David Brooks: Wanker Elite
By John Amato Friday Sep 07, 2007 8:02pm
This new Bin Laden tape has the right wingers acting like idiots. On the one hand, they are thrilled because they feel any reminder of the terrorist "threat" is good for the GOP. That's nothing new, I know.
But on the other hand, they have to understand that if one thinks about it even a little, it hurts Bush, since he should have got Bin Laden already, so they are stuck trying to figure a way out of that narrative. The best they can come up with is that Bin Laden either sounds like a Democrat or as the NY Times wingnut op-ed columnist David Brooks opines:
Download | play Download | play
Brooks: I mean on one hand he's a malevolent guy who killed three thousand Americans, but you read this thing and it's like he's been sitting around reading lefty blogs and one of these childish people posting rants at the bottom of the page (garbled) Noam Chomsky and all this stuff.
That's right, Bin Laden sounds just like a lefty blogger, or worse, Chomsky. I tell you what, I'll line up anything I've ever written against Wanker Brooks. I promise you, his average of being right is well below the Mendoza line. In fact, let's look at this January 2005 essay by Chomsky:
Let's just imagine what the policies might be of an independent Iraq, independent, sovereign Iraq, let's say more or less democratic, what are the policies likely to be?
Well there's going to be a Shiite majority, so they'll have some significant influence over policy. The first thing they'll do is reestablish relations with Iran. Now they don't particularly like Iran, but they don't want to go to war with them so they'll move toward what was happening already even under Saddam, that is, restoring some sort of friendly relations with Iran.
That's the last thing the United States wants. It has worked very hard to try to isolate Iran. The next thing that might happen is that a Shiite-controlled, more or less democratic Iraq might stir up feelings in the Shiite areas of Saudi Arabia, which happen to be right nearby and which happen to be where all the oil is. So you might find what in Washington must be the ultimate nightmare-a Shiite region which controls most of the world's oil and is independent.
Hmmm....does that sound like loony left ravings to you? Contrast that to the fact checking I found for Brook's January 29, 2005 NYT op-ed from the aptly named "David Brooks is a moron". 'Nuff said.
(thanks to Nicole for her help)
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Not another Boogiemanistan thing.....sheesh......(Boogiemanistan courtesy of Dr Matt)
Does anyone believe this is REALLY from bin L?
Excellent points about Chomsky's "loony left" sayings. On top of that, to say Bin Laden is a "lefty" is silly if not downright hilarious. His desire to mix religion and government falls right in line with our religious right. His desire to see homosexuality stamped out falls right in line with our religious right. And his desire to marginalize (or in his case, kill) atheists and stamp out secularism falls right in line with our religious right.
If he were a Christian, his right-wing rhetoric would be welcomed by the Repug herd.
I still can't believe how many people still take Brooks seriously anymore.
Steve Benen:
lmao
Brooks, like the Kagan thugs, is just another deceptive, creepy arrogant necon who is just fine to see americans killed for their Mideast goals.
Anyone who would plan and execute 9/11 is obviously a horrible person. I have more respect for amoeba. There are people that I have even less respect for than I do for Bin Laden because they have been attacking the working class in the U.S. ever since 9/11 happened all for personal benefit.
Haven't seen the new Bin Laden video yet. Is it on pay per view?
Who does Osama sound like?
Digby:
There's a lot more..
i am tired of the reichwingnut neocon gop's continued attempts at blaming everything
they do wrong or against the law and/or the U.S. constitution on the democrats. we are about to go into either a high inflation period or a destructive recession. let's see who took a trillion dollar surplus and turned it into a multi-trillion deficit?
the fucking repugs and the bastards bush and cheney.
BennyP @ 2:
Bin who???......
and yeah, I believe it could be one of them. I also believe they are on the WarPigs payroll.
Who does Osama sound like?
Digby: "Brothers In Weltanschauung"
the bin laden family and the bush family are joined at the hips.
what one does the other condones!!!!!!!!!!!
It looks like Bin Laden must have interpreters on his staff. I wonder if they are gay. If we had interpreters in our service, maybe we wouldn't be wondering whether it is Bin Laden or not.
My head is going to explode.
