Bush Expresses 'Deep Disgust'--Admits to Being 'A Bit Turned On'--Over Abuse of Iraqi Prisoners

WASHINGTON, April 30 — President Bush expressed revulsion--and a shiver of titillation--today over photographs strengthening reports that some United States soldiers had abused and humiliated Iraqi prisoners. He said that the soldiers responsible would be punished, and that such conduct did not reflect the values of the American military or the American people. He added that such conduct did reflect the values of his own fraternity days, when such abuse and himiliation was considered "a test of manhood, as well as a heck of a good time."

So Terry Neal of the WaPo tells us that "There's a lot of talk this week in Washington" about the "concerning" problem of the lily-white Kerry campaign, and how they'd better get a swift color-injection "before a damaging perception is created among Democratic voters."

Weird thing is, aside from the "lot of talk" about the "damaging perception," it's damn hard to find mention of any actual person who has showed "signs of concern."

In the last couple of weeks, several news reports have examined this subject, beginning with CNN’s Carlos Watson, who wrote on CNN.com recently that "this year President Bush may argue that his administration is more diverse at senior levels than John Kerry's would be."

Although it's unclear whether or not "CNN’s Carlos Watson" is a minority--and thus counts as someone showing "signs of concern"--it is clear what the response to this "argument" would be, were it to be made: "BRING IT ON" (followed up by an enormous bag of horseshit hurled in the direction of Condoleezza Rice).

Last weekend, The Washington Post's Colbert I. King wrote in his column that Kerry "has an innermost circle of advisers that is practically as white as the driven snow."

That's a keen perception on the part of Colbert I. King--except that Neal's article is filled with instances of senior members of the Kerry campaign--black senior members--calling Neal to correct this "perception."

The Associated Press also moved a story on the wires Thursday about the perceived lack of color at the top of the Kerry campaign.

Once again--"perceived"--but by whom? Don't you need to answer the "by whom" to know whether anyone should possibly give two shits about the "perception"? So finally Neal gives us two concrete instances:

The AP story quoted, among others, Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) saying: "I am concerned about diversity, but more importantly I am concerned about the experience in that diversity -- senior policy people who know people from one end of the country to the other...The senator should remedy this very quickly."

OK, fine--Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) is "concerned." And--

Raul Yzaguirre, president of the National Council of La Raza, sent a letter to Kerry chastising him for having few Latinos in senior positions and relegating most to "outreach" roles.

Indeed--Raul Yzaguirre, president of the National Council of La Raza, is "concerned"--or at least concerned enough to "chasten" Kerry.

So maybe the title of this article should have been "Jackson and Yzaguirre Show Signs of Concern."

One might also recall that Al Gore's 2000 campaign was a shitty fucking campaign. Not because of or despite the fact that Gore had a prominent black campaign manager--but simply because it was a shitty fucking campaign.

Still, Donna Brazile is left with the only valid point in this entire worthless article:

"This is not a question of how many people are in the room, on the phone calls or on the bus," she said. "The issue is, what is the plan to inspire, motivate and turn out record numbers of Democratic voters in the fall. And the plan must have the significant input and support of those whose votes are needed to ensure a Democratic victory this fall."

Indeed. How about going out into the country and asking black and Latino voters what they think of George Bush and whether or not they plan to vote for John Kerry? Are these puffed-up chatterbox "signs of concern" at all relevant to what's really happening on the ground--the biggest and most intense get-out-the-vote effort in black and Latino communities, like, ever? Does Neal quote anybody who actually speaks to, and hears from, these communities?

As Neal himself says, "Whatever."

From the L.A. Times:

These days, Stern's broadcasts are divided between his usual schtick — interviews with strippers, off-color song parodies, jokes about celebrities — and rants against the president. Stern will never be mistaken for a policy wonk, but tune in to his show and you'll hear him cogently attacking administration positions on an impressive range of issues: stem-cell research, abortion rights, gay marriage, media consolidation, the handling of Iraq.

Meanwhile, Stern's revamped website looks more like Mother Jones magazine than Maxim: It features articles about the administration's trade violations in Myanmar and includes a link to the contributions page of the John Kerry for President site. Indeed, Stern has become an ardent Kerry advocate. "I call on all fans of the show to vote against Bush," he said on a recent broadcast. "We're going to deliver the White House to John Kerry."

Some might dismiss this as bluster, but Stern's words should send a shiver up Karl Rove's spine. Stern has a record of successful election-year activism; political observers in New York and New Jersey remember how his on-air endorsements delivered key votes to George Pataki and Christine Todd Whitman in past gubernatorial races.

