Joe Klein Calls Bush’s Response To NIE ‘An Amazing Moment Of Candor By The United States’
Joe Klein Calls Bush’s Response To NIE ‘An Amazing Moment Of Candor By The United States’
This week Joe Klein authors Time’s front cover story on Iran, titled, “Iran’s Nukes: Now They Tell Us,” in reference to the recent intelligence revelations that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003.
Today on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Klein cheered President Bush’s response to the NIE, stating that it was “an amazing moment of candor by the United States”:
The Bush reaction to this — he didn’t try to block it. He didn’t try to postpone it. He didn’t spend weeks, he didn’t ask the intelligence community ‘give me a couple of weeks, let’s see if we can figure out some kind of negotiating initiative or some way to respond to this.’ He didn’t try to spin it to our advantage. This is an amazing moment of candor by the United States.
Watch it:
Contrary to Klein’s assertion that the White House “didn’t try to block it,” the NIE was completed a year ago but stalled by the White House in an effort to “make the document more supportive of U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney’s militarily aggressive policy toward Iran.”
Moreover, the White House confirmed that Bush lied to the public, as he was told in August that Iran’s nuclear weapons program “may be suspended.” (Bush previously said he was never told what information the intelligence community possessed.) A skeptical Joe Scarborough responded to Klein’s cheerleading for the administration, stating, “Well that’s one way to look at it,” then explained that Bush continued to warn of World War III with Iran despite knowing better. Klein chuckled, “There is that…”
In Joe Klein’s world, once White House deception and deceit is revealed to the public, it becomes “amazing candor.”
Sort Comments By: Top Rated | Date
Joe Klein needs to find the shutoff valve for the same stupid gas that BushCo has been inhaling.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:11 amfirst, yaa ba dabba doo!
December 6th, 2007 at 11:12 amThese people live in a different reality. It is frightening.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:13 amJoe Klein, what substance did you take and when did you take it?
December 6th, 2007 at 11:13 amSure thing d*ckhead,
December 6th, 2007 at 11:14 amAs if Shrub WASN’T spinning the NIE to his advantage late yesterday, claiming it’s a “warning sign”?
Yeah, a warning sign that our Presidunce is THE threat to our National Security.
More pandering to the Israeli Lobby. Ready, Mossad? We’re going into Iran.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:18 amJoke Line is simply incredible. This is considered to be the liberal voice at time magazine. How do they justify that except by saying that he is the liberal voice at time magazine; a circular definition. By time defining him in that way they can allow him to attack liberals as hard as they want him to and to praise any and all neocons to show how “nonpartisan” he is. In other words, when the viewer/reader has all the facts, as Joke Line did in the FISA columns, the conclusion would be that the rethug view is the correct one.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:19 amHummina…hummina…hummina… does not equal candor.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:19 amSo lying equals the truth. How I miss the days when a president could be impeached for lying to a grand jury.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:21 amHaving no idea who Joe Klein was, I found his Conde Nast portfolio. They do a nice job on making fun of him:
http://www.portfolio.com/ views/ blogs/ mixed-media/ 2007/ 12/ 05/ deep-read-radar-on-joe-klein
The complementary line was (quoting John Cook): “Klein’s body of work amounts to little more than a festival of projection and poorly disguised vanity,”
December 6th, 2007 at 11:21 amI can never hear anything Joe Klein says….
I’m mesmerized by his drag queen eyebrows…
December 6th, 2007 at 11:23 amWow. An “amazing moment of candor”….?
Well, at least *he’s* not saying that it’s a “propaganda victory for Iran” like *this* mook:
http://news.yahoo.com/ s/ realclearpolitics/ 20071206/ cm_rcp/ nie_report_is_propoganda_victo;_ylt=AjLOku4tQkCaNU6g4j9n2yj9wxIF
December 6th, 2007 at 11:23 amBush apologists like Joe Klein have become irrelevant media jackasses.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:24 amWTF is he still doing in the media?!?!?!?
December 6th, 2007 at 11:24 amFormer CIA agent (and frequent Bush critic) Bob Baer agrees with Klein:
Was Bush Behind the Iran Report?
By Robert Baer
Tuesday, Dec. 04, 2007
Bombing Iran, it seems, is now off the table. There’s no other reasonable take on the latest National Intelligence Estimate that concludes Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003.
But there is also no doubt that the Bush White House was behind this NIE.
While the 16 intelligence agencies that make up the “intelligence community” contribute to each National Intelligence Estimate, you can bet that an explosive, 180-degree turn on Iran like this one was greenlighted by the President.
And explode is what the hawks in and outside the Administration are about to do. They were counting on Bush being the one President prepared to take on Iran…
The real story behind this NIE is that the Bush Administration has finally concluded Iran is a bridge too far. With Iranian-backed Shi’a groups behaving themselves, things are looking up in Iraq. In Lebanon, the anti-Syrian coalition and pro-Syrian coalition, which includes Iran’s surrogate Hizballah, reportedly have settled on a compromise candidate, the army commander General Michel Suleiman. Bombing Iran now would upset the fragile balance in these two countries. Not to mention that Hizballah has threatened to shell Israel if we as much as touch a hair on Iran’s head…
So how far is Iran from a nuke? The new NIE says 10 to 15 years, maybe. But that’s a wild guess. The truth is that Iran is a black hole, and it’s entirely conceivable Iran could build a bomb and we wouldn’t know until they tested it.
