Olberman: There Is No Line This President Has Not Crossed

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Topic:	Religions > Atheism
User:	"Michelle Malkin"
Date:	03 Nov 2006 12:20:33 AM
Object:	Olberman: There Is No Line This President Has Not Crossed

Olbermann's Special Comment : There is no line this President has not
crossed - nor will not cross - to keep one political party, in power.
By: Jamie Holly on Wednesday, November 1st, 2006 at 6:38 PM - PST
Tonight we got another one of Keith's special comments and this one was
another top-notch job. Olbermann left no stone unturned while going through
the exhaustive list of how the Republicans love to manipulate words and turn
them into something they are not.
Video - WMV Video - QT
Transcripts below the fold:
And finally tonight, a Special Comment.
On the 22nd of May, 1856, as the deteriorating American political system
veered towards the edge of the cliff, Congressman Preston Brooks of South
Carolina, shuffled into the Senate of this nation, his leg stiff from an old
dueling injury, supported by a cane. And he looked for the familiar figure
of the prominent Senator from Massachusetts, Charles Sumner.
Brooks found Sumner at his desk, mailing out copies of a speech he had
delivered three days earlier - a speech against slavery.
The Congressman matter-of-factly raised his walking stick in mid-air, and
smashed its metal point, across the Senator's head.
Congressman Brooks hit his victim repeatedly. Senator Sumner somehow got to
his feet and tried to flee. Brooks chased him, and delivered untold blows to
Sumner's head. Even though Sumner lay unconscious and bleeding, on the
Senate floor, Brooks finally stopped beating him, only because his cane
finally broke.
Others will cite John Brown's attack on the arsenal at Harper's Ferry as the
exact point after which the Civil War became inevitable.
In point of fact, it might have been the moment - not when Brooks broke his
cane over the prostrate body of Senator Sumner - but when voters in Brooks's
district started sending him new canes.
Tonight, we almost wonder to whom President Bush will send the next new
cane.
There is tonight no political division in this country that he and his party
will not exploit, nor have not exploited; no anxiety that he and his party
will not inflame.
There is no line this President has not crossed - nor will not cross - to
keep one political party, in power.
He has spread any and every fear among us, in a desperate effort to avoid
that which he most fears - some check, some balance against what has become
not an imperial, but a unilateral presidency.
And now it is evident that it no longer matters to him, whether that effort
to avoid the judgment of the people, is subtle and nuanced - or laughably
transparent.
Senator John Kerry called him out Monday.
He did it two years too late.
He had been too cordial - just as Vice President Gore had been too cordial
in 2000 - just as millions of us, have been too cordial ever since.
Senator Kerry, as you well know, spoke at a college in Southern California.
With bitter humor, he told the students that he had been in Texas the day
before, that President Bush used to live in that state, but that now he
lives in the state of denial.
He said the trip had reminded him about the value of education - that quote
"if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework, and you
make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you can get stuck
in Iraq."
The Senator, in essence, called Mr. Bush stupid.
The context was unmistakable: Texas;the state of denial;stuck in Iraq. No
interpretation required.
And Mr. Bush and his minions responded, by appearing to be too stupid to
realize that they had been called stupid.
They demanded Kerry apologize - to the troops in Iraq.
And so he now has.
That phrase "appearing to be too stupid" is used deliberately, Mr. Bush.
Because there are only three possibilities here:
One, sir, is that you are far more stupid than the worst of your critics
have suggested; that you could not follow the construction of a simple
sentence; that you could not recognize your own life story when it was
deftly summarized; that you could not perceive it was the sad ledger of your
