American Newsreel

For a party that uses an elephant as its sympol, the shrill, whining partisans of the GOP have short memories.

When Bill Clinton occupied the White House, we received lots of mail (both on paper and via email) praising our columns exposing that President’s lies and duplicity. We were, they said, one of the good guys.

Now that George W. Bush lives at 1600 Penn, those same partisans now call us “liars,” “pimps” and “tools of the left wing.”

Why? Because we dare to apply the same standards to their boy. We actually have the gall to expect Bush to tell the truth and then call him on it when he, like Clinton, lies to the American people.

I’m not surprised. When Clinton was President, Democrats called us “right wing fanatics” and “idiots.” Now they praise us in emails and on anti-Bush websites.

Sadly, too many political partisans are idiots, brainless fools who let their party leaders do their thinking for them. If they have any functioning gray matters, it long ago turned into mush by listening to — and believing — the bullshit that comes out of political parties.

I stopped caring what partisans — Democrat or Republican — think. Why waste time with lemmings?

Couldn’t have happened to a more deserving scumbag. Tom DeLay, who prided himself in his take-no-prisoners style of politics and loved the nickname “The Hammer,” may become a prisoner himself after a Texas grand jury indicted him for criminal conspiracy.

That DeLay is a crook comes as no surprise to longtime Washington watchers. The Hammer has always been on the take, for sale to the highest bidder. The surprise came with the indictment.

The bad news, of course, comes on the heels of Senate Leader Bill Frist’s problems and the possible pending indictments of White House officials in the Valerie Plame case.

“The chickens are roosting and are ready to feed,” chuckles one Democratic stagegist.

Perhaps but an indictment is a long way from conviction. There’s no doubt on the hill about DeLay’s guilt but there is still doubt on whether or not a Texas prosecutor can prove it.

According to The Associated Press, lawyers for House Majority Leader and Chief Crook Tom DeLay fear an indictment is coming for the scandal-scarred Republican honcho.

If so, such an indictment is long overdue. DeLay is a major slimeball in a political party now dominated by slimeballs. Indicting this con artist would be a first step towards proving that justice is still possible in a world dominated by politicians who believe they are above the law.

All is not well in the good ship Elephant. It was bad enough that Republicans had to hold their nose and defend scandal-ridden House Majority Leader Tom DeLay but now it turns out the Senate’s head honcho, Senator Bill Frist, has played fast and loose with ethics in some stock sales.

Frist, of course, claims he did nothing wrong. DeLay claims the same thing and everyone knows he’s a crook. Frist suffers from the same disease that infects most politicians — a blind belief that, somehow, the rules don’t apply to them.

And they don’t as long as voters continue to put these criminals in office and keep them there. Those who vote for crooks like DeLay and Frist (and support them in the name of “party loyalty’) are just as guilty and contribue just as much to the moral decay within our government and society.

According to The National Enquirer, Dubya’s drinking again, hitting the sauce on a regular basis, bucking under the pressure of being what one of the worst Presidents in American history.

Ordinarily, such headlines in a tabloid like the Enquirer brings guffaws but the gossipy tabloid broke a number of stories about Bill Clinton’s sexcapades during the Monica Lewinsky debacle and other news sites, including our sister publication Capitol Hill Blue, suggest the Prez is back on the bottle.

As a recovering alcoholic (sober 11 years, three months and 15 days), the news doesn’t surprise me, although it is depressing. As a fellow traveler, I hate to see anyone give in to the Beast. But the signs are there: disinterest, inability to focus, a lack of compassion during the Hurricane Katrina nightmare and growing reports of temper tantrums. And prominent Washington psychiatrist Dr. Justin A. Frank of George Washington University, author of the book, Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President, agrees:

It is true that blame and denial are arguably as typical of politicians as of alcoholics, though the latter are generally more likely to involve family members in the process. But blame is also a reminder of one’s destructive impulse; the individual who hasn’t resolved his anxieties surrounding that impulse is particularly motivated to avoid confronting those anxieties, which he can accomplish by shifting responsibility to someone else, or denying it outright. Drinkers turn to alcohol to suppress anxiety.

