FIneman..."his face showed fear".

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

Fineman still makes some half hearted attempts to justify this criminal act of aggression against Iraq, but even he has to admit to seeing the man behind the curtain.

A Crisis of Confidence
Bush's way forward may be sensible. But his face showed fear—and that's no way to rally a war-weary nation.

By Howard Fineman
Newsweek
Updated: 12 minutes ago
Jan. 10, 2007 - George W. Bush spoke with all the confidence of a perp in a police lineup. I first interviewed the guy in 1987 and began covering his political rise in 1993, and I have never seen him, in public or private, look less convincing, less sure of himself, less cocky. With his knitted brow and stricken features, he looked, well, scared. Not surprising since what he was doing in the White House library was announcing the escalation of an unpopular war.

The president may well be right that we cannot afford to leave or lose in Iraq . He makes profound sense when he observes that a collapse of Iraq would mean the rise of a giant version of the Taliban's Afghanistan—with a million times the oil in the ground.

But if he was trying to assure the country that he had confidence in his own plan to prevent that collapse, well, a picture is worth a thousand words. And the words themselves weren't that assuring either. Does anyone in America or Iraq , or anywhere else in the world for that matter, really think that the Sunnis and Shia will make peace? Does anyone think that embedded American soldiers won't be in danger of being fragged by their own Iraqi brethren? Does anyone really think that Iran and Syria can be prevented from playing havoc in Iraq and the rest of the region by expressions of presidential will?

>snip

I'm not sure that they are really listening, but if they were watching, they can't have been reassured by the man they saw in the basement of the White House.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16568507/site/newsweek/

[hatrack]

1. Well geewhiz, Timmeh . . .

Hell, I knew this guy was as phony as a three-dollar bill all of seven or eight years ago when he first strode up the political pike, slapping the unearned dust of the Lone Star State off his embarassingly unworn cowboy boots.

It wasn't hard for me to tell that he was weak, stupid, uninvolved in the world beyond himself and occupying the position of Governor of Texas because his last name was "Bush", just like his Daddy's was.

Given that opening stance, it wasn't too hard to figure out that a Bush Presidency, let alone TWO of them, would be an unprecedented cluster-fuck like none ever seen in the history of the Republic. Ineptitude, lies, venality and thinly veiled Oedipal rage, all frothed and gleaming with the kind of fundamentalist bullshit only certain of our southern states can offer.

So, given that I was way the fuck ahead of you, why is it that you're making a seven-figure salary, while I've got at least another 20 years on the mortgage? Just the poetic injustice of life? Gee, Timmeh, sure looks that way.

I wonder what Big Russ would say . . .

[CrazyOrangeCat]

2. " . . . frothed and gleaming with . . . fundementalist bullshit . . ."

Yeah. Exactly.

[jaysunb]

5. Good post !

really says it all....:thumbsup:

[Skittles]

8. OMG hatrack

as a longtime Texas resident all I can say is A-F'N-MEN !!!!

[Kikosexy2]

39. He has...

lied so much...why on earth would anyone believe him or believe in him now?....Everyday I pray he and the rest of his supporters get their comeuppance and go down in flames AND SOON!!

[Robeson]

12. Good post. Your avatar couldn't have said it better....

...:thumbsup:

[LuckyX]

16. Sands of Time

The Mayans were right. The said the old world ended in 1987, we are in between worlds. The new world begins winter solstice 2012. Look all around you, it is the cycle of destruction which is 5500 yrs. We are in the Iron Age, the only time we can really work karma out. All old souls must incarnate during the Iron age to evolve. We have to live this hell to move forward. This is really no different than the previous Iron Age, we are just living in it. I for one will go out with my morals intact, I will go out in love.

[tanyev]

24. Hi LuckyX. Welcome to DU!

Have you discovered this forum yet? I think you might like it. We have had discussions about the Mayan calendar, 2012, karma, etc.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=245

:hi:

[Botany]

17. I knew he was in over his head and a liar when in Nov 2000 when ...

.... asked about Dick Cheney who just had had a heart attack. bush licked his lips
his eyes darted around the room and and he said, "he is healthy."

