Jay Bookman

By RW-(the original)

January 12, 2009 10:40 PM | Link to this

Right Jay B, it would have been much better to surrender Iraq to al Qaeda than to buck the tide of popular opinion and go ahead and win the thing.

/sarc

By @@

January 12, 2009 10:51 PM | Link to this

‘Ya know what, jay? A lesser man would have “caved” like OBL has. Al Qaeda prime is no longer able to organize much more than their turban drawer.

By @@

January 12, 2009 10:56 PM | Link to this

Dang! that rhymed.

By RW-(the original)

January 12, 2009 11:12 PM | Link to this

OMG!

I thought we had finally gotten rid of the ad for the 1/3/2009 UGA basketball game atop this blog, but it’s back.

This “news”paper must be days away from going out of business. I guess the biggest flaw in the AJC buying out the competition to become a one paper town is that we’re on the verge of being a no paper town.

By The Corporal of the Guard

January 12, 2009 11:23 PM | Link to this

Sorry, I had to do it.

The fact that a man is a newspaper reporter is evidence of some flaw of character. Lyndon Johnson

But this one really counts.

Men judge us by the success of our efforts. God looks at the efforts themselves. Charlotte Bronte

I’ll take that any day.

By getalife

January 12, 2009 11:28 PM | Link to this

Worst ever is going to spew on primetime when even the gop wants him to go home.

We have not seen all his failures and their consequences yet but finally he is history.

By The Corporal of the Guard

January 12, 2009 11:35 PM | Link to this

RW

In case you missed my Vent yesteray:

I honestly think my AJC newspaper weighed less than my local community newspaper this morning.

By The Corporal of the Guard

January 12, 2009 11:40 PM | Link to this

I just read an article on CNN about the grandson of a former slave who said, Obama is our Moses.

That begs the question, what country is he leading you to ?

By RW-(the original)

January 12, 2009 11:40 PM | Link to this

Corporal

In case you missed my post downstairs I gave you a movie tip for Tuesday.

By sayinitdontmakeitso

January 12, 2009 11:42 PM | Link to this

it would have been much better to surrender Iraq to al Qaeda than to buck the tide of popular opinion and go ahead and win the thing.

totally delusional bullcrap

By The Corporal of the Guard

January 12, 2009 11:46 PM | Link to this

RW

I got it. Thanks much.

By Chad Harris

January 12, 2009 11:50 PM | Link to this

Yep Jay, and I have sympathy for delusional people, many of whom have the same delusions and insights, judgement affect as Bush displayed today and tonight in press conferences and an interview on a station I wouldn’t spend a nano-second watching.

@ @@—Janeane Garofalo is on 24 Obama Era. CTU is gone. She still makes a fool of Bush on Air America and other venues.

Look for her on Bill Maher when he comes back. Also 24 is a fictional drama—it’s not as many grandiose winguttesses think some kind of homage to Chickenhawks Bush and Cheney. I know fat butt Limbaugh planted one on Chloe while Clarence Thomas looked on like a gleeful vegetable in the audience giggling—but neither of them understood “24” is a fictional show.

One important point—During the first six seasons Jack Bauer and his people at CTU defeated the terrorists.

The terrorists have largely trampled over Bush. They’v made a shambles of air fares and air travel in the US. That didn’t happen in Bauer’s America.

They killed 3000 people and 300 plus firemen when Bush and Condi were explicitly warned of the attack and they ignorantly and impudently refused to translate the intercepts they were wiretapping that would have given specific information as to the plan.

The FBI actually passed the hijackers in their cars 3 feet from them on the way to the airport.

Bauer stops terror. Bush has increased terrorist incidents around the globe exponentially and in Iraq on a daily basis.

By RW-(the original)

January 12, 2009 11:51 PM | Link to this

sayin…..,

Which part is bullcrap?

By Davo

January 12, 2009 11:57 PM | Link to this

Legacy is too good of a word to use for W’s reign of incompetance…I prefer the word aftermath as it better characterizes the destruction of American values we witnessed under this delusional failure of a commander in chief.

By Chad Harris

January 12, 2009 11:58 PM | Link to this

RW—

You were alluding to security a week from Tuesday. You must be contrsting it with the “Miss Teen South Carolina” Security that’s in place right now aren’t you? Boy those were the days—the Bushco days.

Our new national security strategy is to invite AQ to bunk at your house.

How do you think of such insightful nuggets reflecting hours of research?

One sure sign that the US is already tail between legs is that Chickenhawk called reporters by derisive nicknames like a towel snappin’ badass and Obama is calling them by their names with their press affiliation.

What a PUSSYcat Obama is for sure. We need men’s men with real hair on real chests don’t we?

Here’s the kind of Security I want to see in the Homeland—a name from Nazi Germany, Apartheid Africa, and Ibsen plays over 120 years old used by no one in the US whatsoever with the exception of 9 day lameduck.

Maybe it will continue to be having the POTUS sit in a class room and wet his pants while reading The Little Goat or having Strategic Air Command on tape saying “Oh God What Do We Do Now” or having a VP order planes shot down when no one pays attention to him, while the chickenhawk POTUS flies aimlessly around in a plane afraid to return to DC with no clue what’s going on or what to do.

Maybe it will include Condi Rice on the 6th day of Katrina taking a field trip to the Upper East Side and at the 5th Avenue Faragamo store, buying Faragamos like DiFi wears (her tab came to a few thousand dollars) foreshadowing the RNC and Palin’s $200 grand fiasco, and then going to see the Monty Python musical Spamalot! at the Shubert theator while fellow theater goers stood up as one and booed her when the lights went up after the performance.

That morning the media documented 3000 people were stranded without food and water at the Convention Center and African Americans were fired upon trying to cross a bridge to keep fron drowning which must have brought fond memories of Alabama and Missisippi for Farragamo Condi.

Bush flew over that day from Air Force One claiming that he didn’t land because he didn’t want to divert law enforcement landing the next night and diverting law enforcement.

Condi went to the US open and hit the ball around with Monica Seles. That saved a lot of people in New Orleans you betcha, goshdarnit.

Cholera, typhoid, hepatitis and mosquito-borne illnesses began to break out overwhelming the health care system in La. and the CDC presence there.

Bush claimed no one expected the levee to break. but it had been the subject of a major multipart story in a La. newspaper, as well as the focus of studies at the LSU center for Hurricaines for years.

Fast forward to tonight and there has been no construction of levees able to withstand a Hurricaine near Katrina nor are there plans to build one.

Meanwhile in the Netherlands the Delta Works has been built that makes what’s in New Orleans look like paper mache.

That night little former 3rd Circuit Judge Mikey Chertoff (hardly emergency room material) proclaimed “We are extremely pleased with the response that every element of the federal government, all of our federal partners, have made.”

No command and control was established 7 days after Katrina hit.

Rove then began a campaign to blame local officials.

Right now the formaldehyde trailors are vibrant and in place even though Julie Gerberding, who has been given a week to pack out of CDC tried to cover the trailers in her testimony to Congress a few months ago.

Next day:

EARLY AM — BUSH WATCHES DVD OF THE WEEK’S NEWSCASTS CREATED BY STAFF WHO THOUGHT BUSH “NEEDED TO SEE THE HORRIFIC REPORTS”: “The reality, say several aides who did not wish to be quoted because it might displease the president, did not really sink in until Thursday night. Some White House staffers were watching the evening news and thought the president needed to see the horrific reports coming out of New Orleans.

10:35AM CDT — BUSH PRAISES MICHAEL BROWN: “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.” [White House, 9/2/05]

The moronicity went on and on, and tonight disproportionate funding has been given to Missippi home of Haley Barbour and little has been done to rebuild NO or to protect it from floods.

Now that’s Seekooriteee against Terrrrrrisssstss with a capital “S.”

Bush style.

By TRUEPATRIOT

January 13, 2009 12:01 AM | Link to this

shrub is the worst president ever, his supporters are the worst americans ever

and that is the cold hard truth

the human race has barely a fighting chance to last another century with members of that ilk

angry,scared,selfish,vicious,ignorant,lying,paranoid,immoral and so on and so on and so on and so on.

fascism is alive and well in america

A TRUE PATRIOT

By Chad Harris

January 13, 2009 12:30 AM | Link to this

But True Patriot—

Here’s one cold fact. Those supporters, and you see them on display here and on every Right Wing blog that isn’t interested in serious discussion in the comment section (I believe Jay Bookman is all about serious discussion) are insuring that they will never see a Republican in the White House during their life times.

I got a huge grin out of the Bush press conference when he said the Republican party would rebuild by becoming more inclusive. Just as he has been—totally inclusive with signing statement relegating laws passed in his mind to jokes and a controlling VP who believes he is an undefined branch of government who answers to no one and nothing destroying every possible record and email he can touch.

Think about who they perceive as a potential candidate in 2012 that has an ice cube chance in Hell of getting elected.

And notice with Senator Voinovich’s announcement he’s not running that there are now 5 Republicans in the Senate who are not going to run for re-election. Those are five viable Democratic pickoff seats in every one of the cases.

