Fire. Odierno. NOW

President Obama:

'I asked the military leadership to engage in additional planning necessary to execute a responsible military drawdown from Iraq,' Mr Obama said in a statement one day after being sworn in as commander-in-chief.

Mr Obama said he issued the instructions in a meeting with the US ambassador to Iraq, the US military commander in Iraq, the commander for the region and top cabinet and national security officials.

Mr Obama had promised during his campaign to order US troops out of Iraq within 16 months.

-----

General Odierno:

Among those consulted by the president was Gen. Ray Odierno, the top commander in Iraq, who has developed a plan that would move slower than Mr. Obama’s campaign timetable, by pulling out two brigades over the next six months. In an interview in Iraq on Wednesday, General Odierno suggested that it might take the rest of the year to determine exactly when United States forces could be drawn down significantly.

“I believe that if we can get through the next year peacefully, with incidents about what they are today or better, I think we’re getting close to enduring stability, which enables us to really reduce,” General Odierno said as he inspected a polling center south of Baghdad in advance of provincial elections on Saturday.

General Odierno said the period between this weekend’s elections and the national elections to be held about a year from now would be critical to determining the future of Iraq. While some American forces could be withdrawn before then, he suggested that the bulk of any pullout would probably come after that.

“We are going to reduce forces this year,” the general said. “It’s the right time to reduce our forces here. I believe that Iraqis are making progress. It’s time for us in some places to step back and give them more control.” He added, “What we want to do is to slowly shift our mission from one that’s focused on counterinsurgency to one that’s more focused on stability operations.”

Here's a historical precedent:

April 10, 1951

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

With deep regret I have concluded that General of the Army Douglas MacArthur is unable to give his wholehearted support to the policies of the United States Government and of the United Nations in matters pertaining to his official duties.In view of the specific responsibilities imposed upon me by the Constitution of the United States and the added responsibility which has been entrusted to me by the United Nations, I have decided that I must make a change of command in the Far East. I have, therefore, relieved General MacArthur of his commands and have designated Lt. Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway as his successor.

Here's another.

Presidents make policy. Generals execute it. That Odierno doesn't get this is proof that he should be dismissed.

Alex Castellanos, lying hack

Alex Castellanos is LYING about the Franken-Coleman Senate race recount. How does CNN continue to employ a man who routinely utters and pens such obvious falsehoods?

These stories about "double counted" ballots were debunked long ago.

The precinct where a tally of votes was accepted resulted when one envelope of five containing ballots could not be located. However, the other four envelopes compared perfectly with the precinct's recorded election night tally, making it a simple matter of subtraction to determine how many ballots were in the missing envelope.

Castellanos is complaining that Franken doesn't want to "count every vote?" This is a new standard for Coleman, since he didn't even want a recount in the first place -- as long as Coleman looks to be ahead, why bother counting used to be the Coleman line.

I'm also certain that Castellanos was no fan of "counting every vote" in 2000 when George W. Bush stole the presidency after successfully spiked the Florida recount that would have shown that Al Gore won.

Does Castellanos have an opinion on the fact that the Coleman lawyers were just caught faking the evidence they submitted to the Minnesota Supreme Court?

How about the fact that Coleman's own allegedly disenfranchised witnesses admitted under direct examination that there are illegalities in their ballots, which makes them invalid?

Franken is and always has been in favor of counting every LEGAL vote. Coleman is clearly in favor of counting every vote for Coleman, legal or not.

Alex Castellanos is a liar and a hack. He perpetrates such blatant falsehoods that he ought not to be employed by by "news" organization.

I posted this message at the CNN web site. I'm confident that CNN will not allow my comments to be displayed. I dare them to prove me wrong.

Brit Hume lies for Bush

From Media Matters:

Fox News' Brit Hume claimed that former President Bush "was well-liked, I've been given to believe, by everyone in the military." But, according to a December 2007 Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll, among those who are "in the military, reserves, or is a veteran," just 44 percent of respondents approved "of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president," while 50 percent disapproved.

