Outed—Blair House Which Project

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Well, it seems our little question finally gained some traction. Reports are coming in that Rachel Maddow brought up the secret of Blair House on her show Monday night. And then this little item popped up at the WaPoo late Tuesday afternoon. Mystery solved, says the WaPoo. [And just in time to pre-empt more commentary from Rachel, no doubt.]

Seems Blair House is held in splendid reserve and isolation for John Howard, Australia's former prime minister.

Funny thing about mysteries, though, they always have all those red herrings stinkin' up the joint. And this tale's a little fishy, too.

Even though the New York Times' Caucus weighed in with pretty much the same story. And John Stewart made note of the "one more time" from the Dick in the White House.

Yet there seems to be a hole or two in this story...Margaret Carlson said to have told Olbermann her research in December showed no visiting dignitaries scheduled.

There's a whole little buzzlet booming about Blair House right now, but maybe it's time to put this little chapter to rest without causing the former librarian and the soon-to-be-former president any dismay.

After all, they still have that party to plan for and host. You know, the "event" that superseded the Obamas staying in Blair House. I understand it's hosting members of some dim-plomatic group, although the details have been a bit vague.

Could it be the Bush Rangers and Pioneers, the ideological diplomatic corps of the rich and richer who bought this guy, in the drawing room with the silver spoons in their mouths?

Yep,there's all sorts of little plot twists in this mystery tale...and as for the dangling loose threads, well, I'll leave that to someone else to tie up. I've got a beautiful mind that needs cleansing from the Whiches...and the Riches...and the....

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crossposted at firedoglake's Oxdown Gazette

The Car Deal

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There will doubtless be much muttering about Nancy Pelosi "caving" to George W. Bush on the bailout for the big 3. Caving's supposed to be George's speciality. But I guess that only applies to his idiotlogical neocon diehard lobbyists determined to rip the gold teeth outa the cadaver on its way to the grave....

(Anybody else think that if the car guys, the politicians, the media and all the rest of the great chatterati had called this a loan package instead of a bailout, the sell would have been easier?)

Anyway, back to Nancy. Did she "cave"? I guess if you call recognizing that you're dealing with an arrogant, stubborn, stupid, willfully ignorant idiotlogical zealot for the have-more's, so you bow to reality thinking we'll do the best we can till this bozo goes back to Texas and then we can try putting the economy and the rest of the country back together again....then yeah, I guess she "caved."

I choose to think of it as recognizing reality and thanking God he's going to be Laura's mess-only soon, not the rest of us. And good riddance.
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Bush Values

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Hmmmm, let's see. George Bush tells his kid sister [yep, the same sister who back in 2000 was out in the streets in front of the Naval Observatory yellin' at Al and Tipper to get outa da house] that:

"I came to Washington with a set of values, and I'm leaving with the same set of values. And I darn sure wasn't going to sacrifice those values...."

It's almost too damned easy, isn't it? Okay, I'll play. What do you think are Dubya's values?
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(crossposted at firedoglake's Oxdown Gazette)

Hannity Logic

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Now that Sean Hannity will be the sole anchor of Hannity and that other guy, he'll have nanoseconds more air time than before, and I've got just the story for him to dig into.

According to U.S. government reporting, Paraguay is the largest producer of marijuana in Latin America. Wow! Who knew....

Hmmmm, maybe this guy knew.

Now, using the well-known skills of connecting the dots that we've seen from Hannity, I expect it's only a matter of time before he begins talking about Bush's new "business" venture....

Or if not, at least we're marginally secure in the knowledge that everything Bush touches turns to scheiss.... why not marijuana farming?

Oh, wait.
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(crossposted at firedoglake's Oxdown Gazette)

Eating the Komodo Dragon

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In his never-ending quest to totally trash the entire planet before he leaves office, now George "Wrecker" Bush puts the endangered species act in his sights.

