ThinkFast: April 11, 2006
ThinkFast: April 11, 2006
Colin Powell reminisced this weekend on the failures of the Iraq war effort and pinned the blame on fellow architect Donald Rumsfeld. Powell said, “We made some serious mistakes in the immediate aftermath of the fall of Baghdad. We didn’t have enough troops on the ground. We didn’t impose our will. And as a result, an insurgency got started, and…it got out of control.”
Retail gas prices across the country soared an average of almost 17 cents in just the past two weeks, according to a survey released Sunday. The weighted average for all three grades increased to $2.69 a gallon last Friday.
Newt Gingrich says U.S. forces should redeploy out of Iraq. “It was an enormous mistake for us to try to occupy that country after June of 2003.”
Two more miners died in a West Virginia accident last week, but the Do Nothing Congress still hasn’t acted on new mine safety legislation introduced on Feb. 1 after the Sago mine disaster.
Moderate conservatives are frustrated “with President Bush for what they see as a muddled stand” on immigration. After a delicate compromise was struck on Friday, “White House officials had told them that Bush would appear on television early that afternoon to strongly back the deal.” Instead, Bush’s message “was to exhort senators ‘to work hard.’“
“Breakdowns in key internal controls, a weak control environment, and ineffective oversight” of the State Department’s travel accounts “resulted in taxpayers paying tens of millions of dollars for unauthorized and improper premium-class travel and unused airline tickets.”
Army recruiting levels have dropped, netting “737 fewer new soldiers than at this point last year, when it went on to miss its annual recruiting goal for the first time since 1999.”
Atlantic Monthly updates its 2004 war game against Iran: “Everything that has changed since then increases the pressure on the United States to choose the ‘military option’ of a pre-emptive strike—and makes that option more ruinously self-defeating.”
“Government agencies paid inflated prices for goods and services” — between 17 and 42 percent too high — “in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in a system riddled with waste,” three government inspectors general testified yesterday.
“If stock markets are any measure of a nation’s confidence, then the numbers at the nascent Iraq Stock Exchange show that faith in the country may be at its lowest ebb.” The exchange has “lost almost two-thirds of its value in the past year.”
And finally: “Cops” meets Congress. Florida State Senator Gary Siplin (D) jumped over a fence “with the ease of a schoolboy” to “avoid Channel 9’s cameras minutes after learning he was charged with two crimes.”
What did we miss? Let us know in the comments section.
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The 2008 campaign will be marked with Republicans contending “but I’m a REAL conservative.” They’re intentionally distancing themselves from Bush for this reason, so they can claim he wasn’t applying their priorities–but that you should give the next nominee a shot to do it right.
It’s coming.
April 11th, 2006 at 9:07 amTwo more miners died in a West Virginia accident last week, but the Do Nothing Congress still hasn’t acted on new mine safety legislation introduced on Feb. 1 after the Sago mine disaster.
Too busy planning their vacations.
April 11th, 2006 at 9:12 am“Breakdowns in key internal controls, a weak control environment, and ineffective oversight†of the State Department’s travel accounts “resulted in taxpayers paying tens of millions of dollars for unauthorized and improper premium-class travel and unused airline tickets.â€
Just think how many starving children that much money could feed. Clearly they don’t.
April 11th, 2006 at 9:14 amTwo incredible points:
April 11th, 2006 at 9:21 am1) Iraq, with almost no security, no oversight, no real structured gov’t, has a STOCK EXCHANGE????
2) I could be crazy, but Newt just said the same thing as the Dems have been saying. SO…..he’s “cutting and running”, then, right? We can expect Faux News to bury him for that statement, right, because they’re so “fair and balanced”???
So now Gingrich is agreeing with Murtha ??
April 11th, 2006 at 9:21 amThe ethically challenged Gingrich is nothing more than a showman. A vaudevillian who dances on stage. The quotes from his speech to the students were examples of histrionics designed to bamboozle the next generation of potential supporters.
April 11th, 2006 at 9:27 amNewt is a leftwing commie ..no one is going to listen to him. Unless you are hitler himself you are all left wing commies!
ok trolls your talking point just got posted.
