Adios!

at 12:54pm, EX-president george w. bush boarded marine one and left washington.

our long, national nightmare is over. after eight years, bush has left the building.

is it just me... or do you simply feel better today?

e.

Don't Let the Door Hit'cha...

well, i sit here.... watching the idiot of the united states deliver his farewell address. couldn’t he just leave washington as soon as he’s finished talking?

fuck me... what an abysmal eight years. but let’s live-blog the speech:

shortly after 7pm CST....he begins. it’s. already. painful....

7:02: he is thankful and honored. yeah, yeah...

7:03: he wishes the obamas luck.

wow, really? he’s thanking the American people? wouldn’t most of us not thank him?

7:03: first mention of 9/11. the issue he’s based his entire presidency on. right or wrong, politicized or not... his entire ideology always returned to that september day.

7:04: he’s “transformed” the intelligence agencies. yeah....they’re spying on us now!

7:05: “there are legitimate debates on many of these decisions.” ummm, yeah. but i don’t think we all agree on the results.

he makes his biggest argument that his presidency has offered some sort of success: no attack on our soil since 9/11. yes, but at what cost?

7:07: only george would smirk as he delivers the line (after faltering, at first): “providing AIDS medication to bring dying patients back to life.” what a prick...

okay, sorry... fuck the time stamps. i’m too busy stopping and rewinding to copy down some of his idiocy and hypocrisy.

“around the world, america is promoting human liberty, human rights and human dignity.” really?!? i’m not sure torture is a human right? and no matter what you’re doing around the world… you sure as hell limited the rights of individuals here at home.

and go ahead...taut the appointments of alito and roberts... but they’ll help limit our rights here at home for years to come.

oh, oh… “set backs.” “done things differently” is he about to admit more mistakes?

nope... “but i hope you can agree that i was willing to make the tough decisions.”

“greatest threat remains another terrorist attack. our enemies are patient.” hammer it home, georgie. your numbers are at their highest when you scare the shit out of us.

“reject isolationism and protectionism.” umm...didn’t bush do more than anyone to isolate us from the rest of the world by making everyone hate us? i think the only thing we really reached out to other nations for were loans (i’m lookin’ at you, china!).

“i’ve often spoken to you about good and evil. and this has made some of you uncomfortable. but good and evil are present in this world and between the two there can be no compromise. (and here bush hits it home.) murdering the innocent to advance an ideology is wrong every time, everywhere. freeing people from oppression and despair is eternally right.”

okay, so.... let me get this straight: you’re admitting that every innocent life you killed in iraq when you unjustly invaded a sovereign country in order to forward your narrow ideology that “freedom” is only defined in your terms therefore you’ll force it down the throats of the entire middle east....was wrong? or do you find your war crimes somehow “eternally right”?

“there have been good days and tough days.” no “bad” days? really, george?

bush's final words:

And so, my fellow Americans, for the final time: Good night. May God bless this house and our next President. And may God bless you and our wonderful country.oh, thank vishnu! the moron only spoke for just over 13 minutes.

and so endeth the lesson.....

well, tonight we continued to see a man who truly believes that every choice he made was right and good... that he did nothing wrong. that he’s made america better in every way.

there was minimal talk of the economy. no mention of the current crisis in gaza. no mention of the plane crash in a river off new york this evening and the true heroism on display there today.... (a story, in fact, that has completely trumped and eclipsed any coverage of his address. seriously, right now: go look at any news website and story #1 is not georgie porgie saying “ta-ta.”)

instead...he once again tried to sell a bunch of hooey (yes, i said “hooey”) to the american people.

the man kills me!

four more days.... just four more days....

please let time fly!

farewell, #43. and good riddance....

e.

The Royal F@#k Up: 5 Years Later

today marks the fifth anniversary of the invasion of iraq.

i thought it might be a good time to look back and see how well we've done so far....

some stats for you:

total amount the bush administration told the american people the iraq war would cost: $60 billion.

actual cost of the iraq war to date: $608 billion.

number of american soldiers killed: 3,991.

number of american soldiers wounded: 29,451.

number of american amputees: 1,031.

number of iraqis killed: 1,189,173.

just thought you should know.

happy anniversary, mr. president.

e.

