Bush Urges Confidence in His Leadership. Mr. President, all the urging in the world ain’t gonna make me confident in your ability to skillfully lead a chorus of 100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall, no less my country.
What a useless story. The accompanying AP image, however, taken as Bush spoke from the stage of Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville (WTF?), may be useful in explaining why he’s so keen on missiles and codpieces.
[I]n the Dubya Era a person can be a Good American, or a Good Republican, but they can no longer be both.
And that, Mr. President, is quite obviously the world you wanted all along.
Mannion thinks Kaine might have been a wise choice not entirely stupid. The Heretik visits Freedom Land. The Moderate Voice has a big round-up of responses. Pam’s got a good SOTU wrap-up here (including this little gem: I just can't muster the energy to go over the glorious, flaming pile of bullsh*t he said about Iraq; at this point he's delusional, attempting to convince some small segment of the population not drunk on the Kool-Aid that we're somehow winning and that peace and democracy are flourishing. And, of course, he's going to "stand behind our military." Troops have all the resources and protection that they need, don't they? How's that stop-loss policy working out for you?).
Leave links to your own SOTU commentaries in comments, so we can check them out.
A week ago, Toast wrote a great piece called Your Media: Objectively Pro-GOP, in which he noted, “I think the battle to take back the media will, in the long term, prove more important than the battle to take back the House, or the Senate, or the Presidency.” He’s spot-on, but the Dems sure don’t seem to be listening. They seem, instead, determined to continue rejecting liberalism in favor of a right-centrism that they are inexplicably convinced will win them elections.
In their one guaranteed opportunity a year to promote their message, unfettered by media filters and free from the constraints of having to answer specific questions posed by a journalist and restrict responses to clever soundbites, the Dems did little more than reassert their intention to be Republican-lite, sending charisma-void Tim Kaine out to reaffirm that everything the President says is just great and all, but there’s a better way. No matter how much we bemoan the very real ways in which the deck is stacked against the Dems, like an actively pro-GOP media, no one else but the Dems themselves are responsible for making the choice to use the SOTU rebuttal as a platform to distance themselves from genuine liberal tenets.
Even Jonathan Singer at MyDD, who felt Kaine’s rebuttal was “more than acceptable,” notes:
As good as the speech was, however, Kaine left out two of the most important for the Democrats this year: Jack Abramoff…And they will. It’s illogical to witness the selection of Tim Kaine, a war hawk and anti-gay Dem, and listen to his speech, then come to any other conclusion except that the Dems are actively pursuing a Republican-lite strategy. Not good enough.
By failing to cite the Bush administration’s ties to Jack Abramoff, the Democrats missed a real opportunity to remind Americans just what Republican governance stands for -- cronyism and corruption. While the exclusion of Abramoff from Kaine's speech does not overshadow the positives of the address, it certainly exemplifies the misguided reluctance of Democratic consultants to take on the Republicans with everything we've got and is somewhat of a disturbing omen for what is to come should these consultants continue their domination of Democratic politics this year.
I believe that there is finally a recognition that the Party has hit the wall. We have moved as far to the right as we can go and we have been as accomodating as we can be without thoroughly compromising our fundamental principles. Most of us [in the grassroots and blogosphere] are not "far left" if that means extreme policy positions. Indeed, many of us would have been seen as middle of the road not all that long ago. We are partisans and that's a different thing all together. The leadership is recognising this.I would like to agree, and I certainly hope Digby is right, but trotting out Tim Kaine to deliver the “us too, but better” message doesn’t reassure me. All I heard was, “No liberals here.”
Not only was Cindy Sheehan ejected from the SOTU last night for wearing a t-shirt that stated the number of war dead, but a Republican Congressman’s wife was ejected for wearing a t-shirt that read “Support the Troops - Defending Our Freedom.”
[Beverly Young, wife of Rep. C.W. Bill Young of Indian Shores] said she was sitting in the gallery's front row, about six seats from first lady Laura Bush, when she was approached by someone from the Capitol Police or sergeant-at-arms office who told her she needed to leave the gallery.Yeah, wait until he does. Like he’ll care.
She reluctantly agreed but argued with several officers in the hallway outside the House chamber.
"They said I was protesting," she said in a telephone interview late Tuesday. "I said, "Read my shirt, it is not a protest.' They said, "We consider that a protest.' I said, "Then you are an idiot."'
She said she was so angry that "I got real colorful with them."
…Young, 50, said her shirt was not a protest but a message of support for U.S. soldiers and Marines fighting for their country. She often wears the T-shirts when visiting her husband at the Capitol and during her visits to see the wounded at military hospitals.
