Monday, January 29, 2007

A Report from the Anti War Rally



I went down to the National Mall on Saturday for the Anti-War Protest. It wasn't as crowded as I would have imagined it but I guess when you are in a crowd you can only see what is around you, not the full view of what is around.

It was good, I was nervous that the speakers would drift off topic, which often happens at liberal protests, but they were pretty much on task. Several congresspeople were there and I think my favorite comment I heard from the stage was John Conyers quoting Maureen Dowd's Saturday Column asking a facetious question about Darth Cheney:
Has anyone in the history of the United States ever been so singularly wrong and misguided about such phenomenally important events and continued to insist he’s right in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary?
My favorite sign I saw at the protest:

A file photo of Bush (looks like he is walking from the White House to his helicopter). Underneath it simply reads:
Nobody Likes You
And another gem from Maureen Dowd's article:
They [W and Cheney] are perpetually guided by the wrong part of the body. They are consumed by the fear of looking as if they don’t have guts, when they should be compelled by the desire to look as if they have brains.


Saturday, January 20, 2007

Bush's State of the Union preview

The NY Times has a little preview of Bush's State of the Union on Tuesday. Included is this gem:
As he heads into the address, his first delivered to a Congress controlled entirely by Democrats, Mr. Bush faces intense skepticism from lawmakers over his new strategy in Iraq. But while he will not be able to avoid the subject of Iraq in the speech, White House officials hope to use the address to shift the national conversation away from the war and toward the possibility of bipartisan cooperation in Washington.


Dear President George W. Bush:

You can get people to stop talking about the war you created by ending it. Now.

Regards,
Nolan

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Heh

"He has 24 months left in his presidency. I don't think I'm being mean-spirited by saying [that in] the first six years of his presidency, there's been nothing accomplished except the biggest foreign policy fiasco in the history of our country."

-- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), quoted by Time magazine.

H/T Political Wire

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Olbermann on Bush and "Sacrifice"



I'm not going to comment on Keith's words because it cannot be said any more eloquently than the words he used last night:
If the BBC is right — and we can only pray it is not — he has settled on the only solution all the true experts agree, cannot possibly work: more American personnel in Iraq, not as trainers for Iraqi troops, but as part of some flabby plan for "sacrifice."

Sacrifice!

More American servicemen and women will have their lives risked.

More American servicemen and women will have their lives ended.

More American families will have to bear the unbearable, and rationalize the unforgivable — "sacrifice" — sacrifice now, sacrifice tomorrow, sacrifice forever.

[snip]

This is not temporary, Mr. Bush.

For the Americans who will die because of you… it will be as permanent as it gets.


[snip]

Your citizens, the people for whom you work, have told you they do not want this, and more over, they do not want you to do this.

Yet once again, sir, you have ignored all of us.

Mr. Bush, you do not own this country!

[snip]

to the rest of you in the Republican Party.

We need you to speak up, right now, in defense of your country's most precious assets — the lives of its citizens who are in harm's way.

If you do not, you are not serving this nation's interests — nor your own.

[snip]

We… will have to live with it.

We… will have to live with what — of the fabric of our nation — you [Mr. Bush] have already "sacrificed."

The only object still admissible in this debate, is the quickest and safest exit for our people there.

But you — and soon, Mr. Bush, it will be you and you alone – still insist otherwise.

And our sons and daughters and fathers and mothers will be sacrificed there tonight, Sir, so that you can say you did not "lose in Iraq."

Our policy in Iraq has been criticized for being indescribable, for being inscrutable, for being ineffable.

But it is all too easily understood now.

First, we sent Americans to their deaths for your lie, Mr. Bush.

Now we are sending them to their deaths for your ego.

[snip]

Our meaningless sacrifice in Iraq must stop.

And you must stop it.

There is no room for debate about our options, the only answer is to leave. I have heard "just six more months" far too many times and at the end of each six month interval the situation is more dire than before. We have done all we can. We must leave Iraq now.

Monday, January 01, 2007

YearlyKos Convention: #5 Thing to look forward to in Chicago in 2007

So says the Chicago Tribune (on page A1!):
5. Blogorama In August, Democratic presidential candidates will come a-courtin' the bloggers at the second convention of the Daily Kos blogging collective and its readers. With the 2008 election year drawing near, the second Yearly Kos, held at McCormick Place, should outdraw the hugely popular 2006 edition and might serve as an unofficial campaign-season kickoff.

I think that is pretty dang cool. You can also read my take on it on the YearlyKos Convention Homepage.