Honor and dignity
Federal prosecutors are investigating whether two contractors implicated in the bribery of former Rep. Randall "Duke" Cunningham supplied him with prostitutes, pursuing evidence that could broaden their long-running inquiry.

Oilscenity
Exxon is reporting a $8.4 billion profit in the first quarter of this year alone.

Exxon Mobil, in January, posted the highest quarterly and annual profits of any US company in history: $10.71 billion for the fourth quarter of 2005 and $36.13 billion for the full year.

ConocoPhillips announced record profits yesterday.

On Friday Chevron is expected to announce close to eleventy brazillion dollars in profits.

Fun fact: The American Petroleum Institute is spending millions of dollars in newspaper and television ads to convince Americans that their profits have nothing to do with higher gas prices.

Fun fact 2: Senate rethugs are now calling for a $100/person gas rebate - paid for by taxpayers, not the oil companies. So... how many fill-ups will that buy you? I'll get 4. That's like, what -- 2, net?

Fun fact 3: The rebate is only good if they're allowed to drill in ANWR.

Fun fact 4: The proposal is sponsored by brainless twat Rick Santorum.

Get out the shovels
Cover-up? Hours after it was announced that Tony Snowjob would be the new WH spokesliar, all of his many posts at RimJob's Circlejerk Central were deleted.

[W]hen it was announced he would be the new press secretary, the mountain of information Mr. Snow had submitted and had posted on the site disappeared. What is he hiding? This is who the White House has chosen to be a trusted deliverer of important information?

My assumption is that the White House doesn't want any of his private comments easily available.

- from OpEdNews.




Update: Blah3 did a Google search of Snow's posts.

Going down?
Oh yes.

The latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds that the public’s view of President Bush’s job, the economy and the nation’s direction have continued to decline.

“You have never seen such a sour mood in the country,” says Democratic pollster Peter Hart, who conducted the survey with Republican Bill McInturff. “It is sour, sour, sour.”

No lemonade for you!
----

Prelude to a perpwalk
We hope.
Karl "The Teflon Turd" Rove testified for the 5th time before Patrick Fitzgerald's grand jury, 'undergoing several hours of questioning' yesterday -

Though his lawyer says Rove is not a target, one legal expert, Washington lawyer Stanley Brand, says Rove's latest appearance is 'an ominous sign' for the sneaky little shit rather than an indication the probe is coming to an end.

"I don't think you need to drag a guy before a grand jury just to wrap up," said Brand. "Rove is testifying in an investigation in which a White House aide has already been indicted for lying."

Clicky.

Hammertime
Whack-a-mole - the Tom DeLay version.

PSM
Hey all, I'm going on vacation this Friday, so unless my hosts bought a new puter and got rid of AOL I won't be posting for a week.

Breaking: Karl Rove meeting with special prosecutor about leak case
According to sources, the slimy svengali is meeting to clear up some 'lingering questions' about his role in the White House campaign to undermine Ambassador Joe Wilson, ThinkProgress reports.

Dems: Lieberman too close to Bush
Democrats 'discontented' with quisling douchebag.

Bumper stickers spotted in Connecticut read, "Anybody but Joe - I want a real Democrat in '06." Campaign buttons show Bush and Lieberman in an embrace, with the words "The Kiss: Too Close for Comfort."

Edward Anderson is a New Haven blogger who helped a friend set up the Web site http://www.DumpJoe.com. in December 2004, angered by Lieberman's continued support of the Iraq war.

"In Joe's hometown, I can't find a Joe booster. If they are, they're a republican," said Anderson.

Lieberman has surprised several Democrats with personal calls asking for their support.

The Bushlapping vichycrat has also raised the prospect of running as an independent, the idea of which would be funny if it didn't end up aiding the republicans should he and Lamont split the Democratic vote. #ucking twerp.


Ick.

Appreciate you, decider-explainer
The Decider-in-Chief welcomes his new spokesliar:

Good morning. I'm here in the briefing room to break some news: I've asked Tony Snow to serve as my new press secretary.

Tony already knows most of you, and he's agreed to take the job anyway. And I'm really glad he did.

I'm confident that Tony Snow will make an outstanding addition to this White House staff. I am confident he will help you do your job.

My job is to make decisions. And his job is to help explain those decisions to the press corps and the American people.

He understands like I understand that the press is vital to our democracy. {Since when?!? - Ed.}

I appreciate Scott's offer to help Tony Snow prepare for his new job. And I'm proud to welcome Tony as part of our team. Appreciate you, buddy.

New propaganda minister announced
"Tony Snow changes departments at Fox News" - headline on the intarweb.

Fox News has confirmed that Tony Snow - who months ago called Chimpy McFlightsuit “impotent,” an "exhibitionistic frat boy" and “an embarassment” - will succeed Scott McClellan as White House press secretary. Helen Thomas seen giggling in the back of the press room.

"I believe there's an Almighty"
... an' he's got one helluva cokespoon with my name on it, dude.

Preznit Drinky McCrackhead tells audience "I base a lot of my foreign policy decisions on some things that I think are true" - like God - and says he tried to avoid war with Iraq "diplomatically to the max." Dignitude!

Yore doin' a heckuva jorb, Dumbyah
Joe Lieberman seen polishing his flipflops as a Hartford Courant poll shows that Preznit Liar McNutcase's job approval rating has dropped to 24 percent in his home state of Connecticut.

Party of accountability flailing in panic to distance themselves from skyrocketing gas prices, furious voters

Sen. Elizabeth Dole, brainless fuckwit chairwoman of the Republican Senate campaign committee, issued this statement:

"Democrats have decided to play partisan politics with gas prices in a flailing attempt to distract from the growing economy."

Oh really. Funny how familiar that sounds (scroll down to 7).

Fun fact: according to Open Secrets, oil and gas interests have given 80% of their political money to the GOP over the past couple cycles, AmericaBlog reports.

Fun fact 2: Bush today ordered a temporary suspension of environmental rules for gasoline.

Fun fact 3: both Bunnypants and Cheney are long-time oil men.

Shining a light on truth

Porter Goss' decision to fire Mary McCarthy for [allegedly - if you believe this misadministration - Ed.] leaking classified information to reporters perfectly fits the pattern of this administration: Hide unflattering information that Congress and the public should know, while selectively leaking classified information that fits the White House political agenda.

Examples of this administration's intelligence manipulation abound. The entire issue of whether Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction was twisted like a pretzel to make a phony case for war. Then there's the administration's brazen, secret program to listen in on Americans' phone conversations, examine their e-mails and investigate them on the flimsiest of excuses that they might be tied to terrorism.

There is a good reason for classifying information that would damage national security if released. But the Bush administration has warped that concept in order to deceive Congress, the American people and the world about the nature -- not the substance -- of highly questionable activities.

- from a Star Tribune editorial.

Quote

"Few things are less becoming in a political party than desperation, as Republicans are now demonstrating as they panic over rising oil and gas prices."

- heh. From the usually gpuke-blowing Whore Street Journal. Boo-#ucking-hoo.

Catapulting the propaganda
Sources close to the White House said Monday that Fox News anchor Tony Snow-job is likely to accept the job as White House spokesliar, replacing sweaty doughboy Scott McCliar. He is expected to announce his decision within the next few days, allegedly.

Bush gets tepid welcome on GOP turf
Popular war preznit and decider dissed at repug 'town-hall' speech

President Lying Dumbass, aiming to shore up sagging support in a Republican bastion, came for a heart-to-heart talk on immigration Monday, acknowledging that some were puzzled by his choice of Orange County -- the heart of an area opposed to his immigration policies.

"That's what a leader does," the Decider inexplicably told a crowd of 450 business leaders at the Hyatt Regency as he roamed the room with a microphone during an hourlong town hall-style meeting.

Smirky McStupid got merely a polite reception from the kind of Southern California business crowd that usually lavishes him with cheers. And republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of Huntington Beach, who favored the tough House bill on immigration, didn't attend the event.

Mwwaaaa!

Swiftboating
A WTF alert: Falafel-abusing stalker off meds!

"For a number of years, some media people have been using personal attacks and smears to try to marginalize people with whom they disagree. They do this because they can't win the debate. So they try to demean and demoralize their opposition."

Why does Fox News gasbag Bill O'Reilly hate republicans? Oh. Wait.

"There's no question, the committed left wing media hates Fox News — along with me and some other commentators here — because we provide a balance to the overwhelming secular presence in the media. Well, that's no longer tolerable. And The Factor's now going to launch a campaign to hold these smear merchants accountable.

Secular? I don't think it means what he thinks it means. This is hysterical. You've got to read the whole thing. What a #ucking loon! Ladies and gentlemen, the Most Ridiculous Item of the Day is - once again - Bill O'Reilly.

Pic by Frederick David.

Bush's approval ratings slide to another new low
32% of Americans still extremely fucking stupid, poll shows.

Even more shamefully, perhaps, mouthbreathing sheeptards by 40 percent still consider the Lying Warmonkey "honest and trustworthy," even after new revelations that he lied us into war. Americans were evenly split on whether the Decider is "competent," with 47 percent saying not a chance, and 47 percent wacking off to Rush Limbaugh.

A new political headache for the White House
Soaring gas cost may mean worry for Bush, GOP

New polling data suggest the rising cost of gas could cause more political damage for the lying crooks of this misadministration.

Three-quarters of Americans said they disapprove of [the Decider]'s handling of the gas price surge, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll.

Fuel and oil prices jumped to third place - behind Iraq and immigration - in a Gallup Poll survey asking Americans to rate the country's most pressing problems.

Floaters
Josh Bolton stirring anxiety, fear in the WH.

[N]o one is sure who is in and who is out. Aides say they are on edge, and Mr. Bolten has promised more housecleaning this week, after ['the Decider'] returns from a trip to California.

Fun fact: though the 'shake-ups' are regarded as a good thing, repugs close to Bolten say that he "may be getting too much news media attention for the petulant little fuckwit Bush's liking."


The petulant little fuckwit.
****

Rethugs on edge after calls for more resignations
Hee hee.

The panic in Republican circles is palpable but the Democrats will face a tough fight. Yet the potential benefits for Dems are huge if they can win control of one of the Houses of Congress. It would mean that they could start heading investigative committees. Those committees would be armed with the power of legal subpoena and could take aim at a series of scandals from pre-war intelligence in Iraq to the fallout from Hurricane Katrina. That could lay a strong basis for launching hits against the Republicans in the run up to the 2008 presidential elections.

{evil laugh sounds here!}

"Perhaps it might be better, Mr. President, if you were more concerned with the American people, than with your image in the history books." - Gen. Buck Turgidson.

This was no boat accident...
Whoa - wrong movie.
"This was no intelligence failure. This was a policy failure."

When no weapons of mass destruction surfaced in Iraq, President Accountabilitude insisted that all those WMD claims before the war were the result of faulty intelligence. But a former CIA official, Tyler Drumheller - a 26-year veteran of the agency and the CIA's top man in Europe - has decided to do something CIA officials at his level almost never do: speak out.

Last night he told 60 Minutes correspondent Ed Bradley the real failure was not in the intelligence community but - surprise surprise - in the White House. He says he saw how the Bush administration, time and again, welcomed intelligence that fit the president's determination to go to war and turned a blind eye to intelligence that did not.

"So in the fall of 2002, before going to war, we had it on good authority from a source within Saddam's inner circle that he didn't have an active program for weapons of mass destruction?" Bradley asked.

"Yes," Drumheller replied. He says there was doubt in his mind at all.

"It directly contradicts, though, what the president and his staff were telling us," Bradley remarked.

"The Decider - THAT asshat The policy was set," Drumheller says. "The war in Iraq was coming. And they were looking for intelligence to fit into the policy, to justify the policy."

You can't always get what you want
Mick Jagger refuses to give up hotel room to spoiled brat when White House asks for it.

“Bush’s people seemed to be under the impression that [the Stones] would just hand over the suites but there was no way Mick was going to do that,” a source saud.

"But... but... muh daddy stayed there!" the Boy King replied, pouting.

Pic by chakalakasp.

Bush fixer to advise Preznit Dumbass on Iraq
Now that Bunnypants has totally fucked things up, the adults in charge have called in Bush family consigliere James Baker "to generate new ideas on Iraq."

Baker, a longtime confidante of President Bush-the-Slightly-Smarter who has maintained a close but complicated relationship with the dumbass current president, plans to travel to Baghdad and the region to meet with heads of state on a fact-finding mission that officials say was encouraged by both father and son and mommy Condoleezza Rice.

Scenes we'd like to see
Via the marquee generator and Elayne:

Fun with captions


"It's hard work bein' the Decider!"
"Damn! Ah knew ah shoulda taken that dump before comin' out here!"
"Aw shit! It's Helen Thomas!!"
*****

Rice allegedly leaked national defense info

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice leaked national defense information in the same manner that landed a lower-level Pentagon official a 12-year prison sentence, the lobbyist's lawyer said Friday.

Prosecutors disputed the claim.

The allegations against Rice came as a federal judge granted a defense request to issue subpoenas sought by the defense for Rice and three other government officials in the trial of Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, former lobbyists who are charged with receiving and disclosing national defense information.

Defense lawyers are asking a judge to dismiss the charges because, among other things, they believe it seeks to criminalize crime or something.

Heh - protestors drive Bush off campus
"This is what democracy looks like!"

Although President George Bush was scheduled to meet with fellows at the Hoover Institution on Friday, the presence of more than 1,000 protestors forced him to change his plans...

People continued to join the movement, and the slogans for reform grew louder as time passed. The magnitude of the protest ultimately forced Bush to conduct the meeting at Shultz’s house on the outskirts of the Stanford campus.

Let freedom ring!
Democracy's on the march!
They hate us for our freedoms!
We're a freedom-loving nation!

Protestor Wenyi Wang was charged on Friday with federal misdemeanor charges of "harassing, intimidating and threatening a foreign official." She may face up to six months in jail.


"It would be a heckuva lot easier if I was the dictator."
*****

Oh please oh please oh please
MSNBC: all signs point to Karl Rove's indictment.

1. The latest court documents, for the first time, name slimy fuck Karl Rove as a subject of the investigation - a "subject" being a technical term meaning somebody is under investigation.

2. The court documents go out of their way to say that Rove will not be called as a witness in Scooter Libby’s trial, even though Rove is a key part of the narrative.

3. Rove is referred in court documents as “Official A.” In every single case prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald designates somebody as Official A in an indictment, that person eventually does get indicted themselves.

Pic by Dieter Biskamp.

Smoking mushroom cloud
The White House knew there were no WMD before going to war.

The CIA had evidence Iraq possessed no weapons of mass destruction six months before the invasion but was ignored by a White House intent on ousting Saddam Hussein, a former senior CIA official said, according to CBS.

"The (White House) group that was dealing with preparation for the Iraq war came back and said they were no longer interested," Tyler Drumheller told CBS on Friday.

"We said: 'Well, what about the intel?' And they said: 'Well, this isn't about intel anymore. This is about regime change'," added Drumheller.

"The policy was set. The war in Iraq was coming and they were looking for intelligence to fit into the policy," the former CIA agent told CBS.

Tide turns on Dubya's wreck
Criminal sleaze and arrogant, Nixonian trampling of the law in Washington

The Bush Administration is falling to pieces.

In recent weeks, scanning the political coverage in the mainstream US media and sampling the blogs has been to watch a flood tide ebbing to reveal a rotting, skeletal hulk. It is the George W. Bush ship of fools, stuck in the mud for the world to see in all its mendacity, its incompetence, its faith-based stupidity.

It is possible, at this late stage, that even Bush himself has begun to realise something is wrong. That oddly simian face is ashen, the eyes leaden. The voice is shrill and its tone defensive.

"I'm the decider and I decide what's best," he squawked to reporters in the White House rose garden the other day, as the screws turned tighter on his disastrous Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld. Can you imagine Roosevelt, Eisenhower or Kennedy blurting something like that?

This is a trash presidency, founded on lies and knavery, fraud and ignorant ideological crackpottery. Compared to this lot, Bill Clinton was John the Baptist.

Dayyum! Word!!1!

Man, what a dog
Sanctimonious fuckwit Rick Santorum is officially the least popular senator in the US.

Eyes wide shut
“Vice President Dick Cheney gets caught napping yesterday as Donald Rumsfeld and other White House aides leave a press briefing by President Bush and Chinese leader Hu Jintao. The veep’s people later insisted he was reading his notes.”

Rummy looks like he's pretty much zonked himself...


"Zzzzzzz. Get off my lawn! Phthtph...
I'm gonna blow your goddamn heads off!
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz... mmmmph...."
******

PSM
Crooks and Liars is holding a Scott McClellan video clip contest.


"No, it is NOT true: small hands do not mean a small..."
****

Prayers
Sending hugs to Stranger, whose brother passed away last night.

Friday cat blogging


Berry and SpiceGirl. This is what they're probably doing right now, while I'm at work. Damn them.
****

John Dean: things are getting a bit 'Nixony' at the White House
'An increasingly dangerous president'

This administration goes through scandals like Rush Limbaugh does oxycont a compulsive eater does candy bars; the wrapper is barely off one before we've moved on to another.

Currently, Preznit Partypants is busy reshuffling his staff hoping the public will buy into the whole "he's reinvigorating his presidency" thing. But the hiring and firing of subordinates will not touch the core problems that have plagued Bush's deranged tenure. That is because the problems belong to the president - not his staff. And they are problems that go to character, not to strategy.

George Bush has misled America into a preemptive war in Iraq; he is using terrorism to claim that as Commander-in-Chief, he is above the law; and he refuses to acknowledge that American law prohibits torturing our enemies and warrantlessly wiretapping Americans.

Americans, increasingly, are not buying his justifications for any of these positions. Yet "the grown-up in charge" has made no effort to persuade them that his actions are sound, prudent or productive; rather, he takes offense when anyone questions his unilateral powers. The fucking dumbass responds as if personally insulted.

And this may be his only option: With Bush's limited rhetorical skills, it would be all but impossible for him to persuade any others than his most loyal supporters of his positions.

Whoa, snap!

Ummm, I've paraphrased somewhat, btw.

Land of the free
"The Constitution is just a goddamn piece of paper!"

As our dear Freedom Preznit urged China's President Hu to allow Chinese citizens to "speak freely," an American protester speaking freely was muffled and whisked away by the secret service. Now she may be charged with a federal crime.

Last night, officials with the Secret Service, which eventually dragged Wenyi Wang away and arrested her -- literally seconds after Bush called on China to permit more free speech -- said they are seriously considering charging Wang with an obscure federal offense, intimidating a foreign official.

According to our research, Wang -- a permanent US resident who reportedly practices pathology at Mt. Sinai Hospital -- could face a fine and federal prison time of up to six months.

'I'm sorry this happened,' the Dictator-tot said to Hu as the woman was dragged off by his imperial stormtroopers.

New WH chief of staff may shitcan aging Bush teenybopper
No-talent assclown Josh Bolten's next victim may be Preznit Poopypants' adoring pet counsel Harriet Miers, an "influential republican" has said. Yes, the same Harriet Miers that Bunnypants picked for the Supreme Court.

Mr. Bolten is said by a number of republicans in Washington to feel that Ms. Miers is indecisive, a weak manager and slow in moving vital paperwork through the system.

"She's also been spending way too much time gazing at Josh's Wall o' Bush hand pics," said an anonymous staffer.

Moving Ms. Miers would be a strike at the heart of the Great Decider's emotional bonds in the White House and would eliminate another Texan from the circle he has kept close to him in Washington. Republicans who talk regularly to senior West Wing advisers say the president has been unhappy and on edge about the staff changes that he nonetheless sees as necessary for revitalizing the West Wing.

"Poopies! No way!"
*****

Rove demotion tied to leak inquiry, misadministration train-wreck

"Insiders say the move is not just window dressing. They say that Rove's role in the CIA leak investigation may have also triggered the move, and that Rove has not proven as adept at the nuts and bolts of policy as he is at political strategy, citing the failure of Social Security reform and the lack of a compelling domestic policy agenda."

Fox News: 'we're #ucked!'
Resolute war preznit "clearly damaged by sinking support" among republicans.

Bush’s approval hits a new record low of 33 percent this week in the latest poll from Fox 'News.' More Americans disapprove than evar of how the Boy King, Don Rumsfeld and Congress are doing their jobs, and people who aren't retiring Exxon CEOs say it feels like the economy is getting worse rather than better.

Josh Bolten: bowler, sycophant, wackjob
Bolton's wall collection of Bush photos is unique. The pictures focus exclusively on Bush's hands at key moments in his pants presidency. Not a single photo of Bush's face can be found.

"I think the President is a terrific leader and a great guy," [the no-talent assclown] said. "But that stupid monkey-face gives me the willies."

I guess that means he doesn't have the one of Preznit Dignitude rootin' fer taters up his blowhole. Pity.

Pyramid unearthed - in Bosnia
Very cool -

The structure is a colossal 722 feet high, or a third taller than Egypt's Great Pyramid of Giza. The huge stone blocks discovered Wednesday appear to be cut in cubes and polished.

Another find is a tunnel believed to be linking several pyramid-shaped hills in the valley of the central Bosnian town of Visoko. Rescue teams from a nearby coal mine were the first ones to enter the tunnel that is presumed to be part of an underground network. They were followed by archeologists, geologists and other experts who, after they came out said, the tunnel was man-made.

'Decider' Bush is responsible
After pussyfooting around for the entire piece, the author of this opinion in the USA Toady finally hits the nail on the head: "for all the symbolism and all the bad decisions, Rumsfeld is not the person most accountable. The president is."

