The way it is: Typewriters hurled over Scooter Libby fiasco

[struggle4progress]

By Steve Thomas
Saturday, July 7, 2007 12:24 AM CDT

~snip~ My father was a solid Democrat. In what can only be seen as an odd way of rebelling, I became a Republican. ~snip~

Then the rains came. When the New Orleans levees gave way, so did my belief in the Republican Party. ~snip~

I guess it’s no surprise. This administration has found comfort in secret courts, domestic spying, defying Congressional subpoenas, smudging the protective line between church and state, developing policies behind closed doors, ignoring corruption and treating compromise with contempt. When it comes to the big things, they have learned all the wrong lessons from the past. When it comes to getting away with things, they have learned how to succeed on a grand scale. ~snip~

Pass a bad check and go to jail. Attempt to subvert the justice system and never see the inside of a cell. Thanks a lot, George Bush. ~snip~

http://www.lakeexpo.com/articles/2007/07/07/lake_news/02.txt

Morose musings of a former Republican ...

[hatrack]

1. So it took Steve Thomas five years to get the drift of world events?

Fucking slow learner.

[struggle4progress]

2. In every extended political fight I've ever seen, the turning of the tide

has been signaled by former opponents coming into our camp.

Sometimes they are honest: "I've changed my mind." Sometimes they are cowardly: "Here's some money, but I really can't support you in public." Sometimes they are liars: "Well, you know, I've always felt this way." Sometimes they apparently intend to be disruptors: "You'd have won a long time ago if only you'd gotten rid of so-and-so, and you'll win more quickly if you dump so-and-so now."

Generally, there's no point to calling them names in public. Some people are authentic but just not very insightful. Some people really are scared. Some people are opportunists by nature but still may do useful things. The scumbags are usually rare and often obvious.

I don't know for certain whether Thomas is an honest author or not. But, frankly, I'm inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt, at least initially, to think about his version of how he changed his mind, and to compare it to what people say on the street in my own community.

[hatrack]

3. With all due respect, I'm all out of kindness and understanding

I'm no Rhodes Scholar, but I knew that President Assclown was as phony as a $3 bill when he first crawled out of the buttcrack of Texas politics eight long years ago to present himself as a folksy uniter rich in compassion at sort of an inchoate pre-verbal toddler level. So did a lot of people at DU who are one hell of a lot smarter than me.

Given that, the question came to mind - if I could figure this out pretty much all by my lonesome way back in 1999, what does that say for somebody who took until the summer of 2007 to get the general drift? So, looking back on the chronology of these less-than-golden days here in the heart of the Last Best Hope Of Earth, let's take a look at what the author was able to ignore until the Libby straw finally broke his aching heartsick camel back. This look, of course, will be less than comprehensive.

1. Massive voter fraud and electoral chicanery in Florida.

2. An absurd 5-4 Supreme Court decision establishing a special one-time-only call before midnight tonight means of shoehorning Bush into the White House.

3. On Inauguration Day, Andrew Card immediately blocks all final Clinton health, safety & environmental regulations for 60 days.

3. In his first official act, Bush blocks all US federal funding for family planning NGOs worldwide if agencies involved provide abortion, counsel regarding abortion or even lobby foreign governments in favor of some abortion rights.

3. 28 March 2001 – Weeks after EPA Administrator Christie Whitman goes to Venice to express US support for the Kyoto Protocol, Bush announces that the US will not ratify or support the treaty. For years thereafter, the administration will censor, water down or outright remove large sections of studies from the National Academy of Sciences and other organizations, as administration leaders continue to emphasize non-existent uncertainty. Finally, in spring 2007, Bush will admit that anthropogenic warming is a problem, before proposing even more studies and voluntary programs.

4. Spring, 2001 – for months, Cheney works with industry leaders and consultants to craft energy policy massively dependent on continuing use of oil, gas and coal, with an emphasis on expanding production wherever possible. Energy Task Force records, of course, remain sealed to this day, but for a few small leaks.

5. 6. August, 2001 – Presidential Daily Briefing reads “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.”

