WAKING UP FROM A 12-YEAR NIGHTMARE
"The government by gimmick and photo-op and sound-bite has failed us."
--Democratic Massachusetts governor-elect Deval Patrick, quoted by AP National Writer Hugo Kugiya, "Democrats Take Majority of Governorships," posted on Yahoo! News November 8, 2006.
One of Rove's many influences on the Bush White House has been the almost complete eradication of the distinction between campaigning and governing.
--"Bubble Trouble," Dan Froomkin, Washington Post.com political blog, posted November 7, 2006.
No party in modern times has failed to gain at least one seat in a House election, and Republicans were facing a shutout last night.
--"Democrats Promise Broad New Agenda," Jonathan Weisman and Shailagh Murray, Washington Post, November 8, 2006
Everything is different now for President Bush. The era of one-party Republican rule in Washington ended with a crash in yesterday's midterm elections, putting a proudly unyielding president on notice that the voters want change, especially on the war in Iraq.
--"A Loud Message for Bush," Robin Toner, New York Times, November 8, 2006.
For the first time in a dozen years, Democrats hold a majority of the nation's governorships after taking 20 of 36 races, including battleground states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and Colorado that will be crucial to the 2008 presidential race.
--"Democrats Take Majority of Governorships," Hugo Kugiya, AP National Writer, posted on Yahoo! News November 8, 2006.
"Bush: For Rumsfeld before he was against him,"
--Josh Marshall, posted on his blog, Talking Points Memo, November 8, 2006.
Claiming he was genuinely surprised at the Democratic sweeps of the House, Senate, and 20 new governorships, at his hastily-convened press conference at noon today, Bush even poked fun at his "boy genius," Karl Rove, saying that, apparently, Rove hadn't been working as hard on the elections as he had.
He then made the surprise announcement that Rumsfeld was out--something that, less than one week ago, he not only swore he would never do, but claimed he was keeping Rumsfeld on as defense secretary "all the way until January 2009 when I leave office."
Of course, by making the announcement today, he immediately takes all the media focus off the Democrats, giving them NOT ONE DAY to rejoice in their phenomenal victory before suddenly turning the cameras--where else?--onto himself.
Now all the attention will be on him being a Great Leader and on his new boy, former CIA director-turned Texas A&M University president, Robert Gates, who he is appointing to take Rumsfeld's place.
I've been scrambling to gather up all the latest news on these events, and things are changing so quickly that I can hardly keep up.
The most pivotal Senate race in the country--Virginia--between Democrat James Webb and Republican incumbent George Allen, is still being discussed in the media as "too close to call," but actually, that's not true. Immediate legal "canvassing" conducted by the state of Virginia has actually uncovered Webb votes that were electronically cast to Allen. Correcting that mistake has given Webb an 8,000 vote lead, with 99% of the votes counted. Allen doesn't want to concede the election, but he's done.
Meanwhile, the House scooped up AT LEAST 27 seats, with 13 still being counted and too close to call yet.
Democrats picked up governorships and House and Senate seats all over the map in places that were considered iron-clad red: the Midwest, the South, and the West, as well as the more traditional Northeast.
And yet Bush was "surprised."
Inside the bubble his loyal staff so arduously maintains, just about everyone the president sees loves him and prays for him. The important issues of the day are boiled down to a simplistic binary: You're either with me or against me.
And with the Republican Congress essentially serving as a White House annex, there's rarely been any need for Bush to doubt himself.
But American voters today are poised to breach Bush's bubble, exposing him to the real world.
In the real world, just because he says something doesn't make it so. In the real world, he can't just demonize people who don't agree with him--he has to work with them. And in the real world, he is the president of all the people, not just his partisan supporters.
--"Bubble Trouble," Dan Froomkin, Washingtonpost.com, November 7, 2006.
Somewhere I read that although the Republicans tried to ignore their bubble-bath rubber-stamp governing in the past six years, and pretend that the American people were too stupid to see past their own immediate congressional districts--that in spite of that, this election boiled down to three things: IRAQ, IRAQ, IRAQ.
I will be writing in coming days about the Rumsfeld Shuffle. Here is what I know so far about Robert Gates.
He served as CIA director from 1991 to 1993. He is the only career officer in the CIA's history to rise from entry-level employee to director. He served as deputy director from 1986-1989, and as Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor to the White House from January 20, 1989 until November 6, 1991 for President George H.W. Bush.
During his tenure with the CIA, he served for nine years at the National Security Council, with four different presidents of both parties. He served as Interim Dean of the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M from 1999-2001. (That would be the first George Bush.) And since August of 2002, he's been the president of the university.
