Here's What's Left

Offensive Secretary

Don't know if you saw, Dana Milbank had an excellent piece on the NewOld Rumsfeld yesterday in the WaPo:

Asked about the number of insurgents in Iraq, Rumsfeld replied: "I am not going to give you a number."

Did he care to voice an opinion on efforts by U.S. pilots to seek damages from their imprisonment in Iraq? "I don't."

Could he comment on what basing agreements he might seek in Iraq? "I can't."

How about the widely publicized cuts to programs for veterans? "I'm not familiar with the cuts you're referring to."

How long will the war last? "There's never been a war that was predictable as to length, casualty or cost in the history of mankind."

No surprises there.

-- Michael

A question

A right-wing news anchor intentionally and unarguably lies about what FDR said about social security.  A right-wing journalist turns out to be a gay prostitute.  A right-wing president appoints a criminal to be the chief of US intelligence.  The RNC chair accuses Howard Dean of being a racist.  The NY State GOP chair associates Howard Dean with a traitor.  A right-wing blog accuses a former president of being a traitor.  Then they do it again.  Another right-wing blogger accuses a US Senator of being a traitor. 

Is it just me or does it seem like the right-wing is really losing its collective mind these days?

-- Michael

republican racism

I think (but I could be wrong) that this tempest in a teapot about Howard Dean's remark

"You think the Republican National Committee could get this many people of color in a single room?," Dean asked to laughter. "Only if they had the hotel staff in here."

is a fight worth having.  I say so for two reasons:

1) republicans look idiotic trying to make Dean out to be a racist.  Newsmax:

Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman blasted newly elected DNC chief Howard Dean on Tuesday for telling what he said was a "racist" joke to the Congressional Black Caucus.[...]

The flap over Dean's "hotel staff" remark isn't the first time critics say he has crossed the line on race.

During the primary campaign last year, the former Vermont governor repeatedly told audiences that he wanted to be the candidate of "white folks in the South who drive pick-up trucks with Confederate flag decals."

That would be hilarious if it weren't such an astonishing distortion.  Dean's famous remark about the confederate flag, of course, was intended to say that the Democratic party has to do a better job of targeting Southern Whites; he was taking it as common knowledge that people with confederate flag decals vote overwhelming republican.

2) What Dean is saying is essentially correct.  The number of black republicans is incredibly small.  Bush got 11% of the black vote.  Any discussion of the republican party's relationship to African-Americans is bound to remind us of the surprisingly enthusiastic and extensive campaign of African-American voter disenfranchisement in which republicans engaged during the last election. 

The correctness of Deans' statement is pointed about by that noted conservative of color, Ramesh Ponnuru, in a statement that's bouncing around the blogosphere:

Give me a break. Dean is saying, hyperbolically, that there aren't many blacks or other nonwhites in the Republican party. He's right. I've been to many, many Republican dinners where most nonwhites present have been serving the food. (Or giving the keynote.) If Republicans are bothered when people make that observation, they should try to make it less true.

The republican party remains the party for racists looking for their attitudes not to be challenged.  Just ask some of my family and their friends.  Anything that reminds the nation that the republicans are keeping the segregationist spirit alive is fine with me.  In fact, I wouldn't mind more of these kinds of statements from national Democrats.  Call 'em like you see 'em.

But, as I said, I could be wrong.  Tell me if I am.

-- Michael

UPDATE:  Jesse's conclusion on this matter is exactly right:

The sole conservative response to race anymore seems to be proclaiming as loudly as they can that they're the only ones who are allowed to bring it up, in the most base manner possible. The mention of race by Democrats is racist, unless Democrats don't mention it, in which case...it's racist. It's an effort to destroy any legimitate outrage at objectionable statements on race, because conservatives have adopted the perverse flip-side of their caricature of liberalism, crying racism at the drop of a hat and claiming "true" racial identity for minority conservatives.

The logical next step

Surely no one is surprised by this.

