Memo

From: Karl Rove
To: Dick Cheney
cc: gwb

Dick,

I think we have to you-know-what New York again.

K

- Michael 1:58 PM - [PermaLink] -

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From the Complete Text of the Debate.

Bush thinks tax cuts for his buddies is much more important then Homeland security.

The president hasn't put one nickel, not one nickel, into the effort to fix some of our tunnels and bridges and most-exposed subway systems. That's why they had to close down the subway in New York when the Republican Convention was there. We haven't done the work that ought to be done.

The president -- 95 percent of the containers that come into the ports, right here in Florida, are not inspected. Civilians get onto aircraft and their luggage is x-rayed, but the cargo hold is not x- rayed. Does that make you feel safer in America?

This president thought it was more important to give the wealthiest people in America a tax cut rather than invest in homeland security.

Those aren't my values. I believe in protecting America first. And long before President Bush and I get a tax cut -- and that's who gets it -- long before we do, I'm going to invest in homeland security, and I'm going to make sure we're not cutting COPS programs in America, and we're fully staffed at our firehouses, and that we protect the nuclear and chemical plants. The president also, unfortunately, gave in to the chemical industry, which didn't want to do some of the things necessary to strengthen our chemical plant exposure.

And there's an enormous undone job to protect the loose nuclear materials in the world that are able to get to terrorists. That's a whole other subject. But -- I see we still have a little bit more time. Let me just quickly say, at the current pace, the president will not secure the loose material in the Soviet Union, former Soviet Union, for 13 years. I'm going to do it in four years, and we're going to keep it out of the hands of terrorists.

MR. LEHRER: Ninety-second response, Mr. President.

PRESIDENT BUSH: I don't think we want to get to how he's going to pay for all these promises. It's like a huge tax gap and -- anyway, that's for another debate.

Sorry guys, what with my huge deficit and 200 billion spent in Iraq if you want your firefighters to have helmets your going to have to hold bake sales.

- rob 5:58 PM - [PermaLink] -

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U.S. cybersecurity chief resigns

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government's cybersecurity chief has resigned after one year with the Department of Homeland Security, confiding to industry colleagues his frustration over what he considers a lack of attention paid to computer security issues within the agency.

That and all that damn spam you get in the NCSD.

- rob 5:54 PM - [PermaLink] -

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The true face of today's GOP being seen?

House Ethics Panel Says DeLay Tried to Trade Favor for a Vote

In a lengthy report, the panel said it had determined in its investigation of allegations first raised by the lawmaker, Representative Nick Smith, a Republican, that Mr. DeLay offered to endorse Mr. Smith's son in a Congressional primary if he would support a measure then teetering on the edge of defeat.

The bill of course was the medicare pharma gift act (i mean prescription drugs). But hey, we're all friends here... what's the big deal about bribery?

- rob 5:49 PM - [PermaLink] -

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So if you are Fox News and getting Bush re-elected is one of your highest priorities... what do you do after Bush does so badly in the debate?
You make stuff up. From Foxnews.com (later pulled)


Talking Points Memo has more details:

After questions were asked the offending material was quickly pulled from the site, without explanation.

So what happened?

Late this afternoon I spoke to Fox spokesman Paul Schur who told me the following ...

“Carl [Cameron] made a stupid mistake which he regrets. And he has been reprimanded for his lapse in judgment. It was a poor attempt at humor.”

So the Fox reporter covering the Kerry campaign puts together this Kerry-bashing parody right out of the RNC playbook with phony quotes intended to peg him as girlish fool and somehow it found its way on the Fox website as a news item.

Imagine that.

- rob 5:46 PM - [PermaLink] -

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As you may have heard, or better yet, seen: Bush didn't seemed to do well last night

See Bush Debate. See Him Squirm
He looked like a hapless teen called on the carpet as Kerry channeled Poppy and termed the Iraq invasion a "colossal error"

But in Coral Gables, Fla., last night, Bush looked -- at least for the first half of the debate -- like Elmer Befuddled, a commander-in-chief not in command.

Perhaps what was so unnerving was that Bush found himself in a foreign-policy debate with a seasoned politician who was espousing the same sort of measured, internationalist approach to a dangerous world that was the hallmark of his father's Presidency. Debating the security and future of the nation on live national television isn't easy -- but debating your Dad is downright scary.
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When Kerry, methodically making his case like the prosecutor he once was, said, "This President has made a colossal error of judgment" by invading Iraq, Bush looked like a 1960s teenager called on the carpet for cracking up the family Oldsmobile. At that moment, it was hard not to get the impression that young George wanted to be anyplace but where he found himself.
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But Bush, the onetime black sheep of his family, wanted to wipe away the "wimp factor" stain that his old man had left on the Bush clan. And so he rebelled against the family mantra of prudence in all things. Last night, he looked for all the world like a sputtering screwup -- again.

- rob 5:39 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Oh yeah, and remember for tonight's debate: Everything is going okay in Iraq.

• Iraq's main oil-producer provinces consider forming breakaway region
• Film shows 10 new Iraq hostages
• Car Bombs in Iraq Kill at Least 44 and Wound 200

- rob 1:16 PM - [PermaLink] -

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The true Scalia speaks out:

Scalia Describes ‘Dangerous’ Trend

“I even take the position that sexual orgies eliminate social tensions and ought to be encouraged,” Scalia said.

- rob 1:06 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Country Club Swagger
It doesn't matter if you're left or right. Bush is an embarrassment to real men.

If Bush was a real man, he'd keep his sights on the real enemy, Osama, not pick an easier, more convenient fight with Saddam. It's like the guy who's called out by a big man in a bar, but decides to beat up a midget in the parking lot instead.
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If Bush was a real man, he wouldn't run up deficits like a trophy wife. He'd respect and fear debt for the curse it is. He'd understand that he must pay his own way, leave a little extra for his children. Only a trust-fund kid believes he can spend without borders, knowing that someone else will pay.
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If Bush was a real man, he'd never pick a fight with gays. He'd understand the embarrassment in beating down those without power. It's like punching out a guy in a wheelchair, then pretending you're Shaka Zulu.

If Bush was a real man, he'd know there's no honor in being a country club tough guy, one who believes the work of men is to rattle their lips, then play another round of golf. He'd also know there's no righteousness in following the badass CEO model, guys who lays off hundreds to Wall Street cheers for making the tough call, but never do any of this face-to-face, and never put themselves on the line.

- rob 1:02 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Knowledge is dangerous to the President

U.S. effort aims to improve opinions about Iraq conflict
Violence report distribution curtailed

The Bush administration, battling negative perceptions of the Iraq war, is sending Iraqi Americans to deliver what the Pentagon calls "good news"about Iraq to U.S. military bases and has curtailed distribution of reports showing increasing violence in that country.

The unusual public relations effort by the Pentagon and the U.S. Agency for International Development comes as details have emerged showing the U.S. government and a representative of President Bush's re-election campaign had been heavily involved in drafting the speech given to Congress last week by interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. Combined, they indicate that the federal government is working assiduously to improve Americans' opinions about the Iraq conflict - a key element of Bush's re-election message.

USAID said this week that it will restrict distribution of reports by contractor Kroll Security International showing that the number of daily attacks by insurgents in Iraq has increased. On Monday, a day after the Washington Post published a front-page story saying "the Kroll reports suggest a broad and intensifying campaign of insurgent violence," a USAID official sent an e-mail to congressional aides stating: "This is the last Kroll report to come in. After the Washington Post story, they shut it down in order to regroup. I'll let you know when it restarts."

- rob 12:58 PM - [PermaLink] -

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The GOP leaders of Congress: The Constitution? You mean that old rag? Its meaningless.

Congress hands off constitutional duties

In his nightly monologue, Jay Leno was on target when he recently said: "They keep talking about drafting a constitution for Iraq. Why don't we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys; it's worked for over 200 years, and we're not using it anymore."

Our marvelous Constitution reads, "All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States." Then why does Congress allow executive orders and presidential directives to attain law-of-the-land status?

Congress, having last declared war on Dec. 8, 1941, has assigned its war-making power to the president. On Oct. 3, 2002, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, met with the House International Relations Committee and offered a motion to declare war on Iraq. Intending to vote against his own legislation, he reasoned that if the United States is to go to war, it should be done constitutionally.

Committee Chairman Henry Hyde, R-Ill., rejected this motion with this comment: "There are things in the Constitution that have been overtaken by events and are no longer relevant to a modern society. Declaration of war is one of them. Your motion is inappropriate, anachronistic, and it isn't done anymore." So much for the oath of Congressman Hyde to obey and protect the Constitution.

- rob 12:55 PM - [PermaLink] -

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The Cowardly Broadcasting System
CBS cravenly killed a "60 Minutes" segment about Bush's deceptive case for invading Iraq. What did it contain that was too much for voters to see?

(its salon, so you'll have to watch on at to read the article... but it is worth it).

"Two years ago, Americans heard some frightening words from President Bush and his closest advisors," Bradley said in his introduction of the now-shelved report. "Saddam Hussein, they said, could soon have a nuclear bomb. Of course, we now know that wasn't true." Not only did Saddam not have a nuclear program, Bradley said, but "he hadn't for more than 10 years. How could the Bush administration be so wrong about something so important?"

The answer, Bradley was to have told viewers, "has a lot to do with a single piece of evidence: A set of documents that appear to prove Saddam was secretly buying uranium ore." The mysterious surfacing of the forged Niger documents, Bradley said, helped "explain why President Bush and his cabinet delivered the frightening message we all heard in the early autumn two years ago." The broadcast then cut to video clips of Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice making public statements with eerily similar wording:

"We now know that Saddam has resumed his efforts to acquire nuclear weapons," Cheney said in an address to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Cut to Rumsfeld: "We do now know that Saddam Hussein has been actively and persistently" pursuing nukes. Then, Rice, on a television talk show, insisted: "We do know that he is actively pursuing a nuclear weapon."

