The Political Chase

Cheney Back on the Job

Dick Cheney has returned to work and is pleased to be reunited with his "Top Secret" rubber stamp.

Must Read - Joe Klein and Time Mag’s Malpractice

Joe Klein

(Update below)

Joe Klein and Time magazine published an article last week on the pending FISA legislation that has ultimately turned out to be one of the most irresponsible, deceitful, inaccurate, and despicable cases of so-called reporting in generations. This is must reading for anybody, but if you are one of the more than 4 million print subscribers to Time or countless others that read the periodical online, this is indeed must-read information, because readers havebeen grossly lied to.

Klein’s November 21 article, “The Tone-Deaf Democrats”, has so many falsehoods and libelous statements about the Democrats and their proposed bill for FISA revisions, that it should have been titled “How Many Lies and Slander Can I Cram into an 823-word Article.” It is so incredibly bad, Rush Limbaugh would have probably been embarrassed to have his name on the byline.

In fact, Klein and Time’s gross malpractice of journalism is so bad, The Center for Citizen Media, which is affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University Law School labeled

Klein’s behavior “Shameful ‘Journalism’,” and [contended] that the “flagrantly inaccurate and misguided Time magazine column by Joe Klein” is “[o]ne of the most amazing episodes in modern American journalism.” They concluded: Klein’s “work in this case may become Exhibit A for what’s wrong with the craft today.”

Although this does not come remotely close to capturing all that is wrong with the article or the institution of Time, much of the controversy begins with this excerpt.

Unfortunately, Speaker Nancy Pelosi quashed the House Intelligence Committee’s bipartisan effort and supported a Democratic bill that — Limbaugh is salivating — would require the surveillance of every foreign-terrorist target’s calls to be approved by the FISA court, an institution founded to protect the rights of U.S. citizens only. In the lethal shorthand of political advertising, it would give terrorists the same legal protections as Americans. That is well beyond stupid.

Often times an author that has gone rogue bears most of the responsibility for a bad article or two, but that is not the case presented here. The institution of Time and Joe Klein are guilty of duplicity.

Glenn Greenwald has skillfully and accurately captured the fraudulent, propaganda that Klein is reporting as well as Time willfully and knowingly publishing material that seems more fitting to a Karl Rove political playbook.

As of now, Glenn has four separate pieces on the matter. If time is an issue, try beginning with his second post, “Time magazine’s FISA fiasco…” and continue. Otherwise, these are the relevant posts in chronological order.

1. Joe Klein: Both factually false and stuck in the 1980s
2. Time magazine’s FISA fiasco shows how Beltway reporters mislead the country
3. Time magazine lavishly rewards journalistic malpractice
4. Joe Klein digs Time’s hole deeper still

Update: Jane Hamsher at FDL has been chasing the Joe Klein, Time issue as relentlessly as Glenn Greenwald has. She has been trying to contact the Time editor responsible for Klein’s column and was finally successful.

I’ve spent all morning on the phone trying to figure out who the editor at Time Magazine was on Joe Klein’s FISA column (the one Klein has now written about five times, fully admitting he never read the original bill). I finally confirmed that the editor was Priscilla Painton, and called her and identified myself. I asked her what the editing process was, and how a piece with so many errors made it into print.

Her response?

“That assumes that there are errors,” she said. And hung up on me.

Wrong answer and approach. Way wrong answer. The woman just stirred the pot more.

Jane has more "stuff"here on the Time GOP water-carriers and stenographers, including the names of multiple editors and their phone numbers (including Klein’s direct editor). You can start here.

If Bill Clinton did it, it had to be wrong

Mr. Bush, the self-proclaimed Uniter, has turned his focus to Middle Eastern diplomacy and is moving full speed ahead in an effort to do something, anything that may change his legacy from being totally void of any achievement (Taking more vacation than any other president does not count.) I hope I am proven wrong, but due to his obsessive, compulsive, recalcitrant nature, Mr. Bush has already postured himself for yet another failure.

