'?> mission:impeachable

CHENEY’S NOTE IMPLICATES BUSH

Mission Control wrote this in the late evening:

BUSH ESCALATES CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS IN UNION SPEECH

Mission Control wrote this in the late afternoon:

by David E. Sanger and Jim Rutenberg, New York Times

It was a speech that reflected Mr. Bush’s difficult circumstances. It was limited in ambition and political punch at home, with no proposals to rival his call two years ago to remake Social Security, no mention of rebuilding New Orleans and no allusions to limiting stem cell research or banning gay marriage.

And when it came to his plan to send additional troops to Iraq, he was forced to plead with the Democrats who now control Congress — and with a growing number of Republican critics — to “give it a chance to work.”

In an admission that the United States now finds itself trapped in the cross-fire of a sectarian conflict, Mr. Bush said, “This is not the fight we entered in Iraq, but it is the fight we are in.” While he insisted that America could not afford to fail, he also warned the Iraqi government that “our commitment is not open-ended.”

Read More at the NEW YORK TIMES

More Coverage

Bush brought subdued tone to State of Union
New Zealand Herald, New Zealand
By Steve Holland. WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush, bearing the weight of six years in office, down in the polls and under fire from all sides,
Constituents grumble over missing topics
Seattle Post Intelligencer, WA
By JENNIFER LOVEN. AP WRITER. WASHINGTON — On the day after came the grumbling. The White House warned for days ahead of President Bush’s State of the
Bush enters final two years with subdued tone
ABC News
By Steve Holland. Jan 24, 2007 — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush, bearing the weight of six years in office, down in the polls and under
A night of firsts
Daily Times, Pakistan
WASHINGTON: It was a night of firsts for President George W Bush’s State of the Union address to Congress: a Democratic Congress, a woman seated in the
Constituents grumble over missing topics
Kansas City Star, MO
AP. WASHINGTON - On the day after came the grumbling. The White House warned for days ahead of President Bush’s State of the Union address that changed

DOWNLOAD: State of the Union Speech 2007

“Benefit” from Terror, a GOP Memo

Mission Control wrote this in the wee hours:

source: The Chicago Tribune

For an idea of how the Republican Party will approach the averted terrorist assault on trans-Atlantic airliners this week, how that might play into the fall election cycle in the United States, the depth of research that Republicans are ready to bring to bear on their races and the attacks that the GOP plans on its “cut-and-run'’ opposition n the Democratic Party, the best place to go is the Republican Party.

Here’s a memo circulated by the National Republican Congressional Committee today. Read and see:

MEMO

To: GOP Campaigns

From: NRCC Communications

Re: Vigilance in the Global War on Terror

Date: August 11, 2006

__________________________________________________________________________

Recent events have reminded us that we continue to operate in a pivotal phase in the Global War on Terror.

In the days to come, you should move to question your opponent’s commitment to the defeat of terror, and in turn, create a definitive contrast on the issue.

You will certainly benefit from bringing into stark focus the cut-and-run, surrender message that Democrats coast to coast are currently — and foolishly — embracing.

To aid you in this effort, we are including three key votes related to the War on Terror as well as materials provided by the RNC.

(more…)

The Rove Strategy

Mission Control wrote this terribly early in the morning:

By Jesse Jackson

There they go again. The Republican National Committee, the right-wing noise machine and their spear carriers in the mainstream media, have been in attack mode over the last few weeks. This time their target is Rep. John Conyers, the distinguished senior Democrat who will become chairman of the House Judiciary Committee if Democrats win the House back this fall.

With the president and the DeLay Congress about as popular as big oil CEOs, the RNC is desperate to demonize Democrats. So they cooked up a campaign claiming that if Democrats win the House, Conyers is geared up to impeach the president. This threat, they suggest, will rouse the disaffected Republican base and bring them out to vote in large numbers.

The mainstream media fell for the bait. The ever-cooperative Tim Russert grilled Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi, suggesting that Conyers should take down the Web site explaining his resolution providing for a bipartisan committee to investigate the administration and to recommend whether or not impeachment hearings should begin. (Pelosi, to her credit, didn’t fold. She said the Democrats would investigate the handling of intelligence leading up to the war, the corruption in the war and other administration misdeeds. She reminded Russert that checks and balances were the essence of the Constitution.)

