The Mighty Wurlitzer

Robert Borosage writes in The American Prospect about what he calls "The Mighty Wurlitzer." This is a vivid description of the rightwing propaganda and smear machine.

"With all that ideological money, institutional heft, coordination, and credentialing, the right has perfected what the CIA used to call a "mighty Wurlitzer" -- a propaganda machine that can hone a fact or a lie, broadcast it, and have it echoed and recycled in Fox News commentary, in Washington Times news stories, in Wall Street Journal editorials, by myriad right-wing pundits, by Heritage seminars and briefing papers, and in congressional hearings and speeches."

This is exactly what we're seeing today. Who remembers the "Gore invented the internet" smear? That was a perfect example of how the RNC honed a lie, broadcast it, and got it echoed and recycled. These guys are a serious threat to our democracy, folks.

Why Are We in Iraq?

At an official US State Department website, there is a map and a list of "Countries Where al Qaeda Has Operated."

Iraq is not one of them.

It looks like Bush attacked the wrong country.

Republicans Are Serious

This cartoon says it all.

Military Ready for a Change

Bush may very well try again to prevent the military ballots from being counted. A report in the Christian Science Monitor indicates some pretty strident animosity toward Bush.

"Nobody I know wants Bush," says an enlisted soldier in Najaf, adding, "This whole war was based on lies." Like several others interviewed, his animosity centered on a belief that the war lacked a clear purpose even as it took a tremendous toll on US troops, many of whom are in Iraq involuntarily under "stop loss" orders that keep them in the service for months beyond their scheduled exit in order to keep units together during deployments.

The lack of a clear definition of why we're in Iraq is causing some serious grumbling among our soldiers. This could spell trouble for Bush come election day.

More on typewriters.

This is from Bush's "Chronological Listing of Service" which was released by the Bush White House. Notice the raised "th" in the second line. (Click on the image to see the full size.)

When Did Bush Quit Flying?

The Washington Post notes that Bush's story now doesn't match his story from 1999. Bush told us then that he continued flying for years with his unit. But the records show differently, and the White House has admitted as much.

The White House now says that Bush left Texas, where he was first assigned when he joined the Air National Guard, for Alabama in the spring of 1972 because his priorities changed and he wanted to work in the political campaign of a family friend, Winton "Red" Blount, who was running for the U.S. Senate.

But in his 1999 autobiography, Bush omits mention of his suspension from flight status and says only that "I continued flying with my unit for the next several years" after being turned down in 1970 for a program known as "Palace Alert" that might have taken him to Vietnam.

Bush should explain the evolving explanations regarding his alleged service.

Bush's Play Hardball

In an interview on NBC on September 13, Kitty Kelley had, among other things, this to say about the heat Sharon Bush is receiving over her recent revelations about Dubya.

"I feel sorry for Sharon Bush in a sense. And I have to tell you over that lunch, we knew the next day that Sharon was going to be frightened over this. She was hysterical at the time, and she said herself that Neil Bush left a message on her tape machine saying that if she didn't stop what she was doing she'd find herself in a dark alley."

Is anyone surprised the threat is so vile? After all, look at what they did to Valerie Plame.

Was Iraq a Threat

It might be a good time to look back at the build up to the war in Iraq. Remember the WMD's, mushroom clouds, tons and tons of chemical weapons, stockpiles of horrible weaponry that could be unleashed in 45 minutes? That was 2002 when Bush was in trouble domestically.



The economy was in a shambles; his approvals were down. But then they started talking up the threat posed by Iraq. In all of the discussions leading up to the war, though, I don't recall any reporter asking the Bush administration to explain these two statements given by top administration officials.

''But in terms of Saddam Hussein being there, let's remember that his country is divided, in effect. He does not control the northern part of his country. We are able to keep arms from him. His military forces have not been rebuilt.'' - Condoleeza Rice, July 29, 2001



The sanctions exist, "not for the purpose of hurting the Iraqi people, but for the purpose of keeping in check Saddam Hussein's ambitions toward developing weapons of mass destruction. . .That purpose is every bit as important now as it was ten years ago when we began it. And frankly they have worked. He has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors. So in effect, our policies have strengthened the security of the neighbors of Iraq..." - Secretary of State Colin Powell stating that sanctions had prevented Saddam from developing significant capability with respect to WMD; February, 2001. Source. US State Department

Is anyone ever going to ask them to explain how Saddam managed to rearm himself in the one short year following these statements by Rice and Powell?