So now a Bin Laden, who once thanked America for expelling the atheist Soviets from Afghanistan is now a Marxist and telling us to read Chomsky? And just around election time again. Isn't it also fundamentally against Bin Laden's interpretation of Islam to cut or dye his facial hair? Well, I guess it really is him because the administration said so, and they've never lied to us before.
Manila Ryce @ 15:
He's a Marxist when he wants everyone else to have "no taxes", like he says Islam has? (they have a 2.4% religious tax)
He could rally every wingnut in America behind him if he would just focus on the "No Taxes!" message.
crap my 6:17 PM post didn't post so after waiting a couple minutes refreshing and not seeing it I posted a link to the same thing at 6:24. I hate that sooo much! sorry.
I can think of several others who have made similar comparisons of people on the left/Dems to Osama
Chris Matthews
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/01/19/chris-matthews-compares-michael...
Joe Scarborough
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/01/20/kellyanne-conway-demsquot-equal...
Tucker Carlson
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/01/21/maddow-fights-back/
I think Bin Laden has picked up that a majority of the world opposes the U.S. invasion of Iraq, not just the Democrats here in the US. I think he's employing a bit of reverse psychology, as the Iraq war has supplied the Muslim extremists with a legitimacy, since we attacked a nation that didn't attack us. Prior to the Iraq war, the world, including Iran, accepted the U.S. right to invade Afghanistan for example, to go after Bin Laden.
Bin Laden has the best of two worlds here. If we leave Iraq, he can claim victory for driving out the infidels. If we stay, and I think Bin Laden is better off if we stay, that keeps the pressure off of him and his supporters in Afghanistan/Pakistan. The fundamentalist Taliban are the most ideologically aligned and affiliated people with Al Qaeda so reducing action against them by the US remaining bogged down in Iraq is the best thing for Bin Laden.
In the US we're kind of in our own little world. We make a distinction of what is and isn't terrorism not accepted by the rest of the world. For example, we call "shock and awe" an endeavor that the rest of the world recognized as "terrorizing" the Iraqis into accepting "liberation" otherwise seen as "occupation". Shock 'n Awe = Terrorism. We see bombs from airplanes and guided missiles as not being terrorism, whereas those lacking guided missiles and an air force don't make that distinction. We don't immediately brand one a liar who alleges we had been attacked because "they" hate our freedoms. We don't ask why, for example, if they don't like freedoms, why don't they attack the Scandinavian nations. I guess they like attacking the nation that spends over half the world's expenditures on military because they like a challenge?
Brooks, the neo-cons, and the neocon constituencies are especially in their own, non-reality based world.
Rightwingers aren't acting like idiots. They are idiots who think that the rest of us are stupid enough to fall for the BS that they promote. They are so filled with self loathing that it spills over into a real inability to recognize when they have been had by the Cheney-Bush cabal, so they continue to spout the assine rantings of their imperial leaders. Come the revolution and they will all be swinging from light poles.
yeah, well brooks sounds like he's slurped on more than a few peckers in the public stall.
BennyP @ 2:
No, it is not from bin Laden, and if that photo Drudge was showing was supposed to be bin Laden, it was not. As many opine, bin Laden is dead, and that is the reason why BushieBoy cannot capture him.
Anyone else notice that Brooks tied Global Warming with a conspiracy theory? Is this guy even dumber than he looks?
justabill @ 17:
The three amoeba's
This jumped right out at me when I heard it on Friday, I'm glad you put some focus on it. David Brooks calling Chomsky "childish" was a true moment of just astonishing arrogance, not to mention absurdity.
I don't know where to start describing how badly the pop-pablum-rightist mumblings of David Brooks would stand up against the actual political analysis by Chomsky. I mean, good god. Say you don't agree with it, fine, but calling someone like Chomsky childish when you're the one writing such utter right-wing nonsense-- it's beyond ridiculous.
Anyone remember what Brooks was saying at the start of this war? And how did that work out? Chomsky on the other hand pretty much nailed it, from the start, everything he's predicted has come to pass.
Simply amazing how these people can be wrong every time they speak, then have the nerve to dismiss those who were right.
naschkatze @ 21:
You can watch the latest OBL video w/ subtitles and read an independent transcript here:
http://counterterrorismblog.org/
(h/t Juan Cole)
Real question is why are we still showing or acknowledging tapes from Bin Laden? Why give him that podium? Why strike up this fear? Why this Emanuel Goldstein? There is no reason other than to strike up more fear among the flock by dragging up his words publicly. Politically speaking, this is a hypnotism stage show. We're going to be told about what is and isn't going on- not so that we are informed, but so that it's at the top of our minds. It's the power of suggestion.
