WTF Is It Now?!?

ANNOUNCEMENTS
I originally had posted these on the little message board, but the damn thing has been 'temporarily disabled" -
* We have a new link at left: JimSpot - news, music, books and blogging.
* Blah3 has a great 'Homeland Security' poster pictured on his site, plus a cool graph - and he gets to spank a bushmoonie dittomonkey.





BUSH'S ECONOMIC 'FORUM': A KARL ROVE PRODUCTION
Echoes of "Message: I care." - Bush-the-only-slightly-less-clueless during one of his presidential campaigns.

The economic forum Chimpy McGolfcart is staging in Texas next week will feature major corporate donors to the Republican Party and a labor leader whom the administration is courting for support in the 2004 presidential campaign,.and will exclude vocal opponents of his policies, administration officials said today.

The forum, to be held at Baylor University in Waco on Tuesday, is part of an intensive White House effort to portray Smirky McSpeedboat as engaged in the nation's concerns during his month-long "working" vacation at his bogus ranch, the Lazy W. Administration officials had acknowledged earlier that Democratic congressional leaders, who began suggesting an economic summit in January, would be left out.

The administration released further information about the invitees today that could provide ammunition for the Democrats' contention that the forum is more of a public relations gesture than an attempt to elicit rigorous give-and-take about the economy, which has shown increasing signs of trouble. Several of the featured participants are generous backers of Bush and Republican causes, Bush "Pioneers," who raised at least $100,000 each for his presidential campaign, and political action committees whose donations have heavily favored (by 94 percent) the GOP, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

Some Republicans and conservative economists expressed skepticism today about the gathering. They said it appeared to be a show forum and public relations vehicle.

"It's purely political, purely P.R.," said Bruce Bartlett, a conservative economist. "The people selected for this event are going to be very, very carefully chosen to make sure that nobody gets in there to start ranting and raving about how the Bush tax cut caused the recession. They'll tell the president what he wants to hear, and reaffirm his policies."

A White House official acknowledged this. "I don't think there's any point in picking someone who has the opposite point of view," the official said. - From the Washington Post and the NY Times.