Well I'll Be Darned ... The Etch-A-Sketch Shaking Has Begun (Sort Of)

Well, Well, Well ... Who would have thunk it ...

First off, I am completely bowled over that someone took The Garlic's call-of-action to stand-up and shake, shake, shake Karl Rove's Etch-A-Sketch so quickly.

And who did it , is another head-turner.

It was none other than Rove's former comrade, co-principle architect of the Iraq Study Group("We don't make the war, we make the war more gory"), the in-grindhouse marketing agency whose mission was to sell the legend of WMD's and Mushroom Clouds, to put the evil Saddam Hussein in all our closets, to label critics as appeasers and terrorist-huggers, Mr., Andrew Card.

Appearing on Scarborough To Ruin Your Morning, or whatever they call it, Card was asked about Rove's recent revisionism of blaming Congress for getting us mired in Iraq;

From Think Progress:

SCARBOROUGH: We have to start with something that we all are talking about a couple of days ago where Karl Rove went on Charlie Rose and he blamed the Democrats for pushing him and the president into war. Is that how it worked?

CARD: No, that’s not the way it worked.

SCARBOROUGH: What the heck? Seriously, what the hell was that about?

CARD: Democrats pushed us a lot of stupid things, but they didn’t push us into war.

SCARBOROUGH: Yeah, yeah. You worked with Karl. Is that just Karl spinning beyond the White House?

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Spinning out of control?

CARD: Well, Karl is very smart. He’s — sometimes his brain gets ahead of his mouth. And sometimes his mouth gets ahead of his brain.

Too bad Scarborough and Brzezinski couldn't stop laughing, for a good follow-up to that would have been to ask Card, who was in the thick of it as Chief-of-Staff, what, exactly, over the past seven-years, the Democrats "pushed us into" that was stupid?

With the Bush Grindhouse, and rubber-stamp Republican Congress in place, nothing jumps to mind.

And even now, that they hold the majority, the Democrats (led by NancyOffTheTable and Harry "Give'em What They Want" Reid) haven't exactly been doing a lot of pushing (though we can't vouch on the "stupid" thing).

Are the Bush Regime Talking Points about how we got railroaded into Iraq simply to become fodder for making jokes?

And it's not exactly clear, from Card's response, that he was dissing and putting down the Turd Blossom, or rather, scolding him for talking off-point ... For letting this new spin out too early.

Hmmm... Perhaps Card has his own Etch-A-Sketch that he wants out there.

After all, it was Card, along with Rove, that set forth the "marketing" of going off into Iraq

From NPR:

What else should reasonable people make of these facts? In June, a floppy disk found near the White House turned out to contain a presentation used by Karl Rove on White House strategy for the midterm elections. Focus on war was a key point in a talk that centered on the White House's desire to, quote, "maintain a positive issue environment." Around this time, Rove was criticized for telling a Republican group that the war and terror themes could play to the GOP's advantage in the November elections. Not long after, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card was asked why the administration waited until after Labor Day to try to sell the American people on military action against Iraq. Card replied, `From a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August.'

Perhaps Rove was, merely, introducing this new revisionist spin just in time for the holiday shopping.

Better yet, why didn't Scarborough and Brzezinski throw a hardball, or two, at Card on the entire "marketing" business? Why was he let off-the-hook? No, what am I saying, that would be real, responsible journalism. That wouldn't give a lot to laugh about.

Note to Santa: Coal in those three stockings

By late in the day, yet another comrade of the Turd Blossom's came storming in to shake his Etch-A-Sketch.

Ari Fleischer, the former Grindhouse Press Secretary - the guy that was out front, retelling all the lies Rove and Card came up with to the adoring MSM stenographers (Note: Check to see if the Ari-Man got immunity to come out and speak against Rove).

This was promulgated in a Joe Klein-type article today, by Peter Baker in The Washington Post.