By showing the video clips in rapid succession, the television piece conveyed, in a manner beyond the printed word, how deliberate and practiced was the administration's sense of urgency.

Bradley then interviewed Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., the senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. (No one from the Bush administration or any Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee would cooperate, Bradley told viewers.) Biden said in the run-up to the war, he had been perplexed by the remarks of Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice, because nothing he knew about Iraq's nuclear threat squared with their claims. Asked why he thought they were making such dire pronouncements, Biden said: "What's the one way to energize the American public to go to war? The threat of nuclear weapons."

Cut to Bush: "We cannot wait for the final proof, the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud." The expression on Bush's face as he speaks portentously was a look of concern. Yet, had the segment aired, the viewer would have understood that the president was not telling the truth.

- rob 12:50 PM - [PermaLink] -

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What is it with the sons of Republican Presidents?

• Eisenhower's son endorses Kerry.
• Ron Reagan Jr. will vote for "anyone but Bush."
• Bush's sons are a corrupt governor, an incompetent President, a failed businessmen who gets herpes from hookers, or a man who earns a living of his name and wisely keeps very quiet.

No conclusion really - just on observation.

- rob 9:42 AM - [PermaLink] -

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John Eisenhower: Why I will vote for John Kerry for President

As son of a Republican President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, it is automatically expected by many that I am a Republican. For 50 years, through the election of 2000, I was. With the current administration’s decision to invade Iraq unilaterally, however, I changed my voter registration to independent, and barring some utterly unforeseen development, I intend to vote for the Democratic Presidential candidate, Sen. John Kerry.

The fact is that today’s “Republican” Party is one with which I am totally unfamiliar. To me, the word “Republican” has always been synonymous with the word “responsibility,” which has meant limiting our governmental obligations to those we can afford in human and financial terms. Today’s whopping budget deficit of some $440 billion does not meet that criterion.

Responsibility used to be observed in foreign affairs. That has meant respect for others. America, though recognized as the leader of the community of nations, has always acted as a part of it, not as a maverick separate from that community and at times insulting towards it. Leadership involves setting a direction and building consensus, not viewing other countries as practically devoid of significance. Recent developments indicate that the current Republican Party leadership has confused confident leadership with hubris and arrogance.

- rob 6:13 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Top 10 Secrets They Don't Want You to Know About the Debates

1. They aren't debates!
2. The debates were hijacked from the truly independent League of Women Voters in 1986.
3. The "independent and non-partisan" Commission on Presidential Debates is neither independent nor non-partisan.
4. The secretly negotiated debate contract bars Kerry and Bush from any and all other debates for the entire campaign.
5. The debate contract effectively excludes all other serious presidential candidates from participating in the debates.
6. All members of the studio audience must be certified as "soft" supporters of Bush and Kerry, under selection procedures they approve.
7. These "soft" audience members must "observe in silence."
8. The "extended discussion" portion of the debate cannot exceed 30 seconds.
9. Important issues are locked out by the CPD debate rules and party control.
10. Fortune 100 corporations are the main funders of the CPD-sponsored debates, and the CPD's co-chairs are corporate lobbyists.

Read the article for explanations.

- rob 5:01 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Bush Supporters Support Bush Because They Don't Know What Bush Supports
(he's an athletic supporter)

Bush Supporters Misread Many of His Foreign Policy Positions
Kerry Supporters Largely Accurate

As the nation prepares to watch the presidential candidates debate foreign policy issues, a new PIPA-Knowledge Networks poll finds that Americans who plan to vote for President Bush have many incorrect assumptions about his foreign policy positions. Kerry supporters, on the other hand, are largely accurate in their assessments. The uncommitted also tend to misperceive Bush’s positions, though to a smaller extent than Bush supporters, and to perceive Kerry’s positions correctly. Steven Kull, director of PIPA, comments: “What is striking is that even after nearly four years President Bush’s foreign policy positions are so widely misread, while Senator Kerry, who is relatively new to the public and reputed to be unclear about his positions, is read correctly.”

Majorities of Bush supporters incorrectly assumed that Bush favors including labor and environmental standards in trade agreements (84%), and the US being part of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (69%), the International Criminal Court (66%), the treaty banning land mines (72%), and the Kyoto Treaty on global warming (51%). They were divided between those who knew that Bush favors building a new missile defense system now (44%) and those who incorrectly believe he wishes to do more research until its capabilities are proven (41%). However, majorities were correct that Bush favors increased defense spending (57%) and wants the US, not the UN, to take the stronger role in developing Iraq’s new government (70%).

- rob 4:04 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Bush says "oh... THAT report... " Then Rove whispers in his ear. Then he says "nope... never hear that... just that it would go well... and... ummm... it is going well. Stay the course!"

Prewar Assessment on Iraq Saw Chance of Strong Divisions

WASHINGTON, Sept. 27 - The same intelligence unit that produced a gloomy report in July about the prospect of growing instability in Iraq warned the Bush administration about the potential costly consequences of an American-led invasion two months before the war began, government officials said Monday.

