Dumbya Yesterday : "The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our Number one priority and we will not rest until we find him!" "There needs to be a focused, coalition effort in the region against peace ... I mean, against terror for peace." |
"Clinton's advisors met nearly weekly on how to stop bin Laden ...
I didn't detect that kind of focus from the Bush adminsitration."
Two Star General Donald Kerrick
"... But he's been AWOL on the war in the Middle East, as just as he was AWOL when he was in the National Guard."
"You know what you do have Martin Walker, you have the strongest, bravest, wisest, kindest leader in the free world, the real leader of the free world, Tony Blair, why the hell do you need a queen when you've got the finest leader in free world in Blair, who by the way right now is in ..."
"Pittsburgh is the Midwest. Sir, this is the Mideast."
"... we don't have a Queen here. In fact we don't even have a president who got elected. We hung together through September 11th just fine."
"The vulgar tragedy is how this man, Bill Clinton, was trashed by the right-wing knuckle dragging thugs of cable television and elsewhere, ever since he set first on Washington. But I'll make you a deal. Let's put it to the test. Let's repeal the 22nd Amendment, let my guy run for a third term. He'll beat George Bush like a red-headed stepchild. He'll beat him like a bad piece of meat. He'll whip him like a ..."
You know, Bush's Middle East policy has been wholly empty. He began by saying I was going to disengage. Now he wants to micromanage the timing of the Israeli defense forces. And I was struck watching our president with the British prime minister. Bush is in so over his head, he looked like mini me standing next to Shaquille O'Neal. He has no clue what he is doing."
And when he did, the Republicans attacked him [Bill Clinton]. The Republicans undermined him. Trent Lott and others criticized him for doing that. So shame on the Republicans. Clinton went after bin Laden again and again and again, but Bush had the entire United States Army. He didn't use it."
"We are raiding Social Security and running a deficit, so that Bush can hand the money off to the rich."
"I mean, you know, the only thing -- if we ever find a way to run cars on air, they're going to want to drill in Bush's head next."
"Congressman Davis, let me ask you about this. First, just first things first. Who has a more legitimate claim to the office they hold, Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela, who won an election, or George W. Bush in America?"
"George W. Bush didn't win anything more than a five to four vote on a Supreme Court that his daddy helped pick."
"I've never said bad about Al Gore. He's our real president. What are you talking about?"
"Well, I have a message for the nameless, gutless whimperers out there. Quit whining. Unlike some other shows, we here at CROSSFIRE actually present both sides of the issue. ... Look, if you want namby-pamby one-sided arguments go to Fox."
"I hope Bush continues to repeat many of the things that Clinton did. Maybe he'll dig us out of this recession and create a few jobs."
"I'm embarrassed every time I see our president speaking. And I want to hide under the covers, because it's incoherent the way he tries to define how the world works. That's what embarrasses me."
"Ken Starr at one point only had 78 FBI agents on Clinton. Wouldn't you rather have them looking at counter terrorism? Who here would rather him looking at counter terrorism?"
"Why didn't the Cheney task force on terrorism ever meet or produce anything that we know of? Why don't President Bush know about four or five published accounts, widely published, that suggested maybe we would have airplanes crashing into buildings? I think that limiting it only to intelligence does not really do justice to the failures here."
"Tom Daschle was serving in the Senate when Dick Cheney was making money selling equipment to Iran, Iraq and Libya. Dick Cheney needs to not lecture Tom Daschle about patriotism."
Paul Begala, CrossFire
Paul Begala Shoots The Bull
"We don't have to look at those documents. The Bush administration's marinated in oil. It's all for big oil, big gas."
Ralph Nader on Crossfire, 04/02/2002
""This 80 percent approval rating - this is not about 80 percent of the country approves or loves George W. Bush. This is more like love the one you're with. This is who we're stuck with. People say, 'Get over it.' Well, I'll
never get over it," he said. "There's nothing more basic in a democracy than the right to vote, and if you don't stand up for that - if someone tries to rig it or steal it and we sit silent, what message do we send?"