…Young's husband, a Republican who chairs the House appropriations subcommittee on defense, was unaware she was removed until after the speech. He said he was furious about the incident.
"I just called for the chief of police and asked him to get his little tail over here," Rep. Young said late Tuesday. "This is not acceptable."
Beverly Young said, "Wait until the president finds out."
Let’s take a look at last year’s SOTU wrap-up:
Freedom around the world! And end to tyranny! Liberty and justice for all! Not so fast, faggots...This year: We dream of a time when every American is rich in hope and equal in opportunity. Not so fast, faggots…
How can a speech riddled with references to freedom and equality contain a call for a federal marriage amendment denying rights to a sizable portion of the American public? Or a demand to make tax cuts favoring the wealthiest permanent?This year: How can a speech riddled with references to freedom and equality contain a call for a federal marriage amendment denying rights to a sizable portion of the American public? Or a demand to make tax cuts favoring the wealthiest permanent?
And what was with the Dems' rebuttal? Fucking hell, could Harry Reid have been a bigger snoozefest?! I kept expecting him to put on a cardigan and some sneakers and break into "It's a Wonderful Day in the Neighborhood."This Year: I miss Harry Reid. He was quite the spitfire last year, wasn’t he?
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being uninspiring but not offensive, and 10 being a disaster of catastrophic proportions, how bad a speaker is Tim Kaine?
On his own, I'd probably give him a 7. Coupled with the endless murmuring of the heavy-handed and crass "There's a better way" mantra, I give it an easy 9.5. The only thing that could have made that speech worse is if his dick had fallen out of his pants to reveal it was emblazoned with a tattoo of Calvin peeing on The New Deal.
Actually, upon consideration, that might have improved the speech.
Mr. Shakes and I are going to be sitting here watching the SOTU on C-SPAN, and at least one of us both of us will be drinking heavily. Consider this an open thread for discussion...and we'll join in with observations, comments, snark, gentle weeping, or whatever else strikes us.
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Breaking News: Cindy Sheehan, who was invited to the SOTU, has been arrested.
Old News: Denny Hastert is a fat pot of shit.
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Mr. Shakes wants to know "when this long piece of Texas shite will start talking."
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Here come da cowboy!
Mr. Shakes is singing, "God Save the King."
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Heh heh. Jesus was flying!
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OH NO HE ISN'T USING CORETTA SCOTT KING TO OPEN HIS SPEECH! ARGH!!!
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SPIRIT OF GOOD WILL AND RESPECT?! What planet is he on???
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"We seek the end of tyanny in our world. Some think this idea is misguided idealism." And some of us just think it's FUCKING IRONIC.
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First 9/11 reference. Everyone have a drink!
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I'll hang out in comments from here on out. I need to drink more. This speech blows.
I'm not doing a cross-post, as I don't think this is really on-topic over here in the land of the Bard... but several Shakers e-mailed a link to me about the upcoming Disney/DEVO team-up, and I've posted about it. If you're interested, come on over to Spudville and see why I'm okay with all this.
A Wakefield man lost his appetite when he found "dog shit" listed among the ingredients on a packet of ham.Too bad about the recall. I want me some dog shit ham!
Mick Woods, 34, examined another of the 300g containers and saw the same 'additive' listed on the label.
And he admitted: "Obviously I haven't eaten it. It sort of puts you off."
His partner Tracey, 28, bought the 99p packs of cooked, sliced ham from a store near their home.
The dad-of-three added: "We spent 40 minutes laughing. But we haven't put any in the kids' sandwiches and we had something else for our tea."
Manufacturer H R Hargreaves & Son said it axed an employee over the labeling prank and was trying to recall the ham.
A spokesman for the Manchester firm said: "We can't have people fooling about with food products. A number of packs are affected. We're trying to find out what shops they're in." (link)
My Londoner Andy just forwarded me some pictures he took recently, and among them was this picture of a walkway in Glasgow, which was so lovely I thought I’d post it. He titled it “Bleak Metro Walkway,” but it doesn’t strike me as bleak. It seems beckoning, and I like the way it starts to curve, so you’re just not sure what’s ahead.
Bush to Say ‘America Is Addicted to Oil’ in Talk. Wow, who clued him in on that fucking newsflash? Time to start praying to Jesus, I guess. Since he helped Bush kick his addiction, maybe he can help America kick ours.
Not a headline: Bush to Admit He is America’s Biggest Enabler.
Remember when it would have mattered that our Attorney General is a big, stinking liar? Yeah, those were the days.
In a letter to the attorney general yesterday, [Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.)] demanded to know why Gonzales dismissed the senator's question about warrantless eavesdropping as a "hypothetical situation" during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in January 2005. At the hearing, Feingold asked Gonzales where the president's authority ends and whether Gonzales believed the president could, for example, act in contravention of existing criminal laws and spy on U.S. citizens without a warrant.Hmm. Lying under oath, eh? Didn’t we impeach a president for that once upon a time…?
Gonzales said that it was impossible to answer such a hypothetical question but that it was "not the policy or the agenda of this president" to authorize actions that conflict with existing law. He added that he would hope to alert Congress if the president ever chose to authorize warrantless surveillance, according to a transcript of the hearing.
In fact, the president did secretly authorize the National Security Agency to begin warrantless monitoring of calls and e-mails between the United States and other nations soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The program, publicly revealed in media reports last month, was unknown to Feingold and his staff at the time Feingold questioned Gonzales, according to a staff member. Feingold's aides developed the 2005 questions based on privacy advocates' concerns about broad interpretations of executive power.
Gonzales was White House counsel at the time the program began and has since acknowledged his role in affirming the president's authority to launch the surveillance effort.
Fiat Lux points out in comments that since it’s too early to drink, Digby is coffeeblogging—spending some time at Dave Johnson’s new blog, Smelling the Coffee.
I don’t drink coffee, though, so instead, I’m soliciting everyone’s favorite drink recipes. By the time it is late enough to drink (and facing the SOTU), we should have a nice list!
I always drink amaretto on the rocks, but since that doesn’t make for much of a recipe, I’ll share one I read recently that I’ve been dying to try, being a lover of all things lime:
Key Lime Pie Martini
INGREDIENTS:
2 oz Vanilla Vodka
1 oz Lime Juice
1 oz Half and Half cream
DIRECTIONS:
Shake with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass. Serve with a lime twist.
Yum.
Political Wire’s Quote of the Day:
"Any time they are yelling, preaching, lecturing, and you are cool and calm and breathing deep, you are winning. What that means on television sets where the American people are watching this is, you look good and they look bad. It was the central operating premise."Seriously, I feel like giving up. (I won’t, but I damn well feel like it!) Try to play fair against the GOP, and you lose. Try to be reasonable, you lose. Try to be passionate, you lose. You can’t beat them, because they’re lousy, lying cheats who have bought the media.
-- An "administration official," quoted by the New York Times, in comments to Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito on their strategy to get him confirmed by the Senate.
Brokeback Mountain received 8 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director (Ang Lee), Best Actor in a Leading Role (Heath Ledger), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Jake Gyllenhall), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Michelle Williams), and Best Cinematography.
The other Best Picture nominees are Capote, Good Night and Good Luck, Munich, and Crash. (I’m really excited that Crash was nominated. I loved it, but thought it came out too early in the year and would be forgotten.)
The full list of nominees is here.
You know you like your SOTU previews dirty.
Am I the only one who finds this hilarious, in a severely depressing way? President Douchebag, the failed Texas oil businessman and the best friend a Saudi oil king could ever want, is telling us that he has figured out how to fix U.S. energy policy.But there's no prize. Now that's dirty.
Here are a few real solutions to help the U.S. break its dependency on Foreign Oil...
~ Force the big car companies to produce more hybrid vehicles through forced quotas and incentives.
~ Make large scale investments into mass transit systems in the largest cities in America. How about using that $50 billion we are wasting on missile defense?
~ Introduce a large gas tax (50 cents per gallon) to force a reduction in demand. Use that money to invest in mass transit, road maintenance and alternative fuels.
Guess how many of these Bush will mention in his speech? If you guessed zero, then you win the prize.
New Jersey (and Blue Jersey) blogger DBK (whose regular pit-stop is Blanton's and Ashton's) tipped me off to the new podcasting going on over at Blue Jersey. Their inaugural podcast is here, in which DBK sits down with Congressman Rush Holt (D-NJ) to have a flower-side chat.
For this month's podcast, we sat down with Congressman Rush Holt to hear his thoughts on the upcoming State of the Union, political blogging, NSA domestic spying, rising energy costs, the President's upbringing (hint: it involved immersion in oil) and more.Also of interest, Congressman Holt will join BlueJersey after the State of the Union for a live discussion. Plus, Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) will be liveblogging the State of the Union at NJ for Democracy, Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA) will be liveblogging at WashBlog, and Congressman Tim Ryan (D-OH) will be liveblogging at MyDD.
On Medicare Part D: "I'm not going to accuse them of designing it to fail--although that thought has crossed my mind."
Holt answers the question: "Where are the Democrats?" and shares his thoughts on how to regain a Congressional majority.