From the other side, Chomsky has probably written a good portion of any of our educations at this point, he's the kind of person we should heed the words of; not some wanker columnist for the NYT.
naschkatze @ 21:
Actually, they have to look for him to be able to find him. Sometimes when we we were kids playing hide and seek, I would just go home and leave everybody out there hiding waiting to be found and race back to point.
You're not playing by traditional rules of engagement Ron.
That's not fair.
One more thing. Anyone else notice how perfectly timed this video is, timed to coincide with the Petraeus Report?
Yes sooooo timely is Binny's appearance just popping out a video "conveniently" just before General Petraeus’s Bush-spun ghost written report.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Almost as if Binny got a call from Bush and cashed in a favor don’t you think?
Did you know that BIN LADEN’S LATEST TAPE OFFERS SUPER BOWL PREDICTIONS
Used his "Get out of Tora Bora Free" card, eh?
don davis @ 31:
Wow and I got the winning lotto number from him too.
Curtilingus @ 28:
Other times when the person was counting to 100 all of us would just go home. Especially if they weren't good counters like Bush.
Oh my god! Terrorism! Would a republican please hold me (but not f*ck me up the ass)!
Right. bin Laden's visage is a trademark of GOP failure.
Yes VegasRage, its sweeps week for the BushCo.
Theoretically, this is the kind of thing I shouldn't say, but I'm going to say it anyway: When I hear someone like David Brooks take this Bin Laden tape and draw all sorts of disingenuous comparisons to "lefty bloggers" it makes me want to put him in a headlock and wrap his fucking ankles around his neck.
That's fairly uncivilized of me, I know, but I start to feel very uncivilized when I'm compared to a terrorist who's purportedly ordered the deaths of thousand of innocents, based on my rational and self-interested political opposition to a set of political policies I find destructive.
I'm reminded of a conversation I had on Plastic a number of years back, right after Bush's War started to really fall apart. A conservative poster had gotten a little tear in his eye after several of us liberals were really hurtful to him and he opened himself up totally and complained that we were speaking unkindly. I put him over my knee and spanked him unrelentingly as I reminded him that for the crime of speaking in opposition to this unwise and unwarranted war (which he'd just admitted was not going well) I had been called a traitor and a surrender-monkey and any number of other unspeakably rude things.
Of course it's been ever since then that conservatives have been whining about "foul-mouthed lefty bloggers." But what the fuck do they expect after spending the first half of the decade lording their faux patriotism over us?
Ron @ 34:
I would have so beat somebody up if they did that to me.
To me, Brooks moves and talks like a man with a fierce coke habit. Hope his dealer rats him out soon.
I find it dubious that Bin Laden releases a tap that the Bush Administration and Right Wing can immediately latch on to for their own propaganda and talking points. This reeks of CIA.
How convenient that just as the Patreaus non-report is set to land with a thud we get this tape with Bin Laden telling the U.S. to leave Iraq. This does nothing but give Bush cover. Bush's newest talking point is "we can't leave cause Bin Laden wants us to...so we're going to stay to show him a thing or two!"
Not to mention this whole conflation of Al Qaeda and Al Qaeda-In-Iraq. The media and BushCo love to say we're fighten' terrists in Iraq. We're not. We're fighting Iraqis. Think Progress reported on an exchange between ret. Gen. James Jones and Sen. Evan Bayh where the General admits that only about 2% of the insurgents in Iraq are forieng Jihadis.
But the media still runs with the talking point that "we're fighting terrorists in Iraq" as if it's true.
justabill @ 37:
You have to find me first.
lol
Brooks is fast approaching Kristol territory for being wrong about everything!
That settles it for me. It is not bin Laden on the tape. Much like the supposed confession video. What fools these neocons be...and evil...
Oh, puh-leeeeze! Totally fake tape. Totally deliberately timed to deflect attention from the ghost-written Petraeus report. The Corporate Megalomaniacs are TOTALLY STUPID if they think they are fooling us with this crap!
It's not just Brooks.
Bush: There will never be a withdrawal of troops from Iraq because bin Laden wants us to leave! Ha! Ha! You Lefty Loons! Nanny nanny neener neener blaghhhh! Never never never never! Terror terror terror! 9-11 9-11 9-11! I'm the decider so I'm righter! Nanny nanny- BOOM!
ThinkProgress:
Ive read the Bin Laden transcripts and quite frankley, Bin Laden seems to be the one fighting for peace. Of course killing 3000 people to get the ball rolling was a bit drastic, but none the less certainly exposed the pitfalls of our system for all to see. He played gwb and cheney for the CHUMPS they are, they took the bate and have now alienated far over half the nation against the EQUAL atrocity of corporate driven military endeavors that we have been engaged in for decades.
Why anyone pays any attention to an insipid imbecile anointed by the NYT and PBS as an "expert" is beyond me. When the war crimes trials roll around, Brooks is going to have a very rough time explaining why he shouldn't be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
I don't know what the HELL happened to the Dems in DC. What a bunch of PUSSIES!
Bush is slowly DUMPING the OCCUPATION on them very effectively... why don't they take the goddamned thing away from Bush and CUT FUNDING. Don't even send bush a new bill. They are going to be taking responsibility for it any way in '09. It might as well be SOONER THAN LATER... they could save a few American lives in the process.
Timelag @ 24:
Not amazing considering Brooks audience, the 19 percenters that have never heard of Chomsky. The idiots who want to kill anything moving, race around in 8 cylinder pickups and have never read a book except maybe My Pet Goat.
Jo,
How about Curious George? I was certain Brook's audience had read Curious George. There must be some reason why they have an instinctual desire to rally behind a monkey-man who gets himself into trouble.
Otay @ 52:
Uncurious George, maybe, Bush being too damed lazy and too damed drugged up to want to know anything about anything. Bubble boy Brooks is made up of the same damed cloth.
The instinct to rally behind monkey-man comes from the primordial soup they slithered up from after checking their brains with the men's room attendant.
I guess Brooks is the last to know that the gig is up...
BennyP @ 2:
Anyone who does has
BIN
Fooled.
Who was behind 9/11? – an interview with Osama Bin Laden 9-28-01
By The Daily Ummat of Karachi
Daily Ummat: You have been accused of involvement in the attacks on New York and Washington. What do you want to say about this?
Osama Bin Laden: .....I have already said that I am not involved in the September 11 attacks in the United States. As a Muslim, I try my best to avoid telling a lie. I had no knowledge of these attacks, nor do I consider the killing of innocent women, children and other human beings as an appreciable act. Islam strictly forbids causing harm to innocent women, children and other people. Such a practice is forbidden even in the course of battle. It is the United States which is perpetrating every sort of maltreatment on women, children and common people of other faiths, particularly the followers of Islam. All that has been going on in Palestine for the last 11 months is sufficient to invoke the wrath of God upon the United States and Israel. There is also a warning for those Muslim countries that witnessed all of this as silent spectators. What had earlier been done to the innocent people of Iraq, Chechnya and Bosnia? Only one conclusion could be derived from the indifference of the United States and the West to these acts of terror and the patronage of the tyrants by these powers, namely that America is an anti-Islamic power and is patronising anti-Islamic forces. Its friendship with the Muslim countries is just show, or rather deceit. By enticing or intimidating these countries, the United States is forcing them to play a role of its choice. Cast a glance around and you will see that the slaves of the United States are either rulers or enemies of Muslims.
BIN Fooled. Again? Hah.
Thank you David Brooks for isolating the enemy for me. Yikes! It's me, "one of those childish people posting rants at the bottom of the page!" This is my confession.
But wait! If it's so childish why is the government in such a hurry to privatize, homogenize, regularize, quietize the internets?
Enemy number two is "Noam Chomsky, some of the anti-globalization stuff." Okay. I'll watch out for those baddies too.
I feel so much safer. Really
Aw 'cmon David,lighten up. Did those mean ol' left wing bloggers hurt your feeling again?
Look at it this way, if they didn't care that you are such a tool they would ignore you like everyone else.
In the long run, the reminder that Botch-in-chief "botched" the capture of OBL just adds another black mark to his overall list of accomplishments. The reminder will infuriate the people against Bush at this point.
franklinS @ 56:
If OBL is as smart as he appears, maybe he'll tell the world what really happened on 911??? Certainly the "official story" is a load of crap.