From the first day George Bush became the 43rd President of the United States, he has carried out flawlessly a policy that has a greater priority than any other throughout his presidency. Iraq, terrorizing the nation with perpetual fear-mongering, declaring all Democrats terrorists, outing CIA agents. Whatever it may be, none of them exceed Executive Order No. 1 - If Bill Clinton did it, it had to be wrong. Executive Order No. 2 - Whatever Bill Clinton did, do the opposite.

So, Mr. Bush trots off as the Masterhood Middle East Peace Mediator. Excalibur in hand, adorned in Clinton-legacy-repellant armor,and a take-advice-from-no-one shield. Indeed, the only man in the world capable of laying to rest 1,300-year-old Middle Eastern conflicts. That is of course with the provision that his anti-Clinton armor retains its effectiveness.

With eyes shifting from side to side, the Mediator skillfully offers a nudge.

It might seem, after nearly seven years of deliberate detachment from Arab-Israeli peace negotiations, that President Bush has plunged into Middle Eastern diplomacy with Clintonesque energy.

He met with the Israel and Palestinian leaders at the White House on Monday and will do so again on Wednesday. On Tuesday, he will meet them at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., along with delegations from 46 countries and international organizations (including, after an arm-twisting by phone last week, Saudi Arabia).

In fact, Mr. Bush and his aides still deplore what they view as President Clinton’s disastrously hands-on involvement in the peace process in 2000. And they insist that Mr. Bush does not intend to negotiate personally the two-state peace he has pronounced as his vision, just as they insist that this is not an 11th-hour effort to forge a legacy other than the one left by the Iraq war.

It is not necessary to document George Bush’s patent failure in foreign policy. Instead, I’ll just handle it this way. Tell me something he has achieved that did not result in catastrophic consequences, and we’ll go from there.

In almost seven years as President, Mr. Bush has been to the Middle East only four times. Two trips were to Iraq, and both of those were photo-op’s. The first trip he served turkey to a few of the troops. On another trip in September 2007, he staged a peaceful photo-op within the safety of a U.S. base many miles away from Baghdad, presenting the facade of how safe Iraq was.

Sep. 3, 2007 - President Bush makes brief stop in Iraq on way to Australia

I suppose the president is far better off by simply adhering to the orders advice of Mr. Cheney, who has obviously demonstrated considerably more successes than Bill Clinton ever imagined.

Money statement of the day?

“The United States cannot impose our vision,” Mr. Bush told the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, in the Oval Office on Monday, before saying, and sounding, again, Clintonesque, “but we can help facilitate.”

Cheney’s Heart Flutters

I’m just doing some late-night catchup, therefore this is a tad dated, but for the record….

Veep Dick Cheney suffered an irregular heart rythim yesterday. But not to worry. A simple dose of electric shock set him straight.

Doctors at George Washington University Hospital gave him an electrical shock to restore the heart’s normal rhythm.

Mr Cheney, who has a history of heart conditions, spent two and a half hours there after seeking treatment for “a lingering cough from a cold”.

I know this is an off-limits question, but unfortunately it is reasonably relevant.

Would the electric shock Cheney received be properly categorized as a sufficient to”shock his conscious?”

I can see my inbox filling up as I write this, but if we knew the answer, maybe it could help us better understand a few things. We’ve all seen the procedure done on TV a bazillion times, and there are countless people that have been zapped back to the land of the living.

So is it an excruciating experience or just another walk in the park? Any M.D.’s or others with that can ameliorate my ignorance?

Obama - Tough Talk on Pillow Talk

The fight between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton may not go the full 15 rounds with direct punches like this.

"I think the fact of the matter is that Sen. Clinton is claiming basically the entire eight years of the Clinton presidency as her own, except for the stuff that didn’t work out, in which case she says she has nothing to do with it," Obama said, and added, referring to his relationship with his wife, Michelle, "There is no doubt that Bill Clinton had faith in her and consulted with her on issues, in the same way that I would consult with Michelle, if there were issues," Obama said. "On the other hand, I don’t think Michelle would claim that she is the best qualified person to be a United States Senator by virtue of me talking to her on occasion about the work I’ve done."