Yet for now we should at least be happy with the good news: Armageddon is postponed.
Robert Baer, a former CIA field officer assigned to the Middle East, is TIME.com’s intelligence columnist
http://www.time.com/ time/ world/ article/ 0,8599,1690696,00.html
December 6th, 2007 at 11:24 amYou have to wonder what the Bush administration has on these so-called journalists. Blackmail is the only logical explanation.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:24 amJoe Klein OR Joke Line?
December 6th, 2007 at 11:25 amWow. Joke Line: “The president told the truth (after being forced to). It’s a truly historical moment for this great country.” How is this guy a liberal?
December 6th, 2007 at 11:25 amI wish the story with Bush demanding that Iran “come clean” that came out yesterday would stay in the top stories for days and days.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:25 amIt’s a repeat of his demands to Saddam.
Can America really be this stupid?
“Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans wrote to the House and Senate committees on Intelligence today, demanding immediate hearings on the whole National Intelligence Estimate matter.â€
http://vetvoice.com/ showDiary.do;jsessionid=217E3052B2A5C34A31BE0AF410E4ED7F?diaryId=198
December 6th, 2007 at 11:26 amJoke Line must have Peter Hoekstra on speed dial. He just can’t seem to get his GOP talking points fast enough. To consider the release of the NIE and the WH spin around it as candor reveals just how out of touch with reality he is.
The better story is: what cataclysmic behind-the-scenes machinations occurred before its release? You can bet the house that BushCo was facing a wholesale mutiny from the Armed Services if he continued to propagate a false case for war. As the Ashcroft/Comey/Gonzo hospital episode proved, the only thing Bush and Cheney will back down from is a wholesale mass resignation. I believe that’s what was on the line and I’d love to see some reporting on that.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:27 amSo this was the spin they prepared after Iran nuke’s fiasco?
As creative as a porn movie…
December 6th, 2007 at 11:28 amI’m just doing my job. Which is to fellate the powerful.
-Joke Line
December 6th, 2007 at 11:28 am“Yet for now we should at least be happy with the good news: Armageddon is postponed.”
Not while jackasses like GWB have fingers anywhere near important buttons.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:31 amToday’s journalism is more about pandering then about exposing the facts.
What’s scary is that there are so many different articles, puff pieces and spin machines that the Right can access to ‘prove’ that they’ve been right all along.
All we have are the facts… and the media seems to have decided that the facts’ noted liberal bias must be countered.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:32 amI’m sooooo glad that I canceled my subscription to Time years ago. Between the Bush water carriers like Klein and krauthammer and kool-aid drinkers like Billy boy Kristol, Time has become a sick joke.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:33 amNot while jackasses like GWB have fingers anywhere near important buttons.
Comment by bernard quatermass
I bet Bush is forbidden even to touch the glasses of wine.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:35 amSo, will somebody apologize to Iran soon?
December 6th, 2007 at 11:35 amTime Warner/CNN had completely moved on from the NIE story today. The omaha shooting completely moved it out of the news rotation. And there’s the “economy rebounded in one day and is now great again and everything will be back to normal once Bush saves the little guy from foreclosure” cheerleading. No time for “candor”.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:38 am“…the NIE was completed a year ago but stalled by the White House”
Ummm, no. That is false. And how do we know this? Because ThinkProgress itself in today’s “ThinkFast” section links to an article in today’s New York Times that reveals that the NIE was still being prepared in summer 2007 and that information discovered in 2007 was being corroborated “in recent months.”
Sorry, Satyam. Your own Web site has provided the proof that undermines your baseless claim. This idea that the NIE was delayed a year is a myth. Even ThinkProgress acknowledges that.
Details in Military Notes Led to Shift on Iran, U.S. Says
New York Times:
WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 — American intelligence agencies reversed their view about the status of Iran’s nuclear weapons program after they obtained notes last summer from the deliberations of Iranian military officials involved in the weapons development program, senior intelligence and government officials said on Wednesday.
The notes included conversations and deliberations in which some of the military officials complained bitterly about what they termed a decision by their superiors in late 2003 to shut down a complex engineering effort to design nuclear weapons, including a warhead that could fit atop Iranian missiles.
Ultimately, the notes and deliberations were corroborated by other intelligence, the officials said, including intercepted conversations among Iranian officials, collected in recent months.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:39 amWhile the 16 intelligence agencies that make up the “intelligence community†contribute to each National Intelligence Estimate, you can bet that an explosive, 180-degree turn on Iran like this one was greenlighted by the President.
Comment by Exley — December 6, 2007 @ 11:24 am
So which Bush is the real one? The passive-aggressive Bush who two months ago was whining about World War III, the Bush of Baer’s narrative who stood up to the neocons and greenlighted the NIE, or the Bush of Bush’s narrative who knew that there was information but didn’t know the information?
The question is - what did Bush not know and when didn’t he know it?
December 6th, 2007 at 11:42 amWhat is he talking about candor? Bush continues to spin this! Joe Klein is becoming the worst of the worst.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:42 amIt sure is exasperating hearing the same old justifications and excuses in the face of evidence to the contrary; being treated like three-year-olds by people with the mental capacity of two-year olds.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:45 amI love the smell of journalists committing professional suicide in the morning. Sick him Glenn Greenwald.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:45 amSorry, Satyam. Your own Web site has provided the proof that undermines your baseless claim. This idea that the NIE was delayed a year is a myth. Even ThinkProgress acknowledges that.
Details in Military Notes Led to Shift on Iran, U.S. Says
New York Times:
WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 — American intelligence agencies reversed their view about the status of Iran’s nuclear weapons program after they obtained notes last summer from the deliberations of Iranian military officials involved in the weapons development program, senior intelligence and government officials said on Wednesday.
Comment by Exley — December 6, 2007 @ 11:39 am
And as Sy Hersh has been reporting and as the story you cite confirms, the administration had the critical info on the status of Iran’s nuclear weapons program in the summer of 2006, and the NIE was circulating in November 2006.
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5401
December 6th, 2007 at 11:49 amKlein is moving beyond parody.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:50 amHmmm by Klein’s use of the word condor I thought it meant getting caught with your pants down, so I checked Webster’s and found that the meaning had not changed. Can Klein really believe himself?
candor
Main Entry:
December 6th, 2007 at 11:51 amcan·dor
Pronunciation:
\ˈkan-dər, -ˌdȯr\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
French & Latin; French candeur, from Latin candor, from candēre — more at candid
Date:
14th century
1 a: whiteness, brilliance bobsolete : unstained purity2: freedom from prejudice or malice : fairness3archaic : kindliness4: unreserved, honest, or sincere expression : forthrightness
Exley,
You’re regurgitating the whitehouse line again. Have you spoken with Dan Bartlett recently?
December 6th, 2007 at 11:55 amYou’re regurgitating the whitehouse line again. Have you spoken with Dan Bartlett recently?
Comment by Bobwurst — December 6, 2007 @ 11:55 am
Exley loves a good liar.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:56 amNew speak -
Caught in a lie = Amazing candor
Black = White
War = Peace
Right = Right
Left = Commie pinko
Yes, it is amazing how they spin this crap.
Bush/Cheney
Hague Trials ‘09
Buck Fush
December 6th, 2007 at 11:56 amis there a greater fool and buffoon in our national discourse than Joe Klein?
I think not.
He seems to even be surpassing Thomas Friedman.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:57 amExley needs an Ex-lax to relieve his mental constipation…
December 6th, 2007 at 11:58 am…but one dose only, cause too much can lead to verbal diarrhea.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:59 amRewriting history is one thing. Klein is trying to rewrite the present.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:59 amComment by cold_hard_left
Ah, is there anything better than watching the wingnuts just loose it, trying to spin their way out of the obvious fact that they worship a complete imbecile?
Keep it up, you’re making our day…
December 6th, 2007 at 12:02 pmComment by cold_hard_left — December 6, 2007 @ 11:59 am
###
So, what happened between July and now to make 16 intelligence agencies do a complete about face?
December 6th, 2007 at 12:04 pmExley, what do you think of Bush exchanging love letters with Axis of Evil dictator Kim Jong Il?
What next, a steam bath Pol Pot?
-GSD
December 6th, 2007 at 12:06 pmIt Turns Out Ahmadinejad Was the Truthful One
December 6th, 2007 at 12:08 pmThe latest NIE has had the same general content for the last 6 months according to several sources that are out there on the web.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:08 pm#44 “TP is lying to its drones and they blindly believe it, despite the facts.”
Well, I don’t know if I would put it that way, but it is obvious that they have contradicted themselves is quite a dramatic fashion. It seems one hand did not know what the other was doing….
Here Satyam publishes the false claim that the NIE was ready a year ago, yet in the ThinkFast thread, TP admits the NIE was not completed until recently and that new information was gathered in summer 2007 and being corroborated in recent months.
Maybe Satyam did not know that the ThinkFast section contained information that completely undermined his false assertion. But now he knows….I am sure he will remove the incorrect statement or issue a correction shortly.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:09 pmExlax and cold flaccid lip are spinning like cop-car lights, trying to justify the admalistration’s treason and incompetence, but they are way out of the mainstream. America is now fully aware that Bush is a simpleton and a liar, and Republicans will pay heavily for this treason for decades. Funny that only two morons can be found to bolster Bushco’s lies and bloodlust.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:10 pm#48 GSD,
I thought you folks believed in diplomacy and Sen. Obama’s assertion that we should talk not only with our friends but also our enemies.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:10 pmI am sure he will remove the incorrect statement or issue a correction shortly.
Comment by Exley — December 6, 2007 @ 12:09 pm
No correction needed, Exley, all the info that was necessary to show Bush a liar was available well over a year ago.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:11 pmAmazing new low for political hackery reached by Joe Klein. Just when you thought he couldn’t be any more stupid and dishonest, Joe Klein finds a new sub-basement to his soul.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:11 pmWe like bombing countries. It is the Western way to promote peace and freedom.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:12 pmThe text of Bush’s letter to Kim Jong Il:
Dear Kim, Exalted Leader and Love of My Life,
My heart has already found it’s way you. I want you and no one else. You mean everything to me. I think we should try and make this work. You have to know you’re the one, and only one I want. Not only are you perfect for me, you’re the perfect friend and I hope we can and will be more. I could never ask for better then what we’ve had. I am hoping you’re feeling the same way because my heart is set on you, and only you, baby.
Love Always,
Your Admirer
GWB
P.S: Don’t let Dick see this.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:12 pmExley, what do you think of Bush exchanging love letters with Axis of Evil dictator Kim Jong Il?
December 6th, 2007 at 12:12 pm- - Talking is always better than chest-thumping. However, I’m guessing this was the real reason for Cheney’s recent abnormal heart palpatations and blowing off the WH holiday party. George and Dick are no longer BFFs.
Hey Exley
Ahmadinejad 1
Bush 0
December 6th, 2007 at 12:12 pmI thought you folks believed in diplomacy and Sen. Obama’s assertion that we should talk not only with our friends but also our enemies.
Comment by Exley
Oh we do dick-cheese, however it’s your favorite political party that prefers shooting first and asking questions later.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:13 pmMaybe Satyam did not know that the ThinkFast section contained information that completely undermined his false assertion. But now he knows….I am sure he will remove the incorrect statement or issue a correction shortly.
Comment by Exley — December 6, 2007 @ 12:09 pm
Or, maybe you need to read more, like the linked article.
I’m sure your correction and apology are eagerly anticipated.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:13 pmExley, don’t forget to pick up your RNC check; you’ve earned it. maybe a bonus as well, for your willful ignorance and inability to tell truth from RNC lies. You’re a good little Nazi.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:14 pmBritish GCHQ eavesdropping played role in US intelligence U-turn on Iran
The US intelligence U-turn on Iran was partly based on telephone conversations in Iran intercepted by the British intelligence listening station GCHQ, according to a source in Washington speaking on a basis of anonymity.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/ usa/ story/ 0,,2222750,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12
December 6th, 2007 at 12:14 pmGeorge Bush said on Tuesday that the decision to change the assessment was based on “a great discovery”. Diplomatic and official sources in the US said this was mainly based on human intelligence, almost certainly a major defector, but that intercepts were also a factor.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:15 pmThe desperation from the neocons is palpable these past few days. Bush candor? Get your shovels, Progs. If you thought the spin from the right (trolls included, natch) was building as of late, we will soon be waist deep in BS. They’ve got everyone of the neocons hitting as many media outlets as they possibly can to try to spin this report and distract away from our disingenuous leader and his war/power drunk cohort Dick Cheney. Remember, they have had months to come up with rationalizations and spin to work around these latest findings. They, along with their playmates in PNAC are a tiny minority in this nation but we should watch to see the full extent of their power and influence bubble to the surface in these, their most desperate of times. They know that their influence in American politics is slowly being dragged out into the light (thanks to those filthy blogs and the internets) and they will be grabbing for all they can with the time they have left. If you look closely at EVERY step this Administration has taken since day one, the only people who have stood to benefit are the neocons, PNAC and all their corporate bigwigs. Not ONE POLICY from this decider has been to the benefit of average Americans. These fascist thugs HATE the principles of our Democracy, our Constitution, and our system of government and have been raping and undermining it in full gear for the last seven years. I would be lying if I didn’t admit that I’mm more than a little fearful as to what this cabal of traitors and thieves have in store for us until Jan. 2009.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:16 pmThanks for the link gummitch. A notable nugget from the article:
Former CIA officer Philip Giraldi provided a similar account, based on his own sources in the intelligence community. He told IPS that intelligence analysts have had to review and rewrite their findings three times, because of pressure from the White House.
“The White House wants a document that it can use as evidence for its Iran policy,” says Giraldi. Despite pressures on them to change their dissenting conclusions, however, Giraldi says some analysts have refused to go along with conclusions that they believe are not supported by the evidence.
In October 2006, Giraldi wrote in The American Conservative that the NIE on Iran had already been completed, but that Cheney’s office had objected to its findings on both the Iranian nuclear programme and Iran’s role in Iraq. The draft NIE did not conclude that there was confirming evidence that Iran was arming the Shiite insurgents in Iraq, according to Giraldi.
Giraldi said the White House had decided to postpone any decision on the internal release of the NIE until after the November 2006 elections.
Cheney’s desire for a “clean” NIE that could be used to support his aggressive policy toward Iran was apparently a major factor in the replacement of John Negroponte as director of national intelligence in early 2007.
Negroponte had angered the neoconservatives in the administration by telling the press in April 2006 that the intelligence community believed that it would still be “a number of years off” before Iran would be “likely to have enough fissile material to assemble into or to put into a nuclear weapon, perhaps into the next decade.”
December 6th, 2007 at 12:20 pm“He didn’t try to spin it to our advantage”
Who is ‘our’? Is Joke a neocon now?
December 6th, 2007 at 12:20 pmGood work, Exley.
Now, any reaction to the President’s lies to the American public?
Or to Joke Line’s recasting lies as “candor”?
December 6th, 2007 at 12:21 pmUmmm, Gummitch, you do realize this IPS article is a month old and has been completely contradicted by the new information reported today by The New York Times (and passed along by ThinkProgress), don’t you?
Oh, and Gummitch. did you know the author of the IPS article, Gareth Porter, denied that Pol Pot carried out any mass killing in Cambodia in the 1970s???? Now THERE’S a credible reporter…..
You did know all this, didn’t you Gummitch?
December 6th, 2007 at 12:21 pmShooting the messanger huh Exley? Is Phillip Giraldi wrong?
December 6th, 2007 at 12:23 pmThat would mean the American Conservative is wrong as well.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:24 pmThe sky if falling! Take a look at how this neo-con apologist from The Weekly Standard gets cornered on the NIE report and tries to spin himself out of it. This is beautiful.
VIDEO
December 6th, 2007 at 12:25 pmChris Matthews Roasts a Neo-Con on Iran
http://test.redlasso.com/ service/ svc/ clip/ playClip?fid=9fcb21ca-effa-40b8-aa36-8856d7b71ea4
Joe Klein acts for all the world like he is employed by the Bush administration. What have they got on this guy to blackmail him with, I wonder?
December 6th, 2007 at 12:25 pmJoe has to earn the money he’s given by the White House. It’s his job to spin blame and even lie to make sure the idiot President looks good. This time it’s impossible but Joe must try. Bush out right lied and the World saw it. Now the American people could care less about how much Bush lies. But as we see the foreign countries have moved on and started building their economy yet the US is left out. Right now the White House is looking to save Republican loyalist from the sub prime problem. Yes contact your representative if you vote for a Republican cross dresser/Mob King name Rudy, Paulson will save your home. Look it’s all about votes for the GOP. Want your home saved vote for another idiot Republican,. if not lose your home. Just as Bush is blackmailing Congress with either give the 178 Billion dollars or Government jobs will be lost. Welcome to America.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:26 pmIt’s been quite a couple of weeks for Joke Line, hasn’t it?
First his column of Neocon stenography gets exposed as a pack of lies, forcing him to retreat to the excuse that he has “neither the time nor the expertise” to get his facts right, then he tries to spin a blatant presidential lie into “an amazing moment of candor”.
Yeah. And the phone-jamming scandal in NH in ‘04 was “an impressive Get Out the Vote campaign”.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:27 pmHiB,
What “messenger” am I “shooting?” I have simply pointed out that Satyam has posted an erroneous and false claim that is completely undermined by an article in today’s New York Times to which ThinkProgress itself has linked in today’s “ThinkFast” section.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:27 pmJoke Line should do the honorable thing. When he is arguing in defense of bush with Scarborough taking the moderate/progressive stance, its time for Joke Line to embrace fox entertainment channel and his new bedmate Bob Novak. Even by village pundits standards,you really suck.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:28 pmYou did know all this, didn’t you Gummitch?
Comment by Exley — December 6, 2007 @ 12:21 pm
The fact that the Times is reporting the story differently does not prove the earlier story is wrong, Exley. Surely you understand that.
And you knew that: “But in an appearance on The Today Show in August 1978, Porter agreed that the Khmer Rouge regime was guilty of mass killings and mass starvation. He reiterated that view in articles during the 1980s in The Guardian, The Nation, and Foreign Affairs among others.”
You knew that, right?
December 6th, 2007 at 12:28 pmWatch this video. Don’t let this propaganda machine make you forget what is/was really going on:
http://www.noticias.info/ video/ video_play_ES.asp?Id=vTGf4X_Qjew
December 6th, 2007 at 12:30 pmJoe Klein, liberal pundit eh?
I’m sure most of you have followed the ‘Joe Klein VS. Truth’ story over at Salon, but if you haven’t, it’s a perfect example of how the GOP uses the willing MSM to subvert truth and dupe americans. Check it out…
http://www.salon.com/ opinion/ greenwald/ 2007/ 11/ 21/ klein/
December 6th, 2007 at 12:30 pmAgain I find Exley’s strategy fascinating in its discipline and rigor. Never does he was waver from picking nits, thus accomplishing the strategic goal of avoiding the larger issue.
Has Bush been lying to the American public for the past four months about the threat posed by Iran? Doesn’t matter. TP made an error of fact in its framing of the issue. THAT’s the real concern.
Exley, your performance is almost sublime in its obtuseness.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:33 pmExley stated ” Ummm, Gummitch, you do realize this IPS article is a month old and has been completely contradicted by the new information reported today by The New York Times (and passed along by ThinkProgress), don’t you?
The messanger is the ISP article and Giraldi. Who wrote this in the American Conservative.
So what are you going to believe?
December 6th, 2007 at 12:34 pmAmazing in that it constitutes admission of trerasonous guilt, maybe. That kind of confessional candor from these liars really would be amazing.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:35 pmGummitch,
1). The New York Times story is more recent and contains new information. It supercedes the month old IPS article.
2) The IPS story is written by a discredited and obviously biased “journalist,” who once denied genocide in Cambodia. He is hardly a credible source.
(Moreover, he cites among his “sources” Ray McGovern– a figure so vile that even Howard Dean has to apologize for when McGovern made bigoted remarks at a Democratic event).
Satyam needs better sourcing for his now-discredited claim.
(Oh, and yes, I give Porter all the credit in the world for his decision to stop defending Pol Pot and finally admitting what the rest of the world already knew)
December 6th, 2007 at 12:36 pmOh sweet Jesus - not Assley again.
Ex- blow it out your piehole, babe. I will dog every thread you dare sully, and I will flame your liar ass all over this place until you just can’t stand it any longer.
Your deceptions are of the lowest order, as are your motives, you sorry s.o.b.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:37 pmOn Oct. 17th Bush made the WWIII reference. Bush didn’t have the intelligence (pun intended) to back this. Irresponsible of him.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:39 pmSo the President was caught lying and he is still the President?
Check and balances is a requirement of a democracy…so when do US get to be bombed because of his lack of democracy?
December 6th, 2007 at 12:39 pmIs Giraldi lying then Exley?
December 6th, 2007 at 12:40 pmI’m Sorry but they have some serious shit on Klein. You know this administration has been using it’s illegal surveillance technology to spy on and get dirt on our so-called journalists and pundits. Klein must have some serious skeletons in his closet–most likely some kind of sexual oddity.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:40 pmJoke Line is a true embarressment. WTF is wrong with him? Did he fall down the stairs and crack his skull open?
And Bush is spinning the NIE to his favour, btw.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:41 pmI can never hear anything Joe Klein says….-Zooey
Thats what I fell like watching Bolton, that Mustachio bobbles around casting its spell, and I dont hear [or care] what the heck he said.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:41 pmYour deceptions are of the lowest order, as are your motives, you sorry s.o.b.
Comment by tombaker
Nahhh, it just getting more boring. He is the kind of person that after his mom has a car accident, asks: OMG! How’s the car?
You know, he can be circumventing all he wants, nobody should care after he has been discredited so many many times.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:42 pmWatch that video again- with the knowledge that Sy Hersh wrote about this NIE a YEAR ago. Then tell me that Joke Line is a reporter.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:43 pmSo Bush lied and we are surprised how ? It has been six years of lie upong lie this is the policy of the Bush/Cheney administration. We should be surprised if they every spoke the truth.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:44 pmYour opinions are of as much interest to folks here as the details of your rectum - save both and take them to your proctologist for examination - the public is only repulsed by both.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:47 pmHiB,
You haven’t provided Giraldi’s article, so I can’t really comment on it. I will say that anyone who writes for “The American Conservative” and antiwar.com — two extreme isolationist, anti-Israel forums — is hardly an objective figure.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:48 pmSanctimonious fraud.
Spinbot.
Historical revisionist.
Quisling.
4 synonyms for Exley
December 6th, 2007 at 12:49 pm“hardly an objective figure” - Exley presents his own synonym for himself - nice.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:50 pmProblem is, exlax, Ray McGovern has been proven right, over and over again. Your very typical off-center cheap shot should be reserved for idiots who don’t know the score, like CHL, bigfoot, and yourself.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:52 pm#79, Heh! Ralph, I find it amusing that you accuse me of being obtuse when I have conclusively and unassailably shown that Satyam’s statement about the NIE being held up a year is completely conttradicted by an article by ThinkProgress itself — and yet despite this complete and devstating undermining of Satyam’s false claim by his own Web site, you folks refuse to admit it. As I said, very amusing.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:52 pmFACISM is amazing isn’t it? Where everybody see a traitor, a lier, a war criminal, these Facists followers see “a moment of candor”.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:52 pm97 - rhetorical sleight of hand is Ex’s major M.O.. He’s quite impressed with himself in that regard, and snickers into his sleeve with every spun-to-fine-thread post he writes.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:53 pmIt’s his conceit and arrogance that make it nearly plausible that he is, in fact, Karl Rove - the most vain and arrogant man ever to survive High School.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:55 pmYeah, Lefty, it’s a real “cheap shot” to cite a historical fact that even Howard Dean had to apologize for and disown McGovern’s bigoted remarks.
Soory, Lefty, but when you state a fact, it is not a “cheap shot.” I am sorry you are so embarrassed by McGovern (you should be).
December 6th, 2007 at 12:55 pmAs I said, very amusing.
Comment by Exley — December 6, 2007 @ 12:52 pm
Of course it’s amusing, as it’s irrelevant to the subject at hand, just another “look over there” moment to deflect from the lies of your reviled, sleazeball deserter-in-chief. You should be dealing with the treason at the top of the chain, not some bullshit spin that your masters have put up.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:55 pmAgain I find Exley’s strategy fascinating in its discipline and rigor. Never does he was waver from picking nits, thus accomplishing the strategic goal of avoiding the larger issue.