This nation's so called ruling elite are essentially nothing more complex than a run of the mill, historically deranged, messianic imperialism cult. SPQR.
When you are a fascist neocon everyone looks like a liberal.
Talcott @ 55:
Os am a sucker fer silly, I bin laden ya fer this.
Okay, enough and I apologize.
Yeah... Chomsky... Well for starters, I'm pretty sure Bin Laden has read as much Chomsky as Brooks (which is probably close to zilch) and both haven't a clue... that and I find it entertaining Bin Laden mentions how we should all read and listen to a Jewish intellectual (which, really we should ALL read Chomsky IMHO) and convert to Islam... Bin Laden a mad genius?... nah, apparently his Turd Blossom must've left his PR crew there in Waziristan... what a jack-ass.
I always thought Osama looked like a pot smoking hippy.Looks to me like he's been smokin' the chronic,and if you believe what you read,smoking pot now will most definately make you psychotic...Osama is mos def fucked up on the chronic an' talkin' shit and stuff.
Wow...HEY!It's puff puff pass Cheney!You need to back up and listen to this Corner Shop riff again...
Fucking hippies...
I guess the right wing has to roll out the Osama factor. The fear factor. He's still out to get us, so beware. Be very afraid.
Only Bush and his administration can protect you. Osama sounds just like one of the democratic candidates, so be afraid of them too.
Don't they realize how ridiculous they sound.
This administration failed on capturing enemy #1. The guy who took credit for attacking us on our soil.
Why don't more people, like those running for political office, bring this little statement to light.
It's easy.
The Bush administration failed to protect us on 9/11.
The Bush adnimistration failed to capture Osama bin Laden.
The Bush administration put us in harms way, by entering into an illegal war.
I could go on, but my fingers hurt.
Brooks like all the puppets of this administration try to divert our attention to the absurd. So we don't think about the logical.
Not working.
Congratulations, Republicans: in my mind, you completely own terrorism. When I see Osama bin Ladin, I think, "George W. Bush." And when I read about terrorism, I think, "Republican responsibility."
Why didn't anyone mention this, Bin Laden wants to lower our taxes:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/bin-laden-slams-dems-pr...
Absolutely outrageous that the Chomsky reference goes unchallenged.
This clown isn't worthy to bind Noam's books.
Peter @ 68:
You mean:
Bin Laden:
I did in Post #16, but thanks for the specifics which I had forgotten.
But it works because Americans are ridiculously superficial. There are dittoheads who don't know Noam Chomsky from Santa Claus but they'll bark back when their alpha dog howls.
Do you know the British actually had a radio show and TV show of nothing but interviews with philosophers around the time we elected Ronald Reagan? Now, Michael Moore and Al Gore are about as close as you can get to an intellectual in the US. And we're still debating creationism and whether a person can have a morality without Jesus. American culture is living in the 19th century -- which is particularly scary because, in our innocence, we haven't had our Hitler in full bloom yet.
BennyP @ 2:
Me neither.
...
so we finally see the thing that amato and shields have in common....they both hate chomsky
Well, as I was saying to my wanker buddy as we wanked away at liberal blogs in our underwear, takes one to know one, don't it, Wanker? If you want my crazy, ranting leftist opinion, by the literary tone of this message, it sounds like what Karl Rove imagines the Democrats and leftists and so on think. It's not, of course, and if you put it in the mouth of a mass murderer, it sounds horrible. I suppose if there really is an Osama bin Laden, Virginia, he's the Islamic version of Rove.
This guy just seems to crop up at the times when it's to the strategic advantage of Bush, doesn't it? Think he's a consultant? Think he's running the Rove phone banks before elections?
"Brooks: I mean on one hand he’s a malevolent guy who killed three thousand Americans"
Isn't he supposed to believe that Bin Laden killed SEVEN thousand Americans?
I mean, there aren't any Iraqis in Iraq -- it's all Al Qaeda Saudis, all the time.
I hear Bin Laden will have a master suite at the New Bushco Arms, in Baghdad, the 600-acre 'embassy' being built for nothing on Halliburton cost-overruns and cost-plus profits. Isn't Halliburton great? Compared to the ticket-price of Halliburton's 'Tora Bora' cave complex, the permanent Thumb-in-the-Eye-of-Islam was originally slated to be placed in Mecca, but AEI successfully lobbied to have it moved to the birthplace of the Koran.
