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POPSFarewell to All That Now that his term is over, officials at the highest levels of government everywhere are coming out about the man whose personality they were forced to indulge and defer to on a regular basis. The portrait they paint is not pretty. Even after all we've come to know about Bush, their disclosures still manage to shock the conscious afresh. This was the person in charge at such a fundamental time? The mind reels.... Given what we do know, it's clear that even worse governmental misdeeds will eventually come to light. To move forward, it's essential to fully and publicly expose this sad point in our nation's history so that those responsible may be finally held accountable. This is how it starts. That sound you hear is of a great dam breaking....
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POPSThe Bush Tragedy Jacob Weisberg uncovers the twisted, storied (and thoroughly American) histories behind the pedigreed, genteel Bush and the brash, opulent Walker clans, whose 1921 marriage-merger generated unparalleled political fame and fortune, producing an "exploding blob" of successful, well-heeled, multi-named white men—culminating, of course, in the 41st and 43rd presidents of the United States. A product of his Ivy League upbringing, academic and corporate shortcomings, and unseemly familial wranglings, Weisberg traces the root cause of W.'s presidential failings to his life-long jealousy of his father's successes and petulant opposition to everything the reserved, prudent, self-deprecating patriarch represented. It's a fascinating character study as well as a sad tale of hubris, backstabbing, and inescapable downfall, magnified by his position as leader of the free world.
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POPSWhy America Will Survive George W. Bush Otto von Bismarck saw how American blunders led to American power and allegedly said that God has a special providence for drunks, fools, and the United States of America. Walter Russell Mead (of the Council on Foreign Relations) puts Bush's 8-year stint in the White House into proper perspective. America's foreign policy has been short-sighted and often self-defeating from the get-go, alternately collaborative, passive, and interventionist. And, yet, miraculously, we always come out ahead. With the unstoppable rise of a global capitalist economy, Mead makes the case that America, for all its past and current faults, will continue to be the inevitable leader of this new international buoyancy. Not even our latest mistakes (unprecedented though they may be) can derail such a powerful incentive that is the modern American world trade system. Which means, more than ever, we're literally all in this together.
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POPSGonzales's Truthfulness Long Disputed What a sad spectacle it all is. Questions about Gonzales's willingness to shade the truth on Bush's behalf came to prominence in the 1996 episode in which Bush was excused from Texas jury duty in a drunken-driving case. Bush was then the state's governor, and Gonzales was his general counsel. If Bush had served, he probably would have had to disclose his own drunken-driving conviction in Maine two decades earlier.
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POPSBush Seeks Answers for Own Presidency For all the talk of his clueless-ness, it's revealed that Bush, the former apotheosis of privileged irresponsibility, is desperately aware of the fateful legacy he has wrought, seeking vindication in unwritten future histories. Yet, for reasons deeply personal (not political) Bush cannot allow himself to own up to his mistakes, for fear the entire facade of capability will come down. Thus, as he shuts his eyes ever tighter, our leader's personal tragedy becomes our own. "Our members just wish this thing would be over," said a senior House Republican who met with Bush recently. "People are tired of him." Bush's circle remains sealed tight, the lawmaker said. "There's nobody there who can stand up to him and tell him, 'Mr. President, you've got to do this. You're wrong on this.' There's no adult supervision. It's like he's oblivious. Maybe that's a defense mechanism."
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POPSWhere Were Vocal Conservatives When It Mattered? Rod Dreher is a conservative writer for Beliefnet. Few of us stood up to Bush when he took us to this disastrous war in Iraq. Few, if any, stood up to him over his foolish support for Rumsfeld, long after it became obvious what a disaster Rumsfeld was. Few, if any, stood up to him over his amassing of power in the executive branch. Few, if any, stood up to him on the spending....
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POPSFormer Powell Aide: Bush, Cheney Guilty of 'High Crimes' Wow. "I do believe that they would have thought had they been asked by you or whomever at the time of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia 'Do you think this will be exercised?' they would have said 'Of course it will, every generation they'll have to throw some bastard out.'"Wilkerson said. "That's a form of accountability too. It's ultimate accountability."
