Is republican stupidity contagious?

Last week Sen. McCain trotted out his standard line that the “fundamentals of our economy are strong.” Never mind that he said this on the very day that Wall Street started to implode with not one but two major banking institutions collapsing and a major insurance carrier starting to disintegrate.

He was, rightfully so, ridiculed for the remarks and was accused of being “un-informed”, “naïve”, or “senile.” (or my choice; all of the above)

Well, apparently the stupid IS contagious as in an interview with CNBC yesterday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice echoed McCain’s inane comment:

QUESTION: How does a United States in the middle of a global financial crisis affect diplomatic efforts around the world and your efforts?
RICE: Everybody understands that this is a very specific, indeed once-in-a-lifetime – well, we certainly hope – circumstance. But people have confidence in the United States. As the President has said, this is a financial crisis, but the fundamentals of the U.S. economy are strong.

Huh?

If the economy is fundamentally strong, why do we need a $700 billion bailout?

Rice continued to seemingly kiss McCain’s ass as she repeated his backtracking mantra that he was referring to the American worker, saying; “Everyone understands our great ability to innovate, the productivity of our workers, the ability of the country to move quickly. And so I believe the United States’ standing has not been really affected.”

Um, Ms. Rice… you do know that McCain has already picked a running-mate, right? And you do know that you’re saying something that the bastion of rose-colored glasses, the White House, even disagrees with?

Is she trying to apologize for not supporting McCain’s bid whole-heartedly, or is she simply trying to distance herself from the White House by disagreeing with everything they say?

Perhaps she doesn’t want to end up like Colin Powell, marked for life because he was a member of the Bush(whacked) Administration.

Stay tuned…

How is it possible?

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sharply criticized Russia yesterday for relying on its “military power” to accomplish its goals, saying; “But I just want to emphasize again, Russia is a state that is unfortunately using the one tool that it has always used, that will make it – that – when it wishes to deliver a message, and that’s its military power. That’s not the way to deal in the 21st century.”

Um… okay…

Perhaps she needs reminding…here’s Salon’s Glenn Greenwald to do just that; “Just during the time Rice has served in the Bush administration, we bombed, invaded and occupied Afghanistan; did the same to Iraq; repeatedly bombed Somalia, killing all sorts of civilians; fed bombs to Israel as they invaded and bombed Lebanon; top political officials (led by John McCain and Joe Lieberman) have repeatedly threatened, and advocated, that the same be done to a whole host of other countries, including Iran and Syria.”

And yet she has the impudence to say that military power is “not the way to deal in the 21st century”… how is it possible that these people in Bush’s administration can’t see the shit they’re shoveling?

A White House Intervention

Hmmmm… maybe the dominoes are beginning to fall after all.

Okay… at first “Iraqtember” ® (as I am now dubbing it and calling dibs on) was a true threat by republicans to “President” Bush… then some decided to call it a reach around to give him more time… now, it looks as though Iraqtember is a true threat to Bush’s “strategy” (and I use that term very, very loosely) in Iraq.

In a sign of the ever-growing crevice between the White House and some republicans over the war, a handful of media outlets (NBC News, CNN, WaPo) are reporting that eleven repulican members of Congress, led by Reps. Mark Kirk (IL) and Charlie Dent (PA) had a blunt meeting earlier this week with Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Bush Rice, Defense Secretary Robert “Don’t call me Rummy” Gates, White House political adviser Karl “President” Rove and presidential press secretary Tony “Job” Snow.

The “Iraqi Eleven” ® (as I am now calling them) were: John Boehner (OH), Michael Castle (DE), Dent (PA), Tom Davis (VA), JoAnn Emerson (MO), Jim Gerlach (PA), Kirk (IL), Ray LaHood (IL), Todd Platts (PA), Jim Ramstad (MN) & James Walsh (NY).

The topic of the meeting was Iraq… and the Iraq 11 were NOT happy with the current course or the current “strategy”, with one of the eleven calling the discussion the “most unvarnished conversation they’ve ever had with the president,” while White House mouthpiece NBC’s Tim Russert said that the meeting “may have been a defining pivotal moment” in the Iraq debate.

The highlight, for me anyway because it shows just how far this president has fallen within his own party, was when one of the eleven said that; “the word about the war and its progress cannot come from the White House or even you, Mr. President. There is no longer any credibility.”

Finally!! Someone within the republican party has finally realized that “President” Bush has no credibility left… all it took was over 3,000 lives lost.

Today, Rep Ray LaHood (R-IL) said that Bush was taken aback by the concerns expressed by the congressional delegation, with LaHood saying;

“He listened very carefully. I think he was a little — I don’t know if surprised is the right word, probably maybe sobered. The fact is that, I don’t know if he’s gotten that kind of opinion before in such a frank and no holds barred way but he was very sober about it and he listened very intently.”

LaHood went on to say that the congressional delegation expressed concerns to Bush about the political impact the war is having on their congressional districts… in other words, they’re scared shitless that they’re going to lose re-election when the time comes.

Maybe I’m being naïve, but I truly think that this is the first serious clink in the Bush’s armor… he’s no longer the ‘Teflon President’… his own party is starting to question him, and that is certainly good news and leaves me with an air of cautious optimism… and if these eleven can round up, say, 60 additional disgrunted republican Representatives and a handful of republican Senators, then we can be a little bit more optimisitc and a little less cautious.

