Everybody knows that Fox News is unfair and unbalanced. But nobody ever said Roger Ailes and company aren't smart. Look how they sucked HuffingtonPost.com right in with staffers making outraged comments about Obama-bashing at their own network. Now, of course, they say it was all a joke. I say, the Chris Wallace thing was, too. Of course, here I am, posting about it. It's all show business, folks.
How many four-year cycles have we prayed for presidential candidates who speak from their cuffs? From their minds, at least, maybe even their hearts? We have one of each this year: Barack Obama and John McCain. Sorry, Hillary, you haven't done it this time -- not enough, anyway, as Frank Rich asserts.
Oh, he may not quit, and probably won't be impeached, or whatever you might do to a wayward governor. But he's as gone as if he'd just signed on for a one-way trip to the space station. The most painful thing to watch yesterday was Governor Spitzer's good wife standing by his side as he read his soulless apology to assembled news types. No, she didn't look like the stand-by-your-man type. She looked solid and unbending. She was not presenting the loyal wife face. Still, there she was, showing up for public humiliation. Elliot's stupidity doesn't top Bill Clinton's, only on the basis of rank. Just once, however, I'd like to see one of these bastards show up for his press conference without the wife. She shoulda said no. You're on you own, dude.
Cheap shot? It's mine. I'll miss this conservative. He could laugh.
Today, a new independent report commissioned by Congress is in the news. According to the study, the U.S. military is unprepared for a catastrophic attack on the U.S. This is mainly about what's left of our National Guard since Iraq. But, for me, it's just the latest certification that the vital and important traditional functions of our government have been allowed to deteriorate to a dangerous extent over the past eight years. Maybe longer; maybe there's blame to be shared by the previous administration.
But, it seems to me that the Republican administration of George W. Bush has taken an exceptional ultraconservative glee in throwing sand in the gears of our government structure and vital organs wherever it could. Aside from the military damage they've done, misusing the forces we had, any regulatory or functioning government program or agency you can name has been either allowed to under-perform or actively sabotaged by this administration.
So, I say, fine, let's have the big Iraq debate, though that issue is settled in most minds. Sure, go ahead and prognosticate on fixing health care. Wrestle with immigration; that's a fine time-waster a few of us can get riled up about. But I'll vote for the party and the candidate that understands what awful shape our government is in and rolls out a credible plan for fixing it. Tell me who you'll appoint to head Defense, State, Justice, FDA, EPA, CIA, and the rest of the bollixed up, demoralized, but vital bureaucracies. Give me your legislative and administrative plan for undoing the damage of the past eight years. Don't just badmouth our big government. Make it work for us. Democrat, Republican, or independent. If you get this, you've got my vote.
New York Times is where you can read about it. Me? I'm speechless.
Why should I have trouble coming up with something to write about in an election year? Should be enough hype flying around to keep me in topics the rest of the year.
Actually, it's good that people are now casting actual votes. It's not so predictable as past years, either. I think the stupidity -- Bush's, Congress's, and ours (come on, we elected 'em) -- has knocked something loose. We're all mad enough to pay attention to the process this year. We also, apparently, don't feel so useless as in the past, and have decided not to let nuts and ad people make our decisions for us.
More people will vote this year than in past years. Bravo. And, I think we also have much better BS radar than ever before. No thanks to the pundits and press camp-followers. At least those folks are beating themselves up this time, instead of rationalizing. Leave that to the candidates and their agents. I'm really looking forward to the big Tuesday. I'm actually feeling confident.
This is a great country. The macho presidency is, like all past entourages, winding down. And we're still here.
