Blog Box

November 18, 2005
Compiled by Delilah Boyd, A Scrivener's Lament

Woodwardgate, Today's Tricky Dick, and The Teen Blogger's Got A Gun

Bush goes to China? Brilliant - but not original - way to change the subject, George. But I'm afraid your warm and fuzzy Asian adventure can't possibly compete with this week's hot blog topics: Woodwardgate; Tricky Dick Cheney finally gets caught lying (and also lying by omission); and the alleged teen killer who is... a blogger! Plus Fox News hates America's working class, America's not done with Bush's sloppy seconds Veterans Day speech, and one more thing: we torture people and use chemical weapons in war. So much for that China trip.

Woodwardgate

Bob Woodward comes clean... sort of. "GlennGreenwald" (at Daily Kos) writes: "The Woodward Bombshell is a Disaster for the White House." While wingnut bloggers try their damnedest to spin Woodward's day-late-and-a-dollar-short "Yes, I knew about Wilson's wife" sworn statement to Patrick Fitzgerald as exonerating Scooter Libby, GlennGreenwald points out the obvious:

(1) Another WH senior official committed perjury and obstruction; (2) There is no justification for the WH to conceal the identity of this Senior Administration Official; (3) Could this new SAO leaker be the VP? (4) Woodward's attempt to minimize the leak makes no sense.

Other bloggers with thoughtful insight on Woodwardgate: Josh Marshall (Talking Points Memo), firedoglake (here, here, here, and here), Now That's Progress, and "brazilians" of others.

Unlike the identity of the third assassin in Macbeth, we will soon know the secret identity of Woodward's Senior Administration Official (SAO). Meanwhile, don't forget to keep an eye on Kos's Plame Leak Timeline for updates and links. And make all of the Judith Woodward jokes your heart desires...

Speaking of Judith Miller...

Judith Miller Is An Innocent Victim?

Responding to Maureen Dowd's cat scratching column about her, Judy hit the cable news talk show circuit last week, and demonstrated her best Botoxed face and baby talk skills. Judy lamented MoDo's personal attacks, but she neglected to point out that not one of her colleagues ever stepped up to defend her. Steve Gillard at The News Blog lists the names of the strangely silent as well as Dowd's sources for her Judy dirt.

Veterans Day Sloppy Seconds Speechifyin'

Sadly, No has the side-by-side texts of George W. Bush's Veterans Day speech and an earlier speech (October, 2005) with the same... er, exact words. So much for honoring America's veterans: just more sloppy seconds. Well, what did you expect from President AWOL?

After you read the creepily similar content of the worst presidential speech(es) ever, watch TrueMajorityAction.org's enhanced video of Bush's weird Veterans Day speech. (Pay close attention to the crawl at the bottom of the screen!) Then, check out Hoot at the Dark's post on George W.'s poll numbers, "Everybody Limbo! (Now With Poll)."

What A Dick!

On the same day that Woodward published his little bombshell statement, we learned that someone gave the Washington Post a document detailing Tricky Dick Cheney's 2001 Energy Policy meetings with Big Oil guys. Mark82 writes:

Well slap my @$$ and call me Judy (Cue soundtrack: A little electric blues today -- StikMen: Cleanin' Up the House) File this one under "no sh*t, Sherlock". I mean, I am shocked, shocked! to find out that oil companies were consulted during deliberations of the Veep's energy task force. The news here is what? That it took four years to figure this out?

CMoore points out how often those Big Oil guys lied during last week's hearings and zeroes in on the fact that Cheney knew they were lying and never once attempted to set the record straight.

Alleged Teen Killer "Sounds Normal" On His Blog

The fact that David Ludwig and Kara Beth Borden are both bloggers seems to pique the interest of at least one youth minister/blogger. From Random Bloggings:

Also of some interest to me is that David Ludwig had his own blog on Xanga. The problem is that on his blog he seems fine... but in his blog he sounds normal. Or as normal as any 18 year old can be. --SNIP-- It makes me take a step back and think about what kind of crazy job youth pastors have. Could someone have helped him? Was he struggling in his faith?

I don't know about Ludwig's faith, but maybe the fact that he took a gun to his girlfriend's house might be something to focus on, instead of his "normal sounding" blog posts. Random Bloggings, Project Nothing, The Zenformation Professional, and 6,867 others (not really, it just seems like it) have posted the kids' blog links everywhere. If you want to read about laptop shopping, Christian bands, and see the same pictures CNN has, here are the links:

David's Blogs:
Xanga
MySpace
Picture Trail

Kara's Blogs:
Xanga
MySpace

Hmm. Kara Beth Borden. Beth, as in "Elizabeth." As in "Lizzie." As in parents murdered. Nope. Not going there.

