June 13, 2004, And now On With The Opera
Kamal al-Jarah, an official of the interim Iraqi Education Ministry, was killed today along with a dozen others in Baghdad. It seems that insurgents are looking to knock off at least one official from each ministry of the new government before the June 30th (meaningless and fraudulent) "sovereignty" transfer date. This reminds me of the loathsome Grover Norquist's plans to name something after the late Ronald Reagan in each of America's 3,000 plus counties-- a project Reagan himself opposed!
Why the segue? EXACTLY! The Reagan love-fest is over now: the 40th President has been laid to rest, his son Ron, Jr., apparently, having taken a subtle swipe at the "anointed by God" regime now running amok both in Baghdad and Washington. That means we have to go back to the business at hand: failure in Iraq (including ongoing deaths of American troops and continued extensions of tours of duty of those unfortunate enough to be in Iraq), neo-con sponsored treason by Chalabi, state-sanctioned Federalist Society drafted treason (there's no other way to describe the torture memo-- just think what it will now mean for soldiers captured in the field), the outing of Valerie Plame (more treason), and even as our economy shows signs of rebounding, no one cares! Its amazing: the economy is growing a not spectacular but respectable 250,000 to 300,000 jobs a month (and picking up), the stock market is holding... of course, interest rates and petroleum product prices are on their way... to the moon, Alice! to the moon!
Hence, polling shows that most Americans give Bush severely bad marks... on the economy! As Poppy got nailed for a soft economy despite a military "success", Dubya may get the benefit of decent economic news being wiped out by foreign policy debacle. (Those of you who, btw, felt I was saying "nice things" about Poppy, please don't read too much into that.)
For those of you who will criticize Kerry's low profile, let me just say: when the other side is self-destructing-- get out of its way. No one could have anticipated that the meltdown would accelerate and still be going at this point-- and let's face it, there's lots more meltdown to come. Kerry will eventually show his face; he has some interesting positions-- certainly, different from Bush, and we could certainly expect serious changes if(?)/WHEN! he is elected.
While I agree that history means shit (never before has the American media been in as few hands, nor its public ever been as zombified), but let's face it: the elements of a one-termer are all in place. Just over 4 1/2 months to go... an eternity... but, for the Bush Administration, it seems to be an eternity that keeps getting longer...
Comments
RE: Kerry policy
It's amazing to think of now, but only six months ago I'd never heard that oft-cited "First rule of holes: stop digging" phrase. Now I even use it myself.
Posted by Linkmeister at June 13, 2004 01:56 PM
TD....Not only interest rates and petroleum....Know anyone in manufacturing? Ask how their steel prices are holding....30-60% increases across the board depending on your purchasing power/leverage. The 'booming' economy is relative as always, and in keeping with everything Dubya has touched from the environment to women's rights etc., the recovery will be painful for those who need it the most.
Posted by alicia at June 13, 2004 07:19 PM
Short answer: it took us pretty much until the late '90's to pay for the Reagan free lunch party. I shudder to think how long it will take us to pay for the Bush party-- and the worst part, the Reagan party really was open to just about everyone; the Bush party reminds one of those awful discos with the bouncer at the rope letting in only the "in" crowd.
The American people are amazing: we just WANT to believe in Santa Claus. The preposterous lie that somehow LOWERING taxes will increase revenue, so what the hell-- we can lower taxes AND spend more-- never ceases to be successful. Honestly-- Bush will likely run on it AGAIN-- and it will be popular! (It won't be ENOUGH of course; I repeat-- in the state by state counts, he is getting killed-- but don't lose sleep waiting for our "fair and balanced" media to tell you-- so I will.)
Remember what we're talking about: the top Clinton marginal tax rate was something like 39.5% of income; the top Bush marginal rate is around 34%. That 5 or 6%-- which only kicks in at the top bracket, which IIRC means you're ALREADY earning in the 60 or 70 thousand range-- literally pays for the government over the course of time. THAT is the entire deficit -- that's it! 5 or 6% of income ONLY over that level-- which can STILL be reduced by
itemized deductions and the other tax gimmicks. But thanks to the Chimp and a compliant Congress, its gone for a while.
Throw in, say, the .5 - 1% of revenue generated from the about to be phased out estate tax that ONLY multimillionaires paid, and you start to see why we have deficit problems FOREVER.
