NEWS: One Democratic Asshole, A Bunch of Republican Assholes

POLITICS: One Democratic Asshole, A Bunch of Republican Assholes

Two days ago we learned that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003. This fact came to light because of a leaked National Intelligence Estimate report, which was created by 16 different American spy agencies.

The really exciting part of this news is that Bush kinda, sorta knew in August. The reason I say kinda, sorta, is because the administration is attempting to spin this in a way that can only be described as completely retarded. When questioned about when Bush was told of the information, National Security Advisor (lied about Iraq) Steven Hadley broke it down.

Uh, yeah. So, you have 16 American spy agencies who all come to the conclusion that Iran has halted its nuclear weapons program and you kids decide not to tell the guy who is apparently making a total and complete fucking asshole out of himself in front of the country and the world. I’m just trying to break this down in a way that I can understand it. You allowed the President and Vice President and Secretary of State to lie to the American public repeatedly for months – because you wanted to keep reading something that was already complete. Okay.

Now based on that information, Steven, I am going to have to call you a total fucking liar and asshole. Sorry. Yesterday Bush was asked directly about the report and when he knew what it contained.



Heyoooo! That’s hilarious. Now we have two huge fucking liars. Although, he could also be totally detached, insulated and incompetent. It is really, really hard to choose. Wait! He’s all four!

This is such an astounding level of either willful ignorance or lying that it should be an impeachable offense. Joe Biden pretty much summed it up.

Can't really argue with that. But Bush is not alone in his stupidity.

Last night's Democratic debate on NPR also covered the Iran situation. If you remember, Hillary Clinton decided to take the position of hawk on Iran when she voted to declare Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a foreign terrorist organization. Hell, she was even calling Bush a pussy on Iran back in 2006. In light of the new NIE, Clinton was obviously going to be called out on her idiotic vote during last night’s debate.

Clinton kept yammering on until moderator dude stepped in.

"Many of you" just doesn't include 16 government intelligence agencies. Hey, Hillary, there’s a fella named George Bush I’d like to introduce you to. You kids have a lot in common when it comes to being assholes.

Well, one upside might be... that this could gut any attempt to initiate a war with Iran.

One can hope anyway...

What more can we do? Reporters have grown a pair finally and started asking pointed questions backed up by research, dates, names, figures etc., and still we have to watch them squirm, dance, dodge, and finally walk out of the room. But they never say they are wrong.

That's all I want.

Nothing else matters to me anymore. Just someone stepping up to say they were wrong. I do it all the time. I am wrong fucking constantly, and I'm not dumb. I'm pretty insightful I think, able to analyze and issue and form opinions, which I am always willing to amend or change in the light of new information.

When did politicians start to believe they have to be infallible? When did they start thinking that if they admit they are wrong, then all of existence will wink out? When did they start to believe we don't think they are liars, retards, and utter fucking incompetents?

I'm going to go listen to the new Ghostface and hopefully never read the news again.

Even before this, he was going to have trouble selling the idea to Congress and the people. After this, Iran would have to attack someone for him to get much support for the idea.

Is anyone else bothered by the fact that it took four years to figure this out?

That's true, and while it's a very positive upside, it's about the only upside. The major downside, is that our creditability on a international level is somewhere between the boy that cried wolf and a being looked upon as outright liars.

Truth is, Iranian nuclear research and development is a very serious issue, but beating the war drums and hyping this to the level of a episode of "24" detracts from reaching a potent and fair resolution for Iran and the rest of the world.

It is amazing just how far we have gone into the middle east on bad information- or doctored information- or lack of information...the fact that Bush is mis-informed..at best...is just old news...the fact that Clinton is looking like both a front runner for the election...and just as informed as our current administration...just disturbing...this is where this election is looking like it belongs...

Look, these people were liars and thieves from Florida to 9/11, from Osama to WMD's, from Mission Accomplished to bin Ladan who? Tack on from Katrina to Ohio, Plamegate to torture and and suspension of habeas corpus to the surge...on and on and on. All lies and illegality. And to boot, on this one, they sat on the NIE report for a year to try to change the conclusion to match the neocon ideology...but then look at Clinton. She has no excuse, other than being a tool herself. I've lost track of the impeachable offenses of these brownshirted rogues, and I have been paying attention. If someone would just give oral to one of these scum, maybe then we could impeach...but I bet there are no takers.