6. 11 September, 2001 – As word reaches him that America is under terrorist attack, Bush sits in chair in schoolroom for nine interminable minutes, listening to a story about a goat. He then flies from Florida to Louisiana and Nebraska before arriving in DC late at night. His staff leaks word that the terrorists had somehow obtained navigational codes and signals dealing with AF 1 (a patently absurd idea) to justify his wandering route back to the capital.

7. In the wake of the attacks in New York, Bush pushes EPA and other federal officials to state that the air at Ground Zero is safe to breathe, despite the presence of massive amounts of lead, asbestos, cadmium, cement dust and dozens of other toxins in the air on site and in dust throughout lower Manhattan. It’s more important, you see, to get the stock markets up and running.

8. For six months following the 9/11 attacks, Bush will oppose efforts to establish a federal panel to investigate them, before eventually reluctantly giving in.

9. 11 December 2001 – White House recommends privatizing Social Security.

10. 14 February 2002 – “Clear Skies” plan unveiled – would delay by ten years air quality goals mandated under existing law.

11. 6 May 2002 – Bush voids US signature on formation of International Criminal Court.

12. 5 September 2002 – Bush unveils “Healthy Forests” plan – would speed logging, cut protections

13. 29 January 2003 – Saddam, Niger, uranium yellowcake, blahblahblah.

14. 5 February 2003 – Colin Powell’s UN Lie-a-thon.

15. 19 March 2003 – Mission Begun.

16. 1 May 2003 – Mission Accomplished.

17. 30 December 2003 – USDA reverses itself, bans sale of downer cattle after BSE detected – weeks after blocking just such an action.

18. 23 February 2004 – Education Secretary Rod Paige calls the NEA a “terrorist organization”.

19. 13 April 2004 – in a live press conference, Bush unable to name or concede one mistake he made as president.

20. 28 April 2004 – Abu Ghraib photographs break. Oops.

21. 8 September 2004 – US KIA numbers in Iraq hit 1,001.

22. 6 October 2004 – Chief US weapons inspector announces Iraq had no biological, chemical or nuclear capabilities at time of invasion.

23. 2 November 2004. Election Day. Oops.

24. 2 March 2005 – US KIA in Iraq hit 1,500.

31 March – Terri Schiavo dies – In a case of gross interference in state laws and ( more fundamentally) personal family decisions, Bush flies back from Texas in the middle of the night to sign legislation unconstitutionally interfering in feeding-tube removal in the tragic case of a brain-dead Florida woman. The laws, signed before an adoring crowd of right-wing members of Congress, will be struck down repeatedly, foundering even in the US Supreme Court before Schiavo’s death.

25. 30 May 2005 – Dick Cheney opines on the “last throes”.

26. 29 August 2005 – Katrina makes landfall at 7:00 AM

27. 2 September 2005 – Bush makes landing mid-day in Mississippi, evinces concern for Trent Lott’s house, praises Brownie.

28. 31 January 2006 – Bush somehow forgets to mention Katrina in SOTU.

29. 15 June 2006 – US KIA numbers in Iraq hit 2,500.

30. 27 November 2006 – AG Gonzales signs off on plan to fire dozens of US attorneys for purely political reasons.

31. 3 January 2007 – US KIA numbers in Iraq hit 3,000.

31. 30 January 2007 – UCS survey shows at least 435 cases of direct administration interference with climate research.

32. 18 February 2007 – WP breaks story on conditions at Walter Reed.

33. 14 March 2007 – Defense Department acknowledges Iraq in civil war.

34. 27 April 2007 – “No one suffers more than their President and I do” – Laura Bush.

35. 7 June 2007 – US KIA numbers in Iraq hit 3,500, while Lancet survey estimates Iraqi civilian fatalities at around 600,000.

36. 2 July 2007 – Libby sentence commuted.

With all due respect to Mr. Concerned Citizen who simply can't TAKE it any more, this is a bit like having your house burn down and then bitching about how your favorite coffee mug got some ash on it. I also noted the Mr. CC "remained a Republican", which would lead me to believe that he voted for Bush in both 2000 and 2004, though he does not say so explicitly.

Which leads only one possible response - my, isn't his sudden and oh-so-recently discovered concern for the Rule of Law just . . PRECIOUS?!?

