HOUR ONE GUEST: Dr. Justin Frank, author of Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President.Let’s take a break from obsessing about current Republican nightmares, and revisit a Republican nightmare from the past. George Bush recently sat down with Matt Lauer. Bush didn’t exactly open up about his mistakes. Thank God. Bush “opening up” about his mistakes would be a venting that would dwarf the BP oil spill.On his “Mission Accomplished” speech, Bush said he was caught up in an “exhilarating moment.” I guess the codpiece went to his head.
He says he didn’t fire Donald Rumsfeld over Abu Ghraib because “there was no obvious replacement for Don.” What? All a person needs to replace Donald Rumsfeld is an ability to stand for prolonged periods and talk nonstop without saying anything. I’ll tell you where you can find a replacement for Donald Rumsfeld—in the areas north, west, south, and east of Washington. He said the photo of him looking out the window of Air Force One in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina made him look “uncaring and detached.” I think photographers refer to that as “capturing the moment.”
George Bush claims he was not in shock when he sat there stunned after being told of the attacks on 9/11. I’m sure he was NOT in shock. 9/11 was just the inevitable result of the half-assed way he had been conducting national security. Still, he wants people to know that he was not paralyzed into inaction. No, the paralysis had occurred earlier, when he was handed a memo saying “Bin Laden determined to strike within the US.” The former president also described his battles with booze. He says that he was never tempted to start drinking again during his presidency. Good. He would have had to fight the rest of us for the vodka. Of course, in the end, all of his years of hard drinking failed to prevent George Bush from getting to the White House. Well, the bottle let us down again.At least watching this interview makes it clear why Republicans begged George Bush to hold off his book tour until after the election. If Bush had been all over the airwaves 10 days ago, every Democrat this side of Alvin Greene would have won their election. How soon we forget. And that’s pretty much what Republicans rely on.
Today’s Homework Discuss
Jon Stewart took a member last night to answer his rally critics from the left and also weighed in on the Olbermann suspension…
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| MSNBC Suspends Keith Olbermann | ||||
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Thom's blog
Big banks bending the rules again
You need to know what the big banks are up to. After Democrats passed Wall Street reform legislation earlier this year - big banksters are now trying to soften many of the new rules put in place to prevent another financial crisis. At a conference yesterday - Wall Street lobbyists and big bank CEO's met to discuss ways to "reshape" new rules. Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman railed against what he called anti-Wall Street sentiments coming out of Washington and urged, "The financial system nearly shut down. It's only two years on. You need a little bit of patience to rebuild, to accumulate the capital you need." Boo-hoo. Right...the consumers need patience - yet, the CEOs can't wait another second to collect their fat bonus checks. This year, executive bonuses are expected to be higher than last year - seems like they're doing ok to me. Of course these CEOs have a new ally in Congress as Republicans - like incoming House Majority Leader Eric Cantor - have vowed to soften parts of the Wall Street Reform bill. Do they not remember what got us into this mess 2 years ago?! However - one place big banks don't have an ally is in the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau - temporarily headed by Elizabeth Warren. Appearing on MSNBC last night, Warren said this about the big banks' efforts to kill consumer protections, ""The Wall Street lobbyists said they would kill it before it was ever born. They lost. And they lost because this is an agency that really is there for middle class families." Finally - after 2 years - It looks like someone in the Obama Administration is looking out for the little guy.
-Thom
Do you think the banks will succeed? Tell us here.)
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