presidency that was being recounted.
This, of course, compliments you, Mr. Bush, because even those who do not
"make the most of it," who do not "study hard," who do not "do their
homework," and who do not "make an effort to be smart" might still just be
stupid - but honest.
No; the first option, sir, is, at best, improbable. You are not honest.
The second option is that you and those who work for you deliberately
twisted what Senator Kerry said to fit your political template. That you
decided to take advantage of it, to once again pretend that the attacks,
solely about your own incompetence, were in fact attacks on the troops - or
even on the nation itself.
The third possibility is, obviously, the nightmare scenario; that the first
two options are in some way conflated.
That it is both politically convenient for you, and personally satisfying to
you, to confuse yourself with the country for which, sir, you work.
A brief reminder, Mr. Bush: You are not the United States of America.
You are merely a politician whose entire legacy will have been a willingness
to make anything political - to have, in this case, refused to acknowledge
that the insult wasn't about the troops, and that the insult was not even
truly about you either - that the insult, in fact, is you.
So now John Kerry has apologized to the troops; apologized for the
Republicans' deliberate distortions.
Thus the President will now begin the apologies he owes our troops, right?
This President must apologize to the troops - for having suggested, six
weeks ago, that the chaos in Iraq, the death and the carnage, the
slaughtered Iraqi civilians and the dead American service personnel, will,
to history, quote "look like just a comma."
This President must apologize to the troops - because the intelligence he
claims led us into Iraq proved to be undeniably and irredeemably wrong.
This President must apologize to the troops - for having laughed about the
failure of that intelligence, at a banquet, while our troops were in harm's
way.
This President must apologize to the troops - because the streets of Iraq
were not strewn with flowers and its residents did not greet them as
liberators.
This President must apologize to the troops - because his administration ran
out of "plan" after barely two months.
This President must apologize to the troops - for getting 2,815 of them
killed.
This President must apologize to the troops - for getting this country into
a war without a clue.
And Mr. Bush owes us an apology. for this destructive and omnivorous
presidency.
-
We will not receive them, of course.
This President never apologizes.
Not to the troops.
Not to the people.
Nor will those henchmen who have echoed him.
In calling him a "stuffed suit," Senator Kerry was wrong about the Press
Secretary.
Mr. Snow's words and conduct - falsely earnest and earnestly false - suggest
he is not "stuffed" - he is inflated.
And in leaving him out of the equation, Senator Kerry gave an unwarranted
pass to his old friend Senator McCain, who should be ashamed of himself
tonight.
He rolled over and pretended Kerry had said what he obviously had not.
Only, the symbolic stick he broke over Kerry's head came in a context, even
more disturbing: Mr. McCain demanded the apology, while electioneering for a
Republican congressional candidate in Illinois.
He was speaking of how often he had been to Walter Reed Hospital to see the
wounded Iraq veterans, of how, quote "many of the have lost limbs." He said
all this while demanding that the voters of Illinois reject a candidate who
is not only a wounded Iraq veteran, but who lost two limbs there: Tammy
Duckworth.
Support some of the wounded veterans. But bad-mouth the Democratic one.
And exploit all the veterans, and all the still-serving personnel, in a
cheap and tawdry political trick, to try to bury the truth: that John Kerry
said the President had been stupid.
And to continue this slander as late as this morning - as biased, or
gullible, or lazy newscasters, nodded in sleep-walking assent.
Senator McCain became a front man in a collective lie to break sticks over
the heads of Democrats - one of them his friend; another his fellow veteran,
