Naitonal Review calls for Alberto Gonzales to resign

Ouch. This would be one of the standard-bearer magazines of the entire conservative movement. Read the rest of this post...

Those two "Iraqi bloggers" Bush quoted today to prove how much better Iraq is after the surge, he actually (mis)quoted a WSJ op ed from 3 weeks ago

Idiot. Read the rest of this post...

Saudi king calls US presence in Iraq "illegal foreign occupation"

Bush gets blasted by his very dear friend, the King of Saudi Arabia:

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia told Arab leaders on Wednesday that the American occupation of Iraq is “illegal,” and he warned that unless Arab governments settle their differences, foreign powers like the United States would continue to dictate the region’s politics.

The king’s speech, at the opening of the Arab League summit meeting here, underscored growing differences between Saudi Arabia and the Bush administration as the Saudis take on a greater regional leadership role, partly at American urging. The Saudis seem to be emphasizing that they will not be beholden to the policies of their longtime ally.

He's not your bitch any more, Bushie.
Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

Had John McCain come up with any more lies in the last few hours? Read the rest of this post...

Every decade has its Monica. And Alberto Gonzales' "Fifth-Amendment Monica" has ties to Pat Robertson.

It hit me last night that Monica "I plead the Fifth" Goodling, Alberto Gonzales' top lawyer who is refusing to testify before Congress, went to Pat Robertson's university for law school. (I subsequently, of course, found the link found that ThinkProgress had already had the same epiphany a few hours before me - doh.)

I have to say that I take a special pleasure in seeing some Pat Robertson-educated religious right drone practically running the Department of Justice and then taking the Fifth Amendment so that she doesn't have to admit to any possible involvement in a crime. Putting aside the fact that we're talking about people who have shown outright disdain for the Bill of Rights for everybody else, but now suddenly they [heart] the Constitution - there's something else important to note here. The silent invasion of religious right henchmen that's taken place in Washington since George Bush and the Republicans took power over 6 years ago. These are the kind of people who will stay in our government should John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, or any other Republican win the White House in 2008. The only way to really clean house, is to clean out the entire (white) house. Read the rest of this post...

Religious right leader James Dobson says former GOP Senator Fred Thompson is "not a Christian"

Dobson is the most powerful religious right leader in the Republican party. He is THE leader of the entire movement. He is THE man that Republicans turn to when they want to talk to the religious right. He is the only religious right leader who actually has any significant pull in the Republican party (the others, my conservative GOP friends tell me, are considered kind of kooky and irrelevant). And today he threw a Republican presidential candidate out of Christianity. Absolutely astounding. Who does Dobson think he is, Jesus Christ himself?

At least one religious right Republican, former Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele, criticized Dobson today on CNN, calling Dobson "the extremes" of the Republican party that needs to be avoided. Read the rest of this post...

McCain has no credibility left

Senator John McCain (R-Delusion) simply has no credibility left on defense or foreign policy issues. I understand that he was, at one point, a reasonable person and a man of reported integrity, someone who could work with groups and individuals on both sides of the aisle.

That time has passed.

The Senator said yesterday, regarding Iraq, "The consequences of failure are catastrophic because if we come home, bin Laden and Zarqawi, they are going to follow us." Um, Senator . . . Zarqawi is dead. Not only is he dead, but the Senator used his death, which occurred nearly ten months ago, to smear those who advocated redeployment: "[Zarqawi's death] has got to be viewed as a success," he said. "It's got to be viewed as perhaps a bit of a rebuke against those who are advocating that we cut and run out of Iraq."

Almost a year later, with no improvement and tens of thousands more dead and wounded, McCain is saying the same things. Yesterday he claimed that General Petraeus, the commander of all U.S. troops in Iraq, "goes out there almost every day in an unarmed humvee." This is, of course, absolutely ridiculous. As CNN's Michael Ware reports, "certainly the general travels in [an up-armored] humvee. There’s multiple humvees around it, heavily armed. There’s attack helicopters, predator drones, sniper teams, all sorts of layers of protection. So, no, Sen. McCain is way off base on this one."

The only hope for McCain and his war is to confuse and mislead the American public to the extent that they no longer understand the reality of the situation. It would be sad if it wasn't so pernicious.

Between the ghost of Zarqawi following us home and our super General traveling with no defenses in the peaceful neighborhoods of Baghdad, it's increasingly clear that McCain is unfit for any public office, let alone the presidency. Read the rest of this post...

