Olbermann fucking kills it tonight
Fatback
6,746 Posts
video:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19588942/???I didn???t vote for him,??? an American once said, ???But he???s my president, and I hope he does a good job.???That???on this eve of the 4th of July???is the essence of this democracy, in 17 words. And that is what President Bush threw away yesterday in commuting the sentence of Lewis ???Scooter??? Libby.The man who said those 17 words???improbably enough???was the actor John Wayne. And Wayne, an ultra-conservative, said them, when he learned of the hair???s-breadth election of John F. Kennedy instead of his personal favorite, Richard Nixon in 1960.???I didn???t vote for him but he???s my president, and I hope he does a good job.???The sentiment was doubtlessly expressed earlier, but there is something especially appropriate about hearing it, now, in Wayne???s voice: The crisp matter-of-fact acknowledgement that we have survived, even though for nearly two centuries now, our Commander-in-Chief has also served, simultaneously, as the head of one political party and often the scourge of all others.We as citizens must, at some point, ignore a president???s partisanship. Not that we may prosper as a nation, not that we may achieve, not that we may lead the world???but merely that we may function.But just as essential to the seventeen words of John Wayne, is an implicit trust???a sacred trust: That the president for whom so many did not vote, can in turn suspend his political self long enough, and for matters imperative enough, to conduct himself solely for the benefit of the entire Republic.Our generation???s willingness to state ???we didn???t vote for him, but he???s our president, and we hope he does a good job,??? was tested in the crucible of history, and earlier than most.And in circumstances more tragic and threatening. And we did that with which history tasked us.We enveloped our President in 2001.And those who did not believe he should have been elected???indeed those who did not believe he had been elected???willingly lowered their voices and assented to the sacred oath of non-partisanship.And George W. Bush took our assent, and re-configured it, and honed it, and shaped it to a razor-sharp point and stabbed this nation in the back with it.Were there any remaining lingering doubt otherwise, or any remaining lingering hope, it ended yesterday when Mr. Bush commuted the prison sentence of one of his own staffers.Did so even before the appeals process was complete; did so without as much as a courtesy consultation with the Department of Justice; did so despite what James Madison???at the Constitutional Convention???said about impeaching any president who pardoned or sheltered those who had committed crimes ???advised by??? that president; did so without the slightest concern that even the most detached of citizens must look at the chain of events and wonder: To what degree was Mr. Libby told: break the law however you wish???the President will keep you out of prison?In that moment, Mr. Bush, you broke that fundamental com-pact between yourself and the majority of this nation???s citizens???the ones who did not cast votes for you. In that moment, Mr. Bush, you ceased to be the President of the United States. In that moment, Mr. Bush, you became merely the President of a rabid and irresponsible corner of the Republican Party. And this is too important a time, Sir, to have a commander-in-chief who puts party over nation.This has been, of course, the gathering legacy of this Administration. Few of its decisions have escaped the stain of politics. The extraordinary Karl Rove has spoken of ???a permanent Republican majority,??? as if such a thing???or a permanent Democratic majority???is not antithetical to that upon which rests: our country, our history, our revolution, our freedoms.Yet our Democracy has survived shrewder men than Karl Rove. And it has survived the frequent stain of politics upon the fabric of government. But this administration, with ever-increasing insistence and almost theocratic zealotry, has turned that stain into a massive oil spill.The protection of the environment is turned over to those of one political party, who will financially benefit from the rape of the environment. The protections of the Constitution are turned over to those of one political party, who believe those protections unnecessary and extravagant and quaint.The enforcement of the laws is turned over to those of one political party, who will swear beforehand that they will not enforce those laws. The choice between war and peace is turned over to those of one political party, who stand to gain vast wealth by ensuring that there is never peace, but only war.And now, when just one cooked book gets corrected by an honest auditor, when just one trampling of the inherent and inviolable fairness of government is rejected by an impartial judge, when just one wild-eyed partisan is stopped by the figure of blind justice, this President decides that he, and not the law, must