She Was The One She Was Waiting For!

It occurred to me, after our post last evening ("Back, and to the Left ... Back, and to the Left") the implosion of Hillary Clinton, the incredible irony of it all.

By her own, twisted, dark, logic/strategy, in context to her decision to stay in the primary race (a race she has been losing since Super Tuesday, and, just this past week, it became all-but-officially lost), related to waiting around for "something to happen" to/with Barack Obama, she reached into that rather large Clintonean Bag of Tricks, and brought up the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.

As it has played out, universal condemnation has followed, and, to borrow from the Obama Campaign;

She Was The One She Was Waiting For!

How incredibly ironic ...

Amazing self-destruction, from the person who was, self-admitted, ready on Day One...

The shoddy, lazy, error-filled campaign Hillary conducted will be buried, a number of paragraphs down, when the history of this primary season is written.

We already posted the "Nixon In A Pantsuit" thing, so, if, in time, she does recover, it will be written as a "Nixonian" rise back into the game.

If Hillary was looking to take off the front pages her screaming banshee, "Give Me Michigan and Florida, or Give Me Death", well, she sure achieved that goal.

If Hillary was looking to prime the Rules Committee, before the meeting next week, whipping her supporters into a frenzy ... Err, not very likely she achieved that one (though, we can't rule out that she will use this self-inflicted wound to beat the "Everyone's picking on me" drum - again).

No, in a big-bowed basket of irony, Hillary, inserting foot firmly in mouth, ended up to be the "something happening", and "the reason to wait around".

She Was The One She Was Waiting For !


From the territory and borders around Hillaryland

Karen Timulty, of Time Magazine points out that this has been a pattern of Hillary's, going back to March;

TIME: Can you envision a point at which--if the race stays this close--Democratic Party elders would step in and say, "This is now hurting the party and whoever will be the nominee in the fall"?

CLINTON: No, I really can't. I think people have short memories. Primary contests used to last a lot longer. We all remember the great tragedy of Bobby Kennedy being assassinated in June in L.A. My husband didn't wrap up the nomination in 1992 until June. Having a primary contest go through June is nothing particularly unusual.

Trex has an option for you;

Well, we could talk about how Hillary is now openly incorporating the possibility of an assassin’s bullet into her plans for this whole nomination deal until our heads explode.

Or we could watch this adorable video of a hedgehog eating a carrot.

From The Mahablog;

Clinton supporters are whining that people are picking on poor Hillary again, making a Big Deal out of an innocent remark. These are the same people who won’t let go of Obama’s “bitter” remark, which some argue was taken out of context. I say live by the gotcha, die (metaphorically speaking) by the gotcha.

Quoting the Rude One: “To Clinton’s campaign and its supporters, who have been holding out for some gaffe by Obama that would take him down: How’s that working out for ya?”

Andrew Sullivan;

She's been waiting for Obama to implode. Instead, she just has.

The Anonymous Liberal;

Hillary is very smart and has pretty good political instincts. She'd no doubt run a competent general election campaign. But I think Obama has demonstrated during this grueling one and half year primary campaign that he is every bit her equal when it comes to raw political skill, and his campaign has out-smarted and out-maneuvered hers at every step. When you combine that with Obama's far superior rhetorical gifts and fundraising potential, it's hard to see why people still think Clinton would be the more formidable general election candidate.

Oliver Willis;

Seriously, who says this sort of thing? Your average person doesn’t say it, let alone somebody running for president. Hillary Clinton didn’t lose this race because she was a victim of sexism. She lost this race because people are tired of her clawing for power and running over everything to do it.

Biden Slaps Down McCain's Mini-Me

We had hoped that action would have been taken by now.

We suggested, in our most recent Garlictorial that Senator Joe Lieberman (R-I, CT) be drummed out of the Democratic Caucus, ala the television show, "Branded".

( Chuck Connors "dishonorably discharged from the service, his stripes and brass buttons removed and his sword broken in two")

We then pointed out how he has become McCain's attack dog, and how Bill Moyers noted that "Wherever McCain goes, Lieberman is sure to show up ..."

Well, Lieberman "showed up" on the Op-Ed pages of the Wall Street Journal this past week, in a senseless, meandering diatribe against Barack Obama and the Democrats, spewing Bush and McCain's talking points in "Democrats and Our Enemies";

In this, Sen. Obama stands in stark contrast to John McCain, who has shown the political courage throughout his career to do what he thinks is right – regardless of its popularity in his party or outside it.

John also understands something else that too many Democrats seem to have become confused about lately – the difference between America's friends and America's enemies.

There are of course times when it makes sense to engage in tough diplomacy with hostile governments. Yet what Mr. Obama has proposed is not selective engagement, but a blanket policy of meeting personally as president, without preconditions, in his first year in office, with the leaders of the most vicious, anti-American regimes on the planet.