In honor of the relocation to Baghdad, the CIA blew up the Koran-Torah Repository. Wow, I bet Jesus was dancing a Jig.
So why was Robert Fisk crying?
smchris @ 71:
We are such a young country that there are many things apparently we have not learned: such as complete trust in authority figures is a bad idea, mixing religion with government is a bad idea, wanting a police state is a bad idea, having a large inequity between rich and poor is a bad idea.
We're too young to have experienced these things, and too ill-read to learn about them from history.
David Brooks is part of the problem.
Brooks is a "daddy party" authoritarian cultist. He memory holes that Bush hasn't caught Bin Laden, Mullah Omar, Zawahiri or the anthrax mailer. His culture warriordom inspires people like Chad from Free Republic to send fake anthrax and Florian "Sock" to send death threats to Stephanie Miller
One word: psyops
Well, I can state unequivocally that I have not consulted with Osama Bin Laden in forming my opinion. There are some that coincide, there are others that do not. Specifically I do not share his faith in Islam, nor do I agree that flying airplanes into buildings is good foreign policy.
Anything else Brooks wants to joke about is guilt through free association. He is in serous Ann Coulter territory now.
Oh no, I feel so bad. I'm another one of those awful people "sitting around reading lefty blogs and . . . posting rants at the bottom of the page".
Must go join a church and pray for forgiveness.
Is the war over yet? Do the deafening cheers of all the happy, united Iraqis greeting American troops as liberators still ring out? Has the last of the war debt been repaid out of Iraqi oil revenues, as was promised in 2003?
What a wonderful, just, peaceful world we live in, and what a wise gentleman David Brooks is.
I used to have some respect for Brooks. And the scary thing is, he's less of a wanker on PBS than he is in his columns.
Brooks is going a little over the edge. Granted he is pro GOP but not a wing-nut by far. I'm disappointed in his following the "sounds like Dems" sound bite from the FOX network. I believed he had a little more common sense than that. I've watched the video and seen the side by side pictures of Bin Laden and honestly, I'm not sure if the person in the new video is Bin Laden, although it's been reported that the voice has been confirmed to be his but not the image. The reported message in this video sounds like an accumulation of sound bites that follow many we all hear coming from Washington and main stream news, which in itself is a little weird. I think we can all agree that the release of this video and the content is all just a little too much like past behavior of this administrations attempt to manipulate the American public. It stopped being effective in 2004, the GOP just doesn't get out much, so they don't know.
Do you all seriously believe that a guy in a cave would, a religious nut, would talk about
-supporting the views of Noam Chomsky
-worrying about global warming
-advising americans about their mortgages
-supporting the democrats
If you do you are bigger idiots than I and the rest of the world thinks. Nice beard "osama", where did you buy the grecian formula black dye, the local waziristan walmart?
"Osama" supported ALL progressive talking points, and now ALL right wing blogs, ALL TV "NEWS" SHOWS will say how "osama" supports the left wing of the USA and how that makes GOP look good.
Really, this propaganda production is pathetic in its execution.
And oh yeah AL Jazeera PASSED on this video - they didnt run it. They can smell an obvious bulls**t job unlike some people.
...
Do you all seriously believe that a guy in a cave would, a religious nut, would talk about
-supporting the views of Noam Chomsky
-worrying about global warming
-advising americans about their mortgages
-supporting the democrats
If you do you are bigger idiots than I and the rest of the world thinks. Nice beard "osama", where did you buy the grecian formula black dye, the local waziristan walmart?
"Osama" supported ALL progressive talking points, and now ALL right wing blogs, ALL TV "NEWS" SHOWS will say how "osama" supports the left wing of the USA and how that makes GOP look good.
Really, this propaganda production is pathetic in its execution.
And oh yeah AL Jazeera PASSED on this video - they didnt run it. They can smell an obvious bulls**t job unlike some people.
Of course the ridiculous right thinks the tapes of Bin Laden are going to help them. It's the old lady card in the game "old maid". They believe they've laid it on "us" again. They don't believe for a second that these tapes will remind us that they have FAILED on their number one promise to keep us secure!!!!! DEAD OR ALIVE!!!!!