Sure "everyone" in the military likes Bush. That's everyone who was in AFTER he drove out Shinseki, Eaton, Batiste, Fallon and anyone else who dared to suggest that the agreed upon administration narratives about Iraq and Afghanistan were false.

After more than 4,000 US service members dead in Iraq and more than 1,000 of them dead in Afghanistan, and no concrete policy success to show for it I'll state as a currently serving 26 year military veteran that the end to the Bush years didn't come fast enough.

John Cornyn -- fuck you you fucking fuck

John Cornyn, major league asshole.

January 20, 2009, 10:33 AM

No Confirmation Vote for Clinton

By Mark Landler

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s smooth ride to confirmation as secretary of state hit a small bump on Tuesday as one of her Republican colleagues blocked a vote on Mrs. Clinton’s nomination, citing ethical questions arising from donors to her husband’s charitable foundation.

Senator John Cornyn of Texas objected to including Mrs. Clinton’s name in a unanimous consent vote for several Cabinet nominees, scheduled for hours after the swearing-in of President-elect Barack Obama. The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, plans to hold a roll-call vote on Mrs. Clinton’s nomination on Wednesday, which she is expected to win easily.

A spokesman for Mr. Cornyn, Kevin McLaughlin, said, “this is not an effort to scuttle or block the nomination, but a legitimate policy difference. Senator Cornyn’s goal is to create transparency on all levels of government.”

Bullshit, you lying bastard.

Transparency in government? Where was John Cornyn during the entire Bush administration?

You know? Like this?

This.

This?

This?

This?

This?

This?

John Cornyn is a lying, partisan, hypocritical, HACK.

Bullshit from Vermont Republicans

Daniel Barlow, Vermont Press Bureau:

...But even in his last day in the White House, President George W. Bush still has his fans in Vermont...

...Count Linda Kirker, a state Republican activist from the town of Georgia, among them. She said she values politicians who are guided by principles and believes that Bush made his decisions with the best interests of Americans in mind.

During his eight years in office, Bush kept the country safe from another terrorist attack, elevated school standards with his No Child Left Behind law, increased support for battling AIDS in Africa and helped senior citizens with the price of prescription drugs, she said.

"As time passes, and the long-term effects of the United States' efforts in the Middle East come to light, I believe history will reveal George W. Bush to be one of our wiser presidents who had insight into the world and its challenges, a man of courage [and] respect for our armed forces and all Americans," Kirker said Monday...

...Lynn Corum of Brattleboro believes history will judge Bush more kindly than today's political pundits. She said the outgoing Republican president had a number of successes that will look better several years down the road, including the 2003 invasion of Iraq and his handling of the economy – until his final year in office.

"He freed 23 million people from a ferocious dictator," Corum said. "That's nothing to snub your nose at."...

...Charity Tensel, who writes at the conservative Vermont Blog She's Right, said Bush's main legacy will be his handling of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack and the war in Iraq – and if that legacy is seen as positive or negative still depends on history unfolding.

"There were no further attacks during Bush's presidency, when everyone predicted there would be," Tensel wrote in an e-mail Monday. "If that proves to be because of his policies, history will view him as a hero. If not, his legacy may be marred by the situation in Iraq."

But Tensel quickly added that she didn't have much praise for Bush's domestic policies, although she doesn't blame the economic recession on his administration as some others do. She said he doesn't deserve a ranking of worst president in history.

"I think he is a good man who did what he thought was right for the country," she said...

Bull. Shit.

How come Bush gets "credit" for no alleged attacks after September 11, 2001? He was president on September 11. He ignored numerous warnings, including an August, 2001 presidential daily briefing called "bin Laden determined to strike in US" that specifically mentioned hijacking airplanes. How come he doesn't have to take responsibility for something that happened eight months after he'd taken office.

Besides that, it's a fallacy to say there have been "no more terrorist attacks" since September 11. For instance, there were anthrax attacks on several prominent political and media figures after the September 11, 2001 attacks. 22 people are known to have been infected and five are known to have died.

