WP: Pundits Renounce The President

[kskiska]

Among Conservative Voices, Discord

Sunday, August 20, 2006; A04

For 10 minutes, the talk show host grilled his guests about whether "George Bush's mental weakness is damaging America's credibility at home and abroad." For 10 minutes, the caption across the bottom of the television screen read, "IS BUSH AN 'IDIOT'?"

But the host was no liberal media elitist. It was Joe Scarborough, a former Republican congressman turned MSNBC political pundit. And his answer to the captioned question was hardly "no." While other presidents have been called stupid, Scarborough said: "I think George Bush is in a league by himself. I don't think he has the intellectual depth as these other people."

These have been tough days politically for President Bush, what with his popularity numbers mired in the 30s and Republican candidates distancing themselves as elections near. He can no longer even rely as much on once-friendly voices in the conservative media to stand by his side, as some columnists and television commentators lose faith in his leadership and lose heart in the war in Iraq.

While most conservative media figures have not abandoned Bush, influential opinion-makers increasingly have raised questions, expressed doubts or attacked the president outright, particularly on foreign policy, on which he has long enjoyed their strongest support. In some cases, they have complained that Bush has drifted away from their shared principles; in other cases, they think it is the implementation that has fallen short. In most instances, Iraq figures prominently.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/19/AR2006081900568.html

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. This is the time...

We all knew would come. Eventually.

Welcome to Eventually.

[Occulus]

22. { if $Time > 0100

.kick(graveyard)
endif
}

[babylonsister]

2. My heart is doing flip-flops. Finally some get it! nt

[ixion]

3. gee, I've been saying * is an idiot since before 2k... why is it news now?

oh, and liberal media elitist?

gimme a break. :eyes:

[Ishoutandscream2]

61. Apparently, our country has a lot of slow learners

Anyone with half a brain should have realized this in 2000. Remember the reporter asking Bush to name some foreign leaders, and Bush immaturely asked something to the effect, "Do you?" Those who lived outside of the state of Texas should have gotten a clue then and there. Those of us from Texas knew this a long time ago.

[liberalhistorian]

87. The problem was that the majority of

Americans couldn't and can't name any foreign leaders, either, and they saw nothing wrong with a president who couldn't do so. In fact, that's one of the things many voters liked about him, since there is, let's face it, a very strong anti-intellectual streak in this country, always has been. Gore was seen as the geeky teacher's pet type that you hated in school, while Bush's lack of knowledge and depth, and blithe dismissal and apathy over it, was actually appreciated by too many voters.

[Aviation Pro]

101. Worse than that....

...fully 2/3 of Americans cannot name two Supreme Court justices. For the record:

Roberts
Thomas
Scalia
Alito
Ginsburg
Kennedy
Souter
Breyer
Stevens

Stevens and Breyer always get me.

[niyad]

4. this was for real on scarborough?

[Berry Cool]

7. It's true

Some of us had just been watching Olbermann and our jaws dropped when we saw what subject Joe was going to address!

[Stinky The Clown]

10. Yup

MSNBC is changing ...... just wait. They're starting to get that there's a whole audience out there who does NOT want all FauxShit all the time.

Both Scarborough and Carlson, for example, are now using the usual hidey hole of discredited or emabarassed Republicans. They're now calling themselves 'Libertarians'.

[babylonsister]

11. And I remember H2S, worrying about the whore media. I hope you're

feeling better.
I am also, but long for the day when they really tell the truth. It's been a long time coming.

[BootinUp]

34. Theres a clip of it at C&L

http://www.crooksandliars.com/posts/2006/08/15/scarborough-is-bush-an-idiot/

[orleans]

103. i saw it and was rather surprised...

then, i was even more surprised with the length of time they left those words (is bush an idiot?) at the bottom of the screen. then i went to being amused and then to angry--thinking this was one of the assholes who helped get the "idiot" in the white house!

apparently tucker & joe s. are calling themselves "libertarians"

libertarians my ass!

they're not allowed to distance themselves from the pukes until they apologize publicly for all the damage they did to our country by using their big mouths to promote this gop!

[mtnester]

105. LOTS of Repubs calling themselves Dems too right now

they smell what is coming, so they are either converting, distancing themselves from the dreaded (R), because they know they do not have a shitcan chance in hell being reelected if they even as much as affiliate with the (R) party right now.

My info? - straight from the mouths of Ohio operatives who are in the know. They have damn near resigned themselves to losing the state to dems, so the ONLY defense they have left will be the most spectacular smear campaign this country has ever seen..stand by.

Thought Robi-Resnick was bad? Child's play compared to what is coming.

[leQ]

5. don't get your hopes up yet, we still have diebold to deal with. (eom)

[neuvocat]

91. But when you disenfranchise other conservatives

who are in the same voting block then you're incurring the wrath of your own party.

[DeepModem Mom]

6. K&R!

[Metta]

8. It's been past time for this to happen. You can't fool all of the people

all of the time, as a much better man said.

[immoderate]

9. I saw that Scarborough show.

I would be devastating if it was news.

--IMM

[sandnsea]

12. Scarborough also said he's a libertarian

on that show. I never thought I'd see him slither away from his Republican cohorts, but he sure did. He can slap any label on that he wants to, he's still a right wing jackass.

[Lasher]

55. Today's libertarians are the right wing of the Republican party (EOM)

[struggle4progress]

13. This is another gambit: Publicans want to distance themselves ..

.. from King George for the election, and the subtext will be "Vote Republican because Bush isn't typical." So perhaps we should be saying "the REPUBLICAN White House" and "Congressional supporters of the REPUBLICAN White House" ...

[rosesaylavee]

29. AND, the REPUBLICAN-Led Congress. n/t

[4dsc]

31. EXACTLY!!!

That is exactly why every democratic candidate should label his opponent a "BUSH REPUBLICAN" in the upcoming election. The republicans are running away from bush but they will still vote for republicans!!

[Tansy_Gold]

42. Nail meet hammer, or some such pithy phrase

Democratic strategists should take note (but they probably won't) of the importance of that conjunction: BUSH REPUBLICAN.

I almost always refer to them as the boooooshies or the pukes, but I will from now on use the correct appellation: BUSH REPUBLICANS.

[PurpleChez]

82. Well said!

Very basic, but something I hadn't thought of. I hope the leadership is thinking along such lines.

[KansDem]

106. Better yet, drop the "...an"

Republic White House...
Republic Congress...

Shovel the shit right back at them! }(

[struggle4progress]

108. I really prefer to drop the "Re"

as a better way of describing the boozy grifters :D

[alittlelark]

14. They are deperately trying to separate 'Bush' and 'Repub'

They will ramp it up....many will buy into it - most will not.

It is pathetic. B*sh policies are the neo-conservative wet dream.... They just don't want us to see how perverted and twisted that dream really is.

They will attempt to toss the 'b*sh bathwater' out - but I think (fervently hope) that the grotesquely deformed 'neo-con baby' goes with it.


...crossing fingers.

[annabanana]

38. (We have a Winner!)

The corporatists won't be thrown down as easily as B*sh either...

[Acadia Blue]

15. I emailed scarborough thanking him for having an honest discussion

about what all of us have known.

[rodeodance]

16. umm.. whats in this for JOE?

[koopie57]

62. I think it might be

cuz he wants to keep his job after the mid tern elections. And it is my understanding that he likes Al Franken. Maybe he is seeing the light? Could happen, no? He never seemed as stupid as Hannity (unbelievable the man can even wipe himself) and O'Rielly.

[cliss]

17. Hmmm....(reading this juicy article again)....

(enjoys this immensely)....This is great!

Bush is an idiot? On the TV screen?

I've been waiting 6 years for this day.:smoke:

[krispos42]

18. They are windsocks, that's all

They only "see the light" in public venues because it is expedient to do so. The ones that don't slither away may be evil, but at least they are honestly evil and true believers. That shows consistancy and such. Better traits than the windsocks.

[Mind_your_head]

20. Very true. Well said.

but at least they are honestly evil and true believers. That shows consistancy and such. Better traits than the windsocks.

I really like how you put that.

A belated welcome to DU :hi:

[krispos42]

23. Thank you!

I can't paint or draw, so my keyboard is my paintbrush.

Besides, the keyboard is mightier than the sword, right? Especially if you whip it around by the cord and clock'em real hard when they aren't looking!

[ConcernedCanuk]

19. Bush 1 got away with it because the internet hardly existed then

.
.
.

