"...the Valerie Plame case is indeed hanging over the WH like a pall."

[DeepModem Mom]

Interesting tidbit!


Desperately Seeking Swagger
By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Monday, September 26, 2005; 5:41 PM

....Jim VandeHei and Peter Baker write in Saturday's Washington Post:

..."Aides who never betrayed self-doubt now talk in private of failures selling the American people on the Iraq war, the president's Social Security plan and his response to Hurricane Katrina. . . .

"Most of all, White House aides want to reestablish Bush's swagger -- the projection of competence and confidence in the White House that has carried the administration through tough times since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. . . .

"In a series of private conversations over the past few months, aides began second-guessing how they handled the Social Security debate, managed the public perception of the Iraq war and, most recently, the response to Katrina."

And it turns out that the Valerie Plame case is indeed hanging over the White House like a pall.

VandeHei and Baker write: "The federal CIA leak investigation, which has forced Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove and others to testify before a grand jury, seemed to distract officials and left a general feeling of unease, two aides said. Aides were calling reporters to find out what was happening with Rove and the investigation. 'Nobody knows what's going to happen with the probe,' one senior aide said."...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/04/11/LI2005041100879.html

[TallahasseeGrannie]

1. I wondered

how the Rove thing was playing out in the WH. Thanks for the link.

[Rex]

2. Swagger is an understatement, Boosh usually walks on all fours

and has trouble standing up for long periods of time.

[BlueJac]

7. Not me!

Go back to hiding on the ranch fool!

[Rex]

21. I agree he should just stay his ass on the pigfarm.

The less he moves around, the better for humanity!

[jazzjunkysue]

31. When his knuckles aren't dragging behind him on the ground.

Sorry to insult primates.

[rosesaylavee]

3. That may be... but I want it to be more than a 'pall'...

I want overt suffering as in gnashing of teeth, renting of shirts, wailing in the halls, weeping, banging of heads on floors/walls/computer monitors...

Am I asking for too much?

[DeepModem Mom]

4. How about they twist slowly in the wind for a while, and then...

gnash, rent, wail, weep and bang?

[rosesaylavee]

9. Nice touch. I think twisting slowly is a nice visual.

[mike_c]

12. can I add "die screaming at the end of a long prison term...?"

I'm not bitter or anything....

[rosesaylavee]

29. end? what end? I say life terms if they are lucky.

Treason is punishable by death, right?

[rosesaylavee]

30. Ok. Maybe I am a tad bitter too. n/t

[kestrel91316]

37. Yep. I vote execution by guillotine.

[TankLV]

39. I vote for execution by the "mussolini" method.

Great visuals for the all the media whores!

Geraldo will just love it, so will Ann!

[kestrel91316]

45. Hmmm, that could work.........

[Lex]

5. Nah, that's about right.

They think they just need to have Bush swagger around to instill confidence by the American people, but many in the middle are finding out what we knew all along: all hat, no cattle.

[Virginian]

41. Is it swagger when he walks around like he has a roll of

toilet paper under each armpit? Is that the cowboy look of "just try something and I will go for my six shooters."? I don't see why he doesn't relax his arms when he walks like other people. Doesn't he know what to do with his hands?

[JuniperLea]

6. optical illusion

he doesn't walk on all fours... it only looks that way when he is dragging his knuckles.

[goclark]

33. No more more LOL

[MeDeMax]

8. what a hoot, awesome reading ! n/t

[FreedomAngel82]

10. If you steal both elections

and do nothing but crimes it is going to catch up with you.

[BlueJac]

24. That is why there is a site crooks and liars

[elehhhhna]

11. Gee whiz. They're second-guessing their MASSIVE FUCKUPS?

wow. that's soooo comforting.

[FreedomAngel82]

14. I think they're trying to pull an act

They're worried they'll get caught as they damn well should be. This tells me they KNOW they're guilty since they are so worried.

[longship]

13. Another one for the INews 5000 Headline Translator.

"Desparately Seeking Swagger"

Bloop, bleep, sproing, plook, DING!!!

Translation: "Deparate and Sneaking: Stagger!"


(Sorry about that. I just like Morning Sedition.)

[smoogatz]

15. "failures of selling"

That's what they're worried about. Not that invading Iraq or privatizing Social Security or failing to effectively respond to a natural disaster of near-Biblical proportions or bad ideas, bad policy or bad performance. They didn't fuck up--they just failed to "sell" the American people the prescribed line of bullshit. Cripers.

