About the only thing Jeb could do to top this would be to dig up the corpse of a dead soldier to hide behind.
http://t.co/cUKzJ7mEHS
— Billmon (@billmon1) May 13, 2015
From TPM:
… CNN’s political director David Chalian posted a series of tweets on Wednesday about Bush answering a voter during an event in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The person asked Bush to clarify his statements this week on whether, knowing what he knows now, he would have invaded Iraq if he were President in 2003, as his brother President George W. Bush did.
When first asked the question by Fox News host Megyn Kelly this week, Bush said, “I would have.” Several days later, after taking heat from the left and the right, Bush said he had “interpreted the question wrong.”
“If we are going to get into hypotheticals, I think it does a lot of disservice for a lot of people who sacrificed a lot,” Bush said, according to Chalian’s tweets…
Your American aristocracy, voters! Or: Look forward, not back…
.
Time traveling with the Bush family –>
http://t.co/cUKzJ7mEHS
http://t.co/3N658xm7y4 pic.twitter.com/RscjsYNwj4
— Billmon (@billmon1) May 13, 2015
Hildebrand
Is it possible that W is the smart one?
Brachiator
Well, I guess ol’ Jeb won’t be answering any questions at any presidential debates. Too many hypotheticals. What a dope.
Villago Delenda Est
Jeb has basically admitted that he’s in the world class intelligence zone of Sarah Palin.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
There has already been more blowback on this than I would have expected. I hope it keeps churning, and I hope other people remember Barbara’s Beautiful Mind. What an awful cluster of people they are.
Cacti
I’m in favor of Jeb Bush talking about Iraq as often as possible.
ThresherK
@Hildebrand: Until I hear from Neil, all bets are off.
And I’m not ruling out the possibility of some Habsburgian inbred bastard hidden in an insane asylum somewhere, who would immediately be under consideration for TheSmartOne.
Hightower
As a young boy, I dreamed of being a baseball; but tonight I say, we must move forward, not backward; upward, not forward; and always twirling, twirling, twirling…
Villago Delenda Est
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Everything that issued from Barbara’s womb is tainted.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Jim, Foolish Literalist
You think maybe other Republicans just don’t like Jebbie?
Paul, Kasich, Cruz, Christie have all turned on the Iraq War (after the fact) …. am I missing anyone?
Just One More Canuck
@Hightower: Don’t blame me, I voted for Kodos
Brachiator
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Huckabee? Santorum?
And the Mittster.
Cacti
NBC walks back its “reporting” that a Pakistani intelligence officer told the CIA the location of bin Laden’s Abottabad compound.
I wonder if Chris Hayes will report the update as breathlessly as the initial “scoop”.
Villago Delenda Est
That college student displays more intelligence than the entire Village combined.
Villago Delenda Est
@Cacti: Perhaps Chuckles the Toady will have a comment on the dangers of trying to report things, instead of sticking to stenography.
Mustang Bobby
So many landmines await for Jeb: Would you have let Detroit go bankrupt? Would you have supported TARP? Would you let the guy Dick Cheney shot in the face take the rap? Would you have outed Valerie Plame?
Hildebrand
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Walker hasn’t heard from his paymasters yet, so until that happens…
Cacti
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
The new conventional wisdom seems to be…
The war in Iraq was a bad idea, so let’s have a war with Iran.
Mary G
I’m getting more enthused about Hillary every day. We cannot let one of these people anywhere near the levers of power.
Brachiator
@Cacti:
As far as I can see, the reaction of a lot of people to Sy Hersh’s story is, “OK. Osama bin Laden is definitely dead? Cool.”
the Conster
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
They should have their own category of plural – a bullshit of Bushes? A shitstorm of Bushes? A clusterfuck of Bushes? Like a Gohmert should be a unit of stupidity.
Eric U.
@Brachiator: isn’t the gist of the story that we provided cover to someone that helped us get rid of one of our biggest enemies? WTF is wrong with that? Unless you are in the business of making money by reporting the tragic outcome of terror attacks.
WereBear
This made me laugh so hard.
jl
@Villago Delenda Est:
” Perhaps Chuckles the Toady will have a comment on the dangers of trying to report things, instead of sticking to stenography. ”
Todd could do his commentary while waiting by a phone for an important person to call him, for extra gravitas!
samiam
Lamest most obvious pre-rehearsed question dodge ever. To think that he actually pays really expensive political consultants to come up with lame answers like that. Just wow.