The estimate came in two classified reports prepared for President Bush in January 2003 by the National Intelligence Council, an independent group that advises the director of central intelligence. The assessments predicted that an American-led invasion of Iraq would increase support for political Islam and would result in a deeply divided Iraqi society prone to violent internal conflict.

One of the reports also warned of a possible insurgency against the new Iraqi government or American-led forces, saying that rogue elements from Saddam Hussein's government could work with existing terrorist groups or act independently to wage guerrilla warfare, the officials said. The assessments also said a war would increase sympathy across the Islamic world for some terrorist objectives, at least in the short run, the officials said.

- rob 3:28 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Pelosi Derails CIA Plan to Buy Iraq Elections

Why? Because she is trying to make sure America at the very fucking least still is somewhat supporting democracy in Iraq.

Time Magazine reports that the Bush administration had had a plan to use the Central Intelligence Agency to funnel money to candidates it favored in the forthcoming Iraqi elections. The rationale given was that Iran was bankrolling its own candidates.

This plan was apparently derailed in part by the intervention of Democratic Minority Leader in the House, Nancy Pelosi, who remonstrated with National Security Adviser Condaleeza Rice about it.

- rob 3:10 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Was Cheney once a rational man... or was he just lying for a smarter boss?
(and I am not a Bush the elder fan... but lets face it... he could run circles around george the lesser)

Cheney changed his view on IraqCheney in 1992:

"And the question in my mind is how many additional American casualties is Saddam worth?" Cheney said then in response to a question.

"And the answer is not very damned many. So I think we got it right, both when we decided to expel him from Kuwait, but also when the president made the decision that we'd achieved our objectives and we were not going to go get bogged down in the problems of trying to take over and govern Iraq."
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"All of a sudden you've got a battle you're fighting in a major built-up city, a lot of civilians are around, significant limitations on our ability to use our most effective technologies and techniques," Cheney said.

"Once we had rounded him up and gotten rid of his government, then the question is what do you put in its place? You know, you then have accepted the responsibility for governing Iraq."

For more of Dick's lies and flip flops read: Tricky Dick's Turn-About

That image has been augmented by the vice president’s attacks on Senator John Kerry for supposedly working to cut defense and block intelligence reform, for misunderstanding terrorism, and for taking inconsistent positions on Iraq.

But a look more deeply at Cheney’s career shows our current vice president either suffers from amnesia, self-hatred, or a little bit of both. It was Congressman Cheney, after all -- not Senator Kerry -- who contradicted his own party during the height of the Cold War and called for President Ronald Reagan to "take a whack" at defense spending. It was Defense Secretary Cheney -- not Senator Kerry -- who in 1992 blocked critical intelligence reforms and bragged to Congress about gutting defense spending.

In fact, the vice president’s previous actions are remarkably consistent with behavior he now excoriates. His blustery rhetoric is designed not only to distort Kerry’s record but to hide his own.

- rob 3:06 PM - [PermaLink] -

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High Court Clerks Bemoan 'Bush v. Gore' Revelations

More than 90 prominent lawyers and former Supreme Court law clerks including former Attorneys General Richard Thornburgh and William Barr have joined in a statement sharply criticizing the law clerks who gave behind-the-scenes details about the 2000 case Bush v. Gore to Vanity Fair magazine.
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Entitled "The Path to Florida," the article reviews the dramatic events of four years ago and depicts sharp divisions within the Court over whether the Florida recount should proceed or be ended. Justices Antonin Scalia, Sandra Day O'Connor and, eventually, Anthony Kennedy are portrayed as determined to reach a result that would hand victory to George W. Bush.

Of course no one seems to be too upset with the fact that the article implies that no matter what happened in Florida, no matter what tactic Gore choose, the point was moot. The Supreme Court was always planning to step in and give it to Bush. Of course, none dare call it treason.

- rob 2:55 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Texans Come to their Senses
(and have a sharp tongue too)

Bush's Hometown Newspaper Endorses Kerry

"The publishers of The Iconoclast endorsed Bush four years ago, based on the things he promised, not on this smoke-screened agenda," the newspaper said in its editorial. "Today, we are endorsing his opponent, John Kerry."

It urged "Texans not to rate the candidate by his hometown or even his political party, but instead by where he intends to take the country."

Here's some excerpts from the actual endorsement... Wow:

Kerry Will Restore American Dignity
2004 Iconoclast Presidential Endorsement

Few Americans would have voted for George W. Bush four years ago if he had promised that, as President, he would:

• Empty the Social Security trust fund by $507 billion to help offset fiscal irresponsibility and at the same time slash Social Security benefits.
• Cut Medicare by 17 percent and reduce veterans' benefits and military pay.
• Eliminate overtime pay for millions of Americans and raise oil prices by 50 percent.
• Give tax cuts to businesses that sent American jobs overseas, and, in fact, by policy encourage their departure.
• Give away billions of tax dollars in government contracts without competitive bids.
• Involve this country in a deadly and highly questionable war, and
• Take a budget surplus and turn it into the worst deficit in the history of the United States, creating a debt in just four years that will take generations to repay.