Live Blogging the State of the Union

my set is tuned to msnbc and i have a glass of wine beside me. i shall attempt to live blog the state of the union address (bush's seventh and final address... thank buddha!) and provide my thoughts as the idiot speaks.

this, of course, all depends on my lovely hand-me-down laptop surviving through the festivities. we shall see.

some preliminaries
i see that senator obama walked in with both senators claire mccaskell of missouri and ted kennedy of massachusetts. they'll always be bosom buddies!

senator clinton just walked in with senators dodd and biden, as well as jim webb - often mentioned as a potential running mate.

dick and nancy are presiding... always interesting to see the prince of darkness sitting next to ms. liberal san francisco.

just spotted congresswoman sheila jackson lee...forgoing her usual red dress for green this evening.

by the way... i understand that mccain is too busy in florida to attend the address this evening. what a shithead.... of course, he's probably losing to romney tomorrow and thus the nomination. i'd be thrilled if a dem could run against flip-flop mitt.

here comes roberts and alito... fuckers both. chris matthews is right (kills me to say that) - the court will go down as one of bush's great successes... he pushed it to the right.

laura's in red looking like a two, well, fifty-dollar whore. oh - and the twins! how sweet....

fuck you, condi.

michael chertoff always looks like he's on highly active anti-retro viral therapy to me. i know that's a shitty thing to say... but whaddayagonnado?

and here comes the asshole.... followed by john and steny and harry.

oh - hillary is right behind the joint chiefs.

the address
and he begins at 8:09 CST. god, i hate him.....

not some bad opening remarks. always that underlying threat of fear.

8:12...he brought up the economy. at least he understands priority - even if mccain doesn't. followed by a warning to dems not to pad the stimulus package... of course, he wants it focused on big business and not the poor and middle class who really need it.

okay...funny IRS joke about checks and money orders. but that fucking smirk!

our first GOP standing ovation - democrat non-standing moment: 8:15.

151 wasteful programs he wants eliminated.... saving billions. how much would we save if we ended the war in iraq, mr. president?

strong veto threat... of course, he never threatened that with a republican-controlled congress. but he really wants pork and ear-marks eliminated. we can all agree on that...

(does nancy have something stuck in her teeth? what is she doing back there?)

health care? now...health care?

ummmm....i think A LOT of people can argue against no child left behind's success.

ted kennedy has heard all this bullshit before.

i think dick cheney is having a stroke. no, wait - he's still with us.

"made in the u.s.a.?" but how will wal-mart survive?

yes...colombia is a friend of america... god, i miss the days of cocaine.

8:25 - we've returned to the theme of eliminating our dependence on oil... does anyone really think he cares?

it's NUCLEAR! NUCLEAR!

8:26 and my wine is gone... shit.

increase scientific study... but still limit stem cell research, right? i mean - give some but nothing important. "life and science" garnered a shot of the supreme court. hmmm....

oh - the republican party just loves their fetuses!

fuck your judges!

not much interest in his charitable choice... from either side.

awww.... bush won't follow through on his promise to rebuild new orleans but he will throw some business their way. that's nice. between the BCS and the north american summit... NOLA should be set.

8:33 - immigration. fences...whatever. i agree that we need a lawful way to allow immigrant workers to come here and work. one of the few issues i agree on with the president. we need humane ways to deal with illegal immigrants... we can't just send them all back. our economy would suffer.

yeah - ink-stained fingers... that's done a world of good over there.

there are some tired people out there... or are they bored.

8:36 - our first 9/11 remark. wow - nearly 30 minutes. that must be a record. how could he hold out so long? rudy must be amazed at the discipline.

"we are spreading the hope of freedom." and angering the fundamentalists... and causing the death of thousands of innocents....

oh! president bush finally remembered that other country... what's it called again? afghanistan? kinda forgot about that country....

oooooooh - he just adopted his serious voice. "iraq." ooooooh - serious. serious bush. not smirky, jackass bush.

yes, yes... thank you soldiers. you occupy very well.

"the anbar awakening" - isn't that a book by kate chopin?

biden is so very unimpressed. i hope he's our next secretary of state. fuck you, condi!

farewell, senator warner.... you were an honorable man.

"some may deny the surge is working but among the terrorists there is no doubt." that's his power line of the evening. there's that "return on success" line again. i still don't get that line... but we haven't heard it in a long time.

can't we get some hot military men up in the gallery? the bush twins must be dry as a bone up there next to these guys.

so....fully fund our troops - but cut every other program by 50%?

bush is all squinty-eyed. he's serious... 20,000+ troops are coming home? how many, how soon? i'll be interested in hearing the specifics on this plan. is it part of the regular rotation?

al qaeda in iraq isn't who you need to worry about, sir. it's the resurgence of al qaeda in afghanistan, you idiot.

yes...let's measure progress by progress in baghdad.... umm - you're failing! and where exactly is reconciliation taking place?

"a free iraq will deny al qaeda a safe-haven." no biggie - they'll just go next door to afghanistan. i thought he remembered afghanistan tonight? he must've already forgotten it again. afghanistan forgotten: 8:50.

