No wonder the right is in righteous indignation over Kerry

[Ocotillo]

The right wing noise machine has kicked into high gear over Kerry's mangled statement. Must mean they want us not to notice something else that is going on.

Just this week, your GOP in action:

1. George Allen campaign workers rough up a man who approached the Senator to ask if he spit on his first wife. Allen has sealed the divorce records and refused to release them. Rumors abound about what he is hiding.

2. Marilyn Musgrave a Colorado Congresswoman (particularly outspoken in the Terri Shaivo case), workers from her campaign rough up a reporter trying to ask tough questions of the Conrgresswoman.

3. Allegations of spousal abuse come out about NY GOP Congressman John Sweeney.

4. Wyoming Congresswoman Cubin threatens to slap a quadrapalegic Libertarian opponent post-debate.

5. A GOP congressman running for Governor of Nevada is charged with attempted sexual assault.

That's just this week.

November 7, you can vote for rubber stamp Republicans or you can vote for change.

[Ocotillo]

Oh yeah, the GOP wasn't just making the police blotters either.

USA Today (http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-10-30-abstinence-message_x.htm)

Now the government is targeting unmarried adults up to age 29 as part of its abstinence-only programs, which include millions of dollars in federal money that will be available to the states under revised federal grant guidelines for 2007.

So all you unmarried Republicans that are in your twenties, don't even think of having sex.

[Spurminator]

And all of this is every bit as interesting and relevant to the running of this country as the Kerry misstatement.

Yay politics.

[Extra Stout]

Sorry, a former Presidential candidate knocking the Armed Forces in Iraq takes the cake. Nothing is going to wipe that off the headlines save President Bush with a dead girl or live boy.

The Democrats need to make Kerry a pariah, like fast.

[Yonivore]

And it's all over-shadowed by the fact that Nancy Pelosi will name an impeached (by a Democratic House) and convicted (by a Democratic Senate) Alcee Hastings to head the House Intelligence Committee.

And, really, it's not even that...it's the unmitigated gall of the Democrats to thumb their noses at the public while they do these things. If the Democrats can just get the number of people not paying taxes over 50%, and they're almost there, they can stay in office in perpetuity and just run this country into the ground. God knows they got off to a good start under Lyndon Johnson and Jimmy Carter.

"No republic has long outlived the discovery by a majority of its people that they could vote themselves largesse from the public treasury." --Alexander Tytler.

If the Democrats are able to qualify more than 50% of the population for some entitlement program or another while, at the same time, soaking the rich to pay for these programs, I believe Mr. Tytler's words will ring very, very prophetic.

[JoeChalupa]

Those bastards!!!

[Yonivore]

Those bastards!!!
That's what I say.

[clambake]

But those great treasures of entitlement are being pissed away by one man and his dream, and oh, 105 boys and girls in boxes and another 7000+ wounded were also not allowed to share.

Maybe Tytler wasn't aware of the future Bush factor.

[MannyIsGod]

Sorry, a former Presidential candidate knocking the Armed Forces in Iraq takes the cake. Nothing is going to wipe that off the headlines save President Bush with a dead girl or live boy.

The Democrats need to make Kerry a pariah, like fast.Except he wasn't knocking the armed forces. Its all about context and it was in the context of knocking Bush.

Poor choice of words, but if the Democrats come out and sell him out, it just makes the story validated for the Republicans. The Democrats would be extremely foolish to do that. That very well means they may, but I think its a really really poor action to take.

[MannyIsGod]

And it's all over-shadowed by the fact that Nancy Pelosi will name an impeached (by a Democratic House) and convicted (by a Democratic Senate) Alcee Hastings to head the House Intelligence Committee.

And, really, it's not even that...it's the unmitigated gall of the Democrats to thumb their noses at the public while they do these things. If the Democrats can just get the number of people not paying taxes over 50%, and they're almost there, they can stay in office in perpetuity and just run this country into the ground. God knows they got off to a good start under Lyndon Johnson and Jimmy Carter.

"No republic has long outlived the discovery by a majority of its people that they could vote themselves largesse from the public treasury." --Alexander Tytler.

If the Democrats are able to qualify more than 50% of the population for some entitlement program or another while, at the same time, soaking the rich to pay for these programs, I believe Mr. Tytler's words will ring very, very prophetic.Damn the rest of the country wanting to partake in the same actions as the top friends of the Republican! Thats so, Republican of them!

[Yonivore]

Except he wasn't knocking the armed forces. Its all about context...
You're right, it's all about context and, in the context of his previous statements and voting record on the U. S. Military, it's a hard sell that his comments were directed at President Bush (A Yale and Harvard grad) and not the troops he's abandon so many times in the past.

[Yonivore]

Damn the rest of the country wanting to partake in the same actions as the top friends of the Republican! Thats so, Republican of them!
What are you talking about?

[MannyIsGod]

What are you talking about?Surely you're familliar with the Republican tradition of using the governmentin your favor regardless of the consequences. I thought that was the main reason you liked Bush!

[MannyIsGod]

You're right, it's all about context and, in the context of his previous statements and voting record on the U. S. Military, it's a hard sell that his comments were directed at President Bush (A Yale and Harvard grad) and not the troops he's abandon so many times in the past.:lol at you trying to paint Bush as anything but an idiot. Its very easy to see where the context was. It was in making fun of Bush.

[ChumpDumper]

"nukyular"

[Spurminator]

I really don't buy that it was a Bush bashing joke gone awry. I think it was Kerry trying to once again use the Democrat "backdoor draft" scare tactic. If he had meant to reference Bush, he would have corrected himself.

I'm sure he didn't intend for it to be an insult to the Military, but it was symptomatic of Democrats' insistance on painting troops as unsuspecting victims.

[Yonivore]

:lol at you trying to paint Bush as anything but an idiot. Its very easy to see where the context was. It was in making fun of Bush.
Alrighty, whatever you say. That would explain why many Democrats are asking him to apologize and why his hometown Boston Globe shelacked him in their editorial this morning.

You do realize, of course, that President Bush is the first MBA to hold that office and, it's a Harvard MBA no less. I'm sure that has nothing to do with our currently booming economy.

I still haven't quite figured out how Democrats square their characterization of President Bush as hapless bumbler and omniscient fountainhead; spying everywhre and knowing nothing.

[Yonivore]

Surely you're familliar with the Republican tradition of using the governmentin your favor regardless of the consequences. I thought that was the main reason you liked Bush!
I'm sorry, you're still not making any sense. But, I'm used to that.

[ChumpDumper]

I still haven't quite figured out how Democrats square their characterization of President Bush as hapless bumbler and omniscient fountainhead; spying everywhre and knowing nothing.Bush = hapless bumbler who knows nothing

Cheney and Rummy = omniscient fountainhead spying everywhere

[Yonivore]

Bush = hapless bumbler who knows nothing

Cheney and Rummy = omniscient fountainhead spying everywhere
Got it. But, what about Rove?

[FromWayDowntown]

You do realize, of course, that President Bush is the first MBA to hold that office and, it's a Harvard MBA no less. I'm sure that has nothing to do with our currently booming economy.

Hey! Something you and I can agree about. I'm also quite sure that Bush having a Harvard MBA has nothing to do with the state of the nation's economy.

Absolutely sure, in fact.

It's so nice to find common ground.

[Yonivore]

Hey! Something you and I can agree about. I'm also quite sure that Bush having a Harvard MBA has nothing to do with the state of the nation's economy.

Absolutely sure, in fact.

It's so nice to find common ground.
Well, Kum-bah-yah!

But, gee, I wonder why unemployment is at such low levels and why there is such a huge cash flow in the private sector...couldn't be that infusion of billions for capital, wages, and ventures realized by the tax cuts. Nah...of course not.

[clambake]

If I were republican, I'd ride this horse till it colapsed.

THink about it.

Right now, in Iraq, a guy that was on our hit list is calling the shots. He is making us stand down and back off.

Imagine that shit. Our kids are still dying, still being chopped up with bombs and bullets, still pissing our money away, and know were taking orders from a guy who has sent our kids home in boxes.

This is some fucking strategy.

[Ocotillo]

Alrighty, whatever you say. That would explain why many Democrats are asking him to apologize and why his hometown Boston Globe shelacked him in their editorial this morning.

Because they are cowards afraid of the right wing noise machine.


You do realize, of course, that President Bush is the first MBA to hold that office and, it's a Harvard MBA no less. I'm sure that has nothing to do with our currently booming economy.

Harvard MBA. Hmmmm, wonder how he got in there? His MBA has Jack Squat to do with the economy. The uber wealthy masters of the Reps are having boom time these days.


I still haven't quite figured out how Democrats square their characterization of President Bush as hapless bumbler and omniscient fountainhead; spying everywhre and knowing nothing.

Cheney and Rove pull the strings. Bush gotta a little independent with the Meirs nomination but was soon reigned back in.

[PixelPusher]

"No republic has long outlived the discovery by a majority of its people that they could vote themselves largesse from the public treasury." --Alexander Tytler.


Great quote. So tell me, how thick, tinted, and intricate must the filters be on your partisan lenses to not see how this directly appllies to this Republican controlled Congress for the past 6 years?

EDIT Followup question: How is a Democratic House supposed to increase spending with Bush in the White House? Don't tell me he's too dumb to realize he has the power to veto, cause he's already used it once.

[FromWayDowntown]

Well, Kum-bah-yah!

But, gee, I wonder why unemployment is at such low levels and why there is such a huge cash flow in the private sector...couldn't be that infusion of billions for capital, wages, and ventures realized by the tax cuts. Nah...of course not.

And I guess you're thinking that those things are directly linked to the fact that Bush has a Harvard MBA?

[Yonivore]

And I guess you're thinking that those things are directly linked to the fact that Bush has a Harvard MBA?
The economy-fueling tax cuts were his baby. I'm guessing, yeah, he paid some attention in Economics 101.

[boutons_]

If risible that anybody would think that dubya paid ANY attention to anything in Yale and Harvard, above all something as difficult as economics. His subsequent total failures as a businessman confirmed his real world, practical incompetence.

dubya was a legacy student at Yale, NOT accepted on the merits of HS academic excellence, and Harvard Business doesn't usually take C students, either. dubya's family name got him into and through both schools.

dubya didn't learn how to speak English in Yale and Harvard, and he certainly knows fuck all about economics.

cutting taxes for the super-rich was ONLY one of two reasons the Repugs wanted to be elected. the decision to cut taxes was made by the Repugs, not by dubya. He's just a dumbfuck puppet for the real power behind the throne.

[FromWayDowntown]

The economy-fueling tax cuts were his baby. I'm guessing, yeah, he paid some attention in Economics 101.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that: (1) anyone with an MBA would have taken introductory economics as an undergraduate, which means that the Harvard MBA is irrelevant; and (2) that Yale doesn't offer a course called Economics 101. I'd be certain that the President's academic transcript includes grades for courses in both microeconomics and macroeconomics, but I'm skeptical that what he may or may not have learned in those courses has had any impact on the decisions that his economics advisors tell him he's made.

[Nbadan]

Arbusto, Harken, the Texas Rangers, not exactly economic or legacy empires.

[Nbadan]

NY Times editorial: Bush hit "creepy low" distorting Kerry's words in Swiftboat replay Updated at 11:50 PM
Editorial
The Great Divider
Published: November 2, 2006


As President Bush throws himself into the final days of a particularly nasty campaign season, he’s settled into a familiar pattern of ugly behavior. Since he can’t defend the real world created by his policies and his decisions, Mr. Bush is inventing a fantasy world in which to campaign on phony issues against fake enemies.