One wonders if Josh Brolin was the right actor to portray Bush in the Oliver Stone pic. Maybe it should have been Matthew Broderick.

After all, he had the prep in The Freshman.
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(crossposted at firedoglake's Oxdown Gazette)

The Grind

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"Confronting opposition by the Bush Administration...."

Just think, on January 20 we'll never have to hear that phrase again.

Meanwhile, we have opposing Presidential video views to contemplate. The first of YouTube weekly addresses from almost-president Barack Obama [see twolf's diary link at Oxdown Gazette].

And the grinding down of the Bush Administration.

What could be a more apt picture this morning than Bush, herding the G20 leaders off the photo-op stage for a meaningless show meeting whose prime objective is to make him look good in legacy.

Sorry, Bush. That boat has sailed.

Seeing Bush grinding his teeth as the group had to regroup so the photo could include the tardy Argentinian representative kinda summed up the day for all of us.

And I hope somebody gets this moment I saw on MSNBC up on youtube soon, because it's good to reflect that while Bush is so no longer relevant and we're all just grindin' down our teeth wantin' him to go away, he will soon no longer be obstructive, too.

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(crossposted at firedoglake's Oxdown Gazette)

Remember History...or Repeat It

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Just remember, when George W. Bush dawdled and partied while the City of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast were deluged by Katrina, who he was partying with...and who was partying with him.
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"Last" President

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Last night on The Daily Show, John Oliver spun out for Jon Stewart why George W. Bush could go down in history not as our worst president...but as our last....

The thing about stampedes to action...as is this hoo-rah taking place right now in Washington over the $700 Billion billionaire bailout...for all the trail dust and shouting...we need to not only deal with the crisis but also, in the words of Jim Lehrer this morning on Imus, "walk this cat back" and figure out what went wrong.

Which frankly gives me more hope for substance when Lehrer moderates the first Obama-McCain debate Friday at Ole Miss than for later tonight when Audio-animatronic Bush appears on television soberly slowly sin-cerely reciting "catastrophe" over and over to the teevee camera.

When the former majority leader of the House, Dick Armey says BushCo bald-faced lied to him in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, why would any rational thinking human being believe anything being churned out of this White House?

Across the spectrum, politicians and ordinary citizens of all stripes are coming together to reject this Bush-push package politely called a bailout...when we folks on Main Street know it's the financial elites trying one last grab at America's resources. Even Congressional Republicans are tellin' Cheney hell no.

Bush once told us he was a uniter not a divider. Finally, we're seeing that. "Last" president, jokes the Daily Show.

Not a joke, just sad, sad, sad this pathetic excuse for a man and an administration. Is it too much to hope tonight is the last clusterfuck contrivance of incoherence packaged as a speech to the nation?

We all want Bush gone.

We've Heard this Song Before...

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And it's a siren song.

The times are desperate. We must act immediately. Dire consequences will befall the universe if you don't do what we want right now.

There have been too many examples of the Congress being steamrolled by the Rethugs and their White House these past nearly eight years that my first reaction is an immediate Whoa!

Whether it's the pre-election rush Congress into war powers for Bush that put us into Iraq. Or the scramble to be Patriots. Or the vote on Schiavo....

At long last, will this Congress stop running around like chickens with their heads cut off, trippin' and bumpin' over each other in their mad scramble to get into the Rush-and-Rove approved henhouse?

We have a sobering financial crisis in this country.

Will the Congress recognize and act as grownups to safeguard against perpetuating the same ol' same ol'? Of will they let the Foxes ratchet up the hysteria and send the good seeds of common sense and reason and, yes, regulation, be scattered like chaff in the wind?

What Congress does these next few days will have repercussions extending far into the future. All of us, citizens, taxpayers--VOTERS--must keep in mind is that the NEXT administration will have the tools, or absence of them, to set policy.

Who will we trust? The party that gave us deregulation upon deregulation and "shop, shop, shop" and "ownership society"? Or the party of change we need?
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UPDATE: Michael Bloomberg talking common sense on Meet the Press this morning.