prevail.I accuse you, Mr. Bush, of lying this country into war.I accuse you of fabricating in the minds of your own people, a false implied link between Saddam Hussein and 9/11.I accuse you of firing the generals who told you that the plans for Iraq were disastrously insufficient.I accuse you of causing in Iraq the needless deaths of 3,586 of our brothers and sons, and sisters and daughters, and friends and neighbors. I accuse you of subverting the Constitution, not in some misguided but sincerely-motivated struggle to combat terrorists, but to stifle dissent.I accuse you of fomenting fear among your own people, of creating the very terror you claim to have fought.I accuse you of exploiting that unreasoning fear, the natural fear of your own people who just want to live their lives in peace, as a political tool to slander your critics and libel your opponents.I accuse you of handing part of this Republic over to a Vice President who is without conscience, and letting him run roughshod over it.And I accuse you now, Mr. Bush, of giving, through that Vice President, carte blanche to Mr. Libby, to help defame Ambassador Joseph Wilson by any means necessary, to lie to Grand Juries and Special Counsel and before a court, in order to protect the mechanisms and particulars of that defamation, with your guarantee that Libby would never see prison, and, in so doing, as Ambassador Wilson himself phrased it here last night, of becoming an accessory to the obstruction of justice.When President Nixon ordered the firing of the Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox during the infamous ???Saturday Night Massacre??? on October 20th, 1973, Cox initially responded tersely, and ominously.???Whether ours shall be a government of laws and not of men, is now for Congress, and ultimately, the American people.???President Nixon did not understand how he had crystallized the issue of Watergate for the American people.It had been about the obscure meaning behind an attempt to break in to a rival party???s headquarters; and the labyrinthine effort to cover-up that break-in and the related crimes.And in one night, Nixon transformed it.Watergate???instantaneously???became a simpler issue: a President overruling the inexorable march of the law of insisting???in a way that resonated viscerally with millions who had not previously understood - that he was the law.Not the Constitution. Not the Congress. Not the Courts. Just him.Just - Mr. Bush - as you did, yesterday.The twists and turns of Plame-Gate, of your precise and intricate lies that sent us into this bottomless pit of Iraq; your lies upon the lies to discredit Joe Wil
son; your lies upon the lies upon the lies to throw the sand at the ???referee??? of Prosecutor Fitzgerald???s analogy. These are complex and often painful to follow, and too much, perhaps, for the average citizen.But when other citizens render a verdict against your man, Mr. Bush???and then you spit in the faces of those jurors and that judge and the judges who were yet to hear the appeal???the average citizen understands that, Sir.It???s the fixed ballgame and the rigged casino and the pre-arranged lottery all rolled into one???and it stinks. And they know it.Nixon???s mistake, the last and most fatal of them, the firing of Archibald Cox, was enough to cost him the presidency. And in the end, even Richard Nixon could say he could not put this nation through an impeachment.It was far too late for it to matter then, but as the decades unfold, that single final gesture of non-partisanship, of acknowledged responsibility not to self, not to party, not to ???base,??? but to country, echoes loudly into history. Even Richard Nixon knew it was time to resignWould that you could say that, Mr. Bush. And that you could say it for Mr. Cheney. You both crossed the Rubicon yesterday. Which one of you chose the route, no longer matters. Which is the ventriloquist, and which the dummy, is irrelevant.But that you have twisted the machinery of government into nothing more than a tawdry machine of politics, is the only fact that remains relevant.It is nearly July 4th, Mr. Bush, the commemoration of the moment we Americans decided that rather than live under a King who made up the laws, or erased them, or ignored them???or commuted the sentences of those rightly convicted under them???we would force our independence, and regain our sacred freedoms.We of this time???and our leaders in Congress, of both parties???must now live up to those standards which echo through our history: Pressure, negotiate, impeach???get you, Mr. Bush, and Mr. Cheney, two men who are now perilous to our Democracy, away from its helm.For you, Mr. Bush, and for Mr. Cheney, there is a lesser task. You need merely achieve a very low threshold indeed. Display just that iota of patriotism which Richard Nixon showed, on August 9th, 1974.Resign.And give us someone???anyone???about whom all of us might yet be able to quote John Wayne, and say, ???I didn???t vote for him, but he???s my president, and I hope he does a good job.???
