is losing? i would suggest that commodity was lost on December 12, 2000.

what is truthful about any of this? i guess the more sententious you are, the more seriously someone should take your argument. its ironic that he complains of a lack of checks and balances yet holds congress blameless for the "fiscal profligacy" and failed ratification of international agreements (KP AND ICC). my man is worthless...

Thucydidesque is a new word I am going to throw around from now on.

whine...you wrote: "he complains of a lack of checks and balances yet holds congress blameless"

You're correct, so let's take action and remove those members of congress who have demonstrated blind following of the Whitehouse.

And now Americans are starting to see how the rest of the world sees us. Bush has show the limit of our military, the limit of the dollar, and the limits of trying to hold him accountable. If the Democrats do not win in November I worry about how much farther we will travel down this radical road.

I want to be on the jury that sentences these bastards.

WOW! That's telling it like it is.

Worst. President. Ever.

A friend from New Zealand first mentioned the "worst President" phrase to me. "Honestly, I think this one's the worst you've ever had", he said with a charming Kiwi accent.

Not impressed. This is old news. Straight talk maybe but hardly deep. Is there anyone alive with two brain cells to rub together that isn't aware of Bush's fascist gambit?

When are we r-e-a-l-l-y going to have some straight talk? About the entire C-o-r-r-u-p-t
S-y-s-t-e-m that is destroying "Americanism".

Let's start with campaign finance reform, from whence all gov corruption flows
Lobbying Reform
Foreign influence reform like AIPAC and CANF
Corporate Robber Baron reform
Enforcing our laws reform as in "illegal"
Dual citizenship reform
Common sense reform as in the difference between freedom of press and leaking classified security information
Congressional Incest reform as in not sleeping with your wife, girlfriend, husband or nephew if they are registered lobbist for enities interested in your legistation.

crap...just burn DC to the ground and start over...it would be quicker, cheaper and actually reform something.

If the US Military were to arrest Bush and cohorts for Treason Resulting in the Deaths and Maiming of Tens of Thousands of People, then, would there be legal justification in US or International law?

Carroll -- with all due respect, I'm not impressed by the attitude of many on the left who rather than embracing those coming around to many of the views they hold, instead take a self-rigteous, indignant pose and spit in the face of those who can actually begin doing something about the direction the country is going.

I respect your passion and your views -- but I don't understand the far left that chooses to shoot allies as they show up.

Makes no sense to me -- that's no way to turn the country around.

As ever,

Steve Clemons

Carroll, I must agree with Steve on this. The fact is that you and I and all of our friends may see this, but until and unless such a majority of those who go to the polls see this and take the appropriate action, things will only get worse.

It will ONLY change when we can change the people in Washington, and that will only happen as the people who have influence see the light, speak out, and influence those whom we can't.

When someone knewly convinced begins to speak to his constituents about how bad things could become, I am going to be saying "Amen, brother!" And if I happen to think "yeah, well, where the fuck have you been up until now?" I'm going to keep that non-productive thought to myself.

The vicious and tenacious attacks on anyone daring to speak out against the Great Decider and his minions or against his policies and practices would give most any would-be whistleblower or truthspeaker pause. We should also consider how this group of powermongers has worked so relentlessly to accumulate power -- through cronyism, nepotism, and leveraging of contracts and contacts. Anyone who speaks out is forfeiting a great deal; we should not add to that loss by withholding respect for the personal courage required to speak out.

Steve is completely right on this. If we can't thank Lawrence Wilkerson for speaking up, and this is really speaking up, then we are really in trouble. Is Wilkerson running for office in 2006? 2008? No? hmmm, too bad.

Alan Lewis- you are right. LW is speaking truthfully and patriotically. I have eternal respect for this hero.

I couldn't be happier that Wilkerson is speaking out. That said, I take issue with the notion that "America is Losing its Americanness".

Bush's practices are very much American.

