Hard Right Idiots Swallow GOP Propagandagreenspun.com : LUSENET : Unk's Wild Wild West : One Thread |
Remember the hue and cry last week about the "trashing" of the White House by former Clinton aides? It was just propaganda, folks, pure propaganda that Drudge put out and your far-right idiots swalllowed like spoonfed infants.White House Scales Back Prank Reports
By John F. Harris
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 27, 2001 ; Page A06
President Bush said yesterday he is not concerned about "a prank or two" played by Clinton staff members as they left the White House, and his press secretary scaled back his description of a review the White House is conducting of purported vandalism.
Former president Bill Clinton's top aide protested yesterday that there is no evidence of widespread damage, despite news reports quoting anonymous Republicans suggesting a systematic trashing of offices and an Air Force jet. And Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer said there will be no formal effort to audit the damage.
On Thursday, Fleischer announced that the White House would be "cataloguing" the damage. Yesterday, it turned out that amounted to a single aide "who is really just keeping track in his head about things that may have taken place" -- not writing incidents down or assessing damage.
He refused to document for reporters any specific property damage.
Clinton aides believe that is because there is little specific evidence that Bush aides could point to. Former Clinton confidants have acknowledged a string of pranks -- including removing the "W" key from computers and posting official-looking gag signs outside offices. Former West Wing officials said they agreed that these pranks, which they attributed primarily to aides to former vice president Al Gore, were in questionable taste. But they said these lapses were a far cry from property destruction and an exception to the efforts the Clinton team generally made for a smooth transition.
Karen Tramontano, Clinton's chief of staff, said she called White House Chief of Staff Andrew W. Card Jr., to seek an explanation of what the Bush team had found. "I honestly believe that nothing like that happened, but if they have evidence someone should let us know," she said. Later, she reported that a Card deputy, Joseph Hagin, called back to cite a "copier cord cut, a phone line cut" but said these were "isolated incidents." Fleischer said Hagin had expressly cited more than one instance of cut cords, but agreed that "the story has become bigger than life."
Bush, himself, said, "There might have been a prank or two; maybe somebody put a cartoon on the wall, but that's okay. It's time now to move forward."
Sure, El Shrubo -- after you had your lackeys lie and defame the former administration and got Drudge to report it and your hard right idiots to actually swallow it wholesale!
Go for it, people! Enjoy the lies and propaganda put out by Karl Rove and Bush. Tip back your empty heads, open your mouths, and swallow up! It's your heritage as GOP morons.
-- Coup2k (thanks@pubs!.com), January 29, 2001
"Given the take-no-prisoners fanaticism we see even on this obscure forum, this kind of thing sounds entirely predictable, for any change of administration that changes parties, in either direction." -- Flint"It's good to have adults back in the White House." -- Paracelsus
"This speaks for itself...I am amazed that anyone would, or could, even try to defend it... " -- Uncle Bob
"go back too GODS WORD & YOU WILL UNDERSTAND, Where we are headed. clue=it's gonna get worse!!!!!!!" -- al-d
"I'll add a corollary, 'Good riddance to low life scumbag, trailer trash who doesn't know how to shut up!' How anyone can defend the Clintons is beyond me!
... Flint, you are not speaking truths here. I couldn't see Ford or Bush senior doing anything like this at all. Give me a break if you think Republicans in the past have done this to the dems taking office.
"I say we fine the Clintons whatever the costs to clean up their mess. I heard that only Mrs. Gore had the decency to apologize to Mrs. Cheney for the mess in the VP's office.
"Tar, we have laws now where parents can be fined or jailed for their children's bad behavior. You've taken me literally here, I wrote it tongue in cheek but now that you challenge it I find it might have some merit. He obviously condoned it and that in and of itself in unacceptable; the scumbag should be held responsible. Do you think Clinton really didn't know it was going on? The Clinton with a steel- trap mind. The Clinton who knows all. The Clinton who micro-managed every detail of his administration. Nah, not that Clinton.
