UPDATE: There has been some questioning about the interview I heard even to the point of suggesting I made it up. Well, NPR puts up audio podcasts of their shows and yesterday’s is now online. It’s from their show Day to Day and the interview was with House Majority Whip Roy Blunt. Go there and listen for yourself. It is right at the beginning of the interview about 15 seconds in.
The quote was, “”I think the President was very engaged in the meeting, he was interested in the reports from the various members…”
I know supporters will jump on me saying I’m reading too much into this. But, why would this even be mentioned at all or stated this way unless it was something unusual or unexpected. Especially notice that Blunt says “I think the President was very engaged…” Not that he was certain, that he thinks the President was.
Listening to NPR at lunchtime, I heard part of a short interview with a Republican Congressman who was in the meeting with Bush about what was happening in Iraq just before word came that Zarqawi was killed. What struck me was he made a point of mentioning that Bush was engaged and following what was being discussed.
Yes, a member of his party tried to reassure the public that Bush actually knew what was happening. For all his faults, could you ever imagine anyone saying that about Clinton? That the president has some comprehension of what was being said in a meeting, understood what was going on, that he wasn’t asleep, not brain dead, etc. What a guy we got in the White House that a comment like that has to be made at all. By a supporter.
Uncle Dave,
I appreciate that you included the audio link and actual text.
I think you are reading too much into it, but that’s your prerogative.
Please folks, stopping bashing Bush. Do any of you really think he is or has ever been in charge? Come on, he was bought when he decided to run for President. Why else did he get 3-4 times as much in campaign contributions as McCain. Bush has never been in charge since he’s been President.
When you hear Republicans say they want less government, this is what they are talking about. Not anything else. Because someone in charge trying to make decisions just gets in the way of corporations.
The Bush administration is indeed Fascist. Key points:
War is good, so eternal war.
Militarizing the state.
Emotion over reason.
Action over talk.
Supreme leader, embodying the state.
Scapegoating. (This is not a belief but the crucial technique.)
Another technique that is difficult to describe succinctly is covert actions by others so that the supreme leader never has to look bad yet are obviously approved by him and work to his favour. The Swift Boat Vets etc.
Bush isn’t a Hitler, more of a Mussolini.
Bush is NOT like Hitler…
Hitler was fairly elected, Bush got appointed by the Supreme Court.
Also, Bush has way better hair than Hitler. Many historians privately agree that Hitler’s haircut was his downfall.
If Clinton was in power when we went into Iraq it would turn into WW3.
If Clinton was in power, we wouldn’t have gone into Iraq.
Then why was Clinton bombing? Why did he have troops in Iraq? Why was he maintaining no-fly zones? Why was he keeping sanctions? Why didn’t he get out of Iraq? Why did he occupy it for 8 years(now 16 total)?
Comment by AB CD — 6/9/2006 @ 9:48 am
Get your history straight. Clinton did not have any troops stationed in Iraq. The terms of the cease fire after the Gulf War included the sanctions and no fly zones. The only Americans in Iraq during this time were members of the UN Atomic Energy Commission and Chemical and Biological Warfare Investigators. As part of the “No-Fly Zone”, Iraq was not allowed to use radar. Whenever they turned on their radar, the Americans and British would bomb the radar installation.
#31 & 38
AB CD’s history is a lot like the work of the “artist” christo. Its all bullshit, but you have to admire the balls of anyone who gets so much so wrong so often.
For those of you who don’t know who christo is, he became famous for painting all the rocks on a small Mediterranean island pink.
# 23…Milo….I know it gets really cold up there in Canada, and it can make you forgetful….but if I’m not mistaken there was a President Kennedy in 1960 to 1963….oh, and guess what….he was the BROTHER of Ted Kennedy.
You might even have heard of another Kennedy, who was on his way to his party’s nomination when he was assasinated….Robert Kennedy…..also the older brother of little Ted Kennedy.
Ted even ran for President….but he didn’t make it to far, quit before the first primary.
“I mean, I read the newspaper. I mean, I can tell you what the headlines are. I must confess, if I think the story is, like, not a fair appraisal, I’ll move on. But I know what the story’s about.”
George Bush, Philadelphia, Dec. 12, 2005
The last time I checked Ted was a different name from John.
So you admit Clinton was bombing Iraq, at least those radar stations. He bombed more occasionally, like the day his impeachment vote was scheduled. You need to check your history. The Kurds and Southern Iraq were both being protected by US and British forces. I would call that an occupation of Iraq, even if they weren’t in Baghdad.