Rush Limbaugh writes an Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal that is critical of Woodward, and Woodward's latest book. It's mostly hogwash, as you might expect. But this line caught our attention:
As for some of Mr. Woodward's observations about the president's intelligence, his supposed misapplication of funds for military preparations against Iraq, his personal relationship with God, etc. -- how elitist!
It's now "elitist" to simply make "observations" about Bush. It used to be elitist to look down on somebody for a particular trait. But now the standard - according to Limbaugh - has changed. Simply observing is problematical. Of course, the logical extension of that is to say that observing anything about the world is "elitist". So why bother with the news at all? Don't think at all. Just do what you're told (by the right-wing radio folks).
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A man who served in the same Navy unit as Sen. John Kerry denounced on Tuesday charges the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee made as an antiwar protester that he and other U.S. troops committed atrocities in Vietnam.
"I saw some war heroes ... John Kerry is not a war hero," said John O'Neill, a Houston lawyer who joined the Navy's Coastal Division 11 two months after the future senator left Vietnam. "He couldn't tie the shoes of some of the people in Coastal Division 11."
[...]
But O'Neill said Tuesday that he and the others who served with Kerry -- who "would much rather have nothing to do with this" -- feel they have "no choice" but to come forward, which he said would dispel the notion that Vietnam veterans as a group are supportive of Kerry's candidacy.
"We were there, we know the truth, and we know that this guy's unfit to be commander-in-chief," said O'Neill, who took over command of Kerry's boat after he left.
Can CNN now find people who served in Bush's Texas Air National Guard after Bush left it. People who will blast Bush as being "unfit to be commander-in-chief"?
Expect light blogging this week. Basically, after all we've heard in the last several weeks (poor SotU, O'Neill book, go/no-go Mars mission, absurd WMD commission, Clarke book, 9/11 commission, Iraq, unimpressive press conference, endorsement of Sharon plan, Woodward book, Bush acting as a proxy for The Almighty, his casual acceptance of Saudi election meddling, Negroponte, miscellaneous scandals) the fact that Bush has approval numbers anywhere north of 35% is hard to accept.
What's the point in examining the record if the public is so out of touch with reality?
We'll probably catch our breath and post with renewed vigor, but for this week at least, we're taking it easy.
NOTE: After posting, we read TPM which commented on a similar theme.
If I could capture the mood in a sentence, it is, "If this doesn't sink the guy, nothing will."
Josh Marshall then goes on to suggest that Bush's ad campaign is helping him out. Could be. If so, that doesn't bode well for democracy in America.
Mr. Bush told Mr. Woodward that he did not ask the secretary's opinion on whether to go to war because he thought he knew what that opinion would be: "no."
So much for consulting the highest-ranking cabinet member. Even if the expected answer is "no", one would expect (as Paul O'Neill did) the president to at least hear different perspectives on policy. And especially on a policy choice as serious as war.
But this is nothing new with Bush. A man proud of the fact he doesn't read newspapers. He gets all is objective information from Card and Rice. Why bother with the Secretary of State?
We had a picture of Cheney holding a big rifle while a couple of officials from the NRA look on. But this was a copyrighted AP image, and we felt it was improper to reproduce it here. While the link still works, you can see the image by clicking on the post's title.
If not anti-Bush, then it is pretty close. Check out what Larry Miller (columnist for The Daily Standard;writer, actor, and comedian living in Los Angeles) has to say about the Iraq War and Bush's press conference. Teaser excerpt:
But at that press conference, I watched with my mouth open, till I had to stand up, walk around, and shake my head. Who's coaching this guy, Warren Christopher? And please don't tell me his job is not to communicate potently, because, yes, it is.
Even though the thrust of the essay is mostly on the order of "Let's win this good cause," it also reveals frustration with Bush's incompetence.
We don't know much about this, but it is kinda interesting.
UPDATE: Reader M passes along this link to a website with a cool Flash presentation that sounds great (and then leads to an informational page for the CD/DVD).