What's more, although Stern's approximately 8.5 million listeners are often dismissed as overgrown frat boys, they might more accurately be called swing voters. They are overwhelmingly white and male, many are well educated and well off, and they vote. And millions of them listen to Stern's show in battleground states — Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Missouri, Tennessee, Florida — where the election will be decided.

By all indications, Stern's message is getting through. Since the FCC crackdown, his ratings have been going up. For example, Arbitron says he's now No. 1 in Los Angeles in the 25-to-54 age group, a spot he last occupied in 1995. And among entertainer websites, his was rated second (behind Oprah's) in mid-April.

Fucking unbelievable.

"If we had something to hide, we wouldn't have met with them in the first place," Bush said. "We answered all their questions. . . . I think it was important for them to see our body language, as well, how we work together."

Uh, right. Remember the body language?

[Sigh. Vomit. Incontinence-out-of-rage.]

Has Atrios taken a page from AmCop with this recent post?:

Kaus - Sleeps With Goats

In my eyes, I have to say, it's likely that it's true. Any claims by Kaus to not have carnal knowledge of goats will just be more evidence that the man is a liar.

Karen Hughes, Dick Cheney, Mickey Kaus...lots o' fun going on out there.

Sen. John McCain has been joined by his imaginary war-buddy "Schizy," his illegitimate black child, and his secret gay lover, in stumping for President Bush in New Hampshire.

(Hey, it's all just "politics," right?)

The subject of (part of?) Brian Lehrer's morning WNYC show today was the matter of why all those conspiracy theories about Bin Laden family members and other Saudi bigwigs being flown out of the U.S. in the immediate aftermath of 9-11, have such strange persistence.

His guest was Mark Hosenball of Newsweek, who pointed out that these types of conspiracy theories tend to be based on tautologies. He then explained that powerful Saudi nationals got special treatment after 9-11 because powerful Saudi nationals get special treatment. (At least one caller remarked on how this didn't seem to her to constitute "investigative journalism."

Brian's Blog, however, features this excerpt from 9-11 Commission staff report #10:

National air space was closed on September 11. Fearing reprisals against Saudi nationals, the Saudi government asked for help in getting some of its citizens out of the country. We have not yet identified who they contacted for help. But we have found that the request came to the attention of Richard Clarke and that each of the flights we have studied was investigated by the FBI and dealt with in a professional manner prior to its departure.

No commercial planes, including chartered flights, were permitted to fly into, out of, or within the United States until September 13, 2001. After the airspace reopened, six chartered flights with 142 people, mostly Saudi Arabian nationals, departed from the United States between September 14 and 24. One flight, the so-called Bin Ladin flight, departed the United States on September 20 with 26 passengers, most of them relatives of Usama Bin Ladin. We have found no credible evidence that any chartered flights of Saudi Arabian nationals departed the United States before the reopening of national airspace.

This seems to contradict pretty much everything I've heard so far on this matter, including various timelines, etc. Anyone know what to make of this? Is Mark Hosenball right? Is Lehrer really a warrior for the truth?

UPDATE: Can anyone actually be named Mark Hosenball?

Dawkins writes:

AmCoppers! Take your places on the barricade with those fighting to liberate the nation!

The Times says:

Given the White House's concern for portraying Mr. Bush as a strong leader, it's remarkable that this critical appearance is being structured in a way that is certain to provide fodder for late-night comedians, who enjoy depicting him as the docile puppet of his vice president.

The people say:

ABC News/Washington Post Poll. Feb. 10-11 , 2004. N= 1,003 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3. Fieldwork by TNS Intersearch.

"Please tell me whether the following statement applies to Bush or not. . . ."

"He is a strong leader "

2/04
Applies 61
Does Not 38

Oh well. By the way, the American people also say:

73. As far as you know, about how many U.S. military personnel have beenkilled in Iraq since the war began?

100-499 23
500-699 22
700-799 12
800-999 6
1000-2999 10
more 4
DK/NA 23

That's right--only 12% of Americans are able to answer the question "about how many U.S. military personnel have been killed in Iraq since the war began?" correctly (this question is from the new Times/CBS poll linked below). 45% are mistakenly underestimating. Still 58% say the loss of lives and other costs has not been worth it.

Support for War Is Down Sharply, Poll Concludes

Asked whether the United States had done the right thing in taking military action against Iraq, 47 percent of respondents said it had, down from 58 percent a month earlier and 63 percent in December, just after American forces captured Saddam Hussein. Forty-six percent said the United States should have stayed out of Iraq, up from 37 percent last month and 31 percent in December.