leg-less, for whom he should weep and applaud, or at minimum about whom, he
should stay quiet.
That was beneath the Senator from Arizona.
And it was all because of an imaginary insult to the troops that his party
cynically manufactured - out of a desperation, and a futility, as deep as
that of Congressman Brooks, when he went hunting for Senator Sumner.
This, is our beloved country now, as you have re-defined it, Mr. Bush.
Get a tortured Vietnam veteran to attack a decorated Vietnam veteran, in
defense of military personnel, whom that decorated veteran did not insult.
Or, get your henchmen to take advantage of the evil lingering dregs of the
fear of miscegenation in Tennessee, in your party's advertisements against
Harold Ford.
Or, get the satellites who orbit around you, like Rush Limbaugh, to exploit
the illness - and the bi-partisanship - of Michael J. Fox - yes, get someone
to make fun of the cripple.
Oh, and sir, don't forget to drag your own wife into it.
"It's always easy," she said of Mr. Fox's commercials - and she used this
phrase twice - "to manipulate people's feelings."
Where on earth might the First Lady have gotten that idea, Mr. President?
From your endless manipulation of people's feelings about terrorism?
"How ever they put it," you said Monday of the Democrats, on the subject of
Iraq , "their approach comes down to this: the terrorists win and America
loses."
No manipulation of feelings there.
No manipulation of the charlatans of your administration into the only
truth-tellers.
No shocked outrage at the Kerry insult that wasn't; no subtle smile as the
First Lady silently sticks the knife in Michael J. Fox's back; no attempt on
the campaign trail to bury the reality that you have already assured that
the terrorists are winning.
Winning in Iraq, sir.
Winning in America, sir.
There, we have chaos: joint U.S./Iraqi checkpoints at Sadr City, the base of
the radical Shiite militias - and the Americans have been ordered out by the
Prime Minister of Iraq. and our Secretary of Defense doesn't even know about
it!
And here - we have deliberate, systematic, institutionalized lying and
smearing and terrorizing - a code of deceit, that somehow permits a
President to say, quote, "If you listen carefully for a Democrat plan for
success, they don't have one."
Permits him to say this while his plan in Iraq has amounted to a twisted
version of the advice once offered to Lyndon Johnson about his Iraq, called
Vietnam.
Instead of "declare victory - and get out". we now have "declare victory -
and stay, indefinitely."
And also here, we have institutionalized the terrorizing of the opposition.
True domestic terror:
- Critics of your administration in the media receive letters filled with
fake anthrax.
- Braying newspapers applaud, or laugh, or reveal details the FBI wished
kept quiet, and thus impede or ruin the investigation.
- A series of reactionary columnists encourages treason charges against a
newspaper that published "national security information" - that was openly
available on the internet.
- One radio critic receives a letter, threatening the revelation of as much
personal information about her as can be obtained - and expressing the hope
that someone will then shoot her with an AK-47 machine gun.
- And finally, a critic of an incumbent Republican Senator, a critic armed
with nothing but words, is attacked by the Senator's supporters, and thrown
to the floor, in full view of television cameras, as if someone really did
want to re-enact the intent and the rage of the day Preston Brooks found
Senator Charles Sumner.
Of course, Mr. President, you did none of these things.
You instructed no one to mail the fake anthrax. Nor undermine the FBI's
case. Nor call for the execution of the editors of the New York Times. Nor
threaten to assassinate Stephanie Miller. Nor beat up a man yelling at
Senator Allen. Nor have the first lady knife Michael J. Fox. Nor tell John
McCain to lie about John Kerry.
No, you did not.
And the genius of the thing, is the same, as in King Henry's rhetorical
question about Archbishop Thomas Becket: "Who will rid me of this meddlesome
priest?"
All you have to do, sir. is hand out enough new canes.
.

