Despicable

I have no words left that can adequately describe the depravity of the Bush administration. Everytime I think I can no longer be shocked, I am.

This is a must read from Kevin Drum, digging deeper into Seymour Hirsch's reporting on how intent Cheney is on starting a war with Iran. So intent that there was at least some consideration given to having U.S. soldiers kill other U.S. soldiers (themselves masquerading as Iranian gunboats) in order to gain U.S. public support for a strike. And the fact that they didn't go through with it is beside the point. That their minds could even conceive of it and discuss it as a plausible option tells us everything we need to know about how important it is that these people be held to some kind of accountability. They simply must not be allowed to populate the government ever again.

While the Press Faints Cheney Keeps Maneuvering on Iran

One simply cannot rely upon the MSM to tell us what is important. Today, they are all aghast and atwitter over Wes Clark’s comment on Face the Nation, and have deliberately clipped, twisted, and mischaracterized his words as an attack on McCain’s war record. The Columbia Journalism Review has the original quote and a good article.

Appearing as a surrogate for Barack Obama on CBS’s “Face the Nation”, Clark, in reference to John McCain, said: I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war…But he hasn’t held executive responsibility. That large squadron in the Navy that he commanded—that wasn’t a wartime squadron. He hasn’t been there and ordered the bombs to fall.

When moderator Bob Schieffer interjected that “Barack Obama has not had any of those experiences, either, nor has he ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down”,
Clark responded: “Well, I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.”

A perfectly reasonable observation to make, it seems to me, not an assault on either McCain’s war record or his patriotism. Too bad Obama threw him under the bus so quickly. I guess Clark’s audition for VP is over.

And while they clutch their hearts at this unbearable assault on their hero, St. McCain, other things are going on that real reporters used to cover.

Terry Gross had Sy Hersch on her NPR show today to deliver his latest bombshell, it seems that the fourth branch of government, located in Dick Cheney’s office, is not about to let up on it’s pursuit of conflict with Iran. This coincides with stories that have been murmuring elsewhere (h/t TPM) about the Administration’s haste in anticipation of an Obama victory.

Emptywheel has the best systhesis I’ve seen of why Hersch’s reporting is important.

These people are nuts.