Month: March 2006

Best Friends

by digby

Yesterday:

Bush said there was intense discussion inside his campaign when the 15-minute videotape was released, which he described as “an interesting entry by our enemy.”

“I thought it was going to help,” Bush told the author. “I thought it would help remind people that if bin Laden doesn’t want Bush to be the president, something must be right with Bush.”

That would, of course, explain this from March 13, 2002

Q: But don’t you believe that the threat that bin Laden posed won’t truly be eliminated until he is found either dead or alive?

BUSH: Well, as I say, we haven’t heard much from him. And I wouldn’t necessarily say he’s at the center of any command structure. And, again, I don’t know where he is. I — I’ll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him. I know he is on the run. I was concerned about him, when he had taken over a country. I was concerned about the fact that he was basically running Afghanistan and calling the shots for the Taliban.

Hey heartland, I bet you didn’t know that bin Laden worked for the Bush campaign did you? He stayed silent throughout the lead up to the Iraq invasion, never stepping on Junior’s “Saddam is Satan” storyline. And then he stepped in just before a very close election and helped his pal Bush over the finish line. He owed him. Bush had let him go at Tora Bora, after all, and allowed his good friend Musharref to turn a blind eye for four years. And no enemy of the US could ever hope to have someone more dumb and ineffectual than the Codpiece in charge. He completes him.

Now, of course, Bush is focusing on his pal again because it ups the boogeyman meter to neon pink. He dropped in on Afghanistan today for the photo op:

“It’s not a matter of if they’re captured and brought to justice, it’s when they’re brought to justice,” Bush said. “I am confident he will be brought to justice. What’s happening is that we’ve got U.S. forces on the hunt. … There are Afghan forces on the hunt, not only for bin Laden but also those who plot and plan with him. We’ve got Pakistan forces on the hunt.”

I’m sure Osama will appropriately go “boo” at just the right moment. These guys could be “Dancing With The Stars” champions, they are so in sync.

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Bill Of Goods

by digby

John Kerry: What kind of message does it send to be sending money to open firehouses in Iraq, but we’re shutting firehouses who are the first-responders here in America…

The president hasn’t put one nickel, not one nickel into the effort to fix some of our tunnels and bridges and most exposed subway systems…

Ninety-five percent of the containers that come into the ports, right here in Florida, are not inspected.

This president thought it was more important to give the wealthiest people in America a tax cut rather than invest in homeland security…

George W Bush: I don’t think we want to get to how he’s going to pay for all these promises. It’s like a huge tax gap…

My administration has tripled the amount of money we’re spending on homeland security to $30bn a year.

John Kerry: The test is not whether you’re spending more money. The test is, are you doing everything possible to make America safe?

We didn’t need that tax cut. America needed to be safe.

George W Bush: Of course we’re doing everything we can to protect America. I wake up every day thinking about how best to protect America.

Where are we supposed to find the money for this so-called “Homeland Security?”

The White House said Thursday that it plans to ask Congress for an additional $70 billion to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, driving the cost of military operations in the two countries to $120 billion this year, the highest ever.

Most of the new money would pay for the war in Iraq, which has cost an estimated $250 billion since the U.S. invasion in March 2003.

The additional spending, along with other war funding the Bush administration will seek separately in its regular budget next week, would push the price tag for combat and nation-building since Sept. 11, 2001, to nearly a half-trillion dollars, approaching the inflation-adjusted cost of the 13-year Vietnam War.

The cost of military operations in 2006 is $35 billion higher than what Congress had estimated a few months ago that the Defense Department would need this year. The higher costs are occurring even as the Pentagon is planning to reduce troop levels in Iraq in coming months, reflecting the continuing wear and damage to military equipment in desert combat, the need to upgrade protection for U.S. troops and the effort to train and equip Iraqi forces.

No large-scale reconstruction projects are included in the spending, officials said.

Currently, the Defense Department says it is spending about $4.5 billion a month on the conflict in Iraq, or about $100,000 per minute.

Oh, and then there’s this:

THE SKEWED BENEFITS OF THE TAX CUTS, 2007-2016: If the Tax Cuts Are Extended, Millionaires Will Receive More than $600 Billion over the Next Decade

Life is full of choices. The American people chose to go into Iraq and give huge tax breaks to millionaires through the year 2016 and are willing to pay the price for those priorities.

Aren’t they?

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Comforter

by digby

VARGAS: When you look back on those days immediately following when Katrina struck, what moment do you think was the moment that you realized that the government was failing, especially the people of New Orleans?

BUSH: When I saw TV reporters interviewing people who were screaming for help. It looked the scenes looked chaotic and desperate. And I realized that our government was could have done a better job of comforting people.

Bush has been using the “comfort” word since 9/11 and it gets more absurd the more time that passes. Karen Hughes came up with it during the 2000 campaign because she thinks it appeals to women and they trotted it out constantly after 9/11.

“The American people, obviously, if they see something that is suspicious, something out of the norm that looks suspicious, they ought to notify local law authorities. But in the meantime, they ought to take comfort in knowing our government is doing everything we possibly can.”

“And America is comforted by the fact that we are united as we stand to fight terror.”

“Americans should find comfort in knowing that millions of their fellow citizens are working every day to ensure our security at every level — federal, state, county, municipal.”

“We think differently about those who go to work every single day to protect us and save us and comfort us.”

I’ve been hearing it a lot again lately and wondered why.

“the more people learn” about the deal and the government’s scrutiny of it, “the more they’ll be comforted.”

Now I get it:

“The repetition of the news coming out of Iraq is wearing folks down,” Reed said. “It started with women and it’s spreading. It’s just bad news after bad news after bad news, without any light at the end of the tunnel.”

The women are the first out the door. I suspect it’s because many of them see Bush now and are reminded of the embarrassing, dumbshit macho boyfriend (or husband) they once had. His little verbal gaffes aren’t adorable any longer — they set her teeth on edge. His arrogant swagger nauseates her. His childish habits are sexually repellant. The word “comfort” coming from him makes her want to scream. It’s over.

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