The New York Times Speaks Out
The New York Times editorial spoke for many of us today.
First, they noted something unusual that’s about to happen.
On Tuesday, when this page runs the list of people it has endorsed for election, we will include no Republican Congressional candidates for the first time in our memory. Although Times editorials tend to agree with Democrats on national policy, we have proudly and consistently endorsed a long line of moderate Republicans, particularly for the House. Our only political loyalty is to making the two-party system as vital and responsible as possible.
That is why things are different this year.
Then they built their case for why it’s happening and we have to say, it sounds an awful lot like some stump speeches we’ve heard.
<!To begin with, the Republican majority that has run the House — and for the most part, the Senate — during President Bush’s tenure has done a terrible job on the basics. Its tax-cutting-above-all-else has wrecked the budget, hobbled the middle class and endangered the long-term economy. It has refused to face up to global warming and done pathetically little about the country’s dependence on foreign oil.
Republican leaders, particularly in the House, have developed toxic symptoms of an overconfident majority that has been too long in power. They methodically shut the opposition — and even the more moderate members of their own party — out of any role in the legislative process. Their only mission seems to be self-perpetuation.
The current Republican majority managed to achieve that burned-out, brain-dead status in record time, and with a shocking disregard for the most minimal ethical standards. It was bad enough that a party that used to believe in fiscal austerity blew billions on pork-barrel projects. It is worse that many of the most expensive boondoggles were not even directed at their constituents, but at lobbyists who financed their campaigns and high-end lifestyles.
For us, the breaking point came over the Republicans’ attempt to undermine the fundamental checks and balances that have safeguarded American democracy since its inception.[...] But over the past two years, the White House has made it clear that it claims sweeping powers that go well beyond any acceptable limits. Rather than doing their duty to curb these excesses, the Congressional Republicans have dedicated themselves to removing restraints on the president’s ability to do whatever he wants.
Followed by this:
Congress, in particular the House, has failed to ask probing questions about the war in Iraq or hold the president accountable for his catastrophic bungling of the occupation ... allowed Mr. Bush to avoid answering any questions about whether his administration cooked the intelligence on weapons of mass destruction. Then, it quietly agreed to close down the one agency that has been riding herd on crooked and inept American contractors who have botched everything from construction work to the security of weapons.
After the revelations about the abuse, torture and illegal detentions in Abu Ghraib, Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay, Congress shielded the Pentagon from any responsibility for the atrocities its policies allowed to happen. On the eve of the election, and without even a pretense at debate in the House, Congress granted the White House permission to hold hundreds of noncitizens in jail forever, without due process, even though many of them were clearly sent there in error.
And they concluded with this punch:
This election is indeed about George W. Bush — and the Congressional majority’s insistence on protecting him from the consequences of his mistakes and misdeeds. Mr. Bush lost the popular vote in 2000 and proceeded to govern as if he had an enormous mandate. After he actually beat his opponent in 2004, he announced he now had real political capital and intended to spend it. We have seen the results. It is frightening to contemplate the new excesses he could concoct if he woke up next Wednesday and found that his party had maintained its hold on the House and Senate.
We’re glad to see the New York Times finally reaching the same conclusions that John Kerry has been speaking out about here and here and here and here.
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Two important points here.
1) Republicans have been incredibly corrupt and incompetent in their management of the House and it is hard to justify voting for any of them.
That is actually a shame as often we do better with divided government. Of course that only works when it encourages bipartisan cooperation to find solutions, and not in the case of Republicans who try to govern with a narrow majority based from the far right. That was a formula which was doomed to failure. Unfortunately it will be hard to support a divided government in the future when one party has shown it is not capable of governing.
2) Realignment is occurring in the Northeast similar to what occurred in reverse in the South. The Northeast, and much of the Midwest, is becoming as solidly Democratic as the south has been solidly Republican in recent years. The Republicans are risking becoming primarily a regional party of the south and some of the smaller Western states.
This is rich! Cheney says that if he’s subpoenaed he will not appear.
Sounds to me like “Pleading the fifth”.
If he refuses to testify then he should be charged with obstruction of justice.