[Bush's approval rating] now stands at 46 percent, the lowest level of his presidency in The Times/CBS News Poll, down from 71 percent last March and a high of 89 percent just after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

Mr. Bush's approval rating for his handling of Iraq was 41 percent, down from 49 percent last month and 59 percent in December.

Asked whether the results of the war with Iraq were worth the loss of American lives and other costs, 33 percent of respondents said it was worth it. That was down from 37 percent at the beginning of April and 44 percent in December. Fifty-eight percent said it was not worth it, up from 54 percent at the start of the month and 49 percent in December.

At a time when American troops are engaged in fierce battles in Najaf and Falluja, two centers of the Iraqi insurgency, the poll found that 46 percent of Americans thought the United States military should remain in Iraq for as long as it takes to create a stable democracy, even if it takes a long time, and 46 percent said the United States should withdraw as soon as possible.

American perceptions of Iraqis have also shifted, the poll found. While 53 percent of Americans in a CBS News poll a year ago saw Iraqis as grateful for getting rid of Mr. Hussein, 38 percent see Iraqis feeling that way now. Forty-eight percent now view the Iraqis as resentful, up from 26 percent a year ago.

If the election were held today, 46 percent of registered voters would vote for Mr. Kerry and 44 percent for Mr. Bush, the poll found. With Mr. Nader in the race, Mr. Bush would get 43 percent, Mr. Kerry 41 percent and Mr. Nader 5 percent, suggesting that nearly all of Mr. Nader's support comes from voters who would otherwise back the Democrat.

speakingcorpse writes:

Just look at the proposed flag of the new Iraq. Featuring horizontal blue bars and a nice blue crescent. EVERY other of the 20 or so Arab flags features green and black for Islam, and red for Arab nationalism. But the new Iraq, the only Arab country occupied by the U.S., gets a special flag--just check out the design here. And don't--I'm speaking to all of you friends of Israel that appear to read AmCop regularly--tell me that I'm being paranoid and anti-Semitic. Just look at the fucking flag. You can say, conservatively, that proposing this flag for our New Iraqi Protectorate was profoundly stupid. That's obvious enough. But it's also indicative of something. It starts with this New York Times graphic illustrating the connections between the various members of the so-called "Office of Special Plans" in the so-called "Defense Intelligence Agency" (the office designed to cook up Iraq-Osama bomb-death-nucular-crucifixion scenarios).

It all goes through Perle (look at the graphic). Now remember the astonishing post by Juan Cole recently linked by Blicero. Cole points out that Feith, the head of the Office of Special Plans, is co-partner in a Jerusalem law firm headed by a West Bank settler. And who else works in the firm but Ahmed Chalabi's nephew, spokesman of the tribunal judging Saddam! Cole notes that Perle is still saying we should just turn Iraq over to Chalabi. Why does Perle love Chalabi? Well--it couldn't have something to do with his business and family ties to powerful West Bank settlers could it?

What's my point? It's very simple. Perle and his friends in the Office of Special Plans have helped to oversee this disaster. And Perle and his friends thought easy victory was possible because they believed (and still do!) that all we need to do is just find some "friendly Arabs" like Ahmad Chalabi and install them in power in Arab countries, and then we'll be all set. All the other Arabs are benighted and misled, but Chalabi and his nephew and their buddies are good guys. And why are they good? Because they make money by working with right-wing Israelis.

I'm not outlining a conspiracy. I'm outlining a mindset, the mindset of a few people who, as the graphic indicates, are connected to Perle and have a disproportionate influence on the brain-damaged asshole-birth Bush. The mindset is: Arabs are unreasonable and crazy, as is best evidenced by their hatred of Israel, which has no basis in reality (for there were and are no Palestinians in the lands settled by the Jewish immigrants and refugees over the course of the last century); but we can re-educate the Arabs by installing in power nice and reasonable Arabs like Ahmad Chalabi and his nephew, who are obviously not consumed with anti-Semitism--for they happily work with West Bank settlers! And the flag is evidence of the fact that the mindset is still shaping policy and perception. Once we get in there and assert ourselves, the Arabs will come to reason, and then we'll have millions of new friends of Israel! Just look at the fucking flag! It's not even sinister. It's pathetic. It's like watching a small child accidentally knock down a house made of building-blocks.

Mr. Specter told weary supporters in a hotel ballroom here shortly before 1 a.m. Wednesday, "Now is the time, having settled our family disagreement within the Republican Party, to unite, to re-elect President Bush, to maintain the Republican majority in the United States Senate."