"CD, albeit to a much lesser degree That *is* the question. Where does prank become vandalism? IMO these actions crossed over." -- Maria [laughter]
"http://washingtontimes.com/national/inbeltway.htm January 25, 2001
Inside the Beltway
John McCaslin
Political tidbits and other shenanigans from around the nation's capital.
Stripped bare The curators were warned to count the silver when the Clintons left the White House, and the Air Force, as it turns out, should have listened, too. Now that Bill Clinton is gone — after the longest goodbye anyone remembers — an Air Force steward tells us about the former president's "official" farewell flight to New York on Inaugural Day.
The presidential plane was "stripped bare." Since Air Force One is the plane only of the president, the designation of the Boeing 747 was changed from Air Force One to "Special Air Mission" and by the time Mr. Clinton boarded he was no longer the president. As a courtesy of President Bush, the plane was nevertheless equipped with all the presidential amenities Mr. Clinton had grown accustomed to during his two terms in office. But not for long. Missing from the plane on arrival in New York, Inside the Beltway is told, was all the porcelain china, silverware, salt and pepper shakers, blankets and pillow cases — most of it bearing the presidential seal. What most astonished the military steward was that even a cache of Colgate toothpaste, not stamped with the presidential seal, was snatched from a compartment beneath the presidential plane's sink. (The good news, we suppose, is that there was no halitosis on the return flight to Washington.)" --Sheeple [baaahh -- me hungry -- feed me more]
"sumer, I for one don't not read much of Flint's posts, merely skimming them. So, thanks for telling like it is and I agree with you.
"Tar, Ya know I think we see *almost* eye to eye on a lot of subjects but we miss each other by a few inches. And that's assuming that the damage occured in the first place and was caused by the White House staffers. Hmmmm You weren't trusting that Linda Chavey spoke the truth about her live-in NOT being help. Here Clinton hasn't even spoken up (a sign to me for sure, and Mrs Gore knew so Mr Gore knew, so Clinton didn't? I question it) and yet you trust that he had no involvement. I'm not talking evidence, we need an investigation to have evidence. I'm talking about your gut feel. My gut tells me, this scumball knows every little detail that goes on in the big house. He is a lot of things and stupid isn't one of them.
"Sheeple, that article indeed shows the extent Clinton knew what was going on."
..."Tar, I think (no proof mind you, just a gut feel which I use just as much as I use my brain - I can assure you of this), you like to argue." --Maria
"The story that hit the news today was not about the mess they left behind, but the mess of stuff that they took when they left. Yipes." - - flora
"Guess you haven't listened to any of the news shows as of the past 24- 48 hours. My local news has had the story on, I've seen quite a bit of it on Fox, CNN has covered it, ABC news has covered it. (I will admit that I was very surprised to hear ABC mention it)." -- Sheeple
"Coup2k-- You seem to be in denial. The vandalism has been widely reported. Drudge was merely the first to report it. Here are two impeccable Liberal/Left news sources that discuss that which is disgusting--- " -- Lars
-- Coup2k (thanks@pubs!.com), January 29, 2001.
coup2k,Were you mistreated as a child? Did your spouse leave you? Anger is very unhealthy. Please find help.
-- (Paracelsus@Pb.Au), January 29, 2001.
You must have incredibly high blood pressure, Coup. Calm down.
-- CD (costavike@hotmail.com), January 29, 2001.
...and please try to separate the cut&paste job from your own opinion. Talk about propaganda!
-- Buddy (buddydc@go.com), January 29, 2001.
Dear Coup:I am so relieved I chose to stay out of that one, except regarding Flint.
Flint: Apology accepted, please accept mine. :-)
-- sumer (shh@aol.con), January 29, 2001.
CD, thanks, but don't worry. They say laughter is good for the heart.
-- Coup2k (thanks@pubs!.com), January 29, 2001.
