Category: Politics

Asking Bush to Move On

Humor, Politics, Rants

The below monologue was in my email this morning. It’s comedian Bill Maher’s closing monologue to the September 9th episode of his HBO program, Real Time with Bill Maher. I’m a longtime fan of Bill’s. Much like another favorite of mine, John Stewart, his label of “comedian” does not do justice to the sharp and incisive political commentary that he consistently offers.

This one is definitely worth sharing, thanks to Karen and Jennifer for passing it along.

Mr. President, this job can’t be fun for you any more.  There’s no more money to spend–you used up all of that.  You can’t start another war because you used up the army.  And now, darn the luck, the rest of your term has become the Bush family nightmare: helping poor people.  Listen to your Mom.  The cupboard’s bare, the credit cards maxed out.  No one’s speaking to you.  Mission accomplished.

Now it’s time to do what you’ve always done best: lose interest and walk away.  Like you did with your military service and the oil company and the baseball team.  It’s time.  Time to move on and try the next fantasy job.  How about cowboy or space man?  Now I know what you’re saying:  there’s so many other things that you as President could involve yourself in.  Please don’t.  I know, I know.  There’s a lot left to do.  There’s a war with Venezuela.  Eliminating the sales tax on yachts.  Turning the space program over to the church.  And Social Security to Fannie Mae.  Giving embryos the vote.

But, Sir, none of that is going to happen now.  Why?  Because you govern like Billy Joel drives.  You’ve performed so poorly I’m surprised that you haven’t given yourself a medal.  You’re a catastrophe that walks like a man.  Herbert Hoover was a shitty president, but even he never conceded an entire city to rising water and snakes.

On your watch, we’ve lost almost all of our allies, the surplus, four airliners, two trade centers, a piece of the Pentagon and the City of New Orleans.  Maybe you’re just not lucky.  I’m not saying you don’t love this country.  I’m just wondering how much worse it could be if you were on the other side.

So, yes, God does speak to you.  What he is saying is: ‘Take a hint.’

Amen to that!

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Passed the Dem Test

Politics, Technology

Wow, I need to pay closer attention to my log files. I had noticed that I was getting a bunch of referrals coming from The Daily Kos, but hadn’t bothered to look into why. And a photo from my Flickr album of my daughter and I in the hot tub is my #1 most viewed picture among my Flickr photos, and again, I was unsure why. I guess I thought maybe lots of folks on Flickr searched the ‘hottub‘ tag looking for more attractive subjects. But no, that wasn’t it.

Tonight I finally stumbled across the answer. In the comment thread following a posting by Senator Kennedy on The Daily Kos, skeptics sought to determine the legitimacy of Kennedy’s campaign domain, did their online sleuthing, and shared their dossier on me in their comments. Happily, when Kos’ Commenters subjected me to their background check, I seem to have passed their Dem Cred test. Thank goodness for that. I wonder if any of them bought my book, or at least a casey.com t-shirt 🙂

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Not *that* W!

News, Politics, Sports

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The Washington Post today had an article saying that some baseball fans of Washington’s new team, The Nationals, are choosing the alternate ‘DC’ logo hat rather than the standard ‘W’ logo version to avoid wearing the nickname of America’s worst President on their cap.

Nonsense I say!

When it comes to being a cap-wearing baseball fan, I’m pretty new to the club. And I’m a wishy-washy sort of fan who will swap caps as quickly as my whim suits me. The Cubs are hanging in at #1 on my noggin, and I got excited enough about the Red Sox amazing season last year to get a cap. But it’s hard not to root for the home team, especially when they’re winning, and so the Nats are climbing my list and I have a new Nats hat in my skull’s wardrobe. I wasn’t unaware that I’d be walking around with a ‘W’ on my head, but I won’t sacrifice a letter of the alphabet to that goof, never!

Certainly, years from now, right-wing revisionists will seek to rename the city of Washington after their ‘Dubya’, just as they renamed Washington National Airport for the Gipper. But today, anyone who looks at the red ‘W’ cap on my head and takes it as any indication of support for the President is stupider than he is. Besides, I’ve found my red hat opens doors with the red hat ladies!

In D.C., ‘W’ Spells More Than Baseball
Washington Post, 7/5/05

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4th of July

Guide to Life, Politics

I love the 4th of July. I love the way that it reminds us about how our country was founded, and the Democratic principles it was founded upon. I find it very appropriate that the 4th of July should be a holiday mixed with politics, as it encourages participation in our government. This year my kids and I once again marched with local Democrats in the Dale City Virginia 4th of July Parade.

We were there to march in support of Hilda Barg, our local candidate for Delegate. But it turned out that Dale City’s parade was THE place to be for candidates from both sides. Both the Democratic and Republican tickets for Governor and Lt. Governor were in the parade. Virginia is a large state. That they all chose Prince William County as the place to start their 4th of July is something I take as a telling sign of them importance of winning here in November is to the outcome of the election.

Recently I have a much greater appreciation of the importance of being involved locally. In college I studied International Relations, and most of my previous campaign work has been at the national or statewide level. But as I have gotten older, I have felt a need to look more closely at my own state, local and neighborhood governments, and to get involved where I can. The 4th of July reminds us why.

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Virginia Race is On

News, Politics

Today’s Washington Post included an editorial titled “In Virginia, the Race Is On“, describing the need for serious debate between Gubernatorial candidates Democrat Tim Kaine and Republican Jerry Kilgore on fiscal and transportation issues.

Of the Republican ticket, the Post writes, “They promise new services without new revenue, offering, in explanation, fantasy coupled with wishful thinking.” Of Kilgore’s plan to require voter approval of any tax increases, they call it “a spineless approach to state governance and a sure-fire recipe for demagoguery.”

