That’s the bottom line from the President’s speech last night – aside from a relatively small number of troops that will be coming home, nothing else is changing. And, I guess Tony Snow doesn’t read much news these days…there’s a little thing about a poll..of Iraqis…oooops…
Snow On Long-Term Military Occupation: ‘Yeah, The Iraqis Want That’
Yesterday, President Bush told the nation he would endorse a long-term U.S. military presence in Iraq: At the same time, they understand that [Iraq’s] success will require U.S. political, economic and security engagement that extends beyond my Presidency. These Iraqi leaders have asked for an enduring relationship with America. And we are ready to begin building [...]
Tags: Military Presence in Iraq, Enduring Relationship With America
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Commercials were also part of the Ed Sullivan show (see earlier posts just below) – Even in 1956. Enjoy how long the spot ran and the "personal approach" -
Tags: Ed Sullivan
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I’ll probably spend some time this weekend tracking down clips of old TV shows. Some of these are really fascinating. How many of you grew up watching Ed Sullivan on Sunday nights? I know my family never missed one. And, honestly, for live TV, I don’t think anything has come close…
Tags: Ed Sullivan
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I’m optimistic, in spite of last night’s speech. Skies cleared around these parts, after a brush from the most recent hurricane to come up from the Gulf of Mexico. Temperatures promise to be much more bearable this weekend and that bodes well. Make sure you scroll down and chase the archive pages, too. I’m making a real effort to mix in some entertaining video hear and there. In the past couple of days, we’ve looked at American Bandstand, Beany and Cecil and an outstanding ABC TV Promo from 25 years ago, when they put some real effort into it.
But, we’ll kick things off tonight (officially – as always, late information may push this post down the page a bit) with some follow-up thoughts on the President’s speech last night.
Senator Jack Reed Responds to President Bush’s Address on Iraq
In his address to the nation tonight on the Iraq War, Bush claimed that “The principle guiding my decisions on troop levels in Iraq is ‘return on success’ — the more successful we are, the more American troops can return home.” More too little, too late from Bush. Ed Henry of CNN’s Washington Bureau said [...]
Author and radio talker, Bill Press, ends his program each morning with what he calls his "Parting Shot". They are excellent short pieces that almost always nail a salient point. You have to sign up for his free email newsletter at his website, but it’s worth it. Here, via his newsletter, is today’s "Parting Shot":
"Remember the classic Thanksgiving Peanuts cartoon? How Lucie would hold the football for Charlie Brown – then pull it away, just as Charlie Brown got ready to kick it. Yet, year after year, Charlie Brown would fall for the same trick. Well, I sure as hell hope we’re smarter than Charlie Brown. Because George Bush is trying to pull the same football trick on us. This is the eighth time he’s made a White House speech on Iraq, each time with more or less the same message: Please be patient. Or: All I need is a little more time. Or: Give me one more chance, this time I’ll get it right. Until now, like Charlie Brown, we’ve fallen for his silly game. But no longer. Now we know we can’t trust him at all. We couldn’t trust him, over four years ago, going into this war. And we can’t trust him now, trying to get out of it. And the reason we can’t trust him is because he has a different agenda. <!–
D(["mb","\u003cbr\>\n\u003cbr\>\nOur agenda is to get out of Iraq before too many more American lives are lost. \u003cbr\>\n\u003cbr\>\nGeorge Bush’s agenda is to drag out the war until he can dump it in the lap of his successor. \u003cbr\>\n\u003cbr\>\nWe care about America. All he cares about – is himself. \u003cbr\>\n\u003cbr\>\nThat’s my parting shot for today.\u003cbr\>\n\u003cbr\>\nBill Press\u003cbr\>\n\u003cbr\>\n\u003cem\>Taking back the airwaves, one day at a time. \u003c/em\>\u003cbr\>\n\u003cspan\> \u003cbr\>\n\u003c/span\>\n\u003cdiv align\u003d\"center\"\>\u003cspan\>\u003cbr\>\n\u003cbr\>\n\u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.liuna.org\" target\u003d\"_blank\" onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\"\>\u003cimg width\u003d\"234\" height\u003d\"60\" border\u003d\"0\" alt\u003d\"\"\>\u003c/a\>\u003c/span\>\u003cbr\>\n\u003c/div\>\n\u003cspan\> \u003cbr\>\n\u003c/span\>\u003cfont size\u003d\"4\" face\u003d\"Times New Roman\"\>\u003cstrong\>\u003c/strong\>\u003c/font\>\n\u003ch2\> \u003c/h2\>\n\u003c/div\>\n\n",0]
);
D(["ce"]);
//–> Our agenda is to get out of Iraq before too many more American lives are lost. George Bush’s agenda is to drag out the war until he can dump it in the lap of his successor. We care about America. All he cares about – is himself. That’s my parting shot for today."
