Round Up
Some thoughts since I've been away for a few days:
* When you have a young child -- like I do -- you feed the child with a really small spoon. I mean, it's really small, like a spoon that Stuart Little would use. And as the child gets bigger, he eats more food. But you still use the same spoon. And when you start to feed him even greater quantities of food, you still use the small spoon.
Sometimes, I look at the growing amount of food and the tiny spoon and I feel like a guy in a prison movie who has to tunnel out using nothing but a spoon he stole from the cafeteria.
But fear not, in the end, the kid always ends up getting fed.
* Do you really think Bush is going to release all his military records? Read this excerpt from today's LA Times:
"Bush, speaking in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday, said that if records exist that will put to rest any doubts about his service, he is "absolutely" willing to authorize the release of those documents covering his service in the Texas and Alabama National Guard units.
He was referring to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service in Colorado, which maintains pay records of service members and presumably would have documentation on whether Bush had showed up for all of his military duty.
But officials at the agency, in Denver and at the headquarters in Washington, told The Times last week that before any records could be released, a Freedom of Information Act request must be filed and that the agency would then show the records to the White House communications office before proceeding.
Bryan Hubbard and Roger Still, spokesmen for the agency, said the processing could take months. They suggested that the White House might turn down the request."
Don't bet the ranch on those records seeing the light of day.
Also, Bush repeated the RNC talking points about the challenge to his service being disparaging to those who served in the Guard. It's not disparaging to those who did their service, Mr. Commander-In-Chief.
* Speaking of Bush on "Meet the Press", he basically evaded every question that was given to him and stuck to the talking points prepared for him. And of course, he played the blame game. The economy. The terrorists. The bad intelligence. Everything was Clinton's fault. I love it.
I never heard Clinton blame Bush I for sending troops to Somalia, even though Clinton was vilified when they were killed. Same thing with the first World Trade Center attack. That happened within months of Clinton taking office but he never blamed those things on Bush I. But that's what happens when you take responsibility as President.
And don't talk to me about Monica. If you're a Republican, you should be ashamed about spending $70 million on a witch hunt over oral sex. Ashamed.
* Last night on "Sixty Minutes" there was a report on Iraq that was pretty sad. Christianne Amampour interviewed a soldier and then caught up with him a few months later, after a roadside bomb had blown off half his face. He looked like Jonah Hex, the old comic book cowboy whose face looked like it was melting off on one side. It was pretty awful.
Then, she interviewed an Iraqi family that had lost a bunch of family members at a roadside checkpoint. US soldiers at the checkpoint had accidentally opened fire on their car when another vehicle fired a few shots at the checkpoint. Most of the people in the car were killed, including a young boy. The US found not traces of any shells or any wepaons from this car. It was sad hearing from the family who had lost so much and also seeing the young US soldier who had fired upon them. He looked lost.
And now, we're going to bail out on Iraq as soon as possible for the political expediency of the President. Just imagine what a hellhole it is going to be then. Please, someone tell me why we're over there.
Posted by brettdavey
at 5:28 PM EST
