Bush, the Humanitarian Who Cares... (Yeah. Sure.)

SusanG over at Daily Kos has a fascinating article comparing Dubya's actions against his own words. F'rinstance:

People appreciate somebody who sets a tone, a tone that values life.
-- George W. Bush, June 5, 2000

Fact: Estimated 100,000+ Iraqi civilian deaths.

Fact: 2,506 coalition military deaths as of 3/3/06

Because a society is measured by how it treats the weak and vulnerable, we must strive to build a culture of life.
-- George W. Bush, Feb. 2, 2005

Fact: 16,742 American military wounded as of 3/3/06.

Fact: Even though the cost of providing medical care to veterans has been growing by leaps and bounds, White House budget documents assume a cutback in 2008 and further cuts thereafter.

----

I believe the most solemn duty of the American president is to protect the American people.
--George W. Bush, March 31, 2005

Fact: 1300+ dead in Katrina

Fact: 1,900+ still missing from Katrina as of 2/22/06.

Fact: Hurricane Katrina exposed the U.S. government's failure to learn the lessons of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, as leaders from President Bush down disregarded ample warnings of the threat to New Orleans and did not execute emergency plans or share information that would have saved lives, according to a blistering report by House investigators.

Still not buying it? Try this one on for size:

In our time, respect for the right to life calls us to defend the sick and the dying, persons with disabilities and birth defects, and all who are weak and vulnerable.
George W. Bush, January 23, 2006

Fact: Estimated 55,000 deaths and 160,000 heart attacks due to Vioxx, a pain reliever for those suffering from arthritis.

Fact: Dr. David J. Graham of the FDA's Office of Drug Safety told Senate investigators he faced resistance to his findings within the FDA and that instead of acting as a public watchdog, the Food and Drug Administration was busy challenging its own expert and calling his work scientific rumor.

Fact: Graham's testimony at the hearing became front-page news after he identified the FDA's handling of Vioxx as the worst public health disaster in its history, resulting in a probable 30,000-55,000 deaths. No official could credibly challenge his Vioxx findings, and he identified five other suspect drugs: Accutane, Bextra, Crestor, Meridia, and Serevent.

A week after the hearing, sympathetic insider colleagues and press contacts warned Graham that the FDA was finalizing plans to exile him from drug safety work within days.

Read the rest of the article. Although it is ostensibly an argument concerning his stance on abortion, it brings together several instances where George W. Bush - a so-called "pro-lifer" - has indirectly caused, or at the very least sopported efforts that caused, the loss of numerous lives.

"Pro-lifer," indeed.

All the best,
Derek
(DCF)

A Slight DeLay...

Well, here's another big shock in the ongoing Abramoff scandal that has wrangled in a large number of Republicans in Congress.

It turns out that former House Majority Leader Tom "I Didn't Do Nothin', Copper!" DeLay's insistence that he's no more than an acquaintance is, in fact, complete and utter crap. Of course, this comes as no real surprise to anyone who has been paying attention at all.

First, DeLay denied even really knowing Abramoff, who recently pleaded guilty to fraud charges. Abramoff was, naturally, a little disappointed that DeLay said that, especially after the way DeLay talked about their friendship while visiting the Northern Marianas Islands on a "fact-finding" trip in 1997:

"When one of my closest and dearest friends, Jack Abramoff, your most able representative in Washington, D.C., invited me to the islands, I wanted to see firsthand the free-market success and the progress and reform you have made."

Now, however, new information has arisen that shows Abramoff paid for first-class tickets to Scotland for DeLay and his wife. If that's not a friend, I need to get me more acquaintances like that!

According to an ABC News article:

When Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and his wife flew from Houston to a golf resort in Scotland in June 2000, the first-class airfare cost $14,001, a big-ticket item for a public servant. But someone else paid.

The American Express bills of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who pleaded guilty to fraud charges in January, show he footed the bill for the tickets, in an apparent violation of House ethics rules.

"The source of the travel expenses may not be … a registered lobbyist," according to the House rules. Abramoff was a registered lobbyist at the time.

Oops! Looks like DeLay, who is currently under indictment for unrelated money laundering charges in Texas, could be facing further problems as he attempts to run for re-election in his district in Texas, where he is currently having a rough go of it already.

All the best,
Derek
(DCF)

Washington Spins In His Grave; Earth Thrown From Its Axis!

Another Day, Another Lie

You know, it's gotten to the point where nobody is surprised anymore when they hear that someone in the Bush Administration has lied to the American public. Frankly, more and more people find it shocking when a day goes by that the administration hasn't lied to us. This can't be the way things are supposed to be.

Let's take a look at today's example, shall we?

In an exclusive interview with ABC News' Elizabeth Vargas, the president said that he didn't quite realize how bad it was in new Orleans until "I saw TV reporters interviewing people who were screaming for help." (This would have been on September 2nd, according to Dan Froomkin over at the Washington Post. More on this in shortly.)

Here's an important bit from the Bush interview:

VARGAS: When you look back on those days immediately following when Katrina struck, what moment do you think was the moment that you realized that the government was failing, especially the people of New Orleans?

BUSH: When I saw TV reporters interviewing people who were screaming for help. It looked — the scenes looked chaotic and desperate. And I realized that our government was — could have done a better job of comforting people.

A lot went right, by the way. I don't want to denigrate the efforts of people that really worked hard. Our Coast Guard people were flying incredibly dangerous missions to rescue I think over 30,000 people from the roofs of their homes.

There was, you know, an amazing response from the citizenry who welcomed people who evacuated. And the state and the city evacuated a lot of people, and that caused there to be less loss of life.

But the chaotic scenes were very troubling. It just — it was very unsettling for me to realize our fellow citizens were in near panic wondering where the help was.

Now, let us recall Bush's words back on September 1st of last year, shall we? Here's the video, if you're not familiar with this fabulous bit of acting.

According to Bush in his Good Morning America interview, "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees."

Unfortunately, it turns out that a whole bunch of people suspected that it might happen, including the Army Corp of Engineers, who reported in 2003 that a Category 5 hurricane would more than likely breach the levees and flood New Orleans. Chris Mooney of American Prospect had written about it as recently as May 23rd of last year. Hell, even Mr. Bill (the little clay guy from Saturday Night Live) knew it!

Wednesday, as a recording of a video conference between Bush, FEMA chief and whipping boy Michael Brown, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and several hurrcane experts found its way to the Associated Press and, subsequently, the public, it became clear that this was clearly not the case. (Crooks and Liars has the video, as well as links to a few other stories about it.)

So, once again, Dubya opens that smirking mouth of his, only to shove his foot in, all the way up to the knee.

*****

He Shoots, He Peppers

And, in a follow-up to Vice President "Big Dick" Cheney shooting Harry Whittington, a 78 year-old Texas lawyer, in the face...

For those of you unfamiliar with Alex Jones, he is a rather...eccentric "journalist" who is also quite the fan of conspiracy theories. A quick look at the headlines on his Infowars website offers such tantalizing information as:

• Gulags for American citizens in final planning stages


• Is Iraq civil war by design?

And, my favorite...

• Here's something to chew on: ID in teeth

Now, as I've mentioned before, I'm not a big fan of conspiracy theories, other than for entertainment purposes. However, I found a link somewhere (sorry, but I can't remember where I found it) which led me to this article and video. In the video, Jones uses a shotgun similar to the one that Cheney used to fire at targets in order to prove that there was no way that Cheney was standing 30 yards away from Whittington at the time of the shooting. According to Jones' "scientific proof", Cheney had to be standing between 15 to 18 feet from Whittington in order for the birdshot to spread the way it did. Watch the video. I'll let you decide.

Okay, so it's not that surprising anymore. Nobody really believed Cheney's story to begin with. And, of course, nobody has been able to find out just how much he'd really had to drink before the shooting. However, I just thought that it was an interesting piece.

*****

Olbermann supporters at the Huffington Post create petition to have Bill O'Reilly replaced by Phil Donahue

The Huffington Post's Bob Cesca started a petition last Friday (February 24th) at PetitionOnline.com to have Bill O'Reilly replaced by former MSNBC reporter Keith Olbermann's predecessor, Phil Donahue. An updated article states that they have already collected over 3200 signatures. (Mine's on there somewhere, too. Why not add your own?)

Cesca's petition was created in response to the petition that Bill O'Reilly is hosting on his website to get Olbermann replaced by Donahue, as reported last week. This whole thing is the result of some ugly on-air jabs between Olbermann and O'Reilly on their respective shows. O'Reilly, it seems, is pretty unhappy because he keeps regularly winning the title of "Worst Person in the World" on Olbermann's Countdown show on MSNBC. Apparently, O'Reilly has issues with having his own words used against him. (He's also not too fond of the website Media Matter for America. They regularly take him to task over statements he makes - and then usually denies making.)

Anyway, here's the text of the petition:

"Dear Your Honor Roger Ailes,

We, the undersigned, are becoming increasingly concerned about the mental health of the host of your 8:00 PM EST show. This host has claimed:

1) San Francisco should be attacked by al-Qaeda terrorists ("homicide bombers").

2) There's a conspiracy to cancel the extremely popular Christmas holiday, even though the culture of Christmas is prevalent in America for nearly three months of every year.

3) That opponents of his show favor personal attacks and smearing, while he routinely employs the pejorative "pinheads" to describe anyone who disagrees with him.

4) That he never used the phrase "shut up" even though he's on-record saying that phrase dozens of times.

5) He has yet to publicly address his sexual penchant for soapy falafel sandwiches and female underlings.

6) He routinely misrepresents factual information (often called "lying"), then claims he told the truth, but will occasionally recant and admit to flagrantly misleading his viewers.

(For more citations of your 8:00 PM EST host's growing level of dysfunction, please visit: http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/people/billoreilly where there are approximately 400 instances of your host's mental instability.)

As a result, we recommend that you uphold your "fair and balanced" reputation and replace your 8:00 PM EST host with popular talk show host Phil Donahue.

In a recent petition to MSNBC, your host praised Mr. Donahue's ability to draw a large audience and referred to Mr. Donahue's "honor and dignity" -- a perfect fit for Fox News Channel as your current host obviously endorses Donahue's ability to perform in prime time. So he's a perfect replacement for your 8:00 PM EST host who clearly could use some professional psychological assistance.

We look forward to the premiere of The Donahue Factor, weeknights at 8:00 PM on Fox News Channel.

Sincerely,
The Undersigned "

Funny thing about O'Reilly's petition: They've removed the link from his website, so you can't see the names people have left. I wonder why... Maybe it's the signatures he's collecting... (It's a little over halfway down the page linked.)

Olbermann: ...You could read the names of who had signed it, until they took that page down because some of the names seemed to be fictitious. Mr. Keith is Great from Faloofah, Montana, for instance, Look at My from Ratings Drop, North Carolina, someone identified simply as Falafel N from The Shower, Wyoming and Andrea Mackris from How‘s Your Cash, PW.

Somewhere around here, there's a website that happened to get a screen shot from Google's webpage cache that shows the entire list, up until it was yanked by O'Reilly. I'll try to find the link and post it here.

And that wraps it up for today. Stay tuned...

All the best,
Derek
(DCF)

Bush's Approval Drops, Cheney's Drops Even More; Cheney To Retire?

In what can only be described by those of us here at The DCF News as "quite possibly the funniest news since Dick Cheney shot a 78 year-old Texas lawyer in the face," CBS News has released a poll showing that George "What, Me Worry?" Bush's approval rating has dropped to a new all-time low of 34%. More worryingly for him, among Republicans alone, his overall approval has dropped from 83% in January to 72% today. That's 11% of his base that have turned on him. Approval of his handling in the "War On Terror" has dropped from 87% in January of this year, to 78%.

This newest drop in his approval is no doubt related to his insistance that we, the American people, trust him when he tells us that there would be no security threat if Dubai Ports World took over control of the operation of several U.S. ports. (Most reports say that it is for operation of only 6 ports, but this article states that it is actually for control of 21 ports.) Further, an undated memo from the Coast Guard states that there are too many gaps in their information at the ports, which creates a security risk. After spending the past five years telling us to be afraid of turban-wearing people all over - "because you never know when one of 'em's got a nukyuler weapon in it" - and fostering a sense of paranoia not felt since the era of McCarthyism, we're now expected to completely drop that idea and say, "Oh, well that's all right, then." Dubya and his administration created this fear and paranoia. Now they have to live with it.

Even more entertaining is that Vice President Dick "Go F#@! Yourself" Cheney's approval ratings actually make Dubya's look good by comparison.

Cheney's approval rating, never all that high to begin with, as he's not exactly the warm, cuddly teddy bear everyone had hoped for, has dropped to 18%. More than likely, this is due to his recent hunting accident, where he shot a 78 year-old Texas lawyer in the face. of course, it could also be related to recent revelations in the CIA leak case, where I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's former chief of staff, has told prosecutors that he was given permission from his superiors to leak sensitive information to the press to help build support for the war in Iraq.

With the revelations of these low ratings, even among their base, what is the administration going to do? Are they going to turn around, fly right, and start being honest with the American people?

Well, no. It turns out that Cheney might be taking a forced retirement, according to Insight Magazine.

According to the magazine, "Senior GOP sources envision the retirement of Mr. Cheney in 2007, months after the congressional elections. The sources said Mr. Cheney would be persuaded to step down as he becomes an increasing political liability to President Bush."

"Persuaded to step down"? Sounds like a polite way of saying, "We're going to be cutting the chain that has tied this huge, smelly albatross around our necks for the past five years, before its rotting carcass infiltrates every aspect of what we do any further." Of course, I could be reading too much in to this.

Stay tuned...

All the best,
Derek
(DCF)