Rob Portman’s “free trade” stance is hated in Ohio. He’s the port Republicans see in the Ohio storm.

Buh Buh We Hardly Knew Ye:

Kit Bond Mel Martinez Kay Bailey Hutchison 9running for Gov. of Texas and we all know the greatness that can lead to) Sam Brownback

By Chad Harris

January 13, 2009 12:31 AM | Link to this

I think there were typos. Jay meant On Bush and his Lunacy

By Arabella Monk

January 13, 2009 1:38 AM | Link to this

I watched Sean Hannity’s new show tonight too, and loved his interview with President Bush.— Bush was a good protector for our country, he kept us safe for almost 8 yrs.— What I didn’t like about the president is that he didn’t care at all about all of us middle and lower income people, he didn’t do anything to help us get ahead, didn’t give us any breaks, almost wanted to take away our measly little Social Security checks, thankfully that did not come to pass.— Well, hopefully we’ll have a more compassionate administration with Obama….

By Chad Harris

January 13, 2009 1:57 AM | Link to this

Bush didn’t “keep you safe.” AQ elected not to strike period.

DHS hemorrhaged money. Had Bush kept people safe there would have been no 911. I was on a direct seminar with Richard Clark and he literally beat on Condi’s door and cell phone telling her repeatedly to get chatter translated that referenced 911. Condi didn’t lift a finger to get it translated until Sept. 12.

In NYC EMS, Fire, and Police were u nable to talk to each other and that resulted in the unnecessary deaths of about 300 firemen and the irreversible significant pulmonary disease in countless more secondary to smoke and debris inhalation that could have been avoided.

By Cherokee

January 13, 2009 5:02 AM | Link to this

Sigh.

So much mis information.

Al Queda wasn’t in Iraq until after we invaded.

If Bush had intended to “keep us safe”, he would have paid attention to the daily briefing, “bin Laden Determined to Strike in the United States”, rather than brushing off the guy who delivered it to him.

Worst. President. Ever.

By AJC/DNC Management

January 13, 2009 6:19 AM | Link to this

Good judgment arises from good character, but whatever, the BDS lives on even though the libs got what they want.

And yet they still ask for bipartisanship for their guy.

Hah.

By Mike

January 13, 2009 6:43 AM | Link to this

Gee, I don’t know which is more predictable. Hannity puffing Bush or Bookman slamming him.

As Hannity and Bookman are both tedious partisan hacks, it is tough to choose.

By GodHatesTrash

January 13, 2009 6:44 AM | Link to this

A worthless little man-chimp, with no character and even less honor.

By AJC/DNC Management

January 13, 2009 6:49 AM | Link to this

Quite aside from pulling the curtain back to reveal that, lofty media perches or not, these people have shown a breathtaking inability to think critically and present thoughts on policy, something else has been displayed here. The inability to articulate opposition to ideas in any serious fashion other than the shallow nuttiness as quoted above condemns them individually and collectively as guilty of a massive failure of serious opposition.

Worse, they have managed to set up Barack Obama for similar criticisms from some on the right.

The libs set the tone, now let’s see how they like it.

By GodHatesTrash

January 13, 2009 6:52 AM | Link to this

George W. Bush

The “W” stands for wimp, weasel, wingnut, whacko, and welcher.

By AJC/DNC Management

January 13, 2009 7:08 AM | Link to this

The silence over this is itself remarkable. When Henry Kissinger was invited merely to co-chair the 9/11 Commission, the political left went bonkers about his foreign clients. In this case we have a Secretary of State nominee whose husband may have raised more than $60 million from various Middle East grandees, and Washington reacts with a yawn. Maybe someone will even ask about it at her nomination hearing today.-WSJ

The left is still going “bonkers” but now they want us to hush.

hah

By DB, Gwinnettian

January 13, 2009 7:21 AM | Link to this

“Right Jay B, it would have been much better to surrender Iraq to al Qaeda “

RW, are you really this thick?

By Joey

January 13, 2009 7:22 AM | Link to this

Jay “saw” Bush on Hannity. That does not mean that Jay actually watched the interview. And upon watching Jay reached these conclusions. Not likely.

Maybe it was just a typo. Yes, Jay intended to write: “I saw that Hannity was interviewing Bush ……

And ditto Mike at 6:43.

By Mrs. Godzilla

January 13, 2009 7:52 AM | Link to this

Legacy, Shmegacy.

By AJC/DNC Management

January 13, 2009 7:59 AM | Link to this

Why ain’t the italics working?

By Redneck Convert

January 13, 2009 8:01 AM | Link to this

Well, I see some guy went and invented a flying car with little wings that come out from the side. He expects to start selling it in a few months. It’s a real, real bad idea.

It’s bad enough we can’t hardly go to sleep in our trailer without having some guy go off the road and plow into our bedroom. Now we’ll have to worry about cars dropping from the sky out of gas and falling on us when we go outside. And I can’t hardly wait to see Jimmy Dale buzz ol’ Bubba’s house at midnight after getting a snootful at the honky-tonk. Next thing you know the cops will all need to have flying cars to catch people like Jimmy Dale and keep Law and Order. Like I said, it’s a real, real bad idea.

Anyhow, we all know My President kept us safe from the Terrists. Bookman and the other libruls on this blog got to admit that. Sure, there was a few bumps in the road, like a couple wars and this Katrina thing and the economy, but nobody’s perfect. If it wasn’t for My President, we would have Terrists roaming the country right now, blasting anybody that went outside. Now it’s hard to tell what this Obama will do. Probly snuggle up with the Terrists and we’ll all wake up dead one day.

Anyhow, that’s my opinion and it’s very true. We done lost our chance to put God back in guvmint, that’s for sure. Like the fellow wrote in the AJC a couple decades ago, Why do the heathen rage? Have a good day everybody, and keep your eye peeled for them flying cars.

By Bud Wiser

January 13, 2009 8:18 AM | Link to this

GREENFIELD, Calif. – Police have arrested a Greenfield man for allegedly arranging to sell his 14-year-old daughter into marriage in exchange for $16,000, 100 cases of beer and several cases of meat.

Police said they only learned of the deal after the 36-year-old man went to them to get his daughter back because payment wasn’t made as promised.

Are they sure that this was not one of the left wingnuts that blog here?

I’m sure that someone would try to connect this issue with the way Bush is leaving this country, what with all of the money going to his big oil and banker friends, but try as I may, I cannot seem to make the link.

History will treat Bush better than these fools who trash him here, but probably not much.

They certainly will not sink to the idiocy of the daily vulgar rants, and the morons that post them, thus displaying their own stupidity as well as those people do; they leave the trash mouths to the bloggers; left wingnuts have no intellect, only vulgarity suits them, and it fits them so, so well.

By Cherokee

January 13, 2009 8:23 AM | Link to this

“I’m sure that someone would try to connect this issue with the way Bush “

Like when Newt connected the actions of Susan Smith with the way Bill was running the country?

By DB, Gwinnettian

January 13, 2009 8:23 AM | Link to this

Mr. Convert, I can only hope the Pulitzer committee is as appreciative of your efforts as I am.

For those who scoff and say “pshaw, I could do that,” I suggest you give it a try yourself. Post in character and make it funny, dammit! Consider too the result when our local righties have been seized by righteous outrage at Mr. Convert’s posting history and given parody a half-hearted try. It’s rarely pretty, and never funny. (Well, not intentionally so.)

By Bud Wiser

January 13, 2009 8:26 AM | Link to this

Associated Press

BISMARCK, N.D. — Residents in the Northern Plains bundled up as a blast of cold air followed on the heels of a fast-moving blizzard, while the Midwest was the latest target of the one-two winter punch.

Wind chill warnings were forecast for much of Wisconsin, South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota. Temperatures could plummet to up to 35 below zero in some places Tuesday.

Thank god for global warming…. there’s no telling how cold it would really be without it. Perhaps this too is Bush’s fault, a part of his ‘legacy’, to leave us in a colder, darker world.

By DB, Gwinnettian

January 13, 2009 8:28 AM | Link to this

Bud, you’re complaining about vulgarity? You, who was claiming the other day, that 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue would become an area of urban blight within two weeks of Obama’s inauguration?

By Bud Wiser

January 13, 2009 8:31 AM | Link to this

Which one of you left wingnuts stole the italics?

Or did Bush do it?

By gttim

January 13, 2009 8:33 AM | Link to this

Being wrong and refusing to change one’s convictions does not make one a good president, or man. It makes one an idiot.

But hey, “Mission Accomplished,” if you mean by “Mission Accomplished” destruction of America, American ideals, and the American dream.

By DB, Gwinnettian

January 13, 2009 8:35 AM | Link to this

If I had a dime for every time a wingnut posted a weather report and claimed it proved man-made climate change was a scam, we’d all be flying around in electric airplanes, powered by super-efficient wind and solar generators. From Mars!