UPDATE: Senator Chris Dodd talking accountability on This Week with George Snuffy this morning. There's an expectation we'll act quickly, but also intelligently.
You're singin' my song, Senator....

UPDATE: A Democratic Congressperson expresses the outrage we're feeling at the abuses that happened and wants credit counseling for the arrogant fools.
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Thank John McCain

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Things been goin' pretty good for you the past almost eight years? Well, hey, the man says it himself. Thank John McCain.

Shorter Bush Today:

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Everything my monkeys and I have done to the American economy the last seven-plus years has been a total Clusterfuck....

There, I said it.

Think I'll go cut some brush now. So long, suckas.
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Yep, the economy has survived all kinds of events, Bushie. It just couldn't survive YOU. Heckuva job.
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UPDATE: Think Progress has more....

More of This?

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George Bush's "job resume" is making the rounds of the Internet, and in the interests of assuring this poor guy who likely is worrying deeply about where his next paycheck, his next meal, his next month's insurance premium for healthcare, his next gallon of gas for the gator, will come from, we share it here. Keep in mind that John McCain is promising four more years of the same:

Subject: This Guy Needs
a Job: Can You Help Him?


I will be available in January
2009, am willing to relocate.



RESUME

GEORGE W. BUSH
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

Law Enforcement:

I was arrested in Kennebunkport, Maine, in 1976 for driving under the
influence of alcohol. I pled guilty, paid a fine, and had my driver's
license suspended for 30 days. My Texas driving record has been 'lost' and
is not available.

Military:

I joined the Texas Air National Guard and went AWOL.  I refused to take a
drug test or answer any questions about my drug use. By joining the Texas
Air National Guard, I was able to avoid combat duty in Vietnam.

College:

I graduated from Yale University with a low C average. I was a cheerleader.

PAST WORK EXPERIENCE:

I ran for U.S. Congress and lost.  I began my career in the oil business in
Midland, Texas, in 1975. I bought an oil company, but couldn't find any oil
in Texas. The company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock.

I bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land
using taxpayer money. With the help of my father and our friends in the oil
industry (including Enron CEO Ken Lay), I was elected governor of Texas.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS GOVERNOR OF TEXAS:

I changed Texas pollution laws to favor power and oil companies, making
Texas the most polluted state in the Union.  During my tenure, Houston
replaced Los Angeles as the most smog-ridden city in America.

I cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas treasury to the tune of billions in
borrowed money.

I set the record for the most executions by any governor in American
history.

With the help of my brother, the governor of Florida, and my father's
appointments to the Supreme Court, I became President of the United States,
after losing by over 500,000 votes.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS PRESIDENT:

I am the first President in U.S. history to enter office with a criminal
record.

I invaded and occupied two countries at a continuing cost of over one
billion dollars per week.

I spent the U.S. surplus and effectively bankrupted the U.S. Treasury.

I shattered the record for the largest annual deficit in U.S. history.

I set an economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12-month
period.

I set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12-month period.

I set the all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of the U.S.
stock market. In my first year in office, over 2 million Americans lost
their jobs and that trend continues.

I'm proud that the members of my cabinet are the richest of any
administration in U.S. history. My 'poorest millionaire,' Condoleezza Rice,
has a Chevron oil tanker named after her.

I set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips by a U.S. President.

I am the all-time U.S and world record -holder for receiving the most
corporate campaign donations.

My largest lifetime campaign contributor, and one of my best friends,
Kenneth Lay, presided over the largest corporate bankruptcy fraud in U.S.
history, Enron.

My political party used Enron private jets and corporate attorneys to assure
my success with the U.S. Supreme Court during my election decision.

I have protected my friends at Enron and Halliburton against investigation
or prosecution. More time and money was spent investigating the Monica
Lewinsky affair than has been spent investigating one of the biggest
corporate rip-offs in history. I presided over the biggest energy crisis in
U.S. history and refused to intervene when corruption involving the oil industry
was revealed.

