Nancy Pelosi's "Failure" Statement WAS HARSH

Unfortunately, it was still not HARSH ENOUGH!

Yes, Nancy Pelosi will be thoroughly gutted by the time you read this. I really pity her. The avalanche of ugly criticism and mockery might bury her politically. But people should take into consideration that the statement was more courageous than foolhardy. Probably the only foolhardiness in her diatribe was in the timing: either she's beating a dead horse, or she's encouraging Bush's (few) supporters to do what America loves doing: rooting for the underdog. In either case, she was trying to be honest and not vicious in what she said. Her statement implied that George was incompetent.

There is a difference, however, between incompetence and villainy. The Bush administration has become a conspiracy theorist's wet dream: the secrecy and lust for more powers make it extremely suspect. A small rundown: Cheney's secret conversations with energy companies; executive "privilege" invoked too many times; the transparent WMD statements; warrant-less wiretapping; Downing Street memos; refusal to testify for an fact-finding 9/11 Commission; extreme cronyism; secrecy in war fatality situations; ignoring the Geneva Conventions; connections with the Saudi Royal family; no-bid contracts; cummuting the criminal sentence of an administrative aide without proper reason.

And then there is the theory of prior knowledge of 9/11. Yes, I've seen the seven minute video of Bush in the school listening to the story of My Pet Goat. His demeanor is not just calm, but almost - resolved: "Well, this is it, there's no turning back. Saddam will be sorry." But there is another disturbing fact: three months after 9/11, he told a school (video-taped) that he had seen flight #11 hit the first tower on a TV before he went in to the classroom. That would have been impossible: there was no live coverage of the plane crashing into the first tower - that footage was provided by a French documentary film crew THE NEXT DAY.

I'm not happy thinking about these things. They make me angry and depressed. And sad. Americans place their trust in people. Yes, they know that public officials can be downright crooked, but they place their trust in them anyway. In a sense, they have no other choice: they cannot elect someone to the high office of President, then monitor his/her every move. The Presidents of the 21st century will be hampered by Bush's secrecy: either they will be scrutinized and harassed mercilessly from the moment they take office, or they will be forced to use "executive privilege" and look to be even more secret than Bush.

Whatever Bush's legacy may be in future generations, it will not be "Honesty."

Just a thought. Oh, and I thought you might want to see this:

THE WAR IS OVER!! John McCain Says So!

Talk About Spin! Are You Dizzy Yet?

From The Washington Independent:

I repeat my statement that we have succeeded in Iraq. Not we are succeeding. We have succeeded in Iraq. The strategy has worked and we now have the Iraqi government and military in charge in the major cities in Iraq. Al Qaeda is on their heels and on the run, but the success that we have achieved is still fragile and could be reversed, and it’s still – if we do what Sen. Obama wants to do, then all of that could be reversed and we could face again the chaos, increased Iranian influence and American loss and defeat.

WTF!?! Sorry, it's just that I can't conceive of such a statement coming from this person. I really can't. He's either putting a bizarre spin on his "100 years" statement or he's lost it completely.

And we'd better hope that it's not just a "senior moment."

"Al Qaeda is on their heels and on the run" - sure, to Afghanistan. And if we pull out, where's the "American loss"? This is unreal. Please, someone, tell me that we are not dealing with this.

Would McCain be as big a diplomatic dimwit as Bush? That's not possible, but it may be McCain's real goal. Who knows?

Now Nancy, He's Not THAT Bad!

O.K., He's Worse

By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer 51 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - President Bush has been a "total failure" in everything from the economy to the war to energy policy, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday. In an interview on CNN, the California Democrat was asked to respond to video of the president criticizing the Democratic-led Congress for heading into the final 26 days of the legislative session without having passed a single government spending bill.

Pelosi shot back in unusually personal terms.

"You know, God bless him, bless his heart, president of the United States, a total failure, losing all credibility with the American people on the economy, on the war, on energy, you name the subject," Pelosi replied. She then tsk-tsked Bush for "challenging Congress when we are trying to sweep up after his mess over and over and over again."

The Republican arsenal of caustic and malicious rhetoric will be entirely ransacked by people who normally just hate Nancy Pelosi. Her words were strong, but theirs will be stronger. Neocon bloggers will be inventing words. Ann Coulter(geist) will call Pelosi's statement every variant on treason ( including obscure Olde English ones). Michelle Malkin will start screaming at the top of her lungs. Rush Limbaugh will dig up every off-color remark along with a few chosen conservative pieces of Limbaugh Logic. Conservatives everywhere will be burning her in effigy. There may even be rioting in the streets of Crawford, Tex.

Advice to Nancy Pelosi: take some deep breaths, calm yourself, hire more bodyguards, take up martial arts. I thank you for being honest, but many in the conservative half of the country will be sticking pins in their home-made voodoo dolls. In other words, be afraid, Nancy, be very afraid.