WereBear
Mr WereBear likes this idea so much he speculates it would come in exponents:
“That’s a Gohmert to the power of three!”
jl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think even the damaged, suborned, and ridiculous other candidates know how to give an answer that does not get people laughing in their faces as soon as they finish. Which, is something. Not much, but something.
I read about Rand’s wisdom on the disgraceful US treatment of Iraqi and Afghan translators who have been targeted for assassination (and to whom we promised help in emigrating from the country), which is more or less: hell, we won, what more do those moochers want, those people should stay and start making those countries a libertarian paradise.
Rand Paul: Why Help Iraqi Refugees? We Won, So Suck It, Losers.
http://wonkette.com/585523/rand-paul-why-help-iraqi-refugees-we-won-so-suck-it-losers
Sourmash
@Brachiator: That was Dave’s take on it last night. So little credence to the story he didn’t even ask the Big Dog about it.
Tree With Water
I submit Hillary Clinton’s evasions about why she supported the Bush-Cheney are as equally odious. I believe she knew better, and took counsel of her presidential ambition in a matter of war or peace, knowing full well that Bush-Cheney were lying.
And if those people are so damned certain they were misled by the CIA, why haven’t they called for the agency to be dismantled root and branch? Because that’s not what happened, and they know it.
Villago Delenda Est
@WereBear: How many minipalins would a gohmert equal?
Shana
@the Conster: I vote for a bullshit of Bushes.
Villago Delenda Est
@Tree With Water: It only took Hillary three years to come out and say she was wrong about Iraq.
Jeb thinks it was a great idea, still, even knowing what we know now. Well, that was his story the other day, but somehow he misheard ‘now’ as ‘then’.
jl
@the Conster:
A Gohmert: unit of mental denseness
A Dub: quantity of disaster per unit effort (requires special instrumentation and calculation methods since flow of effort is extraordinarily small)
A Jeb!: unit of incompetence (regardless of effort, some kind of integral or quantum thing.. whatever, hell, I am not a physicist…)
A Cheney: unit of malice. Two different measurement systems use it (Salted and Imperial) so need to double check.
Edit: guess a Rand would be unit of glib cynicism
Bubblegum Tate
@ThresherK:
No doubt the inspiration for Paul Reubens’ 30 Rock character.
Emma
@Eric U.: I’m glad I’m not the only one missing something in this story. Wouldn’t protecting an informant so he can give us more in the future be sop?
scav
@Shana: Somehow I ended up with a Bush-hit of Bushbabies left in the Bullshitters for Pharaohs’ daughter to find, so explain that leap from scientific measurement to theology . . . must be the missing Habsburgian inbred baby bounce. .
SatanicPanic
@Brachiator: hahaha yeah, does anyone think that making the story of Bin Laden’s killing into something gruesome and Saw-like will upset people somehow? Why?
Brachiator
@Tree With Water:
Interesting point. Now what? Should Hillary put on some version of a hair shirt, beat herself with a stick and do penance?
Do her evasions make her unsuitable a candidate to run for president? Should all members of Congress who supported the war resign, or better, be prosecuted as war criminals?
Even with Jeb, I am enjoying his having to try to walk the line between defending his brother and laying out his own view about the war.
But down the road, I care more about what a presidential candidate might do in the future, and who will be part of his or her foreign policy team.
I want to know what they intend to do with respect to Iran and the region now, not what evasions they may have made in the past.
The Dangerman
People who disqualified themselves today from consideration for President:
(1) Jeb Bush;
(2) The Engineer that was going more than twice the speed limit in Philadelphia (unless it was a mechanical breakdown, which is rather unlikely). More likely, go directly to jail, don’t pass go, etc….
I suppose the latter was technically last night.
SatanicPanic
@Tree With Water: oh well. She’s still our next president, might as well make your peace with that now.
Villago Delenda Est
@efgoldman: Yeah, but it’s like handing an entire battalion of 155mm howitzers to Hillary for the general.
Germy Shoemangler
@SatanicPanic: You have more certainty than I do. I would not be surprised to see a repub president next up.
MattF
Well, it’s gotten the whole Repub field to say that the Iraq war was a disaster. Except for… but Cheney’s not running for anything, right? Right?
