Back in the early 1990's, Washington DC elected Sharon Pratt Kelly as it's mayor. Kelly's administration was in all ways unremarkable, save one. She was so uninspiring and incompetent that she performed the political equivalent of raising Lazarus from the dead. She made Marion Barry re-electable. For those who don't remember , in 1990 Marion Barry was declared politically dead after "the bitch set [him] up " for a crack cocaine bust.
So why I am I thinking about Sharon Pratt Kelly? Mostly because I am thinking about another miracle worker who has raised a political corpse. In late 2000 I would have said--I did say, actually--that the only chance Al Gore had to get into the White House again was a public tour. Thanks to George W Bush, Al Gore may yet grace the Oval Office.
In November 2000 Al Gore won the popular vote by a respectable margin. He lost the electoral vote in a controversial Supreme Court decision that ended his hopes for a recount of the popular vote in key Florida counties and precincts.
Had Al Gore asked for a full recount of the Florida vote he might have won, or lost, but he would have emerged as the man for Bush to beat in 2004. Had he given the gracious concession speech on election night that he gave weeks later he would also have emerged as the man to beat. As it was, Gore took the worst possible course for a potential future candidate. He appeared to pout his way through the following weeks; worse he pursued a course in the courts that seemed at once conniving, pettifogging and cowardly. By demanding a recount of precincts that were heavily Democratic, but declining an opportunity to recount the entire state, Gore seemed to doubt his own voters. Legally, he undercut his own case to the Supreme Court and ensured the moniker of "sore loser".
Then, in the run-up to the 2004 Democratic primary, Gore's endorsement of Howard Dean--with no prior notification to his 2000 running-mate, Joe Lieberman, wh had gone on record as witholding an announcement pending Gore's decision whether to run or not--was considered shabby by the party pros.
But now, with a Democratic field barely smoldering, and an Oscar for his powerpoint presentation, Al Gore is the hottest prospect around. How is it possible? Simple. George W Bush has, through his blistering incompetence, dishonesty and stupidity, reminded all of us how badly we screwed up in November 2000. More importantly, I think he has reminded Gore how badly he screwed up in 2000. If he runs this year, he will not be the same Al Gore as then. There will be no more heavy sighs, no "controlling legal authority". There will be Howard Dean with his loyalists in tow, and--if Gore is nominated--Bill Clinton and lots of him. The sense of humor that so many report that the "real" Al Gore possesses will be evident this time in spades.
But frankly, I don't think it matters. George Bush has been such a disaster that only the deluded and the dishonest can imagine that the better man won in 2000. Al Gore may finally be the man to beat.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Monday, May 28, 2007
Where a song can take you...
Yesterday I listened to Neil Young's "Roger and Out" from his Living With War album. The song deals with loss from the Vietnam war. It not only gave me a chill and a major lump in my throat, it also focused me on today.
In 1970 I was an 18 year old Hospital Corpsman working at the Naval Hospital at St Albans, in Queens, NYC. We received dozens and sometimes hundreds of patients a month from Vietnam. They were treated in hospitals and on hospital ships in-country and then shipped to states-side hospitals closest to their homes of record as soon as they were stable enough to travel.
The first decorated Vietnam casualty I met ( he was given a Silver Star) was a young UH1 (Huey, as they were commonly called) pilot who had been injured flying a medevac mission. Huey pilots--this one particularly-- bore a distinctive wounding pattern, almost a signature. The seat protected their buttocks and upper-thighs, not to mention everything else above mid-thigh. They came into the battalion aid stations with everything from mid-thigh to the ankles shot up because "Charlie" learned that if he fired into the bottom of the cockpit as the bird lifted off, he could get the pilot in the legs and bring the bird down.
The Siver Star Huey pilot earned his award because he kept control of the aircraft and flew his patients to safety while one of the attending medics tried to stop his bleeding.
St Albans Naval Hospital was full of men who were from one to five years older than me. All had been seriously injured and were trying to come home in one way or another. Among those of us who cared for them, most had not been to Vietnam and were awaiting our turn. All of us who waited wondered if we were up to taking care of "our Marines" when we got there.