User: "johac"
Title: Re: Olberman: There Is No Line This President Has Not Crossed	04 Nov 2006 12:00:29 AM

In article <ZtCdnYdfTts4QtfYnZ2dnUVZ_rOdnZ2d@comcast.com>,
"Michelle Malkin" <hypatiab7@comcast.net> wrote:

<snip excellent piece>
I watched that. Olbermann is so right on. I wish that more Democrats
would give speeches like that.
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"
-Voltaire
Contact - Throw a .net over the .com
.

User: "Michelle Malkin"
Title: Re: Olberman: There Is No Line This President Has Not Crossed	04 Nov 2006 12:58:08 AM

"johac" <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com> wrote in message
news:jhachmann-D16175.22002903112006@news.giganews.com...

In article <ZtCdnYdfTts4QtfYnZ2dnUVZ_rOdnZ2d@comcast.com>,
"Michelle Malkin" <hypatiab7@comcast.net> wrote:

<snip excellent piece>

I watched that. Olbermann is so right on. I wish that more Democrats
would give speeches like that.

Unfortunately, most of them haven't got the guts.
Hopefully, some of the Progressives being voted in
will.
--
^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^
Michelle Malkin (Mickey) aa list#1
BAAWA Knight & Bible Thumper Thumper
^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^
--

John Hachmann aa #1782

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit
atrocities"
-Voltaire

Contact - Throw a .net over the .com

User: "johac"
Title: Re: Olberman: There Is No Line This President Has Not Crossed	04 Nov 2006 11:45:31 PM

In article <wa6dnXuJkfhspNHYnZ2dnUVZ_qCdnZ2d@comcast.com>,
"Michelle Malkin" <hypatiab7@comcast.net> wrote:

"johac" <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com> wrote in message
news:jhachmann-D16175.22002903112006@news.giganews.com...

In article <ZtCdnYdfTts4QtfYnZ2dnUVZ_rOdnZ2d@comcast.com>,
"Michelle Malkin" <hypatiab7@comcast.net> wrote:

<snip excellent piece>

I watched that. Olbermann is so right on. I wish that more Democrats
would give speeches like that.

Unfortunately, most of them haven't got the guts.
Hopefully, some of the Progressives being voted in
will.

Especially if they take one or both branches.
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"
-Voltaire
Contact - Throw a .net over the .com
.

User: "Michelle Malkin"
Title: Re: Olberman: There Is No Line This President Has Not Crossed	05 Nov 2006 12:01:46 AM

"johac" <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com> wrote in message
news:jhachmann-711689.21453104112006@news.giganews.com...

In article <wa6dnXuJkfhspNHYnZ2dnUVZ_qCdnZ2d@comcast.com>,
"Michelle Malkin" <hypatiab7@comcast.net> wrote:

"johac" <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com> wrote in message
news:jhachmann-D16175.22002903112006@news.giganews.com...

In article <ZtCdnYdfTts4QtfYnZ2dnUVZ_rOdnZ2d@comcast.com>,
"Michelle Malkin" <hypatiab7@comcast.net> wrote:

<snip excellent piece>

I watched that. Olbermann is so right on. I wish that more Democrats
would give speeches like that.

Unfortunately, most of them haven't got the guts.
Hopefully, some of the Progressives being voted in
will.

Especially if they take one or both branches.

May the Force be with us! ;-)
--
^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^
Michelle Malkin (Mickey) aa list#1
BAAWA Knight & Bible Thumper Thumper
^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^

--
John Hachmann aa #1782

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit
atrocities"
-Voltaire

Contact - Throw a .net over the .com

User: "johac"
Title: Re: Olberman: There Is No Line This President Has Not Crossed	05 Nov 2006 11:26:26 PM

In article <bdSdnTY2EKTU49DYnZ2dnUVZ_s2dnZ2d@comcast.com>,
"Michelle Malkin" <hypatiab7@comcast.net> wrote:

"johac" <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com> wrote in message
news:jhachmann-711689.21453104112006@news.giganews.com...

In article <wa6dnXuJkfhspNHYnZ2dnUVZ_qCdnZ2d@comcast.com>,
"Michelle Malkin" <hypatiab7@comcast.net> wrote:

"johac" <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com> wrote in message
news:jhachmann-D16175.22002903112006@news.giganews.com...

In article <ZtCdnYdfTts4QtfYnZ2dnUVZ_rOdnZ2d@comcast.com>,
"Michelle Malkin" <hypatiab7@comcast.net> wrote:

<snip excellent piece>

I watched that. Olbermann is so right on. I wish that more Democrats
would give speeches like that.

Unfortunately, most of them haven't got the guts.
Hopefully, some of the Progressives being voted in
will.

Especially if they take one or both branches.

