alternative hippopotamus » Blog Archive

Quote of the Day

by AltHippo @ 10:42 am. Filed under Bush, NSA Spying

It’s not often that I find myself agreeing with Specter. I certainly did, when I read this assessment of Bush’s influence, as well his judgement:

“There’s a real opposition to the president today which you see everywhere, and it manifests itself here. . . . There’s an attitude that if the president’s in favor of it, there must be something wrong with it.”

Seems like a good rule of thumb to me. There is a bigger picture, which concerns what things may well look like post-November. Getting progressive legislation passed is going to be difficult. But, blocking Bush-backed legislation may be a little easier than it is right now. Have no doubt, Bush will go for the radical right’s trifecta: God, Guns, and Gays. Plus a few sops to the CEO’s and favored plutocrats. Plus drilling pretty much everything and everywhere.

Folks on the right will undoubtedly use the old saw about Democrats just wanting to obstruct, not having any positive alternatives, etc., etc. To which I’d say: pretend for a second you’re on a runaway train. And you figure out a way of stopping the train without anyone getting hurt. No one is going to complain that you’re just obstructing the train without having a positive alternative. Stopping the train is the positive alternative.

Bush-backed legislation, run-away train… I think you see where I’m going.

Bookmark on del.icio.us

[link]

6 Responses to “Quote of the Day”

doggiecelzdee Says:
August 4th, 2006 at 11:00 am
Quote of the Day

nice..
Mike in Arkansas Says:
August 4th, 2006 at 11:36 am
It’s unfortunate that things have progress to this point. How much better it would have been if more people had seen through Bush’s questionable judgement long ago.
KCinDC Says:
August 4th, 2006 at 1:04 pm
Actually it’s not that uncommon for me to agree with things that Specter says — it’s when it comes down to doing something to oppose Bush that there’s a problem.
AltHippo Says:
August 4th, 2006 at 1:18 pm
KCinDC: It’s possible that we could mix parts of what Specter says, with parts of what Lieberman does, and have one half-way decent Senator. Unfortunately, with the parts left over you’d have another Sam Brownback.

Mike in Arkansas: I think the Roves and Atwaters of the world understand the black art of clouding people’s judgement. They also know how to make people salivate when they hear the sound of the terrorism bell.

I’m still trying to imagine what Rove is cooking up for the midterms.
The Absurdist Says:
August 4th, 2006 at 3:52 pm
I like the runaway train analogy. Of course the Democrats do have a positive agenda: everything they achieved before the so-called Republican revolution (Social Security, minimum wage, progressive taxation, civil rights act, voting rights act, etc.).
KCinDC Says:
August 4th, 2006 at 7:00 pm
The more usual analogy is the car heading toward the cliff. But while the inhabitants of the train and the car are in imminent danger of death, the train also poses a great danger to people not on the train, while a similar danger is unlikely with the car. So yes, the runaway train is a better depiction of the Bush administration, especially in the area of foreign policy.

August 2006
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
« Jul		Sep »
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30	31

95. Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum (I think that I think, therefore I think that I am.)
— Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

HippoWire

Where the Specialty Coffee Is Served and Sold - washingtonpost.com

You can try Counter Culture coffees at: - Baked and Wired, 1052 Thomas Jefferson St. NW, 202-333-2500; www.bakedandwired.com [Link]

TPMMuckraker | Talking Points Memo | Inspector General Releases Report on Monica Goodling Hirings

In sum, we concluded that the evidence showed that Goodling violated both federal law and Department policy, and therefore committed misconduct... [Link]

Slate Magazine

The best way to make sense of this legal tangle is to mouse over the title of an individual scandal, which will highlight everyone implicated. [Link]

Cyclist Struck, Killed by Garbage Truck - washingtonpost.com

A 22-year-old bicyclist was struck by a garbage truck and killed just north of Dupont Circle today, authorities said. Police and fire vehicles converged on the scene at 20th and R streets NW, snarling Connecticut Avenue traffic during the morning rush. [Link]

Let's Escrow Our Money to Keep Obama Progressive | Democrats.com

We're asking you to put some of the money you plan to give Obama "in escrow" until he demonstrates progressive leadership on the issues we care about, like warrantless wiretapping. [Link]

Think Progress » ACLU: Pentagon made ‘unprecedented’ effort to hide human cost of war.