My time never came. Through an administrative wrinkle I went to a WAVE boot camp to give shots and open health records. By the time my next transfer came around, the war was winding down for Americans.
The song, "Roger and Out" reminds me of the days before. When it was our chance to do what our fathers and uncles had done. When it was our chance to save the world from tyranny. When we were kids and did not realize that some men fought wars to the last innocent kid's death to keep from being called a "wuss" or soft on communism; or to win an election.
Today I look at the kids coming back from Iraq and they are really kids now. The wounds are so much worse. Many who would have never survived in Vietnam now make it back and carry a tremendous burden. They are the same age now as then, for the most part. I am 55 and they are so young. And it seems so criminal a waste.
We cannot easily extract ourselves now. Our administration lit this conflagration, allowed it to rage out of control and proposes that the next administration take care of putting it out. If we leave precipitously the fire will grow worse. If we stay it may worsen anyway. But to leave now and send the region over a cliff would only compound our culpability. We have to find a way out and it will cost more blood and treasure; and we must remember, this Memorial day, as we mourn our losses and thank God for those who have been spared, that this war was entered on pretext--on a lie--and that high crimes and misdemeanors have been committed.
When this administration leaves office on January 20th 2009, I hope and pray the next administration and Congress demand of Bush, Cheney, et al the truth, accountability, and justice for this crime.
In 1970 I was an 18 year old Hospital Corpsman working at the Naval Hospital at St Albans, in Queens, NYC. We received dozens and sometimes hundreds of patients a month from Vietnam. They were treated in hospitals and on hospital ships in-country and then shipped to states-side hospitals closest to their homes of record as soon as they were stable enough to travel.
The first decorated Vietnam casualty I met ( he was given a Silver Star) was a young UH1 (Huey, as they were commonly called) pilot who had been injured flying a medevac mission. Huey pilots--this one particularly-- bore a distinctive wounding pattern, almost a signature. The seat protected their buttocks and upper-thighs, not to mention everything else above mid-thigh. They came into the battalion aid stations with everything from mid-thigh to the ankles shot up because "Charlie" learned that if he fired into the bottom of the cockpit as the bird lifted off, he could get the pilot in the legs and bring the bird down.
The Siver Star Huey pilot earned his award because he kept control of the aircraft and flew his patients to safety while one of the attending medics tried to stop his bleeding.
St Albans Naval Hospital was full of men who were from one to five years older than me. All had been seriously injured and were trying to come home in one way or another. Among those of us who cared for them, most had not been to Vietnam and were awaiting our turn. All of us who waited wondered if we were up to taking care of "our Marines" when we got there.
My time never came. Through an administrative wrinkle I went to a WAVE boot camp to give shots and open health records. By the time my next transfer came around, the war was winding down for Americans.
The song, "Roger and Out" reminds me of the days before. When it was our chance to do what our fathers and uncles had done. When it was our chance to save the world from tyranny. When we were kids and did not realize that some men fought wars to the last innocent kid's death to keep from being called a "wuss" or soft on communism; or to win an election.
Today I look at the kids coming back from Iraq and they are really kids now. The wounds are so much worse. Many who would have never survived in Vietnam now make it back and carry a tremendous burden. They are the same age now as then, for the most part. I am 55 and they are so young. And it seems so criminal a waste.
We cannot easily extract ourselves now. Our administration lit this conflagration, allowed it to rage out of control and proposes that the next administration take care of putting it out. If we leave precipitously the fire will grow worse. If we stay it may worsen anyway. But to leave now and send the region over a cliff would only compound our culpability. We have to find a way out and it will cost more blood and treasure; and we must remember, this Memorial day, as we mourn our losses and thank God for those who have been spared, that this war was entered on pretext--on a lie--and that high crimes and misdemeanors have been committed.
When this administration leaves office on January 20th 2009, I hope and pray the next administration and Congress demand of Bush, Cheney, et al the truth, accountability, and justice for this crime.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Could they be the stupidest people on earth?
