No Reality In Sight

The Bush Administration, led by the man in the Oval Office, is notorious for refusing to face reality. It is well known that President Bush and his inner circle are content to live in their own little fantasy world, where everything works properly and everyone loves us. (Of course, this gets an Orwellian makeover around election time, when the world is suddenly transformed into a mortal threat.) This goes a long way towards explaining Bush's poll numbers, which haven't seen the sunny side of 50% in months.

For anyone who reads the news and pays attention, it has been obvious for a very long time that our Iraq strategy of "stay the course" just isn't working. Our soldiers are getting slaughtered on a daily basis trying to keep the peace in a land where there is no peace. Indeed, American military commanders admit that we cannot even secure the capital city of Baghdad, much less the rest of the country.

Bush took to the cameras this morning for a rare press conference which was billed as a major announcement but which turned out to be - well, more of the same. No change in strategy, no realization that the (official) goal of a democratic Iraq is in ruins, no meaningful deviation from "stay the course." In fact, the only change of sorts is that Bush abandoned the macho "stay the course" slogan while continuing to embrace the disastrous "stay the course" mentality.

How typical for a White House which sees failing policies not as evidence that the policy needs to be changed, but rather that a new sales pitch is needed as the old one wasn't working.

He did claim that we "are constantly adjusting our tactics to stay ahead of our enemies." He did not, of course, mention that if the overall goal is unattainable and the strategy doesn't work, all the tactical adjustments in the world aren't going to make the slightest bit of difference.

In a very small concession to reality, he grudgingly admitted that "some of the Iraqi security forces have performed below expectations." In fact, the fledgling Iraqi army has been the source of many if not most of the sectarian death squads bringing so much killing and misery to the "wrong" Iraqis.

Overall, it was little more than the same stuff we've been hearing for years. "My administration will carefully consider any proposal that will help us achieve victory," Bush said. This appears on its face to be moderation, but here's the catch - he defines victory, so he defines anything that will help him "achieve victory." Anything that disagrees with his version of victory is by definition anti-victory and will therefore be ignored, just like all the other experts he brought in for photo ops and then tossed aside once their usefulness had been exhausted.

But let's face it - Bush's audience was not the soldiers he put in harm's way, nor their families, nor the Iraqi people. His audience was the American voting public, whom he is terrified will finally deprive him of his rubber stamp on Capitol Hill and replace it with a Congress which stands up to him for a change.

Never Mind What I Said

"Well, hey, listen, we've never been "stay the course," George. We have been - we will complete the mission, we will do our job, and help achieve the goal, but we’re constantly adjusting to tactics. Constantly."

-- President Bush, speaking to George Stephanopolous on ABC's This Week on October 22, 2006, claiming his Iraq War strategy has never been about "staying the course"

"We will stay the course."

-- President Bush, 8/30/06

"We will stay the course, we will complete the job in Iraq."

-- President Bush, 8/4/05

"We will stay the course until the job is done, Steve. And the temptation is to try to get the President or somebody to put a timetable on the definition of getting the job done. We're just going to stay the course."

-- President Bush, 12/15/03

"And my message today to those in Iraq is: We'll stay the course.

-- President Bush, 4/13/04

"And that's why we’re going to stay the course in Iraq. And that’s why when we say something in Iraq, we’re going to do it."

-- President Bush, 4/16/04

"And so we've got tough action in Iraq. But we will stay the course."

-- President Bush, 4/5/04

You Better Not Vote, Amigo

With Republican poll numbers rapidly heading south less than three weeks before Election Day, some GOP dirty tricksters are bringing out the mud buckets. Ohio gubernatorial candidate Ken Blackwell, for example, accused his Democratic opponent of supporting porn and pedophilia. You know, the usual nonsense. But a story out of California is pretty appalling.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Tan Nguyen, the long-shot GOP candidate for Rep. Loretta Sanchez's Congressional seat, mailed Spanish-language flyers to about 14,000 Democratic voters in Orange County with a not-so-subtle warning: "You are advised that if your residence in this country is illegal or you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that could result in jail time." (Emphasis added.)

Legal immigrants are, of course, allowed to vote.

Orange County's population is about 30% Hispanic, which reliably votes for Sanchez. The flyer was an incredibly crude attempt at suppressing the Democratic vote by scaring Hispanic voters away from the polls.

