The author of “Flip-Flop” flips
Mar 31 at 6:06pm by Macranger
I’ve long since cared about the media “finding” those who once supported President Bush who now have “lost faith” because their “dissappointed” about the Iraq war, his management style, the color of his hair, etc.
Via the NY Times:
“AUSTIN, Tex., March 29 — In 1999, Matthew Dowd became a symbol of George W. Bush’s early success at positioning himself as a Republican with Democratic appeal.
A top strategist for the Texas Democrats who was disappointed by the Bill Clinton years, Mr. Dowd was impressed by the pledge of Mr. Bush, then governor of Texas, to bring a spirit of cooperation to Washington. He switched parties, joined Mr. Bush’s political brain trust and dedicated the next six years to getting him to the Oval Office and keeping him there. In 2004, he was appointed the president’s chief campaign strategist.
Looking back, Mr. Dowd now says his faith in Mr. Bush was misplaced.
In a wide-ranging interview here, Mr. Dowd called for a withdrawal from Iraq and expressed his disappointment in Mr. Bush’s leadership.
He criticized the president as failing to call the nation to a shared sense of sacrifice at a time of war, failing to reach across the political divide to build consensus and ignoring the will of the people on Iraq. He said he believed the president had not moved aggressively enough to hold anyone accountable for the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and that Mr. Bush still approached governing with a “my way or the highway” mentality reinforced by a shrinking circle of trusted aides”
Sounds like Mr. Dowd has a problem with misplaced dependencies. Shades of George Stephanopoulis?
Yet this seems strange coming out on April 1st no less, but reading the rest of the article it seems like he’d been kidnapped by Democrats and re-indoctrinated. In one article he covers all the criticisms democrats have had of Bush over the last three years. For instance, Abu Grab:
“He was dumbfounded when Mr. Bush did not fire Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld after revelations that American soldiers had tortured prisoners at Abu Ghraib.”
Er, and he’s coming out now? Abu Grab was at the hight of the 2004 election cycle for which he was - by his account - single handedly winning the election for Bush. I don’t remember him having objections back then.
This is also telling:
“He said the president’s announcement last fall that he was re-nominating the former United Nations ambassador John R. Bolton, whose confirmation Democrats had already refused, was further proof to him that Mr. Bush was not seeking consensus with Democrats.”
That “consensus” crap is a page right out of the democratic playbook. When democrats say Bush doesn’t seek consensus it means that he won’t kowtow to their demands. It’s a long debunked argument.
But if you’re not choaking now in hysteria:
“Mr. Dowd does not seem prepared to put his views to work in 2008. The only candidate who appeals to him, he said, is Senator Barack Obama, Democrat of Illinois, because of what Mr. Dowd called his message of unity. But, he said, “I wouldn’t be surprised if I wasn’t walking around in Africa or South America doing something that was like mission work.”
He added, “I do feel a calling of trying to re-establish a level of gentleness in the world.”
Sounds like that co-dependent foreign policy of ole Mr. Flipper himself eh?
Yup, he was abducted and probed alright.
Blumenthal is full of crap
Aug 3 at 4:04pm by Macranger
Well Sidney Blumenthal is at it again….and isn’t it strange that Jason Leopold’s defender paper Raw Story is giving it a lead? Originally published in Salon, here is the gist of his piece.
“The National Security Agency is providing signal intelligence to Israel to monitor whether Syria and Iran are supplying new armaments to Hezbollah as it fires hundreds of missiles into northern Israel, according to a national security official with direct knowledge of the operation. President Bush has approved the secret program.
Inside the administration, neoconservatives on Vice President Dick Cheney’s national security staff and Elliott Abrams, the neoconservative senior director for the Near East on the National Security Council, are prime movers behind sharing NSA intelligence with Israel, and they have discussed Syrian and Iranian supply activities as a potential pretext for Israeli bombing of both countries, the source privy to conversations about the program says. (Intelligence, including that gathered by the NSA, has been provided to Israel in the past for various purposes.) The neoconservatives are described as enthusiastic about the possibility of using NSA intelligence as a lever to widen the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah and Israel and Hamas into a four-front war.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is said to have been “briefed” and to be “on board,” but she is not a central actor in pushing the covert neoconservative scenario. Her “briefing” appears to be an aspect of an internal struggle to intimidate and marginalize her. Recently she has come under fire from prominent neoconservatives who oppose her support for diplomatic negotiations with Iran to prevent its development of nuclear weaponry.”
First, Blumenthal is a proven liar, a Clintonite and a hack.
Secondly, it is NO story that we share intelligence with out allies, but we do NOT share NSA intel dumps with Israel. It took one phone call to dispel the story. I felt embarrased even using his name in the question.
Blumenthal is a rodent and not even a good one. Jonah Goldberg nailed it!
“Blumenthal is a vile and deceitful whisperer who spreads things in secret he could not write without being sued. Hewitt’s positions are clear and he’s never pretended to be anything but what he is. Blumenthal, in mufti as a real journalist at the New Yorker covering the Dole campaign, aided the Clinton campaign. Blumenthal, as a federal employee of the President of the United States, was a professional character assassin who — as a matter of policy — lied with breathless abandon. He is, as the late Michael Kelly noted, a human ferret. “
.
Nuff said.
Update: You know you’re full of crap when Al Jazeera runs your story.
iraq Politics News bush war on terror spying patriot act nsa CIA mary O. mcCarthy porter goss kappes haditha murtha
