Saturday, July 31, 2004
Slurp, Drool...Slurp!...Yum.
You may now consider the Democratic Convention an unqualified success:0 comments
President George W. Bush is beginning to run on his record.
Yes, friends, you read that right.
NYTimes: Citing His Success in Policy, Bush Re-enters Fray
After watching close to $100 million Republican being spent on a barrage of ads that simply and repeatedly said, "John Kerry is Satan!" with the occasional, "Laura bakes great cookies!" mixed in, a thoroughly underwhelmed America is being treated to the unthinkable: that the B/C04 campaign would actually be drawn into allowing anyone to focus on the "accomplishments" of Bush's record from these last four years.
I'll happily discuss these "accomplishments" in future posts.
What you see here is Karl Rove allowing someone in the GOP hierarchy to paint a very large target on the back of Feckless Leader.
I grow faint.
Happily, B/C04 has also brought Kerry's 19-yr. Senate career into play. Fine.
That means that Bush's One-and-a-Quarter Term as Texas governor (his only public position/job before becoming president) is back in play, as are his ongoing failures in operating any company more involved than a Kool-Aid stand, without running it into the ground and needing a bail-out from his dad's well-heeled friends. Of course, this means his sterling and courageous military record during wartime also comes back into play.
No prob'. We can go there.
I'll return to Bush's gubernatorial record in future posts.
For now, Democrats will be more than delighted to talk about what has happened over the last four years.
As well as the last 35 years.
With specifics, instead of spiffy sloganeering.
Be still, my heart.
I do believe Karl Rove needs a vacation.
posted by Gotham 1:16 PM
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
It's bad enough that Republicans lie with three out of four breaths they take.0 comments
But this story,
The Hill: GOP terrorism bill splits committee,
is precisely why we New Yorkers have developed our Rob-a-Republican Program here in the Big Apple for the Republican National Convention.
Because Republicans steal.
Everything.
They don't even care what.
They'll steal ANYTHING: Elections, budget surpluses, media outlets, money, Congressional Bills, funding for school districts, Congressional districts, people's livelihoods, Congressional seats, money, whole Middle Eastern countries, scads of money, the best lobbying jobs, the U.S. Treasury, funding for Afghanistan, the odd White House or two, and even people's dignity and self-respect. These are all but trinkets of victory for our Scorched Earth Brothers and Sisters.
They're even attempting to rework all of the Rules of the Senate and House by which we govern ourselves.
They've even stolen common sense! A bi-partisan bill getting little attention as it works its way through the negotiating process, now gets stolen by Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and handed to one of his gerrymandered Congressmen, Rep. Pete Sessions, to help create the appearance of leadership during Sessions's re-election run against another long-time incumbent Texas Congressman, senior Democrat Martin Frost.
You remember, of course, how they stole the $21 billion promised to NYC after the attacks: NOW, they got problems!
Mayor Michael Bloomberg has played this well all the way up to the convention.
To Bloomberg, it is, and has always been, about the money.
They've got it. We want it.
We'll get it one way, or the other.
He clearly can't stand George W. Bush (while NYS Governor George Pataki would dearly love to be VP and is most likely the creator of the Drop Cheney leaks, since that would be the only way Pataki gets anyway near to replacing Dick Cheney on the GOP's ticket.)
But, as the state host of the convention, Pataki'll be in there pushing himself.
Yippee!
posted by Gotham 12:22 AM
Sunday, July 18, 2004
It's the Vision Thing, Stupid
"... Second verse, same as the first! ..."0 comments
—I'm Henry VIII, I Am (Herman's Hermits)
WP: President Is Still Mum on Agenda For Second Term
"Duh!"
You expected otherwise?
The centerpiece of Bush/Cheney '04 remains, "Vote for me—or die!"
If you've been paying attention over the last six months, you've noticed that nowhere in the Bush/Cheney ad blitz is there any mention of their record of the last three-plus years. No one saying, "Students are smiling, happy and smarter now." No one claiming, "Seniors are happy because they're enjoying vastly better golden years because of us." No boasting of "We've brought prosperity and happiness to everyone!"
Because they can't.
People who aren't CEOs or who don't hold extensive stock portfolios have experienced vastly diminished lives under this administration. Their jobs and savings have been wiped out by this crew; their children have been slaughtered in the desert in an adventurous military folly in Iraq; their tranquility has been stolen due to the failure to find and capture the (6'6" and drags around a dialysis machine through the mountains) leader of the forces who actually threaten our safety, and Bush's fueling of all that fear for political reasons.
So, Bush pounds his fist on a series of podiums and proclaims: "John Kerry is worse than me!"
Oh.
OK.
So let's look forward a moment.
What other concepts could George Bush's campaign possibly come up with now that would sway millions of people, already furious at his previous four years at the helm, into suddenly considering him to be leadership material?
This is not a bold, great thinker here, folks, even on a good day. This is no visionary.
Bush's entire career has been based on being an astute go-along, get-along political animal, who makes political alliances, keeps his word to those allies, and does and says whatever is expedient in maintaining the status quo.
These are ward-healer skills, not grand leadership qualities of a global scale.
By this juncture, Bush's presidency is SO beholden to the dual-headed beast of Corporate Big Money and Right-wing Radicalism that he's just not going to be able to come out with anything that annoys either of them one iota and keep his job.
Rest assured that whatever the Office of Karl Rove comes out with by convention time will merely be a fine gussying up of the Pig of Higher Profits and the further cleansing of the word "Liberty"—as in the phrase, "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness ..."—from the American lexicon.
That's what George W.'s "Base" wants.
So THAT"S George W.'s "vision."
posted by Gotham 12:25 PM
Friday, July 16, 2004
Bruce the Rat Sails to Sea...
Screw politics, today. Let's get our priorities straight here!0 comments
Somewhere Micheal Ray Richardson is still saying, "The ship be sinking!"
Somewhere Chris Morris is smiling, because today New Jersey Nets fans across the NY-NJ area are writing "Trade Me!" on their shoes.
Somewhere, Derrick Coleman is shaking his head, "I told you, man, 'Whoop-de-damn-doo!'"
NYTimes: Nets' Run Seems Over as Martin Is Traded
Bruce C. Ratner, who is about to be approved as the team's new owner, intends to move the Nets to a new downtown arena in Brooklyn within the next four to five years.
When the move is made, all those newly acquired draft picks will help give the team a drastically different look from the club that walked off the Detroit Pistons' court less than two months ago after losing Game 7 in the Eastern Conference semifinals. But for now, Brooklyn is a concept, and the loss of Martin is a reality.
It was a fun couple of years there, having a real grown-up, NBA basketball team, instead of the accursed Swamp Dragons. Having owners, magagers, coaches and players who actually had talent, and who brought dignity and fun to their jobs. It was fun being able to actually root for heroes—in a Nets uniform, of all things! Having the feeling of potential victory when you turned on the TV to watch a game was heavenly.
At the same time, it's been apparent that—even with a stunningly increased talent level—the key to the Nets recent success was its chemistry. The whole always felt more formidable than the sum of its parts. The bonding among the players was always visible, and was a force few other teams could contend with. It was most clear when someone joined the team who didn't fit in, or when even the loss of a minor bench character could create a major hole in the overall unit.
So, now the joy of watching the Nets is gone. Bruce the Rat could care less about basketball; the Nets to him are an anchor attraction to his real estate rape of downtown Brooklyn—no more, no less. I guess he couldn't talk Neimann-Marcus into opening a flagship store there, so he'll try a sports module.
"People like sports, right? Then go buy me a sports team. Doesn't matter what; just get me something. You're saying this is a heavily Black neighborhood that I'll be tearing apart, right? OK, great then, go buy me a basketball team, that'll calm 'em down!"
Bruce the Rat has had the team sell the rights to this year's draft pick, and since last year's was a bust, there's no help coming from there. They've let go their higher-priced role players from their bench, with no replacements in sight. Now, they've completely mangled the entire contract scenario with Kenyon Martin, the team's emotional and power leader, until they were hoodwinked into relinquishing his rights to a dog-eared team in Colorado, getting only a few first-round draft picks over the next few years, which have so many conditions attached to them they're guaranteed to yield only marginal players at best, in return.
The Nets are now left with Jason Kidd, the aging superstar whose addition to the team three years ago sparked its phenominal turn-around from laughingstock to league power, who has just had serious knee surgery and whose effectiveness is now questionned. His emotional state is also in question since he just signed a lifetime deal with the Nets on the basis of their promises to him of their commitment to being competitive on a championship level. How long until Kidd joins the legions of disgruntled Nets players?
They have an emerging superstar, Richard Jefferson, who works best as a second option, using his speed and agility to surprise opponents who were focusing on the first option. How long does it take before RJ realizes that, with Martin gone, Kidd angry and hobbled and with no other support, there is no first option, and that the entire NBA has set its sights on denying him any access to the basket? Ever.
The burden now rests squarely on these two.
How long will it be before they're walking up the court, instead of flying up at breakneck speed like before, thereby giving the few remaining fans a good, clear look at the "Trade Me!" written on their sneakers?
posted by Gotham 12:22 PM
Thursday, July 15, 2004
Rove to Rumsfeld:
"Donnie, Do It for the Children!"
NYTimes: Pentagon, Citing Fears, Plans to Shut Child Center0 comments
Got Parking?
posted by Gotham 9:39 AM
Saturday, July 10, 2004
Values a la Gotham Notes
Washington Post: Rhetoric On Values Turns Personal0 comments
the Bush campaign accused the new Democratic ticket of condoning a "star-studded hate-fest."
So?
There's a problem here?
Although—unfortunately for me—I'm no star, let me go on record:
I Hate George W. Bush.
There, I said it.
It didn't start out that way.
During the 2000 Republican primary season, I knew next to nothing about this man, had never really heard of him until he entered the race and therefore bore him no malice—despite not being a fan of his father.
I was perfectly open to his making his case, and was prepared to take him on face value. If he stated a case that resonated with me, perhaps I might support him.
I do admit, however, to becoming exceedingly nervous as I read of the men Bush began to surround himself with during the latter stages of the campaign. I knew they favored privilege and power over good governance and spelled major trouble for the country. I hoped this fellow Bush was strong enough to rein them in.
But he didn't rein them in; they caused major trouble for the country; and, now after four years of living under Bush's stewardship I can clearly state:
I Hate George W. Bush.
Not as a man, necessarily, but for what he has allowed on his watch.
He allowed the utter manipulation and diminuation of the Judicial Branch of this government by allowing his campaign and the forces of Bush family uber-fixer James Baker to twist the Supreme Court into corrupting itself.
I hate George Bush for that.
As the Florida debacle was playing itself out, Alan Greenspan was cautioning the financial markets that stock prices were going to have to be brought down very gingerly to achieve a "soft landing" and avoid a crash or a recession, President-elect Bush then veered from extolling his long-sought tax cuts as a means of reapportioning the massive surplus to being the only way to avoid the impending crash! His statements at that time were filled with "The sky is falling! We need my tax cuts now!" rhetoric, spooking an already fearful Wall Street into a panic.
I hate George Bush for that.
My retirement savings, and those of millions of other Americans, have been wiped out.
I hate George Bush for that.
Once those never-needed tax cuts were shoved through, I received a whopping $300 check that disappeared quickly, with no appreciable impact on my financial condition. At the same time, the upper tiers of society—those who Bush refers to as "my base!"—received hundreds of thousands of dollars which, as we have witnessed, never trickled down much past their brokers' offices.
I hate George Bush for that.
The economy was then (choose: incompetently or callously) allowed to tank, forcing CEOs throughout the land to make their individual companies look better to Wall St. analysts by shedding an aggragate 3 million jobs, thereby making it nearly impossible for many millions of Americans to make a living, fend for their families and/or avoid financial ruin.
I hate George Bush for that.
As the natural cycle of the global economy finally turned upwards, our economy rebounded mightily, creating untold millions of dollars, which were then allowed by the Treasury and Justice Departments and the SEC to remain as record corporate profits and shareholder returns—without even a meager administration nudge or push towards having companies reinvest those profits into reinvigorating the workforce. As sales of the most expensive luxury-ticket items at specialty stores have soared over the last two years, so have sales for the deepest, most-discounted items and stores, as formerly middle-class Americans have fought bitterly to survive. Meanwhile, mid-level items and stores, the core of small business in this country, have withered.
I hate George Bush for that.
This administration entered office with a clear desire and plan to pursue Cold War foreign policies. No basic problems with that. But they also rebuffed all efforts from both professional government policy types and appointed Clinton staffers that the maddingly formless al Qaeda was now our greatest national security threat—not any other country on the face of the globe. The Bush administration has steadfastly held to the Country vs. Country formula as the basis of their pursuing those who have attacked us, whether it applies or not. To date, this has cost three thousand dead on our shores, a thousand dead U.S. and "coalition" soldiers in Iraq and the deaths of upwards to 10,000 Iraqi citizens. Yes, it can be claimed that George W. Bush is a killer. He never pulled a trigger; he merely signed the orders.
I hate George Bush for that.
Both the House Government Reform Committee and the Senate Intelligence Committee have verified what many millions of Americans have long suspected—that, over the course of two years, the president, vice president, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense and National Security Advisor embarked on a clear, consistent campaign of stating misleading information which was intended to win support for policies that may not have been allowed to stand on their own merits by the American public.
I hate George Bush for that.
This administration has allowed the horrors that have befallen this country to serve as a smoke-screen for wiping away basic human, and heretofore, classically American rights, by Justice Department actions, governmental commission and administrative office regulatory rulings, and a slew of rightist legislation ram-rodded through Congress by the leaders of a rubber-stamp Republican majority.
I hate George Bush for that.
Now, in the close to five full months since the New Hampshire primary, the Bush-Cheney campaign is closing in on spending $100 million in campaign ads which to date have studiously avoided extolling even ONE factual plus that has occurred on Bush's watch: their ads stand as a mixture of "John Kerry is Satan!" combined with shabby emotional "feel good" ads pointing to Bush as a beatific, glorious "Leader" who is to be revered, due to his very presence, and little else.
After a full three and a half years in office, this man is running for re-election with absolutely no positive record to run on. He can only tear down his opponent.
I hate George Bush for that.
His campaign views Americans as being excessively gullable and stupid.
I hate George Bush for that.
As opposed to those who hated President Bill Clinton as a human being and/or as an icon, this has nothing to do with hating Bush the man.
This is about hating the stewardship which has led this great country to financial and moral bankruptcy.
George W. Bush has led the efforts—or allowed others to lead the efforts, we may never fully know which—that have have corrupted America's very soul.
I hate George Bush the most for that.
Pop Quiz:
When's the last time that your representative in Congress,
or your Senator represented YOUR interests?
Get Angry! Have your say.
Write your elected officials now!
Here's the Realtime Iraq Invasion Cost Clock!
posted by Gotham 6:31 PM
Thursday, July 08, 2004
A New One for the War College
NYTimes: Missing Marine Surfaces at U.S. Embassy in Lebanon0 comments
Ooooh, this is gloriously messy! Great twisted fun.
You can file this under "Problems You Face When You Don't Have a Just, Popular War."
In one of those seriously twisted moments that arise eventually in most wars, the Marine command could see a greater gain from simply sacrificing one of their own.
Especially when they're aided by lightening-fast news cycles that land on a story, then immediately slide on to something else.
You can rest assured that the Marine command would have been as happy as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi to see 24-yr.-old Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun beheaded by his captors.
It would have just made it all so much cleaner and easier.
He then would have simply been a Folk Hero, 1st Class, and the Marines could drape themselves in the flag reserved for his coffin, and milk his foreigner status and Muslim background as a sure sign that the adminstration's cause is just and supported by Muslims the world over, etc., etc.
And simply skip admitting how and why he left the base he was on in the first place.
They've already got guys among the 5,300 surprise redeployment group refusing to show up.
You've got active service soldiers being rotated home, then saying, "I'm not going back." And accepting jail time for their stands.
To now have to admit that guys are just starting to walk away in-country is more than "A Few Good Men" are prepared to handle.
If he were simply AWOL or a deserter, this would be easy. They'd slam him into prison or shoot the poor bastard.
But how do you execute a media darling, Folk Hero, 1st Class and come out smiling?
But, more importantly, how do you keep other guys from saying, "Fuck it, I ain't dying for this shit," and simply walking away as well?
Tricky points for the Marine command to wrestle with.
This is gonna keep 'em up nights at Camp Lejeune for quite a while, trying to figure out how to play this one.
posted by Gotham 4:04 PM
Monday, July 05, 2004
Whither John Chancellor?
This truly is a sad day to be a political wonk:0 comments
TV to snub conventions
Watching the spectacle of the 1960 Democratic Convention, and sitting there stunned at the madness of the 1968 Democratic Convention, went very far in making me the political junkie I am today.
Ted Koppel was right in 1996, though, they are well scripted performances. It's just that they're the most important performances of the season.
posted by Gotham 8:42 AM
Thursday, July 01, 2004
When the Light Starts to Dim...
He might just as well be saying, "We've had decent intelligence recently telling us that the sun is poised to come up in the west."0 comments
Cheney Tries to Turn War Into Political Advantage
Could anyone other than someone fully out of touch with his world actually say the following with a straight face?
"Terrorists were on the offensive around the world, emboldened by many years of attacks," when he and President [George W.] Bush took office in January 2001, [Dick] Cheney said.
But "all that has changed (as) ... we answered that challenge (from Islamic extremists) with decisive and relentless action," he told Republican supporters at the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans.
"America is safer and the world more secure because Iraq and Afghanistan are now partners in the struggle against terror, instead of sanctuaries for terrorist networks," he said.
And does it really matter that it was just in a Red state?
Cheney's remarks were a new attempt to regain the intiative from critics and persuade American voters that the Bush-Cheney combination is the best team to keep the country secure.
Under Bush's leadership, "our nation has made dramatic progress in the war on terror," he said.
There are 856 dead GIs, and roughly 10,000 dead Iraqis, who would respectfully disagree.
Cheney has increasingly become a figure of ridicule as he has lost more and more of his grip on reality. Even as someone in opposition, I find it's becoming embarrassing.
He's actually sounding more like Ronald Reagan did towards the end of his term, as far as the deck being less full than it had once been.
Shame.
posted by Gotham 8:18 PM
