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Quote Of The Day
Lulling Marie Jon’
Marie Jon Apostrophe’s column is a meandering list of recycled right-wing talking points, most of which the right wing has now seen fit to abandon. I won’t analyze the whole thing (you can read it yourself), but Marie Jon Apostrophe clearly is the last remaining person on the planet who thinks that Iraq had something to do with 9/11, and that the War on Terrorism somehow depends on the outcome in Iraq.
But I wanted to single out a few paragraphs. Marie mostly laments the fact the nobody in America seems to care that terrorists want to kill us:
Unfortunately, the war on terror is practically innocuous to the average Jane and Joe. The war is almost invisible to them; their minds are elsewhere. They are trying to raise their families. They get up every morning to go to work.
On the other hand, when evening comes, they are too busy watching Dancing with the Stars or American Idol to take notice of what is going on about them. It seems indeed that they don’t really care.
"On the other hand"? Seems like the same hand, just a different time of day.
They make sure that they are hip with pop culture instead of paying attention to politics. They are too lazy to be proactive regarding their future and its effects on generations to come — the future that includes their children and their grandchildren as well as that of yours and mine.
The typical, quasi-liberal citizen can definitely give you the skinny on Paris Hilton, Snoop Dogg, and the absence of Britney Spears’ underwear. Yes, this kind of news is really significant. It most definitely will prepare us for future Islamic fascists’ terrorist attacks on U.S. soil.
Okay. So in the course of three paragraphs, we’ve seen references to Dancing with the Stars, American Idol, Paris Hilton, Snoop Dogg, and the absence of Britney Spears’ underwear. Sounds like Marie herself is one who keeps herself tuned in to pop culture.
Terrorist sleeper cells are hiding in our country. Might this have had something to do with far left socialist Democrats being voted back into office?
Yes, I’m sure that’s it. They terrorist sleeper cells moved back in even before the newly elected Congress took office. And look how easy it apparently was for them!
Later, Marie says the same thing:
Other than our troops and their families, the American public has not sacrificed one thing since we began fighting the war on terror. There was never any food or gas rationing. There was no compulsory military draft. There was no asking our citizens to give blood or to help fund the war by purchasing war bonds.
And whose fault is that? The American people’s? Hardly. The Bush government hasn’t asked the American people to contribute.
Why should a self-centered American public take the war on terror seriously? We have not been inconvenienced in any way. So, a bunch of people died on the East Coast; too many these days think we "had it coming…"
Now, look. I understand that there is a difference of opinion by those on the left versus those on the right. But exactly who in America is saying that "we had it coming"?
I think Marie Jon Apostrophe has been too long in that tanning bed of hers.
Gore Gets Pissed
And he’s good when he’s pissed. When asked what he would have done if he was President, and received the same warnings that Bush did about an impending terrorist attack, Gore said:
“That’s a separate question. And it’s almost too easy to say, ‘I would have heeded the warnings.’ In fact, I think I would have, I know I would have. We had several instances when the CIA’s alarm bells went off, and what we did when that happened was, we had emergency meetings and called everybody together and made sure that all systems were go and every agency was hitting on all cylinders, and we made them bring more information, and go into the second and third and fourth level of detail. And made suggestions on how we could respond in a more coordinated, more effective way. It is inconceivable to me that Bush would read a warning as stark and as clear [voice angry now] as the one he received on August 6th of 2001, and, according to some of the new histories, he turned to the briefer and said, ‘Well, you’ve covered your ass.’ And never called a follow up meeting. Never made an inquiry. Never asked a single question. To this day, I don’t understand it. And, I think it’s fair to say that he personally does in fact bear a measure of blame for not doing his job at a time when we really needed him to do his job.
“And now the Woodward book has this episode that has been confirmed by the record that George Tenet, who was much abused by this administration, went over to the White House for the purpose of calling an emergency meeting and warning as clearly as possible about the extremely dangerous situation with Osama bin Laden, and was brushed off! And I don’t know why — honestly — I mean, I understand how horrible this Congressman Foley situation with the instant messaging is, okay? I understand that. But, why didn’t these kinds of things produce a similar outrage? And you know, I’m even reluctant to talk about it in these terms because it’s so easy for people to hear this or read this as sort of cheap political game-playing. I understand how it could sound that way. [Practically screaming now] But dammit, whatever happened to the concept of accountability for catastrophic failure? This administration has been by far the most incompetent, inept, and with more moral cowardice, and obsequiousness to their wealthy contributors, and obliviousness to the public interest of any administration in modern history, and probably in the entire history of the country!”
