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Is President Bush’s “Legacy” To Be That Of The President Who Couldn’t Keep A Good “Secret” Under Wraps?
In just another of a long line of “Oops!” situations from the Bush White House beginning with Iraq (Oops!); followed soon thereafter with the data-mining, wiretapping and eavesdropping of ordinary U.S. Citizens without bothering to get a warrant first (Oops!); torture (Oops!); PlameGate (Oops!) — the list goes on and on and apparently, continues to grow — it now appears they can’t even keep it secret they are growing fans of the Obama sixteen-month plan for withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq. All of the former, with the exception of the solitary latter, have probably been practiced in some form or another by most former U.S. presidents, but with the sole exception of Richard Nixon, they’ve managed to commit such felonies under the proverbial “radar screen”. Enter President “Surge” W. Bush.
The latest “Oops!” episode from the Bush Administration? An “Internets-challenged” (imagine that?) member THOUGHT he was simply forwarding a Spiegel report amongst fellow “Internets challenged good ole’ boys” in which Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki was a new fan of Barry Obama and his 16-month timetable for withdrawal of the U.S. military from Iraq. At the time, little did the “Internets challenged good ole’ boy” realize he hit a button in his email program, which would send the email through ALL of the Internets’ Series of Pipes and Tubes versus the “White House Internal Plumbing ONLY” option…
From ABC’s Political Punch (Jake Tapper reports):
White House Accidentally E-Mails to Reporters Story That Maliki Supports Obama Iraq Withdrawal Plan
The White House this afternoon accidentally sent to its extensive distribution list a Reuters story headlined “Iraqi PM backs Obama troop exit plan – magazine.”
The story relayed how Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told the German magazine Der Spiegel that “he supported prospective U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s proposal that U.S. troops should leave Iraq within 16 months … ‘U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes,’” the prime minister said. …”
(Snip!)
“… The misfire comes at an odd time for Bush foreign policy, at a time when Obama’s campaign alleges the president is moving closer toward Obama’s recommendations about international relations — sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, discussing a “general time horizon” for U.S. troop withdrawal… “
“Misfire“, he says. “At an odd time for Bush…”, he continues. How about: “At an odd time for John McCain” as well? I’ll explain…
For those who didn’t already know it, the ONLY Panamanian-born U.S. Senator and/or Presidential candididate in this young nation’s history, Señor John McCain (be sure to roll the “R”), is also more than just a little bit “Internets challenged” himself, not even knowing the difference between the “Start” button and a “Pipe” OR a “Tube”, which makes him a “shoo-in” for President Bush’s replacement for those who resist “change”…
From a report from The San Diego Union-Tribune‘s George E. Condon Jr. this morning:
“WASHINGTON – John McCain is coming in for a lot of ridicule this week in the blogs. The good news for him is that he doesn’t know how to find any blogs so he won’t be reading the criticism.
Oh wait – that’s why he’s coming in for the ridicule. He made the mistake of confessing to The New York Times that he is not very adept at traversing the Information Super Highway.
In fact, he can’t even find the entry ramp.This still doesn’t make him as bad as one of his Senate colleagues. Ted Stevens, the 84-year-old Alaska senator, will forever be remembered for his 2006 description of the Internet as a “series of tubes.” And McCain at least knows there is only one Internet; he was not misled by President Bush’s comments in both 2000 and 2004 that he was aware of reports “on the Internets.”
But it still doesn’t bode well for a presidential candidate who doesn’t want to be tagged as old to display ignorance of something like the Internet that is so central to the lives of millions of Americans. And that is what McCain did in an interview published last Sunday in the Times. Asked what Web sites he regularly reads, he said that his aides “show me Drudge” and sometimes they show him Politico and RealClearPolitics. …”
(Snip!)
“… Asked if he goes online by himself, he responded, “They go on for me. I am learning to get online myself and I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself. …”
Hip, hip, HOORAY for the members of the Grand Old Party (G.O.P.) for learning more and more about how the “Pipes, Tubes and Internets” work. And “KUDOS” to Señor McCain for his aggressive leaps and bounds forward to embrace the webs.
***
Other “must reads” (in their entirety) from around the “blogospheres”…
“… This puts John McCain in an extremely precarious spot: what’s left to argue? to argue against Maliki would be to predicate that Iraqi sovereignty at this point means nothing. Obviously, our national interests aren’t equivalent to Iraq’s, but… Malik isn’t listening to the generals on the ground…but the “hasn’t been to Iraq” line doesn’t work here. …”
Andrew Sullivan of The Daily Dish (The Atlantic):
“… A few weeks ago, Ross argued (somewhat persuasively) that McCain should run on the surge. In the last few days, the McCain campaign and his supporters began pursuing that strategy. An independent pro-McCain group, Let Freedom Ring, announced today it is going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars running an ad attacking Obama over Iraq. And the McCain campaign put out a new TV ad along similar lines yesterday. But with Maliki backing Obama’s Iraq strategy and Bush accepting time horizons, those ads feel tone-deaf. …”
The Moderate Voice (Joe Gandelman):
“…imagery matters in U.S. politics, and this represents one more day when McCain can’t show McGain. …”
Crooks and Liars (Nicole Belle):
“… Ooh, that’s gotta leave a mark… “
“… I suppose that the last thing the administration wanted to do was draw more attention to the fact that they are suddenly adopting all of Obama’s policy positions as their own.”
“… The WH was obviously freaking out after the announcement that al-Maliki supports Obama’s plan, and of course was planning to email this around internally get some some advice from advisers and get their talking points together. …”
PoliBlog™ (Fellow Alabama blogger, Dr. Steven Taylor):
“… when it comes to basic policy direction, Maliki’s statement bolsters Obama’s position, not McCain’s. …”
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