Michael Moore, Stupid White Men
"President Bush is facing angry Arab nations, angry Middle East combatants, angry European allies, and angry terrorists bent on destroying America. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if he asks Florida for another recount – 'Let's give this sucker to Al Gore.'"
Bill O'Reilly
"In a little over a year in office, Bush has allowed the Israeli-Palestinian crisis to explode from a small brush fire to a raging conflagration; squandered the global goodwill toward the United States after Sept. 11; set back the cause of moderates in Iran with a comic-book invocation of "evil"; endangered key allies in South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Egypt; failed to pursue vital peacekeeping and nation-building efforts in Afghanistan; clumsily pushed the Arab world into greater solidarity with Saddam Hussein; put forward a potentially dangerous new first-use nuclear doctrine; and filled our European allies with contempt and rage at our heavy-handed unilateralism."
Gary Kamiya, Salon
"Bush and Cheney are leading us into another half-century of cold war, with terrorism replacing Communism as the new hobgoblin of our age."
George McGovern
"A 2-year-old could have seen this crisis coming
. And the idea that it could be brushed under the carpet as the administration focused either on Afghanistan or Iraq reflects either appalling ignorance or arrogance."
Geoffrey Kemp, who ran Middle East affairs for the National Security Council under Ronald Reagan.
"Don't you think that it would be more important to go to Jerusalem first?"
King of Morocco to Colin Powell
"Well, things do seem to be going to hell, don't they?"
"Ever since Attorney General John Ashcroft informed me that worrying about cancellation of the Constitution was the same thing as aiding terrorists, it has been clear to me that I mustn't think what I think."
"When you're in the middle of a moral crusade against evil, it's damned annoying to have to ... grapple with unpleasant complications, such as that we have to let Afghan farmers grow opium poppies, or that our allies the Saudi Arabians foment terrorism or that our allies the Pakistanis seem to have quite a few 'freedom fighters' of their own."
"Why do the rich get away with stealing millions while the poor go to prison for stealing TVs?"
Molly Ivins
"If you dream that everyone might be your enemy, one
day they may become just that."
Nick Cohen, The Observer
"What do you do if a scientific report raises serious questions about proposed public policy? If you're an honest, open-minded public official, interested only in what's best for the republic, you pause, consider the information carefully, re-examine your basic assumptions -- and maybe even admit you're wrong and change directions. If you're a member of the Bush administration, interested only in what's best for the oil and gas industry, you simply ignore the facts -- and order up another instant study that agrees with your preconceived notions.
Bill Press, Instant science behind Bush energy policy
"If we assess the foreign policy accomplishments of the Bush administration since Sept. 11, the scorecard is quite dismal. There are some people in the Bush administration who have the same mentality as Arafat or Sharon. I can name names, like Ashcroft, Cheney and Rumsfeld, although that is considered impolite ... Although the terrorist threat is real, and we must defend against it, we are going about it the wrong way. What makes the situation so dangerous is that nobody dares to say so. The nation is endangered, therefore it is unpatriotic to criticize our leader. That is not what has made this country great. The strength of this country lies in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights and the freedom of speech and thought."
"Watch out, the crocodile is coming."
George Soros
"Last weekend, the A.P. reported Bush aides saying on background that our president was 'frustrated' after his telephone call to Sharon. I asked another
'senior administration official' about that, and was firmly told 'no such thing.
' Such staff doubletalk ill serves the president and the press."
William Safire
"He'll learn at some point that you have to face problems rather than to blame others -- and the only thing more glaring here than his lack of leadership is his lack of knowledge."
Joe Lockhart
""As important as identifying Iraq, Iran and North Korea for what they are, we must be equally bold in identifying other evils that confront us, for there is another axis of evil in the world: poverty and ignorance; disease and environmental disorder; corruption and political oppression."
"I'm tired of this right-wing sidewind! I've had it! America's economy is suffering unnecessarily. Important American values are being trampled. Special interests are calling the shots. And it sometimes seems as if, in the words of the poet, 'The best lack all conviction and the worst are full of passionate intensity.' If you agree with me, then stand up with conviction for what we believe in -- and fight for it."