BTW great post!

[sendero]

21. I just want to second..

... every word of your post :)

[GOTV]

29. I wish I could recommend a comment for the "greatest" page! n/t

[The Wizard]

38. At what point

will they call in Babs to change his diaper?

[Diane R]

3. I kept thinking, "He practiced for TWO days to be able to read that speech???" n/t

[ShortnFiery]

4. More like "listen and regurgitate"

His eyes showed no signs that he was reading a teleprompter.

Those beady little eyes were transmitting "Dee! Dee! Dee! I love blowing-up shit! I love WAR!"

[texpatriot2004]

6. I can't watch that Evil Bastard, but I am sorry I missed his fear nt

[drone]

45. same here

I did not watch the liar. Does anyone know if he did a lot of smiling?

[soothsayer]

7. Looked old, and not as smirky. I figure they botoxed him, but man

I'm digging his worry lines and wrinkles! Hope he's suffering.

[NEOBuckeye]

10. I noticed the lines, too

He really seems to have aged quite a bit over the past year, but it was really evident tonight.

Maybe reality is finally starting to catch up with him. It took long enough.

[grasswire]

9. huh?

"I could tell you lots of stories about just how much Bush hates to lose, and always has."

Why inject that here? What point does it serve a reporter to say "I could tell you a lot of stories.........."? If you're trying to make a point, Howie, tell the stories.

[yardwork]

37. I chuckled at the unintended meaning of that phrase

"how much Bush hates to lose, and always has." Lost, that is.

[Supersedeas]

49. Howie is a coward -- an absolute unadulterated coward -- that's why

[Tom Joad]

11. I disagree that their was any "noble goal" in the invasion of Iraq. Fineman

don't know shit, he seems to be peddling the line that Bush mismanaged the war, or that it is the Iraqi's fault things are so messed up.

It is the end result of a brutal and merciless invasion and occupation.

[Matilda]

20. I picked up on that too.

Iraq was never a terrorist problem for the US, and it was stable before
Bush's invasion. Not really free, but stable, and as free as any other
ME country.

Now it's not stable, not free, and a breeding ground for terrorists.

[Efilroft Sul]

30. Pundits will call the invasion a "noble goal" for one reason only.

And that's to cover their asses for all the cheerleading they did in late 2002 and early 2003, when they morphed the boogeyman thusly: "Osama, Osama, Osama, Osaddam, Saddam, Saddam, SADDAM!"

"Noble goal?" More like "mobile goalposts." That's because Bush changed his reasons for invading and staying, Howie, and you and your pundit buddies never called him on it. Here are just a few examples:

• Removing all those WMDs Powell "proved" Iraq had? When they weren't found, the goalpost moved. Where were you, Howie?
• Preventing us from being hit from Iraq within 45 minutes? When those fears were proven unfounded, the goalpost moved. Howie?
• Ending the collaboration between Iraq and al Qaeda? When the alleged Mohammed Atta meeting with an Iraqi intelligence agent was proven bullshit, the goalpost moved. Religious fanatic Osama bin Laden and secular Saddam Hussein were polar opposites. Still with me, duckie boy?
• Removing a dicatator to establish a democracy? Yeah, Bush had some Oedipal issues and removed Saddam. But we never went to war to establish a democracy. Once again, the goalpost moved and the pundits like Howie let it happen.
• Fighting the terrorists there so we don't have to fight them here? Maybe Bush shouldn't have said, "Bring 'em on!" Anyway, ask Londoners what they think about the flytrap theory after their mass transit system was bombed two years ago. The goalposts moved, and nobody called Bush on it when London was hit. Right, Howie?

When the United States went after al Qaeda and the Taliban, that was a right and proper response to 9/11 (I'm keeping LIHOP and MIHOP out of this post). Our troops kicked some serious butt, but then Bush turned his attention to Iraq. He should've finished the job in Afghanistan and put pressure on Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Pakistan for their parts with the 9/11 hijackers. As far as I'm concerned, those three countries are the real enemies. Iraq? Feh. I never bought it for a minute that a nation facing UN sanctions and no-fly zones was ever a clear and present danger. Saddam kept up the pretenses that he had WMDs to keep his neighbors at bay, and that balance of terror is what kept things stable in that region since 1991.

