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Middle Aged Delinquent
by digby
With the world’s most perplexing problems weighing on him, President Bush has sought comic relief in a certain pig.
This is the wild game boar that German chef Olaf Micheel bagged for Bush and served Thursday evening at a barbecue in Trinwillershagen, a tiny town on the Baltic Sea.
“I understand I may have the honor of slicing the pig,” Bush said at a news conference earlier in the day punctuated with questions about spreading violence in the Middle East and an intensifying standoff with Iran about nuclear power.
The president’s host, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, started a serious ball rolling at this news conference in the 13th-century town hall on the cobblestone square of Stralsund. But Bush seemed more focused on “the feast” promised later.
“Thanks for having me,” Bush told the chancellor. “I’m looking forward to that pig tonight.”
This 13th-century setting and formal news conference may seem an odd stage for presidential banter. The 21st-century problems that Bush confronts often prompt him to attempt to defuse the tension in the room with a dose of humor.
Reporters from Germany and the U.S. peppered him with questions about the standoff in Iran, violence in the Middle East and flagging democracy in Russia. He answered all in earnest but leavened it all with pig talk.
“Apart from the pig, Mr. President, what sort of insights have you been able to gain as regards East Germany?” a German reporter asked.
“I haven’t seen the pig yet,” Bush said, sidestepping the question about insights gained from his two-day visit to this rural seaside region that once rested behind the Iron Curtain.
And when an American reporter asked whether Bush is concerned about the Israeli bombing of the Beirut airport and about Iran’s failure to respond to an offer for negotiations, Bush replied with more boar jokes before delving into the substance of the questions.
“I thought you were going to ask about the pig,” said the president. “I’ll tell you about the pig tomorrow.”
This is typical of this fratboy jerk. Remember this?
THE PRESIDENT: I need some ribs.
Q Mr. President, how are you?
THE PRESIDENT: I’m hungry and I’m going to order some ribs.
Q What would you like?
THE PRESIDENT: Whatever you think I’d like.
Q Sir, on homeland security, critics would say you simply haven’t spent enough to keep the country secure.
THE PRESIDENT: My job is to secure the homeland and that’s exactly what we’re going to do. But I’m here to take somebody’s order. That would be you, Stretch — what would you like? Put some of your high-priced money right here to try to help the local economy. You get paid a lot of money, you ought to be buying some food here. It’s part of how the economy grows. You’ve got plenty of money in your pocket, and when you spend it, it drives the economy forward. So what would you like to eat?
Q Right behind you, whatever you order.
THE PRESIDENT: I’m ordering ribs. David, do you need a rib?
Q But Mr. President —
THE PRESIDENT: Stretch, thank you, this is not a press conference. This is my chance to help this lady put some money in her pocket. Let me explain how the economy works. When you spend money to buy food it helps this lady’s business. It makes it more likely somebody is going to find work. So instead of asking questions, answer mine: are you going to buy some food?
Q Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: Okay, good. What would you like?
Q Ribs.
THE PRESIDENT: Ribs? Good. Let’s order up some ribs.
Q What do you think of the democratic field, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: See, his job is to ask questions, he thinks my job is to answer every question he asks. I’m here to help this restaurant by buying some food. Terry, would you like something?
Q An answer.
Q Can we buy some questions?
THE PRESIDENT: Obviously these people — they make a lot of money and they’re not going to spend much. I’m not saying they’re overpaid, they’re just not spending any money.
Q Do you think it’s all going to come down to national security, sir, this election?
THE PRESIDENT: One of the things David does, he asks a lot of questions, and they’re good, generally.
It’s not humor — it’s inappropriate, sophomoric diversion designed to intimidate the reporters. It works. They are unwilling to come right out and say that Junior is an ill mannered, tasteless, middle aged delinquent.
How I long for the day when we might once again have a president with the maturity of someone who has already passed through puberty.
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The Good News
by digby
In case you missed it:
BAGHDAD, Iraq – Bombs and mortars struck Shiite and Sunni mosques in the Baghdad area Friday, the latest in a week of tit-for-tat sectarian attacks that have killed more than 250 people.
The deadliest explosion came as worshippers left services at a Sunni mosque in northern Baghdad, killing 14 people and wounding five, police said.
The bomb, planted near the door of the mosque, exploded during a four-hour driving ban starting at 11 a.m. Fridays in the capital, aimed at preventing car bombs that have frequently targeted weekly prayers.
Earlier Friday, five mortar rounds fell near the Shiite Imam al-Hussein mosque in Balad Ruz, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad, killing two people and wounding six, provincial police said.
Shiite clerics, meanwhile, denounced Israel’s attacks on Lebanon during Friday prayers, and hundreds of Iraqis demonstrated to show solidarity with the Lebanese. Israel began its assault after guerrillas from the Shiite group Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a raid inside Israel.
