McCain commits yet another foreign policy blunder
From Crooks & Liars
But, but, but….that’s his strong suit. Right?
WaPo:
In comments to reporters on Thursday, McCain asserted that “I can tell you that it is succeeding. I can look you in the eye and tell you it’s succeeding. We have drawn down to pre-surge levels. Basra, Mosul and now Sadr City are quiet and it’s long and it’s hard and it’s tough and there will be setbacks.”
In fact, as the Obama campaign was quick to point out, the troop level in Iraq is at about 155,000 right now, well above the 130,000 that would mark a return to pre-surge levels.
And the McCain camp’s response:
Advisers to Sen. John McCain said the flap over whether the senator was mistaken about the troop level in Iraq is nothing more than “nitpicking” about “verb tenses.”
So the lives of 20,000 soldiers is just “nitpicking”? Nice to know you really “support those troops,” Senator.
DENVER - Maybe it’s his background teaching constitutional law.
If elected president, Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama said one of the first things he wants to do is ensure the constitutionality of all the laws and executive orders passed while Republican President George W. Bush has been in office.
Those that don’t pass muster will be overturned, he said.
During a fund-raiser in Denver, Obama — a former constitutional law professor at the University of Chicago Law School — was asked what he hoped to accomplish during his first 100 days in office.
“I would call my attorney general in and review every single executive order issued by George Bush and overturn those laws or executive decisions that I feel violate the constitution,” said Obama
Other goals for his first 100 days: work out a plan to withdraw troops from Iraq; make progress on alternative energy plans and launch legislation to reform the health care system.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/27/iraq-soldier-discusses-hi_n_103698.html
I pass this along because I think it is important for people to know
that our government is not the lily-white "land of the free" our
flag-pinned leaders have often painted it to be. Examples from other
countries are in this list, too. This planet deserves to have higher
consciousness people inhabiting it. I hope Barack Obama is the
harbinger of that higher consciousness being brought into our
leadership. From its inception, this country has had a few other good
men as leaders--men with heart and intelligence who stood out from the
crowd and were dedicated to the task of making life better for their
fellow countrymen. But really, very few. The past eight years have
brought us to the dregs as far as leaders go, and we have much to
recover from.
We, the people of these United States, need to wake up and make better
choices!!!
A great analysis! I hope Biden is being considered for a strong position in the Obama cabinet. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121150000249615875.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
Once in a while, it’s hard to keep a good bill down — especially when it involves expanded benefits for the troops, during a war, in an election year.
The Senate has overwhelmingly passed a new GI bill and billions in new domestic spending as part of the $165 billion Iraq war funding bill pending before Congress.
The 75-22 vote marked a resounding victory for Senate Democrats as well as Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), who has battled to expand the educational benefits for soldiers who served in Iraq. The vote was the first critical hurdle in a three vote package on the Iraq war funding bill. The measure also included a 13 week extension of unemployment insurance, home heating assistance and other domestic spending add ons. President Bush has threatened to veto the bill, which will top $200 billion with the extra spending. […]
What was most surprising was not that the domestic funding amendment and the GI bill won a majority of the Senate votes, but that half of the Senate’s 49 Republicans bucked President Bush and GOP presidential candidate John McCain to back the dramatically expanded GI bill. Many uncertain Republicans stood in the well of the Senate, taking their time to make a decision. Virtually every GOP senator who is politically vulnerable this year voted for the domestic spending, including Sens. John Sununu of New Hampshire and Roger Wicker of Mississippi.
It’s interesting how vulnerable Republicans suddenly start to notice the merit of Democratic legislation six months before Election Day, isn’t it?
In all 25 Senate Republicans broke ranks with Bush/McCain to support the measure, giving the bill a veto-proof majority. Even Lieberman voted for it. Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama spoke in favor of the bill and voted for it. McCain, who has repeatedly said he opposes the measure, decided to raise money in California and skipped the vote. All 22 “nay” votes were conservative Republicans.
Lehrer: Finally for the record, you have not lost your desire to be President of the United States, have you?
McCain: Certainly it’s been put in deep cold storage. haha..
Lehrer: You haven’t lost it?
McCain: Well, in 2004, I expect to be campaigning for the reelection of President George W. Bush, and by 2008, I think I might be ready to go down to the old soldiers home and await the cavalry charge there.
Nobody can complain if age comes up anymore since the candidate has made it an issue as far back as 2000 all by himself. Americans polled are sure worried about it anyway…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/my-interview-with-pastor_b_103177.html
My own experience is that homeopathic treatments are very effective. No toxic side effects like you may get in pharmaceutical drugs. And reasonably priced! http://www.heartlandhealing.com/pages/archive/homeopathy/index.html
We’ve got some proof against these bastards.
An internal e-mail written by a Veterans Affairs Department employee suggested avoiding a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder for veterans and instead considering a diagnosis that might result in a lower disability payment.
