Listening to Brian Williams:

On the Charlie Rose show of May 5, Brian WIlliams was guest-hosting due to Rose's absence. In a segment with Bobby Ghosh, Doris Kearns Goodwin and Adam Gopnik, the following exchange took place:

ADAM GOPNIK:

I ... went to the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Everybody saw that [Obama] was extremely funny, relaxed. What you probably couldn't see ... was that he was completely relaxed and seemed to be taking great delight in getting zinged by Seth Myers and the other people ...

I thought it was impressive at the time. When you realize he had already given the order, he knew that his entire presidency was on the line and could very well blow up in his face tomorrow. Say what you like about what he does, if this man doesn't have the right temprement for that job, I don't know who does.

BRIAN WILLIAMS:

Yet why didn't George Bush get credit for remaining in that classroom, going ahead with the lession plan, reading to those children and not running out of the room ashen-faced.

There are significant differences between those two situations. On September 11, when Bush was notified of what was happening, he was told the nation was "under attack". In the initial stages of a surprise attack, time is a critical resource. There is an immediate need for presidential involvement, for things like authorizing shooting down aircraft and other decisions pertaining to national security. "Running out of the room ashen-faced" was not the only alternative to sitting there for 7 minutes. For Brian Williams, NBC's top news honcho, to consider Obama's and Bush's coolness-under-fire to be essentially the same is absurd.

In other Bush-love, the Sunday shows for May 8 are loaded with former administration officials. Including Liz Cheney! Given that her outfit, Keep America Safe, has already issued a proclamation congratulating the military and intelligence services, and pointedly omitting Obama, you know what her attitude will be when asked about the mission.


posted by Quiddity at 5/07/2011 07:17:00 PM

Staying on point: (emp add)

Statement From Keep America Safe On The Successful Mission To Kill Osama Bin Laden

Today, Keep America Safe released the following statement on the successful mission to kill Osama bin Laden:

“Today marks a major victory for the people of the United States and the forces of freedom and justice all over the world. We are grateful for the bravery of the Americans who raided the compound near Islamabad and killed Osama bin Laden. We are also grateful to the men and women of America’s intelligence services who, through their interrogation of high-value detainees, developed the information that apparently led us to bin Laden. The war goes on and al Qaeda continues to plot and plan against us. We must remain vigilant and we must continue to provide our men and women in uniform and our intelligence professionals all the tools they need to fight and win this war. Today, especially, we remember the brave Americans who have given their lives in the service of our nation and the nearly 3,000 men, women and children who lost their lives on 9/11. Justice has been done.”

Keep America Safe Board Of Directors

Liz Cheney
Debra Burlingame
Bill Kristol

posted by Quiddity at 5/05/2011 09:12:00 PM

There is no pleasing some people:

The National Review posts a picture of the White House situation room during the Bin Laden mission. In the comments section:

Did Obama bother to take off his golf shoes? because he is still wearing that days golf outfit.
How ridiculous is it that he strolls off the golf course, having to cut the game to 9 holes, to sit in on the raid to get OBL? Mr. President, you sent the best America has into harms way, show some respect.

White house photostream:
External Link
notice the clothes the CIC is wearing?

Obama returning to White House from Sundays 9 holes:
External Link

p.s. this was the 5th weekend in a row playing golf

posted by Quiddity at 5/03/2011 06:13:00 AM

Congratulations for vowing:

Have you ever vowed to do something? But not actually done it? Well, congratulations, anyway.

From a National Review editorial: (emp add)

Congratulations to the American special forces who executed the bold and sophisticated raid (a blend of overhead surveillance and one-on-one precision shooting). Congratulations to the intelligence agents who extracted key information from turncoats, analyzed and developed those leads, and scoped out the situation beforehand. Congratulations to President Obama for making the mission a priority and for seeing it through. And congratulations to former President Bush for vowing that Osama would be taken, dead or alive.

posted by Quiddity at 5/03/2011 06:08:00 AM

Andrew Sullivan is a dim bulb:

He's already demonstrated his failure to grapple with mathematics (especially regarding the debt and Paul Ryan's plan), but that leaves language where he could exhibit competence. After all, a lot of people say he's a good writer. Alas, his assertion that Limbaugh's praise of Obama for catching Bin Laden demonstrates is genuine - and not sarcasm - shows he's losing his touch. Either that or become lazy.

Someone else feels the same way.


posted by Quiddity at 5/03/2011 04:51:00 AM

Photo number 8:

From this collection over at the Atlantic of images related to the killing of Osama Bin Laden. It had been a long and stressful day, with Obama in the Situation Room in the afternoon while the operation was taking place, then giving the speech in the late evening. The picture shows Obama leaving the East Room of the White House.


posted by Quiddity at 5/02/2011 06:25:00 PM

January 16, 2009:

Limbaugh on Obama:

I hope he fails

posted by Quiddity at 5/02/2011 08:54:00 AM

Interesting ...

From the Times of India:

The coordinates of the action and sequence of events suggest that the al-Qaida fugitive may have been killed in an ISI safehouse.

The story suggests Pakistan may be more involved in shielding Osama bin Laden than we thought.

ALSO: For the next few weeks we are all going to have to be sure that we don't mistakenly switch "Osama" for "Obama" in our conversation.


posted by Quiddity at 5/02/2011 12:27:00 AM

Like shooting fish in a barrel:

It's so easy. From September 2008:

Republican candidate John McCain said on Wednesday that if elected president, he will capture al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

"President Clinton had opportunities to get Osama bin Laden. President Bush had opportunities to get Osama bin Laden. I know how to do it and I'll do it," he told ABC's "World News" in an interview.

"I understand and I have the knowledge and the background and the experience to make the right judgments. Senator Obama does not," McCain said in a reference to his Democratic rival for the White House, Barack Obama.

posted by Quiddity at 5/02/2011 12:09:00 AM

Where's the death certificate?

We can't trust Obama's statement about Osama bin Laden. Let's get Donald Trump on the case.


posted by Quiddity at 5/01/2011 10:30:00 PM