Anyhoo. Maybe… just maybe… Jeb! might have considered the notion that defending the war would be a bad idea. That all his opponents would, in fact, agree with unanimous enthusiasm that one fewer Bush in politics is good for everyone. Jeb! maybe should have figured that this is why one has ‘advisors’– to think of things like this. I suppose that the few among the ex-Bushies who harbored some doubts dared tell him that.
jl
@efgoldman: The buzzword will be ‘parking lot’ among the GOPer hopefuls. Hey, it’s foreign policy and a transportation bill, all in one!
catclub
@Brachiator:
Paul Waldman had an article on this. The consensus among the candidates is that Obama is weak and they will be firm and resolute.
And also they really want to invade Iran. And it will work out great!
Rand Paul is the only one not saying those things, but he is being ever more wishy washy on them.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/05/13/the-real-story-behind-jebs-iraq-follies-the-bush-doctrine-lives-on-in-gop/
Brachiator
@Eric U.:
I listened to one guy with a military background claim that Obama was supposed to not say anything about the raid for a week and that somehow his announcement “threw” Secretary of Defense Gates and the “special operations community” under the bus. But this really doesn’t make much sense. Other Obama critics are latching onto other parts of the story to prove whatever it is that they don’t like about Obama or the military, etc.
jl
@Germy Shoemangler:
” I would not be surprised to see a repub president next up. ”
Somebody totally unexpected entering the GOP race? Or Mitt?
I realize it is early, and time heals many wounds in politics, but the total fail of these GOP candidates shows signs of having real staying power. It’s fail with legs! I like that.
SatanicPanic
@Germy Shoemangler: Trust, me, I haven’t been wrong about who will be president in… well, 7 years.
SFAW
@Villago Delenda Est:
Ah, but does he give Rich Lowry a woody? That is the true test of Palinesquitude.
Germy Shoemangler
@jl:
Whichever one of them raises the most money.
Remember: Reagan won twice. Nixon won twice. GW was elected twice (won’t say he “won”)
It doesn’t matter how stupid or crooked they are. They win.
SFAW
@jl:
Eddie Quinn?
shell
By sacrifice of course, I mean other people….not me or anybody I knew personally.
SatanicPanic
@Germy Shoemangler: different times Germy. Republicans only won once between 1932 and 1968 (roughly) by running an apolitical war hero. It’s not unlikely that we’ve entered another period like that.
SFAW
@Germy Shoemangler:
Nor elected, for that matter.
All he needed was a couple of Secretaries of State in his pocket.
Brachiator
@efgoldman:
I thought that Rand Paul was a typical isolationist, but yeah, with the rest of the klown kar riders I expect variations of Apocalypse, Now. I would really be surprised if any of them backed away from the neocon stupidity that the GOP has embraced.
chopper
@Shana:
i vote “clusterfuck”. cause even tho they are a family of idiots, they’re known best for fucking things up.
gelfling545
A disservice to those who sacrificed? Well, it clarifies that their sacrifice was for no good reason at all.
singfoom
I like his quote about disservice. Yeah, it wasn’t a disservice to the American Public to be lied into a war, the Armed Forces and all of the soldiers and civilians who died to fuck up the Middle East even more than it was previously. It wasn’t a disservice to all the people who marched in the streets against the idiocy while being called names.
It wasn’t a disservice to all of those soldiers who fucking DIED because Halliburton and KBR did shoddy fucking work:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/07/27/military.electrocutions/
Fuck all those goddamn cowardly bastards. W,Cheney,Wolfowitz and all the architects of that disaster belong in jail.
scott (the other one)
Of the nearly two dozen GOP candidates currently under discussion, the only one that really concerns me right now is John Kasich. He seems reasonable, can claim crossover popularity and will likely have the enthusiastic backing of Fox from the get-go. Pretty much all the others seem so obviously loony or utterly lacking in charisma that I can’t see any of them having an easy path to the nomination, and whoever does get it, having so little appeal to those few voters who can either go either way or be persuaded to vote or not.
WereBear
It depends on how many Bachmanns the transformer is rated for.
Eric U.
@singfoom: it’s like the ammosexuals talking about how it’s wrong to talk about gun control when there has been a mass shooting. They just want to shut us up.
fuckwit
I hope someone follows Jeb! around the campaign trail at every appearance with that display of empty boots for each servicemember killed in Iraq.
jl
Jeb! has some kind of knack, for what, I do not know, but it is kind of special, whatever it is…
Jeb Accidentally Starts Running For President — Then Unruns
TPM
‘ In a slip of the tongue Wednesday, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush revealed what most Americans already assumed.