Just the title - "Rove's Version of 2002 War Vote Is Disputed" - is giving credence to Rove's dillusion and Baker runs down the this-side-this-and-that-side-says that, as if "The Google", Lexus-Nexus, and even the Bush Grindhouse's own website doesn't exist and he couldn't come out and say, flat out, Rove is lying.

Note To Baker: Check out the competition - "The NYT's Michael Cooper demonstrates what real reporting is".

God helps us if this is how the MSM is going to treat the wagon train of former Administration people come out and start spinning their stories, ostensibly, in an attempt to get the stench off themselves.

Addendum to Santa: Coal for Fleischer and Baker as well.


Bonus Etch-A-Sketch Doodlings

Nov. 30: War blame-shifting fall out - If the White House knew that Karl Rove had lied on Charlie Rose, on national TV, about the war, why wouldn't they correct the record the very next day? MSNBC Political Analyst Lawrence O'Donnell talks to Keith Olbermann.

Steve Benen: Rove against the world

T-REX: The Love That Won't Shut Up

Greg Sargent: Washington Post Editors Again Refuse To Label GOP Falsehoods What They Are: False












Rare photograph, capturing Karl Rove looking, longingly, into the horizon, for the lost truth, part of the price he paid for selling his soul for the purpose of evil

Editor's Note - Lo Siento, Again ...

Good Evening Garlic Fans

My apologies again, for the low posting this week (and none yesterday).

Both, have been under-the-weather (cold weather creeping in + heat coming on = havoc on the sinuses), as well as things in the non-blog homefront have kept me hopping, more than a one-legged-man in an ass-kicking contest.

Will endeavor, as always, to be both more productive and consistent (as well as, hopefully, entertaining).

Thank You again, for visiting, and reading, The Garlic.

Peace
JTD

Rudy, We Know Ye Way Too Much ...

Or, It's Time To Start Shoveling Dirt On The Body

I can't say I've come to bury America's 911 Mayor today ...

We already did that, last week, with our "Black Bunting and Chalk Outlines ... It's Weekend at Rudy's".

The corpse of his campaign, brought about by the dual, one-two legal exercises of A) the indictment of his former colleague, the once-upon-a-time Homeland Security Chief wannabe, Bernard Kerick, and, B) the lawsuit against Fox News by Kerick's former lover, Judith Regan.

What Kerick's trial doesn leak out all over Rudy, Regan's lawsuit will likely provide a strong following stream, being that her tryst with the Bernie Man, while he was tied-at-the-hip with Mr. 911, leaves a long, messy trails of condoms at Hizz Honor's doorstep.

So, the two latest bombshells, from yesterday and today, may merely end up as little more than shoveling dirt on the body.

Shovel-Full-of-Dirt #1: Giuliani billed city agencies for personal trips

It appears that Mr. 911 #1 Yankee Fan was billing the NYC for his tryist with his then girlfriend, now wife, Judith Nathan.

As Attyood noted, "At the time, the mayor’s office refused to explain the accounting to city auditors, citing “security ... The Hamptons visits resulted in hotel, gas and other costs for Giuliani’s New York Police Department security detail."

Or, put another way, Paul Kiel of TPMmuckraker offers "It's not much of a mystery why Bernie Kerik and Rudy Giuliani got along so well. They both showed a certain ingenuity when it came to leveraging New York City resources for trysts."

Rudy must be drooling at the thought of the carnal delights he could achieve if he were to reach the highest office in the land (We'll leave all the Washington Monument, Air Force One jokes to your imagination).