What appears to me to be most American is the equation of Americanness with goodness. That in-itself is dangerous. That lends itself to the notion of a "rightness of exporting Americanness" - and the New American Century.

Bush's practices are not new. They are not a radical departure from the past, they are different in that they are more overt.

We have supported dictatorships from Iran, Chile - a list to long to name ... that practice began prior to this president. We have begun wars on false pretenses - Viet Nam, Mexican American War ... We have spied on our own people - and conducted experiments on our own people without their knowing. All of those things, regrettably are American. Our glorification of the military, corporations, and our rich-poor divide has been with us for quite a while.

So, while I do applaud Wilkerson and all that speak out against practices we find offensive, I would like to draw a cautious note when flying a nationalistic flag.

It's great news, but why is everyone becoming heroic only when Bush's poll numbers plummet? The Congressional Democrats owe us an apology for voting for--and then voting to extend--the Patriot Act. It's way to early to be calling anyone a hero.

People are saying Bush can recover if he gets Iraq turned around and gas prices down. What nonsense. These are just two of many grievances we have against Bush as noted by Mr. Wilkerson.

"Carroll -- with all due respect, I'm not impressed by the attitude of many on the left who rather than embracing those coming around to many of the views they hold, instead take a self-rigteous, indignant pose and spit in the face of those who can actually begin doing something about the direction the country is going."

Like what Reid does to every true progressive that steps beyond his own cowardice? Like YOUR TOTAL FAILURE to applaud, support, mention, or lend a hand to the efforts of the TRUE PATRIOTS, such as John Conyers???? This middle of the road cowtowing to protocol is getting old, Steve. Sooner or later you are going to need to get off the fence. The way things are going, it is going to be sooner. There is NO WAY these pricks are going to allow a little thing like the mid-terms derail their agenda. The rats are cornered, and will become quite vicious now. Its great Wilkerson is stepping up the rhetoric, Steve. But unless he is joined by the media recognized politicians of the left, his honesty will be ineffective and quickly forgotten. Hell, 68% of Americans already KNOW that these people in the Bush gang are lying scumbags, yet they are still crappin' on the Oval Office rugs. It is going to take far more than Wilkerson's belated angst to pry these guys out of there.

Pissed Off American seems to exemplify the old adage of Pogo, "We have scene the enemy, and the enemy is us."

Steve said: " . . . I'm not impressed by the attitude of many on the left who rather than embracing those coming around to many of the views they hold, instead take a self-rigteous, indignant pose and spit in the face of those who can actually begin doing something about the direction the country is going.

I respect your passion and your views -- but I don't understand the far left that chooses to shoot allies as they show up.

Steve is absolutely correct that we should be grateful for people coming around to our point of view -- and I think most of us are (I consider myself a progressive independent - is that "far left?"). I also think that many people, who have seen since Day One the emptiness of that propped-up suit who TOOK the White House in 2000 -- when he secured the Republican nomination -- are understandably venting a fair bit of pent-up fury at the moment. It comes from an extended period of what amounts to suffering a form of torture and wondering what-the-heck took y'all so long!

So, give it a little time. People will calm down and get back to business, especially if they see these "epiphanies" develop some staying power; and if those in a position to do so work to help restore BALANCE in our government.

I think the lack of checks and balances is the most important defect of the past six years. Everyone here knows that is why there have been no meaningful investigations into the crimes of this administr . . . er, I mean . . . regime.

Whether one is of the Right or the Left, this man has been destroying our country. If all these newly-awakened voices follow through -- like, in the short term, set aside previous perceptions of liberal/conservative-Republican/Democrat and put their energy into making sure the Democrats end up with subpoena power this November - then maybe we can save the republic.

There is time enough for the old debates about who has a better idea for solving our legitimate national concerns when we have recovered the country from the hands of these power-mad criminals (and their congressional enablers) who do NOT have the country's best interests at heart.