So, let's read between the lines.
First, he gained his creds in the first Bush's advice and counsel. When Jr. took office, he did everything in his power to prove he Was Not His Father, including uprooting or firing No. 41 loyalists.
Second, Gates was fired by No. 43 when he went public with his objections to…what? The war in Iraq. That's right, boys and girls. The security expert made the mistake of expressing publicly that he thought invading Iraq in 2003 was going to be a bad idea.
So of course, he got fired for it.
Third, Don't get too excited.
NEVER FORGET that everything this president does is geared for the television cameras, the photo-op, the sound-bite. I can't count the times he has made sweeping pronouncements on everything from putting a man on Mars to giving billions to Africa for AIDS relief, and TIME AND TIME AGAIN HE DOES NOT DELIVER ON HIS PROMISES.
However, his failure to deliver almost never makes the nightly news.
This is how he has "governed." Every single solitary thing he has done has been for political gain, INCLUDING STARTING A WAR.
This will be no different.
Media pundits will take it as a major signal of a change in policy that Bush has appointed Dr. Gates to be defense secretary and he will get all sorts of brownie points for signaling change in Iraq and change to the voters who have sent him an unmistakable message that change is what they want.
It remains to be seen whether he will heed the advice of his new defense secretary. NEVER FORGET THAT RUMSFELD WAS CHENEY'S MAN AND CHENEY IS STILL THE POWER BEHIND THE THRONE.
So let's not get too excited.
One more thing. Bush has always surrounded himself with yes-men. There is no way he would tolerate a new defense secretary who did not give lip-service to worshipping Bush and his policies straight down the line.
So expect there to be a great deal of pomp and circumstance and show of cooperation.
While, all along, boys and girls keep dying and the clock keeps ticking…
BUT IN THE MEANTIME…
WE KICKED ASS, DIDN'T WE? WAY TO GO, DEMOCRATIC GRASS-ROOTS, WHO PROVED WE'VE GOT OUR OWN "GET-OUT-THE-VOTE" ORGANIZATION.
Congratulations, and thank God.
A new Congress, which is decidedly centrist and moderate, has, at long last, woken us up from the nightmare that started with Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh, Jerry Falwell, and Karl Rove…and culminated with Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld.
Bush may be surprised, but the rest of the country isn't, and I'm looking forward to a whole new day.
--Democratic Massachusetts governor-elect Deval Patrick, quoted by AP National Writer Hugo Kugiya, "Democrats Take Majority of Governorships," posted on Yahoo! News November 8, 2006.
One of Rove's many influences on the Bush White House has been the almost complete eradication of the distinction between campaigning and governing.
--"Bubble Trouble," Dan Froomkin, Washington Post.com political blog, posted November 7, 2006.
No party in modern times has failed to gain at least one seat in a House election, and Republicans were facing a shutout last night.
--"Democrats Promise Broad New Agenda," Jonathan Weisman and Shailagh Murray, Washington Post, November 8, 2006
Everything is different now for President Bush. The era of one-party Republican rule in Washington ended with a crash in yesterday's midterm elections, putting a proudly unyielding president on notice that the voters want change, especially on the war in Iraq.
--"A Loud Message for Bush," Robin Toner, New York Times, November 8, 2006.
For the first time in a dozen years, Democrats hold a majority of the nation's governorships after taking 20 of 36 races, including battleground states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and Colorado that will be crucial to the 2008 presidential race.
--"Democrats Take Majority of Governorships," Hugo Kugiya, AP National Writer, posted on Yahoo! News November 8, 2006.
"Bush: For Rumsfeld before he was against him,"
--Josh Marshall, posted on his blog, Talking Points Memo, November 8, 2006.
Claiming he was genuinely surprised at the Democratic sweeps of the House, Senate, and 20 new governorships, at his hastily-convened press conference at noon today, Bush even poked fun at his "boy genius," Karl Rove, saying that, apparently, Rove hadn't been working as hard on the elections as he had.
He then made the surprise announcement that Rumsfeld was out--something that, less than one week ago, he not only swore he would never do, but claimed he was keeping Rumsfeld on as defense secretary "all the way until January 2009 when I leave office."
Of course, by making the announcement today, he immediately takes all the media focus off the Democrats, giving them NOT ONE DAY to rejoice in their phenomenal victory before suddenly turning the cameras--where else?--onto himself.
Now all the attention will be on him being a Great Leader and on his new boy, former CIA director-turned Texas A&M University president, Robert Gates, who he is appointing to take Rumsfeld's place.
I've been scrambling to gather up all the latest news on these events, and things are changing so quickly that I can hardly keep up.