Shovel-Full-of-Dirt #2: Rudy's Ties to a Terror Sheikh; Giuliani's business contracts tie him to the man who let 9/11's mastermind escape the FBI

Wayne Barrett, of the Village Voice (who already gave us "Rudy Giuliani's Five Big Lies About 9/11") drops a ton of dirt on Rudy, detailing (really detailing) the self-professed counterterrorism savior's longstanding business relationship with the nation of Qatar, specifically, the Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifah al-Thani, and Abdallah bin Khalid al-Thani

From Barrett's "Rudy's Ties to a Terror Sheikh; Giuliani's business contracts tie him to the man who let 9/11's mastermind escape the FBI";

"The contradictory and stunning reality is that Giuliani Partners, the consulting company that has made Giuliani rich, feasts at the Qatar trough, doing business with the ministry run by the very member of the royal family identified in news and government reports as having concealed KSM—the terrorist mastermind who wired funds from Qatar to his nephew Ramzi Yousef prior to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, and who also sold the idea of a plane attack on the towers to Osama bin Laden—on his Qatar farm in the mid-1990s."

So, America's 911 Mayor's company is in bed with the people who aided Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, and who also are said to have hosted - in Qatar - Osama bin Laden.

Barrett notes how this isn't, exactly, breaking news, citing the Wall Street Journal report of November 7th ("Qatar Contract Offers Glimpse Into Giuliani Firm"), in which Ruppert's paper, almost euphemistically, notes "Qatar is a strategic U.S. military ally and energy supplier, yet also a country that has been criticized for its conduct toward al Qaeda -- a potential political pitfall for a candidate pitching himself as an uncompromising foe of Islamic terrorism."

Only a potential political pitfall?

Could America's Mayor, so burdened, either from his tireless efforts to keep NYC safe, or his city-financed tryists, didn't know about Qatar's reputation? Was the blinding light of the burning bush telling him to run for President keeping him from seeing the news and documents?

"All of this evidence of Qatar's role as a facilitator of terrorism—reaching even to the emir himself—was reported well before Giuliani Partners began its business there "around 2005." Yet even the New York Times story, filled with quotes from Giuliani's friend Freeh, didn't deter him. Nor did the firm's retention of D'Amuro and Soufan, two ex-FBI counterterrorism experts who certainly knew the terror landscape of Qatar."

Perhaps, we will come to find out, this is the reason he pushed Bernie Kerick to be head of Homeland Security - he wanted someone in the inside he could give him fresh sales leads.

If the GOP/RNC doesn't join the crew in burying Rudy's campaign, it sure is going to be fun listening to how, in their blind rage to "beat Hillary", or their foam-mouthing, clawing, ends-justify-the-means, hypocritical ways, the Republicans embrace a nominee, especially a hawkish one boasting he's the chosen one to protect us from terrorists, that is lying, spread-eagle, in bed with terrorists and terrorist enablers and terrorist supporters.


















Note: In a story from ABC that broke today - Giuliani's Mistress Used N.Y. Police as Taxi Service - Cable News, and print, have virtually ignored the storyline of Rudy's Terror Ties, focusing on the "sex" of his city-financed trysts, and, of course, the extended photo-op/sound bite production last night that was passed off as a "debate".

Watch Keith Olbermann's interview with Wayne Barrett


Giuliani’s ties to terrorism?

Karl Rove, Living In An Etch-A-Sketch Kind of World

What's going on with the Turd Blossom?

Is he punch-drunk? Does he have that Cell Phone disease? For all his years in the Bush Grindhouse, did he sit too close to those huge screens down in the Situation Room?

Last week, on The Charlie Rose Show, the Smear Meister - you may want to sit down for this - blamed Congress for the invasion and occupation (and politicization) of Iraq.

From Think Progress;

ROVE: Charlie– Charlie, I’m not going to tell you the answer to this but I want you to remember you asked me about that because one of the untold stories about the war is why did the United States Congress, the United States Senate, vote on the war resolution in the fall of 2002?

ROSE: Why?

ROVE: This administration was opposed to it. I’m going to talk about that in my book.

ROSE: Tell me, give me–

ROVE: No, no.

ROSE: Give me something.

ROVE: No.

ROSE: Give me something.

ROVE: I just did. I told you the administration was opposed to voting on it in the fall of 2002.

ROSE: Because?

