Another "focus group" Calls for an End to War and Lies

Drudge getting picky...

Looks like Drudge is determined to continue the artificial meme the GOP is painting for Kerry, that he's unfriendly, etc.

First, they took issue with the obviously, demonstrably true statement that his attackers are a lying, crooked group. Actually, they didn't take issue with what he said. They warped it into an attack on all Republicans, which it clearly was not, thereby (with the greatest of ironies) proving his point.

What part of "Kerry voted against body armor" isn't lying? What part of kickbacks to Halliburton isn't crooked?

Second, they tried to paint him as a liar when he asserted that "more leaders" had told him they wanted him in the White House than Bush. the Bush campaign and its cronies are nothing if not opportunistic, but their continued claims that Kerry said "foreign leaders" when he did not were clearly dishonest.

And now, we have Drudge, who is reporting that Kerry fell down after running into a Secret Service agent while snowboarding. When asked about it, Kerry asserted that "he doesn't fall down; that son-of-a-bitch ran into me" -- something you might hear from a competitive person trying to enjoy his vacation with reporters everywhere.

The New York Times is also reporting this, but notes that it wasn't a Secret Service member into whom Kerry ran. Nonetheless, Drudge informs us helpfully that Secret Service members are there for his protection, and they have a hard job, etc.

Funny; when Bush called a reporter an "asshole" in 2000, it was just assumed that the reporter deserved it. Not like he was a professional doing a hard job, or anything.

But then, describing Bush in negative terms doesn't fit with the program does it? Not when defining Kerry in negative ways is so important to distract from the real failures of the Bush administration...

G.W. Bush's Presidential Campaign Contributes to the Outsourcing of American Jobs

I guess that it's now official policy to rid the country of any and all jobs.

The merchandise sold on www.georgewbushstore.com includes a $49.95 fleece pullover, embroidered with the Bush-Cheney '04 logo and bearing a label stating it was made in Burma, now Myanmar. The jacket was sent to Newsday as part of an order that included a shirt made in Mexico and a hat not bearing a country-of-origin label.

To make matters worse, Land's End has now closed to manufacturing plants in Iowa

Supporting America's workforce is just not the Republican way.

Upholding the Constitution?

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

But today those words ring hollow as George Walker Bush asserts that the Constitution is dead:

Citing a World War II court decision, the Bush administration insisted the president has the legal authority to detain suspected terrorists, including Americans, indefinitely without criminal charges.

Who needs that pesky Constitution that grants citizens rights - such as Article V, which states:

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Without formal charges, without representation, without trial, we can only wonder whether justice will wither in darkness.

Comprehensive report on Dubya lies

Ya gotta see this:

IRAQ ON THE RECORD: THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION’S PUBLIC STATEMENTS ON IRAQ

A 36-page report, courtesy of Mr. Henry Waxman.

Someone's been busy :^)

A speech I'd love to see

Here's a speech I'd like to see Kerry deliver right about now:

My fellow Americans,
The recent events in Spain have provided an object lesson. They demonstrate what happens when a government takes a vacation from fighting terrorism to engage in ill-planned military adventurism. But more than that, the lesson from Spain is one this White House should take to heart. We saw what happens when a government lies to its people. People in democracies react strongly to being lied to; they express it at the ballot box. And the result is our troops in Iraq are more alone than ever.

For this reason, if I were George Bush I would be very concerned right now. This week, Mr. Bush demonstrated his contempt for the intelligence of the American people by trying to rewrite recent history. He claims my vote last year against $87 billion more dollars for his Iraq War constituted a "vote against body armor" and a "vote against higher pay" for the troops he sent there without adequate body armor in the first place. What he hopes you don't remember is that many people, Republican and Democrat alike, opposed that bill. I supported an alternate bill to provide for the troops, one that would have been paid for by some other means than increasing the Bush deficit even further.

Mr. Bush also hopes you don't remember that last summer, he tried unsuccessfully to cut pay for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was stopped by the combined efforts of Republicans, Democrats and military personnel.

Mr. Bush is trying to deflect attention from his record; he's pretending you won't notice. I have faith that the American people will hold him accountable.

Bush/Cheney '04: Over a billion Whoppers served.