We can criticize Bush 41 for a lot of things, but the man was smart enough not to roll our tanks into Baghdad. He steered clear of the "noble goals" of the neocons.

[pacalo]

13. I have two issues with his otherwise fine article...

George Bush had the look of a man who knew he had made a royal hash of things in reaching for what most enlightened people would say was a noble goal: a stable, antiterrorist Iraq.

No, most enlightened people would say that Afghanistan should have been the mission, not his personal vendetta against Saddam Hussein.

In his televised address about Iraq, the president used the book-lined backdrop of the library in the White House to evoke the midwar FDR. This was supposed to be the kind of matter-of-fact, detail-filled radio address that the Old Man gave each week through the course of the last Good War.

'Fraid not. The book-lined backdrop of the library was used so that the microphones couldn't pick up the shouts of the anti-war protesters outside the Oval Office. For the same reason, David Gregory had to use a hand-held microphone outside the WH during an on-air report.

[MCMetal]

14. I always thought he just had a look of "STUPID"

George Bush had the look of a man who knew he had made a royal hash of things in reaching for what most enlightened people would say was a noble goal: a stable, antiterrorist Iraq.





That is a completely disingenuous statement ; people that (illegally) invade sovereign nations without provocation or any real tangible reason(s) , are in no way "noble" , nor are their intentions.


Invaders do not invade countries for the benefit of that country's citizens , either.
So I don't buy that "bringing democracy to Iraq" shit .........

[argyl]

15. Revisionist asshole. Bush's "noble goal" was the destruction of WMDs

that he knew full well didn't exist.Do you remember that crock,Howie? Hell yeah you do but it's better on one's career to jump the sinking ship of the USS Noble Goal than to admit that you shilled for an unjust war of aggression.

Bush "hating to lose?" This little twerp was a loser all his life until daddy's friends cut him in on a sweetheart deal to buy into the sale of the Texas Rangers baseball club,giving him the sham appearance of being a successful businessman.Bush's buy in money was the little pile he skipped away from Harken Energy with,one step away from an SEC investigation which,if Poppy hadn't been president at the time,would likely have resulted in Smirk going to jail.

Fineman,you're still a sycophant whore.You're just looking for a soft landing.

[PBass]

19. Agree that this is revisionist bullshit...

The (illegal) invasion of Iraq was knowingly predicated on phony evidence. They fixed the evidence in order to gin up support for an unnecessary war.

The whole "boy did Bush screw up!" theme conveniently ignores that the war never made a damn bit of sense in the first place.

[deutsey]

33. I imagine this dork was among the punditry laughing as Bush

"jokingly" looked for WMDs under a couch in the White House during a 2004 Gridiron Club skit.

All in good fun, after all.

:sarcasm:

[Maryland Liberal]

18. It doesnt take a Rocket Scientist....

to know- If the bushie were IMPEACHED, he couldnt continue the war.

[GOTV]

31. Yes he could. You need conviction to stop him, not impeachment.

And for conviction you need the acquiescence or 67 Senators.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

47. Impeach, Impeach, Impeach

Regardless of the outcome. It will serve to distract him..........

[NegSpin]

22. Bush and Lying

<I>Bush's political problem is not so much that he has lied to the American people—though he may well have done so—but that he seems for years to have been lying to himself.</I>

Come on, just say it. We could go through the LIST of Bush's lies. The man is a LIIIIIIAAAAAARRRRRRRR!

He deserves to have been impeached years ago.

[JHB]

23. Chim-Chim "makes profound sense"?!?!?

The president may well be right that we cannot afford to leave or lose in Iraq . He makes profound sense when he observes that a collapse of Iraq would mean the rise of a giant version of the Taliban's Afghanistan—with a million times the oil in the ground.