Under the heading of mind-boggling stupidity we have this tale from Murfreesboro, Tennessee. It is bad enough that teachers would pull such a lame, cruel "prank" on the students who trust them, but for the school system to try to wriggle out of responsibility. That is how I read the statement, “I think they need to take the appropriate action, but I don’t think they need to overreact.” (see below).
Comments on the story, posted in the Tennesseean, speculate that this is the result of a Federal Program designed to spur fear among families. I'm not quite that paranoid (although I am getting there) but I do think it is typical of the education "industry." These people refuse to indulge in serious self-examination and criticism.
School system says students told to expect prank
Murfreesboro board members don’t want overreaction
By JAIME SARRIO
Staff Writer
Elementary students on a school field trip had been told to expect a “campfire prank” by the teachers, but a tale of a gunman on the loose went too far, Murfreesboro’s city school system said in a statement Sunday.
Sixty-nine sixth-grade students from Scales Elementary were told Thursday during a field trip to Fall Creek Falls that someone was shooting in the park and they should lie on the floor or crawl underneath tables and keep quiet.
Parents met at the school over the weekend to discuss the incident, which frightened many of the children and brought some to tears.
According to a statement released late Sunday by the district, the students had been anticipating a prank such as had been done to previous sixth-grade campers. Most of the students, the statement said, stood up after the trick, exchanged high fives and said, “That was a good one. Yeah, you got me.”
But some parents were outraged, especially in light of the April 16 shootings at Virginia Tech.
The district conceded that the prank crossed the line in light of recent incidents but stated that there were many versions of the story and news coverage of the hoax had been sensationalized.
Several Murfreesboro City Schools board members said Sunday that the phony attack was foolish and an error in judgment.
But they said they trust the director of schools, Marilyn Mathis, to decide what action — if any — should be taken against teachers and an assistant principal who staged the prank."
“I’m not sure punishment is even the right word,” said Nancy Phillips, a board member who knows the assistant principal involved.
“I think they need to take the appropriate action, but I don’t think they need to overreact.”
Board member Lon Nuell agrees. He said the incident was very unfortunate and immature, but he will leave it to Mathis to make the call on how those involved should be dealt with.
“It was a very foolish thing for adults to do to children,” he said. “Telling ghost stories is one thing, but carrying it as far as they did was a pretty big error in judgment.”
Scales Elementary Principal Catherine Stephens did not return calls made to her home Sunday.
She held a meeting Saturday afternoon at the school to discuss the matter with a handful of concerned parents. She said that she was saddened by the situation and that the school was handling it, though she declined to elaborate Saturday on whether the teachers involved would face disciplinary action.
Board member Patrick McCarthy said that the incident should be handled with care and sensitivity and that the administration should work hard to get all sides of the story.
“You have to hire the right people and them let them do their job,” he said.
Comments on the story, posted in the Tennesseean, speculate that this is the result of a Federal Program designed to spur fear among families. I'm not quite that paranoid (although I am getting there) but I do think it is typical of the education "industry." These people refuse to indulge in serious self-examination and criticism.
School system says students told to expect prank
Murfreesboro board members don’t want overreaction
By JAIME SARRIO
Staff Writer
Elementary students on a school field trip had been told to expect a “campfire prank” by the teachers, but a tale of a gunman on the loose went too far, Murfreesboro’s city school system said in a statement Sunday.
Sixty-nine sixth-grade students from Scales Elementary were told Thursday during a field trip to Fall Creek Falls that someone was shooting in the park and they should lie on the floor or crawl underneath tables and keep quiet.
Parents met at the school over the weekend to discuss the incident, which frightened many of the children and brought some to tears.
According to a statement released late Sunday by the district, the students had been anticipating a prank such as had been done to previous sixth-grade campers. Most of the students, the statement said, stood up after the trick, exchanged high fives and said, “That was a good one. Yeah, you got me.”
But some parents were outraged, especially in light of the April 16 shootings at Virginia Tech.
The district conceded that the prank crossed the line in light of recent incidents but stated that there were many versions of the story and news coverage of the hoax had been sensationalized.
Several Murfreesboro City Schools board members said Sunday that the phony attack was foolish and an error in judgment.