Things change, and stay the same
It's hard work! Heh heh

[The resolute Decider-in-Chief] wants to show the nation he's shaking things up in his misadministration, but it is clear that the people who fucked everything up will remain in place. The press secretary goes; that sneaky fuck Rove is losing half his portfolio. There's a new White House chief of staff. But the neocon nincompoops at the Defense Department are still on the job, doing ... whatever the hell they've been doing.

Metaphors about rats and deck chairs abound.

The sudden exit of hapless WH spokes-tool Scott McClellan would be meaningless under normal circumstances. But in the current context, it really does send an important message. The straight-talkin' president is like one of those people who pretend to apologize by saying they're sorry if they were misunderstood. He doesn't believe he's done anything wrong. It's our fault for not appreciating him.

Blame the victim.

- from a NY Times editorial (paraphrasing).


Clicky.

Watchdog press - or lapdog press?
Huh.

No matter which party they generally favor or political stripes they wear, newspapers and other media outlets need to confront the fact that America faces a crisis almost without equal in recent decades.

Republicans and Democrats alike are starting to face the prospect of what it means to have George W. Bush as their commander in chief for another 33 months -- in a time of war, terrorism, and nuclear intrigue. How can the press contribute to confronting the crisis? First: recognize it exists.

Let's start with the dishonest hacks at the WaComPo -

Shame on the Post's editorial page, says Robert Parry:

As arguably the most influential newspaper in the nation’s capital, the Post might have been expected to encourage a healthy pre-war debate that reflected diverse opinions from experts in the fields of government, diplomacy, academia, the military and the broader American public. War, after all, is not a trivial matter.

Instead, the Post’s editorial section served as a kind of pro-war bulletin board, posting neoconservative manifestos attesting to the wisdom of invading Iraq and tacking up harsh indictments of Americans who dissented from George W. Bush’s war plans.

Yet what is perhaps most amazing is that even now – after all that’s been learned about Bush’s Iraq War deceptions – the Post’s editorial page continues to act as the administration’s hall monitor for the war, trying to keep the American people and especially Washington insiders in line.

Pic from cuteoverload.com

Fitzmas in July?
Grand jury hears evidence against slimy svengali Karl Rove

The grand jury session yesterday in federal court in Washington, DC, sources close to the case said, was the first time this year that Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald told the jurors that he would soon present them with a list of criminal charges he intends to file against Karl Rove in hopes of having the grand jury return a multi-count indictment. In an interview on Wednesday, Rove's attorney Robert Luskin confirmed that Rove remains a "subject" of Fitzgerald's two-year-old probe.

Makin' progress
Democracy's on the march!

A new poll of leaders of Iraqi women's-rights groups finds that women were treated better and their civil rights were more secure under deposed President Saddam Hussein than under the faltering and increasingly sectarian US-installed government.

Makin' progress II
Huge explosion near US embassy rocks Kabul

A massive explosion rocked the Afghan capital late Wednesday near the diplomatic area where the US Embassy is located.

Worst... president... ever
One of America's leading historians assesses George W. Bush, lying warmonkey:

George W. Bush's presidency appears headed for colossal historical disgrace. Barring a cataclysmic event on the order of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, after which the public might rally around the White House once again, there seems to be little the administration can do to avoid being ranked on the lowest tier of U.S. presidents. And that may be the best-case scenario. Many historians are now wondering whether Bush, in fact, will be remembered as the very worst president in all of American history.

And now, the money shot:

More than half the country now considers Bush dishonest and untrustworthy, and a decisive plurality consider him less trustworthy than his predecessor, Bill Clinton -- a figure still attacked by conservative zealots as "Slick Willie."

Ha ha ha ha ha!


Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!

"A demotion is not enough"

This morning, pasty scumhole Karl Rove was demoted and forced to give up "oversight of policy development" in the White House. This news comes on the heels of White House proclamations of major staff reshuffling that have led to new faces in the West Wing, but no changes to the President's failed policies.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean issued the following statement:

"After having his hand in nearly every bad Bush policy decision and nearly every scandal that has consumed the Bush White House, it is not surprising that Karl Rove was demoted this morning. But a demotion is not enough. From the collapse of the President's scheme to privatize social security to Rove's involvement in the outing of a covert CIA agent's identity while he still holds a security clearance, the President has abundant reason to fire Karl Rove.

"The Bush White House is merely engaging in window dressing. President Bush doesn't seem to understand that you can't just change the window dressing, you have to make changes in the Bush Administration's policies which have undermined America's security - from the economy to health care, our families and the war in Iraq."

Theaetetus writes: "Ah, all the good shakeups happening in the misadministration... Let's see, there's Andrew Card, the guy who organizes the President's schedule, answers his mail, and sets the menu for lunch... and Scott McClellan, the guy who talks to the press for the President.

"This is a shake-up? Who's next, Claire Taplett, the Deputy Director of the Gift Unit? Brian Cossiboom, the Executive Assistant to the Assistant to the President for Presidential Personnel (real title)? John Currin, the Director of Fact Checking? Oh, wait, he left a long time ago."

Puppet theatre
"It's going to be hard to replace Scott, but nevertheless he made the decision and I accepted it. One of these days, he and I are going to be rocking in chairs in Texas and talking about the good old days^*," the Decider-in-Chief said at a news conference today. "Like, 'remember that time I had you go out and lie to the nation every day for like 3 years? ... that was awesome. Now let's go cut some brush!'"


^*Wtf ones are those???

Makin' progress
'Militants broke into two elementary schools in a mainly Shiite district of Baghdad and slaughtered two teachers in front of their pupils, the Iraqi government said Wednesday.'

When kin ah bomb sumbody, Karl?
According to the latest poll, the Decidership's approval rating is a decidedly low 35%.

Only thirty-five percent of 1,008 US adults surveyed think Bush is doing an "excellent or pretty good" job as president, down from 36% in March and significantly lower than 43% in January, according to a new Harris Interactive poll. Furthermore, pessimism about the direction of US policies appears to be growing. Only 27% of Americans believe "things in this country are going in the right direction," a drop from 31% in March.

Quote
CNN's John Roberts on how the job of White House press secretary would be described in a job listing:

"Be willing to take it full in the face every day."

Meanwhile, in Fantasyland...
This rated not only a "barf alert," but a "mega-barf, chunk-hurling, projectile-vomit alert!" over at RimJob's Circlejerk Central, where the Holy misadministration can do no wrong:

"While the Bush administration is on the defensive for its conduct of the war in Iraq, the real setback in the US war effort is coming in Afghanistan where the Taliban is alive, well and thriving throughout the countryside and even in much of neighboring Pakistan."

The author of the piece is obviously a lefty, America-hating propagandist.

Fun fact: it's from a WorldNutDaily article.

Hagel: Rumsfeld sucks monkey ass

Sen. Chuck Hagel said Monday he shares the lack of confidence in Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld separately voiced by six retired America-hating traitor generals.

“The concern I’ve had is, at a very dangerous time, the secretary of defense does not command the respect and confidence of our men and women in uniform,” Hagel said. “There is a real question about his capacity to lead at this critical time.”

Speaking about a capacity for leading... "For Bush to fire Rumsfeld is for Bush to declare himself a failure as president.” - Joe Conason.

Karl Rove to lose policy portfolio
Keep his security clearance.

In another move in an ongoing shakeup of President Stupid's staff, longtime confidant and svengali Karl Rove is giving up oversight of policy development to focus more on politics with the approach of the fall midterm elections, a senior administration official said Wednesday.

As if there's a difference.

Another handjob from Howie
And the WaComPo. Conservative hack and Bush apologist wHoward Kurtz writes a creamy paean to conservative hack and Bush apologist Brit Hume, defending Hume's coverage of the swift-boating of John Kerry and getting a dig in at the America-hating press corps that "behaved badly . . . like a pack of jackals" when Dick Cheney shot his friend in the face and when the preznit commented on the New Orleans levee breach. You can almost hear wHowie's hand squelching around Hume's little peener before helpfully guiding him home to chocolatetown.

Fun fact: "As a boss, Hume is a tough taskmaster. He can be withering in his comments to young staffers, say those who know him, and has a strong temper, once throwing a pitcher of half-frozen orange juice against the wall. But, they say, his flashes of anger quickly pass."

How very psychotic.

Quote
"Scott McClellan resigns position as White House press secretary. Will be replaced with a Fox News anchor to cut out the middleman." - headline on the intarwebs.

Christopher Hitchens, clueless asstool
Hitchens is drunk again.

Clue: Joe Wilson isn't the story, asshole. It's your lying POS president. Jerkoff.

Snowjob
Somebody's leaking again...

Two people with knowledge of the matter say WH officials have spoken with Tony Snow, Fox 'News' commentator, to see if he would be interested in replacing press-tool Scott McClellan.

"One of them said Mr. Snow had been contacted very recently about the job, and both said they did not believe Mr. Snow was the only person the White House was considering," the Times reports. Another possible replacement is Dan Senor, who served as spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq.

It'll be a good fit for Tony. He's already an expert at catapulting the propaganda.

Heckuva job, Snott
Embattled WH press-tool Scott McClellan has resigned, plans to spend more time lying to his family.

Makin' progress
Iraq government talks stall again as new rift develops

A new split clouded protracted efforts to form a national unity government in Iraq, this time between the ousted Sunni Arab elite and secularist supporters of former premier Iyad Allawi. Allawi, whose bloc holds 25 seats in the 275-member parliament, has made a bid for one of the two vice president posts, angering the main Sunni grouping, the National Concord Front.

Going to war with the nincompoop liars you have
****

Your tax dollars at work
Re-liberating Baghdad - because the previous liberation was a flaming cluster#uck. Mission accomplished.

Share the love
Let's help Blah3 reach 1 million hits!

Worst person in the world
Does anyone have Michelle Malkin's home phone number?

Let's roll!
Recruitment skyrockets after Bush saber rattling. Unfortunately, it's among would-be Iranian martyrs.

Some 200 Iranians have volunteered in the past few days to carry out "martyrdom missions" against US and British interests around the world if Iran is attacked, a hard-line group said Sunday. The Sunday Times of London, quoting unnamed Iranian officials, reported Iran had 40,000 trained suicide bombers prepared to strike western targets if Iran is attacked.

Joementum
Joe Lieberman puts newcaster in a coma on live television. With video!

Poodle turns on master
You know you're in deep doodoo when your own lapdog avoids you like the plague.

Tony Blair has canceled an upcoming trip to America to avoid being photographed with Bush. The prime minister was scheduled to visit the US this spring for meetings with the president, but the trip was called off after Blair decided that being photographed with [the Lying DisasterMonkey] would be too toxic for his image.

His image. Uh-huh. Anyhoo, it gets better -

Blair has told George Bush that Britain cannot offer military support to any strike on Iran, regardless of whether the move wins the backing of the international community, government sources claimed yesterday.

Has the poodle turned into a rottie, or is he just licking his own ass?

Washington insider and longtime Bush friend picked for OBM headjob
Bunnypants has nominated trade rep and former Ohio congressman Rob Portman as White House budget director.