As we all know on DU -

NOW, we read China news, Taiwan News, Russian news, British news, Australian News, etc, etc. - and even Canadian News!

Most on this board (IMO) will trust the reporting from most other countries more than their OWN!! (that being Nomba One, ya know, - the U S of A)

Heck, the USA Admin hasn't just lost the respect and trust of most of the World -

The USA Admin has lost the trust and respect from their own people . . .

Sad thing tho . . .

I don't think the Admin cares

(sigh)

[A-Schwarzenegger]

21. The shits are deserting the sinking rat.

[Demeter]

32. Love That Play on Words!

[A-Schwarzenegger]

71. Those shits know when to get out of there!

[calimary]

77. Yeah, very good, and very appropriate.

If the shit fits...


:hi:

[A-Schwarzenegger]

85. Hi, friend!

:hi:

[Diane R]

24. Incredibly, this is running in our right wing newspaper tomorrow!

Spokane Washington's Spokesman Review, owned by conservative republicans. This is going to shock some readers who seldom see criticism of the Dim Son.

[freedomburn]

27. I saw the Scarborough show on Can o Fun

Here's a link
http://www.canofun.com/cof/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=18026

It was heart-warming for me to see it, to say the least.
I really don't like Scarborough. His coverage at the DNC with Mathews was
assinine. I find him to be just as annoying as O'Really is.
Because Joe tries to pander to both sides at times, he comes
off as a bit two-faced, whereas O'Really and insHannity are
consistently totally full of crap and immediately cause me to want
to hurl large items at my television set.

Still, I think it is indicitive of the fact that real reality is creeping in on
contrived, plastic, Stepford-wives, BizzaroRepublican-reality that they try
to wrap themselves in. It's a good thing. It means they have to face up to
other real realities eventually, like what an obscene waste the Iraq war has been, or
the reality of how badly the USA is percieved by the rest of the world.

If our leader, our figurehead, the face of America that we present to the world
is this dim son, waste of skin IDIOT...what does that say about us? It's an
EMBARRASSMEMT!! This becomes harder and harder for us to ignore. The emperor has no
clothes. I suppose I can muster a small amount of respect for Joe Scarebs for
finally finding the gumption to say so. :P

If you watch the video Joe seems a little nervous about it...like he knows how
much dreck these guys are going to hurl at him now...like he is famililar with
how they treat people who betray their cause. He does a good job of throwing
in some self-effacing, humble humor, too though. It's not compeltely artless.

There is a funny line 3:40 into it by John Fund where he says,
"Look, George Bush wakes up every morning, and for the whole day he
arm-wrestles the English language - and he often loses."

Here is the YouTube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whhbPVrb5KM&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ecrooksandliars%2Ecom%2Fposts%2F2006%2F08%2F15%2Fscarborough%2Dis%2Dbush%2Dan%2Didiot%2F

[killbotfactory]

25. Either inhumanly corrupt, stupid, or both.

[radfringe]

26. Video clip link

http://www.crooksandliars.com/posts/2006/08/15/scarborough-is-bush-an-idiot/

[0007]

40. Thanks!

[connecticut yankee]

28. Unfortunately,

the "Unwashed Majority" is anti-intellectual. They love Bush because he's one of the boys -- "just like us."

[Cha]

44. You can be "anti-intellectual" without

being a fucking idtiot. That's a danger to oneself and one's country.

[Sherman A1]

83. Agreed

I do not believe that he is either stupid or an idiot. I actually believe him to be very smart and cunning. It's just too easy, dismissive and I believe pointless to call him and idiot. I do believe that he is disengaged (self imposed most likely) from not only good advice, but also the facts

[Cha]

86. Sorry, I didn't make

myself clear enough..I think bush is a danger to this country and a fucking idiot!

[PurpleChez]

84. And that is so sad....

In past generations, folks who may have been 'low' on the socio-economic ladder dreamed of better days, if not for themselves then for their children. People who dropped out of school in sixth grade scrubbed floors so they could send their children to college. Today, people seem proud to be stupid. They revel in it. We see it a lot here in the south, but I'm sure it exists elsewhere. "I'm a better person because I DON'T know what brie is." Top-40 country music really reinforces this image, that to be clueless bumblefuck is some sort of ideal.