To Col. Lawrence Wilkerson:

Bush: I based a lot of my foreign policy decisions on some things that I think are true. One, I believe there's an Almighty, and secondly, I believe one of the great gifts of the Almighty is the desire in everybody's soul, regardless of what you look like or where you live, to be free. I believe liberty is universal. I believe people want to be free. And I know that democracies do not war with each other. And I know that the best way to defeat the enemy, the best way to defeat their ability to exploit hopelessness and despair is to give people a chance to live in a free society.

God Save America from GWB!!

SOS!!

Question: When did Bush first (try to) publically articulate his views in re to liberty?

As a high-kicking cheerleader at Yale, as a failed Chief at Arbusto, as the poor trading Manager of the Rangers, and as a highly active executing Governor of TX (order ?), I am quite sure GWB never thought, uttered, or acted toward the spread of liberty through out the world by way of the US military.

Bush' total lack of activity stands in stark opposition to the fervent and boisterous activity of Messers Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, et al.

Bush is POSEUR!!

Dear Steve

I am anything but the far left. In fact I am not even as left as you may be on some issues, even though I am a registered democrat.

I definitely fall in the camp of the more centrist, moderate liberals in America.

And my spitting in the face of "those who could actually do something" is not spitting, it is saying "Where have you been up to now? Why do so many of you insiders show up a day late,a dollar short and 100's of thousands of dead people after the fact.. ?

So with all due respect back to you and the good work you do on this site,...these 'allies"/insiders speaking up now had an obligation to their "country" long before now...but many of them waited until they "retired" to come out of the closet. Too bad the guys on the Vietnam memorial wall and in Iraq didn't have the option of staying in their foxholes till it was safe to come out.

I have given full credit and admiration to people like General Zinn and others who were among the first to speak out about this adm years ago before it became popular to do so. I have in fact called Republican leaders like Hagel to encourage his Iraq withdrawl statement and Republican congressmen like Walter Jones to thank him for taking Perle to task on Iraq intel in the congressional hearings as well as individual Democratic representives.

From what I understand you are saying we should not mention too many are speaking out a little late ...but be grateful they speaking at all because they are public figures who can get attention and change minds...so...let me turn it around..if they are capable of commanding attention and changing minds..wouldn't they have had even more impact if they had spoken out while they had a position at stake?...maybe, maybe not, but we won't know will we because they didn't.

I wouldn't put you down as you did me in the "self-righteous" description but I would say, again with all due respect, that raising the bar on what we expect from those inside goverment is in fact the only way to "turn the country around"....if you want the "turn around" to last longer than just whatever party is in power from time to time that is...

But you nailed me with the "indignant"... I am one of the indignant Americans who "can't actually change anything" except by casting my vote and funding or not funding canditates...unlike the insiders you point out "who can actually begin doing something about the direction the country is going"....and they have done such a bang up job so far the rest of us powerless americans who have done all the shouting for the past 5 years should just shut up now, mind our manners while we sit in the cheerleading section and not demand anything more than a bandaide.

I suspect your ire with my statement is due more to your trying to maintain what you consider some reasonableness and cause unity in discussion and for people viewing your site so I will abstain in the future from too much bluntness...however I think the attitude that my statment reflects represents a lot of "real people" voters, at least among those in my area of the country, and is very "mis-underestimated" by both parties in their election hopes...especially my own party.

Carroll -- with all due respect, I'm not impressed by the attitude of many on the left who rather than embracing those coming around to many of the views they hold, instead take a self-rigteous, indignant pose and spit in the face of those who can actually begin doing something about the direction the country is going.

I respect your passion and your views -- but I don't understand the far left that chooses to shoot allies as they show up.

Makes no sense to me -- that's no way to turn the country around.

As ever,

Steve Clemons

It seems to me that there are folks who are differently abled than others. This is how it has been, is, and always will be. And, understanding that, we move forward as best we can...enabled?