General McCaffrey contradicts McCain, says nowhere is safe in Baghdad

Following up on Joe's post, earlier, here's General Barry McCaffrey (ret.) in today's Washington Post:

"[N]o Iraqi government official, coalition soldier, diplomat, reporter, foreign NGO [nongovernmental organization], nor contractor can walk the streets of Baghdad, nor Mosul, nor Kirkuk, nor Basra, nor Tikrit, nor Najaf, nor Ramadi, without heavily armed protection."

....McCaffrey is widely respected in the military, having fought in the Vietnam War, commanded a division in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, and later served as the commander for U.S. military operations in Central America and South America.

Then why did John McCain repeatedly say over the past 24 hours that there were several "safe neighborhoods" in Baghdad where US forces could walk around safely? McCain based his Iraq war vote yesterday on this bogus fact. Will he now change his vote? Read the rest of this post...

DNC rips McCain over his claim that there are numerous "safe neighborhoods" in Baghdad. McCain repeated false claims to NBC, ABC, CNN & talk radio.

The furor is growing over John McCain's repeated statements to four media outlets (i.e., it wasn't just a slip of the tongue, McCain actually believes this stuff) over the past 24 hours that there are numerous "safe neighborhoods" in Baghdad where Americans can walk around in total safety. McCain even went one step further, in an effort to explain his support for the "surge," McCain lied about our commanding general in Iraq, General Petraeus - and Petraeus has now called him on it.

More from the DNC:

John McCain is in Florida today after igniting a flurry of controversy by claiming on Bill Bennet's talk show that, "there are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods today." [Bill Bennett's Morning in America, 3/26/07] Asked about McCain's blatant attempt to spin the facts on the ground, CNN's Baghdad correspondent, Michael Ware, responded with a quick "No" and said, "no way on earth can a westerner, particularly an American, stroll any street of this capital of more than five million people...You barely would last 20 minutes out there. I don't know what part of Neverland Senator McCain is talking about when he says we can go strolling in Baghdad."

McCain refused to back down from his comments, however, telling NBC's Today Show from Orlando this morning that there are "many signs of success...neighborhoods in Baghdad that are largely certainly much more secure," and telling ABC's Good Morning America that "you look at facts on the ground...there are neighborhoods that are calm." McCain's sprinkling of pixie dust in response to ABC came on a question about whether he has "to be looking at Iraq through rose-colored glasses to see progress" when one hundred people have been killed in "just the last day, [in] the same town the president used last year as an example of freedom taking hold." [NBC Today, 3/28/07; ABC's Good Morning America, 3/28/07]

"John McCain seems to think that walking through Baghdad is as easy as his march away from campaign finance reform and his image as a so-called 'maverick,'" said Democratic National Committee spokesman Luis Miranda. "With his rhetoric coming under fire, McCain had better hope the Double Talk Express got the armor that our troops have been forced to do without. Misrepresenting the facts on the ground in Iraq might be the latest tactic for McCain's do-anything-to-win campaign, but after hearing the same thing from the Bush Administration for four years, the American people would no doubt prefer a new direction."

Let me just add that these are the reasons McCain gave for supporting the surge. And his reasons are wrong. Is this the kind of quality, or lack thereof, that Americans want to see in a future war president? A guy who makes critical war decisions based on things that simply aren't true? Read the rest of this post...

Bush withdraws SwiftBoater's nomination to be ambassador

Buh bye. Read the rest of this post...

Pelosi: Bush needs to "calm down"

Pelosi, just shown on CNN:

"On this very important matter I would extend a hand of friendship to the president, just to say to him: 'Calm down with the threats, there's a new Congress in town. We respect your constitutional role, we want you to respect ours. This war must end, the American people have lost faith in the president's conduct of the war, let's see how we can work together.'"

Read the rest of this post...

Demand that John McCain name that "safe" neighborhood in Baghdad

UPDATE: Now McCain is denying he ever said any of this, even though he said it on camera only yesterday AND in his denial today he repeats the claim that there are several "safe neighborhoods" in Baghdad, though he qualifies his statement by saying that they are very dangerous safe neighborhoods (I'm not kidding). So name those very dangerous safe neighborhoods. Not to mention, it's not very straight-talking to deny something you said on camera 24 hours earlier, and something you repeated on Bill Bennett's radio show. This is a man who wants to be president, and he is basing his justification for the Iraq war on a lie. Sound familiar?

