At the lake all week-end… I will be back tomorrow night or Monday.
Lake
This post is in: Previous Site Maintenance
John Cole started Balloon Juice early in 2002. Those who have followed along know that this has been quite the journey.
This post is in: Previous Site Maintenance
At the lake all week-end… I will be back tomorrow night or Monday.
by John Cole| 29 Comments
This post is in: Democratic Stupidity
The Democrats just don’t like being in the minority:
The dispute highlights how rapidly relations between Democrats and Republicans have deteriorated in recent months. Virtually shut out from legislating and chafing over repeated procedural slights, House Democrats have adopted combative tactics to draw attention to what they see as Republican heavy-handedness.
By any standards, today represented a low point in the history of congressional comity. Democrats accused the GOP of running a police state; Republicans recounted how one Democratic member of the panel called a Republican colleague “you little fruitcake” in the midst of the standoff.
The blowup occurred as the panel began to mark up a wide-ranging pension bill sponsored by Reps. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.). The changes narrowed the original bill, but retained most of its key provisions.
Bwahahaha. And the best part is the jackasses have gerrymandered so much for racial and political purposes that the Democrats will probably be in the minority for a LONG time.
by John Cole| 3 Comments
This post is in: Democratic Stupidity
This is an old story, but I just saw Lieberman, Gephardt, and Kucinich groveling before the NAACP. I had read the transcripts, but the video was much more humiliating. Really quite disgusting. I would really like to know what good the NAACP does anymore.
by John Cole| 13 Comments
This post is in: Foreign Affairs
Interesting poll by you.gov (their site is down, and I can’t get all the results, so all I can see is this excerpt):
A majority of Baghdad residents feel US and British troops should stay in Iraq for at least a year, according to the first attempt at an opinion poll.
The You.Gov poll results were released as news emerged that a ground-to-air missile was fired at a US military plane near Baghdad airport.
The poll said 31% wanted troops to stay “a few years”, while 25% said “about a year.”
Only 13% said they should leave now, while 20% said they should go “within 12 months”.
The survey also found that half thought the US-led coalition was right to invade.
Amusing- 50% of the invaded population feels the United States was right to INVADE. Compare that to the recent rhetoric of the left in America, where it appears that 100% of Democrats think we were wrong to invade.
(via Tacitus)
by John Cole| 7 Comments
This post is in: Democratic Stupidity
Bob Graham, in what can be described as nothing more than an effort to gain exposure (“Look at me! Look at me! I am running for President.”), is now charging forward with an impeachment option:
U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bob Graham said on Thursday there were grounds to impeach President Bush (news – web sites) if he was found to have led America to war under false pretenses.
While Graham did not call for Bush’s impeachment, he said if the president lied about the reasons for going to war with Iraq (news – web sites) it would be “more serious” than former President Bill Clinton (news – web sites)’s lie under oath about his sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky.
One problem. Clinton lied. Under oath. Bush didn’t. But that isn;t the real goal- the real push is to simply damage Bush- hurt his credibility, taint him, and weaken him for election.
“If in fact we went to war under false pretenses that is a very serious charge,” Graham, the senior U.S. senator from Florida, told reporters in New Hampshire.
No shit. Please make that charge. Pretty please.
“If the standard of impeachment is the one the House Republicans used against Bill Clinton, this clearly comes within that standard,” he said.
There is no standard for impeachment- impeachment is essentially whatever the House says it is. The House is Republican.
by John Cole| 3 Comments
This post is in: Foreign Affairs
I see in the WaPO that the White House has released some CIA documents:
An intelligence assessment by the CIA last October cites “compelling evidence” that Saddam Hussein was attempting to reconstitute a nuclear-weapons program, according to documents released Friday by the White House.
Mounting a campaign to counter criticism that it used flawed intelligence to justify war with Iraq, the White House made public excerpts of the intelligence community’s October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate. That report helped shape now-challenged comments by President Bush in his State of the Union address that Iraq was attempting to buy uranium in Africa.
The report asserts that Baghdad “if left unchecked…probably will have a nuclear weapon during this decade.”
It also cites unsubstantiated reports that Iraq was trying to buy uranium from three African countries: Niger, Somalia and “possibly” Congo.
Just a question- why are the governments of Niger, Congo, and Somalia trusted with this material, or is it just naturally occuring in these nations.
by John Cole| 7 Comments
This post is in: Democratic Stupidity
Oliver has a long-winded screed that is yet another version of the “Democrats need to fight like Republicans” or “Finally Democrats are fighting back” genre, and we learn some fascinating things:
– The Right is whining
– Oliver is still mad about Florida (“partially because of the method in which he gained his office”)
– September 11th was a major event
– Afghanistan was warranted (though Bush should be given no credit)
– Democrats are bipartisan (Republicans aren’t)
– Rumsfeld and Cheney have been planning to invade Iraq since 1976
– All of Ted Kennedy’s legislation that has been passed by Bush has ‘fizzled’
– Democrats are United (someone tell the DLC)
– Democrats are finally attacking (giggle)
– Bush’s foreign policy and national security policies are foolish or lies. Take your pick.
– Democrats need to fight, fight, fight.