SoonerBlue

Mostly politics, a few current events, a squirt of seltzer down yer pants .. a little blog for my rambles and rants.

2009/11/3

Cheney dithers...can't remember

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@ 10:09 AM (18 days, 12 hours ago)

 

If government officials can get away with anything as long as they invoke loss of memory, maybe Bill Clinton should have just said, "I cannot recall having sex with that woman."

After a lengthy legal battle - Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics had to sue the Justice Department - notes from Dick Cheney's FBI interview about the leak of Valerie Plame Wilson's covert CIA identity were finally released.

Surprise, surprise, like Alberto Gonzales and many other officials in GWBush's White House, Cheney couldn't remember much of anything...even crucial details like whether he told Scooter Libby about Valerie Plame Wilson.

Scooter's own notes produced at his trial show that in mid-June 2003 Cheney told him about Wilson's wife being in the CIA.

Scooter took the fall for Cheney, who probably told him that Bush would pardon him...that's why Dick was so mad when Bush didn't.

Read about it here: "WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald famously declared in the Valerie Plame affair that "there is a cloud over the vice president." Last week’s release of an FBI interview summary of Dick Cheney’s answers in the criminal investigation underscores why Fitzgerald felt that way.

On 72 occasions, according to the 28-page FBI summary, Cheney equivocated to the FBI during his lengthy May 2004 interview, saying he could not be certain in his answers to questions about matters large and small in the Plame controversy.[..]"

Here's more from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics.

Maybe a little waterboarding could refresh Dick's memory...

Seriously, this is not only about lying to the FBI, or outing a CIA agent for political gains, or covering up the Plame outing...it's about Dick Cheney never being held accountable for eight long years of criminal activity.

His secrets will remain safe as long as the mainstream, corporate media refuses to touch Cheney or Bush... or any of their cohorts. The Wilsons have a pending civil suit which may bring a little closure to this outrageous act of treason ...but there is so much more...so much.

2009/10/28

One fry short of a Happy Meal?

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@ 07:46 PM (24 days, 4 hours ago)

 

That's what the usually very erudite Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) said when he heard that Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) had called female lobbyist Linda Robinson (an advisor to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke) "a K Street whore."

Some people cheered, others thought Grayson should issue an apology...which he did.

Republicans were rubbing their hands with glee, adding this little disrespectful-of-women tidbit to the opposition-research material they're collecting to use against him in 2010.

But the harshest rebukes came from Grayson’s own party...like when his fellow Democrat Weiner said: "Is this news to you that this guy’s one fry short of a Happy Meal?"

Then Weiner must've felt bad that he called a fellow Dem nuts, because he later apologized.

"Alan Grayson is a friend and an extraordinary member of Congress. No obviously playful comment from me should distract from the important role Rep. Grayson has played in focusing on the true and tragic costs of our broken health care system...He is a leader and a patriot."

A lot of people think Grayson's remark wasn't reckless at all, that it was the truth...that he should've added 'thief' and 'dirtbag' as well...that all of K Street should be declared a red light district.

But, then other people think Grayson's remark was over the top. Maybe because it's a gender thing. Maybe we can't call female political whores, "whores." Maybe nobody would've said anything if she'd been a man.

Maybe Grayson should've just asked what the hell a former ENRON lobbyist is doing giving complex financial advice to the Fed Chairman? But then, that wouldn't have drawn all this attention to the fact.

Some politicians probably think Grayson’s been having way too much fun anyway. A while back he suddenly became a media darling and hero of liberal Democrats when he gave a speech on the House floor suggesting that the Republican approach to health care is: "Don't get sick...but if you do get sick, die quickly."

That one quote focused a lot of attention on the fact the GOP has no plan, other than saying "NO" to anything and everything Obama and the rest of America wants.

All of a sudden this unknown, first term Congressman from Florida was all over TV...talking policy with Keith Olbermann, being interviewed by Wolf Blitzer, yakking it up with James Carville.

He was even quipping jokes on Bill Maher's ‘Real Time’: "The GOP’s idea of healthcare reform is letting you take a gun to the doctor’s office."

I couldn't help but like this guy. I mean anyone who calls Dick Cheney a vampire, or Rush Limbaugh a "has-been hypocrite loser" is alright with me.

Yet, Grayson’s 15 minutes of fame may be running out. On the one hand, it's good to have Democrats who are not afraid to stand up and speak their mind...but then it's risky if they start to get a little too much pleasure out of being a media star. We don't want him more interested in making himself famous than he is in doing good works.

And we want a little more - what's the word? - finesse in those we set up as the next big political star.