May the Force be with us! ;-)

And may we defeat those with the Dark Side.
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"
-Voltaire
Contact - Throw a .net over the .com
.

User: "Michelle Malkin"
Title: Re: Olberman: There Is No Line This President Has Not Crossed	06 Nov 2006 12:10:23 AM

"johac" <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com> wrote in message
news:jhachmann-651669.21262605112006@news.giganews.com...

In article <bdSdnTY2EKTU49DYnZ2dnUVZ_s2dnZ2d@comcast.com>,
"Michelle Malkin" <hypatiab7@comcast.net> wrote:

"johac" <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com> wrote in message
news:jhachmann-711689.21453104112006@news.giganews.com...

In article <wa6dnXuJkfhspNHYnZ2dnUVZ_qCdnZ2d@comcast.com>,
"Michelle Malkin" <hypatiab7@comcast.net> wrote:

"johac" <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com> wrote in message
news:jhachmann-D16175.22002903112006@news.giganews.com...

In article <ZtCdnYdfTts4QtfYnZ2dnUVZ_rOdnZ2d@comcast.com>,
"Michelle Malkin" <hypatiab7@comcast.net> wrote:

<snip excellent piece>

I watched that. Olbermann is so right on. I wish that more Democrats
would give speeches like that.

Unfortunately, most of them haven't got the guts.
Hopefully, some of the Progressives being voted in
will.

Especially if they take one or both branches.

May the Force be with us! ;-)

And may we defeat those with the Dark Side.

Shrub is looking more and more like Captain Needa.
Who could Darth Rove and Emperor Cheney replace
him with?
--
^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^
Michelle Malkin (Mickey) aa list#1
BAAWA Knight & Bible Thumper Thumper
^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^

--
John Hachmann aa #1782

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit
atrocities"
-Voltaire

Contact - Throw a .net over the .com

User: "Doc Smartass"
Title: Re: Olberman: There Is No Line This President Has Not Crossed	06 Nov 2006 03:04:26 PM

"Michelle Malkin" <hypatiab7@comcast.net> wrote in
news:xeWdnSFuX9BRTNPYnZ2dnUVZ_uednZ2d@comcast.com:

"johac" <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com> wrote in message
news:jhachmann-651669.21262605112006@news.giganews.com...

In article <bdSdnTY2EKTU49DYnZ2dnUVZ_s2dnZ2d@comcast.com>,
"Michelle Malkin" <hypatiab7@comcast.net> wrote:

"johac" <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com> wrote in message
news:jhachmann-711689.21453104112006@news.giganews.com...

In article <wa6dnXuJkfhspNHYnZ2dnUVZ_qCdnZ2d@comcast.com>,
"Michelle Malkin" <hypatiab7@comcast.net> wrote:

"johac" <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com> wrote in message
news:jhachmann-D16175.22002903112006@news.giganews.com...

In article <ZtCdnYdfTts4QtfYnZ2dnUVZ_rOdnZ2d@comcast.com>,
"Michelle Malkin" <hypatiab7@comcast.net> wrote:

<snip excellent piece>

I watched that. Olbermann is so right on. I wish that more
Democrats would give speeches like that.

Unfortunately, most of them haven't got the guts.
Hopefully, some of the Progressives being voted in
will.

Especially if they take one or both branches.

May the Force be with us! ;-)

And may we defeat those with the Dark Side.

Shrub is looking more and more like Captain Needa.
Who could Darth Rove and Emperor Cheney replace
him with?

A chair.
--
Doc Smartass
"***** repeated to the limit of infinity asymptotically approaches
the odour of roses." -- Relf's Law
.

User: "johac"
Title: Re: Olberman: There Is No Line This President Has Not Crossed	06 Nov 2006 11:47:18 PM

In article <xeWdnSFuX9BRTNPYnZ2dnUVZ_uednZ2d@comcast.com>,
"Michelle Malkin" <hypatiab7@comcast.net> wrote: