Countdown: Bush at CPAC; Not Giving McCain The Seal Of Approval
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On Friday's Countdown, Keith Olbermann noted the appearance of George Bush at CPAC and his speech, which stopped short of endorsing the presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, a slight reiterated officially by the White House press office. Air America's Rachel Maddow joins to discuss the curious balance that must be struck between being perceived as riding the coattails of a failed and extremely unpopular administration and continuing those same failed and extremely unpopular policies.
MADDOW: John McCain is probably going to run on war. On the Iraq war and on his hopes for an Iran war. And so he may make the mistake of having Bush out there as kind of a war trinket on the campaign trail. I think it would be dumb because people don’t think of just war when they look at George Bush. They think of war monger and that’s something that John McCain should probably avoid.
OLBERMANN: Plus shoot the economy to hell and the Constitution and several other things that he brings along as baggage.
Rachel, Keith: shhhhh. Let McCain go with this strategy. We don't need Mr. "100 years in Iraq" in office.
McCain should wear Bush around his neck like a mink stole. Wrap himself up in George. Lets see how that works out for him....
I think the chimp is holding back his support so that the continued facade of presenting McCain as a "librul" can continue implanting itself in the nations psyche for a few more months. He's a stealth BushCo candidate - mustn't let the cat out of the bag too soon.
Oh, and there's no ifs about it, I support empty EmptyParas.
Not having Bush support him may be the best news his campaign has gotten!
CPAC -- The Ultimate Nut House: Here's a Sneak Peak at Their Real Agenda
Bush's black baby?
Tell us more Rachel....
There's another reason for the two not appearing too close at this time. It might raise talk about the "pardon" question in the event McCain is elected. Nobody really wants to talk about pardons this early although they're probably heavy on the minds of people close to this administration.
I was amused when Bush said "peace and prosperity" are at risk. Is he serious? My God, we have two wars going, he wants a third with Iran, and the economy is on the brink of recession....... If people vote for McCain they should be made aware that they have voted for the deaths of many, maybe thousands of young American soldiers.
Bush Co is not a failed administration. They have been totally successful at what they do best.
The continual transfer of money, power, and assets into what Sr referred to as higher, tighter, and righter hands. And sticking the taxpayers with the bill.
Amazingly, they are going to get away with it.
I wonder if by having the entire right wing of the republican party get all pissy about McCain isn't part of the plan. Bush just came out and stated he wants someone just like HIM in the White House after the next election. Could all of this be part of some plan to call the next election invalid, and then Bush could simply appoint the next prez? I guess if the DoJ says it's legal, what would stop him from appointing himself?
And Bush is going to cruise into a cushy retirement with all the perks and privileges.
This is what we'll continue to have with McCain:
NY Times
February 9, 2008
G.I. Tells of Ordering Unarmed Iraqi’s Death
By SOLOMON MOORE
CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq — A top Army sniper testified Friday in a military court that he had ordered a subordinate to kill an unarmed Iraqi man who wandered into their hiding position near Iskandariya, then planted an AK-47 rifle near the body to support his false report about the shooting.
Under a grant of immunity, the sniper, Sgt. Michael A. Hensley, an expert marksman and sniper trainer, testified in the court-martial of Sgt. Evan Vela. Sergeant Vela is accused of murder, impeding a military investigation and planting evidence to cover up an unjust shooting. An earlier charge of premeditated murder was dropped.
Sergeant Vela is the third soldier to be charged in the death of the Iraqi, Genei Nesir Khudair al-Janabi, last May. Sergeant Hensley and another soldier, Specialist Jorge G. Sandoval Jr., were acquitted of murder charges last year, but were convicted of planting evidence. As part of his sentence, Sergeant Hensley was demoted from staff sergeant.
All three soldiers were elite snipers with the 501st Infantry Regiment, Fourth Brigade (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, based at Fort Richardson, Alaska.
The military trials have highlighted a secret baiting program, begun in early 2007, in which snipers placed lures like fake explosives or other weaponry to draw insurgents into the open, where they could be killed.
But Sergeant Hensley’s testimony at the base here suggested that by last spring, in addition to baiting and killing, soldiers had added a new tactic: carrying weapons to plant on bodies to deter prosecution.
Sergeant Vela’s lawyer, James Culp, of Austin, Tex., did not dispute that his client had shot and killed Mr. Janabi, but emphasized the battlefield stresses the soldiers endured. Mr. Culp argued that Sergeant Vela had had only a few hours of sleep over three days of constant operations.
Mr. Culp also said his client’s superiors pressed his squad to increase their kill rate, while holding out the threat of prosecution for unjust shootings.
“It’s not a case of beyond reasonable doubt,” Mr. Culp said in an interview after Friday’s proceeding. “It’s about giving warriors the benefit of the doubt.”
Sergeant Vela may testify Saturday.
Sergeant Hensley said that on May 11, he led his squad to a hiding spot overlooking a village they suspected was controlled by Sunni insurgents. But after several days with little rest, soldiers were drifting into sleep.
“I woke up to a local national squatting in front me with his hands up,” Sergeant Hensley testified. The man was Mr. Janabi, who lived nearby. Sergeant Hensley said he tackled Mr. Janabi and pinned him to the ground.
Mr. Janabi was followed into the hide-out by his son, Mustafa, 17. Sergeant Hensley and his team held the two captive until he spotted several Iraqi men in the distance and Mr. Janabi became agitated. Sergeant Hensley feared that Mr. Janabi’s thrashing would alert the other Iraqis.
Sergeant Hensley said he released the boy and ordered everyone except Sergeant Vela to leave because he “didn’t want them to bear witness” to what they were about to do.
“I pretty much knew at this point that something was going to happen to the father,” Sergeant Hensley testified. “He was making too much noise. I thought that the only way to protect my guys was to take this guy’s life.”
Sergeant Hensley said he ordered Sergeant Vela to load his 9-millimeter pistol, and then made four radio calls to his command post to support a cover story. The first call reported that an Iraqi man was approaching, the second that the man was armed, the third that the sergeant was preparing to shoot.
The fourth call confirmed that he had killed his target.
“At that point his head was at Sergeant Vela’s feet, and I asked him if he was ready and then I moved out of the way,” Sergeant Hensley said. He ordered Sergeant Vela to fire, and Sergeant Vela complied immediately, Sergeant Hensley said.
“A round was fired into his head,” he said.
Mr. Janabi did not die immediately, Sergeant Hensley said. As his brain hemorrhaged, he choked on his blood. Sergeant Hensley simulated the gurgling sound and testified that he ordered Sergeant Vela to fire again.
Sergeant Hensley said he pulled out an AK-47 that he had ordered one of his men to carry and placed it near the body.
“It wasn’t uncommon for us to have stuff like that out there,” he said. They often carried incriminating items to plant on Iraqis as “insurance,” he said.
Dr. Michael Baden, a prominent New York forensic pathologist, showed several poster-size photographs of Mr. Janabi’s body and said he had been killed by a single shot to the head. The photos showed two coin-size wounds behind each ear, which Dr. Baden described as entrance and exit wounds.
The victim’s son, Mustafa Ghani Nesir al-Janabi, also testified. He said he had found his father being held captive by American soldiers hiding in a stand of trees. When the soldiers saw him, they sat him next to his father.
“At the beginning I talked to him and he answered back,” he said. Perhaps drawing a parallel with their perilous situation, he said he told his father about how one of their relatives had recently been killed. “I was talking to him about how my cousin Saif was killed in Iskandariya,” Mr. Janabi said. “I told him that the Mahdi Army killed him.”
The Americans shushed them repeatedly and then told the son to go away, he said.
When a military prosecutor exhibited a picture of the dead man, the young man said, “That’s my father.” Another was shown and he repeated, “That’s my father.”