First of the year. Seems like a good time to consider what this site's about. Hype is not going away. The question: how to live a relatively sane, sensible life when you're surrounded by it. I think most of us succeed, actually. The early start to our Presidential season actually makes me feel pretty good. Politics don't seem to be nauseating me so much. I think we're a little more awake. Surely, the Republican machine doesn't seem so strident this year. That's smart of them. Even the most jaded of them seem to realize they can't do things the same way as before and expect to command the loyal. Likewise the Democrats. The presence of Obama seems to have changed the tone of their primary campaign. The media people are trying to whip up some fear and loathing, but I think the Clinton-Obama War story is a non-starter. I think they're lobbing macaroons at each other and the voters aren't paying attention to that stuff. I think both parties have learned something from the past six and a half years (Year One being 2001), and I hope the press and TV media do too, eventually. Me, I've slacked off in recent times on this site, though a lot of you come around looking for info on Cymbalta and Dr. Jarvik. Mostly, you're curious, and not much interested in my chronic outrage at drug advertising. It has helped ruin our health care system, but it isn't the only thing. We've put up with it. We share a major part of the blame. Even with all the hooha about all the issues and politics, only about half of us vote. No amount of hype has gotten the rest of us participating in cleaning up our various messes. How about checking your gut. If you spend one minute a year wondering how some of this stuff'll get fixed, shut up. Unless you at least know what's going on, and cast a vote. Thanks for dropping by.
Not exactly news. But it gets a link from me. The Seattle Times, Thanksgiving Day.
I'd feel a little more righteous about President Bush's strong statement and sanctions against the Burmese government today (he even has Laura out speaking on the subject) if we weren't so famous now for Guantanamo and "rendition."
I believe historians will judge 2007-2008 as a crucial time. The outcome of the crisis now under way is far from known. But I also believe most of us, even those of us who are already angry over how the Bush Administration has distorted and damaged what America stands for, most of us are too comfortable with the situation.
I experience episodes of outrage. But such a strong emotion is hard to sustain, and we haven't really been required to give up our comforts in the almost seven years since Nine-Eleven. I can have equally intense periods of outrage at the Democratic majority in Congress, who haven't been able to carry out the quality or quantity of correction so many voters gave them clear instructions to effect.
I worry that because we haven't lost access to our toys, or our mobility, or our standard of living, to any meaningful degree, that we'll just doze through the Presidential year and forget to carry outrage forward and decimate the Republican Party, which it deserves, or shape up the Democratic Party, which we require in order to have an alternative to dysfunctional business as usual in our government.
PBS's Frontline, the only serious news documentary series on American television, opens its season Tuesday (10/16) with "Cheney's Law," which, they say, elaborates on how the Vice President and his lawyer manipulated our government system to inflate the power of the Presidency, at the cost of our values and what was left of our reputation. They, the Frontline group, don't put it as bluntly as I did just now. But neither do they flinch at presenting the evidence. I'll be watching Tuesday night, and I hope you will be too, in the interest carrying forward our outrage to November 2008.
"9/11 IS OVER." This column says it all for me. And thanks, NYTimes.com, for making your opinion columns free again.
I watched Hillary Clinton on CBS's Face the Nation this morning--live, unedited, the whole twelve-minute interview. I found her clear, cogent, and convincing in her answers and positions. Much as I found George Bush when I watched his latest news conference, the other day. I wasn't predisposed to like her. She's not my candidate. Nobody is, yet. I'm trying to stay away from pundits and true believers alike from now until November 2008. I think it's the path to the making of an informed and intelligent decision in the next presidential election, and to sanity. Today, Bob Schieffer, the best CBS has, helped me immeasurably, by displaying no need to be a bigger star than his guest, yet asking the key, tough questions a good reporter should ask. Our confused country needs to promote calm and sanity in the process of changing our government in the next year. I'm trying to do my part.
I watched President Bush's news conference this morning (9/20) on NBC. I found the President clear, cogent, and convincing in his answers and positions, even those regarding Iraq, which I still believe was a blunder. I say this because I, like a lot of people I'm sure, tend to stay in a zone of anger about the Bush administration. I think it was good to watch a news conference live and suspend my attitudes for an hour; to try for something like objectivity. Or at least fairness. Media marketers provide us with abundant opportunities to stay in our comfort zones, reinforcing our rifts. Pandering. Fairness is not in style. I tried it for an hour this morning and I feel better. It was a good workout. I recommend it.