A copy of the e-mail was distributed Thursday by the groups Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a congressional watchdog group, and VoteVets.org. The e-mail dated March 20 had been forwarded to VoteVets.org, an Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans lobbying group opposed to the Bush administration’s handling of the war and veterans issues.
“Given that we are having more and more compensation seeking veterans, I’d like to suggest that we refrain from giving a diagnosis of PTSD straight out. Consider a diagnosis of Adjustment Disorder, R/O PTSD,” the e-mail said.
It also said, “Additionally, we really don’t or have time to do the extensive testing that should be done to determine PTSD.”…read on
Sure, just send them out to war where they get killed, maimed or PTSD and then screw them over. Sorry Charlie, it’s just a little dizziness caused by the damp weather. Come and see me in ninety days. That’s what they call "supporting the troops." At least Bush gave up his golf game to make up for your discomfort. Except he didn't--he was caught on video playing golf after he claims he "gave it up." His one "big sacrifice" for the dead soldiers and he couldn't even stick to this puny little promise. What a(n) _______!!! (fill in the blank yourself.)
Countdown Special Comment to President Bush: “Shut the hell up.”
In an astoundingly ignorant interview with The Politico’s Mike Allen Tuesday, President Bush insinuated that electing a Democrat in November would lead to another attack on America, and revealed that he made the ultimate sacrifice by giving up golf shortly after the start of the Iraq War — the timing of which he lied about. Naturally, Keith ripped into him tonight — with all the anger and passion you’ve come to expect from a Special Comment — for continuing this despicable fear-mongering, and for failing to understand what true sacrifice is.
Do your part in telling President Bush to “shut the hell up”: Digg It!
“Mr. President,” he was asked, “you haven’t been golfing in recent years. Is that related to Iraq?
“Yes,” began perhaps the most startling reply of this nightmarish blight on our lives as Americans — on our history.
“It really is. I don’t want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the Commander-in-Chief playing golf. I feel I owe it to the families to be as — to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal.”
Golf, Sir?
Golf sends the wrong signal to the grieving families of our men and women butchered in Iraq?
Do you think these families, Mr. Bush - their lives blighted forever — care about you playing golf?
Do you think, Sir, they care about you?
You, Mr. Bush, let their sons and daughters be killed.
Sir, to show your solidarity with them - you gave up golf?
Sir, to show your solidarity with them - you didn’t give up your pursuit of this insurance-scam, profiteering, morally and financially bankrupting war.
Sir, to show your solidarity with them - you didn’t even give up talking about Iraq - a subject about which you have incessantly proved without pause or backwards glance, that you may literally be the least informed person in the world?
Sir, to show your solidarity with them, you didn’t give up… your
4,000 dead Americans and your response… was to stop playing golf!
Golf.
Not “gulf” - golf.Full transcripts below the fold:
Subject: Fw: Red State Update
When Keith Olbermann offered an overview on Wednesday of recent Bush administration scandals, he touched on the failure to protect whistleblowers and the refusal to reappoint the one member of the Federal Election Commission who spoke out against John McCain’s attempt to opt out of federal campaign financing after using that financing as a loan guarantee.
But Olbermann’s harshest comments were directed against Max Boot, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, whom Olbermann described as “one of the administration’s consulting dumbasses, who got us into the quagmire in Iraq and is now pushing hard for a twin disaster in Iran.”
Boot insisted in an online debate Tuesday that the surge has worked because “civilian deaths were down more than 80%, US deaths more than 60%, between September 2006 and March 2008.”
However, Boot also argued in the Wall Street Journal on Monday that the jump in American fatalities in April “could be a sign that tough combat is under way that will lead to the enemy’s defeat and the creation of a more peaceful environment in the future.”
“And there it is, in all its beautiful, elliptical, symmetrical, asinine Bushian glory,” Olbermann concluded.
“If fewer Americans die in Iraq, that’s because the surge is working. If more Americans die in Iraq, that’s also because the surge is working. And if the surge is working, the troops have to stay longer to solidify its gains. And if the surge isn’t working, the troops have to stay longer to make sure it starts working.”
“And the point of the war in Iraq is to make sure there is a war in Iraq.”
EXCERPT: Try lacing your hands together," Ms. Markova says. "You habitually do it one way. Now try doing it with the other thumb on top. Feels awkward, doesn't it? That's the valuable moment we call confusion, when we fuse the old with the new."
AFTER the churn of confusion, she says, the brain begins organizing the new input, ultimately creating new synaptic connections if the process is repeated enough.
But if, during creation of that new habit, the "Great Decider" steps in to protest against taking the unfamiliar path, "you get convergence and we keep doing the same thing over and over again," she says.
"You cannot have innovation," she adds, "unless you are willing and able to move through the unknown and go from curiosity to wonder."