Even I will tell you that Al Gore would have immediately faced both a recession and a hostile Congress. HOWEVER-- under the prior tax rates, as soon as the recovery was back in gear, we would run a surplus again. With the Bush plan, we run deficits in good times, deficits in bad times... deficits, deficits, deficits, until eventually our friends in Beijing and Tokyo decide they've had enough, at which point and stop buying our funny paper...
You get the idea... STOP &^%$%ing DIGGING!
Posted by the talking dog at June 13, 2004 08:41 PM
I like your analysis TD about Kerry sitting back and letting the other side self destruct. As you know, I take great pains to try to look at and write about things on both sides but you truly see very little positive news about the Bush administration right now. It is an administration under fire literally and figuratively. I was just watching Ronald Reagan on a Larry King Re-run (the young Larry King looked like a Saturday Night LIve comedian doing Larry King). You can't but listen to and watch him and, even if you don't totally agree with him, get some sense of optimism, reassurance...an anchor. I don't sense that with this group that seems angry and accusatory. I like to see evenly matched teams, though, and I wonder if this is relatively low Kerry profile (even when he is out campaigning) is a strategy or just indicative of the candidate not getting anyone excited about him.
I don't think it's a slam dunk for either side...but the Demmis have an opportunity. Will they make the most of it? And who does the new JFK pick as a veep? Edwards would add the most charisma and as the comments about Reagan showed, charisma and image is now a vital part of politics since it helps get the message across. Kerry's biggest mistake would be Dick Gephardt; if he does that the election is over before it started.
Posted by Joe Gandelman at June 14, 2004 01:34 AM
Joe--
Let me go further: if Kerry picks Dick Gephardt as veep, I will probably not vote for him. How about THAT? (I'm in a blue state anyway... but Gephardt is just about the only thing Kerry could do to get me to vote for Nader, but I would strongly consider doing so should he stoop to Gephardt.) And I agree-- its probably one of the few things that could get Bush a second term at this point (short of some miraculous turnaround in news and views I'm not seeing). Kerry doesn't have to try too hard now-- and frankly, why SHOULD he make any news? He'll just be attacked anyway... Its a really bad strategy on the part of the Bush-Cheney team, however, not to try to simultaneously tell us why THEY should be reelected, instead of why Kerry shouldn't.
Kerry doesn't have to say a word: Iraq, Abu Ghraib, Plame, Chalabi, humongous deficits, job losses only countered in the last few months-- all do his speaking for him. Bush (IMHO) has to take this head-on, and say: lookit-- we have problems-- but I KNOW you're all happy how I'm handling the terrorism thing, and you KNOW how worried you are-- so vote for your strong leader again.
Instead, he refuses to acknowledge that there ARE problems-- anywhere, or that he is the least bit fallible. In short, he's going to be wearing the Al Gore smug, aloof, and probably rude tag, this round.
(BTW--The correct answer in the veepstakes: some guy from Virginia... Is Chuck Robb still around? I think its another name, though...)
The McCain dance goes on, but Kerrye may be setting up to cross over with Chuck Hagel of Nebraska-- yet ANOTHER Vietnam hero and respectable Republican.-- Just kidding. Its the Dem from VA.
I like Edwards-- a lot. He was my first choice for the nomination, followed closely by Dean, followed in turn by Clark... so you kind of know where I stand. At this point, though, I don't believe Edwards will help Kerry carry anything-- and Edwards is virtually as liberal as Kerry is.
He needs a moderate-- the guy from Virginia (guesses?) fits that. As does Evan Bayh, especially John Breaux, or Bob Graham if and only if he delivers Florida (but if he does-- I would pick him, no further questions.)
I do get the feeling that this business of Bush stonewalling as usual is not sitting well with more and more people...
And, Joe, you're Reagan point is exactly right: Reagan was an extraordinary man of unbelievable charm and charisma (some disagree-- but the 49-state win popularity speaks for itself). I get the feeling that people liked HIM so much, they put up with policies that if they thought about, they would otherwise oppose. Dubya represents the same unpopular policies (to another level, if possible), without one ounce of the charm. Hard to see how that will play well a second time.
Posted by the talking dog at June 14, 2004 12:29 PM
Reagan is buried, but not gone. Plans are in the works for a new cable network to be called: Dead Reagan TV. Dead Reagan TV will be all Dead Reagan all the time. Among the brilliant innovations will be a constant tiny window in the upper right portion of the screen with a constant picture from inside Dead Reagan's casket. You'll get to watch Dead Reagan decompose through eternity. Yes, he's back, tanned, rested, and ready to run.
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WCL--
As soon as MY cable company offers it, I know I'LL be signing up...
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