Tags: Iraq War, Presidential Speech, Jack Reed
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Yet another example of how federal agencies, designed to protect us, aren’t/can’t do their jobs adequately. Some of this is likely due to budget cuts, but much is likely bad management and a lack of proper regulatory control.
Gov’t Didn’t Act After E. Coli Outbreak
Not particularly surprising, unfortunately. What protection can you expect from a government whose guiding philosophy is that governing is the problem? YahooNews: Government regulators never acted on calls for stepped-up inspections of leafy greens after last year’s deadly E. coli spinach outbreak, leaving the safety of America’s salads to a patchwork of largely [...]
Tags: E. Coli, Spinach, California, Salad
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As I’m reading through the pundits reactions to the President’s speech, now some 24 hours into history, I’m struck by the number of writers who saw it as one of the worst ever. It’s not a question of whether it was a bad speech, but, rather, how bad was it?
Deceptive or Delusional
So, how bad was the president’s speech last night? Slate’s Fred Kaplan explains. President Bush’s TV address tonight was the worst speech he’s ever given on the war in Iraq, and that’s saying a lot. Every premise, every proposal, nearly every substantive point was sheer fiction. The only question is whether he was being deceptive or [...]
Wash. Post: Bush contradicted himself and "recent government reports"
So blatant that even the Washington Post picked it up: "In his speech last night, President Bush made a case for progress in Iraq by citing facts and statistics that at times contradicted recent [...]
And, the best headline of the night: Yes, Surge, That’s My Baby: Press Responds To Bush Speech
By the time President Bush addressed the nation tonight, little suspense about his remarks remained. What Gen. Petraeus was going to recommend — continue to "surge" — was clear weeks ago, and excerpts from the president’s remarks were released by the White House this afternoon. So the media had plenty of time to [...]
‘Return on success’
Watching the president’s speech last night, I was reminded of a de-motivational poster I saw a couple of years ago: “Quitters never win, winners never quit, but those who never quit and never win are idiots.” Bush’s White House address wasn’t just unpersuasive and dishonest — though it was both of those — it was also [...]
What Bush and the Media didn’t tell you
In his speech last night, we heard more of the same. How the new plan will be better than the old plan (even if it looks remarkably like all the other plans Bush has tried). How we need more time. That some of our troops will be withdrawn if we are just a little more patient. That Al Qaeda’s on the run. That our soldiers are brave, and their sacrifice is not in vain. That we are winning the war so long as we stay in Iraq. That "normal life"…
Tags: Bush Speech, Iraq War, Fred Kaplan
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Apparently, not so much these days. Wonder why? Gas prices? Food prices? Energy costs? You name it, it’s costing more.
US consumer confidence drops
GOP economics continue to drag down the economy.Consumer confidence fell from 89.3 in August to a dismal 71.1 in September. Let’s hope this is the end of the GOP economic experiment. "President Bush, meanwhile, is continuing to get low marks for his economic stewardship. Just 37 percent approve of his handling of the economy in September, down from [...]
Tags: Consumer Confidence, Economy, Gas Prices, Food Prices, Energy Costs
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Dick Clark was another of my idols when I was growing up. Hosting American Bandstand seemed like the dream job to me. Closest I got was hosting a parody in college, for a friend’s TV production. Somewhere, I have a tape. If I ever find it, you’ll get to see it. In the meantime, one of the few clips I’ve been able to track down that includes Dick Clark..
Tags: Dick Clark, American Bandstand, Dick and Dee Dee
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September 14, 2007 · 1 Comment
Indeed…
Matthews: Bush’s claim of ‘36 countries’ in Iraq is ‘ludicrous.’
In his address to the nation tonight, President Bush said, “To the international community: The success of a free Iraq matters to every civilized nation. We thank the 36 nations who have troops on the ground in Iraq and the many others who are helping that young democracy.” In the MSNBC post-debate analysis with Keith [...]
By the way, whatever the actual number of nations is, you can subtract one of them..
The Icelandic ‘Contingent’
It just about epitomizes the President’s speech last night. One of the purported 36 coalition nations is Iceland, whose "contingent" to Iraq consists of a single soldier in Baghdad whose primary responsibility is as a media representative. To NATO’s disappointment, [...]
