Facts:

George Bush once again misused his office as the head of the world's greatest superpower and helped start another war.

How?

Warren Christopher has denied that he was the pushover portrayed by "Recount", but we now have our proof that he's a fool for Bushist flim-flam.  He has signed on with James Baker, who strong-armed him before, to replace the War Powers Act with the War Powers Consultation Act, which would further emasculate Congress:

Under the fraudulent headline "Put War Powers Back Where They Belong," two war-mongers, James Baker and Warren Christopher, propose an equally fraudulent replacement for the War Powers Act. They start with another fraudulent statement:

Our Constitution ambiguously divides war powers between the president (who is the commander in chief) and Congress (which has the power of the purse and the power to declare war).

But the "commander-in-chief" doesn't decide what wars to fight, any more than generals do. The commander in chief and generals decide how to fight wars. What wars are to be fought is unambiguously the province of Congress, which has the sole power to declare war.

I was heartened last February when the University of Virginia's Miller Center of Pubic Affairs announced the formation of the National War Powers Commission, and I was ecstatic to hear the commission would be headed by foreign policy heavyweights James A. Baker III and Warren Christopher.  The results of the Commission's intensive studies have just hit the street, and I couldn't be more disenchanted.  

The Commission proposes a new and improved War Powers Consultation Act of 2009 to replace the old broken down War Powers Resolution of 1973.  Lamentably, when you read the old and new titles, you've seen all the substantial difference there is between the proposed Act and the standing Resolution.

Today:

WASHINGTON—Former secretaries of state James Baker III and Warren Christopher say the next time the president goes to war, Congress should be required to say whether it agrees. The co-chairmen of a bipartisan study group have proposed legislation that would require the president to consult lawmakers before initiating combat lasting longer than a week, except in cases of emergencies.

1787:

Article I, Section 8

The Congress shall have Power ...

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

Update: I added emphasis to draw attention to the absurdity.

Andrew Sullivan has a great video up from Fareed Zakaria today on the uses of the Appeasement meme by the right.  It displays a typical over-crediting of Reagan for the end of the cold war, but is nonetheless useful and instructive because it shows that Gingrich was saying the same thing about Reagan in '88 for meeting with the Soviets that he is saying now about Obama for his plan to--gasp--talk with our enemies.  

I've tried so many times to explain the complexity of the circumstances surrounding everything that happened in Florida--back in 2000 (and, really, in 2004 as well)--to people like my mother and some of my other musician friends; and, being that they're really not political junkies, they usually just stare at me blankly. ;)

Anyway, this scene from Recount has done the trick.  Leary, despite his foul language (although I find that hillarious), explains the problems with punch-card voting succinctly, yet simply. Plus, the added CGI effects actually showing the processes going on inside the votermatic were genius.

So with the 2008 election right around the corner, this single clip has done more to inform and energize a lot of the 'casually-political' people I know to be a little extra diligent before stepping into the voting booth. To ask questions like "Has all the CHAD been cleaned out of this machine?" or "Is there a reason why you only have two machines for this entire district?" etc.

"Talking to an enemy is not, in my view, appeasement."

 Abigail Taylor, the Minnesota girl who was disemboweled last summer in a pool accident identical to the one made famous by John Edwards, has died. She succumbed to complications of transplant surgery intended to replace her small intestine, liver, and pancreas. She was six years old.

Carlyle Capital, the mortgage debt investment fund of the Carlyle Group (where Bush Sr. and James Baker were top advisers and presumably still large shareholders) is getting hammered by margin calls. Banks that have loaned them money are calling in their debts and the fund is struggling to stave off liquidation of all of its assets.

(note: Reposted from yesterday without an offensive poll question that was added as a joke, but became troll bait).

Antisemitic, Israel hater, James Baker III endorsed John McCain for President.

I call on John McCain to denounce AND reject James Baker, who once said:

As Bullwinkle tried to pull another rabbit out of his ass regarding the most recent NIE report, I could not help but wonder if Dick Cheney was squirming in his chair as much as the reporters interviewing Bullwinkle at that now infamous press conference.