Bush's Military Record

At the risk of belaboring a point, we come back to the matter of Bush's National Guard record. Retired Army Colonel Gerald A. Lechliter has compiled what might be the most comprehensive look so far at the details that can be mined from the February document dump by the Bush White House along with other public records. Here are the summary points from Lechliter's work entitled President George W. Bush’s Military Service: A Critical Analysis © 2004

The pay records released by the White House this past winter prove Bush received unauthorized, i.e., fraudulent, payments for inactive duty training, even if he did show up for duty.

The memorandum from Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Albert C. Lloyd, who affirmed for the White House that Bush met his retention/retirement year point requirement, is an obfuscation, or outright deception, that disregarded Bush’s failure to meet the statutory and regulatory fiscal year satisfactory participation requirement.

Bush’s superiors in the Texas Air National Guard failed to take required regulatory actions when Bushed missed required training and failed to take his flight physical.

Despite seemingly laudatory comments, Bush’s May 1972 officer performance report was a clear and unmistakable indication that his performance had declined from the annual 1971 report. The report was the kiss of death before he left for
Alabama that year.

Bush did not meet the requirements for satisfactory participation from 1972 to 1973.

This is important not so much because of what it tells us about Bush's character 30 plus years ago, but for what it tells us about his character now.

Verdict Is In: BUSH AWOL

The conservative leaning US News and World Report Has weighed in on the matter

"The U.S. News analysis also showed that during the final two years of his obligation, Bush did not comply with Air Force regulations that impose a time limit on making up missed drills. What's more, he apparently never made up five months of drills he missed in 1972, contrary to assertions by the administration."

More on Typewriters

This is a section of the CYA memo released by CBS. Look at the word "interference" in the second line. Look closely, and you will see that the second "e" rests above the baseline. Those of us who actually worked with typewriters know this sort of imperfection was a common occurence.



I don't know how we could duplicate this defect with MS Word. Do you?

Document Forgeries?

The Daily Kos has a quite interesting discussion of type faces, superscripts, fonts, proportional spacing, etc., here. Looks like indeed the documents CBS obtained could very well have been produced by typewriters existing at the time.

AWOL

The Annenberg Political Fact Check took a look at the available data back in February of 2004, and had this to say.

An additional witness came forward to say that he had seen Bush at the base. John W. “Bill” Calhoun was quoted by the Washington Post and others as saying he saw Bush sign in at the base eight to 10 times for about eight hours each from May to October 1972. However, as previously noted, there is record of Bush being paid for only two days of Guard service during that period, Oct. 28 and 29 1972. A White House spokesman could not offer an explanation for the discrepancy.

Furthermore, the Annenberg reports only that Bush was paid and credited for service - not that he actually did duty.

Art of Propaganda

Oh my! Not everyone is happy with the mess Bush has made of things!

''TALLAHASSEE - A thousand dead in Iraq. For what? History's highest budget deficit. For what? George W. Bush has been so reckless with America's lives, wealth and reputation and so stupendously incompetent and untrustworthy overall as to defy belief that anyone but Halliburton and the House of Saud would want him to be elected.''

Thanks to the St. Petersburg Times for this.

Broken Contract

The Glasgow Sunday Herald isn't afraid to tell the truth about Bush.

He broke his contract with the United States government – without any adverse consequences. And the Texas Air National Guard was complicit in allowing this to happen. He was a pilot. It cost the government a million dollars to train him to fly. So he should have been held to an even higher standard. - Col. Gerald A Lechliter, US Army (Ret)

If only the US media were more aggressive.

Honorable Discharge?

The rightwingers' defense of Bush's shirking his national guard duty boils down to the eternally repeated mantra, "But he was honorably discharged." Well, the fact of the matter is, an honorable discharge is pretty much the standard exit for just about everyone who enters military service whether it's active duty, the reserves, or a cushy champagne guard unit like Bush snuck his way into. As a matter of fact some pretty famous guard "vets" went AWOL and still got an honorable discharge.

"Current U.S. Representative Bobby Rush, a Democrat from Illinois, served in the army through the mid-1960s, becoming progressively more involved with radical antiwar groups. In 1968, after Martin Luther King's assassination, he went AWOL from his unit to help found the Illinois chapter of the Black Panthers. Weeks later, he was honorably discharged."