Nguyen, himself an immigrant from Vietnam, disowned the flyer once the story became public and claimed to have fired one of his staffers, saying he had no idea the mailing had taken place. He was promptly contradicted by, of all people, the chairman of the Orange County Republican Party.

"I've learned that Mr. Nguyen was involved in expediting that mailer," Scott Baugh was quoted as saying. "I've had conversations with the attorney general and folks involved with the mail house. He called the mail house himself and told them to expedite the mailing."

Facing pressure from the GOP to drop out of the race, Nguyen has not said whether he will stay on the ballot. But it seems pretty academic at this point. Another Republican candidate has been caught red-handed trying to pull a fast one on the voters. He should quit now.

Swift Injustice

A few years ago, Salim Ahmed Hamdan was arrested in Afghanistan, accused of being Osama bin Laden's driver, declared to be an "enemy combatant" and blocked off from appealing his detention in the American court system. Hamdan was appointed a military lawyer, Lieutenant Commander Charles Swift, a Navy officer for twenty years and a Judge Advocate General lawyer for more than a decade.

When he got the job, Swift's superiors informed him that he was expected to throw the case. Never mind actually defending Hamdan, just get him to plead guilty at his show trial and make an example of him.

"I was deeply troubled by the fact that to ensure that Mr. Hamdan would plead guilty as planned," Swift testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in June 2005, "the Chief Prosecutor's request [for Swift's assignment as Hamdan's attorney] came with a critical condition that the Defense Counsel was for the limited purpose of 'negotiating a guilty plea' to an unspecified offense and that Mr. Hamdan's access to counsel was conditioned on his willingness to negotiate such a plea."

Swift, however, had a different view, taking seriously his oath to provide his client with a "zealous defense." He proceeded to do just that, defending Hamdan all the way up to the Supreme Court. In June, the Court ruled that the Administration did not have the right to bar Hamdan from the American justice system nor to try suspects before what were widely regarded as military kangaroo courts.

One would think that a lawyer as good and effective as Swift would go far in his military career. Unfortunately, that did not happen.

Proving once again that in the topsy-turvy world of the Bush Administration no good deed goes unpunished, reaction from the Pentagon brass was quick. Less than two weeks after the Supreme Court ruled in his client's favor, Swift was informed that under the Navy's "up or out" rule, he was being denied promotion and was therefore being kicked out of the military.

That's right, he was punished for winning his case.

Whoever made the decision to ruin Swift's military career, whether it was Defense Secretary Rumsfeld or an approval-seeking underling, not only punished Swift. They also punished the military and the country. Any system which rewards toadying mediocrity while penalizing those who do the right thing despite orders from above is a dangerously unjust one.

What an Incredible Coincidence

The Republicans are now so far down in the polls that they rank just above the Black Death. Poll after poll says the American people think the party in power is living in a dream world and has no idea what real life on Planet Earth is all about. The question is not whether the Democrats will wipe the floor with the GOP in next month's elections, but how hard the wiping will be. GOP insiders outside the White House bubble of unreality have pretty much conceded that they will lose control of the House, but still retain some hope of holding on to the Senate.

In the long sad saga of the Iraq War, Bush has gotten minor poll bounces out of such "milestone" events as the capture of Saddam Hussein, the "handover of sovereignty," the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and others. Of course, such bounces are quickly extinguished as reality sets in, but they still exist for a few days.

It therefore seems just a touch too coincidental that our puppet government in Iraq has announced that the verdict in Saddam's long-running trial will be revealed on Sunday, November 5 -- just two days before the midterm elections. Nobody seriously doubts that Saddam will be convicted and sentenced to death.

To this, I have three reactions:

1. A helpless here-we-go-again feeling that once again, the White House is attempting to distract our attention with yet another well-timed "milestone" which is utterly meaningless except in its short-term political impact.
2. An even more helpless feeling that even after all the lies, deceptions, political manipulation, etc, people will still be fooled into thinking the GOP is a can-do party that gets things right.
3. A distinctly disgusted feeling that Bush et al have such a low opinion of us, seeing the American people as so bovinely stupid that the same dishonest scams will work again and again.

Of course, there's always the possibility that the same people who were tricked in 2004 realize how the Republicans played them for suckers and are determined not to get conned again. But I always remember H.L. Mencken's immortal observation that "nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people."