“I’m running for president in 2016,” Bush said, in a video posted by NBC News, before segueing into what would be his campaign’s focus.
He quickly corrected himself by saying, “If I run.” ‘
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/bush-accidentally-announces-presidential-run
bemused
@Hildebrand:
Ha!
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Thanks, Ms. Ziedrich, for making Jeb’s rotten, lousy week even worse. I can’t help but enjoy this.
WereBear
I can only figure the lure of sweet sweet campaign cash and related administrative boondoggles is what pulls yet another Bush into the arena.
It’s not a lust for power, they are basically too stupid to work for that alone. It’s not fame; because they are already infamous. Hoping to erase their many humiliations? Good luck with that!
No, I figure W must have raked it in, along with his cronies, and they are just aching to do it again.
And arrogance. I never discount arrogance.
MomSense
I do not think they are idiots (I’ve spoken with all of them). They lead an incredibly privileged lifestyle that literally renders them immune from the consequences the rest of us face for our actions. I would describe Jeb! as hotheaded, not idiotic. I also think he is dealing with the classic problems stemming from an inability to be authentic. Nobody likes the asshole, spoiled, rich kid. He is going to flail about until he figures out how to appeal to the base while keeping the establishment Republicans secure.
Dad is not dumb at all but he was a close talker when he was younger–if you know what I mean. Mom is a character and really does not have any fucks left to give. If you let down your guard you could easily find yourself enjoying her company.
Elie
I think that the neocons and their supporters are mad as hell at Obama’s ME tactics that are also pissing off Saudi Arabia and Israel. Thing is, the longer these are in place, the more obvious to everyone that these characters needed to be pulling their own weight for a long time. I LOVE it. Payback of course is little nit picky knee capping articles like Sy Hersh’s and other back door slime attacks cause like you all say, they really want a war someplace in the ME and they are seeing that chance disappear as our strategic interests become more and move obvious. At least that is my take.
Keith P.
This guy is a breathtakingly-bad politician.
Fort Geek
@the Conster: A Treason of Bushes?
Steeplejack (phone)
@the Conster:
A thicket of Bushes.
WereBear
@Steeplejack (phone): A cluster of fucks.
Cacti
Speaking of smart Florida Republicans, Marco Rubio explains the difference between his views and those of Pope Francis, despite their common religion:
Not joking.
Being a political figure, Marco…ummm…opposes peace, prosperity, and everyone being better off.
Never a truer word spoken.
ThresherK
@WereBear: This is the blog I bring my “A” game to. Plus I’m reading a hella lot about the Habsburgs lately, especially Simon Winder’s “Danubia” and “Germania”.
@Bubblegum Tate: Ooh, good catch. Allergic to grapes!
WereBear
I know what you mean. (Though not the Bushes, I know of people with privileged lifestyles.)
But it does create a person who is somewhat diminished in their development. There is a lack of maturity because they never do live in the real world; they either solve the problem with their money or influence, or they go into rages (of some kind) because their will is unavoidably thwarted.
Most biographers, even Eleanor Roosevelt, felt FDR was saved from his own privileged upbringing because he encountered something his money could not fix… and he did manage to rise above it.
I don’t see that in too many of our current privileged rich.
SFAW
@jl:
Followed shortly thereafter by Ana Navarro going on Fox and saying that Jeb! misheard the voices in his head, followed by Jeb! saying on Hannity that he misinterpreted the voices in his head.
The voices in Jeb!’s head could not be reached for comment.
barbequebob
@Tree With Water:
yes, I have thought that too, from the start. Hillary is smart enough to have known that Bush-Cheney were cooking and cherry picking the intelligence (the were lots of stories on that if you looked) but she lacked the courage to vote against ATUMF because she figured it would scuttle her presidential ambitions. She, like most people, had no idea how badly Bush-Cheney would screw things up.
jl
@SFAW: Probably then said it would be a disservice to his head to say anything more about it.
Damned at Random
My thought on this is Jeb answered the question he was expecting – with the defensive answer he had rehearsed – pointing at Hillary, “well she saw the intel and SHE voted to go.” He wasn’t listening to the lead-in “if you knew then what you know now.”
