What was the triggering mechanism for the Mother of all Unravels??

[opihimoimoi]

Now that its evident Bush is unraveling faster than a speeding bullet, unable to leap over 4 syllable words in a single bound, and given to babbling incoherently while dribbling drool, the question begs, wha happened??

What started this Mother of all Quagmires, this major fall from grace, this death spiral down the vortex of oblivion??

Come, gimme your thoughts. Beer and ribs in the fridge.

[Walt Starr]

1. Rove ran out of ideas for how to put lipstick on a pig

Come, we go watch them wallow in the mud pit...

[opihimoimoi]

7. LOL, I luv it. as a matter of fact, the nose miner had some lip stick on

at the speech thingy. Kinda made him look sissy/girlie mon and with the red eyes(from crying?) was a bit weird.

Come, we go eat good ribs and quaff some beer.

[HereSince1628]

27. Now THIS is the feminine side of George! Only Karl Rove sees this!

[Walt Starr]

29. AAAUUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!

MY EYES!!!! MY EYES!!!!!

I NOW HAVE TWO BURNED OUT SOCKETS WHERE MY EYES USED TO BE!!!!!

DANGER, WILL ROBINSON, DANGEERRRRRR!!!!!!!!!

[opihimoimoi]

40. Gosh Dammmit, freaking diet coke all over the damn keyboard

BRB, gatta get the sponge and towel.

ROTFLMAO, that is too funny.

Mucho Mahalo, come, we go luau watch the hula girls. No Hula Girlie mons allowed.

[markses]

2. It was the UN bombing in Baghdad

Believe it or not, and sad to say, but that bombing was possibly the most well-conceived terrorist strike in the history of modern warfare. It's funny how we in America could make no sense of it at the time, when it is clear that it acted as a catalyst for the downward US spiral. The Iraqi resistance obviously has a much clearer sense of various triggers than we do here.

It was absolutely brutal, and absolutely brilliant.

[ArkDem]

8. But that bombing was done by the

Bush Crime Family.

[markses]

19. No it was not - this is where our ignorance shows

And I say "our," not "your."

If it was done by the Bush junta, it was extremely stupid. Look at its effects.

It has 1) Highlighted the lie that Iraq is secure, 2) Forced the Bush administration into conflict with the UN.

We couldn't see these effects in advance because we clearly have little sense of how the world is operating. Stick with me here.

The Iraqi Resistance knows two things: First, Bush will never willingly give up his ill-gotten spoils. Second, the UN will not submit to Bush's whim.

The UN bombing allowed those two positions to come into clear conflict, and this conflict, together with the chaos in Iraq, is the chief reason for Bush's current troubles. Whoever conceived of the UN bombing was gambling on that contradiction coming into the light of day and exacerbating Bush's position. They were very smart.

Unfortunately for us, this means one thing: The Iraqi resistance knows more about us than we know about them. The Iraqi resistance has a much more sophisticated sense of how the world operates than even our most glorified talking head experts and policy/strategy analysts. We don't know shit. That's why we thought they didn't do it: We couldn't see the sheer brilliance of the strategic move because our own vision is clouded by ideology.

[opihimoimoi]

28. 1625234 invatations to the mother of all luaus for this post

very well written.

Come, we learn some shit so we can tell good shit from bad shit.

[ArkDem]

44. Of course it was stupid.

Stupid people do stupid things.

[markses]

45. Nope. It was damn smart

And done by smart Iraqis.

[opihimoimoi]

10. 2 stars for that one man.

I have to concur the incident shaked some trees

[Beetwasher]

3. The Carrier Landing

That was when I think everyone realized what a hollow, little man he really was and how phony his entire Residency is....

[opihimoimoi]

13. And the carrier landing coupled with the Bush doll pushed over the edge??

Might be... it took a lot of criticism and produced a lot of laughs.

Bwahahahaha

[Beetwasher]

18. Yup, ridicule is the deadliest weapon

If they can't take you seriously anymore, you're history...I don't see how anyone can take the little man seriously anymore. Once that's gone, there's never any going back or repairing the damage. That single incident was a benchmark, not only because of its over-the-top foolishness as propoganda, but because they made it such a big event and declared "Mission Accomplished" so everyone noticed and it came back to bite them in the ass BIG TIME...

[opihimoimoi]

30. Those ass bites?? Avulsion size, like those sharks from JAWs

Yup, Bush got bit from the freakin flight suit. Whoever thought up that one should be running around the basement as the rest of the gang wants to kill the fucker.

[OKNancy]

15. That's my opinion too

It called to sharp attention his military "problem", It also opened him up to ridicule. When ridicule starts, that's the beginning of the end.

[Homer12]

4. I know Why?

Leadership or misleadership by the use of "force-of-will" alone, does not stand up against the reality of the world and how it works.

This "will" or "god given mission" as GW likes to think, is reverberayted in the neo-conservative world view into a all-knowing self-righteous POV and world view.

It also spirals down into arrogance and pride (real or imagined).

Basically the quest for power and those whom seek unbridaled power (be it those who want to rule the world or rule the playground), corrupts absolutly (overused clique that works).

GW and his group can't see beyond their noses, no matter how long they have become.

We can see, they have blinded themselves by their own lust and venegance.

[opihimoimoi]

17. The Narcissanr arrogant ignorant Bush surfaced and people found out they

got HAD?

I think this has serious merit

2 laulaus for you with fish and poi

[proud patriot]

5. mmmm Beer and ribs yummmmmm !

I believe the military families were a catalyst.They
started speaking out right after the "Bring It On"
statement .

[opihimoimoi]

32. The Military families are big in his down fall.

what the bush guys expect?? Roses and cheers after the way those boys were treated?? and the Vets too? and the firemen and police too?? Those Pubs want it all, and now they gonna get it all, right up their collective asses.

[Starpass]

6. Actually, I'm still waiting for it

....it's crossed my evil-DUers mind so often.....yes, he's falling BUT now we need something else big to blow up within the administration. Perhaps Rove being charged with the fed crime for outing Wilson's wife?? Perhaps some Saudi leaks about Pappy, etc. We need some more "big stuff" of the kind that the Americans can their pea brains around and then it's over for him.

[movonne]

14. Rummie!!!!

[opihimoimoi]

22. Rummy the Dummy with the sleazy smile??? Him??

Could be, as he shows his ignorance at the beginning of the war by telling the generals their jobs, like he knows more about war than them, Bwahahahaha

[opihimoimoi]

20. Star:::But as with the "For the want of a nail... the Kingdom was lost"

The triggering mechanism need not be large... just leads to it..

Come, we get the popcorn, we gatta see the FALLLLLLLLLLLLLllllll, this gonna be rich

[DoYouEverWonder]

9. I was hoping

that he would finally implode last night. He's close, very, very close to the edge now. How much longer can they pretend that he isn't totally incompetent and clueless? It's sort of like watching a family member on the verge of a nervous breakdown, which is a very scary thing.



Tomorrow I go fishing, I will bring the scallops.

[opihimoimoi]

24. Scallops over the grill, YES!!!!!

Implosion??, he was crying jus before the speech, which was held back by 30 minutes if we recall. His eyes were all red as only lemon juice or crying can produce. Yup, very close to breakdown time. and here the Pubs thought the Man was a MAN. Yeah, Right!!!

The First Wimp was winging it thru the freakin speech hoping he wasn't going to blow it.
He so lolo he don't even know he LOLO

[Papillon]

11. I think it was Ambasador Wilson's editorial

in the New York Times.

[Cocoa]

23. that was my answer!

the Niger story, forced onto the front pages by Wilson and the presidential candidates, put Bush in a new light. The candidates basically called Bush a liar repeatedly and didn't get struck by lightning.

[DoYouEverWonder]

31. Link please?

I somehow missed that one. Oh, goody.

[Stephanie]

39. It was a NY Times Op-Ed, a few months ago

Archived now but search "joseph wilson"+niger.

In the Op-Ed Wilson explained that he was sent to Niger last summer, at the behest of Cheney, to investigate the claim that Iraq had sought uranium from Niger. Wilson, a former ambassador, found the story was not true and came back and reported that to the CIA. So Wilson felt sure that, when bush* uttered the 16 words in the SOTU, the admin had to already know those words were a LIE.

After that, Robert Novak wrote a column stating that Wilson might have been sent to Africa at the suggestion of his wife, and he quoted WH sources as saying that Wilson's wife is an undercover CIA agent.

Revealing the identity of an undercover agent is a felony. An FBI investigation is supposedly underway on the matter. Wilson has implied that the WH source who made the claim was Rove. Several other reporters have said they were offered the same information from the WH, although they did not print it.

This is an incredible scandal, that WILL come to prominence, mark my words, and may Rove enjoy his maximum security facility.

[Stephanie]

43. Here's a good recap

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0334/schanberg.php

Perhaps the most written-about episode of information distortion was the shameless game the Bush White House played with those documents that purported to describe an Iraqi attempt to buy fissionable uranium ore from Niger. The documents were forged—and virtually every agency in the intelligence community had confirmed they were forged. In response to a request from Vice President Dick Cheney's office, the CIA and the State Department sent Joseph Wilson, a former U.S. ambassador to Gabon, to Africa to check out the uranium "story." He returned to Washington in March 2002, and reported that the documents, which had also been obtained by British intelligence, were indeed fakes and that there was no evidence of an Iraqi attempt to purchase uranium from Niger.

Nevertheless, months later, senior Bush officials, in their effort to get a war resolution from Congress, were reportedly telling closed meetings of congressional committees that the Niger report was genuine and serious. This played a definitive role in overcoming Democratic opposition, and the resolution breezed through Congress on October 10 and 11, 2002.

Then on January 28, in his 2003 State of the Union address, Bush made the following statement: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."

Since nothing was known to the public about the Wilson mission to Africa or the documents being fake, there was no immediate reaction to the president's claim about Iraq and uranium, though in hindsight it was an astonishing 16-word sentence.

But then ex-ambassador Wilson, who was astonished, wrote an op-ed piece for The New York Times describing his findings in Africa and his immediate report on them to senior officials in Washington. This article appeared in July. That's when the political storm erupted. Had the president lied knowingly? Why didn't any of his aides or Vice President Cheney catch the gaffe?

[DoYouEverWonder]

50. I misunderstood

I thought you were referring to new/additional information about the Wilson story but thanks for the recap.

What the WH did to Wilson's wife is a federal crime and in the old days (1990's) there would have been a massive investigation to find out who would dare to do such a thing. However, now we live in Dubya's world where all key WH staff are above the law.

Remember when they accused Clinton of Abuse of Power and Obstruction of Justice for getting a BJ?

[opihimoimoi]

33. Its gatta be a big piece of the puzzel, major piece

for that, you get 2 stars and fish/poi

[TacticalPeek]

46. There it is.

[gratuitous]

12. Constant dropping wears away a stone

I think, with all due modesty, that it has been places like DU and our constant vigilance in pointing out the shortcomings of the corrupt Bush administration. As we saw with Clinton, today's journalists are a pretty lazy bunch, and the assemblage of documents, reports, eyewitness accounts, police blotters and everything else that are routinely gathered here (by a bunch of novices and volunteers) can be downright awesome.

Other sites, like The Daily Howler and Media Whores Online have done a good job of spotting and dissecting media spin, and the incomparable lessons of those two web pages have been digested and implemented by many folks who post here. We don't seem to take anything at face value.

