Category: Republicans

Woodward reports Ford Opposed Iraq War

Gerald Ford SeatedThanks to Ron Chusid for drawing our attention to this story from Bob Woodward at The Washington Post:

Former president Gerald R. Ford said in an embargoed interview in July 2004 that the Iraq war was not justified. “I don’t think I would have gone to war,” he said a little more than a year after President Bush launched the invasion advocated and carried out by prominent veterans of Ford’s own administration.

Ford was definitive in his disagreement with the current administration. Ford stipulated that he would have pursued alternative courses of action, like sanctions, much more vigorously than Bush did.

“Rumsfeld and Cheney and the president made a big mistake in justifying going into the war in Iraq. They put the emphasis on weapons of mass destruction,” Ford said. “And now, I’ve never publicly said I thought they made a mistake, but I felt very strongly it was an error in how they should justify what they were going to do.”

And he made it clear that war was not chosen as a last resort, nor did he believe for an instant the lines about spreading democracy or protecting our national security:

“Well, I can understand the theory of wanting to free people,” Ford said, referring to Bush’s assertion that the United States has a “duty to free people.” But the former president said he was skeptical “whether you can detach that from the obligation number one, of what’s in our national interest.” He added: “And I just don’t think we should go hellfire damnation around the globe freeing people, unless it is directly related to our own national security.”

Our hope is that this just adds fuel to the fires already burning in the middle and the left, and that the right begins to fume as well. There must be more on the right besides Gerald Ford who disagree with the current policies.? Enough is enough.


I miss Gerald Ford

President Gerald Ford

I miss Gerald Ford.

When Ford was president, the world was still largely black and white. I’m not engaging in whimsy, longing for those golden days of yesteryear. Nah. Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.

What I mean by black and white is that, literally, the world was reported in black and white. My newspapers were printed in black and white. And Gerald Ford appeared on my television in black and white. He did bring us to the precipice of the world of color, however. The day after he was sworn in as president, the Pittsburgh Press (Defunctus est, R.I.P.) printed his picture in color on page one. That’s the first color image I remember on the cover of a newspaper. Ever.

But, the next day, the world was back to black and white.

I know that pardoning Richard Nixon was controversial. I know I too felt betrayed that Nixon was let off so easy. But I don’t agree with these guys that Nixon’s pardon had some ill-effect on the possible impeachment of George W. Bush:

If we look at the remainder of the 1970’s it is certainly possible that the country was calmer than if faced with the trial and possible imprisonment of a former President. However it is not the 1970’s I am concerned about now but the present. The pardon established a terrible precedent that the President is above the law and should not be punished for crimes because it would be too hard on the country.

No, I disagree that that action had such an adverse effect on any possible action against W. If Congress can go after a man for lying about a blowjob and some quick cigar foreplay (who thinks of these things?), then Congress can go after a man for lying about a war.

I disagree with the presumption of some that because we’re on the left, we’re supposed to attack those on the other side of the aisle at all costs. Ford had some redeeming qualities. At the very least, he was great for Chevy Chase. I’ll never forget Chase decorating that Christmas tree on SNL, and falling headfirst into it.

“Live! From New York!…”

But what I most admire Gerald Ford for is his ability to change. I admire his ability to speak out when his party was drifting so radically to the right in recent years. Consider this story published yesterday in eNews Park Forest:

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Mourns Death of Gerald R. Ford

WASHINGTON, Dec. 27–(ENEWSPF)– The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force mourns the death of former President Gerald R. Ford, who died Tuesday at the age of 93.

Statement by Matt Foreman,
Executive Director National Gay and Lesbian Task Force:

“We mourn the death of former President Gerald R. Ford, a good, decent and principled leader. Because he espoused true conservative values, he consistently advocated for the rights of individuals and condemned those who sought to impose conformity of thought and behavior. These beliefs led him to support women’s rights and to publicly support federal legislation to prohibit anti-gay discrimination in employment. When, in 2001, he said, ‘I think they [same-sex couples] should be treated equally. Period,’ he became the highest-ranking Republican ever to publicly support equal treatment for our families.

“In recent years, he decried the growing coarseness of American politics and called for bipartisan solutions to our nation’s problems, something he always sought while in office.

“We express our condolences to Mrs. Ford, his children and other members of his family and to all who knew and loved him.”

That took chutzpah. That took spunk.

Hell, that took balls. “W” stuffed his crotch and declared victory in Iraq. Phony message. Phony balls. Congress needs ’em some now.

