Friday, October 18, 2002

Oh, it gets better.

Administration officials say that although Iraq probably does not yet have nuclear weapons, it poses a more serious threat to its region because its record of using chemical weapons against its enemies and of invading two neighboring countries in the past.

Whereas North Korea is described by many experts as wanting weapons to deter an invasion, Iraq is feared generally as a nation willing to use its weapons to bully others. This concern is what the administration says justifies its policy of pre-emptive action against Baghdad.
Let's go back to the whole you-are-either-with-us-or-you-are-with-the-terrorists rhetoric. Take Pakistan for example...

You gotta love the spin though.

The White House said tonight that it would not discuss Pakistan's role or any other intelligence information. Nor would senior administration officials who briefed reporters today discuss exactly what intelligence they showed to North Korean officials two weeks ago, prompting the North's defiant declaration that it had secretly started a program to enrich uranium in violation of its past commitments.

Hypocrisy watch: Fight the wars you know you can win. It's better to be wrong but victorious than to be wrong and lose.

Diplomacy is the tack most likely to work with North Korea, said Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), who has pushed for such an approach toward Iraq. "It's the same approach you need to take on North Korea," he said. "You can't bluster on it alone."

The different approaches to Iraq and North Korea also forced the administration to explain why it was using dramatically different responses to two countries accused of developing weapons of mass destruction.
Krugman scores yet another one for the good guys.

When Ronald Reagan cut taxes on rich people, he didn't deny that that was what he was doing. You could agree or disagree with the supply-side economic theory he used to justify his actions, but he didn't pretend that he was increasing the progressivity of the tax system.

The strategy used to sell the Bush tax cut was simply to deny the facts — and to lash out at anyone who tried to point them out. And it's a strategy that, having worked there, is now being applied across the board.


Wednesday, October 16, 2002

Is is finally dawning on people just how out of touch they are over in Washington?

"America speaks with one voice," says President Bush.
In Washington, Bush, having been empowered by both houses of Congress to use force, seems to face very little opposition on Iraq.

On the streets of America, nothing could be further from the truth.

Across the nation, in city after city, ABCNEWS found voices of opposition, and many of them were from military towns.

Monday, October 14, 2002

This is nothing new, but it speaks to the frustration of the press. Let's nickname Bush the Propaganda President. Reading this article in conjunction with Dean's is pretty chilling.

Even Mr. Fleischer's Democratic predecessors said the strategy of limiting information to the press was effective. While he said he was more accommodating to reporters, Michael D. McCurry, a press secretary to President Bill Clinton, said he believed Mr. Fleischer may have found a more successful approach: "To be very, very disciplined and treat the press like caged animals and only feed them on a regular schedule."

Scary stuff on Condo. This story is pretty revealing, particularly her years at Stanford. Pick up the print issue if you can.

Rice is deeply reluctant to advocate for black people or for women generally, but she has advocated for specific black people and women.

Her self-absorption is astonishing.