ROVE: Because we didn’t think it belonged in the confines of the election. We thought it made it too political. We wanted it outside the confines of the election. It seemed it make things move too fast. There were things that needed to be done to bring along allies and potential allies abroad and yet–

ROSE: So you didn’t do it because…?

ROVE: There was a vote, and I’m– I’m–

ROSE: But you were opposed to the vote.

ROVE: It happened. we don’t determine when the Congress vote on things. The Congress does.

ROSE: You wish it hadn’t happened at that time. you would have preferred it did not happen at that time.

ROVE: That’s right.

ROSE: Because your argument– your argument is you would have had maybe more inspections. You would have been able to build a broader coalition. You could have done a whole lot other things if you didn’t have to have a vote, right?

ROVE: Right, right, exactly.

Now, all well in good, but Rove has told so many lies, he's losing track.

It was just earlier this year, in April, that he blamed Osama bin Laden for the war in Iraq.

And, The Garlic noted, how, earlier this month, Herr Karl was blaming the Democrats for all that is wrong in our country (Surprise, Surprise! ... Rove Blames - Can You Guess - The Democrats!), and you can safely bet that he will use his new post, the column at Newsweek, to do some further revisionist spin.

But this Charlie Rose thing, man, that is some serious doodling on the ol' Etch-A-Sketch.

Wasn't The Turd Man supposed to be the genius? Bush's Brain, and all that?

Appearing on Keith Olbermann's Countdown Tuesday evening, to discuss the recent spin, Arianna Huffington, and she laid out the obvious;

"But the only problem is that when 1984 was written, Google and Lexus nexus did not exist. And right now they do. And you could go to the White House Web site and we can go to endless statements about that time. We can go to the fact that Karl Rove and Dick Cheney had created the Iraq study group. Remember the White House‘s main objective was to sell, sell, sell that war. I actually happened to be at a conference in Aspen in September 2002 before that vote when Karl Rove himself spoke and was so a bit about that war. I remember him saying things like we have Rumsfeld‘s new army which is going to basically produce this liberation of Iraq, casualty-free. And he was completely elated about the prospect of dominating the Middle East by invading Iraq."

So there Smear Meister Rove, work that Etch-A-Sketch, and turn, feverishly, those two little white knobs.

Draw away, your little neocon sand castles, your field of dreams of the Republican Majority.

But every time you start conjuring, yet, another lie, another spin, another untruth, on The Commander Guy, the regime, and your hand in the contribution to the deterioration of our government, there's going to be an army of people who are going to walk over to you, grab the Etch-A-Sketch out of your hands and shake it, and shake it and shake it, reminding you, with your own words and deeds, that you are in a No Spin Zone.

Heaven help us, you may, some day, be held legally accountable for your actions.

So, you may want to pick up the phone and call some of those cronies you placed in the Justice Department. Ask them which of the penal institutions will allow you to have your little Etch-A-Sketch in your cell.

Hmmm ... You then will have a great deal of time, to perfectly draw out, painstakingly, an exact likeness of, say, a certificate of commutation, or pardon ...

Drum Roll Please ... For Tucker Carlson - He's Jumping The Shark!

Maybe it was just his He-Man gayness showing.

Or, perhaps, nervous, hearing the footsteps of the canceling-your-show-memo-carrying producer coming down the hall.

In any event, MSNBC's Tucker Carlson joins some heady company (John McCain, Rudy Guiliani) in the Class of 2007 Shark Jumping department.

Brent Budowsky, of The Hill, noted it the other day in "Tucker Carlson Says Al Gore Is Like George Bush.."

WTF!

Surely this couldn't be accurate, that Budowsky was going off on some tangent, or the Carlson was engaging in some November Sweeps attempt at humor.

Gore the same as The Commander Guy?

Did I miss something?

It wasn't, best I recollect, Al Gore that took our Army marching into the Middle East to invade and occupy Iraq, was it?

