A Spork in the Drawer

Not Too Paranoid

Jesus:

Some of the advisers to President George W. Bush, including Vice President Dick Cheney, argued that a president had the power to use the military on domestic soil to sweep up the terrorism suspects, who came to be known as the Lackawanna Six, and declare them enemy combatants.

Mr. Bush ultimately decided against the proposal to use military force.

[...]

“The president has ample constitutional and statutory authority to deploy the military against international or foreign terrorists operating within the United States,” the memorandum said.

The memorandum was co-authored by John Yoo.

---

See also: Glenn Greenwald.

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Worth Reading

Charles Krauthammer makes some very good points:

Observers of all political stripes are stunned by how much of the Bush national security agenda is being adopted by this new Democratic government. Victor Davis Hanson (National Review) offers a partial list: "The Patriot Act, wiretaps, e-mail intercepts, military tribunals, Predator drone attacks, Iraq (i.e., slowing the withdrawal), Afghanistan (i.e., the surge) -- and now Guantanamo."

Jack Goldsmith (The New Republic) adds: rendition -- turning over terrorists seized abroad to foreign countries; state secrets -- claiming them in court to quash legal proceedings on rendition and other erstwhile barbarisms; and the denial of habeas corpus -- to detainees in Afghanistan's Bagram prison, indistinguishable logically and morally from Guantanamo.

[...]

The genius of democracy is that the rotation of power forces the opposition to come to its senses when it takes over. When the new guys, brought to power by popular will, then adopt the policies of the old guys, a national consensus is forged and a new legitimacy established.

I couldn't agree more.

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Quote Of The Day

The National Review's Jay Nordlinger:

In my experience -- and I'm just generalizing here -- the better the person, the more positive he is about George W. Bush.

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VIP

The Osteria de Medici in Calgary had a special visitor last night: Calgary Flames forward Olli Jokinen.

Also, some guy named George W. Bush dropped in.

Relatedly, by way of Think Progress, meet the shoe cannon:

Footwear has been collected and a cannon has been constructed to toss shoes at an effigy of the much-maligned leader in homage to the Iraqi reporter who chucked his loafers at Mr. Bush last December and was sentenced last week to three years in prison.

Fun times in Alberta!

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The Final Days

Dicking around:

The officials said Tuesday that Mr. Cheney’s lobbying campaign on behalf of Mr. Libby was far more intense than previously known, with the vice president bringing it up in countless one-on-one conversations with the president. They said Mr. Bush was unyielding to the end, already frustrated by a deluge of last-minute pardon requests from other quarters.

[...]

For Mr. Cheney, the failure to win a pardon was a stinging loss that led him to offer a rare public rebuke of Mr. Bush’s judgment, saying of Mr. Libby in an interview with The Weekly Standard last month that “I strongly believe that he deserved a presidential pardon,” and that “I disagree with President Bush’s decision.”

[...]

“Dick Cheney is not a guy who is bitter,” [Former WY Senator Alan] Simpson said. “He doesn’t seethe, he doesn’t brood.”

Dick's recent round of interviews reveals him to be someone who's very much bitter, seething, and brooding so nice try, Alan, but your services will no longer be needed.

Oh, and Dick? As you would say, go fuck yourself.

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I'm Still Skeptical

Quoth George's former Chief of Staff, Andy Card:

First off, President Bush does know how to read.

Well, maybe:

Thanks for the softball, Andy!

[Via Steve Benen.]

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Underqualified

Submitted without comment:

Elliot’s Hardware — a local Dallas hardware store — has “appealed to former President George W. Bush to spend his new-found retirement working as a part-time greeter at its Maple Avenue store.” “Our greeters are a legendary part of our customer service,” said Kyle Walters, Elliott’s Hardware president and CEO. “And we are offering the position to Mr. Bush in all sincerity. We think it would be a great fit for him as he settles back into life in Dallas.” If he chooses to take the position, Bush will enjoy company perks such as “a flexible part-time schedule (to allow travel to Crawford),” a parking space, and an employee discount.

