Drug Costs? Blame Terrorists!

Kevin Drum had a good post that points out the infallibility of the bush administration—infallibility to amaze at their audacity.

Terrorist chatter is the reason we can’t import cheap drugs from Canada? Give me a break!

UPDATE: Another fine quote from Mr. Drum: Being an advisor to George Bush must be sort of like sweeping up after the elephants at the circus.

"Chinese Finger Puzzle"

Outstanding post by Josh Marshall in which, while reviewing a piece by Fred Kaplan in Slate, he compares the situation in Iraq to a Chinese finger puzzle, where the harder you try to get out, the more stuck you become. He notes that (paraphrasing Kaplan) every tactical victory is a strategic failure. Seems to me that’s a common theme of occupational forces involved in a quagmire. It certainly happened to us in Vietnam and to the Soviets in Afghanistan, and to the Brits in Iraq last century, and even for tactical covert victories (i.e., reinstalling Reza Pahlavi in Tehran in 1953). Trouble is, many observers saw this one coming. Why didn’t the president or his neocon henchmen? Maybe bush should read a book every now and again.

Tough to Keep Up

It’s getting hard to know what someone says. There really is a media echo chamber, because Kerry didn’t say what’s attributed to him.

You know, I think of myself as an reasonably informed person, one who is in fact, nerdfully obsessed with politics. But if you think you knew exactly what John Kerry said on Monday that has people so up in arms, follow the link below to The Daily Howler.

GOP Now the “Grotesque Old Party”

Sidney Blumenthal has a good article in which he shows that the GOP has finally shrunk from merely being the party of the conservative establishment (but still civically minded) to nothing more than a craven, shrill, obnoxious platform for the lunatic far right. His cute little description of Barak Obama’s opponent for the US Senate seat in Illinois is as “Keyes, who has worn a lapel pin featuring the feet of a fetus, is Jerry Falwell as played by Little Richard.”

Why Do They Laugh at Me?

As a former university public speaking instructor, often listening to bush speak is like nails on the chalkboard. But sometimes he is just plain ridiculous:

These people don't like freedom. You know why? Because it clashes with their ideology. We actually misnamed the war on terror, it ought to be the struggle against ideological extremists who do not believe in free societies who happen to use terror as a weapon to try to shake the conscience of the free world. (Laughter.)

No wonder Rove won’t let him hold regular press conferences. Actually, I agree with Alterman and many others who don’t think bush is stupid, but he sure says some stupid things. The Best examination of this phenomenon is Mark Crispin Miller’s The Bush Dislexicon. For the transcript of the rest of this conference, follow the link below.

Bush Lets Truth Slip Out

Bush spoke the truth again yesterday campaigning in Virginia. Bush also said rich folks shouldn’t be taxed at higher rates because "the really rich people figure out how to dodge taxes anyway." Guess that means drugs should be legal, too. (Eschaton commenters have pointed out that these are standard bush talking points.) Hmmm.....

From Florida to Venezuala, with Love

I’ve known for some time that bush and Ashcroft had it in for Argentina’s Chavez; if you’ve seen the riveting documentary “This Revolution will not be Televised,” you’d have seen Ari Fleischer transparently trumpeting the coup in 2001 as "a combustible situation in which Chavez resigned." And now we hear that ChoicePoint has a contract with Ashcroft’s Justice Department to build a database on citizens in several countries in Central and South America. Considering that Chavez is facing reelection this Sunday in a forced recall election financed in part by the bush administration, might this have something in common with Jeb Bush’s successful efforts to purge thousands of voters from the Florida voting rolls? Greg Palast has some questions for the vigilant to ponder:

Novak to Jail?

You know, I’m ordinarily not a big fan of reporters going to jail for refusing to divulge their sources. Protection from disclosure is a fundamental ethical safeguard that in the long run allows journalists to effectively fulfill their role as watchdogs. This role is vital to the functioning of our democracy that is too often disregarded these days. But usually the journalists are protecting whistleblowers trying to expose some wrongdoing on the part of someone else—either the government or corporation or people within those institutions. But that’s not what’s going on here. This is apparently a case of two officials in the White House who were willing to sacrifice national security, worldwide nuclear anti-proliferation efforts, and the lives and careers of the people involved in order to settle a petty political score, perhaps committing felonies to do it. Isn’t there an ethical distinction one can make here?

Run Against Bush

September 18 is the national run against bush day; in Portland, people are meeting at the Burnside Bridge every Saturday to run. The t-shirt looks cool, and it may be a good time for some of us to get in shape enough for September 18. Follow the link below:

Ron Reagan's Case Against Bush

Never thought I would say this about a Reagan, much less the guy I remember dancing around in his underwear on Saturday Night Live, but this is an article of substance. To wit:

Politicians will stretch the truth. They'll exaggerate their accomplishments, paper over their gaffes. Spin has long been the lingua franca of the political realm. But George W. Bush and his administration have taken "normal" mendacity to a startling new level far beyond lies of convenience. On top of the usual massaging of public perception, they traffic in big lies, indulge in any number of symptomatic small lies, and, ultimately, have come to embody dishonesty itself. They are a lie. And people, finally, have started catching on.

The rest of the article is worth the read:

Thom Hartmann on Nader

Great article by Thom Hartmann (leftie talk-radio host and Author of Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights) on Nader's candidacy. Hartmann compellingly shows that the Nader candidacy is not only a nuisance, but also a fraud.

The Truth Slips Out

So w. finally speaks the truth on the war on terrorism:

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop
thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."

Hooray for w.

Great Video

America Coming Together has an absocheneylutely hilarious video featuring Will Farrell as george w. bush. Find it at the link below.

Alterman on Dean/Nader

Here's what Eric Alterman has to say about Howard Dean and Ralph Nader:

If Ralph Nader had Howard Dean’s guts and grace, America would be a different country today. Dean, a formerly moderate-to-conservative Democrat in many ways has been transformed by his incredible experience into a progressive leader and organizer. He is dong just what Nader should have done—and would have done if he genuinely cared about the causes for which he professes to stand—which is to reinvigorate the Democratic party with an infusion of new, young blood and help train it, direct and eventually organize it into a new progressive voice inside the party.

The model of course, is Ralph Reed and it’s one that works, provided one undertakes it with sufficient patience and dedication. I saw Dean speak to an overflow crowd—not the entire crowd, just the overflow part of the crowd who couldn’t get into his main speech—at an event sponsored by Campaign for America’s Future. Everything he said was sensible, down-to–earth and yet hopeful and progressive at the same time.

If Kerry does win and Dean and Trippi have (together with MoveOn and others) built up organizations strong enough to hold his proverbial feet to the fire then the primary process this year will have accomplished what it never has in the past—when progressive candidates like Jackson, Brown and others have raised millions of dollars and created waves of excitement only to disappear and leave the tough institution-building work to others.

Link to Altercation: