Jack's Blog

The link:  http://www.dearisrael.com/blog/archive/2005/07/13/478.aspx

I should have known, when I saw it on Fark.com.  I haven't been to Fark in a while, and since I couldn't sleep, I decided to check it out.  I noted one of the items had a caption, “WH Press Secretary Scott McClellan does the Karl Rove Shuck 'N' Jive at yesterday's briefing as press corps finds its long-lost backbone.“  This characterization of the event is painfully, hideously stupid and partisan, and I really should have known, as soon as I read it, that it meant Ian was going to view this whole debacle as ridiculously as he could manage, after allowing his liberalism to beat his intellect into submission for several days.  Fark is, after all, Ian's portal to reality...

And so, I'm greeted with the blog post above, which I have to assume was written for my benefit, because I asked him to write it, and it's so ridiculously one sided.  My suggestion is that if you're going to do the mocky "Rush says I'm a liberal, boy is he stupid" thing, you shouldn't act like such a monster liberal, and ignore every single thing that's not totally up your liberal alley.

For example:  http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/07/12/sprj.irq.uk.uranium.straw/

The British still stand by their intel that Iraq wanted yellow cake.  They suggest that Wilson's report in fact supports the notion that Iraq was seeking yellowcake.  It appears that the basis for Wilson's rejection of the notion that Iraq saught Nigerian yellowcake is the denials of Nigerian officials.  Wow, Ambassador Wilson, you went to Nigeria, and in an American diplomatic capacity, asked if they intended to sell nuclear material to enemies of America?  And they DENIED it?  I'm sold, sir.

And, of course, there's more, as much as you wish there wasn't: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39834-2004Jul9.html?referrer%3Demailarticle

So, what we have here is a bipartisan senate intel comittee, which finds, among other things, that Wilson's report actually was viewed by the CIA as support for the notion that Iraq sought Nigerian yellowcake, that the CIA never warned the White House of any issues they might have had with the intelligence, and that Wilson knowingly lied about his own wife's involvement in his trip to Nigeria.  All of this was covered on Rush's show, but being a typical liberal, Ian thinks that any fact Rush repeats ceases to become a fact.  Never mind the fact that it's based on a senate intel committee report, and covered in the Washington Post.

So, let's review Ian's “objective” version of things.

1. Neo-conservatives make up some bullshit about how Iraq is trying to buy uranium.
2. People in the Pentagon make sure the bullshit gets passed along to Cheney and Bush, even tho the CIA has debunked it already.
3. The President reports this bullshit to the United States, cause he's a fag.
4. Out of abject, quivering, pee-pee inducing fear, soccer-moms everywhere hug their kids so tightly that several children pass out from lack of O2. 
5. Wilson / Plame expose said bullshit.
6. Rove burns a CIA agent, and with her her contacts, as punishment for exposing their carefully crafted bullshit.

That's fucking embarassing, dude.  I think you should put a one month moratorium on mocking Rush, as pennance for how badly and deliberately you've misrepresented the facts.  If it's meant as some sort of liberal performance art, maybe I can forgive you, but if you really thought you could pass this blog entry off as a fair-minded view of the facts, that's just not even a little cool.  Let's cover the real version of the list.

1. Numerous intelligence agencies including the Italians, British and US, all suspect that Iraq is trying to obtain yellowcake uranium from Niger.
2. People in the Pentagon see this as a strong justification for military action in Iraq, and pass it along to Cheney and Bush.  The CIA does nothing to indicate that they distrust the intelligence.
3. The President who thinks an Iraq invasion is a good plan, uses the information to try to win support for his ideas, because that's his job.
4. Out of abject, quivering, pee-pee inducing fear, soccer-moms everywhere hug their kids so tightly that several children pass out from lack of O2. 
5. Wilson goes on a PR rampage, trying to discredit Bush and the war in Iraq.
6. Rove attempts to correct lies regarding Wilson's trip to Niger, and out him as an anti-Bush partisan, who has deceived the media about the nature of his trip, the contents of his report, and the conclusions it led the CIA to.

Now, while I am very partisan, and a big enough boy to admit it, even I am not as grotesquely partisan as Ian's blog entry is.  I have to admit that Rove was pretty careless around Plame, and her CIA status.  Legal or not, undercover or not, it's provided the media with something to attack Bush on, and an advisor's job is to advise, not to give liberals material.  I also have to point out that the proof of Iraqi interest in yellowcake uranium is far from conclusive.  It's just not the sort of intelligence one should mention in a State of the Union address, as it's not at all ironclad.  On the other hand, to suggest it had been totally debunked, is laughably partisan and ridiculous.  And finally, like all good stand up comics, I have to return to an earlier topic, for my closer.

The Fark quote:  “WH Press Secretary Scott McClellan does the Karl Rove Shuck 'N' Jive at yesterday's briefing as press corps finds its long-lost backbone.“  Long lost backbone, Drew?  Are you fucking kidding me?  I urge anybody who has not heard this press conference to listen to it.  It's a fucking spectacle.  The “press” basically spend 15 minutes snidely attacking McClellan, while he stammers like a spineless retard.  “Shuck N' Jive” implies he was moving.  He wasn't moving.  He was laying there like a landed fish, gasping for air, and doing nothing of use.  But the real stars of the show were the members of the media, who just shrieked at him, and did their whole “I'm catching you in a lie, admit you lied, admit it, ADMIT IT” act.  Being snide and disrespectful to a White House spokesman is not “backbone.”  It's sensationalist crap.  It's this whole “you either believe us, or them” thing that the media insists on doing with our government, and it's destructive, devisive, and worthless.

Ian, it's time to look in the mirror, sir.  If your blog entry was some sort of liberal roleplay, meant to get me all fired up, and acting a fool, then you've won big.  But if you really believe what you wrote, then that's some seriously tragic shit for a guy of your intelligence.  I know you know the facts.  You listened to Rush, and you heard him state them.  Rather than check the facts, see who's supporting them, you just ignored them, and rehashed some old “forged documents” story you heard a year ago.  I'm partisan.  But I can admit that it certainly sucks that the White House line was “Rove was not involved” when he clearly was.  But to act like that's the whole story, to try to drown out all the other facts, and limit the discussion to “GET ROEV!“ is insane.  You call your post “YEELOCAEK“ as if that's really the shriek that's echoing over this whole thing.  That's bullshit dude.  “GET ROOOOEV!“  Your take is so totally partisan and ridiculous, it puts you in the same crowd as the idiots in the White House press pool, who, through their behavior, have utterly humiliated their profession, and the nation.