Last week, it was revealed that EPA assessments of the health dangers posed by toxic chemicals have been delayed and/or changed because non-scientists are participating in the reviewing process. The Pentagon, the Energy Department, NASA, political appointees and chemical manufacturers have participated "at almost every step in the assessment process," reported the non-partisan Government Accountability Office. "The (EPA) scientists feel as if they have lost complete control of the process, that it's been taken over by the White House and that they're calling the shots," one anonymous scientist said.
So, remember, kids: discarded rocket fuel in your tap water doesn't cause cancer. It gives you extra "oomph!"
Meanwhile, 60% of the EPA scientists responding to a survey...said that BushCo. was either twisting or tossing scientific findings that didn't benefit the Administration or its cronies across the board. "Our investigation found an agency in crisis," said Francesca Grifo of the Union of Concerned Scientists. "Distorting science to accommodate a narrow political agenda threatens our environment, our health and our democracy itself."
When California recently moved to impose stricter regulations on its own, the EPA quashed it, although its own scientists were for it. EPA chief Stephen Johnson has tossed out every excuse in the book in order to hide any of the EPA's in-house findings, from national security to the chance that documents showing scientists voting in favor of cleaner air and the EPA ignoring them would be confusing. It "could result in needless public confusion about the Administrator's decision."
No, I think most of the public would get it. The concepts of "unscrupulous whore" and "partisan hack" are pretty much part of Americana, these days.
Just last week, EPA/BushCo. forced its top environmental regulator in the Midwest to quit because she went after Dow Chemical for not cleaning up dioxin-saturated soil and sediment extending 50 miles beyond Dow's Midland, Michigan plant, contaminating both Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron. Highly respected EPA employee Mary Gade said that she was stripped of her powers as a regional administrator and told to quit or be fired by June. The EPA mumbled its usual disgruntled employee riff. The amazing thing about Gade's firing is that Dow has already taken responsibility for the toxicity. It just doesn't want to do anything about it.
"President Bush announced the rebate checks for at least $600. ... I'm going to use my check to buy enough gas to drive to the bank and cash it. And then maybe back. The rebates were pushed through by the president to help get the economy going. It's kind of like when the mom of the kid nobody likes bakes everyone cupcakes so you can pretend to like him until the cupcakes are gone, and then you go back to giving him wedgies." --Jimmy Kimmel
"Tomorrow I go to Washington D.C. to perform at the White House Correspondents Dinner. It's thrown by the press corps for the president and his staff. Everyone who works for the president will be there. Dick Cheney will be there; Condoleezza Rice will be there; Fox News will be there." --Craig Ferguson
"And Barack Obama is suffering from a bad headache today. His former pastor, Reverend Wright, is back out there. Reverend Wright gave an interview earlier tonight on PBS with Bill Moyers, and he said he's gotten over a million emails and phone calls telling him to keep on speaking out, and every one of them came from Hillary Clinton. It was amazing." --Jay Leno
"I like John McCain. Do you like John McCain? He looks like the guy that forgets to roll up his windows at the car wash. ... He looks like the guy who yells 'Okay, who touched the darkness control on the toaster?'" --David Letterman
"Big day at the White House today. I've got to mention this. Today, at the White House, President Bush was busy. President Bush signed a proclamation declaring this week as Malaria Awareness Week. There was an awkward moment when, during the ceremony, Bush said, 'This is a great day for all Malarians.'" --Conan O'Brien
"Well, campaigning in Indiana today, Hillary Clinton, once again, is up to her old tricks. She told the crowd that she's a lifelong Colts fan, and recalled that when she was a little girl, her father taught her how to drive an Indy car. 'I remember racing around at the track.'" --Jay Leno
"President Bush says that the $300 rebate we've been promised, the rebate checks from the government, will finally be mailed out on Monday. It's nice. Good news, yeah. Then Americans can decide whether to save the $300 or use it to buy half a tank of gas. You're right, that was more sad than funny. Ha ha ha. We're screwed" --Conan O'Brien
"And of course, the really good news for liberals, Hillary Clinton won Pennsylvania! I remember when she used to be the big liberal. I guess things have changed. But she did, come on, you've gotta give it up for Hillary. She won it, again. I know, it's pesky. She keeps winning. She won in Pennsylvania, and the next day, she raised 10 million dollars. That's a lot of lolly. And her supporters said they would have donated that money sooner, but there was a purse at Nordstrom they just had to have." --Bill Maher
It has been reported that McCain erupted and called his wife a "cunt" when she fondly ruffled his hair and remarked that he was getting a little thin on top. A Baptist minister was brave enough to ask him about this at a town hall meeting yesterday. McCain did a little tap dance and shuffle -- and avoided answering the question--quickly moving on to another questioner. But this story has been verified by several of those who were there at the time the incident happened between McCain and his wife. For video of the McCain tap dance, and full story about the "C" word incident, see: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/01/mccain-asked-did-you-call_n_99744.html Would you want this hair-trigger-tempered man as president? A good question to consider, I think. 
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