Hubris: Marketing the Iraq War

The worse in US History

The following hour long segment from last Monday Evening’s Rachel Maddow Show is an item worthy of archive. The television documentary is based on a book that Maddow will introduce minutes after starting the segment.

MSNBC has posted the documentary in six (6) parts. We are embedding the Introduction, Part 1 and Part 2. 

The documentary is good to say the least   As I watched I thought long and hard about a few things.  the easy one, Why not make a full two hour documentary. Apparently,  people are writing (social media)  they wanted much more, “It was too short.”  The interest speaks to the seriousness of the misguided US policy and I suspect the interest crosses political lines.  

Another area of concern, the length of time it took for some to speak openly and honestly.  Honestly?  As I watched Maddow’s opening remarks I felt someone had the smarts (probably the book authors) to open the work with comment about another time in US History when we were duped into war.  Lyndon Johnson and the Gulf of Tonkin Incident catapulted the US into Viet Nam and a resultant 55,000 dead US troops, hundreds of thousands maimed or disabled, and international embarrassment second to no other.  

While I knew that Colin Powell was actively involved in selling the war to the US public,  I assumed he was far more out of the know than the documentary shows.  He caved to pressure, went along with the charade and eventually resigned the office. A resignation during the run-up to the war would have provided me with a greater respect for the man.  He resigned after the deeds were done and well after no WMD was found in Iraq.  He knew the prospect of no WMD was a reality. 

The final concern, after watching the documentary, why no prosecutions. Why no investigation of authorization to commit torture?

We did not learn from the past via the Gulf of Tonkin, and we relived the past in Iraq.   

WATCH: ‘Hubris’ documentary

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow reports on how the Bush administration viewed the terrorist attacks of 9/11 as an opportunity to remove Saddam Hussein from power in part one of Hubris.     In addition to watching the full documentary, you can read more about the Bush administration’s marketing of a war they had already decided to wage; take a look at Rumsfeld’s secret documents; and read an interview with the co-author of “Hubris”: he talks about torture, secrets, and what we still don’t know.

Part 2:

View more Part 3:

So soon America forgets! Some of the very same characters who served Bush in Iraq were active in the Romney campaign. And, 47% of you voted Romney/Ryan.

Obama’s "Sequester"….Mantra and Sloganeering To The Uninformed

How many times since January, 2013 have you heard the following.

“…his sequester”
“Obama’s sequester”
“The Administration’s sequester”

You have heard it haven’t you? In fact, it seems to be a newly coined RNC/GOP talking point phrase.  The problem is, the majority of Americans are informed, avoid Fox News, and are not easily manipulated by slick GOP oratory.

First and foremost, if the Cantor, Boehner and McConnell obstructionist did not attempt to setback the nation via opposition to raising the Deb Ceiling (payments we already owed, not new debt), the word “sequester” may have been held for another day and another GOP induced fight.

The GOP trick of taking a “facilitation” word suggested by the White House, and twisting the word (they also accepted) into talking point mantras, is cheap, bush league (no pun intended)  and very much Andrew Breitbartish.

As I have frequently stated, one problem with Right-wing dogma manifest via supporting oratory is the Right has not grown to understand technology. There is a record of everything these days.  They also forget there is always a person who either will accept pay to ‘reveal’, or who will ‘do the right thing’ via revelation for other reasons. Ultimately, the GOP fails to realize the days of the Memo-graph machine and eight-track audio tape have long passed into history.

                 

The Daily Beast and Talking Points Memo are reporting a PowerPoint presentation John Boehner used in 2011 Boehner as he apparently worked to secure approval of an agreement with the White House, that, if I am correct, became known as the ‘sequester.”

An excerpt from the TPM piece.

PowerPoint Presentation Shows Boehner Selling The Sequester To His Members In 2011 SAHIL KAPUR FEBRUARY 20, 2013, 11:10 AM 

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio arrives to meet with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Although he now blames President Obama for the draconian spending cuts set to take effectMarch 1, just days before it passed House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) characterized the so-called sequester as a way to hold the president accountable.

A PowerPoint presentation that Boehner sent to his conference on July 31, 2011, obtained by The Daily Beast’s John Avlon, cast the sequester and the rest of the deal in favorable terms. The seven-slide PowerPoint was titled “Two-Step Approach To Hold President Obama Accountable” and the final slide made the case for sequestration.

 Click for all slides.

Within two days, the Budget Control Act — a debt limit hike, a wave of nearly $1 trillion in spending cuts, and the sequester — was overwhelmingly passed by Congress and signed into law by Obama. “When you look at this final agreement that we came to with the White House, I got 98 percent of what I wanted,” Boehner told CBS News at the time. “I’m pretty happy.”

Read more

“Used with permission from the TPM websites, a service of TPM Media LLC.” All rights not expressly granted herein are hereby reserved.

Of course, a member of Boehner’s staff addressed the presentation as having no significance regarding use of the word sequester.  As stated above the GOP is ‘word-smithing’ the issue. Their actions may entertain their supporters and contribute to solace in the scope of their obstruction, but the acts are counter-productive and surreptitious.  

Now, take a second or two and look at another example of archived information.  http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll677.xml

Mario Piperni: Captures Herman Cain On Fox

Within the past 30 minutes,  I have confirmed it is impossible to type or keyboarding you prefer while gut rolling laughing.   After receiving an email notification that our “friend” Mario Piperni posted a new piece, I clicked over to mariopipernidotcom. 

Clicking over to the web page led to immediate laughter.  (See below).  After the visual, read the piece and after reading the piece, get the full impact of Mario’s piece with the Fox Entertainment and Propaganda Network’s O’Reilly running “setup” man for Herman Cain lunacy.  

Herman Cain’s Idiot Quote of the Day

This is rich. No other than Mr. Ignoramus, the pizza man himself, Herman Cain, tried to make the case on Fox News that the reason that President Obama won reelection was because 51 percent of the population is severely ignorant. Which 51 percent is that? Well, the 51 percent that voted for Barack Obama in 2012 of course.

“We have a severe ignorance problem with the people who are so mesmerized by his [Obama’s] popularity that they’re not looking at the facts. Martin Luther King Jr. said fifty years ago in 1963 something that is so appropriate to today, “There is nothing more dangerous than serious ignorance”, and that’s what we have and he [Obama] gets away with it…”.

When Fox got rid of Sarah Palin and Dick Morris, there was hope by some that Roger Ailes had finally come to understand that stupid talk by uninformed ‘analysts’ was not the way to go in this new age of Obama. Sure they still had Hannity and O’Reilly and Doocy and Guilfoyle and Bolling and Gutfeld and Tantaros and Varney and many, many more to breathe life into the hermetically sealed Bubble of Ignorance that many on the right call home…but hey, they fired Palin. That was a start to saner times for Fox, wasn’t it?

Apparently not because they turned right around and hired a person who could very well be the dumbest, least informed, most shameless political figure to ever take a stab at the White House – Herman Cain. Herman Freakin’ Cain! Can you believe that?

The man who said, “…when they ask me who is the president of Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan I’m going to say, you know, I don’t know” will now be educating Fox News viewers on foreign policy.

The guy who quoted Pokemon, “A poet once said, ‘Life can be a challenge, life can seem impossible, but it’s never easy when there’s so much on the line‘”, at a Republican presidential debate will be doing deep political analysis on the major issues of the day and Fox viewers will be none the wiser. They’ll be told stuff by a know-nothing doofus and they’ll take in every word as if it were the gospel truth because…well, because they’re Fox viewers and that is what they do.

So for all of you who wouldn’t waste a second of your time watching Fox but would love to recapture some of those crazy magical moments of sheer stupidity from the Republican primary…here’s a little Herman Cain. Enjoy.

___

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North Carolina Leads The Nation In Shame!

North Carolina Governor and GOP legislature show exactly why voters should be aware. They cut unemployment payments!!!

One might think voters in the US South will one day realize the serious social errors in their ways.  They consistently vote for candidates who clearly value ‘business’ over the rights and well-being of human constituents.  Many southern voters are fully socially paradigm (ed) and delivered as reliably ‘in the bag for the GOP. Factually speaking, the GOP need not deploy their General Election “southern strategy” across those “in the bag states.” The  strategy serves to frighten and fire-up borderline voters who might dare vote Democratic.  The strategy is easily and regularly enacted via commonly used ‘code’ and dog-whistles (e.g. welfare, urban, BLAH people, et al).  

A quick look at a far-right wing militia web page shows the potential for well orchestrated GOP campaign strategy. I  state before posting,  the site developers must have tracked deeply into 2012 Karl Rove, Dick Morris and the Rassmussen and Gallup polling.

Romney projected to win 320 electoral votes to 218. OOOOOPS!

AAAH!!!!

Fortunately, and with exception for Texas, blue states are those with the highest levels of population.  Thus, states with more voters. 

State elections, however, are fertile ground for all things conservative; even in blue states.  While North Carolina is far from consideration as a blue state, it falls squarely in the Southern voting belt.  The state has a long history of Democratic Governors and actually shares very little social connection with its neighbor state: South Carolina. The newly elected Governor of North Carolina has taken a Draconian step that will surely drive the state to consideration of gubernatorial return to the Democratic Party. 

Governor Pat McCrory signed his second piece of legislation since winning the gubernatorial seat in last fall elections.  The unfortunate unemployed in North Carolina will effective July, 1, receive moderately less life-sustaining unemployment payments. 

Huffington Post

Pat McCrory, North Carolina GOP Governor, Signs Law Slashing Unemployment Benefits

Excerpts

(signed into law)…..a measure that will cut benefits for jobless workers by about one-third and reduce how long they can collect any aid in a state with the fifth-highest unemployment rate in the country.  

