What an Opening Paragraph

Libertarian-Conservative Jim Pinkerton I think has written one of the best opening paragraphs outlining the problem with Bush's pre-9/11 stance on al Qaeda:

"If you knew that President Franklin D. Roosevelt had received a memo a month before Pearl Harbor entitled, 'Japanese Determined to Attack the United States in the Pacific,' and that he had done nothing about that information, would that knowledge change your perception of FDR as a wise war leader?"

That sums up the failings of Bush. It is not that he could have done anything to prevent 9/11. He likely could not have. What he could have done was to try harder and to admit that he could have tried harder. Instead his surrogates (he says little on the subject) just claim nothing could have been done or that it was someone else's fault, namely the red herring of all red herrings, Bill Clinton.

Bush's campaign has its focus: "Bush is a great leader." What Pinkerton points out is that he may be the person walking out in front, but that does not make him a leader.

This morning John Dean was interveiwed on NPR and made a point about Bush and Cheney meeting together with the 9/11 commission. His point is that Bush is just the Head of State, and Cheney really runs the government. Bush can't answer things without Cheney by his side. This point has been made before, but has mostly been satire. Here we see it in action. Bush's support generally is rested on the personal connect people on the right have for the guy. His frat boy charm is something I find vomit inducing, but the conservative subculture (bible thumpers and small businessmen) eat that attitude up. Bush is the Head of State the GOP wants. What Pinkerton and Dean's observations support is the empty suit charge made against Bush. Bush is not an idiot, but he is a long way from an engaged commander-in-chief.

[Pinkerton Link via TPM]

UPDATE: Great Minds Think alike. Kevin Drum comments on this paragraph as well.

Theocracy in Action

I have been criticized many times for painting groups with a broad brush. I disagree in nearly every instant because I am careful to choose most of my words carefully and point to specific individuals. What I do is call out those who would agree with individuals or have in the past and ask if they agree with the tactics or message they put forward. Today I am doing just that. I am calling out Conservative Christians and ask them if they agree with the tactics and message of Kent Ostrander and his Family Foundation.

His group, out of Lexington, Kentucky, has been out pushing its religious views into the government. Do Conservative Christians want a theocracy? I think they do. I think many want a state religion that outlaws our historical and current secular government, and replace it with some type of faux democracy. Now, when I call people out who do I mean? Well, I mean the usual suspects: Peter Bronson, Simon Leis, Phil Heimlich, Phil Burress, Sam Malone, and even Damon Lynch III. Threw in Lynch mostly to cause a ruckus, but also because of the constant rumor that his is a closet Republican.

So what are the intentions of conservative Christians? They want a state religion by popular vote? Some say that. Do they want to smite out atheists? Some do want that. Why do Conservatives want to put ?God? into government? What is their purpose? Why do they seek to ban Gay Marriage? I have asked for a detail reason for that position for a long time and have yet heard anything on my blog, which I did not really expect, or in the media which seems to just let the question hang out there without any substance behind their opposition to it.

Where are we going? With the letter from yesterday?s paper I mentioned sectarian strife. We are going down the road toward conflict that as I said before is going to result in violence. Kerry?s rally here last week came close to some violence. As the summer goes on the battle lines on the culture wars on the Iraq wars, and on the war for the truth will end up with violence. Call me Chicken Little, call me Ishmael, call me a stupid son of a bitch. What I don?t think you will call me is wrong.

Religous Bigotry

In a letter to the Cincinnati Enquirer we read:

Don't let Kerry, atheists, media win
In response to Sen. John Kerry's challenge for Cincinnati to rise up - 'this election is the most important election of our lifetime' - I must agree, but for a much different reason. We've had a brief return to 'One nation under God,' one of which we can be proud. Are we going to continue with a brave and decent man in the White House, who does the right thing, popular or not?
Margery Sowell, Springfield Township

Ms. Sowell is chicken. She is chicken to come out and say what she wants. She wants a President who is a member of her religious sect, or at least a sect that she can relate to or tolerate. Now, John Kerry is Christian, a Roman Catholic to be specific. I am going to guess that Ms. Sowell does not have anything against Catholics. I could be wrong, but I will be that is not the issue.

Round Three

On the third Anniversary of the 2001 riots it appears that the media is going to startbeating on Cincinnati Again. I guess the 1 anniversary and the 2 were not enough. Here is another column on the Dateline programming airing tonight. Tune in and see what the show reports for yourself.

A Lie or a Delay?

Ken Blackwell has chosen a new voting machine for Hamilton County. He chose eSlate, a machine manufactured by Hart InterCivic of Austin, Texas. What I find troubling is what Blackwell's spokesman said:

A joint committee of Ohio's General Assembly recommended Wednesday that by 2006 all county elections boards be required to allow voters to confirm their choices with a paper receipt. Blackwell supports studying the issue of voter-verifiable paper trails but the technology is unavailable and unproven, spokesman Carlo LoParo said Thursday.

The technology exists, whether or not any of the companies are willing to respond to demand is another problem. How could it be "unproven?" You have a machine that currently "writes" the vote to a data disc. It is not difficult to at the same time it writes to the disc it also print out that data in a report that can be verified by the voter and then stored like current paper ballots are stored at the polling place and then Board of Elections. It is not that difficult a process. The paper trail would serve as a back-up, both for a technical error and for a legal challenge to an election.

I will paint LoParo's comments as spin and not a lie, but that is being generous. It is after all the job of a political spokesperson to lie for their boss, but convince as many people as possible that they are not lying.

A Walter Cronkite Moment?

I am not trying to compare Iraq to Vietnam, even though the political parallels in tactics and policies are obvious, but does these comments from Bill O'Reilly compare at all to Walter Cronkite's famous comments on the Vietnam war. I don't mean to compare Cronkite to O'Reilly. The former is the gold standard in broadcast journalism; the latter is a delusionally ridden ego pretending to be a human television personality.

What O'Reilly is however is a good barometer for the rightwing. If you loose O'Reilly, you lose many hardcore Bush supporters. That is where the comparison to Cronkite comes to bear. He was seen as the man of mainstream America.

I make these comment tentatively and want opinion on them. Is this such a comment from O'Reilly, or just another rant from a man with such an out of context sense of self righteousness that he actually makes sense to insane child molesters or to Michael Jackson? ( I kid, I kid)

[Via Atrios]

Good News for Voters

Panel urges paper proof for voters

"COLUMBUS - A House-Senate committee studying the security of electronic voting machines recommended Wednesday that boards of election be required to allow Ohio voters to confirm their choices with a paper receipt, beginning in 2006 elections. "

Great news for Ohio voters. The only problem is getting Taft and Blackwell behind this. The problem is the lobby for Diebold Election Systems. If Taft or Blackwell give in the GOP friendly Diebold company, elections in this state will lose a level of security.