By Rick Morris
Let's get this straight right away. Scott McClellan was perhaps the worst White House spokesman of the last century. His bumbling, buffoonish hemming and hawing from the podium day after day set a new standard for public ineptitude. Babies crying for their soiled diapers to be changed thought this clown was helpless and pathetic.
But, America being America, he's been able to cash in on his complete inability to fulfill even minor professional standards in the performance of his job.
All of the so-called "revelations" in his book fall into what might be called, in deference to family-friendly standards, "No S, Sherlock territory." Yes, this administration made a decision to get us into war without an imminent threat and played the Dean Smith Four Corners Offense for almost four years prior to the surge in the desert of Mesopotamia while we lost untold blood, treasure and deterrence capacity. Yes, the federal response to Katrina was putrid and down to the almost impossibly low standard of the hopelessly feeble and corrupt state and local governments.
However, McClellan shows himself to be completely gutless in his inability to walk away from this job believing that the president was in the wrong. In this way, Bob Dole is justified in his outrage that this piddling little turd was able to profit from his two-faced behavior.
As a RINO par excellence, McClellan whines and sobs about the Bush Administration's reluctance to "govern from the center," conveniently ignoring all of the left-wing sellouts of the past eight years (big spending, sacrificing poor kids to the alter of Big Labor in the voucher-free No Child Left Behind abomination, trying to put a moderate establishment weenie on the Supreme Court before conservatives howled, etc.) because they don't fit his narrative.
Who can blame him for trying to change the subject, though, especially when he knows that know-nothing jerks like OlbyLoon are going to give him a pass for all of his historical revisionism? The fact is that Scott McClellan was the personification of this administration's failure to live up to any kind of potential whatsoever. As I've stated previously, I voted third-party in the 2000 presidential election out of conviction that the Republican Party had erred tremendously in opting to sublimate its interests to those of the Bush Dynasty. But I did root for the Bush team to succeed in the first term, and saw signs after 9/11 that they just might prove me wrong after all and be up to the job. Sadly, they were not, and by the time the 2004 election rolled around I was pulling the lever in that direction solely out of abject fear of the prospect of radical pacifist, Jimmy Carter's Second Term John Kerry (although an argument could certainly be made that since Kerry would also have been an abject failure these past four years that the country might be better off right now had he won since we'd be poised to expressly repudiate his vision instead of being about to embrace it potentially in the form of Barack Obama -- but that's a different story for a different time).
The disillusionment that I felt with the Bush Administration during McClellan's tenure at the podium originated with their policies and follow-through, or lack thereof, but deepened substantially at their complete lack of competence in allowing this no-talent hack to stumble inarticulately day after day in front of the brutal jackals of the press. Not only could this crew not carry out policies in a capable manner, they could not communicate even a basic vision with any polish whatsoever. As a writer, that offended me greatly.
So to sum up: Scott McClellan didn't demonstrate the Bush Administration's incompetence through the contentions in his book that came out this past week. He demonstrated it by keeping his job for three years.
Showing posts with label RINO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label RINO. Show all posts
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Thursday, February 14, 2008
A Dignitary fights back
By Rick Morris
This time it's personal. One of The FDH Lounge Dignitaries is in a battle, but he's fighting back strongly.
Burrell Jackson, who has become, dare I say, a cult hero figure to listeners and viewers of our FDH Lounge program, is running for two positions this year under the Republican banner in Cuyahoga County here in Northeast Ohio. You can read about his situation below with his full press release. I want to offer a tip of the hat to Ben Keeler, who had the story first and chose to run a portion of the release with his commentary; you can check out his column at the Akron Beacon-Journal politics blog here. Our choice, since Burrell is part of the FDH family, is to run his entire press release.
I've got an additional quote from Burrell as well: "With the Cuyahoga County Republicans struggling to connect with voters to such an extent, their commitment to minority outreach will be revealed as a complete joke if an old boys' club mentality prevails here." Well said, my friend.
This situation is so completely, utterly ridiculous that it almost defies description. I hate to say this, but I hope Burrell isn't holding his breath waiting for the remedy that should be automatic. It won't happen, because I don't believe anyone in the inner sanctum cares that this guy is donating to Democrats while holding Republican office. From everything I've seen and heard over the years, it's probably even a laughing matter behind closed doors. I wonder if Republican congressional candidate Jim Trakas is laughing about an elected GOP official helping out a Democratic potential opponent. Probably not.