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George Finally Gets A Statue In Iraq!

Specifically, a statue in Saddam's hometown, Tikrit.



(Saleh/Getty)



(AFP/Getty)

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Random Thought

George has less than 27 hours to have a presidential pardon orgy.

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Miserable Failure

A fitting end:

President Bush will leave office as one of the most unpopular departing presidents in history, according to a new CBS News/New York Times poll showing Mr. Bush's final approval rating at 22 percent.

[...]

Mr. Bush's final approval rating is the lowest final rating for an outgoing president since Gallup began asking about presidential approval more than 70 years ago.

[Image from Gizmodo.]

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The New Game All The Kids Are Talking About

Sock and Awe: Hit President Bush in the face with your shoes!

Play now!

[Via Attaturk.]

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Just Go Already

I mean, really, just go.

---

ADDED: Comments one of Josh's readers:

Watching this speech reminds me of when I listened to my high school principal speak for the first time after I graduated. He still sounded crazy but no longer scared me.

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Just Go Already

From ace journalist Larry King:

King: But [Obama] was so critical of you. Do you take that personally or you don't?

Laura Bush: I did.

Suck it up, Laura.

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Just Go Already

Yeesh:

On Thursday night, President Bush will give a 10-15 minute prime time farewell address. However, just a few weeks ago, in a Dec. 18 interview with C-SPAN’s Steve Scully, Bush said that he might avoid a farewell address because he didn’t want the American public to go through a “real emotional goodbye” with him:

SCULLY: Will you deliver a farewell address in this office?

BUSH: Thinking about it. Thinking about it. A lot of Presidents have, and I’m giving it serious thought. I don’t want it to be — you know, kind of a real emotional goodbye. If I give it, it’s going to be trying to leave behind some lessons learned.

Delusional to the end.

The only emotion most Americans will be experiencing is unrestrained joy at his departure.

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Just Go Already

This morning:

Still misunderestimated:

Through it all, it's been -- I have respected you. Sometimes didn't like the stories that you wrote or reported on. Sometimes you misunderestimated me. But always the relationship I have felt has been professional. And I appreciate it.

Got landslided:

I remember the 1964 elections. My dad happened to be running for the United State Senate then and, you know, got landslided with the Johnson landslide in the state of Texas.

He's Abe Lincoln II. Only, y'know, cluless:

And so, I view those who get angry and yell and say bad things and, you know, all that kind of stuff, it's just a very few people in the country. I don't know why they get angry. I don't know why they get hostile. It's not the first time, however, in history that people have expressed themselves in sometimes undignified ways. I've been reading, you know, a lot about Abraham Lincoln during my presidency, and there was some pretty harsh discord when it came to the 16th President, just like there's been harsh discord for the 43rd President.

And there was much rejoicing:

And the other thing is, when I get out of here, I'm getting off the stage.

Keeping the threat alive:

I won't be discussing pardons here at this press conference.

Mistakes were made:

I have often said that history will look back and determine that which could have been done better, or, you know, mistakes I made. Clearly putting a "Mission Accomplished" on a aircraft carrier was a mistake. It sent the wrong message. We were trying to say something differently, but nevertheless, it conveyed a different message. Obviously, some of my rhetoric has been a mistake.

I've thought long and hard about Katrina -- you know, could I have done something differently, like land Air Force One either in New Orleans or Baton Rouge.

There have been disappointments. Abu Ghraib obviously was a huge disappointment during the presidency. Not having weapons of mass destruction was a significant disappointment. I don't know if you want to call those mistakes or not, but they were -- things didn't go according to plan, let's put it that way.

To say the least:

And I understand that Gitmo has created controversies.

Read and laugh mordantly:

And in terms of the decisions that I had made to protect the homeland, I wouldn't worry about popularity. What I would worry about is the Constitution of the United States[.]

?:

Well, more people need to get in their houses.

Denial:

THE PRESIDENT: You know, Mike, I don't know. Probably the next day. I'm a Type A personality, you know, I just -- I just can't envision myself, you know, the big straw hat and Hawaiian shirt sitting on some beach. (Laughter.)