[grassfed]

4. GREAT POST HATRACK!

Thank you

[Chemical Bill]

5. Nice list.

Do you mind an addendum?

When the country was focused on NOLA, * finally admitted that we were in Iraq for the oil (the guitar and the cake were disgusting too).

Bush gives new reason for Iraq war
Says US must prevent oil fields from falling into hands of terrorists
By Jennifer Loven, Associated Press | August 31, 2005

CORONADO, Calif. -- President Bush answered growing antiwar protests yesterday with a fresh reason for US troops to continue fighting in Iraq: protection of the country's vast oil fields, which he said would otherwise fall under the control of terrorist extremists.<more>

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/08/31/bush_gives_new_reason_for_iraq_war/

Bill

[marmar]

6. Awesome list, hatrack. And like you, I can't muster anymore understanding....

Cue the violins.

:nopity: :nopity: :nopity:

[Skittles]

8. THANK YOU HATRACK

I am tired of people making up silly excuses for the f***Ing MORONS who supported bush - I DON'T CARE at this point if they have finally seen the f***ing light - THEY ALL HAVE BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS

[struggle4progress]

10. If the anti-war movement of the Vietnam era had taken that view, we might still be in Vietnam

Instead, that antiwar movement went out and actively recruited current and former soldiers -- who were, of course, the poor folk most likely to have blood on their hands in a literal sense.

If we want to cast the net of responsibility more widely regarding (say) the Iraq war, we might ask how many gallons of Iraqi blood Americans have pumped into our cars. Supposedly two-thirds of the public opposes the war, but (as far as I can tell) hardly anyone's conscience is troubling them enough to change their driving habits. Surely, even if we get out of Iraq, we'll be back at war in the Middle East almost immediately, for reasons associated with the gasoline economy, unless we can put together winning coalitions for structural changes, including public transportation. There are precious few people, who have never ever been on the wrong side of an issue; if we can't work with people who've disagreed with you in the past and have changed their minds, I frankly don't know who we will find to work with.

[Skittles]

11. there's plenty of blame to be spread around

but I will start with the worst of all - people who supported a lying, thieving, incompetent, warmongering PIECE OF SHIT for president. THEY MAKE ME SICK AND I HOPE THEY ROT IN HELL. And BY THE WAY - a LOT of the bastards I see supporting this fiasco of a war ALSO SUPPORTED THE VIET NAM WAR so don't tell me the kind of garbage that supports bush learns their lesson. And it's not just WAR BLOOD bush supporters have on their hands - throw in there the vicitims of 9/11, the still-suffering people of New Orleans, etc. :puke:

[struggle4progress]

9. Next time around, we can all get angry earlier: the country needed our rage ...

... in December 2000 -- and during the first attacks on civil liberties in late 2001.

Back when the lunatics first started appearing on talk-shows, arguing that we needed to reexamine prohibitions against torture, there should have been a loudly screaming minority of protesters. Back when the Administration first applied the "no-fly" list to people who took a public stand against incommunicado detention in that early period of mass arrests, twenty million of us should have been ready to go to jail in protest.

In my view, the fact that did not happen is a failure of our side. It is, of course, more gratifying to notice other people's failures, especially after a uncomfortable period of belonging to 10% of the population that was right about the whole mess from the beginning but was threatened and marginalized for a long time.

However, in standard politics, winning the bean-count often goes hand-in-hand with a certain civility: I do not say always but often. Nobody with a brain forgets who stood where at first, nor is everyone who suddenly steps across a former divide always trustworthy or deserving of respect, but if we want winning coalitions we must sometimes be able to forgive various idiots: otherwise, we can never become anything but the isolated group of Fall 2001 or of Spring 2003.

[TankLV]

12. PRICELESS...

[MasonJar]

7. Awesome list, but the writer did say that it was Katrina (not Libby) that

woke him up. Do not be too hard on him; he is after all a democrat by birth right.

[hatrack]

13. And he was so outraged that he switched from Republican . .

. . . to Independent. I'm surprised he didn't say that he's "really a Libertarian at heart."

:eyes: