Pelosi picks uninformed idiot over crooks

[Bob Lanier]

So incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi decides that ranking members Jane Harman (D-AIPAC) and Alcee Hastings (D-Romano) are incapable of performing the duties of the HPSCI chairman in the best interests of the United States, and taps former border patrol agent Silvestre Reyes (D-TX), the third-ranking member, for the job.

Problem is, he doesn't seem to have a better grasp on reality (http://public.cq.com/public/20061211_homeland.html) than any other notable Texan in Washington.

Al Qaeda is what, I asked, Sunni or Shia?

“Al Qaeda, they have both,” Reyes said. “You’re talking about predominately?”

“Sure,” I said, not knowing what else to say.

“Predominantly — probably Shiite,” he ventured.

He couldn’t have been more wrong.

Al Qaeda is profoundly Sunni. If a Shiite showed up at an al Qaeda club house, they’d slice off his head and use it for a soccer ball.

[...]

It’s been five years since these Muslim extremists flew hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center.

Is it too much to ask that our intelligence overseers know who they are?

[...]

And Hezbollah? I asked him. What are they?

“Hezbollah. Uh, Hezbollah...”

He laughed again, shifting in his seat.

“Why do you ask me these questions at five o’clock? Can I answer in Spanish? Do you speak Spanish?”

“Pocito,” I said—a little.

“Pocito?! “ He laughed again.

“Go ahead,” I said, talk to me about Sunnis and Shia in Spanish.

Reyes: “Well, I, uh....”

I apologized for putting him “on the spot a little.” But I reminded him that the people who have killed thousands of Americans on U.S. soil and in the Middle East have been front page news for a long time now.

[...]

The best argument for needing to understand who’s what in the Middle East is probably the mistaken invasion itself, despite the preponderance of expert opinion that it was a terrible idea — including that of Bush’s father and his advisers. On the day in 2003 when Iraqi mobs toppled the statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad, Bush was said to be unaware of the possibility that a Sunni-Shia civil war could fill the power vacuum, according to a reliable source with good White House connections.
But to be fair, the Republican leadership of the parallel Senate committee is no more thoughtful:

Trent Lott, the veteran Republican senator from Mississippi, said only last September "[...] Why do Sunnis kill Shiites? How do they tell the difference?

“They all look the same to me,” Lott said.

[ChumpDumper]

There was some similar questioning of FBI officials, including the director, with disturbingly similar results.

[PixelPusher]

Forget government reports...do these people not even watch TV?

[exstatic]

Uninformed idiots and crooks would be the only choices available in Congress.

[boutons_]

"do these people not even watch TV?"

Of course they do. DHS director Michael Chertikoff told the country he first learned about Katrina problems in New Orleans by watching CNN. :lol

[xrayzebra]

Well she always has William Jefferson, Dimm-o-crap from Louisiana to fall back on.
I'm sure he will pull her fat out of the fire. Heck he may even made a little
political contribution, if he can just find his freezer and the National Guard to
furnish transportation.

[turambar85]

Well she always has William Jefferson, Dimm-o-crap from Louisiana to fall back on.
I'm sure he will pull her fat out of the fire. Heck he may even made a little
political contribution, if he can just find his freezer and the National Guard to
furnish transportation.


Yep, because no Republicans have ethics-related problems.

Why not play pretend that we have removed the blinders and realize that both sides are morally bankrupt, but that there are more Republicans with ethics issues because there are (were)....more Republicans.

[Yonivore]

Setting the bar kinda low, ain't she?

[ChumpDumper]

Setting the bar kinda low, ain't she?Pretty pathetic that the Republicans were so horrible that they got be out by these guys, ain't it?

[xrayzebra]

I just have to wonder, do you have to have a real estate license
to be a dimm-o-crap. Seems like a lot of them deal in real estate
and make a bunch of money. All of it legit of course.

Move on no issues to discuss here.

[ChumpDumper]

:lol

You'll have to get something more to stop Obama.

[xrayzebra]

:lol

You'll have to get something more to stop Obama.

No problem, Hillary's on it, right now. I wouldn't want to be
in Obama's shoes. Hope he has someone watching his back.
Strange things happen to people who mess with the
Clinton's and their plans.

[ChumpDumper]

Nah, she can't tear down the best vice-presidential candidate ever.

[Yonivore]

Pretty pathetic that the Republicans were so horrible that they got be out by these guys, ain't it?
Helps to have the media on your side and to be able to lie through your fucking teeth without conscience.

