The shame of Rudy Giuliani

Rudy Giuliani said if a Democrat is elected president in 2008, America will be at risk for another terrorist attack on the scale of Sept. 11, 2001.

But if a Republican is elected, he said, especially if it is him, terrorist attacks can be anticipated and stopped.

“If any Republican is elected president —- and I think obviously I would be the best at this —- we will remain on offense and will anticipate what [the terrorists] will do and try to stop them before they do it,” Giuliani said.

“But the question is how long will it take and how many casualties will we have?” Giuliani said. “If we are on defense [with a Democratic president], we will have more losses and it will go on longer.”

“I listen a little to the Democrats and if one of them gets elected, we are going on defense,” Giuliani continued. “We will wave the white flag on Iraq. We will cut back on the Patriot Act, electronic surveillance, interrogation and we will be back to our pre-Sept. 11 attitude of defense.”

He added: “The Democrats do not understand the full nature and scope of the terrorist war against us.”

What kind of logic is that? For anyone, like Giuliani, who has a short term memory, which party controlled the presidency and which controlled the New York City mayor's office when terrorists attacked on September 11, 2001?

Just disgraceful.

Tom DeLay's selective memory

Yesterday Tom DeLay suggested that Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi commit treason when they criticize President Bush's Iraq policy. From The Carpetbagger Report -- you have to read all the way to the end to get to the punchline:

If you’re sympathetic to a far-right worldview, you can probably muster some understanding for the former Majority Leader throwing around words like “treason.” After all, Harry Reid called the war in Iraq a “quagmire” and compared it to Vietnam. He said it would “drag on” indefinitely, costing billions. He accused the president of failing to specify how long our troops would have to stay, and he urged the administration to withdraw. When “the body bags start coming home,” Reid said, it’s time to cut our losses.

Reid kept going, talking about the need for peace. “The White House has bombed its way around the globe,” he sneered. “International respect and trust for America has diminished every time we casually let the bombs fly.” As for the current war plan, Reid complained that “no one wants us to be there” and that the president’s crusade “has harmed [our] standing in the world.”

And given the climate, I suppose Reid was pushing his luck when he urged Congress to de-fund the war and “pull out the forces we now have in the region.” What’s worse, Reid basically made the United States look like the bad guy. Once a U.S.-led coalition “starts meddling in the internal affairs of sovereign nations, where does it stop?” Reid asked. He charged that we were “starting to resemble a power-hungry imperialist army” and portrayed our mission as an “occupation by foreigners.”

Are all of these comments harsh? Do they undermine the troops while they’re in harm’s way? Do they amount, literally, to “treason”?

Before our friends on the right answer these questions, they should keep one minor detail in mind: all of these quotes I attributed to Harry Reid weren’t said by Reid at all — they came from Tom DeLay, on the House floor, about President Clinton’s war in Kosovo (in 1999).

Quote of the day -- Harry Reid

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, responding to Dick Cheney’s accusation that he’s changed his position several times on funding for the war in Iraq: “I’m not going to get into a name-calling match with somebody who has a 9 percent approval rating.”

George W. Bush's Disgraceful Conduct

Bill and Georgia Thomas reported they were elated Monday when they met in the Oval Office with President George W. Bush to present him with a Purple Heart.

"We were just absolutely bowled over. Without reservation, it was one of the highlights of our life. He was such a gracious host," Thomas said. "It was just an incredible, incredible experience."

The couple was able to meet with President Bush for about 20 minutes to present him with one of three Purple Hearts that Bill Thomas received during his service in Vietnam.

"He said he didn't feel like he had earned it," Thomas said, noting the president looked thinner in person than on television.

Thomas said he and his wife came up with the unprecedented idea to present the president with the Purple Heart over breakfast one morning a few months ago as they discussed the verbal attacks, both foreign and domestic, the commander in chief has withstood during his time in office.

"We feel like emotional wounds and scars are as hard to carry as physical wounds," Thomas said.

This is disgraceful on so many levels I hardly know where to start.

During Vietnam then-Congressman George H. W. Bush used his political power to jump George W. to the top of a list of over 500 applicants for a Texas Air National Guard pilot's position, despite the younger Bush having received the minimum passing score on the aptitude test. George W. Bush also obtained a direct commission for which he did not meet the minimum requirements. In a 1994 interview, Bush stated that he joined the Guard because "I was not prepared to shoot my eardrum out with a shotgun in order to get a deferment. Nor was I willing to go to Canada. So I chose to better myself by learning how to fly airplanes."

Even so, after the American taxpayers paid over $1 million to train George W., he went AWOL, and then got an early discharge.

Anyone care to point out Bush's role in the Walter Reed Hospital scandal? The spoiled food and contaminated water in Iraq? The multiple and extended tours? The redeployment of soldiers found not fit for duty on medical grounds? The constantly shifting rationale for staying in Iraq?

Yeah, Bush really cares about veterans, all right.

Apparently, Bill Thomas also failed to notice how Bush and his henchmen treat REAL decorated veterans. John Kerry, John Murtha, John McCain, and Max Cleland are all notable cases. Go against the administration and they'll wreck your reputation.