son; your lies upon the lies upon the lies to throw the sand at the ???referee??? of Prosecutor Fitzgerald???s analogy. These are complex and often painful to follow, and too much, perhaps, for the average citizen.But when other citizens render a verdict against your man, Mr. Bush???and then you spit in the faces of those jurors and that judge and the judges who were yet to hear the appeal???the average citizen understands that, Sir.It???s the fixed ballgame and the rigged casino and the pre-arranged lottery all rolled into one???and it stinks. And they know it.Nixon???s mistake, the last and most fatal of them, the firing of Archibald Cox, was enough to cost him the presidency. And in the end, even Richard Nixon could say he could not put this nation through an impeachment.It was far too late for it to matter then, but as the decades unfold, that single final gesture of non-partisanship, of acknowledged responsibility not to self, not to party, not to ???base,??? but to country, echoes loudly into history. Even Richard Nixon knew it was time to resignWould that you could say that, Mr. Bush. And that you could say it for Mr. Cheney. You both crossed the Rubicon yesterday. Which one of you chose the route, no longer matters. Which is the ventriloquist, and which the dummy, is irrelevant.But that you have twisted the machinery of government into nothing more than a tawdry machine of politics, is the only fact that remains relevant.It is nearly July 4th, Mr. Bush, the commemoration of the moment we Americans decided that rather than live under a King who made up the laws, or erased them, or ignored them???or commuted the sentences of those rightly convicted under them???we would force our independence, and regain our sacred freedoms.We of this time???and our leaders in Congress, of both parties???must now live up to those standards which echo through our history: Pressure, negotiate, impeach???get you, Mr. Bush, and Mr. Cheney, two men who are now perilous to our Democracy, away from its helm.For you, Mr. Bush, and for Mr. Cheney, there is a lesser task. You need merely achieve a very low threshold indeed. Display just that iota of patriotism which Richard Nixon showed, on August 9th, 1974.Resign.And give us someone???anyone???about whom all of us might yet be able to quote John Wayne, and say, ???I didn???t vote for him, but he???s my president, and I hope he does a good job.???
Comments
I came to late to cause a stir,
Though I campaigned all my life
towards that goal.
I hardly slept the night you wept
Our secret's safe and still well kept
Where even Richard Nixon has got soul.
Even Richard Nixon has got
Soul.[/b]
Traffic cops are all color blind.
People steal from their own kind.
Evening comes to early for a stroll.
Down neon streets the streaker streaks.
The speaker speaks,
but the truth still leaks,
Where even Richard Nixon has got soul.
Even Richard Nixon has got it,
Soul.[/b]
The podium rocks in the crowded waves.
The speaker talks of the beautiful saves
That went down long before
he played this role
For the hotel queens and the magazines,
Test tube genes and slot machines
Where even Richard Nixon got soul.
Even Richard Nixon has got it,
Soul.[/b]
Hospitals have made him cry,
But there's always a free way in his eye,
Though his beach just got
too crowded for his stroll.
Roads stretch out like healthy veins,
And wild gift horses strain the reins,
Where even Richard Nixon has got soul.
Even Richard Nixon has got
Soul.[/b]
I am a lonely visitor.
I came to late to cause a stir,
Though I campaigned all my life
towards that goal.
these men are criminals, incompetent, and criminally incompetent
wheres the nixon song from? i'm appreciating it.
I think it was a bit of an epiphany for me that the tide is visibly turning away from the GOP/Bush bizness as usual, and that it's not just the War. It's the entire weight of their inability to govern that is causing total bi-partisan disgust.
remember this?
Karla Faye Tucker + 150
I used to call them incompetent. Nah, Jimmy Carter was incompetent. These fuckers are actively dismantling the Republic. In that endeavor they have been extremely competent.
I've said it before...
While resignation or impeachment will suffice, these men really deserve execution.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/04/washington/04commute.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_III_of_the_United_Kingdom
7.4.2007
University campus sit-ins and public antiwar demonstrations are barely flickering.
What will it take to activate the so called masses?
50,000 dead us soldiers?
500,000 wounded?
2 million dead iraqi civillians?
Is this the watermark for action and outrage?
Is the country so filled with an endless supply of sabadadodoo's and cockadelics?
those which are easily plaicated by money and middleclass comfort,spouting endless unwavering kneejerk reactions ,assnine conservative rhetoric and blind support for obvious criminals?
Peppered with cliche slogans like "love it or leave it" , "my country right or wrong"these blind deaf and dumbed down sheep are herded along ,to the gas pumps ,to the shopping malls,to the 4th of july bbq,on a harley or an SUV?
This is what we stand for?
what is there left to support?
your raytheon,lockheed/martin stock options?
or yet another haliburton corp rot takeover?
what is gained ?
who wins except the upper 5%?
