I was shocked and offended to see a traitor to our country like Tony Blankley contributing to Truthdig. I have never heard anything from Tony that resembles the truth. He is one of the principal enemies of truth. If it wasn’t for smart guys like Blanley shilling for the Whitehouse in the guise of analysis there would be no war in Iraq, indeed the Moron and Chief would never have been elected.

Please Bob, just because he can sound reasonable is no reason to let him into to the no bullshit zone. It’s when these guys seem to make sense that they are at their most dangerous. Blankey is the worst of the worst because he is so “reasonable”.

It’s a shame that Bob let Tony use his personal relationship to infect his site about truth with his right-wing drivel. Ever since they were humiliated in November their new strategy is to “advise democrats” about how to keep their promises. And of course, all they are doing is employing their tried and true divide and conquer techniques. Everyone knows that if right-wing disinformation stopped flowing for one election cycle there would be no Republican party. They only ever deliver for the top 1%. That’s not enough votes to win a bathtub big enough to drown government in.

Tony Blankley talking about honesty is hilarious, but it would’ve been more believable if Andy Borowitz wrote it.

Skruff - DM - Thank you for pointing out my mis-statement about American voters. With two years left of Rovian right-wing spin to apply to any situation I am asking too much of our electorate.

I stand corrected.

From 127001 (Comment #47540) to Druthers )Comment #47657) ...

(gee I miss threaded messages, LOL)

Druthers, You are right. I didn’t word my comment accurately enough. You said it much better.

Thanks for pointing that out.

“To review the bidding: (1) The Democrats cheerfully campaigned all last year on “redeploying” our troops out of Iraq.”

Not quite correct Tony. The dem’s campaigned all last year helping the US citizens recognize the disastrous policies of this administration and its rubber-stamp congress. Runaway debt, corruption, failure to address the needs of the military, and a multitude of other issues. And they were angry ... not cheerful! The dem’s have already honored some of the commitments made during their campaign and will continue down the list.

Yes, the war was an issue ... but only after a year of listening to the people demand it end did they move beyond simple redeployment. I agree with you, ending the war should be at the top of the list (you do mean that, right?) But please don’t try to alter facts to make your point. We the people made the war the number one issue ... they get it now!

“Their problem is that many Democratic Party leaders don’t want to actually cut off the money necessary to fight the war for fear that if things go badly, they might be held responsible by the voters in 2008 for a Middle East catastrophe.”

Not correct Tony. The dem’s are afraid if they cut off the funding the repercussions may hurt the troops. They have already encountered angry constituents all over the country demanding to know why they allowed Bush to start this war! They’ve done their penance. Excuses, then explanations and finally humble, sometimes tearful apologies. The comparison needs to be made ... unlike the president, they have acknowledged their part in the Middle East Catastrophe and unlike the president see ending the war as a better solution than making it worse by escalating it.

“One of the panelists on “The McLaughlin Group” (Pat wasn’t it?) asserted to me that President Bush had enough money “sloshing around the Pentagon” not to need new congressionally appropriated money. But, of course, the president cannot spend the already appropriated defense funds willy-nilly.

HE CAN’T?
Tony, don’t you read the news?

Since the Iraq war began, $18 billion has been awarded to Halliburton, much in “no bid” contracts and $9 billion is missing. “Trance” already used up has been mismanaged and misappropriated. Private Contractors can’t account for funds, projects started have been abandoned. Do we even need to go into the bad equipment, broken down vehicles, no money for parts, spoiled MRE’s, no body armor, no fuel, for gosh sake sometimes NO AMMO? And what about no salaries for that Iraqi army the president seems to think will be there?

If the president and his Defense Secretary could have so badly managed their war (and our money) in the past ... spending those billions willy-nilly ... what will prevent them from doing exactly the same thing again? OK, we have a new Secretary of Defense. Problem is we don’t have a NEW president! We all know, he will do exactly as he pleases.

This “surge” (AKA escalation) must force the dem’s hand. Those who oppose him are caught between a cliff and a steamroller. If they take a stand they risk falling off. If they don’t, they risk being mowed over in the next election. Wouldn’t it be nice if it were that simple? Orders have come down, and as in the past the president will follow orders, irregardless of what the dems do.

Iraq, crippled by years of sanctions, still recovering from the first Bush war should have been a cake-walk. But this administration couldn’t even win a war of their own choosing. Which forces us to accept, either this administration is grossly incompetent, or that was the plan. Which in turn, leaves only one viable option, IMPEACHMENT!

“So let’s follow Speaker Pelosi’s sage advice and speak honestly to the American people about the war.”
Yes, lets.