April 11th, 2006 at 9:28 amTHANKS COLON! A DAY LATE AND A DOLLAR SHORT! KEEP YOUR OPINIONS TO YOURSELF!
April 11th, 2006 at 9:28 amNewt (brain) might just be setting the stage for Iran- where occupation is not an option.
April 11th, 2006 at 9:28 amMurkans need to quit driving so freaking much and that is all there is to it.
With any luck, the price of gas will go to six dollars a gallon so that dumb murkans will wake up and smell the horse manure.
Quit your job, abandon your house, nestle your brow up against a cow’s hide and milk her teats.
Do something other than thinking you gotta go to ‘work.’ Get a LIFE or keep shaking those chains.
One thing about ‘illegal’ Mexican ‘immigrants,’ they actually do do something. They have a clue.
April 11th, 2006 at 9:30 amLindsay Graham praises Bush for his leadership — he can’t be talking about George W. Bush can he? The leaker-in-chief? The man with a 37% approval rating? The man who can’t string two coherent sentences together? The man who can’t tell East from West on a map? The buffoon who thinks he can smirk and joke his way through serious issues? The guy who has spent nearly 6 years promising one thing and delivering nothing? The guy who had to be pushed and shoved into agreeing to investigations and then whose integrity and credibility is so challenged that he won’t testify under oath? The man who admits to deceiving a grand jury for the sake of some kind of Orwellian “truth?”
April 11th, 2006 at 9:38 amSurely there must be some mistake.
#7 – You forgot one:
It’s all pres. Clinton’s fault!
There, I think that covered just about every talking point that trolls love to trot out when they’re losing the debate.
Now, if they could only clean up the stench of the entrenched corruption of the GOP party and all the lying that Pres. Bush and his cabal have been doing, then MAYBE the Republican party can start cleaning up their public image. Currently, they’re lower than the belly of a rattlesnake.
April 11th, 2006 at 9:48 amLindsey Graham has Bush’s ballprints on his chin. The ambiguosly single cracker is he.
Newt is a fat adulterer. Bush is a dry drunk with two drunk lay-about daughters…at least they aren’t druggies like Jeb’s kids.
Colon Powell is a stooge who sold his principles out to push the Bush War. Hey Colon, nice Powell Doctrine all 2,400 Americans are on your shoulders as well as the tens of thousands of Iraqi dead too. Good work.
As for gas prices at record highs? Who would have guessed that would happen with the historically unprecedented placement of two members of the oil/gas industry in the Whitehouse. Bush/Cheney say to America..”Bend over, let us check your oil”.
The nation is in full on collapse and decline.
Heckuva job asshats.
-GSD
April 11th, 2006 at 9:49 am#13 (et al)
For the life of me- I can’t understand whats keeping the stock market up. Maybe an economist in our mists can give an explanation.
April 11th, 2006 at 9:55 am#8 You are correct with the lack of timing Mr. Powell used to acknowledge the obvious, but he is exactly the right (no pun intended) person to be speaking out. He is still respected and will add more credibility to the thousands of voices speaking out. It’s time for him to stop keeping his opinions to himself.
April 11th, 2006 at 9:57 amHe is still respected and will add more credibility to the thousands of voices speaking out. It’s time for him to stop keeping his opinions to himself.
Comment by thinkaboutit — April 11, 2006 @ 9:57 am
Agreed. He’s a man many once wanted to run for President. People will listen to him, and he should speak out.
April 11th, 2006 at 10:01 amPowell and others argue that the small size of the contingent of soldiers is the cause of the rise of the insurgency. This is just wistful shadenfreude.
No matter how many troops we sent, even if it were 500,000 would have prevented the insurgency. The Iraqis are nationalists and sectarians. They would have resisted US and each other no matter how hard our military had clamped down.
The basic assumption of the whole idea of using a military invasion force as an effective tool to control another natin is a fallacy. Our history over the last hundred years of so shows that when we invade, we must ultimatly leave because the power of a nation’s people ultimately causes foreign invaders to leave.
