OUCH! Josh Marshall slaps * on character...

[nostamj]

scroll down to the 2nd posting for the rest of this...

<snip>

Either the president knows the situation is that bad or he (and perhaps his advisors too) is just too out of touch to have any idea what's happening. Increasingly, I think that the president is just too small-minded and vainglorious a man to come to grips with the situation.

A strong president, a good president, would put his country before his pride and throw himself into saving the situation even if it meant admitting previous mistakes and ditching past policies and advisors. But I don't think this president has the character to do that.

Making a clean sweep, firing some of his most compromised advisors, admitting some past mistakes -- not for effect, but so that those mistakes could be more thoroughly and rapidly overcome -- might well doom the president politically. But I doubt there's any question they'd be in the best interests of the country.

This president seems either disinclined to or unable to do more than preside over a drift into disaster while putting on a game face.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/

[bluedeminredstate]

1. Beautiful!

Fuckin' A Josh!! Makes me weepy just thinking of a true statesman, William Jefferson Clinton.

[paulk]

2. What's worse is that Bush tries to present his inflexibility

as a virtue.

"Ignorance is strength"

[Sparkly]

3. Exactly why this "resolve" and "unwavering" and "steady" stuff is BS

It's so absurd that the RNC is running Chimp on a campaign about being "steady" -- it's another word for "obstinate!" The rigidity to keep screwing up rather than change position is dangerous -- and when forced to change position, it's done weakly and in ways designed for damage control, not effective policy.

[leftchick]

6. well he is steady....

steadily BAD... ;-)

[nostamj]

7. what's that saying about 'reeds bending

with the wind' while trees fall?

[Sparkly]

9. Yeah, and what do shrubs do?

They just sit there looking stupid, I guess.

[nostamj]

10. well, sometimes

they are purely 'ornamental'

[Brotherjohn]

4. In JM's next post, he points out that Ahmed Chalabi has the documents...

...which allegedly implicate numerous nations, leaders, etc. in the Food for Oil bribery scandal. He is "in charge" of the investigation and refuses to turn any relevant documents over to the U.N. or anyone else.

It seems when any really fishy story comes out of Iraq these days based on documents which have been discovered in Iraq, the IGC is behind them, and they never pan out. Remember the intercepted CD from Al Zarqawi to Al Qaeda, asking for help in Iraq? I have yet to hear the final word on that "document". The U.S. DOD couldn't vouch for its authenticity, although media reports often cited it as fact. Remember the documents implicating a resigned British politician (can't remember his name)? They were proven to be fake. Then there was the ridiculous "memo" from Iraq's Secret Service head to Saddam, which (in only two paragraphs, no less) linked Saddam, Iraq, Mohammed Atta, 9-11, Syria, Libya, Al Qaeda and uranium from Africa.

There were more. I just can't remember them now.

Will we never learn?

[AZCat]

5. Maybe he's just channeling Joseph McCarthy...

and his list of communists within the State Dept.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

8. The comments from Kevin Drum were right on

we have a dysfunctional CEO President.

[krkaufman]

11. direct link

Here's a direct link to this entry from Josh, dated "May 03, 2004 -- 04:52 PM EDT" (in case add'l posts from Josh make the ref'd post harder to find)...

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_05_02.php#002906