Oh boy! My man Keith just keeps on getting better and better! Gawd it is so great to see someone in the American media finally having the balls to stand up there and say exactly what he thinks about the Bush administration regime. At last!
*sigh* I love a man who stands up for what he believes in...
In this week's Countdown Special Comment, Keith laid into Fox News for ambushing Bill Clinton during an interview last Sunday - and he pulled no punches when it came to expressing his opinion on Dubya's cowardice, either.
You are probably aware that on Sunday former President Bill Clinton was interviewed by Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday. He was expecting to answer questions about the Clinton Global Initiative, but first Wallace (claiming that his viewers had "emailed him the question") asked Clinton why he didn't do more to capture or kill Osama bin Laden while he was in office. Following on from the distortions of the truth by The Path to 9/11, eh Chris? Must be one of the Republicans' memes of the month, I guess.
Thing is, I don't think it's such a great idea to try and put one over on Bill Clinton. Bill got mad, and he got even by telling the truth, and exposing the Republican talking points for what they are - lies and distortions. Way to go, President Clinton!
It was too long to put on YouTube, so here's the first half of the interview at Crooks and Liars. I love this screenshot. Bill Clinton making his feelings clear and emphasising his point - literally! Heh.
Here's one of my favourite bits...WJC: I authorized the CIA to get groups together to try to kill him. The CIA was run by George Tenet, who President Bush gave the Medal of Freedom to and said he did a good job. The country never had a comprehensive anti-terror operation until I came to office.
If you can criticize me for one thing, you can criticize me for this: after the Cole, I had battle plans drawn to go into Afghanistan, overthrow the Taliban, and launch a full scale attack/search for Bin Laden. But we needed basing rights in Uzbekistan, which we got (only) after 9/11.
The CIA and the FBI refused to certify that Bin Laden was responsible while I was there. They refused to certify. So that meant I would have had to send a few hundred Special Forces in helicopters and refuel at night. Even the 9/11 Commission didn't do (think we should have done) that. Now the 9/11 Commission was a political document, too? All I'm asking is if anybody wants to say I didn't do enough, you read Richard Clarke's book.
CW: Do you think you did enough, sir?
WJC: No, because I didn't get him.
CW: Right...
WJC: But at least I tried. That's the difference in me and some, including all the right-wingers who are attacking me now. They ridiculed me for trying. They had eight months to try and they didn't. I tried. So I tried and failed. When I failed, I left a comprehensive anti-terror strategy and the best guy in the country: Dick Clarke. So you did Fox's bidding on this show. You did your nice little conservative hit job on me...
You can read the full transcript of the interview at Crooks and Liars - Fox Clinton Interview - Part 1 - Osama bin Laden.
So today Keith's Special Comment was all about the interview, the MSM's spinning of Clinton's response (they called it "crazed", amongst other things), the fact that we should all be mad as hell for what the Bush regime has done over the past five years - and that Bush's actions (or, rather, inactions in this case) are a "textbook definition of cowardice".
Check it out:
Here's one of my favourite bits:Thus was it left for the previous president to say what so many of us have felt; what so many of us have given you a pass for in the months and even the years after the attack:
You did not try.
You ignored the evidence gathered by your predecessor.
You ignored the evidence gathered by your own people.
Then, you blamed your predecessor.
That would be a textbook definition, Mr. Bush, of cowardice.
To enforce the lies of the present, it is necessary to erase the truths of the past.
That was one of the great mechanical realities Eric Blair—writing as George Orwell—gave us in the book 1984.
The great philosophical reality he gave us, Mr. Bush, may sound as familiar to you, as it has lately begun to sound familiar to me.
"The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power...
"Power is not a means; it is an end.
"One does not establish a dictatorship to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.
"The object of persecution, is persecution. The object of torture, is torture. The object of power... is power."
You can read the full transcript on Keith's Countdown page - A textbook definition of cowardice.
Oh yeah, it's official - Keith Olbermann - I know I love you!
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Technorati tags: Keith Olbermann, Countdown, George Bush, 9/11, Bill Clinton, President Clinton, Osama bin Laden, Fox News, Chris Wallace, American politics.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Keith Olbermann on "A textbook definition of cowardice"
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1 comments:
Hi webweaver,
Carolina Clay suggested we check out your site and I'm glad I did.
Your story on Clay (sept 24) was so moving I actually had tears as I read,imagining how hard it must be for him. It's not enough he had to put up with bullies as a kid,now he puts up with bigger and meaner bullies like Diane S. If one of her producers told her that Clay was coming out, she should have had the decency to ask him off camera as his "friend" and all. My respect for her has gone way down. Clay's handled all this mess better than anyone I know. I hope he finds happiness.
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