Was Gore running around the deck of an aircraft carrier in a flightsuit? Is that on YouTube somewhere?

Did the former Vice President promise to fire whoever in his staff that leaked the name of Valerie Plame, but then do nothing (well, not exactly nothing - I don't believe it was Gore who commuted the sentence of convicted felon I.Lewis "Scooter" Libby, but that may have slipped by me)?

Did The Decider Guy win a Nobel Peace Prize? I rechecked the list of winners and didn't see his name on it - did they awarded him a special one, or something?

I have to roll with Budowsky, when he says "On what matters, Al Gore and George Bush have zero in common, and in fact, Gore is the exact antithesis of everything Bush stands for and does."

But, in looking at the transcript, there it was, Tucker Carlson claiming the Gore and The Shakespeare Guy were the same;

"Back with us, The Politico‘s Roger Simon and online columnist Bob Franken.

Roger, I am just struck by the similarities between these two. Both have powerful fathers who served in the Congress and whose ambitions were passed on to their sons. Both basically adopted new home states and kind of put on the dog pretending to be from that place.

SIMON: OK.

CARLSON: Both kind of had less than distinguished younger lives, then sort of burst out in to this—into the national eye. And both have kind of insecurity, I think, when you deal with them. Gore and Bush are basically the same person.

The former bow-tie-wearing television host didn't stop there. Tucker kept it going, adding more-and-more ridiculousness to the comparisons, with neither guest, Roger Simon, from The Politico and online columnist Bob Franken, slapping down Tucker, but rather playing along, in effect, helping Tucker get fitted into those water skis.

I was, Tucker, going to say, slap on the bow tie again and just let it all hang out ... In fact, make this a daily segment theme of your program, for as many days as it lasts (a going down-with-the-ship-kind-of-thing), of comparing our first Court-Appointed President (h/t Barry Crimmins) to good, honest people, who are truly making sacrifices, and who are working selflessly for the common good.

We encourage our visitors to read the transcript, for it appears Tucker either already has, or is lining up his next gig, of either curator of The Compassionate Conservative's Presidential Library, or, perhaps, just doing the grunt work of burnishing the legacy.

Whatever he does, he can proudly place on his resume, "Tucker Carlson, Shark Jumper"

Bonus Bow-Tie Links

Wonkette: Tucker Carlson Still Not Gay!

Crooks and Liars: Tucker Carlson Tries And Fails To Portray Dennis Kucinich As America Hater

Arianna Huffington: The Full Disclosure Tucker Carlson Isn't Making

Crooks and Liars: Save Tucker Carlson hilarity

"I have neither the time nor legal background to figure out who’s right." ... Joe Klein and Time (Stood Still) Magazine Follow-Up

Power comes from lying ... Lying big and getting the whole damn world to play along with you ... Once you got everybody agreeing with what they know in their hearts ain't true, you get them by the balls

Senator Roark, from “Sin City - That Yellow Bastard”

Yes, we have to employ one of our favorite lying quotes again, only to begin to capture the conflagration raging over Joe Klein and Time Magazine's obtuse behavior in intentionally misrepresenting - lying - about the FISA Debate and pending legislation.

We weighed in on it yesterday with "Top Ten Cloves: Reasons Time Magazine Hasn't Corrected Joe Klein's Egregiously Error-Filled FISA Articles", but that wasn't even a thimble-full of scorn that is being flung around;

Jane Hamsher/Firedoglake: Shorter Time Magazine: Equal Time For GOP Propaganda

emptywheel/The Last Hurrah: Time Gives Up on the Truth

Crooks and Liars: Joe Klein: Accuracy??? We don’t need no stinkin’ accuracy!

Klein, along with editors Priscilla Painton, Josh Tyrangiel and Rick Stengel don't have their heads buried in the sand, their walking around with sandboxes encasing their alleged brains.