Bush/Cheney '04: Apocalypse Now!
Bush/Cheney '04: Because the truth just isn't good enough.
Bush/Cheney '04: Compassionate Colonialism
Bush/Cheney '04: "You're either with us or against us!"
Bush/Cheney '04: Deja-voodoo all over again!
Bush/Cheney '04: Four More Wars!
Bush/Cheney '04: Leave no billionaire behind
Bush/Cheney '04: Lies and videotape but no sex!
Bush/Cheney '04: Or else.
Bush/Cheney '04: Over a billion Whoppers served.
Bush/Cheney '04: Putting the "con" in conservatism
Bush/Cheney '04: Thanks for not paying attention.
Bush/Cheney '04: The economy's stupid!
Bush/Cheney '04: The last vote you'll ever have to cast.
Bush/Cheney '04: This time, elect us!
Bush/Cheney '04: We're Gooder!
Bush/Cheney: 1984
George W. Bush: A Brainwave Away from the Presidency.
George W. Bush: Honest as his Day is Long.
George W. Bush: It Takes a Village Idiot.
George W. Bush: The Buck Stops Over There
Let them eat yell! owcake! Vote Bush!
Peace & Prosperity Suck -- Big-Time. Vote Bush!
Vote Bush in '04: "I Has Incumbentory Advantitude"
Vote Bush in '04: "Because every vote counts -- for me!"
Vote Bush in '04: "Because I'm the President, that's why!"
Vote Bush in '04: Because dictatorship is easier.

An opening

Just as the Bush campaign dishonestly accuses Kerry of voting against the troops comes word that most Americans think we're spending too much on Iraq:

When asked about spending in Iraq by the federal government, just over four in 10 said the government should either spend the same, 33 percent, or spend more, 9 percent. More than half said either less, 31 percent, or no money at all, 22 percent, according to the National Annenberg Election Survey.

Since Kerry actually voted to support the troops and pay for it, there appears to be a bit of an opening favoring him, here.

Also from the story:

...they were divided in that poll on whether they approve of the way President Bush is handling Iraq _ with 47 percent saying "yes" and 49 percent saying "no."

It would appear that the current Bush strategy is to throw so much mud and dishonesty into the air that voters can't tell what they're looking at. But at the same time, they're practically handing Kerry his talking points. I would imagine he won't hesitate to use them...

Behind the Job Losses

When Alan Meanspin announced that the Fed would remain patient yesterday, he bemoaned the lag in hiring.

What a pathetic excuse for an economist. This is the man (?) that, together with his cronies, approved the merger of Bank of America and FleetBoston which will result in 13,000 lost jobs.

Are these people as clueless as they seem, or are they the basis for the problems that the citizens of the USofA are encountering?

If I were Kerry...

...here's how I would address Bush's charge that he's lying about foreign endorsements:

Press Release:
Despite polls showing foreign dislike of the President and the explicit endorsement of Presidential Candidate John Kerry by the new Spanish Prime Minister, the Bush campaign continued its efforts today to paint Kerry's recent comments regarding foreign endorsements as dishonest.

Kerry campaign officials expressed some confusion as to why Mr. Bush had chosen to contest the issue; however, Mr. Kerry remarked, "this is simply another attempt by the Bush administration to deflect attention from their own blatant dishonesty and mishandling of our foreign affairs".

Mr. Kerry remarked recently that a number of foreign officials had privately expressed a preference for a Kerry win in November. However, citing the Bush administration's vindictiveness, Kerry noted that it was up to those officials to make their support public.

I think this issue will likely die on its own in a few days. But Bush has put himself on the line by identifying himself with the charge. It would be nice if the Kerry campaign took advantage of that.

Is this really what Homeland Security should be doing?

via Pandagon, we have this rather crass misuse of the Homeland Security department, which (I would imagine) actually has better things to do than try to transform Bush into a president who's actually advanced the cause of making America safer:

As the Bush team sorts out its internal mechanics, it will press the advantage of incumbency. Administration sources tell TIME that employees at the Department of Homeland Security have been asked to keep their eyes open for opportunities to pose the President in settings that might highlight the Administration's efforts to make the nation safer. The goal, they are being told, is to provide Bush with one homeland-security photo-op a month.

Lessons from Madrid

Some on the right are now claiming the results of yesterday's election in Spain represent "appeasement" of al Qaeda. They're decrying the Spanish people as cowards, unwilling to stick it out in the War on Terror. This is, they say, an unqualified victory for terrorists everywhere.

