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Sunday, October 31
October Surprise: No Osama!
by
Linda Thieman
on Sun 31 Oct 2004 04:26 PM CST
 October Surprise: No Osama!
A Buzzflash Editorial
Our tinhorn Texas sheriff has failed spectacularly.
If ever
there was a sign of Bush's failure to fight Al-Qaeda, it was the
"October Surprise" of a gloating bin Laden videotape emerging late on a
Friday afternoon. Bush had promised in 2002 to get bin Laden
"Dead or Alive" - and he failed. After he failed to get bin Laden
again, at Tora Bora, Bush claimed that bin Laden wasn't that important
anyway.
Now bin
Laden is back, when he should be behind bars. And Karl Rove
thinks bin Laden's reappearance should HELP Bush. Yes, Rove is
relying on primal, irrational fear to push undecided voters into the
Bush "Kool-Aid-Jim-Jones" camp of voters. Rove is hoping people
will get such a Halloween fright that they will vote for Bush, even
though Osama's tape only emphasizes Bush's failures.
Remember when everybody thought that the October surprise was that Bush would produce Osama in chains? But we miscalculated on that one. That would assume that Bush could actually succeed at something besides stealing an election.
And, indeed, with just a videotape of a boastful Osama to air, the Bush
Cartel has sealed four years of failure with a nail that exemplifies
their ineptitude at protecting us.
(Click here to read the complete editorial.)
Saturday, October 30
Bush's Propaganda Machine Can't Hide Wealth of Bad News
by
Linda Thieman
on Sat 30 Oct 2004 04:07 AM CDT
 Bush's Propaganda Machine Can't Hide Wealth of Bad News
by Scott Lindlaw, AP, Sierra Times.com
YARDLEY, Pa.
- The presidency comes with powerful tools that can help incumbents
keep their jobs: a mighty public-relations machine, a bully pulpit, a
famous airplane. Yet George W. Bush has been powerless to halt a recent
tide of bad news, from surging violence and missing weapons in Iraq, to
missteps by his own campaign, to a potentially damaging new probe by
his own FBI .
...In a
Friday speech, Kerry hoped to stoke the latest revelation: news that
the FBI has begun investigating whether the Pentagon improperly awarded
no-bid military contracts to Halliburton Co., formerly headed by Vice
pResident Dick Cheney.
...For
four straight days, Bush had been dogged by a report that nearly 400
tons of explosives disappeared from Iraq's Al-Qaqaa military
installation. Bush aides winced when former New York City Mayor Rudy
Giuliani, a frequent Bush campaign partner and surrogate, said the
troops in Iraq, not Bush, bore the responsibility for searching for the
explosives.
There was more:
The U.N. nuclear agency said U.S. officials were warned about the
vulnerability of explosives stored at the installation after another
facility was looted.
Minneapolis
ABC affiliate KSTP-TV, which had a crew embedded with the 101st
Airborne Division during the war, released videotape that it said
showed soldiers examining explosives at the massive Al-Qaqaa facility
nine days after the fall of Baghdad. The video [undermines] Bush's
suggestion the explosives were looted before the U.S.-led invasion of
Iraq.
Other "headlines" hurting Bush:
--More than 1,100 U.S. service members have died since Bush launched is Iraq war in March, 2003
--100,000 Iraqis are dead because of Bush's war
--Bush will ask Congress for another $75 billion to finance his wars on top of the $215 billion already allocated
--The Bush campaign was caught using a doctored photo in a campaign ad
(Click here to read the complete article.)
Wednesday, October 27
Here Comes The GOP Stampede
by
Linda Thieman
on Wed 27 Oct 2004 12:55 PM CDT
 Here Comes The GOP Stampede
by Joshua Holland, AlterNet.org
The
conservatives don't play politics with real grassroots activism. Their
top-down style and "buy the movement" approach is better suited for
Astroturf – and this week, they're on the march.
This
weekend, the Republican Party's ground game will be out in full force.
Bush strategist Karl Rove will unveil his "72-hour plan" to knock on
the door of every last uncommitted voter in America leading up to the
election. The strategy for the stretch-drive is unambiguous: red meat
for the base, inclusiveness and security for the swing voters and
making a mockery of Sen. Kerry. To get there, conservative leadership
will mobilize their network of grassroots activists like never before,
focusing on key battleground states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and
Missouri.
...The
drive to get out the Republican vote will be but one part of a genuine
and dangerously effective conservative mass movement that has emerged
in recent years. But there's a difference between the right's activism and that of the left.
While most progressive movements tend to be organized spontaneously by
activists in true bottom-up fashion, the right's grassroots are
top-down, disciplined and hierarchical. Many of their ground troops
have been professionally inflamed to the point that they've become
another powerful media tool for conservative leadership. Beyond a base
of dedicated activists within the evangelical community and some other
true believers – an estimated 15 million of whom made it to the polls
for Bush in 2000 – the right's populism is often a smoke-and-mirrors
affair cultivated by GOP operatives, spread with today's easy activist
tools and underwritten – sometimes indirectly – by the usual
conservative donors.