Here's Stengel, taking the helm, adding "the correction" to Klein's original smear piece;

In the original version of this story, Joe Klein wrote that the House Democratic version of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) would allow a court review of individual foreign surveillance targets. Republicans believe the bill can be interpreted that way, but Democrats don't.

This is after Klein himself offered "I have neither the time nor legal background to figure out who’s right."

Ohhh Boy! ...

While Glenn Greenwald has been all over this, as well as numerous other writers and bloggers, just in case the folks at Time Magazine are confused - by their own work and writing - U.S. Representative Rush Holt, writing on The Huffington Post, offers them "What's Really in the RESTORE Act", even though Editor Stengel and Klein appear completely disinterested in getting the facts straight.


We'll cue up Que Sera Sera, while you peruse Part II of the Joe Kleinpalooza


Glenn Greenwald: Everything that is rancid and corrupt with modern journalism: The Nutshell

Marty Lederman/Balkinization: All You Need to (Not) Know About the Proposed FISA Fix

Think Progress: Time’s false balancing act.

Kagro X/Daily Kos: More on the Time idiocy

Glenn Greenwald: Demand answers from Time magazine; (Updated below - Update II, Update III: "Response" from Rick Stengel Update IV, Update V)

Digby: Time After Time

Joe Klein and Rick Stengel seem to be taking the greatest of pleasure in burning the truth

Good Posts Alert - Larisa Alexandrovna's "The Permanent Republican Majority"

It's a story that has, barely, bubbled up on the radar.

If you haven't been concerned and frightened about the Bush Grindhouse by now (and about your only excuse is if you suffered a serious head injury, or, perhaps, have been a victim of their Extraordinary Rendition, and your memory is now mush), the painstaking, digging, hard work of Larisa Alexandrovna (and Muriel Kane) of Raw Story (and her own blog, at-Largely) should help throw the light switch over your head.

It's a detailed rundown on the persecution and prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman (the only person in the history of Alabama to be elected to serve in all four of the top statewide offices: Secretary of State, Attorney General, Lieutenant Governor and Governor), at the hands of the GOP/RNC, led by Karl Rove and his cronies.

We haven't typically associated the phrase "political prisoner" with an American citizen - inside of America - yet, you can't think otherwise after reading Alexandrovna's articles.

It's compelling - and scary - stuff.

And, if you are keeping a scorecard, for the day our Congress (LOL) actually takes action and holds the Bush Regime accountable, pen these in the line-up for a turn in the batters box.

The Permanent Republican Majority, Part I

The Permanent Republican Majority: Daughter of jailed governor sees White House hand in her father's fall; Part two of a Raw Story Investigates series on the architects and the execution of backroom Republican politics

Horton has more on Siegelman's case today...

Another Case of He Should Have Used The Google!

Man, you would think, after nearly seven-years, they'd have a handle on this type of thing.

He did it back in September, but that was down in Australia, so the could make some excuse about the time zone, or being down under threw him off.

But here, in his own backyard ...

The Shakespeare Guy did it again, botching the names of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, at the Annapolis Mideast Summit today (or, as we like to call it, "The Condoleezza Rice Ballroom Dancing & Charm School").

Think Progress has it, with video, in their Bush butchers pronunciation of ‘Olmert’ and ‘Mahmoud.’


Memo to the Grindhouse: Let someone else do the talking ... Have him lip sync ... Something!

Or, at least, send Dana Perino out to explain, that their may be some unintended health benefit to his mispronunciations.

