esrosedotblog

This is a shocker even to old case hardened me.

How Jeb Bush Spent $130 Million With Nothing to Show for It

If this doesn't make the money men squirm then nothing can.

The Bush franchise had worn out but yet some people and organizations still wanted some suction. Enough to pay through the nose.

And that money is gone.

Forget how many meals that could have bought for the "starving children" all our parents told us about.

It might even have gone for the financing of a decent candidate.

See, to me, this is why the so called "smart money" is dumb as a bunch of shovels.

If they even had half a thought they would have taken a fresh look at the "bush franchise" and found that it consisted of a bunch of hangers on and nostalgics but no real people. No one who would vote for him.

I hate to bring this out again but Momma Bush famously said that we had enough Bushes and she was right.

If she was not geriatric and very very prideful she would have put a stop to this comedy of errors.

Well. I won't have the Bushes to kick around any more. Oh. Right. That was Tricky Dick Nixon whose self pity overwhelmed us all. Sigh.

Labels: bushies, con men, GOoPers

Jebbie is discomforted.

I suspect this is a new condition for the pampered, mom-promoted bushie.

A Once-Sunny Jeb Bush Appears Irked in Donald Trump’s Shadow

Chuckle chuckle.

The "good bush" is having some problems staying above water.

I suspect, partly, that he is a kind of empty vessel. So cool, so undaunted. An easy time as a governor of one of least states, Florida.

A glad hander, a pandering smile. I could go on but I will not.

Let's face it, Jeb is not presidential timber. Or timbre either. Some argument about which one is meant in the cliché.

He is certainly not George W., thank heaven. And certainly not his Dad who wasn't all that bad really.

It would appear that they are keeping the harridan Mom out of the picture. Good thing.

The last thing he needs now is one of her smart ass comments like the one she made a few years ago about there having been "enough Bushes".

You go girl.

Labels: bushies, Jeb Bush

Trump, as predicted, is already disrupting.

Trump: 'Jeb's answer ... on women's health issues is a disaster'

Which is one of the advantages of having The Donald in there.

He has no inhibitions, he has nothing to lose really. And he is in for the duration. Even if Jebbie gets the nomination, it is likely that Donald will be in the way.

The interesting thing about Trump is that he is a headline guy. No details. The large assertion. Easy to hear, no thinking required.He has his own money is not beholden to any of the bastards who run the GOP.

No coronations this time around.

It couldn't happen to a nicer guy. And I mean that. I think that Jeb is a good guy with a family that will not let him sit by and just be a business man. There is the legacy. There is the family pride.

There is, most emphatically, Barbara.

She has always been the power behind the candidates. Fierce. Determined.

Her family nickname is "Bushy". So she carries the family torch.

They are royalty and like all royalty the crown(s) are most fiercely defended by those who marry into the job.

And so on. There will be a lot more.

In the meantime, I bet they are all going nuts at the endurance of Trump. This morning he was at 24% to Jeb's 16 or something. Don't take my word for it. It doesn't matter now anyway.

Labels: bushies, Donald Trump, Jeb Bush

One of the more amusing aspects of the Jeb campaign is the appropriation of the exclamation mark after his name.

I suppose it is/was to avoid our thinking that it was another Jeb. Not that Jeb but this one!

Or, perhaps, in a more subtle way it is a distinction from the other Bushes.

Not just another goddam Bush, but Jeb!

Some politico's bright idea.

I am amused because it is only one sign of his trying to dodge the fact of his being a legacy candidate.

Of course, Clinton is a legacy candidate too.

This is nothing new in American politics.

Way back, the Harrison's had a ride. And various Roosevelts. Well two of them. And so on.

Royal families.

So far the Clintons may be royal but they are not yet into the second generation. Or the third.

Labels: bushies, Jeb Bush

Busy day for Jeb Bush and a lot of coverage in this blog!

Jeb Bush now says, ‘I would not have gone into Iraq’

Waffling.

A Jebbie habit.

I am sure that Jeb is not watching me but I am surely watching him.

I am so glad we are starting 2016 early! I was beginning to think my political ranter was dead and dying. Or at least dried up.

These are the times that try GOoPer souls.

And, you heard it here first: John Bolton Announces He is Not Running for Presient

I had forgotten him. Hadn't everyone else?

Well, yes. Now.

My good god he has an ego on him as big as a house. Two houses. John Fucking Bolton.

