Tag: US politics

Tuesday Can't Come Soon Enough

Eight long years later, and the nightmare is almost over. Here’s two views I collected that sum up my feelings. First, from Ezra Klein, because he sums it up much better than I could:

Because George W. Bush was president, more people hate America. Because George W. Bush was president, more Americans view the presidency cynically. Because George W. Bush was president, this country is worse off, and this world is worse off. He betrayed us. I have no interest in engaging the debate that asks whether he was a cynical monster or a hapless fool. It is enough to say he was a failure, and leave it at that. He can spend the rest of his life giving speeches to justify his actions. But he will never be able to drown out the roar of his record.

And next, a bit of snark photographed by our pal Seamus:

Adios

Some kind folks at work have arranged to pipe in a live feed of the Inauguration Day festivities into a viewing area with plenty of seats and a big screen. I’ll be there, watching with a big smile on my face.

If This is “Keeping Us Safe”…

then I’d really like to know what “aiding the enemy” looks like. Just as with Valerie Plame, the Bush administration doesn’t seem to care how much intelligence work they compromise as long as they can get off a cheap shot at Democrats or a spot of fear mongering on Fox News.

Here’s the lede from the Washington Post:

A small private intelligence company that monitors Islamic terrorist groups obtained a new Osama bin Laden video ahead of its official release last month, and around 10 a.m. on Sept. 7, it notified the Bush administration of its secret acquisition. It gave two senior officials access on the condition that the officials not reveal they had it until the al-Qaeda release.

Within 20 minutes, a range of intelligence agencies had begun downloading it from the company’s Web site. By midafternoon that day, the video and a transcript of its audio track had been leaked from within the Bush administration to cable television news and broadcast worldwide.

The founder of the company, the SITE Intelligence Group, says this premature disclosure tipped al-Qaeda to a security breach and destroyed a years-long surveillance operation that the company has used to intercept and pass along secret messages, videos and advance warnings of suicide bombings from the terrorist group’s communications network

How much more pathetic can this administration get?