Ducktape....see above

Well I see I started a little s***storm with my opinion this time.

You are right... that a lot of people aren't as well informed as we are and therein might lie the value of insider latecomers to the party speaking out publically to the population.

But I am not hopeful..why?...the vast middle, the non activist, the non fringes of the country, the ordinary people who dont' have time to keep up and devour the net news sources and get the story behind the story, are so throughly disgusted with both parties, the system and everything that it has spawned that I can't find one person among the dozens I talk to in the course of daily business every day that like any possible canditate of either party or have the slightest idea of what the difference is between the repubs and dems except the dems throw bones to the poor and the illegals and the repubs throw bones to the rich and the corporations. But they all agree that neither party represents them anymore and they are both crooked...not very encouraging eh? Will they even vote?

Dear Carroll -- Thanks for your follow-ups. Just to clarify, there is no ire in my comment. You posted a hard-hitting comment, and I responded from my vantage point. Yes, I think that we need the Larry Wilkersons, Paul Pillars, Flynt Leveretts, and others -- they need to help those of us in the 'content business' put a more competitive national security/foreign policy package together.

There was no ire in my message -- I tried to be respectful...sometimes I'm better at that than others, so if I seemed irate, I apologize -- not what I intended.

But I would recommend that however you position yourself politically and substantively on these matters that you consider what I said about those on the left who have said too little, too late to those coming out of the woodwork. Was the CIA analyst now about to be tried for her leaks to Dana Priest too little, too late. I wouldn't say so. She's a hero in my book -- for reasons that I need to explain another day.

But the fact is that Wilkerson has not been a one-note wonder. He came out with a major speech on national security decision making process last October, then addressed many of the torture issues and Cheney's office, and he's been hammering on the White House effectively and consistently since -- as a patriot, not as a Republican or Democrat.

I respect that -- and in my view, I think people like Lawrence Wilkerson should be given support. I realize that others disagree.

Your original note triggered these thoughts -- as I thought that they were too dismissive of these kind of people who have gone through agonizing steps to reveal what they know and do today in the public what they are doing. They have my respect, support, and applause.

All I ask is for you and others to think about it. My friend, Pissed Off American, doesn't have patience for this kind of thing -- and I like his/her posts as well...they are tough, but very good. We just have to agree to disagree some times on these matters.

More later,

Steve Clemons

I agree we need to have patience, and Lawrence Wilkerson very definitely deserves plenty of support. With the now eight high-level military officers speaking out from retirement (beyond the reach of a court martial), I'm hopeful that the momentum will grow toward a fair election -- you remember? The kind where the votes get counted?

Then we have to consider Josh Bolten's new five-point plan to improve bu$h's poll numbers; namely:

1. Highlight the policy to get tough with illegal immigrants by pressing for more funds for Mexican border patrols and use the new recruits and new hardware as a backdrop for press photo opportunities (ride around "on an ATV")

2. Make Wall Street happy;

3. Brag more;

4. Take the focus off Iraq by rattling sabers at Iran;

5. Court the Press - Hire Tony Snow who has a fabulous sense of humor)

. . . All this to improve bu$h's image and not a word of changing POLICIES?!

These people are crazy. We need serious action and we need it damned fast. I'm down to my last nerve and these White House boys are standing on it!

I'm a little late, but I so totally agree with this blog. The frustrating part is what to do to change it? I think the best way is for people to vote out all incumbents. That's the only way for the public to take back some control-the politicians would take things less for granted if they knew their jobs were in jeopardy and the lobbyists wouldn't know who to pander to for a while. But it's a fantasy. Most of the American public outside the beltway is disaffected and sorely uninformed.
I had to laugh at vaughns entry. I had a Swiss friend who e-mailed me similar words, "Worst president you've ever had." And in early 2003 while speaking with an Irish friend about Saddam and Bush,she remarked "He's really scaring us, what a maniac." I told her I didn't think that Saddam was that dangerous. Her response, "Not Saddam, George Bush."

Steve....

I'm with Carroll and PO'd American. As Powell's former chief of staff, Wilkerson doubtless has access to all sorts of information embarrassing to the Bush Regime -- including Colin Powell himself. I don't give a damn if its classified --- Wilkerson has been instrumental in sending thousands of Americans, and tens of thousands of others, to their deaths. If he wants a clear conscience, then let him risk jail time for telling the truth about how this regime took us to war.

Use this symbol of dissent and spread it around and print it and post it.

http://www.hoflink.com/~dbaer/bush_gold_coin2x.jpg

http://www.hoflink.com/~dbaer/bush_silver_coin2x1m.jpg

http://www.hoflink.com/~dbaer/bushdollar.jpg

http://buyblue.biz

Karen -

Most of the American public outside the beltway is disaffected and sorely uninformed.

If it makes you feel any better, here in the upper left coast, the Bush/Cheney bumper stickers have nearly disappeared but not the ones for Kerry/Edwards . . . No matter where I go and no matter who I encounter, the rage against this regime is huge. And most of the people I hang out with are very well-informed and determined to sweep the B*stards out. I just wish I hung out with a few million, but I do what I can -- we all do -- to circulate the reports and URLS to informative sites, especially this one (with special attention to including the unenlightened, but hopefully former, bu$h voters in our families, etc.).

The only solid suggestion I have for what to do is relentlessly recruit voters and ask them to get a permanent absentee ballot so if [when] they try to steal this one, too, we will at least have paper ballots for a hand recount.

Carroll, you need to remember that no one applied for the job of impressing you. Sometimes, it is necessary to know when to say "Where were you guys all this time?" and when to just keep it to yourself because saying it is unproductive. This is one of those times when what you said was un-necessary at best and rabble-rousing at worst.

Not saying that you should keep your mouth shut; that's not my place. But you should get yor self-governing mechanism looked at, and maybe overhauled.

Self Righteousness, thy name is p.lukasiak! You have no idea of the factors involved in these men's decisions, and you certainly have no right to order them about at your whim! You're entitled to your opinions, and you're allowed to accuse cuz sounding...stupid (sorry, Steve) is not a crime. You're entitled to your anger, too. Just don't complain when no one agrees with your fringe positions...

Let me see how big you make your portion of the blame for sending these soldiers off to die. YOU SHOULD HAVE SPOKEN UP ABOUT BUSH STEALING TWO ELECTIONS AND DIVERTING THE WAR EFFORT AWAY FROM USAMA BIN LADEN!! WHERE WAS YOUR VOICE THEN, HUH? So save all that fake indignation and channel it into making sure this episode ends well for the country you claim to be a citizen of.

This ain't no football game, it's our lives. No more second-guessing the "quarterbacks". Let our team do their work, and help them do it!

Dear Steve...and all

My initial "frustration" comment didn't mean I don't support Wilkerson and any others who have finally spoken out ...I do and I have been following Wilkerson's remarks since the very first time he spoke out.

I understand this is your business or profession and that..."they need to help those of us in the 'content business' put a more competitive national security/foreign policy package together."..and I understand you think you are working within the system because you think that is the only way to effect change. And that the imput of experts is necessary if you are going to have a realistic security plan.

But the real deal is this...the rest of America isn't in the "content" business, no slur on you intended, ...most of America is currently in the trying to live through it business...especially those of us old enough to have seen it all before and no one except the young and naive and diehard followers of either party believes either of them puts the country's interest over their own party interest any more. I sat on the airport taxiways in the sixties more times than I ever want to do again watching coffins come off planes at Bragg, knowing my younger Marine Lt. brother in Nam could be in the next shipment. This country doesn't owe the political system one more New York second of patience. You can't rise the dead by saying sorry old chap, didn't have my content ready in time to help you or public opinion wasn't quite there yet politically or I was just following the leader so I wouldn't look like a wimp on national security to the paniced up populace who sons I was about to send to lure the "terriers" into a far off sand trap so they wouldn't be invading and beheading our fair citizens right down here in River City.

There has never been a more opportune time to "overthrown the game"..to toss out "politics as usual"....and all the pandering and framing and stragetizing and political consultants, the entire political "industry" of tanks and lobbies and spin ..hang out all the dirty laundry and just be bold enough to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but.

And I am sure you didn't intend to come across as whipping us lesser morals into shape by saying we need to get our political positions straight because our attitudes aren't helping..but think about it from your professional point of view...has talking down to us from the top or inside instead of listening from the bottom up on the outside won the dems any elections lately? Would any of the insiders speaking out actually be speaking even now if our impolite public fits and howls of outrage hadn't assured them of a fairly receptive audience?

O.K. I am not a political expert so I won't belabor my point any more..however I am keeping my "Burn Washington to the ground and start over" bumper sticker as an I told you so in the event my next worse fears come true before the "insiders" do whatever it is they are going to do to save the country ....even though I promise not to actually say that here again.....

Let me see how big you make your portion of the blame for sending these soldiers off to die. YOU SHOULD HAVE SPOKEN UP ABOUT BUSH STEALING TWO ELECTIONS AND DIVERTING THE WAR EFFORT AWAY FROM USAMA BIN LADEN!! WHERE WAS YOUR VOICE THEN, HUH? So save all that fake indignation and channel it into making sure this episode ends well for the country you claim to be a citizen of.

Mr. Gaskins....

First, I've been speaking out against Bush since November 2000, when he stole the election. (I did extensive research on Florida election law, and the 2000 elections -- feel free to google "Lukasiak, Florida, 2000", or "Lost Votes, Stolen Election", or "Lukasiak, Escambia" for some of my work on that particular issue.) I was the first person (that I know of) to provide a transcription of what happened at Emma Booker elementary school on 9-11-2001 (see http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/2002/09/11_Leadership.html ).

So, get off your high horse about when I began opposing the Bush regime.

Secondly, I was not in the position that Wilkinson was in ---- I wasn't earning a six figure salary keeping secrets about skewed intelligence estimates that were being used to justify sending thousands of innocent people to their deaths. I did what I could as a private citizen -- Wilkinson got paid -- handsomely --- as a public servant. So I will make demands of him, because he was personally involved in the process.

The comments of some of the posters here, as well as Steve's comments, would be far more productive if they were focused at the spineless pieces of shit in Washington that are REFUSING to bend to the will of the people. Where are the comments demanding that this bastard Reid live up to the expectations of his constituency and supply us with an explanation of what kind of backroom deal he cut with Roberts that silenced him on the issue of Phase Two. Where were the demands that he endorse a filibusture of Alito??? That he support Feingold's censure efforts???? Instead, we see these condescending comments directed towards people such as Carrol, who voice the frustrations of 68% of the polled citizenry who DO NOT support these lying posturing bastards in the White House, and are FED UP with these BELATED statements of angst from the actual FRAMERS of this debacle in Iraq. Wilkerson was COMPLICIT, as was Powell, and as was a large contingent of the posturing frauds that were suopposed to be representing the interests of the "opposition party", such as the mewling cowttowing pathetic John Kerry, who once again is being waved in our faces as a solution, (albiet sans his balls, which reside in the trophy case in Kenneth Blackwell's office). On a number of occassions lately, (and this is NOT to toot my own horn), my posts at the Huffington blog have seen the telling distinction of being chosen as "readers favorites". On all occassions that this has occured, it has been on threads with two or three pages of comments, and has been in response to my complete disdain for the cowardly and ineffective opposition launched by the democratic leadership, particularly from Reid and Kerry. This tells me that my anger, and my disillussionment, at both the CRIMES of this administration, as well as the COMPLICITY of the Democratic leadership, resonates with the MAJORITY of informed citizens. Meanwhile, Wilkerson tries to wipe the BLOOD of our children, and the blood of tens of thousands of Iraqis, off his hands, by telling us that that we already know, that we were LIED into a war that has been handled in a criminally malfeascant manner that it will take us DECADES to recover from, both in terms of wealth as well as international credibility.

