Ring Out The Old, Ring In The... um, "New & Improved" Old!

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This week's hot blog topics: Kerry didn't eat alone (bite me, Malkin!); CNN and Yahoo News "confuse" Osama with Obama (oh, right, sure); the incredible shrinking Secretary of State; Top Ten Myths about Iraq; 20 Dumbest People, Events and Things of 2006; and the Most Outrageous Comments Of 2006. All this and much, much more from the year of "System Failure." Before you reboot, take a last look back and get ready to rumble in 2007.

If it's Friday, it must be the day that everyone, after reading and/or hearing about George W. Bush's "new & improved" plan to win his Iraq war, utters a collective, "Huh?" Saddam is dead, Maliki wants out, and Sadr is poised to win the whole thing... oil and all. Of course, the White House (Tony Snow) claims that it's not the president who's out of touch. It's you. And me. And the vast majority of Americans capable of recognizing Bush's bloody blundering. Think Progress has the latest Snow job details. Here's the transcript:

Q The only question, though, to press a little bit, is the view that the President has been determined, he's been resolved, and nobody questions that, but does he get it? I mean, is he fundamentally out of touch with what the reality is on the ground in Iraq?

MR. SNOW: No, I think what happens is, we may be out of touch with reality because we sit around and we look at fractional pictures on the screen. This is a President who gets exhaustive briefings on a daily basis about the situation. He knows more than anybody in this room about what's going on there.

Did you ever think you'd miss snotty Scotty McClellan?

Ring Out The Old!

Was there any dumber example of right-wing dumbassery in 2006 than the "Kerry Eats Alone" nonsense? If you missed the madness, Justin Rood has the original story, which even Steve Clemmons had to cover for the Washington Monthly Blog.


Wingnut bloggers went ballistic over a photo of John Kerry during a breakfast interview in a mess hall - get this - because he wasn't surrounded by lots of soldiers (due to the gaffe, you know). After much Malkin drooling and investigative idiocy, namely, the so-called embedded data; the Portuguese flag flap; and the "friend of a friend of a friend of mine sent this" crap debunking... there was no "there" there, of course. Rood's reporting is one of the reasons blogging beats traditional journalism every damned time: updates. It seems that an eyewitness notes that Kerry was in the middle of a private interview when that pic was snapped. Oh, by the way, Malkinmouth, spin this:


Bite me, Malkin. Thank goodness 2007 hasn't produced anything so stupid yet. Oops! Justin Rood does it again, this time catching CNN up to its old tricks:


Typical. CNN and Malkinite crickets chirped last month, however, when Bush put his Decider hat on the hook while he consulted with "top experts" on how to proceed in Iraq. Which brings us to the best Bush analogy of 2006-07. DUer Bluebear explains (on a level that even Michele Malkin should be able to understand):

PHOTO: Don't put out the fire!!! The CHIEF will decide! Right?

There are Americans trapped in this building, but the fire chief is going to take a bike ride before changing into his gear. HE decides when to turn on the water. In fact, he is going on a mini-vacation and is calling in top fire experts to discuss the matter, because he can't decide what to do. He may send in scores of firefighters even though the building is a death trap...or he may not. Meanwhile, yes, we hear the people inside screaming and dying, but the Chief can't figure out what to do yet, so the fire rages. And more die. And the media reports on what the fire chief had for dinner.

This just in! Josh Marshall reports that Yahoo News has now joined the "Osama Is Obama" crapfest. Ahem...


Every time these assclowns "accidentally" confuse Obama and Osama, don't you wonder why Bush hasn't captured Osama yet? Me too.

Meanwhile, BushCo's little Potemkin pig farm pow wow inspired DUer Flabbergasted to call for a caption for this pic:


Responding to the call, atre replied:

"Honey, I shrunk the Sec. of State."

Of course, jimshoes, whose mad skills with Photoshop are already legend, replied with this:

Fun with Dick, photoshop,

sleazy and the other dick

Looks like DU was more productive than BushCo that day, doesn't it? And while we're piling on the Rice, did you catch JABBS' latest Condi jab?

Rice Explains Why U.S. Won't "Just Talk To Iran" Or Syria

Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice argued last week that the U.S. can't "just talk to Iran" or Syria.

Why? Because if "the Iranians and the Syrians want to act to stabilize Iraq, they can do that without talking to us," she told Margaret Warner of PBS' NewsHour.

Sort of circular logic, doncha think? We don't need to talk to them because they don't have to talk to us if we or they want a stabilized Iraq?

Is that Condi auditioning for a Head On commercial, or is she frustrated with her true love, President Alfred E. Neuman? Speaking of MAD Magazine, Progressive Values claims that MAD's "20 Dumbest People, Events and Things Of 2006" is so worth the $3.99 price tag. The cover alone is, of course, priceless:


Wait! Before You Ring Out The Old, Try A Reboot

Of all of the 2006 Year In Review posts, this one by Drum Major Institute For Public Policy has the most meat on its bones (links, that is). For example:

Executive Summary

This was the year of Systems Failure. Most Americans were tired of the status quo-on the war, on the economy, on the lapsed ethics of those entrusted to represent our interests. The result: on Election Day, they rebooted, ready to try again.

