PERRspectives: March 2008 Archives

March 2008 Archives

	Alphonso Jackson, We Hardly Knew Ye Among the least surprising political developments this week is the looming resignation of Bush Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson. That news comes in the wake of calls from Democratic Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Chris Dodd (D-CT) for Jackson to step down over charges of cronyism in public housing deals in Philadelphia. But as I first detailed back in May 2006, Jackson was already in hot water for past admissions that political loyalty was an essential (and,... more Posted on March 31, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Iran Brokers Basra Deal Events on the ground in Iraq continue to defy the Bush's administration's ongoing misrepresentation of the Iranian threat there. Just one day after Republican Senator Lindsay Graham wrongly claimed Iran was backing just one of the three Shiite forces in Basra comes word that Tehran brokered a deal aimed at halting the carnage there. As McClatchy, USA Today, the New York Times and others are reporting, Iraqi lawmakers traveled to Qom where a general of the Iranian Qods force helped... more Posted on March 31, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Bush, Cheney Embrace Iranian-Backed Hakim in Iraq On Sunday, Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) showed once again that President Bush, John McCain and their conservative amen corner can't tell the players in Iraq even with a scorecard. Even as Graham proclaimed of the fighting in Basra, "the militias that we are fighting are backed by Iran," President Bush and Vice President Bush continue to embrace the largest Iranian-backed political force in Iraq, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council led by Abdul Aziz al-Hakim. Just days after John McCain erroneously... more Posted on March 30, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Carville Announces Clinton Loyalty Oath In the Washington Post today ("Disloyalty That Merits An Insult"), Clinton adviser James Carville gave his best Dana Perino impersonation. Defend his hyperbolic denunciation of surprise Obama endorser Bill Richardson, Carville mirrored Perino's famous "once a Bushie, always a Bushie" code of political ethics. By proclaiming loyalty a cardinal virtue above all others, James Carville sounded like a member of the very Bush administration his candidate - and her party - are trying to replace. A week ago, Carville reacted... more Posted on March 29, 2008 \| Comments (3)

	Bush's Premature Iraq Elation George W. Bush is suffering from another severe case of premature Iraq elation. That's the inescapable diagnosis after a week which featured sunny statements from the President even as Baghdad and Basra descended into chaos. On last week's fifth anniversary of his invasion of Iraq, President Bush was blissfully unaware of the tumultuous three-way Shiite conflict just days in the offing. Now, Bush is portraying setbacks as proof of success and escalating violence as a sign of a healthy democracy.... more Posted on March 28, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	NYT's Lichtblau Details White House Effort to Block NSA Story In December 2005, New York Times reporters James Risen and Eric Lichtblau broke the shocking story of the Bush administration's program of illegal domestic surveillance by the NSA. Now, in a new book due out next week, Lichtblau details the White House's 13-month effort to block the Times' revelations of its lawlessness. And to be sure, that deceitful stonewalling and the threats of retribution that followed show a Bush administration determined to conceal its criminality at any cost. In excerpts... more Posted on March 28, 2008 \| Comments (4)

	McCain/Romney '08? News that Mitt Romney has joined John McCain on the campaign trail is fueling speculation that the Arizona Senator may tap his defeated rival for the Republican VP slot. Which would make perfect sense. Back by the Bush braintrust and conservative chattering classes, Romney claims to know something about the economy, a topic on which John McCain admits to knowing little. Both men conflate all Muslims worldwide into a single, unified terrorist threat while sharing a common desire to follow... more Posted on March 27, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	From Maverick to Prostitute: The Untold Story of John McCain As much as anything else, presidential campaigns are won and lost by the media narratives that rightly or wrongly come to define a candidate. In the case of Repubican nominee John McCain, the seemingly unshakable narrative of the political "maverick" could not be further off the mark. At almost every turn, McCain in his eternal quest for the White House has reversed long-held positions, compromised core principles and swallowed his pride in order to curry favor with both the leading... more Posted on March 26, 2008 \| Comments (13)