Top Ten Cloves: Reasons Time Magazine Hasn't Corrected Joe Klein's Egregiously Error-Filled FISA Articles

News Item: Joe Klein digs Time's hole deeper still

10. Waiting to hear back from the NSA, on listening to wiretaps of critics before responding

9. Being that Klein, and Time, tilts Rightwing, nobody has a blue pencil

8. Worried, if they take action, could cause more heart trouble for Vice President Dick Cheney

7. Hoping that Klein gets subpoenaed and thrown in jail like Judy Miller, so they can really play it up

6. Editors Priscilla Painton, Josh Tyrangiel and Rick Stengel don't ever read Klein's columns

5. Sought opinion from new Attorney General Mukasey, who indicated he wasn't prepared to say if it was an error or not

4. Sticking with and standing by Priscilla Painton's “That assumes that there are errors,”

3. Afraid if they discipline or suspend Klein, he'll bolt right over to Fox News

2. White House hasn't given them the O-K yet

1. Can't do anything; Clause in Klein's contract allows him to write like a buffoon and make up whatever he wants










Buckle Your Seatbelts, It's a Joe Kleinpalooza!

Ryan Singel: Time's Columnist Joe Klein Butchers Wiretapping Debate

Atrios: Bizarro World

Daily Kos: Klein's "shameful" er, "journalism"

Matt Stoller: Joe Klein's Meltdown

Crooks and Liars: TIME, please spare us Joe Klein on FISA

Glenn Greenwald: Time magazine's FISA fiasco shows how Beltway reporters mislead the country

The Condoleezza Rice Ballroom Dancing & Charm School

Or: Shopping For A Legacy on Cyber Monday

I had the occasion, recently (okay, a stretch; Woke up from a nap on the sofa as it was coming on), to watch a good, funky little movie.

The Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing & Charm School.

It had a few different story arcs, and a boatload of big-name actors in minor roles (Sonia Braga in, essentially, a non-speaking role!). And it jumped back-and-forth from flashbacks to current time.

But through these flashbacks, it was clear that the basic schtick of The Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing & Charm School didn't change, just the players (in the current time, run by her daughter, played by Mary Steenburgen).

Which brings us to this week, and how appropriate that the Annapolis Mideast Summit kicked off today, Cyber Monday, just so The Commander Guy and His Girl Condi could go legacy shopping.

Considering his invasion and occupation of Iraq, and his warmongering against Iran, the support of all that "democracy" breaking out in Pakistan, I have to suspect the Middle East countries attending this summit must have a belief that it is the United States that needs to be sat down at table and slapped around.

And, if you only got your news from the New York Times, you would come away with thinking that everything was already a done deal before the thing even started.

That owing to the illustrious stewardship of our Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice.

Elizabeth Bumiller offered today the biggest, fattest, juiciest wet kiss this side of Mae West, with her 'Ode to Condi', otherwise known as "Rice’s Turnabout on Mideast Talks."

While it's clear Ms. Bumiller is sucking up - big-time - to Rice and the Bush Grindhouse, the piece plays out often, not as a manuscript of a fearless, resolute diplomat, in a career-legacy defining moment, but more like Jean Arthur in "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington".

"Ms. Rice, who had heralded the election as a symbol of the new stirrings of democracy in the Middle East, was so blindsided by the victory that she was startled when she saw a crawl of words on her television screen while exercising on her elliptical trainer the morning after the election: “In wake of Hamas victory, Palestinian cabinet resigns.”

“I thought, ‘Well, that’s not right,’” Ms. Rice recalled. When the crawl continued, she got off the elliptical trainer and called the State Department.

“I said, ‘What happened in the Palestinian elections?’” Ms. Rice recalled. “And they said, ‘Oh, Hamas won.’ And I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, Hamas won?’”

And there was no water thrown on the work-wife thing, the Bush-Rice Mutual Admiration Brigade;

"Ms. Rice was able to engineer the administration’s shift in large part because of her extraordinarily close relationship with the president — Mr. Bush “loved Condi,” said Andrew H. Card Jr., the former White House chief of staff — and her ability to move him at critical moments. Mr. Bush, Ms. Rice insisted, is also fully committed to the Annapolis meeting."

What's going to happen in one day at Annapolis?