Here’s the original link:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/11/05/cheney-would-probably-not-appear-if-subpoenaed/
As for other excellent posts today, Kevin Drum has an excellent one on the revisionism of the neocons on display in the current edition of Vanity Fair.
He concludes:
Check out the complete post here.
My husband pulled out and replayed yesterday the recorded speech of Senator Kerry from the Jefferson -Jackson Dinner while I was out doing errants. I came home to an angry, I’m not going to take it any more husband. Mind you, my husband never loses his temper and it takes a lot to get him worked up. He said, “Kerry has it figured out” “Kerry has it right” “what is wrong with those other Democrats?” My husband’s reaction was astounding to me, because he has in the past been supportive in my beliefs in Senator Kerry, but he never expressed so much support on his own in such a passionate- yes, passionate way. But… not only that, he told me he played and listened to the speech, while tending to our back yard, playing it loudly so our Republican neighbours could hear it loud and clear saying they needed to hear Kerry’s own words of support for our troops and they needed to learn the truth about this administration that they still support.
Seems to me, Senator Kerry has a new committed fan.
This is fantastic news! Thanks for posting!
Reaction to the Saddam verdict:
A few suggested that President Bush had timed the verdict to help Republicans in Tuesday’s midterm elections — an allegation the U.S. has denied.
“Bush can offer this as a gift to Republicans, who back such executions,” said Hazem Saghieh, a Lebanese columnist with the London-based newspaper Al Hayat.
“But getting rid of Saddam’s body will not rid the world of Saddamism as a culture. And it won’t make up for the misery on Iraq’s streets,” Saghieh added.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061105/ap_on_re_mi_ea/saddam_verdict_middle_east_2
Tia,
That’s just the start. If Democrats use committee chairmanships to investigate we can count on the White House to stonewall. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the Supreme Court is called upon to resolve disputes between the executive and legislative branches.
While many on the Supreme Court believe in more power for the Executive branch than I’d like, there is probably a limit to how far the majority would go. Some conservatives on the court might back Bush regardless, but others will have some reluctance towards throwing out the Constitution to protect Bush and Cheney.
The next two years should be very interesting.
When hell freezes over, that is when the T.V. media and other major news outlets will admit that John Kerry was right all along. It took this country less than two years to recognize that Bushco could not be trusted. So, I expect that by March 2007, the people will be leading the way towards Americans accepting John Kerry and the message he delivered after the last Presidential election (http://www.johnkerry.com/video/flash/111904_web_msg.html).
Editorials such as the Times’ reflects not only the Editorial Board’s opinions, but also many other’s opinions. This country is hungering for a different, more intelligent and bipartisan approach to its problems. John Kerry offers that approach for Americans. I hope that after this election, no matter the outcome, Democrats will publicly muster enough courage to thank John Kerry for his persistence, leadership and contributions to the campaign. I also hope that after this election, we can help Senator Kerry get his message to the people and past a media that has behaved irresponsibly when “reporting” about him.
Here is a post from a kos diary about the NYT’s editorial. This post contains editorial snips from papers around the country.
http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2006/11/5/111613/055/59#59
Posted by wisteria | November 5, 2006 3:59 PM
My congratulations to your husband! The thought of his playing Kerry’s Jefferson-Jackson speech loudly, in the back yard, near your Republican neighbors, kept me grinning for most of the day. Good job, both of you!
Something to think about re the last week is that JK has played the GOP right into his hand.
Oncall
JK has not been treated fairly by the MSM, that’s a given, but he has gotten a considerable about of play in the media in recent months, more than many other Dems, and some of what he’s gotten has been fair. As someone who has tracked JK in the media since the election and made a point of covering nearly everything he’s done, I’ve had no lack of stuff to write about - over 1200 JK posts—of which Ron made a large contribution to.
I do agree, Dems will come forward and thank JK when all is said and done.
The NYTimes editorial makes some very important points. We can disagree as Democrats with our Republican friends, but we must agree that there are certain fundamental principles that keep this country a democracy and not a totalitarian state.