George W. Bush has inflicted long term damage on the United States through almost every action he's taken and every word he's spoken.

He overturned the will of the electorate and stole the 2000 election.

He turned budget surpluses into deficits and created high unemployment and the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression with his ridiculous implementation of "supply side" economics that have failed whenever they've been tried.

He allowed white collar criminals to run rampant, damaging workplace safety, harming the environment, and needlessly depleting resources through his policies of non-enforcement of existing laws and regulations, and allowing corporate executives to join the government and then "regulate" the very industries for which they work.

He willfully lied the United States into a war with Iraq, which he then mismanaged to the point of irreparable harm. He failed to punish those responsible for the 9-11 attacks by mismanaging the war in Afghanistan and continuing the lie that Pakistan is an ally against terrorism. The result has been the deaths of over 4,000 American service members in Iraq and over 1,000 in Afghanistan, with hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of civilians in those countries killed or displaced.

He damaged US standing in the world through his refusal to build alliances and his willingness to allow unlawful detention and torture of alleged terror suspects.

The Bush administration eroded civil liberties in the Unites States through their claims of power to engage in warrantless spying on and clandestine detention of American citizens. They further eroded liberties in the United States by using the justice system, especially US Attorneys, to engage in baseless prosecutions against Democratic officeholders while refusing to prosecute provable wrongdoing by Republicans.

They upset the balance of power among the three branches of government by allowing Dick Cheney to falsely claim that the vice presidency was neither part of the executive branch nor part of the legislative, enabling him to turn a blind eye to the plain language of the Constitution.

The Bush administration gutted the government's ability to respond to natural disasters, failed miserably in their response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and then blamed everyone but themselves for a failure that cost hundreds of lives and billions of dollars.

And the worst part of this is not that Bush or his appointees made mistakes. No, they did all these things ON PURPOSE, out of greed, corruption and lust for power. They're not incompetent. They're venal and corrupt.

History will not be kind to the Bush administration. George W. Bush was never the legitimate holder of his office and he caused harm with nearly every appointment he made, statement he uttered, initiative he undertook and crisis response for which he was responsible. He's easily the worst president in modern memory, and probably the worst in US history. He can't leave office fast enough, and he's fortunate not to be on his way to prison.

Thank you for standing up

A few days ago, ThinkProgress noted the top 43 individuals who helped President Bush shape the worst presidency in modern history. While there was much to deplore over the past eight years, there were also a few bright spots.

In the Bush era marked by deceit and deception, these were some of the individuals and groups — both inside and outside the government (ranked in no particular order) — who stood up to speak truth to power...

Henry Waxman, for being deemed by Republicans as “the scariest man in Washington” for his dogged oversight activities.

Charles Swift, for daring to take on his government over the illegal military tribunal system and then, unfortunately, being passed over for promotion.

Richard Clarke, for speaking out about Bush’s pre-9/11 neglect of terrorism and post-9/11 attempt to link Iraq and al Qaeda.

Paul Krugman, for warning years in advance of the housing bubble and opposing the policies of Alan Greenspan.

The Dixie Chicks, for being rightfully “ashamed” of Bush in the lead-up to the Iraq war and then facing the blowback.

The 23 Senators and 133 congressmen who voted against the Iraq war resolution.

Joseph Wilson and Valerie Plame Wilson, for speaking out about Bush’s false case for war in Iraq and then suffering the retribution.

Read More

Couldn't have said it better myself

Obama should not thank Bush at the inauguration

Ariel Gonzalez, Huffington Post, January 19, 2009

...But for all their faults, Reagan, Bush I, and Clinton didn't cause as much damage to the United States as George W. Bush. The litany of mistakes and crimes is searing: 9/11, Katrina, the Wall Street meltdown, torture, illegal wiretapping, the treasonous outing of a CIA agent, the wanton politicization of the Justice Department, an ideological war on science and reason, Terri Schiavo, an abysmal environmental record, the failure to capture or kill Osama bin Laden... Feel free to add anything I've left out. And in the months to come, who knows what other maggots will wriggle out of this fetid corpse. Seymour Hersh, the investigative reporter for The New Yorker, claims that several officials are waiting for Bush to leave office so they can give the real skinny on the administration.