As part of an effort to re-energize the administration and boost the president's record-low approval ratings, Bush said more changes are in the works under his new chief of staff, no-talent assclown Joshua Bolten.

"With a new man will come some changes," the president said. But he emphasized anew that Donald Rumsfeld's job is safe, despite calls for his resignation from a half dozen retired military commanders, some editorial pages, and a good part of the US, if not the world.

"I hear the voices and I read the front page and I know the speculation," Preznit Oblivious told reporters in the Rose Garden. "But I'm the decider and I decide what's best. And what's best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the secretary of defense."

What's best for whom, exactly?


"Ah hear th' voices comin' from muh Easter bunny! They're sayin' Eat me!'!"
****

Worse than Watergate
While asskissing toady Bob Woodward is busily folding towels WH poolside, Carl Bernstein writes that republicans should hold bipartisan hearings on Bush: "The calculations of politicians about their electoral futures should pale in comparison to the urgency of examining perhaps the most disastrous five years of decision-making of any modern American presidency."

[T]o learn what this president and his vice president knew and when they knew it; to determine what the Bush administration has done under the guise of national security; and to find out who did what, whether legal or illegal, unconstitutional or merely under the wire, in ignorance or incompetence or with good reason, while the administration barricaded itself behind the most Draconian secrecy and disingenuous information policies of the modern presidential era.

The first fundamental question that needs to be answered is whether lying, disinformation, misinformation, and manipulation of information have been a basic matter of policy - used to overwhelm dissent; to hide troublesome truths and inconvenient data from the press, public, and Congress; and to defend the president and his actions when he and they have gone awry or utterly failed.

Another new all-time low
Bush plummets in Rasmussen poll.

[T]here were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11, the Department of Defense has been inept and incompetent in conducting the occupation of Iraq, nearly three years after the president who never fought in a war landed on an aircraft carrier and announced "mission accomplished," nearly 3,000 American soldiers have been killed and as many as 100,000 Iraqis are dead and Iraq is headed toward civil war.
On top of those mistakes and deceptions there was the Katrina fiasco, the high cost of gasoline and the revelation that President Principle directed the vice president to leak information from the White House to the press.

[T]here are the also the issues of immigration, globalization, fair wages, working conditions, the future of health care, the social safety net for all Americans, education and the global inequality.

The Harriet Miers fiasco, the Dubai ports debacle, the Terri Schiavo embarrassment, the vp shooting an old man in the face, the Jack Abramoff and Bob Ney scandals, the Tom DeLay and David Safavian indictments, Bill Frist's insider trading, the 'germ warfare' trailers, the 'yellowcake' lies, the election phone-jamming scheme, the illegal wiretapping... OK, enough, my fingers are getting tired.

Anger at Bush may hurt GOP at polls
Preznit Principle facing pissed-off public, "intense voter discontent" - party pooping in pants.

Shirley Jackson - the live one - said she formerly considered herself an independent voter "and my husband used to be a staunch Republican. But now we're both Democrats."

The main reason, she said, is Bush's handling of the war. "My husband and I think he lied to us, and he won't admit he's lied to us," said Jackson, 69. She said she believes Bush launched the war to avenge Iraq's reported plan to assassinate his father....

Bruce, 54, said she is a moderate Republican and has given money to the party, but now she is exasperated with Bush and his economic policies. She recounted a conversation with neighbors who support Bush because of "moral issues." "I said, 'While he's not killing babies, he's killing you' " with high gasoline prices, a soaring deficit and other problems, Bruce said. "He is going to bankrupt us all."

Pompous pantload's support of preznit remains unshaken
"Let me be straight with you - I like George Bush," Fox "News"' Sean Hannity said. "I think he's a man of principle, a man of faith. I think he's got a backbone of steel and he's a real, genuine, big-time leader... He's a consequential figure for his time. We don't see it right now."

You c*cksucking moron.

'History will vindicate Bush as a strong leader,' he told the AP's David "buttboy" Bauder during what had to be a drunken bout of nude gravy-wrestling with kool-aid shooters.

Seen on the internets: "Sean Hannity is Ann Coulter without the penis." - allanhowls

And you thought Joe Klein was insane
Iran's nuke build-up is "good for America" because it will lower gas prices, dweeby nutcase Steve Forbes tells the Cartoon Network Fox News.

"[W]hen we have the confrontation, which we will have, we can really deal with that crisis. Then the price of oil will come down. The longer we let it fester, the higher the price of oil will stay."

Let's roll!
/sarcasm

Senator: 7 colleagues headed to slammer
Well, its a start. Republican Sen. Tom Coburn says he expects six members of the House and craven idiot Conrad Burns at least one senator to go to jail on corruption charges related to the scandal involving rethug pet lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Coburn wouldn't name names, but said, "If you've been keeping up with things, you've got a pretty good idea."
- WorldNutDaily.


Clicky.
*****

Sorry. I was visiting my family this weekend and I'm in a complete stupor right now.



Congress approval rating stinks; numbers in toilet
America-hating Americans 'closely associate' the performance of the rubberlican-stamp Congress with Bunnypants' craptacular performance, a new Gallup poll shows. While approval of the Boy King remained at a pathetic 36%, approval of the rethug-led Congress nose-dived 4 percentage points - from 27% in March, to 23% currently, a 12-year low.

This is NOT where I am.

Here I am. What a beautiful day it's turning out to be. I took a break from watching the bf do my taxes to go fill the fishponds, and ten minutes later a nice-sized frog jumped in the bathtub pond and started croaking. The good kind of croaking. I'll try to get a pic of it later.

I think its one of these, the northeastern green frog:


Update: there are three in there now.

Friday cat blogging


SpiceGirl, getting a birds-eye view.
****

Loooooooo-zerrrrrr
Bwwwaaa! Giant painted head Katherine Harris is trailing Bill Nelson by 30 points.

Your tax dollars at work
US Embassy in Iraq will be "the size of Vatican City."

The fortress-like compound rising beside the Tigris River will be the largest of its kind in the world, the size of Vatican City, with the population of a small town, its own defense force, self-contained power and water, and a precarious perch at the heart of Iraq's turbulent future. The new U.S. Embassy also seems as cloaked in secrecy as the ministate in Rome.

"We can't talk about it. Security reasons," a spokeswoman said.

Maybe the preznit will declassify the documents for it.

Friday cat blogging


Egon relaxing on the veldt.
****

Coming home disillusioned
Iraq vet to Bush: #uck you, you lying sack of shit.

As I watched the Iraq war begin, I completely trusted the Bush administration. I thought we were going to prove all of the left-wing antiwar protesters and dissenters wrong. I thought we were going to make America safer. Regrettably, I acknowledge that it was I who was wrong....

I now know I wrongfully placed my faith and trust in a presidential administration hopelessly mired in incompetence, hubris and a lack of accountability. It planned a war based on false intelligence and unrealistic assumptions. It has strategically surrendered the condition of victory in Iraq to people who do not share our vision, values or interests. The Bush administration has proven successful at only one thing in Iraq — painting us into a corner with no feasible exit.

I will never trust any of them again.

- Former Marine captain Christopher H. Sheppard.

Friday prat blogging
Write your own caption!


"Oh, and boss, before I leave, I just wanted to tell you what a total douche you are."
*****

FAIR to WaComPo: your suck is showing
Truthiness, intelligence manipulation at the WaComPo - paper's editorial page ignores facts to back Bush

Newspaper editorial pages are entitled to their own opinions—but not to their own facts. The Washington Post's editorial page, however, seems to want to have it both ways.

Contact the Washington Post and ask whether its editorial page must adhere to the same rules as its reporters - namely, that it get its facts right:

Editorial Page Editor/Bush Blowjobs
Fred Hiatt
fredhiatt@washpost.com
(202) 334-6000

Ombudsweasel
Deborah Howell
ombudsman@washpost.com
(202) 334-7582

Dear Fred,
How do you sleep at night? Does all that fellating tire you out?
Sincerely,
Maru

Ramen
Conservative Kansas school board member to principal: remove Flying Spaghetti Monster pic from science classroom door.

Prinicpal to board member: eat me.

Dysenteric harpy skank or syphilitic tranny?
Well, yes.

Brownshirted viper mAnn Coulter never filled in the gender box on 'her' voter registration form. This has got to be a joke...

Reid to Bunnypants: up yours, idiot
Preznit Liar accused Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid on Thursday of "single-handedly thwarting" action on immigration legislation, and got a bitchslap in return.

"Yeah right. That little pissant. He has as much credibility on immigration as he does on Iraq and national security," Reid shot back (paraphrasing).

"If the president is serious about moving forward, then he should stop with the obstructionist, imbecilic lying and join me in calling on that douchebag Frist to bring immigration reform back to the Senate floor when we return" from recess, Reid said. "Hopefully, by then, Bush and his majority leader will have found the backbone to stop the extreme elements of their party from blocking improvements to America's security."

Hopefully the rest of the Dems will have found some too.

Ewww
Speaking of repulsive, reptile-like vermin, II...

Let's see... Where to put the disgraced and indicted politician accused of money laundering and accepting bribes... ?

Ew
Speaking of repulsive, reptile-like vermin... Toad with a tail found.


Clicky.
*****

Waste of paper, waste of O₂
Dysenteric harpy skank's poisonous new screed to be released 6/6/06.
Book will be given away for a two-week subscription to NewsMax 6/8/06.


Click, if you must.
****

Thursday finch blogging
Meep!


Zebra finches Spot, Zeeby, Arioke, and Fawn.
****

Out-Nixoning Nixon

Now that President Bush is the "leaker-in-chief," America has to ask itself: Exactly how many times over would this Republican Congress have impeached Bill Clinton if he had committed just a tiny fraction of President Bush's offenses?

- Democrats for America's Future.

Don't forget Poland Katrina
The Dubai ports deal, the phone-jamming during the election, Cheney shooting an old guy in the face, oh, and the national debt.

The Bush administration has spawned so many disasters lately that it is hard to keep track of them all. The continuing carnage in "liberated" Iraq,
deteriorating conditions in Afghanistan,
fresh revelations of Bush's fraudulent use of intelligence to justify war,
illegal domestic wire-tapping,
unchecked illegal immigration,
unprotected ports,
the Abramoff scandal,
the DeLay resignation,
and the spreading stain from the prosecution of Scooter Libby, all compete for our attention. A good day for Bush is when he seems to be making less of a mess than the previous day. Unfortunately, that perception is usually wrong.

- from here.

Colin Powell didn't even believe Colin Powell
Now he tells us?? "He and his department’s top experts never believed that Iraq posed an imminent nuclear threat."

Noble cause
65,000 Iraqis forced to flee their homes due to civil war - or, if you're the Bush misadministration, 65,000 Iraqis go on a freedom march.

Ai, Bush: va f'an culo!
Romano Prodi, who beat Bush's buddy Berlusconi in the Italian election, said that he will withdraw the country's troops from Iraq when he takes office, claiming there was no justification for the US-led invasion.

