emptywheel has become obsessed with Ed Gillespie, which is a very good thing.

I'm increasingly fascinated with the prominent role of Lobbyist-in-Chief, Ed Gillespie. We now know he was included in discussions, in spring of 2006 (at precisely the time Andy Card and Scottie McClellan were ousted), about whether or not to fire Rummy. He picked up the portfolios of both Dan Bartlett and Karl Rove, two of the last hold-outs from the Texas Mafia. And now here he is, promising to do what Karl Rove couldn't do--excommunicate the corruption from the Corruption Party.

Help Us Tell the World the Truth About Bush's AWOL!

The NY Times says the Army is Cracking Down on Deserters.

Oh really? How about cracking down on the deserter-in-chief at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?

Isn't it time he served his final two years after deserting the Texas Air National Guard because he developed "fear of flying" by repeatedly drinking himself stupid?

STOP THE PRESS! Bush was Grounded for 'Fear of Flying'

Wednesday September 29, 2004 8:22 PM 

Since the Boston Globe's Walter Robinson published his groundbreaking story "1-year gap in Bush's guard duty" on May 23, 2000, journalists and researchers have been trying to find out WHY Bush stopped flying in 1972 with 2.5 years of flying obligation remaining.

Many theories have arisen because George W. Bush has never given a simple, straight answer to this question - which is supposedly his great "strength" as a communicator. Instead he and his spokespeople have offered an endless stream of evasions, alibis, and lies - all of which have been discredited.

Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers is widely seen - on both the left and the right - as an act of crude cronyism, a payback to an utterly loyal aide.

But is that all there is to the story? Or is the nomination a reward for crimes Miers committed on Bush's behalf? Worse yet, did Miers actually force Bush to nominate her through blackmail?

These are the shocking implications of this shocking report by tas at Loaded Mouth, which is based on the reporting of Greg Palast.

I've been waiting for someone, some public personality, to broach this subject. Ever since it became apparent aid was deliberately denied in the aftermath of Katrina to facilitate the forced relocation of the populace and the "military combat operations" commenced in New Orleans along side heavily armed mercenaries three weeks ago, I've been waiting... As it turns out, that person is the one and only Cindy Sheehan. Here's a quote from her following message -

"... I don't care if a human being is black, brown, white, yellow or pink. I don't care if a human being is Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, or pagan. I don't care what flag a person salutes: if a human being is hungry, then it is up to another human being to feed him/her. George Bush needs to stop talking, admit the mistakes of his all around failed administration, pull our troops out of occupied New Orleans and Iraq, and excuse his self from power. The only way America will become more secure is if we have a new administration that cares about Americans even if they don't fall into the top two percent of the wealthiest."

Dear Mr. Bush: Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag. Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't there to begin with? Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there were still homes without power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you?

The rightwing lie-osphere has been buzzing for two weeks with baseless circle-jerk rumors that Democrats manufactured the Schiavo Senate strategy memo to embarrass Republicans.

As John Aravosis beautifully documents, this horseshit was enthusiastically shoveled by such shameless media liars as Tucker Carlson, Fred Barnes, Newsmax, Rush Limbaugh, Michelle Malkin (drill down with Holden's obsession), Powerline's John Hindraker, and AIM's Cliff Kincaid, as well as Senators Robert Bennett and Trent Lott.

Armando reveals WaPo's Howie Kurtz planned to have Hindraker on his Sunday CNN show attacking Kurtz's own WaPo colleague Mike Allen, who broke the original memo story. Kurtz's journalistic demise was momentarily delayed by the physical demise of Pope John Paul II.

Over on the right, today is "We Hate Dan Rather Day."

Of course, "Exhibit A" in Rightwingers v. Rather is the 60 Minutes II segment that Rather presented on 9/8/04, entitled "New Questions On Bush Guard Duty."

Rather's report asked two questions:

The military records of the two men running for president have become part of the political arsenal in this campaign – a tool for building up, or blowing up, each candidate’s credibility as America's next commander-in-chief.

While Sen. Kerry has been targeted for what he did in Vietnam, President Bush has been criticized for avoiding Vietnam by landing a spot in the Texas Air National Guard - and then failing to meet some of his obligations.

Democrats.com EXCLUSIVE

Bush's Tactical Lying
By James C. Moore
Author of Bush's Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential

Being wrong is not very gratifying. Still, I had hoped I was mistaken about George W. Bush. But all of the evidence indicated my president was a liar, a man skilled at deception and changing the evidence to construct alternate realities.

I had been interviewing and writing about Mr. Bush consistently for over 15 years and had spoken with him on the record many times prior to his political ascension. I gave him the benefit of believing what he told me. This is what journalists do.