"John Allen Muhammad, convicted last November for his participation in the D.C. sniper shootings, served in the Louisiana National Guard from 1978-1985, where he faced two summary courts-martial. In 1983, he was charged with striking an officer, stealing a tape measure, and going AWOL. Sentenced to seven days in the brig, he received an honorable discharge in 1985."

Thanks to the folks at The New Republic.

Search for bin Laden

1) Bush declared that bin Laden was 'wanted: dead or alive'.

''I want justice,'' Bush said. ''And there's an old poster out West, I recall, that says, 'Wanted: Dead or Alive.' If he thinks he can hide and run from the USA he will be sorely mistaken.'' - Dubya Bush, September 2001 - - -

2) Bush changes his mind...

''I truly am not that concerned about him.'' - George W. Bush, March 13, 2002 - -

3) And of course, bin Laden was NEVER the goal...

“The goal has never been to get bin Laden.” - - General Richard Myers, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, on 6 April 2002. - -

Bush Vengeance

What would a second Bush term be like? Paul Begala tells us what to expect should Bush either be elected or reappointed.

If George W. Bush is given a second term, and retains a Republican Congress and a compliant federal judiciary, he and his allies are likely to embark on a campaign of political retribution the likes of which we haven't seen since Richard Nixon.



How do I know this? I'm from Texas. Again and again, I've seen Bush turn a blind eye as his henchmen have leveled zealous attacks against his political enemies--assaults which the president himself has sometimes directly encouraged. Perhaps most disturbing, the subjects of these attacks have often been longtime Bush allies who ended up on the president's enemies list for minor slights.

Interesting read on Bush. Washington Monthly asked a panel of 16 writers to give us their take.

Supercripts?

Don't believe typewriters could produce supercripts in 1972? Well, the fact is, Bush's own WH released military records show such a supercript on his Chronological Listing of Service. You can see it here.

It's a PDF file. Scroll to page 3. Then look at the 4Sep68 entry on the second line. Zoom 200% and look at where it says "111th" Fighter Interceptor Squadron." There's your superscript in the "111th."

Or, I've clipped the relevant portion and blown it up for you here.

Reasons to Vote for Bush

No WMD - - jobless recovery - - 3000 killed in WTC attack - - failed to capture bin Laden - - over 1000 killed in Iraq in a war of choice - - - loss of respect around the world - - record deficits - - more people losing their health insurance - - out sourcing of jobs - - scandal - - deceit



Why would anyone NOT vote for Bush?

Bush Flip Flops Again

Looks like Bush has flip-flopped again. The New York Times explains:

(9/9/04): President Bush said on Wednesday that he wanted to give a new national intelligence director “full budgetary authority,” a sharp shift from an earlier position and an acquiescence to a major recommendation of the Sept. 11 commission.

I wonder why it's Kerry and not Bush who's being cast by the media as the flipper?

Milestone

Today is the day that Bush got his one thousandth US service personnel killed in Iraq over WMD that Iraq no longer possesses.

Coke Buddies of Bush

Now this is an interesting concept. Go back and find buddies who actually served with Bush.

Since the alleged Swift Boat Veterans for Truth have an outlet to tell the "whole truth" about their association, or lack thereof, with John Kerry, we thought that George W. Bush's National Guard Buddies and others who shared a joint or snorted a track with "W" during the years in the 60's and 70's before he was "born Again" should have someplace to tell the truth. If you knew "W" in those years or have a question for those who did, please join our blog.

Oh, and you gotta love this pic.

Iraq Body Count

Looks like US troops have been hunkering down in Iraq. We were losing over 2 a day until September. Has Bush ordered them to the bunkers so he doesn't hit a thousand by election day?

Republicans for Kerry

Interesting website here. Some republicans are shying away from Bush it seems. Check out republicansforkerry.org.

''John Bugay of West Mifflin, Pa., near Pittsburgh, started a Republicans for Kerry Web site after his wife went to Iraq as a nurse [s.b. medic] in the Army Reserve. He said he became disillusioned when the weapons of mass destruction that Bush had cited were not found.''

I hope his wife makes it home safely.

Miller Flip-flops

At last night's hate fest, Miller had this to say about Senator John Kerry:

As a Senator, he voted to weaken our military.

