WP, Milbank: "Republicans sense shift in momentum"

[DeepModem Mom]

Maybe Not Morning in America, but at Least Out of the Dark
By Dana Milbank
Wednesday, June 14, 2006; Page A02

....Rove, President Bush's chief strategist, was off the hook. Bush himself was in Iraq, celebrating the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and the completion of an Iraqi cabinet. Hillary Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, was booed by antiwar liberals at a gathering in Washington. A new House Republican was sworn in after winning a closely watched special election. And Bush's lowly poll numbers crept up in the Gallup poll....

***

The president's allies went further with the bluster. Moments after learning of his exoneration, Rove told a New Hampshire audience Monday night that Democratic critics of the Iraq war such as John Kerry and John Murtha, both combat veterans, "give the green light to go to war, but when it gets tough, they fall back of that party's old platform of cutting and running. They may be with you for the first few bullets but they won't be there for the last tough battles."

Yesterday morning, Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman went on TV to demand that Democratic leaders apologize to Rove. "I think there probably are a lot of folks who ought to acknowledge they were prejudging" him, concurred Sen. George Allen (R-Va.). White House aides, meanwhile, wrapped themselves in the imagery of military derring-do. Tony Snow and Dan Bartlett allowed themselves to be photographed wearing flak jackets and helmets on a chopper flight into Baghdad -- although the result was more Michael Dukakis than Mission Accomplished.....Republicans sensed a shift in momentum. Sen. John Warner (Va.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, even felt comfortable enough to brush off reporters' questions about the alleged Haditha massacre. "I think the secretary is correct in waiting" to brief Congress, Warner said. Asked when Pentagon officials might be called before his committee, he replied: "At this time, I don't think anybody can give an estimate on that. But I'm sure that they're forthcoming; they're not reluctant to come up and provide the witnesses. Not at all.".... "The Democratic Party," Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) said, is "looking success in the face and snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory. We've got some very good news!"....

***

Bush, winging back from Iraq on Air Force One, struck reporters as "upbeat and relaxed" -- so much so that he savored Rove's exoneration in the CIA leak case, breaking his own rule about not commenting on the matter. Said Bush: "It's a chapter that has ended."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/13/AR2006061301463.html

NOTE: Sounds like at least one member of the press is ready and willing to hurry along a shift in momentum....

[magellan]

1. Milbank, whatta surprise

A true believer in catapulting the propaganda, just for the sparkly effect.

[rodeodance]

5. seems to be Repug/reporter/ press/media talking point today.

[wicket]

9. True true

But I gotta admit he made me laugh when he showed up on Keith's show like this:



:rofl:

[KharmaTrain]

2. Democrats Are Snatching Defeat From The Jaws Of Victory

While I was critical of Democrats rolling out some Gingrich-like "Contract On America" plan for this election, I did hope by now we'd be hearing Democrats stand up for key issues of this election and all I'm hearing is crickets and giving the Rove machine one PR coup after another these past few weeks.

Just because people are tired of boooosh doesn't mean they'll automatically vote against him. There's not a singular policy on key issues...the economy, Iraq and national security and the Rove machine has taken the divisions and started to create the old meme of Democrats being weak and unorganized. Yes, the corporate media has been going along...and some have been waiting for the chance to blame Democrats or ridicule them as the party goes in too many directions while going nowhere at all.

I've been canvassing our area and I'm already seeing two major problems. First is that Repugnicans...no matter how they may disagree with boooosh on one issue or another, they are party loyal to a fault. They will give a free pass to their representative...no matter how scandal-ridden or corrput and have been energized by one or several phony issue that will be hammered over and over again between now and November. It's fear...either of Mexicans or Gays or "terrorists (Arabs) or "Sicialists" (I've heard that term more in recent months than in the past 20 years)...and all equate to Democrats. For a while I thought many would stay home this November...but if this game keeps up, I don't see that happening.

The real disturbing situation is the splintering among Democrats. It's the "Netroots" vs the "DLC" vs the moderates vs the liberals vs the progressives and so on. The California 50th election should have been a major wake-up call...not only did you have a poor candidate, but the party neglected to make sure its own people came out to vote...once again taking the "regular Democrats" for granted and this could result in returning some of the biggest crooks to Congress in November and doing even greater damage to the Democratic party.

All the talk about whose gonna run in 2008 means nothing if the party itself is so broken that the primaries turn into bloodletting and a strong party/candidate doesn't emerge. I was hoping by now there'd be something to vote for...all I hear is things people want to vote against...that's not enough to get Democrats elected this fall and the corporate media is all but happy to spread the disunity message at any chance it gets. It's time to put the muzzle on the Bidens and Liebermanns and bring peace between the Emanuels and the Deaniacs. It's a shame that the most eleoquent media spokesman for the Democrats these days is Jon Stewart.

The GOOP has a game plan that works...and it has for nearly 20 years. It's lies and fear and they won't be overcome by what the Democrats currently have to offer.

[underpants]

10. Great post

I just wanted to call attention to it.

This does appear to be the M.O. too-run out and declare victory and the press will do their lapdog thing and that will be topic #1 for several weeks.

Great post Kharma

[KharmaTrain]

13. Good To See You...

A friendly old-time name here...seems harder and harder to find these days.

Thank you...and I know you're just as frustrated as I am to see how plain this tactic is and how many either are missing it or caught up in the sidegames such tactics produce.

Cheers.

:hi:

[leveymg]

3. The crew and passengers on the Titanic also sensed a change in momentum

as the ship . . .

[bleedingheart]

4. a precarious shift...

1. as the death toll rises in Iraq the numbers will go back down
2. more saber rattling about Iran is worrying people.
3. the debt is too high with money being spent on nothing we can actually see
4. gas prices, outsourcing..etc none of that is going away
5. more folks are losing their healthcare.

[CrispyQ]

6. It is way too far out for any bump they get from all of this

to make a difference in November.


What Rove said about Kerry & Murtha is absolutely shameful. How can anyone in the armed services support an administration that regularly denigrates fellow servicemen -- especially when they themselves did not serve. These people have no shame, no integrity. There is not one good & decent thing about them & hopefully America will wake up & realize where we are headed while we still have a chance to change direction.

Yesterday was a most depressing day. Holy fuck. I'm so sick of it all.

[adigal]

7. I saw the Rumsfeld, Warner press conference on C-Span

this morning - the one from yesterday.

I was disgusted - Rumsfeld (have you noticed he never ages - must be that Faustian deal he made with Satan???) lied, "Condi" lied, Warner swore to it, and that silly little sissy Sessions blinked his little tiny eyes and swore they got a great briefing from the military.

General Casey from Iraq is, in my view, an out and out liar. Haditha is being buried and lied about, with the help of the Washington Post. And my country is going down the tubes.

Not a good day.

[Norquist Nemesis]

8. He was grinning big when he said it on Countdown last night

:puke:

[KittyWampus]

11. It's certainly right on cue, isn't it?

[emulatorloo]

12. Karl Rove's "Cut & Run" Bullshit only plays to the idiot Repug Base

Last I heard, most Americans think Iraq war was a mistake and we need to the the hell out.

This nonsense re "Good News for the White House" is wishful thinking on Bushco's part.