He’s over-coached, over-rehearsed and defensive about Dubya’s legacy. His vaunted intellect remains an open question
Elizabelle
We can do better.
Cacti
@barbequebob:
In a straight party line vote in the Senate, the Iraq AUMF would have failed. 58% of the Democratic caucus supported that badge of shame.
JustRuss
@MomSense: I have some acquaintances who have questionable ideas and morals but their unfiltered honesty makes them a kick to hang out with, in small doses. I could see Babs falling into that camp.
beltane
@Cacti: God, is Marco Rubio an idiot. Maybe George W. Bush is really smarter than the whole lot of them. What a terrifying thought.
Steve
Hillary is an idiot. Jeb is an idiot.
MomSense
@JustRuss:
Exactly. She has a great sense of humor. Obviously I never discussed politics with her.
@WereBear:
Absolutely. That is a great way to describe it. Even if they experience failure or loss, it is tempered by wealth, connections, and support that mitigate the full extent of the consequences us normal people would experience.
I do think that FDR’s health helped him to become more empathetic.
Major Major Major Major
@WereBear: there’s a futurama episode where they measure coolness in Megafonzies, and I’ve seen Kilohitlers used somewhere too.
Origuy
Is Joltin’ John Bolton the next to throw his hat in the ring?
MattF
@barbequebob: I’d add that it wasn’t just Hillary who knew that it was all a lie– everyone knew it. But at that time anyone who pointed this out was labelled a traitor. And with no ifs ands or buts. I can see why a professional politician would duck that– a mistake and a sin, but that’s the job.
Mike J
@Major Major Major Major: And don’t forget the milli-Helen, the amount of beauty sufficient to launch one ship.
Howard Beale IV
@Origuy: Oh, please let the walrus run. The twit will be so starved for airtime he may actually vapor lock.
Major Major Major Major
@WereBear: what if you turn it to overdrive?
Bobby Thomson
@Brachiator:
Ron Paul is an isolationist. Rand Paul is a serial flip flopper whose position on any given issue depends on his audience.
mdblanche
@Hildebrand: Neil is the smart one. He knew to just take the money and run.
Major Major Major Major
@efgoldman: wait, why should they get body armor? The troops didn’t.
the Conster
@Fort Geek: @Steeplejack (phone):
I’m thinking my final answer is a FAILfuck of Bushes.
Major Major Major Major
My favorites are “a confusion of weasels” and “a parliament of owls”
bemused
@WereBear:
You win.
singfoom
@efgoldman: They fucked it up too much. I don’t think they can fix it. Honestly I don’t think anyone can fix it. I’m of the opinion we should completely withdraw all military forces from the region completely.
Every time we try to fix something in the middle east we make it worse.
So put them in jail instead.
Turgidson
@scott (the other one):
He has worried me the most for quite a while. Fortunately it looks like he’ll be this cycle’s Huntsman if he runs. He apparently isn’t enough of a mouthbreathing degenerate for the Party to get behind.
Mandalay
Jeb Bush explaining why the current clusterfuck in Iraq is all down to Obama:
What the mendacious fucker carefully omits to mention is that the agreement he loves so much would have removed immunity from prosecution for US troops in Iraq (which was precisely why Obama would not sign on the dotted line).
So now it’s time for some enterprising reporter to ask Bush: “Why do you support the 2011 agreement that would have allowed Iraq to prosecute US troops?”. I’m not holding my breath.
mdblanche
@JustRuss: If I want to spend time with a character like Babs, I’ll watch her played by Jessica Walter.
Mike in NC
Jeb! will go to great lengths to avoid leveling any criticism towards his moron brother (or father). Might be hard to pull that off until November 2016. He has, of course, picked up almost all of the people who were foreign policy advisors to Dubya and Poppy. But he insists he’s his own man.
Turgidson
@Origuy:
He’s not the hero this country deserves, but the one it needs right now.
Turgidson
@efgoldman:
I was referring to Kasich, not Bolton. Bolton is a cartoon character come to life. Yosemite Sam in a suit.
magurakurin
@Cacti: %58 is still far less than the country as a whole. 72% thought it was the right thing to do in March of 2003.
I knew that it was going to end badly once they started talking about it. I also always thought that ten years later you wouldn’t be able to find hardly anyone who said they thought it was a good idea back when it started. I didn’t count on Jeb, I guess. Still, a lot of people got it wrong. A lot.