President Bush on Thursday named John Negroponte, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and currently the administration's top representative in Iraq, to be America's first national intelligence director.

As you may know, Negroponte was involved in covering up human rights abuses when he was Ambassador to Honduras during the Reagan administration.  And under whose watch Honduras came around to support the Reagan administration's Iran-Contra policy:

After Congress cut off aid to the contras in late 1984, the Honduran government also began to distance itself from the contra project, even intercepting a shipment of arms intended for contra fighters. This alarmed the White House. President Reagan telephoned his Honduran counterpart, Roberto Suazo Córdova, and sent then Vice President George Bush to meet with him. Honduras soon resumed its old policy of helping the contras. At the same time, according to a US government document, the United States released aid to Honduras that had been blocked, "expedited delivery of US military items to Honduras," and expanded "several security programs underway for the Honduran security forces."^[1] Ambassador Negroponte, who was present at the Bush–Suazo meeting, was asked about it at a 1989 Senate hearing. He said he could not recall any direct mention of an arrangement under which the United States increased its aid to Honduras in exchange for Honduras's commitment to support the contras.

Clearly, such a person should be brought out of retirement and made ambassador the UN.  And then should be promoted to the position of "ambassador" to Iraq (ambassador in quotes because the position entailed much more than a normal ambassadorship).  It is only logical, of course, that Negroponte, a career diplomat, should then be made the first national director of intelligence, given that he has no (official) intelligence experience and a history of looking the other way on human rights abuses. 

Yep, just another day's work in the Bush White House.

-- Michael

On the one-handism watch: Late Edition

You might remember that last month with the Maggie Gallagher bribery scandal, I started an "on the one-handism watch," in which I exhorted readers to keep their "eyes peeled for the first sign of a false equivalence" that the right-wing would push between a figure on the left and Maggie Gallagher.

Well, I've been busy, and Jesse beat me to the GuckertGannon false equivalency watch. 

Regular readers might also know that I have a policy of not discussing the false equivalency issue itself, because trying to specifically refute it distracts attention from the original story, which is the whole point of the republican media strategy.  So you'll have to visit Jesse to find out what kind of bullshit the right-wing is trying to pull. 

In fact, the only reason I'm writing on this at all is to clarify a few things, and remind us of few others.  There's no equivalence because GuckertGannon

1) was a male prostitute.

2) was credentialed under a pseudonym

3) recieved access to classified documents even though he worked for a fake news organization

4) did I mention the male prostitute thing?

5) wasn't a real reporter, and was there specifically to ask softball questions

6) apparently was credentialed before the fake news organization he worked for even existed. 

Ya know, just in case anyone had forgotten that stuff.

-- Michael

Disgusting.

Atrios points to Powerline blog, calling Jimmy Carter a traitor.  They're commenting on some remarks Carter made:

Mr. Carter told NBC's "Today" show in September that he was confident the elections would not take place. "I personally do not believe they're going to be ready for the election in January ... because there's no security there," he said.

and post-er Hindrocket says, on Feb. 2:

Jimmy Carter isn't just misguided or ill-informed. He's on the other side.

He really said that.  Go see for yourself.

President Carter, though, recently said

Former President Jimmy Carter, who predicted that elections in Iraq would fail and in the past year described the Bush administration's policy there as a quagmire, this week ended 10 days of silence to declare the historic Iraqi vote "a very successful effort."
    
"I hope that we'll have every success in Iraq," Mr. Carter said in a CNN interview. "And that election, I think, was a surprisingly good step forward."

That's what those of us in the reality-based community call "admitting a mistake."  See, Carter, as it happened, wasn't correct; the elections did take place.  And he saw that, and said that they were surprisingly good, indicating that he was surprised, indicating that his expectations had been different.  I know this whole admitting you were wrong thing is pretty complicated for our republican friends colleagues, but people that like to look, you know, informed, and, you know, in touch with what's going on in the real world, like to acknowledge what's going on in the real world. 