The report notes that the administration has gone to “unprecedented lengths to control and suppress information about the human cost” of the wars. [Link]

FOXNews.com - NASA Scientist: Put CEOs On Trial for Global-Warming Lies - Science News | Science & Technology | Technology News

"We see a tipping point occurring right before our eyes," Hansen said during his appearance at the National Press Club. "The Arctic is the first tipping point and it's occurring exactly the way we said it would." [Link]

Report Sees Illegal Hiring Practices at Justice Department - NYTimes.com

It appeared to confirm for the first time in an official examination many of the allegations from critics who charged that the Justice Department had become overly politicized during the Bush administration. [Link]

Dan Froomkin - General Accuses WH of War Crimes - washingtonpost.com

"After years of disclosures by government investigations, media accounts, and reports from human rights organizations, there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes. The only question that remains to be ans [Link]

BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | 50 office-speak phrases you love to hate

It gives me a terrible mental image of the whole country linking arms and goose-stepping in unison, with the politicians out in front doing a straight-armed salute. [Link]

Think Progress » Home Page

BOULTON: There are those who would say look, lets take Guantanamo Bay, and Abu Ghraib, and rendition and all those things and to them that is the complete opposite of freedom. BUSH: Of course, if you want to slander America. [Link]

Not Our Best and Brightest? :: Inside Higher Ed :: Higher Education's Source for News, Views and Jobs

In a subsequent e-mail to the employee, Cargol described himself as “a rub-your-belly, grab-your-balls, give-you-a-hug, slap-your-back, pull-your-dick, squeeze-your-hand, cheek-your-face, and pat-your-thigh kind of guy.” [Link]

Democracy Now! | Radio and TV News

Democracy Now! Radio and TV News [Link]

Daily Kos: The Two Realities

Let's take a look at how the Los Angeles Times covered the new Senate Intelligence Committee report on the claims made as part of selling the Iraq war, and compare it to how the editorial page of the Washington Post, by which I mean Fred Hiatt, sees the e [Link]

Ex-Press Aide Writes That Bush Misled U.S. on Iraq - washingtonpost.com

Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan writes in a new memoir that the Iraq war was sold to the American people with a sophisticated "political propaganda campaign" led by President Bush and aimed at "manipulating sources of public opinion" an [Link]

Recent Trackbacks:

Mad Kane’s Political Madness: Bush and Cheney’s Blunderland (Song Parody)
Wonkette: Metro Section: It's Friday the 13th so DC is More Repressed Than Usual
Wonkette: Metro Section: No Mark Foley Edition
ktigllpcnao: bhfxaflie
ixlyjxpey: zyqyenetqs

doggiecelzdee Says:
August 4th, 2006 at 11:00 am

nice..

Mike in Arkansas Says:
August 4th, 2006 at 11:36 am

It’s unfortunate that things have progress to this point. How much better it would have been if more people had seen through Bush’s questionable judgement long ago.

KCinDC Says:
August 4th, 2006 at 1:04 pm

Actually it’s not that uncommon for me to agree with things that Specter says — it’s when it comes down to doing something to oppose Bush that there’s a problem.

AltHippo Says:
August 4th, 2006 at 1:18 pm

KCinDC: It’s possible that we could mix parts of what Specter says, with parts of what Lieberman does, and have one half-way decent Senator. Unfortunately, with the parts left over you’d have another Sam Brownback.

Mike in Arkansas: I think the Roves and Atwaters of the world understand the black art of clouding people’s judgement. They also know how to make people salivate when they hear the sound of the terrorism bell.

I’m still trying to imagine what Rove is cooking up for the midterms.

The Absurdist Says:
August 4th, 2006 at 3:52 pm

I like the runaway train analogy. Of course the Democrats do have a positive agenda: everything they achieved before the so-called Republican revolution (Social Security, minimum wage, progressive taxation, civil rights act, voting rights act, etc.).

KCinDC Says:
August 4th, 2006 at 7:00 pm

The more usual analogy is the car heading toward the cliff. But while the inhabitants of the train and the car are in imminent danger of death, the train also poses a great danger to people not on the train, while a similar danger is unlikely with the car. So yes, the runaway train is a better depiction of the Bush administration, especially in the area of foreign policy.

August 4, 2006

6 Responses to “Quote of the Day”

Leave a Reply

contact

The Alternative Hypothesis podcast feed The New Media: Introduction 12.09.2006 Ford et Al The Surge

the elephants of anwr

issues and insight

capitolists

alt media

sounds

critical resources

flora and fauna

law & order

events

cinema

literati

propaganda

use with extreme caution

internal links:

categories:

search blog:

archives:

other:

Recent Comments

HippoWire

Recent Trackbacks:

The Alternative Hypothesis

podcast feed

The New Media: Introduction

12.09.2006

Ford et Al

The Surge