Howard Beale IV
@efgoldman: I’d rather gas ’em/drug ’em, strip them of any valuables/phones, keep ’em locked up and doped up for while until they get nice and scraggly, dress them up in tattered clothing and then drop them in the middle of a homeless encampment. And when they start banging on people’s cars claiming they’re some high-end muckety-muck and the police come and shoo ’em back into the group-karma, baby.
Roger Moore
@singfoom:
The goal of sending them to Baghdad isn’t to fix anything; it’s to mete out some poetic justice.
WereBear
@Major Major Major Major: I don’t recommend it without a lot of protective gear. You know you have to discharge the transformer safely before such a maneuver.
I’d do it with nothing less than a full Hawking suit with the Einstein safety pack.
Major Major Major Major
@efgoldman: and what sat upon it was Death, and Hell followed with him.
Roger Moore
@efgoldman:
Disappear them to Gitmo, where they can rot without charges for the rest of their pitiful lives.
Turgidson
@efgoldman:
Watching him make the case for his credentials will be awesome.
“I couldn’t even be confirmed by the Senate to be our UN Ambassador, but elect me president so I can bomb the fuck out of everything east of Istanbul (ETA except Israel of course), ya jerks!”
the Conster
@magurakurin:
I have asked my conservative friends to tell me one thing – ONE thing – that I personally got for the 4+ trillion dollars spent on that war. It actually struck them dumb(er). There was the “Saddam BAD”, but of course I said so how does that benefit me? There is not even a gas price argument. There is no answer.
Turgidson
@the Conster:
Doesn’t the air smell a little “freer”? Don’t you feel like you have just a little bit more liberty? Can’t put a price on that, can you?
Mandalay
Jeb Bush is trying to make questions about the reasons for the invasion of Iraq off limits:
Good luck with hiding behind Americans who died because of your brother, you spineless, gutless shitfilth.
SFAW
@Turgidson:
Huntsman was no prize either. He had a couple of positions that weren’t completely fucking loony, but he was mostly a right-winger’s wet dream.
Suzanne
Like crows, we have a murder of Bushes.
SFAW
@the Conster:
The correct answer is: “Had we not fought them over there, they would have come over here and killed you in your sleep, you traitor!”
Everyone knows that.
JPL
Gotta say it might be time to move. While sitting outside this evening I heard this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uzae_SqbmDE
A friend who moved to GA thought it would be cool to have her children watch Deliverance. They all moved when once reached adulthood.
SFAW
@Major Major Major Major:
If he didn’t speak ALL IN UPPER CASE, then he wasn’t the real deal.
I’m not so sure about Hell, however.
Redshift
@Mandalay: It’s a powerful demonstration of how much Jeb has in common with his brother that literally every sentence of his response to that question is a lie.
Redshift
@Suzanne: Doesn’t seem quite strong enough. Maybe “a mass murder of Bushes”?
patrick II
If he won’t discuss hypotheticals, must we actually go to war with him as president to find out his answer?
Oh, wait a minute, that’s another hypothetical question.
Turgidson
@SFAW:
Same with Kasich. But compared to the rest of the 2012 clown car, Huntsman seemed refreshingly non-batshit. And I think he’s the only one they had who could have beaten Obama. Kasich’s the only one likely to run who keeps the clownishness to a minimum and, I think, has any shot against Hillary unless the economy goes to shit next summer or a major foreign crisis can be pinned on Obama shortly before the election. He’d still be a walking right-wing disaster if elected, of course.
SFAW
@Turgidson:
Not necessarily disagreeing, but I guess I see Kasich as more of a dickish asshole than Huntsman, based on his performance in the ’14 campaign.
But, yeah, I guess I agree that he’s not totally batshit, and thus seems like a breath of only-slightly-stale air compared to the rest of those mofos.
Howard Beale IV
@JPL: Reading the Wiki article on the music is a trip in itself.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Turgidson: Kasich, you mean W Bush’s budget guy? ROTFLMAO.
jl
@Turgidson: Huntsman seemed sane and honest, and someone who could think his way out of a paper bag. And, what happened, did he ever get above 3 or 4 percent in any primary polls or contests? I don’t think so, but my memory might be bad.
And, I am not so sure about ‘honest’. I remember reading after the primaries were over that his wife threatened to leave him if he spewed insane dumb bs during the debates. So…. if he seemed sane, it was because his wife’s threats kept him honest?