If Obama thanks this miserable incompetent, I won't be angry. I've decided not to criticize our new president for a year. Whenever I thought he was screwing up during the election, he turned out to be right; so I'm going to trust his instincts. But if he doesn't thank Bush, it will be a sign that change has come to Washington...

Bush Library Invitation

This is pretty funny. Click on the picture to enlarge it.

Jim Rice, Hall of Famer

About damned time.

The former Boston Red Sox slugger was elected to the Cooperstown shrine on Monday in what was to be his final year of eligibility, getting seven votes more than needed. He is the third player elected by the baseball writers in his final year, joining Red Ruffing (1967) and Ralph Kiner (1975).

The hypocrisy is just staggering

The president's father, former President George H.W. Bush, became emotional when assessing his son's tenure.

"You can make a tough decision and stay with it," he told his son before turning to Hume in the White House Diplomatic Room. "And he's been tested unlike any other president with 9/11. So he passed the test."

He said political invective has "gotten worse" since his days in the White House, adding: "It's offensive, very offensive."

The younger Bush agreed. "The biggest disappointment in the political process, that's been this kind of bitterness by a few people to the point where they don't want to have a logical discussion or a civil discussion about policy," he said. "They just want to tear you down."

The elder Bush must mean this.

Indeed, though Ferraro also argued impressively, most analysts gave Bush a slight edge (see following story). But the next day, Bush squandered some of the benefits with one of the silliest blunders of the campaign. After a rally in Elizabeth, N.J., on Friday, a television boom mike caught him whispering to a longshoreman that "we tried to kick a little ass last night." Realizing that the mike was on, the Vice President then exclaimed, "Whoops! Oh, God, he heard me! Turn that thing off."

Or maybe he means this:

The TV commercial in question opened with declarations that "Bush supports the death penalty for first-degree murderers" and that "Dukakis not only opposes the death penalty, he allowed first-degree murderers to have weekend passes from prison." Then came photos of Mr. (Willie) Horton and details of his crimes, while flashing the words "kidnapping," "stabbing" and "raping." The sponsoring committee says it notified James Baker, the Bush campaign chairman, that the commercial would run for 28 days, offering to call it off. Mr. Baker's disapproval came on the 25th day.

Or could he mean this?

A State Department official who carried out the two-day search of passport files for information about Gov. Bill Clinton said today that he had resigned, just 48 hours before Federal investigators are expected to issue a report criticizing the search.

The official, Steven M. Moheban, was a top aide to Elizabeth M. Tamposi, the Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs who was dismissed last week by President Bush for her role in the search of files on Mr. Clinton, his mother, Virginia Kelley, and Ross Perot, the independent Presidential candidate.

"I resigned Monday," said Mr. Moheban, a 30-year-old native of Nashua, N.H., Ms. Tamposi's hometown. "I no longer work for the State Department."

What about the younger Bush? Could he mean this?

Having run Senator John McCain's campaign for president, I can recount a textbook example of a smear made against McCain in South Carolina during the 2000 presidential primary. We had just swept into the state from New Hampshire, where we had racked up a shocking, 19-point win over the heavily favored George W. Bush. What followed was a primary campaign that would make history for its negativity.

In South Carolina, Bush Republicans were facing an opponent who was popular for his straight talk and Vietnam war record. They knew that if McCain won in South Carolina, he would likely win the nomination. With few substantive differences between Bush and McCain, the campaign was bound to turn personal. The situation was ripe for a smear.

It didn't take much research to turn up a seemingly innocuous fact about the McCains: John and his wife, Cindy, have an adopted daughter named Bridget. Cindy found Bridget at Mother Theresa's orphanage in Bangladesh, brought her to the United States for medical treatment, and the family ultimately adopted her. Bridget has dark skin.

