"The public education system in America is one of the most important foundations of our democracy. After all, it is where children from all over America learn to be responsible citizens, and learn to have the skills necessary to take advantage of our fantastic opportunistic society."
George W. Bush, in probably his most outrageous comments since stealing the Presidency, compared sitting down to negotiate with an elected party leader of another country to the "appeasement" of the Nazis in 1938, when British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain gave Hitler half of Czechoslovakia in the hopes that it would deter Hitler and his Nazi Party from further invasion. Not only did he say it, but he said it to the Isreali governing body as a diplomat representing the United States.
If Bush actually knows any history at all, then this is where he would be an expert as his family was involved with the rise of Nazi Germany through Bush's grandfather, Prescott Bush. But I digress.
The backlash of negative responses that this idiotic statement has garnered would make one realize that the Emperor with no Clothes had really stepped in it big time, don't you think? Well... if you think. John McCain, however, does not think.
Asked if he thought Mr. Obama was an appeaser, Mr. McCain sidestepped the question and said: “I think that Barack Obama needs to explain why he wants to sit down and talk with a man who is the head of a government that is a state sponsor of terrorism, that is responsible for the killing of brave young Americans, that wants to wipe Israel off the map, who denies the Holocaust. That’s what I think Senator Obama ought to explain to the American people.”
RUBIN: "Do you think that American diplomats should be operating the way they have in the past, working with the Palestinian government if Hamas is now in charge?"
McCAIN: "They're the government; sooner or later we are going to have to deal with them, one way or another, and I understand why this administration and previous administrations had such antipathy towards Hamas because of their dedication to violence and the things that they not only espouse but practice, so . . . but it's a new reality in the Middle East. I think the lesson is people want security and a decent life and decent future, that they want democracy. Fatah was not giving them that."
"...It was bad enough when McCain tried to link Hamas and Obama because Hamas said it preferred Obama. And if the Klan endorsed McCain because he wasn't the black guy, would McCain have a problem if someone said that McCain and the Klan are one and the same?
...We've seen this movie before. Whenever conservatives can't win an argument on the merits, they attack some real or perceived enemy as Hitler. So Ho Chi Mihn was Hitler. bin Ladin was Hitler. Ahmadinejad was Hitler. Of course Hussein was Hitler. And anyone who does something to try to resolve conflict short of more war is Neville Chamberlain.
...Was Israel -- with far more experience and its survival at stake in dealing with war and terrorism -- wrong to neogtiate with former enemy Egypt, with successful result...wrong to negotiate with former enemy Jordan, with successful result...
...Take Iran and Ahmadinejad, the newest "Hitler." Iran can't stop laughing at Bush's foreign policy. He attacks its long-time enemy Iraq, allowing Iran's Shia majority to have far more influence in a Shia-majority Iraqi government. And Bush at the same time provides an unpopular Iranian government with a convenient outside enemy to rally nationalistic support to its side. Which is why Secretary Robert Gates himself has advocated talking more to Iran. What an appeaser!"
"After all, a week ago, there were - Yasser Arafat was boarded up in his building in Ramallah, a building full of, evidently, German peace protestors and all kinds of people. They're now out. He's now free to show leadership, to lead the world."
Why is it that Karl Rove, or for that matter George Bush and Dick Cheney or any other criminal in this worst administraion ever, believe that they are above the law, ignoring Congressional subpeonas, agreeing to testify under the conditions that they're not under oath and that there would be no transcript?! And how is that acceptable to any elected Republican official or any Republican citizen?
What balls! It's astounding.
Here's Congressman Robert Wexler and Former Gov. Don Siegelman on with Dan Abrams, who won't let this story go, and for good reason.
From Wexler's office via email:If Rove refuses to testify voluntarily and ignores the subpoenas that will certainly be issued, he should be held in Inherent Contempt of the House of Representatives.
No American is above the law. None of us should be able to ignore Congress without consequence. If Mr. Rove ignores a subpoena from the Judiciary Committee, then the House of Representatives should pass an Inherent Contempt citation and exercise our right to send the House Sergeant-of-Arms to gather Mr. Rove and bring him before Congress to testify.
I do not advocate this option lightly, but the reality is that Congress has few options left against an Administration that totally refuses to submit to any type of reasonable Congressional oversight. Congress has both the right and obligation to investigate these matters. Never before has an Executive so upset the checks and balances inherent in our Constitution. If we back off or delay, we effectively forfeit the power of Congress to investigate the Executive branch.
Rove is not the first White House official to ignore Congress. We have seen a pattern of refusals based on laughable claims of executive privilege. First, White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten and former White House Counsel Harriet Miers ignored subpoenas on the investigation into the firing of US Attorney Generals for partisan political motives.