	A Clinton-Scaife Rapprochement? Politics, they say, produces strange bedfellows. After Hillary Clinton's visit with the Pittsburgh Tribune Review editorial board today, truer words were never spoken. That Senator Clinton chose that of all venues to weigh in on Barack Obama's pastor controversy would have been unthinkable in the years past. After all, the Tribune Review is owned by none other than Clinton grand inquisitor himself, Richard Mellon Scaife. In recent days, the Tribune Review's opinion page featured reliable right-wing mouthpieces such as Pat... more Posted on March 25, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Moqtada Al-Sadr Answers the Wall Street Journal In another unfortunate case of premature Iraq elation, the Wall Street Journal last week celebrated the decline and fall of Iraqi Shiite leader Moqtada Al-Sadr. Echoing the "bring 'em on" taunt of their former boss, ex-Bush advisers Dan Senor and Roman Martinez triumphantly asked "Whatever Happened to Moqtada?" But as the renewed turmoil in Baghdad and violent chaos in Basra suggest, the answer may be, "he's back." The cease fire declared last summer by Sadr's Mahdi army militia has been... more Posted on March 25, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	U.S. Health Care in Red and Blue A new study released last week revealed a Republican Party ever more out of touch with the mushrooming crisis of the American health care system. Predictably, 68% of Republicans believe the U.S. has the best health system in the world, compared to only three in 10 Democrats. Ironically, those findings come just as new studies show a growing "income gap" in Americans' life expectancy and the painful impact of rising health care costs on Americans' stagnant wages. Most ironic, the... more Posted on March 24, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Fawning Media Ignore McCain's Past France-Bashing Over the past two days, the fawning American media has provided rave reviews of John McCain's visit to France. While the New York Times lauded "McCain's soothing tones," Time gushed about "McCain's Paris romance" and the transformation of Franco-American relations made possible by his warm embrace of French President Nicolas Sarkozy. But lost in these accounts is John McCain's vitriolic France-bashing in the run-up to the war in Iraq. Back in 2003, John McCain stood shoulder to shoulder with the... more Posted on March 23, 2008 \| Comments (4)

	The Resurrection of Tom Delay Just in time for Easter, the Houston Chronicle has a report on the resurrection on Tom Delay. While the disgraced, indicted former House Minority Leader is still awaiting trial on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to launder money, the Hammer is once ramping up his right-wing rage machine in an effort to propel himself back to the top of the conservative movement. That, at least is the message from Delay's former spokesman, Jonathan Grella: "I think it's going to... more Posted on March 23, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Hillary Clinton's Bout of Giuliani Syndrome While all eyes this week focused on Barack Obama the repercussions of the Jeremiah Wright imbrolglio, conflicting stories about the two sides of Hillary Clinton seemed to get lost in the noise. On Saturday, the AP offered a positive assessment of Clinton's record of hard work in the Senate. But new revelations regarding her histories on NAFTA and Bosnia suggest Hillary may be telling some tall tales. And by seemingly exaggerating her role during her days as First Lady, Hillary... more Posted on March 22, 2008 \| Comments (3)

	Economists Point Finger at McCain Mentor Greenspan In the wake of the near-meltdown of the American financial system this week, economists are finally pointing the finger of blame at Alan Greenspan. As the Washington Post details, the former Fed Chairman once lauded as the "Maestro" is now facing withering criticism for helpful fuel the twin crises of the housing market and the financial system. That can't come as good news for John McCain, who recently summed up his minimal knowledge of economics by noting, "I've got Greenspan's... more Posted on March 21, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	White House Scrubs Web Site on the Economy What a difference a week makes, especially when it comes to the rollercoaster American economy. No where is the impact of looming recession and the near-meltdown on Wall Street clearer than on the White House web site. Just days ago, the site boasted about President Bush's glorious stewardship of the U.S. economy. Now, the White House's economy web page reflects the mad scramble to ward off the twin crises of the housing market and the financial system. A cached version... more Posted on March 20, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Four Strikes and You're Out: McCain on Al Qaeda and Iran If the contest for the White House followed the rules of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," John McCain would be going home empty-handed. At last four times in the past month, George W. Bush's would-be Republican successor sounded the alarm over a non-existent Al Qaeda-Iran alliance in Iraq. But for a lifeline from Joe Lieberman, McCain would have been booted off the stage by now. As ThinkProgress detailed this morning, McCain's confusion over friend and foe began at least... more Posted on March 20, 2008 \| Comments (3)

