Baker-san

If James Baker were an honorable Japanese statesman, instead of a Texan, the floor at today's Press Conference would have been soaked in blood. He would have no choice but to commit seppuku or hara-kiri.

Baker is the man with the most individual responsibility for putting W into the White House. He is the one who handled the mess in Florida for Bush in 2000, and succeeded at getting his Boy George appointed President.

Today his commission, the Iraq Study Group came out with a report proving what a total fiasco Iraq is - and how much Bush is directly to blame for it.

One of the major emphases of the report was on the need for consensus and bi-partisanship if we are ever to have any chance of success.  Yet the boy-king anointed by Baker hired Karl Rove to say things like:

Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 and the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw of the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers. (6/22/05)

It's only a little over a month ago that Bush was saying that Democratic control of the House meant victory for the terrorists.

It was far more important for Bush to maintain power than it was for him to succeed in Iraq.  Instead of keeping the country united, as it so definitely was after 9/11, he chose to divide for partisan gain.

The ISG also underlined the importance of  progress in the Palestine/Israel dispute. Bush, and his Secretary of State, Condi Rice have done nothing to seek a resolution. Zip. Zero.

Syria and Iran were seen as potentially important players as we seek a peace in Iraq. But Condi and George won't talk to them. This administration thinks that the whole concept of diplomacy is a joke.

Can someone explain to me why Condi Rice is still on the public payroll after her deadly incompetence as National Security Adviser and her equally failed tenure at State?

Comments

[rick]

"Baker is the man with the most individual responsibility for putting W into the White House. He is the one who handled the mess in Florida for Bush in 2000, and succeeded at getting his Boy George appointed President."
You begin by repeating an utterly false mythology for the umpteenth time and that which follows becomes tainted before it is read. You would be better served by coming to terms with what really occurred in 2000. Every one but me and thee, went to Florida and counted dimpled chads, swinging chads and even back door chads, and the results were the same. I realize your ox was gored on that particular occasion, but nobody was "appointed". You are perfectly free to debate the merits of the electoral college. That's a separate matter.

[bbbustard]

Delightfully Well Said -
Detailed , devastating rebuttal to follow.

[rick]

There is an interesting historical aside to the whole matter. Republicans, I am sure you are aware, had been accusing Democrats for years of foot dragging (not just in Florida, but broadly) when it came to upgrading to electronic voting in predominantly Democratic districts. They accused that the metallic voting device (not really a machine as it was so often referred to) could be preloaded with two or more ballots and handed to the unsuspecting voter. During the heat of the 2000 Florida reality game show, the inventor of the device appeared on one of the evening political panel programs (I believe it was on Chris Matthew's show but am not 100% sure) for the purpose of demonstrating how easy it was to register a vote. So everybody on the panel has this device with a voting card inserted and try as they might, no one was able to create a dimpled or hanging or any other sort of chad. When they touched the desired vote the whole thing just popped completely out. They were unable to recreate that which was causing chaos in Florida. That is, they were unable to do it when only one voting card was inserted. As soon as they inserted a second and third voting card into the device, they were able to get all the dimpled chads they wanted. I found it most peculiar that this demonstration would occur on MSNBC where no one was watching, but was not worthy of the networks who were already trudging down the "Bush stole the election" path.

Curiouser and curiouser.