Not Surprising
November 11th, 2005Bush speeches compared. (source: littlemeanfish)
Is this the best Rove and Cheney can do? Who wants to bet the numbers will go lower than Nixon?
And then there’s John Cusack [!!!] letting loose. o
Bush speeches compared. (source: littlemeanfish)
Is this the best Rove and Cheney can do? Who wants to bet the numbers will go lower than Nixon?
And then there’s John Cusack [!!!] letting loose. o
November 11th, 2005 at 10:12 pm
First!!!!!!
Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
November 11th, 2005 at 10:38 pm
What I have wondered for a while (since the Abu Gharib atrocities) is this: Where is the outrage from the RIGHT? Why aren’t they, the supposed Law and Order party with the all the righteous Christians on their side, crapping bricks and calling for heads to roll? And when is the Left going to start calling these people for what they are: Incompetent immoral fiends.
This administration keeps proving that it is not worthy of our trust. And you can bet your bottom dollar that if a Democratic administration had outed Valerie Plame, people would be screaming “Treason! We are at war and those godless pinkos gave away a vital national security interest!” Because, and this is where I start to go loco, SOMEONE is this administration committed a FELONY when they gave away Valerie Plame. And look at how easy it was for them to do it. Just a couple of phone calls and years of CIA effort pissed away. If I were I spy out in the field, I don’t think I’d feel so great with these losers in charge.
The John Cusack rant was delightful. A little over the top, but it’s always nice to read a passionate rant. Thanks!
And now I need to go take a shower. I’m all hot and bothered…
November 11th, 2005 at 11:00 pm
Holy hell. Reason #692 that I love John Cusack: He blogs passionately.
November 11th, 2005 at 11:07 pm
2 e-mails and now my second comment, officially a stalker. John Cusaks’ speech was succinct. So what have I done about it… Attended the war rally (Rockys’ speech against the media and the war was inspiring), subscribe to moveon.org and vote in a predominantly Republican state, eeech. I need to do more. Any suggestions?
November 11th, 2005 at 11:26 pm
WOW. So glad you pointed out the Cusack piece, because I don’t always get around to the Huffington Post…I’m going to do my best to spread that one far and wide. Who knew?
November 12th, 2005 at 4:55 am
Holy Toledo, I thought the only reason I loved John Cusak was because he’d stand on the lawn with a boombox blasting Peter Gabriel. Now he deepens the deal by being smart, well-written AND a liberal thinker. :swoon: Am I the only one thinking the Franken/Stewart ticket would rock? (I say it in a dreamworld sense. I realize we have to be as well-oiled and political of a machine as the GOP if we’re going to win. And that sucks, too. We’ve reached a point where the well-coiffed, silver-tongued politicians all share some portion of the same DNA, regardless of party affiliation.)
November 12th, 2005 at 8:30 am
Jon Deal: I agree with you 100%. I unfortunately have lost all faith in Democrats, though, especially since they managed to lose the 2004 presidential election (which, according to many, was theirs to lose). It’s unfortunate that so many Democrats are great at complaining and participating in big events like protests and political concerts but can’t seem to motivate themselves to vote. I don’t think we can totally blame it on the crap that went down in poor neighborhoods on election day, either. This is a nation-wide Democrat problem, and if there’s a chance in hell of giving the current lot of neocons the boot, this problem is going to need to disappear by election day 2006 and again by election day 2008.
As for the Plame thing, beyond just her being outed, think of all the other spies whose lives are now in jeopardy since the name of the fake company where Plame “worked” as a cover was revealed. Every spy who claimed to have worked there EVER is now exposed as well. How many spies is that? Tens? Hundreds? Who knows.