I believe that they have these tapes in reserve and everytime they need the boogey man to keep Americans in line they bring one out. I heard on NPR that in the latest tape, Bin Laden must have had some beauty treatments, because incredibly, he looks YOUNGER!!!!! That's quite a trick. Has anyone actually seen this tape yet??? I mean besides the liars TELLING us what the old meanie said.
It does seem to work very well, since even the looney lefty blogs still buy the story and tell us how incredibly dangerous this man is every time the liars in washington release one of these things. But, they wouldn't lie about Bin Laden, would they????? Not about something that important????? NAH!!!! They would never lie about something like that.
Watch out for the very childish Noam Chomsky...but listen carefully to well-respected intellectual David Brooks.
Brooks was on the PBS news program in the evening. I think it was the one following McNeil-Lehr, but can't remember the name. It was so disappointing to see PBS bring this shill for the right on their show, and without presenting an alternative point of view. I just can't even listen to these people anymore. And now it looks like PBS too has been taken over by the righties. I get so sick and tired of hearing David Brooks and his ilk make little snide comments about Democrats/liberals. It never fails. None of them can ever make their points without saying something derisive.
And by the way, the GOP, and Bush in particular, should be ashamed that the guy who's responsible for murdering over 3000 American citizens is still at large. Why aren't the media harping on that very significant point. Instead, they're all trying to trivialize Bin Laden, as though he's somehow been marginalized and simply doesn't matter anymore.
Osama wants to lower my taxes? I could grow fond of this fellow.
Brooks wants to wank for Bushco? I say send them both to Coventry!
it only hurts bush if the SCLM ask the question: Why haven't we caught UBL? Which they will not do.
Well, god-de-fucking-fend us if a liberal so much as hints that we could possibly be terrorizing Iraqis, what with our guns and bombs and illegal wars and the consequent, uh, perpetual terror on the ground there. But that this puke, this sodden man-ditz has the gall to suggest that pissed off Americans (now including many conservatives) peacefully protesting the right's abdication of reason, responsibility and accountability are anything like the person responsible for 3,000 deaths makes David Brooks a right-wing Ward Churchill.
There. I got my rage on.
HJ
Rightwingers say:
See, Bin Laden is an Islamofascist.
See, Bin Laden is a Socialist.
FLIP-FLOP!
- Tom
After 9/11, there was a statement published by some mullahs that OBL's attack was not according to Hoyle because he did not give his victims ample time to convert before killing them. I kept thinking about that as I read the latest OBL transcript.
It's been 6 years, the right is furiously trying to spin his irrelevance, the U.S. military is obsessed with Iraq: I can't think of a better time to really poke us in the eye than right now. I think the world's reaction would be quite a bit different now as well.
I also think the rhetoric between the right and the left in this country is sufficiently inflamed on a number of fronts that if there was another significant attack, it might very well kick off some sectarian violence in this country as well. That was the second thought that occurred to me as I read the transcript.
Finally, if (1) another significant attack occurs on our soil and (2) there is unrest/violence as a result or reaction to the attack then (3) GWB can invoke his emergency powers.
Then it gets interesting.
Annoyed Canuck @ 81:
Shut up and keep praying! ;)
TomR @ 90:
He fought the Soviets, for Christsakes! He's for low taxes of around 2.4% for Christsakes!
Yes, knowledge and intelligence are not the wingnuts' strong points. Capability for unhinged hysterics on the other hand...
Wanker elite is far too kind. I am utterly gob smacked to think that anyone would suggest that being a Democrat or being [oh do I dare utter the evil phrase?] "lefty" is the same as being a !@#* terrorist.
I assume from this then that it is now acceptable to equate the reich wing and the repugs with their nearest and dearest social sub group... pedophiles.
[...] it’s quite easy to point at people like David Brooks and scoff at what an idiot he is and ponder how he manages to still get published. It’s just too easy, in fact. Which leads [...]
I guess that makes us all terrrrist.....LOL...what an asswipe.
Brooks misspoke. He meant to say that reading Bin Laden shows Brooks has been taking dictation from Bin Laden all these years because the policies Brooks has supported have ultimately strengthened al Qaida.