[0007]

30. Holy smoke there is a God! Will Cal Thomas fall in line also?

Bush aides were bothered by a George F. Will column last week mocking neoconservative desires to transform the Middle East: "Foreign policy 'realists' considered Middle East stability the goal. The realists' critics, who regard realism as reprehensibly unambitious, considered stability the problem. That problem has been solved."

The White House responded with a 2,432-word rebuttal -- three times as long as the column -- e-mailed to supporters and journalists. "Mr. Will's kind of 'stability' and 'realism' -- a kind of world-weary belief that nothing can be done and so nothing should be tried -- would eventually lead to death and destruction on a scale that is almost unimaginable," wrote White House strategic initiatives director Peter H. Wehner.

[Tellurian]

33. The pundits have received the word by consensus

from the people actually running this world. 'Bush is a disaster- Get out the HOOK".

The word IS,'Cut and Run' as fast and far away from the insane ineptness of this WH. Demonstrating for all the world to see and hear, the incongruous statements coming from a man so far in over his head, it is most painful and discouraging for us to listen to another minute of his embarrassing gibberish.

Imagine, the foibles of the Bush leadership has finally filtered down and is raining buckets of shame and embarrassment on the Republican Elites. They, who have used Bush as the bearer of their greed and hate mongering; their chosen designated driver; their fulfiller of their sacred PNAC Agreement; have finally and undeniably (after Israel's fateful loss to Hizbollah) thrown in the towel and moaned.."UNCLE"!

[Jackpine Radical]

46. Yes, you've got it exactly.

The Illuminati are looking for a new front-man.

[Iowa]

88. Perhaps, but if what you say is true, it isn't good for our side...

Dim-son is a has-been, and we can't let them get away with blaming this mess on the incompetence of the lame-duck moron they put at the wheel. It's the conservative ideology that created this mess. The idiot-in-chief and his handlers executed the neocon ideology by the book. It's just that today's conservative "ideas" are overly simplistic, deliberately destructive, malevolent, and just plain dumb.

The ideology needs to be thoroughly discredited and then swept into the dust-bin of history for generations to come. And all of the people who committed crimes in the pursuit of those sinister goals should be stripped of their assets, jailed, and/or deported.

[ladym55]

99. I agree

Dim-son is the "front" for a really bad ideology. Dim-son is in the White House, but the power is firmly in the hands of Dick Cheney, the empire builders, the oil interests, big money, and right-wing Christians. He is just their "spokes-idiot."

Dems need to make sure that they connect the dots. I hope they actually do it this time.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

35. "Bush is Stupid" Spin

Very dangerous. It sets conservatives up for 2008 (since Bush is political road kill) to say that the conservative agenda was perfect, it was just that it was poorly executed.

Bush is not an idiot -- you can't get to be the President otherwise -- and he's got a staff of dozens of advisors. The problems created by the Bush Administration arise from their slavish devotion to the conservative agenda.

I repeat, Bush is not an idiot.

[Ferretherder]

47. Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!

Give that man a kewpie doll!

You are SOOOO right. The 'pundits' who are turning on bush are doing ONLY THAT - turning on BUSH, not the neo-con agenda.

If only someone with REAL leadership qualities was trying to turn the rest of the world into Americlones, raping the world's environment, trying to create a permanent sub-class of indentured servants from the lower and middle classes, and install a theocratic, self-perpetuating ruling dynasty in the US of A, everything would be just peachy-keen!

Fuck Republicans who buy into this shit. Fuck 'em all!

Sorry, but I have had enough of the 'play nice' crap. I'm callin' it the way I see it.

[Akim]

52. And Stalinism would have worked great without Stalin. n/t

[Ferretherder]

56. Actually, Stalin was a charismatic, fear-inspiring figure.

He was, of course, a bloodthirsty, paranoid, heartless animal, interested only in maintaining his grip on power, but he was the DRIVING FORCE behind his ruthless regime.

bush is a figurehead, at BEST. The REAL people behind the PNAC agenda will install whoever best serves their purpose, with absolutely NO REGARD for loyalty or indebtedness to the previous players.
This is not 'bushinism', it is 'right-wing fascism', not beholden to the chimp in any way, except that he serves as a convenient figurehead, for the time being.

