# A Second "Downing Street Memo" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 12, 2005, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-second-downing-street-memo/307930 "2005-06-12T03:38:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-second-downing-street-memo/307930/21 "2005-06-13T02:50:02Z")
> [@Baldwin](#): > > (Which makes me wonder – given the SCOTUS ruling about a sitting President having to respond to lawsuits, could there theoretically be a class-action wrongful death lawsuit against the current POTUS on the part of survivors of 1,700 dead military personnel?) No. A President is immune from civil liability for any official actions he takes in his capacity as President of the United States. His decision to invade Iraq was an official act and thus immune from liability. Nixon v. Fitzgerald The Paula Jones suit against Clinton went through because Sexual Harrasment is an Unofficial Act. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-second-downing-street-memo/307930/22 "2005-06-13T03:10:48Z")
Thanks, Blalron; got it. Should have thought of that. Besides, I don’t want Bush sued; I want him removed from office. Not likely, but I’ll just keep the “Impeach Bush” sticker on the back of my truck, in case the House of Representatives is ever driving behind me. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-second-downing-street-memo/307930/23 "2005-06-13T04:56:36Z")
I used to depend on the internet to keep me updated on the news headlines. At the moment the Earthlink headlines that are scrolling across the top of my monitor are mostly the same ones that were there on Friday and Saturday: “Arlene Drenches Cuba, Bears Down on Gulf” (for example) The rain left over from that storm hit Tennessee _yesterday._ If I want to know if anything is happening in the world, I check _The Guardian_ website. Everything else here may be watered down. Congress has cut funding for PBS by 25%. That’s okay. Public approval of Congress is down to 31%. We can cut it still lower too. Sometimes I think that the Evening News could carry a lead story of the overthrow of our government by a group called Neo-Con Hawks for a New Republic – and as long as the news didn’t devote more than thirty seconds to the story, there would be no great outcry from the people. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-second-downing-street-memo/307930/24 "2005-06-13T05:14:35Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > I used to depend on the internet to keep me updated on the news headlines. There’s something going on near the media surface, and the white house is nervous about it: [White House disputes U.S. lacked planning on Iraq](http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=5&u=/nm/20050612/ts_nm/iraq_britain_usa_dc) > [@](#): > > The briefing paper concluded that the U.S. military was not preparing adequately for what the memo predicted would be a “protracted and costly” postwar occupation of Iraq > … > “We disagree with the characterization. There was significant postwar planning,” David Almacy, a White House spokesman, said. > “More importantly, the memo in question was written eight months before the war began – there was significant postwar planning in the time that elapsed,” he said. They don’t seem to see that by defending themselves only against the memo’s implication of incompetence, they grant credence to the rest of the document. Without some _serious_ good news, such as a completed Iraqi constitution this August, I think the administration is going to lose their spin control. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-second-downing-street-memo/307930/25 "2005-06-13T05:22:37Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > What the hell does Hillary Clinton have to do about this? Nothing, you misogynist piece of shit. ---
**Author:** ![Exploding\_Kitchen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Exploding\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exploding_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-second-downing-street-memo/307930/26 "2005-06-13T06:23:39Z")
And now more documents are leaking over from the UK, and news is finally hitting of the piece the BBC did on this mack in March of this year. Looks like the floodgates are starting to open. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-second-downing-street-memo/307930/27 "2005-06-13T07:25:09Z")
Overseas, anyway. Those of us in the 'States still have to go digging for this stuff, usually buried on page 35 in the last two paragraphs of an article with a misleadingly innocent headline like “US Leaders Could Have Planned Iraq War Better.” ---
**Author:** ![Exploding\_Kitchen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Exploding\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exploding_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-second-downing-street-memo/307930/28 "2005-06-13T07:30:04Z")
True enough, but it seems like the press on this side of the pond is finally catching on…WaPo’s story was front page in Sunday’s paper. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-second-downing-street-memo/307930/29 "2005-06-13T08:25:59Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > Without some _serious_ good news, such as a completed Iraqi constitution this August, I think the administration is going to lose their spin control. Does it matter at this point? The best that could happen is that other parties or independents could gain a few seats in '06, but as far as the administration goes, their approval rating could drop to half a percent and they wouldn’t give a flying shit. Bush is ineligible for re-election and I don’t think anybody expects Cheney to run. Besides, they’ve got a mandate. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-second-downing-street-memo/307930/30 "2005-06-13T15:15:08Z")
> [@Exploding Kitchen](#): > > WaPo’s story was front page in Sunday’s paper. Not in today’s New York Times, the leftist-pinko-fellow traveller nemesis of the current administration. They did, however, find room for a front-page feature forecasting a shortage of fried clams this summer. ---
**Author:** ![Exploding\_Kitchen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Exploding\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exploding_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-second-downing-street-memo/307930/31 "2005-06-13T19:42:23Z")
Eh, it won’t really matter until a station other than CBS throws it up on their nightly newscast or on a newsmagazine investigation. I still find CBS quite credible, but I do see the problem with other, non-reality based factions finding them otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![5que](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/3bc359/32.png) [@5que](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5que)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-second-downing-street-memo/307930/32 "2005-06-13T19:57:16Z")
Boy, it was nice of Bush to get the Michael Jackson jury to come back with a verdict this afternoon. So this will get buried after that, the Aruba case, and any other pretty white women that go missing. At least Keith Olbermann is talking about this. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-second-downing-street-memo/307930/33 "2005-06-13T20:03:33Z")
> [@5que](#): > > Boy, it was nice of Bush to get the Michael Jackson jury to come back with a verdict this afternoon. So this will get buried after that, the Aruba case, and any other pretty white women that go missing. > > At least Keith Olbermann is talking about this. Well, I suppose in some ways Michael Jackson is not much different than a pretty white woman, although he is not missing (at least, not in the common connotation of missing). ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-second-downing-street-memo/307930/34 "2005-06-13T20:08:28Z")
Ewwwww… **Hentor** , why do you hate pretty white women? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-second-downing-street-memo/307930/35 "2005-06-13T20:32:37Z")
> [@Hentor the Barbarian](#): > > Well, I suppose in some ways Michael Jackson is not much different than a pretty white woman, although he is not missing (at least, not in the common connotation of missing). He’s not very pretty, either… ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-second-downing-street-memo/307930/36 "2005-06-13T21:32:33Z")
and since the MJ verdict just came in, I predict that any potential splash this story had will be lost in the rush to have all of the talking heads implode simultaneously about _the latest trial of the century_ ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-second-downing-street-memo/307930/37 "2005-06-13T21:33:36Z")
shit. beaten to the punch(line). dammit. preview sux. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-second-downing-street-memo/307930/38 "2005-06-13T23:01:53Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Ewwwww… > > **Hentor** , why do you hate pretty white women? What? Obviously I meant that Michael Jackson and pretty white women share the qualities of: …being adored by a portion of the general population …being given things based on something other than merit …having a concern for their physical appearance …having an amusement park in their backyards What in the world did you think I meant? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-second-downing-street-memo/307930/39 "2005-06-13T23:23:21Z")
Its just a misunderstanding, a question of degrees. **Hentor** refers to “pretty white women”, not incarnations of the sublime perfections of the Goddess. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-second-downing-street-memo/307930/40 "2005-06-13T23:29:06Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Its just a misunderstanding, a question of degrees. **Hentor** refers to “pretty white women”, not incarnations of the sublime perfections of the Goddess. Do you mean [the goddess of bad plastic surgery?](http://www.awfulplasticsurgery.com/archives/000351.html) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-second-downing-street-memo/307930.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-second-downing-street-memo/307930.md?page=3)