As the press release notes, the local Republican party recruited Burrell to run for county clerk of courts but closed ranks behind his opponent in this race; that's gratitude for ya. If he can't get that endorsement of his opponent reversed even after this egregious decision by his opponent, then the local party's attitude towards him will be forcibly revealed as (NOTE: my word, not his) TOKENISM of the worst sort. It's all well and good to recruit the young black businessman to contest a seat as an overwhelming underdog and in so doing fly the party flag in the minority community; apparently it's another thing altogether to endorse the same candidate in another race EVEN WHEN HE'S THE ONLY CANDIDATE IN THE RACE NOT MAKING ANY CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS, LET ALONG MAXIMUM ONES, TO DEMOCRATS!
This is everything people hate about politics right in one neat little bundle.
This time it's personal. One of The FDH Lounge Dignitaries is in a battle, but he's fighting back strongly.
Burrell Jackson, who has become, dare I say, a cult hero figure to listeners and viewers of our FDH Lounge program, is running for two positions this year under the Republican banner in Cuyahoga County here in Northeast Ohio. You can read about his situation below with his full press release. I want to offer a tip of the hat to Ben Keeler, who had the story first and chose to run a portion of the release with his commentary; you can check out his column at the Akron Beacon-Journal politics blog here. Our choice, since Burrell is part of the FDH family, is to run his entire press release.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SCANDAL: State GOP Official Donates Maximum Amount to Democratic Congressional Candidate Joe Cimperman (Dennis Kucinich opponent)
Gunning’s opponent for state central committee in the upcoming March 4 primary, Burrell Jackson, unearthed documents proving Gunning’s Democratic interloping. Specifically, Federal Elections Commission Form 3, Schedule A, Reference #28930297185 reveals on
“This is outrageous. Republicans at the grass-roots level are struggling to promote success county and state-wide, yet our elected state party officials are financially supporting the Democrats,”
“If selling out our Republican candidates isn’t grounds for repealing an endorsement, what would be?”
I've got an additional quote from Burrell as well: "With the Cuyahoga County Republicans struggling to connect with voters to such an extent, their commitment to minority outreach will be revealed as a complete joke if an old boys' club mentality prevails here." Well said, my friend.
This situation is so completely, utterly ridiculous that it almost defies description. I hate to say this, but I hope Burrell isn't holding his breath waiting for the remedy that should be automatic. It won't happen, because I don't believe anyone in the inner sanctum cares that this guy is donating to Democrats while holding Republican office. From everything I've seen and heard over the years, it's probably even a laughing matter behind closed doors. I wonder if Republican congressional candidate Jim Trakas is laughing about an elected GOP official helping out a Democratic potential opponent. Probably not.
As the press release notes, the local Republican party recruited Burrell to run for county clerk of courts but closed ranks behind his opponent in this race; that's gratitude for ya. If he can't get that endorsement of his opponent reversed even after this egregious decision by his opponent, then the local party's attitude towards him will be forcibly revealed as (NOTE: my word, not his) TOKENISM of the worst sort. It's all well and good to recruit the young black businessman to contest a seat as an overwhelming underdog and in so doing fly the party flag in the minority community; apparently it's another thing altogether to endorse the same candidate in another race EVEN WHEN HE'S THE ONLY CANDIDATE IN THE RACE NOT MAKING ANY CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS, LET ALONG MAXIMUM ONES, TO DEMOCRATS!
This is everything people hate about politics right in one neat little bundle.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Romney hypocrites: sit down and shut up!
By Rick Morris
With the whiff of desperation in the air, the followers of Objectively Unfit Mitt (click here for 50 great reasons to vote against Romney) are insulting the intelligence of every voter on the right by proclaiming the superior purity of their hearts and they are also quite busy demeaning everyone opposed to their hollow hero as a squish or tool of the media or worse.
Well, I've had about all I can take from these posers and it's time to hang them with their own words.
Let's be quite unambiguous about this: the betrayers on the right who have thrown in with Mitt Romney's attempt to dupe the American people and are now daring to present themselves as "more conservative than thou" have transgressed against conservative policy way more than I ever have in my voting record or support of candidates -- and that's true of countless other citizens as well.
Because of space consideration, I'm going to limit this to one apiece, but here are several reasons that the leading opinion-shapers on the right who are trying to shove Mittens down our throats have PREVIOUSLY proven that they are not to be trusted.
^ Rick Santorum, who courts an image of the purest of the pure right-wingers, is a complete phony who colluded with Dubya and the D.C. power brokers to save Arlen Spector's worthless RINO hyde in the '04 primary.