[bluerum]

49. I agree. This is a rovian set up tilling the soil for '08.

No one in the press would EVER say anything like this without Roves explicit approval. It has been over 6 years - when have you ever heard anyone in the press even approach this level of criticism - then suddenly overnight - a 180 - they all think fearless leader is an idiot. They just woke up in the morning and it dawned on them.

Right. Come on.

This stinks like a setup for '08. The meme is out - "Republican strategies good. Bush - idiot son".

[tomp]

50. agreed.

coming next: you know, that mccain is a real smart fellow, a maverick, thinks for himself, doesn't just parrot the neocns.

[NewJeffCT]

60. well, with a name like Jeff

you must be smart! ;-)

But, I've said that on DU many times before. Just because Bush does not speak well does not mean he is stupid. I'm also a poor public speaker, but I don't consider myself stupid, and I don't think many others would, either.

[PADemD]

73. You are correct

I saw him debate Ann Richards when he was running for governor and he did not try to talk like a hick. I also saw a video a couple of weeks ago of him at a meeting in the White House. He was asked a question and forgot to talk stupid. Wish I could find a clip of it.

[VegasWolf]

78. I used to think that being prez required at least a modicum of intellect.

However, after GWB I now recognize that a monkey with a ton of money, a family that knows the political ropes, and a completely ruthless operative like ROVE can indeed be president. Bush is a low-achiever, has been mediocre all of his life, exhibits no intellectual curiosity, and certainly exhibits NO scholarly background. A complete fool can now lead the Empire of the US if that fool has money and backing. Bush's advisers are cut from the same conservative cloth. Sycophants who would never disagree with their boss. Sorry, I have to disagree, Bush is an idiot.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

96. Is he an asshole? Absolutely.

But the response to Katrina, for example, was the result of a conservative agenda that says a) starve the beast -- FEMA budget cuts cancelled a drill to evacuate people from the Super Dome about six months before Katrina hit -- and b) We have to cut taxes first -- so the work to complete levee upgrades was put of indefinitely after 2003.

Was Bush a dumbfuck for doing that? You bet. But he was a dumbfuck who was simply following the "mainstream" of conservative thought. Any other conservative in the same position would have done the same thing.

Conclusion: All conservatives are dumbfucks.

But you already knew that, right?

[PinkyisBlue]

97. Well said.

I, too, think Bush is a total idiot. He's not smart enough to "pretend" to be stupid. The clincher for me is when Bush was asked the question "What has been your greatest achievement as President of the USA"? His response was that his greatest achievement was when he caught a ten pound fish in some lake. All the previous Presidents' had responded that their greatest achievements were helping to bring peace to feuding countries, providing financial aid to improve health of people in another country, etc.

But then again, with all the disasters on Bush's watch, maybe his greatest achievement really IS catching a ten pound fish! Though he's still too stupid to know he shouldn't have admitted this.

[neuvocat]

92. Who is more foolish?

The fool or the fools who follow him? Remember that these are the same people who spewed every bit of rhetoric possible to shut down any dissent.

[onehandle]

36. They missed two letters in the headline.

WP: Pundits Renounce Their President

[Botany]

37. In Dec of 2000 after Dick Cheney had had another Heart Attack bush said,

..... "He is healthy." All the time licking his lips as his eyes darted round the
room. I knew then that he was dumber then a bag of corn meal.

BTW Ah, Joe S. remember this?

http://www.democracycellproject.net/blog/archives/riot2005%20(3).jpg

Should be a picture of the "Brooks Brothers Riot" stopping the vote count
in Dade County

you and your Florida republican friends Tom Feeney, Katherine Harris, Jeb
Bush, and others helped in the coup of 2000 to put that idiot in office. Now
that he has wrecked everything he has touched you are running from it
like a dead intern under you desk. Step forward and take your share of the
blame.

[KnaveRupe]

39. * doesn't need to run for re-election - a lot of Congresscritters do.

The fall elections are going to be in large measure a referendum on *. What we are beginning to see, IMHO, is not a turning of the tide, but an operation to give GOP congressmen and senators legitimacy when they cut loose the GWB albatross. We already know that thw WH has given repugs permission to disagree with the pretzeldent on Iraq. I think this is more of the same type of gamesmanship.