"Republicans are the 'Party of the Pirates of Enron'
President-In-Exile Al Gore
"Yesterday was Earth Day, President Bush was up in the Adirondack Mountains showing how to use an axe –
it’s the same axe he’s using
on Social Security."
"Today is Earth Day - or as the Bush administration calls it, Monday!"
"They had the big Easter egg hunt at the White House and oh my, what a slap to the face, what an embarrassment – one of the kids was finding an egg under a rock and instead found some notes on Dick Cheney's meeting with Enron executives."
"For those of you who wondered what a Dan Quayle presidency would have been like, now you know.
"
David Letterman, Dave's Dubya Lists
"People are now starting to question President Bush's Mideast policy – I didn't know he had one."
"Did anyone check the paper? What's our Middle East policy for today?"
"Bush and Ozzy both have something in common, though – neither one can remember anything from the '70s."
Jay Leno
The "War on terror" is proving to be a better cover for Republican treason than "The War on Drugs" ever was.
holib, a guardian poster
"Bush presumes case against Iraq. Get a life, George! Osama bin Laden, Mullah Omar, the anthrax terrorist, all still at large. No cease-fire in the middle east. Failed US sponsored coup in Venezuela. You are a failure."
BuzzFlash, BuzzFlash
"Maybe one day soon a li'l ol' steel magnolia will march up the White House steps, brush aside those Secret Service hunks, sweep into the Oval Office, dump tomes on that glistening desk, and lecture Georgie on the dangers of being such a pompous dunce. Hopefully, one of those books will be a copy of the US Constitution,
now under siege by both terrorists and the protectors of the people. Maybe Georgie, now that he’s in between sophomoric speeches, could be stirred into studying the real things that make his country great --like the belief that all men (and nations) are created equal, despite differences in color, creed, facial hair or per capita incomes."
Inday Espina-Verona, The Manila Times
"Who'd have thought that at the end of the year, Salon would still be in business and Enron would be bankrupt?"
Will Tomlinson
"It wasn't too long ago that the idea of a Chinese skater medaling in an Olympics was about as sure as a Bush taking responsibility for his crimes"
Tara Leigh
"This is a message from a Fox News senior vice president to staff, dated November 28, 2001 : 'Let's not get sidetracked worrying about the plight of Afghans this winter, or how many children are undernourished.
We can help that country as soon as they cough up the guys who killed 5,000 Americans. When in doubt, take a look at the WTC collapsing.'"
Todd Gitlin
"Mr. Bush doesn't seem to know that since the routing of the Taliban his moral clarity has atrophied into simplistic, often hypocritical sloganeering. He has let his infatuation with his own rectitude metastasize into hubris ... Even then, the 180-degree reversal from the administration's previous inertia was not motivated by the bloody imperatives of the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians but by their inconvenient disruption of Mr. Bush's plans to finish his father's job in Iraq. A cynic might go so far as to say that 'Saddam Hussein is driving U.S. foreign policy' -- which, as it happens, is what Benjamin Netanyahu did tell The New York Post on Tuesday."
"The administration of Cheney, Rumsfeld and Powell is hardly ignorant. But arrogance is another matter."
"Even then, the 180-degree reversal from the administration's previous inertia was not motivated by the bloody imperatives of the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians but by their inconvenient disruption of Mr. Bush's plans to finish his father's job in Iraq. A cynic might go so far as to say that "Saddam Hussein is driving U.S. foreign policy""
Frank Rich
"The President's politics are so fundamentally immature that when confronted with a real world of hard choices he is floundering. So George Bush ends up caught in the crossfire between the wise -- Colin Powell and Condolleeza Rice -- and the dangerous -- Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle. The latter are an arrogant, angry crew and God help us all if they triumph."
Fergal Keane, The Independent
"We have nothing to fear but really
scary things like monsters or fiscal conservatives."
Andrew
R. Heinze
"Let me tell you this. I think Bill Clinton knows probably right now in his sleep 10 times more about the Middle East than George Bush ever will."
"And I'll tell you something, Karl Rove, you know, in the darkest periods of night is very, very happy that they're building an entire strategy on 9-11. Where was this guy before 9-11? He was 48 percent in the polls. Where would he be now without 9-11? Probably 32."