^ Rush Limbaugh bashed Pat Buchanan and other challengers to Bob Dole in '96 and H.W.'s boy in '00 in faithful, unquestioning service to the Washington Republican Establishment he now amusingly claims to have always opposed.
^ Hugh Hewitt -- ah, how do you limit yourself to just one of his intellectually dishonest bon mots -- OK, here we go -- he, the self-professed arch-nemesis of all things "MSM," took to the New York Times editorial page to whimper about how the conservative movement had lost its moorings by depriving America of That Future Hall of Fame Supreme Court Justice, Harriet Miers.
^ I lied, here's another one about "El Rushbo": he took an elitist stand disregarding the wishes of the American people regarding the Dubai ports fiasco.
^ Michelle Malkin played the fool during Hurricane Katrina by assuming that just because state and local authorities, under the control of Democrats were incompetent (they were) that the Feds, controlled by Dubya Who Can Do No Wrong were competent (they were not): "Contrary to the usual Bush-deranged kvetching, the president is on the job."
^ Sean Hannity, whose Bush-era sniveling sycophancy is second to none, praised the PRE-SURGE state of affairs in the Middle East in his customary slavish terms in 2004.
^ Mark Levin, maybe the most holier-than-thou basher of anti-Romney Republicans, was so big a pro-Bush sellout that he tried to drag down the Gipper by using him as cover for George W's misadventures.
As has been documented previously on this esteemed blog, Fred Thompson was The One True Hope of The Right in this election cycle and the above members of Mendacious Mitt's Choir failed to "mount up and ride to the sound of the guns" when they legitimately had a chance to stand up for the future of this country. To them, and the other nauseating "opinion leaders" on the right who want to lead us down the primrose path as they demonstrably have before:
Sit down and shut up.
With the whiff of desperation in the air, the followers of Objectively Unfit Mitt (click here for 50 great reasons to vote against Romney) are insulting the intelligence of every voter on the right by proclaiming the superior purity of their hearts and they are also quite busy demeaning everyone opposed to their hollow hero as a squish or tool of the media or worse.
Well, I've had about all I can take from these posers and it's time to hang them with their own words.
Let's be quite unambiguous about this: the betrayers on the right who have thrown in with Mitt Romney's attempt to dupe the American people and are now daring to present themselves as "more conservative than thou" have transgressed against conservative policy way more than I ever have in my voting record or support of candidates -- and that's true of countless other citizens as well.
Because of space consideration, I'm going to limit this to one apiece, but here are several reasons that the leading opinion-shapers on the right who are trying to shove Mittens down our throats have PREVIOUSLY proven that they are not to be trusted.
^ Rick Santorum, who courts an image of the purest of the pure right-wingers, is a complete phony who colluded with Dubya and the D.C. power brokers to save Arlen Spector's worthless RINO hyde in the '04 primary.
^ Rush Limbaugh bashed Pat Buchanan and other challengers to Bob Dole in '96 and H.W.'s boy in '00 in faithful, unquestioning service to the Washington Republican Establishment he now amusingly claims to have always opposed.
^ Hugh Hewitt -- ah, how do you limit yourself to just one of his intellectually dishonest bon mots -- OK, here we go -- he, the self-professed arch-nemesis of all things "MSM," took to the New York Times editorial page to whimper about how the conservative movement had lost its moorings by depriving America of That Future Hall of Fame Supreme Court Justice, Harriet Miers.
^ I lied, here's another one about "El Rushbo": he took an elitist stand disregarding the wishes of the American people regarding the Dubai ports fiasco.
^ Michelle Malkin played the fool during Hurricane Katrina by assuming that just because state and local authorities, under the control of Democrats were incompetent (they were) that the Feds, controlled by Dubya Who Can Do No Wrong were competent (they were not): "Contrary to the usual Bush-deranged kvetching, the president is on the job."
^ Sean Hannity, whose Bush-era sniveling sycophancy is second to none, praised the PRE-SURGE state of affairs in the Middle East in his customary slavish terms in 2004.
^ Mark Levin, maybe the most holier-than-thou basher of anti-Romney Republicans, was so big a pro-Bush sellout that he tried to drag down the Gipper by using him as cover for George W's misadventures.