“Did your father look like this when they released you?” the prosecutor asked.
“No, he didn’t,” the son answered.
Bombs Kill 5 G.I.’s
BAGHDAD (AP) — Five American soldiers were killed Friday in two roadside bombings, the military said on Saturday.
Four of the deaths were in Baghdad. The fifth death was in northern Iraq, in Tamim Province.
The military gave no further information.
Impeach cheney and bush @ 7:
It is very peaceful and prosperous when your in the top 1%. The military industrial complex is doing great! If you think when a Republican gives a speech he is talking to the average American then you missed the message.
fwacbar @ 9:
The War Party – who supported McCain over Bush in 2000 are back in business so Bush is looking forward to a comfy cozy retirement with all the perks and privileges of an Ex Pres.
I can guarantee you Bush has no desire to be a Dictator. He's made his killing financially, and is set for life.
If he doesn't wear Bush around his neck the Dems damn well better do their best to hang Bush around his neck.
Has Huckabee been spouting the same war rhetoric as the other candidates? I mean, there is nothing against being a patriot, but it gets tiring listening to these candidates all talk about how the great democratic US is going to "get the bad guys" in that other section of the world. How can you American voters stand listening to this all the time without gagging?
ConcernedCanuck @ 15:
It's about a paycheck.
Yes! Yes! Yes! Pleeeeaaaase take president flaming-turd with you on every campaign stop this year. Remind the American people everyday of the real republican party. The party of tax-free aristocracy, and abject misery for the other 95% of us!
And pass out Ronald Reagan T-shirts while your at it! After all, he's as dead as your sick, evil, twisted ideology!
Bush and Chaney arn't going anywhere..say good-bye to democracy...the takeover starts in October...have a nice day everyone
For all the Bush bluster about how well his administration is doing he knows that his endorsement would be the kiss of death for any candidate and it is disingenuous of Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow to imply that the Bush White House non-endorsement is anything else. That the non-endorsement was delivered so leadenly is just a further example of their lack of diplomatic skill, a lack which has garnered America the enmity of the world and which has resulted in the trashing of the greenback and a new arms race, an arms race which America is bound to lose.
I agree with Maddow that McCain will run on the war. He can't run on the economy because he knows nothing about it and has relatively few ideas to correct it. Nor can he run on domestic social issues because he is seen as to "Liberal" by most Conservatives. The main problem I see that McCain will face is the fact that many Conservative voters see the Republicans that backed the Bush regime as incompetent, unwise and unprepared. They may not be very informed but those voters know to some degree that the military is overstreched and that much of what is being stated in the media about Iraq and Afghanistan is not based in reality. In other words, they have some knowledge that they will be the ones fighting the next war that McCain starts. True, they may very well back McCain on the issue but the demands could be much higher this time and McCain will have to deliver.
don @ 18:
Your conspiracy is off. McCain is the perfect replacement who will stick with the agenda.
Once again George Dumbya Bush cautions America against the twin menaces of peace and prosperity. The Axis of Democracy.
I actually agree with him on this point; we'll never have to worry about peace and prosperity breaking out with a republican't preznit in charge.
Joe O. @ 20:
Mandatory Military service. Stuff like that.
Why do so many people in the media like McCain?
What is with the illusions that he is a moderate Republican?
Is it because of Feingold?
54 US soldiers dead this year already, running as a pro war candidate will mean a landslide victory for one of the phony anti war democrats.
What it boils down to from here on out the only escape from reality will be on TeeVee.
If you don't like the reality of endless war just turn on everybody loves Raymond or Frazier reruns.
This is our new-same old reality.
Yep. I still think something sneaky is going on. By letting the undecideds and Independents know that the, as now, discredited and unpopular conservative right wing loathes McCain, they're actually pushing voters towards McCain---who, in actuality, IS a conservative, and has every intention of, not only, continuing current policies in regards to the war and the economy, but of expanding them.
mcAint is such a fucking asshole. How many times does he need to put his face under busch's ass?