Bob Beckel
"Well, calling Ariel Sharon a man of peace is like calling Patton and Napoleon a man of mean. But the president doesn't know the difference between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. That's just a mistake. Saying that they pulled out in response to his call just is a flat lie.
"The problem here is, is that the president stands up and says this. They got a bunch of kids over there covering this administration that are scared to death, because they know what happens is, is Karen Hughes -- who is a friend of mine -- is a dominatrix of this press corps. And if they say something bad, they're not going to get any access and they're all scared."
"But the idea that he responded to President Bush's call is ludicrous on its face. And if we didn't have a bunch of nincompoops covering this White House, the American public would know what was going on. You can't trust this press corps for nothing because they are scared to death."
"The president of the United States went over. And he said gee, I wasn't myself because I suffered from jet lag. If you can't go to Europe and play hurt, what are you president for? Why don't you stay in Texas if you can't fly to Europe and represent the interests of the United States?
"
James Carville, James Carville
- Democrat with an attitude!
"President Bush gave out the Youth Environmental Awards today in the Rose Garden at the White House. After the kids got their awards they dug up the roses and drilled for oil."
"Yesterday President Bush was to have a two-hour meeting with the Saudi Arabian prince. The actual meeting took five hours because they had to translate from Arabic to English, then English to Bush."
"President Bush was in South Dakota today. There was an awkward moment at Mount Rushmore when President Bush said, "Hey, look, it's those guys on the money!""
"Baylor University in Texas has announced that they would like to have the presidential Library of George W. Bush. They said all they need is for President Bush to donate the two books he's read."
"President Bush gave a speech in Germany today about how Saddam Hussein needs to be removed from power. He started the speech by saying we need to get rid of maniacal dictators bent on destruction
– then he said, "Oops, wrong crowd.""
Conan O' Brien, Conan, the awesome
!
"Can you believe this Enron mess? I love how Bush's good friend 'Kenny Boy' suddenly turned into 'Mr. Lay.' Give me a break!"
Johnny Carson
"To contend that (Miguel) Estrada, a young attorney with no judicial experience, is the only Hispanic who could be a nominee to a potential vacancy on the Supreme Court does a disservice to the many outstanding Hispanic judges serving in our federal and state courts."
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-vt)
"I think it's shameful that they didn't warn the American people. It appears the government has placed the financial interests of the airline industry above the survival of the citizens"
Steven Push, husband of murdered passenger on American Airlines Flight 77
"Three photos of Bush for $150.00 donation to Freepers -- kinda like hittin' the trifecta!"
Media Whores
Online
"They talk about the importance of the rule of law, but seem allergic to treaties designed to strengthen the rule of law in areas such as money-laundering, biological weapons, crimes against humanity and the environment. This split personality is also evident in Afghanistan, where one day they are ridiculing nation-building and the next proposing a new Marshall Plan. President Bush will have the opportunity to clarify the character and purpose of American leadership by spelling out not only what America is against, which is terror, but also what America is for."
Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
"There is a hooligan element in the US administration who take pleasure in defying world opinion."
Labour MP Tam Dalyell
We have a real problem with [the 'Phoenix' memo not reaching Bush and Mohammad Atta acquiring a student visa] ... these are real screw-ups, real foul-ups ... Are they being covered up by these generalized warnings?"
"President Bush wants to change the Department of Defense back into a War Department. ... Who is this guy, Napoleon?"
Chris Matthews
"On cue, Vice-president Cheney entered stage right with his now familiar bluster, insisting upon secrecy and insinuating that to doubt George W. Bush is to doubt America. Well, it's not going to play this time."
Gene Lyons
"This Bush administration believes that it is not accountable to the American people, and that it is above scrutiny if not the law. It has a 'Father Knows Best'(and let's hope the father is not Bush Sr.) view of government. And, for political reasons, not the least of which deals with the congressional elections this fall --where Republicans hope to re-capture control of the Senate and retain control of the House --Bush and his colleagues do not want the full truth to be known."
Larry Klayman
White House admits far greater contact with Enron than previously disclosed. But not nearly as much as it will be forced to admit to later.