But while I agree that the Bushistas are unraveling (finally!), it would be a cardinal sin for us not to follow through. This is a resilient, crafty, resourceful bunch of thieves. They aren't going to give up the country they've stolen, we're going to have to pry it from their grasping fingers. We will have to not just defeat them, but pulverize them: Wholly discredit their lying ways, and expose their morally bankrupt system for what it is. We're going to have to provide an object lesson for greedy, bloodthirsty tyrants, so that folks in the future will be better equipped and prepared to spot them and stop them before they can get rolling.

We were asleep at the switch for a while there, and these vermin wormed their way back into power. We're awake now, though. We're aroused, and it's time to send these cockroaches back into the shadows.

[opihimoimoi]

35. Beep beep beeep, thats the sound of a forklift with the RAID for

those cockroaches/ yup, drip drip drip, it wears away the Pub Stone

[patrice]

16. I could tell the day the last vote at the UN went against our war

He knew then that he had lost. You could see it in his body language. Yeah, he tried to lie to himself and us a little longer, but I think his instincts knew the day of that last vote at the UN that it was going to be too expensive, take too long, and kill too many.

[opihimoimoi]

38. But the Fool went and did it anyways.... what a LOLO

Come, we go spear fishing.

[Stephanie]

21. I think it's the Curse of Wilson's Wife

That act of treason turned the tide for them, I think, among those in the know. It was a desperate, unforgiveable act, that made it clear once and for all how despicable and vile they are.

[opihimoimoi]

26. OH OH, The Curse!!! Damn, how could we over look that??????????

Bush, doomed by a curse??? I could go with that...............

Come, time to go shopping for ice cream and cake. Not the Yellow kine.

[Zhade]

51. Indeed.

1. They pissed off the CIA with WilsonGate.

2. They pissed off the military with RummyGate.

Those are two factions you really don't want pissed at you. The military has the guns, and the CIA knows where to bury the bodies.

[Tracer]

25. BunnyPants Jumped the Shark When ...

... way back in early March when he stamped his foot and whined that "he couldn't wait any longer" to invade Iraq.

Yes. Way back then. The preamble was the unraveling.

[opihimoimoi]

36. Yup, it was a bad move, gambled his presidency on a poor odds move.

Only desperate fools do this.

[radfringe]

34. if the UN bombing started unraveling the ball of yarn

then the whistelass going to the UN now is like a rabid cat with that ball of yarn

BTW - news reports say that the whistelass will go to the UN next week, does anyone know if the whistleass will go personally (....followed by a $2,000 a plate fundraiser...) or is he sending someone else?

[opihimoimoi]

37. I would pay $20 to see him eat CROW before he goes to the UN

Sashimi style w/o the wasabi

That oughta make him ralph as did his dad.

[elfin]

41. None of the above - it was the........

Bartcop Hex!

[Jim Sagle]

42. All of the above - plus Howard Dean.

I don't mean to hijack the thread, and I won't use it as a venue to argue his candidacy, but he was the first major, high-profile, not easily discreditable figure to really BASH George W. Pffffftttttt.

And I think the fact that he's still alive and viable brought courage to many others including the press, TV, and other Democratic candidates.

Remember, we've had these horror stories going on non-stop since w first announced his candidacy, yet none of it made a noticeable dent (although the erosion effect was probably there) until after Dean start speaking out and rising in the polls.

"What I wanna know is..." can we keep it up? I think we can!

And BTW, promote and vote for the candidate of your choice!

[Eloriel]

47. The hubris ---> rank stupidity

Of going to war with Iraq in the first place.

They so seriously underestimated everything, or overestimated, as the case may be. Underestimated what it would take; overestimated what they could do. Some of their ideas were simply so unrealistic as to be delusional. Welcomed with flowers? No post-war planning? 70,000 troops (I think that's the figure Rummy first wanted). DEMOCRACY in Iraq?

All fueled by a colossal boatload of hubris.

It all just boggles the mind. It boggled MY mind well before the war, and I certainly wasn't alone among DUers. This was a disaster waiting to happen, and they didn't walk, they RAN straight into this tarbaby.

Tarbaby. That's the word that keeps coming to mind. Iraq is a tarbaby. In its own way, it's worse than Vietnam.

It's a tarbaby.

Eloriel

[scottxyz]

48. The beginning(s) of the end of the Bush Administration

This summer, the Bush administration got hit by something much worse than declining polls: Several Bush officials were accused of PERJURY and TREASON by high-ranking legislators, intelligence agents and other officials. Articles of impeachment were drafted. The military and CIA were treated with disrespect, and the public started to realize that Bush was insulting their intelligence with his lies and cheerleader stunts. Some of Cheney's secret pre-9/11 energy-meeting documents were released, showing maps of Iraqi oilfields.

(1) The Wilson article in The New York Times, accusing Bush of lying during his Constitutionally-mandated State of the Union speech, when he knowingly falsely claimed that Iraq had sought uranium from Niger.

Many people pointed out that as this speech is part of the job, Bush was under oath when he gave it - so it wasn't just lying, it was perjury. Comparisons were made to Clinton lying under oath about consensual sex, versus Bush lying about reasons to go to war.

Articles of impeachment were drawn up by John Dean, and a letter from Henry Waxman laid out the legal evidence for prosecuting this lie.

CIA director George Tenet was forced to take the fall for the uranium perjury. Meanwhile, the CIA started to turn against Bush - always a very ominous sign. CIA mouthpiece Walter Pincus, reporting for the Washington Post, wrote articles covering the CIA's ass and making it clear that the lie was Bush's and not the CIA's responsibility. Ex-CIA veteran Ray McGovern exposed the extraordinary visits by Cheney to CIA headquarters to try to slant the writing of intelligence reports to fabricate evidence against Iraq.

(2) The treason committed by a White House official who blew the cover of Ambassador Wilson's wife, a CIA operative. Later Wilson implied that the traitor may have been Karl Rove.

(3) Bush was accused of treason in the London Guardian the day before his speech. A former high-ranking UK Cabinet Minister published an article in the Guardian with names, quotes and dates showing that (a) the neocons in the Bush Administration had been calling for war on Afghanistan and Iraq BEFORE 9/11 and had suggested that a "new Pearl Harbor" would be the best way to bring about such a war, and (b) overwhelming circumstantial evidence pointed to the conclusion that the Bush Administration let 9/11 happen on purpose.

(4) Bush's cheerleader act, prancing around in Top Gun uniform on an aircraft carrier in San Diego harbor, reminded everyone that the guy pulled strings to get out of his military service, and then to top it off went AWOL from his cushy National Guard job. The KayBee action doll depicting Bush in uniform also contributed to making him an object of ridicule.

(5) Morale dropped, non-hostile fatalities started to occur, and our troops in Iraq started to get pissed off when benefit increases were denied, and the cakewalk turned into an indefinitely long tour of duty. Bush declared the war was over way before it actually was, and when the day rolled around where more soldiers had died after the "end" of the war than during the war, the troops and the public realized George had lied to them again.

Since the media no longer had the balls to play up or even cover any of these appalling stories, the Bush Administration kept on blithely thinking that everything was still ok.

Right-wing Administrations suppress dissent, and this means they are always much flimsier than they seem. The Bush Administration is currently crumbling from within and getting more and more confused and desperate every day.

[opihimoimoi]

49. The White House Basement Gang, and you just know they reading this,

Has got to be ordering Prozac by the forklift loads..... Beep beep "Prozac coming through!!!"

All events, signals, revelations, etc, mentioned is on the money.

Its "all things considered".

Come, we eat reef and beef, a tip O the glass to you/

[Wickster]

52. Well written, scottxyz.

Well organized, too. Thanks.