I miss Gerald Ford.


Gingrich Freely Calls for Restrictions on Free Speech

Newt Gingrich, exercising his rights as an American, called out for less free speech for the rest of us:

“We need to get ahead of the curve rather than wait until we actually literally lose a city, which I think could literally happen in the next decade if we’re unfortunate,” Mr. Gingrich said Monday night during a speech in New Hampshire. “We now should be impaneling people to look seriously at a level of supervision that we would never dream of if it weren’t for the scale of the threat.”

Speaking at an award dinner billed as a tribute to crusaders for the First Amendment, Mr. Gingrich, who is considering a run for the White House in 2008, painted an ominous picture of the dangers facing America.

“This is a serious, long-term war,” the former speaker said, according an audio excerpt of his remarks made available yesterday by his office. “Either before we lose a city or, if we are truly stupid, after we lose a city, we will adopt rules of engagement that use every technology we can find to break up their capacity to use the Internet, to break up their capacity to use free speech, and to go after people who want to kill us to stop them from recruiting people.”

Let freedom ring.


The Cost of War

As of this writing, 2,874 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq.? Total non-mortal casualties, all service branches, is at 46,137.

There have been between 47,781 and 53,014 Civilians reported killed by military intervention in Iraq.

In dollars, the cost of the war in Iraq is $345.28 billion dollars.

Total number of Weapons of Mass Destruction found in Iraq: 0.


Rumsfeld okayed Abu Graib abuses

Reuters reported on Saturday that outgoing U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld authorised the mistreatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, the prison’s former U.S. commander said in an interview on Saturday.

Former U.S. Army Brigadier General Janis Karpinski told Spain’s El Pais newspaper she had seen a letter apparently signed by Rumsfeld which allowed civilian contractors to use techniques such as sleep deprivation during interrogation.

Karpinski, who ran the prison until early 2004, said she saw a memorandum signed by Rumsfeld detailing the use of harsh interrogation methods. “The handwritten signature was above his printed name and in the same handwriting in the margin was written: “Make sure this is accomplished”,” she told Saturday’s El Pais.


Dobson Sounding Haggard

Dr. James DobsonMega-Christian James Dobson, one of the saved, said this week that he ‘doesn’t have time’ to be on the panel of Christian experts involved in working to restore disgraced preacher Ted Haggard. Dobson is the founder and chairman of Focus on the Family. Dobson said in a prepared statement:

“It is with great regret – and after much prayer and discussion with friends and family – that I have had to reconsider my involvement in the panel overseeing Ted’s restoration. Emotionally and spiritually, I wanted to be of help, but the reality is I don’t have the time to devote to such a critical responsibility. Ted and his family will be better served by someone whose energies and attention are not tugged on in quite so many directions.”All of us at Focus on the Family will continue to pray for Ted and Gayle and their children. I certainly hope to speak with him – friend to friend – as he moves forward. And I believe if he and his loved ones follow the counsel of Godly mentors and cooperate with the therapeutic process, their best days are ahead.”

The team plans to get Haggard into a program with psychologists and church experts on sexual issues.

Well, that should be fun.

Dobson’s too busy fuming about the elections this week. Quoth he:

“Laura Ingraham said it best. When Congressional Republicans wait until the First of October to begin reaching out to their base, they are destined to lose. That was the GOP’s downfall. They consistently ignored the constituency that put them in power until it was late in the game, and then frantically tried to catch up at the last minute. In 2004, conservative voters handed them a 10-seat majority in the Senate and a 29-seat edge in the House. And what did they do with their power? Very little that Values Voters care about.

“Many of my colleagues saw this coming. I said in an interview with U.S. News and World Report shortly after the 2004 elections, “If Republicans in the White House and in Congress squander this opportunity, I believe they will pay a price for it in four years—or maybe in two.” Sadly for conservatives, that in large measure explains what happened on Tuesday night. Many of the Values Voters of ’04 simply stayed at home this year.

Must be tough to be so right all the time.


Hastert Set to Resign from Congress?

House Speaker Dennis Hastert

Rumor has it from some very well-placed sources in the 14th district in Illinois that House Speaker Dennis Hastert plans to resign from the United States Congress soon. If he does so within the next 9 months, a special primary will be held, and the Democrats will have another chance to take the district.

John Laesch has already been told that he will not be the man.

And the Associated Press reports that Democrats now have complete control of the United States Congress. Webb has won in Virginia.

