Perry Hides Behind His Own Victims

April 29, 2013 by 2 Comments

Gov. Rick Perry of Texas wants an apology from the Sacramento Bee for running a cartoon by Jack Ohman that links his touting of loose business regulations to the tragic fertilizer plant explosion that leveled blocks and killed 14. Says Perry, in a letter to the paper,

I won’t stand for someone mocking the tragic deaths of my fellow Texans and our fellow Americans.

Perry learned this trick from George W. Bush, who accused anyone who questioned his war decisions of attacking the men and women he was sending to die.

Kudos to the Bee for honoring the dead by holding Perry’s feet to the fire in an effort to prevent similar catastrophes in the future, and shame on anyone who lets politicians hide from responsibility behind the victims of their own decisions.

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Bush Still Clueless

April 17, 2013 by 1 Comment

George W. Bush is coming out of hiding to open his presidential library, and you’ll be happy to know he feels fine about his record as president. Bush reminds me a lot of Dan Quayle.

When, after Bush Sr. chose him as his running mate, concern was expressed about Quayle’s family pulling strings to keep him out of the Vietnam War, which he supported, he explained,

I did not know in 1969 that I would be in this room [as a vice-presidential nominee] today.

In other words, he didn’t understand the question. Rather than address his failure to do his duty, he spoke about a political blunder.

Bush, ahead of the library opening, explains away his unpopularity this way:

I’m comfortable with what I did.

What makes him think anyone cares?

Does he really think concern about the deaths of U.S. soldiers and Iraqis, torture and its consequences to our national image, the debt his administration racked up, or any of the other disasters of his presidency can be balanced by, “Well, as long as Bush feels okay about it…”? Does he think his critics are more worried about whether he feels bad than about the millions who were affected by his policies?

When your critics are wrong, a meaningful response details what they’re wrong about and why, but Bush, like Quayle before him, and not for the first time in his public life, doesn’t understand the question.

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Saturday Night Charts & Graphs – Obama v. Gore, First Term Private Job Growth

November 3, 2012 by 2 Comments

Okay, so I believe that the recovery would be further along had President Obama and the Democrats passed a larger stimulus. Hey, they could have spent the money on improving the power grid and guarding against storms in the Northeast! Plus, I think it’s a mistake to jump on the Tea Party bandwagon and pretend that focusing on the debt during an economic downturn is anything other than an excuse to cut the social safety net…and thereby make the economic downturn worse. For more insight into this stupidity, take a gander at Dean Baker’s article for Salon.

That said, even with one arm tied behind his back, Obama’s record on private job creation has trounced George W. Bush’s record. Here’s the chart, via ThinkProgress.

Can someone remind me why capitalists are supposed to hate Barack Obama?

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Quote of the Day: Bill Maher on the Republicans Trying to Shove George W. Bush Down the Memory Hole

September 4, 2012 by Leave a comment

Discovered via Informed Comment…

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Bush Doesn’t Want Fame or Power

July 23, 2012 by 2 Comments

The Wisdom of George W. Bush

I have no desire for fame and power anymore.

–George W. Bush in an interview with the Hoover Institute

English: Signature of George H. W. Bush, 41st ...

English: Signature of George H. W. Bush, 41st President of the United States. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mr. Bush gained the wisdom to state
He’s beyond any need to be great,
That it’s not his life’s aim
To grab power or fame–
Just a couple of decades too late.

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Wednesday Night Video – Mitt Likes Dick

July 11, 2012 by Leave a comment

On the Rachel Maddow Show tonight, Maddow highlighted the overlap between Mitt Romney’s policies and policy advisers with the Bush/Cheney administration. She introduced the segment with a list of economic facts that should be repeated frequently. Loudly. During the George W. Bush years…
…the unemployment rate went from just over 4% to just under 8%
…the budget surplus went from $236 billion to -$1.4 trillion
… poverty went up
…the uninsured rose

Conservative economics has been tried. It doesn’t work. The reason why the recovery has lagged is because many elements of the conservative economic plan has been retained, including massive deficit spending fueled by military spending and tax cuts for the elite. Mitt Romney’s planned fundraiser on Thursday with Dick Cheney is emblematic of Romney’s desire to repeat this recent past.

Maddow also gets extra points for her pointed takedown of the Washington Post transcribing Mitt Romney spin, rather than engaging in, you know, journalism. Your liberal media, not at work…

Filed under Mitt Romney, Politics, Pundits, Rachel Maddow Tagged with ,

One Small Problem: Rice for Veep

July 10, 2012 by 1 Comment

Condoleezza Rice has repeatedly said she has no interest in elected office, but that hasn’t stopped many of her fellow conservatives from hoping she’ll be Mitt Romney’s vice presidential choice.

–Lori Stahl, “Condi Rice as veep: the allure of the anti-Palin,” Washington Post

I’d be shocked if Obama were quailin’
At the Condi-Vice-President push.
Though she’d make us forget about Palin,
She would also remind us of Bush.

Condoleezza Rice 2007, 2006, 2005, & 2004 (Fin...

Condoleezza Rice 2007, 2006, 2005, & 2004 (Finalist in 2008) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Jeffrey Toobin on Conservative Justices and Health Care

March 23, 2012 by Leave a comment

For progressives who wish that President Obama would be more, well, progressive, one of the main reminders of the difference between Team Dem and Team Repub can be seen in their impact on the judiciary. The United States has an active conservative judiciary, mostly appointed by Republican presidents, and they’re only growing more audacious in their efforts to push conservative causes using judicial power.

photograph of the justices, cropped to show Ju...

photograph of the justices, cropped to show Justice Scalia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Read more of this post

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President Obama and Sign Language

March 22, 2012 by 4 Comments

The New York Daily News reports that…

President Obama is a man of many talents, and apparently American Sign Language is one of them.

…joining several other news agencies in covering this recent incident:


Read more of this post

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Ballade of Bush v. Gore

March 13, 2012 by Leave a comment

Since Justice Scalia has brought Bush v. Gore back into the news, I’ll dust off an old poem about it, inspired by the following part of that 5-4 Supreme Court decision:

Because it is evident that any recount seeking to meet the December 12 date will be unconstitutional…, we reverse the judgment of the Supreme Court of Florida ordering a recount to proceed.

English: Antonin Scalia, Associate Justice of ...

Image via Wikipedia

For the wise Supreme Court, which the nation reveres,
For the justices, given the charge to restore
Our respect for and faith in our system, three cheers!
They’ve put all speculation to rest evermore:
It’s hello to George W., ‘bye ‘bye Al Gore!
And the crux, which the court’s sage majority notes,
Is an argument nobody’d thought of before:
There’s just not enough time to count all the votes.

More of this poem after the jump

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