NY Times editorial: Bush hit "creepy low" distorting Kerry's words in Swiftboat replay

[DeepModem Mom]

Editorial
The Great Divider
Published: November 2, 2006

As President Bush throws himself into the final days of a particularly nasty campaign season, he’s settled into a familiar pattern of ugly behavior. Since he can’t defend the real world created by his policies and his decisions, Mr. Bush is inventing a fantasy world in which to campaign on phony issues against fake enemies.

In Mr. Bush’s world, America is making real progress in Iraq. In the real world, as Michael Gordon reported in yesterday’s Times, the index that generals use to track developments shows an inexorable slide toward chaos. In Mr. Bush’s world, his administration is marching arm in arm with Iraqi officials committed to democracy and to staving off civil war. In the real world, the prime minister of Iraq orders the removal of American checkpoints in Baghdad and abets the sectarian militias that are slicing and dicing their country.

In Mr. Bush’s world, there are only two kinds of Americans: those who are against terrorism, and those who somehow are all right with it. Some Americans want to win in Iraq and some don’t. There are Americans who support the troops and Americans who don’t support the troops. And at the root of it all is the hideously damaging fantasy that there is a gulf between Americans who love their country and those who question his leadership.

Mr. Bush has been pushing these divisive themes all over the nation, offering up the ludicrous notion the other day that if Democrats manage to control even one house of Congress, America will lose and the terrorists will win. But he hit a particularly creepy low when he decided to distort a lame joke lamely delivered by Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts. Mr. Kerry warned college students that the punishment for not learning your lessons was to “get stuck in Iraq.” In context, it was obviously an attempt to disparage Mr. Bush’s intelligence. That’s impolitic and impolite, but it’s not as bad as Mr. Bush’s response. Knowing full well what Mr. Kerry meant, the president and his team cried out that the senator was disparaging the troops. It was a depressing replay of the way the Bush campaign Swift-boated Americans in 2004 into believing that Mr. Kerry, who went to war, was a coward and Mr. Bush, who stayed home, was a hero....When the president of the United States gleefully bathes in the muck to divide Americans into those who love their country and those who don’t, it is destructive to the fabric of the nation he is supposed to be leading....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/02/opinion/02thu1.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

[LittleClarkie]

1. Thanks guys. I'll have to buy a paper tomorrow

Just to reward ya.

[liberaldemocrat7]

31. SLOBOGEORGE MILOSEBUSH DESPICABLE BINARY DIVIDER.

yes that describes George.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

49. Frankly, I think "Slobodubya" sounds better. -nt

[Hailtothechimp]

2. The last part is the best

"the nation he is supposed to be leading" indeed.

Bush is not a leader. He is a bully who expects to get his way. And he has enough "satellites" around him to get it.

This country truly is fucked.

[lyonn]

3. This is a stinging Editorial - Should be front page tho. nt

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

4. k

[wake.up.america]

5. Nicely put. Very well written.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

9. b

:blush:

Oh, you mean the editorial. :blush:

[wake.up.america]

14. Oh, I think you write very well.

[texasleo]

6. stinging

[Democrafty]

7. k & r.

It WAS a creepy thing to do.

[ruiner4u]

8. I can't imagine why any sane person would want to run for pres in '08

if its a repug it will be more of the same BS of putting flowers in pots of shit until the economy tanks and all hell breaks loose...

if its a dem they will be blamed from day one and will not be able to get anything productive done thanks to news media...

It truly is amazing how one man has screwed up the world in six years..

[tridim]

12. Democrats have done amazing things in trying times

We can certainly do it again.

[NavyDavy]

52. damn straight!!! nay sayers need not apply, hehehe

[Kierkegaard]

57. The irritating and irrational part is...

we never get due credit. All of our successes as a nation are 'overhang' from previous Republophile administrations, and all of their failures are 'bad policy' created by previous Democratic administrations. I can't believe the audacity of these inept losers. The party of personal responsibility MY ASS!

[a la izquierda]

79. FDR, baby! n/t

[MGKrebs]

43. Makes ya' wonder if the Repubs want to lose (a little bit)

so they have an excuse to pull out of Iraq and "blame" it on the Dems.
Save face with the base I guess.

[Canuckistanian]

10. Well spoken

Never has a President of the United States been so divisive. I hope his end is completely without dignity, as befits his behaviour.

[Binka]

33. Dignity Would Not Deign To Come Within 500 Miles Of This Buffoon n/t

[politicasista]

11. K&R!

:kick:

[Straight Shooter]

13. bush doesn't care about this country.