Matt @ 24:
The media decides what is news, and how it will be interpreted.
Haven't you figured that out?
Of course hes going to stop short of endorsement; they want him to win! Just like Ann Coulter saying she'll support Hillary if he is the nominee; they want Obama to win the nomination as well. I really hope I am wrong but I believe this is all planned. They have been so good at this for the last eight years why would anyone think that this manipulation by the right wing would quit now? I use this all the time at work; they think they are making you do something you don't want to tick you off; you tell them oh thank you thats just what I wanted then they do the opposite. Works for me everytime!
I just don't get it. I haven't gotten it in a long time. How is it possible that according to some poles 70% of people think that Iraq was a mistake, Yet McCain will convince people that if we kill enough Iraqis, if more Americans die, we can win an occupation? How can people think that we can kill enough Muslims to win a war on terrorism? I just can't wrap my smallish brain around the idea of running for president on war.
Ian McGarrett @ 19:
don't jump on Olbie and Rachel about this. Their job is to take this at face value. Your job, which you're doing quite well, is to take this report and see where the facts lead you.
Busch would not piss on mcAint if he were on fire and that's because bush is patholigical. Busch's real favorite, if you look at business ties, would have been 91U1LIANI, equally vicious and at least as totalitarian.
If you saw the shrub's face for ten seconds of the SOTU, you'd see a man totally wrapped in delusion and hardly cognizant of the real world. It also might just be the calming meds, too, a la Mike Tyson.
Either way, the only thing on Busch's mind these days is probably how to extend his presidency and NOT how McAint is trying to suck up.
MSNBC/NBC wants McCain to win. They will push Obama, deflate Clinton, fine tune McCain all for GE and the War machine.
RayC @ 31:
Freedom, democracy, and honor require hard work and sacrifice. People think someone else is going to do this for them. McCain, Obama, Paul, or whoever will wave a Magic wand and we can all sink back into our easy chairs in a relaxed and content manner.
I think in general most Americans realize the system has screwed them over completely but are shell shocked and paralyzed into apathy.
The Republican'ts don't watch or listen to anything except Fox Noise, Right? Maddow and Olbermann are safe for now.
The CPAC crowd is starting to get it. They know that their ideas regarding "family values" or foreign policy or economic issues don't have any impact at all... and with Romney presenting himself in his campaign as a CARDBOARD CUT-OUT OF A HUMAN BEING, they will all hitch their hopes to McCain, think that he will attract moderates and Independants to the NOW-DEFUNCT REPUBLICAN PARTY.
He may attract a few... but they are not taking into account that the general electorate is SICK TO DEATH of the Republican party and three out of every four voters out there will be voting straight Democratic tickets this year.
LibertyLover @ 35:
Fair and Balanced
We can all nod our heads in agreement when our favorites left or right trade blows on the "shows".
jimmieg @ 30:
Please, please don't anybody forget the Republican ace in the hole....the M&M, color-coded, terror alerts, used running up to elections to scare the faint-hearted to vote for them. The game (this election) is likely to be over before it begins.
L.A. Confidential @ 26:
At least in 1984 they got drugs. Well, I suppose TeeVee is a drug.
apparently Obama and Paul are getting the Military vote......simply because their anti war.This does not bode well for McCain.....and Clinton.
Worse for McCain.
Speaking of War.......there is a really good article on the REAL Democratic Congress' lack of, ahem, spines here:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/18349197/the_chicken_doves
L.A. Confidential @ 34:
Plus, what the hell CAN we do? March in the streets? I've written letters till I'm blue in the face and sent money to campaigns (which really kills me when I'm sending my hard earned cash to some millionaire who's going to save it for his future war chest - John Kerry 2004).