If conservative pundits are finally beginning to call * on his idiocies, it's only so that it won't look as bad to the base when their congressman runs away from him in the lead-up to November.

Good news in that it shows a "last-ditch" type of desperation; bad news in that it might save a few GOP seats if it works.

[UpInArms]

41. I noticed they could not cite one single "libral" media source -only RWers

hmmmm...

where is that "libral" media!!!???

sources cited in article:

Joe Scarborough, a former Republican congressman turned MSNBC political pundit

Rich Lowry, editor of the National Review ("We are winning in Iraq," Lowry wrote in April 2005)

Quin Hillyer, executive editor of the American Spectator

George F. Will (no credentials necessary)

William F. Buckley Jr., the founder of the National Review

Thomas L. Friedman, a New York Times columnist who is not a conservative but has strongly backed the Iraq war

Tony Snow, who hosted a Fox radio talk show before joining the White House

Faux - shows hosted by Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham

Norman Podhoretz, editor-at-large of Commentary magazine

Fred Barnes, executive editor of the Weekly Standard and a reliable Bush supporter

John Fund and Lawrence O'Donnell Jr.

:think:

[Cha]

43. This is good I know but

but where does it say that Liberal and "elist" have to go together every single time? WTF? Does that even mean? I'm Liberal and I have no "elistist" qualities about me.

[Jackpine Radical]

48. "Liberal elitist" = educated, intelligent & reflective person.

You know-the kind of jerk that grinds their own coffee & knows big words.

[Cha]

59. I like my words but

buy the organic green tea from China. :)

[Jackpine Radical]

69. Organic? Green? Tea?

You're not only a libberul Leeter, but probly a pansy as well.

[Cha]

74. "Probly", but then again maybe

not.

[mitchum]

45. Rats and sinking ships

[Akim]

51. Jerry Ford was an intellectual giant compared to this guy & he wasn't ...

evil.

[keroro gunsou]

58. hear hear!

and he was a genuinely nice man. i met him as a kid during his run against carter, and he was a pretty nice guy. took time to shake my hand and my mom and dad. some pols are good at faking that they care, Mr. Ford wasn't one of them. He really did care.

[madrchsod]

53. "the truth will set you free"

or it will bury you. the neocon adventure is over

[tomp]

54. n.b.: renonunce not denounce.

quite a difference there.

and notice, nothing about cheney's policies. just bush's "stupidity". well, bush was "smart" enough to pick cheney for president. if you're calling bush stupid, you're calling this whole administration and everyone who supported them stupid. too. but that kind of logic wouldn't solve their problem.

[IWantAChange]

57. it's okay to chuckle about it but now lets get serious

Democrats and use this opening salvo to point out that the gross incompetence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is pervasive amongst the Repugs and it's time for change - let's replace Fear with Hope.

[treestar]

63. But we are at war! How can they abandon their leader in midstream?

:sarcasm:

[dansolo]

64. Bush's idiocy is the least of our worries

People have known since before 2000 that Bush was an idiot, even those who voted for him. I'm more worried about his insanity. He would be far more dangerous if he was actually intelligent.

[iamahaingttta]

65. Too little, too late...

The damage has been done and these rats are complicit. They are complicit in crimes against humanity, and they are simply trying to save their asses. They are not ashamed of their crimes, they are simply afraid of being held accountable. Blame the lame duck, but nothing really changes...

[PADemD]

72. But...

they were only following orders. (sarcasm)

[zbdent]

66. When you portray your party and your pResident as an "anti-intellectual"

why should it make you bristle when he keeps showing how much the population underestimated his stupidity?

I mean, isn't that the image they were trying for? "Oh, look. Bill Clinton, John Kerry, Al Gore, Hillary Clinton, Howard Dean, John Edwards ... they're all so smart they're stupid. Here, have a guy that you can have a beer with ... Barney from the Simpsons ..."

[Hardrada]

67. A lot of Nazis broke with Hitler at the end

but they still were tried and many hung. They couldn't get Hitler's journalist chief however because he shot himself. (Goebbels)

A lot of repugs tried to distance themselves from Nixon in 1974 and still were not re-elected.

[stepnw1f]

68. Bush is An Idiot, But What of Those Who Voted for This Idiot?

Our country is so misinformed and uneducated.... it is too easy to fool them. By the time they find out, our country is already in the largest debt ever, over 2,500 of our men and women dead, social infrastructure decimated and underfunded, city drowned, military broken, thousands of dead innocent civilians and the World hates us.