By Bud Wiser

January 13, 2009 8:36 AM | Link to this

I don’t think that was me, but if so, then so be it. However, I did not use vulgarity (expletive words) to make my point.

I never have to.

You folks always make it for me so, so well.

BTW, I reserve the right to “dress down” the mindless idiots and droning fools who cannot understand what the devil anyone is saying unless there are curse words present; you know who I’m referring to, don’t you? (clue - it isn’t you)

By Bud Wiser

January 13, 2009 8:40 AM | Link to this

I wish I could stay and play, but I have to try to get a game of golf in today before the Bush-created global-warming-caused Alberta Clipper arrives.

Have fun, tools.

Oh, and all of you government workers who blog from your desks on the taxpayer’s dime, have you no conscience?

By Mrs. Godzilla

January 13, 2009 8:40 AM | Link to this

Great piece from Eugene Robinson When Bush Is History

“What we know so far isn’t enough. I understand Obama’s reluctance to conduct criminal investigations of the Bush years — and I realize that Bush might well pardon everybody in advance anyway. But it’s important to convene an investigation and learn the truth, all of it, so that no president is tempted to take such liberties again. History, both short-term and long-term, will be grateful.”

Can I get a big AMEN to that!

By Bud Wiser

January 13, 2009 8:43 AM | Link to this

Oh, and one more thing:

BOOKMAN -He sees the presidency as a test of character, a test that in his own mind he passed, and not as a test of judgment, a test that he failed.

I thought that in the new era of kinder, gentler schools, there was no PASS/FAIL. Being a bit harsh there, Jay.

HAND.

By Bosch

January 13, 2009 8:48 AM | Link to this

Good morning! Is it just me, or is the column of the blog wider?

I finally saw some of Bush’s speech last night. Sigh. His legacy is simple:

Iraq and Katrina - both examples of his complete failure as a leader.

By PinkoNeoConLibertarian

January 13, 2009 8:49 AM | Link to this

Ah yes. Bud Wiser…yet another person who doesn’t seem to know the difference between weather and climate.

By Cherokee

January 13, 2009 8:49 AM | Link to this

DB at 8:23 Amen. He’s brilliant.

By PinkoNeoConLibertarian

January 13, 2009 8:51 AM | Link to this

By the way Jay, while I’m certainly not a fan of the man nor his performance, his proper title is President Bush. Not Mr. Bush.

By RW-(the original)

January 13, 2009 9:05 AM | Link to this

“”RW, are you really this thick?”“

Yet another mindless retort from the “changed” ragger.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Good news for all you triple L’s. Obama is going to sign an order saying he plans to close Gitmo. He isn’t actually going to close it mind you, but he’s going to figure what to do with the “residents” so that eventually he can close it. Call it the Bush plan if you will.

I’m off to the forest.

See y’all upstairs at happy hour.

Later!

By DB, Gwinnettian

January 13, 2009 9:11 AM | Link to this

Well, RW, are you? Are you clinging to the notion that we needed to invade Iraq on account of its being an AQ stronghold?

By Forever in your Debt

January 13, 2009 9:21 AM | Link to this

I just want to go on the record to say, anonymously, that I think that what our president did on that most infamous day in the entire history of this great nation was just the most wonderful thing that he has ever done in his entire career and that I am very proud of his efforts that day. While those buildings were falling down and people were running around screaming and yelling, our brave and fearless president stayed calm and collected and read on with a non-wavering voice in order to insure those little ones that they were going to be just fine. Why, it brought back memories of my grade school days and all the comfort that I felt just knowing that in case of a nuclear attack, those mighty desks were there for us to crawl under and keep us safe from all that could possibly cause us great pain. Our president’s resolve in the face of danger that day is surely the sort of action that legacies are made off with and those children — indeed, all our children and their children — owe him a great debt of gratitude — a debt that they will be eternally grateful for the opportunity to repay for the rest of their lives. So, let us not forget this. Let us let his legacy live on so that our children and their children will know that their tax bill is not in vain, that their servitude to all those that will own them outright was for a worthy cause — freedom and liberty — for without freedom and liberty what would they be other than a people trapped in a world not of their own making. Let it be written. Let it be said.

By Political Foreskin

January 13, 2009 9:24 AM | Link to this

Point of order: It’s “right wingnuts”, and “left moonbats”.

If you’re going to torpedo the transition, then at least make the trite cliches correct.

Bush’s Mission Accomplished may have been a covert signal to China that we will go no further than Iraq. Makes sense. I like it. At least this means that “lunatic” can be left off his presidency’s epitaph.

By The Corporal of the Guard

January 13, 2009 9:25 AM | Link to this

Has anyone been able to find the Web Vent section in this new goofy format or have they deleted it ??

By RW-(the original)

January 13, 2009 9:30 AM | Link to this

DB ragger,

Nothing in my statement even remotely alludes to us having to invade Iraq on account of it being an AQ stronghold, but if you lack the intellectual capacity to see that it’s really more your problem than mine.

Jay B’s blurb atop the blog makes the claim that Bush made the wrong choices because he’s stubborn. My rebuttal is that his stubbornness was the right choice in Iraq when popular opinion was to abandon the country to the clutches of AQ.

I really must be leaving now.

Later

By GaNative

January 13, 2009 9:31 AM | Link to this

I am sooooo glad we are finally getting rid of lil bow legged Bush.

By Paul

January 13, 2009 9:31 AM | Link to this

AJC/DNC Management 6:49

A thought-provoking article, especially in light of Jay’s thread.

Gttim 8:33

[[Being wrong and refusing to change one’s convictions does not make one a good president, or man. It makes one an idiot.]]

I trust you’re not s peaking of Pres-elect Obama’s refusal to admit he was wrong about the surge in Iraq?

Mrs. Godzilla 8:40

I’m a tad concerned regarding this idea of “let’s conduct a review to see if we can find any evidence of a crime (enough to indict) in areas where we question motive or have a policy difference.” Rather flies in the face of our criminal justice system on how and when evidence is obtained and presented.

Bosch 8:48

It does appear wider. The width of the postings appears the same, though. Great, now the Right will say “it’s symbolic of the incoming Obama Administration - the appearance that things are different, but that’s only in illusion, the reality is the same as it was.” Wait, that’s what the farleft has been saying about Obama for a few weeks now!

Jay [[But as president, the far more important question is whether you got it right, whether you made the smart calls… a test of character, a test that in his own mind he passed, and not as a test of judgment, a test that he failed.]]

While it’s evident many on the Left think he ‘failed,’ many on the Right think the same – witness the results of the 2006 elections. Economic policy, economic discipline, engagement with one’s critics, making one’s case to the people, not letting your administration be defined by its critics, lack of continuation of energy policies evident from his governorship, letting No Child Left Behind morph into a bureaucratic nightmare.

But what his critics, notably those on the Left (fueled by VP Gore’s “he lied” speech?) did was to not address judgment, but the motives behind the judgment. We did not have disagreements, we did not see policy differently, we were not able to even have the liberty of looking at the same circumstances and seeing things differently. No, it was motive that was called into question. Iraq a mistake? No, it was deliberate because he wanted the oil for his family and business associates and Cheney wanted to enrich himself and those at Haliburton. They lied, they lied, they lied to achieve this. Security measures? Forget the constitutional arguments – it was done because Bush hates the constitution and wants to turn the US into a police state. Challenging certain actions to bring more balance to the Executive and Legislative? He did it only because he’s a fascist and wants to turn our country into a police state.

So I’m glad to see you attempt to steer the conversation to the elements of character and judgment and leave out the omniscient assertions of motive.

Out for a while -

By The Corporal of the Guard

January 13, 2009 9:33 AM | Link to this

P.S.

Is he the Messiah or Moses? He can’t be both.

By Bosch

January 13, 2009 9:33 AM | Link to this

The Shane Company is filing for bankruptcy - it’s Bush’s fault.

Just kidding, but what is this world coming too? Are we never to hear Tom Shane’s voice again? And his tales of his trips to Belgium to find us the best diamonds in the world? Is our friend in the diamond, pearl, ruby business slipping away as we type?

I get so distracted sometimes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I would like to share this article I read this morning:

Though Bush may be viewed as a laughingstock, he won’t have the zero-integrity factors that have kept Nixon and Harding at the bottom in the presidential sweepstakes. Oddly, the president whom Bush most reminds me of is Herbert Hoover, whose name is synonymous with failure to respond to the Great Depression. When the stock market collapsed, Hoover, for ideological reasons, did too little. When 9/11 happened, Bush did too much, attacking the wrong country at the wrong time for the wrong reasons. He has joined Hoover as a case study on how not to be president.

By Disgusted

January 13, 2009 9:39 AM | Link to this

Corporal @9:25: I found a Living Vent link on the drop-down for Lifestyle, but every time I click on it I get kicked off the Internet. This new AJC boss is obviously very loony—the new design is proof positive. You can’t expect logic from an insane person. Who knows? Maybe the Vent resides somewhere in the drop-down for Sports.