Dems take lead over rethugs in new poll

The inept Democrats have somehow managed to take commanding leads over republicans on most issues and in voter preferences for the November congressional elections, a Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll shows. While Republicans maintain an edge in handling terrorism and the war in Iraq {Wtf?? - Ed.}, the party's disapproval rating among all Americans has jumped 6 percentage points since January, to 50 percent.

The latest related problem for the lying dictator president is the disclosure on April 6 that he authorized the leaking of classified intelligence to a reporter: Two-thirds of those polled say Bush's actions were a flaming abuse of power weren't appropriate.

The survey suggests the Democrats are experiencing some success in their effort to paint the Republicans as corrupt.

Whereby the milquetoast article's author, a graduate of the Columbia School of Narcolepsy, finally lapsed into a coma along with his readers. I'm appending this pic to hopefully liven things up:

Crackhome on the range
Bush's childhood home is being restored, right down to the chewed off lead-based paint.

No gyration zone
If Fox News was around in 1776.

"The biggest sand toilets in the world"
On May 29, 2003, Bush told the nation we found bio labs in Iraq that proved Saddam had WMDs. But even then he knew it was bullshit: 'as he spoke, US intelligence officials possessed powerful evidence that it was not true.'

A secret fact-finding mission to Iraq -- not made public until now -- had already concluded that the trailers had nothing to do with biological weapons. Leaders of the Pentagon-sponsored mission transmitted their unanimous findings to Washington in a field report on May 27, 2003, two days before the president's statement.

The three-page field report and a 122-page final report three weeks later were stamped "secret" and shelved. Meanwhile, for nearly a year, administration and intelligence officials continued to publicly assert that the trailers were weapons factories.

Wait, it gets better...

After team members returned to Washington, they began work on a final report. At several points, members were questioned about revising their conclusions, according to sources knowledgeable about the conversations. The questioners generally wanted to know the same thing: Could the report's conclusions be softened, to leave open a possibility that the trailers might have been intended for weapons?

In the end, the final report -- 19 pages plus a 103-page appendix -- remained unequivocal in declaring the trailers unsuitable for weapons production.

"It was very assertive," said one weapons expert familiar with the report's contents.

Then, their mission completed, the team members returned to their jobs and watched as their work appeared to vanish.

"I went home and fully expected that our findings would be publicly stated," one member recalled. "It never happened. And I just had to live with it."

The misadministration knew - and covered it up and continued to lie us into war.

Ah! Ahh! Ahhhh!
Four words you never want to see together: Pat Robertson, Sex Therapist.

Which brings us to... the GOP integrity and family values Pervert Hall of Shame.

It's good to be the king
"You're not supposed to discuss classified information. So I declassified it." - the Dictator-tot's response to the leak scandal.

Next: "Our laws say I'm not supposedta bomb a country without approval from Congress. Who needs those guys, anyway?"




Why do you hate America?

Cheney booed loudly at Nats’ home opener
"The guy was jeered off the field."

"Greeted with loud boos, Vice President Dick 'duck!' Cheney threw out the ceremonial first pitch Tuesday at the Washington Nationals' home opener...."

Crooks and Liars has the video. Think Progress has a video from Fox 'News' where they muted the audio so you can't hear the booing - it won't open for me, but maybe it's just real busy right now!


Clicky. Boy, does he look happy.
****

Wtf are the other 37% on??^*
Another day, another poll indicating an overwhelming majority of Americans think Bush is a lying, ineffectual weasel.


^*Kool-aid.

Tuesday prat blogging
Bringing dignitude back to the White House...

They hate us for our freedoms
God bless America.

Ohhhhhhh kay.....
Roger Aronoff seems to have gone completely insane while no one was paying attention:

Amidst all of the news of sectarian violence and the temporary inability to form a government of national unity in Iraq, there is actually reason for optimism. The truth is that the forces of freedom and democracy are making progress. Now, if we could only get the media to pay attention. Following the February bombing of one of the Shia's most sacred shrines, the Golden Dome mosque in Samarra, the situation could have careened out of control into full-fledged civil war. But it didn't.

Well, that's good enough for me!

Yes he would
"The administration seems to be following exactly the same script on Iran that it used on Iraq."

Why might Mr. Bush want another war? For one thing, Mr. Bush, whose presidency is increasingly defined by the quagmire in Iraq, may believe that he can redeem himself with a new Mission Accomplished moment.

And it's not just Mr. Bush's legacy that's at risk. Current polls suggest that the Democrats could take one or both houses of Congress this November, acquiring the ability to launch investigations backed by subpoena power. This could blow the lid off multiple Bush administration scandals. Political analysts openly suggest that an attack on Iran offers Mr. Bush a way to head off this danger, that an appropriately timed military strike could change the domestic political dynamics.

- Paul Krugman.

Republicans hoping angry voters spare 'local' candidates
Mwwaaaa! Not at those prices!

With the skies darkening over Congress' midterm 2006 elections, House Republicans have adopted the late Democratic Speaker Tip O'Neill's motto: All politics is local. Despite controlling Congress and the White House, the GOP is not running on its record or any other national theme this year. {WHAT record? - Ed.}

Instead, it is attempting to cast the elections as purely local affairs. The decision reflects the disarray the party finds itself in and the anger many of its supporters feel.

LOL. Beautiful!

Twenty cents in one day
That's how much gas prices went up yesterday.

Oil climbs to $69, and it's not even Memorial Day yet.

With one filing, prosecutor puts Bush in spotlight
Strategery: lie like hell!

"The mainstream press keeps saying that Bush didn't technically break the law. Oh come on - as Greg Palast has pointed out, at a minimum we have a prima facie case of obstruction of justice. We also have the RICO Act as a distinct possiblity here. Not to mention that he didn't actually declassify the information he authorized leaking until days later. There is a process for this sort of thing, you know."
- BuzzFlash.

It is now clear that Patrick Fitzgerald's account of what was happening in the White House in the summer of 2003 is very different from the Bush administration's narrative.

Mr. Fitzgerald's filing talks not of an effort to level with Americans but of "a plan to discredit, punish or seek revenge against Mr. Wilson." It concludes, "It is hard to conceive of what evidence there could be that would disprove the existence of White House efforts to 'punish Wilson.'"

On Monday, Mr. Bush found himself in an uncomfortable spot during an appearance at a Johns Hopkins University campus in Washington, when a student asked him to address Mr. Fitzgerald's assertion that the White House was seeking to retaliate against Mr. Wilson.

Mr. Bush stumbled as he began his response before settling on an answer that sidestepped the question. He said he had ordered the formal declassification of the 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq in July 2003 because "it was important for people to get a better sense for why I was saying what I was saying in my speeches" about Iraq's efforts to reconstitute its weapons program.

Sure. Even though he already knew at that point that what he was saying had no basis in reality.

Bringing honor and integrity back to Washington
"George Bush abused his power to authorize leaks to mislead the press for political gain." - Jane Hamsher.

After initially lying about it, Bush finally admitted to leaking a lie in order to smear someone who revealed the truth about his lying.


/sarcasm.
*****

DeLay donor demands his dough back
Who would Jesus scam?

Even though he planned to step down before the election, corrupt scumbag Tom DeLay continued to ask for and receive campaign contributions.

He asked contributors for financial support, telling them that he needed the money to help with his campaign, when in reality, DeLay knew he'd have to resign and he wanted the donations for his legal defense. DeLay's con is legal, but obviously dishonest. With this in mind, it's not terribly surprising that some of these donors would like their money back.

One lobbyist said it's "nauseating to think about" his campaign contribution going to subsidize DeLay's legal team. "That all this money will go to the legal defense fund, it sickens me," he added. "I have to pay for that?"

Only if you're a #ucking dumbass.

Pic by Barrump.

Phone-jamming records point to White House
Uhhhh... I was just getting their pizza order... yeah...

Key figures in a phone-jamming scheme designed to keep New Hampshire Democrats from voting in 2002 had regular contact with the White House and Republican Party as the plan was unfolding, phone records introduced in criminal court show.

The records show that Bush campaign operative James Tobin, who recently was convicted in the case, made two dozen calls to the White House within a three-day period around Election Day 2002 — as the phone jamming operation was finalized, carried out and then abruptly shut down.

The national Republican Party, which paid millions in legal bills to defend Tobin, says the contacts involved routine election business and that it was "preposterous" to suggest the calls involved phone jamming.

I don't know what we were thinking.

Bleak news for republicans
Happy fun news for everyone who isn't a fascist asstool.

Bunnypants' numbers hit another new low in latest WaPo/ABC News poll.

The new survey found that 38 percent of the public approved of the job Bush is doing as president, down 3 percentage points in the past month and his worst showing since he became president.

More results - hopefully showing how steamingly bad the rethugs did in general - will be available at 5 p.m.

Pathological stupidity
'As more details are brought to the fore about the seamy underbelly of the Bush administration, the perpetually trusting souls among the American electorate are having trouble keeping those scales firmly in place on their eyes.'

Can Bush get much lower?

The president has sunk so far down in the polls it’s hard to imagine he could get any lower without being adept at limbo dancing. And it’s no wonder: Even staunch loyalists are at pains to name one positive thing Bush has accomplished during his five years in office...

[M]embers of the White House press corps must have been thunderstruck when they heard the official spin on the story: The administration had “declassified” this information about the same time as Libby leaked it, and all for the good of the American people! Furthermore, McClellan asserted, the commander-in-chief has a right to leak information if he gets a hankering to do so.

Someone in this equation is destined to turn out stupid: The administration, for expecting the public to swallow this fish tale, or the public, for doing just that.

- from here.


"Oh look - Bush lied again! Was that 'in order to keep us safer', or '9/11 changed everything'?"
"All I know is, if he wasn't so manly I'd go over there and kick his ass."
*****

Where was Lieberman?
Duh! In the Lincoln Bedroom with his pants around his ankles as usual!

This just in
Bunnypants pal Silvio Berlusconi is losing in today's parliamentary elections for Italian prime minister.


"Poopies!"
****

A 'concerted effort' to discredit Bush critic
Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald for the first time described a "concerted action" by "multiple people in the White House" to "discredit, punish or seek revenge against" a critic of Bush's war in Iraq.

Bluntly and repeatedly, Fitzgerald placed Cheney at the center of that campaign, saying that Cheney and his aides saw Wilson as a threat to "the credibility of the Vice President (and the President) on a matter of signal importance: the rationale for the war in Iraq." They decided to respond by implying that Wilson got his CIA assignment by "nepotism."

They were not alone. Fitzgerald reported for the first time this week that "multiple officials in the White House"-- not only Libby and Karl Rove -- discussed Plame's CIA employment with reporters before and after publication of her name on July 14, 2003, in a column by [incontinent traitor] Bob Novak. Fitzgerald said the grand jury has collected so much testimony and so many documents that "it is hard to conceive of what evidence there could be that would disprove the existence of White House efforts to 'punish' Wilson."