	Abraham Lincoln Bush Over the course of its five-year fiasco in Iraq, the Bush administration in vain has tried to sell this conflict by referencing glorious American wars past. Its revisionist history has included failed parallels to the American Revolution, World War II, Korea, the Cold War and even Vietnam. Today, Vice President Cheney joined the conservative chorus comparing the calamity in Iraq to the U.S. Civil War. And in that ever-growing White House tall tale, of course, George W. Bush is Abraham... more Posted on March 19, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Mike Huckabee's Conveniently Missing Sermons After Barack Obama himself, no politician in America may have had a greater stake in Obama's critical speech on race yesterday than former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. The former Baptist minister, after all, hasn't been shy about his interest in being John McCain's choice for vice president. Like the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Huckabee's closet of sermons may be full of skeletons. Which may just explain why minister Huckabee was quick to defend Obama today, and even quicker to ensure that... more Posted on March 19, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Wrong Again: McCain Proclaims Al Qaeda-Iran Alliance As I documented just two day ago, John McCain has been wrong from the start about virtually every aspect of the Iraq war. From Ahmed Chalabi and Saddam's WMD to the prospects of Americans troops being greeting as liberators and the certainty of a "rapid" U.S. victory in "three weeks," John McCain had it wrong at every turn. Today in Jordan, the Republican presidential nominee made a much fundamental - and shocking - mistake. Would-be commander-in-chief John McCain literally doesn't... more Posted on March 18, 2008 \| Comments (5)

	McCain: Everything I Know About the Economy, I Learned from Alan Greenspan Timing, as they say, is everything. By that measure, John McCain is having a very bad day. First, just one day after his own visit to Baghdad, Vice President Dick Cheney showed up in Iraq to remind Americans that McCain is inextricably linked to President Bush. Then just as the Federal Reserve rushed into to bail out faltering Wall Street investment banks and avert a financial panic, its former chairman Alan Greenspan disavowed any responsibility for it. Sadly, everything John... more Posted on March 17, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Cheney in Iraq: Back and Wronger Than Ever! Just one day after John McCain's drive-by photo op in Baghdad, Vice President Cheney too made a surprise visit to Iraq. Announcing "it's good to be back," Cheney no doubt reminded Americans that John McCain represents the third term Bush agenda on Iraq. And to be sure, Dick Cheney's latest pronouncements reminded Iraqis on one of their own, former Saddam Minister of Information Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf, also known as Baghdad Bob. Wrong at almost every turn in the past, the... more Posted on March 17, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Forever Wrong: Five Years of John McCain on Iraq Just in time for the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion, presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain made an unannounced visit to Iraq. While McCain deemed the visit a "fact-finding" mission, his secret visit to Baghdad is just part of an extended photo opportunity in the Middle East and Europe designed to highlight his national security credentials. Unfortunately for McCain, his excellent Baghdad adventure could well produce the opposite effect. After all, this week's looming anniversary highlights that at almost... more Posted on March 16, 2008 \| Comments (10)

	Did Wright Create Obama's "Where's the Beef" Moment? For months, Hillary Clinton has been desperately trying to manufacture a defining moment that would crystallize voters' doubts about Barack Obama. That "Where's the Beef" moment may have come on Friday, not from Obama himself, but in the guise of his long-time pastor and spiritual adviser Jeremiah Wright. While Obama was quick to denounce Wright's histrionic sermons now available to all on video, the hateful words of the minister - and Obama's close relationship to him - may come to... more Posted on March 15, 2008 \| Comments (3)