In addition to the terror alerts, I'm betting the republicans have some really good dirt on whichever Democrat ends up as the nominee. They will torpedo them just like they did Kerry and we will be in for 4 more years of BAD GOVERNMENT.
Jo @ 39:
What you mean? We have celebrity sluts, cleavage, bad food, drugs to make us feel "normal".
We live in a close to perfect 1984 now. Wait till cloud computing starts. The Perfect Big Brother.
L.A. Confidential @ 26:
I prefer Andy of Mayberry (only the ones in black and white) and I Love Lucy reruns myself.
L.A. Confidential @ 43:
Cloud computing? Tell me more, please.
RayC @ 44:
My plan is to get as healthy as possible, and plan on working till I drop dead.
L.A. Confidential @ 21:
Maybe so, however, they elites don't set up the playbooks for enacting martial law, PD51, and all sorts of other legalese without actually considering that they will eventually be used. After all, the Patriot Act was just sitting on the shelves waiting for an opportune time to be dusted off...9/11 and the Anthrax attacks (made from high grade weaponized sourced from US military stockpiles.)
Jo @ 45:
Personal computers will all be connected to centralized servers. We won't have hard drives. This is were it's going and what Tech wants to do.
"Cloud computing" is a general label for many different approaches to the use of shared computing resources, rather than having local hardware or even dedicated devices handling users' applications.
In general, the label suggests that function comes from "the cloud" -- often understood to mean a public network, usually assumed to be the Internet -- rather than from a specific identifiable device.
One thing is clear the country is sick of Iraq, McCain will lose the election.
L.A. Confidential @ 29:
the media is just the agent for spreading the propaganda that the elites want disseminated. After all, google Operation Mockingbird to see the birth of US Pravda. You think they really gave that up?
Yes, cloud computing begins with control of the telecoms. Check mark number 1.
Truth B Told @ 50:
The media is the firewall or modern day moat of the elites.
L.A. Confidential @ 48:
In other words, we are all fucked.
StirFry @ 51:
they already have implantable devices to wire into the brain. Not too long until the interface of the Matrix is realized.
seriously. this technology for controlling humans remotely has been available since the 1950s-1960s. MK-Ultra and Artichoke were the early stages. Google George Estabrooks, Dr. Ewan Cameron and the Sleep Room, Sydney Gotlieb, and Dr. Jose Delgado and their work.
I think Bush, who apparently has been concerned about his 'legacy' from the first day in office, (so he can compare it to daddy's) realizes his ONLY chance of history treating him in any way favorably (and I mean in the sense that they'd get it all wrong) is for a Dem to be president after him. He'd never admit that, but I bet he's thinking it all the time.
Jo @ 53:
Exactly now they want to own and control your interconnectivity. The internet will become like any common business network.
We Don't Need No Fascist Groove Thang
The pro-McCain trigger signal is coming from American Gladiators.
StirFry @ 58:
aha, like River in Serenity?
Rachel Maddow is so incredibility talented, and smart; she knockouts Ann Coulter in one sentence.
ConcernedCanuck @ 15:
Ive been gagging since that phoney Reagan was in the White House.
In the summer of 06 when McCain flip flopped on the torture issue I said he was just promised the presidency. 6 months ago McCain was dead last. Even Ron Paul beat him in fundraising. How exactly did he become frontrunner so fast? The f**king media keeps saying that people against the war are voting for him. WTF? Is this how they plan to Diebold the election? With 3 times more dems voting in these primaries it wouldn't be easy fixing the votes. They are already setting up the propaganda that dems are voting for McCain. Something stinks. 70 percent are AGAINST the war dammit! It doesn't make sense that anyone against the war would vote for 100 years McCain. I repeat...Something stinks.
"prosperity and peace" lé repugs will work this line, sounds very PR'ed. Must have worked on a focus group somewhere.