The great successes such as the demise of the Soviet Union have been successful because they were based upon the tool of having, not using military force. Once invasion or actual use of force is used as a tool, the ineffectiveness of the tool quickly becomes apparent.
As long as the US mistakenly acts to impose its will by military invasion, the clearest symbol of American Power will be the helecopters leaving.
We have better tools to get what we want, we should used them instead of being secucied by the illusion of power that comes from believing that any military option is effective.
is the
April 11th, 2006 at 10:10 amMore incredible incompetence from federal officials in Katrina aftermath:
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-5/114473664311400.xml
Last week we learned of a new delay imposed by the federal government: The levees cannot be rebuilt without an additional $6 billion. This week we learn that $4.5 billion has been wasted on overpriced trailers, roofs and other services.
When will Americans have had enough of this nonsense?
April 11th, 2006 at 10:35 amHmmm, chanelling Fred Hiatt: ….leaks are good…leaks are good…leaks are good…
Here’s some humor to cheer a tired liberal up: A Series Of Unfortunate Juxtapositions
April 11th, 2006 at 10:37 amIt’s too late for Powell to save his political reputation! He willingly lied for the Bush Regime to the American people, the Congress, and the UN as well! He should move himself and his family to Jamaica where he was born and never step foot in the United States again! Shame on him!
April 11th, 2006 at 10:41 am#20 You are also correct about Powell’s politcal reputation and future. Which makes his statements all that more critical and will carry more force. He was complicit in pushing false information and he’ll never live that down. He himself says that day in front of the UN is a “blot” on his record. But with his latest statements along with his deputy chief of staff there is valuable insider info. that will and have been picked up by the MSM.
We can scream all we want about the injustices that shrub and his cronies have done but we alone won’t be heard or believed by the casual, noncommitted american (read voter).
April 11th, 2006 at 10:56 amI am so pissed at all of the “whistleblowers” who came late too late to the impeachment party. It’s just great to hear the likes of Colin Powell and Larry Wilkerson expose the ineptness of our current administration, but riddle me this folks. Where in the hell were they 4 years ago?
When dems and independents were yelling at the top of our lungs about this war we were called unpatriotic. When we demanded accountability for mistakes and miscalculations we were called terrorist sympathizers. Powell and the like stood ont he sidelines and allowed that to happen. I think they are just as culpable as the rest of the lot. Criticize in a timely manner and I would consider you a true patriot. Saving your criticism for years later when the mess has already been created just makes you and enabler. Colin can suck it.
April 11th, 2006 at 11:11 am#18:
Last week we learned of a new delay imposed by the federal government: The levees cannot be rebuilt without an additional $6 billion. This week we learn that $4.5 billion has been wasted on overpriced trailers, roofs and other services.
When will Americans have had enough of this nonsense?
Comment by Bienville — April 11, 2006 @ 10:35 am
Isn’t it disgusting? I realy love the fact that people are sleeping in cars in front of their trailers because FEMA hasn’t unlocked them yet. How about the fact that thousands of trailers have been allowed to decompose in fields instead of being used to house displaced families.
My favorite sin against the Katrina victims concerns their voting rights. Remember when the Iraq elections were held? Iraqis in the U.S. were allowed to vote at satellite stations here and have their votes count in Iraq. That option hasn’t been given to the Katrina victims. Instead, they have to sign up to catch a bus back to New Orleans in order to vote. Idiocy at it’s best. I am ashamed that our fellow citizens are being treated this way. Maybe the Katrina victims should march and demand equal rights. It seems to be working for those here illegally.
April 11th, 2006 at 11:18 amMaybe Colin Powell has no credibility among those of us with a functional brain, but we aren’t talking about us. We are talking about the desperate television mentality of the Average Ammerican. And the Average American respects Colin Powell. If he says that Bush made mistakes, then, we really want him to do so. Not many will understand the details of why. They will just hear anti-Bush sentiment, and really, the more lame that duck becomes, the better.