Mr. Toomey conceded defeat and urged his supporters to unite behind the Republican ticket.

"I intend to do everything I possibly can to help both President Bush and Senator Specter be re-elected, and I urge you all to do that as well," Mr. Toomey said in Allentown.

No point in disrupting what promises to be a fantastic continuing show. Certainly John McCain, Richard Lugar, Chuck Hagel (not to mention Michael Bloomberg), and every other Republican we deluded Democrats sometimes mistake for having a human soul, will join the effort full force, doing their own small part in propelling the U.S. onward toward true one-party apocalyptic fascism.

Toomey down! To November!!

AmCop has found that Vice President Cheney rapes babies after murdering them.



Gentle reader, we ask: Is there any difference between this statement:

Vice President Dick Cheney called Mr. Kerry unfit to lead the nation.

and this one?

Vice President Dick Cheney rapes babies after murdering them.

Is there? I don't know what else to say about this.

I watched Kerry throw his war decorations

By Thomas Oliphant
April 27, 2004

ON THE WAY to the fence where he threw some of his military decorations 33 years ago, I was 4 or 5 feet behind John Kerry.

Full facts, in all their simplicity.

After three weeks of fighting between American marines and insurgents, a soccer stadium has become known as the Falluja Martyrs Cemetery.

The Iraqi Ministry of Health has tried to piece together the number of Iraqis killed in the fighting, in which American forces have used warplanes, attack helicopters and tanks against the mortars and rocket-propelled grenades and machine-gun fire of the guerrillas.

The ministry said that 271 people had been killed since the start of the offensive on April 5. Local doctors quoted by news agencies have given figures more than double that.

Judging by the littered cemetery grounds, bodies had been brought here from hospitals or ambulance medics. Rubber surgical gloves and masks had been tossed amid the graves. Boxes of incense lay spent and discarded, and dried palm fronds were stuck into the dirt of the mounded plots.

More room was being made for future casualties between the goal posts of the large soccer pitch in the center of the stadium, where the turf had been tilled with rows of trenches deep enough to stand in.

"There are still a lot of bodies out there," said Hamza. "But we can't get them because of the fighting."

Full story.

Giuseppe Abote writes:

Brooks talks about the whites residing in the non-coastal USA almost as though they were an indigenous people. So spiritual! So simple! So refreshingly candid and plain-spoken! We elites ought to be lashed for not being one of them! But of course, what Brooks (and Fineman et. al.) leave out is the fact that no such people really exist out there in the Midwest, that the whole thing is a figment of the elitist imagination. Or, better put, the whole story is a product of the imaginations of people who wish they were bona fide members of an elite group but know in their hearts that they don't belong and never will, probably because they are too stupid. So they clumsily unite themselves with a fictive non-elite "heartland" that "we elites" allegedly disdain--and the purpose of all of this is just so they can say "we elites," "we elites," "we elites" as though they actually belonged in the first place.

My son's gonna blow up some terrorists when he's old enough to be drafted!

Dear Shit-sucker,

The point of your latest hell-ticket is that "we in the Washington political class" should not have been mucking about with--oh, with politics--these past few weeks, since haven't ya heard, there's a war on? Of course, everyone is familiar by now with your laughably dishonest use of the "we" (i.e., including yourself in the political class you chastise, in an apparently playful act of smirking self-flagellation). "Salad-course solons"! Ha! "Klieg Light Kierkegaards"! Brooks, you sly dog. "Capital Clios"! Only a red-blooded Everyman like yourself would have the decency to poke fun at "your" own profession, right?

So what has the "political class" been "kibitzing" about lately in its "decadent triviality pit"? Oh, you know: the president and his entire cabinet LYING about the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, LYING about the buildup to the Iraq war, CRIMINALLY MISUSING funds appropriated for the eminently more important (for our national security) war in Afghanistan, and possibly PERJURING themselves before the 9/11 commission.

Don't look, people--nothing going on over there.

Meanwhile out in the world, the American people have decided they at least are going to be serious. While we capital Clios are lost in the quagmires of ostentatious parlor game parallelism (Is Iraq Vietnam or the intifada? Is 2004 1920 all over again?), many Americans have decided that it's time to persevere and win.

So, Brooks--while "out there, in the world, the American people" have been "deciding" "that it's time to persevere and win" (apparently by trusting Jesus and President Bush, rather than splashing around in the decadent frou-frou of actual news information)--what have you been writing about? Let's take a look:

April 24, 2004
"The Columbine Killers," about how Eric Harris was a would-be "Nietzschean Superman" suffering from "way too much self-esteem," who fantasized about flying planes into Manhattan, just like the Islamic terrorists who really did.