Comment by ralph the wonder llama — December 6, 2007 @ 12:33 pm
Really all that nitpicking must be what makes me think that he is an actual baboon instead of a pretend one.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:55 pmWhile the “common” trolls like CHL and Bigfoot bide their time parroting Rush and searching for kernels of corn in the Master’s excreta, Exley sifts their leavings for the undigested caviar, thus making him “specially qualified”.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:58 pm#98 and Exley extends his performance with triple axel — asserting that his obtuseness is NOT obtuse because the minor debatable error of fact that he’s using to distract from the topic has NOT BEEN ADMITTED TO BY COMMENTERS!
Damn, Exlax, when it comes to obtuseness, you got game.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:59 pmhe’s the Charles Emerson Winchester of Trolldom.
and aren’t we all just really impressed with that distinction.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:59 pmAll knowing and powerfull troll Exley, since you believe you are the arbiter of what is truth and what is fiction TP will run every topic by you before they post it ok. Because obviously you read every effing article in the entire freaking world and are the only one able to decipher which ones are fact and which are fiction. It is only your opinion that matters to anybody anywhere any more. Now run along and await your assignment.
December 6th, 2007 at 1:04 pmActually, at this point, I’d be disappointed if Exley said something substantial about Bush lying to the American public for four months about the threat from Iran, or about Joke Line calling those lies “an amazing moment of candor”.
It would be like Marcel Marceau turning and speaking to the audience.
December 6th, 2007 at 1:05 pmIs the dumbass Exlax gone? I’m not getting my hopes up.
December 6th, 2007 at 1:05 pmYeah too bad Exley is a clown instead of a mime.
December 6th, 2007 at 1:06 pmExley is about as good as Seixon was when it comes to verbal ice skating.
December 6th, 2007 at 1:07 pm“All knowing and powerfull troll Exley”
Oh, Shayne, you DO flatter me….But no, I am not “all knowing and powerful.”
I am just a man — Just an incredibly well-read and knowledgeable man with an encyclopedic understanding of political, legal and world affairs.
December 6th, 2007 at 1:08 pmDoes it really matter anymore Exley? Bush is a congenital liar, and most Americans realize that now. He is obviously lying about the NIE. But suppose for the sake of argument that he isn’t. Do you really think you have a snowball’s chance in hell of convincing anyone but the loyalists that he isn’t lying? He looks like he’s lying, he acts like he’s lying, he sounds like he’s lying, therefore he is lying. That’s the political calculus here.
December 6th, 2007 at 1:08 pmNow how is Klein going to spin the fact that Bush said he only heard about this report last week when it was really in August? Boy, the spin makers must be working overtime.
December 6th, 2007 at 1:09 pmJust an incredibly well-read and knowledgeable man with an encyclopedic understanding of political, legal and world affairs.
Comment by Exley — December 6, 2007 @ 1:08 pm
Which undercuts your need for ’spin’ I would say Exley. And I may be wrong here, and if so I apologize, but when you spin, as such, it looks as if your paid to do so.
December 6th, 2007 at 1:11 pmExley, I’ll spin this republican style…So the reporter denied that Pol Pot comitted Gennocide in the 1970’s (has the guy changed his mind since then?) anyhow, here’s the way republicans spin…Pol Pot did not comitt genocide he did not kill anyone. Rouge elements, bad apples if you will, within his administration did the killing. They were promptly punished because the Khhmer ROuge do not comitt genocide, it will not be tolserated! (they were then pardoned annd awarded the medal of freedom)
December 6th, 2007 at 1:11 pm“but when you spin, as such, it looks as if your paid to do so.
Comment by Xisithrus — December 6, 2007 @ 1:11 pm”
I wish!
December 6th, 2007 at 1:12 pm…just a man, packed to the roof of the cranial vault with bullshit and self-love…….
December 6th, 2007 at 1:13 pmJoe ‘corrects’ ThinkProgress:
http://www.time-blog.com/ swampland/ 2007/ 12/ misinterpreted.html
December 6th, 2007 at 1:16 pmNow how is Klein going to spin the fact that Bush said he only heard about this report last week when it was really in August? Boy, the spin makers must be working overtime.
Comment by texaslady — December 6, 2007 @ 1:09 pm
——————
What did the president know, and when did he know it?
December 6th, 2007 at 1:17 pmfew people know that the reason so many lost their heads in the French Revolution was that the Revolutionaries had to listen to shills like exley hold forth on behalf of the Royals for so long.
by the time they did attain power, they were so aggravated by years of listening to exley-ian bullshit they went berserk, jailing anyone who so much as resembled him.
December 6th, 2007 at 1:17 pmI am just a man — Just an incredibly well-read and knowledgeable man with an encyclopedic understanding of political, legal and world affairs.
Comment by Exley — December 6, 2007 @ 1:08 pm
That’s the opinion of you we all have too. Now run along.
December 6th, 2007 at 1:19 pmThe problem is the President’s lies and Bs are becoming the norm and the public isn’t outraged anymore. And you have his water carriers that will “explain” what he really mean’t to say.