	Bush Laughs At Us, Not With Us. Again. On Saturday night, George W. Bush showed once again that his sense of humor, and not his dull eyes, provides a window into his soul. It provides Americans with rare, fleeting glimpses into the dark and twisted character of a man who views with disdain the citizens he was elected to serve. If Presidents Kennedy and Reagan turned to self-deprecating humor to charm the press and disarm critics, in Bush's hands the joke is both a weapon to attack enemies... more Posted on March 14, 2008 \| Comments (3)

	Bush "Envious" of U.S. Troops in Afghanistan and Iraq On Thursday, President Bush once again provided fodder for generations of psychology graduate students to come. For the second time in just six months, the same man whose dubious Air National Guard service kept him out of the jungles of Vietnam announced he was "envious" of U.S. troops now on the frontlines in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sadly, Bush's textbook case of time-delayed overcompensation came on the very day eight people were killed and 35 wounded in a suicide bomb attack... more Posted on March 13, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Bush Fails to "Jawbone" the Dollar Just one week after his latest dismal failure to "jawbone" OPEC into boosting oil production, President Bush yesterday tried his hand at talking up the plummeting U.S. dollar. Sadly, just 24 hours later, the greenback plunged to record lows against the euro and the Japanese yen. Bush's Reverse Midas Touch, it seems, has now infected both the oil and currency exchanges. Sounding more like an Econ 101 drop-out than a Harvard MBA, Bush on Wednesday declared he "absolutely" favored a... more Posted on March 13, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Ferraro '84 Flashback: NOW Pressure Secured Mondale VP Slot In one of the more pathetic ironies of campaign '08, Clinton backer and 1984 vice presidential contender Geraldine Ferraro in essence branded Barack Obama's an affirmative action candidacy. Reprising her 1988 statement that "if Jesse Jackson were not black, he wouldn't be in the race," Ferraro claimed, "if Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position." Democrats could be forgiven for expecting more from Ferraro, especially given the National Organization for Women's essential role in securing... more Posted on March 12, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Three Iraq Stories, More Conservative Exploding Heads The life of the American conservative is a perpetual crisis of cognitive dissonance, especially when it comes to the run-up to the Iraq war. So three new stories this week are certain to cause right-wing minds to explode, or at least to seek the safe harbor of denial. First came word of a new book from Rumsfeld aide Douglas Feith revealing that President Bush declared "war is inevitable" in December 2002, months before UN weapons inspectors produced their report on... more Posted on March 11, 2008 \| Comments (4)

	John McCain: Unfit for Command Over the past week, Democrat Hillary Clinton has proclaimed her potential Republican rival John McCain to be the gold standard of wartime presidents. But lost in Clinton's fierce barrage against Barack Obama's national security experience is the inescapable conclusion about John McCain's own suitability as Commander-in-Chief. McCain's mistake-filled record, questionable judgment, calamitous misreading of history, nonchalance about American casualties and notorious short fuse all combine to make him a dangerous choice to lead an America at war. Simply put, John... more Posted on March 10, 2008 \| Comments (7)

	Pastor Hagee and the Unpology of John McCain Facing growing pressure to renounce the anti-Catholic bigotry of End Times Pastor John Hagee, John McCain on Friday resorted to that most Republican of accountability avoidance tactics, the Unpology. Desperate to reassure Catholic voters without alienating Hagee's evangelical allies, McCain offered only the facade of contrition by conditionally repudiating Hagee's inflammatory comments only "if they are anti-Catholic or offensive to Catholics." To fully appreciate McCain's cowardly evasion, a little history is helpful. In 1997, Seinfeld introduced Americans to the "unvitation."... more Posted on March 9, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Hillary Clinton Follows Reagan's 11th Commandment In what many in the GOP came to view as the 11th Commandment, Ronald Reagan famously said," Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican." Hillary Clinton, it would now appear, is taking his advice to heart. Not content to merely lambast the supposed inexperience of Barack Obama, Clinton's scorched-earth campaign has lavished praise on John McCain as the embodiment of a commander-in-chief. Desperate to resurrect her once-fading candidacy, it is Hillary Clinton who has sadly emerged as the... more Posted on March 7, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	McCain to Bush in 2000: "Take Your Hands Off Me" In his eternal quest for the White House, John McCain has demonstrated repeatedly that no indignity suffered at the hands of George W. Bush is too great to be forgiven. To appease conservative GOP primary voters, McCain reversed many of his long-held positions in order to appropriate the third term Bush agenda. And yesterday, McCain accepted Bush's Rose Garden endorsement as coming from" a man who I have a great admiration, respect and affection" for. But while John McCain now... more Posted on March 6, 2008 \| Comments (6)