Mos Def the rapper appeared on Bill Maher Friday (rebroadcast Saturday) and said he didn't believe Bin Laden had anything to do with 9/11. (He also didn't think American astronauts had walked on the moon, either, but that's another story.) I thought, What an idiot! Why is Maher having this jackass on his show?. Then, I got to thinking, What if he's right? Rosie said as much and her remarks got her booted off a morning talk show. Almost all of the alleged jihadists who took over the planes were Saudis. The Bush family's links to the royal house of Saud are well known. I quit entertaining thoughts of conspiracy theories about the time Gerald Posner pooh-poohed the "second gunman" theory with regard to JFK, though I still believe Oswald did not act alone, so I am not going to develop any lengthy spin on the 9/11 at this point. But it's an interesting hypothesis, something akin to the movie, Seven Days in May: use a major threat from without, or a perceived threat, to severely limit Constitutional freedoms, including habeas corpus, spying on Americans without warrant, &c. And if things get really rough, you can simply issue an executive order declaring martial law. With Bin Laden's latest appearance on Arabic TV, my interest in, or really curiousity about, such a scenario, was only reignited. Although we're told that our spy apparatus used voice recognition software to conclude it really was Bin Laden, the guy looked a lot younger, and before you point out that he'd dyed his beard or worn a fake one, let me suggest you take another look at the photos, before and after. The guy looks years younger even when you cover up the beard on BOTH photos! So, how does a guy grow younger? Remember, during W.W.2, the Brits found lookalikes for both Montgomery and Churchill, and it wasn't entirely for security purposes. Just imagine, the Bush administration shot a clumsy, amateurish video (think of Wag the Dog), using a Bin Laden double, then manipulated prior video and voice recordings to digitally insert the new "convert to Islam and leave Iraq" language. Then submit the package to Arabic TV "through channels" in such a way as to avoid suspicion. What if Bush and Gang are using the very specter of Bin Laden to install the kind of fear in Americans that gave Bush his reelection victory in 2004? Is this yet another step in Goebbels-Rove's permanent Republican hegemony, meant to insure Rudy's ascent in '08 as the 9/11 hero? Who knows? The Shadow knows. Stay tuned for the next episode of The Shadow.
Mr. Chomsky is a man of integrity.
Mr. Brooks is a piece of shit.
BennyP @ 2:
Yes, he just did an episode of 'Home Makeover, Islamofacist Edition' before he made the tape.
checklist OBL vs. Libs:
1. hate Bush
2. get out of Iraq now
Agreement on both sides there at least.
If we'd all convert to Islam, this mess would be over. When Chomsky converts, I'm next in line.
scruzman @ 103:
I don't think bin Laden hates Bush. Bush's misguided attempt to colonize Iraq has bolstered al qaida.
I also don't think bin Laden wants us out of Iraq. Our presence there has, again, bolstered al qaida.
New checklist -- OBL vs. conservatives:
1. both love Bush
2. both want us to stay in Iraq forever
Agreement on both sides there
Is that all they get for all the money the right wing think tanks pay wing-nut loons like Brooks? Is this all Rove and his minnions can come up with? OBL sounds like Democrats?
Guess what. He wouldn't sound like ANYTHING if the idiot in the White House had done his job and gotten the guy rather than using OBL and 9/11 to invade Iraq. These guys are soooo predictable, the ONLY people they can possibly appeal to anymore are the "Cleetus the Slack Jawed Yokel" types who get on their knees for Rush Limbaugh.
In David Brooks World, Bin Laden is one bomb blast away from saving the Republican Party from defeat in 2008. They can't wait to drag this bogeyman out next year before the election.
Urban Sombrero @ 104:
on both sides of the moon maybe...
Nothing Chomsky says is ever crazy or baseless. He usually meticulously cites his sources and goes to pains to be clear what he means.
Which is precisely why he's the looney. And Brooks is the respected NY Times journalist.
American-style Foreign Policy debate in a nutshell.
on both sides of the moon maybe...
On both sides of this Earth for sure.
Iraq has diverted resources away from the hunt for bin Laden, and has increased terrorism and support for al Qaida. George "Tora Bora" Bush is the greatest gift -- the totally ignored by Bush prior to 9/11 -- al Qaida ever received.
Urban Sombrero @ 109:
how is the view from the moon, BTW? AQ existed before during and will continue to exist for a long time. They would exist and grow whether we were in Iraq or not.
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