Comments on: Bush Crowns Himself Emperor

by: Sean Harrison

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 19:20:54 +0000

Heh. You looney libs are about as lost as you can be.

by: Doug Hughes

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 02:07:29 +0000

Randy has the right idea in #3. This program needs to be ridiculed by Congress in ways too amusing for the press NOT to pick it up. Get it out there that the president is making desperate grabs for power in the Justice Dept and regulatory agencies. The legitimate appointed heads of these agencies can’t be too fond of the new system and will probably be quite willing to cooperate with Congress informing about the new system.

by: Bonnie

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 01:29:31 +0000

So much for any effort to get the “best and the brightest” to work for the Federal Government.

It seems to me that one of the first things Bush did when in office was abolish all EO’s signed by Clinton. Turn abouts fair play. I hope.

by: sachem515

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 21:52:52 +0000

More of this to come:

In December, 2005, James E. Hansen, the longtime director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, gave a dangerous speech of the sort that frightens George Bush. He said there should be a prompt reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases linked to global warming. After Dr. Hansen gave his speech, he was told that thenceforth the Institute’s public affairs staff would be required to “review his lectures, papers, postings on the Goddard website and requests for interviews from journalists.” We later found out that NASA’s media gatekeeper was a 24-year-old former Bush campaign worker who had “accidentally” claimed earning a college degree when, in fact, he was a dropout.

Read Eric Alterman http://mediamatters.org/altercation/ for more on this

by: John Palmer/LongHairedWeirdo

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 19:06:57 +0000

This is one of the hallmarks of the current rightwing noise machine. Whatever you know people will complain about, get the claim out that the opposite is true, first.

“The illegal surveillance conducted by the Bush administration in violation of civil rights is carefully conducted to protect civil rights”.

You don’t even have to *explain*. You just have to *say*. And you’ll have people dismiss complaints.

by: biggerbox

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 18:10:13 +0000

Ya gotta love that line about ‘classic good-government measure’! When I studied history, ‘good-government’ was about creating civil service positions, so that easily manipulated and/or corrupt politicalappointees didn’t have the power. It’s hard for me to even say “open and accountable” in the same breath with “political appointee” without laughing.

Orwell had no clue how bad it would be.

by: Joe

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 16:42:45 +0000

“Just think how wonderful life is going to be when a Democrat is back in the White House …”

This shows how incredibly shortsighted Bush is. Either that or he is hoping to be named “Dictator Perpetuus.”

by: Dave

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 15:48:22 +0000

Taking off on pollywood’s note — as I recall from the history of the Soviet Union, the Bolshevik party under Stalin established something of a shadow government by placing loyal political operatives in each government agency with the rights to review, reject, or modify rules and regulations. And, of course, to rat out for “purging” those not sufficiently loyal to the cause.

I always thought that the Repubs were anti-communist. They certainly were under Regan. This group has gone around the bend. All we need is a Gulag system, and we’ll …. Oh, wait.

by: Dan

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 15:47:54 +0000

Reading the first two sentences of Mr. Pear’s words, my mind immediately leapt to the acronym NKVD. Amongst other roles, they assigned political commissars to organizations to ensure purity of political thought by the troops and management.

I always thought the NeoCons were envious of the old Soviet Union…

All in all, it was, just another brick in the wall.

by: sachem515

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 15:46:12 +0000

Is there any awareness that Brownie was this kind of bureaucratic installation? Is this an attempt to institutionalize incompetence?

Smells like Norquist via Addington. Gotta luv OVP.