That's what happens when an idiot is put into power by these "big Mouth" idiots who helped place him into power. So fuck you Scarborough, and thank you. Oh.... I being a liberal.... does that mean I'm no longer a traitor. How about an apology?

[ladym55]

100. Umm, acoording to the folks at Faux,

I think you are still considered a traitor. Sorry. :-(

I think the common terms are extremists from the left wing?? Out of touch with American values?? I'm a little fuzzy on the exact terms because I can only do perhaps 30 seconds of Faux before needing to change the channel or destroy my TV (and that can get expensive).

I know that O'Lielly and Hannity still think liberals are all al Quaeda lovin' terrorist huggers. Can't see that changing anytime soon. If anything, they are all wound up that we aren't blowing up enough of the Middle East.

[stepnw1f]

104. I Could Care Less What Idiots Say (nt)

[colorado_ufo]

70. There's a diference between stupid and sociopathic.

Bush isn't really stupid - it's a game he plays. You actually see it three ways, when you are watching his public addresses: 1) Sometimes he is really incompetent, because it is too obvious he has been drinking, e.g. the State of the Union address, "or whatever you want to call it." 2) Sometimes he delights in jerking around his audience, thinking of the sheeple who support him as so dumb they will applaud anything he says, so he pushes the envelope as to what he can get away with, e.g. "put food on your family." 3) Sometimes he actually gets a perverse pleasure in letting slip hints about what he is actually doing, what is actually behind his agenda, etc. while having his overall speech lead in the wrong direction (too many to cite).

This explains why some people who meet with him report how amazed they are at the conversations that they had, the level of his intelligence. They were not lying: Bush is a put-on.

The pundits who are now turning tail are not stupid, either, and neither are the members of Congress who are suddenly having the bulb go on. They are just in one way or another trying to preserve both their reputations and their jobs. It didn't really take them this long to see what is happening - they just play to whatever they think is the winning side.

[graywarrior]

76. Scarborough's an idiot for supporting Bush this long.

[Autonomy]

75. You cannot separate "inarticulateness" from lack of intelligence.

Other than in the case of aphasia, which Bush does not have, the inability to clearly express oneself is reflective of the inability to think clearly. They are trying to make a distinction without a difference.

And, yes, these pundits sound like idiots asking this question now. The truth was clear six years ago. Bush admitted he wasn't smart, but that he didn't have to be intelligent, that he'd have intelligent people doing the thinking for him, and all these wacko conservatives bought it because they wanted to. They wanted to ignore his intellectual defects because they cared more about beating the Democrats than the future of the country.

[ElboRuum]

79. Scarborough and "did he mean it"?

We have several issues in this country, not the least of which is parsing out what people say and what they really mean. Never has such a thing as truth been held as such a damned inconvenience to the goals of so many.

Scarborough is one of the few Republican voices to have ever criticized the President or this Administration, and I believe that is commendable. He has done so publically. Also commendable considering the fact that if it goes out into the ether, likely are the wingnuts likely to believe it, having crashed their parsers long ago.

Make no mistake, Scarborough WISHES that Bush wasn't such a nitwit and incompetent, because Scarborough still believes in the idea even though he may have broken with the man. He's still the same old Republican. Fortunately, even he knows when the reality is beyond spin.

[yardwork]

80. Correct all efforts to "blame it all on Bush"

As I posted on another thread on this topic -

Bush is a lame duck. The Republicans would love the country to blame Bush - and Bush alone - for everything that went wrong during his administration.

That way they can convince people to vote Republican again. Don't let them get away with this. The entire GOP is corrupt and criminal and incompetent.

[EVDebs]

93. Dems could file a RICO suit against the entire Republican machine

IMHO. Of course R installed judges will throw it out, but it's worth a try.

Let's face it, if the R's don't declare ideologic bankruptcy soon and throw in the pragmatic towel, they're toast. They HAVE to go 'green', as Thomas Friedman's latest column shows, but through their funding contacts and apparatus tied to power, they're helpless in turning a 'new leaf'.