April 11th, 2006 at 11:18 am#24 “We are talking about the desperate television mentality of the Average Ammerican. ”
The average american probably dosn’t remeber who Colin Powell is.
April 11th, 2006 at 11:20 am#17
April 11th, 2006 at 11:22 amIn total agreement. It was not the amount of troops that were sent to Iraq. It was that they were sent there in the first place. That is the root of the problem. Not troop amounts. If Powell gets the guts to say that then maybe he can be credible again. Unsolicitated invasion of a soverign nation will get you no where but a resistance movement no matter how many of your troops are there. History repeats itself.
The average american probably dosn’t remeber who Colin Powell is.
Comment by squegeeboo — April 11, 2006 @ 11:20 am
Well if you did, then I’m optimistic ;)
April 11th, 2006 at 11:24 amThe only reason the Whistleblowers have come to the surface is due to the exposing of Bush Lies by the Bloggers and other Information Outlets that don’t kow-tow to the Bush Admin.
A ‘Real Conservative’ Would never be a Politician because they are too Honest. A ‘Politician’ that calls themself a ‘Real Conservative’, is but only a Really a Liar.
April 11th, 2006 at 11:26 ammany wealthy republicans have left the USA, and taken their Mkiney with them. Apparently the Patriot Act has left them fearing for their Assets.
Think I’m Joking? Costa Rica is looking real Good, The Bush ‘Crazies’ are Driving away Republicans in Droves.
April 11th, 2006 at 11:33 amBush himself is the biggest threat to our national security…
http://blogdebogs.blogspot.com/2006/04/we-agree-prez-veep-got-some-splainin.html
April 11th, 2006 at 11:36 amAddition:
Certainly our President is a posterboy for our time (beside the dishonesty, corruption, mediocrity, but also ignorance, arrogance, ineptitude, uneducated lacking communication skills). The above reminded me of a recent story I read about religious right in southern schools voting to eliminate teaching evolution. I thought at the time, that it borders on child abuse to not educate your kid so they can have a quality future in a global economy. The author of the book, “What we believe but cannot prove”, said all rotten religions throughout history survived because of forced ignorance on their kids.
Sometimes it seems like, Bush and the people that cluster around him, use any situation to just funnel money to more cronies. A question for our time: Doesn’t anyone care about doing a good, quality job anymore? Or is money the only thing that matters, to heck with the job.
April 11th, 2006 at 11:39 amThis whole immigration uproar and Iran saber rattling are nothing more than another “wmd”…
…”weapons of mass distraction”, perpetrated by the corrupt Republiscum minions of the TREASONOUS criminal Bushite junta to hide what they’re REALLY attempting to do while…
…the American public is fixated on the immigration canard especially…
This is today’s NYT:
“The centerpiece of the bill is an extension of temporary low tax rates for investment income until the end of 2010. If it passed, investors would pay a top rate of 15 percent on dividends and profits for the rest of the decade, while people who live on wages and salary faced a top rate of 35 percent.
To understand why Mr. Bush would find that worth bragging about, you have to recall that he once dubbed his supporters the “have mores.” Extending the investor tax cuts would save them an additional $21 billion over the next five years. Almost half of that would go to people who make more than $1 million a year. Nearly three-fourths of it would go to people who make more than $200,000 a year.
Contrary to the claims of tax-cut supporters, there is no meaningful evidence that the low investor tax rates spur the economy and, in so doing, pay for themselves. That is, as the president’s father once put it best, “voodoo economics.” The investor tax cuts would be paid for by government borrowing. The debt would have to be paid back later, with interest, via tax increases or cuts in government services.”
April 11th, 2006 at 12:12 pmInteresting that GOP went after Rep. Cynthia McKinney after their corrupt Congressional leader Tom DeLay officially was forced to tender his resignation from his House Leadership position? Very odd that McKinney was slimed by the press in a vicious manner, and then DeLay insinuated that she is worse than him? The GOP wants revenge on House Democrats, as a vendetta, so they need to admit to their vile actions!
