Reply #35: disagree on both counts

[Bucky]

1. They're distracted, not neutralized

2. I doubt it's coordinated, except possibly by God. There is a karmic logic to it all coming to a head right now. They've had an incredible run of good luck and excellent marketing of their message up to now. I'd say their hubris is catching up to them; their belief that they could do no wrong is boomeranging them in the head.

But getting lined up like a there's a single chessmaster behind all their shit getting aired out? I doubt it.

1. The Halliburton scandal is not on the national radar. Cheney is hiding, but can pop out of his hole at full strength at any time.

2. Rush is only being his usual self, a clownish distraction whoring after a paycheck (and an ego trip). In the big game, he's not a player. Even if he were, there's still 99% of the rest of the rightwing media talk chorus. Savages come and go; the tribe lives on.

3. Rumsfeld is on solid ground and remains completely in play. He's the real Republican equivalent to Clinton. We can hammer him all day and he won't go down.

4. Rove is vulnerable, but is still not getting named on the air yet. Rice is mishandling everything but is still getting kid glove treatment. Wolfowitz is soldiering away undisturbed.

5. Despite ruining the economy, lying to start an unnecessary war, greasing down his war-profiteer cronies, and covering up for his Saudi buddies who funded the murder of 3000 people on our shores, Bush is running at a 50% approval rating.