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The Downing Street Memo

News, Politics

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As Washington got swept up in the memories of Watergate and the recent revalation that ‘Mark Felt, then the number two man at the FBI, was the informant known as Deep Throat‘ who helped Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein break the story, it’s sad to reflect how little comparison can be made between journalists today.

More than a month ago the Sunday Times of London reported on a classified memo that revealed the Bush administration ‘fixed’ intelligence to suit their needs and build their case for war against Iraq eight months before it began. But with Tony Blair visiting Washington for the first time since the memo’s revelation, it remains essentially a non-story. Perhaps it’s because we Americans are just too jaded to care. We accept the reality that our War in Iraq was one of choice, rather than necessity. George Bush wanted to go to war in Iraq, he used 9/11 as his springboard, trumped up a case, and got what he wanted. And each day we read about the latest fatalities in Bush’s war in Iraq.

Democrats.com is offering a $1000 reward to anyone who can get Bush to answer the question,

In July 2002, did you and your administration “fix” the intelligence and facts about non-existent Iraqi WMD’s and ties to terrorism – which were disputed by U.S. intelligence officials – to sell your decision to invade Iraq to Congress, the American people, and the world – as quoted in the Downing Street Minutes?

Don’t bet on any payouts. This administration is not capable of telling the truth, or admitting failure. Go ahead and tell me again about Clinton’s lies. He didn’t leave 1600+ Americans dead in his wake.

Read On With Hope:
The Downing Street Memo Story Won’t Die
The Washington Post, 6/7/05

Update:
The Washington Post reports today on the memo, and Democrats.com explains why the reporter didn’t earn the whole prize.

Seldom-Discussed Elephant Moves Into Public’s View
The Washington Post, 6/8/05

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The Political Perils of Photoshop

Politics, Technology
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Memo to political consultants: be careful how you use Photoshop. Back in 1996, Senator John Warner’s campaign got caught moving their opponents head onto another body, and last year George Bush’s web site had a photo of him talking to an audience of cloned soldiers.

They both won their races, so a Photoshop scandal may be more a cause for brief embarrassment rather than lasting damage. But do you think that just days before the Republican primary in his campaign to become Governor of New Jersey that Bret Shundler would prefer not having to explain why the audience in this photo from his web site is so strangle reminiscent of this photo from a Howard Dean rally that took place in Virginia last summer?

In the world of fashion models, we accept or ignore the fact that the beauty we see on magazine covers isn’t necessarily reality as captured on film. So why should we expect more from a politician? Because fashion photos are selling fantasy, a visual ideal that doesn’t quite exist in real life. But from politicians, we cling to some hope that we can expect honesty, reality.

Joseph Stalin was an early proponent of re-touching photos to suit his needs. In Shundler’s case a “junior staffer” is wearing the blame for borrowing a Democratic crowd for his Republican client. And maybe that’s how it happened. Digital cameras and Photoshop have made such manipulations much easier, and so more tempting an option when the real photo isn’t quite what you’re looking for.

My own kids have grown up as photo skeptics, certain that they can’t always trust what you see in photos. I can’t imagine why.

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for further reading:

NJ-Gov: Schundler’s big F-up
Daily Kos

GOP candidate’s Web site used doctored Dean photo
AP

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How Democracy Ends

Politics

OK, enough photos. I haven’t offered much about the current fight over the Filibuster in the Senate, the whole thing has had me stunned into silence. With the White House and the Congress in their grip, the Republicans just can’t stand the fact that the rules put in place by our founding fathers to maintain a separation of powers work. They can’t stand the fact that Democrats won’t allow EVERY Bush judicial nominee to be anointed with a lifetime appointment on the bench.

But tonight I’ve read Sen. Max Baucus’ remarks on the Senate Floor on Thursday, and he captures the issue perfectly. So I’m reprinting them here, please read.

Mr. President, last week, on Wednesday, we evacuated the Capitol. At the instruction of the Capitol Police, more than a few Senators and staff actually ran from this building and the surrounding offices in the very real fear that a plane was carrying a bomb to attack this building, the center of our democracy.

Sadly, Wednesday was not the first time. And Wednesday will likely not be the last time, that we guard against threats to our democracy by plane and bomb.

But there are other threats to our democracy and our freedoms, just as menacing, equally as dangerous.

Abraham Lincoln said: “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter, and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”

Former Librarian of Congress Daniel Boorstin said: “It is not slogans or bullets, but only institutions, that can make, and keep, people free.”

And Baron Montesquieu wrote in The Spirit of the Laws: “There is no liberty, if the judiciary power be not separated from the legislative and the executive.” …

Mr. President, in ancient Rome, when the Senate lost its power, and the emperor became a tyrant, it was not because the emperor abolished the Senate. In ancient Rome, when the Senate lost its power, it continued to exist, at least in name. But in ancient Rome, when the Senate lost its power, in the words of the Senate’s historian, Senator Robert Byrd, the Senate became “little more than a name.”

In ancient Rome, when the Senate lost its power, the Roman Senate was complicit in the transfer. The emperor did not have to seize all the honors and powers. The Roman Senate, one after another, conferred greater powers on Caesar.

It was not the abolition of the Senate that made the emperor powerful. It was the Senate’s complete deference.

Like the Roman Senate before us, we risk bringing our diminution upon ourselves. We risk bringing upon ourselves a hollow Senate, a mere shadow of its past self. And we risk bringing upon ourselves a loss of the checks and balances that ensure our American democracy. …

Mr. President:

This is the way democracy ends;

This is the way democracy ends;

This is the way democracy ends;

Not with a bomb, but a gavel.

Thanks to Think Progress for sharing them and encouraging their further spread.

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