Steve Benen, over on The Carpetbagger Report noted "Lieberman’s capacity to be a Republican hack knows no bounds".

Jonathan Chait, on TNR, had it as "The Zell Miller-ization of Joe Lieberman Continues"

Time to cue Senator Joe Biden (D-MD), riding to the rescue.

Biden slam-dunked Lieberman, and his pals, Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain, and The Commander Guy, but good, in his WSJ Op-Ed, "Republicans and Our Enemies";

Sen. Lieberman is right: 9/11 was a pivotal moment. History will judge Mr. Bush's reaction less for the mistakes he made than for the opportunities he squandered.

The president had a historic opportunity to unite Americans and the world in common cause. Instead – by exploiting the politics of fear, instigating an optional war in Iraq before finishing a necessary war in Afghanistan, and instituting policies on torture, detainees and domestic surveillance that fly in the face of our values and interests – Mr. Bush divided Americans from each other and from the world.

Because of the policies Mr. Bush has pursued and Mr. McCain would continue, the entire Middle East is more dangerous. The United States and our allies, including Israel, are less secure.

Beyond bluster, how would Mr. McCain actually deal with these dangers? You either talk, you maintain the status quo, or you go to war. If Mr. McCain has ruled out talking, we're stuck with an ineffectual policy or military strikes that could quickly spiral out of control.

It's amazing how little faith George Bush, Joe Lieberman and John McCain have in themselves – and in America.

We have called on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to take action.

There is no reason the Lieberman should remain a member of the Democratic Caucus for one-second longer.

And, if you want more ammo, check this out;

Liberal Pundits Offer Unprecedented Apology;

Alternate Universe Washington, DC (AUP)--An influential group of liberal pundits and political commentators has formed a new organization to apologize for their columns on Ned Lamont's 2006 challenge to Joe Lieberman (R - Forallintentsandpurposes) and to call for their own resignations.

The organization, "Repentant Villagers," announced today that it would be issuing formal apologies to hundreds of liberal bloggers, including Duncan Black, Jane Hamsher, Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, Glenn Greenwald, and "Digby," acknowledging that the progressive blogosphere was right about Lieberman after all. "No one could have anticipated the breach of the party," said Jonathan Chait, senior editor of the New Republic. "But Lieberman's recent op-ed, calling the Democratic Party insufficiently pro-American, is just sheer barking lunacy. I could never have seen this coming two years ago when I was calling Lieberman's critics 'a pack of crazed, ignorant ideological cannibals,' and I'm deeply sorry. It looks like I turned out to be the truly ignorant one in the end."

If Lieberman has the courage (however misguided and ridiculous) to stand behind John McCain, than he needs to follow-up and officially put an "R" after his title

Blow up the bridge, so, after November, he can't come crawling back to the Dems.

Let him stand along the banks, naked, in the full GOP shame.

Three "Must Reads" From Al Giordano

This, actually, is a rewrite of something I put together yesterday morning.

The rewrite necessary after Hillary's magnificent, tremendous, gigantic gaffe.

When I awoke on Friday AM, the blogosphere was tsunami-flooded with stories and posts about "Hillary as VP" and "Camps Talking" (you can look Here, Here and Here for a sampling).

I read a bevy of these, the regular big-and-small blogs, the MSM articles and not a one referenced the scoop that Al Giordano had published - on Thursday;

“The Nightmare Ticket Is Dead”

The Field can now confirm, based on multiple sources, something that both campaigns publicly deny: that Senator Clinton has directly told Senator Obama that she wants to be his vice presidential nominee, and that Senator Obama politely but straightforwardly and irrevocably said “no.” Obama is going to pick his own running mate based on his own criteria and vetting process.

So now, when the Clinton surrogates continue to advocate that Obama choose Senator Clinton as veep, everybody will know: It’s Bill, and not Hill, stoking the fire. When New York political insider Mark Green’s Air America sent an email blast this morning to its entire mailing list featuring the milquetoast, boring and Arbitron-ratings neglected Thom Hartmann’s plea - “Obama: Ask Hillary First” (and this Air America subscriber summarily unsubscribed from that list this morning upon receiving that piece of corporate-paid advertising), everybody knows: the ventriloquist behind these Muppets is Bill Clinton.

A lot of people took a lot of sips from the Clinton Kool-Aid, pushing and hawking this "dream ticket"

Not Al, as you can see.

Now, it is my speculation, that, even before the Hillary foot-in-mouth RFK gaffe, it was the absolute longest of possibilities that Barack Obama would select Hillary as his running mate.

Really, we're talking here the "If Barack and Hillary were the only two people left on earth, he would still pause and think very hard and long on it" kind of chances.

I have to imagine, if Hillary's name was on some kind of list in the Obama camp, long or short, there's a line running through it this morning, and, after the next print-out of it, the name "Hillary" will not even appear on it.

And the news gets grimmer for Camp Clinton.

“The Cardoza 40″: Exodus of Clinton Delegates Begins"

The Field has learned that Cardoza is the first of a group of at least 40 Clinton delegates, many of them from California, that through talking among themselves came to a joint decision that all of them would vote for Obama at the convention. They have informed Senator Clinton that it’s time to unite around Obama, and that they will be coming out, one or two at a time, and announcing their switch between now and the convention if Senator Clinton doesn’t do the same.

Ouch!

There's a breach in the dike and, on top of not winning new delegates, she's losing the one's she already had!

Finally, for a breakdown of the Superdelegates, check out Al's "Undeclared Superdelegates: The Gang of 165 (+ 32 in Limbo)"

All of the Cardoza 40 should, now, just come over to Obama, en masse.

There's no need for subtlety, no need to position it.

It's over.

This Date ... On The Garlic

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Top Ten Cloves: How Freezer and Refrigerator Manufacturers Are Exploiting Congressman Jefferson’s Scandal Situation


24 May 2005... On The Garlic

Frist Wary Of New Compromise; May Continue With Justice Sundays; Seeks 'End of Days' Commitment

Apple To Support Podcasting; Believes More Apple Dissent To Be Thwarted With New Support

F.D.A Readies Depression Device Implant

Top Ten Cloves: Things Overheard On The First Lady's Mid-East Trip

"Back, and to the Left ... Back, and to the Left ..."

One flew east, one flew west
And one flew over the cuckoo's nest.

Well we wrote it, a while back ...

Hillary Clinton is smelling burning rubber!

We had a running inside joke, a former girlfriend and I, that whenever someone said something impossibly outlandish, way off the charts, something totally crazy, we would ask them if they could smell burning rubber, the acrid odor being the tell-tale signal of their complete dementia.

Christ, from her antics the past few days, she's got a mountain of Goodyears' wafting up her nostrils.

Just on Wednesday, she did a Randle Patrick McMurphy (okay, granted, she is far more in the mold of Nurse Ratched), citing nearly every conflict known to man, short of the Hatfields-and-McCoys, to beat her Michigan and Florida drum.

And she follows that up with this, today;

"My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don't understand it," she said, dismissing calls to drop out.

Say What!?

She should stay in the race, that she is losing, and will lose, because, in June, as Donny "Snowflakes" Rumsfeld would say, "stuff happens"?

Like, who knows, some one might assassinate Barack Obama?

Needless to say, the WWW and Blogosphere is afire with this with this.

And, Keith Olbermann did a Special Comment on this, just a short time ago.

Oh, yeah, they pushed Hillary out in front of the cameras to offer an apology;

"I regret that if my referencing that moment of trauma for our entire nation and in particular the Kennedy family was in any way offensive. I certainly had no intention of that whatsoever," the former first lady said.

"I was discussing the Democratic primary history and in the course of that discussion mentioned the campaigns of both my husband and Senator (Robert) Kennedy waged in California in June in 1992 and 1968 and I was referencing those to make the point that we have had nomination primary contests that go into June. That's a historic fact," she said.

"The Kennedys have been much on my mind the last days because of Senator Kennedy," she added, referring to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's recent diagnosis of a brain tumor. "I regret that if my referencing that moment of trauma for our entire nation and in particular the Kennedy family was in any way offensive. I certainly had no intention of that whatsoever.

"My view is that we have to look to the past to our leaders who have inspired us, give us a lot to live up to, and I'm honored to hold Senator Kennedy's seat in the United States Senate from the state of New York and have the highest regard for the Kennedy family," she said.

Aside from the hardcore Clintonistas, the most generous would say, as I believe Hillary attempted to upchuck in her non-apology-apology, was that she was making a "time-reference", citing how past primary races extended into June (and, let's face it, a politician of Hillary's level, having been through two Presidential campaigns, knows that, in the past, that was largely attributable to California's primary was in early June, and that's where the pot-o-gold-load of delegates sat).

That may be ... I know, whenever someone asks me the time of day, and it's 12:30PM, I always add on to it "that was the time JFK was shot".

"Back, and to the Left ... Back, and to the Left ..."

Right? ... Just something you automatically go to?

For whatever reason she said it - a warning, or wishful thinking, or a just-the-facts statement for a historical campaign reference - it was a GIGANTIC GAFFE! ...

HUGE! ...

FAUX PAS DELUXE! ...

If this isn't a reason for the Superdelegates to declare earlier than expected, I don't know what more they need.

This wasn't mumbled, with sleep in her eyes, at 3AM.

Nor, did she shout it, franticly running across a tarmac, avoiding sniper fire.