One principle is that every person is treated equally by the law, not even the President is above the law. However, this President doesn’t feel that the law applies to him. Even if the Congress writes laws to dictate his actions when pursuing wiretaps, he ignored the law and arrogantly proclaimed that he would continue to do so. Congress has responded by changing the law to facilitate his misbehavior.
The Constitution clearly delineates the relationship between Congress and the Executive. Congress makes the laws and the President can sign or veto them. However, this President has disregarded Congress, signing laws and then writing ‘signing statements’ that often contradict the laws themselves.
This President and his Congressional Republican clones have passed laws suspending Habeas Corpus, allowing the President to declare any individual, even citizens, “enemy combatants” and detain them and even sentence them to death without a day in court.
Republicans and Democrats may disagree about what Government spends its revenues on, but never before has there been a President who appears intent on undermining our own government by spending recklessly while cutting taxes especially for the wealthy. This bankrupting effect is deplorable yet consistent with the Grover Norquist philosophy of shrinking government down to the size it can be drowned in a bathtub. Our children, and our children’s children shall be paying the bills for this profligate Administration that hates itself.
Never before has there been so outrageous a level of corruption and selling-out as has been accomplished by this President. Pushing through a drug bill for Seniors, this President and his Republican croneys passed the Medicare Part D law, which instead of REQUIRING negotiation with drug companies for lower prices, as is done in the Veterans Administration for veterans, this Congress and President passed a law PROHIBITING negotiations that would get the best price for seniors.
This election is much more than a popularity contest. This election is about the future of the Republic. If there are no changes, we shall soon see less evidence of free elections, freedom of press, and freedom of religion. All of these institutions are under attack today.
Senator Kerry has stood for all of these principles and more. It is imperative that we vote and work to elect candidates that reflect our American values!
Robert Freedland
John Kerry for President 2008
The NY Times editorial is great, but John Kerry really should be going after Bush in a big way. It is absurd for Bush to be attacking Kerry. It was Bush as “Commander-in-chief” who encouraged his supporters in 2004 to turn the sacrifices and bravery of those who risked their lives in Vietnam and elsewhere into political fodder. And encouraged it again in 2006 when Murtha voiced his disagreement. Where does it say that if you are given a medal for bravery, it’s only good as long as you vote Republican? Where does it say that the Pentagon’s review of medal citations is worthless and open to challenge by political hacks. Only when the Commander-in-chief stabs our soldiers in the back can this happen. There was a lot of damage done to our soldiers in 2004 and the President has never accepted responsibility for that as well as anything else. He’s done tremendous damage to our military and our veterans through duplicity, dishonesty and cowardice. Kerry should be taking him to the woodshed right now.
John,
I am hoping he will do so after Tuesday if not Wednesday.
Wisteria:
I know the feeling. I play JK speeches on my mp3 player all the time, esp. when I’m working around the house. My favorite was when I was residing my house while my wife was having a garage sale and playing it on a portable stereo. You wouldn’t believe the people who would come up during “Disent” and say “who’s that guy?”. I’d say JK, and they’d say “Really?” and eventually say they’d say “I wish they would have voted for him in ‘04.”
Take that MSM….....
I had a great day helping out with GOTV efforts here in Virginia. I was phonebanking when suddenly we were all ushered outside for an impromptu rally with Governor Kaine and our Congressional candidate Phil Kellam. They had inspiring words, and it was just a wonderful surprise to be treated to!
Most relevant said was that Virginia Beach, once written off as hopelessly red, turned blue for the governor’s race last year, and our organization is very good to hopefully unseat rubber stamper Thelma Drake and help put Jim Webb over the top in Virginia. Only time will tell, but it feels good to be a part of this effort.
This military policy has been so totally mismanaged and now Rumsfeld (whom Bush has pledged to keep until 2009) wants to use more reserves. If ever there is an opportunity for John Kerry to bounce back from last weeks Buscho driven smear job - this is it
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15555730/
Beachmom is right the energy here is boiling blue. I missed out on the Governor today, I’m always at the wrong place at wrong time.