Janet @ 62:
Besides the war issue, McCain is a RINO. He is probably the most liberal republican in the senate. John Kerry considered asking McCain to be his VP in 2004 and McCain also considered changing parties back in 2001-2002. Moderate Republicans, independents and right leaning democrats just want someone who can beat Hillary. The dirty little secret is that McCain won't be able to get the conservatives to back him, which is like 50% of the republican party.
Either way, there will be a liberal in the white house come next January.
The other secret is that both Hillary and Obama won't pull troops out of Iraq as fast as they promise. They won't want to be pinned with the mass genocide that follows. They're promising swift withdrawal now, but it won't happen.
Paul @ 64:
If as you say...The dirty little secret is that McCain won't be able to get the conservatives to back him, which is like 50% of the republican party.....Who put him in first place? That is my question. I don't buy the "he's a liberal bullshit". Bomb bomb bomb Iran and his Iraq stance are pure neocon.
Who will vote McCain for President? That is like asking Bush to continue his failed policies for another 4 years. Anyone even considering voting for McCain must be nuts. The man has no backbone and will say or do anything to get elected. Including letting George Bush run all over him as he smiles and takes his punishment like an idiot.
Not only has Cheney and Bush managed to pull the country into the sewer, it has done the same thing with the GOP. What did the Republicans think would happen? They are the ones that were 'supposedly' calling the shots. After allowing the country to completely go down the tubes, they thought people would actually vote for any of them? The only thing that could save the GOP's reputation now is if they were the ones to initiate impeachment proceedings. That could be the only thing that will restore trust in their party and show they still have some morals left. Then maybe one of their guys might have a chance at winning the prize. People talk about how fractured and polarized the country is and how the The People have lost all confidence and trust in the Government. It's magnified a hundred-fold within the their party because they the ones that are allowing it to happen. My God, it almost makes the Democrats look good. It almost makes one feel not quite as bad for having to choose between the lesser of two evils.
Our country and it's system of government is so beyond f*#%ed up. Thanks Dick and George....Hekuva job.
ko just bs'd his audience....the kool-aide drinkers at cpac applauded everything the chimp said and did
Janet @ 65:
If you look at the exit polls in all of the initial states, McCain lost everyone of them among "self described republicans". He lost Iowa, NH, SC, FL, GA, etc. He won big with self described independents that just happened to be registered as a republican or just voted in the republican primary. The self described republicans were split between Romney, Huckabee, and Thompson. When Rudi got out, McCain picked up the majority of his voters who were primarily centrists and left leaning republicans.
Romney barely lost in several states, but they were winner take all states. If Huckabee wasn't in this race, Romney would have beaten McCain handily.
If you doubt that the conservatives don't like McCain, just listen to conservative talk radio (it doesn't matter who) for 15 minutes and you'll hear it. The base of the republican party does not like McCain.
Jo @ 53:
this will be a long time coming to personal computers...but i can see buisinesses picking it up
and we arent fucked....it will not all be under one umbrella
just makes managed tech easier to do
the server at your techs office controls all
rend @ 63:
Hey! "Prosperity" and "peace"? I'm all for that! Why, anybody who wouldn't be for "prosperity" and "peace" must really hate 'Merica.
Of course, the Rep definition of "prosperity" seems to be "recession, circling depression" and the definition of "peace" appears to be "two currently active wars - with one in the wings." Now that, I'm not so down with.
Well, whaddaya know. I really must hate 'Merica...
Note: I don't *actually* hate 'Merica.
Just what it's become... :(
What peace? What prosperity?
McCain, the POW president. First the North Vietnamese, then being Bush's little BITCH.
Does the republican seal of approval require herring tossed to it?
The chimpster has a secret plan to get McCain elected. He's going to endorse Barack Obama for president....
You heard it here first, folks.
"Note: I don’t *actually* hate ‘Merica.
"Just what it’s become… :("
Walking through a Jewish cemetery looking for information for my family tree. Came across a couple of tombstones: MERICAN. Tell me somebody didn't ask them what their surname was and they answered, "I'm a Merican."
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