This was stated by Hillary in an interview with the Argus Leader (Sioux Falls, SD), their editorial board, where judging by the video, it was during daylight hours, and no sound of gunfire from snipers in the background.

Here's the video of it;

Here's What Does RFK's Assassination Have to Do with It?

Superdelegates, do your job ... Now, please!

Do not subject us to two-more-weeks (maybe longer, if Hillary aims on burning down Denver), of this inane, out-of-control, power-hungry, win-at-all-costs, Clinton Campaign.

End the suspense now and let these last two-weeks be the mop-up of what's left, if anything, of the Clinton Legacy.

Do it before she, perhaps at here next campaign stop, remarks about that town's theatre, and reminds the voters, pointing out their great, old downtown theatre, and that's the reason she's still running ...

Because, we all remember, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in a theatre...


Bonus Burning Rubber Hillary Links

Wonkette: Our Greatest American Draws The Line

Oliver Willis: Hillary Clinton Says She’s Staying In Because Someone Could Assassinate Obama Like RFK

Barry Crimmins: Abraham, Martin and Clod

Ana Marie Cox: See, I Told You She Wasn't Interested in Veep (UPDATES)

Marc Ambinder: Get Ready, Get Set.... Parse!

John Cole: Like Three Little Fonzies

This Date ... On The Garlic

Garlic History - On This Day

23 May 2007... On The Garlic

Cue The Zither Music ... Minced Garlic: New Keith Olbermann Special Comment


23 May, 2006... On The Garlic

Top Ten Cloves: What President Bush Is Doing About The Stolen Veterans Electronic Data


23 May 2005... On The Garlic

Major Media Looking At Story Sources; No More Anonymous; Only Friends and "A Guy I Know" To Be Used; White House To Offer List Of Approved Sources

Study Shows College Grads "Dropping Out"; Studies Abandoned; Blogs, Podcasting and Apprentice New Goals

Madison Ave, Name Brands, Lay Claim To Sadam Undies

Six Flags Bans Sex Offenders

Military Puts Brakes On Haliburton

Top Ten Cloves: Things Larry King Would Have Said If He Had Testified In Michael Jackson Trial

Top Ten Cloves: Questions Possible Running Mates Will Have For John McCain At Weekend Meeting

News Item: McCain To Meet With Potential Running Mates

10. If they become VP, will he promise not to explode his infamous temper on them?

9. Why do you want to know how much cash I have on me?

8. In case they run for Senate, can he tell them the secret for pulling off a Keating Five-like scam?

7. Will Vicki Iseman be around over the weekend?

6. Will ask if they can get a sneak peak at Cindy McCain's tax return

5. Is there any advanced preview of John Hagee smears on Obama?

4. If not chosen for VP, can they get hooked up as a lobbyist on his staff?

3. The big question - How many times has he gotten laid on the Straight Talk Express!

2. Will joke McCain, asking him the Shiite-Sunni question, just to hear his discombobulated answer

1. All three, annoyed, will ask - "Does Lieberman have to sit in on this?"


Bonus McCain Madcap Links

McCain's YouTube Problem Just Became a Nightmare

Think Progress: McCain implies U.S. invaded Iraq for oil

Emptywheel: Why Is McCain’s Former Campaign Chair Stumping for Obama?

The Bob Dole For The New Millennium

McCain Waves The POW Flag

McCain's Foodgate ... The Gift Keeps Giving ...


Bonus Bonus

Mark Halperin, of Time Magazine asks;

Veepstakes Quiz: For all the talk of gubernatorial running mates, when was the last time a major party candidate added to his ticket a sitting or former governor?

The answer is here

This Date ... On The Garlic

Garlic History - On This Day

22 May 2007... On The Garlic

You Shouldn't Worry There, Dick ... Everyone Knows You're A Hard-Ass ... The Results - The Garlic Weekly Poll

Top Ten Cloves: Things About If Abraham Lincoln Were Shot Today

And One More For The Road ...

I was momentarily stunned early last evening, watching 'Hardball', which was, essentially, aside from the Ted Kennedy homages, a pre-primary returns talkfest, when MSNBC's Chuck Todd (the numbers guru) prattled on how the Clinton Campaign must be kicking themselves, that Hillary didn't play this white, factory worker, Tom Joadesque character earlier in the campaign.

MATTHEWS: Well, here’s the delegate count. Senator Obama leads by 158 elected delegates. He leads by 24 superdelegates. NBC News has added 10 of Edwards’ pledged delegates, as Chuck said, to Obama’s total, based on published reports and discussions with some of the delegates themselves. And he leads now by 132 delegates overall.

You know, here’s the question. What do the Clintons think they’re doing here? Do they believe that Barack Obama has no chance to win in November; therefore, it explains their behavior to date, Chuck?