Ironic Times
"The CIA doesn’t kill anybody, they “neutralize” people. Or they “depopulate” an area. The government doesn’t lie, it engages in “disinformation.” The Pentagon actually measures nuclear radiation in something they call “sunshine units.” Israeli murderers are called “commandos,” Arab commandos are called “terrorists,” The contra killers were known as “freedom fighters.” Well, if crime fighters fight crime, and firefighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight?"
"In the United States, anybody can be president. That’s the problem."
George Carlin, George Carlin Site
"Why executing anyone is wrong : "Hey, you know as well as I do that we've already executed people for crimes they didn't commit. We just don't know their names-yet. Do the math. Almost 770 people have been put to death in this country in the past 25 years. And for every seven killed, one has been exonerated. With an error rate that high, do you really think every mistake was caught?"
Leonard Pitts
"Bush, who likes being a wartime president, is apparently concentrating his efforts on 'getting' Saddam Hussein now that he's failed to get bin Laden. Never mind that Saddam had nothing to do with the World Trade Center destruction and does not seem to be engaged in terrorism at the present."
Chicago Sun-Times columnist Fr. Andrew Greeley
"W.'s real constituents are the corporations that gave him $100 million. ... 'Network's' crazed anchor Howard Beal's boss ... says, 'There is no democracy. There is only IBM and ITT and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world. The world is a business.'"
Maureen Dowd
"The Bush administration has appointed a record number of corporate executives to high-level positions, often regulating or doing business with their former employers. ... The secretaries of the Navy and Air Force are both lifelong defense-contractor executives. Won't they tend ... to believe that what's good for General Dynamics is good for America? Indeed, defense stocks have soared, partly because Wall Street analysts predict that profit margins on future contracts will be far higher than was considered appropriate in the past."
Paul Krugman
"Where do terrorists get their money? If you buy drugs, some of it may come from you.' ... since oil is the main revenue stream for the Saudis who fund Al Qaeda, the tagline for the next round of ads could be, 'Where do terrorists get their money from?' If you drive an SUV, it might come from you."
??????
"Remember the bombing that was planned for the New York tunnels and bridges. That was stopped by solid law enforcement tactics and what's happening here is that we are rewarding failure. Everytime the administration gets into trouble, they ask for more power. First it was the USA Patriot Act, then it was military tribunals, then it was violation of attorney-client privilege and now we have these rags (ph). It's just outrageous.
Laura Murphy,
Director, ACLU, Washington National Office
"It was a long time ago when a man spoke from his wheelchair with a soft voice and a persuasive accent. He spoke as a president of the United States of America and he inspired respect ... He did not speak like a showoff or a thug."
"The power and prerogatives of that country's president are so extensive and the economic and technological and military power network in that nation is so pervasive, that due to circumstances that fully escape the will of the American people, the world is coming under the rule of Nazi concepts and methods"
Fidel Castro
"I don't believe any longer that it's a matter of connecting the dots. I think they had a veritable blueprint and we want to know why they didn't act on it."
Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA)
"On cue, Vice-president Cheney entered stage right with his now familiar bluster, insisting upon secrecy and insinuating that to doubt George W. Bush is to doubt America. Well, it's not going to play this time."
Gene Lyons
It's about time conservative idiots like Steve Kelly and Rod Musgrove got a dose of reality. Of course President Bush knew about the impending attacks on America. He did nothing to warn the American people because he needed this war on terrorism. His daddy had Saddam and he needed Osama. His presidency was going nowhere. He wasn't elected by the American people, but placed into the Oval Office by the conservative supreme court. The economy was sliding into the usual Republican pits and he needed something on which to hang his presidency. For them to accuse Democrats of being
"sleazy" is laughable. Isn't it ironic that Kelly begins his inane babble with a reference
to Monica Lewinsky? How many people died because of Monica Lewinsky? And for Musgrove to call the assertions "contemptible" is another joke. Funny how he manages to make disparaging remarks about President Clinton, as well. Face it people, Bill Clinton was a great president. This guy is a joke. What is sleazy and contemptible is the President of the United States not telling the American people what he knows for political gain. The Democrats asking pertinent questions is their duty as public servants."