Q No one else can, either.

THE PRESIDENT: So -- (laughter.) Particularly since I quit drinking.

Counting the minutes...counting the minutes....

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So Much For A Smooth Transition

!

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They Said It Couldn't Be Done

Imagine, if you will, that every excuse, rationalization, and outright lie presented by Bush-worshipers over the last eight years were condensed into a single, flamingly sycophantic op-ed. Well, imagine no more.

Ross Mackenzie, former editorial page editor at the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch, manages in 916 words to revise history in a way not seen since the Great Soviet Encyclopedia although, to be fair, the villains of the piece are "malign leftists" (ie, non Bush-worshipers) rather than the "Trotskyite-Zinovievite Terrorist Center" but the effect is the same. (Michael Moore should be careful that an ice axe doesn't end up in his brain.)

MacKenzie's encomium defies pull-quoting so you'll just have to read the whole thing - or better yet, don't. (Really, do you need that sort of brain-hurt this early?)

Kudos to Mr Ross Mackenzie, former editorial page editor at the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch, for making the likes of Jonah Goldberg, Bill Kristol, and John Hinderaker seem almost sane!

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Controlling History

A NYT editorial points out what should be obvious but no longer is:

It’s time to remind President Bush as he leaves office that his White House records are not his personal property. They belong to the nation. The Presidential Records Act made that the law of the land after the Watergate scandal. Showing disturbing forethought, Mr. Bush signed an executive order in his first year, effectively decreeing that a sitting or former president can withhold his papers indefinitely.

Congress is moving to strike down the Bush order. The House has overwhelmingly approved a corrective measure that has a good chance in the Senate. If there’s any delay, we urge President-elect Barack Obama to issue his own executive order restoring the Presidential Records Act as soon as he enters the White House.

While returning the Presidential Records Act to its original form would be best accomplished through legislation, should the useless prats of the United States Congress balk then what was accomplished by executive order can be undone by executive order.

Presidents already have too much power to hide uncomfortable truths using classification and the thoroughly but well-entrenched bogus state secrets privilege. It's time for some transparency.

He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future.

- George Orwell

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Legacy Of Ashes

Vincent Rossmeier and Gabriel Winant review the Bush Era.

12 days.

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Parting Gifts

Making sure we never forget him:

President Bush made another round of last-minute appointments Tuesday, giving 45 aides, supporters and others a parting gift as he leaves office: presidential appointments to boards and councils, with terms lasting three to six years after he leaves office.

Be sure to look at the list of criminals - at least one of whom has been convicted - George appointed to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council.

13 days.

[Via Dr. Black.]

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A Bauble For The Poodle

George to give Tony Blair the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Now Tony and George Tenet will have something to talk about besides staying out of prison.

14 days.

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28 Days

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It's Always Someone Else's Fault

Clueless to the last:

The president listened as Ben S. Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, laid out the latest terrifying news: The credit markets, gripped by panic, had frozen overnight, and banks were refusing to lend money.

Then his Treasury secretary, Henry M. Paulson Jr., told him that to stave off disaster, he would have to sign off on the biggest government bailout in history.

Mr. Bush, according to several people in the room, paused for a single, stunned moment to take it all in.

“How,” he wondered aloud, “did we get here?”

If there's a person on this planet who is less self-aware I'd like to know his name.

Last week, Fox News asked Mr. Bush if he was worried about being the Herbert Hoover of the 21st century.

“No,” Mr. Bush replied. “I will be known as somebody who saw a problem and put the chips on the table to prevent the economy from collapsing.”

It's clear that, like Mary Poppins, George is practically perfect in every way. And as for his legacy, well, let the man speak for himself: "History. We don't know. We'll all be dead."

Maybe sooner rather than later, George.

30 days.

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Republicans Really Are Good For Business!

Sales are skyrocketing:

The shoe hurled at President George W. Bush has sent sales soaring at the Turkish maker as orders pour in from Iraq, the U.S. and Iran.