Bush is a complusive liar: a trademark of a drunk. He avades responsibility: Another warning sign. He is moody and temperamental: Strike three.

Tell me, Mr. Bush. How many more have to die in your illegal, immoral and ill-conceived war in Iraq? The death toll of American soldiers now tops 1900 (and may be even higher because of the way the Pentagon plays games with numbers). More than 150,000 Iraqi civilians have died as a result of American actions.

You call it “collateral damage” Mr. President but let’s call it what it really is — outright murder. Your war is based on lies. We know that now. Some of us knew that going in but others would not listen. And you, sir, are a liar who lacks even basic decency or compassion. You avoid any and all responsibility for your actions, just as you callously avoided putting your own skin in harm’s way by hiding out in the Texas Air Guard during the Vietnam war. And now your actions show only too well the contempt you have for those who serve in war.

Mr Bush, you are a coward, a liar and a murderer. You are a dispicable human being, beneath contempt. And the blood of every dead American soldier and the many innocent Iraqi civilians, is on your hands and the hands of every nutcase who supports your insane actions.

Looks like Georgie and the boys over at 1600 Penn haven’t learned a damn thing from the Michael Brown debacle at FEMA. Now Dubya wants to put another political hack into a sensitive job at Homeland Security — this time nominating an inexperienced bimbo named Julie Myers to head the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.

Myers, a lawyer, has never managed a large bureaucracy and her primary claim to fame is a brief stint as chief of staff Michael Chertoff, the cretin Bush put in charge of Homeland Security, and 16 months working with Ken Starr on his laughable investigation of former President Bill Clinton.

Her real qualifications, if you can call them that, comes from birth and who she sleeps with: Her uncle is Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, the departing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. She married Chertoff’s current chief of staff, John F. Wood, just this past Saturday.

Another crony in charge of protecting our nation’s borders. Just what we don’t need.

The whiners and crybabies who defend the illegal, immoral and downright stupid actions of President George W. Bush get their diapers bent out of shape when you suggest their boy is anything but the saint they foolishly claim him to be.

Sadly, Bush is an idiot, a foolish little frat boy in over his head. Has been for a long time and the blithering idiots who defend him are as brain dead as their hero.

Too bad. American cries out for strong leadership but that ain’t gonna happen as long as the Bushites control government and the rabid right rides roughshod over the Constitution.

There are three kinds of lies, Mark Twain once said: Lies, damn lies and statistics. And George W. Bush is three kinds of a liar: A liar, a damned liar and a statistically-proven liar.

Bush stood in front of reporters in Mississippi Monday and lied outright when he claimed he did not know embattled FEMA director Mike Brown had thrown in the towel and resigned. In fact, Bush gave Brown the towel and told him to throw it or hang himself with it. He had demanded Brown’s resignation and knew before he landed in the Gulf states that he had it. Only problem was, he told Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff to delay the announcement until after the photo op trip to the the hurricane ravaged areas of Mississippi and New Orleans. Dubya doesn’t like competition when it comes to staging news events.

But Brown, pissed at being forced out, went ahead and released his resignation to the media. When confronted by reporters, Bush does whaat he always does when faced with a situation not scripted in advance by his handlers — he lied.

Often, when watching the comedy show known as the Bush White House, I remember a comment from “Deep Throat,” Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward’s famous source on Watergate:

Forget about the myths surrounding the White House. The sad truth is that these are not very bright people and things got out of hand.