Their refusal to testify was unprecedented: never before have executive officials totally refused to even show up before Congress. Bolten and Miers are the highest officials ever held in contempt of Congress. Unfortunately, Attorney General Mukasey – in a dereliction of duty – has refused to enforce the contempt decree and now Congress is suing them in District Court to demand compliance. Then, the Vice President's Chief of Staff, David Addington, refused to testify on the investigation into the Bush Administration's ordering of torture. Now, Rove continues this executive arrogance by also refusing to testify.
Enough is enough. We have a Constitutional obligation to provide accountability to a White House that is trying usurp the constitutional powers of Congress.
These are the very reasons why I have been pushing for impeachment hearings for Vice President Cheney. The Bush Administration has been running roughshod over the Constitution for eight long years. We should not allow the promise of a positive election be used as an excuse to ignore our duty to investigate crimes that weaken the very fabric of our Democracy.
ap·pease·ment, noun - to yield or concede to the belligerent demands of (a nation, group, person, etc.) in a conciliatory effort, sometimes at the expense of justice or other principles.
It's late and I should be getting to bed, but I have to comment on Chris Matthews' evisceration of right wing hack Kevin James today on Hardball. Every once in a while, Matthews gets it right, and I'm starting to believe that he's just as tired of all the bullshit as the rest of us have been for a long time now.
I first saw Kevin James (not the funny comedian, but the asshole wingnut) on some show a couple of weeks ago and thought, "Who the fuck is this dipshit and why would anyone have him on the air?" Maybe Matthews thought that too and figured he'd have a little fun dangling him over the shark tank.
*It's a horrible situation when the President of the United States makes a ridiculous comment (comparing Barack Obama's foreign policy stance to the appeasement of the Nazis in 1938) while in a foreign country today that can be considered an act of treason,* but then the wingnut hyenas receive their faxed talking points and repeat what they read ad nauseam without even understanding what they are saying.
Watch and be amazed at how this buffoon is schooled by Matthews, and keep an eye out when James gets flustered and refers to his notes for those catch words "enabled, energized, legitimized," repeating them over and over again as if it's an answer to the question being posed.
You can keep looking at your notes all day, nitwit, the answer to "What did Neville Chamberlain do wrong that you don't like?" isn't going to magically appear on your "Dittohead Brainless Talking Points of the Day" email.
And Mark Green! "Kevin, when you're in a hole, stop digging." Priceless!
The saddest part of this whole thing is that this piece of shit excuse for a human being is going back to his job tomorrow at a Los Angeles right wing conservative radio station without any repercussion from his pitiful performance on Hardball, probably trying to excuse it as being taken out of context or that it was some "liberal media" hit job. (I say "excuse for a human being" because I believe that besides being a living, breathing entity, you also have to have the ability to use your brain and think.)
I hope I'm wrong. I hope there is blowback from his pathetic appearance because I am so fucking tired of the "yes" men and dittoheads who do nothing but regurgitate whatever is fed to them and up until this point, haven't been called on it. Finally, a "journalist" did his job. I still use that term loosely with Matthews but he is starting to show something here. Contempt for the corporate status quo? Or just plain tired of sitting there and having to deal with the bullshit? I don't know, but it's working for me, makes for good television and for once it's nice to see some truth on the tube.
Kudos to Chris for being mad as hell and not taking it anymore... at least for today. Does Matthews have enough pull at MSNBC to prevent them from ever booking this douchebag again? God, let's hope so.
(* More on the moron and his "appeasement" comments at a later time.)
Is there nothing this prostitute won't peddle? Trying to laugh off the viral video of O'Reilly exploding while the host of Inside Edition when he had much more hair, BillO suggested that there's much newer video of him blowing up due to a "contractual obligation" he has to "create a few dramas" for his co-workers, otherwise they'd quit. Yeah, I'm sure that's the reason, Bill.
By the way, he'd be happy to sell those videos to you.
Stephen Colbert's moment of "solidarity" with O'Reilly however, is priceless.
Maybe it has something to do with, oh, I don't know... WEST VIRGINIANS! Take a look at some of the MENSA members that have the privilege of voting.
People like Janice:
People like Mike Norman who sells "Obama in '08" T-shirts out of his bar with a picture of Curious George eating a banana:
"We're not living in the (19)40's," he said. "Look at him . . . the hairline, the ears -- he looks just like Curious George."
I guess we're all overreacting huh, Mike? Why would having a picture of a monkey on a t-shirt with the black candidate's name underneath be considered racist? I couldn't imagine.Rick Blake, a spokesman for publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, which owns Curious George, said Wednesday that the company didn't authorize the use of the character's image, but hasn't been in touch with anybody selling or manufacturing the shirts.
"We find it offensive and obviously utterly out of keeping with the value Curious George represents," Blake said. "We're monitoring the situation and weighing our options with respect to legal action."
Well Mike, I hope your motherfuckin' racist ass gets sued for everything you own, including the two teeth left in your head, you asshole.