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POPSClosest GOP Insider Yet Comes Out Against Bush, Cheney GOP insider Vic Gold doesn't let his longtime friendship with the Bushes and the Cheneys stop him from cataloging the permanent damage the White House has done to the reputation of the GOP — and America. Under Bush and Cheney, he argues, the GOP has moved away from principles of small government, prudent foreign policy and leaving people alone to live their private lives — all views Gold associates with his hero, Goldwater. I'll add that to read about the distressing political and personal position Bush Jr. has placed his aging father in because of his actions is downright painful. (Via Andrew Sullivan).
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POPSNegroponte to Resign from Intelligence Chief Role That didn't last long. The administration has had great difficulty filling the State Department position. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has asked several people who have turned down the post, according to senior State Department officials. But administration officials interviewed on Wednesday would not say whether Mr. Negroponte was moving because the White House saw him as uniquely qualified for the diplomatic post, or because President Bush was dissatisfied with his performance as intelligence chief, or whether it was a combination of the two.
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POPS Bush 'happy' for pregnant Mary Cheney White House spokesman Tony Snow said Bush stood by his belief about a mother and father but also believes that "every human life is sacred and that every child that comes into this world deserves love and he believes that Mary Cheney's child will in fact have loving parents."
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POPSIs a damaged Administration less likely to attack Iran, or more? Must-read, in-depth article from Seymour Hersh on the lengthy lead-up to Rumsfeld's ouster (he was kept in the dark until the end!), what the new leadership of Secretary of Defense Gates might signal, the dwindling options Rumsfeld's war has left us in Iraq, and the renewed neoconservative clamor to invade Iran to make up for the loss in Iraq. (Double down on Tehran.) The Pentagon consultant said that he and many of his colleagues in the military believe that Iran is intent on developing nuclear-weapons capability. But he added that the Bush Administration’s options for dealing with that threat are diminished, because of a lack of good intelligence and also because "we’ve cried wolf" before.
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POPSAmerican Conservative Magazine: GOP Must Go There may be little Americans can do to atone for this presidency, which will stain our country’s reputation for a long time. But the process of recovering our good name must begin somewhere, and the logical place is in the voting booth this Nov. 7. If we are fortunate, we can produce a result that is seen—in Washington, in Peoria, and in world capitals from Prague to Kuala Lumpur—as a repudiation of George W. Bush and the war of aggression he launched against Iraq.
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POPSEvangelicals betrayed by Bush administration: Farah Farah is the founder and editorial voice of the very influential conservative Christian website, WorldNetDaily. This is the face of the Republican Party establishment. It's the reason Democrats are likely to sweep into power in a few short weeks. It's an illustration of the double talk we get from the Bush administration. It's confirmation that we who actually believe in that Bible have nowhere to turn politically in this country – at least in terms of voting options. Remember what I told you on the evening of Nov. 7. Don't blame me for the Republican debacle to come. Blame the people who brought it to you – the people in power.
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POPSIraq like Vietnam, says Bush Asked whether he agreed with Friedman's summary , Bush said, "He could be right. ... There's certainly a stepped-up level of violence, and we're heading into an election."
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POPSPoll: Foley Sex Scandal Has Hurt GOP Election Prospects Iraq, meanwhile, is continuing to be a problem for the Republicans. Only 38% of respondents in the TIME poll now support President Bush's decision to invade Iraq, down from 42% three months ago. A similar number believe that the new Iraqi government will succeed in forming a stable democracy, while 59% believe this is unlikely. Almost two-thirds (65%) of respondents disapprove of President Bush's handling of the war, while 54% believe he "deliberately misled" Americans in making his case for war — a figure that has increased by 6 points over the past year. President Bush's overall approval rating, according to TIME's poll, now stands at just 36%, down from 38% in August.
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POPSA Portrait of Bush as a Victim of His Own Certitude (Book Review) The New York Times with what promises to be only the first in many reviews of Bob Woodward's highly anticiapted new book, State of Denial . The writer said that when Bush invited key Republicans to the White House to discuss Iraq, the president told them, 'I will not withdraw even if Laura and Barney are the only ones supporting me,"' referring to his wife and Scottish terrier.
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POPSWhite House Web Site Promotes Woodward's Book on Bush Administration... ...in 2004, that is. That book was Plan of Attack and the White House liked Pulitzer-Prize-winning author, Woodward, so much that they put a link to buy it on their '04 campaign website. Not just anywhere but at the very top of the "Suggested Reading List." George Bush supports Woodward and wants you to support him too! (The White House has since removed this info so I clipped the archived version for posterity, as well as a short Newsmax press release.)
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POPSBush's Secret: "I like to keep expectations low" (Video) From the heart of ravaged New Orleans comes the most awkward, revealing interview with Bush you have ever seen. That uncomfortable feeling you might get watching Bush squirm under Williams' unflinching questions might be the recognition that this is the man who not only has been leading the free world for 6 years but will continue to steer us into uncharted territory for the next 2 years as well. Williams seems visibly disappointed with Bush's superficiality on all matters. At least we get the answer to the Camus question. What deep-thinking Yale grad who has read "three Shakespeares" wouldn't delve into classic French existentialism too? His reading habits are truly "ekilectic". :(
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POPSFitzpatrick (R-PA): Another GOP Candidate Throws Bush Under the Bus! This is the front page of a direct mailing flyer sent out to Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick's contituents in Philly. It says: "America needs a new plan for success in Iraq." ... Congressman Fitzpatrick says NO to both extremes: "NO TO PRESIDENT BUSH'S 'STAY THE COURSE' STRATEGY.... "AND NO TO PATRICK MURPHY'S 'CUT AND RUN' APPROACH." How many more Republicans will dare to break ranks with Bush/Cheney in the lead up to elections?
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POPSWashington's "Green-Lighting" of the War in Lebanon - Seymour Hersh Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh reports in this week's issue of the New Yorker that Israeli officials visited the White House earlier this summer to get a "green light" for an attack on Lebanon. The Bush administration approved, Hersh says, in part to remove Hezbollah as a deterrent to a potential US bombing of Iran.
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POPSBush blocked probe into anti-terror spying I know, you're astounded! “ The president of the United States makes the decision ,” Gonzales told the committee hearing, during which he was strongly criticized on a range of national security issues by Specter and Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, the panel’s senior Democrat.
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POPSNew E&P Poll: Bush Worst President Since 1945 By a landslide! Bush was named by 34% of voters, followed by Richard Nixon at 17% and Bill Clinton at 16%....Leading the list for best President since 1945 is Ronald Reagan with 28%, and Clinton with 25%. (All comments welcome.)
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POPSBill Kristol: Conservatives Believe The Bush Administration Is Incompetent Kristol ended the show with: "In all honesty, Democrats don't need a positive program. They should just keep quiet and let Republicans attack each other.” The increasingly bitter in-fighting within the GOP ranks continues unabated. Could Kristol possibly follow Fukuyama into anti-Bush territory? Looks like he's pointing his escape-pod in that direction...
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POPSWhat the...?! Wonkette stole my joke!!! You all are witnesses. I was first! I may not have been able to afford the $1000/plate lunch fee but I was just a block away from the documented brain-sucking and reported first! I demand credit for my scoop! :-)
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POPSBush Praises Musgrave in Denver I saw all the cops and protesters and commotion gather on Broadway from our downtown office. Look at the size of that head he's trying to wrap his lips around. That should've been a two-handed job for sure.
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POPSBush: Where's the exit (video) Since so many people seemed to be interested in the "Door-1, Bush-0" video, I thought I would post a clip from crooksandliars.com, which has links to much higher quality versions of the footage in WMP and QT format.
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