Thousands of Iraqis also demonstrated in the Shiite district of Sadr City in Baghdad and the southeastern cities of Kut and Amarah, praising the leader of Hezbollah and denouncing Israel and the United States. Some protesters said they were ready to fight the Israelis.
“No, no to Israel! No, no to America!” demonstrators chanted in Sadr City.
“Let everyone understand that we will not stand idle,” read one of the banners carried by the demonstrators. “Iraq and Lebanon are calling. Enough silence, Arabs,” read another.
I’m reminded of this little anecdote from Tom Friedman back in 2004. Since he actually sources it to an identifiable person rather than the usual cab driver, I tend to think it might just be true.
I was speaking the other day with Scott Pelley of CBS News’s ”60 Minutes” about the mood in Iraq. He had just returned from filming a piece there and he told me something disturbing. Scott had gone around and asked Iraqis on the streets what they called American troops — wondering if they had nicknames for us in the way we used to call the Nazis ”Krauts” or the Vietcong ”Charlie.” And what did he find? ”Many Iraqis have so much distrust for U.S. forces we found they’ve come up with a nickname for our troops,” Scott said. ”They call American soldiers ‘The Jews,’ as in, ‘Don’t go down that street, the Jews set up a roadblock.”’
(We all know by now that we have a neat little name for the Iraqis too — Hadjis.)
If this is true and the Americans in Iraq are conflated with Israel to such an extent they are actually called Jews, the events of this week are likely to have a more direct impact on American troops than might seem immediately obvious.
Meanwhile, the civil war proceeds apace.
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The Wilsons R Us
by digby
John Amato has the video of Joe and Valerie Wilson’s press conference this morning. It’s quite moving seeing Valerie Wilson speak. She is a very impressive person. You can’t help but be struck by what a travesty it is that the administration was willing to destroy her career and weaken our national security for political purposes.
I think of the NSA spying program and all the other programs that the president and his henchmen insist aren’t being used againt political opponents and I have to laugh. In light of what they were willing to do to a covert CIA agent, why would anyone think they wouldn’t be willing to use their power to spy on their political opponents. It’s pretty clear they have no limits.
Scooter Libby has been collecting millions for his defense fund from all manner of rich Republicans. Mary Matalin has even held a big fundraiser at the Carville home. If anyone would care to help out the Wilsons, who aren’t millionaires and don’t have the entire Washington establishment backing them, here’s a web-site where you can contribute to their legal support trust.
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He Went Too Far
by digby
I wonder what would be happening in Mississippi right now if Trent Lott were more popular among Democrats than Republicans? Do you think the Mississippi Republicans would be happy?
This handy chart comes from Political Arithmetic, who writes:
It is incredibly rare to see a Senator more popular among opposition partisans than within his own party. Yet that is increasingly the case for Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman. Since late in 2005, Lieberman’s approval rating among Democrats has dropped from around 70%, to the mid-50s. In two early June polls, Lieberman fell again, to under 50% approval among Democrats. This was after Democratic primary challenger Ned Lamont’s strong showing at the CT Democratic Convention, but before Lieberman made public his plans to run as an independent should he lose the primary. (The data in the graph are taken from Quinnipiac University polls and from SurveyUSA’s 50 state tracking poll in Connecticut. The two polling houses track each other reasonably well in CT, so I’ve pooled the data and won’t focus on differences between the two polling organizations here.)
While slowly trending down recently, Lieberman’s job approval among Republicans remains in the upper 60s, while job approval among independents has fallen to the mid-to-upper 50s, as has overall approval.
Now here’s the question. What happened in late 2005 that made Lieberman tank among Democrats? It certainly wasn’t blogofascist attention at that point.
I’m guessing it was this, which was picked up by all the local papers in Connecticut.
If Trent Lott told his Republican constitutents they were betraying the country by speaking out against a Democratic president, I suspect he’d find himself in the same straits as Joe Lieberman does today.
It was the straw that broke the camels back.
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Planning Is For Losers
by digby
That commie outfit, the non-partisan Congressional Government Accountability Office, has analyzed the Bush administration plan in Iraq. Naturally, being terrorist lovers, they found that the plan was a complete failure.
The report is worth reading, but it’s written in bureaucratese which makes it something of a challenge to those of us whose first language is English. Luckily, Tim Dunlop at the Road To Surfdom has translated it for you:
I’ve called in Surfdom’s team of crack linguists again to do a bit of translation (which is bolded):
The November 2005 National Strategy for Victory in Iraq and supporting documents incorporate the same desired end-state for U.S. stabilization and reconstruction operations that were first established by the coalition in 2003: a peaceful, united, stable, and secure Iraq, well integrated into the international community, and a full partner in the global war on terrorism.
They’d really like it if everything worked out perfectly.
However, it is unclear how the United States will achieve its desired end-state in Iraq given the significant changes in the assumptions underlying the U.S. strategy.