But Democrats were spooked. Their excitable inside-the-Beltway strategists began worrying that the Democratic left would blow the election by alienating voters in swing districts. Pelosi then had her spokesperson announce that ‘’impeachment wasn’t in the cards'’ if Democrats took back the House.

It is hard to sort out which is more pathetic: the RNC for hyping this gambit, the press for falling for it or Democratic leaders for cowering at the first sign of a dustup.

Read More at Common Dreams

Karl Rove Talking Points: Fear Impeachment & John Conyers

Mission Control wrote this at around evening time:

Conservative commentator Carl Limbacher was caught lying to a group of young republicans during a speech in Midland, Texas. He said that Democratic Representative John Conyers held a “mock impeachment” of George Bush and suggested that Conyers and other Democrats have set out a vendetta against the president in wartime.

Lies. Lies. Lies. Fear. Fear. Fear.

John Conyers has not held a mock impeachment, whatever that is. He has organized a few important forums to discuss the possible crimes committed by the Bush Administration in the run up to the Iraq War. He also released a summary of his staff’s work called “The Constitution In Crisis” which sets the framework for an investigation into accusations that Bush and his team lied to Congress, which is a felony offense, and misled the American people to attack and occupy an oil-rich nation that posed no immediate threat to the United States of America.

Let’s talk about this in simple terms so that it is easy to explain to others. The Republican (mis)information machine works in a top down manner. At the top is Karl Rove. The middle contains right-wing hacks such as Limbacher, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly and arguably the majority of corporate-controlled mainstream media. At the bottom are the loyal republican base, including so-called Christian Conservatives, Conservative Moderates and people without strong opinions on politics.

Here is how Karl Rove does it:

Step 1: Rove dreams up divisive issues, i.e. issues that separate Americans from each other instead of bringing them together. Hopefully they are issues that Republicans poorly manage like national security, health care, civil rights or the environment so that their weaknesses become to appear as their strengths. Three highly successful “dividers” are: the Right to Choose, Immigration and Gay Rights. Rove knows these issues will be contentious offering a chance to set the debate on these topics.

Step 2: Rove spins these issues in a wrapper of hatred, cynicism, racism and bigotry as to motivate people by their inner-most emotional urges rather than their rational minds.

Step 3: Rove adds lots of lies, slanderous statements and misleading characterizations so that it looks like he knows what he is talking about.

Step 4: The right-wing echo machine takes over to incredible effect because of it’s mass reach into a near 100% share of AM radio market, entire news organizations such as Fox News (and others) as well as substantial conservative influence at the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and, of course, “actual” right-leaning papers like the Washington Times.

Step 4b: Accuse all of the media as being “liberally-biased” so no one catches on.

Step 5: Have a stiff drink, shoot some crack, hang out with a gay hooker or do something else you enjoy like commit treason or drop some chemicals on a baby because you just created an opposite reality where your programs seem reasonable to people who are misinformed. Write the words “winning is everything” on the cover of your notebook.

Step 6: Repeat

This business about impeachment is a great example. Despite the fact that a fear-filled Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has come out of the shadows in defiance of her liberal base AGAINST impeachment, and, that John Conyers is seeking to explain his intentions on investigating the president by pandering to fears of being anti-patriotic, most people will nevertheless end up thinking that the Democrats are crazed lunatics on a vendetta to impeach the president and by doing so in a time of “war” will compromise the security of the nation.

All of this pretty much because Karl Rove thinks it will help the Republicans in the November election — and damn the consequences to our nation, ourselves and our children.

Hate Politics: Conservative Press Gets Nervous and Divides America

Mission Control wrote this in the early afternoon:

Even though Nancy Pelosi, like most of the spineless Democrats in Congress and the Senate, has not come forward to publicly support either a resolution for Censure or for Impeachment, the Conservative media is already acting as if she has in order to drum up support for their side. This is classic Republican divisive politics, it is also happening with issues such as imigration and gay rights, and it is meant to divide this country. When will the GOP learn that we cannot solve our problems with hate?

Also, when will the Democrats learn that they should be a voice? If they are going to get tagged as an opposition party anyway, they should become one! In the meantime, they can know that signs in the media like this most certainly means the Republicans are getting desparate.

Another clear example is Bob Dole’s lies about the Democrats’ Congressional Record and that they will put “terrorism on the back burner.” Do the Republicans still really believe these fools when they say that their fellow Americans sympathize with the terrorists? It is just so stupid. Wake up people, you are BEING LIED TO!