Sarah Palin

[shereads]

Thanks for the article, Rob.

This part

The born-again Mr Bush preferred listening to his “heart” rather than his “head”

reminded me of something W said during his post-election TV interview. Given the opportunity to comment on his record low performance numbers in public opinion polls, he once again shrugged off the opportunity to admit to any errors in judgement and said,

I've had one of those presidencies where you have to make tough decisions...

(as opposed to the other kind of presidency?)
and

"It's the president's job to make good, tough choices based on principles that are engraved in his soul."

Facts be damned, I guess.

 

[Guest]

Facts be damned, I guess.

Yes.

And educated people be damned as well.

I'm so relieved that education is going to be seen as necessary and positive once again. And, seen as more important than wearing a flag pin on your lapel.

What absolute horseshit we've been dealt for the past eight years.

 

[SweetPrettyAss]

Thanks for the article, Rob.

This part

reminded me of something W said during his post-election TV interview. Given the opportunity to comment on his record low performance numbers in public opinion polls, he once again shrugged off the opportunity to admit to any errors in judgement and said,

(as opposed to the other kind of presidency?)
and

Facts be damned, I guess.

Is GWB actually at a record low in public opinion polls? The last I knew, that non-distinction was held by Harry Truman, who was also the first president to be rated that way. Of course, Truman is now seen as having been much underrated during his terms in office, largely because of a hostile news media. Hostile news media? Does that sound familiar?

Truman made decisions too, such as dropping nuclear bombs on Japan, The Marshall Plan, NATO, intervening in Korea, and some others, involving WW2, The Cold War and The Korean War. In retrospect, they seem to have been good ones.

 

[Guest]

Still trying to put a racing stripe on a turd, hmm?

It's still a turd, yannow.

 

[jomar]

Still trying to put a racing stripe on a turd, hmm?

It's still a turd, yannow.

Whipped cream on shit was the way I heard it.

 

[Guest]

Whipped cream on shit was the way I heard it.

I would call it obfuscation, but it hasn't been that intellectual.

More like magician sleight-of-hand, I suppose.

Or Wizard of Oz - "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!"

The emperor has no clothes, baby. And he's been fucking naked for eight long years.

 

[starrkers]

It still stuns me that he got eight years, not four.

 

[jomar]

I would call it obfuscation, but it hasn't been that intellectual.

More like magician sleight-of-hand, I suppose.

Or Wizard of Oz - "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!"

The emperor has no clothes, baby. And he's been fucking naked for eight long years.

Right. The 'whipped cream' saying is appropriate when one hacks the ball up the course and finally gets on the green, then sinks a 20 foot putt.

 

[Guest]

It still stuns me that he got eight years, not four.

You and me both.

We didn't work hard enough against him. I truly did not believe he'd be elected again.

We didn't make that mistake this time.

 

[SweetPrettyAss]

Is GWB actually at a record low in public opinion polls? The last I knew, that non-distinction was held by Harry Truman, who was also the first president to be rated that way. Of course, Truman is now seen as having been much underrated during his terms in office, largely because of a hostile news media. Hostile news media? Does that sound familiar?

Truman made decisions too, such as dropping nuclear bombs on Japan, The Marshall Plan, NATO, intervening in Korea, and some others, involving WW2, The Cold War and The Korean War. In retrospect, they seem to have been good ones.

Apparently I was wrong. GWB's approval ratings did briefly drop below the lowest ever recorded by anybody else, including Truman. I note that he also had the highest ever recorded.
http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/data_access/data/presidential_approval.html

Compare that to the approval ratings of the Democrat-controled congress:
http://www.pollingreport.com/CongJob.htm

 

[Guest]

It's still just a turd.

 

[Sandy_Fox]

Apparently I was wrong. GWB's approval ratings did briefly drop below the lowest ever recorded by anybody else, including Truman. I note that he also had the highest ever recorded.
http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/data_access/data/presidential_approval.html

Compare that to the approval ratings of the Democrat-controled congress:
http://www.pollingreport.com/CongJob.htm

*Flushing Sound*

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Let's say that some miracle occurs and Iraq's Shia and Sunnis and Kurds suddenly decide to lay down their centuries-old hatred of each other and medieval mindset and Iran agrees to withdraw their influence from that unhappy country, things any invader should have known about, and form a democratic and prosperous Iraq. Let's say that the UN inspections really weren't working, even though now we know they were. Let's say somehow Iraq turns out to be a huge whomping success instead of the worst debacle in America's entire history of foreign policy...

Then for W to be considered a decent president you'd still have to explain away:

--His awful mishandling of the economy that saw him take a thriving economy and budget surplus and spend us into a half-trillion dollar deficit and a near depression. The total failure of the credit industry due to massive government deregulation.

--The suspension of basic Constitutional rights without a state of war being declared.

--The disaster that was Katrina and the loss of an entire American city.

--The worst attack on American soil ever, and the failure to capture the perpetrator of this attack.

--The resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

--The loss of American scientific supremacy due to government policy of supported religious dogma in the name of science.