It remains to be seen what impact such a transparently political event will have on the voting public. I hope that we, as a nation, are smarter than to be deceived once again.

Those White House Seances Are Channeling the Wrong President

"I said we gotta win. He [Democratic challenger Jon Tester] wants to pull out. He wants everybody to know our plan. That's not smart. If you had a plan in order to win are you gonna tell the enemy? He's not — the enemy’s not gonna tell us! That is absolutely unbelievable that anyone would take that approach! He says our president don't have a plan. I think he’s got one. But he's not gonna tell everybody in the whole world. And if you wanna go out and spar for a fight or you gonna tell your enemy what your plan is? I don't think so. And that's the way we'll win it, because we want to win it."

-- Senator Conrad Burns (R-MT) insisting that President Bush has a secret plan to win the Iraq War, echoing Richard Nixon's 1968 equally fraudulent claim that he had a secret plan to win the Vietnam War

Homey Don't Play That

Black Man #1: "If you make a little mistake with one of your ho's, you'll want to dispose of that problem tout suite, no questions asked."

Black Man #2: "That's too cold. I don't snuff my own seed."

Black Man #1: "Maybe you do have a reason to vote Republican."

-- A Republican radio ad trying to convince black voters to vote for anti-abortion GOP candidates

This From a Man Who Demonstrates Dishonesty, Cowardice, Lying and Jingoism

"By demonstrating values such as integrity, courage, honesty, and patriotism, all Americans can help our children develop strength and character."

-- President Bush, declaring October 15-21, 2006 to be "National Character Counts Week"

How About "Actually Making Progress and Not Having Our Soldiers Killed Endlessly?"

"I don't know. How do you define 'winning?'"

-- White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, responding to a reporter who asked "are we winning" in Iraq

It's Almost At the Point Where You Can Drive Down the Street in Only One Tank

"Well, I think there's some natural level of concern out there because in fact, you know, [the Iraq War] wasn't over instantaneously... If you look at the general overall situation, they're doing remarkably well."

-- Vice President Dick Cheney insisting on Rush Limbaugh's radio show that the Iraq War is going just fine, neglecting to mention that (a) the war has now lasted almost as long as World War II, and (b) it's a disaster over there

So a Vote Against Me Is a Vote for Satan

"God then called me to run for the United States Congress, and I thought 'What in the world will that be for?' and my husband said 'You need to do this,' and I wasn't so sure, and we took 3 days and we fasted and we prayed and we said, 'Lord. Is this what you want? Is this your will?' and after long about the afternoon of day two, he made that calling sure."

-- GOP Congressional candidate Michelle Bachmann on why she's running for election

"Inexplicably Upbeat"

There must be something in the water at the White House. The Administration's poll numbers are stuck in the cellar, GOP candidates are refusing to have party bigwigs appear at fundraisers, the Republicans are beset by scandal left and right - but according to the Washington Post President Bush and Karl Rove are "inexplicably upbeat." Indeed, the same White House that refused to plan for Iraq, Katrina, etc, has refused to plan for a Democratic-controlled Congress, insisting that everything will be just fine.

I can think of three possible explanations:

1. Bush et al are so insulated from reality, so happy in their fantasy world, that the possibility of an electoral defeat next month literally has not crossed their minds. Given this Administration's track record of delusion and wishful thinking, this one seems the most obvious.
   
2. A rally-round-the-flag military attack on Iran is in the works. This may not be so farfetched; the battle group commanded by the aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower was sent to the Persian Gulf ahead of schedule earlier this month, and Rove bragged to GOP insiders in September that an "October surprise" was on deck to happen before the elections.
3. With electronic voting systems now in place in most electoral districts, the possibility of hacking the vote (officially or otherwise) is scaring the tar out of a lot of computer-security experts. Especially in close races, some carefully aimed shenanigans could keep the GOP in control of the House.

Wait and see, I suppose...

The Liberation of Death

Three and a half years after the Great Liberation, the death toll in Iraq mounts daily. Fifteen killed in a car bombing here, twenty-five dragged off a bus and slaughtered there. Meanwhile, sixty corpses are found somewhere else, be it a construction site or a river. The streets of Baghdad have become almost unfit for human habitation due to lack of electricity, running water and now even waste collection. You see, garbage collectors are refusing to go to work, sensibly afraid of being killed for picking up the trash. Sunnis and Shiites massacre each other by the thousands all over the country, producing new religious enclaves by driving out or simply killing anyone from the "wrong" branch of Islam.