As has been documented previously on this esteemed blog, Fred Thompson was The One True Hope of The Right in this election cycle and the above members of Mendacious Mitt's Choir failed to "mount up and ride to the sound of the guns" when they legitimately had a chance to stand up for the future of this country. To them, and the other nauseating "opinion leaders" on the right who want to lead us down the primrose path as they demonstrably have before:
Sit down and shut up.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Tears of the Mitt-Bots are sweet nectar
By Rick Morris
Schadenfreude. It's the German word for deriving pleasure from the misfortune of others.
I get accused of partaking of it fairly frequently, and I have to plead guilty to that. It's pretty fun to bask in people getting the figurative fecal matter that they deserve thrown at them -- don't knock it until you've tried it.
My latest opportunity in life to point and say, "what goes around, comes around" regards the useful idiots in Mittens' Hollow Army who are crying their pathetic eyes out about the prospect of the Republican presidential nomination being delivered to John McCain. Now, I should preface the following commentary by noting that I supported Fred Thompson previously (quite ardently, I might add -- and repeatedly -- and repeatedly again!), but I now support McCain in the sense that he is the only major candidate for president against whom I am not irretrievably opposed (how's that for a hearty endorsement?).
So, not to make the Mitt-Idiots feel worse -- ah, who am I kidding? -- OK, I revel in making them feel worse -- but it's their fault.
That's right, those who are the most ardent proponents of Trust Fund Willard at the moment -- like this shameless spinner who cancer-mongered Fred when he got into the race, in one of the scummiest displays in recent political history -- they are weeping, sniveling, crying and otherwise conducting themselves in the same fashion as their hero. How about the sight of Rich Boy Romney going into the fetal position last night about McCain's characterization of his Iraq position, as though Romney didn't spend a ton of his inherited wealth to dump slime via TV ads on everyone in the race thus far.
Mark Levin has recently taken to insulting Republicans opposing Romney as RINOs. But since the real fault for this state of affairs lies with all of the weasels who could have backed the only real conservative Fred Thompson but chose to back a fraudulent loser, the RINO Levin is in closest contact with these days is the man in the mirror.
Schadenfreude. It's the German word for deriving pleasure from the misfortune of others.
I get accused of partaking of it fairly frequently, and I have to plead guilty to that. It's pretty fun to bask in people getting the figurative fecal matter that they deserve thrown at them -- don't knock it until you've tried it.
My latest opportunity in life to point and say, "what goes around, comes around" regards the useful idiots in Mittens' Hollow Army who are crying their pathetic eyes out about the prospect of the Republican presidential nomination being delivered to John McCain. Now, I should preface the following commentary by noting that I supported Fred Thompson previously (quite ardently, I might add -- and repeatedly -- and repeatedly again!), but I now support McCain in the sense that he is the only major candidate for president against whom I am not irretrievably opposed (how's that for a hearty endorsement?).
So, not to make the Mitt-Idiots feel worse -- ah, who am I kidding? -- OK, I revel in making them feel worse -- but it's their fault.
That's right, those who are the most ardent proponents of Trust Fund Willard at the moment -- like this shameless spinner who cancer-mongered Fred when he got into the race, in one of the scummiest displays in recent political history -- they are weeping, sniveling, crying and otherwise conducting themselves in the same fashion as their hero. How about the sight of Rich Boy Romney going into the fetal position last night about McCain's characterization of his Iraq position, as though Romney didn't spend a ton of his inherited wealth to dump slime via TV ads on everyone in the race thus far.
Mark Levin has recently taken to insulting Republicans opposing Romney as RINOs. But since the real fault for this state of affairs lies with all of the weasels who could have backed the only real conservative Fred Thompson but chose to back a fraudulent loser, the RINO Levin is in closest contact with these days is the man in the mirror.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Requiem for a RINO
By Rick Morris
Chuck Todd's piece in the Wall Street Journal celebrates the spineless career of one of the Beltway's biggest Republican squishes, John Warner. While Warner has not ruled out seeking another term in 2008, the article nonetheless seems to frame his career in the past tense. Todd is an excellent analyst and the column sums up Warner's 30 Years of Shame well, even if it makes you seethe a bit in thinking about why this country keeps electing poll-obsessed moderates instead of people who act on principle.
Chuck Todd's piece in the Wall Street Journal celebrates the spineless career of one of the Beltway's biggest Republican squishes, John Warner. While Warner has not ruled out seeking another term in 2008, the article nonetheless seems to frame his career in the past tense. Todd is an excellent analyst and the column sums up Warner's 30 Years of Shame well, even if it makes you seethe a bit in thinking about why this country keeps electing poll-obsessed moderates instead of people who act on principle.
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