This
approach works. We saw it performed perfectly in Florida in the days
after the contested 2000 presidential vote. Pro-Bush protesters
marching in the streets of Florida convinced the Miami-Dade canvassing
board to shut down its recount before the tally was completed, sending Gore v. Bush
to the courts. According to the New York Times, the decision to halt
the recount "followed a rapid campaign of public pressure." Republican
telephone banks urged voters of all stripes to protest the process and
conservative talk-radio hosts echoed the call. According to the Times,
one Republican attorney used a bull horn to egg the crowds on, and the
gathering protesters became violent, at one point even assaulting a
Democratic board member.
(Click here to read the complete article.)
[Well, good. I hope they waste
a lot of time and energy knocking on doors in states that aren't up for
grabs - just out of sheer greed. No one has ever accused the
neo-cons of having good judgment.]
Tuesday, October 26
Bush Makes Explosive Mistake in Iraq
by
Linda Thieman
on Tue 26 Oct 2004 04:43 AM CDT
 Bush Makes Explosive Mistake in Iraq
American Progress
The New York Times reported yesterday that "nearly 380 tons of powerful conventional explosives" are missing
from one of Iraq's "most sensitive former military installations." The
enormous cache of explosives is unaccounted for and may have fallen
into the hands of terrorists or been used in bombing attacks against
U.S. and Iraqi troops. The White House has thus far been at a loss to
explain how a mistake this egregious was allowed to happen under their
watch: administration officials "say they cannot explain why the
explosives were not safeguarded." A look at the administration's
mismanagement of post-invasion Iraq offers an explanation, though.
After the invasion of Iraq, the White House failed to safeguard the
large stockpiles of powerful explosives; the administration also failed
to send enough troops to Iraq to quash the post-war insurgency,
resulting in rampant looting.
HMX AND RDX EXPLAINED:
The powerful explosives in question are HMX – high melting point
explosive – and RDX – rapid detonation explosive. HMX and RDX can be
used in bombs which could bring down entire buildings or "shatter" airplanes;
for example, "the bomb that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over
Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 used less than a pound of the same type of
material." The chemical makeup of these explosives make them
"insensitive to shock and physical abuse during handling and
transport," making it particularly simple to smuggle the munitions to
terrorists.
INTERNATIONAL WATCH WAS WORKING: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) tried to warn the U.S. about the potential danger posed by the explosives and "specifically told United States officials about the need to keep the explosives secured"
after the invasion. The Bush administration, however, refused to allow
the agency back into the country after the invasion to verify the
status of the explosives stockpile.
EXPLOSIVES USEFUL FOR INSURGENTS:
The danger posed by the explosive "is its potential use with insurgents
in very small and powerful devices." Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for
the IAEA, warns, "Our immediate concern is that if the explosives did
fall into the wrong hands they could be used to commit terrorist acts
and some of the bombings that we've seen." HMX and RDX are "the key components in plastic explosives, which insurgents have widely used in a series of bloody car bombings in Iraq."
According to the Nelson Report, cited by Josh Marshall's Talking
Points, "administration officials privately admit this material is
likely a primary source of the lethal car bomb attacks which cause so
many US and Iraqi casualties."
ADMINISTRATION FAILED TO SECURE KEY FACILITIES:
Explaining the theft in a letter to the IAEA, a senior official from
Iraq's Ministry of Science and Technology wrote the explosives
disappeared because of looting that occurred "due to lack of security."
The White House has increasingly come under fire for neglecting to send
an adequate number of troops into Iraq to secure the country after the
invasion. Recently, the former head of the Coalition Provisional
Authority, Paul Bremer, charged inadequate military presence after the
invasion allowed rampant looting in Iraq and said the U.S. "paid a big price" for not sending enough troops to secure the peace.
WHO'S IN CHARGE HERE?:
Iraqi officials say they warned Bremer in May 2004 that the sensitive
military installation had probably been looted in the immediate
aftermath of the invasion. Note this happened while the United States
was still in command, before the transfer of power to the Iraqis.
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice
claims she only found out about the missing explosives within the past
month. The IAEA was only notified – by the Iraqis – a few weeks ago.
According to Talking Points, the Nelson Report reveals the Defense
Department not only may have known about the looting, it may have
exerted pressure on the Iraqis to keep the story quiet.
WHOOPS, WE DID IT AGAIN:
This isn't the first time this kind of thing has happened in Iraq.
Earlier this month, international U.N. weapons inspectors found that sensitive material and equipment had been looted from nuclear facilities in Iraq.
The IAEA had successfully monitored equipment and low-grade uranium at
a plant in Iraq before the invasion. It was forced to leave in March of
2003, however, and the sensitive material was looted and may have found
its way to the black market.
Monday, October 25
New Voters for Kerry; Bush's Battleground Blues
by
Linda Thieman
on Mon 25 Oct 2004 04:29 AM CDT
New Voters for Kerry
by Ruy Teixeira, Emerging Democratic Majority
A new Ipsos-AP analysis of their poll data shows new voters leaning very heavily toward Kerry.
Among
LVs (likely voters) who are new voters, Kerry is favored over Bush by a
smashing 25 points, 60-35. Moreover, these new voters were twice as
likely to say they'd been contacted by the Kerry campaign (38 percent)
than by the Bush campaign (16 percent).