December 6th, 2007 at 1:21 pmExley - if you are extremely well read why are you a Bush supporter?
December 6th, 2007 at 1:22 pmIronic that Exley fancies himself well-read with an understanding of all but he didn’t read the sarcasm in my tone or even recognize where I called him a baboon and a clown. Well read indeed.
December 6th, 2007 at 1:24 pmI am just a man — Just an incredibly well-read and knowledgeable man with an encyclopedic understanding of political, legal and world affairs.
Comment by Exley — December 6, 2007 @ 1:08 pm
no proof of that here, ever. Sounds like more of your lies and spin.
December 6th, 2007 at 1:25 pm#120 — thanks for that link. McE.
I saw the clip, and I read the “explanation” and Joke Line is full of sh!t once again.
it’s fairly obvious from the clip that he is saying the administration’s reaction to the NIE —
The Bush reaction to this — he didn’t try to block it. He didn’t try to postpone it. He didn’t spend weeks, he didn’t ask the intelligence community ‘give me a couple of weeks, let’s see if we can figure out some kind of negotiating initiative or some way to respond to this.’ He didn’t try to spin it to our advantage. This is an amazing moment of candor by the United States.
is what he was referring to. Nowhere in that clip did he say anything like the President’s reaction being “literally, incredible”. Maybe he misspoke, maybe TP helped him realize was a dumba$$ thing it was to say, especially on the heels of his FISA fcukup, but this swampland “clarification” is bullsh!t.
December 6th, 2007 at 1:26 pmExlax; If you are so well read and knowledgeable, why do you support Bush? He is, without question, the absolute worst head of state on the world stage since Adolf Hitler.
December 6th, 2007 at 1:29 pmLie me a river Ex - god knows you’re up to it.
December 6th, 2007 at 1:31 pmMy understanding is greater than yours Exley ,,nanna nanna boo boo!
December 6th, 2007 at 1:34 pm[joking, schoolyard taunt=]
Just an incredibly well-read and knowledgeable man with an encyclopedic understanding of political, legal and world affairs.
Comment by Exley
Heh.
December 6th, 2007 at 1:34 pmCandor: I call it a psychotic break myself.
December 6th, 2007 at 1:37 pmWhen you have to tell people how awesome your are, instead of just showing them, maybe you’re really not very awesome.
December 6th, 2007 at 1:40 pmDidn’t Joseph really mean a ‘mountain of nose candy’?
December 6th, 2007 at 1:43 pmI am just a man — Just an incredibly well-read and knowledgeable man with an encyclopedic understanding of political, legal and world affairs.
Comic Relief by Exley — December 6, 2007 @ 1:08 pm
There, that’s better.
December 6th, 2007 at 1:45 pm#128 #120 — thanks for that link. McE.
No problem, Mr Llama.
The comments to his ‘correction’ on Swampland are entertaining, too.
December 6th, 2007 at 1:45 pmI tend to believe that Exlax is, indeed, “well read”. I mean, the rest of us have “well read” his tendency toward obtuse, nitpicking, and minimizing posts.
Either that or “well read” could mean that Exlax has “read a lot” - cereal boxes, kool-aid packages, all of the Dr. Suess and P.D. Eastman books, and “My Pet Goat” at least ten times.
December 6th, 2007 at 1:46 pmKarl Rove obtained pictures of Joe Klein (a/k/a/ Joke Line) facking a goat, and the maladministration has been threatening to publish these pictures if Joke Line doesn’t sing along to the maladministration’s Mighty Wurlitzer.
Joke Line denies it, of course, but I have neither the time nor legal background to figure out who’s right. OTOH, I heard it from a reputable source of unblemished non-partisanship and reputation, so I’d be remiss in not passing this information on.
FWIW, Joke Line’s most famous stunt (outside of the above-recounted activities) was to anonymously write a pile’o'crapola pice of fiction (so what’s new?)
Cheers,
December 6th, 2007 at 1:56 pmJoe Klein: Beyond Stupid.
December 6th, 2007 at 2:10 pmYour high priests of punditry hard at work America. I give you Wanker Emeritus Bullshitterus Joe Klein. Like the Bushevik cronies and the wrong-wingnuts, he’s rewarded and promoted for constantly being wrong about everything. The MSM can’t scrape the barrel much deeper when it employs the likes of Joke Klein.
December 6th, 2007 at 3:13 pmJoe Klein is such a Bush toady, it’s embarrassing. Trying to give Bush credit for something he had no chioice but to do. Sooner or later the NIE report was going to be leaked and Bush and Cheney knew it.
December 6th, 2007 at 4:01 pmHEY KLEIN,
THIS ISN’T WRONG.
The video of YOU talking is right there, up at the top of this page.
How are WE wrong?
December 6th, 2007 at 5:22 pmWhen the heck will Bush get impeached? It’s a freakin’ farse of a government.
-Diana
December 6th, 2007 at 7:47 pmWhen you have to tell people how awesome your are, instead of just showing them, maybe you’re really not very awesome.
Comment by ForTruth — December 6, 2007 @ 1:40 pm
Bingo.
December 7th, 2007 at 1:29 am