Anyway, Grayson is wrong...the lobbyist in question is not a whore, she's a john. The congresscritters who take her money and do her bidding are the whores.

2009/10/24

Bill Maher's New-Rules recap 10/24/09

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@ 07:38 AM (28 days, 16 hours ago)

 

New Rule: People from Southern California have to learn how to drive in the rain. You can go faster than five miles an hour, people. It's water, not K-Y jelly.

New Rule: If Republicans want to get back into power, they have to stop naming their lobbying groups after maxi-pads. [slide of logos for "FreedomWorks," "Keep America Safe!" and "Freedom First"]

New Rule, and it's our last of the season: Let's admit that despite all the media hype, there is one thing that George Bush did not destroy when he left office: comedy. If anything, Republicans out of power are even funnier than Republicans in power.

Now, I'm taking a hiatus for a few months...But, before I go, I'd like to go back to the beginning of the year and remind everyone that when Barack Obama, an actual college professor, replaced George Bush, an actual chimp--commentators announced that comedians would be out of a job.

Well, they were wrong. Everyone is out of a job.

So, yes, Bush was a sweet target. But, it turns out there were plenty of ridiculous Republicans behind him that we just couldn't see. His stupid "star doth shone too brightly."

To wit, the year began with Obama's State of the Union speech, rebutted by teenage governor Bobby Jindal. Who was the great hope of the party. But, when Americans saw him that fateful night, their thought wasn't "A new leader for a new time," it was "Good God, Mad magazine has outsourced Alfred E. Newman."

Now, after Jindal flamed out, the Republicans still needed a fresh new face. So they got Dick Cheney. Who, for a while, popped up on TV more often than the GEICO lizard to demand he be given proper credit for torture. Not that I'm comparing Cheney to the GEICO lizard. One's a cold-blooded reptile and the other is the GEICO lizard.

Now, after Cheney came that exciting new group of Obama critics known as "the birthers." Or as they used to be called, "the Klan."

And after them came Governor Mark Sanford. All over Argentina. Yes, this is truly a bizarre year for Republicans. Their sex scandals were with women.

Well, soon it was tax time, and the "teabaggers" filled the streets, purple with rage that their taxes under Obama had STAYED EXACTLY THE SAME OR GONE DOWN!!!

Yes, the "teabaggers," who started a movement and in the process sullied the name of a perfectly good gay sex act--that's right, when the year started, "teabagging" was a phrase that referred to dangling one's testicles in someone else's face. And they managed to turn it into something gross and ridiculous.

This is also the year that conservatives taught us that there's only one kind of racism left in America, and that's reverse racism. It was inspiring to see white men finally stand up to the oppressive, rigged system that has forced them to live in a hopeless cycle of wealth and opportunity.

And, speaking of opportunity, have you heard this broad? [slide of Michele Bachmann] The floor of a cave called. It wants its bat shit back.

And, speaking of bat shit, to reiterate my theme, if Obama hadn't been elected, would we have ever seen Glenn Beck cry on TV? On a park bench while masturbating, sure, but not on TV. And was there any better TV than watching this weepy, wonderful special-needs cousin of Rush Limbaugh? Angry one moment, then frightened, scolding, sobbing. We loved him because we've all known someone just like him. Usually an ex-girlfriend.

[From HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher]

 

2009/10/15

The Angry White Guy Party

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@ 07:20 AM (1 month, 7 days ago)

 

Boy, you know the wingnut base of the GOP is becoming more radical when they boo and hiss Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and call him a RINO -- Republican In Name Only.

I mean, he's one of the most conservative senators around. If he ever strays from the hard right position on a vote it's because it doesn't matter. Like Sotomayor was going to be confirmed anyway, so his vote didn't matter. But next time it does matter he can vote the hard right position, then point to Sotomayor as proof that he's willing to be open-minded.

So if Graham strays from conservative dogma, it's pure strategy...he is no "front man for the Democrats."

That's why it was odd when Graham encountered an angry crowd of wingnut teabaggers at a townhall meeting a couple of days ago. They kept interrupting him with cries of - 'You're a country club Republican'...'Sotomayor!'...'You lie.' Outside people carried signs -- 'Unconstitutional Anti-Christ Socialist Federal Deficit Spending Programs"... "Democrat in Drag" and "RINO."

Looks like Graham has suddenly become the new target of tea party activists. In fact, "Beckerheads" started to turn on him about a week after he publicly spoke against TV crazy Glenn Beck.

