The Hammer Plays "Hardball"

I can't stop thinking that he seems to be brashly defending a flawed practice. Making excuses. Passing the blame. And that the PAC that he set up is doing things without his knowledge. Completely legal things, mind you!

Are the days of Republicans being drunk with power and manipulating the electoral processes coming to an end? Don't bet on it. My money's on continued scapegoating and obfuscation. Because the Delay's, Rove's, Bush's, and Limbaugh's of the world should never have to answer for or admit to anything they might have done wrong. Right?

Hammer Time

Conspiracy, blah, blah, blah. Rhetoric, yadda, yadda, ad infinitum. The bottom line: Even if everything Tom DeLay said in his statement is true, it's hard (some might go so far as "impossible") to feel sorry for him.

Okay, fine. Impossible.

The Sun Won't Come Out . . . Tomorrow . . .

No, this isn't a post about Hurricane Rita. Or the Yankees overtaking the Red Sox in the AL East. It's about the Senate Judiciary Committee's upcoming vote (tomorrow) on John Roberts. Maybe not Roberts directly (because he's gonna coast through committee and Senate confirmation) but the next nominee that Bush throws out there. Yeah. That's when things get dark.

I Kick Ass (with My Shoes I Got in the French Quarter)

The talking heads were pretty frothed up about Bush’s speech last night, especially those fiscal conservatives (e.g., Tucker Carlson) who thought that Washington spending a shitpile of money (up to 100% of the bill) to rebuild the Gulf Coast might be a bad idea. Bush sounded like a liberal, yes, but I couldn’t help but think there is no way he can make good on all of these promises. And then I thought, wait . . . where are all the fuckin’ people? Had they planned to chopper in some refugees from Houston but cancelled the plans at the last minute? Couldn’t they have brought in some horse-drawn carriages and panhandlers? Oooo, that’s what would’ve sold it . . . having a 12-year-old African American kid walk up to the president, mid-speech, and say, "I bet I can tell you where you got your shoes."

A NIO correspondent had this to say:

"I'm still waiting for someone to publicly point out that he chose a camera shot, standing in front of an Andrew Jackson memorial in Jackson square. Either these guys are beyond stupid ("Hey, . . let's do it in front of this kickass general sculpture, 'cause it reminds people that I kick ass!") or it's a symbolic way of saying, "Fuck you, poor black people!" reminiscent of the time (and conservatives love to point this out) Bill Clinton wore Monica's tie during his public apology.

"I miss the good 'ol days when getting blown in the Oval Office was the worst thing a president could do."

The "Terrorists" Have Won. A Little.

Bush doesn't like the Press very much. They rough up his press secretary. They write unflattering stories about his Administration. Goddammit, they stand against everything that makes America great.

The Press are the enemy. Terrorists. And they've won. For now.

Members of the mainstream media and bloggers alike, for days, have been calling for the firing of Michael Brown, the ill-prepared, untrained, inexperienced director of FEMA. The White House's version of "negotiating" (with the terrorists) was pulling Brown back to Washington to do . . . well, something. Meanwhile, his job is being turned over to someone else. And Chertoff is answering for him at press conferences.

Look, the guy who groped Jenna Bush has as much experience as Brown in crisis-management; he dated Jenna, afterall.

The president claims that he doesn't listen to polls, and doesn't run the country based on public opinion. But the country found out about his blatant cronyism. And he has to answer for it. Along with everthing else.

Worst Disaster

This is so great, I'm not sure I can come up with words to add to the glorious Truth of it.



(as seen here at Snopes.com)

If a Million Monkeys Were Given an Eternity to Create a New Language, at Some Point, "Rumsfeld" would Mean the Same as "Healing"

You know, I've been thinking a lot about how the on-going "war" in Iraq contributed to the slow response from our National Guard. And now Donald Rumsfeld is assuring us that the Katrina crisis will not diminish America's capabilities to wage wars, including the morass we are currently stuck in.

Rumsfeld was asked about criticism from some who say the commitment of large numbers of troops to the Iraq conflict, including National Guard soldiers from Louisiana and Mississippi, hindered the military's response to Hurricane Katrina.

"Anyone who's saying that doesn't understand the situation," he replied.

Well, I do understand that the hundreds of billions we've spent in Iraq won't affect the lives of Americans very much at all (other than thousands of people losing a family member or three), while that kind of money would've gone a long way to improve the lives of those on the Gulf Coast.

I'm certainly glad that we have our priorites in order. Better rethink those tax breaks, there, George.