Tags: Chris Matthews, MSNBC, Bush Speech, Iraq War
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They knew. They knew is was all smoke and mirrors. But, did nothing…
An unbreakable floor?
Those of us outside the West Wing had no way of knowing it at the time, but in January, when the president unveiled his “surge” policy in a nationally-televised address, Republicans on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue knew it was a dud. His subdued tone, appropriate for ordering thousands more men and women into battle, worried [...]
Tags: Republicans, Iraq War, George W. Bush, Surge
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One of the key figures the old TV show, Happy Days, was Fonzie. What a classic character on a classic show. Enjoy about 8 minutes..
Tags: Happy Days, Fonzie
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It all comes down to history. And heritage. And an honest assessment of how that part of the world operates.
Mr. President, Democratic Leadership: There Is No Such Thing as Iraq
Sure, look on a map, and it exists. It’s got a seat in the United Nations. The electrical grid is national, and the people who live within the geographic boundaries are considered, by other nations, "Iraqis." But George W. Bush is trying to fool a nation and a world in to thinking that there is a nation known as Iraq. There isn’t. There are Kurds, and they don’t want to be in a nation that includes Sunni Arabs, whose leadership they blame for the genocidal policies known as the Anfal. Expecting Kurds to remain part of the Iraqi nation-state is like expecting Jews to have gotten a national homeland adjoined to Germany after the Holocaust, but expecting the Jews to make nice with the Germans and let bygones be bygones. Most Americans probably don’t realize that [...]
Tags: Iraq, Iraqis, Kurds
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And watch what John Edwards said in the two minutes of time he bought on MSNBC after the President’s speech.
Edwards Responds To Bush
If you watched the Preznit and then you watched John Edwards, you had to wonder what kind of nation it is where the former has his finger on the button and the latter is the subject of hair jokes [...]
Tags: John Edwards, Iraq War, War Funding
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My, my. Marc Cooper really unloads on the Bush Administration over the Iraq War.
My Little Pony
General David Petraeus was the trick pony. George W. Bush was the wonder dog. What a show. I watched the former for a couple of hours earlier this week. I missed the latter when he came out barking Thursday night on national TV. I was stuck in a meeting during the President’s speech but probably wouldn’t have [...]
Tags: Marc Cooper, David Patraeus, George W. Bush, Iraq War
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You must remember "Happy Days" on ABC. But, did you know that its pilot was part of another ABC show? Yup, "Love, American Style". Of course, half of ABC’s shows in the 80’s were spinoffs of other ABC shows! Still, "Love, American Style" was a typical show of the times and had a memorable theme song.
Tags: Love American Style, Happy Days
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There’s not a lot of positive chatter about the President’s speech on the conservative blogs tonight. I assume even they weren’t overly impressed. In fact, one of the prominent bloggers actually fell asleep during the speech! So, what DOES have their attention? Illegal immigration, that’s what.
Three Massive Amnesties Coming?
The latest e-mail from NumbersUSA:OPEN-BORDERS SENATORS PLAN END-RUN DREAM ACT AMNESTY Friends, this is not a do-it-if-you-have-time request. This is the most urgent kind of request for your action Friday — and again Monday. Please send free faxes to your Members of Congress. You’ll see some faxes on your Action [...]
As long as they’re getting up in arms, this ain’t gonna calm them down:
Bush Admin Tamps Down Right-Wing Desire For Mass Deportation Of Undocumented Immigrants
At her Senate confirmation hearing this week, head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Julie Myers reported that it would cost $94 billion to deport all 12 million undocumented immigrants currently in the U.S. An ICE spokesperson later reported that this figure does not include any costs for apprehension of undocumented immigrants. While [...]
Tags: Illegal Immigration, Amnesty, DREAM Act
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It boggles the mind. If you had ANY thoughts that Fox News really does try to be "fair and balanced" – this should convince you otherwise. Sadly, I used to truly enjoy some of their programming, particularly the original "Fox and Friends". Just. Can’t. Do. It. Anymore…
Fox only broadcast network that did not air Democratic response to Bush speech
Following President Bush’s September 13 prime-time address to the nation on Iraq, Fox was the only broadcast network not to air the Democratic response, which was delivered by Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI). Instead, Fox News anchor Shepard Smith, who was hosting Fox’s post-speech coverage, stated: "The Democrats will say in the Democratic response later that the larger problems, as General [David] Petraeus put it, are not military but political. The surge, when announced by the president, was designed to give the political leaders in Iraq the time to bring together their strategies to secure the nation and solve their political problems." At the conclusion of [...]
Tags: Fox News, Presidential Speech, Democratic Response
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