”Barry Goldwater must be spinning in his grave.” So says arch-conservative Pat Buchanan. Of Bush’s ”Healthy Marriage” proposal, Buchanan calls it ”faith-based pork to buy off his supporters on the religious right.”
‘a clever strategy of deception’
Op-Ed Columnist: Masters of Deception By BOB HERBERT, NYTimes
At one point, [Al Gore] told his audience: ”In preparing this series of speeches, I have noticed a troubling pattern that characterizes the Bush-Cheney administration’s approach to almost all issues. In almost every policy area, the administration’s consistent goal has been to eliminate any constraints on their exercise of raw power, whether by law, regulation, alliance or treaty. And in the process, they have in each case caused America to be seen by the other nations of the world as showing disdain for the international community.”
Amid cheers, he made it clear that the broad interests of the American public are consistently betrayed by the policies and practices of President Bush and his administration. “They devise their policies with as much secrecy as possible,” he said, “and in close cooperation with the most powerful special interests that have a monetary stake in what happens. In each case, the public interest is not only ignored, but actively undermined. In each case, they devote considerable attention to a clever strategy of deception that appears designed to prevent the American people from discerning what it is they are actually doing.
“Indeed, they often use Orwellian language to disguise their true purposes. For example, a policy that opens national forests to destructive logging of old-growth trees is labeled Healthy Forest Initiative. A policy that vastly increases the amount of pollution that can be dumped into the air is called the Clear Skies Initiative.” …
“This is insanity,” said Mr. Gore, referring to the administration’s handling of the environment. But his speech made it clear that he could just as easily have applied that sentiment to the full range of Bush-Cheney policies. History will not be kind to the chicanery that passes for governing in the Bush II administration.
‘the most closed, imperialistic, nastiest administration in living memory’
Op-Ed Columnist: Who Gets It? By PAUL KRUGMAN, NYTimes
Earlier this week, Wesley Clark had some strong words about the state of the nation. ”I think we’re at risk with our democracy,” he said. ”I think we’re dealing with the most closed, imperialistic, nastiest administration in living memory. They even put Richard Nixon to shame.” …
The real division in the race for the Democratic nomination is between those who are willing to question not just the policies but also the honesty and the motives of the people running our country, and those who aren’t.
What makes Mr. Dean seem radical aren’t his policy positions but his willingness — shared, we now know, by General Clark — to take a hard line against the Bush administration. …
[T]he Bush people really are Nixonian. …
That doesn’t mean that the Democratic candidate has to be a radical — which is a good thing for the party, since all of the candidates are actually quite moderate. In fact, what the party needs is a candidate who inspires the base enough to get out the message that he isn’t a radical — and that Mr. Bush is.
‘how radically conservative the Republican Party has become’
PABLO’S REVENGE by Matt Miller Online
That our stunningly incurious president and his top advisers have little interest in such evenhanded decision-making underscores the primary lesson of O’Neill’s book: how radically conservative the Republican Party has become.
Think of O’Neill as some centrist Republican Rip Van Winkle, who came back to a GOP White House after 25 years, only to find that his pragmatic approach to public problem-solving made him an alien to be ignored or a prop to be used for “cover” by zealots.
O’Neill’s tragedy may be that he never realized, before signing on for this last costly hitch of public service, that in the GOP’s view, he was already an antique whose notions of responsible governance had long been purged from the center of Republican power.
Is ‘Elite’ worse than ‘Liberal’ or are they the same thing?
John Leo: More Immigration Folly
But on hot-button social issues, Bush has a history of ignoring majorities and abandoning his base, and of backing the position of small but powerful and largely Democratic elites.
Obviously, the White House thinks there is more hay to be made by adopting the elite position ….
Oh My God! The über-conservative John Leo thinks Bush caters to Democrats?! After that hearty laugh, the best thing about this is seeing the Radical Right snipe at the most conservative president in memory. They always want more. mjh
Quirky Burque Blog
See Pika B’s blog
for cool thought-provocation. Pika’s been generous enough to link to other Albuquerque-based blogs; a case-sensitive sort puts me at the
top, followed by mi compadre, Arthur Alpert. mjh
Quirky Burque by Pika Brittlebush
Let Me See Your ID
As early as next month, the government could order airlines and airline ticket bookers to hand over all their passenger records.
The Washington Post says the government is moving ahead with plans for background checks, despite a lack of cooperation from airlines.
The computerized system would assign all travelers a number and a color code that ranks their potential threat. A separate program would speed business travelers and other frequent fliers through security lines if they volunteer personal information.
Critics say the system of background checks will create two classes of airline passengers. People who aren’t U.S. citizens could face additional questioning.
Coincidentally, donors to Bush’s reelection fund will be rated “Green-A-1”. Reading this blog just got you a Code Yellow. mjh