What’s going on? The other day the earth shook in Peru. I saw it on NBC’s Today show. They went to a correspondent, monitoring the situation…in London. They showed late-breaking video – from Al Jazeera International – the new English-language TV news channel that no American cable or satellite company will touch with a ten-foot dish.
What’s this all about? Why is Ned Colt narrating a report about Lima, Peru, from London? Well, I assume it’s because NBC has no employee based south of Dallas, Texas, who could cover the story on the scene. So, we get pictures gathered by an employee or correspondent of an Arab-owned, Emirate-based news operation, and the voice of nobody in Lima.
It is now clear that only prerecorded voices looping gibberish are speaking for the U.S. Executive branch. I can only conclude that we all have access to privileged information and our government officials do not.
Administration spokesmen sound like nothing so much as Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf, Saddam Hussein's last Information Minister, who called a press conference as American tanks rumbled by outside, announcing there were no American troops in Baghdad. In fact, the Americans were committing suicide by the hundreds at the city's gates. Comical Ali, they called him.
Our government's latest slapstick communication, as reported in this NY Times editorial, a faceless minion answered Senator Hillary Clinton's direct question to Defense Secretary Gates about planning for troop withdrawal with this drivel:
“...premature and public discussion of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq.”
Yesterday on the Today Show, Lindsay Graham admitted he didn't lose any sleep--he went to bed. What can we say about the Democrats' marathon filibuster buster? I guess the question here is, how shall we structure our time between now and January 2009, when a new President and Vice President and, thus, administrative branch, are sworn in?
George W. Bush thinks he's winning. He's going to go down with his ship and he's trying to take us with him. For better or, more likely, worse, it's the way our system works. I wonder who could convince him and Cheney that they could be remembered as wise Americans who came to their senses before it was too late? Is there time for an impeachment trial?
Congress can't get anything done. They. Can't. Get. Anything. Done. Can anyone hear me?
In other, less mature comfortable countries, this would be the moment the Army steps in. In Gaza, one political party ran the other out of town. Thank God we don't do that in the U.S.A.
Ahem, well, here's my voice: Wake up, Senator, Congressperson. Get together on passing a law against George Bush's brain. And make sure you've got the votes to override a veto.
I just wrote emails to my Senators, to make sure they keep the pressure on the Bush Administration to change direction in Iraq. Despite the smoke the President and his lieutenants--not to mention his generals--blow about how much progress they're making with the "just started" surge, they still act as if everybody's asking them to pull out of Iraq tomorrow or the next day. That's never been the case, and it's time we got the message through to Bush and Cheney that we're not buying that. We need to see a real change in direction, in the interest of our security and the health of our troops. You don't have to have top secret clearance to sense that we're in World War III (Pakistan, London, to name two current fronts outside of Iraq) and we're tied down in Iraq. Not that sending conventional brigades on classic invasions is going to work against this enemy. Republican, Democrat, or whatever, write your representatives today.
Don't doubt for a minute it's a civil war. Today's exchanges are typical. This morning the New York Times reported that White House occupants are debating new Iraq war policies. A few hours later, Reuters reports, Tony Snow denied it. Count yourself fortunate. You live in America, where it's legal to challenge a secretive President. Begin to worry when the press stops reporting everything they hear, immediately. And keep demanding to know why.
Our industrial-strength presidential campaign marches along in full cry, as if thinking ahead could relieve the frustration of watching a failed government--reduced to binding up its self-shot feet, snatching loyal operatives from deserved jail time. I'm not feeling better yet, and I'm an optimist.
Our choices so far are many, but more of the same--they're either members of the party that's shopping for a new soul, or the one that was taken over by a fake-Christian corporate War Department with an allergy to responsibility.
But then, when each of these crippled organizations can claim about half the population that bothers to vote, which is about half the total population that could, do we even deserve to be led?
The same old poll-raise-and-spend game is not going to produce an answer. All of us need to drop some weight, get a makeover, turn off the ads, and learn to think all over again. Save America. Start with yourself.
[Afterthought: Inconsistency Watch -- I guess, in retrospect, I've given up on the promise of Bloomberg, too.]
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