From Thursday’s White House press briefing:

Q Scott, the House Democratic leader says that the investigation announced yesterday by the House with Senate Republican leaders is a sham and that she’s not going to appoint any Democratic members to it. Do you see that as an impediment to having an investigation? What’s the White House reaction?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, the President actually met with the congressional leaders earlier today. He met with — including Speaker Hastert and Majority Leader Frist. And the President, among other topics that they discussed, expressed his appreciation for the Congress moving forward on a joint bipartisan investigation of the response to Katrina. The President talked about how we need to have a thorough analysis of what worked and what went wrong — what was right and what went wrong, because it’s important that we be able to apply the lessons we learn to future threats that we may face, whether those are possible WMD attacks or threats from natural disasters, such as a hurricane.

And so the President is appreciative of the Majority Leader and Speaker moving forward to set up a joint bipartisan investigation. This is a time — Congress has an important oversight role to play and the leaders recognize that. That’s why they’re moving forward on setting up this investigation so that they can pull the facts together. And we appreciate those efforts.

And I haven’t seen — I haven’t seen exactly what she said, but we’re trying to focus on how we can work together to meet the immediate needs, and also lay the groundwork for the long-term rebuilding and recovery efforts. And that was a lot of what the discussion was with the members of Congress that were here today.

Q Some of the members who were here today said that the President should appoint like a czar or somebody to oversee the rebuilding and recovery. Does the President intend to do that?

MR. McCLELLAN: Terry, we’re acting on a number of fronts to get help to people who need it now and to lay the groundwork for the long-term rebuilding and recovery efforts. There are a lot of immediate needs that we continue to have. I mentioned the ongoing life-saving operations and the life-sustaining operations. There is also the issue of flood control and getting that flood — pulling those flood waters back.

And as I mentioned, it’s going to be a very ugly scene once we go in after the flood waters have been pumped out of there and they’ve receded. We’ve got a lot of important priorities to deal with right now. There are mortuary affairs teams going in there. There will be bodies that will have to be recovered. And we’ve got to continue to focus on some of these immediate needs.

But we are also discussing a lot of ideas for how we move forward on the rebuilding and recovery efforts. As I said, this is a time for all of us to come together and work together and find the best possible solutions as we move forward.

And so we — so we welcome all the ideas that are being discussed. Many of these ideas that were discussed in this meeting earlier today are things that we’re already looking at and we will be talking more about as we move forward.

Q So you’re saying it’s premature, though, now to talk about —

MR. McCLELLAN: No, I wouldn’t describe it that way. This is a time for people to be offering big ideas and offering ways for us to move forward on the rebuilding and recovery. That’s what we’ve been doing here. That’s one of the reasons the President is moving forward on the initiatives later today. We’ve been acting, and members of Congress have been acting, and we appreciate their efforts, too.

Q But, Scott, let me just ask you, on the investigation front, because a couple of days ago, the President used interesting language by saying, “I’m going to lead an investigation into what went right and what went wrong.” You said, in fact, that would be some kind of after-action analysis. And now, Republicans are saying they’ll have a special committee, which Democrats say that they don’t buy into. So can’t the President just clear all this up? What kind of investigation does he want, and by whom, and will he support it being done independent of the federal government?

MR. McCLELLAN: I would say what the President has said. The President made it very clear that we’ve got to remain focused on the immediate needs right now, and that’s where our focus remains. That’s what he’ll be talking more about later today. There are people who are in need of assistance, and we continue to keep our focus there.

We also believe it’s important for there to be a full investigation of the initial response, the preparedness and response —

Q By whom?

MR. McCLELLAN: Congress has a role to play in that. They’re moving forward on a joint investigation. And the President made it clear that he’s going —

Q But it’s not joint, the Democrats say it won’t be joint.

MR. McCLELLAN: The President made it clear that he’s going to lead an effort to investigate the response, as well. And we’ll be talking more about that as we move forward. Now is the time to remain focused where we are.

Q Well, I understand. But since the President first brought this up it’s not something that he’s kicking down the road — or maybe he will; that’s not clear — but the White House —

MR. McCLELLAN: I don’t think that’s it. I mean, I think that you have to keep in mind —

Q You keep saying this isn’t the time for accountability now —

MR. McCLELLAN: No, this is a time to help people, and that’s what we’re doing. So that’s where we are right now.