These were elements of a hidden agenda that surfaced only after he took office.
The publishers of The Iconoclast endorsed Bush four years ago, based on the things he promised, not on this smoke-screened agenda.
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In those dark hours after the World Trade Center attacks, Americans rallied together with a new sense of patriotism. We were ready to follow Bush's lead through any travail.

He let us down.

When he finally emerged from his hide-outs on remote military bases well after the first crucial hours following the attack, he gave sound-bytes instead of solutions.

- rob 1:52 PM - [PermaLink] -

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In 2000 the GOP went after the "soccer mom" vote.

In 2004 the GOP is going after the "security mom" vote.

They never seem to be going after the "sadistic mom" vote... maybe because they have that locked up?

- rob 10:04 AM - [PermaLink] -

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Two Faced Bush

- rob 10:01 AM - [PermaLink] -

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I bet you already realized this, but there was a Monday a couple of days back:

The Top Ten Conservative Idiots, No. 172 - Democratic Underground

- rob 9:58 AM - [PermaLink] -

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Flashback: How Bush treats first responders and American Security
(less important then a tax break for corporations who send work offshore)

Senate chair criticizes Bush's proposed first responder cuts (2/24/04)

The president's budget regrettably cuts a billion dollars from the basic Homeland Security grant program, leaving only $700 million," Collins said. "Ultimately, we may be able to cut back on the amount of money that is flowing to state and local government, but now is not the time."

Collins said the nation's first responders still lack proper training, equipment, and communications interoperability to deal with a future terrorist attack. Collins also said the administration's proposed budget cuts funding for security at the nation's seaports, which she characterized as the country's "greatest vulnerability."

And this is how Kerry and Edwards treat first responders
(with respect)

Edwards slams Bush campaign 'lies' - Sep 28, 2004

"He will never admit he's done anything wrong," Edwards said of Bush. "They've made a lot of mistakes, and our troops and our taxpayers are paying for that right now."

Meanwhile, it was revealed that Edwards refused Monday to cross a local firefighters' picket line and attend a Democratic fund-raiser.

He was scheduled to attend a reception at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Providence, Rhode Island, that organizers hoped to raise about $500,000 for the ticket.

Outside the hotel, more than two dozen firefighters picketed over contract negotiations with the city.

Edwards walked away from $500,000 rather than cross the picket line of firefighters just trying to get paid a little closer to what they are worth.

- rob 9:50 AM - [PermaLink] -

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Ummm... so you don't like Bush?

MilitaryWeek.com: "Leadership Matters"

Leadership is rarely seen in the senior officer who doesn't know his core skill area, whether that is flying airplanes, killing the enemy in ground combat, whether engineering or accounting. Incompetence can, of course, be remedied by the ability and willingness to learn. Incompetence without an observable ability to learn was bad news. Any sign that the suspect officer had simply no clue that he might be in severely bad kimshee and hence might possibly need to learn something was even worse news.

Some smart person ought to have mentioned this to George W. Bush when they approved the "Leadership Matters" theme.

An absence of leadership qualities in our military leaders gives rise to terms like "Seagull" Colonels and Generals, a species known to swoop in, make a lot of noise, crap all over everything, and then fly away. But our seagulls had an advantage over Bush and Cheney. Regardless of the mistakes made and not remedied, regardless of the illogic, stupidity and sheer idiocy of our present unit's existence under a seagull commander, at least we could be 100% sure they wouldn't be around for long.

High level incompetence seems to be the natural sea-state of our militarized foreign policy, launching forth with the proud Guardsman George W. Bush at the helm and Dick "Other Priorities" Cheney as navigator.

This track record of sheer stupidity, hubris and other seagull qualities is marred only by the existence of rare officers, like retired Marine General Tony Zinni, who knew their job, led their men and women, and spoke the truth to power about the inanity of the plan to invade Iraq early on. Looking further for aberrations to the rule, we find retired Army General William Odom, conservative through and through, who speaks the truth about Bush's fantasy adventure in Iraq, politely but publicly calling it "a strategic error."

- rob 3:40 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Powerful Editorial

An Un-American Way to Cam

President Bush and his surrogates are taking their re-election campaign into dangerous territory. Mr. Bush is running as the man best equipped to keep America safe from terrorists - that was to be expected. We did not, however, anticipate that those on the Bush team would dare to argue that a vote for John Kerry would be a vote for Al Qaeda. Yet that is the message they are delivering - with a repetition that makes it clear this is an organized effort to paint the Democratic candidate as a friend to terrorists.

When Vice President Dick Cheney declared that electing Mr. Kerry would create a danger "that we'll get hit again," his supporters attributed that appalling language to a rhetorical slip. But Mr. Cheney is still delivering that message. Meanwhile, as Dana Milbank detailed so chillingly in The Washington Post yesterday, the House speaker, Dennis Hastert, said recently on television that Al Qaeda would do better under a Kerry presidency, and Senator Orrin Hatch, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, has announced that the terrorists are going to do everything they can between now and November "to try and elect Kerry."