April 11th, 2006 at 1:37 pm34
Interesting that GOP went after Rep. Cynthia McKinney after their corrupt Congressional leader Tom DeLay officially was forced to tender his resignation from his House Leadership position?
You think those two topics have anything to do with one another?
April 11th, 2006 at 1:43 pmYes post 35 the McKinney event is connected to DeLay’s resignation! Like the movie “Vendetta” > it is revenge by the GOP for DeLay!
April 11th, 2006 at 1:51 pm36
Ahhhh, I see.
So they caused her to hit a capitol police officer? Was this a microchip they had implanted into her skin to have her act the way they wanted?
Perhaps it is more like the Matrix than Vendetta. They just sent down a little program to have her do it. Perhaps it was more like inerspace where they put a little person in a submarine into her body. In Total Recall they had disquises that made someone look just like someone else. Come to think of it they did that in Pink Panther and Mission Impossible too (so she is really held prisioner somewhere and there is an imposter running around like her. Pretty slick move by that GOP i think.
I’m following.
April 11th, 2006 at 2:04 pm[...] Think Progress [...]
April 11th, 2006 at 5:11 pmAddition:
Oprah had Bill and Melinda Gates on together to talk about the state of emergency in our schools (4/11).
The top 5 schools that had the highest graduation rate were blue states, and the bottom 5 schools for graduation rates were red states. HHHmmm…
I’m sure we all remember that Bush promoted his education success in Texas. Bush appointed Rod Paige, from Texas, to the Secretary of Education. But it was all a lie, manipulated numbers (Are we surprised anymore?). They simiply did not count dropouts. If students were doing poorly, they encouraged them to dropout.
Blowing the Whistle on The Texas Miracle
April 11th, 2006 at 5:17 pm#23. Misplaced priorities, as always.
The shocking thing is that many of these families are the OWNERS of their destroyed homes. (of course, many others are not) For many of the families, the house and the land it sits on is the result of GENERATIONS of hard work and economic progress. Immigrants, Black and White, these families have finally achieved membership in the “ownership society” so fondly loved by the President, and now his policies are going to evict them.
I drove around New Orleans yesterday. Describing it is a horror beyond my skill. Mile after mile of ruined houses, crossing lines of race and class. Thousands and thousands of American families lived in those homes. Veterans were welcomed home after the Second World War, many lie there still, five of them my uncles. Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas were celebrated in those homes. …Babies were brought home from the hospital, they took their first steps and spoke their first words… Almost the entire baby-boom generation of New Orleans was raised in those neighborhoods.
I stopped and beheld a large oak tree, certainly over one hundred years old, and wondered how many families would recognize that tree, across how many generations. I looked around me, at smashed remains: bricks tumbled in haphazard heaps, sections of roofs and walls, ripped apart as if by a giant and scattered like paper, no collection of building materials recognizable as a house for blocks in every direction. No longer homes, only trash.
A bench held a few family items – a framed photo, a sports trophy, some dishes – somehow, unbroken, that some passerby thought might be recognized by the owner, and some flowers arranged as in a shrine. Written on the benchback, “You will not be forgotten.”
A fine sentiment, but not a reality. They are being forgotten. If this seems melodramatic, you should stand there, you should try to be unmoved.
April 11th, 2006 at 5:35 pmAddition:
Tax deduction meant to help Katrina victims abused by billionaire. Money goes to golfers in Oklahoma.
April 11th, 2006 at 10:29 pm
Lol Tundra > Why do you pimp for the Bush Regime and the GOP on here?
McKinney’s lawyer has asked for the police tape of the incident, but the DC police, and GOP refuse to release it! If it shows her hitting the officer for no damn reason, then that tape would be shown on FOX News, but actually it shows the officer attacking her! The GOP is using this incident as a “Vendetta” to ruin her political career as payback for Tom DeLay!
April 11th, 2006 at 11:03 pmJay
If there is a tape of the incident, then the police who are holding the tape have to give it to McKinney’s defense, that is a matter of law, whatever it shows. If the officers don’t, then they will be in breach of her rights as a defendant.
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