IOW, we’ve gone from “We still need more information” directly into “this is old, old boring, tired news” once more, without ever having gone through that embarrassing middle phase again “(Uh, looks like you were right, and I shouldn’t have accused you of making shit up and damaging your credibility forever. My bad. I’ll have to listen to you more carefully in the future and maybe revise my own kneejerk partisan reactions a bit. Kthxbye.”)
True. As I mention above, there is a “buck-stops-here” responsibility that is fairly imputed to Bush, no matter what.
From upthread:
QED.
See, its stuff like this which is the reason why you guys never win any elections.
Hey, remember when Cheney really wanted to go to war with Iraq so he made up a lie about them trying to buy yellow cake uranium from Niger, even though it wasn’t true, but had Bush say so at the State of the Union anyway, and then when the guy whose job it was to find out if Iraq was looking for uranium, Joe Wilson, started telling about how he never found any, despite political pressure to do so, Cheney had Scooter Libbey tell Robert Novak, legendary asshole, that Wilson’s wife was a CIA operative, because somehow having an awesome wife discredits your assertions that the war we’re in is based on a lie, and when that came out Libbey took all the blame for it and never ratted out his ol’ time butt buddy Cheney?
I mean, allegedly. Maybe if that weren’t the only accusation of manipulative assholery from the Bush administration, people might have taken it seriously. Otherwise, people might start to believe that Cheney really had no problem lying and breaking the law to further an agenda.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20040927/legum Here is an article showing how badly Bush and Co. politicized the Dept. Of Homeland Security and created terrorist scenarios to scare the voters. They were shameless in using weak or fake terrorism stories to create a "vote for us or get bombed ’ mantra.
If Bush and Cheney were completely outside of the loop[ on this, it would be shocking. It would demonstrate a total disconnect to party methodology. I do not find it plausable denial.
The bit I don’t understand is what they thought they’d accomplish by spilling the beans on Valerie Plame.
There was a change. Homeland Security Presidential Directive-3 (HSPD-3) switched authority to the Secretary:
You’re mixing several different tactics.
There’s no question that the GOP saw their strength vs. the Democrats as being the better party to respond to terrorism threats, and that much of their campaign material was consequently designed to rmeind voters of terror threats and 9/11. Choosing New York as the site of the convention, for example, as your article points out, is a perfect example of that.
No one is denying that. And it’s not improper. (You may argue it’s a crappy tactic to use, but it’s certainly not a wrong thing to do.)
Undoubtedly Bush and Cheney were well aware of such efforts.
They were aiming to depict Joe Wilson as a light-weight who only got the job because of his wife.
Fucking over her husband.
A fine distinction, to be sure.
Or maybe the push came from David Addington, a.k.a. “Cheney’s Cheney,” or Scooter Libby, who was “Cheney’s Cheney” before Scooter got caught up in the Plame affair, and the title passed on to Addington.
People in an organization like that have a pretty good idea of who’s acting with the boss’ authority, and who isn’t.
This is my read on it too. I never really got the “discredit” angle. I always thought it was retaliation. “Tell on us, will ya? Well, let’s see how you like it when we ruin your wife’s career and undermine her safety!” I know if I was the next guy thinking of opposing the administration, I’d certainly think twice after that.
Do you think it worked?
Do you think it worked?
It strikes me as very, “Oh yeah?! Well…” and not thought-through at all.
Typically - when bad actors or actions are tied to the upper tiers of an organization, the head of said organization is often considered responsible, no? I’m thinking Ken Lay, Andrew Fastow, Jeff Skilling, Berny Ebbers, Tom Rubin, Dennis Kozlowski, John Rigas, etc.
So - does anyone know who people like Ridge, Rummy and Ashcroft worked for? Might they be in any teeny way responsible for the actions of their underlings?
It kinda worked, there were some punditti who picked up the “light weight sent on a junket by his wife” theme. Niger was a very hot vacation spot. Literally.
Sure. And Goldwater was going to blow us all up, starting with a poor little girl picking flower petals in a field.
It’s not the most honorable tactic, scaring voters into fearing your opponent, but neither party is above it. It’s certainly not a reason to criticize on party over the other.
Yes. A one-time-aired political ad is to an official federal governmental terrorism advisory system just as Robert Novak is to Daniel Ellsberg.
I never took the Bricker Analogies Test (BAT). I don’t think I’d perform very well on it.
Again, it’s a real head-scratcher why you might have a reputation as a right-winged toadie.