Defender of the faith and ex-UN delegate.

Labels: bushies, Jeb Bush, republican whack jobs

Jebbie is going to have a lot of trouble with his last name.

As his mother once said, the country has had enough Bushes. Barbara Bush, always outspoken, often right.

Brother’s Past Proves Tricky for Jeb Bush

I would think so.

The thing that surprises me is that like whack-a-mole, they are still trying. It must be in the genetic makeup.

Who are they trying to impress? Poppy? Barb?

There is a necessary strain of self entitlement in any politician. But with the bushies it runs deep.

More power to them. It is a spectacle. Our Borgias.

Labels: bushies, Jeb Bush

The New York Times wants Obama to prosecute Dick Cheney for the torture thing.

Appoint Prosecutor to Investigate Cheney

Well, they want a special prosecutor.

I have to say that I am right there on this.

This fucking bastard got away with literal murder from his half powerful seat.

I am a long time Cheney hater as readers of this blog may know.

There is no redeeming quality.

He is a bastard through and through.

I think it is interesting that since he and the Bushies left the White House I have not gotten vehement about anything that the other Party does.

It was the total villainy of these motherfuckers, Cheney and his gang, that inflamed me. And still does.

I guess you can tell.

Labels: bushies, cheney, evil bastards

Dick Cheney unleashed a lot of surprise reaction when he defended the Iraq war this week.

Rand Paul: "Proponents of Iraq war responsible for current chaos".

A lot of Cheney's critics now include latter day Republicans and they have not come to his support.

He should probably kept his mouth shut.

But that is not Dick's way and his daughter is probably going to run for office again. It seems to be a vain attempt to do some slate cleaning before she has to do some defending of her father.

These people are still trying to sell an adventure that was long ago discredited and failed totally. To their everlasting disgrace.

I saw this video loop this morning and Cheney still does his schoolmarmish way of explaining why all his critics are wrong and he is right. He is so above it all that he is almost not there. And that is the problem with the Cheneys. They are in a parallel universe.

Labels: bushies, right wing bastards

MATRIARCH

By all accounts Barbara Bush is a tough lady and she says what she thinks.

She sure weighed in today.

We've Had Enough Bushes

I couldn't agree with her more.

I would say "more" than enough but I will take her point of view.

How could Jeb buck his mom?

Labels: bushies

FUCK YOU DICK CHENEY

This just in from the NYT:

Secret Joint Raid Captures Taliban's Top Commander

The Taliban's top military commander was captured several days ago in Karachi, Pakistan, in a secret joint operation by Pakistani and American intelligence forces, according to American government officials.

The commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, is an Afghan described by American officials as the most significant Taliban figure to be detained since the American led war in Afghanistan started more than eight years ago. He ranks second in influence only to Mullah Muhammad Omar, the Taliban's founder, and was a close associate of Osama bin Laden before the Sept. 11 attacks.

Labels: bushies

THE TRANSITION

So far so good.

Preparing for the Obama Era

I just wish they would quit saying how it is the worst time since the FDR transition. But maybe it is. I guess there's no harm in saying so if it jacks everyone up.

I am impressed with the bushies on this. They mean well. It has to be difficult to let bygones be bygones and harder still the lower one goes in the administrations.

But maybe they will really get a good groove going between them.

It is Bush' one last chance to salvage his reputation.

See? Even I can't help throw out a barb.

Labels: Administration Obama, bush, bushies

NOW THIS

The trip is going pretty well, I would say.

It is freaking the GOoPers out.

Major WH Blunder: Emails al-Maliki Story to Reporters

I liked the comment of the Republican advisor (anonymous) who says "We're Fucked".

At the bottom of this there is a vote. "Could this trip have started out any better"?

Yes

No

Only if he dragged Bin Laden out of his cave

I voted for the cave. But it is going to be a long trip.

Labels: Barack Obama, bushies, Iraq

ON MESSAGE

Well, you know that it is going on but to read about it is quite stunning.

The NYT does an exposé of the Pentagon propaganda apparatus.

Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand

These go to military analysts are carefully groomed by the Pentagon and have ties to a network of military contractors.

Cozy.

I don't watch teevee but I still see their pointy little heads showing over the top of some web sites and occasionally on the gym's CNN stream.

Dwight Eisenhower warned against the "military industrial complex" fifty years ago. I heard him say it! And here we have cable and network industry married to the military 'experts' in a carefully orchestrated way.