"Naturally the common people don't want war: Neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, IT IS THE LEADERS of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is TELL THEM THEY ARE BEING ATTACKED, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. IT WORKS THE SAME IN ANY COUNTRY."

--Goering at the Nuremberg Trials, 1946

Sorry, couldn't resist that one.

As an Iranian-American, THANK GOD ... something finally uprooted itself to show that Iran is not a terrororrorrorist country and the focus should be shifted to human rights suffering instead of nukes But, seeing our basic rights and liberties are FUCKED in this country, I highly doubt anything will alter Bush-Mc Nasty's push for an all-Christian world!

Bothered, but not surprised. That's what happens when you politicize intelligence collection. You destroy competence.

Absolutely. And it won't be fixed by either frontrunner for '08, either. Clinton and Giuliani mean more of the same. *sigh*

Out of all of the Democratic presidential candidates, there's no one less than Clinton as the nominee, but to be fair, I highly doubt her administration would be as partisan as some past Bush appointees have been.

Since when do intelligence reports have anything to do with how this administration is run?

"Mr. Bush, we have come to the conclusion that there are NO WMDs in Iraq."
"Really? How nice. Now, back to our plans to invade Iraq to look for WMDs."

And now, the warmongering faction (Rush Limbaugh listeners) are saying that the report is in error, and that we should still invade Iran, "just in case."

Here's a solution: Anybody who believes there are WMDs over in Iran, go look for them yourselves. If you're so sure they are over there, I'm sure you can find them with no problems. And just as soon as you find them, let the rest of us know. We'll be waiting for your call.

No, we don't need to believe the most extensive intelligence service in history: we have Rush Limbaugh's gut feeling to go on. Git the guns, we got us some Ay-rabs to hunt!

Fucking Warmongering Assholes!!!

I'm so tired of politicians.

But the really amusing and disturbing thing about this entire episode is that now THEY are claiming the people who wrote the NIE politicized the report. I just heard John Bolton call it a "coup" on the radio.

Yeah, big surprise there.

OBAMA in 2008!

Buwahaha, that pin you gave me is still stuck on my purse. I keep forgetting it's there.

coyotemike said:
Since when do intelligence reports have anything to do with how this administration is run?

Since when does intelligence have anything to do with how our government is run?

GOD DAMMIT HILLARY!!!!

A few people have said that, but I don't see this happening as a consequence of the report.

If there's one thing this administration has proven time and time again, it's that factual data to the contrary and the will of the American people perpetually come up towards the bottom of their list of rationales, ranking well below Bush's conversations with his pal Jesus and Cheney's preternatural conviction that militant engagement is the only means of interface with the Middle-East (excluding, of course, Saudi Arabia).

Beyond the reign of this administration, the majority of the Republican front-runners and Clinton have shown remarkably little deviation from this stance, as FTR's article points out. And let's face it, a million Intelligence Estimates contradicting their rationale for invasion will do nothing whatsoever to sway the twenty-percenters still fervently backing Bush and his war, most of whom essentially favor the nuanced "turn the whole thing into a parking lot!" approach the Middle-Eastern policy.

I wouldn't be surprised if Bush didn't hear the explicit report till last Wednesday. Like the guy said, it does take time to collate data and analyze it's significance. He could very well have been told we've got something, but we're just not sure what it is. Anyway, it doesn't matter. What's important now is what he does with it. That is what I'm interested to see. Somehow I don't see it making a difference anyway. I think he's still going to try and treat Iran the same way he has been regardless of the new information. I just hope I'm wrong.

Your tenacity excites and entices me.

Read all the Joan Didion you can, while you're at it. It's been the same story from the Bay of Pigs, through Vietnam and Granada and Panama and Libya and Ecuador and Iran/Contra. Same story, same characters. Same indifference to history and our own past actions.

History is that residue on the chalkboard. You can only erase so much. And then there's the language they use:

Youtube took down the video lol

*sigh*
Does it ever fucking end with this administration? Or politicians in general?

What is really sad: no matter how much info, no matter what happens and what comes to light, there are still an assload of clowns who support this administration, even in the face of mountains of information.

I am going to beat my head off a wall.

Why am I not surprised?

Amazing.