	Jawbone of an Ass: Bush's Utter Failure with OPEC In the pantheon of his presidential failures, the utter inability of former Texas oilman George W. Bush to influence OPEC and the price of oil stands out as the most predictable - and ironic. Just one day after OPEC members rejected President Bush's call to boost crude production, oil jumped to the stratospheric level of $105 a barrel. This latest indignity caps seven years without results for the man who once boasted he would "jawbone" his friends in Kuwait and... more Posted on March 6, 2008 \| Comments (3)

	Getting the Numbers Right and the Headlines Wrong Yesterday, I offered surprisingly accurate predictions for the Democratic primaries in Texas and Ohio. But while I called correctly Texas for Hillary Clinton by 3% and was close on Ohio (forecasted 8% margin versus 10% actual), it appears I got the ensuing story line wrong. On Tuesday, I assumed the standard media narrative would portray Clinton's wins as "too little, too late." But a quick glance at the nation's headlines suggests her sweep of the Buckeye and Lone Star states... more Posted on March 5, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Cornyn Appears with McCain Wednesday, Slams Him Saturday When he's not threatening judges or comparing same-sex marriage to bestiality, Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn keeps busy by raising hypocrisy to an art form. On Wednesday, Cornyn joined John McCain and John Hagee on stage at the Texas pastor's endorsement event. Just three days later, Cornyn lambasted McCain, comparing his grudging support for the prospective nominee of his party to the grieving process. In San Antonio last Wednesday, Senator Cornyn accompanied John Hagee to the podium as the End... more Posted on March 4, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Tomorrow's Headlines Today As Democrats in Texas and Ohio vote in what could be the decisive primaries today, polls suggest late movement towards Hillary Clinton. But while the outcomes in those key contests may be in doubt, the media's coming interpretation of them is not. In all likelihood, Wednesday's headlines will proclaim Hillary Clinton lost even in victory. Both the Obama and Clinton camps have been frantically "pre-spinning" the March 4th primaries. For its part, the Clinton team has announced that anything less... more Posted on March 4, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Failed Bush Covert Action Fueled Hamas in Gaza Even as Israel began withdrawing its troops following its latest clashes with Hamas forces in Gaza, Vanity Fair published a shocking account of how the Bush administration bungling fueled the crisis there. Covert U.S. backing of armed Fatah units helped spark the bloody civil war that left Hamas in control of Gaza. But given that Condoleeza Rice's official State Department Middle East Peace Process timeline doesn't even mention Hamas, the disastrous Bush intervention seems much less surprising. Today's Vanity Fair... more Posted on March 3, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Gaza Violence Puts Bush Peace Promise in Peril 324. That's the number of days left for George W. Bush to deliver on his January pledge of a signed Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. But what seemed like Bush's cockeyed optimism just weeks ago now verges on fantasy. With Israeli forces and Hamas fighters battling in Gaza, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday announced the suspension of peace talks. As a result, President Bush's better-late-than-never engagement seems certain to be added to his eve-growing list of foreign policy failures. Bush's boast... more Posted on March 2, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Did McCain Cost Boeing $40 Billion Tanker Deal? In a stunning announcement Friday, the Pentagon skipped over Boeing and awarded a massive $40 billion contract for a new fleet of refueling tankers to a Northrop Grumman and European Aeronautics Defense and Space (EADS). While Air Force officials claimed the choice of the KC-45 tankers jointly developed by Grumman and Airbus' parent company was based on its superior design, politicians in both parties are howling about the devastating economic impact on U.S.-based Boeing. And they might just have John... more Posted on March 1, 2008 \| Comments (11)