There have been several counter-arguments put forth. An important one involves reports that much of the action at the Spanish ballot box seems to have been more the result of the Aznar government's reaction to the bombing (blame the Basque Separatists, even as the Spanish intelligence services claimed "99% certainty" that the bombings were the work of muslim extremists) than fear inspired by the bombings themselves. Another is the fact that, in some quarters, the "conventional wisdom" was that a terrorist attack (any terrorist attack) would push people to further support the center-right Aznar government, and that Wednesday's bombing would help the Spaniards "get it" and "get with the program" for fighting terrorists (as though they weren't, already).

These are both good points, and call into question how al Qaeda could have predicted the outcome sufficiently well to try and influence the elections (assuming, of course, that's what they wanted to do). However, even a stopped clock is right twice a day, and al Qaeda has shown a belief before (perhaps spurred by the examples of the pullout of Marines in Lebanon after the 1983 barracks bombing, and the abandonment of Somalia in 1993 after the "Black Hawk Down" raid went wrong in that country) that a bloody nose will make Western countries fold.

I believe, however, that the far-right narrative is (as usual) a tad too simple. The Spanish people were not merely happy partners with the Bush administration's actions until Wednesday's bombing, at which point they turned tail and ran. Rather, they were overwhelmingly opposed to the invasion of Iraq, seeing it as an irrelevant, immoral and dangerous distraction from fighting al Qaeda which would, if anything, make the problem worse.

The March 11 bombing surely reminded them of this, as al Qaeda claimed responsibility and justification on the grounds of "revenge for Iraq". Now, I don't think anyone who's followed al Qaeda for a while really believes Iraq is that important to them. But many before the war warned that an invasion would provide al Qaeda with recruitment material. It now appears that this may be the case.

At any rate, it was not an act of cowardice for the Spaniards to vote a group of lying leaders out of power just because doing so may have coincided with al Qaeda's wishes. Rather, it was a statement that the Spanish people want their government to actually focus responsibly on fighting terrorism. It was an expression of disapproval that the Aznar government went along with the Bush administration's distraction from fighting terrorism. It was warning that the people are not happy with their leaders' mismanagement of the War on Terror; mismanagement that has very likely made the problem worse, and put their lives at increased risk for no good reason.

The Bush administration's disastrous assumption that they could take a vacation from fighting al Qaeda after a few early victories is coming home to roost in bigger and bigger ways. They segued at the earliest opportunity to fighting a war of choice, a war that was dreamed up long before 9/11 and sold on an immense heap of lies, a war that was carried out at the cost of an increased, not decreased, danger of terrorism. No matter what you may think about the Spaniards' decision at the ballot box, get this part right: part of the responsibility for the deaths of 200 Spanish people on March 11, 2004 very likely lies with the Bush administration and its allies and their wholly incompetent handling of this War on Terror.

The Spanish people have a right to say they're not happy about it, and demand better. We do, too.

Hell hath no fury like a Wingnut Scared

At a guess, we'll all be holding our collective breath a long, long time waiting for Cedric Brown to apply the same standards of honesty to George Bush that he thinks he's applying to John Kerry. But then, if it isn't printed in the Washington "Moonie" Times, it isn't relevant, is it?

Folks, the Bushies and their extremist supporters are desperate, and they know it. If they have to latch on to a "John Kerry is a liar!" meme based solely on this foreign leader endorsement thing, then they've got nothing.

And it shows.

Kerry soft on terrorism?

A meme the GOP and its para-media shills have attempted to plant is that John Kerry would be soft on terrorism (part of a larger "Kerry is anti-military" thrust). To that end, a number of those on the right have seized on Kerry's statements regarding terrorists being "brought to justice" as evidence he sees terrorism merely as a crime to be prosecuted, not a threat to be dealt with using military might.

This, of course, is a false dichotomy; most anti-terrorism experts will tell you that the best way to fight terrorism depends upon the organization, its resources, its goals and the circumstances. Indeed, war games before September 11, 2001 dealing with fighting al Qaeda-like terrorist groups found that the most effective methods for shutting them down combined military, economic, diplomatic and law enforcement efforts on an international scale. Military options, in successful scenarios, tended to be less emphasized.

