John McCain, James Dean and “Truth”

Of all the weaknesses in the McCain campaign there is none so telling as the campaign’s disrespect for language.  Democratic society cannot exist without democratic discuourse, which is comprised of a respect for words, in written and oral form.  Hopefully the McCain campaign will learn this lesson come November.

Examples of George Bush’ disrespect for the English language are amply covered on You-Tube and many other sources.  Bush’s malapropisms make Yogi Berra sound like a wordsmith. But perhaps, Bush’s problem was as much a learning disability as it was laziness.

With John McCain, it is something more insidious. His contempt for words, precision, for truth for that matter is deliberate. 

Very much an “elite;” he is not rebelling against the system; he is the system, and yet, he is rebelling against something now as he did at Annapolis. 

The key is that McCain shows contempt for anything that can hold him accountable and nothing holds people accountable like words.

Here’ a way of making sense of Mccain’s recent kartuffles with the truth.  Consider that for McCain, skirting the English language is some deluded form of rebellion.  I can’t help but think that McCain thinks he’s James Dean, the rather inarticulate hero of his young adulthood, and that his disrespect for words is sort of like Deans’ disrespect for “The Man.”

In other words, the Republican candidate for president thinks he is being cool when he skirts the truth, denies ever saying words, phrases and sentences about timelines and troop withdrawls (today’s latest example). Those are just words McCain says, and he cannot be held accountable for mere words.  He squares up mere words against conditions on the ground, thus freeing himself up to say– with a stratight talk face– that troops should stay in Iraq for one hundred years, ten years, 16 mnths, yesterday…   His words don’t matter.

McCain denied to George Stephanopoulos ever having mentioned timelines, and then said it didn’t matter if he had. 

Words are “the Man” Fu#k the Man, fu#k words, man.

Cool enuf.  Problem is, words are all we have, no democracy without ‘em, no democracy if we cannot trust what our leaders tell us today, or told us yesterday.  No democracy if no transparency, and no transparency without words and language.

McCain’s trouble with the truth and his contempt for language is troubling.

I think McCain’s trouble with words might well prove his downfall.  But perhaps this is wishful thinking.

Obama Address Raises Two Questions

If Barack Obama had one obstacle to the presidency before the vote in November it was to appear presidential, and pass the commander in chief test. Today he crushed these obstacles. It was that good.  His speech in Berlin could have been given by John Kennedy, and was better than the one that Reagan delivered.

The speech was eloquent and fluid; it commanded respect and drew great favor with the crowd of more than 100 thousand. This is the first time I have seen live television shots of people in Europe waving american flags rather than wearing paper mache masks.

In terms of symbolism, Obama won the day on two counts: 1st, he passed the presidential threshold with aplomb; 2nd, he took substantial strides towards repairing america’s image on the world stage. if only he wins.

The speech leaves two challenges to consider:

1st has to do with the wall metaphor Obama used repeatedly, following Reagan. Reagan said to tear down the physical wall separating west and east; and the metaphorical wall of ideology separating these two hemispheres.

Obama echoed the sentiment that walls should and could come down; sounding a metaphor for race, religion and ethnic divisions around the globe. The challenge for Obama during this campaign is to propose a similar call to Boeing to take down the wall it is constructing along the US-Mexico border, with the ethnic and class divisions that coincide with construction of the virtual and physical fences to our south.

Second, is a challenge to the American people, which I think is an important subtext to the Obama speech.  Since it has become abundantly evident that Obama represents the sort of candidate that Americans say they are ready for, even crave: one who will replace the republican disaster of the past 8 years; one who can string together more than a couple half sentences that McBush passes off as a speech; one that appeals to the hopes and dreams of americans while regaining some respect in the world; one who pledges to end the war in Iraq…..  The challenge here is obvious: would americans elect a man whose father was born Kenyan.

The latest polls just released showing McCain having pulled ahead in Colorado and edging closer in minnesota and Michigan and this despite the horrendous gaffe-filled; competency questioning couple weeks McCain has had, well this speaks the challenge for americans to dig a little deeper here to see the real choices before them.

Bush Ready for War on Iran

Back when the country was being readied for a post 9/11 terrorist attack, talking heads focused attention on the increasing flurry of emails, internet stories, and so forth as signs of a coming attack. The warning levels increased along with the intensity of buzz.

and so it goes.

As the country enters summer, and Bush is on his final european junket, the flurry of stories has increased regarding the iranian threat and Bush options for countering the iranian threat before he leaves office.  The NYT today has German Chancellor Merkel agreeing with Bush’s call for aditional sanctions against Iran, but she stops short of saying, as he does, that all options remain on the table.

