Washington Post - Managed by slightly trained chimpanzees?

Just when my stomach was recovering from the last Bush "legacy" article (note the theme) the Post churns out their own legacy story. This time, we are to believe that Bush really cares about global warming. Moreover, he "bristles" when he hears that people like us think he doesn't care. Riiiigggghhhtttt. Because he has been such a leader in this area, I suppose. He likes to talk so much about action, how about a bit of serious action on climate change?

The only people enthusiastic about Bush's "new" position on global warming has been the media and possibly his mother. Maybe Laura. He has made no serious changes at all and continues to only give lip service to the issue. So what if he said in Bali he would start to negotiate on a plan? Big deal since he will be gone before the deal is even close to being finished. Bush still refuses to accept any firm numbers and did what he does with everything difficult, which is to push it out to the next president. Only fools like the Washington Post could eat this up. And to think that they are losing money and readers. Gosh, go figure.
After the jump, more talk of legacy and the WaPo eats it up with a spoon.

Bush's attention comes at a time when he and top advisers feel better about his presidency, confident they have turned a corner after two years of political setbacks and can now focus on reformulating his legacy. Heading into his final year, Bush has turned to big, bracing challenges abroad, most notably finding Middle East peace and forging a consensus on climate change. If global warming turns out to be a defining issue of this generation, advisers said, Bush does not want to be remembered as a roadblock.

"As you draw toward the end of an eight-year term, it's human nature to try to look forward and then backward -- look into the future and then back at the past and think about how it looks," said a former Bush adviser who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "You could conclude, as this administration has, that you want to be seen ultimately as having evolved and opened some doors and maybe started a glide path to the next administration."

Ahhh, the good old legacy. A legacy of trashing the environment for years and then talk of change at the end, but without any real change. Only the new Washington Post could fall for such silly nonsense. Bush wants to have it both ways and the friendly scribes from the Post comply. Would a junior high reporter even fall for this?

When the management team at the Post scratch their heads and wonder why their numbers are collapsing, they ought to be looking at boot-licking articles like this. If Bush wants to work on his legacy, fine, that's his business. There's no need to confuse a real story with an image makeover by political consultants. That's what this article is all about. Read More......

Giuliani's business fortune looks worse every day

It's always sickened me that Giuliani has made so much money from poor cities around the world, charging outrageous consulting fees for what they already know. (Yes, this doesn't say much about the leadership of those cities, but since when have they set the standard?) The Times has an interesting article today on his support for Purdue Pharma and their product OxyContin. Besides working for former cocaine smugglers and environment haters, Giuliani did very well for himself by helping a company that pleaded guilty to felony charges for misbranding a pharmaceutical product that is connected to abuse and hundreds of deaths.

And this is what some consider moral leadership? With health care being a leading issue in 2008, would Americans really trust Giuliani considering this history? Giuliani is a guy who likes center his campaign around fear and yes, I'd be scared as hell to have him involved with the health care system in America. We all ought to be afraid of his record, which is not pretty. Read More......

GOP race turning vicious. Keep it up, guys.

Democratic candidates are usually eviscerating each other at this stage of the nomination process. That may still happen. But for now, the leading Republicans are in a feeding frenzy -- and they are feeding on each other. It started earlier this week when McCain said Mitt was in a "tailspin." Now Huckabee's joining in and Mitt's bearing the brunt. You really get the sense that Huckabee and McCain despise the phony Mitt as much, if not more, than we do:

In the last weekend before the Iowa caucuses, the Republican presidential candidates are bloodying the field with a blizzard of negative attacks, showing the strains of a wide-open and unpredictable race.

Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney and Senator John McCain are involved in what amounts to an elaborate pool-hall strategy that relies heavily on bank shots to win as their campaigns struggle for primacy both here and in New Hampshire.

Mr. Huckabee, after stumbling Friday over several statements about Pakistan, unloaded today on Mr. Romney.

“If a person is dishonest in his approach to get the job, do you believe he will be honest in telling you the truth when he does gets the job?” Mr. Huckabee said at a campaign stop in Osceola, Iowa.

This is really getting good and ugly. Mitt might actually have his hair knocked out of place -- or he may have to get those five tough guy sons of his into some real hand-to-hand combat after all. There's more after the break. Enjoy.

The GOPers really are in attack mode. So fun to watch:

And in an assist to Mr. McCain _ Mr. Huckabee would love for Mr. McCain to block Mr. Romney from winning in New Hampshire _ Mr. Huckabee added that he was escalating his attacks on Mr. Romney in part because Mr. Romney had the nerve to disparage Mr. McCain, “an American hero.”

“It is enough to attack me, but now to attack John McCain, it is like Mitt doesn’t have anything to stand on except to stand against, and I am saying enough is enough,” Mr. Huckabee declared.

In a bit of political jujitsu, Mr. Huckabee put out a commercial to that effect, saying of negative campaigning: “enough is enough” even as he slammed Mr. Romney. He also put out a spot highlighting Mr. Romney’s reversal of positions on abortion.

By contrast, the Democratic candidates were engaged in more polite campaigning, as Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton and former Senator John Edwards fanned out across Iowa with last-minute appeals to turn out supports on caucus night this Thursday.

The Republican candidates are still bleeding over the Romney-McCain ad wars that flared Friday and released a barrage of new ads today. Mr. Romney lobbed an ad portraying Mr. McCain as soft on immigration, while Mr. McCain fired back with one quoting the Concord Monitor.

The strategy here is to shove Mr. Romney deeper into the ditch, allowing Mr. Huckabee to win Iowa and Mr. McCain to win New Hampshire. But whether Iowans will buy the negative force with which these three, but especially Mr. Huckabee, are confronting each other is unclear.

Mitt in a ditch is such a great visual. Do you think the guy has every really gotten his hands dirty? Read More......

For those wondering why Comcast is so expensive

And this is who some in Washington want to protect. Thanks for making the case on why we need competition. The family of Comcast founder Roberts will continue to receive his salary ($1.8 million/year) for five years after he dies. They already sit on the board of directors but that is just not enough. His wife will receive health and "welfare" benefits for life. Hmmm, I somehow can't recall my mother receiving anything like that after my father died. Like millions of Americans, she had to find her own insurance since the old plan was canceled after my father died. She also lost his pension money, like many American spouses.

Tell me again why this company is coddled? I don't know a single person outside of greedy politicians who like Comcast. They offer terrible service at high prices because politicians are desperate for campaign contributions. One could argue that sure, Roberts founded the company and can do as he pleases. Perhaps, if Comcast remained a private company, but this is a publicly traded business, not a personal empire. I didn't think I could find Comcast any more despicable, but they managed to do it yet again. Read More......

The unfinished, almost forgotten war in Afghanistan could get even worse because of the Pakistan crisis

Bush and his crew are trying to get a handle on the situation in Pakistan and how it affects Afghanistan. If Bush had focused on Afghanistan in 2002 instead of launching the war in Iraq, he might have a handle on the situation. Reading the article in today's Washington Post by Thomas Ricks and Robin Wright, it's hard not to think that the failure to effectively fight the war in Afghanistan led, at least in part, to today's crisis. And, it's hard not to factor in that the Iraq war was the major distraction that undermined the operations in Afghanistan. It's all related:

U.S. officials fear that a renewed campaign by Islamic militants aimed at the Pakistani government, and based along the border with Afghanistan, would complicate U.S. policy in the region by effectively merging the six-year-old war in Afghanistan with Pakistan's growing turbulence.

"The fates of Afghanistan and Pakistan are inextricably tied," said J. Alexander Thier, a former United Nations official in Afghanistan who is now at the U.S. Institute for Peace.

A.J. Rossmiller is, of course, my foreign policy guru, but I find Ricks (who wrote Fiasco) and Wright are very smart, insightful foreign policy reporters. There's more after the break, but the entire piece is worth a read.

U.S. military officers and other defense experts do not anticipate an immediate impact on U.S. operations in Afghanistan. But they are concerned that continued instability eventually will spill over and intensify the fighting in Afghanistan, which has spiked in recent months as the Taliban has strengthened and expanded its operations.

Unrest in Pakistan and increasing fuel prices have already boosted the cost of food in Afghanistan, making it more likely that hungry Afghans will be lured by payments from the Taliban to participate in attacks, a U.S. Army officer in Afghanistan said.

In a secure videoconference yesterday linking officials in Washington, Islamabad and Crawford, Tex., Bush received briefings from CIA Director Michael V. Hayden and U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Anne W. Patterson, said National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe. Bush then discussed Bhutto's assassination and U.S. efforts to stabilize Pakistan with his top foreign policy advisers, including Vice President Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley, as well as Adm. William J. Fallon of Central Command and Marine Gen. James E. Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Read More......

Saturday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Saw the "Kite Runner" last night. It's pretty close to the book...and I loved that book. Very intense. I know it's fiction, but it does give some insight into how people were impacted first by the Russian, then the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Five days til the Iowa caucuses. Weather still looks good. Cold, but good.

Have at it. Read More......

Just how bad is it on Wall Street?

Watch this clip from CNBC and you'll have a better idea. Citi has more bad news, with rumors of 5-10% of the workforce being cut (10% is roughly 32,000 jobs!) and Bank of America won't deny reports of trimming the budget by removing soup, yes soup, from the cafeteria. They also have not denied the report that says they are no longer providing soap in their bathrooms. Yeesh. As if you didn't have to be cautious enough when shaking their hands, now this.

Equally shocking is CNBC's comments about how these moves only hurt the little guy. If true, this means that the greedy fools who took BoA into the can will be OK (no cuts there!) but the regular workers are all being asked to sacrifice. Nice. It's interesting to note that only a short time ago it was US companies looking to buy into China and today, it's China buying into the US. Batten down the hatches...rough seas ahead. Read More......

What year is this?

While the US debates the issue of creationism, the UK is right up there having an important debate about the monarchy and who should ascend to the throne. Good grief, is this 1507 or 2007? Why would anyone even want a monarchy today in a modern democracy? They're the most useless bunch out there.

More than half of 1,000 people polled said they would prefer the second-in-line to be the next to take the throne.
More people who actually like royalty, including talk of a "commoner" after the jump.

Prince William's popularity is greatest among the younger generation, with 70 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds favouring him as the next king, compared to just 47 percent of 55- to 64-year-olds.

The groundswell of support appears to have been helped by his rekindled romance with commoner Kate Middleton.

Thank goodness reaching out to a "commoner" is relevant. Read More......