Yet those such as John Conyers, that have activelly said, ALL ALONG, what we ALL KNOW to be the truth, have been IGNORED by the media, by the "opposition party", and by "insiders" such as Steve.

Now, once again, we see these posturing frauds positioning themselves for another electoral charade that will be packaged and sold by the corporate media as representative government, when in fact it is a bunch of self serving actors representing the same interests. Is it REALLY just a COINCIDENCE that Reid is as deep in AIPAC's pockets as the most staunch neo-con is??? That doesn't alarm you just a bit??? And why is this FRAUD Kerry being waved in our faces again??? Is it because the poll numbers tell the powers that America will not swallow another STOLEN election that puts a right wing charade in power, so this time they better install a LEFT WING CHARADE??? And is Kerry the one tasked to assume office and IGNORE the crimes of the prior eight years, seeking neither indictments nor reform???

Pissed???? You BET Carrol and I are pissed. As is a HUGE majority of Americans. And it is time to stop mincing words and accepting "business as usual" in Washington. Tarring and feathering these sons of bitches of BOTH parties out of Washington CANNOT be done with civility, or weakness. It is time to raise our voices.

And someone tell Wilkerson and Powell that blood doesn't wash off so easily. It stains.

Dave Remnick knows how to take a swing, too.

“An Inconvenient Truth” is not the most entertaining film of the year. But it might be the most important.

The catch, of course, is that the audience-of-one that most urgently needs to see the film and take it to heart—namely, the man who beat Gore in the courts six years ago—does not much believe in science or, for that matter, in any information that disturbs his prejudices, his fantasies, or his sleep. Inconvenient truths are precisely what this White House is structured to avoid and deny.

In the 1992 campaign against Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush mocked Gore as “ozone man” and claimed, “This guy is so far out in the environmental extreme we’ll be up to our necks in owls and outta work for every American.” In the 2000 campaign, George W. Bush cracked that Gore “likes electric cars. He just doesn’t like making electricity.” The younger Bush, a classic schoolyard bully with a contempt for intellect, demanded that Gore “explain what he meant by some of the things” in his 1992 book, “Earth in the Balance”—and then unashamedly admitted that he had never read it. A book that the President did eventually read and endorse is a pulp science-fiction novel: “State of Fear,” by Michael Crichton. Bush was so excited by the story, which pictures global warming as a hoax perpetrated by power-mad environmentalists, that he invited the author to the Oval Office. In “Rebel-in-Chief: Inside the Bold and Controversial Presidency of George W. Bush,” Fred Barnes, the Fox News commentator, reveals that the President and Crichton “talked for an hour and were in near-total agreement.” The visit, Barnes adds, “was not made public for fear of outraging environmentalists all the more.”

As President, Bush has made fantasy a guide to policy. He has scorned the Kyoto agreement on global warming (a pact that Gore helped broker as Vice-President); he has neutered the Environmental Protection Agency; he has failed to act decisively on America’s fuel-efficiency standards even as the European Union, Japan, and China have tightened theirs. He has filled his Administration with people like Philip A. Cooney, who, in 2001, left the American Petroleum Institute, the umbrella lobby for the oil industry, to become chief of staff for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, where he repeatedly edited government documents so as to question the link between fuel emissions and climate change. In 2005, when Cooney left the White House (this time for a job with ExxonMobil), Dana Perino, a White House spokesperson, told the Times, “Phil Cooney did a great job.” A heckuva job, one might say.

I cannot believe hear or see where this "far left"..or "many on the far left", just a few random individuals pop up here and there.