TODD: No. I think this is about legacy, two people’s legacy. One is Hillary Clinton’s legacy. She is now establishing herself as the woman that speaks for average working-class Americans, and that she has redefined her image a way that they would have killed for a year ago.

If they could have been this candidate now, where she is this fighter for the—the working-class, this blue-collar—you know, some want to describe her the Norma Rae of normal politics. If she could have been that person from the get-go, we might not be talking about—we might not be worrying about these late primaries. She might have already been the nominee.

Well, for one reason there, number-crunching Chuck, was, and up until Super Tuesday, Hillary, and the rest of the Clintonistas, assumed the nomination was just going to be handed to her.

No need for a "previously-owned" wardrobe, the Imelda Marcos-like collection of pantsuits would do just fine.

I doubt, before Ohio and Pennsylvania, Hillary was practicing throwing down shots, or hitting the shooting range.

And just how far down can you go, credibly, on that economic-social ladder, when you're tossing your own campaign $11-Million?

No saving coupons for Kraft's Macaroni-and-Cheese here.

So where are we now?

Obama has secured a lock on the delegate count, impossible for Hillary, no matter what metric they invent in the days ahead, including just counting her votes and not Obama's, to win the nomination via the primaries.

Barry Crimmins hit this (and was early, if not the first) nail square on the head back in April;

A huge portion of Obama's support comes from new and untested voters. Why should we trust these strangers to the polling place? And just how reliable will their choices be? This election is too important to allow it to be decided at the whim of inexperienced voters.

So this isn't just about counting Michigan's and Florida's properly-cast votes. And it isn't just about eliminating the votes of all of those states where there were caucuses or where Democrats shouldn't even campaign. It is about counting the votes of any of the people who conveniently surface whenever Barack Obama's name is on the ballot.

It's down to the Superdelegates, and, to the utter dismay of the Clintonistas, Obama has been scooping them up like a super-charged Roomba.

And there's a certain irony to that, being the Superdelegates were invented to do exactly what the Clinton Camp feverishly begs for - to turn over the results from the voters and hand it to the "correct" candidate.

Now, it is our humble opinion, if the situation were reversed, Hillary and Company would bring down the wrath of Armageddon to have Obama exit the race.

The Clintons would be relentless (much as they are now), hounding Obama (or any other candidate in the position), insisting, demanding, they leave ... Calling them out publically, loudly, berating them 24/7, for not taking the interest of the party ahead of their own.

Yet, while some calls for such have come for Hillary to sit down, it's in been lower and softer voices then used next to a sleeping baby.

We've got to give Hillary space ... Let her wind down on her own ...Let her go out on a high note ...

Since when did we have to give incredibly ego-gorged political candidates a soft landing?

"Are you crying? Are you crying? ARE YOU CRYING? There's no crying! THERE'S NO CRYING IN POLITICS!"

(Well ... Actually, there is ...)

Hillary Clinton has become that dinner party guest, the one you were leery to invite in the first place, the one who drank too much, too early, and is now the last guest still at the hosts' table, still drinking, still babbling, spouting off, also unintelligibly, and showing no signs of leaving, ignoring the hints that the hosts want her to go.

Hosts: "How about we call you a cab?"

Hillary (with head snapping up, having almost nodded off): Cab!? ... I don' wanna cab ... I can't ride a cab ...I'll only get in a cab if Michigan and Florida get cabs ... Can you give Michigan and Florida?...That'll do it ... That'll do it ...They need their own cabs ... They have to have their cabs counted ...

It's going to be hours, maybe days, before the hosts see that dinner guest leave their premises.

Only problem is, aside from calling a taxi, what else will they have to do, have to give, for the guest to leave?

Best suggestion is to just turn off the lights and go to bed ...

Ignore her ...

She'll sober up, realize what a spectacle she was, and leave, eventually ...

Perhaps, following the voice of Karl Rove, hearing Karl Rove calling out to her ...


Bonus Hillary Hijinx Links

The Hillary Deathwatch

John Cole: All About Me

Andrew Malcolm:
Money shocker! Hillary Clinton's campaign debt soars to $31 million

Hillary's Smelling Burning Rubber! Or: The Garlic Was Right - Hillary Has Built Her "Field of Voices"

What About On Day Two?

Top Ten Cloves: If Hillary Clinton Is A Monster, The Movies That Would Be Made About Her

Tinkerbell Meets Norma Rae - The Daily Kos Strike

This Date ... On The Garlic

Garlic History - On This Day

21 May 2006... On The Garlic

Weekend Special - Sautéed Cloves

Results For The Garlic's Weekly Poll: The Real Reason The NSA Has Been Secretly Collecting The Phone Call Records In The Country Is ...

Editor's Note: A New Look For The Garlic!

Good Afternoon Garlic Fans

We hope you're all doing well, only hours away now, from the Celtics-Pistons tonight.

If you are a regular visitor (if not, sign up for the daily feed), you notice we have a new look today.

Yes, gone is the original, 3.5-year-old all-black template, in favor of this new, snazzy, Sand Dollar one.

It is something we have been contemplating for the past few months, and intentions were to make the changeover at the beginning of this month, but, the Aunt situation put the kibosh on that.

Rather than wait another two-weeks to sync it with another new month, we threw caution into the wind and made the switch early this morning.

Now, the perfunctory, dull, boring tasks of tweaking everything, getting everything back working as previously, and, of course, making it entertaining and crisp for your satire-reading pleasure.

Yes, we will be posting during the renovations.

As always, thank you for visiting and reading The Garlic

Peace
JTD

This Date ... On The Garlic

Garlic History - On This Day

20 May 2005... On The Garlic

Dem's Dig In for Filibuster; Republicans For Coup; RNC Lining Up Corporate Sponsors For 'Nuclear Option Bash'

Frank Gorshin, Batman's Riddler, Dead At 72; Leaves Last Riddle - MD's, Undertaker Can't Find Body

Top Ten Cloves: Things Being Discussed In The Senate Compromises Over The Judicial Nominee Fight

Controlled Unclassified Information ... Brilliant!

I suppose, the big, unanswered question that comes out this news today is, what crony company is going to get the contract for the Super Special Secret Decoder Rings?

And, is there a secure telephone line in this treehouse?

Some kind of Odd Fellows handshake?











Leave it to the Bush Grindhouse, to wrap up their super secrecy reign of terror with, yet, more super secrecy.

While a number of articles sprouted up on this new, Commander Guy-penned-in-the-bubble law, Smintheus, over on Daily Kos, looks to be the first out-of-the-gate with it back on 10 May;

On Friday afternoon, with George Bush in Texas for his daughter's wedding, the White House finally released its new Executive Branch rules for designating and disseminating what used to be known as "sensitive" information. The most common term in the past for such material has been "Sensitive But Unclassified" (SBU), though there was an an alphabet soup of competing classifications in various agencies. In part, the new rules create a uniform standard across the Executive by replacing SBU etc. with a new classification, "Controlled Unclassified Information" (CUI).

Furthermore, after passage of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 federal agencies had been encouraged to apply the SBU designation to just about anything they didn't feel like releasing to the public. Hyper-classification was out of control.

In fact, Friday's memo doesn't even pretend to rein in secrecy. Quite the opposite, it looks like the Bush administration used the crafting of new rules as an opportunity to expand the range of government secrecy.

Walter Pincus, in the WAPO today, offered a look at what this might look like;

Sometime in the next few years, if a memorandum signed by President Bush this month ever goes into effect, one government official talking to another about information on terrorists will have to begin by saying: "What I am about to tell you is controlled unclassified information enhanced with specified dissemination."

That would mean, according to the memo, that the information requires safeguarding because "the inadvertent or unauthorized disclosure would create risk of substantial harm."

Pincus also notes that "Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy, described it as a "not even half-baked" exercise in policymaking".

DavidK, over on TPMMuckraker notes;

The saving grace may be that many of the hard decisions about how CUI will work have not been made, and likely won't be made until after President Bush leaves office. So federal officials may dodge one of the memo's more comical requirements: "oral communications should be prefaced with a statement describing the controls when necessary to ensure that recipients are aware of the information's status."

And Matthew Yglesias muses "You've got to sympathize with the Bush administration. Sometimes you're running the government but, inconveniently, it's not the government of Burma and so you need to be accountable to voters, other branches of government, public opinion, etc."

Hmmm ... I wonder how much this has to do with post-administration investigations and subpoenas?

Christ, they're on their way to establishing that anyone in the Bush Grindhouse can refuse to cooperate, or even acknowledge, that they said "Good Morning" as soon as they hit the office under this thing.

And, Lord knows, with the pinheads like John Yoo and David Addington inside they bubble, they've probably already put together reams of legal arguments on how "Good Morning" is a "national security issue" and that any release of information on "Good Morning", could be an advantage to the terrorists.

Next thing you know, Matt Sludge will have screaming headlines, the Right Wing Freak Show bashing Barack Obama, and the Democrats, with being appeasers, for saying "Good Morning" in public, to their staffs, family and friends.

It will become the the Verbal Lapel Pin Brouhaha.

And John McCain?

With is age, and his flip-flopping, how is Stumblin' Bumblin John McCain ever going to remember to get this straight?

Are Post-It Notes covered under this?


Super Secret Bonus Links

SourceWatch: Bush administration fetish for government secrecy

Russ Feingold: Government in secret - The Yoo memo is just one example of Bush's hidden laws

Amanda at Think Progress: Bush Administration Hides More Data, Shuts Down Website Tracking U.S. Economic Indicators

Steven Aftergood: The Age of Missing InformationThe Bush administration's campaign against openness

Scott Shane: U.S. archives making public data secret again; Reclassifications shrouded in mystery

Robert Parry: Bush's War on History

This Is Just Going To Be Too Easy ...

Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain.

Robert Greenwald and his Brave New Films has a winner, and you can just see how this will be like a fine roux, adding, and adding to it, making it into an even finer finished product, come November.

Over on Balloon Juice, Tom in Texas calls in "Straight Talking in Circles".

Spencer Ackerman cautions "Don't Mug Yourself", loving "all that national-security straight talk."

The buzz is all about "McCain's YouTube Problem Just Became a Nightmare";

There's no question John McCain is getting a free ride from the mainstream press. But with the power of YouTube and the blogosphere, we can provide an accurate portrayal of the so-called Maverick. We can put the brakes on his free ride!

Since we first released The Real McCain a year ago, our REAL McCain series has garnered close to 2 million views, with over 13,000 comments and tens of thousands more in petition signatures! Clearly, John McCain's record is something the public wants to discuss, and yet the corporate media is doing NOTHING to present the truth. We feel obliged to continue countering the mainstream media's love of McCain. And so we thought it was high time for a sequel: The Real McCain 2

Check it out!

"McCain's YouTube Problem Just Became a Nightmare"




What's that old saying?

Too many lobbyists will spoil the sauce ...

Top Ten Cloves: Reasons U.S. Military Used Koran For Target Practice

News Item: U.S. soldier in Iraq used Koran for target practice

10. Thought they would score some points with John McCain's endorser, Rev. John Hagee

9. Didn't realize it was a Koran; Got disoriented and sick after drinking some KBR water

8. "You shoot at the Koran you have—not the Koran you might want or wish to have at a later time ..."

7. With bullet holes, easier to hang on a nail in the cells of captured terrorists

6. Just trying to work out all sides of the theory behind Woody Allen's "Bullet In My Breast Pocket"

5. Planned on giving it to Jenna Bush, as a wedding present

4. Flushing it down the toliet was screwing up the plumbing

3. Was told it was the Koran that Barack Obama took his Senate oath on

2. Getting in last target practice; Following President's lead, will give up shooting Korans as long as there is war going on

1. They had already shot up their supply of Bibles

Bonus Links

"What If Spartacus Had To Account For 190,000 AK-47 assault rifles and pistols ..."

Top Ten Cloves: Reasons How Air Force Mistakenly Flew 5 Nuclear Warheads Across Country

Top Ten Cloves: Ways Military Recruiters Didn't Realize They Were Recruiting Gays

"They will have flies walking across their eyeballs"

This Date ... On The Garlic

Garlic History - On This Day

19 May 2007... On The Garlic

We're Waiting, John Fund ... For You To Take Your Head Out Of Your Ass ... Lieberman Abandoned The Democrats To Run As An Indie, He Wasn't Forced To


19 May 2006... On The Garlic

Crimmins Knocks One Out Of The Park With New Recording; Satirist/Author Cites “Profane Times”, Skewers Bush, Rumsfield, SUV’s


19 May 2005... On The Garlic

Google Fires Executive Chef; Caught Searching Recipes On Yahoo, MSN

Rumsfeld Dismiss Call For Space Weapons Program; "Happens every time a new Star Wars or some other Sci-Fi film comes out"

Top Ten Cloves: How Malcolm Glazer Will Make Manchester United and English Soccer More American

"Talk about the despot calling the kettle "Barack."

We feature him often, and deservedly so, as Barry Crimmins has come up with the line of the week.

"Talk about the despot calling the kettle "Barack"

Crimmins wrote on Friday, much like a bevy of others (The Garlic hit it late Thursday night) on our Court-Appointed President's (a Crimmins introduced-moniker) smear job on Barack Obama, and anyone else that doesn't embrace his "You're With Us, or Against Us" turd blossoms.

I'm beginning to think that he lost a bet with Cheney, and, as a result, had to go into the Knesset, breaking the long-standing protocol of a President not bringing domestic politics abroad, and spew his bile.

As it was noted on MSNBC, by David Shuster, of the many depressing issues brought about by his comments, one is that it is insulting to the citizens of Israel, especially the survivors, to equate the Nazi horror with the Mid-East terror, that it diminishes the truly, unprecedented, horrific, barbaric, sub-human actions of the Nazis.

The solemn Jewish promise of "Never Again" can now have a additional meaning, extending to they won't have to invite The Commander Guy, ever again, to speak over there.

That, by itself, could bring a few bodies to the peace table.

Here's a few more gems from Crimmins' "Suicide-pieing";

Mr. Bush ought to be more respectful of his own heritage, which is blotted with forbears who didn't just appease Nazis, they fucking sided with them! Don't believe me? Well then as Dabyahoo would say, use the Google. Considering the clan's traitorous past, the Bushes are lucky that Jenna didn't get married at the family compound in Argentina.

After the speech, American pundits were calling Bush's bellicosity a "veiled reference to Obama." Try as you might, you just can't slip anything past these crack analysts. Whether Bush was discussing Hamas or Iran or both, he was saying that you should never practice diplomacy with people regardless of how much mayhem you have visited upon their homelands. One of the best things Obama has advocated is a reintroduction of the concept that the first line of defense is diplomacy and discussions.

After watching both speeches, I spent the rest of the day mockingly repeating Bush's fear-mongering phrase "the false comfort of appeasement" while daydreaming about the true comfort of impeachment.

Go over to Barry's site and read the entire "Suicide-pieing".




Elsewhere ...





It became a throwback to 1950's television and their weekly broadcasts of The Friday Night Fights.

A full-fledged donnybrook broke out, with Obama responding, bashing both Bush and McCain, the Bush Grindhouse attempting to back away from the statements, McCain, clutching tightly to the 29% coattails, attempting to hit back on Obama

Chris Cizzilla hits the bullseye on all of this, in his post "Knesset Kerfuffle Shows Obama Not Afraid to Engage";

Obama, to our mind, took the smarter course by not simply answering the inherent critique offered by the president but also pivoting to try and make McCain answerable for the foreign policy pursued by the United States over the last eight years.

James Wolcott earns runner-up status for his descriptive offering of the Obama-Bush-McCain fisticuffs;

That was one of the chords Obama struck today in his response to Bush's "Nazi appeaser" accusation before the Israeli Knesset--he firmly, deftly mummy-wrapped Bush and McCain together and dropped them off at the pier. It's rather impressive to see a first-term senator chastise the President of the United States and the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party as if he were the headmaster and they the ones guilty of infractions unworthy of upperclassmen. That's one of the benefits of having an oratorical voice that sounds tall--it automatically adds height to every utterance, allowing them to drop like acorns and make a nice thunk when they bounce off of the nearest thick skull."

MSNBC's Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro called it "Bush's gift to Obama".

And McCain lost this before he even got out of the starting blocks.

Obama on McCain: Hypocrisy and fear-mongering;

"That’s exactly the kind of appalling attack that’s divided our country and that alienates us from the world, and that’s why we need change in Washington," he said, going to repeatedly link Bush and McCain.

"That was frustrating enough," he said of Bush's words. "Then John McCain gives a speech. He gave a speech in the morning where he talked about the need for civility in our politics. He talked about elevating the tone in our country.... Not an hour later, he turned around and embraced George Bush's attacks on Democrats. He jumped on a call with a bunch of bloggers and said that I wasn’t fit to protect this nation that I love."

McCain "accused me of not being fit to protect this nation – a nation my grandfather served in World War II– a nation that’s given me everything that I have," Obama said, then pivoted to attack Bush and McCain on a series of issues: Iraq; the survival of Osama bin Laden's and the Al Qaeda's leadership; Iran's strength; and Hamas's and Hezbollah's ascendancy.

Elrod, over on The Moderate Voice, has video of Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain, and his hipocracy regarding dealing with Hamas

And what also nudged its' way into the discussion, rather prominently, is the Bush Family ties to Adolph Hitler and the Nazi's via The Commander Guy's grandfather, Prescott Bush;

Michael Stickings, on The Reaction, picks up on The Guardian's "How Bush's grandfather helped Hitler's rise to power".

J. Peter Scoblic, in an L.A. Times Op-Ed today writes "Bush, McCain and other conservatives are on the wrong side of history when they dismiss Obama's foreign policy", to which Ron Beasley on The Newshogger notes (along with highlighting Eisenhower's Military-Industrial Complex speech);

Since 1961 very little and at the same time a great deal has changed. The most dangerous change has been the Industrial part of the equation. It is even bigger and more powerful and now controls the media and as we saw in the lead up to the invasion and occupation of Iraq is often little more than a government propaganda source not unlike Pravda in the old Soviet Union. The television journalists have been replaced by millionaire celebrity talking heads who's major concern is the welfare of their corporate employers and their own six and seven figure salaries. They are cheerleaders for war because there is nothing like a war to increase viewer ship and at the same time increase the profits of the corporate parents. Negotiation is bad because perpetual war is profitable.

And, tying this all up in a nice little bow was Glen Greenwald, pointing out, how the new Republican Icon, The Great Communicator himself, was pounced on - by some of the very same nitwits opining today - for being an appeaser.

And the GOP makes jokes about the Democrats and their infighting ...

Stay tuned to this one folks ... It's likely to resurface, maybe a few times, on the road to to November