The White House really stepped in it this time. It’s unfortunate that anyone who is convicted of a crime is going to be pardoned by Bush as he leaves office…
November 12th, 2005 at 12:54 pm
Living outside the U.S., I definitely have the sense that things ain’t right. The “end of days” scenario for America that Cusack talks about doesn’t sound too far-fetched when crunched with some numbers. Unfortunately, it seems that it’s only the thinking minority in America that can see any of this, whether we’re talking about the ethics of torture or the dizzying deficit (how does 12 grand per household sound for the Iraq adventure? So far?) I fear that it will take a major economic calamity to wake up the complacent majority. For better or worse, many economists say that’s a great possibilty, if not a done deal. As with political and international credibility, the Bush administration has created a massive bag for whoever steps in to be left holding. Sorry to say it in this forum, but I’m glad I left when Bush “arrived”.
November 12th, 2005 at 12:54 pm
Am I the only one here that is still of the opinion that ALL politicians are corrupt/insane/liars/candy-stealing/blood sucking/cheats? Really, is this news? Is Bush recycling a speech worthy of all this?
Why don’t you people just get over the fact that BUSH is no worse than SLICK WILLY was and that you can pretty much guarantee that nobody is going to make everyone happy.
Stop all the bitching, get over it, vote your conscience and do the best you can. Move on… I’m sick of all the damn bad mouthing of every administration. Reality check…
Jon - please take advantage of your time off from the day job to start wrinting about things that aren’t just politcal whining and trash - PLEASE! You seem to be creative - why don’t you use your creativity to write something unique insted of plastering up this political garbage?
November 12th, 2005 at 1:15 pm
Impatient,
I think the reason I post politically tinged blurbs is for people just like you. Bush recycling a speech indicates that he is out of touch and has no new ideas, no desire to try anything different and shows just how far gone he is as a leader. I believe that this is just another example of a president in denial and thought I’d share it. I refuse to be silent while my country goes to hell.
I’m not going to “get over it”. We are headed in the wrong direction. I’m not bitching, I’m not whining. I’m voicing an opinion that the country I love is fucked. And fucked by people in denial. And by Bush supporters who should know better.
Impatient, why don’t YOU GET OVER IT? Why aren’t YOU upset about the fact that the United States is advocating torture? Does that represent your beliefs? If I voted for Bush, I wouldn’t be parroting the nutjob pundits. I’d be livid and making demands.
I also disagree with your point that writing about this subject is somehow trashy. It’s this fascist, nationalistic thinking that has lead us into the Stalinist regime we have now. It’s my duty as a citizen to voice my concern over where I think my country is heading. I don’t think I’m alone.
November 12th, 2005 at 1:19 pm
“Why don’t you people just get over the fact that BUSH is no worse than SLICK WILLY was and that you can pretty much guarantee that nobody is going to make everyone happy.”
I have never understood how people can say things like that with a straight face. It’s like some weird cognitive dissonance or something, or maybe just the conservative default move of “But, Bill Clinton!” It’s really funny.
And I, for one, think Jon should write about whatever the hell he wants to.
November 12th, 2005 at 2:00 pm
C’mon - I just meant that when Clinton was in office - folks like me who weren’t happy just had to suck it up. Elections show what the majority wants. All this means is that you are the minority for now.
You will have to suck it up right now. If you don’t like it and everything is “fucked” then by all means - fix it or leave. Don’t sit here and piss and moan.
Jon, something else bothered me about how you responed to my earlier post. When you compare the Bush administration and our freely elected government to a “Stalinist regime” I think you are OUT OF TOUCH - and I suggest you go use all the time you have now to go to a library and do some reading about Stalin.
My personal opinion is that you are just drumming up business by getting all your liberal buddies stirred up on your site with crap like this. Enjoy the money your advertising pays you.
I have enjoyed reading your site and think you are an interesting and creative person. You are better than this - and I would like to see you not stoop to this level. IT IS TRASHY and PATHETIC.
November 12th, 2005 at 2:29 pm
Believe me, there is plenty of outrage on the right. Read any of the right-leaning blogs (I know, you might miss 2 minutes of KOS, that’s tough) and you’ll see that the right is pissed off as well. I’d rather see a big spending Democrat in office than a traitor to his own party/cause. Big spending, individual rights stomping Republican. Barry G. and Ronnie are both rolling over in their graves. After the Dems win in 2006 and 2008, the party will get back to its roots. It’ll be a Goldwater revolution all over. Unless of course the coalition splits. In which case, I better take my money to Barbados.