"we must do the difficult work today." you mean fuck up all foreign relations? destroy the environment? leave that easy work for the next generation to deal with?

israel...palestine... "imagine all the people." any plans there, big guy?

NUCLEAR! it's NUCLEAR!

oh....we're threatening and building up iran again? this all sounds a lot like his words to saddam hussein right before he invaded. ummm...i don't think iran was threatening our ships. wasn't that an american prankster that said "i am coming to bomb you"?

who are the terrorists talking to? what are they saying? "this guy is such an asshole" - probably.

wow - for the GOP not liking big government...they sure like big brother. let's listen in on everyone!

"america opposes genocide in sudan." beautiful - now what are we going to do about it?

8:57 - some polite applause from hillary.

i hope that kid isn't wearing real leopard.

wait... you mean we're going to manipulate our poorest citizens into serving in our military... and then actually take care of them when they return as veterans?

he's attempting some soaring rhetoric here towards the end... but the dipshit just can't pull it off. sorry, mr. president, but you sound like a schmuck.

9:03 - the president finishes.... just under one hour.

and thus ends his final state of the union. nothing special. nothing inspiring. thank you, buddha - i never have to listen to a state of the union by bush again.

i'll listen to some wrap-up and get back to you.

One more year... just one more year.

e.

So... No WWIII?

have you heard the news? as it turns out... iran is not developing nuclear weapons... not developing the technology.

not really....doing... anything.

talkin' a lot of smack, i guess. but then again... isn't that what bush and cheney have been doing for, oh, say seven years?

yes... the latest national intelligence estimate declares that iran stopped their nuclear weapons program back in 2003.

now...the fact that our intelligence agency has royally fucked up really shouldn't surprise anyone.

but when did bush know about these developments? how long has he been lying?

apparently, W was told about the reassessment of iran's weapons program back in august. but, ummm... he didn't really ask too many questions. you know... because when you're dealing with the country that could bring world war III down on the united states, details aren't too important to #43.

so...he knew something was up in august... but on october 17th he's still talking about nuclear weapons and WWIII.

but the NIE says iran couldn't possibly develop nuclear weapons before 2010 now...

but today.... bush went to the airwaves to reassure the public that iran was a threat, is a threat and continues to be a threat.

ummm... pardon me, mr. president, if i don't just take your word for it.

e.

p.s.

i don't want to hear any bullshit about hillary's iran vote and what does this say about her judgement. hill's vote was in response to the iranian revolutionary guard providing support and weapons to al qaeda in iraq. this is well documented... it had nothing to do with iran's nuclear program....

so don't try it.... fuckin' haters.

Conservatives Are Assholes

have you been paying attention to the news lately? i'm not sure what's up with the republicans as of late.... but they seem to be going out of their way to be real assholes lately.

i mean... i'm used to them being dicks. but what's going on?

maybe they know they don't have a shot in hell of winning the white house in 2008 nor capitol hill. so maybe they're going for broke...?

but jesus..... what the hell?

fuck the children

president bush in an unashamed "fuck you" to the children in this country decided to veto a bipartisan bill that would expand SCHIP (state children's health insurance programs) to a wider number of poor children.

"they make too much money," forty-three argues.

well, excuse the shit out of us.....

now. ask any of my friends - i hate the little fuckers. children annoy the shit out of me and they're not much good unless they can mix a mean cocktail.... but i would never be enough of a dick to deny them health insurance.

in a response to why he vetoed the bill, W offered this:

my job is a decision-making job, and as a result, i make a lot of decisions... [i'm here] to explain the philosophy behind some of the decisions i’ve made.

and they say the days of lincoln and douglas are dead.....

so....let me get this straight: you can spend over $460 BILLION on the war in iraq.... but you can't spare $35 billion for children?

sick children.....?

you dick.

oh....but wait. it gets better.....

in response to bush's veto the dems allowed a child on SCHIP to deliver the democratic radio response. graeme frost is a 12 year old that spent a week in a coma after a 2004 SUV crash. his sister's injuries were even worse.

the dems decided to put a face on bush's veto and what did the conservatives do?

they swift-boated the little bugger!

conservative bloggers everywhere have dug deep, deep, deep into the life of graeme frost and published just about every bit of money the family has..... i'm pretty sure they found out how much they spent on toilet paper last month.

they're attempting to paint the family as rich and well beyond the need of government assistance. one blogger went so far as to include that the parent's wedding was announced in the new york times!

well, then yes... surely they have too much money. those fucking liberal bastards... the new york times, no less!

