Richard Nixon

With each new "story" that I read about Richard Clarke, I'm reminded of the Nixon administration.

Bush is evil. Cheney is evil. These people invent disgusting lies in order to win office. They don't care what it takes.

Nixon resembles Bush in his propensity to spend money and throw it at constituencies who might reelect him. And the dirty tricks. People who say Bush's presidency resembles his father's are quite mistaken.

9-11 Commission

It's been bad for Clinton and bad for Bush. But guess who's running for reelection in a few months?

Lies about Richard Clarke

1. He was the cyberterrorism czar.

No - actually he didn't take up that post until after 9-11.

2. He was "out of the loop".

Even if this was true, how tragic would it be if the counterterrorism czar was "out of the loop" in the months before 9-11?? Who put him out of the loop?

3. He's a Democratic partisan.

No - he's pretty right-wing actually. He voted for Bush in 2000. He's a hawk. His attacks on this Administration come from the right, not the left.

4. He's disgruntled because he didn't get a promotion.

Completely fabricated.

Do you ever wake up, turn on the television, and discover that Nixon is President again? That's what this dirty tricks campaign by Bush looks like.

Damning testimony from the 9-11 commission

There's so much of it today...and I've only just begun to wade through it. Here's a bit:

The staff report issued on Tuesday said that during the summer of 2001 the volume of intelligence about threats at home and abroad grew alarming.

"By late July, there were indications of multiple, possibly catastrophic, terrorist attacks being planned against American interests overseas," it said.

Two veteran CIA counterterrorism officers who were deeply involved in bin Laden issues "were so worried about an impending disaster that one of them told us that they considered resigning and going public with their concerns," the report by the commission's staff said. The report did not identify them.

Richard Clarke

Why have Bush surrogates been attacking Richard Clarke with such vigor? It must be because his book threatens to destroy credibility in the war on terror. Right now much of the country thinks that Clinton was AWOL in the 90s and Bush fought the terrorists tooth and nail from the beginning. It's just not true.

It'll be tough for the Bushies to completely discredit Clarke, because he's a rightwinger. That's right - this man worked for Reagan and pretty much fits the ultra-hawk mold. And yet the President's lackies continue to try to paint him as John Kerry's pal...

Today's Cheney lie

Check out Josh Marshall's blog for Cheney's latest lie.

Troop morale low - an anecdotal account

At Oneill's the other night, just before my band went on, I ran into a soldier who had just returned from Iraq earlier in the evening. I asked him how things were going over there and he said that morale was incredibly low. He told me that his tour of duty had been extended several times, and that this sort of thing seemed to be the norm over there. He seemed broken spirited.

Troop morale low - an anecdotal account

At Oneill's the other night, just before my band went on, I ran into a soldier who had just returned from Iraq earlier in the evening. I asked him how things were going over there and he said that morale was incredibly low. He told me that his tour of duty had been extended several times, and that this sort of thing seemed to be the norm over there. He seemed broken spirited.

After a bad week, John Kerry finally does something intelligent

If Kerry is going to rebut the charge of being "French" or beholden to foreign interests, he's going to have to strike back with venom against another country. Today, he lashed out at Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. It was a smart move.