth zeitgeist these days, but I do live and work at a university…and somehow I doubt these five Bushies are the leading lights of campus. They just look like five angry and self-satisfied white people to me, and there’s plenty of those to go around.

Cash Advance.

As it turns out, Dubya’s profligate ways have forced Congress to increase the federal debt limit (so as to avoid a government default) in the very week they mull over his (now Voinovich-friendly) tax giveaway for the rich. Coincidence? I think not.