that must've really pissed off the conservatives... maybe if it had been a rupert murdoch how-to-lower-the-public-discourse-even-further-by-creating-more-intellectually-insulting-reality-shows-where-we-pimp-out-our-mates kind of announcement? or maybe just the post?

at any rate... what fuckers. attacking a 12-year old to assist your soulless leader. have they really no shame? at long last, fuckers, have you no sense of decency?

the grand asshole

some people never disappoint.....

i'm pretty sure this story got some press back when it first happened.... but no one could talk about it too much while the case was still underway.

remember shawn hornbeck? the missouri kid that was kidnapped for 4 years when the police finally found him while searching for another kidnapped boy. he was being held by michael devlin who has now plead guilty to 80 counts of child abduction and molestation.

well, back when this all came out... that grand asshole, bill o'reilly, made some rather sweet comments about shawn.

"there was an element here that this kid liked about his circumstance," bill-o said. he goes on to say that shawn had "more fun" with his abductor than his parents and that he probably liked not having to attend school. when greta said "some kids like school" bill quickly replied: "well, i don't believe this kid did."

because they were such close fucking friends....

bill o'reilly.... tonight's worst. person. in the world!

i mean....can you believe this shit? implying that shawn hornbeck, at age eleven, liked being held prisoner, molested and pleading for his life.

why, bill, you piece of human waste.

the parents of shawn hornbeck now want an apology from o'reilly... now that the case is over we can talk about everything. but wait for it....

bill-o is saying he doesn't want to put the kid through anything further now that this awful nightmare is behind him.

unanimously please: FUCK YOU, BILL!

speaking of cunts....

have you heard about ann coulter.....?

ann was on the donny deutsch show promoting her most recent book of instructions on how to be a soulless slag when the she suggested the united states would be a better place without jews and that they should be perfected into christians.

ann....mahmoud. mahmoud....ann. may you both rot in hell (if there is such a place, which there probably isn't.... so fuck you both anyway).

when deutsch attempted to give her an out she replied, "no, we just want jews to be perfected, as they say. ... that's what christianity is."

really....? can i get a ruling on that?

i mean.... i hate christians as much as the next person.... but i give them a bit more credit than this douche bag. and with the complete understanding that there's a whole conservative following out there that eats up every pearl of shit ann pinches out and they believe this whole-heartedly.

and really..... that's why conservatives are assholes.

can i get an "amen"?

e.

p.s. meet the press quote of the week

my grandest apologies, o' loyal readers.... but bill cosby was tim's guest for the entire hour this sunday and....in all honesty....i just couldn't listen to the man for an entire hour.

forgive me. i promise to be better next week.

GOP Update - or - Why I Love Them So

secrets & lies

the ny times is reporting that shortly after gonzo came to lead the justice department in february of 2005, a secret document was circulated that permitted "an expansive endorsement of the harshest interrogation techniques ever used by the central intelligence agency."

according the the times:

the new opinion...for the first time provided explicit authorization to barrage terror suspects with a combination of painful physical and psychological tactics, including head-slapping, simulated drowning and frigid temperatures.

...

the classified opinions, never previously disclosed, are a hidden legacy of president bush’s second term and mr. gonzales’s tenure at the justice department, where he moved quickly to align it with the white house after a 2004 rebellion by staff lawyers that had thrown policies on surveillance and detention into turmoil.

that W is a real fucker....

this one will have legs, my friends. mark my words.

happy feet

senator larry "wide stance" craig (r-idaho) was once again denied pleasure today. a minnesota jugde denied craig's request that his guilty plea be withdrawn. for those of you who may not remember (but really, how could you not?), craig had plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct as a result of his tap, tap, tapping in a minneapolis airport mensroom.

he's such a naughty, nasty, dirty, little boy.......

hennepin county district judge charles porter ruled that the guilty plea was entered "accurately, voluntarily and intelligently." i.e. too little, too late.

from cnn:

in a sharply worded, 27-page order, the judge found the idaho republican had freely given his plea after extensive discussions with prosecutors and after waiving his right to an attorney.