But just three years ago, he had this to say about Kerry's record on strengthening the military.

John has worked to strengthen our military, reform public education, boost the economy and protect the environment.

Is this why he's known as "Zig-zag Miller"?

Hastert on Drugs

Dennis Hastert must have failed Econ 101. His recent smear against George Soros on Fox News Sunday proves that beyond doubt. The Speaker of the House, you've probably heard by now, came up with an unusual charge against George Soros, no doubt completely unrelated to Mr. Soros's efforts to upend the President's reelection hopes. Here are two gems from the show:

HASTERT: "You know, I don't know where George Soros gets his money. I don't know where—if it comes overseas or from drug groups or where it comes from.



WALLACE: Excuse me?"



HASTERT: "Well, that's what he's been for a number years—George Soros has been for legalizing drugs in this country. So, I mean, he's got a lot of ancillary interests out there."

Those of us who didn't sleep through introductory Econ know that the drug lords want to keep drugs illegal. That's what keeps the prices up. If drugs were legalized, prices would drop through the floor and the huge profits would disappear. Hastert's idiocy reveals his actual motive - perpetrating a second rate smear...

Zell Miller Praised Kerry

I haven't had a chance to read all of Miller's speech from last night's GOP Convention during which he tried to tear down Senator Kerry, but I've read other things Miller has had to say about John Kerry.

My job tonight is an easy one: to present to you one of this nation's authentic heroes, one of this party's best-known and greatest leaders



In his 16 years in the Senate, John Kerry has fought against government waste and worked hard to bring some accountability to Washington.



Early in his Senate career in 1986, John signed on to the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Deficit Reduction Bill, and he fought for balanced budgets before it was considered politically correct for Democrats to do so.



John has worked to strengthen our military, reform public education, boost the economy and protect the environment.

Is it just me, or does it sound like Miller thinks Kerry is on the right track on things like strong military, accountability, fiscal responsibility? Heck, he even goes so far as to call Kerry "one of this nation's authentic heroes." Was he lying when he said these things? Or was he lying last night?

Bush's Guard Days Back in the News

While the smear boat guys fronting for the Bush campaign have managed to divert attention from Bush's spotty "military" service, they haven't been able to completely erase questions about what Bush did during that mysterious time. Fortunately for us, Mary Jacoby, over at Salon is doing some real reporting. We need to see more on this.

The widow of a Bush family confidant says her husband gave the future president an Alabama Senate campaign job as a favor to his worried father. Did they see him do any National Guard service? "Good lord, no."

The impression I had was that Georgie was raising a lot of hell in Houston, getting in trouble and embarrassing the family, and they just really wanted to get him out of Houston and under Jimmy's wing," Allison's widow, Linda, told me. "And Jimmy said, 'Sure.'

Linda Allison's story, never before published, contradicts the Bush campaign's assertion that George W. Bush transferred from the Texas Air National Guard to the Alabama National Guard in 1972 because he received an irresistible offer to gain high-level experience on the campaign of Bush family friend Winton "Red" Blount. In fact, according to what Allison says her late husband told her, the younger Bush had become a political liability for his father, who was then the United States ambassador to the United Nations, and the family wanted him out of Texas. "I think they wanted someone they trusted to keep an eye on him," Linda Allison said.

As Linda Allison put it regarding Bush's failure to show up for duty with the Alabama Guard, "Can we all be lying?"

Terrorist Group Supports Bush

Thought you might find this interesting. Look who the people who claimed responsibility for the Madrid train bombing want to win the election.

The statement tells Americans that Abu Hafs al-Masri supports the re-election of President George W. Bush. "We are very keen that Bush does not lose the upcoming elections," it said.



Addressing Bush, it said: " We know that a heavyweight operation would destroy your government, and this is what we don't want. We are not going to find a bigger idiot than you."



The statement said Abu Hafs al-Masri needs what it called Bush's "idiocy and religious fanaticism" because they would "wake up" the Islamic world.

Bush's Hyprocrisy

In a speech before veterans, Bush criticized Kerry for allegedly reversing himself.

"Well, it takes a lot of imagination to come out against a position you took just 17 days earlier."

Interesting. It only took Bush one day to change his mind about the war on terror being winnable.

Cigar

Daddy with a cigar -- Mother's pic on his desk.

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