The sun also rises.

Donkey in the sun

Cheney Defiant

Dick CheneyIn an appearance this morning on ABC News This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Vice-President Dick Cheney was quick to mention 9/11, the War on Terror, and gave strong indication of how he would relate to a Democratic-controlled Congress. If served a subpoena, he would refuse to comply.

Cheney said the administration is moving “full speed ahead” with its policy on the war in Iraq.

“We’ve got the basic strategy right,” Cheney told George Stephanopoulos in an interview that was broadcast Sunday on “This Week.”

ABC News reports on the most recent ABC News/Washington Post poll which shows 57 percent of Americans said that the war was not worth fighting. The poll also showed President Bush’s job approval rating dropped to 37 percent, the second-lowest mark of his presidency.

Cheney said that even with most pollsters predicting that Democrats would gain seats in both houses of Congress, voter sentiment would not influence Bush’s Iraq policy.

“It may not be popular with the public — it doesn’t matter in the sense that we have to continue the mission and do what we think is right. And that’s exactly what we’re doing,” Cheney said. “We’re not running for office. We’re doing what we think is right.”

Dick Cheney: staying the course.


Kerry Apologizes. Boehner pulls, well…, a Boehner

John Kerry apologized today for his “botched joke” today. All that fuss because he left out the word “us” from his planned speech:

I can’t overstress the importance of a great education. Do you know where you end up if you don’t study, if you aren’t smart, if you’re intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq.”

That was the planned statement, and he’s said it many times in previous speeches. This time, however, he botched it.

U.S. Newswire reports that Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid released the following statement on House Majority Leader John Boehner’s decision to blame the troops for Republican failures in Iraq.

“John Boehner ought to be ashamed. He’s blaming our troops for failures in Iraq. If he wants to cast blame, he can start by looking in the mirror because he and his Congressional Republican colleagues have rubberstamped the Bush Administration’s failed policy for nearly four years. Our troops in Iraq have performed bravely. It’s political leaders like Congressman Boehner and Donald Rumsfeld, who have failed. I expect President Bush and Congressional Republicans, who demanded John Kerry apologize, hold their own party’s majority leader to a much higher standard. There’s no spinning his disparaging comments. He made them. He needs to apologize.”

The remarks?

House Majority Leader John Boehner: Wolf, I understand that, but let’s not blame what’s happening in Iraq on Rumsfeld.

Wolf Blitzer: But he’s in charge of the military.

House Majority Leader John Boehner: But the fact is the generals on the ground are in charge and he works closely with them and the president.

Boehner should be House Majority Leader for a few more days. After that, well, let’s see what happens Tuesday.

In the meantime, since Republicans are always poised to “Swift boat” Democrats for every grammatical error, let’s not forget the education president, father of No Child Left Behind, and enjoy these priceless gems from U.S. Commander in Chief, the POTUS himself, George W. Bush:

“Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.”

George Bush at signing of defense appropriations bill, August 5, 2004

“I mean, if you’ve ever been a governor of a state, you understand the vast potential of broadband technology, you understand how hard it is to make sure that physics, for example, is taught in every classroom in the state. It’s difficult to do. It’s, like, cost-prohibitive.”

Washington, D.C., June 24, 2004

“I’m honored to shake the hand of a brave Iraqi citizen who had his hand cut off by Saddam Hussein.”

Washington, D.C., May 25, 2004

“The illiteracy level of our children are appalling.”

Washington, D.C., Jan. 23, 2004

And, perhaps the greatest testimony to his presidency:

“I’m the master of low expectations.”

Aboard Air Force One, June 4, 2003

What a country.


Judges Contribute to GOP

Salon.com reports that at least two dozen federal judges appointed by President Bush since 2001 made political contributions to key Republicans or to the president himself while under consideration for their judgeships, government records show. A four month study by the Center for Investigative Reporting finds that 6 appellate court judges and 18 district court judges contributed a total of $44,000 to pols who were influential in their appointments.

The entire report is very revealing:

CIR’s investigation analyzed the campaign contributions of 249 judges who were appointed by President Bush to U.S. District and Circuit courts around the country. While some judges did not give contributions at all in the years leading up to their appointments, others continued to make political donations while their nominations were pending in the Senate.

There are no laws forbidding such contributions. The official Code of Conduct for United States Judges does prohibit political contributions by sitting federal judges.? It does not address donations made by judicial candidates seeking appointment.? However, it can certainly appear unethical.