He cares about himself. It's all about him. He really doesn't give a flying fig about anyone, least of all the troops. bush believes his life of privilege entitles him to think of other people as disposable units in executing his agenda. He is devoid of conscience.

This editorial will have no effect on bush, because he does not care about this country. Period.

[wake.up.america]

15. Agreed. The sooner everyone realizes it, the the more effective we can be.

This is all about how GWB and Co. can gain an advantage.

[ima_sinnic]

44. Katrina should have made this obvious to even the dumbest, but

I guess there will always be that little fraction of the population that is too stupid to even wipe their own @$$.

the little pretender fouling up the WH proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that "you can fool some of the people all of the time . . ." I guess that is what they've been counting on for the past 6 yrs, their base of fools.

[NoSunWithoutShadow]

48. Well at least Poppy will be really pissed.

Poppy admits to reading the NYT Editorial Page every day and complains how hurt and angry he gets at the negative editorials, Op-Eds and letters. Wonder what he really thinks of Junior and the final,un-fixable mess he's created. I don't even think Jim Baker can rescue bush this time.

[colorado_ufo]

65. DimSon is still family.

What else could Bush the Elder say? Even if he may agree with what he reads.

[TheMadMonk]

81. The true test of leadership is to be able to sacrifices one's...

own for the good of one's nation.

[colorado_ufo]

82. Actually, my point exactly.

[nolabels]

58. In a nutshell

The obvious should never be complicated

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

16. Kerry helping Dems to snatch defeat from jaws of victory

who can we donate to in order to get Kerry to shut up until
after the election?

It is so hard to believe that his wrote his famous speech from the Vietnam
years, the one about "how can you as a man to be the last one to die
for a war that shouldn't be or something like that...."

He just isn't in tune with regular people, or at least he comes across that
way.

He already conceded one election, I hope he won't concede this one too.

Where's all those millions for recounts we gave him?

Lets leave the speaking to the populists of the party, who can talk
without putting their feet in their mouths.

[blm]

19. The RW spun that eloquent testimony of Kerry's, too. They editted and chopped

that up to make him sound like he hated troops. Or have you forgotten.

BTW - doesn't our most golden-throated politician get grilled to this day by the media for "depends what the meaning of is is" and a few other verbal gaffes that contributed to Bush2 getting in office in the first place?

[NavyDavy]

60. oh shut up! thats what we need more Dems bashing Sen Kerry

so what repug are you working for? because this does no good for the Democrat party...

[lyonn]

17. The more one thinks about this Editorial the more disturbed

one should get. Even Sullivan made a remark that this election is more like an intervention than election. Our president is truly going over the edge and hopefully those who are close to him and see this can prevent a disaster. It is late and maybe this day has been too long and all this creepy stuff is getting to me. Never have politics been so screwed up, dirty and illegal. As insane as our Leader is he has no clue. He really does believe what his handlers tell him, no thought, he just got stuck on stupid and repeats his lines daily, repeating to himself and anyone listening how Tough he is, oh and strong. When he gets out his chain saw and starts cutting the brush around the White House they may remove him from the building.

[EVDebs]

21. Bush = Captain Queeg nt

[muriel_volestrangler]

38. Sort of; but the film says Queeg started off an honourable, sane man

who was broken by the war. Bush never had honour in the first place.

[liberaldemocrat7]

32. Bush's tactics remind me of Ferdinand Marcos

complete with stolen elections and divisive scapegoating.

Instead of the wife having thousands of pairs of shoes Bush has collected 2,800 dead.

[blm]

56. Paul Krugman had the guts to state that it was NEWSMEDIA who created Bush

by making him to be larger than life, a cowboy, and a heroic figure post 9-11.

It is pathetic that any Democrat or any citizen should have to fight an entire corporate media machine to hear even the most basic truths.

[lyonn]

64. Gee folks, I thought my chain saw comment would get a laugh

from someone, I did. Can't you visualize that idiot taking down the shrubs around the White House and smiling for the cameras?

[A Simple Game]

83. Not just Sullivan, many are starting to elude to the fact that

* might not be right in the head.

Are they setting him up for a fall as if to say, "gee folks if only we had know sooner, we could have stopped him." "Oh, well, see it was all his fault." "We've taken care of the problem now, so please don't blame the Republicans."

Bush gets to go to the pig farm and play with a toy chain saw, and the Republicans get to carry on undercover.

[Bluebear]

18. 'a fantasy world in which to campaign on phony issues against fake enemies'

Indeed!

[applegrove]

20. Glad they caught it.

[ChiciB1]

22. Guess They're Catching The Keith Olberman Bug... Keith Is A

leader, but it's good that NYT has decided to follow along. What took ya so long???

Yes, I am dissing NYT to some extent even though they are considered to be more Democratic. However it's only been in the past 4 to 6 months or even less that they have actually stood up to The IDIOT!!!

[pacalo]

23. Awesome!

I made a list of all the delicious adjectives, verbs, adverbs, & nouns used to describe Bush's behavior:

Ugly behavior

Inventing a fantasy world

Campaigning on phony issues & fake enemies

Bush’s world vs. real world

Pushing divisive themes

Creepy

Swift-boated Americans

Depressing

Gleefully bathes in the muck to divide Americans

Destructive

Never missed a chance to wave the bloody flag of 9/11


And my favorite..."Mr." Bush

[civildisoBDence]

77. Rushlike. Limbaughesque.

How far down has the presidency been dragged when Chimpy McFlightsuit has to call in to the Rush Limbaugh Show to trash a decorated veteran over a missing preposition in a punchline????

Newsprism

[pacalo]

80. Disgusting, isn't it.

I never thought I'd see a president of this country try to divide it with such contempt. He earned non-Republicans' contempt by being such a partisan, radical leader & the spoiled rich kid can't fathom that he might be wrong.

[melody]

24. excellent editorial, but ...

There remains this idea that "spanking Bush" will put him right. Bush hasn't gone
"wrong" at all. He's doing exactly what he was meant to do -- divide and destroy
our country.

[Hamlette]

25. kick for a very moving piece....n/t

[greeneyedboy]

26. appropriately scathing. i smell lame duck roasting in the air.

[K8-EEE]

27. Creepy is right!! I'm hitting newsstand tomorrow for sure.

Thanks NYT....Creepy is exactly the word I used, and also disrespectful to tell the troops that Kerry, a soldier himself, said that when he had very quickly clarified he meant BUSH! Then Bush goes and repeats that lie knowing the military would hear it...USING THEM FOR HIS OWN POWER TRIPPING AS ALWAYS, DISREGARDING THE TRUTH COMPLETELY AS ALWAYS!

[quiet.american]

28. Let me answer the last question in the piece -- No.

They leave us wondering whether this president will ever be willing or able to make room for bipartisanship, compromise and statesmanship in the two years he has left in office.

Why must NYT and the Washington Post, amongst others, almost always end an otherwise strong editorial with cop-out lines like the above.

They've got to be kidding if they'd been holding out any other kind of hope up until now that Bush was somehow going to get anywhere near being a normal human being, let alone exhibit anything approaching statesmanship. Why continue on and on and on to give him the benefit of the doubt. They've got to be kidding.

[NightOwwl]

29. I totally agree.

It was a kick-ass article until the final sentence.

Talk about going out with a whimper.

[Demit]

41. Agree. They must be the last ones still wondering.

Bipartisanship? Compromise? Statesmanship? In the same sentence as Bush? Somebody at the NYT is still smoking the good shit.

[Pacifist Patriot]

51. Truly could have gone without saying.

[Jack Rabbit]

30. K/R

!!

[Major Hogwash]

34. Bush is delusional and 37% of the electorate is too.

These are people that can't come to terms with reality -

people that can't accept the fact that their President is a phony -

that their President lied to them about WMD's in Iraq.

So, they point at Kerry and put Purple Heart bandaids on their cheeks and laugh like hyenas and say "look at him, look at that fool".

2815 dead Americans later, it's no longer just a sham, but a harsh reality that they just can't deal with.

The entire country of Iraq is now headed toward complete chaos.

Yet it's too hard for them to accept as the truth.

So, they tell lies about Democrats wanting the terrorists to win, to come here to kill us and stay stuck in their delusion.

Stuck in Iraq.

No way to get out now.

Not without first admitting defeat.

And that is something they can not do.

But, they can still point their bony fingers at Kerry and say "look at him, see what he said".

They have no shame.

[SammyWinstonJack]

36. !

:applause:

[blue cat]

45. Thanks Major Hogwash

Well put. I'm so pissed about this, I woke up earlier this am to have time to get on the computer and read about this shit.

[malaise]

35. Looks like they're all

learning from Keith Olbermann. Great editorial.

[Danger Mouse]

37. most definitely...

agreed!
:kick:
at this point, no word describes Bush better than 'creepy' :)

[B Calm]

39. Bush dressed in a tux making jokes about no WMD's here... wasn't

making fun of our soldiers in Iraq??????????