Anonymous opponents used "push polling" to suggest that McCain's Bangladeshi born daughter was his own, illegitimate black child. In push polling, a voter gets a call, ostensibly from a polling company, asking which candidate the voter supports. In this case, if the "pollster" determined that the person was a McCain supporter, he made statements designed to create doubt about the senator.

Could this be what he's thinking of?

Something about Al Gore brings out the worst in people, and nowhere is this truer than in the so-called "liberal media." Journalists' "default" position on Gore, Joe Klein notes, is "ridicule. He opens his mouth and is immediately assumed cynical, tactical, self-serving, self-pitying, awkward, embarrassing, unintentionally hilarious, or all of the above." That Klein is himself a serial offender only strengthens the power of his unadmitted mea culpa.

Or maybe he's referring to this:

The SBVT (so-called "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth) propaganda smear campaign was financed by Sam Fox, a billionaire and hardline rightwinger. The fact that Fox financed this project was revealed during his Senate confirmation hearings to become US ambassador to Belgium. Although the Senate blocked his confirmation pointing out Fox's pernicious activities, George Bush appointed Fox over the authority of the Senate during a "Senate recess".

Or maybe Bush had this on his mind?

Finding the bottom of American politics these days is as easy as looking up the latest column by Ann Coulter. In fact, it's the same thing. Her act may be wearing thin now that she has accused half of the population of treason, but don't underestimate the kooky commentator. Just the other day, she again managed to shock the conscience of any decent citizen who happened to read her latest screed.

Her current target is Max Cleland, the former United States Senator who left three limbs in Vietnam. The courageous Mr. Cleland prevailed over his terrible injury, and the depression that followed; he was appointed Secretary of Veterans Affairs in the Clinton administration and then elected to the Senate from his home state of Georgia.

But Ms. Coulter considers him deserving of scorn and denigration-and lies about his service, despite his sacrifice-for one reason alone: Mr. Cleland is a Democrat who dares to speak out against the President.

The hypocrisy of these jackasses is tangible. They can't leave school fast enough.

The FreeCreditReport.com Guy

His name is Eric Violette, and he's from Montreal. Check out this song on his My Space page -- Voracite feminine. I don't know what the lyrics mean, but this is a nice piece of work.

Mad Libs, Bush Style

From SusanG, Daily Kos:

It's like a Mad-Lib for every conceivable horrible policy undertaken in the last eight years.

Here's what's striking about this statement: You can substitute nearly any issue handled by the Bush administration and this paragraph pretty much sums up everything that's gone wrong. Try it:

"The United States has shortchanged __________ by focusing on short-term goals pursued without a cohesive strategy or a clear understanding of how __________ works."

Emergency preparedness. Energy policy. Education. Environment. (And those are just the E's.)

Franklin Roosevelt -- Greatest President EVER

On Fox News, for example, Brit Hume insisted this week that "everybody agrees, I think, on both sides of the spectrum now, that the New Deal failed."

Oh, BULLSHIT.

Franklin D. Roosevelt is back on top of the list of the greatest presidents of the modern era, returning to the highest ranking after Kennedy displaced him in last year's survey, my latest nationwide Zogby International telephone poll shows. Roosevelt has dominated Zogby's Presidential Greatness survey since 1997 - only narrowly losing out to Kennedy in 2006 and 2002.

Read this.

Or this.

NOW Peggy Noonan hates hero worship

How do you know a Democrat is about to take over the White House? Because Peggy Noonan is writing bullshit like this.

Peggy Noonan hates hero worship of presidents?

How about the George W. Bush action figure?



How about the Ronald Reagan Legacy project?

The funny thing about conservatives is that their ideology isn't ideology at all. They're hypocritical and inconsistent. That makes their "ideology" more like an alternate reality or a fantasy.

Remember when SENATOR Franken schooled Ann Coulter?

That was awesome.

