Bill's Big Diamond Blog

Welcome Home

I’m back in the US saddle again and boy, after a nap and a movie, I’m sure I’ll feel like telling you all about the Canadians and their lovely country, but first, here’s a welcome home from Zogby via Crooks and Liars that warms my All-American heart.

It’s not selling anymore.

No Iraq/Osama/9-11/Three Card Monte speech bounce. Zippo. ffffffffft…

AND— 42% think that if BushCo lied us into war with Iraq, the penalty should be impeachment. Impeachment. Not standing in the corner, having a right wing timeout, not going home without your Social Security phaseout fun, no.

Impeachment.

Kinda makes you think. Maybe we aren’t as stupid as they thought.

We Fight Today...

This particular line from tonight's Bush speech is so despicable... since the reason there even ARE foreign fighters in Iraq today waging war on us is that Bush invaded the country and left it a mess. In so doing, he's made it just the sort of ungovernable place terrorists WOULD flock to in order to confront the infidel:

"We fight today, because Iraq now carries the hope of freedom in a vital region of the world, and the rise of democracy will be the ultimate triumph over radicalism and terror," he said. "And we fight today because terrorists want to attack our country and kill our citizens, and Iraq is where they are making their stand."

I guess the best rhetorical defense is a relentless offense to BushCo.

I see he also managed to mention Osama bin Laden relentlessly, as if HE were in Iraq too. Good God.

No mention of the predominance of domestic resistance in Iraq. Inconvenient, I suppose, to mention too many truths.

EDITOR'S NOTE: I guess the 9/11 test bubble of Karl Rove's last week is now clearly understood as prelude to the speech and its new/old riff— 9/11/9/11/9/11/9/11/9/11 and so on... EVERYTHING is about 9/11. Hey, it worked before, so they'll try it again.

IN OTHER NEWS: The Taliban (remember them?) claims responsibility for a downed US helicopter with 17 US soldiers onboard in Afghanistan. Their fate is unknown at present.

Oh, Canada

Canada is set to pass a same sex marriage law today in the House of Commons. The skies have not clouded up with thunderbolts from heaven. The seas here have not swelled to burst onto the land. There is no crying or gnashing of teeth across the country. Only in Tory Leader Stephen Harper’s soundbites can you hear pain and suffering…

Really, it’s very quiet in the news about gay marriage here, almost as if there were more important things to worry about.

Having been in British Columbia for ten days, I find so many things here refreshing and civilized. Not to mention the lovely people and geography. More on this after returning to the everyday in NYC…

What We Don't Understand is...

Despite the advance word that he’ll have nothing new to say tonight, President Bush’s speech on Iraq will get wide coverage on the networks. The Voice of America puts it this way (I thought we should get used to it, since it’s the copy PBS will be using soon, if Kenneth Tomlinson has his way):

“White House spokesman Scott McClellan says the president will use the televised speech before hundreds of soldiers at a North Carolina military base to outline a political and military strategy for success in Iraq.

The latest Washington Post /ABC News poll shows 56 percent of Americans disapprove of the president's handling of the war. Mr. McClellan says he believes many Americans have not heard specifics about the president's plans.”

If after hearing the specifics, you aren’t feeling that you know more than you did today, it might be a good time to write a letter to the editor of your local paper. Perhaps most Americans are finally beginning to understand the war for the first time, as opposed to needing a primer.

...and I Was Gonna Subscribe

Read Billmon’s take on Bill Keller’s NYTimes policy letter announcing affirmative action for conservatives.

You’d think after the Time’s bilge-pumping unfiltered propaganda on Weapons of Mass Destruction during the runup to the Iraq War that they’d be reaching out with a program to find reporters with spines.

A New Light on Tomlinson's Takeover at CPB

The insidious nature of censorship and surveillance going on at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is starting to get notice in more prominent places. Senator Byron Dorgan, who has taken on CPB Chairman Kenneth Tomlinson for his secret snoop program, is getting traction with the story about the Administration's attempt to make public broadcasting an upscale Fox Network.

Today, Frank Rich writes a good synopsis of the covert takeover program that readers here (see "Television" subject heading) have been seeing unfold. Rich understands that the funding ‘crisis’ was not the real story at CPB, PBS, and NPR, but merely a smokescreen:

“The intent is not to kill off PBS and NPR but to castrate them by quietly annexing their news and public affairs operations to the larger state propaganda machine that the Bush White House has been steadily constructing at taxpayers' expense. If you liked the fake government news videos that ended up on local stations - or thrilled to the "journalism" of Armstrong Williams and other columnists who were covertly paid to promote administration policies - you'll love the brave new world this crowd envisions for public TV and radio.”

Kristen Breitweiser

Susie Madrak points today to a piece by Kristen Breitweiser, one of the 9/11 widows, responding to the contention that Bushco “understands 9/11.” It’s a great read and puts the focus once again on Iraq and the insecurity created by these cowboys.

Stand Back...Reality Check for U.S.

Atrios at Eschaton reports this stunner… the Rasmussen Reports have a poll out that shows Americans pick Bush over Saddam (49% to 44%) as more responsible for starting the war in Iraq.

This really is all going to hell for Bushco. Too late for all the casualties, but finally, the dawn comes to Marblehead, as we used to say in Massachusetts.

No wonder Rove is falling on his sword to create a distraction.

Factesque-based Info

ERobin at Factesque refers to The Center for American Progress Talking Points webpage, which contains a particularly pointed, fact-based response to Karl Rove’s recent remarks.

The Center’s page yesterday enumerated the many ways the Administration’s anti-terror programs make the United States less secure.

Now, let’s look for more digging again into to Downing Street Memo. When exactly did Tony Blair discover that Lord Dearlove was all wrong about the Americans' plans for war?

Follow the Real Story

As is often the case, Paperwight is right.

Don’t let the Rovian ruse take center stage completely. Most of all, keep in mind that Rove isn’t stupid. He didn’t say what he said just to get fired. He wants the attention on him (and whether Democrats and liberals are traitors), because every minute it’s not on the Downing Street Memo/Minutes makes them older and less scintillating news.

Follow the real scandal, not the distraction.