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@SFAW: But what scared me about Huntsman was that he did not present like a RWNJ lunatic. He seemed sensible and articulate, and reasonable, even though he was just as loony as the rest of them. Kasich is really thin- skinned, and should be easy to blow up.
Major Major Major Major
@SFAW: CATS. CATS ARE NICE.
Roger Moore
@patrick II:
What if there were no hypothetical questions?
Turgidson
@BillinGlendaleCA:
That was Mitch Daniels. Oh, and Ohio Senator and sure VP shortlist nominee Rob Portman too, I think.
JPL
@Howard Beale IV: The local high school was playing a lacrosse game from a team further north, so maybe it was fitting. I didn’t like it.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Turgidson: You’re right.
Frankensteinbeck
@WereBear:
Yes, it is specifically those things. They’re already oil baron rich aristocrats. The money is the one thing they don’t need. Of course, greed has no limits, but if money were their specific goal the presidency would be a roundabout way to get it. They want their egos stroked by being a family of presidents. Bush wanted to be a war hero who would be revered through the generations for bringing American Democracy to the Mideast. Jeb certainly wants to show the world that the WORLD is wrong, and the Bushes are true princes worthy to rule. You may think this is ridiculous and irrational, especially after Bush shit the bed like a diarrhea Krakatoa, but ego is decidedly irrational.
@Bobby Thomson:
I’m glad someone is paying attention to Rand Paul’s MO.
Major Major Major Major
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): that’s why the obama admin made sure he was ambassador to China. He worked for the devil himself, he never stood a chance.
Turgidson
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
I keep reading that he’s a hothead and even proud of it, but he seems at least somewhat balanced whenever I see him speak. Not as smooth as Huntsman, but without foam at the corners of his mouth like the rest of these dipshits in the race.
Anyway, it doesn’t seem like anyone cares whether he runs, and that’s fine.
Gene108
@barbequebob:
In defense of Dems and the AUMF vote, it was not sold as a declaration of war, but rather a necessary “stick” to gain leverage with Saddam’s government to verify and/or halt his WMD program.
Saddam kicked UN inspectors out in 1998, and him not complying with the terms of his 1991 Gulf War defeat was an issue.
In this regard it was successful. Shortly after the passage of AUMF Saddam let UN inspectors back in.
I think Bush & Co were surprised Saddam was complying with inspections, so they get kept increasing the bullshit and said screw the WMD crap, we’re invading anyway.
Probably the greatest failure by the media is not pushing back, in the five months the inspectors were there. Bush said Saddam’s WMD’s were a threat, so they sabre rattled and got the inspectors back in, therfore why not let the inspectors finish, before deciding the next step. But the media happily laid down and did not ask that simple question.
I mean Bush and the Neo-Cons had basically won the point on WMD’s by getting inspectors back in, with their go-it-alone sabre rattling foreign policy.
Roger Moore
@Frankensteinbeck:
I’m just quoting this because I want to see it in print at least one more time.
SFAW
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
I don’t think he’s necessarily loony, I just think he’s far more right wing than non-wingnuts wanted to believe.
the Conster
We should cheer JEB’s candidacy on, and welcome John Bolton’s candidacy with open arms. They’re both going to force the re-litigation of Iraq – which will be a welcome reckoning. No one but the real dead enders thinks it was worth it, so let’s have the stupid party tie themselves into gordian knots trying to explain how’d they’d unfuck the ME by offering non-apology apologies for Bush’s colossally disastrous fuck up. Hillary, the former Secretary of State, can pull out story after story about how that fuckup complicated all of her dealings with our allies. Bring.It.On.
WereBear
@Frankensteinbeck: Okay. You’ve convinced me. And that’s worse!
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@SFAW: That is a better description, and more like what I meant. He’s quietly very far right, without being obvious about it. It’s wonderful that Obama neutralized him with the ambassador gig,
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Major Major Major Major:
That has a nice ring to it.
Turgidson
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
Yeah. He came off like a throwback to that creature of a bygone age: a sane, well-meaning Republican you could disagree with but still respect and presume was not a crackpot who wanted to destroy the country in order to “take it back” like the rest of the GOP field was promising.
And the Village LOVESSSS that kind of thing. Hell, they’re still having trouble letting go of their portly mancrush Christie because he was that guy to them too, but also an asshole, which they also find endearing.
