The Descent of Man
by eriposte
Mark Kleiman notes:
I noted earlier [link here] that Eugene Volokh's attempt to find important American liberals who support the Iraqi insurgency had yielded a result within measurement error of nothing whatever. But Henry Farrell's search for right-wingers who falsely assert the opposite -- who claim that large segments of the American left support our enemies -- has been much more productive.
The conclusion is inescapable: Large segments of the American right are making demonstrably false charges of disloyalty, thus weakening national unity in wartime. How unpatriotic of them!
Joseph Cannon continues The Brad Blog's excellent coverage on voting issues and vote fraud by continuing to reveal more about the fraudulent GOP outlet "American Center for Voting Rights" (ACVR) - which posed as a "non-partisan" group (that issued a report fraudulently claiming that mostly Democrats committed extensive vote fraud in 2004 - yeah right). He points to the Democratic Party's recent revelation that ACVR Chairman Brian Lunde - who was part of the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign and is linked to fraudster and indictee Jack Abramoff was, predictably, a past lobbyist for a virulently anti-democratic thug of a dictator (President Kabila of the Congo) who blocked investigations into the massacre of tens of thousands of refugees.
The Carpetbagger Report notes the Bush White House's continued love of criminals or those who directly or indirectly enable high crimes (this time it's the criminal Boeing deal that sent two people to prison while the known White House involvement in the criminal deal has been left uninvestigated by their enablers aka the Republican Congress).
And now the White House has tapped the same guy who helped cut corners to make the criminal deal happen for a major promotion to head the Air Force itself.
No surprise there, but sometimes I do wonder....Why does Bush have such a strong desire to surround himself with ex-criminals, potential criminals, enablers of criminals or shills for criminals? It almost seems like he's got a pro-crime-fetish or an ongoing Affirmative Access program for wannabe criminals, but it certainly does make it clear he doesn't really believe in God or good vs. evil and such like (his cultists' feverish braying notwithstanding). Calling this White House "soft on crime" is like saying Bernie Ebbers did some "stuff" at Worldcom. Understatement of the century.
Anyway, Oliver Willis, while linking to Media Matters' article highlighting the latest fakery from the conservative media regarding the Able Danger revelations [Laura Rozen at War and Piece is probably one of the best blogs to go to to learn more on Able Danger], mentions this:
More Americans have died as a result of terrorism under George W. Bush than any other President in the history of the United States
Let me round this off by recommending Paul Begala's excellent post at TPM Cafe - and here is an extract:
For me, one of the most incendiary moments of the entire Bush war in Iraq occurred when a right-wing thug ran his pickup truck over hundreds of crosses bearing the names of heroic Americans killed in Iraq. He also took out scores of American flags in the process.
...
Such is the hatred of the far right at the dawn of the 21st Century. And my how the optical worm has turned. Today it is the left invoking faith, flag and family, while the right destroys crosses. Today it is the left that honors the war dead, raises up a Gold Star Mother and publicly prays for our troops, while the right viciously attacks a woman who gave her country everything. Today it is the left that patiently and peacefully respects the Office of the Presidency, while the right diminishes the office by claiming it's more important for the President to go bike-riding with a sports hero than comfort the mother of a war hero.
For the last two presidential elections it has been the Democratic Party whose nominee was a Vietnam War veteran, while the Republicans have sputtered out spurious defenses of their candidate's deceitful draft-dodging.
On Thursday, Dick Cheney, who said he had "other priorities" in the Vietnam era, and so helped himself to five draft deferments, will address the 73rd Convention of the Military Order of the Purple Heart. I do not think he will express remorse for the callousness with which he explained his cowardice. Nor do I expect him to apologize for the shocking, mocking Republicans who, at their New York Convention a year ago, sported Band-Aids with tiny purple hearts to mock the blood shed by John Kerry and so many other heroes in that misbegotten war.
No, Mr. Cheney, surrounded by body guards who would gladly give their life for him, will no doubt wrap himself in the flag. A flag Larry Chad Northern wrapped around his axle on Prairie Chapel Road.
No surprise there too.