"The defendant, a career politician with a college education, is of at least above-average intelligence," porter wrote. "he knew what he was saying, reading and signing."

back to his beard in idaho, i guess.....

on a side note: congressional republicans canceled a press conference they had planned for today because they knew every question would concern craig.

you can run..... but you can't hide.

oh, snap! update: just read that larry craig has vowed to serve out his current term in the senate and not resign. good, good, good.... stay in the senate. stay in the news. make the GOP squirm.

craig is the best thing to happen to the republicans since jim jeffords!

domenici's degeneration

the AP is reporting that senator domenici intends to announce that he suffers from "frontotemporal lobar degeneration, a progressive disease that in some forms can cause dysfunction in the parts of the brain important for organization, decision-making and control of mood and behavior."

in domenici's prepared statement, the senator will say:

the progress of this disease is apparently erratic and unpredictable. it may well be that seven years from now, it will be stable. on the other hand, it may also be that the disease will have incapacitated me. i am not willing to take a chance that the people who have so honored me with their trust for 40 years might not be served as well as they deserve in the united states senate.

of course, there's also that big cloud of controversy surrounding his involvement with the firing of prosecutor david iglesias.

but ya know..... this excuse flies too.

another side note: dems dream candidate to replace domenici in the senate? governor bill richardson. of course, his camp says he's dedicated to winning the white house. but - well - let's be honest with one another.

of course, i was somewhat predicting richardson would be hill's candidate for veep. especially since she and barack don't seem to get along.

then again....my ideal ticket: clinton/obama 2008.

i'm just saying.....

anyway - keep up the good work, republicans. you're making 2008 look all shiny and bright for the dems.

e.

The Petraeus Report & Other Farces

well, september is here... and that can mean only three things:

1) football season begins and my sundays are booked.

2) the rest of the country is getting cooler and i just have to sit and wait.

3) the long fabled petraeus report has finally been delivered to congress.

yes, my lovelies, general david petraeus has sat before congress and the world and delivered the bush address. i'm sorry - his address. any surprises........?

ummmmmm............. no, not really.

the real fireworks seemed to revolve around a moveon.org ad appearing in the new york times. titled "general petraeus or general betray us? cooking the books for the white house" - the article tears apart the tiny stitches that barely hold together the bush administration's assertions on the success of the surge.

yes, the good general said everything the white house wanted him to say about the drop in violence and blah, blah, blah.... but what numbers are we really looking at?

let's go down the list here (and i freely admit that i'm borrowing heavily from moveon.org, but they have links to back up their statements so go to http://pol.moveon.org/petraeus.html).

most every independent report from the gao report to the nie states that the situation in iraq and the surge have failed. but the numbers out of the white house are all based on some fuzzy math that the times reports come out of some odd thought process used by the pentagon to bend the facts to their needs. (wow - there's a new strategy for the bush administration.)

examples: deaths by car bombs don’t count. ummm...really? the washington post reports that assassinations only count if a person is shot in the back of the head...not the front. sorry....... i guess maybe those are executions?

and all this talk of a decrease in violence in certain neighborhoods has only come around because they have been ethnically cleansed. it's easy to end sectarian violence when one sect has obliterated another sect from their territory.

abercrombie vs. ros-lehtinen

there was a fabulous moment during the hearings on monday when rep. ileana ros-lehtinen (r-florida) tried to get democrats on the committee to use part of their q&a time to "disassociate themselves" from the moveon.org piece.

rep. neil abercrombie (d-hawaii) shot back: "point of order. nobody has to distance themselves from something they weren't associated with."

as politico reports: ros-lehtinen glared at her democratic colleague, sitting on the other end of the top dais. "take it easy," the florida republican muttered.

"i don't know, actually"

the most telling moment on tuesday came when retiring senator john warner (r-virginia) asked petraeus about the effects of the iraq war on america at home and whether or not it was making us safer.

"sir, i believe that this is indeed the best course of action to achieve our objectives in iraq," the good general recited.

"does that make america safer?" warner asked again.

answered petraeus: "sir, i don't know, actually."

wow.... wow! as howard fineman of newsweek said "if he could've said it, he would've said it. the fact that he didn't say it...is absolutely stunning." clearly, if petraeus thought is was making us safer, he would have said "yes." but he knew he couldn't.....

so what are we fighting for? chris matthews made a wonderful point this evening that the president keeps arguing that we must fight because our soldiers are there... "but what is often overlooked is that they're there on orders."

so soldiers are over there dying and it's not even to make us safer here at home. how can the president even defend his "dead certain" stance on the war?

well, that brings us to our next farce.......

the idiot speaks

yes.....bush addressed the nation in primetime tonight for the 8th time since the invasion of iraq. his opening remark: "in iraq, an ally of the united states is fighting for its survival." and then it went on for another 17 minutes and 20 seconds of very short, choppy sentences. easy enough for bush to recite and understand.

and since when were any of these guys are allies? does anybody over there really want us there anymore?

there was a lot about anbar, anbar, anbar. apparently, iraqis no longer need to fear beheading for supporting the united states. no - they only get blown to bits like the sheik that was assassinated earlier today. yeah.....he was one of the top tribal supporters of bush during his visit. sure...bring that up. great way to win an argument W.

and apparently we've done away with the lines of "it'll be a cakewalk" and "as the iraqis stand up, america will stand down." oh, and the line made famous by the prince of darkness: "we're in the final stages of the insurgency."

no..... now we have "return on success." the more we succeed in iraq, the more american troops will be able to return home. so.....to clarify: the more we succeed? not the more the iraqis succeed?

but don't think the ole decider didn't have a ray of sunshine for all of us. petraeus has assured him that we can maintain the current security in iraq with less troops. so bush has announced troops will be coming home!