No, Howie, those of us who made those very arguements back before the invasion as a damn good reason not to do it were the "profound" ones (if stating the blindingly obvious counts as profundity).

Bush wouldn't recognize "profound" even if it were 80 proof and smelled like coke.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

25. The corporate media really struggles with all the cheering and high fives they did on the

way to the criminal occupation of Iraq.

First, they reported as if it was inevitable and Phil Donahue was fired from his show...

Second, they played snuggle wuggle with the troops and declared undying love and devotion to these mythical warriors, all without mentioning VA cuts, stop loss programs, etc...

Third, they trumped up every word and action by gwb as being bold and inspiring...

Fourth, they collectively swooned over his codpieice...

Fifth, they portrayed any politician or public figure who spoke out against the war as unpatriotic or treasonous...

And, SIXTH, they investigated nothing, every single highly questionable claim, event, distribution of funds, report from the ground, all worthy of detailed investigation, was shrugged off and dismissed, in order to focus on young, pretty women and girls who met foul play and getting to cover a "war", complete with explosions and good vs. bad.

The corporate media types, of which Fineman is part and parcel, must decide if the shredding of their credibility, not with us, but with those American citizens who only get their news via the tidbits fed to them by these outlets, is worth saving our country.

I'm not holding out much hope. Thank God for the internet. MKJ

[eowyn_of_rohan]

26. Speechwriters Evoke the Great Ones...

In his televised address about Iraq, the president used the book-lined backdrop of the library in the White House to evoke the midwar FDR. This was supposed to be the kind of matter-of-fact, detail-filled radio address that the Old Man gave each week through the course of the last Good War.

Did anyone else get Abe Lincoln vibes from some of the statements in shrub's speech last night? Example:
Tonight in Iraq, the Armed Forces of the United States are engaged in a struggle that will determine the direction of the global war on terror and our safety here at home.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

28. That is a great observation. I just did a cursory look through some of Lincoln's speeches and

writings, and I am struck by other similarities, as well.

MKJ

[eowyn_of_rohan]

41. Similar cadence, sentence structure, parallel wording....

I would love to know what you (and others) have found. I did some googling, and found this:

Bush's speechwriters have been reading American history. His address paraphrased some of the most celebrated orations in the nation's past, especially those delivered during wars, hot and cold. It echoed Lincoln's second inaugural, the messianic addresses of Woodrow Wilson during World War I, FDR's Four Freedoms speech, the Truman Doctrine address to Congress, and Kennedy's inaugural. Like Ronald Reagan, who loved to quote Tom Paine, Bush is a master at appropriating for conservative ends language associated with his opponents.

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0129-20.htm

(on edit) Here is another:
In Bush's "second gathering" (Lincoln called it his "second appearing"), the Texan evoked J.F.K.'s "survival of liberty" phrase to convey his central message: "The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands." Bush repeated that internationalist human-rights idea, with a slight change, in these words: "The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/21/opinion/21safire.html?ei=5090&en=865df8acf6ce8a7a&ex=1264050000&partner=rssuserland&pagewanted=print&position=

Really it is so lame, that the speechwriters are so obvious.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

27. must be difficult for Bush with the Neocons breathing down his neck on one hand

and the Democrats ready to claw him. I think he should resign.

[gasperc]

32. Bush went all in on this gambit

and he's lost, now he's trying to double down for a long shot win.

He's shown the world, terrorists, the Iraq insurgents that America can be hunkered down into a standstill. He's made was where we could have kept painstakingly worked for peace. And yes, it's painstaking work for peace, but at least it's not mortifying and gruesome like the mess Bush has made. He's lazy, he thought "containing" Iraq was fiddling with the problem. Well now he's created 1000 times the problem, his plans don't work, he doesn't have the guts to call for a draft. and he'll exit the presidency a loser, and history will never vindicate him.

[mrJJ]

34. Iranian Embassy Raided by US

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S.-led multinational forces detained six Iranians Thursday at Tehran's diplomatic mission in the northern city of Irbil, Iraqi officials said, ...