The shame of it all is that based on recent events, the country and world has no way of knowing whether stories coming from the White HOuse are True. Quite the opposite.  We have been taught to believe its propaganda. And this is scary and unacceptable in a democracy.

Consider that the current drum beat contradicts the NIE Report issued December 2008 that says Iran suspended its nuclear enrichment program back in 2003. Consider that since 2003, Secry State Rice has repeatedly spoken about increasing pressure on the iranian regime.  Such pressure would come to include sanctions and since late spring 2005, the Bush regime  would embark on a major covert initiative to discredit and unsettle the Iranian regime.  Now that none of this has much worked, the drumbeat has focused more exclusively on the likelihood of missile strikes against Iranian”nuke”  targets, or all out war.

With seven months to go, it seems that Bush and a still acquiescent Congress has deemed that impeachment against the president is no longer viable, but apparently another war dreamt up by this president remains a real possibility.

 

 

 

Bush hints at McCain October Surprise War

When McCain went to the White House after locking up the nomination, I wondered what if anything he and W talked about.  Today, while listening to a tape of Bush’s speech, the topic of their conversation became clear to me.  I heard chuckles of an October surprise against Iran that would be designed for McCain’s electoral benefit, of course. A blood brother gift from one neocon to another.   I heard it in the new rationale rationale for remaining in Iraq, namely to hold Iran in check.  (as well as in his suspension of troop reduction and request for an additional $108 billion).  Loud and clear: The enemy is no longer al-quaeda; it’s Tehran.

Since this war long ago turned into a political disaster for Bush, why would McCain follow suit as he has,  insisting that Iraq remain his top-gun issue–against the wishes of 70% of the voting public– if it weren’t for some rose garden deal?  Consider that  Bush 41’s poll ratings went through the roof for several months following the ‘91 Iraq war, before he went on to lose the ‘92 election.   Fear of papa Bush is why Mario Cuomo and others didn’t run, leaving Bill in a lackluster field.  41’s re-election was a certainty, that is, if only the election were held closer to the time US bombs hit their targets in Baghdad.  A lesson not to be forgotten.   Again, the surprise.   Bombing strikes against Iran in the weeks before the election would likely invoke enuf fear as to ensconce McCain in the presidency.   “W” doesn’t have his dad’s brains, but he does have more crass political brawn.   Would also likely give both W and III a hearty chuckle– which they both enjoy– at the country’s expense.  

and finally, it will be interesting to see whether McCain’s media chums will give Bush a pass on this next war, just for their guy McCain.

 

 

 

 

Heckuva job, Maliki

 The Bush Administration just handed the al-Maliki Government in Iraq the kiss of death.  Saying he is doing a “heckuva job” (actually said  ”pretty good job”), Defense Secry Robert Gates just secured Maliki’s likely demise after his having been humiliated by Muktadr al-Sadr in Basra.  In congratulating Maliki, Gates also said,   

“I think we’ve all known at some point that the situation in Basra was going to have to be dealt with. It is the economic  lifeline of the country.  To have it under control of gangs and militias over the long term is not acceptable…  So I think all of us in the government were pleased to see Prime Minister Maliki take this on, take the initiative and go down there himself with Iraqi forces and try to resolve the issue.”

 This statement is Bush-speak for “heckuva job Brownie,” which translates to “wow, we/you really f*#ked up again.”  It also means, “you’re outta here” (Maliki is toast).  Ya see, al-Sadr neither surrendered nor gave up arms.  Quite the opposite.  He got Basra and boucoup bucks, and in turn Maliki got to say he won a “cease-fire.”

 After 5 years of war,  such claims as “the surge is working” and suggestions that Bush succeeded in having installed a legitimate government in Iraq all rise and fall with media and then public acceptance of the puppet Maliki regime and its simulated governance as real.

 This time, the mainstream media is complicit in constructing the canard that Maliki controls the Iraqi military, and that it, with his say, pushed back the al-Sadr militia.  Likely truth is, the US government is giving al Sadr and his supporters heaps of money to claim a “cease fire” (on record they are paying him for port access) and to sustain it, all the while al-Sadr dances to a wholly different beat.   That’s right, al Sadr along with clerics in Tehran, not Bush or Maliki, seem to be calling the shots these days.  Not quite what we are hearing, is it? and yet, Gates and the rest at Bushco are suggesting things are on track. 

This new dynamic became obvious during the violence of the past week.   Maliki– not al Sadr–waved the white flag in Basra.  Since al-Sadr (not al-quaeda) has very close ties with Iranian revolutionary guard, and since Iran– not Maliki/US– brokered/ forced this latest cease fire (to the extent one exists), one is left wondering about  Bush’s boneheaded legacy.

The neo-cons can’t even grasp the real-politik bromide that the enemy of our enemy is our friend. Rather, as Bushco has it, the friend of my enemy is my friend.  huh?  The US and Iran are providing support for the same side–al Sadr militia in Iraq.  

In conclusion, McSame has no truck with the fact that al-Sadr and Iran– not the US and its puppet regime– are controlling events in Iraq.   al-Sadr’s demands for a cease fire, which Maliki apparently accepted, give him (al Sadr) control in Basra, which is the opposite of what Bushco/ Gates suggested this morning.

Again, quite a boneheaded legacy. (and this for one hundred years?)  

The Nixon in Dick Cheney

When Dick Cheney analogized the Iraq War the other day to Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon, the Gordian knot unraveled around the perpetual War in Iraq.  Now Cheney was suggesting that Iraq, like the pardon, was politically unpopular, but the right thing to do. The merits of this argument notwithstanding, the statement revealed the origins of the current predicament in Iraq.

 More than anything else, the Iraq war is about power, or as Cheney once told Rolling Stone, it is about pushing that ball up the hill and not letting anyone else push it back down.  Cheney is a fan of unitary executive power because his office is in the executive branch (though when it serves his purposes, his lawyers argue the VP office is a legislative office). When he was Wyoming’s lone congressman, he authored a book about unmitigated legislative power.  As it happens, the most damning sort of power is minority tyranny, and so it is that Cheney’s consumption of personal political power is wreaking havoc on the constitution and this country’s democracy.   

 Back to the Ford analogy.  Cheney’s start came in the Nixon administration, and while there, Cheney became enraptured with the trappings of Dick’s imperial palace. Although Cheney’s personal lot rose dramatically under Ford, becoming chief of staff, he saw the trappings of power disappear.  By many accounts, the Ford Presidency was one of the weakest in history.    Dick experienced political impotence and didn’t like it. When his boss lost to Jimmy Carter, Dick vowed to mount his efforts against any force that would ever militate against the powers of the presidency.  Once again, Cheney’s stock rose after the demise of a powerful president.  

 Clinton, like Nixon, came a hair’s breath away from being removed from power by the senate.  Cheney would do everything in his personal power to make sure that Bush 43 was no Gerald Ford.  So, messy imagery aside, Dick, was Bush’s Viagra. He was there to keep the man and the office erect and potent for as long as possible. Along came 911, which for Cheney was the tragedy of a lifetime.  It would provide him cover for wish fulfillment and all virtually the executive branch resources at his disposal. In his coterie, Rumsfeld shared his Nixon/Bush experiences and his desire not to relive the humiliation of those years.

 With Rumsfeld at the Pentagon, and Cheney being given all the president’s powers by an incurious slacker of a president, the neo-con strategy became a reality faster than any of them had ever actually thought possible.  They simply never bothered to plan what would follow their assumption of power, and their commitment to turn much of it over to private business partners.  Once in Iraq, they had no plans other than turning back attempts by congress or the courts to limit their power, and then turn things over to Halliburton and Blackwater. They are still trying to figure it out, but at this point, their objectives have been achieved, and they no longer really care. 

How to Impeach the Media for the War in Iraq

This week’s Frontline about Bush’s five year war synthesized an amazing amount of information into the documentary’s simple theme: the President of the United States repeatedly betrayed his oath of office through lies, deception, trickery, and utter lack of curiosity.  

The only two presidents to have been impeached faced removal charges that were far less severe than the treasonous charges that could be filed and supported against Bush.  This was a coup by the neo-cons.  It could only occur with the active complicity of corporate media.  Plain and simple.  The corporate media, in this saga personified in Judith Miller, were fatally seduced by power, (even more on point, corporate interests aligned with neocon interests) and in the process failed to investigate the many false claims behind the war.    

The real danger is not only that Bush Co. got away with the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians, 4,000 US soldiers and over 1,000 private mercenaries and quite possibly never will be held to account, but that the media is winking and nodding the country into repeated versions of this wicked tragedy.  The media’s active complicity in enhancing the McCain candidacy is dangerous, even though it is being portrayed by the likes of Chris Matthews and Tim Russert as some freakish fraternity prank. (“Hey, we’re your constituency. Do with us what you will.”)  McCain (Bush III) is serious about deceiving, lying and whatever else it might take to get the country to go along with his plans for a 100-year war.  The media seem as open to an open ended McCain war as they were ready for the writers’ strike.  Bring it on! Reality shows bring higher ratings with fewer production costs. A win-win.  The danger of course is that McCain is likely to get an even bigger pass from the media than Bush 43.  