Even if Bush turns out to have been a bit player in the effort, he is now explicitly tied to the decision to selectively disseminate classified information. Whether that constitutes a "leak" is a matter of semantics.

Fun fact: Controversy "may" sap sap's credibility, says the LA Times. Gee, you think?

Catapulting the propaganda
A secret Pentagon propaganda program has been working to exaggerate the importance of Zarqawi and Al Qaeda in Iraq:

The effort has raised his profile in a way that some military intelligence officials believe may have overstated his importance and helped the Bush administration tie the war to the organization responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Well gee - another "exaggeration." Wtf haven't they lied about???

Once-foe McCain makes a friend of Bush dynasty
Formerly-respected senator sucks up to BFEE; destroys reputation, credibility

Erstwhile 'straight-talker' becomes sad footnote in Pussies and Quislings I Have Known, under chapter entitled "Pathetic, asskissing patsies."

DeLay looks to "worthy" successor
Corrupt scumbag Tom DeLay says any of three colleagues could some day assume his role as lobbyist-friendly brownshirted criminal and leader of House conservatives. Evidently there are some assholes in his party that still care what the craven sleazeball thinks.

Asked who might be the House's "next indicted republican Tom DeLay," the corrupt prick who was majority leader before innumerable ethics scandals and an indictment finally drove him from the office, named three republicans: Rep. Adam Putnam of Florida, Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana and Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina.

When told of Mr. DeLay's remarks, Mr. Pence said simply, "I accept the compliment." Mr. McHenry actually wet his pants: "I'm blown away ... I'm so excited that Tom DeLay would say that about me."

Pic from cuteoverload.com.

Word
"It turns out that George W. Bush's promise to find the leaker is going to go down in history along with O.J. Simpson's promise to find the guy who killed his wife."
- from this week's Top 10 Conservative Idiots at DemoUnderground.

Bush, GOP struggle for public approval
God, I love that headline.


"Yes, my respected colleagues, we're at a huge zip right now. Let us pray."
****

It depends on what the meaning of "is" is
The question is, how did the preznit respond when Fitzgerald asked him "did you leak, or authorize the leak of Ms. Plame's name to the press?"

Bush insists a president "better mean what he says." Those words could return to haunt him.

After long denouncing leaks of all kinds, Bush is confronted with a statement — unchallenged by his aides — that he authorized a leak of classified material to undermine an Iraq war critic.

The allegation in the CIA leak case threatens the credibility of a president already falling in the polls, and it gives Democrats fresh material to accuse him of hypocrisy.

The White House scrambled to assert the president's right to selectively declassify information, with [WH spokes-tool Scott] McClellan insisting there's a difference between leaks that can compromise national security and a president's decision to declassify information "when it is in the public interest."

Democrats who fail to recognize that distinction are "engaging in crass politics," he suggested.

John Podesta, a former chief of staff in the Clinton White House, said, "Scott McClellan's credibility isn't just in tatters. It is more like confetti."

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi responded, "The president owes the American people the truth about his manipulation of sensitive intelligence for political purposes."

PSM
jar2, who was inadvertently removed from the links, is back on!

Welcome to athene.biz.

I've contacted freeservers.com about some of the pics not showing up. Hopefully I'll hear from them soon, as I am paying for hosting. Grrrrrrrrrrr.

I am not a crook.
"Let me say a few words about important values we must demonstrate while all of us serve in government. First, we must always maintain the highest ethical standards. We must always ask ourselves not only what is legal, but what is right. There is no goal of government worth accomplishing if it cannot be accomplished with integrity." - George W. Bush, fascist and professional liar.

Libby testimony shows a White House pattern of intelligence leaks
"A cancer on the nation."

On Friday, White House officials said that the administration declassified information to rebut charges that Bush was manipulating intelligence.

Without specifically acknowledging Bush's actions in the Libby case, White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters: "There were irresponsible and unfounded accusations being made against the administration suggesting that we had manipulated or misused that intelligence. We felt it was very much in the public interest that what information could be declassified be declassified."

McClellan didn't address why administration officials often declassified information that supported their allegations about Iraq but not intelligence that undercut their claims.

I guess none of the press corpse called him on it, either. Huh.

Friday cat blogging


Egon channels the power of the magic glowing orb to make Pounce^© treats appear.
It worked, too.
****

Intelligent design
Jebassic Park for evangelical Christians closed after it becomes apparent that the dinosaurs didn't have a building permit.

County commissioners showed no sympathy to members of the Creation Science Evangelism ministry who spoke out Thursday night at a commission meeting about the county's actions.

"Scripture also says 'Render unto Caesar what Caesar demands.' And right now, Caesar demands a building permit," County Commission Chairman Mike Whitehead said.

"The American people must know the truth"
Rep. Henry Waxman:

Dear President Fuckface,

WTF?? Please supply a full accounting of your and your vice president's actions in authorizing leaks of classified intelligence about Iraq, while at the same time concealing your knowledge of serious doubts about Iraq's pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Asshole.

Love,
Henry

P.S. - Liars make the Baby Jebus cry.

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid:

"Today the White House's credibility suffered yet another blow. After repeatedly denying any involvement in the leak of the identity of an undercover CIA officer, new court filings assert that the President was involved with authorizing the now indicted Scooter Libby to disclose classified information to reporters as part of a politically motivated effort to tarnish its critics. It's time for the President to come clean about his involvement in the leak case."

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi:

"I served for 13 years on the House intelligence committee, and I know intelligence must never be classified or declassified for political purposes. One of the constants in the Bush administration's miserable record on Iraq has been the manipulation of intelligence precisely for political purposes. That has caused our intelligence -- which used to be accepted without question around the world -- to be viewed with skepticism by the international community."

Honor and integrity
Yesterday's revelation from Scooter Libby puts the Boy King at the center of the efforts to discredit Joe Wilson - and explains why he never bothered to ask his staff who leaked classified material.

"In shocking news today, the New York Sun reports that Scooter Libby was authorized by none other than President Bush to leak critical Iraq intelligence to The New York Times. The latest dope in the Plame Affair, according to Libby's grand jury testimony, was President Bush from a highly classified 'National Intelligence Estimate' and was given to a Times reporter in 2003."

Rep. Jane Harman, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee:

"If the disclosure is true, it's breathtaking. Leaking classified information to the press when you want to get your side out or silence your critics is not appropriate.

"The reason we classify things is to protect our sources - those who risk their lives to give us secrets. Who knows how many sources were burned by
giving Libby this 'license to leak'?

"If I had leaked the information, I'd be in jail. Why should the President be above the law?"

"If the president of the United States is authorizing leaks of classified material in order to destroy people who oppose his point of view, or go after them, then something is really unbelievably wrong with their standards, as well as the lack of accountability in this administration." - Sen. John Kerry.

Bush, GOP approval ratings hit series of new lows
'Grim election-year news for a party struggling to stay in power.'

Bunnypants' numbers took yet another new nose-dive in an AP-Ipsos poll that also 'shows Republicans surrendering their advantage on national security.'

"These numbers are scary. We've lost every advantage we've ever had," GOP pollster Tony Fabrizio said.

There is more at stake than the careers of GOP lawmakers. A Democratic-led Congress could bury the last vestiges of Bush's legislative agenda and subject the administration to high-profile investigations of the Iraq war, the CIA leak case, warrantless eavesdropping and other matters.

You know, everything that they should have been investigating if they had the slightest ounce of integrity.

Fun fact: even Fox News's latest poll gives the popular war preznit a pathetic 36% approval rating, tying his lowest Fox rating ever. He's even losing republicans!

"I've never been more embarrassed or frightened by my government"
Crooks and Liars has the video of hero/patriot Harry Taylor lambasting a grinning Retarded WarMonkey.

DeLay sends thugs to "wreck" Dem event
Who would Jesus assault?

Gee, it seems like only yesterday that unscrupulous prick Tom DeLay was invoking the name of his personal savior Jesus Christ. His god seems quite different than the one I've read about.

Just a day after Tom DeLay has the chutzpah to threaten filing an ethics complaint against against Cynthia McKinney (yes, right on the heels of his resignation announcement) he sends out his attack dogs to disrupt a Nick Lampson press conference and assault little old ladies. Marsha Rovai, the 70 year-old victim, describes the attack:

"I was assaulted by two different people. One of the men hit me and another shoved his sign into my face, and then when I pushed his sign away he violently pulled my hat down over my eyes and pushed me. I'm considering filing an assault charge. This is just very upsetting and I'm so disappointed in Tom Delay for organizing this attack."

And organize this attack he did. Here's the e-mail attributed to Chris Homan, DeLay's campaign manager:

'We would meet tomorrow morning at 9:45 am on the first floor of the parking garage attached to the Marriott. Please get folks to call our campaign office 281.343.1333 and let us know they can do it - or e-mail Leonard Cash (in the cc field above) so that we can get some head count. Let's give Lampson a parting shot that wrecks his press conference.'

Yes, this is the same Tom DeLay who starred at the War on Christians conference, that poor persecuted soul who has been drummed out of Congress solely as a result of his "taking his faith seriously" into public office, which made him "a target for all those who despise the cause of Christ."

"Mr. Lampson is going to have to get used to being confronted about his voting record the next seven months," said Homan, reichsmarshall of the Rightwing Neonazi Stormtroopers for Christ.

What he said
Worst president ever...

[The Boy King], told by a critic he should be ashamed of his policies, defended the government's secret eavesdropping program Thursday and said he would not apologize for listening in on the phone and e-mail conversations of "Americans talking to people in al-Qaida." Dumbass.

A man who identified himself as Harry Taylor rose at a forum to tell Bush that he's never felt more ashamed of the leadership of his country.

"I feel like despite your rhetoric, that compassion and common sense have been left far behind during your administraiton," Taylor said, standing in a balcony seat and looking down at Bush on stage. "And I would hope from time to time that you have the humility and grace to be ashamed of yourself."

A toast - to Harry 'big balls' Taylor.

Ode to the Bugman
By Madeleine Begun Kane:

Tom's speech was jam-packed with some gems.
His withdrawal he blamed on the Dems.
It seems Streisand and Moore
Forced him out the House door.
Has the Bugman been sniffing his chems?

LOL

Dick aide fingers Bush re: leak
"The President has set high standards, the highest of standards for people in his administration. He's made it very clear to people in his administration that he expects them to adhere to the highest standards of conduct. If anyone in this administration was involved in it, they would no longer be in this administration."
[White House Briefing, 9/29/03]

"I don't know of anybody in my administration who leaked classified information. If somebody did leak classified information, I'd like to know it, and we'll take the appropriate action."
[Bush Remarks: Chicago, Illinois, 9/30/03]

"You know, there's a lot of leaking in Washington, DC. It's a town famous for it. And if this helps stop leaks, this investigation in finding the truth, it'll not only hold someone to account who should not have leaked -- and this is a serious charge, by the way. We're talking about a criminal action. But also hopefully we'll help send a clear signal we expect other leaks to stop as well. And so I look forward to finding the truth."
[Bush, 10/06/03]

"I don't know how Democrats will fail to capitalize on this GOP debacle, but I'm sure they'll find a way."
[The Onion]

Repub congressman faces voter anger over 'deeply unpopular war'
Republican Congressman Chris Shays is in trouble with his constituents for supporting Bush's failed war - one of 'dozens of Republican incumbents in the House and Senate' that 'are feeling voter wrath over Iraq.'