But they said they trust the director of schools, Marilyn Mathis, to decide what action — if any — should be taken against teachers and an assistant principal who staged the prank."
“I’m not sure punishment is even the right word,” said Nancy Phillips, a board member who knows the assistant principal involved.
“I think they need to take the appropriate action, but I don’t think they need to overreact.”
Board member Lon Nuell agrees. He said the incident was very unfortunate and immature, but he will leave it to Mathis to make the call on how those involved should be dealt with.
“It was a very foolish thing for adults to do to children,” he said. “Telling ghost stories is one thing, but carrying it as far as they did was a pretty big error in judgment.”
Scales Elementary Principal Catherine Stephens did not return calls made to her home Sunday.
She held a meeting Saturday afternoon at the school to discuss the matter with a handful of concerned parents. She said that she was saddened by the situation and that the school was handling it, though she declined to elaborate Saturday on whether the teachers involved would face disciplinary action.
Board member Patrick McCarthy said that the incident should be handled with care and sensitivity and that the administration should work hard to get all sides of the story.
“You have to hire the right people and them let them do their job,” he said.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
"Politics, passion"
Written Friday, May 4, 2007
There was a an anecdote going around in the late 90's--when Newt Gingrich was starting to flame out because of his mouth, his petulance, and his excesses in general--that a reporter asked David Bonior if he thought there was any substance to the idea that Gingrich was his own worst enemy. Bonior replied, 'Not while I'm around.'
What I like about that statement is that it tells me Bonior--who is managing John Edwards's campaign--is passionate about his politics and cause.
I know that we are supposed to strive to get along in politics, to be bi-partisan and all that. Indeed I hope we return to those days. But first, the body-politic needs to be rid of the guys who brought us to this point, the politicos who came to the house and senate in 1994 with their axes to grind and their scores to settle. These are the people who knee-capped a new president in 1992 because they were sore losers, and were ready/are ready to shred to constitution when it serves their purpose to do so. They are the people who made it impossible for Bill Clinton to carry out his foreign policy effectively and all too possible for George Bush to carry out his foreign policy.
They need to be shown the door with all the passion and anger we can muster. Bonior had it right back then. I hear the same passion in John Edwards campaign today. Lets roll."
Written Friday, May 4, 2007
There was a an anecdote going around in the late 90's--when Newt Gingrich was starting to flame out because of his mouth, his petulance, and his excesses in general--that a reporter asked David Bonior if he thought there was any substance to the idea that Gingrich was his own worst enemy. Bonior replied, 'Not while I'm around.'
What I like about that statement is that it tells me Bonior--who is managing John Edwards's campaign--is passionate about his politics and cause.
I know that we are supposed to strive to get along in politics, to be bi-partisan and all that. Indeed I hope we return to those days. But first, the body-politic needs to be rid of the guys who brought us to this point, the politicos who came to the house and senate in 1994 with their axes to grind and their scores to settle. These are the people who knee-capped a new president in 1992 because they were sore losers, and were ready/are ready to shred to constitution when it serves their purpose to do so. They are the people who made it impossible for Bill Clinton to carry out his foreign policy effectively and all too possible for George Bush to carry out his foreign policy.
They need to be shown the door with all the passion and anger we can muster. Bonior had it right back then. I hear the same passion in John Edwards campaign today. Lets roll."
Something nice about Paul Wolfowitz (Really)"
"Something nice about Paul Wolfowitz (Really)"
(Written Monday, Apr 30, 2007)
The article below is in today's Washington Post. Andrew Young makes a case for the World Bank keeping Paul Wolfowicz on the job. Normally I would pay no regard to a defense of Wolfowicz, but Andrew Young is not just any defender. I won't say he has persuaded me, but I am compelled to think twice about tossing Mr Neocon out on his ear."
The Right Man for the World Bank
By Andrew YoungMonday, April 30, 2007; A15
"Daddy King" -- the Rev. Martin Luther King Sr. -- was always reminding us that "hate is too great a burden to bear." Even after a childhood of racist oppression and the cruel assassination of both his son Martin by white men and his wife by a deranged black man as she sat at the organ of Ebenezer Baptist Church playing the Lord's Prayer, he daily affirmed that we must never stoop to hate.