A McCain administration won’t have to learn how to seduce the media. The media is already seduced.  Just look at how the media handled McCain’s  ”100 years in Iraq” comment, and better yet, his latest “McCain moment.”      According to Chuck Todd, one of the few trusted MSN talking heads, McCain’s lie that Iran is ”taking al-Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back,” is being shrugged off by reporters as a “McCain moment,” (itself a disqualifier to be commander in chief, no?).  So what that McCain repeated it 4 or 5 times over several days.  More like turrets syndrome than a senior moment.  

According to Todd,“[T]his was not a one-time slip and so, you know, this just shows you how much bank — how much of the foreign policy experience stuff he’s got in the bank, because had [Sen. Hillary] Clinton or [Sen. Barack] Obama done something like this, this would have been played on a loop, over and over, and would have absolutely hurt them politically.”     How to explain it?      

The better question is what to do about it.       Suggestions:  Democratize and impeach the Media!  1) Turn to the net roots; 2) apply pressure on the FCC to remove licenses from local affiliates whose news programs deliberately replace the news with imperial propaganda.  3) Boycott network and cable programming that advance such propaganda; 4) get your legislators to oppose further concentration of media ownership.     In the absence of an independent media, democracies fail.  Our democracy is on the brink.   In this election year, the media should be scrutinized far more closely than it scrutinized the War and is currently scrutinizing John McCain.  For instance.  Wanna get involved NOW?   See below from bravenewfilms.org 

This Thursday (March 27th) at noon, we’ll be joining MoveOn.org to hand deliver 200,000 petition signatures to ABC studios in Washington D.C. It’s high time they focus on substantive issues in this election, and put a stop to FOX’s smears seeping into the mainstream press. Can you help us?

    WHAT: Petition Delivery to ABC Studios

    WHERE: ABC News studios, 1717 DeSales Street, NW (the small street between Connecticut Avenue and 17th Street-just north of L Street, 1 block north of the Farragut North metro)

    WHEN: 12:00 p.m.

    RSVP: Click here: http://political.moveon.org/event/stopfox/46083 

Though we plan to deliver the petition to NBC, CBS, and CNN, our ABC delivery is the main event in Washington, D.C. With your help, we can get the networks to listen! Please join us.

 

Five Years of “War at Home” is Enough

Five years after Bush invaded Iraq, it is important to take stock of his “war at home,” which could take generations to repair.A quick snap shot of the Administration’s hubris, incompetence and undemocratic corporatist tendencies reveals all voters need to know to help make sure the “war at home” doesn’t continue another four or eight years.Here is just a quick look at one week (or so) of the war at home.By “war at home” i mean deliberate efforts to weaken the the constitution, civil liberties and the democratic spirit of the american people.The “war at home” starts with hubris. Consider the Administration just this week– and by Administration i include John Mccain who is running for the third Bush term– saying f*#k you to 66% of the American people who oppose the war in Iraq. When reminded of the public’s antipathy to war, the vice president said, “so”? According to him, public opinion can only thwart the administration’s mission.It continues with deliberate deception by Senator McCain (and Dick Cheney also in Iraq) who repeatedly said, over the last 48 hours, that Iran is shipping al-quaeda into Iraq. Even a stage whisper correction by Joe Lieberman in front of the cameras yesterday didn’t stop McCain from repeating the lie today. The only truth this lie reveals has to do with the administration’s intent to go after Iran.Third, is the continuing attack on civil liberties, even more dangerous because it has been done by proxy: Verizon and AT&T assumed illegal powers in the government’s name (and at the government’s behest), spying against every day citizens and residents. Telecom immunity is really a red herring because these companies would not have signed on if they were not already indemnified. Basically, Bush’ telecom immunity ploy is a symbolic f*#k you against the Constitution.Finally, although the telecom immunity scandal shows the administation’s real constituency are corporate cronies not people, this excludes the cronies’ own employees, who are as invisible and worthless to the administration as anybody else. $ is the administrations only real ally. Consider the 1,123 private contractors who fought and died in Iraq (likely undercount), but whose deaths are not counted in the official body count. (Labor department stats recorded as result of family’s insurance claims, accoding to FAIR–fairness and accuracy in reporting) As if they never fought and died for Bush’s privatized war.As for incompetence, please see all of the above, and lots, lots more.& all this in the last week!Just one week of this war is too much. Five Years?!