This is despicable politics. It's not just polarizing - it also undermines the efforts of the Justice Department and the Central Intelligence Agency to combat terrorists in America. Every time a member of the Bush administration suggests that Islamic extremists want to stage an attack before the election to sway the results in November, it causes patriotic Americans who do not intend to vote for the president to wonder whether the entire antiterrorism effort has been kidnapped and turned into part of the Bush re-election campaign. The people running the government clearly regard keeping Mr. Bush in office as more important than maintaining a united front on the most important threat to the nation.

Mr. Bush has not disassociated himself from any of this, and in his own campaign speeches he makes an argument that is equally divisive and undemocratic.

Emphasis Mine.

- rob 3:36 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Twisting Dr. Nuke's Arm

I'm talking about the arrangement under which the U.S. cuts Pakistan some slack on nuclear proliferation, in exchange for President Pervez Musharraf's joining aggressively in the hunt for Osama - in the hope of catching him by Nov. 2.

If a nuclear weapon destroys the U.S. Capitol in coming years, it will probably be based in part on Pakistani technology. The biggest challenge to civilization in recent years came not from Osama or Saddam Hussein but from Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb. Dr. Khan definitely sold nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya, and, officials believe, to several more nations as well.

But, amazingly, eight months after Dr. Khan publicly confessed, we still don't know who the rest of his customers were. Mr. Musharraf acknowledged as much in an interview.

"I can't say surely that we have unearthed everything that he's done, but I think we have unearthed most of what he's done," Mr. Musharraf said. Translated, that means: I'm afraid you're eventually going to find out about other transactions that we're still trying to hide.

American intelligence experts haven't been able to interrogate Dr. Khan, and Mr. Musharraf claims that the U.S. has not even asked to do so. "Let me put the record straight: nobody asked us to be allowed to question him," Mr. Musharraf said.

President Bush apparently did not ask for that direct access at his meeting on Wednesday with Mr. Musharraf, and it's clear that the administration is not pressing the issue. Why? Because Mr. Bush in this election season has another priority: getting Mr. Musharraf to help catch Osama.

- rob 3:25 PM - [PermaLink] -

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FBI can't be bothered to find who forgeries brough America to war

FBI could talk to source of forged Niger papers. I did

FBI agents did do a cursory interview with Burba not long after Rockefeller asked for an investigation. And they made a pro-forma request for her to contact her source to see if some arrangement could be devised under which they could speak with him.

But after that, they didn’t follow up with her for months to find out what the answer was. And when they did finally do so, it was mainly because one agent was passing the matter on to someone else.

To this day, they’ve never made contact with the guy who tried to sell Burba the documents.

One might speculate that Burba’s just kept mum. And there’s no way to unravel the mystery of the guy’s identity. But that’s not even close to true.

Here’s why.

My colleagues and I have known the guy’s name since late spring. And at least three European intelligence agencies knew who he was well before we found out. In fact, twice this summer we brought him to New York for interviews.

Both times he traveled under his own name, Rocco Martino.

The first time was in June; the second time was in August. And it’s the second time that’s more telling.

By the time we brought Martino to New York in early August, he had already been identified by name in the Italian and the British press as the man who tried to sell Burba the forged documents.

In fact, when we whisked him out of the country, he was already under very active and conspicuous surveillance by Italian authorities in Rome. He flew to New York under his own name and stayed for several days.

One of my colleagues and I actually had a friendly bet about whether FBI agents would be waiting for Martino when he came through Customs in New York, since his role at the center of the case and his name had just been published in the Financial Times — a paper you can find on many street corners in Washington, D.C.

I told my friend I didn’t think they were even looking for him. And if they were keeping tabs on him, I really doubted they wanted to make contact. He was a hot potato. Everything we’d learned reporting on the Niger uranium case told us that this was a story the U.S. government did not want to get to the bottom of.

Needless to say, nothing happened.

- rob 3:08 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Bush's allies don't seem to be reading from Rove's talking points:

Pakistan President Musharraf Claims U.S. Ignores Root Causes of Terrorism

JENNINGS: You have said many times that you believe the root causes of terror are poverty and lack of education. Do you believe that the United States is ignoring those root causes in its campaign against terrorism?

MUSHARRAF: I think so. I think they are. We are only involved at the moment in fighting terrorism frontally, the military perspective, the immediate response. But we are not addressing the root causes. And I always say the root cause is political disputes, poverty and illiteracy. A sense of deprivation arising out of political disputes, and that sense of deprivation, then taking to extremism and militancy, because people are poor, and illiterate, and they get indoctrinated. So I think those root causes are not being addressed, and I hope they are, otherwise we are not going to succeed. We may be winning battles, but we lose the war.

JENNINGS: Do you mean to say, seriously, that the United States could lose the war on terrorism?

MUSHARRAF: Well, if you don't go addressing political disputes, yes. That is a possibility.

Meanwhile over at NBC: Musharraf: Iraq war complicates Middle East

Brokaw: Do you think the American war against Iraq was a mistake?

Musharraf: Well, I wouldn't comment on that. But I will certainly say that it has complicated the issue.

Brokaw: In your part of the world.

