Sunday, December 31, 2006

Best and Worst Political Quotes of 2006

Top 5 Worst

5. "I don't know where you're from but in Austin, TX in August, if you see some guy on top of a roof slinging tar, odds are he is not a U.S. Citizen." -- Karl Rove, Deputy Chief of Staff to Mr. Bush, during a speech at the conservative National Federation of Independent Business.

4. "We need somebody to put rat poisoning in [Supreme Court] Justice Stevens's creme brulee." -- Right wing pundit Ann Coulter on Justice John Paul Stevens (who is a Republican) serving as a roadblock to the anti-abortion movement's takeover of the courts. By the way, during the same speech at Philander Smith College (an historically black institution), Coulter also stated that the crack cocaine problem in the United States "has pretty much gone away".

3. "And don't forget, Sherrod Brown is black. There's a racial component here too. And now, the newspaper that I'm reading all this from is The New York Times and they, of course, don't mention that." -- Rush Limbaugh on the Ohio Senate primary race involving Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-OH). However, it was somehow not apparent to Limbaugh that Mr. Brown is actually white.

2. "Bob Sherwood's seat would have been overwhelmingly ours if his mistress hadn't whined about being throttled."-- Grover Norquist, head of the conservative organization called Americans for Tax Reform, on Sherwood's election defeat in November as fallout from the former Congressman (R-PA) being accused of assault by his former mistress. Note: Sherwood's first name is actually Don, not Bob. (You have got to hand it to the Republicans--they are definitely sticklers for details.)

1. "You know, one of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror." -- Mr. Bush in an interview with Katie Couric on "CBS Evening News". This is easily the most mind boggling statement of the year, especially considering the fact that Mr. Bush was quoted on September 24, 2002 saying "You can't distinguish between Al Qaeda and Saddam when you talk about the war on terror".

Top 5 Best

5. "You're putting words in my mouth. Just the way you put artificial facts in your head." and
"I have the feeling about 60% of what you say is crap."
-- David Letterman to Bill O'Reilly during the right wing commentator's appearance on "Late Show with David Letterman".

4. "When we are scolded that, if we merely question, 'we have forgotten the lessons of 9/11', look into this empty space behind me and the bipartisanship upon which this administration also did not build, and tell me: Who has left this hole in the ground? We have not forgotten, Mr. President. You have. May this country forgive you." -- Keith Olbermann as he reported in front of the former site of the World Trade Center on the 5th anniversary of 9/11.

3. "It is the oldest story in the coverage of government: the failure to tell the truth." -- Bob Woodward, of Watergate fame and author of "State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III", on the fact that the Bush administration has been completely dishonest during the entire course of the Iraq War.

2. "I want to make sure the decision is right for me, my family, my party and my country." -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on her potential 2008 presidential bid during an interview on "The Today Show." (Let's keep our fingers crossed!)

1. "It was a perfectly legitimate question but I want to know how many people in the Bush administration you asked this question of. I want to know how many people in the Bush administration you asked, 'Why didn't you do anything about the [USS] Cole?'. I want to know how many you asked, 'Why did you fire Dick Clarke?'." -- Former President Bill Clinton in response to an unsuccessful ambush from weasely Chris Wallace on "FOX News Sunday with Chris Wallace".

Sunday, December 24, 2006

Last Minute Holiday Gift

On "FOX News Sunday with Chris Wallace", Lynne Cheney, provided her insightful opinion on the upcoming criminal trial of Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the former Chief of Staff to Mr. Cheney: "I think that we're seeing an instance of a man who spent a great deal of his life as a dedicated public servant — he's done an awful lot of good — in a situation that does not reflect well on our judicial system."

"He's done an awful lot of good"? Let's not forget that Libby was indicted by a grand jury in October 2005 on criminal felony charges of obstruction of justice, lying to the FBI and committing perjury before a grand jury. Those charges apply to the Bush administration's exposure of Valerie Plame Wilson, the wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, as an active CIA official. As you can imagine, revealing the identity of a CIA agent is highly illegal but apparently that fact is unimportant to Ms. Cheney and her conscience. Happy Holidays!

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Headline of the Day

From The Associated Press: The Inspector General reported that Sandy Berger, President Bill Clinton's National Security Adviser, removed classified documents from the National Archives, hid them under a construction trailer and then later attempted to locate the trash collector in order to retrieve those documents in October 2003.

First and foremost, I do not condone Berger's actions for one second, regardless of my support for President Clinton. However, please keep in mind that this story was initially reported worldwide by The Associated Press on July 19, 2004, which is probably why the article was not even listed at the top of FoxNews.com on Thursday. (In fact, this headline was well below an article on the feud between Rosie O'Donnell and Donald Trump.) Please also keep in mind that Berger pleaded guilty to this offense on April 1, 2005. With that being said, I am unsure if the Republican Party truly wants to focus on deception concerning 9/11 and the Iraq War. Why do I say that?