The brown, thick-soled “Model 271” may soon be renamed “The Bush Shoe” or “Bye-Bye Bush,” Ramazan Baydan, who owns the Istanbul-based producer Baydan Ayakkabicilik San. & Tic., said in a telephone interview today.

“We’ve been selling these shoes for years but, thanks to Bush, orders are flying in like crazy,” he said. “We’ve even hired an agency to look at television advertising.”

Mission accomplished!

[Via JMM.]

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The Reviews Are In!

George W. Bush, Miserable Failure:

Here's some fresh ammunition for all the Bush critics: Fifty-six percent of Americans think he's incompetent and 27 percent think he's an idiot.

[...]

Bush did score well on one trait: Honesty. Thirty-one percent said he was honest.

But most people offered negative views — 23 percent said Bush was arrogant, and 16 percent called him stupid.

Full results.

33 days.

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BREAKING NEWS

George pelted with shoes in Baghdad!

[From Think Progress.]

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Nausea Inducing Headline Of The Day

Bush's Sensitive Side Is Showing

Ick.

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One Last Time

No word yet if he carried a plastic turkey with him.

37 days.

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Oh Good Lord

George is going to award the Presidential Citizen Medal to...wait for it...Watergate felon and sleazebag extraordinaire Chuck Colson.

You know, the guy who seriously advocated firebombing the Brookings Institution, among other violent things.

Who's next, G. Gordon Liddy?

41 days.

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That About Sums It Up

Too true:

A new CNN poll shows Barack Obama's honeymoon approval reaching new heights, with 79% of Americans approving of him and only 18% disapproving. "That's the sort of rating you see when the public rallies around a leader after a national disaster," said CNN's Bill Schneider. "To many Americans, the Bush Administration was a national disaster."

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Uh-huh

Talking points:

Titled "Speech Topper on the Bush Record," the talking points state that Bush "kept the American people safe" after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, lifted the economy after 2001 through tax cuts, curbed AIDS in Africa and maintained "the honor and the dignity of his office."

Honor and dignity:

42 days.

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If Only

George:

Welcome to my hanging.

OK, OK, some context:

Bush spent the day here, starting with the morning unveiling of his portrait at the Union League in Center City and ending with the 109th Army-Navy football game.

At the unveiling, Bush greeted 700 guests in the Union League's Lincoln Hall by joking, "Welcome to my hanging."

Somehow this is very, very fitting:

Bush is the first president since Herbert Hoover to have his portrait unveiled at the Union League while in office.

Poor George will spend the rest of his life hearing himself paired with other disastrous presidents.

Unfortunately, that's as much punishment as he's likely to receive.

[Via C&L.]

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And The Cat Jumped Out Of The Bag

Fox "News" might not be so Fair and Balanced after all:

Appearing on Mike Gallagher’s radio show today, Wallace revealed that Vice President Dick Cheney personally thanked him at his holiday party last night:

WALLACE: Let me ask you this, did the Vice President say to you, “thank you so much for defending the president and yes I’m going to be giving you a special exit interview in a couple of weeks?”

GALLAGHER: Did he say all that to you?

WALLACE: Yes.

Later in the interview, Wallace said that “a bunch of people” at Cheney’s party thanked him for his comments. “Cheney was genuinely grateful for what I had done, and Ed Gillespie, the senior counselor to the president, was there and genuinely grateful.”

I know, SHOCKING!

Audio at link.

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Who, Exactly, Is The Current President?

An honest question:

[From Yglesias.]

.

Luckily...

...President Bush has no idea who Paul Krugman is:

[From Think Progress.]

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What World Leaders Think Of President George W. Bush

Well deserved:

[Via Think Progress.]

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Laughter Mixed With Nausea

Powerline's Assrocket once again displays his good sense and mad rhetorical skillz:

Obama thinks he is a good talker, but he is often undisciplined when he speaks. He needs to understand that as President, his words will be scrutinized and will have impact whether he intends it or not. In this regard, President Bush is an excellent model; Obama should take a lesson from his example. Bush never gets sloppy when he is speaking publicly. He chooses his words with care and precision, which is why his style sometimes seems halting. In the eight years he has been President, it is remarkable how few gaffes or verbal blunders he has committed. If Obama doesn't raise his standards, he will exceed Bush's total before he is inaugurated.