I was over at the Webb office getting my paperwork for checking the voting machines on Tuesday, which Beachmom will also be doing. It was bustling, people on the phone, literature being prepared and an excellent volunteer coordinating the poll watchers, I give her an A+ she knew all the answers to my questions, and I had a lot of them. I will be an observer inside the polls and I am going to keep a very watchful eye, first they thought we could use video cameras but then they got the word that we could not, but just in case that changes I am going to have my video camera in my car. We also will have lawyers on the ground and if any problems pop up they well be there .
While I was there they got word of dirty tricks being pulled by the republicans , they are running scared.
So if anyone is free to make calls on Tuesday to GOTV get in touch
http://pol.moveon.org/phone/volunteer/fp.html?rc=JK , they will be calling in all the tight districts around the country and maybe you will end up giving our candidates here in Virginia a helping hand.
Hi, I posted this articke, “Why Kerry was Right” on OpEd.com: http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_ruth_lop_061103_why_kerry_was_right.htm
Kerry was - inadvertently - right. His “joke” may have been mangled; but there was truth in what he said. And what he said is something the GOP doesn’t want Americans to think about: who is joining today’s military? Who isn’t? And why?
The Bush Administration has claimed a doctrine of infallibility regarding our troops. They can do whatever they want to the troops; send them into unnecessary wars, use them for photo ops, or as fodder for political attacks, blame them for Iraq, even manufacture fake war stories, as they did with Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman. And always to benefit the GOP’s political needs, never to benefit the troops.
They also think the troops should not be made up of them or their children. Today’s GOP leadership is overwhelmingly filled with people who have made their careers feeding at the public trough but who have never served in the military.
They don’t want attention drawn to this, especially right before this election, when they are mired in scandals, corruption and the damage inflicted by the worst President in modern history. Because the truth is this: the Bush Administration’s treatment of our troops is not much better than their treatment of Katrina victims.
They have deliberately exploited certain segments of our society to fill the ranks of our ground forces. Bush’s vaunted “Leave No Child Behind” program actually requires public schools to give students’ personal information to military recruiters or the schools won’t get their Federal funding. “Leave No Child Behind” should more accurately be called, “No bodies, No bucks”.
Recruiters are trained to focus on those most likely be receptive to offers of financial and educational assistance; in other words, poor students from poor schools.
Many of these young people join the military with unrealistic and uneducated expectations. They are driven by many factors: lack of opportunity, poverty, ignorance, jingoistic propaganda, thrill-seeking and, yes, honest patriotism. These are largely unworldly, undereducated kids. Recruiters are trained to take advantage of this with slick salesmanship and not-to-be-kept promises.
Are these kids really prepared for extended and repeated tours in the quagmire Iraq has become? The answer to that is in the increased rate of suicides, PTSD, desertions, assaults, murders, rape, divorce, domestic violence, and substance abuse among our troops.
Demand for replacement bodies to fill the ranks of our ground forces is such that recruiters have been caught falsifying enlistment forms to meet the quotas they deny having, even though enlistment standards have been lowered, and those who once couldn’t enlist for reasons including felony convictions and the inability to pass minimal educational standards can now sign up.
And, for the first time in the history of our military, there is evidence that gang members are joining. Gang sign graffiti has shown up in Iraq, as well as other military bases. They are said to be joining to get tactical and weapons training which they then bring back to their street wars here at home.
If our ground forces are being increasingly filled with kids who are disproportionately from the lowest economic classes, poorly educated, barely literate, felons, and/or gang members, what kind of military will we have? The Best and the Brightest or the Dregs and the Drop-outs?
Meanwhile, religious schools, and expensive private schools - the kind of schools Congress and the Republican donor base send their children to - are exempt from having their students preyed upon by quota-driven military recruiters. Their kids are going to college, not war.
But if the terrorist threat isn’t serious enough to compel the children of the Bush Administration and his Republican Congress to the defense of their country, why is anyone else’s child dying for it?
That’s why Kerry’s gaffe struck such a nerve with the GOP. They don’t want us to look at the fact that their kids are safe at home, enjoying the good life, partying on campus, in spite of mushroom cloud threats, Dick Cheney, and “fight them there so we don’t have to fight them here” rhetoric.