(NOTE TO MEDIA: When presidential candidate John Kerry made a similar unsubstantiated claim - that several world leaders opposed Bush's re-election - you dogged Kerry relentlessly to name those leaders. Well fair is fair. If you're not all a bunch of conservative suck-ups, then do your job and demand the same answer from John McCain. Name those neighborhoods.)

GOP Senator John McCain, who is running for president, said yesterday that it's an absolute lie to suggest that Baghdad is unsafe. In fact, McCain says that there are several neighborhoods - more than one - in Baghdad (outside of the Green Zone, of course), that are totally safe for an American to travel alone with no security. Here's what McCain said:

“There are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods, today."

CNN's Baghdad correspondent, Michael Ware, who is actually IN BAGHDAD, says that McCain is flat-out wrong:

"Honestly, Wolf, you'll barely last twenty minutes out there. I dont know what part of 'Neverland' Senator McCain is talking about when he says we can go strolling in Baghdad."

But John McCain was quite emphatic about it. There are "some neighborhoods" in Baghdad that you can travel around by yourself with no security and be perfectly safe. The only reason you don't know this, McCain told CNN yesterday, is because the media is lying to you.

Wow. Hell of a charge. McCain must know something that we don't. If McCain is right, if the media is lying to me, I want to know what the media is hiding. Won't you join me in asking Senator McCain to reveal to us the names of these non-Green-Zone Baghdad neighborhoods that are so darn safe that an American can travel alone with no security whatsoever.

Call John McCain now, and ask him to name that neighborhood.

(202) 224-2235

Then let us know what he said in the comments. Read the rest of this post...

McCain insists Baghdad is safe. From Baghdad, CNN's Michael Ware is not sure what part of Neverland McCain is talking about.

John McCain insists that things are getting better in Iraq. As his presidential campaign continues its tailspin, McCain is sounding more desperate -- and more delusional. Like his pal George Bush, McCain is blaming the media again, too. So, rather than just accepting the GOP criticism of the media (which NBC's Norah O'Donnell always does) CNN actually asked its reporter on the ground in Baghdad to dissect McCain's claims. The transcript doesn't do Ware's commentary justice.

From CNN earlier today:

Senator John McCain (from very safe confines of the U.S. Capitol):

General Petraeus goes out there almost every day in an unarmed Humvee. I think you oughta catch up. You see, you are giving the old line of three months ago. I understand it. We certainly don't get it through the filter of some of the media.

CNN's Michael Ware (from not-so-safe Baghdad):

It's unclear what part of Neverland that Senator McCain is talking about where Americans can stroll the streets of the capitol Baghdad. If Al Qaeda doesn't get an American, if a Shia militia isn't...tipped off, if the Sunni insurgents don't grab them, then a criminal gang will see dollar signs and take them immediately.

Read the rest of this post...

Who will get stuck with the subprime bill?

As this self-made Wall Street mess continues to unravel, stories about individuals losing their houses are popping up on a daily basis. I am sure that there has been no shortage of predatory practices in the industry but with vast majority - 89% according to the Center for Responsible Lending - of the subprime loans made to existing home owners, it is a fair question to ask, "what were they thinking?" Congress is now talking about putting in place regulations, years too late to have any impact on the economic crisis that this is triggering, but having regulations in place for this sector is basic common sense.

So now that this flimsy system is crashing under its own weight, everyone is looking around and wondering what to do. Should buyers who heard what they wanted to hear and lived well beyond their means get relief? Should the subprime lending companies get bailed out since they represent well over $300 billion in the economy? Should the Wall Street names such as Morgan Stanley, who loaned the money for a quick buck and just reported 70% profit increase, be held accountable? Should tax payers and those who didn't fall for these schemes pay?

Ultimately these lending "get rich quick" problems are the problems of those who participated, both buyers and sellers. It sickens me that those who should have known and could have done something - Republican Congress, SEC, Wall Street, Greenspan and the Fed - did nothing while this was building up. All Americans (and well beyond in our global economy) are going to pay a price for this as the hard landing hits. Housing prices will stagnate, jobs in construction, banking, etc will all suffer which will be another problem on an economy already burdened with an expensive war.