[Yonivore]

:lol

You'll have to get something more to stop Obama.
Yeah, he's just a little too perfect. Two years to find out what he's hiding though.

[ChumpDumper]

Helps to have the media on your side and to be able to lie through your fucking teeth without conscience.:lol Helps that they didn't do their job and lied about it, too.

[ChumpDumper]

Yeah, he's just a little too perfect. Two years to find out what he's hiding though.Or make something up.

[sandman]

Yeah, he's just a little too perfect. Two years to find out what he's hiding though.

IMO, he is not hiding anything. He just happens to be everything that the Dems want in a candidate: under-50, educated, multi-cultural, good orator and charasmatic. That appeal to the proletariat is what they want him for, not for his limited exposure and experience in national politics. Seven years as a state rep and two years in Congress is not a pedigree that elicits a whole lot of confidence, but they will pair Obama the person with <Fill In The Blank> the savy politician and have a strong ticket.

If the uninformed and uneducated voters that the liberals around here blame for getting duped by Dubya are voting again in '08, they are going to fall all over themselves punching Obama's ticket. Heck, I bet he can even say "nuclear" correctly!

[xrayzebra]

^^Well that is except for a little real estate dealings with the local crook. Which
he nows says was a real mistake. Really, will he donate his money and land holdings
to charity. I don't think so. But like I have said, the dimm-o-craps are real good
at real estate deals. Right Harry?

[sandman]

^^Well that is except for a little real estate dealings with the local crook. Which
he nows says was a real mistake. Really, will he donate his money and land holdings
to charity. I don't think so. But like I have said, the dimm-o-craps are real good
at real estate deals. Right Harry?

Oh, I have no doubt that they will find some things, because we are talking about a lawyer and a policitian, but I don't think it will be anything major enough to disqualify him.

No, Obama is the face of the Dems, even if he is not their heart or their brains.

[xrayzebra]

^^Yes I know and he is so pretty and talks so nice.

[sandman]

^^Yes I know and he is so pretty and talks so nice.

I truly wonder if Joe Democrat is politically in tune to know that Obama grew up in Hawaii, not the working class South side of Chicago that he represents. Sort of like Hillary and NY.

[ChumpDumper]

:lmao

Don't vote for this guy! He grew up in Hawaii!

[sandman]

:lmao

Don't vote for this guy! He grew up in Hawaii!

I never said not to vote for the guy. It was an observation that his constituent voter base (South side, working class Chicagoans) seem to embrace him as one of their own. Is it factually incorrect to say that he was born and raised in Hawaii? Again, his political work in Chicago just adds another layer to this image that so many find appealing. Heck, I like the guy as an orator and idealist.

[xrayzebra]

Yep, because no Republicans have ethics-related problems.

Why not play pretend that we have removed the blinders and realize that both sides are morally bankrupt, but that there are more Republicans with ethics issues because there are (were)....more Republicans.

No dummy, the problem is over-educated people
like you. That get a little bit of formal education
and pretend that you are smarter than those
who have actually lived in the real world for
many years. The problem is Politicians of all
persuasions. More especially liberals who
think everyone, other than them, the liberals,
own something to someone who has a little bit
more.

Boy do you really have an education coming in
the future.

[turambar85]

No dummy, the problem is over-educated people
like you. That get a little bit of formal education
and pretend that you are smarter than those
who have actually lived in the real world for
many years. The problem is Politicians of all
persuasions. More especially liberals who
think everyone, other than them, the liberals,
own something to someone who has a little bit
more.

Boy do you really have an education coming in
the future.

The problem is people like me? So, the problem is people who open their eyes to the problems on both sides? The problem is people who dedicate their lives to knowledge and self-improvement?

Youre more envious that I first thought. My education doesn't seem to hamper me in any way. You claim it is because it brainwashes me, I guess, yet I say that both sides are wrong, you are an apologist for all republican actions. I have you bested there Mr. X.

And regardless, I am not the problem. I asked how you can make fun of a democrat for ethics problems when both sides do it? Answer the real question. Stop trying to slander when youre lost.

[Ya Vez]

I heard last night on ABC news that obama is for civil unions and not same sex marriages. which I guess is a centrist stance on the issue... wonder if that is going to change before election time...

[ChumpDumper]

I'm not sure that stance would be a deal breaker in a general election. Primaries, maybe.

[ChumpDumper]

Miniature American flags for others.