8/17/01: Contrary to a memo to the CIA from the Department of Energy, former National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice falsely claims aluminum tubes purchased by Iraq are clear evidence of the country's nuclear program.

9/21/01: Mr. Bush is briefed by the U.S. intelligence community that no evidence exists which connects Saddam Hussein with 9/11.

3/5/02: Former Ambassador Joseph Wilson informs the CIA that there is no indication Iraq is buying uranium rich yellowcake. (As retribution for Wilson's statements, the Bush administration committed a felony by revealing the identity of Wilson's wife, Valerie, as a CIA officer.)

July 2002: General Tommy Franks secretly requests $700 million for war preparations. Mr. Bush approves the request, unbeknownst to Congress.

8/26/02: Mr. Cheney falsely claims "There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction".

9/7/02: Mr. Bush claims a report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of the United Nations states Iraq is six months from developing a nuclear weapon. (Not surprisingly, no such report exists.)

1/11/03: Mr. Bush informs Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar of his intentions to go to war with Iraq two days before he tells his own Secretary of State, Colin Powell.

3/30/03 (10 days after the Iraq War began): Speaking about supposed WMDs in Iraq, Secretary Rumsfeld falsely claims "We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat."

Trust me, I could easily continue with numerous other examples of the Bush administration's lies and deceptions but I will stop while I am ahead for now.

Friday, December 15, 2006

Absurd Quote of the Day

During a farewell ceremony today, Mr. Cheney described outgoing Secretary Rumsfeld as "the finest Secretary of Defense this nation has ever had".

The above description of Rumsfeld seems eerily similar to the outrageous statement uttered by Mr. Bush regarding the performance of former FEMA Director Michael Brown following Hurricane Katrina: "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." Obviously that description was false as well. It makes perfect sense that "the finest Secretary of Defense" in our nation's history would be asked to resign in the midst of an ever growing unpopular and unsuccessful war (and would do so the day after the Democrats gained control of Congress). And with precious sound bites such as "It is unknowable how long that conflict will last. It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months." from Rumsfeld in February 2003 (1 month before the Iraq War started), it is amazing that he has not received the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor yet.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Conflicting Stories of the Day

During the airing of "Hannity & Colmes" on FOX News yesterday, former Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) provided his reasoning for the problems with the Iraq War: "It's the fault of the liberals and the media and the Democrats that from the very beginning have tried to undermine the will of the American people to fight this."

First and foremost, we must keep in mind that DeLay is a former member of Congress because, among other despicable acts, he was indicted of conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme. With that being said, during his recent Senate confirmation hearings, the new Secretary of Defense Robert Gates stated the problems with the Iraq War are because "there clearly were insufficient troops in Iraq after the initial invasion to establish control over the country". However, while also on "Hannity & Colmes", outgoing Secretary Donald Rumsfeld claimed the problems are due to the fact that Mr. Bush is "a victim of the success he has had in preventing another attack in our country because people have allowed the nature of the threat to diminish in their minds". This is the same Secretary Rumsfeld which eight retired Generals, including former NATO Commander Wesley Clark and the former head of the U.S. Central Command Anthony Zinni, called for his resignation earlier this year. In fact, in his memoir, General Zinni criticized Rumsfeld and the Bush administration for their lack of both pre- and post-war planning.

Essential Link of the Day

As a follow-up to my previous posting, in order to view the complete voting record for ever single member of Congress, please visit http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Idiotic Act of the Day

On Friday, outgoing Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) introduced a bill to impeach Mr. Bush.

When I started this blog, I definitely did not think that I would be calling out a Democrat in only my second posting but I could not pass up this opportunity. Although I agree with the principle of the actual bill, McKinney is not the individual who should introduce this type of legislation. Aside from numerous inflammatory statements during her tenure in Congress, McKinney is most infamously known for her assault of a U.S. Capitol police officer earlier this year. Not only that, if McKinney truly valued her role as a legislator, then she should not have missed a grand total of 127 votes during 2006. The votes missed included legislation on gay marriage, stem cell research, Internet predators and an investigation on former Congressman Mark Foley's behavior.

Thursday, December 7, 2006

Absurd Quote of the Day

"Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed."

Since this is the very first post for my blog, I wanted to start off on the right foot. In front of a huge banner reading "Mission Accomplished", Mr. Bush uttered the above statements aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003. With that being said, 1,314 days have now gone by since that premature declaration. The vast majority of casualties among US, UK and Iraqi combatants (as well as Iraqi civilians) have occurred since that May 2003 speech.