I presided over the highest gasoline prices in U.S. history.

I changed the U.S. policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded
government contracts.

I appointed more convicted criminals to my administration than any President
in U.S. history.

I created the Ministry of Homeland Security, the largest bureaucracy in the
history of the United States Government.

I've broken more international treaties than any President in U.S. history.

I am the first President in U.S. history to have the United Nations remove
the U.S. from the Human Rights Commission.

I withdrew the U.S. from the World Court of Law.

I refused to allow inspectors access to U.S. 'prisoners of war' detainees
and thereby have refused to abide by the Geneva Convention.

I am the first President in history to refuse United Nations election
inspectors (during the 2002 US election).
I set the record for fewest numbers of press conferences of any President
since the advent of television.

I set the all-time record for most days on vacation in any one-year period.
After taking off the entire month of August, I presided over the worst
security failure in U.S. history.

I garnered the most sympathy ever for the U.S. after the World Trade Center
attacks and less than a year later made the U.S. the most hated country in
the world, the largest failure of diplomacy in world history.

I have set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously
protest me in public venues (15 million people), shattering the record for
protests against any person in the history of mankind.

I am the first President in U.S. history to order an unprovoked, preemptive
attack and the military occupation of a sovereign nation. I did so against
the will of the United Nations, the  majority of U.S. Citizens and the world
community.

I have cut health care benefits for war veterans and support a cut in duty
benefits for active duty troops and their families in wartime.

In my State of the Union Address, I lied about our reasons for attacking
Iraq and then blamed the lies on our British friends.

I am the first President in history to have a majority of Europeans (71%)
view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and security.

I am supporting development of a nuclear 'Tactical Bunker Buster,' a WMD.

I have so far failed to fulfill my pledge to bring Osama Bin Laden to
justice.

RECORDS AND REFERENCES:

All records of my tenure as governor of Texas are now in my father's
library, sealed and unavailable for public view.

All records of SEC investigations into my insider trading and my bankrupt
companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.

All records or minutes from meetings that I, or my Vice-President, attended
regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for
public review. I specified that my sealed documents will not be available
for 50 years.

PLEASE SEND THIS TO EVERY VOTER YOU KNOW!
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h/t EagleMom

Prairie's Reading: Froomkin on “A Culture of Corruption”

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Froomkin writes in his WaPo column about the role of who was directing Monica Goodling in the twisting of the Department of Justice into an ideological corruption of justice with the ticking timebomb of embedded radical right extremists who would remain long after BushCo leaves the White House.

Indeed, it's hard to reach any conclusion other than that White House political operatives masterminded a plan to defile the Justice Department's mission in the short run and to seed its ranks with people who will be in a position to continue the corruption for a long time to come.

Defile.

For their ends justify any means modus operandi, this is just one more sordid chapter in the same sorry saga of the worst presidency and vice-presidency in the history of this nation.

Bush and Chee-knee's names will have legacies. With the worst scoundrels of history.
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Heckuva Role Model, Bushie

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Actions have consequences, unintended or otherwise, and as Bill W. over at C&L points out in Indicted For War Crimes, Sudan Cites U.S. As Example Why It Needn’t Comply George Bush's outlaw action pulling the U.S. out of the International Criminal Court is now coming back to haunt the conscience. Not Bush's of course, his administration has been soft-pedaling sanctions against Sudan for years, as Bill notes.

But then I guess you can do it, and get away with it, when you're the Deciderer. Heck, you can even make jokes about it: If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator.

And then he said it again....

And what's "it"? What will Bush and Company get away with? We may never know. But they will. And they'll have to live with that knowledge eating away at them for the rest of their lives.

And no joking or denial or rationalization in the world is going to protect them from their own monster selves.

al-Maliki Fired Up

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In a major smackdown of the Bush Administration's Iraqi policy of eternal occupation ... oh, wait, that's McCain. Well, him, too...