5,700 troops by christmas. another 21,000 troops by next july.

but wait a minute.... as norah o'donnell points out: the return of those troops is already scheduled as part of a normal troop rotation. and even with those troops out of iraq, there will still be 12,000 more troops in iraq than there were before the surge.

fuzzy math.........

for the record

bush made his first reference to 9/11 about 13 minutes into the speech. probably a record.

15 minutes into the 17 minute speech, bush mentioned "reconciliation." the argument for the surge was to give more time (breathing room) for the iraqis to reach a political reconciliation. good to know it still ranks so high in the argument.

the vitter farce - or - how he likes it

yes....that ole hooker-lovin' david vitter is back in the news. apparently, he was playing patty-cakes with a nola prostitute several times a week over a period of several months. so far... no calles from the hill for senator vitter (r-louisiana) to step down.

meanwhile....senator larry "happy feet" criag (r-idaho) continues his slow march into infamy.

it just goes to show.... if you're gonna fuck up as a republican - fuck up with a woman.

meet the press quote of the week

this one was hard.... i have two i like so much but i swore i would only do one. well.... maybe i'll do one now and save the other one for another day.

this week's quote comes from that ole pistol, senator joe biden - democrat of delaware and presidential candidate. and really - it ties into our whole discussion on W and iraq and his total ass-raping of the situation:

"this president has no plan how to win and/or how to leave. all he's doing is putting american forces in the middle of a civil war to maintain the status quo. that is unconscionable and he's wrong."

biden for secretary of state '08.

e.

Bad Week for the GOP: A Wrap Up

can you believe it was only a week ago that attorney general alberto gonzales resigned? jesus - that was one helluva day for the current administration. and - it didn't really get much better. all in all....it has not been a fun week for the republicans.

let us review.....

gonzo resigns

yes...it all began when al gonzales decided he just couldn't lie any longer and would step down as attorney general. amazingly enough - W let him. so much for loyalty, i guess. it's just another defeat for this administration and the first of many rats to abandon ship. al's last day will be september 14th.

i'm not sure the justice department has ever been more politicized. the department is meant to serve the people. obviously, this department served the white house only. perhaps most surprising (and telling) is that a replacement candidate has not been announced.

i think that speaks of more trouble to come for the white house - and they know it. they're looking at a fight with congress....so they need to find someone congress will support. i doubt bush has many cronies left that would even stand a chance. maybe he'll try ole harriet again.....?

my favorite homo

well......he's not my favorite homosexual, but i do love what senator larry criag (r-idaho) has done for the republican party this past week. the allegations surfaced midweek - by saturday he had resigned. although....honestly.....why september 30th? does he really think the GOP wants the spectre of his bathroom shenanigans haunting them all month long? i thought his resignation was graceful, but what's that bullshit?

but again - what i love the most - is he's shed light on a great deal of hypocrisy in both himself and the grand ole party.

maybe craig is gay and maybe he's not.... but the fact that he so openly fights against any type of gay rights and the fact that he may be gay..... only makes this all the more ugly. it is this non-stop attack on homosexuality by the religious right that perpetuates the need for people to remain in the closet. it's sad.... in this day and age.

people are afraid to come out simply because of this behavior. quote after quote from the GOP concerning craig this week included words like "disgusting" and "perverted" and "disappointing." they can wrap it up as "protecting our family" all they like - but it's homophobia.

by the way, republicans, here's a hint: don't be a fag. if you're gonna fuck around on your wife - best to do it with a woman. if this week has shown us anything...it's that you can fuck a hooker and survive in the republican party.... but proposition a man - and you're outta there.

side note: it's smart of the GOP to file this under "he plead guilty" and needs to go. that's the way to play it in the media and it's working. but i think we all know the truth.

after all....craig is gone. vitter remains.

the 'mos marry in iowa!

it's true that the ability for homosexuals to marry in iowa was halted far quicker than it was temporarily allowed - but that was a bad day for the GOP. i mean.... homosexuals. marrying. in iowa!