Besides, after a coup d'etat, what did I expect? In the first week of office, state-sponsored propaganda spoonfed to the media and masses is par for the course. Who cares if it was all totally fabricated, if the Bush administration broadcasted pure lies and GOP dupes and media bought it? That's how state-sponsored propaganda works!Hey, if it worked in the Soviet Union and Florida, it can work across the nation!
The GOP's new motto: Don't just "get over it," get used to it!
-- Coup2k (thanks@pubs!.com), January 29, 2001.
Dubby never was elected in the first place. He was placed in office by a right-wing coup, installed by gun-toting right-wing Nazis. He has a body count surrounding him numbering in the triple digits. Blacks and other minorities were not allowed to vote. We are going to be a third world country in a matter of weeks.
-- Not My President (not@my.president), January 29, 2001.
Ghostbuster Dan Akroyd: "Everything was fine until dickless here shut down our containment grid".
Mayor of New York character: "Is that true"?
Ghostbuster Bill Murray: "Yes, it's true. This man has no dick".
Sorry about the trip down memory lane, but Not My President's post brought that scene from Ghostbusters to mind.
-- J (Y2J@home.comm), January 29, 2001.
President Bush, Vice President Cheney and their staffs ought to secretly be feeling deep gratitude toward the staffers who worked for their predecessors -- nothing that Bush or Cheney could say or do could make the departing administration appear any more featherweight. The grandeur of the presidential transition? Maybe when seen through gauze, from a distance.
--Bob Greene
Bob Greene, well known "hard-right idiot", LOL
-- Lars (larsguy@ahoo.com), January 29, 2001.
HAW HAW HAW!!!! I gotta admit, this is one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time. The GOP makes COMPLETE ASSES out of its sheeplike minions and their media outlets! Shows ya how stoooopid the GOP voters really are.ROTFLMAO!!!!
-- Uncle Boob (boobs@R.US), January 29, 2001.
You are so correct ‘Uncle Boob’. How foolish of us conservatives to think for even a second that we could deceive a high intellect such as yourself.
-- Barry (bchbear863@cs.com), January 29, 2001.
Sombody see if you can find Pat Oliphant's cartoon for today. Coup won't like it but I'd love to hear him call Pat a rightwinger.
-- Carlos (riffraff@cybertime.net), January 29, 2001.
How come not a single person who swallowed the hook has yet to admit they were wrong? Why is that? Am I one of the few people who admits when they were duped?Come on now. Fess up.
-- FutureShock (gray@matter.think), January 29, 2001.
"Hard Right Idiots Swallow GOP Propaganda""I swallow spermatazoa"--Monica Lewinsky :-)
-- (nemesis@awol.com), January 30, 2001.
Is Daley right wing? I didn't think so. He went in front of the press to denounce the vandalism.Thanks Coup, you're too funny! We need people like you.
-- Maria (anon@ymous.com), January 30, 2001.
FS:This story seems as clear as anything that comes out of Washington. The Bush staffers found a certain amount of trashing. Just how extensive we'll never know, but apparently more than the usual transitional sour grapes. They let everyone know what they found, and maybe even embellished a bit.
Next, we get the Democrat's side of it. At the anonymous staffer level, we get admissions that yeah, they did that stuff, but they thought it was pretty funny and besides the Bushies deserved it for having wrong opinions or whatever. At the "official" level, we get a denial that they did anything out of the ordinary, although there might have been some normal "disarray" because the outgoing people had been working too hard to straighten their desks! Uh huh.
Next, we get Bush's strategy for milking this story. He lets the story play long enough to do all the damage it can, and then takes HIS official position that as a "uniter", he will formally see no evil, and instruct his spokespeople to say that the problems were really isolated, no, make that overblown, no, make that reported by only one single person who lacked the big picture, no, make that undocumented in the interests of political harmony, no, make that...
