Monthly Archives: September 2004

Dump Duhbya

It certainly isn’t like the carefully scripted weeks of yore

News Breaks Against Bush (washingtonpost.com) By Dan Froomkin

Conflation Watch

Here’s how Scott McClellan handled the questions about the milestone yesterday:

Q Senator Kerry is calling it a tragic milestone, reaching 1,000 deaths in Iraq.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, we remember, honor and mourn the loss of all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice defending freedom. And we also remember those who lost their lives on September 11th. The best way to honor all those who have lost their life in the war on terrorism is to continue to wage a broad war and spread freedom throughout a dangerous part of the world so that we can transform that region of the world and make the world a safer place, and make America more secure.

Q And you’re convinced each one of those lives is worth it, Scott?

MR. McCLELLAN: Each one — well, let me say, when I say we remember, honor, mourn the loss of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, we do so for those in Iraq and Afghanistan. We also remember those who lost their lives on September 11th, nearly three years ago today. And that’s why I said it’s important that we continue to wage a broad war on terrorism and that we work to spread freedom throughout the Middle East and transform that region so that we defeat the ideologies of hatred and tyranny.

Q But the question is, for — each of those families lost someone, a loved one, and each one of those is worth it — that’s the question.

MR. McCLELLAN: Mark, I think — I think of the cost we paid on September 11th, and September 11th changed the equation, as you’ve heard the President say.
—
Headlines blare the news that the death toll in Iraq has crossed the 1,000 milestone.

There are also big headlines about Bush’s record $422 billion budget deficit and the multi-trillion-dollar deficit projections for the future.

Then there are all the stories about Vice President Cheney’s jaw-dropping statement yesterday that a Kerry victory would result in more terrorist attacks. Even his own staff is qualifying it.

Bush’s spotty National Guard record during the Vietnam War is turning into a full-fledged media conflagration, with more stories out today and “60 Minutes” weighing in tonight.

Plus, Sen.Bob Graham (D-Fla.) is all over the media charging Bush with covering up evidence that might have linked Saudi Arabia to the Sept. 11 hijackers.

And while the mainstream press is not putting stock in unauthorized biographer Kitty Kelley’s hazily sourced allegations of past drug use by Bush, everybody — at least everybody on the Internet — seems to be talking about it.

It certainly isn’t like the carefully scripted weeks of yore.

[mjh: details on all of this at the link above]

Dump Duhbya

Fear is the Power, Lies the Fuel, Part 2

Remarks by the Vice President and Mrs. Cheney Followed by Question and Answer at a Town Hall Meeting

[I]t’s absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on November 2nd, we make the right choice. Because if we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that we’ll get hit again. That we’ll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States, and that we’ll fall back into the pre-9/11 mind set if you will, that in fact these terrorist attacks are just criminal acts, and that we’re not really at war. — Dick Cheney

Fear is the Power, Lies the Fuel

Theirs

Senate leaders will soon move to approve the flag amendment (ACLU)

With several Senators absent due to

presidential campaigns, sickness or the aftermath of Hurricane Frances, the Republican Senate leadership is planning to slip in a vote on

the flag desecration amendment –- a measure that would not otherwise pass. But due to these absences, this proposed amendment to the

U.S. Constitution — which has already passed in the House — has a real chance of passing in the Senate. We need your help to stop it!

The flag desecration amendment would alter the First Amendment for the first time. Civil libertarians, coalitions of veterans,

religious leaders and other Americans have been vocally opposing this un-American initiative for many years, but its supporters have been

waiting for a moment like this to slip it through.

Take Action! The Senate vote will be extremely close and we need you to tell your

Senators to oppose this dangerous amendment.

American Civil Liberties Union : Act now! Senate Leaders Will Soon

Move to Approve the Flag Amendment

Election

‘It should be he said/she said/we say — and here’s why we say it.’

Campaign coverage needs to read between the

linesby David Shaw, LATimes

Steve Lovelady, managing editor of CampaignDesk.org, says he’s been appalled by the “everyday occurrence”

of this approach by reporters on the campaign trail.

“Reporters seem to think they’ve done an adequate job just because they give

both sides a chance to state their case,” Lovelady says. “But if that’s all you do, you may have satisfied the imagined constraints of

objectivity, but often you haven’t told the reader anything.

“It’s the most common and infuriating flaw in the press today.

Reporters just don’t measure what each side said against the known facts. It shouldn’t just be he said/she said. It should be he

said/she said/we say — and here’s why we say it.”

Election

‘The 10 big stories the national news media ignore’

Censored! The 10 big stories the national news media ignore. By Camille T.

Taiara. SF Bay Guardian

1. Wealth inequality in 21st century threatens economy and democracy
2. Ashcroft versus human rights law that

holds corporations accountable
3. Bush administration manipulates science and censors scientists
4. High uranium levels found in troops

and civilians
5. Wholesale giveaway of our natural resources
6. Sale of electoral politics
7. Conservative organization drives

judicial appointments
8. Secrets of Cheney’s energy task force come to light
9. Widow brings RICO case against U.S. government for

9/11
10. New nuke plants: taxpayers support, industry profits