Bush and the Republicans know that the unnecessary war they have hyped is fought by other people’s children, not theirs. They know they have cut funding for essentials our troops need while ensuring their children will have elite educations, cushy jobs and tax free inheritances. They know that if they can’t sell military service to the poor with apocalyptic threats of imminent terror attacks, false patriotism and enticements of a better life in exchange for military service, we will have no military at all - without a draft.
They know all this, and they don’t want America talking about it.
Kerry didn’t insult the troops. He just came a little too close to the unspoken reality of today’s military; who’s joining - and who isn’t.
In case you did not see it, great NYT editorial by Krugman http://select.nytimes.com/2006/11/06/opinion/06krugman.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1162781980-HMwP9Hyi2bWgNWR8AvsBsw&pagewanted=print
What Robert Freedland wrote above.
http://blog.johnkerry.com/2006/11/the_new_york_times_speaks_out.html#comment-4239
Irina is certainly right about the power of Mr. Krugman’s editorial, and I appreciate her posting the link in a manner that makes it accessible to all of us. Here are some choice excerpts from the piece she pointed us to, called “Limiting The Damage”:
and truer words were never printed,
Otter
BTW, activist blogger oncall posted an extremely useful link this morning over on the Democracy Cell Project blog.
The link is to a list posted by Timroff over on the Daily Kos site that includes more email contact info for more media outlets than you can shake a virtual stick at:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/6/15/34322/4810
As oncall pointed out in his message to the DCP community, we can use this list to let the MSM know we’re aware of all the elephantine dirty tricks that are being played with this election… and, most significantly, to make the Republicans regret what they have done.
and they have surely done a lot to be made regretful for this time,
Otter
Kathleen Turner weighs in for PFAW—
===========================
A message from
Kathleen Turner
For every dollar you contribute to PFAW today, I’m committed, along with several of my colleagues, to provide a matching dollar.
—Kathleen Turner
Tomorrow we vote. And it’s about more than who wins what races – it’s about what we stand for. I, for one, will be voting to stand for our American rights and freedoms.
But I’m doing more than that, and I hope you will too. I’m pledging my support in these last crucial hours to People For the American Way’s efforts to get out the vote and support candidates and initiatives that safeguard the principles of our Constitution.
For every dollar you contribute to PFAW today, I’m committed, along with several of my colleagues, to provide a matching dollar. Your $25 will become $50 in these final hours. Your $50 will become $100 to stop right-wing attempts to take away our civil liberties and help fight anti-gay ballot initiatives. Your $250 will become $500 to help get out the progressive vote.
[snip]
Thank you for joining me in this important effort. And, please get to the polls early tomorrow and do everything you can to encourage your friends and family to vote!
Kathleen Turner
On behalf of People For the American Way
Dear Mr. Kerry,
The recent fracas over your clearly misinterpreted comments has given me cause for tremendous concern regarding the fate of this great country we call America.
On the eve of such an important election in the recent history of the United States, I find myself wondering whether the American people are ready to do what is necessary to protect their democracy and their constitution. At the same time I find myself aghast that we are instead being told that the most important issues facing us are gay marriage, abortion, and illegal aliens.
It seems to me that the real issues in this election are those that our government has yet to acknowledge and is unwilling to discuss. First and foremost, this country we all love and for which our ancestors fought so bravely is no longer the country it was intended to be. It seems to me that we have allowed ourselves to be manipulated and divided by those who seek their own advancement and their own gain by ensuring that we remain divided.
I wonder if the American people recall the true accomplishments of the Republicans in Washington (who wear the guise of righteous protectors and guardians of freedom) and what they have done to the American people in recent times:
-Removed the dividing line between church and state in a country that was intended from inception to be a secular nation whose citizens would be free to live on whatever terms they desired.
-Trampled on basic freedoms that are the birthright of this nation and its people, like freedom of speech without interference by government, and have labeled as “un-American"or “traitor” anyone who does not ascribe to their ideology.
