All the Pretty Words

[MISSDem]

Bob Herbert is not impressed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/02/opinion/02herbert.html?hp

[olddem43]

1. He's right about a lot of this - It's going to take

a long time to get us out of all the holes we are in. What he doesn't say is that Bushco is the one that got us into them.

[phantom power]

2. Indeed.

This is yet another example of a pattern I find increasingly irritating. If a Democrat screws something up (or, if they are even accused of screwing up), it's considered proof-positive that Democrats are screw-ups. If a Republican screws up, even if it's on an apocalyptic scale, the best you can ever get is "Well, both parties are screw-ups,so it really doesn't matter"

[necso]

3. The pugs only have to keep the BS going for three more months.

And they are working overtime -- with media complicity where there is not overt support.

Instead of using a "happy face" and "positive" images, I suppose we could try countering the pug bullshit with only the grim truth. But Bob has it right, people don't want to hear the truth. It is too damn hard to deal with -- much better to fill your life with whatever brand of bullshit gets you by.

I don't think Bob is being critical of the Dems here. He knows as well as anybody that the marketing schmaltz is necessary... He just does not like what it says about America.

Neither do I, but "facts is facts".

It is Bob's job to point out the grim realities (to a lukewarm reception at best). And it is the campaigns job to put together a marketing pitch to counter the pug's one.

Pretty good job so far --- but that doesn't mean I like having to play this game.

(Bob has been absolutely smoking, I can hardly wait for his next!)

[dand]

4. Herbert is right on the money,

Herbert and Krugman write it so well, I just wish Kerry and Edwards could communicate it more forcefully.

[cornfedyank]

5. ask about the billion and billions gone awol

A pal in Iraq slipped me a draft Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) Inspector General (IG) report dated July 12, 2004, that blisters the CPA for giving the missing billions to Iraqi ministries without appropriate controls.

The IG report concludes: "The CPA did not provide adequate stewardship of over $8.8 billion in DFI (Development Fund for Iraq) funds provided to Iraqi Ministries through the national budget process. Specifically, the CPA did not establish and implement adequate managerial, financial, and contractual controls over the funds to ensure they were used in a transparent manner."

Offshore bankers must be burning the midnight oil these days with all the new secret accounts pouring out of Baghdad!

http://www.military.com/Resources/ResourceFileView?file=Hackworth_080204.htm

For example, the CPA paid 74,000 guards even though the actual number of guards couldn't be validated. On one site alone, 8,206 guards were on the payroll, but only 603 warm bodies could be counted. Elsewhere, more than $17 million was allocated to guards and the Iraqi army without one piece of backup paper. Pals in Iraq say this has been standard drill since the birth of "a very dysfunctional" CPA.

---reminds me of the golddust falling through the floorboards in " Paint Your Wagon".