By Mrs. Godzilla

January 13, 2009 9:40 AM | Link to this

Paul

Evidence starts here

And here

I think it rather flies in the face of our criminal justice system that it is taking so long.

By Political Foreskin

January 13, 2009 9:42 AM | Link to this

Statiticians have proved that it’s better to do nothing than to act in a crisis, because all crisis are illusions. They’re never what an observer thinks they are. Thus any reaction is an overreaction and will cause more harm than good.

Who won WW2? I’d say the nips, no, the Krauts, no the wops, no the australians, THE FRENCH!

The French won world war 2 because they didn’t do nuthin.

Dont do nuthin, people. Cant you just sit there?

War, in.

By jasper

January 13, 2009 9:47 AM | Link to this

The left is called the left because once you have joined it you have “left” behind the anitquated notions of self reliance, personal accountability, and in many cases common sense.

So we’re blaming the government, namely Bush, for not rescuing people fast enough from their own reckless decisions. Therefore if I choose to row accross the ocean in a paper boat, and drown, its the coast guard’s fault.

Remember, katrina didnt so much cause a disaster as it uncovered one. Who’s to blame for the welfare state of New Orleans.

What kind of helpless, pathetic, docile, creatures have we become to trade in our God given nature to thrive to live on the dole.

By The Corporal of the Guard

January 13, 2009 9:51 AM | Link to this

TO DISGUSTED:

THE DOWNHILL SLIDE CONTINUES …………..

By DebbieDoRight

January 13, 2009 10:00 AM | Link to this

I think Bush, like many of the rightwing bloggers blogging today, is rewriting history to make himself into a bigger player than what he really was. He couldn’t even appoint an effective Director for FEMA. He fired the AG’s in states that didn’t want to prosecute fictional offenses of “voter fraud”; he desecrated the Civil Liberties of Americans, he single handedly took the good will of the Arab nations that was bestowed upon us (after 9/11 invasion of Afghanistan), by invading Iraq and making Al Queada stronger with an increase of recruits across the Arab world. Instead of taking the opportunity to better Arab-American relations, he imprudently wrecked it.

That’s his legacy. That’s history — not HIS story.

By Bosch

January 13, 2009 10:01 AM | Link to this

Corporal,

The downhill slide continues? Can you explain that a little more?

Are you saying that Obama’s administration is creating a downhill slide of our country?

If you have already decided that Obama is a doomed failure and that our country is on a downward spiral of doom, then I really feel sorry for you. Is it a psychological block for you to allow in your head even the slightest chance that Obama will do okay?

By Mrs. Godzilla

January 13, 2009 10:05 AM | Link to this

Let’s ask Citibank, AIG, Lehman Bros, et al about “the anitquated notions of self reliance, personal accountability, and in many cases common sense”

Let’s ask Lindy Englund’s superiors about “the anitquated notions of self reliance, personal accountability, and in many cases common sense”

Let’s ask the undisclosed recipients of TARP funds about “the anitquated notions of self reliance, personal accountability, and in many cases common sense”

Let’s ask the spillers of coal sludge in TN about “the anitquated notions of self reliance, personal accountability, and in many cases common sense”

Let’s ask the guys in charge of FEMA trailers about “the anitquated notions of self reliance, personal accountability, and in many cases common sense”

Let’s ask the guys who decided to use depleted uranium on the tips of our rockets about “the anitquated notions of self reliance, personal accountability, and in many cases common sense”

Let’s ask the guys who started a war of choice against a nation that did not attack us causing the death of 4000 plus Americans and nearly 1,000,000 Iraqis about “the anitquated notions of self reliance, personal accountability, and in many cases common sense”

By Political Foreskin

January 13, 2009 10:06 AM | Link to this

Jasper, your definition of the left only profiles the conservative evangelical right, the elite and most christian of which got the bailout money, which defines socialism, communism, nepotism, oligarchy, matriarchy, fat chickism, and everything bad, man.

Dont blog again till you remember more than just five minutes ago. You have to remember last year, and all the events that proved that the Right’s self reliance and bootstrap pull-ups, and personal responsibility are lies to tell on radio shows for pointy headed voters to numb their little minds on.

Why do you think they call your ilk “numbskulls”?

Remember, it’s not Bush, it’s the people who put HIM UP FRONT AND supported bush’s candidacy. The defense industry. Cheney’s cronies. THe saudis. You really have no idea, do you?

You’re like that clown on Chris Mathews who didn’t know who Chamberlain was when he said, “Peace is at hand” after his appeasement meeting with hitler. Chamberlain stood underneath a plane holding up a piece of paper which fluttered wildly in the propwash. It was reality tv, and poetry, and crystal ball gazing all at the same time. It portended the blitzkrieg, and pushed Winston Churchill into power.

“Those who cry, “Appease, appease”, are hanged by those they aimed to please…….”

war, in.

By Forever in your Debt

January 13, 2009 10:08 AM | Link to this

And, when are these whining Republicans going to accept the fact that the Bush Administration’s wars cost real money and his prescription drug program costs real money and his Wall Street bailout costs real money and his tax cuts that the Republicans just cannot get enough of cost real money. Nowhere, NOWHERE, do you see a Republican dealing with the reality that their policies actually cost money and that they have to be paid for. Instead, they just whine and ignore the topic as though it will just magically disappear. Until now, that is. Now that the Democrats are taking charge, all of a sudden the Republican politicians are coming out in unison as though they had all just received their whack to the forehead and the magic word “Heal”…you Republicans are just plain pathetic. Blame the world, blame the Democrats, blame your dog, but never look in a mirror. Then again, maybe you know what will be staring right back at you and you are too scared to face it.

By Mrs. Godzilla

January 13, 2009 10:08 AM | Link to this

Debbie Do Right

Glad to see ya’

I love that….it’s history not “HIS”story.

Very true.

By @@

January 13, 2009 10:11 AM | Link to this

ChattyWICK @ 11:50:

“24” is a fictional show.

I’m well aware of ^^^ that!

Speaking of fiction — well, let’s call it plagiarism. Most of what you contribute here is plagiarized from various websites. Before I must leave, I’ll explain.

During the Blagojevich scandal, you came in citing legal precedence in the Powell case. One of your many long diatribes. I googled, finding 98% of your post elsewhere and verbatim.

In an attempt to save you the effort of correlating “the cut & paste”, I suggested that you say what it is you have to say in text but then attribute the rest of what “you” have to say to the individual “who actually said it.” I linked.

For whatever reason, my post never made it through. I was gonna make a second attempt but then decided you weren’t worth my time. Back to the fiction…..

I have come to the conclusion that your self-worth here is a “figment” of your own imagination and that the majority of your 9:50 could most likely be traced to someone else on the internet.

By The Corporal of the Guard

January 13, 2009 10:17 AM | Link to this

The DOWNHILL SLIDE was aimed at the AJC:

1) If my paper gets any smaller during the week, the slightest breeze will blow it away.

2) This new format sucks.

P.S. But since you brought AYTCH up:

Seven days from now he will be my President.

I will hold his FEET TO THE FIRE just like you did President Bush. During the campaign he had ALL THE ANSWERS. Therefore, I expect him to produce IMMEDIATELY on domestic and foreign affairs. I expect him to sit down and TALK with terrorists and solve all of those problems.

I have already made my judgement on him as a person, senator, candidate and President Elect and I find him severely wanting.

In the future, I will add my judgement on him as President.

By jasper

January 13, 2009 10:22 AM | Link to this

I guess I forgot to include Logic in those things that you folk Left behind. Especially the ability to apply it sensibly and rationally despite your agitated emotional state.

Mrs. G, next time just use acronyms, and save yourself the carpel tunnel.

And Political Foreskin, I think you just circumsized yourself in that wonderful litany of contradicting terms.

So I’m a conservative evangelical communist. Have you accepted Jesus as your personal comrade?

By Mrs. Godzilla

January 13, 2009 10:22 AM | Link to this

IMMEDIATELY!!

IMMEDIATELY!!

IMMEDIATELY!!

By The Corporal of the Guard

January 13, 2009 10:26 AM | Link to this

Senator/Secretary of State to be Hillary Clinton has been involved in PAY FOR PLAY since the ROSE LAW FIRM in Arkansas.

Good grief …….. will we never learn?

By Bosch

January 13, 2009 10:27 AM | Link to this

Corporal,

Oh, well, my bad - about the paper. My hometown paper is pretty thin too. I feel the same way about it. The only time I read the physical paper is on Sundays - and it too is pretty thin.

On Obama - If you expect him to produce immediately on domestic and foreign affairs, then he’s already failed you - and by the way, he never said that in his campaign.

By Mrs. Godzilla

January 13, 2009 10:28 AM | Link to this

jasper,

what a compassionate conservative you are!

your concern for my forearms is commendable.

By DB, Gwinnettian

January 13, 2009 10:29 AM | Link to this

Mrs G., be nice. After all, you know how upset our Corporal gets when you hide his Metamucil and remap his Vent.

By Maniacal Pariah

January 13, 2009 10:31 AM | Link to this

What DO we do with the jihadists once we capture them? It’s not like they’ll stop being jihadists.

Those japanese soldiers they keep finding on the remote islands think the war is still going on, and if you were unlucky enough to walk into their bamboo traps or ambush, you’d probably be keeled.

What can we do with the jihadists? I’m not killing them. You’re not killing them. Lets give them to Mikey, he hates everything…….

By Forever in your Debt

January 13, 2009 10:36 AM | Link to this

There is one that would show up here only to rant on about the figments that presumably reside within the confines of the mind of another poster while ignoring the more obvious and glaring need for more fig leafs over her own outward appearance in order to shield the casual observer from those ugly words. Have a heart. Give a care. Use more fig leafs. They’d do somebody good.

By jasper

January 13, 2009 10:37 AM | Link to this

Mrs. G, I’ve been off for a while, call it recalibrating. So belated congrats on the O victory. Its a good thing.

By Mrs. Godzilla

January 13, 2009 10:37 AM | Link to this

DB

Does metamucil work IMMEDIATELY?

That’s dangerous.

By CommunistAJC

January 13, 2009 10:37 AM | Link to this

Jay, I’m totally confused over this stimulus bill. If the stimulus bill is supposed to work then explain this article.

GM exec says automaker may need more gov’t money General Motors exec says company may need more than $13.4B from gov’t in worst-case scenario

Tom Krisher, AP Auto Writer

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors Corp.’s chief operating officer said Monday that the automaker has presented a worst-case scenario to Congress in which it would need more money than the $13.4 billion allocated by the Treasury Department.

But Fritz Henderson would not speculate on whether GM will need all of the $18 billion in government loans it sought from Congress in December.

Speaking to reporters at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Henderson said he is confident GM will work out concessions from the United Auto Workers. GM, Chrysler and the union have been talking about labor cost reductions and other concessions required under the government’s loan terms.

The companies have until Feb. 17 to hammer out amendments to their current labor contracts that would bring worker costs in line with those of employees at foreign auto companies’ plants in the U.S.

UAW President Ron Gettelfinger has said the union will approach President-elect Barack Obama’s administration to end what he called unfair requirements in the loan terms for concessions from the union.

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., has proposed getting rid of a requirement that GM and Chrysler negotiate labor cost parity with foreign-owned automakers that have U.S. factories.

But Henderson said the uncertainty over what concessions are required doesn’t mean the company and union aren’t talking about labor cost gaps.

“We know what those costs are just like they do,” he said.

Hourly wages for UAW workers at GM factories already are about equal to the average of $30 per hour Toyota Motor Corp. pays at its older U.S. factories, according to the companies. But including benefits and the cost of providing health care to retirees, the Detroit automaker says its total labor cost is around $69 per hour, compared with an all-inclusive cost of $53 per hour at Toyota.

GM’s total cost will drop to $62 per hour in 2010 when a UAW administered trust fund starts paying retiree health care costs, with the remaining difference due to the “legacy” costs of century-old GM paying its retiree pensions.

Other items that are on the table include payments and benefits to laid-off workers. The union has agreed to end the “jobs bank” program under which laid-off workers can receive about 95 percent of their pay and benefits for years, but the government’s plan calls for the companies to eliminate other payments that supplement state unemployment benefits immediately after a layoff.

The plan also calls for the UAW to take company stock instead of cash for half the payments into the union-run health care trust.

By CommunistAJC

January 13, 2009 10:40 AM | Link to this

Bush’s Achievements

Ten things the president got right.

by Fred Barnes The Weekly Standard

The postmortems on the presidency of George W. Bush are all wrong. The liberal line is that Bush dangerously weakened America’s position in the world and rushed to the aid of the rich and powerful as income inequality worsened. That is twaddle. Conservatives—okay, not all of them—have only been a little bit kinder. They give Bush credit for the surge that saved Iraq, but not for much else.

He deserves better. His presidency was far more successful than not. And there’s an aspect of his decision-making that merits special recognition: his courage. Time and time again, Bush did what other presidents, even Ronald Reagan, would not have done and for which he was vilified and abused. That—defiantly doing the right thing—is what distinguished his presidency.

Bush had ten great achievements (and maybe more) in his eight years in the White House, starting with his decision in 2001 to jettison the Kyoto global warming treaty so loved by Al Gore, the environmental lobby, elite opinion, and Europeans. The treaty was a disaster, with India and China exempted and economic decline the certain result. Everyone knew it. But only Bush said so and acted accordingly.

He stood athwart mounting global warming hysteria and yelled, “Stop!” He slowed the movement toward a policy blunder of worldwide impact, providing time for facts to catch up with the dubious claims of alarmists. Thanks in part to Bush, the supposed consensus of scientists on global warming has now collapsed. The skeptics, who point to global cooling over the past decade, are now heard loud and clear. And a rational approach to the theory of manmade global warming is possible.

Second, enhanced interrogation of terrorists. Along with use of secret prisons and wireless eavesdropping, this saved American lives. How many thousands of lives? We’ll never know. But, as Charles Krauthammer said recently, “Those are precisely the elements which kept us safe and which have prevented a second attack.”

Crucial intelligence was obtained from captured al Qaeda leaders, including 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, with the help of waterboarding. Whether this tactic—it creates a drowning sensation—is torture is a matter of debate. John McCain and many Democrats say it is. Bush and Vice President Cheney insist it isn’t. In any case, it was necessary. Lincoln once made a similar point in defending his suspension of habeas corpus in direct defiance of Chief Justice Roger Taney. “Are all the laws but one to go unexecuted, and the government itself go to pieces, lest that one be violated?” Lincoln asked. Bush understood the answer in wartime had to be no.

Bush’s third achievement was the rebuilding of presidential authority, badly degraded in the era of Vietnam, Watergate, and Bill Clinton. He didn’t hesitate to conduct wireless surveillance of terrorists without getting a federal judge’s okay. He decided on his own how to treat terrorists and where they should be imprisoned. Those were legitimate decisions for which the president, as commander in chief, should feel no need to apologize.

Defending, all the way to the Supreme Court, Cheney’s refusal to disclose to Congress the names of people he’d consulted on energy policy was also enormously important. Democratic congressman Henry Waxman demanded the names, but the Court upheld Cheney, 7-2. Last week, Cheney defended his refusal, waspishly noting that Waxman “doesn’t call me up and tell me who he’s meeting with.”

Achievement number four was Bush’s unswerving support for Israel. Reagan was once deemed Israel’s best friend in the White House. Now Bush can claim the title. He ostracized Yasser Arafat as an impediment to peace in the Middle East. This infuriated the anti-Israel forces in Europe, the Third World, and the United Nations, and was criticized by champions of the “peace process” here at home. Bush was right.

He was clever in his support. Bush announced that Ariel Sharon should withdraw the tanks he’d sent into the West Bank in 2002, then exerted zero pressure on Sharon to do so. And he backed the wall along Israel’s eastern border without endorsing it as an official boundary, while knowing full well that it might eventually become exactly that. He was a loyal friend.

His fifth success was No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the education reform bill cosponsored by America’s most prominent liberal Democratic senator Edward Kennedy. The teachers’ unions, school boards, the education establishment, conservatives adamant about local control of schools—they all loathed the measure and still do. It requires two things they ardently oppose, mandatory testing and accountability.

Kennedy later turned against NCLB, saying Bush is shortchanging the program. In truth, federal education spending is at record levels. Another complaint is that it forces teachers to “teach to the test.” The tests are on math and reading. They are tests worth teaching to.

Sixth, Bush declared in his second inaugural address in 2005 that American foreign policy (at least his) would henceforth focus on promoting democracy around the world. This put him squarely in the Reagan camp, but he was lambasted as unrealistic, impractical, and a tool of wily neoconservatives. The new policy gave Bush credibility in pressing for democracy in the former Soviet republics and Middle East and in zinging various dictators and kleptocrats. It will do the same for President Obama, if he’s wise enough to hang onto it.

The seventh achievement is the Medicare prescription drug benefit, enacted in 2003. It’s not only wildly popular; it has cost less than expected by triggering competition among drug companies. Conservatives have deep reservations about the program. But they shouldn’t have been surprised. Bush advocated the drug benefit in the 2000 campaign. And if he hadn’t acted, Democrats would have, with a much less attractive result.

Then there were John Roberts and Sam Alito. In putting them on the Supreme Court and naming Roberts chief justice, Bush achieved what had eluded Richard Nixon, Reagan, and his own father. Roberts and Alito made the Court indisputably more conservative. And the good news is Roberts, 53, and Alito, 58, should be justices for decades to come.

Bush’s ninth achievement has been widely ignored. He strengthened relations with east Asian democracies (Japan, South Korea, Australia) without causing a rift with China. On top of that, he forged strong ties with India. An important factor was their common enemy, Islamic jihadists. After 9/11, Bush made the most of this, and Indian leaders were receptive. His state dinner for Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh in 2006 was a lovefest.

Finally, a no-brainer: the surge. Bush prompted nearly unanimous disapproval in January 2007 when he announced he was sending more troops to Iraq and adopting a new counterinsurgency strategy. His opponents initially included the State Department, the Pentagon, most of Congress, the media, the foreign policy establishment, indeed the whole world. This makes his decision a profile in courage. Best of all, the surge worked. Iraq is now a fragile but functioning democracy.

How does Bush rank as a president? We won’t know until he’s judged from the perspective of two or three decades. Hindsight forced a sharp upgrading of the presidencies of Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower. Given his achievements, it may have the same effect for Bush.

By CommunistAJC

January 13, 2009 10:44 AM | Link to this

Buyer beware.

Obama is Emasculating Intelligence

by Dick Morris and Eileen McGann

President-elect Barack Obama’s new head of the Office of Legal Counsel in the Justice Department, Dawn Johnsen, called the legal reasoning which gave the president broad powers to authorize “rough” interrogation of terrorists “shockingly flawed…bogus…outlandish.” She said it allowed “horrific acts” and demanded to know “Where is the outrage? The public outcry?” This is the person who will decide how to interrogate terrorists. If she errs on the side of weakening methods of questioning, there’s no chance her boss, Eric Holder the new Attorney General, will reverse her. He approved of the Clinton/Reno “wall” preventing intelligence from finding out what criminal investigators had found out and took the lead in pardoning the FALN terrorists.

What is Obama thinking? How could he weaken so dramatically our protections against terrorism? Doesn’t he realize that without warrantless FISA wiretaps we could never have uncovered the plot to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge (how could we have gotten a warrant for conversations about the bridge when we didn’t yet know that al Qaeda had it in its sights?) Has he forgotten that we only found the name of the operative who was tasked with destroying the bridge because we subjected Kahlid Mohammed, the mastermind of 9-11, to “rough” interrogation techniques? Does he really mean to leave us vulnerable to terrorist attacks?

Yes he does. Not because he is callous or fiendish, but because the new president seems to carry the thinking that animated the decisions of the Warren Court on defendant’s rights over into the battle against terror. When the Warren Court first ruled that all defendants deserved free lawyers, that they had to be explicitly told of their right to remain silent, that evidence not obtained through warrants was inadmissible as were any “fruits of the poisonous tree” it occasioned great controversy (enough to help Nixon get elected president). Law and order types said that these decisions would lead to the release of thousands of criminals who would otherwise be in prison and would cause tens or hundreds of thousands more innocent people to become victims of serious crime. And they were right. The decisions of the Warren Court had exactly this effect.

But we have come to feel that these new procedural safeguards established by the Court are fair and reasonable, even if it does result in more homicide victims and unsolved rapes. Unquestionably, the Warren Court decisions put American lives in danger. But we accepted that as the price for honoring our constitution.

I don’t agree with Obama, but all he is doing is applying the same rationale to the war on terror. Will his appointments and new procedures leave us more vulnerable to terrorist attack? Yes. Do they make another 9-11 or worse more likely? Yes. Is the president putting his strict view of constitutional requirements ahead of the safety of his constituents? Yes, again.

He won’t tell the truth, anymore than the Warren Court admitted that its new rules would increase crime. But that is precisely what he is doing and doing consciously with full knowledge of the likely consequences. In the mind of this constitutional law professor we have elected president, a strict interpretation of what the constitution permits the government to do in dealing with foreign terrorists who would attack us is more important than stopping the attacks.

Of course, I think he is wrong. I think that Bush got it right that constitutional protections are only there to stop evidence obtained without a lawyer or a warrant or proper warning to the defendant from being used in court to deny a person his liberty. I think Bush was correct in saying that they did not apply where only intelligence gathering was involved and that if the evidence was not used in a criminal trial, it was OK to use rough interrogation and to deny the accused access to an attorney.

But Obama doesn’t see it that way. We can only hope that once he comes to grips with the truly horrific consequences that will inevitably flow from his neutering of our intelligence gathering abilities that he will have a change of heart (or that we will have a change of presidents four years hence).

By Forever in your Debt

January 13, 2009 10:51 AM | Link to this

And on top of all those fantastic “accomplishments”, the biggest of them all is that he did it all for FREE. We don’t have to pay a dime. Yippee! Free wars. Free drugs. Free bailouts. Free! Free! Free!

By DebbieDoRight

January 13, 2009 11:04 AM | Link to this

Mrs. G — Happy New Year!!! (oh well, better late than never!!) Glad you’re back and swinging; trying to make the repuglicans think before they “type”; good luck on that one!!

Corporal: I have already made my judgement on him as a person, senator, candidate and President Elect and I find him severely wanting.

Hopefully, God has already made his judgement on you and no matter what you do from this day forward, you’re doomed for the things you did in your past!! Good Luck!!

By DebbieDoRight

January 13, 2009 11:06 AM | Link to this

Buyer beware.

Repuglicans are Emasculating Intelligence

By The Corporal of the Guard

January 13, 2009 11:14 AM | Link to this

“To DebbieDo”

He has and thankgoodness I am FORGIVEN !

HOW ABOUT YOU ?

By Mrs. Godzilla

January 13, 2009 11:17 AM | Link to this

Yes, we all know Fred Barnes thinks W was great.

Minority heard from.

By The Corporal of the Guard

January 13, 2009 11:19 AM | Link to this

BOSCH !!!

CONCERNING TALKING WITH TERRORISTS: THIS IS HALARIOUS !

“On Iran, Obama did say he’d be taking “a new approach,” that “engagement is the place to start” with “a new emphasis on being willing to talk.” But he also reminded Stephanopoulos that the Iranian regime is exporting terrorism through Hamas and Hezbollah and is “pursuing a nuclear weapon that could potentially trigger a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.” He said his willingness to talk would be combined with “clarity about what our bottom lines are” — one of them presumably being, as he’s said before, no Iranian nuclear weapons. And he demonstrated a sense of urgency — “we anticipate that we’re going to have to move swiftly in that area.”

So: After talks with Iran (if they happen) fail to curb Iran’s nuclear program, but (perhaps) impress other nations with our good faith, we’ll presumably get greater international support for sanctions. That will also (unfortunately) fail to deter Iran. “Engagement is the place to start,” Obama said, but it’s not likely to be the place Obama ends. He’ll end up where Bush is — with the choice of using force or acquiescing to the idea of a nuclear Iran.

And he’ll probably be calling Dick Cheney for advice.”

HA! HA! HA!

LET’S SEE WHAT AYTCH DOES WHEN THE RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD ………….

By OHNO

January 13, 2009 11:26 AM | Link to this

I am truly looking forward to what the idiots on the left are going to b*** about and who they are going to attack after next week…it should be interesting to see them turn and eat their own.

By getalife

January 13, 2009 11:27 AM | Link to this

Watching Hillary getting confirmed, it is very obvious brains and compentence has returned to the mess of the State Department.

Yes, another consequence of the worst ever and many more to come.

By mike hussein smith

January 13, 2009 11:29 AM | Link to this

JAY — You need to post an anti-hijacking rule. Communist AJC seems to think that if he/she/it dumps enough words onto your blog, the rest of us will either change our opinion (no chance of that at my house) or else all your “space” will be used up and no one else can post anything. Please disabuse him/her/it of this silliness, which I thought had been outlawed previously. How about a 15-year ban?

By Jake

January 13, 2009 12:01 PM | Link to this

Immigration - F, did nothing NCLB - F, diverted massive amounts of resources to get the worst 5th graders to answer 40% of 3rd grade arithmetic questions correctly. Economy - F, two recessions, robbed from middle class to give to rich. Medicare D - total waste of money to hand out to very few and buy votes from elderly. Foreign - Incomplete, won’t know for decades but possibly his only great accomplishment.

By Paul

January 13, 2009 12:01 PM | Link to this

Mrs. Godzilla 9:40

Abu Ghraib? Again? A weak one-star in charge, unsupervised idiots and, more importantly, the only location? That’s the basis? As Pres-elect Obama said in answer to the question, time to look forward, not to keep looking backwards. Just another illustration that the Left will have more angst with Obama than will the Right.

DebbieDoRight 10:00

You asked a decent question last night. I believe my response was posted after you left. When Obama ran for Illinois Senate was in a pool of five candidates in the primaries. He initiated court challenges against four. All were prevented from running and Obama ran unopposed. I believe that’s what @@ meant by “eliminating the competition.”

[[he single handedly took the good will of the Arab nations that was bestowed upon us (after 9/11 invasion of Afghanistan), by invading Iraq and making Al Queada stronger with an increase of recruits across the Arab world.]]

Kinda like what Pres Obama will do (‘he took the good will of the Arab nations that looked to him with hope’) after he escalates the war in Afghanistan and invades Pakistan and Africa.

Mrs. Godzilla

[[Let’s ask the guys who started a war of choice against a nation that did not attack us]]

Ummm, we have a history of going to war with nations that did not attack us… under Democratic presidents, too…

Getalife 11:27

[[Watching Hillary getting confirmed, it is very obvious brains and compentence has returned to the mess of the State Department.]]

If Sen Dodd gushes over her much more Bill will have to challenge him to a duel –

By Same rhetoric, different day

January 13, 2009 12:08 PM | Link to this

Tarzan say “Bush bad, Obama good. Umgowah.” Jane say “Bush bad, Obama good. Umgowah.” Cheetah say “Bush bad, Obama good. Umgowah.” Bookman say “Bush bad, Obama good. Umgowah.” Lib robots say “Bush bad, Obama good. Umgowah.”

By Ed

January 13, 2009 12:11 PM | Link to this

Hmmm makes ya wonder what Shirley Franklin’s legacy will be for us good folk of Atlanta; the few of us remaining that’s not murdered, car-jacked or home invaded. But hey…our chances of rape are slimmer….so say she.

By Midori

January 13, 2009 12:19 PM | Link to this

Hi Cheetah,

see you came back to regale us with your wit and vocabulary skills.

Must run in the family, huh?

How’s your cousin, George?

By Forever in your Debt

January 13, 2009 12:40 PM | Link to this

At least when Obama eliminated the competition, he did it legally and they walked away to talk about it. When Bush/Cheney eliminate the competition, it’s permanent, bunker buster permanent. And on top of that, they don’t even think they have to pay for it. The cowards. The cheap cowards. Cheap cowardly criminals. Republicans all.

By Mrs. Godzilla

January 13, 2009 12:43 PM | Link to this

Paul

Sad that Abu Ghraib means so little to you. How many people have to be tortured for it to come in on your radar? Just how tortured do they need to be? What number on the torture-o-meter do we have to reach for it to matter?How about black sites? Black Prisons? Renditions?

Very sad.

Did I say ask the GOP guys or just the guys that started a war of choice? I don’t remember pointing out that only Republicans did it. It applies to all.

By 30 year Hospital Nurse

January 13, 2009 12:55 PM | Link to this

. Bush’s legacy can be summed up to this acronym: I Iraq C Cronyism K Katrina

By getalife

January 13, 2009 12:56 PM | Link to this

Hillary nailed it.

Welcome back State Department.

By DebbieDoRight

January 13, 2009 1:05 PM | Link to this

Paul: Kinda like what Pres Obama will do (‘he took the good will of the Arab nations that looked to him with hope’) after he escalates the war in Afghanistan and invades Pakistan and Africa.

Obama is doing what Dumbya should’ve done the first time — finished the war in Afghanistan by totally annihilating Al Queada; not by giving AQ a chance to hide out in Pakistan and rebuild their infrastructure. Dumbya also, by invading Iraq, gave AQ a foothold in Iraq, something that would’ve NEVER happened with Saddam Hussein as it’s leader.

Ask yourself this question, why do you think that the first Bush, (Herbert Walker), left Saddam in place after Desert Storm? He knew the region would deconstruct and fall into civil war without the stability of Hussein. Yes, he was a dictator, but he was the “lesser” of 2 evils. With him gone, now we have AQ resurging in the middle east with Iran, which has a Shia majority, eyeing annexation of Iraq by nuclear force if necessary.

Dumbya might be a great guy to go out and have a beer with, but he was a god-awful, limited vision, limited thinking president.

By cranky old man

January 13, 2009 1:18 PM | Link to this

“Right Jay B, it would have been much better to surrender Iraq to al Qaeda than to buck the tide of popular opinion and go ahead and win the thing.” Actually, RW, it would have been much better not to invade Iraq in the first place. Saddam was doing a pretty good job of keep Al Qaeda out already. The Baath Party was ideologically descended from the pro-Soviet pseudo-socialism that was popular in the Arab world in the ‘50s-‘70s. Remember the United Arab Republic and pan-Arab nationalism? Gamal Abd-Al-Nassar? The idea was to bring Arab states into the 20th Century economically, socially, and technologically by creating a secular state.

There used to be a statue at a university in Cairo (I’m not sure if it’s still there) of a woman removing her veil, symbolizing the liberation of women from traditional roles. That is exactly the sort of thing that drives Osama and his buddies right up the wall. Now, you can argue that Saddam was just another dictator who was not really interested in ideological principles, and would simply do whatever was expedient to remain in power. But, even if it’s just public lip-service, guys like Osama take that nonsense seriously, and are committed to overthrowing the government of any Moslem country that does not believe what they believe.

By GaLiberal

January 13, 2009 1:43 PM | Link to this

Bye Georgie Boy. Good riddance to bad trash. And take these Rethuglicon butt-sniffers like CommunistAJC, RW-(the original, The Corporal of the Guard, and AJC/DNC Management with you. You can all sit around and contemplate your naval lint. If your brains can grasp the concept of naval lint.

When you vote Rethuglicon, you vote against your own best interests. And George Bush is living proof (which voters finally figured out just eights years too late).

By Paul

January 13, 2009 1:50 PM | Link to this

Mrs. Godzilla (DebbieDoRight)

Actually, Abu Ghraib means quite a bit to me. It was a disastrous failure of command and subsequent ducking of responsibility. It was a terrible display of base behavior by those who swore to uphold the ideals of our country.

Those directly responsible for this, from the lowest enlisted to several general officers, were punished. But to lay every regrettable incident that happens in wartime at the feet of the President is, I think, misguided. We burned to death hundreds of thousands of German and Japanese civilians in WWII but neither Roosevelt nor Truman faced criminal prosecution.

You may not like Bush, but the law does not support such prosecution. A political vendetta does.

As far as rendition, I’m pleased a Republican Congress passed the legislation to outlaw it. Long after a Democratic administration used it. I don’t favor prosecuting Pres Clinton for that, either. Do you?

I do agree with your “applies to all.” Well said.

Hello DebbieDoRight I don’t think the brightest minds at State or DoD have the faintest idea how to “totally annihilate al Qaeda.” Besides which, we seemed to be more involved with the Taliban in Afg these days. I’m not even convinced Pres Obama’s strategy of escalating the Bush strategy is efficacious; however, it’s his call and we’ll see what happens.

I think you overstate AQ’s effective capability now vs, say, four or five years ago. As far as your question about Bush the First, I believe the UN mandate did not provide for Saddam’s removal, merely his expulsion from Kuwait.

As far as the limited thinking goes, try this out. Had this discussion some months back.As far as giving AQ a foothold in Iraq: with Saddam gone, yes. With Saddam there, doubtful it would have happened. But to say if we’d never invaded Iraq and instead concentrated on AQ in Afg all would be well is, I think, problematic. Here’s an alternate scenario:

Us invades Afg, topples the Taliban and sends AQ running. OBL and leadership make their way to Pakistan (which had nothing to do with Iraq – amazingly, killing or capturing bin Laden was not in Centcom’s plan). US builds up forces along the border. AQ still slips through and kills Americans. Predator strikes escalate. Special ops teams make regular incursions. Pak gov’t protests (this is happening now). US moves more forces into Pak, where they remain for longer periods as they conduct search and destroy operations. This further inflames Islamic militants in Pak, as well as members of the military and intelligence services. A coup results. The new gov’t demands the US respect its territorial integrity. The US reverts to Predator and special ops strikes. The Pak govt, unable to respond with conventional force to secure its border, hits an American forward operating location in Afg with a low-yield nuclear weapon.

We never invaded Iraq – yet AQ is still existent and the situation has turned markedly worse. Do you really doubt war planners haven’t gone over such a scenario?

Something I’m sure Pres Obama will consider as he is pushed to march into Pakistan.

I gotta ask - did you ever watch Dudley Do Right? I fell off the chair laughing the first time I saw it.

By williebkind

January 13, 2009 1:55 PM | Link to this

Mrs G. your links! That looked like some places in Chicago and California that I read about. Some men just love that stuff. Are you being insensitive to others sexual preferrence. Maybe this is the last time I will get to see AJC. Would not that be the best ever?

By DummyRadar

January 13, 2009 2:01 PM | Link to this

Bush is pitiful, and yesterday’s press conference was the final example of just HOW pitiful a “leader” he really was.

He looked like a drunken louse up there, with all his leaning, slouching, word slurring and finger pointing. That was the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES????!!! Looks like he pulled that suit up off the floor next to his bed and threw it on. No bother to comb his hair at all, and his breathing and expression sounded much like when a person has been up drinking ALL NIGHT. Very familiar to me because I have enough “drunks” in my family to know it when I see/hear it.

What a loser. The only bigger losers…those who touted this imbecile as some great “leader”.

The country’s BUHROKE, two wars we’re tied up in (over some B-S) and Bush and corporate buddies are rich(er), constitution’s basically left hanging like a roll of s—-paper and all is in a state of confusion…. So long suckers! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

By JP

January 13, 2009 2:05 PM | Link to this

George W. Bush’s legacy will be one of trashed foreign policy, trashed national economy, allowing an entire American City to drown on it’s own. Trillion dollar deficits, illegal wars that have cost 100’s of billions in taxpayer dollars. As I said 8 years ago when the SCOTUS selected him as president; he will go down in history as the absolute worst president the US has ever had, bar none. His kind of arrogance is born of excessive wealth and status; he’s never had to work for anything. He is completely out of touch w/ the average American just like his dad. Remember he didn’t know what a grocery store scanner was? George W. Bush along w/ Cheney should be cast upon the trash heap of world society after being tried in the Hague and sentenced to life imprisonment for war crimes.

By Mac

January 13, 2009 2:46 PM | Link to this

In many respects, GWB will be judged in 10-20 years on what happens in Obama’s first term.

If no attacks, improved economy, accountable spending, responsible Iraq downsizing and terrorist response, GWB will be judged harshly.

If Obama screws it up or we have another big attack, GWB will be viewed differently.

We take for granted what didn’t happen until it does.

By Brad

January 13, 2009 2:48 PM | Link to this

I see the Libs are still taking their stupid pills and they are very effective ! In addition, many are bring hit with a dumb stick! Poor souls!

1

By Andy the Welcher

January 13, 2009 2:53 PM | Link to this

Brad utters:

“In addition, many are bring hit with a dumb stick! “

I’m not even sure what that means, much less how to respond. If it means what I think it means then I guess Brad is declaring himself a libural.

I’ll bet Brad’s a welcher too.

ew

By Tommy Maddox

January 13, 2009 3:24 PM | Link to this

Some of you anonymous posters should be thankful that the freedom which allows you run off at the mouth was provided for by folks like our present President.

Get over it and enjoy your new-found socialism.

By Jake

January 13, 2009 3:36 PM | Link to this

Jp - Actually Clinton’s actions in the Kosovo war were the only ones ‘illegal’ under the War Powers Resolution, not Iraq. Oh and the winners are never tried as war criminals, see Truman, Eisenhower, et al. Losers like Eichman and Saddam get tried and executed, the ultimate situational morality. Lastly, the New Orleans mayor and the state of Louisiana were the first and major areas of breakdown during Katrina. There is no Constitutional right to be rescued from acts of nature by the Federal government when you’re too stupid to evacuate. In fact you have a constitutional right not to evacuate unless martial law is declared, but you want to make that Bush’s fault also. Other than that, I agree with you.

By jewcowboy

January 13, 2009 3:55 PM | Link to this

Tommy Maddox @ 3:24,

Wow, here I am thinking that the Bush administration actually tried to squelch the freedoms provided in the Constitution, such as habeas corpus. Thanks for showing me the way. I think I’ll go out and by a magnetic flag sign for my car now.

By AmVet

January 13, 2009 4:10 PM | Link to this

This country has experienced a Great Schism.

There are essentially two camps now.

The 75% of us who are decent, hard working Americans who see this administration as a failure, that has tried its damnedest to financially and morally bankrupt the nation.

Then there are the apologist bootlickers who still shuck and grin for BushCo.

Seven more days.

01-20-09 The End of a National Disaster

By jewcowboy

January 13, 2009 4:20 PM | Link to this

Jake @ 3:36,

Yes there were breakdowns at all levels in terms of Katrina, but please do not call those without means of evacuating stupid. And I’m sorry, but what is FEMA for if not rescuing citizens from natural disasters? The bottom line is the politicization of the federal agency in charge of disaster recovery by putting an under qualified boob in charge is one of the biggest reasons N.O. sank the Bush Administration.

By Jake

January 13, 2009 4:56 PM | Link to this

jewcowboy - Nagin ordered the evacuation a little late IMHO and left the buses sitting there. The people that didn’t leave were mostly poor or elderly who chose not to leave due to concerns for their property or because they didn’t have transportation or were too old to evacuate without assistance. That’s why Nagin should have run the buses through those neighborhoods and helped them get out. Bush wasn’t even notified until the next day, the 28th. In my opinion most of those 1454 deaths are on Nagin’s hands. I met many of the evacuees in a local hotel here. My experience was they’d ask for a cigarette and when I gave them one they’d ask me for a couple more for later on. Maybe lazy and conditioned to an entitlement society is more accurate than stupid. God helps those who help themselves!

By catlady

January 13, 2009 5:07 PM | Link to this

Some of you have been living in a different world than I have the past 8 years. (Mine is the one where people are intelligent, don’t blindly follow the leader, consider the big picture, and don’t adopt others’ versions of “morality” without some serious examination. They don’t rob the poor to give to the rich, nor do they consider only themselves when making decisions.) I am hopeful that you will join the sentient soon.

By Mrs. T

January 13, 2009 5:14 PM | Link to this

To CommunistAJC:

You actually pasted an article by Dick Morris as a serious opinion piece? The guy who the Clintons fired after he was caught right before the 1996 Convention with a prostitute, photographs and all? The guy who liked to suck toes and do a snappy rendition of “Popeye the Sailor Man” in the nude for said prostitute? The guy who has made a career of leaching off the very people he professes to hate? You sure must smoke a lot of pot because your short-term memory is completely shot.

By Pogo

January 13, 2009 5:15 PM | Link to this

Well now, Master Jay (and most of his sycophants on this blog) have declared the Bush presidency a failure and the “worst ever”. Exactly what, dear Jay Bird and crew, gives you the authority to declare this? Most of the bloggers here know nothing of American history (and apparently you don’t either) and they know nothing about who is the “worst president ever”. They only have their own short sighted little lives to draw upon in formulating this declaration. That holiest of the liberal holy, Franklin D., made horrible mistakes which prolonged years of suffering and misery in this country. In fact, we are still suffering from some of his many blunders to this very day in the form of entrenched, bloated inefficient government programs and political entitlements. But, he also did some really good things. I’m sure none of the spoiled liberal brats here have ever heard of Warren G. Harding. Why don’t some of you demwit robots start reading some real American history from real books and quit getting your opinions and your knowledge from cheap pulp sheet “editorialists” or blog masters (or whatever people like Jay are called). Stop feeding yourselves on the Daily Kos or the Hugginton Post and quit letting them define you and your ideas. Try thinking on your own. My point in all this is, George W. Bush was a man. Jimmy Carter was a man. Roosevelt was a man. Clinton was man. They all made major mistakes and they all did some good. The beauty of the American system is that each president, no matter how good or bad you think he is, contributes something that keeps this country going. Get over your hate fest for Bush because very, very soon, if one is so inclined, there could be a lot to hate about Obama. But we should remember; he is also a man. He will make mistakes and he will do some good things. That is the way it is, it has been and it will always be.

Now Congress, that is another matter altogether. They are, by and large, a band of weasels who have learned to play the system to their own benefit and the unfortunate person that is chosen to be president usually ends up taking the heat for their ineptness. Our Congress is our biggest problem. The president is only one man and he really, when it comes down to it, is not very powerful at all.

By Pogo

January 13, 2009 5:33 PM | Link to this

Another thing, in this time of extreme economic struggle in this country, exactly how much money are the taxpayers going to pay for Tuesday nights Gala in Washington? Think about it. Seems they could have toned it down considering this country is suffering, doesn’t it?

By John Crippen

January 21, 2009 1:01 AM | Link to this

The Legacy of George W Bush, A Collection of Conflicting Opinions

ISBN-13 9781441455437

The debate over George W Bush is probably the most visceral debate of our century. There often seems to be no in between. Folks either love him or hate him. As we approach the inauguration of Barrack Obama, the internet has been bombarded with pinions ranging from one extreme to the other. In this book is a collection of dialog from all over the world and every walk of life. In an eight hour period of time just prior to GWB stepping out of the White House, one that that rings true is that we live in an amazing country just to be able to have this conversation.

Can a man’s legacy be drawn from an eight year period in time? What kind of a footprint has GWB left on the American people, or the world for that matter? Has he served his country well by protecting us from terrorism, or has a alienated America from the rest of the world. What role did Christianity play under the leadership of George W Bush? Has he acted as a Christian in his role as President of the United States, or has he misused the Bible as a means of procuring votes and evoking war? Was the rebuilding of Iraq set in motion years before the Twin Towers tragedy, or was this a rapid decision based on an emergent circumstance? Did Iraq have weapons of mass destruction, or should we have been focusing on catching Bin Ladin? What about North Korea and Proliferation of nukes in Iran? Was there miscommunication between the CIA and the FBI and why was Home Land Security restructured as it was? Were our civil rights violated by the Echelon Program? The list of questions will go on for an eternity and there will probably be more theories about the Bush Administration than the JFK assassination and the Watergate Scandal combined.

I have tried to keep this debate as original as possible. That includes errors in grammar, punctuation and spelling. I have also tried to collect them in a somewhat chronological method in order to keep a level playing field. I have simply collected publicly posted comments of others from open sources with no expectation of privacy or concealment. This is simply a collection of what others have had to say. I have tried to eliminate personal attack between the folks debating (or at least leaving out what I thought may be real names of folks) Some of the statements are redundant, just as they came down the pipeline. What ever your opinion of George W Bush Is…. This is a compelling, and somewhat disturbing read.