In Mr. Bush’s world, America is making real progress in Iraq. In the real world, as Michael Gordon reported in yesterday’s Times, the index that generals use to track developments shows an inexorable slide toward chaos. In Mr. Bush’s world, his administration is marching arm in arm with Iraqi officials committed to democracy and to staving off civil war. In the real world, the prime minister of Iraq orders the removal of American checkpoints in Baghdad and abets the sectarian militias that are slicing and dicing their country.

In Mr. Bush’s world, there are only two kinds of Americans: those who are against terrorism, and those who somehow are all right with it. Some Americans want to win in Iraq and some don’t. There are Americans who support the troops and Americans who don’t support the troops. And at the root of it all is the hideously damaging fantasy that there is a gulf between Americans who love their country and those who question his leadership.

Mr. Bush has been pushing these divisive themes all over the nation, offering up the ludicrous notion the other day that if Democrats manage to control even one house of Congress, America will lose and the terrorists will win. But he hit a particularly creepy low when he decided to distort a lame joke lamely delivered by Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts. Mr. Kerry warned college students that the punishment for not learning your lessons was to “get stuck in Iraq.” In context, it was obviously an attempt to disparage Mr. Bush’s intelligence. That’s impolitic and impolite, but it’s not as bad as Mr. Bush’s response. Knowing full well what Mr. Kerry meant, the president and his team cried out that the senator was disparaging the troops. It was a depressing replay of the way the Bush campaign Swift-boated Americans in 2004 into believing that Mr. Kerry, who went to war, was a coward and Mr. Bush, who stayed home, was a hero....When the president of the United States gleefully bathes in the muck to divide Americans into those who love their country and those who don’t, it is destructive to the fabric of the nation he is supposed to be leading.

NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/02/opinion/02thu1.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin)

Lovely how local wing-nut Jack Racarrdi tried to link this wing-nut smear against Kerry with his past remarks about the Vietnam war before the Winter soldiers group which had no punitive or authoritive capacity. Kerry would have made a weak President, but he would have had a better cabinet, starting with VP and Sec. of Def.

[Nbadan]

Olbermann get's it again! (http://www.crooksandliars.com/)

Olbermann’s Special Comment : There is no line this President has not crossed — nor will not cross — to keep one political party, in power.

[boutons_]

dubya-world means never having to grow past adolescence.

dubya is a true sicko. He tests reality inside his solipsistic bubble and he fails.

His handlers and puppet-meisters have been pulling his strings so long he has lost his never-solid touch with reality. He's certifiably psychopathic.

[Ocotillo]

Some right wing hack went down the road to the landfill and picked up a rock, looked under and roused John O'Neill to comment on this on a show I caught yesterday.

[Guru of Nothing]

The economy-fueling tax cuts were his baby.

http://www.pumpkinsoft.de/covershots/0341.jpg

[Yonivore]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that: (1) anyone with an MBA would have taken introductory economics as an undergraduate, which means that the Harvard MBA is irrelevant; and (2) that Yale doesn't offer a course called Economics 101.
Excuse me for glossing over the intricacies of higher education -- my "Economics 101" quip was merely to suggest that the President's Harvard MBA and undergrad work at Yale probably had some economics thrown in and that the President may have informed his opinions on economic theory from this instruction -- as well as he contacts in business, etc...


I'd be certain that the President's academic transcript includes grades for courses in both microeconomics and macroeconomics, but I'm skeptical that what he may or may not have learned in those courses has had any impact on the decisions that his economics advisors tell him he's made.
Oh well, why don't we just elect advisors then?

[DarkReign]

Oh well, why don't we just elect advisors then?

No offense, but we already did. Twice.

[Yonivore]

No offense, but we already did. Twice.
Really, which ones were on the ballot you used?

[FromWayDowntown]

Really, which ones were on the ballot you used?

Those who act through the proxy of the now-sitting President, I presume.