April 20, 2004
"Clearing the Air," about how Democrat obstructionists are interfering with President Bush's not-really-that-bad-when-you-think-about-it environmental record.

April 10, 2004
"Take a Deep Breath," in which you excoriate the "Chicken Littles" ranting on and on about the uprising in Iraq, and advise everybody to just "calm down a bit."

April 6, 2004
"Fly the Partisan Skies," a light satirical piece casting the two political parties as competing commercial airlines.

March 30, 2004
"Stressed For Success?," about how today's youth shouldn't get so worked up about the phony college admissions process, since President Bush as proven that intellectual merit and educational striving aren't important to "success."

March 27, 2004
"See Dick Spin," about how Richard Clarke is a lying pederast.

March 23, 2004
"One Nation, Enriched by Biblical Wisdom," about how racist, godless liberals must acknowledge that the civil rights movement was actually a conservative juggernaut paving the glorious way for Reagan and God.

March 16, 2004
"Al Qaeda's Wish List," about how the Spaniards are appeasers, and how pro-Kerry Americans ought to vote Bush if Bush's homeland security policy fails to prevent another major U.S. attack.

February 10, 2004
"Bush on Bush, Take 2," about your telepathic empathies with Bush's sense of his divine mission to bring freedom to the world, which he can't articulate himself because he can't speak, even though he was educated at Yale.

So, thanks for your work, Brooks. But alas, it must come to an end. You, like the American people, have finally decided that you "at least are going to be serious." I assume that, in renouncing your role as a member of the chattering classes, you will show some clear resolve, immediately resign from The New York Times and turn all of your energies to persevering and winning.

Eat your own shit and "win,"

Blicero

Karen Hughes fucks horses.



AmCop has learned that Karen Hughes, soccer mom, level-headed advisor to the President, fucks horses.

Developing...

Update:

"I think after September 11, the American people are valuing life more and realizing that we need policies to value the dignity and worth of every life,'' Hughes said.

"And I think those are the kind of policies that the American people can support, particularly at a time when we're facing an enemy, and really the fundamental difference between us and the terror network we fight is that we value every life,'' Hughes said.

The Kerry campaign is making a big push for donations to the DNC (an entity distinct from the Kerry campaign). They do stuff nationally. All over the place. Coordinating and shit. Let's give a few bucks:

The Democratic National Committee is helping harness the political energy that's going to defeat George W. Bush in November. The Party is already putting field staff on the ground in key states to prepare the phone banks, the volunteer programs, the local media campaigns, and the voter drives that will make the difference in this election.

To continue these efforts the DNC needs your support -- click here to help prepare our Party for victory:

https://www.democrats.org/support/kerry.html

Dawkins writes:

I sent this today at 2:30pm. You too can tell ABCNEWS.com what you think at:

http://abcnews.go.com/service/Help/abccontactform.html

Subject: John Kerry the liar

Dear ABCNEWS.com:

Today on the main page of your site, you suggest that John Kerry has lied. Now that I’ve seen your headline, and trust your news-gathering work, without even reading the article, I understand that John Kerry may indeed be a liar.

“Medal Dispute
EXCLUSIVE
Did Kerry lie about Vietnam War medals?”

Having used the “liar” epithet so generously, will you now apply it to George W. Bush, who has lied, and continues to lie, to the American public with great regularity?

I know I can depend on your journalism to always be fair and balanced.

Thanks.

Dawkins

Update from Josh Marshall:

Late Update : As of 2:54 PM, the headline now reads: "Medal Dispute, EXCLUSIVE: Why did Kerry change story about Vietnam medals?

That, and why did ABC change its headline?

MoveOn writes:

Now, the Republican National Committee and the Bush/Cheney campaign are pushing a story that John Kerry was not injured badly enough in Vietnam to deserve one of his three Purple Hearts. Given the gaping holes in Bush's own record of service, the attack is absurd. But if the Bush campaign wants to raise this debate, we're happy to oblige.

Today, we're launching a new 60-second ad that compares Kerry's record of courageous service in Vietnam with Bush's early departure from the National Guard. The ad concludes: "This election is about character. It's between John Kerry, who left no man behind… and George W. Bush, who simply left." This is the first ad since the launch of our 50 for the Future campaign, and we need your help to get it on the air.

Watch the ad and contribute now.

I watched the ad and liked it, so I gave MoveOn $15 through their secure online form so that this ad will get shown on TVs around the country.

Check out No Mind's "Fighting Words" comic series here and keep up the "fight."