--The greatest loss of jobs and redistribution of wealth seen in this country in nearly 100 years, with money going from the middle class to the wealthiest 3%.

Against that, let's balance his accomplishments:

++Some people say he kept us safe. I say we haven't been attacked again.

Now if you can find a way to spin that into a great or even adequate presidency, then you deserve a spot on the George W. Bush Memorial Library Design Committee, Heroic Statuary Division

 

[rgraham666]

It still stuns me that he got eight years, not four.

I'm not.

Most Americans were still in shock after 9/11. The Republicans skillfully built on that fear to start a 'war'.

The so-called 'main stream media' got right on side. They never seriously questioned anything coming out of the White House at that time.

Between 'war fever', the patriotic impulse of most Americans when they believe they are at war and the disinformation that played on those things, I'm surprised they were as tight as they were.

 

[starrkers]

++Some people say he kept us safe. I say we haven't been attacked again.

It's easy to keep someone safe who isn't in real danger.
I believe the September 11 attack was a one-off, a grand gesture. I also think it went way better for Al Quaeda than they expected.

 

[Guest]

Let's say that some miracle occurs and Iraq's Shia and Sunnis and Kurds suddenly decide to lay down their centuries-old hatred of each other and medieval mindset and Iran agrees to withdraw their influence from that unhappy country, things any invader should have known about, and form a democratic and prosperous Iraq. Let's say that the UN inspections really weren't working, even though now we know they were. Let's say somehow Iraq turns out to be a huge whomping success instead of the worst debacle in America's entire history of foreign policy...

Then for W to be considered a decent president you'd still have to explain away:

--His awful mishandling of the economy that saw him take a thriving economy and budget surplus and spend us into a half-trillion dollar deficit and a near depression. The total failure of the credit industry due to massive government deregulation.

--The suspension of basic Constitutional rights without a state of war being declared.

--The disaster that was Katrina and the loss of an entire American city.

--The worst attack on American soil ever, and the failure to capture the perpetrator of this attack.

--The resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

--The loss of American scientific supremacy due to government policy of supported religious dogma in the name of science.

--The greatest loss of jobs and redistribution of wealth seen in this country in nearly 100 years, with money going from the middle class to the wealthiest 3%.

Against that, let's balance his accomplishments:

++Some people say he kept us safe. I say we haven't been attacked again.

Now if you can find a way to spin that into a great or even adequate presidency, then you deserve a spot on the George W. Bush Memorial Library Design Committee, Heroic Statuary Division

And a nickname.

This is from Wiki, and some of these shocked the hell out of me. He has no fucking shame.

List of nicknames used by George W. Bush

Self

* Dubya
* 43

Family

* Poppy, 41, Old Man - George H. W. Bush [3]
* Bushie - Laura Bush (this is a mutual nickname) [4]

Foreign leaders

* Dino (short for Dinosaur) - Jean Chrétien, Prime Minister of Canada [5]
* Steve - Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada [6]
* Pootie-Poot - Vladimir Putin, current Prime Minister and former President of Russia [7][8]
* Bandar Bush - Bandar bin Sultan, ambassador to the United States from Saudi Arabia [9]
* Landslide - Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
* Man of Steel - John Howard, Prime Minister of Australia

Staff

* Izzy, Altoid Boy* - Special Assistant Israel Hernandez (*for his role as provider of breath mints to the President on the campaign trail)[10][11]
* Boy Genius, Turd Blossom - Senior Advisor Karl Rove[12][8]
* Condi- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice [8]
* The World's Greatest Hero - Secretary of State Colin Powell [13]
* Big O (current), Pablo (former) - Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill [14]
* Fredo, Speedy - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales[15][8]
* Danny Boy, Dan the Man - Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Bartlett[10]
* Ari-Bob - White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer [16]
* High Prophet, Hurricane Karen - Karen Hughes, Special Advisor; Director of Communications under Texas Governor George W. Bush [17]
* The Blade, My Man Mitch - Office of Management and Budget Director Mitch Daniels[18]
* Big Country - Director of FEMA Joe Allbaugh[19]
* Brownie - Director of FEMA Michael D. Brown[20]
* Tree Man - Unnamed forest service official [21]
* La Margarita - Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings [22]
* Brother George - CIA Director George Tenet[23]
* Tangent Man - Chief of Staff Andrew Card[24]
* Sweet Jan - Justice Department liaison to White House Liaison Jan E. Williams Acosta
* Tiny - Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage[25]
* Light Bulb - National Energy Policy Development Group Executive Director Andrew D. Lundquist[26]