The Republican governor said the legislation, the second bill he has signed since taking office at the start of the year, marked an important step toward fixing the state’s unemployment insurance system.  

The overhaul will allow North Carolina to repay $2.5 billion borrowed from the federal government for unemployment benefits at a quicker pace.  

The law, which takes effect on July 1, cuts maximum weekly benefits to $350 from $535 and caps benefits at 12 to 20 weeks, depending on the unemployment rate, instead of the current 26 weeks.  

McCrory said the measure “will protect our small businesses from continued over-taxation, ensure our citizens’ unemployment safety net is secure and financially sound for future generations, and help provide an economic climate that allows job creators to start hiring again.”

Read critics reaction     

We find the governor’s actions reprehensible with full recognition the legislation moved to his office from state legislators. We realize such and anticipated the results posted below.

Wikipedia 

2013–2014 composition

See also: Category:North Carolina General Assembly by session

Affiliation	Party (Shading indicates majority caucus)			Total
	Democratic	Republican	Ind.		Vacant
End of Previous Legislature	52	68	0	120	0
Begin	43	77	0	120	0
Latest voting share	35.8%	64.2%

[edit]Officers

North Carolina House Officers
Position	Name	Party
Speaker	Thom Tillis	Republican
Speaker pro tempore	Paul Stam	Republican
Majority Leader	Edgar V. Starnes	Republican
Majority Whip	Mike Hager	Republican
Deputy Majority Whips	Pat McElraft	Republican
	James L. Boles, Jr.	Republican
Republican Conference Leader	Ruth Samuelson	Republican
Republican Freshman Leader	Rick Catlin	Republican
Republican Freshman Whip	Dean Arp	Republican
Minority Leader	Larry D. Hall	Democratic
Deputy Minority Leader	Michael Wray	Democratic
Minority Whips	Winkie Wilkins	Democratic
	Susan C. Fisher	Democratic
	Rosa Gill	Democratic
	Deborah K. Ross	Democratic
	Marvin Lucas	Democratic

MSNBC, The Ed Show

The GOP is the party of the South. Despite a long history of Democratic Governors , the new law is indicative of what takes place when citizens make the grievous mistake of turning certain governmental bodies over to the GOP. 

The Governor and his GOP legislature have taken steps as “friends of business” at the expense of people who actually cast voters. Alas, I am remiss. Businesses pay taxes (hopefully), and due to Citizens United contribute to political campaigns. 

I also recall significant American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) work in the state and I recall reports of the Koch Brothers meddling in one North Carolina Education System. The “meddling” had a side effect that resulted in potential or actual school segregation Why would two of the nation’s wealthiest conservative libertarians have so much interest in North Carolina. 

I could speculate the Kochs and ALEC have been successful in North Carolina. Has North Carolina been converted to a reliable GOP Red State?

As Ed Schultz stated, “this is what you voted for North Carolina”. 

John McCain Cruising Towards His "Bucketlist"

Reserved for John McCain

When will John McCain take off his “Sunday (news shows) best face”, tuck it away,  and give up on the US Senate.  The elder statesman is far beyond the level of legislative competence while becoming a personal “hatchet man.” A more relevant analogy is that of an old battle-scarred T-Rex, toothlessly nub-chewing his way through issue after issue with an  “I AM VINDICTIVE” banner across his forehead.

Take a look at a popular Facebook meme. After the quick meme view, give David Gregory and McCain a few minutes via a Meet The Press video from this past Sunday.

I believe both McCain and Lindsey Graham occupied Senate seats throughout the course of  Bush’s Years of Escapades.

The following Meet the Press video is 10:00 minutes long. A bit long,  but the ebb and flow of the ten minutes illustrates the typically erratic Jon McCain.

Now, take a quick look and listen to McCain leveling a good degree of angst towards Chuck Hagel.  If you watch carefully, McCain spoke of his ‘affinity for the surge” yet again.  The effectiveness of the surge is still being debated and the Iraqi people overwhelmingly believe the surge made conditions of their lives worse. Shouldn’t the Iraqi people count for something! Also, the surge was accompanied the the loss of 1,000 US Troops and financial payments directly to Muqtada al-Sadr (to hold-off his fighters).    Despite Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign declaration the surge was an overwhelming success, it was a failure.  ://youtu.be/2BqAT3mRhhU

The ultimate admission of silliness, childishness, and grudge mongering from the Jurassic McCain.   http://youtu.be/bzqT7VrbFBw

There comes a time when one must realize they are far passed the point of focused effectiveness.   John McCain would have been much better off to avoid the admission of a grudge laden revenge attack on nominee Hagel.  His actions exemplifies the extent to which the GOP has moved to a party of evil naysayers’ vs. the former countering force against an alleged (too)  liberal democratic party. And, his actions reminds of the little boy who grew angry because a girl beat him in a game of marbles.