When Judy Met Scooter

Thanks to Josh Marshall for pointing us to the latest from Murray Waas, my new favorite investigative journalist. He has an article at American Prospect about a July 8, 2003 meeting between Judith Miller and Scooter Libby. That was six days before the now infamous Novak column which outed Valerie Plame. Definitely, definitely worth a read. A key paragraph:

The new disclosure that Miller and Libby met on July 8, 2003, raises questions regarding claims by President Bush that he and everyone in his administration have done everything possible to assist Fitzgerald's grand-jury probe. Sources close to the investigation, and private attorneys representing clients embroiled in the federal probe, said that Libby's failure to produce a personal waiver may have played a significant role in Miller’s decision not to testify about her conversations with Libby, including the one on July 8, 2003.

Clearly, Bush and his administration have done everything possible to stonewall the investigation. Scooter and Karl can share the cell next to Miller. Read the rest of this post...

Cindy Sheehan has the attention of the White House...and the MSM...finally

Kudos to Cindy Sheehan. She has gotten the attention of the impervious Bush White House. And the MSM is covering it big time. The New York Times and the Associated Press both covered the Sheehan's protest. This is from CBSNews.com:

The angry mother of a fallen U.S. soldier staged a protest near President Bush's ranch, demanding an accounting from Bush of how he has conducted the war in Iraq.

Supported by more than 50 demonstrators who chanted, “W. killed her son!” Cindy Sheehan told reporters: “I want to ask the president, 'Why did you kill my son? What did my son die for?”'

CBS News Correspondent Mark Knoller reports that the passion of Sheehan’s message reflects the polarizing effects of war and may be why some in the administration tried late last month to call the conflict something else.

Sheehan, 48, didn't get to see Bush, but did talk about 45 minutes with national security adviser Steve Hadley and deputy White House chief of staff Joe Hagin, who went out to hear her concerns.

Those tanking Iraq poll numbers must be having an effect. They sent out two high level White House staffers to meet with Sheehan, instead of their usual habit of ignoring anyone who disagrees with the President. She still deserves the right to ask George Bush her questions: 'Why did you kill my son? What did my son die for?”' Read the rest of this post...

Saturday Night Open Thread

Just attended a little get together for some of our friends, Ashley and Shamina, who are leaving DC. That's the sad part. But the big news is they got engaged this week....very, very exciting.

What's going on? Read the rest of this post...

How low can he go?

Pretty low. Bush is tanking fast, especially on Iraq. Newsweek has the latest numbers:

As U.S. troops endured a deadly week in Iraq, 61 percent of Americans polled say they disapprove of the way President George W. Bush is handling the war in Iraq, according to a new NEWSWEEK poll. Thirty four percent say they approve. This is Bush’s lowest rating on Iraq and the first time it has dropped below 40 percent in the NEWSWEEK poll. And 50 percent of those polled say the United States is losing ground in its efforts to establish security and democracy in Iraq; just 40 percent say the U.S. is making progress there.

Not great numbers for the Commander in Chief. But, I'm sure Americans are comforted by the fact that their war leader is now on a mega-vacation. Not trying to be flip, that does play a role. Americans are just not showing the guy any love these days:

Meanwhile, Bush’s approval ratings have dropped to 42 percent; 51 percent of Americans say they disapprove of the way Bush is handling his job as president. Bush’s approval ratings reached a high of 88 percent in his first term, in the month after the September 11 attacks. Forty-two percent is his low.

Fifty-four percent of Americans say they are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the United States at this time, according to the latest NEWSWEEK poll. Just over a third say they are satisfied.

And last but not least, Americans aren't too keen on having a treasonous traitor in the White House:

And when asked about the reports that White House adviser Karl Rove may have leaked classified information about Valerie Plame, a CIA agent, 45 percent say, from what they’ve heard or read about Rove’s involvement in the case, that they believe he is guilty of a serious crime; 18 percent say he is not guilty of a serious offense and 37 percent say they don’t know, the poll shows.

The polls from the past couple days have been abysmal for Bush. And, they aren't getting any better. Can't wait to see what Rove's going to pull out of his hat to save Bush now. Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

So, for all you Sci-Fi fans out there, what the heck happened to Amanda Tapping and McGyver? Why aren't they on SG-1 any more?

UPDATE: The Paris Metro had a little fire today - I was actually on the same line as it happened, but I was in the southern part of the city, this was in the north. Man, there were TONS of military with machine guns at the Louvre today. Groups of like 8 of them together, and lots of groups. Clearly they're on alert. Read the rest of this post...

NY Post Calls On Bush To Attend Funerals

"Go To Ohio, Mr. President." Polite, earnest editorial.

Show some leadership — starting with a visit to Brook Park, Ohio.

That's the hometown of the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, which lost 20 Marines this week in separate incidents near the Syrian border.

The town needs to see and hear the president there. As does the nation.

So even diehard supporters like the New York Post think enough is enough: Bush needs to acknowledge the fallen. Will he? Read the rest of this post...

Can You Say Irony? Lobbyists Indicted For Leaking Info To Media And Foreign Powers

Ok, the irony here is almost too thick to enjoy. The Bush Administration has filed charges against two Israeli lobbyists for leaking classified info to the media. Uh, did ANYONE consider how this would look with Bush currently coddling Karl Rove after he and at least two or three top adminstration officials did the very same thing? Did anyone grill Scotty on this or did I miss it?

To further the irony, many believe Bush is twisting the intent of the law to prosecute people here for behavior that is both common and not a threat. Unlike Rove, who leaked info that endangered lives and ruined a spy network developed over 20 years, these lobbyists were just giving a heads-up to people about a report they thought was interesting. No, lobbyists don't get to decide what is classified info and what isn't, but in an administration that classifies virtually everything it can, there's a difference between the usual back and forth between the gov't and lobbyists and media and the unconscionable act of outing a covert CIA agent for the first time in history just to give some payback to a critic for telling the truth. Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

Note to France: Get a real Internet. This is absurd. A developed country that has Internet speeds on DSL of, oh, like 13kb/s. For comparison sake, I have a cable connection in my apartment in DC, and I get around 500kb/s or more. That means my connection is 30 times faster. It's absolutely ridiculous. Another French friend has the same problem. I think some more French people need to visit other countries then come back to France and yell and scream about the crappy service they're getting. This is ridicule.

Ok, I've vented now. Just spent a nice afternoon at the Louvre, but good God is that place large. After a while it's just too much. I was desperately trying to find an exit and bumped into the Venus de Milo and that famous status of Artemis. I think that's honestly the best way to see the Louvre. Shove yourself in the middle of it, then try to get out. You'll see everything. Read the rest of this post...

Recruitment Is Down; Reenlistment Up. Why?

Everyone knows recruitment is down dramatically despite lowered standards. High school dropout? No problem. Got a record? We'll deal with it. And it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why. But reenlistment is holding steady and even exceeding expectations. That's a dramatic switch from Vietnam when reenlistment followed recruitment in a race to the bottom. Some on the far right argue that since reenlistment is up that the soldiers must know something we don't and that things are actually going much better than it appears in Iraq. See, Iraq isn't Vietnam.

Well, I didn't buy that but I have been puzzling over the reasons why reenlistment remains relatively strong. Then the rather obvious answer struck me: this is their job. These soldiers are lifers, devoted to a career in the military. Walking away from it is a dramatic and scary switch from a track in life that is laid out and clear -- the very thing that appeals to many of them about the military.

David M. Kennedy wrote an op-ed in the NYT on July 25 pointing out that for all intents and purposes, our military is now composed of paid mercenaries. He went to great pains to make clear this was not pejorative -- anymore than people who take on the dangerous and important tasks of policeman or fireman are somehow diminished by acknowledging that it's their job as well as a calling. (And everyone recognizes it's a calling other people don't hear because it is dangerous and demanding. That's why we respect them.) Kennedy was warning about the dangers of letting a very small group of people take most of the burden of war upon them. If we're at war, all our lives should be impacted. That's clearly not the case now and that makes war all the more tempting for our leaders and too easy for the rest of us to let the fighting recede into the background.

But back to reenlistment. In Vietnam and Korea and World War II, most of the people who were drafted did their stint and then went home. (In WW II, that was after victory, of course; Iraq's "victory" per Bush came ages ago.) They were schoolteachers and mechanics and lawyers and businessmen. Some of them presumably felt drawn to a life in the military they hadn't considered before, but most went back home and got on with their lives.

Iraq is the first drawn-out conflict in modern times for which no one has been officially drafted. The soldiers bravely fighting overseas are lifers devoted to this career. It is their job. It is their world. Not reenlisting would mean abandoning this and starting something new they may be ill-prepared to face. Is it any surprise they're reluctant to do so? Back in Vietnam and Korea, not reenlisting meant getting on with your life, not abandoning it.

So it's no surprise soldiers are reenlisting -- they are devoted to a career in the military and devoted to protecting and defending this country. They don't get to choose where they're sent or why -- all they can do is follow orders and behave honorably. The fact that they haven't abandoned their career is not a vote of confidence in the way this war has been waged or the equipment and support often lacking for the them. It's just who they are.

If there was a draft and most of the military was composed of recruits who had no intention of making it a career, you can be certain reenlistment would be racing to the bottom, just like recruitment.

NOTE: Here's a better link to that full NYT op-ed on our army. Thanks to threader Huge Seagull for this. Read the rest of this post...

"Bush's Truth Decay"

You have to read this article by Ken Bazinet in the NY Daily News for the title alone:

One of President Bush's most attractive traits has been his reputation for straight talk, but a new poll yesterday found that fewer than half of Americans think he's honest.

Only 48% of respondents to an AP-Ipsos survey think he's honest, while 50% do not, the poll indicated. That is a five-point drop from January, when 53% of Americans thought Bush was an honest President.

Moreover, some 56% of Americans think he's too cocky, up from the 49% in January who said they view Bush's confidence as arrogance.

A solid majority still see Bush as likable and a strong leader, but Bush's overall job approval was at 42%, with 55% disapproving.

Cocky, arrogant, dishonest....finally they get it. Read the rest of this post...

Mornin open thread

Bonjour Read the rest of this post...

Russians Pentagon lets reporters visit Potemkin Villages Gitmo prison

We are not acting like Soviets, we are not acting like Soviets, we are not acting like Soviets....

Defense lawyers for the inmates contend that lawmakers are still getting a "Disneyfied" and incomplete view of a grim institution that has significant shortcomings, even if many of the most overt forms of abuse have been eliminated. George Brent Mickum IV, a Washington lawyer who represents several Guantanamo inmates, said Congress has been sold a bill of goods about the typical menu in the camps.

"Lemon chicken and rice pilaf?" Mickum said. "That's baloney."

The tours appear to be having the intended effect. Some lawmakers who have made the trip one or more times have praised the conditions there in interviews with their hometown television stations and newspapers. Rep. Jon Porter (R-Nev.), part of Monday's tour, said of the inmates he had seen from a distance: "Many of them are happy to be there."

Thomas B. Wilner, a lawyer who has visited Guantanamo six times since the beginning of the year, said: "They're doing the tours for the same reason that Potemkin had his villages. The amazing thing to me is that these congressmen buy it."

Read the rest of this post...

NY Times Revisits the 92 Rove-Novak Incident

Rove and Novak really do have a long-term relationship. This is fun:

These hot months here will be remembered as the summer of the leak, a time when the political class obsessed on a central question: did Karl Rove, President Bush's powerful adviser, commit a crime when he spoke about a C.I.A. officer with the columnist Robert D. Novak?

Whatever a federal grand jury investigating the case decides, a small political subgroup is experiencing the odd sensation that this leak has sprung before. In 1992 in an incident well known in Texas, Mr. Rove was fired from the state campaign to re-elect the first President Bush on suspicions that Mr. Rove had leaked damaging information to Mr. Novak about Robert Mosbacher Jr., the campaign manager and the son of a former commerce secretary.

Since then, Mr. Rove and Mr. Novak have denied that Mr. Rove was the source, even as Mr. Mosbacher, who no longer talks on the record about the incident, has never changed his original assertion that Mr. Rove was the culprit.

"It's history," Mr. Mosbacher said last week in a brief telephone interview. "I commented on it at the time, and I have nothing to add."

But the episode, part of the bad-boy lore of Mr. Rove, is a telling chapter in the 20-year friendship between the presidential adviser and the columnist. The story of that relationship, a bond of mutual self-interest of a kind that is long familiar in Washington, does not answer the question of who might have leaked the identity of the C.I.A. officer, Valerie Wilson, to reporters, potentially a crime.

The article is worth a read. You get the sense that the sharks are circling both Rove and Novak.

Novak and Rove, both "aggressive partisans and hotheads," really are two of a kind, peas in a pod, so to speak. Maybe they can be cellmates, too. Read the rest of this post...