Musharraf: In the Islamic world. In the Iraqi region. In the Middle East.

Brokaw: Made it worse for America?

Musharraf: Yes.

- rob 3:03 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Because it would be very bad for the press to report something that is very bad.

The Fallout: '60 Minutes' Delays Report Questioning Reasons for Iraq War

CBS News said yesterday that it had postponed a "60 Minutes" segment that questioned Bush administration rationales for going to war in Iraq.
...
The Iraq segment had been ready for broadcast on Sept. 8, CBS said, but was bumped at the last minute for the segment on Mr. Bush's National Guard service. The Guard segment was considered a highly competitive report, one that other journalists were pursuing.

CBS said last night that the report on the war would not run before Nov. 2.

"We now believe it would be inappropriate to air the report so close to the presidential election," the spokeswoman, Kelli Edwards, said in a statement.

"We also believe that no fact that questions the decisions, motives, or actions of our glorious leader should be aired before the election so as not to inform the electorate," she continued.

Today's GOP: Where an ignorant electorate is our best customer.

- rob 2:30 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Courtesy of Eschaton (Atrios)

What this elections is about:

If you vote for Kerry men on porch swings will hold hands: Don't lets this outrage happen. If men are going to hold hands it should be in the men's room at the country club, the way our Republican God wanted it to be.

Seriously this is an actual mailing from the Republican National Commitee, and it is both pathetic and frightening.

- rob 2:22 PM - [PermaLink] -

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A useful Guide for Thursday night's debate:

Get ready: How the media will spin Kerry and Chimp on the debate

Kerry:
If he's serious, they'll say he's glum, gloomy, pessimistic, and uninspiring.
If he's jovial, they'll say he's phony and trying too hard.

Chimp:
If he's serious, he's, presidential, the war-time commander in chief.
If he's jovial, everybody wants to have a beer with him.

Kerry:
If he's forceful, they'll say he's too aggressive, mean, negative, desperate.
If he's calm, they'll say he's weak, unsteady, dull, lacks energy.

Chimp:
If he's forceful, he's strong, resolute, unwavering.
If he's calm, he's prepared, on-message, disciplined, reserved.

Kerry:
If he's specific, they'll say he's wonkish, presenting "laundry lists," being overly-intellectual, show-offy, and nobody likes the smart kid.
If he's not specific, they'll say he's vague, criticizing but not offering solutions, not addressing the issues, and nobody knows who he is.

Chimp:
If he's specific, he "lays out his plan" and "makes his case."
If he's not specific, he's spanning the issues, giving a global presentation, painting a broad outline of his plans.

It continues with even more sad and probably accurate scenarios.

- rob 1:59 PM - [PermaLink] -

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It's a family thing

Bush's grandpa works for company that aided the Nazis, and Bush himself thinks all Jews well go to hell.

How Bush's grandfather helped Hitler's rise to power
Rumours of a link between the US first family and the Nazi war machine have circulated for decades. Now the Guardian can reveal how repercussions of events that culminated in action under the Trading with the Enemy Act are still being felt by today's president.

George Bush's grandfather, the late US senator Prescott Bush, was a director and shareholder of companies that profited from their involvement with the financial backers of Nazi Germany.
The Guardian has obtained confirmation from newly discovered files in the US National Archives that a firm of which Prescott Bush was a director was involved with the financial architects of Nazism.

His business dealings, which continued until his company's assets were seized in 1942 under the Trading with the Enemy Act, has led more than 60 years later to a civil action for damages being brought in Germany against the Bush family by two former slave labourers at Auschwitz and to a hum of pre-election controversy.

Do you hear that hum of pre-election controversy? Neither do I. It must be a British thing... I think they hum a lot (what with always forgetting the lyrics to their favorite Beatles tune).

And here a quote from George:

Bush in 1993 told a Jewish reporter for the Austin American- Statesman that, according to his faith, nonbelievers in Christ, including Jews, go to hell. His statements were picked up by the Jewish press, and when he first ran for Texas governor in 1994, were revived by his opponent, then-Gov. Ann Richards, in ads her campaign took out in Jewish newspapers. "Bush was giving the Orthodox biblical answer," says Marvin Olasky, a senior fellow of the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, a born-again Christian and advisor to Bush on compassionate conservatism. "On the face of it, you have to believe in Christ to go to heaven; Jews don't believe in Christ; therefore, Jews don't go to heaven. So of course there was an uproar."

For more on this: Go To Hell
The Gospel according to George W.

- rob 1:56 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Another Voting Update

As we see below Florida is afraid of actual voting. Ohio on the other hand is actually afraid of voters.

Daily Kos :: Ohio rejects 1000s of voter registration applications due to paper weight.

