KO on Rush: "I guess the painkillers wipe out your memory along with ...

[understandinglife]

... your ethics."

So you can imagine what a pleasure it was watching Keith Olbermann this week, who, instead of offering a "balanced," "on the one hand, on the other hand" look at Sheehan, named Limbaugh "today's worst person in the world" for his despicable Sheehan attack, saying "I guess the painkillers wipe out your memory along with your ethics."

And it's about time we put an end to the absurd double standard wherein a private citizen, staging a courageous and selfless protest, has every word she's ever uttered dug up and scrutinized more closely than some residual DNA on CSI while public officials making life and death decisions are allowed to say the most ludicrous things without being held accountable.

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It's truly amazing: the MSM want to hold Sheehan's feet to the fire on statements she's denied making about Israel while allowing Dick "last throes" Cheney, Condi "mushroom cloud" Rice, George "slam dunk" Tenet, Alberto "quaint" Gonzalez, and George "Mission Accomplished" Bush a free pass.

Now that Sheehan has had to interrupt her vigil due to her mother's stroke, the media should take the opportunity to look in the mirror and reassess their handling of her story. Because while Sheehan's Crawford protest has been interrupted, the public's outcry against the president's war in Iraq has only just begun.

From Why Are the Media Having Such a Hard Time Covering Cindy Sheehan? by Arianna Huffington on August 19, 2005

Link:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/why-are-the-media-having-_b_5884.html

And, Ms Huffington provides a link to "Sea Change" by Ezra Klein.

The New York Times today has a long article on Republican discomfort over the worsening situation in Iraq. Quoth Grover:

Grover Norquist, a conservative activist with close ties to the White House and Mr. Bush's senior adviser, Karl Rove, said: "If Iraq is in the rearview mirror in the '06 election, the Republicans will do fine. But if it's still in the windshield, there are problems."

It gets worse:

Pollsters and political analysts pointed to basic opinion shifts that accounted for the political change. Daniel Yankelovich, a pollster who has been studying American attitudes on foreign affairs, said: "I think what's changed over the last year is the assumption that Iraq would make us safer from terrorists to wondering if that actually is the case. And maybe it's the opposite."

Richard A. Viguerie, a veteran conservative direct-mail consultant, said Mr. Bush "turned the volume up on his megaphone about as high as it could go to try to tie the war in Iraq to the war on terrorism" last year, and he argued that the White House could no longer do that.

It's clear that the last couple of weeks have witnessed a sea change in perceptions over Iraq. While it had long been clear that things weren't going great, every day that passed in August seemed to pound in the realization that it wasn't going at all, that anti-war sentiment had become a serious force, that former hawks had become current doves, elite supporters were now respected detractors, and the President's assurances were no longer worth a damn. Cindy Sheehan is part of that, as are new books by Larry Diamond and Anthony Shadid, worsening poll numbers, the unmet constitution deadline, and all the rest of the bad news flowing from the country.

Now Russ Feingold, a major Democrat, is calling for withdrawal ...

More at the link:

http://ezraklein.typepad.com/blog/2005/08/sea_change.html

What is clear is not what Mr Cheney would want anyone to recognize ... an alternative media and an expanding number of American activists and progressives are unrelenting in uncovering the truth and spreading it. And, the messages are being heard by more and more every day.

Think Progress nails Cheney's hypocritical use of 'clarity' as just another example of how many different folk are exposing the neoconster war criminals for what they are - a pack of lying killers.

Cheney on Iraq: Clarity in its Last Throes

But Cheney wasn’t there to talk up an imminent victory, or to discuss the last throes of the insurgency. He was there to claim that we have clarity: “Our mission in Iraq is clear,” Cheney tells the crowd. And again, in closing: “We will not relent in this effort, because we have the clearest possible understanding of what is at stake.”

Clarity?

Last Month, General George Casey, commander of the Multi-National Force in Iraq, told reporters that large-scale troop withdrawals could start as early as next spring. Then, just last Monday, we learned that a troop increase can be expected in the short term. Three days later, President Bush said no decision had yet been made on whether troop levels would increase or decrease. Just yesterday, we learn that 700 new troops will be dispatched to Iraq.

Ah, very clear. Everyone on the same page?

Enjoy the comments at the link:

http://thinkprogress.org/2005/08/19/cheney-on-iraq-clarity-in-its-last-throes/

We're on the same page and that is not good news for georgie boy and his neoconster billionaire hoodlums and fellow war criminals.


Peace.

[bballny]

1. Watching Huffington

over the last ten years has been amazing. She went from a rock hard conservative to a person with a brain. Her conversion started when she thought that repubs would make up what the federal gov't did for the poor with charity.

She went out to solicit and they all told her to go jump in the lake. She then realized that they were full of shit.

[understandinglife]

2. Yes. I've watched the transformation as well. And, it has accelerated ...

... in the past four months!


Peace.

[Blue_In_AK]

4. I think her friendship with Bill Maher helped.... n/t

[pacalo]

3. I like the Olbermann quote.

To know that we DUers can agree with practically everything this man of such remarkable integrity has to say is certainly a credit to our stance.

I've seen Arianna's transformation, too, & I'm glad to have her on our side. After this administration, how could she go back?

[understandinglife]

5. "This time, however, it will be more difficult for the White House ...

... to hide the source of the vilification.

The mean streak in George W. Bush, which for the most part he has kept hidden during his presidency, started to resurface earlier this month in his contretemps with war protester Cindy Sheehan over Iraq.

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From Bush's Fury Over Sheehan by Stephen Schlesinger on August 19 2005

More at the link:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-schlesinger/bushs-fury-over-sheehan_b_5927.html

Yes, Ms Sheehan has gotten the dude's attention and all the attack dogs are barking and to their great dismay Ms Sheehan remains on message and the message is spreading.

Don't worry georgie, they'll let you ride your bicycle in the prison play area, though Lance probably won't be joining you.


Peace.