Only This President
Only this president, only in this time, only with this dangerous, even messianic certitude, could answer a country demanding an exit strategy from Iraq, by offering an entrance strategy for Iran.
Only this president could look out over a vista of 3,008 dead and 22,834 wounded in Iraq, and finally say, “Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me” – only to follow that by proposing to repeat the identical mistake … in Iran.
Only this president could extol the “thoughtful recommendations of the Iraq Study Group,” and then take its most far-sighted recommendation – “engage Syria and Iran” – and transform it into “threaten Syria and Iran” – when al-Qaida would like nothing better than for us to threaten Syria, and when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would like nothing better than to be threatened by us.
This is diplomacy by skimming; it is internationalism by drawing pictures of Superman in the margins of the text books; it is a presidency of Cliff Notes.
And to Iran and Syria – and, yes, also to the insurgents in Iraq – we must look like a country run by the equivalent of the drunken pest who gets battered to the floor of the saloon by one punch, then staggers to his feet, and shouts at the other guy’s friends, “Ok, which one of you is next?”
Mr. Bush, the question is no longer “What are you thinking?” but rather “Are you thinking at all?”
That’s how Olbermann started his commentary, there’s lots more good stuff, all of it worth listening to, including a really good summary of why people simply do not believe Bush when he opens his mouth anymore
In fact, when you briefed news correspondents off-the-record before the speech, they were told, once again, “if you knew what we knew … if you saw what we saw … ”
“If you knew what we knew” was how we got into this morass in Iraq in the first place.
The problem arose when it turned out that the question wasn’t whether we knew what you knew, but whether you knew what you knew.
You, sir, have become the president who cried wolf.
All that you say about Iraq now could be gospel.
All that you say about Iran and Syria now could be prescient and essential.
We no longer have a clue, sir.
We have heard too many stories.
Many of us are as inclined to believe you just shuffled the director of national intelligence over to the State Department because he thought you were wrong about Iran.
Many of us are as inclined to believe you just put a pilot in charge of ground wars in Iraq and Afghanistan because he would be truly useful in an air war next door in Iran.
Your assurances, sir, and your demands that we trust you, have lost all shape and texture.
They are now merely fertilizer for conspiracy theories.
They are now fertilizer, indeed.
That pre-speech briefing part had another element in it besides the “if you knew what we knew…..”
At a not-for-quotation pre-speech briefing on Jan. 10, George W. Bush and his top national security aides unnerved network anchors and other senior news executives with suggestions that a major confrontation with Iran is looming.
Time is running out for America, the longer Bush is allowed to hold office, the worse the consequences.
OTA Sunday: Conservative Culture | Conservative Cat | Imagine Kitty Magazine | Leaning Straight Up | Stuck on Stupid | 123beta | The Uncooperative Blogger
Bush’s new strategy will involve few fresh troops
WASHINGTON | The “surge” of U.S. forces in Iraq that President Bush announced Wednesday
Holy COW. I wasn’t aware that editorialists of the mainstream TV networks in the US were allowed to have such passionate opinions against Bush. That was really quite amazing; Olbermann is P*SSED.
Some interesting writing, too. He had me right up until the 1984 reference… I mean, I did have a spooky feeling at the start of the Iraq war when none of the networks seemed to question or even, you know, attempt to explain the sudden Iraq==9/11 spin that came shooting straight out of the clear blue sky, and since then have railed numerous times at individual reporters simply not asking ANY difficult, or even elementary, questions. I began to feel that perhaps all the question asking journalists had been fired or told to shut up. Yes, that did seem 1984: but, the Daily Show and Air America were allowed to exist, as were blogs, so I did not sink into utter despair. Non-traditional media were there if people wished to seek them out. The stories were being told: Al Franken was never “disappeared”.
This clip represents a mainstream editorialist ripping strips off Bush with which to tile his roof. Wow. But watching him made me celebrate that 1984 did not, in fact, happen.
Open Trackback Weekend #37
I’m starting the OTA early because I’m likely to be unavailable most of the weekend. Just leave a post and you’ll get a trackback ping from me. Since I send trackbacks manually, it may take awhile for it to show up. Sorry ’bout that…sincerely ….
Could You Inagine The Outrage
if this headline were tweaked just a little bit? New Orleans struggles to keep its black character Could you imagine the outrage if some community were to be trying to keep its “white character”? Sorry folks — racism is racism…
MLK Day — A Singular Holiday
MLK Day stands alone as the one national holiday not commercialized, trivialized, or ignored. Think about it. Christmas should be the first thing that leaps to mind — over-hyped holiday sales and ACLU-enforced secularization of the day so that any…
[...] Trackposted to Rightwing Guy, Wake Up America, 123 Beta, Outside the Beltway, Is It Just Me?, Perri Nelson’s Website, Mark My Words, Stageleft, basil’s blog, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Dumb Ox News, and Conservative Cat, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe. [...]
I just recently began watching Olbermann clips on the internet (and am trying to get MSNBC on my cable package, just for Countdown and the Worst Person in the World).
I like the guy – he really seems passionate about not liking the way things are going, and has some good writers behind him. Sometimes he tries too hard, like with the 1984 thing, but this is not often (at least from what I’ve seen).
If you haven’t watched the Worst Person in the World sections, they are definitely worth the watch.
Hoping that Olbermann can get those ratings and that viewership up, I think Americans need to hear someone like him regularly.
Woman Dies After Holding Wee for Wii Radio Contest
A California died over the weekend after participating in a “Hold Your Wee for a Wii” radio promotion.
The Sacramento news stations report water intoxication.
The results of a preliminary investigation released Saturday showed evidence …
Tricia Helfer Nude Playboy Pictorial
Everyone’s favorite Cylon, Tricia Helfer, is baring it all for Playboy.
Number Six, clothes zero.
Tricia Helfer, darling of Donalda and sex-oozing Cylon of TV’s hit Battlestar Galactica, is baring all in the latest Playboy.
What’s th…
Tricia Helfer Nude Playboy Pictorial
Everyone’s favorite Cylon, Tricia Helfer, is baring it all for Playboy.
Number Six, clothes zero.
Tricia Helfer, darling of Donalda and sex-oozing Cylon of TV’s hit Battlestar Galactica, is baring all in the latest Playboy.
What’s th…
U.S. Military to Ditch the Red Cross for the Red C
According to a military source, “This new symbol for the red cross was reported as being currently ready to be instated to our military medical facilities in the near future. . .
U.S. Military to Ditch the Red Cross for the Red C
According to a military source, “This new symbol for the red cross was reported as being currently ready to be instated to our military medical facilities in the near future. . .
U.S. Military to Ditch the Red Cross for the Red C
According to a military source, “This new symbol for the red cross was reported as being currently ready to be instated to our military medical facilities in the near future. . .
MLK’s Birthday and One Family’s Race Journey
There may be a lot of disagreement on how far we still have to go with racism, in this country. But there should be no dispute about how far we’ve come. Jim Crow laws were still in effect in my lifetime. Today, that kind of open, institutional…