"We hold dear what our Declaration of Independence says, that all have got uninalienable rights, endowed by a Creator."
...Golf.
Yeah, poor George gave up his golf game to show his "solidarity" with the families of the fallen US soldiers in Iraq.
Golf. He didn't think it was a good idea to have some mom who'd lost her son watching him play golf during wartime. It sends the wrong signal. So he gave it up. Or was it the bad knee and calf injury that caused him to stop playing? Hmmm....
Classic Keith. This one is for the ages.
...A source close to the Clinton campaign said the Edwards camp gave the Clinton folks a head's up. "Clearly it's upsetting" the source tells ABC. "He brings the workers" to Obama.
It's about time! And I must admit that I thought the Clinton camp would say that at this point, his endorsement doesn't amount to much because it's long after the North Carolina primary, what's the big deal, yadda, yadda, yadda.... but I'd be wrong.
And perhaps in hindsight, those who wanted an earlier endorsement from Edwards (myself included) are now realizing that instead of being one of many during the heat of the primaries where the Clinton campaign could have blown off Edwards' endorsement as not very meaningful are now realizing that the current timing of it could be the final nail in the coffin for Hillary. I'm venturing to guess that the superdelegate trickle these past few weeks will soon become a bursting dam.
"For every fatal shooting, there were roughly hree non-fatal shootings. And, folks, this is unacceptable in America... And we're going to do something about it."
Even James Carville has acknowledged the turning tide and while still supporting Clinton, has said that Barack Obama will most likely be the Democratic nominee for President."I still hear some dogs barking... I'm for Senator Clinton, but I think the great likelihood is that Obama will be the nominee."
"As soon as I determine when that is, I'll send him a check," he added.
Hillary supporters take note. Passionate support is one thing, reality is something else.
It's a foregone conclusion that Hillary Clinton is going to win today's primary in West Virginia, especially with comments like this coming from its edumucated citizens:“I heard that Obama is a Muslim and his wife’s an atheist.”
Yes, that comes from a lifelong "Democrat." 67-year-old retired coalminer Leonard Simpson would rather vote for McCain given the choice of the Straight Talker or the Muslim with the atheist wife (that would be Obama in his mind).
So I'm not expecting too much out of West Virginians, but I think the main issue is how the punditocracy is going to spin it. Are they going to say what we all know, that Hillary's win is nothing that we didn't expect but with superdelegates streaming toward Obama and the not so fuzzy math and the massive debt her campaign is carrying, she's still trying to climb a nearly impossible mountain for the nomination?
Or are we going to get yet another false horserace, with Hillary being the comeback kid and "why can't Obama close the deal?" inane banter to fill out the slated hours of "coverage" of a primary whose projected results will be known about two minutes after the polls close?
I'll take a quick look tonight but won't hold my breath for anything newsworthy.
"Like you, I have been disgraced about what I've seen on TV that took place in [Abu Ghraib] prison."
- Parkersburg, West Virginia, May 13, 2004
Crooks & Liars: Apparently [House Minority Whip Roy] Blunt didn’t get the memo that McCain is trying to distance himself from Bush and as Rep. Chris Van Hollen points out, on the two most important issues to the American people [Iraq and the economy], McCain absolutely equals Bush. And Roy, that’s not such a good thing. REP. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: ...the Bush economic policies have helped drive this economy into a ditch. The economy has lost 260,000 [jobs] in the first four months of this year... And John McCain does represent a continuation of the Bush economic policy, as Roy just acknowledged. And the fact of the matter is, people are hurting. The one thing this president doesn’t understand and John McCain doesn’t understand is the economic squeeze the families around the country are feeling.
BLITZER: When it comes to domestic economic issues, what is the major difference between President Bush’s policies, what he wants to do, and what John McCain would do if he were president?
BLUNT: Well, I think what John McCain wants to do is continue these pro-growth tax policies that our friends on the other side have been talking for sixteen months now…
BLITZER: But that’s what President Bush wants to do too.
BLUNT: And there is nothing wrong with that. There is nothing wrong with that.
BLITZER: So it would be in effect a third Bush term when it came to pro-growth tax policies?
BLUNT: It would be. I think it would be. And I think that’s a good thing...
Even in the face of cold, hard facts, a lame duck presidency and the results of the last seven years, Roy Blunt continues to tow the party line. Either he's doing it because that's what he was told to do, or at this point, the GOP has convinced themselves that the Bush way really is the best move forward. When you repeat something a million times, you start to convince yourself that it is fact. I believe Blunt thinks the latter.
"We're working with Chancellor Schroeder on what's called ten-plus-ten-over-ten: $10 billion from the U.S., $10 billion from other members of the G7 over a ten-year period, to help Russia securitize the dismantling - the dismantled nukular warheads."
Click on portrait for a complete list of President Obama's Executive Orders, Presidential Memoranda and Proclamations
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