Comment #47540
“We need leadership that will be more concerned about today and tomorrow, and not about what may or may not happen in 2008 or any other time.”

Certainly we need principled representatives, one can dream but:
We need people to represent us… not lead us.  We are a constitutional Republic and our elected officials are there to represent “us,” and to protect the CONSTITUTION.
If we tag along they will lead us over the cliff.  Voters supposedly trotted behind Bush-Cheney for a second term in 2004 in spite of an unending list of failed policies and projects, Iraq one of many.
Congress accepted apartheid, becoming a second class body of governmant when Constitionally they are the first.

Why is Blankley on TruthDig?  The right-wing fanatics control all the media and have numerous un-hinged right-wing bloggers.

I beg you, Truthdig, investigate the Washington Times for yourself.

From The Southern Poverty Law Center, http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp ?sid=65

America’s Newspaper?

The Washington Times has a long record of hyped stories, shoddy reporting and failure to correct errors

By Heidi Beirich and Bob Moser

In the summer of 1999, The Washington Times ignited a scandal that embarrassed Al Gore’s fledgling presidential campaign — and became a famous example of the paper’s talent for floating sensational stories into the mainstream media, even when those stories turn out to be riddled with factual errors and laced with baldly deceptive rhetoric.

--

From Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Times

The Times is politically conservative. It was President Ronald Reagan’s preferred newspaper. Some have cited it along with the Fox News Channel and talk radio as epitomizing the “conservative media”.

It also prints op-ed and opinion articles that include liberal and Democratic party voices; liberal columnist Clarence Page is a regular contributor. Also featured are libertarian opinion pieces, almost always from scholars at the DC located Cato Institute.

--

From Sourcewatch, http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Washington_Times

In a speech on the twentieth anniversary of the founding of the Washington Times, Moon explained his motivation behind establishing the paper. “I founded The Washington Times as an expression of my love for America and to fulfill the Will of God, who seeks to establish America in His Providence,” he said.

“In the context of God’s Will, there needed to be a newspaper that had the philosophical and ideological foundation to encourage and enlighten the people and leaders of America,” he explained.

In Moon’s analysis, there was an important role for the paper in bolstering support for the continuance of the cold war against Russia."The Washington Times’ editorials and columns supported the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) at a time when many were trying to block this critical development,” he said.

“I do not have the slightest doubt that God used The Washington Times to help bring an end to the most pernicious worldwide dictatorship in history and gave freedom to tens of millions of people!” he said.

--

Comment #47360 by DennisD on 1/13 at 7:22 am says:

“Not even American voters have that short of an attention span.”

Wanna bet?

They forgot that Saddam was our boy before he was the bad guy.
They forgot Reagan’s Iran Contra debicle which should have deep-sixed the party of Lincoln FOREVER.
They forgot Bush installed Noriega before he had to remove him.
They forgot Bush’s role in the murder of Salvatore Allende.
They forgot (That decent guy) Ford’s complicity in the genocide at East Timor.
They forgot Prescott Bush’s bank did business with the Nazis during time of war.
They forgot their mandatory high school reading...particularly “1984”

We should not need to single out our politicians for honesty, we should expect it from anyone elected to public office. While I respect Pelosi, I am still waiting for someone among those for whom I voted to take the direct, serious action needed to bring an end to the outrageous and illegal activities of the current administration. Words are not enough.

Read “The Power Elite”, by Mills, then “Securing the Realm”,(on the web) by the same neocons who control Bush, and you will realize the USA is doing Israel’s bidding in the middle east, which means Iran is next, then Syria.Yes, it’s all in print, twice, by the same authors in “Plan for the New American Century” , (also on web) .

I have to go with Comment #47360 by DennisD.

Reading this article I had the sudden flash of a cartoon with both the Congress and Senate members, each politician with a full length mirror accompanying them through the days.

There’s a title on the mirror “2008” and they were constantly checking their ‘reflection’ before they would say or do anything. Meanwhile, just outside the doors are global protests and riots, ‘secret meetings’ and all the other things that go when someone who is SUPPOSED to be making decisions doesn’t act in a decisive manner because they are not committed to a goal.

This was a reason I was impressed by the Truthdig article about Kucinich. We need leadership that will stay the course, even when things look bleak because of nay-sayers and critics who have personal private agendas.

We need leadership that will be more concerned about today and tomorrow, and not about what may or may not happen in 2008 or any other time. I think this may be one reason Kennedy has been so much more outspoken (although not quite enough yet). When reading some of the things he has said, I was wondering if he either finally feels confident about his constituents support to reelect, or he really isn’t focusing on reelection now, but on getting the job done for the moment and worrying about campaigning later and in the more appropriate place ... with his own voters.

he knows best the dubious prospects for bipartisanship who serviced so powerful an agent of its destruction. this episode of rational thought is applied selectively. what orwell said.

A brief comment in response to “#47360 by DennisD” who argues that the American voters could not have such amnesia as to blame the Democrats for the Iraqi disaster if it is still going badly after two years of a Democratic Congress. 

I have to disagree, I think it is inevitable that two things will be reported on Fox News as truth and positioned as a credible “he said, she said” argument by the rest of the media:

1) The Democrats have to share the blame for the Iraqi War because they didn’t prevent it when they had no power and have not cleared it all up since they got control of Congress.

2) The massive debt repayments that will dog the economic policies of the next half a dozen administrations, while they pay for the current fiscal excess and tax breaks for the rich, will be an unavoidable fact of history for which the Republicans will never be brought to account.

It is hard to imagine another period in history where so much of a nations treasure and blood has been so ill-spent that did not result in a huge tragedy.  (French Revolution? Fall of the Roman Empire?  Any others that come to mind???)

Well ... thanks Tony for some common sense there.  I am a habitual listener to Left, Right and Centre but I must admit that I normally find that you modus operandi is to run off some sensible sounding points of fact or reasonable opinions then to make a huge illogical leap to a conclusion that the Republican position is correct and valid (a very hard set of positions to defend over that last six years I’ll grant you).

This time, though, you correctly point out that the Democratic Congress can indeed force a Presidential veto which would be upheld by the Republican minority but it would certainly put a lot of pressure on the Republican Senators and Representatives.  You also correctly point out that only a PR Spin Doctor or a simpleton would refer to the increase in troop levels as a “surge” ... it is clearly an “escalation” and will not result in anything but higher troop levels for quite a while.

What you do not go on to say, is that this course of action does not have the support of any credible military planners (William Kristol doesn’t quite fit the bill) but would have the fortunate outcome of prolonging the war well into the Presidential campaigns for ‘08 or even until the next Presidency.  How convenient for Bush and the Republicans ... how inconveninent for the troops, the Iraqis and everyone else in the world really.

Truthdig publishing Tony Blankley? And writing about “honest talk”? Get serious will you?

The Washington Times is one of the worst examples of honest reporting that currently exists, i.e. it is filled with extremely polemic diatribte and right-wing propaganda.

Blankley is a windbag. In the above article he talks out of both sides of his mouth, and is typically using flowering descriptions of democrats to seem to be kind, yet underneath he’s a sneering, snide, Right Winger.

#47328 Big Al writes “
Well, Blankley is a strange one to call for honesty, having led the charge to lie us into this war in the first place, and now being at the forefront of those making the phoney case against Iran (in order to get us to bomb Iran to smithereens for Israel).

He only wants Pelosi to be honest withdrawal from Iraq this because it entails admitting America’s defeat, which he thinks Americans can’t stomach.”

I second your writeup with one exception. The withdrawal from Iraq frees GIs to fight Tom Blakley’s Iran war. I do not trust this man nor the paper he works for. Washington Times is war loving right wing extemists’ outlet owned by Sun Myung Moon/Unification Church. Their followers are called moonies. Some say Moonie continues to fund WT’s $100 million losses each year to promote extreme right wing conservative causes.

Enough of words, we need actions, and since our elected representatives are failing us, it’s do it ourselves time, starting with round-the-clock peaceful demonstrations outside the offices of every member of Congress.  Too radical?  Nonsense, the alternative is what’s radical, since we don’t stop this war, our children and grandchildren will end up cussing us out for having left them a dying planet.

Poor Tony. He looks worse week by week on McLaughlin.

It must be terrible for him to find out that he’s been backing the wrong horse all along, like finding out there’s no Santa Claus when you’re a kid or no God when you’re an adult.

A rational and critical mind is the only defense.

Tony, right you are, and I’m glad to see you are loosing weight.  But none of this will count for you or Democrats/Republicans without your getting verbal about the 9/11 coverup. If you care for information try 9/11 AND AMERICAN EMPIRE: INTELLECTUALS SPEAK OUT.  Maybe you do not care, maybe you are a creampuff and don’t concern your drink with your grandchildren.

Huh?  Why is this ideological moron (however erudite otherwise) being given a voice on a site that’s supposed to spread ‘truth’?  Just because he’s on Left Right and Center doesn’t mean his views constitute a proper opposing perspective.  I mean, this guy still claims to trust Bush—how much evidence of blind bias do you need?