Regardless, for those who feel Kerry discussing "bringing terrorists to justice" somehow signals an unwillingness to do what must be done to protect America, here are a few quotes that might put things in perspective:

"The search is underway for those who are behind these evil acts. I've directed the full resources of our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsible and to bring them to justice."

-- President Bush, White House Press Release, "Statement by the President in His Address to the Nation", September, 2001.


"I see things this way: The people who did this act on America, and who may be planning further acts, are evil people. They don't represent an ideology, they don't represent a legitimate political group of people. They're flat evil. That's all they can think about, is evil. And as a nation of good folks, we're going to hunt them down, and we're going to find them, and we will bring them to justice."

-- President Bush, in remarks to FBI employees, White House Press Release, "President: FBI Needs Tools to Track Down Terrorists", September, 2001.


"There's an old poster out West 'Wanted -- Dead or Alive'," Mr Bush said, recalling his days growing up in west Texas. "America wants [bin Laden] brought to justice," he said. "That's what we want."

-- The Daily Telegraph, Sydney Australia, September 19, 2001.


"We're working hard to find out who is doing this and bring them to justice."

-- President Bush, responding to questions about the October, 2001 anthrax attacks, White House Press Release, "President Says Terrorists Won't Change American Way of Life", October, 2001.


"We owe it to our citizens, to the families, to be relentless and methodical in tracking down terrorists and bringing each and every one of them to justice."

-- President Bush, speaking at U.S. Attorney's Conference, White House Press Release, "President Says U.S. Attorneys on Front Line in War", November, 2001.


"We won't forget what took place. And we will bring them to justice. We'll bring them to justice in Afghanistan, and we'll bring them to justice wherever they try to hide."

-- President Bush, in remarks during a photo op with the president and prime minister of Norway, White house Press release, "President Asks Global Leaders to Play Anthems on Dec 11", December, 2001.


"Osama bin Laden is going to be brought to justice. It may happen tomorrow, it may happen in a month, it may happen in a year. But he is going to be brought to justice. He's on the run. He thinks he can hide, but he can't. We've been at this operation now for about two and a half months, and we've made incredible progress. And one of the objectives I've said, in this theater, in all theaters for that matter, is that we want al Qaeda killers brought to justice. And we'll bring him to justice."

-- President Bush, White House Press Release, "President Marks End of Ramadan at White House Ceremony",December, 2001.


"That we've got our law enforcement officers around our country -- at the federal, state and local level -- now understand that they must remain on alert, that there's still an enemy and we've got to stop them. The FBI's primary mission is homeland security, and we're working closely with folks in your communities to make sure that if there's any hint that somebody might try to harm America, that we're going to act, and act now, and bring them to justice.

"I'm proud of the efforts of many all around our country who are working endless hours to make America safe. But the best way to make America safe is to hunt the enemy down where he tries to hide and bring them to justice."

-- President Bush, White House Press Release, "President's Remarks in Aurora, MO on Anti-Terrorism Efforts", January, 2002.


"The message is the war on terror goes on, that there are killers on the loose -- obviously, killers on the loose inside of Saudi Arabia in this example. And we want to work with them and find them, find those killers and bring them to justice."

-- President Bush, answering a question regarding recent al Qaeda attacks on Saudi Arabia, White House press release, "President Bush Vows to Bring Terrorists to Justice", May, 2003.


"Thousands of very skilled and determined military personnel are on a manhunt, going after the remaining killers who hide in cities and caves -- and, one by one, we will bring the terrorists to justice."

-- President Bush, State of the Union Address, January 21, 2004.


"We'll protect the homeland. The best way to protect America, however, is to go on the offensive, stay on the offensive, and bring the terrorists to justice."

-- President Bush, White House Press Release, "President Discusses America's Leadership in Global War on Terror", January, 2004.

For every one of these quotes, there are tens of others.

There seems to be little reason to latch on to the phrase "bringing terrorists to justice" as evidence of anything more than an intent to go after terrorists, unless one can read minds. In which case, one should probably turn one's talents towards fighting terrorism more directly...

(Of course, if one feels that George Bush has dropped the ball on terrorism, the above quotes probably won't re-assure. They are primarily meant to point out that one phrase doesn't necessarily indicate a mindset.)