"To the barricades" leftwingers ? Why bother this time. Let the R's hoist themselves on their own petard. Let them see the results of their own undisputed power for the last eight years of stagnation and malaise. Let them shout 'What would YOU have done differently'...and we simply have to respond: vote us in and find out !

[NashVegas]

81. Now You Know Why We Call Them "Whores"

Phil Donahue was something like MSNBC's highest rated evening show. After they canned him the numbers never bounced back, so now they've got Keith Olberman and are having success with it.

People see the writing on the wall, is all.

[Up2Late]

89. WOW! Anyone get a screen capture?

I'd love to see one. :evilgrin:

[dreamsvsnightmares]

90. Who cares these are the morons

that kept pushing for this damn war and would not shut up even though the generals said that it was a bad move. They now have to face the fact that we are hated around the world. But hey lets root for lieberman

[whistle]

94. Are the media to be trusted? Booting Bush out now, means Dick Cheney

...becomes president and I think we all know what that would mean

[freedomburn]

95. I feel like people like to find a way to argue with me here.

forgot the link...

I go on DU and post about how much I think Bush is an idiot, and guess what, people still find something to argue about over this. Bush is an idiot. Bush is not an idiot. The RW pundits don't mean it. They mean it, but it's only a political gambit.

Maybe it's the stupid name I chose when I joined DU as a neophyte. No matter what I post, even if it's "Bush is an idiot", the next posts consistently, almost always, find a way to take an opposing point of view.

Freedomburn is a typo of the name I wanted, "freedomburns", which is the same name I have used over at Dave Liep's US Election Atlas forum for several years. Freedomburns is a take off on Farenheit 451, the title of the Ray Bradbury book that Michael Moore used as the basis for the title of his film, Farenheit 911. From the book, 451 degrees farenheit is the temperature at which freedom burns.

Here is a link to Dave Liep's US Election Atlas. I got to about a thousand posts there, but stopped posting a while ago because i got fed up with all of the name calling and ignorance from the rethugs on the forum. And I just like it better here. It is WAY more entetaining. The level of discourse is miles above The Atlas Forum. It is still a great place for research It's also a place to debate when you don't want to preach to the choir.
http://www.uselectionatlas.org/
http://www.uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php


So yes, my name is freedomburn, but that doesn't mean you should to argue with everthing I post...even when I post that Bush is an idiot. ;)

fb

PS: Bush IS an idiot. His perfomance at his last news conference was entirely too painful for one not to reach this conclusion. This is compounded by the fact that his idiocy currently seems to be heading him straight toward a jail cell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCbNFvrgiaI

[Ino]

98. Scarborough article on HuffPo

Scarborough is still a Repub through & through. Have a look at this article on HuffPo, wherein he manages to insult Dems and pretends to be a critic.

http://tinyurl.com/qthfc

Democrats have always played into Republican presidents’ hands by dismissing them as dimwitted dunces who somehow stumbled their way into the most powerful position on Earth.
(snip)
For the past six years George W. Bush has been the target of ridicule from liberal circles. But now, instead of laughing at Democrats’ ill-directed arrogance, Republicans are quietly joining the left in questioning the President’s intellectual prowess.
(snip)
But when America is fighting a global war on terror where the battle is for hearts and minds instead of beachheads and landing strips, we need a leader who can explain to friend and foe alike why America is in Iraq, why we keep sending arms to Israel and why liberal democracy really is preferable to Islamic fascism.

Six years of lies & incompetence - Schiavo, Katrina, WMDs, illegal wiretapping, torture, Halliburton, waste, soaring deficit - and this is Scarborough's conclusion: we just need a President who can adequately explain the mission.

As much as it warms my heart to hear Bush called an idiot, this is no awakening. When Scarborough asks, "Is Bush a criminal?" and says we need a President who will honor his oath to defend the Constitution, then we'll have something. As it is, this is just "Regular Joe" making a lame attempt at being a watchdog instead of a lapdog.

[WHAT]

102. Too little too late...

wrt the title.

I'll never trust any of them again. The younger people think the news is running reruns and flip the channel. Thus it goes...

[kerstin]

107. "Bush ain't an idiot till we say he's an idiot."

And they call us elitists.

I believe the true "elites" are themselves getting scared of this dangerous mob. The main reason the mainstream has been greenlighted.

I agree that it's pure calculation. Still it comes as a relief.