Yet I came closer to hating Paul Wolfowitz than I ever came to hating Bull Connor, the Ku Klux Klan or the killers of Martin Luther King Jr.
You see, I saw Wolfowitz as the neocon policy wonk who led us into a war in Iraq but who had never even been in a street fight himself. My personal fantasy was to catch him alone and give him a good thrashing.
It seems our European friends are now indulging my fantasy. But I've come to realize how wrong that impulse is and how right Archbishop Desmond Tutu is when he says there's "no future without forgiveness."
I've also come to believe that the impatience of Wolfowitz and others with Saddam Hussein's violence grew from a more massive destruction than the world could ignore -- Hussein's murder of more than a million Shiites, Kurds, Kuwaitis and Iranians, even without possessing atomic weapons. I was in Kuwait after the Iraqi invasion of 1990. I saw the horror and bloodshed of their occupation, and I knew Hussein had to be restrained. I may disagree with the means that were used, but not with the problem.
At the World Bank, however, an aggressive impatience with the evils of disease and poverty is exactly what is needed.
I first spent time with Paul Wolfowitz in Anacostia in 2005, when I participated in a program of the Operation Hope financial literacy initiative. In reading the program notes, I discovered that his PhD from the University of Chicago concerned the politics and economics of water resources management and that George Shultz had been his mentor at the State Department. When he was Treasury secretary, Shultz took me on my first trip to Africa as a congressional delegate to a World Bank gathering in Nairobi. Shultz also opened the diplomatic dialogue with the African National Congress at a time when much of Europe and America wrote off Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki as hopeless communist terrorists.
I therefore decided to work with Paul Wolfowitz as a brother, and I have not been disappointed. We were together in Nigeria in 2006 for a Leon H. Sullivan Summit. I saw his effectiveness and warmth at work in a setting of 12 heads of state and 2,000 delegates from 22 countries.
His commitment and aggressiveness in promoting African development, as well as his abhorrence of needless bureaucratic "CYA" behavior, have been welcomed by those who love Africa and the developing world as well as by those willing to admit the complicity of the haves in the crisis of the have-nots.
It is my sincere hope that our European friends and allies can make the distinction between the U.S. Defense Department and the World Bank. While we still abhor the mismanagement and hubris of the Iraq invasion, we can share an aggressive impatience with poverty, disease, illiteracy and bureaucratic nitpicking and get on with our efforts to prevent the future wars and environmental crises.
France, Norway and the Netherlands have always been at the forefront of this struggle. I'm hopeful they will see the greater good of working together at the World Bank on these present evils and allow history, the World Court or the United Nations to judge Wolfowitz on his role in our previous conflicts.
We must get beyond the current crisis at the World Bank, a careful examination of which will show that Wolfowitz was operating in what he felt was the best interest of the institution and with the guidance of its ethics committee.
This crisis also should not redound to the detriment of Wolfowitz's companion, Shaha Riza, a British Muslim woman who is an admired World Bank professional and a champion of human rights in the Muslim world.
I am a Protestant Christian minister, a product of America's excessive Puritanism. I've always looked to Europe for sophistication, temperance and the tolerance the world needs to survive. It is my appeal that we offer Paul Wolfowitz the same chance to learn from the misjudgments of the past and move on together to construct a more just, prosperous and nonviolent world.
Andrew Young has served as executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, as mayor of Atlanta and as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. He is co-chairman of Good Works International, a consulting firm offering advice in emerging markets in the Caribbean and Africa.
(Written Monday, Apr 30, 2007)
The article below is in today's Washington Post. Andrew Young makes a case for the World Bank keeping Paul Wolfowicz on the job. Normally I would pay no regard to a defense of Wolfowicz, but Andrew Young is not just any defender. I won't say he has persuaded me, but I am compelled to think twice about tossing Mr Neocon out on his ear."