Fuck This Place
The only youth of AmeriKKKa that are hitting the streets are waiting on line for their IPhones, Wi games or the latest bullshit fantasy flicks.
Going out and protesting might cause their new kicks to get dirty.
Besides, they can sit home behind the safety of their computers and call people KKKunts without fear of retaliation.
This is YOUR generation we're talking about pal, not mine.
My generation hit the streets, lost some lives, and grew up to realize how unproductive it all was.
So now we work our asses off and pay mega-taxes so little punks like you can spew highly intellectual swill and tell us all to go fuck ourselves.
I Love America.
Happy Independence Day.
You might want to recheck your demographics data. I'm pretty sure YOUR generation is the one that elected Bush to office. THREE TIMES.
Not mine.
Who mentioned anything like this?? Recheck what??
Is this what you call a strawman??
You mean the same generation that hit the streets to protest Nixon and Viet Nam?
Interesting.
Goddam I am so tired of entitled baby boomers spewing nonsense, acting like they're the only people who ever worked, paid taxes or got their hands dirty. You guys are the biggest problem this country has ever faced with your mass consumption, greed, corruption and never ending tirades about today's wasted youth. It's just plain insulting to the vast majority of decent, hardworking mofos and gals up the strut and all over. Take that shit to LibertarianViews.com. Happy Birthday America.
Saying.
The '60s are over! Who's to blame for all those gain eroding? The iPhone generation? I think not.
Wasted Youth??? Iphones cost big bucks baby.
I know SOMEONE'S gotta work hard to buy $150.00 sneakers
Paris Hilton Youth!!
Dr. Wu.....why don't YOU tell Kala why young people aren't out hitting the streets in protest of their fucked up country and fucked up government.
I gave my theory.
Classic
1967
2007
Fuck a baby boomer.
1. War in Iraq is still only a drop in the bucket of the losses sustained in Vietnam
2. Lack of cultural icons producing subversive documents
3. Digital narcissism
This may not be theoretical, soon enough.
So what y'all are saying is that as long as it's just those folks who volunteered to defend the country getting killed no one will protest.
But if there is a chance that those who didn't/wouldn't volunteer might get killed they'll get off their asses and protest.
I agree 100%
Absolutely
Besides, they can sit home behind the safety of their computers and call people KKKunts without fear of retaliation.
anyway, its a little thick to posture like the vietnam demonstrations were all baby boomers.
Then Kala is wrong, there are PLENTY of folks in the street protesting.
Time to go cook meat and get drunk.
And BTW....I was accused of being a Baby Boomer, it's certainly not a term I wear with any measure of pride.
then....I don't own an i pod
Nor do I play video/computer games
I pay taxes just like you and have since I was 16
I am one of the only people on the board who is not sneaker obsessed and who took major shit for proclaiming that NIKE sneakers were built in 3rd world sweatshops using slave labor,a truth no one wants to confront.
I have been to demonstrations and marches including the GOP in NYC and going as far as driving to DC with some of my pals to protest the war.
so get your facts straight before you spew your shitty tired ass erroneous dogma.
Cant we all just get along?
oh, i'm sorry. we should leave all the real writing to the great journalists out there--not to mention that you are both posting constantly on a message board. digital narcissists who?
and that baby boomers claim to fame is protesting and what not during vietnam. then to turn around and repeat the same bullshit. nice work.
then you fuckers been bitching about taxes while running up deficits to hand over to us. thanks.
p.s.-DIE
"Real writing"? "Journalists?" Where are you getting this stuff from? And more importantly, what would any of that have to do with the lack of activism in the country?
There's no need to feel threatened, I wasn't implying anything about message board users, or bloggers. But, dude, as someone familiar with the DSM-IV, how do communities like myspace and youtube not strike you as fertile ground for the cultivation of narcissism?
You are perfectly capable of doing this math yourself. If, instead, you'd like to accuse me of constantly reading the message board, I'd have no case for disagreement.
Well, that's not nice. Vinegar, flies, honey, mate.
I must say that the Olbermann speech reads fairly well. Bravo. And although his video performance isn't poor, watching him perform is at other times painful. Admittedly, Left-wingers (myself included) don't wear the righteous indignation badge as well as Righties. But it's really (and sadly) the only major media rallying cry that Lefties have.
There's a reason why Bush timed the Libby commutation until right before the most major of US holidays. This is pretty fucking blatant, folks. Rock - without changing the subject - you've got to admit this much.