Meanwhile, the British medical journal The Lancet, which a couple of years ago claimed 100,000 civilians had been killed in the Iraq War, has now published a peer-reviewed study giving a rough estimate of 655,000 casualties. With a total Iraqi population of about 26 million, that works out to just over 2.5%, or one out of forty.

Just to give you an idea of scale, the United States' population is just now passing the 300 million mark. A 2.5% death toll for the US would mean about seven and a half million dead (give or take a few tens of thousands), or more than 2500 times the death toll on 9/11.

Think about that. Two thousand, five hundred 9/11s, one right on top of the other.

The number is simply too large for the mind to process.

Of course, the White House promptly attacked the study as "not credible," and indeed the death toll might not be that high - the study was based on representative sampling and not on a comprehensive death count. (It certainly doesn't help that the US government refuses to compile civilian casualty counts, and ordered the Iraqi government to refrain as well.) But no one can deny that this war and occupation, which was originally sold to us as a war of liberation, has gone horrifically wrong, producing for the people of Iraq a liberation of death.

President Bush, secure within his bubble, manfully proclaims that we shall "stay the course" in Iraq. Vice President Cheney, defying all logic and indeed common sense, stubbornly declares that even if he had known all that was to happen (no WMDs, stunning corruption, civil war, ethnic cleansing, etc) he wouldn't change a thing. This is not steely resolve, this is catastrophically inept arrogance.

In an attempt to buy some favorable coverage for a change, the White House some months ago allowed the creation of the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan panel headed by veteran diplomat and Bush family friend James Baker III. The report, now almost complete but to be released only after next month's elections, is expected to conclude that victory is no longer a viable option. Indeed, the only realistic options now are:

1. Concentrate on fortifying Baghdad while negotiating a peace with the insurgents
2. Withdraw American troops entirely and let the Iraqis fight it out

Neither option is likely to be welcomed in the Oval Office, where Bush claims that minor changes to tactics might be considered but changes in the overall strategy or goals are unacceptable. Then again, the ISG represents a voice of reason, something long ignored by the Bush Administration. Will they receive the brush-off as well?

Thirty Days Hath February

"This morning my administration released the budget numbers for fiscal 2006. These budget numbers are not just estimates; these are the actual results for the fiscal year that ended February the 30th."

-- President Bush, demonstrating that in his fantasy world in which Iraq is a huge success and everything is just peachy, the calendar is different as well

It's Really Not That Bad When You Consider the Alternative

"I know the speaker didn't go over a bridge and leave a young person in the water, and then have a press conference the next day...Dennis Hastert didn't kill anybody."

-- Representative Chris Shays (R-CT) attempting to deflect attention from the Congressional-page pedophilia scandal by attacking Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) over his fatal car accident at Chappaquiddick almost forty years ago

The Foley Fiasco

It seems just too good to be true - a Congressman caught exchanging some highly salacious and quite inappropriate E-mails with teenage pages. And he made a name for himself loudly denouncing the very sort of behavior in which he engaged. And the House leadership knew of his, er, activities long before it became public but kept it quiet, not only from the authorities but also from other Congressmen on the Page Board, which oversees the page program.

Once the story broke and it became clear that he had protected Mark Foley for months if not years, House Speaker Dennis Hastert floundered about, blaming everyone except himself. The Democrats did it! George Soros did it! ABC News did it! Matt Drudge floated the theory that the pages themselves had conspired to trap Foley, and Newt Gingrich actually claimed that Foley had been allowed to get away with it for as long as he did because the GOP leadership didn't want to be accused of gay-bashing.

It all adds up to the best free entertainment in town, with more acrobatics than Cirque de Soleil.

Not to be outdone, Fox News promptly dredged up the tale of one Gerry Studds, a Congressman who actually slept with a page. Of course, the story was from a quarter-century ago, and Studds was most definitely not protected by the leadership, but hey, who cares? Sex is sex.

The fiasco has demolished the GOP's standing in the polls. Voters are deserting the party in droves, from "security moms" dismayed at how the party has made a hash of the War on Terror to evangelical "values voters" disgusted that the leadership shielded a known stalker purely for political reasons. Current projections have the GOP losing as many as thirty House seats in next month's midterm elections, with significant hits in the Senate as well.

Life is sweet.