When voter registration applications were maintained for years and used to verify signatures for petitions a requirement that the cards be on 80 lb. stock paper was adopted in Ohio, that law remains on the books. Since the applications are now scanned for preservation, there is no current need to continue that requirement. Currently, the only time that the heavy weight paper becomes an issue is when the new voter uses the application as a postcard. If heavy paper isn't used for postcards the machinery jams at the Post Office.
In the final days before the registration deadline Ken Blackwell, Ohio Secretary of State, has ordered the local election boards to send out new applications to applicants who have submitted registrations on the wrong paper. The ostensible reason for this order is to insure that the applications can make it through the postal system without being damaged. The Secretary didn't point to any examples of voters who were stupid enough to mail regular weight paper as a postcard, nor did he cite examples of complaints from the Postal Service that this has been a problem. Never mind also that the applications he wants thrown out have already been delivered to the election boards safely.

The local boards have been bombarded with applications and will be unable to comply with Blackwell's order before the deadline to register to vote for this November's election.

- rob 1:33 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Tell the truth on Fox, and they'll think you'll need to switch to Decaf.
I guess too much Kool Aide will do that to you

FOXNews.com - FNS w/ Chris Wallace - Transcript: Sen. Biden on 'FOX News Sunday'

WALLACE: First of all, the situation back last December when he was saying this was bad. That's why Howard Dean was doing...

BIDEN: No, nothing like this. It wasn't even remotely like this, Chris. It wasn't remotely like this.

WALLACE: Forgive me, but there were heavy casualties. That's why Howard Dean was doing so well.

BIDEN: Chris, there weren't. There are 700 causalities since he said that. Seven hundred casualties since he said that, Chris. Over probably somewhere in the order of 6,000 or 7,000 wounded since then, Chris. Five, six, seven, eight times the number of bombings, Chris.

Come on, as they say where I come from, get real. It wasn't remotely the situation it is now.

At the time, you had the international community saying they wanted the G-8 and the neighbors to get together. They weren't talking about anything massive. John Kerry back then, Joe Biden back then said, "We should have the G-8."

I met with Allawi right after — in Baghdad with him immediately after he got sworn in. He said to me he wanted a regional meeting. He asked if I could help. He said the G-8 should be involved. I came back and wrote a report to that effect. The administration and Rumsfeld said, "We don't want any meeting over there." And now all of a sudden they're deciding on a meeting?

At the time that John Kerry said that back in December, it was the expectation was we would have spent by now $12 billion to $14 billion rebuilding Iraq. This administration has spent less than $500 million of the appropriated money.
...

WALLACE: Sen. Biden, thank you so much. I think you ought to stick to the decaf. You're really keyed up today. Thank you so much.

BIDEN: Well, I tell you, these guys so misrepresent things, it just is disgraceful.

- rob 1:06 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Voting Update



Make sure to visit Black Box Voting one of the first sites TCS ever linked to way back in our early days (18 months or so ago). War, payoffs, political corruption, employment, and all the other issues facing America today will all be for nothing if in the end we can't even trust our vote. On the home page we can watch a chimp delete a voting machines audit trail. Stunts aside, each post at that site should send a chill down your spine.

Riverside County: Communists would be proud of you

Riverside County, CA (Sept 13 2004) - Riverside County's tactics would do a Communist country proud.
When Republican candidate Linda Soubirous asked for a recount, she requested 44 items to audit the election. Riverside denied 39 of them, including a denial of her right to compare the internal flash memory of the touch-screen voting machines with the votes that showed up on the WinEDS Central Tabulator. (for another story on Central Tabulator vulnerability, click here)

Riverside's refusal was of particular importance, for two reasons:

1) The main argument that touch-screen proponents make, claiming their machines can be audited, is that you can pull the flash memory inside the machine to compare it with the tally. Soubirous' case was the first in which a candidate actually asked to do that; her request was denied.

2) During the counting of the election, on two occasions, employees of the vendor were observed to access the central tabulator. On the second occasion, the employee uploaded something from a card in his pocket, but refused to allow anyone to look at the card, and then left the state with it. (See Black Box Voting Consumer Report on this incident)

To read how serious this all is: [from the BBC] Carter fears Florida vote trouble
Voting arrangements in Florida do not meet "basic international requirements" and could undermine the US election, former US President Jimmy Carter says.

He said a repeat of the irregularities of the much-disputed 2000 election - which gave President George W Bush the narrowest of wins - "seems likely".

Mr Carter, a veteran observer of polls worldwide, also accused Florida's top election official of "bias".
...
In an article in the Washington Post newspaper, Mr Carter, a Democrat, said that he and ex-President Gerald Ford, a Republican, had been asked to draw up recommendations for changes after the last vote in Florida was marred by arguments over the counting of ballots.

Mr Carter said the reforms they came up with had still not been implemented.

He accused Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood, a Republican, of trying to get the name of independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader included on the state ballot, knowing he might divert Democrat votes.

He also said: "A fumbling attempt has been made recently to disqualify 22,000 African Americans (likely Democrats), but only 61 Hispanics (likely Republicans), as alleged felons."

Mr Carter said Florida Governor Jeb Bush - brother of the president - had "taken no steps to correct these departures from principles of fair and equal treatment or to prevent them in the future".

"It is unconscionable to perpetuate fraudulent or biased electoral practices in any nation," he added.

- rob 12:49 PM - [PermaLink] -

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