In a major smackdown of the Bush Administration's withdrawal "horizon" ... or what nekkid with his brains down Doug Feith would call a not-equivalency to a timeline....

Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki has told the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel that he approves of Obama's 16-month responsible withdrawal.

Just came online to write an encouragement that you make a point to see The Kingdom, now airing on HBO, if you haven't already. And discovered this news at HuffPo.

The war we should be fighting is serious business. Not a p.r. slogan. Not something that should be left to ideological or special crony-interest self-service.

We have a leader rising among us, and we are hungry for a leader to follow. Eight years of the idiot rants of a dry drunk post-fraternity cheerleader barfly "you'd want to have a beer with" have gotten this nation is a horrible condition.

I fully expect it won't be until next January that he walks up the stairs to airforce one and gives us all the finger.

Can't be soon enough. And we can't take our eye off the serious circumstances we must clean up. And the serious state we are in now. The Family Bush shall live in infamy.
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Prairie's Reading: dday on torture

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While I await my copy of Jane Mayer's book, The Dark Side, here's food for thought from dday over at digby's place.

Torture is wrong. Torture is criminal. Torture is evil.

There is no moral equivalency gaming, no nuance, no situational ethics on this one.

No excuses. Just pure evil.

Still Bully after all these Years

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Bush gave a press "conference" today...scrupulously timed to take the spotlight away from Ben Bernanke's testimony on the state of the economy. Or to take the spotlight away from Obama's speech on Iraq and military policy. Or maybe just to plaintively point out he is still the prez.

There was a whiff of desperation in his answers. And a not-too-faint resemblance to "Animal House." Oh, not the Blutarsky or Otter cool-guy roles that Dubya always fancied his gentlemanly C self.

No, he's the guy running around reassuring everybody, convincing nobody, "all is well, all is well."

Only when they ring the curtain down on the worst presidency ever.

'cause every time Dubya mentions moveon dot org, all America can think about is the van loading up at the White House bound back to Texas.
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That Dangnabit Congress

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Yep, it's all the fault of that dangnabit Democratically controlled Congress that we're in the oil mess we're in...they've sat on their Democrat hands for the past month doin' nada....

at least that's the way Dubya tells it in undoing Daddy's executive order against offshore drilling. And nevermind the past seven-plus years of oil/war profiteering that have vampired the economy.

Once again, a moment of opportunity to unite behind a common purpose and resolve that "we're all in this together" and here's stuff each and every one of us can do to make the pain at the pump a little bit easier on all of us. [Drive 55!]

Yeah, a moment. A moment p'ed on yet again by this president who is seemingly forever arrested at the age of seven on the playground squabbling over whose turn it is at bat. His answer? It's his bat, so it's always his turn.

Except Americans have grown weary these last almost eight years of the Petulant in Chief turning every event post-bullhorn into a moment of partisanship and division and calculation for electioneering opportunism. At least he's true to pattern.

There's a new team comin' up to bat, and the BushCo equivalent of the Black Sox can't be benched soon enough.

Manchurian Bush

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Now is the winter of our dishonor as a nation?

NYTimes is reporting this morning [props to Atrios] that interrogations used by Americans at Guantanamo have been based on a 1957 Air Force chart in an article entitled “Communist Attempts to Elicit False Confessions From Air Force Prisoners of War.”

Yes, "interrogation techniques" used by Chinese Communists against our own American soldiers. Techniques that were known to produce false information.

But I guess when you blow up frogs as a kid...and mock the deaths of those whose lives are in your hands when you're governor of Texas...and diss the family of a black man chained and pulled to death behind a pickup...and become president and from the cosy confines of the Oval Office and Camp David let your gut send others to their deaths for oil....

then it's not about the information, it's about the sadism.
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Ho-yer.

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Atrios said...I went...he's right. What digby said on Sell-out Steny.
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