Q Right, but you can do both, presumably, right? Or should you do both? I mean, the Congress says they’re getting started on an investigation. You’re saying that you shouldn’t be doing that now?

MR. McCLELLAN: Actually, they haven’t started yet. They are setting up the process to begin that investigation.

Q But it’s a White House investigation and then there’s a congressional investigation. But the Democrats don’t buy into a congressional investigation, so —

MR. McCLELLAN: The President hasn’t outlined the investigation that he’s talked about making sure that we lead, so we’ll be talking about that as we move forward. And I wouldn’t agree with your characterization of kicking it down the road. We’ve got to stay focused on what the needs are of the people in the region right now. There are a lot of people who continue to need assistance, and we don’t want to divert resources that are part of those ongoing immediate needs.

Q To get you on the record, does he, or does he not support an independent review of what went on, what went right and what went wrong — independent of the government?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think that, again, this isn’t a time to start getting into start discussing all the options that are available. The President is going to be outlining how we’ll be moving forward to fully investigate things and make sure there’s a thorough analysis of —

Q When is the time?

MR. McCLELLAN: — the federal, state and local response efforts, and how those plans were. And Congress is setting that up; they’re moving forward. They have an important oversight role to play, and we appreciate that bipartisan effort that the Speaker and Majority Leader are working on.

Q So the President is open to the idea of somebody to run the disaster relief effort independently of FEMA and the other organizations?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, remember, all week long I’ve talked to you about how we’ve been discussing a lot of ideas. We remain, first and foremost, focused on those immediate needs. We have also been laying a lot of groundwork, or beginning to lay a lot of groundwork for the planning on the longer-term rebuilding and recovery efforts that will be needed. And there are a lot of ideas that are still being discussed. I’m not trying to limit options, but I think the President will be the one to announce initiatives and plans that we undertake as they are ready, or the respective department that will be overseeing those efforts.

Q When can we expect to hear him announce that?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, again, as we move forward we’ll be talking more about that, Bill. I don’t want to put time frames on things right now. We’re moving quickly on a number of different fronts, first and foremost, on efforts to make sure people are getting the assistance they need.

Q This congressional investigation isn’t going to be very bipartisan if there are no Democrats on it.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I haven’t seen exactly what the Congresswoman said earlier today. We’ve been focused on meetings and focused on acting on some of these initiatives that the President is going to be outlining later today.

We believe — the President believes very strongly — this is one of the things — and let me go back and talk to you about this meeting because I think that he talked about some important things. It was a very constructive meeting that the President had with congressional Republicans earlier today. It was focused on how we’re meeting the immediate needs of people affected by Katrina and how we can move forward on the longer-term plans. He talked about how this was one of the worst and largest natural disasters in our nation’s history. And he talked about it was important for all of us to unite at the federal, state and local levels to make sure we’re working together to do all we can to support the people who have been affected by this terrible natural disaster. And he went in and talked about his recent visits to Mississippi and Louisiana, both on Friday and then again on Monday, and he talked about our efforts to help people get back on their feet and give them hope for the better days that lie ahead.

That’s where the President’s focus is right now; it’s on those people and it’s on how we can come together and work together. There are immediate needs that we continue to meet — work to meet. We continue to work to save lives. We continue to deliver critical government benefits to people and make sure that we’re getting it to where they are, because we recognize that some of those people aren’t going to be able to pick up and move to centers that may be set up. It includes people in shelters; it includes people in homes, apartments, or hotels, wherever they may be staying.

It includes addressing the public health issues. The EPA and CDC spoke about some of those yesterday, and they’ll continue to keep the public updated as we move forward, particularly in the New Orleans region where those flood waters have presented us with some serious challenges as we move forward.