Thomas has a right to do whatever he wants with his medals, but George W. Bush, a man who likes to dress up like a fighter pilot and lie about his prowess (Yes, I flew it!) but couldn't be bothered to show up for duty when he WAS one, a man who still hasn't attended a single fallen service member's burial, has no right to participate in this SHAM.

What really pisses me off is Bush's sense of ENTITLEMENT -- that simply because he wants something, he can have it regardless of how little he worked for it. It's that sense of entitlement that has followed George W. Bush throughout his life, from graduating despite his subpar performance at Yale and Harvard, to skating on his DUIs and drug use, to making millions in business despite a marked lack of success.

In case you're wondering about the photo at the top, remember how Bush and his ilk treat REAL Purple Heart veterans?

Disgraceful.

Hypocritical media

The morning show of columnist Michael Smerconish will be simulcast Monday through Wednesday on MSNBC. Smerconish will fill the slot previously held by Imus in the Morning.

As you'll see if you click on the link, Media Matters has done a very goods job of detailing Smerconish's own racist and sexist remarks.

So what got Imus fired is OK if Smerconish does it? MSNBC -- what hypocrites.

Can conservative bloggers tell the truth?

What he said.

Tommy Thompson's candidacy is over

Former Health and Human Services Secretary and Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson wanted to run for the Republican Presidential nomination.

Then he said this:

Speaking to an audience at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism in Washington D.C., Thompson said that, "I'm in the private sector and for the first time in my life I'm earning money. You know that's sort of part of the Jewish tradition and I do not find anything wrong with that."

Thompson later apologized for the comments that had caused a stir in the audience, saying that he had meant it as a compliment, and had only wanted to highlight the "accomplishments" of the Jewish religion.

"I just want to clarify something because I didn't [by] any means want to infer or imply anything about Jews and finances and things," he said.

"What I was referring to, ladies and gentlemen, is the accomplishments of the Jewish religion. You've been outstanding business people and I compliment you for that."

Got any other racial, ethnic and religious stereotypes you want to throw in there, Governor?

Irish drunks?

Inscrutable Orientals?

Dirty, cowardly French?

Mobster Italians?

Watermelon, fried chicken eating, lazy, singing, dancing African-Americans?

I'd guess this guy's candidacy is OVER.

Andrea Koppel is a stupid hack

Andrea Koppel, CNN's Congressional Correspondent, thinks "there's no smoking gun" in the US Attorney firing scandal.

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?

Let's be clear about this -- it's illegal, immoral and unethical to do any of these things:

1 -- Telling a prosecutor to investigate and bring charges against members of one political party (in this case, Democrats), regardless of the evidence, in an attempt to influence the outcome of an election.

2 -- Telling a prosecutor to STOP investigating and bringing charges against members of one political party (in this case, Republicans), despite credible evidence, in an attempt to influence the outcome of an election.

3 -- Hiring, firing, or continuing the employment of prosecutors based on their approaches to questions 1 and 2. Prosecute my enemies, keep your job. Prosecute my supporters, you're fired. Who can credibly defend that approach to the justice system?

Does Koppel REALLY think there's no smoking gun?

How about this?

This?

All of This?

This?

This?

This?

This?

This?

This?

It took me about five minutes to find these news accounts and link to them. The evidence is there, provided the so-called liberal media, including Koppel, WANTS to see it. How do we get them to remove their blinders?

Joe Lieberman is a jackass

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., says he supports the idea of appointing a senior-level official in the Bush administration to manage operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, adding that his committee might be able to play "a constructive role" in creating the new post.

"I like the idea," Lieberman told CongressDaily in an interview Thursday. "For all the people who have argued that the administration has been too focused on the military aspect of Iraq and Afghanistan, this is a way of saying, as I understand it, that ultimate victory is going to come not just because of military success but also . . . mostly because of political and economic success."

What a jackass. First, as noted in my previous post, there already is someone who has the authority to oversee operations in Iraq and Afghanistan -- the President, in his capacity as Commander in Chief. I'm surprised that Bush and his chief Senate asskisser Lieberman are looking for someone else to do this job, in that Bush thinks he has near dictatorial powers as "unitary executive" and never cedes authority to anyone else for anything.

On top of that, Lieberman goes on to suggest a different role for the "czar." Instead of coordinating military strategy, Lieberman sees the "czar" as overseeing reconstruction, a post similar to the one L. Paul Bremer held as head of the Coalition Provisional Authority.

My problems with that are first, the CPA screwed up Iraq badly, so I think we don't need a repeat.

In addition, Lieberman keeps insisting that we're making progress in Iraq and everything's going well. If he's right about that, then why does he think we need someone new to oversee policy in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Joe Lieberman is a liar and a hypocrite. That makes him a jackass.

Read your Constitution

The White House wants to appoint a high-powered czar to oversee the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with authority to issue directions to the Pentagon, the State Department and other agencies, but it has had trouble finding anyone able and willing to take the job, according to people close to the situation.