Well written, reasonable and rationally argued, balanced… OH MY GOD!!! There is such a thing as a conservative who is not a complete moron!!!

What are you still doing at the Moonie times, I have to wonder. You should really be starting your own center-right paper (balancing out the right-wing Wall Street Journal and the extreme right Moonie Times); you could actually bring some rational thought to the debate.

Thank you Mr Blankley; unfortunately, your voice is being drowned out by the mindless noise coming out for the right.

You want honesty? Let’s start with the truth about 9/11:

http://www.total911.info/2007/01/hustler-investigates- 911-inside-job.html

“Their problem is that many Democratic Party leaders don’t want to actually cut off the money necessary to fight the war for fear that if things go badly, they might be held responsible by the voters in 2008 for a Middle East catastrophe.”

This is absolute BS. Not even American voters have that short of an attention span. “If things go badly” - it’s been bad from the start, only gotten worse and will not end well when it does.
Democrats - listen up - you were elected to get us out of Iraq and soon to be Iran. If you don’t get it done we’ll find someone who will. Play politics with your own lives not others.
Pelosi - get on with what you were elected to do. The no smoking ban, Capitol parking space allocations and new House lunch menu haven’t exactly rocked the D.C. boat. It’s time to start rocking, or give the job to someone else who will. Photo-op feel good time is over.
Stand up for something or lie down for everything. You can’t have it both ways.

Stopping the “surge” is not enough. Cutting off funding is not enough. Impeachment is not enough. We need a revolution. Some options before us:

All that takes is to have the military on our side. It’s possible. There have been defections to Canada. A lot of the generals are upset/resigning in protest. Now if we could just persuade the Secret Service! Probably just talking about this is going to get me in trouble. Oops, I forgot, we don’t have free speech anymore.

Seventy percent of the public is against the policies of the Bush Junta, so perhaps the military is not needed. I envision the march on Washington marching right up the White House doors and demanding the President’s ouster. Of course, we can no longer get anywhere near the WH. They anticipated that. After 9/11 all the pieces of the police state fell into place. We’d be trapped and herded into detention camps. We certainly wouldn’t make it onto the 6 o’clock news. The media belongs to Bush&Co;.

How about offering these poor young people going into the military some alternative incentives? Start a pool to help pay their college costs? Ooops, scratch that, the military is recruiting non-citizens by promising immigration (if they live through the perma war).

What will it take for us to all stand up and say “ENOUGH!” “Basta!” What if Bush gave a speech baldly declaring his intent to bomb the hell out of every country in the Middle East that will not bow to our wishes (which appear to coincidentally coincide with Israel’s wishes)?

What if he came out and said that millions would be killed and the countries ruined with radiation. Iraq is already ruined with radiation (’depleted’ uranium). Will that be enough for us to rise up and destroy this administration? This is happening, people! Isn’t there some other intelligence agency in the world that can help us perform a covert operation to extract these assholes from office?

How about a one-day strike? March on Washington on Jan 27 or else STAY HOME FOR PEACE.

I’m sick of all this blogging without action. We WILL be held accountable. IF you live and IF your descendants live, someday you will have to look in your children’s or grandchildren’s eyes and tell them what you did, not what you said, to stop this madness. Go ahead and call your congress people. But in addition, DO something.

Don’t let them bomb Iran/Syria. Such action will set up an irreversible chain of events. We’ll be devasted economically if not militarily. Our nation’s experiment with democracy is ending, don’t let them take our country. We have a limited time to do this.

Tony Blankley is editorial page editor of The Washington Times. To find out more about Tony Blankley and read his past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate website at http://www.creators.com.

No...No...No

Well, Blankley is a strange one to call for honesty, having led the charge to lie us into this war in the first place, and now being at the forefront of those making the phoney case against Iran (in order to get us to bomb Iran to smithereens for Israel).

He only wants Pelosi to be honest withdrawal from Iraq this because it entails admitting America’s defeat, which he thinks Americans can’t stomach.

Well, why don’t the pollsters start asking Americans, on a regular basis, “Do you favor withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, even if that means that many people throughout the world will call this a defeat for the US?”

Let’s see how that number evolves as the quagmire deepens.

I did a double-take when I saw this sack of rancid bacon-drippings’ name on a TruthDig piece. Then I banged my head against the wall—hard!—a couple of times when I found myself agreeing with him. Now that my vision has cleared, all I can say is “Right on! Democrats, you’d better be as honest as this dishonest man says you should be. Otherwise, you’re as weaselly as he is.”

Meanwhile, this is proof of reports that the sinking ship that is the USS Bush has been lightened considerably through the loss of poundage when a large rat leapt from it…