[BlueIris]

40. Man, the post-"remark" fall-out is just getting more and more bizarre.

This is the weirdest effect I've yet seen it have. Seriously. The NY-fucking-Times choosing to use this as an opportunity to criticize Bush? WTF?

[BootinUp]

42. They should have just titled it "Thats kinda Creepy"

excellent stuff anyways. ;)

[Bad Penny]

46. ...

[senseandsensibility]

47. Good for them

k and r!

[The Watchman]

50. Media makes hay for repubs

this fits nicely into the story line for the repubs as the "comeback kids" start their resurgance when evil elitest john kerry uses his evil french tatics to insult our troops and profess his desire to enter a homosexual marriage with Osama Bin-Laden(or in TN, Harold Ford.)

Fox news is carrying the torch for this pseudo-scandle while our troops die in Iraq and the leader yields to that country's eventual supreame leader, Moqtada al Sadr.


Be Vigilant.

[Kolesar]

53. I see this as a "make up penalty" for the f'up on the last call

The referees (the NY Times), fouled up and gave bush the touchdown (feeding the personality cult leading to the 2004 election victory) on the last play. Now, they are calling a holding penalty (an election week editorial), to call back the last play so that the republicans have to punt and don't score (electoral victory on November 7).

Start the clock!

[emald]

54. it's wonderfull that the enablers are having buyers remorse

bushit is the most destructive force the United States has ever faced. The ugly leader is destroying our country, shredding it with his fucking stupidity and gnostic faith. However, I find it a wonder that he is even there; how can we, a society of educated individuals, explain the enormous mistake that is the present presidency? This ugly person used the military to invade a country that posed no threat and used this paper and other media outlets to spread his lies in order to do it. Why is this continuing? How is it that bwbushit isn't in prison? WTF? The only conclusion is that we are stupid sheep, easily led to slaughter. Go ahead, fucking flame away, but all of us are responsible for this abortion of a presidency. Worse, the fucker is still slinging his ugly shit and still in office. Unfuckingbelievable. What a sorry excuse for a country we have allowed ourselves to become. No legislature invoking checks on presidential power. Electoral keepers who count the votes with malice aforethought and a willingness to stack the lies. Supposed leaders who can't keep their sexual pecadillos under control. A populace more concerned about this weeks tv shows than half a million (fucking HALF A FUCKING MILLION) dead human beings and lies started it? GWBushit has a hardon for war, as long as he doesn't have to go. Why is this idiot still there? Becuase we, the people, have allowed it.

[ProfessorGAC]

55. So Now Bush Is A Liar, An Idiot AND A Coward!

Too afraid to face the reality that his tiny ideas and his buffoonish puppet masters have done nothing that would make people vote for continuance. So, he hides behind distortions like a frightened little girl hiding behind daddy's legs.

Sickening.
The Professor

[Strawman]

59. JK is not the one who thinks he is better than our troops (Major rant)

He's not the one who thinks that all the dirty work should be left to working class people. He didn't think he was too good to die in Vietnam like George Bush did. JK actually worries his "beautiful mind" about the people we're throwing into that mess while the president and his snobby mother can't be bothered.

Nope. Sorry. The BUSH FAMILY, THEY ARE THE GODDAMN SNOBS! they are the ones who think that poor and middle class people shouldn't expect much. They are the ones who have the unmitigated gall to walk into the Astrodome and think that being packed into there wasn't a bad deal for all those poor blacks. They're the same people who think it's not a bad deal for the same people to take their chances in Iraq in the hope of learning some skill because all other avenues to a better life seem to be closed. They have no fucking problem with that state of affairs. None. In the Bushes view, those kinds of people aren't ENTITLED to any better options. The kind of options they have enjoyed by the mere accident of birth.

John Kerry put goddamn his life on the line to affirm the basic idea that even though he was well-to-do, he was no better than anyone else and was not entitled to the privilige of not serving his country. That deserves repeating. JOHN KERRY PUT HIS GODDAMN LIFE ON THE LINE TO AFFRIM THE PRINCIPLE THAT HE WAS NO BETTER THAN ANYONE ELSE! Same with Al Gore. They didn't get put into a champagne unit and never show up. They didn't cry about how they couldn't be expected to go because of an ANAL CYST! That speaks for itself no matter how much utter bullshit the Bushies try to throw in our faces. And that's what it is just completely audacious bullshit. It is mind boggling that the people with absolutely ZERO moral authority on this issue can assert that they have the high ground. This is insane!

George Bush has a helluva nerve. A helluva nerve. To pull this shit? To dress up like a pilot and war hero and claim Mission Accomplished, like HE had just won the war. It's just honestly fucking beyond belief. You couldn't make these people feel bad about any statement they ever made that betrayed their deep-seated elitism, while a guy like JK is really bothered that something he said might have been taken the wrong way as a put down to a group of people that he deeply respects. It's just completely fucked up.

And it's waaay way beyond disappointing that people like Harold Ford and others would not say exactly what I've just said. Disgusting. Ford is lucky that he is useful to the goal of unseating the Republicans or I would say fuck him too. I still say it. Fuck that guy... but be sure and vote for him next Tuesday. Ugh.

[lyonn]

68. Such a good rant!

It is the patriotism of the citizens that allowed bush to take total control. Our military is trying to be good patriots, bless them. Had the citizens been good patriots in 2004 and paid attention to the fact that we were in a war that was illegal, or at least unnecessary, as was made available if they cared to search for answers this disaster of a leader would not have been re-elected. Shame

[Strawman]

75. George HW Bush

In some hidden corner of his soul he must know that his son is nothing but a tool in the hands of slimy turds like Karl Rove (who he fired). Bush 41 fought courageously in WW2 in some very high risk air combat missions. He also risked his life fighting for our country. I wonder if in certain solitary moments of brutally honest reflection it ever occurs to him exactly how wrong it is for his spoiled, nimrod son and his puppetmasters to play this bogus card at the expense of a good man who risked his life too, and I wonder how that makes him feel.

[savemefromdumbya]

61. Bush's attack on Kerry was an act of desparation! Creepy low is a great description

[goforit]

62. Hats off to the NYT!!!...They have been on a roll!!!

[ProgressiveEconomist]

63. Only thing missing from the editorial is Dubya's "dimunition (sic)

of their sacrifice" gaffe when he was scapegoating Kerry on Rush Limbaugh. Dubya once again proved Kerry right about the worst President's intellect and vocabulary. Dubya gaffes are errors of COMMISSION, not omission.

[colorado_ufo]

66. Blistering!

[wisteria]

67. They got that right. Pathetic. Kerry was Swift Boated again and

not only by the republicans, but this time his own party swift boated him too. The most prominent swift kick came from Hillary. Pathetic.

[IWantAChange]

69. there goes that damn liberal press attacking Dubyha again....

just when he was managing to deflect some attention away from his incredible level of incompetence.


:sarcasm:

[confludemocrat]

70. Half of this ignominious fuckup is Kerry's fault, face it-another flip-flop.

A dumb joke, not even half clever, which he is attacked for with the kitchen sink and all the disgusting dishonesty we have come to know from these animals, but he attacks Snow, not Bush, then says he won't apologize and then apologizes twice. Predictable and Pitiful.

[Joe Chi Minh]

76. The joke wasn't brilliant, but it was normal fare from the stump - or it

would have been had John Kerry been less scrupulous. It's the kind of mistake a person makes, when they are about to say something that goes against their finer instincts, their normal behaviour. Deep down, John Kerry didn't LIKE making that kind of remark, however, appealing and even appropriate it might be in a particular, mundane political context.

He attacked Snow AND Bush.

So the only things I reckon you've got right, is that the cons threw the kitchen sink at him, they're disgustingly dishonest and are animals. All attacks well-justified against agin the cons.

[codjh9]

71. It's like the Nazis

Much of what they say is reminiscent of the Nazis, but they talk about 'freedom'. It's worse than a novel or a movie.

[SouthernBelle82]

72. It's just like them

to abuse the troops for their own partisan bullshit. While claiming to support the troops and than turn around and use them for back drops and cut their funding for veteran aid with health care and their hospitals, PTSD, lack of armor and other necessary items.

[SouthernBelle82]

73. Something else I liked about this

is on Alex Jones's website he has Keith Olbermann talking about the issue and Kerry's press conference about the whole thing and Jones asks the question on if Bush is too stupid to realize Kerry was calling him stupid and than talks about how Olbermann showed how Fox "news" helped with the whole ordeal. He also has a column on the outcry of Bush's WMD "joke" and how there was no outcry from that.

[RiverStone]

74. YES!!!! Though how many rethugs read the NYT?

Easy for us to agree; the question is how to get this message out to the red vs blue on-the-fence voters in middle America. And the rethugs will not hear this no matter how loud its shouted.

[thingfisher]

78. Where was the NYT

when Bush was stealing the election!
They only attack the Bushses when it is "permissable" to do so. Apparently the powers that be are beginning to see Dubya as a liability. Oh, they expect he'll be around until 2008, but until then it'll be okay to snipe from the sidelines. They should be leading the call for impeachment and war crime trials for the whole bunch!