now....allow me to sidetrack momentarily and bring up a bad moment for the dems: this will hurt them.

and it hurts me to say that as a man who happens to love men. but this brings gay marriage back into the limelight. anti-same sex amendments were on a lot of ballots in 2004 and it brought out the religious right. we are in trouble of the same happening again.

i predicted immigration would be the wedge issue used by the right this year - but iowa Has brought back the GOP's favorite boogieman: gay marriage.

i want this right....but this could hurt in a presidential election year. the religious right is not happy with their current choices. romney and rudy could keep them from the polls. but gay marriage - that will bring them out in droves.

so, i worry..............

but that won't stop me from sending out my heartfelt congratulations to sean fritz and tim mcquillan - the only gay couple that recited their vows to one another before gay marriage was again halted in iowa. i ask everyone to look at the picture of those two embracing one another. imagine - these two men have loved each other for a long time....never believing they could express that love to the world by virtue of marriage. that expression - that is happiness. pure and overwhelming happiness that they were able to marry one another. the man they love.

what an amazing thing.... i'll never understand why love frightens so many people. and on that note - i think i'll move on before i start sounding like kucinich at an lgbt forum.

the walls come crumbling down

what happens with the architect leaves the project? karl rove, bush's brain, stepped down on friday and ding dong, the witch is dead.

this clearly signifies that bush's final two years is going nowhere. rove doesn't even see the point of sticking around. just another bush loyalist reading the writing on the wall: game over.

the loss of a good man

not surprisingly, on friday senator john warner (r-virginia) announced his plans to retire next year. warner was old school congress.... a good man. a conservative, yes, but an honest straight-shooter. and he was a respected voice in the republican party and his opinions carried a lot of weight.

this is not someone they wanted to lose. but i think when he had to go public with his concerns on iraq.....his concerns that the president would not listen to...he also read the writing on the wall. his party has been highjacked by a moron. why stick around......?

the increasingly blue state of virginia (or "trending purple" as mary matalin says) has a good shot at electing another dem to the capitol. first webb.... now another warner, perhaps. ex-virginia governor mark warner is very popular there....and his name is being tossed around as a candidate.

from what i understand - there are about 22 republican senate seats in play next year. i doubt they wanted warner's to be one of them. there are only about 12 democratic seats. and with the way the nation is viewing the republican party right now.... there should be a larger majority for the democrats in 2009.

tony snow falls

press secretary and evil fucker extraordinaire, tony snow....bush's current press secretary and former fox news hack....announced his resignation on friday. he too shall step down on september 14th. is everyone trying to get out before petreaus reports to congress?

anyway....i say, "good." snow is a fucker.

and yes, yes.... i know he's suffering from a relapse of his cancer and i hope he pulls through. i wish him no harm. but come on - the man is a fucker. his sheer pompousness as he openly lied to the press corps day in and day out. does anyone remember his excuse for allowing the iraqi parliament to take off the month of august? "it's hot." um, yeah - can our military also take off the month then?

another loyal bushie.... the face of the administration most often to the press - is jumping ship. he says he needs more money. he earns six figures as press secretary. um, yeah - we should all need more than that.

to me....it just shows how out of touch the administration is from the rest of the world. to honestly face the nation - the poor - and say....sorry, six figures is not enough for me. but hey - i'll keep supporting tax breaks for the rich but not a minimum wage increase for the poor.

fuck you, ya douche bag.

meet the press quote of the week

this has to do with not a current bad moment for the GOP - but a potential problem down the road. fred thompson has decided to finally declare his intent to run for president. gee....what a shocker. he will do so thursday....via web. ummm.......okay.

but he has waited so long that he has mucho added pressure on him to succeed - and to out perform all expectations.

and as bob shrum said this morning on press: "he (thompson) almost became the first non-candidate ever to implode."

i sense problems...... but hey - i'll take ongoing GOP problems every day of the week. this past one - just happened to be a doozy.

almost makes me believe in a god......

e.

