Why he's NAILED

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20030606.html

To wit:

To put it bluntly, if Bush has taken Congress and the nation into war based on bogus information, he is cooked. Manipulation or deliberate misuse of national security intelligence data, if proven, could be "a high crime" under the Constitution's impeachment clause. It would also be a violation of federal criminal law, including the broad federal anti-conspiracy statute, which renders it a felony "to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose."

Bush's statement in the letter to Congress, if not true (which he admitted), is clearly defrauding an agency of the United States. This is why I specified said letter. It doesn't matter if it was a "fudge," "exaggeration for effect," or "mischaracterization." Bush provided fraudulent information to Congress to justify a war. Given the Rove Regime's long and careful campaign of equating Iraq with al-Qaeda, this was almost certainly deliberate. I can't imagine a more impeachable offense than that.

Nailed.

(/) Roland X
Of course, we still have the most partisan Congress in living memory to deal with...

NAILED

We got 'im:

March 18, 2003

Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:)

Consistent with section 3(b) of the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 (Public Law 107-243), and based on information available to me, including that in the enclosed document, I determine that:

(1) reliance by the United States on further diplomatic and other peaceful means alone will neither (A) adequately protect the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq nor (B) likely lead to enforcement of all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq; and

(2) acting pursuant to the Constitution and Public Law 107-243 is consistent with the United States and other countries continuing to take the necessary actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations, or persons who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001.

Sincerely,


GEORGE W. BUSH

But today, Bush says that:

"There's no question that Saddam Hussein had al-Qaida ties," the president said. But he also said, "We have no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with the Sept. 11" attacks.

The failure to find any imminent WMD threat has now negated Article 1 of the rationale Bush used above. Today he says he has no evidence that Saddam was involved in September 11(when on March 18 he says he did have such evidence), which then negates Article 2 of his legislatively-required justification for war as outlined under PL 107-243.

Excuse me, but doesn't this mean he lied to comply with the provisions of PL 107-243? And is that not an impeachable offense?

Bold section for emphasis, I presume, by The Left Coaster. Major, major kudos to TLC for this one.

Tom Tomorrow and Daily Kos are all over this as well.

It's a good thing for Bush this wasn't a major lie like fooling around with a consenting intern. Then he'd be in real trouble.

Ah, who am I kidding? He is in real trouble. An alert poster on DKos notes that "including doesn't mean only," which is likely to be Rove's (craven nitpicky definition of is style) defense, but the letter doesn't leave enough fudge factor. The only mention of the word "nation" is under the September 11th section. The only readable meaning of the letter, by literal translation or connotation, is that Bush was justifying the attack on Iraq by a direct correlation to its involvement in the September 11th attack. Except, of course, he just admitted that it wasn't involved.

NAILED.

Here's the official White House page with the letter to Congress, but don't be surprised if it vanishes soon. Fear not, however, we (like several other lefty bloggers 8^) have screen-capped it for posterity.

And here's the article. The quote is from an interview on CNN with John King. Here's a transcript excerpt from Busy Busy Busy.

Hot damn, we GOT him!

(/) Roland X
Na na na na....na na na na...hey hey-ey...GOOD-BYE!

More Lies and Lying Liars

It's official: Faux News is the official propaganda machine of the Republican Party.

"Given the choice, it's better to be viewed as a foot soldier for Bush than a spokeswoman for al-Qaeda." --Irena Briganti, spokesbeing for Faux News

This really shouldn't come as any surprise to, well, anyone, really. But it's especially funny when you keep in mind that Ann "send Democrats to Guantanamo" Coulter is whining about the breakdown of discourse in politics. Gee, I wonder how that happened.

Still, this statement is rather shocking in its directness. It isn't so much a new low as a new level of bluntness from Murdoch's frothing attack-pundits, who seem to have a preference for brown shirts. If you believe in the right to dissent, the importance of open debate, or even the First Amendment -- and dare to say something about it -- you're promoting terrorists.

Welcome to the Imperial States of America. Papers, please.

Of course, we had to expect this. Now that liberals, progressives, and pretty much anyone who isn't a slavish neocon is fighting back, the culture wars are going to heat up. It's heartening to see that, if nothing else, that NuCon forces are showing all the subtlety and wit they've been known for since they Gingrichized political discourse in America. Keep it up, boys and girls. Bush's numbers haven't dropped as far as we'd like yet.