November 12th, 2005 at 2:44 pm
impatient, sucking it up during Clinton and sucking it up during Bush II are so very very very different. The GOP screwed themselves with how they handled the Lewinsky affair. Screwed. If they would have handled it better, I believe Clinton would have resigned or been even less effective. His poll number never dipped to where Bush numbers are and that’s the point of me talking about this. We are in a potentially critical situation.
Pathetic: your simplistic arguments.
Stalin:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totalitarian_state
particularly:
“…the defining elements were intended to be taken as a mutually supportive organic entity comprised of the following: an elaborating guiding ideology; a single mass party, typically led by a dictator; a system of terror; a monopoly of the means of communication and physical force; and central direction and control of the economy through state planning.”
What has happened in the past five years? Bush has taken the U.S. closer to fascism, closer to totalitarianism than ANY U.S. president. I believe the solution is to fire Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rove. The collective histories of these men, their involvement in politics and the poor decisions they have made (and continue to make) are grounds for dismissal for the good of the country.
It’s time to fire people. Since I can’t make that call, I can suggest it. That, to me, is acting, not whining. I’m publishing that the President of the U.S. needs to fire his cronies. In this climate, that is a potentially risky statement. That climate must change, and the only way it will is if the masses raise their voices. This little corner of the web will continue to raise its voice.
Love,
The Pathetic Garbage Man
P.S. VTOL, how about some links then, since I can’t take myself away from Kos, et al?
November 12th, 2005 at 2:56 pm
Yeah. The Republicans just “sucked it up” during the Clinton years. That’s what they did.
November 12th, 2005 at 3:46 pm
Well, technically speaking we came as close to fascism if not closer to fascism with FDR and we came damn close with Andrew Jackson, but that’s splitting hairs. Your points are valid and I agree wholeheartedly.
Impatient’s arguments are valid because they’re his and we’re all entitled to opinions (even of each other), but I must say if the best he can do is throw down the “Bush is no worse than ____” argument I think he (she?) might be better off not bringing it up.
I mean, Aristide was no worse than Hitler but that doesn’t make Aristide an okay guy. The “no worse” argument is kinda lame.
But now that the topic has been thrown onto the table, let’s consider wassap…
Clinton was almost kicked out of office for getting a blow job and for being linked to Whitewater, a shady deal that I believe may have put a hundred grand or two in the Clintons’ pockets.
Wow…
Bush was elected in 2000 on a platform that promised to clean up the stink of corruption left by the Clintons. He was re-elected on a platform of family values.
As with the 2000 election, as soon as the election is over his platform is balled up and flushed down the toilet. I can’t think of a single thing he’s done to advance either the removal of stink or family values. Nada. Zilch. Bupkis.
Sorry, but I — a former conservative Republican who voted for Bush in 2000, now a registered Independent — simply can not believe that anyone is still willing to apologize for the guy. Every time I hear that someone in Iraq has died I remember that I helped put the guy in the White House. If I and many others did not do that, there’s a very real possibility that there would be no Iraq war. Terrorism, yes, but Iraq has no link to that (other than the terrorism that began after we invaded).
Don’t think that doesn’t bug the hell out of me.
Jon, bitch all you want. I’m with you.
November 12th, 2005 at 4:21 pm
You won’t find the rancor that you do on KOS or Atrios, but you will find libertarian leanings and a deep dissatisfaction with many of Bush’s policies and lack of political skill.
http://tacitus.org/
http://lawandpolitics.blogspot.com/
http://www.andrewsullivan.com/
http://www.redstate.org/
http://cunningrealist.blogspot.com/
http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/
http://www.rightwingnuthouse.com/
http://www.buzzmachine.com/
November 12th, 2005 at 5:26 pm
{The Republicans just “sucked it up” during the Clinton years. }
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!! I am laughing so hard my side hurts!
As Rodney Crowell so perfectly put it, “Ken Starr, word man, we’re talking absurd. Spending forty million dollars just to give a man the bird.”