And they wonder why they lose elections.

The Sadlynauts have more.

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Laugh Of The Day

Publishers not interested in producing Bush’s memoir.

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Brutal

McClatchy's Joseph L. Galloway offers some commentary:

High tide arrived with the unlikeliest occupant of the Oval Office in our history, the beady-eyed, smirking, tongue-tied, counterfeit cowboy George W. Bush, and a Congress that after 9-11 was run by runaway Republicans who were too busy enriching themselves and their friends to care what their president was doing to the country, the Constitution and even their own party.

Little wonder, then, that Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin will go down to defeat after a campaign of sheer desperation that’s been nasty, brutish and long.

Bush and his clutch of unindicted co-conspirators will leave Washington at high noon on January 20, 2009, two months and a few wakeups from now, and good riddance to bad rubbish.

Ouch.

Read the whole thing.

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Miserable Failure

Can anyone think of another election during which an incumbent president's own party wanted to disappear him?

Mr. Bush, though, has made himself increasingly scarce as Election Day approaches. His campaign season effectively ended on Oct. 21 — two weeks before the election — when he attended his last political fund-raiser, a $1 million event for the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee. (His wife, Laura, is still on the stump; on Thursday she headlined a get-out-the-vote rally in Mississippi.)

With Mr. Bush’s job approval ratings at historic lows, political analysts have long said Republican candidates simply do not want to be seen with him. But now, with the election just days away, it seems that Republican candidates do not want Mr. Bush to be seen, period.

A likely story:

If the past is any guide, Mr. Bush will be matter-of-fact about the result. At the Roosevelt event, the president “seemed sort of fatalistic” about Mr. McCain’s chances and his own place in history, said Representative Peter King, Republican of New York, who was there. Mr. King said his wife grew emotional, telling the president how much she would miss him. Mr. Bush did not grow emotional in return.

“He just said, ‘Yeah, yeah,’ _ he seemed like, what happens, happens,” Mr. King said. “I always feel that he thinks it’s his job to keep everybody’s spirits up.’

More likely he just doesn't give a damn. Anyway, George is probably more interested in finding novel ways with which he can wreck the country before he heads off to a shameful, if financially lucrative, retirement.

Though I won't believe he's actually gone until I see his jet departing from Andrews Air Force Base.

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The Lamest Of Ducks

Texas begins to catch up:

Only 34 percent of Texans polled in a University of Texas survey approved of Bush’s handling of the presidency, with just under 10 percent approving "strongly.’’ By contrast, 55 percent disapproved, with 38.7 percent strongly disapproving.

However, this same poll provides a genuine WTF? moment:

In one striking finding, the survey also showed that a sizeable number of Texans have a mistaken perception of Obama’s religious preference. When asked to identify Obama’s religion, 45 percent accurately identified him as Protestant but 23 percent erroneously said he is a Muslim, said pollsters.

Unfortunately, I don't think there's a cure for stupidity.

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Random Thought

Karl Marx wrote, "History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce."

Tragedy: Bush/Cheney
Farce: McCain/Palin

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[cue nelson muntz]

Hugo Chavez:

Chavez, who calls capitalism an evil and ex-Cuban leader Fidel Castro his mentor, ridiculed Bush for his plan for the federal government to take equity in American banks despite the U.S. right-wing's criticism of Venezuelan nationalizations.

"Bush is to the left of me now," Chavez told an audience of international intellectuals debating the benefits of socialism. "Comrade Bush announced he will buy shares in private banks."

[Via Hit & Run.]

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The Trap Snaps Shut

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Change! Reform! Outsiderness!

KO goes all Daily Show on Gov. Dances with Moose's ass:

Classic!

[Via Todd Beeton.]

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Will To Power

You don't get everything you want. A dictatorship would be a lot easier.