-Stolen elections and corrupted the political process with fraudulent and disgracefully unethical tactics without the slightest regard for the dignity of the voters who gave them the mandate to hold political office. More of this we may yet be facing come November 7th.
-Colluded with a corrupt energy industry (oil, gas and electricity) to carry out the greatest and most criminal act of profiteering and gouging ever committed against the American people, in the most nauseatingly choreographed fashion imaginable.
-Ensured that decent hard-working American people cannot have access to cheaper drugs and medicines because it is more important that they keep their friends in pharmaceutical companies getting richer.
-Abandoned hundreds of thousands of poor (mainly black) Americans to fend for themselves after the worst natural disaster in this country’s history. A fact that remains true to this day, over a year after the event itself.
-Protected its own morally and financially corrupt friends and politicians in the face of the most damning and indefensible accusations to retain their hold on the country’s wealth and resources.
-Placed this country in debt to China to the tune of trillions of dollars, a debt that our children and grandchildren will have to pay, instead of investing those trillions in their futures.
-Reduced the standing of America in the world from that of the sole super-power to a laughing stock, where the word American has become synonymous with excess, laziness, ignorance and stupidity. That is a fact.
-Wasted the precious resources of this great country (some $400 billion to date) on a war that was based on lies and manufactured intelligence that has cost the lives of close to 3,000 US service people and hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi citizens.
-Lied and misrepresented to Americans the threat of a country in Iraq who had done nothing to present any immediate danger to us, while ignoring others like Iran and North Korea who patently and obviously desire our downfall and who are a far greater threat to stability and peace in the world today.
-Ignored Osama Bin Laden, the greatest terrorist threat this country has ever faced and the confessed perpetrator of 911, who to this day (despite a debilitating illness) continues to live and thrive in the world when he should have been brought to justice long before now.
It seems to me that these issues, among others I could have mentioned, are the real truth of what the election on November 7th truly represents: an opportunity for Americans to restore order and balance to their poisoned democracy and win back their freedom from a corrupt government.
What this election is patently about….more than any wedge issue….is justice for the American people. To the American people I say this: Your future is now in your own hands.
Sincerely,
F A
Re John Kerry’s comments about education and Iraq. I only heard the “brief” comments but my understanding was he pointed out something most parents of college children know…that is if a student gets a federal student loan, they automatically sign up for Selective Service. Hence, if they don’t do well in school, they end up in Iraq.
He was speaking to college students, not to the American population. Did anyone else get the same take I did?
Kary C
Denver
Kary,
Kerry actually wasn’t making any kind of serious point about education. He was making a joke about how George Bush didn’t apply himself, do his homework or get it together intellectually, and so that’s why he *got us* stuck in Iraq. The problem was that he dropped a couple of words from the line, so that it became unclear who he was talking about. If you watch the speech (it’s in the first couple of minutes), it’s in the middle of other one-liners about Bush, so you can still tell what he meant—that Bush is stuck in Iraq. (That’s probably why Kerry didn’t correct himself, because he’s used to saying that Bush is stuck in Iraq, and so it didn’t occur to him that anyone would think he meant anything different.) But of course the GOP edited that part out to bolster their claim that Kerry was trying to insult the troops.
I would like to say that John Kerry is a real patriot in my book. McCain and others don’t understand that there is more than one type of courage. We know their courage as a solider. But another type of courage that John Kerry has and the others don’t, is the courage to face attacks and smears for the sake of our Country to insist that our leaders tell the truth to the American people. It seems that somehow, throughout his life John Kerry has found the moral strength to speak out when leaders have a deaf ear to the concerns and needs of the American people, especially during the time of war when there is so much at stake. Americans deserve the truth. And we deserve to have the best information so we can meet the challenges we need to face and succeed.
I think people are sick of the negative campaigning. It is such as waste of time and will not solve the real problems facing America. This unfairness is a real issue, I think a lot of people can relate to the injustice. I hope John Kerry will find the strength fight back again and for all of us.
I think the media carried on because they couldn’t admit they were duped by the smear machine, and of course some of them just don’t care . The media needs to take a hard look at themselves.