Also… I seem to remember from history class and such that near the end of Nixon’s reign of terror that a group of republicans went to the White House to talk to him about Watergate and his plunging approval numbers…

Sound familiar?

It should… it certainly seems that Bush is getting his “Nixonian” moment… and with 28% approval ratings, you have to wonder how much farther can Bush go.

Stay tuned…

Thank You Ms. Rice

“And the final thing I want to say is I know that a lot’s going on in Washington and that you’re hearing it. A lot’s going on because we are a great democracy. And people have their views and they’re going to express them. And some do not think that this was the right war to fight, and others think that we in the Administration haven’t fought this war quite right. By the way, all of them know that the sacrifice and the labor of our men and women here has been honorable. And so when you hear the criticism of the war or the criticism of the President or of me or of anybody else, I do want you to know that to a person at home, your honor and your sacrifice and your labor is appreciated. People know what you’re doing and it’s appreciated across the board. I don’t care what people think of the policies; it’s appreciated across the board.”

-Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice,during a speech to a gathering of military personnel during her surprise visit this past weekend to Baghdad


Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t this quote contridict every damn thing the White House had been saying for days weeks months???

I believe it does.

In fact… I seem to remember this administration oftentimes saying that a debate on Iraq policy would be “detrimental from the standpoint of the troops” and would hurt morale…

Apparently Condi never received that memo… meaning that she’s in for a toungue bath lashing from Dubya…

And while we’re on the subject of missing memos, it should also be noted that Ms. Rice’s statement echos those of Joint Chiefs Chairman General Peter Pace, who has gone on record as saying that all U.S. troops understand that the debate is being carried out by “patriotic people who care about them and who care about their mission.”

If these two believe that… than what the hell is the problem with the rest of this administration?

Maybe the reason the administration doesn’t think someone can think two things at once is because they’re taking their cues from a man who can’t walk and chew gum at the same time, much less have two thoughts in his head at one time.

If only Bush could buy himself a clue…

The Week Ahead

A handy-dandy guide of some things to pay attention to as this week gets underway…

• The biggest news of the upcoming week is that on Wednesday night, “President” Bush is expected to announce his new and improved plans for Iraq which most people are saying is a surge (read: ESCALATION) of troops. While thinking about that frightening scenario, think about this (via Think Progress): On June 28, 2005 — a mere 18 months ago — Dubya said that sending more troops to Iraq would “undermine our strategy of encouraging Iraqis to take the lead” and would also suggest to the Iraqi people that we “intend to stay forever.” As of Friday, the new plan was being dubbed “A New Way Forward.” Interesting… isn’t it?)
• The day after Bush’s speech on his new plans for Iraq, Secretary of State Condoleezza “Rhymes with” Rice will go before the House Foreign Affairs Committee so she can defend her boyfriend’s boss’s “war-strategy shift.” Besides Condi, newly-minted Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Peter Pace will be busy defending the change before the House Armed Service Committee. (Can we say “spin” boys and girls?)
• Pay attention to how the new Democratically-controlled Congress reacts to Bush’s new Iraq strategy. This past Sunday on CBS' “Face the Nation,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said Democrats will not give President Bush a blank check for Iraq, declaring: “The American people and the Congress support those troops. We will not abandon them. But if the president wants to add to this mission, he is going to have to justify it. And this is new for him because up until now the Republican Congress has given him a blank check with no oversight, no standards, no conditions.”
• Keep an eye on science in the days weeks months years ahead. Why? Well, it seems the failure of the 109th “Do-Nothing” Congress to pass new budgets for the fiscal year has engineered “a crisis in science financing” that is so bad that is threatens to close major facilities, delay new projects and leave thousands of government scientists out of work with, possible, disasterous consequences. (Well sure, it plays right into the gop’s hands of ignoring the plight of Global Warming and the environment… so it’s natural that they ignored science. Remember; to them, science is a four-letter word.)
• Watch out as one of the cornerstones of Bush’s domestic agenda turns five-years old this week (seriously though… it’s really his only domestic agenda that got off the ground… but let’s not nitpick…). Which one you ask? It’s the plan that, at its simplest, aimed to improve the basic skills of the nation's public school children, in particular poor and minority students... that’s right; No Child Left Behind turns 5 years old today. And it’s future is as unclear as the future of the students it was supposed to have helped as Congress prepares to reauthorize it there is a group of 100 education, religion and civil rights leaders that are going to be calling for “major changes" to the plan…so stay tuned.
• Keep an ever-vigilant eye on Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) because I don't think he can be trusted...
  
• Keep your ears open year-round, as another year filled with Bushisms gets under way. Curious as to what the top Bushism for 2006 was? Wonder no more. A Web site that analyzes and catalogues language usage has issued its Top Bushisms for 2006, the Top Five are:

5. "The only way we can win is to leave before the job is done." Nov. 24 (Greely, Colo.)

4. "I've got an ek-a-lec-tic reading list." August 29 interview with NBC's Brian Williams.

3. "It was not always certain that the U.S. and America would have a close relationship." June 29.

2. "I use The Google," in reference to the popular search engine. October 24th. Interview with Maria Bartiromo of CNBC.

And the number one Bushism for 2006 is:

1. "I'm the Decider." "I'm the decider, and I decide what is best. And what's best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the secretary of defense." April 18, in response to a question from CNN's Ed Henry.

I don’t really think anything more needs to be said… have a good week everyone and remember:

Take ‘em as you will…