Graham said, "Only in America can you make that much money crying"...and that Beck is "not aligned with any party as far as I can tell. He’s aligned with cynicism. And there’s always been a market for cynicism." Watch it:

He pissed them off even more when he told the townhall wingnuts, "I love this party, I'm not going to be let it be hijacked by Ron Paul."

I have news for you Lindsey, it wasn't Ron Paul who hijacked your party...it was Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, Coulter, Malkin, Bachman, Kristol, Dick and Liz Cheney, Karl Rove, etc., etc., etc....

Read about the townhall ruckus here: (CNN) – South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham has always enjoyed a little back-and-forth with belligerent audiences.

He was at it again on Monday night as he faced down an angry town hall crowd in Greenville packed with libertarians and Tea Party activists who accused the Republican senator of ditching conservative principles by working with Democrats on issues like climate change and voting to send Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court.

But Graham stressed a mantra he's repeated many times since his friend John McCain lost the presidential election last November — that the GOP must reach out to different constituencies, or face extinction.

"I'm not going to leave the Republican Party," Graham said when one questioner asked him why he hasn't yet joined the Democrats. "I'm going to grow it. We're not going to be the party of angry white guys."[..]"~~

The Republicans have a big problem if their crazies endorse only hard right candidates...some might make it through the primaries, but if their candidate gets to the national election they will lose. This great country is so much larger than a small pocket of only white angry people.

I love watching all the Republican crazies make fools of themselves...though I truly wish we had a decent two-party system like our founding fathers intended.

Thank goodness the wingnuts are on the wrong side of both demographics and history. The Angry White Guy Party can make some noise, the mainstream media will report its every move...but in the end they will wither and die.

If you look at every single poll that asks people their beliefs and policy positions, a huge majority of people express views that are the exact opposite of what the teabaggers believe. It's just a fact.

The GOP's death spiral will continue as long Limbaugh, Beck, hate radio and Fox News are in charge. Too bad there's no new brave star in Republican leadership who can stop the march of the whacko fringe.

So we are left to wonder who or what will replace the center right of the GOP.

Could be a bunch of Blue Dog Democrats.

 

2009/7/14

Hmm...I think I've heard this spin before

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@ 03:11 PM (4 months, 10 days ago)

 

Liz Cheney is out defending Papa Dick again, which is a good sign…it means that he is feeling the heat. I swear, I never remember Nixon sending out Tricia to explain things for him...or Carter sending out Amy to speak for him, or the Clintons sending out Chelsea...

Yesterday Liz talked to the conservative - what else? - Washington Times about the secret counter-terrorism program that her daddy ordered the CIA not to divulge to Congress.

"There's this big piece in the Wall Street Journal this morning that says that it was a number of different concepts for ways that we could capture or kill al Qaeda leaders in the days after 9/11. I am really surprised that the Democrats decide that that's what they want to fight over. I mean, if they want to go to the American people and say that they disagree with the notion that we ought to be capturing and killing al Qaeda leaders, I think it's just going to prove to the American people one more time why they can't trust the Democrats with our national security."

Really, Liz, your dad could have killed and captured as many al Qaeda leaders as he liked, except he was supposed to follow the law while doing so.

Besides, our government was already going after al Qaeda leaders...we didn't need a secret program or special authorization from the president to do so. Anyway, there'd be no reason to keep any of that secret, and CIA Director Panetta wouldn't have had to cancel the program last month.

I'm waiting for another shoe to drop...

The WSJ article said the program on "capturing and killing al Qaeda leaders" was never fully implemented...and wasn't "fully operational" eight years later.

So, by Liz Cheney's reasoning, does this mean that her father and Bush weren't really all that committed to going after terrorists?

Notice that she does not say that the programs were legal. Her argument is basically that her father should not be investigated because the Democrats are unpatriotic big meanies.

Any fool can see that the real controversy is about possible illegal secrecy, illegal orders...or whether Bush and Cheney fulfilled their obligations under the National Security Act of 1947.

It's one thing to spin the truth on her daddy's behalf, but don't tell flat-out lies. Please show me any Democrat who "disagrees with the notion that we ought to be capturing and killing al Qaeda leaders" because they think the CIA ought not to break the law!

What a partisan hack Liz is, trying to turn it back on the Democrats to take attention away from daddy's wrong doing...saying that Democrats do not want to 'fight over' going after al-Qaeda! What Democrats DO want to fight over is accountability and oversight of government activities...and enforcing the highest moral and legal standards.

This latest spin just proves to the American people one more time why they can't trust the Republicans to tell the truth or to protect our Constitution or our nation's laws.

One thing I really want to find out about - rumors that Cheney left 'spies' in Obama's administration...yes, rumors that he's illegally spying on President Obama...