Toronto gay pride, biggest ever

Note to the religious right hate groups: You can't stop Christmas from coming. Read More......

Bush-Cheney now trying to shut GOP Senator Hagel up

And how are they doing it? By, of course, lying and saying that Hagel didn't believe we could win in Afghanistan. First, totally irrelevant to Iraq. But more importantly, Hegel never said that - he said we were winning in Afghanistan.

But Bush-Cheney have to discredit Hagel like they did Durbin and like they're doing with every other American who's figured out that this war is a disaster. So, they lie. Read More......

Bush is going to use military to prop up his Tuesday night speech

Good God, does this White House know any shame?

They're going to use a US military base as the backdrop for Bush's speech to the nation Tuesday night. The TV stations shouldn't even cover it. This is just one more disgusting display of crassness by an administration who couldn't care less about our armed forces, unless they're needed for a photo op.

Hey, our servicemembers are dying over in Iraq because Bush hasn't even given them the equipment they need, because they're fighting a war based on a lie, and because Bush has given them no war plan at all, but what does all that matter, so long as Bush can use them as props to help boost his poll numbers.

Now who has contempt for our troops? I don't know how military guys can even stand Bush as their commander in chief. At some pooint they're going to realize that they and their buddies are dying because this man doesn't give a damn about them. Read More......

33 die in new attacks in Iraq

I think I get the exit strategy now. We're just going to wait until everyone in the country is dead. Read More......

More than 250,000 people expected at Houston pride

Jesus. In Houston. Over a quarter of a million. Jesus. Read More......

Sunday Afternoon Open Thread

Have we invaded anyone new while I've been out?

Read More......

Rummy: the Problem in Iraq is foreigners....

From Today's Meet the Press:

MR. RUSSERT: I think the concern that many people have is that if we were wrong or misjudged that, are we making some other misjudgments now? This is how The Washington Times reported in exchange before the hearings. "[Sen. Carl] Levin asked whether the general thought the insurgency was in its `last throes,' as Mr. Cheney said ... last month. `In terms of the overall strength of the insurgency, I'd say it was the same as it was' six months ago, Gen. [John] Abizaid replied."

For the sake of clarity for the American people, what about this insurgency? Is it in its last throes or is it alive and well and vibrant and strong as it was six months ago?

SEC'Y RUMSFELD: Well, there are various ways to measure it. If you measure the number of incidents, it's gone up during the election period and now it's back down. If you look at lethality of those instances, it's up. Now, what does that mean? Does it mean that the insurgency's stronger? Is it in its last throes? The last throes could be violence, as you well know from a dictionary standpoint. I think the way to think of it is that the insurgents are foreigners in some significant number. They are attacking Iraqis and killing them...

Bad foreigners, bad.

So, besides the whole semantics game about "last throes" and their complete inability to be honest, do the Bush people really not get that the US are foreigners who invaded Iraq first? Um, isn't that what got this whole quagmire started -- when Iraq was invaded by foreigners from America who were killing Iraqis. As it stands now, the trouble is that there is an insurgency, of mostly foreigners, who are fighting foreign invaders. Bush and Rumsfeld don't seem to grasp that we are considered foreign invaders, too. Read More......

OPen thread

Off to enjoy the day. (Man, I thought that last post from Joe was "Last throes of a bitch" - and I thought, wow, he must be pissed!) Read More......

Last Throes are a bitch

More last throes in Iraq via AP:

A suicide bomber with explosives hidden beneath watermelons in a pickup truck slammed into a police station near a market Sunday in Mosul, the first of three bombings that killed at least 33 people and wounded 19 in the northwestern city.

Attacks elsewhere killed at least five other people in Iraq, including a roadside bomb that killed a U.S. soldier and wounded two others in central Baghdad.

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General Abizaid is a liar

You'd think a US General would at least have the courage and patriotism, and care enough about his own troops, not to outright lie to the American people. Apparently General Abizaid puts politics ahead of the truth. What a profile in military courage that man is.

When asked if the war in Iraq has made America safer, he responded:

"Absolutely, I think this war has made us safer. We are fighting the same people in Afghanistan and in Iraq, and our partners are fighting the same people in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan that brought us 9/11, we should never lose sight of that."

Ok, that was an outright lie of answer. General Abizaid wasn't asked if we were NOW fighting the SAME people in Iraq who were behind 9/11. We KNOW that NOW we are fighting the same people in Iraq who were behind 9/11 BECAUSE PRESIDENT BUSH AND GENERAL ABIZAID CREATED THE CIRCUMSTANCES FOR THOSE PEOPLE TO COME INTO IRAQ. That is NOT an answer to the question of whether the war has made America safer. In fact, it's an outright lie because he said "yes" the war has made us safer, and his reasoning was that Al Qaeda is in Iraq. But Bush's and Abizaid's war is the REASON Al Qaeda is now in Iraq.