By this time, it has become clear that (1) the place was badly trashed, as originally reported; (2) the dems are not particularly embarrassed by what they did, and their denial is perfunctory and even admits something might have happened (wink wink); (3) Bush has decided to play it by trying to make the dems look petty and him look statesmanlike.
Meanwhile, at most a few hundred grand and everything is fixed in a few days, no big deal, it's only taxpayer money, a drop in the ocean. I haven't seen anything the least bit inconsistent with this picture, which is why I say it's as clear as anything that comes out of Washington.
-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), January 30, 2001.
Actually, FLint, nothing is clear to me. I guess what I should say here is I do not know what happened either way. Probably something in the middle of incidental and catastrophic.A local newspaper recently wrote a story about my wife's passing the bar in my home state. They got several of the basic facts wrong, including the story of how we met!
So it goes. Hard to believe anything we read in the papers.
-- FutureShock (gray@matter.think), January 30, 2001.
Hold on a minute FS. I remember a thread on the military below the poverty line. I gave my view (based on real life experience) and you told me you wouldn't believe what I had to say until I pointed to a link (an internet link). Now you're the one saying you don't believe everything you read. If so, why did you insist on a link?I happen to agree with you, especially these link from the net. But you have to admit, that something *did* happen. (As opposed to coup who wouldn't recognize the truth if it bit him on the arse; huh Hawk?)
If this comment, "Am I one of the few people who admits when they were duped?", was a joke, nevermind (Gilda, SNL).
-- Maria (anon@ymous.com), January 30, 2001.
"Meanwhile, at most a few hundred grand and everything is fixed in a few days..."Radio Shack: One "W" key for standard US ASCII keyboard: $0.89 Pentagon: One "W" key for standard US ASCII keyboard: $300.00
I agree - Dub'ya will probably go with the Pentagon bid. his dad still knows guys there, after all.
-- Bemused (and_amazed@you.people), January 30, 2001.
By this time, it has become clear that (1) the place was badly trashed, as originally reported; (2) the dems are not particularly embarrassed by what they did, and their denial is perfunctory and even admits something might have happened (wink wink); (3) Bush has decided to play it by trying to make the dems look petty and him look statesmanlike.Meanwhile, at most a few hundred grand and everything is fixed in a few days, no big deal, it's only taxpayer money, a drop in the ocean. I haven't seen anything the least bit inconsistent with this picture, which is why I say it's as clear as anything that comes out of Washington.
Wow, Flint. You really have a problem with reality! Let's get this straight.
First: There is no credible evidence that the White House was "trashed." If you have evidence, or know where it is to be found, please provide it before making unsubstantiated charges.
Second, the Democrats are not particularly embarrassed by "what they did" because NO EVIDENCE EXISTS of what "they did."
Third, until I see credible proof that such damage occurred, estimates about the cost of repairing such problems are strictly fantastical. Let's see the receipts -- or is hearsay good enough for you?
Here's more if you care to actually think instead of twist and distort. Your baseless charges on a par with the lies issued by the White House.
Was the White House Trashing Story Garbage?
By Joshua Micah Marshall (from Slate, today)
Monday, Jan. 29, 2001, at 2:15 p.m. PT
According to numerous press accounts from Week 1 of the Bush administration, the Clintonites trashed the White House on the way out. The first stories recounted a modest prank in which departing aides plucked a few "W" keys from computer keyboards as a dig to George W. Bush. But as the full horror emerged, the White House began to resemble the Continental Hyatt House after a weekend visit by Led Zeppelin.
According to NBC's Andrea Mitchell, the White House was "downplaying" the vandalism but unnamed "sources" were reporting "phone lines cut, drawers filled with glue, door locks jimmied so that arriving Bush staff got locked inside their new offices. Obscene messages left behind on copying machine paper." Another unnamed source "with close ties to the Bush White House," told CNN's Kelly Wallace that there was "trash everywhere."