This is bullshit

CNN has NO journalistic integrity:

Commentary: What New York needs in a senator
By Rudy Giuliani
Special to CNN
Editor's Note: Rudy Giuliani served two terms as mayor of New York City and was a Republican candidate for president in 2008.

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Now that President-elect Barack Obama has nominated Sen. Hillary Clinton to be his secretary of state, the governor of New York will appoint a new senator to fill the vacancy.

The relationship between the mayor of a large city and a United States senator from that city's state reveals the genius of the U.S. Constitution.

A good senator must perform two tasks simultaneously -- advocate for the interests of his (or her!) state while also helping to shape the direction of the entire country.

As mayor of New York City, I thought of our U.S. senators as New York's advocates in Washington. All of New York's senators during the time I was mayor -- Alfonse D'Amato, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton -- were effective advocates for New York City.

Please explain to me how CNN can allow Rudy Giuliani to offer suggestions about who fills Hillary Clinton's Senate seat, when Giuliani has already announced his support for a particular candidate. Giuliani backs Republican Congressman Peter King, as you can see by reading this, and this, and this, and this.

Your liberal media at work

Can you believe this? Click on the image to read it for yourself.

For the record, after Al Franken is seated and someone replaces Obama, the Senate will contain 57 Democrats, 2 independents who caucus with the Democrats, and 41 Republicans.

Only within the culture of Washington's media and pundit establishment could 41 out of 100 be considered a majority.

Jim O'Bierne -- WATB

The Obama transition team has notified about 90 of Bush's 250 political appointees at the Defense Department that their services would no longer be needed after Inauguration Day. One loyal "Bushie" at the Pentagon is not thrilled. Jim O'Beirne - the guy who packed Iraq's Coalition Provisional Authority with inexperienced, unqualified Republican loyalists is whining about it. He sent an e-mail to several soon to be fired colleagues, telling them that being removed by the Obama team is a badge of honor

O'Bierne said that if any of them "harbor residual doubts" then they can "content yourself with the likelihood that it was your outstanding performance as a Bush appointee that drew the opposition's attention to you."

"In that regard, you may take justifiable satisfaction that you were among the first to be chosen," O'Beirne wrote.

Oh, bullshit.

O'Bierne and his colleagues are venal, corrupt, parrtisan hacks:

To pass muster with O'Beirne, a political appointee who screens prospective political appointees for Defense Department posts, applicants didn't need to be experts in the Middle East or in post-conflict reconstruction. What seemed most important was loyalty to the Bush administration.

O'Beirne's staff posed blunt questions to some candidates about domestic politics: Did you vote for George W. Bush in 2000? Do you support the way the president is fighting the war on terror? Two people who sought jobs with the U.S. occupation authority said they were even asked their views on Roe v. Wade.

These criminals can't get out of DC fast enough to suit me.

WHY is this news?

Obama's Team Rankles the Right

To some staunch conservatives watching President Bush relinquish the reins of power to President-elect Barack Obama, a few too many ardent liberals are now crashing the gates.

Some well-known Democratic activists are advising Obama on how to steer federal agencies, including a few whom conservative Republicans fought hard to keep out of power in the Clinton administration. They include Roberta Achtenberg, a gay activist whose confirmation as an assistant housing secretary was famously held up by then-Sen. Jesse Helms (N.C.), and Bill Lann Lee, who was hotly opposed by foes of affirmative action and temporarily blocked from the government's top civil rights job.

Conservatives fear that some of these Obama transition advisers are too far left on the political spectrum and are a sign of radical policies to come.

"It is disturbing," said Roger Clegg, a conservative opponent of Lee's appointment who is now watching the Obama advisers at the Justice Department. "The transition team as described to me was made up of nothing but people on the far left. Though Obama is more moderate, that makes you wonder what kind of advice the president is given, and what range of choices he'll be given when it comes time to make appointments."

I'm SHOCKED to discover that conservative Republicans are not happy with liberal Democrats.

Funny, but I don't recall any "staunch liberals upset with Bush advisors" articles in 2000 and 2001.

Liberal media my ass.