The U.S. military said it had taken six people into custody in the Irbil region but made no mention of a raid on the Iranian consulate.

The forces entered the building about 3 a.m., detaining the Iranians and confiscating computers and documents, two senior local Kurdish officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information. Irbil is a city in the Kurdish-controlled north, 220 miles from Baghdad.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070111/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

[karendc]

35. As a movement analyst, I have something to add

Please see what I wrote here:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/1/11/105125/883

[Contrary1]

48. I just viewed about 5 minutes

of the speech on the White House site. Is this the same version that was broadcast on the networks last night?

Really strange.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/01/20070110-7.html

[SquireJons]

36. I have mixed feelings on this.

First let me say that I didn't see the speech nor read the transcript of it. Why watch or read blatant lies and propaganda, except to know what your enemies are up to? I already know what he's up too, and have read some very scary scenarios of what can come of asshats new "plan."

But I saw that picture that is being circulated in the MSM and he looked defeated. In fact, every picture of bush these days seems to portray him as lost and feeble. Now, I'm all for * having a complete break down over what he has done, but, unfortunately, he is still the face of this country. And at no time since Carter has the face of this country looked so weak. (I like Carter, but it’s true)

This is not a peaceful world by any stretch of the imagination, and we have many enemies. Some of those enemies are really bad guys, not just Iraqi nationalists wanting their country back. It is not in our best interest to have the country represented by a little lost boy, which is exactly how he looks now.

I'm very worried, and think both Bush and Cheney need to go ASAP. Shrub is an imbecile and weak now, not cocky (remember "bring it on?" well that's all gone) and Cheney is corrupt and evil. Under their plan, we might expand the war in Iraq to include the Shia majority, which is insane and could cause the conflict to go regional, drawing in Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Turkey… maybe even Pakistan and their nukes. Then India... It's a formula for Armageddon which is something that * believes in and actually thinks is a good thing. (along with his minions of fundamentalists)

I wasn't really worried about this thing flashing into something truly world threatening until now. But now I think it's possible. Rational minds are not winning the day, here or in the Middle East. Despite the election, despite the rejection of the neocons by the republican establishment, despite the wishes of all the countries in the region... we are walking to a giant slaughter house.

They must be stopped and it appears the only way to do that is to remove them from office. This is a major constitutional challenge and one the whole country and world should be interested in. Unfortunately, it’s no longer in our hands, but in the hands of the neocons and the US Congress. We did our part in the last election. Let’s hope they get it right.

[yardwork]

40. A lot of us have felt this way since 2000 or before

We certainly knew that invading Iraq was a terrible mistake that would lead to exactly these disasters. For a long time we were ignored and ridiculed. Finally, the rest of the country is waking up and noticing that we're in a mess. Now what?

[followthemoney]

42. This constitution needs a "vote of no confidence" amendment...

After all of his lies we still have his ugly mug on tv. We stand by helplessly while a mad man drives nations into the dirt, our own included. We wring our hands in anxiety over the next disaster to befall us, gazing at a constitution for an answer. A constitution he has declared invalid.

I don't know who is crazier, the madman or the nation constrained to obey him to the death. See you all in hell.

[Bake]

43. I thought he looked scared too.

Scared sh*tless. Robert Gates, just this morning, sounded less than confident about the plan, saying "IF this works ..." and sounding like he already knew it wouldn't.

Bake

[Bob Loblaw]

44. Of course his face showed fear...

he was in a "libary".

[drone]

46. Did he

I did not watch the Chimp. Did he do a lot of forced smiling like he usually does?

[Lord Balto]

51. Quack!

I watched excerpts on Amy Goodman's War and Peace Report and I must say, he didn't look scared to me. He looked sedated, and just barely aware that he had an electrode up his ass that Dick Cheney controlled from a remote location and planned on using if George said anything off message.

[Major Hogwash]

50. Back in 2004, Fineman used to brag that he "discovered" Bush.

He acted like he was so smart for knowing Bush back then.

If I were Howard, I wouldn't be telling anyone that today.