Unless your contention is that the now-sitting President whiled away his spare time as governor putting his Harvard MBA to work in developing his independent thoughts on national economic policy, just in case he ever considered a run for the presidency.

[Yonivore]

Those who act through the proxy of the now-sitting President, I presume.

Unless your contention is that the now-sitting President whiled away his spare time as governor putting his Harvard MBA to work in developing his independent thoughts on national economic policy, just in case he ever considered a run for the presidency.
You're apparently contending the President's economic position is irrelevant to what his administration pursues in the way of policy.

After all, even if it is his advisors who develop the policy, isn't it he who chose them in the first place and could that be because their economic philosophy was consistent with his?

Just guessing.

[FromWayDowntown]

You're apparently contending the President's economic position is irrelevant to what his administration pursues in the way of policy.

After all, even if it is his advisors who develop the policy, isn't it he who chose them in the first place and could that be because their economic philosophy was consistent with his?

Just guessing.

I'm fairly certain that you've articulated Karl Rove's conclusions about the link between the chosen advisors and his manchurian candidate with the Harvard MBA.

[Yonivore]

I'm fairly certain that you've articulated Karl Rove's conclusions about the link between the chosen advisors and his manchurian candidate with the Harvard MBA.
I really didn't think you were that much of a nutjob FWD. Manchurian Candidate? Nevermind...forget we ever started this conversation. The Men In Black will be along any minute to erase your memory. :lmao

[FromWayDowntown]

I really didn't think you were that much of a nutjob FWD. Manchurian Candidate? Nevermind...forget we ever started this conversation. The Men In Black will be along any minute to erase your memory. :lmao

Sure. Exaggeration, after all, is a rhetorical form that has no utility in a political forum.

[Yonivore]

Sure. Exaggeration, after all, is a rhetorical form that has no utility in a political forum.
Well, last I checked, it was the President who chose Karl Rove to be his aide and not the other way around.

[xrayzebra]

That damn Bush and Rove, they are so dumb they keep us out of office. How
dumb can anyone be, keeping dimm-o-craps out of office.

Oh, don't talk about unemployment rate, it doesn't count that it is the lowest in
history. Just a fluke.

Yeah, a whole lot like Carter, President for one term and a world peace keeper
the rest of his life, between building houses and making chairs.

[FromWayDowntown]

Well, last I checked, it was the President who chose Karl Rove to be his aide and not the other way around.

:tu

[boutons_]

"it was the President who chose Karl Rove"

a self-incriminating act if there ever was one.

dubya is NOT running the Exec branch. he's a puppet on the strings of the people who feed him info, make recommendations on actions, staffing, etc, and humor dubya (and YV) that dubya is The Man.

They are all laughing into their coffee as they yank dubya's strings.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

And, really, it's not even that...it's the unmitigated gall of the Democrats to thumb their noses at the public while they do these things. If the Democrats can just get the number of people not paying taxes over 50%, and they're almost there, they can stay in office in perpetuity and just run this country into the ground. God knows they got off to a good start under Lyndon Johnson and Jimmy Carter.

"No republic has long outlived the discovery by a majority of its people that they could vote themselves largesse from the public treasury." --Alexander Tytler.

If the Democrats are able to qualify more than 50% of the population for some entitlement program or another while, at the same time, soaking the rich to pay for these programs, I believe Mr. Tytler's words will ring very, very prophetic.

Hmmmmmm, so you have 4.4% unemployment, but somehow over 50% of the population are going to qualify for "some kind of benefits" and live off the state? You honestly believe that the majority of people will choose to live on govt benefits, BELOW THE POVERTY LINE, rather than trying to improve their lives through employment? C'mon, pull your head out of your arse.

Oh, and if it has to do with "taxing the rich" as you say, why is the wealth gap rising at an unprecedented rate? All the stats show that the richest 10% (and especially 1% for that matter) keep getting richer, while the bottom 40% get poorer. Actually, the greater tax burden is falling on the middle class, and THAT is what you should be objecting to. After all, the rich can afford to pay tax more than the middle class can!