The Right Man for the World Bank
By Andrew YoungMonday, April 30, 2007; A15
"Daddy King" -- the Rev. Martin Luther King Sr. -- was always reminding us that "hate is too great a burden to bear." Even after a childhood of racist oppression and the cruel assassination of both his son Martin by white men and his wife by a deranged black man as she sat at the organ of Ebenezer Baptist Church playing the Lord's Prayer, he daily affirmed that we must never stoop to hate.
Yet I came closer to hating Paul Wolfowitz than I ever came to hating Bull Connor, the Ku Klux Klan or the killers of Martin Luther King Jr.
You see, I saw Wolfowitz as the neocon policy wonk who led us into a war in Iraq but who had never even been in a street fight himself. My personal fantasy was to catch him alone and give him a good thrashing.
It seems our European friends are now indulging my fantasy. But I've come to realize how wrong that impulse is and how right Archbishop Desmond Tutu is when he says there's "no future without forgiveness."
I've also come to believe that the impatience of Wolfowitz and others with Saddam Hussein's violence grew from a more massive destruction than the world could ignore -- Hussein's murder of more than a million Shiites, Kurds, Kuwaitis and Iranians, even without possessing atomic weapons. I was in Kuwait after the Iraqi invasion of 1990. I saw the horror and bloodshed of their occupation, and I knew Hussein had to be restrained. I may disagree with the means that were used, but not with the problem.
At the World Bank, however, an aggressive impatience with the evils of disease and poverty is exactly what is needed.
I first spent time with Paul Wolfowitz in Anacostia in 2005, when I participated in a program of the Operation Hope financial literacy initiative. In reading the program notes, I discovered that his PhD from the University of Chicago concerned the politics and economics of water resources management and that George Shultz had been his mentor at the State Department. When he was Treasury secretary, Shultz took me on my first trip to Africa as a congressional delegate to a World Bank gathering in Nairobi. Shultz also opened the diplomatic dialogue with the African National Congress at a time when much of Europe and America wrote off Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki as hopeless communist terrorists.
I therefore decided to work with Paul Wolfowitz as a brother, and I have not been disappointed. We were together in Nigeria in 2006 for a Leon H. Sullivan Summit. I saw his effectiveness and warmth at work in a setting of 12 heads of state and 2,000 delegates from 22 countries.
His commitment and aggressiveness in promoting African development, as well as his abhorrence of needless bureaucratic "CYA" behavior, have been welcomed by those who love Africa and the developing world as well as by those willing to admit the complicity of the haves in the crisis of the have-nots.
It is my sincere hope that our European friends and allies can make the distinction between the U.S. Defense Department and the World Bank. While we still abhor the mismanagement and hubris of the Iraq invasion, we can share an aggressive impatience with poverty, disease, illiteracy and bureaucratic nitpicking and get on with our efforts to prevent the future wars and environmental crises.
France, Norway and the Netherlands have always been at the forefront of this struggle. I'm hopeful they will see the greater good of working together at the World Bank on these present evils and allow history, the World Court or the United Nations to judge Wolfowitz on his role in our previous conflicts.
We must get beyond the current crisis at the World Bank, a careful examination of which will show that Wolfowitz was operating in what he felt was the best interest of the institution and with the guidance of its ethics committee.
This crisis also should not redound to the detriment of Wolfowitz's companion, Shaha Riza, a British Muslim woman who is an admired World Bank professional and a champion of human rights in the Muslim world.
I am a Protestant Christian minister, a product of America's excessive Puritanism. I've always looked to Europe for sophistication, temperance and the tolerance the world needs to survive. It is my appeal that we offer Paul Wolfowitz the same chance to learn from the misjudgments of the past and move on together to construct a more just, prosperous and nonviolent world.
Andrew Young has served as executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, as mayor of Atlanta and as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. He is co-chairman of Good Works International, a consulting firm offering advice in emerging markets in the Caribbean and Africa.
Thoughts on the Dem's debate
"Thoughts on the Dem's debate"
(Written Sunday, Apr 29, 2007)
- Obama came off best I think, with Richardson and Dodd tied for second.