Politicians

* Pablo - Paul Wellstone, Democratic Senator, Minnesota [27]
* Big George - George Miller, Democratic Congressman, California [3]
* Freddy Boy, Freddo - Fred Upton, Republican Congressman from Michigan [3] [23]
* Congressman Kickass - John Sweeney, Republican Congressman, New York [28]
* Speak - Dennis Hastert, Republican Congressman from Illinois and Speaker of the United States House of Representatives [29]
* Big O - Olympia Snowe, Republican Senator, Maine [23]
* Hobbsy- Dave Hobson, Republican Representative, Ohio
* Nellie (former), Benney (former), Benator (current) - Ben Nelson, Democratic Senator, Nebraska [30] (Daily Show, 02/28/05)
* Ellis - Chuck Schumer, Democratic Senator, New York[31]
* Bama, Rock - Barack Obama, Democratic Senator, Illinois; President-elect of U.S.A.; 44th [32]
* Quasimodo, Big Time, Darth Vader - Dick Cheney, Vice President of the United States of America [33] [23][8]
* Corndog - John Cornyn, Republican Senator, Texas[23]
* Maxie - Max Baucus, Democratic Senator, Montana[23]
* Ali - Barbara Boxer, Democratic Senator, California [29]
* Frazier - Diane Feinstein, Democratic Senator, California [29]
* Sabertooth - Barney Frank, Democratic Congressman, Massachusetts [34]

Journalists

* The Cobra - Maureen Dowd[35]
* Stretch/Little Stretch - David Gregory, NBC [36][37][38]
* Stretch - Dick Kyle, Bloomberg News [38]
* Super Stretch - Bill Sammon, then of The Washington Times, now of The Washington Examiner [38]
* The Commissioner - George Will[23]
* Dulce - Candy Crowley, CNN[23]
* Factor - Bill O'Reilly
* Mikey - Mike Emanuel, Fox News [39]Others
* Kenny Boy - Kenneth Lay [40]
* Weadie, Weadnik - author Doug Wead [41]
* The Englishman - Peter McMahon, husband of Dana Perino [42]

 

[Guest]

If we got to pick our own names, cool beans.

But I'd truly hate to be known far and wide and in the history books as "Turd Blossom".

Just saying.

 

[rgraham666]

It's easy to keep someone safe who isn't in real danger.
I believe the September 11 attack was a one-off, a grand gesture. I also think it went way better for Al Quaeda than they expected.

The purpose of strategy is to force your opponent to do something you want, preferably to his detriment.

The purpose of 9/11 was to goad the West and especially America into attacking an Islamic nation. This would polarize Islamic public opinion against the West and bring them close to the Islamist side. Bin Laden was thinking it would be Afghanistan where the West would be further weakened the same way the Soviet Union was.

However the neo-conservatives had been planning on invading Iraq for a decade. 9/11 gave them an excuse to do so although they had to do a lot of lying to the American people to do so.

The result was the same.

Bin Laden wins.

 

[SlickTony]

But I'd truly hate to be known far and wide and in the history books as "Turd Blossom".

Few could have deserved it more.

 

[sr71plt]

Compare that to the approval ratings of the Democrat-controled congress

Could we get off this naive "Democrat-controlled Congress" bit? When Congress is split virtually down the middle--and especially when the party with a slight edge in seats over the other one in Congress is in opposition to the administration party--there isn't anything close to "control" of Congress--by much of anyone. This has been a hung Congress, not one "controlled" by either party--which is why little has gotten done. (The ratings for Congress are always going to be low for Congress, though, because the American electorate loves to scapegoat and razz the folks they themselves have sent to Washington. Give them a false sense of superiority that they could do better themselves with the hands that are dealt.)

 

[john-the-author]

If we got to pick our own names, cool beans.

But I'd truly hate to be known far and wide and in the history books as "Turd Blossom".

Just saying.

It's Karl "Don't Call Me 'Goebbels'" Rove. I'd say Georgie Boy got it right.

The immaturity expressed by these nicknames is preposterous. Legal words fail me.

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

And to think that all this could have been avoided had Al Gore just said the following words, "I still oppose gun control." 5 words could have saved the country all of this.

That or McCain running as an independent in 2000.

 

[Guest]

It's Karl "Don't Call Me 'Goebbels'" Rove. I'd say Georgie Boy got it right.

The immaturity expressed by these nicknames is preposterous. Legal words fail me.

Indeed.

Complete disrespect for the office he holds.

Calling Putin Pootie-Poot?

Jesus, God. No wonder the rest of the world thinks we're idiots.

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

I still think it ironic that the GOP would have saved itself and the country trouble if it had NOT picked its 2000 candidate on the basis of greater electability, because many Republicans are finding him quite unelectable these days. The price of selling your soul for expediency. Ultimately, I blame the primary voters of that year for all this. They picked a numbskull Yalie who went AWOL over a war hero who had the guts to speak his mind.

For the record, I didn't vote for Bush in the AZ primary that year.

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

As a country, however, I should note that the VP vetting process should have been the first clear warning of the corruption part. The man picked to choose the VP ended up as the VP. Coincidence? I don't think so.

Ever wonder how that conversation went?

Dick: Hey, Gov, I found your running mate.
Dubya: Yeah, who? Don't tease me, I still have to play 8 holes down at the club.
Dick: He was the minority leader in the House and the Secretary of Defense.
Dubya: I told ya, Dick, just come out with it. Don't beat the Bush around with it.
Dick: Okay, it's me.
Dubya: Wow, that was easy! So, who should help us pick my cabinet?