Bush is Now a "Fair Trader"

Fascinating:

Without revealing his intentions, Mr Bush nevertheless sought to emphasise his commitment to free trade and - adopting some Clintonian language - fair trade. Mr Bush also said he would make a decision imminently and was reviewing the status of the industry in the light of its need to restructure.

The War on Analogy Continues

Tristero has a bit of fun with Michael Totten, who informs us that, among other things, Iraq is arid and dry.

Tristero sums up the Vietnam-Iraq similarities thusly:

The simple fact is that a guerilla war is being fought in Iraq, that the US was misled via an utterly ridiculous ideology and a lack of hard facts into the conflict; that US ignorance of the situation before, during and after our arrival on the scene was and is boundless; and that the US is bogged down in Iraq for as long as anyone can foresee with a steady number of casualties reminding us everday of the quagmire, the avoidable quagmire, that the US government perpetrated both on Iraq, and on its own people.

Indeed.

The odd thing is, most of the "Vietnam" discussion comes from the hawks, not the doves. Methinks they protest too much.

Medicare Drug Plan

Uggabugga has the picture worth a thousand words.

Universal Health Care Cheap

We all knew that as a percentage of GDP (and per capita) we spend more on health care than anyone else in the world, but it's also true that our government spends more (per capita) on health care than many of those other governments which provide universal health care.

I really wish all the UHC opponents would go live in just about any European country for a few years and then tell me how much you hate it. The exception being Britain, where they just don't spend enough money.

Photo-Op in Oz

When flightsuit boy was in Australia, they did a big production number with him doing the honors at a wreath-laying ceremony for a fallen soldier.

They forgot one little detail - to invite the widow.

Wingnuttery

Check out Worldnutdaily's take on the Daschle/Saddam misattribution.

Flypaper

Yet another failed justification strategy.

Broadway Sucks

According to this article. They write the same thing ever year, and it's probably always true.

However, I *would* like to go see Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, but the obscene prices may prevent that from happening. If anyone, uh, knows how to score some cheaper seats...

Now This is Shrill!

The UK cover of Krugman's book:

Frog Marching to the Hague

Richard Perle declines to assert his 5th amendment rights:

International lawyers and anti-war campaigners reacted with astonishment yesterday after the influential Pentagon hawk Richard Perle conceded that the invasion of Iraq had been illegal.
In a startling break with the official White House and Downing Street lines, Mr Perle told an audience in London: "I think in this case international law stood in the way of doing the right thing."

President George Bush has consistently argued that the war was legal either because of existing UN security council resolutions on Iraq - also the British government's publicly stated view - or as an act of self-defence permitted by international law.

But Mr Perle, a key member of the defence policy board, which advises the US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, said that "international law ... would have required us to leave Saddam Hussein alone", and this would have been morally unacceptable.

Santorum

Santorum.

Rick Santorum.

Man on Dog.

Senator Santorum.

All Class

Today:

Although it was held in the ornate Banqueting House in Whitehall, under ceilings painted by Rubens, the White House produced its own backdrops, including one behind Mr. Bush with the words "United Kingdom" repeated over and over, as if to remind viewers at home that the president was on a world stage.

Blogospheric Astroturf?

What are the odds Eugene Volokh and K. Lo have the same friend in London who sends them identical emails?

(via Pandagon)

...You know, not many people actually live in Trafalgar square.

...but, yes, as the big protests are planned for tomorrow it's no surprise things are quiet. You can watch right here.

Moonbat Conspiracy Theories

Slacktivist notes that the Weekly Standard is pushing the looniest one of all.

Astroturf

By now you've probably all read Nick Confessore on Techcentralstation. That kind of thing bothers me less than the fake citizens groups that regularly spring up. You know, "Sweet Wonderful Mothers For Iraqi Liberation!" or whatever. They're organizations with 3 members and substantial backing. The scrappy seniors over at the Alliance for Retired Americans bring us this wonderful example:

President Bush Addresses Empty Seats—Phoenix, Nov. 13: About 30 Alliance activists showed up and outnumbered supporters at a sparsely attended event sponsored by Senior Voices for Medicare Choices, a group fronted by insurance companies. The event broadcast President Bush's November 13 remarks from Orlando urging Congress to push through a bill that would privatize Medicare.

Click the link for the picture.

Nightline

TONIGHT'S FOCUS: President Bush is in London, as are tens of thousands of demonstrators. His visit comes on the heels of a major policy change by the White House, and the acceleration of the plan to hand authority in Iraq back to the Iraqis.... And oh yeah, Michael Jackson may be arrested today.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a day in which the Nightline staff is pretty evenly divided. We have a meeting each morning when we talk out what we are going to do each night. Usually the plan is pretty well set, but not always. Today's meeting was pretty interesting. Our plan is to look at the President's visit to England, and at the plan his administration is putting forward to try to speed up the political process in Iraq that would allow for the withdrawal of at least some American troops. The approaching presidential election is clearly making this more urgent. This is a broadcast we have been planning for a while, and correspondent Deborah Amos will report on the plan for Iraq, and the Iraqi reaction, and Richard Gizbert will report from London.

But what about Michael Jackson? As I'm sure everyone knows by now, law enforcement in California served a criminal search warrant on his ranch out there. He is in Las Vegas right now. There are reports today that an arrest warrant has been drawn up, raising the possibility that he might be arrested today or in the near future. Apparently this investigation centers on allegations from a young boy that he was molested by Jackson. About ten years ago, there was a similar allegation, but it never went to trial. Instead there was apparently a settlement between Jackson and the family involved. Things this time seem to have gone far beyond that.

So if he is arrested, should we cover that tonight on Nightline? The staff is about evenly split. Some think it's a big story that we would have to do, others don't want any part of it. So what will happen? I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Leroy Sievers and the Nightline Staff ABCNEWS Washington bureau

And then...

"TONIGHT'S FOCUS HAS CHANGED: The DA and Sheriff from Santa Barbara have just held a press conference, announcing that there is an arrest warrant for Michael Jackson on multiple counts of child molestation, and they are negotiating his surrender with his attorneys. We are going to switch topics to cover this tonight, we'll report on President Bush's visit to Britain and the situation in Iraq tomorrow."

Bernard Goldberg is a Dishonest Hack

My take on Bernie is this - he wrote a stupid book about how Dan Rather was satan. He shopped it around to publishers, all of whom recognized it as a poorly written "disgruntled ex-employee" book. The book eventually landed on Rengery's desk, who told Bernie to do a quick rewrite blaming it all on "the liberal media," which for some reason Dan Rather is synonymous with. Bernie complied, though he messed up in a few places - notably when he blamed the "liberal media" for doing things like catering to a wealthy white audience.

Now he's back with another full of shit book, which our full of shit media will promote. Daily Howler takes a look.

Poodle Pipes Up In Secret

George's good friend Tony:

TONY Blair has attacked President Bush's Republicans for faking "compassionate" politics like Michael Howard's hardline Tories.

The Prime Minister branded George Bush's portrayal of Republicans as caring conservatives as a hollow "illusion".

The revelation is highly embarrassing as it comes at the start of Mr Bush's state visit to Britain. It was in a a meeting with Labour's ruling National Executive Committee that the PM launched a savage attack on the Republican's style of politics.

He compared it to the Tories' attempt to re-fashion themselves as "compassionate conservatives" to shrug off their hardline right-wing image.

A secret record of the last NEC meeting showed Mr Blair saying: "Michael Howard's soft centrist language was an illusion, like the US Republicans' compassionate conservatism."

At the meeting Mr Blair faced criticism from within Labour ranks about the visit and was accused of "endorsing" Mr Bush's re-election.

One NEC member said: "Blair is privately attacking Bush for being a nasty right-winger. But in public he's his best mate. He can't have it both ways and it is creating real divisions in the party."

Okay, it's the Mirror, but it's no less credible than that tabloid with the breasts that Bush gave his exclusive interview to...

Americans Continue to Hate America

Why are so many Americans so unserious about the war on terrorism?

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Support for Washington's handling of Iraq (news - web sites) since President George W. Bush (news - web sites) declared an end to major combat there on May 1 has plummeted, falling to 42 percent from 80 percent in an April 23 poll, according to a new survey.

Fifty-five percent of those polled disapproved of how the United States has handled post-war Iraq, marking the highest negative response to the question since US tanks entered Baghdad in April, USA Today reported.

A majority of Americans still believe the war in Iraq was worth waging, but fewer believe it made the United States safer from terrorist attack, according to the USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll of 1,004 adults, conducted November 14-16.

The survey showed that 56 percent of respondents believed the war was worth it, while only 48 percent believed it made the United States safer, down from 58 percent in the April 23 poll.

Forty-three percent felt the war had actually made the United States less safe from terrorists, up from 33 percent in the April poll.

Don't they understand that September 11th changed everything, particularly for people sitting at their computers thousands of miles away from the attacks?

Kurtz

Man, this one is just hard to believe. My God.

"Howard Dean, speaking with reporters Tuesday afternoon following a campaign appearance in Bedford, N.H., expressed relief that the 30-year wait for answers about what happened to his brother might finally be over. As he has since the disappearance of his brother, Dean was wearing a belt buckle that belonged to Charles Dean as he spoke. "'This has been a long and emotional journey for my mother, Jim, Bill and me,' Dean said. 'We greet this news with mixed emotions but are gratified that we may now be approaching closure to this painful episode in our lives.' "Dean, in a soon-to-be released autobiography, called the capture and death of his brother 'the most traumatic events of my life.'"

I wonder if the remains would have been found if Dean wasn't running for president.

What the fuck is Howie implying?

(from Washing the Blog)
At least Howie, elsewhere in the article, gives some props to Big Media Matt