And, of course, I mentioned that he talked about the importance of investigating the preparedness and response. He also talked about — updated the members on our counterterrorism efforts. The President talked about the discussions and briefings that have been held to make sure that we’re keeping our focus on potential threats during this time, as well.

As you all know, the President continues to receive his daily intelligence briefings. That is one of the first things he starts his day with. Yesterday he had a National Security Council and Homeland Security Council briefing to make sure we’re keeping our guard up and that we’re on top of potential threats that we may face.

The discussion in this meeting really centered on how we’ve got a lot of work to do. Members were talking about that. Everybody recognizes that. And we’ve got to focus on meeting those immediate needs and coming up with the ideas and solutions to meet the longer-term efforts, as well. So this was very much a meeting discussing ways we can solve problems and move forward together. And we hope that all of us can continue doing that.

Q Would it be fair if I have a question on another subject? The President’s definition of “bipartisan” would include members of the Democratic Party?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think the Speaker and Majority Leader made it clear that they intended to move forward on a bipartisan committee.

Q Those are Republicans. I’m asking — that would include —

MR. McCLELLAN: They said they were going to move forward on a bipartisan committee. They are the congressional leadership and they’re moving forward in a bipartisan way.

Q On a separate issue, how does the President propose the country will pay for all of this?

MR. McCLELLAN: I’m sorry, pay for all of —

Q The reconstruction relief effort, which is —

MR. McCLELLAN: We talked about the immediate needs that we’re working to address right now. And when it comes to addressing those immediate needs, we’ve already passed one supplemental request, an emergency budget request, that provides $10.5 billion to meet some immediate needs. Yesterday we made a second request for $51.8 billion —

Q And to finance that, though, the country will go into debt to do that?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, it’s going to — keep in mind, these are one-time costs, but we’re going to make sure the needs of the people are met. And it will have an impact on the budget, at least in the short-term. But these are one-time costs we’re talking about. But we’re going to do whatever it takes to meet the needs of those on the ground. We are going to spare no effort to get them the help that they need.

And the President has made it clear in meetings he has been having that we are going to show the true compassion of America in all that we do. And that includes in the delivery of government benefits, critical benefits that people depend on, on a daily basis. And that’s what we’ll be talking about more later today. We’re going to do all we can to support the faith-based and community groups that are helping those in need. That’s why the President met with a diverse group of faith-based and community organizations the other day to address some of their concerns.

Q I’m going to yield the floor, but I just have one more question. Why does the President believe it is morally justified, why is it the right thing to give some of the richest people on the planet a huge tax cut right now?

MR. McCLELLAN: It’s not a fair —

Q Well, that’s what the estate tax cut repeal, making it permanent, is, isn’t it? There are some people who want to hand on billions — hundreds of millions of dollars to their —

MR. McCLELLAN: No, no — the tax cut you’re talking about — I don’t know of any that are expiring this year. They expire in later years.

Q Right. But why at this point in our history is it justified, morally right to do that?

MR. McCLELLAN: First of all, I’d have to dispute your characterization, because all Americans receive tax cuts. We went through a very difficult time, economically, and our national economy is really a lifeline for that region that has been hit by this hurricane. We must continue to keep our national economy growing and creating jobs. The latest unemployment numbers are down to 4.9 percent last week, more than 4 million jobs created since May of 2003. We’ve made tremendous progress to keep our economy growing and get people — and create jobs.

Q And there’s no way to ask the richest people in America to sacrifice?

MR. McCLELLAN: And the economy — keeping our economy growing stronger is important to helping with the rebuilding and recovery efforts on the ground. The last thing we want to do is take more money from lower-income Americans that have been affected by this and that have received significant help from those — from those tax cuts.

Q That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about taking money from higher-income Americans.

MR. McCLELLAN: And we’re going to remain focused right now on our highest priority. Well, again, these tax cuts you’re talking about, many of them expire in later years. I don’t know of any that are expiring this year. But it’s important to keep our economy growing and keep jobs being created.