Rain clouds but little rain this afternoon on California’s north coast — we’ve received a few isolated ‘sprinkles‘ and that’s all.
An occasional dash of sunshine, so there’s that.
Last week, a couple of arrogant buffoons stepped into political shit up to their Baghdads, and in a backdoor reversal, let the ugly cat out of a twisted history-bag.
Paul Krugman in his blog at the New York Times on Saturday nailed the real-bottom line to America’s most terrifying, catastrophic disaster:
But back to Iraq: the crucial thing to understand is that the invasion wasn’t a mistake, it was a crime.
We were lied into war.
And we shouldn’t let that ugly truth be forgotten.
And remember, it’s never too late to pay the piper.
(Illustration: Caricature of George W. Bush by Tonio, found here).
People also forget, too, the US governmental finding on the 2003 invasion — conclusion of the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, June 5, 2008:
“In making the case for war, the Administration repeatedly presented intelligence as fact when in reality it was unsubstantiated, contradicted, or even non-existent.
As a result, the American people were led to believe that the threat from Iraq was much greater than actually existed.”
…
Sadly, the Bush Administration led the nation into war under false pretenses.
During Jeb Bush’s horribly-ridiculous performances last week on trying to get a firm grip on his big brother’s legacy, the attempt was to spin the Iraqi war as just a ‘mistake’ and really couldn’t be helped, a shitty concept in the face of actual realities — George W. the way-worse president in US history, and his brother an idiot.
Michael Tomasky in a piece at The Daily Beast on how Hillary Clinton’s campaign could benefit from the ruckus, did note this about dufus Jeb:
It surely caught Jeb Bush by total surprise, the shitstorm that kicked up after his first answer about invading Iraq.
Yes, he’s rustier than a 1970s Plymouth; yes, he appears not to have been really quite listening to Megyn Kelly; and yes, it’s beginning to dawn on all of us, God help us, that Dubya may have been the smart one.
Jeb just may not understand the real world — he might have fallen awkwardly, uncomfortably as a child, injuring brain tissue. Whatever.
And that other clown in the Iraqi-war political quagmire comes from the same, near-exact wax-candy mold as Jeb, but maybe presents a better-looking form of dumb — Marco Rubio. He’s one of those guys sort of like Rick Santorum, in that the question arises of how the fuck did he get where he’s standing right now — an idiot’s asshole — and the cards he’s playing, fairly-obvious.
Kevin Drum at Mother Jones this morning:
But I’m seriously beginning to wonder if he has a 3-digit IQ.
After Jeb Bush’s weeklong debacle trying to answer this question, every Republican candidate ought to have their own answer figured out.
And not just figured out: by now their answers ought to be poll-tested, cut down into nice little sound bites, and so smoothly delivered you’d never even know this was a tricky issue in the first place.
But no.
Rubio sounded like this question came as a total surprise.
Seriously, Marco?
This guy does not sound like he’s ready for prime time.
And Adam Weinstein at Gawker this afternoon:
Faithful Gawker readers and generally literate Americans already know Marco Rubio is a mouth-breathing spoiled moron who will not be president. But do they know the glorious ways in which he illustrated his crass ineptitude and cynicism this week?
Weinstein then educates the reader with Rubio’s nasty, ineptitude from Miami to DC, and losing track of any kind of logical sense along the way…’Because he’s an idiot. An idiot who wants to be president.’
Well, what the shit? George W as president and now in private life, a pure idiot.
And his little brother worse.
Accountability for a horrible action unjustified is way- long overdue — the US needs to form up some kind of Iraq War Commission, sort of like the Iraq Study Group in 2006, but not so obviously fucked, on the lead-up to the invasion, and maybe bring to light and justice the culprits who consciously brought about a really-really bad thingy. The Brits are trying to gauge their actions in the Iraqi escapade with their ‘Chilcot Inquiry,’ but apparently are having difficulty completing the final report.
And W’s legacy continues (via CBS News): ‘Bodies, some burned, littered the streets as local officials reported the militants carried out mass killings of Iraqi security forces and civilians. Online video showed Humvees, trucks and other equipment speeding out of Ramadi, with soldiers gripping onto their sides.’
New truth slogan for Jeb: ‘“Your Brother Created ISIS.”‘
Not forget that ‘ugly truth.’