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Saturday, July 10, 2004
Now, Let Me Get This Straight...
First, Kerry says in a Rolling Stone interview that he didn't know how bad Bush was going to "fuck up" Iraq. GOP goes nuts, demands he apologize, says this kind of language is inappropriate for a leader to use.
So then Cheney, being Cheney, tells Sen. Leahy to "go fuck" himself on the Senate floor, no less. Not only does Cheney refuse to apologize, but he said, proudly, that it made him feel better for doing it.
Then Kerry and Edwards attend a concert when performers, not either of them, make off-color remarks about Bush. GOP goes nuts, claims that this shows that Kerry and Edwards are unfit to lead country and possess wrong "values."
(BTW, at some point, the loaded term "Values" in this campaign really needs to be unpacked, because when Bush uses that word, he's really saying a whole lot more. But that's for another time...)
When I was about 16 years old, I thought someone being a hypocrite was about the worst thing in the world someone could be. This Administration is making me revisit that type of thinking.
To quote David St. Hubbins, from Spinal Tap: "This is unbelieveable. Will you check me on this, am I losing my fucking mind? Could you check me on this, am I losing my mind?"
Friday, July 09, 2004
Calling Michael Moore...
Now we learn that the portion of Bush's military records from the period when he is alleged to have been AWOL were inadvertently destroyed back in 1996 and 1997. Somehow the Bush Administration neglected to inform us of this when they released some of his records earlier this year.
This 1996 and 1997 time period is awfully close to the time when it is alleged that Bush's records were purposefully destroyed...
What ever happened to the view that the truth will set you free? Not in this Administration.
Wednesday, July 07, 2004
Hawkeye Love
Back in January, I commented that Kerry's win in the Iowa caucus made me feel like a man reborn, because I had all but convinced myself that Howard Dean would be the Democratic nominee, a choice that I feared would lose to Bush in November. I felt that I owed a debt to those diligent caucus-goers who ventured out on that cold January night and set the Democratic party out on a steady footing for the primary season.
Now it's important to remember that not only did they give John Kerry, instead of Dean, but Edwards' strong second place finish in Iowa helped to solidify his national standing. Indeed, Iowa, perhaps more than any other state, is responsible for Edwards being the Veep nominee today.
So to that I say, a la The Music Man, you really ought to give Iowa a try!
Oh, They're Afraid
The two arguments being put out by the Bush campaign about Edwards right now are 1) he's too inexperienced to be President and 2) he was Kerry's second choice behind McCain. Here's the response to both:
1) E.J. Dionne handles the inexperienced argument today, by quoting Orrin Hatch from the 2000 race:
When you hear Republicans disparage Sen. John Edwards's lack of experience, remember the words of Sen. Orrin Hatch, spoken to George W. Bush at a debate on Dec. 6, 1999.
"You've been a great governor," Hatch declared of his rival for the Republican presidential nomination. "My only problem with you, governor, is that you've only had four and going into your fifth year of governorship. . . . Frankly, I really believe that you need more experience before you become president of the United States. That's why I'm thinking of you as a vice presidential candidate."
Which is exactly what Edwards was chosen for yesterday.
2) As for the "second choice" argument about McCain, there's this McCain interview from this past March(let's also not forget that Bush's father was the true second choice in 1980 after a Ronald Reagan-Gerald Ford dream ticket fell apart):
McCain: I would not be Vice President of the United States on either ticket. I told President Bush when he asked me in 2000 if, when he asked me if I was interested, I said I was not interested.
Gee, sounds like Dick Cheney was also a second choice, huh?
The trial lawyer stuff will start soon too, but I'm not worried about that, having read a bit about Edwards' cases. He represented children and families who were horribly injured by some truly negligent companies and people, and fought against some incredibly obstinate insurance companies that would not settle for a reasonable amount.
As Josh Marshall is apt to note, the ferocity of the Republicans' response is usually proportionate to the level of their concern about the person they're attacking. Remember Richard Clarke?
I'm going love seeing Edwards out there...
Tuesday, July 06, 2004
Changing the Tone in Washington
Per U.S. News and World Report, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, at least when it comes to Bush and Cheney:
Cussing's no stranger to the Bush White House
Vice President Dick Cheney doesn't own the market on swearwords like the F-bomb he dropped on Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy. Turns out President Bush has quite the mouth, following in a rich tradition of cussing presidents. "He uses the 'F' word as an adjective, a verb, and a noun," says one adviser. Ditto for the "S" word. But not often in anger. "It's more conversational," adds the insider, "like how guys talk." In a White House that prides itself on self-control, Bush doesn't swear much in the Oval Office and never in front of his wife or new acquaintances. "It's less in the Oval than other places. The more relaxed he gets, the more he uses it," another associate says. A Clinton-Gore aide says Bubba and his veep did the same. "They were very mindful of where they were," says the aide. Like past presidents, Bush is unapologetic about his cussing. In fact, when Democrats called on Cheney to apologize to Leahy, whom he crudely put down last month, it was Bush who blocked him. "Bush said, 'You said it, so don't back away from it,' " an associate says
It's interesting to recall Tucker Carlson's comments about the reaction he received from Karen Hughes after he published his infamous feature about then-Gov. Bush in Talk Magazine in 1999, and noted how Bush swore like a trucker:
And the response from team Bush?
It was very, very hostile. The reaction was: You betrayed us. Well, I was never there as a partisan to begin with.
Then I heard that [on the campaign bus, Bush communications director] Karen Hughes accused me of lying. And so I called Karen and asked her why she was saying this, and she had this almost Orwellian rap that she laid on me about how things she'd heard -- that I watched her hear -- she in fact had never heard, and she'd never heard Bush use profanity ever. It was insane.
Changing the tone in Washington... Restoring Honor and Integrity to the Oval Office... Ya da Ya da Ya da...
Kerry-Edwards!!!!!!
Well, I'm overjoyed by the pick. I think it brings excitement to the ticket, that NC is now is play, and that Edwards will provide greater dividends for Kerry in the midwest and other swing states that Gephardt would have. Gephardt = yesterday. Edwards = tomorrow. And, as Bill Clinton is fond of saying, every election is about the future.
I was following the rumor mill this weekend over the Internet and was convinced by Monday morning that it was going to be Gephardt, unfortunately. Then I learned about Edwards leaving his family's vacation in Disney World and traveling to DC to meet with Edwards last Thursday. By the end of yesterday I was cautiously optimistic that it would be Edwards.
The GOP is saying that Edwards is Kerry's "second choice," after McCain, a pretty ironic argument, considering who the true "second choice" in American VP politics is: George Bush in 1980, after a "Dream Ticket" of Reagan and Gerald Ford evaporated.