"This is a mess, and we need people asking questions - which I don't think the Republicans are doing," said one voter.

"This arrogance, this lack of understanding. This man knows nothing of what war is all about," said another, a combat vet.

Democratic opponent Diane Farrell said that Republicans have failed miserably in their role as legislative overseers, providing the White House with an open wallet without asking any hard questions. "It's one-party rule," Farrell said. "Chris's script and the president's script are the same."

I've been slimed
If there's a bigger gaping touchhole than wHoward Kurtz, I don't want to know about it.

Bush authorized Libby to leak to the press
"Yore doin' a heckuva job, Scooter."

Scooter Libby has testified that he gave information from a closely-guarded "National Intelligence Estimate" on Iraq to a New York Times reporter in 2003 with the specific permission of the president, according to a new court filing.

Libby is said to have testified that "at first" he rebuffed Dick Cheney's suggestion to release the information because the estimate was classified. However, Cheney subsequently pointed a loaded .57 said he got permission for the release directly from Bush.

The court papers from Patrick Fitzgerald do not suggest that Preznit Values and Personal Responsibitude violated any law or rule. However, the new disclosure could be awkward for the president because it places him, for the first time, directly in a chain of events that led to a meeting where the identity of Valerie Plame was traitorously provided to a reporter.

So what does this mean? Will Bush fire himself? Wait... Breaking news on CNN! "US Representative Cynthia McKinney apologizes for altercation with Capitol Police officer." Sigh.

Values and integri- zzzzzzzzzz.....
The House "ethics committee" will not be investigating unscrupulous shit-heel Tom DeLay and the other lawmakers accused of "ethical lapses," such as republican Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio. A six-hour meeting of the useless wankers ended in partisan deadlock Thursday. Just shameful.

Racist skank defends slimy, indicted crook
Syphilitic, brownshirted ho-bag mAnn Coulter - who once advocated poisoning a Supreme Court justice - calls corrupt scumbag Tom DeLay "incredibly honorable." If by 'honorable' you mean 'loathsome criminal prick.'

Several times, the glassy-eyed and giddy Coulter called DeLay “incredibly honorable” and that "no one’s concerned" about the prosecution against him. Comment: Nobody except the voters, that is, but truth in voting is obviously not Coulter’s strong point.

Sean Hannity insisted several times that DeLay was indicted "for a non-existent crime." Yes, it's that little non-existent crime called MONEY LAUNDERING, Sean.

What an incredible douchebag. Remember that whole "bringing values and integrity back to Washington" thing, you asskissing fuckwit? Bah. Even Chris Matthews got all Hardballed over Hot-tub Tom.


Clicky.
*****

Signs point to federal investigators zeroing in on DeLay
Legal experts say corrupt scumbag Tom DeLay should be very worried.

"[Federal prosecutors have] penetrated his inner sanctum," said a lawyer who's defended dozens of cases involving corruption charges. "And soon, it'll be his inner rectum This case is just beginning."

Former DeLay aides Rudy and Scanlon each face up to five years in PMITA prison and a $250,000 fine for their admitted crimes. DeLay buddy Jack Abramoff faces up to 30 years. Squealing on the slimy little fucker could save them years behind bars. Heh heh - 'behind.'

Meanwhile, criminal law experts have expressed skepticism about DeLay's explanation that he stepped down because of concerns that he'd lose his re-election bid in November.

"The guy has a hide of titanium. This is not about his election, this is about his defense of the criminal investigation," former federal prosecutor John Flannery said. "The circle is closing on him for a federal indictment."

Cal Jillson of Southern Methodist University said the re-election excuse is unlikely because DeLay is "a street fighter" unaccustomed to backing down. "That leaves the possibility that DeLay is aware of future adverse developments that are lapping at his doorstep," Jillson said.

"It's a huge embarrassment for the Republicans in every jurisdiction, from Washington to his district," said Earl Black, a political scientist at Rice University.

On Uranus, maybe
Democracy's on the march!

Accountability
NewsMax's Carl 'stinky' Limbacher writes: "The most stunning aspect of Tom DeLay's resignation from Congress isn't that he was forced out by a wave of bad publicity that began with his indictment last September for breaking a law that wasn't even on the books when DeLay allegedly violated it. The real surprise of the DeLay debacle is that his fellow Republicans allowed him to be ripped apart by Democrat-friendly media piranha - without firing a shot in return."

Witless self-abuser at RimJob's Drooler Depot comments: "Amen. When the Republicans imposed a rule on themselves requiring leaders to step down if indicted, they were being stupid, stupid, stupid."

Sigh....

Corpse grows a pair
Drugged-out skank mAnn Coulter reacts to her own whacked-out statements being read back to her by feisty dead guy:

Judging from her smile, Ann Coulter was ready to flirt with Alan Colmes last night on Hannity and Colmes, not be held accountable for her invective against Democrats. But that's exactly what happened when Colmes confronted her on some of her outlandish comments.

The "so who's crazy now, bitch?" thing he pulled on her was beautiful.

Bush misadministration/media collusion memos surface
Catapulting the propaganda:

"Of course it raises some concerns, but we can't let this issue be blown out of proportion. Hell, if we want to plant I.D. chips in people and torture their loved ones until they break, we will. I know the idea of governmental control over what the media can or cannot say during wartime may be an uncomfortable topic for some to digest, but it is a necessary fact of life when our enemies are trying to kill us."

Uhhhhh, thank you, Senator Frist.

In a disturbing turn of events for an administration already plagued by sagging poll numbers and waning support for the Iraq war, Friday's revelation that the Bush administration issued direct guidelines for programming to media outlets is troubling even die-hard conservatives.

Late Friday a series of memos between senior Bush Administration officials and management at Viacom, Inc. were leaked calling for the media giant to focus on stories and programming choices that "reinforce the Administration's positions" and to "ignore and/or discredit points of view in opposition to the Bush Administration's foreign policy objectives for the purposes of National Security."

"We will get to the bottom of this," the Rev. Al Sharpton said, "and heads will roll. Now that their practices of propaganda are common knowledge even Americans with limited political awareness will demand change."

I wish I could be as positive, Rev Al.

Golly!
Is Kneal Boortz retarded?

Tom DeLay is not going to run for reelection. This is a huge victory for Democrat headhunters. DeLay was the second most powerful Republican in Congress ... and they brought him down {Heh???? - Ed.} ; with no small amount of help from him, by the way. The scalps are piling up. Trent Lott, now Tom DeLay.

This could be a preview of things to come for the Republicans. The socialists only need 15 seats to take control of the House in November. Then they can begin their work on destroying talk radio and impeaching George Bush!

Jebus, keep your pants dry, you hyperventilating idiot. On second thought, pop an aneurism or something, why don't you.

Sorry for not linking to the douchebag, but you can probably find the article by doing a Google search for "overpaid shithead."

Lookit me! I'm populer!
Bunnypants surrounds himself with war heroes to avoid being booed on Opening Day -

When our bold the President manfully strode to the mound to throw out the first pitch Monday he was accompanied by two injured American soldiers (Mike McNaughton, Afghanistan, and Paul Brondhaver, Iraq) and the father (John Prazynski) of another (Taylor Prazynski) who was killed in action (Afghanistan). If anyone in the capacity crowd had been predisposed to boo George Bush, that notion was dashed by the company the [snivelling, cowardly little fuckwit] was publicly keeping.

Gawd what a tool. And would it have killed one of those guys to wear an I'm with stupid T-shirt?


GW.
****

Keepin' us safer
... unless you're a teenage girl: DHS official, with nothing better to do, is arrested in sex case involving a minor.

Rethug family values:

Brian J. Doyle, 55, deputy press secretary for the US Department of Homeland Security, was charged with using a computer to seduce a child after authorities said he struck up sexual conversations with an undercover detective posing as a 14-year-old girl.

Police arrested Doyle on Tuesday at his Md. home as he was online. He was expected to be placed on administrative leave Wednesday and to find Christ on Thursday.

McCain booed during AFL-CIO speech
Pandering pussy pilloried:

Sen. John McCain threatened on Tuesday to cut short a speech to union leaders who booed his immigration views and later challenged his statements on organized labor and the Iraq war.

And though CNN continued with the "straight talk" malarky at least one of the attendees wasn't buying it:

"I was impressed with his comedy routine and ability to tap dance without music. But I was impressed with nothing else about him," said John Wasniewski of Milwaukee. "He's supposed to be Mr. Straight Talk?"

I think we're going with "cynical political opportunist" now, dude.

Straight talk
'Maverick'? Please. A more fitting nickname for the pandering little fuck is called for. Like nutless phony or hypocritical patsy jerkoff.

As for Mr. McCain: his denunciation of Mr. Falwell and Mr. Robertson six years ago helped give him a reputation as a moderate on social issues. Now that he has made up with Mr. Falwell and endorsed South Dakota's ban on abortion even in the case of rape or incest, only two conclusions are possible: either he isn't a social moderate after all, or he's a cynical political opportunist.

- hero/patriot Paul Krugman.

Great moments in mutual masturbation
A mouthbreather at RimJob's Circlejerk Central, regarding the War on Tom DeLay:

"When are we going to stand up and fight back!"

I have an idea! Republicans should take control of the House, Senate, White House, Supreme Court, and the media! Then they'll be back on top!

Another one writes:

"Well MR. Delay, you should learn something from TOM 'THE TANK' TANCREDO, 'Never give up.'"

Yeah! It's bad enough you're leaving behind a legacy of fraud, bribery, gerrymandering and influence peddling - you don't want to be known as a quitter, too!

Wtf is it now? Plenty.

Great moments in television
CNN's Jack Cafferty on corrupt scumbag Tom DeLay:

"He would strut around on Capitol Hill like a cocky little banty rooster, but today he slithered away from Congress to await his fate at the hands of the criminal justice system -- good riddance."

Infuckingdeed.

Wusses in Washington
While Snippy the Chimp may be 'worse than Nixon,' 'Congress has shown itself to be all too pliant to Bush's steady consolidation of power.'

Only three senators - Democrats with 'nads - support censuring Bush for unlawful authorization of wiretaps of Americans. But the Republican chairman of the committee, Arlen Specter of Partisandickhole, Pennsylvania, said that, while the resolution has no merit, ''it provides a forum for the discussion of issues which really ought to be considered in greater depth than they have been." Yeah, that makes a hell of a lot of sense, you blithering idiot.

It should not take a censure resolution to get the members of Congress to stick up for themselves. If they do not, they are as culpable as Bush.