It’s really hard for things to work out perfectly when you have no idea what you are doing.
The original plan assumed a permissive security environment.
They figured the biggest problem would be hookers and post-coital cigarette smoking.
It’s actually quite an amazing report. In a world that hadn’t gone mad it would be damning for the Bush administration.
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War Cry
by digby
I haven’t had the guts to listen to FoxNews this morning, but I’ve been tuned in to CNN. According to their latest chyron, “the middle east is hurtling out of control.” There are breathless teasers: “Were the missiles made in Iran???!!!” They have sent in Anderson Cooper (and he looks just fabulous in his desert gear.) New logos are being designed as we speak. Eric Boehlert notes this oddity in CNN coverage.
Is it groundhog day?
Karl Rove must be very happy this morning. He is convinced that “war” (it doesn’t matter who or why) always accrues to the Republican party’s benefit. And the media agree that when things heat up, they really want the guys with the big swinging members in charge. (For some reason, they are under the misapprehension that the group of chickenhawks running the US government have such endowments.)
I realize that it is somewhat distasteful to discuss this issue with domestic politics in mind. But I can guarantee that the white house is. They view everything through the lens of domestic politics.
They are incoherent. Even while they publicly pretend to be seeking a peaceful solution, they’re publicly fanning the flames:
John R. Bolton, the American representative, denounced Hezbollah for a “deliberate and premeditated provocation” meant to destabilize the region. Mr. Bolton also said that Syria and Iran, which he called the main sponsors of Hezbollah, must be “held to account” for the kidnapping of the Israeli soldiers.
“No reckoning with Hezbollah will be adequate without a reckoning” with those two countries, Mr. Bolton said.
I can’t help but think back to the summer of 2002, before the last midterm, when the Iraq war suddenly seemed inevitable. From that moment it didn’t matter what anyone said — and deep inside we all knew it. The only question at that point was whether you’d jump on the bandwagon.
I have a sinking feeling that we are in the same position again today. Perhaps this time it will peter out. Let’s hope so. But even if it does, after the smoke has cleared (if it clears) we will have a middle east that is more unstable than it was a week ago. And despite the fact that the Bush administration has been instrumental in destabilizing it over these past few years the smart bet is that by a very tiny majority, the American people will once again look to the “strong” leadership of the GOP to handle the situation.
I’m beginning to believe that if there is a God, he is definitely a Republican. He seems to always provide for Karl at just the right moment. (Either that or Karl is a genius at turning lemons into lemonade.) I don’t know if he’s succeed this time. But look for the GOP rhetoric to start shifting to reflect the notion that the world needs the big tough Republicans to manage this dangerous situation. They will count on Americans reflexively accepting that premise as they have for the last thirty years. The question is whether the events of the last six might have made them wonder if that makes sense anymore.
Update: Billmon darkly analyzes the situation through the prism of oil politics — as only he can. Jesus Christ, what a mess.
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You Go First
by digby
Here’s one of those cases where moral authority really comes in handy:
President Bush told Lebanon’s leader on Friday that he would urge
Israel to limit civilian casualties as it steps up attacks on its neighbor, a promise that fell short of Beirut’s calls for a cease-fire.“President Bush affirmed his readiness to put pressure on Israel to limit the damage to Lebanon as a result of the current military action, and to spare civilians and innocent people from harm,” said a statement from Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora’s office
Too bad he doesn’t have any.
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Conservative Progression-Progression: What Causes What?
by poputonian
David Brooks’ starry-eyed wet dream (see Conservative Progression post below) reminds me more of the nexus between the French and Indian War, in which England kicked France out of North America, thus ostensibly gaining control of the North American booty, and its connection to the ensuing financial debacle, which led eventually to America’s founding. The consequences were at best contingencies as they played out, but the connections in retrospect are inextricable: the war led to the the ensuing financial disaster, which led to Britain’s coercion of the American colonies in an attempt to refill her treasury, which triggered America’s resistance, which led to the violence, which resulted in the founding of American Democracy.
So who picked up all the marbles? In Brooks’ analogy England would have, since they started the chain of causation. But in reality the result of the war led in part to England’s eventual decline.
So who or what is it that will rise out of the Conservative Progression-Progression? After they’ve destroyed America, it sure as hell won’t be lasting power for conservatives.
For a succinct look at America’s financial status, see this apt post by Mimikatz at The Next Hurrah.
But with economics as with everything else, Bush knows what he knows, and facts (especially the fact that the cumulative debt will almost certainly double on his watch) are only for sissies.
Going To School
by poputonian
I imagine Digby will have something to say about this later, but for now I would suggest reading this amazing guest post by BigTentDemocrat at TalkLeft.
What Barack Obama Needs To Learn From Richard Hofstadter, Abraham Lincoln and FDR
Very satisfying … better than coffee in the morning.