Bush Press Secretary Ari Fleischer elliptically confirmed the stories and declared that the White House was cataloguing the vandalism. But he also announced that the Bushies were turning the other cheek and declined to open a formal investigation. "Part of changing the tone in Washington," Fleischer said, "is to allow some things that others may have made a focus of, to let pass." The pliant press promptly adopted the new script: Mike Allen of the Washington Post reported that a "high-level Republican" who had seen the damage was "leery about putting information out about the mess because chief of staff Andrew H. Card Jr. is gentlemanly and doesn't want to appear to be ratting on the Clinton administration."
Or maybe gentlemanliness had nothing to do with Card's retreat. Maybe the new administration had no evidence of a campaign of vandalism, which is what a review of the Prankgate news stories suggests. Case in point: The press secretary's ceremonial flak jacket, allegedly stolen by the Clintonites as part of Prankgate, turned out to have been picked up accidentally by the cleaning crew, which returned it.
Now, it could be that on their way out of town the Clintonites did rip through the White House like a Bengali typhoon. After all, Clinton staffers confirm that they de-"W"-ed some keyboards and posted some snarky signs. But, as John Harris reported in a Washington Post story that documented the Bush administration's climb- down from the sabotage charge, when Karen Tramontano, an aide to outgoing Chief of Staff John Podesta, phoned the White House and pressed for details about the alleged vandalism, she was told only of a single copier cord being cut and one severed phone line. Fleischer insisted that he had been told of more than one instance of cord-whacking but agreed that "the story has become bigger than life." When reporters asked Fleischer if these more limited damages could simply have been caused by the movers on Inauguration Day, he said, "I don't believe that the people who are professionals, who make it their business to go in and prepare the White House for new arrivals, would cut wires." (Has Ari Fleischer ever dealt with movers?)
So, yes, there were some pranks. But there's nothing unprecedented about the old administration pranking the new administration, as subsequent reports indicated. When Clinton-Gore staffers showed up for work in 1993, they found offices in disarray, computers disabled, and office furniture helpfully decorated with numerous Bush-Quayle bumper stickers. It appears that in this transition, the White House press corps took a similar situation and hyped it into a full-bore scandal without requiring one White House staffer to go on the record about specific vandalism or to provide any physical evidence.
In the absence of proof, why did the White House press corps advance the sabotage claims? 1) The Bushies insist on talking on a not-for-attribution basis if they talk at all, and this allowed them to embellish the scope of Prankgate's "destruction" without suffering any blowback. 2) For all the pomp and pageantry of inauguration week, there wasn't much news for the press corps to report. So, mindful of who their masters will be for the next four years, they accepted the Bushies' blind accounts. 3) Reporters are suckers for stories that conform to their prejudices: It stood to reason that the Clinton crew would make a graceless exit and that the grown-ups from Texas would rise above it. 4) By Jan. 20 the ultra-efficient Clinton spin machine had been unplugged and there was nobody to provide an alternative account.
The story here wasn't Clintonite shenanigans. It was the new White House's smearing of their predecessors and Fleischer's refusal to put up or shut up when it came time to start giving details.
(Note to the White House press corps: It's still not too late to redeem yourselves!)
**** Clear enough for you Flint? Or will you blatently lie again without any credible evidence to support your swallowing this cheap propaganda?
-- Coup2k (thanks@pubs!. com), January 30, 2001.
Pretty neat! Just make baseless charges, then provide no evidence that such charges are true.It works in a police state. And it's good enough for GOP morons to suck up wholesale.
-- Coup2k (thanks@pubs!.com), January 30, 2001.
Coup2k, are you intelligent enough to realize that many of the outrageous claims made by Bush's detractors also have no basis in truth?
-- crack smoking bush (masterbate@in.coffin), January 30, 2001.
I am a former Clinton staffer. For obvious reasons I cannot reveal my name. The claims are true! In fact there was much more done than was reported.I am proud of what we did. Bush stole the election. We made a statement of disdain. Coup2k, you of all people should understand.
-- (ClintonStaffer@Dubya.dumper), January 31, 2001.