(/) Roland X
E Pluribush Nukem
(Out of many neocon lies, comes smackdown)

Hubris Ascendant

News update: Bush opens mouth, inserts leg up to knee:

"I think other nations have an obligation to participate," Bush said.

An obligation. A bloody obligation.

How dare he. How dare he. This administration was warned. They were warned by nearly every sane person on the planet. They were told, in no uncertain terms, that declaring war on Iraq would sink all the countries involved into a disastrous hellhole, that it would encourage terrorism, and that they weren't going to get involved, so the Kool Kidz of PNAC were on their own.

Richard Perle was dancing on the grave of the UN. The House Republicans busied themselves renaming any food with "French" in the name. The term "empire" was being seriously used as a positive word by neocons. Scorn was heaped on the fools of France, Germany, Russia, and anyone foolish enough to avoid joining the Coalition of the Bribed. America would take over Iraq, start pumping its oil, and establish a thriving democracy, all before summer. Then they'd be coming to our buddies in Iraq, cup in hand, for a bit of oil and reconstruction work, and they'd point to the US, and Bush would laugh. That was the working model -- when America won, the cheese-eating surrender monkeys would be grovelling in short order.

Gee, I wonder why they're a little reluctant to get involved.

What their obligation is, is to ensure that the Rove administration doesn't get away with highway robbery. Their obligation is to their people and the world community, to fight for a fair and just solution. Their obligation is to restore the United Nations' authority and the reputation of international law. France, Germany, Russia, and pretty much every other rational government on Earth has absolutely no obligation to the Shrub and his desperate attempts to have a prayer of actually winning an election.

There's going to be some grovelling, all right. France's government, however, isn't the one that's going to be doing it.

Especially if Bush shoves the leg in up to the hip.

(/) Roland X
That's Gotta Hurt

Flash! Democrats Fight Back! Republicans Cry Like Babies!

Wow. You call a President a "miserable failure" a few times, and look what happens.

We've already seen the Republicans accuse, well, anyone who questions them, of "aiding and abetting the enemy." More recently, we've heard, "The Democratic candidates continued their patter of political hate speech. These kinds of harsh, bitter personal attacks are unprecedented in the history of presidential politics," from RNC chairman Ed Gillespie after the second Democratic debate, and their website attacks the party for "pessimism and protest."

Gosh, you'd think we had an opposition party. Or something. (And Clinton doesn't count, of course. He was a liar and a murderer and had extramarital sex. So harsh, bitter personal attacks were completely justified.)

Since September 11, 2001, the Republicans have maintained a policy of "if you're not with us, you're un-American." For nearly two years, they successfully cowed the Democratic party into submission. Man, they got used to that fast. Still, this is endemic of a major blind spot for conservatives, particularly the NuCon variety: liberals are supposed to be wimps.

Seriously, that's how they think. It's like a rule for them. For some, it borders on a law of physics. Sure, you can point heroes like Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi to them, but ironically, making them virtual saints has allowed some conservatives to mentally disassociate these figures from liberalism -- they transcend ideology, rather than representing one.

Never mind that progressives have traditionally had to face police forces eager to harass them, legal actions ranging from the dubious to outright framing, and even assassinations. Never mind that even the "foot soldiers" of the movement must march under sniper rifles and surrounded by lines of cops, and stories of marchers being herded into patently unjust mass arrests are widespread. Never mind that we must constantly fear for our jobs and our reputations, as we are under constant assault from those who claim to represent the "one true ideology" of our nation.

And yet behold, after pushing us and slandering us and marginalizing us (with, tragically, our acceptance), the Republicans, NuCons and religious wingnuts in particular, are howling in protest (and fear) at our furious response. How dare we resort to such tactics! How could we attack those poor, defenseless bullies like that? And pointing out the relentless wave of lies, cover-ups, and erosions of our freedoms is simply beyond the pale!

In other words, how dare we give as good as we get?

You know, when a bully torments a geek enough times, sooner or later the geek realizes that no amount of appeasement, fawning, or submission will provide any protection. Sooner or later, there's only going to be one option -- fighting back.

Fasten your seat belts, folks, cause you ain't seen nothin' yet.

(/) Roland X
Hit 'em high! Hit 'em low! Hit 'em fast! Hit 'em slow!
Ah, heck, just hit 'em! 8^)