It has now come to light without a shadow of a doubt, that the entire fiasco has caught Bullwinkle and Rocky with their pants down in front of the entire world. The proof has appeared over and over again, that they have known for over a year that Iran has ended it's nuclear program, yet the Rush to War was "full speed ahead" regardless of the monumental consequences for the entire world.  

It seems our own Pentagon led by James Baker has finally stepped in to stop these two insane neocon criminals, just in time.  

"Josh, get me Wilhelm Rehnquist."

"Mr. President, it is a privilege and an honor to serve you today, but Mr. Rehnquist has gone to that great vote-suppression paradise in the sky."

"Yeh, right, I remember appointin' that Roberts guy, the one who actually made it through Harvard on his own. Y'know, nevermind Roberts just yet. Get me Jim Baker."

...

The Atlantic Community Think Tank in Germany presents a comparative overview of the most discussed strategies for Iraq.

The NY Times reports tonight what might seem to be just a nasty piece of insider NY State politics:  An anonymous phone call, made to Bernard Spitzer, father of former NY Attorney General and now Governor, Elliot Spitzer, threatened that the elder would be “compelled by the Senate sergeant at arms” to testify about “shady campaign loans” he made to his son during Eliot Spitzer’s unsuccessful campaign for attorney general in 1994.

http://www.nytimes.com/...

The story goes on:  “If you resist this subpoena, you will be arrested and brought to Albany,” the message says, according to a transcript. The message also calls Governor Spitzer a “phony” and a “psycho.”

The elder Spitzer’s attorneys retained the investigative services of Kroll and Associates which traced the numer appearing on Spitzer’s caller ID. The reported it was linked to listings under the name of Nydia Stone, wife of Roger J. Stone.  The linking of Stone to the threatening call is just the latest in a 35-year trail of dirty tricks by Mr. Stone on behalf of the Republican party.

Finally, after two long years (the point at which I thought it became abundantly clear), people have come around to the obvious conclusion that we have lost in Iraq. It takes a long time for a proud country to admit a mistake.

Our original goals were nonexistent, nonsensical lies in the first place. There were no weapons of mass destruction. There were no ties to Al Qaeda. Going on the offense against people who did not attack us is technically a war crime and was bound to be counterproductive.

Our intermediary goals - keeping the country together, bringing democracy to Iraq, and leaving a stable, friendly Iraq behind - proved to be illusory fairly quickly. As I explained nearly two years ago, there never was an Iraq. It was all a mirage.

The following is from the Cheney dump over at the Washington Post. It was a crush note to Baker. Now it is a lover letter for everyone, a shot of young strapping Dick Cheney, and his thinking.

Here is a pdf of Dick's scrawling for empire:
http://media.washingtonpost.com/...

How much of a prick is Rudy Giuliani? So much that he basically got fired from the Iraq Study Group by James Baker because he never went to any of the meetings.

And where was he instead? Cashing in on his 9/11 celebrity, giving motivational speeches for an organization called Life Win, Inc., which puts on "Get Motivated" (!) seminars all over the country.

You know the drill. Big stage show. Big music. Big lights. Big name celeb tells you to reach for your dreams. Big charge on your credit card.

How big? Big enough to pay Rudy a hundred grand per appearance (he did two while he was supposed to be at ISG meetings).

You know, for a war we got into (and an occupation we continue -- maybe for 50 years) because people like Giuliani told America Iraq was connected to the World Trade Center attack, you'd think the decent thing for Giuliani to do would be to drop his 9/11 grave robbing for a while and see what he could contribute to getting us the hell out of this mess. But then, Giuliani probably knew it was a lie right from the beginning, just like the rest of us.

Either way, I guess we have our answer as to what he can contribute: nothing. So that's what he did.

Keep that in mind, Republican America, next time Giuliani tells some swooning crowd how he felt the 9/11 attacks so much more deeply than the rest of us because he was mayor of the town that blew up because George Bush didn't read his PDBs. Rudy Giuliani has made his millions picking the pockets of the 9/11 dead.

And you just know this guy has the balls to tell crowds that he "felt a calling" to run for president, too. That wasn't God calling, Rudy. That was Baker, asking why your deadbeat ass wasn't showing up for work.

Guess that settles the "Who truly wears the mantle of George W. Bush" question, though, doesn't it?