Bush and the GOP loved selling America on the home ownership boom which was based on pie-in-the-sky economics and get rich quick ideas from top to bottom but like Iraq, they failed the American public by ignoring obvious problems. Too many buyers bought into excitement of riches and failed to think about the hard realities and what-if scenarios. If anyone is going to foot the bill for this, let the buyers, the lenders and those who financed the lenders work it out but there is no reason at all to involve everyone else who either did the right thing and borrowed what they could or who stayed on the sidelines. I hear Morgan Stanley did pretty well with their investments which included subprime money, so go ask them. Maybe Greenspan can help out since he has so many ideas and seems to be cashing in these days. Read the rest of this post...

US facing "Strategic Peril" in Iraq says General McCaffrey

Before the President gives yet another political speech about Iraq, read what Thomas Ricks wrote in the Washington Post about General McCaffrey's newest report:

An influential retired Army general released a dire assessment of the situation in Iraq, based on a recent round of meetings there with Gen. David H. Petraeus and 16 other senior U.S. commanders.

"The population is in despair," retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey wrote in an eight-page document compiled in his capacity as a professor at West Point. "Life in many of the urban areas is now desperate."

And, this:

Nevertheless, [McCaffrey's] bottom line is that the U.S. military is in "strategic peril" -- a sharp contrast to his previous views.

And despite John McCain's happy talk about how safe Iraq is, McCaffrey offers another assessment:

The government lacks dominance in every province, he added. One result is that "no Iraqi government official, coalition soldier, diplomat, reporter, foreign NGO [nongovernmental organization], nor contractor can walk the streets of Baghdad, nor Mosul, nor Kirkuk, nor Basra, nor Tikrit, nor Najaf, nor Ramadi, without heavily armed protection."

Militias and armed bands are "in some ways more capable of independent operations" than the Iraqi army, he added.

Bush and McCain make a great team spinning Iraq. They share ownership of the war. Read the rest of this post...

Wednesday Morning Open Thread

So, John McCain. He acknowledges that the Iraq war has been badly managed for four years. But, in McCain world, we should trust the people who badly managed the war for four years to get it right. Those days are over. Apparently, your President, who has badly managed the war for four years, is giving a big speech to trash the Democrats this morning. Because that's what Bush does. He makes everything political. Instead of coming up with a policy for Iraq, Bush treated it like a political issue. True to form, he's giving a political speech today. It's really sick.

Thread away. Read the rest of this post...

Bush and SEC think corporate failures are all the fault of investors

Class action lawsuits are all the fault of investors and have nothing to do at all with getting ripped off by greedy executives who propped up bogus data to make their companies look hot. Uh huh. Damned investors! How dare they ask for real data that is accurate. How dare they ask for accountability when a company crashes. Having participated in a class action lawsuit against a book-cooking bunch of swindlers and over-paid incompetent execs, I only received pennies on my investment but I still believe this sends the right message to companies that manipulate the books for the greed of a few individuals.

If I was investing in a private company, I would understand that the rules are different. If I was investing in developing country, I would understand that it's not Wall Street and the risks are high. However, if companies want to compete in the public market and accept the riches that comes with being listed in New York and not Buenos Aires, accept the conditions or de-list. The Bush/SEC whining about regulations making American companies uncompetitive is bull. Having a strong system that is regulated and monitored helps everyone. We don't need to look further than the subprime situation to see what happens when hundreds of billions are thrown into an unregulated environment. Some competition, huh?

Quit the crying and get serious about business for goodness sakes. Read the rest of this post...

Iraqi police go on killing spree - 45 executed in two hours

Is this what Republicans and Bush want America to support?

Off-duty Shiite policemen enraged by massive bombings in the northern town of Tal Afar went on a revenge spree against Sunni residents there on Wednesday, killing at least 45 men execution-style, police and hospital officials said.

The policemen began roaming the town's Sunni neighborhoods on foot early in the morning, shooting at Sunni residents and homes.

A senior hospital official in Tal Afar said at least 45 men between the ages of 15 and 60 were killed with a shot to the back of the head and four others were wounded. He spoke on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.

Police said dozens of Sunnis were killed or wounded, but they had no precise figures. The shooting continued for more than two hours, the officials said.

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Blair to show maps & photos to prove UK troops were in Iraq

If Blair hadn't participated in one of the greatest hoaxes of modern time, the world might be more willing to believe him. The problem here for Blair is that he is a known manipulator and a liar who dragged the UK into a war with Bush, all based on a pile of lies. Who could forget Colin Powell showing maps and photos to the UN? Blair went down that slippery slope long ago so his credibility is shot. It is unfortunate for the British sailors, who are ultimately paying the price for the failures of their leader and Parliament ought to hold him legally accountable for his actions. Read the rest of this post...