Quote of the Day
“No matter how cynical I get, I can’t keep up.”
-Lily Tomlin
Category: words mean things (Page 37 of 223)
The CIA is asking for an investigation into allegations that the White House blew the cover of one of its agents. (I won’t repeat the details of the case here – it’s all in the link.)
Running the investigation will be Attorney General John Ashcroft, who got his most recent job from the Bush administration after he lost an election to a dead man.
Yeah, I’m sure that will be a real thorough investigation.
Could things get any more stupid in our world today?
Wait – don’t answer that.
Credibility
Does anyone believe anything that comes out of Bush’s mouth anymore? Anyone? Bueller?
This story is great because it also highlights how Colin Powell said, six months before 9/11, that sanctions against Saddam were working.
“I didn’t change my assessment,” said Powell today.
As Josh Marshall said on Talking Points Memo the other day, this administration runs on not results, but credibility. And the tank is empty.
The West Wing
I thought the “West Wing” premiere last night was brilliant. In addition to deepening the storm of problems faced by the characters at the end of last season, this new crisis holds a funhouse mirror up to our current situation. When the camera panned over the candles and signs left for kidnapped Presidential daughter Zoey Bartlet, I couldn’t help thinking of similar displays around the world after Sept. 11. And the blustery interim President’s response was quite evocative as well.
Best writing on TV right now, bar none.
Michael Moore responds to the right-wing attacks on “Bowling for Columbine.” Good reading.
What’s always fascinated me about “Bowling” is that while Moore castigates the NRA and Charlton Heston for some of their tactics, he’s not some sort of gun-hating commie. He even talks about how Canada has as many guns, gun owners and hunters as we do, but we have exponentially more gun violence. Moore’s real target, it seems to me, is the media that whips up fear of “the other” in the public’s mind. When you don’t feel safe, even if the reasons are fake, you lock your door and grab your gun. That’s the real message of Moore’s movie, if you ask me.
The sky is cloudy and I am cloudy. We match.
I confess that things have gotten so bad, I can barely look at GWB when he pops up on TV. It’s physically painful for me, like when I accidentally see some of those surgery closeups on TLC.
But I caught a couple of minutes of his infuriating speech to the U.N. this morning. In the funny way the universe works, all I saw were some strange comments about the international sex trade – what the hell was that doing in a speech about Iraq? So there’s not much else I can comment on. The headline link has a pretty good rundown, for those who can stomach it, from Slate.