US Air Force Lt. Col. Steve Butler
"It is a wonderful country with a terrible government."
Torsten Wetzel, a German student
"He's as purposeful as a wind-up toy boat with a bent rudder doing circular putt-putts in the bathtub."
Nicholas von Hoffman
"President-elect Bush vows that "together, we can put the triumphs of the recent past behind us."
The Onion,
Bush : "Our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity is finally over."
"Looking down the road, the most important thing is to get our priorities right. I don't have any use for Saddam Hussein. But I think you have to ask yourself in what order do we have to do this. He has no missiles to put warheads on that could reach us. It's very important to realize that these people [mideast nations] didn't do that because they love Saddam Hussein. They can't stand Saddam Hussein. They thought the United States was on another planet, talking about attacking Saddam Hussein when we were not involved in the Middle East peace process at the time."
Bill Clinton,
last elected POTUS Bill Clinton's Legacy
Blast From The Past
"As a matter of general principle, I believe there can be no doubt that criticism in time of war is essential to the maintenance of any kind of democratic government ... too many people desire to suppress criticism simply because they think that it will give some comfort to the enemy to know that there is such criticism. If that comfort makes the enemy feel better for a few moments, they are welcome to it as far as I am concerned, because the maintenance of the right of criticism in the long run will do the country maintaining it a great deal more good than it will do the enemy, and will prevent mistakes which might otherwise occur."
Senator Robert Taft (R-OH), December 19, 1941
"DeLay seemed to feel the issue applied personally to him, and perhaps it did. He had graduated from the University of Houston at the height of the Vietnam conflict in 1970, but chose to enlist in the war on cockroaches, fleas and termites as the owner of an exterminator business, rather than going off to battle against the Vietcong.
"He and Quayle, DeLay explained to the assembled media in New Orleans, were victims of an unusual phenomenon back in the days of the undeclared Southeast Asian war. So many minority youths had volunteered for the well-paying military positions to escape poverty and the ghetto that there was literally no room for patriotic folks like himself. Satisfied with the pronouncement, which dumbfounded more than a few of his listeners who had lived the sixties, DeLay marched off to the convention."
Tim Fleck, Houston Press, January 7, 1999
"No one can make
you feel inferior without your consent. Turn 'conservative' into a dirty word. It already
is. So it won't take much effort."
Eleanor Roosevelt
Some Interesting Quotes
"I have left orders to be awakened at any
time in case of national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting."
Ronald Reagan
"It's high time people realized we conservatives aren't all Johnny Hatemongers, Charlie Bible Thumps or even -- God forbid -- George Bushes."
"No children have ever meddled with the Republican Party and lived to tell about it."
Sideshow
Bob, Homer Simpson
"I think apocalyptic beliefs are the hallmark of fundamentalism, which in my opinion is about thought control, not spiritual growth."
David Neiwert
Classic 'The West Wing' Moment
"You all need some therapy, because somebody came along and said : 'Liberal means soft on crime, soft on drugs, soft on communism, soft on defense and we're going to tax you back to the stone age because people shouldn't have to go to work if they don't want to.' And instead of saying : 'Well excuse me you right wing, reactionary, xenophobic, homophobic, anti-education, anti-choice, pro-gun, leave-it-to-beaver, trip back to the fifties, we cowered in the corner and said 'Please, don't hurt me.'"
The West Wing
"The GE/Gates Net [MSNBC] actually features a show called Alan Keyes Is Making Sense. To whom? Moonies freebasing LSD?"
Barry Crimmins
"The television character Ally McBeal - an American lawyer as thin as a liberal judge's
hope of election to the US supreme court ..."
Mark Lawson
, The Guardian
"In this world of sin and sorrow one must search for
reasons to be grateful. As for me I rejoice in that I am not a Republican."
H.L.Mencken
"Patriotism is voluntary. It is a feeling of loyalty and allegiance that is the result of knowledge and belief. No law will make a citizen a patriot."
Jesse Ventura
Old Bush-Cheney Campaign Slogans