At least three retired four-star generals approached by the White House in recent weeks have declined to be considered for the position, the sources said, underscoring the administration's difficulty in enlisting its top recruits to join the team after five years of warfare that have taxed the United States and its military.

Oh, if only there was an already existing position that gave someone the authority to serve as commander in chief over all the armed forces. That would be a GREAT idea!

I don't blame Generals Ralston, Keane and Sheehan for turning this job down. Bush screws up, they get blamed. Pass on that one.

Pat Leahy -- spot on

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The White House "screwed up" by not requiring e-mails from Republican Party and campaign accounts to be saved and is trying to recover any documents that may have been deleted, a spokeswoman said Thursday.

The admission came after the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee accused the White House of trying to hide messages related to the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, which has stirred up a hornet's nest on Capitol Hill.

Congressional investigators have questioned whether White House aides used e-mail accounts from the Republican Party and President Bush's re-election campaign for official government business to avoid scrutiny of those dealings.

"You can't erase e-mails, not today," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont. "They've gone through too many servers. They can't say they've been lost. That's like saying, 'The dog ate my homework.'"

I was listening to the Ed Schultz show today. He was broadcasting in front of an audience in Madison, Wisconsin. He reported on this story and when he got to this Leahy quote Schultz got a long, loud ovation.

The Bush juggernaut is over.

Why all the fuss?

Why all the fuss about Don Imus and his stupid, racially charged attempt at humor? Why are people clamoring to fire him -- here, here, and here?

Why no fuss over this guy?

Or this guy?

How about the same guy again?

Or this guy?

And don't even get me started on THIS guy!

If Don Imus is supposed to get fired, why not any of these other guys?

Finally!

It's about time that someone in the Bush-enabling media called him what he is -- a liar:

As if to confirm we’re in the last throes, President Bush threw any remaining caution to the winds during his news conference in the Rose Garden that same morning. Almost everything he said was patently misleading or an outright lie, a sure sign of a leader so entombed in his bunker (he couldn’t even emerge for the Washington Nationals’ ceremonial first pitch last week) that he feels he has nothing left to lose.

Incredibly, he chided his adversaries on the Hill for going on vacation just as he was heading off for his own vacation in Crawford. Then he attacked Congress for taking 57 days to “pass emergency funds for our troops” even though the previous, Republican-led Congress took 119 days on the same bill in 2006. He ridiculed the House bill for “pork and other spending that has nothing to do with the war,” though last year’s war-spending bill was also larded with unrelated pork, from Congressional efforts to add agricultural subsidies to the president’s own request for money for bird-flu preparation.

Mr. Bush’s claim that military equipment would be shortchanged if he couldn’t sign a spending bill by mid-April was contradicted by not one but two government agencies. A Government Accountability Office report faulted poor Pentagon planning for endemic existing equipment shortages in the National Guard. The Congressional Research Service found that the Pentagon could pay for the war until well into July. Since by that point we’ll already be on the threshold of our own commanders’ late-summer deadline for judging the surge, what’s the crisis?

Thanks, Frank Rich.

Republican double standard

Nancy Pelosi wear a hijab, the GOP hacks go crazy.

Laura Bush wore one. She was greeted by Muslim and Jewish protesters in Jerusalem, but I don't believe Republicans were mocking or protesting her like they are Pelosi.

Republicans are hypocrites. What a shock.

Disgraceful

Lying character assassin Sam Fox ("Foxy" to Bush), gets a recess appointment as Ambassador to Belgium. Bush withdrew the nomination because it was clear it wouldn't be approved by the Senate. Instead he resorts to this sleight of hand.

Remember when Republicans bitched and bitched about the NEED for "up or down votes?"

Guess ruling by fiat is more Bush's style.

Don't be surprised if he tries to stay in office after his term expires in January, 2009.

Making Shit Up

Check this out:

Senator Orrin Hatch and Pompous Blowhard Rush Limbaugh claim that fired US Attorney Carol Lam was:

A -- "Just a law professor."

B -- With no experience as a prosecutor.

C -- Who was appointed by President Clinton.

D -- Because was Clinton's campaign manager in Southern California.

But there are problems with the Hatch/Limbaugh story:

A -- Lam was not a law professor.

B -- Lam had 15 years of prosecutorial experience and was also a Judge.

C -- Lam was appointed by George W. Bush.

D -- Lam was never anyone's campaign manager.

What a bunch of hacks. They can't even tell plausible lies.

Republicans lie even when there's evidence

On April 1, Matt Drudge posted an "exclusive" alert on the Drudge Report claiming that CNN correspondent Michael Ware "heckled" Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham at a press conference in Baghdad. Drudge's source was an anonymous "official at the press conference" who claimed that Ware was "laughing and mocking their (McCain's and Graham's) comments.

This story was immediately picked up by Powerline, Michelle Malkin and The Washington Times.

Well, the story is BULLSHIT.

Raw Story has posted the video of the press conference. Ware doesn't say or do ANYTHING. In fact, when he raises his hand to ask a question, the press conference is ended.

Only the current crop of Republican office holders and their many media enablers could tell a falsehood that is clearly contradicted by their own eyes and ears and think no one will call them on it.