Ouch!

Operation Iraq Forever

President Bush began his march into Iraq with Operation Iraqi Freedom and will leave the White House, and the next president with Operation Iraq Forever. Bush, Iraq Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, and other Iraqi “officials” signed an agreement today that establishes long-term “common principles to frame [Iraq and the U.S.] future relationship.” The agreement is formally referred to as the U.S.-Iraq Declaration of Principles for Friendship and Cooperation.

George and Nuri, Best Friends Forever

From the White House Fact Sheet (pdf - see Ed. Note below) (Emphasis in original)

• Iraq’s leaders have asked for an enduring relationship with America, and we seek an enduring relationship with a democratic Iraq. We are ready to build that relationship in a sustainable way that protects our mutual interests, promotes regional stability, and requires fewer Coalition forces.
• In response, this Declaration is the first step in a three-step process that will normalize U.S.-Iraqi relations in a way which is consistent with Iraq’s sovereignty and will help Iraq regain its rightful status in the international community – something both we and the Iraqis seek. The second step is the renewal of the Multinational Force-Iraq’s Chapter VII United Nations mandate for a final year, followed by the third step, the negotiation of the detailed arrangements that will codify our bilateral relationship after the Chapter VII mandate expires.

Quite conveniently, it provides a three-step process of hugs and kisses that includes extending the UN Chapter VII resolution, which is “binding under international law” and gives the MNFI (viz. U.S.) legal authorization to “take all necessary measures to preserve peace and security”. That is a very wide-open dangerous authorization.

Furthermore, a one-year extension equates to December 31, 2008, which, of course gives Mr. Bush the opportunity to extend it again before he heads to Crawford.

President Bush, Malaki, and the rest of their Iraqi buddies developed the agreement, which falls just short of a treaty, in a meeting on August 26, 2007. Commenting on the agreement after the meeting the Decider said,

Iraq’s leaders “understand that their success will require U.S. political, economic, and security engagement that extends beyond my presidency. These Iraqi leaders have asked for an enduring relationship with America.

This is just great news. George Bush has just assured the next president, and quite likely many more, will be stuck with the war in Iraq and protecting Maliki’s position as Prime Minister developing Iraq’s budget in perpetuity. Presidential candidate responses?

Maliki: Butt Out of My Country’s Politics

Moreover, Mr. Bush’s declaration that the Iraqi leaders asked for this BFF agreement is in stark contrast with remarks Maliki made the day the Best Friends Forever met to form this agreement. In no uncertain terms, Maliki told members of the U.S. Senate to butt out of his country’s politics.

“There are American officials who consider Iraq as if it were one of their villages, for example Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin,” al-Maliki told reporters in Baghdad. “This is severe interference in our domestic affairs.”

“Carl Levin and Hillary Clinton are from the Democratic Party and they must demonstrate democracy,” al-Maliki said. “I ask them to come to their senses and to talk in a respectful way about Iraq.”

Bush Ensures His Corporate BFF’s Presence

Could there be any doubt that Mr. Bush was ensuring the best interests of companies such as Haliburton and Blackwater? In September the Decider said “the Iraqi leaders understand their success will require U.S. political, economic, and security engagement…we are ready to begin building that relationship – in a way that protects our interests in the region”

From the Fact Sheet (emphasis in original):

Economic: Both countries have agreed to support the development of Iraqi economic institutions and further integration into international financial institutions, to encourage all parties to abide by their commitments made in the International Compact with Iraq, to assist Iraq in its efforts to recover illegally exported funds and properties and to secure debt relief, and to encourage the flow of foreign investments to Iraq.

(Ed. Note: I am no longer linking directly to White House documents. Instead, I am duplicating the documents and storing them as PDF documents. The Bush administration will most likely obliterate the WH web site as they walk out the door in 2009. A link to the original source will be in the PDF documents, for as long as it continues to operate.)