AM Feed - May 17: Bush Can't Mollify His Base
Hot Topics
- President Bush was clearly hoping that his address on the issue of immigration on Monday night would help mend rifts in his political base and right his listing ship. The early returns are in: It didn’t work. Right-wing conservatives in the House of Representatives aren’t buying into Bush’s plan. “The emphasis that he placed on the amnesty provision will not fly, especially in the House,” said Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO). This signals the difficult task that Bush still faces in uniting support on a dicey issue. [link]
- Not surprisingly, the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that President Bush’s conservative base is deserting him in droves: Bush’s disapproval rating among Republicans has almost doubled, moving from 16 percent to 30 percent in just the last month. Bush’s overall approval rating stands at a mere 33 percent. A whopping 69 percent see the nation as heading on the wrong track. [link]
- The White House has reversed course and finally agreed to allow the intelligence committees in the House and Senate review President Bush’s controversial warrantless wiretap program. The program is expected to be a focal point of the nomination hearings for Gen. Michael Hayden, Bush’s choice as the new CIA director. Hayden designed the wiretapping program as head of the National Security Agency (NSA) from 1999-2005. The White House has been loathe to share details of its programs, insisting that presidential authority allows for such eavesdropping. [link]
Quote of the Day
“I don’t want to hug the tar baby of trying to comment on the program—the alleged program—the existence of which I can neither confirm nor deny.” – White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, during his first press briefing.
Comment
- Why do they even HAVE White House press secretaries? Their job seems to be to tell us absolutely nothing!
— Jeannine May 17, 12:10 # - Unfortunately, the “Free Trade” agenda has been extended by passing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) again. As I’ve said before, this should be more accurately named SLAVE TRADE as our jobs are outsourced to just inside the northern boundary of Mexico to the infamous Maquiladoras which pay workers slave wages under horrendous working conditions. Also Big Agribusiness which has destroyed the small family farm in this country receives huge subsidies (CORPORATE WELFARE) of our taxpayer money to “dump” massive amounts of corn at rock bottom prices into the Mexican market. Mexican farmers unable to compete against this subsidized, dirt-cheap corn are driven out of the market and must find work. Hence, this massive amount of illegal immigration as people simply struggle to find work and survive. Escalating border security has driven immigrants to take routes through extremely harsh terrain in the desert of the American southwest. Thousands and thousands die agonizing deaths of exposure in the desert heat. They are often cheated by opportunistic “coyotes”, smugglers who charge exorbitant fees. Now, they face the wrath of the xenophobic Minuteman who benefit from low food prices resulting from growers exploiting immigrants who manage to overcome all these obstacles and find work. Then there’s the crazy “Security Fence” along the border. Then there’s the mind-boggling expense the U.S. taxpayer will be forced to pay to send 6,000 National Guard troops to police the border. Why do we hate people of color so much? Where does this bottomless reservoir of hate come from? Well, I don’t know where it comes from, but I do know that the elites of the Cheap Labor Right stoke this animosity constantly to divert attention from their kleptocratic ravaging of the U.S. treasury and our common assets and wealth. Fight the power!
— John May 17, 12:37 # - Hi Jeannine – Press Secretaries are needed to lie to the lap-dogs in the Washington Press Corps of stenographers so that they can then regurgitate the lies to us. How else can politicians’ lies be disseminated to the sheeple without these intermediary parasites as go-betweens?
— John May 17, 12:44 # - John, a couple of days ago you mentioned how Bush has basically shrugged and washed his hands of the aftermath of the Hurricane Katrina disaster because of his disdain of African-Americans, but Indian tribes have been devastated too and no one is talking about it- Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now program is the exception. We are in a really bad way down here with no help from FEMA!
— Healing Bear May 17, 13:01 # - Hello Healing Bear – I do remember Amy Goodman airing a segment on a few Indian Nations totally beset by the Katrina destruction and I was appalled by the whole sorry-ass mess and Bush’s Alfred E. Newman response. What, me Worry?
I don’t really know what to say – this is just unbelievable how this country is systemically being converted into a Banana Republic. I mean, we’re at the bottom of the industrialized nations now in infant mortality, one of the chief indicators of national health excellence. Only Latvia has a worse infant mortality. We are the most obese nation. We have 46,000,000 people in the U.S. without health insurance and health care costs so damned expensive it’s cheaper to die. We have skyrocketing rates of homelessness. 25% of Americans are on anti-depressants. All people seem to want to do is eat cheeseburgers and talk on their cellphones while the government engages in war after war after war. I hesitate to use the word “government” because it doesn’t really govern – it “spins”. It has really just devolved into a gigantic PR Machine.
— John May 17, 13:24 # - Press Secretary Tony Snow started crying like somebody’s grandma when the topic came up of his bout with cancer and his mother’s cancer. Too bad he doesn’t give a shit about the travails of poor folks who labor under a much greater burden than this decadent thumbsucker could ever imagine!
— Aisha May 17, 13:42 # - I do not defend Tony Snow, but he did show emotion. He even showed the right emotion as opposed to his boss and his predcessor.
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