- George W. Bush, July 1998

I told all four that there are going to be some times where we don't agree with each other, but that's OK. If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator.

- George W. Bush, 18 December, 2000

A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier, there's no question about it.

- George W. Bush, 30 July, 2001

And now we can add:

If I were dictator, which I always aspire to be...

- John S. McCain, 30 September, 2008

We don't need another megalomaniac in the White House.

(More video at the Des Moines Register)

[Via attaturk at FDL.]

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Beaten Dog

Earlier I referred to George as "impotent" but New York Magazine's John Heilemann outdoes me with his comments on George's teevee performance this morning:

I don’t think that comforts anybody. I don’t think that moves a single vote. With due respect and sympathy for the man, that was the picture of a beaten dog. That was the picture of presidential impotence right there. He looked terrible like his bell had been rung. He looked drawn to me.

Ouch.

Video at link.

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Impotent

The lamest of lame ducks:

If there was any doubt that President Bush had been left politically impotent by his travails over the last few years and his lame-duck status, it was erased on Monday when, despite his personal pleas, more than two-thirds of the Republicans in the House abandoned the plan.

[...]

“There probably could have been an outreach that began earlier than in just the last couple of days,” said Representative Adam Putman of Florida, a member of the Republican leadership, who supported the bailout. “But it is very difficult to deal with an outgoing administration”— its leverage waning — “than one that’s early in its term.”

The episode underscored that Mr. Bush’s credibility and political clout, long gone among Democrats, is lacking among Republicans as well. “There is a fair number of people who believe we’re not staring into the abyss as has been represented,” Mr. Putnam said. “And some people do believe we are facing a market collapse and something needs to be done, but they would rather not be the ones who have to vote for it.”

I think it's important to understand that we're essentially functioning without a president right now; George is being ignored by Congress and citizenry, by Democrats and Republicans (and, all things considered, maybe that's for the best). But if ever there was a time for Leadership-with-a-capital-L this is it. McCain clearly isn't up to the job - he's too concerned with "gotcha journalism" being practiced by citizens in "pizza parlors" and pulling cheap stunts - so it looks like it falls to Obama to step up and prove himself a grown-up.

We're on the verge of economic catastrophe and, so far, not a single person has shown him- or herself to be able to step in and lead.

We live in "interesting" times.

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Games

I'm sure glad the smart people of our government are on the case.

First, we have our President:

“If money isn’t loosened up, this sucker could go down,” President Bush declared Thursday as he watched the $700 billion bailout package fall apart before his eyes, according to one person in the room.

At least he didn't say "ain't."

And Sen. I'm-Suspending-My-Campaign-To-Save-The-Nation chimes in:

Mr. Boehner pressed an alternative that involved a smaller role for the government, and Mr. McCain, whose support of the deal is critical if fellow Republicans are to sign on, declined to take a stand.

[...]

Mr. McCain was at one end of the long conference table, Mr. Obama at the other, with the president and senior Congressional leaders between them. Participants said Mr. Obama peppered Mr. Paulson with questions, while Mr. McCain said little.

Or not.

Hammerin' Hank Paulson goes for the funny:

In the Roosevelt Room after the session, the Treasury secretary, Henry M. Paulson Jr., literally bent down on one knee as he pleaded with Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker, not to “blow it up” by withdrawing her party’s support for the package over what Ms. Pelosi derided as a Republican betrayal.

“I didn’t know you were Catholic,” Ms. Pelosi said, a wry reference to Mr. Paulson’s kneeling, according to someone who observed the exchange. She went on: “It’s not me blowing this up, it’s the Republicans.”

Mr. Paulson sighed. “I know. I know.”

With the stock markets due to open in a couple of hours we could be in for some big fun. If not today then Monday.

Oh, as we can see, Sen. McCain's contribution to solving this to-do has been nil. And that Brave and Noble Campaign Suspension™? It appears that that only means not running ads for a few hours today.

Mavericky!

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Well

That was 14 minutes wasted.

Who the hell thought putting George on teevee would be a good idea? That was just...useless.

The First CEO President

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