The students in The Condoleezza Rice Ballroom Dancing & Charm School, the Middle East attendees, will reprise their moves of summits past, do the one-two-cha-cha-cha, with lots of puffed up, diplomatically-buzz-word-laden speeches, enough photo-ops to fill an aircraft carrier (one, even with a "Mission Accomplished" banner), dates pushed out to do this, dates pushed out to do that and it all ends with Que Sera Sera blaring over the sound system as The Commander Guy and His Condi Girl gaze into each others' eyes, approvingly.

But then again, they may leave the room, singing;

Georgie and Condi, sittin' in a tree
S-P-I-N-N-I-N-G
First comes, Iraq, then comes Iran
Then comes the sale job called Afghanistan

Bonus Condoleezza Rice Ballroom Dancing & Charm School Riffs

The Carpetbagger Report: George and Condi — kindred spirits

Christy Hardin Smith/Firedoglake: American Media: Put Down Lips, Back Away From President’s Behind

Truthout: Annapolis, "Potemkin Village" of Peace

Our Girl Condi Gets A Theme Song - Neocons and Lovers

Top Ten Cloves: Things About Condoleezza Rice Becoming NFL Commissioner

Oh, Please, Please, Please! ... Make The Citizen's Arrest, Al ... Make The Citizen's Arrest!

This could be a watershed, primo, apex of history, moment today.

This won't be one-for-the-record-books, it will shatter them.

The air of anticipation is so thick, it's like 200 Christmas Eves packed into one, raising the pulse, almost taking your breath away.

We speak of later today, when the Oscar-winning, Nobel Prize-gathering former Vice President Al Gore pays a visit to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, where our Court-Appointed President (h/t Barry Crimmins) will greet the American winners of Nobel Prizes in the customary and perfunctory photo-op session (hmmm, I wonder if Rush Limbaugh will attempt to crash it?)

And wouldn't it be so wonderful, so incredible, for Gore, recognizing the moment, understanding the magnitude of the crises we are in, picks up The Garlic's call from earlier this summer, and makes a Citizen's Arrest of The Greeter Guy.

We laid out all the benefits that can come of this, most of all, restoring the integrity and creditability to the White House.

Gore has the time, the connections and, likely, the cred, that will have others in the room - Secret Service, Capital Police, et all supporting him.

Just recently, a poll offered that 55% of voters believe Commander Codpiece has committed crimes and abuses worthy of Impeachment.

So the country is behind you, Mr. Gore.

And since NancyOffTheTable (along with Stagnant Hoyer) and Harry "Give'em What They Want" Reid won't move forward on this, won't undertake their constitutional responsibilities, we have to do it for them

They, along with every other Congressmen and Senator, go to work every day, as unprotected as the citizenship, due to their voting to suspend Habeas Corpus, at the behest of the Bush Grindhouse.

That, alone, setting aside the mountain of other high crimes and misdemeanors, should have them, along with the country, absolutely outraged.

The Garlic, as we wrote, fears a Citizen's Arrest is the only option left.

And Big Al has the incredible opportunity today to make things right.

Seven-years ago, Gore walked away from the fight, leaving us with Bushville.

He may have lost the fight, but with undertaking the Citizen's Arrest, he can win the war.

So, put some good vibes out there for Al Gore today. He has a big task on his plate, the hopes of a nation rest of his broad shoulders.

Let's change what today is, instead of Cyber Monday (more of that media-led phony cheerleading to go shopping), and let it become, for future generations, V-B Day!

I'll be dealing with the anticipation and anxiety by cutting up the forest of advertising flyers that came with the Sunday paper, waiting to throw out the window, the multi-colored confetti, as soon as the news crosses the wire, and the Breaking News bulletins begin bursting out of the television.

That today, Al Gore made a Citizen's Arrest that saved a country.

Bonus Links

Linda Boyd: Impeachment: If not now, when?; Lawmakers need to stand up for the Constitution and support impeachment

Douglas Brinkley: What Will History Say?; Move Over, Hoover

Garlictorial: The Blank Check Club