Let's Play BushCo Jeopardy!

I'll take "Dumbass Washington Post Decisions" for $500, Alex. According to Why Are We Back In Iraq?, The correct answer is "What are Poland and Romania?"

Howard Kurtz and Dana Priest find themselves neck deep in Double Jeopardy because the WaPo withheld the names of those two US-approved torture camp destinations, even though the paper carried Associated Press stories naming those two particular countries. A better question might be, WTF? Or, better yet: How dare the Bush administration plan, build and run concentration camps?

The sad part? Woodwardgate has already knocked this story off the blog rankings radar, and Howard Kurtz is now the go-to cable news Woodwardgate interview guy. Heavy sigh.

News From The Land of Duh: Fox News Hates Your Family

That's right. Fox really, really hates your family. Really. What do you do when you want to chase down those Fox News rabids? You release the News Hounds of course! During Neil Cavuto's recent interview with John Stossel and Jonathan Hoening, the guests praised outsourcing, vilified factory workers, and claimed that America could always "just trade" for things we need:

Cavuto asked Stossel, "People say manufacturing jobs are leaving. What do you say?" "Bye!" said Stossel, waving at the camera. "There's nothing wonderful about manufacturing jobs. I think if you look at what we want for our kids, that should answer the question. We don't want them working in a factory where the work is underpaid, I mean, is very hard, it may be uncomfortable." --snip-- Later in the show, guest Jonathan Hoenig, capitalistpig.com, predicted that General Motors Corp. would "go belly-up by the spring of 2006." Cavuto asked him if that would bring a bailout of the kind that helped Chrysler remain in business for 20-some years before merging with Daimler. "God, I hope not!" said Hoenig, living up to the name of his website.

The O'Lielly Factory

Bill O'Reilly never ceases to piss off the hard working people of this country, does he? Of all the bloggers typing slash marks across O'Lielly's facial pixels this week after his San Francisco slam and subsequent companion rants, Rule Of The Bone does it best:

Okay this time Bill has lost it. The anchor from The OReilly Factor Aka The Show For People Who Don't Read Newspapers has issued an attack on San Francisco. Now I know we have found Bill to be a hypocrite more times than Kevin Federline has used the word Yo on his new record. --snip-- We can only hope that the man loses his show or chokes on a porkchop. We will never be so lucky.

Hope keeps the dream alive, Rule Of The Bone. And you never know. O'Reilly just might leave his heart in San Francisco some day soon. I think Wal-Mart has a sale on ice chests this week. Oh, and... Corrente writes: Bill O'Reilly IS NOT a terrorist sympathizer! Repeat: Bill O'Reilly IS NOT a terrorist sympathizer! And there's NO SUCH THING as a Google Bomb!

Bloggers Bust BushCo

"Leaveonlyfootprints" (via Daily Kos) cites the BBC story on the U.S. military's use of chemical weapons on Iraqis:

Hooray for the blogosphere! This line however crumbled when bloggers (whose influence must not be under-estimated these days) ferreted out an article published by the US Army's Field Artillery Magazine in its issue of March/April this year. Emphasis mine. The article continues and covers the "Willie Pete" angle - parallels to Vietnam. There is also a very eerie photo of WP being used to illuminate Fallujah. There is an explanation - for our good British friends - of the term "shake and bake" and the author concludes that such an expression lends the whole story credibility because it sounds like an expression troops would coin. Finally, it discusses the US's actions and labels the use of WP, ultimately, as a "weapon on the edge."

No More Bush!

I'm becoming a big fan of You Forgot Poland! Mags has a way with words that puts Candace Bushnell to shame. Here's a post about Jeb Bush leaving open a future White House bid:

Please, no more A crazy coincidence, this article above. I was just out having some tea with friends this evening, chatting out the benefits of Brazilian waxing vs. shaving, and then I come home, read a few articles online and come across this. And the only thing running through my mind in both instances was "no more bush." No more Bush, indeed. This country's had enough of you guys.

Thanks for the laugh, You Forgot Poland! You rock!

This week, the trip to China was supposed to be the top story - it was supposed to jump-start Bush's Sir Edmund Hillary climb in the polls. Ah, the best laid plans. Too bad. So sad, Mr. Bush. You lose. Woodwardgate - not Woodward - scooped you big time - even the "teen blogger with a gun" story punk'd you. It's a good thing your mommy is traveling with you. She's so (cough) warm and caring.

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