Your paranoid delusions are really showing with statements like these, Yoni.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

As for your President's Harvard MBA... hahahahahahahaha

For one thing, business is a lot different from economics (although an MBA does include some economics). However, I suspect that George may have had a little help with his qualification.

Hell, I'll take on GW in a debate on economic theory, and I'd trust scott from this forum more with running a country than monkey-man.

ALso, wouldn't you rather have a guy with a PhD in economics running your country? I'd take Jed Bartlett over any of the last 8 US presidents! :lol

[BIG IRISH]

As for your President's Harvard MBA... hahahahahahahaha

For one thing, business is a lot different from economics (although an MBA does include some economics). However, I suspect that George may have had a little help with his qualification.

Hell, I'll take on GW in a debate on economic theory, and I'd trust scott from this forum more with running a country than monkey-man.

ALso, wouldn't you rather have a guy with a PhD in economics running your country? I'd take Jed Bartlett over any of the last 8 US presidents! :lol
QUOTE=RuffnReadyOzStyle]Hmmmmmm, so you have 4.4% unemployment, but somehow over 50% of the population are going to qualify for "some kind of benefits" and live off the state? You honestly believe that the majority of people will choose to live on govt benefits, BELOW THE POVERTY LINE, rather than trying to improve their lives through employment? C'mon, pull your head out of your arse.

Oh, and if it has to do with "taxing the rich" as you say, why is the wealth gap rising at an unprecedented rate? All the stats show that the richest 10% (and especially 1% for that matter) keep getting richer, while the bottom 40% get poorer. Actually, the greater tax burden is falling on the middle class, and THAT is what you should be objecting to. After all, the rich can afford to pay tax more than the middle class can!

Your paranoid delusions are really showing with statements like these, Yoni.[/QUOTE]
:clap :clap :clap
Give'n Hell Mate.

[gtownspur]

Hmmmmmm, so you have 4.4% unemployment, but somehow over 50% of the population are going to qualify for "some kind of benefits" and live off the state? You honestly believe that the majority of people will choose to live on govt benefits, BELOW THE POVERTY LINE, rather than trying to improve their lives through employment? C'mon, pull your head out of your arse.

Oh, and if it has to do with "taxing the rich" as you say, why is the wealth gap rising at an unprecedented rate? All the stats show that the richest 10% (and especially 1% for that matter) keep getting richer, while the bottom 40% get poorer. Actually, the greater tax burden is falling on the middle class, and THAT is what you should be objecting to. After all, the rich can afford to pay tax more than the middle class can!

Your paranoid delusions are really showing with statements like these, Yoni.


You're an idiot.

1st.

All your scenarious you put forth also existed in the 90's. Don't act like a dishonest prissy fool and put out as if Bush created the lower class.

2nd.

Is't govt dependency is what you want in the first place? You can't bitch about it and then while having it as your platform.

3rd.

You're an even bigger idiot. The middle class of america pays the least amount of taxes than any of your quasi socialist countries in the EU. THe rich pay the most in taxes in all categories. THey get the smallest percentage in tax cut reduction to where the middle gets a larger percentage cut out of their yearly revenue tax.(hopefully you don't get to pist off and think that i said the middle class get the most refunds).

The tax code in america is progressive.
THe middle class pays less than the rich in Taxes.

The tax cuts are progressive.
THe rich get a less of a tax break percentage wise than the middle class.

While people are struggling to make beans and rice, at the same time illegals are purchasing new F150's and are taking advantage.

The President cannot cure societal ills.

So quit being a self righteous prick and give him credit where it's due.

[boutons_]

The radical right jumped on Kerry as if he were disparaing the troops, when he meant "dubya is an uneducated jerk, and dubya so stupid that he is stuck in Iraq".

Here's the elitist snob Rumsfeld arguing against a draft saying the WWII/VN draftees were of "little value", then claiming he was mis-interpreted.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0122-03.htm