[kma3346]

16. Please, please, please....

Let it happen and let it happen soon!! I think we're on the brink of some bad stuff coming down the road.

America desperately needs a hero! It may be a pipe dream, but I'm hoping that Fitzgerald will be that hero.

[SpiralHawk]

17. "restore swagger" WTF? We don't need no steenkin swagger

We need basic competence. pResident AWOL is manifestly ineligible.

[Olney Blue]

36. Basic competence- I like it.

[natrat]

18. great, reestablish swagger so they can commit more felonies

[Algorem]

19. Eleanor Clift predicted double-whammy for Bush in October-Plame inves-

tigation has to wrap up and U.S. deaths in Iraq will creep up over 2,000.

[Fight_n_back]

20. reestablishing his stagger is more like it

He was only off by one letter in Iraq, too.

[hvn_nbr_2]

22. "Failures selling the American people"

now talk in private of failures selling the American people on the Iraq war

aides began second-guessing how they... managed the public perception of the Iraq war

They never make a mistake except bad PR. Lying to start a useless and counterproductive war wasn't a mistake. More lies to change the justification for it after the original reasons were proven false. But they think that only the way they sold it was a mistake. Actually, with complete cooperation of their media lackeys and harlots, they sold it pretty well. They just couldn't keep selling it forever.

[Quixote1818]

23. If anyone thinks Katrina hurt Bush.....If this comes through

the Katrina embarrassment will seem like nothing compared to a full blown scandal with a shit load of indictments!

My eye has never left the Plame case. This is the Big Enchilada!!!

Hopefully!

[brettdale]

25. October is coming up

When in October does the Grand Jury Expiry. The 1st?, the 10th? the 30th?

It seems Fitzgerald is running out of time to indict anybody.

[lovuian]

26. I think the Conspiracy to take over the government has been

caught exposed and most of the underlings are rebelling!!!

I think the time is perfect for Bush's mafia to be exposed!!!

[lovuian]

27. Plamegate giving him upset stomach!!!

I hope as the time gets near that it gets worse!!!

[Tatiana]

28. I look forward to seeing a frog-march or two or ten.

Please, oh pretty please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Quixote1818]

35. Just one Frog March would make my year!

nt

[jazzjunkysue]

32. Am I the only one who noticed his swagger ended with Rita?

I was stunned, as I watched the coverage of Rita, that he was speaking more or less normally: Not like a texan ass-hole. He was actually sober. It's like it all finally broke through the narcissistic veil of conceit and the tragety actually reached something real inside the idiot.

Tell me I'm wrong. Please!!!!!!!

[TankLV]

40. You're the only one then. Same screwed up lips, short temper.

Grasping the lecturn as if his life depended on it.

Horrible speech impediments, nonsense phrases.

Just a bigger helping of his usual bullshit.

[arewenotdemo]

34. "His "Texas swagger", leather jacket and pheromones

were what titillated Rove when he first met the Cheerleader-in-Chief years ago.

Rove probably sees it as his own greatest accomplishment to maintain the Boy-King's swagger.

:puke:

[TankLV]

38. Oh - they've "established the swagger" allright - unfortunately it's the

stumblings of an AWOL DRUNK and DRUG ADDICTED WAR CRIMINAL!

Somehow I don't think this is what they had in mind!

[phiddle]

42. So that's "stagger", not "swagger"?

Works for me!

[AuntiBush]

43. GOP: Gee, I'm Sorry Taking Away My Social Security, Controlling

what my MORALS & VALUES should be, according to you're Heritage BS Gang, to demolishing my Constitution & Bill of Rights is a real downer.

Why don't they hop on the next shuttle to Mars w/their PNAC plans. They're not welcomed in my country.

On Note: Here's hoping the Valerie Plame case does in deed hang - * and pals out to dry, that is.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

44. Is the Sword Of Plameocles why Bush looks so washed-out lately?

Lately, Bush looks like a piece of laundry that's been once too often through the wash and spin cycles.

[suegeo]

46. Why do they always think of Sept 11 as a success?

"Most of all, White House aides want to reestablish Bush's swagger -- the projection of competence and confidence in the White House that has carried the administration through tough times since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. . . ."

Competence? Confidence?

I mean, thousands of people running through the streets for their lives seems like a screw up on a biblical scale.

They were competent in taking advantage of the shell shock and the fear. Which is psychological abuse on a massive scale.