Jerome...

you are priceless...supporting democracy by practicing "followingship" ..what a concept!

I'm with p.lukasiak. These paeans to Wilkerson seem strange to me, considering his complicity. I do like it tho that he has had a conversion experience. I think he does sound a bit like someone who's running for office.

Haven't seen much swiftboating of Wilkerson.

"This ain't no football game, it's our lives. No more second-guessing the "quarterbacks". Let our team do their work, and help them do it!"

Posted by Jerome Gaskins

"Jerome...

you are priceless...supporting democracy by practicing "followingship" ..what a concept!"

Posted by Carroll

Yeah, and he has picked "your team" for you too. I guess he is just too damned full of partisan ignorance to figure out that the players he's picked have thrown the game.

(Why'd he tell ya it ain't no football game, then use the metaphors he did??? God help us if he is another example of "our team".)

There is no doubt that Col. Wilkerson is quiet unhappy about what has happened in the Bush administration and is speaking out about it. There is also no question that he did not do so when it might have made a difference, both before the Iraqi War started and before the last election. Certainly there was more personal risk to him then.

So, you ask, what could he do now that would have a significant effect and perhaps redeem his failures? Simple, convince Colin Powell to come forward with a straightforward statement about the failures of this administration and the need for change at all levels.

Other than that it is all posturing and positioning for the next job.

Eli -- With all due respect, there is nothing that Col. Wilkerson has done recently that would be consistent with chasing a future job in any administration -- and it's a refreshing thing indeed to see. Wilkerson has been selfless and has rejected numerous offers that would have promoted his financial and/or political interests. I know because I've been the vehicle of communication for some of these. I've never seen someone as completely focused on saying what the country needs to hear and know -- rather than some self-serving version of these matters.
Couldn't let that one go, but thanks for your comment.

Steve Clemons

I am coming out from behind my lurking I (mostly like to read as much as I can and keep informed) but I have a question/response. Yes it's a combination.... To the posted who asked why the "hero" was waiting until Pres Bush's numbers were in the toilet to speak out. He didn't, did he. Hasn't Wilkerson been speaking out for quite some time now?

PS: My apologies for the typo's etc. I really should proofread before hitting "Post"

I am still with PissedoffAmerican and p.lukasiak..particularly POA's statement below:

"The comments of some of the posters here, as well as Steve's comments, would be far more productive if they were focused at the spineless pieces of shit in Washington that are REFUSING to bend to the will of the people."

If half as many people who post complaints on boards called their politico's, their phones would melt down..OR....so we are told...! And I say "so we are told" because I have written , called, faxed my politico's regularly through out the years with my opinions when issues arose I had strong feeling about. Maybe this use to work way back when but I have seen a growing indifference over the years on their part to the ordinary citizen...except when they want your money.

I wrote my congressman and senator before the Iraq invasion imploring them not to give this particular adm carte blanch on war..complete with well researched reasons for objecting and believing it would be disaster.....NOW ..I hear the EXACT..the EXACT... same things I wrote and said then, parrotted back the insiders now four years later.
I sent one of those letters to my Congressman Walter Jones and in it I named some people like Perle and Feith involved in this movement to war, whose motives and judgement I distrusted because their backgrounds and ideology were suspect to me....only to see Jones almost in tears three years later when he waved a chapter in Bamford's book, on the run-up to war in Iraq, in Richard Perle's face at a house hearing.
It's enough to make your head explode.

The only way I know to cripple the current system is to vote 80% of them out of office...and let it be a warning to those who come after them.

So I guess I am seconding Karen's"

"I'm a little late, but I so totally agree with this blog. The frustrating part is what to do to change it? I think the best way is for people to vote out all incumbents."

Steve, Big Personnel Moves in Progressive Foreign Policy Circles makes the point that there is more to the job market than just bucks althought I do not think Col. Wilkerson would consider himself a progressive.

OTOH what about my second point.