Liar.

And what a wonderful job Face the Nation did of following up on this ridiculous assertion from the general. Did they follow-up with the obvious question, posed above? No. Face the Nation simply changed the topic. God forbid a real journalist in this town, or this country, actually called the Bush Administration on even ONE of their lies. The appropriate come-back was, "really General, you mean Al Qaeda was thriving in Iraq before we invaded?" Read More......

Oh my God, Rumsfeld defends Cheney's "last throes" comment

Watching THIS WEEK right now, this is precious. When asked by Stephanopoulos if the Iraq insurgency is really in the "last throes" as Cheney recently said, Rummy replied:

"First of all, if you look up 'last throes' it can mean a 'violent' last throe."

Good God. They are twisting in the wind on this one. Attack! Read More......

New DemsTV is up

DemsTV.com Read More......

Bush allies create commercial ready-made for Al Jazeera

Well, if Karl Rove was worried that Al Jazeera was going to broadcast Senator Durbin's words and create more anti-American terrorists, it seems some of Karl's buddies have done it for us. They even link Durbin to flag-burning. Funny, that apology from the Senator really put this issue to a close. Senator Durbin ought to speak up and slam this thing down.

So, is anyone in the media going to ask the White House to demand that this ad be pulled, lest it get our troops killed? Read More......

Sunday Morning Open Thread

It's hot, hot, hot already in DC... Read More......

Karl Rove Unplugged

Washington Post does a feature on the emerging very public role of Karl Rove. He's coming out of the shadows. Couple key interesting points:

Rove speaks on behalf of the president not just on the politics of the moment but also on the administration's policy agenda.

Yeah, he speaks for Bush. Everything that comes out of his mouth are basically the words of the President. So Bush thinks Democrats and Liberals want to kill the troops too. (While they won't give the troops the right equipment insuring their deaths. Read this NY Times article.)

The article also shows how in synch the GOP media machine is:

The White House reaction to the uproar also bore the indelible stamp of Rove: no apologies and no retractions, and all engines in the GOP spin machine churning in concert. White House press secretary Scott McClellan and Bartlett defended Rove from the briefing room and on several morning television programs, and Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman jumped in with customary aggressiveness. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), in a bit of a role reversal, came to the defense of Rove by repeating some of the most provocative lines to College Republicans and saying, "That's not slander. That's the truth." The National Republican Senatorial Committee sent out an e-mail fundraising appeal proclaiming "Karl Rove Is Right."

Wonder what it is like to have an echo chamber. These guys stick together no matter what.

The scary thing is that Kerry's 2004 campaign consultants are "analyzing" Kerry's remarks:

While many Democrats reacted with rage when they first heard about Rove's remarks, they were more mixed in their view of whether he had made the mistake of going too far or had cleverly baited a trap for them by opening up an argument on political turf that long has favored the Republicans. "I don't think anybody knows yet [whether] what he said the other night is a mistake," said Tad Devine, who was a top strategist in Kerry's campaign. "I will say it is calculated and deliberate. Karl for a long time has tried to position the Democrats as liberals, and liberals as weak, who don't want to defend America."

Well, I feel a lot better knowing Tad Devine has weighed in. Devine was ubiquitous last fall, spinning for Kerry as one of the top strategists. If he and the other Kerry consultants are trying to figure out a response to Rove, we're sunk. He's probably still sitting around with Shrum still trying to figure out whether they should have fought back against the Swift Boat attacks. Read More......

Blair's son to intern for extremist Republican

Just when I was starting to detest the little poodle a bit less, he goes and sends junior to the US to intern with Republican Congressman David Dreier of California. Dreier is the Chairman of the House rules committee so junior will have plenty of chances to get into the thick of partisan battles. The Congressman was also the co-chairman for Californians for Bush and chairman of Governor Grope's transition team.

Dreier, you may recall, received the "Roy Cohn Award, in recognition of 24 years of working against gay and lesbian rights while living as a gay man" by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

What the hell is wrong with Blair to have his son work for a Congressman that epitomizes what is wrong with the GOP? Read More......

US having secret talks with insurgents - why does Bush love terrorists?

Wow. Remember the smear campaign photos of Kerry talking with Vietnamese leaders after the war and how they were used against him by the GOP? The US is now playing right into the hands of the enemy by having secret meetings with them. Why does this administration hate America? Why do Republicans love terrorists? Read More......

Okay, another open thread and off to bed

Niters Read More......