The Rough Road for Republicans

i can't deny the fact that i'm eating up all the shit the GOP is going through these days. we're looking at 16 months of lame duck.....and their field for the 44th prez is not looking good. wow....there's so much delicious bad news to talk about i'm not even sure where to begin.

maybe we should start with the grand dumbfuck himself?

georgie's ready for bed

there's a lot of talk about what karl rove's departure means for the bush presidency. and many people are asking if bush can function without his brain. but as wayne slater, co-author of bush's brain, put it: "sure he can...because there's not much to do."

even uberconservative pat buchanan said "the bush second term is shaping up as a very big, and possibly historic, failure."

this makes me moist, i have to tell you........

howard fineman summed up the next year and a half, perhaps, best: "it's all defensive now. no more agenda. it's all about turf...he's counting the minutes until he gets out of town."

unfortunately.....at sixteen months - that's still a long countdown. fineman goes on to say, "i've always felt about george bush that he wanted to win desperately. i'm not sure he really wanted to be president."

well, fuck..... why couldn't he have spared all of us.....?!?!

i really think bush will go down as one of the worst, if not THE worst president in history. forget hoover and grant.... fuckup #1 goes to george w. ("w" stands for "why don't i fuck over everyone?"). luckily, everyone agrees he will accomplish nothing over the remainder of his presidency. he will spend all of his time on defense: defending this awful war he's put us in.

and even that's getting harder for him......

if i've lost warner....

i heard both brian williams and eamon havers of business week make a john warner/walter cronkite comparison tonight. president lyndon johnson famously said of his support for vietnam: "if i've lost cronkite, then i've lost middle america." senator john warner, republican of virginia, is incredibly well-respected. he was chair of the armed services committee when the GOP ran the show on capitol hill and his voice carries a lot of weight with the republicans in congress. today, warner further broke ranks.

senator warner said in a speech that bush should announce the withdrawal of some troops from iraq in mid-september with a goal of having about 5,000 troops home by christmas. "In my humble judgment, that would get everyone's attention...the attention that is not being paid at this time," said warner. he went on to say, "i really, firmly believe the iraqi government, under the leadership of prime minister al-maliki, let our troops down." this is the same maliki of which bush said on tuesday: "prime minister maliki's a good guy, good man with a difficult job and i support him."

of course, he also supports gonzales and miers and.... aw, hell. the list is too long.

another bad report card

all of this comes with the release of the latest national intelligence estimate which spells even more bad news for bush. from the new york times:

A stark assessment released Thursday by the nation’s intelligence agencies depicts a paralyzed Iraqi government unable to take advantage of the security gains achieved by the thousands of extra American troops dispatched to the country this year.

The assessment, known as a National Intelligence Estimate, casts strong doubts on the viability of the Bush administration strategy in Iraq. It gives a dim prognosis on the likelihood that Iraqi politicians can heal deep sectarian rifts before next spring, when American military commanders have said that a crunch on available troops will require reducing the United States’ presence in Iraq.

oops.... still supporting maliki? still think the surge can work? jesus....how long before petreaus makes his appearance before capitol hill? oh, that's right. bush and his team will be meeting with and preparing the general prior to his testimony (in about 20 days, by the way). didn't bob gates say something about all iraqi progress reports should come from someone other than W? isn't his credibility shot?

and by the way, a recent cnn/opinion research corporation poll found that 64% of americans now oppose the war in iraq (welcome to the party) with 72% percent saying the petraeus report will have no effect on their opinion. the poll also found 53% do not trust the general to give an accurate assessment of the situation in iraq.

i'll say it again.....oops.

none of the above

in light of the "none of the above" box still being checked more than any other name on the potential GOP ballot for president - the boys are out and fighting. romney and thompson are attacking guiliani's leftist social views. romney's being attacked for flipflopping on the issue of abortion.

thompson still hasn't declared. i mean, seriously.....what is this guy waiting for? a third wife? he's about to be so unfashionably late i'd swear he was gay.

and it appears i'm not the only one over the waiting game being played by fred.

recent polls from both cbs and gallup show thompson's support waning. the cbs poll has thompson at 18% now as opposed to 25% in july. gallop shows him dropping from 21% in july to 19% currently. i think the GOP is tired of waiting. get in the fucking race already. if you want to save us....get to work.

i'm speaking as a republican here.... i could give a shit. all i care about is that the current quinnipaic poll still has hillary beating rudy 46% to 43%.

yes....there's just not a lot of good news out there right now for the republican party. and really....in all honesty.... i wouldn't have it any other way.

e.

Conundrum

while i do love the idea that bush's upcoming colonoscopy will give him just the tiniest bit o' insight into how he's made the rest of us feel over the past seven years as he's fucked us in our collective asses..... i have to ask: is anyone else terrified of the thought that power will be temporarily ceded to dick "prince of darkness' cheney?

i mean....how many people do you think dick can execute in the time it takes to conduct a colon exam?

and now that he'll be in charge of the executive branch....can he no longer claim he is NOT part of the executive branch? can congress finally get their documents?

or will they be too busy cock-blocking all of dick's other plans to rape us of our civil liberties while W is under?

i just don't know.... bush taking it up the ass? cheney in charge of the united states?

it's a tough call.....

e.