What Did Bush Tell Gonzales and Why Isn’t Congress Obeying the Constitution?

If the report also raised unanswered questions about possible misconduct by other senior administration officials, or even the president, that could lead to the appointment of a special prosecutor. Some consider this unlikely; Attorney General Mike Mukasey has said that he is not an advocate of special prosecutors, and his critics in Congress have said that Mukasey tends to use his position for the political benefit of the White House. But in the hands of congressional Democrats, a public report accusing Gonzales and other administration officials of misconduct could make it difficult for Mukasey to resist their calls for the appointment of a special prosecutor.

What Did Bush Tell Gonzales?

Debate Live Blog

I thought that overall Obama had the better answers and plans but McCain was able to make him say “John was right” and Obama allowed McCain to make unanswered attacks.  Even if they were BS, his namedropping and war stories made him seem more capable than the actual result of his actions.  Issues like the Veterans piece, where McCain just asserted falsehoods, went unchallenged and could leave Obama sounding unarmed to an uninformed observer.  I would have liked to see a little more cut-throatedness from Obama and maybe that would have slowed some of McCain’s attacks.

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9:35 On Veterans – McCain just lies about his (and our) support.  Obama lets him get away with that one too.  Talks about his Kenyan father’s letters to come to the US.  Didn’t correct McCain.  McCain gets in another shot about Vets and closes with his experiences as a POW.

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9:25:  Lehrer tries to get to the last question – McCain can’t not interrupt and Obama tries to correct him but is talked over.  Is there a chance of another 9-11 attack?  McCain: less chance than before.  Cites the 9-11 commission and Lieberman and brags about the 40 recommendations passed so far.  Talks about torture and wire-tapping without talking about his real record.  Breaks own logic on reorganization of government and size.  How much pander can you put in one answer – securing the borders?  Obama – gets on nuke proliferation and hits missile defense while caving in to the failed premise of it.  Let’s McCain slide away on his record.  Finishes on world relations as a counter-terrorism tool.  Good answer but weak politics.  McCain makes false claims for SDI and hits Obama on Iraq.  Spits out VFF talking points.  Obama lets McCain accord him too many false claims and talk down to him but reminds us about the still-free Osama and all of our Chinese debt. 

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9:10 On Russia:  Obama – gets to go first again and sounds sanely aggressive.  Can he and McCain avoid a testosterone competition?  I doubt it.  McCain tries to talk down to Obama, calling him naive, but avoiding the threats that might logically follow his assertions.  Talks about Putin and the KGB but forgets that it was his president empowering him.  Sagely discusses the piplelines and Ukraine.  Neglects to mention his paid lobbyist for Georgia.  Neither mentions Saakashvili’s overreach but Obama looks back a bit.

 

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9:00 Lehrer – what is the threat from Iran?  McCain – existential threat to Israel and we can’t allow them to get nuclear weapons.  Talks about the League of Democracy proposal and wants to isolate Russia to affect Iranian influence.  Says a lot of gobbledy-gook about “Special Groups: and “Republican Guard”.  Obama engages his warlike side but focuses multi-lateral politics – says that we should use “tough, direct diplomacy.”  McCain, who can’t spit out the names, tries to demonize Obama for talking with other leaders.  Mischaracterizes Iran and so, Obama’s position.  Obama uses McCain’s advisor’s advice to support discussions with other leaders.  Reminds us that Bush ended up following his advice and when he didn’t - North Korea cranked up the nukes.  Don’t know if it’s a great strategy for Obama to cite the Bush administration as proof of his good judgment.  McCain sounds very alarmist about everything he says but throws in a lot of anecdotes.

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McCain continues to put all his eggs in the Petraeus basket and hits Obama for discussing strikes in the tribal areas.  Obama corrects him and hits McCain for his support of Musharraf.  They fight about the “bomb, bomb, Iran song” McCain details his past history of support for wars and his record. McCain goes into his talking points – they trade names on bracelets and mother’s points of view.  Lehrer has lost control as they both campaign.   McCain brags about his visits to theater, then says that his favorite general predicts defeat.

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8:50  Obama states his plan for Afghanistan clearly.  McCain is silent while Obama seems to make sense.  No mention of the shootings over the last day or two.  McCain opens his rebuttal by admitting mistakes after the mujahadeen kicked the Russians out.  Jumps all over Obama for saying his plans to kill UBL.  McCain mistakes the new Pakistan president’s name and says that we need cooperation of Paki tribes.

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8:46:  Lehrer will interrupt Obama but not McCain.  McCain swaps a war story about visiting Iraq for a real answer about strategy.  Tries to blame Obama for votes and colors Iraq with a black and white brush.  Is McCain running for president or is running to let Petraeus run the country.  Obama insists on a rebuttal and catches himself at a precipice.  McCain continues to talk and interrupt. 

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8:40  Obama allows McCain to claim the maverick label and doesn’t point out that McCain has reversed almost every position that he mentioned (on torture, spending, growth, immigration)  McCain takes credit for improving the situation in Iraq and empowering Petreaus.  Obama points out that he opposed the war from the start.  Hones in on the still-free Osama, blood and treasure gone while Al-Quaeda still thrives.  Hits on the budget.  Lesson learned – use military wisely.  McCain says don’t rehash the past then rehashes the past by trying to hang a loss on Obama’s neck.  Obama gets off a line or two and finally shuts up McCain for a moment.  McCain starts telling war stories about BS in Iraq. 

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8:30:  Lehrer tries to push them off the talking points – neither has answered. McCain proposes a spending freeze and brings up drilling, nuclear energy.  Obama fesses up to changing the budget and gives a history lesson.  Then he goes off on values and McCain’s tax cuts.  McCain seems to spit out Club for Growth talking points at random – blaming government spending and debt for the current economic crisis.  Hits government agencies for waste.  Obama finally jumps in – blames McCain for agreeing with Bush. 

———————————————————————————-  8:27:  How to pay for plan / tax breaks:  Obama details multi-step plan.  Makes sense but seems to be a pattern for him – laying out these multi-step plans for each question.  McCain totally doesn’t answer the question and attacks Obama’s record.  Talks about cost-plus contracts and the LCS – and brags about the tanker deal that he killed.  Makes good points but neither fess up to how to plan for their plans.  Lehrer pushes but Obama doesn’t want to give anything up – McCain wisely stays silent. 

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  McCain details his unpayable-for tax cuts without addressing Lehrer’s question about how to pay for them.  Opens the door for Obama’s attack who clearly points out that McCain’s health care “break” is really a fresh tax on health care benefits. McCain interrupts and talks about “fair” taxes and not.  Lehrer tries to cut them off and McCain returns to lowering taxes.  Obama lets him talk but doesn’t take the hard and fast shot.  Finally makes the point that McCain will give the biggest breaks to oil companies.

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McCain has learned the word “Mainstreet” as Lehrer works to get the two to engage each other.  Goes on about the worker, forgetting that there are very few left and that worker productivity has little to do with the current financial crisis.  Fesses up to the growth of government and reminds the country that it was his party addicted to earmarks and the growth of the government.  Attacks Obama’s earmarks.  Threatens to veto all bills with earmarks, forgetting the small price they actually occupy in the budget. McCain doesn’t mention the high percentage of earmarks for Alaska or cover a significant amount of savings in the budget.

Obama hits back with McCains’ giant tax cuts and says that (oh well – he says a bunch of detailed crap about tax cuts and CEO pay or home computers – I’m starting to snooze.)  McCain hits back with Obama’s earmarks and disregards the totals involved.  Lehrer puts McCain back on track with how to pay for tax cuts.

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We’re watching in the living room – friends are set up to take shots at “change” and “POW”, though my wife suggested “George Bush” for Barrack.  Lehrer gets to business quickly and quietly and charges the audience to stay silent.  He adds in the “global economic crisis” to his legitimate topics. 

First shot to Obama with two minutes to speak.  Obama makes a quick intro, highlights the absence of concern for “main street” and details a plan in quick summary.  McCain shoots a get well at Ted Kennedy, missing the fact that he’s already out of the hospital, then shoots out a few slogans and tries to credit the Rs with working to fix the plan they blocked.  Lehrer steps in and asks whether they are for the plan or not.  Obama rehashes the past – McCain “hopes” that he will vote for the plan.  McCain details Eisenhower’s accountability for D-Day and calls for the SEC chairman to quit.

Footshots and Politics

Although I would generally claim to subscribe to much of the erudite Colonel Gentile’s theories of an Army that does Army things (blowing stuff up, destroying enemy equipments, killing or wounding enemy soldiers) it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that some of the most effective weapons in “The Long War” are information operations.  And that we, as a country and with the US Armed Forces as a primary component (wherefore art thou Condi?) often suck at such.  This week we have another prime example.  We blow something up, credible witnesses or actual physical evidence emerges, we stonewall, lie, obfuscate, and finally, admit the truth (and probably over-react with a bunch of trials of lower enlisted people).  Courtesy the English press, our latest:  

In a statement released on Saturday, the commander of Nato forces, General David McKiernan, appeared to back away from previous US accounts. He said: “Following the recent operation in Azizabad, Shindand district, we realise there is a large discrepancy between the number of civilian casualties reported by soldiers and local villagers. I remain responsible to continue to try and account for this disparity in numbers, but above all I want to express our heartfelt sorrow to all families that lost loved ones in this firefight.”

But here is the worse part.  Who got us into this mess?  Wild special forces operators with a low threshold for empathy? An over-worked commander and under-resourced IG pushed into a hurried investigation?  No! It is a disgraced military officer that violated his oath and the trust of the U.S. to violate the Constitution and now makes a living as a partisan attack “analyst.”

The US military said that its findings were corroborated by an independent journalist embedded with the US force. He was named as the Fox News correspondent Oliver North, who came to prominence in the 1980s Iran-Contra affair, when he was an army colonel.

Sources close to one of the investigations said that a video film was shot by Afghan officials the morning after the attack. It corroborates the doctor’s footage but has not been made public. Harrowing video film backs Afghan villagers’ claims of carnage caused by US troops – Times Online

This is so asinine and so totally unnecessary.  It frustrates me that our Armed Forces, and by association, our nation, gets blamed for what probably started out as an honest mistake, or one with mitigating circumstances, because of our failure to admit a easily observable mistake.  The Pentagon pulls this crap all the time and seems to get caught time and time again.  Whether it’s the TOW-II fiasco, body armor requests not being approved, or the massacre at Haditha – what possesses an organization that makes its members carry “values tags” to lie, badly, until caught and proved to all?  It is like some kind of armed and kevlared Family Circus – with dead people.  That’s the footshot.  Let’s not even go to the part about where some officer took the word of a convicted and dishonored liar and put our nation’s credibility on the line.  That’s politics in the ranks and not in a positive way. If we are going to win these kind of information fights then we need to at least figure out what the information is.