- Edwards needs to stop putting an interrogative at the end of his sentences and declarative clauses. It makes him sound wimpy rather than caring.
- Gravel, I actually liked--although he reminds me of Howard Beale in Network (The 'I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore' character).
- Hillary is too prepped and rehearsed.
- Biden got the best humor line of the night with a one word answer to Brian Williams, questioning--given his record of garrulousness-- whether he was able to keep his foot out of his mouth and coontrol his logorrhea while conducting America's business ('Yes')."
(Written Sunday, Apr 29, 2007)
- Obama came off best I think, with Richardson and Dodd tied for second.
- Edwards needs to stop putting an interrogative at the end of his sentences and declarative clauses. It makes him sound wimpy rather than caring.
- Gravel, I actually liked--although he reminds me of Howard Beale in Network (The 'I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore' character).
- Hillary is too prepped and rehearsed.
- Biden got the best humor line of the night with a one word answer to Brian Williams, questioning--given his record of garrulousness-- whether he was able to keep his foot out of his mouth and coontrol his logorrhea while conducting America's business ('Yes')."
Journeys with George
'Journeys with George'
... aired on MSNBC this afternoon (April 29, 2007). It is Alexandra Pelosi's record of life on the Press Bus/Airplane during George Bush's 2000 campaign. What came across to me was that he was a nice guy who gave little evidence that he thought much at all about policy. Also, his staff--mostly Karen Hughes and Karl Rove are profiled--epitomized the Bush administrations cynicism toward--and contempt of--the press. I believe that their cynicism and contempt extends to American voters and political institutions as a whole. How else to explain their complete disregard of Constitutional limits and the role of Congress in government.
In the film Bush also comes across as someone who has never _not_ been a favored son. The combination of princeling and an arrogant contemptuous staff is a toxic one, as we have come to see."
... aired on MSNBC this afternoon (April 29, 2007). It is Alexandra Pelosi's record of life on the Press Bus/Airplane during George Bush's 2000 campaign. What came across to me was that he was a nice guy who gave little evidence that he thought much at all about policy. Also, his staff--mostly Karen Hughes and Karl Rove are profiled--epitomized the Bush administrations cynicism toward--and contempt of--the press. I believe that their cynicism and contempt extends to American voters and political institutions as a whole. How else to explain their complete disregard of Constitutional limits and the role of Congress in government.
In the film Bush also comes across as someone who has never _not_ been a favored son. The combination of princeling and an arrogant contemptuous staff is a toxic one, as we have come to see."
It occurs to me.....
(Written Friday, Apr 27, 2007)
...that there is a very good reason (from the administration's point of view) to take the polarizing, uncompromising position they are taking on the Iraq-war funding bills. It is less about principle (Presidents' right to conduct a war as deemed best) or even about saving face. It is about control of the Senate. Bush and Cheney, by double-dog-daring the Democrats to send a funding bill with a timetable attached, are engineering a collision _within_ the Democratic caucus. They hope--I believe--that this will push Joe Lieberman into the Republican caucus. They might even get a bonus and push Ben Nelson of Nebraska into the Republicans' arms. If either Senator crosses the aisle, they get control of the Senate back.Given the legal problems facing them--not to mention policy problems--that is a smart move, albeit utterly immoral.These guys have completely substituted cynicism for statecraft. They are absolutely the worst administration this country has ever suffered.
...that there is a very good reason (from the administration's point of view) to take the polarizing, uncompromising position they are taking on the Iraq-war funding bills. It is less about principle (Presidents' right to conduct a war as deemed best) or even about saving face. It is about control of the Senate. Bush and Cheney, by double-dog-daring the Democrats to send a funding bill with a timetable attached, are engineering a collision _within_ the Democratic caucus. They hope--I believe--that this will push Joe Lieberman into the Republican caucus. They might even get a bonus and push Ben Nelson of Nebraska into the Republicans' arms. If either Senator crosses the aisle, they get control of the Senate back.Given the legal problems facing them--not to mention policy problems--that is a smart move, albeit utterly immoral.These guys have completely substituted cynicism for statecraft. They are absolutely the worst administration this country has ever suffered.
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