Bush is an idiot and he is leading this country into rack and ruin. And as for everyone keeping quiet and supporting the gvoernment for our national security, as good ole Ben said, “He who would trade liberty for some temporary security, deserves neither liberty nor security.”
I, for one, think Blurb is extremely courageous to stand up and say the emperor has no clothes.
Hurray for Burb! And for Chuck, who’s fast by his side!
November 12th, 2005 at 5:45 pm
Impatient, people like you, ìJust Sucked It Up?î Really? Are you sure? What about White Water, impeachment, claiming Vince Foster was murdered, travel gate and all the other investigations that went on? Millions of dollars were spent investigating President Clinton starting when he was still candidate Clinton and not ending until he had been out of office for at least a year. You call that sucking up? I could go on and on with examples of how, ìPeople Like Youî didnít, ìJust Suck It Up.î All those investigations ever uncovered was a couple of ill-gotten college football tickets and, of course, a couple of blow jobs. What do you think weíd find if we put the same amount of time and effort investigating your guy? Iím guessing more then a couple of blow jobs.
Sorry, but I think if federal investigators were investigating terrorism instead of blow jobs (between consenting adults) and perfectly legal land deals 911 might not of happened.
At this point the HST quote in the Cusack piece speaks for me
ìThey are the racists and hate mongers among us — they are the Ku Klux Klan. I piss down the throats of these Nazis. And I am too old to worry about whether they like it or not. Fuck them.”
Ahem Hunter, fuck them indeed.
November 12th, 2005 at 6:13 pm
“You will have to suck it up right now.”
So basically we are suppose to be obedient cogs, accepting whatever this administration does to OUR country just because “the majority” voted them in.
I find that absolutely unacceptable.
November 12th, 2005 at 6:51 pm
VTOL, I didn’t see any “deep dissatisfaction” on any of those links. I saw sites that parrot talking points and tacitus trying to fucking justify torture by referring to it as an “arrogant hypocrisy”.
I think the words arrogant and hypocrisy are best applied to the current administration… they are arrogant in their assumptions about what Americans will stand for and hypocritical in their talk of liberty, justice and freedom.
Got any specific links to stories where right leaning people are as you indicated? I’d love to read them and understand. I believe that most Americans distrust Bush and all the right can do is look to the punditry for what to say/think.
November 12th, 2005 at 7:26 pm
Just, WOW JON! I’m checking your blog a lot these days because of posts like this one. I hope that doesn’t make me a stalker.
And Impatient, your friends at LGF miss you. If you’ve read any of Jon’s work, you’ll know that this posting is completely in line with the beliefs he expressed well before he put some ads on the page.
November 12th, 2005 at 9:58 pm
Blurb…methinks you merely glanced at some things. VTOL is right.
Instapundit, arguably the king of non-shouting, salient right-wing blogs, has come out in favor of the McCain amendment, as have others.
Here is a link, as posted by Andrew Sullivan:
http://www.belgraviadispatch.com/archives/004846.html
That way, you won’t have to look for something
November 12th, 2005 at 10:13 pm
“I DON’T KNOW WHETHER I AGREE with the McCain bill completely” doesn’t exactly strike me as a ringing endorsement from Instapundit:
http://instapundit.com/archives/026698.php
He does say he’s against torture, and against what the Dark Lord of the Sith, Jr. (Cheney) wants, which is to exempt the CIA.
I’m hoping to retain a liberal, shouting, non-salient form here.
November 12th, 2005 at 10:25 pm
that’s cool, and certainly your right!
What is so discouraging to me, as a libertarian leaner, is the vitriol that blinds both sides…seemingly the left more so these days.
In 1994, I was a bartender at a private club in Northeast Florida. One day, one of the members brought in a video he bought that was a solid hour on the conspiracy theory that Vince Foster was murdered. The conservative (?) members bought it as gospel, and I remember thinking how sad that was. Now, it seems the left thinks that Bush is the core of all evil in the world.
I believe the Internet will be the saving grace in the world, as the free flow of ideas will hopefully conquer rancor.
Getting off my soapbox now…