- Indeed. From an editorial in the Boston Globe. Mostly.

Whatever
'This is the man that every Republican in congress once voted as their leader - a scared, cowardly, corrupt surrender-monkey who has now literally cut and run from his home district' -- headline on the intarweb.

Tom DeLay wants you to know that his decision to stand down for reelection and resign from Congress by summer has nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with the investigation into the business practices of Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist who pleaded guilty to corruption, bribery, and wire fraud charges (among others) in January and who was sentenced to almost six years in prison (for starters) last week.....

Here's what's puzzling: If DeLay's decision has nothing to do with the Abramoff investigation, shouldn't he have resigned from Congress earlier?

Yet what is most puzzling about the news of DeLay's demise is that numerous commentators are buying into the "nothing to do with Abramoff" line.

- from the liberal rightwing rag the Weakly Standard.

Fun fact: According to the troglodytes at RimJob's Conservative Circlejerk, it's all Ronnie Earle/Hitlery Xlintoon/John Boehner's fault poor saintly Tom stepped down.

Fun fact II: 10 mind-numbingly stupid quotes by Tom DeLay.

Dems blast McCain for Falwell flip-flop
Once-respected 'straight-talker' now a pathetic, pandering pussy talking out of both sides of his ass.

Sen. John McCain started feeling the heat of being a shameless suckass the GOP White House front-runner yesterday as questions arose over his embrace of Jerry Falwell - a man he once labeled an "agent of intolerance."

[T]he Democratic National Committee seized on McCain's embrace of Falwell and for some changing positions - singling out McCain for backing the extension of Bush's tax cuts after opposing them in the first place, and for toughening his stance on abortion.

"Unfortunately, it appears that McCain's admission that he 'doesn't like to lose' is the most straight talk voters should expect from him for the next two years," said DNC spokeswoman Karen Finney.

He looks pretty well #ucked on video, too
AmericaBlog reports on "poor Bill Frist. He wants to be President, but his current job is hard work. Frist is basically a puppet for Bush and Rove. The whole [NY Times] piece paints a picture of a hapless, pathetic, failed Majority Leader. The most accurate assessment was from beltway insider Charlie Cook:

"The most classic case of the Peter Principle I've ever seen in American politics," Mr. Cook said, in an uncharacteristically brutal assessment. "In a business where eloquence and rhetoric is important, he is a man of no talent whatsoever."

And from Time:

[Senator/douchebag Bill] Frist has transformed himself into the ultimate political opportunist. His moves - like last week’s ludicrous attempt to hijack the Senate’s immigration debate and move it in a punitive, populist direction - have been so clunky that he has lost the respect of his colleagues, especially Republicans.

"I hear he was a pretty good surgeon," a republican Senator said last week when asked how Frist had been as majority leader.

Ouch! Maybe now he knows how all those kittens felt.

An Average Joe's spectacular lies
The Lyin' King as gum-chawin' dunce -

Page four of Sunday's Washington Post carried a story titled "The President as Average Joe," which described how George W. Bush is trying once again to cast himself as a regular fella so as to boost his anemic poll numbers. "As he takes to the road to salvage his presidency," reported the Post, "Bush is letting down his guard and playing up his anti-intellectual, regular-guy image." ....

Most "Average Joes" enjoy being considered straight-shooters. They don't hide from hard truths and expect to be able to handle whatever comes their way. Mr. Bush, it seems, would rather be massaged with pleasing fictions from his staff, and is perfectly happy to have his handlers encase him in bubble-wrap to protect him from the aftershocks resulting from astonishingly bad decisions.

- He's also one heckuva liar. From William Rivers Pitt.

Noble cause

"The deadliest day in months" - 5 Marines die, 3 missing in Iraq accident. This is on top of the nine who were killed over the weekend.

More good news from Iraq: the US plan to build clinics falters - Contractor will try to finish 20 of 142 sites 'as violence for which the United States failed to plan has consumed up to half the $18.4 billion.'

Update
Corrupt scumbag Tom DeLay still leaving in disgrace.

LOLOL


"This is how much integrity I have left."
*****

Bush's paper trail grows
No, besides the TP stuck to his heel.

"No preznit wansta go ta war! Unless it's me!"

The memo reveals that [Bush and Tony 'Piddles' Blair] agreed that military action against Iraq would begin on a stipulated date in March 2003 - despite the fact that no weapons of mass destruction had been found there -- and how the two leaders mulled over ways to supply legal justification for the invasion.

Indeed this record supplies additional evidence for the view that Bush planned all along to unleash this war.

On balance the newly revealed record of President Bush’s secret meeting of January 31, 2003, confirms that by that date Bush’s Iraq war was certain. The Manning memo supplies an explicit picture of Bush not merely cherrypicking only the intelligence he wanted to use, but scheming to overcome the consequences of not finding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

“We will kick ass,” Jebus's favorite war preznit told Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. Maybe around the same time he was yelling "Fuck Saddam! We're taking him out!"

Federal probe edges closer to corrupt, already-indicted scumbag
Unscrupulous prick inches closer to prison, infamy, larger rectum.

The picture appeared to darken further last week {If by "darken" you mean the complete opposite - Ed.} with the guilty plea of Tony Rudy, DeLay's former deputy chief of staff, to charges that he conspired with disgraced [rethug] lobbyist Jack Abramoff to corrupt public officials.

That plea followed another guilty plea from DeLay's former press secretary, Michael Scanlon. Edwin Buckham, the lawmaker's former chief of staff and his closest political and spiritual adviser, was described in court documents filed in the case as someone who collaborated with Rudy, Jack Abramoff and former DeLay aide Michael Scanlon. They arranged payments, trips and favors that the department's investigators charged were part of an illegal conspiracy, according to the documents.

DeLay himself was formally designated as "Representative #2" {How appropriate! - Ed.} in the documents, a title that cannot be considered a good omen. The central legal challenge for DeLay is more likely to arise from the work of the federal task force, made up of FBI and tax agents, Interior Department investigators, and prosecutors from the Justice Department's public integrity unit.

"He has served our nation with integrity and honor," said an obviously shitfaced Majority Leader John "boner" Boehner.

It's Earle-mas!
One of the most powerful thugs in DC is quitting both his re-election race and Congress.

Indicted on campaign finance charges, corrupt scumbag Tom DeLay insisted he was innocent and vowed to stay in Congress. Last night he announced he would be turning tail stepping down from his seat by late May or June.

Mr. DeLay, who abandoned his efforts to hold onto his position as majority leader earlier this year after the indictment of former ally Jack Abramoff, was seeking re-election as vindication. But he told selected colleagues that, facing the possibility of defeat, he had decided not to try to hold on to his House seat.

.. but hold on to his ass instead. Flip-flop! Chickenshit aish-hole! What are you so afraid of, Tom?! LOLOL

"And although I felt, I feel that I could have won the race, I just felt like I didn't want to risk the seat and that I can do more on the outside of the House than I can on the inside right now."

I can become a lobbyist!

"My main point was that this country was built on morals and religion," the indicted sleazeball told Time magazine with a straight face. He added that he spent "a lot of time in prayer" over the decision.

Yeah: Oh Jebus, please don't let them put me in PMITA prison...

'Let people see Christ through me," he said.

What a laugh. Tom, I don't even see you in Christ's bowel movements, you disgusting POS.

Update
Our blogpal Bob Geiger has moved to Democrats.com!

Bush’s sorry legacy
From a letter to the editor of Stars and Stripes: Bunnypants 'worst president
ever.'

Bush’s policy of touting peace and democracy while dropping bombs on oil-producing countries and promoting crony capitalism in an America deteriorating into a feudal backwater will be Bush’s legacy as the worst president in U.S. history.

Why do our troops hate America?

Dang
Just my luck: Crooks and Liars links to me and I go into a slump.

Work sucks.
So does daylight savings time.

Christ, yeah
"Pat Robertson keeps fucking it up for all of us."

Rethugs increasingly critical of Bush
"A general incompetence."

From the growing cost and attempted "nation building" of Iraq, to immigration, port security, mushrooming government spending, soaring deficits, and his failed attempt to put Harriet Miers on the Supreme Court, some of the most pointed criticism leveled at President Bush is coming from within his own party.

The rising GOP angst stems from Bush's deep slump in the polls and the growing unpopularity of the Iraq war. But it also reflects a political reawakening as Republicans follow their own political interests in this midterm election year and as would-be 2008 presidential contenders seek ways to set themselves apart — from each other and from Bush.

"It's open season on him. George Bush has lost trust on too many issues."

Heh - that whole "Brand W" repuglican thing isn't working out too well, is it, Ken?


Kenny swallows.
****

Supreme Court won't review Bush's terrorism powers
Actual headline.

God bless America --

A divided Supreme Court declined on Monday to decide whether [the Dictator-tot] has the power to order American citizens captured in the United States held in military jails without any criminal charges or a trial. By a 6-3 vote, the court sided with the Bush administration and refused to hear an appeal by Jose Padilla, who was confined in a military brig in South Carolina for more than three years after Bush designated him an "enemy combatant."

Gee, there's a surprise.

Proud to be an American!
Via Blah3 -- I don't know whether to laugh or cry:

Michael Jackson was named America's Most Foolish Individual for 2006 - guess who was right behind him?

The second spot in this year's survey is shared between American vice president Dick Cheney, who recently shot a friend in the face during a hunting trip, and celebrity socialite Paris Hilton, a member of the well-known family of hoteliers. A total of 59% of American respondents said that Cheney and Hilton did "something foolish" in the past year.

American President George Bush ranked third in the survey, with 57% of the country saying he had done something foolish, up by 9 % over last year's ranking.

Good #ucking gravy.

Busted, you cheap-suited, cocksucking asshole
I'm loving this - pompous fuckbag Dana Rohrabacher gets his fat pimply ass handed to him by Bill Maher over Chimpy's "infamous seven minutes." Watch the video at Crooks and Liars. Bonus: it also involves Bill Clinton.

A desperate situation

Iraq is becoming a country that America should be ashamed to support, let alone occupy. The nation as a whole is sliding closer to open civil war. In its capital, thugs kidnap and torture innocent civilians with impunity, then murder them for their religious beliefs. The rights of women are evaporating. The head of the government is the ally of a radical anti-American cleric who leads a powerful private militia that is behind much of the sectarian terror....

[A]fter three years of policy blunders in Iraq, Washington may no longer have the political or military capital to prevail.

- from the 'merica-hating NY Times.

Rove orders Florida harridan's staff to quit
Freakish painted head Katherine Harris's top staff - including the nasty and powerful POS Ed Rollins - resigned this weekend, in what would appear to be another effort by the WH to end her campaign for US Senate.

For months, GOP leaders in Washington tried recruiting someone else into the race, and Harris' fundraising was slow from the start. Turnover has also been a problem. She recently lost a pollster, a national financial director, treasurer and media consultant.

Advisers urged her to get out of the race. She refused.

- NY Daily News. Next: Harris hires Triumph, the insult co