When good things happen to bad people

Don't know how I missed this one.  CBS news (Sunday):

The 19-year-old daughter of Alan Keyes has a Valentine for the anti-gay rights conservative pundit and frequent Republican candidate.

Maya Marcel-Keyes will be making her first public appearance as a gay activist at a Valentine Day's rally in front of the Maryland State House, says Dan Furmansky, the leader of Equality Maryland, a gay rights group.

But seriously, folks, someone should start a fund:

Marcel-Keyes told the Post her parents have thrown her out of the house, stopped speaking to her and refuse to pay for college because she is gay. She said she loves her parents.

And they say conservatives aren't compassionate.

-- Michael

Bush Budget Cuts: Veterans, or, Supporting Our Troops One Tax Cut at a Time

More in our series on the Bush budget proposals and the various groups he wants to screw.  Education is here.  Health is here. 

Veterans, as we know, voted for Bush 57% to 41%. Bush knows how to thank his constituency.  He wants to cut some of their benefits.

In fact, Disabled American Veterans reports,

As called for in the President’s budget, total VA funding for the next fiscal year would increase about 1 percent, from the current $67.5 billion to $68.2 billion. More than half of the budget would go for mandatory programs such as disability compensation and pensions. Medical care for veterans would rise from $27.7 billion [to] $27.8 billion with the bulk of that so-called increase coming almost entirely out of veterans’ pockets.

What does he mean by coming out of veterans' pockets?  I'm glad you asked.  According to the AP:

So-called "higher income" vets who do not have service-related illnesses or injuries would be required to pay a 250-dollar annual fee to use the V-A medical system, and their drug co-payments would more than double.

Which might seem fair to you at first.  After all, if there are some vets around who have a whole bunch of money, perhaps they might be able to reduce the strain on the system by giving up some of their benefits.  Seems fair, right? 

Bush Budget Cuts: Health

Continuing our series taking a look at some of the 154 programs the Bush budget is planning to eliminate or cut.  Education was here.  Health Services are on the chopping block tonight.  If this stuff seems boring, that's because it is.  But it's also important, and is worth our time.

Let's start with the CDC, whose budget is being cut by at least 6% ($491 million), maybe more depending on who you read.  But it's not just the agency itself that's being cut.  It's certain specific programs. 

Perhaps one of the most striking is the "chronic disease prevention and health promotion" program which, according to a NYTimes article, is being cut by 6.5% to $851 million.  (The article wasn't available for free on the Times archives, but someone over at FreeRepublic kindly posted it on the their site.  You should read the article and then amuse yourself with the comments, which include such gems as "Yeah, yeah, women, children and minorities hardest hit, yada yada" and "841 million to fight fat people seems like more than enough, considering the alternatives.")

Well, I know our freeper friends aren't interested in finding out what they're talking about, but here's what the CDC's website says about the program:

Chronic diseases—such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes—are the leading causes of death and disability in the United States. These diseases account for 7 of every 10 deaths and affect the quality of life of 90 million Americans. Although chronic diseases are among the most common and costly health problems, they are also among the most preventable. Adopting healthy behaviors such as eating nutritious foods, being physically active, and avoiding tobacco use can prevent or control the devastating effects of these diseases.

The party of accountability

I love this stuff.  WaPo:

A government contractor defrauded the Coalition Provisional Authority of tens of millions of dollars in Iraq reconstruction funds and the Bush administration has done little to try to recover the money, an attorney for two whistle-blowers told Democratic lawmakers yesterday.

The lawyer, Alan Grayson, represents two former employees who charged in a federal lawsuit that the security firm Custer Battles LLC of Fairfax was paid approximately $15 million to provide security for civilian flights at Baghdad International Airport, even though no planes flew during the contract term. Grayson said the firm received $100 million in contracts in 2003 and 2004, despite a thin track record and evidence the government was not getting its money's worth.

Apparently, Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) is complaining about it. 

"There is a massive amount of waste, fraud and abuse going on here, and nobody seems to care very much," Dorgan said.

Yeah, well, what else is new?

-- Michael