Things I Now Know About Kristin Chenowith
From reading this bio-article in The New York Times:
- Her dog is named after Madeline Kahn — ironic, since she’ll be playing the Madeline Kahn character in the upcoming Broadway musical version of Young Frankenstein
- She made a TV pilot (to be aired in January?) co-starring with Nathan Lane, about a Regis & Kathy talk show couple
- There’s talk of her playing the title role in a film about Dusty Springfield
- You know that episode of Studio 60 on Sunset Strip where the Harriot character (based on Chenowith) made some pro-gay remarks, thereby offending some of her Christian fans, thereby getting her disinvited from performing at a Women of Faith conference? That’s all true.
- She’s a devout Christian and a sexpot, and has no problems being both
- She supports Barack Obama for President
- She’s a bit of a loner. She watches "Dancing with the Stars" because she "has no life".
Recommended Reading
- Chris Kelly talks about the movie Stalag 17 and the Geneva Conventions
- Bush: The Worst President In U.S. History? Douglas Brinkley opens the discussion ("yes") and is joined by Columbia Historian Eric Foner, who echos the sentiment; Bob Cessna weighs in — of course, The Rolling Stone addressed this months ago
- Why is everyone writing about the use of the word "cunt" and other sexual obscenities?
- It’s against the law to have sex with an animal, unless that animal is dead. So says one judge, presiding over a case in which the defendent was busted for having intimate relations with a dead deer. In finding the man innocent, the judge gives the quote of the day: "As Billy Crystal noted in The Princess Bride (1987), "There’s a big difference between mostly dead and all dead."
My Score On The “Do You Want The Terrorists To Win” Quiz
Your ‘Do You Want the Terrorists to Win’ Score: 100%
You are a terrorist-loving, Bush-bashing, "blame America first"-crowd traitor. You are in league with evil-doers who hate our freedoms. By all counts you are a liberal, and as such cleary desire the terrorists to succeed and impose their harsh theocratic restrictions on us all. You are fit to be hung for treason! Luckily George Bush is tapping your internet connection and is now aware of your thought-crime. Have a nice day…. in Guantanamo!
Does This Make You Want To Buy A Volkswagon Jetta?
If you watched football this weekend, you probably saw this ad:
Is it me, or is this a bad ad? yes, it got my attention, but something about this ad made me NOT want to buy a Jetta, or even ride in one if the situation presented itself. I mean, I get the point, but now I associate car crashes with the company’s product. Probably not a good marketing idea.
The folks at Sadly,No agree.
The Rumsfeld Memo
As you probably know by now, just days before he got the heave-ho, Rumsfeld penned a memo to Bush suggesting alternative approaches to Iraq. The New York Times got a hold of it, and printed it on Saturday.
What is remarkable (to me) about the memo is how amazing facile it is. It’s a menu of not-well-thought-out-options, lacking any specific detail. While some of them are not necessarily bad, they are the kind of things that people like me were discussing 2 years ago.
Jules Crittenden has a very readable dissection of the memo and Middle East Expert Juan Cole looks at the memo and reminds us why Rumsfeld was stuck on stupid:
Several things struck me about it:
1. Rumsfeld doesn’t understand the magnitude of the crisis or the tightrope the US is walking in the Gulf. His attitude is almost lackadaisical. Doing an all right job, but it isn’t working fast enough or well enough. So maybe make some changes– apparently any old changes will do because there are infinite lives to play with and infinite monies to spend.
2. Rumsfeld spends more time plotting out how to manipulate the American public than how to win the war. Everything is about spin, about giving the image of progress even in the face of a rapid downward spiral into the abyss…
3. Rumsfeld openly admits that he wants to run Iraq just like Saddam did:
‘ Provide money to key political and religious leaders (as Saddam Hussein did), to get them to help us get through this difficult period. ‘
I mean, bribing people to be your puppets is bad enough, but citing Saddam’s policies as an example for how Iraq should be run is absolutely outrageous…
The specifically military suggestions in the memo are all over the map. In addition to a lot of contradictory and not obviously effective politicies, he steals ideas from Democratic Senators and Congressmen.
Quote Of The Day (As Well As A Cheesy Opportunity To Put Up A Picture Of Lindsey Lohan)
Lindsey Lohan, on the passing of Robert Altman, writes words of condolence. These are actual quotes:
“I am lucky enough to of been able to work with Robert Altman amongst the other greats on a film that I can genuinely say created a turning point in my career,” she began, less than certainly. “He was the closest thing to my father and grandfather that I really do believe I’ve had in several years… He left us with a legend that all of us have the ability to do.” A little lower down, she fell into improv philosophy, apparently riffing on the notion that life is too short to waste: “Make a searching and fearless moral inventory of yourselves’ (12st book) – everytime there’s a triumph in the world a million souls hafta be trampled on. – altman Its true. But treasure each triumph as they come.” And she signed off, “Be adequite. Lindsay Lohan.”
Blame America First
"How did things get so FUBAR in Iraq? It’s not Bush, Cheney, or Rumsfeld’s fault. It’s the American people’s who stabbed Bush in the back."
Josh Marshall has enlightening pieces on this new meme emerging from the political right.
He’s quite correct. Three years ago, the American people were largely in favor of invading Iraq. This included many on the political left, provided however that (a) it could be shown there were WMDs or some imminent threat and (b) there was an international consensus so that many soldiers can get the job done and not get everyone bogged in a quagmire. But Bush (and his supporters who are now complaining) failed to make a strong fact-based case for invading Iraq, choosing instead to attack the patriotism of those who demanded better intelligence. And when it came to getting more boots on the ground, Bush and Rummy thumbed their nose at the U.N., and boasted how they could do "more with less".
Setting aside the notion of whether or not is was prudent to invade Iraq, there is no doubt that the venture was executed poorly and without a plan. This is a strategic failure, and the fault lies solely with the strategists — not the American people.
In a related whine. Jonah Goldberg writes this today:
Indeed, when partisans claim that the American people are fed up and want our troops home, they’re deliberately muddying the waters. The American people have never objected to far-flung deployments of our troops. We’ve had soldiers stationed all over the world for decades.
What the American people don’t like is losing — lives or wars. After all, you don’t hear many people complaining that we still have troops in Japan and Germany more than 20,000 days later.
Uh, who is muddying the waters? Jonah, sit down. People aren’t complaining that our troops are far-flung; they’re complaining that they’re getting shot at and killed for what appears to be no good reason at all. Is this happening with our troops in Japan and Germany? No. So your comprison is, well, bizarre.
UPDATE: And props to the NYT editorial today:
Mr. Bush’s lack of curiosity was well known even before he became president, but as time has gone on and bad news has mounted, that disinterested quality has turned into a stubborn refusal to hear bad news. The country simply cannot afford it any longer. Three years of having Mr. Bush trust only his gut has plunged Iraq into bloody chaos and done untold damage to America. There needs to be an urgent change in policy.
The president’s advisers need to tell him all the harsh truths about Iraq in the vivid terms they require; they need to tell him how little time he has left to act. This administration has been orchestrating a foreign policy disaster of epic proportions, and history will remember both that the president failed to hear the warning bells and that many others failed to ring them loudly enough.
Bush Goes Way Out On A Limb
"I think any time you murder somebody, you’re a criminal."
Jokes Made By Robots, For Robots
A rabbi, an Arab, a robot, and a Catholic priest walk into a bar. Only the robot exits.
A robot walks into a pharmacy. The pharmacist asks him if he’d like anything. The robot replies, "A soul."
How do you stop a robot from destroying you and the rest of civilization?
You don’t."Waiter! Waiter! What’s this robot doing in my soup?"
"It looks like he’s performing human tasks twice as well, because he knows no fear or pain."Knock knock.
Who’s there?
A robot.
Oh, shit.What’s the difference between a regular robot and a killer robot?
The gnawing jeers of men.What’s a robot’s favorite cereal?
Rob-os.
(Note: Rob-os are made of the tears of human children.)Little Susie tosses a clock out the window. A robot inquires, "Why did you do that?" She replies, "I wanted to see time fly!" The robot says, "Ah … A perfect subject for elimination," and shoots her with a laser beam through the face.
Why did the robot order a milkshake?
To blend in with the general human population, making it easier to infiltrate society and—in time—conquer it.Why was six afraid of seven?
Because seven was a robot.