The most pivotal Senate race in the country--Virginia--between Democrat James Webb and Republican incumbent George Allen, is still being discussed in the media as "too close to call," but actually, that's not true. Immediate legal "canvassing" conducted by the state of Virginia has actually uncovered Webb votes that were electronically cast to Allen. Correcting that mistake has given Webb an 8,000 vote lead, with 99% of the votes counted. Allen doesn't want to concede the election, but he's done.
Meanwhile, the House scooped up AT LEAST 27 seats, with 13 still being counted and too close to call yet.
Democrats picked up governorships and House and Senate seats all over the map in places that were considered iron-clad red: the Midwest, the South, and the West, as well as the more traditional Northeast.
And yet Bush was "surprised."
Inside the bubble his loyal staff so arduously maintains, just about everyone the president sees loves him and prays for him. The important issues of the day are boiled down to a simplistic binary: You're either with me or against me.
And with the Republican Congress essentially serving as a White House annex, there's rarely been any need for Bush to doubt himself.
But American voters today are poised to breach Bush's bubble, exposing him to the real world.
In the real world, just because he says something doesn't make it so. In the real world, he can't just demonize people who don't agree with him--he has to work with them. And in the real world, he is the president of all the people, not just his partisan supporters.
--"Bubble Trouble," Dan Froomkin, Washingtonpost.com, November 7, 2006.
Somewhere I read that although the Republicans tried to ignore their bubble-bath rubber-stamp governing in the past six years, and pretend that the American people were too stupid to see past their own immediate congressional districts--that in spite of that, this election boiled down to three things: IRAQ, IRAQ, IRAQ.
I will be writing in coming days about the Rumsfeld Shuffle. Here is what I know so far about Robert Gates.
He served as CIA director from 1991 to 1993. He is the only career officer in the CIA's history to rise from entry-level employee to director. He served as deputy director from 1986-1989, and as Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor to the White House from January 20, 1989 until November 6, 1991 for President George H.W. Bush.
During his tenure with the CIA, he served for nine years at the National Security Council, with four different presidents of both parties. He served as Interim Dean of the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M from 1999-2001. (That would be the first George Bush.) And since August of 2002, he's been the president of the university.
So, let's read between the lines.
First, he gained his creds in the first Bush's advice and counsel. When Jr. took office, he did everything in his power to prove he Was Not His Father, including uprooting or firing No. 41 loyalists.
Second, Gates was fired by No. 43 when he went public with his objections to…what? The war in Iraq. That's right, boys and girls. The security expert made the mistake of expressing publicly that he thought invading Iraq in 2003 was going to be a bad idea.
So of course, he got fired for it.
Third, Don't get too excited.
NEVER FORGET that everything this president does is geared for the television cameras, the photo-op, the sound-bite. I can't count the times he has made sweeping pronouncements on everything from putting a man on Mars to giving billions to Africa for AIDS relief, and TIME AND TIME AGAIN HE DOES NOT DELIVER ON HIS PROMISES.
However, his failure to deliver almost never makes the nightly news.
This is how he has "governed." Every single solitary thing he has done has been for political gain, INCLUDING STARTING A WAR.
This will be no different.
Media pundits will take it as a major signal of a change in policy that Bush has appointed Dr. Gates to be defense secretary and he will get all sorts of brownie points for signaling change in Iraq and change to the voters who have sent him an unmistakable message that change is what they want.
It remains to be seen whether he will heed the advice of his new defense secretary. NEVER FORGET THAT RUMSFELD WAS CHENEY'S MAN AND CHENEY IS STILL THE POWER BEHIND THE THRONE.
So let's not get too excited.
One more thing. Bush has always surrounded himself with yes-men. There is no way he would tolerate a new defense secretary who did not give lip-service to worshipping Bush and his policies straight down the line.
So expect there to be a great deal of pomp and circumstance and show of cooperation.
While, all along, boys and girls keep dying and the clock keeps ticking…
BUT IN THE MEANTIME…
WE KICKED ASS, DIDN'T WE? WAY TO GO, DEMOCRATIC GRASS-ROOTS, WHO PROVED WE'VE GOT OUR OWN "GET-OUT-THE-VOTE" ORGANIZATION.
Congratulations, and thank God.
A new Congress, which is decidedly centrist and moderate, has, at long last, woken us up from the nightmare that started with Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh, Jerry Falwell, and Karl Rove…and culminated with Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld.
Bush may be surprised, but the rest of the country isn't, and I'm looking forward to a whole new day.
posted by Deanie Mills at 1:10 PM
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