More bush scandal.

It is bad enough having the puppet Petraeus with his foot square posterboard of (largely ceremonial) ribbons lying to Congress but this adds insult to injury.

Why is this man smiling?

Labels: bushies, criminal morons

LOONY TOONY

So the dollar has fallen so far that we are the same value as the Canadian dollar (the "loony" so named for the bird stamped on its face) for the first time in thirty years.

That was when I was forty!

I remember when the two currencies were so the same that stores would take the Canadian although machines would not--too light.

This is the same day that Bush said that our economy was in great shape and that he should get an A on handling it.

Was that A for awful or A for arrogant?

Of course, there is some credit due the Canadians for bolstering their currency.

It is not all our falling down. But mostly.

Labels: bushies

WHAT? COME AGAIN?

These are GOP Senators incidentally; Luger, Hagel and Warner. And of course, the new General to be shoved up front by the bushies. Remember Powell?

Labels: bushies, Iraq

ASTOUNDING

According to this

Americans Feel Military Is Best at Ending the War

only 5%

of Americans feel that the bushers can end the war.

Key quote:

Only 5 percent of Americans — a strikingly low number for a sitting president’s handling of such a dominant issue — said they most trusted the Bush administration to resolve the war, the poll found. Asked to choose among the administration, Congress and military commanders, 21 percent said they would most trust Congress and 68 percent expressed most trust in military commanders.......NYT

Talk about your crisis of confidence.

It is interesting that people also now align Petraeus with the bushers and have almost a 60% lack of confidence in his objectivity.

That means that some other generals who will also weigh in today, notably Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Pace will have more impact.

Stunning.

That 5% must really have their brains wired for conservatism. (see below)

Labels: bushies, Iraq, politics

GONE ZALES

Just as I left for my vacation, word leaked that Fredo would get whacked.

Then, the morning I left the deed was done.

I missed the rejoiciing. The hosannas. The whole stinking pile of gloating that had to be done.

Just as well.

And Galbraith's rule lives.

Anyone who says he will not resign four times, will.

Labels: bushies, criminal morons

AUTO PILOT

I read today that Karl Rove is an autodidact.

I had to look it up.

It means that he is self taught.

A closed system. No outside interference.

I am no sure what the author of the article I was skimming made of it.

I suppose that it is a good thing but then is it not like the lawyer who has himself for a client?

A fool.

Just think. This man's entire life has been political chicanery.

You must have seen the old film of him working in the Nixon dirty tricks department as a young man.

A closed system.

He is gone.

What the hell?

Actually, I don't think that he is gone. I think that he has just been put out of harm's way.

He, himself, is still positioned to do a lot of harm.

Labels: bushies, criminal morons

HUH?

In bushies' flim flam about Viet Nam the other day at the VFW, he also threw this bit of topsy-turvy thinking into the speech. Or perhaps some Democratic prankster.

"In 1955, long before the United States had entered the war, Graham Greene wrote a novel called "The Quiet American." It was set in Saigon and the main character was a young government agent named Alden Pyle. He was a symbol of American purpose and patriotism and dangerous naivete. Another character describes Alden this way: "I never knew a man who had better motives for all the trouble he caused."

After America entered the Vietnam War, Graham Greene -- the Graham Greene argument gathered some steam. Matter of fact, many argued that if we pulled out, there would be no consequences for the Vietnamese people."

Alden Pyle is one of literature's dunces.

He was a willing and, sometimes unknowing, tool for a failed policy.

He is a stand-in for US incompetence and amorality.

I doubt that bush has even read the book. He probably saw the movie with Audie Murphy which soft-pedaled US involvement in Indo China. In fact it turned the moral of the story on its head.

He surely didn't see the one with Brendan Fraser made in 2002.

It focuses on the romantic triangle but gets the political wiring right; the use of benign aid workers to mask covert activity designed to catalyze the situation into war. (We saw it not too long ago).

I think that the wheels are so far off the track at the White House that they can't even think straight anymore.

If they ever did.

Labels: bushies, criminal morons

I DIDN'T DO IT AND I WILL NEVER DO IT AGAIN

No surprise here, but Rove has no more idea of accepting responsibility than his soon-to-be-ex-boss.

Rove Talks: If Mistakes Were Made, They Weren’t His

Labels: bushies, criminal morons