The Ipsos-AP analysis provides this sketch of new voters' demographics and political attitudes:
New
voters tend to be young (64% are under 35), unmarried (54%), with some
college experience (36%) and holding down a full-time job (63%), often
in the service sector or skilled trades. They say the country is
heading in the wrong direction (68%) and disapprove of Bush’s
performance as [pseudo-]pResident (63%) and his handling of Iraq (65%),
in particular.
Obviously, the more of these voters that show up at the polls on November 2, the better for John Kerry.
 Bush's Battleground Blues
by Ruy Teixeira, Emerging Democratic Majority
A few days ago, I highlighted some recent polls that showed solid leads for Kerry in the battleground states as a whole, states that were split about evenly between Gore and Bush four years ago.
Since then, Democracy Corps has released new data
showing more of the same (a 7 point lead for Kerry in the battleground
states). And Mystery Pollster looks at a substantially wider range of
recent polls and finds Kerry's battleground performance running ahead
of his national performance in every single one. As Chris Bowers points
out over at MyDD, these data show Kerry averaging a 49-45 advantage in
the battleground.
And, not to pile on, but check the latest unemployment data from the battleground states. Not a pretty picture, by and large, for BC04: Wisconsin and Iowa show increases in their unemployment rates in the last month and Ohio's remains stubbornly high at 6 percent.
Saturday, October 23
The Secret in the CIA's Back Pocket
by
Linda Thieman
on Sat 23 Oct 2004 04:31 AM CDT
 The Secret in the CIA's Back Pocket
By Robert Scheer, AlterNet.org
It is shocking:
The Bush administration is suppressing a CIA report on 9/11 until after
the election, and this one names names. Although the report by the
inspector general's office of the CIA was completed in June, it has not
been made available to the Congressional intelligence committees that
mandated the study almost two years ago.
"It is
infuriating that a report which shows that high-level people were not
doing their jobs in a satisfactory manner before 9/11 is being
suppressed," an intelligence official who has read the report told me,
adding that "the report is potentially very embarrassing for the
administration, because it makes it look like they weren't interested
in terrorism before 9/11, or in holding people in the government
responsible afterward."
When I
asked about the report, Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), ranking Democratic
member of the House Intelligence Committee, said she and committee
Chairman Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.) sent a letter 14 days ago asking for
it to be delivered. "We believe that the CIA has been told not to
distribute the report," she said. "We are very concerned."
According
to the intelligence official, who spoke to me on condition of
anonymity, release of the report, which represents an exhaustive
17-month investigation by an 11-member team within the agency, has been
"stalled," first by acting CIA Director John McLaughlin and now by
Porter J. Goss, the former Republican House member (and chairman of the
Intelligence Committee) who recently was appointed CIA chief by George
W. Bush.
(Click here to read the complete article.)
Click here to send a letter to George W. Bush demanding he release the CIA report now.
Friday, October 22
Corrupt-as-they-come Majority Leader Tom DeLay Subpoenaed in Texas Civil Lawsuit
by
Linda Thieman
on Fri 22 Oct 2004 06:01 PM CDT
Corrupt-as-they-come Majority Leader Tom DeLay Subpoenaed in Texas Civil Lawsuit
TylerPaper.com
WASHINGTON
- House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has been subpoenaed in a Texas civil
lawsuit to testify about his role in using government resources to
track down Democratic legislators who fled the state during last year's
bitter redistricting dispute.
The
subpoena was delivered to DeLay's lawyers in Houston on Wednesday after
an attempt to serve DeLay personally failed, said Rep. Lon Burnam, the
Democratic state lawmaker from Fort Worth who filed the lawsuit.
The subpoena calls for DeLay to give a deposition in Austin on Monday.
...Burnam
said there is a "litany of questions with regard to misuse of public
funds" to pursue Democratic House members who fled to Ardmore, Okla.,
and DeLay's role in that.
...More
than 50 state House Democrats, including Burnam, went to Oklahoma in
May 2003 to prevent the quorum needed to pass a congressional
redistricting map engineered by Republicans and pushed by DeLay.
Department
of Public Safety troopers were dispatched to find the Democrats and
return them to Austin. A division of the Department of Homeland
Security also was contacted to help search for a plane owned by
Democratic Rep. Pete Laney, which took some of the lawmakers to
Oklahoma.
(Click here to read the complete article.)
And from Democracy for America . . .
Put this ad on the air - in Tom DeLay's backyard.
Against
all odds, the Republican House Majority Leader faces a do-or-die fight
for re-election. His top aides have been arrested and indicted. Even
his own colleagues on the Ethics Committee (many of them recipients of
DeLay machine money) documented his wrongdoing — but they failed to
hold him accountable. Only the Texans in his district can do that now.
Tom
DeLay is an embarrassment. He operates the most corrupt
money-for-influence machine in Washington. He abuses the power of his
office — in one case even sending the Homeland Security forces after
his political opponents. (see above)
There's a chance to turn this unexpectedly competitive race into a major upset.
To watch the ad or to contribute to the cause, click here.
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