(but I think the contrast between him and the mouthbreathing lunatics he shared the 2012 debate stage with exaggerated his qualities)
LanceThruster
A Bogseptis of Bushes.
Chris
@Roger Moore: I smell a new category! Some things need to be immortalized….
Brachiator
@the Conster: The obvious answer is … A pubic of Bushes.
jl
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Probably confusion is due to Kasich spending so much time on the House Budget Committee, ending up as chairman. So he was in charge of GOP budget policy for most of the 1990s.
His Wiki article says he worked with Clinton on assault weapons ban, so the NRA hates his guts. He hatched a plan to means test Medicare payments and drastically reduce for “higher income” (not really) people. And we can watch him try to fight with Bill Clinton for credit for the Clinton balanced budgets (gee, wonder who will win that one?).
Seems like Kasich tried to position himself as center-right hero and whiffed when he tried to parlay that into presidential bid before. Not sure much has changed.
Ruckus
Remember that when people say Jebbie is the smart one, they are making a comparison of rich idiots. Smartest of that lot means less than saying smarter than a can of beans.
jl
@efgoldman: W was much cleverer and shrewder campaigner. Jeb! has been a disaster so far: inept, unbelievable, and ugly.
machine
Jeb read the green during Dubya’s three-putt. Expect him to lag the thorny issues then tap in when he thinks everyone but the base is looking elsewhere.
Goblue72
For the good of the Republic, the Bushes must go.
Mike in NC
@Brachiator: In other words, the Bushes are Real Merkins.
Goblue72
@Mike in NC: close the thread. You win.
Zinsky
This entire diseased, degenerate family should be taken to an island thousands of miles from any other land and be left to rot.
chrome agnomen
@Brachiator: a pendejo of arbustos
Amir Khalid
@Brachiator:
“Pubic” is an adjective. You want a noun: “a pubis of Bushes”.
Omnes Omnibus
@Amir Khalid: I want nothing of the sort.
Elie
I gotta say, this don’t smell right. The Bush crime family did not get where it is by stupid. Watch out. I am glad Hil is laying back and scouting the terrain carefully.
My experience in observing the Bushes is that a) they don’t play and b) they really don’t play. They are also quite patient to let things set up.
The Democrats and specifically Hillary’s camp, will need to pull them into an early show of what they have… like a bridge game where you try to see who and where trump cards are distributed.
Be very careful assuming these folks or Jeb! are stupid or not in the game 100%. They want you to make that mistake.
I say, lets sit back and see what happens. Not sure who Jeb’s competition truly is in the field of repub idiots, but I think that is also deliberate. They may all be punching buddies for him… I am glad that Hillary is quiet. Let him keep putting stuff out there. No need for her to rush to reply or anything… let all of them keep talking and acting…
I am prepared to donate to the “cause” in record amounts for me because I think that the stakes are that high. My new kitchen and other shit are going to wait.
feebog
@Elie:
The problem for Jeb! is that once the villagers start questioning his intelligence, that can stick like feces thrown on the wall. And if his opponents join in in the pool flinging, it will just exacerbate his problem. When you think about it, Jeb!’s entire life, both personal and political has been in a privileged bubble. I mean really, how much political acumen does it take to be elected as Governor of Florida when your father was President and your entire family is a political machine. But Jeb! is into national politics now, and there are a few candidates out there who will willingly slice and dice him to shreds. Looking forward to the bloodshed with relish.
jl
@feebog: So far, Jeb! has come out of the blocks with the brains of Rick Perry, and charisma of whoeveritis Pawlenty in 2012. Let’s hope it continues.
Edit: Tim whosits, I think.
Elie
@feebog:
@jl:
I agree with you both, but don’t want any unpleasant surprises. Part of me just says that what we see right now is just too good to be true so be careful. Better to be careful with so much at stake, I say…
Pope Bandar bin Turtle
@Villago Delenda Est:
How many mini-Palins could a mini-Gohmert gohm if mini-Gohmert could gohm Palins?
A: All of them :-) :-)
brantl
Is there any reason not to call them the
BDouches, anymore? Their press secretaries can be theBDouche-nozzles.Larv
@Cacti:
Well, Iran and Iraq were on opposite sides of an earlier war. Therefore, according to the transitive property a war with Iran would be the opposite of a war with Iraq. If the Iraq war was a bad idea, then a war with Iran must be a good idea. The logic seems unassailable.