Also, if you missed Juan Cole's "Top Ten Myths About Iraq 2006," you should definitely check it out before BushCo's 2007 pour- more- money- down- the- drain- and- sacrifice- more- kids shenanigans take center stage. Here's a snippet:

Top Ten Myths about Iraq 2006

1. Myth number one is that the United States "can still win" in Iraq. Of course, the truth of this statement, frequently still made by William Kristol and other Neoconservatives, depends on what "winning" means. But if it means the establishment of a stable, pro-American, anti-Iranian government with an effective and even-handed army and police force in the near or even medium term, then the assertion is frankly ridiculous.

Yet, Bush claims he has a plan - a new & improved one - to win his Iraq war. Asshat that he is.

Taking a week to honor and bury a former president must now be a Republican Party requirement. They redefined the funeral after the passing of Saint Ronnie, and Gerald Ford's family has now paid the price. Of course, we all know for whom the bell tolls and we all respect the presidency, but Republicans obviously have no idea (shhh! Don't tell them!) that the longer they drag these domestic dirges out, the more time everyone has to reflect on the dastardly deeds of the dead and their flying monkeys. As DUer orpupilofnature57 so aptly states, "Ford was one of the best of his ilk, let's not forget his ilk."

While the nation mourned Gerald Ford and James Brown, Liberal Talk Radio noted the passing of a radio reporter, who allegedly "jumped" off a hotel roof the week he planned to start a new legal practice.

In recent years, he (Paul Sanford) became a journalist. Almost immediately, he caused a stir after he joined the White House Press Corps in 2005, making waves as the first reporter to ask then-White House press secretary Scott McClellan whether the leaking of CIA agent Valerie Plame's name might be considered an act of treason.

(snip)

Friends and associates expressed disbelief at the news of Sanford's death and that it was ruled a suicide, saying Sanford seemed happy and had made many plans for this week and in coming months. Mills said he and Sanford recently decided to open a shared law office to serve Monterey and Santa Cruz counties, something Sanford was looking forward to doing.

Hmm. One has to wonder. Also of note: this bit of weirdness, more aptly found in a chapter called "Don't Let This Happen To You, Editors." Paul McNamara at Network World.com explains...

Google News offers 'fond farewell' to President Bush?


Google News reports; you decide

When online news pages are managed by software instead of human beings, you're likely to get this kind of thing from time to time. From Google News a few minutes ago:

Lone photo: President Bush.

Headline next to it: "A fond farewell to America's unexpected president"

Possible interpretations:

A) Premature reporting (Bush still has 748 days and change, according to this countdown clock).

B) Wishful thinking (that Bush would be leaving, not that he'd be following Ford into the afterlife.)

C) An unfortunate juxtaposition that a human editor might have avoided.

You've got to admit, though. It is an intriguing graphic.

As Democrats assume power this week, already being attacked for not playing fair with Republicans (ROFLMAO, y'all), there are still more 2006 retrospectives to bookmark and revisit down the road: NanceGreggs' amazing Year-End Rantrospective, Pensito Review's look back at the Nixon pardon, and lest we forget, there's Media Matters' "Most Outrageous Comments Of 2006"

Here are two comments which only merited Honorable Mention status:

Beck: "Cindy Sheehan. That's a pretty big prostitute there, you know what I mean?" (1/10/06)

Republican strategist Mary Matalin: "I mean, you know, I think these civil rights leaders are nothing more than racists. And they're keeping constituency, they're keeping their neighborhoods and their African-American brothers enslaved, if you will, by continuing to let them think that they're -- or forced to think that they're victims, that the whole system is against them." (2/8/06)

While you're at Media Matters, be sure to check out "An open letter from Media Matters to our readers: 2006 in review." The lies, the falsehoods, and the prevarications that defined the Republican Party, 2006: they're all there. Well worth a look back, y'all.

As for 2007, Atman reached back into his 2003 files and pulled this out, just in time for the new & improved Bush "Surge and Accelerate" nonsense:


Fitting this week, isn't it? Definitely suitable for framing.

And finally, there's always this Rose Bowl screen capture (from A Monday at L.A. Indy Media), also suitable for framing:


The I word is showing up everywhere these days. If anyone ever deserved the whole process (impeachment, trial, conviction and sentencing), it's George W. Bush. Period. Meanwhile, here's a toast to 2007: to good times ahead this year. Good health, good fortune, and good government. Happy New Year, y'all!

-- Delilah Boyd

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

1. K & R. My two favorites. Bluebear's OP and this quote from Snowjob.

"This is a President who gets exhaustive briefings on a daily basis about the situation. He knows more than anybody in this room about what's going on there."

Great OP! Welcome to DU. :hi: MKJ

[Old and In the Way]

2. Good stuff!

Pretty funny pic on Condi between the Decider and VP-War Profiteering....perfect.

This is a great synopsis...you ought to make it a regular feature!

Welcome aboard!

[unpossibles]

3. I really like how that photographer in the last bit

managed to get both the word "Impeach" and Dick Cheney in the same shot.